Isclaimersday (pig latin!): I own none of the characters that you recognize from the Matrix or the Matrix: Reloaded. They belong to the Wachowskis.

Also, in this fic they don't use 'I' 'me' 'my' 'mine' etc. Even when referring to only one of them. I think it adds a certain dramatic effect.

Dedicated in memory of Qurrah's character before it became an NPC, and Antonil's lordship.

Dual Biography

Chapter XXV: Unavailable for Discussion

"You look so much more instructor-esque," She comments to us as we renter her office, "Take off the shades."

"We wouldn't be able to see."

"I'll dim the lights."

She promptly does so, and the three of us walk onto the mat again.

"What are your names?"

"One and Two." One replies with a shrug.

"Okay, not cool. You're now Juan and….uuhh…Jason."

"Juan and Jason?" One asks dubiously.

"Yeah. Juan sounds kind of like One, and I can't think of anything cool that rhymes with Two, so you're just Jason."

I'm not exactly sure how to reply, so I keep my mouth shut and shrug.

I feel naked in this gi. I don't have my coat or my switchblade, and I know for a fact I'm not wearing nearly enough. It's extremely uncomfortable, and I'm too bothered by the difference to answer.

"So, Sensei Juan and Sensei Jason, my dreadlocked Twins, do you have any idea what you're going to do?"

"Teach?" I ask with a shrug, "That is what you said, isn't it?"

"Teach little kids. You'll enjoy it." She replies with a smirk.

"You're being sarcastic."

"Alright, whatever, we have two hours, you can sit around here and wait for the young adults, or you can go back home….wherever that is you live."

I briefly confirm with One, "We'll stay here."

"Alright then. So tell me about yourselves. How old are you, specialties, etc?" She walks back into her office and sits down behind the desk, putting her feet on the stacks of paper as One and I sit in the chairs opposite her.

"We're from version two, about….four hundred years? Something of that sort. We were designed as one program, the perfect duo, you could say. We're assassins, especially proficient with switchblades, most forms of martial arts, and automatic weapons."

"Is there some reason why you're dreadlocked Twins?"

I look down at the ground and swallow uncomfortably. Adrian's memory flashes back into my head, "Because….someone thought that would look cool," I murmur slightly.

"What someone would that be? What program designed you?"

"We were…….created under very specific circumstances," I continue, sighing and, not taking my eyes off the floor, "It involved a pair of humans which we'd rather not speak of. IT is a very…..VERY, private matter."

"You're full of them, I see," She replies, slightly quieter and noticing my discomfort, "Why do they trouble you so?"

"They violate very…basic beliefs we hold," One fills in, "Beliefs we did not wish to be shaken, that were."

"Ah, blocking them out. That makes good sense. Though, they may probably come back to haunt you sometime in the future."

"They alright have," He snarls in response, and at this point Raikan takes the hint to shut her mouth and change the subject.

"So…is it true what they speak about Irii?"

"We know him by two names. The MI seems the easiest, because it's more of a title. And what is true?" One continues as I try to compose my now jumbled thoughts. A few seconds pass in silence and I now continue speaking.

"It is true that he knows your fear, that he can exploit it in the worse way, that he can throw every weakness you contain in your face," My voice is level, deadly calm, "It is true that he cares not for Exiles, but for rouge helpers; it is true that he is all, that if he was pissed enough he could blow you to the real world and back. It is true that he has a certain aura around him, that he is a deformed, misbegotten, spawn-of-hell, forsaken, cursed, slimy, pile of---"

//"Calm down, Two."//

As One's voice cuts through my head, I slowly return to my senses. One gives me a weird look, and Raikan glances at me strangely.

Pity.

She pities me.

I snarl at her and stand up abruptly, walking brusquely out of the office and onto the dojo. I can feel myself on edge, and I can hear One and Raikan talking. Honestly, I just don't care what they're talking about. I suppose I could look if I wanted, but it doesn't seem to matter to me. I do some kicks and punches to try and wear off my edginess, but nothing can relieve my mind's ache.

One comes out, following by Raikan. Both of them look fairly impassive, and I glance at the clock. Almost an hour has gone by, almost 20 minutes that I was trying to relax. And I'm still stressed.

"You look like you could do with some coffee," Raikan comments quietly to me, looking away.

"We're fine," I lie, "It's nothing."

"Don't bullshit a bullshitter," She murmurs, and then looks at the full-wall mirror, glancing at us behind her.

One steps next to me, his eyes showing concern and worry.

//"What has troubled you so, my brother?"//

//"We would not like to recall when we were separated. It was…a time of weakness, if we may speak that."//

//"You spoke of the MI…..brutally.//

An uneasy silence fills my head, and he continues again after a minute.

//"You never told us what you endured when we were possessed. Would you speak of it?"//

//"You may take it if you want."//

I feel the tingling and filling sensation of One delving into my mind, running through my memories, reaching that which he does not know. He takes his time within my head, comprehending slowly, rather then shifting through it. I can sense his confusion and even horror and his own actions.

He stops as I feel him approach flashbacks. He stops, and then pulls out of my mind completely.

//"Why did you stop?"//

His telepathic voice in uneasy and nervous as he speaks, //"Some of them seemed like not even yourself knew what they were."//

The meaning of that dawns on me immediately. I had flashbacks….separate parts of another life. The parts in the middle I still can't recall. Those are what I can't see, what he doesn't look at.

"I hate it when you do that."

Both of us turn to the girl, and we both open our minds and speak in unison, "What?"

"You're talking to each other. "

"How do you know?"

"Logic, really. If you two are designed to work together, you'd have a deeper connection and probably a better way of communicating. But anyway, I know you're talking to eachother. And I don't know what about, it puts me on edge. And plus, you get this weird look when you talk. Kind of a zoned out thing."