Chapter Three: Mukti
"Revv…"
Revv's eyes snapped open instantly, and her hand was halfway to her gun before she could stop it. Infinity stood over her bed, glaring down.
"What do you want?" Revv asked, slightly shaken.
"The Merovingian requests your presence in the restaurant," Infinity replied, sliding out of the room.
God, she creeps me out, Revv thought. Never should have brought her here.
She followed Infinity down the hallway towards the front doors of the Chateau. Infinity slid a key into the lock and twisted it, opening the doors into the kitchen of a large restaurant. She led Revv into the dinging room and pointed to the Merovingian's table.
"There," she said. Castor and Pyrite appeared from a different door, led by the Twins.
"Sit down, sit down," the Merovingian said, waving his hands towards the empty chairs in front of him. Castor pulled out a chair and took his seat, followed by Revv and Pyrite.
"Eat, eat," the Merovingian said, motioning to the food. Castor cut a small piece from his dish and lifted the fork to his mouth, chewing the food. Revv glanced at Pyrite, and then turned to the Merovingian.
"Sir, may I ask why you've summoned us?"
Castor began to cough. Pyrite hit him on the back until the piece of food shot from his throat and landed on his plate.
"You okay?"
Castor nodded. The Merovingian smiled in amusement and looked at Revv.
"I've called you all here because of Smith. You three knew him in the outside world, you know what drives him, how he thinks. I want you to tell me everything you know about the man."
Castor took a sip from his wine.
"I knew Smith when we were first created. A very…single-minded…man. I knew it was only a matter of time until he was deleted."
The Merovingian nodded and looked at Pyrite. As the Exile opened his mouth to speak, Theta tapped Persephone's shoulder. The wife looked backwards.
"What is it, my dear?"
"You're man has returned," Persephone said. At that moment, a guard led Rama-Kandra back into the restaurant. The man wordlessly handed the Merovingian a floppy disk.
"So my daughter will be safe?"
"Of course," the Merovingian said, waving the program away. "Now you must leave, because we are about to have visitors."
Rama-Kandra was led away. Revv turned to look at the approaching humans, moving aside to make room for them to sit.
"Aha, here he is at last. Neo, the One himself, right? And the legendary Morpheus. And Trinity of course, si belle qu'elle me fait souffrir. I have heard so much, you honor me. Please, sit, join us. This is my wife, Persephone. Something to eat? Drink? Hmm... of course, such things are contrivances like so much here. For the sake of appearances."
Revv smirked ever so slightly. This would be interesting.
"Run back," the Merovingian said, "And give the fortune teller this message: her time is almost up."
"This isn't over," Neo said.
"Oh, yes it is. The Keymaker is mine, and I see no reason to give him up."
Revv moved forward to escort the woman from the restaurant. She looked up.
"Touch me, and that hand will never touch anything again."
Revv withdrew her hand.
Castor sighed in relief as the elevator doors closed on the rebels.
"Every time, I worry they might destroy us."
"Every time?" Revv asked, wandering back towards the restaurant.
"Yes. Every cycle of the Matrix, we are given the Keymaker to safeguard. Right now, Persephone is leading the rebels to him. And soon, we will be forced to make a half-hearted attempt to stop them."
They reached the restaurant in time to see one of the Merovingian's minions burst in.
"It's started," he explained.
The Merovingian led them through the doors, giving a great imitation fo a man enraged by a betrayal.
"Very well," he said. "Let us see where this goes." He nodded to Alpha and Beta. "You two, get the Keymaker."
They phased and floated down through the floor. The Keymaker began to run. Two of the rebels turned and ran after him.
"I'll handle them," Neo said.
"Handle us?" the Merovingian explained. "Handle us? Your predecessors had much more respect."
Revv cocked her gun with the others and raised it, opening fire. Neo simply held out his hands, stopping the bullets.
"Okay," the Merovingian admitted. "You have some skill. Kill him."
Revv blinked twice and opened her eyes. She reached up and yanked the trident from her stomach, pulling it out and watching with calm detachment as the wounds closed. She turned to Castor, who was sitting up.
"Does that always happen?"
"Pretty much. They probably have the Keymaker by now."
"What happens next?"
"Neo returns to the Source, and the Matrix restarts. As for us, we go to Hel Nightclub, the Merovingian's safehouse. There, we won't be deleted by the restart."
"Let's go," Revv said, pulling herself off the floor.
The music pounded heavily in Revv's ears. She watched the dancing humans without interest. She longed to pull out her weapon and destroy them all, but she couldn't.
The Trainman suddenly burst into the club, heading up the stairs and into the Merovingian's presence. He quickly began to talk. The Merovingian's eyes grew wider and wider as the Trainman spoke. Revv moved closer.
"How is this possible?" the Merovingian said. "He should have returned to the Source!"
"I don't know," the Trainman said, "But he's down there now. And another thing, his friends know that I have him…"
He trailed off as the Merovingian glanced over at the crowd below.
"What in the hell? I don't believe this."
Trinity swung the gun around to point at the Merovingian. Revv derw her pistol and aimed at Trinity, as Seraph grabbed a gun from a minion and pointed it at her head. The Trainman and Castor drew their guns and pointed them at Morpheus and Seraph. The clicks of readying weapons echoed through the room.
"I've got a deal for you," Trinity said. "Give me Neo or we all die, right here, right now."
"Interesting deal," he said. "You are ready to die for this man?"
Trinity cocked the gun. "Believe it."
"She'll do it," Persephone broke in, sounding slightly panicked. "She'll kill every one of us if she has to. She's in love."
"It's remarkable how similar the pattern of love is to the pattern of insanity," the Merovingian replied.
"Time's up," Trinity said coldly. "What's it gonna be, Merv?"
The Merovingian looked to the Trainman.
"Take them to him."
They returned to the Chateau amid much talk.
"What happened?" Revv asked, slipping over to stand beside Castor.
"Neo didn't return to the Source. We don't know what's going to happen. There's a good chance the Matrix could crash, and none of us could survive that."
A shudder ran through the troops surrounding Revv and Castor. Castor was even more grim than usual. A flash of code caught Revv's eye.
"What was that?"
"The perimeter alarm has been set off," Castor said, checking his gun. "Get ready for a fight. And don't die this time."
Revv glared at his back, imagining a dagger in her hand…
She shook her head. Now was not the time. That would come later.
The code screamed breach! in a silent language. Revv ran past the main hall, where three programs lay dead. Footsteps were all around her. She came to the top of a staircase and spotted an enemy. She leapt into the air and slammed her foot into his chest, knocking him backwards down the stairs and into his companions.
She pulled a door open and ran inside, slamming the door behind her. Fumbling with her key ring, she opened it again to reveal a white hallway beyond. She shut the door and sighed with relief, sinking against a wall.
More footsteps. She got up and began to run, kicking another door open with her foot. She rounded the corner of an alley outside of the Chateau and slammed into her adversary.
"Hello, Thompson," Smith said, grinning as his hand slid into her stomach.