"I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid... afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone and then show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules or controls, borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you."
Chapter One: Plague
Williams stood in the pounding rain. A long limo pulled up in front of him, and the back door opened.
"Get in," Lynx ordered. He hesitated, but then he got in. Lynx slid over and he sat down beside her. Trinity turned around and pointed a gun at him.
"What the hell?" he asked.
"You might be bugged," Lynx told him, explaining nothing. She took a strange machine and flicked a switch. It hummed to life.
"Tale off your shirt," Trinity ordered coldly. Williams looked confused, but he obeyed. Guns tend to do that to people. Lynx stuck the machine over his navel and began searching for the bug.
"He's clean," she reported, shutting the machine off. "Let's go."
The car came to a stop in front of a large building. Lynx and Trinity exited the car, Williams following behind them. Bringing up the rear was Phoenix, sweeping the street with a rifle. He made sure it was all clear, then shut the door behind the rest of the rebels.
Across the street, Agent Greer pressed his hand to his ear.
"Dest - reb - " was all he could make out. It seemed the virus was affecting the headquarters now. However, the Motherboard had put a plan into place where the rebels themselves would destroy the virus.
Greer chuckled at the irony of it all. He headed for the building, checking his firewall again as he walked. It wouldn't go for him to break down on his way to a vital mission. He had stayed clear of all the infected Agents.
He idly toyed with the vial in his pocket, the program that would defeat the rebels. It was simplicity itself, only taking up one line of binary coding to write. The Motherboard had simply changed the targeting information. When Greer activated the program, it would seek out and destroy the Agent-killing virus, replacing it with a human killing one. The rebels would be forced to destroy their own creation to save their lives.
Lynx led Williams up a spiral staircase and over to a wooden door.
"One piece of advice," she said. "Don't lie to him." She laughed silently at the same line she had been told, the same line every rebel aboard the Nebuchadnezzar had heard.
Lynx opened the doors. She heard the doors swing open downstairs.
"Agent!" warned Phoenix. Sirens erupted around the block. A light swung in through the windows. Cell phones started ringing.
"Helicopters converging on your position," Voyd warned.
"Holy shit," Lynx cried. "Why me?"
Neo came into the hallway. "I'll try and lead the helicopters off. You guys get out of here."
Everyone nodded. Neo walked up towards the roof. Lynx turned to Williams.
"We'll try again another day. Look for us."
The Agent came up the stairs firing. Phoenix triggered his weapon, cutting the program down. Williams suddenly began to distort, yelling in pain. Lynx pushed him backwards, down the stairs.
Greer took over the unfortunate convert's body. He rose to his feet, tossing the vial after them. It hit the ground and shattered, flinging a greenish liquid all over the place. Some of the liquid splattered on Lynx's leg, some hit Phoenix's thigh.
Greer fired twice. Phoenix grimaced as the bullet hit his leg. The other bullet hit Lynx in the chest, knocking her backwards. Morpheus fired three times, and Greer bent over backwards to dodge the shots. Phoenix ran forward and tackled the Agent, knocking him down the stairs. Morpheus leapt into the air and Phoenix quickly rolled aside.
Morpheus came crashing down on Greer, smashing him into the floor.
Neo ran across the roof, dodging the gunner in the first helicopter. The second copter hovered above ground, dropping SWAT men onto the roof. There was a sucking sound, and Greer took over the pilot's position.
Neo fired, cutting down three SWAT units. Greer lifted the helicopter into the air, dropping a vial of the virus down to Neo. Neo dodged left and leapt into the air, taking off into the night. Greer steered the copter after him, coming down to a level height. He moved the chopper sideways, as if to cut Neo with the blades. Neo ducked down and flew under the chopper, coming up the other side and firing into the cockpit. The Agent took the blasts, and the helicopter began to fall.
Lynx yelled in pain. The green liquid the Agent had thrown was suddenly burning, eating its way through her leg. She hissed in pain. Phoenix experienced a similar reaction.
"What?" Morpheus asked.
"Burns…like acid…" Lynx managed to say. She began limping towards the sink in hopes of washing it off. Morpheus yanked his cell phone out and flipped it open.
"Voyd, what the hell is happening?"
"It seems to be some sort of virus written to attack her avatar inside the Matrix, sir."
"Can we stop it?"
"By getting them out, yes. But it simulates the effects of a real wound. It could easily kill them."
"Where's the nearest hard line?"
"About two blocks down, but you've got one copter left to deal with. Be careful."
"Morpheus out."
Lynx and Phoenix succeeded in washing off the virus, but neither could walk. Trinity carried Lynx over her shoulder and Morpheus grabbed Phoenix. Fallen Angel covered the four of them with a street sweeper shotgun.
"Go," said Morpheus, kicking the door open. Fallen Angel pointed the shotgun towards the sky while Morpheus and Trinity dashed for the hard line. The copter veered towards them, opening fire with its gun. Fallen Angel fired twice, hitting the gunner and blowing him out of his seat. Another man took his place, firing again. There was a horrible sucking sound, and Greer took the gunner's place.
Fallen Angel fired twice, hitting the chopper's gasoline tank. He fired once more, and the tank exploded in a fireball. The chopper careened out of control, slamming into an apartment building. Fallen Angel wiped his forehead and continued forward.
"You see," Voyd explained much later, "The machines made a virus designed to attack our virus and replace it with a strain harmful to humans. Any human, plugged or unplugged, who comes in contact with the virus is killed almost instantly. If you hadn't washed it off Lynx and Phoenix, they would've died."
"What do we do?" Morpheus asked tiredly, rubbing his eyes.
"We have to come up with a program to destroy both viruses. Until we do, it's not safe for any human to go inside the Matrix. And sir, I've gotten reports that the Sentinels are on the move again."
"Shit," Morpheus said.
"Yea," Voyd said. They sat in silence for a moment. Voyd started typing.
"What are you doing?"
"Working on the anti-anti-virus," Voyd answered. Morpheus nodded. A beeping filled the cabin.
"We've got Sentinels!" yelled Phoenix from the cockpit. "Charge the EMP!"
"Neo's still inside!" Morpheus yelled back. "Get flying!"
"Yes, sir! What's he doing, anyway?"
"I don't know…"
Neo could see the virus as it did its work. The virus's code was a bright red, indicating a foreign and harmful program – Neo always saw the rebels in bright red coding. Neo concentrated and bent the coding around his hand, breaking it in half.
The virus was severed. Without a connection into the Source, it would quickly wither and die away. Of course, the humans with the infection would die, but Neo estimated it couldn't be more then two percent of the total population. More importantly, the rebels would be able to enter the Matrix safely.
But their plan had failed…and the machines were coming. Neo needed to see the Oracle.
His phone rang.
"Yes?"
"Neo, we've got heavy Sentinel activity. We need you out."
"Alright. Where's the hard line?"
"Two blocks east."
Fallen Angel hit the controls hard, sending the Nebuchadnezzar screaming around a turn. Phoenix switched the guns on and began firing at the pursuing metal horde of ten Sentinels. He took down two in the first salvo.
The Motherboard had dispatched a hundred Sentinels to harass the rebel fleet. She hoped they would either be destroyed or lose power, and that her actions would prevent many ships from taking part in Zion's defense.
Phoenix swept the weapon up again, hitting two more Sentinels. One slid left and crashed into another, bringing them both down. The remaining Sentinels each fired.
"We've got projectiles coming in fast…some sort of missile!" Phoenix reported.
"Brace for impact!" shouted Fallen Angel over the intercom. He scraped the edge of the tunnel, sending the ship spiraling out of control. Three of the missiles flashed past the hovercraft, hitting the rock wall beyond. The other two slammed into the side of the ship hard.
Everyone waited for an explosion. Nothing happened. Voyd shrugged mentally.
The wild spin settled down. Phoenix brought his guns to bear and fired again, hitting three Sentinels with a wild laser barrage. The other two flashed past and turned around, firing long, cutting lasers at the Neb. Phoenix swore and grabbed a plasma gun. The two Sentinels latched onto the top of the Neb.
He opened a hatch and peeked his head out.
"Hey, you overgrown hamster wheel, over here!" As the Sentinels turned to fire, he pulled the trigger on the plasma gun. The first Sentinel took the blast and crumpled to the floor. The second Sentinel was hit by its falling partner. They both crumpled to the floor.
Voyd shined his flashlight over the section where the two missiles had hit. The missiles' sharp points had entered the ship and opened, emitting some kind of strange creatures. There were three of them, and they looked like giant mechanical scorpions as tall as a man. One hissed and leapt at Voyd, attaching to his face. He yelled and yanked it off, bringing a sizable portion of his skin with the creature.
He yelled in pain and warning, collapsing to the ground. The three machines quickly swarmed onto him.
Lynx and Trinity heard Voyd's yell. They looked at each other, and Lynx grabbed a flashlight. Trinity ran to the Core and picked out a plasma gun. On their way back, they met Phoenix.
"You heard it too?" Trinity asked. He nodded. They continued down the passageway, Lynx shining the flashlight around them. The light fell on a form.
"Oh, God," Lynx said, dropping the light and sinking to the floor, hands over her mouth. Three machines huddled around Voyd, picking at his face. Voyd's body was a patchwork of scratches, slashes, and deep holes. Trinity fired at the exact same moment as Phoenix. One of the machines exploded and fell. The other two fled down the tunnel.
Lynx vomited. Phoenix grabbed her and pulled her up, leading her down the hallway. Trinity keyed her radio and rang the Core.
"Morpheus…Voyd's been killed. There's some sort of machines loose in the ship. I have to get it before it causes damage. Can you track them?"
"Yes. Go straight."
Trinity dashed down the corridor, plasma gun at the ready. She came to a split in the paths. One way led towards the Core and the other path led back to the engines.
Shit…
"It went to the engines," Morpheus said. Trinity jogged in that direction, something about Morpheus's statement nagging at her, some sixth sense telling her something wasn't right.
"Shit! It's right behind you!"
Trinity turned around and fired. The plasma gun hit the machine on the shoulder before it tackled her. The gun skidded across the floor, clattering until it came to a stop against the wall a few feet away.
The machine put its mouth next to Trinity's face and hissed, showing long, sharp teeth. Trinity swore and hit it, doing nothing. The machine suddenly seized up, sparking and jerking, before it collapsed to the floor in a smoking heap.
Standing beyond the downed creature was Neo, holding an outstretched hand, with a look of intense concentration on his face. He helped Trinity up.
"How'd you do that?" she asked.
"I don't know," Neo answered. Trinity bent and picked up the plasma gun, continuing down towards the engine room.
She pushed the door open and looked inside cautiously. She walked to the center of the room, sweeping the area with her gun.
"All clear," she reported. Neo entered behind her, looking around.
"Trinity, I have a bad feeling – " he began. The final machine leapt at him from the ceiling, knocking him over to the floor. Trinity fired her weapon, knocking it backwards and into the wall. Trinity helped Neo to his feet.
A squawk came over the radio.
"Neo, what exactly did you do to the virus?"
"I severed its connection to the Source…why?"
"It's gotten a hell of a lot worse, Neo."