A/N: You already know I suck at getting chapters in on time, so read, review, flame, leave, worship (if you're REALLY drunk..) and then find a better story on Zion Mainframe! YAY!
Chapter 9: Enter the Matrix
"We have a bit of information for you," Morpheus told the crew of the Shadow as the two ships gathered in the Mess Hall. Well, most of the crew, thought Paradox. The absence of Ransom was obviously due to Neo. Dox was a little worried that Ransom saw Neo as some kind of burden that he seemed to think could ruin the mission. Ransom took so much pride in that he had rarely lead his crew into a disaster that he might take drastic and un-necessary action, perhaps against the crew of either ships, to Neo himself, or to himself, if it stopped his career being what he called 'tainted'. He snapped back to the present situation as Morpheus continued to speak.
"We think we've found away to get ourselves into the operation programs of the Matrix, and perhaps destroy some of the basic system programs, including the Agents."
"So the Oracle really did mean what she said…" murmured Lewar.
"The only way to access the Machine Mainframe is in an office building controlled by AI and the military under their control. The building sustained heavy damage in an attack launched by my crew about a month ago, so security will be disorganised. We hope to release a virus into the Matrix that will open a single path to the defense systems of the Machines, and hopefully we'll be able to hack in and out fast enough to delete the Agent systems and get out before the Matrix starts glitching too much."
Paradox looked around at the reactions of his friends. Reflex let out a low whistle which stated his surprise in such a daring and open attack. Fear looked nervous, he hadn't entered the Matrix yet, he had only just completed his training. Mace looked determined as ever about completing the mission, as she did with most parts of her work. She knew that she'd have to write the virus, and she was perfectly capable. Lewar looked a little apprehensive, but almost looked excited. They hadn't done much, and she had been quite keen to make an attack soon. She didn't like the idea of sitting and waiting too much.
At last, someone spoke.
"Well," Lewar started, "What's your plan?"
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Paradox and Lewar stepped through the revolving doors of the office building. The lobby had scaffolds and hardware everywhere, and signs of recent major damage. In front of them, Neo and Trinity looked around at the security scanning equipment in recollection. In unison, they brought out their guns and shot the life out of it. The Dozing security guards leapt to their feet and the gun shots, but was ready for them, knocking 1 into a pillar, Lewar covering him with a knife she had taken right out of the hand of another guard. Looking around at the carnage, the four of them walked towards the emergency stairs entrance. It looked like the elevator shaft was still ruined from some kind of explosion, so that was useless. Just before he entered the staircase, Paradox called Morpheus on his cell.
"Morpheus, the lobby is clear. Tell us when you've found the port, we'll try to keep all activity away from you."
"Got it," he answered and the phone clicked. As Paradox followed Lewar up the stairs, he heard the sound of 3 pairs of heavy boots across the marble floor.
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Fear was terrified. It was the first time he'd been inside the Matrix since he'd been unplugged. Mace and Morpheus followed behind him as he weaved through the dark, off limits corridors of the AI controlled sky scraper. Fear was scouting ahead, camouflaged, on the look out for any enemies. Morpheus followed him silently, his guns raised and loaded. Mace stepped quietly behind, carrying a briefcase of wires and a laptop. He knew how much depended on his ability to stay hidden, and find the port where Mace was to attach the laptop into the network, and then have Morpheus crack in. Fear remembered that the crews of both ships had agreed that the tall man was the best for the job, as every computer hacker and cracker had heard of him and looked up to him, including many of those now unplugged.
Looking through each room and corridor for the small port, that was probably hidden, he heard gun fire a few floors above him.
"Jesus," Mace swore softly.
Morpheus' body became more tense than it was. "We don't have much time."
The three of them moved with purpose, searching franticly through the semi-darkness. Suddenly, Fear swore he saw a metallic ring around a small dot in a wall of an innocent seeming office. Moving closer to investigate, he held in an urge to yell out with glee. Instead he motioned to Morpheus and Mace to come, and whispered "This is it,"
"Good work," Morpheus murmured as he took out his phone and Mace opened her case and connected the small computer into the massive network.
"Paradox, we've found it, office 283 on the 28th floor." Morpheus spoke into the phone and then hung up.
"I just hope this thing can take so much information," Mace said in a matter of fact voice. Morpheus and Fear looked at each other in a brief moment of anxiety, as they realized they may have over looked that.
"It will work," he reassured the young boy.
"Morpheus, it's all up to you now," Mace told him as she moved away from the keyboard. Morpheus took of his sunglasses and stared intently into the screen, his fingers making a constant 'wrrrr' on the soft keys of the notebook. Mace stood in the doorframe watching for anyone, and Fear waited at the end of the corridor, and melted in with the wall.
More gunfire rang out suddenly, making Fear jump out of fright. Recovering, he realized it had been on the same floor as they were on. Running back to Mace, he found her as jumpy as he was. She had obviously realized the same thing. Behind them, Morpheus had barely moved from his position at the desk, sweat occasionally appearing on his hands.
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They were getting too close. Much too close. The security down stairs had been amazingly lax, but the upper floors were crawling with security personnel. Some of them had gotten onto their radio, calling for back up, so now there was a SWAT team and the occasional Agent to deal with.
Things weren't going as Lewar had planned.
Neo had been separated, most of the Agent attacks had been based on him, so he led them away from Trinity, Lewar and Paradox. They weren't that much better off though. They hadn't been overwhelmed, but had occasionally been forced to retreat to another area.
Now, though, they were in trouble.
The phone call Morpheus had made to Paradox to tell him where they were had unfortunately been tracked. There was a risk of that, but it had to have been taken. Now the task forces had been sent to where Morpheus was completing his hack, and Paradox, Lewar and Trinity were trying to head them off. It wasn't easy. Although the three of them had far superior skills, the sheer number of security and SWAT officers was causing a problem, and the rebels were starting to run out of bullets.
Lewar moved towards another opponent. The man raised his gun in the narrow corridor, only to have it smacked out of his hands and into his face, and was then shot in the back with it. Turning with the automatic, she shot down another two men coming towards her, and jumped high into the air to take on the third, jumping over him and punching him in the neck, paralyzing him.
Thoughts of these people struck into her, about their families and friends, and she started to loose her focus. A blow to the side of her head was the consequence. Pushing such dangerous thoughts aside, she recovered quickly and tripped the offending guard, kicking him against a wall and leaving him unconscious. There was a time for emotion, and it wasn't now. Something inside her twanged, and she looked up, and found that Paradox wasn't near her. Something was wrong, very wrong, something was bad. Somehow she knew. Paradox, he was in trouble. An agent, there was an agent.
She didn't know how she did it, she just did. In desperation, she commanded herself to be near him, to move in her mind. She knew that the location that was printed in her code was able to be bent, like almost all other rules in the Matrix. Just like how Fear was able to manipulate his own code. She felt an impossible transition from the hall into the room above, and found Paradox fighting with his last ounces of strength against an Agent, who was backing him into a wall. Lewar whipped out her last hand gun and shot at the Agent before he knew she was there. Even as the shell it was using was about to die, the Agent still struggled to attack her, to kill her, but before he could, the strength of the body gave in, and all that remained was the bullet riddled corpse of a police officer.
Lewar, however, didn't care at all about a dead body. In fact, the idea that more Agents could be coming completely slipped her mind. Paradox looked up, and his face lit up with surprise and relief as she moved straight to Paradox and wrapped her arms around him, then kissed him quickly.
"Come on, we have to move. Are you okay?" she asked as she helped him up.
"Yeah, just tired… I'll be fine. How did you do that!?"
"I don't know… I just did. I…" She was broken off by gunshots in the floor below. "Shit. Lets go. Can you walk?"
"Yeah, but we'll have to run." More gunfire, and a look of worry crossed Paradox's face, and they ran down the stairs towards where Morpheus was still cringing over the computer.
A/N: *sings* I suck, I suck, I suck, I'm no good I suck I suck! everybody sing! Come on, people, it's fun!
Ok, I got a bit to say to my REVIEWERS, WOOOOOHO!!!
Protectress of Dalidon: Nice name, by the way. Rightio. When did I say they'd been in the resistance for 2 years?! Lewar was 13 when she was unplugged, and now she's 20. She built the ship, so why wouldn't she be captain? Sorry bout the missunderstanding, didn't mean to say that the Oracle was a program, I ment that AI had made programs with the same abilities as her, and that they helped the AI. Probably worded it badly, I do that. "Can you get to South Africa from the sewer systems of America?" Sorry, I just really don't like the idea of Zion being in America, we have NO idea of it's location, so no one knows where it is except for the Wachowski brothers. I personally think it's in Europe, but that's just my theory. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, I know they aren't flames, and thanks for the corrections!!! I am USELESS at spelling and grammar, I just like to put my ideas on paper. And when did I say I wasn't writing a Mary Sue? I'm a bad writer as it is =P
Thecallingrule: Hey, you can write better than me!! I read your story, keep going dude!! You can't just leave it there, that's just plain mean :P
Metamorpheus: Cool name, dude =D Glad you read it, been meaning to show you. Keep going with your story, tis coooool!!!! YAY FOR YOU!
Agent_Diva: Yes ma'am!
Hey guys, guess what? I'VE STARTED WRITING CHAPTER 10!!! I am so damn crappy… Sorry, I'm quite an inconsistant writer, and I get BIG writers's block. I suck. I already said that, didn't I? Well, since as I bounce again I'll probably hit my head, I won't. Instead, I'll tip my hat to you all that are reading this, and chapter 10 might even come before April! If you're lucky, that is. I need a title for the next chapter…
LOOK, A LEPRECHAUN! No , wait, that's just a mirror. So long, mateys, I hope you enjoyed this
