LESS THAN LIFE

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the rights to The Matrix. The Wachowski brothers, not me, created the Matrix and all its characters. However, Hades is my creation.

CHAPTER 1 - THE ANGEL OF DEATH

Emma knew that someone was following her. She didn't want to turn round and face her tormentor. She was too afraid. Instead, she kept to a brisk walking pace through the parking lot.

Hades watched the woman he was pursuing. Too afraid to turn and face him, yet too proud to break into a run. It wouldn't matter if she did run. He would catch her. It wasn't a big thing, killing her. None of them were important.

When she got to her car she finally had to turn round. She saw a tall man coming towards her, in no great hurry. He was dressed entirely in black. A thick, woollen black trench coat. Thick, black leather gloves. Black jeans, boots and sunglasses. All this contrasted with his hair, bleached an almost-white blonde, hanging in a flop on his head. She struggled to get her keys into her car door as he walked towards her, getting closer and closer. Finally she got into her car and looked into the mirror. Closer. Turning on the ignition, Emma reversed at full speed in the stalker's direction.

She swung the car round, and saw that her stalker was nowhere to be seen. Then she seen him perched on another car, grinning benevolently. As she put her foot down on the acceleration, he leapt from the car. Emma heard a huge thud. He was on the roof of her car!

Driving at full speed, trying to shake him off, Emma came close to hitting a few cars. Out on the open road, cars were swerving in all directions trying to avoid her. Suddenly, a gloved hand burst through the side window, getting a grip on Emma's throat. The shock caused her to veer off the road and into a side alley. It was a dead end. She was going to crash into a wall!

Just in time, Hades flipped off the car. He did a graceful somersault off of the speeding vehicle, and landed on his feet. No sooner had his feet touched the ground, than the car crashed into the wall. It seemed to linger in the air forever, rising up against the wall in the impact, before flipping round and crashing back onto the ground, upside-down. After a moment's silence, Hades spotted the woman scrambling out of the car. Hades smiled. The time had come. Pulling out a length of garrotte wire, concealed in the lining of his coat sleeve, Hades calmly walked up behind her.

Emma's body stiffened in terror as the wire began to cut into her neck. She frantically tried to escape, but the killer was on top of her. As everything went black, the last thing she heard was her murderer's voice in her ear:

"Don't worry, my dear. It will all be over soon. You've been liberated by The Angel Of Death."

As the last glimmer of life left the body of the young woman, Hades peeled the garrotte wire out of her skin. It had dug in quite far. It didn't matter really. This person wasn't real. This world wasn't real. This "person" was just an organic battery, a tool of the machines, part of the Matrix. Every part of the Matrix that Hades could destroy would benefit the rebels of Zion, even if they didn't realise that. There was something else they didn't realise. He was The One.