Chapter 2 -- Codecracker

It was now some time later, and San was back in the Matrix. Sitting in the parking lot of an airport, to be exact. This was her first assignment as a crew member of the Percy; along with the crew members of the Shehazarard they were to steal a USB device from a courier containing the machine's security codes, copy the codes, and get the device back to the courier. San had the job of getaway driver. Originally Virus, another member of the Percy had this job, but she had at the last moment chosen to stick with the surveillance work she had been doing and San volunteered to take over.

Now they were just waiting for the people from the Shez to show up.

Celsius and Cloud, the other two members of the Percy's crew who were on this assignment, were inside the airport. Along with Rade and Hephaestus of the Shez, they would be intercepting the courier and getting the codes. She knew that Mors, Fire, and Burn would be on lookout duty, and Ares would be the Shez's getaway driver. San didn't really know the crew of the Shez that well; she had seen them all around Zion and knew a little bit about each of them, but that was it, really. The most she knew about any of them was about Mors and how he used to be the captain of the Jabberwocky, but then again all of Zion had known about the disaster that lost him his entire crew and ship. Now, he was the first mate of the Shez.

And they were late. San, growing impatient, was about to call Celsius to find out if he knew what was going on, when she saw Ares and Fire. They were all now ready to get this show on the road, and all she had to do was wait for the others to complete their part of the assigment.

Marduk had reassured them that this assignment should be very easy, as the system had no idea what they were up to.

After a few minutes of waiting, she heard gunfire. Apparently, Marduk's prediction had proved to be false.

Ares abandoned the argument he'd been having with some coppertops and he and Fire drove off towards a fence. San, not sure what was going on or what to do, stepped out of her car, making sure that her twin Glock 18s were within easy reach in her jacket but still out of sight.

Very soon, she got an answer. Or as much of one as she'd get in this situation.

An Agent and another person came into view. They were fighting, and San didn't recognize the man. Next thing she knew, Burn came into the fray, firing his gun at the Agent. San, remembering what happened last time a gunner fought an Agent one-on-one, made up her mind very quickly as to what she was going to do.

"No one is going to die today..." she said to herself, a determined look on her face. Trying to stay out of the sight of the Agent, she quickly made her way towards where her teammate was trying to hold his own against the program. She made it into range just as Burn took a nasty punch from the Agent; she winced at the sight but kept her mind on what was going on in front of her. She pulled out her two guns, and leveled them at the Agent, opening fire. The Agent blurred, dodging her shots; doing so had slowed him down enough that Burn was able to get up and make a dash for it. Mors soon caught up, and prepared to fight the Agent, but soon they were in for another surprise...out of nowhere came another person, a woman with blond hair, who was wearing red pants and a black jacket. She engaged the Agent, giving Burn more time to make his escape. Once it was clear that he'd be able to get away safely, the mystery woman made one last attack on the Agent and then ran for it. The Agent, seemingly annoyed with the loss of two targets, plus the sudden appearance and disappearance of a third, turned to face Mors. The older man gestured to the program that he was ready to fight, and their battle began. On the other side of the carpark Ares and Fire were busy trying to drive through a fence; the fencing tangled in their tires and blew them out, yet they continued driving on towards the tarmac.

She didn't stick around to watch all this happen, however; she and Burn ran for her car, hiding behind all the other cars in the lot to keep the Agent from seeing them. They made it back to the car, and she dove into the driver's seat, looking back to check Mors.

To put it mildly, he wasn't doing too well against the Agent. When he finally turned to run for it, the Agent punched at him, hitting him hard in the back. Mors staggered and nearly fell, while the Agent got ready to attack again. Taking aim, San fired at the Agent with both of her guns. Busily dodging bullets, the Agent was unable to do anything while Mors escaped. He managed to get himself into the car, and they sped off.

"Shit...you okay, Mors?" she asked, looking back at him as she reloaded her guns.

"I'll be okay..." he replied, cringing. "Thanks for the cover fire, he would have killed me back there. But now I think I'll take my sword into the Matrix with me every time."

"Well, that went over as well as shit on Christmas..." Burn commented, driving to the hardline.

Mors pulled out his cell phone, dialing the Shez. "Ariadne, pump as much morphine into me as you can without killing me. He broke my spine." He tried to get into a more comfortable position, cringing. "And then I'd like you to tell me what the hell just happened back there! Why did the Agents pop up if we hadn't done anything violent yet?"

"I sure as hell would like to know what happened back there..." San muttered.

"Well, we did see this girl in red leather and a black trench coat. She aided Burn shortly after he was punched half way through a car, but she disappeared after that." Mors continued into the phone. "...damn, more problems...San, Burn, get ready to blow them away...how many?"

"Damnit...more problems?" San said, glancing out the back window of the car.

"How's the captain taking this?" Mors asked into the phone. San and Burn, while not being able to hear Ariadne's response, were able to hear Dallas shouting in the background. "Sounds like he's taking it well..."

They continued driving on for a while, following Ariadne's directions, until she instructed them to dump the car. San, along with Burn, held the police that had been following them until they reached the building with the hardline that Ariadne had directed them too. San kicked down the door, and they entered. Moments later, they were gone.

She awoke back in her Ecto chair on the Percy. The first thing she noticed was Cloud and Celsius. Cloud had a few injuries, but Celsius looked as though he had barely made it out alive. San looked at Cloud with a questioning look on her face.

"Later." he mouthed at her. Finn moved as though to help San out of her chair, but she waved him away.

"I'm fine, didn't even get hit. Help Celsius." she said, getting up on her own.

Sshh, my friend, don't try to talk," said Captain Marduk, as he tended to Celsius' wounds. "Finn," he ordered, "pull everyone else off their stations; they are to leave the Matrix at once. The Machines will almost certainly do a security sweep on all sensitve areas now."

"That means thowing away a lot of work," said Finn.

"It's lost already," said Marduk. "It is too late to worry about that." He turned to the others of his crew, including Cloud, that were there. "Well... that did not go well..." he said.

"Ughh, I cant believe my inattentiveness.........I lost my focus..." Celsius said, disobeying Marduk's order.

"It was a very brave thing you did," said Marduk, not seeming to mind "Were it not for you, I doubt if Coeus and Hephaestus would have made it."

"Thank you captain...Is everyone alright?" was the reply.

"A lot of people aren't well, but everyone will live. We shall have to return to Zion." Marduk answered.

"Somehow....I don't think...URGH!......I don't think they will be happy with our progress...." Celsius said almost passing out.

"The failure was not ours," said Marduk. "Interesting..."

"There were others......a blonde woman......"

"Yes, we saw," said Marduk. "I have a bad feeling about them."

"Were they sent by Zion? I dont think I know them."

"Why would Zion have sent them?"

Cloud glanced at San; clearly Marduk, Finn, and Celsius weren't aware that the two of them were still there. San, feeling slightly uncomfortable at eavesdropping, went back to her cabin. There she stayed, thinking about what had just happened, for much of the remaining journey back to Zion.