Matrix: System Shutdown
Chapter 2
Glitch walked slowly to his sleeping quarters, thinking about his new crew. This was going to be crazy for him, he just knew it. But he had to do what the council wanted him to do to, which was finding the locations of the machine satellites and blow them up. The satellites could pick up telegraphed and heat waves which gave away the location of Zion. The council didn't like the machines knowing where Zion was because it was always a threat that the machines could destroy the only city.
Somehow, Glitch didn't think that knocking out the satellites would work. And the council also wanted Glitch and his crew to visit the oracle and find the fate of Zion from her. The council was being so cautious because the machines were getting upset because so many people were being released from the matrix, so the supply of energy for the machines was going low. So the council didn't release too many people now, they were trying to find a way to defeat the machines without risking any of Zion or it's people, but someone had to go out there. There was some kind of plan to have a large fleet go and attack Machine City, but they were told it would be an automatic death sentence for anyone who went out there. So no one questioned or planned to go to Machine City.
Glitch didn't mind the mission. He liked them actually. He didn't like having to stay in Zion for three years missing his dead fiancée or crew. He reached his door and unlocked it, and then he went inside. He peeled his shirt and boots off on his way to the bed and laid down in it. He decided that he could take a short nap then if he felt better, and then go to the Departure Ceremony. Glitch looked up at the ceiling before going to sleep, hoping that he could get used to his new crew, because they seemed so young and energetic. Except for TJ, who Glitch didn't really believe was his old captain's son. Glitch did have an old friend though that wanted to go along on his next "adventure". He'd already told his friend that they'd meet at port two before leaving so his friend could be there to join them. Glitch settled down into his deep sleep hoping for a peaceful rest, but got what had visited him for the last three years.
Dream:
Glitch and his crew jacked into the matrix. His crew of four surrounded him and the phone of the apartment. They were all wearing black except for Faith, who wore white. His operator, Zen had to stay behind to follow their movements using the monitor back on the ship. Glitch picked up the ringing phone. "We're in." Was all Glitch said.
"Good, tell Ridge to watch himself or he'll get his ass kicked again." Zen said then she hung up. Glitch looked back at Ridge smiling. Ridge was 5'8 and was very masculine. He was their best fighter, but he got into a fight with an agent in the Matrix and didn't know what he was dealing with. His dirty blond hair was long and pulled back into a ponytail showing his high cheek bones. His sunglasses hid his hazel eyes.
"Well the agents aren't against us now Glitch. Ever since they tried to break free, their program is on lock to do exactly as their supposed to." Ridge said. He smiled, remembering when he fought in agent. He thought he could take one on, but he'd never gone against an agent then.
Faith cut in, turning them all serious again. "Are we all here to fight agents or are we here to see the oracle?"
The other two men joined in saying the oracle was the reason they were there. Gabriel was the tall one with black hair and blue eyes, he was skinny, but could defend himself if he needed to. And Disk was about the same height as Ridge, with his golden blonde hair laying on his shoulders with nothing holding it away from his triangular face. His grayish green eyes were covered with black glasses as well.
Glitch turned to Faith with a small smile. "Thank you." She told him no problem. Glitch led them from the building and into a black car. Gabriel and Ridge got into another car so that they could follow Glitch but they wouldn't go inside to see the oracle. They needed to stay outside and guard the building until it was time to go.
Seraph greeted Glitch, Faith, and Disk at the door after they entered. "Hello Glitch. It has been a while." He said. He had his black dress pants on with the black tank top, but his white shirt was covering his arms.
"Yes it has been. We're in a hurry Seraph. Our ship is in a tunnel where sentinels have been detected a day ago. You know we can't set EMP off if we're still in the matrix." Glitch said as they walked into an elevator.
Seraph sighed. "Yes, I do know." They rode the elevator in silence. There wasn't much tension in the air, but the silence was nerve racking, but no one said anything. There wasn't much need to. The elevator stopped with a small "ding" and they all got off. Glitch and Faith behind Seraph, and Dish followed behind them all. They went down a long quiet corridor. Seraph stopped at a door and went beside it. "It is open. Until next time Glitch." Seraph did a small bow to Disk and Faith. Glitch opened the door, with Faith and Disk following him.
They had entered a room with children on the floor. Some playing with others and some alone. There was a boy in a corner that had a small ball of fire floating above his open hand. Then he closed his hand the fire went out. Disk said whoa.
Faith smiled. Disk had never seen the oracle before, nor had he ever been in the apartment either. Faith looked up after she smelled a fresh batch of cookies coming from the oven. The smell was soft and sweet, but Faith knew that the smell wasn't real because the matrix produced the fake smell. Glitch was next to her, but he was studying the children on the floor. There was a boy with dark skin sitting on the floor in front to the television. Glitch tapped Faith on the elbow and pointed to a small girl on the floor. The girl had her back to them and was almost at their feet. Faith looked closer to see what she was doing. The girl was reading a book, but when Faith looked closer, the girl was rearranging the letters spelling different things with the text that was there already. The girl turned around almost sensing that someone was watching. Her skin was pale and her brown hair was in small braids. She smiled at them and it seemed she was going to say something, but the oracle came into the room.
Glitch and Faith gave the oracle a hug. "Nice to see you again. I just got some fresh cookies from the oven. You came just on time." Glitch and Faith nodded their head after the Oracle said that. "Come with me to the kitchen. I need to sit down. My body is getting old." She motioned for them to follow her. She sat at the table and pointed to the plate of cooling cookies. "Want some?" Glitch took two, giving Faith a cookie. Faith bit into the cookie. She closed her eyes, her mind enjoying the sweet rich taste of the cookie. Disk leaned against the counter, not taking a cookie. The oracle finally noticed him. "You don't want one?" She asked him.
"No thank you." He said. His peered at her through his glasses. She studied him, then finally looked at his glasses, but he felt that she could see his eyes past the glasses.
"You must be Disk." He nodded in response, telling her that she was correct. "Remove the glasses. I like to look into a person's eyes when I first meet them." Disk looked at Glitch. Glitch gave the slightest of nods and Disk doffed his glasses and placed them in his coat pocket not knowing what else to do with them. The oracle sighed while giving a small smile. "So young, but will to protect. You're twenty. You have no family to protect, so you choose to protect those who have taken you in." The oracle didn't make any of it a question. She was stating the facts to him and she was correct. Disk tried to keep his face neutral, but he was slightly surprised that she knew that much about him. He didn't say anything. "You do talk. I know you do." The oracle had a slight shade of insistence in her voice. The only problem was that Disk didn't know what to say. "I know you don't know me and you're nervous, but I don't bite."
Glitch and Faith both smiled. Glitch's phone rang. He took it from his pocket, but the oracle placed her hand on the phone. "Don't answer that, it isn't Zen." Glitch gave a questioning look to the oracle, but he trusted her. "Agents are tracking a program down that is going against what the architects want her to. Their calling all cell phones since they can track her voice." The oracle explained. Glitch put his cell phone back in his pocket. Glitch looked at Faith for a second then back at the oracle. "You have a question to ask Glitch. Just ask it. She won't mind it, so don't worry."
Faith looked at Glitch wondering if the oracle was talking about her. Glitch sighed. "You know that Faith and I are to be married. Will it last Oracle?" He asked.
The Oracle slightly smiled. Faith's mouth dropped and she slowly closed it. Faith looked at Glitch through her and his sunglasses, but she doesn't say anything. The Oracle spoke, breaking the silence, "Of course it would last. I see the love between the two of you, but if you're asking about your future, then I don't know if I should tell you Glitch, it could change the relationship."
"There is nothing you can say Oracle to make me change my love for him." Faith said, looking the Oracle in the eye. Faith instinctively put her arm around Glitch's waist, afraid of what she may hear next.
"I didn't say it would change your love, I just said it could change the relationship." The Oracle said.
Faith still didn't like hearing that. Glitch didn't move even when Faith's arm was around him. He was too busy thinking about what the Oracle may tell him. "I thought you told us what we need to hear, so it doesn't change the future." He said.
"I try, but I don't like telling you those things Glitch. I like to keep very close to the truth if I can. I'll let you have the choice to hear about the future I see for you or not to. Your call Glitch." The Oracle answered. She pulled a cigarette out of her small pocketbook. She lit it with a small cheap plastic cigarette lighter.
Glitch didn't want to hear the news. He wanted to stay with Faith as long as he could. "Fuck choices. I don't want to hear it" Faith was appalled by his sudden language.
The Oracle chuckled. "Alright then. You may regret it Glitch, but I'll warn you about one thing. Keep a very close eye on Faith. Regina is after her."
"Who?" Glitch and Faith asked at the same time. A knock came on the apartment door before the Oracle could answer.
Disk turned, "You want me to get that?"
The Oracle looked past the living room. "I can't tell who it is."
Disk instinctively put his hand on the butt of his gun, but didn't draw it. "I'll get it."
"No, I will. If the Oracle doesn't know who it is then this can't be good. I can't let you go like that Disk." Glitch walked to the door, Faith quietly following behind him. They weaved between the now silent children. The Oracle had Disk take the children to her bedroom. Before Glitch opened the door, Faith got behind it, her gun out and pointing at the ceiling. Glitch looked through the peep hole and there were two men and a woman at the door. Glitch opened the door with the chain latch still hooked. "Who are you and what do you want?"
The woman spoke. Her black straight hair flowed down past her shoulders and her pale blue eyes watching him. "We need to speak with the Oracle. We have some business to discuss." Glitch closed the door, undid the chain latch, and then he cautiously opened the door again. The woman smiled at him as she walked through. She wore a black tank top, with a black leather coat covering her bare arms. She also wore tight black leather pants the slightly flared at the bottom. Her spiked high heeled boots sank into the carpet, but she kept her balance. The two men followed behind her, wearing all black as well. They both looked exactly alike, with their long black hair pulled back into ponytails. Their almost black eyes studied the living room as Disk and the Oracle came down the hall way. Disk had his right hand in his pocket. Glitch was sure that Disk was trying to decide whether to take his gun out or not.
The woman's smile widened when she saw the Oracle, but she turned back to Glitch. "Hello Glitch."
Glitch had no idea how she knew his name, but he surely didn't know hers. "And you are?" He asked. His hand was still holding the door back against Faith, hiding her.
"I am anonymous for now; it is none of your concern for now Glitch." The woman looked past Glitch and to the door he was holding. "Faith you can stop playing hide and seek now. Come from behind the door, give the gun to Mezane." Glitch let go of the door. Faith kicked it shut, her gun still pointed up at the ceiling.
"Which one of you is Mezane?" Faith asked.
The woman gave a small push to one of the large twins. "He is."
"If you want my gun, you'll have to come take it." Glitch put his hand on Faith's arm. She snatched her arm from him. "I don't trust her. She knows our names, but we don't know shit about her or her guards."
The woman began laughing, the two men only smiled. "Guards? They are only here because they have no one else to go to. Their programs have a few problems and have to be deleted so they came to me. I can guard myself quite well Faith." The woman answered.
"What have you come to me for?" The Oracle asked trying to break the largely growing tension.
"I'll talk to you after the three of them leave." The woman said pointing back at Disk.
"I'm not leaving the Oracle here with you." Faith said. Glitch felt the same as her, but he wasn't as outspoken as Faith was. He didn't have a good feeling about leaving, but he didn't have the good feeling about staying as well.
"Glitch please go. Take Faith and Disk with you; remember what I told you before they arrived." The Oracle said giving Glitch a hard stare.
"Come on Faith." Glitch motioned for Disk to follow, but Faith held her hand up telling Disk to stay where he was.
"I told you Glitch! I'm not leaving the Oracle alone with this woman." Faith answered.
"Faith!" Glitch said harshly. He loved the woman, but he was losing his patience. "Please, trust the Oracle."
"I didn't say I didn't trust her, but I'm not leaving her."
The woman took out a gun; Glitch looked at it, noticing it was a browning hi-power. "How about you listen to your lover boy and go Faith. Take the kid back behind me with you." The woman said with a small smile. She nodded to Mezane and his twin and they spread throughout the room. Disk had his gun out, pointing it at the woman. Faith turned her gun on Mezane seeing that Disk had the woman. Glitch turned to his twin, but didn't take a weapon from his waist band. "I'll shoot you Faith, I don't bluff." The woman warned.
"Me neither." Faith responded in a low voice. Shots rang out from the woman's gun, Faith ran and walked the wall, then she quickly got behind Mezane with the gun against his back. Glitch instantly pulled his gun, pointing it at the twin's head. Disk had stepped up behind the woman with the gun inches from her head. "I'll shoot Mezane if you don't give Disk your gun." Faith said.
"Faith, stop being stubborn and go." The Oracle said.
The Oracle's words whispered through Glitch's mind. He was now wondering what she saw in the future for Glitch and Faith. "Oracle, what did you see in the future for us?" He asked, he knew it sounded out of place, but he had to know.
"It won't matter now. Faith's mind is made up." The Oracle whispered.
"You can shoot Mezane." The woman said. Mezane's face straightened. "Just go and no one will have to die."
"No. You talk to the Oracle now and then we'll leave AFTER you do." Faith said, her eyes on the woman instead of Mezane.
"You are so stubborn Faith!" The woman said.
"I know, one of my bad qualities." Faith pressed her gun harder into Mezane's back. "I will shoot him."
The woman stepped closer to Faith and Mezane. Glitch shifted, slightly fearing for Faith. He knew the browning hi-powers could kill at a close shot range. Disk steadily followed. "Hell, so will I." The woman shot Mezane, the bullet passed through his chest and entered Faith's heart. Mezane collapsed; Faith leaned against the wall, and slowly fell, clutching her chest. Glitch shot the other twin, but he missed. The twin jumped through the window, shards of glass hit the floor. Shot's from Disk's gun rang throughout the room. The woman had ducked to floor. She pulled Disk's legs from underneath him, then she flipped up, and shot Disk two times near the heart. The woman ran to the window, but Glitch ran and blocked her. She smiled. "Go get your Faith. Sorry, I had to do that, you don't need her anyway." This angered him, but he had to find some way to save her. Glitch let the woman pass him and go through the window.
Glitch ran to Faith when the Oracle went to Disk. Faith's eyes were half open; her breathing became pure labor and strain. Her hand was crimson with her blood. Glitch put her head in his lap carefully and took her other hand. He sat her up in his arms; he put his hand on top of her bloodied hand trying to help apply pressure to the wound. "I'm going to get us back to the ship." Faith squeezed his hand.
Her mouth formed the word, "Sorry." Glitch's eyes formed with tears, but they didn't fall.
"Please hold on Faith. You're a strong person." Glitch said quietly. He knew in his mind that she wouldn't make it, but he wouldn't believe it. "Don't leave me Faith. I need you." He whispered. His tears silently fell in wet lines down his face.
Faith's eyes closed, but she was still breathing. With the strength she had left, she whispered to Glitch, her voice barely audible. "I love you." She gave a small smile, but it didn't reach her hurt eyes. She took her last breath. Glitch hovered over her, his tears falling silently. He looked into her beautiful face feeling that he had caused her death by not listening to the Oracle tell his future. He looked over to Disk. Disk's eyes lay open, but his chest wasn't moving. The Oracle looked at Glitch, her face with sorrow. She shook her head, letting him know Disk's fate. Glitch fully blamed himself for their death. He tried to call Zen on his cell phone, but he received no answer.
Glitch woke up in his bed; he sat up, his face covered with sweat. His heart was racing from the dream he had. He lay back down, closing his eyes trying to rip the dream from his memory. Unsuccessful, he wiped his face with his blanket and got up from the bed. He still blamed himself for Disk, Zen, and Faith's death. Zen had died from sentinels bombing the ship. He learned the Zen had held off from using the EMP system since Disk, Faith, and he were jacked into the matrix. Glitch tried not to remember, but he found it hard when he had the dream from time to time. Glitch found his shirt and boots and put them on so the he could go to the Ceremony.