Title: Downloaded: Chapter Seven

Author: Stormhawk

Rating: PG

Notes: This is the last chap of DL, what's in here was actually going to be three really short chapters but now it's one.

Word Count: 3218

Please Read and Review.

It took about ten minutes for the cab them to get back to the guy's basement. Paying the holo-driver, they ran in and Grady immediately started hooking it up, he only hooked it to his central computer, for he would have time to connect it to the other two later.

After he had hooked it back up he immediately set about doing the same thing that he had done to get into the system. Sneaky_key was working overtime to rerun the same lot of passwords but none worked.

*****

Carol was sitting at the computer, waiting for the hackers to try and get back into the JL server, something she intended on stopping.

In the next room she could hear Jonas stirring, the jetlag was wearing off, but she didn't want him interfering. She wanted to have control of the situation herself.

Standing from the computer she mixed a couple of sleeping pills into a glass of water and made him drink it, less than half conscious, he didn't resist and he fell back into a deep sleep.

She had changed the passwords as soon as she had learned about the hackers; it was a simple and standard procedure. Now she was going to go one step further.

*****

"Finally," Grady said as one password locked in place. The word was 'Medusa' and it started to search for the next one. But a moment later the first firewall went back up and it began again.

"What the hell just happened?" Nevin said as he was watching over Grady's shoulder.

"Password must have changed."

"Why?" Stef asked as she came over from talking to the two girls.

"Either it's on an automatic cycle or someone is sitting there changing it," he said the last part with dread, knowing all the connotations of that.

"Jonas?"

"Who else would it be?" Legind pointed out. "Whoever is at the other end of the connection can see exactly what he's doing."

*****

Carol had made a password program that cycled utterly random alphanumeric combinations and changed all the different firewall passwords every ninety seconds. No one would ever get into this system.

She smirked at the screen, "your move."

*****

"What happens if he finds it's you hacking this system Grade?" Ruin asked.

"No one can trace me."

"This is Jonas we are talking about, the single best programmer that has ever lived. You don't think he can trace some hacker, even a first class one like you?"

"We have to get her home Ruin. It's my fault she's out here."

"I know that, I also know what happens to people who cross him."

"Nothing is going to happen," Grady promised.

"It might not be Jonas," Legind said. "It might be Carol."

"That suddenly makes me feel so much better," Stef said sardonically. "So it's murderous psycho instead of an evil god."

"Sorry," she said.

"What the…?" Grady said with a jump, a small IM-like window had popped up on his screen from nowhere.

[Do you give up yet?] It asked.

Grady looked around and understood the looks, [No.] he typed back.

[You'll never get back in without my help. I've made this system impenetrable.]

[We got in once.] Grady pointed out. He looked up at Stef, "who do you think it is?"

"They're both as bad as each other. I don't know."

***

[You aren't getting back in.] Carol typed but even as she did she took all the passwords off and waited for them to move. She had a plan in mind. And it was much better than sitting here all day trying to foil their plans to get back onto the server.

After all, she was in charge of the system at the moment and had complete control over it. Until Jonas woke up she was free to do what she wanted.

Carol smiled at that thought.

***

"I don't know what she just did but we are in," Grady said as his fingers moved in double time trying to get back into the source code directory. "Found it," he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Nevin hunted around and found a thin uni-cable, and handed it to Grady, one end he hooked into his computer, and the other to a small port on the side of her disk. "We can start the upload in a minute."

"It's been an honor," Tavis said bowing low.

"You are welcome oh Morpheus-like one, if he was as wise as you we'd be in trouble."

"Can I have another hug?" Nevin asked, whining like a puppy again.

Stef smirked, "will you let go?"

He grinned, "maybe." She gave him a hug and Grady had to pull him away again.

Legind and Ruin smiled, "would you autograph one of our books please?" Legind asked pulling the adaptation of 'Reality' out of her bag. Nodding, Stef grabbed a pen off the desk and scribbled her signature.

Finally she turned and looked at Grady, "goodbye," he said simply.

She smiled, "thank you."

"For what?"

"Showing me everyone out here doesn't hate me, and then getting me back home."

"You're welcome." He nodded and pressed a couple of keys on the keyboard, the hologram fizzed out as she was uploaded back onto the JL server.

Then she was gone.

*****

"Hello sequel," she heard a voice say as she opened her eyes. Carol. This was so not good; she had expected to be back home. Now she was in trouble.

"So it was you."

"Yeah," Carol said as she slid off the chair.

"What do you want?"

"Plenty of stuff but nothing you can help me with."

"What are you going to do with me?" Stef asked as she looked around, she was pretty helpless as she was under the projector, she didn't have any solid form at the moment, she was just a trick of light. And her old clothes had been restored, since she was no longer connected to the somewhat damaged disk.

But, she realized as she looked around more, this wasn't the same place she had been the first time. This looked more like a house than a lab.

"I'm going to make you suffer like I have."

"That's a bit melodramatic considering you were the one who made everyone else suffer. You're the murderer Whitman."

"I was insane. I can't be held responsible for my actions." Carol defended herself, she had been insane at the time, she wasn't anymore.

"And you think you're sane now?"

"I hate you." 

"Wow, this is news." Stef was trying to keep her sarcasm up, even though she knew Whitman was in complete control. Even knowing this, she wasn't really afraid. Carol turned away and typed a few things into the computer. "What are you doing?"

"Someone has to tell Smith about this. Since you've regretted to mention it before now."

"Leave him out of this."

"I really don't think so. He ruined my life. He stole my life away from me."

"He did nothing like that. He gave you another chance, you blew it."

"To my memory, it's been less than a year since I was human."

"You were never human. No one from the Matrix has ever been human. You live out here and you don't even realize that, we have never been anything except code."

"So what?" she typed in a few more code sequences and held up a single finger. "I press this button and he comes out here and learns the truth."

"Please don't."

"You really think I'm going to listen to you?"

"Where the hell is Jonas anyway?"

"I gave him something to help him sleep. I thought I'd have some fun."

"He's not going to be happy about this."

"He can wipe Smith's memory if he wants. Or I can wipe your memories and make you forget about everything."

"It's too much fun to let me remember everything so Jonas never wipes my memory."

"What makes you think that?"

"The fact that I remember everything."

"You don't."

"What are you talking about?"

"You call them 'nightmares' don't you?"

"Close enough."

"There's quite a few you don't remember, trust me on that."

"You expect me to trust you."

"You'd be a fool if you did but I'm not lying about that."

"Carol?" Jonas called from the next room. "Who are you talking about?" he asked groggily as he woke up.

"Go back to sleep," she called sweetly.

"Miss me Jonas?" Stef called. Jonas was a jerk and had the role of 'evil god' but he was somewhat more predictable than Carol.

"What the…?" Jonas demanded as he jumped out of bed and threw his glasses on. Leaning on the doorframe he took in the sight. "What is going on?"

"I think it's blatantly obvious don't you?" Stef asked sardonically.

"Carol I told you not to play with the system."

"I didn't, someone hacked in."

"No one can hack here."

"What? You think I pulled her out."

"You were about to pull Smith out." Stef pointed out, hoping that this situation would somehow diffuse itself. Jonas shook his head and walked over to the computer. Shaking his head, he cancelled the commands Carol had put in.

"They're just programs Jonas, can't we have a little fun?" Carol asked.

"You're just a program too Carol," he said as he stood and ran a finger over her shoulder blade and down onto her chest. Stef turned away; really not wanting to see what she thought was going to happen.

"How could you say that?" Carol asked, but somewhat dreamily, she was about as resolute as soft putty under his touch.

"Easy," he said as he forced his fingers into her chest, "it's the truth." He said as he flicked the off switch. Hologram skin, no matter what model disk that they are attached to doesn't work like human skin. With enough constant force applied to an area, solid objects can pass into or through it. Placing the large disk, which was about the size of a laptop from the Matrix, on the desk he looked back at Stef.

"She can be troublesome sometimes," he said with a sneer. "But she's worth it."

"She'll be pissed when you turn her back on."

"Not that she'll remember the last few minutes, I'm going to make sure of that. Then I'll really turn her on and she won't bother to ask me about the missing memory."

"I so wish I could puke right now."

"Grow up."

"Are you going to put me back in?"

"I always do don't I? Maybe I shouldn't." Stef was silent. "So what did you think of this world this time?"

"Different," she said suspiciously, wondering about the small talk. "I like Spyders. What's with the chit-chat Jonas?"

"Sometimes you act like Serica. It's strange to see that's all."   

"Did you base Whitman on anyone?"

"Everything that was beautiful and perfect, features for the perfect woman. Lot of fun to program. But maybe she was right about one thing."

"What?"

"Maybe we should tell Smith. I mean, he deserves the truth doesn't he?"

"You've ruined my life, don't ruin his."

"What life? You're both programs."

"Programs are people too."

"Don't quote that hippy. That saying annoys me."

"You'll have to accept it one day."

"I'm a programmer, I think not."

"You're too arrogant for your own good."

"Don't talk to me like that. I can delete you faster than you could blink."

"Then do it or send me back home."

Jonas smirked and sat down in his chair. "You honestly think I'll just send you on your merry way?"

"No," Stef said honestly. "Not really."

"Oh good, you aren't as stupid as you look."

"What then?"

"What makes you think I need to tell you? You're just a video game I play, just…fiction." He ended with a cruel smile. "I am so utterly in control, you have no idea. If I want something to happen, it happens. If it gets boring, I make it interesting. Like her," he said with a nod to Carol's control unit.

"So it was you, I kind of suspected."

"Yes," Jonas said. "It was me who sent her insane." He paused, "she was on the edge anyway, all I did was give her a little push."

"You going to tell her that?"

"No." Jonas said as he turned to the computer and started typing. He swore under his breath, as he had to work past a glitch, his system was nearly perfect but he had an annoying glitch that appeared sometimes. It wasn't anything important or damaging though, so he didn't bother about trying to rip apart his codes trying to find it.

The lights above Stef pulsed, "so what's it going to be this time Jonas?"

Jonas turned, "maybe you'll find out, maybe you won't." he said as he brought his finger down and struck a single key. "Maybe it's not even you I'll mess with."

She disappeared and he set about the task of deleting some of Carol's memories so that she wouldn't be suspicious.

*****

"No, I am not going to listen to you. It's not possible for school to be fun," Stevie's voice said as Stef appeared back in the Matrix; it was like no time at all had passed.

"Hey Stevie."

"Wow, you look really spaced out, you ok?"

"I'm fine." She said as she took a sigh of relief, she was home again.

"Ok. Well, for once and for all. School is not…"

"Koshin?" a voice asked from behind her.

Stef turned and saw Recruit Zane Kembrick; well of course it was Zane as no one else called her that. It was a Zen name he had given her. "Hey Zane." She flashed Stevie a quick look that told the teenager not to say anything. Zane was nice, but he was a recruit – Brown's recruit – and Agent Brown would be the first person to order all of their deaths if he ever found out about Stevie.

The recruit gave her a strange look, well it was earned because she wasn't in her uniform and she was sitting in a food court with a human teenager. "Would you like to sit?" they would have to be extremely careful with what they said but it was better than yelling about the Matrix for the public to hear.

Zane looked over at the teenager, "I'm Zane Kembrick – who are you?"

Stevie smiled and knew what to say, "My name's Brooke. Are you a recruit?"

"She's a collaborator," Stef said to the young man's look, he hadn't expected the young girl to know about the Matrix.

"A what?"

"Brown's told you about the Exodus crew right? The ones who got plugged back in?"

"Yeah, he doesn't trust them though."

"Brooke is one of them."

"Oh, ok. Like being back in the dream world Alice?"

Stevie smiled, "I'm back home, that's what's important."

"Finding a dream to fight for, that's what life is all about," the short recruit said, Stevie nodded in agreement.

"So what are you doing here?"

"What I always do," he said with a sigh, "trailing recruits."

"Who are the unlucky ones this time?"

"Anne, she's here on her rec time. But I saw Seiko over in the CD store."

"Stef, you can give him his CD," Stevie said digging it out of one of the bags.

"Yeah, ok. You don't mind Zane?"

He shook his head, "nah – I got to go watch Anne though. How many clothing stores are there in this mall?"

"Too many," she said with a sympathetic nod as they walked off.

"That was close," Stevie said as they walked out of sight.

"Yeah, I know. No one said it would be easy Steves." Stef said they walked into the store. Stevie went off to look at some CDs that she may have missed while Stef walked over to Greer. The tall recruit was wearing clothes that matched the motorcycle he so often required, well almost. He had a deep navy shirt on with black pants and a chunky silver chain around his neck. He was busy flipping through death-metal while not paying much attention to the world around him. He laughed at seemingly nothing before selecting a CD and looking at the tracks.

"Something funny?" she asked, he turned and shushed her. He chuckled again as if laughing at some private joke.

"Damn," he said softly and stopped smiling.

"Going to let me in on the joke?"

"Prank call, I was listening in on a prank call. They hung up though."

"Oh, sometimes your power has its advantages."

"Yeah, I think so."

"Notice the new Shadows album?"

"System Debris?"

"Got a copy for you before…what?" she asked as he was looking past her.

"Look at that…can't be…isn't that?"

"Who?"

"Hey Stevie," he called across to the teenager.

As Stevie turned and asked 'what?' Stef felt her life fall apart. No, this wasn't happening. Greer looked back at her and whispered down at her, "When you told me about her, you said she was dead. What's going on?"

Stef shifted the three of them from the store and into a dark alley. "Stef what is going on?"

She could just shoot him and leave his body in the alley, but that was a last choice option. "Can I trust you Greer?"

"Of course you can," he said without hesitation.

"If you jeopardize her life, I will kill you."

"I know that, but you can trust me."

"God I hope so. Come here Stevie," she said waving her over. "Stevie Smith this Greer and vice versa."

"Hey," Stevie said.

"I'm going to shift you home ok?" Stevie nodded and disappeared.

Greer slumped against the wall, "you told me about the experiment, you told me about Stevie, you told me she died."

"I lied. About the last part anyway."

"Does Smith know?"

"Well, duh, of course he knows his own daughter is alive."

"Please don't make my brain work overtime."

"We made it look like she died. We…got Anderson and his cronies to take her out," his midnight eyes flashed at her. "We aren't traitors, it was the only way she could live – she would have been killed."

"So what happened after she got out?"

"What you would expect of rebels, treated her like crap, tried to convert her, Anderson threatened to kill her a couple of times."

"So how'd she get back in?"

"She ran away from the Nebuchadnezzar. Just left – which by the way is usually suicide. Thank whoever for the Exodus though."

"The crew that got plugged back in?"

"Half of them anyway. They found her and helped her, then she got plugged back in. She's living under an assumed name now."

"How'd you manage that?"

"Faked file," she hoped he didn't ask any further into that because she hadn't been the one to create the file, that was Jonas' doing.

"I see," Greer said. "So no one else knows?"

"You, Smith, me and the Exodus. And the rebels of course but they aren't exactly going to rat us out. Can you keep it a secret?" He nodded.

"So what's her assumed name so I don't slip up?"

"Brooke S Tarker. Thank you Greer."

"Welcome."

"So tell me about the Exorcist crew," he said with a smirk.

The End.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Holy Jonas this chapter took a long time to write. I didn't like the old ending (or the other three versions of this chap). Zane makes his first appearance in an ATS ep not written by TheRedPony (go check out Bohidharmazan if you haven't already) and Greer finding out about Stevie was a plot hole the needed to be filled. 

Also going up today is Barrier of Existence, a Greer-centric episode.

And don't worry, we'll see the trio + Gadget + Legind and Ruin again.