Author's note: though I have read and reread the story times without number, it's possible that I might still change certain bits. I'm not used to putting my stuff up after only just writing it. It takes weeks of editing - I take things out and add things in to make the story more fluid. I'm going to do that with this one as well, so it's possible that when you come back to read this some things might have changed. Bare with me. I hope you enjor this, guys. Have fun!

Edit: added more description to make characters more real. Increased Lock's rank (for good reason).

Synopsis: The beginning of the end. Two soldiers, on their way to the cell of a very dangerous prisoner, ponder the limits of the prisoner's capabilities in the matrix and how it affects the people of Zion.

The men strode down the dim passageway, the soles of their boots clicking on each contact they made with the concrete floor, sending off dull echoes that drifted the length and breadth of the seemingly endless channel. They were garbed in uniforms made out of cotton robes, nothing stylish. No fancy gold-embroidered ranks on their shoulders, just simple black leather boots, matching black belts, and a neat mix of white and brown cloth for body cover. Their words, though spoken in soft tones, rang loud and clear in the vacant hallway.

The echoes stopped the moment they halted at the last metal door in the passage. The soldier on the left banged the door with his fist and patches of rust broke free off the door's surface, staining the air then gliding to the dusty ground.

'You're up!' He yelled, peeking through the rectangular hole on the door. Light from the hallway spilled feebly through the hole into the cell, too weak to render the murk powerless but strong, at least, to give the prisoner a flimsy outline. The prisoner, head bowed as though in silent prayer or meditation, sat against the wall across from the door.

'You ready, Jim?' The soldier leaned away from the door and stared at the man beside him.

'You kidding me, Andy? It's a woman in there.' Jim said, chuckling. Tiny prickles of black hair poked from his head, and his skin, which was normally pale, mimicked the dull tone of the light in his environment.

'How long you been here?' Andy said. His steely eyes forced Jim to grunt, cough and erase all traces of humour from his face.

'Two months.' Jim answered, doing his best to avoid Andy's eyes.

'You've been here for two months. You know these prisoners more than I do?'

'No.'

'Then what the hell do you mean by that stupid comment?' Andy snapped, shifting his entire body weight to fully face Jim. Like Jim, his hair was cropped as low as possible, but his skin was a dark shade of coffee brown. He was also two heads taller. If that wasn't enough, his muscular build made the glower from his eyes all the more daunting.

'I was ... I was just saying – she could be harmless –'

'Where are we right now?' Andy cut him off.

'Prison...' Jim said nervously, glancing around to check that he was right. He wasn't about to make another faux pas.

'Which level?'

'Level 10.'

'And what kind of prisoners get thrown into level 10?' Andy demanded.

'Dan - dangerous prisoners,' Jim wet his lips, his eyes fixated on his boots.

Andy growled. He would have smacked Jim right there if he could get away with it.

'Don't ever ask me stupid questions again, you hear me? You know the protocol. Ready your weapon, soldier!' Andy barked his order.

'Y - yes sir,' Jim nodded vigorously and armed and cocked his submachine gun which had previously been hanging from his left shoulder. He took a number of steps away from Andy, aiming his weapon at the door.

Andy selected a large key from the ring of keys in his possession, dangling from his belt at his left side, and inserted it into the door's keyhole.

'Wait!' Jim said.

His hand poised around the key, ready to turn it, Andy looked Jim's way.

'You alright?' He asked on noticing Jim's crinkled, damp forehead.

'Y – yeah,' Jim managed a weak smile that disappeared as quickly as it had materialised.

'Are you sure?' Andy asked again, for he perceived Jim's weapon judder faintly. The boy's hands were shaking.

'Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm just – you know – unsettled.' Jim said in a tremulous voice.

'Calm down, Jim. Is it because of something I said?'Andy knew he should be more welcoming to these new recruits, but it wasn't like he never tried; they just had a way of getting on his nerves. And his age-old impatience with people in general always intensified confrontations like this. The fact was this wasn't a playground or mummy's kitchen, and they - recruits - weren't kids anymore. They were soldiers now and they had to realise that. If being merciless to them was one way to help accomplish this, drive the message home, then so be it.

'No. I just realised who the prisoner is, that's all.' Jim said, motioning at the door with his gun. 'It's her.'

'Oh, right.' Andy sighed. Not again. 'You sure you can handle this?' He asked calmly.

'I just got a couple of questions before we go in.'

'Shoot.'

'Is it true what they say about her? They say she can...' Jim's voice trailed off and he looked around to make sure no one was with them, like it mattered if anyone was. 'They say she can control things outside the matrix!' He whispered.

'There's no need to lower your voice.' Andy said. He stared into the hole for a brief moment. 'She is powerful, but she has no power over us.'

'The things she did in the matrix – why she's locked up – are they true? She ... she –'

'Yes, she did.' Andy nodded. 'All of them. No mercy.'

'No mercy?' Jim squeaked, his eyes widening in terror. 'My God...'

'She has no power over us, Jim. You need to remember that.' Andy switched his attention to the door. It was time to get the prisoner out.

'I was 16 when he saved us, you know!' Jim blurted out quickly the instant Andy's hand on the key moved a fraction to unlock the door.

'Jim, seriously...' Andy groaned. Frustration and impatience edged into his voice. He took one good look at Jim and saw that the young soldier was frightened beyond words. Perhaps the boy should not have volunteered to be transferred here. Andy really didn't need this. He had specifically requested from General Lock recruits who could control their emotions around this particular prisoner.

However, it wouldn't hurt to be nice once in a while, Andy supposed. It wasn't Jim's fault that he felt like this, and Jim wasn't alone in displaying this behavioural pattern: it seemed everyone in Zion was scared out of their minds when matters concerning prisoner number E-001 surfaced to the open.

Everyone except Andy.

Andy shrugged and said, 'He saved us?'

'Neo. I was 16. I ... remember the machines. I remember they took my friends. My family. Killed them all like rats. They were gonna kill me too. And then they just up and left.' Jim's eyes stared, unfocused and unblinking at the door. Soon afterwards he lifted them to look at Andy, a shadow of trepidation and a touch of appreciation clouding them. 'Neo saved me. Saved us all. At the time I thought he had to be extremely powerful to have done that. He was one man and there was so many of them.' There was a swift change; his eyes had grown darker with dread. 'They say she can do things that Neo could only dream of.'

'What's your point?' Andy's hand left the key. Jim had gained his undivided attention.

'If Neo, one man, could stop the machines from destroying us ... and she's supposed to be more powerful than him, what do you suppose she could do?'

Andy shifted his gaze to the hole on the door, to the faint shape of the prisoner. He saw her head lift, and though her eyes were invisible in the darkness he knew she was staring directly at him.

'Better yet, whose side is she on, man or machine ... or neither?'

That was the question. The answer to it was not a simple one but it was there, clear as the bits of mildew and filth on the walls of the hallway. The answer was –

Note: For those familiar with my past work, this is actually a rewrite of The Chronicles of the One, which I deleted. I didn't like the way I started it and the way the story was going so I decided to reboot the entire plot. Morever I wasn't that good a writer when I wrote Chronicles. I'm not perfect now but I'm better. Feel free to critique my work and review whenever you please. I'll try to be consistent this time and upload new chapters as soon as humanly possible.

Up next, Episode 2: Modus Vivendi

Synopsis: Prisoner E-001 is removed from her cell and taken to a secluded visitors' area to meet with Captain Link. Thereafter, E-001 gets a rather unexpected visit from a certain councillor.