Antoine was very glad to leave the apartment, and the blank-eyed corpse. She looked slightly sick, and leaned on Aidenn. She jumped into the back seat of the Escalade, and curled up to sleep for the journey back to the Chateau...
***
Brown wished that he could just go back to head quarters, but he knew that he should go and find Smith. The Merovingian's coordinates lead him to a motel on the edge of the City. It was a pretty ugly hotel, the doors were all painted a gaudy orange, and the walls were brown. He entered, avoiding the worst of the stains on the ragged brown carpet, picking his way to the front desk. A bored looking man with lank, greasy hair watched him, a smile as frayed as the carpet pasted on his face.
"Welcome to the Happy Hotel how can I help you?"
Brown suppressed a shudder and took the opportunity to scan the guest registry. "I'm looking for Mr. Smith."
"That's nice. Got any ID? Will he want to see you?"
"Ask him. Tell him Mr. Brown is here to see him, about business." He slipped the man a $1000 bill. His eyes bugged, and the bill vanished into his dirty cargo pants. Brown was disgusted... Humans, you just wave bits of paper and they'll die for you...
"Right this way, Mr. Brown! I'll take you right to him!" Brown willed him to hurry up, as he sloooowly opened his gate, lead him to the ancient elevator, and gestured Brown inside. Brown was tempted to kill him, but decided Jackson wouldn't like it. So he followed him, down the green tinged hall, to a door full of holes where it had been kicked. "Here you are!"
"Good. Now go."
The man smiled and left. Brown reached out a fist and rapped on the door. It was sticky. He grimaced and wiped his hand on his pants. Making them sticky. He stood in the hall, looking completely out of place, in his tailored suit and polished shoes, in the middle of this rat's nest of a motel.
After about three minutes, he heard footsteps approaching the door. It opened a crack, and he heard Smith's familiar voice emerge. "Who is it, and what do you want?" He still had his slow, menacing Agent's drawl. He always had been proud.
"Smith, it's Brown. I've been requested to meet with you, it's very important, I can offer you something I know you want...."
"Brown, or should I say, Agent Brown, you're babbling. Either standards have fallen since my... deletion... or else this is an extremely urgent matter. Come in." The door opened, and Brown leapt in before it could slam shut. He found himself in a small, dark room. There were no distinguishing features about it, it was just a room. Purely functional, nothing 'homey'. "So, what is this... 'urgent matter' that you need me for?"
Brown took a few seconds to compose himself again. "It's about the Backup. You know about that, of course?"
"Of course. You've lost her, haven't you? And you need me to find her. And, you're here to get me to, and you'll offer to make me an Agent again, if I do. But of course, you won't. Is that about it?"
Brown blinked, and opened and closed his mouth a few times. Finally, he nodded.
"Even if you were going to make me an Agent again, I don't want it. I will help you," he added, looking at Brown's shocked face, "Because this effects me too, not out of loyalty to the Agency. But, I don't want your false promises of reinstallation. I want your promise, on behalf of your superiors, that after I do this for you, you will leave me alone forever. You won't contact me, hunt me... I won't ever even see one of you, do you understand? Those are my conditions."
Brown nodded again.
"Begin. Download the trace program for me."
Brown fished a black laptop out of his briefcase and some wiring with electrodes attached. He plugged the laptop into a nearby wall socket, told Smith to sit in a nearby chair, and attached the electrodes to Smith's forehead. He sat opposite Smith, holding the laptop, and watched Smith's coding scroll down the screen. He pressed a key not found on your average keyboard, and hit enter. Smith's code began to change as it incorporated trace program. Smith only flinched. The whole process only took a few seconds, then Smith peeled off the electrodes. Brown gathered them up, unplugged the laptop, packed it away, and left without a word.
Smith now saw a thin golden line when he looked in certain directions. He knew immediately what it was, the trail of the Backup. The hunt was on...
***
The next thing she knew, Antoine found herself in Aidenn's arms, being carried towards the Chateau. She murmured sleepily, but she was too tired to protest much. She allowed herself to be carried through the halls, unaware of the curious looks she was getting. Adrian lead the way, opening doors. When they arrived back at the Twins' suite, they found Trinity and Neo once again watching TV on one couch, and, surprisingly enough, so were Morpheus and Niobe, curled in each other's arms. When Morpheus noticed their arrival, he glanced up. Aidenn put a finger to his lips, and carried Antoine to the bedroom. He put her on the bed, and then returned to the main room, closing the door behind him.
"I have been thinking," said Morpheus, "and I think that we should check back in with Zion. Antoine will be safe enough here, and the Agents won't be able to get her, so we don't need to take her. We probably won't be back." Niobe looked intensely relieved. Trinity and Neo weren't paying attention.
Adrian nodded. "There is an exit inside the Chateau, it's in the payphone in the main lobby. You can all use it." He appeared glad to get them out of his dwelling. The rebels took a few minutes to gather up their few belongings, told the Twins to say good bye to Antoine for them, and headed off for the phone. Adrian went with them as a guide. A few minutes later, he returned, and he informed his brother that they were gone. The two of them settled down on a couch with books, glad to spend some time just with each other.
***
Smith recoded a car to let him in and drive without a key, and drove around until he picked up a line of the golden trail. As he got to more recent places, it got thicker and darker. He passed her old 'home' in the converted hotel, the movie store, the mall where she had gotten her hair done, and the apartment, swarming with police, where she had made her first kill. This appeared to be the freshest trail, and it led in a nearly straight line, right to... the Chateau? Brown had just been there, and she had been there the whole time... he almost laughed at the irony. Maybe he was wrong, there were other buildings that she could be at along this route, but the Chateau seemed the most likely. He drove along the golden path, becoming more and more certain of his destination. His hunch was reinforced by the layers of gold, some old and frail, some new and shiny, all leading to this one destination...
***
Meanwhile, in Zion, Morpheus had just made his report to Commander Lock. "So you see, sir, she's not a threat if she stays there. The Merovingian has made it known that he wants to hire her as a bodyguard. We can leave her alone."
Lock glared at him. "Morpheus, don't be naive! Don't take everything that... that... PROGRAM says on faith. He could just as easily be planning to sell her to the Agents, and is just waiting for you to leave. Which you have just done." He paced his small office, arms crossed behind his back. "No, Morpheus, this is no time to let morality get in the way of what you have to do. We have to bring her here. Besides... it provides us with a chance to test our program transferals. Get back in there and bring this, Backup, to me. Do it now. And do not question me, or so help me..." He broke off, composed himself, and continued. "I'm sending Captain Niobe and the crew of the Logos in with you, to aid you in her capture."
Morpheus bowed, slightly, and left. He assembled his crew, and briefed them. "I'm no happier than you are, going right back in, but we need to finish this mission. Any questions?" There were none. They boarded the Amaltheia and lifted off, the Logos right behind them. When they reached a suitable broadcast point, they went in...
***
Smith was so far along the trail that it's light was almost blinding him. There was no doubt about it, the path lead to the Chateau. Smith shuddered at the thought of having to fence with the place's irritating ruler, but he was doing this to save his own skin. A few minutes later, the building loomed up. He left the stolen car in one of the many guest parking lots, and found a side door. Unlike Brown, he had always been a rule breaker, or rather, a rule bender. He wasn't going to waste time making his way to the other side to into the 'right' entrance. He remembered the layout of the place well enough from his last trip to the Chateau that he made his way through the twisting warren of hallways easily enough. It wasn't until he reached the door of the restaurant that he noticed something. When he had passed the hotel that Antoine had lived in, he had decided to go upstairs and investigate her room to see if there were any clues as to where she had gone. In the room, he had smelt something familiar, but he hadn't recognized it then. Now, however, he realized what it was. The Twins... she was with them. He got waved past by the Maitre d', and entered the realm of the Merovingian...
***
Morpheus was not happy about being ordered after Antoine. He had gotten to know her after the past few days, and he had come to realize that programs were like humans - they were all different, and had diffenerent motivations. Lots of them, he suspected, would be happy to just live out their lives not bothering the humans, as long as they weren't bothered. Antoine was one of these, she just wanted to be left alone. She certainly didn't deserve to be fought over like a choice cut of meat between street dogs. (AN: an interesting note: stray cats are ALLEY cats, but stray dogs are STREET dogs. Why not alley dogs or street cats?) He would do what he was ordered, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
Trinity, the longest surviving crew member, who had known him for more years than she cared to remember, noticed his discomfort. She didn't want to do this either, but she felt helpless. 'And the Twins are going to fight for her,' she thought, 'they won't just give her up to us. We may have to hurt them, or her.' She felt sick at the thought of doing that to people... she almost corrected us, but repeated, firmly, 'yes, people.' That she knew. She leaned back on the leather seat of the car they were all in, shaking off Neo's arm. They drove in silence.
***
Smith marched past the rows of tables, many of them full of exiles, towards the dais. It didn't escape his notice that most of them shifted subtly away from him. Most of them had had run-ins with him in the past, and even now that he was one of them they were nervous. He ignored them and continued walking. When he was about halfway through, the Merovingian looked up from watching a buxom redhead at table 3 and looked at him. His 'wife' followed suit.
"Well, well, well... Smith. I did not think that I would be seeing you." He took in the worn out suit that the ex-Agent was still wearing. "So. The rumors of your exile are true. What could bring you to my... humble... abode?" He paused to take in the splendor of his surroundings. What he saw seemed to please him, he smiled.
'As if he doesn't already know...' Smith thought, but aloud he said "I am really not interested in your games, Jean-Paul." Everyone looked stunned. NO ONE used his first name and lived. He was always 'the Merovingian' or, if the person in question was a bodyguard, 'Master'.
The Merovingian narrowed his eyes. "Fine, as you wish. You want to know where the Backup is?" He was suddenly aware of a car pulling up outside. He sent one of his guards to look into it, without paying much attention.
"She is here. Don't try to lie, I know she is."
"I do not deny it. Follow me to my office while I call for her." He had no intention of doing so, but he wanted to distract Smith until he gave up and left. He knew he wasn't armed - if an ex-Agent held a gun, his or her programming would implode. It had taken a lot of fancy programming to get this out of his Twins...
Smith followed the other Exile into his lavish office...
***
The Rebels easily dispatched the guard, and Niobe lead them to a side entrance that brought them right to the Twins' hallway. She put her ear to the door, then nodded to one of her crew members. He shot out the lock, and they all burst in...
***
The Twins bolted to their feet when they heard the gun shot, and were waiting when the Rebels came in. They would have killed them immediatly, had Antoine not come out to see what was going on. They paused, giving the Rebels enough time to surround them, turn on anti-phasers, and hold them at gunpoint. Antoine rushed over, feeling her own phasing powers evaporate. She didn't care. If she was going to die, this was how she wanted it to happen.
OOH! Cliffhanger... I have the next chapter done, but I'm going to be evil and not let you read it until tomorrow. It will have more effect that way...
***
Brown wished that he could just go back to head quarters, but he knew that he should go and find Smith. The Merovingian's coordinates lead him to a motel on the edge of the City. It was a pretty ugly hotel, the doors were all painted a gaudy orange, and the walls were brown. He entered, avoiding the worst of the stains on the ragged brown carpet, picking his way to the front desk. A bored looking man with lank, greasy hair watched him, a smile as frayed as the carpet pasted on his face.
"Welcome to the Happy Hotel how can I help you?"
Brown suppressed a shudder and took the opportunity to scan the guest registry. "I'm looking for Mr. Smith."
"That's nice. Got any ID? Will he want to see you?"
"Ask him. Tell him Mr. Brown is here to see him, about business." He slipped the man a $1000 bill. His eyes bugged, and the bill vanished into his dirty cargo pants. Brown was disgusted... Humans, you just wave bits of paper and they'll die for you...
"Right this way, Mr. Brown! I'll take you right to him!" Brown willed him to hurry up, as he sloooowly opened his gate, lead him to the ancient elevator, and gestured Brown inside. Brown was tempted to kill him, but decided Jackson wouldn't like it. So he followed him, down the green tinged hall, to a door full of holes where it had been kicked. "Here you are!"
"Good. Now go."
The man smiled and left. Brown reached out a fist and rapped on the door. It was sticky. He grimaced and wiped his hand on his pants. Making them sticky. He stood in the hall, looking completely out of place, in his tailored suit and polished shoes, in the middle of this rat's nest of a motel.
After about three minutes, he heard footsteps approaching the door. It opened a crack, and he heard Smith's familiar voice emerge. "Who is it, and what do you want?" He still had his slow, menacing Agent's drawl. He always had been proud.
"Smith, it's Brown. I've been requested to meet with you, it's very important, I can offer you something I know you want...."
"Brown, or should I say, Agent Brown, you're babbling. Either standards have fallen since my... deletion... or else this is an extremely urgent matter. Come in." The door opened, and Brown leapt in before it could slam shut. He found himself in a small, dark room. There were no distinguishing features about it, it was just a room. Purely functional, nothing 'homey'. "So, what is this... 'urgent matter' that you need me for?"
Brown took a few seconds to compose himself again. "It's about the Backup. You know about that, of course?"
"Of course. You've lost her, haven't you? And you need me to find her. And, you're here to get me to, and you'll offer to make me an Agent again, if I do. But of course, you won't. Is that about it?"
Brown blinked, and opened and closed his mouth a few times. Finally, he nodded.
"Even if you were going to make me an Agent again, I don't want it. I will help you," he added, looking at Brown's shocked face, "Because this effects me too, not out of loyalty to the Agency. But, I don't want your false promises of reinstallation. I want your promise, on behalf of your superiors, that after I do this for you, you will leave me alone forever. You won't contact me, hunt me... I won't ever even see one of you, do you understand? Those are my conditions."
Brown nodded again.
"Begin. Download the trace program for me."
Brown fished a black laptop out of his briefcase and some wiring with electrodes attached. He plugged the laptop into a nearby wall socket, told Smith to sit in a nearby chair, and attached the electrodes to Smith's forehead. He sat opposite Smith, holding the laptop, and watched Smith's coding scroll down the screen. He pressed a key not found on your average keyboard, and hit enter. Smith's code began to change as it incorporated trace program. Smith only flinched. The whole process only took a few seconds, then Smith peeled off the electrodes. Brown gathered them up, unplugged the laptop, packed it away, and left without a word.
Smith now saw a thin golden line when he looked in certain directions. He knew immediately what it was, the trail of the Backup. The hunt was on...
***
The next thing she knew, Antoine found herself in Aidenn's arms, being carried towards the Chateau. She murmured sleepily, but she was too tired to protest much. She allowed herself to be carried through the halls, unaware of the curious looks she was getting. Adrian lead the way, opening doors. When they arrived back at the Twins' suite, they found Trinity and Neo once again watching TV on one couch, and, surprisingly enough, so were Morpheus and Niobe, curled in each other's arms. When Morpheus noticed their arrival, he glanced up. Aidenn put a finger to his lips, and carried Antoine to the bedroom. He put her on the bed, and then returned to the main room, closing the door behind him.
"I have been thinking," said Morpheus, "and I think that we should check back in with Zion. Antoine will be safe enough here, and the Agents won't be able to get her, so we don't need to take her. We probably won't be back." Niobe looked intensely relieved. Trinity and Neo weren't paying attention.
Adrian nodded. "There is an exit inside the Chateau, it's in the payphone in the main lobby. You can all use it." He appeared glad to get them out of his dwelling. The rebels took a few minutes to gather up their few belongings, told the Twins to say good bye to Antoine for them, and headed off for the phone. Adrian went with them as a guide. A few minutes later, he returned, and he informed his brother that they were gone. The two of them settled down on a couch with books, glad to spend some time just with each other.
***
Smith recoded a car to let him in and drive without a key, and drove around until he picked up a line of the golden trail. As he got to more recent places, it got thicker and darker. He passed her old 'home' in the converted hotel, the movie store, the mall where she had gotten her hair done, and the apartment, swarming with police, where she had made her first kill. This appeared to be the freshest trail, and it led in a nearly straight line, right to... the Chateau? Brown had just been there, and she had been there the whole time... he almost laughed at the irony. Maybe he was wrong, there were other buildings that she could be at along this route, but the Chateau seemed the most likely. He drove along the golden path, becoming more and more certain of his destination. His hunch was reinforced by the layers of gold, some old and frail, some new and shiny, all leading to this one destination...
***
Meanwhile, in Zion, Morpheus had just made his report to Commander Lock. "So you see, sir, she's not a threat if she stays there. The Merovingian has made it known that he wants to hire her as a bodyguard. We can leave her alone."
Lock glared at him. "Morpheus, don't be naive! Don't take everything that... that... PROGRAM says on faith. He could just as easily be planning to sell her to the Agents, and is just waiting for you to leave. Which you have just done." He paced his small office, arms crossed behind his back. "No, Morpheus, this is no time to let morality get in the way of what you have to do. We have to bring her here. Besides... it provides us with a chance to test our program transferals. Get back in there and bring this, Backup, to me. Do it now. And do not question me, or so help me..." He broke off, composed himself, and continued. "I'm sending Captain Niobe and the crew of the Logos in with you, to aid you in her capture."
Morpheus bowed, slightly, and left. He assembled his crew, and briefed them. "I'm no happier than you are, going right back in, but we need to finish this mission. Any questions?" There were none. They boarded the Amaltheia and lifted off, the Logos right behind them. When they reached a suitable broadcast point, they went in...
***
Smith was so far along the trail that it's light was almost blinding him. There was no doubt about it, the path lead to the Chateau. Smith shuddered at the thought of having to fence with the place's irritating ruler, but he was doing this to save his own skin. A few minutes later, the building loomed up. He left the stolen car in one of the many guest parking lots, and found a side door. Unlike Brown, he had always been a rule breaker, or rather, a rule bender. He wasn't going to waste time making his way to the other side to into the 'right' entrance. He remembered the layout of the place well enough from his last trip to the Chateau that he made his way through the twisting warren of hallways easily enough. It wasn't until he reached the door of the restaurant that he noticed something. When he had passed the hotel that Antoine had lived in, he had decided to go upstairs and investigate her room to see if there were any clues as to where she had gone. In the room, he had smelt something familiar, but he hadn't recognized it then. Now, however, he realized what it was. The Twins... she was with them. He got waved past by the Maitre d', and entered the realm of the Merovingian...
***
Morpheus was not happy about being ordered after Antoine. He had gotten to know her after the past few days, and he had come to realize that programs were like humans - they were all different, and had diffenerent motivations. Lots of them, he suspected, would be happy to just live out their lives not bothering the humans, as long as they weren't bothered. Antoine was one of these, she just wanted to be left alone. She certainly didn't deserve to be fought over like a choice cut of meat between street dogs. (AN: an interesting note: stray cats are ALLEY cats, but stray dogs are STREET dogs. Why not alley dogs or street cats?) He would do what he was ordered, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
Trinity, the longest surviving crew member, who had known him for more years than she cared to remember, noticed his discomfort. She didn't want to do this either, but she felt helpless. 'And the Twins are going to fight for her,' she thought, 'they won't just give her up to us. We may have to hurt them, or her.' She felt sick at the thought of doing that to people... she almost corrected us, but repeated, firmly, 'yes, people.' That she knew. She leaned back on the leather seat of the car they were all in, shaking off Neo's arm. They drove in silence.
***
Smith marched past the rows of tables, many of them full of exiles, towards the dais. It didn't escape his notice that most of them shifted subtly away from him. Most of them had had run-ins with him in the past, and even now that he was one of them they were nervous. He ignored them and continued walking. When he was about halfway through, the Merovingian looked up from watching a buxom redhead at table 3 and looked at him. His 'wife' followed suit.
"Well, well, well... Smith. I did not think that I would be seeing you." He took in the worn out suit that the ex-Agent was still wearing. "So. The rumors of your exile are true. What could bring you to my... humble... abode?" He paused to take in the splendor of his surroundings. What he saw seemed to please him, he smiled.
'As if he doesn't already know...' Smith thought, but aloud he said "I am really not interested in your games, Jean-Paul." Everyone looked stunned. NO ONE used his first name and lived. He was always 'the Merovingian' or, if the person in question was a bodyguard, 'Master'.
The Merovingian narrowed his eyes. "Fine, as you wish. You want to know where the Backup is?" He was suddenly aware of a car pulling up outside. He sent one of his guards to look into it, without paying much attention.
"She is here. Don't try to lie, I know she is."
"I do not deny it. Follow me to my office while I call for her." He had no intention of doing so, but he wanted to distract Smith until he gave up and left. He knew he wasn't armed - if an ex-Agent held a gun, his or her programming would implode. It had taken a lot of fancy programming to get this out of his Twins...
Smith followed the other Exile into his lavish office...
***
The Rebels easily dispatched the guard, and Niobe lead them to a side entrance that brought them right to the Twins' hallway. She put her ear to the door, then nodded to one of her crew members. He shot out the lock, and they all burst in...
***
The Twins bolted to their feet when they heard the gun shot, and were waiting when the Rebels came in. They would have killed them immediatly, had Antoine not come out to see what was going on. They paused, giving the Rebels enough time to surround them, turn on anti-phasers, and hold them at gunpoint. Antoine rushed over, feeling her own phasing powers evaporate. She didn't care. If she was going to die, this was how she wanted it to happen.
OOH! Cliffhanger... I have the next chapter done, but I'm going to be evil and not let you read it until tomorrow. It will have more effect that way...
