Forenote/ I've got somewhat of a direction for this now. :o crazy, eh? Listen to Orbital and VNV Nation.

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The rebels scattered from the lobby of the grand hotel, the agents were tireless, and the humans were low on ammo. Lute burst through the opening of the sliding doors, her gun discreetly at her side and uselessly empty. It didn't really matter if passers-by saw, she doubted they'd react, but was sure that she was invisible to them anyways. Nobody 'asleep' ever saw the rebels, only potentials. The black metal blended well with her vinyl long coat, but she tossed it away like it was trash, alone on the sidewalk. She had watched the ghostly twins run through the lobby with that girl in their midst, saw for just a moment as they peeled away in a black car. During the short but violent fight with them and the agents, she had tried her hardest to kill them, but bullets were useless, and hand combat was out of the question. She forelornly peered down the road for just a second before streaking down the crowded sidewalk in the opposite direction, in a search for the exit. Her team had all gone seperate ways, sidedoors and whatnot, so on this journey she was alone.

Down several allies she ran, vaulting trash and various types of debri, past lost looking homeless and even several children at play. Her only thoughts were upon how she could kill the programs that had stolen her friends. She was sure of following them with a tracer, but once she was there, what could she do? Her last fight had been short, painful, and sadly frightening. She ran till she found a fire escape, perilously rusty as if it had endured a million rainfalls. Leaping and grabbing the filthy legs of the ladder, she crawled up, only to watch it fall at the last moment. It clambored noisely on top of trashcans and cement. She turned and reached to wrench the door open, it creaked outwards before she could grip the doorknob, revealing a familiar rebel, her new captin.

"You were slow," he frowned, displeased. He was different from Dice in many ways, all were bad. His voice was old and gruff, and reminded Lute of an old rusty chesse-grater. Though he was reveared for surviving many imporant battles, and had scars to prove them all, Lute simply disliked him. He was like a stepfather come to replace your real dad, the only person you could ever call 'daddy'. She huffed and hunched her shoulders as she walked past him, but glared viciously at the ground. He knew she wanted the albino programs erased most dearly, but rarely let her talk on the subject. The other two surviving members of her old team had been put on different ships, far from her, but she knew they felt the same way.

"We can't leave yet, we should follow those two programs, they have a potential.." she knew the answer before he could even get it out. She was well aware that agents were in the way, but she wouldn't have let it stop her. The captin never seemed to fully realize that they had massacred her team. They turned an apartment foyer into a picture that was painted with the blood of her captin and friend. She was certain if the same had occurred for this old man, he would feel exactly as she, but the thought never seemed to cross his mind. For this, she was always at odds with the rebels of the team.

"Agents, Lute, they will kill us if we reveal ourselves again," he said with diminishing patience, "you will answer that phone first, alright?" he glared harshly, daring her to contradict his order.

Lute obediantly stalked to the phone with graceful anger under the eyes of four other rebels that she had never taken the time to acquaint herself. Thus all found her moody and rarely took a moment to converse, though all, also, knew the only thing she wished to talk about was her dead shipmates. Lute thought this was understandable, she was sure that if one of there own was killed in the Matrix, that they would react the same way, so her distance from the rest of the crew was nothing to ponder for long.

The room they had gathered in was a shadow of whatever had lived there in earlier times. Dust lazily coated the rotted linolium and wooden floors, as no other furnishings had been left behind. Shadows of ornaments and paintings dotted the walls. All windows were fogged with grime and mud from where they had leaked during past thunderstorms. The phone they had encircled was the only thing left, or was placed there by the programs of the rebels, and was perched neatly in the middle of a round stool, which fit the room perfectly, looking old and liable to turn to dust within the next year if it was left behind after all had journeyed to the real world. The apartment was in a forgotten, slowly rotting area of the city that seemed to be ruled by homeless and criminals. It was a surprise to find the area so quiet, all ears seemed to be tuned in to this moment and the world had stopped for just a second, waiting for the telephone to ring and the rebels to exit.

Lute glared down at the old phone harshly like it was the lone object of her fury and she would burn it with her withering leer. It emitted a twinkling ring as Lute watched it, sounding as if it were begging for mercy. It rang a second time, but Lute didn't move. She was curious how much patinence the captin harbored for her, how long she could stand watching the phone ring. What would he do if she simply walked away? She knew she couldn't, in order to exact her vengence she needed to stay alive.

"Answer it, Lute," the captin, she imagined, was watching her with the same glare she had on her own face. But as the phone squealed a third time, she wrenched the receiver from its base and put it to her ear, thus transporting her mind back to her body. She realized the captin would never give her a chance to kill the cursed twins unless the twins themselves gave him a reason. She would have to do it on her own time with her own strength. After getting off to a bad start with the rest of the crew, she doubted she could ever enlist their assistance. She could never bring herself to speak to them anyways, they didn't understand her in the least.

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Yossi awoke feeling horridly sore. Her body was urging her to not move, remain stiff and lay in bed for the rest of the day. Healing would come slowly, she believed. Lifting her shirt, she found that the bandages were a darker color of her blood, and a lighter color on the edges. Rolling off the bed, she groaned and bent over, hands on her knees as she found the will to move to the bathroom. Her muscles pulled and stretched and she groaned loudly. Her voice surprised her, being the only sound within the dwelling except the whir of the airconditioner. The apartment was surprisingly cold, and the icy blue theme didn't help. As she exited her room, the soft hairs upon her arms stood up and goosebumps marched up her skin. Passing the opening to the living room, she read the clock, a lighter blue than the rest of the wall, that it was early in the afternoon. She glared drowsily and closed the bathroom door behind her. With much fuss and hissing, she changed the bandages with shaking hands and much difficulty. The bleeding had stopped, but the dried and flakey blood was like glue to her side. It was a fight to be rid of the bandages.

She was glad to leave the bathroom behind, smelling like antiseptic, she moved into the kitchen. How thoughtful, she mused, noticing two bags of groceries awaiting her on the island. Yesterday she hadn't eaten a thing, far too busy, and upon reaching the apartment, she was only exhausted. A rumble in her stomach urged her on to work quickly. As she explored through items, searching intently for something easy to make, one of the twins exited the hallway. He walked easily through the living room, with grace Yossi couldn't possibly muster in her state. She watched him with a seething glare of envy. How could he be so unperturbed after yesterday?

"Morning.." she muttered as he pulled a chair from the dining table. With his sunglasses still on, even in the gloom of the den, he peered at her as she pulled from the sacks enough to make a sandwich. She waved the lunch meat at him, "want one?" She had to give him something to say.

He only shook his head, and even that was only a small movement. Yossi sighed loudly as she went to assembling her lunch. A prickling of the hairs on the back of her neck was an annoyance as she did this, making the small task a bothersom duty. She knew the cause of this irritancewas sitting neatly at the table behind a pair of dark glasses. She glanced up at the twin with a frown, her eyebrows knitted together. He only watched her, sitting perfectly still.

"You shouldn't glare like that, it makes you seem ugly," the twin said simply with a smirk. One leg was propped up on his knee, his hands folded neatly in his lap. He seemed like a smug cat taught to sit in a chair and look like a haughty ghost.

Yossi growled, "well stop watching me like that! I told you guys I was sorry for ruining your plans, but maybe you shouldn't have kept me out in the dark like you did!" Yossi tossed the butter knife she had been using for her sandwich into the sink with a loud clatter. This seemed to amuse the twin, he grinned wider, showing the whites of his teeth, which was only a few shades paler than his skin, but matched the dreads of his hair.

Putting her halves of her sandwich together, she took a chair opposite of the twin, frowning suspiciously at his grin, which slowly faded as Yossi began eating.

"How is your wound?" he asked simply, surprising Yossi.

"It hurts,"she answered after much chewing.

"Then let that be your punishment for snooping in our computers," he said with a wider grin, which would have been handsome had he not said what he just did.

Yossi swallowed hard, gasping for breath afterwards, "what," she shrieked,"punishment! You never said I couldn't get on those computers!" She almost whined as she spoke, she'd never been talked to about punishment before, she was twelve and had never even been given a timeout that she could remember. Her memories of her parents were strong and for the most part content.

"But we never said that you could, either. They weren't your computers," he answered her shrewdly, needlessly wiping some invisible spec of dust off of his immaculate arm. Yossi's eyes were fogged with tears. She dropped her half eaten sandwich and left the table and program behind. As she was entering the hallway, the second twin came around the corner, peering down at her curiously as she bumped into him. She took a step back, glaring viciously and feeling daring enough to shove him aside, but cowardly enough to run into the bedroom, she quickly closed the door. Her heart hammered in her chest, and tears welled threateningly in her eyes, but she wouldn't let herself cry, not because of those two.

Still hungry, she couldn't bring herself to open the door and venture back out in search of another sandwiche. Her thoughts circled madly on the twins. Had she angered the one that she pushed aside? How could she ever know which one that was, so she'd know whether or not she should hide when she passed by one? And wasn't being shot a rather harsh punishment for getting on their computers? Her fingers ached to type on a keyboard again, to grasp a cold mouse and see the soft light of a monitor. Burying her face in the white pillow, she released herself to sleep.

---

When Yossi awoke for the second time that day, evening was beginning to surrender to night. The air was frigid, and a harsh wind brought the scent of rain into the city. The sound of an angry fist upon the thin door of the apartment echoed steadily throughout the rooms. Yossi was already slipping out of the hallway into the den when the knock threatened to tear the door down. The walls seemed to tremble around the doorjams, and a sliver of light appeared with each booming bang around the seam of wood. Yossi's eyes widened in surprise and she slowly approached the door. She heard the twins exiting their room. The fist halted it's assault upon the door, but was quickly proceeded by a foot, which broke two of the doors hinges, sending it halfway into the apartment.

Lute jumped through the opening, knocking Yossi to the floor with the butt of her gun and landing atop the younger girl, straddling her waist. But she wasn't looking at Yossi, her eyes had widened as a twin tackled her, sending both of them off of Yossi's fallen body. She was picked off of the floor, the other twin quickly deposited her limp body into the hallway, out of view, and went to his brothers aid.

Yossi wasn't unconscience long. She had been propped against the wall, which now had a bullet hole frighteningly close to her head. She reached up to a trickle of blood that ran beside her eye. She sighed, but was cut off by another loud explosion of a gun. Her eyes widened in the darkness. The only light was faintly shining deep inside the twins room. She suspected it was a bathroom light. How odd thoughts enter ones mind in strange situations. Yossi peered over the corner into the darkness of the den.

Lute was fairing better in this fight than the last time she encountered these programs. Vengence and hatred can fuel the body better than any food ever could. By force and threat, she managed to frighten the ships operater into plugging her into the Matrix. Her sole purpose was to erase the twin programs and safely hide the girl till she could have her captin awaken her. Lute's stomach was twisted in knots as she fought. Although she was fighting better, it didn't seem enough to overcome the twins. Guns were truly useless, she could never pull the trigger fast enough to surprise one, and drawing it took precious time away.

As Yossi watched, her eyes were wide with wonder. How had the rebel found them? She wanted to stop the fight, but she didn't know what she would say. Could she leave the twins? After today, the rebel seemed like a fine escape. But before she could do anything, the fight ended. Lute fell, exhausted and bloody, at the feet of the twins. Razor cuts striped her like a tiger, and dripped darkly to soak into the carpet. Her body trembled from the intense beating she had received. Not a scratch marred the perfect pale skin of the twin programs. They didn't even seem to breathe, even though Lute was panting. Her eyes were puffy and red, several razor cuts were frighteningly close, they must have been targetting her eyes, a dreadful thought. Yossi ran into the den, tripping and falling into a heap upon the rebel, who grunted when she landed upon her back, which stopped her from attempting to stand.

"No!" Yossi could only choke out that one word, stopping a twin from approaching. His razor rested cold and bloody in his hand at his side, promising the rebel only more pain. The girl gripped Lute's trenchcoat, making a fist, intent on keeping the rebel alive.

"You are not to chose who we kill and don't, get away from the human," the closest twin's voice was like a cold breeze. Both appeared to glow in the dark, with nothing but a deep shadow behind them, and the semi-light of the outside shining upon their white bodies. The effect made them seem immence and powerful as they stood almost completely motionless like statues, carved from ivory.

Lute's gaze was filled with her own blood. The voices of the twins and the girl were echoing far away, and covered mostly by a loud ringing in her ears. She tried to sit up, and felt the weight of the girl lessening as she tried. Yossi sat up, looking down at her for a moment, but quickly returned to twins, who's postures stiffened.

"Get away from her," one of them hissed.

"No! You can't kill her!" Yossi got to her feet and stood between the fallen rebel and the twins, stubbornly blocking them. She could hear the rebel panting, and grew uneasy as to whether she could keep the twins from her or not. Her head swam, she was still weak from being bashed in the head, but she knew the rebel had mistaken her for one of the twins, very sure.

Lute stood, swaying and somewhat stiff, cradling one arm which bled profusely, dripping dark blood upon the floor. Her coat sleeve was in tatters and heavy with blood from too many cuts and slices. Every part of her body was screaming for relief, as little was left without a wound. The twins had almost systematically brought her to ruins. As she stood, she was grateful that only the pain would last, and no scars to remind her of this horrible beating. She was trying to determine if she could run or not. She could hardly stand, thus she desparetly hoped the operator would use a phone that was close.

Her hopes were answered. Like a dream come true, a loud buzz broke the silence. A red light twinkled with the ring of the dens phone upon the wall just behind the twins. Everyone seemed to freeze, not even the whisper of a breath could be heard in the thick silence, broken only by the loud, lonely sound of the ringing telephone and the noise of wind and a sprinkling of rain outside.

So when the rebel finally made a run for it, Yossi was dazzled by the sudden movement and noise of panting breathes and the sound of muffled shoes on the carpet. Lute feigned in one direction and both twins went around Yossi, to circle and trap her, but the rebel pushed Yossi aside and went between them, heading directly for the telephone. She felt the twins right behind her, close and frightening entities, and lept, one of the twins grabbed her ankle, pulling her just short of the receiver, yet her finger knocked it free, and she fumbled to catch it, putting it against her ear. She escaped, bloody, bruised, and cut, but triumphant, even when failing her mission. It was a win, simply by surviving their terrible strength and might.

---

Yossi's breath was short and came slightly panicked as she stood, panting and watching the backs of the twins. They stood staring at the receiver as it swayed at the end of its cord like a pair of wolves who watched a rabbit disappear into it's burrow. She almost expected them to claw at the phone, tear it apart in their frenzy of anger, but instead they let it hang. One walked to their room, the other turned, burdening Yossi with his gaze. The open line beeped expectantly. The slowly drying blood left a red line from her hair line to her jaw, she was sporting more injury than the twins, who were completely unmarked from their opponent.

"Why did you want her alive?"

"Because she tried to save me before you two stole me away.." Yossi felt strong, defying them gave her stength, but as she watched him, she began to feel terrible and childish.

The twin walked into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, which momentarily offered a new light against the thick shadows, and Yossi finally realized that the groceries had been put away. He took out the lunchmeat and cheese and condiments, and then the bread, and slowly began making a sandwiche. Yossi approached the island and put her hands atop it, leaning silently, remembering the pain and stiffness in her limbs her waist.

The door was still partially fallen, it strained against the last hinge which threatened to seperate from the wall at any moment. From the opening, the soft patter of rain could be heard from outside. Blood still stained the carpet as a reminder of the short but violent battle. Only a few bullet holes marred the blue walls and Yossi remembered the neighbors, she wondered momentarilly if any would wake with new holes in their homes. Something told her that the magic of the Matrix would cover the ugly marks before any human eyes could ever glimpse the evidence.

"I'm sorry," she said in a small, strained voice.

The twin was quiet, precise and graceful even when making a simple sandwiche. It was almost like watching an art that he had mastered, despite the fact that he was only making a really late lunch. The eventful day had made her weak and emotional for a moment. She wanted to cry, to be a disgraceful heathen for a second, but she was too exhausted to exert herself any further. She sighed softly and rested her head on her folded hands, closing her eyes and listening to the twin work. The line of blood at the side of her face flaked away somewhat as it rested against her hand. She felt blessedly numb for the time being. When he finally finished, Yossi quickly ate at the table under the heavy gaze of the twin, who sat emotionless as if he were a hundred miles away. This time it didn't bother Yossi. The peace after their battle made her content as she enjoyed the small pleasure of finally eating. Yet again she was grateful that she had survived the day, but for now, her thoughts were at rest. She was drunk on the silence of the room and the food that she was eating. So it was an intrusion upon her quiet moment when the twin finally spoke.

"You said that you didn't want us to keep you in the dark anymore, so we won't," the twin stated simply, easily, as if it wasn't a treat for Yossi to ever get them to answer her questions. She stopped chewing, listening intently with bated breath. He paused for a moment, ensuring that she was alert.

"The next oppertunity for you to hack into the Matrix will be exactly seven years from tonight," he said this simply enough, as if he were announcing the time of day, and it was the first time that she had ever wanted to not hear their voices, for them to give up some secret of theirs, to qualm her restless spirit.

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Endnote/ omg cliffhanger. For such a short chapter, it's been a long day for Yossi..