Sarah was still shaken from her fight with B166ER as she headed for the city where she would meet reinforcements. What was humanity? Could he have been right? She couldn't decide what she thought. All she knew was that she had to lead this one last effort against the machines. The already blackened sky was getting to be pitch black by the time Sarah reached the city. Stopping outside the gates she walked up and knocked.

"Who is it? Coming in this late, what's this world coming to?" came a harsh voice from beyond the black gate.

"I've been sent by Commander Saos. I need to see your leader."

"I haven't heard anything, but I'll let you in, out of the goodness of my heart." Came the sarcastic reply. He cackled as he opened the door.

"He's his own biggest fan" Sarah thought.

Stepping into the heart of the city, Sarah was surrounded by a near metropolis of buildings and humanity. Or were they just monkeys? Sarah didn't have time to think about that know. Forcing herself to focus on the task at hand, she wove her way through the maze towards what she figured was the center and office of the man in charge. Old lampposts dimly illuminated the street; Sarah thought they looked like they had been there since the dawn of time. She stepped around a corner and right into the door of the leader's headquarters. Sarah was getting nervous now. What was she going to tell him? "I'm here to take all your men away to suffer at the hands of the machines". That wouldn't sound very good. But then again Commander Saos had already notified him. She took a deep breath and knocked.

The doors slowly creaked open and Sarah let herself in. The room was poorly lit and she could barely make out a few old paintings and possibly the remnants of an old sitting room. She walked in further and a voice came out to her. "Follow the corridor down, then right." Startled, Sarah headed down the corridor and took the right. Waiting at the end of the room to which she had just entered stood a very tall man, back facing her, staring out the window into the starless night.

"Greetings," came the deep voice she had heard in the hall, "my name is Commander Mave." He slowly turned around and Sarah got the first look at his face. Old, wise, weather worn, even an eye patch over the left eye. "Commander Saos tells me you wish to ambush the machines."

"Yes, they've taken Neo. We have to stop them before they complete the Matrix."

"How do you know they haven't already completed the Matrix?" came the reply. "How do you know that we aren't in the Matrix right now?"

Sarah stood and stared at the man. Was he for real?

"What are you talking about? Of course we aren't in the Matrix."

"Or is that just want they want you to think? Your plan is to send all of my available soldiers into Zero-1, the machines strongest city, and ambush them so they don't complete a project that could, inadvertently, put an end to all of humanity's sufferings? You're kidding right?"

"How would being in the Matrix end all of humanities suffering? All it would accomplish is putting an end to humanity's free will, making us all slaves to the machines."

"What is the difference from this?" he motioned his arm towards the window, "We are already slaves to the machines, running, hiding, avoiding them at all costs. They may not be able to have their way with us, but they already control our lives. My men are all out back, waiting for orders. As far as they know they are going on a training mission, should you convince me otherwise."

"How's this for convincing?" Sarah punched the man square across the face. Commander Mave spun around at the surprise attack. Sarah ran out of the room leaving the Commander to tend to his wound. She ran out of the building and around to the back where she found over 3,000 men waiting in ranks for orders.

"Listen up!" She screamed. "The machines have captured Neo! If they have enough time to integrate him into the Matrix, it means the end of all humanity. As bad as it is out here, we need to stop them!"

A resounding cheer rose from among the ranks. "Everybody on vehicles!"

It was an impressive sight, 3,000 men, all riding air-scooters, lifting off at the same time to head for an almost eminent doom. Lead by Sarah, the men took off towards the next city to gather more reinforcements.

Much the same happened at the next city, and the next. Sarah met no further resistance with corrupted leaders and when all totaled her final army numbered well into the 150,000 range. The army moved on towards Zero- 1, picking up a few renegade soldiers and encampments as they went. They finally stopped just outside range of Zero-1.

"Tonight, we sleep, we ready ourselves for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the day that decides the fate of the entire human race! Tomorrow will be the day that, if we survive, our children's children will say, "That was the day the humans gained their freedom, that was the day we showed the machines who were the real humans on this planet!" Tomorrow will be a day that will live in infamy!"

150,000 cheers rose from the camp. The army was pumped; they were ready to take on the machines. They were ready to risk everything they had for this one final battle.

*Ok, I know I stole the infamy thing from a few things but it sounded good, don't sue me. Sorry this took a while to get up. Writers block. Please review if you are reading this, so far I have one. You know, suggestions, comments, what you like, whatever. And I'm going to stop typing riiiiiiight now.