This is my first fanfiction. I started by writing a character story for a
Matrix role-playing game my friend was running. The game flopped, but the
character was so interesting that I had to write it out. I've written a
little bit of fiction before, but never for anyone else to see, so there
will be revisions as I realize what I wrote sounds worse than I intended it
too. :')
Some would say that this sounds a lot like the Matrix itself, but it seems to me that anyone who finds out about the matrix and is eventually removed would follow some basic events. For example, there is first contact, weird stuff, what is the matrix, oh that's the matrix, and finally running from agents and removal. Its what you put in to flesh out your character and make the story unique and not another NEO clone that is important!
Thanks
Draconious
*****
Awakening - Chapter 3- Bizarre Revelations
A figure bundled in a tattered gray cloak climbed through a decimated building, searching desperately. Lifting pieces of debris, checking to see if anyone was buried there. Everything was covered with ash and suet and soon the searcher's hands were coated with a thick black film. Scanning the room, it turned and climbed what was left of a concrete staircase and approached the edge of the building. There the wall had fallen away, revealing the view such as it was.
Destroyed structures, what must have been proud, beautiful buildings, littered the landscape. Tall buildings with delicate spires, shorter buildings that appeared to once had glass cathedral ceilings, and arching bridges that were barely intact. A proud civilization was reduced to ruins.
Above the buildings, a dark sky roiled with clouds. Lightning lit the heavens, revealing the nightmare landscape below. Many buildings were knocked off their foundations, laying in what must have once been avenues and broadways. Amongst the buildings, though the figure lacked the eyesight to see, lay hundreds of skeletons in the final stages of decay, becoming more dust to add to the landscape.
In the building adjacent to the one the figure occupied, there looked to be the burning remains of an aircraft of some sort. Seeing this, the figure rapidly climbed another set of crumbling stairs and ran to the edge, where an archway led towards the distant building.
The cloaked figure edged its way out onto the archway and slowly balanced towards the burning wreckage. Buffeted by high winds, there were several occasions where the adventurer almost tumbled to a quick death. After 10 uncertain minutes, the wreckage was being examined.
"Where. Where???" Sorting through the still hot metal while avoiding the remaining fires, the cloaked figure struggled with a particularly large piece of metal. Underneath was a body, but it wasn't the one being searched for.
"Where are you James!??" screamed the cloaked figure, as the cloak fell from behind. Bloody, dirty, red hair matted to a wound, Shelley Thompson was searching for her man.
Sitting up with a strangled scream, she looked over at James. She hadn't told him that for the last few days, she too had been having bizarre dreams about a post-apocalyptic landscape. This was the first time that she had been looking for James, however, and she couldn't figure what that meant.
Climbing out of the bed, Shelley walked into the bathroom attached to their small bedroom. There, she dropped the nightgown she was wearing and allowed the hot water of her shower to lend her some small comfort. Unfortunately their apartment didn't have a lot of hot water and James would have to take a shower to get ready for work, too. She started to turn the water off when the glazed glass doors opened and James stepped in, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
"Hello," He mumbled, stepping towards the stream of water.
"Hello," she answered lustily, stepping into his embrace.
10 minutes later, they got out quickly when the water turned ice cold.
*****
"Come on, we're going to be late," he said from the drivers seat as she ran out of the brownstone apartment building and down the steps to the car. Their building was an old one that had been remodeled to offer nicer apartments, but unfortunately that had been done in the 1970's. Still, it was a nice place to live and the rent was cheap, so they liked it.
"Alright, I'm in," she said as she attached her seatbelt and James stomped on the gas. They took off and drove towards their work. Normally, the drive only took about 15 minutes, but for some reason the traffic this morning was murder. 10 minutes spent looking at "It's a child, not a choice" and "I voted for Clinton/Gore" was enough to give Shelley a headache. Turning to look out the passenger side window, she looked at a black luxury car driving parallel to them.
Driving the vehicle was a Nondescript man wearing what appeared to be a black business suit, wearing black glasses against the morning sun. Not paying too much attention to him, Shelley turned to ask James about their plans for lunch. When James saw the man (looking past Shelley) he had to keep from swerving the car. It was the same man that was in the elevator!
"What?" she asked at his stricken expression.
"That man.. I've seen him before. He was in the elevator at work on the day we met. Come to think of it, I've seen him a few times since then. Strange guy." James said as he looked back at the road. The car in front of him came to a complete stop. Looking back at Shelley, he said, "What the Hell? He's gone!?"
"What??" Turning, Shelley looked at the black sedan and saw that it was being driven by a middle-aged woman with brown hair. She just stared at the woman, thinking that she was loosing her mind.
"I saw a man in a suit. You saw him too right?" She asked.
"Yeah. Don't tell anyone about this, alright?"
"What. Yeah, okay. I won't tell anyone I'm going crazy." She replied.
"Your not going crazy. the world is." He said. He changed lanes and turned into the parking garage.
*****
The day hadn't gotten much better from there. The computer network was down. Supposedly a hacker had broke into the network and had played with the files. They were restoring the servers, but business was disrupted until well into the afternoon. James was having problems getting Robert Wilkinson on the phone, he was supposed to come in to go over some plans today. Walking down the corridor towards Shelley's office, he came to a complete stop.
In the server room there were two men working on the large computer banks. Both wore black suits, were wearing sunglasses, and had earpieces in. He quickly jumped to the right into an empty cubicle before they could see him. Peaking out, he saw that bent over the open computer as they were, neither had seen him yet. His heart was pounding and for some unknown reason he knew in the pit of his stomach that they were after him. He had to get Shelley and get the heck out of here.
He couldn't get to her office without passing them so he decided to sneak into his office and call her. He would get her to meet him at the parking garage and they would leave together. Turning, he crawled out of the cubicle while the MIB's backs were turned, then walked quickly yet silently towards his office. Shutting the door quietly, he hurried to pick up his phone.
"Come on, Come on." Dialing quickly, he noticed a 'click' on the line, then the phone went dead. Staring at the phone in horror, James feared that maybe it wasn't him they were after. Maybe it was Shelley.
*****
Shelley was working in her office, typing several databases that needed to be sent downstairs to be integrated into a package being offered to a firm they were hired for. Hours of typing led to her needing to take a break, so she saved her work and left her office, walking down the hall. Intent on speaking to James, she didn't see the man in the black suit in the server room as she walked past.
Looking up from his work on the server, Agent Jones (one of many) saw a young woman walking down the hall matching the description of the woman they were looking for. While she wasn't their primary objective (bugging the server for data transmissions) she was a secondary objective. Reaching to his ear piece, he silently communicated to his brethren.
Turning the corner and walking towards James' office, she slowed as she saw two Men in black suits like the one in the car this morning. They were approaching her slowly.
*Alright calm now.. calm.. they probably aren't here for me. Just calmly walk past them and into his office. Everything will be alright if I can just get to James' office.*
"Miss Thompson?" Agent Brown asked. "Come with us."
"What's this concerning," she asked.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say." He continued to read off the Miranda rights as Agent Black (Black hair, stern jaw, a new model) placed her into handcuffs. They escorted her out of the office and toward the elevator bank.
******
James ran out of his office in time to see Shelley in the elevator with three of the Men in Black suits. They clearly had her in handcuffs and were taking her out of the building. James ran towards the elevator, but the doors closed a few seconds before he could get there. "Shelley!" he shouted.
Slamming the elevator 'down' button, he impatiently awaited another elevator. It finally opened and he rode down to the lobby. The elevator seemed to be moving in slow motion, floating like a feather down the elevator shaft. Finally arriving, James ran out of the lobby in time to see a black Sedan drive away, two men in black suits driving off with the love of his life.
"Mr. Mason"
Turning around, James saw that a man in black had followed him out of the building. "Yes."
"I hope we're not going to have any problems with you, with your involvement with a known criminal. Perhaps I should take you into custody as well."
Looking around, James noticed that there was no car for the man to put him in. Was he an Officer? Agent? Man of a shadowy government organization? Who were these guys?
Agent Black seemed to have reached the same conclusion, so he turned and walked away from the office at a quick rate of speed.
A few minutes of indecision, and James realized he had no idea where Shelley was being held at. He turned in the direction that the man had headed and ran as fast as he could. He found the man as he turned a corner into a back alleyway. Racing to catch up, James turned into the alleyway in time to see the man's body enveloped in blue jags of electricity, as though he were struck by lightning.
As the electricity increased, the man's body seemed to blur, and then the electricity stopped. In his place was a bag lady. She looked confused as to where she was. Not as confused as James was though.
TBC.
Authors note: I've come up with several different ways for this story to go since I first made it, and the one I decided on is slightly different than the original concept. Feel free to comment on the way the story is going and guess at what is happening.
Drac
Some would say that this sounds a lot like the Matrix itself, but it seems to me that anyone who finds out about the matrix and is eventually removed would follow some basic events. For example, there is first contact, weird stuff, what is the matrix, oh that's the matrix, and finally running from agents and removal. Its what you put in to flesh out your character and make the story unique and not another NEO clone that is important!
Thanks
Draconious
*****
Awakening - Chapter 3- Bizarre Revelations
A figure bundled in a tattered gray cloak climbed through a decimated building, searching desperately. Lifting pieces of debris, checking to see if anyone was buried there. Everything was covered with ash and suet and soon the searcher's hands were coated with a thick black film. Scanning the room, it turned and climbed what was left of a concrete staircase and approached the edge of the building. There the wall had fallen away, revealing the view such as it was.
Destroyed structures, what must have been proud, beautiful buildings, littered the landscape. Tall buildings with delicate spires, shorter buildings that appeared to once had glass cathedral ceilings, and arching bridges that were barely intact. A proud civilization was reduced to ruins.
Above the buildings, a dark sky roiled with clouds. Lightning lit the heavens, revealing the nightmare landscape below. Many buildings were knocked off their foundations, laying in what must have once been avenues and broadways. Amongst the buildings, though the figure lacked the eyesight to see, lay hundreds of skeletons in the final stages of decay, becoming more dust to add to the landscape.
In the building adjacent to the one the figure occupied, there looked to be the burning remains of an aircraft of some sort. Seeing this, the figure rapidly climbed another set of crumbling stairs and ran to the edge, where an archway led towards the distant building.
The cloaked figure edged its way out onto the archway and slowly balanced towards the burning wreckage. Buffeted by high winds, there were several occasions where the adventurer almost tumbled to a quick death. After 10 uncertain minutes, the wreckage was being examined.
"Where. Where???" Sorting through the still hot metal while avoiding the remaining fires, the cloaked figure struggled with a particularly large piece of metal. Underneath was a body, but it wasn't the one being searched for.
"Where are you James!??" screamed the cloaked figure, as the cloak fell from behind. Bloody, dirty, red hair matted to a wound, Shelley Thompson was searching for her man.
Sitting up with a strangled scream, she looked over at James. She hadn't told him that for the last few days, she too had been having bizarre dreams about a post-apocalyptic landscape. This was the first time that she had been looking for James, however, and she couldn't figure what that meant.
Climbing out of the bed, Shelley walked into the bathroom attached to their small bedroom. There, she dropped the nightgown she was wearing and allowed the hot water of her shower to lend her some small comfort. Unfortunately their apartment didn't have a lot of hot water and James would have to take a shower to get ready for work, too. She started to turn the water off when the glazed glass doors opened and James stepped in, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
"Hello," He mumbled, stepping towards the stream of water.
"Hello," she answered lustily, stepping into his embrace.
10 minutes later, they got out quickly when the water turned ice cold.
*****
"Come on, we're going to be late," he said from the drivers seat as she ran out of the brownstone apartment building and down the steps to the car. Their building was an old one that had been remodeled to offer nicer apartments, but unfortunately that had been done in the 1970's. Still, it was a nice place to live and the rent was cheap, so they liked it.
"Alright, I'm in," she said as she attached her seatbelt and James stomped on the gas. They took off and drove towards their work. Normally, the drive only took about 15 minutes, but for some reason the traffic this morning was murder. 10 minutes spent looking at "It's a child, not a choice" and "I voted for Clinton/Gore" was enough to give Shelley a headache. Turning to look out the passenger side window, she looked at a black luxury car driving parallel to them.
Driving the vehicle was a Nondescript man wearing what appeared to be a black business suit, wearing black glasses against the morning sun. Not paying too much attention to him, Shelley turned to ask James about their plans for lunch. When James saw the man (looking past Shelley) he had to keep from swerving the car. It was the same man that was in the elevator!
"What?" she asked at his stricken expression.
"That man.. I've seen him before. He was in the elevator at work on the day we met. Come to think of it, I've seen him a few times since then. Strange guy." James said as he looked back at the road. The car in front of him came to a complete stop. Looking back at Shelley, he said, "What the Hell? He's gone!?"
"What??" Turning, Shelley looked at the black sedan and saw that it was being driven by a middle-aged woman with brown hair. She just stared at the woman, thinking that she was loosing her mind.
"I saw a man in a suit. You saw him too right?" She asked.
"Yeah. Don't tell anyone about this, alright?"
"What. Yeah, okay. I won't tell anyone I'm going crazy." She replied.
"Your not going crazy. the world is." He said. He changed lanes and turned into the parking garage.
*****
The day hadn't gotten much better from there. The computer network was down. Supposedly a hacker had broke into the network and had played with the files. They were restoring the servers, but business was disrupted until well into the afternoon. James was having problems getting Robert Wilkinson on the phone, he was supposed to come in to go over some plans today. Walking down the corridor towards Shelley's office, he came to a complete stop.
In the server room there were two men working on the large computer banks. Both wore black suits, were wearing sunglasses, and had earpieces in. He quickly jumped to the right into an empty cubicle before they could see him. Peaking out, he saw that bent over the open computer as they were, neither had seen him yet. His heart was pounding and for some unknown reason he knew in the pit of his stomach that they were after him. He had to get Shelley and get the heck out of here.
He couldn't get to her office without passing them so he decided to sneak into his office and call her. He would get her to meet him at the parking garage and they would leave together. Turning, he crawled out of the cubicle while the MIB's backs were turned, then walked quickly yet silently towards his office. Shutting the door quietly, he hurried to pick up his phone.
"Come on, Come on." Dialing quickly, he noticed a 'click' on the line, then the phone went dead. Staring at the phone in horror, James feared that maybe it wasn't him they were after. Maybe it was Shelley.
*****
Shelley was working in her office, typing several databases that needed to be sent downstairs to be integrated into a package being offered to a firm they were hired for. Hours of typing led to her needing to take a break, so she saved her work and left her office, walking down the hall. Intent on speaking to James, she didn't see the man in the black suit in the server room as she walked past.
Looking up from his work on the server, Agent Jones (one of many) saw a young woman walking down the hall matching the description of the woman they were looking for. While she wasn't their primary objective (bugging the server for data transmissions) she was a secondary objective. Reaching to his ear piece, he silently communicated to his brethren.
Turning the corner and walking towards James' office, she slowed as she saw two Men in black suits like the one in the car this morning. They were approaching her slowly.
*Alright calm now.. calm.. they probably aren't here for me. Just calmly walk past them and into his office. Everything will be alright if I can just get to James' office.*
"Miss Thompson?" Agent Brown asked. "Come with us."
"What's this concerning," she asked.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say." He continued to read off the Miranda rights as Agent Black (Black hair, stern jaw, a new model) placed her into handcuffs. They escorted her out of the office and toward the elevator bank.
******
James ran out of his office in time to see Shelley in the elevator with three of the Men in Black suits. They clearly had her in handcuffs and were taking her out of the building. James ran towards the elevator, but the doors closed a few seconds before he could get there. "Shelley!" he shouted.
Slamming the elevator 'down' button, he impatiently awaited another elevator. It finally opened and he rode down to the lobby. The elevator seemed to be moving in slow motion, floating like a feather down the elevator shaft. Finally arriving, James ran out of the lobby in time to see a black Sedan drive away, two men in black suits driving off with the love of his life.
"Mr. Mason"
Turning around, James saw that a man in black had followed him out of the building. "Yes."
"I hope we're not going to have any problems with you, with your involvement with a known criminal. Perhaps I should take you into custody as well."
Looking around, James noticed that there was no car for the man to put him in. Was he an Officer? Agent? Man of a shadowy government organization? Who were these guys?
Agent Black seemed to have reached the same conclusion, so he turned and walked away from the office at a quick rate of speed.
A few minutes of indecision, and James realized he had no idea where Shelley was being held at. He turned in the direction that the man had headed and ran as fast as he could. He found the man as he turned a corner into a back alleyway. Racing to catch up, James turned into the alleyway in time to see the man's body enveloped in blue jags of electricity, as though he were struck by lightning.
As the electricity increased, the man's body seemed to blur, and then the electricity stopped. In his place was a bag lady. She looked confused as to where she was. Not as confused as James was though.
TBC.
Authors note: I've come up with several different ways for this story to go since I first made it, and the one I decided on is slightly different than the original concept. Feel free to comment on the way the story is going and guess at what is happening.
Drac