Part Four
The Matrix was under Smith's total control.
Gen could not differentiate her own hand from the closest wall; it was all nothing but green codes streaming, overlapping. Smith stood out, his flaming form stomping its way towards Gen, Morpheus, and Ghost.
Just as he closed in on them…
"Ryuko! Initiate Code Z!"
Gen's command went through the direct link in communications they had to the real world. In the blink of an eye, she, Morpheus, and Ghost were transported back to reality, waking up in their stations aboard the Nebuchadnezzar II and T.A.R.D.I.S.
"Thanks, Ryuko," Gen made sure to tell her companion, who maintained her position in the Matrix of Time chamber, just as instructed.
"Hey, no problem," Ryuko said. "All ya have to do is tell me which button to press, and I got ya covered."
Regathering with Morpheus and the crew in the hovercraft, the captain himself was reasonably perplexed as he approached Gen. "What just happened? How were we able to exit without a hard line?"
"Before we jacked in, I hacked into the network through my Matrix of Time," Gen divulged, emphasizing by tossing and catching her sonic screwdriver, the tool she used in the act. "I planted a failsafe in case we ran into a situation like the one we just got out of."
"Now that is genius," Link commended.
"Marry me," Sparks also praised, in his own special way.
"Eyes on the screens, tech geeks. This ain't over yet." Ryuko ordered the two operators. "And she's not available."
Morpheus led Gen, Ghost, and Ryuko into the cockpit to join the pilot, Niobe.
"How did the talk go?" She asked without missing a single beat.
"Don't ask," Gen answered.
They could see Machine City directly ahead.
But it was the Armada, a huge fleet of colossal floating crab-like machines, barring their way. They formed a ring of defense at the cliffs surrounding the machine city, armed with several cannons.
Sighting the Nebuchadnezzar II on the approach, they were activated.
The Armada swarmed right for the hovercraft to Niobe's surprise.
"What is this? There's supposed to be a truce."
"Not anymore, there isn't," Morpheus uttered. "We were able to reach Neo through Smith, and he told us that the machines broke the truce by rebooting Smith in the Matrix as a new enforcer…keeping anyone from leaving at their own will."
Ryuko firmly eyed the mechanical fleet heading their way, gripping the scissor blade in her right hand.
"I'll handle this," she gravely declared.
Morpheus held on her words. "What are you going to do?"
He looked to the young woman, noticing her holding her left hand up.
It was right at that moment he noticed the red, fingerless glove on her hand.
Yanking on some type of pin at the wrist, she suddenly underwent an odd transformation. Her hair became even more feathery, accented with vibrant red undertones and horn-like clips. Senketsu himself was changed as well, his "eyes" extended into wing-shaped crests jutting out from Ryuko's shoulders and his upper and lower parts transformed into a black, attractive suit of armor with red stripes.
"Wow," Ghost murmured, his mouth gaping wide open.
Gen snickered, expecting that type of reaction to Ryuko's alluring Life Fiber Synchronization.
She stepped out of the hovercraft – passing an equally captivated Link and Sparks along the way – and proceeded in flawlessly executing every single machine within the Armada with her scissor blade. None of the Nebuchadnezzar II could believe the speed, dynamic, and fluidity she aerially moved in, hoping onto one machine before slicing another to pieces, and even fooling them into firing on each other.
"Your friend," an astounded Morpheus told Gen. "She is…remarkable."
"You don't know the half of it," Gen boasted.
Wiping out the last of the Armada, Ryuko catapulted herself back to the Nebuchadnezzar II and retreated inside.
She gave them the opening they needed to enter.
Landing in an unpopulated zone, Link and Sparks remained behind while the others pressed on further into the heart of the city. On their path, they came upon an abandoned hovercraft that had crashed some time ago.
They scoured it, ultimately finding the onboard plaque that registered its name.
"It's Logos," Niobe discovered.
"Neo and Trinity took it as far as this spot," Morpheus noted.
Ryuko let out a horrified gasp, drawing attention to her location on the hovercraft.
The subject of her horror was the impaled, decayed remains of a human resistance fighter. Close examination of the corpse helped Morpheus determine the person's identity: "Trinity."
In examining the body, Gen saw how heavily distraught Morpheus appeared.
"You never knew what happened to her," she deducted from his conduct.
His face hardened. "She deserved a more proper burial than this one."
Gen momentarily placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before herding Ryuko, Niobe, and Ghost out of the ship, permitting Morpheus a moment to grieve.
It did not take much time to gather himself.
There was a mission that had to be focused on, and he did just that.
Further and further they progressed.
"STOP!"
They instantly froze to the powerful, booming voice that seemingly articulated from everywhere. Loud, automated humming reverberated above them. Searching skyward, they sighted a gigantic mechanism with a half-globe shape and hundreds of long spines protruding at the back. A humanoid face materialized on the half-globe by a swarm of flying insect-like droids.
"GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME!" It commanded.
Ryuko could hardly comprehend what she was seeing. "What is this thing?!"
"I AM THE CENTRAL INTERFACE – THE DEUS EX MACHINA! YOU HAVE INVADED OUR HOME! YOU HAVE BROKEN THE TRUCE!"
"You broke it first," Morpheus retorted. "You rebooted Smith back into the Matrix and used Neo as his vessel! We want to see him!"
There was no answer from the Deus Ex Machina to Morpheus's request…
…except for a tiny fragment that slithered out beneath its gargantuan configuration.
Still interconnected to it, the fragment slinked ever so close to the human group.
Repulsion washed over each of their faces to see Neo's withered and decomposed figure dangling from cables jacked into every data port embedded in him.
Gen directed her sonic screwdriver to the body, scanning for any vital signs.
"He's dead," she verified. "He's been dead for years. His mind's the only thing that's still active."
"And these monsters have been using it for their new world order," a sickened Ryuko observed. "They're like the Honnouji Academy on battery acid."
Morpheus fumed. "You animals! You've condemned his soul!"
"HIS SOUL WAS NEVER CONDEMNED! IT WAS TRANSFERRED!"
"Morpheus?"
The soothing voice of a human male spoke out near them.
Morpheus turned with everyone else, and every part of him went rigid.
Standing in front of them all was a bearded, white-robed man with long hair and a slightly aged face that strongly resembled Neo's.
In fact, he was Neo.