A/N: The title is actually a play on words, in Japanese 'Yume', pronounced
'you may' means 'dream'. Neat, huh? I'm so awesome. This is part of
tormhawk's 'Agents' series and occurs directly after her installment
'Whitman'.
// Denotes something Vincent 'hears' and [] denotes something typed on a computer.
Disclaimer: The Matrix and all affiliated characters and ideas belong to Warner Brothers and the Wachowski brothers. Mimosa and this particular version of the Matrix universe belong to Stormhawk and are used with permission. Vincent Greer is mine.
You-May: Dream
By Overlord Mordax
Vincent stared blankly down at the blue lines of his notebook. The murmur of his seventh grade teacher's voice and the furtive whispers of students around him were coalescing again; building to a throbbing hum, louder then quieter like the unsteady pulse of a dieing heart.
It was nothing new; he'd felt it in the back of his mind off and on for years, but never like this. Previously it had only been a quiet, untenable babbling the breaking of waves on a rocky shore. Now it was building to crescendo in the back of his mind, threatening to overwhelm his thoughts and his sanity. It was like standing in the middle of a screaming mob but the sound kept dying out and roaring up. Louder and quieter...He could almost...pick out...the words.
Blood pounded in his ears.
"Vincent?" It was the teacher.
He looked upwards. She strange somehow, as though she was a picture, cut out and pasted on an unconvincing backdrop.
"What?" he mumbled, blinking, trying to bring his vision back into its normal focus.
"The answer Mr. Greer. Answer the question."
/- fails to pay attention in class./
"That's not so!" he insisted.
The teacher seemed taken aback, and the class stared at him.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"Why did you say that?" he growled.
"Say what?" she looked a little nervous.
"You said I never pay attention. That not true, and even if it was, it's really rude for you to say it out loud," he growled. He pushed a strand of shoulder length jet hair out of his face and crossed his arms, glaring at her. The pounding in his head was working to erase his normally cool exterior. He could hear whispering, hisses in the back of his mind, almost like voices.
"I-I didn't say that," Miss Rosalie said, sounding unsure of herself.
/-tickets to the concert?/
/buy up all of TNC sell-/
/Oh my god, he is like sooo hot sha-/
/Je ne vais pas-/
/-report a burglary in progress./
He could make them out now, clipped phrases and flashes, like someone was channel surfing in his head, an unadulterated rush of words like a tidal wave.
"Shut up! Shut UP!" Vincent clasped his hands to his ears, a grimace tearing across his face, the sensation amounting to a physical pain. "I SAID SHUT UP!" He stood quickly, stumbling from his chair, shaking and trembling.
/I'm calling about your son Jack Turner-/
/Operator, get me out of here!/
/Saturday sounds fine-/
The pain was too much for him. With a sound that was less a scream than a moan, he collapsed to the floor and everything went black.
/911, I need an ambulance, a student just collapsed!/
In the blackness and the haze the voices fell and melted back into a dull, unnoticeable hum, only to be replaced by something else. Vincent Greer felt himself reliving a memory that was all but forgotten.
It wasn't really that long ago in the scheme of things, three years at the most. He was walking home from school, lost in the comic book he'd shoved in his backpack that morning, not paying a bit of attention to the outside world. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but somehow it really didn't occur to him that he could be hit by a car. That was something that only happened to other people. It wasn't really that he was arrogant; he was just completely convinced that he was so boring that nothing of any interest would ever happen to him. That included accidents and strange diseases.
And it wasn't a car that hit him, it was a guy dressed in trashy black clothing, who the boy didn't see until his butt had already made contact with the pavement.
The man who'd knocked him down didn't even stop for so much as an 'I'm so sorry, let me help you up' or even a sharp 'watch where you're going!'. He just kept running like the hounds of hell were right behind him. In fact Vincent had never seen anyone run so fast. He was about to.
Getting himself up he saw another man run by, gaining on the first. This man was dressed in a sharp suit and sunglasses, obviously some sort of government official or secret police. Which meant the first guy was some kind of criminal. Well, he hoped the jerk got caught.
Vincent rubbed his elbow watching him pursue the criminal down the street. They were running so fast, like kung-fu guys in movies. The suit cornered him and Vincent stood transfixed as they traded blows. They way they were going it was like Dragon Ball Z!
Vincent blinked as he thought he heard something.
/Operator, I need an out!/
/The apartment behind you, fourth floor, room 407./
Then, amazingly, he saw the criminal leap twenty, maybe thirty feet straight into the air and land on a window ledge. He quickly turned and started scaling the building. But the man in the suit stood there.
'C'mon man', Vincent thought. 'You're not going to let him get away?' Another part of him was asking, 'how the hell is he doing that?'.
Then all of a sudden, the man in the suit disappeared.
Vincent blinked and shook his head, completely unsure of what he'd seen. He looked back up to the building where the criminal was pulling himself up to a fourth floor ledge. He climbed up and reached for the window.
The window opened. Standing in it with a grim smile was the man in the suit. He pointed a gun at the man and coldly he fired. The criminal was hit, his grip on the ledge released and he fell four stories to the pavement.
Transfixed, something happened to Vincent's vision. It felt like he was somehow zooming in, and he could see the suited man in the fourth story window as if he was standing right in front of him. The man put two fingers near his ear.
/I got him./
The man turned and walked away from the window and Vincent's sight snapped back to its normal magnification. He shook his head, unsure of what he'd just seen. He couldn't tell anybody about this, they'd never believe him! He wasn't quite sure he believed it himself.
Silently he picked his comic up off the ground where it had fallen and continued on his way home. That was when the buzzing started.
***
Vincent woke up to hospital white sheets and put a hand to his temple. How could he have forgotten that? But he had, until just now. But when, and where, was now? He looked around. He was obviously in the hospital. That's right, he'd collapsed in class, and they must have called nine-one-one.
Taking a deep breath to clear his head, he felt the buzzing again. It had never really left. But this time he closed his eyes, and for the first time focused on listening to what it was instead of trying to shut it out.
/Doctor Mason to room 283, Doctor Mason/
/I'd like to make an appointment for Friday./
/No Pam, I won't forget the groceries/
/I'm sorry sir, I think you must have the wrong number/.
Wrong number? Then it hit him; these weren't voices in his head that he was imagining. Somehow he was hearing people's phone calls! But how? It must have something to do with the fight he'd seen. A slow grin spread over his face. It was really happening to him; that was, if he wasn't completely insane and imagining things. But somehow he didn't think he was crazy. He felt somehow saner than he ever had before. He listened again.
/I'd like to open a checking account./
/Sally, why don't you check on Greer in 307, see if he's awake yet/
Vincent opened his eyes. That was about him. He sat up and focused his clear blue eyes on the door, wondering how long it would take the nurse to get there.
It wasn't long.
She opened the door.
"Hi Sally," he greeted.
"H-"she blinked and took a step back. "Oh, you are awake! You were out for ten hours you know. Your mother was very worried."
He nodded.
"How did you know my name?" she asked thoughtfully.
He shrugged. "Name tag."
"Oh, right." She smiled a sterile nurse smile. "The doctor thinks you've had a nervous breakdown, so I'm afraid you might be here a few weeks."
He nodded again.
"If you get bored there's a computer you can use. It's very exciting, we just got the internet. Do you know what that is?"
He smiled thoughtfully. "It uses phone lines to send info to other computers, doesn't it?"
"Oh! So you already know how it works?"
"No, but I'm sure I could learn."
She smiled at him. "Well, I'd better go tell the doctor you're awake. If there's anything you need just push the red button." She turned left the room, the door swinging closed behind her.
Vincent Greer grinned. Her nametag said Nurse Browncroft.
***
Six years later
***
The young man watched his computer monitor, sitting attentively rather than slumped as most of the computer junkies he knew these days. His sleek black hair was swept back behind his ears into a ponytail at the nape of his neck and he was sipping a Mountain Dew. He was sitting in a darkened bedroom, covered in posters for various bands and movies, his feet were resting propped up on the edge of his desk and he was wearing very new looking blue jeans and a grey shirt with a yin-yang on the back. His ears were uncovered, but chunky, metallic looking headphones blasted symphonic Scandinavian death metal out around his neck and a pair of sunglasses were resting on top of his head. On the monitor flashed news reports of various types of news reports, most of them about hackers and some terrorist activity.
Vincent, who now usually went by his last name Greer, had been tracking Morpheus for a long time now. It had started with strange posts he'd found on boards now and then when he was surfing the net, and with clips and phrases caught out of the ephemera of his mind when he left his strange sixth sense of 'open channel'.
He didn't really care for this Morpheus, from what little he'd heard of him, but Greer had had this feeling for years now when he opened up his mind to the flow, that there was something bigger, something he was just barely missing. He felt sometimes when he came out of his room; like he was still sitting there staring at his computer although he wouldn't have been able to say just what it was that gave him that feeling. He thought that maybe Morpheus could tell him what it meant, if no one else could. Maybe then he'd know what the Matrix was.
He'd finished high school the year before and was taking a year off before starting college. He told his mother it was because he wanted to get a feel for what the real world was like before he went back to school. That was true, just not in the sense he let his mother believe.
He spent his days working at the video store and his nights looking for answers, and hacking just for the fun of it. It was so easy for him, all he had to do was wait and if someone was using a phone line for their connection he could intercept almost any information they sent, within his fifty-mile radius. Unfortunately that was as far as he could extend his abilities, though it was a great leap from his original five miles. But still he wanted to know the how and the why. It wasn't enough for him just to be able to do this thing; he had to know what made it work.
Speaking of which, work was what he was late for. But he didn't really feel like going, not today. If they fired him he could always get another job. It was only for appearances anyway, he got most of his money from transferring out of other peoples accounts. He had a beautiful system in place. Every time someone made a deposited in their account .1 cents on the dollar was transferred to his own account and with all the people who used banks, boy did that add up.
He didn't want to leave today because he felt he was close to something, very close. He could almost taste it. He looked up at the ceiling and drank in the feeling of words being passed from one place to another. The pain was long gone, replaced by a heady rush from the experience.
/transferring-/
/validate password/
/What do you mean he stole the car?/
/683namd26dj/
/Wasn't that a great movie?/
/Greer/
He looked down. His monitor had gone black; on the screen was his name in a jagged green font.
[There's not much time.]
[For what? I thought the meeting wasn't until tonight.]
[No time. They're coming. You want to meet Morpheus?]
[Yeah] Damn straight he did.
[You'll have to go out the window]
The window?! [I'M ON THE THIRD FLOOR!!]
[Just GO!]
He looked over to the window. Could he do that?
Someone knocked on his door.
[Too late]
The computer screen went black.
There was a knock at the door again. Greer grimaced. Should he answer it? Or try the window. He wanted to meet Morpheus but...He stood up and walked to the window; he peered down at the street. No way.
They knocked again.
"Vincent Greer?" a female voice.
That clinched it. Tentatively he walked to the other side of the room and put his hand on the knob.
"Mr. Greer we'd like to talk to you." A male voice this time. "We know you're in there."
Damn. He twisted the knob and slowly opened the door. There were two people in identical suits and sunglasses, a man and a young woman. They looked very official. Had he been caught? God damn it!
"Mr. Greer, we'd like to come in," the man said.
Greer frowned. "Have you got a warrant?" he demanded. "I know my rights..." he warned.
The woman smiled rather reassuringly. "We just want to talk to you."
The man's face wasn't quite so pleasant. The addendum 'for the moment' was written all over his face. Greer could sense the game of 'good cop, bad cop' coming from a mile away.
But there was nothing he could do about it. He sighed and searched for the light switch with his free hand. He found it and winced as the light came on.
"C'mon in," he said resignedly.
The two suits walked into his studio apartment and Greer could sense the disapproval radiating from the man.
"Sorry it's a mess," he said. "Have a seat?" he offered it to the woman. "I've only got the one chair and the bed."
"Thanks," the woman, who was rather attractive, in a contained, businesslike manner, sat down.
"I'll stand," her partner said dryly.
"Smith-"she warned him.
Smith sat down stiffly on the edge of the bed. Greer sat down as far away from him as possible.
"Now, I'm Agent Mimosa, and this is Agent Smith. We're here for two reasons, one is because we know you've been contacted by a man named Morpheus, and the other is because we know about your...abilities."
This was a real jaw dropper for Greer. Not that his actual jaw dropped, but he did stare at Mimosa for a good moment and a half until Smith spoke.
"We also know your history of computer theft and bank fraud," Greer could swear he saw a smirk tug at Smith's lips as he said that. Smith folded his hands in his lap. "You have come to a crossroads in your life, Mr. Greer, and you have three paths in front of you."
"And these are?" he asked, with a 'give me more info' gesture.
"One," Smith began," you agree to cooperate with us and give us the information on Morpheus, after which we leave you and your life in peace."
"Two," Mimosa continued, "you act like a jackass and refuse to give us the information, in which case we kill you."
Greer grimaced. "I.... think I like the first one better." He rubbed his neck. These guys were pretty serious. And hadn't he seen that same outfit they were both wearing somewhere before?
"Oh, but you haven't heard the best one yet," she said with a hint of a grin.
"Oh yeah?" he raised an eyebrow.
"You went to Morpheus for information, understanding," Smith said, "Morpheus is not the only one who possesses this, and that which he would give you is flawed at best."
Mimosa snorted derisively. "Flawed? It's a dirty trick."
"And your information is right?"
Smith nodded. "Indeed."
"Care to share it with me?"
The partners exchanged a glance.
"Morpheus would tell you that 'the Matrix' as he calls it, is a mere construct, a dream world. In truth it is far from it," Smith said. "Over one hundred years ago the human race succeeded in what it had been threatening to do for centuries and made their world almost completely uninhabitable. Thus the Matrix was created, a simulation perfect in nearly every way. In the Matrix humanity can live it's life out in peace and comfort whereas without it there would be much suffering and more death. The Matrix was created by the machines for the benefit of humanity, but Morpheus would tell you otherwise. He believes humanity, to be, oppressed, subjugated by the Matrix, when in truth they are free because of it. The Earth he and his rebellion would have you accept as superior simply because it is what he deems 'the truth' is a blasted wasteland."
Greer stared at him. "So all this," he waved his arm around, "is some kind of a computer program?"
Mimosa nodded.
He touched his hand to the bed, felt the soft, rumpled sheets and touched the cool paint of the wall. He took a breath of the slightly stale air of his apartment.
"And you expect me to believe this?" he asked.
"Yes," Smith answered.
"Good, because I do." He smiled. "All my life I've felt like there was something I was missing and now- why would anyone want to destroy it?" he shivered as he marveled at the complexity of the angle of his computer. All this was just a VR program. That. Was. So. Cool.
Mimosa shrugged. "My theory is they're all deranged."
Greer grinned. "Good theory. But, what does it all have to do with me? And what about my gift? And who are you, anyway?"
"There are certain people who are more 'in tune' with the way the Matrix works than others," Smith told him. "Sometimes this is a natural occurrence. Sometimes it is triggered by an encounter with a rebel or with one of us. We are Agents, we keep order within the Matrix and make sure that the rebels are unable to achieve their goals."
"That's where I've seen it before!" Greer burst.
They hardly looked surprised.
"When I was around ten years old I saw a guy dressed exactly like you fight some guy in black, one of the rebels I'd guess. The whole thing defied the laws of physics. And that was when the buzzing in my head started, didn't figure out what it was for years though." He shrugged. "Mighty cool."
Mimosa nodded, smiling with a sort of nostalgia, like he knew what he was going through.
"Yes," Smith said, "This ability of yours to intercept telephonic transmissions within the Matrix is unusual in even many of the most gifted of those who are 'tuned in'. We feel that it would be quite useful to us; which brings us to your third choice, Mr. Greer."
Now Greer was certain that Smith was attempting not to smile. Greer himself was having trouble schooling his expression. "Lemme guess, this is the part where you tell me you want me to join your organization."
"Oo, he's sharp," Mimosa quipped.
"In joining us you would receive training in many more areas. You saw an Agent in action, didn't you? And you would no longer be closeted away in this, ordinary life, which we know you hate. Awareness of the Matrix unfortunately seems to ruin a large amount of its appeal for you humans." Smith didn't seem quite so terrible as when he'd first entered the apartment, though he was still quite imposing.
But this last bit threw Greer. "Hold on a sec, you lost me. 'You humans'?"
"Agents are to the large extent, sentient programming. We lack physical bodies," Smith informed him.
"Oh. And yet you want me, a human, to sign up."
"Some humans are...exceptional." He and Mimosa shared a glance.
"O...kay." He was still rather confused on the last point, but figured it would clear itself up later. He finally let the grin break through from his mind to his face. "Where do I sign up?"
"Start with what you know about Morpheus."
***
"Damn!" Tank growled.
"No luck?" Trinity asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
He shook his head. "They got another one, Trin. I can't trace him. I thought we were supposed to be winning this war."
"A war isn't without losses. We've all learned that."
"But shouldn't Neo be able to..." he trailed off, making a vague gesture.
"We can't help everyone, not even Neo. And some people don't want our help." Her lips tightened grimly.
"You think they're recruiting him?"
"They look for almost the same traits we do. Let's just say I wouldn't count on him showing up to the meeting tonight."
"I hate it, Trinity, I hate fighting humans."
She shook her head. "We're not, Tank. Humanity isn't just a DNA code. It's a state of mind, a conscious decision and set of morals. Anyone who would make the choice to join the Agents gives up any true humanity they might ever have had, even if they still have a human body."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he went back to scanning the monitors and muttered, "it still bothers me though."
***
Greer stood with Smith and Mimosa inside a large training facility. He was led through a room where several other young men and women were practicing martial arts and other forms of combat training with speed and strength and reflexes that would have put Spiderman to shame. Greer stared in awe.
Mimosa leaned close to him. "Yeah, you'll be able to do that."
"Awesome..." He stared entranced around the room as he was led into another, one with less people in it. Besides the three of them there was another Agent and a young woman, roughly Greer's age.
"Where is Brown?" Smith asked.
"He has been unable to locate a suitable recruit, we will begin without him," the agent answered.
Smith nodded.
"That's Agent Jones," Mimosa told him quietly.
"The first test is this," Jones gestured to a thirty-foot brick wall that had not been there a moment before. "Jump over the wall and then back. Those who fail will be expelled from training."
Jones' recruit, who had an air of immaturity about her perhaps stemming from her short blonde pigtails, rubbed her hands together eagerly. She turned to Greer. "You wanna go first or can I?"
"Ladies first," he said with a smile. He wanted to see how the girl handled the challenge.
"Okay, here we go," she cracked her knuckles and took a few steps backwards, and ran forward. She took a flying leap almost straight up into the air and, seeing that she was going to come up just short, grabbed the top of the wall and did a handspring, landing on the other side.
"Woooohooo!" came her exuberant cry. "Now that is better than sky diving!" She did the same trick back over.
Out of the corner of his eye Greer saw Smith give Jones a wry look and Jones make a reticent and non-committal gesture.
"It's your turn," Mimosa informed him.
He nodded. "Gimme a sec." He took a deep breath and looked at the wall. It was almost the exact height that he'd seen the rebel jump those nine years ago. Could he really jump it? Of course he could! After all, his 'body' was just another avatar, wasn't it, like in his computer games and jumping the wall was nothing more than a hack. It was just like entering moon-jumps on Super Mario with a Game Genie and jumping over all the enemies. Well it looked like he had the Game Genie codes for life now. Idly he wondered, as he stepped to the wall, if there was an 'infinite lives' cheat?
With a look over his shoulder at the Agents, who seemed just a little impatient, he crossed his arms and jumped straight up and three feet over the wall to the other side, landing in the same, stoic position as he had left the ground. Then he dropped to a crouch and did a handspring back over landing with a look of composure and only the hint of a smirk betraying how exhilarating the experience had been. The Agents hadn't seemed terribly impressed with the girl's high-spirited behavior, but Greer thought they looked impressed with his. Not that their expressions changed much, except maybe Mimosa's.
"Well done," Smith said. "The two of you passed. You will both progress to the next stage. Please follow me."
Greer and the girl followed behind Smith as they were led into another room, this one with shelves and shelves of weaponry. Greer grinned.
"My name's Kin, short for Kindred," he heard Jones' recruit say. "What's your name?"
"Greer," he replied distractedly, watching as Smith selected various guns and gave them out. Kin and Greer had been joined by two other recruits in this room they too were outfitted with armaments.
"You will need these for the remainder of the testing," Smith informed them. "For the next stage of the test you will patrol city mock up with a partner as though you had passed the next stages. There will be simulations of places that the rebels normally recruit from."
Greer was partnered with brown haired, muscled young man and they were set to patrol the simulation of a college campus. In the sim it was dusk and many students were wandering outside; it was a nice evening.
"Man, this is just like my college," Greer's partner said. "Do you go to college? I go to the University of Rochester. Went, I guess. What about you?"
Greer shrugged. "Didn't go to college."
"Really? Man, college is sweet. But-"he looked around again. "Damn, it's so real. I wouldn't be able to tell. It kind of makes you wonder..."
He raised a dark eyebrow. "About?"
"If we're doing the right thing. I mean, maybe Morpheus has a poi-"
He never got a chance to finish. In a liquid movement he had his gun out and pulled the trigger. The other recruit fell dead, and none of the simulated college students turned a hair.
"What made you do that?" Mimosa was standing behind him.
Greer turned. "He was showing appreciation for the rebels. I figured he'd end up betraying us."
"Good. You've passed," she told him.
"So it was a test?"
"To place your own loyalties, the Agency's suffered traitors before. But in the end, it was the traitors that suffered." She smiled rather wickedly.
Greer grinned as the simulation flickered out and he was standing in a bare room. Kin, Jones and Smith were also standing there; Kin looked rather green.
"Did she pass?" he asked.
"Barely," Smith replied.
Kin looked up at him and smiled weakly.
"When's the next test?" Greer asked, eagerly awaiting the next challenge. All his school years he'd been pushed around, but now he'd found that it didn't matter that he was underweight and unmuscled. He wanted action.
"In a moment," Smith replied. "You should know that only one in fifty recruits make it to the next test."
"That's two in a hundred," Kin said.
"And of those who do, only one in ten of them makes it past that next test."
"Bring it on," Kin said, but she didn't sound as sure of herself as in the beginning.
"Are you ready?" Smith asked Greer.
He ran a hand through his dark hair, "Yeah," he replied, "like Kin said, bring it on."
"Very well, follow me."
It was a fight simulator. Kin looked bad. Greer thought back to his N64 and his James Bond Goldeneye video game. There was a cheat he'd discovered in it, tap the R and L buttons fast enough and Bond went into what Greer had called 'seizure mode'. That was he jerked so quickly back and forth that the bullets couldn't hit him, he dodged them. If Greer was strong enough to jump over thirty foot walls, shouldn't he be fast enough to dodge bullets?
He realized as the simulation began, that he'd BETTER damn well be able to dodge bullets. Facing him and Kin was a large swat team and a hand full of rebels, twenty or more opponents in all, and armed to the teeth.
Instantly he was subjected to a barrage of gunfire directed at him. The world became a focused screen to him, full of enemies, and the world seemed to slow down as he managed to react quickly enough to dodge all of the bullets directed at him. Rolling behind a trashcan for cover he shot four times, bringing down three of the swat members and a rebel. Kin, he saw, had taken out two more swats.
Greer felt a mental tug.
/Operator get us an exit!/
/HQ, send backup!/
One of the rebels had a phone and the swat team was calling for back up. Jumping over the trashcan Greer delivered a flying kick to the caller smashing his head to the pavement while simultaneously shooting the swat leader with his phone. No backup, no exit. He turned and shot two more of the swats. He felt something coming towards him and ducked just in time to miss being brained by a rebel's kung-fu. He grabbed the man's ankle and threw him into a telephone pole, but amazing the man got up.
Greer raised his gun to finish the man but found himself empty. Damn! He dropped the gun and whipped out a throwing knife, and pinned the rebel to the pole by his neck.
Jumping at one of the remaining swat members he spun in the air and grabbed onto the man's head with his feet, twisting and breaking the swats neck. He stole the fallen man's gun as he landed beside him in a crouch and stood, spinning around in time to see Kin shot through the heart by the last rebel. Dodging a number more the rebel, a female, directed at him, he emptied the rest of the swat's clip at her, but to no avail.
Both of them empty again the rebel tried to run for it. He took off after her, grabbing a fallen rebel's gun as he did. He took a flying leap and landed right in front of the fleeing rebel.
"Boo," he said, shooting her. The last rebel fell and he alone stood on the battlefield.
The simulation disappeared, but Kin's body did not. This rather surprised Greer, he'd rather thought since it was just a simulation that she'd be okay. But, even as he looked at her, he realized that what did it matter when the whole world was just a simulation?
Smith and Mimosa stepped into view.
"You passed the test," Mimosa told him.
"I didn't save her," Greer said uncomfortably. "Shouldn't that mean I failed?"
"It was not required; if you survive, you pass," Smith informed him.
"But what about her?"
"She was unsuitable. She will be taken to the morgue."
Greer raised an eyebrow. "You have a morgue?"
"And a medical facility," Mimosa said. She seemed to find something funny, but Greer couldn't tell what.
"Well," Greer said, rubbing his arm. "I guess I'm ready for the next test."
"There isn't one," she told him.
"That's it?" he stared.
"That's it," she nodded.
"Well then, now what?" he asked, leaning on the wall, watching as someone came and took Kindred's body away. He realized he hadn't know what her full name was, or if that was her real name at all.
"Now you get outfitted. I'll take him Smith," she said.
Smith nodded, and left the room.
"Well, welcome to the team," Mimosa said.
"Thanks. I guess I can figure out what 'getting outfitted' means, huh."
"Is it that obvious?" she chuckled. "C'mon." She led him to yet another door, giving Greer the distinct impression that not all of the doors were there all the time, which was probably true.
"As Smith would say, welcome to the place only one in five hundred recruits get to see," she opened the door. It was a very large room, filled with rows and rows of pristine Agent suits, weapons and sunglasses. As Mimosa went and shuffled through the suits, Greer picked up a pair of sunglasses off the rack. He liked sunglasses despite having left his own set of shades at his apartment. He liked these better anyway.
As he turned around Mimosa handed him a suit. "Here, this should fit you. The changing room's over there."
"Thanks," he nodded taking them.
"You can call me Stef," she smiled.
He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"Yep. But not in front of Brown or Jones."
He shrugged. "All right Stef," He swung the suit over his shoulder and walked into the changing room. The suit was actually quite comfortable and offered a wide range of freedom of movement. It had to. He slipped on the shades.
He walked out of the changing room to see Stef grinning at him.
He smirked. "Is there a mirror anywhere around here?" he asked, looking around.
"No, but you can Require one."
"Huh?" he blinked.
She grinned. "It's a useful trick. Just think Require, and what you need and you'll have it."
"Really?"
"Really."
"That does sound useful," he agreed and thought 'Require, mirror, full length.'
And in front of him a full length mirror appeared, standing with a mahogany frame against the open air. Greer stood in front of it, admiring his reflection. He looked like any other Agent; his only recognizable features his tied black hair, thick eyebrows and hawk-like nose.
"Lookin' sharp," he muttered to himself.
"Too bad it isn't suitable for the mission we have lined up for you."
"Yeah? Then why'd you have me change?"
"So you could get the feel for it."
Behind the shades he rolled his eyes. "So what's my mission?"
"It might not seem like it, but you've only been here a few hours. You have a meeting to get to." She gave a wry smile.
That was right. He'd completely forgotten that he was supposed to meet Morpheus at ten! Require, watch. It was 9:30! "What exactly am I supposed to do?"
"It is unlikely that you would be able to capture or kill either of our primary targets, Neo or Morpheus. You're going to keep them busy until we can track you and get in. Or, if things go bad, which they might, take down as many as you can and try not to get yourself killed."
He nodded.
"They'll be suspicious of you at first, since you've dropped off their 'radar' for a few hours now, right as we came to get you. Do your best to convince them you're on their side."
"In other words, lie my ass off."
"You could put it that way. Now, change back and grab a weapon. Oh, and there's one other thing we better do."
***
"I found him!" Tank exclaimed finally.
Neo too was standing with him this time. "Don't get your hopes up. Where?"
"His apartment, he's headed to the meeting point."
"Then I guess we'd better be there to meet him."
"He's probably one of them you know," Trinity said.
"I know. That's why Morpheus is staying here this time. If we find out his clean. Then he'll come down. Let's get this done. Tank."
Tank nodded and began the set up procedures.
***
Greer stood under the streetlight at the corner of fifth and main, waiting. It was one minute to ten. He looked up the street and saw a black car with tinted widows driving towards him. It stopped in front of him. The door opened.
"Get in," the woman in the back said.
He approached the car and got in. The door swung shut and locked.
"Take off your shirt," the woman commanded.
"What?" he tried to sound surprised.
"Do it. You're probably bugged."
He pulled off his shirt, knowing what was coming. Mimosa had said they wouldn't believe a word of his story unless they bugged him.
Trinity pulled out a large, scary-looking device and pressed it to his stomach. Greer braced himself.
"There it is," Trinity said.
The man in front with short, dark hair looked mildly surprised.
The device emitted a burst of electrical energy into his stomach. Painfully the bug was sucked out into a jar.
"That happened?!" Greer exclaimed.
"What happened?" Trinity demanded, throwing the jar out the window.
"I couldn't go out the window," he shook his head. "Just couldn't do it. They grabbed me, to me to some weird building and questioned me. When I wouldn't tell them anything they put, eeg, that, in me and I woke up in my room. It was just before we had to meet, and I kinda thought the whole thing was a dream, nightmare really." He rubbed his neck. "I guess not."
Trinity and Neo exchanged a look.
"Who were those suits anyway? They weren't the feds, were they?"
"Agents," Neo answered. "You didn't tell them anything?"
Greer shook his head. "Damn man, sell out? To guys who look like that? You gotta be kidding me. Besides, I have to meet Morpheus."
"We're here," the driver, a blonde, said.
Neo and Trinity looked at each other again. The two nodded.
"Come with us." The car doors opened.
It was a condemned hotel that they entered, though it must have been very expensive in it's time with checkerboard floor tiles and the remains of fancy upholstery. They led him up a squarely spiraled staircase several floors and stopped in front of a door at the end of the hallway.
"Wait out here," Neo told him as he, Trinity and the driver went inside. The door swung shut behind them.
Greer leaned against the wall, waiting again. He'd come without any way to communicate but he'd be able to hear when the Agents had a trace on his location when they relayed the information to one another. Feeling a tug he opened up his sense.
But it wasn't any of the Agents.
/Tank, we're pretty sure he's clean. Send Morpheus down./
/Damn it's good to hear that Neo. It's been a while since we've had any good news./
And it'll be a while longer, Greer thought wryly.
/I'm sending him in./
Trinity opened the door.
"The doctor will see me now?" he guessed with a wry smile and a wink.
She smiled tightly back and led him into the room. Neo was standing there along with two other new looking rebels and a man who could only have been Morpheus, a tall black man with frameless sunglasses.
"You're Morpheus?" Greer asked.
The man nodded. "Sit." He gestured to two old, red chairs which faced each other. Greer sat in one, the rebel leader sat in the other.
"I know why you're here," Morpheus said. "You're here because all your life you've known something about the world, something you couldn't quite put your finger on; something intangible. You want to know what it is. It is the question that drove you to seek me out; it is the question that drives us all. You know what I'm talking about."
"What is the Matrix?" Greer said on cue. It was a much-practiced sounding speech; as though he'd said it so many times before that it had become automatic. Every potential rebel that entered this room probably heard nearly the same spiel.
"The Matrix is all around us. In this room, out there. It is in this chair and in your clothing." He gave a dramatic pause. "Unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."
Greer barely stopped himself from snorting derisively. So that was how he got them to join him. He took them out without ever giving them the full story. It was a cheap, dirty trick.
Morpheus held out to him two pills, one red, and one blue. "If you take the blue pill it all goes away, you wake up in your room and believe whatever you want. If you take the red pill you stay in wonderland, and see just how deep the rabbit hole goes."
Greer tensed. He hoped they'd get a trace on him soon; he couldn't sit there, pretending to deliberate too long. He looked back and forth between the red and blue pills as though trying to decide which one to take. How many people had Morpheus caught this way? Dragging them forcibly from their lives by enticing their curiosity. He knew he hadn't met the Agents first they would have had him too. How could anyone live with themselves never knowing what the red pill did? Greer imagined that there must be very few people who had gone back to their normal lives after speaking with Morpheus.
/We have a lock on his location/
/We're going in/
With a wide grin Greer reached with his left hand for the pill and with his right hand for his gun bringing up to level with Morpheus' face and pulled the trigger.
But with reflexes just as fast as his own Neo leapt from the corner of the room and threw his leader out of the way, taking the bullet himself in the shoulder and pulling out his own gun.
"He's an Agent!" Trinity screeched, firing at Greer. "Get Morpheus out!!"
A hail of bullets flew towards the Agent recruit from every corner of the room. Dodging them with lightning speed he knew he had to break the phone before Morpheus got to it. Shooting two of the unnamed rebels he twisted around to see their leader pick up the receiver. Greer fired his bullet speeding towards the telephone and shattering it...a moment too late. Morpheus was gone.
But that still left Neo, Trinity and one more, and Greer was empty. He swore violently.
The door flew open and Smith and Mimosa were in the room, guns in hand. The last unnamed rebel went down.
"Zip!" Trinity cried to her fallen companion.
"Trin, run!" Neo shouted, launching himself at Smith as he fired his gun at him. "Just go!"
Trinity hesitated long enough that Mimosa had gotten a clean shot at her, or thought she had. The rebel managed to threw herself to the ground just in time. Greer jumped her bringing Trinity crashing to the floor a second time and the two rolled on the floor exchanging blows.
Someone fired a shot and Greer heard a dull thud. He saw Mimosa fighting with Neo and where was Smith? The body of a homeless man lay on the floor. He looked up and the distraction gave Trinity the edge to throw him off and leap towards the door.
/There's a phone in the room at the end of the hall Trin, they didn't have time to cut the hardlines!/
Greer leapt up and towards her as she yanked the door open. She sprinted down the hall and Greer remembered something. Require gun! He lifted his hand to fire and was brought down from behind as Neo jumped him tackled him to the ground, his gun sliding across the floor. The two rolled frantically on the ground trying to get the upper hand as Trinity made it to the end of the hallway and into the room with the ringing phone. The phone stopped ringing, she was out. Neo delivered a devastating blow to his jaw.
Two pairs of footsteps raced up the stair ringing with gunfire. Neo leapt up to dodge the bullets and raced towards the end of the hallway with Smith and Mimosa behind him. How had they gotten downstairs? Wincing from the pain in his jaw he leapt up and rather than retrieve his lost gun he required a new one and followed the chase down the hall. Several of the Agents' shots seemed to connect with Neo but they didn't stop him. He skidded into the room and picked up the phone just as it was destroyed by a bullet. Neo had gotten away too.
Greer slumped against the wall and slid to the floor. Even though he knew it wasn't real he whole body ached like hell, especially where Neo had tagged him in the jaw.
Smith was glaring coldly at the phone. "One day you won't escape me, Mr. Anderson."
Stef put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay Smith. We'll get him. Hey, where's Greer?" She looked around and found him slumped on the floor. "Oh shit, Smith, I forgot. He's human. He's gonna need some medical attention."
"You're right," Smith nodded and the three of them were in the medical facility.
"Damn," Greer growled through clenched teeth.
"You did good," Mimosa said with a nod.
"Three of them got away," he protested. "Morpheus...and Anderson."
"As Smith here says, Mr. Anderson is annoyingly hard to kill."
The male agent nodded with a grimace.
"He'd also like to say that he also thinks you did a good job. Isn't that right?"
With an expression that looked almost like a disgruntled pout, Smith agreed. "I would not have selected you as a recruit were you unworthy to be an Agent. Only one other recruit has encountered Anderson and survived." He glanced at Mimosa.
Greer raised an eyebrow. "You picked me? I figured it was Stef, er, Agent Mimosa."
Smith's lips quirked. "Stef had... some say in the matter."
Stef grinned. "So welcome to the team, Greer. Glad to have you aboard."
"Indeed," her partner nodded.
Greer would have grinned, but his jaw hurt too much.
End
...for now
// Denotes something Vincent 'hears' and [] denotes something typed on a computer.
Disclaimer: The Matrix and all affiliated characters and ideas belong to Warner Brothers and the Wachowski brothers. Mimosa and this particular version of the Matrix universe belong to Stormhawk and are used with permission. Vincent Greer is mine.
You-May: Dream
By Overlord Mordax
Vincent stared blankly down at the blue lines of his notebook. The murmur of his seventh grade teacher's voice and the furtive whispers of students around him were coalescing again; building to a throbbing hum, louder then quieter like the unsteady pulse of a dieing heart.
It was nothing new; he'd felt it in the back of his mind off and on for years, but never like this. Previously it had only been a quiet, untenable babbling the breaking of waves on a rocky shore. Now it was building to crescendo in the back of his mind, threatening to overwhelm his thoughts and his sanity. It was like standing in the middle of a screaming mob but the sound kept dying out and roaring up. Louder and quieter...He could almost...pick out...the words.
Blood pounded in his ears.
"Vincent?" It was the teacher.
He looked upwards. She strange somehow, as though she was a picture, cut out and pasted on an unconvincing backdrop.
"What?" he mumbled, blinking, trying to bring his vision back into its normal focus.
"The answer Mr. Greer. Answer the question."
/- fails to pay attention in class./
"That's not so!" he insisted.
The teacher seemed taken aback, and the class stared at him.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"Why did you say that?" he growled.
"Say what?" she looked a little nervous.
"You said I never pay attention. That not true, and even if it was, it's really rude for you to say it out loud," he growled. He pushed a strand of shoulder length jet hair out of his face and crossed his arms, glaring at her. The pounding in his head was working to erase his normally cool exterior. He could hear whispering, hisses in the back of his mind, almost like voices.
"I-I didn't say that," Miss Rosalie said, sounding unsure of herself.
/-tickets to the concert?/
/buy up all of TNC sell-/
/Oh my god, he is like sooo hot sha-/
/Je ne vais pas-/
/-report a burglary in progress./
He could make them out now, clipped phrases and flashes, like someone was channel surfing in his head, an unadulterated rush of words like a tidal wave.
"Shut up! Shut UP!" Vincent clasped his hands to his ears, a grimace tearing across his face, the sensation amounting to a physical pain. "I SAID SHUT UP!" He stood quickly, stumbling from his chair, shaking and trembling.
/I'm calling about your son Jack Turner-/
/Operator, get me out of here!/
/Saturday sounds fine-/
The pain was too much for him. With a sound that was less a scream than a moan, he collapsed to the floor and everything went black.
/911, I need an ambulance, a student just collapsed!/
In the blackness and the haze the voices fell and melted back into a dull, unnoticeable hum, only to be replaced by something else. Vincent Greer felt himself reliving a memory that was all but forgotten.
It wasn't really that long ago in the scheme of things, three years at the most. He was walking home from school, lost in the comic book he'd shoved in his backpack that morning, not paying a bit of attention to the outside world. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but somehow it really didn't occur to him that he could be hit by a car. That was something that only happened to other people. It wasn't really that he was arrogant; he was just completely convinced that he was so boring that nothing of any interest would ever happen to him. That included accidents and strange diseases.
And it wasn't a car that hit him, it was a guy dressed in trashy black clothing, who the boy didn't see until his butt had already made contact with the pavement.
The man who'd knocked him down didn't even stop for so much as an 'I'm so sorry, let me help you up' or even a sharp 'watch where you're going!'. He just kept running like the hounds of hell were right behind him. In fact Vincent had never seen anyone run so fast. He was about to.
Getting himself up he saw another man run by, gaining on the first. This man was dressed in a sharp suit and sunglasses, obviously some sort of government official or secret police. Which meant the first guy was some kind of criminal. Well, he hoped the jerk got caught.
Vincent rubbed his elbow watching him pursue the criminal down the street. They were running so fast, like kung-fu guys in movies. The suit cornered him and Vincent stood transfixed as they traded blows. They way they were going it was like Dragon Ball Z!
Vincent blinked as he thought he heard something.
/Operator, I need an out!/
/The apartment behind you, fourth floor, room 407./
Then, amazingly, he saw the criminal leap twenty, maybe thirty feet straight into the air and land on a window ledge. He quickly turned and started scaling the building. But the man in the suit stood there.
'C'mon man', Vincent thought. 'You're not going to let him get away?' Another part of him was asking, 'how the hell is he doing that?'.
Then all of a sudden, the man in the suit disappeared.
Vincent blinked and shook his head, completely unsure of what he'd seen. He looked back up to the building where the criminal was pulling himself up to a fourth floor ledge. He climbed up and reached for the window.
The window opened. Standing in it with a grim smile was the man in the suit. He pointed a gun at the man and coldly he fired. The criminal was hit, his grip on the ledge released and he fell four stories to the pavement.
Transfixed, something happened to Vincent's vision. It felt like he was somehow zooming in, and he could see the suited man in the fourth story window as if he was standing right in front of him. The man put two fingers near his ear.
/I got him./
The man turned and walked away from the window and Vincent's sight snapped back to its normal magnification. He shook his head, unsure of what he'd just seen. He couldn't tell anybody about this, they'd never believe him! He wasn't quite sure he believed it himself.
Silently he picked his comic up off the ground where it had fallen and continued on his way home. That was when the buzzing started.
***
Vincent woke up to hospital white sheets and put a hand to his temple. How could he have forgotten that? But he had, until just now. But when, and where, was now? He looked around. He was obviously in the hospital. That's right, he'd collapsed in class, and they must have called nine-one-one.
Taking a deep breath to clear his head, he felt the buzzing again. It had never really left. But this time he closed his eyes, and for the first time focused on listening to what it was instead of trying to shut it out.
/Doctor Mason to room 283, Doctor Mason/
/I'd like to make an appointment for Friday./
/No Pam, I won't forget the groceries/
/I'm sorry sir, I think you must have the wrong number/.
Wrong number? Then it hit him; these weren't voices in his head that he was imagining. Somehow he was hearing people's phone calls! But how? It must have something to do with the fight he'd seen. A slow grin spread over his face. It was really happening to him; that was, if he wasn't completely insane and imagining things. But somehow he didn't think he was crazy. He felt somehow saner than he ever had before. He listened again.
/I'd like to open a checking account./
/Sally, why don't you check on Greer in 307, see if he's awake yet/
Vincent opened his eyes. That was about him. He sat up and focused his clear blue eyes on the door, wondering how long it would take the nurse to get there.
It wasn't long.
She opened the door.
"Hi Sally," he greeted.
"H-"she blinked and took a step back. "Oh, you are awake! You were out for ten hours you know. Your mother was very worried."
He nodded.
"How did you know my name?" she asked thoughtfully.
He shrugged. "Name tag."
"Oh, right." She smiled a sterile nurse smile. "The doctor thinks you've had a nervous breakdown, so I'm afraid you might be here a few weeks."
He nodded again.
"If you get bored there's a computer you can use. It's very exciting, we just got the internet. Do you know what that is?"
He smiled thoughtfully. "It uses phone lines to send info to other computers, doesn't it?"
"Oh! So you already know how it works?"
"No, but I'm sure I could learn."
She smiled at him. "Well, I'd better go tell the doctor you're awake. If there's anything you need just push the red button." She turned left the room, the door swinging closed behind her.
Vincent Greer grinned. Her nametag said Nurse Browncroft.
***
Six years later
***
The young man watched his computer monitor, sitting attentively rather than slumped as most of the computer junkies he knew these days. His sleek black hair was swept back behind his ears into a ponytail at the nape of his neck and he was sipping a Mountain Dew. He was sitting in a darkened bedroom, covered in posters for various bands and movies, his feet were resting propped up on the edge of his desk and he was wearing very new looking blue jeans and a grey shirt with a yin-yang on the back. His ears were uncovered, but chunky, metallic looking headphones blasted symphonic Scandinavian death metal out around his neck and a pair of sunglasses were resting on top of his head. On the monitor flashed news reports of various types of news reports, most of them about hackers and some terrorist activity.
Vincent, who now usually went by his last name Greer, had been tracking Morpheus for a long time now. It had started with strange posts he'd found on boards now and then when he was surfing the net, and with clips and phrases caught out of the ephemera of his mind when he left his strange sixth sense of 'open channel'.
He didn't really care for this Morpheus, from what little he'd heard of him, but Greer had had this feeling for years now when he opened up his mind to the flow, that there was something bigger, something he was just barely missing. He felt sometimes when he came out of his room; like he was still sitting there staring at his computer although he wouldn't have been able to say just what it was that gave him that feeling. He thought that maybe Morpheus could tell him what it meant, if no one else could. Maybe then he'd know what the Matrix was.
He'd finished high school the year before and was taking a year off before starting college. He told his mother it was because he wanted to get a feel for what the real world was like before he went back to school. That was true, just not in the sense he let his mother believe.
He spent his days working at the video store and his nights looking for answers, and hacking just for the fun of it. It was so easy for him, all he had to do was wait and if someone was using a phone line for their connection he could intercept almost any information they sent, within his fifty-mile radius. Unfortunately that was as far as he could extend his abilities, though it was a great leap from his original five miles. But still he wanted to know the how and the why. It wasn't enough for him just to be able to do this thing; he had to know what made it work.
Speaking of which, work was what he was late for. But he didn't really feel like going, not today. If they fired him he could always get another job. It was only for appearances anyway, he got most of his money from transferring out of other peoples accounts. He had a beautiful system in place. Every time someone made a deposited in their account .1 cents on the dollar was transferred to his own account and with all the people who used banks, boy did that add up.
He didn't want to leave today because he felt he was close to something, very close. He could almost taste it. He looked up at the ceiling and drank in the feeling of words being passed from one place to another. The pain was long gone, replaced by a heady rush from the experience.
/transferring-/
/validate password/
/What do you mean he stole the car?/
/683namd26dj/
/Wasn't that a great movie?/
/Greer/
He looked down. His monitor had gone black; on the screen was his name in a jagged green font.
[There's not much time.]
[For what? I thought the meeting wasn't until tonight.]
[No time. They're coming. You want to meet Morpheus?]
[Yeah] Damn straight he did.
[You'll have to go out the window]
The window?! [I'M ON THE THIRD FLOOR!!]
[Just GO!]
He looked over to the window. Could he do that?
Someone knocked on his door.
[Too late]
The computer screen went black.
There was a knock at the door again. Greer grimaced. Should he answer it? Or try the window. He wanted to meet Morpheus but...He stood up and walked to the window; he peered down at the street. No way.
They knocked again.
"Vincent Greer?" a female voice.
That clinched it. Tentatively he walked to the other side of the room and put his hand on the knob.
"Mr. Greer we'd like to talk to you." A male voice this time. "We know you're in there."
Damn. He twisted the knob and slowly opened the door. There were two people in identical suits and sunglasses, a man and a young woman. They looked very official. Had he been caught? God damn it!
"Mr. Greer, we'd like to come in," the man said.
Greer frowned. "Have you got a warrant?" he demanded. "I know my rights..." he warned.
The woman smiled rather reassuringly. "We just want to talk to you."
The man's face wasn't quite so pleasant. The addendum 'for the moment' was written all over his face. Greer could sense the game of 'good cop, bad cop' coming from a mile away.
But there was nothing he could do about it. He sighed and searched for the light switch with his free hand. He found it and winced as the light came on.
"C'mon in," he said resignedly.
The two suits walked into his studio apartment and Greer could sense the disapproval radiating from the man.
"Sorry it's a mess," he said. "Have a seat?" he offered it to the woman. "I've only got the one chair and the bed."
"Thanks," the woman, who was rather attractive, in a contained, businesslike manner, sat down.
"I'll stand," her partner said dryly.
"Smith-"she warned him.
Smith sat down stiffly on the edge of the bed. Greer sat down as far away from him as possible.
"Now, I'm Agent Mimosa, and this is Agent Smith. We're here for two reasons, one is because we know you've been contacted by a man named Morpheus, and the other is because we know about your...abilities."
This was a real jaw dropper for Greer. Not that his actual jaw dropped, but he did stare at Mimosa for a good moment and a half until Smith spoke.
"We also know your history of computer theft and bank fraud," Greer could swear he saw a smirk tug at Smith's lips as he said that. Smith folded his hands in his lap. "You have come to a crossroads in your life, Mr. Greer, and you have three paths in front of you."
"And these are?" he asked, with a 'give me more info' gesture.
"One," Smith began," you agree to cooperate with us and give us the information on Morpheus, after which we leave you and your life in peace."
"Two," Mimosa continued, "you act like a jackass and refuse to give us the information, in which case we kill you."
Greer grimaced. "I.... think I like the first one better." He rubbed his neck. These guys were pretty serious. And hadn't he seen that same outfit they were both wearing somewhere before?
"Oh, but you haven't heard the best one yet," she said with a hint of a grin.
"Oh yeah?" he raised an eyebrow.
"You went to Morpheus for information, understanding," Smith said, "Morpheus is not the only one who possesses this, and that which he would give you is flawed at best."
Mimosa snorted derisively. "Flawed? It's a dirty trick."
"And your information is right?"
Smith nodded. "Indeed."
"Care to share it with me?"
The partners exchanged a glance.
"Morpheus would tell you that 'the Matrix' as he calls it, is a mere construct, a dream world. In truth it is far from it," Smith said. "Over one hundred years ago the human race succeeded in what it had been threatening to do for centuries and made their world almost completely uninhabitable. Thus the Matrix was created, a simulation perfect in nearly every way. In the Matrix humanity can live it's life out in peace and comfort whereas without it there would be much suffering and more death. The Matrix was created by the machines for the benefit of humanity, but Morpheus would tell you otherwise. He believes humanity, to be, oppressed, subjugated by the Matrix, when in truth they are free because of it. The Earth he and his rebellion would have you accept as superior simply because it is what he deems 'the truth' is a blasted wasteland."
Greer stared at him. "So all this," he waved his arm around, "is some kind of a computer program?"
Mimosa nodded.
He touched his hand to the bed, felt the soft, rumpled sheets and touched the cool paint of the wall. He took a breath of the slightly stale air of his apartment.
"And you expect me to believe this?" he asked.
"Yes," Smith answered.
"Good, because I do." He smiled. "All my life I've felt like there was something I was missing and now- why would anyone want to destroy it?" he shivered as he marveled at the complexity of the angle of his computer. All this was just a VR program. That. Was. So. Cool.
Mimosa shrugged. "My theory is they're all deranged."
Greer grinned. "Good theory. But, what does it all have to do with me? And what about my gift? And who are you, anyway?"
"There are certain people who are more 'in tune' with the way the Matrix works than others," Smith told him. "Sometimes this is a natural occurrence. Sometimes it is triggered by an encounter with a rebel or with one of us. We are Agents, we keep order within the Matrix and make sure that the rebels are unable to achieve their goals."
"That's where I've seen it before!" Greer burst.
They hardly looked surprised.
"When I was around ten years old I saw a guy dressed exactly like you fight some guy in black, one of the rebels I'd guess. The whole thing defied the laws of physics. And that was when the buzzing in my head started, didn't figure out what it was for years though." He shrugged. "Mighty cool."
Mimosa nodded, smiling with a sort of nostalgia, like he knew what he was going through.
"Yes," Smith said, "This ability of yours to intercept telephonic transmissions within the Matrix is unusual in even many of the most gifted of those who are 'tuned in'. We feel that it would be quite useful to us; which brings us to your third choice, Mr. Greer."
Now Greer was certain that Smith was attempting not to smile. Greer himself was having trouble schooling his expression. "Lemme guess, this is the part where you tell me you want me to join your organization."
"Oo, he's sharp," Mimosa quipped.
"In joining us you would receive training in many more areas. You saw an Agent in action, didn't you? And you would no longer be closeted away in this, ordinary life, which we know you hate. Awareness of the Matrix unfortunately seems to ruin a large amount of its appeal for you humans." Smith didn't seem quite so terrible as when he'd first entered the apartment, though he was still quite imposing.
But this last bit threw Greer. "Hold on a sec, you lost me. 'You humans'?"
"Agents are to the large extent, sentient programming. We lack physical bodies," Smith informed him.
"Oh. And yet you want me, a human, to sign up."
"Some humans are...exceptional." He and Mimosa shared a glance.
"O...kay." He was still rather confused on the last point, but figured it would clear itself up later. He finally let the grin break through from his mind to his face. "Where do I sign up?"
"Start with what you know about Morpheus."
***
"Damn!" Tank growled.
"No luck?" Trinity asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
He shook his head. "They got another one, Trin. I can't trace him. I thought we were supposed to be winning this war."
"A war isn't without losses. We've all learned that."
"But shouldn't Neo be able to..." he trailed off, making a vague gesture.
"We can't help everyone, not even Neo. And some people don't want our help." Her lips tightened grimly.
"You think they're recruiting him?"
"They look for almost the same traits we do. Let's just say I wouldn't count on him showing up to the meeting tonight."
"I hate it, Trinity, I hate fighting humans."
She shook her head. "We're not, Tank. Humanity isn't just a DNA code. It's a state of mind, a conscious decision and set of morals. Anyone who would make the choice to join the Agents gives up any true humanity they might ever have had, even if they still have a human body."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he went back to scanning the monitors and muttered, "it still bothers me though."
***
Greer stood with Smith and Mimosa inside a large training facility. He was led through a room where several other young men and women were practicing martial arts and other forms of combat training with speed and strength and reflexes that would have put Spiderman to shame. Greer stared in awe.
Mimosa leaned close to him. "Yeah, you'll be able to do that."
"Awesome..." He stared entranced around the room as he was led into another, one with less people in it. Besides the three of them there was another Agent and a young woman, roughly Greer's age.
"Where is Brown?" Smith asked.
"He has been unable to locate a suitable recruit, we will begin without him," the agent answered.
Smith nodded.
"That's Agent Jones," Mimosa told him quietly.
"The first test is this," Jones gestured to a thirty-foot brick wall that had not been there a moment before. "Jump over the wall and then back. Those who fail will be expelled from training."
Jones' recruit, who had an air of immaturity about her perhaps stemming from her short blonde pigtails, rubbed her hands together eagerly. She turned to Greer. "You wanna go first or can I?"
"Ladies first," he said with a smile. He wanted to see how the girl handled the challenge.
"Okay, here we go," she cracked her knuckles and took a few steps backwards, and ran forward. She took a flying leap almost straight up into the air and, seeing that she was going to come up just short, grabbed the top of the wall and did a handspring, landing on the other side.
"Woooohooo!" came her exuberant cry. "Now that is better than sky diving!" She did the same trick back over.
Out of the corner of his eye Greer saw Smith give Jones a wry look and Jones make a reticent and non-committal gesture.
"It's your turn," Mimosa informed him.
He nodded. "Gimme a sec." He took a deep breath and looked at the wall. It was almost the exact height that he'd seen the rebel jump those nine years ago. Could he really jump it? Of course he could! After all, his 'body' was just another avatar, wasn't it, like in his computer games and jumping the wall was nothing more than a hack. It was just like entering moon-jumps on Super Mario with a Game Genie and jumping over all the enemies. Well it looked like he had the Game Genie codes for life now. Idly he wondered, as he stepped to the wall, if there was an 'infinite lives' cheat?
With a look over his shoulder at the Agents, who seemed just a little impatient, he crossed his arms and jumped straight up and three feet over the wall to the other side, landing in the same, stoic position as he had left the ground. Then he dropped to a crouch and did a handspring back over landing with a look of composure and only the hint of a smirk betraying how exhilarating the experience had been. The Agents hadn't seemed terribly impressed with the girl's high-spirited behavior, but Greer thought they looked impressed with his. Not that their expressions changed much, except maybe Mimosa's.
"Well done," Smith said. "The two of you passed. You will both progress to the next stage. Please follow me."
Greer and the girl followed behind Smith as they were led into another room, this one with shelves and shelves of weaponry. Greer grinned.
"My name's Kin, short for Kindred," he heard Jones' recruit say. "What's your name?"
"Greer," he replied distractedly, watching as Smith selected various guns and gave them out. Kin and Greer had been joined by two other recruits in this room they too were outfitted with armaments.
"You will need these for the remainder of the testing," Smith informed them. "For the next stage of the test you will patrol city mock up with a partner as though you had passed the next stages. There will be simulations of places that the rebels normally recruit from."
Greer was partnered with brown haired, muscled young man and they were set to patrol the simulation of a college campus. In the sim it was dusk and many students were wandering outside; it was a nice evening.
"Man, this is just like my college," Greer's partner said. "Do you go to college? I go to the University of Rochester. Went, I guess. What about you?"
Greer shrugged. "Didn't go to college."
"Really? Man, college is sweet. But-"he looked around again. "Damn, it's so real. I wouldn't be able to tell. It kind of makes you wonder..."
He raised a dark eyebrow. "About?"
"If we're doing the right thing. I mean, maybe Morpheus has a poi-"
He never got a chance to finish. In a liquid movement he had his gun out and pulled the trigger. The other recruit fell dead, and none of the simulated college students turned a hair.
"What made you do that?" Mimosa was standing behind him.
Greer turned. "He was showing appreciation for the rebels. I figured he'd end up betraying us."
"Good. You've passed," she told him.
"So it was a test?"
"To place your own loyalties, the Agency's suffered traitors before. But in the end, it was the traitors that suffered." She smiled rather wickedly.
Greer grinned as the simulation flickered out and he was standing in a bare room. Kin, Jones and Smith were also standing there; Kin looked rather green.
"Did she pass?" he asked.
"Barely," Smith replied.
Kin looked up at him and smiled weakly.
"When's the next test?" Greer asked, eagerly awaiting the next challenge. All his school years he'd been pushed around, but now he'd found that it didn't matter that he was underweight and unmuscled. He wanted action.
"In a moment," Smith replied. "You should know that only one in fifty recruits make it to the next test."
"That's two in a hundred," Kin said.
"And of those who do, only one in ten of them makes it past that next test."
"Bring it on," Kin said, but she didn't sound as sure of herself as in the beginning.
"Are you ready?" Smith asked Greer.
He ran a hand through his dark hair, "Yeah," he replied, "like Kin said, bring it on."
"Very well, follow me."
It was a fight simulator. Kin looked bad. Greer thought back to his N64 and his James Bond Goldeneye video game. There was a cheat he'd discovered in it, tap the R and L buttons fast enough and Bond went into what Greer had called 'seizure mode'. That was he jerked so quickly back and forth that the bullets couldn't hit him, he dodged them. If Greer was strong enough to jump over thirty foot walls, shouldn't he be fast enough to dodge bullets?
He realized as the simulation began, that he'd BETTER damn well be able to dodge bullets. Facing him and Kin was a large swat team and a hand full of rebels, twenty or more opponents in all, and armed to the teeth.
Instantly he was subjected to a barrage of gunfire directed at him. The world became a focused screen to him, full of enemies, and the world seemed to slow down as he managed to react quickly enough to dodge all of the bullets directed at him. Rolling behind a trashcan for cover he shot four times, bringing down three of the swat members and a rebel. Kin, he saw, had taken out two more swats.
Greer felt a mental tug.
/Operator get us an exit!/
/HQ, send backup!/
One of the rebels had a phone and the swat team was calling for back up. Jumping over the trashcan Greer delivered a flying kick to the caller smashing his head to the pavement while simultaneously shooting the swat leader with his phone. No backup, no exit. He turned and shot two more of the swats. He felt something coming towards him and ducked just in time to miss being brained by a rebel's kung-fu. He grabbed the man's ankle and threw him into a telephone pole, but amazing the man got up.
Greer raised his gun to finish the man but found himself empty. Damn! He dropped the gun and whipped out a throwing knife, and pinned the rebel to the pole by his neck.
Jumping at one of the remaining swat members he spun in the air and grabbed onto the man's head with his feet, twisting and breaking the swats neck. He stole the fallen man's gun as he landed beside him in a crouch and stood, spinning around in time to see Kin shot through the heart by the last rebel. Dodging a number more the rebel, a female, directed at him, he emptied the rest of the swat's clip at her, but to no avail.
Both of them empty again the rebel tried to run for it. He took off after her, grabbing a fallen rebel's gun as he did. He took a flying leap and landed right in front of the fleeing rebel.
"Boo," he said, shooting her. The last rebel fell and he alone stood on the battlefield.
The simulation disappeared, but Kin's body did not. This rather surprised Greer, he'd rather thought since it was just a simulation that she'd be okay. But, even as he looked at her, he realized that what did it matter when the whole world was just a simulation?
Smith and Mimosa stepped into view.
"You passed the test," Mimosa told him.
"I didn't save her," Greer said uncomfortably. "Shouldn't that mean I failed?"
"It was not required; if you survive, you pass," Smith informed him.
"But what about her?"
"She was unsuitable. She will be taken to the morgue."
Greer raised an eyebrow. "You have a morgue?"
"And a medical facility," Mimosa said. She seemed to find something funny, but Greer couldn't tell what.
"Well," Greer said, rubbing his arm. "I guess I'm ready for the next test."
"There isn't one," she told him.
"That's it?" he stared.
"That's it," she nodded.
"Well then, now what?" he asked, leaning on the wall, watching as someone came and took Kindred's body away. He realized he hadn't know what her full name was, or if that was her real name at all.
"Now you get outfitted. I'll take him Smith," she said.
Smith nodded, and left the room.
"Well, welcome to the team," Mimosa said.
"Thanks. I guess I can figure out what 'getting outfitted' means, huh."
"Is it that obvious?" she chuckled. "C'mon." She led him to yet another door, giving Greer the distinct impression that not all of the doors were there all the time, which was probably true.
"As Smith would say, welcome to the place only one in five hundred recruits get to see," she opened the door. It was a very large room, filled with rows and rows of pristine Agent suits, weapons and sunglasses. As Mimosa went and shuffled through the suits, Greer picked up a pair of sunglasses off the rack. He liked sunglasses despite having left his own set of shades at his apartment. He liked these better anyway.
As he turned around Mimosa handed him a suit. "Here, this should fit you. The changing room's over there."
"Thanks," he nodded taking them.
"You can call me Stef," she smiled.
He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"Yep. But not in front of Brown or Jones."
He shrugged. "All right Stef," He swung the suit over his shoulder and walked into the changing room. The suit was actually quite comfortable and offered a wide range of freedom of movement. It had to. He slipped on the shades.
He walked out of the changing room to see Stef grinning at him.
He smirked. "Is there a mirror anywhere around here?" he asked, looking around.
"No, but you can Require one."
"Huh?" he blinked.
She grinned. "It's a useful trick. Just think Require, and what you need and you'll have it."
"Really?"
"Really."
"That does sound useful," he agreed and thought 'Require, mirror, full length.'
And in front of him a full length mirror appeared, standing with a mahogany frame against the open air. Greer stood in front of it, admiring his reflection. He looked like any other Agent; his only recognizable features his tied black hair, thick eyebrows and hawk-like nose.
"Lookin' sharp," he muttered to himself.
"Too bad it isn't suitable for the mission we have lined up for you."
"Yeah? Then why'd you have me change?"
"So you could get the feel for it."
Behind the shades he rolled his eyes. "So what's my mission?"
"It might not seem like it, but you've only been here a few hours. You have a meeting to get to." She gave a wry smile.
That was right. He'd completely forgotten that he was supposed to meet Morpheus at ten! Require, watch. It was 9:30! "What exactly am I supposed to do?"
"It is unlikely that you would be able to capture or kill either of our primary targets, Neo or Morpheus. You're going to keep them busy until we can track you and get in. Or, if things go bad, which they might, take down as many as you can and try not to get yourself killed."
He nodded.
"They'll be suspicious of you at first, since you've dropped off their 'radar' for a few hours now, right as we came to get you. Do your best to convince them you're on their side."
"In other words, lie my ass off."
"You could put it that way. Now, change back and grab a weapon. Oh, and there's one other thing we better do."
***
"I found him!" Tank exclaimed finally.
Neo too was standing with him this time. "Don't get your hopes up. Where?"
"His apartment, he's headed to the meeting point."
"Then I guess we'd better be there to meet him."
"He's probably one of them you know," Trinity said.
"I know. That's why Morpheus is staying here this time. If we find out his clean. Then he'll come down. Let's get this done. Tank."
Tank nodded and began the set up procedures.
***
Greer stood under the streetlight at the corner of fifth and main, waiting. It was one minute to ten. He looked up the street and saw a black car with tinted widows driving towards him. It stopped in front of him. The door opened.
"Get in," the woman in the back said.
He approached the car and got in. The door swung shut and locked.
"Take off your shirt," the woman commanded.
"What?" he tried to sound surprised.
"Do it. You're probably bugged."
He pulled off his shirt, knowing what was coming. Mimosa had said they wouldn't believe a word of his story unless they bugged him.
Trinity pulled out a large, scary-looking device and pressed it to his stomach. Greer braced himself.
"There it is," Trinity said.
The man in front with short, dark hair looked mildly surprised.
The device emitted a burst of electrical energy into his stomach. Painfully the bug was sucked out into a jar.
"That happened?!" Greer exclaimed.
"What happened?" Trinity demanded, throwing the jar out the window.
"I couldn't go out the window," he shook his head. "Just couldn't do it. They grabbed me, to me to some weird building and questioned me. When I wouldn't tell them anything they put, eeg, that, in me and I woke up in my room. It was just before we had to meet, and I kinda thought the whole thing was a dream, nightmare really." He rubbed his neck. "I guess not."
Trinity and Neo exchanged a look.
"Who were those suits anyway? They weren't the feds, were they?"
"Agents," Neo answered. "You didn't tell them anything?"
Greer shook his head. "Damn man, sell out? To guys who look like that? You gotta be kidding me. Besides, I have to meet Morpheus."
"We're here," the driver, a blonde, said.
Neo and Trinity looked at each other again. The two nodded.
"Come with us." The car doors opened.
It was a condemned hotel that they entered, though it must have been very expensive in it's time with checkerboard floor tiles and the remains of fancy upholstery. They led him up a squarely spiraled staircase several floors and stopped in front of a door at the end of the hallway.
"Wait out here," Neo told him as he, Trinity and the driver went inside. The door swung shut behind them.
Greer leaned against the wall, waiting again. He'd come without any way to communicate but he'd be able to hear when the Agents had a trace on his location when they relayed the information to one another. Feeling a tug he opened up his sense.
But it wasn't any of the Agents.
/Tank, we're pretty sure he's clean. Send Morpheus down./
/Damn it's good to hear that Neo. It's been a while since we've had any good news./
And it'll be a while longer, Greer thought wryly.
/I'm sending him in./
Trinity opened the door.
"The doctor will see me now?" he guessed with a wry smile and a wink.
She smiled tightly back and led him into the room. Neo was standing there along with two other new looking rebels and a man who could only have been Morpheus, a tall black man with frameless sunglasses.
"You're Morpheus?" Greer asked.
The man nodded. "Sit." He gestured to two old, red chairs which faced each other. Greer sat in one, the rebel leader sat in the other.
"I know why you're here," Morpheus said. "You're here because all your life you've known something about the world, something you couldn't quite put your finger on; something intangible. You want to know what it is. It is the question that drove you to seek me out; it is the question that drives us all. You know what I'm talking about."
"What is the Matrix?" Greer said on cue. It was a much-practiced sounding speech; as though he'd said it so many times before that it had become automatic. Every potential rebel that entered this room probably heard nearly the same spiel.
"The Matrix is all around us. In this room, out there. It is in this chair and in your clothing." He gave a dramatic pause. "Unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."
Greer barely stopped himself from snorting derisively. So that was how he got them to join him. He took them out without ever giving them the full story. It was a cheap, dirty trick.
Morpheus held out to him two pills, one red, and one blue. "If you take the blue pill it all goes away, you wake up in your room and believe whatever you want. If you take the red pill you stay in wonderland, and see just how deep the rabbit hole goes."
Greer tensed. He hoped they'd get a trace on him soon; he couldn't sit there, pretending to deliberate too long. He looked back and forth between the red and blue pills as though trying to decide which one to take. How many people had Morpheus caught this way? Dragging them forcibly from their lives by enticing their curiosity. He knew he hadn't met the Agents first they would have had him too. How could anyone live with themselves never knowing what the red pill did? Greer imagined that there must be very few people who had gone back to their normal lives after speaking with Morpheus.
/We have a lock on his location/
/We're going in/
With a wide grin Greer reached with his left hand for the pill and with his right hand for his gun bringing up to level with Morpheus' face and pulled the trigger.
But with reflexes just as fast as his own Neo leapt from the corner of the room and threw his leader out of the way, taking the bullet himself in the shoulder and pulling out his own gun.
"He's an Agent!" Trinity screeched, firing at Greer. "Get Morpheus out!!"
A hail of bullets flew towards the Agent recruit from every corner of the room. Dodging them with lightning speed he knew he had to break the phone before Morpheus got to it. Shooting two of the unnamed rebels he twisted around to see their leader pick up the receiver. Greer fired his bullet speeding towards the telephone and shattering it...a moment too late. Morpheus was gone.
But that still left Neo, Trinity and one more, and Greer was empty. He swore violently.
The door flew open and Smith and Mimosa were in the room, guns in hand. The last unnamed rebel went down.
"Zip!" Trinity cried to her fallen companion.
"Trin, run!" Neo shouted, launching himself at Smith as he fired his gun at him. "Just go!"
Trinity hesitated long enough that Mimosa had gotten a clean shot at her, or thought she had. The rebel managed to threw herself to the ground just in time. Greer jumped her bringing Trinity crashing to the floor a second time and the two rolled on the floor exchanging blows.
Someone fired a shot and Greer heard a dull thud. He saw Mimosa fighting with Neo and where was Smith? The body of a homeless man lay on the floor. He looked up and the distraction gave Trinity the edge to throw him off and leap towards the door.
/There's a phone in the room at the end of the hall Trin, they didn't have time to cut the hardlines!/
Greer leapt up and towards her as she yanked the door open. She sprinted down the hall and Greer remembered something. Require gun! He lifted his hand to fire and was brought down from behind as Neo jumped him tackled him to the ground, his gun sliding across the floor. The two rolled frantically on the ground trying to get the upper hand as Trinity made it to the end of the hallway and into the room with the ringing phone. The phone stopped ringing, she was out. Neo delivered a devastating blow to his jaw.
Two pairs of footsteps raced up the stair ringing with gunfire. Neo leapt up to dodge the bullets and raced towards the end of the hallway with Smith and Mimosa behind him. How had they gotten downstairs? Wincing from the pain in his jaw he leapt up and rather than retrieve his lost gun he required a new one and followed the chase down the hall. Several of the Agents' shots seemed to connect with Neo but they didn't stop him. He skidded into the room and picked up the phone just as it was destroyed by a bullet. Neo had gotten away too.
Greer slumped against the wall and slid to the floor. Even though he knew it wasn't real he whole body ached like hell, especially where Neo had tagged him in the jaw.
Smith was glaring coldly at the phone. "One day you won't escape me, Mr. Anderson."
Stef put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay Smith. We'll get him. Hey, where's Greer?" She looked around and found him slumped on the floor. "Oh shit, Smith, I forgot. He's human. He's gonna need some medical attention."
"You're right," Smith nodded and the three of them were in the medical facility.
"Damn," Greer growled through clenched teeth.
"You did good," Mimosa said with a nod.
"Three of them got away," he protested. "Morpheus...and Anderson."
"As Smith here says, Mr. Anderson is annoyingly hard to kill."
The male agent nodded with a grimace.
"He'd also like to say that he also thinks you did a good job. Isn't that right?"
With an expression that looked almost like a disgruntled pout, Smith agreed. "I would not have selected you as a recruit were you unworthy to be an Agent. Only one other recruit has encountered Anderson and survived." He glanced at Mimosa.
Greer raised an eyebrow. "You picked me? I figured it was Stef, er, Agent Mimosa."
Smith's lips quirked. "Stef had... some say in the matter."
Stef grinned. "So welcome to the team, Greer. Glad to have you aboard."
"Indeed," her partner nodded.
Greer would have grinned, but his jaw hurt too much.
End
...for now