Disclaimer

I do not own any characters from the Matrix that are in this story. The rights go to the Wachowski and Warner Bros

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Chapter I

He slowly opened his eyes realizing his whole body ached with the pains from the battle he just fought. Neo slowly sat up groaning as he did so. He looked around to find out where he was and quickly recognized his surroundings.

"Oh, shit. How did I get here again?" He said as he painstakingly walked over to the benches to sit down.

Once again Neo has woken up in the train station joining the Matrix and the machine world. He sat staring at the familiar white walls and the room in which he could never escape without help from the trainman.

He sat for nearly an hour trying to figure out how he had gotten here from the machine city and wondering if the battle with Smith really happened. After seeing that this was all real, he closed his eyes and began to try and concentrate on finding a way out of this plain dismal place. As he attempted tears began to streak his face and his face fell into his hands as he began to sob. After only a few sobs he lifted he began to mumble Trinity's name.

"She is really dead this time. I can't save her. What is the fucking point of being 'the One' if I can't do a single damn thing worth while? I am never going to get out of this shit hole and even if I did there is no point in going." He turned and grabbed a nearby man by him by his shoulders and screamed in his face. "What is the fucking point?" he paused for a second and released the man and backed up. "Holy shit. Seraph, how the hell did you get here?"

"I brought the train. Oracle told me to come."

"How are you both alive?"

"Come, she will explain it all."

Very happy, but very confused Neo got onto the train that he never heard or noticed arrive over his great outcry. "Trinity is dead, and now I wish I was. I did all of this for her, and now it was all a waste." Neo said very calmly staring at the wall.

"I am deeply sorry, I know how much she meant to you. I can assure you though, none of your actions were in vain, much has changed and much still needs to be changed. If you don't mind, please tell me of what happened since our last meeting."

Neo began to explain his trip into the machine city and the fight with Agent Smith. He told about how Bane had blinded him and was also somehow infected by Smith. He also detailed the way he saw the evasion of the city defenses and the fall into the city, followed by Trinity's death, which he paused after. He then told of the pact he made with the Source and the final battle between him and Smith. After finishing he realized how much time had passed and look at Seraph. "How long is this train trip? I don't remember it being this long."

"We are not going to the same station as before this, one is much further, but we are arriving now."

Neo looked out the window noticing the familiar light of the train stations that he had seen so many times. Him and Seraph walked through the crowd of people up to the street level. "My God, they have no idea what has happened to them these past few days do they?" Neo said looking at Seraph. " No, they know nothing, the Source made sure of it so there would not be any unneeded commotion. The problem is not everyone forgot, and that is where we are having the problem."

They walked a couple blocks until coming to an apartment building that Seraph pointed out was the one that the Oracle now lived in. They went in and went to her room where Neo was greeted with the familiar smell of cookies.

"I finished them this time for you Neo." Oracle said from the kitchen where she was putting the cookies onto a plate for him. "Come and sit, I know you have a lot of questions and I will try to answer the ones that I can."

Neo sat and picked up a cookie and looked at it as he started talking slowly shifting his gaze towards the Oracle. "Why am I here, I thought I was destroyed after the fight with Smith? Isn't that what is supposed to happen once I enter the Source?"

The Oracle looked away from him with a look of contemplation as she lifted her finger as to make a point. "That is a very interesting question with a very interesting answer. What seems to have happened, is that with the power the Source sent through your body was strong enough that it imprinted you into a new program file making a copy of you that is actually able to survive in the Matrix, even without your real body being alive. To answer your next question you ended up in the train station because just like last time you felt the source in a way you were not ready for and were sent to the train station, but this time, more like new program entering the Matrix from the machine world."

"Wait, are you trying to tell me that I am a program?" Neo said with a strong air of confusion.

"Yes, that is exactly what I am trying to tell you?

"So I am no longer human? I am now a machine?" Neo said with more rage than confusion now.

"Well, you are more of a human, in machine language. The body is merely a vessel for the true essence of a human, which is the mind. But if you no longer wish to see yourself as human just because you lack a body, then so be it ,but it will be much more comforting to accept that you are still human in ever essence. There is nothing different from you now then before, just where the signal comes from. And with this being said I imagine you are starving."

Neo realized that he was in fact extremely hungry. "I am, but will food even matter, I don't need it?"

"Well, the mind controls whether or not you are hungry, and it is going to react just the same as it always has, so you should eat something. What would you like? How about a sandwich?"

Still absorbing this massive amount of information, Neo said yes very blankly and emotionless. The Oracle made a couple of sandwiches and they sat and ate in a silence that seemed filled with thought. It was finally broken by Neo, when he looked up and asked "Can I still alter things to my wishing?" The Oracle merely pointed in response, to the sign that always seems to be over the door the says " Temet Nosce" meaning "Know thyself".

"Of course, only I can answer that." He said as he looked at his hands, and then his surrounding environment. He then looked at the table with the dirty dishes and looked up at the Oracle, "How about I do the dishes?" Neo then made all the leftover food scraps disappear, then the dishes floated up to their places in the cabinets. As he finished, he looked to his old friend, and they both smiled in amusement and joy.

"You always did use your power for good." Oracle said smiling at him with a sense of wonder. "I would imagine that now that you have entered the source and were altered by him, you can change the Matrix even more than before. I don't know by how much, but I am just saying there may be more to you now than ever."

Neo sat looking quietly at her knowing that it is really pointless to try and continue asking about this subject knowing she would never be able to answer him, only he could do that. As he sat thinking for a few seconds he got up and walked over to the window. Leaning against the wall and looking out at the people still living in the Matrix. "What has happened now that there is a pact between the humans and machines?"

"I was waiting for that question to arise. Many programs have been altered and deleted, so much so, that you could almost say we are now in the fourth version of the Matrix. This one is not so much a method of control but one just here to hold humans in place so that there can be power generated. There are no longer agents to keep people from leaving, but agents to keep the peace, and monitor programs and exiles. From what I have heard these new agents can even delete any program that is acting as it shouldn't, which can be quite scary for many of us exiles." At this Neo looked up at her and interrupted her in confusion and needing clarification.

"By saying "us exiles" do you mean that, you are an exile now?"

"Yes, I am no longer need as a form of control to make sure that the cycle of the one continues, being you have now ended the war. Seraph is too, being without me there is no need for a protector of me. Very few programs did not choose exile, and that leaves a small problem being, there are now many unregulated programs searching for a place to fit in, most have gone to join the Marivingian." She said this name with a tone of disgust, being she despises his very way of living and control.

Neo looked shocked at the sound of the name of a past enemy, and a man he strongly loathed. "He is still here! I am sure up to no good, isn't he?"

"You got that right kid, no good at all. He wants to control the Matrix, become the ruler of all the humans, and destroy the ones who are unplugged. I would not be surprised if he wants his power to spread through the machine world either. Unfortunately, the source can't stop him directly being he is an exile, but that is where you come in."

"I knew there had to be a reason you wanted to talk to me. Why can't it ever be to just reminisce about old times." Neo smiled, giving a sense of humor and that he was feeling better, after absorbing the massive amount of information.

"I know, I'm sorry Neo, but you are the only one capable of stopping him from spreading further. He has become, a kind of mob leader among many exiles, and many humans. Of corse there are many things he wants, and needs to be able to spread as far as he is planning. One of those is you." Neo looked at her in a way seeming displeased at this news but not at all surprised.

"He wants me for my power I am sure, but there is no way for him to get, right? And even so, how am I suppose to stop him?"

"You have the power to stop him, but he has many guards, and many of them are exiles some are even old assassins from the Source…"

"What do you mean assassins?"

"Once programs started becoming exiles and doing what they weren't supposed to be doing, another program was created to assassinate them. They are basically programs made to delete other programs. Once some of them became exiles, it became very hard to get rid of them, and so many of them have survived throughout the years working for various underground programs and men as hit men."

"An obvious question is, can they kill humans?"

"Oh yes, they can do it the conventional way with a gun, or using there assassination power which damages their brain at the least, or possibly severs the connection with the Matrix that they had, making them brain dead. These are the ones you want to watch out for, even they can kill you if they got the chance, and many are extremely hard to kill."

She paused for a minute to let all of this sink in, and to allow for Neo to think about it. He began to think how easy it was to take on missions against programs when he worked with other people who were hacked in and could manipulate the Matrix just like the programs. He knew that he would need help to get through this, but only the freed people would be of any help. This brought up a question and out of the odd silence he asked her abruptly, " Is there any way to contact Zion? It would be very helpful if I could work with some old friends on this one."

The Oracle shook her head as she began to answer him, "No, not directly, the only way is to contact a hovercraft as I have done often, or one of the people who are hacked in."

"Well, how do we do it? How do we contact a ship?" Neo said very excited.

Well we can send a signal out and see if any ships are in the broadcast range, and you can keep an eye out for any hackers, but that is the best we can do."

Still very excited Neo replied sounding almost rushed, "Ok then, let's do it, and how do we exactly?"

"It is a function built into my programming, to be able to access to communication lines and contact Zion's ships. Now, what would you like it to say being you know these people the best?"

"Just have it say you want to contact either Morpheus or Niobe about important matters within the Matrix. I am sure Morpheus has gotten himself into trouble with all the rules he broke, so I only expect Niobe will be able to come."

The Oracle sat and closed her eyes making a face showing that she was deeply concentrated, and that there was something going on in her mind. Neo sat and watched with great anticipation, waiting for her to speak with some kind of assurance that the signal has been received. The Oracle opened her eyes and told that the signal was sent and they could only wait.

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Thank you from reading my story. Please send me a review and if it is critism please don't be too harsh but it is welcome. I will try to update as much as possible but with school don't expect more than a chapter a week- thanks Grif