A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Replies are at the end again.

World of Blue

Chapter 4

By Tai Wilson

Neo sat in the dark alley, still trying to figure out what had just happened. Resting his head against the wall, he closed his eyes, only to wrench them open again moments later. The second he had closed his eyes, hundreds of images entered his mind, but he didn't know where they came from or what they meant. He was in his office, running from someone. Then, he was getting into a car from a rain-drenched street on a dark night. Then, the last image was a hand, holding two pills: one red, one blue. Leaning forward suddenly, vomit exited from Neo's mouth. Looking at it, he noticed it was the same kind of vomit as before. He threw up on more time before coughing several times and then passing out.

------

Morpheus walked through the ship called the Logos. They had come to pick up the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar when their ship had lost power only because they were the closest. Now, the crews of both ships were heading toward Zion, trying to ignore how cramped it was on the small ship.

"I need to go back into the Matrix." Morpheus said to Sparks, the operator of the Logos. "We need to find Neo again before the Agents do. I'm sure they noticed what happened earlier today."

"It looks like someone else already found him, sir." Sparks said, looking at one of the three monitors.

"Is it an Agent?" Morpheus asked quickly.

"I don't think so, but he's definitely there."

"Well, let's go then. He might not be an Agent, but he could be a rough program just out to do their job, or worse." Morpheus said as he walked over to one of the Ecto chairs. Sitting down in it, he reclined as Sparks walked over to jack him in. Looking up one last time, he said, "If anyone wants to come with, do it now." With that the jack was inserted into the hole in the back of Morpheus' head as he closed his eyes, sending his mind into the Matrix.

------

Neo opened his eyes as he slowly lifted his head out of the filth of the alleyway that was mixing with his own vomit.

"Glad to see yer awake there, laddey."

If he wasn't lying on the ground at the moment, Neo would have jumped. Rolling over, he saw a set of feet next to his chest. Looking up, he saw a man standing over him.

"What happened?" Neo asked, looking up at the man.

"You blacked out, that's what." he said simply. He had a thick Scottish accent. Or was it Irish? Neo couldn't tell, and given the circumstances, he didn't really care, either.

"Who are you?" Neo asked as he sat up, propping himself against a wall again.

"Most folks call me Keith O'Connor." the man said as he kneeled down next to Neo.

"What are you doing here?" Neo asked as he rubbed his left eye, trying to remove the sleep from it.

"I'm just trying to answer the same questions you are." Keith said with a slight sigh.

"You mean why I suddenly found the ability to take down a full grown gun wielding man with out even thinking?" Neo said quickly, getting slightly more serious now.

"Aye, that's the one." Keith said. "Now, what say we get out of this alley way, and get some grub?"

"But, how did you know?" Neo asked as he stood up.

"Trust me, laddey. There's plenty I know that you don't."

"Like what?"

"Like how there's one 'ell of a big dag about to bite you in the arse." Keith said, nodding his head in the direction of something behind Neo.

"A what?" Neo asked. Suddenly, Keith kicked out into the air, just missing Neo's head, and going past it. Then, Neo noticed he had hit something. It was a dog that was hell-bent and foaming at the mouth. Keeping the dog's neck resting on his foot, Keith bent his leg and then extended it again, sending the dog flying.

"That was a dog!" Neo said as he moved a few steps away from Keith.

"That's what I said. A dag." Keith said as he wiped the foam off of his shoe.

"No, you said a dag."

"What?"

"Never mind." Neo said with a sigh.

"Well then, what about that food I mentioned earlier? We can talk more once we get into a pub."

"Sounds good to me." Neo said. He had suddenly become very hungry and the thought of getting the food with someone else's money just made it sound even better.

As they walked out of the alley, Neo caught the first good look at Keith. He looked like he was in his mid twenties or early thirties. He was wearing regular blue jeans with a somewhat dirty white button down shirt and a brown leather jacket. A dark gray dress hat covered his brown, unkempt hair and cast a shadow over the beard he had that looked like it hadn't been cut or trimmed in days.

------

Morpheus and Mouse stepped out into the alleyway just seconds after Neo and Keith had left.

"I thought you said they were here." Morpheus said as he pulled out a cell phone.

"They were." Tank said on the other line. "They just left."

"Where?" Morpheus asked quickly.

After a few seconds of silence that most likely meant he was scanning the Matrix for a sign of Neo, he responded. "Uh... they, they just got into a cab seven yards away to the left of the alley!" Tank said quickly, finally finding a trace of Neo and the other person. "They're heading West on 3rd Street, at about 40 mile per hour."

"Good." Morpheus said as he and Mouse walked out of the alleyway to a waiting car.

"Where do we go?" Trinity said from the driver seat once Morpheus and Mouse were in.

"West on 3rd Street." Morpheus said simply as the car took off quickly.

------

A few minutes later, the cab that Neo and Keith were riding in stopped outside a shady part of town with a neon light flickering dimly over a building that read 'O'Malley's Pub'.

"We're 'ere." Keith said happily as he stepped out of the cab. Walking up to the door, he knocked three times. A slot opened and a set of eyes looked at Keith. "Passward?" They said in the same Scottish accent as Keith.

"Passward?" Keith repeated. "C'mon, O'Malley. Thar's never been no bloody passward! Now 'urry up open the dar, he's with me."

The slot closed as the door swung open. "'Urry up yerself." O'Malley said as Keith hustled Neo inside before going in himself.

"What's with all the secrecy?" Neo asked, looking the pub over. It was a classic example of an old Irish pub, even down to the dirt on the mirror behind the bar and the group of drunks singing Irish drinking songs. He was surprised to find it in the large business city that he lived in.

"It's a bit o' a 'members only' kind of place." Keith said as he and Neo sat down at the bar. "Two pints o' rum for me an' the laddey!" Keith shouted at the bartender as two mugs filled to the brim with rum slid down the bar. Catching his mug, Keith raised it into the air and shouted out, "Gesondheid!" which was soon repeated by everyone in the bar but Neo as they downed whatever beverage they were holding in a single large gulp.

"Drink up, laddey!" Keith shouted over the now loud sound of the bar, hitting Neo in the arm. The hit was just light enough to not be taken as an attempt at harming him. Raising his cup to his mouth, Neo took a large gulp of the rum, which he soon found to be a mistake.

He only managed to spit out about a third of the rum, which went pouring all over the bar. It was scorching hot, felt like acid going toward his stomach, and tasted like sour milk. This just made Keith burst out laughing.

"Aye, you need to learn to pace yourself, laddey!" he said as he slapped the choking Neo on the back, almost knocking him over.

"I need some water." Neo said as he stood up, soon finding that the affects of the strong alcohol had already taken hold of his senses. He staggered drunkenly through the bar, trying to see through the beer goggles now covering his eyes. Over the noise of the bar that was threatening to make his head explode, Neo heard the deep, booming, distorted voice of Keith somewhere behind and to the right of him.

"Aye, you need fresh air is what you need."

Neo barley felt Keith grab his shoulders and lead him outside. He felt instantly better the second the noise was silenced and the fresh, cold night air entered his lungs, although he was still very drunk.

"I've had enough of vomiting for the week, thank you." Neo said more to himself than anyone as he felt his stomach start to turn.

"Aye, the moon is full and so are we, Mr. Anderson." Keith said, repeating a line from and a song and stating the truth.

"What?" Neo said dully, not quite hearing what Keith had said. Then, it reached his ears. Quickly he swung his arms out, pushing Keith away from him and taking several steps back. "You, you're one of them!" Neo said in a drunken anger.

"And just what is that, Mr. Anderson? Do you even know what it is you're talking about, laddey?"

"You, you're them! The police were with you!" Neo continued to shout drunkenly, only half knowing what he was saying. Memories of a few days ago had just flooded his mind. The only problem was, he didn't remember ever doing them. It was like remembering a dream. Was it a dream? He didn't know, but something in the back of his mind kept telling him that was he was seeing had, in fact, happened.

"Yer starting to remember, aren't you?" Keith said, moving slowly toward Neo.

Suddenly, a several shots rang out from behind them. Quickly, Keith moved the upper part of his body, dodging the bullets almost effortlessly. It wasn't as easy for Neo.

Before the first shot was fired, Neo saw two men round the corner, about a block away. Then, one pulled out a gun and fired three shots in their direction. At first instinct, Neo raised his hands into the air, knowing the bullets would hit Keith. That is, until the Scottish man moved out of their way. Then, it seemed as if time had stopped completely and Neo was facing three bullets pointed at torso and head. Obviously, Neo began trying to move, leaning back as far as he could, but the alcohol flowing through his blood stream seemed to have hardened his joints.

Turning his head slightly, one bullet barley missed his cheek, cutting the hairs from his nine' o'clock shadow that had just to show. The other two bullets were slightly more accurate.

Bending his knee inward at an uncomfortable angle, the bullet sliced through Neo's pants, cutting his leg slightly, making him fall on one knee. This, unfortunately, made his hand move forward, causing the bullet to cut through the web of skin between Neo's forefinger and thumb.

He would have yelled out in pain, if the rum that was still coursing through his body didn't numb it considerably seconds later.

Getting up quickly, Neo took off running in as straight a line as he could, with both the limp in his cut leg and the rum, now affecting his direction and speed.

Keith ducked down as the Agent jumped at him, making the program go flying over his head. Pulling out a gun from within his coat, he fired a single shot at the Agent, entering his chest and killing the virus instantly. A man in a business suit hit the ground as Keith also took off running after Neo, firing off several shots at the other Agent, slowing it down slightly.

------

Morpheus and Mouse were now running down the street toward the three figures they had seen. As they ran, Morpheus soon noticed that one was an Agent, and one of the other two was Neo.

Increasing his speed, Morpheus ran as fast as his mind would allow him, pushing the bar on his endurance level, and going much fast than his body would normally allow.

Ahead of him, Neo was doing the same with out realizing it, although he was going slower than Morpheus.

Just behind him, Keith was catching up to him. Soon, he was along side Neo. Quickly he rammed his shoulder into Neo's side, knocking him to the side, and into an alley, as Keith continued going sideways, also going into the alley.

"Get up." Keith said quickly as he pulled Neo off the ground and threw him through the back door of a restaurant. He had no time to be careful or gentle. As he went into the restaurant also, he went to fire several more shots at the Agent that had now entered the alley, only to find that he was out of bullets. Raising his gun, the Agent stopped advancing, aimed his firearm, and pulled the trigger.

A/N: Hmm... A cliffhanger. Good idea or not? Who knows? I need to end this chapter somehow, so that the way. Wow. It's really hard writing in Scottish slang, or whatever you want to call it. I know there's a proper word for it, I just can't think of it right now...

Well, I hope the lay out o this one looks as good on the Internet as it does here.

Now, on to replies!

richard the pedantic - Good quote, who ever said it. I'm not sure if the Neb has gun turrets or not, but it's like you said: Who cares? If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I hope this was soon enough, for I don't like figs, let alone having them thrown at me. Thanks for the review!

nothingness - Glad you liked it. And trust me, you'll get more. A lot more. This'll probably be the longest and most complicated story I've written yet.

Mystic Kyra - Like the reply before, I plan on going on. Glad you liked it!