A/N: Text between solid lines denotes static web pages and e-mails. As always [] denotes typing/chatting/IMs

Disclaimer: Matrix is owned by Warner and the Wachowskis. Agents: The Series is co-owned by me and Stormhawk. Tib belongs to me, so does Zelda. I don't own yahoo.com, ihatemimes.com, or ihateclowns.com. I don't own CNN.com or the story "Not Worth More than Rubies" which can be found on ffnet, a site I also don't own. Or Google. In fact, it's reasonable to say I don't own any of the websites, movies or games in this fic.

All characters and events in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events or people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Agents: J_Tiberius_K

Chapter 2- Eat Me

Tib drummed his fingers beside the keyboard, looking over his shoulder to make sure the professor wasn't looking in his direction. It was all clear, so he minimized the project he was supposed to be working on and brought up his mail box, scanning the contents quickly. Two DeviantART notes, probably for the pic he put up that morning, an ffnet author alert for the LoZ fic he was reading, Rainblood's reply in their Velgarth RP, and something from ZeldaDragomire. But still nothing from Blackbird_King, even though it had now been a month since he'd gone missing.

He pushed up his glasses with nervous irritation. Blackbird was supposed to be there, there was no reason for him to just up and disappear! Thanos' comments about the hacker possibly being arrested, and even gamerXX's Russian mafia theory had been playing over in his mind the past few days and he could hardly get any peace these days. That was it, he decided, cracking his knuckles. He was going to tackle this for real; he'd start tonight with a thorough check of everything Blackbird had posted in the last few months, and see if he could find any clues to where he might have gone. After that, well, he'd have to see.

He glanced over his shoulder again, the professor was hassling somebody across the room. He opened Zelda's letter.
___________________________________________________________________________

From: "Zelda" zeldadragomire66@ihatemimes.com
Subject: READ THIS!!
To: "Tib" J_Tiberius_K@yahoo.com

Tib,

Donno if you believe in this stuff at all, but I had a dream with Blackbird_King last night. I was standing in this room, I think it was a bunch of cupboards; it had a checkerboard floor and a sink. He was leaning by the door, looking really indistinct. He looked up at me and the room started spinning. Then just before I woke up he said 'Your move'.

Of course, I don't know what he ACTUALLY looks like, but in the dream it was him. Again, donno if you buy this stuff, but as far as I'm concerned it means that if you're ever going to look for him, now's the time.

Do you like my new email address? I thought about using ihateclowns.com but I like this one better. The excite address just got boring.

hearts

Zelda
___________________________________________________________________________

Tib raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure he believe the dream meant anything more than proof that he wasn't the only one worried about Blackbird, but still if he had been looking for a sign to go ahead with his 'investigation' he couldn't have asked for better, faster service. He smiled, pushing his glasses up again; the arrow hovered over the 'reply' button.

"Ehem," said a voice behind him.

Tib looked up, to see the face of his professor leering down. His heart sank to his stomach.

"Mr. Madison, I don't recall class time being the time for us to check our personal email. Do you, Mr. Madison?" Professor Johnson peered down at him, her blue eyes flashing behind her spectacles.

Much as Tib generally got on well with his teachers, his strict, female programming teacher, Anita Johnson, was the strange exception. It seemed to small fan-boy that the sharp-faced woman had disliked him from the moment he set foot in her classroom. Maybe her bun was wound too tight. When he was out of range of her wrath he hated her, but in her presence she was just intimidating.

"Sorry ma'am," he muttered, cringing away and logging quickly out of his mailbox.

She raised her finely plucked eyebrows. "Well, let me see your progress on our project, won't you?" she smiled with false sweetness.

He pulled up the other screen and looked up; luckily there was nothing for her to criticize, he was far ahead of the rest of the class.

She scanned his work, her gaze darkening. "See that it doesn't happen again," she snapped, and turned sharply, walking away.

Tib slumped back into his chair, relieved.

***

Tib peered around the corner into his mother's color-coordinated kitchen (black and white checkerboard), to find it empty. She must still be out at bingo. He smiled and dropped his bag on the floor, grabbing a Pepsi and the rest of last night's Chinese out of the fridge. He forked some fried rice into his mouth as he headed to his room. He froze, hearing the door.

"David, sweetie? Are you home yet?" his mother called.

"Yeah, I'm home mom," he said, suppressing a sigh. "How was bingo?"

"It was nice, Janine was there and I won fifty dollars," she poked her head into the hallway and grinned at him, her Day-Glo pink bingo bag hanging at her hip. "How was your class?"

He smiled wanly, pushing a strand of his un-even hair out of his face. "It was okay."

She nodded authoritatively. "You're eating, good. I don't like how skinny you've gotten. Sometimes I think you're anorexic."

"Anorexia is an almost solely female disorder."

"I'm your mom Davey, I worry about you. You were such a chubby little boy and you lost all that weight in high school," she chided. "You eat like a bird these days. All those funny soft-drinks and instant noodles. I just don't think it's healthy."

He sighed; they had this discussion practically twice a week. So he could count his ribs, that didn't mean he was sick or anything. "Okay mom, I promise I'll eat more."

"Good. What are your plans this afternoon?"

"I have some computer stuff I need to do."

She pursed her lips. "Alright. But do some laundry for me today. And I'm going to see a play tonight; you're welcome to come with me."

"I'll think about it. And I promise I'll do laundry."

"Good boy. Now go play with your computer," she patted him on the head and scooted off into the kitchen.

Tib rolled his eyes, chewing on the Chinese food as he hurried back to his room. His mom still treated him like a little kid, she always had. Maybe if his dad was still around she wouldn't feel so very obligated, but he hadn't lived past Tib's sixth birthday, and his mother seemed to think she had to baby him forever because of it. A kind of odd psychological reaction, but if that was how his mom coped, so be it. He pulled his door open, and closed it behind him, nodding respectfully to his poster of Lara Croft.

He sat down in his swiveling chair, pulling a small, cheap-plastic table over to put his meal on as he worked, and booted up his computer. He drummed his fingers beside the keyboard until a moment later the screen came up with his LoZ Three Goddesses wallpaper. He pulled up his internet connection. The sound of the modem (his mom wouldn't spring for anything better than dial up) reminded him to put on a CD. Tib turned around in his chair and thumbed through his considerable CD collection, most of which were burnt because he didn't want to chew up disk space saving his mp3s on his hard drive. The collection was impeccably organized, unlike most of his room, with the soundtracks first. LotR FotR, LotR TT, Queen of the Damned, LoZ Hyrule Orchestra, Harry Potter, Tomb Raider. He shook his head, needing to look no further since the intense work he was up for called for something instrumental, and slipped the Two Towers soundtrack into his CD ROM drive.

Tib had his mail box set as his home page and he saw Zelda's letter still there, unanswered thanks to the Vulture. He clicked reply and typed a hasty note.

___________________________________________________________________________

From: "Tib" J_Tiberius_K@yahoo.com
Subject: The Missing King
To: "Zelda" ZeldaDragomire66@ihatemimes.com

Zel-chan,

Interesting dream. I'm going to be looking for him, so spread the word, if you will. I plan on combing some old posts to see if there are any hints on where he might be. If that doesn't work, well, I might just resort to breaking and entering.

-Tib

___________________________________________________________________________

Breaking and entering, he might have to do just that, hack into Blackbird_King's box and see if he could find anything. He didn't want to, it was a terrible breach of privacy between friends, but if Blackbird was in trouble, or...he shook his head. Blackbird was not dead. Couldn't happen. Even if it was possible that he could have gotten into a car accident or knifed in a corner and no one on line would ever know, it was impossible. But he'd run a search of recent obituaries for 'Greer' just in case.

Another thought came to him. If Thanos were right and the feds did have Blackbird than they might be snooping on his box, and if he hacked in they might come for him. Not a good thing. Tib shook his head. Ridiculous, the answer had to be a lot more mundane, he was probably staying with some relative who was Mormon, or Amish, or one of those people who hated technology, what were they called? Ah, Ludites. They didn't even have light bulbs, and definitely wouldn't let him use a computer.

Tib brought up Google and typed in Blackbird_King, and then he brought up the message board network he most frequently posted and went to his missing friend's profile. His last five posts were, from oldest to newest: "Ganon, put some CLOTHES on!", "Re: Not Worth More than Rubies," "The Brain-dead Epona trick," "Re: The Edge of the Looking Glass" and "Re: Cyber-Terrorist 'Morpheus' Continues to Elude Capture."

The last post caught Tib's eye as something out of the ordinary, as he hadn't known Blackbird to haunt World News discussions. He clicked on the link.

___________________________________________________________________________

|Jareth459| "Cyber-Terrorist 'Morpheus' Continues to Elude Capture"

|posts: 764| Read the article [here].

|"Life is but
a dream"|
___________________________________________________________________________

Before going onto the replies Tib figured he ought to read the article, and clicked on the link, which was to an article on CNN.com. It turned out to be quite short.
___________________________________________________________________________

Cyber-Terrorist 'Morpheus' Continues to Elude Capture

article by Wolf Blitzer

Not all terrorists come from overseas and the personage known as Morpheus is a grim reminder. Little is known about the man, except that he is an American male of African decent and has escaped capture by the world's finest law-enforcement agencies for over two decades. He and his mysterious organization, believed to be a radical political group, are accused of everything from fraud, to theft, to arson and murder. While no one is quite sure exactly what this organization's goals are one thing is certain, they are willing to go to any lengths to achieve them.

One top FBI official, Agent Smith, had this to say about Morpheus.

"He [Morpheus] is a dangerous criminal. The effectiveness of his organization depends solely upon their ability to continually convert new members to his cause. He is not to be trusted under any circumstances. If you are contacted by this man or someone who claims to know him, call the police."

When asked the extent of Morpheus' operation or for a clearer picture of their goals Agent Smith declined comment, his partner, agent Mimosa, however, went on to say, "These people are crazy, they'll tell you anything to get you on their side. They'll claim to have the answer to all your questions, but they are just trying to pad their ranks."

Morpheus' group does the bulk of its recruiting on the internet, leaving cryptic messages on sites for hackers and other disaffected teenage groups. They are known to use biblical and literary references to catch the interest of intelligent youths and subvert them. Many teen disappearances have been linked to the activities of this organization.

Morpheus movements have been under close scrutiny, but for the most part he and his organization are nearly invisible to the police and, while Morpheus is said to be the principal figure in the operation his top accomplices, known by their hacker aliases as Neo and Trinity, are also highly sought after by all major world governments.
___________________________________________________________________________

Tib bit his lip. Why was Blackbird_King looking at this stuff? he went back to the message board. The posts should give him some idea.

___________________________________________________________________________

|Blackbird_King| "Re: Cyber-Terrorist 'Morpheus' Continues to Elude Capture"

|posts: 1286| Just who is this Morpheus anyway? Why's he such a big deal? I've heard a lot, but mostly just babbling. I want to know |"What are you what's going on here.
looking at?"|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

|Obsolete| "Re: Cyber-Terrorist 'Morpheus' Continues to Elude Capture"

Do you think you can handle the truth?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

|Blackbird_King| "Re: Cyber-Terrorist 'Morpheus' Continues to Elude Capture"

|posts: 1287| Of course I can "handle" it. Who are you? One of those supposed accomplices?
|"What are you
looking at?"|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

|Obsolete| "Re: Cyber-Terrorist 'Morpheus' Continues to Elude Capture"

Morpheus helped me find my answers. He can help you find yours. But you have to be willing to risk everything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

|Blackbird_King| "Re: Cyber-Terrorist 'Morpheus' Continues to Elude Capture"

|posts: 1288| Okay. What am I supposed to do?

|"What are you
looking at?"|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

|Obsolete| "Re: Cyber-Terrorist 'Morpheus' Continues to Elude Capture"

Start [here] and then follow the white rabbit. In order to do this you must be able to see past the façade of the every day, this is the first step to your answers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
___________________________________________________________________________

Tib clicked on the link, thoroughly intrigued, and more than a little scared. It was beginning to look like Blackbird had joined some sort of weird terrorist cult!! So much for ordinary explanations!

Tib pushed up his glasses waiting for the page to load. But certainly Blackbird was more sensible than that. Maybe he was doing a paper on them? But then Tib remembered that Blackbird didn't go to school.

The page came up, and Tib was immediately discouraged. It was an error 404. Damn it and this had been his only lead! It had been a great lead! He was sure that he'd be able to figure out what happened. He was about to click away, but something was nagging at the back of his mind. His gaze panned over the error message one more time, and this time caught something that definitely shouldn't have been there. A grin split over his worried face.

It wasn't really a broken link after all; the page was deliberately made to look exactly like an error message, except for one small detail. In the lower left hand corner of the page there was a small icon, of a white rabbit.

"So this is what it meant by 'see beyond the façade," he muttered. Well, now he knew the mentality of these people and he'd be able to figure out the trail better. But had Blackbird_King? Or had the Error message fooled him? Tib couldn't know, except perhaps by following the trail.

Tib clicked the rabbit and watched his browser react. The page was swallowed up by darkness, and a movie file played, the falling down the rabbit howl scene from Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Then at the bottom the movie closed and a VRML file opened. Tib was certainly glad his browser supported all this stuff.

Tib moved his mouse back and fourth, looking around the virtual environment. It was mostly just a boring white room, with two doors, one red and one blue. Hardly worth the extra programming in Tib's opinion, when they could have just used HTML. When he brought his mouse over either door the tag 'knock?' came up.

Which one to choose? How was he supposed to know, were there any clues, or was he just supposed to guess? He did another sweep of the room. This time he noticed something on the floor at the other side of the room. It looked like a plaque, and Tib wasn't surprised he had missed it before. It was almost the same shade as the floor, although it was textured differently. The tag said 'read?'. He clicked on it.

[One will take you farther down the rabbit hole, and one will send you home.]

Tib frowned. He already knew that! He wanted to know which one! He focused the screen back on the doors. He stared at them a moment, and noticed that it looked like light was leaking out under the blue door. He pointed his mouse at the crack, there was a different tag. 'Look?' Tib clicked it. It was a jpg image file, a landscape painting by somebody or another whose name Tib knew he should know, but didn't. He clicked back and was in the VRML page again. What could that mean?

He rested his mouse on the crack under the red door. 'Look?' He clicked it. It too brought him to a jpg, this one a screen-capture from the movie Tank Girl, a still image of the main character wandering around in a post-apocalyptic desert world. Tib smiled. This was definitely the door that led further. He hit back and then clicked 'knock?' on the red door.

The page took a moment to load, and while he was waiting he got an IM.

[ZeldaDragomire: Hey Tib. How's the search going?]

He grinned and typed back. [Really well, I've actually got a lead!!]

[ZeldaDragomire: Really?]

[Yeah. I think he was kidnapped by a cult/political radical group.]

[ZeldaDragomire: B serious!]

[I am]

The page came up.

[Zel, I gotta go. I'll IM you when I can]

[ZeldaDragomire: k]

Tib studied the page, it was a graphics heavy page of seemingly random links. What was he looking for? There were links to a lot of sights he knew, bored.com, and ffnet, amusingly there was a link to the FBI webpage, textfile.com/magazines/PHRACK which would proably have issues of the famous eighties hacker magazine, and then there were the links to personal pages, there was no rhyme or reason, there was a link to the Nabisco page, and to FedEx, some Wiccan pages, the official Frank Sinatra fan page, grandma porn, Alcoholics Anonymous, Elfwood, the New York Lotto, feardotcom.com, the anime turnpike, CNN.com, the Black Rose Society, the full test of Machiavelli's The Prince, the Food Not Bombs homepage, telivisionwithoutpity.com. There were too many to look at, and all the flashing colors were giving him a headache. Whoever had collected these was either really eclectic, or wanted to hide something really well.

He was looking for something different than the rest. Something out of the ordinary. He squinted the page, he was on the verge of giving up. But then he saw it, what he'd at first thought to be part of the banner for Benny's Best Bakery, was actually a separate link. It was a red line drawing of a cup-cake, with the words 'eat me' on it.

He clicked it.

To be continued...