The Kimmatrix: Matrix Shutdown
A Fan Fiction Fusion By
Classic Cowboy and Turles
Chapter 5: Neodammerung Part 2 – The Shutdown
"The only frontier left is the world of intangibles, ideas, stories, music, art…because nothing is as good as you imagine it."
- Chuck Palahnuick
"Choke"
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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.
"I know it does, Mister Stoppable. I've seen it," Smith agreed with Ron, and then chuckled, "Hell, we've been here before! That's why the rest of me are going to just stand back and watch the show because we all know that this time; I'm the one who beats you!"
The two of them stared down each other from behind their sunglasses like two outlaws meeting in the dirt streets at high noon. The two of them had their fists clenched in the contemptible, palpable hatred that they had for one another, before they made the short dash through the street. The water splashing underneath them, while the rain came down in perfect droplets, and the lightning flashed and crashed above them, signaling the end was drawing close. Their faces were showing nothing but determination as they came within striking distance, drew back their fists and then fly at one another. Both punches had made contact with their targets at the same time, Ron's fist to his enemy's face and vice versa. The connection of both punches were like that of a powder keg that had gone off, its explosion sending Ron and Smith in opposing directions, it had even parted the rain that was coming down before it dissipated and the rain started to fall once again.
On the street, Ron had made a small back flip that allowed him to safely land on his feet and ready for the next onslaught by Smith. While the Agent, on the other hand, had been caught by surprise by that punch and flew backwards with his back dug into the street, cracking the asphalt into chunks and sending up dirt like a plow into dirt.
"It's going to be different this time!" Ron snarled as he narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses, hoping his voice would be carried to Smith at the other end of the street.
"No, it won't!" Smith had retorted from his end of the street.
The two then shot at one another again, but they had taken the fight to the air. The first punch that they made in their mid-air battle met once again with that powder keg effect, parting the rain water in a shockwave that shattered the windows in the vicinity. Its shards landing upon the streets with none of the Smiths making any effort to protect themselves. And so the fight continued.
The two of them flipped and tumbled over in the mid-air battle, the notion of gravity no longer relevant as they exchanged punches and kicks as hard as they could with all the hatred and enmity that they had for one another. Until, that is, when Ron had grabbed Smith by his suit collar and quickly threw him over his shoulder. Smith had caught himself easily with his flight abilities, and with Ron in his sight, flew straight at him. The very second that Smith came within striking distance; he had flipped over himself and kicked Ron directly in the chest. The impact of the kick sent Ron flying backward, through a wall and into the attic of an old abandoned building.
Ron had fallen onto his stomach, his face and clothes dirtied by the dusty, wooden floor. He got up to his knees, looking through the crater in the wall to the raining outdoors and Agent Smith coming after him. He acted quickly, using his powers to heighten his jump allowing Smith to pass under him like a bull passing under the red cape of a matador. As Ron turned around in mid-air, he watched as Smith twirled around, his flight sending up the dust of the wooden floor in his path. The two of them had locked eyes with one another; at least Ron did since his sunglasses were lost at the beginning of the fight. Ron had looked at Smith and made the backward flip, where his feet had met with the wall and with the wall acting like a diving board, Ron shot straight at Smith.
The Agent saw Ron coming and he side stepped, but not before brining up his knee to Ron's abdomen and his elbow down on his spine. Ron cried out in the pain from both of the impact points, but Smith wanted more as he brought up his other fist and knocked him down to the wooden and dusty floor. The Agent looked down at Ron, feeling such gratification from how he was winning.
"Can you feel it, Mister Stoppable? Closing in on you?" Smith asked, circling around the fallen man who was still trying to get back to his feet, "Oh, I can…I really must thank you…because it was you who gave me a second chance at what I was about to accomplish sixteen years ago. My chance to take over, as I should…to become the God that I will be…"
Ron had gotten up to his hands and knees trying to get back to his feet, but he could feel and even see it all happening. Déjà vu…all over again. Even as he took his most comfortable stance in Monkey Kung Fu, he had thought that if everything was happening like they were in his memories, then there must be a way to change them. Ron then brought out his hand and motioned for Smith to "bring it on".
The two warriors met each other's advances in the middle of the old, abandoned, and dusty room. Their kicks and punches short and powerful, but being blocked at every turn, or rather every punch until Ron brought about a very short, quick, and powerful jab to Smith's face. He watched in slow motion at Smith's face was knocked to his right, where his sunglasses broke, and flew off his face, while from his mouth came a spurt of blood and a spitting of one of his molar teeth. Ron didn't want to revel in just one punch, and so he brought his leg up into a powerful kick that sent Smith flying backwards, through the room, against the wall, through the wall, and into the stormy night of the Matrix.
Smith had flown backwards, actually feeling pain from the attacks that Ron had dealt to him, but he applied his own mid-air brakes waiting for him. He looked back through the hole he was shot out of, and saw Ron there. The boy shot out of the building like a missile at Smith. Seeing that, Smith streaked toward Ron once again, and when the two met each other, the powder keg exploded again, sending out the shockwave that made the inner sphere as dry as the Mohave Desert. As the shockwave dissipated, Ron and Smith flew up into the air exchanging kicks and punches like angry commuters exchange profanity at each other; sharp, quick, and painful.
Ron then brought his fist about and it knocked away the rogue program, which had been thrown through the air the length of a football field. Smith had stopped just below the storm clouds where the lightning flashed as if the world of the Matrix was displaying his anger, but he wasn't about to lose his cool. He adjusted his jacket before he took flight once again, taking his assault to Ron in a large, elliptical arc.
Ron, on the other hand, never took his eyes off of the Agent as he watched the trail he made in the rain in his elliptical approach. He took his stance as he figured that Smith was taking his approach to gain momentum, like a discus thrower spinning before throwing the disk. Seeing Smith coming closer, he cocked his fist back like the hammer of a gun. The attacks had met one another, and the powder keg exploded once again, the shockwave spreading out against the rain. That time, only one was floating in mid-air…Agent Smith, he looked down seeing that Ron was falling to the ground. The lightning above Smith had flashed once again as if nature in the Matrix was also cheering him on, that Smith was the true champion of the system. Smith wasn't about to take chances, though. He let out a feral growl as he flew down to meet up with Ron. Meeting him, Smith grabbed Ron around his chest and rocketed down to the ground pushing Ron further and faster, hoping the impact would kill him.
The explosion of impact once again sent out that shockwave against the rain, blowing out the windows of the buildings in the blast radius, and tumbling the cars away like dry leaves in a sharp wind. Around the edges, the Smith army had gathered around the street wide crater to see the end of the fight.
Inside the crater, the rain came down evenly causing greenish-brown muddy water, where Smith stood looking down at Ron, who was lying on his back. It looked as if Ron was unconscious, but he soon groaned and rolled over, getting to his hands and knees, he crawled to his side of the crater to get some support to get back to his feet.
"Must we tarry like we did last time?" Smith groaned as he shook his head at Ron, he walked closer to him while he continued his verbal persuasion for Ron's defeat, "You've lost, you know it…I know it…they know it…have you taken Mister Anderson's stubbornness with his power? Can't you see the futility of fighting?"
Ron had gotten to the edge of the crater, set his hand upon a rock, pushing down upon it to bring his feet underneath him. The rain and the muddy water from the crater had soaked deeply into his clothes, making him feel heavier than before.
"Why, Mister Stoppable?" Smith asked angrily, "Why, why, why, why do you persist?"
"…Because…" Ron coughed, "Because…I choose to."
Smith's face contorted with anger and frustration; he dashed with the muddy water parting around him as he brought his fist into Ron's stomach. As Ron wretched, thinking he was about to puke from the punch, Smith whispered into his ear:
"This is as boring as it was last time, Mister Stoppable," Smith snarled into Ron's ear, his fist shoving harder against Ron's stomach, hoping that it would be more painful, "I have everything you wanted…I have your family…I have your friends…I have your…KP. I have everything. So, give it up…and let's call it a day…"
"No…" Ron groaned his answer back.
"I don't need the Oracle's vision to know how this ends, Mister Stoppable," Smith stated. He then grabbed Ron by his collar and lifted him up with one arm, "You have Mister Anderson's memories! You know how it ends, but this time, I'm a part of you! You can't overload me as Mister Anderson did! This time...you will fall and the power of the Seven Anomalies will be mine, and I will be a God among Man and Machine! You can't win and you know it! Think back, Mister Stoppable, think back into your puny, little, human mind and look into Mister Anderson's memory! He was brave and courageous just as you. See that he ended his pathetic little existence. He ended as one of me…as you will soon end as well…"
Ron hung by the collar of his own jacket that Smith had his grasp upon, he did as Smith suggested; he looked through the memories as if they were files in some kind of infinite file cabinet of the mind. He found the memory of how Neo fought as hard as he could to defeat Smith, yet seeing the memory from Neo's point of view, it seemed like he gave up in the end, but then again, Neo had lost Trinity. Just like how Ron had lost Tres once again to that Sentinel. Yet, as Ron looked at the memory, he heard the voice of the Oracle:
"Everything that has a beginning," The Oracle told, "has an end…Neo…"
Ron looked down, his body cold, wet, sore, and tired. His blurred vision saw Smith waiting for Ron to give a response.
"If you're going to end it…" Ron coughed, "End it."
Ron's head rolled back, seeing the Smiths gathering around the edge of the crater. He gave a small jump after the impact of a sharp, deep, dull pain in his chest, and from there a wave of iciness came from his wound. The infection of that cold and icy death was consuming him, he recognized it, but made no effort to fight it. After losing so much, he wondered, why fight at all?
"K…P…I'm sorry…" He thought to himself as he closed his eyes waiting for it to be all over.
With his eyes closed, Ron could see the Matrix code destabilizing everywhere, except in the codes of the Agent Smith copies he could see something. It was within one particular copy that Ron could see...Kim…She was there at the edge of the crater nearest to him, but something was very different within Kim's code. He concentrated a little harder while the infection from Smith came closer and closer to swallowing him, and saw two new sets of code swirling within Kim, in her belly, to be exact. It didn't take too long for Ron to figure it out.
"I'm going to be a dad?" He asked himself; he looked again at the code and the answer was undeniable, "I'm going to be a dad."
Ron, having found a new reserve of strength, most of all, his hands resisted the infection. He shoved it back into Smith's fingers like holding back a full bladder, and the infection flowed backward. Seeing the chance, Ron "Neo" Stoppable reached up to Smith's hand that was struggling to send the infection back, Ron grabbed it and pulled it out of his chest.
"What?" Smith asked dumbly, looking at Ron's hands that pulled out his own infection dealing appendages.
Ron let go of the hand that dealt the infection and, with Matrix breaking speed, he brought his leg up against Smith's chest and sent him flying backwards into the solid sand and mud that was underneath the asphalt. All the while, Ron was floating above the muddy puddle in the crater before he settled himself down, looking up at the Agent Smith copies as if he was going to ask them, who's next?
The ground then started to rumble and shake beneath Ron's feet. He could feel himself starting to topple over and he knew what it was. He looked up and Agent Smith exploded through the asphalt, the dirt, mud, and sand dirtied his face and suit. He looked down at Ron from where he was floating above the street.
"This isn't right!" Smith screamed, "This isn't supposed to happen! This is my world! My world!"
"No, it's not!" Ron retorted as he shot up from the crater straight at Smith. He then grabbed him by the face and flew down the street. As they flew, Ron lowered Smith's face to the asphalt until his aged visage was grinding through the street sending up chunks of asphalt like wakes from a water skier. They came to a y-shaped intersection and Ron let go of Smith. He flew down the street like a hockey puck across the ice, but still sending up asphalt chunks, until he crashed into the foundation of the building at the y-intersection. Floating above the street, Ron looked through the cloud of dust from the impact, and he saw Smith getting up once again. He felt a sudden rush of righteous fury as he flew down upon Agent Smith, and, like a seagull to a fish, grabbed him by the collar of his suit and rocketed up into the air.
"It ends here, Smith!" Ron growled at Smith, "I'm stopping this so my little girls can grow up without fear of you."
It was with that statement that Ron performed the same move that had been done to him. He took Smith high into the air, still holding him by the collar of his suit where the neck and the knot of the tie met, and he flew downwards at his fastest while dragging Smith behind him until he was a few feet off the ground, then he slammed Smith into the ground sending that shockwave of air out against the rain droplets.
Ron found Smith in the crater that he had created and he felt that he still wasn't done with the rogue program, despite how pitiful he looked crawling in the mud as he was. Ron came down into the crater, grabbed Agent Smith by the thick hair at the back of his head, and shoved his head against the rocks and debris that were inside the crater.
"That was for Neo!" Ron shouted at the Agent as he reached down to make another assault at him.
"This is for Trinity!" Ron snarled as he held Smith by his arms and brought his head down upon the Agent's face, cracking his nose with his forehead.
"This is for Morpheus!" Ron screamed, bringing up his leg right into Smith's groin, which sent the Agent down to his knees with his hand to his crotch.
"This is for my little girls!" Ron yelled bringing both his hands down to the sides of Agent Smith's neck in double chops.
"And this is for KP!" Ron yelled once again, picking up Agent Smith by his collar, flying up out of the crater, and coming back down to the street, whipping Smith over his shoulder in a great body slam. The impact sent out a sickening thud and a series of cracks into the asphalt like someone popping their knuckles.
He reached down to Smith's suit and lifted him up, seeing how bruised and beaten up he was, but he probably didn't look as bad as Ron felt. Ron looked around the Matrix and at all the Smith copies, he thought about his own copy ability, and he turned back to Smith.
"You've infected everyone in the Matrix," Ron stated to the barely conscious program, "Now it's time for a taste of your own medicine!"
Ron reached back with his right hand as if he was going to throw a punch, but instead of his hand being balled up into a fist, its fingers were stretched out. He brought his hand down into Smith's chest, his fingers sinking in, and a silvery liquid oozing from the wound. The code flowed from Ron's hand like water that soon filled both the inside and outside of the Agent. Ron knew that he wasn't infecting anyone in the Matrix since Smith's code was hollow, like an eggshell with no yolk inside it, so Ron was only concerned about the fight itself.
He watched until the silvery liquid pulled back and standing in Alpha Smith's place was Ron, but not the version of Ron with the black duster. Ron "Neo" Stoppable was looking into the face of just… Ron Stoppable. The version of himself that he was when he was just Ron, Kim Possible's sidekick, nothing more or less. Just himself in that black, white, and red jersey with those tanned cargo pants.
"Is it over?" Ron asked himself.
"It is now," The younger version of Ron smiled at the elder, "Thank you…Neo…"
The younger version of Ron Stoppable began to glow an eerie, white glow as if some kind of light was starting to erupt from within him. Though, the elder Ron would have thought it would have been painful, but oddly enough the younger Ron had a look of contentment on his face, as if he had wanted this to happen for a very long time. As the younger Ron began to glow brighter and brighter, he moved closer and closer to the elder Ron, and he positioned himself in the same spot as the elder Ron. By that time, the twin and yet different Ron's began to merge until there was a singular flash of white light. All over the city and the Matrix itself, the Smith copies exploded in white light that would have looked like stars in the streets if one had looked down upon them from a tall sky scraper.
At the y-shaped intersection, Ron "Neo" Stoppable collapsed onto his knees while the rain had quickly changed from the heavy rain that kept pounding on and around him to a light drizzle that felt so refreshing. He looked down the street of the city to see the people that had been freed from the rogue agent's control.
"Is it really over?" Ron asked as if he was hoping that a benevolent force would answer him, "Trinity…history did repeat itself…but I'm still alive…"
Ron felt himself slowly drift to sleep as if there was nothing else in the world that he wanted, but to just sleep. As he did, he could hear a voice, distant, but still calling out his name. He slowly turned his head and saw that running down the street towards him was Kim "Angel" Stoppable, followed by Morpheus, Niobe, and Ghost. It felt like a dream to him with how fast they were coming towards him, and Ron could feel a smile on his face. He was defying the memories that he had of Neo's life, a life that ended in a fight, but Ron's was different. He would live on. With his friends drawing closer, he got back to his feet, but he was soon knocked back down to his ass by a tackling hug from his redhead wife.
"Ron!" Kim cried as she hugged her husband tightly, "You okay?"
"Never felt better, KP," Ron replied weakly while Morpheus, Ghost, and Niobe caught up behind her, "We're going to be parents?" Ron asked as he watched Kim pull back with a very worried look on her face, but Ron couldn't help but grin at her.
"You're not upset about that?" Kim asked anxiously, "You… don't think we're not ready yet?"
"You're going to be a great mom, KP," Ron said, reassuring his wife as he brought up his hand to the side of her face, "And I'm counting on you to keep me straight so I can be a great dad."
With his hand at the side of her face, Ron leaned in and kissed his wife, their mouths open to each other like gates of two cities and their tongues like bridges connecting the two together. Ron changed his mind on what he wanted, first wanting to just fall sleep, but he now just wanted to be lost in the sensation caused by the kiss with his wife. Unfortunately, all was not well in the world.
Ron broke the kiss with his wife and looked through his Matrix-vision. The strands of the code didn't look like it usually did when Ron looked at it closely. Each line of the code that flowed over each surface as well as within the solid matter once was filled with characters like letters to form words and words into sentences and sentences to commands of each equation of the programs. Looking at them, Ron knew what was wrong; the codes had holes in them. At first the gaps were small but soon they grew bigger like holes in a cheap plastic garbage bag full of garbage.
"What is it, Ronald?" Morpheus asked seeing the concern on Ron's face.
"Something's wrong," Ron reported to Morpheus, his glare never looking away from the codes that flowed over the surfaces of the buildings and streets. "Something's happening to the Matrix…"
"Ron?" Kim asked weakly as if she was calling his attention to something bad happening.
Ron looked and saw with great horror what was happening, he saw his friends and his wife, their code was breaking down like the codes in the Matrix itself. He watched as they seemed to fall to their knees but not before their digital images vanished into complete nothingness.
"Kim!" Ron called out as if he was pleading with her not to leave him. Yet, it was no use; Kim and the rest of the Neb Two crew were gone. He looked around to find everyone within the Matrix had vanished completely in the same manner. He was the only one left. Ron wanted to know, but he jumped as his cell phone rang. Panicked, Ron quickly grabbed it and answered it, knowing who was at the other end, "Link! What the hell's going on?"
"The skies are now clear enough to give the machines their power;" Link answered rapidly, "The Matrix is shutting down! The others are alright; they were forced out. We don't know why you're still in there; Morpheus thinks it's because of your powers. Better get your white ass to an exit, now! You have six minutes!"
"Where's the nearest exit?" Ron asked hurriedly.
"Across town," Link answered, "I already got it ringing for you. You can make in there in plenty of time with your superman shit. So, get your ass in the air!"
"I'm all over it," Ron answered back, he didn't even hang up his cell phone; he squatted down getting ready to take flight. Only that time when he stood straight back up, he didn't rocket into the air, he only hopped a few feet forward. He felt panicked as he brought the cell phone back to his ear, "Link! My powers… the Matrix is too unstable for me to fly! I need wheels, like, ten minutes ago!"
"Motorcycle work?" Link asked as he made his hack into the Matrix.
Inside the Matrix, Ron watched as the code desperately tried to build itself into a functional motorcycle. It didn't exactly look like any normal motorcycle, it was more of a racing bike, and even before the paint could be rendered, Ron got up on it. He started up the engine while holding the cell phone to his ear.
"Ready to ride, Link," Ron reported to the operator.
"Everyone's out of the Matrix except programs, so you should have a clear shot," Link told Ron, "Take your next left and go straight to six-sixty-six Elm Street, Apartment Nine-ninety-nine…by the way…Kim said please make good time."
Ron could hear the barrage of curses that Kim was spinning, demanding that Ron hurry up.
"I'm hurrying! I'm hurrying!" Ron stated as he dropped the cell phone to the ground and sped off while the code of the Matrix continued to destabilize.
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The elevators didn't work, so Ron had to run up nine flights of stairs, his long duster causing him to trip every so often. His face was already throbbing from his falls, but his body was having a reaction to running up so many flights. His legs throbbed, his lungs ached, and his stomach felt close to throwing up on the stairs in front of him. Each flight he took, he looked to see which floor he was at. All the while, he kept thinking to himself that time was truly against him.
He reached the ninth floor, his stomach wanting nothing more than to puke, but Ron didn't have time for it. He dashed to the door that led to the ninth floor and ran as hard as he could, and counting the doors to his left and right.
"Nine-ninety-four," Ron counted aloud, panting between each door number, "nine-ninety-five…nine-ninety-six…nine-ninety-seven…nine-ninety-eight…nine-ninety-nine! Here we go!"
Ron grabbed the door handle and flung the door open, hearing the ring of a telephone inside the room, but he came to a grinding halt, with his shoes skidding into the green linoleum floor. Inside the empty square room, in front of the table where the ringing phone sat there were the Possible Twins; Jim and Tim Possible. Ron looked at them rather confused because there was something that wasn't right, their code seemed hollow, not the code flowing over a shell, but rather each letter of the code was hollow, only an outline of each character.
"Hello, Ron," Tim Possible stated emotionlessly, but with a smile on his face.
"Planning on leaving us?" Jim asked in that similar tone of voice with that same terrifying smile on his face.
Ron had seen something like this before, but it was in a horror movie called, "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson, where this boy rode his plastic tricycle around a hotel. He stopped seeing twin girls in blue dresses holding hands and the two of them stated to the boy emotionlessly, "Come play with us Danny…forever…and ever…and ever…" Seeing Jim and Tim like that chilled Ron to the bone, but he reminded himself that time was short.
"Boys?" Ron asked nervously, "Why aren't you asleep like the others?"
"We're not like the others, Ron," The twins spoke flatly and even their voices sounded different, older and more sinister, "We are getting tired of using these bodies…we will take yours instead…and exit into the real world…"
Ron started to step back, his heart thumping like mad as the phone continued to ring, "Okay…you're starting to creep me out, guys…" He told the boys hoping that this was some kind of practical joke on their part.
Through Ron's vision of the Matrix code, he looked to see the code around the boys start to shift, mold, and change. He looked at the boys bodies start to grow taller, stretching to five foot eleven inches like salt water taffy. Their hairlines receding back to the tops of their heads, while their hair grew longer and morphed into braids as they reached down to the tops of their backs. The skin for both of them became white and pale, even the hair became dusty white like pancake make-up. Finally their clothes faded to white as they developed coats that grew longer.
"You again…" Ron snarled at the Ghost Twins as they drew out their straight-edge razor blade for one and a switch-blade for the other. Ron demanded of them, "Let them go!"
"Make us…" The Ghost Twins said in unison as they took their stances against Ron.
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Back on the Mad Dog, the crews of both the Mad Dog and the Neb Two were confused by what they were seeing on the triple screens that displayed the Matrix feed. The amount of code lines had begun to fade away; they even saw lines of code where the characters looked hollow. Even though the Neb Two crew had faced it, but they didn't know what it truly looked like.
"What is he doing?" Morpheus asked, feeling time starting to come down on him and the possibilities of what would happen when time ran out for Ron.
"After that war with Smith," Link observed, "he's getting his ass beat by a pair of twelve year old kids possessed by Ghost programs."
"Ghosts?" Niobe asked while Link typed away hoping to find some small hope that could help Ron in a very desperate time of need.
"Yes," Morpheus answered, "They can become non-corporeal."
"Now that's a neat trick," Niobe commented.
"He's not gonna make it…" Kim uttered as she went to her husband's body, pounding at his chest and screaming, "Ron, you ass! Get your butt to the phone now!"
Seeing it happen once again, similar to how she reacted to Ron's death at the hands of the Alphas; Morpheus and Niobe went over to Kim's side, pulling her by the arms, one on each side, away from Ron's sleeping body.
"Kim…" Niobe said to her soothingly, trying to make the girl see some amount of reason, "beating up his body isn't going to make him get to the exit any quicker."
"Ron's a mortal fighting ghosts," Morpheus added, "I've fought them myself and they're very difficult to kill…Link, is there any way that we can help him?"
"I have a theory, sir," Link answered Morpheus' question, "not sure if it'll help, since I've never actually tried it in the Matrix, but it might work."
"What is it, Link?" Barkin asked leaning over Link's shoulder to watch him do his work.
"Ron's abilities are merely outcomes of him changing codes in the Matrix, big and small," Link made his built-up explanation, "but now that the Matrix is starting to shutdown; his changes are altered before they can even take effect."
"How can we use that to help him?" Morpheus asked, still holding onto Kim's arm, but feeling her relax with the prospect of Ron being saved.
"I'm going to try to hack the Matrix and stabilize the code in that room," Link explained, his fingers flying rapidly over the keys as he attempted something that he only toyed with back home, "It will probably last for just a couple of minutes, but it will give him a fighting chance."
"How can you hack the Matrix at that level?" Barkin asked loudly, in his own type of hysteria, "We've tried for years with no results."
"Simple," Link answered as his fingers continued to tap his numerous keyboards, "The Matrix has never been rapidly corrupting like this, has it?"
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Ron gasped as his body was slammed into the green linoleum floor by the Ghost Twins. He had been fighting them for an unknown amount of time, but Ron knew as the phone continued to ring; time was running out for him. He had to get out of the Matrix, but he needed to help Kim's brothers, because they were his family as well. Unfortunately, as he tried to fight, it felt like how he fought before he was freed from the Matrix: limited. It was even more frustrating when he tried to make a single punch at the Ghost Twins and watched as they became transparent. Their sunglasses covered faces becoming like skulls with empty eye sockets, lower bodies loosing their legs for the drapes of their coats, and just as instantly as Ron had made the punch and had passed through, the ghost became solid once again.
He groaned as he tried to get back to his feet after being slammed to the hard floor.
"You know guys?" Ron asked with a smile, getting back to his feet and facing the twins who transformed to their transparent ghost versions, "That would be so cool…if it wasn't the last thing I was gonna see."
Ron had gotten back to his feet, but just as it was in his days as a sidekick, the Ghost Twins had knocked him back down to the floor. He looked up at them seeing that they were more than ready to use the weapons that they had on him. All the while, he thought of how humiliating it was; he managed to do so much, and then to be brought down by twin ghosts, it was just a very depressing obituary.
Just as Ron was about to give in, he looked around the room and noticed something about the code. Before, the lines of the code were growing holes that got larger, but then something happened to fill in the gaps in the code. The code was stabilizing and Ron could feel his powers coming back to him like walking in water and then walking on dry land.
With his powers returned, Ron slammed the floor with both fists that sent him back up to a standing position against the twins. He looked at the Ghosts who froze in place when they saw the way that Ron had gotten back to his feet.
"Okay, last chance," Ron gave his ultimatum to the twins, but his voice no longer sounding like one person, but seven coming from one mouth, "Let my brothers-in-law go!"
The twins slowly looked at one another, silently asking and wondering if they should do as he commanded or just keep fighting. They turned their gaze back to Ron, quickly raised their weapons before making their charge attack at Ron. As they came within swiping distance, Ron reached out to their necks, grabbed them, and lifted them off the ground.
"We were going to do this painlessly, but…" Ron stated, his voice consisting of seven people speaking through one voice box, "You two have to be difficult. You've served your purposes, Ghost Twins, which leaves one thing left for outdated programs: deletion."
Ron tightened his grip around the twins' necks as the phone continued to ring, and the code of the Matrix continued to destabilize outside of that room. He focused and like he did with Smith; he used his powers and began to strip away the lines of the code, one after the other. As the code was stripped away, Ron could hear the combined screams of pain from both the Ghosts and the Possible Twins.
"Come on," Ron said to himself, "Hold together a bit longer…almost…got it…it's almost over guys…hang tough for a little longer…"
The last of the Ghost Twins code was stripped away from Jim and Tim Possible, and all three of them fell to the floor. Ron fell to his knees and the twins onto their asses. The two of them rubbing their bruised bottoms as they looked around and then at Ron.
"Ron?" Tim asked.
"What's going on?" Jim finished the line of thought.
Ron wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled at the twins after hearing their regular voices and not that creepy tone they had before. Even though all seemed well, Ron knew time was at its shortest as he could feel the world of the Matrix collapsing in on itself like a house of cards.
"It's nothing guys," Ron told the twins softly, his voice had returned to its original sound, "Just a bad dream. Go back to sleep…KP and I will wake you back up soon enough…okay?"
"Sure, Ron," The twins said in unison before lying back down on the floor, curling up, and their bodies deconstructing down to their codes that faded and spread out into the code of the room.
"That's fixed," Ron said to himself as he got back to his feet and headed over to the ringing phone, "and now for me."
He looked around the room for a moment to see that the shutdown was nearly done as the walls, ceiling and floor were being stripped of their color and texture down to the code that was still growing in the holes that were in them. He looked down to the table, and it too was stripped down to its code and Ron reached for the receiver.
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"Shit…" Link sighed in shocked disappointment as he slumped down into his operators chair looking at the three Matrix feed screens as the code slowly dissolved and flowed down into nothingness, "He…he didn't make it…"
"Ron…no…Ron…" Kim shook her head as she was still being held by her arms with Morpheus and Niobe on either side, all of them having to deal with Ron's death once again, "Ron…no…not again!"
Kim violently broke from Morpheus' and Niobe's grip and ran out of the Jack Chamber. Even though it wasn't the Neb Two, Kim just wanted to run away, she had lost far too much in such little time. Even those on the Mad Dog felt the same grief once again.
"Damn heroic fool…" Morpheus uttered as he brought his hand over his face to cover up his tears, he turned away so as not to look at Ron's body, and Niobe came to him placing her head in his chest as she too began to weep.
Over at the operators' station, Link looked down at his hands thinking that this trick would have saved Ron, but in the end it still wasn't enough. All the while, no one looked at the screens with the Matrix feed. The lines of the code were making their final fall downward like the last bits of water coming from a hose. The code fell away leaving nothing behind but a blank screen and one last line that flowed down the very center of each screen. The last line wasn't like the others, it was written completely in English, and it read as it flowed down:
"Everything that has a beginning has an end…"
And with that, all three of the Matrix feed screens were blank. The Matrix was shut down.
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Ron "Neo" Stoppable began to open his eyes, but he quickly closed them again into a slight squint as he looked into a white light. He could feel that he was lying down since there was something hard underneath his back, something that felt like a floor. It took him a minute for his eyes to adjust to the brightness of the light. Looking at it, he suddenly remembered what happened. He remembered reaching for that telephone receiver and then…all was black.
"Am I dead?" He asked aloud, "Is this heaven?"
"Far from it," a young voice chuckled at Ron's question.
His eyes, already adjusted to the bright light, looked to his left to where the voice was coming from. Standing over him, blocking out some of the light, was the third member of Team Possible.
"Wade?" Ron asked as he slowly got back to his feet.
"Hey, bud," Wade greeted Ron, "Looks like you found your way back here again from what mom told me."
"Again?" Ron asked curiously, looking around and finding himself at the platform of a train station. Yet as he looked around he found that there were no doors of any means of getting in. Just the white tiled walls, the tracks below the platform, and the entrance and exit for the train. Ron got back to his feet and found the name of the place written on the back wall of the platform: "Mobil Ave". At first he was thinking of the oil named "Mobil", but then in his mind he rearranged the letters and found it was simply an anagram for "Limbo"; Limbo Ave.
"You were here before," an older, grandmother-like voice added. Ron quickly looked to his far left and found sitting on the bench were some very familiar faces. There was the Oracle, Seraph, and Sati.
"I was?" Ron asked thinking through the memories before him.
"It's where we first met," Sati explained, "Back when I was a little girl."
"Yes…" Ron agreed allowing the memories to sink in, "I met your mother and father here."
Sati smiled, "After it was all over, I wanted to see you again," She said rather mournfully, "But now will be the last time."
"Why is that?" Ron inquired.
"We are going to a special place for programs," Wade explained, "A place for exiles."
"You on the other hand, kiddo," The Oracle stated from her bench, "Need a way out. Wade, I think you can handle that."
"No problem, mom," Wade smiled as he wiggled his fingers and waddled his way to a nearby wall. He placed his hand on it and the tile began to move, shift, and shape itself. From the wall that Wade touched came a phone booth and the phone inside was ringing.
"I think it's for you," Wade smiled as he returned to sit back down with his mom, Seraph, and Sati.
Ron turned to the programs, he looked as if he was about to ask a very important question but the Oracle stopped him.
"You can't stay here," The Oracle told him, "Kim and everyone else needs you."
"Don't worry about us, Ron," Wade smiled at him.
"We have been through changes before," Seraph added, "This will be no different."
"Tell Kim, to take care of her kids and let her know that we'll all be fine," The Oracle finished.
"Now get out there and save your people," Sati smiled before she approached Ron and kissed him upon the cheek. She smiled at him once again before sitting back down.
Ron went to the phone booth, but before he could even reach for it, he turned back to look at his friends. As the phone rang, it was the hardest thing that Ron could do in his entire life; to say goodbye.
"Take it easy," He told them, "All of you."
'You too, Ron," Wade waved at him.
"And Ron," The Oracle gave her last word, "There's one more Smith out there…watch out for him."
"I will," Ron said as he picked up the receiver of the phone, held it to his ear, and logged out of the Matrix.
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Kim "Angel" Stoppable lay in the bed that she and Ron shared aboard the Neb Two. She was curled up into a fetal position with her arms and legs wrapped around a pillow. With every breath she took, she could smell Ron's scent, his body, his hair. Taking in every smell that she could only made her cry harder into her pillow that was already soaked by her tears.
"Ron…" Kim whimpered into the pillow as she sniffled.
As Kim continued to weep over the loss of her husband yet again, there came a hollow bang of a knock at the door.
"Go away!" She snapped, her voice cracking from her crying.
The knock came again, but that time, it came in the form of that old 'shave and a haircut' song, as if the person on the other side was a little kid. This not only annoyed Kim; it drove her to anger beyond anything that she had ever known. She got up from her bed and went to the door, determined to beat in the face of whoever had dared to interrupt her grieving.
"Don't you get it?" She screamed angrily as she reached for the door handle, "I just want to be left… left… left…"
She couldn't finish her statement because when she threw open the door, her mourning, tearful, and angry emerald eyes were met with those that were like cocoa. Beneath them, she saw freckles, and above them she saw blonde hair. She was utterly captivated by who she found at the door.
"Hey, KP," Ron greeted his wife lovingly.
Kim's sadness and anger were gone; all that remained was elation in its most raw and natural of forms as she threw her arms around her husband's neck. In that one motion, she pulled him in for a great, deep and loving kiss. She didn't care if anyone was watching. She just wanted to enjoy the singular moment.
She broke the kiss and looked at Ron, "You're alive?" She asked, hoping that it wasn't a hallucination from her grief.
Ron responded as he reached out to touch Kim's cheek and brush away a single tear.
"You can't get rid of me that easily, Kim Stoppable," Ron grinned, "Wade helped me get back out."
He paused, expecting Kim to start asking questions, because that's how she was. Her Blue Fox nature wouldn't allow her to let anything go unanswered. So, in a simpler phrase, Kim was curious to a fault. Though to Ron's surprise, instead of asking how it happened, she pulled Ron in for another kiss. As their lips were locked, Kim gently pulled him into the bedroom that they shared while closing the door behind them.
"KP?" Ron asked between kisses as Kim was pulling Ron's clothes off, starting with his pants, "Should we…be doing this? I mean…you're pregnant…"
"It's still early," Kim purred seductively as she pulled Ron's shirt off as well as his pants down to his ankles before she moved onto her clothes, "We can have as much fun as we want for now…and I'm not letting you out of my sight again."
"Won't have to, Kim," Ron smiled as he assisted Kim in getting out of her clothes, first her top, then her pants. By that time, the two of them were lying in the bed that they shared, they kissed each other in their own naked bliss, "I'm never leaving you again…and nothing will ever take me from you again."
The two lovers sealed this promise with a deep kiss and an act of love that was as sweet and pure as ever.
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Meanwhile, on the surface of the Earth, it was already mid-morning and the sun's yellow, warming glory was shining upon the Earth. Even in the human city of Jericho, while everyone in the city turned out to watch a true sunrise over the horizon, one was missing out.
That missing person was still in his quarters with a great and powerful anger and hatred ripping away at him. It was so much that he raised his fist and slammed it against the metal walls of his room, scraping his skin and cracking his knuckles. He brought this fist close to his face to watch it how it bled profusely.
"Mister Stoppable…" Josh 'Ares' Mankey growled, "You are really working my last nerve."
To be continued…