Thanks once again to all reviewers.
Chapter 16: Return?
It was a strange day.
I woke for once not to the sound of screaming but to the sound of a knock at my door. This was a welcome change from the majority of the mornings of the last few days. The sentinel attacks had become more and more frequent, and they were arriving in greater and greater numbers.
I hauled myself out of bed and pulled my clothes over my weary figure. All the while telling whoever it was at the door to wait a minute. This only served to make the knocking louder and more frequent however.
After a few moments, I pulled open the door and was surprised to see a grinning Commander Locke on the other side of it.
"Jason." I said by way of a greeting. I had discovered that me calling him by his first name annoyed him no end.
"Drexler." The grin barely flinched, "I have a proposition for you."
*******************************************************************
"Mind if I join you?" The voice was Hawks.
"No." I said as pleasantly my resentment would allow. I hadn't said much to anyone since we'd returned from our most recent attack on the Demons. Mainly because I'd realised that Hawk, Manticore and Hydra were the reason Morpheus was still alive. My mind kept telling me that I'd have done the same if one of them had gone berserk and tried to kill a seemingly innocent person. But my subconscious or some other part of me was screaming at me to exact some sort of vengeance. For the most part, I could control that desire.
Hawk sat down upon the barstool and seemed to examine the drink in her hand as if it were the most interesting thing within a hundred mile radius.
"I'm sorry." She said in as low a tone of voice as I'd ever heard from her.
I was about to tell her not to worry about it when I realised that I hadn't told her why I'd clouted Morpheus. After a few seconds it came to me. Fucking telepathy.
I remembered the dream, Dragon was in the room with me, maybe he was watching. Maybe one of the others read something when it entered my mind. I don't know. The point is that Hawk, and presumably everybody else now knew that I was trying to avenge my brother's death.
"Wanderer?"
I'd obviously been lost in thought longer then I'd realised. It had been happening a lot lately. I felt better when I could engulf myself in thought and block out the world around me. Sometimes it took serious effort to drag myself back into the virtual reality.
"Wanderer?" Her voice was slightly louder now.
"Sorry." I paused again for a while, "I'll be fine. And I don't blame you; at least I won't for long." Strangely enough this brought out a grin from me; and her a second afterwards.
I quickly downed the remnants of my drink and threw my glass into the void that doubled up as the ceiling. This would then, somehow, clean the glasses and place them back in the cupboard near the bar.
Anyway, neither of us wanted to pursue this conversation topic any further, we then got onto talking about the scores of dead Demons in various places around the world, all courtesy of us. We'd been thwarting their attacks for just over a week now, and the media was starting to take note of our accomplishments.
The theory went that civilians in a smattering of countries had banded together to form their own vigilante groups. All of which had been dubbed 'The Angels'. Cute isn't it? Anyway, forensics teams couldn't find any trace of who might have killed them. Before we started our attacks on them. We'd all edited ourselves so that we left no finger prints, our hair now wouldn't fall our if someone took a swing at it with a scythe, even the bullets from our guns had been designed to vanish without a trace after the Demon they had been inserted into was officially dead. (Or after ten seconds if we missed.) In short, there was no way any of this could be traced to us. Ah the joys of modern technology.
*******************************************************************
"So what do you say?"
Locke and I hadn't moved from the space around the doorway. He was happy enough to stand near the entrance whilst he introduced me to his 'offer'. Given the current situation, it sounded more like an offer for suicide.
"So let me get this straight," a frustrated expression emerged on his face, which I ignored, "you're sending a ship to the surface so that they can enter the Matrix see if they can find out why the Sentinels are attacking us right?"
"Right?"
"You do know that the agents or whatever they call it will probably start shooting at any human they see right?"
"My people know how to look after themselves."
"And you want me to go with them."
"That's right," the grin returned. It was more disturbing then annoying, "most of our un-plugged ship crews were killed when the fleet was destroyed. The only ship we have left is the Logos, which the machines returned to us…"
"That was nice of them."
"As I was saying," he was now barely opening his mouth to speak, obviously what he said next was difficult for him, "you've already proven that you can keep a level head in a crisis, you're the best candidate for the final space that's available."
I remained silent for a few minutes, considering the somewhat vague proposal that had just been offered to me. I soon realised that I was faced with a choice; I could stay here and shoot at sentinels until one got lucky and ripped my head from my shoulders. Or I could go to the source of the problem, (or not, for all I knew,) and put an end to it for good. (Or get shot, which was the more likely occurrence.
Truth be told, I was actually interested to see how I'd see the Matrix now that I'd left it.
"Alright." I said.
"Good. Pack your things and report to Captain Niobe in the dock in an hour."
To be continued.
Right, now for replies.
Tai Wilson: Glad you liked it. I can't think of anything else to say, as per usual. Writing replies tends to take longer then writing the chapter. Oh well, thanks for reviewing and good luck with your story.
Saphire Night: Thank you, alas, truth be told, i have neither the time not the patients to destroy your garden. I also don't know where it is. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, good luck with your exams and a second custom built well wishing can be inserted here if you wish. (..............................................)
Agent Josie: HA! You're too late. I already fear for my life. That's not really a good thing now that i think about it. Oh well, is it my imagination or has Naz mysteriously vanished? Having said that she'll probably appear on at least three fronts. Thanks for reviewing.
Just so you know, 'pere' means father. Frere means brother. I think. It's been a while since i did French. Thanks for reviewing ARGH! WHERE ARE MY LIMBS as well.
Goodnight all.
Chapter 16: Return?
It was a strange day.
I woke for once not to the sound of screaming but to the sound of a knock at my door. This was a welcome change from the majority of the mornings of the last few days. The sentinel attacks had become more and more frequent, and they were arriving in greater and greater numbers.
I hauled myself out of bed and pulled my clothes over my weary figure. All the while telling whoever it was at the door to wait a minute. This only served to make the knocking louder and more frequent however.
After a few moments, I pulled open the door and was surprised to see a grinning Commander Locke on the other side of it.
"Jason." I said by way of a greeting. I had discovered that me calling him by his first name annoyed him no end.
"Drexler." The grin barely flinched, "I have a proposition for you."
*******************************************************************
"Mind if I join you?" The voice was Hawks.
"No." I said as pleasantly my resentment would allow. I hadn't said much to anyone since we'd returned from our most recent attack on the Demons. Mainly because I'd realised that Hawk, Manticore and Hydra were the reason Morpheus was still alive. My mind kept telling me that I'd have done the same if one of them had gone berserk and tried to kill a seemingly innocent person. But my subconscious or some other part of me was screaming at me to exact some sort of vengeance. For the most part, I could control that desire.
Hawk sat down upon the barstool and seemed to examine the drink in her hand as if it were the most interesting thing within a hundred mile radius.
"I'm sorry." She said in as low a tone of voice as I'd ever heard from her.
I was about to tell her not to worry about it when I realised that I hadn't told her why I'd clouted Morpheus. After a few seconds it came to me. Fucking telepathy.
I remembered the dream, Dragon was in the room with me, maybe he was watching. Maybe one of the others read something when it entered my mind. I don't know. The point is that Hawk, and presumably everybody else now knew that I was trying to avenge my brother's death.
"Wanderer?"
I'd obviously been lost in thought longer then I'd realised. It had been happening a lot lately. I felt better when I could engulf myself in thought and block out the world around me. Sometimes it took serious effort to drag myself back into the virtual reality.
"Wanderer?" Her voice was slightly louder now.
"Sorry." I paused again for a while, "I'll be fine. And I don't blame you; at least I won't for long." Strangely enough this brought out a grin from me; and her a second afterwards.
I quickly downed the remnants of my drink and threw my glass into the void that doubled up as the ceiling. This would then, somehow, clean the glasses and place them back in the cupboard near the bar.
Anyway, neither of us wanted to pursue this conversation topic any further, we then got onto talking about the scores of dead Demons in various places around the world, all courtesy of us. We'd been thwarting their attacks for just over a week now, and the media was starting to take note of our accomplishments.
The theory went that civilians in a smattering of countries had banded together to form their own vigilante groups. All of which had been dubbed 'The Angels'. Cute isn't it? Anyway, forensics teams couldn't find any trace of who might have killed them. Before we started our attacks on them. We'd all edited ourselves so that we left no finger prints, our hair now wouldn't fall our if someone took a swing at it with a scythe, even the bullets from our guns had been designed to vanish without a trace after the Demon they had been inserted into was officially dead. (Or after ten seconds if we missed.) In short, there was no way any of this could be traced to us. Ah the joys of modern technology.
*******************************************************************
"So what do you say?"
Locke and I hadn't moved from the space around the doorway. He was happy enough to stand near the entrance whilst he introduced me to his 'offer'. Given the current situation, it sounded more like an offer for suicide.
"So let me get this straight," a frustrated expression emerged on his face, which I ignored, "you're sending a ship to the surface so that they can enter the Matrix see if they can find out why the Sentinels are attacking us right?"
"Right?"
"You do know that the agents or whatever they call it will probably start shooting at any human they see right?"
"My people know how to look after themselves."
"And you want me to go with them."
"That's right," the grin returned. It was more disturbing then annoying, "most of our un-plugged ship crews were killed when the fleet was destroyed. The only ship we have left is the Logos, which the machines returned to us…"
"That was nice of them."
"As I was saying," he was now barely opening his mouth to speak, obviously what he said next was difficult for him, "you've already proven that you can keep a level head in a crisis, you're the best candidate for the final space that's available."
I remained silent for a few minutes, considering the somewhat vague proposal that had just been offered to me. I soon realised that I was faced with a choice; I could stay here and shoot at sentinels until one got lucky and ripped my head from my shoulders. Or I could go to the source of the problem, (or not, for all I knew,) and put an end to it for good. (Or get shot, which was the more likely occurrence.
Truth be told, I was actually interested to see how I'd see the Matrix now that I'd left it.
"Alright." I said.
"Good. Pack your things and report to Captain Niobe in the dock in an hour."
To be continued.
Right, now for replies.
Tai Wilson: Glad you liked it. I can't think of anything else to say, as per usual. Writing replies tends to take longer then writing the chapter. Oh well, thanks for reviewing and good luck with your story.
Saphire Night: Thank you, alas, truth be told, i have neither the time not the patients to destroy your garden. I also don't know where it is. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, good luck with your exams and a second custom built well wishing can be inserted here if you wish. (..............................................)
Agent Josie: HA! You're too late. I already fear for my life. That's not really a good thing now that i think about it. Oh well, is it my imagination or has Naz mysteriously vanished? Having said that she'll probably appear on at least three fronts. Thanks for reviewing.
Just so you know, 'pere' means father. Frere means brother. I think. It's been a while since i did French. Thanks for reviewing ARGH! WHERE ARE MY LIMBS as well.
Goodnight all.