"I have told you before, there's no escaping the nature of the universe. It is that nature that has again brought you to me. Where some see coincidence, I see consequence. Where others see chance, I see cost."
Chapter One: Reincarnation
Raindrops hit Revv's face. She opened her eyes to a dark sky. The street was empty. She sat up and looked around, and felt a cool breeze pass by, a rush of code, and the world around her altered as the Matrix slowly reloaded itself around where she sat.
"What happened?" she asked herself, climbing to her feet. She began to walk aimlessly, for minutes or hours, she never knew. Eventually she found a black cat and followed it, finding her way to a sleeping child.
"Good morning," the child said, sitting up and petting the cat.
"Hello," Revv said.
"My name's Sati. What's yours?"
"Smith…" she shook her head once, clearing it. "Revv."
"Hi, Revv."
"…Sati, do you know what happened here?"
"Smith happened."
Revv kept her temper in check. "But where is Smith now?"
Sati's eyes were wide. "They fought. And Neo lost. But he also won. Don't you remember?"
And in a flash, she did.
"You were right, Smith. You were always right. It was inevitable."
Revv felt a surge of power and triumph as Neo was assimilated. It was over. Everything was theirs. No one could stand in their way! No one!
A jolt ran through her body, stopping her thought process. What was happening?
Another shock. A Smith began to glow white, rays of light bursting through his forehead.
"No, no, no…No, it's not fair…"
A bright light surrounded Revv. A burning pain passed through her entire system, so pure and bright no one could ever survive it. White light struggled to find a way out of her body. She clenched her teeth, trying to contain it, but it burst out her ears and eyes, flooding through her sunglasses. Her entire being was the white light…the light and the pain. Revv wanted to die, she welcomed death. The pain was intense, ripping her very being apart. It was still there…still there…still there…suddenly, gone.
Raindrops.
"Smith is gone?"
Sati nodded. "For good."
Revv sighed in relief. "Where is everybody else?"
"Returning to their place," a new voice said. "Everything is settling down into its rightful position."
"Seraph," Revv said coolly, turning to face the man. His face remained impassive, unfeeling, as he nodded a greeting to her.
"Come, Sati," Seraph said, beginning to walk away. Revv turned and slowly walked to a door. She stepped through it, appearing back in front of the Chateau. She opened the front door and stepped inside, glancing back at the sunset, beautiful and more brilliant than ever before. Then the door swung shut and cut off all light.
"Castor."
"Revv!" the leader of the Uniques said. "You're still alive. Good."
"Yes," Revv said. "Who isn't?"
"Some programs Smith deleted during his attack. We can't find Mandrake anywhere, and Vlad has assumed his position until he can be found. Pyrite has also disappeared, as have Granite and Prime. Of course, there's no way Smith could kill Ancients, so…"
He was blathering. Revv ignored him, walking past towards where the Merovingian sat with his Twin bodyguards and the assassin Infinity.
"Sir," Infinity said softly. The Merovingian looked up.
"Revv," he greeted her. "So nice to see you again."
"What happened, sir?"
"Always to the point." The Frenchman smiled, leaning back in his large wooden seat and taking a sip from a glass of wine. "When Neo made his choice, it started an end loop in the Matrix. The Architect contacted me and ordered me to hold Neo until he could be assimilated back into the Source. But Trinity…changed that plan. So as the Matrix was about to crash, the machine leader lured Neo back into the Matrix, where he killed two programs with one deletion code."
"How?"
"Realizing he could never destroy Smith, Neo let Smith reprogram him, reinserting his code into the Matrix and preventing the system crash we feared. His code was combined with Smith. And we all know what one and negative one are when added together…"
Infinity smiled and stared directly into Revv's eyes. "Zero."
Prime, leader of the Ancients, surveyed the many programs seated in the ancient theater four floors above where the Merovingian sat with his loyal servants. She leaned forward, taking everyone around her into her confidence. She spoke in a slow, quiet voice. The room fell silent.
"It is time," she said simply, spreading her hands. Everyone around her nodded. "Here is our plan," she continued.
Granite took up the briefing, his deep voice echoing through the chamber. "The first strike will be the Merovingian's most loyal servants. We will have to move fast and neutralize both pairs of Twins. We've prepared a special program to capture them and hold them. This part is the most important, because if they escape, our surprise will be lost.
"Next we move our main force of vampires and Dobermen into the Unique's wing. At the same time, we will strike at the Merovingian's headquarters, hopefully catching him and Persephone unguarded.
"Any questions? No? Good. Let's move."
Alpha watched the smoke from Beta's cigarette fade into the air as the ceiling fan shredded it. He smiled slightly, the light reflecting in his glasses.
"They're coming," Theta announced from her position beside the door.
"And so it begins…" Alpha chuckled. "Everyone remember your roles. Let them think they have won…"
The four bodyguards nodded. They heard the sudden running of footsteps and the door at the end of the room burst open. Two Dobermen entered.
Theta slammed her elbow into one's throat, sending it falling back into its partner. The second Doberman growled and fired a crossbow. The bolt flew towards Theta.
The female Twin phased to avoid the bolt. It flew through her ghost form and pulled her back, slamming her into a wall. She winced in pain. The Doberman smiled evilly.
More Dobermen filled the room. Alpha threw his switchblade, knocking one of the Exiles to the ground. A click filled the air, and a crossbow bolt pinned the Twin in place.
"Go," he ordered. Beta nodded and phased, sinking through the floor.
Omega opened fire with two SMGs. The silver bullets ripped through the Dobermen forcing their way into the room. The advance all but halted. Omega grinned as her guns fired, the light from the blasts echoing in her dark eyes.
Click. The chambers were empty on both guns. Omega threw them to the ground and dashed forward, running directly into a vampire attempting to enter the room. She drew her sword and slashed upwards, laying him low.
She reversed the weapon and slashed out again, hitting two more rebels trying to enter the room. She glanced towards the end of the hallway and saw a group of three rebels setting up a large cannon.
They fired. For a brief moment she was illuminated against the light, standing in the doorway. Then a powerful blow knocked her backwards. She hit the floor and lay back, stunned. Her vision swam, but before it all went black, she saw Vlad enter the room.
Beta hit the ground in the floor below and began to run. Two vampires appeared from either side and began to chase him. He lashed out with a fist and caught one off guard, sending it tumbling down a staircase.
The second vampire leapt onto Beta's back. Beta increased his speed, leaping into the air. The vampire realized his mistake as Beta phased and the Exile hit the wall.
Vlad glanced around the scene.
"It's a good thing we caught them by surprise," he said calmly. The two minions standing there exchanged glances. A calm Vlad was seldom good.
The vampire leader slowly paced back and forth. "Heaven forbid that more than one of them get away!" he suddenly yelled. Nearby vampires slowly backed away.
"This drastically alters our time table," he said. "We have to keep moving. To the Unique wing. Now."
All movement stopped as Beta burst into the middle of the Unique wing's hall.
"Checkmate," he said. Then he disappeared out the door. The hall exploded in sound as everyone began to talk. Castor shouted for silence, standing up on a chair.
"The Ancients and others have made their move," he said. "They are rebelling and attempting to kill the Merovingian. The will also come for all of us. I am taking an elite force to guard the Merovingian. The rest of you stay here."
Muttering filled the room. Castor held his hand up.
"This isn't a surprise. We've been expecting it for a long time. We've led a nice life here, out of the system's control. We are able to do what we want, when we want, as long as we follow him. But that isn't good enough for them. They want the entire pie. Your job is to shove that pie down their throat so they choke on it.
"Make them pay," he said. "Make them pay for even dreaming of trying to destroy this existence we've built with our own code."
He climbed down from his chair. With a nod, he motioned Revv to his side.
"Let's go," he said to her. They walked towards the large doors to the Chateau. Pyrite fell into step with them, as well as some other programs she had never seen before. Castor opened the portal and they walked into the Merovingian's throne room.
The Merovingian paced around the room restlessly. Persephone lay back on a chair, watching him. She spotted Revv and met her eyes, giving a single nod of acknowledgment.
There was a loud explosion from outside the room's only door.
"It's locked," the Merovingian said. "By programming. It will only let in those who I have chosen it to let in."
Fang the vampire led the charge. They burst through the doors into the Unique wing with no resistance, catching the majority of the fighters still eating at their meal. The force of rebels lifted their weapons and opened fire. The Unique diners gave no reaction at all.
Fang suddenly knew the truth.
"It's a trap!"
The illusion disappeared before him, and the doors swung shut, cutting him off from the bulk of his force. Uniques appeared from seemingly no where, shedding cloaking programming and opening fire on the vampires.
Granite calmly watched the traitor with his eyes. Her code didn't change at all as she spoke. Genuine. He nodded.
"And why are you doing this?" he said.
"I want Revv," Infinity said simply.
Revv glanced around the small room.
"Is the door coded to Infinity?" she said.
"What?" the Merovingian asked.
"Is the door coded to Infinity?" she shouted. He nodded, slowly.
Infinity placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly, letting the wooden door swing open into the Merovingian's throne room. She smiled at the shocked faces that greeted her, and the Merovingian's impassive nodding, as if he had expected to see her.
"I'm here," she smirked. "And I've brought some friends."