##HvCFT Mythic
##Broadcast Depth
##Incoming Transmission...
##Zion Control
##RELAY Initialized - Proteus
Zi looked at the incoming message and examined the routing tree. It appeared to come from Zion Control by way of Proteus. Something about the routing was not adding up, but she went over it three times to verify the source.
It all checked out. Shaking her head and shrugging, she called Darius and forwarded the message to the main console.
####
"All right folks we have a pickup mission." Darius looked around the meeting room in the Construct as Zionova monitored from her station in the real world on the Mythic. They were coordinating with another ship to unplug a potential who was no more than a young kid. Beaker was up in the cockpit, keeping look out with Sketcher. Sketcher was second in command and took command whenever Darius was jacked in. Zorch was their pilot, gunner and her backup in case something went wrong.
A map was displayed on the table in front of the team showing their entry and exit as well as the route they were to take.
"We're scheduled to pick up the kid at the Starlight Hotel, room 404. He's under the care of the Oracle, but she was unable to stay at her apartment and left him at the hotel."
The various crew members looked at the map or nodded, that was another odd point. The Oracle's typical operating procedure from their experience was having potentials stay with her until a crew came to pick them up.
"Everyone clear on our route and exit?" Again, nods all around.
"Tris, you and Manacle ride shotgun and take point, Beaker and I will make the run into the hotel."
"Gotcha boss." Beaker was a little more experienced than when she had first met him a few months before, but he was still the comical looking redhead.
A call came in from the Phobos but it wasn't good news.
She could hear, and see what was happening in the construct but couldn't communicate with anyone other than by 'calling' them.
Darius pulled out his phone and answered it,
"Bad news boss. The Phobos has been spotted by squids, they had to power down. Should we scrub the mission?"
There was a moment of hesitation, then Darius answered.
"No, we should be good to go, let's load 'em up and move out." Everyone hesitated, looking at Darius but followed his lead. They stood away from the table, and it morphed at Zionova's keystrokes into a weapons rack.
They picked they're preferred weapons and then gave nods all around that they were ready.
"Okay Zi, take us in."
A moment later, they were standing in an abandoned pawn shop, with a telephone ringing on the counter in front of them. Darius stepped forward and picked up the receiver.
"We're in."
Zi watched as they moved outside to the waiting Escalade. It had the extra seating they needed for picking up the kid. Zi just had realized they hadn't gotten a name for the potential. She settled her shoulders and scanned the Matrix for any signs of Agent activity. All clear so far.
She saw the team heading out with no sign of Agents anywhere. So far, so good. But she knew that was an illusion as well.
They arrived at the hotel without incident and Darius got out with Beaker, giving final instructions.
"Manacle, you've got watchdog duty. If anything happens, you head for the exit, don't even think about coming after us."
Manacle got out of the car and leaned against the door,
"You know we won't leave without you. You say that every time."
Darius paused as he and Tris headed for the run down looking hotel.
"This time I mean it." He was serious this time, and Zi knew it.
He had her the same thing just after they had recieved the mission details.
"This isn't as routine as it looks. But we have to check it out though, you know that."
Over the past few months, they had gotten closer in their relationship. They weren't quite paired up, officially. Meaning they hadn't shared quarters in Zion yet. They had only recently started bunking together on the ship. He hadn't spoken much of his home life but she knew that he had some children either by adoption or by his previous partner.
"Listen Zi...." he paused, searching for words. She had kept a tight lid on her feelings but it had put a strain on their working relationship.
"I've been considering taking a post in Zion under Mifune in the Home Guard."
This was the last thing she was expecting out of him.
"What!? You want to retire?"
Over the past year after he had plucked her out of the Matrix, she had gotten to know not only Darius, but his family and the crew of the Mythic. She had tried to bury the feelings that had gone from wishful thinking, to full blown love for the man that had rescued her. Now she saw the truth in his face.
"You're running from me."
His eyes snapped to her face, and she felt her cheeks flush. She was right and he knew it. But she also saw that he cared about her as much as she had held a torch for him all this time.
"No. I'm running to you."
He reached forward and pulled her face closer and kissed her tentatively, but with caring and a smoldering passion that matched her own. When he released her, she didn't have the strength to say or do anything except savor the feeling. Realizing anyone could walk in on them at any moment, she gathered her wits together again, it was difficult.
"I never realized how much I wanted to do that until just now." He kept a hand on the side of her neck, holding her gently in the palm of his warm hand.
"Me too." She looked up into his eyes, seeing what she wanted, but also something else.
"I shouldn't have done that. You need your head clear for the mission." His hand released her and his attitude returned to the persona of captain, his emotions back under control.
"You were born for this job Zi, you're the best operator I've ever had and possibly the best in the fleet."
He looked at her, suddenly very grave.
"If anything goes wrong with this, I want you to follow procedure Zi. No heroics. If anyone is captured, no rescues."
What was he saying? Why bring that up? She knew what procedure he meant but no one had pulled the plug on a crew other than the Neb, and that was an exception.
She did her best to wrench her own personal emotions into a closet again. If that was the way he wanted it, then she'd do it.
She wasn't going to consider any outcome other than a safe return for everyone.
"Procedure as always Captain." There was a scraping sound from the ladder above and Zorcher came sliding down to the deck.
"Whoops, did I interrupt something?"
"No Zorch, we just got a transmission from Zion. Get the rest of the crew together in the Mess."
Zorcher nodded once and bounded down the ladder to the crew area.
When he was well down the ladder, Zi caught Darius' arm.
"I don't leave crew behind. You know that by now. No one is left behind."
Darius paused and looked at her, putting his other hand on hers.
"If anyone is left behind it won't be your fault." With that he turned and made his way to the mess. Zi turned in her chair and watched the Matrix code as Manacle and Tris came up the ladder.
She didn't see code anymore, she saw people going about their lives, oblivious. Controlled. Prisoners in their own mind.
At that moment she wanted to not know what she knew. What she felt.
No, it was okay.
"Zi..come on, the ants can survive for an hour without you watching over them." Zorch stood behind her left shoulder. She suddenly realized he had a crush on her. She could tell by how close he was standing.
Great.
"That's the difference Zorch. To me, they're people just like you and me. Kind of like playing God, except I don't have control over their lives."
She got out of her chair and headed for the mess with Zorcher in tow.
###
Darius knocked on the door of room 404, the sound of a television coming from the other side of the thin wood.
Zi checked the room he was knocking on, just in time to see the boy that was there suddenly change into an Agent.
She hit the call button even before the code was complete.
"Darius, it's a trap, get out!"
Tris had gone on high alert as soon as Darius' phone rang. The next thing they heard was automatic fire from outside.
Kicking in the door, Darius was suddenly confronted by an agent standing in the middle of the room.
"Ah, room service." The Agent's sarcastic response only got Darius to start the fight. It was impossible to take down an Agent. Anyone that had gone up against an Agent had died.
"Tris, run!" She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to leave him without a backup.
"Not without you boss!"
Behind her, an agent appeared in the doorway and pulled his gun.
Zi sat helpless as she watched the ambush go down. She had seen Manacle and Beaker gunned down even as they tried to escape. They had gotten half way down the street when a bus pulled into the intersection and veered for them.
She couldn't do anything.
"Sketcher! Zorch!" The two came down the ladder and stood behind her, Zorch ran to check on them one by one and gave her a helpless look.
Her chest hurt, her eyes glued to the screen as Manacle and Beaker's monitor flatlined.
She couldn't move.
"No! Tris run..please run!"
The Agent fired with machine precision, killing her instantly. Her body on the chair jerked once, and then went limp.
Darius was holding his own against the agent in a bare knuckle fist fight, then the agent came from behind and cold cocked him with his pistol butt.
Zi looked on as he went down cold. Silent sobs jerking her own body as she sat unbelieving at what had happened.
Why hadn't she seen the agents coming?!
"What happened?" Sketcher looked at the screen, taking control of what situation was left. Zi had to swallow twice before she had enough voice to reply.
"It was a trap. There wasn't any kid. We have to get Darius out."
She watched as the code shifted and the Agents dragged Darius out of the hotel with the help of the police, and put him a waiting car.
Beaker stood next to Darius, a hand on his shoulder.
"Hang in there boss. We'll get you out somehow."
Zi hazarded a glance up to Sketcher as he watched for any signs of life in the crew.
"Zi...you know what he said..."
"I know damnit! I know what he said and he also knew I wouldn't just sit here and do nothing!"
They didn't have much time left. The Agents were likely taking him to a facility to interrogate him, try to break him and revealing the codes to the Zion Mainframe. The three of them knew that could not happen.
"Zi, they can't get the codes. We can't rescue him, we don't have the man power. We only have one option."
Zionova shook her head and followed Sketcher, jumping out of her chair as he walked over to where Darius lay unconcious.
"There's got to be some other way! We need to see what other ships are in the area!"
She knew the answer before he said it. There were no other ships in the area. The call from the Phobos had been part of the set up, it had never been in on the mission.
Zorch shifted his position next to Darius as Sketcher and Zi came around to his side.
"He knew it was a set up and went in anyway." The realization dawned on her as she looked at Sketcher.
"You heard him at the meeting. He was making contingency plans, back ups that we had never needed before. Why didn't he abort and alert Zion?"
Sketcher gave her a look and put a hand on Darius' head.
"Because they would not have taken the bait."
"Bait!? What bait!? They were ambushed, not the Agents!" What was Sketcher talking about?
Beaker even looked over at him, and then threw a look her way.
"Darius volunteered for this mission. The last time we were in Zion, we were called into a meeting. They implanted Darius with a virus program that would infect the nearest Agent if he got within shooting range. All he would have to do is hold his own for five minutes."
Zi looked down at the prone body of the man she had fallen in love with, then back up to Sketcher.
"That's insane! How would he give them the virus?"
"He'd have to shoot them." Sketcher looked down at their Captain then, and looked back to Zi.
"Did he get a chance to shoot the agent at all?"
Zi thought for a split second,
"No...no...the agent was right there in front of him when the door went down. He started throwing punches as soon as he got in reach."
Sketcher's head dropped.
"There's no chance now. If they discover he's got that virus, they'll trace the code back to Zion for sure. We have to pull the plug Zi. Every second we're risking Zion's safety."
On the surface, she saw the truth of the procedure. Without an army at their back, there was no way they would be able to rescue him or set off the virus remotely.
Her heart started beating harder...her throat tightened...
"He wanted me to do it."
Zorch, I need you in the hotseat. Check and see where they've taken him." Sketcher watched as the kid moved reluctantly to the Operators seat and put the head piece on.
"They're taking him to the FBI building downtown. The place is crawling with agents."
Zorch peered through the gap between the screens at Zi and Sketcher. The two stared at each other, both knowing what had to be done.
"There's no other way. He knew it was a one way ticket Zi." Her chest was pounding as she moved behind Darius' head. She looked up at his monitor,then leaned over and kissed him goodbye as she reached for his jack. Her hands were shaking so bad, she hardly had a grip strong enough.
Zi closed her eyes and felt the lock turn and pulled the jack out.
She felt Sketcher take it from her hand, but that was all she felt. Looking around the deck, five crew were dead.
"Zi, we need to get out of here and go deep. We need to get back to Zion. Zorch..."
The gangly kid Zi remembered was no longer there. He was suddenly a member of the crew.
"Get up to the bridge and start 'er up. We need to vacate broadcast level. Head for Zion."
Zi was numb, she felt Sketchers hands on her shoulders, but all she could see was Darius, asleep.
A sharp pain erupted on her cheek and she looked up. Sketcher had just slapped her!
What the hell!?
"Snap out of it Zi. I need you. Zion needs all of us to head for home. You need to do your job."
With a shuddering breath, she felt her brain slowly crank into gear again.
'You were born for this job Zi. I think you were born for this life. '
Straightening her back, she forced herself to throw off her grief like a cloak that had been weighing her down. Damn straight she had a job to do.
Every last program and agent was going to pay for all the lives they still held prisoner.
Looking up at Sketcher, she saw the same determination.
"I'm going up top to help Zorch get this bucket moving. We'll have to leave their bodies here for now."
Zi looked around once again,
"I'll take care of them."
Sketcher nodded to her then, and gave her a quick hug, then he moved to the ladder and disappeared topside.
Damn straight she had a job to do.
It was going to be her job for the rest of her life and no one was going to tell her otherwise.
She had told Zorch it was like playing God....without the control over peoples lives. She found out she did have control over lives of the very people she cared about. Right then it was more like the coldest hell, and she was going to be sure every Agent and every machine she met was going to know a piece of the hell they had created.