The Matrix: Legacy
Seven
Twins

One and Two arrived simultaneously in the Merovingian's office. The Twins were quite bored and had been ever since the war had ended. There was really nothing to do... no one to harass... especially because Abel had damn near blown a gasket when they'd suggested an intimidation routine with Trinity's look-alike-sister. The promise of something interesting with a possibility of chaos and mayhem drew them quickly when the Merovingian called. Generally they preferred to annoy the hell out of him by taking their own sweet time.

"You rang?" One announced their presence. By now, even their sudden appearances could not startled the Frenchman.

"Yes... I 'ave received word zat certain... friends of ours 'ave regained their lost ship. Even better, zey 'ave some new recruits zat ze fortuneteller wishes to see," the Merovingian said.

One and Two exchanged a look. "You wish us to intercept them?"

"Mais oui. Ze recruits I care nothing about, 'owever, I wish for ze woman and ze Ghost to be taken alive, if possible. If it is not, zen let zem go... I 'ave an alternate plan to ensnare ze Ghost and 'is captain."

The Twins exchanged identical grins. This would be fun!

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Ghost caught Danaë in the medbay. "Danaë. Have you done any training for fighting?"

She shook her head. "Even when I was taken out, I focused more on the uploads for health and nursing. I do better if I have a weapon anyway; Choi said I'm a natural knife fighter."

Ghost sighed. "No wonder you bet a sparring program on our match. Danaë, I could have seriously hurt you."

"I know," she said softly, "but I don't like seeing you moping like that." Ghost placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, but couldn't think of anything to say. "I know you loved her, Ghost, but it's been almost three years. I never met her, but... I don't think she'd like you acting this way."

He nodded. "I know. Just like I know that if she were here, she'd have plugged in like you did and given me the sound ass-kicking I probably deserved."

She smiled up at him. "At least I got a fighting program out of this. And I got out of kissing Sparks."

He shook his head as Niobe stuck hers in. "We're going to see her."

"The Oracle?" Ghost queried.

"Yes. You're coming too, Danaë."

The young medic nodded and followed gunner and captain out of the room. Krsna was already plugged in, writing some sort of program in a construct of his own.

Link plugged them in while Sparks got ready to transfer them into the Matrix. "Hey, Ghost," Sparks called. "If you guys run into trouble and don't make it, can I have your boots?" Ghost snatched Krsna's hat from off the unconscious boy's head and threw it at Sparks, who ducked. He came back up, grinning, only to have one of Link's extra gloves catch him in the face.

"No fair!" he cried, but Link had already plugged Ghost in.

The four free minds stood around the table, each in their traditional outfits. Ghost noticed that Dana's RSI was still dramatically different from that of her physical body, while the only apparent change to Krsna was longer hair, black jeans, and steel-toed boots. Niobe wore her usual gator-skin trench coat, pants, and boots, all dyed red, with their matching tan shirt and red leather gloves; Ghost wore his usual black suit and grey trench coat.

"Let's go," Niobe said, gesturing for her two recruits to follow her. Ghost picked up the rear. The captain led them to a Pontiac GTO; Krsna immediately made for shotgun, only to be pulled out gently but firmly by Ghost, who then took his usual seat beside his captain.

"There are certain things we do not change, Kris," Niobe said, smiling at his pout as he got in the back.

Danaë hesitated for a moment. "Captain?" Niobe looked back at her. "We're being watched." Captain and first mate looked at each other, then in the direction Danaë was looking. Both of them recognised one of the dreadlock-wearing albinos who worked for the Merovingian.

"Shit!"

Ghost reacted rather than speak, reaching back and yanking Danaë into the car seconds before Niobe floored it. "Not friends of yours?" Krsna drawled.

"You might say that," she muttered. "Least he wasn't in a car... where'd his twin get off to, I wonder?"

A yelp and a shriek from the back seat answered that. Niobe looked in the rear view mirror to see the other Twin materialise between Krsna and Danaë. "Ghost!" she yelled, too late: their hitchhiker had grabbed both kids and dematerialised, taking them with him. "Where the hell'd he learn to do that?" Niobe demanded as, disregarding any incoming traffic, she spun the car around.

Krsna reacted quickly; his foot was moving even before they solidified and, as they did, caught the albino behind the heel, dumping him onto his back. He grabbed Dana's wrist. "Run!"

She needed no second urging as she ran with him; unfortunately, the two teens weren't fast enough. She felt the man behind them snag a handful of her hair and yank hard, pulling her out of Krsna's grasp and into his own. "Kris!" she yelled as she fought the albino's steely grip to no avail. Something barrelled into the silver-clad man, knocking him down.

"Run, Danaë!" Ghost yelled as he leapt away from the albino's vicious backswing with a razor. Danaë hesitated, but Krsna grabbed her wrist once more and pulled her after him.

They didn't get far before the albino's twin stepped in their path, effectively cutting them off. Danaë grabbed Krsna's cell phone as he drew a pair of Glocks and opened fire.

"Operator," came Sparks' worried voice. "We need a way out!" Danaë cried as Krsna yelled, "Holy shit!"

"They're like ghosts; bullets won't work on 'em," Sparks supplied helpfully.

"I think Kris just figured that out; now get us away from here!"

"Workin' on it, sweetheart."

Krsna yelped as the albino's razor slashed up his chest, followed by a hard punch to the gut that threw him into Danaë, knocking the phone from her hand. The man picked it up and said, "We're sorry, this number is no longer in service," before crushing it in his hand. Dana's green eyes widened as he approached them. The Indian bomber was down and probably wouldn't be up for awhile.

Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew a Swiss Army Knife and opened the longest blade in it. It wasn't a match for this man's razor, but at least she could defend herself. He looked at the blade in her hand and offered her a slow smile reminiscent of a cougar stalking its prey before lunging for her. She ducked under his blow and came up behind him, trying to lead him away from Krsna.

It worked: he had turned and was following her every movement with his eyes... she thought so, anyway. It was hard to tell with those sunglasses on. The dreadlocked man lunged again for her, but this time was able to counter her dodge with a reverse-slash, drawing the razor towards him and cutting a deep line across her cheek.

Like Dana's fight with Ghost, it was no contest. She hit the albino a lot more than she'd hit Ghost, but he merely phased and healed, then cut her deeper and longer. Eventually he struck her hard enough with his fist to throw her down beside the unconscious Krsna. No sooner had she hit than he had grabbed her arm, hauling her up and pinning her against him, razor against her throat, cutting her a bit.

"Not a bad fight," he whispered in her ear, nuzzling her hair a bit and making her tremble. "Not bad at all...."

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Cain and Abel were on camera duty now. As usual, Cain had fallen asleep, leaving his work to the smallest werewolf. Abel was starting to doze off as well, then something caught his eye.

Morgain.

Dancing.

And dancing well.

He suddenly understood why Tiger and Seth had been loathe to leave the cameras for a change. Hell, he wouldn't miss this show of female for anything. Oddly enough, Abel didn't feel like sharing, either. He let Cain sleep and wondered if he could pay Tiger and Seth to keep their mouths shut.

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Current Music: Hey, Mama (Radio Edit) by Black-Eyed Peas

....okay, apparently the umlauted e's in Dana are disappearing when I tack on an 's. I blame and move on; if anyone knows a way of fixing this issue, please tell me. Thanks!