The world is a lie. I already know that.
I think about a lot of things in my dark, metallic world in which I live. The room of metal rattles again. The hovercraft must be hitting some turbulence in the sewerways. I think about many things indeed, such as Zion, my family, my mission and the Matrix. Especially the Matrix and what I can do in there.
My name is Brian Tarashima and I am a child of Zion. Yep, your good old-fashioned, home growned child of Zion with no armports, just a surgically-implanted input-output port in the back of my head so I can enter into the digital world that our enemies have constructed for us.
Why are we doing this? I wondered that question for the hundredth time of my life. We are working hard- and dying to bring a few thousand human farms into a world they don't want to go. A world that is about to wink out forever.

I got off my bed and landed on the cold, hard, metal floor. Time for the morning search with Puma.
***
"I've been thinking," Puma said to me as we walked down the sidewalk, through the throngs of people, both of our black trenchcoats billowing about us.
"About what?" I asked, looking through my dark sunglasses at the city, filled with people, all of it a lie generated by the Matrix.
"You know he could be anywhere, eh?" he said. "Looking through the Matrix day and night is probably not going to help. I mean, there's millions, maybe billions in here. It's-"
My phone rang, cutting his off. I reached into my coat and brought it out.
"Hunter here," I said.
"Brian? We may have found him!" the voice of Daggert rang back.
"You mean it?" I asked, in shock. "Where are yo- sorry. It's a habit." I knew fully well that the agents tap the lines.
"Can't talk now! We have to get out!" the voice came back.
"Agents?" O asked but the phone went dead. I resisted the urge to take out the .38 Browning pistol in my coat.
"Agents?" Puma asked, reaching into his own coat and scanning the crowds of people.
"Agents," I answered, hanging up the phone and opening it again. "Or, at least I think so."
"Operator," Maybell's voice came from the hovercraft.
"We need an exit," I said.
"Maybe you can help out Daggert and James, Hunt," Maybell replied. I gritted my teeth.
"Where are they and how bad?" I asked.
"They are at the old Dannison Warehouse at the waterfront. There's two agents with them and quite a few police," she answered.
"Damn," I muttered. "Okay, I'll call back later."
***
After Morpheus found the One (Neo, who I was very honoured to meet personally a few years back), the Oracle prophecized a Second who would help the One bring the destruction of the Matrix. We found the man, who was coincidentally our leader, Kayson, identified by a strange symbol on his hands which was the Greek symbol for 'beta'. Unfortunately, just before that discovery, the robots had found him and he was erased and plugged back into a power plant. Luckily, the Agents never had a chance to hack into his mind and find the codes for Zion. Puma and I infilterated the power plant and managed to locate his pod. Using the hooks on our ship, the Succubus's Kiss, we took the pod and safely connected it to an apparatus on the ship similar to those in the farms. Now we spend every waking hour searching for him through the Matrix.
***
"Hold on," I said, walking towards a shop labeled 'Hunters Tools and Home Defence'. I came in, a bell on the door jingling, and the large, bald fat man at the counter greeted me. Puma came in behind me, looking at me quizzically.
"What'll it be, folks?" the fat man asked. I looked around at the racks of guns.
"I'll take that, and that, and thoses, and three of those, and that," I said, pointing to various weapons. I turned to Puma, who was smiling with the realization of what I was doing. "What about you?" I asked.
Puma looked at me then at the guns. Slowly, he picked out several weapons. The fat man put them all on the counter then rang in the price. He went under the counter and laid a fat pile of coloured sheets on an empty space of the counter.
"You'll have to fill out these for-" he was cut off as I pulled out my .38 Browning and fired twice. His kneecaps exploded, dropping him instantly and spraying the counter with blood. While he swore and screamed, I took the weapons, loaded them and placed them into my coat. I turned to Puma, who had done the same.
"Let's go,"
I walked purposely out of the shop and towards our car, an unmarked black auto that was quite customized, weapon-wise. Getting in, I waited for Puma, then began to drive off.
"That was a little... brutal," Puma said, slowly.
"So? He has a phone in reach. He'll get help and heal," I replied. I leaned forwards suddenly, as I neared the waterfront, ugly building that was the Dannison Warehouse. Police cars surrounded it. I swore and pulled up into the gravel parking lot. We opened the doors and walked towards the warehouse as three police officers broke off of the pack and came towards us. I tried to avoid the gaze of the Agent, who was speaking with the officers.
"Sirs, this is a police investigation, you have to- HUFF!" he cried as I darted forward, my hand slamming him up into the air as Puma whipped up his arm and emptied his .45 Colt into the Agent's head. I pulled out a .357 Winchester hunting rifle and whirled, firing it. Three of the officers went down in a mist of red.
"Move, Puma, move!" I yelled, running forward as a nearby officer shook, as if having a seizure. Puma leapt straight up as the Agent transfigured into him, twin 9mm Uzis roaring in his hands. I backflipped straight up, to land behind the car, firing the rifle at as much officers as possible. Puma landed.
"Only six of them left," Puma said.
"Hold them off, I'll get into the building," I said, dropping the rifle of pulling out a 12mm Uzi and holding it in both hands. I suddenly felt and iron-grip on my shoulders as I was flung through the car. The screeching of metal upon metal stopped as I landed on the other side in a pile of metal shards and glass. I flipped to my feet and began to empty my clip at the Agent.