THE
MATRIX
ELIMINATION
THE ENOCH
Prologue
Hephaestus tapped into the keypad. "Half a block. To your right. Head straight in. There's a guy at the desk. Ignore him, take a flight upstairs. On the left wall of the room. There's your exit."
"Got it," Hephaestus heard Isis yell. Hephaestus punched in some more keys and the Mega City map screen zoomed in on the building Isis was heading for. Just at that moment, Fidelias phoned him.
"Operator."
"I need an exit! Now!"
"Go south about two blocks. Look for "P. and P. Plumbing. Ignore the guy at the desk, go upstairs, left wall. There's a payphone."
"Thanks!"
Hephaestus pressed some keys to see what was happening with Fidelias. Three screens appeared. An Agent was chasing after Fidelias.
"Holy #!?..."
Fidelias turned the corner just as three bullets hit the brick wall. Agent Finn reloaded his weapon - a Desert Eagle - and ran around the corner to find that the human was gone. Finn pressed a hand to his earpiece and heard what he needed. He went into P. and P. Plumbing.
Fidelias just escaped a shot from the Agent. As he ran up the stairs, the shocked man at the desk began to morph...into Agent Jones. Jones reached inside his suit and closed his fingers around the handle of a Desert Eagle. Finn nodded to Jones, and they both jumped up the stairs.
Fidelias looked around frantically until he spotted the pay phone. It began to ring. As Fidelias ran for the phone, it blew into pieces as Agent Jones shot it. Finn pressed the trigger at Fidelias, who was hit in the neck and died immediately.
It was at that time that Isis arrived. She saw the demolished phone, then looked into the barrel of Finn's Eagle.
Hephaestus stared in disbelief at the bodies of Fidelias and Isis, as they both coughed up blood and died in turn.
"No...no..."
The alarm began to go off. "Sentinel? Oh, #!?...I'm SCREWED!" He ran to the cockpit and began to maneuver The Halberd out of broadcast position. He was alone now. His fellow crewmate dead, Captain Fidelias dead.... It was time to return to Zion. And at the same time, escape the Sentinels.
The ship began to fly at full speed. He was about thirty minutes from Zion. If he hadn't been going the wrong way, he probably would have made it.
A screen flashed the words "hull breach" as a horrible metallic creaking was heard by Hephaestus. Near the Matrix CPUs, he saw a red laser searing through the ceiling.
"Oh, no..." he muttered. A long, slinky arm coiled in from a steaming hole in the top of The Halberd. Then the full body emerged. Another sentinel came in behind first. The two quickly walked towards Hephaestus. He watched in horror as a razor sticking out of one of the first sentinel's tentacles jabbed him through the chest and extended out the back.