Neo sat in the building, waiting. To pass the time, he watched the streams of code run by. He marveled at its complete complexity. Within every symbol was an entire stream of codes. The hard drive necessities must have just been unbelievable. Then before he could react, he felt a trimmer in the code, something changed instantaneously. The light between the planks of wood making up the walls of the building quickly disappeared as the entire building went dark.

He stood and looked around. They were alert of his presence. He quickly pulled out his phone.

"Tank, what happened?"

"They cut the hard-line and changed the building into a titanium box eight foot thick! I can't get you out.

"Find me an exit. I'll see what I can do." Neo closed the phone and slid it back into his coat pocket.

The Cadillac ran along at thirty miles per hour when Morpheus's phone rang.

"What is it, Tank?"

"They've trapped Neo, and cut the hardline to his position. I see three police units coming to intercept you. The nearest exit is on Harvey Street."

"Things can't just be easy with you people, can they?" Splice asked.

"Harvey Street across town," Morpheus said.

"That's a firm, sir. You're going to have to bust it across town to get to an exit. One of the police units is two streets ahead of you. Turn right!"

"Go right, now!" Morpheus said to Trinity. The five-thousand pound car swung around and blazed down the narrow alleyway.

"There are three ways to get there. Highway Three to Johnson Street, through a residential area and the I-10 freeway."

"What is traffic like this time of day, Tank?"

"I-10 is bad, residential has kids on buses going home from school, and Highway Three is real light."

"I'm coming up to the end of the alley," Trinity announced.

"Go left," Morpheus said. "Go to Highway Three. Splice," he said loudly, "I need you to take point. Watch for anyone coming in. Trinity, turn right here and get onto the feeder."

The Cadillac threw its weight and took the sharp maneuvers well as Trinity got into position. A police car fell in directly behind them.

"Alright, we've got company!" Splice said.

"As fast as the car an offer, please," Morpheus said to Trinity. The vehicle accelerated at an impressive rate as they flew down the feeder road and neared the highway on ramps.

Splice watched the two officers closely as they radioed their position when he saw them both gyrate violently as they were taken over by a pair of agents.

"Alright, the cops behind us are now agents. Got any ideas, Morpheus?"

"Get them off our tail."

"Got it," Splice said. He rolled down the window and grabbed the top of the car and lifted himself out of the window. His right foot was in the seat, and the arch of his left boot dug into the door's window frame. His trench coat flared out of the window and began trailing behind them like a black, leather flag, snapping in the wind. Facing the rear of the car, he held onto the door frame with his left hand and drew the SOCOM from his left chest holder with his righthand and clicked off the safety. He extended his arm across his torso with his arms in an X over his chest and opened fire.

He fired at the police car's windshield. After he punched thirteen holes in the windshield, the slide locked open, and the police car kept coming. Then he saw the driving agent phase back behind the steering wheel, apparently after dodging the bullets.

Splice could handle that. He released the clip from the weapon, and brought the gun around to his chest and shoved the handle over another magazine in his chest holster. When he felt the mag snap into place, he pointed the SOCOM back down range and pushed down on the slide lock, and slammed the slide home. He took aim at the front tires instead. He plugged holes in the wheel well before the front left tire exploded.

The steering wheel ripped away from the agent's grip, and the car whipped over to its left. The car pivoted over its front right fender, digging into the asphalt. The police car flipped over the fender and somersaulted over and over on the highway. As the car wildly crashed over the road, it caused more vehicles to tumble and pile. Two police cars sharply evaded and accelerated toward them, some one-hundred yards back. Splice got back in and quickly rolled the window back up. He released the magazine from his weapon and counted the bullets he had left. He put that one back in his vest and slapped a fresh one in its place.

"Hold on!" Trinity said. They sharply turned onto an off ramp and bounded off the highway as they approached an overpass that they wanted to pass under. She slammed on the breaks and turned the wheel to the left as they approached the intersection, the heavy Cadillac swinging in response. Splice rolled to the right and was plastered against the door as they began their turn. The end of the heavy vehicle swung around leaving a pair of rubber tracks and a cloud of burnt rubber. The whitewall tires broke lose as she floored the accelerator and took back off perpendicular to where they just were. They screamed under the overpass and hung another hard left to get back on the highway, going exactly the opposite direction, around the city to Harvey Street. They again accelerated as they entered the highway. There was another set of police lights behind them and several from the other direction on the other side of a stout concrete divider. Trinity got into the center lane. Splice looked back to see another cop coming up quickly. He also saw an agent riding a Harley Davidson in the HOV lane running parallel to them.

"Here we go again!" Splice said as he again rolled down the window. He perched himself outside in the same fashion as last time and drew his weapon.

"Groovy," Splice said to himself. The police car angled itself directly behind Splice, denying him a clear shot at their tires. He fired at the driver's center of mass once, punching a hole in the glass with no positive effect on the agent. He fired down into the dashboard to see if he could damage the steering wheel enough but to no avail. The rounds either did not penetrate, or he just missed.

The agent on the Harley approached quickly and drew his Desert Eagle fifty caliber hand gun and brought it level with Splice. Splice fired in an effort to cause the agent to lose his balance and fall from the bike but instead hit his gun, blasting it from his grip. The agent gritted his teeth and pressed against his ear piece. Splice felt a displacement in the Matrix. He looked over his shoulder just quick enough to see a police car come off the median and ram the side of their Cadillac.

The impact was too great for Splice to take and fell onto the police car's hood. He released his pistol to grab onto the hood between the windshield hood and held with all his strength. He gritted his teeth to see a pair of agents inside the cop car looking right back at him. Before they could draw their pistols, Splice pulled his off his right leg, crammed it into the glass, and pulled the trigger. He sent a round right into the agent. Splice was too close for the agent to be able to dodge and instead took it in the chest, but did Splice stop? No. He peppered the corpse and the agent next to him until they were arching green lightning. He stuck the gun back in his drop leg holster and clipped it secure as he rode the driverless police car. Splice looked over his shoulder and saw the car was headed over the feeder road and for a telephone pole at over ninety miles per hour. This was not the best place to be.

Splice quickly got to his feet and took a long, powerful step onto the top of the roof and bounded up and over the car. He somersaulted over the roof light bar and passed the trunk as he felt the car pass beneath him. He slammed into the feeder pavement and rolled as the police car impacted the telephone pole in a fiery explosion. He rolled within his trench coat without injury and got back up. He pulled his telephone from his pocket and clicked the key guard away with his finger. He quickly dialed his operator.

"Tank, what can you tell me?" He watched the motorcycle break away from the Cadillac as it neared the bridge on ramp. The rear tire lit up in smoke as the agent brought the bike down the embankment and onto the feeder road.

"You okay kid? That was one hell of a move! Agent dead ahead, Splice. Get— " he began to say as Splice interrupted him.

"Hey, Tank, I'll call you back." Splice slid the key guard back over the keypad and put the phone back in his inner pocket. The motorcycle roared toward him closing the distance quickly. Splice took a defensive posture against the course of the bike, his left side facing the bike. The agent had lined his course to directly run over Splice. Splice put his right hand inside his coat and grabbed the hilt of his wakizashi. As the bike neared, he flipped off the restraining clip and counted the feet until the agent arrived.

Neo walked over to the wall and ripped the wood away to see a bluish metal. He put his hand on the cold metal and briefly studied it. He stepped away, toward the middle of the room and stood up straight. He placed one hand behind his back and the other out in front of him and utilized his power.

A deep base filled the room, and everything began to vibrate. The wall he faced began to oscillate and ripple away from his hand. Neo exerted a little more effort and made the entire building shake violently. He clenched his teeth and sent a pulse toward the wall.

The massive titanium wall sheered away from its other three sides and fell free. The wall crashed into the ground had enough to set off car alarms for blocks. He looked out to see what must have been twenty police cars and a hundred police officers. Neo looked into the code and saw five agents present in the crowd.

Someone yelled open fire, and the air was filled with the cracking of gunshots and shotgun blasts. Neo simply held his hand up. Bullets of all calibers and all colors slowed and stopped suspended feet from him. Clumps of shotgun shot stopped mid-air with the rest of the bullets, forming a massive cloud of lead and steel. By the time the officers realized their bullets were suspended in air, the gunfire trickled off, and awe set it. The policemen could not believe what they were seeing. Neo looked from the diverse wall of bullets to the police officers and snapped his fingers. All seventeen hundred bullets fell from the air to the ground. Neo smiled and winked at the officers before he crouched down. A single ripple in the floor expanded away from him as he blasted into the air and became airborne.

The motorcycle closed thundering down on Splice at an alarming speed. It was beginning to become obvious that the agent was going to try to simply ram Splice, run him over. Splice drew his katana with is right hand and held it the length of his leg. With his left side facing the agent, he drew a pistol from his right chest holster and leveled it with the agent.

"Come get some," Splice said. He ripped crevices in the air as the fired mercilessly at the agent's center of mass atop the motorcycle. He fired at the agent's shimmering body as a distraction from the blade he concealed from view. He fired his last round, and the slide locked open as the agent shimmered back into one piece. Splice saw the mix of anger and satisfaction on the agent's face.

As the agent got within twenty feet of him, Splice dropped his pistol and pivoted to his left, gaining distance between himself and the motorcycle. With his coat fully flared by the wind, he swung the wakizashi blade right into where the agent sat, and the agent drove himself right through the blade. The motorcycle wobbled and fell over as the two pieces of the agent separated in a green flare. The bike skidded to a stop some fifty feet away from Splice.

He silently thanked God everything worked like he planned as the ran to the motorcycle. Splice grabbed the motorcycle's heavy frame and pulled with all his strength. He strained with the strength he had as a human as the strength he had by manipulating the Matrix. With all his might, he was able to lift the motorcycle upright. Once it was up, it stood nearly balanced. He inspected the scuff on the fuel tank and saw that the damage did not extend through the container's wall. He smiled and mounted the bike, his coat parting over the back of it. He started the bike back up and felt it rumble between his legs.

"Hail to the king, baby." Splice rotated back on the throttle and held down on the front brake. The rear tire spun free and rotated around to face the opposite direction, leaving a black half moon mark on the ground. He looked around and saw no one coming. He pulled his phone out and dialed his operator.

"Tank, I need an exit."

"Splice, there's an old exit in down town if you want to take it. It's a strip bar on the corner of Burleson and Fifth."

"Cool. How do I get there?" Splice asked as the motorcycle thundered beneath his legs.

"Go on the feeder and get onto first. . ." Tank finished the directions, and Splice put the phone back in his pocket. Splice let off the brake and lit up the back tire.

"Tank, is Splice okay?" Morpheus asked.

"Yeah, chock up one more agent's ass. Now he's going to an old exit in down town."

"The strip club?" Morpheus asked.

"Yeah, it's empty this time to the day."

"Where is Neo?"

"He's airborne right now. He's going to meet you at Harvey Street."

"Alright, Tank, we're staying in until Splice gets out. Neo may have to get him."

Splice thundered into the city without notice or incident, which worried him a little. He followed the directions Tank gave him, and he found the place. It looked like a titty bar from the outside. Being this deep in the super dense megacity, it was almost dark enough to be mistaken for night. He pulled up in a handicap parking place, knocked down the kick stand, and shut off the bike. He dismounted the bike, his coat trailing him. He climbed the stairs and came to the landing in front of the door. On either side was a pair of very big, very thick bouncers. He tried to walk past them as if they were not there, but one stuck his hand in Splice's chest.

"Where do you think you're going, runt?"

Splice stopped and looked down at the man's hand putting a crease in his tie. He pushed the man's hand to the side with the back of his left hand and rearranged the red tie.

"Look, guys, it's been a rough day. I just need to use the bathroom," he said as he looked back up to them.

"You twenty-one? You look more like fourteen," the other one said as he planted his hand on Splice's shoulder. Splice grabbed the guy's hand and twisted it two-hundred and seventy degrees over and threw a side kick right into the other man's chin, knocking him over the guard rail and down onto the hard concrete below. Splice took the bouncer he held in an arm lock and kneed him right in the face. The man fell over in a wet clump, and Splice whipped his coat around as he walked inside. He threw open the second set of double doors to see that the strip club was not a strip club this afternoon. It was a rave absolutely packed with people.

"For the love of God," he said as he rolled his eyes. Things just kept getting worse. He recognized the music and looked up on the stage to see that it was a German band by the name of Rammstein, a band he had been particularly fond of. He walked down into the crowd and pushed his way through the people bathed in flashing lights and ear pounding music. He plowed through the head banging crowd as he navigated to the far left wall, to the bathrooms where a telephone stood attached to the wall. He pushed through the mass of people. He saw the neon sign from where he was and continued on through. The last thing he needed was an agent to pop in.

As he neared the short corridor leading to the bathrooms, a big stocky guy stepped in and blocked the way.

"Hey, kid," he said, "what the hell are you doing here?!" he said over the music. Splice looked at the man through is sunglasses and tried to think of something to say. It came to him when the song ended, and the crowd's cheer faded.

"I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum." Just as he finished, Splice realized his was the only noise in the entire building, and everyone looked over at him. He cursed himself and shoved the man out of his way. He walked down to the end of the corridor and saw someone was already on the phone. "Excuse me, sir," he said, "I am waiting for a very important call."

"Tank," Morpheus said into his phone, "is Splice alright?"

"Yeah, he's at the club down town. There are a hell of a lot more people that I expected. It looks like a rave,' Tank said. He was about to hang up with Morpheus when he saw a flash on his screen. His eyes widened as he saw what was happening and cursed into the open line with Morpheus.

Splice stepped back and grabbed the hilt of his wakizashi as he saw the fat man on the phone stretch and bend into an agent. The agent let the phone go and dangle and turned around to face Splice.

"Mr. Taylor," he said as he approached a retreating Splice, "your time is up." Splice drew his blade and took a slash at the agent but missed as he ducked. Before Splice could complete his turn, the agent punched Splice with extreme force in the ribcage. Splice absorbed a lot of the hit with his flexed lat and oblique muscle, but it still hurt like hell. Just as quickly as the agent delivered the first blow, he threw an uppercut into Splice's chin. The young man was lifted into the air, and the blow caused him to lose grip of his blade. The agent began throwing punches left and right into Splices torso at the speed of dodged bullets.

Splice gritted his teeth as he flexed every muscle in his body in an effort to cushion as much of the barrage as possible and spat blood. The barrage stopped, and Splice fell to his knees with blood streaming down his chin. His vision shimmered back just in time to see the agent draw his sidearm. Splice hit the weapon away with his left hand and racked his opponent right in the crotch, but to little avail. Splice pivoted himself off the ground with his left hand and smashed the agent with the soles of both feet. He threw the agent into the opposing wall hard enough to make it pause. Splice quickly rose to his feet and gained a defensive posture as the agent stood up off the wall.

Splice threw three punches from right to left, all blocked by the agent, and spun around to deliver a turning back kick right to the agent's abdomen. The agent gritted his teeth as he absorbed the blow. The agent grabbed Splice by the throat and lifted him off the ground, slamming him to the wall. The agent squeezed Splice's neck hard enough to shove his adams apple deep into his throat triggering a hard gag. Splice grabbed the agent's arm and crushed every pressure point in it, but of course it did not work.

Instead, Splice used his grip on the agent's arm to steady himself as he brought a side kick up against the agent's rage ridden face. The agent lost control as Splice continued to plant his jungle boot into the agent's face. Splice began to feel himself get light headed. He reared both legs back and threw his boot heels into the agent's face. Splice fell free to the ground and gritted his teeth as he delivered a two fisted punch to the agent's chest, knocking him back against the narrow hallway's opposite wall. Faster than Splice could tell, the agent delivered a round house kick to his face and cracked him into the opposing wall. This close quarters fighting was a lot harder than it looked! Before Splice could regain his focus, the agent grabbed his tie and wrapped it around his fist, crushing Splice's throat against his clenched fist. The agent smashed him in the face five times, and leveled a gut punch deep into his abs.

Tank watched the kid thrash in the chair from over his shoulder as the agent battered him ruthlessly. A burst of blood spat out of his mouth as he coughed hard.

"Morpheous!" Tank said. "Splice needs help!"

Blood was smeared from his nose, and he spat blood again. He bared his teeth as it dripped off his chin.

He felt the agent let go of his tie. Splice struggled to but got his eyes open to see the agent with his wakizashi on a thrust directly into his chest. The world slowed, and he could see the agent moving far more slowly, but still too fast to do much about. All Splice could do was move to the side and hope he was not run through. He rapidly shimmered to his right in a move like that of an agent as the blade was thrust into the wall, but he did not go far enough.

"Oh, shit!" Tank yelled, "the agent just ran Splice through!"

"Call him, Tank!" Morpheus was heard saying over the line.

"I can't! The phone's still off the hook. I can't call until it's hung up!"

Splice screamed at the top of his lungs as he felt the blade pierce his left lat, a muscle that spanned from Splice's back to his left arm like a wing.

The agent stepped back and smiled. Splice barred his blood smeared teeth as more dripped from his mouth onto his black shirt. He grabbed the hilt and pulled with all his might, but the blade was firmly caught in the cinder block wall. The agent drew his Desert Eagle. Despite the unimaginable pain, Splice kicked the agent's arm just enough to throw off his aim. The heavy hand gun discharged blasting concrete directly next to his head. It was, however just enough time to draw his own weapon. He drew and fired two rounds in the direction of the agent, sending him into a shimmering haze. As the agent dodged the bullets, Splice put the muzzle of the SOCOM to the blade. He pulled the trigger, blasting the hilt off the blade. He screamed as the vibration rattled the blade inside him. Splice turned the weapon back on the agent as he came back into view and fired another two rounds, giving him a few more seconds as the agent shimmered away again. Splice stood forward off the wall, sliding himself off the blade with a yell. He stumbled but fired two more rounds toward the agent. As the agent shimmered out of view, he stumbled to the phone and fired two more rounds. The slide locked to the rear. He hung it up and drew both weapons from his two drop leg holsters as he turned to confront the agent.

"You want some?!" he shouted through his bloodied face. You want to have a little?!" Splice opened fired with both pistols from left to right. He filled the air with hot lead cutting columns of shattered air in their wakes. As the agent phased in and out, Splice adjusted his aim all over in the hope of hitting something. He watched the angry face of the agent shift around, never losing lock with Splice's eyes. The pistol in his right hand went dry first, and he kept firing his left. He slammed it against his chest, thrusting another clip into it when a thought ran across his mind.

With all of this weapons fire in such a small area, he had probably gone pretty deaf. He did not have time to try do discern what he was hearing. For all he knew, the phone had been ringing for the last five seconds. He fired the last four rounds from his left gun and dropped it, letting loose with his right. He grabbed the receiver with his left hand and shoved it onto his ear.

He felt the world crackle and fizzle as he fired to save his life.

As the world went black and the terrible pain of muscle fatigue enveloped his chest and left side, he heard Tank talking. He took a sudden and pained breath as he opened his eyes and tried to stand. He felt the interface spike was still jammed in the back of his head. He looked around and realized he was on the Nebacanezzar.

"Oh, fuck," he said. "Oh, God."

"You hold tight, Splice!" Tank said.

"Not a problem, stud," Splice said as he coughed liquid. He tasted the stark metallic taste of blood and felt it running down his chin. Splice tried to reach around the back of the chair to grab the needle interface. He heard Tank tell Morpheus that he was calling them. Tank hopped out of his chain and down into the chair pit

"Whoa, calm down boss man," Tank said as Splice felt around the back of his head. He slapped Splice's hands away and withdrew the interface from the back of Splice's head. Splice felt the needle pull out of his head and he tried to lean forward, but he fell out of the chair instead. Tank hooked the needle onto the back of the chair and knelt down to Splice.

"You okay, Splice?"

Splice wove him away and dry heaved on the metal grate floor.

"Yeah, man, I'm cool," he said as bloody saliva drooled out of his mouth. "I'm cool." He burped loudly as he expelled the air he had swallowed during all that. "Just get them out, and you can patch me up later."

Tank smiled and tapped a few commands into the operations board, sending another call. Splice got to his knees and bent over, gripping is left side.

"Splice," Splice heard Morpheus say from the seat. Splice got to his feet and saw Morpheous looking at him through the corner of his eye as he lay in the seat. He staggered over to Morpheus's chair. Splice stabbed the touch screen and looked Morpheus in the eye before pulling out his needle. Morpheus smiled at Splice like a mentor smiles at a protégé who had accomplished a great feat.

"God, I'm gunna be soar for days," Splice said as he stepped aside so Morpheus could stand. "Feels like I PTed my ass off."

"Well," Morpheus said as he brought Trinity back, "I must say, Splice, you continue to amaze me."

Splice wiped the blood from his chin as he stood hunched, gripping his left lat.

"Is every trip to the Oracle like that, or was that just special for me?" He staggered a little more as he tried to walk off the pain. "By the way, the Oracle said to come back anytime," he said in a stressed tone. "She likes to chat," he finished in a cough.

Morpheus unplugged and helped Neo out of the chair as Splice leaned on one of the chairs.

"You okay, kid?" Neo asked. "You don't look so hot." Splice waved him off and furrowed his brows.

"Yeah, I'm cool. Nothing wrong over here—nope!"

"Yeah," Tank said, "that agent licked on you pretty bad."

"No, no, no, you guys have it all wrong," he said with bloody teeth, "you see, I hit him over here and shot him over there," Splice said with a wince, "I swung my sword and," he coughed, "you know. Stuff and things."

"He didn't score a single hit on you, did he," Trinity said.

"Psshhh! You kiddin?!" Splice said as he almost fell over, "Naawww, he had nothin'!" He looked at the crew staring back at him with smiles ears to ears. "Fire, explosions, guns, kick ass martial arts," he said as he forcefully sat down on the metal grate.

"We're the saviors of the Matrix, huh?" He swallowed and looked back up at the crew and gave them a thumbs up. "Anytime you want to go back, just tell me."