Notes: I know its kind of short, but fight scenes usually are, and again, this is where this chapter has to finish. Sorry, its been a while since an update.

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Agent Josey: Should've run off with it! Don't ask next time! Thank you!

choice-is-an-illusion: Thanks! Yes this would be what its been leading up to. ^^

Kal Torak: Breathe! Deep breaths! I thought it worked, lol. ^^

SapphireNight: Thank you very much! And don't worry about it! Sorry for not e-mailing in the past few days; college is a killer!

geekgurl: ^^ lol. Thanks!

Mirror: Here be more! Thank you for your kind comments!

Starlight623: She'll give it a shot! She's only a kid though, remember! Thanks!

Mystique: Glad you've been enjoying it. ^^ Thank you very much.

the female apophis: :::hugs::: mine! lol. Must stop watching 'Finding Nemo'. Love ya! Thanks!

Divamercury: This is me continuing! ^^

angel of darkness 4585: Yay! I'm happy that you like it! Thank you!

Protectress of Dalidon: Thank you very much. Would you believe this fic is exhausting to write? And there be more Balance...

Chaosti: Exactly, if they could remove her from the Matrix, they would. But she has to use a hard-line like everyone else. Unfortunately, being unconscious, Exodus hasn't met Libby yet. Probably for the best too, for both of them. Thanks!

Trialia: Indeed I did! There's always a reason! lol! Actually, Ruth came up with it after I said The Balance, but hey… ^^;

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Genesis' attention returned briefly to her mother, deciding that this new-comer was far more entertaining. Increasing her speed, she jumped into a spin kick, Trinity falling to the floor, hitting her head on the concrete, losing her grip on consciousness. Her daughter landed and looked back at the seemingly innocent young girl, "The Balance?" she repeated scornfully.

Libra tilted her head and looked up at her sister, "…Nyx?"

Genesis growled, "What pathetic excuse do you have for being here?"

"You."

"Me?"

"This is it. This is the end," Libra said softly.

"Very perceptive of you. Now get out of here."

"No."

"No?" she echoed, raising en eyebrow.

"I'm here to make things right," she stated.

"It is right," Genesis replied, walking slowly and deliberately toward the girl, "This abomination is about to come to a complete standstill…we're going to rule here…"

"No you're not," Libra shook her head sadly, "He's going to rule here. You're a means to an end. You're being used."

She narrowed her eyes beneath her sunglasses, "And how, child, do you know so much?"

"Because I have to."

Curiosity won out, a feeling she had not felt for many years, "What is your purpose?" she presumed the figure was a rouge program, "Unless you are needed you shall be erased from the system."

"No," Libra countered, "You can't kill me."

Genesis halted and took a step back, heart skipping a beat, trying not to let her fear show, "…I could destroy you in a second."

"But you wont."

"I-"

"Come home, Nyx. Come home to us…" she held her arms out, "Please."

Another step back, "Get away from me…" paranoid delusions.

Libra raised her voice, "Nyx! Listen to me!"

"No!"
"I know you're afraid-"

"You know nothing!" she had a weapon in her hand, which she dropped in a stunned silence as realisation dawned, "…You're…"

"Their child," Libra nodded calmly.

Rage once again intoxicated her, "…This is your fault!" she didn't stop to think how a freeborn girl could enter the Matrix, "Damned child!" she rushed for her.

Libra held up her hands to defend herself, shocked when Genesis could come no closer to her, a barrier forming between them, "They looked for you every waking moment. Every moment of their lives. They want you back…!"

"You replaced us!" Genesis shouted.

"Nobody replaced you!"

She hadn't realised her brother was lying unconscious further down the street, expecting back-up, "Exodus!"

Libra watched as a series of confused emotions played out on her sister's face when her brother didn't appear, before she reached out for her again, "…You altered the balance of power, Nyx. I am here to correct it."

Genesis looked wildly around, "What have you done to him!?"

"Nothing."

"You're not taking this away from me!"

Libra looked away, "…Save yourself, Nyx. Before its too late," she heard her father's voice behind her.

"You thought they would get to me?" Neo questioned.

"No, Mr Anderson, I thought they would kill you."

"No intention of fighting yourself?"

"Not particularly. We both know how this is going to end. I've seen it."

Neo exhaled, "If you've seen it, why bother discussing the-"

"Inevitable?" Smith finished, "Because, despite the futility of such an activity, it is interesting to see your reaction to your twisted children. And they to you. I must admit it was a disappointment to see you dispatch of your son so easily."

"Glad I could accommodate you," Neo shot back, with barely suppressed sarcasm.

The Agent frowned, "So, the saviour of mankind. How does that feel?"

"Its over, Smith," Neo made no attempt to escape, move or even fight the Agent. His life for theirs. In his mind, little sacrifice for freedom. He understood. Positive for negative. Eliminate each other…

"Indeed it is, Mr Anderson," Smith reached forward and plunged his hand into Neo's chest, as he began to copy himself over The One.

"No!" a shout from behind the pair echoed across the street, as Libra ran the few metres to her father's changing form, not thinking, simply reaching out, finding her hand went straight through the coding of his Avatar. She shut her eyes and remained where she was, pouring all her energy through the one link she had with Neo. Balance was to be restored.

Smith raised an eyebrow and smirked, "The third Anderson child…"

Neo's eyes widened, writhing as the code overtook him, "Libby!" his fear for her overrode his will to end the battle. Trying to release himself from the infecting virus, he concentrated, unable to break free, "Libby!"

"Dad!" her voice was high with panic and desperation, "Dad, no!"

"Libby, why are you here!? Run!" he commanded, as the code crept up across his chest.

"NO!" she cried, "I cant! I wont leave you! My Prophecy! I know what I have to do!" she literally glowed with a fusion of amber and green energy as the code making up her avatar shone through.

"Libby…" he managed to articulate her name a final time, quietly, his features vanishing.

"You wont take him from me," Libra whispered, voice empty, "This is my duty," weakened by her efforts, she closed her eyes, keeping a determined grip on the Avatar that had been her father.

"And this is my day!" the Agent shouted, renewing his efforts to copy himself completely, as Genesis looked down at her young sister.

"Useless wretch," she spat, kicking out, sending Libra backward, losing the link, until she hit the floor, landing in a pool of water.

"…No!" Libra's thin cry reached the ears of her tormentor, producing a smile, "…I…I have to…" she looked up, seeing her father vanishing in a swirl of dark coding, Genesis standing over her.

"Get up," the woman said in a low voice, "Now."

"Libra!" Trinity was running for her daughter despite the blazing pain in her head.

"So this is the child you sacrificed us for!" Genesis hissed.

Libra was on her feet, trying to escape, her sister holding her fast, "Nyx! You don't understand!"

"If you think you've met Nyx then you don't understand anything, dear sister."

"Dad!" she cried out, straining against Genesis.

Trinity halted in the centre of the street, torn between saving her lover or her daughter, "Let her go, Nyx."

Genesis raised an eyebrow, removing her sunglasses with her free hand, making a show of how effortlessly she was holding Libra back, "You think you have any authority over me?"

"She's just a child!"

"She's nothing! She would destroy our home!"

"This isn't your home!"

"Sorry, Mama, but sentiment doesn't come into this…"

Libra drew back and landed a hit that even Genesis had to take notice of.

"Quite the little fighter, aren't we?" she smiled sadistically, then aimed and let fly a punch that sent Libra reeling, dizzy, blood pouring from her mouth, the girl staggering around several paces.

"Come on, fight!" Genesis whirled her round and hit her again, "Come on, Balance!"

A small cry escaped Libra's lips, and she would have fallen, if her older sister hadn't grabbed her small figure, with intent to harm her again. Eyes closed, struggling to draw breath, she desperately tried to stay conscious, broken and battered.

Two waves of green energy shot across the area, simultaneously, washing across the other, until they were out of sight. She managed to open her eyes for a split second, seeing both forms; that of her father and that of his nemesis…gone. Several tears escaped her bloodied blue eyes, before they fell shut and all will to fight left her soul, "…I failed…"

"No!" Exodus' shout of denial was heard, seeing his mentor shatter.

Trinity watched helplessly as one of her daughters taunted and destroyed the other. Her lover, her soulmate, gone, his coding scattered across the Matrix, she wept inside, heart torn in two. He had made the ultimate sacrifice; his life, never to see his children, or her, again. Now it was up to her. She had a choice, a choice she had to make in a split second. Sacrifice one child to save the other. Save their legacy. For the first time in years, she shook as she raised the handgun, finger flagging the trigger, until Genesis backhanded the young girl, and a snap decision was made in her mind. Trinity heard a scream, already mourning two lives, that ripped from her own throat, as she fired a single shot. Bullet imbedded in her lung, Genesis fell to the floor, at the same moment as her baby sister, and in the hushed silence of the Neb, Libra's monitor flat-lined.

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