The Matrix: Legacy
Fourteen
l33t sk1llz
Horizon arrived late to work. Fortunately for her, the librarian, Mrs. Sanchez, was understanding about it due to Horizon's youth, move, and general disorganisational skills. She got there before the kids did, and that was enough for Mrs. Sanchez.
Later, Horizon decided it was a good thing that Gunner had gotten her that concealed weaponry licence.
Nothing happened for most of the day, until the fifth-grade class containing Sati came in. Then, it seemed everything happened at once. Mrs. Sanchez was called to the office, leaving Horizon in charge of the Brats. Then a man with long, greasy hair came to the door, claiming that he was here to take Sati to her doctor's appointment. "¡La mirada, niños, Severus Snape ha llegado!" (1) she muttered, earning a snicker from Carlos Rodriguez.
"I'm sorry, sir," she said in English, "but I can't let you take Sati until I see your visitor's pass and some identification." He tried to argue the point, but she stood firm. "Carlos," she told the boy, "Vaya obtenga Sati. Dígala esconder." (2) He nodded and ran off, and Horizon sweetly said, "Maybe we should take this outside?"
The man smiled predatorily. "Yes, we should." And if you think I didn't see that gun under your coat, mister, she thought, I'd say you're in for a world of hurt, especially if you think I'm letting you take that sweet little girl anywhere. My l33t f1ght1ng sk1llz will 0wnz j00.
No sooner had Horizon shut the door than the man drew a gun on her. Horizon moved swiftly, wrapping her left arm around his gun arm and snapping it with applied pressure - Thank you, Gunner - and drawing her own gun, pressing it into his gut. "Nice try," she said softly. "I don't know who you are, pal, but I know you aren't that girl's guardian. The research you did was impressive, though."
The man laughed. "Silly child. Your bullets can't harm me." Horizon didn't have a chance to think on that as sharp pain tore into the side of her neck. She screamed in pain and the man reacted swiftly, grabbing her gun from her hand and firing it. Horizon twisted as he fired, and the bullet only hit her side, nothing vital.
However, it was enough to effectively put her out of commission. Unlike various movie heroes and Gunner, Horizon couldn't function well when shot. Groaning, she sank against the wall, trying to push past the pain. The man grinned, pinning her to the wall, tilting her head up and going for her neck again.
Horizon screamed again as his teeth sank into her flesh...
And he was pulled away without warning. Horizon groaned, hearing the sounds of a battle, but she couldn't get past the pain to see what was happening. It seemed an eternity before she heard a familiar voice asking her if she was all right.
"Apart from the bullet in my side, you mean, Seraph?" she asked him with a weak smile before passing out.
Filled with anger towards Vlad for injuring an innocent, Seraph called to Sati, who came at once. "Miss Seferino!" she cried.
"Hush," he told her gently. "She will recover." He carefully picked the girl up as the school authorities came racing down the hall with the police. "The situation is under control," Seraph said calmly, "but Miss Seferino needs medical attention."
Seraph unashamedly made use of what Sati, having seen the original Star Wars trilogy thanks to her friend Michelle "Mike" D'Angelo, called his "Jedi Mind-Trick," though it was truly no such thing. Seraph simply had a way of inspiring trust in others - except for the rebels of the Matrix. But then, they were all paranoid.
Jedi Mind-Trick or no, it got the job done. Within ten minutes, he was walking away, Sati at his side and Betsabé in his arms. For a long moment he considered simply healing her - he knew he could - but then he might either have to explain reality to her and face her possible rage, hatred, or fall into insanity, or he would have to wipe her memory.
Either choice was too risky for a non-fatal wound.
He'd take her to the hospital. He was heading there anyway, to see a wounded Potential with a hacker alias of Jailbait, of all names.
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Morgain woke slowly to a low conversation. She was lying on a bed that was not the one that had been loaned out to her - for one thing, the sheets were cotton. For another, the room was darker due to a lack of windows. For a third, five men were sitting or standing in the vicinity. Cain was lounging on the bed across from her, the Oriental Tiger sprawled beside him; a man she'd not yet met was leaning back against the wall; the long haired man who'd tried to save her was leaning back against the bed Cain and Tiger were splayed on, and Abel was not in her sight, meaning he was near her.
Then she realised her head was in his lap.
Men, she thought.
She closed her eyes, thinking that maybe if she listened in, she'd get what was going on. "We're going to have to do something about the security," Tiger said. "This is the first breach since the Invasion."
"Not exactly true," Cain answered. "There was that little situation with the crew of the Logos two years ago, remember?"
"And whose fault was that?" Tiger shot back.
"Children," rumbled the bass of the long-haired man, "let's not get caught up in species rivalry. I can never understand why the vamps and wolves hate each other so much."
"Programmed into us, probably," Abel replied. Programmed? "This coming from the fallen angel," he added in a mutter.
There was a scuffle that ended with Abel's lap being pulled out from under her head. There was silence as they all watched her for a moment, as if trying to make sure she was still out of it. At last, the man said heatedly, "Never. Mention. That. Ever. Got it?"
"All right, all right. Yeesh, Seth. No need to get touchy about it. You're nearly as bad as Wingless used to be."
"Wolf," Seth growled warningly, then the other man she didn't know at last chimed in.
"Down, boys. Both of you. All of us have stuff we don't like to talk about. We might as well leave them buried."
"Compared to us, Matthias, you're a baby," Cain pointed out.
"Yes. But you have shells. I don't want to talk about my current host."
"What, is it a kid?" Tiger asked, half-serious.
"Yes."
Dead silence. Morgain opened one eye to see that they were all staring at him.
"I was about to be deleted, so I abandoned my host and took the closest one to my chosen escape route. I didn't realise until I'd accessed the memories that it was child."
"You came here for a shell," Seth said in the silence following that.
"Partly, yes," 'Matthias' answered softly, "but also to escape deletion. Do you know how often Agents are upgraded? All the Smith anomaly did was speed up the process. I would have wound up here eventually."
Morgain was very confused now. It was like they were speaking in code or something. She knew one thing: after that little attack on her, she was not going to be staying here much longer. How many enemies did Carrie have, anyway? she wondered idly, before she returned to going over her plan. Well, with my l33t rnn1ng sk1lls, I might be able to get away. Might.
"You do realise she's awake, don't you?" Matthias said after Cain commented on him being their Agent-detector.
Dead silence, once more. Morgain didn't even try to hide the glare she shot the blank-faced man. "How long has she been awake?" Cain demanded raggedly.
"Not very long, maybe a minute," he glibly lied, still blank. Morgain blinked, but then Abel was there, actual concern on his face.
"Are you all right?" he asked her softly, hand brushing her face before resting against her bruised neck. "Jackson got you pretty good."
'I'll be fine,' she signed irritably, jerking away from his gentle touch. She did not like it, she didn't she didn't she didn't. 'Where am I?'
"Our room. Well, mine and Abel's really," Cain put in. "Almost forgot where it was."
The long haired Seth rolled his eyes, and Morgain pulled away from Abel to walk to him. 'Thanks for trying to save me,' she signed. He smiled, though she couldn't see his eyes behind his sunglasses. "There are too few talented dancers out there to just let an Agent kill you."
There was a low growl behind them; everyone turned to stare at the source. Abel was looking innocent, as was Cain. No telling which had growled... though the grin on Tiger's face suggested to the other men that he knew and would be ribbing the growler later.
"We are to return her to her room," said a British-accented voice. Morgain jumped and turned to see those albino twins again.
Cain and Abel both jumped to their feet. "You knock before you enter!" they howled in unison, glaring at the Twins.
One of them grinned. "No. We don't," he purred as the other one approached Morgain.
She didn't even see Abel move.
He was just suddenly between them.
"I'll take her back," he said, voice carrying an odd growl underneath the words. Morgain couldn't see that he was baring his teeth at the Twins, and that his teeth were much pointier than normal. The first Twin stepped forward to join his brother, and Cain moved to be by his cousin. Strong hands drew Morgain away from the four men and out of the line of fire; she looked up into the face of Matthias, who apparently had his own agenda to follow.
"As much as those two tend not to get along with Tiger's crowd, they hate the Twins even more," he mused. "Very interesting."
"Been that way since the Invasion. Maybe even before then. Cain, Abel and the Twins were found within a week of each other, you know," Seth put in as the tension continued to build. He casually reached for his Tommy Gun; it was a comfort thing.
"I say we take her down ourselves," Tiger muttered. "They'll never notice, and the testosterone level in here is enough to give the coppertop a beard."
"Maybe you should stay here, then," Seth told him, grinning.
"And get caught up between the ghosts and the wolves? I thank you, but no. Let's go before one of 'em changes."
The trio hustled Morgain out of the danger zone; so intent were they on each other the Twins and the cousins didn't notice. "Once they were halfway there, Matthias said, "Why don't you two go back and make sure they don't kill each other? The Frenchman's in bad enough a mood as it is; I doubt he'll be happy with having to reboot any more of us today. Or this year."
Tiger and Seth exchanged wordless glances, then nodded and moved away. Matthias continued to move Morgain down the hall. However, he spoke to her softly. "If you're going to get out, do it soon, before the Frenchman thinks to move you away from any windows. Sooner or later he'll remember that Trinity is your sister, and she was infamous for escaping despite overwhelming odds."
She looked up at him curiously to see a wry smile on his face. "She has earned my respect many times over since I went on-line. I have no doubt you have the same courage she does."
'Why are you-'
"Because I can."
Confused, she let him lead her to her room.
(1) "¡La mirada, niños, Severus Snape ha llegado!" -- "Look, children, it's Severus Snape!"
(2)"Vaya obtenga Sati. Dígala esconder." -- "Go get Sati. Tell her to hide."