"Robin? What are you doing here?" Niobe demanded. "How'd you get out here?"
"I told you," said Robin with a hint of anger in his voice, "I stole a ship. The Believer, the ship of that crazy homicidal guy Morpheus."
Ghost backed away as Niobe's nostrils flared. "Go back to Zion," Niobe ordered. She got up, but before she could take a step forward, Robin leapt to the road above.
"Don't worry, he won't find him," Ghost assured her. "Don't be too certain," Raven said dully. "Robin is obsessed with Slade. He'll find him. One way or another."
"Then we need to try to beat him to the apartment."
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The Oracle looked up as the man garbed in orange and blue stepped into her kitchen. She had, of course, seen this coming, and had sent Sati out to get some cookie mix moments ago. Seraph was coming back, but he was too late.
"You must be the Oracle. I have never had the privilege of meeting you, but neither will Robin. It has been my purpose since his birth to counteract any knowledge he might receive of the Matrix. You cannot help him before he knows more. He is probably on his way…"
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Robin kicked open the door of a nearby car. He quickly hotwired it and hit the gas, going towards where he expected Slade to be.
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"But if you're dead," said Slade, raising his shotgun, "you won't be able to help him." Brown crashed through the wall, colliding with Slade. The Oracle sighed.
Brown caught himself in midair and landed upright. Wilson landed on his back, which must have hurt considering he had fallen five stories. The shotgun clattered into the street as Brown continued his assault, hitting Wilson in the face.
"You miserable bastard! The Oracle didn't do anything to you! I'll send you to hell, ass," Brown yelled as he punched Slade into the wall. Slade used the wall to push himself into the other program, driving him into the wall.
Slade pounded Brown through the wall with another punch. Brown kicked him, cracking his neck. Another kick sent him into the street. Deathstroke picked up his shotgun and aimed as Brown was recoiling…
Robin crashed into Deathstroke, crushing him between his car and the car in front of Slade. The impact was one that would bend three feet of steel, but Robin didn't seem to be satisfied.
"It wasn't you after all." The boy leapt away, Brown cracking his neck. "What was that?" he muttered.
Brown walked back to the building, not noticing that Deathstroke's mask fell away, revealing an AI drive.
As he stepped back into the lobby, he gasped.
"Hello, Brown. It seems I've got your little friend here."
Johnson held Sati in a police lock, nearly strangling the little girl. "If you or Seraph makes a move, I'll kill her. And tell the human outside to focus his sniper rifle on the other Agents, not me."
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Ghost was watching Johnson very carefully; he and Raven had seen him take Sati behind Seraph's back. His focus was abruptly ended when Jackson's fist collided with his skull. Rae kicked him back, but Thompson grabbed her arms and pushed her into the wall.
She swiftly pushed off of the wall, pushing the Agent into the bricks of the apartment building. She pulled out her sword and stabbed him in the leg, then kicked him to the side.
Jackson turned and jumped at her. She accidentally impaled him. "Oh, no, oh no no," she whispered frantically. She didn't want to kill. She pulled out the sword, and Ghost snapped his neck.
"Raven!" he ordered, as Thompson returned in a new host and she leapt over him, kicking him towards Ghost. "Don't hesitate to kill!" He fired two bullets into Thompson's host.
"These pieces of shit don't care how many humans they sacrifice, as long as they can kill us. Looks like the peace is over," Ghost remarked.
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Brown slowly stepped out the door. "That's right, Brown," Johnson laughed. "Go help your pathetic human friends."
Brown pulled out his Desert Eagle and shot an incoming Jackson in the chest. The Agent didn't have time to dodge Thompson's fist, but was surprised when the Agent retracted it. Instead, Thompson pulled out an envelope.
"Give this to the Oracle. It's a copy of the new programs coming in. Don't let them know!"
Three rounds of a shotgun were heard. Thompson quickly shot himself, falling to the ground as a dead host. Brown, followed by Ghost and Raven, quickly ran back into the lobby.
It was a mess. Blood was spattered everywhere. Johnson's host lay on one side of the room. Sati was huddled in the corner, shaking. Seraph was face down, holding a smoking pistol. The window was broken.
Someone had attacked Seraph and Johnson.
Brown, cautiously, stepped closer and closer to Seraph. He turned the program over to find four bloody holes in Seraph's chest.
"Damnit," he whispered, written not to show emotion but finding it very hard not to. "How did this happen?"
"Uh… we'll just be going now," Ghost whispered, and he and Raven left to find the others.
The elevator bell rang. Brown lifted his head in alarm, expecting either the Oracle, or even Deathstroke. Instead, the doors moved away and revealed the one person Brown never expected to see.
"You kept a copy out of range of the reload, didn't you?" Brown asked quietly. "Yes. How did you know?" he replied.
"I have my sources. Please tell me you can't copy again?"
"No. I cannot. Fortunately. I wouldn't want to become obsessed with power, now, would I?" he laughed.
