The Kimmatrix: Matrix Upgraded
A Fan Fiction Fusion By
Classic Cowboy and Turles
Chapter 6: Who Wants to Live Forever?
"Memory is not an instrument of exploring the past, but its theatre."
- Walter Benjamin
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Twelve days had come and twelve days had gone. The skies over the Earth gradually became lighter and lighter allowing it to regain its sapphire color once again. It was by the eleventh day that all of the sky was like that of an overcast day, and even for that moment it seemed that all was well with the world, yet, in what was once called the Cradle of Human Civilization, where now resided the Machine City, Zero One Two; down in the lower levels where the six pods were stationed, the screen that read their status only had a little ways to go.
Alpha Unit Status:
Alpha Unit One: Reanimation Sequence ETC: 0 days 4 hours 12 minutes
Alpha Unit Two: Reanimation Sequence ETC: 0 days 1 hour 2 minutes
Alpha Unit Three: Reanimation Sequence ETC: Complete
Alpha Unit Four: Reanimation Sequence ETC: Complete
Alpha Unit Five: Reanimation Sequence ETC: Complete
Alpha Unit Six: Reanimation Sequence ETC: Complete
Alpha Units Final Activation Sequence Engaged…
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Ron "Neo" Stoppable sighed as he stared at the ceiling of his and Kim's bedroom. He knew that the day had come for him; it was like all those mornings when he woke up on days of tests for school: he would awaken feeling nervous, nauseous, and scared out of his mind. The only difference, as he thought about it, at least with the tests in school, he had a fairly good idea about the outcome since he was so lousy at written tests. The fight that was before him seemed impossible especially since there were lives on the line, human flesh and blood on the line and in his hands, even the lives of friends, crewmates, and most of all, the woman that he loved, his wife: Kim Possible.
Ron turned his head slightly to his left to see Kim sleeping so very soundly; even in her sleep she had a smile on her face. She was so blissfully happy; Ron had never seen Kim that happy, not in a long time. Still, like the merry-go-round that his mind had become, he came back to the day at hand; the day that both the Oracle as well as the Architect had said was coming. Ron took another deep breath, feeling that he needed to go somewhere to think. He turned his head back to his wife, leaned over, and brushed back a few strands of her fiery red hair before laying a feather light kiss on her cheek. He then climbed out of bed that he and Kim had come to share for over a week (and what a week it was). Silently, he got himself dressed before he walked out of the apartment.
It was still early morning, must have been at least three in the morning by Ron's guess. He came to the balcony and looked up towards the ceiling of the apartment complex of Neo Zion. With all the little walkway lights and the thick clouds of moisture hanging at different levels, it looked like an underground night sky. It was bizarre how much like the stars that the lights of other apartments were when all of Zion was at least five miles below the surface of the Earth.
Ron had changed his gaze from the 'underground night sky' to a single yellowish light at the bottom floor of the apartment complex. It was the light of the statue of Neo. Ron went down to that bottom floor to look at the statue.
He walked up to it, gazing at the quality of its craftsmanship, how the light made it look real and unreal at the same time, and how heroic this man named Neo looked. Ron came closer to the statue, never giving one look at anything else, not the plaque, or the rest of the statue itself, just the face.
"Why...why me?" Ron pleaded with the statue, half-hoping that the statue would come to life to give Ron some kind of God-sent advice, "What would you do in this situation, Neo? I'm no hero…I never was…I'm a sidekick…and a damn good one too! Sidekicks aren't supposed to save the world…I'm no good at this sort of thing…I know that…that if I go…I'm just going to screw it all up. I just want you to know that I…I never wanted to be a hero…I…I just wanted to be…KP's sidekick…"
Ron gave a sharp sniffle as he turned his gaze downward to the plaque at the base of Neo's statue:
Neo
The One who ended the War of Man and Machines
"I dipped into the future as far as the eye can see and saw a vision of the world and all the wonder that it would be."
- Lord Alfred Tennyson
The tears were welling up in Ron's eyes when the true weight of the situation and its consequences started to come down upon him.
"No, you were a terrible sidekick." A voice corrected Ron.
The shock of another voice was nearly enough to send Ron tumbling over the rail and head first into Neo's plaque. But Ron simply turned to see who was standing there; which ended up being none other than his dear and loving wife, Kim Possible. She was standing as if she had been there the whole time with her arms crossed over her chest. Ron took in the comment knowing that it was definitely Kim who had made the correction to Ron's rant.
"Figures…" Ron signed as he shook his head about the comment and his shoulders drooped, "Can't even be a sidekick right…"
"Got that right." Kim snorted, but then smirked at her husband, who was looking down at the floor in such embarrassed shame. She blew a strand of her red hair out of her face when she approached Ron, "Sidekicks listen to what the hero says no matter what. If the hero tells the sidekick to jump, then the sidekick is supposed to ask how high. To the sidekick, the hero is always right…no matter what, and will follow the hero no matter what. You're no sidekick, Ron…you never were…" Kim walked up and placed a gentle hand on Ron's shoulder, "A partner doesn't always listen to the hero. A partner will point out when the hero is wrong, argue, or even smack the hero up side the head when she's about to do something stupid. Just like you've always done, and also…you may never 've wanted to be a hero, but you've always been a hero to at least one person."
Ron looked up at Kim's green eyes before she leaned in to kiss him lightly upon his lips. As she pulled back, Ron smiled slightly at her.
"I thought the sappy stuff ended after the wedding…" He joked lightly at his wife.
"That's only sometimes." Kim shrugged in her response to Ron's little crack, but then she gave Ron a look that he knew all too well; he knew what the next question was that Kim was about to ask.
"You going to tell me what was said when you visited the Architect last week?" Kim had asked, scowling at Ron who had only let out a frustrated sigh as he looked away from Kim and down at the floor once again.
"Ron…" Kim demanded Ron's attention, "Talk to me please. Does it have to do with what the Oracle told you about what's going to happen, today?"
Ron looked sharply at Kim with surprise as if asking how she knew.
"Don't look so surprised." Kim answered Ron's expression, "I've kept up with the date just as well as, if not more so than you."
"I…" Ron stammered, trying to avoid eye contact with his wife, "I just…don't want you…to worry…"
"Your not sleeping well and avoiding talking to me about it is what's worrying me." Kim stated exasperatedly, "Why won't you tell me?"
Ron was about to answer or at least attempt an answer when he looked at the face of his dear wife and felt his will start to shake. Kim Possible had her shoulders bunched up, her lower lip pursed out and her eyes looking at Ron so pitifully. It was her signature look, the Kim Possible "Puppy Dog Pout".
"Now that should be illegal…" Ron stated, his defense lowering from his wife's secret weapon.
"Please tell me…if you love me, you'll tell me." Kim stated, her voice sounding like a mock version of weeping as her lower lip began to tremble by her will alone.
"Okay, okay." Ron laughed as he threw his arm over his eyes to shield him from his wife's secret weapon, "Just lose the pout, okay?"
"Booyah." Kim smiled in her triumph of finally getting her husband to crack, "Talk, please."
Ron lowered his arm and looked at Kim with a strict seriousness, "Remember the sentinel army that the Mad Dog spotted last week?" Ron asked.
Kim gave him a nervous nod.
"Well," Ron explained, "The Architect gave me a challenge…"
"What kind of challenge?" Kim asked, suddenly starting to regret forcing her husband to reveal the information that she selfishly wanted to know.
"Today…" Ron explained, "at six in the evening…six fighters chosen by the head machine dude…will be waiting for me inside the Matrix. If I decide to go, I'll log in from the Jack Room here in Neo Zion and fight them. If I win, the Sentinel Army will be dismantled and the people connected to the Matrix will be released. If I lose the sentinels will attack and destroy Neo Zion as well as all of the human cities on the surface, but they'll let those who are still plugged in live. If I just plain don't show up, they'll shutdown the Matrix without freeing the people inside, and release the sentinels."
Ron had tried his best to repeat what the Architect had told him, but, with something so monstrous on his shoulders, it was hard to forget any details about it. As Ron finished up his explanation of it, he saw how much his wife's face had paled as if she had been scared right down to her very core.
"Its okay, Kim" Ron tried to reassure as he pulled Kim into a hug and held her there very gently, "I'm the One, remember? They'll need six thousand to top me."
"I just got a bad feeling, Ron." Kim sighed into Ron's shoulder, while she wrapped her arms around his waist, "Remember…remember your promise."
"I'm not going anywhere Kim." Ron whispered into her ear. "Come on, I've got a big day ahead…saving the world and all…so let's try to get some sleep, okay?"
Kim didn't say a word during the whole walk from Neo's statue back to their apartment. Even though neither said a word to each other, it did seem that the weight of what was to come was on both their shoulders.
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The day had arrived, and the time was drawing close; it must have been ten minutes to six o'clock when Kim Possible and her husband Ron Stoppable walked hand in hand into the Jack Room of Neo Zion. It was rather bizarre to an extent since when Kim and Ron had arrived; there were some good people there waiting for them. They stood around the nearest Jack Chair just to the right of the entry way. There was Morpheus, Niobe, Mister 'Napster' Possible, Misses 'Kazaa' Possible, Ghost, and Link, who sat at his operations station simply waiting. Seeing the people who were there waiting for them, Kim and Ron headed in.
The whole situation seemed to have that same feeling as a farewell party or a send-off party before someone was to get on a plane. Even Morpheus seemed to add to that when he looked at Ron with such seriousness similar to how a doctor looks at a patient when they're going to give some very bad news.
"It's time, Ronald." Morpheus stated.
Ron gulped as he nodded, looking towards the Jack Chair that seemed to have an unusual kind of glow to it. As if the chair itself knew that today was a very big day with such great ramifications attached to it. In a way, the chair seemed welcoming despite how grimy it was with its torn upholstery and odd metal parts. It was there in the center of the circle of friends and family wanting Ron to use it, saying 'It's alright Ron; I'll help you get through this."
"Well…" Ron shrugged, looking at everyone around the room, "I guess its ass kickin' time, huh?" He smiled weakly before looking back at the welcoming Jack Chair, "Here goes nothing…"
"Stop." Kim uttered as Ron took his first step to the chair,
"Kim?" Ron asked, turning to look at his wife,
"Don't go…I'm just…just getting a really bad vibe about this, Ron." Kim said, shaking her head and avoiding eye contact with her husband, "It's a trap…I just know it…Ron…let's…let's get a ship and go away…far away from Neo Zion, from the Matrix, from everything."
"Kim!" Her parents breathed, very shocked by their daughters' alternative.
"No." Ron said to his in-laws, before he looked back at his wife, Kim. He smiled as he approached her and set his hands upon her shoulders, "Kim, if you were in my shoes right now…what would you do?"
Kim said nothing.
"If you knew…" Ron tried to justify what he was doing, "that if you thought you could save lives that would be lost if you did nothing, would you fight, KP?" He reached up, cupped Kim's cheeks, and looked her straight in the eye, "Or would you run away…and live with the knowledge that you could have made a difference for the rest of your life, would you? I'd like to think that no matter how much you loved me, no matter how much I begged you not to, and no matter how much it hurt to leave me behind to fight alone, you would still go…am I right?"
"…Damn you…" Kim cried as her tears ran over Ron's cupped hands.
"I also would like to believe you'd like me to be right there beside you on the outside holding your hand…" Ron assured as he wiped away Kim's tears
"Ne…never…" Kim whimpered and sniffed slightly, "Never thought…you could hate…and love someone so much at the exact same time." She reached up to wipe away the last of her tears, "I'll be waiting for you to win, Ron…I'll be holding your hand…"
Without looking down, Ron and Kim's hands had interlocked with one another and they looked towards the Jack Chair. Taking a deep breath, they headed to it as if it was their own leap of faith. Kim stood at the side of the Jack Chair while Ron laid back in it allowing Ghost and Morpheus to strap him in, though Kim was the one holding the last piece, the long jack that would plug into the back of Ron's head. she led it in with her free hand while the other still held her husband's hand.
Ron looked up at his
loving wife and smiled, "I love you, KP."
"I love you too, Ron." Kim replied as she leaned down to
give Ron a great, long, and passionate kiss as if it was the last
pleasure he would have on Earth. Kim had pulled back and
whispered, "I'll be right here beside you…"
Ron laid his head back into the Jack Chair as Kim took the jack and slipped it into the back of Ron's head instantly sending him into that Matrix dream-state, while he was waiting in the construct to get into the Matrix itself.
Kim had kept her promise; she stayed by her husband's side holding his hand, while her mother and father brought her a small chair to sit down in. Over at the operator's station, Link was looking at the screens with the Matrix code flowing downward like rain.
"Okay." Link said prepping himself for whatever was about to happen, "He's in right now."
"What about these six he's supposed to fight?" Mister 'Napster' Possible asked.
"His opponents…" Link stated before he trailed off. He stared at the screen as if somewhere in the green unreadable text he saw the face of the devil himself. That much was evident when he let out a long whisper, "shhhhiiiiiiiiit."
The others, except Kim, had gathered around Link's station to see what it was that had scared him so much. They knew that it must have been something horrendous because, despite Link's dark complexion, they could swear that his face had turned pale. Morpheus was the first to gauge what was happening, and he too could feel the blood draining away from his face.
"Morpheus?" Niobe asked of her husband as she placed her hand on his shoulder, "What's wrong?"
Morpheus couldn't answer; his throat had gone completely dry from his fear.
"What is it?" Kim had asked more forcefully than Niobe, but still refusing to leave Ron's side.
"Neo…" Morpheus wheezed.
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Ron had found himself back in his old hometown of Middleton, Colorado. He had told Link the day before that he wanted to be loaded to his hometown. Ron felt in the back of his mind that if he would bit the dust on that particular day, he'd rather be back at the place where he and Kim had met.
Ron had been loaded into the industrial part of the town with the warehouses and power stations, but when he came out to the street, Ron couldn't find a single soul around. It struck him as pretty frightening because, in a city that is that empty, more than likely, zombies were sure to be involved. He then brought himself to the matter at hand when Rufus, who was wriggling in his pocket, handed him his cell phone.
"Thanks, Rufus." Ron smiled as he dialed the number for the operator. The phone rang and he thought he heard the line pick up at the other end, "Operator? Hello? Link?"
He slipped the phone back into his pocket, while Rufus had climbed out and perched on his shoulder. The fear in the air was so thick that it made Rufus shiver to his small skeleton.
"I know, Rufus." Ron said to his hairless friend, "Maybe KP's bad feeling wasn't…just a bad feeling after all."
Rufus began to chirp and shake nervously as he scurried back into Ron's pocket only allowing his beady little eyes to peek out of it. Ron then reached into the pocket where he was hiding and looked at him as he sat in the palm of his hand. The little mole rat looked up at him with those black glassy eyes that seemed to try and imitate Kim's Puppy Dog Pout.
""We've been through a lot, buddy." Ron began, "But I'm afraid on this one I have to go alone, please understand that this fight could get really nasty and I don't want to see you hurt."
Rufus only nodded as Ron had set him down upon the concrete steps of the warehouse.
"Just find a safe place, buddy." Ron instructed.
"Got it…" Rufus squeaked as he scurried away.
"Now to find my opponents." Ron said to himself as he flew up to the skies over Middleton. Everything seemed so oddly beautiful when he looked at it from such a high vantage point. At that point, Ron had spotted something out of the corner of his eye and he zoomed down to the ground. Upon his landing, he found himself back at Middleton Preschool. Of course, like everywhere else in the city, it was empty, completely devoid of people or even children on the playground. Only, the ideas of why there were no people anywhere didn't matter to Ron. It was because of the place that he had come to, that Preschool playground; he looked at it from behind the chain link fence and had some fond memories.
"This is where it had all started." Ron said to himself as if he was conducting his own memories before his great fight began. As he looked to that place between that great Oak tree and the jungle gym, he thought about that first time that Kim had saved him. Then again, as Ron thought about it, it was the first time that Ron was Kim's distraction to those bullies. It wasn't that first mission with the eccentric collector and his Cuddle Buddies; it was that day on the playground when they not only became friends but partners.
The silence that Ron was in was quickly broken sharply when a voice called out to him:
"Hello, Ron."
Ron's heart had rocketed its way to his throat when he instantly recognized it. The voice was the same one that he had only heard in his dreams, but what made it even more fearful was that the voice wasn't old or drawn out like that which belonged to Agent Smith. That voice belonged to another.
He turned his whole body around from the chain linked fence to see who…or what was there. He looked from behind his sunglasses but had to blink, even pull his sunglasses off to make sure that it wasn't some kind of error in the Matrix or in his own vision. He was confronted by…him…the man that Morpheus had shown to him, the one with the statue in Neo Zion, and the one who had ended the war of man and machines: Neo.
After getting over seeing this man, alive and face to face, his eyes had looked to see five other people gathering in the empty street around Middleton Preschool.
From what Ron could see, there were four men and one woman. All of them were wearing black or at least a very dark color that came close to black. The first man that Ron laid eyes upon was definitely a Spanish man with his dark hair that came down over his face, dark eyes, and tanned skin. He wore a deep gray shirt that bordered upon black with a short suit jacket and black pants.
The second man that Ron saw behind Neo was a tall man who had a very thin face, thinning hair with widow's peaks on his head. Set upon his narrow face was a pair of thin framed and red mirror lens oval sunglasses. He wore a very deep crimson suit with no tie and it seemed to change to black with the folds in the cloth. While he wore black suit pants along with his long black trench coat that swished as he moved along showing off its deep red lining.
Next to the Tall man of Red, was a boy a little older than Ron, who had hair as darkly black as the Spanish Man of Gray, he also wore a pair of sunglasses that looked like a metallic and reflective green. This young boy also had a very tightly worn suit. A black suit jacket that came down to his knees that gave him a very hourglass look while his suit shirt was a deep green that also turned black in the deepest crests of the folds. His tie was black but it had a pattern upon it that looked very similar to the Matrix code.
Next to the boy of Green was an older woman, she must have been around Misses Possible's age if Ron had guessed correctly. She had shoulder length dirty blonde hair that seemed very messy as if she had never combed it before. She wore something that was very unusual compared to the others, she wore a yellow body suit that was loose fitting but not too baggy and it had a black stripe going up the side from her ankles up to her shoulders. Like the others she too had sunglasses on, but hers were a yellowish chrome color set into its round-rectangular lenses.
The last man standing next to the Woman of Yellow was a man whose sunglasses, like the Boy of Green was a metallic blue color, his manner of dress was a coat that completely covered him down to his mid-thighs with a piece covering his front that had an odd hourglass shape to it with buttons along its two side edges, while his black pants took over for the rest of him.
Ron had then brought his attention back to Neo who was only an arms length away.
"Neo?" Ron had asked, feeling how dry his throat was, he cleared it to ask his next question, "I thought…that you were dead."
"Neo is dead." The man who looked like Neo replied as he brought up the back of his left hand to show a green tattoo of the numbers zero-six that looked as if they came from an old computer monitor with how blocked it had looked, "I am Alpha Six….all of you…introduce yourselves."
"I was once called Uno." The Spanish Man of Gray stated, "But now I am called Alpha One."
"I am Alpha Two." The Tall Man of Red took over showing off a similar tattoo on the top of his left hand, "But they used to call me, Slim."
The Boy of Green took his cue, "I'm Alpha Three." He declared, "But my old name was, Glitch."
"Once upon a time," The Woman in Yellow said in an almost seductive tone, "I was known as Innanna, but now I'm Alpha Four."
"Router was once my name." The Man of Blue had told, "But he is dead, now there is only Alpha Five!"
"You now know who we are…" Alpha Six stated as he looked down at Rom from his tall six foot two inch stature, "We did what we were supposed to do…but you…are not meant to exist…ergo…you must be…terminated."
Ron already had that gut feeling that no matter how much this man had acted, looked, and sounded like Neo, it wasn't him. He looked at this man who called himself "Alpha Six" and could feel it in every ounce, inch, and fiber of his being that this was his fight.
"You guys wanna terminate me?" Ron asked his rhetorical question as he took his stance from Monkey Kung Fu, "Bring it on!"
With that, Ron already had a plan of how to win the fight without even having a single fist thrown at him. Ducking underneath the reach of Alpha Six, he brought about his hand to his chest, sinking his fingers past his clothes and down to his very code. Yet, as his fingers were there he expected the liquid to come out and consume Alpha Six, making him into a copy of himself, but nothing happened. It was just there, stuck in his chest.
Alpha Six looked up with a very evil grin, "That won't work." He said as he made an undercut at Ron's outstretched arm, which sent Ron back into his stance of Monkey Kung Fu.
Six was more than willing to oblige Ron's proposal to bring it on, and he did so with a quick punch towards Ron's face, but Ron, defying the speeds of the Matrix, had dodged the blow. It was a simple side step, yet, as he had dodged it, he noticed something was very different, he thought to himself that not even the agents threw punches that quickly, but he had to think quick again. Six brought up his other hand in a sharp uppercut towards Ron's chin, seeing it coming from the bottoms of his eyes; he leaned back while Six's fist narrowly missed his chin. Instantly he knew that this fight was very different, but he couldn't doubt himself when Six had brought about his leg into a roundhouse kick, but Ron had already recovered from the first two dodges and brought his hands about to catch Six's leg. He held it there, looked to his face and felt very afraid when he saw Alpha Six with that same very wide smile on his face that made him look like a demented jack-o-lantern.
"Impressive…" Six complemented sarcastically.
Six had broken the grip that Ron had upon his leg by bringing up his other to make his second kick to Ron's side. Ron felt the impact and it felt beyond anything that he had ever felt before; he knew that if it had been any harder it would have broken his arm.
He writhed in pain from the impact as he fell over to the concrete sidewalk, but in that short fall, Ron made a small side flip to get back to his feet. He looked to see the configuration of the Alphas around him, but before he could make his next move, he watched as the Matrix around him had slowed down to a crawl. It was like those moments on the VCR when things were paused or put into slow motion. His eyes had caught a yellow blur that had moved across the asphalt between the sidewalks, but the time that Ron's eyes had caught up to the front of the yellow blur, he only saw two things. One was the face of Alpha Four, The Woman of Yellow, who, like Alpha Six before her, was smiling with the most sinister of intents.
The second thing that he saw was only a flash, but Ron knew what it was; it was Four's elbow that landed itself into his chest. Even that was only half of it; the rest was when Ron flew backwards from the impact of the blow. He flew thirty feet backwards and a foot off the ground before landing on his back where his long duster was torn from the rocks in the asphalt.
Ron was about to get to his feet, but when he opened his eyes, he saw two Alphas above him, the Boy of Green and the Man of Blue; Alpha Three and Five. They were coming down on top of him with their legs outstretched in a downward flying kick aimed directly at Ron, and like before…he couldn't get out of the way in time.
The impact of both feet from Alpha Three and Five sent Ron's stomach flat against the inside of his body forcing his food up his throat and out his mouth like air out of a whoopee cushion. He rolled on the concrete wiping away the excess vomit, he quickly got back to his feet, squatted down making the asphalt beneath him ripple as he flew up to the skies above Middleton. He didn't care what direction he was going as long as it was away from the Alphas, he just had to get away to figure out what to do, to form some plan of attack.
Going against his better judgment as he rocketed straight up, he looked back down to the ground. He found only five of the Alphas were down there. He was about to ask himself where the sixth one was, but that was a case of asking too soon. He looked back up and found his answer. Alpha Two, the Tall Man of Red, was up in the sky flying just like Ron. In one swift solid motion, Alpha Two brought his fist against Ron's face. The blow had twisted Ron's neck and his body following after it. It was so much that Ron began to tumble his way back to the ground like a duck shot out of the sky during hunting season. He tried to bring himself around so that he could continue his escape, and to think about his plan of attack, but the next thing he knew, the back of his neck had slammed into the asphalt.
Ron had quickly opened his eyes to find Alpha One, the Spanish man of Gray, sitting on top of his chest. He tried to escape, but couldn't as Alpha One began pounding his face. One after the other they came down upon Ron's young face, knocking off his sunglasses, while the other Alphas gathered around to watch the savage beating.
"That's enough Alpha One." Six had stopped the beating, "You shouldn't get to have all the fun."
Alpha One had gotten off of Ron's chest, while Ron was starting to spit up the blood from his cracked and cut gums and lips. He rolled over to spit the blood out onto the black asphalt before he got back to his feet, his face already swelling from the hits that he had taken by Alpha One.
"They have the same powers as I do." Ron had assessed in his mind as he looked about, but his right eye began to close from the swelling. Seeing out of his good eye that the Alphas were just standing there, he saw the opportunity. He squatted down preparing to rocket upward once again.
"Oh no, you don't." Alpha Six had stated as he reached for Ron's ankle.
Ron looked down wondering why he had stopped, he found Alpha Six holding his ankle with that sick Jack-o-lantern smile on his face again.
Ron came crashing back down through the asphalt and down into the dirt and pipes below it. Once again, Ron tried to get back up, but then felt someone pulling him up by his hair. He felt as if he was being lifted up into the air, and he looked out of his good eye seeing that he was being taken out of a hole in the asphalt. That was when he felt himself being rocketed towards a nearby building. He slammed face first into the brick wall, the sharp edges cutting his already bruised up face, before falling to the concrete sidewalk below.
His body was cut, bruised, sore, and in such agony…but Ron 'Neo' Stoppable still got back to his feet, looking back at the Alphas with his one good eye, and thinking that he wasn't about to give up without a fight. He dusted himself off, wiped the blood and left over vomit from his face, and charged straight back into the battle.
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Back in the Jack Room of Neo Zion, Kim was still holding Ron's hand as she wiped away the white vomit and blood from his face and neck when it had spilled over. Watching Ron shake in that chair and seeing him sit up like that, it made her feel so helpless. A feeling that she had absolutely hated more than any other, especially when she was at her husband's side. This man who had saved her and it felt as if she couldn't save him. IF only Kim could have known more about the previous One, she would know that the woman who loved him had risked her own life for him at such a moment as Kim was in.
She looked up to see Morpheus squeezing something into one of the plugs in Ron's arm. It was just like a doctor giving a patient some kind of painkiller, the only thing that was missing from the file was the needle. The last of the assumed painkiller was squeezed into Ron's plug, and Kim looked back at her love.
"Hang in there, Ron…" She whispered, still holding onto her husband's hand when she leaned forward and placed a kiss on his forehead.
"Don't quit on us now, Ronald." Morpheus added, hoping that in some slim way his and Kim's message would reach him inside the Matrix.
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Ron dashed back into his fight with the Alphas with a renewed fire in his soul. He came down into the circle of Alphas remembering what was on the line in this fight, not just the lives of the human race, but the people who loved him were counting on him. There was Morpheus, Link, Barkin, Mister and Misses Possible…and…Kim…thinking about Kim only made the fire within him burn even hotter than before.
First, he brought his leg about and kicked Alpha One clear into the very building that Ron was slammed into. One down and five to go; he brought his hands onto the heads of Four and Five and slammed them into each other like a pair of symphony symbols. The impact was so that the two of them began to bleed profusely from their noses as well as leaving some very black bruises on their faces. While they were recovering from the onslaught, Ron made another attack on Alpha Four, bringing his fist down against Alpha Four's face and sending her across the asphalt and down the hole that Ron was once in. After he took care of her, he slammed his other fist against Five's face, which sent him rocketing up and away into the very next block.
Ron felt a swell of pride from these small victories, but the fight was far from over. He was about to turn his attention to the remaining Alphas, but took one second too long to admire his own grim work. One second later, he was caught by Alpha Two and Three. They grabbed him by his arms and held him there while he tried to break free, but it was no good, and it only got worse.
While he was being held by Two and Three, Alpha Six came up to Ron, smiling that stomach sickening smile that he had as he cracked his knuckles.
"Playtime is over, kid." Six stated before he started his assault. First, he brought his fist to Ron's stomach knocking the wind out of him, and then he brought his other fist down amplifying the pain. That was when the punches came at Ron's chest and abdomen at that Matrix breaking speed as if Six's arms were like bullets from a machine gun.
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Ron began to rock and shake in his Jack Chair and spitting up more blood that oozed over his lips, down his chin, and neck.
Kim looked at her husband and, seeing what was happening, reached down to a small bucket beside the Jack Chair. She reached down with her only free hand, still refusing to let go of her husband's hand. She reached for the cloth that was floating and soaking in the bucket, but still absolutely refusing to let go of Ron's hand as she ringed as much water as she could from the soaking rag. She brought the rag up and wiped over Ron's forehead. She looked down at her husband giving her own kind of moral support.
"Don't you dare lose, Ron." She whispered with tears running over her cheeks. "…please…"
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Ron continued to endure the poundings made by the onslaught of Alpha Six, and it came to the point where he had thought about giving up once again. No human being should suffer in such a way, but as he had endured the pain something very odd had happened. His hearing seemed to block out all other sounds, the slamming into his stomach, the laughter of the Alphas who were gloating in their victory and even his wan grunts. The only sound that Ron's ears would pick up made it seem completely impossible that it could be happening. Yet, it was part of her name; it was Kim's voice that had reached Ron.
"Don't you dare lose, Ron…please…"
Once again, Ron's spirit was fired up as he thought, 'I won't lose Kim', he grunted as he shifted his body weight and used the Alpha's to support him as he brought up his foot right to Six's face. He watched with a smug admiration when Six went thirty feet in the air. While Six was coming back down, Ron used a similar move on those who held him, brought One close, kicked him in the side and repeated to the other side.
It was hearing his dear Kim's voice, as if she were standing right beside him that made him feel like victory was his. That was until he looked at Alpha Six, who was spinning head over heels backwards like an acrobat in a mid-air performance. Six had stopped there in the air above the streets, applying his breaks to the physics of the Matrix.
Ron knew he had another fight coming from Six, but he held up his fists ready to take him on. He even said to himself:
"It's on…it's on like Donkey Kong…bi-atch…"
Unfortunately, once again, Ron's over-confidence had been his first mistake and he soon found that out right after Six had rocketed back to the ground with his fist out and slamming into his stomach. Then he felt his teeth crunch against one another when Six brought his fist up to his jaw. Ron went flying up and back, but felt another powerful blow, this time, coming to his side, right up against his arm. At first, he didn't feel anything, but then he heard a loud crack like a good sized twig being snapped in half or like a drumstick being torn off a freshly cooked whole chicken. The thing that had made it worse was the source of that crack came from Ron's arm. Before Ron could connect the dots in his mind, the pain from the injury induced by Six had set in. It was sharp at his arm, but dull when it radiated throughout his whole body. He screamed out in pain. It was one that Ron had never used before in his life, not from fear, but from sheer pain…and it was only the start of it, because Ron had finally landed on his back on the asphalt. It was incredible that all those things that had happened were all in mid-air.
Ron came down with a solid thud, and he was about to try to get back to his feet to finish the fight, but Six was a step ahead of him. Alpha Six had lifted Ron's leg, and then brought down his elbow to his kneecap, sending out that sickening crack and forcing his leg to bend in a new angle.
Ron screamed out in great pain once again as the pain in his leg compounded with the pain in his arm. The tears were already starting to flow from him since it was beyond any pain that he had ever experienced in his life. So much so, that his mind was starting to drift in and out of consciousness like a swimmer starting to be pulled down by the undertows of the ocean. To make it even worse, Six was still not done with Ron. He picked Ron up by his other, unbroken leg and threw him across the street through the glass window of an empty coffee shop. Ron could feel every vertebrae in his spine crash through that window, the glass cutting through his clothes, skin, and down to his flesh. He landed amongst a pile of tables and chairs, and, while he was lying there as helpless as he was, it occurred to him that this time no one would be coming to save him…he was going to lose.
Lying in that restaurant was when fate's ironic sense of humanity played its hand. On the speakers of the restaurant, there was a song playing that Ron knew; he had first heard it from a movie with Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery called "Highlander". The song was by a band called "Queen" and was called "Who Wants to Live Forever?" Ron couldn't help but give a stifled laugh when the song was starting.
There's no time for us
There's no place for us…
Ron tried to get back to his feet, even with his broken leg, and his arm hanging limp at his side. He saw Alpha Six stepping through the door to the coffee shop, and even though Ron couldn't see Six's eyes through those sunglasses, he knew that Six had bloodshed in them. Six was just like a machine in his relentlessness to terminate Ron, so much that Ron wondered if he ever truly was human before.
Ron slipped as he got back to his feet while the song continued its sweet irony.
What is this thing that builds our dreams…
Then steps away from us?
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"They're killing him…" Morpheus uttered, looking at the screen above Ron's head and seeing how bad his vitals were. His brainwaves were starting to slow down, while his heart rate was beating away like a rabbit on speed.
"Ron…" Kim whispered as her tears ran down her face and soaked into Ron's tattered shirt. She placed her head against his chest, which occasionally jerked while his heart continued to beat away as fast as it could. Kim squeezed Ron's hand as tight as she could while she whispered her half-hearted threat:
"If you die on me, Ron, I'll kick your ass."
Who wants to live forever?
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Who wants to live forever? Ooohhhh….
Ron had limped his way towards Six, over the chairs and around the tables, cradling his broken arm and enduring the pain in his leg. He looked up at Alpha Six, who seemed to be rather stunned by what was going on, that what he was witnessing couldn't happen in any way possible. Ron then looked to the broken window where the other Alphas had gathered to witness the same thing as Alpha Six.
The radio continued to play:
There's no chance for us.
It's all been decided for us…
This world has just one sweet moment set aside for us…
"You are strong…" Six stated as if it was a complement to Ron, "Stronger than any of us had expected…so now the gloves are coming off."
Ron didn't say a word, not even when Six had picked him up by his shirt and threw him out the broken panoramic window. Ron flew out the window and past the other Alphas, who had stepped aside to allow him to land on the street.
As Ron was lying there face down on the asphalt, he tried to get back up with one good arm, but soon felt the searing hot pain from his face in its contact with the asphalt. He struggled to bring himself to his feet, but didn't need to when Alpha One picked him up by the back of his duster and brought him into a hold where Ron's back faced Alpha One's front. He held Ron towards the other Alphas like a human shield.
"You two ready?" One called to the other Alphas.
"Ready!" Alpha Two and Four answered back before they dashed straight for Ron. Their fists cocked back and ready to punch the helpless and defenseless Ron. Both of their fists landed at each side of Ron's rib cage, and once again making that loud sickening crack like the sound of popping knuckles. As his ribs cracked, Ron felt a salty liquid erupt out of his throat, through his mouth and over his lips where he found out that it was his own blood. At that point, Ron was dropped back to the asphalt, where on the support of one arm, he continued to cough up his own blood as if it was so much water that he had accidentally swallowed. The blood began to pool at the asphalt, but still Ron decided to get back up, despite all the pain and agony he was in. All common sense told him to stop or he would die, but he kept telling himself that he would die anyway, if the Oracle was correct. Then again, he thought, she probably is right. She is the Oracle, but Ron still got back to his feet, surprising the Alphas, but Alpha Six was simply growing annoyed.
Six came over and gave Ron a good punch to his face that sent him back down to the ground. He turned to the other Alphas when his annoyance was bordering upon anger but as he turned he heard a cough.
"Hey!" Ron coughed more of his own blood when Alpha Six turned to face him, "Where…where you goin'? Th…this party's…just…just…gettin' started."
Ron then used his flight ability to make himself float back up to face the Alphas; he figured he had one good arm and one good leg, which should be enough as far as he was concerned. Then again, he probably had lost so much blood and taken so many punches to the head that he wasn't thinking clearly. He brought his good arm and leg about into a limp fighting stance as he floated an inch off the ground.
"Why won't you just die?" Alpha Six barked as he dashed across the street, grabbed Ron's good arm, and brought his elbow down onto his forearm, snapping it in half like a wishbone out of a turkey. Ron cried out once again in pain, his voice hoarse from his pitiful cries as well as his coughing while the radio in the coffee shop continued:
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever? Oooooh….
Alpha wasn't done just yet with Ron. It was no longer a mission from the Machines; it had become more of a personal battle with Six. He executed a short, powerful kick to Ron's thigh, breaking the bone within it. Ron fell once again to the ground, every inch outside and within his body was in the greatest of agony that he just wished he could roll over and die…to be released from all the pain and anguish that he had. Yet, despite that, he still found the will to keep moving and to get back up to fight; it was just harder to do with all his limbs rendered useless.
"Why?" Alpha Six asked of Ron, "Why can't you just die?" He asked in such bitter frustration and anger as he lifted his feet and slammed it into Ron's soft underbelly. Six must have kicked Ron seven times before the poor boy rolled over with blood oozing over his lips and across his face.
"Tell me…" Ron coughed up more blood making his words gurgle as he spoke, "What…would…Trin…Trinity say…if…she saw…you now?"
"Trinity?" Alpha Six asked, sounding as if the name had broken through to the person that he used to be, the man who ended the war of man and machines, Neo. For a moment, out of Ron's good eye he thought he saw a glimpse of humanity coming to the surface like a great whale ready to breach for air. Then Alpha Six blew it when he looked down at the pitiful Ron with contempt showing in his brow and lips. "Enough of this trite!"
Who dares to love forever…?
Oh, when love must die…
Alpha Six got down on his knees and began pounding his fists one after the other into Ron, anywhere he could, as long as it was hurting him. He brought down his fists onto Ron as if each one would be the last punch he'd make. Each punch he made sent blood spurting from Ron's lips like the ooze out of a squeezed zit. He came up to Ron's face and began to beat him some more, spreading blood onto his own hands while the blood on Ron's face turned black and by that time more than one of Ron's teeth had been knocked out.
Ron's face was no longer recognizable with most of it swollen and black with blood all across his face. Alpha Six had decided that he had enough when he got back to his feet and looked down at Ron and how disgustingly pitiful he looked. He was just lying there, his clothes ripped, blood pooling around his head, and his face no longer anything like it was at the beginning of the fight.
Then the Alpha's watched as Ron "Neo" Stoppable tried to move once again.
Alpha Two shook his head, "What keeps you going, kid?" He asked, his voice shocked by the question sounding as if he actually had a faint moment of compassion for Ron.
"I…" Ron coughed up more of that black blood onto his lips as he gave Alpha Two his answer, "I…prom…promised…K…P…"
Alpha Six's annoyance had reached its peak when he reached for Ron's collar; he gripped it tightly as if he was going to pick him up. Then Six squatted down making the Matrix Code within the concrete ripple as he flew upwards, higher and higher, over the buildings of Middleton.
Then touch my tears with your lips…
Touch my war with your fingertips…
Cause we can't have forever…
And we can't love forever…
Forever is our today…
Ron looked around to see that he had been taken into the very clouds over Middleton, just he and Alpha Six. The coolness of the clouds around him felt nice against his burning wounds as if he had been laid down in a pool of cold water. He felt himself drifting in and out of consciousness from the savage beatings and loss of blood. His good eye looked to Alpha Six who held him close and looked at Ron with such hatred, contempt, frustration, and fury.
"Any last words, boy?" Six snarled at Ron
"Yeah…" Ron had chocked out, "Tell…tell KP…I…I…I'm sorry…for not…keep…keeping my…promise…and…tell her…I…I love her…"
"Don't worry." Six had sneered at Ron's request, "You can tell her yourself in hell!"
Ron felt himself being hugged by Alpha Six. He wondered why he was doing this, and then he found out when they were going down head first to the ground. The wind whipping at his face, making every limp and useless part of him ping with even more agony as their descent became more and more rapid, and the ground coming closer and closer. At the time of going down, Ron thought to himself that it's not the fall that kills: it's the stopping. Funny to think of something like that when he was only seconds away from his own death.
Who wants to live forever?
Ron looked down seeing how close the ground was, only a few more seconds until impact. By that time, Alpha Six had already let him go for him to complete the rest of his descent on his own. In those few seconds Ron had thought to himself that perhaps it was foolish to think that he could defy the prophecy given to him. He had accepted his fate, despite the solemn promise that he had made to Kim. With the ground only a few more seconds away, Ron only had one last thought:
"Good-bye, Kim…" He thought as he came down to the ground like a dropping bomb, "I will always love you…"
Forever is our today…
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Before the impact and back in the Jack Room of Neo Zion, Ron's friends, crewmates, and family were cheering for him. At least most of them, except Kim, who continued to stay by her husband's side. Her eyes were burning from her tears as she continued to wipe away more of the blood that Ron had spit up. As she did, she kept looking back, listening to them cheer on Ron, but towards the end their cheers were silent, saying nothing about what they were seeing on the screen. The only hint that she got was from her mom who looked over at the coded screens and she uttered one sentence that made Kim worry.
"Pull up, Ron." She uttered as if she, like Kim, was pleading for Ron to be alright.
Kim looked back at Ron's sleeping body and face that had spit up so much blood; she reached up with her one free hand to stroke the back of Ron's head. She wanted to believe that Ron was winning the fight, that somehow he'd find a way to defeat the six that the Machines had chosen. It was ironically funny how Ron believed that Kim would win her fight and then Kim believed that Ron could win. It wasn't because Ron Stoppable was the One; it was because…Ron…was Ron.
Then…the unthinkable had happened…
Kim had laid her head once again upon Ron's chest, feeling it shake while his heart was beating faster and faster. He was still, for a few seconds, and that was when his body had one last jerk. It was a very violent one that shook the very chair that he was sitting in. That shake had made Kim jerk back to look Ron over to see if he was still alright. She looked up at the vitals monitor and witnessed his heart beat faster and faster, and then…the heart rate line went flat and the monitor sending out that long monotone beep.
The Jack Room was completely silent; everyone was in disbelief at what they saw on the screen, but not as much as Kim who continued to hold onto her husband's hand. She felt his grip loosen while his body went limp, and she still refused to believe what was happening.
"Ron?" She asked, still hoping down to the depths of her heart that it was all a lie. That Ron would simply awaken and look at her with those big, chocolate brown eyes and tell Kim that the fight was over, that he had won, and everything would be fine from that moment on. She waited for moment after moment and still nothing had happened, just Ron's limp body and the vitals monitor continuing its long monotone beep.
"Oh please, no….Ron…" Kim began to sob loudly as the reality of what had happened began to set in, "Ron!"
As Kim had tried to grasp the reality of what had happened, the others in the room were also trying to gain some kind of sense out of the loss. Mister and Misses Possible were hugging each other, just like Niobe and Morpheus, with Misses Possible weeping and Morpheus allowing a few tears to roll down his face, while Ghost stood there looking at the screen as pale as a sheet of paper and looking as if a soft breeze would knock him over. Link, on the other hand, his eyes were wide at the code, and his jaw at his chest, he was still at that stage wondering if it had actually happened.
"Ron!" Kim screamed as she wept, shaking all over to her very core while her shoulders and knees shuddered. She glanced around the room looking for signs of help or that once again it was all a lie, but seeing her friends, crewmates, and her parents in their own mourning the reality had sunk in completely for her.
"Ron!" He pleaded into Ron's chest, "No…you promised!"
She cried out as she lifted her free hand to pound upon Ron's lifeless chest as if she wanted him to know how much pain she was in. Still looking at his body, seeing no change from his lifeless body and flat lined heart rate, she finally knew that this time he wouldn't come back...and she was so angry for that.
"Ron!" She screamed, this time digging her fingers into his tattered clothes, "Come back! Come back, you bastard! You promised you wouldn't leave me! You promised! RON!"
Who wants to live forever anyway…?
To be continued…