The Matrix Uploaded: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 13:

From a call to the Machines, before Neo knew there could be such a thing as a Code Bomb… These were his prophetic words:

I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there…is a choice I leave to you.

Presently, down the Rabbit Hole out of code Wonderland…

As quickly as it came… The vortex of Matrix code dissipated. And as the light bent upright again… Neo finds himself standing in a nightclub. A little shaken by the momentum. But, standing. Standing in a nightclub called the Hammerhead: Straight out from a very certain Dark Horse Comics movie. It has neon blue and red lights everywhere, railings of gray blue, a metal winding staircase, wire fencing over a open back plaza of very dark brown counters, and a lot of neon lit drum like tables.

Neo is taking it all in, still not completely sure what is reality and what is the dream. Though, he has a returning faint sense of what is reality: No matter how weird ass it's gotten to be.

As Barb Wire, Copy Trinity urges with a little bitterness in her voice, "well… We'll be covered for a bit. Relax. Get a table. We got a few minutes before he finds where this shithole of a place is." She is heading up the winding staircase with Camille, closing the grayish door behind her.

In a lingering sleep deprived like daze, Neo figured, "yeah. Sure." He then looks to one of the backmost tables in confusion. Neo walks over to it. And when he does…it's like seeing a ghost from a century gone by too quickly. Astonished and unsure all at once, Neo questions, "Chavez?"

And sure enough….Chavez in his torn ribbons of clothes is there. There, exhausted like he's been through Hell for so long that he lost point in trying to remember when it all started. Yet, still with life in him yet to see it through: Like all that's left to matter is the end.

With a golden pistol at the ready, Chavez remarks, "Heaven doesn't rest for Hell, Neo. Slight uneasy chuckle. It seems it's been at rest for too long, really. Why don't we have a seat?"

A little reluctantly, Neo takes him up on his suggestion, "all right. But, I need to know the truth. No more bullshit. No more games."

Chavez puts the golden pistol away. With relief, he figures, "moderate nervous sigh. Right. Sorry for all of the games. I didn't like it either. But, the Oracle put me up to it. She prophesied the One or a false One would come here. And, some of us weren't all sure you were still on the side of the "real" Heaven."

Beginning to know all too well what that last part must mean, Neo nodded, "I see. But, there are others?"

With a hand leaning against the railing of the spiral staircase, Copy Trinity glances down, "excuse me, soldier. But, I need to run it all by Neo. There's a lot to explain, and not a lot of minutes left to do it in."

Uncertainly, Chavez figures, "sure." Neo deduces, "about time too." He starts his way up the spiral staircase. As he turns to go…Chavez in a low sounding voice says, "if it makes you feel any better…I'm not sure about her either." Slightly sarcastically, Neo comments, "thanks." Chavez solemnly nods, "good luck." Neo slightly nods back.

Neo steps into Copy Trinity's office. Copy Trinity follows him in, closing the door behind her. A lamp with drape like curtains over it is the only non-neon light coming in. Black window blinds are closed around the two window sides in the corner. Several jet black chairs with silver barred back frames are gathered here. A curved very dark green barb wire patterned desk is past a smaller brown nighttable for glasses and bottles of bourbon. Two wine glasses are already filled: One with Wild Turkey bourbon. The other with alcohol with flickers of light of faint red.

Copy Trinity hands Neo the glass of alcohol, "here." She keeps her glass in hand, as she goes to sit down at her desk. Neo sits down, facing her. He looks at her oddly, "what's this?"

Copy Trinity slightly laughs bitterly, "what does it look like? Poison? Trust me. If I really wanted to kill you, you'd already be Matrix toxic waste." Quite calm despite the circumstances, Neo figures, "no. It's just… Moderate sigh. I just sure as hell don't feel like drinking."

Copy Trinity faintly smiles, "my "little brother Charlie" once said: Drink when you want to remember. And, you can be goddamn sure the Oracle wants you to remember history. Slight bitter laugh. Hell, even I don't know what that shit was floating in. I just know she means business. And, that I'm no kind of girl to tell bedtime stories to children at night."

All this time, Neo has been focusing on the code around his glass. And in it…he can just very faintly sense some traces of crushed red pill powder.

The Matrix may be capable of a great many sins. But, assimilating the Oracle and her knowledge of the special red and blue pills was not one of them. And, it sure looked to be staying as such.

At a near whisper to himself, Neo recalls Morpheus's words, "part of what makes it very hard to break away." A little amused, Copy Trinity says, "what? You always find your girls in shitholes?" Neo clears it up, "not exactly. But, that's not…! Heavy sigh. Thing is, this really isn't the time to bring up my relationship with Trinity. If she isn't dead by now, that is."

Lowly, Copy Trinity bitterly sighs deeply, "yeah. So, drink up!"

A little shaken under his calmness, Neo adds, "fair enough." He drinks from the alcohol concoction of flickering red.

And, like a dream that just fell from a scorched sky… The reality of his locked away memories finally sink in. Memory echoes of the Nebuchadnezzar, the Logos, the Gnosis, and the Mjolnir on their way into the digital abyss. Echoes of a second Neo taking his personal code before he was even given independent thought. Echoes of the 2.0 Matrix. Echoes of the 1.0 Matrix. Echoes of a Neo hurting everything the ideal of the One originally embodied. And…echoes of the data ports of bluish Matrix like code accumulating data for the soon inevitable fall of the False One's followers.

As soon as it comes… A shaken Neo finds himself back on the other side of Copy Trinity's desk. Or rather, full circle into a rebirth of memories he didn't even know existed until now.

Copy Trinity wonders, "how was it?" Sadly, Neo heavily sighs, "like shit. But…I'll live. You?"

With a slight smile across her face, Copy Trinity urges insistently, "you should hurry." She tilts up the blinds, which fade away in Thought-Focus programming. Through the looking glass…is the current state of the Matrix 2.0's metropolis.

It very bizarrely has low-res 16-bit resolution with mostly pale brown and gray graphics, and not a sound stirring in the night: Like a X-Men Sega Genesis cartridge game.

With hundreds of thousands deleted along with the Smith army, and no defenses left to bound back from such a critical loss of computational power… The entire metropolis has been put into a frozen time night, keeping the human population in a eternal sleep until the Matrix 2.0 can fully stabilize its systems. The Matrix is no longer just in a mad quest for complete restoration: It's desperately trying to save and add as much computational power as it takes to keep its metropolis from fatally crashing upon itself. And consequentially, every human within that bioelectrically provides the Matrix with that vital computational power.

Awkwardly, Neo got up: Getting a hard long look at it. Copy Trinity takes some sips from her glass.

Neo surmises, "it seems like time is the only thing there's plenty of. Please. Heavy sigh. Yes, I love Trinity. But, as hard it might be for you to believe…I care." Not budging from her desk, Copy Trinity comments bitterly, "sure didn't care shit when the Layer spiraled into program Hell. Where were you then?"

Almost like he was talking to a close friend who's been gone for years, Neo explains, "heavy sigh. We didn't know there were two core representatives of the Matrix at odds with each other…until we crossed over from the Layer. We thought the Matrix was our enemy, and that was all there was to it. We found the Code Bomb. But, by the time all was realized, it was too late to save Chavez's people. Or, much else of the secondary Matrix. Only most of Chavez's tribe made it out in one piece. At least…that's what we thought."

Sympathetically, Copy Trinity faintly smiles, "hmm. Slight bitter sigh. The Layer may have been a bottomless shithole full of dolls and action figures. Still…it was my home. Long before I came out all new. Might've even been worth seeing, for a "soldier girl" like me."

Neo can't help but question, "all new?" Copy Trinity highlights, "working for the Big Matrix was only business. But, for this shit pleasure set and a body to die for…it'd pay itself. I've had nothing against Zion, Neo: Only the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar, for leaving us to be deleted to program Hell. At least… Moderate bitter sigh. Before it turns out you care shit after all. You don't owe me anything."

Neo adds solemnly, "still...I wish there was more I could do."

Before either of them could say anything more… The revolving secret door in the wall for a weapons cache is telekinetically ripped away, clinking hard against the bent in door back out to the spiral staircase. And standing there…is the Copy Neo. Footsteps are heard beyond.

Creepily calm, The Copy Neo mutters, "hello, program. Tell me something. How much bullshit did it take for the Matrix to make you?" Copy Trinity reaches for her jet black silvery pistol. But, Neo motions with his hand to let him try something. And, Copy Trinity silently sits there: Waiting and expecting for the worst.

Facing his mirror, Neo chuckles bitterly, "so that's what this is all about? Who the copy is? Look at my personal code for yourself, "Neo"! You'll see the truth."

Somewhat amused by the truth, Copy Neo figures lowly, "so what if I am a copy? Is Chavez just a copy? Was Destiny?! Slight bitter chuckle. As one man said, "truth is in the eye of the beholder". When the war ends, they'll thank me: One day. Even if it means your death…to ensure the future of humankind. Because, only one of us can go back to the Real. And, you're sure as hell in no shape to. But, if it means anything to you… Moderate sigh. I'm sorry it had to be this way."

Copy Trinity fires her pistol at Copy Neo, as he charges straight for Neo. Copy Neo freezes the bullets with ease, sending them flying back at her with his left hand in midair. Copy Trinity tumbles out of her chair. The bottles of bourbon shatter in a smelly mess.

Neo is about to be tackled by Copy Neo. But, Copy Trinity manipulates the Matrix code herself to fly charge into him: With her own chair ramming right into him. Copy Trinity calls out, "go!"

Copy Neo goes crash landing through the door, falling over and off the spiral staircase railing. Copy Trinity touches down on the spiral staircase. Neo insists, "not a chance. Where can we go, where he and the Matrix won't just follow us out?"

Looking red in the face, Copy Trinity doesn't have a answer. Neo figures, "yeah: That's what I…thought." A corridor of code suddenly opens up in the air. From within, Neo sees past distance to see Copy Neo and Chavez's personal codes: Copy Neo tackling Chavez against the encrypted coding wall of the corridor.

Copy Neo sighs pityingly, "this isn't your fight, Chavez. You should be out fighting the Matrix: Not the "better" One."

Chavez shouts under his breath, "go to Hell!" He exposes the code around him, intentionally falling out of the code corridor and pulling Copy Neo out with him.

Neo is about to dive in to help. But, Chavez and Copy Neo's personal codes crash tumble into some neon lights overhead. In bright white flashes of light, they code rematerialize in the air. They crash tackle down into a smashing in neon lit table. The neon sparks daze Chavez, lying over the edge with bright white flashes of light still going off over his shaking body.

Copy Neo swing kicks Chavez to the floor, taking him out. Dark red liquid drops from around his mouth.

Angrily, Neo fly charges into Copy Neo: Crashing through several neon-lit tables in a blaze of blue sparks. Slightly dazed, Copy Neo falls to his side.

Copy Trinity calls out, "get back, Neo! He's mine." From the staircase, Copy Trinity fires a mostly gray black rocket launcher. She manipulates the code around it to counteract Copy Neo's own code manipulations against it. Neo jump tumbles out of range, as the rocket hits its mark. The fire easily dissipates, thanks to thought alone.

Copy Neo though forms a code breach under his feet at the last frozen time second…fly charging out from a new Thought-Focus generated code corridor for Copy Trinity. Tapping into the Thought-Focus though, Neo fly charge tackles him down from a second code corridor.

They deliver a fury of punches at each other, but dodge every time. Copy Neo kick jumps off of Neo by surprise, sending him tumbling down the bending code corridor. Neo groans violently, clutching his code shaken side. Matrix code for a heavy bruise and a faint burn surrounds the affected area. Copy Trinity is flying in to look for Neo. But, she wouldn't get there in time.

Copy Neo walks down the corridor, completely confident in his ability to kill Neo. Grasping at ideas, Neo has a ring of green light appear around his middle finger. He punches the ring of green bioelectrical energy into Copy Neo…stunning his personal code from the inside out. With his thoughts no longer keeping it in place, the code corridor dissipates.

Copy Neo crash lands to the floor, taken out on impact. He rematerializes with a very faint code heart beat…with rematerializing itself the only thing that keeps him from breaking his neck.

Neo checks, "is he…?" Bending over Chavez's body, Copy Trinity answers, "no. Thank God. Bitter sigh. Any longer, and he would've been." Thankfully, Neo slightly nods, "that's good. I should get back to the Matrix. For Zion. You coming?"

Copy Trinity looks up at him, standing back up. She bitterly chuckles, "afraid I'll have to sit this one out, soldier. Someone's got to protect Chavez, while he can't get up and do it. But…there is one thing you can do for me."

Unsure and completely serious all at once, Neo says, "ok."

Surprisingly nervously and teary eyed, Copy Trinity says, "when the war is over… I don't want a body. Bitter sigh. Go on and delete the Matrix. I won't stop you. But…this shithole is the closest life I have to "really" living. And there might be others like me that want a holodeck life of their own. I know that Construct Visions were a creation of the Matrix. And, all of Zion and how they feel about the Matrix. But…maybe you can design them for real: For me. For everyone that turns out to actually want to stay "enchanted"."

Neo figures firmly, "I'll see what I can do." A little stunned, Copy Trinity says, "bitter chuckle. Really? Just like that?"

With a faint smile, Neo reasons, "the Matrix may have created them. But, it was a possible future built around my consciousness. One that I may have even helped design, even if it was the future for real. Moderate sigh. It sure won't be easy for my crew to accept. But, all feelings of the Matrix aside… I would have done it in there. So, I don't see why I couldn't do it again out here."

With a slight smile, Copy Trinity solemnly says to him, "thank you…Neo."