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 4- Beyond the Dream
Shelley was riding through town in the back of the black sedan, with the two men in the front of the vehicle. Neither of them were talking. Both wore the same black suit, shoes, tie, and glasses. Both had earpieces in, which the man in the passenger seat would occasionally press his fingers to as though hearing an important message.
She had originally been trying to keep track of where they were going. She knew Stanton Island pretty well, but they had been driving quickly and the number of turns they had taken had confused her. The warehouses that surrounded them looked run down, and there were plenty of them on the island.
Looking at the driver of the vehicle, Shelley began to get a sudden piercing headache. She closed her eyes against the pain, as everything went white.
*****
Two figures were running through the city. The first was male. He wore a black denim jacket, black pants, military boots, and had an automatic pistol in each hand. Strapped to his legs were two more pistols, as well as some clips.
The other was female. She wore blue jeans, a strapless leather top, and black running shoes. She was carrying a small submachinegun in her hands. They ran through an alleyway and turned a corner.
In the distance she could see two men in black suits. AGENTS! "Ace!" She called to the male, and they turned to run the other way. The alley ended at a busy street, 4 lanes of traffic moving at about 45 miles an hour. Looking at the two men following about 75 feet back, she jumped.
Flying through the air, she cleared all 4 lanes to land on the other side. Turning, she watched the male approach the traffic.
Blam! Blam! (Cheesy gunfire sound effects!) Blam! The two men were firing their silver plated 9mm's at the male. One shot almost grazed him. She cried out and opened fire at them.
The male fired both guns at the Agents, then did a back flip, landing between the first two lanes of traffic. Shots rang off the cars passing as the Agent continued firing. One of the man's shots caught the rightmost Agent in the head and he fell, his body turning into a soccer-mom. He jumped, landing atop a sports car, then sprang onto an SUV. Turning quickly, he jumped onto an RV heading the other direction, then jumped clear of the traffic. They both began running again.
There was a squall of tires, and a large crash. Two vehicles had collided and from them emerged two Agents. They ran after the two retreating rebels.
The rebels were almost to the exit, they could hear it ringing in the distance. The male reached for it, when a shot rang out, its round hitting him in the shoulder. He fell to the ground. She turned, firing at the Agents. The male continued to fire with his good hand, as he reached for the phone with his injured arm. "Nightshade, you go first!" he said, holding the phone to her. "No, your injured, you go first!" she replied, firing at the Agents.
Placing the phone against his ear, he disappeared in a flash of green code. Ducking quickly, the girl hung up the phone and shot at the Agents again. She managed to pick off one of the Agents, and he disappeared, leaving behind a older man, bullet wound in the chest.
The phone rang once again, and emptying her clip at the Agent, she picked it up and placed it against her ear. The Agent fired three times, but his bullets hit only air as she disappeared at the last second.
*****
A quick intake of breath and she was awake again. Looking up, she saw the two Agents sitting in the front of the car. AGENTS! She knew what they were. They defended the Matrix against Runners.. Runners like her and. The memories were coming back, but they were still confusing.
The sedan pulled into a garage, and the two Agents removed her from the car, putting her in the custody of several police officers and leading them to an interrogation room.
"Thank you officers. That will be all." The Agent closed the door and turned to look at her. "Miss Thompson. How are you today?"
She was silent, struck by the incongruity of the statement. *First Ace and I were shot at, then chased across traffic. no wait, that wasn't me, that was the girl in the vision. wasn't it?* "Fine." She replied quietly.
"Do you know why you are hear?" he asked her.
"If this is about those parking tickets, I swear that I was about to go.." she said with a smirk.
"This is not about parking tickets, nor is this about the illegal downloading of software on your computer. This is not about jaywalking or the "recreational" use of narcotics. This is about your illegal nighttime activities on the computer using the alias Nightshade." The silence was deafening.
*Nightshade. that was the girl's name. Now I know why I liked that name so much and picked it as an alias.*
"As Nightshade you have perpetrated crimes including but not limited to. Changing city records, evading taxes, embezzlement, fraud, illegal use of data, violating the data protection act, (lots of legal mumbo jumbo) and interfering with several police investigations. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"Wow." She smirked at the Agent. "You guys have been, what, stalking me right?" She was gratified that the Agent seemed to be getting impatient with her.
"Miss Thompson, I am willing to forget that these charges ever happened, but I need you to be honest with me. Have you ever heard of the hacker named Phoenix?"
*Wow.. They must not want me to talk to Phoenix. I need to find him then. First I have to get out of here."
"Isn't that a mythological bird?" she asked.
"Yes, I believe it is." The Agent replied, deadpan.
"That's all I know." She said.
"That's too bad. I was hoping not to have to do this." Reaching into his jacket, he removed a silver case. Reaching inside, he brought out a small metal object. Shelley tried to move, but she found her arms and legs affixed to the chair. Her head was held still by a headrest what was suddenly gripping the back of her neck. The object that the Agent was holding began to swell and squirm and was revealed to be a worm-like creature with tentacles that looked to be made of metal. (IE the thing in Neo's stomach)
Shelley began struggling as she recognized the trace program for what it was, but the seat held her securely. Approaching her, he set the squirming creature on her shoulder where it began digging at her ear. With a shriek from the piercing pain, it slid into her head. She then blacked out.
*****
James was walking slowly back towards the office, contemplating the disappearance of Shelley, his girlfriend. Taken by the shadowy men in black suits, they had given no reason for her to be arrested. He had no idea where she had been transported, and had no idea how to get in touch with her. Walking through the alleyway, he began to get dizzy and have a headache, so he sat on a crate to wait out the dizziness.
*****
He turned to the beautiful red headed girl, his true love, and took her in his arms. They were both greasy from working on some repairs to the Chimera, their hovercraft, captained by Phoenix, a strong leader that had led them to victory on several occasions. They had just removed a newby from the Matrix, a young man named Alan (no alias yet) who was being hunted by Agents. He had no idea that the Matrix existed, but if the Agents wanted him dead, it was interest of the Resistance that he not die.
Kissing her, he rubbed her back and said, "Nightshade, you are the best thing in my life." She leaned against him and said, "Ace, we need to finish these repairs, and if keep that up, we won't get them done." With a smirk, she knelt to open an access panel.
"All hands prepare for power down, Squiddies in the area!" Ace and Nightshade jumped and ran to the bridge.
*****
Sitting up from where he was crouched, James looked around. *The dreams are becoming more vivid. And I wasn't even asleep this time!* His head hurt as the memories were becoming integrated. Standing and popping his jaw, he went in search of Nightshade, his wife.
*****
James walked into the Broken Modem. The Broken Modem was a coffeehouse turned internet café. It was very popular with the Tech crowd, and he'd been there a few times. He was searching for someone, someone who could explain the pain in his head and the memories he was regaining.
Sitting at a computer, he opened the web browser and moved the cursor to the address bar. There he typed a DNS entry and the web browser moved to a secure website. A password screen opened with two blank fields. In the first he typed a series of 16 numbers. In the second he typed a different series of 16 numbers. The page opened a text box and he typed a message.
I am at the Café and I need answers. My head is killing me. They have Nightshade.
Ace
While James was not exactly computer illiterate, he wasn't a hacker either. He had no idea what it was that he just did. It was like his hands went on autopilot and did everything by themselves. He had found out a few months ago that Shelley did fit the technical definition of a Hacker, but he wasn't aware of her doing anything illegal. The voice or memories he associated with "Ace" told him that he was wrong, that both of them had broke plenty of laws, but it didn't matter.
Taking a seat at the bar, he ordered a cappachino, something that he normally detested, but it seemed great to him now, energizing him. Sitting on the stool, he was awaiting a visitor. It shouldn't be long now, he thought.
*****
"I'm in. I'll rendezvous with Ace in 5 minutes." Phoenix hung on the link he was on and turned to leave the room. Standing tall, about 6'3" and wearing a black trench coat, Phoenix cut an impressive figure. Pale blonde hair, clear skin, and piercing blue eyes added to the effect.
Turning from the phone that lay on a desk in an abandoned "trend store". He walked out the backdoor, leaving it unlocked, and turned to walk down the alleyway. Phoenix was the captain of the Hovercraft Chimera, a swift vessel that had got them through a number of skirmishes. One particular mission had been disastrous, however.
*****
They had been trying to remove another potential in endless quest to find the One, or at least increase their numbers. It had been going well up to the point that the Chimera had been waiting for the body to fall out of the refuse shoot. They waited, and waited. He had disappeared from the Matrix, and his trace had been complete.
After about an hour later, Phoenix had decided to send some people up to see what had happened. The team consisted of Ace, Nightshade, Twip, and Jinks. All were heavily armed with Ion Cannons and Impact grenades.
(Authors note: Ion cannons being smaller versions of what was used to kill Cypher, Impact grenades being like throwable shaped charges. There has to be special weapons designed to take out things besides EMP!)
After climbing the cliffside and entering the draintunnel, which was not an easy climb, the team ascended the tube and came out at a junction. The new guy, who went by the alias Nero, had become stuck where the pipe had deteriorated. His legs had falled through the hole, his upper body pinned in. They attempted to remove him, but he was wedged from the other side, so they used a cutting torch to cut through the wall and removed him from the other side. He was injured, but would survive and they started to find an easier way down to the ship.
That was when the Maintenance Spider showed up. It had found the holes in the drainpipe and was oozing a sealant compound on the openings. Suddenly they couldn't exit the way they came in. The room they were in opened into a corridor, which they went down. An opening in the wall showed them row after row of cocoons, all filled with bodies of various ages. Maintenance Spiders crawled on the black cable vines, repairing various breaches. Nurse Bots checked on the cocoons, and tiny hunter bots kept small animals from disturbing the system.
The other side of the room had a corridor that sloped down, so hopefully it lead back towards the ship. It was while proceeding down the corridor that they encountered the first guard. It turned towards them and began to attack. It slashed at Twip with a claw-like appendage. He jumped back, and Ace fired his Ion Cannon at the bot. The charge knocked it back while Nightshade prepared an impact grenade. She hurled it at the bot and it attached to its underside.
Everyone stumbled back and it detonated. The bot was blown in 3 different directions, but not before it evidently transmitted an intruder alert. 3 more guard bots began trundling in their direction. The squad ran down the corridor as best they could, carrying Nero and defending themselves. They managed to take out 4 more bots before making it to the exit, but by then they were attacked by a group of 5 guard bots, with one really big bot that looked like a small squidie. They squeezed Nero through the hole, followed by Twip and Jinks. Nightshade and Ace were laying cover fire to protect their exit. Twip and Jinks carried Nero into the ship, but they were still waiting for Ace and Nightshade to arrive when 4 Squiddies appeared on the Radar.
They set off the EMP, disabling all the robots in the vicinity. Phoenix and Twip went back in to see if they could find Nightshade or Ace, but they were both gone. It was assumed they had been killed, their bodies disposed of, but Phoenix held the belief that they had been captured alive, and that a Nurse Bot had placed them into new cocoons and reinserted them into the Matrix. So the Search had begun.
Now it looks as though Ace had regained his memory and was searching Phoenix out. He had accessed a communications terminal that Phoenix had set up for none secure transmissions. Hopefully, he will be getting his 2nd in command back soon.
*****
James, or Ace as he coming to think of himself, was finishing his cappachino when he felt a presence enter the room. Turning to look behind him he saw the familiar RSI of his Captain enter the room. *Whats an RSI?* he wondered silently.
Walking up, Phoenix sat next to Ace and ordered a Coffee, black. "Well, took you long enough." He said.
Ace looked at him. "I've been getting memories back for the last few days and have been having nightmares for months now, and I still have no idea what's going on. And they have Nightshade."
Phoenix looked down, then back up at his 2nd. "We have to get you out of here first. I can't have you turning into an Agent in midconversation. Lets go."
Ace followed his captain out of the Broken Modem, wondering if in the next second he would turn into an Agent and kill his best friend.
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 4- Beyond the Dream
Shelley was riding through town in the back of the black sedan, with the two men in the front of the vehicle. Neither of them were talking. Both wore the same black suit, shoes, tie, and glasses. Both had earpieces in, which the man in the passenger seat would occasionally press his fingers to as though hearing an important message.
She had originally been trying to keep track of where they were going. She knew Stanton Island pretty well, but they had been driving quickly and the number of turns they had taken had confused her. The warehouses that surrounded them looked run down, and there were plenty of them on the island.
Looking at the driver of the vehicle, Shelley began to get a sudden piercing headache. She closed her eyes against the pain, as everything went white.
*****
Two figures were running through the city. The first was male. He wore a black denim jacket, black pants, military boots, and had an automatic pistol in each hand. Strapped to his legs were two more pistols, as well as some clips.
The other was female. She wore blue jeans, a strapless leather top, and black running shoes. She was carrying a small submachinegun in her hands. They ran through an alleyway and turned a corner.
In the distance she could see two men in black suits. AGENTS! "Ace!" She called to the male, and they turned to run the other way. The alley ended at a busy street, 4 lanes of traffic moving at about 45 miles an hour. Looking at the two men following about 75 feet back, she jumped.
Flying through the air, she cleared all 4 lanes to land on the other side. Turning, she watched the male approach the traffic.
Blam! Blam! (Cheesy gunfire sound effects!) Blam! The two men were firing their silver plated 9mm's at the male. One shot almost grazed him. She cried out and opened fire at them.
The male fired both guns at the Agents, then did a back flip, landing between the first two lanes of traffic. Shots rang off the cars passing as the Agent continued firing. One of the man's shots caught the rightmost Agent in the head and he fell, his body turning into a soccer-mom. He jumped, landing atop a sports car, then sprang onto an SUV. Turning quickly, he jumped onto an RV heading the other direction, then jumped clear of the traffic. They both began running again.
There was a squall of tires, and a large crash. Two vehicles had collided and from them emerged two Agents. They ran after the two retreating rebels.
The rebels were almost to the exit, they could hear it ringing in the distance. The male reached for it, when a shot rang out, its round hitting him in the shoulder. He fell to the ground. She turned, firing at the Agents. The male continued to fire with his good hand, as he reached for the phone with his injured arm. "Nightshade, you go first!" he said, holding the phone to her. "No, your injured, you go first!" she replied, firing at the Agents.
Placing the phone against his ear, he disappeared in a flash of green code. Ducking quickly, the girl hung up the phone and shot at the Agents again. She managed to pick off one of the Agents, and he disappeared, leaving behind a older man, bullet wound in the chest.
The phone rang once again, and emptying her clip at the Agent, she picked it up and placed it against her ear. The Agent fired three times, but his bullets hit only air as she disappeared at the last second.
*****
A quick intake of breath and she was awake again. Looking up, she saw the two Agents sitting in the front of the car. AGENTS! She knew what they were. They defended the Matrix against Runners.. Runners like her and. The memories were coming back, but they were still confusing.
The sedan pulled into a garage, and the two Agents removed her from the car, putting her in the custody of several police officers and leading them to an interrogation room.
"Thank you officers. That will be all." The Agent closed the door and turned to look at her. "Miss Thompson. How are you today?"
She was silent, struck by the incongruity of the statement. *First Ace and I were shot at, then chased across traffic. no wait, that wasn't me, that was the girl in the vision. wasn't it?* "Fine." She replied quietly.
"Do you know why you are hear?" he asked her.
"If this is about those parking tickets, I swear that I was about to go.." she said with a smirk.
"This is not about parking tickets, nor is this about the illegal downloading of software on your computer. This is not about jaywalking or the "recreational" use of narcotics. This is about your illegal nighttime activities on the computer using the alias Nightshade." The silence was deafening.
*Nightshade. that was the girl's name. Now I know why I liked that name so much and picked it as an alias.*
"As Nightshade you have perpetrated crimes including but not limited to. Changing city records, evading taxes, embezzlement, fraud, illegal use of data, violating the data protection act, (lots of legal mumbo jumbo) and interfering with several police investigations. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"Wow." She smirked at the Agent. "You guys have been, what, stalking me right?" She was gratified that the Agent seemed to be getting impatient with her.
"Miss Thompson, I am willing to forget that these charges ever happened, but I need you to be honest with me. Have you ever heard of the hacker named Phoenix?"
*Wow.. They must not want me to talk to Phoenix. I need to find him then. First I have to get out of here."
"Isn't that a mythological bird?" she asked.
"Yes, I believe it is." The Agent replied, deadpan.
"That's all I know." She said.
"That's too bad. I was hoping not to have to do this." Reaching into his jacket, he removed a silver case. Reaching inside, he brought out a small metal object. Shelley tried to move, but she found her arms and legs affixed to the chair. Her head was held still by a headrest what was suddenly gripping the back of her neck. The object that the Agent was holding began to swell and squirm and was revealed to be a worm-like creature with tentacles that looked to be made of metal. (IE the thing in Neo's stomach)
Shelley began struggling as she recognized the trace program for what it was, but the seat held her securely. Approaching her, he set the squirming creature on her shoulder where it began digging at her ear. With a shriek from the piercing pain, it slid into her head. She then blacked out.
*****
James was walking slowly back towards the office, contemplating the disappearance of Shelley, his girlfriend. Taken by the shadowy men in black suits, they had given no reason for her to be arrested. He had no idea where she had been transported, and had no idea how to get in touch with her. Walking through the alleyway, he began to get dizzy and have a headache, so he sat on a crate to wait out the dizziness.
*****
He turned to the beautiful red headed girl, his true love, and took her in his arms. They were both greasy from working on some repairs to the Chimera, their hovercraft, captained by Phoenix, a strong leader that had led them to victory on several occasions. They had just removed a newby from the Matrix, a young man named Alan (no alias yet) who was being hunted by Agents. He had no idea that the Matrix existed, but if the Agents wanted him dead, it was interest of the Resistance that he not die.
Kissing her, he rubbed her back and said, "Nightshade, you are the best thing in my life." She leaned against him and said, "Ace, we need to finish these repairs, and if keep that up, we won't get them done." With a smirk, she knelt to open an access panel.
"All hands prepare for power down, Squiddies in the area!" Ace and Nightshade jumped and ran to the bridge.
*****
Sitting up from where he was crouched, James looked around. *The dreams are becoming more vivid. And I wasn't even asleep this time!* His head hurt as the memories were becoming integrated. Standing and popping his jaw, he went in search of Nightshade, his wife.
*****
James walked into the Broken Modem. The Broken Modem was a coffeehouse turned internet café. It was very popular with the Tech crowd, and he'd been there a few times. He was searching for someone, someone who could explain the pain in his head and the memories he was regaining.
Sitting at a computer, he opened the web browser and moved the cursor to the address bar. There he typed a DNS entry and the web browser moved to a secure website. A password screen opened with two blank fields. In the first he typed a series of 16 numbers. In the second he typed a different series of 16 numbers. The page opened a text box and he typed a message.
I am at the Café and I need answers. My head is killing me. They have Nightshade.
Ace
While James was not exactly computer illiterate, he wasn't a hacker either. He had no idea what it was that he just did. It was like his hands went on autopilot and did everything by themselves. He had found out a few months ago that Shelley did fit the technical definition of a Hacker, but he wasn't aware of her doing anything illegal. The voice or memories he associated with "Ace" told him that he was wrong, that both of them had broke plenty of laws, but it didn't matter.
Taking a seat at the bar, he ordered a cappachino, something that he normally detested, but it seemed great to him now, energizing him. Sitting on the stool, he was awaiting a visitor. It shouldn't be long now, he thought.
*****
"I'm in. I'll rendezvous with Ace in 5 minutes." Phoenix hung on the link he was on and turned to leave the room. Standing tall, about 6'3" and wearing a black trench coat, Phoenix cut an impressive figure. Pale blonde hair, clear skin, and piercing blue eyes added to the effect.
Turning from the phone that lay on a desk in an abandoned "trend store". He walked out the backdoor, leaving it unlocked, and turned to walk down the alleyway. Phoenix was the captain of the Hovercraft Chimera, a swift vessel that had got them through a number of skirmishes. One particular mission had been disastrous, however.
*****
They had been trying to remove another potential in endless quest to find the One, or at least increase their numbers. It had been going well up to the point that the Chimera had been waiting for the body to fall out of the refuse shoot. They waited, and waited. He had disappeared from the Matrix, and his trace had been complete.
After about an hour later, Phoenix had decided to send some people up to see what had happened. The team consisted of Ace, Nightshade, Twip, and Jinks. All were heavily armed with Ion Cannons and Impact grenades.
(Authors note: Ion cannons being smaller versions of what was used to kill Cypher, Impact grenades being like throwable shaped charges. There has to be special weapons designed to take out things besides EMP!)
After climbing the cliffside and entering the draintunnel, which was not an easy climb, the team ascended the tube and came out at a junction. The new guy, who went by the alias Nero, had become stuck where the pipe had deteriorated. His legs had falled through the hole, his upper body pinned in. They attempted to remove him, but he was wedged from the other side, so they used a cutting torch to cut through the wall and removed him from the other side. He was injured, but would survive and they started to find an easier way down to the ship.
That was when the Maintenance Spider showed up. It had found the holes in the drainpipe and was oozing a sealant compound on the openings. Suddenly they couldn't exit the way they came in. The room they were in opened into a corridor, which they went down. An opening in the wall showed them row after row of cocoons, all filled with bodies of various ages. Maintenance Spiders crawled on the black cable vines, repairing various breaches. Nurse Bots checked on the cocoons, and tiny hunter bots kept small animals from disturbing the system.
The other side of the room had a corridor that sloped down, so hopefully it lead back towards the ship. It was while proceeding down the corridor that they encountered the first guard. It turned towards them and began to attack. It slashed at Twip with a claw-like appendage. He jumped back, and Ace fired his Ion Cannon at the bot. The charge knocked it back while Nightshade prepared an impact grenade. She hurled it at the bot and it attached to its underside.
Everyone stumbled back and it detonated. The bot was blown in 3 different directions, but not before it evidently transmitted an intruder alert. 3 more guard bots began trundling in their direction. The squad ran down the corridor as best they could, carrying Nero and defending themselves. They managed to take out 4 more bots before making it to the exit, but by then they were attacked by a group of 5 guard bots, with one really big bot that looked like a small squidie. They squeezed Nero through the hole, followed by Twip and Jinks. Nightshade and Ace were laying cover fire to protect their exit. Twip and Jinks carried Nero into the ship, but they were still waiting for Ace and Nightshade to arrive when 4 Squiddies appeared on the Radar.
They set off the EMP, disabling all the robots in the vicinity. Phoenix and Twip went back in to see if they could find Nightshade or Ace, but they were both gone. It was assumed they had been killed, their bodies disposed of, but Phoenix held the belief that they had been captured alive, and that a Nurse Bot had placed them into new cocoons and reinserted them into the Matrix. So the Search had begun.
Now it looks as though Ace had regained his memory and was searching Phoenix out. He had accessed a communications terminal that Phoenix had set up for none secure transmissions. Hopefully, he will be getting his 2nd in command back soon.
*****
James, or Ace as he coming to think of himself, was finishing his cappachino when he felt a presence enter the room. Turning to look behind him he saw the familiar RSI of his Captain enter the room. *Whats an RSI?* he wondered silently.
Walking up, Phoenix sat next to Ace and ordered a Coffee, black. "Well, took you long enough." He said.
Ace looked at him. "I've been getting memories back for the last few days and have been having nightmares for months now, and I still have no idea what's going on. And they have Nightshade."
Phoenix looked down, then back up at his 2nd. "We have to get you out of here first. I can't have you turning into an Agent in midconversation. Lets go."
Ace followed his captain out of the Broken Modem, wondering if in the next second he would turn into an Agent and kill his best friend.