NationStates Jolt Archive

Interior: La Rivière Rouge Restaurant, 9:53PM.

Amongst over 100 loud patrons shouting things in French and English, two figures can be seen in the corner, receeded from the rest of the commotion.

"So...do we have a deal, Mr. Berardinelli?"

Stuffing his face with steak, the other man replies, "Yehs. I cahn hep ya fin him... ...but... I wahnt yah tah gihv meh some... A-hent bodyhuards...", finishing swallowing, "if that's not too much of a problem."

"Sure. No problem at all. Just as long as you can deliver Neo to us, you can have as many Agents as you could possibly want."

"Oh and can I have some Sentinals too?"

"We'll see, we'll see... depending on your performance..."

"Oh believe me, this will get them good... Mr...?"

"Smith... just... Smith."

"Ok, ...Smith... well I trust we'll meet again soon..."

The man gets up and walks toward the front of the restaurant. A pay phone is in view, and he walks towards it, picking it up, and disappearing into nothing.

Meanwhile, back at the table...

"Oh yes Mr. Berardinelli, you can trust we'll meet again..."

The dark-sunglassed figure then proceeds to walk up, view his surroundings, and assimilate everyone in the restaurant...

Im not wanting dirty work done all im saying is how can i trust you. like serph says in reloded you do not truly know some body untill you fight them.

i think i can trust you!!
my name is Clip the 2 garudian of the orical.
in less than 2 weeks a masseve army of sentnals will breatch the walls of Zion the walls will fall and all hell will break loose.thiswill be the 6th time Zion will fall but the orical bleavesso mutch in Neo she belives that he will break the cicle of death.but just in case she sent a backup plan.......ME.
Some body has betrayed you he is going to screw Neo over to the matrix but the person was talking to smith but smithis dead? Can somebody explane to me....Morphies start talking.

I'm afraid there has been a comunications failure... Well actually I've been on holiday for the last two weeks so sorry to anyone who's tried to contact me. I tried to leave a message before I left but to no avail. But I'm back now, so I'ts time to unplug people...

Smiths 2 and 3 drew their Desert Eagle's and aimed for Neo, now inside the building. Jin cleared leather and drew a bead on Smith 2's head. And Kyle stood up.

***
Kyle rose, the images of his life flickering past his open eyes. He did not understand what they were doing to him. What was happening to him. The world felt unreal, planned, untrue. A lie. He reached his left hand out to the wall and felt a ripple pass through the code. He willed it to himself. Green light washed over the wall...

...and issued a stream of light into his open hand as the wall began crumbling, all dust, broken plaster, and liquid light...

...and he turned the stream into the back of Smith 2...

(OOC: I'm sorry this has been so badly delayed, but here it goes...)

Immediately all the other Smiths turned to Kyle, Staring in confusion at a process they had never seen before. Jin; similarly confused, held her aim; she didn't want to interupt this. Neo watched passively, with a slight smile on his face. It was certain that this man was the presence he had felt- and what a presence. Even he had never done anything quite like this.

The only one who didn't turn was Smith 2. Held there he began to shake, and stared dead ahead. Then, suddenly, he turned his head to Neo, almost as if to confide in him. He managed only a few words;

"This is...impossible...Again?"

Then, suddenly, he exploded- sending pieces of himself flying, screaming, through the air. Kyle smiled for a second: he had reclaimed what it tried to take. Then, exhausted, he slumped to the ground, unconcious.

The remaining Smiths turned to each other calmly.

"Well then,"

"It is all the more necessary"

"that he is assimilated"

"immediately."

Then another voice came from behind them.

"Excuse me fella's, what about the othe anomyly?"

"Oh yes,"

"Mr Anderson."

There was a moment of silence, and then the first Smith spoke again.

"More."

"Dodge this."

The Smith flew back, leaving a red mist at head height. Jin had given up waiting. Neo smiled again. Then the smile left his face. He turned suddenly away, then back to Jin.

"Get out of here, now."

He ran towards Kyle but a torrent of Smiths ran between them.

"Not again..."

Neo smiled again. Then the smile left his face. He turned suddenly away, then back to Jin.

"Get out of here, now."

He ran towards Kyle but a torrent of Smiths ran between them.

"Not again..."


Neo didn't have time to see what Jin was doing, or engage in the usual pleasantries that his apparant 'connection' with Smith normally involved. The Smiths, too, were preoccupied, running towards Kyle. With their backs towards Neo, they were easy targets, and he flung them effortlessly out of the way. He eventually reached Kyle, as the swarm sealed a closed ring around them.

The warehouse doors locked tight.

"Mr Anderson, you can see we are not entirely unprepared."

They noticed Neo's rapid glances around the building.

"Yes, for a warehouse, this place is"

"remarkable devoid of any potential weaponry"

"or exits."

"You may be able to fly through the roof"

"but you can't take him with you."

"Afterall, he is still"

"only human."

Neo stared back at them.

"So am I."

"Perhaps,"

"perhaps not."

"But I know for certain"

"that you wont both leave this room."

Neo looked at the distant sealed shutters, and the already sealed hole that he had made to enter the building in the first place.

"Now that's where you're wrong. We will both leave, but not before you do."

"Me, Mr Anderson?"

"No, him."

Neo grabbed the Smith closest to him, and hurled him across the room, shattering the makeshift seal.

"Hey look, I made that hole twice."

He took hold of Kyle, and plunged his fist ito the ground, sending ripples outward that toppled the closest Smiths as they rushed toward him. Then he flew forward, a foot above the Smiths head, creating a gust of wind that took a line of them off their feet.

The Smiths got up, dusted themselves off and began to click their necks as Neo's distant silhouette got still more distant.

Then, one by one, they began to walk away.

I have a feeling that nothing else is going to happen on this thread, but if anything does I will respond... there is a ship waiting for any transmissions.

So I'm in some sort of a Matrix, huh? And now that I know, I'm a more-than obvious threat to a superior intelligence keeping me in a tank harvesting my body energy- so why doesn't the computer just send an electric shock to my brain right now and kill me? Why is the computer doing this? To harvest my body energy! That would be stupid, for obvious reasons.

damn, this has got to be the longest running thread

It started when I was like 50 million

The Smiths got up, dusted themselves off and began to click their necks as Neo's distant silhouette got still more distant.

Then, one by one, they began to walk away.

Quite unexpectedly, the black sedan pulled away from the caravan. Heading in the last direction Cole wanted it to.

He had his cellphone out in a minute. "Come on, come on..." A moment later he disconnected and punched 0. "Cam, I can't raise Daed. See if you can get him. They've got company coming..."

***

Jin, of course, was hurtling down whole flights of stairs at a time.

As far as she knew none of the Agents were following her, which was strange, but she would not let that give her a sense of ease. If anything it spurred her on. I have a bad feeling about this...

She hit street level at a dead run and pulled out her cell. "Cam I need an exi..."

The black sedan came to a screeching halt, and Agents began spilling out.

***

Neo set down on a roof-top, far from any harm. He lay Kyle down softly on his back before pulling out his phone. "Link, I need the nearest exit."

"27th Ave and Brownstone...looks like an Apartment building."

"Great..."

"Neo! Hold on. Morpheus had me hard-wire him near that warehouse you were at. It looks like a bunch of Agents just showed up. Its a h*ll of a mess."

Neo cursed.

***

Jin's cellphone shattered on the asphault even as she opened fire with her 9mm. She cartwheeled away from the blaze of bullets...

...as Morpheus stepped from behind the warehouse, gun drawn.

***

A mile away Daedalus listened to his cellphone and floored the gas of their "borrowed" car.

(OOC: Sorry this has taken so long to arrive. I know I say that a lot but I've been away (again))

Jin's cellphone shattered on the asphault even as she opened fire with her 9mm. She cartwheeled away from the blaze of bullets...

...as Morpheus stepped from behind the warehouse, gun drawn.

***

A mile away Daedalus listened to his cellphone and floored the gas of their "borrowed" car.


She had heard a lot about Morpheus, everyone had- not all good by any means, but there were few quite as famous as him. As far as the machines went, he was cosidered by many to be the most dangerous man alive. As far as the people of Zion went, he was considered by many to be insane. Earlier that day, her captain had commented on the Nebuchadnezzar's recent S and R success rates, perhaps sceptically.

Even now, when she had seen The One himself, she was still momentarily stunned by this figure. That is not to say she didn't have her doubts about him, who didn't, but if Neo wasn't here then there were few other people with such a reassuring habit (at least in the probably exaggerated stories that circulated around Zion) of surviving in impossible situations. There were even rumours that he had defeated an agent in single combat, on the top of a speeding lorry (though Jin was sure that the lorry part at least was a fabrication).

Now, of course, she simply ran for cover. Morpheus opened fire, spreying the vehical with rounds from his custom repeating pistol. The shots wouldn't kill the agents, but if the sedan exploded, then so would they. I t was a long shot, and when Morpheus stopped to reload, the agents continued to advance. Jin called to him:

"Are there any others?"

"Are these not enough?"

Jin fired a few shots, slowing the agents as the dodged them. Jin continued,

"The ledgendary Morpheus. We meet at last."

"You sound cynical."

Having reloaded, Morpheus opened fire again. Jin replied,

"Well, you don't seem to be having any more luck than me."

"Perhaps that is because you are exceptionally talented. Or perhaps that is because we are both faced with three agents."

Shots chipped the wall morpheus was taking shelter behind. To Jin, the phone booth she was behind seemed extremely flimsy against the hail of desert eagle rounds.

"Any ideas? How about Neo?"

"I take it that your faith in me has already run dry."

"I've seen a lot today, but blind faith requires a little more."

"Indeed. You have little reason to have faith in me. But you should have more faith in your captain."

At that point Daedalus sped around the corner, taking the occupied Agents by surprise. Two of them tumbled over the bonnet, and the third narrowly leapt out of the way, losing his weapon. Daedalus wound down his window,

"Get in."

Jin was surprised to see Morpheus respectfully getting into the back of the car, allowing Jin the possition in the front. She had always pictured him as being more self-important. Perhaps he had been, but his situation had changed somewhat lately. She had no time to argue though, as the sped off rapidly, as the agent found his handgun and fired a few last shots at the car. A few moments later, the recently killed agents emerged from the nearby buildings. The survivor turned to them;

"They're not out yet."

A voice came from behind them;

"But I have a feeling that they will be."

"It is him."

"The anomaly."

"Do we proceed?"

"Yes."

"He is still"

"only human."

As Neo dealt with the Agents, and the car drove to safety, Kyle found himself on the top of a very large building, looking at a woman wearing black.

"What the hell?"

"My name is Trinity. We need to get you out of here."

OOC: *Munches popcorn*

I like popcorn.

As Neo dealt with the Agents, and the car drove to safety, Kyle found himself on the top of a very large building, looking at a woman wearing black.

"What the hell?"

"My name is Trinity. We need to get you out of here."
(OOC - hey pass some of the popcorn, this is getting good...btw I was on vacation all last week, hence the delay. Virginia Beach baby, just made it out in time too - they evacuated like 3 day after we left...)

Cole eased off the gas and watched as the Ambulance came to a screeching halt.

A block ahead a long, black sedan had blocked the road, a number of black-clad men with automatic rifles bearing down on the emergency vehicle. The leader shouted instructions to the driver who, along with the other EMT, got out of the ambulance and lay face down on the ground. As Cole brought his car to a stop, the back doors opened, and the Agent stepped out...

***

Doing his best to keep up, Kyle followed Trinity down the stairwell of the building. As best as he could tell the structure was occupied, possibly an office building, but the woman in front of him had no time for exploration. The few personnel they passed were mostly janitorial staff, and were most eager to avoid the armed, if beautiful, Trinity. Kyle had to laugh to himself.

"So where are we..." he started to ask.

"Out."

Kyle took the hint and shut his mouth.

***

...and stepped right into a stream of 5.56 mm bullets.

The Agent did surprisingly well. It never ceased to amaze Cole how quickly the programs could move. While he had heard a number of people claim that humans, devoid of the rules than governed the sentient programs, could move faster than them, he had never seen it. It just didn't seem possible.

But just because they could not move faster than Agents, did not mean they could not outsmart them. Even as some of the black-clad men moved towards the ambulance, dodging the Agents return fire, a group of similarly dressed men stepped from a nearby building, catching the program in a stream of painful cross-fire. Cole recognized the technique - and grabbed for his cellphone.

"Daed, I think I found the Empyrion crew."

***

Where the h*ll is that ringing coming from?

David Breer had worked at DeLalio & Phelps for almost three years now. It had struck him as odd, at first, why a law firm would need security. Until he discovered the nature of their clientele. D&P was one of the City's leading defence firms, and had a tendancy to take on the only the most violent, even grotesque, cases. Everything from serial killers to rapists and ritualistic murder. It was sickening. Breer couldn't decide though, what was worse - the clientele or the sign over DeLalio's office that read "Innocent Until Proven Guilty".

He had been making his rounds when he heard a phone ringing. Nothing new here, of coure, only it seemed to be one of those old phones than actually had a bell. And it didn't stop. That was what caught his attention. Wondering through the halls he came to a storage closet where the offensive ringing seemed loudest. Pulling out his ring of keys he opened the door.

Inside was a motley assortment of brooms and other cleaning supplies. On a small table set an old, pasty-green phone, and a stack of girlie magazines. He tried not to connect the dots in his head and reached for the phone.

He never heard her come up behind him. Never felt the hand that disarmed him. But he definitely felt the pistol whip that relieved him of consciousness.

Trinity picked up the phone. "You first."

***

"Understood Cole. Stay back and let me know what happens. Its sounds like they have everything under control."

Daedalus disconnected, then pressed 0.

"Cam, see if you can raise the Empyrion."

***

Two minutes later, it was all over.

Green light flashed as the Agent went down, and two men jumped into the Ambulance and sped off. Moments later the black sedan followed it. Cole did not stick around to ask questions, and headed for the nearest exit.

Two minutes later, it was all over.

Green light flashed as the Agent went down, and two men jumped into the Ambulance and sped off. Moments later the black sedan followed it. Cole did not stick around to ask questions, and headed for the nearest exit.

(OOC: "Welcome back Mr Tol Sarin. We missed you." Hope the holiday was fun!)

Kyle found himself in his familiar chair on the Aretimis, staring at the operating screens from a distance. You know, they were right. You really didn't see the code after a while. And yet now, in the Matrix, he was beginning to see it, almost literally. The metal inside his head had him programmed to respond to the code, it was physically built into him, and now that he understood it, the system was no longer one way. Not only did his feelings responded to the code, but the code responded to his feelings, and he saw that he could use that. But it was dangerous, and he knew that from experience.

Cam walked over to his chair and began to unplug him, while he greeted him with some unexpected words.

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger. First those freaky agent things, then Neo turns up, and starts doing stuff I've never seen, and then what the hell did you do? I'm beggining to think the reciever's broken or something. And then, out of the blue (or grey), a request from another ship to board! Anyway, we've got visitors."

"Who?"

A familier voice came from over Kyle's shoulder.

"Hello Kyle."

Kyle turned to see a face that was rarely seen without sunglasses.

"Neo?"

"We need to talk."

The two of them went to Kyle's cabin, all the way Kyle babbling excitedly about the possibilities of his new powers, especially in conjunction with Neo's.

"I mean, what's it like? I just tried to do something, and it happenned, but can you really do anything? Or is it like, I'm just going to spend the day learning how to fly, or today I found out how I could stand on walls or what?"

"It's like this. Have you ever had a dream, and realised it was a dream?"

Kyle nodded, expectantly. Neo continued.

"It's a strange feeling. You feel trapped. Sometimes you want to wake up. Other times something different happens, and you realise that everything that's happening is in your head, and is due to your thoughts, thoughts that you must be able to control. So you do. You think, why don't I just fly away? And you speed upwards. And there are things that try to stop you, but they can't, because you can do anything. Because it's your dream."

There was an air of sadness in Neo's voice that convinced Kyle that this was in no way as good as it sounded.

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is it's not your dream. It's theirs. They told you to have it. You didn't realise you were dreaming, you simply had a dream, the predetermined story of which was that you would realise it was a dream, and become powerful as a result."

"You mean they did this on purpose?"

"Yes."

Kyle didn't understand. Why would the machines possibly want to make one of their adversaries as powerful as Neo? Why would they try and Kill him if they did want him to be so powerful? Machines opperating soley on logic couldn't possibly be doing it for a challenge. None of it made sense to him.

"How do you know all of this?"

"How do you know that you are dreaming? And how come every time you realise you were dreaming and decide to affect it's outcome you are always challenged? Because otherwise the dream has no point. The dream creates it's hero, and give him an enemy. Because It's all predetermined."

"But we know the machines point, they need us for power."

"Roughly one in a hundred people don't accept the Matrix. What happens to them? If they are allowed to continue, unchecked, then the whole system crashes. And they lose their crop. They need us out here, just as they need those people in there. Having people like me simply guarantees getting a lot more disbelievers out of their system, and that makes the process more efficient."

"But what about Zion?"

"They plan to destroy Zion. It's just a matter of time, unless we can stop them."

"Stop them? You make it sound like we're helping them."

"Why do you think they try to kill us? If we are getting people out of the system then we're helping them, but once we're out, we are dangerous."

"Really?"

Kyle sounded unsure. Neo looked very sure. Although his expression implied that being dangerous to the machines was a bad thing, something that suprised Kyle.

"What makes us so dangerous?"

"Choice."

There was a pause.

"Because of my choice,"

Continued Neo, mournfully,

"Everyone will die, and most of the machines will too. If we cannot save Zion, and the machines destroy it, and we cannot unplug everyone from the Matrix, then it's all over."

"What do you mean?"

"The Matrix will crash. Everyone plugged in will die. Zion has become so large that it constitutes a threat to them, and they will destroy it. Without a new Zion to take the disbelievers, the Matrix will suffer a catastrophic system failure, killing everyone still plugged in. There will be none of us left."

Cam burst into the room.

"We got trouble. I think you guys should see this."

((Wow, you've certainly progressed well as a roleplayer. Congratulations.))

Thanks Cyberutopia! I'm glad to see someone still reads this!

(OOC - absolutely fun. Glad to be back here though. Missed you all too.)


Cam burst into the room.

"We got trouble. I think you guys should see this."

A room. A rather dark room. With a few chairs and little else. One light bulb, dangling from a cracked plaster ceiling.

A room, by the way, in the Matrix.

Three people having a conversation.

A man with Grecian features. "So your crew was conducting an S&R? Have you freed the target?"

A woman with short, shimmering white hair. "No. We want to make sure she hasn't been tampered with."

A dark skinned man with a quiet, yet burning, intensity. "What kind of tampering?"

"The machines have have been up to something strange. We first noticed it on a recent rescue."

"You're talking about Falen."

"Yes. It wasn't just an issue of being unable to adapt to the Real World. His mind had been...reprogrammed."

The dark man leaned forward. "How did his Alpha patterns read?"

"Perfectly normal," the woman replied. "That was the strange part. But somehow his mind had undergone some kind of radical change."

"Brainwashing?" the Grecian man rubbed his chin, distractedly.

"I don't think so. We could have detected that." She shook her head. "They're up to something, and I am not sure what."

The dark man leaned back in his chair. "There is no underestimating the corruption of the machines. They will stop at nothing to destroy us."

Silence.

Broken by a cellphone.

***

A room. A well-lit room. Backed by a large window looking out on a cityscape.

A room with three identical men.

"Have they disconnected the target?"

"No. They suspect something is wrong."

"We must perfect the process soon. It may be..."

"...our only way of stopping..."

"...the One..."

still?!?!?!STILL?!?!?! sweet jesus tapdancing christ in heaven!

((Argh! I just found this thread! Damn... I suppose that my people are the last men you would want freed from the Matrix, considering that several of them would be informers, or plants, and almost certainly would become agents given a choice.))

still?!?!?!STILL?!?!?! sweet jesus tapdancing christ in heaven!

The resitance will fight to the last man. As long as there is a breath in his body, he will never give up.

((Argh! I just found this thread! Damn... I suppose that my people are the last men you would want freed from the Matrix, considering that several of them would be informers, or plants, and almost certainly would become agents given a choice.))

Noone is given a choice whether they become, or more accuarately are used by, Agents. But in disconnecting from the Matrix you are freed from this possibility and retain autonomy. Even in the people of your nation are morally questionable, it is the desire of all in Zion to free all humans from the tyrrany of the machines. As long as the Matrix exists, our people will never be truly free. Please consider this.

- Jin

You would merely free us to another Matrix. I'll stay in this one.

The real world is not a matrix. I understand that it is hard to trust us, but remebmer: everyone in Zion is there because they do not accept the program. If they did not accept one matrix, why would they accept another?

-Neo

OOC - I would just like to say that Revolutions abosolutely sucked. I was always afraid they could never reproduct the magic of the first film. I was right. However...maybe Neb and I could come up with a (better) alternate ending? :-)

BTW Neb...what is this "trouble" you alluded too? The digging machines?