The Kimmatrix: Matrix Shutdown
A Fan Fiction Fusion By
Classic Cowboy and Turles
Chapter 4: Neodammerung Part 1 – Bonnie Definitely
"Asato ma Sadgamaya
Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
Mrtyor mamrtamgamaya."
"From delusion lead me to truth
From darkness lead me to light
From death lead me to immortality"
Don Davis – "Neodammerung"
The Matrix Revolutions Soundtrack
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"Stoppable!" Bonnie screamed when Ron came into the room and even added, "What if I was undressed?"
"Nothing I haven't already seen, Rockwaller" Ron stated smugly to Bonnie who was just sitting on the edge of the bed in her quarters, "Do you mind telling me why you hate me so much? For as long as I can remember, inside and out of the Matrix, you've had a problem with me and Kim. I just want to know why. Are you still pissed about what happened during your fight with Kim?"
"It has nothing to do with that, but it does have to do with Kim," Bonnie had explained, looking up at Ron with her blue eyes filled with tears that flowed down her cheeks, "We should be together, not you and Possible!"
Ron looked at Bonnie with a slightly confused air about him, especially since he had noticed right away that she was using his last name instead of his first.
"Bonnie, we had one date…let it get out of hand, and we had sex, that's hardly reason for us to be together, don't you think?" Ron asked, allowing his voice to rise slightly.
"You really don't remember, do you?" Bonnie asked, her tears continuing to flow down her cheek.
"Remember what?" Ron asked as he sat on the edge of the bed next to Bonnie, while she, sitting at the corner, turned her back to him. Annoyed and curious, Ron demanded, "Bonnie, what am I supposed to remember? Tell me!"
"Bon…" Ron stated nervously as he rubbed the back of his head, "we were five…I…"
"Don't give me that 'you don't remember' line," Bonnie snapped angrily at Ron, "You said yourself; you remember the first time that you saw Kim, but do you remember just before that? Do you remember just walking off without saying a word? And not speaking to me again for six months. Six goddamn months!"
"Bonnie…" Ron uttered.
"You just left me for her," Bonnie continued to sob, "And you never looked back. I hated you for that! I hated you for leaving me and I hated her for taking you away from me. And then...and then we got out, and…the Oracle said we'd be together again. It was my fresh start with you…and…and I had you, but I screwed it up…"
Looking directly at Ron, Bonnie came closer to him. She even reached out to his freckle covered cheek with her tears continuing to pour over her own cheeks. She smiled at Ron in such a way that seemed so painful but happy at the same time.
"I lied to Kim, Ron," Bonnie stated as if she were whispering a secret never to be told again, "I lied to her. I lied to spite her…I didn't sleep with you to get her…I swear on everything that I am that is the truth."
Ron looked at the sobbing Bonnie, feeling very puzzled as his mind tried so hard to pour through the memories he had. First, during the time when Bonnie warmed up to him and how betrayed he felt when Bonnie supposedly used him to get back at Kim. Then his mind tried to think back to before he met Kim, not into the memories of the Ones before him, but from his own life. The day he met Kim was such a wonderful day because he was saved. Amongst his young memories, he could only remember a vague image of young, chestnut haired girl.
With that blurry image in his mind, it all made sense. His eyes had widened at Bonnie when the realization had dawned upon him, but he couldn't say a word. Before he could tell her anything of what he remembered, Bonnie had leaned forward and pressed her lips against his while she wrapped her arms around him. Her hand on his back while the other held the back of his head so that Ron couldn't escape.
Ron then reached up with his hands to Bonnie's chest and pushed her back. She landed on the bed while Ron got to his feet, rubbing his lips after Bonnie had given such a kiss of passion.
"Bonnie," Ron stated fearfully, "I'm married to Kim, remember?"
"Is she here?" Bonnie asked seriously, getting to her feet, outstretching her arms hoping to have Ron one last time.
To Ron, the physical temptation was not as great as the emotional. Everything inside him screamed that it was the right thing to do. Except the price for what was being suggested was too great to Ron, especially since as far as that matter goes, Kim was better in matters of the bedroom than Bonnie.
Just then, the proximity alarm had sounded throughout all of the Mad Dog. Setting aside the sexual temptation, Bonnie and Ron dashed back up to the bridge.
"What's going on?" Ron asked loudly over the proximity alarm to Barkin, Sparks, and Brick.
"It's those damned souped up Sentinels!" Barkin debriefed both Ron and Bonnie, "Can you take them out, Neo?"
Ron closed his eyes and looked out of his proverbial 'third eye' to see the sentinels as beings of light contrasted against the black abyss. He turned his head in all directions and found that there were so many coming right at them.
"I could if they were at one side," Ron reported to the Mad Dog crew while he continued to keep his eyes closed to see the Sentinels coming closer, "But we're surrounded…I can stop most, but a few will get through."
" Well, that's just prime!" Barkin sighed with a shout, before he turned to the Mad Dog's pilot controls, "Do what you can, Neo! The rest of you, battle stations!"
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Vidyamcavidyam ca yas
Tad vedabhayamsaha
Avidyayamityamtirtun
Vidyamaitam
"He who knows both knowledge and action
With action overcomes death
And with knowledge reaches immortality"
- Don Davis – "Neodammerung"
The Matrix Revolutions Soundtrack
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"I have a bad feeling about this, sir," Link expressed concern to his captain over the phone, as he looked to the jack chamber to see all of the Neb Two Crew jacked into the Matrix.
Inside the Matrix, the Neb Two crew was waiting inside Central Park at the same place, the statue of Alice speaking silently to the hookah smoking caterpillar. Almost as if that place was a cosmic "save game point" and every time the game was loaded, they came to that spot.
"I know, Link," Morpheus replied into the cell phone as he and his crew stood around the benches, "But the Oracle said that the means for Ron's victory would be here at exactly seventeen-hundred hours, and right now its sixteen-fifty-five."
"Yeah, but this whole thing still feels like a trap to me," Link sighed, but remembered how Morpheus had asked him to trust him, and in the past six months, Link had to relearn this, "I'll let you know if I see anything."
Morpheus closed up the cell phone and slipped it back into his coat pocket as he took a short look around at the park around him. Niobe was standing near that statue of Alice and the Caterpillar and looking back and forth between the curious Alice moving around the bronze mushrooms in her frozen state. The Caterpillar was taking a puff from his hookah and looked as though he was about to ask his question of "who are you". It was that kind of question that plagued all human beings from womb to tomb.
Ghost was sitting at the park bench and next to him was a bronze statue of a business man with a briefcase at his the side of his leg and a cell phone at his ear listening quietly to stock quotes looking as though he was going to close his phone and head back to the office to make more money, but still sitting there with the phone to his ear.
Last of all, there was Kim sitting at an empty park bench, looking at the nearby lake that shined with the setting sun, spreading out the colors of the coming evening sky. The surface of the lake looked like handfuls of diamonds tossed against a rainbow of the setting sun.
Morpheus stepped over to Kim; he felt that Kim would be the most worried because of the dealing with Ron. Seeing that Kim was like his adopted daughter, he felt that he had some parental responsibility for her. It was even more so after hearing the news that Napster and Kazza Possible were killed in the Fall of Neo Zion. He went over to Kim Stoppable's side and sat down right next to her. He saw how nervously frightened her face looked as well as the increased amount of fidgeting she was doing.
"I'm sure things will go as they are meant to, Kimberly," Morpheus had told Kim, hoping that his words of faith would be encouraging to her.
"I don't," Kim gulped, "if it goes the way it was meant to, I'll lose Ron again."
Apparently, his words of belief didn't exactly work the way that he had hoped. He watched as Kim's hands had set themselves upon her flat and bare midriff.
"I still can't believe it," she said moving her hands around her belly, "I'm going to be a mother. We're going to be parents…but…what if Ron gets upset, what if he…"
"That's enough, Kimberly," Morpheus had silenced Kim's paranoia, "what comes will come. Remember that."
Kim took in the information.
While over at the businessman's park bench, Ghost had pulled back his sleeve to see what time it was. Seeing the position of the hands on the face, he got up from the bench and called to his crewmates.
"It's time!" He called out to them.
The moment he did the Neb Two crew had gathered in the central area where the paths of the park came together, the four of them placing themselves into a small ring, back to back to look out for anything. Anything that could be what they came for.
"So, where's this 'means of victory'?" Niobe asked glancing around the ghost-town of a park.
"I do not know, Niobe," Morpheus had stated as he brought out a pair of Uzis, getting ready for anything, "The Oracle had said that the way for Ron and mankind to survive the war shall be here at seventeen-hundred hours, and it is only one minute until then. Everyone, be ready."
The time had come to sixteen-fifty-nine hours, the light was growing dimmer and the Neb Two crew were growing anxious in their anticipation of what it was that the Oracle had told them was about to come.
In the coming chill of dusk, the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar Two heard a voice that chilled them down to their bones and very souls.
"Morpheus, Miss Niobe, Ghost, and KP," the voice called out, but it sounded as if it was coming around from all directions like music from a surround sound system. By instinct, they had looked around in each direction that they could trying to find the source of the sinister voice in the coming dusk.
"How nice to see you all here," The sinister voice had added.
The four of them felt petrified by their fear of what they heard. If they could see who or what it was that was behind the surrounding voice, then at least it would have given them something to shoot at, but with it coming from all directions, they felt trapped. Perhaps Link was right when he had expressed his concern to Morpheus that it was a trap.
"Show yourself!" Kim demanded of the surrounding voice.
In the fading light of the sunset, the demand was answered when from all around, behind the trees, the hidden paths, and even down the asphalt roads of the park, they came. It was Agent Smith copied over, and over, and over again, the program had truly become a virus in his infection of those still connected to the Matrix.
The army of Smiths had encircled the Neb Two crew, and one of the many copies had stepped closer to them: the Ambassador of Smiths, as it were.
"Nice night, huh?" He had asked with his usual dry and deadpan humor seeing how the Neb Two crew wasn't going to answer, he then asked, "Would you like to join the club?"
"When Satan ice-skates to work," Ghost defiantly answered, followed by his drawing of his guns and firing them at the Smiths, one rapid shot after the other, but he should have known better as all the Agent Smiths that he shot at simply dodged the shots. It was only a matter of moments when Ghost had completely run out of ammunition, he looked at his guns and dropped them to the ground.
"Very well, then," The Lead Smith responded to Ghost's defiance, he turned to his proverbial brothers and instructed, "Shoot them. Take those that survive."
It wasn't all the Smiths, but only the first line that was the closest to the Neb Two crew who pulled out their guns. It was the standard sidearm that Agent Smith used in the days when he was a program of the system, the Eagle .45. The first line of Smith's had done this in a singular synchronized motion and cocked their guns such as though that it sounded like a single cocking action. With that they took aim at the Neb Two crew, and it seemed like the absolute end for them.
Yet, before the guns were fired, Ghost had looked at his watch and found that it was already seventeen-hundred hours, and still the coming miracle wasn't there.
The guns were fired; some members of the Neb Two crew had closed their eyes hoping that the miracle would happen, but at the same time expecting to die. Though, Morpheus only held onto his guns and kept his eyes open from behind his frameless sunglasses, even in the face of such hopelessness he still believed what the Oracle had told. Kim threw her arms over her eyes, but only a second after the shots were fired, there was an odd feeling in the air of the Matrix.
"What?" Smith grunted.
"Holy shit!" Ghost quietly uttered.
Kim's curiosity had peaked. Since she wasn't dead; she wanted to know what happened. She brought her arms down from her face and looked around, but what she saw had confused her. She saw a small veil of bullets, yet they were hanging in mid-air as if time within the Matrix had been stopped. She had seen this Matrix manipulation before, but she looked around and couldn't see Ron anywhere. She looked back at the bullets that were still floating in mid-air, and reached out, plucked one of the bullets as if it were a leaf from a tree. She looked at its smooth and simple design still wondering about what was going on.
"How did this happen?" She had asked as she dropped the bullet to the ground.
"It is you, Kimberly," Morpheus had shared his revelation with Kim, his crew, and the Army of Smith's, "You have Ron's code inside you…inside your children…you can now fight as he does!"
Kim had looked around at the bullets still stuck in mid-air like flies on fly paper. Her eyesight had changed. The rendering of the surfaces that she could see were being peeled away like the skin of an orange. The asphalt, the trees, the buildings, the sky, and even skin, hair, and clothes were peeled away to reveal the code of the Matrix beneath it. She understood it all, she understood how it was that Ron could fight, and with this new knowledge Kim had felt a great sense of empowerment. Kim "Angel" Stoppable had felt like she had regained something, her pride as the girl who could do anything. She looked back at the bullets and they dropped like loose marbles out of a bag.
Agent Smith curled back his lips into a savage and hateful snarl, "Take them." He commanded the rest of the Agent Smith Army.
"Don't worry about us, Kimberly," Morpheus had instructed to Kim as he cocked his guns, "Defeat Smith!"
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Deep within the tunnels beneath the Earth's surface, the Mad Dog was running. It was swerving and trying to squeeze through all the tunnels while behind them the Omega Sentinels were in hot pursuit of them like bloodhounds on the trail of a fox. Even with the Mad Dog running, it was still putting up a fight with a good number of the crew manning the gun turrets. Each gun whined and fired at the sentinels that were gaining on them.
There were only Five Omega Class Sentinels left, but to take down just one required so much ammunition. The only good part was that they were able to keep them from attaching to the hull. Once a Sentinel does, they first go for the gun turrets, eliminate defense, and then they go for the hover pads.
Inside at one of the gun turrets, Brick "Tater Salad" Flagg was at his most gung-ho when he was shooting down the sentinels. He concentrated his fire on the closest one that was starting to fail, its eyes blown off from the Vulcan Cannon fire and Brick was more than happy to deliver the final blow.
"Hail to the king, baby!" Brick cheered as the Sentinel went down into the debris of the tunnel, but he brought himself back to concentrate on his post, "Oh shit!"
He brought the guns around and yanked back the triggers on a sentinel that was starting to get a little too close to the ship. Thankfully, the other turrets had lent their immediate support to take it down.
Meanwhile, in the center of the ship, Ron "Neo" Stoppable was standing in the center of the Jack Chamber trying to use as much of his power as he could. In his mind's vision, he could see that there were only three left, but his powers had drained so much from him, more than any physical activity that he had ever engaged in, even sex with Kim, which was nothing scoff at once she got going. He panted and rubbed the sweat from his brow and tried once again to take out the last of them, because he knew that ammunition was very short. Still, with his eyes shut and as much as he could, he took down one, leaving two more.
"I can't hold them back much longer…" Ron groaned as he fought to stay on his feet. He then decided to give one last push, like a marathon runner deciding to give the last of their strength before crossing the finish line. Yet, with Ron's final push, he could only manage to take down one sentinel, leaving only one left. Seeing it come closer, and hearing the gun turrets running out of ammunition he had collapsed onto his knees, before uttering as the sentinel spread its legs, "I'm sorry…"
"Incoming!" Brick had called to the rest of the Mad Dog crew.
As Ron lay on his hands and knees, sweat covering every part of him and soaking into his clothes, his ears could hear a screech of metal being rubbed or possibly being pulled away from metal. He slowly turned his head to look up to the ceiling of the Jack Room and as time around him started to slow down, the déjà vu was back. He remembered his old life as Neo when he was first awakened to this power, how he barely got out of the Matrix before an EMP was triggered to kill the sentinels that were attacking the Neb One. It was also when Neo had fallen in love with Trinity.
Ron looked up to watch the monstrosity of metal and electronics spread out its tentacles to move about the interior of the Mad Dog. It's enormous oddly shaped head and face covered with camera lenses looked down at the weakened Ron, and saw the opportunity. It moved down into the Jack Room like a spider moving in its own web, each tentacle reaching out to whatever it could find for support before coming face to face with Ron "Neo" Stoppable.
There was no strength left over in Ron's body to stop it, or even get out of the way as the Omega Sentinel brought up its mechanical tendrils (as if one wouldn't have been enough) and shot them down at the defenseless man.
"RON!" Bonnie had screamed as she threw her body into the line of fire and shoved Ron out of the way.
Ron had tumbled onto his side; he brought his head up and looked to his left where he saw Bonnie lying on the metallic floor of the Jack Chamber with blood coming from her lips. He looked down to see her stomach impaled on the Omega Sentinel's tendrils. All of a sudden, the anger and hatred that he had build up exploded sending Ron right back to his feet and staring at the Omega Sentinel who hadn't even begun to retract its metallic tentacles. It looked at Ron, seeing its mistake and began to correct it.
"Die!" Ron screamed as he held up his hand to the Sentinel, "Die you son of a bitch! DIE!"
The Sentinel head had tilted back as the lights of its eyes flickered, while the circuitry inside was literally being melted. The stench of burning electronics had filled the cabin of the Mad Dog as the last Omega Sentinel that was in pursuit of them fell, and all functioning had ceased.
After the Sentinel was down, Ron had gone to Bonnie, who still had those metallic tentacles lodged in her lower abdomen. Seeing Bonnie like that, Ron had come to the most earth-shattering revelation that he ever had. It came from a memory that was sparked when he saw her lying there. He remembered the last time that Neo had seen Trinity alive; Neo had lost his eyes, and they were on their way to the machine city. Upon their arrival, they had crashed their ship, the Logos, which once belonged to Niobe. In that crash, Trinity was impaled, and, oddly enough, in the very same place as Bonnie, Ron looked at Bonnie's face and his mind overlapped the faces of Bonnie and Trinity. His jaw had dropped and the tears started to flow like opened flood gates, Bonnie "Tres" Rockwaller was Trinity. They were one and the same.
"Bonnie?" Ron asked as he wept, bringing himself up alongside Bonnie. He had figured out the truth all too late, this was what Ron should have remembered.
"Ron?" Bonnie had asked in short and sharp gasps while she looked up at Ron, "Ron…don't…don't leave me again…please don't…"
"Don't talk, Trin," Ron whispered as he took her hand in his own while he stroked her face with the other, "Save your strength."
"You remembered, Neo," Bonnie smiled at Ron while she stated hoarsely, "I'm so happy…now…that you remember, Neo, but…I'm…I'm sorry…if…if…I hadn't…been an idiot…we would have…been…it…you could have been happy…with me…" Bonnie had paused for a moment to cough up more blood, which slid down her face and neck before she continued, "Don't…don't…hate me…Neo…"
Bonnie "Tres" Rockwaller had taken her final breath before her eyes had lost focus and then closed. Her heart rate had slowed and her grip on Ron's hand had loosened.
"Trin?" Ron asked of Bonnie, shaking her, hoping that she may come back to life, but she didn't and his tears began to flow even more, "Trinity? Trinity, don't…Trinity! Trinity…"
Ron continued to weep for her as he held her face close to his. The tears from his face, running down hers and mixing into the blood on her chin and neck. His weeping also added to the loud sobbing of the other crew members, Brick…Sparks…and even Captain Barkin.
He soon realized that, even with all his powers, Ron "Neo" Stoppable was still powerless to save Kim's mom and dad, and… Trinity. That was when Ron had led out a heart-wrenching and tearful cry that bordered upon a howl from a feral animal and, even though no one could see it, Navigation was showing that all Sentinels within a one hundred mile radius had just ceased functioning, while Ron continued to weep beside Bonnie "Tres" Rockwaller… no… Trinity.
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Yasimdyauhpvthivicantariksamotammanahsahapranais ca sarvaih tam evaikamjanathaatmanamanyavacahvimuncathaamratasyaesahsetah
In him are woven the sky and the earth and all the regions of the air, and in him rest the mind and all the powers of life. Know him as the One and leave aside all other words. He is the bride of immortality.
- Don Davis "Neodammerung"
Matrix Revolutions Soundtrack
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The fight had continued inside the Matrix…
Kim "Angel" Stoppable was in the center of the fight from the Agent Smith Army, her every limb was stretching out to knock out whichever Agent was the closet. It was truly an incredible experience to Kim, even more than her first day of training. She tried to make sense of it all, while her limbs were like those of an octopus, stretching, grabbing, hitting, and slamming. All the while, she could sense that the others weren't doing so well. She shifted her mind from the tasks of fighting and checked on the others.
Her eyes looked to see Morpheus, Niobe, and Ghost huddled in a circle, their backs against one another as they tried to fight off the Smiths with both guns and fists. Until, the inevitable had happened, they had run completely out of bullets, and against an army of Smith's there seemed to be no hope left for them.
Already she was thinking about what Ron would do in a similar situation, Kim had come to the conclusion that he would fly them out of there and take them to a safe place. Unfortunately for Kim, she had thought of this plan too little, too late, for as her body continued to fight, her eyes had caught a terrible glimpse. One of the Agent Smith's had brought its fingers and sank them into Ghost's chest. His body was slowly being covered by that shining black liquid.
"Ghost!" Niobe had gasped as she reached for her crewmate hoping to save him, but it became only fool-hearted as she reached for Ghost, who had already become a Smith copy, he plunged his fingers into her chest.
"Niobe!" Morpheus cried out, his guard being let down, which provided the ample opportunity for the Smith's to reach in and skink their fingers into his chest.
"Morpheus!" Kim had screamed as she fought her hardest against the Smiths, fueled by the fire and rage that she had from seeing her friends and crewmates being taken by that demon of a program.
Her hand had reached out hoping in the same way as Morpheus and Niobe did before her. She was hoped that she could save them, but even with her newfound powers she could do nothing. It was then and there for a split second that she understood why Ron couldn't save her parents. All that power in a world built on rules and yet not everything was possible, even for a Possible.
As her hand reached out in the futile hope of saving her crewmates, Kim's arm was grabbed by one of the many Smith copies. She looked to the Smith that had her arm, but she saw a smile on his face that was chilling, so much because it was so much like Ron's smile.
"Not bad, KP," Smith smiled, still calling her by that pet name that only Ron could call her, "but I've seen better."
Kim had tried to move to bring herself to make her stand against the Smiths, but it was all for nothing as she found out that none of her limbs could move. That's when she looked to find that there was one Smith on each limb, one around her arms, her waist, and her legs. She could feel the history starting to repeat like that time that Ron had saved her and found a way to copy himself. She struggled harder and harder to break free, but no matter how much she had tried, it was still no use. Once again, like it was six months ago, it seemed like the end for Kim, and Ron wouldn't be there to save her. That was when another memory had popped into Kim's mind as she struggled to get out and get away. It was from that dream, the dream of that woman who had told her:
"There will come a time when you will have to let go," she told her, "Let go of yourself…let go of control…and let go of your one…and there will be nothing you can do…but have faith."
As soon as the phrase had come into Kim's mind, it began to wash over her body, like warm water relaxing every muscle. She relaxed herself, no longer taking the struggle and allowing for the inevitable to come. She looked to Smith, waiting, until it finally happened when the sharp sting of Smith's fingers sank into her chest. Her face had grown a smile as the black liquid began to consume her as if she was being drowned in Smith's code. She could feel her own consciousness being taken over, her control being lost, but she didn't struggle at all. She didn't struggle in the slightest as the icy liquid had covered her. It had come up to her neck as she whispered one last statement.
"Ron…" she whispered, while the liquid began to cover her head and face, "I believe in you."
She didn't fight…because she had faith.
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Back onboard the Mad Dog, Ron "Neo" Stoppable still clung to the deceased body of Bonnie "Tres" Rockwaller, Trinity Reincarnated. His tears soaking into her clothes while the crew had gathered around him like curious observers at the scene of a horrible car crash. As they looked at the pitiful sight, more had gathered to see, they were the refugees of Zion who had wanted to know why the One was crying so much. In the silence of the crowd, while Ron sobbed, the only person to think of anything to say was Steve "Kid" Barkin. He stepped closer to Ron, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"She knew what she was doing, Neo," He told him hoping that he would find consolation in that.
"Doesn't make it easier," Ron continued to weep, still thinking if he had been quicker or stronger, he could have saved her, like he could have saved Kim's parents.
From the bridge came the voice of Sparks, "Captain!" He shouted, "We're getting a distress signal!"
Captain Barking turned to look at the bridge to ask, "From where?"
"The Neb Two, sir," Sparks had answered before adding, "Three miles down, we can get there in no time."
"Let's move then," Barkin had ordered.
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Indriyebhyahparammano
Manashsattvamuttamam
Sttvadadhimahanatma
Mahatovyaktamuttaman
Beyond the senses is the mind
And beyond the mind is reason, its essence.
Beyond reason is the spirit of man,
And beyond this is the spirit of the universe, the evolver of all.
- Don Davis "Neodammerung"
The Matrix Revolutions Soundtrack
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The Mad Dog had found the Neb Two landed upon the debris cluttered ground of the old service and waste system. Upon their landing, they had to know what it was that the distress call was about, but since they didn't want to take chances, they had taken the EMP guns as their gangplank opened and they kept their guard up as they waited for the Neb Two to open up.
It didn't take very long as the gangplank of the Neb Two slowly came down to the ground exposing the Jack Chamber of the Main Deck. The Mad Dog crew stepped inside, greeted by the eyes of the Zion refugees who looked to Ron wondering if their salvation would come soon. They passed by the refugees to Link who sat at his station.
"Link," Barkin called to him.
Link turned around to breathe a good sigh of relief, "Thank God you're here," He said as he wrapped the good luck chain that his wife, Zee, gave to him, around his wrist and kissed it like a Catholic rosary.
"We got your distress signal," Barking reported, "So what's the situation?"
"He has them," Link gulped as he turned to point at the screens with the Matrix feed on them, "He has them all…and not just our people Ron…he's got everybody…The Oracle…Persephone…your parents…Kim…the whole goddamn Matrix is his now."
"Oh God…" Barkin gasped as he looked at the screens of the Matrix code, seeing how unusually messed up it was. Sometimes the code looked fine but then it changed to look as if it was being jumbled around the screen, like dice being shaken in a cup.
Ron said nothing as he looked at the code, once again those memories of Neo's life had come back to him. He could feel history repeating, as if the Oracle had given him her vision and he saw the outcome, or at least in the way that Neo had fought it. He stepped over to the Jack Chamber and into the semi-circle of jack chairs, knowing that this time it would be different. He would make sure of that.
In the jack chamber, he saw the sleeping bodies of Niobe, Ghost, Kim, and Morpheus. Around Morpheus' chair were his children, Trinity and Neo, who were holding onto their dad's hand, wishing against all wishes that their mom and dad would come back. Seeing those kids, Ron was instantly reminded of Kim, of how devastated she was when her parents were lost. He came to them and placed his hands upon their shoulders, their little faces looking up at him, tears waiting to roll down their little faces.
"Don't worry," Ron said to them, sounding almost like a father, "They'll be okay."
"How do you know, Ron?" The young Trinity asked.
"Because I have faith that they will," Ron had answered, he then departed their company and went to Kim's side. He stroked her cheek and her red hair, wanting to see her green eyes again. Then the thought of Smith having her made him come to his next decision, "Smith has to be stopped," He told the Mad Dog crew, "No matter the cost."
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Yada pancavatisthante
Jnanani manasa saha
Buddhis ca na vicestate
Tam ahahparamamgatim
When the five senses and
The mind are still,
And reason itself rests in silence
Then begins the path supreme.
- Don Davis "Neodammerung"
The Matrix Revolutions Soundtrack
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This is how it ends.
Ron "Neo" Stoppable walked down the street of New York City, towards what was called Times Square. It was raining inside the Matrix, and there were frequent sparks of lightning that had given off such a green tone and tint to everything that Ron could see. The rain had soaked into his long duster while the water splashed, parted, and swished from under his shoes. He looked all around and saw the faces of Agent Smith, over, and over, again and again. Every single one of them glaring at him from behind their sunglasses, some of them baring their teeth angrily at him and others looked mildly pissed off at him. They were everywhere as Link had told him; they were on the sidewalks, in the buildings and stores above the streets. Still, Ron paid no heed as he continued to walk down the middle of the street to the single Smith that was waiting there for him.
"Mister Stoppable…" The Lead Smith called out to him as if he wanted him to be there, "Welcome back…we missed you…"
The sarcasm was subtle from Ron's point of view, but he said nothing in response to it, the déjà vu was starting to become verbatim with Ron's memories.
"Do you like what I've done with the place?" Smith asked, looking around at the city, at the rain and the copies of himself, "Sure, it was a bit of a hassle, but really it was…no big."
Ron knew how he was supposed to end the discussion, because he knew the past and only that one part to repeat. Since, he knew how it ended last time; he was going to change it for good. That more than anything compelled him to say what needed to be said, right after his jaw muscles clenched and his teeth grinded together.
It was going to come true…one way…or another…
"It ends tonight…" He said as he clenched his fists, waiting to make his first move.
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bhidgatehrdayagranthis
Chidyantesarvasamsayah
Ksigontecasyakarami
Tasmindrsteparavarne
And when he is in his eminence and transcendence
Then the ties that have bound the heart are loosened
The doubts of the mind vanish,
And the laws of Karma work no more.
- Don Davis "Neodammerung"
The Matrix Revolutions Soundtrack
To be continued…