"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes."
"Positive?"
"Yes!"
"Are you absolutely – "
"ACE!" cried Bree, sitting up from her lying position in the chair, "If you ask me whether I want to do this or not one more time, you're not going in with me." She stared at the man before her, eyebrows raised and arms crossed. Ace opened his mouth to respond, but in the end chose not to retaliate and took a seat in the chair next to her. Bree smirked satisfied and then looked to Link.
"All right Link," she said, settling her head back on the headrest of the chair. Bolt stood behind her, ready to slide the jacking needle into the back of her head, "You ready?" Link nodded. Bree closed her eyes, and felt herself be jacked into the programmed world of the Matrix.
Once again Bree stood on a sidewalk, sleek black clothing adorning her body. Through her dark sunglasses, that shielded her eyes through all her Matrix visitations, she surveyed the group of crew members that had chosen to join them. First, of course, she looked to her handsome Ace, standing tall and proud like the captain that he was, and then to Stella whose contrasting white clothing complimented her honey hair greatly as she gazed about dreamily. Last but not least her clouded optics drifted to the form of Circuit, who was busily smoothing his clothes in amazement, and running his hand through his short, dark hair.
"Enjoying your first time in the Matrix, kid?" she called to him, checking the various guns around her waist, and loading them. Ace looked up as the name "kid" was said, and smiled amused at Brees use of it. Circuit, however, tried scowling through his apparent glee. Failing, he nodded just as Bree looked up.
"Yeah I remember my first time in here after being unplugged," she said, reloading another gun, "Just remember, kid, were not here to preach." Replacing the last gun at her hip, she peered around at the many people bustling along the concrete pathways.
"All these people are to remain - Hi," she began, stopping to nod and greet a group of people passing buy and gawking at Bree and the crew, who probably looked quite odd indeed, "Remain oblivious as to the dream world they're leaving in. Understood?" She finished as they passed. The others nodded, and she smiled. She may not be captain, but it felt good to be in slight control when it came to being in the Matrix.
"All right now everyone," she said, becoming quite serious and solemn, "This will not be like the movies Im sure we all remember where the team splits up. This is not an ordinary agent were looking for, though I don't think even looking for an agent is ordinary. No, this is Smith, one of the worst of them all. We will stick together, and hope to find something out. I trust and care for you all, so all I have left to say is tread carefully, and give a shout out if you see even the slightest thing that seems...odd."
"You mean like that," Circuit said, pointing across the street. Bree looked, and had to raise a hand to her mouth to hide her laughter. A trio of scantily clad women were strutting down the sidewalk Men of all ages passing paused to goggle at the ladies. She glanced to Ace, and found him to be staring as well. She gazed blankly at him, before smacking him in the back of the head. Her jerked from the force and quickly stared at the ground. Shaking her head, Bree looked back to Circuit.
"Sadly that's not as uncommon as you think," she said. Tossing her head along down the sidewalk, she began walking along the stone avenue, the others following in her wake, Ace catching up to walk by her side. The two exchanged a glance and a smile, before continuing on.
"Morpheus told me you went to see him," Ace said after a while. He was trying to sound casual, but it wasn't working out that well.
"I would have told you, but I figured the word would have spread around by the time I got home," Bree replied. She knew where this conversation was going to go, but she didn't want to get to that destination, as inevitable as it was.
"Bree why didn't you tell me how much me being captain bothered you?" Ace asked. She sighed. He had never been a patient person.
"It doesn't bother me that you're captain, because you are a great captain," she said slowly, "What bothers me is that Morpheus gave the position to you over me." She sighed heavily and placed her hand on her forehead when she realized how horrible that sounded.
"Im sorry," she murmured, leaning her head on his shoulder as the walked. Bree felt his arm slide around her shoulders, and she sighed wearily, something she was very good at since she did it more times then she could count.
"It's just," she said, pausing as she strived to find the right words, "If Neo was alive and here, he would have been made captain. Ever since he's been gone I felt like Im the one who has to follow in his footsteps, so now, I feel like I failed in that. I feel like I let him down." She heaved another sigh, this time one of relief. It felt good to get that out, to tell Ace, who was about to say something when a voice from behind them reached they're ears. Both spun around quickly, Bree reaching quickly for a gun.
"Circuit, get over here!" she cried. The computer programmer was across the street, staring into a shop window at a television blaring some obscene music. He was quite fascinated by the images on the screen and apparently either could not, or did not want to hear Bree call to him.
"I don't believe this," she said jadedly. Placing her head in her hand once more she closed her eyes for a moment. Opening them again she told Ace and Stella to stay put while she went to get Circuit. The gun was still grasped in her hand, the cold metal pressed against the flesh of her hand.
"Nobody listens anymore," she muttered under her breath in annoyance, "When I say 'stick together', what do they think that means?"
Bree was half-way across the wide lane when something caught her eyes just several stored to the right of where Circuit stood in awe. Her dreary grey eyes widened slightly as she found herself staring at the form of a cloaked man dressed in much the same sleek black fashion as herself and the others. As she peered at him he turned his head and looked her straight in the eyes through a pair of dark sunglasses that perfectly mirrored her own. While she stood staring, the man took off in the Circuits direction, and Bree immediately became horrified as she realized what was about to happen.
"Circuit!" she cried in vain as she began running the rest of the way across the street, all memory of the gun in her hand seemingly lost.
The young boy that had been staring with a distinct fascination in the window looked up just as the cloaked man reached him. He barely manage to utter a scream of surprise as her was overtaken by the mysterious person and swept away down the walk. Bree skidded to halt outside the window Circuit had been looking into and wasted no time in talking off in pursuit of the cloaked man and Circuit who was now practically being dragged down the stony path.
"Bree!" she heard Ace shout from behind her, "Bree, stop! It could be a trap!" That thought had crossed Brees mind the moment she had laid eyes on the cloaked man, but that was not enough to stop her. She was not going to lose a member of the crew because she wanted to go into the Matrix and get her answers, which seemed very stupid in her mind at the moment. She knew how much Circuit wanted to go in to the Matrix and had let him come.
As she ran along the rocky boulevard, Circuit and his abductor just in her range of sight, Bree was reminded of the day that he joined the family that was The Neo. He had been so nervous and jumpy that people began to seriously doubt his programming abilities. Bree, however, remembered how much everyone had been skeptical of her own talents as a mechanic and she encouraged Circuit to never give up and prove them all wrong. Now The Neo harbored the best computer programmers in the entire fleet.
Pulled away from her reverie Bree now watched as her prey turned the next corner into a darkened alley. She didn't know how far Ace was behind her, or if he was even behind her at all anymore. The logical thing to do would be to wait for he and Stella to catch up, but Bree was not thinking clearly, if at all. That being so, she veered down the same alley and was thrown swiftly into an intense pitch-darkness. The path was lit up only a few feet, while everything else was completely un-seeable.
"Circuit?" she called desperately to the shadows, as she felt her way blindly down the passage. She heard the crash of a trash can on the other side of the ebony blanket. Hastily she held her gun up and fired several shots into the umbra. There was silence for a long time. Then the metallic clink of that Bree recognized as bullets dropping to the ground.
"That was brilliant Bree, real genius move there," came a voice from the gloom. The cloaked man stepped out of the shade into what little light came from the illuminated streetlet, casting an eerie glow over a frighteningly familiar face.
"No," Bree breathed in an awed whisper. Suddenly she felt Ace slide to a stop beside her, gasping for breath and bent nearly double clutching his knees. Bree barely noticed him appear though, as her entire focus was in front of her, fixated on the cloaked figure.
"Bree," Ace said, his voice wheezing, "Im glad you finally sto-" His voice trailed away, as his mouth remained hung open on the last syllable. The man in black seemed quite satisfied with this reaction, and to add to the orchestra of attention, Circuit emerged from the shadows just then and ran to Bree, jumping up and down like a little boy at Christmas.
"Bree, Bree!" he exclaimed excitedly, "Bree look, its him, its him!"
"Neo?" Bree finally choked out. The man smiled, and nodded, removing his sunglasses as he did so.
"It's good to see you again, Bree," Neo said, taking another step forward, "It's really been too long."
"Yeah," she gulped, "Way too long." She suddenly shook her head. This was insane.
"You're supposed to be -"
"Dead?" Neo suggested, interrupting her, "Yes...in a way. My body is gone, but my mind never left the Matrix. Im here to help you get your answers." Bree opened and closed her mouth several times before turning to her side and plopping down into a sitting position atop a wooden crate. This was way too much to process. Circuit was still bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, giddy as ever, and Ace had now taken up to avoiding Neo's gaze. It made Bree crack a smile as she realized why.
"Calm down Ace," she said, taking a deep breath, "He's not going to hurt you." She looked to Neo and winked, for one moment feeling like she had her brother figure back. Neo smiled back and chuckled as he too remembered his last words to Bree.
"'Tell the kid Ill be back to check on him,'" he whispered, looking at the ground and quoting himself, "Im sorry I took so long."
Lifting his dark-haired head back up, Neo looked at Bree, who looked back. Reaching a shaky hand up, she removed her own sunglasses so her grey and Neo's brown ones were locked in a hard gaze, neither of them saying a word and their faces expressionless. Then, as suddenly as everything else that had happened that day, Bree was on her feet and throwing her arms around Neo in a tight embrace. Her eyes scrunched shut to fight back the tears and she buried her relieved face into his shoulder.
"I knew you weren't gone," she said softly, "I knew Id see you again." Finally letting go of each other, Bree stepped back to stand beside Ace. Neo stood looking at the two with a bemused look on his face. Then he broke into another smile.
"I never thought Id hear myself say this, but you two do make a cute couple." He grinned sweetly, and Bree threw him a playful glare.
"So you're really the Neo," Circuit piped up, speaking for the first time in several minutes, "The one our ship is named after?"
"You guys named a ship after me?"
"Well the Nebuchadnezzar II sounded too cheesy," Bree replied smirking. Neo shook his head, while Circuit continued to stare in awe at him.
"OK, I think its time for the pleasantries to be over; you said something about helping me get my answers." Bree, like Ace, had never been a patient person.
"Yes," Neo said, clapping his hands together, "You're wondering what Smith is doing back?" For a dead guy he certainly knew what was going on.
"Yeah," Bree said slowly, "I want to know what his plans are this time around, and whether he's made a deal with the machines." That would be a start.
"Well the treaty between the humans and the machines still stands," Neo began, "But the agreement was that the machines would no longer attack the freed humans. It did not say that they could not stop us from preaching to those who are not unplugged. That's where Smith comes in." Bree nodded.
"He's going to help them make it so we cant jack in," she said, sighing heavily.
"Can he do that?" questioned Ace.
"Yes, he can," said Neo, "With the machines help he can hack into our system from the Matrix and cause our systems to irrepairably fry. The machines don't want their energy sources tampered with anymore then it already has been."
"So what do we do?" Bree asked, "Im going to guess that your 'powers' have diminished somewhat? Meaning that we either have to find another 'One' or lose to Smith and the machines."
"Well yes, my powers aren't what they used to be. My speed and, as you saw, ability to stop bullets remain, but I cannot repeat what happened between me and Smith so many years ago. But that doesn't mean that were going to lose."
"But Neo how can we-"
"Bree," he said, interrupting her again and stepping forward to take hold of her shoulders, "We are not really blood-related, but our bond is still existent. You are not powerless. You are capable of great things." There was a glint in his eyes, something that gave Bree the distinct feeling she knew what he was talking about.
"Neo your not suggesting that Im -"
"Yes."
"But I can't be Im just...me."
"Bree you're more than just...did you guys hear that?" Neo suddenly stood up straight and stared around intently.
"You guys have to go," he said suddenly, beginning to shove the three out of the alley. Stella, who had been standing guard, looked up as they approached, shaking a lock of her thick honey hair from her face.
"Finally," she said, "That took long enou-" There was a gun shot, and she never got to finish her sentence. She emitted no sound, though her emerald eyes widened in shock, Bree and the others wearing similar expressions on their faces. After what seemed like a long time, she finally fell forward, blood blossoming from the bullet wound.
It was chaos once she hit the ground. Circuit shrieked, Ace tried to remain calm, but he shaking like a leaf, and Bree was screaming, "Why?" as Neo ushered them all away and told them to run. It seemed like the only thing any of them could do so they ran, like a mouse away from the cat. But the cat was in hot pursuit, and chancing a glance behind her, Bree saw the sick, twisted smile upon the face that was Smith. Turning back around she began yelling for them to keep running, trying to keep the image of Stella's body from her mind. At one point, Circuit tripped, but Neo grabbed him just before he fell.
"Bree!" Neo called to her, "Call Link!" That was when Bree remembered the phone at her hip with the guns. Panting heavily, she reached and picked it up. Flipping it open she dialed.
"Operator," came the shaking voice of Link.
"Link we need an exit, NOW!"
"I got one. Its just around the next corner, First National Bank, there should be a phone on a desk to your right. Hey, what's that weird thing running next to you guys?"
"Smith?" she tried, feeling her legs screaming for a halt.
"No, it's not him...I recognize these codes..." At the moment another gunshot split through the atmosphere and caught Brees right hand, sending the phone flying. She creamed in pain, clutching the damaged limb.
"Bree, you got the exit?" Neo asked as they turned the next corner. Bree nodded, gritting her teeth and not speaking. Neo nodded and shoved Circuit, who he had been holding onto since he tripped, forward to Bree who caught him. She stopped for a moment, to look at him disconcertingly.
"Go," he said simply. Bree shook her head knowing what he wanted to do. She almost walked forward, but Ace grabbed her and dragged her after her him towards the bank.
"Neo!" she cried in anguish as she watched Smith reach him, "Neo..." Then they were out of sight. Ace led both of them into the bank and looked to Bree, her lamely pointed right. He turned to the right and picked up the ringing phone at the desk. Instead of holding it up to his own ear, he held it up to Brees, and she felt herself return to the real world. It wasn't long before she heard Circuit and Ace come back, but Bree just continued to lie there, staring blankly at the metal ceiling above her as though it were the most intriguing thing in the world.
"Bree?" came Ace's voice, from what sounded to her like a great distance, "Bree your hand needs to be looked at." Bree nodded absentmindedly and slowly slid from the chair, her eyes catching the sight of Stella's body, still lying in the chair at the other end. Brees legs began to shake like they were mad of jelly, and her vision began to swim in and out of focus. There was a multitude of inaudible voices as she felt her consciousness slowly leave her.