A Walk Among the Tombstones

It had been ten years since the Matrix had been rebooted. In those ten years, he'd changed a lot, going from "red pilled teenager" to "red pill who was a crew member of the Amaterasu." In those ten years, Zion had changed somewhat, in as much that it had to deal with a damaged infrastructure, and a damaged populace that lived in fear that the machines would return to finish the job. In those ten years, those close to him had changed. Morpheus, Niobe, Link…he'd never been all that close to them before, but now, they were the only connections he had left. Neo was gone. Trinity was gone. And while he'd never felt particularly close to his friends or family, there was no way they'd remember him now. No-one would remember the point where their digital world had come apart at the seams, when their RSI was overridden by a rogue program. No-one in this dream world would remember him at all.

And yet he was here. In the graveyard where he was 'buried.' Of all the things that had changed over the past decade, the Matrix wasn't one of them. It was still based on late 20th century Earth, down from its culture to its geography. Here, at Raven's View Park, he was standing in an almost exact replica of what had been here in the previous version of this simulation. The birds sang. The flowers bloomed. And the footsteps of a 26 year old man made soft impacts on the grass, as he walked among the tombstones. A digital man walking above digital bodies of people that had never even really been alive, bar a few exceptions. No-one in this world knew how 'new' their world was. That its designers were quite happy to make the illusion so convincing that the 'dead' might be found in its soil. That many people in the world had memories of individuals that had never really existed.

There was no longer any tombstone for him. No "Michael Karl Popper, Beloved Son." If there was a Karl Popper in this world, it wasn't him. Many children in the world, but only one named "Kid."

"Mister Popper."

He stood in place, trying to keep the surge of fear in check. So when he turned to face the agent, one pair of eyes behind a pair of sunglasses looking at another pair behind even darker sunglasses (the sun was out, so they at least had an excuse), he hoped that the program wouldn't notice. Hoped that in this strange new world, the edicts of the truce would remain. Otherwise, chances were he'd be very dead, very quickly.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"To ask you the same thing."

He didn't say anything. The agent was a full head taller than him, and significantly wider as well. But in this dream world, that meant little. The agent was faster, stronger, and out here in the open, fight or flight were equally poor options.

"Why are you here, Mister Popper?" he asked.

"You know why I'm here."

"You're allowed access to the Matrix to facilitate the unplugging of any human who wishes to leave its system." The agent smirked, nodding towards one of the tomb stones. "The dead aren't plugged into that system."

He folded his arms. The fear was still there, but damn it, he wasn't going to let that show. Just because they weren't trying to kill each other, it didn't mean he had to like these bastards.

"Dead can't see either. So whatever magic we pull, there's no way they're waking up."

"Perhaps." The agent reached into his blazer pocket, and for a moment, he was afraid that it was a gun. Instead, it was an envelope with a name and address on it.

Paul Sohiro

2/27 Wesley Street, Eastbrook

Capital City

"Your redpill," the agent said. "Provided that he takes it of course."

"You're hoping he doesn't?"

"Hope is a human concept. I can only state that one more human in a pod would be beneficial to my creators."

"Of course you would."

He put the envelope inside his own pocket and watched as the agent walked away. He knew he should leave it at that. Should just get on with the task at hand. Captain Mason wouldn't want him lingering any longer than necessary. But-

"Why are you here?" he asked.

The agent stopped in his tracks. Slowly, and with far more effort that was required, the program came to face the redpill that had interrupted his departure.

"What?" the agent asked.

"Why are you here?" he asked again. "Why are you helping me?"

"Are you complaining Mister Popper?"

"Not complaining. Just curious."

"Then you waste both of our times. Choice and curiosity are human concepts." He opened his mouth, but the agent kept talking. "I am here because it is my purpose to be here. The parameters of the Truce demand it. I facilitate the extraction of those who would leave the Matrix, and safeguard those who would remain. That is my purpose, and so I act."

"…how nice of you."

He could have said more. Could have discussed more. Still, discussion had to be facilitated on trust and respect, and he could tell that the agent had neither for him, any more than he did for anyone else who entered the Matrix, let alone those who resided within it. He wasn't those who had come before him. He was just "Kid." Twenty-six years old, part of a hovercraft crew, and on track to getting his own command, but still, "Kid" all the same. Over half of the people they liberated from the Matrix had names that they kept in the real world because that was 'the thing,' and had been for nearly a hundred years.

So "Kid" was his name. "Kid," and not Michael Karl Popper. Not the dead name of a dead boy from a dead program, none of which he'd find here. And yet he'd come. By choice. A choice that he couldn't understand. He pulled out his phone.

"Operator."

"It's Kid."

He doubted the others on the ship would understand the choices he'd made either. But they at least had purpose.

"Kid, what the hell-"

"Got the name and address of our hacker. Might speed up things for everyone."

And he could follow it.

A/N

The idea for this came to me after watching The Animatrix (finally got round to it), specifically the Kid's Story short. The idea specifically was that of Kid visiting his own grave in the Matrix. That of course couldn't technically happen, since he never jacks into the Matrix in its pre-reboot form, so I doubt that any recreation of the Matrix would have his actual tombstone there. Still, this was the next best thing. And before you ask, yes, I both borrowed elements from The Matrix Online while also playing a bit loose with the canon. Then again, like any computer system, some rules can be bent. Others can be broken. :P