He said he killed an Agent

Chapter 4: But First, I must apologize

Seraph, an Asian man of medium height and strong build, was walking down an endless white hallway with an endless amount of green doors. The protector of the Oracle seemed very nervous, as he picked up his walking pace.

" Why are we going so fast?" Asked the little Indian girl that was following behind Seraph. " I though we were going to the park?"

Seraph turned around, and scooped up the little girl, walking so fast that he was nearly sprinting.

" We must hurry, Sati. We are in danger." Was the man's reply. He sighed and stopped in front of a green door identical to the rest, and set the 'last exile' down, as he hurriedly inserted a silver key, turned the knob, and pressed forward.

The moment the door opened, Seraph leaned back extraordinarily far, dodging a fist that came from the other side.

Agent Brown stepped inside the endless white hallway, kicking Seraph's stomach, sending the program to the floor and causing him to slide twenty feet.

Sati screamed, as another man walked in the door behind Agent Brown. This man was much better dressed, although he did have slicked back hair similar to the Agent's.

The Merovingian smiled as he walked towards the girl.

" Ah, but do not worry, my child!" The Merovingian said in a heavy French accent, " We have a use for you."

" Sati, escape!" Seraph commanded as the got to his feet, charging the Agent.

Brown had his Desert Eagle pistol drawn and ready, and Seraph had run right into it. The Agent now had the barrel of his pistol pressed against Seraph's forehead, and neither moved. The Merovingian easily took hold of Sati, and had her captive.

" Let go!" Sati demanded, struggling with the Frenchman. " I want to see the Oracle!"

The Merovingian sighed. " Ah, but of course. This is the way of all things. Upon the loss of freedom, you suddenly want that freedom more then anything! I have taken away your ability to see the Oracle, and now you insist on seeing the Oracle." The Frenchman lifted the Indian girl up, and spoke directly into her eyes. " But trust me, child, you will not see that woman again!"

" Continue with the operation." Agent Brown insisted, not taking his pupils hidden behind sunglasses off of Seraph. " I'll be there presently."

" But of course." The Merovingian answered, opening the door closest to him, and putting himself and the girl through it before shutting it behind him.

He had captured Sati.

Seraph raised his head, with the agent's gun still pointed on it.

" Sati is of no use to you." Seraph declared in poor English. " And she will not win you the Oracle."

Agent Brown shrugged, preparing to pull the trigger. " The eyes of the Oracle are useless to us now. The girl is to ensure our...preservation, which also ensures our...domination."

Seraph grunted as he fell backwards, sending his leg up to kick the Desert Eagle out of Agent Brown's hand, and sending the other leg into the program's gut.

The pistol and the agent landed at about the same time, and so Seraph kicked the Agent's gun behind him, watching as Brown landed on his feet in front of him.

" Aren't you supposed to apologize before you do that?" Brown asked.

Seraph shook his head vigorously, responding with his Asian accent, " Not sorry."

The two programs then ran to each other, meeting in the middle by exchanging quick punches aimed at the other's head. The Agent was able to easily avoid all of Seraph's punches, and it wasn't long before Brown landed a solid hit across Seraph's face, crushing his round sunglasses, and causing him to step backwards, grabbing his face.

" Describe the feeling, Guardian," Brown demanded, " of knowing that you have no control."

Seraph shook his head, wiping the blood from a cut above his eye.

" That," Seraph contended, " is a feeling... I have yet to experience." With that, Seraph made a second attempt at an attack, spinning around and kicking backwards at the Agent in the small white corridor.

This technique seemed to push the agent back a few feet, until Brown managed to grab Seraph's leg, and throw him towards the wall.

Seraph threw out his hands to brace himself against the wall, using his free leg to kick Brown in the face, breaking his sunglasses, and also effectively releasing his other leg. Seraph crouched down into a fighting stance, waiting for Brown to react, but the Agent simply stood there with a smile on his face.

" I think it would be wise for you to know, Seraph," Brown said calmly, " that I came here to deter you from saving the girl. In that, I was successful. Killing you...was not one of my objectives, however...if you insist on retaliation...you will most certainly receive...retribution!"

Agent Brown threw out his open hand, and his Desert Eagle pistol flew into it, from halfway across the room. Brown threw out his other hand, and his broken sunglasses reassembled themselves, and flew into his other open hand.

The suit-clad program calmly put on his repaired sunglasses, and then unexpectedly started to run on the side of the wall, onto the ceiling, moving faster then Seraph could follow with his eyes. Brown dropped down from the ceiling behind Seraph, with his pistol once again pointed at the Asian man's forehead. Brown wore a smile of infinite satisfaction.

Seraph shook his head with confusion.

" You exist in a system based on rules!" Seraph tried to make rational sense of what he had seen. " They can be bent, but Agents can not break them!"

Agent Brown leaned forward sympathetically.

" I am no longer part of that system." Agent Brown turned around as nearly all the doors around him opened, and an agent stepped through each one.

Brown corrected himself. " We are no longer part of that system."

" Alright, kiddo, we've got a problem." Ganymede said, as he circled the young, nearly bald boy being strapped into the chair beside him. " The slop I had to eat this morning... was very, very overcooked."

" And you put way too much salt in mine." Dial added.

" I tried to pawn mine off on a sentinel," Pandora joked, " but even it wouldn't eat it!"

Crusher just stuck his tongue out.

" Too bad! Stop complaining!" The young boy said with a giggle. " Or you won't get anymore for lunch!"

" Alright," Gannon said, rubbing the boy's nearly bald head. " We'll give you another chance at lunch. But for now, we're gonna play a little game."

" But we can't play it here." Pandora said to her little brother. " We're going to a place called 'The Construct'."

" Are you coming, Jenny?" Crusher asked.

" I'll be right beside you." Pandora replied. " And hey, it's Pandora now. You have to get used to that, or else you go back to being called Jonathan."

" Yeah, yeah," Crusher whined, " Let's go!"

" You got it." Gannon said, strapping Pandora down into the seat, and sliding the needle into the back of her skull.

When Crusher saw this, his eyes went wide.

" What did you do?" The young boy asked.

" Don't worry, little guy," Dial said, trying to calm him down, " It's the only way to get to the game. It feels weird, but you'll be fine."

" I don't want to!" Crusher said. " We'll play it in here!"

" It doesn't work that way, Crusher." Gannon said, reaching for the needle behind the young boy. " Now, relax, and count to five."

Crusher looked up at the intimidating captain, and nodded.

" One...two....thr-"

Gannon slid the needle in early, and Crusher's mouth went wide, emitting no sound.

When Crusher opened his eyes again, he was standing on the top of a building, wearing a mechanical suit of armor, and a long red cape.

The young boy smiled when he saw his residual self image. It was exactly how he wanted to look. He felt his head, to find he once again had hair- tall and spiky blonde hair.

He looked over to see his sister had changed as well, she was now wearing skin-tight black leather pants, which accented her thin, yet voluptuous body, and an unzipped black leather jacket over a red tank top. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a perfect ponytail as well.

" You look funny." Crusher said to his sister.

Pandora laughed. " Well, we can't all look as cool as you do, little brother."

Crusher looked around, to see how high up he was, and admired the city landscape.

" Where are we?" The boy questioned.

Pandora paused, not sure how to explain the concept to him. She figured honesty couldn't hurt.

" Well, Crusher, we're inside a computer program. It's kinda like the matrix, but we're safe here."

Crusher looked up to his big sister. " Like a video game?"

Pandora gave a short chuckle at his innocence. " That's right, it's kinda like a video game. And because it isn't real, you can do almost...whatever you want here."

" Really?" Crusher said with excitement. " Can I fly?"

" Well, even we haven't figured out how to do that yet, but...it's been done, by a very special person..."

" Who was it?"

Pandora paused. " His name was Neo, a name you should remember. And...he died, so that you could escape the matrix."

Crusher seemed impressed. " Did you know him?"

The blonde woman shook her head. " I saw him once, in Zion, but never talked to him. You didn't need to know him, as long as you believed in him. Now, look Crusher...I'm going to show you something that might scare you, but believe me when I say that it's completely safe. I'm going to show you something, and I want you to try it after me, okay?"

The young boy nodded, his red cape lifting up behind him with the wind.

Pandora turned around, and took a few steps backwards. " The trick is, Crusher, to remember that you are free to do whatever you want. Don't think about, don't think about anything. No mind." With that, Pandora ran three steps and then leaped into the air, higher than she ever should have been able to, and stayed in the air longer than she should have been able to, only to land with cat-like grace on the roof of the building in front of the one she was previously on.

Crusher's eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped.

" You mean I can do that too!" Crusher yelled excitedly.

" Of course you can!" Pandora yelled back, secretly praying that his first fall wouldn't hurt too badly. " It's a video game, remember? Now get over here!"

The spiky haired boy didn't have to be told twice, and without hesitation, he started running, picking up momentum until he reached the edge of the building. With no other option...he jumped.

The boy leaped higher than any eleven year old possibly could, and started to climb the skies.

Pandora was surprised at how much he really did look like a video game character, as he soared through the air "Superman" style with his arms out in front of him, and his red cape flowing behind him. He was making surprisingly good distance, and for a minute, it looked like he was going to land without any problems.

Then he looked down.

" It's too high!" Crusher started to scream. " Too high! Jenny, help!" And with that, he started to lower, and began to drop altitude.

When the boy looked up again, however, to see how despairingly close he was to his destination, and how far he had actually jumped, he regained confidence. With all his might, Crusher tried to make it to the other building, bending all of the rules he had lived under, and defying everything he had come to know as truth.

He tried to fly, but fell short, falling right by the edge of the building with outstretched hands.

To his surprise, his hand was grabbed by his sister, who pulled him off the edge, and onto the safety of the roof, hugging him profusely.

" Crusher, you made your first jump!" Pandora said with excitement. " Nobody makes their first jump!"

The young boy looked at his feet. " You had to help me at the end, though. I got scared in the middle..."

Pandora shook her head. " No, that was amazing! I fell the first four times I tried the jump program!"

Crusher looked confused. " Why? You said it was just a game!"

" I know." Pandora said, nodding her head. " But I accepted the rules of the matrix a long time before I came to the real world. As a kid, though, I guess you never gave up on the thought that you were a superhero."

" I think I like it here." Crusher said with a smile. " What else can I do?"

The beautiful blonde frowned. " Listen to me, Crusher. I'm glad you're having fun. I can see how this could be more entertaining than sitting around on a cold hovercraft...but, you need to remember that this isn't real...and this is not what's important." Pandora was worried that if he started liking the Matrix world too much, he might want to return, and start to resent the real world. That was the problem they were having with every other blue-pill.

Crusher looked confused. " Then why did you take us here?"

Pandora again realized she had to go with honesty.

" Right now, Crusher, we won't let you in the matrix. So don't ask." Crusher frowned, but Pandora continued. " But...if we keep having problems in the matrix, we could need you one day. We want you to be ready. No other boy has ever started training this early, so you are getting a special chance." This seemed to make the boy happy. " But you need to remember that it all comes with responsibility. We're training you now...so eventually you can help us."

" Why can't I help you now?" The boy asked.

" You're not ready yet." His sister answered firmly. " And you won't be for a while. The matrix is more dangerous then you could ever imagine, and you were very lucky to get out of it. We hope...someday...that there won't be a matrix. But I don't think that will happen for a long time, so you will need to learn how to survive...how to defend yourself. And I'll teach you, with the rest of the crew."

Crusher groaned. " Is this going to be like school?"

Pandora gave a short chuckle. " Not exactly. We have a different way of learning here. We can upload things into your mind in a second, things that would normally take years of practice to learn."

" Like what?"

" Well, driving motorcycles, or hot-wiring cars. Flying helicopters, and..." Pandora paused, but knew she had to say it, " and even how to use a gun."

The spiky-haired boy was astounded. " Could I get a sword?" He asked with anticipation.

Pandora considered it. She actually liked the thought of him practicing with a blade better then putting a gun in his hand.

" Sure." She answered. " We could start training you to be an expert swordsman."

" Yes!" Crusher exclaimed, flexing his armor covered biceps.

" But Crusher, there are still tests in the Matrix world. And these tests are more important than any other test you've ever had to take in a school. If you fail a test in the Matrix, little brother...you could die."

The boy swallowed. " Okay, okay! I'll study!"

Pandora smiled as her cell phone rang. She took it out and slid it open.

" Yeah?" She asked into the phone.

" Pan, we're taking you out." It was Gannon's voice.

" Well, we're almost done," Pandora said hesitantly, " is something going on?"

" Yes. There's a situation in the Matrix. The Oracle has requested the rebels' help. We're all going in, so I need you out of the construct."

" I don't understand, we haven't heard from the Oracle since the war ended, what happened?"

" There's been a kidnapping."

" Kidnapping? Who?"

" A little girl, a program very close to the Oracle. She was kidnapped and is currently being held hostage...by Agents."