"Welcome to the Real World. This is my hovercraft, the Believer. We have just emerged from a war between the last humans and a race of super-powerful machines. The year is no longer 2004, but instead is around 2300. We don't know exactly what year it is. It is rumored that Neo discovered the true date, but we never actually learned this from the machines."

Neither one understood. "This is the Main Deck, where we broadcast into the Matrix," again the word popped up, "and contact the Oracle or potential free minds."

"And the Oracle is who? A fortune-teller?" asked Gar.

Morpheus smiled. "No. She is our guide. She helped us find our destinies."

"What's going on?" Gar asked. "Where are Robin, and Raven, and Starfire?"

The Captain decided to talk slower than usual. "Starfire cannot be freed. She is not human, and so must remain in the Matrix. Robin, or "X" as he was known in the hacker circles, is aboard another ship, as is your friend Raven."

Gar obviously was not taken aback by the information about Kory. "Well, duh, she's not human. She's a Tamaranianin... I think? Right, Cy-I mean, Vic?"

The silent man nodded. Morpheus took a deep breath. "She's not an alien. She is a program. Like the Agents and the Exiles you met. Like the Trainman. She doesn't exist. I'm sorry," he quickly added.

"I'm okay," said Gar, "but Rob's not gonna be too pleased."

Vic had been paying attention a little more than the 17-year-old boy. "What is the Matrix, Morpheus?"

The Captain smiled. "Not too many months ago, Neo asked me that exact question. I cannot tell you what the Matrix is without showing you first." He motioned to a dentist's chair with a hole in the back of the headrest. "Come."

The two settled into the chairs and noticed Kid and several others, including a man with dreadlocks and...no holes, coming in to watch. Kid and the man took something from behind them, and shoved it into their necks.

Gar winced, but Vic just sat silently.

They opened their eyes. Victor was in a pitch-black trenchcoat with a classic pair of heavy boots and a black shirt and pair of jeans. Gar was less...formal. He wore a long shirt with a picture of a racing game character on it, and also wore black jeans.

Morpheus clicked the remote on the widescreen television. "This is the Matrix. The world as you know it, shortly before the human race gave birth to AI."

Both of them knew what AI was, but weren't sure where Morpheus was going with this. "And..." Gar said impatiently.

"We're not sure exactly what happened. Records tell us that a robot, B166ER, decided to revolt against his master. We put him to death. We're not clear what happened in the next 20 years or so, but we do know there was a bloody war between the Machines and the humans.

"We felt that we could disable them by cutting off all solar power, which they were dependent on, by using a complex chemical to cut off nearly all sunlight on the planet.

"The plan failed. The machines fed off of the energy called BTU that human bodies produced, which is more than enough energy than the machines needed. And thus, the Matrix was created. By genetically creating humans, the Machines began growing us instead of allowing us to be born. There are fields where humans are grown.

"The humans are connected to a large mainframe, which contains the Matrix system. A dream world. The war has just come to a close. All we know is that an Agent became exiled, and became a virus. He spread exponentially throughout the Matrix. I expect he took over all of you. Perhaps even Deathstroke."

"Slade," Gar muttered.

"Deathstroke is his true name. Slade Wilson is the Matrix's name for him. He created Deathstroke. Or rather, the Matrix told him to create Deathstroke. He is also a program."

Gar's eyes widened. "No way."

"Don't be so surprised. Anyways, Neo was the cause of Smith's exile. Neo went to 01, the machine city, during the very last events of the war fourteen months ago. Trinity went with him. She died in the course, as did Bane. However, he was slightly insane... and killed about twenty other people before dying."

Vic shook his head. This was a whole new field of thinking. "At some point, Neo was blinded. Perhaps Bane did this, perhaps something else. We honestly don't know. Smith killed Neo by spreading into him. The Machines were able to access Smith through Neo's body, and killed him and every Smith. No one who was not a program when this occurred forgot all of these events."

"This is insane," Gar yelled.

He opened his eyes. Kid pulled the plug out of the back of his head and he jumped up. "I need to talk to Robin."

Vic and Morpheus sat up. "This is bad...he's suffering coppertop syndrome," said one of the other crewmembers.

"Quiet, Serra," Morpheus ordered. Gar fell onto the ground, unconscious.

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Raven woke up. She was in a tattered cloak wearing more than she usually did underneath. She moved her hand to the back of her neck and felt, besides the tiny strands of purple hair, a large outlet.

She jumped as someone knocked on the door. It was Ghost. "You awake?"

"Yeah," she shouted back. He opened the door. "Captain Niobe wants to speak with you. We think you're the most potential of anyone, and you'll probably be the most accepting of the truth."

He walked out and she followed slowly. "Oh, by the way," he said, "welcome to the real world."

She smiled slightly.

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Robin woke up again. He was lying on a large table coated in needles. "His muscles have atrophied a little too much," whispered the older man he had seen earlier.

"How can this be?"

"Doesn't matter. We need to get him back to Zion for immediate medical attention. AK, start up the ship!" Roland shouted.