Title: Frames of Reference: Chapter Five

Author: Stormhawk

Rating: PG

Notes: Not this time.

Word Count: 4764

Please Read and Review.

The same potential that they had set the meeting up with was now nothing more than a body on the ground. And shot, by accident of course, by Rom. He had been aiming for Smith but the agent had shifted out of the way in time. Anderson barked at his friends to get out of there.

Smith would have called for back up, his fellow agents or a few recruits but he was, frankly, bored out of his digitized skull so he decided to take on the 'one' by himself.

Every single time he fought Anderson they reached a certain point in the fight where he knew the rebel was going to fly away. It was at this point when he spoke. "Tell my daughter I love her."

"Sorry agent, can't tell her anything anymore. She's gone." Smith stopped fighting, the rebel couldn't mean…no, he couldn't mean that.

"You mean she's in Zion."

"No, she ran and she's not coming back. She's gone."

"You're lying," Anderson shook his head, laughed and flew away.

No, he wouldn't live without Stevie. He couldn't live without her. He refused to go on without his daughter.

And there was only one way for agents to kill themselves.

*****

Returning after working out the final details of the plan with the collaborators; they had drawn straws to see who was going back into the Matrix – the first three had been Darth, Cray and Pandora. Pandora refused to go back in without Ryder so she gave her straw to Niq so the brother and sister wouldn't be separated. There was one place left but Phoenix wanted to stay out for a while, just in case the engines didn't work so there was a spare pod.

Was she glad that Darth was getting plugged back in? No…maybe…he just confused her, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad having him in the Matrix. Stop thinking about him, she had to order herself.

Knocking on Smith's door to tell him that everything was sorted out she heard two words she had never expected to hear him say – at least seriously – "go away."

She frowned, ok something was definitely wrong.

Finding the door locked she took a step back and kicked it open. The lights were out, strange as the office was usually well lit. Flicking the light switch on she looked around the office.

At first she couldn't see him, then she took a few steps in and peered over the desk. He was leaning against the far side of his desk. His earpiece had been flung clear across the room with his sunglasses; his suit jacket was sitting beside him with his tie and his gun.

He was shaking with sobs and his face was wet with tears.

Faintly electronic green tears.

His skin had Matrix code flowing under it. He was trying to overload himself.

"Smith what happened?"

He turned his head to look at her. His eyes had code flowing behind them, but instead of the natural green that Jones had adopted this looked far from normal. "She's dead, Anderson told me. She's dead."

"No."

Kneeling beside him and holding him tightly she could feel him shaking. "I'm sorry." 

"I just want to die. Please let me die." It was the last thing he said as he started to spasm. He shook so violently that she had to let him go, the overload was imminent.

Standing up she looked down helplessly. "I don't know what to do. I'm not going to lose you, I need you."

His skin was starting to get greener as more code was absorbed into him. "Jones," she said out loud. "Get Jones." She pressed two fingers to her earpiece. "Jones, get to Smith's office, hurry."

The tech agent shifted in a couple of seconds later. "Mimosa…" he stopped as he saw what she was looking at. A second or two later Smith stopped moving altogether.

Stef panicked, she hadn't remembered that, she had been conscious when her access had been cut. "He's not dead is he?"

"No, the access was just cut. A few more moments…he was much closer to the overload than you or I." All she could do was nod. "His code will need to be purged." Nodding again, she shifted away, she knew Jones would handle it – this was his thing.

Quickly shifting to her apartment she ripped out her earpiece and broke down crying. Stevie was dead, how could she be dead? She was supposed to be safe in the real world. At least, as safe as she could possibly living among rebels.

This can't be happening.

*****

Sitting behind his desk at home in the real, real world Jones laughed at them then quietly chanted. "I know something you don't know."

"Arthur?" a soft feminine voice enquired. Turning away from the screen he looked up at the beautiful woman in the doorway.

"Yeah?"

"When I told you that you could bring a linked computer home I didn't think that you'd be up all night with it instead of me."

"Sorry baby, something interesting just happened."

"Well," the blond said as she sauntered over to him and sat on his lap, "something interesting could happen out here as well if you just leave the computer alone."

"Five more minutes."

Leaning in close, she pulled his round glasses off with her teeth, "please?" she asked as she let them drop to the floor.

"All right Carol, I'm coming."

*****

As the last of the repair crew left three days after they had started their job Ryder was finally able to breathe a small sigh of relief, not that he had been that worried in the first place. The only one that was left was the 'avatar' robot that was stowed in the corner in case Mimosa had to come back out for whatever reason.

Strange, how in less than a week the machines had gone from enemy to ally. And in these few days they had done more for them than the resistance ever had.

It was a strange world. Strange worlds.

"Hey Galli what you say to letting this bucket of bolts rip? Take her out on the spin of her life?"

"I'd say…let's burn hover-plating."

"Yeah," Cray cried enthusiastically. "Let's see what this crate can do."

The operator/pilot punched up the ship to full power and for the first time in years the engines hummed instead of spluttering. "Captain?" Galli invited, Ryder smiled and punched what would be classed as the 'go' button. The ship took off down the tunnels.

Everyone onboard was celebrating; the only person who was in any kind of misery was Phoenix. She was in her room muttering about how the machines had repaired or in some cases even rebuilt the systems that she had worked on for years.

After flying at full speed for a couple of hours Niq looked over to her brother who was piloting the ship since in a few days he'd never be able to do it again. "Hey Cray come over here."

Handing the controls back to Galli he walked over to his blond sister, "yeah sis?"

"What do you think this is?" she said pointing to a blip on the scanner. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Like what?" Darth said as he climbed up the ladder.

"Darth is this thing malfunctioning? I think this is a glitch."

"Can't be, this system is perfect."

"Nothing on this ship is perfect." Niq retorted. "Never has been, never will be."

"Really? What about my hair?" he said shaking his hair.

"Except for that Darth," Niq said – rolling her eyes.

"Give me a look," he said as he leant over and peered into the scanner. "Holy shit," he muttered under his breath. "Get Ryder up here now."

Cray hit the PA and called the captain up. "What is it Cray?" Ryder asked as he walked on to the bridge.

"No idea sir – Darth told me to call you up."

"Darth?"

"Cap, you know what this means?" he said pointing to the screen.

"Cray get out of that seat, Galli get us there now."

"What is it?"

"There's someone out there."

"Out there?" Phoenix shrieked, "That's impossible."

"This is my system Phee, the only one on the ship that never failed us and with the help of those fix-it bots there is no way in hell that this is an error."

"Those fix-it sentinel could have crossed some wires or something, this is a human ship not one of theirs."

"Then why is everything else working perfectly?" Pandora asked the hotheaded engineer.

About twenty minutes later they were at the location of the strange blip. Pandora pointed out the window, "Over there – land Galli, land us."

As soon as they landed they lowered the ramp and Ryder ran out, Pandora and Galli followed close behind with flashlights.

"Oh my god," Pandora uttered.

"There isn't a god," Ryder said gently as he picked up the limp but living body. The dusky haired teenage girl had a large cut above her right eyebrow and a fine pattern of bruises from the fall she had had. Ryder carried Stevie back aboard the Exodus.

Stevie had run blindly from the Nebuchadnezzar, she didn't know where she was going. Then again, no humans had ever been so far on their own on foot in the real world before. She was done for, she had known that the minute she had stepped off the ramp. There was no way for a human to survive on his or her own in the real world.

Living on a ship was hard enough.

She just couldn't take it anymore, she was sick of and tired of Anderson and Morpheus and all of their bull, she was sick of everything.

She wasn't sure that her dad would have approved such a rash course of action but she couldn't exactly go and ask him could she? No, and that was the whole point.

Hearing a mechanistic sound, probably a sentinel, about six hours of stumbling around she ran away from that sound, not ready to die just yet. But then she had fallen and blacked out.

"She's hurt pretty bad Ry," Pandora said as she bandaged the teenager.

"What I want to know is what she was doing out here by herself in the first place," Galli said, asking the obvious question.

"She's probably as sick of this war as we are."

"There are no ships in the area, scans say for at least thirty-six hours. Who knows how long she's been lying there." Darth said shaking his head.

"If she hadn't been found soon she wouldn't have made it," Pandora said with a sigh, "I'm just thankful that they upgraded our medical bay as well."

"Speaking of our new found friends, doesn't someone need to go in and organize the plug-in?" Niq asked, having just remembered it. "They may get pissed if we're late."

*****

Stef sat beside the unconscious Smith as the terabytes of useless information was flushed from his code. She held his hand and spoke to him softly even though she knew he couldn't hear her. He had only been conscious for a few moments when the flushing had started – Jones had been there, she'd been back at her apartment crying her eyes out about the human girl – and the tech agent had said Smith mumbled something about not being able to breathe.

"I'm sorry about Stevie. I promise if it's the last thing we do it will be to kill Anderson. I'm sorry you lost your daughter."

"Mimosa," a voice said from behind her. Spinning on her chair she saw Jones.

Oh shit. "You just heard every word I just said didn't you?"

"Yes."

"And?" Choose exile she reminded herself. Just choose exile and you won't die.

"I'm interested to know why the loss of his experiment child would have such a profound effect after all this time."

"Well," think, brain, think. Jones one plus one does not equal two. Do not be the intelligent agent I know you are. Please don't work it out.

"Or was her death more recent?" he asked perfectly evenly, no hint of anything in his voice.

Think!

"I'm waiting for an answer."

"Yes, her death was more recent. Remember how Brown's son killed her?" He nodded. "It didn't work…it…I don't know how to explain it, you're the tech. It skipped her code, program, whatever the hell she was into a different body. It overrode what was there and she continued to live."

"Fascinating, continue."

"It wasn't until a couple of months later that we found out what had happened. The rebels were furious of course but they let her live. She died just before this happened," she said with a long look at Smith. "He was quite fond of her."

Choose exile Stef, just choose exile.

"I assume you do not wish anyone else to know about this."

"Given that this is the kind of thing that warrants deletion, of course not. But now you know."

"I will make you a deal. Do not tell anyone about the game I designed and I will keep this secret."

"But it's only a game – and a cool one at that."

"Do we have a deal?"

"Of course."

"I did come down here for another reason. One of the collaborators has entered the Matrix. I assume they wish to discuss some detail of the arrangement."

"Fine, I'll shift over. Thank you Jones," she said sincerely before shifting from the room.

Morphing into a body near the entrance they had used she completed the shift. It was a rooftop restaurant, but since it was early in the morning there were no customers. Idling near the phone booth was Darth. Dressed in navy cargo pants and a loose black shirt he was staring at the stars – deep in thought about something.

"You want something," it wasn't a question; he wouldn't be here unless he wanted something.

"Yeah, millions of dollars and a mansion."

"Which you are getting," that snapped him out of his thoughts. He walked up and stared down at her, not that he was very intimidating, he was only two or three inches taller than her.

"You're kidding me."

"Someone dear to me in dead, another is in what passes for the hospital. I'm not in a joking mood. Mansions and money are easy to do; we already have a house picked out for you as well as a bottomless bank account, just don't be ridiculous and spend hundreds of thousands each day. What do you want?"

"I'm sorry about your friend."

"It was the kid I wanted you to bring back here, just to let her come home. Anderson told Smith she's dead."

Darth was confused. "Who?"

"Neo. Friggin' Neo. Anderson is his birth name, Thomas A Anderson." Darth nodded in understanding.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better we don't like him or that crew," he hoped it would make her feel better; he hated the haunted look in her eyes behind her glasses.

He opened his mouth to speak again when he was interrupted, "we don't care about the opinions of traitors," a familiar but hated voice said from above them. The looked up to see Anderson in the sky above them. Faster than Darth could blink Stef whipped out her gun and fired off the entire clip. The bullets never touched him; he just held down his hand and stopped them.

Darth had to swing his arm up over his head to avoid the hail of dead bullets hitting him as Anderson let them fall.

Jumping up and launching herself off the roof she flew at him. She had nowhere near as good as control of her flight as he did but she was good enough. Flying on grief and rage her attacks were strong but the emotion-filled blows were sometimes less than accurate.

"Traitors always stick together. I should have known I hadn't seen the last of that misfit crew."

"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you!" she raged.

"I don't think so," he said as he flipped one hundred and eighty degrees and kicked her down with such force that she cracked the rooftop and left her stunned for a couple of seconds. "Now you," he said looking at Darth.

"Wanna live?" she asked him as she pulled herself to her feet.

"Duh," was his simple answer as he stared up at the black-wearing ex-ally in the sky above them.

"Then jump right now."

"Jump?" he squeaked.

"Off the roof, right now," she ordered as Anderson flew down toward them. She required two guns and aimed them right up at him. Firing repeatedly she looked back at Darth. "Go!"

"I think I trust you. I hope I can," he said as he jumped. Emptying the last bullet from each gun she shifted to the ground and looked up to see the tumbling rebel. Dropping all the gravity out from under him he fell faster than Anderson could fly. Restoring the gravity about three feet from the ground he came to a sudden halt. He dropped the final three feet and landed in a crouch as she pulled her key from thin air.

Jamming the key into the lock of the service entrance to the building she pulled the programmer in and slammed the door shut as Anderson approached but by the time he kicked the door open they were gone, lost in the endless hall.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Darth said as he held his stomach and leant against the wall. "How the hell did you do that?"

"It's just a trick. Something I've learned."

"Thank you."

"Welcome, Anderson is just a fuckwit. I wish I could kill him."

"Where are we? Where are we going?"

"The backdoors and as far as anyone else is concerned, you don't know they exist. You cannot tell anyone that you came in here. Promise?"

"Promise. These are real backdoors? Do you have any idea how cool this is? I'm a programmer – I have written these but to see them here in front of me, physical – it's amazing." He reached out and touched the doorframe, he reminded her of a kid in a candy store.

"To answer your second question, we're just going to leave through a friend of mines so you can get to an exit."

"I never even told you why I'm in here in the first place."

"Forgot about that. Why are you here Lord Vader?"

"First, please tell me what you are. You have too, I hate mysteries."

"You're the programmer."

"You want me to guess?"

"You can try."

"Ok," he said as he leant against the impeccably white wall. "Your code is too organized to be a human and too erratic for an agent. My second guess would be an agent who was living among us to learn our ways."

"Nope. Hang on, if that was your second guess what was your first?"

"That you were, until some point in your existence, human."

She stopped and stared at him, "how in hell did you guess that?"

"So I am right?"

"Yes. Congratulations," he smirked and did a small victory dance. "So, why are you in here?"

"We have another member of our crew."

"Someone have a baby but no one seemed pregnant."

"No, we found some girl. I don't know what in hell she was doing out by herself but that's how we found her. Injured and unconscious but alive."

"It will be interesting to see what she thinks of your side of the war."

"Somehow I think she's on our side. The only reason I can see – besides her ship being destroyed – is that she ran away."

"Zion-born or unplugged?"

"Unplugged, no more than a year judging by the length of her hair unless she cut it. Nice dusty brown too." Stef almost smiled, Stevie had had dusty-brown hair. "Blue eyes. Ice blue, I saw them when Pandora checked her pupils."

"That girl sounds like Stevie."

"Could it be?"

"She's dead. Anderson said she was gone. I watched Smith's memory of it."

"Gone is different to dead."

"I've given up giving in miracles but…come on," she called as she sprinted down the hall. Stopping and knocking on Hummer's door she had to wait for Darth to catch up.

"Come in dude or dudette, the door is open." Opening the door he looked up from the couch. "Hey kitty. Forgive me for not opening the door Agent Mim – that was un-gnarly of me."

"Forgiven dude – can we use your phone?"

"Just not long distance, the bill came in yesterday."

"Call your ship already," she commanded impatiently.

"Is this even an exit?" he said as he reached for his cell.

A few requirements later she looked back at him. "Now it is, hurry." After Galli dialed it in, she grabbed his arm as he went to press it to his ear. "Plug in that robot ok?"

"Ok," he agreed as he pressed it to his ear and disappeared. Replacing the handset she waited for it to ring again.

"Kitty, what's going on?" Hummer asked as he ran his hand through his beach-blond hair. "You look really worried."

"I'll tell you later, promise. Where's Nat?"

"Out with Charlie."

"Is Charlie at work?" the surfer-hippy nodded.

Ok – that was strange even for Hummer. "I would never let my kid spend the day with the grim reaper."

"One, he's not mine – I'm just watching him and Two; you've met Charlie, it's not like he's morbid or anything, he's a good guy."

"I know…bye Hummer," she said as the phone rang and she picked it up.

"Bye Mim," he said as he walked over to the phone and put the receiver back on the cradle before settling back down on the lounge to watch the cartoon version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Waking up in the real world, she immediately activated all the system on the avatar robot. She didn't even have to say anything, Darth had explained everything. Except the fact that she had been human, that was his secret for the moment. "She's this way Mimosa," Ryder said as he led her down toward the medical bay.

Please let it be her, was Stef's only thought as her metal feet clicked on the deck plating.

She can't be dead. Please let it be her, shutting off her visual sensors for a second – the same effect as blinking, she stepped through the door, hoping for the best but unsure if she was prepared if it wasn't.

Thank you.

"Stevie," she whispered as she walked over to the human girl. Suitably shocked by the state she was in she was so glad that she wasn't dead.

"Is it her?" Darth asked. Stef nodded the avatar's head.

"I can try and wake her if you want," Pandora offered. "She's had a good sleep."

"All right," Stef said and stood back as the older woman administered a syringe to Stevie, a few seconds later the young girl began to rise. Unable to help herself, Stef leaned in closer; it had been ages since she had seen her. In reality at least. Collapsed histories concocted by Jonas couldn't count, as she was the only one who ever remembered them.

As the last thing she remembered was walking around the trashy tunnels of the real world it was quite understandable that Stevie screamed at the sight of a machine. "Please don't kill me!"

Stef held up her robotic hands, "it's just me kid. I would never kill you."

Stevie stopped dead at the sound of a familiar voice. "Stef?"

"Hey – who else?"

"Where am I?" She said, finally looking around at surroundings. "This isn't the Neb."

"Doi. You think Anderson would let me on his ship?"

"Then where?"

Ryder stepped forward, "this is my ship Stevie. You're on the Exodus."

"Exorcist?"

"Ex-o-dus," he corrected but laughed at the joke.

"If I'm on a ship…Stef what the hell are you doing here?"

"Taking a holiday. These guys are on our side."

"Thank god."

"I will next time I see him but I seriously doubt that he had anything to do with it," that muttered statement earned a 'what?' look from everyone. "Never mind."

"How's my dad?"

"Not good Stevie. Anderson told him you were dead. He took it really hard."

"Is he ok?"

"He's in recovery. A couple of weeks and he'll be as good as new."

"I miss him, can you tell him that for me?"

"Tell him yourself – you're going back in."

"No way."

"Yes way."

Stevie smiled. "Cool."

"I have to get back. Go back to where the repair fleet left you and a ship will be by tomorrow to pick up the four going back in. They won't talk much but they will give you clear instructions. In a couple of days you'll wake up in the Matrix, fully reconnected."

Once she was back in the Matrix, she realized a fatal flaw in her plan. Stevie's file. Surely the mainframe would recognize her as soon as she was put back in. "Damn it," she said out loud, dropping her head down onto her desk. Why hadn't she thought of that?

A knock on the door only further irritated her. "Come in," she said as she raised her head off the desk to see Jones walk in.

"What can I do for you Jones?"

"The files for the rebels being reconnected. You'll need to give them to me so that I can edit and reactivate them."

"Now?" Shit, she didn't have any time. Could she tell him the truth? No, Smith would kill her.

"That would be preferable."

She had no idea what to do. A first for her.

Jonas, she thought as loudly as she could, I need a favor.

"Mimosa?"

Jonas please answer me.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the tech agent froze and a word in green font appeared on her computer. [What?]

[I need a favor. I need a file for Stevie. You can do it faster than me.]

[And exactly why should I do that for you?]

[Because you can.]

[I don't think so.]

[With all that shit you just gave me? Come on and play fair.]

[It's my world remember?]

[Come on.]

[Fine, give me ten minutes.] The typed conversation disappeared from the screen and the world of the Matrix restarted. Jones was still waiting for the files.

"Jones can I ask you a question?" She had had this conversation with him once before but he wouldn't remember it because it had been in the erased timeline.

"Yes."

"Was Whitman an addict?"

"Are you asking this because of Smith? Because you should know of the thousands of agents only a few percent ever even use the access as a tool."

"No, I've been meaning to ask it for a long time."

"It will take a minute to explain."

I would rather it took ten minutes. "I have a minute."

Ten minutes later, as promised – though she wasn't sure how much time in the real, real world had passed as Jonas controlled the flow of time in the Matrix and the real world – the files appeared. She hadn't really expected him to deliver as he said he would, but he had – it left her happy but slightly suspicious.

***

"Why did you do that?" Carol asked Jonas as she entered the room. Jonas had perfected and taken great leaps in the technology that allowed his Matrix characters to exist in the real world. Combining Tim Annerly's disks and conventional hologram technology he had been able to make Carol exactly like a human, though at her center she was still a program.

And an insane one at that.

"Because I could Carol. It helps to keep their worlds interesting. It was only a little favor."

"But it was for her," Carol said spitefully. She knew the connection between Stef, Sula and Serica and he had told her about Phelan, Serica's brother. Phelan blamed himself for Serica's death because he hadn't been there when she had broken up with Jonas, even though he had promised to be in case it turned ugly. He hadn't been there and she had died.

"Don't go there Carol, I would have done the same for the rebels. I've done much more for you."

"But I thank you," she said with smile. "Sometimes several times."

"In ways that no one else can."

"That's why you love me."

"Indeed."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Don't worry; I'm not making Jonas into a nice guy.