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 6- Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
"I'm in." he said simply, then hung up the phone. Turning, Ace walked from the honeymoon suite of the South Arms hotel, shaking his head at Hex's choice of entrances.
His dark green army trenchcoat swishing behind him, he walked down the hall to the elevator. In the lining of his coat were two .45mm automatics, his favorite guns, just in case. Some needed high rates of firepower, but since getting his memory back, he'd become somewhat of a crack shot. Good stopping power had become more important to him than lots and lots of bullets.
After making 2 runs in the Matrix, Phoenix had deemed him ready and had given him permission to try to track down Shelley. After looking at Matrix code for over a week while running a search pattern, he had come across her in San Francisco of all places. He wasn't sure how she had ended up there, but he would ask her when he found her.
*****
Jennifer Tranton left her office, on the trail of a hot news story. Three men in trench coats had held up a bank in downtown San Francisco. Six officers and two security guards had been killed, but nothing had been stolen. The men had somehow got away. Something about it just didn't seem right and her reporter's instinct was screaming "Cover-up."
Arriving at the scene, she found the place marked off by yellow "police line- do not cross" tape. Looking around, she took in the scene with her keen reporter's eye. From where she stood she could see numerous bullet holes in the walls visible through the broken windows. Clearly there had been quite a lot of shots fired.
*How had these guys survived all of that fire without a scratch?* she thought. Clearly there had been enough cover fire that blind luck should have struck at least one of them. Only the officers had taken fire, however. Looking at the broken window on the top floor, she noticed an open window on the building next to it across the two lane street. *No way.* Still, she trusted her instinct, and entered the building, as it had no police tape around it.
Coming out at the top floor, she walked towards the room where the window was located. There hadn't been any problems entering the building as it was available for rent and was currently vacant. Entering the room, she took a look around. The window was open, several footprints were made in the dust, going towards a low table against the wall. There were no footprints leading out of the room. Heading towards the table, she noticed that the phone was dangling off the hook, the receiver on the floor. Picking it up, she placed it near her ear, but it was silent.
She placed it on the hook, halfway expecting it to ring. It didn't, and she sighed with relief. Turning from the phone, she jumped when she saw the man who was standing in the doorway.
*****
He found her inside a newspaper office, sitting at the desk of a Jennifer Tranton. Her hair was bleached blonde, but it was clearly her. She was chatting to a guy with a desk next to hers. Ace resisted a stab of jealousy. They looked to be talking about a story she had written in the paper, but it was hard to tell from the hallway where he was peeking in. The guy got up, heading in his direction, so Ace walked down the hall into what looked like a lunchroom. Opening his cell phone, he placed a call.
"Operator."
"Hex, I need any articles from the San Francisco Times written by a Jennifer Tranton. Time period last 2 months."
"Got it. Yes she's been writing from them for about the last 2 months, mostly articles on violence. Murders, Robberies, that sort of thing."
"Thanks Hex, gotta go."
Looking out the hall, he cursed when he saw her leaving by the elevator. He headed for the stairs. On the ground floor he saw her getting into a taxi and ran past it. As he went by, he dropped a small metal circle on the top of the trunk lid. It magnetically attached, and a light blinked red before the whole circle turned taxi yellow, becoming effectively invisible. Then he walked away into the crowd.
His phone rang, and he answered it.
"Got a lock on the trace, I'm following it." Hex said with no greeting.
"Give me the nearest exit, and I'll jump back in where the taxi stops."
"Gotcha. Deli across the street, the pay phone in the back." She replied.
"Thanks Hex." He said as he hung up and jaywalked across the street.
Entering the deli, he walked to the payphone, preparing to answer it. It rang, but before he could get there a teenager grabbed the phone. The teen blinked at the modem sound and hung up, saying something about a stupid fax.
Smiling, Ace walked up like he was going to make a call. When the room was deserted the phone rang, and he picked it up, disappearing in a flash of green code.
Opening his eyes, he didn't bother to get up from the chair. A few minutes later, Hex reported that the trace had led to a bank building downtown, where 3 men from the ship Hilgaria had had a shootout with some agents there prior to being pulled from a phone next to the bank. On a whim, Ace asked to be sent back in at the next closest line.
Appearing at a phone at the back of a busy restaurant, Ace slipped out the back and approached the bank. In front of the building was "Jennifer Tranton" looking over the police line. Ace just sat back and watched her. He was astonished when he saw her look up at the broken window, then look at the building directly across from it. *She couldn't be thinking? My god she is!* Ace felt a flash of pride. His wife figured it out, even if she wasn't sure who she was.
Ace silently followed as she entered the building, sliding up the stairs only after she had made it to the top floor. He came in behind he silently, watching as she deduced that they had entered the room from the window, but hadn't left by the door. He was standing there watching her as she saw him.
*****
He was just standing there, watching her with a faraway look on his face. He was dressed in a dark green trench coat, with several tears in it that looked like bullet holes. He was fairly attractive, she decided, with a strong jaw line and deep, clear eyes you could get lost in. She shook herself out of that line of thought.
"What do you want?" she asked, trying not to sound scared. The bullet holes in his jacket had tipped her off that maybe he was one of the individuals from the shooting, returning to the scene of the crime.
"Shelley. It's me James."
Jennifer was confused for a second, have a sense of déjà vu, that she had met this man before. But she would remember him, she was sure. And why was he calling her Shelley?
"I'm sorry. do I know you? My name is Jennifer Tranton, reporter with the San Francisco Times." She said automatically. Her job was her life, after all.
"I'm sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone else. I used to know a girl name Shelley who looked just like you. I saw you on the street and I thought it was her. I called out, but you didn't hear me." Ace said.
"Oh, well, you know what they say. everyone has an identical twin somewhere." She was blushing, thinking what she was saying was airheaded.
"Oh, it's uncanny. Her hair was a little redder than yours, more strawberry than blonde, but same nice athletic body, same beautiful face. well, sorry to disturb your.. Investigation? I'll just be on my way."
She liked this guy, she decided, and didn't want him to get away. She hadn't had a date in what seemed like forever, and this guy seemed genuinely nice, looking for what seemed to be an ex, or at least a good friend. He was upset for disturbing her, which was touching since most of the people she dealt with were only interested in themselves.
"No! I mean, don't go. I mean.. I don't know what I mean. Would you like to have lunch? I'm not usually this forward, but."
"I'd love to. I'm just kinda visiting, do you know any good places?" he said.
"How about Carlos, on 4th street? They have excellent Italian. Say 2 o'clock?"
"That'd be great. Well, I'll see you." With that he turned and left, and she turned back to her dilemma. How did 3 men jump 25 feet across a road, though an open window, then disappear into a. phone?
*****
"Operator"
"Hex, she had no idea who I was, or even who she is."
"Ace, Phoenix wants to talk to you."
"Ace. She had no memory whatsoever?" Phoenix asked.
"No, but I think she subconsciously remembers. She was investigating what happened with the Hilgaria and didn't think it was impossible that they somehow jumped 25 feet across a street into an open window. Have you ever heard anything like this?" He replied.
"No, but I'll get on the radio to Zion and see if anyone's heard anything about it. Are you coming in?" Phoenix inquired.
"If I have to, but I have a date to see her at 2 o'clock, so if we have any plans, that would be a good time to carry it out."
"Come on in. You won't miss your date."
*****
"From what the crew of the Mephistopheles said, it's a new type of trace program. It's inserted into the head, blocking the memories of the individual and allowing the computer to write a "fake" past for the individual." Phoenix reported.
"Did they say anything about getting it out?" Ace asked, worried.
"No, but they said it can be deactivated by a large electromagnetic burst near the person. If done properly, they should get their memory back in a few hours, and they said the trace should dissolve in a few months."
"I need a pulse, before I go to the restaurant." Ace said.
"Hex, load him into the Construct."
The white of the construct appeared around Ace and sitting in the middle was a marble pedestal. As he watched, a device appeared on the pedestal. It resembled a cap made of metal, with a battery and several wires on it, along with a round magnet on the top.
"Great. How am I going to get her to put that on her head?"
*****
Two hours later and the date had been going great. Ace had managed to get "Jennifer" to tell him more about herself, or her fake past anyway. He had made up details from his past using the life he had had as an accountant. He had enjoyed dining with her, and liked her as a person. He disliked ruining the trust they had developed. However, he liked Nightshade more, and wanted her back.
He offered to walk her out to her car, which was parked in a lot two blocks away. She had readily agreed, probably expecting him to try for a kiss goodbye, which he was tempted to do. When they arrived at the car, she unlocked the door and turned to him.
"I really enjoyed our meal together. We need to do it again sometime. How about Friday?" He agreed, and she leaned forward to give him a kiss on the cheek. He reached into an inside pocket and removed the EMP cap. When she was kissing him, he pressed the button and then dropped it on the back of her head.
"Hey!" she said in surprise, then the EMP flashed. She looked up at Ace, her eyes glazed. A look of confusion crossed her face and she said "Ace?" Her eyes then rolled back in her head and she fell unconscious. Ace grabbed her as she fell and set her in the car he had arrived in. He opened his cell phone and made the call.
"Hex, I set it off. She's unconscious in the back seat. Have them meet me at the hotel, so we can prepare for her removal. Yeah. Thanks." He hung up the phone and drove to the South Arms hotel.
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 6- Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
"I'm in." he said simply, then hung up the phone. Turning, Ace walked from the honeymoon suite of the South Arms hotel, shaking his head at Hex's choice of entrances.
His dark green army trenchcoat swishing behind him, he walked down the hall to the elevator. In the lining of his coat were two .45mm automatics, his favorite guns, just in case. Some needed high rates of firepower, but since getting his memory back, he'd become somewhat of a crack shot. Good stopping power had become more important to him than lots and lots of bullets.
After making 2 runs in the Matrix, Phoenix had deemed him ready and had given him permission to try to track down Shelley. After looking at Matrix code for over a week while running a search pattern, he had come across her in San Francisco of all places. He wasn't sure how she had ended up there, but he would ask her when he found her.
*****
Jennifer Tranton left her office, on the trail of a hot news story. Three men in trench coats had held up a bank in downtown San Francisco. Six officers and two security guards had been killed, but nothing had been stolen. The men had somehow got away. Something about it just didn't seem right and her reporter's instinct was screaming "Cover-up."
Arriving at the scene, she found the place marked off by yellow "police line- do not cross" tape. Looking around, she took in the scene with her keen reporter's eye. From where she stood she could see numerous bullet holes in the walls visible through the broken windows. Clearly there had been quite a lot of shots fired.
*How had these guys survived all of that fire without a scratch?* she thought. Clearly there had been enough cover fire that blind luck should have struck at least one of them. Only the officers had taken fire, however. Looking at the broken window on the top floor, she noticed an open window on the building next to it across the two lane street. *No way.* Still, she trusted her instinct, and entered the building, as it had no police tape around it.
Coming out at the top floor, she walked towards the room where the window was located. There hadn't been any problems entering the building as it was available for rent and was currently vacant. Entering the room, she took a look around. The window was open, several footprints were made in the dust, going towards a low table against the wall. There were no footprints leading out of the room. Heading towards the table, she noticed that the phone was dangling off the hook, the receiver on the floor. Picking it up, she placed it near her ear, but it was silent.
She placed it on the hook, halfway expecting it to ring. It didn't, and she sighed with relief. Turning from the phone, she jumped when she saw the man who was standing in the doorway.
*****
He found her inside a newspaper office, sitting at the desk of a Jennifer Tranton. Her hair was bleached blonde, but it was clearly her. She was chatting to a guy with a desk next to hers. Ace resisted a stab of jealousy. They looked to be talking about a story she had written in the paper, but it was hard to tell from the hallway where he was peeking in. The guy got up, heading in his direction, so Ace walked down the hall into what looked like a lunchroom. Opening his cell phone, he placed a call.
"Operator."
"Hex, I need any articles from the San Francisco Times written by a Jennifer Tranton. Time period last 2 months."
"Got it. Yes she's been writing from them for about the last 2 months, mostly articles on violence. Murders, Robberies, that sort of thing."
"Thanks Hex, gotta go."
Looking out the hall, he cursed when he saw her leaving by the elevator. He headed for the stairs. On the ground floor he saw her getting into a taxi and ran past it. As he went by, he dropped a small metal circle on the top of the trunk lid. It magnetically attached, and a light blinked red before the whole circle turned taxi yellow, becoming effectively invisible. Then he walked away into the crowd.
His phone rang, and he answered it.
"Got a lock on the trace, I'm following it." Hex said with no greeting.
"Give me the nearest exit, and I'll jump back in where the taxi stops."
"Gotcha. Deli across the street, the pay phone in the back." She replied.
"Thanks Hex." He said as he hung up and jaywalked across the street.
Entering the deli, he walked to the payphone, preparing to answer it. It rang, but before he could get there a teenager grabbed the phone. The teen blinked at the modem sound and hung up, saying something about a stupid fax.
Smiling, Ace walked up like he was going to make a call. When the room was deserted the phone rang, and he picked it up, disappearing in a flash of green code.
Opening his eyes, he didn't bother to get up from the chair. A few minutes later, Hex reported that the trace had led to a bank building downtown, where 3 men from the ship Hilgaria had had a shootout with some agents there prior to being pulled from a phone next to the bank. On a whim, Ace asked to be sent back in at the next closest line.
Appearing at a phone at the back of a busy restaurant, Ace slipped out the back and approached the bank. In front of the building was "Jennifer Tranton" looking over the police line. Ace just sat back and watched her. He was astonished when he saw her look up at the broken window, then look at the building directly across from it. *She couldn't be thinking? My god she is!* Ace felt a flash of pride. His wife figured it out, even if she wasn't sure who she was.
Ace silently followed as she entered the building, sliding up the stairs only after she had made it to the top floor. He came in behind he silently, watching as she deduced that they had entered the room from the window, but hadn't left by the door. He was standing there watching her as she saw him.
*****
He was just standing there, watching her with a faraway look on his face. He was dressed in a dark green trench coat, with several tears in it that looked like bullet holes. He was fairly attractive, she decided, with a strong jaw line and deep, clear eyes you could get lost in. She shook herself out of that line of thought.
"What do you want?" she asked, trying not to sound scared. The bullet holes in his jacket had tipped her off that maybe he was one of the individuals from the shooting, returning to the scene of the crime.
"Shelley. It's me James."
Jennifer was confused for a second, have a sense of déjà vu, that she had met this man before. But she would remember him, she was sure. And why was he calling her Shelley?
"I'm sorry. do I know you? My name is Jennifer Tranton, reporter with the San Francisco Times." She said automatically. Her job was her life, after all.
"I'm sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone else. I used to know a girl name Shelley who looked just like you. I saw you on the street and I thought it was her. I called out, but you didn't hear me." Ace said.
"Oh, well, you know what they say. everyone has an identical twin somewhere." She was blushing, thinking what she was saying was airheaded.
"Oh, it's uncanny. Her hair was a little redder than yours, more strawberry than blonde, but same nice athletic body, same beautiful face. well, sorry to disturb your.. Investigation? I'll just be on my way."
She liked this guy, she decided, and didn't want him to get away. She hadn't had a date in what seemed like forever, and this guy seemed genuinely nice, looking for what seemed to be an ex, or at least a good friend. He was upset for disturbing her, which was touching since most of the people she dealt with were only interested in themselves.
"No! I mean, don't go. I mean.. I don't know what I mean. Would you like to have lunch? I'm not usually this forward, but."
"I'd love to. I'm just kinda visiting, do you know any good places?" he said.
"How about Carlos, on 4th street? They have excellent Italian. Say 2 o'clock?"
"That'd be great. Well, I'll see you." With that he turned and left, and she turned back to her dilemma. How did 3 men jump 25 feet across a road, though an open window, then disappear into a. phone?
*****
"Operator"
"Hex, she had no idea who I was, or even who she is."
"Ace, Phoenix wants to talk to you."
"Ace. She had no memory whatsoever?" Phoenix asked.
"No, but I think she subconsciously remembers. She was investigating what happened with the Hilgaria and didn't think it was impossible that they somehow jumped 25 feet across a street into an open window. Have you ever heard anything like this?" He replied.
"No, but I'll get on the radio to Zion and see if anyone's heard anything about it. Are you coming in?" Phoenix inquired.
"If I have to, but I have a date to see her at 2 o'clock, so if we have any plans, that would be a good time to carry it out."
"Come on in. You won't miss your date."
*****
"From what the crew of the Mephistopheles said, it's a new type of trace program. It's inserted into the head, blocking the memories of the individual and allowing the computer to write a "fake" past for the individual." Phoenix reported.
"Did they say anything about getting it out?" Ace asked, worried.
"No, but they said it can be deactivated by a large electromagnetic burst near the person. If done properly, they should get their memory back in a few hours, and they said the trace should dissolve in a few months."
"I need a pulse, before I go to the restaurant." Ace said.
"Hex, load him into the Construct."
The white of the construct appeared around Ace and sitting in the middle was a marble pedestal. As he watched, a device appeared on the pedestal. It resembled a cap made of metal, with a battery and several wires on it, along with a round magnet on the top.
"Great. How am I going to get her to put that on her head?"
*****
Two hours later and the date had been going great. Ace had managed to get "Jennifer" to tell him more about herself, or her fake past anyway. He had made up details from his past using the life he had had as an accountant. He had enjoyed dining with her, and liked her as a person. He disliked ruining the trust they had developed. However, he liked Nightshade more, and wanted her back.
He offered to walk her out to her car, which was parked in a lot two blocks away. She had readily agreed, probably expecting him to try for a kiss goodbye, which he was tempted to do. When they arrived at the car, she unlocked the door and turned to him.
"I really enjoyed our meal together. We need to do it again sometime. How about Friday?" He agreed, and she leaned forward to give him a kiss on the cheek. He reached into an inside pocket and removed the EMP cap. When she was kissing him, he pressed the button and then dropped it on the back of her head.
"Hey!" she said in surprise, then the EMP flashed. She looked up at Ace, her eyes glazed. A look of confusion crossed her face and she said "Ace?" Her eyes then rolled back in her head and she fell unconscious. Ace grabbed her as she fell and set her in the car he had arrived in. He opened his cell phone and made the call.
"Hex, I set it off. She's unconscious in the back seat. Have them meet me at the hotel, so we can prepare for her removal. Yeah. Thanks." He hung up the phone and drove to the South Arms hotel.