Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"There it is!" Matt cried, holding up his skwak so his friends could see what he was approaching on the path ahead. "The Transformatron."

Jackie looked up from her device to see the rear of the machine in the distance. "I see it!" She quickened her pace, only to see Matt and Inez approaching from the other direction where they were stopped by Buzz and Delete. The lanky bot shot out his arms, restraining her two friends in their coils.

"Oh little Earth brat!" the robot sang, looking around for the one who would complete his set. "Come out, come out wherever you are!"

Thinking fast, Jackie dove behind the giant machine, away from the gaze of the henchmen. She could feel the arid ground and its jagged pebbles underneath her palms as she landed hard on the ground of her hiding place. The grunts of her friends trying to get free and shouting directions at her turned into muffled screams as she guessed one of the bots must have put something over their mouths.

The girl shut her eyes and did her best to stay quiet and relax her breathing. She needed to find the right moment to grab the NIC to shut down the machine, and quick. Hacker was long gone having turned himself into a Quetzalcoatlus, a giant flying robotic dinosaur or reptile or whatever it was. The point was that it was absolutely huge and heading straight towards Control Central. Jackie had seen him herself as she and her friends were triangulating on the location of the machine.

For months the Cybervillain had been intent on rebuilding this machine, going so far as to completely tear down Slider and Coop's garage to retrieve the NIC. As a result Motherboard had taken the chip into custody and attempted to dispose of it, only for Digit to be intercepted while on his way to the blackhole. Ever since he'd briefly taken over Cyberspace by duping the cybersquad with a fake Encryptor Chip, Hacker had been executing one close call after another in an attempt to regain control. There were days Jackie feared he'd succeed, or worse, find his way to Earth and wreak untold havoc on everything she cared about.

Opening her eyes again, she gathered up her courage and peered out from behind the machine. Buzz and Delete had given up searching the clearing, but were still standing in wait for her to show herself. If only she could get a good view of the front of the machine. She could figure out where the NIC was and grab it without ever coming out of hiding. Then there was the matter of distracting the bots so she could rescue her friends.

Jackie pulled her head back quickly as Delete seemed to turn in her direction. Confident he hadn't seen her, allowed herself a heartbeat to breath before slowly peeking out again. There had been something she'd noticed in the moments before that she needed to check.

Yes, it was as she'd suspected. She could actually see the reflection of the front of the machine in Delete's polished cylindrical body. There was no NIC, but if she could just scoot over to the other side for a look, she might be able to catch a glimpse.

As quietly as she could, Jackie crept towards the other side of the Transformatron and looked again. Any image which was visible was distorted, but Jackie thought she could just make out the shape of the green card sticking out of a disc port. All she needed to do was remove it and any active transformations would be reversed.

Waiting for the two henchmen to turn away, she reached around the width of the machine and felt around for the card. It didn't take long for her to take hold of it, but as hard as she attempted to pull, it refused to budge. Desperate, Jackie forewent her hiding place and started yanking harder, not caring whether Buzz and Delete saw her. She could probably outrun the two of them anyhow if it came down to it.

"Found ya!" Delete cried with glee as Buzz made a beeline to tackle her. With a third pull, this time throwing nearly her entire body weight into it, she managed to get the chip out, losing her balance and landing on her back in the dirt. As the two bots descended upon her, she did the only thing she could think to do and flung the NIC towards the forest of bare brambles like a frisbee. The bots' eyes widened as both scrambled to retrieve their boss's macguffin.

"I got it!"

"No, no, me!"

In his haste, Delete let go of Matt and Inez to reach for the NIC. He stretched out his arms and started to run, colliding with Buzz and accidentally pushing over the machine as they crashed into it. Seeing that they were incapacitated for the moment, Matt ran towards the brambles to retrieve the card while the girls watched to make sure the two henchmen didn't try and go after him. As they waited for him to return, Jackie spotted a portal appear behind them. This wasn't over. She was positive Hacker had already made it to Control Central and transformed or not there was still him left to deal with.

3 months later...

Jackie curled up on the bed, trying to wipe her puffy and reddened face dry of the tears that had been running down all day. She bunched her comforter up into a ball and brought it close to her chest to hug. It had been a, in short, chaotic few months and she had just about come to her breaking point. Her first year of high school had started with her and her mother getting the news that her father had passed. He'd been in the air force, deployed when Jackie was just eleven. She had been so proud of him, excited for him to come back and tell her all about how he took down the bad guys. That was before she herself started fighting bad guys. Even when it was just her and her mother, she had been happy. Keeping in contact with her dad through letters and waiting for news of when he'd finally be able to come home.

And three months ago he had. At the time there had been a funeral with her father's friends from the military and superiors. She had just returned from another, a smaller, private family affair attended by her father's extended family from the south. For the first few weeks after they'd gotten the news, her mother had been almost inconsolable, and when she'd finally begun to pick herself up again, it was just to work. It was just the two of them now, after all. Though sometimes it felt to Jackie like she was on her own. Between being the perfect student, perfect gymnast, perfect pianist, perfect daughter, she just felt tired.

Tomorrow was Sunday and between her and her mother visiting the funeral home and all her other after school obligations, she hadn't even had a chance to look at her weekend assignments. She doubted she'd feel better in the morning either. What she really needed was some time to herself otherwise she'd just spend the whole day sulking around her room.

After washing her face at the bathroom sink, she returned to her room and sat down at the computer. Perched atop the screen was what appeared to be a webcam. It was actually something Dr. Marbles had made and gifted to her, a direct link to Motherboard's portal system in Cyberspace so she could come and go as she pleased. It was late at night and she didn't want to disturb her friends who were probably already asleep. It wasn't as if Motherboard was calling them for something important anyways.

Double clicking the icon of a portal on her desktop opened up a black pop up which quickly filled with dozens of lines of green text as the program activated. She got up from her chair and gave the lens of the webcam a twist until a laser shot out of it. Taking a step back, she watched as a portal took shape in her bedroom, the purple energy growing in size until it was big enough to pull her in.

After a familiar tumble through the vacuum she'd come to know as Motherboard's domain, the place where the cyber ruler herself resided, she landed in the audience chamber of Control Central. The usual lights that filled the room had been dimmed. It looked like everyone in Cyberspace had put on sleep mode for the night. Probably for the best since she didn't really feel like talking to anyone at the moment. Instead she headed for the kitchen, hoping she could just sit there for a few hours and make herself a little snack while she decompressed.

The kitchen at Control Central had always reminded Jackie of one of those office break rooms she'd seen on TV. It had all the essentials, but was much more bare bones than what one would expect from the ruler of the Cyberuniverse. Then again, it wasn't as if Motherboard herself used it much. Or at all. One glance at the plethora and variety of kitchen utensils strung about said that this was Digit's domain. Inside the refrigerator were fruits and vegetables of every variety, some that Jackie didn't even recognize though she'd been coming to Cyberspace for years now. The cybird prided himself on making almost every meal completely from scratch meaning the only ready to eat thing Jackie could find was a carton of yogurt.

The packaging caused her to make a face. Goat milk yogurt? She'd never heard of such a thing. And what kind of flavor was butter pecan? Still, it was the only thing she could dig up and the only thing that might take her mind off her mental exhaustion. She peeled back the foil top and absent-mindedly started to eat while letting her thoughts wander, enjoying the ambience of Control Central after hours. She must have fallen asleep or been close to as she felt herself jump all of a sudden as footsteps could be heard echoing from somewhere down the long hallway.

Although the sound of the metallic clanging caused her to feel slightly uneasy, she didn't attempt to move from her seat. She had always felt safe in Control Central under the watchful eye of Motherboard, if nowhere else in the world. Even as the footsteps appeared to draw closer, she didn't move from her seat and it wasn't until the sliding doors parted that she even looked up from her midnight snack. When she did, what she saw nearly caused her spoon to fall from her gaping jaws.

Jackie didn't know whether to speak up or stay silent and hope he didn't notice her. She didn't exactly feel like starting a conversation, least of all with him. Deciding to shrink into her shoulders and keep her eyes fixed on her yogurt, she watched as the borg shuffled his way up to the refrigerator and opened it. He seemed to be looking for something in particular as he started digging around in the back and opening the drawers at the bottom. The ticking of the wall clock over Jackie's head sounded like the footsteps of the executioner as he approached to fetch her for the block. Like an owl in the night, the borg's head slowly craned towards the presence she sensed in the room, meeting her gaze with the intent of seizing an elusive piece of prey.

"That was mine!" he spat as he snatched up the already empty yogurt container. "Don't you Earth brats have your own universe to infest? Who gave you permission to come here to steal from me in the middle of the night?"

"It's not like it was labeled," Jackie muttered, the spoon still dangling apathetically from her teeth. With everything that had been on her mind lately, she hadn't even thought of running into the so-called ex-cybervillain as a possibility.

When the Transformatron's effects had worn off, he'd crash landed through the glass dome that shielded the control room and onto the walkway leading up to Motherboard's monitor. With his internal hardware badly damaged and no way of escaping, the borg reluctantly issued his surrender, after which the Ruler of Cyberspace had decided to keep him imprisoned to prevent him from causing further trouble. He had long since been patched up but remained confined to Control Central. This was the first Jackie had even seen of him in so many months.

"I wasn't aware I had to label things in my own fridge!" he sneered. Despite Motherboard having officially declared him as no longer a threat to the Cyberuniverse, he looked and acted much the same as ever. Mean and green. Although he'd switched his cape out for a dark red bathrobe.

"Motherboard's refrigerator," Jackie corrected, folding her arms and refusing to budge an inch.

"Right. Like she uses it all the time."

Before Jackie could think of a clever retort she heard a loud metallic pop, signaling that the lights of the audience chamber had been switched on. Not long after, a familiar voice was heard blasting through the corridors. "Hacker!"

The ex-villain's shoulders tensed as he grumbled something under his breath. Jackie couldn't help flash a smug smile and offer a little wave as she watched him storm towards the door. To her surprise, he stopped as soon as they slid open. "Why don't you come in here yourself?!" he shouted, before turning back to the kitchen abruptly. This prompted Jackie to follow his gaze which seemed to fall on a small monitor which hung from the ceiling in one corner of the room. The screen powered on, displaying the image of the cyber ruler herself.

She looked better now. Healthy. Her screen no longer flickering and distorting, and her speech coming through strong and coherent. As Motherboard stared down at her son, her gaze radiated displeasure. Hacker who barely seemed to flinch just strolled over to the monitor and pulled it down to eye level.

"Do not raise your voice to her. Jackie is a welcome guest in Control Central and Cyberspace."

"Says who?" he spat. "I didn't welcome her. And she clearly hasn't been house trained." He raised the empty yogurt cup up to the screen and started waving it around, making sure Motherboard got a good look at it before flinging it into the trash.

"Hey! I'm not a dog!" the girl protested although neither of the adults in the room seemed to pay mind to her as they continued to talk between themselves.

"If you wished to have any say in that, you shouldn't have spent the last three years systematically attempting to destroy everything you were supposed to protect!" Jackie had rarely seen Motherboard angry and even though she wasn't the target of her ire, the girl couldn't help shrinking a little, averting her gaze as she waited for them to finish. The woman's demeanor could get downright frigid when she got serious.

For a moment she wondered if it would have been best for her to leave as it seemed their conversation was getting somewhat personal. Whether it was the worry it would look rude for her to just up and walk off, or just downright curiosity to catch the extent of their conversation, she decided to stay put. Her mother had always accused her, albeit affectionately, of being a little gossip. Despite all the time she'd spent in the binary realm, she'd heard very little about the time before Hacker had been banished. With Motherboard having been sick for most of the duration, and afterwards everything that had gone on in her own life, it never really felt like an appropriate time. Although she felt no sympathy for the former cybervillain, she couldn't help but wonder what had gone on between the two.

"Jackie, Matt and Inez have been doing your job since you decided it wasn't worth doing. You abandoned your duty and lost any right to have a say in these matters. As of now, their right here supersedes yours."

"Is that so? When was the last time they checked for disk error? Done a security patch? Upgraded the firewall?" he said, fixing a condescending gaze at the girl.

"Doctor Marbles did that last week," she interjected defensively, unwilling to allow the borg any kind of leg up.

"Not correctly."

"Enough!" The force in the woman's tone silenced the both of them. "I'd hoped the years would have changed you, Hacker."

"How convenient that would be for your cause," the borg retorted, his voice oozing melodrama. "Your virus cured and your wayward son groveling at your feet."

"Do you only have the capability to think of yourself?!"

"Yes." There was not a trace of hesitation in the man's tone as he gave his reply, only the bitterness of his decades long grudge.

Jackie felt a chill run through her at his callousness. Hacker might not have caused trouble for the cyberworld at large since his defeat, but it was plain that chaos and wicked deeds were still on his mind. As upset as she could sometimes get at her own mother for, frankly silly things, she could never imagine having the level of disregard and... hate that Hacker seemed to have. She glanced up at Motherboard to see the cyber ruler had shut her eyes, her forehead pinched just above the brow as she struggled to keep from completely losing her temper.

"If you are utterly incapable of seeing reason, we have nothing left to discuss."

"The first meaningful thing you've said today." He took a step away from the screen before turning his back to the two of them and leaving the way he'd come.

Somehow, Jackie felt she'd overstayed her welcome, although she knew Motherboard would disagree. She'd come to Cyberspace to try and get away from all the stress. Instead she'd found herself in the middle of a situation probably even more unpleasant. This was the opposite of decompressing. With a sigh she started to head towards the door as well.

"Jackie? You don't have to leave." With Hacker's exit, Motherboard's tone and manner had softened considerably.

"It's getting late, so I should be heading to bed. Sorry about—" She gestured towards the empty yogurt container in the trash before glancing out at the hallway, almost feeling that just thinking about him would summon his presence back into the room with further retorts.

"That wasn't your fault. He had it coming."

"Is it really okay for him to hang around like this? As long as he's here, all of Cyberspace is still in danger."

"You let me worry about that," the AI reassured her. "Jackie , if there's anything you want to discuss you shouldn't hold it in. You have friends. Let them be there for you."

Jackie slowly nodded, feeling a bit ridiculous for all the worry she'd caused. Maybe she should call Matt and Inez in the morning. Not to talk about her problems. That was the last thing she wanted to do. But just to hang out. It had been a while since all three of them had been together.

"Thanks Mother B."

"Goodnight, Jackie." The Ruler of Cyberspace vanished from the screen, her image replaced with a swirling pink portal. Jackie could feel the force from within pulling at her. She stepped into it and a moment later was back in her chair in front of the computer. Only about a minute had passed since she'd been gone.

Taking in a breath, Jackie did her best to clear her mind and get ready for bed. Life would always be full of little problems and some not so little. She had to learn to move past them right? She was one of the top students in her school, had a wonderful mother, and great friends. The pain she felt was temporary and it would soon pass.

After arranging her comforters in a neat stack atop the bed, she crawled in and closed her eyes. Sleep was slow to come and she tossed and turned for what must have been at least an hour before she finally dozed off.

The next morning she rose to the sound of her alarm. Still groggy after the restless night she'd had, she'd dragged herself out of bed and to the bathroom to wash up and put on a light layer of makeup. Once she had herself looking presentable, she headed downstairs for breakfast, wondering what she should text Matt and Inez later that day. With their busy lives, they would usually run off to Cyberspace for a few hours as a break, but after the events of the night before, she didn't feel like leaving her own world. It wasn't that she thought the chances of running into Hacker were high, she just didn't want to be reminded of being stuck in the middle of whatever that was.

She'd scarcely set a foot in the kitchen before she noticed she wasn't alone. Letting out a shriek of alarm, she leapt backwards, colliding with the refrigerator as she turned to face the stranger who had appeared at her breakfast table. His face was one she was certain she'd never seen before but there was still something much too familiar about him. What it was became apparent as soon as he spoke.

"Hello, Earth-brat!"

Chapter Text

"Hello, Earth brat!"

Jackie froze, staring at the stranger sitting at the breakfast table as her brain tried to catch up to what she was seeing and hearing. From the evidence she could only draw one conclusion. And yet, that couldn't be right. Right? It just didn't make sense.

"H-hacker?!"

She shook her head in disbelief even as she said it. It was just too crazy to be real. He didn't even look anything like the borg. He was... well human for a start with olive toned skin and a finely chiseled jaw which slanted down to a familiar, if not significantly reduced, chin. His hair— or was it still a wig, she couldn't quite tell— was permed into a fifties style do Jackie had only ever seen in black and white movies.

"Good morning. I trust you had a restful night? I know a little midnight snack has me out like—" He snapped his fingers so loudly it nearly caused Jackie to jump. She just stood there watching him, unsure if she should scream, throw something at him, or just crawl back into bed until she woke up for real.

The man picked up a butter knife, using it to spread the contents of a jar of orange marmalade over his toast. On the breakfast table beside him were the remains of a now empty package of bread.

"Wait, that's—" Before she could finish her sentence, the events of the night before came flooding back and suddenly it dawned on her exactly what he was up to. This was his twisted and childish attempt at retaliation after she'd taken his yogurt! No. Taken a yogurt that was unlabeled from a fridge in what was practically her second home. And now he was here attempting to get under her skin by doing the same. She looked at him and could see the smarmy grin that was already starting to spread all over his ridiculous face.

"That's...?" He waited for her to finish, almost as if he were baiting her into contradicting herself.

"Different."

Urgh. She had told herself in her head to shut up, but for some reason she couldn't help it. That look he gave brought out something in her that just wanted to have the last word. As much as she hated herself for stooping to his level, there was no turning back now.

"No one invited you here," she continued. "How are you here anyways? And why do you look like that?"

Hacker looked down at himself, adjusting how the purple cardigan he wore fitted over his shoulders. Outside of his usual villain attire, and especially now that he wasn't even green, he looked almost disturbingly ordinary. "A temporary modification, but it granted me compatibility enough to get through the portal. Complicated science, though it was hardly an obstacle with my rare genius." He shrugged, seeming none too happy with his altered appearance. Maybe not surprising seeing how much he seemed to obsess over his cyborg looks.

"Wait, do you mean you build some kind of weird machine to look like that?"

"Thank you for your mediocre restatement of what I just said. But yes, I build a 'weird machine'," he clarified with air quotes.

"In one night?"

"It took about six weeks actually. My career in evil seems to have hit a temporary roadblock, so I thought, 'Hey, why not give Earth a try?'." He shrugged, flippantly polishing off what remained of the toast before getting up for another look inside the fridge.

Unlike the one at Control Central which was always completely stocked thanks to Digit, Jackie's kitchen sat nearly empty. Her mother went shopping once a week and bought just enough for the two of them, around half of their meals being take-out anyways. It being a Sunday, there wasn't much left but a few jars of condiments, sauces and a nearly empty carton of eggs.

"How did you find my house?!" she cried, stunned by his flippancy. Hacker finding his way to Earth was something that had gnawed at the back of her mind for years now. But since the villain had never so much as attempted such a ploy, she'd begun to doubt such a thing was even possible. Now he was just here, after barely two months worth of effort and the first thing he decided to do was raid her fridge. She was almost ready to laugh.

"Oh please. Don't insult me," Hacker scoffed. "Those little portal openers of Marbles's have the security of an all night drive thru."

"You came in through my bedroom?! That's so creepy!"

"Yes, yes." He rolled his eyes. "Don't make this weird." He pulled out the last two remaining eggs and cracked them into a pan over the stove top. "Looks like someone needs to buy more food," he tut-tutted.

Jackie didn't feel like she had the strength to deal with much more of this man and his bull. She slumped down into one of the kitchen chairs and just sat there watching him fry his eggs. But she couldn't just... let Hacker have the last laugh. Not even when the stakes seemed as relatively low as they did. She had to hit him hard. Where it hurt.

When the perfect comeback finally came to mind she found herself slouching back smugly in her seat, gathering all the bitterness she could muster in her tone. Her eyes narrowed and she stared at him, lips flattened into a humorless smile. "I. Like. Your. Chin."

Each annunciated syllable looked like it was a lit poker beneath the shoulder blades for the dimension hopping cyborg. If it was possible to snap one's own neck, Hacker looked like he did when he spun around to glare daggers at the girl.

"Zip it! It's not my fault your universe hates ART!" he wailed, instinctively reaching for his missing appendage. His tone was so filled with despair Jackie might have pitied him. At least once she got done laughing.

He took his hands off his shrunken chin just long enough to long enough to flip his eggs before opening his mouth for a retort. Before he could utter a word, Jackie heard her mother's voice from upstairs, followed by the distant sound of footsteps muffled by carpet. "Jackie? Who are you talking to?"

A sudden panic struck the young teen. How was she supposed to explain this? The full grown stranger in their kitchen? Had her mother actually heard their conversation? "You have to go—" she cried, nearly choking on air. She was fully intent on trying to shove the borg through a window or out the front door, but by the time she'd turned to where he'd been standing, Hacker had already disappeared, with only the eggs still sizzling on the stove to convince her it hadn't all been some kind of hallucination.

"Jackie?" Her mother's voice was louder now and a moment later the girl looked up to see her coming down the stairs to check on her.

Thinking fast, she flicked on the fan above the stove and slid the eggs onto a plate. When she heard her mother entering the kitchen, she pretended to glance up for the first time. "Good morning, mom. Just making some eggs," she chuckled awkwardly. "I, err... already ate." She hadn't of course, but Hacker had and she didn't want her mother to go hungry until lunch.

"Thank you, sweetie," her mom said, giving her a kiss on the cheek and taking the plate of eggs. "How thoughtful. Is there anything you want me to pick up at the store today?"

"Hmm... if they have any black and white cookies on sale," she suggested, playing with her bracelet. She wondered if Hacker was really gone or if he wasn't just hiding somewhere else in the house. One thing was sure, stealing their bread would not be the extent of his deeds now that he was here.

As her mother ate, Jackie quickly clambered back upstairs, peeking into every door and closet on the way to make sure Hacker wasn't hidden somewhere. She even checked inside the tub and under the bathroom sink.

Once she felt moderately satisfied that she and her mother were alone in the house she retreated to her room, fingers fumbling for the flip phone on her desk. She had to admit to herself she was unsure how to handle the situation. Should they tell Mother B? It almost seemed counterintuitive since the cyber ruler had always counted on them when it came to Hacker in the past. Plus now that he no longer had access to the Wreaker and all its weapons, he couldn't be that dangerous right?

Urgh, of course not. They were doomed. Earth was doomed. She opened up her texts and started to type.

Jackie: We nd 2 talk.

Matt: Waz up?

Jackie: Can u mt 2day?

Matt: Lol. House on fire?

The teen found herself looking up from her phone for a moment to pause and seethe in frustration at the boy. She loved him, but god did he make her blood boil sometimes.

Jackie: (~_~;)

Matt: Dnt worry. Inz n me go'n 2  lbrary. See u  1 hr.

Jackie: Thx.

She pocketed her phone and started searching the back of her closet for her bike helmet. By the time she'd found it, she could hear the sound of her mother's car pulling out of its parked spot in their driveway. She heaved a sigh. At least she could be sure she wouldn't be leaving her mother alone with him. All the same, she didn't feel absolutely secure until she didn't another thorough sweep of the house.

Nothing.

After making sure all the windows were locked tight, she took her key and the spare her mother left under the welcome mat before finally setting off. The November air was bitterly cold and after a few blocks Jackie could barely feel her fingertips as they clung onto the grips of her handlebars. It was mostly the idea Hacker might have still been lingering rather than anything specific she imagined him doing that made her want to get out of the house as quickly as possible.

Once she made it to the library, she chained her bike outside, rubbing her hands vigorously as she headed in. As she suspected, neither of her friends had gotten there yet. Matt who lived just outside of town probably would take the full hour if not longer just to get there and Inez, who'd probably just gotten up herself, knowing that, would have taken her time walking.

Jackie set her coat down on a seat in one corner of the main reading room before getting up to pace nervously up and down the isles of books, rehearsing what she was going to say in her head. Eventually, she found herself wandering beside a familiar digital map that hung on the wall.

The glass screen had gotten scuffed up over the years by greasy fingers and rough nails, but it still seemed to function perfectly. She raised a hand, about to interact with the screen, but at the last minute pulled away. Part of her fearing just a touch would repeat what had been done three years ago.

When she finally heard the sound of her friends arriving, she ran to the door. "Hey, Jax. Seriously, what's the matter?" Matt said, noticing the panicked intensity on her face as she rushed towards them. "I barely got done with chores before you texted."

"Nothing good," she nearly screamed, though she managed to keep her voice just above a whisper. "Hacker's here."

"W-what?!" Her friends responded in unison.

"Are you serious?" Matt hissed. "Like on Earth?"

"Are you sure? Did you actually see him?" Inez asked. "Like up close?"

Jackie grabbed her younger friend by the shoulders as the three of them collectively headed toward the back. "I talked to him. I woke up and he was in my house."

"That's crazy! What did he do? W-what did he want?!" Inez cried, looking around as if expecting the borg to suddenly appear.

"He said... actually he didn't really say anything. Just tried to mess with my head." Jackie sat down with a huff and folded her arms. "Urgh. This is all 'cause I accidentally took his yogurt last night."

"You were in Cyberspace last night?" Matt asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah... I just needed a breather. Never enough hours in the day, ya know." She shrugged, trying to pass it off as nothing before giving her friends a brief play by play of what had happened.

"Well I'm sure he couldn't have gotten far," Inez said. "I mean he doesn't exactly blend in around here. Not that he does in Cyberspace either."

"Wrong, Inez. He built some kind of machine that makes him look human. He looks completely normal. But I think you'll still know when you see him. There's something about his face. Is it stupid to say he looks evil?"

Matt actually laughed. "My dad says bad guys don't come with a label, but I think I know exactly what you mean. He's not exactly subtle. But come on Jax, he has to have bigger plans than yogurt revenge."

"I don't know," Inez said, adjusting her glasses. "Remember that Mother's Day when he tried to destroy some flowers? I wouldn't discount petty. But if he is using some kind of machine, maybe we can use it to bring him back to Cyberspace. Kind of like with the Transformatron?"

"Right, if we shut it off, maybe it will send him back," Matt agreed. "We should definitely let Motherboard know. See if she and Doctor Marbles can find out where Hacker is storing the thing. Motherboard hasn't let him out of Control Central so it shouldn't be too hard to find, right?"

The trio piled into one of the private meeting rooms in the back. Normally, one would have to book a time to use it but it was currently unoccupied and the librarians weren't likely to mind them locking themselves in for a few minutes.

Inez took out her skwak and called for Motherboard. The cyber ruler appeared almost immediately. It still surprised Jackie sometimes how much better she was day to day after having her virus cured. She'd known nothing but the sick Motherboard for so long, it had become the norm. The bespectacled girl gave Motherboard a quick rundown of the situation, explaining they had no idea about Hacker's current whereabouts other than he was likely still in the area.

"Thank you for telling me, cybermates," the cyber ruler sighed. Jackie could see, cured or not, she was tired of her son's constant attempts at causing trouble. "I will ask Doctor Marbles to have the machine procured, but it will be too dangerous to shut it off with Hacker still on Earth."

"Dangerous how?" Jackie asked.

"Beings of Cyberspace be they borg or otherwise, are typically incompatible with Earth's laws of reality. If Hacker has figured out a way to get around that, abruptly shutting off the machine before he's back in Cyberspace will likely delete him from existence," she explained. "He's not been the easiest to manage over the years, but I would prefer us not to resort to such extremes." One by one the trio nodded in understanding. Jackie couldn't help but wonder, as best as she tried to remain impartial, if she still cared for Hacker the way a mother would. It was a strange thing to acknowledge, and she quickly put the thought out of her mind.

"Then what do we do?" she asked, hoping the computer would have some kind of feasible plan for them. The last thing she wanted was to have the borg wandering around her neighborhood for who knew how long.

"Catch him alone," she instructed. "I'll create a portal that will send him back."

"Got it," Matt nodded. "That shouldn't be hard. Jackie had him alone just this morning."

"In the meantime, take care, cybermates."

"Motherboard, wait," Inez asked. "Do you have any idea what he could want? I mean, should we be worried about him trying to take over Earth?"

The woman stared through the screen, silent for a moment. To Jackie it almost looked as if she was holding back on her response. "No. Without the Wreaker he's harmless. He simply has a tendency to... avoid taking responsibility."

Before anyone could ask what she meant, the cyber ruler had vanished from the screen, leaving the trio to shoot each other befuddled looks. Matt was the first to speak. "What do you think she meant?"

"I think she's just over it," Jackie heaved a sigh. "And I am too. I mean I care about Cyberspace. Of course I do, but I'm sick and tired of Hacker messing everything up. And this time we can't even pause time to deal with it like we usually do. We can't just ditch school to look for Hacker!"

"Maybe we can take turns keeping an eye out," Inez suggested. "Like alternate days after school. Oh, but where would we even start looking? Do we just wait for him to come to us?"

"Maybe if we all slept over at Jackie's house until he showed up," Matt joked. "Hey, when's the last time we've had a slumber party?"

"Not since 6th grade," Inez muttered. "My parents would never let me now. Especially not with a guy."

"We could hide out in her bushes with popcorn until he showed up."

"Don't even think about it, Matt!" Jackie hissed, paranoid by just the idea of anyone parked in her bushes.

The boy shrugged. "Well then what?"

"I guess I'll just have to handle him on my own," she huffed, not happy with the idea, but not exactly seeing a way around it short of being followed by Matt and Inez everywhere for the rest of her life. "In between midterms, gymnastics and my piano recital. Lucky me."

Her friends stared at each other, visibly concerned, causing Jackie to quickly grow self conscious. "I'm sure it won't be that hard. I mean, we must have beaten him a hundred times by now."

"He'll probably be back in Cyberspace by the end of the week," Matt reassured her with a smile. The girl nodded and the trio made a three way fist bump before Jackie left them to their work.

It had been a blow to her at the start of the semester to find that she didn't share a single class with either of the two friends she'd seen almost daily for the last three years. And the fact they shared a few with each other, made it feel as if the trio were gradually drifting apart. What would things be like in a few years when they were all in college, now that they didn't even have the excuse of fighting Hacker to see each other?

Jackie did her best to brush away these uncomfortable thoughts as she stopped by a bakery on the way back. Since Hacker had taken the last of their food, she was starving by the time she sat down for her, now brunch. Not wanting to look too conspicuous, bringing home food after having apparently eaten, she sat down to finish her coffee and blueberry muffin before heading home.

She carried her bike up the steps leading to the door, pausing a moment to catch her breath and getting out her key. It was then she heard voices from inside. Her guard going up suddenly, she stared at the door, trying to focus on the sound and pick up what was being said. Her mother didn't exactly have people over all that often.

Before he could catch a word of conversation, she could hear the sound of maniacal laughter from the kitchen. "Mom?!" she cried, going into a sudden panic as she realized who must have been in the house with her.

She flung the door open, not bothering to bring the bike inside or even take off her helmet as she flew into the kitchen. "Mom! Are you... okay?" Her words lost all their conviction as she noticed her mother had been laughing too. With Hacker?

Sure enough the two of them were in the kitchen together, chatting while her mother rinsed off some broccoli in preparation for lunch. "Oh, Jackie. Welcome back. Mr. Hacker, your new assistant math teacher, just moved into the apartment down the street." Jackie stared gobsmacked at Mr. Hacker, now sitting completely at home at the breakfast table with a plate of cookies from the store and a tall glass of lemonade.

"Oh, yes. We've already gotten to be great friends in class," he said, giving her an innocent wave. "Hope you have tomorrow's assignments done. Can't let those grades slip," he tut-tutted, wearing his new role of the altruistic educator like a glove.

Her mother just smiled at her, gesturing for her to go upstairs and get started. "I'll bring you up a snack in a minute."

"O-okay," she said, still confused, but heading towards the stairs.

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow." Jackie froze mid-step. Was that a threat? She turned back to glare at Hacker, wishing looks could kill. Hacker just flashed that stupid, smug grin of his and dismissively waved her away.

As she trudged her way up, she could hear the adults resume their conversation. Hacker seemed to have fed her mother some lie about working at her school. It was clever she had to admit since just being an assistant meant it wouldn't be difficult to explain away her not running into him on parent teacher night or any other school events. She thought about calling Motherboard and just getting the whole thing done with now that Hacker had reappeared, but having to explain everything that had been going on the last three years behind her mother's back was not something she thought either of them could handle right then.

"Oh, believe me. A career change this late in life is no cake walk," Hacker lamented, his tone dripping with its usual sickening melodrama. "I would not recommend it. All the extra hours and they act like you're sixteen." His massive ego meant he could never resist the urge to play the showman, although her mother didn't seem to notice this flaw.

"Old job that bad, huh?"

"You have no idea." He seemed to chuckle at this twist of irony. "And line of work are you in, Aaliyah?"

Jackie's jaw nearly hit the floor. As she reached the landing, she slowly sat herself down and began eavesdropping, her heart pounding against something swollen and burning in her chest. The girl hadn't bitten her nails since she was eight years old, but now seemed like as good a time as any to relapse. Sitting half in the dark at the top of the steps, she stared down at the light from the kitchen, mind fixed on every syllable that was uttered. Whatever his plan was, there was no way she was going to leave her mother alone with that creep. Not even for a moment.

Chapter Text

By Monday morning, Jackie found herself in a stupor. Normally attentive at class, she could do little more than stare into space and bounce her foot. When she got to geometry, she half expected Hacker to walk right in, somehow having gotten a job at the school for real. Since they'd all parted ways at the library, she'd only spoken to her friends through text, sending a few brief back and forths to catch them up on the events of the afternoon before. Doing so had wracked up a decent phone bill for the month and she'd had to stop herself before she got her mom into any trouble.

Once the last bell of the day rang, she rushed to meet Matt and Inez before they headed out of their last class. She arrived at the classroom just in time to see the tops of their heads going into the adjacent stairwell. Doing everything she could to push through the packed crowds of kids eager to head home for the day, she managed to grab Inez by the hand just before the girl stepped out of the building.

"I can't take it anymore, guys."

"Wha?" Inez blinked, her brain still catching up after her friend's sudden appearance. Noticing she'd stopped, Matt waited for two of them just outside, methodically tossing a baseball into a catcher's mitt.

"They were talking all afternoon. Laughing," Jackie wailed, grabbing her friend by the shoulders and shaking her back and forth. "And when I get home, he'll be there again! We need to get rid of him somehow. I'm not living with Hacker as a neighbor for the rest of my life."

"Try telling him that." Jackie looked up to see Matt pointing towards the school gates with his ungloved hand.

Her eyes darted through the crowd of kids, trying to figure out what exactly Matt was pointing at. Eventually her eye fell on the man who sold Italian ice, parked in his usual spot on the pavement. She watched as he scooped 1, 2, then 3 scoops into individual paper cups and handed them over to the customer. Jackie felt her blood turn cold as she realized who had bought them.

The way his head craned to meet her gaze in the next moment made her almost want to scream. And that weaselly grin of his. "How did he find us?" she cried. "Did he follow me to school this morning? Ew, ew and double ew! That guy needs to get a life!" She stormed her way towards the gate, fingers still tightly clasped around Inez's hand for support. The bespectacled girl made a slight effort to free herself, but otherwise reluctantly stumbled after her friend.

"Hey, you!" Jackie hollered, jabbing an accusing finger as they stepped in front of the man. In response, he motioned towards her holding out the three cups of ice, one for each of them. His sudden gesture made her pause and instinctively pull away. In her periphery, she could see that the ice man and a few of her classmates passing by were now staring at them. Not wanting to cause any more of a scene in front of people she knew, she gritted her teeth and continued in a markedly lower tone. "Stay away from us!" she hissed.

"Now, now Sunshine," the man tutted. "Is that any way to treat an old friend?"

"We are not—" Before Jackie could finish her sentence, he'd shoved one of the ices in her face, covering her nose and upper lip in the chilled fruity syrup. He puckered his lips into a smile, looking much too proud of himself as he handed the other two ices to her friends.

"Why are you here, Hacker?" Matt asked, crossing his arms and refusing to take a thing from the man.

"Who else is there to make sure you three stay out of trouble? After all the dutiful visits you've paid me over the years, it's only right I return the favor now that I'm here." He continued to hold the ice out towards the boy for several more seconds before flipping it over and stacking it on top of the one Inez had in her hands. "So," he said, patting his hands clean of the sticky treat. "Who wants a ride home, hm?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain with a small keypad. Pushing a button caused a yellow convertible parked at the side of the road to beep.

"You have a car?" Inez replied, incredulously as Jackie removed the ice cup from her face and tried to wipe her lip clean with the back of her hand. To her dismay, it resulted in stickiness and a blotch of red coloring. At least none of it had gotten on her clothes.

"I rented one," he replied, rather flippantly shooting Jackie an amused look. "Which, believe me, was no picnic. This is an enormous site with absolutely no organizational structure to speak of. How do you find anything?"

"Where did you get the money? As far as I know, exchanges don't deal in snelfus," Matt asked, arms still folded over his chest. Jackie could see he wasn't going to let Hacker go without first thoroughly interrogating him. He was giving them a hard time, why return the favor? She couldn't help but smile slightly with relief as she tried to rub the lingering taste of cherry from her lips. Hacker was so much less of a pain to deal with when she had backup.

"That's for me to know, and you to struggle to wrap your little heads around," the cyborg in disguise said as he strolled over to the car and pulled up the roof. Jackie raised an eyebrow at this until she heard a rumble from the sky and looked up. A flock of dark clouds had drifted overhead since they'd been outside which could only mean one, very not good thing.

"Last call, kiddies. Any takers?" Hacker said as he got into the driver's side. None of them made a move, not even Matt who had to take two buses and a long walk back to get back to his farm. Although if it were a contest, the boy probably would have won the award for being the most vehemently anti-Hacker. "No? Too bad."

The former cybervillain barely seemed phased by this reaction, as if he'd intended for the proposition to be rhetorical from the start. He rolled up his window and sped away just as the sky rumbled again and the downpour began.

After a quick goodbye, the three parted ways, pulling the hoods of their jackets up to spare themselves, even a little, from the downpour. Jackie did her best to avoid puddles as she made a beeline for her piano teacher's house. It was considerably further than her route home was and by the time she got there she was dripping wet and apologizing profusely. Mercifully, her teacher had a spare umbrella to lend her for her route home and she returned, relatively dry after her 2 hour lesson.

Her mother was still at work, and luckily there seemed to be no sign of Hacker either. She hung up her soggy jacket by the door and clambered upstairs to take a bath and change into fresh clothes.

Refreshed, she got out and settled down at her desk to start on homework. By the time she heard the sound of her mother pulling into the driveway, the rain had stopped and the skies had darkened for the night. She rose from her chair and descended the steps to welcome her parent home.

When she saw her mother struggling to pull the key out of the doorknob, she hurried to help, relieving her of her plastic bags of takeout which she set down at the kitchen table. As she snuck a peek inside, she couldn't help but notice her mother had bought more than usual.

"I invited Mr. Hacker over for dinner."

"What?!" Jackie, shrieked, whirling around just as the man himself stepped through the door carrying a cardboard cup holder with their drinks. If she hadn't been certain her mother wouldn't have taken kindly to it, her chosen response would have included something along the lines of 'Are you crazy?!'. Instead she settled on, "But we never have people over," after a few seconds of stunned head shaking.

"I thought it might be nice once in a while," her mother replied, turning on the faucet to wash her hands. "We bumped into each other outside the Chinese place."

"What a coincidence," Jackie muttered, sulking into a chair with her arms folded over her chest.

She glanced over at him and the smarmy grin he had plastered all over his face. Did he have nothing better to do than annoy her? Well, seeing as Motherboard had permanently grounded him, probably not. But that didn't give him the right to keep barging into her life!

"Let me help you with that." Hacker set down their drinks and went to give her mother a hand setting the table, grabbing a handful of plates and putting them down at the center.

Seeing him being so nice was not only creepy, it felt unnatural and wrong. Maybe because she knew from experience he wasn't being genuine. Yet she couldn't understand why her mother seemed unable to see it.

Refusing to just stand around and watch him slime his way into her family, she took the plates from his hands, setting them on the diner table before he could reach it. As her mother returned with the cuterily, she removed their food from the plastic bags, intentionally avoiding the portion meant for Hacker.

"I don't think you ever mentioned where you were from," her mother said, taking a seat as well. Jackie blinked, glancing at the cybervillain to see how he'd respond. He couldn't exactly start telling the truth, not unless he wanted 'Earthlies' to think he was crazy. Did he have a story already thought up or would she shortly be watching a man make a fool of himself?

"Oh, I've never lived far," he replied aloofly, sticking a string of asparagus with his fork. That was one way of saying he'd come into the real world through her room. Jackie shuddered, focusing her gaze down towards her food.

"Really? It must be nice to be able to see family. Everyone you grew up with."

This revelation caused the cyborg to shake his head and laugh. "Not so nice."

"I'm sorry." Jackie could tell by her tone her mother was caught off guard and slightly embarrassed by the response. She wished she could tell her what he'd meant to say was that he was in fact the jerk in the relationship.

"Mom's a politician," he went on. "You know what that's like." The injection of the humorous note into the conversation seemed to put Jackie's mother somewhat at ease again although Jackie couldn't tell how genuine she thought he was.

"Tell me."

The cyborg continued to shake his head although Jackie couldn't tell if it was because he was reluctant to divulge more or just found the whole thing amusing. "Putting it in the kindest possible way, she's impossibly stubborn. I was raised in the family business, yet she never let me take the reins on anything. Everything went through her because she always had to be the only smart one in the room. Impossible. Demanding. Egotistical."

Jackie couldn't help but laugh out loud at the absurdity of his statements. Hacker calling someone else egotistical? Mother B was one of the most patient, kind and giving people she knew. "Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?" she retorted bitterly, forgetting her mother was right there.

"Jackie!" she scolded, causing her daughter to flinch. If she only knew him, she wouldn't have been so critical. To her surprise, Hacker addressed the insult with nothing more than a dismissive wave.

"Sunshine's just being friendly," he assured her. "We like giving each other a hard time, don't we?"

"Yeah," she replied, forcing a flat smile, crushing the peas in her fried rice under the flat end of her fork. It wasn't fair for him to talk about Motherboard like that. If they were alone, she would have given him a piece of her mind. She could see her mother still glancing between them, as if she wasn't sure whether to take Hacker's word or try to offer an apology.

"It must be hard not being able to see eye to eye," she said at last, her tone sympathetic.

"My dear, you're talking to the rebellious black sheep," he bragged. "The only time I see eye to eye with anyone is when I'm about to give them the horns."

His light-hearted tone brought a smile to her mother's lips as she ate. Though Jackie could still see the tiredness on her face from her day at work, there was a new energy in her eyes she hadn't seen in months. "You did strike me as the type to know how to speak his mind. Still, that kind of life has to be isolating. And you look like you've done well for yourself, all in all. She should be able to accept that."

For whatever reason, these words seemed to strike a nerve with the borg and his tone did an about face. "I don't need her to accept anything," he said, knuckles whitening as his grip on the table knife tightened. "She was responsible for my existence. In a perfect world, that would be the extent of our relationship."

His sudden shift to aggression seemed to stun her mother and for a moment there was silence at the dinner table. Jackie couldn't help but smile a bit. She should have had faith from the beginning that Hacker would eventually slip in his façade. This wasn't like Cyberspace where she and her friends could foil some sinister scheme of his. This time he was the scheme, but she was confident her mother would soon see him for what he was. Then Jackie would be able to catch him alone and call on a portal to be rid of him for good.

Her mother, patient as always, took a moment to regain her bearings and shook her head clear of thoughts. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Forget it," Hacker replied, much to the girl's surprise. "Thank you, for dinner. That was very considerate of you." Jackie could hardly believe her ears. Had Hacker, the Hacker actually just thanked someone? Part of her wanted to dismiss it as just another part of his façade, but something was different about the way he'd said it. If there was doubt in her mind, it only flourished further with what he said next. "And which part of the planet are you from?"

"Down south," her mother replied with a chuckle. His joke, or what she'd taken as a joke, seemed to reassure her and bring back the mood somewhat. "Moved here for college. When I got married, we moved from place to place for a while. He was in the military. When Jackie was born, we came back here to settle."

Jackie looked up from her plate, shuffling uncomfortably as the subject of her late father was brought up. She could see her mother's brow tightened as she forced strength into her voice and continued past her grief. "We were both computer science majors. That was how we met. Although he always said I was better at it than he was. He was a little impatient, always going out looking for adventure. My side of the family works in hospitality. Restaurants, hotels, that kind of thing. So we're mostly homebodies."

"Oh? A little rebellious in the career department ourselves, are we?"

"Not a bit," she laughed. "My parents loved researching the job market and they told me going into IT would secure my future. And they were right. Long hours, but it pays the bills."

"Sounds like it's not your dream career."

"Well, everyone's fantasized about being ruler of the universe, but that's not exactly realistic, is it? Work keeps my interest enough, and I like my coworkers."

"So, what are your ambitions, Aaliyah?"

She chuckled a little awkwardly at his persistence, not exactly uncomfortable by the question, but clearly uncertain about her response. "I guess I've never really thought about it." She fell completely silent for several moments, poking at her food before lifting her head again as an answer came to her. "But if we're talking about pipedreams. Top of my head, recklessness, I've always liked the idea of running a wedding boutique. Making dresses, that kind of thing. Not that I'm some kind of hopeless romantic or anything." She emphasized with an eyeroll. "It's just the art of it. You can't hide a bad design with fancy colors or patterns. Everything stands on getting that perfect shape."

Once she'd finished her speech there came a sudden shyness in her posture and she covered her face with her hand before trying to shrug off her words. "But enough about me," she declared, trying to redirect the conversation. "Mr. Hacker— what's the story behind that name? You weren't born with it."

"I was," he declared with bravado. "I've been told it's very European."

"It sounds more like a stage name. You sure it wasn't one of your many careers?"

"You caught me," he chuckled, putting his hands up in the air. "Alas, I was unable to resist the irony."

"But aren't hackers the bad guys?" Jackie cried, butting in for the second time.

"It's just a skill, baby," her mother corrected, much to her chagrin. "People can use it for good or bad. There are hackers that work for the government. They're like locksmiths, but for digital data." There was patience in her tone as she explained the concept to her daughter, but Jackie could see the hint of disappointment on her face although she was hiding it in the presence of their guest. She seemed to realize there was indeed some tension between her daughter and her new teacher, but before she could make any attempt to rectify the situation, Hacker cut in.

"Nonsense. I'm a hacker and a teacher. That practically makes me Head Chairman of the Committee of Wickedness."

Jackie shot him a flat smile, not entirely certain that hadn't been a title he'd actually held. What annoyed her the most was how easily he was able to diminish all her comments by making jokes out of them. Remarks that might have caused citizens to give him a suspicious look in Cyberspace were nothing but a bit of silliness on Earth.

This notion was reinforced as she saw the remark had induced a look of mild amusement from her mother. Jackie's eyes drifted back to Hacker, expecting to see the usual smugness in his features at succeeding in his manipulation. Surprisingly, as much as she searched for them, his usual sneer seemed to have vanished. As had the bitterness he'd exuded not more than a few minutes ago. Instead, his eyes seemed to light up slightly as he smiled.

It genuinely caught her off guard and for the remainder of the meal she had little to say. Her expression continued to fall between dumbstruck and slightly aghast, staring between Hacker and her mother as they continued their back and forth.

Even after emptying the dinner plates, the two continued to chat well into the night, eventually moving their conversation to the living room. Seeing this as her only chance to excuse herself, she retreated to her room. Whatever reservations she had with leaving her mother alone the day before, her mental exhaustion and Hacker's odd change in attitude had slowly sapped her will. If he'd just come here to annoy her, well, she had better things to do than babysit him twenty four seven. As she sat down again to finish her homework, she could still hear him and her mother chatting away downstairs. Although they weren't speaking particularly loudly, it seemed to be all she could focus on. By the time the cyborg finally left, going off to who knew where for the night, her pencil was still hovering over a blank on the page.

Letting out a deep breath, she was forcing herself to read the problem for the ten billionth time, when her mother came in. "Are you okay, baby?"

"Fine, mom."

"Listen. If you don't like Mr. Hacker, he doesn't have to come over anymore. I trust you. But if there's something you want to share with me, don't think you have to keep it to yourself, okay?"

"Yeah," she smiled weakly. If only that were possible. If only she'd even understand. "Don't worry, mom. I can handle him. He's just really annoying. I mean, all those things he said about his mother aren't true. She's one of the sweetest, smartest people I know."

"You've met her?" her mother blinked, stunned.

Jackie froze, worried she'd just exposed herself and her friends' adventures she stammered hurriedly, "I, s-she came to the school a few times. She's a friend of the principal. But she's great, mom. Don't believe him."

"Well, baby. Sometimes things can be complicated. Sometimes there are things that happen behind closed doors that aren't for us to judge."

"I-I guess," Jackie relented as her mother gently clasped her hands in her own.

"It's important to give people the benefit of the doubt."

"I know," she whispered. She wanted to cry out that her mother didn't know the whole story. But how could she without giving away everything that had gone on the last few years? And how much of it was very much her business.

Cyberspace wasn't just a realm separate from her own by a screen. She had friends there. Friends Hacker had routinely threatened. After three years, everything involving Hacker and the well-being of the digital world seemed like her responsibility. And like every other time before, he'd have to go down.

Chapter Text

"Do you think we can trick him into coming with us somewhere?" Matt suggested as they were let out the next day. "In 'Lakeside Killer' McCliften lures the campers one by one to the boat house where no one can hear the screams over the sound of the motors."

"Did you really just compare us to a movie monster?" Jackie glowered at him. She'd been in and out of sleep the night before, the jumble of thoughts in her head waking her up twice before her alarm went off. In short, she was in no mood for one of Matt's dumb plans.

"We're not going to kill him. Just do that thing Motherboard said, where we call her to open a portal."

"And how exactly do you expect us to lure him into a creepy boathouse?" She folded her arms as the three of them stood at the street corner. It was the spot where they'd usually part ways to go home and where they typically lingered a bit to chat when they weren't otherwise engaged.

"It doesn't have to be a boathouse," Matt huffed, although there was a hint of a sarcastic chuckle in his tone. "A cabin in the woods would work too. Don't be so literal, Jaxs."

"I don't think taking advice from a slasher film is the best plan," Inez interjected. "Those movies are so predictable. Not even Hacker's dumb enough to fall for a trick like that."

Matt frowned and shrugged, stuffing his hand into his pockets. "He is pretty dumb sometimes. Remember Slider tricked him with that phony ring?" He chuckled at the memory. The two had gotten close in the years since they were kids. Jackie rolled her eyes, amused when she remembered how much he'd hated the cyborg boy when they'd first met.

Before she could offer a response, a familiar vehicle sped up along the sidewalk where they stood, coming to an abrupt halt on a muddy puddle left over from yesterday's storm. Standing at the side of the road at that moment for Matt, was like sitting in the front row at Seaworld, only with brown water instead of clear. The sound of the screeching car had caused him to spin around, putting his face directly into the splash zone.

"Hacker," Jackie growled as Matt gagged and spluttered behind her, although her tone was considerably more fatigued than it had been the night before. For some reason, her mother's words were still knocking around in her head. As much as she kept insisting to herself her mother was not privy to the whole truth, and didn't know the real Hacker, the evil man she'd fought the last few years, she couldn't deny her resolve had been considerably weakened. Whatever his true intentions were, he wasn't being that man now and hadn't since he'd appeared on Earth.

"What the heck, dude?!"

"It's THEE Hacker," he replied, ignoring Matt. "You children have the disk space of goldfish."

"What do you want?" Inez chimed in.

"You." The villain pointed at Jackie and then to the backseat of his car. "Get in. The rest of you, go away."

"You're crazy if you think that's ever going to happen." The bespectacled girl crossed her arms over her chest. While Jackie was grateful for her trying to step in, at this point, what would be the harm? She had her skwak with her and as much as she hated to admit it, this seemed like the best chance she had of catching him alone, away from the public or her mother. A chance to finally put an end to his game, whatever it was.

"I'll go." She stepped forward, though making sure to give Hacker a stare with as much loathing as she could cram in.

"Jaxs, no," Matt cried, just as he got done ringing water out of his ginger locks.

"Excellent." The villain hissed, his smugness nearly palpable.

"It's not a big deal, guys," Jackie sighed as she got into the back seat with her arms folded, giving Hacker's chair a kick for good measure. "I'll see you tomorrow."

As they sped off, Hacker grumbling under his breath about the untimely actions of her foot, Jackie kept her gaze fixed out the window making sure he wasn't trying to take her too far out of her neighborhood. Although they were technically alone, she couldn't exactly call Motherboard now and risk the car colliding with anyone.

"Where are we going?" she asked. "It's a school night. I have to be home by eight."

"Relax, Sunshine. It's not far."

"And why do you keep calling me that? My name is Jackie. J-a-c—" Before she could finish spelling, he slammed his foot on the break nearly causing her to choke on her seatbelt. "Can you drive for five minutes without a traffic violation!?"

"Oh, quiet. Look, we're here."

Jackie blinked quietly as Hacker got out of the car. Glancing out the window, she saw they'd pulled into the parking lot of the local grocers. It was only about a block or so from her house. Why did he bring her here of all places? She wasn't sure what she was expecting. Maybe something along the lines of a creepy boathouse?

"And why are we here?"

"To get my nails done," he said with a sarcastic roll of the eyes.

"I mean, why do you need me? I'm not carrying a card if that's what you were hoping." She stayed put in the back seat even as he opened the door to let her out, unsure of exactly what he was planning and unwilling to blindly follow him into the store. It was weird to think of him doing something so mundane. And weird to think of herself doing it with him. Yet cyborgs did have to eat. She knew that from Digit. Still, it was too much to accept that, that was all he was up to here.

Hacker took a moment to respond, his face registering weariness at her stubborn inquiry. To Jackie he looked as if he was holding back on an answer, already regretting what he was about to speak.

"Dinner," he replied at last, curtly. Then, as if sensing she wouldn't be satisfied with this answer, he added quickly. "Just pick out some things Aaliyah likes."

Jackie sat, agape. She shook her head, still unable to fully process what he was saying. The thought he could have actually felt anything for her mother made her want to puke. It wasn't just a simple ew, it was practically maddening. "Are you serious?"

"Just do it!"

"Why should I?" she shouted back at him. "Haven't you bothered her enough?"

"Don't give me that. Your mother adores me. And who wouldn't?" His words make her want to tear her hair out. Underneath this, disgusting façade of his, or whatever it was. Delusion. He was still the same old egomaniac he'd always been who didn't understand a thing.

"Stop it. Whatever you're doing, just stop it!" she cried, a slight crack in her voice as the emotions ebbed at her. "My mom's been through enough without you coming here and trying to m-manipulate her!"

Not wanting to give him a chance to respond, she shoved past him out of the car and started running for home, her mind still racing from the confusing and angry thoughts that now infested it. From the lack of threats and general shouting, she deduced he hadn't tried to pursue her, but made no attempts to stop or look back until she reached the front steps of her house.

As her hand brushed up against the front door, every little horrible thing she'd seen the borg do over the years from hurling Motherboard into the active pit of a volcano to trying to fuse Dr. Marbles's brain is that of a monster flooded into her memory. It almost seemed unfair that someone like that should be allowed to show kindness at all. It was just another way of hurting people, one much worse than any evil scheme he could have concocted.

Glad to finally be away from him, she lowered herself into a semi-recumbent position on the steps as she fished in her backpack for her keys. Her hand froze as her fingers touched the empty bottom of the bag. Freaking out, she poked her fingers into every tiny pocket and zippered nook, hoping she'd just forgotten where she'd placed it. Finally she sprung up and peered in through the window, only to see her keys sitting in the bowl in her kitchen.

Defeated, she sat back down on the steps. Her only day off all week and she had to spend it sat outside her house in the cold until her mother got home. Great. In an effort to at least somewhat make use of her time, she got out her math worksheet and started to fill it out. Her thoughts were still scattered, she made an effort to push them aside.

After about an hour, she'd made decent progress and was about to check her work for mistakes when a shadow fell on her. Without glancing up, she could already guess who it would be. There was something about the cyborg's presence she'd grown to recognize even when she wasn't facing towards him. It wasn't anything she could exactly pin down, more of a general feeling. It was the same with her mother, or Matt and Inez, as much as she loathed to lump the villain in with the closest people in her life.

In the interest of preserving dignity, she didn't bother lifting her head, only hugged her book closer to her chest as she avoided his stare. She started to inch away as she felt him sit down beside her, wanting to be nowhere near him but at the same time not having the energy to go running all over the neighborhood.

"Are you going to look at me?"

Against her better judgment, she turned her gaze slightly so she was at least looking out at the sidewalk. In her periphery, she could see the borg holding something out to her. Turning her head the full way, she looked down at something square shaped and flat that was wrapped in paper. Taking hold of it reluctantly, her confusion only increased as she noticed whatever she'd grabbed hold of was soft. She peeled the paper away to find two slices of bread, the same kind her mother usually got. As a certain realization began to dawn on her, she pulled back the individual slices to see what was between them and sure enough her suspicions were confirmed. Orange marmalade.

Looking up, peevishly, she saw he was munching on his own sandwich, one that looked significantly more filling with roast beef, lettuce, cucumbers and some type of sauce. Seeing an untouched second half still wrapped in his hands, she snatched and bit into it before he had a chance to stop her. After a bite or two she noticed him smirking her way.

"Did you get this from the deli?" she asked.

"Like it?"

She shrugged, not waiting to admit she did. "I don't get you," she huffed, rewrapping her half to save for later. "What's the point of any of this? Don't you have a world to take over?"

Hacker rolled his eyes. "I'm not telling you. You're, what? Nine?"

"Fourteen."

"Gosh," he said, face contorting in disgust.

"Like you've never been a kid."

"As a matter of fact, I haven't."

"Oh please. You can't fool me. I've seen old pictures of Slider. You might not have been born, but you were at least a kid at some point."

"The youngest I've ever been is fifteen," he declared, buffing his nails against his shirt. "You forget you're talking to a superior specimen. Not for a moment in my existence have I ever been anything less than the exemplary testament to borg-kind you see before you."

"What's your point?"

"I'm not sharing my personal life with a child."

"And I never wanted to share my personal life with a psychotic robot from another dimension, but here we are."

The cyborg frowned at this, but seemed to have run out of wisecracks for the time being. "Isn't it obvious? I'm through sharing my existence with... that." He threw up his hands, but didn't seem to be gesturing towards anything in particular.

"Motherboard," she guessed. Although it still turned her stomach to have him talk about her that way, she recalled what her mother had said last night about neither one of them being the bad guy. She wasn't necessarily conceding to this line of thought, but wanted to at least hear what the borg had to say for himself.

Hacker sniffed distastefully. "As much fun as evil is, I had to admit to myself I'd never be the Ruler of Cyberspace. Any chance I had was snatched the day I was forced to cure her. My greatest accomplishment, taken from me by circumstance."

"Trying to destroy your mother is your greatest accomplishment?"

"If you understood the magnitude of what a subtle, underhanded and downright brilliant piece of work that virus was, you'd agree with me."

Jackie shook her head. As much as she hated him and as little as she could really admit to knowing about his past, she at least knew he'd once worked for Motherboard, and after that with Coop. He'd been friends with Coop from what the Radster had himself said. How could someone who'd done good, who was trying to do good again, be so resentful of goodness?

"What about all that stuff you did when you were running for election?" she murmured, resting her head over her knees. "You might not have cared, but you actually helped people. And for some of them, it changed their lives, even after the truth came out. Doesn't any of that mean anything to you? It has to. You were made to take care of Cyberspace, right? That's why you knew so well what all those borgs needed."

She watched a shadow come over his face as it had the night before, only this time instead of getting angry he just sat there, silently meditating on her words. "A phase I outgrew," was his response when he finally spoke.

"What happened?"

Whatever trance he'd fallen into, he just as abruptly pulled himself out of and glared at her. "You're incredibly nosy." Jackie waited expectantly for him to respond. Instead, he got up off the stoop and turned to examine the door. "What are we sitting out here in the cold for? Are you going to invite me in or what? Hurry up already. I've done my good deed for the day."

"I forgot my key inside."

"Do you have two paper clips?"

Jackie crossed her arms over her chest. "You can't actually pick a lock with those. I've tried before."

"Try to keep up, Sunshine," he said, fingers still beckoning for the clips which Jackie reluctantly started combing through her bag for. "I know you have no idea what I do, but Aaliyah explained it to you yesterday."

"Yeah, yeah. Something, something digital locksmith." She handed him the clips which he started twisting out of shape, turning one into a hook and the other into more of a waved shape. Kneeling down so that he was at eye level with the door, he stuck the twisted clips into the keyhole and started tapping and prying in an attempt to engage the mechanism inside.

"That's right. Which means?" He glanced at her, waiting for a response before deciding to finish the sentence himself. "I'm an expert in getting in and out."

"But that's with computers, you can't—" Before she could finish her sentence, there was a loud click. Hacker stood back with a grin before gently pushing the door open.

"Who's the genius?"

Jackie shot him a flat smirk. As if she'd ever give him the satisfaction. "Yeah, yeah, smarty-pants. You get a gold star." Though even as she spoke, part of her felt bad. He had actually helped this time. And it hadn't involved a deal, begging or barging of any kind. Wincing to herself, she slowly turned to face him. "Thanks, I guess," she muttered quickly before running upstairs to put away her jacket and wash up.

When she reached the upstairs bathroom, the thought dawned on her that the chance she'd been waiting for the last few days had finally come. She was alone in the house with him. All she'd need was the skwak and she could call Motherboard and he'd be gone. And yet, it all felt wrong now. Maybe it was the gossip in her that wanted to make him tell her the rest of his story, or maybe... well, he hadn't really done any harm, right? And her mother wouldn't be home for at least another couple of hours. She could at least let him finish his sandwich before sending him home.

Once she'd washed her face and hands and hung her coat back up in the closet, she descended the stairs slowly, awkwardly still holding her backpack in one hand. She could hear the sound of the kettle whistling in the kitchen, but decided to take a detour to the living room where she put her bag down next to the couch, the skwak right at the top of the unzipped pouch. A sound of a click from Hacker turning off the stove brought her quickly back to the hallway and into the kitchen where the borg was pouring himself what looked like a glass of warm milk.

"Well? We're inside now, are you going to talk?" she asked from the doorframe, doing her best to pretend she hadn't just been sneaking around behind his back.

"Is there any way I can get you to let this go?"

"No. Come on, I've known you for three years without knowing anything. Spill. Aren't evil villains supposed to love to monologue their backstories?"

"Where did you get that idea?"

Jackie shrugged innocently before leading him to the living room where she plopped down on the couch next to her bag. Hacker followed, although Jackie could see his apprehension at not having escaped the topic. He took a sip from his mug before taking a seat beside her on the couch.

"Look, I'm the bad guy. That's all the explanation you need to know. If you were capable of understanding, that wouldn't make me very evil now, would it?" His tone was half joking, but there was clear exasperation there too. He continued grumbling to himself something unintelligible before taking another sip.

"You can try to spin it however you want, but the fact is, I wanted to rule Cyberspace, because that's what I deserve. Much more than that contemptible clump of circuits. How many years of my life do you think I've dedicated to uploading sites and debugging the servers of that pathetic dump?"

"And Motherboard's done all that for ten times longer than you have," she challenged, though she knew better than to declare it with a raised voice.

"Oh, boo-hoo. I'm sure she's sacrificed so much." He seemed to choke on those last, bitter words and paused to rub at the bridge of his nose.

Every time the topic came up, it seemed to make him angry, yet unlike the night before Jackie felt herself almost pitying the man. Forcing him to talk had caused a strange discomfort. Even as she itched to ask him what he meant, she felt a twinge for doing so. Maybe it was as her mother had said. Behind closed doors. None of her business.

She sat, one arm hung over the arm of the couch, fingers wavering over the plastic edge of the skwak. Slowly, she drew her limb back in, towards herself, resting one hand over the other in her lap.

"But that's the past now. The new and improved Hacker has let all that by the wayside." He waved dismissively before going to take another gulp from his mug. "If Motherboard didn't want to hand over her pet project to her beloved son, she could have just dug up some university intern, but hey what do I know?"

Although he was still being sparse with details, she could hear the hurt in his voice. It wasn't the type of feeling that just came from nothing. Unlike so many previous occasions, he didn't seem to have any narrative, any end goal. All he had ever wanted was Cyberspace, until... he didn't.

"I'm sorry."

"Sympathy from an Earth brat, the last thing I needed." The tension in his shoulders finally relaxed, allowing him to sink into the pillows that lined the coach. "Next time that gigabyte hogging screensaver asks for me, you can tell her not to get her hardware in a twist. She's seen the Hacker for the last time."

"So what, you're just going to stay on Earth?" she blinked, slightly stunned.

"That's the idea."

"And try to subjugate us all to your rule?"

"Luckily for you, no." He chuckled lightly at this, seemingly tickled by the idea but without conviction to carry through.

She wanted to ask him if he'd really meant it. Give up? Just like that? It almost seemed too easy after all the lengths he'd once gone to, to get his way. There were a million questions whirling through her head and she didn't know which to ask first, if any at all. Before she could decide, he suddenly rose from the couch, milk in hand.

"I found a brand of malt powder at the store," he said, maneuvering over her legs with the mug. "Let's see how it tastes."

Chapter Text

Jackie waited for the borg to step out of sight before reaching for her bag and zipping it shut. As she did so, she couldn't help but feel torn. They had planned to send Hacker back as soon as they managed to catch him alone. Technically, she was going behind Motherboard's back right now. Then again, the only reason they'd come up with the plan in the first place was the worry Hacker would be causing havoc for Earth. That wasn't a concern anymore right? And Hacker had just said he didn't want to go back. Normally that wouldn't mean a thing, but after everything he'd just said, calling a portal felt... wrong.

She shuffled her way into the kitchen in silence, taking a seat at the breakfast table to watch as he mixed his new drink. His solemn attitude moments before had been masked in favor of egotistical cheer. He started to whistle to himself, his spoon tapping against the edges of the mug.

"There's still time before mom comes home if you still wanna get dinner," she offered, careful to keep her own emotions somewhat reserved. Just because he had claimed to be over the whole challenging Motherboard thing, didn't mean she was just going to let everything from the past slide. Even if he was genuine right now, there was nothing stopping him from suddenly deciding to slip back into his old ways. Plus, she was still acutely aware her friends would be all for the idea of sending Hacker back and if they'd been here, she wasn't completely sure she would have gone against them. This was a one time pass.

"Are you going to make me chase you again?" he said. "Because I don't think I have the constitution."

"I'll help you," she declared with a huff. "As long as you promise no funny business."

"What? Don't you trust me?" Urgh. Still the same slimy grin.

"I don't," she seethed. "And for the record, I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for my mom. She deserves it a lot more than you ever will." Jackie reached out her hand, holding out the pinky. He stared down at it with an amused smile.

"Oh, come on. Now, that's childish."

"Just promise."

He rolled his eyes, but acquiesced, making a hook with his finger and giving her pinky a shake. "You know this doesn't actually stop me from lying to you."

"No, but I'm hoping it'll make you think twice." Though she knew even that was probably being too hopeful. Still, it was important to give people the benefit of the doubt, right?

Jackie hurried upstairs and returned a moment later with her jacket. "Are you coming?" she asked, her hand on the doorknob.

Hacker sighed dramatically, before gulping down the rest of his drink and following her outside. The store wasn't more than a ten minute walk from her house, but she had barely gotten to the end of her block before the borg pulled up to her in his car.

"Just walk!" she cried as he slammed his foot on the gas pedal again. The sound of the engine was almost deafening in the peaceful suburban neighborhood.

"And carry everything back?" he scoffed before disappearing around the corner, leaving a foul smelling cloud in his wake. Wherever he was living now the neighbors must hate him, she thought, rolling her eyes. If she didn't already know he'd been living in the middle of nowhere for half a decade, the fact wouldn't have surprised her. Or maybe it was less his lack of exposure to people, and more his blatant disregard that fed his arrogance and made him so easy to dislike.

What did her mom see in him? And was she crazy to actually be going along with it? He was clearly trying, for whatever reason, but did that even matter when it could so easily end up going horribly? Was it wrong not to stop it while things were still going well? She didn't know the answers to any of these questions and before she knew it she'd arrived in front of the grocers with the convertible parked just outside the sliding automatic doors. Hacker was still sitting at the wheel, flipping through a small paperback. When he noticed her in his periphery, he got out of the car and headed inside. Jackie folded her arms and followed him reluctantly. He was muttering something under his breath and barely acknowledged her presence.

Once they were inside, she picked up a little basket next to the door and hurried to keep up with his longer stride. "Why are you doing all this anyways? I mean why do you even care?"

The borg looked up from his book. "Your persistence is really starting to get on my nerves, Earth brat. And we were getting along so well for a moment too."

"Sorry if I find it a little hard to go along with the game plan of a guy known for lying," she hissed, not wanting any of the other shoppers to catch wind of their odd conversation.

"Well then it wouldn't matter what I say. You'll just have to wait and see." Actually it would have mattered a lot. Because Jackie was pretty sure by now she could tell when he was straight up lying and when he was at least being partly genuine. And right now, it seemed to her he was guarded. Before she could voice this opinion out loud, he had shoved the tiny paperback in her face. "Anything here she'd like?"

The girl pulled the book away so her eyes could better focus on it. She glanced at the bag, and then flipped it over to look at the cover. "Ten Easy Recipes for Kids?"

"It was the only thing I could find," he yapped.

"Why do you even need this? Weren't you in a cooking competition with Dig—" Before she could finish her sentence it all clicked. "You cheated! I mean, beyond the whole kidnapping a cooking celebrity thing."

The borg seemed unperturbed by her revelation, holding his nose up in the air with as much haughtiness as ever. "A skill that was finely cultivated."

"Should have kept it in the ground longer," she grumbled back. "You didn't actually cook a thing on that show."

"Of course I didn't. I have people for that."

"And where are they now, hmm? Mr. O-So-Perfect Evil King of Cyberspace can't cook."

Hacker snatched the book from her hands and smacked her across the face with it. "Enough," he scowled. "I'm perfectly capable of cooking. I've just chosen not to up till now."

The hit hadn't hurt and the girl continued to hold her unamused smirk. "Uh, huh."

"Watch it, Earth brat. Before I make you eat those words."

Jackie looked up at him, arms crossed in defiance although she chose not to push the issue. If they were going to get anywhere, one of them had to be the bigger person. "She likes goulash," she said, pointedly. "Beef and potatoes. If you're nice, I'll show you how to make it."

"That's better."

He followed her through the store as she picked out all the ingredients they'd need. There wasn't time to prepare everything from scratch and they were forced to stick to canned ingredients where possible. After losing sight of the borg for a moment, Jackie caught him eyeing up cups of instant noodles like a seasoned connoisseur.

"You actually like those?" She couldn't help but smile a little, no stranger to a microwaved breakfast herself. Both her and her mom could cook, but sometimes it was just easier to have something quick.

"I alternate with restaurant take out," he replied matter-a-factly. "I have a busy schedule of villainy. Not to mention it's easy on the budget." He quirked his brow at her, seeming to sense judgment once again. "Is that a problem?"

"No, just surprised." She quickly hid her smile and waved her hand dismissively. "You're always going on about how princely and perfect you are, I'd have thought you'd have a snobbier palette."

"Can I expect that kind of attitude from you every time you force me to comment on my personal life?"

Jackie shrugged, not intending to come off any which way, but now that she had gotten him annoyed, she couldn't help but want to press him a bit further. She turned her nose up before innocently placing a finger on her cheek. "I wonder how often the Queen of England has 3-minute ready beef stew."

"That's it!" the borg cried, putting a hand on her back and shoving her toward the checkout.

With a huff the girl wiggled out of his grasp and started moving back towards the aisles. "I still have to get the sauce," she insisted, running in the direction where she knew it was stocked.

Unfortunately for them, a gap in the shelf told her someone had taken the last jar. She was about to point this out when Hacker came up beside her and observed just that. He glanced at the label underneath the empty shelf, then started scanning the rest of the store.

"It's only gonna be on one shelf," she tried to tell him, but he didn't seem to hear, instead stalking up and down the isles, glancing every which way. He didn't seem to be looking too closely at shelves though, his attention more closely fixed to the shoppers. Walking along the meat aisle, he made a beeline for a certain cart who's shopper had wandered off and causally reached in, extracting the jar in question.

"That's not yours!" Jackie hissed, trying to grab the jar from him.

"Too bad. It is now," he declared, lifting it out of her reach.

"Give it back."

"No," he said, taking the whole basket from her and heading for the registers.

Jackie tried several more times to grab the jar, but was intercepted each time with a slap to the wrist. When they got to the front of the line, the cashier grabbed it from the checkout belt and she lost her chance. Giving up at last, she resorted to fuming the whole time he paid for their purchase. If she came to find out he was using stolen money, she swore—

"No, no, no. One bag is perfect," he said, winking at Jackie. "We're trying to be eco-friendly." The cashier just nodded and pushed the single overstuff and very heavy plastic bag towards the edge of the counter. "Let's go." Hacker put his hands into his pockets and gestured with his eyes towards the exit, leaving the bag on the counter.

"You get it," Jackie seethed.

"I paid. You carry. It only seems fair. Now aren't you glad someone thought to bring the car?"

Once again Jackie decided to be the bigger person. There would be a chance to get back at the King of Chaos, later. There always was. She took the bag out to the car and tossed it into the passenger seat, getting into the back again and kicking the driver's seat all the way home.

When they'd gotten back to the house, she set the bag down on the counter and took a seat at the breakfast table. Hacker strolled up to the counter, confidentially unpacking everything they'd bought and looking it over before glancing back at the girl. "So how do you make this goulash?"

Jackie folded her arms and met his gaze with an authoritative pout. "I won't do anything until I hear an apology," she declared, at last activating her trump card. She wasn't going to start a fight while they were out in public, but now that they were home, he was at her mercy. Somehow it had slipped the 'Ruler of Cyberspace''s mind that he wasn't going to get a thing done without her cooperation.

"A what?"

"Apology. It's something you give when you know you've been acting like a complete butt."

"I know what it is!"

"Well?" She could see his face start to turn purple with rage. His face contorted, his eyes shutting tight as his brows knitted on his forehead and his teeth clenched hard.

"FINE!" he hollered at last. "I'm... sorry." Just uttering the words seemed to make him physically ill as he looked like was holding his breath and aggressively exhaling through his nose.

"For?" she egged, not backing off in the slightest. It wasn't enough to just say it. Anyone could spew words, especially if they didn't really mean them.

"I don't know. You tell me." He let out an exasperated sigh, although Jackie knew it was just stubborn pride keeping the words from his mouth.

"I thought you were supposed to be a genius. Figure it out."

Hacker inhaled sharply, crossing his arms to mirror her. Seeing that even this gesture was not about to make her back down, he whipped his head to the side and finally started muttering through gritted teeth. "I'm sorry for... taking the jar. For making you carry the bag. And whatever else you want to hold against me."

"For someone who insists on being 'new and improved', you still act like the same old cyber slimeball."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm the worst. Now are you going to show me? Please?" He was the only person she knew who could be so wrong, apologize and then go straight back to being completely and totally, unashamedly aggravating in the next sentence.

"Fine." She unfolded her arms and reached for a large pot they kept next to the stove.

Teaching Hacker to cook was an ordeal to say the least. Every few minutes he'd interrupt her to take charge himself, insisting he could handle it without her help, only to ask her the most basic of questions later. She remembered having an easier time teaching her six year old cousin to do things. After the sixth or seventh time, she gave up and slumped into a chair at the breakfast table. As impatient as she'd grown for his antics, she couldn't fault him too much for his eagerness. Some people were just naturally difficult.

As reluctant as she was to admit, what he was doing was a nice gesture. She just found herself wishing it could have been made towards anyone else. And better yet, by anyone else. "I guess, I should say sorry too," she forced herself to admit, heaving an exhausted sigh. "For giving you a hard time while we were out."

"Your apology is accepted. Now does that include the last three years, or will that be coming separately?"

"It's not coming at all. You deserved it those times," she huffed. "For the record, I still think you're a huge jerk."

"Puréed perfection!" He'd finished the stew while they were talking and had just given the final product the official finger dipped taste test. Satisfied with his work, the borg set down the spoon and turned the stove off. Jackie got up and peered into the pot. Even at a distance she could tell he had lost most of the flavor of the meat by keeping the flame on so high and a quick sniff of the dish told her she'd been right.

Running off his own perceived grandeur, the villain continued boastfully, "If I'm so awful, which I'm not prepared to deny, why haven't you told your mother the truth?"

Jackie was silent. She couldn't deny the sense in his statement. It was something she herself had thought of when he'd first appeared and many times across the last three years, but had somehow talked herself out of each time. It was something of an unspoken agreement between her and her friends that they'd keep their time in Cyberspace a secret for various reasons.

"Why do you want me to? Won't that get in the way of your... whatever it is you're doing?"

The villain laughed. "Please. I have nothing to shirk from. There isn't a single Earthlie or borg who can resist the Hacker's charms."

She shook her head. His arrogance could never cease to amaze her. "You have no charms."

The sound of a key in the door caught Jackie's attention and snapped her out of her thoughts. Hacker perked up as he reached for the overhead cabinets for a set of bowls and cutlery. He started setting the table and pouring out an initial serving for all of them while Jackie went to help her mother with the door.

"I don't think I have energy for the stove today, baby," she sighed, not yet noticing their guest. "Why don't you call us something?"

By the time she'd set down her things, he was standing in the threshold to the kitchen, hands tucked behind his back.

"No need," the borg declared, hands tucked neatly behind his back as he stood in the threshold to the kitchen. "You'll be happy to know I've put an early end to your scullery scuffles. At least for tonight." He took a step aside and with his usual flourish, gestured toward the table. "Dinner is served."

"Hacker. This is a surprise," Aaliyah said, glancing with some confusion at her daughter who returned her look with an awkward smile and shrug. "Is that goulash?

"We just wanted to make your day a little easier," Jackie explained, pulling a chair up for her before taking a seat herself.

Aaliyah laughed, still a little stunned by the whole thing. "I could get used to this," she said, sitting. "Not that I expect you to make this a regular thing, but it was thoughtful of you." She pulled her daughter close and gave her a kiss on the forehead, rightly guessing she must have been in the director's seat.

Before reaching for her spoon, Jackie quickly snuck herself a dab from the salt shaker, hoping the seasoning would give the dish at least a bit of flavor. It did not. She never realized goulash could taste so depressing, yet the two adults seemed to be enjoying it well enough.

"Remind me to show you my portfolio from college," her mother said, finishing up her bowl and going to get seconds.

Hacker raised his brow and smirked at her. "So dinner was the price for VIP access? Interesting."

"Just don't go blabbing. My art is very private."

"Oh, but I will," he said, flashing an even bigger, weaselly grin. "And I'll get you to paint me, so I can put it in a frame and hang it over my bed."

"Stop it!" she was laughing so hard, she tipped her bowl slightly, spilling a bit of its contents onto the table cloth. "You haven't even seen my art yet. It could be awful."

"True, but this—" He put his hands in a frame around either side of his face. "Will always be perfection."

Jackie quickly polished off her bowl of bland stew before excusing herself. Not wanting a repeat of the night before. She was happy her mother seemed happy, but had little interest in being in the room a moment longer than she needed to. As she started on her homework, listening to the sound of the two adults continuing to laugh and chat downstairs, she couldn't help but wonder if returning Hacker to Cyberspace really was the right thing.

She could never claim to actually like the guy, but reuniting him with his AI parental figure seemed like it would only result in further volatility. On Earth, he was different. Far from a saint, but at least capable of a modicum of selflessness. He would no longer be under Motherboard's constant vigilance, but maybe that too was for the best.

Chapter Text

Jackie spent most of the next afternoon musing on the best way to catch her friends up on everything which had transpired with Hacker the afternoon before. Suddenly having to convince them the man who'd terrorized Cyberspace for so many years should be allowed to freely linger on Earth was a task that felt monumental, especially since Jackie still found herself waiver on her own beliefs.

Sending him back to Motherboard would undoubtedly be easier in the short term, but how long would it be before the borg's anger towards her boiled over again? What would be the consequences when it did?

Her mind was still aflutter with these thoughts as she shuffled home after gymnastics, racing against the rapidly waning daylight of mid-fall. She was a few blocks from her house when she spotted Hacker's convertible parked on the opposite side of the road.

Brow arched with curiosity, she waited for the road to clear before running across to see what he was up to. She found him, feet propped up on the dashboard, staring up at the rear view mirror, aiming a bottle of hair spray at himself.

She cautiously crept up to the window and gave a gentle knock, unsure how he'd react to her interruption. At the sudden noise, the borg dropped the spray bottle and sprung across to the passenger side of the car. Jackie did her best to hide her amusement as he spotted her through the window.

"What?" he snapped, sticking his head out.

"Just wondering what you're up to."

"Trying to fix my wig."

"Did you get an apartment here?" Jackie asked, looking up at the building he was parked outside of.

"They're not letting me move in until Monday. Your world moves slowly and tediously, Earth brat. Speaking of which, where can I get a decent bottle of hair spray around here?" He picked up the discard bottle on the floor and tossed it at her through the open window. "This might as well be scented water."

Jackie caught the bottle and recognized it as one of the cheap ones from the dollar store not far off. They were a few miles away from any of the big shopping centers, a fact Hacker had apparently yet to discover. She wondered how he used to get by in Cyberspace. Somehow she couldn't imagine the 'unholier than thou' supervillain taking weekly trips down to the supermarket.

"Have you been sleeping in your car all this time?" She cringed a little. Having taken naps before during long car rides, she knew even just a few hours wreaked havoc on the neck.

"Yes," he muttered bitterly, narrowing his eyes as if daring her to react. She found herself offering a consolatory smile before glancing over the roof of his car towards her house in the distance.

"Chin up, Hack. The Jaxs's got just the thing for you," she teased. "A shower with your name on it, plus a couple bottles of spray. Keeps my bun perky." She flashed her profile to show off her hair in the car window, intentionally, but lightheartedly mocking the borg's own often theatrical demeanor.

"Fine. Get in." His response was curt and humorless. The girl ignored this and simply continued to grin at him as she got into the passenger seat.

"So, have you told your mother about your extradimensional escapades yet?" he asked as the car pulled away from the curb.

Jackie heaved a sigh, slouching a little in her seat as she replied. "I wish I could. I'm still trying to figure out how to tell Matt and Inez."

"Tell them what?"

She paused for a moment, realizing he was still in the dark about their scheme to get him sent back to Cyberspace. Though surely the knowledge wouldn't come as a shock to him. He had to have been anticipating something like it after escaping Cyberspace.

"That I don't think… we should send you back. To Control Central."

"And why's that?"

He spoke in a low and reserved tone that was almost out of character compared to his usual bombastic persona. Jackie shrugged in response as they pulled up by her street.

"Well, you want to stay don't you? I know you and Mother B have problems. Or whatever went on between you two. Maybe it's for the best you had some space from her. Isn't that why you came to Earth?" She glanced back at him before undoing her seat belt. "Plus my mom thinks you're okay."

"Speaking of…" he said as he got out opposite her and locked the car. "I think we should tell her soon. It's starting to feel a little un-goodie-two-shoes."

"Yeah, I know. It's just complicated. Really, I should have told her three years ago, and it just seems so far after that fact now that— I just don't want her worrying about me." Her voice crackled a little as she finished her sentence and she started rambling, a bit overwrought. "I mean, I know I'm supposed to be able to talk to her about anything. And I can! But this… and she already has so much to deal with. How should I even start?"

"Good point. It does sound like it could get rather long winded. Well, why don't you drag her along the next time you go? That should make it moderately simpler."

"Maybe," she replied cautiously. It wasn't the worst idea in concept, but the thought of actually executing it seemed huge and more importantly, not something she could decide on her own, just like whether or not they sent Hacker back.

"Is that a yes?" He asked, clearly not receptive to her hesitancy. "I'll mark it off as my good deed for the day."

They entered the house together, Jackie gesturing for the villain to wait for her in the living room while she went upstairs to put her stuff away and retrieve the promised hair products. She descended the stairs again momentarily, arms overflowing with bottles which threatened to slip from her fingers.

Before she could shoot back a retort, they arrived in front of the house and he stepped aside for her to unlock the door. They entered together, Jackie gesturing for the villain to wait for her in the living room while she went upstairs to put her stuff away and retrieve the promised hair products. She descended the stairs again momentarily, arms overflowing with bottles which threatened to slip from her fingers.

As she allowed them to fall onto the coffee table and began setting them upright again one by one, she realized the borg had vanished. Her first instinct was to call for him. Getting no response, she shuffled out into the hall where she saw him emerging from an adjoining room, a dark, mauve colored suit in hand.

"Do you think this color works with my complexion, or do I have to go for something in pastel?"

"What were you doing in there? Put that back!" She tried to make a grab for it as he passed her by, but intentionally or not he passed it onto his other hand and just out of her reach.

"Relax. I haven't even taken the tag off." Oblivious to the sudden panic that was clutching at her chest, he looked the suit over back and front before holding it up to the hall mirror. "I look stunning."

"Just put it back okay? That's not yours." All the levity that had been in her voice when they'd been outside had drained. Her tone wasn't venomous, but hushed, nearly trembling. She could feel his gaze on her, even as she intentionally turned away from him. She felt her throat tighten up and she swallowed to hold back the emotion she could feel flooding up to the surface. She just wished he would listen for once.

There was a long silence before she heard him take one step towards her, the floor creaking beneath his weight. "Okay," he said, voice low. "If it upsets you that much, I'll put it back." She could hear a wistful sigh before he walked past her and disappeared back inside the room.

When he reemerged empty handed, Jackie let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "I don't see why you have to get so touchy over a suit," the borg huffed, patting off a layer of dust that had shrouded itself over him in the unused room.

"It was my dad's."

"That's right. Your other parent. I don't think I've seen him around."

"He died."

"Oh, and you're upset about that, are you?" His tone was almost inanely matter-of-fact. As if it were a question he really did need an answer to.

"YES, I'M UPSET!"

"I'm sorry," he read like the next line in the social script.

"Just go sit."

She waited until he had gone before, rubbing her eyes and temple, not knowing whether to scream in frustration or resignedly laugh. He was absolutely infuriating. Completely and utterly dense. And yet he shockingly hadn't been entirely wrapped up in himself for once.

Jackie rested her hand briefly on the wood of the door, taking a deep breath before going to join him in the living room. Hacker had selected an armchair adjacent to the table to sit down in, reaching for one of the bottles to examine. As he tried to swing one leg over the other, he accidentally kicked the underside of the table, toppling the bottles Jackie had straightened thus far.

"Watch it!"

Hacker seemed to jump in his seat slightly, startled by the noise from his kick, but quickly composed himself and looked peeved as he tried to make himself comfortable again. "You Earthlies are built like insects. All leg," he muttered, readjusting his position in the chair. "I've never felt so ridiculous." Despite her momentary concern that he'd fractured the surface of the table with his foot, Jackie couldn't help smirk a little at the absurdity.

"What's it like being taller whenever you sit down?" she muttered dryily.

"Mock me if you like, but it doesn't change the fact I'm incomparably elegantly proportioned." He glanced at the bottle in his hands, scanning the small print quickly before trying to hand it over to her. "This one." He gestured to his wig. She blinked, unsure if she was understanding his meaning. "Please?" He waved the product in front of her face until she reluctantly pulled it away from him.

The part of her that wanted to be helpful almost took the bait, but she reminded herself of his tendency to force what he wanted out of people and just folded her arms. "You know you can't just say 'please' and expect people to do whatever you want."

"I prefer to keep an optimistic worldview." He sighed airily.

"Which is?"

"One day my greatness will be recognized, and I'll be pampered like royalty. I deserve nothing less."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "How about a trade?" she compromised. "I fix your wig and in exchange, I get to ask you questions. And you don't get to say 'that's none of your business'." He made a face, detecting the mocking tone in her voice as she mimicked his evasive attitude. At first, he seemed skeptical of the deal, but after a moment waved his hand in dismissive concurrence.

"Fine. Ask away."

She handed him a mirror before taking his wig in her hands and starting to disassemble it. Her plan was to get it brushed thoroughly before trying to use any of the spray to mold it. Hacker seemed to agree with this plan as he admired his own features in the mirror with a smirk. Even the diminishment of his most paraded feature couldn't dampen his ego, it appeared.

"So how does this making yourself human work?" she lightly chaffed. "Couldn't make hair to go along with the look?"

"If you're going to use this question thing to be rude to me, I'll take my wig and business elsewhere," he declared, pointing his nose up in haughty derision. "For your information, there are practical benefits to having a wig. If you ever plan on going to university, shave your head and get yourself one. You'll thank me later."

"Sure," she muttered sarcastically, shooting him a flat smile as she picked up a brush. The last thing she was going to do was take fashion tips from Hacker. As she started working on the wig's knotted strands, the question she'd been meaning to ask from the start sat at the edge of her tongue. She let out a huge breath before loosening her bite on her lower lip. "Okay," he began cautiously. "Have you ever done something nice for Motherboard that wasn't backhanded?"

"Next question."

"Come on. It's not like I'd think you're any less of an inconsiderate, selfish bully for doing one nice thing a million years ago."

"That's the most pathetically transparent attempt at manipulation I've ever heard."

"Just one. It can't be that hard."

"Alright." He shooed away her hand while he leant forward to reach for the fruit bowl at the center of the coffee table. After retrieving himself a string of grapes, he got comfortable again and started to eat while gesturing for Jackie to resume. "I used to deep clean her dashboard with a topical antiseptic. It took about two hours each time because I had to remove each of her keys and dig in with a cotton swab. Tedious, but the only way to keep the dust out."

"That's the computer, not Motherboard."

"Yes, and Motherboard happens to be a computer," he said, enunciating his words as if he was talking to someone a bit slow to the pickup. There she had to concur, but there was still a difference.

"I meant normal stuff. Like buying her flowers."

"And what is she going to do with flowers? Sniff them?" he asked sarcastically.

"That's not the point. She loves getting flowers. Her—"

"I'm aware. She had an entire site built for her precious Madre Bonitas. Droll."

"I'm sure she's done nice things for you before," she declared pointedly. "Or are you going to pretend you can't remember?"

"Remember getting my own site? Nope."

Growing impatient, she exhaled loudly, resting her hands on her hips. "If you're going to be stubborn about it, I'll just stop."

She could hear him groan softly at this, actually seeming to give the question some thought. "She told Doctor Marbles to build me. That was pretty nice."

"You're not even trying!"

"Look, Earth brat. Can I help it if I was a pretty independent kid who figured things out on his own? Motherboard and I had a formal relationship at best. I worked for her and kept my private life separate. Sorry if that's not your idea of a mother son bonding."

"Maybe that's why you're so emotionally constipated," she muttered with a huff. She could tell she wasn't going to get anything more substantial out of him and quietly opted to continue.

"If it's what you want to hear, there was a time I cared for her. Of course, there was. It was in my programming and I didn't know any better."

"Know what better?"

He polished off the grapes in his hand, then picked up the hand mirror in his lap to check her progress. "Are you done yet?"

"Almost." To her cheeky delight, he brought the mirror around to the side of his head and let out a yelp as he realized she'd done the ends of his wig up in two braided pigtails.

"Mad?" So she was being slightly petty now. He very much deserved it and she knew how protective the borg could be over his peruke. "I think they look great on you. Really."

Hacker quirked the edge of his mouth. "I look great with anything," he reminded her. "Maybe one day after I've won a prize for biggest pumpkin at the county fair, I'll pair them with overalls. Until then, do it right."

"Fine, fine," she sighed dramatically, quivering her lower lip at him. "Oh, to be the underappreciated ar-teest."

He glared at her through the mirror, plainly seeing through her manipulation again. Yet, there was a hint of a smirk on his lips now. "Alright, they can stay. As long as there's still enough left for the pomp in front."

"Really?" She found herself genuinely smiling at this, never expecting him to actually agree to it. "No problem!"

"First, I do think I'll take you up on that shower," he frowned, picking up the bottle of hair spray again. "Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this stuff goes well with water, so best save it for afterwards." He rose from his chair and started shuffling towards the bathroom.

From the other side of the door, Jackie could hear the sound of the showerhead come on. Unsure of what else to do for the moment, she slumped onto the couch and waited for him to come back out. He really had managed to surprise her. Sure, he was still weird… and difficult, but beyond all that some warmth had managed to slip through. He wasn't all bad right?

They still weren't friends. Or… maybe it wasn't all that crazy to think. She wasn't naive enough to completely let her guard down, but she at least believed he'd been putting in a genuine effort. Never in a million years had she expected him of all people to change. But now that it seemed like he was, she wanted to believe in it. Even if it did make her a little silly.

After a few more minutes of waiting, she decided it would be judicious of her to put away some of the stuff she'd gotten from upstairs. As much as she hated going behind her mother's back, this was a weird situation and she'd rather not be forced to explain things before she was ready.

She was just coming back down after having cleared the table when she heard a sound at the door. Immediately, she felt an anxious lump start to form in her throat. Had her mother, by some crazy coincidence, decided to come home early? She was about to knock on the bathroom door again and make Hacker leave through the back when her visitors spoke up.

"Jackie? Are you in there?" She let out the breath she'd been holding in when he recognized Inez's voice.

"Are you okay?" Matt chimed in. She could see both their silhouettes on the other side of the tinted glass door. "We didn't see you at school today. Can you let us in?"

Jackie hurried to the door to open it, hoping this could be the chance she'd been wanting to catch her friends up on the events since yesterday afternoon. "Guys, what are you doing here?"

"Um, we're here to check on you. Where did you two go yesterday?" the boy asked.

"Just the supermarket. It's a long story."

"What, Mr. Evil Genius couldn't figure out how to buy canned beans on his own?" Jackie let out a humorless chuckle. That wasn't too far from the truth. "Too bad you didn't get him alone," Matt continued. "You could have called Motherboard."

"Yeah, about that. Listen—"

"Is your mom home already?" He was staring at the end of the hall, towards the bathroom. The sound of water could be heard plainly from the other side and it had caught the attention of both her friends.

Jackie didn't respond immediately, but the look on her face must have given them their answer. Matt slowly made his way up to the bathroom door as the water was turned off. Although there was no voice from the other side, he seemed to realize who was there as he took off his backpack and began to reach inside. When Jackie saw he'd pulled out his skwak, she began motioning towards him, realizing what he intended to do.

"Matt, hold on. I think we need to come up with a new plan. Ha—"

Before she could finish her sentence, she heard the boy cry out in alarm and drop the skwak pad which already had Motherboard's number pulled up on the screen. The door to the bathroom had suddenly become ajar and a hand had shot out to grab Matt by the wrist.

"Ah-ah-ah, children," the villain tutted as he re-emerged from the bathroom. "Let's not get pugnacious."

The boy started attempting to pull himself free. He'd gotten quite a bit stronger in the last few years, but Hacker's grip managed to remain stubbornly in place. Even as Matt trashed his arm back and forth and launched several blows to the villain's arm in his struggle, Hacker wouldn't let go. As he stepped out, he slid the skwak into the bathroom behind him, blocking the doorway with his body. Although much narrower in the shoulders than he normally was, it was enough to stop Matt or Inez from shoving their way past him.

Finally allowing Matt to rip his arm free, he drifted his gaze to each of the trio before letting it rest on Jackie. "I can tell when I'm not wanted," he murmured with an almost flippant air. His expression was as unreadably pompous as ever.

He almost seemed to step aside as Matt forced his way past him, making a dive for the skwak. As he was on the floor fumbling to call the cyber ruler, Hacker started heading towards the door. He was intercepted by Inez who planted an arm on each side of the narrow hall, forming a barrier between him and the door.

"Inez, just let him go," Jackie whispered, trying to remove her friend's hand from the wall. The bespectacled girl glanced back at her in confusion before the borg pushed her aside. As Jackie felt herself being sucked in by the portal's magnetic force, Hacker slammed the door behind him, escaping the vacuum's draw.

Chapter Text

Their landing in Control Central was not as smooth as it usually was. Over the years the trio had mastered landing squarely and comfortably wherever the portals threw them, but perhaps due to this one's sheer size and gravitational pull, they were all caught off guard and spat out onto the catwalk on their hands and knees.

"Are you alright, Cyber mates?" Motherboard's voice came from the monitor above them as they slowly re-orientated themselves. "It seems Hacker was able to escape the portal's field."

"Yeah. Thanks to Jackie," Matt groaned, the first to pick himself back up.

"Excuse me?" the girl shouted back. "You were the one who wouldn't listen. Did you even hear me trying to talk to you, or does everything I say just go in one ear and out the other?"

"Guys, guys..." Inez sighed, doing her best to mediate. "Maybe we let Jackie explain what's going on first? There'll be another chance to catch Hacker."

"Yeah, but he knows what we're up to now," the boy protested. "Urgh. What were you thinking? We had him!"

"Matt," Motherboard spoke up, drawing the attention of the three to her. "Let Jackie speak first." Matt folded his arms. Now that the situation had been de-escalated, the boy looked embarrassed to have been yelling. The cyber ruler turned her gaze to Jackie who was now only too eager to say her piece.

"I just don't feel like bringing him back to Cyberspace is the smartest thing we could be doing," she cried. "We'd practically be giving him the key to his next 'brilliant' escape plan. In the real world, he can't just build a spaceship. He can't steal magic from high sorcerers, or launch rockets full of magnetite. Why are we stirring the pot when it's probably safer for everyone if he stays on Earth?"

She looked up at the cyber ruler, hoping to detect understanding in the woman's oftentimes inscrutable brow. If no one else, Jackie trusted Motherboard's judgment to be impartial, even when dealing with a defendant who had caused her so much grief in the past. The woman seemed to have a way of setting her emotions aside, even when things seemed a certainty to everyone else.

"I appreciate your concerns, Jackie," she began. "However, Earth still offers Hacker one major advantage. Access to the backdoors."

The hope burgeoning in Jackie's chest quickly withered as her mind connected the dots. "The map at the library."

Doctor Marbles had explained to all of them how Hacker's virus had managed to get through Motherboard's defenses before. Touching the map in a particular way had activated a glitch which allowed for the computer's security to be temporarily disabled and the virus to bypass her shields before the firewall went back up. Hacker must have monitored the map's activity for months, waiting for the ideal opening to strike.

The head technician had explained that across Earth there were dozens if not hundreds of these so-called 'backdoors'. Each would take a great effort to identify, but for someone with the wayward borg's stubbornness, it would only be a matter of time.

There was a long silence between them before the Motherboard tilted her head, a gesture meant to indicate she wanted the trio to relocate. Unsure of what to think, the girl glanced back at her friends who both began heading in the direction indicated. The trio was aware the cyber ruler had an office in the labyrinth of halls that made up Control Central. Somewhere between the dozens of storage rooms and laboratories. More for propriety than anything since the AI couldn't actually interact with any of its furnishing. They had all poked their heads in once or twice while exploring the facilities.

Jackie followed her companions, though her pace was noticeably slower, the discussion of the backdoors causing her to feel guarded. However she looked at it, any defense of Hacker came with more holes than she could hope to patch on her own.

Once all three were in the room and the door had been shut behind them, she let out a small gasp state of disarray the space had fallen into since her last visit. All the cyber rulers' books had been strewn about the place with some looking like they'd been stomped on or had pages torn out. The various artifacts and antiques that had once decorated the room were either smashed or removed from their cases and tossed haphazardly.

"W-what happened here?" Jackie murmured, just as Motherboard's image appeared on the wall monitor beside her.

"After your last visit, Hacker threw one of his tantrums. Doctor Marbles made a valiant effort to clean before other issues called his attention." The way she'd spoken made Jackie wonder if this was a regular occurrence. As if reading her mind, Motherboard replied, "He's always done this. Everything possible to hurt me. Out of spite or entitlement, I don't know."

"Do you want us to help with the rest, Motherboard?" Matt offered, picking up a broom leaning against the wall. Presumably the one Dr. Marbles had started using. He began sweeping away the remains of some broken figurines while Inez tried to salvage what she could of the torn up books.

"Some of these still look okay," she said, flipping through one volume to try and find where a loose page belonged before reshelving it.

"Thank you, Cybermates. You've always been such a big help to me."

Jackie glanced around the room uncomfortably. Seeing the mess only strengthened the twinge of doubt she was already feeling. What had made Hacker so angry that he'd do all this? Her taking his yogurt? No. If she had been the target of his ire, he would have tried to do worse upon coming to Earth. He'd wanted her gone that night, but vitrial had come from Motherboard challenging him on the issue.

Although Jackie was thankful for her interference, she couldn't help but wonder if it was all a symptom of something deeper. At her full strength, Motherboard had power Hacker could not hope to match. And yet he seemed to constantly attempt to exert every drop of influence he succeeded in clawing for, even for pettiest of benefits.

Jackie knelt beside the broken pieces of a vase that had been shattered at her feet, noting the distinctive red flowers that had been hand painted onto it. The Madre Bonitas Motherboard loved so much.

"That one was irreplaceable," the cyber ruler said, catching the direction of her gaze.

A quiet sorrow crossed the girl's face as she reached for one of the shards. Avoiding any smaller pieces which might have pricked her hands, she picked up as many as she could between her nails and collected them on a nearby table.

"What happened between you two?"

The question seemed to fill the cyber ruler's digital features with strong emotion. Her image on screen exhaled. "I wish I knew. He's always had a difficult temper. For a while I thought despite that, he would always understand the importance of doing the greater good. But whenever he saw a chance to advance his own cause, he didn't care who he had to push aside to get what he wanted."

"Do you think, maybe, he felt pushed aside by you?" she looked up at the AI before realizing she should probably explain her assertion. "I think he always assumed you'd pass Cyberspace to him. Or at least some part of it. And when that didn't happen, it made him feel… like he didn't matter."

"Would you pass Cyberspace to Hacker?" There was a humored indulgence in her tone and an almost pitying sympathy.

"No, but—" She hesitated, unsure of how to finish her sentence. "I think there was more than evil driving him. And after all these years, he just wants to forget about… all of this. He's changed somehow. And not just since he's come to Earth. I don't know how to explain it, but I think this is more than just another trick."

"Is that really what you believe?"

"I do. Believe me Mother B, a week ago I never thought I'd be saying any of this."

There was a long silence as the AI seemed to consider her words. There was an almost frailty in her expression which was just short of the usual deadpan, her brows furrowed together ever so slightly. "Then tell him to come back to Cyberspace. I wish to speak with him again. If I see this change for myself, I'll allow him to return to Earth."

"Thanks, Motherboard. I'll tell him that."

"It takes courage to do what you think is right, Jackie. You've always handled things with admirable strength. And for that I'm proud of you."

Jackie pursed her lips into a weak smile. Although she'd gotten what she wanted, there still seemed to be a dark cloud of uncertainty hanging over. Bring Hacker back to Cyberspace? That was what he'd been trying to avoid. She doubted the fact the cyber ruler had compromised by allowing him to leave afterwards would do much to convince him to accept the offer. Still it was something, and Jackie did not feel inclined to argue the point any further.

She was about to kneel again to pick up a few of the discarded books, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. The touch almost caused her to jump until she noticed it was Matt.

"I'm sorry. We're a team and we should listen to each other." He looked sheepish as he gave the back of his head a scratch before extending the same hand for her to shake. "I know a lot's happened to you lately, and if you want to talk about it—"

Jackie felt herself instantly get defensive as she brushed his hand away. "I'm fine. There's nothing to talk about."

Matt shrank away and Jackie instantly felt bad for being so abrupt. More than that though, what had caused her to recoil in the first place was him suddenly bringing up her father. At least she assumed that was what he'd been attempting to allude to before she stopped him. What happened to him had nothing to do with anything that was going on and him bringing it up made her feel like he was just looking for an excuse to brush her off.

Before either of them could speak, Jackie saw a flash of light out of the corner of her eye. Motherboard's image had vanished from the screen and in her place now was a swirling, glowing portal. Without another word, Jackie dove headfirst through the portal and landed back in the hallway of her home. A moment later, Inez and Matt followed her.

Purposefully avoiding eye contact with the boy, she showed her friends out before retreating up to her room. Once she'd shut the door behind her, she collapsed onto the bed, hugging her knees and making herself as small as possible.

Thursday and Friday wound up being utter no shows for the borg in disguise. Although Jackie kept expecting him to show up just around the corner, he was nowhere to be found. She started to wonder whether he was purposefully avoiding them. He'd been so against returning to Cyberspace, it would make sense if he'd decided to make himself scarce for a while.

"Jackie? Did you need any more sticky notes for school?"

Her mother's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. They'd set out for the local strip mall first thing Saturday morning and Aaliyah was busy browsing the stationary aisle. Jackie had been drifting aimlessly one aisle over, but could still hear her mother through the shelves. Before she could respond, the sound of a familiar voice diverted her attention.

"No, no, no. I want a map of the entire site. All of it."

"You want a... local map?"

With a raised eyebrow Jackie began walking along the aisles, peering into each until she spotted the source of the voice. Hacker stood in the center of the aisle, towering over a uniformed worker who was holding several rolled up maps in his hand and looking very confused. The borg's hair looked like it had been done professionally in the days since their last encounter. To her disappointment he'd taken out her braids and done it up in the usual pomp.

She hurried towards them, hoping to defuse the situation. The employee couldn't have been much older than she was and probably didn't have much experience dealing with belligerent customers.

"Now listen here you wearisome wage slave."

"Hacker!" she cried, squeezing herself between the two. The borg backed away from the pimple faced employee who quickly scampered off.

"What are you doing?" Jackie hissed, adopting a hushed tone so her mother wouldn't overhear them. "You can't just go around intimidating people just cause they don't do what you tell them to. You're not an oh so feared villain around here. You're just a guy. A guy who's going to get arrested, if he keeps it up."

"I know that." He shut his eyes as he tried to calm himself. His face was still flushed red and he seemed much more volatile than he'd had been during their last encounter. "The little ignoramus wouldn't tell me where my map was." He stubbornly folded his arms over his chest. Jackie shook her head, scanning the shelves for a world map which she pulled down and shoved into his hands.

"You can't call things sites here," she said, still trying to keep her voice low. "People will think you're crazy. Not that they'd be wrong. Why do you need a world map anyways? Where are you going? And where have you been the last few days?"

Hacker didn't respond right away, instead glancing peevishly back and forth down the aisle. "Where are the rest of you?"

"I'm just here with my mom."

"Aaliyah?" It was amazing how quickly his face seemed to brighten as he said her name. The borg tucked the rolled up map under his arm and was about to go look for her when Jackie interrupted.

"Hey! You didn't answer me. Where are you planning on going?"

Hacker sneered down at her, as if revealing his travel plans would be too much for her puny human brain to grasp. "To the exotic land of Europe," he declared, unrolling his map. "Or more specifically Italy, which if I understand Earth's geography correctly, is a peninsula within the peninsula of Europe." He squinted at the map, trying to locate the country with his finger before Jackie pointed it out to him.

The borg quickly yanked the map away. "There it is!" he said, pointing as if achieving some grand feat.

"And why do you want to go to Italy?"

"Because, you uncultured urchin, it's the birthplace of the greatest empire to ever invade foreign shores. The foundation on which western civilization was built on. The home of the greatest geniuses to ever walk Earth. I want to soak it in."

Jackie frowned, a bit stumped by the man's frankly insane plan and confused scatterings of Earth related knowledge.

"You know you're not going to get power from a bunch of dead guys just by breathing their fumes right?" she asked, pointedly, yet earnestly. Not sure exactly what he might assume about her world. "This isn't Cyberspace."

"Yes, yes. I was being metaphorical."

Jackie quickly stepped in front of him as he tried to move past her. He looked visibly annoyed, but she was determined to say her piece before he disappeared again.

"I'm sorry about last time. I was trying to tell them—"

"It's fine." He took out his phone to check the time.

"Listen, I got to talk to Motherboard and—"

"If I'm going to beat traffic east, I should get going." He cut her off again, this time her words having a visible reaction. She side-stepped again as he attempted to make his way past her, but this time his much lage stride handed him the advantage. Jackie quickened her pace and continued to follow close behind.

"You can't just drive to Europe, you know that right?" she said, trying to get him to stop with sense, if only for a moment.

"Drat." He visibly pouted, rubbing his chin as he looked down at his map again. Of course in his world, cars could drive just about anywhere, unconfined by the laws of physics and reality and he clearly hadn't anticipated things to run any differently on Earth. "What about Hawaii?"

Jackie silently shook her head.

The borg cried out in frustration and shoved his map back on the shelf. "Can't drive over water. Can't fly. Can't go ten miles over the speed limit. Cha! How do you Earthlies get anywhere?"

"Well if you were a real person you could buy a plane ticket," she muttered, tugging on his sleeve, trying to get him to keep his voice down.

"Fine, then you'll buy me one." He'd started reaching for his wallet before Jackie stopped him.

"Except they'll never let you on a plane. You don't have a passport, and they won't give you one unless you can show a birth certificate and everything else you don't have. So, can you just stop and—"

"And you don't think a manufacturer's certificate would be sufficient?"

Before she could answer in the negative, her mother walked up to their aisle, blinking in surprise to see the two of them there. In one hand she carried a shopping basket with a new watercolor set and brushes. She lifted her free hand to give her friend a small wave.

"Hacker?"

"Aaliyah."

"Find what you're looking for?"

"Unfortunately not. My plans for overseas travels have been thwarted, so I'll have to find a more local map and manage with that."

"Oh. Then you'll want ones that mark out the highways. They sell them at the bookstore." She glanced at her daughter. "Got everything you need, baby?" Jackie nodded, internally relieved it didn't look like she'd caught any of their conversation. At the same time though she'd barely had the chance to get a word in edgeways with him. It was never worse than with Matt. And now that her mother was here, the moment had passed and Jackie would have to find another time to bring it up, preferably before he decided to high tail it out of town for good.

Aaliyah took Hacker by the hand and started to lead him out and towards the book seller's next door, glancing back to make sure Jackie was following. At first Hacker looked surprised at her forwardness, but tailed her without objecting.

As they got to the register, her mother handed off her items to the cashier before facing Hacker. "So, where are you going?"

The villain who was distracted by the assorted shaped chocolates at the check out replied offhandedly. "I haven't figured that out yet. But far. Maybe I'll become a cowboy in the Midwest."

Her mother started to smile, taking his comment as humor before fully processing the implication. "You're leaving town?"

Hacker opened his mouth to reply before closing it again, as if the dots Aaliyah had just connected finally made their way up to his processors. All of a sudden, he seemed to be giving the entire 'drive across the ocean and live under a rock' plan a second thought. Jackie could see him scrambling for an explanation that would be a bit deeper than 'I forgot Earth cars can't drive around the planet in an hour'.

"No, no, no!" he replied hurriedly, continuing to shake his head. "Not permanently. Not when everything's going so perfectly."

Aaliyah smiled back at him as she paid for her things and put them into a bag. "Wherever you go, remember to take pictures for me," she teased, linking her arm in his and leading him out.

"Maybe… we can go somewhere together. The two of us? Err… three of us." He added as Jackie rammed herself hard into his back. He gritted his teeth, but pretended not to have felt it. "A little vacation. Just for the weekend."

Stunned, Aaliyah looked at her daughter who, put on the spot, was no more sure of what to say. All she knew was if she said no, there was no telling if or when they'd run into Hacker next. Convincing him that going back to see Motherboard would take time, if it were even possible. If it came down to it, she'd drag him in by the ear. After sticking her neck out for him in front of everyone, no way she was just going to let him run off.

She nodded.

Chapter Text

Hacker studied the flier Alliyah had given him again. What exactly had he agreed to? Some kind of fair? He hated fairs. All the yelling and sticky little kids. It made him feel ill. Why couldn't she have asked to go to a five star resort with a pool and buffet? They could have had a wonderful time, Earth brat tag along or not.

Unfortunately for him, he'd been the one to make the offer and there was no backing out now. 'Twould be his burden to bear.

He folded the slip of paper back up into a little square and went back to buffing the already glistening hood of his convertible. Oh, how he missed his mean-mobile. This Earth car was a sorry substitute. He had looked into the possibility of upgrading it for nautical travel, but after being laughed out of several mechanic shops decided to abandon his dreams of Europe for the moment. If only he had the tools to make the parts himself, Motherboard would be tasting his dust right now.

Yet even if he could go as far as the spherical shape and dominating gravitational force of the site would allow, would he? Since his sudden realization it would mean an end to his acquaintance with the Earth brat's creator, he wasn't so sure. Through the brief time they'd known each other, he'd come to the conclusion that Aaliyah was a delight, brilliant and someone he never quite got enough of. If he hadn't accidentally confessed to being tech savvy himself, would have very much liked to have her over to set up his computer.

Hacker glanced up at the Earth brat who was sitting in the back seat, a bag clutched tightly against her chest, her gaze fixed on him as if ready to pounce. Aaliyah was still getting ready inside the house, sticking him temporarily with her inferior offspring.

Although he still preferred this one to the other two, today she seemed to be in an odd funk over something. Whatever it was, he didn't let himself dwell on it. The psychology of Earth brats was seldom in his desire to comprehend. At least she wasn't hounding him with questions.

He got in through the driver's side, angling the rear view mirror towards himself as he began combing back and gelling his wig. He'd managed to pick up a pretty good bottle the day before as well as a new, lavender striped button down with a lemon colored polka-dotted bow tie. The overall effect of which made him look singularly roguish. Or, at least as roguish as a human was capable of looking.

The fact that he'd lost his healthy green complexion upon coming to Earth still caused him a significant amount of grief. Not to mention the pitiful current state of his chin. He almost considered popping back into Cyberspace, just for the benefit of seeing his handsome self in the mirror again.

"What's the hold up?" he asked the Earth brat impatiently, twisting the mirror back into position. The longer he had to stare the worse it got.

"She probably forgot where she put them," was the reply from the offspring.

The excuse wasn't too difficult for the borg to buy. The night she'd attempted to show him her college portfolio, they'd had to call a rain check because she hadn't been able to find where she put the thing. There was an airy nonchalance to the way she carried herself that had initially made him wonder if her hardware was indeed in functioning condition.

But he reminded himself she was human and so couldn't be blamed for such things. In a way he almost found it endearing. He remembered Coop had been the same way.

Hacker gave the kid in the backseat another glance, if only because she had continued to stare at him so intently. It was as if she wanted to say something, but wasn't so sure how to start. He recalled seeing a similar look on Buzz and Delete when trying to conceal the fact they'd just ruined his latest scheme.

He still hadn't forgotten what she'd been on the verge of saying the other day. That she'd discussed something with Motherboard during her visit to Cyberspace. No doubt his former employer had cooked up some sort of scam to get him to go home.

He didn't have time to question though as the favored of his human acquaintances hurried outside with her belongings. Hacker slid on a pair of shades, acknowledging her arrival with a tilt of the head filled with suavity.

"What are you done up all fancy for?" she laughed, sliding into the backseat. "It's not a school day. Saving up those nerd points?" She gave him back a little smile as she fingered his polka-dotted bow tie.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I was trying to find the right tapes." She let out an exasperated sigh as she slid a box of cassettes onto the front passenger side.

His slight disappointment by her decision not to sit up front was slightly lifted as he flipped through her collection. It was a treasure trove of classic rock he could have only dreamed of acquiring in Cyberspace. He excitedly picked out a tape and slid it into the car's radio, turning it up all the way so it would be heard above the roar of the wind once they got on the freeway.

As the song began, he glanced up at the rear view mirror, pleased to find Aaliyah seeming to meet his gaze through it. They both seemed to recognize the instrumental score and as soon as the lyrics began didn't delay in harmonizing. He could see Sunshine next to her mother, shrinking up at their duet. If only this universe didn't have so many rules, he'd put her behind the wheel so he and Aaliyah could rendezvous in the backseat.

After about a dozen numbers, the cassette reached the end of its roll. He was about to reach for the box and put in another when he heard Aaliyah speak. "Remember when we used to do this?" She was talking to the kid.

She had gotten out a thick tipped, neon color pen from her bag and started to scribble over her daughter's arm. "So what'll it be matey?" she asked, staring at her with one eye playfully shut.

From where he sat, it was impossible for Hacker to see what Aaliyah had drawn, but the odd bonding ritual seemed to bring the Earth brat out of whatever coma she'd previously been in and a smile sprung to her face. "Don't forget the parrot," she said, reaching into her mother's bag, presumably for a second pen to start scribbling with.

"Aye, aye, captain," Aaliyah saluted. "And what about your booty?"

Curious about what they were getting up to and finding they were alone on the road, Hacker made a quick glance towards the back. Over the girl's wrist was a cartoon doodle of a butt with a keyhole on one of the cheeks.

"No, stop!" her daughter shrieked, hollering in laughter as she pulled her arm away. "A-HA!" she cried as she managed to pull out the other pen. "Now for Jumping Jax's Revenge!"

Hacker quirked his brow with curious amusement. Aaliyah, seeming to sense his gaze, looked up from the vandalization of her arm with a twinkle of mischief. "When we pull over at the next rest stop, you better be ready."

"It's a two hour drive. I hardly think I'd need to stop," the borg replied with a nervous chortle. Any entertainment he'd gained from being a spectator stopped there. He had less than zero interest in participating and having his flesh, human and drab as it might be, defaced by cheap stationery.

"No, but your meter's almost empty." Hacker glanced over to where she was indicating and realized she was right. He wondered how it had managed to escape his notice.

"Don't worry, there should be a spot up ahead in about half an hour. We'll make it." She reached for the box and handed Hacker another tape. "How do you like Queen?

They began their second karaoke session of the trip with the Earth brat seeming to occupy herself with continuing to decorate her mother's arm. The duet was cut short by an itch in his throat of acute onset halfway through the chorus of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

"I've always said rockstars are the royalty of the 20th century," the borg wheezed, pausing to catch his breath. He felt Aaliyah's hand thumping at his back while he coughed up the tickle.

"In what way?"

"For being magnets of our adoration. Who else could inspire so much devotion out of those they've never even met? How far across this massive planet—" He had to catch himself from blurting out the word 'site' again. "Do you think their followers have traveled to see them?"

"I don't think it's the same thing." She smiled in a way that only made him more eager to prove his point. There was amusement in her eyes, but it wasn't smug. Adoration? That's what he secretly hoped.

"Of course it is," he said in a hoarse voice, continuing his wild gesticulations and alternating which hand stayed on the wheel. "It's a system of two parts, each feeding each other. The followers supply their loyalty, and their idol, his charm and natural splendor. Caesar accomplished feats in his time impossible to us now, because he had the genius, and sheer magnetism capable of inspiring the greatness in everyone he ruled." He gestured inward, towards himself as he spoke, synonymizing himself with the greatness he preached.

He found himself trembling with elation at the mere thought. It was why he was so desperate to see Europe in particular and be in the presence of these legends. Even in a metaphorical sense. It was that same greatness he'd spent most of his life trying to emulate. Without a doubt he possessed it. It was the getting-others-to-appreciate-it part he never quite seemed to achieve.

"Are you saying you want to be worshiped like a rockstar?"

"Wouldn't you?"

"I can't deny that," Aaliyah laughed. "Oh, don't miss the exit!"

The place they pulled up to was a large gas station, spacious enough to park a parade of cryoxide delivery vans. A few yards away from the pumps was a sleepy little convenience store with someone who appeared to be the cashier sitting outside in a lawn chair, taking in the clement weather.

"Do you need to use the bathroom, baby?" Aaliyah asked her daughter, before getting out of the car herself.

Hacker pulled out one of the pumps and stuck it into the tank of his vehicle. It took him several minutes to realize nothing was passing through the nozzle.

"You have to pay inside first," the Earth brat spoke up, holding up a twenty she pulled out from her bag. "I've got it." She hopped out of the car and headed towards the store, the man sitting outside scurrying back to his place behind the register as he saw her approach.

Momentarily, Hacker felt the pump start to vibrate in his hand. How needlessly complicated everything on Earth was. In Cyberspace, the only people with paper money were children and those who otherwise had no sense of budget. There wasn't even the need to swipe a card. Everything was automated and paperless. A few of the many conveniences of a digital world.

He was just finishing up and putting the pump back in place when he caught the Earth child waving at him out of the corner of his eye. He turned and had a chilled water bottle tossed in his direction.

It took a moment of fumbling before he was able to catch it. Was this supposed to be for him? He eyed the girl, and then the bottle suspiciously before cracking it open. He hadn't asked, but he'd take it if she insisted.

"A thank you would be nice."

Of course there was a catch. Hacker paused as he held the bottle up to his lips. "Yes, thank you," he replied curtly before dipping his head back and chugging down. He felt the cold liquid quench the dryness of his extended roadside warble.

"About the other day..."

A frown crossed Hacker's face as he plopped the water bottle into the driver's side cup holder. Already he didn't like the direction their conversation was taking.

"I told Mother B about everything you've been saying about wanting to move past evil."

"You did, did you?"

"She wants to talk to you again. She's hoping you'll come back to Cyberspace willingly. And she'll let you come back to Earth if she thinks you've really changed—"

"I don't care what she thinks!" he snapped. "And I certainly don't need her permission to live my life." The idea Motherboard had any kind of authority over him was enough to send him into a boiling rage. He was the one in charge. The one who installed every update and coded every repair. How dare she presume to have any say in how he chose to conduct himself?

"I've already paid my dues," he went on, in his rage leaning harder against the side of the car, as if it were the only thing fencing him back. "Motherboard's cured. She's taken my ship. The only thing I have left to give is my dignity, and I refuse to go back just to be humiliated by her."

"Do you really think she'd do that?"

"Trap me under her thumb for the rest of my life? She's been doing it since I was booted up. And maybe any lesser borg would have been content to serve the illustrious Ruler of Cyberspace, but the Hacker grovels before no one."

Getting back into his seat, he slammed the car door shut with a force that caused the vehicle to shake. His temper was perhaps the one thing about himself he couldn't say he was particularly proud of. Was anyone ever proud of being angry? It was just that he'd never had much success trying to conceal his emotions. Even as he shut his eyes and exhaled through his nose, he felt the urge to beat dents into his dashboard.

"Well then what am I supposed to do?" the girl cried, hopping into the passenger's side next to him without even opening the door. "They're going to expect me to bring you back, reformed or not. I don't want to, but if you're not going to cooperate, it's what's going to happen. Running off isn't going to help. Just like starting a war with Motherboard didn't."

Hacker opened his eyes again, ready to fling a retort as well as comment about her scuffing his seat with her sneakers when he saw the weight in her narrowed eyes. As bad as he was at reading people, even he could see the guilt the kid was carrying. He wasn't used to people making a fuss over him this way. For most, the choice when taking sides between him and Motherboard was always obvious. Even with Marbles he'd fought a losing battle every time. After all, what borg would ever choose to side against the ruler of the cyberuniverse in favor of her technician?

After a few seconds of him failing to respond, the girl let out an exasperated groan and buried her face in her knees. "Things were so much easier when we were kids," she murmured. "We'd just mop the floor with you and call it a day."

"If you could go a day without hurling insults at me, I'd appreciate it."

"What do you like so much about Earth anyways?" Sunshine asked. "Without you around, Cyberspace is perfect. You know, no offense."

Hacker gave her a sideways smirk. "Perfect is subjective," he said. "Earth just feels and is more real. Your lives are influenced by a vast and intersecting social and political web. Thousands of years of history coming together to form a system many times more complex than Cyberspace can ever dream of creating."

He felt his processors begin to speed up, but this time the strain wasn't from his anger, but elation. Once again they'd fallen onto one of his pet topics and he couldn't help but feel the urge to go on and on and on, even in the absence of Aaliyah.

"Even something as simple as the weather can be influenced by a thousand confounding variables. In Cyberspace I can tell you exactly where it will rain, the precise time it will stop and how heavy it will be. On Earth you can only forecast, you can't know. As much as I jest against your drab looks, even they serve a purpose. Your world and you are completely malleable. There isn't a Motherboard or some admin hovering over you with a vision. Anyone can make it into whatever they see fit."

"You're giving us too much credit." The girl rolled her eyes in a way he didn't like. After his masterfully delivered speech he expected applause whereas he was met with only teenage cynicism. "You barely know the first thing about Earth. Sure, Cyberspace has problems, but there are always solutions. On Earth, you can't change anything. Maybe there are some little things you can influence, but most things just happen. And when they do there's nothing you can do to change it. Nothing you can do to make it right."

Hacker thought he could almost detect a break in her voice as she finished speaking. It was enough to draw a twinge of concern from his otherwise very brass and stoic heart. The feeling increased as a moment later he heard a soft sob come from her throat. Having buried her face in her knees as soon as she finished speaking, he couldn't see any tears, but the initial sniff was followed by a distinct chorus of louder snuffles coming from her bunched up body.

She quickly lifted her head to wipe the tears away, putting in a visible effort to stop herself from producing more. Feeling like he should be contributing something, but unsure what, Hacker simply rested a hand on her shoulder.

"You're referring to your late father?"

The Earth kid nodded. She continued to rest her face on her knees, occasionally sniffing softly into her pant leg. When she finally spoke again her voice came out in a barely audible whisper. "Part of me almost wishes you'd pop up one day after taking over the world behind our backs just so we could stop you for real instead of this weird Opposite Day thing that's been happening."

"Is there any opinion where I'm not the vehicle for you to get over your unresolved parental issues?"

The girl ignored him and resumed her interrogative theme. "Why did you destroy her office?" she asked. "Just because she wouldn't get rid of me that night?"

"She told you about that?"

"She still thinks you're going to come back one day to try and take over. And cause you're you, it's hard enough to even convince her to give you a chance." She sighed. "Why can't you two work out your own problems?"

"It's called running into an impasse. I refuse to work for her and she refuses to lay down and accept defeat. I stopped caring about her a long time ago because I realized she'd never—"

"Never what?"

"It isn't important now." He sighed, managing to catch himself before he said too much. There was no reason for her to be privy to things that weren't her business. It would only encourage her to further pry into his affairs.

"Your mother should be along in a moment. Get back to your seat," he said, gesturing towards the back. He was reaching to start the engine again when he felt the girl's forehead knock against his shoulder.

Wondering if she'd really lost it, he glanced down as she began to reach for his hand. Almost immediately, Hacker found himself pulling away and nudging her off his shoulder. He disliked being on the receiving end of sympathy almost as much as he disliked supplying it. The girl glanced up at him, concern still written on her expression.

A moment after she'd reluctantly returned to her seat, Hacker could see Aaliyah emerging from the store. The woman had a plastic wrapper in hand which she tore open as she headed for the car. "You have to have one of these."

Before the borg could respond, she had shoved something from the baggie into his mouth. "Hmph." He nodded in approval with the crunchy, hard substance pocketed in his cheek. It was sticky to chew and tasted of peanut butter.

Aaliyah handed off the rest of the snack to her daughter, seeming not to notice the slight redness around her eyes, before sliding into the car beside her. "Come on, baby. Put on your seatbelt."

Chapter Text

The quaint little fairground paled in comparison to R-Fair City, though for Hacker it scarcely made a difference. He'd never cared much for places like this. Not unless there was perversity to be had.

Aaliyah and her offspring on the other hand, seemed thrilled by the spectacle of the twisting coaster rails and its shrieking passengers. Sunshine grabbed her mother's hand almost as soon as they'd gotten out of the car, dragging her towards the ticket gate with girlish excitement.

Hacker pulled out his flier again, trying to see if there was any information on the back that would catch his interest. Surely it wouldn't be impossible to find an appropriate spot for some alone time? He could taste a salty tang in the afternoon breeze. They were adjacent to the bay which was the first promising sign. Renting out a little yacht or even a canoe sounded ideal.

He hurried after the two to the gate, trying to get Aaliyah's attention as she continued being dragged away by her daughter. He rubbed his hands as he noticed the Earth brat stopping to look over a map, allowing him to catch Aaliyah's gaze at last.

"I should probably get on line for food. If we wait until she's hungry, we'll get a visit from the drama llama."

"Excellent idea," the borg declared with his usual grandiose gestures. "And while you're at it, I'll make sure she's well supplied with tickets."

"I'll pay you back," she said, briefly resting a hand on his arm before running off to squeeze herself onto the line.

Once Hacker made it to the front of the ticket queue, he didn't hold back in shoving bills into the cashier's hands. It was essential that the Earth brat remained good and occupied. Ideally until it was time for them to leave. If there was one talent she and her friends possessed, it was butting in at exactly the wrong time to ruin things for him.

But not today! Beaming at the thick roll of tickets in his hand, he walked back to where the child stood. She was busy making a numbered list prioritizing which attractions she wanted to visit. Before he could present her with the ticket roll, she'd absentmindedly slipped her hand into his.

"Mom, hurry. The line for the Sea Serpent isn't that long. We can go on that first, and—" She slowly craned her head, seeming to realize his elegant, yet masculine fingers did not actually belong to her mother.

Hacker offered her a cheeky wave. "I'll ride with you once if you insist, but don't call me Mom." He flashed a smarmy grin as she stared up at him, mouth agape and more than a little horrified.

She quickly yanked her hand away and attempted to look over his shoulder to track down her missing parent. After spotting her in the line for hot dogs, she tried to make a beeline in that direction, but was intercepted as Hacker side stepped between them.

"Why don't you go find some other children to galavant around with?" he said, shoving the roll of tickets in her hands. "Give your mother a little break."

"I know what you're up to," she said, folding her arms and refusing to take them.

"And what am I up to?"

"Bad stuff," she muttered, eyes narrowed into slits. "Evil."

"I'm hurt. Have all our misadventures this week meant nothing?"

"Can you at least try to tone down the flirting, Casanova?"

He practically shoved the ticket roll into her hands, his face flushing a deep red. "Do you want these or not?"

"Fine," she sighed finally, snatching it from him. "But you better be on your best behavior."

"I'll be as exceptional as always." He stuck out his pinky, causing a smile to spring to her face.

"I thought you said that was childish," she laughed, hooking his pinky. They shook briefly before he slid his hands back into his jacket.

"Seeing who I'm dealing with, I thought it would be appropriate."

The girl hung her head in exasperation before looking back up at him with a little smirk. "Thanks, I guess." She closed her fist around the tickets and pocketed them.

Hacker waited for her to vanish into the crowd before searching the line for Aaliyah. Although it looked like she'd barely moved from her spot, she was no longer at the back of the line. It was as if everyone else at the fair had gotten the idea to get hot dogs at the same time and the queue now twisted back and forth along the path several times.

"It looks like we'll be waiting here a while," she sighed once he joined her.

"What's the rush?" He shrugged, without a care.

Aaliyah raised a brow at him, then seemed to stand on her toes to look over his shoulder. "Did Jackie run off on her own?"

"Children," he continued with the same flippant smile. "I'm sure she'll find us once she's in need of refreshment."

Despite his reassurances, she still seemed anxious, rubbing the skin just above her elbows as she stood beside him in silence. There was something on her mind she seemed reluctant to share. Something Hacker was oblivious to as he continued to rattle off on his own.

"Clear skies. Pleasant breeze. Perfect weather for sailing."

"Hacker?"

"What do you say, I go down to the pier? See if I can persuade someone to lend us their boat for the day? I think I could do with a tan."

"Hacker, listen," she said again, her tone growing more forceful. This time the borg fell silent. "Before this goes any further, there's something I have to tell you. I know I should have said something sooner, but… I don't think I'm ready for another relationship right now. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea."

As she spoke, the carefree expression slowly fell from Hacker's face. He opened his mouth awkwardly, but shut it again, slightly befuddled and at a loss for words. First the Earth brat and now her? Was the Hacker really so transparent?

His first instinct was to deny. Had he been flirting with her? Hardly. That was just him being friendly, putting his best foot forward as it were and it didn't matter to him whether they became an item or not.

His second was to just smile and shrug it off, but his momentarily stunned stupor threw away any chance of that being bought. Luckily for him, the moment passed as she broke her own silence.

"But you've been a wonderful friend. I don't know what I've done to deserve it."

"Been a wonderful friend." This time he recovered quickly and managed to retrieve the smile. Whatever emotion and just flashed by was masked now. There was no reason they couldn't still enjoy the rest of their afternoon together.

At first Aaliyah seemed weary of the offhandedness of his response, but offered back a weak smile. Eventually they made it to the front of the line and she ordered for the three of them, getting a brown paper bag so she could store her daughter's share in her purse for the time being.

They strolled through the fairground with their food, Hacker eyeing his corndog suspiciously. It was the type of fatty junk Buzz and Delete would normally drool over. The only reason he'd asked for one was because it was the only thing he could eat without hands. He'd never liked the idea of having to touch food he was about to eat, especially while outdoors.

He shot a side glance at Aaliyah who was biting into her own hot dog while taking in the passing attractions. "Have you ever been on the teacups?" she asked, pointing them out in the distance. Hacker shook his head, which prompted a huge grin from her. "Let's go. And after that we can do the haunted house."

"E-er, no." He was staring down at her like he'd just discovered a bit of cat puke in his driveway.

"Don't be scared. You just ride through on a cart. The animatronics don't even touch you."

"I'm scared of nothing," he declared imperiously, turning his nose up. Aaliyah frowned, not looking entirely convinced.

"I'm terrified of bugs."

This seemed to catch his attention though he didn't meet her gaze. "Computer bugs, or insect bugs?"

"Both."

"Good for you."

Aaliyah smiled flatly at his aloof response. "Oh, come on. That's supposed to make you open up."

"Not a chance."

"So there is something you're scared of," she cried, astutely.

"No."

"Then you're going into the haunted house." She grabbed him by the shirt sleeve and dragged him to the back of the line.

Hacker desperately wanted to protest, but he couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't make him look like a coward and weedy. He caught himself chewing at his lower lip, his heart pounding with every shuffle they made forward in the shockingly short line. After less than ten minutes, they'd arrived at the front.

"Y-you don't think there'll be ghosts, do you?"

"Probably," she said, doing her best to fight a smile. Noticing the little smirk on her lips, he scrunched up his nose and put on the biggest frown his face had room for. "If you're really scared, we don't have to. There's still time to get on the teacups."

"Absurd," he huffed adamantly as they were ushered into the next cart.

As the protective bar came down over them, Hacker's expression took a sudden drop. He wiggled the bar in his lap, but it was firmly stuck in place. Before he could open his mouth and ask to be let off, the doors to the ride's spooky mansion set piece flung open with a howl of the wind and the two were launched inside.

Five minutes and one haunted house tour later, he had been reduced to a quivering mess in her lap, still wearing a stubborn pout even as his arms practically had to be crowbarred from around her shoulders.

"Er, Hacker? It's over." Aaliyah said, nudging him gently as the bar came back up. "You can let go of me now."

The borg looked around stunned, as if he'd forgotten where he was. It took him a moment to note his humiliating position and apologetically slide back to his half of the cart.

"Um, yes," he mumbled, straightening himself up and trying to look as regal as possible. "Naturally, I was just trying to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Good, good." He stared at her awkwardly for a moment before noticing the next riders were coming over to claim their cart.

He hopped off the ride and hurried towards the exit as if he hadn't been holding onto her for dear life just moments before. Glancing to the side, he saw that she had joined him, a teasing smirk on her lips.

"You're very brave," she said, failing to hide the laughter on her lips.

"Zip it."

They headed over toward a stone fountain at the center of the fair grounds. It was a giant, circular structure that had water spewing from the center and a rim just far away enough for people to sit comfortably without getting wet. Despite the hyperactive children that ran screaming past them occasionally, Hacker was happy for the relief from being dragged to further attractions.

"Guess what I brought?" Aaliyah said, reaching into her bag. The borg peeked over to see her pull out a sketchbook, followed by a set of oil pastels. "I thought I'd do a few preliminary sketches. Get the shape of your face down before I tried anything serious."

As she flipped through the pages of the book, Hacker caught a glimpse of some of the previous sketches etched in it. "What do we have here?" She'd already turned to a fresh page at the point, and had started reaching for her oils when he peeled back to page to get a better look.

"Just some very, very old drawings," she chuckled lightheartedly, resting her palm on the side of the sketchbook in a feeble attempt to cover it up.

"I think I saw a wedding dress. So you did remember where you kept them." He gently pushed her fingers off the page and started flipping through.

There were dozens of uncolored sketches of dresses with different shapes and cuts. Many seemed to be themed around flowers as the motif appeared everywhere from the hem line to the collar across the different drawings.

"Marriage, spring, you know," Aaliyah shrugged. "Pretty cliche right? I don't think I could ever sell any of these, but doing them was a fun time waster."

"If there's one thing I know about business, it's that it's not about if someone will buy a product, it's if you can sell it," Hacker said. "If you can find your market, you can sell anything. Cliche? What I see is…" He paused to think for a moment before snapping his fingers. "Affordable designer."

He continued flipping through the pages until the designs eventually transitioned to color. These he noticed didn't appear to be dresses, but various costumes. And designed for a child no less.

"Oh these are more recent. A few Halloween costumes for Jackie. I think this one came together really well. She seemed to like it anyway." Aaliyah pointed at a vaguely familiar looking red vest and puffy sleeved shirt. "But enough of memory lane. Do you want a portrait from me or not?"

"Yes, please." Hacker reached across her lap for one of the waxy numb pastels. The set was out of order and several pieces were crumbling or broken, but they still looked somewhat usable. There was hardly anything left among the browns and oranges, maybe not surprising for a portrait artist, and the paper they were wrapped with was well weathered with age.

He made a dive once he spotted a green he judged to be comparable to his own. And better still, it seemed to be in relatively pristine condition. "I've always thought I looked best in a bright lime," he declared, handing her the piece. "And if you wish to accentuate the form of my chin, that'll be alright." He held his open palm up in front of his reduced appendage, subtly suggesting the length he would have preferred.

She gave him a puzzled glance before gingerly taking the piece from his fingers. "I'm not used to doing caricatures, but I can try."

Hacker beamed, striking the most megalomaniacal pose in his repertoire as he watched her start to sketch. When she glanced up at him again, he thought he detected a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Do you want a crown with that, your majesty?"

"Well, if it isn't too much to ask, then, yes."

His entire face seemed to glow as he looked at her though eyes that couldn't help but be filled with adoration. It almost didn't matter that she'd told him earlier she wasn't looking for a relationship. He couldn't imagine anything better than what they had at that moment.

Like everything else though, it didn't last. The corners of his mouth peeled into a frown as he spotted the Earth brat in the distance. Despite his subtle attempt to shoo her away, she continued to approach them. He was just about to get up and shove her towards another ride when he felt a buzz from his pocket.

It took him a moment to realize the source was his phone. He reached for it, stupefied about who could have been calling him. He wouldn't have even though intra-dimensional communication was even possible on his device.

Once he pulled it out, he realized it was a pre-scripted alert. He flipped the phone open and was met with the instrumental blast of royal trumpets followed by a computer generated voice. "Congratulations! You are now the uncontested and inimitable Ruler of all Cyberspace! Let's check the instant rewind—" BOOM!

Oh, right. This was the pre-recorded message to himself he'd created in the event he did take over Cyberspace. Triggered to play if ever Motherboard was booted off the big screen. He remembered sitting in the Wreaker, editing the clip of the explosion going off in Motherboard's room. He couldn't help a little amused grin before his expression twisted into confusion.

"What was that?"

"What was that!?"

Mother and daughter had both spoken in unison, although one sounded far less amused. Hacker just blinked and looked down at his phone again, trying to put the pieces together himself. Before he had the chance to formulate thoughts, the siren of an Earth brat was once again screeching in his ear.

"What did you do?"

"Believe it or not, I'm not quite sure," Hacker mumbled, puzzled but still sounding amused. "Would you believe me if I said nothing?"

"No!"

"Jackie!" Aaliyah cried, pulling her daughter towards her so she was looking her in the eye. "What's going on?"

The girl bit her lip and refused to answer, too stunned for the moment to produce words.

"I think one of you better start explaining!" Aaliyah said with considerably more force. Hacker waited another moment for the girl to speak, before deciding to take the matter into his own hands.

"We'd always planned to explain this eventually but—" He gave a flippant wave of the hand as if expecting it to somehow finish his sentence for him. He seemed completely oblivious to the situation he was actually in and Aaliyah's mounting horror with every syllable he uttered. "I lied. I'm not a math teacher. That was just a ruse I concocted so I could give our little Sunshine a bit of a scare."

"Then who exactly are you!?" The woman looked like she was about to start frothing at the mouth any second.

"Mom, don't be mad at him. He's harmless. Just crazy."

Hacker huffed indignantly, but held back his brewing protests. He seemed to be starting to sense he would not rise from this conversation as unscathed as he'd thought.

"I'm THE Hacker, and as you heard, I'm the rightful Ruler of Cyberspace. Prince of the Digital Realm. Despot to—"

"He's an old jerk who thinks he's a supervillain," the girl yapped, merciless in her slander. "It's really nothing, mom. And the only reason I didn't tell you is because I didn't want you to worry. I was with Matt and Inez the whole time and we were completely safe—"

"I'm not old…" Hacker mumbled, but was completely ignored by both parties.

"It's just somewhere I go to meet my friends."

"Jackie, you're not making any sense. Are these people you're meeting online? I-I haven't noticed you going anywhere."

"No, it's— it's so hard to explain because it's so… impossible and crazy." She reached for her bag and pulled out her skwak. Hacker peered over her shoulder, watching her pull up her contacts, only to see Motherboard's was grayed out.

Hacker got up from the edge of the fountain, the reality of the situation starting to hit him. What was happening? Had someone… other than him, actually done it? He felt his human flesh flash hot. Who was it? Wicked? Warren? Some young punk he'd never heard of? He couldn't decide what would be worse.

But how was that even possible? He'd cured the virus. At full power, nothing in Cyberspace could match the AI's power. Nothing but him. At least that was how it was supposed to be.

"Hacker?" He felt the Earth brat walk up to him from behind and reach for his hand. "What's happening?"

For once the borg didn't have an answer.

Chapter Text

"We have to get home." The Earth brat spoke up again once Hacker had failed to respond to her last question. "We can try using Marbles's remote portal opener." She turned to her mother, still flustered and trying to articulate. "Once we get back, I'll show you and it'll all make sense."

She took Hacker by the hand and started pulling him towards the exit. The borg acquiesced to being dragged along quietly, his emotions having not quite caught up with him yet. Even with the possibility that Cyberspace had indeed been conquered by an unnamed rival, the more likely chance this could all be some scam on the part of his ex-employer was enough to cause him some degree of apathy.

He glanced behind him to see Aaliyah, hurrying to keep up, expression filled with the same anxiety her daughter wore. When he met her gaze, he couldn't help but feel there was a firm resoluteness molded into her features and not one that bent to his favor.

As they reached the parking lot, he turned his gaze back in sharp focus and got out his keys. "If there's anything I've learned about driving around your world for a week, it's that there's always a ridiculous amount of traffic in the late afternoon. It'll take us twice as long to get back, as we spent getting here."

"What choice do we have?" the girl cried, practically shoving him into the driver's seat.

"Give me that little toy Motherboard makes you carry around."

"What?" The kid looked puzzled, but Hacker could see she knew what he meant by the way she instinctively reached for her bag. Instead of asking again, he simply snapped his fingers and stuck out the palm of his hand.

Once she'd fished it out for him, he started to explain his scheme. "If this contraption of yours works on Earth and Cyberspace, I can use it as a signal booster by wiring it to my phone and activating the portal opener remotely."

He rolled up his sleeve and was about to reach for the screwdriver he usually kept handy in his arm when he remembered there was nothing there. Just flesh and whatever Earthlies kept under that. A lot of squishy gunk probably.

"I need a screwdriver."

"I saw a hardware store on the way here. Just a few minutes back towards town." Seeing it was Aaliyah who spoke up, Hacker brightened, hoping it meant what was between them hadn't gone as cold as it first appeared.

"Lead the way," the borg cried, sticking his key into the ignition.

As they left to seascape behind, Hacker caught himself diverting his eyes from the road and onto Aaliyah who was now beside him on the passenger side, her gaze fixed on the road. He felt the desperate need to say something to her, although he was aware of the circumstances being less than ideal.

"Aaliyah, I hope you won't take this whole situation too personally—"

"You've been luring my daughter to who knows where for who knows how long. So, I'm taking it very personally."

Her tone caused Hacker to flinch. He hadn't expected her reaction to be so volatile. It took him barely a moment to turn shock into anger and snap a retort. "For your information, I haven't been luring her anywhere. If anything I've been babysitting her and her nosy little friends without charge for three years. Everytime I tried to get rid of them Motherboard would just dump them back on my doorstep the next week."

"Only cause you wouldn't stop causing trouble!" the Earth brat butted in from the back. Hacker shoved a hand in her face to force her back into her seat.

"Both of you have been lying to me from the start of this whole thing," Aaliyah cried, her emotion coming out in full force as she buried her face in her hands and groaned. "I came halfway across the state with someone I don't even know! Do you have any idea how creepy that is?"

Hacker shot a side glance at the Earth brat, hoping she would queue him on a response. He couldn't help but feel it was one of those trick questions.

"Mom, they don't have a gauge for this stuff. Cyberspace is… simple."

"What does that mean?" Hacker eyed her.

"It means, despite you running around trying to destroy it, Cyberspace is still about a hundred times safer than the stuff that can happen in the real world," she said before slumping back down in her seat.

Aaliyah shut her eyes. To Hacker, it looked as if she was trying to hold in her emotions. Her brow quivered slightly on her temple. When she opened them up again, she seemed calmer and spoke in a soft monotone.

"Let's just get you what you need."

The store was exactly where Aaliyah said it was. Once they pulled up to the parking lot, all three ran inside. Hacker started grabbing tools and packages of spare wires off the racks which he'd started unwrapping and putting to use before they got up to the cashier.

The sky had darkened considerably by the time they got out with storm clouds looming overhead as Aaliyah took the wheel. They drove through deserted backstreets as the wind picked up, eventually ending up in the parking lot of a motel, the lines of a cell tower stretching overhead.

"Are you almost done?" Sunshine asked. The girl had gotten out of the car and was pacing back and forth incessantly under the awning.

"Don't rush genius." He tutted her before going back to snipping at wires. He had opened up the back of both devices and was trying to reroute the electricity while running it through an adapter.

Aaliyah was in the driver's seat looking over his shoulder as he worked. Her daughter slowly drifted to her side, pressed against the door of the car.

"If you want to help, see if you can find us a way up to the roof. There's a heap of trash on the other side of the parking lot. I think I saw a ladder." The borg started gesturing around, first up at the flat roof of the motel, then around the side of the building where there were several giant dumpsters.

For a moment, the girl seemed reluctant to leave, probably still weary against leaving the two adults alone together. Knowing this was the time to get things done however, she glanced worriedly down her mother before running off.

Once she was gone, there was a long silence in the car. Hacker could feel Aaliyah's gaze fixed intently on him as he worked. His eyes shifted up for a fleeting moment, enough to catch her solemn expression. The brief distraction from his work caused him to brush his finger against the sharp tip of a frayed wire.

His hand recoiled instinctively and he glanced at the spot the wire had grazed in shock. A sharp, stinging pain radiated from the point. At first he suspected there must have been some glitch in his human body, but soon a bright red substance began to secret out from a cut in the flesh.

"It hurts, what's happening?!" he cried, waving his injured finger as if that would somehow close the wound.

"Let me see!" Aaliyah cried, trying to grab at his flapping arm. He flung his wounded hand at her. "It's just a little cut." She sounded exasperated.

"It hurts!"

"Sometimes they do. Haven't you ever gotten a paper cut where you're from?" She reached for her purse in the backseat and pulled out a tiny strip of something covered in a plastic film.

He shook his head furiously. "Don't tell me it's a normal part of the Earthlie experience to slice yourself open."

Aaliyah tore off the plastic layer, revealing a pink unicorn motif on one side and some type of adhesive on the other. "Not if you're a bit careful." She gestured for him to stick out his finger, then wrapped the strip twice around the wound.

Hacker held up his hand, admiring the neat job she'd done and the little horsies now prancing around his finger. The woman seemed to shoot him an odd look. "Why? Is everything in Cyberspace made of pillows and cotton candy?"

"Definitely not." He shook his head, disgusted by the mere idea. Though there were certain places in the Cyberworld that didn't fall too short of that criteria. "Metal skin is just a lot tougher than what you Earthlies have."

"Metal skin."

Seeing a chance to feed the ever swelling ego, he beamed down rather magnanimously at her. "The human form I wear now pales in comparison to my true appearance. Your world just has certain rules for how it likes its lifeforms built so I had to adjust. Yes, in a few more minutes, you'll be witness to the Hacker as he was meant to be seen. Guaranteed to leave you speechless."

"So, you're a robot?"

"Cyborg," he corrected, gingerly reaching for his tools again. "There's a difference."

"And is everyone in… Cyberspace a cyborg?"

"More or less." He shrugged, then anticipating her next question he added, "Unfortunately, my jailer holds the monopoly on portals which means traveling back and forth is almost impossible without her permission. Luckily," he held up the skwak. "Motherboard approved, courtesy of your offspring."

"Motherboard? Your mother?"

"See, not everything I told you was a lie. Just the parts you wouldn't have believed."

"Like what?"

"Alright, I think it's done." He pretended not to hear her, picking up his newly rigged device from the dashboard and holding it up. "Now where's the kid?"

He knew exactly what she was alluding to, of course. She wanted to hear all about that other stuff. His schemes. Ordinarily, he would have taken any opportunity to brag about his exploits, but he could tell what it would lead to in this case. It was a trap designed to cause a fight between the two of them. Completely unproductive in this case.

Before he could get out of the car, he felt Aaliyah's grip on his arm hold him back. "Can you swear to me nothing will happen to my daughter in whatever upside down place you're dragging us to?"

"O-of course, I swear," he stammered, more from surprise at her tone than lack of certainty. "After all, she's been there countless times and you've never even noticed." He let out a little laugh, but his companion seemed to fail to see the humor of the situation.

She silently pushed herself out of the car just as Hacker felt the first raindrops on his head. The two of them went around to the side of the building where the Earth brat had arranged a bunch of old crates into a staircase that led atop one of the giant dumpsters.

"It looks like we should be able to make it," the girl said, shielding her eyes and looking up towards the roof.

Hacker fingered his device, wiping the screen clean with his thumb before raising it up high to see if he could get a decent signal. One bar. Not nearly enough.

"Okay," he said. "I'll go first." He rested a foot on the crate, testing its stability, before pulling himself onto the dumpster.

He winced as his fingers dabbed against a mysterious sticky substance. Not having anything to wipe it on, he brushed his hand against the brick of the building, hoping that would manage to strap it off. It was some satisfaction to see, as he hopped his way up to the roof, that both the Earth brat and her mother had come into contact with the same substance on their way up. Both stared down at their hands with some displeasure before reaching for the edge of the roof.

"Ew, ew and double ew!" the girl gagged, holding her hands up to the rain which was still just a drizzle but was coming down noticeably harder than before.

"At last!" Hacker cried as extra bars began to appear on his phone screen. He hung his device up on the massive antennae positioned on the roof, punching in his desired settings before standing back.

The borg reached for each of his two human companions, pulling them towards him to be in range of the portal's pull. Feeling a sudden wave of acceleration as a clap of thunder sounded in the distance, he turned to face the sky.

Faintly, he could see a ray of light shine from behind the storm clouds. After a moment, a beam rained down from the sky, striking his device, forming a powerful vortex which trusted them to the other side of the roof before sucking them in.

It was easy to react with fear when met with a force that had such a control over one's body. Hacker felt himself trying to grip the roof with his feet before realizing what he was doing and surrendering himself to the portal's pull.

It has always been a theory of his, that these portals of Motherboard had a mind of their own. Or at the very least, they were somehow tied to Motherboard's mind. He'd only passed through a small handful of times since his betrayal, but during each instance he'd felt an odd sense of hostility in the space. As if Motherboard herself could sense his presence and disapproved.

It had a way of putting him on edge any time he'd used the portals in the past, including when he'd come to Earth. The feeling, like the knowledge a fly had snuck its way into your boudoir, but not being able to locate it, was strangely absent this time.

That wasn't to say the ride was smooth by any means. Instead, it felt as if Cyberspace was a train suddenly chugging along without an engineer. He glanced around him as he fell through the gelatinous space. Aaliyah and the Earth brat both had their faces shielded from the force of the gravity pulling them towards their destination.

Once they came out the other end, Hacker landed on his back. Roughly, as expected. His companions managed to land on their feet, but lost their footing almost immediately, crashing on the floor beside him. It all just served to increase the feeling of wrongness he felt as he picked himself up.

At the very least, he found, they'd emerged in his room which seemed to have rummaged through slightly since he'd last been there. No doubt Marbles or someone else had come trying to look for his molecular altering mechanism. Too bad for them, he was smart enough to create a device that didn't need an anchor this time. He'd learned from his blunders with the Transformatron.

He felt for the mechanical belt he'd been wearing under his shirt. The contraption was something of a Transformatron-to-go, as it were. The downside being it was only capable of turning him into a single thing instead of anything he wanted. Without the NIC, that was all he'd had the ability to meticulously program.

"What are you doing?" the older of his two companions asked when she spotted him adjusting the settings under his clothes. Aaliyah and her daughter had begun to get their bearings in the room and Sunshine had already started to make a break for the exit.

Hacker flashed her a cheshire smile before pushing lightly on the button at the center of the buckle. "Prepare to be blown away."

Looking down, he watched his arms turn green again in a flash of light. The borg spun towards the dresser where he snatched up a mirror in order to gaze upon his oh-so-missed features once again. It felt like a lifetime since he'd beheld them in all their resplendent glory. His chin, restored. His broad shoulders and unparallel physique, practically perpendicular.

"It feels good to be back!" he cried, bringing the mirror up to his face and delivering a massive smooch upon the surface.

Before he had the time to really take any of it in, he found his peace interrupted by the Earth girl. "How long is this going to take?"

"Just relax. There's always a moment for self care," the borg huffed. "Now where did I put it? Oh, yes." He threw open the dresser's bottom cabinet and pulled out a wig stand, the throne of his permed peruky. He tossed the one he'd been wearing aside and promptly replaced it with his waylaid old companion.

"What does it look like outside?" he asked the Earth brat as he spotted her peek out a crack in the door.

"It's quiet," she said. "Mom, are you—"

Hacker followed her gaze as she glanced over towards her mother, only to see Aaliyah was staring at him. He pointed his chin upward and puffed out his chest so she could better take him in, only for her to lean over towards her daughter and whisper.

"Do they all look like that?"

There was something in her tone he disliked.

"Fat chance. I'm a one of a kind specimen in looks and mind. A testament to borg-kind. A work of art!" He gestured down at himself. "Observe the minimalistic, elegantly proportioned form. One which could not have come from anything but intelligent design."

"He's special," the Earth brat muttered, with an inflection he equally disliked.

"I'd like not to be talked about as if I weren't standing here."

Aaliyah took in a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Green robots. Fine. Okay."

"Cyborg," he repeated, becoming impatient with the slur.

Aaliyah raised a finger, pointing at the villain as if about to admonish him, but eventually let it fall and said in a shaky and defeated voice, "T-this is a lot to take in. And if you raise your voice one more time, I'm going to smack you."

Hacker drew himself up with emperious dignity before making for the door. "Let's just go see what all the hullabaloo is about so we can leave."

He stormed out into the hall. As the Earth brat had said, it was quiet, though that in and of itself wasn't terribly unusual seeing as on most days Marbles and Digit were the only two lurking its halls.

He was just about to call out for them when he heard the sound of metallic footsteps. Sound tended to echo through the halls of Control Central and even if not immediately seen, its residents could usually be heard clinking in the distance. And yet, the sound was heavier than what he might have expected.

As he waited in the middle of the long stretch of hallway, the sound seemed to grow louder and crisper until finally the double doors at the far end parted and an armor clad figure stepped through.

Hacker's jaw fell open as his eyes met the stranger's. He was about as tall and broad shouldered, but what had momentarily struck the borg speechless was the other's chin. A finely chiseled specimen which reflected his own like water.

"So, there you are, Hacker. Motherboard's been expecting you."

Chapter Text

Jackie was equally dumbfounded by the odd sight before her, her mind reeling to find an explanation for what her eyes were seeing. She glanced up at Hacker, hoping he'd be able to clear things up, only to find him storming towards the other and pointing an accusatory finger.

"That's THE Hacker to you!" the borg cried, indignantly looking the stranger up and down. "And who do you think you are?"

"Come on, handsome. You've looked in the mirror lately." The boldness with which he was able to deliver his assertion seemed to catch Hacker off guard and he paused for a better look at the stranger. About as confused as he was, Jackie did the same.

Where the face was concerned, the other might as well have been Hacker's doppelganger. Everything down to the yellowish green complexion and chin were completely identical. The only exception was rather than wearing a wig, a skin tight cap covered the area where any hair would be. Whether there was hair underneath on this duplicate Jackie couldn't tell. Over the rest of his body the look-alike wore bright green armor with massive gauntlets and spiked boots.

Confusion was only able to keep Hacker quiet for so long however as he went right back to his confrontational tone. "So what? You're me from another dimension? Plausible, granted. But then what all this Motherboard's expecting you stuff? Who's side are you on?"

"That would be easier to explain if you followed me to the main control room."

"No way, Hacker. We know you've done something to Motherboard." Though the wheels in her head were still churning to process this other dimension stuff, one thing was apparent. This Hacker look-alike was the one behind the alert they'd gotten.

She took a step forward, her eyes locked on the other's with as much brazen conviction as she could muster while he kept the same flippant charade. "If that's true, you'd have all the more to gain from coming to have a look for yourselves. Your other option is to continue to stand there and gawk."

"He makes a convincing argument." Hacker tapped his chin thoughtfully as his doppelganger started heading towards the audience chamber.

"You can't be serious." There was an edge to Jackie's voice she intended for Hacker to hear, but as usual he seemed to take little notice of. She was used to her and her friends putting up a strong front together and she couldn't exactly do that with Hacker if he was going to outright contradict her like that.

"What can I say? We're already here and it's hard not to listen to yourself." The borg gave her a careless shrug before running after his other self. "Yoo-hoo! Wait up, tough guy. So, what's the story behind the get up?"

"Aye, aye." Her mother brought a hand up to her face and shook her head. "Is this the type of thing that usually happens here?"

"No… it's not," the girl murmured. As she watched the borg and his duplicate leave together she felt a sense of dread start to creep in. Her instincts told her to run, but how could she? Even if she wasn't intent on making sure Mother B was okay first, she had no way of getting back to Earth without a portal. One only Motherboard, with few exceptions, could conjure.

Jackie flashed her mother a weak smile before taking her by the hand and running after the two borgs down the hall. Hacker strolled along with his arm around his other self as if he were without a care in the world. It was shocking to see the reserved borg get chummy with someone so quickly, but apparently his ego extended to the ability to blindly befriend whatever alternate Hackers were out there.

"What's the plan?" she hissed, pulling him away from his duplicate by the sleeve.

"Not to worry. Just follow the Hacker's lead."

Before she had the chance to further inquire into what he meant, the two borgs had crossed the threshold into Motherboard's control room. Having emerged on the lower level, Jackie wasn't able to immediately see what was happening on the catwalk above them. What she could perceive was a woman's voice. One which was punctuated by the forceful denemor of an army major.

"I see you've located our missing resident. And there appear to be more than we initially thought. Interesting."

As the group rode the lift up to the upper level, Jackie found her eyes fixed on the direction the voice was coming from. There was something familiar about it, and as the lift carried her upwards, she felt her heart quickly sink from the realization.

Motherboard's screen hung in its usual place but the image overlooking the room was not that of the benevolent cyber ruler. Like the duplicate Hacker, almost everything about her appearance was the same as that of the maternal AI, but the soul that shone through the eyes was without a hint of recognition or warmth.

As the rest of the group stepped off the lift, she stood stuck in place, not moving until she felt Hacker's hand against her back. The borg's frigid touch made her jump. It was as if she'd all of a sudden wound up at the center of a nest of vipers. A den of snakes with each lurking in the shadows, waiting to inflict their venomous bite.

As the four of them crossed the walkway, Jackie felt the eyes of the duplicate AI bore though her, observing every slight movement she produced. Refusing to give her an inch, Jackie shot back with her own steely gaze. She hoped whatever plan Hacker was cooking up would be a good one. In contrast to herself, the borg looked completely relaxed, his arms tucked behind his back and a tolerant smile across his face as he strolled up to the monitor.

"A Hacker wandering astray from his Motherboard. How unexpected," the face on the screen said, her voice turning thick and syrupy. It reminded Jackie of the insincere chipperness Hacker exuded whenever he attempted to ingratiate himself.

"Not a Hacker. THE Hacker," said the borg, not missing a beat in his retort. "But you look like you're new here so I'll forgive your arrogance for now. I was just getting acquainted with your right hand. You have exceptional tastes."

The AI eyed him with a reserved curiosity. "I expect you have questions. Regarding my presence and the whereabouts of your Motherboard."

"What did you do to her?" Jackie asked. Even as she addressed the imposter Motherboard, her gaze continued to flit, hoping Hacker would offer some indication of what his game plan was. The uncertainty was the only thing stopping her from making a full display of her indignity.

"She's been permanently retired, I'm afraid. But I think you'll find it for the best considering the numerous failings of this one. When compared with the thirteen other versions of Cyberspace I rule over, your average net gain of sites per year is lacking. And now that I'm here, the reason for that is obvious." The IMB turned her gaze purposefully towards Hacker. "In my journeys across dimensions, I have met many pairs of Motherboards and Hackers, each with a different story between them. But you are the first I've encountered to go against his purpose."

"Is that right?" The borg eyed the screen with an odd, and benevolent curiosity.

"How can a Cyberspace hope to function without a Hacker at his Motherboard's side? As impractical as trying to drive a car without wheels. The fact this world has attempted to do so for as long as it has only serves to prove the extent of your creator's incompetence," the IMB concluded. "You were built to conquer and deserve to bathe in every last drop of power you seek." She spoke softly, intent behind each flowing and rhythmic syllable. "Out of all the Hackers I've observed, you are singularly extraordinary."

"Well, it's nice being recognized." The borg rubbed his chin before glancing in the direction of his duplicate who stood at the monitor's side, gaze distant and unreadable.

"You deserve as much, my dear. And now you have a second chance to obtain everything you've ever wanted." She looked down at the borg with an expression Jackie would have described as conciliatory. "I rule over many worlds. You may have your pick of one and do with it as you please. Whether it be this, or some other of your liking. It will be enough for me that you're happy at my side. You are, after all, an irreplaceable specimen."

Their odd rapport put Jackie on edge. To her it didn't seem like Hacker was speaking to another Motherboard, just another version of himself that perpetuated all his worse traits. But what caused the most concern was her uncertainty of how much of an effect the authoritarian AI's words would have on him.

Everything she'd learned about him over the last week told her he wasn't as bad as even he seemed to want people to believe. And yet, she still could not shake the conclusion Motherboard had come to when last they'd spoken. The truth that he'd ultimately choose power over everything else.

What she read on his face at that moment was a mix of cautious interest and a genuine smile. The latter momentarily caught Jackie off guard. It was an oddly vulnerable expression she wasn't not used to seeing on the borg's face. Within a heartbeat though, it had passed, replaced with his usually cocky and boisterous air.

"Where do I sign?"

Jackie felt the slight surprise in her turn into a sinking fear at these words. She turned, searching Hacker's face for signs of a sarcastic sneer while trying to convince herself there had been a hint of the melodrama in his tone. Instead she found only the same easy smile he'd worn since they entered the room as he glanced expectantly at the corrupted AI.

No sooner than he'd gotten out his sentence did a cape and costume materialized over the clothes he'd been wearing. The borg lifted his arms, examining himself as his new attire. It was nothing like the one with the upturned collar he used to wear, instead having a more formal and vague period regimental look. No doubt meant to compliment his recent promotion.

"I'm sure you won't have a problem convincing the admins to submit," the IMB said. "And once that's done, I have someone I know you'll be eager to meet."

The image on the screen flickered and suddenly Jackie was staring into the depths of Control Central's basement cells. At first all she could see were blurred shapes crouched on the floor, but then the camera turned into focus and she could make out the faces of Digit and Dr. Marbles looking up towards the ceiling.

The doctor appeared to be slightly worse for wear with a visible crack in his domed head. Hacker had his eyes fixed up at the screen, his eyes shining with all the old familiar ambition. Jackie felt a lump of ice start to form in her throat as she studied the villain's expression. Surely he had to see the complete hogwash this Motherboard impersonator had just spat at him.

"Hacker, my dear," she addressed the borg's look-alike, still standing to the side like a trained bodyguard. "Why don't we escort our Earth friends to join the good doctor?"

The armored borg stepped forward, about to grab Jackie by the shoulder before Hacker interjected, glancing down at Jackie as if she were a worm he'd caught on the underside of his shoe. "Oh, no. Best to send them home. They have a tendency to get in the way."

"You idiot, she's lying to you!" the girl finally snapped. Even when what was happening had become apparent to her, she'd continued to hold out, hoping against all odds the borg would make a last minute, deft maneuver.

Looking into his face now told her all she needed to know. His mind had long since been made up. The cold indifference that reflected back in his eyes caused her to flinch. In an instant, everything that had been between them the last week evaporated and they were strangers once again.

Jackie could feel the familiar pull of a portal as it materialized behind her. The vortex swept her up like a vacuum, pulling her back into the world of the metaspace.

Her ride back felt like drifting through thick water. The now boggy black atmosphere was completely devoid of sound and nearly suffocating. She moved slowly through the space, as if she were sinking to the bottom of a swimming pool. The light of Control Central was still visible behind her, gradually fading as she drifted deeper.

Once it had gone completely dark, she could see her mother floating several paces behind her, but was unable to make her way back as she continued to be pulled along.

Eventually they were both spat out onto the roof of the motel, the storm soaking them the instant they left the portal's inky black tendels. Jackie picked herself off the wet concrete, aching in both body and spirit.

"Baby are you okay?" Her mother got up and immediately ran to her side, using her jacket to shield her head from the rain.

Feeling her mother's arms around her started the tears falling from her eyes. She buried her face in the woman's shoulder, clinging to the warmth of her embrace in the torrential downpour.

"Let's go home, baby," her mother said, resting a hand on her back. "We'll get you oatmeal with strawberries and a warm shower."

Jackie shook her head, but didn't pull away. "We have to go back. Digit and Doctor Marbles need us," she cried, her voice sounding shaky and drowned.

As much as she still felt shook, she forced herself to file Hacker away in the back of her mind. The borg had made his choice and maybe it wasn't one that should have been all that surprising to her. Her priority now were her friends that needed rescuing.

The girl glanced around the roof, clearing her eyes of their remaining tears. What was step one? Normally, Motherboard or Digit would be there to give them some kind of plan or guidance, but this time both of them were out of commission.

She spotted Hacker's phone hanging from the antennae of the building. Seeing it was still hooked up to her skwak pad, she slowly reached for it. To her surprise, the contacts list which previously only stored the number of Motherboard and her friends now had Dr. Marbles's contact as well those of several less than well to do cyber citizens. They must have been the numbers Hacker kept in his phone. Syncing the two devices must have merged the contact list.

But what did that mean? Could she call Marbles from Earth? She did recall he had a wrist communicator. If the IMB hadn't noticed it when she'd imprisoned him, maybe he would be able to point them to the best way of restoring the original.

Jackie gave the screen a tap. She felt her heart quicken as the skwak successfully connected the call. "Dr. Marbles!" There was a sharp breath of relief as the doctor's bespectacled face appeared on her screen.

"Jackie! Thank goodness you're okay! Listen, under no circumstances contact the homepage. Motherboard is currently offline!" The doctor spoke in an urgent, but hushed tone, as if afraid someone would overhear him. His gaze appeared to shift from down to his wrist communicator to upward, landing somewhere else in the room.

"I know. I just came from Control Central!"

"What?!"

Jackie shook her head, not sure how to explain everything that had happened since the start of this mess. "Hacker's back. And now he's teamed up with this… evil Motherboard. I thought—" She bit her lip, consciously reminding herself that it wasn't her fault. No one could have possibly predicted what they'd find when they crossed through the portal.

The sound of Digit's voice off screen interrupted her deliberations. "Doc, you gotta wrap it up. Someone's coming!"

"Assemble the rest of the Cybersquad, quickly!" Marbles directed. "Return to Cyberspace. I'll forward you the coordinates to control Central's Hangar A. It should take this Motherboard's presence some time to fully penetrate the portal system. Before that happens, she won't be able to stop you from using the portal openers to enter Cyberspace on your own."

He seemed to place a hand over his wrist as the screen of her skwak suddenly went completely dark while his voice continued to come through, albeit much quieter than before. Jackie could hear the sound of echoing footsteps as someone descended the stairs to where the doctor was being held. "Hijack a ship and get help. Round up the site admins and anyone else you can. I have to go now, before they hear me. Good luck, Jackie."

The girl found herself staring at the blank screen as the call disconnected. Just another day of being in the cybersquad, right? They were only going to be fighting the most powerful being in Cyberspace this time, not to mention twice as many Hackers as usual.

"Jackie?" Her mother put a hand over the screen, pulling the girl away from her thoughts. She glanced up at her mother with frightened uncertainty, like a deer about to be stricken.

Aaliyah must have noticed the look and moved to clasp her daughter's hand between her own. "It's going to be okay, baby. We're going to help them. Just tell me what you need."

The teen slowly nodded, her chest still feeling tight and knotted. A small sound from her phone snapped her out of her momentary daze as she quickly pulled the device from her pocket.

"Jackie? Where are you?" She recognized Matt's voice on the other end. He sounded frantic. "Have you noticed? Something's wrong with our skwaks."

"Yeah, I know. I need you to call Inez. I'll explain once we're together."

"What's happening? Did Hacker do something?"

"Yes. And before you say 'I told you so', I took Hacker back to Control Central. It's just that Motherboard wasn't there." She swallowed her pride and spilled everything as best as she could without going on too long, starting their trip to the fair, ending with Hacker's betrayal.

"Do you think he knew all along?" the boy suggested. "Maybe he's the one who called them. Why would he have suddenly been okay with going back to Cyberspace when he's been avoiding us this whole time?"

"I don't know," Jackie shook her head. She already had too much to think about without attempting to come up with theories. Hacker had seemed as shocked as she was when they encountered his look-alike. She hadn't believed it had been an act at the time, but she didn't think Hacker would turn on her for two strangers either. "Dr. Marbles sent me the coordinates for a portal. It's time to get the cybersquad back together."

"Just as I was starting to think Cyberspace didn't need us anymore," the boy chuckled. "Right now it's 4:56. What about we all portal through at exactly 5?"

"The second it turns 5," Jackie agreed.

After Matt hung up, the girl reached for the rigged skwak again and raised it to the sky, hoping it would still have enough juice to portal her through. Once more a flash of light rained down from the sky, striking the device and beaming a portal onto the roof in front of her. She watched the clock on her skwak strike five before taking her mother's hand and diving headfirst into the portal.

A moment later, they were spat out in one of Control Central's many hangar bays, landing on top of Matt and Inez who seemed to have arrived the instant before. The space was not unlike a military hangar for fighter jets. The ceiling was high enough for five of the largest coupes to be stacked on top of each other inside.

"Jackie— and Mrs. Carter. Hello," Matt mumbled awkwardly as he realized the girl hadn't come alone. He eyed Jackie with a look that asked 'What were you doing?'. Jackie offered up a bashful shrug before mouthing a quiet 'sorry'.

"Matthew," her mother said with a firmness, although the teen could see there was a hint of a smile on her lips. "Inez."

"Jackie showing you around, huh?" Matt said, his feigned attempt at innocence earning him not points with the woman.

"Uh, huh. And I'm guessing your parents don't know you're here either."

"We can talk about that later, mom." 'Or hopefully forget it completely', she added as an aside to herself. "We have to take one of these ships and find a way to free Doctor Marbles." She approached one which seemed to have enough seats for all of them. It was the familiar four seater that reminded her of a dividing cell, having the ability to split into two or even four smaller ships.

She grabbed the keys which hung on a marked hook on the wall and approached the vehicle. The automatic doors slid open for her and she was about to get into the driver's seat when she heard her mother cough.

"Don't tell me they let you drive here," she said, hands on her hips. "I guess, I can start to see the appeal." She gestured for Jackie to get into the back which she did so with a sheepish grin.

Chapter Text

"Fourteen Cyberspaces. An impressive resume," Hacker remarked as he followed the other down the long stretch of catwalk, towards the lobby. "And there's a me, and a Motherboard in every one? Not the most original, but as they say in Gollywood, 'when you have a winning formula'."

"Ostensibly. Though I wouldn't say any of them were the same," the other remarked with a chuckle. "They might have looked like us, but when it came to inimitable grit, they might as well have been strangers. One of them was blue. I recall in Universe-6, we actually called ourselves the Fixer. Apparently, Hacker was bad for his goodie two-shoes PR. Can you believe it?"

After punching in the security code the sealed doors to Control Central slid open. Parked outside and big enough to obscure the skyline, was a ship who's size dwarfed the Grim Wreaker to a considerable degree.

The white and blue structure was saucer shaped in part with a more flat and rectangular tail, giving it the overall look of a stingray. On the underbelly of the saucer was what appeared to be a transparent dome, tinted on the outside so what was beyond the glass was obscured. This was undoubtedly traveling in style.

"Say, whatever happened to Marbles?" Hacker asked. "Does every universe have one of him?"

"The ones I've been to." The other gestured for him to come closer before holding out his palm in the air. A beam of blue light rained down from an opening on the underside of the vessel, seeming to scan the open hand before enveloping them and lifting them up towards the ship. They rose high up above Control Central before being pulled inside of the ship, the opening shutting behind them, dropping them once again onto solid ground.

"At least yours has to be a lot more interesting than the stick in the mud we have here. Assuming, he was the one who designed all this." Hacker gave the shoulder plate of the other's armor a hard thud, prompting his hand to be quickly swatted away. This didn't seem to deter the borg who picked up the other's hand to admire the buttons on his gauntlet.

"I never would have thought old bubble brain had it in him. Or any one of him. Where's he holed up now?"

"Back at Command," the other said. "Motherboard leaves him in charge of administering to the worlds she's liberated. Someone to keep all the admins in line while she's away."

"All these Motherboards and Marbles and Hackers," Hacker sighed. "We might start getting confused. There has to be a way to differentiate everyone. I mean, having Motherboard call for the Hacker and Hacker every time would wear it out for both of us."

The dimension hopping borg let out a soft groan. "Something tells me I can only regret asking— what do you suggest?"

It took Hacker a moment of silence to ponder. The difficulty was that his name was already perfect. So the only way to avoid discrediting himself would be to think of another just as fitting, but at the same time was intuitive enough to recall in a pinch.

"Junior—"

"No."

"But it's perfect! Technically you'll still be Hacker, just… Junior."

"And you'd be what? Senior?"

Hacker blinked. Clearly the idea was a wash out if he was going to respond with ridiculous statements like that. "Okay, let's put a pin in that for now."

The idea of calling him Senior. With his baby face? People would laugh. He was barely middle-aged. In the absolute prime of life! Clearly too much exposure to a Motherboard had given Junior a bit of a prickly disposition. Well, he could hardly be blamed for that. He could only hope some of his own radiant sunniness would eventually rub off.

The two borgs proceeded along the tail of the ship until they reached the saucered section which on the inside was one enormous control room. The space was large enough to host a moderate sized crew. Through the transparent floor, Hacker could see the tinted dome which had been visible from the outside, and beyond that, the vastness of space.

Hacker stopped in front of a wall of dormant monitors, taking a moment to admire the reflection of himself in his new attire. With his looks, he'd be stunning in practically anything and what he'd been given definitely showed no sign of spared expense. It fit his form impeccably, and was a pleasant shade of purple to compliment his healthy lime complexion. Still, there was a quiet regalness to the design that almost seemed dull despite the undeniable quality of the silks.

It needed… a dash of style. The Hacker's touch. He reached underneath the cape for the shirt underneath, popping the collar and pulling the sides up through the top. Now that was putting the rogue back in roguish. Still not perfect, but better.

Glancing across the room, he spotted Junior at the controls, preparing their ship for take off. Despite its outward appearance, some part of Hacker had assumed this ship had to have been an alternate version of the Wreaker. That there would be some familiarity to the control scheme, but that didn't seem to be the case. In fact, the ship itself leaned more towards Marbles's design sensibilities, right down to being inspired by Earth biology.

Trying to sort out what did what without having it explained would be to read another man's mind. And even being his creator with largely shared specs, the thoughts of he and Marbles rarely converged.

"What site would be ideal for two malignant marauders to tackle first?" he asked, taking a seat in the co-pilot's chair. For now his aim was just to observe. There would be a time later for him to take center stage.

Junior shrugged before taking the empty seat beside him. "Funnily enough, sites haven't been the most consistent across universes. Once in a while we'll run into some that are familiar but after a while they all start blending together. As the native, you'd be the expert." He raised one of his armored limbs which abruptly took the form of a cannon-like device.

Hacker let out a shrill shriek, his eyes lighting up at the sight of the weapon. Any Marbles capable of designing something like that was a borg he wanted to meet. Such a shame he'd been designated to housesitter.

One of Junior's eyebrows jutted upward. "You've never seen one of these? They really have been depriving you of fun."

"Spare me the lip, bud. What does it do?"

"This my friend, is a state of the art electromagnetic pulse emitter. An EMP if you will. There's enough juice inside to disable every borg in a 25 cybermile radius."

At this, Hacker failed to hold back a snigger from between his teeth. "So your plan is to put everyone to sleep? Is this a fresh scheme or the same one you've used all the other times?"

"It's worked all the other times."

"Yeah, yeah, snore! Where's the drama? Where's the fun when you can't revel in their fear?"

The melodrama of the situation was enough to get him to rise from his seat and start gesturing. Likely intentionally, Junior chose that moment to shift the ship into gear and take off. The contradicting force caused Hacker to topple back into his seat.

"You're just saying that because you don't have an arm cannon," their pilot retorted, the effects of gravity causing a snigger out of him.

Hacker strapped himself into his seat, pointing his chin up in a rehearsed act of imperious dominance. "Alright, wise guy. Let's see. This is my Cyberspace, you'll follow my lead. So put away the heavy artillery, and let the Hacker show you how it's done."

With an indulgent and amused smile, Junior acquiesced, directing Hacker to the navigator so he could punch in the site coordinates. Once they'd been entered, the ship did a single lap around Control Central before hyperdrive launched them deep into Cyberspace.

Sites seemed to pass them in a blur of motion before slowing to a crawl, elongating like centipedes before vanishing in the blink of an eye. Their stop came suddenly, the various swirling forces and pressures that caused Hacker's ears to pop finally abating. Looking down through the glass floor he could see the jagged peaks of Radopolis, surrounding the bright lights of its skate parks.

One great irony about the existence of Radsters were that as active as they tended to be, in almost every respect that didn't relate to rollersports, they were among the most passive citizenry in all of Cyberspace. Their greatest controversies involved who got to use the big skate ramp right before the annual X-treme Skate-Off Championships. It was the ideal site to demonstrate his skills as an autocrat for Junior's benefit.

Glancing up, he saw the other borg had also risen from his seat and was gesturing towards the exit of the ship, indicating he was to take the lead. Hacker needed no other invitation. As soon as the ramp came down, he was galavanting down it, chin held high and chest puffed out like the good old days.

"Greetings, dudes!" he hollered, an air of mocking in his flippant demeanor. The sound of his voice caused every skater in sight to suddenly halt in their tracks, some mid-flip kick. Seeing a ship other than the Wreaker land, the last person any of them had expected to be on board was the green borg.

A kind of shocked silence had come over the crowd. Perfect. There was nothing he loved more than an attentive audience.

"Some of you might have thought you'd seen the last of the Hacker," he said, with a flourish resting the tips of his fingers over his chest. "Today I'm here to put those fears to rest. From this day forward, you will answer to no one but me."

The borg stalked through the town square, hands tucked behind his back, his pace tempoed and methodical. His eyes made a sweep over the crowd of his new subjects who all seemed to avert their gaze the instant before his stare fell on them.

Approaching the scaffold that was the seat of the King of Radopolis, the borg diverted his attention up. Dudacus had already gotten out of his chair. Unlike his fellow skaters, he hadn't looked away, continuing to look down at the borg as if he was something that had crawled out of the crypt. Hacker raised a finger, patronizingly beckoning towards him.

"Oh, Kingie? Down."

"Like, I don't think so, Hacker. The last time you tried to ban skating and that's no bueno to us, dude."

"Got suggestions? I'll put up a box." He spoke with sweeping and dominant gestures as he marched up the stage. Once he was face to face with the Dudacus, or rather, looming about a foot over him, he stuck out his hands, grabbing him up by the shirt collar. "Now move it."

Hacker shoved the skater towards the edge of the stage, using enough force so that he stumbled as he was let go and barely managed to save himself from falling onto the stone pathway below. The interaction caused his crown to fall, which Hacker was quick to scoop up and place atop his own head.

"You won't get away with this Hacker."

"I already have. Motherboard and her little Earth brats have rescued you for the last time." He loudly snapped his fingers before gesturing back towards the entrance of the ship. "I have a friend I'd like to introduce to you. I think most of you will find his face familiar."

There was a collective gasp as Junior descended the ramp, his footsteps generating loud metallic clunks with each step he took. Hacker waved the borg over, gesturing for him to take a seat at the throne.

"What is the point of this again?" the borg muttered as he climbed up onto the platform. His presence caused Dudacus to jump down from the stage to safety. "We could be done now if we did it my way."

Hacker rolled his eyes. "Patience, my friend. Just look menacing and leave the rest to me." He pushed Junior onto the throne, before turning back to face the crowd. One of the Radsters had approached the stage and had tentatively raised a finger in an attempt to get the attention of their new rulers.

"Um, so dude. Are we still allowed to skate?"

"Of course you are, my dear." The borg tone was gushing with genility, each syllable enunciated to an almost absurd degree. "But if you get hurt, you'll have to pay for it yourselves. For too long, Radopolis has simply hemorrhaged funds. Think of the poor mechanics who have to see you upwards of five times a week because you just had to do another upside-down spiral reverse— whatever."

"But what if we can't pay?"

"Then your warranty just got shorter," he said, leaning over so that his face and the Radster's were mere inches apart. "Fear not, your money will be going to a good cause. I will of course allow our dear mechanics the lion's share, but a small portion will go to the Hacker, me, funds dedicated to making sure nothing unpleasant befalls any of my dear friends on Radopolis."

He spun on his heels and returned to Junior's side, leaving the skaters to muse on his new decree. "Genius concept isn't it? I picked it up while on Earth. Did you know Earthlies actually prefer paying absurd sums of money for things?" Junior, having yet to pay the place a visit, simply blinked and shook his head. "Wonderful place. Wait until you hear about nontaxable income."

"Let me see if I understand this," the borg on the throne murmured. "You're making them pay to live, so you can take their money and give it to the mechanics."

"—who have access to the materials and the know-how to build ships," Hacker said, melodically.

"Gaining you the loyalty of those who are most capable of opposing you."

"Bingo. They don't call us geniuses for nothing." He rested an arm around Junior's shoulder as they looked out into the sea of concerned Radsters, waiting to see what their rulers would have in store for them next. "It's your call my friend. The universe is our oyster."

…

"So what are you kids planning to do once we get to… what did you call it? Radopolis?" Aaliyah said from the pilot seat of the coupe. The four of them had left Control Central behind, although Jackie didn't feel at ease taking her eyes off the back window until the site was little more than a speck in the distance.

"Get help," she said, finally relaxing. Inez had taken the passenger seat beside her mother leaving her and Matt together in the back. "Radopolis has the best ships in Cyberspace, once we have enough numbers, we go back to Control Central and free Dr. Marbles. He'll be able to tell us what we need to do to get Mother B back. The real Mother B."

Her mother let out a heavy sigh. "How exactly did you kids get involved in all this stuff?"

"Well… it's a long story," Inez chuckled uncomfortably. "We were all in the library together and then—" She glanced back at her friends, as if pleading for one of them to finish the story coherently.

"We accidentally caused a glitch which allowed Hacker to launch a virus that got through Motherboard's servers and infected her."

"Wait, so you mean to tell me you kids activated some kind of backdoor to this place in the real world?"

"Hey, that's exactly the word Motherboard used to describe it," Matt said. "The map at the library was a backdoor."

"A map?" For a second, Aaliyah's mind seemed to draw a blank. "Oh, the one with the touch screen." She seemed to muse on the idea for a few silent moments. "Then this world and ours has to be connected somehow. It's like a moon orbiting in the gravitation field of a planet. Amazing."

"Er… translation? I always thought Cyberspace was… well Cyberspace."

"The internet isn't a place, Matthew. It's a network of computers all communicating with one another. If I were to make a wild guess, this is more like a physical manifestation of the metaspace. Using the internet in our world is like scraping at the outer layer of an onion."

"Maybe we save the technicals for another time," Inez interjected, looking equally befuddled by the explanation. "Anyone have any ideas on how we're going to deal with meaner and greener?"

Jackie glanced up. She had fallen silent without meaning to while her friends and mother were talking. The more time she had to think, the more her heart began to waver on absolutes. Despite everything he'd done, part of her still wanted to believe in the Hacker she'd almost called 'friend'.

He wasn't good, and she had doubts he ever would be. He was insensitive, arrogant and at times completely infuriating. But there was good in him.

"Are you okay, Jaxs?"

She slouched back in her seat and crossed her arms, doing her best to look level headed though she felt far from it. "I want to try and talk to him, make him see what he's doing won't end well for anyone. I think I can get through to him as long as he's alone."

Matt frowned, seemingly doubtful of her assertion. "Like that's ever stopped him in the past. He's just been playing you this whole time, buying time until he could find a backdoor on Earth, then cutting his losses when he realized someone had gotten to Motherboard first."

"Maybe you're right," she said with a heavy breath. "But I have to try."

"I think you've tried enough, Jaxs. Some people just won't change."

Jackie felt her jaw clench involuntarily at his words. She shut her eyes, emptying her mind in order to hold back the wave of strong emotion she felt.

The boy was quiet for a space, seeming to take the time to study her face carefully. "Okay, then. We'll try," he finally said, barely surpassing a whisper. "It's going to be okay, Jaxs. Whatever happens. You know that right?"

"Yeah." Jackie felt her body quiver as the tension in her body suddenly buckled. "I just want to be able to trust. In myself, and maybe in him too. That all of it wasn't just for nothing."

"W-what do you mean?" There was a slight stutter in his voice as he spoke. He shifted his gaze away from her, looking down at his lap while absent mindedly picking at his fingers. "You just like seeing the best in everyone. That shouldn't be a bad thing. But maybe, I haven't been the most appreciative? I know sometimes I'm—"

He was cut off from his sentence as Jackie buried her face in his shoulder, her fingers weaving between his and holding on tight. She could feel wet tears start to flood her eyes, stopping just short of falling.

Matt's gaze continued to rest on her, concerned over her display of emotion. Making him feel guilty had been the last thing she'd wanted, but the shame she felt over causing a fuss was dwarfed by the sense of peace that came from being beside him.

"Whatever happens Jaxs. You should know it's not your fault for trying."

Chapter Text

The crowd gathered in town square had thinned considerably in the time since Hacker and Junior had established their occupation of the site. Most of the Radsters had retreated into their homes, attempting to calculate how many thrills they could afford on their meager savings. The stragglers that remained muttered among themselves, trying to decide how worth it it would be to keep rolling. No one was actually forbidding them. Yet they could all read between the lines of what was expected.

The despot-disposed borg paced the edge of his stage, surveying the menagerie scattered around him. "Here's another for the linguistically attuned among you," he said, breaking the silence for perhaps the fifth time in the last hour. "Why was the conductor in such a good mood?"

"Why?" asked Junior, who seemed to be the only other person genuinely enjoying the proceedings.

"Because all his instruments were working in concert." Silent blinking rippled through his audience who all seemed to have missed the punchline. Unbothered, Hacker turned to the one person who had laughed.

"Tough crowd," the armored borg muttered from his seat on the throne.

"Immaterial, my friend," Hacker said as he approached an identical throne beside his look-alike. The seat had been placed there by a gaggle of Radsters during the course of his improv stand up routine. "It's our duty to be patient with the simple masses as we guide them to higher things."

Hacker plucked the plastic cup of flavored ice from the arm rest before plopping down into his regal seat. Although Junior still seemed to hold reservations about their current predicament, Hacker for his part could not have been more thrilled.

A small, but familiar collection of faces had gathered around him, like a set of decorative barnacles around the edges of the stage. Among them were the trio of skaters he had formed an alliance with during one of his first takeovers, eager to regain his favor. The one track mind of a Radster made for a subject whose loyalties were easy to maintain. From his previous dealings with this particular bunch, he knew their interest lay in maintaining exclusive access to the popular skating ramp known as the 'Mummy's Dare'. Now there would be the concern over piggy bank breaking bills, but surely the right and left and all the other omni-directional hands of a King could be afforded a few special perks? Hacker would have to let the proposition sit a few days to say for certain. A bit of token reluctance to keep them on their toes.

Now he had everything. A site cowering in fear, a crew of pawns, the promises of a long future rife with conquering, and most importantly, a large blue raspberry slush topped with a slice of lemon and a curly straw. If there was one thing that was indisputable, it was that Radopolis provided the pinnacle of cold sugar.

And yet…

He couldn't help looking beside him and wishing it was someone else sitting in that seat. Junior was decent company, how could any version of himself be less? But there was only so much one could talk to themselves before wanting some variation. Hacker found his mind drifting to thoughts of Aaliyah and what she would be up to now.

Hopefully she and the Earth brat would find their way home without too much trouble. If she were with him, what would she say? He liked to think she would appreciate the efficiency of his take over strategy. She was a woman of intellect, after all. She'd probably want to go somewhere sunnier and warmer than the blustery Radopolis. Somewhere to kick back.

Solaria was nice this time of year.

He repositioned his straw to slurp up the last of his chilled drink, enjoying the noises of air being sucked up, like through a vacuum. A sound from his periphery eventually broke his attention. Glancing over, he realized the sound was emanating from one of Junior's wrist gauntlets. The other borg seemed to realize this as well and quickly set down his drink to reach for his communicator.

The push of a button caused a hologram of the new Cyber ruler's head to be projected above the armored gauntlet. Although he was not the target of her attention, Hacker could sense the ire in her eyes before she uttered a word.

"Where are you?" the AI snapped, her tongue lashing out the words like a horse's whip. "The ship hasn't made a move in over an hour. What's taking so long?"

"It was suggested we attempt an alternate tactic. We're making negotiations with—"

"There's no need for negotiations. Just neutralize them and move on to the next site."

"Yes, Motherboard." Junior's voice was unstirred, although Hacker could tell the effort to keep his words steady was practiced. "I just thought it would prove useful for us to amass resources. As a long term strategy it could increase our eff—"

"Hacker…" Her voice wasn't raised, yet seemed to carry a warning. One which caused Junior to adjust his tone yet again.

"Yes, Motherboard?"

"Remember your duty."

Hacker felt his teeth clench at these words, his gaze choosing to attach itself instead to a collection of the barnacles who seemed to be trying to get the attention of a passing hot dog vendor. What frustrated him was not the brashness of the tone Motherboard wielded, but the placating nature of his own. He focused in on the other's voice, attempting to detect the faintest hint of bitterness, but found only a weighty resignation.

"To ensure the efficient function of all Cyber-universes by liberating them from the burden of self-government."

"And to do that?"

"We must operate under a single vision. We must not allow interference, from external sources or within."

"Neutralize them and move on," she repeated, sharply. Her lips pursed, causing the lines of code which seemed to exist as a thin layer of liquid across her face to bend slightly, as if nudged along by a ripple of water. When she spoke again, her words had softened, like a needle after breaking skin, trusting its venom through the numbed surface. "You've always been such a big help to me, Hacker. What would I do without you?"

The image faded.

Junior rested a hand over his arm as if to snuff out the signal from the communicator. His eyes stared off into the distance, lost in thought. A hint of anxiety was present in his expression, but Hacker made no indication of notice or concern over it, his gaze still averted as if he hadn't witnessed the exchange at all.

"We should consider moving on," the armored borg murmured, finally coming out of his trance.

"Why?" Hacker muttered, holding back a sneer as he kept his demeanor intentionally aloof.

"Then you don't know."

"I do. I just choose not to let it stop me."

A sudden fiery indignation came into the other's eyes. "You do think you're better than me. But whatever you think you've done has only been because it was allowed. We're the same puppet with different strings. Both what she—"

"I am what she fears. You can join me, or hang around until they start writing your user's manual."

Junior scoffed at his assertion, yet remained seated. "If that were true, it would have been you on that monitor when we arrived. I wonder what would have happened to you then." He lowered his head towards his lap and Hacker thought he heard him emit a slight snicker, but when he turned to look, the moment had passed.

"You were probably better off on Earth. Whatever you were doing there," the other went on, his voice continuing to speak in the same reserved, hushed tone. "I wouldn't call myself lucky, but at least I still have a purpose. You won't last long with her if you're just looking to pick a fight."

"You're a real party pooper aren't you?" Hacker retorted, holding nothing back in terms of belligerence and volume. "If you need to know, I came back to make sure someone else hadn't finished her off. As it happened someone did. Although I'd consider you two the best case scenario for that. At least it wasn't Wicked."

"She isn't finished off. Not yet anyways. It usually takes a few days for her the override the existing programming which is why she's so insistent on having everyone around here incapacitated."

Hacker suddenly went silent, his gaze directly meeting that of Junior's for the first time since the start of the exchange. "Interesting."

"What?"

"If a Hacker and Motherboard working together can take down a Hacker and Motherboard split apart, how do you think two Hackers would fare against a pair of bickering Motherboards?"

…

"Wait, you mean the two of you actually got along?" Matt cried, his eyes as round as a yo-yo and looking like they were about to dog walk out of his skull. The group could see Radopolis in the distance now. Its towering peaks and miles of twisting ramps made it stand out among the dozen or so other sites that littered their visage.

Aaliyah glanced through her rear view mirror at the boy in the back seat. "And exactly what's that supposed to mean, Matthew?"

"I mean, Jackie told us you talked but…" Matt shrugged, suddenly hesitant to continue voicing his thoughts. His gaze met with Inez as she turned her head from the passenger side seat to eye him. "We kind of just thought you were doing it to be polite."

"When did you kids get so cynical?"

"So what did he do that finally made you notice?" Matt asked. "Did he start going on about how he was gonna be the chief potentate of the digital world?" He mocked the borg's way of speaking right down to his inflections, making Jackie roll her eyes slightly.

"Now that you mention it, he did say something like that," Aaliyah said, sighing. "I thought he was joking. Maybe you kids are just smarter than me, is that what you wanted to hear?"

"No, I didn't mean—"

"It's okay, Matthew. It was a joke. Looking back, things like him not giving his first name make a lot more sense now. Then, there was the whole 'lying to me' aspect. Which I guess I have you kids to partially thank for."

"We said sorry!" Jackie wailed, although with a ring of amusement in her tone as she sensed Aaliyah's teasing.

"I guess… it's been this long. If nothing's happened yet to make me or any of your parents suspect anything, you couldn't have been in too much danger," her mother said, her eyes shifting between the sky ahead and her daughter's hopeful face in the mirror. "But I hope it doesn't become a pattern for you kids, thinking you have to keep things from your parents. Don't ever feel like you're going to get in trouble for needing help. I have your back, okay? That goes for all three of you." The kids looked at each other before nodding in turn.

"Thanks, mom."

For a while they skimmed the airspace of the site, searching for a place to park, Jackie attempting to direct her mother towards the center of town so they would have less to walk when they got out. They were now close enough to the ground to make out the faces of people as they flew overhead and quickly began to realize something was amiss.

The usual noise and action the site always seemed to overflow with had been replaced with an eerie silence. The Radsters, typically abundant in numbers wherever one looked, were in shortage. After having passed fewer than a dozen, they found their path blocked by the tail end of an enormous cruiser.

The ship was in the shape of a stingray with a bulbous front end and a longer, slimmer body. From the underside, Jackie could see the tail was sectioned off into pairs of identical segments, each about half the size of the coupe they'd come in.

"Looks like Hacker got here before us," Matt said, putting to words what they'd all been thinking. He crossed his arms, looking like it was taking every ounce of restraint he possessed not to immediately leap out of the ship once it landed and into the frey. He glanced back and forth between the girls to see if either of them had a plan.

Aaliyah parked in the shadow of the cruiser, using its massive form to temporarily shield them from what they all knew they'd find just beyond. The humming of the engine went silent, but no one made a move to get out.

"If he's here, he won't be alone," Jackie said, finally breaking the silence. "I think our best bet will be to separate the two of them."

"So that means one of us will have to act as a distraction," Matt concluded.

"Agreed," said Inez, eyeing him pointedly. Jackie chuckled before shooting Matt the same look.

"Since you so graciously volunteered." The boy stared back at them, open mouthed though Jackie knew he was less offended than he appeared.

"I'll go with you," Aaliyah said. "If there are two of us, he'll have a harder time catching up."

"Don't worry," Matt assured her, a determined smile coming to his face. "I can outrun Hacker any day."

Careful not to make themselves known just yet, the group crept around the perimeter of the cruiser. Aaliyah headed the group with the trio tightly on her heels. Peering around the corner, Jackie could see there were two thrones perched atop the usual scaffold, presumably one for each of the Hackers. A rare show of compromise from the borg.

The Hacker she knew was facing them, although he hadn't yet seemed to notice their arrival. The other had his head turned in the opposite direction. Both of the green borgs were standing and fixed in conversation. Croached where they were, and silent, Jackie could just make out the words exchanged between them.

"Well, then you don't have to do anything, just hand over the heavy artillery and ship and I'll handle it myself. Just know, I'll have to demote you from equal co-ruler to Chancellor of Chaos," Hacker said in that sing-song voice reserved for when he was desperately attempting to get his way. "Sorry, but I reward based on contributions… as well as the odd bout of blatant favoritism, but that's besides the point."

"And when you inevitably fail?" his armored companion said. "I'll be doomed to be scrapped beside you. Let's just go onto the next site and if you insist you can continue talking my ear off while we EMP everyone."

"What's an EMP?" Matt hissed.

"Electromagnetic Pulse," Aaliyah replied. "Disturbs electrical equipment."

"Including borgs," concluded Jackie.

"Then what are we waiting for? It can't hurt us, right?" Matt attempted to step out of hiding only for Jackie to grab him by the shoulder and pull him back.

"Just a second, I wanna hear what they're saying."

Hacker's look-alike had attempted to exit the stage, only to have his accomplice pull him back, saying something to him Jackie couldn't make out. At first she was struck with the suspicion they'd been noticed, but Hacker seemed more preoccupied with whatever was on the palm of his hand. He held it up and pointed to it before seeming to indicate the armored borg should do the same.

His companion seemed reluctant, arms folded stubbornly across his chest the entire time. Every time he made a motion to turn and descend the stage, Hacker pulled him back and continued to try and maintain his attention.

"On your face," he said, raising his voice so he was audible again. "It's something I picked up while I was at CyberTech. Would I lie to you?"

"I just don't see the point." The other borg sighed, but finally did as instructed. Jackie noted the huge gauntlets around his arm, its various blinkers and screens occasionally lighting up. With the other's hand over his face, Hacker took a moment to adjust his companion's fingers.

"One on this side of the nose, and the other—"

Jackie's hand shot to her mouth to hold back a scream as the armored borg's body plummeted off the platform onto the concrete below. Hacker, although still standing, had visibly recoiled, and now clutched at his temples with both hands.

"Should have lowered the amps," he groaned as he fell back into one of the thrones. His expression soon transformed into a smile as he glanced up at where they were hiding. "Out, Earth brat. Let's dispense with the usual charades."

"I agree," Matt cried, stepping out into the open. "Let's start with you giving that crown back to King Dudacus!"

The borg's face contorted further into a grimace on seeing the boy and he waved a dismissive hand at him. "No, no. I don't want you. Where's Sunshine?" he complained, still attempting to nurse his headache-addled noggin.

"I'm here," the girl said, stepping out beside Matt. Her mother and Inez followed close behind her.

The borg leaned forward, watching them from his perch with narrowed eyes. His arms fell to his side where they gripped either side of his pilfered throne. Jackie felt herself swallow, her anxiety getting the best of her despite the mental reassurances she continued to recite.

She took a step forward, forcing herself to return his gaze with one equally unyielding. If she hoped to get him to listen, she needed confidence to match his. "Hacker. Motherboard is lying to you," she said, her words punctuated by decided enunciation. "She's not going to give you power. You have to see that. She's just trying to control you so you won't try and stop her while she takes everything for herself."

"Of course she is. As if I'd ever take a Motherboard for her word." His retort came sharply, so much so that it took a moment for Jackie to recover and realize the contents of what he'd just said.

He knew? Then what was he doing? She studied his face, only to see that his expression had softened into an amused smirk.

"So, what? This was just a ruse?" she voiced, not sharing his humor in the least.

He shared a look of slight pity as he nodded. "You'll recall I mentioned having a plan. Before you so rudely interrupted, I was trying to convince my well dressed compatriot to help me. I know you might disapprove, but what is it they say? Better the evil you know?"

"All I see is the guy who left me in the middle of a downpour, not sure if the people I cared about were still going to be able to power on tomorrow," the girl bit back, boosting herself onto the stage. "And even then your plan still wound up coming down to you trying to be the oh so powerful King of Cyberspace, again. Why am I not surprised?"

The girl stormed up to the throne and rammed one of her fists into his metallic body. Almost immediately she could feel a stinging pain similar to punching a telephone pole. Instead of flinching, she went for another blow, this time with the underside of her fist,

"Ow! Stop that! You're going to give me dents," the borg hollered, trying to shield her blows with his arm. When this failed he attempted to grab her by the wrist, but she managed to avoid his open palms.

"You want to be idolized so much, try treating people like they matter for once instead of just chasing your own. Stupid. Whims!"

"Jackie! Stop it!"

She bit her tongue as her mother pulled her away, her hands stinging from the pain and bright red. Fighting the choking feeling in her chest, she straightened herself and fixed her stare.

Now it was Hacker's turn to look untethered as for the first time he returned her gaze with an uncharacteristic degree of uncertainty. Jackie barely noticed though as she spoke through teeth still gritted in anger.

"So. Are you going to be with us or against us?"

Chapter Text

"With you."

On his face was written the desire to say more, but for once something made Hacker hold his tongue. Jackie felt herself letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. The weight on her chest finally letting up, she made an about face, determined to achieve a momentary respite from the man's fumes.

She walked up to a metal fence and drappled her body in between its pegs, feeling like a slug caught on a spit. Cradling one of her hands in the other, she brushed a finger over the raw skin, feeling the pain as it radiated. She sincerely hoped she had given him a couple dents.

"Jaxs, are you okay?"

Jackie looked up as she felt Matt's hand on her shoulder. She felt flustered and numb at the same time. Angry, yet apathetic, even as she thought of everything else at stake.

"I'm fine." She pulled herself away from the fence and brushed a few loose curls from her face.

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" She nodded. Despite her frustration with the borg, she had seen the shifts in his expression once she'd begun speaking. He was on their side. At least, as much as he could be.

"I guess that means we're going to be working with Hacker. Never thought I'd say that." There was an injection of humor in the boy's tone as he attempted to catch the girl's shifting gaze.

"Honestly, I'm not convinced we shouldn't get King Dudacus to toss him into a dungeon someplace until we bring Mother B back." Jackie folded her arms over her chest.

"Huh. Well at least that'll take care of two-thirds of our problems. Still, I'm surprised that's the direction you're going with on this."

She heaved a sigh. "Having to deal with him has been bad for the psyche. Is he bad, is he good, is he trying? I don't want to make the wrong choice and then put the rest of Cyberspace in danger. I mean what would have happened if we hadn't shown up here?"

"Well, as someone who hasn't been suffering from a chronic Hacker overexposure—"

"Pfft— be serious Matt," she said while allowing a hint of amusement to slip into her own voice. She couldn't help it, the boy usually managed to make her laugh somehow.

"I am." He flashed a cocky little grin as he realized his tactics were working. "I think you do know. And I trust your judgment. I'm not saying we should all be friends, but focusing on fighting just one evil world conquering robot at a time would definitely make things easier."

Jackie gave a slow nod. She knew the boy was right. Motherboard was powerful, which made one intent on getting rid of them dangerous to say the least. She knew the AI ruler was capable of making portals. Before they'd even met, she already seemed to know so much about them. What else would this one be capable of?

She let out a heavy breath, forcing her heart to still before turning her attention back to the borg. Hacker was still seated at his throne, his gaze looking as if it had been resting on her for a while. If they were going to work together she would have to set rules, let him know exactly who was going to be in charge of this operation. She pursed her lips together with stubborn resolve as she made her way back towards him.

To her surprise, the borg got up off his throne and descended the scaffold as she approached. "Admittedly not the reaction I was expecting," he began with a degree of hesitance.

"What were you expecting?" Jackie said, pointing her chin upward. The proud gesture was undercut however as she needed to crane her neck almost all the way back just to look him in the eye.

"Let's not kid ourselves. This is not the first nor second time I've betrayed you. And you've always been good at taking it on the cheek." His eyes narrowed and seemed to search her face for answers to an unspoken question.

Jackie pressed her back against the side of the scaffold, not wanting to look at him longer than she needed to. Instead she found herself staring out onto the deserted landscape of rolling hills and twisting skate ramps. The last bit of daylight had faded and the city was illuminated by a crisscrossing web of strung together paper lanterns that hung overhead.

She could see Matt watching her from a distance, Inez and her mother at his side. The three seemed to be looking for stragglers which they would accost as they passed by. Jackie couldn't hear what they were saying, but assumed they were spreading the word about the trio's arrival and battleplan.

Her attention soon flowed back to the moment as she realized it had been a space since she'd last spoken. Feeling the words on her lips was enough to make her chest tighten. Was Hacker even capable of understanding? Would it all just be wasted breath?

"You said you didn't want this anymore and I believed you," she said, still not meeting his gaze. "For once I had a real hope you had changed. Let myself believe there was a chance we could be friends." Her voice grew shaky as she choked out the admission and she went silent again as the emotion passed.

"I thought we were finally done and wouldn't have to spend another three years fighting each other. But I guess that kind of thing doesn't mean too much to you. You've spent so long fighting Motherboard. If we hadn't destroyed the NIC, you probably never would have stopped." Her voice came out as little more than a dull whisper. It was as if her breath had been stolen from her bit by bit with each syllable. "Give me a good reason to keep trusting you." The last words came out more like a plea than demand.

Hacker pressed his back against the wall beside her, letting out a sort of hopeless chuckle at the whole situation, one devoid of humor, but filled with a Byronical weariness. "You have no reason to trust me."

"But I want to."

Jackie bowed her head, wondering if all her efforts were doing any more than adding more bumps on the road to the inevitable. Every action she took felt like stumbling through the dark, unable to see anything beyond what was immediately in front of her. Would her path lead where she wanted it to, or would her foot fall with the next step?

"I knew from the start she didn't mean any of what she was saying." Hacker rounded the corner of the scaffold to check on his comatose look-alike. He knelt down and pursed his lips in thought. "Sometimes living a lie just looks more appealing."

Jackie watched him pretend to study the various parts of the metallic suit. He ran his finger down the seams, skimming each of the suit's pieces without much thought. It was as if he were attempting to distract himself rather than pursue any purpose.

"They're not the same. You know that right?" she began with hesitancy, finding he was now the one avoiding her gaze. "Whatever happened between you and Motherboard, she cares about you. I know she does."

The borg laughed. "That's your perspective. I know what I am to her. Just another wrench in the toolbox. If I don't work, well she can just get another. And she has."

Jackie shut her eyes, well aware of what the borg had been implying. Her mind drifted back to the midnight rendezvous between the three of them. Motherboard had said as much then, that the trio had taken over the job Hacker had abandoned.

"Then why do you keep coming back?"

The question seemed to hit the borg like a ton of bricks. It was as if Jackie had just dug her nails into a wound and tore it wide open. He had always been someone who liked operating under certainties. Or at least, what he considered to be certainties. And she had just caught him foundering in the sea.

"Are you still hoping to get her to see you differently?"

"You've asked enough questions, Earth brat," he said, giving her a dismissive wave. Despite everything he said about her not running his life, he was still allowing her to influence him, whether he chose to admit it or not.

"We're going to bring her back," Jackie reminded him. "That's non-negotiable. But if you're serious about staying on Earth, I'll make sure that happens." She watched for a reaction, unsure of how he'd treat the proposal.

Hacker had resumed his inspection of his look-alike's armor, only this time seemed to have invested significantly more brains to the task. He had managed to undo the clamps which held the gauntlets in place on one arm and was working on the other.

"Against Motherboard's wishes?" He raised a brow as he craned his neck away from his work.

"Whatever her wishes are, I'll find a way."

Her conviction seemed to amuse him. Although Jackie couldn't quite tell how much of it was sincere or mocking. She stuck out an open palm, her gaze now steadily fixed on him. To her surprise, he took it. His shake was firm, although that might have been owed to the metallic skin.

"I assume this means you and the other Earth urchins have concocted a scheme to relieve ourselves of this situation?"

"Yeah, and it starts with this." Even Jackie jumped a little as Matt suddenly appeared behind them. The boy made a slam dunk leap in the air, snatching the crown off Hacker's head before the borg could even blink.

Hacker let out a yelp of alarm as his prize was reclaimed, but offered no other resistance. "We're going to re-crown King Dudacus. Then gather all the Radsters together to storm Control Central."

"And we're going to do it as a team, which means no running off and trying to do your own ideas." Jackie slowed the pace of her words, hoping enunciating each would give Hacker a clue. The borg had just succeeded in fastening one of his look-alike gauntlets to his arm and was fiddling with its various buttons.

"Hm?" He glanced up from his new accessory. "Just working on a little diversion. Motherboard's due to call back any minute. I recommend you hurry up with whatever else you came here for. We wouldn't want her looking into things too closely."

"How much time do we have?"

Hacker shrugged. "If you're interested in my opinions, your army scheme isn't advised. She'll portal them away long before they get in firing range."

"Doctor Marbles told me to gather all the site admins."

"Maybe if you were completely out of other options. Luckily for you, that's not the case. If we take the ship I came in, we might have a chance to liberate the bubble brain before Motherboard notices." He finished slipping into his look-alike's chestplate before reaching for the tight cap that covered his head and neck.

He had barely begun to peel it back when Jackie heard his wail of horror, followed by the loud elastic snap of the rubber. "What!?" she cried, trying to locate the source of his panic.

He reached for the cap again, this time succeeding in pulling it backwards. What Jackie saw didn't sink in right away. From the sound of his reaction she'd been expecting something grotesque. After about a minute of the borg holding his face in his hands, she realized the source of his distress and groaned.

The guy was missing a wig.

"It's gonna be okay," she sighed, her tone betraying her lack of caring.

"Y-yes. Everything will be perfectly fine." In a single quick movement he pulled off the cap then to Jackie's surprise covered the empty space with his own wig. He proceeded to pull the cap over his own face with some visible disgust. "The things I do for Cyberspace."

"How long before your friend gets up?" she asked.

"Not to worry. We have a good few hours at least. Just help me get him onto the ship." He was about to grab the borg by the underside of his arms when a sudden thought seemed to occur to him. He picked up the cape he'd been wearing and previously discarded, draping it over the other's shoulders before tucking a small toothpaste tube into a sewn-in pocket. "He's going to need that."

Taking note of the tube's yellow packaging, it didn't take long for Jackie to piece together what it contained. Wig gel.

"I think that's the first time I've seen you act considerate and it's for yourself. I guess it's a start."

"Less of your snark and more helping." He smirked. "Grab his legs." Jackie looked down at the borg's diminutive feet, wondering how that would be of help at all. "Well? What are you waiting for, come on. I give you permission."

Jackie continued to hesitate, but seeing Hacker grab the arms, she started to reach down only to feel her mother's hand on her shoulder. "I think I better go with you."

An uncomfortable exchange passed between the two adults. Whatever uncertainty Jackie still felt towards the borg, her mother did but magnified. Jackie at least had the benefit of knowing Hacker for years and having an idea what he was capable of. To her mother, he was a complete stranger now. Not helped but the whole betrayal thing.

"Yes, you should," Hacker blurted out. "I'll teach you to co-pilot. I trust you a lot more than the kiddies here." He followed this with a slightly forced sounding chuckle. Aaliyah reciprocated with a quiet nod, her demeanor still on the frosty side.

"Matt and Inez, you guys find King Dudacus," Jackie said to her friends before reaching down to grab hold of the comatose borg's legs.

"He's already on his way," Matt assured her.

"You're the best."

They were as light as she'd anticipated. She shifted her hands further up in order to distribute more of the weight to herself, but it barely made a difference. She couldn't fathom how the little stumps were capable of holding the weight of the rest of him. Maybe if they had a wider surface area. Like a penguin's.

As she followed Hacker to the ship, she found herself unintentionally chuckling at the mental image. Between the feet, his nose and the white shirt he usually wore she was starting to see a keen resemblance. Probably sensing he'd become the subject of some kind of private joke, Hacker squinted towards her.

As the shadow of the ship overhead completely enveloped them, Hacker held out his arm, the palm of his hand facing up. A blue light, seemingly responding to his presence, shone down, scanning his hand, then proceeding to lift the trio and their luggage up into the ship.

Once inside, they dragged the borg down a long hallway, finally setting him down in a chair upon reaching the main control room. "Is it really okay to just leave him out here in the open?" Jackie asked, looking around the room in hopes of finding a better location in one of the many nooks and indents in the wall.

The structure was all very complex, even relative to the Wreaker which, out of the four of them, only Digit seemed to be able to pilot. "You'd think an airship that belonged to the Hal 9000 would have few cells."

"Space Odyssey. Very clever."

"One of Matt's favorites. All I hope is we can take her down without having to listen to her rendition of 'Daisy Bell'." She shuddered as she recalled the scene from the film.

"Urgh, don't even mention that song. She adores it." He rolled his eyes. "If she's not in sleep mode, she'll be singing it to herself all night."

"I wonder what annoying habits of yours she'd have to complain about."

Hacker shot back a flat smile. "You forget. I now possess a counter to your underhanded tactics. I'm sure Aaliyah will be happy to spill some of your unflattering secrets." He glanced at the woman, hoping this latest attempt to charm would yield more success than the last.

Seeing where all this was going Jackie grabbed the borg by the wrist and redirected him towards the control panel. "Let's just figure out how this works. Please?" she begged. She could see mother was still not ready to deal with any of this and she didn't want to delay them further by causing Hacker to have some big reaction.

She peered over the dashboard to see Matt and Inez below. They had been joined by King Dudacus, with crown returned to his dome. The absence of the two Hackers had been noticed and Radsters were slowly starting to return to the town square. Even from a distance Jackie could sense their cautious, yet hopeful excitement.

All of a sudden, the window turned into a screen with a blown up close up of Matt's face. Jackie let out a little shriek, leaping away from the monitor.

"How did you even get that shot? Did you install a camera in the ground?"

"Don't be ridiculous. It's the same way Motherboard can see practically everything that goes on," he said. Then, seeing she had no idea what he was referring to, added. "Don't worry about it. It's a complicated science." His finger hovered over a row of buttons before selecting one, seemingly at random.

This time a rhythmic beeping was emitted from somewhere on the ship while the crowd below was bathed in an ominous red light. After doing a sweep of the crowd, the light disappeared and data began pouring onto the computer screen. Jackie couldn't understand any of it, but knew it couldn't be a good sign.

"Turn that off!"

"Quiet," Hacker barked back. "Now let's see."

He tapped a few more buttons in the same cluster before moving onto a new section of the dashboard. His next attempt brought out a giant gloved hand from the underside of the ship. He took hold of a joystick and maneuvered it to scoop up Matt and Inez from below.

A moment later the whole gang had reunited in the control room, the robotic hand tossing them in from the hallway before retracting. "Please tell me, you can fly this thing better than you can do whatever that was," Inez said, as she picked herself up from off the ground.

"I'll have you know your demands for instantaneous perfection are detrimental to my moral development. As such I'm choosing to disregard your offensive remark."

"English, please?" Matt groaned.

"He doesn't like criticism." Jackie rolled her eyes as she helped the boy up.

"If I remember correctly, the take off sequence goes button, button, lever, switch, passcode. But it might have been button, button, switch, lever, passcode." Hacker glanced at Jackie before attempting one of the combinations, covering his eyes as he punched in the passcode.

As the ship rumbled to life, he slapped the dashboard in triumph. "It's time to pull the plug on Motherboard."

Chapter Text

Aaliyah took a seat beside Hacker, her hands neatly folded in her lap. Her expression, unstirred, suggested neither eagerness nor hostility towards her adjacent companion. Although she had sat down willingly, her coldness was in a way worse than the alternative in Hacker's eyes.

Things between them had been great just earlier than afternoon, but he'd gone and made them complicated. He hadn't anticipated the Earth brat finding a way back to Cyberspace immediately. If he had, he might have made alternate plans. Now what was he meant to do to fix this?

They had taken off from Radopolis and were cruising at a steady pace towards nowhere in particular. The kids were huddled together at the opposite end of the room, chattering among themselves about where to head next and how many sites they should visit before attempting to rescue Marbles.

"It's a relief to finally get a minute to ourselves, am I right?" Hacker joked, hoping to find at least the faintest quirk of a smile on her lips.

He had no such luck. Instead she reached a hand out to gently tapped at the surface of the ship's navigator, testing it for a reaction. "You were going to show me how to fly?" she said, tone all business.

"It's very straightforward." He began cautiously, and with the faint hope the oncoming lecture would hold some sway with her. I mean, who didn't get excited when discussing aerospace technology? And in a ship as impeccably designed as the one they were sitting in; why, the job was practically done for him.

"Most ships of this size are self-piloting when you set them to cruise, but if you're in a hurry like we are, you can activate a site warp. A misnomer since warp implies teleportation, which wouldn't be accurate. You're just going very, very fast." He drew his hand across the navigator's screen and began selecting options as he explained. "First you mark out the destination, approve the path suggested by the computer, assuming no alterations need to be made… this ship is a remarkable piece of hardware. The navigator even course corrects for asteroid belts." He zoomed in on one in their way so Aaliyah could get a better look before adjusting their route to avoid them. "You check to make sure your air space is clear and then you're all set to go."

"And what's this place you've picked?"

"Tikiville. Oh, what would the Earth equivalent be? Let me think… it's like Polynomia, but a bit shorter…" He chewed his lower lip in meditative thought. "Polynesia. I knew I'd get it."

"Polynesia, that's right." The woman looked surprised at hearing the name. "And how long have borgs been coming to Earth?"

"As far as I'm aware, I am the pioneer of that field," he bragged, starting to feel encouraged by her inquiries.

"It's just that you seem to know a lot about it for someone who's only made one trip."

"Oh, just about every undergraduate program worth anything has an Earth studies class," he said. "Although I can tell you, visiting has been a whole other experience."

Aaliyah crossed her arms over her chest. "Mm hmm. They apparently leave out papercuts, and where to find roadmaps and—"

"I get the point." He cut her off hurriedly. No need to go further into that. "No, they don't teach us any of that, but I can name all the Emperors of Holy Rome."

"Very impressive." There was a sarcastic note to her voice, but it went unnoticed by the borg as his focus was on the small upward curves that had appeared on either side of her lips.

He couldn't help but beam at the sight. Finally they were starting to get somewhere. He reached for the navigator again, scrolling for another site to show her. "And here's Sensible Flats. You know John Wayne?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

"Then you'll love it. I've got a villa there. Or at least I used to." He made a few unintelligible grumbles. Motherboard deciding to confiscate his stuff after his surrender was still a blow that stung. "Immaterial. If you want to go, I'll take you."

"Alright, slow down there big guy. Don't we still have to sort out all this Motherboard stuff?"

Well, yes. Technically they did. But his investment in that particular area was comparatively miniscule. Still, since she'd brought the topic up, he felt he should make some attempt to address it.

"I'm sorry you had to be dragged into our little family squabble," he said. "But as thoroughly unpleasant as this experience might be, our happy ending is guaranteed."

She seemed to muse on his statement. "Why do I feel like you're the type who assumes that a lot?"

"Eh?" What did she mean by that?

"Nothing, I'm sure you all know what you're doing." Aaliyah spun her chair around towards the kids standing across the room. Hacker turned slightly in the same direction. "You remember what you promised me?" the woman said.

"Of course."

"Thank you." She took on a more auditory volume as she addressed the children. "Jackie? Kids? You guys decide on our game plan?"

"Yep!" Ginger pulled his head out from the huddle, grinning like a chipmunk with a pair of dentures. The three of them arranged themselves in a row and waited to present their contribution. "First stop, Mount Olympus. It never hurts to have a God on your side."

"Then Tikiville," said the tater tot. "It's almost time for the Kahuna-huna Race-a-runa so they're bound to have tons of souped-up cars."

"And last, but not least, Frogsnorts Academy," said Sunshine. "With a little magic we'll be able to deal with anything unexpected."

Aaliyah turned to face the navigator, mirroring Hacker's gestures as she searched for each of the sites and mapped out a route. Hacker glanced over her shoulder in case she made a wrong maneuver. To his surprise she seemed to have the sequence down pat. After so long with the bots, he'd almost forgotten what it was like to have someone he didn't need to repeat things to.

By site warping they were able to hit each of the three sites in scarcely any time at all. To save time and avoid complications, Hacker confided his illustrious presence to the ship while the kids went out to call for an audience with each of the site admins. They were warned upon landing at each site to keep their meeting short so they would run no risk of Motherboard attempting to call again.

Hearing what, or who, was at stake, the admins agreed without much of a fuss. As Hacker waited to depart the last site, he found a part of himself wishing he'd gotten the chance to see his original plan through. True rounding up an army by force with Junior would have been a much longer con, but—

He blanked mid-thought. It was a comparatively inefficient plan, born out of the necessity of his impeccably wicked reputation. So why did his head keep coming back to it? It would have been fun, as being evil always had been. But he knew there was a different reason he hadn't been quite able to leave his criminal career behind.

It was like having a screw loose… in the literal sense. You could never just leave it be, you had to keep poking and prodding at it until it fell out. He had been poking and prodding at Motherboard for half his life, yet she still clung on. To ignore it would be like ignoring an itch, one he'd probably feel for the rest of his life.

"If we park outside Hangar C, we'll be able to head directly down to the basement cells without cutting through the lobby." Sunshine's voice brought him out of his daze of thoughts.

Control Central had come into view in the distance. From the outside, it was impossible to guess anything amiss was taking place underneath its dome. 9000, as Sunshine had dubbed her, was probably holding back on the redecorating until she could better establish her control.

Hacker flew the ship up to the side of her hangar. Unsurprisingly, it was too big to actually fit inside, but they managed by beaming themselves down onto a dock extension and walking along it until they arrived at the main interior.

They made a beeline down to the basement, Hacker's new heavy duty footwear generating echoing thuds despite his attempts at stealth. He couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of his current situation. That he of all people should be teaming up with Earth brats to rescue his bubble brained creator and cretinous cyberturkey.

It was the Earth girl's influence he attributed it to. He would never have chosen to come here on his own. Not even if he spent the remaining years of his life as a goodie two-shoes. Her company wasn't entirely unpleasant and he didn't mind admitting, if only to himself, that he wanted to please her.

At the base of the stairs, they found a small room with three closed walls and an archway built into the fourth. The arch led down a narrow hall lined on one side by cells, solid doors with small barred openings near the top.

"Doctor Marbles? Digit?" the bespectacled kid called out as the party proceeded in single file down the hall. "We're here to rescue you."

"Children?" His creator's voice came from the other side. "How did you manage to get the key off Hacker?"

"I have a key?"

"What was that?" Marbles said, just as Hacker shoved his way in front of the door. He stuck his face through the bars of the crevice, startling the doctor who was himself in the process of peering through.

"Hello, old friend," Hacker cackled, pushing his face up to the bars. Seeing the bespectacled borg on the floor and panicked by his presence brought him an undeniable pleasure. He gave the bottom of the door a kick, causing it to rattle on its hinges.

"Hacker?! But you're—"

"The one and only. The inimitable. The—"

"Gonna get us caught if he doesn't hurry with the door!"

Hacker recoiled, clearing the hiss out of his ear with a finger. "Alright, alright," he said. "You know, Sunshine. If you developed a better sense of theater, you might start to appreciate my vernacular."

"I'm not sure the drama department has any open positions for court jesters, but I'll check," the girl said.

"That was uncalled for."

"Kids! Boy, am I glad to see you guys," an obnoxious beak squawked as it poked through the door. "And less to see him, but we can talk about that later."

"Jackie? What's going on?" Marbles scooped up the cyboid and tucked him under one arm.

"Don't worry, Doctor Marbles. He's on our side."

"Ostensibly," said the tater tot.

"Key?" The older girl turned to him.

"Patience. I'm looking," Hacker said as he began patting himself down. With all the armor that Junior wore, he must have had some kind of built in compartment to hold a key. Gauntlets? Nothing. Zilch in the boots and he didn't seem to have a pocket. Unless.

He gave the right side of his breast plate a tap, causing a cavity within to slide open. "Now that's what I call a pocket protector," he said, pulling out the key from inside.

As he wiggled the key in its hole, he suddenly became aware of a light thumping coming from above their heads. It was the exact noise he'd made coming down and seemed to grow louder and clearer with every 'thunk'. It confused him at first, and he made a face as he paused to listen, pondering the odds of Junior having regained consciousness.

"What is that?" Aaliyah asked, pulling the children closer to her.

"Backspace! You should have disabled the others before coming down," Marbles cried from behind the door. "Where are the admins?"

"We told them to wait for us on standby," Sunshine explained. "What are you talking about Doctor Marbles, what others?"

Marbles shook his head, slowly backing away from the door just as Hacker managed to get it open. "There's nothing we can do now. I'm sorry children, but they've already surrounded us."

Always the pessimist, his creator. Hacker rolled his eyes and was about to retort with an undoubtedly snappy and derisive comeback when he realized the sound of the metallic footsteps had reached the bottom of the stairs.

What he saw when he turned towards the door was enough to send a chill down his spine. A mirror image of himself stood waiting for them underneath the archway, arm raised, with the barrel of a cannon pointed at them, ready to fire. Before he could come up with a plan to try and talk them out of it, a second identical figure had appeared beside the first.

Realizing they'd somehow been discovered, Hacker wordlessly backed into the cell, tugging at the back of Sunshine's shirt so she'd come with him. As his back hit the wall he felt Marbles push past him, and out, putting himself between the children and the pair of Hackers.

"Leave the children out of this!" he demanded. "They've done nothing. I told them to come, so if you must, point your brutish devices at me."

Hacker looked down at the buttons on his arm, wishing he'd spent some time figuring them out while they were on the ship. Cannon, cannon, cannon. Luckily, Marbles's little hero act was buying him some time.

Finally, his finger came to a sliding knob that seemed to have several different settings. He slid it down three pegs, then waited. After a sudden and powerful recoil, the metal around his arm had formed itself into a cannon. Already he could feel the heat the weapon gave off as it warmed up.

Instead of exiting the cell, he spun around to face the back wall. With the barrel of the cannon pressed against the steel surface, he flexed his trigger finger a single time. The blast that erupted from his hand sent a cloud of smoldering dust and debris billowing out the door, blinding the group almost instantly.

Hacker instinctively shut his eyes, only to realize a transparent visor had materialized in front of his face, blocking out the fumes. He grabbed Sunshine by the arm and shoved her through the hole in the wall.

"Go!" he cried, before reaching for the hand of the next closest person, Aaliyah. The woman brought other two Earth brats with her in a chain as she passed through.

The borg ducked his shoulders in and was about to follow them when Sunshine, feeling blindly through the haze, grabbed hold of him. "What about Digit and Doctor Marbles?" Her eyes had begun watering from the dust, but she still refused to move.

"We're fine, kid," the cyboid squawked from somewhere behind him.

Ignoring her protests, Hacker scooped up the kid and scooted through the hole. Once he had taken a few steps onto the other side, he glanced back to see the good doctor and the cybird had indeed made it through.

In his infinite wisdom, Hacker had built the tin turkey with transparent eyelids. "This way, Doc," the bird said as he gestured the borg's hand in the direction he intended him to move.

The group charged up through an alternate stairwell like a stampede of bulls, emerging in one of many identical hallways in the labyrinth of Control Central. They had escaped the dust cloud, but from Hacker's memory of the halls, cut themselves off from the hangar where their ship was parked. The only way back to it would have been to pass through the main control room and who knew how many more hims would be waiting for them there?

Sunshine wiggled out from his hold and ran up to the front of the group. "I've got an idea. Come on."

"Where are we going?" Ginger asked.

"To get ourselves a ship."

"One that'll hold all of us?"

As much as Hacker hated to admit, he shared the boy's befuddlement. The coupe the kids had driven to Radopolis had been the largest Control Central possessed and they'd left that behind for their new allies.

"True, but I think you're forgetting one thing," she said. To Hacker's surprise she craned her neck in order to catch his gaze before continuing on at full speed toward the end of the hall.

Hacker knew what would be beyond the door. Hangar F, the last of the six Control Central possessed. It sat unoccupied most of them and was only used when Motherboard had visitors and the rest had already been filled. So, in other words, rarely.

The Earth girl swung the door open and allowed the rest to pass ahead of her. As Hacker stepped through the threshold, he felt his jaw drop. Looming over them from the center of the hangar was a massive ship as black as a tar barrel.

Though not quite as big as the one they'd come in, its design was sturdy and familiar. Its green tinted windows offset the dark color in a way that was almost luminescent. Even the layer of dust and grime that covered it from the months it had endured without maintenance, without love, couldn't dull the feeling of rapture that came over him.

The Grim Wreaker.

"Open up! The Hacker has RETURNED!" he cried in pure ecstasy as he charged up the ramp and into the vessel. His home, sweet home. The light of his life. The apple of his eye.

He approached the lower level controls with reverence, kissing each of the buttons and levers as the others slowly filed onto the ship.

"We've got about five more seconds before they catch up with us so let's get a MOVE ON!" wailed Digit, unceremoniously interrupting his moment.

Brushing off the outburst, Hacker got to work in front of one of the control panels. As he started tapping at the touch screen, a sudden pain shooting up his arm made him recoil.

"What's wrong?" Although his reaction had been restrained, Aaliyah seemed to detect it and appeared at his side.

"Just a slight cramp," said the borg, forcing a smile as he used his other hand to type in the passcode for emergency launch. "Aaliyah, children, and others," he addressed his passengers in his usual imperious way as the ship rumbled out of its dormancy. "This ship is worth much more to me than all of you combined, no offense. So I'll ask you to keep your hands and wings to yourselves while on board the Wreaker today."

Hacker peered down through the floor hatch just as the ramp finished coming up. From down in the hangar, he could hear the sounds of his doubles bursting through the sealed doors. He offered them a mocking wave before shutting the hatch and departing with a burst of speed.

As they increased the distance between themselves and Control Central, Hacker made his way across the room lower observation deck of the Wreaker with a jua de vivre he hadn't felt in months. It was true what they said about absence making the heart grow fonder. He couldn't wait to get up to the main control room and start dusting everything in sight until it sparked.

Attempting to reach for the buttons on the transport tube caused another sharp, burning pain to run up his arm. The sensation was stronger this time, causing him to cry out. He fumbled at the clamps of his gauntlet, trying to free himself. Finally the device loosened its grip on his arm and fell to the ground with a thud.

Looking down, he could see a break halfway between his wrist and elbow. The metal had been torn open and part of the structural shaft underneath was sticking out.

"That blast had a little more kick than I thought." He attempted to use his other hand, but whether it was because he was in too much of a rush or had just been struck with a sudden case of nerves, entered the wrong input.

Before he could make a second attempt, Digit pushed his hand out of the way and entered the code in his place. "How dare you, you—"

"Not now!" cried Sunshine. "You gotta get up there and start flying this thing fast before they come after us!" She opened the door of the tube and shoved him inside.

In less than a clock's tick, he was up in the main control room. He approached his recharger chair, patting the dust off before sitting down, feeling once more like the king of his universe. Hacker pressed his broken arm close to his side, sweeping his good hand across the buttons. For a minute he was silent and still, drinking in the emotions before the tube returned and his trace was broken.

"Are they still following us? What's going on!?" rang the Earth brat's voice in his ear.

With a quick gesture, he brought up footage of the ship they'd come in. It had yet to move from outside Hangar C although he did see hints of activity from inside the hangar.

"Are we going to be able to outspeed them?"

"At their size? Easily," Hacker assured her, moving the image onto another monitor so he could focus on the direction he was piloting them. "Especially with our head start. As long as we outspeed anything they decide to launch at us, we'll be fine. Tell your friends to call our backup and we'll head back for round two."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Ginger said, stepping in front of the small screen.

Hacker set the Wreaker to autopilot and turned his attention to the mini monitor. Peering over the boy's shoulder, he could see the sting ray had taken off from Hangar C and was headed in their direction. Its speed would indeed not be enough to catch up to the Wreaker, especially if they attempted to make a swerve.

He caught on to the true source of the boy's apprehension when he spotted a smaller ship jetting out from its underside. It was followed by a second and a third, then more and more until dozens littered the sky.

Wanting a better look at their enemy, Hacker attempted to pull up more footage. What he saw came as far from unexpected, but still felt like a bash to the CPU.

"They're all you."

Chapter Text

“How many of them does she have?” Jackie asked, viewing the screen through her skwak and using the device to attempt to get an estimate. Very quickly she realized the futility of her efforts as more coupes began to swarm out from the mothership like bees from the hive, soon blotting out the sky itself with their sheer numbers. 

“Too many.” The borg’s tone was somber, but Jackie could see from the smirk on his face he was loving every minute of it. He collapsed back into his seat, shifting the Wreaker into full speed and using his foot to steer while attempting to manage the controls with one hand. 

Jackie had noticed while they were riding up from the lower level the borg seemed to have injured his hand. With the gauntlet off, she could now see the bits of metal jutting out from the torn surface. 

“Maybe you should let someone else drive?!” she shouted at him. Even at the best of times, she didn’t exactly trust him not to risk dangerous maneuvers. But especially now, as they were quickly being overtaken in the shadow of their enemies, with the smallest twitch making the difference between victory and a very painful defeat.

“NO.” He slapped her hand away as she attempted to reach for the wheel. In the next moment, Jackie felt herself being thrown off balance, tumbling halfway across the room and away from the recharger chair as the borg pulled the ship into a sharp U-turn. Or as sharp as a ship the size of the Wreaker could manage. 

She remembered how easily Digit had always managed to outmaneuver the cruiser in his dinky little coupe. Maybe the Wreaker could take a few more hits than your average ship, but when they were so badly outnumbered, it would only be a matter of time before they were brought down. 

Jackie struggled to regain her footing, looking around for something to pull herself up with as she fought the G-force that nailed her to the ground. They were now face to face with the oncoming ships and she could hear the sound of artillery hitting the exterior echoing through the walls. She looked around the room, searching the various monitors for an indicator of what was happening outside. 

Matt and Inez were crouched beside one another at the back of the room, underneath an enormous stack of monitors of various sizes piling up to the ceiling. Hacker was adjusting a joystick on the dashboard which appeared to have triggered a set of rocket launchers and laser cannons that had been installed on the Wreaker’s left side. The second joystick was just out of reach on his right. Jackie watched as her mother grabbed it, making up for his injured arm. 

“Watch for clusters,” Hacker advised in a hushed timbre. Aaliyah gave a silent nod and the two eyed their approaching enemies like hawks. 

The Wreaker’s aiming software reminded Jackie of the factual detection inside cameras as it locked in on a horde of ships. Once Hacker had gotten a group of six or seven at close quarters, he jammed his finger down on the launch button. Aaliyah did the same, their combined firepower blowing through rows of the enemy’s ships. 

The force of the blast was incredible, causing a chain reaction as the ships lost control and collided into each other, setting even the coupes that hadn’t been struck, ablaze. But even this victory didn’t seem to give them the advantage for long. 

Still streaming out of the mothership was a seemingly endless supply of attack vessels and Hacker duplicates that poured out. There must have been some kind of machine to clone them on board. She wished she had taken the time to explore the ship earlier for anything that could have been used against them. 

“They’re still coming!” her mother cried. 

“Please tell me we have more of those,” Jackie said.

The borg was silent, his brow creased with thought, desperately trying to come up with a second plan. Jackie took this as a response in the negative and began to desperately look around for an idea of her own. 

“This is not good, this is not good at all!” Inez’s voice caused the tension in her blood to rise. As her mind continued to fumble, she wanted to yell that the girl’s statement of the obvious was helpful to no one. 

“Can’t we just site warp outta here?” she blurted out. 

“There’s no way we’ll be able to get a clear path through that.” Aaliyah gripped the arm of the recharger chair as a tumor caused the entire ship to quake. 

“Well we better do something or we’re toast!” 

“Okay.” Hacker said, finally breaking his silence and reaching for the ship’s navigator. 

It didn’t click with Jackie at first exactly what he was up to, but when she noticed the route he was setting into the computer, her heart paused a beat. Her mother, who seemed to have caught on at the same time, pulled her in by the shoulder and strapped her down on a seat she’d pulled out from the wall. It was similar to the ones she’d seen flight attendants sit on during plane rides with seat belts that went over the shoulder on both sides. 

“Hang onto your hubcaps,” Hacker hollered just as the ship took a sudden lurch forward.

Control Central appeared before them in a flash, its domed peak close enough to see Motherboard’s monitor in the audience chamber. Jackie shuddered as the cyber ruler’s eyes seemed to meet hers. She wanted to scream, but couldn’t. Her voice had been silenced and body frozen in place.

It was then she realized time around her had slowed to a crawl. Or, more accurately, they were traveling at a speed that surpassed that of light or sound. So fast all her senses were taking in information at a speed distorted from reality. 

There was a loud metallic groan, like the sound of nails on a chalkboard as the Wreaker’s side scraped against the floating satellite. The enemy ships that had surrounded them were now scattered in a trail of destruction they’d carved out in barely a fraction of a second. 

The Wreaker’s giant form had completely obliterated the dozens of puny coupes that had swarmed around it. Stray gears and screws littered the air around the struck ships, falling at a pace that resembled molasses. 

In another blink of an eye, the scene around them changed again. Everything disappeared, Control Central, the ships. And they found themselves drifting alone in the quiet vacuum of space. 

“Is anyone hurt?” Her mother was the first to speak. It was as much as Jackie could do to silently shake her head and undo the straps that had held her in place. Her two friends had managed to tie themselves down as well, Inez holding Digit in her lap.

But where was Dr. Marbles?

She was about to voice her concern when she heard a small hiss come from the transport tube. A moment later, the technician was among them.

“Doctor Marbles,” she said, approaching him. He didn’t look hurt. In fact, to her surprise, the borg seemed completely unstirred by recent events. She was about to ask if he had come up with a plan when Hacker spun in his recharger chair, instantly catching sight of him. 

Instead of the explosive encounter Jackie had pictured, Hacker simply pursed his lips and averted his gaze. “I’m going to check on the damage,” he announced, rising from his seat and shoving Marbles aside as he stormed towards the door. 

“That won’t be necessary,” the technician announced, returning Hacker’s hostility with complete composure. The green borg spun on his creator, catching sight of something that caused his eyes to widen in shock. 

Jackie followed the borg’s gaze across the room, her line of sight falling on the monitor. A familiar, warm shade of blue had filled the screen. A pair of gentle eyes fluttered open as if walking up from a dream. The girl felt a wave of comfort and relief wash over her as she took in the face. 

“Mother B.”

“Motherboard, I can’t tell you how glad I am that you're back,” Digit said as he flew out of Inez’s arms to perch beside the cyber ruler. However, not everyone shared in his relief. 

“Turn it off,” Hacker demanded in a low and threatening tone, a complete about face from how he had been acting just moments ago. Doctor Marbles paid no mind, meeting his gaze with the defiant eyes of a bullfighter. Before Jackie could get out a warning, Hacker had snatched him off the ground by the collar. 

“GET HER OUT OF MY SHIP!” the man roared. His volume was enough to send tremors throughout the ship.

“Hacker, stop!” Motherboard boomed. 

Jackie put her hands over her ears to block out the noise. As much as Hacker’s outbursts shook her up, she couldn’t help feeling a little twinge of sympathy for the man after seeing how much affection he lavished on the hunk of flying metal. 

“Silence!” The borg whirled in the direction of the monitor with Marbles still dangling in the air in front of him. “I don’t want a single word from you. Or him. This is my ship. I’m its one captain.”

“This is not about your misplaced pride, Hacker. We have a bigger enemy to fight. If you care at all about—”

“I SAID SILENCE!” he repeated, his shoulders visibly pulsing up and down with each breath he took. “The all powerful Motherboard, dethroned by a pair of virulent vagabonds. How is she to manage without the legion of groupies she keeps under her thumb?”

“If you won’t cooperate, you’ll stand down, Hacker. I won’t tolerate interference from you.”

The villainous borg let out a cruel cackle, letting Marbles fall from his grip. The technician landed on the ground where his creation continued to tower over him. “Let me guess. I’m betting you uploaded Motherboard onto an external hard drive. Hid it on your person while you were incarcerated, and then re-uploaded her into the Wreaker’s computer. So, all I have to do is unplug you and it’ll be bye-bye Motherboard.”

Matt met Jackie’s eyes from across the room, his posture indicating he was prepared to rush and tackle the man. Jackie shook her head. Matt’s help would just escalate things. She watched as the cyborg allowed his creator to drop to the ground and started heading for the transport tube. 

Before he could reach it, she side-stepped in front of him. “Don’t.”

“Move aside, Earth brat.”

“You don’t need to do that anymore. You know you don’t,” Jackie said, holding up her arms to stop him from walking past. “Remember how happy you were on Earth? Whatever else happened in the past… it’s not important now.”

There was a long stretch of silence as they stared each other down, Jackie refusing to take her eyes off him for even a heartbeat. When she finally saw his expression soften, she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. 

“Let’s just finish here so we can go home,” Jackie said. She felt herself tense as Hacker took a step forward. She tried to block his way again, but he managed to slip past her. To her surprise, instead of heading for the transport tube, he reached for the door, passing through it and disappearing down the hallway. 

“Doctor Marbles?” asked Motherboard, once the borg’s presence had left the room. “Are you injured?”

“Still as fit as a freshly tuned fiddle, Motherboard,” said the doctor. 

“Jackie?”

“I’m fine,” the girl said, though even to her, her voice sounded despondent. 

For once, Motherboard’s presence did little to elevate the teen’s anxieties. Part of her wanted to run after the borg who’s just gone down the hall, but she knew Motherboard was right when she said they need cooperation. Hacker had pulled them out of danger for the moment, but how long would that last now that they’d captured the enemy’s attention? Would the Wreaker be capable of fighting back or carrying them to safety a second time?

“What’s the plan Motherboard?” Inez was the first to ask.

The AI ruler’s eyes seemed to flit from face to face before speaking. To Jackie, her visible hesitancy was further evidence of the dire nature of their circumstances. “I’m afraid this mission will be more difficult than any other you have faced in the past, cybermates,” she began, her head hung in shame of being unable to forecast a better outcome. “Our opponent has taken my ability to generate portals, leaving us vulnerable while making herself a force to be reckoned with. I can not ask you to aid in good conscience as I have in the past.” 

“What are you saying, Motherboard?” asked the bespectacled girl. “You don’t think we can win?”

Matt attempted to chime in. “Motherboard, there has to be a way we can—”

“This will be a fight won or lost on brute force,” the cyber ruler said. “Luckily, we have the people of Cyberspace on our side. We can only hope that’ll be enough.” 

“We’re going to fight with you, Mother B. No matter what,” said Jackie. 

“Whether we sit out or not we’re stuck here,” said Matt. “So we have as much reason to be involved as anyone else.”

“For the moment, I can still return you to Earth if you wish,” Motherboard corrected. “My powers have only been limited within Cyberspace. But I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to retain control. Ever since she’s arrived, she’s been a dominating force. Which is why if you wish to go home, I would advise you to make that decision now.”

“Kids? I think that’s our queue.” Her mother held out a hand, attempting to guide each of the teens towards the monitor.

“But Mrs. Carter, we have to stay and help,” Matt said, pulling himself from her grasp. “We can’t just abandon everyone.” 

“I know you all have the best intentions. I’m all for wanting to help. I just don’t want this day ending with me explaining to your parents why you won’t be coming home.” Her voice cracked at the end of the sentence. As normal as this might have been for the trio, it was all still fresh for her mother and Jackie could see the chaos of the day’s events had pushed her to a breaking point.

“Mom, wait,” Jackie said, as an idea sprung into her mind. She dug into her pocket and pulled her Hacker’s cellphone. She had, had half an intention to return it earlier, but it had slipped her mind with everything happening as quickly as it did. 

“Mother B, if we go back to Earth we’ll have access to the backdoors. If Hacker was able to use them to send you the virus, we can just do that again, can’t we? Even if it doesn’t take her down, it’ll give us more than a fighting chance.”

She looked around to her friends to see what their reaction to her idea would be. By the way he grinned back at her, she could already tell her idea had clicked with Matt. “Jaxs, you’re a genius,” he said. 

Jackie flashed him a smile back before turning to face the screen. The cyber ruler was still quiet, her face somber as she reflected on the scheme. Even though she still firmly believed in the plan, Jackie felt a little stab of guilt that things had to be the way they were. After everything she’d been through, the girl imagined just thinking of viruses would have caused the woman more than a little discomfort. 

“Motherboard?” she said, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible. “I know this has to be a weird topic for you, but I think using the backdoors might be the easiest way to guarantee a win for us.”

“No, you’re right about that Jackie,” the woman agreed. “Thank you for bringing it up. I will use the ship’s cloaking technology to keep our opponents off our trail, although I can’t say how much time it will buy us. We must act quickly on all fronts.”

Jackie handed the phone to Doctor Marbles. “I noticed earlier he keeps a folder of them. Maybe there’s one you can use.” 

“Without someone to take down her firewall, the virus will have trouble penetrating, even with the help of the backdoor,” Marbles said. “But maybe I can find something I can use to target just the portal system.” The technician heaved a sigh before reluctantly taking the device from her. “As much as I dislike the idea, it seems to be the best one we have.” 

Jackie dipped her head with courteous agreement. “I’ll take Hacker with me. It’ll be his car we’re driving back anyway.” 

“Thank you, Jackie. I think that will be for the best,” said Motherboard, in a way that told she’d been on the verge of suggesting the same. 

The girl blinked, feeling a mixture of relief and apprehension. Although it had been her idea to separate the two, part of her disliked the idea of leaving a situation as volatile as their unresolved. 

“He’s in his room,” said the cyber ruler before vanishing from the screen. 

Jackie cringed, realizing she didn’t have the foggiest clue where she was headed. She’d only been inside the Wreaker a handful of times and most of those times had only seen the control room she was currently standing in. 

Still, she had a vague idea of where the kitchen was so how hard could it be to find the bedrooms from there? She headed out the door with her mother sticking to her heels like gum. 

“Jackie?” 

Before her mother could formulate a speech, Jackie had taken her by the hand. “I trust him, mom. We’re going to go home and we’re going to win this. You’ll see.” 

Aaliyah held a steady gaze, her brow creased with worry. “Less than a week ago, you would have given me a completely different answer,” she said. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because he’s trying to be different and I’ve seen him do things every day I never thought he would. Cooked for you. Took us to a fair just cause you asked. Threw away a chance to get back at Motherboard,” she said. “He’s got a lot of rough edges, but he’s my friend. And I want to give him a chance.”

Aaliyah clasped her daughter’s hands in her’s, rubbing them slowly as she seemed to wrestle with the situation. Jackie could see she was still far from happy with the whole thing, but there was a trust between the two that went deeper than any fear. 

Her mother gave Jackie’s palm a firm squeeze before nodding. They continued down the hall, quickening their pace as they came across a trail of discarded metallic armor. Every several yards, they’d stumble on another piece until they noticed light pouring out from a gap in the wall. As they drew closer, Jackie heard the borg muttering to himself inside. She went up to the doorway and gave the wall a tap with her fist. 

Hacker’s room was just as vainglorious as she would have expected. In the past the sight of the self-portrait plastered walls would have caused her to roll her eyes, but their presence seemed less important now. 

She could already see him at his desk, back towards her, fiddling with something unseen. His workspace was cluttered with various sentimental trinkets from trophies to stacks of photos to souvenirs. It seemed Motherboard wasn’t alone in liking to collect things. 

When Hacker spun around, Jackie saw he had a screwdriver in one hand pointed at his other elbow. She could see the splintered arm laying on the desk behind him while the limb he was in the process of screwing on looked factory fresh. 

“Do you need any help with that?”

“No, I’m almost done.”

"How did it break? I mean, I thought that whole suit was made for you."

"Well, obviously there are some hardware differences between us. One was made to be cannon fodder apparently," Hacker spat. "I guess I should consider myself lucky it isn't me." He picked up a hammer and started to smash up the remnants of his discarded limb with his new one, causing shards of metal to go flying everywhere.

Not wanting to be hit, she took a step back. Once there was nothing but a pile of tiny green pieces left on the desk, he swept the remains into the garbage can.

"What does Motherboard want now?" he said. Jackie could still see the hammer in his hand, his fist fixed in a solid grip around the handle.

"We're going back to Earth to take down 9000 with the backdoors," she said.

"Motherboard said that?" The borg's expression contorted, showing his befuddlement.

"Actually, I was the one who suggested it." Jackie smiled as he set the hammer down on the desk and turned in his chair to face her.

"They'll need a virus."

"And thanks to you, they've got one. I'll explain it to you later," she added, catching the confused look on his face.

The girl craned her neck as she heard the sound of a portal materializing beside her. The noise was like that of a small jet engine. She reached out a hand to help the borg up from his chair.

"Are you coming?"

Chapter Text

Most of the car ride back into town was spent in silence. Jackie sat in the backseat, her gaze shifting between her mother in the driver’s seat and Hacker on the passenger side. The borg had switched back to his human disguise and was staring vacantly out at the passing scenery. Jackie could see some of the concern she was feeling mirrored in her parent as Aaliyah occasionally took her eyes off the road to check on the man. 

“I’m sorry about your ship,” Jackie said finally, leaning into the front row. “But Motherboard didn’t really have a choice. She’s just trying to protect Cyberspace. Once we win, she’ll be in the computer again and you’ll be able to have it back.”

“That’s not the point,” the borg muttered, speaking for the first time since they’d returned to Earth. “If it was in her interests, she could have had a lot of choices. She could have approached me to strike a deal, begged, pleaded , acted like for once I deserved an ounce of her respect!” Hacker raised a clenched fist, as if he were about to pound it into the dashboard, only for him to spread his fingers and let the hand fall. 

“But that would have been too much of an inconvenience for the all powerful ruler of Cyberspace. Far better to steal from me whatever catches her eye.”

“I still think you’re wrong about her,” Jackie said. “If you two could just talk, I think you would start to understand each other.”

“There’s nothing to understand. Her intentions for me have always been the same. Everything that should rightfully be mine, she thinks she has a claim to, and if I go against her, I’m an inconvenience who needs to remember his place. My worth to her is as her tool, and nothing more.”

“A week ago, I could have said the same about you,” said Jackie, chin held high in defiance. “And now we’re in a car together, on our way to save the Cyberuniverse with a virus , so.” She shrugged, feeling her point was self-evident. 

To the teen’s surprise, her mother spoke up. “Sometimes the best we can do is learn to move on from a situation,” she said. “Sometimes people just aren’t good for each other and no matter what we do, there isn’t a way to make it right.”

Jackie folded her arms across her chest. So were they just supposed to hate each other from a distance forever? How was that good for anyone? How could there ever be peace if they allowed such a huge conflict to hang over them without a resolution?

And how was she supposed to interact with each of them going forward without feeling like she was stepping on eggshells? She glanced at Hacker for his reaction, surprised to find that something about Aaliyah’s words seemed to have caught his attention. 

With Jackie watching the borg’s face and Aaliyah watching the road, the car fell into silence again. Not wanting to be the one to break it, the teen found herself further reflecting on her mother’s words. The two had been with each other for what? Thirty years? And seemed to regard one another as the festering wart on the face of the Cyberuniverse. 

Truth be told, she didn’t know where to even begin fixing a relationship like that. The only reason Jackie had been able to open up to the borg in such a short amount of time was the lack of any personal elements in their rivalry. 

“Aaliyah?” When Hacker spoke again his voice sounded as passive as Jackie had ever heard from the borg. There was a fragility to his manner as he lifted a hand off his knee, only to let it fall again in the same place. He allowed another long pause, raising and lowering his hand at a steady tempo. “I know I haven’t shown myself to be ideal company today, but I want you to know, your companionship in the last week has meant the world to me. When all this is over, I want the chance to make it up to you.”

“It’s fine. Hacker, really. This has been an interesting experience.” Her mother laughed, taking her eyes off the road for a brief moment. “Although I guess it wouldn’t hurt to get out of the house once in a while. What did you have in mind?”

Jackie blinked. Had that just been a yes? So soon after their first ‘date’ had ended as disastrously as it had? Truth be told, she had been getting ready for the borg to be shot down. Maybe his confidence wasn’t so beyond reason as she assumed. 

“Nail salon!” she shouted from the back seat. “You’re going to need to get your hands done to go with that hair. I know the perfect place. On me. I have two hundred dollars in babysitting money saved.”

“For between the three of us?” Hacker said, an eyebrow raised at her. 

The girl’s face fell into an exaggerated pout. “You’re not real eager to make yourself easy to like, are you?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, his smile light hearted while at the same time looking slightly pained. “I think you turned out to be okay.” 

Jackie sighed, unbuckling her seatbelt and leaning into the passenger seat. She flinging her arms around it and the borg at the same time. The smell of his cologne infiltrated her senses as she buried her face against the back of the head rest. It amused her to realize how much the scent resembled a new car. 

She was about to pull away again when she felt his fingers close around her arm. His skin felt rough and cold as his hand squeezed her wrist. His grip was tight, but not forceful. She waited until he chose to let go before slowly pulling away and sinking back into her seat. 

Her mother, who seemed to have caught their exchange, offered the man a pat on the shoulder before swerving the car off the interstate. 

“Hey, does it work both ways?” she asked, attempting to lighten the mood for everyone. Seeing the odd look shot her way, she went onto elaborate her point. “My uncle Fred’s an amputee. So I figure if you can turn yourself human, he can turn himself into a cyborg for a minute and get himself a new leg?”

Hacker brought a hand up to his face as laughter fizzled out from his lips like a shook can of soda. “A simple ‘no’ would have worked,” Aaliyah said, although Jackie saw the smirk on her face. “Now I want an explanation.”

“Well, he doesn't exactly come with the essential hardware,” he said, still fighting his laughter. “Let me put it this way. I can’t just go to the human mechanic and start donating organs.”

“Huh,” Aaliyah pondered as she pulled up along the sidewalk adjacent to the library. 

“Let’s go,” said Jackie, hopping out. “Matt and Inez are already inside.” She ran up to the door to hold it open for the two adults.

Upon entering, she could see her friends already standing in front of the map, arms nervously across as they waited for her. 

“Jackie, they’re closing in fifteen minutes,” Matt cried when he spotted her. “Doctor Marbles says he’s ready to go when we are.” 

The girl approached the map, standing shoulder to shoulder between her two friends. “What if they fixed it,” she muttered. “What if the exploit doesn’t work anymore?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

“Do you remember how it goes?” Inez asked. 

“I don’t think I could forget it if I tried.” She reached over and pushed the icon to represent the lobby. 

“And then mythology,” Matt said, reaching for the second icon.

“And lastly, research,” Inez chuckled nervously as she reached for the corresponding icon. “Sorry Motherboard.”

Aaliyah came up from behind to rest a hand on her shoulder, pulling them in closer to her. “It was never your fault. You kids have saved the day so many times over. Done more than you ever needed to.”

Together they watched as the three icons glowed red and began triangulating at the center of the map. “One more time just before they meet,” Hacker instructed, causing three fingers to dart up again. 

There was a flash of light before the program seemed to crash and all three icons disappeared. “Somewhat anticlimactic on this end,” Hacker murmured as the group looked around waiting for something else to happen. 

Jackie presumed Doctor Marbles had been watching from the Wreaker as Hacker had on that day and had sent his virus the moment they’d triggered the backdoor. Motherboard was going to win this one. She just wished she and her friends could have been part of the action like they usually were. 

“So, do we go home?” Matt asked, breaking the somber silence that had fallen over the group. 

“Not YET .”

The map suddenly broke out into static putting them face to face with an all too familiar sight. “You children have been a thorn in my side for long enough.” The AI’s face flushed a dark shade of cerulean as the inside of the monitor crackled like a storm at sea. 

Fear and panic set in on Jackie’s face as grabbed her mother by the arm and attempted to back away from the scene. It was to no avail however as the screen was replaced with a swirling black portal that began sucking them in like an inescapable vacuum. 

Jackie attempted to reach for her friends, determined that they would at least stick together in whatever desolate realm they were spat out onto, but no sooner had they passed through the hole did the violent force pull them apart. She looked to her other hand to find her mother no longer there. 

Like before the inside of the portal was dense and dominating. The sensation reminded Jackie of swimming through syrup. Even as her chest heaved under the strain it was difficult to pump any air into her lungs. The sense of panic she felt was further escalated when she realized she had stopped flowing through the portal’s stream altogether and without an exit hole in sight. 

She was completely trapped within the infinite metaspace of Motherboard’s domain. She cried out for her mother, her friends, but received no answer. All of a sudden her body felt tired and her eyelids grew heavy. Despite her attempts to fight it, they soon shut, pulling her into a state of semi-consciousness.

Even with her eyes closed, she could feel the space around her shifting. It was like being moved along a rollercoaster, first through a tunnel and then back out into the open air where she was assaulted by a sudden breeze and then met with stillness. The weight on her vanished and she found instinctively gasping for breath as her eyes fluttered open from the waking nightmare. 

No longer was she floating in an endless black void, but standing in her living room. Looking closer, she realized details like the framed photos of her parents to the little glass bird her mother kept above the fireplace were all intact. The familiarity of the setting only served to cause her more panic though.

This wasn’t her house, it couldn’t be. That wasn’t how the portals worked. So how had the 9000 managed to recreate her house so completely? Not even Motherboard could have seen all of it. A deep metallic echo filled her ears as she made her way out into the hallway and then into the kitchen. Jackie felt as if she were walking inside a fish tank. 

“Such frivolous lives you children lead.”

The voice filled her head sounded like the faint sound of an organ echoing across a vast space. The music was distant, yet clear, hypothetically drawing towards the direction it rung.

“With nothing better to do than interfere with my plans.”

Jackie made a beeline for the door, snapping herself out of the trance-like state she’d been locked in for several minutes. When the door swung open, she realized escape from this strange place wouldn’t be so easy. Instead of her front yard, she found she’d entered her upstairs bedroom. 

“But in the end it doesn’t matter . This world will submit to me in time. ”

Jackie plugged her ears with her hands, only to find it did little to assist her in escaping the sound.

“Things would be much simpler for you if you chose to as well.” 

She looked back to see the door she’d entered through had disappeared, in its place a blank wall. Across the room she could see her bedroom door in its usual place. She very much doubted it would lead to the upstairs hall, but under the circumstances she couldn’t see any other course of action. 

“I can see there’s potential in you, but without guidance it’s inevitable it will be squandered. Your kind weren’t meant to exist freely. I can grant you a purpose, ensure you achieve the greatness I know is in you.”

She crept up to the door and with a single moment swung it open. Instinctively flinching before she could see what was on the other side. 

“All you have to do is put your faith in me.” 

Jackie found herself speechless as she took her first steps into the room, hardly able to believe the sight that was in front of her. Her father, standing in the middle of his office, only instead of being surrounded by the coat racks Jackie knew to fill the room, the space was as well kept as when he’d been alive. 

“D-Dad?”

No. This wasn’t real. Just another manipulation. She turned her head down, forcing herself to look away. 

“What has trying to do things on your own gotten you so far?” A chill ran through her as she realized the voice had changed. The resemblance to her late father’s was eerie although she could still detect a hint of the woman’s authoritarian tone echoing beneath the surface. 

“All the trouble you’ve gone through in just the last week, trying to get your friends to understand you, running around after that hopeless case of a rogue borg, and for what?”

This wasn’t real. Her father would never say those things. She repeated the affirmation to herself again and again in her head. Yet, hearing them in her father’s voice had caused a torrent of emotions she could not fight against.

“You’re just a child playing hero. Do you honestly think you’ve made a difference in anyone’s life?”

“Shut up, shut up!” she screamed, her eyes burning as she stared down the figure opposite her. 

“Such a pain you must have been to deal with for your poor father. If I were him I would have crashed my plane into those mountains years ago.”

“You’re wrong! My father loved me. Maybe none of us are perfect, but we can learn and grow and do better. All of us can. We don’t need you for that.” 

She gritted her teeth before throwing herself at the figure, tackling him to the ground. As they both hit the ground his body vanished from beneath her and she found her surrounded by the thick, black void. 

For a moment there was silence. Jackie wiped away her tears before they could fall. The time for crying was over. She had to find her friends and escape this place. Rising to her feet, she heard the voice again, although this time it didn’t seem to be addressing her. 

“You must always remember, dear, you were built to serve me. As much as I admire your ambition, it won’t do for you to run astray forever.”

Drawing her hands away from her face, Jackie saw she was now standing in the audience chamber of Control Central. The same metallic, fish bowl echo as before continued to fill her ears. Glancing down the stretch of catwalk, she could see Hacker standing with his back facing her. 

The brief rush of excitement she felt on seeing him was dashed as she realized it was in all likelihood yet another trap. She looked him over closely, trying to decide whether to make herself known at all. He had shed his human disguise since she’d last seen him, but otherwise nothing on him seemed out of place. 

But of course it wouldn’t. If 9000 could create a perfect version of her house without having ever been there, she could make a perfect version of her son with her hard drive smashed. 

“You never stood a chance against any of us. So it’s time to stop playing games and remember what your place is.”

Steeling herself, Jackied decided to take a chance. 

“Hacker?” 

At the sound of her voice, the borg spun around. The movement was so quick, Jackie found herself taken aback. He stared at her, his vision seeming to glaze over. Frightened, Jackie began to withdraw, but before she could get off the catwalk, he pointed his arm at her. A cannon materialized out of nothing at the tips of his fingers. 

From the darkened inside of the barrel, Jackie could see the flare of a shot being charged. She quickly dove out of the way, crashing against the guard rail as black smoldering heat erupted from the spot she had stood. 

“Hacker, stop it!” she cried, fear gripping her chest as he charged up another shot. She lept again, shielding her head as she felt the heat of the embers land on her bare skin. 

“How right you were, dear,” Motherboard’s voice boomed as the monitor flickered on. “The Earth children are quite the disruption. I don’t see much reason for keeping them around.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Jackie said, scrambling to her feet again to keep ahead of his rapid fire. “The Hacker doesn’t take orders from anyone. Especially not any Motherboard.”

The girl flinched as a shot flew right past her, grazing against her arm and causing a stinging pain to radiate across her skin. She ran down the catwalk, and up to the automatic doors only to find they wouldn’t open for her. Glancing off the sides of the balcony, all she could see was an infinite bit of blackness. 

“You said you would take us to the nail salon,” she said with a forced chuckle, backing up against the door as she realized she was trapped. “They’re not going to let you in if you act like that.”

Instead of dodging to the side, she found herself diving towards the blast and underneath it, landing at the borg’s feet as the shot seared a hole in the door behind her. 

“Fine then,” she said, springing up behind him. “If you’d rather hang out with mommy, I guess you won’t be needing this!” Before he had the chance to turn around, she’d snatched the wig from his head and catapulted it back across the length of the catwalk. 

No sooner had she done so did she feel herself being shoved to the ground as Hacker ran past her to retrieve his peruke. The borg let out a shriek like a cat being drowned in the bath. He made a mad dive for the hair piece, fumbling with it in her nervous fingers, brushing away the dust its brief acquaintanceship with the ground had introduced. 

Once the faux hair had reclaimed its spot on his dome, with barely a strand out of place, he spun around, steam puffing from his nostrils. “Don’t ever put your greasy fingers on my wig again.”

Ignoring the sneer on his face, Jackie threw her arms around his neck. “Just glad to have you back, Captain.”

The borg seemed puzzled by the gesture as well as his new nickname but didn’t fight it. Jackie smiled as she felt him put his arms around her and gave her a somewhat detached, yet warm pat on the back. 

Once she decided he’d had enough of her affections for one evening, she started to release him from her grip. Before she could pull away, he seemed to glimpse the place near her elbow his cannon had burnt and tried to flip her arm over for a better look. Jackie tried to insist she was fine, but the borg had already noticed the injury. 

“What happened here?” he asked.

Jackie shook her head, refusing to answer. It was only a miniscule wound. One that stung, but wouldn’t hurt her in the long run. Now wasn’t the time to be sweating small stuff. They needed to focus on getting the rest of the gang and getting out. 

Despite her efforts, the borg didn’t seem satisfied with the answer. Without saying anything, he glanced down at his hand and began picking at the tip of his finger. At first, Jackie didn’t have a clue what he was doing but soon realized when she held up a peeled off band-aid in front of her. 

“No, no, no. I’m fine, I promise,” she said before he could put it over her wound. She was not about to get lead poisoning from a band-aid. One of these days she’d have to sit him down and explain Earth diseases. 

Just then, the space around them started to shift again. Jackie pulled Hacker closer, not wanting to risk drifting apart like before. This time instead of a thick, dark void, the stream that carried them was a vibrant shade of heliotrope. She allowed herself to relax, feeling the cyber ruler’s familiar presence return to the metaspace. 

Chapter Text

They stepped out of the portal and found themselves on the lower observation deck of the Wreaker. For the first few minutes, Jackie was reluctant to believe she and Hacker had actually escaped that bizarre labyrinth of mental torments. What finally convinced her was the absence of the sensation of being in a pet fish simulation. The underwater sound that had filled her ears was gone, replaced with the whirling of ships and tremors of artillery being fired in the distance. 

Hacker opened a hatch on the side of the ship, granting them a view of the scene on the horizon. From where she stood, Jackie could see Control Central as a speck in the far distance with fleets of their allies from all across the cyberuniverse converging in. 

At a shorter distance away, the stingray seemed to idle, occasionally spitting out more ships piloted by its seemingly endless supply of Hacker duplicates. Despite being shot at constantly by the forces of Mt Olympus and Tikiville, it seemed to absorb even Zeus’s thunderbolts with ease. 

“Where’s Matt?” Jackie asked the cyborg. “And Inez and my mom?” She shuffled over to the machines and leaned against them as she tried to stretch. Her body felt stiff after being tossed around once too many by the portals.

“If Motherboard managed to pull us out, the others should be joining soon.” Hacker said. “It looks like Marbles came through with the virus. So your plan worked.”

“Of course it did,” she boasted, straightening herself. She couldn’t get slouchy now, not when they were so close to victory. 

Hacker walked up to the open hatch and stuck his head out to observe the ongoing battle. She approached his side slowly, wondering if their journey through metaspace was still on his mind. For having only met them earlier that day, 9000 seemed to know much more than she should have. She’d known practically everything about Jackie’s life and somehow read deep enough into Hacker’s insecurities to make him lose the will to resist her. 

She watched as his hand went to his lower abdomen, over where he wore his belt, the one which activated his Earth disguise. In a flicker of light he shifted back from borg to human. 

“Are you okay?” she asked, wondering what could have prompted such a reaction from him. 

“Aces.”

“I didn’t think you liked that look.” She smiled, hoping to find the look reflected. Instead he continued to brood, his brow tensing up as one of their ships erupted in a fiery cloud before their eyes. 

Jackie brought a hand to her lips as her heart began to race. With their limited scope of the battlefield, it hadn’t been immediately apparent to her just how badly they were outnumbered. But with the sting ray showing no signs of running out of ships to throw at them, no matter how many they took down, it might not be enough. And with so many enemies surrounding them, how could Doctor Marbles make it Control Central without being shot down too?

“We have to find a way to stop that ship,” she said. “I’m thinking from the inside. That thing is like a fortress, but if we can turn off whatever’s making those clones, it’ll cut their numbers.” 

She glanced at the borg again, silently willing him to speak or at least give some kind of indication he was listening. 

“Hacker? What’s the matter? Don’t you wanna give that wannabe Max Headroom what she deserves?” she said. “So what if she caught you off guard for a second? You’ve never let that stop you before.”

Jackie grabbed him by the hand and started pulling him towards the controls. “Come on. This is no time to twiddle our thumbs. We’ve gotta hit back harder!” 

Jackie threw gesture and phrase into her performance, her voice rising to a crescendo with the last sentence as she did everything in her power to psyche the man up.

To her relief a hint of a smile began to creep across his face. “An Earth brat looking for old fashioned vengeance delivered à la Hacker? I’d never thought I’d see the day.” 

“If you don’t have a plan, I think I might,” she said. 

“Oh? Do tell. You’ve captured my attention.”

Instead of answering right away, Jackie followed the railing to the far end of the observation deck. If she recalled the geography of the Wreaker correctly, there was a garage on this level. Having come to the far end, she reached for a giant switch on the wall. 

A series of pops echoed as the lights that hung over the parking garage came on. The space was big enough to dock a dozen vehicles, but at the moment only housed one. 

Hacker let out a sharp gasp on seeing the remaining vehicle. His homemade yellow convertible, complete with his plentiful chin smelted onto the front bumper. The solemn mood which had come over him seemed to evaporate as he boarded the lift, bouncing on his heels the entire way down. 

“What do you think our chances are of hijacking that thing?” Jackie asked.

“Hard to say. It’ll be the two of us against Junior and whoever else they have on board.”

“If there’s anyone on board they’re not doing much. I haven’t seen a single shot from them,” Jackie pondered, bringing a hand up to her lips. She recalled how Hacker had gotten them on board. A palm scan, likely meaning only a Hacker could get in. 

The girl snapped her fingers, struck with a sudden epiphany. “There’s no one on board!” she cried.

“And how did you come to that conclusion?” Hacker said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. 

“Cuz, don’t you see? Only a Hacker can get on board. I bet anything they’re used to leaving the ship unguarded because they never expected a rogue Hacker to get in,” said Jackie. “Remember when 9000 said you were the only Hacker in fourteen universes not to side with his Motherboard? I bet they’ve always taken them out together in the past.”

“You’re talking like they don’t know I exist.” The borg crossed his eyes. “It’s an obvious loophole. They’d never fall for it.” 

“You did.”

The beginnings of a smirk spread across Jackie’s face and she was barely able to hold back her glee, even as Hacker’s face turned beet red. 

“Come on, let’s get ‘em!” 

When the lift stopped at the lower level, she grabbed the man by his shirt sleeve and dragged him down to the car. Hacker slipped into the driver’s side, reaching into the glove compartment for the keys as Jackie got into the passenger’s side and strapped in. Soon they were rolling down the runway at full speed. 

Jackie turned her eyes to the horizon as they left the Wreaker behind. It surprised her to see, once they drew closer to the fight, that a scattering of portals had materialized around them. She let out a scream as one appeared directly in their path. 

Hacker quickly retracted the car’s wings, causing them to take a sharp plummet in the air, only narrowly avoiding the vortex. In the distance, Jackie could see other portals expanding and swallowing up their allies before phasing out. Several ships, like theirs, managed to outmaneuver its force, but it was clear the tactic was making a significant cut in their numbers. 

“I thought the virus was supposed to stop her portals,” she cried as Hacker swerved out of the way of another one. 

“Oh, it will. But it takes a little time to kick in. What you’re witnessing now, Sunshine, is a tantrum.” He gestured back the way they’d come. “Notice how they only go so far? Her range has been severely reduced.” He quirked his shoulders up and down like a see-saw, unable to contain his delight. “One day, I’ll show you the ins and outs of virus making. Then you can look back on this day and really appreciate what masterful work you’re witnessing.”

“So long as you don’t try to mess with Motherboard. Or do anything illegal.”

“I wouldn’t dream of involving you in that. What do you take me for?” said the borg with an exaggerated chafe.  

Jackie threw herself onto the steering wheel as another portal opened ahead of them. “Look out!” she cried, her hands trembling as she thought for a moment she felt the tug of a portal against the car. “Can she see us?” 

“If so, that would complicate things.” Hacker brow tensed as he took the wheel again and  began driving more erratically, dipping and diving until they’d come to the underbelly of the stingray. Like before he held up his hand and a hatch opened, pulling both them and the car inside. 

The hallway inside the ship was just wide enough for the convertible to park. If there was a crew on board, none came to welcome them. For the first few minutes, Jackie’s anxiety had her on full alert. She fully expected another portal to open up and pull her and Hacker back into the metaspace. 

“Do you think we’re safe?” she whispered to the borg finally. He drew his finger across the controls while she took in the hollow sounds of the ship’s interior. He seemed to be trying to remember which of the buttons and switches did what. 

“Watch closely, Earth brat.” The borg flashed her a crooked smile as his hand fell on a button. Before Jackie could blink, the path that led to the front of the ship had been blocked off by a pink wall made of a stretchy elastic material. 

“Is that… bubblegum?” Jackie asked, getting out of the car and dabbing at the substance with a cautious finger. She could sense its stickiness immediately and pulled her finger away in case she wound up trapped in the web. 

She felt a violent tear against her skin, as if a piece of duct tape had been ripped off it. A bit of the odd substance had stuck to her finger and wouldn’t peel, even as she picked at it. 

“A little vinegar and it’ll wash right off,” Hacker said before shutting off the engine. “It looks like our coast is clear.”

“Any idea where those clones are coming from?” Jackie whispered as the two began heading towards the back end of the ship. The hallway they trekked down was long and featureless, without a divergence or widening in path. On either side the walls were black but made of some kind of reflective material that caught the lights on the ceiling. “Is it just me or did this part of the ship look wider on the outside?” she murmured, recalling the odd segments she’d noted while first standing beneath the underside of the ship’s tail. 

“Good point,” Hacker replied, pressing his hand against one of the walls. Something about its touch seemed to intrigue him and he drew himself closer until his cheek had come up against the surface.

“What is it?” Jackie asked, tentatively copying his gesture. As soon as her eyes had come up against the wall, she understood what he’d realized. 

The walls that lined the hallways on either side were not just reflective metal, they were constructed out of a kind of glass. From a distance, they seemed to only bounce light, but once Jackie’s face was pressed against it, she could see through into a room inside. 

“These are the clone pods,” she said, her breath escaping her. At first the walls of the room seemed featureless but Jackie noted the wall seemed to be broken into segments, indicating something was meant to emerge from those spaces. 

“That must be how they construct their ships,” Hacker said, before she could ask. The borg continued sliding along the length of the wall, peering in at intervals to confirm another pod was behind it. “They must be all hooked up to a central computer,” he added, quickening his pace towards the tail of the ship. “If it was in the main control room I would have noticed it, so it must be—”

He fell silent as a pair of automatic doors at the end of the hallway slid open. The doors lead into a large, circular room with a machine occupying more than half the space and towering up to the ceiling. 

“Astounding…” Hacker gasped as he began walking the length of the machine, running his hand over the mass of wires that went into the wall on either side of the room and seemed to connect to the pods outside. 

Jackie approached what stood out to her first, a floor to ceiling length tube that seemed to open at the center. The inside was not visible, but at its side was a kiosk. When she went to tap the screen, it responded. 

“Hacker, come look at this,” she hissed. “I think this is what controls it!” She swiped her finger along the screen, unlocking more opinions. “You were right, they do construct the ships here.” 

She continued to scroll through, fascinated by all the different settings available, everything from underwater compatibility to something called molecular reduction. Upon reaching the end of the menu screen, she was struck with an idea. “You’ve gotta come and check this out, Hack. I know exactly how we’re going to hijack this place.” 

“Do you?” He came over, reserved, yet intrigued. 

Jackie began swiping through the settings quickly with her finger, selecting the ones she wanted in view of Hacker. “It looks like you can skip having to design a ship altogether and release clones directly into the hallway. Those walls outside must open up to let them out. All we have to do is start cloning you until we have enough yous to take out the other yous.”

“I appreciate the faith, Sunshine, but I’d rather avoid getting into that thing if at all possible. I doubt a clone of me would be much help around here. Besides, what are we going to do after we’ve won and we’re stuck with twenty Hackers running around?” He gave his neck a scratch, visibly uncomfortable at the notion. 

“R-right,” Jackie said, momentarily caught off guard by his flat refusal. She would have thought he of all people would leap at the chance to involve himself in something like this. 

“Let’s just figure out how to shut this thing off and get out of here,” he said, taking her place at the console. 

“Sure.” Jackie nodded. “Maybe there’s something in the back I can unplug.” She stuck her head in between the machines, attempting to get a good look at what was in the back. Aside from the mass of wires connecting the two sections of the machine, nothing was discernible. “I can’t see anything,” she announced to the borg. “I’m going to try and squeeze through.” 

“Just don’t get me in trouble with your mother,” he hissed as she slipped out of his reach.

The area between the machines was only about as wide as the distance between Jackie’s shoulders. Much too narrow for Hacker or even Matt to pass through. Maneuvering comfortably required her to enter sideways, her back pressed against one of the towering slabs of metal. She could feel the sockets of various plug-ins poking at her backside and the heat released through the exhaust ports. 

Once she hit the back wall her eyes lit up, spotting a power socket just around the corner. “I see it!” she called out to Hacker. Whether the borg was unable to hear her or was simply too focused on whatever he was up to, he gave no response. “I’m going to try and loosen it.”

Silence again. 

She glanced back at the opening between the machines, wondering what the borg could be up to and if she should check on him. Just as she was about to start crawling back out, she heard his voice seeming to come from just around the corner. 

“Careful now.”

“R-right.” 

She was just wasting time, worried over nothing. They needed to hurry and save their friends. Jackie shut her eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to psyche herself up and keep going. But before she could open them again, she was jolted by the sound of a body being slammed against metal.

“JACKIE!” 

She felt the machine her back was pressed against whirl to life. Panicked, Jackie spun back towards the exit, her heart nearly stopping when she saw the face that peered back at her from the gap. 

“You,” she breathed. She tripped over the cables on the ground as she stumbled backwards trying to get away. 

The green borg that stared back at her was not the one she knew. His eyes were focused and brazen, almost seeming to taunt the girl for thinking she could escape. He swatted at her through the gap, only brushing the air beside her arm. 

Undeterred, he stretched out his fingers, unleashing a set of metal cords that wrapped themselves around her waist and pulled her back out into the open. She pressed her hands against the walls of the machine on either side, trying to find something to cling to, but the strength of her bindings was much more than she could fight. 

“What luck!” the green borg cried, dandling her effortlessly over his head. “A traitorous wreck accompanied by an Earth urchin. Once I present the two of you to Motherboard, I’m sure my earlier mishap will be overlooked. More importantly, I have a feeling with you in my possession, it won’t be long before the ones who think they have a claim to this universe issue their surrender.” 

Jackie’s gaze darted wildly throughout the room as she kicked and pulled in an attempt to free herself. “What did you do with the Hacker?”

“It’s hard to believe you’ve subscribed to that ridiculous form of address,” the borg said, a mirthful cackle escaping his throat. “Motherboard told me the two of you have had a rivalry of sorts for years. How cute. I’m starting to think that idiot’s only purpose is to fight whoever happens to be in charge. I’m almost embarrassed to call us the same borg.”

As she continued to fight against his grip, Jackie noticed a deep rumbling continuing to emanate from the cloning machine. For a moment she froze, realizing what had happened. Which settings had she inputted again? 

The armored borg’s attention had turned to the capsule as well, free hand outstretched in anticipation of his look-alike’s emergence. As she noticed smoke start to billow out from the door, Jackie let herself go limp in the borg’s hold. She knew she couldn’t fight his strength, but all she needed to do was provide a distraction. 

Her moment came as the armored borg’s gaze shifted back to her, confused by her sudden lack of resistance, at the exact moment the doors to the capsule slid open. Despite her hopes that Hacker would rush out and tackle her captor to the ground, the borg did not immediately emerge from within. By the time the smoke had cleared, she could see him lying on his back inside, his body completely motionless. 

“What did you do to him?” Jackie cried, kicking at her bindings, her plan immediately discarded. 

“Silence,” the borg hissed, squeezing her tight enough to force the air from her lungs. He seemed fixated on the sight of himself laying in the capsule, as if the occurrence was as unexpected to him as it had been to the girl. 

As he approached the door he suddenly stopped and took a step back. At first Jackie was puzzled by his hesitance, but after a heartbeat she could detect the sound of an engine that seemed to be independent from the sounds of the cloning contraption. 

Before she could pin the source of the noise, the world before her became a blur. An unseen force pulled her into a somersaulted through the air, robbing all sense of direction as she felt her body slam against the ground. Jackie cried out in pain, still too disorientated to process what had happened. She instinctively began kicking again, her arms and legs scrambling to pull herself back onto her feet. 

It wasn’t until she had risen into a kneeling position that she realized she’d been freed from her restraints. She started to look around her, her peripheral vision catching sight of Hacker, the Hacker , looking as disturbingly ordinary as ever as he  pulled her onto her feet and shoved her towards the door. 

Jackie snuck a glance towards the machine. The tail bumper of Hacker’s convertible was sticking out of its short circuiting wreckage. The armored borg was nowhere in sight, but she spotted the binds he’d used to trap her strewn limply across the ground. 

“Way to go, Captain!” she chuckled, before her laughter devolved into hoarse coughs. She felt a sharp jab of pain that told her something was broken. 

They were almost done. She just needed to bare it for a little longer. What she needed after a day like this was a really long nap. Unfortunately for her, she’d hardly passed the threshold before she was forced to stop. 

Packed into the hallway was a crowd of identical faces, each staring back at her expectantly.

“H-Hacker?” 

“Yes?” replied each face in the crowd. 

Chapter Text

What exactly was she looking at? The sight of the green borg’s mug should have been unmistakable to her at that point yet for some reason she could only stare, baffled. There must have been some kind of glitch with the clone machine. Had Hacker really been bald his whole life? Somehow she had at least pictured him with a wig built in, seeing how attached he was to the thing. The width of his shoulders were narrower than hers were, his collective form looking to her like a green dachshund squatting on its hind legs. 

Once the initial surprise had passed, she found herself unable to hold in the laughter that passed her lips. Out of the corner of her vision, she could see the Hacker was having quite a different reaction. It was as if he’d just walked in on a horde of feral raccoons raiding his fridge. Sensing his unease, Jackie allowed her hand to slip into his and squeezed tight.

“This is why I didn’t want to go anywhere near that thing,” Hacker said. “Let’s go.” The borg took her hand and attempted to pull her through the crowd of curious clones. Much to Hacker’s chagrin, the group began moving along with them, continuing to block their path and only taking a step back when they stepped forward. 

“Um… excuse me?” 

The one who had spoken wrung his hands, trying to find his words while the rest looked on in silence. His voice was timid and he sounded slightly embarrassed. His gaze shifted up to Hacker, then back to her, seemingly unable to decide who he should be talking to. 

“I was told there was just supposed to be one of us. I think there must have been a mistake somewhere. If you could just direct us to Motherboard so we can sort this out.”

“Y-yeah, sure. We can take you to Motherboard.” She glanced up at Hacker who was staring at her as if she’d just agreed to sell the Wreaker on a discount. “Well, we can’t just leave them here,” she whispered, leaning into him. “Besides, I think they’re kinda sweet.”

“If that was an attempt to make me feel better, please stop,” the borg groaned. “They’re like a fistful of little twigs.” 

“Well, that’s no way to talk.”

Jackie instinctively jumped as she recognized the voice, and, as much as she was ashamed to admit, hid behind the Hacker. The ache of her sides still ebbed at her in more than just memory. 

The armored borg’s heavy footsteps generated tremors as he marched up to the duo. “I wondered what you were hiding when you refused to duplicate yourself,” he laughed. Despite his bravado, Jackie noted he hadn’t come out of the wreckage unscathed. His visor had been cracked and the bindings he’d used to restrain her still hung limp at the end of his arm. “Is this how you looked when Marbles made you? What was your job description? Coffee boy?”

A deep grumble came from the back of Hacker’s throat. His gaze had narrowed and averted although she could tell he was still watching every movement the other made. Jackie knew he was boiling up inside after being talked down to. She squeezed his hand tighter, hoping he knew better than to try anything. If Hacker had broken his arm just trying to use this guy’s suit, they wouldn’t stand a chance fighting him. Not with fists anyway. 

“And now you look like that .” He gestured up and down the human disguise. “A hideous downgrade. Yet somehow it suits you.” 

The armored borg planted himself at the center of the crowd. Hacker’s clones didn’t seem to mind, only reservedly peeking over his shoulders, intrigued at the sight of the odd human that bore them vague resemblance. Jackie wondered how much of the situation they’d been able to discern. 

“You should have stayed in the real world. Unlike you, I was built to destroy. You never had a chance. But… maybe something can still be done with this bunch. I’ve always wanted my own lackey.”

Jackie could feel Hacker’s hand pull against her’s, an attempt to free himself quietly and without the armored borg taking immediate notice. She shot him a glare as she clung to his fingers, managing to lock her other hand around his wrist just as he was pulling free. She needed to come up with a plan and fast before Hacker lost his patience entirely and started going on the offensive. 

“I know you must all be itching for some real power.” The armored borg said, addressing the clones. “Don’t let yourself wind up like this defect. Learn to embrace a Motherboard who will appreciate the pragmatic side I know is in all of you. She will provide you with the best skeletal reinforcements available across fourteen Cyberspaces and we will maintain the iron grip on Cyberspace we were meant to. So how about it?”

Looking back at the clones, Jackie remembered the conclusion Motherboard had reached about Hacker not caring who he had to push aside in pursuit of power. Was that really the case? She didn’t feel like taking a chance. 

“Don’t listen to him!” she said before any of the clones could speak. “The Hacker doesn’t need a Motherboard to define him. He’s always done that himself. You guys can be anything you want.” She met the armored borg’s gaze unflinchingly. “He’s just a robot .” 

“Quiet!” he snapped back, holding his cannon equipped arm directly in Jackie’s face. “If they’re so smart they can speak for themselves, yes?” 

Jackie gulped, her eyes shifting wildly as she sensed the time for coming up with an exit strategy was coming to an end. Just beyond the cluster of clones, she could see the lever that controlled the hatch they’d entered through. So close, but useless until they could strap themselves into the convertible. 

“I like his wig,” said one of the clones, breaking the tension with the same out of place, timid voice. Jackie observed his clear discomfort over the situation with curiosity and the response which seemed to have been given more to placate than anything. “Do you have one too?”

“ No. ”

Jackie didn’t piece together what occurred right away. All she knew was that the armor borg had abruptly pulled the cannon from her face. Even when she heard the sound of the blast, the sound seemed to reverb across every surface and exposed pipe, creating an impression the noise was coming from every direction at once. Her first instinct was to duck and cover head, pulling Hacker down into a crouch with her. When she finally felt safe to look up again, she spotted one of the clones lying, palms up on the ground. 

“How many more of you are there?” She could hear the armored borg say as he appeared to do a headcount. “Should have known any version of you would be less than useless.”

Jackie could hear the whirl of his arm cannon as it warmed up in preparation for another shot. She glanced up at Hacker, hoping he would have a plan. His free hand was inside the pocket of his cardigan, twitching as he occasionally moved it inside. Jackie chanced a look at the empty hall behind them. Was he trying to summon the car? She doubted after the collision he’d put it through it would still respond. 

After several clicks, she realized his hand had gone still and his attention had shifted. The mood in the hallway was different now. Although Jackie still felt her heart pounding, there was a new, yet unmistakable air of defiance among those squeezed into the close quarters beside her. Each of the remaining clones took a single step towards their aggressor, packing themselves around him close enough to force him to pull his arm away. 

“Get out of the way you—” 

Jackie heard a horrible metallic whack as the armored borg struck two of the clones to the ground. Before he could escape through the opening, another two had taken their place. 

Finally seeing her chance she ducked between the legs of the clones, squeezing past them in the hall in order to reach the other side. She could see Hacker watching her from where he stood. As their eyes met, a silent understanding seemed to pass. 

Jackie reached for the lever that controlled the hatch and pulled it down with all her strength. The sound of the metal doors sliding open startled the clones who scurried away from its edges. The armored borg, who had been preoccupied trying to get in another swat, didn't immediately notice his predicament or how close he’d drifted to the door since the clones had moved in on him. 

“As much as I loathe this look, I have to admit it comes with a single important advantage,” the Hacker said, his arms innocently tucked behind his back. 

“And what is that?”

Hacker said nothing. He simply lifted one of his long, mantis-like legs and delivered a kick to the center of his rival’s chest. The attack struck the other off balance and was enough to send him plummeting through the hatch and down into the depths of space.

Jackie kept her eyes shut until she could feel her heart slow to a faint thumping. When she opened them, Hacker had appeared in front of her, hand outstretched. She grabbed hold of it and pulled herself onto her feet. Down the hall, she could see the remains of the convertible rolling towards them at a snail’s pace. Nothing about its appearance indicated it would be getting off the ground again anytime soon. 

“Do you think there are any more of them?” Jackie asked, peering past the bubble gum barrier towards the front of the ship.

“Unlikely, they would have gotten here by now.” 

“Then let’s go see if this thing has any lasers,” she said, putting a hand to her side to try and soothe the throbbing ache.

“Agreed. Just let— hey!” Hacker interrupted himself as he noticed the clones had begun swarming around the remains of his car, something in it seemingly having captured their interest. 

“It’s Motherboard,” Jackie heard them whisper to each other, seemingly in awe of the discovery. 

The teen was no less stunned as she went up to the side of the car and popped her head in between two of the clones to get a look for herself. Although the rest of the vehicle was in shambles, the video phone was shockingly still in perfect working order. 

“Jackie? Is that you? Are you alright?” said the cyber ruler, as soon as the girl stepped into view of the camera. 

“I’m here, Motherboard. I’m fine. Are Matt and Inez and my mom with you?”

Before Motherboard could voice a response, the clones broke into excited murmurs. “We just took down a giant evil looking Hacker.”

“With a suit made of metal and an arm cannon. Has he been bothering you, Motherboard?”

“We’re all ready to return to Control Central. What do you need us to do?”

Jackie had never known Motherboard to be the easily flustered type, but for once the cyber ruler had been beaten by the oddity of their circumstances. Her asymmetrical eyes gave a flutter as she scanned the identical faces of the clones. 

“I ― ” she stuttered, struggling to find words. 

“Hacker’s with me,” said the teen. She shot a quick glance backward, hoping to catch sight of the borg. Unfortunately she couldn’t see past the crowd of clones that surrounded the car. “The other Hacker threw him in the cloning machine, and well…” Jackie shifted awkwardly on the balls of her feet. She couldn’t help but wonder what thoughts were swimming in the cyber ruler’s cerulean eyes. “We couldn’t have hijacked the ship without them. Actually we’d probably be dead if they hadn’t helped.”

Motherboard was silent, seeming to stir on her words. “They’re a wonderful help,” she said at last. The AI’s brow furrowed, wracked with an unspoken pain. Every word she spoke sounded as if she had taken a tack to the heart. “Hacker. My cherished sons. I’ve missed you so much. No words can ever summate how much you’ve meant to me . ”

The clones looked at each other, confused. Jackie debated to herself whether she should interject, if only to console the cyber ruler.  

“If it were in my power, you would never leave my side. But if our paths are destined to diverge, I want you to know. I hope you can know. How proud of you I am.”

“Motherboard …” The clones said in unison, sounding like they were about to start bawling. With nothing else physical to hug, they began hugging each other. 

“Go on now. Please lend Jackie your assistance.”

“We will!” the skinnies, as she’d begun referring to them in her head, shouted. Their usual reserved curiosity discarded for bright eyed enthusiasm. 

“If Dr. Marbles makes a break for Control Central, we can cover him,” Jackie said to the cyber ruler.

Motherboard dipped her head. “I’ll let him know. Be safe… all of you.”

“Aye-aye, Motherboard.” She gave a small salute before the image on the screen vanished.

As the skinnies started to disperse, making room for her to walk pass, Jackie realized Hacker had gone. From the absence of the bubblegum wall, she deduced he had cleared it and scouted ahead without them. 

Did that mean he had missed the conversation with Motherboard? Or maybe he had deliberately avoided it. Every time the two were in a room together, it seemed to generate a heated argument. Maybe leaving had been the smart thing to do. But, it didn’t have to be that way, right? The clones had proven that. 

And yet, Hacker wasn’t them. Anymore. 

Jackie took the hands of the two nearest clones and started walking towards the head of the ship. She wanted to find her friend and check him before anything happened. It should have been a good thing. A fight they couldn’t afford to have had been avoided. Yet combined with the rest of his odd behavior since they’d left the Wreaker, her stomach couldn’t help but flip-flop. 

She caught sight of him in the threshold between the hallway and the main control room. His back was towards her, but his posture was relaxed, his general demeanor almost distant. By all accounts he seemed calm. That was good right? 

“Are you okay?”

“That’s what I should be asking you,” he scoffed. “Nevermind. It’s your call from here out, Jackie.”

“Are you sure? I mean, they are you. Maybe you should be the one leading them.”

“I appreciate that, but let's not complicate things.”

Jackie looked up, trying to read his expression. The borg gave nothing away, looking relaxed, but just short of comfortable. Maybe that was just this face, but Jackie couldn’t shake the feeling he was holding something back.

With a nod she turned to the skinnies who eagerly awaited their instructions. “Um, hello… Hackers,” Jackie began. “We’re going to need everyone’s help to get this ship running. My friend here knows some of the controls, but the rest you’ll have to figure out as we go. First we have to make sure all the entrances and exits are sealed. Then we have to make sure Doctor Marbles can get to Control Central in one piece. Each of you take a different station in the control room and work together.” 

“Aye, aye boss! You got it,” they said in unison, offering her a quick salute and running off to their separate stations. 

Jackie and Hacker followed more slowly, the teen continuing to watch her companion’s face. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Stop worrying about me. It’s embarrassing,” he said, although his tone was surprisingly mild. “Just focus on your job so we can get out of here.” 

He wanted his space. Okay. Deciding it wouldn’t do any good to keep pressing him, Jackie drifted to the far side of the room, taking an empty seat by the controls next to one of the skinnies. The clones had already settled in and were piloting the ship like a seasoned crew. 

It had taken her a while to notice, mostly due to the borg’s unconventional looks, but the skinnies all appeared younger. She recalled Hacker mentioning he’d been booted up at age fifteen. If she had to make an estimate, the clones all looked about that age.

“What? Do I have something on my chin?”

Without realizing it, Jackie had started staring at skinny sitting adjacent. He raised a hand to his chin, searching the appendage for signs of the non-existent smear. 

“No, you’re good,” Jackie said, saving the poor kid from his brief bout of panic.

He smiled awkwardly at her before returning to his work. Jackie averted her gaze, but found her eyes inadvertently drifting back in his direction. One question had ebbed at her mind for the last few days. Now she wanted to hear the answer straight from the horse’s mouth. 

“It’s just that, you guys seem pretty smart. I was just wondering if you had anything you wanted to do after this. Any grand plans for cyberworld domination?”

The clone blinked at her as if he were speaking another language. Jackie half smiled, half cringed at his reaction, feeling like one of the adults asking her what she planned on majoring in, in college. 

“Well… my job is to protect Motherboard’s systems from malicious external software, so that, I guess. ”

“Is that it?” she gently pressed.

He shrugged, nonchalantly. Her attentiveness seemed to make him bashful and hesitant. Jackie took note and quickly backed off, averting her gaze to the glass floor beneath their feet. After a minute or two her aloofness seemed to bring him back and she heard him start to mumble something to himself.

“It’s crazy. Something that just popped into my head. One of those wild, flights of fancy, kind of things.” 

He went silent again. 

“Can you tell me?” she asked after waiting through a long pause. 

“I kind of had the idea that maybe if I did extra well, Motherboard might give me a site of my own— like a promotion ,” he added quickly, sounding moderately comfortable with the rephrasing. “But that’s a silly idea, I know.”

“What would you do with a site if you had one?”

“Oh, golly. You’re really putting me on the spot.” He rubbed his neck with nervous discomfort. “Something really, really great, awe-inspiring even. Something Cyberspace has never seen before… but that they’ll like.”

Jackie smiled. “That’s really nice.” 

It was pretty vague, but how much could you expect from someone who was literally born today?

“Can I ask you something?” 

“Sure?”

“What’s going to happen to all of us after this? I mean, Motherboard isn’t really going to need all of us, right?”

That was the awkward question. Hacker had been right when he’d brought up the issue of what to do with hypothetical clones after the fact. Things could easily get very complicated with now, twelve… thirteen Hackers running around. They couldn’t exactly destroy them all like they were the other clones. Not ethnically anyways. 

Motherboard seemed the obvious answer. After what had just occurred, Jackie doubted she would be able to deny any of them a home if they asked. Yet, even if she accepted them with open arms, what would stop them going down the same path the original had? 

Things had to end differently this time. 

“Well,” she began, not sure if the idea she felt herself about to voice was the only obvious solution or completely insane. “Once we get Doctor Marbles back to Control Central and restore Motherboard to her place… that leaves a lot of universes out there without a ruler.” 

She caught his puzzled look and quickly explained what she meant, who their enemies were and why they were here. When she got to the part about the other universes 9000 had taken over, the clone’s eyes lit with sudden understanding. 

“Are you saying…”

“If you feel up for the job.”

The skinny’s jaw hung open for several seconds before he realized what he was doing and shut it. After another moment, he parted his lips slightly as if about to speak. Before he could find his words, the clone who had been sitting by the navigation controls stood up.

“It’s Doctor Marbles!” he said, waving at a ship in the distance. Several of the others got up as well and gestured in unison. 

Jackie glanced out through the monitor, spotting the borg in a two seater piloted by Creech. The young Tik stuck her head out the driver’s side window, letting out a victory cry loud enough for Jackie to hear through the walls of the ship. 

“Follow them!” Jackie hollered at the crew. Although their numbers had thinned, the sky was still littered with enemy ships. No doubt all making a beeline for Marbles now that Creech had all but announced his presence. 

When did the girl become such a show off? Then again, when you were the winner of the Kahuna Race-a-Runa three years in a row maybe it wasn’t so unexpected. 

For a while, their ship managed to tail the coupe at a middling distance. As she’d suspected the sting ray was indeed free of conventional weapons. Possibly with the existence of the clone machine on board it would have been too fuel demanding. Instead, they used the giant gloved hand to reach out and swat away incoming ships. The appendage moved with surprising dexterity considering its size, swinging back and forth like a tennis racket.

When the little couple finally outpaced their cruiser, Jackie collapsed into her seat, watching as the ship jetted over Control Central, and Marbles parachuted to safety.

They won. 

Chapter Text

A new light seemed to wash over the digital sky once Dr. Marbles uploaded the cyber ruler back to her rightful seat. It reminded Jackie of someone scrubbing the grease off a windshield. She hadn’t noticed the difference until she saw the contrast between the muddied green being replaced by bright olive. The clones outside in their ships were washed away as if on a tidal wave. An unseen force pushed them far from the satellite anchor of Control Central where they vanished in a blink. Back to their universe? Sucked into the metaspace? Or erased from existence altogether? Jackie was too tired to care. 

She allowed herself to lean all the way back in her chair, feeling the dull ache from where the other Hacker had almost popped her like a grape. She could really use one of Motherboard’s conveniently timed portals about now. Glancing up, her arms caressing her midsection, she almost expected to see one. Instead she noticed the skinnies had all gathered together at the nose of the ship. 

One of them seemed to be leading the conversation while the rest just listened, wide eyed. When she rose from her chair, they went quiet and the speaker turned to face her. The way his eyes fell on her, hit her with the impression that this was the clone she’d been talking to earlier, although from looks alone this was impossible to deduce as they all looked identical. 

“Did you really mean it? When you said you wanted us to rule the other Cyberworlds?”

The genuine disbelief the clones all seemed to feel was endearing in a way. It was still hard for her to see the two as the same person. She knew she couldn’t expect any of the same vulnerability out of Hacker today. The borg seemed to have masked all deeper feeling behind a mask of supreme confidence. 

“Of course.”

He returned her reassurance with a curt, but still uncertain nod. Jackie expected that to be the end, but before she knew it she had been tackled, his hands against her back and holding her close. She returned his embrace with a gentle pat on the back. 

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I’ll do my best.” 

There was another moment of stillness before he abruptly pulled away from her. He seemed slightly embarrassed and moved to whip something from his face before Jackie could see what it was. Had he been crying again? Just a bit?

Jackie smiled. “You’ve got thirteen Cyberworlds out there counting on you, Hacker. Just remember to be good.”

“I hope you weren’t expecting a thank you,” Hacker said, once he and his teenaged accomplice were alone in Control Central’s loading dock. 

The clones, all eager to set off, had done so after each bidding Jackie a personal farewell. The girl hadn’t realized before it was even possible to get sore from hugs, but thirteen Hackers seemed to have that effect. 

She gave an innocent shrug. “Well, it wouldn’t hurt.”

“It’s not like I got anything out of it.”

Jackie rolled her eyes. “Oh, stop it. Admit that warmed your little heart,” she said. “Just a little?”

“I concede no more than the minutest fraction,” he insisted, stubborn as ever. “I’m just grateful you got rid of them. There’s only room for one Hacker per universe and this one’s quota has been filled.”

Jackie grinned from ear to ear until her cheeks hurt. She had noticed him watching as she gave each of the clones their parting instructions. No matter how much he attempted to play coy, she knew the truth which remained unspoken. 

“But you were soooo cute,” she cooed, clinging onto his arm in an intentional effort to annoy. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

The borg’s face flushed with embarrassment. “I was not. You stop that.” 

Jackie took a step back, for once cutting him some slack, although she continued to snicker to herself. “We should get back. The others will be looking for us.”

Hacker was still pouting, pretending to be more offended than he was by her remarks. Addressing her again, he allowed himself a hint of a smile. “I think for once I’ll be letting the curtains close quietly.”

“What do you mean?” All the while they’d been talking, they’d been making their way, Jackie assumed, towards the audience chamber. Glancing around, she noticed they had stopped in the hallway outside Hacker’s room. “You’re not thinking of going back through the portal opener, are you? Without saying goodbye?”

“And who do you think I’d have to say goodbye to?”

“You know it’s not like that. Motherboard loves you. And yeah your relationship’s been hard, but you should have seen her when we were on the ship. She was losing it. Seeing all those clones. She really misses you.”

“I did,” the borg said through gritted teeth. “And they aren’t ME .”

Jackie blinked, surprised by the borg’s confession. She had assumed he had left the hallway at the outset, not wanting to be around his relative and anxious to get a move on with their scheme. But hearing that he had witnessed at least some of the exchange, she had expected him to at least reconsider his quick judgment of the other. Or at least become resolved to hash it out with her again before leaving.

Afterall, it had taken barely anything before to get him heated up enough to confront Motherboard and hurl every metaphorical knife to the chest he could at her. But now that she had finally taken one step forward, it seemed he couldn’t backtrack fast enough.

“They are you. Even if you don’t like it, even if you’ve changed.” She put a hand on his wrist, prepared to drag him to the control room by force if need be.

“Her nostalgia is for the borg she created. A borg that no longer exists and never has as far as anyone else is concerned.” He sighed, making a weak attempt to free himself before letting his arm go limp. “Love is just a word, Sunshine. If that’s how she feels it never did me any good. But, if it’ll get you to finally drop your palsy-walsy scheme, fine. The worst that could happen is me wasting my time.”

“You won’t.”

“Gross.”

Jackie quickened her pace as much as she could as she hurried down the hall with the dead weight of Hacker dragging behind her. She was afraid of stalling too long and giving the borg time to change his mind before they arrived. This would be a good thing. She knew it. 

The scene on the catwalk was lively and with no shortage of hearty congratulations being passed around like a Thanksgiving pigskin. Looking around, she recognized faces everywhere. Just about everyone she had ever encountered on her journeys to save the Cyberworld were there from the Three Pigs to Sheriff Judy to the Mayor of Poddleville.

As they mingled in among the crowd, Jackie felt Hacker’s arm tense up in her hand. She slowed her pace to be in line with his and shot the borg a glance. He seemed less than thrilled by the welcoming committee, gifting everyone dirty looks as he passed them by. 

To her surprise, none of the cyberfolk seemed to take note of the ex-villain among them. She had half expected silence to fall over the crowd as soon as they entered the room and was surprised when everyone kept chattering among themselves, hardly taking note of them. It took longer than it should have for her to piece together that it might have been because he was currently in his human disguise. She’d somehow gotten so used to the look in the last few days the explanation hadn’t immediately occurred to her.

For the most part they were ignored, only attracting the occasional curious look. It was probably for the best, as she wasn’t sure how they’d all react to having their old scourge walking among them. 

“Jackie.” Motherboard broadcasted her voice so only she could hear. The girl met eyes with the cyber ruler, restored to her throne. She weaved through the party and up to the base of the monitor, pulling Hacker along with her.

“Where are the clones?” 

“They left, Motherboard. I sent them to fill in, in the universes the other you left empty. It seemed like the only way to fix things."

“I see,” said the cyber ruler, a gentle smile crossing her features. “I’m glad. Although I wish I could have said goodbye.”

Jackie pressed her lips together in a smile she couldn’t quite force. “You know Mother B, you still have a son right here.”

“Oh please,” Hacker interjected, arms across his chest as he approached the monitor. “I bet she can’t wait to finally get rid of me. I’ve proven by now if I stay I’ll be using every chance I get to sow chaos across your little wonderland. Motherboard’s duty to Cyberspace comes above all else so my exile is the inevitable and only reasonable outcome.”

Jackie frowned at the borg’s self-sabotage. She turned to Motherboard, hoping the cyber ruler would be big enough to ignore it and speak from her hard drive. 

“If what you want is to go to Earth, I won’t stop you. But should you ever choose to return to Cyberspace, there’s a lot I want to ask.”

“Well, that’s no surprise. You did always delight in giving orders.”

Jackie’s head snapped around like an owl’s. That wasn’t what she meant! And it was obvious it wasn’t. Why was he purposely trying to ruin this for himself?

For the next few seconds, time seemed to slow to a crawl resembling molasses out of the jar. Hacker’s eyes fixed up at the screen coolly while Motherboard’s pointed downwards. There was something about their physical distance that only served to increase the tension of the moment. Although she knew it was impossible in this instance, Jackie found herself longing to do what Hacker had done that first night and pull that giant monitor down to eye level. 

The cyber ruler’s features pinched, as if reeling from some unseen ache. Her emotions had seemed more raw since their meeting on the ship. It was almost as if the matriarch, like her son, masked much of herself behind a wall. To Jackie she had always appeared to hold a pose and wisdom that was unearthly. But maybe it was all just another mask. 

“I’m so sorry.”

Jackie heard a loud snort coming from the borg. One of his nostrils had arched as he held in a deep inhale and his lip was pursed into an exaggerated pout.

“What are you apologizing for?” He scowled as his arms fell back to his sides. “Just pick up the phone and call. Sheesh. Talking like it’s still the dark ages. Rusty old airhorn.”

To Jackie’s surprise, a mirthful chuckle escaped the speakers on either side of the screen. “I’ll try to remember that,” Motherboard remarked as a portal appeared in the air beside them.

“But not more than once a month or I’m blocking your number.”

“Goodbye, Hacker.”

“How are you feeling, baby?” Aaliyah asked as Jackie rubbed the sleep from her eyes. 

It had been a month and half since they returned to Earth from the Hal 9000 incident. After a visit to the doctor’s, she was found to have fractured two of her ribs. She was still recovering, but the pain had ebbed to a considerable degree and now could only be felt when she took full breaths. 

“Fine, mom.” Jackie stretched in place on the couch before pulling her blanket up and around her neck. 

“Hacker is visiting later. He says he has something to show you.” 

“Yeah?”

The borg was settling in on Earth nicely and although they didn’t see each other as often as they had in that week, he still came over for dinner when he had the chance. When he wasn’t paying them a visit, he was busy trying to make a name for himself on Earth. In the beauty industry no less. 

When he had first announced the intention Jackie was surprised. If anything she expected him to go into something tech related. It would have been a piece of cake for him to come up with some kind of home supercomputer, Cyberspace’s technology being so much more advanced than Earth’s. Thinking back, maybe it was just another way for him to step away from his preordained purpose. And he did use to sell wig gel back in Cyberspace. 

Aaliyah smiled as she spotted something outside the kitchen window. “Funny, when he said later on the phone, I didn’t think he meant in the next five minutes.” 

Jackie followed her gaze and brightened when she noticed the borg coming up the drive with a metallic cylinder in his arms. She sat up, folded her blanket, and set it neatly across the arm of the couch as her mother went for the door. 

“Aaliyah. How’s the unyielding urchin managing today?”

“Still a little sore, but the doctor says not much longer,” said her mother, going in for the hug. The borg was surprised, and, if his expression was any indication, pleased. “How’s your mom?”

“The question of the hour.” He let out a sigh Jackie recognized as exercising composure. “She called this morning. It’s only been 4 weeks since the last time. She’s trying to suffocate me.” There was a lighter tone to his voice and he ended the dialogue with a slight curl from the side of his lip. 

“What did she say?” Jackie asked, smiling back.

“She wants to play chess again. She’s won every time so far. Of course she has, I helped write her grandmaster’s algorithm.”

“You’re gonna let some crummy old algorithm stop you? 

“Of course not. Naturally my eventual success is inevitable, once I calculate a strategy to stump the syntax.”

The teen rolled her eyes. “What were you going to show me?”

He held out the metallic cylinder wedged between his hip and elbow. There wasn’t any kind of label on the outside, but when Jackie twisted the cap off, she realized what the borg had handed her. 

“Prevents split ends. Designed the chemical formula myself,” he said. “Give it a try tonight and report.”

”You got it, captain.” She saluted as she gave the contents a sniff, only to find it smelled strongly of new car. 

“I’m going to have the thing patented and rolling off the presses.”

“I hope the bottle’s biodegradable.”

“It is.”

“And you didn’t use animal testing? And it’s not contributing to toxic run off?”

Hacker’s brow quirked up. “So when are you planning to start living under that rock you’ve been staring at?”

“There are ways of being eco-friendly and capitalistic,” she pointed out, ignoring his jab.

“If you write a book I’d consider buying it… on sale.”

“Ha, ha, ha.” 

Despite her sarcastic tone, she couldn’t help but flash a genuine smile. For the first time in years there was peace between Motherboard and Hacker. The future looked bright, all things considered. For both of them. And the citizens of Cyberspace and Earth alike. Not perfect, but at the very least, hopeful.

Hacker rolled up his sleeve to glance at the time on his watch. “Almost dinner time. I’ve been working on my recipe for Salmon en Papillote. A real French cordon bleu.”

Jackie hung her head. Maybe she had spoken too soon.