Chapter 11: Megiddo Rising

Tunnels of the Real
Matrix Corps HvCFT Nabonidus
12:23AM Matrix Time

The voice of the self-proclaimed "Admiral Blood" continued to echo throughout the deck, its loud tenor even causing the metal bulkheads to vibrate from its intensity. Amidst the gathered crew, minus Ghost and The Kid who had jacked into the Matrix earlier to track potential Resistance activity, there was a general mix of shock and skepticism, the appearance of which varied from person to person. There was one commonality however: none of them had expected this move.

Morpheus himself stood rock still, his eyes unconsciously narrowed down at the face of the man that was now speaking about judgment day. Ever since the Resistance had first restrained their activities from the Matrix, he had suspected that they would be planning some great attack against it or Zion. But without any clues as to their whereabouts in the real world, he had no way to confirm that theory, let alone pursue them and stop them. So he had allowed himself to concentrate on Janus' development as the One, letting the radicals that Zion had exiled long ago move without hindrance. Now he had to make up for that.

Around him he felt the uneasiness of his crew, despite their myriad reactions. The uneasiness was not so much directed at Blood's declaration however, but at another undecided factor: what were they going to do about this? Not that Morpheus could blame them; after all, it had not been too long ago that they had fought against the Machines simply to destroy the Matrix. But back then they had been following a prophecy that proved false in the end; now they had been fighting to keep the peace between Zion and the Machines, even though that peace had been very badly shaken as of late thanks to the aforementioned people. As badly as Morpheus wanted to give the order to fight them, he really wasn't sure if that was the right decision to make, especially when Blood was making several points.

And then he remembered Neo. Remembered how he had sacrificed himself, even after he had learned his entire purpose had been a farce, to ensure that the war would end one way or the other. Could he in good conscience go against the very peace his friend had fought and ended up giving his life for?

And of course there was Janus, the latest incarnation of the anomaly, whose creation and purpose in the scheme of things were still unknown. Even if Janus had nothing to do with the ancient prophecy surrounding the One, his fate was still tied to the Matrix in some way. If they were to find out what Janus' true purpose was, then destroying the Matrix was the one thing they could not do at this point. And even though there were still too many things Morpheus did not know about Janus, he himself had grown to believe in him the same way he did Neo after all this time.

That last thought made him smile on the inside. Even after he had gone through over the years, he was still a man of devout faith.

"…This time, it truly is the end." And with that final line, the broadcast ceased as suddenly as it had started.

Sparks, who had been Operator duty when it had started, immediately clasped his hands around his headset as comm. traffic increased substantially following this. The rest of the Nabonidus' crews' eyes turned to Morpheus, awaiting his orders.

"So…" Link started, voicing everyone's thoughts. "What do we do now?"

Morpheus looked at him with his 'no bullshit' look. "Isn't obvious? We have to stop them."

It didn't take any more than a nanosecond for that line to sink into everyone. "Not that I don't think 'Admiral' Blood is full of shit Morpheus…" Niobe replied, flexing her index and middle up as she said Blood's new title. "But wasn't that the thing we've been fighting for all this time?"

"The end of the Matrix means the end of the Machines. Without humans to power them, they will no longer be able to function." Hacksaw also spoke up, keeping a collected head despite all that happened. It was one of his greater talents.

"I won't deny it is tempting." Morpheus answered. "And if this had been maybe ten years ago, I would have gone along with Blood's agenda. However, as all of you have noticed, the times have changed since then. We're no longer fighting to end the Matrix, we're fighting to maintain the peace that Neo brought us."

"What peace is there to maintain!?" Zee replied to that explanation sharply. "The Machines stopped holding to that peace the moment they had a chance to. I don't think they're going to go back to it."

"Keep in mind however, that it was Blood and his followers who are responsible for that. If they screw up on this new scheme, then there's a pretty big chance that Zion will be blamed and everything goes back to square one." Hacksaw also considered.

"But what if they actually know what they're doing? This entire conflict could be over by tomorrow, and we wouldn't have to worry about the tin men ever again!" Gizmo exclaimed, using his own colloquialism for the Machines.

"Right, and then little elves will come out of the ground and build a toy factory over the ruins of Zero One." Niobe replied sarcastically.

"I'm just saying it's a possibility." Gizmo shot back.

"And I'm saying it's a dumb one Gizmo. If there was anyone that had a chance at taking down the Matrix, it was Neo, and that was as close as it got…" Niobe stated.

"There's still Janus." Link spoke up again, which made everyone stop and consider for a moment. "I don't know much about him myself, but I would imagine that, since he is the One, then he has a purpose just like Neo."

"Except Neo's so-called purpose turned out to be a farce. How do we know it's not the same for Janus?" Gizmo shot back.

"Enough." Morpheus spoke simply, silencing the building argument. "My decision is final on this. Believe me, I want this conflict to end as much as you all do, but that does not justify taking this great risk. As Ghost said, if this does end poorly, it will not just be the Resistance that take in the repercussions, but Zion as well. I will not risk the safety of our city on an endeavor such as this one."

"Yet, with due respect General." Gizmo stated back, fixating his gaze onto Morpheus. "That's exactly what you did years ago when you took the Nebuchadnezzar out to gamble on some fake prophecy. Are you going to repeat that mistake?"

Unconsciously, everyone took a small step back from Gizmo as Morpheus matched Gizmo's gaze with his own. While the General of the Matrix Corps was a very tolerant man, one that was open to other peoples' beliefs and spoken possibilities, there were certain subjects that one did not speak aloud around him. His past beliefs in Neo and the actions he took that centered around carrying out the prophecy were among them.

However, before any words could come out of his mouth, a third voice interrupted the confrontation.

"Holy shit…" Sparks muttered loud enough for the entire crew to hear, his eyes displaying the same pure shock that was in his voice. At first everyone looked at him, but when they saw that his eyes were fixed on his monitor, they turned and looked at that as well…

----

Zion
Central Control
12:24AM Matrix Time

"What the hell is he planning?" Commander Lock muttered under his breath, after he finally turned his eyes away from the screen. He could not stand to look at that face for more than a second.

Unlike Morpheus, Lock was not a man who gave into beliefs or faith in the unknown; whatever he did was centered around things that were within the given realm of cold hard facts. It was that line of thinking that made him an effective leader and it was that line of thinking that had kept Zion alive long enough for Neo's last miracle to occur, even though at the time he had not relied on the One to bail them out. Truth be told, he didn't have much faith in Janus either, beyond the fact that he was an effective fighter just like his predecessor.

Whatever it was that Blood had planned, it was obviously developed from a technology that was a little outside the realm of Zion's; he doubted that Zion had anything that could actually do substantial damage to the Matrix like what the renegade was claiming, but at best it was probably some kind of pieced together viral code or something to that effect. Activities in regards to the Matrix had never been something Lock himself was knowledgeable on, but if current facts dictated that Blood's message was either a false one meant to destabilize Zion's forces and/or the Machines, or he did actually have a weapon to use, but it was likely to fail.

But then again, miracles were known to happen, as Lock saw no more than a few years ago. Still, he shook his head at the thought of rallying behind them. That's probably the only thing Morpheus and I would ever agree upon: we'd never take our chances with those scum. Not after all the damage they've caused until now.

"Commander Lock, you may want to take a look at this…" he heard one of the operators speak out.

Lock immediately snapped out of his thoughts and turned toward the man that had just spoke up: it was one of the Matrix operators. Without pause, he stalked over to the station and looked at the screen. And in a split second, Lock realized two new facts: not only had Blood not been bluffing, but his little secret weapon actually worked.

----

Tunnels of the Real
Resistance HvCFT Nosferatu
12:27AM Matrix Time

"Not bad. Not bad at all." said Balthasar said over the clapping of the other Nosferatu crew, all of which were wearing grins of approval that matched the Potential's. "Couldn't have put it better myself Captain."

"I have to admit, that was pretty fun." Blood nodded, then went back to business. "Are the first ones set up yet?"

"Just about. Last one's being placed now." Sideways replied.

"Begging your pardon, Admiral, but is this really such a good idea, setting off one bomb before we have a chance to set the rest?" Sonia asked. "We're practically revealing one of our two trump cards to the Machines…"

"That's the point Sonia." Blood answered without his usual overbearing tone. He figured someone would ask that. "Fact, the Machines look down on humans. Despite all we've done to them, they do not fear us in the least."

His mouth folded into a shark-like grin that made all those who saw it shiver, besides Balthasar of course. "This little taste of things to come will give them something to fear from us, which will at the same time disorient them and make them easier to destroy en masse."

"Okay, that's that. Everything's set." Sideways stated. He turned back to Blood and gestured at the enter key on the keyboard. "Admiral, I believe you should have the honors."

Blood looked around to see if anybody objected, and when he saw that everyone was with him on this, despite Sonia's earlier question, he walked over to the operator station. He then took Sideways' headset and typed in commands so that he was broadcasting to only the Resistance affiliated ships now.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time to spread the word…" he started, his right index finger over the enter key. "And the word is... Liberation." He hit the key.

----

All Morpheus could summarize from the scene before him was that somewhere in the Matrix, something akin to a nuclear bomb had just gone off. No longer than a millisecond, a massive wave of code rippled across the screen, symbolizing a massive explosion within the Matrix. For a period of time, the ripple left a large black gap in the stream, as if the coding itself had been destroyed. Although none too spectacular in the real world, one could only imagine the damage it would cause in the Matrix.

And unless the Nabonidus' sensors were off, multiples of these explosions were happening across the Matrix.

"Sweet Jesus…" Link muttered outloud as everyone watched what was happening happen. Being an operator himself, he knew exactly how much damage the explosions would cause within the Matrix.

For a moment however, Morpheus wondered how exactly this course of action would destroy the Matrix; sure the apparent bombs were quite devastating over a general area, but the Matrix continued to function regardless. And Morpheus knew Blood was not the type to create a plan that would ultimately fail in its objective; there had to be something more here. Before he could think of it however, he heard the familiar sound of someone gasping from the jack in chairs.

At that sound, Morpheus turned from the monitors over to see that The Kid and Ghost had both awakened, and both appeared to be exhausted from whatever had just happened. "Link. Zee." he ordered immediately then nodded toward the two newly awakened Matrix fighters.

Knowing exactly what Morpheus meant, both came over to the chairs and helped the two fighters out. It took a moment before Spark realized something was missing. "How the hell did that happen? I never set up an exit!"

"It was… that bomb…" Kid muttered as Link pulled his arm over his shoulder to support him. "They have some kind of bomb, something that can actually reveal the code in the Matrix to the naked eye. For a moment there I was literally seeing the inside of the Matrix…"

"The shock from the explosion must have caused us to wake up as well…" Ghost said as Zee helped him up.

That's when Morpheus realized exactly what Blood's plan truly was. "Sparks, run a diagnostic on those areas. Find out the damage done to the buildings and everything else, and then see if there are any surviving humans."

Sparks did as he was commanded, but when the results came in, the color drained from his skin. "Whatever it was that happened, it do any physical damage to the blast zones; buildings and sidewalks are all still intact. However, the humans…"

"What about them?" Morpheus inquired.

"They're disappearing like vampires in sunlight, one by one. Not dying, just fading out. It's almost like…" Sparks tried to explain hurriedly.

"…they're all waking up." Niobe finished before him, realizing the same thing Morpheus did. It didn't take long for everyone else to either.

Suddenly, Sparks cringed as multiple call signals were incoming. "Looks like the rest of the fleet has caught on. They're trying to contact us for orders."

"Put me onto broadband. I will address them." Morpheus ordered.

When Sparks signaled that he was on, Morpheus let a small moment pass, before he begun to speak. "All soldiers and craft loyal to Zion, this is General Morpheus of the Matrix Corps, onboard the Nabonidus. There is no doubt that you have all heard the words of Blood and his objectives, as well as witnessed his attack upon the Matrix itself. What you saw happen was the detonation of a special kind of bomb, one that was not designed to cause damage to the Matrix itself, but to force those that are still plugged into it to see the Matrix as it truly is. We don't know how they managed to create it, but they may be able to reveal the entire Matrix, causing all the bluepills to wake up. This of course would theoretically lead to the Machines' losing their power source and dying out.

"As such, some of you may be drawn to Blood's words and actions, which you may see as the liberation that Zion has been waiting for all this time. This is understandable, as not long ago it was believed that the destruction of the Matrix would bring about a rebirth for humanity and civilization upon this planet. Were this no more than a few years ago, I myself would be tempted to follow this course of action. However, as you are all well aware, these times are not the same as back then."

Morpheus allowed for a pause so that would sink in. "While I understand the Resistance's motivation toward the safety of Zion, I find their plans and actions greatly misguided. What they intend to do will upset the delicate peace that we of the Matrix Corps have strove to protect all this time, the same peace that Neo gave his life for all those years ago. Some of you may think nothing of this peace, but none of you can deny that it has sustained Zion all this time. Instead of liberating Zion, all Blood and his soldiers will be doing is damning us all into a conflict that no human would be able to survive.

"Therefore, I call upon all ships and crews of the Matrix Corps: your orders are to enter the Matrix and prevent any more of these code bombs from detonating. Any and all Resistances forces that stand in your way are to either be apprehended or terminated, and those of the Corps that choose to stand with the Resistance will be treated no differently. As well, any forces belonging to the Machines are to be ignored unless you are attacked by them."

Morpheus then adopted a grim but determined expression. "I know that this will be no easy task for you to follow, but I do not doubt that you will succeed, for you are the best that Zion has to offer. Serve Zion. Serve Humanity. For that is the code that all in the Corps are expected to follow, especially now. Morpheus out."

Knowing that Morpheus had finished his peace, Sparks cut the message. Morpheus appreciated that he didn't have to signal him to do so; he immediately began giving orders to his own crew.

"Sparks, you and Link are in charge of tracking these bombs. Locate so much as one and then send a craft or barge crew over to dismantle it. Everyone else, get ready to reenter the Matrix; we've got our own date to settle with Blood." Morpheus said with blood in his voice.

Nobody dared question these orders. Instead, each of the fighters, including The Kid and Ghost, chose a chair and begun typing in clothing and weapons into the respective consoles.

Morpheus was about to do so himself, but then he remembered something else he had to do. "Get me the Nemesis. I want to talk to Captain Irvine one last time."

"Ah, okay. Just a minute sir." Sparks acknowledged, typing in the commands.

A moment later, Irvine's face appeared on the screen. "I was wondering when you were going to call us. Does that mean our original mission is scrubbed?"

"Yes, unfortunately. Instead, I will be putting you on the other assignment." Morpheus clarified.

"The shapers manhunt?" Irvine asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly. They're still out there and need to be found as soon as humanly possible." Morpheus explained. "I'm sorry, but you will have to carry it out on your own, as I will need Captain Jade's tactical expertise in the coming battle."

"If you say so…" Irvine said, seemingly trailing off.

Morpheus was quick to catch on to the hesitance in his voice. "Is there something wrong, Captain?"

The Nemesis' captain took a little bit of time before he spoke again. "I hate to say it Morpheus, but…" he cleared his throat. "Blood has a point. Why aren't we helping him end this? And I want a straight answer, not another bullshit speech."

This earned a small laugh from the General, as he could understand Irvine's feelings. Although what the former pirate said was technically grounds for treason, he knew that Irvine was loyal to Zion and just wanted a straight forward explanation for Morpheus' chosen course of action. "Neo wouldn't want this. That's why we have to stop them."

Irvine let out a 'heh'. "Fair enough. You sure you'll be able to handle things without us?"

"I can't say I'm 'sure' about anything, but I am willing to hold faith on it. But if you do happen to complete your mission before the battle is over, I will definitely be in need of you." Morpheus said.

"Alright then. We may be late to the party, but keep some seats open for us. Preferably ones close to the strippers." Irvine actually winked at that line. "Nemesis out."

And with that Irvine's face disappeared just as quickly. That done, Morpheus took in a breath of air and then paced over to his own chair, where he began to enter in his own traditional clothing and choice weapons. He knew this was going to be the biggest all out battle since the war, but even so, Morpheus went in without any hesitation or fear on his end.

It was, after all, what Neo would have done in his place.

----

Tunnels of the Real
Resistance HvCFT Nemesis
12:58AM Matrix Time

It had only been minutes since the war declaration and the fighting begun, but that was apparently all it took for the Matrix to grow into pure chaos. It seemed as though every human that was capable of jacking in was now in the Matrix, although from the outside it was nearly impossible to tell which were fighting for Zion and which were fighting under the Resistance's banner. However, despite the number of people fighting in the battle, there was one ship whose crew was not participating in the fight itself. And that aforementioned crew was now looking over the battle from the operator's station monitors.

Is this what Armageddon was supposed to be like? Janus thought as he watched the battle unfold over the monitors. Of course, he wasn't able to see the battle carry out in detail, but only through the flow of the coding on the monitors. While his One powers allowed him to see more in detail within the Matrix, outside of it he was a normal human being with the same strengths and flaws that his comrades exhibited. But even so, he was still able to see what was going on, and it bothered him that he could watch it all happen without flinching.

Beside him he felt Cammy shiver from the ferocity of the battle, so much so that he tightened his hand around hers as a reassuring method. Without turning to face her directly, he looked at her from the corner of his eye and nodded, as if trying to say "it's going to be alright" without having to vocalize it. Be deep down, even he, the One, wasn't sure about that. The nagging feeling that he had in the back of his mind, the same one that he was forced to carry all the way through the Matrix on that little fact finding mission, didn't help much.

"We should be in there." Anubis said from where he stood on the other side of Janus, speaking as though he were reading everyone else's minds and vocalizing what they were all thinking.

"Sorry, dog face." Blade replied, sighing. "But orders are orders, and once General Morpheus says something, we jump, and we're only allowed to ask 'how high' and 'where do we land'."

"Blade, do us all a favor and leave the sarcasm to the professionals." Solitaire waved him off as if disgusted. "And even knowing that, it doesn't make it any better."

"Well what do you want me to tell you Solitaire? I want to be in there too, but it's not like we can just ignore orders from The Man himself." Blade said.

"And to think we used to be pirates." Janus rolled his eyes muttering.

Silently as usual, Anubis bent down so his head was right next to Glitch's. "You think you could send Janus in from where we are?"

Glitch seemed to consider it. "I think so, and if not he can just fly or teleport over. But wouldn't that be disobeying our standing orders?"

"What are you doing Anubis?" Janus spoke up, a little perplexed.

Anubis looked back at his friend and comrade with the same unwavering glance that he wore like a mask. "If we all can't go in there, then at the very least you can."

"He does have a point. Morpheus never said anything about you not being there, and if there was ever a time we needed the One in a fight, it's now." Solitaire spoke up as well.

Janus shook his head at that. "No, as much as I want to, my place is here. I might be the One, but I'm still part of this crew."

"But they need you Janus, more than ever." Cammy said. "And it's not like we can't continue this mission without you. As good as you are, we can take care of ourselves."

"I know you guys can do that, but the same goes for Morpheus and the rest." Janus answered back.

"If that's your wish, then we cannot force you otherwise." Anubis shrugged, turning back to face the monitor.

That seemed to put an end to that argument, as everyone else followed him. However, before he did as well, Janus took a final look at Anubis. Even after all we've been through together, there are still times when I, the One of all people, can't read him. Ah well, I guess that's what made him the person that he was in the Matrix.

"You're damn right he's not going in!" a new voice called out as Irvine suddenly entered, causing everyone to turn around. "Because I'm not going to be the one to explain to Morpheus that we ignored his standing orders. When he meant the Nemesis, he meant everybody, Janus included!"

"Well gee, you've always been one to follow orders straight to the letter Irvine." Solitaire replied with sarcasm.

"That was then Solitaire, and this is now. Besides, you may find it hard to believe, but the General's one of the few people I can't disobey, at least for right now. He's just that kind of guy." Irvine answered.

"But people like Lock and the Council are somehow okay?" Janus looked disbelieving.

Irvine seemed to consider that before answering. "Well there's a certain technique there. You see…"

He was stopped when Glitch raised his hand. "Incoming from Captain Liquid on the Moses."

"Liquid?" Blade wondered. "Why isn't he inside like everyone else?"

"Let's see what he has to say." Irvine said.

With that, Glitch typed a command and soon a message window popped up on one of the monitors, displaying a man in his mid thirties or so with blonde hair, brown eyes and a rather square looking face.

"Irvine?" he spoke with a British accent, but not the same kind as Jade's.

"Liquid." Irvine replied. "I thought you would be at the party. Let me guess, lost your invite?"

"Oh, we'll be there." Liquid gave a determined smirk. "However, before we go, I thought I could aid you and yours in that little fox hunt Morpheus has you all on."

"We're listening." Irvine said, nodding at his gathered crew.

"Yes, right." Liquid nodded. "Well, we picked up some intel on those rogue shapers. You won't like this any more than I did, but apparently the Merovingian was able to apprehend them at some point and has them imprisoned in his Chateau."

"Ah shit. Seriously?" Irvine groaned at that. Compared to what he had faced with the Resistance and Agents, the Merovingian was a relatively lesser threat, but still one that the former pirate and his crew wanted nothing to do with.

"Dead serious." Liquid clarified. "I was about to follow up on that myself, before this whole mess with the Resistance came about."

Janus looked at Liquid in disbelief. "You were actually planning on storming Frenchie's keep solo?"

The other Captain gave him a look that could be described as smarmy. "Janus, is it? A pleasure, but rest assured that my crew and I have gone on more difficult assignments than that and accomplished all objectives in the end."

"Yeah, sure, and we're all fucking impressed Liquid." Irvine stepped in. Like his own crew and Jade's, the crew of the small HvCRT Moses were considered Zion's equivalent to special forces; they took on the most dangerous assignments in the Matrix with as little in number and resources as possible yet carried out their missions to the fullest with the greatest efficiency. This was a fact Irvine was well aware of, but being pressed for time as they were all currently, he didn't have time for any potential pissing contests. "Anything else you'd like to add Liquid?"

"One more thing." Liquid said, turning back to business. "Earlier, my operator Decoy tried to get a fix upon the Chateau for tactical analysis, as is standard procedure. However…"

"Yes?" Irvine exclaimed.

"…we weren't able to. Each time our monitors passed over his Chateau, they shorted out. It was as if something were jamming our link into the Matrix." Liquid explained.

Jamming? Janus thought. That whole thing sounded familiar to him for some reason.

"Doesn't the Merovingian have that capability?" Irvine asked.

"He does not. Usually we are able to at least get an aerial view of the Chateau and perhaps the first few levels on a good day. But this time we got nothing." Liquid said.

"Then maybe he's employed some new kind of virus as a henchman." Irvine hypothesized.

"Possible." Liquid concluded. "However, I'm afraid that is your problem to deal with now, Irvine. My crew and I now have to go and join the festivities."

"Very well then. Kick some ass for me Liquid." Irvine mock saluted.

"Good hunting for you to Irvine. Tally ho." Liquid finished, then signed off.

When the screen turned dark, Irvine nodded to himself, and flicked the switch on the intercom to the bridge. "Marley, take us to broadcast depth and set her down somewhere safe. We're going in."

"Will do, Cap'n." came the reply.

Irvine then flicked the switch and turned back to his gathered crew. "Well ladies and gentlemen, looks like we've got a date with de Gaulle. Let's not disappoint him by being late."

----

The Matrix
Ueno, International District
April 2005, 1:03AM

Literally appearing out of nowhere, the four avatar bodies of the Nosferatu's redpill force materialized one by one in the abandoned warehouse that served as the insertion point. It didn't take long for everyone to appear, and it took even less time to overhear the sounds in the distance: gunshots, sirens, explosions and others that were less discernible. While they were most definitely late to the action, they hadn't missed it by long.

After the last of them, Sonia, appeared in their midst, Blood reached over and took the ringing phone that was close to him. "We're in."

"Got it, Cap-er, Admiral. Good luck out there." Sideways acknowledged, then hung up.

Blood replaced the phone onto its resting place as well, then turned to his fighters. "Let's go." He ordered.

Without any other words, they all began to walk in unison toward the exit door for the warehouse, looking as though they were ready to face Hell itself on the other side. Which in a way, they were about to. None of them had ever been in a battle this large before, not even Balthasar, but that didn't mean they were afraid or reluctant to fight.

But then without warning, Balthasar stopped in his tracks in the middle of the warehouse. It took a moment for the others to notice this, and when they did, they stopped to.

"Bal?" Leon asked for the rest of them.

Not responding to him, Balthasar reached into his coat and withdrew his cellular phone, hit the speed dial for the Nosferatu and placed it against his ear.

"Operator." Sideways replied on the other end, also sounding confused.

"Have you analyzed those programs we got from Frenchie yet?" Balthasar asked.

"No, I haven't had time to…" Sideways began to explain.

Then I guess I have no choice. Balthasar thought. "Upload them anyway."

Sideways literally stammered over the phone. "Are you insane Bal!? We have no idea what those things will do to you!"

"Don't have a choice. If we're going to see this mission through, then I need to be as powerful as I can get. Now upload them." Balthasar ordered.

"Bal…" Sonia began to speak, but Blood held a hand up to silence her as Balthasar continued to listen.

"Bal, think about this. Those programs are untested, unanalyzed and not decrypted, thus highly unstable. We don't know what the side effects could be. Worse case scenario they'll overload your body and mind in the Matrix and turn you brain dead in the real world." Sideways tried to explain.

"That's a chance I'm willing to take." Bal said through clenched teeth. "Now upload them!"

A short moment passed before Sideways sighed and spoke again. "Don't say I didn't warn you. I'll start in a minute…"

Preparing himself for what was to come, Balthasar took a composed stance, hung up and placed his phone in his coat. He did the same with his glasses, not wanting them damaged before he got into the action. Soon enough, his eyes began to flutter wildly as the programs were inserted directly into his brain, while Blood, Leon and Sonia all watched with suspiciousness. Then after the moment had past, Balthasar's eyes stopped and reverted back to normal, albeit still closed. A long and uncomfortable silence soon encompassed the room, as the four stood there wondering what exactly was supposed to happen next.

Then, just as Balthasar was about to throw his arms up in annoyance, he felt something stir within himself. It was subtle at first, in the form of a small throbbing sensation in his head, like that of a heartbeat; not strong enough to cause him pain but still there. For a minute he let it stir without any reaction, but soon, before his comrades, his face soon degenerated into a worried expression. The throbbing sensation was growing rapidly.

As the impulses grew in power, Balthasar began to feel the first semblances of pain take over his form, almost as if he were being taken over by a migraine. His face contorted each time the pain travelled through his head, soon to the point that his mouth opened to reveal his teeth grit as he tried to hold himself together. His hands quickly came up to his face to cover his forehead and his eyes, soon throwing his head back as he let out a silent scream.

"Bal!" Leon and Sonia both started to move to aid The Potential, but Blood held them back with an outstretched arm in front of them. The leader of the Resistance knew that this needed to be done.

The screaming began soon enough, with the Potential struggling to keep himself standing up, his head being thrown back into the air as a result with his hands still covering his eyes. And then without warning, it all became too much for Balthasar to contain within himself.

Letting out a deafening roar to the heavens, with both of his arms flying off his face to be outstretched to either side, a great shockwave exploded from Balthasar's body, one that encompassed the entire warehouse and nearly caused the other three to fly back from the intensity, as well as causing a ripple within the Matrix itself. The roar continued and more of these shockwaves leapt out of him, each striking his comrades but not hard enough for them to fall.

This continued on for seemingly sometime before Balthasar was able to calm and stabilize himself. Slowly, he lowered his arms to his sides, balling his hands into fists and breathing heavily as he did. He soon lowered his head as well, just as slowly, but when his comrades could see his face fully, all three of them looked out in fear. Balthasar's eyes were now lit in pure green, totally enveloping the entirety of both. Along with this, individual runes of Matrix code trickled down from either eye, fading away once they got down to the level of his chest.

Looking out as though the angel of death itself had appear right before them, Blood cautiously took a few steps forward to get a better look at The Potential. "…Balthasar?"

Upon the utterance of his name, Balthasar looked over with his eyes of green light at Blood, and gave him the most disturbing smile that the Resistance commander had ever seen.

"…Let's do this."

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