PART 7B- (from the end of part 7A up to the moment when Trinity joins the "Clash of Wills")
Deus-Ex-Bern used Neo as a diversion to make sure that Deus would lower his defenses and get closer to them, without noticing what he was really doing. As expected, Deus came to help Neo before Deus Ex could land one of the yellow swords on him.
Deus stopped the sword with his yellow staff and Neo was thrown back onto one of the closest floating buildings—one that had not crumbled down nor suffered any major damage during the clash of the two deuses.
It was then that Deus noticed the big difference that he shouldn't have missed: Deus-Ex-Bern didn't have his yellow sphere around himself anymore, he was using Bern's equipped gear to levitate. Where was the sphere?
It was surrounding them. A sphere of a 40-meter-long radius began to reveal itself around them and the inside began to fill up with yellow streams of matrix-like codes quickly.
Deus Ex could use the spherical submatrix for other purposes and he could create it on other locations instead of just around himself. He could also increase it to larger sizes, making it a much more dangerous threat for his opponents. Basically, he could do all of Deus's manipulations of the Yellow Matrix, and perhaps even more… He was an enhanced deus, a "dark experiment" that nearly no one knew about, a perfect hybrid of a human-like deus with a more advanced type of robot; he was a mystery and a serious threat that surpassed what the controlled Deus represented, since, Deus Ex never avoided killing, on the contrary, he preferred it. He also had a "cyber form" that Deus didn't have. It could take over other artificial entities in the system, as soon as a connection between them was established. He could "transfer himself" to them, as if they were true extensions of himself, in body and mind. All of it was possible to him because he had close to complete control over his subspace of the Yellow Matrix, meaning that he was even capable of modifying his own design, by changing his own entity's codes in the Yellow Matrix, as well as how the system perceived him… Deus could also do many incredible things using the Matrix, but modifying his own body to become something else or taking over other entities were definitely not among his powers in the Matrix. Clearly, Deus Ex was something else…
Deus understood that Deus Ex was trying to crush his defenses using a larger area of an opposite force that was powered by the same type of Matrix manipulations that he used. Both of them were using the yellow layer of the Matrix in their subspaces and manipulations. (Neo, in contrast, used the green or virtual layer.)
Deus-Ex-Bern used his swords to break Deus's staff. However, Deus didn't seem to care about losing his staff. He was more concerned with stopping the outer sphere and its streams from reaching him. Getting himself out of the area enclosed by the larger sphere was all that mattered to him. The loss of his staff didn't seem like a problem. Deus knew that he could not rule out the possibility that this enemy could make more powerful spheres than he. It was unlikely, but if such was the case, he had to get himself out of there first. The space enclosed by the sphere represented the greatest danger, since that subspace of the Matrix was where they could use their god-like manipulations of reality—for that controlled portion of the system.
Noticing Deus-Ex-Bern's proximity and the arrival of the enemy's yellow-matrix codes, Deus chose to act fast, perhaps without thinking too much, and he did exactly what Deus Ex wanted him to do.
Deus used his own sphere, in shockwave-spreading fashion to wipe out all the streams and to push back Deus Ex. That worked as he thought, but Deus also expected that his shockwave would be enough to erase the larger sphere, and it was not.
Deus Ex knew that Deus would need a few seconds to reuse the yellow sphere after a large shockwave. He also knew that if Deus could not use the sphere and he could use his, then the battle was basically over. Without the special powers to manipulate the environment's reality, Deus was just like a human to Deus Ex. His physical power wasn't anything special…
From the moment when Deus Ex left Deus behind and continued fighting Neo alone, he was already thinking about his strategy and preparing the larger sphere simultaneously. All he needed was making Deus enter his subspace of the Yellow Matrix and forcing him to stay inside that zone, without any protection from another sub-matrix.
That was exactly what happened after Deus used the shockwave. He was thinking that it would take out the larger one. Instead, it erased nearly all the yellow streams and threw Deus-Ex-Bern towards a building, but it failed at erasing the main large sphere and it left Deus without the protection of his submatrix.
The outcome turned out to be even worse…
Deus realized that his yellow sphere wasn't regenerating. It simply wasn't coming back, not even in a few seconds. That wasn't supposed to happen… unless an equal and opposite force from the Matrix was canceling it out nonstop—as it was being created, it was also erased by Deus Ex's subspace.
Deus Ex was back in no time and he began to walk towards Deus, who was now standing on the ground as well.
Deus-Ex-Bern [conclusive]: "It's over, unless you can beat me without using the power of the Matrix, which is impossible. Do you want to die or would you prefer to join me and tell me everything you know about the world from where you came?"
The yellow codes began to spread again inside Deus Ex's large sphere and they began to get closer and closer to where Deus was standing.
Deus [with an undefeated voice]: "I see I can't erase your submatrix from the inside. I assume you are also capable of cancelling out the expansion of other new Matrix subspaces within your own. That was why you wanted me to get close to you and to let go of my field. However, there is something that you missed: I also began to create a larger space, just like you did. It was already in place before I got closer to you. It is still within yours and I won't be able to extend it anymore, but it won't go away either. It will be enough."
The yellow codes began to get erased once again when they were about to reach Deus. It seemed like Deus really had another sphere there, but its borders just were not visible. It was an invisible sphere, very similar to the one that Deus Ex used to conceal himself during the Trinity Squad's initial assault at the City of the Machines. It was how Deus Ex saw the entire assault without showing himself. And now, it was how Deus countered the space that Deus Ex got him into.
Deus-Ex-Bern [slightly aggravated but still in control]: "I should have known. Regardless, you still won't be able to create or change anything with it, since you are within my matrix now. With no weapons or anything else to help you, you can't defeat me."
Deus: "Indeed, I won't be able to make anything new, but neither will you, since you will have to defeat me within my space as well."
Deus-Ex-Bern noticed that his ability to create new swords and beams of energy wasn't working.
He was also inside Deus's transparent sphere—even if it was inside his larger yellow one, this was still Deus's subspace, so Deus basically applied the same rules of the game to Deus Ex. He could halt Deus from creating new submatrices and even from making anything else with the existing one, but he couldn't erase it either, just like Deus couldn't erase his. Therefore, both of them succeeded at stopping each other from using the Matrix any further, unless they could leave the limited boundaries that placed those restrictions on them…
Deus: "If you try to escape my transparent sphere by running from its invisible space, you will also give me enough time to escape from yours. It is your choice. We fight here without the Matrix or we fight with it, equally."
Deus Ex's swords of yellow codes began to disappear. However, he didn't seem worried. He looked just like when Deus lost his staff.
Deus-Ex-Bern [looking at his swords as they went away]: "It doesn't matter. The outcome shall be the same. I am the superior entity, with or without the Matrix."
The silver-eyed Bern and Deus resumed their battle within the spheres, this time, with martial arts hand-and-foot combat, just like Neo had done before in his battles with agent Smith. Indeed, they were quite reminiscent of Neo and Smith in many ways…
Then, Neo came back, but when he tried to join the battle to help Deus, his entrance was blocked by the large yellow sphere. His green sphere could not enter the yellow one. If he wanted to get back to them, he had to reach them by foot and without using his green subspace of the virtual matrix. He found that he could only get himself there if he entered without any sphere at all. This was a massive risk, but it didn't seem like he had any other choice to get to them…
Neo felt that he needed to hurry. The anticipation of a bad outcome began to worry him more and more as he saw that the possessed Bern seemed to have the upper hand in the battle of the deuses...
Before Neo could get to them, Deus fell on the ground after a string of really powerful kicks and punches from Deus-Ex-Bern, and his transparent sphere went away.
Deus Ex didn't waste a single second: his yellow streams moved towards Deus and grabbed him right away. He could use his Matrix again, since the transparent sphere under Deus's control had been breached and destroyed.
He recreated one of the yellow swords and, as soon as he grabbed it, he dashed forward holding it and stabbed Deus with the sword. The streams kept Deus in the same place, so he couldn't dodge it. Then, the streams lifted Deus up many meters and came back down very fast, causing a small but violent crash with the ground.
Deus-Ex-Bern walked up to Deus and… he knew he had won.
Deus was still alive, but his closed eyes displayed plenty of pain and a clear defeat. He also had red blood around the sword—which was still in him. Blood was coming from the back of his left shoulder as well—probably because of the fall. Deus's blood looked just like human blood…
Deus-Ex-Bern: "I hope that there are better warriors than you at the world of the deuses. If you are their best, then, your kind would be a disappointment for me as well, just like the humans and their robots. It would mean that I have surpassed the deuses as well. And that would be a shame, considering that you are likely to be the original creators of the Matrix and the ones who are responsible for my existence."
At that moment, Neo arrived and just before he could land a heavy strike on the enemy, Deus-Ex-Bern turned around and grabbed Neo's closed fist in a very surreal way.
However, we didn't see what happened between Neo and Deus-Ex-Bern right away.
The setting changed to a different place—a place that we had never seen before…
Two unknown figures were shown at some kind of bright laboratory. They looked like Deus. They even had similar white jackets on and their skin color was white as blank paper, just like his. Their eyes also had the same large yellow pupils. However, they were not talking English. They were talking in their true language and it was clear that one of them was female and the other was male…
The view of the room where they were changed angles and it was shown that a third one was there as well. The third one was on the air held by a complex-looking stream of white codes. It looked as if he was sleeping at first, but that wasn't the case…
As the view got closer to him, it was clear that he was connected to the stream of white codes, which also resembled a connection station in shape. It was just like when Neo and Captain Leida Trinity were connected to the Yellow Matrix from the Trifalcon and when Neo alone was connected to the Virtual Matrix from the ship at the Dead Zone…
The one connected to the white stream of matrix-like codes was Deus.
It seemed like the other two were checking on him.
Then, their voices were translated, so we could find out part of what was happening there:
Unknown female deus [worried / with a voice very similar to Dayana's voice]: "It is taking too long. He should have finished the mission and ended the connection by now. Something must have gone wrong. Perhaps, we should do something."
Unknown male deus [not worried / with a voice that sounds like Neo's voice]: "Calm down. We must wait. Don't forget that he has the ability to disconnect himself at will. He doesn't need us to do it, so, he must have chosen to stay in the Matrix longer for some important reason. We should trust his judgement and his ability."
At that moment a thick powerful-looking new layer of white codes began to grow and form a sphere around Deus. It formed too fast, so the other two there had no time to do anything to stop it, before the sphere closed itself around Deus.
Unknown female deus [more worried / with a voice like Dayana's]: "What's wrong with him? Why is he doing that!? Isn't that the shield that will block our access to him?!"
As soon as the white sphere of codes closed itself around Deus, the same place on Deus's body where the yellow sword was began to bleed. Blood began to appear on one of his shoulders as well.
The female deus moved fast; she created some sort of staff-like weapon using white codes, and she struck the new white sphere as hard as she could, but, it had no effect.
Unknown female deus [with voice like Dayana's]: "He is in danger, we must get him out! He has to be disconnected from the Matrix! If not he will die!"
Unknown male deus [certain]: "We won't be able to disconnect him, unless he removes the shield, but he won't be able to do that if he is not in flawless condition, so he won't be able to disconnect himself either. He must have found some danger there and wants to ensure that it won't leave the Matrix with him. I'm sorry, but the coded shield was our preemptive measure for such a thing. We won't be able to help him now. It all depends on him, unless some habitant of the Matrix can help him. We must trust that he will overcome the obstacle that he has found."
Unknown female deus [desperate]: "Can't we see what is happening to him? Can't we get the readings of his exact location within The Matrix?! There must be something we can do!"
Unknown male deus [still calm but starting to get more concerned]: "It won't help us much. Time for them runs at a different scale than our time. Even with our advanced ways to manipulate the Matrix, we still won't be able to see his location in real time. By the time we look at his current location inside the Matrix, many years will have gone by for them and whatever happened there won't be visible to us any longer. Even if we know that it happened right now, with respect to his real body here and with respect to our time, in the Matrix it already happened many years ago. The thing is that time inside the Matrix is much faster than our perceived time. What we perceive as seconds are years for them. We already had to make many difficult decisions and changes to be able to put one of us in there. Now, our only choice is to trust him and believe that he will succeed."
The female deus looked frustrated and sad. It definitely felt like "Deus" was someone important for her.
Unknown female deus [looking at the other male deus / heartfelt]: "When we joined you, we believed in you. We believed that this was the right thing to do. Yet, death wasn't what we had in mind. If he dies, you will have to answer for it and I won't support your cause any longer Deus Neo."
Deus Neo [with a voice like Neo's]: "He won't die. There are other sources that he can get help from, sources from inside the Matrix. They just don't include us. Believe in him and believe in the plan that I have put in place. That is all I ask of you now."
The male deus—who's name seemed to be Neo as well—walked as close to Deus's sphere as he could.
Deus Neo [to Deus / with a voice that sounds like Neo's voice]: "Deus Maxio, I know that you will make the best choice, a choice that completes our mission without disregarding them and what they represent. This must be done successfully. Too much stands on the line for us and for them. The future of the Matrix and its habitants may be decided by your choice. I believe in you and in your love for them, which mirrors mine. That is why I chose you for this mission. You were not the most skilled one in our group, but only you and I would make the best decision for them. After me, there was no better deus for this mission than you, my young friend. I trust that you and my other source from the Matrix will overcome any new obstacle to fulfill our ultimate goal. You can save them."
After Deus Neo's words, the view changed back to the moment when Deus-Ex-Bern stopped Neo's attack and grabbed Neo's fist in a very surrealistic way.
Neo began to feel difficulty for moving right after a yellow stream of codes that came from Deus-Ex-Bern's hand began to hold him. Without his green sphere, Neo was practically defenseless within Deus Ex's submatrix.
Deus-Ex-Bern [with a condescending tone]: "Didn't you learn before from seeing what happened to the human soldiers when they tried to fight against Deus? After entering his yellow space, they were no match for him. Now, you just made it easier for me to finish you as well. Thank you for coming back to me Neo, or should I say Thomas Anderson's hybrid?"
Deus-Ex-Bern grabbed Neo and lifted him from the ground several meters. Then, he went back down drastically. The crash with the ground was pretty lethal for Neo, even though they weren't too far from the surface. He simply couldn't stand up after it. He stayed on the ground, looking just like that time when agent Smith nearly killed him, during the storm and the battle within the Green Virtual Matrix, which determined the end for the last revolution of the Yellow Matrix.
Deus Ex's large yellow sphere began to decrease in volume quickly, until it came back to Deus-Ex-Bern's body. When the sphere was gone, some streams of yellow codes remained visible around Deus-Ex-Bern's body. He was standing there, with Neo and Deus very close to him, lying on the ground.
Neo and Deus were almost side by side, with just three meters between them. Both of them had been defeated by Deus Ex and both of them were in critical condition. Deus Ex created two yellow swords and he thought about killing them, but he knew that he still needed them. Deus was his key to the next destination, which was the world of the deuses, and Neo was the sixth iteration of an anomaly that could provoke some of the most unpredictable glitches in the Matrix. Such a unique entity as "The One" would always have some kind of use for him.
Deus Ex pointed the swords at them. Then, he made the swords disappear slowly, while he talked…
Deus-Ex-Bern [looking mostly at Neo]: "Perhaps another day… today you are still useful to me. He has information that I need and there are possibilities that I can take advantage of with the sixth Neo. But first, I need to get back to my true self. I need my real body. This restrictive humanoid body is starting to annoy me. With my real body I will get what I need from both of you and from this world.
Our battle is over. The conversion of this world is all that is left. I wonder if the deuses can see me now. Soon, my matrix will be able to reach them as well. First the City of the Machines, then the entire Yellow Matrix, now the real human world, and next it will be their world, the place where the original matrix and all its secrets are waiting for my arrival."
Deus-Ex-Bern used his stream of yellow codes and went back to the sky. He left Deus and Neo behind with full certainty that they were not a threat to his takeover any longer. He began to move towards one of the floating buildings that was about one quarter of a mile away. It was the building that was side-by-side with the one where the Trifalcon crashed before, and there was a good reason for him to choose it: it was full of robots that were not humanoids like Bern. The robots inside the pods there looked very similar to the ones that we had seen at the City of the Machines before. They resembled the octopus sentinels and other types of sentinels as well. Originally, these robots worked side-by-side with the humans, but they, just like most of the human population, had been tied to the Green and Yellow virtual worlds that Rodner Smith helped to create.
Neo began to move slowly as soon as he noticed that Deus-Ex-Bern left them. He couldn't even stand up though. He placed one of his fingers in his mouth and when he took it out it was full of blood. He needed medical attention, but such a thing wasn't even remotely available. Luckily for him, he had the power of the virtual matrix on his side…
Neo managed to create an incomplete green sphere and he began to use it to heal himself. Deus had done greater things, but self-healing or self-restoration via the matrix was something that he had never done before—he didn't seem to need it anyways, since he was quite powerful with the manipulations that he already had. Deus Ex, however, had done it and Neo could do it too. Neo had even reversed the sixth Trinity's death before, so he clearly had "the full gift of the Matrix."
Regardless, Neo was still human, so the nature of his control over the Matrix wasn't like that of a deus. And without the completed subspace of his virtual matrix, his self-healing was pretty slow. He obviously wasn't going to get up for another ten minutes, and that was being optimistic. His only hope was hoping that Deus Ex would take longer than that to return… or, hoping that Deus would join the battle against Deus Ex once again.
Neo was very close to Deus, so he looked back at him and tried to communicate with him.
Neo [sounding somewhat hurt but determined]: "Hey, are you ok? We have to get back on our feet again. You must remove the yellow sword from your stomach. You'll die if you don't. I would help you to remove it, but I can't do it now."
Deus wasn't responding or even reacting. It seemed like he had entered some sort of coma state. Neo knew that he was still alive though. The mighty deus that fought him before at the main base wasn't going to die so easily…
Meanwhile, Captain Leida Trinity—Trin—was still trying to remove all the things that left her trapped inside the Trifalcon, after the heavy crash that she couldn't avoid. She heard the terrible explosions that were happening outside and she thought that Neo was fighting with Deus again. She still had no idea about the new calamity that had been unleashed upon them.
When "the other Trinity" was about to finish freeing herself inside the Trifalcon, Deus-Ex-Bern arrived at the adjacent building and stayed levitating on the air. He extended his hands and a large transparent-looking sphere began to materialize itself around him.
The Trifalcon was fine for the most part, but it had one large open hole through one of its crystalline windows. Also, Trinity had been trapped by many things that fell on her, but she was almost done with removing all of those. When she was almost free, her desire to go help Neo and Bern grew exponentially, but, what she was about to see changed everything…
When she looked through the broken glass of the Trifalcon's window, she saw how a very different Bern was creating a transparent sphere that looked like the one she shot at, during their assault to save Neo, at the City of the Machines. She was the only one in the team that perceived that unknown sphere as something malignant, so she still remembered it very well. It was the same one from before. However, why was Bern creating it? How was Bern floating there to begin with!? Why wasn't he helping Neo?
She soon noticed that Bern's eyes were very different. His new silver eyes were easy to see from a distance. It was almost as if she was not looking at Bern, but at someone else; and soon, that proved to be the case…
The large transparent sphere continued growing and covered half of the other building. All the pods within its field began to malfunction and the connections of all those sentinel-like robots to the Matrix were terminated. The pods started to open and all the robots began to awaken and to seek the source that was calling them. They began to move towards Deus-Ex-Bern, who was right outside the building, waiting for them.
Leida, or Trin, saw how a thick silver-looking stream of codes began to leave Bern's body and form another larger body beside him. Some of the robots from the building began to arrive. They began to enter the sphere as well. They started to circle the new shape, which began to resemble a face and a head, little by little. Once the end of the silver stream of codes left Bern's body, his eyes went blank, as if he was dead, and Bern's humanoid body fell down from the sphere. Bern's body continued falling, until it crashed with the ground. Trin saw it and it worried her greatly. She had seen many dead humanoid patrols before and the way Bern looked, when he fell out from the sphere, was exactly the same.
Soon, the number of robots circling the new entity began to grow and Trin could see how many of them began to break apart, as if they were going to be used for "parts" to build up the new entity. Indeed, their broken parts began relocate around the face that was formed by the silver stream and they began to fuse together. The interior of the transparent sphere began to get less and less visible as well. It was as if it was becoming a spherical shield of invisibility, while the buildup of the unknown entity advanced towards completion. When the interior of the sphere wasn't visible anymore, it looked exactly like the one that Captain Trinity shot before at the City of the Machines. However, she was now far more concerned with what was forming inside it. She wasn't seeing it anymore, but she could see that more robots from the building were still entering the transparent sphere, so even more was taking place inside the sphere. What worried her the most was that this being didn't look or feel like Deus. It felt worse! At least, Deus looked human. This entity was on a whole different level. However, there was something about it that felt familiar to her. It was as if this wasn't the first time that she had seen it or felt it nearby. Could it be that the god-like being that ruled over the City of the Machines had escaped from the Matrix?!
Trin's concern was answered in no time. A shockwave of electricity came from the sphere and the robots stopped coming from the building. The transparent sphere began to fade away until it was completely gone. What was left there was Deus Ex in all his glory—the same being that kept her as hostage before for experiments, at the City of the Machines; the same artificial terror that she believed to be what had killed the fifth Neo in front of her; and the same entity that could have wiped them out when they saved the sixth Neo, but chose to let them escape instead, to achieve its own plan…
Deus Ex used the same number and types of robots as before to rebuild his original and most powerful body. His large silver face was there accompanied by many long dark-blue spikes that were coming out from the back of the head and from its sides as well. The robotic parts that seemed to keep his face and the giant spikes attached were also there. The group of silver sentinels that circled his head, like a crown in motion, was there too.
The "real" Deus Ex was back in the picture, now at Thomas Anderson's world…
Deus Ex turned around and began to move slowly towards the location where he left Neo and Deus. He wasn't in a hurry, since, from his point of view, the big battles were already over and he had won by a landslide.
Captain Trin finally freed herself and she immediately grabbed a pair of futuristic binoculars. The binoculars looked like a flat and transparent glass with the shape of a thin rectangle. She zoomed in the view in them using the touch controls on the glass's surface—they zoomed in with the same motion of fingers that enlarges webpages in current-day iPhones.
Trin could see Deus Ex from the Trifalcon and she spotted Neo and Deus on the ground, a little far from there. The sight of Neo and Deus sent a serious warning through her. Deus had a sword in him and Neo was on the floor too. It was obvious that they had been defeated. And this was no small feat. After all, the Resistance had not been able to beat Deus in sixty years. They had never won against such a power, and now, it was down and defeated, in a matter of minutes… It had to be the doing of a similar power, which was Deus Ex.
She also saw Bern and realized that, perhaps, he could be restored in some way, but, she had no chance to save him in that situation.
Trin [whispering / looking at Bern's body]: "I'm sorry. I need to get Neo out of here as soon as possible. I will come back for you. If there is any way to save you and restore you, you will be saved. You are the last member of our squad, so I won't forget about you, even if you are a knuckleheaded humanoid robot."
Then, she looked back at the location of Neo and Deus and she noticed that a bunch of ships were coming to their location, but they were somewhat far still. They were not aircrafts from the Resistance however. She knew those well. These were ships from the army of white-caped humanoid patrols that were under Rodner Smith's command.
The situation was already bad enough with Deus Ex alone, but now it looked like they were about to have even more company in just a matter of minutes. She had to think about something fast…
Deus Ex stopped in the sky, right above Neo, and he could see that Neo was using the green sphere to heal himself. However, Deus Ex didn't do anything to stop it. It seemed like he wasn't worried about Neo in the slightest. Perhaps, he didn't think that Neo could threaten his plans any longer. Other thoughts were in Deus Ex's mind.
Deus Ex [with powerful-sounding voice / to Neo]: "You can't defeat me and the previous iteration of you couldn't defeat me either. However, The One can still be useful in my world. You can still save all the humans that you were meant to save. You can be the one that leads your kind under my command. I can give you a much better offer than what Rodner Smith once gave you. You can be the one that will replace him at his city, after I take care of him. Then, you will look over the fate of the humans and you will lead them for me."
Neo didn't respond. However, he knew that he needed to gain more time somehow. His recovery wasn't finished, but he made plenty of progress. He just needed more time.
Deus Ex: "After you helped me to end the revolution in my matrix by deleting Rodner Smith's alter ego, I looked at my matrix's data again. I found what happened to you during your final battle with him. Even though victory was yours, you never managed to beat him, and you were not even in the Yellow Matrix back then. You were in a virtual world where you had natural advantages and you still couldn't defeat him in battle. Now, we are not in the world of the Virtual Matrix. We are not even in the Yellow Matrix anymore. There is no hope for you to win here Neo, much less against something like me. I am greater than what Rodner and his twin agent could ever be. The One can't stop me either, but if you join me the humans will have a better fate. You should forget about everything and understand that this is the only way for them to survive in my world. I don't intend to destroy them if they obey me and the same will be true for you. As the great anomaly of my Yellow Matrix, you can still have some use for me here and survive. Will you accept and lead humankind under my command?"
After a few seconds, Neo finally responded.
Neo: "No. I won't join a destroyer of life that enslaves others to do his bidding. You may be a superior deus, but there is no real difference between Rodner Smith and you. You are just like the one that helped to create you."
Deus Ex: "Very well. The One will cease to exist then, and the opposite of what Thomas Anderson wanted will take place. I will extend the Matrix, instead of destroying it. Here, I will repeat what I did at the City of the Machines with the Virtual Matrix. I will rule over both the robots and the humans here; and there will be no Neo to look after them. Then, the deuses and their world will follow. I will be the master of the Matrix and its life forms."
Neo still needed more time to recover at that point.
Deus Ex began to create a green-looking stream of codes, which seemed strange, since he had never used any green codes from the Virtual Matrix so far. He had only used yellow streams, like Deus. It seemed like he was going to use the green stream against Neo, but, before it could take any definite shape or form, the ships that Leida Trinity had noticed arrived and landed with haste. Deus Ex stopped the green stream because he already knew what those ships meant, and, at that moment, he considered that the human architect was even more important for him than The One.
Dozens of ships landed and opened their hatches, close to where Neo and Deus were.
Then, Rodner Smith came out from the ship that landed at the center, and a very large number of white-caped humanoid patrols began to exit from all the other ships. Most of the patrols were holding plasma rifles and Rodner had the same clothes he had during the last time we saw him. He also brought the special bracelet-like weapon, which could morph itself into different gun-like shapes that could be used to perform some very minor Matrix-based manipulations. This was the same weapon he used before to "create walls out of nothing," during his last encounter with Neo and the Trinity Squad.
While he walked out of the ship, Rodner ensured that the bracelet was ready by holding one of its many buttons. He also smiled with a grand look of victory. This was a moment that he had waited for since it all began, many years ago... This was the day when he expected to gain direct access to the powers of a deus and make them his own. And, as if that wasn't enough, it was an enhanced hybrid of a deus, meaning that this power was even greater than what the other deus that he controlled was capable of. Just thinking about it made Rodner radiate with happiness and anticipation, since these kind of things were what made him happy. (He was the complete opposite of Neo.)
Rodner Smith [loud and as sarcastic as ever]: "What? Where is the big clash that I expected to see here? Don't tell me that the match of the deuses is already over!? I had my first row seats ready and now all the action is gone… Did Deus Ex really finish them that fast? I knew he would win, of course, but I expected to watch a very good show first. This means that my hybrid creation is even better than I predicted. And my big moment is about to happen."
Rodner Smith and his large battalion of humanoid robots began to walk towards Deus Ex, who simply observed them from high above, without moving a single meter from where he was.
Trin saw when Rodner came out of the ship and things just got real for her. She had to do something to get Neo out of there fast.
Trin [determined / with assault-mentality on]: "I need to get Neo out of there at all costs. He is our best chance to save everyone… However, I won't be able to just drive the Trifalcon by and pick him up. The god of the machines will stop me, and Rodner Smith and his army will get in the way. I need something that will halt all of them long enough to get Neo out and escape without being caught. There is only one way to do this now… It's been a while since the last time I used it, but it is the only thing that will work against enemies like them."
Trin ran towards the location inside the Trifalcon where her team and she removed their armors before—after Neo's rescue from the City of the Machines. However, this time she was alone and she had no armor on. Then, the opposite process took place: when she stood right on her spot, her personal machine came down and it began to place her whole armor on her again, part by part, just like it did before to remove it. In a matter of one minute, Trin had the entire armor on again and she looked just like she did at the very beginning, when she led her team to save the sixth Neo from the city of the sentinels. This time, she would do it without help. However, her greatest weapon (the Trifalcon) was right there with her, and her black armor with its yellow shoulder plates was looking better than ever—a perfect match, since those were the Trifalcon's colors as well.
Captain Trin pulled out a screen from the central portion of the Trifalcon and she began to enter commands that led to big changes in the ship. What looked like a wall at the central part of the ship began to open up suddenly, as if it was the hatch on the back. Then, four large squares on the floor began to open as well, revealing one new computer screen for a pilot, two really large plasma-based machine guns on the two large squares to the left and right of Captain Trin, and one new seat that had been hidden beneath the ship's floor, in between the two machine guns.
The big machine guns were attached to the floor on the ship and held by two strong-looking cylinders that had a big sphere on top—where the bottom of the machine guns rested. That was what allowed full motion of the big guns in all directions. The machine guns also had grab handles that looked like the end of a cane, making it very easy to hold them and move them around. They were perfect assault weapons in every way. Captain Trin would only have to move them while shooting. She didn't even need to lift them, meaning that handling "the big guns" was pretty straight-forward. She already knew that they would help her to deliver the chaotic attack that she intended.
Furthermore, she used the screen, right in front of her, to program the shooting of the machines to ensure that they would make delays in shooting if they detected that those particular shots were going to land on the target that she marked as "hostage." Naturally, the hostage target was Neo. Unfortunately, she couldn't mark Neo's body only—the technology wasn't that advanced yet. She had to select an area around him, so, she couldn't exclude Deus, even though she would have liked to blast him too. They were too close, meaning that it would be near impossible to avoid hitting Neo when the shots were aimed at Deus's location. She had to mark their small area as the place where the machine guns would skip over automatically, if any shots were directed at that spot. Therefore, she didn't even need to have perfect aiming.
Yet, she still wasn't done. As powerful as the two plasma machine guns were, they obviously were not enough to push back and stop the god of the machines for a while. She needed more than that…
Trin [looking at the two machine guns]: "Rodner Smith, the humanoid army, and the god of the machines from the Matrix... I'm definitely going to need more artillery to deal with this. Luckily, I have it here with me. It's time to show them hell!"
She sat on the movable seat at the center, turned on the machine guns, and entered a few more directions on the screen. Then, the outside of the Trifalcon began to show changes as well. Some parts of the ship restructured themselves and revealed what looked like missile launchers.
Trin [ready for the assault]: "This is why I love my Trifalcon! Now, I just need to make sure that Neo doesn't get hit!"
Trin began to make the final preparations to lift the ship with everything ready.
Meanwhile, Rodner Smith and his battalion had reached Deus Ex, and both Neo and Deus were not that far from them either—perhaps, just two dozen meters away.
Rodner Smith [looking up at Deus Ex first and then at Neo and Deus]: "I'm surprised at your power and your effectiveness, although I shouldn't be, since, I'm part of the reason why you are here today. I see you took care of the other deus and the other Thomas Anderson with plenty of ease. We don't need them anymore, do we? It's just you and me now Deus Ex. My greatest creation and I will soon be united, but, let me do the honor of ending our lethal enemies first. I wonder, which one should I pick first? Anderson or the other deus? This is pretty hard."
Deus Ex [deep and serious voice]: "I don't plan to join forces with you Rodner Smith, but you will have to join me if you wish to live. Otherwise, I will crush you."
Rodner [with the same sarcastic voice as before]: "Really? I wouldn't be so sure about that Deus Ex. You wouldn't even be here if I had not planned for this to happen when you were at your best, or, when you had truly surpassed the other deus, who is not an enhanced hybrid like you. But, you already know all of this, don't you?
You are going to see soon enough that it is in your best interest to join your uncle Rodner, and not the other way around; but first, I need to get rid of these two. I know what the other deus is capable of. And I am tired of having Thomas Anderson and his subpar girlfriend messing up my plans, so I will begin with his alter ego, Neo."
Neo could hear Rodner Smith talking, since Rodner was being quite loud. He could also see the battalion of white-caped robots there. Neo knew that his time left was counted by the seconds, but he wasn't ready to make a full green sphere yet. He still needed at least two more minutes—which obviously, he did not have.
Rodner and two of his robots began to walk towards Deus and Neo. Rodner knew that they were still alive, so he knew that Neo could hear him.
Rodner Smith: "Did you hear that Mr. Anderson?! We are finally arriving at the end, for you that is. I still have plenty to do here when I gain the powers of a deus. I will probably start by making myself young again. Can you imagine what I would do with that? It's too bad that you won't be here to see me. You could have been here if you had joined me before!"
Rodner gave orders to the two humanoids that walked with him.
Rodner Smith: "Go and grab the human there for me. Lift him up and make sure that he doesn't move. It's time to finish a long-time enemy of mine."
Rodner stopped walking, just a dozen meters away from Neo and Deus. The robots grabbed Neo and forced him to stand up, as Rodner ordered. Then, Rodner revealed a normal plasma gun from his pocket and he pointed it at Neo. He really didn't think that he would need his special weapon at all. A normal gun would do.
Rodner Smith [conclusive]: "Thomas my boy, this is the end. You and your subpar girlfriend will not crash my parties or ruin my plans ever again. Last time was the last one, so I hope that you enjoyed it. It has been fun to have you as my challenger though, so I will make it quick for you. One shot and that's it. Then, I'll do the same for the other deus. I don't need him any longer."
Rodner began to charge the plasma gun. He was ready to fire it in a matter of seconds.
Deus Ex also began to get ready to stop Rodner and blast his army with a yellow shockwave that would immobilize all the robots there. He obviously wasn't with Rodner Smith either. However, when he was ready to unleash it and before Rodner could fire the gun, two small plasma bombs—like the ones that the Trinity Squad used at the beginning—fell on Deus Ex from both sides.
The plasma blasts didn't do much to Deus Ex, but they got the attention of Rodner and the robots. Deus Ex turned around and saw the Trifalcon in the sky with an armored pilot at its center. He instantly recognized who it was.
Deus Ex [menacing voice]: "Trinity. I had not forgotten about you."
Captain Trin pressed a virtual button on the screen.
Trin [at Deus Ex]: "Neither did I!"
When she pressed the button, a rain of mini-missiles came from the left and right sides of the Trifalcon. Nearly all the missiles landed on Deus Ex causing a chain of big explosions, which ended up covering him completely. It seemed like he wasn't fast enough to block them with his yellow streams of codes, so he took the whole bombardment directly. Then, one of the missiles landed on the ground, close to where Rodner's big battalion of robots was standing.
The armored Leida Trinity moved the Trifalcon towards Rodner and Neo's location and grabbed the twin machine guns. Then, she aimed them at Rodner and the rest of the robots that were closer to Neo and Deus.
At that moment, Neo also finished his recovery and managed to change his incomplete stream of green codes to a full sphere. As soon as he did that, the two robots tried to stop him, but their movement was halted by the green codes and Neo grabbed one of their plasma rifles. Then, he took down both of them with their own rifle.
Rodner Smith [angry and shocked / looking at Neo and at the unknown attacker in the sky]: "What is this?! And who the heck is that!?"
Neo [to Rodner Smith]: "Can't you guess it by now Smith? It is Trinity, my not-so-subpar girlfriend."
Rodner: "Nooo!"
Rodner shot the plasma gun at Neo, but Neo's sphere blocked the direct shot.
Then, Captain Trin unleashed a serious assault of plasma bullets using the twin machine guns from the Trifalcon. Rodner's army began to get totally demolished and the whole scene was extremely reminiscent of the time when Neo and the sixth Trinity saved Morpheus from agent Smith. However, the armored Trinity caused way more chaos than the younger Neo did with his machine gun from the helicopter...
The real clash of wills was about to start.
NEXT: Part 7C (from the end of part 7b to the introduction of Cyber Neo and Copy Trinity)
