The hovership Felicitas hovered over the fetus fields, flying quickly towards the tower that Robin and Cris had unplugged Dark from.
As the claw pulled the teenager up into the ship, Robin quickly noticed that, inexplicably, his arm was still grafted. The long claws nearly gutted the Commander as he loaded the unconscious boy onto the stretcher.
"Is there any way to remove the weapon?" Cris asked the Commander.
"No, and at this point, there's no point in even trying. What I don't understand is why the machines developed his arm that way."
Robin looked at his superior. "Can I ask you a question? What are the Agents trying to do?"
"They're trying to start the second war."
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"We succeeded," Jackson informed the Architect. "Did you give him the list?"
The Architect smirked. His plan was just starting to unfold…
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In the vastness of the Matrix, all was still… except for the pounding of keys on a keyboard. The keyboard was not any normal keyboard, but the writer was not anything normal either. He frantically glanced at a small slip of paper, on which was scrawled:
Dead or Freed:
Richard Grayson
SA Raven
Victor Stone
Garfield Logan
Karen Beecher
"Garth"
Roy Harper
Nathan Bliss
Programs Required:
Robin
Raven
Cyborg
Beast Boy
Koriand'r "Starfire" Version 3
Bumblebee
Aqualad
Arsenal (Speedy)
Nathan Bliss
Agent Wilson (Contemporary)
As the night drew to a close, there were suddenly not one but ten people in the room. The writer smiled. "Excellent… now, away with all of you."
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Jackson looked at the nearest person in the room. An Agent took it as a host. "Ah, Agent Wilson," Johnson murmured. "Welcome to the Source. Do you have the program?"
The Agent said nothing as he placed a small disk into the wall. Light flooded the room. Despite their sunglasses, the three Agents had to shield their eyes. Wilson simply stood, allowing the light to flow over him.
When the light faded, the Agents looked at their newest associate.
He was not dressed in the normal suit of an Agent; he wore a long black trenchcoat with rounded sunglasses. On his back were two Sais, on his belt there was a long katana, and his trenchcoat, though Johnson couldn't tell, seemed to hold several guns.
"This is your disguise? In a search for purpose, you cannot look like the enemy," said Johnson. Wilson simply glared at him. "LISTEN TO ME WHEN I AM TALKING! I AM YOUR SUPERIOR!"
"No," Wilson quietly replied. "And I am not here for purpose. I know my purpose. I plan to fulfill my purpose."
I am not obsessed with purpose like you, Johnson. I will do my duty. It is my job to exterminate the humans, and that is what I will do. If you want to find purpose, just waste your life. Not mine."
Thompson couldn't have put it better, but he didn't have the guts to speak up against his commander, he thought to himself as Johnson began to rant at the new Agent.
"The end of humanity will come sooner than you think," Wilson said, before choosing another host.
"Bastard," Johnson muttered under his breath as they too chose new hosts.
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Ghost slowly limped out of the medical bay. As he walked into the study hall, he was greeted by Garth, Sparks and Victor. He looked around, expecting to see Raven or Bane.
"Where are they?" he asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.
Garth was the first to speak. "After you cracked your head open, Raven called me on the radio. Bane went ahead to try and find the… whatever you were chasing."
"And then we heard it," Vic whispered. "A loud roar." Ghost's eyes widened.
"I got there as soon as I could. I carried your body back to the city, and went back for Raven," Garth continued. "It was then that I saw heavy footprints, crushed metal, and I ran back. There's something outside the walls of Zion, Ghost."
"Where are they?" he repeated.
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Raven slowly opened her eyes. They were crusted over with blood. They slowly cracked as she opened them enough to see that she was lying on the tunnel floor.
"Shit, what happened?" she asked, but no one answered. She noticed that, a few feet ahead of her, Bane's knife was lying in a now black pool of blood. She slowly got to her feet and looked for a way out.
As she walked down the hallway, trying to find either Bane or the exit, she found a large metal door with several heavy dents. Raven pushed open the door and discovered a small room filled with chairs, a table with small figures on it, and a long metal pole.
She slowly felt the back of her head. Besides the trickling of blood and the plug, she felt a small speck of something. As she wiped it onto her hand, she saw that it was rust.
"I've got to get out of here," she muttered to herself. She turned to leave and try another direction when she tripped over a body, lying on the ground.
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Ghost, Garth, Vic and Sparks slowly crawled down the tunnel. Ghost and Sparks held plasma rifles and were aiming ahead and behind the group.
As they went farther down the tunnel, they heard footsteps. Gar, being the pansy he is, jumped behind Ghost, who aimed the gun in the direction of the noise.
Raven stepped out from the corner, dragging Bane's unconscious body. "Gar?" Ghost said. "You can come out now."
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"SIR!" the lieutenant shouted, as he ran up to Locke's replacement, Commander Roland. "Something's wrong with the Matrix feed!"
"Goddamnit," Roland muttered, and he followed Lieutenant Mattis into the Operations Room. "Oh my God," he whispered.
The Matrix was completely locked up.
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Mainframe Login
Loading….
Access Granted
Programs
Machines
Sentinels
Attack Force
Main Control
Upload Program
Access Granted
Loading….
Successfully Uploaded Programs
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"It worked," Johnson laughed. They had taken over a large amount of 01's Sentinels, and were sitting in (or, more accurately, possessing) four of them. Thousands of Sentinels streamed towards Zion as Johnson, Jackson, Thompson, and Wilson watched with a sense of both dread and excitement.
Each had their own separate thoughts. Unusual, but predictable, for Agents such as these. Johnson thought of conquest and achieving his true purpose, which he believed was to kill Morpheus. Jackson, the Brown of the new Agents, was deep in thought about what resistance the Zionites would put up.
Thompson was beginning to think that this whole thing might actually work. Wilson simply watched as his true motives unfolded, the other Agents oblivious. The Sentinels would never reach the gates of Zion. All 17,000 would be destroyed by his creator's army.
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Roland, Mattis, Morpheus, Niobe and Splice watched in horror as the thousands-strong army flew towards Zion Outpost 01 at massive speed. Zion Outpost 01 was where Captain Ice and Gabriel were docked, along with most of the APU corps. None of them were armed well enough to stop an army.
Roland grimaced as the army was 20 kilometers… 17 kilometers…10 kilometers… and suddenly, they stopped. Red blips began vanishing all over. The Sentinels assumed attack position, but many of them were destroyed as soon as they did.
Something was stopping them. Judging by the holograms, it was something efficient. Something big.
"Contact Outpost 01," Roland barked into his radio. "Evacuate all personnel and as much goddamn weaponry as you can! Immediately!"