"Well, I don't think they expect anything unusual. Should I begin the mission?" asked Wilson. The man he was speaking to twitched. "As much as I dislike this plan, it's the only way to finish this."

Wilson mock-saluted. "I understand." He turned and continued speaking. "We have guests." He disappeared, taking a host in some random part of the Matrix as Johnson kicked open the door.

"So. I should have known. The systemic anomalies are the Writers," the Agent leader smirked, flanked by Jackson and Thompson. "It was you who sabotaged the breach, wasn't it?"

The man smiled. "Not just me…"

Johnson frowned beyond the limits of a human face and rushed Neo. Neo bent backwards to avoid a high kick, swept Johnson's feet out from under him, and kicked him into the desk. The Agent leader leapt up, and rushed the anomaly. Thompson leapt into action as well.

Neo leapt into the air, spinning and kicking Thompson back and throwing Johnson through the wall. Jackson whipped out a pistol, but Neo simply held out his hand and removed it from the Matrix.

All the while fighting in a viewable part of the Matrix…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

…viewable enough for a certain Captain Gabriel and his crew to see. "What is that?" the Operator, a woman named Echo, asked her Captain.

"That code… it can't be," whispered another crewmember. "Morpheus said that he died."

"Shh…" Gabriel hushed him as they heard an odd noise outside. The three crewmembers turned and saw that their Captain and his First Mate were not looking at the feed but outside. Something big was moving. They all suddenly heard rumbling footfalls.

"There's something out there…"

Gabriel exhaled as the echoing footsteps continued down the tunnel. "I think it's probably a good idea to get the hell out of here."

He ran to the cockpit. "Echo, I want that EMP charged. Cloud, Port, get to the gun turrets. Tell me if you see anything. Damon," he said to his First Mate, "drop us down from broadcast and take us back to Zion. I'm going to the gun turrets."

Damon charged the igniter and drove the Mindbreaker through the mysterious tunnels of the real… not noticing the dark shape slowly trailing them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What is that?" Mattis whispered slightly. He looked at holographics, which were trying to confirm the six bioforms slowly approaching Gate 7.

A small icon popped up on his screen, confirming that the Mindbreaker was coming from their broadcast position after consulting with the Oracle. But they only had five people on crew… and the sixth bioform was too large to be a human.

Mattis pressed a button on his headset. "Get me Commander Roland." He pressed the button again, patching himself into the main dock's headquarters.

"This is Lieutenant Mattis, requesting Gate 7 open. Mindbreaker on approach, but I do not request a standdown of arms. Continue to man the turrets."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the Construct, nine people sat moving small icons from right to left. "…man the turrets." One of the Virtual Control Operators noticed a small shaking in Gate 7.

"Mindbreaker, you are clear through Gate 7. What is that?" he whispered as the shaking grew louder.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The gate slowly creaked open. Two APUs stood at attention, the APU Corps having been reactivated since the Sentinel 'attack.' They looked down the tunnel and heard the flaring of a hovership's pads.

The Mindbreaker, rear gun turrets blazing, flew down the pipe at an incredible speed. The APUs leapt to the side as the ship rocketed through the gate. The turrets went off, firing wildly at some unseen enemy.

Mindbreaker slid across the dock. People jumped out of the way as it plowed through standing APUs, crates and walls. The turrets kept firing as the Mindbreaker ended its flight in a shower of sparks.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOM!

Roland looked up as the lights flickered. "What the hell was that?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fourteen APUs stumbled out onto the dock as a crew began trying to free the Mindbreaker's crew from their ship. Gabriel kicked the hatch open and his crew spilled out, all armed with plasma rifles.

The gun turrets outside the gate continued firing until the gate closed. Ghost, fully armed with an APU, slowly stepped towards the gate. He slowly began to squeeze the trigger as a piercing roar echoed from the tunnel.

Garth stepped beside Ghost, only holding a plasma rifle. Sweat coated his chest as he aimed the plasma rifle at the gate. WHAM!

WHAM!

It was trying to break in.

Everyone in the dock tensed. Several other Zionites in APUs aimed at the gate as well. SKRIIEEEEE!!!!!

The scraping of claw against metal. A final smash against the door put out the lights, but they heard it lumber away. The footsteps grew distant as auxiliary power was restored. Garth sighed as Ghost dismounted his APU and walked back.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven leapt from her perch. A slight flicker threw her off course, but she landed gracefully anyways. Control continued to stumble back.

As she walked forward, prepared to make her point, he spun and kicked at her head. She merely held up a hand and blocked it, scattering dark energy around them.

Bane watched on silently, until another flicker threw him forward. Raven turned, but Bane had already leapt to the top of a pillar.

She turned back and threw Control into a pillar, still as stoic as ever. She frowned and exited as a third flicker caused a pillar to fall on the obese man.

"Shite, that was cool," Bane whispered, before leaping to the ground and mentally opening an exit for the unconscious fat man.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bane opened his eyes and sat up. Without talking to himself out loud, he stepped out the door and walked directly to Raven's cabin.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven looked up. Someone was knocking. Bane, obviously. She sighed and opened her door, her ragged cloak swishing behind her. "What the hell was that, Rae?"

"That fat bastard pisses me off," she replied, not smiling at all. "Just give him a chance. He's alright."

"If only you knew… he's tried to kill me before." Bane smirked.

"Was he now?"

The lights went off. "The hell?" Bane shouted as they heard a loud roar. Raven's eyes dilated as Bane dashed out the door and started towards the elevator. He flicked out his switchblade and slapped the elevator button.

Raven ran after him. They stepped into the elevator and winced as they heard another smash. "Something's out there… sounds familiar, doesn't it?" Bane whispered as the lifted coasted up.

Raven said nothing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Control tried to blink, but his eyes were crusted shut. "Damn, how long was I out for?" He noticed Bane was gone, and got up to look for someone to annoy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sir!" a young officer shouted as he ran up to Mattis, who was frantically typing to the Zionites in the Construct. He had lost contact with them moments before the turrets went off.

He looked at the officer, snarling. The boy stepped back slightly as he relayed his message: "They didn't see what it was?"

Mattis sighed. "Did anyone see what it is?"

"No, and no one's leaving Zion now. We're stranded until one of the Captains braves up."

"Dammit."