Title: Matrix: Redemption And Ascension.
Author: Erin D. Lindsey
Fandom: The Matrix
Rating: R (just like the films) for violence, language, and some sexuality.
Spoilers: All three films, the Animatrix, Enter the Matrix.
Summary: Post Revolutions, about seventeen years later. When a maniac and his band of followers threaten both the Matrix and Zion, a new heroine must come to terms with her heritage and her destiny.

DISCLAIMER: I didn't create the Matrix, the characters in the Matrix films, the Animatrix, the comic books, the video games, or any of the other countless "official" Matrix tie-ins put forth by the Wachowski Brothers or the Warner Brothers. But this unofficial fanfiction story and some of the characters in it are the creations of my own fevered brain. Enjoy!

MATRIX: Redemption

By Erin D. Lindsey

PROLOGUE: Typhon Hangs Up.

Captain Greg Lyle of the Lamassu was burning the midnight oil. He ran his fingers through his short-cropped blonde hair and sipped his coffee from a tin cup as he stared at the code on the screen in front of him. The only person jacked in now was Cassiopeia. Everyone else was either taking it easy or occupied elsewhere on the ship; Their regular operator Jax was taking some much-needed R&R, and Lyle had more than enough experience as an Operator under his belt to take over for awhile.

The object of Cassie's current observation was perplexing, to say the least. For the past few weeks they'd been tracking the activities of a sixteen-year-old hacker who went by the alias "Seven." The story on her seemed pretty simple and straightforward, at first. An orphan, she'd been bounced around "the system" all her life. Her primary agenda in cyberspace seemed to be a quest for her true identity, namely the search for any information regarding her true parents and their fate.

There was a birth certificate, but the hospital had no other record of her birth, nor was there anything about a mother who cut and run after giving birth to her. For all intents and purposes, it was as if Seven had simply sprung into being that morning at the hospital, seventeen years ago.

Captain Lyle knew that it was quite common for people to anonymously give up their children for adoption, especially girls Seven's own age who had gotten themselves "in trouble." And more often than not, such infants were also abandoned. The only thing that Seven (and those who were watching her) had to go on was the name on her birth certificate: Jane A. Anderson. The hypothesis was that the "Jane" was derived from "Jane Doe" and that she'd been abandoned. But where had they gotten the "A. Anderson from?

Captain Lyle was one of the few who knew, and the knowledge had left him deeply unsettled, to say the least. Yet despite the lack of information in the sources that she'd managed to hack, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before she managed to discover a clue, or otherwise make an intuitive leap of logic that would lead her in the right direction. This was an eventuality that Captain Lyle knew he could ill afford if his plans were to be set into motion.

Of course, he and everyone else who knew the truth about the Matrix were aware that children were not actually "born" to their prospective parents: after a sexual conjugation that that the Custodial machines deemed suitable enough to cause conception between any given couple, the fetuses were spawned within the Fields from the genetic material of the mother and father. Seven was no different, except for the fact that she had not been born "attached" to any parents that she had been able to find out about yet. But Seven's lack of progress towards this end was not for lack of trying.

So far, Seven's search had inspired her to hack into the city's official records: documents that probably would have been made available to her anyway when she turned eighteen. But it seemed that she was not content to wait until the City and the State felt that she was ready to know who she actually was and where she came from, and it was apparent that she was more than willing to buck the System to find out who she really was. In short, she was a perfect candidate for enlightenment about the true state of things within the Matrix and the "real world." So was the little group of teen hackers and pranksters that she'd managed to befriend at her local school. But of them all, Seven was deemed the closest to the paradigm shift that heralded the Awakening and subsequent unplugging from the Matrix. It was assumed that once her mind was freed, the others in her peer group would follow her example.

Cassiopeia in particular was enthusiastic about Seven's prospects for awakening. Lyle grimaced; Cassie was an excellent operative, very brave and very good at her job. But like many of the others, she was quite naive. Like most of the denizens of Zion, (brainwashed as they still were by Morpheus and the Kid's tired rhetoric) Cassie believed that Neo's pointless sacrifice seventeen years ago (and the truce with the Machines that followed) had been good and necessary. And like a few others aboard the Lamassu, she was totally out of the loop. In any case, it was highly unlikely that Cassie would have approved of his plans for Seven, for Zion, and for the Matrix itself had she known about them.

Yes, it was true that the Machines were now allowing anyone who wanted to be unplugged from the Matrix to leave. But in Captain Lyle's mind, the Machines were still a threat so long as they existed. No truce was ever going to change that. It was just the nature of the Beast. And the fact remained that the humans plugged into the Matrix were still the Machines' primary power source.

"I'm telling you, Seven's more than ready," Cassie gushed when she reported back in, breaking his train of thought. "We could have this girl unplugged within the week! I'm going to try to make contact with her, and see if I can set up a meeting with the Oracle."

Lyle could only smirk at Cassie's earnest exuberance. Apparently she still hadn't made the connection yet: the fact that The One and their current target had the same last name and middle initial.

Poor Cassie. You were a great little spy, but not too bright. I'm going to miss you.

"Excellent, Cassie," Captain Lyle answered. His console was right next to the chair where she was jacked in; it was too easy, really. Lyle reached down and put his hand on the plug in the back of her neck. "I'll tell your daughter that you fought bravely against the Agents," he said.

"Agents? What the hell are you talking about? I don't see any-"

That was as far as Cassiopeia got before Captain Lyle pulled the plug, and her lifeline went flat.

If that kid finds out who she really is, it will be very, very bad for us, and very bad for Zion, thought Captain Lyle - or i Typhon, /i as his like-minded confederates called him - as he released the jack, letting it fall to hang slackly at the end of its cable. Those on the ship like Cassie who weren't 100 devoted to the Cause would also be taken care of, one way or another.

As would Seven, if Typhon had his way.

No more deals, he silently swore to himself, as his handsome face twisted into a sneer. No more placating the Machines. Neo's "peace" dies tonight.