Yuk. School is officially now in session, and my primary muse has ditched off for vacation in Bermuda or something, so I apologize for the wait.
They went into the next room, where Anna and the others had been waiting. She glanced at him with approval as he entered.
There was a new boy too, with pale green hair and eyes. He looked surprisingly young, but he showed little emotion when he looked at Yoh before turning back to the huge control panel they had set up. "Morpheus," he said quietly, "don't you think we might be rushing him?"
"He'll be fine, Lyserg," said Morpheus. "Don't worry. Apoc, are we online?"
Yoh noticed that he had addressed the boy he knew as Ren, and couldn't hide his puzzlement.
"Everyone has two names here," said Anna, reading his expression. "Sometimes it's not always safe to use one's true name over networking. You should know that, Neo."
He nodded, comprehending. "But you still use Anna…"
"Rarely. With complete strangers, I am almost always Trinity."
"Almost online," said Ren, his fingers flying over the keyboards in front of him.
Yoh looked at him, something familiar stirring in the back of his mind. Hao had once said… "Wait, Apoc?"
Ren looked up.
"You wrote the Four Horsemen Virus."
"That's right." The boy turned indifferently back to the screens.
"Yoh," said Morpheus, cutting him off before he could start bombarding Ren with computer questions, "time is always against us. Will you take a seat there?"
Yoh turned and saw a chair hooked up to wires connected to the many screens and keyboards. It was somewhat in the corner of the room, close to the walls and almost next to a cracked, full-length mirror. Slowly, awkwardly, aware of all the eyes on him, he obliged, settling back and still feeling rather baffled.
Anna walked forward and began to press white electrode discs onto the skin of his arms and head. Her fingers were warm, he noticed, though she didn't even glance at his face.
"You guys did all this?" he asked, his eyes sweeping again the extensive electronic apparatus around him.
She nodded.
Morpheus stood nearby, watching. "The pill you took is part of a trace system," he said. "I must warn you, things may feel a bit strange in a moment."
The tapping of the keyboard seemed suddenly louder. Pilica reached for a phone wired to the whole system and turned the old rotary dial, putting in a number she knew by heart. He turned and saw himself reflected in the fragments of the mirror nearby, pale and a bit scared-looking.
Suddenly, as if time had turned about, the cracks shortened, melted, and vanished, leaving behind a whole mirror.
"Wha…?"
Lyserg and Ren were scanning the screens, typing furiously as Anna monitored another. Yoh barely noticed them.
He reached out to touch the mirror; his fingers sank into it as if it were liquid. He pulled back, and it stretched as he did, clinging like silver syrup to his hand. "What is this?" he asked, half panicking.
"Just relax," said Anna, not looking away from the screen.
The silver began to spread like a hungry, sentient creature over his skin, coating his hand and creeping up his sleeve. It stretched over his chest and seeped up his neck, even as he strained uselessly to avoid him.
"It's going into replication," said Anna's voice in the distance.
"Apoc?" questioned Morpheus.
"Still nothing," replied Ren, his tone strained.
"Well need the signal soon. Stay calm, Yoh."
Yoh barely heard him. "It's cold," he moaned feverishly, shivering as the shining coating traced his cheekbones.
"It's all over me…"
The others were in a flurry of activity, avidly watching the screens.
"I got a fibrillation!" said Anna.
"I knew it. I knew it," came Lyserg's voice.
"It's cold…it's cold," muttered Yoh incoherently. It was almost at his eyes, his nose, his mouth. It would drown him.
"Apoc?" said Morpheus again, a hint of panic in his voice.
"Targeting…almost there…" replied Ren.
A monitor let off a shrill tone.
"He's going into arrest!" exclaimed Anna.
"Lock! I got him!"
"Now, Tank, now!"
"Of you go now, Yoh…through the looking-glass."
Yoh heard nothing, was aware of nothing but the coldness sliding down his throat, venomous and frigid. His mouth opened in a scream, and everything went dark.
*
The darkness slowly gave way to a sickly red glow. Yoh's eyes drifted open reluctantly, then widened as he tried to figure out where he was. He was floating in a thick, gelatinous liquid, surrounded by serpentine cables that twined about his limbs. Air…he needed air. Pushing himself upward, he reached toward the surface, only to find that it was covered over with a cellophane-like skin. Panicking, he shoved against it, clawing, his chest burning. It finally gave way, tearing and receding as he gulped in the precious oxygen.
Breathing heavily, he looked about and noticed with a shock that the lines entangling him appeared to be sprouting from his arms at even intervals, there were more on his chest and, judging by the feel of it, on his back as well. One large cable hung from the back of his neck. He attempted to pull at them, but none shifted the slightest under his fingers.
His eyes hurt and his vision was blurred, but with an effort, he squinted, trying to see where he was. He caught his breath. Lining the walls of a huge complex stretching farther than he could see were millions of glowing red pods identical, in fact, to the one in which he now sat. In each container was a human like himself, each plugged full of cords. No one else was awake.
He shuddered, and then realized he was cold. Out of the gel, there was nothing to retain the warmth from his body, for whatever or whoever had plugged him into this place had apparently thought clothes were unnecessary.
A monstrous, floating black machine pulled up to his level, banishing everything from his mind but shock and terror. Legs unfolded from its underside like a huge insect, reaching toward him. He flailed back, but the pod and the cords gave him little room to run. He felt it grasp him, and pull the thickest cable out of the back of his neck, yanking at his wet hair as it went. The next instant, the rest had unplugged themselves quickly, an explosive snap accompanying each one. It left him feeling painfully free, but strangely nervous as the mechanism floating before him remained stationary for a moment, as if looking him over. Then, in a moment, it was gone, leaving for some other business known only to its wiry substitute for a brain.
Before Yoh had time to breathe even a sigh of relief, a drain opened at the back of his capsule, drawing all the gelatinous liquid out and pulling him with it. He never found out exactly where it led, because he hit his head on the way out and missed whatever followed.
*
He awoke painfully in a dimly-lit room, covered in rough blanket. Hushed voices conversed around him, and someone had their fingers buried in his hair.
"Look at this," said a voice he suspected was Anna's. "It's like a sign or something."
"It's a fluke," said Ren. "It's nothing."
"I don't know." The fingers brushed his bangs curiously. "Everyone else has come out of the matrix all but shaved bald. No one's hair ever grows until they've been freed. I've never seen one like this…"
"But for it to be a sign?" asked an unfamiliar voice skeptically.
"It's not unheard of."
"If you're referring to the Biblical character of Samson…"
"His long hair was a symbol of divinely given strength to a man meant to deliver his people from oppression," put in Morpheus.
"This is now," said Ren, sounding slightly disgusted. "It's not practical to bring in old stuff like that."
"But I heard," said another voice, dropping quickly to a whisper, "that there was another freed whose hair was uncut. Was kind of a mess trying to get the cords out."
"When?"
"Not long ago."
"You don't think…"
"Shh! He's waking up!"
Yoh rolled over, squinting in the darkness at the figures around him. "Where am I?"
"On my ship," said Morpheus, leaning on the bed, still as short as ever. "The Nebuchadnezzer."
"Am I dead?"
"No," said Anna wryly. "If you were dead, you probably wouldn't be so sore."
It was true. He hurt all over as if he had gone through an intense workout just hours before. "What…?"
"Your muscles atrophied while plugged into the matrix. We had to rebuild them while you slept, but it'll take some getting used to."
"Think you can stand?" asked a tall blond man, offering a hand to him.
"This is Faust," said Morpheus with a smile. "He did most of the work getting you back together."
"Thanks." Yoh tested his feet shakily, but managed to keep his balance. "What day is it?"
"Better ask what year it is," said Lyserg.
Yoh's eyes widened. "How long was I out??"
"It's not that," put in a tall man with flowing black hair. "In the matrix, you were meant to think it was around the beginning of the 21st century. In actuality, it's nearly the 23rd."
Yoh's mouth dropped open. "But…"
"Hey, let's show him around!" butted in a genki-looking blue-haired boy of about Yoh's age.
"I was going to," said Morpheus.
"Oh. Sorry, Manta."
"Manta?" asked Yoh. "Is that your real name?"
The short boy nodded. "That's right. Feel free to use it if you want. This crew isn't big on formalities."
"Okay."
"Introductions!" suggested the blue-haired boy with enthusiasm. "I'm Horohoro. Also known as Mouse from time to time. Great to meet you!"
"I'm Lyserg," said the boy Yoh had seen back at the rundown hotel. "We haven't been properly introduced before. I go by Cypher too."
"I should hope you have enough memory to recall my name," said Anna, her arms folded over her chest.
"Don't mind her," said Pilica with a winning smile. "She's always like that. We know each other already, I suppose, but since everyone is telling their alias as well, I'm Switch."
"You already know I'm Apoc," said Ren impatiently. "That's Silva or Tank, Chrom or Dozer, and Faust or Cable." He listed them off as if it was all too tedious for him to stand.
"I'm really not that great with names," said Yoh sheepishly, trying not to let on how tired his brain was feeling. "I apologize in advance if I forget anyone."
"No problem!" said Horohoro jovially. "We won't mind at all!"
Yoh glanced at Anna's icy expression and decided Horohoro was mostly speaking for himself.
To be continued…Well, now, for those who have watched the movie, you pretty much know who's gonna die. Yeah. Unless I feel gracious and decide to change the storyline.