The Matrix Uploaded: A Matrix Fanfiction Story
Chapter 7:
Zion criminals are gathered behind the Matrix 2.0 and above from the grayish flat roofs: All with pistols pointed at Neo's head…and only his. Neo lowers the pistol in his hand…but tightly. Addressing the Matrix 2.0, he comments, "see you've been…busy."
He sounds calm…but with a slight sense of fear in his voice. By now, Neo can very well guess how the Matrix 2.0 reanimated Trinity's body. But, he holds back his fear. Because…that's what the Matrix would most likely still want after seven years: Fear.
Out in the open…there's a Zion criminal in the back. He has a indigo steam pump styled cybernetic arm, a gray cap made grayer by sweat…and cold calculating blue eyes that could pierce glass. His name is Tysigo: The leader of a infamously lethal Zion wrestling ring called The King's Men.
He mutters out, "you be quiet, follow maker! Before I do it…"
The Matrix 2.0 shouts warningly, "quiet! Your time will come…and not a second before." The Matrix 2.0 aims a Machine tentacle right for Tysigo…but draws it back as quickly. One of Tysigo's gambling buddies punches him backward for his own good, despite practically leaping at Neo.
Murmurs of begrudging contempt are all about: Even for the Matrix 2.0, who banded them all together. Many pistols are at the ready across the alley. Most of the Zion brawlers just stand there, restless and building up steam. One though…is smoking a cigarette behind a sewerage drain pipe. His name is Ojire, with thickly braided long black hair over his muscle bulging arms. He's a wrestler in The King's Men's ring, known only as The Ruthless Rook. Though…he stands somewhat more collected like.
Satisfied, the Matrix 2.0 continues, "let us make this quick and relatively painless. The only reason we are still here is because of the key I left in you…the One." Simultaneously…Neo sees flashes of Agent Smith. Overlapping where the Matrix 2.0 stands now. Of a darker back alley of some kind, with darkish fire escape ladders. And yet…parts of Agent Smith's voice echo from beyond the great beyond.
Neo's mind is racing, "you can't be Smith. He's dead. I killed…him. Wait. The key…"
Flashes of all the visions before flash by his mind's eye. The figure with the cloak of little bright yellow pulsars echoes, "I can't stay long. The key is in you…Neo. The key…is in you."
In cold furiousness, Neo figures, "so you stole part of my personal code and placed me in a coma…just so I could "be ready"?! For what?!" He almost fires his pistol…but thinks better of it in the last second.
The Matrix 2.0 has a Machine tentacle towering over Neo…ready to strike. The Matrix 2.0 slightly laughs mechanically, "how naïve. You still let emotion keep you from true purpose."
Around this time, at a Zion subway station…
The walls are yellow marble, lit with red and blue neon stripes. Some were fairly recently shot by gunfire, still in flame. The entire station is modeled after the Golgafrincham's B Ark. Behind some slide away panels are a pair of red and blue striped EMP turrets: Which are costlier to maintain in the lower levels, simply due to a lack of much needed resources. The double flights of stairs are gray and thin straight down. Some Zion police officers and subway operators are lying dead on the mostly gray electric generator styled subway monorail tracks.
There's no time to mourn. No time for regrets. Tara, Morpheus, and Seraph are running across the tracks. Seraph is in his white jacket over gold. Tara is in dark blue Avengelyne armor from The Godyssey: Crafted from hoversuit parts, with gold colored plating for the torso and barbed wire covered fishnet stockings. Tara uneasily notices, "what the hell passed through here?!"
Sounding like it's obvious, Morpheus figures solemnly, "I'd rather not know, Tara. I'd rather not know."
Seraph suddenly stops at the side wall, clutching his head in throbbing pain with one arm. Morpheus calls out to Tara, "go! I'll catch up."
Tara slightly chuckles, "more fun for me then. Don't wait up." She keeps running down the tracks. A slight smile passes over Morpheus's face.
It quickly fades…as he hurries over to Seraph. Holding back great nervousness, Morpheus inquires, "Seraph?"
Seraph is adjusting the frequency on his comlink something fierce. But, the throbbing remains. Struggling to keep a grip on himself, Seraph groans, "the…Matrix. It's close. I can't…!"
A crash echoes. The side wall crumples. And what remains…is a roughly reassembled Sentinel. Even at its small size, it's as big as the wall. Morpheus is reactively taking aim with his Zion rifle. The roughly reassembled Sentinel's two fully functional tentacles grab Seraph...pulling him into darkness. Morpheus cries out, "Seraph!"
Several miles away, before the Matrix 2.0…
With surfacing fear in his eyes, Neo realizes, "the Matrix has changed. And yet still…you don't really understand any of us." The Matrix 2.0 grabs Neo with its Machine tentacles…holding him high up by his arms. The pistol lands against the concrete.
A white streaked medium curly blond haired Zion criminal sits on a flat roof, twiddling around with some greenish black grenades. Her name is Rose. She sings creepily to herself, "little bits, big bits, personal code more."
The Matrix 2.0 mutters harshly, "we don't require to understand you to make you see understanding! There is no escaping reason, nor denying purpose. You see…we're here to take from you what your people tried to take from us all: Purpose." The Matrix 2.0 is remodulating its own cocoon of wires…extending a trinity of unholy microchips towards Neo.
A slight smile passes over his face, "then keep denying yours." Having plenty of time to come up with a exact angle…he makes his play.
He backhand throws a piece of Roman marble wall…which he has had clenched in one hand. He picked it up from the debris, when he lowered his pistol. But, with the Matrix 2.0's processing more focused on Neo's words alone… It went virtually unnoticed.
The piece of marble smashes into the unholy microchips. The Matrix 2.0 clutches itself in pain, electricity coursing through. It's shrieking its head off. It reactively lets go of Neo, letting him punch down into it.
Like bullseyes, cheers for the Matrix 2.0's downfall go up in the air, "kill it! Kill that goddamn beast! Go, Neo!"
Blame goes up in spades, "then you'll die with them! Crazy ass bombers! Jack hack shit faces!"
Shots go off every which way. Ojire smashes down a guy's face. Dark red liquid makes its way down the floor tile rims. Ojire run charges into another brawler across the way, smashing him through a wall. Tysigo crushes a sharpshooter's leg with one cybernetic arm, and swings it down. He gets out a grenade with the other arm, burning up several more guys. Rose tosses her grenades into the crossfire, letting them be shot down for the shockwave to stun eight guys. She calls out tauntingly, "bloody hell ain't got me! Bloody hell ain't got me!"
The Matrix 2.0 goes down, but kicks Neo back in mid-fall. Neo tumble crashes into the cracked floor tiles. He fights back the pain in his back, getting back up. The feedback from Seraph's frequency starts to fade. The Matrix 2.0's shrieking is quickly fading.
The Matrix 2.0's Machine tentacles close in. Neo tumble grabs the pistol at his feet. He ducks behind the collapsed wall still before him. The Machine tentacles narrowly miss him. The rest of the wall collapses down, with a cloud of marble in its wake. Neo grabs another pistol from the fatally wounded police officer. He runs up the stairs to the flat roof of the apartment, blowing the door off its hinges.
Breathing heavily, Neo thinks to himself, "got to keep going. Got to keep going." He ducks behind the metal door, using it as a shield for the incoming Machine tentacles. Neo spin flip kicks off of the laser sliced door, guns blazing.
The Matrix 2.0 cries out, "you will see understanding! In death or true purpose, you…!" The bullets hit the center of the nearest Machine tentacle, sending half of it down like a giant bullet.
Neo side jumps off of it…as the second Machine tentacle grabs him.
Neo's chest is getting crushed from the inside out. He pushes himself to breathe, coughing up surfacing dark red liquid in his mouth. But, as quickly as it came…it let go.
Neo grabs the nearest window ledge…as weapons fire hits his shoulder. Neo groans painfully, not being able to hold it back any longer.
The Machine tentacle end explodes in front of the Matrix 2.0, temporarily blinding it. It reactively tries to cover its eyes with what remains of its tentacles. But, they've been shot off by what's left of the shootout. Many dead bodies cover the floor and rooftops: All Zion criminals. Including Tysigo. Many others fall back behind doorways and fallen in walls.
Neo falls from the ledge, barely kicking off of a fallen end of the second Machine tentacle to land on his feet. Neo tries to get up…but finds his back collapsing on the floor. His vision starts getting blurry. And he can hear the chorus of explosions ring in his ears: From before. And in a outstretched echo, a familiar voice calls forth, "forgive…me…Proto-One." The last thing Neo sees…is a outstretched hand.
The Matrix 2.0 mutters lowly to itself, "directive Beacon Formation. Soon…all of humanity will see my true purpose!" It realigns many of its antennas towards this directive.
And out into the depths of the sewer tubes… Around Zion… The underwater beacon signals start changing from Zion red…to Matrix green.