S'up Y'all? Did ya miss me? Or notice I was gone? Sorry this took so long
to update, but for some reason I hit a wall whenever I tried to write this.
But, I will now continue the story. I hope. Also, to Misty7, I totally
agree with you about the "being better than Neo" thing in a lot of stories.
I do not plan to have Hunter become better than Neo. And no, I hadn't seen
the trailers for the sequels up to this point, but I have now seen both
those and The Matrix Reloaded. I will give him "a little more credit" in
upcoming chapters (if I can write them in between everything else I have to
do. AHHHHHHH. College life is a bit hectic.)
Chapter 10
"Don't look now guys," Tank said," but it looks like Laser has a fellow actor on board."
"Oh goody! Now we can do Romeo and Juliet."
"God forbid," Tank replied
"Ya can en'ertain yer self yer way, we'll do it our way."
Neo and Trinity had been talking in hushed voices off to the side. Now Neo headed over and spoke to Tank in a hushed voice.
"Tank, can I get some time to talk to Hunter."
"No problem."
"In private."
Tank gave him a slightly quizzical look, then understanding dawned on him and he nodded, reached over and switched off the observation monitors.
"Thanks, Tank."
"No problem."
He headed over to one of the "dentist" chairs, as Laser had once dubbed them. Trinity came over and plugged him in. It was strange. This was something he had been doing for almost two months now, and it still felt strange to have a long metal needle slid into the back of his head. He supposed that it was something he would get used to eventually. He would have to remember to ask Trinity about it sometime.
However, he had become completely comfortable with the idea of closing his eyes and finding himself standing in the Construct.
And standing before him was Hunter. Naturally, Hunters back was to him, and he was still holding the phone to his ear. The strange thing was, he was talking into it. It seemed that Laser had gotten Tank to let her on the headset and the first thing Neo heard was Hunter saying "... phone number, can I have yours?"
"No, you can't," Neo said. "We don't let her have a phone in her room."
Hunter didn't jump much. He just flinched a bit, and then turned around with a pursed lipped grin and the phone still to his ear. "You know, I'm really starting to think that the 'appear behind me' thing is intentional."
Neo half grinned. "Believe what you like. You know, you always did go for the cheesy lines."
Hunter cocked an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? The 'I lost my phone number' line is a classic!"
"No, it's a cliché." Then he cleared his throat and looked up. "Tank, when I asked you to turn off the monitors, I meant that you should keep them off until I called you. And Trin? Could you please hold him to that?"
He continued to stare up for a minute, and then looked back to Hunter, who had just hung up the phone.
"What was that about?"
"I wanted to talk to you without any of the others watching."
Hunter looked around. "Well, I don't see anyone."
"No, they were watching from the real world. Not here."
"Gotcha," he said with a grin that said that he had known that all along, and had just been making a joke.
"I wanted to be able to talk to you like we used to."
"Swearing every other word?"
"Like brothers."
"Like I said..."
Neo sighed.
"Alright, alright," Hunter said. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Where you've been and what you've been doing would be a good place to start."
"Well, I've only been around for a few days, so not much."
"You know what I mean."
"What does it matter Tom?" Hunter asked, letting some frustration show. "It never really happened. None of it! It was all in my head, and the heads of a few billion other people. Why does it matter?!"
"It matters, Jack," was Neo's simple response.
Hunter stood still for a while, considering.
Finally, he shrugged. "Well, since the last time we talked a few years ago, I got kicked out of the FBI."
"Any reason?"
Hunter grinned. "My supervisor got tired of me coming into work late."
Neo grinned too. "It must run in the family."
Hunter gave a scoff/chuckle and nodded.
"After that, I went hard core into my 'second life' as the agent who eventually busted me put it."
"An Agent?"
"Of the FBI, not of the Matrix. An old co-worker actually," his grin froze a bit. "I taught her everything she knew."
He seemed to shake something out of his mind, and continued.
"Anyway, it took her about two years to catch up with me. In that time, I started finding references at various places in the Net to a place called the Matrix. You know how that was."
Neo nodded, listening.
"Well, every time I thought I had it figured out, something else would show up that would blow my theory to pieces. I think I looked at every site that came up on any engine for the word 'Matrix'. I started to notice that in a lot of situations, some hacker name would come up. Tri-ni-tee, Cypher, Modem, Codex, and the like. But the one I noticed most was Morpheous. I looked other places and found that he was some sort of cyberspace terrorist."
Neo was surprised how much this sounded like things he himself had done when he was still plugged-in.
"I figured that he was actually just a really good hacker that somebody really wanted to get, so I started trying to contact him. I would look around on forums for the name, even tried a few chat rooms where I knew that hackers hang out. I found a few that had people with 'Morpheous' as an alias. They all said that they were using the name in admiration the real one. I also found a lot of forums discussing "The Matrix". Thing was, it was just a bunch of people seeing if anyone else knew where it was. No one did."
Hunter sighed, seeming weary from taking about his life.
"Eventually, Erica caught up with me."
"Erica?" Neo interrupted.
"The agent who caught me."
Neo nodded.
"Anyway, she caught me and was ready to bring me in. I'm not sure what happened, but at some point along the way the Agents. big A. tracked me down. Erica was trying to take me in, and for some reason, the Agents didn't have proper authorization or even ID's. Naturally, a federal agent, and especially not Erica, wasn't going to let someone who didn't have authorization take charge of a prisoner." Here, Hunters voice seemed to start catching. "When she wouldn't turn me over to them, they used," here his voice defiantly caught, "extreme methods to get to me."
He paused, closed his eyes, swallowed and continued.
"The last thing I remember seeing was Erica falling to the ground with a bullet hole through her head. The last thing I remember hearing was the Agent saying "Goodbye, Mr. Anderson."
Chapter 10
"Don't look now guys," Tank said," but it looks like Laser has a fellow actor on board."
"Oh goody! Now we can do Romeo and Juliet."
"God forbid," Tank replied
"Ya can en'ertain yer self yer way, we'll do it our way."
Neo and Trinity had been talking in hushed voices off to the side. Now Neo headed over and spoke to Tank in a hushed voice.
"Tank, can I get some time to talk to Hunter."
"No problem."
"In private."
Tank gave him a slightly quizzical look, then understanding dawned on him and he nodded, reached over and switched off the observation monitors.
"Thanks, Tank."
"No problem."
He headed over to one of the "dentist" chairs, as Laser had once dubbed them. Trinity came over and plugged him in. It was strange. This was something he had been doing for almost two months now, and it still felt strange to have a long metal needle slid into the back of his head. He supposed that it was something he would get used to eventually. He would have to remember to ask Trinity about it sometime.
However, he had become completely comfortable with the idea of closing his eyes and finding himself standing in the Construct.
And standing before him was Hunter. Naturally, Hunters back was to him, and he was still holding the phone to his ear. The strange thing was, he was talking into it. It seemed that Laser had gotten Tank to let her on the headset and the first thing Neo heard was Hunter saying "... phone number, can I have yours?"
"No, you can't," Neo said. "We don't let her have a phone in her room."
Hunter didn't jump much. He just flinched a bit, and then turned around with a pursed lipped grin and the phone still to his ear. "You know, I'm really starting to think that the 'appear behind me' thing is intentional."
Neo half grinned. "Believe what you like. You know, you always did go for the cheesy lines."
Hunter cocked an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? The 'I lost my phone number' line is a classic!"
"No, it's a cliché." Then he cleared his throat and looked up. "Tank, when I asked you to turn off the monitors, I meant that you should keep them off until I called you. And Trin? Could you please hold him to that?"
He continued to stare up for a minute, and then looked back to Hunter, who had just hung up the phone.
"What was that about?"
"I wanted to talk to you without any of the others watching."
Hunter looked around. "Well, I don't see anyone."
"No, they were watching from the real world. Not here."
"Gotcha," he said with a grin that said that he had known that all along, and had just been making a joke.
"I wanted to be able to talk to you like we used to."
"Swearing every other word?"
"Like brothers."
"Like I said..."
Neo sighed.
"Alright, alright," Hunter said. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Where you've been and what you've been doing would be a good place to start."
"Well, I've only been around for a few days, so not much."
"You know what I mean."
"What does it matter Tom?" Hunter asked, letting some frustration show. "It never really happened. None of it! It was all in my head, and the heads of a few billion other people. Why does it matter?!"
"It matters, Jack," was Neo's simple response.
Hunter stood still for a while, considering.
Finally, he shrugged. "Well, since the last time we talked a few years ago, I got kicked out of the FBI."
"Any reason?"
Hunter grinned. "My supervisor got tired of me coming into work late."
Neo grinned too. "It must run in the family."
Hunter gave a scoff/chuckle and nodded.
"After that, I went hard core into my 'second life' as the agent who eventually busted me put it."
"An Agent?"
"Of the FBI, not of the Matrix. An old co-worker actually," his grin froze a bit. "I taught her everything she knew."
He seemed to shake something out of his mind, and continued.
"Anyway, it took her about two years to catch up with me. In that time, I started finding references at various places in the Net to a place called the Matrix. You know how that was."
Neo nodded, listening.
"Well, every time I thought I had it figured out, something else would show up that would blow my theory to pieces. I think I looked at every site that came up on any engine for the word 'Matrix'. I started to notice that in a lot of situations, some hacker name would come up. Tri-ni-tee, Cypher, Modem, Codex, and the like. But the one I noticed most was Morpheous. I looked other places and found that he was some sort of cyberspace terrorist."
Neo was surprised how much this sounded like things he himself had done when he was still plugged-in.
"I figured that he was actually just a really good hacker that somebody really wanted to get, so I started trying to contact him. I would look around on forums for the name, even tried a few chat rooms where I knew that hackers hang out. I found a few that had people with 'Morpheous' as an alias. They all said that they were using the name in admiration the real one. I also found a lot of forums discussing "The Matrix". Thing was, it was just a bunch of people seeing if anyone else knew where it was. No one did."
Hunter sighed, seeming weary from taking about his life.
"Eventually, Erica caught up with me."
"Erica?" Neo interrupted.
"The agent who caught me."
Neo nodded.
"Anyway, she caught me and was ready to bring me in. I'm not sure what happened, but at some point along the way the Agents. big A. tracked me down. Erica was trying to take me in, and for some reason, the Agents didn't have proper authorization or even ID's. Naturally, a federal agent, and especially not Erica, wasn't going to let someone who didn't have authorization take charge of a prisoner." Here, Hunters voice seemed to start catching. "When she wouldn't turn me over to them, they used," here his voice defiantly caught, "extreme methods to get to me."
He paused, closed his eyes, swallowed and continued.
"The last thing I remember seeing was Erica falling to the ground with a bullet hole through her head. The last thing I remember hearing was the Agent saying "Goodbye, Mr. Anderson."