Program 2: Rush Hour
It seemed as if this guy would never pick up on what she was trying to tell him. She just had this one chance to talk to him and warn him about the Matrix. Wearing tight black leather jeans, a red sleeveless shirt, a short black overcoat that reached down just to the top of her thighs, and heel boots, she waited for his next idiotic response; tapping impatiently on the edge of the keyboard as she kneeled next to the system. Her hazel eyes were hidden behind a pair of transparent sunglasses, and her black hair was cut just a bit above shoulder length with her front bangs that dangled on either side of her face died blond. Then, his next message appeared:
WHAT IS THE MATRIX?
She let herself smile a little, in spite of her position and typed back:
THAT WAS THE RIGHT QUESTION.
A vibrant ring from her phone stopped the soldier from typing. Picking it up, she replied:
"Yeah?"
"They pinned you guys. You gotta get out of there now! They'll be there any minute!"
"Got it. Do you have an exit?"
"Had one ready all along. Main Street by the highway, a pay phone just outside the bank."
"We'll be there."
She hung up and put her cell phone that connected her with the Operator in the Real World in one of the pockets in her clothes. Afterwards, she quickly shut down the computer system at which she had tried to warn Magna and got up.
"They've tracked us down. They'll be here any minute," the computer girl told the three others in the room with her.
The three others were the only other members in her crew that could jack into the Matrix, all older than the hacker, possibly in their thirties while the girl at the computer was still in her teens. One, a fellow Caucasian female, wore a similar design to the hacker, except that her overcoat came to her knees, her sleeveless shirt was black and she wore army-style boots; her hair was brown and cut just below the ears while her eyes were blue and just a little cold. Another was a black man, shaved bald and wore a long leather overcoat along with a kind of business suit with a purple vest and tan tie; his eyes hidden behind a pair of mirrored sunglasses. The final member, a Japanese man, dressed in a long-sleeved white martial art jacket, with black pants and combat boots; his dark eyes filled with a kind of fighting spirit and his black hair tied back in a short pony-tail.
"Shit…" the older girl swore silently.
"Did you at least warn him?" the black man asked.
"No. But he finally got on to what I was saying about the Matrix," the computer girl answered.
"We've got no choice. We must evacuate and attempt to contact Magna at another time."
"How do you suggest we do that, Morpheus?" the Japanese man asked, "They've been watching him since he was born. They know he has the gift, and they know we can't get to him first. He's on the other side of the Matrix and they have a closer shot at catching him."
"Kage, what did I say?"
Kage paused and remembered what Morpheus had told him when he first recruited him to serve on board his new ship.
"Yes, sir. Of course I do, sir."
"Good man," Morpheus said simply, "Now, first we have to get to the exit and then relocate closer to Magna. Valkyrie, you and Kage go on ahead to the exit. Ophani and I will remain here to eliminate the evidence."
"Yes, Captain," the older woman said as she and Kage moved to leave the room in which they were attempting to contact the sixteen-year-old boy.
"Morpheus…?" Ophani asked.
"Yes?"
"Why did you choose this room to contact Magna in? Why not somewhere that's not so public? Anyone could come in and find out our activites."
"There's no need to worry about that. This room is permanently booked, thanks to some hacking by our Operator. And also…it's for sentimental reasons…"
"…?"
"We used this room all the time to watch over him…especially her…"
"Who, sir?" Ophani asked, but Morpheus seemed too withdrawn into his own thoughts to be asked.
Before Morpheus could answer, there came a mighty knock on the door followed by a deep voice:
"Open up in there! This is the police!"
"We've got to get out of here," the captain spoke softly, shaken from his thoughts, "Ophani, stay behind that door so when it opens, you'll have a surprise attack."
"Right away," Ophani followed Morpheus' commands and hid behind the door. A few mighty thumps from behind the door and soon three policemen stood in the doorway, pointing their guns at Morpheus.
"Freeze, terrorist!" the lead officer yelled, "Hands in the air! Now!"
Morpheus slowly raised his hands up into the air as the police eased into the room.
"Now come here, nice and slow."
Morpheus complied and began to walk slowly toward the officers.
"Morpheus, you're under arrest for secretly plotting against the city, kidnapping and murdering its inhabitants, the deaths of many officers and single-handedly heading up the terrorist organization known as 'Zion'."
Morpheus just smirked at this statement. He had done much, much more than just what the officer listed.
"You're coming with us. Now let's go…"
At that moment, Ophani swung the door closed and leapt at the nearest police officer, pulling a gun from her overcoat. Sticking it straight in the officer's face, she pulled the trigger and let the officer fall dead. While the other two officers were dazed, Morpheus jumped into the air and leapt over them. When he landed, he used a knife-hand to knock one officer out while Ophani kicked the final officer square in the face and sent him sprawling to the floor.
"C'mon," Morpheus ordered as they left the room and dashed down the hallway. Following the hallway until the end of it, they dashed inside an empty room, opened a window and leapt out onto a steel balcony.
"We'll never make it to Main Street before the Agents start appearing," Ophani noted as they jumped off the balcony and into the alleyway. They continued to run until they came to the street in which people and cars were passing, "We're not fast enough on foot."
"Then we'll go by car," Morpheus said as he spotted an empty blue sports car next to a pay booth. They got in swiftly and Morpheus took out his phone, calling the Operator back on the ship.
"Operator," came the familiar voice.
"Link, I need a hotwire to a sports car…" Morpheus voice trailed off as Ophani began to hotwire the car herself. As soon as she heard the engine start, she sat back in the passenger seat. The captain responded, "Actually, cancel that. Are Kage and Valkyrie out?"
"Not yet. According to the map, they're about halfway to Main Street."
"Right. Have the exit ready for when we get there."
"Always do."
Morpheus hung up the phone, pulled the car out of park and drove off into the street. Since it was the afternoon, it was 'Rush Hour' in Mega City and everyone was eager to get home. Before long, Morpheus and Ophani were caught in traffic.
"Just perfect," Ophani said sarcastically, "Why don't we do this at night when it's less crowded?"
"No time for that now. Here they come," the captain said as he looked in the rear-view mirror and saw a police car just a few meters behind them, "We'll take Industrial Ave. to the Macdonald Tunnel."
"That takes us too close police headquarters. There's no way we can go by undetected."
"We have to chance it, Ophani. Trust me."
"…yes, sir…"
As soon as the traffic let up, Morpheus turned the car to the left and began the route to Industrial Ave.
Back aboard the Metatron which was parked in a neutral zone between the Humans and the Machines deep in the Tunnels of the Real, Link watched the computer screens feverishly as Morpheus, Ophani, Kage and Valkyrie tried to escape the Matrix. Although Link had come to trust Morpheus over the years he served with him, he still was kind of nervous when Morpheus would ask Link to trust him on a risky maneuver.
When the Nebuchadnezzar was destroyed by a Sentinel Bomb years ago, Morpheus and Link were left without access to the Matrix and were reassigned to oversee Zion's continued development now that a peace had come between Humans and Machines. A couple of years ago, they were given a new ship: 'The Metatron' named after an archangel in mythology. With only a crew of two, they had to recruit at least one more person before they were considered a real crew. Recruiting Valkyrie who became the lieutenant, taking over the position Trinity once held herself, the Metatron took off and now aided in escorting more and more people who wanted freedom from the Matrix to Zion.
Adding to the Metatron's crew was Taurus, a friend of Link's who became the pilot and mechanic of the ship; Kage, who became the ship's unofficial 'cook' and trainer; and Ophani, who Morpheus freed just a few months ago and became technician for all the technology aboard the ship. While the crew followed Morpheus' orders exactly, a couple of them were somewhat doubtful of his ways. Mostly Kage and Ophani, who were not really too strong of believers, but they complied with his orders nonetheless. Now the crew hoped to add another member to their ranks: Magna.
Magna had a special gift that no one else in the crew seemed to have. Link and Morpheus had got a glimpse of it in the past with Neo when he was still alive, and Morpheus hoped to free Magna in order to train him to understand his gift and also use it to help them in their campaign to free more and more humans, as well as stop the power struggle within the Matrix.
"Any of them jacked out, yet?" a voice asked as Link turned away momentarily from the controls. He saw Taurus, his friend who had volunteered for the Metatron coming to the control center. Taurus was in his mid-twenties and lived up to his name: he was as strong and stubborn as a bull. Taurus had green eyes, unusual for someone in this age, greasy red hair and spoke with a kind of Spanish accent. He was dressed in the usual clothing for a mechanic of Zion, sleeveless tank top and overalls with boots.
"None, yet," Link said, "Oh, wait."
Link examined the screen with the scrolling Matrix code closer and saw something. "Kage and Valkyrie have made it to the exit. I'm dialing them now."
Link typed in a code and in a few moments, Valkyrie opened her eyes and let out a small gasp. Taurus went over to her chair, unplugged her from the machine and helped her sit up.
"You all right?" he asked.
"Yeah, of course," she replied. Getting up out of the chair, she went over to Link's controls, "Where are the others?"
"I'm getting Kage out now. But Morpheus and Ophani are…taking Industrial Ave. to the Macdonald Tunnel."
"That brings them too close to the police station!"
"Don't you think we know that? But you know Morpheus…"
"Right…"
At that moment, Kage woke up from the Matrix and Taurus went to help him out.
"We made contact with Magna, but we had to cut it short," Kage said as Taurus unplugged him and helped him out of the chair, "They found us."
"It won't be long now before they go after him," Valkyrie added, "We've been watching him for months. I'm just amazed they didn't go after him yet."
"They're waiting for the right moment. And unless Morpheus and Ophani eliminated the computer connection to Magna, they'll move on him in less than 24 hours."
"Which means we have even less time to get to him first," Link noted, "Why don't you guys go check on our other passengers? Valkyrie and I can get the others out on our own."
Taurus and Kage moved out of the control center to look after the other humans they had freed in the last few days. About six or seven fellow humans decided to reject the world of the Matrix for the Real World and the Metatron was responsible for getting them to Zion. While those two headed out, Valkyrie and Link watched the screen, awaiting the moment when Morpheus and Ophani would reach the exit and they could jack out of the Matrix.
Morpheus, I don't really know what your plan is with Magna, Link thought, And I don't think we can get to him before they do, but I'll trust you on this. I just hope we're not too late to save him.
The sports car sped through the Macdonald Tunnel, which was fortunately empty at the time, being chased by two police vehicles little than five meters away from either side of the car. Ophani had readied her gun and began shooting at the police car on the right side of their vehicle. All she managed to do was put a few dents in the doors while the police continued driving, swerving in front of them, trying to get them to stop. After the next swerve, the police officers began to scream a silent scream as their 'code' was overridden and Agents took their place. Morpheus looked on his side of the car and saw that Agents had also taken over the police on his side.
"Hold on," Morpheus told Ophani as he put the gear into overdrive and sped off through the tunnel. They were gaining a few meters now as the Agents' police cars also began to speed up.
An Agent in the passenger seat on the left of the sports car rolled down the window, took out a gun and began firing at Morpheus. In reply, the captain took out his own gun and began firing at the Agent. Driving with one hand and shooting with another, Morpheus started to have a difficult time concentrating on both tasks.
Ophani, meanwhile, got off of her seat, squatted on it and prepared for the next gunshot. As the Agent driving the car on her side fired again, Ophani leapt into the air and tried to reach the top of the police car. She overshot, however, and before she hit the ground that was speeding past, she grabbed the left side of the top of the car with her right hand and tried desperately to climb back up. Her legs dangled helplessly over the right side of the car. The Agent saw her legs dangling and tried to ram the car into the tunnel wall in an attempt to crush her.
Ophani managed to get her other hand to reach the top of the car and pulled herself up just as the car smashed into the wall. A violent shook uncoordinated the girl briefly before she readied herself and leaned over the car, into the window that was open and looked the Agent square in the eye.
Pulling out her gun, she said, "Eat this."
Firing several shots into the car, the Agent managed to dodge each and every bullet while continuing to ram into the wall to shake her off. The ramming worked and Ophani was sent flying off the car. She impacted onto the hard ground and tumbled a few feet backwards.
"Ophani!" Morpheus called out as he stopped the car and the police cars continued to drive forward. Running out of the car, Morpheus headed to where she had landed. Gently, he helped her up asking, "Are you all right?"
Ophani coughed up some blood and rubbed her forehead, "Yeah, I'll be fine," she reassured Morpheus as they stood up together to face the police cars slowing, and then stopping. The Agents got out of the cars and ran toward the two rebels.
"Ophani, I want you to get out of here."
"No! I can take them!"
"I don't want to lose another crew member. I've lost too many…"
"Morpheus, please! I can fight them, I know I can!"
"Take that door over there," Morpheus nodded his head in the direction of the door, "It'll take you to the surface. Find the exit and get out of here."
"Why won't you let me fight them?"
"You're not strong enough yet. And if I go, you're the only one who can make contact with Magna and bring him into the Real World."
"Morpheus, let me fight!"
"Get out of the Matrix! That's an order, Ophani!"
Ophani clenched her fist in anger, "Dammit…"
Ophani ran off towards the door, picked its lock and escaped to the surface. Morpheus took his usual starting martial arts pose and proceeded to fight the three Agents single-handedly. Starting with the first Agent, Morpheus ducked, dodged and pushed him back. The second Agent, the captain began to take a more offensive position and forced him back. The third Agent, Morpheus mixed both offense and defense, forcing him back as well. He continued to do this for quite a few minutes as Ophani made her getaway to the exit.
Ophani awoke in the Real World, being unplugged by Valkyrie.
"Where's Morpheus?" Valkyrie asked.
"He covered for my escape. He's still in the tunnels."
"Dammit…"
"My feelings exactly," Ophani sympathized as the two women went over to Link's contols, "Is he out yet?"
"The Agents are pinning him down," Link told them.
"There's got to be some way we can help him! Send one of us back in!"
"I can't. You'd be too far from him and by the time you reach him, it may be too late."
"Can't you do something besides watching him get hammered!"
"I said, 'I can't'! He's on his own!"
"Wait…" Valkyrie interrupted, "You said you could load equipment in the Construct, right?"
"It is a loading program, but I don't see what use it is to us or Morpheus right now."
"If you could load an emergency exit, could you place it near Morpheus' location?"
Link thought it over. "Maybe…but I can't place it there with pinpoint accuracy. And it'd take a minute or two to get it there."
"Do it," Valkyrie ordered. Link complied and began typing like crazy on the computer.
"You can't do it fast enough, let me help," Ophani said as she ran down the corridor of the ship to her room and pulled something from underneath her pillow. Running back, she opened up a kind of laptop computer and plugged it into Link's system.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"If you can't place it with pinpoint accuracy, maybe I can. You just work on the emergency exit number; I'll place and load it."
"Fine with me."
After a minute of feverish typing, Link completed the emergency exit in the form of a phone booth.
"It's done!"
"Great! Now widen the network connection to include my computer, and I'll place it in the Construct to end up where Morpheus is."
Link widened the connection, and Ophani's computer joined Link's network. Immediately starting the Construct program, Ophani placed the emergency exit into it. Placing it where it should end up against a wall, Ophani began to load it in.
"Finished! Now all we can do is wait and pray that it's not too late…" Ophani said.
Morpheus had been putting up a defensive fight against the Agents as they began to back him into a wall. Now he had to begin to be more offensive as the fight continued. The Agents continued to punch and kick at the captain as Morpheus diminished his defensive style and began to go more on the offensive.
Cars began to rush into the Macdonald Tunnel and the fight now had to be fought between rushing cars. The four combatants dodged and fought as the cars passed them. Soon, they began to jump on top of the speeding cars and continued the fight as they leapt from car to car, exchanging punches and kicks in midair. With three against him, added to the now hopping across cars, Morpheus started to be at a disadvantage.
Ring, ring.
Morpheus momentarily turned to see a phone booth, ringing with a sense of urgency. Morpheus knew that booth was courtesy of Link and Ophani pooling their efforts together, and that it was his only way out of the Matrix. Continuing to leap from car to car, Morpheus fought off the Agents as he made his way to the exit. The Agents also spotted the booth and immediately tried to stop the captain from exiting. Morpheus continued to fight against the Agents and leap from car to car as he moved closer to the booth.
Ring, ring.
Just had to go a little further, and he'd be back in the Real World with his crew. Just had to fight off three Agents. Just had to leap on top of cars without getting run over. Just had to…
Ring, ring.
An Agent jumped onto the same car as Morpheus did and punched him right in the gut with great strength, sending the captain flying backwards. He landed against the wall with a hard 'THUD' and found that he was right next to the booth. Pulling himself up, Morpheus grabbed the ringing phone and lifted it off the receiver. An Agent landed next to him and Morpheus was forced to move right in the middle of the moving cars. He put the phone next to his ear just as a car proceeded to spot him and try to slow down.
There was a loud crunching sound as the car ran over the spot where Morpheus was.
Morpheus opened his eyes, gasping for breath as Ophani unplugged him from the Matrix.
"Welcome back, sir," Link said as he got up from the booth to welcome back Morpheus, "I was shaking on the edge of my seat when you fought in traffic against three Agents."
"That was too close," Valkyrie told him, "Why do you continually do this?"
"It's just his style. Believe me, it's his style."
"Is everyone out?" Morpheus asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Link told him, "Everyone's out."
"Do you think they found out about Magna?" Ophani asked.
"I'm not sure," Morpheus answered, "You did destroy the evidence back at the hotel, right?"
"Ah…uh…"
"Please tell me you severed the link to his computer," Link pleaded.
"The police jumped us before I got a chance."
"…dammit…"
"Then we're going for him. Tonight," Morpheus said firmly.
"Tonight…?" Ophani breathed silently, "We're going to get Jake, I mean Magna, tonight?"
"We have no other choice. But for now, let us replenish our bodies. In two hours, we're pulling Magna out of the Rabbit Hole."
The crew dispatched out of the control booth, but Link remained behind to watch over Magna in the Matrix.
"Hey, Ophani?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you get me bowl of goop while you're in there?" Link asked.
"Sure. What size?"
"Small, maybe?"
"We only have one size," Ophani laughed as she left the control booth and started down the corridor to the mess hall.
Back in the hotel where the crew of the Metatron was trying to contact Magna, the three Agents that Morpheus and Ophani fought earlier were gathered around Ophani's station.
"We have the target," one Agent, Agent Brown said.
"The one that the Humans are looking for?" another Agent, Agent Johnathan asked.
"Yes," the final Agent replied, Agent Martin, "The target is named Jake Manson."
"He's staying with another Human and two Exiles," Agent Brown added.
"He goes by the hacker name: 'Magna'."
"The Humans seem to believe that Magna is the one who will help them free the rest of their race and stop us here in the Matrix."
"Foolish Humans," Agent Johnathan said, "He's only a child. What can a child do to stop us?"
"Nevertheless, we must get to him before the Humans do," Agent Brown said.
"It's our orders, after all," Agent Martin added.
"Then let us go greet 'Magna'," Agent Johnathan said with a slight evil smile to him.
With that the three Agents left the room, determined to find the boy called Jake Manson, who was also called 'Magna'. The boy who could possibly free the human race and put a stop the Machines' plan within the digital realm of the Matrix.