Original script for:
"The Matrix: Scan Disk"
By: Chase Langley
Black Screen 1
Matrix coding rushes down the screen at normal speed. Throughout the green coding are various characters, but one specific character, a mystique one, is red.
The coding stops moving in any way and the screen zooms in on the red figure. Screen is shown going through the red coding, into is various layers on the monitor.
SCREEN
Loading...
Virus found, running scan-disk.
Screen zooms out back to the green coding as it flows down. The matrix coding seems to come to an end when the last 'stream' of coding falls. Once the coding ends, the screen is blank.
Transition 2
The black screen then is lit-up by a hanging light (that of which flickers on and off) in the hovercraft Chimera.
Aboard the Chimera 3
A middle-aged man by the name of Frag emerges from his quarters wearing very ragged clothing. He yawns and begins to trot down a conveniently placed spiral stare case. The lower level of the ship has no lights on. All Frag can see was Matrix coding on the monitors, casting a green illumination upon his operator, Titan.
FRAG
What's up?
TITAN
I could have swore I just saw a scarlet symbol.
FRAG
And what time did you go to bed last night?
Frag's question is asked as if Titan is insane. Titan looks at him sternly.
TITAN
I know what I saw.
FRAG
Have you told him?
TITAN
Not yet.
FRAG
Well, don't you think we should?
Titan pauses for a few seconds. Then lets out a sigh.
TITAN
I wanted to be sure, so I'm running a search for any abnormalities.
Frag looks blankly at the matrix coding traveling backwards up the screen.
FRAG
Wait. Go back.
TITAN
What?
FRAG
Just do it!
Titan throws his hands up next to his chest.
TITAN
Sorry.
His fingers flare over the keyboard, ceasing the 'rewinding' of the coding.
FRAG
There.
Frag places his finger upon the monitor's screen.
Titan types Stop.exe. The coding freezes and there, just to the side, stands out a flaming symbol.
TITAN
Oh god.
FRAG
What is that?
TITAN
Get Org tell him it's an emergency.
Upper Level of the Chimera 4
Frag rushes to the upper level once again and finds himself in front of Captain Org's door. Frag slams the edge of his palm
upon the bolted door.
FRAG
Captain! Captain! Damn it Org, wake up!
Door unlatches and the captain of Chimera steps out.
ORG
Frag? What's wrong?
FRAG
It's the coding sir there is something wrong. A bug or, or something! Titan needs you down stairs now.
ORG
Get Web and Pixel awake, tell them there is an emergency meeting. Hurry, I'll see what's going on.
Frag wakes up his other two shipmates, then rushes down to the hacking area.
Org reaches Titan.
ORG
What's happened?
TITAN
A virus or, or something.
ORG
Do we know the symptoms?
TITAN
No not yet.
Upon another one of the various monitors, the strands of coding fall into geometrical place, as if they are planned to do so. Org's eye catches sight of the screen and sees another red symbol fall. Then again another red symbol falls, then another. Soon for every forty green symbols that falls, a red would fall as well.
ORG
What do you mean nothing!?
Frag, Web, and Pixel are leaning up in their reclining log-in chairs. All three of theirs were facing Captain Org's. Org's fingers were enlaced and pressed against his chin. His elbows rested on his knees very calm, very sturdy.
ORG
There is a virus in the Matrix.
WEB
Well that's a good thing right?
ORG
Let me finish. Zion didn't send it. Some how it can spread at an alarming rate. The council at Zion has asked us to cease it.
PIXEL
What? Isn't this what they wanted?
ORG
If this virus isn't stopped in less then forty-eight hours, it will spread and destroy everything and everyone within the Matrix. It may even spread into the machines not hooked to the Matrix as well, even the Chimera.
Frag is already up and out of his seat. His fingers are pressing buttons on his chair's status screen. Frag stops, he is ready. He leans back in his chair. Web, knowing what to do, slides Frag's needle into place.
Construct 5
Frag stands there in the midst of the white program known as the Construct. His navy blue trench coat has the chest area buckled up. He reaches into his under pocket on the inside hip of his trench. His hand emerges with a full-color screen cell phone. The receiver pops up when Frag presses the two side buttons.
FRAG
Titan, give me my goodies.
Loading Deck of the Chimera 6
Titan presses the RETURN button as Frag hangs up.
Construct 7
A small silver brief case falls from infinity, and lands next to Frag. A white table emerges from the ground below the case, carrying the brief case on top of the table.
Frag opens the case revealing its contents. Two .48 calibers lay in the foam lining of the right inside of the case. On the opposite side lay a pair of silver short blades. Frag slides the blades into his combat boots first. Then he places each caliber in their holsters on the back of his belt.
Web appears next to Frag. Her trench coat was unbuttoned and the hip of it was strand together at the back of her hip. She nods and places her own brief case upon the table.
Frag smiles and takes his blue framed sun glasses from his right pocket and slides them onto his face. His brief case flies away as bits of virtual memory as he walks away from the table.
Pixel pixilates from the endless white. His biker style look fits his large figure.
A few minutes later Org appears and is already suited up. His trench coat's collar is folded upwards, and the buttons on the wrists of his coat are undone.
ORG
Are we set?
The group all nods. Org pops open his phone.
ORG
Titan link us there.
A doorframe raises from the floor, then a door to fill it.
ORG
Beyond this link I can not insure anyone's safety. The score has been set and the opponent has met a standard in which could kill any of us. All I can say is that I have enjoyed working with all of you. Let us fight for our beliefs, let us fight for our god given free will, and the free will of others. I don't know everything the real world has to offer, but I'm happy to say that at the end of the day there may be one more mind freed from this imprisonment. One more mind that can feel life for real. One more mind that may even help us in the search for total freedom. I expect nothing but the best from every one of you, and the best from many more to come. Let's go.
Org's hand firmly grips the handle of the link. He opens it and allows his crew to go in first, he follows at the tail.
Second Floor Building 8
They walk out of a custodian closet on the upper level of a commercial building. Org's phone begins to ring. Org pops up the receiver.
ORG
Give me a reading.
TITAN (Over Phone)
Down a level, it's in the Tai restaurant in the lobby.
ORG
Down one level.
Org points towards the elevator. He puts his phone away and leads his crew into the elevator. The elevator doors close.
ORG
The reason I took so long to get to the construct is we had direct feed from Zion.
Music fills the elevator speaker with tunes that never were.
ORG
Someone take care of that.
PIXEL
My pleasure.
Pixel takes out a desert eagle and unleashes a whole clip on the elevator speaker.
ORG
Now was that really necessary?
Pixel shrugs.
ORG
We have less time then I thought. We need to delete this thing in less then three hours.
The speaker tries to manage a 'ding' when they reached the ground floor, yet it can only let out a light squeak.
Food Court 9
The crew of the Chimera walks out into a fairly large food court full of people. Out of one restaurant all the customers from within it flee, causing a huge uproar. Org looks towards Web. Web reaches to her side were a magnum hung. She grips the handle of her gun as the others grab theirs.
Frag has had his calibers out since the time they came out of the elevator. The overflowing crowd grows larger as others begin to panic. The crew pushes their way into the outflow of the crowd. The Tai restaurant is empty, except for the security officers. Their pistols are out and pointed at a very ragged man, homeless looking even. He is very dirty and his hands are glowing bright red. This man, this program, is the virus.
SECURITY CAPTAIN
Freeze!
The virus turns around and puts his hands behind his back.
SECURITY CAPTAIN
Keep your hands were we can see them.
The virus lifts his hands into the air, following the orders of the captain, then he puts them behind his head and lays face down on the ground. The squad rushes in on him pistols pointed to kill.
SECURITY OFFICER (into radio)
Subject is neutralized and in custody.
SECURITY CAPTAIN
Cuff him, I'll read him his rights. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will.
One of the security officers tries to grab the virus's hands to put them behind his back. The red glow of his hands burns the officer's. The virus does a spiral leap from the ground, twist kicking two of the seven officers. He lands ready to fight.
ORG
Pixel and Web go around to the back alley and block the exit, but first get a transport for the exit. Frag stay with me, we'll take him out.
With the orders given, Pixel and Web leave.
The Virus takes down the men one by one using mind-blowing moves. During all this the virus is also dodging the bullets fired by the other officers. He round houses one guard in the face, forcing him to go cheek first onto a Tai table oven. The oven sizzles as it burns the officer's flesh. The virus side chops a bowl of chopsticks towards the captain. Three chopsticks go into the captain's wrist. Drops of blood fall from the captain's wrist, only the drops of blood are really a red matrix symbol.
The thirteen other chopsticks that miss the captain come flipping towards Frag's shoulder. Frag holsters his .48's and twists his torso to the side so that he has a clear view of the chopstick flipping at him. His fingers embrace the chopstick, but Frag makes sure that it does not stop flipping. He instead twirls it in his fingers. He places his torso back into a frontal position and uses the chopstick in his hand to hit away the other twelve that are flailing at him.
Once Frag is free from the danger of the chopsticks he darts his at the virus, pinning his sleeve to the wall of the Tai food restaurant.
Org looks at Star as he takes down the remaining men, even while his sleeve is pinned to the wall. Star's opponents are down, and he is now pulling the chopstick from the wall.
Loading Deck of the Chimera 10
The computer monitors show a waterfall like effect of white coding. Titan quickly dials Org's cell.
TITAN
You're in deep crap!
ORG (Over Phone)
What happened? What's wrong?
TITAN
The Matrix, it can't handle the virus, it's sending a scan-disk shock wave over the whole system, the program will find any programs or lines in the matrix that are not supposed to be there and delete them. If the shock waves get to any of you before Star, you'll die then be traced back to the Chimera, we'll have squiddies all over us in seconds.
ORG (Over Phone)
How long until it reaches us?
TITAN
Forty-five minutes, an hour I'm not sure.
ORG (Over Phone)
Will Star be taken out if it reaches him first?
TITAN
He has spread too much already. If you don't destroy the prime file, him, then the scan disk program will overload trying to delete all the infected files at once. The Matrix will crash and kill all of its inhabitants. Don't you see, this was its plan all along. This is why it came.
Food Court 11
Org closes the receiver and slips his phone back into his pocket.
Frag kicks the closest table oven's burning metal top off and towards Star. The metal sheet sizzles trough the air and is met by Stars fist. The hot plate is sent back at Frag, who jumps backward into a bullet time scene in which he shoots the metal top away from him. He lands going into a backward
roll. Star tries to kick Frag while he is on his knees, but fails. Frag ducks under the kick, grabs Star's ankle and flips him on to an oven table.
Loading Deck of the Chimera 12
Titan sees the red light beside his keyboard blinking. Someone is calling,
not anyone from the Chimera. He can tell because he has them all in his
sights.
He flips the switch under the light to answer the phone.
TITAN
Operator.
WOMAN (Over Phone)
Hello Titan glad to finally get to talk to you, maybe now I can understand
why Org speaks highly of you highly.
TITAN
Who is this?
WOMAN (Over Phone)
You say that as if you didn't already know who I am.
TITAN
The Oracle?
ORACLE (Over Phone)
Bingo.
TITAN
What. Why. Me? You called for me?
ORACLE (Over Phone)
Of coarse you, Org the others are in the Matrix are they not? Of coarse, if I wished to talk to four limp bodies, I could. You see Titan what you don't understand is that right now, as in the near future, a huge choice is about to be made. One that can and will change the outcome of the Matrix. What
you do not know is that the choice is already known to him.
TITAN
To who?
ORACLE (Over Phone)
That is not important now. What is important is that you know that this battle, this fight for freedom, will rest on your shoulders. Fate will take
a turn, the future be re-written for whichever path you choose.
TITAN
Hmm.
ORACLE (Over Phone)
I know what you're thinking.
TITAN
Oh yeah?
ORCACLE (Over Phone)
You're thinking, how can I, a full blood human, change the scripture of the
Matrix? Your answer is them.
TITAN
Who?
ORACLE (Over Phone)
Is that a real question? Turn around.
He does.
ORACLE (Over Phone)
Those people, those souls, the souls of fighters. They are your decision. I could tell you right now that you are going to murder one of them. If I did tell you that, you probably wouldn't do it when the time came. Then again
how do you know that I wasn't programmed to tell you that to ensure you
wouldn't kill the one I speak of? If you decided that is why I told you that then you would kill the one I speak of, therefore proving what I said
from the start.
TITAN
That is?
ORACLE (Over Phone)
That you would kill one of them. I must go now, but tell Org hi for me.
The red light by Titan's keyboard blinked again. Titan could hear the
incoming call beep sounding in his ear.
ORALCE (Over Phone)
Good bye Titan.
The phone went dead. Titan flipped the switch beneath the red light again.
TITAN
Operator.
ORG (Over Phone)
Any advancements?
Titan says nothing.
ORG (Over Phone)
Titan you there? Titan? Titan!?
TITAN
The Oracle says 'Hi'.
Food Court 13
ORG
What did you just say?
TITAN (Over Phone)
The Oracle, she told me to tell you 'Hi'.
Org's expression goes blank. He jolts himself back out of a subconscious
thought.
ORG
Any advancements?
TITAN (Over Phone)
Nope still I'm waiting word from Zion, I sent them the history of the
Star's recording so far.
ORG
Ok, make the call as soon as it arrives.
Org hangs up.
Frag launches his empty guns towards Star. He catches the scraps of metal and melts them into red coding. Frag stares in suspicion. He then thinks
how to stop him.
Org walks up next to Frag.
ORG
We need to keep going. We need to bide Titan some time.
FRAG
I can go on forever.
ORG
If only it were that easy.
FRAG
We need to get his palms occupied. It's not his hand that carries the
virus, it's his palms.
Frag reaches down to his boots and unsheathes his two silver blades. He
hands one to Org.
FRAG
I know you know how to use one of these.
Org's mind has seemed disconnected ever since he hung up the phone with
Titan.
Frag snaps his fingers in front of Org's distant expression. Org jumps and
comes to.
Frag looks nervous as they rush Star. Org goes in for a wide slash, but
Star just twists his body out of the way. Frag swipes underhanded. He
connects the swipe by cutting off Star's right hand. The hand and wrist
suddenly shoot streaming red coding into one and other. The red coding joins the two limbs once again. Star turns around. The two men opposing him are on the opposite side of the room once again. Star cracks his wrists a
few times then faces Frag and Org.
STAR
You are fast.
ORG
So the mute talks.
STAR
Why are we fighting, we both want the same thing. The Matrix destroyed, is
that not what your reason for being 'freed'? Help me, go with my ideas.
FRAG
Without balance there can be no righteousness. You are an inanimate factor.
A tick, a pain. We, my foe, are total opposites.
ORG
Don't tempt it Frag, go easy.
FRAG
We'll go in one at a time you get him busy and put him near one of the topless ovens. I'll cut off his hand before he has a chance to regenerate
it. Then a little sizzle and we have virtual flesh burnt to a crisp.
Org nods, they go in to execute the plan. Everything goes well, Star becomes easily abundant to the blade. Suddenly, from nowhere, Frag reaches
out and butchers Star's hand. Timed just right the hand is engulfed in
flames.
The program screams in horror as if it were a human. He grips his wrist
that now is showering out red coding.
Org goes, following Frag's lead, in and makes an overhand cut. Star's left hand goes flying nearly twenty feet. The red coding immediately begins to bind the two limbs together again. Org, content on his objective, shoulders
the coding into breaking.
Frag grasps the plummeting hand and does an aerial, his feet kicking the top off the table oven beside him, then drops the hand into the furnace.
Frag then turns off the propane tank. He waits until the last flame goes out then looks at Org. Org secures Star, who does what is told on account
of his hands missing, he was nothing but a zombie.
ORG
He's so.
FRAG
Lifeless? Yeah, I mean think about the programming was written into what we
just deleted.
Org showed a nod of understanding. He then used a security officer's flex
cuffs to restrain Star.
The duo began turning off all but one table oven. They finish with the
northern most oven on.
View shows a far shot of Org and Frag going into the back kitchen, were the
food was prepared for people sitting a regular table.
View is lowered to show a propane tank with its hose unplugged, spewing its
contents.
Frag leads Org thorough a small maze of confused Tai cooks. They finally
come to a small door ironically reading 'EXIT' above it.
FRAG
There it is, our golden gates.
Frag opens the door, only to be roundhouse in the face. Frag is flung back onto his neck, then into a desperate roll. Frag reaches for his calibers, only to find his holster empty. He looks through the doorway and sees his
two fellow shipmate's body lying lifeless on the gravel. Beside their
bodies is an old '78 Lincoln. His vision is blocked by the body of an
agent. Agent Roberts to be exact.
Frag looks at Org. His hands outstretched grasping two sub-machine guns. Org fires. Each bullet moving so precise, each aim so exact, and each shot flowed in harmony. Not one bullet hit Agent Roberts, he had moved his upper
body so fast that the naked eye could not catch one movement. Yet Agent Roberts didn't need to dodge any bullets, for if he had stayed perfectly still, not one bullet would have hit him then. Org had been aiming at the
wires holding up three fluorescent lights above Roberts. The lights of
course fall directly upon the Agent. The mercury inside the fluorescent
bulbs instantly kills the body Agent Roberts hosted.
ORG
Let's go, now!
Frag didn't need to be told twice. He gets up and jolts to the passengers
seat of the Lincoln. Org follows his lead and take the drivers seat.
As they drove away from the alley, Frag dropped two bead bracelets out the
window. The bracelets both broke, and the beads rolled every which way.
Org popped open his phone and pressed redial once again.
TITAN (Over Phone)
Operator.
ORG
Titan we need an exit.
TITAN (Over Phone)
Captain I have to tell you something.
Loading Level of the Chimera 14
Titan had on one of the various monitors, an e-mail sent from the council
at Zion.
TITAN
I have word from Zion. Sir, they told me you hold the virus.
ORG (Over Phone)
What do you mean?
TITAN
When you broke the streams of infected coding, you yourself became infected by it. Since you were infected from the absolute prime, the coding, you are now encoded with the program Star. If you can't get out of there within two
minutes the virus will consume you.
ORG (Over Phone)
Titan.
TITAN
I'm sorry Org.
Inside the Lincoln 15
Org hangs up his phone and tosses it to Frag. A huge explosion comes from a
half a mile down the street.
FRAG
We did it we killed that thing! Org it's gone. Our mission is a success.
Org doesn't move. He doesn't smile or laugh, he just sits there staring at
the asphalt ahead of them.
FRAG
What is it?
ORG
Frag, I'm going to die.
FRAG
Huh?
ORG
Today is my day.
FRAG
But we'll be out of here soon.
Org laughs.
FRAG
You think this is funny?
ORG
The Oracle said this would happen. She told me that I would one day save the lives of billions. You see Frag when I met her I was very selfish. Yet even then she told me that I would die saving a true friend. She said only through my sacrifice would I accomplish my goal. The Oracle was right. I
remember he being very formal, always saying 'hello'. I gave her a hard
time about that. She said, 'The day I use the word 'hi' is the day you
die.' I never took her seriously. There is a program, scan disk, being swept over the Matrix as we speak. If it reaches you, you will die and the
Chimera will be traced down. If it the program reaches me, me being infected directly from the virus, the Matrix will crash. There would only
be time for one of us.
FRAG
I don't understand.
ORG
You don't have to, that's the beauty of it.
Org turns the car sharply onto Pierce. He presses the car's limits by going
through three gears in less than ten seconds. The old Lincoln must have been going nearly one hundred and twenty. There is a wall separating the alley behind the Adult Bookstore and Golden just to the right of Pierce's
turn into Golden.
ORG
On my count, jump out of the car.
FRAG
What?
ORG
Do it!
FRAG
Ok!
ORG
One.
The wall draws nearer.
ORG
Two.
The Lincoln passes a cop car just before it would have rammed it.
ORG
Three!
The two launch from the Lincoln and roll to the gutter of the sidewalk near the wall. The Lincoln is still rolling at full speed towards the wall. The car does a flip from the impact of the fire hydrant in front of the wall. The car lands upside down on top of the wall, crumbling it brick by brick.
Frag and Org turn their attention in the opposite direction. A huge tidal
wave of blinding light is coming over the skyscrapers.
ORG
That's scan disk! Run get to the exit! I'm right behind you.
Frag sprinted for the phone. Frag grabs for the pay phone, he fumbles a bit, yet he catches it before it could drop. In an instant he was out. Org
pops the receiver of his phone.
ORG
Now Titan, now!
Org dropped his phone at the sight of his hands glowing red. Org's eyes
roll into his head and his head falls to the ground. The wave of light
passes over Org's dead body.
Loading Level of the Chimera 16
Frag feels the needle being pulled from his head. The jolts up and lets out a cry of excitement. The mission is a success. Yet why did Titan have Org's
needle in the opposite hand of Frag's?
FRAG
How could you!?
TITAN
He was infected Frag, Org was infected. Remember the coding? He touched it.
It was a direct source, he became that monster.
Frag listened to the speakers near the monitors. The same audio played
over, and over. Always saying, 'Now Titan, now!' Frag understood. Org
hadn't had anytime.
FRAG
And them?
He looked at Web and Pixel, both unplugged.
TITAN
If scan disk had reached their bodies, we would have all died.
Frag nods, and embraces Titan in a mourning hug.
"The Matrix: Scan Disk"
By: Chase Langley
Black Screen 1
Matrix coding rushes down the screen at normal speed. Throughout the green coding are various characters, but one specific character, a mystique one, is red.
The coding stops moving in any way and the screen zooms in on the red figure. Screen is shown going through the red coding, into is various layers on the monitor.
SCREEN
Loading...
Virus found, running scan-disk.
Screen zooms out back to the green coding as it flows down. The matrix coding seems to come to an end when the last 'stream' of coding falls. Once the coding ends, the screen is blank.
Transition 2
The black screen then is lit-up by a hanging light (that of which flickers on and off) in the hovercraft Chimera.
Aboard the Chimera 3
A middle-aged man by the name of Frag emerges from his quarters wearing very ragged clothing. He yawns and begins to trot down a conveniently placed spiral stare case. The lower level of the ship has no lights on. All Frag can see was Matrix coding on the monitors, casting a green illumination upon his operator, Titan.
FRAG
What's up?
TITAN
I could have swore I just saw a scarlet symbol.
FRAG
And what time did you go to bed last night?
Frag's question is asked as if Titan is insane. Titan looks at him sternly.
TITAN
I know what I saw.
FRAG
Have you told him?
TITAN
Not yet.
FRAG
Well, don't you think we should?
Titan pauses for a few seconds. Then lets out a sigh.
TITAN
I wanted to be sure, so I'm running a search for any abnormalities.
Frag looks blankly at the matrix coding traveling backwards up the screen.
FRAG
Wait. Go back.
TITAN
What?
FRAG
Just do it!
Titan throws his hands up next to his chest.
TITAN
Sorry.
His fingers flare over the keyboard, ceasing the 'rewinding' of the coding.
FRAG
There.
Frag places his finger upon the monitor's screen.
Titan types Stop.exe. The coding freezes and there, just to the side, stands out a flaming symbol.
TITAN
Oh god.
FRAG
What is that?
TITAN
Get Org tell him it's an emergency.
Upper Level of the Chimera 4
Frag rushes to the upper level once again and finds himself in front of Captain Org's door. Frag slams the edge of his palm
upon the bolted door.
FRAG
Captain! Captain! Damn it Org, wake up!
Door unlatches and the captain of Chimera steps out.
ORG
Frag? What's wrong?
FRAG
It's the coding sir there is something wrong. A bug or, or something! Titan needs you down stairs now.
ORG
Get Web and Pixel awake, tell them there is an emergency meeting. Hurry, I'll see what's going on.
Frag wakes up his other two shipmates, then rushes down to the hacking area.
Org reaches Titan.
ORG
What's happened?
TITAN
A virus or, or something.
ORG
Do we know the symptoms?
TITAN
No not yet.
Upon another one of the various monitors, the strands of coding fall into geometrical place, as if they are planned to do so. Org's eye catches sight of the screen and sees another red symbol fall. Then again another red symbol falls, then another. Soon for every forty green symbols that falls, a red would fall as well.
ORG
What do you mean nothing!?
Frag, Web, and Pixel are leaning up in their reclining log-in chairs. All three of theirs were facing Captain Org's. Org's fingers were enlaced and pressed against his chin. His elbows rested on his knees very calm, very sturdy.
ORG
There is a virus in the Matrix.
WEB
Well that's a good thing right?
ORG
Let me finish. Zion didn't send it. Some how it can spread at an alarming rate. The council at Zion has asked us to cease it.
PIXEL
What? Isn't this what they wanted?
ORG
If this virus isn't stopped in less then forty-eight hours, it will spread and destroy everything and everyone within the Matrix. It may even spread into the machines not hooked to the Matrix as well, even the Chimera.
Frag is already up and out of his seat. His fingers are pressing buttons on his chair's status screen. Frag stops, he is ready. He leans back in his chair. Web, knowing what to do, slides Frag's needle into place.
Construct 5
Frag stands there in the midst of the white program known as the Construct. His navy blue trench coat has the chest area buckled up. He reaches into his under pocket on the inside hip of his trench. His hand emerges with a full-color screen cell phone. The receiver pops up when Frag presses the two side buttons.
FRAG
Titan, give me my goodies.
Loading Deck of the Chimera 6
Titan presses the RETURN button as Frag hangs up.
Construct 7
A small silver brief case falls from infinity, and lands next to Frag. A white table emerges from the ground below the case, carrying the brief case on top of the table.
Frag opens the case revealing its contents. Two .48 calibers lay in the foam lining of the right inside of the case. On the opposite side lay a pair of silver short blades. Frag slides the blades into his combat boots first. Then he places each caliber in their holsters on the back of his belt.
Web appears next to Frag. Her trench coat was unbuttoned and the hip of it was strand together at the back of her hip. She nods and places her own brief case upon the table.
Frag smiles and takes his blue framed sun glasses from his right pocket and slides them onto his face. His brief case flies away as bits of virtual memory as he walks away from the table.
Pixel pixilates from the endless white. His biker style look fits his large figure.
A few minutes later Org appears and is already suited up. His trench coat's collar is folded upwards, and the buttons on the wrists of his coat are undone.
ORG
Are we set?
The group all nods. Org pops open his phone.
ORG
Titan link us there.
A doorframe raises from the floor, then a door to fill it.
ORG
Beyond this link I can not insure anyone's safety. The score has been set and the opponent has met a standard in which could kill any of us. All I can say is that I have enjoyed working with all of you. Let us fight for our beliefs, let us fight for our god given free will, and the free will of others. I don't know everything the real world has to offer, but I'm happy to say that at the end of the day there may be one more mind freed from this imprisonment. One more mind that can feel life for real. One more mind that may even help us in the search for total freedom. I expect nothing but the best from every one of you, and the best from many more to come. Let's go.
Org's hand firmly grips the handle of the link. He opens it and allows his crew to go in first, he follows at the tail.
Second Floor Building 8
They walk out of a custodian closet on the upper level of a commercial building. Org's phone begins to ring. Org pops up the receiver.
ORG
Give me a reading.
TITAN (Over Phone)
Down a level, it's in the Tai restaurant in the lobby.
ORG
Down one level.
Org points towards the elevator. He puts his phone away and leads his crew into the elevator. The elevator doors close.
ORG
The reason I took so long to get to the construct is we had direct feed from Zion.
Music fills the elevator speaker with tunes that never were.
ORG
Someone take care of that.
PIXEL
My pleasure.
Pixel takes out a desert eagle and unleashes a whole clip on the elevator speaker.
ORG
Now was that really necessary?
Pixel shrugs.
ORG
We have less time then I thought. We need to delete this thing in less then three hours.
The speaker tries to manage a 'ding' when they reached the ground floor, yet it can only let out a light squeak.
Food Court 9
The crew of the Chimera walks out into a fairly large food court full of people. Out of one restaurant all the customers from within it flee, causing a huge uproar. Org looks towards Web. Web reaches to her side were a magnum hung. She grips the handle of her gun as the others grab theirs.
Frag has had his calibers out since the time they came out of the elevator. The overflowing crowd grows larger as others begin to panic. The crew pushes their way into the outflow of the crowd. The Tai restaurant is empty, except for the security officers. Their pistols are out and pointed at a very ragged man, homeless looking even. He is very dirty and his hands are glowing bright red. This man, this program, is the virus.
SECURITY CAPTAIN
Freeze!
The virus turns around and puts his hands behind his back.
SECURITY CAPTAIN
Keep your hands were we can see them.
The virus lifts his hands into the air, following the orders of the captain, then he puts them behind his head and lays face down on the ground. The squad rushes in on him pistols pointed to kill.
SECURITY OFFICER (into radio)
Subject is neutralized and in custody.
SECURITY CAPTAIN
Cuff him, I'll read him his rights. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will.
One of the security officers tries to grab the virus's hands to put them behind his back. The red glow of his hands burns the officer's. The virus does a spiral leap from the ground, twist kicking two of the seven officers. He lands ready to fight.
ORG
Pixel and Web go around to the back alley and block the exit, but first get a transport for the exit. Frag stay with me, we'll take him out.
With the orders given, Pixel and Web leave.
The Virus takes down the men one by one using mind-blowing moves. During all this the virus is also dodging the bullets fired by the other officers. He round houses one guard in the face, forcing him to go cheek first onto a Tai table oven. The oven sizzles as it burns the officer's flesh. The virus side chops a bowl of chopsticks towards the captain. Three chopsticks go into the captain's wrist. Drops of blood fall from the captain's wrist, only the drops of blood are really a red matrix symbol.
The thirteen other chopsticks that miss the captain come flipping towards Frag's shoulder. Frag holsters his .48's and twists his torso to the side so that he has a clear view of the chopstick flipping at him. His fingers embrace the chopstick, but Frag makes sure that it does not stop flipping. He instead twirls it in his fingers. He places his torso back into a frontal position and uses the chopstick in his hand to hit away the other twelve that are flailing at him.
Once Frag is free from the danger of the chopsticks he darts his at the virus, pinning his sleeve to the wall of the Tai food restaurant.
Org looks at Star as he takes down the remaining men, even while his sleeve is pinned to the wall. Star's opponents are down, and he is now pulling the chopstick from the wall.
Loading Deck of the Chimera 10
The computer monitors show a waterfall like effect of white coding. Titan quickly dials Org's cell.
TITAN
You're in deep crap!
ORG (Over Phone)
What happened? What's wrong?
TITAN
The Matrix, it can't handle the virus, it's sending a scan-disk shock wave over the whole system, the program will find any programs or lines in the matrix that are not supposed to be there and delete them. If the shock waves get to any of you before Star, you'll die then be traced back to the Chimera, we'll have squiddies all over us in seconds.
ORG (Over Phone)
How long until it reaches us?
TITAN
Forty-five minutes, an hour I'm not sure.
ORG (Over Phone)
Will Star be taken out if it reaches him first?
TITAN
He has spread too much already. If you don't destroy the prime file, him, then the scan disk program will overload trying to delete all the infected files at once. The Matrix will crash and kill all of its inhabitants. Don't you see, this was its plan all along. This is why it came.
Food Court 11
Org closes the receiver and slips his phone back into his pocket.
Frag kicks the closest table oven's burning metal top off and towards Star. The metal sheet sizzles trough the air and is met by Stars fist. The hot plate is sent back at Frag, who jumps backward into a bullet time scene in which he shoots the metal top away from him. He lands going into a backward
roll. Star tries to kick Frag while he is on his knees, but fails. Frag ducks under the kick, grabs Star's ankle and flips him on to an oven table.
Loading Deck of the Chimera 12
Titan sees the red light beside his keyboard blinking. Someone is calling,
not anyone from the Chimera. He can tell because he has them all in his
sights.
He flips the switch under the light to answer the phone.
TITAN
Operator.
WOMAN (Over Phone)
Hello Titan glad to finally get to talk to you, maybe now I can understand
why Org speaks highly of you highly.
TITAN
Who is this?
WOMAN (Over Phone)
You say that as if you didn't already know who I am.
TITAN
The Oracle?
ORACLE (Over Phone)
Bingo.
TITAN
What. Why. Me? You called for me?
ORACLE (Over Phone)
Of coarse you, Org the others are in the Matrix are they not? Of coarse, if I wished to talk to four limp bodies, I could. You see Titan what you don't understand is that right now, as in the near future, a huge choice is about to be made. One that can and will change the outcome of the Matrix. What
you do not know is that the choice is already known to him.
TITAN
To who?
ORACLE (Over Phone)
That is not important now. What is important is that you know that this battle, this fight for freedom, will rest on your shoulders. Fate will take
a turn, the future be re-written for whichever path you choose.
TITAN
Hmm.
ORACLE (Over Phone)
I know what you're thinking.
TITAN
Oh yeah?
ORCACLE (Over Phone)
You're thinking, how can I, a full blood human, change the scripture of the
Matrix? Your answer is them.
TITAN
Who?
ORACLE (Over Phone)
Is that a real question? Turn around.
He does.
ORACLE (Over Phone)
Those people, those souls, the souls of fighters. They are your decision. I could tell you right now that you are going to murder one of them. If I did tell you that, you probably wouldn't do it when the time came. Then again
how do you know that I wasn't programmed to tell you that to ensure you
wouldn't kill the one I speak of? If you decided that is why I told you that then you would kill the one I speak of, therefore proving what I said
from the start.
TITAN
That is?
ORACLE (Over Phone)
That you would kill one of them. I must go now, but tell Org hi for me.
The red light by Titan's keyboard blinked again. Titan could hear the
incoming call beep sounding in his ear.
ORALCE (Over Phone)
Good bye Titan.
The phone went dead. Titan flipped the switch beneath the red light again.
TITAN
Operator.
ORG (Over Phone)
Any advancements?
Titan says nothing.
ORG (Over Phone)
Titan you there? Titan? Titan!?
TITAN
The Oracle says 'Hi'.
Food Court 13
ORG
What did you just say?
TITAN (Over Phone)
The Oracle, she told me to tell you 'Hi'.
Org's expression goes blank. He jolts himself back out of a subconscious
thought.
ORG
Any advancements?
TITAN (Over Phone)
Nope still I'm waiting word from Zion, I sent them the history of the
Star's recording so far.
ORG
Ok, make the call as soon as it arrives.
Org hangs up.
Frag launches his empty guns towards Star. He catches the scraps of metal and melts them into red coding. Frag stares in suspicion. He then thinks
how to stop him.
Org walks up next to Frag.
ORG
We need to keep going. We need to bide Titan some time.
FRAG
I can go on forever.
ORG
If only it were that easy.
FRAG
We need to get his palms occupied. It's not his hand that carries the
virus, it's his palms.
Frag reaches down to his boots and unsheathes his two silver blades. He
hands one to Org.
FRAG
I know you know how to use one of these.
Org's mind has seemed disconnected ever since he hung up the phone with
Titan.
Frag snaps his fingers in front of Org's distant expression. Org jumps and
comes to.
Frag looks nervous as they rush Star. Org goes in for a wide slash, but
Star just twists his body out of the way. Frag swipes underhanded. He
connects the swipe by cutting off Star's right hand. The hand and wrist
suddenly shoot streaming red coding into one and other. The red coding joins the two limbs once again. Star turns around. The two men opposing him are on the opposite side of the room once again. Star cracks his wrists a
few times then faces Frag and Org.
STAR
You are fast.
ORG
So the mute talks.
STAR
Why are we fighting, we both want the same thing. The Matrix destroyed, is
that not what your reason for being 'freed'? Help me, go with my ideas.
FRAG
Without balance there can be no righteousness. You are an inanimate factor.
A tick, a pain. We, my foe, are total opposites.
ORG
Don't tempt it Frag, go easy.
FRAG
We'll go in one at a time you get him busy and put him near one of the topless ovens. I'll cut off his hand before he has a chance to regenerate
it. Then a little sizzle and we have virtual flesh burnt to a crisp.
Org nods, they go in to execute the plan. Everything goes well, Star becomes easily abundant to the blade. Suddenly, from nowhere, Frag reaches
out and butchers Star's hand. Timed just right the hand is engulfed in
flames.
The program screams in horror as if it were a human. He grips his wrist
that now is showering out red coding.
Org goes, following Frag's lead, in and makes an overhand cut. Star's left hand goes flying nearly twenty feet. The red coding immediately begins to bind the two limbs together again. Org, content on his objective, shoulders
the coding into breaking.
Frag grasps the plummeting hand and does an aerial, his feet kicking the top off the table oven beside him, then drops the hand into the furnace.
Frag then turns off the propane tank. He waits until the last flame goes out then looks at Org. Org secures Star, who does what is told on account
of his hands missing, he was nothing but a zombie.
ORG
He's so.
FRAG
Lifeless? Yeah, I mean think about the programming was written into what we
just deleted.
Org showed a nod of understanding. He then used a security officer's flex
cuffs to restrain Star.
The duo began turning off all but one table oven. They finish with the
northern most oven on.
View shows a far shot of Org and Frag going into the back kitchen, were the
food was prepared for people sitting a regular table.
View is lowered to show a propane tank with its hose unplugged, spewing its
contents.
Frag leads Org thorough a small maze of confused Tai cooks. They finally
come to a small door ironically reading 'EXIT' above it.
FRAG
There it is, our golden gates.
Frag opens the door, only to be roundhouse in the face. Frag is flung back onto his neck, then into a desperate roll. Frag reaches for his calibers, only to find his holster empty. He looks through the doorway and sees his
two fellow shipmate's body lying lifeless on the gravel. Beside their
bodies is an old '78 Lincoln. His vision is blocked by the body of an
agent. Agent Roberts to be exact.
Frag looks at Org. His hands outstretched grasping two sub-machine guns. Org fires. Each bullet moving so precise, each aim so exact, and each shot flowed in harmony. Not one bullet hit Agent Roberts, he had moved his upper
body so fast that the naked eye could not catch one movement. Yet Agent Roberts didn't need to dodge any bullets, for if he had stayed perfectly still, not one bullet would have hit him then. Org had been aiming at the
wires holding up three fluorescent lights above Roberts. The lights of
course fall directly upon the Agent. The mercury inside the fluorescent
bulbs instantly kills the body Agent Roberts hosted.
ORG
Let's go, now!
Frag didn't need to be told twice. He gets up and jolts to the passengers
seat of the Lincoln. Org follows his lead and take the drivers seat.
As they drove away from the alley, Frag dropped two bead bracelets out the
window. The bracelets both broke, and the beads rolled every which way.
Org popped open his phone and pressed redial once again.
TITAN (Over Phone)
Operator.
ORG
Titan we need an exit.
TITAN (Over Phone)
Captain I have to tell you something.
Loading Level of the Chimera 14
Titan had on one of the various monitors, an e-mail sent from the council
at Zion.
TITAN
I have word from Zion. Sir, they told me you hold the virus.
ORG (Over Phone)
What do you mean?
TITAN
When you broke the streams of infected coding, you yourself became infected by it. Since you were infected from the absolute prime, the coding, you are now encoded with the program Star. If you can't get out of there within two
minutes the virus will consume you.
ORG (Over Phone)
Titan.
TITAN
I'm sorry Org.
Inside the Lincoln 15
Org hangs up his phone and tosses it to Frag. A huge explosion comes from a
half a mile down the street.
FRAG
We did it we killed that thing! Org it's gone. Our mission is a success.
Org doesn't move. He doesn't smile or laugh, he just sits there staring at
the asphalt ahead of them.
FRAG
What is it?
ORG
Frag, I'm going to die.
FRAG
Huh?
ORG
Today is my day.
FRAG
But we'll be out of here soon.
Org laughs.
FRAG
You think this is funny?
ORG
The Oracle said this would happen. She told me that I would one day save the lives of billions. You see Frag when I met her I was very selfish. Yet even then she told me that I would die saving a true friend. She said only through my sacrifice would I accomplish my goal. The Oracle was right. I
remember he being very formal, always saying 'hello'. I gave her a hard
time about that. She said, 'The day I use the word 'hi' is the day you
die.' I never took her seriously. There is a program, scan disk, being swept over the Matrix as we speak. If it reaches you, you will die and the
Chimera will be traced down. If it the program reaches me, me being infected directly from the virus, the Matrix will crash. There would only
be time for one of us.
FRAG
I don't understand.
ORG
You don't have to, that's the beauty of it.
Org turns the car sharply onto Pierce. He presses the car's limits by going
through three gears in less than ten seconds. The old Lincoln must have been going nearly one hundred and twenty. There is a wall separating the alley behind the Adult Bookstore and Golden just to the right of Pierce's
turn into Golden.
ORG
On my count, jump out of the car.
FRAG
What?
ORG
Do it!
FRAG
Ok!
ORG
One.
The wall draws nearer.
ORG
Two.
The Lincoln passes a cop car just before it would have rammed it.
ORG
Three!
The two launch from the Lincoln and roll to the gutter of the sidewalk near the wall. The Lincoln is still rolling at full speed towards the wall. The car does a flip from the impact of the fire hydrant in front of the wall. The car lands upside down on top of the wall, crumbling it brick by brick.
Frag and Org turn their attention in the opposite direction. A huge tidal
wave of blinding light is coming over the skyscrapers.
ORG
That's scan disk! Run get to the exit! I'm right behind you.
Frag sprinted for the phone. Frag grabs for the pay phone, he fumbles a bit, yet he catches it before it could drop. In an instant he was out. Org
pops the receiver of his phone.
ORG
Now Titan, now!
Org dropped his phone at the sight of his hands glowing red. Org's eyes
roll into his head and his head falls to the ground. The wave of light
passes over Org's dead body.
Loading Level of the Chimera 16
Frag feels the needle being pulled from his head. The jolts up and lets out a cry of excitement. The mission is a success. Yet why did Titan have Org's
needle in the opposite hand of Frag's?
FRAG
How could you!?
TITAN
He was infected Frag, Org was infected. Remember the coding? He touched it.
It was a direct source, he became that monster.
Frag listened to the speakers near the monitors. The same audio played
over, and over. Always saying, 'Now Titan, now!' Frag understood. Org
hadn't had anytime.
FRAG
And them?
He looked at Web and Pixel, both unplugged.
TITAN
If scan disk had reached their bodies, we would have all died.
Frag nods, and embraces Titan in a mourning hug.