Living Dead Girl

Raven's temperament had done a 180. Ever since he was unplugged, Raven was a much happier person. He smiled endlessly. Even knowing that they were at war didn't seem to dampen his mood. At least now his life had a reason. Raven was a warrior, a freedom fighter. All his knowledge, all his skills would help the rest of his crewmate's battle for the freedom of humanity. He was even recruited by The One.

One of his first undertakes was to find three more able minds to finish out the new crew. Immediately he thought of Elizabeth. 'Those numbers she mumbled had to have something to do with all of this. They were hexadecimal numbers. Like an address. But an address to what? Every plugged human is a connection... IP addresses.'

"Hey there Slugger... what's cooking upstairs?" Tank smiled at the figure leaning against the doorway of the galley.

"Just stuff... hexadecimal numbering, actually."

"Interesting, you're always thinking numbers." He continued to smile as he sat at the table to eat. "Not that it's a bad thing. Those last two training programs you wrote are killer. Even Morpheus broke a sweat."

"Sometimes, I think the only difference between me and a computer is my emotions. They are what make us human, you know? The fact that we can feel, so when you think about it... the A.I.'s aren't really alive... they think, but they don't feel. They are animated and perform the tasks necessary to go about their daily routes need for survival. But that's not what it is to be alive... being alive is like..."

"Always the deep thinker" Morpheus said with a smile. "It's only one of your many talents."

"Well, I dug too deep this time. I've confused the hell out of myself." Raven flashed a crooked grin. "Is Neo ready for round two yet?"

"You've written round two already?" Trinity walked up behind Raven.

"Yeah, finished about ten minutes ago... I thought you were napping with Neo?"

"I woke up." She grinned and walked past him into the galley.

"I can see that. Ask a stupid question..."

"...get a stupid answer." Trinity smiled.

"I even wrote a nice little date simulation for you and your beloved... anniversary gift. Back in the Matrix I would have just given you two a card, but you guys mean a lot more to me then a card could ever express." Raven fiddled with a metal bracelet on his left wrist he had made out of strap pieces of wire. "...you're both more then just crewmates. You too Tank. Morpheus, you're the father I never had. I just..."

"You don't have to say anything, Raven, we know." Morpheus smiled and patted Raven on the back. "Now, let's get some meat on those bones of yours."

Raven looked at the bowl of food Morpheus headed him.

"This stuff was like Cream of Wheat... I hated Cream of Wheat." Raven sat down next to Tank. "I can't even comfort myself with the knowledge that it wasn't real. It was still one of the nastiest things I ever thought I ate."

"Well, if it was actually like this stuff... I feel your pain, bro." Tank replied.

"Yeah... but at least then I didn't have to eat it every day." He shrugged his shoulders. "Not that I'm complaining. I'd rather eat this bland crap then suffer one more day in that nightmare that was my life."

Neo stepped into the galley tiredly wiping the sleep from his eyes. "My stomach woke me up." He staggered over to the table and sat next to Trinity, then gently placed a kiss on her forehead.

Raven watched the two lovers. He was happy for them. In all this time of craziness, they had each other. They kept each other sane. Trinity and Neo were the first two real friends he ever had. But he longed for someone to love as Neo did Trinity.

"Hey there stargazer... we asked you about your choice of hair style." Trinity smiled at Raven who was snapped back into reality.

"Oh... it's my little attempt at a Mohawk."

Raven haired had grown in a lot faster then anyone else's has to date. He would shove the sides of his head, and leave about an inch to two inches of hair on the top of his head.

"It's definitely interesting. But how do you keep it spiked up like that?" Tank asked. Hair gel was a thing of the past for the rebels.

"The same stuff we use to lubricate the gears with." He grinned. "It works just as well as hair gel did in the Matrix. Besides... Neo took the peach fuzz look already."