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 12
KEY ISSUES
"Lucky us," said Red. "The others got out right before they cut the hardline."
"I will find you a door near another exit," said Seraph. "This way."
They jogged down the hallway, but came to a sudden halt as the door opened in front of them.
"Agent Roberts," said Seraph.
"Seraph," said Agent Roberts, with a glare. He had a key in his hand. "Get out of my way and allow me to destroy these Zionists."
"I cannot," said Seraph. "I am not subject to your command, and this passageway is outside of your jurisdiction. How did you get in here?"
"By definition, the whole of the Matrix is my jurisdiction," said Agent Roberts. The whole of him was a glare. "The latest version of the Keymaker was kind enough to give me a key." He gestured with it.
"Before I do, let me first apologize," said Seraph.
"For what?" asked Agent Roberts. His voice glared.
"For this," said Seraph, and kicked the key out of his hand.
While they fought, Ace and Red slipped out one of the doors.
They were standing in an empty office in a skyscraper. Red took out his cell phone. "Hey Pylon!"
"I -- d'h --- uh -- Ah, there you are!" said Pylon. "There's a hardline right in front of you." The phone on the desk began ringing.
"Great!" said Red. "Hey, Ace, we're going!"
Ace held up the key. "Excellent," he said.
Red answered the phone and vanished in a burst of code. Ace hung up, and the phone promptly began ringing.
The door flew open as Seraph was slammed against it. Agent Grey fired, even as Ace picked up the phone ...
"I stand thoroughly corrected," said Tenshi.
Ace gasped as he sat up. "That was too close," he said. "Next time, I'm gonna go first."
"What was that thing you picked up? said Pylon. "It took longer to download than you did."
"It was a key," said Ace. "That Agent said that the Keymaker gave it to him ..."
Tenshi frowned, and then understanding dawned on him. "Ah, of course -- the latest version would still be with the Machines ..."
"Huh?" said Zephyr.
"The Keymaker's a program," said Norton. "There seems to be a new version of 'im for every Matrix. He goes Rogue shortly after the One shows up, and gives 'im the Key to the Source. I think."
"So the One goes to the Source, and resets the Matrix, and screws with the Sentinels, so that both sides of the war can survive for another hundred years?" said Ace.
Styx rolled his eyes. "Well, when ya put it like that ..."
"Actually, before, Zion got destroyed, but we're improving," said Fate. "And I still say I should've gone with them."
"You would have gotten killed," said Pylon. "The Agents are too ticked off at you right now. Seraph said that when he phoned us to say the Oracle wanted to see Ace."
"You know how well I can fight the Agents," said Fate.
"But speaking of the Oracle seeing Ace," said Tenshi, turning to Ace, "what did she tell you?"
Ace considered his options. "Um, well," he said, "she said that ... she hadn't meant to see me yet, but that she just wanted to, um, let me know about how it was messed up so I wouldn't be all expecting her to call us."
Tenshi considered this. "A good idea, all things considered," he said. "Still, anything else the Oracle said is for you and you alone."
Ace nodded. "So, what's up with that key?"
"It's huge, that's what," said Pylon, who never passed up a chance to complain. "I mean it has way too much code to be ordinary. You said the Keymaker made this?"
"Uh, that he gave it to the Agent," said Ace.
Pylon grinned. "Okay, if we can copy the code, this gives us way too big an edge," he said. "Got an Agent on your tail? Just slip through a door, and unlock it ... start from anywhere, get anywhere ..." He suddenly rounded on Fate, who had opened her mouth to say something. "NO, you are NOT going in there yet!"
Meanwhile, elsewhere, another ship was trying something.
"All right, you swabs," bellowed Captain Nimoy, a dark-skinned man with a handlebar moustache. "I'm not captain of the Nautilus for nothing! Let's get ready to test this new weapon!"
"Ja, you're captain of the Nautilus because of the vague literary reference, i.e. Captain Nemo," said Themus, as he lay back onto the bed. "And you specifically asked for this ship."
"Be nice," said Second Officer Essence, a slender, blonde-haired woman, wincing slightly as Bolt, the Operator, inserted the plug into her skull.
"I don't suppose asking any of you to be serious will get any kind of result?" said Bolt sarcastically as he moved to plug in Themus.
"The same thing goes for you," said Essence.
Bolt snorted. "I still say we should send in Pavlov and Oort," he said, plugging in Nimoy. "This is Star Trek all over again, with the Captain and his First Officer going on dangerous away team missions. It's a good thing Dr. Lovecraft has no plug, or else --"
"Bolt," said Nimoy warningly.
"Shutting up," said Bolt, and he went to tap at the controls.
Somewhere, in a conference room in an office building somewhere, a phone at one end of the table began ringing, and three figures materialized in a burst of green code.
"We're in," said Nimoy, and hung up. He was wearing a black trench coat.
"Great," said Essence, running a hand through her silver hair.
"Never thought I'd say something like this," said Themus, "but now we just need to find an Agent ..."
A high-backed swivel chair rotated around, revealing a black-suited figure holding his hands steepled in a position that, amazingly enough, has not been made a capital offense. "You called, Mr. Langley?" said Agent Black.
"Ah, good, just one of the guys we wanted to see," said Nimoy, striding over to him with the air of someone interested in a business proposition.
Agent Black arched an eyebrow. "You wish to defect?" he said.
"Well, when you put it like that..." said Nimoy, and suddenly took out what looked like a squirt bottle and sprayed it at Agent Black.
Agents are designed to be able to dodge bullets. They also know better than to try to dodge something harmless, in case someone was watching. Agent Black was expecting to simply wince at the spray of liquid in his face and then kill these evidently insane runners. He was not expecting to suddenly glow brightly and transform to a young man named David Galloway, who looked around in confusion. "Wh-wh-what's going on!?"
"It worked!" said Nimoy, cackling. "And look who it is!" He took out his cell phone. "Bolt, get us ready to go! And make it snappy, or I'll have you keelhauled!"
Dave twitched, and the others tensed. "Who are you people!?" he said, terrified.
"Nobodies," said Themus blandly, as Nimoy picked up the phone and vanished. Essence hung up.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" exclaimed Dave. "Th-that guy just disappeared!"
"Excellent, you haven't been taken over again," siad Essence, grinning as she picked up the phone and vanished.
"Taken over ...!? What!?" said Dave.
"I'll put it this way, Brain," said Themus, hanging up again. "The Matrix has you." He picked up the phone, and then vanished.
Dave stared. What the HELL had just happened? How did they know his screen name?
And what was the Matrix?
He eventually found out. Because he was so annoyed with Themus for that snide demeanor, he punched him the first chance he got. In deference to their military sensibilities, he did it during training.