THE

MATRIX

REVELATIONS

*The green stands of code begin to fall down over a sea of blackness. Code characters drop down into place amidst the trickling coding. They spell out "THE MATRIX". We move forward into the coding, past these words. Another is word is spelled out. It says "REVELATIONS". Moving forward once more we go in through the "A" of "REVELATIONS". After passing through the "A", the code forms into the familiar Mega City. The coding then focuses on the roof of a building, where two people are standing. One lowers a gun and shoots the other through the torso, killing him instantly. After a few moments though, the coding that forms the dead person soon begins to change from green to white, one strand at a time. Soon, an entire pulse of white code overlaps the green code and envelopes the city for a time, before reverting back to green. However, the person's code remains white, and he gets back up, his 'killer' turning around and re-aiming his gun, but no bullets come out. The white coded man, apparently humoring him, throws a gun to the attacker, and begins walking toward him. More bullets are fired, but they merely deviate from their flight path, flying around the white coded man as he continues toward the attacker. The bullets of the gun run out, and thus, the attacker reverts to hand to hand, running at the white coded man and throwing punches and kicks. One punch is caught in the white coded man's hand, and after observing it for a moment, he crushes it, and then punches the attacker into the wall. The white coded man, Janus, leaves the rooftop and his attacker, Balthasar, and then exits the Matrix*

----

Prologue: Hunted

Tunnels of the Real
Resistance HvCFT
Nosferatu
5:07 PM Matrix Time

"Get a trace on that damn ship!" Blood snarled. His own tone of voice threatened to rip the hull of the Nosferatu to pieces.

The operator, Sideways, immediately got to work, and began a trace program to track the Nemesis. Blood wasn't the only one shocked by this turn of events, and the result on Sideways was that he was typing at three times his normal speed.

"What's happening?" Leon asked, in disbelief of what he was seeing. This spectacle could be seen by anyone who could watch a construct monitor, and it made sense to no one.

"I don't know, I've never seen this before," Sonia said.

"None of us have." Blood told them.

A beep went off, the trace was complete. "I found them," Sideways said, "A hundred kilometers from here, out in the open."

"Great." Blood hissed, getting off from his spot, and keying in the intercom to the bridge.

"FIND THAT SHIP!" were the first words out of Balthasar's mouth when he awoke, in a tone of pure rage that perhaps rivaled, if not surpassed Blood's trademark roar. The fight had since ended, with for the first time in perhaps five years, Balthasar losing a fight. Thus, both shock and anger came across Balthasar's face at the sight of that boy knocking him into the building side, as if he were no more than a mere exile. And to make matters worse, it was a rookie with great power. Power that shouldn't exist in a rookie.

"Nitro, take off! Set a course for the Nemesis, full speed!" he turned back to the rest of his crew. Sonia was just helping Balthasar out of the chair.

"Sonia, Leon, turrets now! Sideways, transfer the coordinates to the cockpit computer. I want that ship, and I want it now!" Blood barked.

Immediately, Sonia and Leon ran off to their turret controls, while Sideways began the process of activating the computer assist for the rest of the guns. Balthasar wandered hazily over to Blood, the same guilty face that Vega had in what felt like hours ago.

"Captain…" he said in monotone.

"It's not your fault Bal." Blood reassured, slapping a hand on his first mate's shoulder, "Get to a turret. We're going hunting."

The Nosferatu lifted off, its two front guide lights activating, giving the ship the appearance of an angry beast. The sounds of its hover-discs starting up also added to this, as they gave off a sound that could be likened to a roar. Sonia, Leon and Balthasar all took seats at the turret controls, each pulling down the control stick console one by one. As they did, the targeting screen activated, and displayed the tunnel around the ship, as well as red cross-hairs. Finally, the familiar sound of the bullet feed system echoed around the room, with conveyer belts of high caliber rounds being pumped into the ammunition boxes to the turrets, thus giving off a machine-like sound. Sideways had gotten off the Matrix console, seeing as the ship had been located already and there was no reason to keep watching the Matrix, so that he could monitor the bullet feed.

Balthasar saw the irony in it, but he chose to ignore it for now. His rage was already focused on one thing: the image of that man who came back to life. "I will rip that body apart, just as Neo did to Smith," he hissed, as the ship began to move forward.

----

As he lay in his chair, a voice came from the side.

"Janus..?" It was Irvine. As he approached Janus, he could see something about the look on his face that gave Irvine a sense that there was different about him.

"What happened in there?"

Janus turned his head to face Irvine, with an omniscient look in his eyes.

"The mind can live without the body."

It was at that point that reality intervened. The Nemesis' proximity alert went off.

"Oh no, not now!" Blade let out.

Irvine nodded to him and the two dashed up to the cockpit, to which Irvine activated the holo-display, expecting a swarm of sentinels to appear flying toward his ship. However, what he did see was not a swarm of sentinels, or any weapon that the machines possess. But that didn't matter, as both Blade's blood vessels and his bones ran cold at the same time. Upon the holo-display was the design of one of Zion's large hovercraft designs. The Nosferatu.

"The Bloodsucker…" Blade let out in a single breath.

Having been nicknamed so for its name being the latin translation for Vampire, it was the largest hovercraft Zion had produced next to the older Mjolnir. However, thanks to the so-called final battle five years ago over Zion's harbor, the design philosophy of hover ships had changed. Aside from being transport ships that would jack their crews into the Matrix, ships were designed or refitted into combat vessels, specifically for anti-sentinel and anti-machine warfare. For this, aside from upgraded EMPs, each ship was armed with a larger arsenal of machineguns and ammunition. In the case of the Nosferatu, it was specifically designed as a dreadnought, to take on entire swarms of Sentinels and machines while driving toward its target. It was armed with over twenty machinegun turrets, a computer assisted targeting system and its armor was specifically designed to resist Sentinel attacks. The only thing larger than it were the HoverBarges that carried hundreds of Zion's redpills as they did battle inside the Matrix.

The setup reminded Irvine of an ancient battle he had read about in the historical archives at Zion. The battle was between to ships of similar design, a larger ship named the Merrimack that was armed with more weapons, and a smaller ship called the Monitor, which was faster. However, the deciding factor of that battle was that both ships were the first ironclad ships, in an age where navies used wooden vessels to do battle, thus as a result, cannon shells merely bounced off each and the battle ended in a draw. It wouldn't be the same case here. While the Nemesis was a faster ship, and could evade shots easier, it was 'only' armed with eight machinegun turrets, and its armor was thinner than the Nosferatu's. There was no doubt in Irvine's human mind that in a chicken fight, his ship would be no match for Blood's. And at the current speed the Bloodsucker was traveling at…

That's when the image of the Nosferatu flickered and disappeared from the projector. Irvine tapped it, then started hitting controls, but he couldn't get it back online.

"The tunnel walls must be full of minerals. Radar waves aren't getting through." Blade yelped as he checked over the display.

The comm. system soon buzzed. "What's going on up there!?" Glitch yelled.

"It's Blood! He's gunning for us!" Blade exclaimed, after he slammed the intercomm button in panic.

Irvine shoved him out of the way. "Get everyone into turrets and charge the EMP. We're getting out of here. Rig for silent running and standby." With that said, Irvine jumped into the pilot seat with Blade beside him, then activated the engines. He didn't wait for the pre-flight checks to come up, instead lifting the Nemesis off the ground, retracting the landing gears.

"He's got us located on the surface. We'll go back into the tunnels to confuse him."

Irvine then navigated the Nemesis back to the hole they used to access the surface, and dove into the tunnel as if Hell itself were following behind.

"Shit!" Glitch let out, "Everyone into a turret, now! We're going to have company in a minute!" he shot to everyone. Upon that note, Anubis, Solitaire, Janus and Marley ran to the gunnery chamber, the three Matrix fighters taking individual turrets while Marley managed the ammo feed. Even with the change of focus, Anubis was still dwelling on Janus' apparent resurrection from the grave. He didn't show any form of emotion as per usual, but something inside Anubis had opened its eyes and awakened when he saw that white code. It was that same chilling feeling that ran up his spine, then metamorphosized into a sharp twinge, a similar experience to being impaled by a blade into the torso, except there was no pain, just awe and fear. Fear of the unknown.

Anubis closed his eyes for a moment and took in a breath of air, then exhaled. You never lost your calm when you were Daniel Lancaster. Don't lose it now, Anubis. That thought in mind, he focused on the red crosshairs on his display, waiting for the silhouette of a steel beast to fill it. He didn't notice Janus looking over to him when he took the breath of air in, but Janus at the same time held back from asking if Anubis was okay. After all, he'd most likely just get a shrug or a narrow gaze as an answer.

Back at the operator console, Glitch was hard at work configuring the active sonar array. While radar was inactive due to the strong mineral content of the tunnels, sonar waves could easily bounce off the walls and outline the Nosferatu's hull for the four gunners. The Nemesis' sensor systems themselves were custom designed by Glitch, and he had taken inspiration from the bat for the sonar array, configuring the system after the bat's usage of sound waves and its sensitive hearing. There was no way Blood could slip by him when it was active, but for now, he left it on passive.

Irvine keyed in the comm. again, "Hear anything Glitch?" he whispered.

"Nothing on the outside, besides our own engine hum. I'll call back." Glitch replied. He then disengaged the intercom on his end.

"Out of curiosity, why are we going into a silent run?" Blade whispered.

"Call this a hunch, but I think Blood detected us by tracing us through Janus' signal while he was thrashing Bal. Now that the link's severed, he'll have to rely on conventional sensors to find us, and that will be difficult in these tunnels," Irvine said, as he continued to maneuver the Nemesis through the narrow passages. "Why? Are you scared?"

"Have you ever seen the movie Das Boot?" Blade asked.

Irvine shook his head, "No, I heard about it. World War II movie on a German U-Boat, right?"

"I'm not a WWII buff, but our situation reminds me of what the U-96 had to go through during its run at sea. Running silent while being searched out by destroyers, then bombarded with depth charges, and the only way we can see the bad guys is through our ears. It isn't a pleasant experience, and I can't say this is any better," Blade said, looking around the viewport, looking for any sign of a ship.

"I don't know, I heard Lothar Buchheim had a thing against U-Boat combat in general, enough that actual crews came out against his works. Besides, we're not dodging depth charges, we're just trying to sneak around a maze." Irvine said.

Slowly, the Nemesis cruised through the narrow passage, its search lights and hover discs dimmed to keep visual distinction low from the rest of the tunnel. According to the map, the medium hovercraft was somewhere in what used to be Syria and proceeding southward to Iraq, otherwise known as Sector 84 to the machines and the Badlands to Zion. It was kind of strange to see the network of sewer and power lines stretch out even so far as an otherwise desolate area like these mountains, since there wasn't any major urbanization in the area besides the ruins of the city Damascus some distance away, which was also close to one of Zion's gates. But Irvine had bigger things to contemplate at this point: survival, for one.

Thankfully, he was still quite close to Zion, and although he had no clue on how the city and its forces would respond to the Nemesis, he knew they had bad relations with Blood. He had no doubt Lock would make an EMP burst for the occasion, the pirate Captain just hoped it wasn't also meant for the Nemesis as well.

"I hear something…" Glitch reported, "Electric engines, no more than three kilometers from our port and closing. Signature matches that of the Nosferatu's array."

"Does it look like they detected us?" Irvine asked.

"Negative, they're just cruising. Looks like they're having as much trouble with their radar," Glitch said.

"Tough shit." Blade said sarcastically.

"Not now Blade." Irvine said.

"Wait a sec." Glitch reported again, tapping on his headset, "They're turning to a closer angle… I'm hearing sonar pinging, but no increase in speed."

"Alright… I'll get closer to the wall for camouflage." Irvine said. He juked the Nemesis to the left and continued on his flight course south, making sure not to hit any of the pipes. "Easy girl…" he whispered to his ship, easing the great hovercraft down the pipeline. He looked over at Blade for a moment, who was wiping sweat off his forehead, trying to hold back his nervousness. Irvine couldn't help but feel that his crew… well, maybe not Anubis, but the rest of his crew felt the same way Blade did. Who could blame them? Sneaking around trying to avoid combat was a lot worse than fighting directly.

"Hey, Captain…" Glitch said, "The Nosferatu's getting close, but it looks like she's going to fly by. I can hear her engine loud and clear, want to listen?"

"Patch it on the intercom," Irvine ordered. Soon, the speakers went silent for a moment, then followed by the sound of a low, echoing growl that vibrated the Nemesis hull. It was the sound of the Nosferatu's engines, the distinctive beast-like growl made by the combination of twelve high-powered hoverpads running along a metal frame. The growl cut off for a moment, but soon started back up again with the familiar hum of electrical batteries and conduits. Blade looked up at the speaker, his eyes fully concentrated on the sound, as did the rest of the Nemesis crew.

Only Janus and Anubis didn't look up. Anubis was attention was on his targeting computer and nothing more, though even he could not block out the 'growling' from his mind. Janus, on the other hand, wasn't thinking about the opposing ship at all, but rather who was most likely on the ship. The man with long black hair, who had punched through a brick wall, single-handedly defeated an Agent and perhaps others like it, and then killed him. Even though Janus had emerged as the victor, he could not push out the hardened glare of his adversary. "How are you doing?" Solitaire whispered, concern filling her voice.

"I'm fine." Janus said. His omniscient look from only a few moments ago remained while he contemplated what was going on. He'd never been in this situation before but for some reason he was calm, and he didn't know why. You could see it on his face.

"Balthasar?" Solitaire asked. Call it female intuition.

"Yeah. He killed that Agent with no effort, after what it put me through." Janus said, distantly. "And then I disposed of him the same way."

"Balthasar.. the Potential. He is the Resistance's ace Matrix fighter, and as far as regular humans can go, he's the closest to Neo's level." Solitaire explained.

"Kira mentioned that. Why's he called the Potential?" Janus asked.

"Balthasar was unplugged just a few years ago after Neo was gone. He got more powerful as time passed. Although many were reluctant to believe it so soon after Neo's passing, people started to think he might be The One reincarnate since he was showing similarities in ability to that of Neo's at the time when he rescued Morpheus before his being The One was "official." But with no one to confirm it, people simply started calling him The Potential, like all the kids that used to be with The Oracle before Neo was found." Solitaire explained.

"Great." Janus muttered in sarcasm, "This makes me his rival now?"

"My deepest sympathy for your predicament." Anubis replied in monotone, but his words were laced with sarcasm, "I thought you of all people knew what you are and what your not, and that since you're here now, you're obviously not a ghost."

Janus sighed at that, but then, a smirk grew on his face. "Yeah, you're right. Take that Aristotle, the mind isn't tied to the flesh…" he said, narrowing his gaze on the target cursor. The sound of the Nosferatu's engines was growing louder.

It felt as though time had slowed for one brief second, one short moment that felt like a lifetime. The sound had gotten so loud, that to the human ear, it felt as though it had phased out. Everyone continued to await the inevitable, for the time where the beast would smell them out and attack with a loud, thunderous roar. However, instead of a thunderous roar, the sound emitted was lowed hum.

"Shit!" Glitch let out. It didn't matter at that point, he knew what the sound was: the sound of the Nosferatu's radar coming back online.

Immediately, machineguns began to blaze on the other end of the wall, shooting at the Nemesis, but not necessarily aiming at it. To the onlookers in the Nemesis' cockpit, it looked as though an active volcano had just formed on the side of the tunnel. The resulting explosion wasn't large enough to shake the Nemesis with its shockwave, but that wasn't the part that made everyone jumped. It was the sound of a loud, bellowing roar, that seemed impossible for a machine, much less a hovercraft, to generate. But there it was, the large hovercraft Nosferatu, with its two search lights flared up like the eyes of a jungle cat, gazing into the Nemesis' own cockpit and side. Its own machineguns continued to blaze, as the Nemesis' also started up.

"Nemesis!!" bellowed a voice over the Nemesis' comm. system, overriding the Operator command console. The voice was obviously Blood's. "It's not over yet!!"

"Hold on back there, I'm going to punch it!" Irvine ordered through the intercom, and then kicked the Nemesis into overdrive. The twelve machinegun turrets on the of the medium hovercraft lit up, firing directly to the port side of the bow at the Nosferatu's "head" section, as the ship drove past the large hovercraft at full speed. As it passed, the Nosferatu broke out of the hole it had made through the tunnel's side and turned to pursue the Nemesis with its own machine guns firing. It was a high speed chase between two Zion ships through a network of tunnels and passageways, a sight that five years ago was something no human had thought could happen, much less the crew of the Nemesis. All three of the hovercraft's gunners had targeted the Nosferatu and were pumping shot after shot of ammo into the behemoth's armor, but none of the shots were doing major damage.

We're definitely no match in a direct attack, and we won't last long in a chase. Best bet is on the surface, where we have more room, Irvine thought. He pulled the Nemesis into a barrel roll from starboard to port, moving faster than the planet's gravity could effect the crew so they remained in their seats, then pulled into a climb. The Nosferatu followed the climb, continuing to pump fire from all twenty of its machinegun turrets. At one point, one of the turrets tried firing up into the tunnel ceiling to drop debris on the larger ship, but the shards merely scratched the ship's thick armor. The bloodsucker retaliated by focusing its machinegun fire onto a certain point on the Nemesis.

"Hey Irvine, are you doing what I think you're doing?" Blade asked, looking over the Nemesis' damage display. As he said that, an explosion rocked across the Nemesis.

"No choice! Our best hope is in the open sky! We'll get slaughtered if we stay down here!" Irvine yelled at Blade, as the Nemesis shook violently again.

"We lost hover discs six and seven!" Glitch yelled over the intercom.

Irvine snarled, "Blood, you asshole." Smartass knows we can only outrun him, not fight him. Shit! He banked into a tight turn, trying to outmaneuver, but the Nosferatu continued to follow its target, going as far as slamming into the side of the wall to match the tight turn. "We'll still outmaneuver him!" With that, the Nemesis pulled into a ninety degree climb, ascending straight up through the tunnel. It banked and weaved through the various pipelines that were in its path.

----

The Nosferatu also attempted to dodge, but due to its size, Blood had a harder time maneuvering his ship than Irvine. "It's going to get bumpy!" Blood called over the ship, as he pursued the damaged hovercraft flying ahead of him. As if proving his point, he failed to dip below an old underground sewer pipe, and thus the Nosferatu rammed right through it, though without sustaining any real damage. After all, it was designed to repel Sentinel attacks, what damage could centuries old piping do to this juggernaut?

Still, the ship did rock from the impact, much to the gunners' dismay.

"Watch it Captain, we can't keep a steady aim with you rocking the ship!" Sonia called out through her own comm. The 3-D image of the Nemesis, which was outlined in red to distinguish it from the bluish-purple surroundings on the targeting monitor, was constantly weaving in and out of her scope, as well as Balthasar's and Leon's, only allowing her to pump a few bursts at time into the target.

"Hold still, traitors..." Sonia hissed as she finally got her targeting icon centered on the Nemesis.

Unfortunately, one of the Nemesis 'gunners got smart enough to fire on the piping around the ship, blowing them up and allowing the shards to drop on her pursuer.

"What the hell are they doing?" Leon questioned, seeing as the Nosferatu could burst through a solid wall with not so much as a scratch. His answer came when Sonia targeted a falling piece of metal with her machinegun turrets and traced rounds into it before it could hit the ship. This resulted in the shard getting split in half, and while it didn't hit the array, a few of the pieces actually struck a line of hover discs.

The ship rocked tramendously from the impact. "What was that!?" Sideways roared.

"One of the shards struck a hover disc, and we're losing propulsion for it!" Blood said, "Just concentrate on the Nemesis, and let me deal with the shards!"

Here comes the tricky part… Irvine thought, he banked from another pipe. He was about to make another turn for another pipe, but he had a better idea, one that would ensure their survival. Closer and closer, Irvine could see a dead end to the tunnel in the form of a large metal vent. "All guns, concentrate fire to the bow! We're going up top!" he ordered.

Simultaneously, all the fire of the Nemesis began to pour up to the front, striking the single plate of metal that blocked the ship's way to freedom. It was unreal, and impossible, even as the Nemesis flew like a great phoenix trying to escape the coming inferno, constantly banking to keep the Nosferatu from acquiring its aim at a target. Blade was beside him, holding onto his chair as if he were on a roller coaster, where if he let go he would fall from the great height. If he were religious, Irvine knew Blade would have prayed to whatever God he chose to worship. He knew because he would personally, and he wasn't a very spiritual man. All in all, they had to get the hell out of there, and now.

Had the city been inhabited above, one would have felt the ground shake and the sound of machinegun fire echo from the sewers below, plus the great roar of a beast that followed the bursts of metal. Bullets ripped from the street and into the sky, cracking and breaking the concrete and metal that once was the heart of the city of Damascus, followed by a great explosion, caused by the Nemesis' hull shooting out of the sewers and into the sky. The Nosferatu as well emerged from the hole in the ground, but Irvine was ready for him.

The Nemesis performed a Split-S halfway and presented its back to the Nosferatu, along with all the turrets that lined it. Fire poured from them toward the behemoth below, practically blasting the larger ship at point blank, while the Nemesis shot deeper into the city, weaving around the ancient sky scrapers, then spun around and continued to lay fire at the acclaimed Bloodsucker. Blood and the rest of the crew, however, were far from down and out, and even when a single round pinged against the Nosferatu's cockpit, Blood gritted his teeth in rage.

You've always been a thorn in my side, Irvine, even when you were an ally. The rest of the Resistance would've followed you to Hell and back again, if it weren't for your stupid neutrality policy. Why is it that you've always got to win…?

He shoved the control stick down and put the Nosferatu into full burn. The Nemesis countered by ducking behind a building to avoid the machine gun fire, then circling around and firing back with its own turrets. More bullets ripped into the Nosferatu, but she would hold, oh yes, Blood knew his ship would hold on. Machinegun fire poured from his own ship again, but the Nemesis weaved behind another tower, and appeared again to shoot a building. The shards exploded at the Nosferatu's side, and knocked it off balance, while the larger amount of firepower from Blood's ship ripped holes into the medium hovercraft.

----

Circuitry exploded and sparks flew around on the Nemesis as the massive amount of bullets poured into her, and hit hard. Irvine gritted his teeth as red areas appeared on his damage control display, and from Glitch reporting what systems they were losing. In the gunner room, one of the magazines had exploded with its contained rounds shooting in all directions. Marley managed to dive from a stray bullet, but one had shot through Solitaire's leg, then flew into a circuitry box that connected to her console, showering her with glass fragments. "Solitaire!" Marley yelled.

"Marley, shut the feed off! I'll take care of Solitaire!" Glitch ordered, getting out of his seat and grabbing Solitaire's body. Marley shut the feed off, and while Anubis and Janus were continuing to fire, Glitch chose that moment to get Solitaire to sickbay. She was still breathing, but she was cut up pretty badly, and the combination of the shock and exhaustion from her jump in the Matrix had put her unconscious.

Marley knew they couldn't hold this up, and that even with the larger amount of flying space, Irvine was barely keeping his step ahead of Blood's.

"DAMAGE REPORT!" Irvine roared from the bridge.

"We lost disc three, and turrets eight through eleven! Solitaire was hit during the last attack, and we're running out of ammo!" Marley proclaimed.

Glitch also keyed in, "Request permission to trigger EMP!"

"No, we'll drop as fast as they do!" Irvine replied. As he said that, a klaxon went off in the cockpit, and his engine power display showed he was losing thrust. He looked up at the klaxon and hit the red light, and shivered when he saw that it was for a power failure.

"Crap, they nailed the battery!" Irvine yelled, "I'm taking her down! Blade, get back there and get Glitch to help with the repairs!"

Blade didn't question orders, and jumped out of the co-pilot's seat as Irvine tried to level out the damaged hovercraft. The Nemesis lagged and dropped in altitude, but Irvine maneuvered it so his ship would land on a building. He opened the landing gears and let the medium sized craft drop onto the flat surface, which was once used as a helipad. The ship settled comfortably, but Irvine's frustrations didn't end there. The beast like-roar of the Nosferatu's engines bellowed once again, as the larger and more powerful hovercraft lowered itself from the sky to level out with the disabled Nemesis. The two ships faced each other down...

Blade ran down the ship, past the gunnery room, and as he moved, he saw that no one were in the chairs. "What the hell-?" he griped as he moved back further, looking to see where everyone was. That's when he came to the armory, where Glitch, Marley, Janus and Anubis arming themselves with EMP blasters. "What the hell are you doing?" Blade snapped.

"Even you should know about last stands. We're not going to let Blood win easily." Glitch said.

Blade shook his head. "We have work to do. Captain wants the battery repaired, and I can't do it alone."

"What's the point, mahn?" Marley retorted in his thick Jamaican accent, "'Dere ain't no way we can repair it before ol' man Blood sends us to Hell."

"Don't worry about Blood, Irvine's distracting him." Blade answered.

"Yeah, so what? They're going to detect our engines coming back online, and when that happens, eheheheheheheheh." Glitch said, imitating the sound of a machine gun while gesturing with his hands, looking as though he were pulling the trigger on a turret. He then spread his hands out open. "Boom. No more Nem."

"Grab a gun, Blade. It's going to be one fuckin' showdown..." Marley said as he continued to take various weapons.

Janus and Anubis were ignoring them, having better things to do than get into another ego bash with Blade, when they both came across a particular locker in the armory. After it was opened, both looked at its contents up and down, with Janus actually stepping back a little. "Are these what I think they are?"

"Eh?" Glitch said, turning back to see what Janus was amazed at, "Ah, those are double barreled rocket launchers, designed to strike against heavy armored craft.

"Remember the Alamo..." Anubis said, as he and Janus began to pick up the launchers.

"What are you two doing?" Blade demanded.

"Going to swat an annoying fly," Janus said, looking up.

"That's crazy! The Nos' was designed to repel sentinel claws..." Blade began.

"And these are designed to pierce dense armor," Anubis said. "We'll buy additional time with these."

"Using human made rockets on a human made ship..." Glitch said, observing the situation. "Where did that idea come from...?"

"I saw it in a video game," Janus said, as he loaded two rockets into the launcher. He looked over at Anubis, who just shrugged and loaded his own launcher. Both then slung the launchers over their shoulders and moved past the trio. "Guys better hurry..." Janus said, as they passed.

"Yeah, right, come on!" Blade ordered. He still wasn't fond of the newbs, but they did have a point. With all the other crazy shit that's happened, this just might work.

It was like a wild western stand off between the two ship captains. Yes, the stand off was between two hovercraft instead of two cowboys, and rather than being in the middle of a town, it was in a city with one ship hovering over the other, which was stranded on a building. But the concept was still the same, as both were waiting to see who would move first. "I've been waiting a long time for this..." Blood hissed over the Nosferatu's megaphone, rather than over the com system. His voice echoed around the desolate city like an earthquake. "Do you have any idea how much I've wanted to kill you?"

"Take a number and sit down Blood, and wait like everybody else." Irvine rolled his eyes.

"I don't believe you..." Blood snarled irritated, "You were one of our best, Irvine, part of the most powerful warrior fleet Zion constructed. Django, Raven, Ravage and Vega all looked up to you for all your brilliance, and you betrayed them by turning your back!"

"Betray? Hah! I didn't betray shit; I just got tired of leading a bunch of berserkers that were willing to attack their own city because they were shut out." Irvine said, looking over his nails as he did, like this was all usual for him. "And what are you complaining for Ahab? I thought you wanted to command."

"That's beside the point! You're weak, Irvine, letting your personal feelings cloud your judgment. No commander should let that happen!" Blood barked.

"What are you talking about?" Irvine rose an eyebrow, still non-chalant.

"Don't you remember why we left Zion? For the very reason we're here right now, Irvine! The day we found that Sentinel army, you were the one that first said we should attack right then and there!" Blood shot.

Irvine gave Blood a hardened glare, and even though it was through the cockpit glass, Blood felt it. "That's right Blood, I said it first, but we were all thinking it at the time. We all let our personal feelings cloud our judgement, so don't act like you didn't!" Irvine yelled.

"That's why we left Zion, we left because we wanted to protect those people when they didn't feel the need to protect themselves. But I never turned around and planned to attack Zion out of some crazy lust for revenge. That was your idea, and that's why I left the fleet."

"That's why you're weak, Irvine. You, and the rest of your crew..." Blood snarled.

"Hey, whose crew took down your little army? Which one of our own killed Gash, severed Kane's arm and beat your Potential like an abused child?" Irvine said, smirking. It wasn't broadcast over the megaphone speaker, so Blood didn't hear it, but he got the news from Blade. Anubis and Janus were in position with the rocket launchers, but they still needed time to get the battery back. "Of course, I can imagine how embarrassing it is for you. Getting your asses kicked by a former Syndicate hitman and an ex-narcotics detective must really be bad for you big, bad Resistance chumps..."

"Former syndicate hitman and ex-narcotics?" Blood asked, confused.

"Oh, you should meet them. Fascinating people, and quite skilled for newbies. You should know that part though." Irvine smirked.

"Just what are you going on about?"

"Destiny, my friend." Irvine continued, "Ever get the feeling that some things were meant to happen? You obviously saw Janus come back from the grave. Don't tell me that's not anything special."

"Bah! You sound like Morpheus when he found Neo," Blood growled.

"Eh, not quite. I don't know what anyone's roles are in the stream of things, but I do know is, whatever's gonna happen..." Irvine's smirk turned into a full smile, "It's going to be fun."

"Bullshit," Blood laughed, "In a moment, you're not going to be anything above fire and melted metal. I can personally guarantee that." All of the Nosferatu's bow turrets turned and focused on the Nemesis' bridge upon that comment. "I'm going to enjoy watching you all die."

Irvine laughed, "Really, Blood, is that all you have to say?"

"What?"

"Well, you know..." Irvine chimed, "Last words. Yours." Both Janus and Anubis saw that was the signal. They both fired their twin rocket launchers, the four warheads streaking at the Nosferatu in swirling flight paths.

"Shit!" Blood yelled as he saw the four rockets blast at his cockpit. The first three shot past and destroyed three of the hoverpads, but the fourth slammed right into the Nosferatu's canopy. Blood felt the shockwave as the projectile exploded against the reinforced canopy, cracking it. The force was so strong that his head rocked forward and slammed into a control nob, giving him a new cut across his forehead. Fortunately, the canopy was designed to hold against explosions, mostly from the machines' tow bombs, but that wasn't Blood's main concern. His ship was losing power, thanks to three more of the hoverpads being destroyed. "Damn you, Irvine!!" he roared as his ship dropped from the sky.

Irvine merely shook his head, as he watched the Nosferatu drop like a weight. "That wasn't much better," he said, disappointed.

----

Outside of the Nemesis, Janus and Anubis got up from their individual hiding places on the building roof, running back up the Nemesis ramp and into the confines of the ship. When they got back in, the ramp closed behind them, and Janus dropped his rocket launcher on the ground, kneeling and breathing heavily.

"That was close…" he whispered. He didn't know why he was out of breath, but he figured it was lag from his jump in the Matrix combined with the adrenaline rush in his body. All Janus wanted now was to climb into a soft bed with blankets and pillows and dream that life was getting better than this. He looked up at Anubis, and saw he hadn't yet fainted. "Aren't you wiped out?"

Anubis, in response, leaned against the metal hull of the Nemesis. "Yes, exhausted." Anubis said, "But I prefer standing."

Janus laughed a little, "What, you have a thing against kneeling?"

"You could say that." Anubis said, all serious. His eyes narrowed challengingly at Janus.

"What the? Lighten up man, just a joke. I don't give a shit what you do." Janus explained.

Anubis just turned around, taking one last glance at the Matrix fighter and ex-narc detective, then began to move away.

"Hey, wait a second."

Anubis stopped.

"You never did tell me. Why did you leave the Matrix?" Janus asked. "What's in this world that you can believe in?"

Anubis turned his head to the side, and Janus saw he was looking down at the floor, thinking. It was obvious that he wasn't sure if he wanted to answer or not, but after a moment he did. "I didn't like the world I knew and saw everyday or the beings that lived off of it like parasites…" he explained. "I thought there may be something here beyond what I knew and saw; something that was much better…"

"You still think there is?" Janus asked.

Anubis turned his head around, "Perhaps…" He then continued on his way, disappearing down the corridor.

Janus just laughed. "What a strange guy. Not at all like your average gangster hitman," he said to himself. Too exhausted to get up, he decided to take a moment of peace and lay down where he was. Despite the rough metal floor, Janus actually felt very comfortable with it against his back. The feeling of the cold temperature combined with the rhythmic vibrations caused by moving parts made Janus relax easier. Something to believe in… he thought, Was that why I chose the red pill? He wondered.

He looked up at the ceiling, past the lights, imagining the great, dark sky above and thundering clouds. However, Janus looked past the clouds and into a twilight sky, with the sun setting in the horizon and the clouds moving in a slow, steady gale. It was a similar feeling to when he died, but here he could feel himself breathing. It feels so… real, he thought, putting his hand over his face and looking up at it. It was red and covered in grit, and he could feel his pulse flow even without touching a nerve. He smiled, with the knowledge that it was his real hand, and not a simulation. Putting his hand down, he closed his eyes, deciding that he would just sleep there until they started moving again…

At least, until a new rumbling sensation came over him. Faster than he thought possible for himself, Janus bolted off the floor. "Don't tell me…" he hissed.

Sure enough. "WE WON'T DIE THAT EASILY, IRVINE!!!!"

Shit, what is this guy, Freddy Krueger? He griped and ran back to the machine gun turrets.

Below the Nemesis' perch, the Nosferatu flew in a circle, firing its machine guns into the building itself. Round after round pumped through the ruined glass into the desolated office rooms within, ripping out foundations and supports. The large tower began to rock, and the Nemesis was right on top of it.

Irvine grabbed the controls again, but there was no power behind them. "Anytime now boys!" he called into the intercom.

"We almost got it…" Glitch replied, over the sound of mechanical noises in the back.

"Not good enough, we need it now or we're dead!" Irvine ordered.

"We know!" Glitch called back.

The building rocked again, almost throwing Irvine out of his seat. It had already started to tilt left, with Nemesis skidding across the rooftop on its landing gear. Instinctively, Irvine turned the control pad to the right to level out, but again nothing happened. "Come on baby, hold together." He said calmly, almost as if he was asking it to cooperate. Still feeling no power, Irvine turned the PA on again to say 'now or never' when he was interrupted by two welcome noises.

*Bzzt!* *wrrrrrRRRRRRRRR…*

"We're back in business! Go!" Glitch said almost happily.

"Right, lifting off!" Irvine pulled the controls back and put energy into the remaining hover discs on the Nemesis. The ship seemed to jump back in the air like a bird would on take off, just as the roof finally gave way. After gaining some distance from the building, he had the ship turn around so he could watch as the building collapsed into the ground below, forming a new pile of debris on the surface. "Yep, that was fucking close…" Irvine remarked as the once proud tower now collapsed into a pile of gray dust.

The proximity alert went off again, but Irvine knew Blood was gunning from him because the still-present growl of the Nosferatu reached his ears before the alarm went off. Through the dust clouds, the larger ship flew straight at him, guns blazing away. A good portion of the rounds hit, as the Nemesis rocked again. Control panels exploded, sparks flew and light bulbs broke. Irvine was getting irritated fast, "I am getting sick and tired of this!!" he roared much like Blood did, putting all power into his hoverdiscs.

----

"What are they doing!?" Sonia asked over the sound of bullets firing, as her target ascended in the air. "They're leaving themselves an open target!"

"Who cares-!? Makes things a lot easier for us!" Leon laughed enthusiastically as he put as much fire from the Nosferatu's dorsal guns as he was able to. Shot after shot blasted up at the target, and he was gaining a lot of hits.

I'm with Sonia, what are they doing? Balthasar, however, wasn't as sure as Leon. He continued firing the guns like Leon, Sonia and Nitro, but something inside him was telling him this wasn't right. By now, the Nemesis was a good ways up and still climbing like a rocket, but it didn't make a lot of effort to maneuver. Although Blood didn't put an effort to pursue it, he at least ascended in altitude so the gunners were still in range.

When the Nemesis was over the Nosferatu, realization hit Balthasar like an Agent's punch to a novice. He reached for the PA system. "Blood! Get us away, now!!"

It was too late though. When the Nemesis reached the appropriate position, Irvine dipped the medium sized hovercraft into a straight dive that sent the ship propelling right into the Nosferatu's back. The larger hovercraft rocked upon impact, and even though its armor held against the Nemesis' ramming force, it still took damage and shook violently. Sonia was thrown out of her chair, and the shock made Leon throw his head against his monitor, breaking it. Sparks flew up, lights broke and fires ignited.

To make matters worse, the gunners on the Nemesis targeted the dorsal hoverpads of the Nosferatu, destroying three more of them as the smaller hovercraft put forth even more power behind its drive. In the cockpit, Blood, clutching the wound on his head, felt his skin turn pale white as he felt the smaller ship drive his downward. Irvine was actually overpowering him! Despite his efforts to push back, he could not shake the smaller ship off of the Nosferatu's back, and the ground was coming up ever faster.

----

Let's see how tough you are when you're a battering ram! Irvine thought triumphantly as he pushed the Nosferatu further and further. He couldn't see the ground through the canopy, since the Nosferatu was right in front of him, and the glass had smashed and cracked upon the impact, but he knew he was getting close. A sudden rocking sensation jolted through the Nemesis, and whatever light the surface offered disappeared around the Nemesis. Irvine knew they were underground. And now for part two…

Pulling back on the control stick, Irvine had the Nemesis break off of the larger hovercraft and fly past. As Irvine expected, the Nosferatu leveled out into its own dive, and soon it turned back into stage 1, where the Nemesis was running like hell itself were chasing it. Difference now was, that's what Irvine wanted. He keyed in a PA. "Glitch, charge the EMP now!"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to drop an EMP charge. If that doesn't work, blow the shipboard EMP and we'll take them with us!" Irvine ordered, as he flipped a switch off to the side.

The EMP charge, as it came to be known to ship captains, was one of the better anti-machine weapons Zion had created. The charge was generally an unguided, unpropelled projectile that was ejected off of a ship like a grenade or cannon ball, which held until its proximity sensors detected a hostile target. It then generated an EMP wave that had a slightly smaller range as the ship mounted model, but caused the same effect: shorting out all electronic devices in a given radius. This was a weapon made shortly after the Osiris' destruction years ago, basically a method keep such an incident from happening again. But in the Nemesis' case, it would prevent their destruction against one of their own.

In similar fashion to a submarine, an outer door on the tail end of the Nemesis retracted to reveal a single drop tube in the middle of the hovercraft. A single, metal cylinder slowly loaded out of the tube.

With a grin on his face, knowing that there was no way in hell Blood was going to see this coming, Irvine pressed the trigger. "Drop dead. Literally." He said, grin increasing as the button lid up. The charge launched out and started to fall behind the Nemesis.

As the Nemesis flew deeper into the tunnel, the charge tumbled through the air, when the Nosferatu descended and reached its level. In the shattered cockpit of the Bloodsucker, Blood saw past the broken canopy and immediately recognized it. However, he knew it was too late. Even if he could pull out, there would be no escaping the resulting shockwave.

Fuck you to the end, Irvine. You and your prodigy… he thought bitterly. "Everybody hold on tight, it's going to be a long fall!" he called out over the ship's PA system. He then closed his eyes, accepting his fate in the drop.

That's when EMP charge's proximity sensors went off, exploding right in Blood's face. The resulting shockwave shot through the Nosferatu, frying all electronic equipment and systems. Even though the ship's circuitry had been designed to survive an EMP wave, it didn't help that it was in freefall. And so it plunged deeper and deeper into the tunnel, its great roar finally died down…

The Nemesis, on the other hand, sped up as fast as it could, jumping into another tunnel as the wave continued on. Irvine leveled out the ship and put on more speed, but he knew he would never outrun the shockwave, not with the damage he had. He turned on the PA system. "All hands, brace for crash landing!" he called out, then putting out the landing skids. He held on tight, praying that they were close enough to Gate 02 for Zion to notice them.

With sparks and electrical explosions in its wake, the shockwave caught up and passed the Nemesis, and disabled it. The ship dropped in altitude and slammed to the ground. Its landing skids held in the impact, but it still slid due to its momentum, slamming through various debris that littered the tunnel's bottom. After what seemed like an eternity, the Nemesis slowed down and slammed into the ruins of another Zion hovercraft, finally stopping in its flight. Silence came back into the tunnel soon after.

Interestingly, the ruins that the Nemesis flew into was that of the Zion hovercraft Icarus, which had been disabled by an EMP burst itself during the war, but had the poor luck of being ripped apart by sentinels, all hands lost. The Nemesis, on the other hand, had much better luck, and despite its damage, had survived with its crew. For the moment at least.

----

Tunnels of the Real
Matrix Corps HvCFT
Nabonidus
9:47PM Matrix Time

Perhaps an hour out of Zion's dock, the Nabonidus hovered slowly down a tunnel, the blue rays of scanning beams emanating from the ship mapping everything that surrounded it, from pipelines to cooling ducts. The buzz of its hoverpads gave it an almost animal-like characteristic, as though it were signaling to any other life forms around it, machine or otherwise, that it was busy and wouldn't take kindly to being disturbed. Niobe sat at the helm, her eyes piercing into the darkness ahead with a look on her face that showed she'd be ready for anything that might come out of it, friend or foe. But you'd already know that without having to look if you've ever worked with her before. It was just common knowledge.

Link served as her co-pilot. His eyes darted around from screen to screen inside the cockpit, studying anything that the scanners and performance monitors could display. He wasn't worried about piloting the ship; Niobe had it covered. All he had to worry about was being able to keep up with her in case they ran into trouble. And by the looks of what was coming in from various radar, heat, and sonar scanners, that wasn't going to happen. Smooth sailing for now.

Morpheus was on the main deck, contemplating various things as always, at the same time. He stood in front of the chair array, his arms crossed and one hand upon his chin. The war had taken its toll on Morpheus, both physically and mentally. Various fights, sudden unexpected events, and most of all, still after five years, the absence of his friend, and in some ways, his mentor, Neo. Each had their effect on him. A line or two had formed in his forehead. Slight bags under his eyes and a scar or two. His eyes remained unchanged by some miracle perhaps. They still had that dangerous and at the same time welcoming look that he'd always had. The look many newcomers to Zion came to know him by. He missed Neo, as well as Trinity.

He remembered how he had gone about trying to reconstruct Neo's RSI in the Matrix. Then there were the Agents resembling Neo that followed, a fabrication of The Merovingian that was his way of mocking Neo and his truce, which also served as an effort to get under Morpheus' skin, from holding a grudge against him ever since their ill-fated meeting over The Keymaker. It almost felt like he was being haunted for trying to bring Neo back instead of honor his sacrifice.

Neo had been a light of hope for him. Without him, the world seemed dark. With a new war in place, he now felt as though those six months in which Neo was with them, were a dream he'd had, because nothing was different otherwise. Now, Neo had existed only within Zion's constructs to aide newbies in their training. It brought back good memories to see him, next to his companion program that was Trinity, but the simulacra inside the simulation couldn't ever be the real thing, even if they were 99% accurate and had collective intelligence.

But Neo wasn't what was on his mind. Right now, the only thing on his mind was what had happened in the Matrix approximately four hours ago, that everyone had witnessed on their construct monitors. Green code turning White. White code turning into crystal clear picture feed. Picture feed of a new face, one he'd never seen before, doing things he didn't think were possible for someone who had been freed only weeks prior. Things he thought only The One could do. He'd watched the code recordings of this man take a beating from an Agent and still manage to live. Fight back even. He watched him as he was shot mercilessly and killed by Balthasar. That was no surprise to him. This was War; Soldiers were killed left and right. At that point he figured that the guy had had merely a streak of luck that was abruptly stopped in its tracks. But when he got back up and everything changed… He knew there was something special about him. What it was he did not know. Two questions plagued his mind; Who was this man, and what is his purpose? Surely, only The Oracle knows such things, he reassured himself. Everyone knew that.

Around him, people were at work. Gizmo and Hacksaw, two new crewmates he'd picked up while at Zion, were handling maintenance. It's what they were good at. In the Matrix, aside from soldiers, they served as hardware wizards, and acted like Police on a steakout, inside a van with all of the high tech equipment. Only instead of surveillance, they hacked the Matrix from the inside, helping Operators back in the real world get their work done faster. Ghost was plugged into his meditation construct. Kid was in a combat training program. Zee was checking munitions, making sure everything was clean, loaded, and where it belonged. Sparks sat at the Operator's console. Since all of the sensor readouts were being handled in the cockpit, he had been at work on other things: Checking on Zion hideouts inside the Matrix, monitoring Exile activity, making patches and updating software, playing a game he downloaded from the Matrix. The usual.

Inside the cockpit, sensors sounded off, notifying something had been detected. Niobe checked the map readings; They were just coming upon a junction. Link brought up the bio-scanner readouts. Whatever it was they had stumbled across was made of metal, and it was big. Really big. Infrared sensors showed that it was eminating heat. There were signs of life. Niobe and Link exchanged looks and brought up the holographics display. The floating blue image before them flickered to life and spun counter clockwise slowly. Exchanging looks now was impossible; They were both wearing the same expression of awe.

"Holy shit.." Niobe said, breaking the silence.

"What the hell happened here?" Link asked himself out loud

"Get Morpheus, he's gotta see this," she told him.

On the main deck, Link's voice sounded over the loudspeaker.

"Morpheus, come to the cockpit."

"What is it?" He asked, looking up as though he were talking to the topside.

"We found something. You're gonna wanna see it, I ain't kidding around here."

"Patch it through down here," he answered, shifting his eyes over to Sparks. He got to work right away, his fingers working the keyboard like lightning as he brought up the relayed image onto the construct monitors.

"No fucking way.." Sparks said. Now Morpheus wore a concerned frown as he walked over to see what it was. When he finally did, his concerned expression remained as he studied the image. A few seconds went by, and Niobe anxiously spoke up.

"Morpheus, do you see that?" She asked over the loudspeaker.

"Yes."

"That's the Nemesis!"

"I know what it is."

"Look at the thing, it looks like it's been through hell and back!"

Morpheus chuckled at this remark. By now he had to agree with Cypher on one thing: Could any place be worse than this?

"Diagnosis?"

"She's been smacked around pretty bad, Sir," Link answered. "It's got bullet holes and impact damage all over it and it's missing a few hoverpads."

"Bullet holes..?" Sparks asked as he stared at the relayed image. "Squiddies don't carry guns. You think they might have rolled out a new sentinel?"

"Irvine must have gotten himself caught up in a dogfight with another hovercraft," Morpheus assessed.

"Do you think it might have been one of ours?" Niobe asked.

"No, we would have heard about it already. Must have been a Resistance hovercraft."

"That must have been that disturbance they were talking about before we left Zion, there were seismic reports of rumbling not far away from Gate 2." Sparks said.

"You think it was the Nemesis, Sir?" Link asked.

"It could have been. It might have been the other ship, the Nemesis looks like it performed an almost perfect landing rather than a crash." Morpheus said.

"Well if Irvine was the winner I'd hate to see what happened to the other ship." Link remarked.

"I'm more concerned about what's inside the ship." Morpheus replied. "Any signs of life?"

"Sensors detect seven life forms." Link answered.

"Seven… He must have picked up a new crewmate at some point after he left," Sparks said.

A new crewmate... Morpheus thought to himself. I wonder...could he be on there?

"What do you want to do about it Morpheus?" Niobe asked.

"Set the ship down. We're going to board the ship and find out what happened."

"That's it?" She asked, as though she knew there was some detail he left out.

"We're going to proceed as though there are hostiles on board. Last time we saw these people, it wasn't a fond farewell."

"Got it."

----

"Somebody's found us…" Marley whispered.

The lights were off inside the Nemesis. Glitch was instructed to prevent the auxiliary power from starting up when they'd landed. It was pitch black inside. Outside, the buzz of a ship's hoverpads sounded so loud it was as though the Nemesis's power was still on. It was like a flashback of only moments ago when the Nosferatu was stalking them in the tunnels, only you could tell it was a smaller ship. Whose side it was on was unknown, as with no power they had no way of telling. But they were ready for anyone no matter what the allegiance.

"Who do you think it is?" Glitch asked the darkness.

"Gotta be a Zion craft. We're too close for the Resistance to be poking around here. They dwell in unmarked territories," Blade answered. The rumble of a ship setting down shook the deck and echoed in the junction they'd landed in. In the dark, Blade had picked up his EMP rifle and pointed it in the direction it came from.

"They know we're on here, their scanners will pick us up. They're gonna board us," Anubis said.

"That's the idea..." Irvine replied. You could hear in his voice that he was more concentrated on listening to what was going on than talking about it. Janus liked the idea. He'd seen it in a movie once and it worked. But he also knew that if Irvine was planning an ambush in the form of a trap to capture another ship, then it was going to get messy. Although unfamiliar with the weapon, he gripped his EMP rifle as though it were an assault rifle back in the Matrix.

There was a loud creaking noise, and then the hiss of air pressure being released from a rampway. Then nothing. The sound of a panel being pulled open; circuitry being taken out. The *CLACK* of a conduit being fastened onto it. Morpheus' muffled voice: "Okay Sparks, open it."

"Morpheus..." Irvine whispered to himself. This was going to be interesting. He was as glad as he was precautious; He'd rather have Morpheus find him, knowing the guy, but he knew he'd likely be brought in as a prisoner and his ship taken from him. Come and try, asshole… he thought to himself, tightening his grip on his rifle's trigger handle. At this point, he figured negotiations would be aggressive or none at all. He could feel the pressure of his pulse against the headset he wore.

Now, the even louder creaking noise of the Nemesis' hatch being opened, followed by the air pressure released. Small booms of the crew's footsteps coming onto the ship, unheard as they were leaving their own. White searchlights shone into the ship. Anubis watched with narrowed eyes. This was like an extreme version of manhunt. He made sure to stay behind the mainframe tower he'd been hiding behind.

Morpheus peered into the ship. Sparks burst from wire fixtures and consoles all over the place. There was an eerie quiet inside. It was as though the ship was dead.

"The auxiliary power didn't even come on..." Gizmo said. This was a bit unsettling to Morpheus; He knew this ship when it was first built. Saw it leave on its maiden voyage. And now it was a wreck, like every other ship. Go figure... he thought bitterly to himself. He slowly made his way into the ship, looking up a ladder leading to higher decks to see if anyone had been near there. Hacksaw made sure to double check. Ghost's eyes darted around in the dark, trying to see anything not mechanical. Irvine waited until he walked by, his gun barrel poking out from the pipes he'd been hiding behind. Ghost didn't see that. He waited for his pick of the litter to come by. When Morpheus started to pass by, Irvine felt his heart pounding with adrenaline. He whispered into his headset: "Glitch..." Morpheus heard him. But he wasn't fast enough.

The auxiliary lights turned on bright with a *SHMMM*. It scared the shit out of the rest of the search crew, giving Irvine's the element of surprise. Irvine stepped out and wrapped his left arm around Morpheus' throat while settling the bore of the EMP rifle's barrel right over the plug on the back of his head. Blade came up but found Hacksaw's gun in his face, however Anubis was aiming at Hacksaw. Gizmo aimed at Anubis. Blade was aiming at Gizmo. Janus aimed at Link, who was aiming at Glitch. Marley and Ghost aimed at each other. Kid aimed at Janus. Glitch aimed at Kid. Irvine's team had checkmate.

"Well well well, Morpheus, so nice of you to stop by. Interesting little Mexican stand off we have here."

"Irvine, we came here to help," Morpheus said under the grip Irvine had on his throat.

"I don't recall asking anyone for help," Irvine snapped back.

"I don't think you're in the position to be turning down anyone's help," Link said.

"Oh really? Hmm…" Irvine said as he quickly checked around the room, his eyes darting from person to person. "Looks like I'm the only one who doesn't have a gun in his face. I think you need the help more than I do."

"We've got no time for fun and games here..." Ghost said in his monotoned voice, staring Marley in the eye.

"I think we've got plenty of time, for some questions at least," Glitch said.

"Hey, we're the ones who're supposed to be asking the questions here!" Hacksaw said angrily.

"Yeah, like what the hell are you guys doing so close to Zion?" Kid demanded.

"Simple, we needed the help and we knew where to find it," Irvine said with a smart ass tone and a matching grin.

"So what the fuck is this all about?!" Gizmo yelled out.

"Well, we had no idea which ship might find us. Could have been from Zion or one of Blood's," Irvine began. "But I doubt it'd be any of them, they're all probably dragging his big ass out of the trench his ship made when he went down."

"You took out the Nosferatu?" Link asked.

"He's quick." Anubis quipped.

"Hey, who the hell are you?!" Gizmo asked him.

"He's going to be your worst nightmare in a moment if you don't get that gun out of his face." Janus said.

"The same could be said for me." Kid chimed in.

"Try it, punk." Janus shot back.

"SILENCE!!" Morpheus yelled over them.

"Gettin' a bit testy, eh Morpheus?" Irvine taunted.

"No, I'm trying to get everyone settled down here. Everyone put your guns down."

Everyone exchanged looks. Then they all looked at Morpheus and Irvine. Irvine took a moment to think about it. He nodded, and his men slowly lowered their guns. Morpheus's men followed, and then Irvine let go of Morpheus.

"Okay then," Morpheus said, adjusting his head and cracking his neck after getting out of Irvine's grip. "What happened here?"

"Hmm, what did happen, what did happen...You saw that huge occurrence in the Matrix a few hours ago right?"

"You mean when all of the coding on the construct monitors started scrolling extremely fast, turned white and then developed into an actual picture of what was going on inside the Matrix?" Link asked.

"I'll take that as a Yes," Irvine said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, that was all the work of a new crew member of mine," he nodded towards Janus. Morpheus turned and looked him over.

"So it was you..." Morpheus said in a low tone, almost to himself. "What is your name?"

"Janus." He answered.

"Janus.." Morpheus considered the name, and the mythological attachments to it. "Can you explain what happened?"

"I can tell you," Irvine piped in, but Janus put up a hand.

"It's okay, I used to be a cop, I can handle it," he said. Irvine shrugged. Janus looked at Morpheus.

"We went into the Matrix, to investigate a code malfunction when we were attacked by these...ghosts," he started. Morpheus showed a look of concern or confusion at the mention of the word ghosts, but continued listening. "After they showed up, we went to get out, but Blood sent a few of his men in after us. We ran, and Irvine and Anubis," he nodded over to his silent comrade, "Had gotten caught up at a construction site. Kira, Solitaire, Blade, and myself, got our stuff together and went in to get them out, with Solitaire and Blade causing a distraction. We ran into more Resistance trouble there."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Kane and Gash had these combat programs with them, and they were hunting down Irvine and Anubis."

"..Combat programs?" Ghost asked.

"Yeah, almost like disposable soldiers. Some acted like animals."

"That sounds like the simulacra Zion was developing to give its troops an advantage against enemies inside the Matrix. How did the Resistance get its hands on them?" Gizmo said.

"We'll find out later. Keep going, Janus." Morpheus said.

"Well, Kira and I went in and dispatched the guards on the lower floors of the building they were in, one still in construction. When we got to the top floor, a large fire fight broke out. We gave Anubis and Irvine new weapons since there's had been taken away, and in the process of getting Anubis' sword back from Gash, I killed him."

"You killed Gash?" Kid asked in a tone of amazement. Janus simply nodded. The rest of the Nabonidus crew members, except Anubis, all exchanged looks with Morpheus and themselves. Anubis just let out a 'heh'.

"Gash was one of the best fighters in the Resistance," he explained.

"Apparently not, since he dropped that fast." Anubis said.

"After that, Kane was wounded and ran off. Glitch loaded up a helicopter for us and we planned to be dropped off at different exit locations since it would be safer. Around that time was when Blade and Soliatire came in with the distraction to get the shitload of cops off of our attention for a few moments. Before I got out, I ran into an Agent near the exit that Kira and I were assigned to. We fought, and he almost killed me, but I kept getting up. Balthasar came in at that point and took him out. He fatally shot Kira... and I went after Balthasar."

"You're crazy," Link said.

"Not now, Link." Morpheus ordered. "Go on," he said.

"We made it to a rooftop, and I was already smashed up by the Agent, so it was no contest for him. When he had me on the floor, he shot me in the chest. I believe I died then."

"...."

"What I saw...I can't really describe because it only just happened recently, and I haven't had time to think about it. Whatever happened, I was revived, I felt like I was a part of the Matrix. I stood up and Balthasar tried to fight me, but this time I had beaten him with no effort. I can't understand why or how."

"That does sound peculiar..." Morpheus remarked. He didn't know what to make of it.

Irvine spoke up. "After Janus got out of the Matrix, Blood must have been pissed. He came after us the way a man does when he has a lust for vengeance or the other party owes him money. We were chased into the abandoned remains of a city on the surface, where we had a huge dogfight. Janus and Anubis managed to stall him for a few moments which gave us the chance to get outta there, but he still came after us. We took him out with an EMP charge and he nose dived. We set down here and shut down the power, waiting for someone to find us. You know the rest."

"Hmm..." Morpheus said in thought. He paced around back and forth for a minute or so before he spoke up again.

"I have an idea."

"Oh yeah?"

"Come back with us to Zion."

Everyone looked at Morpheus like he had three heads.

"Hmmm… That's a good offer, except for the fact Lock would sooner have us thrown in the brig and take the Nem away than give us sanctuary." Irvine protested with dry sarcasm.

"Not necessarily. Things have changed since you left. When this war started, the Matrix Corps was formed for soldiers who would fight for Zion specifically in the Matrix. I am the General of the Corps, and Lock's equal in terms of military ranking."

"So you're saying we would be out of his jurisdiction."

"Correct."

Irvine looked over at Blade. "We could use the repairs."

"We could use a home." Blade said.

"Not to mention new equipment." Glitch chimed.

"And real food, mahn." Marley said.

Irvine looked at everyone with a "Hmm..."

"Alright, we'll go. Home is, after all, where the heart is."

Morpheus smiled. It was nice to have interesting people on the same side again. "Welcome back."