Title: Bodhidharmazan 2 parts, I and II
Author: TheRedPony a.k.a. Uber Agent Zane
Rating: PG
Disclaimer:
Matrix universe and associated characters: Wachowski brothers.
Agents universe: co-owned by Stormhawk and Overlord Mordax.
I own only my ideas and my self.
Word Count: 7392
Summary: Zane is a new recruit. He's not the particularly skilled at any thing but his dagger, which he wields with precision. Agent Brown tries to train the young recruit and gets more then he bargained for.
Notes: Yes this story is self insertion. It started as innocent fun on the Agents The Series message board. Thank you to stormy, for letting me play in your sandbox and all your support. Thank you to all my friends *cough underlings* at ATS. I could never be Uber with out you *laughs evilly*. Your help and support has been vital.
This is a slash based story, but the rating if for violence only. Sequel is now in the works.
Please read and Review.
"When illusion spin her net
I'm never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouette
When I think that I am free
Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see
No one taught them etiquette
So I will show another me…"
~ Peter Gabriel
***
Zane opened the email on his laptop. It was full of typical bureaucratic crap, official notices of schedule changes, rule policies, what recruits were and weren't allowed to do, stuff like that. He erased them with out mercy, until he came to the recruit run newsletter that came out once a week.
'Recruit Bethan Seren was reviled last night as the green hunter '
He read on to the article 'Recruit Bethan Seren, formally the Green Hunter SS, is now the first of the 3 hunters to be identified.' The story went on to a rambling account of the girl's life, and her reactions to being a hunter. He skipped over this he didn't need to read it. He was friendly enough with Bethan and had trained with her several times over the last week. He fought her in the gym, and then fought her as the Green Hunter. It had been he who had identified and tagged her. She gave herself away in the fight with out knowing it.
He scanned the page and his eyes found a story that did interest him however.
'Three more recruits sent to the medical ward after being attacked by the Red Hunter GJ. Gentle Joe, as he has been nicked named by the recruits, has sent several there with the hostility in his attacks. The record shows him as the cause to many major bruises and dislocations. Recruit Lauren Kuffler, who is an assistant in the medical ward has this to say, "There is no excuse for such open and brutal attacks. Sure we can patch them up but we're afraid to walk in the halls after six. That's no state to be in. I'm just grateful that the Blue hunter is so much more noble."
Zane hissed, it wasn't that he was trying to hurt the recruits, its just when he struck, all his anger and focus poured into his hands and his legs as he dove at them. The only reason that the Blue hunter did not hurt any one was the fact that he did not dive at the recruits from the ceiling like Zane did. He read on.
"So far the Red Hunter has not broken any bones or caused internal bleeding to any recruits. Until that time he will not be replaced," said Agent Mimosa. The story continued on with interviews from those attacked, and speculations as to who could be the Red Hunter.
He had two rules in the game that he followed no mater what. He never attacked if surprise was not on his side, and he never faced the Blue, or The Blue Hunter BK as he was formally known. Zane had been readying for an attack on a lone recruit he recognized as Teddy. He was about to jump when Teddy was attacked by a man with a blue band on his arm, the Blue Hunter. Zane instead had watched the fight closely. He had immediately put the Blue Hunter on his do not ever face list. He was fast, fast enough to defeat him, Zane had realized, and defeat was not an option. He could never fail.
He deleted the newsletter and closed up the laptop. He was suppose to be resting, Brown ordered him to rest while he was not on duty, and he hadn't slept well in days, not since the hunt started. He did not have to do everything the bastard ordered him to do.
The thought caught Zane by surprise; he had never though of Taizan like that, never wanted to. He ran his hands through his hair. The lack of sleep was finally catching up. He wanted to sleep, but when he did he felt the arms of a strong faceless man holding him. He didn't have to look to know who the one he dreamed about was. He knew, though he did not want to know. How would he be when Brown finally called on him to aid in a rebel or exile chase. He would be a mess around the Agent. He would fail.
He frowned and quickly downed the last of the green tea he had been drinking. No sense in worrying about sleep now, he was surviving just fine on really strong tea and meditation. He knew about Buddhist monks who could go weeks with out sleep with only meditation. He had not tried anything so extreme before. He certainly wasn't thriving on it. But he was surviving and that was what mattered.
He had been going about his training with a powerful vengeance and had had managed to destroy the common gym from top to bottom at least ten times. He chuckled softy to him self, glad that he could find some humor in life these days. He had been working with the Katana with a very skilled recruit named Vincent Greer, or Greer as everyone called him. He was amazingly fast with the blade and his agility with it could match Zane with his dagger.
Greer had shown him a bit with the sword and he had shown Greer a bit with the dagger, and in the end they had spared, each with their own respective weapons. He had found that the stiletto against the long thin Asian sword was an invigorating match. They played of the weakness of each other and for the first time in many years Zane felt he had actually had a proper spar with someone.
He rather liked Greer but his patience for most of the recruits was slim to none. He had become so cross with Recruit Anne the other day that he thought she was going to cry. Its not that he meant it to be cruel, he was just short on patience at the moment. She mumbled something about being just like "his keeper" before she left. He was puzzled but chose to ignore the comment at the time. Now it was back and edged at the back of his mind. Something was not right he just wasn't sure what.
He changed from his meditation robes to his suit, minus the jacket. He carefully lashed his dagger to his arm and set to each cord and knot as if it was art. He could do the actions blind but this was in its self like a ritual for him. A sort of mental preparation for the day, the fight, that lay ahead. After he was satisfied that it was perfect he donned his jacket and walked to the door. He was about to open it when he heard a knock. He was not expecting any one so he opened the door cautiously with a healthy dose of trepidation. There was one person he was and was not eager to see.
His heart skipped a beat seeing a black suit as the door opened, became more panicked as he saw broad shoulders and then steadied as he remembered that everyone here wore a suit. Opening the door all the way he smiled seeing that it was Greer who stood in the doorway.
"Hey Seiko" he had taken to calling the friendly recruit that; the word meant 'Star Reflecting on the Lake'. He wasn't sure why but he knew that it fit Greer. "Sorry you caught me at a bit of an off moment."
"Don't worry about it Zane. Can I come in?"
"Oh sure." He stepped aside and allowed the long dark haired recruit to enter.
"Were you just leaving?"
"Yes but I had no were important to go to. Please take a seat." He motioned to the red velvet couch.
"Wow, can I hire you to do my rooms? This is pretty nice."
"Thank you Seiko. Can I get you any thing?"
"I'm fine. But Agent Mimosa sent me to come see you."
"You're here to lecture me too?"
"Nope I'm here to make sure you get some air. Were going on patrol tomorrow together. Ian Cery is scheduled to come with us too."
"I have never met him before."
"I'm sure you've must have. Real pale, blond kid. He's been one of Browns recruits for five months."
Zane paled, "Did you say he's one of Browns? For five months?"
"Yeah, what of it. I though your would have had a patrol with him at sometime."
He shook his head painfully slowly. "I have never been let to go on patrol." Zane stood looking rather lost in shock. "I'm sorry Seiko, I have to go."
"That's all right, I'll see you later ok."
Zane nodded blankly, and left the room striding quickly towards Agent Browns office. The program had some damn good explaining to do.
***
He stood in front of the door and raised his fist to pound his anger on it. He then reconsidered; pounding on Agent Brown's door was probably on of those things that could get you shot in the head. He instead knocked primly on the door and waited. After about a minute he knocked again, and still there was no reply.
"He's not in" Zane jumped nearly out of his skin upon hearing the voice. He wheeled around and could not help but grimace slightly when he saw Agent Smith.
"Sorry Myotai, I'm a little on edge right now."
"Even a little on edge you should not be allowing people to come up behind you without your notice."
"Ok, I'm a lot on edge. I'm ready to shoot holes in the building."
"That would look poorly on your record," He smirked slightly. "Normally I would referring you to Agent Mimosa but as she will be gone for several hours and as I do not want you shooting holes in the halls, I am inclined to ask if you need any help. As she would say, care to talk about it?"
He ran his hands through his hair and tried to bite back his temper. He wanted to scream and it showed in his face. "Yeh, I better talk to you first, before I say something stupid to him"
Agent Smith shifted them both to his office. "Have a seat Zane." The small recruit sat a bit abruptly in the appearing chair, and looked the very essence of someone in a huff. "Well what's wrong?"
"He lied to me."
"What do you mean?"
"He told me I was his only recruit. That his missions were usually served alone, or with the other agents. I was here for two months and I never even knew he had others." He scuffed up his hair in a nervous mannerism. "I should have known something was wrong when he forbid me to go in the common gym or eat with the other recruits. I was expected to follow him around like some sort of puppy on a leash, then get out of his sight when he tired of me."
"He forbade you from seeing the other recruits? Although, this is within his rights, its highly unorthodox."
Zane huffed to him self, and continued. "I was told to keep to my self. He was the only one I was really allowed to talk to. Sure he was cold but I wanted to be his friend. I wanted more then any thing to please him. I still do."
"You don't spend the day training with him any more do you?"
Zane scoffed bitterly. "No, I have not even been sent on proper mission or patrol since I became a hunter. He won't let me out for anything with out a proper order. I can't even spend my free time away from the compound."
"Why is that? Has he ordered you not to leave?"
"No not in so many words, but how can I leave. I can't even sleep knowing he's out there and I can't be near."
Agent Smith looked at him in depth, like a cat watching it's pray, deep concentration played over deeper wonder. "You have a desire to be with in the close proximity of Agent Brown. Most recruits tend to," he hesitated over the word, "avoid him."
He nodded and sighed. "Oh Myotai, I long to serve with him again. I'm useless sitting here. How can I prove to him that I am not just a waste, when I am locked up?"
Smith sat back and eyed the recruit carefully. "Am I right to think that your desire to serve with him is not purely professional?"
He sighed again. "For some one who is not human you certainly have a good insight into the human mind. I can not help what is in my heart."
"Brown is a dangerous Agent, Zane."
"He told me that I would die at his hands, if I followed my heart."
"That is a possibility." Smith's voice was deadly level.
"Why is he like this? You're an Agent and you're not like that. Even Jones tries to be cold and aloof but he's still pretty nice underneath that. Why couldn't I loose my heart to a nice agent like him? Mimosa was a recruit, you were her friend, and Greer and Jones are good friends too."
"Why do you think that?"
"I spend eight hours a night hanging from the ceiling. I hear things. I don't understand how he can be so much crueler then the rest of you. Even Clarke, although not much to talk to is still never down-right mean."
Smith raised an eyebrow and was watching him closely. "He's a combat Agent, Zane. He was written to be cruel. In fact all the Agents were."
"How so?"
"At first we had no emotion at all. As time passed we developed them. For many agents its something not to be proud of."
He did feel better after talking to Myotai, but his anger flared again when he thought about Brown. "Alright I can accept that, but why does he avoid me like the plague?"
"He is afraid."
"Agent Brown is not afraid of any thing."
"You say that like you know what's in his thoughts," he tapped his earpiece while giving a signature smirk. "We are more hardwired then you recruits are. He is afraid of you."
"Why would he ever be afraid of me?"
"We Agents have to learn human behavior from observation. If he sees love and friendship with you, it may lead to the same emotions with him. The problem is you are the best we have when it comes to recognizance missions. You can get in and out of anywhere and your ability to pass through walls makes you very valuable. He is obligated to train you, but he does not want to become weak."
Zane sat back as well and pondered this. Fear he could understand. It was an emotion that made sense to him; all creatures felt fear in some way or another. There was only one question. A question that had a different answer for each person, for each living thing. Does that fear give you power and leverage, or does it give your quarry drive to strike. This fear, it would make his quest for the ill-tempered Agent all the more feasible, and all the more deadly.
Zane stood and thanked Agent Smith for his time. He stepped out into the white din of hallway. He had been so clear on what his action was going to be, but now he was a bit lost. He knew the rational behind why the powerful agent would fear him, but he did not understand it in practice. What could be so bad about emotion that Agent Brown would actually fear him? No one had ever been afraid of him before, not like this.
He turned a corner and slammed full force into Agent Clarke. "I'm so sorry sir…" his apology was cut of as he watched the Agent stiff as a board teeter then crash to the floor. "Agent Clarke, Agent Clarke, Sir are you all right?" The facade of death was about the Agent and he stepped back quickly, fearing what was wrong. He froze for a few instances, then spun and burst into life.
If he was lucky he could find Agent Smith before he shifted out of his office. Skidding to a stop before the gray door, he slammed his fists on it. The door swung upon to reveal a rather shocked looking command agent. "Sir there is something terribly wrong with Agent Clarke, he on the floor in the hallway." He pointed down the hall in the direction that he had come from.
Smith leapt forward past Zane and bolted down the hall.
***
The medical ward was rather crowed. Jones was scrolling code on his laptop; Smith and Mimosa were speaking in hushed and worried tones in the corner. Two medical agents were hovering around barking orders to assisting recruits and conferring every so often with Jones. Zane tried to stay out of the way. He had been ordered not to go any were. He would be questioned. All they could tell was that something was wrong with Clarke's code, but what was unknown. No agent had ever been 'sick' before.
Brown shifted into the room and spoke briefly to Agent Smith. The two Agents turned and looked straight at him. Zane stood tall, well as tall as possible for him, and looked straight back at Brown. Worry was clear on his face, but Browns was cold and empty.
Zane tensed as the tall Agent walked towards him; determined however, not to flinch away, he stood and faced the oncoming mountain. "Recruit, we will go to my office and discuss this." Before Zane could answer Brown had shifted then into his office. There were two chairs. Brown sat behind and cold metal desk, Zane however did not sit. This was obviously to be a very formal 'discussion' as Brown had called it, so he waited to be allowed before sitting.
"Recruit Zane, sit." He did so and felt like a dog heeding its master. "How did you find Agent Clarke?"
"How did I find him? Or how was he when I found him, Sir?"
Brown glared at him. "Both."
"He was standing sir, in the hallway. I was heading to the Gym to train, and I rounded a corner and ran into him. He then fell over sir."
"Fell over?"
"Yes sir, like a statue. So I ran back to Smith, whom I had just been speaking too, hoping he would still be in his office."
"Why were you speaking to Agent Smith? Your are not his recruit."
"No sir, I belong to you." He met Browns eyes, and remembering Smiths words and tried to show his heart in his eyes.
Brown looked slightly uncomfortable, but he quickly hid this with a sneer and a bitter expression. "Answer the question Recruit."
"I had not intended on speaking to him. I was going to your office and ended up in his."
Brown sat up a little straighter. "Why were you going to my office? You have standing orders."
"I accepted those orders because I respected you. Then I learn you lied to me. How should I react to that? You locked me away for two months. I welcomed it, I never questioned, it was my honor to serve as yours, you told me I was your only recruit. You lied."
"I did."
"Why?"
"My job never was to protect your emotions Recruit. It has always been to do any thing in my power to make you the best at your task. You are to be the Field Division's Reconnaissance Recruit. Exiles must not know you exist."
"And you could have never told me that was the reason? You did not have to lie."
"I suspected you were a rebel," his answer was flat and biting.
Zane looked horrified. "Why would you think that? I will die before I betray you."
"Human vows tend to often be exaggeration. Besides, You could walk through walls, which is not something many of your kind can do. Not without long term training."
"You spent two months with me. I gave every thing for you. Do you still think I would betray you? I trust you with everything I have to give. Why can't you trust me?" Zane looked pleadingly towards the Agent. If Brown said what he dreaded, Zane would be crushed. Going on, as a recruit, as Browns recruit, would become impossible.
"I will not apologise for lying to you."
"I don't need to hear it," he knew that Brown's pride would always prevent such a thing.
"I don't think you're a rebel Zane."
It was a simple sentence, but he closed his eyes and let the Agents words wash over him. "Thank you, Sir."
Brown growled in reply. "You should have just jumped over the wall, then you would have been trained like any other recruit."
"I regret nothing. I feel blessed that I was able to spar with you. I learned so much." He hesitated before continuing. "Sir, I want to go back to training with you. I can not learn even a shadow of that on my own."
"I cannot let you come back"
"Agent Smith said you were afraid of me, of what I could do to your emotions."
Brown would not meet his eyes but looked to the blank wall. "He had no right to tell you that."
"But he spoke the truth? Will you lie to me again? I will understand this time."
Brown shook his head very slowly and finally met the recruits eyes. "I am hated, feared or treated with indifference by all. Programs, exiles, rebels, humans. They are all the same in that way. To defeat them, I must become hate, fear and indifference. Not you Zane, you treat me like I am a saint. You have so much patience, I don't understand, even if you do. I was written to defeat or to order, you defy both."
Zane looked at the Agent, his smile was warm and strong like a pure sunray in the dark of winter. "I don't want to defy you."
"But you do."
"I can't change what is in my heart"
"You told me anyone could change their heart"
"Yes, anyone who wants too."
Brown frowned in confusion. "You would peruse me even with the knowledge that I may never return any thing to you. Why live with such an unattainable goal?"
"It's hope Agent Brown. Have you ever felt hope?" Brown shook his head no. "Its amazing, in the darkest times of your life hope for something beautiful in the future will always get you through. I've had tough times before, and hope has always come through for me. It is all I have now."
"I do not know if I can hope."
"That's ok, I will hope for both of us."
"You should not be doing this."
"Please Agent Brown, I'm worthless out there. I need your help, let me come back."
"I cannot promise you any thing"
"I understand."
"Then we can fight four times a week." Zane bowed his head gracefully in thanks. "We should stay out of the way of the medical ward, and until we know what is wrong, no one is going to be allowed to leave the building. We can spar now if you want."
Zane shook his head, "I can't, Sir."
"What do you mean?" his voice bordered on freezing.
"I have orders Sir, I am not allowed to fight any one until tomorrow."
Brown raised an eyebrow towards the recruit, with a slight sneer, "Why is that?" Zane stood and removed his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. The entire of his abdomen with wrapped in gauze. He started to remove the bandages but Brown stopped him. "Leave it, just tell me who did this too you."
"Well sir Recruit Greer cut a seven inch gash in my stomach…"
Brown's tempered flared across his face. "He did what? He could have killed you."
"No Sir, its not his fault." He did his best to quell the fiery Agent. "I passed through a wall into the gym. I don't believe in walls but I do believe it swords. That's why I got cut. It was my fault, if I had been training better it would not have happened."
"I changed my mind, I want to see what he did."
Brown helped Zane gingerly unwrap the bandages and when the wound was uncovered Brown picked the small recruit up and set him on the edge of the desk so he could inspect the damage. All that was left was an angry led line were a bloody gaping wound had once been. "When did this happen?"
"About two days ago, he fights with the Katana, that's how I met him. I asked him about his blade and showed him mine."
"This is healing well, but it could be better," he was tactfully ignoring what Zane was saying.
"I know."
Brown reached out and brushed his fingers like butterflies across the mark. Zane hissed behind his teeth and arched involuntarily into the touch. He gave Brown a scolding look. "You can't touch me like that. Not if you want me to behave."
Brown looked confused. "I don't understand, that is not a an area defined as, erogenous, by human definitions." He did however step back and eye the recruit attentively.
"With you every thing is, erogenous" He mimicked the Agents tone on the word.
"Why is that?"
"Because just being with you make me happy, and when you touch me my heart races, and my skin burns."
"I do that?" Zane nodded in reply still with a blissful half smile on his face. "Most people find my touch disturbing. The rebels find it painful." He smirked.
Zane looked up at him, in wonder at the humor he had shown. "When can I come to spar?"
"For now, we have no missions, not until Clarke is diagnosed at the least. There will be no planing meetings, and I doubt they need me to help in the medical. I have nothing to do but stay here."
"I'm still willing to be your friend. We could stay here together."
"True, but you have to get dressed." Brown smirked at him and Zane smiled back, then slipped off the desk.
***
He shrugged on his shirt, and slowly replaced each button. As he looked down, watching his small fingers deafly slip the white buttons into their respective loops, he heard Brown move back behind the desk. After the buttons had been meticulously done up and his shirt tucked in he reached for his dagger. It was not where he expected it to be; he had set the blade on the desk when he had removed his shirt but now it was gone. He glanced around the room, and found Agent Brown seated once again behind the desk, with a look of deep concentration on his face. He was eyeing the blade and turning it in his hands.
Zane watched, ghost like in the far side of the desk and gazed at Brown. The silver blade danced light from the windows and washed it over the stern faced Agent. Zane held back a sigh, the light was pure and brilliant, and it seemed to cast a chaste air on features that normally held only death and hegemony. He walked closer and kneeled at the Agents feet, his face level with the blade until Brown looked from it to him.
"This is blade is acceptably balanced." The words were quintessential Brown. The blade was perfect, it had taken five months to craft for him, from a master in Italy. The dagger had a sweet spot so fine that it seemed to float in your hand. There was no other like it in the world.
Zane smiled up at him. "I am glad you approve. Can I ask you a question?"
Brown looked down at him in an almost fatherly like gaze. "I may not answer, but you may ask." His voice was smooth and drawn out, back to his formal speaking voice.
"How much can you feel?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you feel pain?"
"Only a fraction of what humans do."
"Do you feel other things? Does the lack of pain dull your sense of touch?"
"No, all agents have a tactile sense that is superior to humans."
Zane stood and stepped away from the Agent and dragged the spare chair around close to him. After he sat, his leg only a few inches from Agent Brown, he spoke. "I will have to remember that." He smirked and squirmed down into the chair, legs in front of him and slightly splayed. "So what do you normally do when you aren't on duty or scaring recruits?"
"I am usually bored."
"That's surprising."
"Why?"
"I had no idea you could get bored, isnt that a rather human thing?"
Brown hissed at him, "No, its not human," he spat out bitterly. His mouth twitched in a frown. "When I was first came online I never became bored."
"So what do you do when you are bored?"
"This is an irrelevant conversation." Brown fixed Zane with a cold glare.
"Yes it is, but do you have any better ideas for what you want to talk about?"
"I was not written to have idle conversations with recruits."
"But you were not written to be bored either. I think you do a lot of things you were not written to do."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Do you know I think your perfect?"
The question caught Brown of guard, and he huffed back, "Your over emotional"
"I know" He could not help but grin. "And you don't have enough"
Brown actually looked insulted. "I don't want any human emotions. They are a weakness"
"They are the strength that lets me stand before you. When logic fails it is emotion that calls the shots. With you logic fails me."
"What do you mean?"
"I know that you do not feel love, I question if you feel happiness, but I was drawn to you inexorably. Logic would have told me to stay away, I am glad that I did not."
"Why do you think I can not be happy?"
"Show me that you can be."
"I am happy now."
Zane sat very still and watched the Agent, taking in his stern face and cold demeanor. "Take off your sunglasses."
"You are in no position to order me."
"I only want to know, we humans say the eyes are the window to the soul."
"I do not have a soul."
"I think you would be surprised." Brown frowned at this comment, but removed his glasses any ways, laying them beside and slightly over Zane's dagger.
Leaning closer, Zane looked closely at the Agents eyes, but then shook his head. "I guess your right."
"I told you I don't have a soul."
"No, I think you are happy, though you don't show it very much." Brown started to speak but Zane raised a hand to stop him. "Yes I know emotions are a weakness, but you will not convince me of that, and you have a beautiful soul"
"I kill members of your race for my job."
"So do all war heroes, it is in there, Agent Brown. One day I'll help you find your soul, I promise."
***Part II***
Zane was up on the ceiling again. As the red hunter he spent a lot of time up here, crawling along and slipping through walls or sometimes up into the ceiling. These last few days had been easy pickings. Both Zane and his competitor officially, known as the Blue Hunter BK had rallied massive numbers of hits. Though Zane lead, his margin was slim, and he had to focus hard to hold it.
With Clarke out of commission they had no new orders and for safety, all recruits and agents were know confined to the building except for extraordinary circumstances. The recruits were edgy and irritable, and this made them careless. Zane marked another four recruits who like all the others fell unconscious and would remain that way for a few minuets.
He tilted his head hearing a noise that should not be. It was elevator number three. The one Anderson had managed to explode when he had broken into headquarters, the only elevator that went to the roof. It was going up and Zane was already on the top floor.
Zane scampered up the wall, and slipped through the ceiling. He shook himself up through insulation and dust, and scrambled over ductwork and water pipes. Then cautiously he lifted himself through the roof and up into the night.
The breeze was very cold in the midwinter night and bit at his skin. Zane ignored it and willed the cold away. Scanning the flat roof he saw the one who had previously occupied the elevator. It was a recruit, probably female. He could tell this was no Agent, she was too small for any of the male agents, and Koshin moved much more efficient and fluid in her steps.
Curling his legs beneath him he moved on all fours in a spider like manner, crawling slowly sidewise, one leg or arm at a time. With one hand he drew a red pen and inched closer. He was nearly close enough to attack when the figure moved away then ran towards the edge of the building. She leapt straight across the gap between the skyscrapers and landed flatly on the other side.
Zane was startled, the building was on lock down, even as far as the roof was beyond were he knew he ought to be. Not sure what to do he contacted Agent Brown.
[…Sir, I am tracking recruit who ahs just leapt off the buildings roof. …] He projected the mental image to Brown though the com link in his ear.
[… You have permission to proceed, keep in constant contact and do not confront them. I will be informing Agent Smith of the matter. …]
[…Understood Sir. Following now. …]
He removed the pen cap from his dagger lashings and tucked the pen into the pocket of his jacket. Then he required his gun, holstered it quickly, and leapt across the chasm as well. He had never really leapt buildings before but he had jumped from one side to the other of the grand atrium and presumed this was much the same.
Coiling slightly, he rolled on to his feet as he landed, and was silent in the bitter wind. Hunched down he ran swiftly and followed the silhouette of the girl over several more buildings.
[… Agent Smith has ordered that we cannot risk sending any others out. You must pursue on your own. …]
[… Understood sir. …]
[… Patch me a live visual feed. …]
Zane gave his vision to Agent Brown, letting the other see what he did. From here on out every movement would be seen by both himself and by the Agent. It reminded Zane of a guardian angel, but he did not let himself smile at the pleasant thought. He remained completely focussed on his task.
He skirted two more buildings and Brown gave him an occasional order on how to proceed. Soon they reached a dark blue building. It was tucked in the industrial area of town and was obviously a club of some sort. This was not in the normal patrol section and this fact alone made the recruits actions even more suspicious.
She landed on the roof gracefully and Zane followed behind. Any fear he had had was now gone after jumping a good number of rooftops and receiving several pointers from Agent Brown through the earpiece. She slipped through a door on the roof, and Zane followed her down through the roof into the inner workings of the ceiling. He required the knowledge of the buildings blue prints, and using his ears followed the sound of her steps on the steel stairs into the heart of the building.
He found her once again in the basement of the building. There were no open core walls here so he was tucked up into the bare pipes and rafters of the dimly lit room, with little fear of being discovered.
The recruit he had been chasing stepped into the yellow lagoons of light that puddled about the floor and over a mixed mash of gun parts, computer chips and pictures of a rather large chested woman in a red dress. The light fell haphazardly across her features and Agent Brown hissed in Zane's ear.
[…Bethan Seren, one of Jones'…] the malice was clear and range like a bell in his right ear. Clearly Brown did not think well of his fellow Agents recruiting skills.
Bethan deposited a yellow envelope on the rickety old metal lab table. Scrawl like writing was inscribed on the cover but Zane could not make out what it said. He inched a bit closer and waited watching as she fidgeted, fingering with the disks and assorted soldering irons.
Silently he dropped to the floor hidden in the darkness. He stood slowly, letting the yellow light fall in lemon and black streaks over his face outlining each feature. The contrast was stark and comic book like in its intensity. He smiled in a Cheshire grin and his teeth glittered in the dark room.
"Hello Clarice." He laughed darkly filling the room with a ranging sense of dread. Every move was calculated like masterful game of chess. He was here to strike fear in his prey. He played this game often with the recruits, but this time the game was real.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"I came to see what kind of rule breaking your up too."
"If you weren't so busy being Agent Assholes puppy dog, you might be able to see beyond that thick head of yours. I was sent on a mission you looser, a top secret one and you blew it."
Zane looked back at her smirking.
"What?"
He tapped is ear piece twice. "Agent Brown is listening to a streaming feed of the conversation. There is no classified mission Recruit Seren." She paled visible and took a step back. Sensing his advantage, the short yet ferocious recruit stepped forward drawing his dagger. "You want to this the easy way or the fun way?" The female recruit's eye twitched slightly "Let's play Star-Slayer."
The girl spun around and ran towards the stairs fleeing from the basement.
[… She is getting away…] Brown sounded angry at the lack of movement on Zane's part.
[… No she's not. I required the blueprints remember. Seal all the entrances and exits to the building. …] Zane felt a clicking in the code. [… Why do they run, Sir? …]
[… You tell me Zane; it's your species that always runs. Not mine. …]
Zane growled to him self. Then crossed the room to where the envelope had been laid in between radio scramblers and enough black market technology to make the most level headed of hackers turn his head. On closer inspection he found that the envelope was not yellow at all, but white and only deluded to that shade by the greasy sienna hued light of the room.
The name said 'Alpha' on the envelope. He tucked into the breast collar of his coat, then he too preceded towards the door of the room. Unlike Bethan, he did not head out the door that hung side ways on its cheep false brass hinges. He jumped and caught his fingers into the top of the door jam. Then with a bit of a wiggle and some good finger strength he pulled him self up and into the wall of the building.
He scampered up through the floor and emerged into the first floor, shacking dust off him self. The building was an old warehouse. It had sense been emptied and anesthetized beams of moonlight fell numbly on the cement floor. The rays danced and peaked their way around the dusty pains and boarded up broken windows, only to find entrance in cracks and the through the shattered panes.
Bethan was currently struggling to open the doors only to find each successive one sealed by bricks.
[… Shoot her now Zane. …]
[… Sir, she could be the insider that corrupted Clarke. We should see what she knows. …]
[… I have already attempted that, she has modified her memory files to dissolve if accessed by any one but her. …]
[… There must be a way around that? …]
[… There is. You have your blade right? …]
[… Yes sir, always. Why? …]
[… Cut it out of her. … ] His voice was cold. Inhuman. Of course its not like Brown was human any ways.
Zane twirled the dagger once in his hand and the other recruit seemed to sense his intention.
"So you're going to slice me up?"
"Yes, that the general idea." He closed in on her in slow but sweeping steps.
"How can you call your self human?"
Zane stopped his advance and raised one eyebrow quizzically. "What do you mean?"
"You're fighting for the wrong side Zane. We're their slaves. Do you think any of the Agents care about us? Were just batteries, they'll toss us once were used up."
"I fight for my home, and my ideals."
"Do those ideals include killing your own kind?"
"Only when my own kind becomes a threat to my home."
"This isn't our home. It's our jail cell."
"You want to live below the earth, to never see the sun? I could never live like that. It's like having no hope."
"You have never seen the sun either."
"The sun that will shine at dawn is the same one that always has shone. It made be happy before I knew about the Matrix. I always thought it was beautiful and holy in its glory. I know only now that it is code. But does that made it less beautiful? There is an old Zen saying, if you call a staff a staff, you deny that it was once a tree. If you call it a tree you deny that it is now a staff. What do you propose to call it?"
"I don't need your 'effed up mind games Zane."
"You can not call it anything, because the staff does not exist at all. It is only a perception of the great void, the mater that makes up all things. I look at the Matrix in this very same light. The sun is not a sun, and the earth is not the earth. The sun and the earth are code, and nothing more. They are void, as is the state in all things in this place. All things are code, there is nothing more."
"Your wrong, were human, we're not like those programs. Were real."
"Not in this place. When I kill you, I will only be rearranging code. You are nothing but part of the void. To cut you would be no different then slicing up an apple." He spun the silver blade again in his hand, and the anesthetic moonlight flashed across his face.
"Your sick, we're not just code. There is more to people then just our avatars in the Matrix. Brown really did a mind job on you didn't he? You're so far off the deep end you cant even tell you're drowning."
"It doesn't mater, in the Matrix I don't have to breath." He lunged forward and sliced a clean line across the fabric of the recruits suit. The tattered edges of the fabric tipped them selves in a brushed of crimson, and he heard a gasp a pain form the other.
The recruit looked down at the red line. "What the hell!?! I never really believed them when they said you viscously attacked and killed a rebel, when they were trying to free you."
Zane contemplated defending him self. It had been self-defense, but instead he settled for simply shrugging. There was no use defending himself to some one who was going to die any ways.
He readied him self for another lunge but was stopped by Browns voice in his ear.
[… Anderson's coming. Run, Zane. …]