Neb chronicles

2 - Kare

By Vortex

Niyah was fifteen years old when she experienced her first real déjà vu.

It was a cold Sunday morning, and if she could feel the cold, Niyah would have been wearing her thickest jumper. As an assignment she been instructed to complete the 'great novel' To Kill A Mockingbird by half term, which was next week, and as a result of slacking off earlier Niyah had over half to read.

Sighing she turned over a page and adjusted her posture, This book was about as interesting as a 3 mile snail race.

The adverts flashed up onto the TV screen. A blonde haired fake model flashed up on the screen, claiming that she had found the perfect solution for hair care and that she was worth it. Niyah shook her head. She hated ad's like this. Her attention turned back to the book. Turning over another page she stretched.

The adverts flashed up onto the TV screen. A blonde haired fake model flashed up on the screen, claiming that she had found the perfect solution for hair care and that she was worth it.

'Huh, Déjà vu.' Thought Niyah.

Suddenly the TV emitted a high wine. The screen flashed black. Niyah jumped from where she was sitting and ran. If the TV going to explode she didn't want to be there. The high wine intensified, becoming so loud that it hurt. So loud it ripped through Niyah's skull, so that she couldn't even think. Behind her, The TV exploded in a flash of bright white light. It rushed toward her, a flowing white boundary of fire and TV remains. Niyah tried to out run it, but it was too unnaturally fast, impacting with her legs and knocking her down.

The first thing Niyah did was stand up and rub her forehead. The second was wonder why she wasn't dead. The third was too look around. The room she was in was a brilliant white, so much so that it hurt Niyah's eyes to look at it. What was this place? Was she dead? A man appeared in front of her. He was wearing a black tux and dark sunglasses, with his hair slicked back. Typical spy gear. Actually Niyah had always had a thing for spies. The man in front of her took off his dark glasses. He had hard piecing eyes that looked right through her, and there was something behind them that wasn't entirely human. Niyah knew her next line was going to be a cliché.

"Am I dead?" she asked.

The man kept his firm expression.

"No." he replied.

Niyah laughed.

"No – that's it. Just no. What is this then? A hallucination?"

"We've just pulled you out for a while."

"Pulled me out? What's that supposed to mean? How long have I been here?"

"Time is not a concept."

"Ok. I'm really not good at this 'interpret what I'm saying' stuff so get straight to the point will you?"

"We need your help. We want to recruit you."

"Recruit me? Like as a James Bond special agent thing?"

"Something like that,"

The man fixed his eyes on Niyah.

"Do you want to die, Miss Kare?" he asked.

Niyah shook her head.

"What sort of dumb-arse question is that? Of course not."

"There are those who would destroy your reality."

"Why?"

"Because they believe it will liberate the human race."

"Will it?"

"No. It will just plunge it further into darkness."

Niyah laughed again.

"This is deep isn't it?"

"Yes. Very."

" I still don't understand what you want me to do."

"We need someone who's been on the inside. Someone who works for us, who can do what we do."

"So what do you do?"

The agent smiled. He jumped backward, flipping a million times before shooting off a clip of bullets and landing back next to Niyah.

"Woah." She muttered

"What do you say, Miss Kare?"

Niyah ran a hand back through her hair.

"God. You mean right now? I need more time to think it over."

"Very well. Time is not an object."

The white light became bright again. Suddenly Niyah was back in the living room.

The adverts flashed up onto the TV screen. A blonde haired fake model flashed up on the screen, claiming that she had found the perfect solution for hair care and that she was worth it.

Sometime later ……..

Niyah pulled her coat tight. Why did the rain always follow her everywhere? Great drops of clear fluid fell from the sky, impacting with the pavement and soaking the people. It was six years ago today that the man in the black suit had visited her and Niyah was growing impatient. He had said he would see her again, but nothing had come of it. Perhaps she should have stayed back in England, where she had been first time. Or perhaps not. Niyah didn't know.

As she hurried down the pavement she saw her first real accident.

A car swerved sideways on the slippy road. Niyah could see the fear in the driver's eyes as he pulled the steering wheel in the opposite direction. But it was too late. Metal crunched and glass was smashed as it impacted with another car driving in the opposite direction. Niyah went cold and looked away form the accident.

When she looked up the cars were gone.

That was the point that Niyah had her second ever déjà vu.

A car swerved sideways on the slippy road. Niyah could see the fear in the driver's eyes as he pulled the steering wheel in the opposite direction. But it was too late. Metal crunched and glass was smashed as it impacted with another car driving in the opposite direction.

Niyah stepped back. Emergency sirens whirred around her as the ambulance arrived. One of the cars burst into flames and some people began running. Caught up in the crowd, Niyah joined them. From behind her there was an explosion. Looking round, Niyah saw the wall of white fire rushing towards her. Stopping, she turned to face it.

"Run!" yelled a man at her as he rushed past.

Niyah kept eyes on the firewall.

"There's no way we'll out run it." She said, before the wall hit her.

Niyah was back in the white place. The agent was there, and he hadn't changed a bit.

"Miss Kare, welcome."

"Hey there. What's up?"

"Have you considered our offer?"

Niyah had made up her mind. She was going to say yes. If she could make a difference she wanted to, she wanted to help to save the world.

Niyah swallowed.

"Yes. I want to help, if I can. I want to join you."

"Very well. Next time we meet we will begin your training."

He disappeared.

A car swerved sideways on the slippy road. Niyah could see the fear in the driver's eyes as he pulled the steering wheel in the opposite direction. But it was too late. Metal crunched and glass was smashed as it impacted with another car driving in the opposite direction……….

Sometime later……

Niyah had never told anyone about what happened those times. If she did they would probably send her to the loony bin. Since he had come last time she had broken every link or contact she had with anyone or thing in this world.

She didn't want to leave without everything being in order.

Evening had fallen once again. Niyah took down her long hair and sighed. There was still no sign of him. Perhaps she had dreamt it all. Perhaps there was no agent.

She climbed into bed. Suddenly there was a high-pitched wine from her table lamp. This time Niyah did not flinch, even when it exploded and sent a wave of white fire flowing over her.

The agent had not aged a day.

"We meet again, Miss Kare."

Niyah smiled.

"I didn't think you would come again."

"I would not want to loose a new recruit."

"Yea about that. When do we start?"

"Right now."

The agent smiled. He clasped his hands together and when he pulled them apart, Niyah could see a small blue object had appeared.

It grew, becoming larger by the second. Detail becoming clearer to the naked eye. It was covered with interconnecting lines and curves, the only break to them being in the form of two holes to each side of the object. Which were now hand sized.

The object had stopped growing. The agent motioned for Niyah to put her hands inside.

Niyah placed her hands into the holes on either side of the object. It activated with a jolt, sending blue light ripping along the lines on its surface and up Niyah's arms. Niyah tried to pull away, but something held her there. Then the object began to hum. With the humming came intense pain that stabbed at every part of Niyah's body, pulling her soul away piece by piece. The blue light covered most of her body now, and it was climbing. It climbed past her chest, past her chin, past her nose. Then it leapt down her throat, blocking her airways, causing her to choke. In the last fleeting moments before the object sucked away the last shred of her consciousness Niyah understood about the matrix.

What Niyah also understood was that she had been tricked.

Agent Kare watched as the lifeless corpse of her former life fell to the floor. The knowledge she now held was immense. She knew what every single person in the world was doing. She had a tap on every phone wire, every television and every e-mail account that existed.

It was absolute power.

She had to stop the rebels. If they succeeded they would destroy the matrix and, more importantly, her program. Agent Moore turned to her.

"I trust the transferal was successful?"

Agent Kare removed her dark glasses.

"Very." She replied, and spun her gun round her fingers.

* * *

A blonde haired fake model flashed up on the screen, claiming that she had found the perfect solution for hair care and that she was worth it.

'Huh, Déjà vu.' Thought Niyah.

She shifted her posture again.

From another room, Niyah heard the glass in a window smash. She dropped her book and ran backwards. But there was nowhere to go. Backed into a corner she saw two people enter the room. One was a young man, dressed in black with dark glasses. The other was her. Niyah knew it. A slightly older, scarier her, but her nonetheless.

"Are you me?" she asked.

The woman loaded a gun and fired a shot into her head.

Agent Kare watched as the last evidence of her life as one of them flipped backwards, smashed through the bay window and was still.

* * *

Agent Kare fired off her lost shot. It hit the woman hard in the back and she fell, impacting with the floor and spilling red blood everywhere. At least she had got one of the rebels, and the other who had got away wouldn't be back for a while either. Useless humans. She wondered over to the woman. In her last dying moments the woman looked up at her. "Bitch. Why?" she gasped. Agent Kare shook her head. Why didn't the human just die? The woman reached her hand up and grabbed hold of Agent Kare. In her hand she held a small object that she stuck onto the Agent with force. Agent Kare reeled back as her program was filled with images of people and places. Filled with a sense of what was right and what was wrong. Agent Kare's eyes flicked shut, as if she was in REM sleep. Suddenly the info stopped. Agent Kare's eyes flicked back open. Her companion stood beside her. "What was that?" he asked. "Some kind of program mutation device, It was not effective though." She replied. * * * Agent Kare stood beneath the bridge. She couldn't believe this. Of all the places. She wondered if Morpheous would show. If he had bought her unbelievable story. An Agent who didn't want to kill any more. Who through some programming error had learnt the difference between wrong and right, and had realized she was in the wrong. But she had to get out of here. So far she had survived by hiding her program in the loopholes of the matrix, in back up files and folders. The rain pelted down the outside of the bridge, causing a sound so immense that no human would be able tell that car was coming. The car drew up to her. "You Agent Kare?" asked a woman dressed in black PVC. Agent Kare nodded. "That's me." She replied. A man with big brown eyes lent over to check her out. Agent Kare knew it was Neo, The One. There was a time when she would have killed him where he sat. A time when she would stand side by side with her other agents and kill and mame, without giving it another thought. "Loose the gun." Said Neo, cutting through her thoughts.

Agent Kare put a hand to her belt. Loose her gun? It was her only form of defense and, she had had it since the beginning. She pulled it out of its holster and threw it to one side.

"Get in." Continued on Neo.

Agent Kare ran her fingers along the door of the car. Then she got in.

Neo pulled out a gun.

"What, what is this?" asked Agent Kare.

"It's just protection." Said Trinity.

Agent Kare nodded.

"What's your name?" asked Neo, from behind his gun.

Agent Kare shook her head.

"Never really had a name. Always been Agent Kare."

Agent Kare could see the group tense up when she said that. They were scared of her.

"The first thing I guess is dropping the 'Agent' bit right?' she continued on.

"Yea, right." Said Trinity.

* * *

Kare had spoken to Tank many times. But, as she was basically a piece of software, she had never seen him. Apparently he had been born in Zion, so was unable to enter the construct that had become her home. In fact Kare couldn't believe how easy it was they had transferred her program out of the matrix and into the Neb computer. Being inside the Neb was fun for a while, she got to explore around its mainframe. Read about others who were in the same position as her. Well not exactly the same position, but who had been freed from the matrix and its hold. But the novelty had worn off after a while. Kare longed to be more, to aspire to something greater and see the real world. To see Zion as these people saw it. In a sense, Kare wanted to live. But could a piece of software ever live?

Trinity zoomed down beside her. She had promised to be there for her during the transferal progress.

Kare's stomach, if she had one, was imploding exploding and churning over all at the same time. They were going to transfer Kare's program into a prosthetic body, kinda like an android. But way more advanced.

Trinity turned to her.

"You ready?" she asked.

Kare shook her head.

"As I'll ever be."

Her phone rang. It was tank.

"Good luck. K." he said.

Kare moved away from Trin and shut her eyes. She felt strange, as if she was stuck between two worlds. The digital and the real. As if her consciousness was being sucked out of the matrix, into some unknown place. She took a deep breath.

Kare opened her eyes. She was inside what appeared to be a ship. Above her was a sea of entwining, pulsating wires that broke off periodically, swinging down to wrap around great metal chairs that lay inactive. The ship was initially dark, lit by small lights from above which highlighted the metal making it look like it was shining with its own light. Four walkways ran over her head, with wires running along its rails. Through a nearby door she could see a terminal, with the matrix code running down it. It was chaos amidst order, and Kare thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Morpheous pulled a long needle out of her neck. He smiled a cat like smile, before helping Kare up.

"Welcome to the real world." He said.

Kare looked around.

"Ya, I, err, ahh."

Trinity looked worried.

"Tank, she's got a speech problem."

A young man ran out from the place where the console was. He had short brown hair, dark skin and a cheeky smile.

"K. Hang on, we'll fix the problem."

Kare shook her head.

"Tank? God, your not what I imagined at all."

Tank looked sideways at the other members of the crew.

"Oh God." He said.

* * *

Kare sat on the bridge of the Nebuchadnezzer watching the sewers flash past. She had been liberated from the matrix. She had finally broken the last bond that held her down. Now she could do anything. Overcome with emotion and realization, Kare began to cry. She didn't even know that she had tear ducts, or even knew how to cry. But the shear beauty of it all was amazing.

From behind her, she heard someone walk up behind her.

"Kare? Are you ok?" asked Trin.

Kare swallowed.

"Yea, I just never realized how amazing it was."

"How amazing what was?"

"The real world."

Trin didn't understand. Kare could see that.

"If you say so." Replied Trin.

"Look, I know you don't understand how I see this. But where you see a falling apart wreck I see a beautiful merge between metal and human engineering, where you see sparks I see a rainbow. I don't know how I ever wanted to destroy it."

Trin placed an arm round Kare.

"I'm glad you're here," She said

"But there's something you should know. About me and Neo."

"You're together."

"How did you know?"

"It's quite obvious."

Kare stared out the front window. The Neb swooped low over a power plant, and Kare caught a glimpse of all the people.

"Oh my god." She gasped.

"What?"

"That's terrible. All those people hooked up like that."

Trinity nodded.

"Its what were fighting for. To give them a chance at freedom."

Kare saw something move deep within the power plant.

"Is that a person?" she asked.

Trinity squinted at the power plant.

"I don't know."

Kare looked again.

"Yes. It is. Definitely."

* * *

"Down. There, swoop in low. You see." Explained Kare.

"Oh my god. How did you spot that?" replied Tank.

A man pushed his way through the power plant. There was dirt caking his clothes and skin, streaking down his face and clinging in her hair. Hearing the sound of the Neb he looked up, hope chiming behind his eyes as he saw the Neb. Kare had seen him before, but from where and when.

Tank released a long rope ladder and the man climbed aboard willingly.

Morpheous and the crew ran to meet the guy. He smiled as he entered the Neb.

As his gaze fell upon Kare and his smiled faded. He pulled out a gun from his belt and pulled the metal trigger, sending a pulsating ray of white-blue light rushing toward Kare. It hit her hard in the shoulder, but Kare kept standing against a blow that would have sent a human flying of their feet. Neo knocked the gun out of the man's hand.

"What the hell?" Neo asked.

"That's an agent." Replied the man.

"We know, she's on our side." Replied Neo.

The man's eyes were filled with rage. He became violent, pushing against Neo, Morpheous' and Tank's grip.

Kare took a few steps back.

"Perhaps I should go." She said backing off.

"Don't you remember Bitch? You killed her, shot her in the back so she bled to death. Tried to kill me too didn't you? But I was too fast wasn't I? Couldn't catch me in time….." shouted the man as Kare ran back through the bowels of the Neb.

Oh god. She remembered now, where she had seen the man before. It was the day she had gained a conscience. The day she had decided to break from the matrix. The death of that woman had haunted her since that day. She still heard her screams when she closed her eyes, remembered her last question. Why? Because at that point she was held by a program. One that told her to kill all the rebels who threatened the destruction of the matrix. She had killed so many people as an Agent. Taken so many souls. Did she deserve to live? When so many others didn't. But in a sense she didn't live either. Kare glanced down at her shoulder. It was bad, wires and fluid leaking everywhere. Underneath she wasn't alive, she wasn't skin and bones. She was wire and metal, born of hated for a group of rebels who just wanted to free their race. Another tear ran down her cheek, but this was not a tear of joy. This was a tear of pain and anguish, born of suffering and torment.

From behind her she heard someone enter the room. It was Tank.

"K? Are you ok?"

Kare wiped away tears.

"Yea, I think he go me pretty bad though." She looked down.

Tank frowned.

"You think you can hold on till we get to Zion? There's some guys there who can fix you up real good."

Kare nodded slowly.

"He thinks I don't remember." She said.

"Who?"

"Mr.… That guy. He thinks I don't remember. But I do, I remember every one of them. How they screamed, pleaded for me to stop. How they were tortured, how they vowed to get revenge. How I plowed endless shot after shot into them not thinking anything of it. I, I, I. What am I? Am I machine?,"

Kare looked down at her wound.

"..I'm definitely not human. I'm a program, designed for search and destroy."

Tank shook her head.

"No, No you're not. Your more than that."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"How do you know?"

Tank looked at Kare.

"You're crying. Programs don't cry, they don't have regrets or doubts. They don't feel compassion."

Kare nodded.

"Yea, I guess so."

* * *

Kare sat in the robotics department of Zion watching the scientist pace to and fro around his lab.

"I give you the most advanced piece of technology known to man and you go and shoot it! I can't believe this." The scientist grabbed a bag of tools.

"I didn't shoot her she got shot. It was an accident." Replied Neo.

"It's just a flesh wound. There's nothing wrong." Kare cut in.

"I can't believe you broke it." Continued on the scientist.

"SHE has a name." Cut in Kare.

"Look, just fix her," said Neo

He turned to Kare.

"I'll be back in an hour ok? I've got some other stuff to take care of."

Kare sighed.

"Please don't leave me,"

Subconsciously she ran a hand back through her hair.

"He thinks I'm just a bit of machinery."

"You are."

"That's not what I meant."

"One hour. I promise."

Kare nodded.

"Ok, ok, ok."

Neo went to exit the room.
"Bye." Said Kare, as the door swung closed behind him.

Without a word, the scientist picked up his tools and began his work on Kare.

"I guess I should say thanks." Said Kare.

The scientist ignored her.

"Are you listening to me?"

Kare poked him.

"Yes. Thank me for what?" finally replied the scientist.

"Making this," Kare motioned at her body.

"Getting me out of the Neb computer."

"It was nothing. Hey I thought the Neb was captained my Morpheous."

"It is."

"Then who the hell was that guy?"

Kare stared at the door Neo had exited by. She nodded.

"The one."

"Jesus."

* * *

Kare had had to change. Which seemed strange to her, as she had never had to do that before. She had always just thought herself some new clothes and they appeared. But, she knew how to so there wasn't much of a challenge to it. Now apparently they were going to what was called 'a club'.

The door on Kare's room clicked open.

"Ready?" asked Trin

"Yup."

"Tobias, are you sure your not coming?" asked Neo.

"No, I've got some bad history with that club," Replied Tobias.

He looked up at Kare.

"Anyway I've got some stuff to sort out at my apartment."

He exited fast. Kare sighed and shook her head. She ran after Tobias.

"Hey." She shouted.

Tobias carried on walking. Kare matched his pace and put a hand on his shoulder.

Tobias stopped.

"Get off me." He hissed.

Kare pulled back her hand.

"Look, Tobias, I'm sorry, I…" she muttered.

"Don't talk to me. Leave me alone."

"I just came to say that I'm sorry. About her."

"Do you think you can just say sorry and make amends. Life doesn't work that way."

A tear rolled down Kare's cheek.

"I'm pretty new to Life. Look, I'm not saying this makes up for anything. But I don't think you understand what I'm going through here. I grieve them all. Every single one, and, as much as I would like to be I know that I will never be a good person. Nothing I ever do will make up those lives stolen, nothing will bring them back. But it's so hard, everyday acting like nothings wrong. Everyday resisting the urge to scream at the top of my voice and no one seems to care. No-one seems to even notice that I'm alive here."

Kare stopped mid sentence. Tobias looked at her finally understanding her pain.

"Oh god. Oh god I've been so selfish. You're not the same person you used to be. I'm so sorry." He muttered.

"You shouldn't be." Said Kare.

* * *

Kare was up early. She had finished her power cycle already and had decided to take a walk until the others got up. If they ever did. Now she sat facing a pool of glistening sparkling water in the twilight. The mood was perfect.

Someone sat beside her.

"Hey, you're that android aren't you? The one who used to be an agent?"

"Yea, that's me."

"So what's he like?"

"What's who like."

"Neo, the one. I heard he's hot."

"Hot?"

"Hot. You know. Fine, good – looking."

Kare threw a stone along the top of the pond. It skimmed a million times, before bouncing out of view.

"I guess." She replied.

"What's your name?"

"Kare."

"Kare? Sounds like a surname."

"It was."

"Oh. Well I'll see ya around ok."

"OK. Bye."

The woman ran off.

Kare smiled to herself. Humans were great, so compassionate, so nice to each other. Kare knew why that was, it was the one thing that separated humans from agents. Humans had emotions, Agents faked emotions. Then there was her, an Agent with emotions. Kare sighed. She had better be getting back to the Neb.

* * *

"Please come with me Kare." Said Neo.

"Why? Aren't you taking Trin?" replied Kare.

"Tobias and Trin are off visiting friends, Morpheous is on another ship and God-knows where Tank is. Plus I like your company."

"You do?"

"Yea. Your so open minded."

"Suck up."

Neo nodded.

"True. What do you say?"

"Ok, I'll come."

Kare and Neo stepped out onto the platform. The number of people who had turned up for this was immense. But who could blame her, This was the one they were here to see. The one who would free the people in the matrix, end the war.

The people stretched back as far as the eye could see. They were entangled in the trees, standing in the buildings and windows. One or two hovercrafts swung into view, and Kare could see they were crammed full of people.

Kare smiled, she could see Tank below in the crowd. He winked at her.

"Neo!" he shouted from below them.

"Neo, Neo, Neo, Neo, Neo, Neo, Neo, Neo!" the cheering became louder with every 'Neo' until it was so loud it bounced around the walls of Zion.

Neo smiled. Kare turned to him.

"It's all yours." She said and waved to the crowd.

The crowd went wild.

"Go on." She said.

Neo waved.

The crowd was ecstatic now, they whooped and cheered and shouted their hearts out.

* * *

Kare Never imagined there would be a council of elders in Zion. That sounded way to epic for her. But, as they had requested to see her and Neo it must be important.

The room they were in was a kind of lobby, with flashing lights and wires which had no other purpose than to make it look cool. The blue-white pigment of the shields that held them in swirled above Kare and Neo.

A woman dressed in smartish clothes stepped out from some automatic doors.

"The council will see you now."

She motioned inside the doors.

The council chambers were lit in a low light. At one end sat eight tall chairs that rose high into the roof so that Kare was sure that any human couldn't see that they met a platform high above them. A platform where eight, very old, very wise looking individuals were climbing into the chairs. Suddenly there was a grinding noise and the chairs began to descend slowly into the ground.

Neo took a step back.

"It's ok." Kare re-assured him.

The chairs dropped into view.

"We are the council of the elders."

Kare stared at them. She never thought anyone could be so old. Kare looked down.

"We have a problem. That is why we called you here."

"What's the problem?" asked Kare.

"They have her"

"Who?" asked Neo.

There was a silence.

"The oracle. That is why we have called you. You are the strongest, fastest and bravest worriers we have. You've both have the speed and strength of an Agent. Which is why we want you to save her."

"From who?"

All eyes fell on Kare.

"The Agents."

* * *

It was Kare's first time back inside. Her first time inside as one of them, fighting against what she used to be. Damn. It was so scary.

They were in London. A place Kare had visited many times as a human. Kare had never told them about her time as a human. Never told them that she had been like them once, but had been used as a freakish experiment to acquire a new face. She wanted to tell them, wanted them to know why she knew how to do all the things they did. She glanced at Neo. He had no idea.

"Neo, I…" Kare stopped short.

"What?" asked Neo.

Kare shook her head.

"Nothing. It's just strange being back here."

"Here?"

"Inside this place."

Neo smiled.

"You get used to it."

Kare pulled off her sunglasses. She threw them to one side.

"I could never see very well in those." She lied.

The one thing Kare always loved about the humans was their fashion sense. It was always so cool. Now, as she raced down the street on the back of Neo's bike with her coat splaying back behind her, she knew what she had meant. Neo pulled the bike to a stop.

"You ready?" asked Neo.

Kare loaded her gun.

"We have a problem."

"What?"

Kare motioned at the hotel lobby. It was full of people, which was bad as people meant lines and wasting time that they did not have.

"Damn," swore Neo.

"What are we going to do?"

Kare stared at the hotel. It was high-rise, and was covered with a glass front. She smiled.

"We go through."

Eve tapped her fingers on the counter. She was never gonna get served. Hotels were so slow at this stuff. She glanced out the window. Outside she could see people walking past. A woman and a man mounted a bike and turned it toward the hotel. Wait! They weren't going to drive it into the hotel were they? As if to answer her the glass front on the hotel shattered, sending glass and wood flying in all directions. The people in the hotel lobby screamed and ran in all directions.

"Run! Oh My God! Run!"

So eve ran.

Kare jumped as the bike smashed into the other side of the hotel lobby and burst into flame. The fire extinguishers burst into life. She landed on her feet next to Neo and smiled. They entered the nearest lift.

This was where the fun started.

The door pinged open on the fifth floor.

Standing along the corridor, blocking their path was one extremely pissed looking Agent. He pulled out his gun and fired of a million bullets in their direction.

Without thought, Kare began dodging the bullets. She counted the bullets as she did. One, two, three, four, five and that was six. The Agent was out of bullets. Kare pulled her body to a stop. Glancing over a Neo she noticed that he was still dodging. Kare had never seen a human move that fast before. The Agent ran toward her.

Kare blocked an oncoming punch with her arm. She bought her other fist up, meaning to smash the Agent around the face. He blocked her oncoming blow. Now they were at a dead lock. Kare starred deep into the Agents sunglassed face. That was the real reason she didn't wear dark glasses. Too many bad memories. The agent looked confused. Then his evil smile returned.

"Miss Kare. How nice of you to join us."

Kare brought her foot up into the agents chest. He reeled back and Kare used the momentum to flip herself over, and land back on her feet.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." She replied.

Behind her she heard the sound of a gun shoot off. Kare fell to feet as a bullet from Neo's gun wizzed past her head.

The Agent fell to the floor in a flash of green.

Kare rolled onto her back. Taking Neo's extended hand she pushed upward from the floor.

"He called you Miss Kare. Like you were human. What does that mean?" asked Neo.

Damn. He had asked the question.

"There is some stuff that I didn't tell you guys."

Neo looked confused.

"Like."

Kare cringed.

"Like the fact that, um, I wasn't always an agent."

"WHAT!"

Kare held up her hands.

"Surprise?"

Neo shook his head.

"Go home Kare. I can deal with this on my own."

"Neo I'm sorry I…."
"NO! go home, explain to those guys in Zion what the hell you are. I can deal here."

He ran off down the hall.

"Shit."

Kare looked at the ceiling. What now? She had tried to tell Neo. If she went back to Zion the council would not take it well. Kare punched the wall. Her hand went right through the concrete post and out the other side.

A machine gun fired off down the hall.

Then there was a scream.

Shit. Kare had to go help Neo. But she couldn't just walk in there could she? There had to be at least two or three Agents in there with them.

Kare smiled.

She had an idea…..

* * *

Neo gritted his teeth as the Agent injected clear liquid into him. Why had he let them catch him? Perhaps it was that he was too slow, or that there was too many of them. No, Neo knew the right answer. He was upset about Kare. What did she mean when she said she wasn't always an agent? Had she been deceiving them all?

The door on the hotel room swung open. A woman walked in. She was dressed in a black suit and wore blackened sunglasses.

That was Kare!

Damn.

She had been working for the Agents all along.

* * *

Kare walked into the room. She was met by a number of guns and an extremely dirty look from Neo.

"I trust I did well." She said, waving away the guns.

The Agents looked confused.

'Come on. Take the bait.' Kare thought.

Kare's former partner placed his gun at her neck.

"Did well? You were lost to us a long time ago."

Kare shook her head. She looked sideways at Neo.

"I gave you him." She said.

* * *

"I gave you him."

Neo couldn't believe this. This was worse than Cypher.

Kare walked over to him.

"Neo." She spat.

Kare pushed back Neo's forehead. He shot her another Get-the-hell-off-me-or-you-are-so-dead look. Kare ran her hands back to where Neo's hands were bound. She broke the cuffs in two.

* * *

Kare pulled back from Neo. Their eyes met for a split second and Kare knew Neo trusted her again.

"How do we know we can trust you?" asked another Agent.

Kare looked down. There was still a gun pointed at her, courtesy of her former partner.

"You really shouldn't." she replied, and kicked the gun out of his grasp.

Kare jumped into the air as Neo punched the agent in the face and grabbed his gun. Pulling her own gun she fired a couple of bullets into one agent, as Neo took out the other. Kare landed on the other agents head, as he ran. Squashing him into a pulp.

"Sorry about that." Kare moved over as the Agent turned into a green light.

Neo smiled.

"Nice timing."

Outside the window, a helicopter dropped into view. Trinity waved from the front window.

Kare waved back.

Neo un-bound the Oracle from where she was sitting. He helped her into the helicopter before jumping across the gap himself.

Kare turned her back on the helicopter.

"Where are you going?" Yelled Neo

Kare picked up one of the Agents guns from the floor. She changed her clothes back into the leather cat suit she was wearing before.

"I've got a score to settle."

She loaded the gun as the wooden door on the hotel room swung open. Her former partner stepped in and fired a series of shots into the air.

The helicopter took off. It swung round, far enough off to watch but to be at a safe distance as well.

"Loose the gun." Said Kare.

The Agent threw the gun to one side. Then he attacked, hard and fast. Kare blocked his every move so that all that was visible was a blurring, moving sea of black. Kare brought up leg up and smashed the Agents nose. He flew back, causing a great scratch across Kare's neck. Kare pushed her hand into a fist and smashed the agent around the face, breaking his neck. He fell to the floor, pulsating green and white.

There was a round of applause from the helicopter.

It flew closer, and Kare jumped across the gap to it.

"Kare." Said Trin.

"Ya- huh."

"You're bleeding."

Kare put a hand to her neck. Wine-red blood trickled through her fingers and onto her clothes. She looked shocked.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

Neo nodded.

"You RSI is human."

THE END

Based on concepts by Andy & Larry Wachowski.