"Well that was pointless,"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who wanted a snack break,"

He was affronted: "But I was hungry," came his small reply. She rolled her eyes.

"What?!"

"Nothing."

Alias was about to lose her cool – Trim was being so ingeniously annoying that she couldn't get to the phone fast enough. They were going to try and get information on their new recruit, but she lost hope of doing anything productive fairly quickly. Instead of visiting the recruit's university, Trim had led her into the nearest McDonalds. And then to the nearest Chinese restaurant, playfully labeled 'Poo Ping'. Alias hadn't eaten.

A skateboarder whizzed past them. Alias rolled her eyes again as he did a few tricks on the curb. During one particular jump though, he fell to the street, splashing into the stagnant water. Alias stifled a laugh – Trim didn't. But the little punk wasn't offended by Trim's chuckles – he merely got up and resumed his wheeled jaunt.

In fact, he ended up falling the exact way as before, and their reactions were strangely similar as well. Déjà vu… Alias thought as Trim's laughter died down. The skateboarder shook his head and began to walk down the street. Good idea, she thought.

"Wait a second," she thought aloud, the kid already zooming out of sight, "Déjà vu??"

"Cool," came Trim's reply, "I never get that…"

Alias sighed angrily.

"Hey Trim," she started in a mockingly cheerful tone, "Why don't you check on our exit while I…" … she lost her idea – think of something!… "While I… keep tabs on the front?"

Trim's eyes widened.

"A job!" He exclaimed, skipping off to their exit. Alias, not alarmed in the slightest, began to pick flowers.

"ooh," she cooed, "Pretty flowers!" Obviously the real world had been lacking in aesthetically pleasing environments. Alias, for the moment forgetting the glitch – or even what she was supposed to be doing, plunked herself onto the messy pavement to observe the fragile works of art closer. She didn't see Trim galumph towards her in a state of panic.

"Alias! Helpy!"

She jumped a few inches off the ground and in the process, ruined some of her flowers.

"You little piece of –"

"No!" he shouted, trying to pull her off the ground. It didn't work. "Helpy?"

"What is the problem?" she finally asked, getting herself to her feet. Trim looked like he was about to wet himself.

"Our phone is gone!"

Alias gave him a look that plainly said – 'That's the most retarded thing I've ever heard of.' But he wouldn't have it, he insisted that the phone was gone.

"Disappeared!" he told her. Alias still didn't believe him, and was about to go check it out for herself when she heard a chilling voice from behind her.

"What's up?" Jones asked, waving like a fiend. Brown was beside him. Jones got a quick jab to the ribs, and was soon subdued.

"Oh, noooooooooooooooooo!" Trim shouted, drawing out the word for effect. Trim didn't get to be in the matrix often.

Alias grabbed for her flowers and was about to run when she noticed something strange. The agents weren't doing anything.

"Where do we go?" Trim asked no one in particular. "The phones are gooooo-"

"Trim, get going!"

"-oooooooooooooooo-"

"Trim!"

"-ooooooooooooooooooooone!"

Alias stamped her foot in agression. But Trim wouldn't go anywhere. He was still playing up the moment. And the agents were still standing where they were.

"Nice glasses," Trim offered Brown. He muttered a quiet 'thank you' and adjusted them appropriately. Alias looked at Trim in wonder. Then she looked at the agents.

"Why aren't you chasing us?" she asked. She picked up a flower that she had dropped, making sure each petal wasn't crumpled… The agents started scuffing their feet on the street, clearly dreading the thought of answering.

"Ah," started Jones, "We kind of got our guns taken away."

Alias looked at them in wonder. Then she looked at Trim. What the hell?

"But if you'll wait, we might get them back soon," Brown offered. He adjusted his sunglasses again – and it wasn't appropriate to. He just liked doing it for attention.

Alias sighed.

"So did you take away our phones?" Trim asked, more comfortable. Brown and Jones nodded in triumph.

"Why didn't you do it earlier?" Alias asked. The agents now looked very uncomfortable, and shifted on their feet.

"Uh," Brown started, "Technical problems?"

Both the agents had a coughing fit.

"Humph." Was Alias' reply. She was surrounded by idiots. Trim nodded in empathy for the agents, and Alias smacked him. He rubbed his arm.

"I thought only programs glitched though," she asked them curiously. Jones rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh," he started, "That's just Joe, the skateboard guy."

"Skateboard guy?"

"Well technically skateboard program," he said, annoyed by her lack of knowledge, "But he just makes sure all the skateboards in the matrix work right. You know."

Alias paused.

"I think we'd better get going," she told Trim firmly. When he shook his head in disagreement, she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away. The agents were sad.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait?" Jones asked, "We might get them back soon!"

Alias didn't reply. She pulled out her cellphone, (Thank goodness that hadn't been taken away!) and called Kesia.

"All the phones are gone," Kesia immediately told her. Alias sighed.

"We know. How do we get out?"

Kesia took a few minutes to respond, and Alias finally hung up when she got tired of holding. When she tried to call back, the phone line was busy.

"Stupid no call-waiting!"

A few minutes later Kesia called back.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

Alias waited for an answer.

"I think modems work the same," she offered. "There's one in the house in front of you."

Alias hung up the phone and stomped into the house, Trim dragging behind her. She didn't care that she was barging in on someone's dinner.

"Hey!" said some guy.

"Mommy!" said some kid.

"Ah, go away." Said Alias. They gave her the evil eye, and continued dinner.

So they went to the computer, and checked out the modem. It was a pretty typical modem, and Alias made Trim try the thing first. He put it up against his ear, and it started to beep. You know, that really loud Beeeeeeeeee-uh-eeeeeeeeeeeeee-uh-eeee-uh! SCHCHSCHCHCHCHCH Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Anyway, he didn't like it. But Alias kept him from taking it off his head, and in a few seconds, he was gone.

Alias repeated it, and was gone too.

Brown and Jones were lonely. :(

Heh. I know it's not hilarious, but it's food for thought… why don't they take away all the phones??