Hacker bounced off the chain link fence surrounding the play ground. She fell onto the ground with a thud. Her whole body ached and begged her not to get up, not that she could have at this point. Her lip was bleeding and she was sure two or three of her ribs were broken. She breathed hard, her breath stirring the dust near her face. She could hear the sound of footsteps coming closer to her. Hacker grit her teeth in pain as the first agent picked her up by her bruised throat.
"oh no," Deimos said at barely a whisper. He stared at the screen in horror. "Hacker!" He yelled, helpless hoping his voice could give her any strength to deck the thing and get away.
"what's going on?" Hilios ran up behind him. Hilios was by most counts too young to be doing the work he did. He was fifteen with icy cold features. The boy's eyes were a dark forest green. His hair was white with hues of gray, symbolic of the many tragedies he'd been through in his short life.
"oh my God is that Hacker?" He said emotionless.
Deimos looked at him coldly. "I know what your thinking. Forget it. We have to consider her as already dead at this point."
"so your just going to watch her die." Ian said with anger and disgust. Ian's dark eyes stared at the screen over Deimos shoulder. He was 6'2 with short black hair tan colored skin. His body was taught, perfect for hand-to-hand combat, which unlike Hacker was his speciality.
Deimos hits the keyboard in front of him. "Dammit Ian there's too many! She's already dead and we don't need to lose another crew member!"
Ian walked away from his surprisingly calm.
Deimos sighed and looked at the floor. "It would make a difference even if you did go in there"
Hilios arched an eye brow ever so slightly. "well we're about to test that theory aren't we"
Deimos turned and saw Ian laying on a the seat and the white haired boy standing over him. Before he could utter a objection Hilios plugged Ian back into the matrix.
Hacker could feel her wind pipe slowly closing as the agent tightened his grip on her throat. She gripped her left hand with her right hand. With the last of her strength she gave him a sharp elbow to his left temple. The agent's sunglasses shattered into tiny bits. His head jerked abnormally to the right and his neck looking like it stretching. He dropped her to the ground and fell momentarily to the ground as well. She was leaning against the chain-link her feet flat on the ground. Her head was cocked back as she looked at the other four agents who would be killing her any second now.
Ian opened his eyes beneath a pair of sharp shaped sunglasses to the city hights around him. His clothes were a far cry from the rags he wore in the real world. He wore black jeans a black over coat and white T-shirt. Unlike the others he did make attempt not to stick out like a sore thumb. He ran down the street towards the playground where Hacker was. It was about eight blocks away. Part of him knew that if he found her he'd find her dead but never-the-less he had to try.
They looked at one of their own knocked to the ground by this pathetic creature. They turned their attention back to Hacker as one.
'well I NOW I feel much better. I saved myself from being suffocated just long enough to be beaten to death.' It was bad enough being killed by a machine, but they looked so stupid right before they did. Right now the only thing she regretted was that she didn't make a bigger difference while she was alive.
Just then all five of the agent leaped at her. Hacker squeezed her eyes shut and felt a wave of fear wash over her. She also felt two tiny little hands tightly grasp her ankles, and pull her through the ground.
Deimos tapped his keyboard several time, and made a puzzled look. "where the hell did she go?"
"did they--?" Hilios asked. Caleb stood behind the boy looking at Deimos. He was the only person in the crew taller than Ian. He stood 6'4 with bronze skin. Caleb was almost as wide as he was tall, his body seemed to be made of pure muscle. His upper arms alone were nearly a foot and a half around. His facial features seemed to always look on with great intensity. Dispite his obvious strength in the real world it was his agility and speed in the matrix that made him so important the group.
Ian heard his cell phone ring. He answered the phone but didn't take time to stop. "What?"
"she's gone"
Ian stopped and his heart skipped a beat.
"no I don't mean dead I mean gone, gone. I can't find her."
"what the hell do you mean you can't find her. Did they kill her or --" The dark haired man raised his voice frustrated.
"no she's not dead not yet anyway."
Hacker fell down into a puddle of fowl smelling water. She propped herself up on her elbows. The young woman gave her head a shake trying to get of the dust, dirt, and slimly water out of her hair. She coughed as she tried to catch her breath but it was hard because of the awful smell.
"I told you to run" said New looking at her face full of sarcasm.
"tried, didn't work" Hacker glared at the little girl. She let out one last cough and pulled herself up with the aid of the slim covered wall to her right. Hacker looked up at the at the ground above her. It was still intact.
"found her" Deimos He yelled his face lighting up. "she's in the sewer below the playground." He said raising one eye brow. ' how the hell did she--' "uhh you can get to it by going to the street to your left, down the manhole and then keep going straight."
Caleb turned to Deimos. "how did she end up in the sewer." Deimos looked at him confused and shrugged.
New looked up at Hacker. "one of your little friends will be picking you up soon." Hacker was still distracted by the fact she had gone through the ground.
"how?" was all she could say.
"The rules of this world don't apply to me. I thought the spinning in mid air kinda made than obvious."
Hacker rolled her eyes toward the little girl and sighed. Her eyes drifted down to the girls feet the was didn't touch them or the space around. New smiled at the neon haired woman's annoyance with her, but her smile soon disappeared.
"you seem like the persistent type. Once you get cleaned up your probably going to come right back here am I right." New said hovering a bit.
"I have to" Hacker said in a monotone.
New sighed. "I thought so, in that case you should know I send off a beckon where ever I go since I'm still apart of the system." She searched on of the pockets of her dress. "It's hardly a problem for me but you on the other hand--" she pulled out a small pendent shaped object covered in microchips. She tossed it at Hacker. She caught it and looked it over. "your not fast enough to run from them at least not that many. So if you do plan on dropping by again come well armed"
Hacker glanced up at her once or twice still focused on the object. "so what's this do?"
"It works the same way as a magnet. It disrupts their equilibrium just long enough for you to get away. Keep in mind it only works once and for about thirty seconds so don't use it unless it's absolutely necessary" New looked up at the ground and listened to the faint pounding sounds she could hear. "I better get moving they will be breaking through soon."
"wait just one thing" The young woman said quickly before the girl left. "why? why are they going through some much trouble to get rid of a little girl."
New stared at the woman for a long moment. "because my presents here causes a glitch in the system
a particularly lethal glitch as far as agents are concerned." New a gave a small comforting smile. "don't worry about it now"
The ground over their heads began to crumble. "go"
Hacker winced as she began to walk away. She turned one last time to look at the girl but she was gone. Hacker limped down the tunnel as fast as she could. The sound of the agents breaking through the ground could be heard behind her.
"Hacker .... Hacker ...."
The neon haired woman could hear a man's voice calling to her. Ian ran down to her. "can you walk?"
"not fast enough"
Ian picked her up and began to run towards the nearest manhole.
Hacker climbed up first shooting pains going through her body. She lifted up the manhole cover then ducked down just as a car passed over it. Hacker looked down at Ian both rolling their eyes in sheer annoyance.
The manhole cover flew into the air as Ian kicked it off stopping three cars. He climbed out and helped Hacker after him. He slung one of her arms over him and helped her across the street, paying little mind to the drivers flicking them off. Hacker reached into Ian's coat and pulled out his cell.
"operator"
"Deimos" Hacker said short of breath.
"got it ... ok the pay phone in front of you"
Hacker opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings it was a dark, damp, and dank. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. She was surrounded by familiar and relieved faces.
Ian looked at her a smiled. "thought we lost you there for a moment there."
Hacker looked at him, her eyes were heavy and her eye lashes blurred her view. "thought I was lost for a moment there." A smile graced her porcelain features. "good think you found me" Though there wasn't a mark on Hacker she felt drained, both physically and mentally, and soon fell asleep.
When Hacker woke up she saw that Deimos was sitting near her cot. Hacker looked over at him and rubbed the side of her head. Hey what's up? is something wrong?"
Deimos looked over at her and shook his head. "no, I just... when I saw that you were being attacked by those machines I didn't do anything. It was Ian who went in after you after I told him not to," Deimos stared at the floor of the ship. "If he hadn't you'd be dead now"
Hacker sat up in her cot and turned to him. "you did what you felt you had to do, you were trying to save lives. This is a war, sometimes you have to make hard choices."
His tension seemed to have eased a bit but he was still really troubled by it.
"hey don't worry about it now" She said with a smile.
"no sign of the woman or the glitch" Said the third agent from the sewers Hacker and Ian had used to escape.
He spoke to a sixth agent examining the phone. He dialed several numbers and the phone fizzled a bit. "I found the line they used to escape. I've already disarmed it they won't be able to use it to travel in and out of the matrix anymore."
"good" The third agent looked up at the now broken sewer tunnel. "I do not see how they slipped out of our hands so easily--" The agent stiffened then jerked from side to side. He blinked like a failing computer screen. The agent suddenly stopped jerking about and exploded into a shower of glittering 1's and 0's. New stood behind him and lowered her hand which had just touched his arm. "two down ..."
New floated up back into the playground where three agents where waiting. New looked around her the agents surrounding her.
The first looked at her, scanning her. "It's Glitch 10096"
She folded her arms and smiled. "I prefer New. It sounds cute don'tcha think?"
The agents stared at her deadpanned as always.
"guess not" she said stepping forth towards one of them. Blue sparks flashed around her in the shape of a cage. "what the fu--" suddenly huge sparks began to fly shocking her. She yell and screamed, her body thrashed about until finally she fell limp floating in the air doubled over. The cage flickered a bit.
"has she been disabled?" asked the fourth.
New opened her eyes and jumped to the ground. The cage began to shock her once more. She balled her fisted and screamed. The caged began to bend and distort. New forced everything she had on breaking the cage. It exploded blowing away all the agents in flurry of bright green numbers and half the block. All that was left of the playground and everything in and around it was negative space. The edges of the surrounding buildings were rimmed with green letters and numbers and next to the black nothing rippled like water.
New stood in the middle of the black abyss breathing hard. ' I'm not going to be able to keep this up much longer.'
_______________________________________________________________________
whew! I didn't think I'd get that done. Thax to Aquarian Wind for the review. It makes all my hard work worth while:-) Finally the story's starting to get good (granted the first three chapters kinda sucked but I think I'm getting the hang of it by now).
"Let us live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."
- Mark Twain
Wise words from The Wise Philosopher.
"oh no," Deimos said at barely a whisper. He stared at the screen in horror. "Hacker!" He yelled, helpless hoping his voice could give her any strength to deck the thing and get away.
"what's going on?" Hilios ran up behind him. Hilios was by most counts too young to be doing the work he did. He was fifteen with icy cold features. The boy's eyes were a dark forest green. His hair was white with hues of gray, symbolic of the many tragedies he'd been through in his short life.
"oh my God is that Hacker?" He said emotionless.
Deimos looked at him coldly. "I know what your thinking. Forget it. We have to consider her as already dead at this point."
"so your just going to watch her die." Ian said with anger and disgust. Ian's dark eyes stared at the screen over Deimos shoulder. He was 6'2 with short black hair tan colored skin. His body was taught, perfect for hand-to-hand combat, which unlike Hacker was his speciality.
Deimos hits the keyboard in front of him. "Dammit Ian there's too many! She's already dead and we don't need to lose another crew member!"
Ian walked away from his surprisingly calm.
Deimos sighed and looked at the floor. "It would make a difference even if you did go in there"
Hilios arched an eye brow ever so slightly. "well we're about to test that theory aren't we"
Deimos turned and saw Ian laying on a the seat and the white haired boy standing over him. Before he could utter a objection Hilios plugged Ian back into the matrix.
Hacker could feel her wind pipe slowly closing as the agent tightened his grip on her throat. She gripped her left hand with her right hand. With the last of her strength she gave him a sharp elbow to his left temple. The agent's sunglasses shattered into tiny bits. His head jerked abnormally to the right and his neck looking like it stretching. He dropped her to the ground and fell momentarily to the ground as well. She was leaning against the chain-link her feet flat on the ground. Her head was cocked back as she looked at the other four agents who would be killing her any second now.
Ian opened his eyes beneath a pair of sharp shaped sunglasses to the city hights around him. His clothes were a far cry from the rags he wore in the real world. He wore black jeans a black over coat and white T-shirt. Unlike the others he did make attempt not to stick out like a sore thumb. He ran down the street towards the playground where Hacker was. It was about eight blocks away. Part of him knew that if he found her he'd find her dead but never-the-less he had to try.
They looked at one of their own knocked to the ground by this pathetic creature. They turned their attention back to Hacker as one.
'well I NOW I feel much better. I saved myself from being suffocated just long enough to be beaten to death.' It was bad enough being killed by a machine, but they looked so stupid right before they did. Right now the only thing she regretted was that she didn't make a bigger difference while she was alive.
Just then all five of the agent leaped at her. Hacker squeezed her eyes shut and felt a wave of fear wash over her. She also felt two tiny little hands tightly grasp her ankles, and pull her through the ground.
Deimos tapped his keyboard several time, and made a puzzled look. "where the hell did she go?"
"did they--?" Hilios asked. Caleb stood behind the boy looking at Deimos. He was the only person in the crew taller than Ian. He stood 6'4 with bronze skin. Caleb was almost as wide as he was tall, his body seemed to be made of pure muscle. His upper arms alone were nearly a foot and a half around. His facial features seemed to always look on with great intensity. Dispite his obvious strength in the real world it was his agility and speed in the matrix that made him so important the group.
Ian heard his cell phone ring. He answered the phone but didn't take time to stop. "What?"
"she's gone"
Ian stopped and his heart skipped a beat.
"no I don't mean dead I mean gone, gone. I can't find her."
"what the hell do you mean you can't find her. Did they kill her or --" The dark haired man raised his voice frustrated.
"no she's not dead not yet anyway."
Hacker fell down into a puddle of fowl smelling water. She propped herself up on her elbows. The young woman gave her head a shake trying to get of the dust, dirt, and slimly water out of her hair. She coughed as she tried to catch her breath but it was hard because of the awful smell.
"I told you to run" said New looking at her face full of sarcasm.
"tried, didn't work" Hacker glared at the little girl. She let out one last cough and pulled herself up with the aid of the slim covered wall to her right. Hacker looked up at the at the ground above her. It was still intact.
"found her" Deimos He yelled his face lighting up. "she's in the sewer below the playground." He said raising one eye brow. ' how the hell did she--' "uhh you can get to it by going to the street to your left, down the manhole and then keep going straight."
Caleb turned to Deimos. "how did she end up in the sewer." Deimos looked at him confused and shrugged.
New looked up at Hacker. "one of your little friends will be picking you up soon." Hacker was still distracted by the fact she had gone through the ground.
"how?" was all she could say.
"The rules of this world don't apply to me. I thought the spinning in mid air kinda made than obvious."
Hacker rolled her eyes toward the little girl and sighed. Her eyes drifted down to the girls feet the was didn't touch them or the space around. New smiled at the neon haired woman's annoyance with her, but her smile soon disappeared.
"you seem like the persistent type. Once you get cleaned up your probably going to come right back here am I right." New said hovering a bit.
"I have to" Hacker said in a monotone.
New sighed. "I thought so, in that case you should know I send off a beckon where ever I go since I'm still apart of the system." She searched on of the pockets of her dress. "It's hardly a problem for me but you on the other hand--" she pulled out a small pendent shaped object covered in microchips. She tossed it at Hacker. She caught it and looked it over. "your not fast enough to run from them at least not that many. So if you do plan on dropping by again come well armed"
Hacker glanced up at her once or twice still focused on the object. "so what's this do?"
"It works the same way as a magnet. It disrupts their equilibrium just long enough for you to get away. Keep in mind it only works once and for about thirty seconds so don't use it unless it's absolutely necessary" New looked up at the ground and listened to the faint pounding sounds she could hear. "I better get moving they will be breaking through soon."
"wait just one thing" The young woman said quickly before the girl left. "why? why are they going through some much trouble to get rid of a little girl."
New stared at the woman for a long moment. "because my presents here causes a glitch in the system
a particularly lethal glitch as far as agents are concerned." New a gave a small comforting smile. "don't worry about it now"
The ground over their heads began to crumble. "go"
Hacker winced as she began to walk away. She turned one last time to look at the girl but she was gone. Hacker limped down the tunnel as fast as she could. The sound of the agents breaking through the ground could be heard behind her.
"Hacker .... Hacker ...."
The neon haired woman could hear a man's voice calling to her. Ian ran down to her. "can you walk?"
"not fast enough"
Ian picked her up and began to run towards the nearest manhole.
Hacker climbed up first shooting pains going through her body. She lifted up the manhole cover then ducked down just as a car passed over it. Hacker looked down at Ian both rolling their eyes in sheer annoyance.
The manhole cover flew into the air as Ian kicked it off stopping three cars. He climbed out and helped Hacker after him. He slung one of her arms over him and helped her across the street, paying little mind to the drivers flicking them off. Hacker reached into Ian's coat and pulled out his cell.
"operator"
"Deimos" Hacker said short of breath.
"got it ... ok the pay phone in front of you"
Hacker opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings it was a dark, damp, and dank. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. She was surrounded by familiar and relieved faces.
Ian looked at her a smiled. "thought we lost you there for a moment there."
Hacker looked at him, her eyes were heavy and her eye lashes blurred her view. "thought I was lost for a moment there." A smile graced her porcelain features. "good think you found me" Though there wasn't a mark on Hacker she felt drained, both physically and mentally, and soon fell asleep.
When Hacker woke up she saw that Deimos was sitting near her cot. Hacker looked over at him and rubbed the side of her head. Hey what's up? is something wrong?"
Deimos looked over at her and shook his head. "no, I just... when I saw that you were being attacked by those machines I didn't do anything. It was Ian who went in after you after I told him not to," Deimos stared at the floor of the ship. "If he hadn't you'd be dead now"
Hacker sat up in her cot and turned to him. "you did what you felt you had to do, you were trying to save lives. This is a war, sometimes you have to make hard choices."
His tension seemed to have eased a bit but he was still really troubled by it.
"hey don't worry about it now" She said with a smile.
"no sign of the woman or the glitch" Said the third agent from the sewers Hacker and Ian had used to escape.
He spoke to a sixth agent examining the phone. He dialed several numbers and the phone fizzled a bit. "I found the line they used to escape. I've already disarmed it they won't be able to use it to travel in and out of the matrix anymore."
"good" The third agent looked up at the now broken sewer tunnel. "I do not see how they slipped out of our hands so easily--" The agent stiffened then jerked from side to side. He blinked like a failing computer screen. The agent suddenly stopped jerking about and exploded into a shower of glittering 1's and 0's. New stood behind him and lowered her hand which had just touched his arm. "two down ..."
New floated up back into the playground where three agents where waiting. New looked around her the agents surrounding her.
The first looked at her, scanning her. "It's Glitch 10096"
She folded her arms and smiled. "I prefer New. It sounds cute don'tcha think?"
The agents stared at her deadpanned as always.
"guess not" she said stepping forth towards one of them. Blue sparks flashed around her in the shape of a cage. "what the fu--" suddenly huge sparks began to fly shocking her. She yell and screamed, her body thrashed about until finally she fell limp floating in the air doubled over. The cage flickered a bit.
"has she been disabled?" asked the fourth.
New opened her eyes and jumped to the ground. The cage began to shock her once more. She balled her fisted and screamed. The caged began to bend and distort. New forced everything she had on breaking the cage. It exploded blowing away all the agents in flurry of bright green numbers and half the block. All that was left of the playground and everything in and around it was negative space. The edges of the surrounding buildings were rimmed with green letters and numbers and next to the black nothing rippled like water.
New stood in the middle of the black abyss breathing hard. ' I'm not going to be able to keep this up much longer.'
_______________________________________________________________________
whew! I didn't think I'd get that done. Thax to Aquarian Wind for the review. It makes all my hard work worth while:-) Finally the story's starting to get good (granted the first three chapters kinda sucked but I think I'm getting the hang of it by now).
"Let us live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."
- Mark Twain
Wise words from The Wise Philosopher.