Thank you once more to Naz and any and all unknown reviewing persons. Now I linger on 13 reviews, which may be an omen of impending doom. Anyway, onwards to the next chapter.
Chapter 11: An end to a bad day
Silas lunged at Smith's weapon, strafing left as he did so in the hopes of avoiding incoming fire. The gun was knocked from Smith's hand and flew off into the street.
Smith drove his fist deep into Silas' ribs, sending him flying into the hard brick wall, which cracked as Silas collided with it.
A sharp pain filled him, blood was leaking from his mouth. Smith had begun to walk toward him at a deliberately slow pace. Silas dragged himself to his feet and readied himself in a defensive stance, after a second however, he seemed to relax slightly, after casting a glance over Smith's shoulder, a blood soaked grin emerged on Silas' face.
"About time you showed up." He groaned.
Smith stopped dead and quickly cast a glance over his shoulder, there was nothing. Silas' deception had given him time to raise his own weapon and fire.
The shot was aimed at Smith's head, but the pain in his ribs resulted in a reflexive jerk of his gun hand, and the bullet crashed into Smith's shoulder instead.
Digital blood poured from the wound, fragments of artificial bone flew in various directions and fell silently to the floor. Silas attempted another shot, but soon found that he was out of bullets.
Smith was able to suppress a scream, which would have been more anger then pain, holding his shattered shoulder in one hand; he turned round to face his grinning opponent.
"Only human." Silas said, spitting out more blood as he did so.
This comment enraged Smith, he charged towards Silas, releasing his shoulder so that blood trailed behind him.
With only one working arm, the odds were more even, Smith found he was unable to block all of Silas' punches, and was steadily being pushed back through the street.
Silas was almost beginning to enjoy himself, steadily, he was landing blow after blow on Smith, and hopefully he could keep this up until a Nebuchadnezzar crewmember, armed with a loaded gun, could finish the job. Unfortunately, the task was not as easy as it had seemed.
Smith's 'crippled' arm shot forward and struck Silas' face, again sending him flying down the street. The pain was numbed slightly by the disorientated feeling that accompanied the blow to the head.
"Do you see now?" Smith began, revelling in the pleasure that accompanied the results of his own deception, "the difference between humanity and programs? The difference between you and me? You and your pathetic species are weak Mr. Cavallo, and you are all about to die."
Smith picked his firearm off of the floor and, once again, pointed it towards Silas' head. The calm had returned, it was inevitable, whenever death was approaching, it would appear.
As Silas prepared for the end, he felt a sudden tug at his coat, with the pain in his head and ribs demanding attention, it took him a moment to realise that he was in mid air. He looked up to see the emotionless face of Neo; he looked as strange during flight in the real matrix as he did in the trilogy.
The two landed in the middle of a field, it seemed to stretch on for ever in every direction. Through the darkness, Silas noticed a small, nondescript barn, in which, presumably, an exit lay.
"Can you walk?" Asked Neo.
"Yeah, I think. Thanks by the way."
"Don't mention it."
The two entered the barn, a revolting smell was lingering in the air, fortunately however, the exit was present and ringing, hence there would be no need to linger in the stench for long.
"You first Silas." Neo said quietly.
Silas nodded and picked up the phone, seconds later, he vanished from the Matrix.
************************************************************************************************************
Silas opened his eyes and groaned in pain as he, and his injuries, found themselves, once more in the real world.
"Hold still" commanded Gemini suddenly, who was hurriedly mopping up blood from Silas' ribcage.
"Nice to see you too." Croaked Silas, Gemini smiled slightly as she began to encase Silas' wounds in bandages.
Behind him, Necromancer removed the spike from Silas' head. Silas remained seated for a few moments, staring blankly at the ceiling. The relief that flooded through him when he realised he was safe was almost disturbing.
"Right, this doesn't look too bad," said Gemini, mainly to herself, "no internal bleeding."
"Really?" Said Silas whilst slowly lifting himself out of the chair so as not to aggravate his injury, paranoia had lead him to believe that his injuries were worse then common sense said they would be.
"Disappointed?" Asked Necromancer in a needlessly loud, yet not overly serious voice, "I expected better from you Silas, you should have ripped Smith's head from his shoulders with your teeth at least."
Silas stared at Necromancer for a few seconds before turning his head to face the terminals where the Matrix was displayed in strings of green coding.
"Enjoy the show did you?" His tone was slightly harsher then he had intended.
"It was alright," joked Necromancer, "could have used some dramatic music though."
The two stared at each other for a few seconds before they both started laughing, Necromancer then clapped Silas on the arm, almost knocking him to the floor in the process, and walked over to Morpheus, who was talking with Cypher.
"Come on," said Gemini, grasping Silas' hand, "we probably need to listen to this."
Silas' walking pace was slower then usual thanks to the injuries he had sustained, but soon enough, he and Gemini sat down near the others and listened to the ongoing conversation.
"…And with an editor at their disposal, they can basically create whatever they want, mythological beasts, volcanoes, glove puppets, you name it." Cypher's was talking at a disturbingly fast pace, as if he had to get the information out quickly or it would be lost forever.
"That's what created those things?" asked Neo, "the, uh, what did you call them?"
"Nazgul" replied Gemini.
"Yeah, that's just the beginning, there's theoretically no end to what editors can do, that's why the machines have always kept them on a very, very, short leash."
"Until the program rebellion waltzes in and steals one." Added Link.
"When I was fighting Smith," interrupted Silas suddenly, "he told me that there's dissention in the ranks of the New Order…"
"The what?" Asked Morpheus.
"The program rebellion, that's what they call themselves, anyway, there are those that want to end all forms of oppression, they're bad enough as they are. But there are those like Smith, who want to create a world where there are only programs, they're the ones who want to wipe out humanity and the machines."
"That's what the Oracle warned you about?" Asked Trinity. Silas nodded in response.
"The Oracle said something about this when that guy arrived and shot you." Cypher said.
There was a pause for a few moments; all of the crew needed time to digest this new information.
"I think we need to talk to the Oracle again," said Orion suddenly, "I doubt we can do much on our own."
"I agree" said Morpheus whilst pushing himself to his feet, everyone else did the same shortly after.
"How long until the first ships arrive?" Asked Neo.
"Just under an hour." Link replied.
"What?" Silas asked.
"Whilst you were out," Neo began, "we got a call from Zion, our forces will be operating from this position as long as the 'New Order' poses a threat. The machines will also be sending some agents to help us fight the Rebellion. We should be seeing a lot of hovercrafts in this area shortly."
Silas nodded and sat back down, fatigue was finally catching up with him.
"Get some rest Silas," Morpheus began, "you look like you need it."
"Yes sir."
To be continued.
Chapter 11: An end to a bad day
Silas lunged at Smith's weapon, strafing left as he did so in the hopes of avoiding incoming fire. The gun was knocked from Smith's hand and flew off into the street.
Smith drove his fist deep into Silas' ribs, sending him flying into the hard brick wall, which cracked as Silas collided with it.
A sharp pain filled him, blood was leaking from his mouth. Smith had begun to walk toward him at a deliberately slow pace. Silas dragged himself to his feet and readied himself in a defensive stance, after a second however, he seemed to relax slightly, after casting a glance over Smith's shoulder, a blood soaked grin emerged on Silas' face.
"About time you showed up." He groaned.
Smith stopped dead and quickly cast a glance over his shoulder, there was nothing. Silas' deception had given him time to raise his own weapon and fire.
The shot was aimed at Smith's head, but the pain in his ribs resulted in a reflexive jerk of his gun hand, and the bullet crashed into Smith's shoulder instead.
Digital blood poured from the wound, fragments of artificial bone flew in various directions and fell silently to the floor. Silas attempted another shot, but soon found that he was out of bullets.
Smith was able to suppress a scream, which would have been more anger then pain, holding his shattered shoulder in one hand; he turned round to face his grinning opponent.
"Only human." Silas said, spitting out more blood as he did so.
This comment enraged Smith, he charged towards Silas, releasing his shoulder so that blood trailed behind him.
With only one working arm, the odds were more even, Smith found he was unable to block all of Silas' punches, and was steadily being pushed back through the street.
Silas was almost beginning to enjoy himself, steadily, he was landing blow after blow on Smith, and hopefully he could keep this up until a Nebuchadnezzar crewmember, armed with a loaded gun, could finish the job. Unfortunately, the task was not as easy as it had seemed.
Smith's 'crippled' arm shot forward and struck Silas' face, again sending him flying down the street. The pain was numbed slightly by the disorientated feeling that accompanied the blow to the head.
"Do you see now?" Smith began, revelling in the pleasure that accompanied the results of his own deception, "the difference between humanity and programs? The difference between you and me? You and your pathetic species are weak Mr. Cavallo, and you are all about to die."
Smith picked his firearm off of the floor and, once again, pointed it towards Silas' head. The calm had returned, it was inevitable, whenever death was approaching, it would appear.
As Silas prepared for the end, he felt a sudden tug at his coat, with the pain in his head and ribs demanding attention, it took him a moment to realise that he was in mid air. He looked up to see the emotionless face of Neo; he looked as strange during flight in the real matrix as he did in the trilogy.
The two landed in the middle of a field, it seemed to stretch on for ever in every direction. Through the darkness, Silas noticed a small, nondescript barn, in which, presumably, an exit lay.
"Can you walk?" Asked Neo.
"Yeah, I think. Thanks by the way."
"Don't mention it."
The two entered the barn, a revolting smell was lingering in the air, fortunately however, the exit was present and ringing, hence there would be no need to linger in the stench for long.
"You first Silas." Neo said quietly.
Silas nodded and picked up the phone, seconds later, he vanished from the Matrix.
************************************************************************************************************
Silas opened his eyes and groaned in pain as he, and his injuries, found themselves, once more in the real world.
"Hold still" commanded Gemini suddenly, who was hurriedly mopping up blood from Silas' ribcage.
"Nice to see you too." Croaked Silas, Gemini smiled slightly as she began to encase Silas' wounds in bandages.
Behind him, Necromancer removed the spike from Silas' head. Silas remained seated for a few moments, staring blankly at the ceiling. The relief that flooded through him when he realised he was safe was almost disturbing.
"Right, this doesn't look too bad," said Gemini, mainly to herself, "no internal bleeding."
"Really?" Said Silas whilst slowly lifting himself out of the chair so as not to aggravate his injury, paranoia had lead him to believe that his injuries were worse then common sense said they would be.
"Disappointed?" Asked Necromancer in a needlessly loud, yet not overly serious voice, "I expected better from you Silas, you should have ripped Smith's head from his shoulders with your teeth at least."
Silas stared at Necromancer for a few seconds before turning his head to face the terminals where the Matrix was displayed in strings of green coding.
"Enjoy the show did you?" His tone was slightly harsher then he had intended.
"It was alright," joked Necromancer, "could have used some dramatic music though."
The two stared at each other for a few seconds before they both started laughing, Necromancer then clapped Silas on the arm, almost knocking him to the floor in the process, and walked over to Morpheus, who was talking with Cypher.
"Come on," said Gemini, grasping Silas' hand, "we probably need to listen to this."
Silas' walking pace was slower then usual thanks to the injuries he had sustained, but soon enough, he and Gemini sat down near the others and listened to the ongoing conversation.
"…And with an editor at their disposal, they can basically create whatever they want, mythological beasts, volcanoes, glove puppets, you name it." Cypher's was talking at a disturbingly fast pace, as if he had to get the information out quickly or it would be lost forever.
"That's what created those things?" asked Neo, "the, uh, what did you call them?"
"Nazgul" replied Gemini.
"Yeah, that's just the beginning, there's theoretically no end to what editors can do, that's why the machines have always kept them on a very, very, short leash."
"Until the program rebellion waltzes in and steals one." Added Link.
"When I was fighting Smith," interrupted Silas suddenly, "he told me that there's dissention in the ranks of the New Order…"
"The what?" Asked Morpheus.
"The program rebellion, that's what they call themselves, anyway, there are those that want to end all forms of oppression, they're bad enough as they are. But there are those like Smith, who want to create a world where there are only programs, they're the ones who want to wipe out humanity and the machines."
"That's what the Oracle warned you about?" Asked Trinity. Silas nodded in response.
"The Oracle said something about this when that guy arrived and shot you." Cypher said.
There was a pause for a few moments; all of the crew needed time to digest this new information.
"I think we need to talk to the Oracle again," said Orion suddenly, "I doubt we can do much on our own."
"I agree" said Morpheus whilst pushing himself to his feet, everyone else did the same shortly after.
"How long until the first ships arrive?" Asked Neo.
"Just under an hour." Link replied.
"What?" Silas asked.
"Whilst you were out," Neo began, "we got a call from Zion, our forces will be operating from this position as long as the 'New Order' poses a threat. The machines will also be sending some agents to help us fight the Rebellion. We should be seeing a lot of hovercrafts in this area shortly."
Silas nodded and sat back down, fatigue was finally catching up with him.
"Get some rest Silas," Morpheus began, "you look like you need it."
"Yes sir."
To be continued.