The Marquis and its entire crew is made up by me, as well as certain other characters. The rest of it is the property of their respective owners. So here it is.
MATRIX
ACE
CHAPTER 10
NO LONGER WITH THE AGENCY
Agent Roberts resisted the urge to smash the casette player in his grip, and simply pressed the "play" button.
The annoying, singsong voice of Alice Trent said, "My, my, my, are you slipping, or what? You let a newbie survive the freeway? Almost unharmed? And then you just let me blow up all of you at once! That would be just too fun!"
Agent Grey pressed the "stop" button and gave a quiet sigh. "Apparently," he said, "she is attempting to provoke us into ... irrational actions."
"A logical impossibility, of course," said Agent Roberts, privately pleased that Grey was being affeced in the same way.
Agent Adams nodded. "But she seems so ... capable."
"She is certainly is a threat," said Agent White. "I recommend that, the next time she is seen within the Matrix, all fire be concentrated on Alice Trent until termination."
"Agreed," said Agent Grey promptly.
The other Agents nodded. She couldn't avoid all their shots. And then, a long-standing thorn in their side would be removed.
Ace felt slightly incongruous about wandering through Chinatown. Sure, he knew it wasn't real, and that was a big enough hurdle to get his mind around ... but he considered that maybe he should have chosen something less garish to wear than his red leather jacket.
"Lao Ping avenue," said Red, who in the Matrix wore a silvery red tuxedo, as he led Ace down the street. "The teahouse will be ... ah, right down there. And I still say you should dress up as Vash the Stampede."
"The novelty would wear off really quickly" said Ace.
"Yeah, yeah," said Red. "Anyway, take this." He handed Ace what looked like a GPS device.
"What's this?" asked Ace.
"Matrix locator," said Red. "Seraph's bound to take you through a programmer's maintenance passage in the Matrix. It looks like an endless maze of corridors filled wall-to-wall with doors. This'll give you a map of where the doors lead -- that we know of."
"What, someone took the time to go look through every single door?" said Ace.
Red grinned as they approached the teahouse. "Nah, Xeno -- the last One -- found out a few interesting places and programmed 'em into one of these himself," he said, slowing to a stop a few feet away from the door. "Anyway, here we are. I heard once that when he unplugged people, Captain Morpheus -- he freed Neo, the sixth One -- was fond of telling them that he could only show you the door, and you yourself must walk through it."
"I'm down with that," said Ace, and stepped through the door into the teahouse.
Seraph was sitting there, calmly sipping a cup of tea. "Hello, Ace," he said.
"Um, hi," said Ace, closing the door behind him.
"The Oracle is expecting you," said Seraph, standing up and putting the teacup aside. "I will take you to her, but before I do, first let me apologize."
Ace folded his arms across his chest. "For what?" he said, grinning.
Seraph bowed. "For this." And then he leaped.
Ace, however, was expecting it this time, and jumped backwards to avoid the kick. He focused the way he had before, and jumped towards Seraph, thrusting his leg out. Seraph simple leaned backwards, arms stretched out to the side, and Ace sailed over him at a speed that was probably much faster than a standard Olympic racer. Ace swung his foot downward, kicking Seraph's chin, and Seraph simply grabbed his leg and tossed him towards one of the walls. Ace winced as he crashed to the floor, then hurriedly rolled to the side to avoid a rough kick from the program, did a flip towards him, and managed to slam both feet into Seraph's chest.
Seraph stumbled a few feet back, and then held a hand up. "Good," he said.
Ace, still primed for a fight, was taken completely off-guard.
Seraph took a bow. "The Oracle will see you now," he said. "Come with me."
He took out a key and inserted it into the doorknob leading outside, and turned it. Ace thought he heard a buzzing noise, and then Seraph opened the door.
There was another door on the other side.
The two of them stepped through. There was another door on either side of the two doors, and another door beyond them. If anyone asked Ace what was in the corridor, he would have said, "Doors."
"So this is the programmers' maintenance passage?" said Ace.
Seraph nodded, closing the door. "Yes. The Matrix is like a building: it rests upon a foundation that is built upon a substructure. Through these doors can be found any door in the Matrix."
"I hate it when that happens," grumbled Pylon, as Seraph and Ace had completely ceased to register anywhere in the Matrix. He began randomly flipping through various locales in the code.
"Wait ... go back one," said Fate, looking over his shoulder.
"Hmm?" said Pylon. "Hey -- looks almost like an Agent, but ... hey, he just disappeared when he went through that door!" He suddenly grinned. "Oh. I see."
Fate smirked. "He's about to meet an old friend of mine ..."
Ace heard the click of a door behind him. He turned around, and found himself staring down the barrel of a Desert Eagle. "GAH!"
"Boo," said the man in the ... white suit.
Seraph bowed. "Greetings, Agent Ashton."
"Seraph, please," said Ashton, lowering his gun. "I am no longer an agent of the System." He tilted his head slightly. "And this is ...?"
"Uh ... I'm Ace," said Ace. "Um, is this guy ...?"
"He was an Agent," said Seraph. "But he was freed by Xeno."
"He was the last One, wasn't he?" said Ace.
"Indeed," said Ashton, as they resumed their journey through the corridors. "It would seem to be a tradition of the One, once he has fully surpassed all other Zionists, to detatch an Agent from the system."
"Agent Ashton was forcibly removed from the system by Xeno. Agent Smith became a virus when Neo destroyed his original shell," said Seraph. "Agent Wilkins was simply deleted by Retter, and Agent Miles, Agent Watson, and Beelzebub -- since part of the Nightmare Matrix was based upon Hell -- were simply corrupted."
"Interesting," said Ace.
"Yes," said Seraph. "I do not believe that this ... tradition was known to Zion until Ashton was freed."
"That is correct, to my knowledge," said Ashton. "Are you taking Ace to see the Oracle?"
"Yes," said Seraph. "And you?"
"I made ... a bet with the Merovingian concerning the Oracle," said Ashton.
"The Merovingian?" said Ace.
"A powerful program," said Seraph. "He governs, among other things, the passage between the Matrix and the Source. Here we are."
They came to a stop in front of a door that appeared to be identical to every other door. Seraph opened it, revealing the inside of a homely apartment.
"You mentioned six Agents who were freed," said Ace. "But there's been seven cycles completed already. What was the first?"
Seraph paused. "I'm afraid I cannot say," he said. "Enter."