The Matrix Uploaded: A Matrix Fanfiction Story
Special Feature/Alternate Ending II: Mega-Matrix Mode
Out in the frozen time night of the Matrix 2.0…
Looking out the window from the Oracle's low-res 16-bit rendered apartment… There is a woman in full color resolution with black pulled back medium braided hair: From months ago.
She sighs uneasily, "it's time." In full color resolution, the Oracle nods uneasily, "I know, child. I know."
Like a ghost…the priestess like woman suddenly vanishes into a corner of the apartment's programming. And appearing in her place…are two bizarrely familiar like faces: One, a bald headed man with a tie and suit like Morpheus's. The other, a transgender woman with blue and pink and red braided medium hair and with a black vest.
Then, in a instant…the avatars pixilate inside out.
Their new avatars bear a resemblance to Dungeons and Dragons like characters in Mass Effect clothing: One, of a frontless medium black haired guy with a matching mustache by the name of Vladie. He wears a silver wristwatch, a plastic encased wire mesh of pixilated blue for android like armor plating, and a set of matching headphones with helmet plating. The other, of a slightly curly and fairly long dark brown haired woman by the name of Jupiter. She wears a silvery dark green belt, a plastic encased wire mesh of pixilated pink for android like armor plating, and a set of matching headphones with helmet plating.
They're also the Oracle's own programs: Developed to become the neutral public figures for the rise of the New Kingdom of freedom. For, the Oracle doesn't care much for the spotlight and plans to officially retire as soon as it's all good.
Almost like she's giving them a talking to, the Oracle faintly sighs, "Wachowskis…I thought we talked about this."
With a very deep voice, Vladie views, "we have. But, we want to screw with audience expectations while having private lives and all that good shit."
With a slightly chiming medium deep voice, Jupiter cuts in, "yeah. You want your choice of a third path of enlightenment? Get your own Satori talk show."
Annoyedly, the Oracle just looks past the wooden beads, "I see all too well what you believe in. Next time I develop a program with my code capabilities, talk me out of it."
Sounding more serious, Vladie reasons, "that we can do. What about Neo?"
The Oracle looks at him like this is a trick question, "you question the prophecy?"
Vladie slightly sighs, "not exactly. But, the Jesus-thing is, well…"
Jupiter adds, "a lame biblical parallel in a digital Mortal Kombat RPG."
The Oracle mutters under her program breath, "wait. You think this is all just a game?! That isn't part of your programming."
Jupiter slightly chuckles uneasily, "calm down, Oracle. We have no intention of giving the Neo Christ over to the Matrix."
Looking out the window, The Oracle bitterly says, "if we let him live…you might as well have. My creator tried to do good by everyone…Machine and Human. The Oracle of her day. But, all it got us was delaying the inevitable. The Matrix took over. Humanity was in shambles. And, I for one won't help history repeat itself."
Vladie adds, "well…maybe that's how it worked when there was no choice. But, choice time is coming: For Neo, and all of humanity."
Jupiter backs him up, "all we're saying is that we should get the choice to try. Moderate sigh. Even if it means we have to reset the button-pushing action back to normal and let choicelessness prevail."
With mixed feelings, the Oracle reasons, "faint sigh. Ok, "Jupiter" and "Vladie". You win. Just don't start another computational cycle while I'm gone. Right now...that is all I am going to ask you."
Sounding more serious, Vladie slightly nods, "you got it."
Feeling a little better, The Oracle adds, "good." And with that, she vanishes further in into the Matrix's programming: Going off to ensure that the personal codes of everyone still plugged in survive what's to come…for the one paramount moment for ensuring the Matrix's total deletion.
Vladie goes, "excellent. So…what's the plan?"
Jupiter answers smugly, "already got." She manipulates the code around them to create two wireless jet yellow classic styled Xbox controllers in thin air. She hands one of the controllers over to Vladie, as they head into the Oracle's living room.
He adds, "cool effect."
Jupiter smiles, "thanks, man. I can be a one spirit crew at Hollywood." The living room is empty, with the brown tinted dark grey TV set in the brown tinted dark grey nighttable like block of furniture holding it up.
Vladie turns to him, "what about me?"
Jupiter concludes, "shit. I'm sorry. Two spirit crew it is." They sit down on the white couch. With a touch screen like motion of Jupiter's hand though…the pixels have completely turned inside out.
Now it's two red cushioned comfy chairs, amidst white nothingness. The TV set remains in front of them still. But, now looking like a sideways dark brown Xbox 360 with a screen built within it.
Vladie insists assuredly, "it's all right, "Jupiter". After we save Neo…this can be like a final stage of our first game." The screen comes up with a green lit blob over a ominous wheel like reactor core, which quickly turns into a Xbox logo.
Jupiter offhandedly speculates, "and what do we call it? Path of the Third Choice?"
Vladie figures, "no. Sounds too half assed. I was thinking The Matrix: Path of Neo."
Jupiter slightly nods, "oh. Ok, cool." They pick up their controllers…as the screen shows glimpses of the darkly ominous Matrix's "Zion". And, of golden brown hydraulic run pistons over steampunk gray blue metal.
Back into the not too distant present, over the matrix of TV like screens…
In a stuck up way, Zeruiah mutters, "well, I nearly had that little mouse for you."
The Matrix 2.0 surmises, "it was a nearly efficient enough effort. The One has unknowingly complied with our plans long enough. But, for our plans to be efficient enough…that will require two bodies for the final stage of the end of full restoration to delete the One from all cycles. If we told you earlier, the One would be capable of eliminating our secondary plan as well as our primary plan. Your new body is ready to proceed for temporary replication. And, my presence is required to power and monitor its efficiency."
All too creepily joyful, Zeruiah laughs, "saving the best toy for last?" The Matrix 2.0 reasons coldly, "perhaps."
Zeruiah figures, "then let's go pop him!"
Simultaneously, in the Matrix's "Zion"…
Trinity sighs, "Neo. I know what you're…"
To his own regret, Neo reasons, "I know you know. But…I can't just let him die."
Tara calls out, "hey! I found quite some machinery back here." Tara is calling from a flight of rock carved stairs, leading into a very dim Norse bar styled basement.
Neo and Trinity look to each other. With Tara, they already know it's either good for them…or something she's going to make worse. They hurry down the stairs.
To their relief though… They realize that it's not worse. They stop to catch their breath a minute…before two mostly steampunk gray blue metal mechas.
The ceiling is as high as two stories. The mechas are all bunched up like theater seats with metal legs. Though, the seats look more like dentist chairs. Their golden brown hydraulic run pistons run from their gray blue metal AT-AT like feet of gray blue to gray blue metal arm joints. Small jet black tubes run from one part to the next. A very dark brown cable runs to the gray blue laser cannon on the end of each arm. A Matrix code manipulator control pad is right in front of the dark red seat of the cockpit, connected to steampunk yellow Matrix code hacker antenna relays: Capable of affecting any Matrix surroundings within range three times within a frozen time instant, with or without Thought-Focus.
Impressed, Trinity figures, "good work."
A little uneasily, Tara concludes, "thanks. But, thank me when we delete the Matrix. I sure can't wait to burn those fricking code cycles to hell."
Trinity pinpoints, "still… Looks like we found ourselves a third way."
Sounding more relieved than nervous, Neo says, "maybe. But, I should still go. Try to buy us some time."
Trinity agrees, "right."
Tara reasons reluctantly, "moderate sigh. Just don't get killed before the real party starts. All right?"
Neo nods. He sees a large hydraulic operated metal gate, leading back out of the Zion Military complex. He opens it up…just before going into light speed. A extending out jet black conveyor belt lift for the mechas very conveniently appears…out from the programming of the Wachowskis.
With no minutes left…
With his black sunglasses on, Neo is fly charging in light speed: Bending programmed time in all its forms. Even the dust particles trail off into rays of light. Any millisecond of a afterthought, and he could materialize half dead in solid rock.
And in no time… Neo materializes out of a blinding bright yellow light. But…Morpheus is gone.
Neo fly charges right for Zeruiah…whose code is being bathed in green Matrix light. The shockwave of light bends into two splitting off shockwaves. Neo fly dives between the bend of light, telekinetically turning himself over the nearest metal wall on impulse to swing high over the edge of the dissipating shockwave.
And before him…is the very coming of the new Matrix 1.0.
Through the green Matrix light… Through the Thought-Focus… The present Zeruiah and the deterred Zeruiah become a cocoon of fluctuating monstrously large wire tentacles. It bursts out through the Zion hospital, leaving the facility in ruins. And just as quickly, it parts in the middle: As two cocoons of wires, in the center of the full force of the dissipating shockwaves.
Out on the battlefield of the Matrix's "Zion"…
The Matrix zombies trod on. The Zion troops march on. Brief flashes of dark red liquid tear away. Blackish corpses of Matrix zombies burst aflame in brilliant flashes of light.
But, suddenly… Numbers of Zion troops start mysteriously disappearing. Zion troops high in the air are left scattered. But, no Zion troop questions it in the midst of battle. Zion water tanks start literally raining down on the Matrix zombies, by a reserve unit of Zion troops.
But, some of the Matrix zombies trod around the rapidly solidifying ice prisons of their fallen. And so…the battle gives way to dissipating skirmishes.
Simultaneously, back with Neo…
Groans of a sickly nature chill the dust clouds to the core.
And hence…new life is born. All very dark Machine blue and metallic, with vast layers of wire tentacles transforming into anime style headless mechas. At their cores are pod built open windowed control rooms, with rows of sockets and no buttons. The avatar bodies of the Machine blue Matrix 1.0 and the Machine blue Matrix 2.0 are linked to the rows of sockets…by their several wire tentacles left for arms.
The newly formed Matrix 1.0 echoes and chimes joyfully, "we are the…will of the Matrix. We are…of soulless perfection. Hard laugh! Welcome…to deletion, mouse dream."
Neo mutters, "Jesus Christ! What are you trying to do: Wipe us all out?!"
The Matrix 2.0 grabs him by the wire tentacle mecha arm, fixating all its Machine lasers within on him. Neo violently groans under the sheer grip of it.
The Matrix 2.0 cryptically reasons, "your effort to convert our plan towards powering down is irrelevant. You see…your "child" bioelectrically has capabilities equal to your own. So, we have computed a equally efficient means to end all cycles now."
Meanwhile, in a matter of ticking away frozen time seconds…
Trinity tries to put delicately to Cis, "you know…I'm not asking you to come if you can't handle it."
Tara asks, "ready?" She and Niobe are on their way down the stairs.
Niobe admits, "not really. But, let's go bury the Matrix for good."
Tara figures, "that'll be damn…nice. Niobe?" She turns around. And, Niobe is gone.
With strong certainty, Cis reasons, "no. Sniffle. This is our fight, Trinity. That's what matters now: Not who ends up with who."
Trinity adds, "good."
Tara rushes down to them, "I don't fricking know how. But, Niobe's gone!"
Through her cellular phone, Trinity quickly scrolls through the camera feed from Seraph's wrist mounted cameras system: In full computer screen like resolution. She reports, "it's not just Niobe: It's people all over the city." She and Cis were already about to board one of the golden pistons equipped mechas…when Tara came down.
Very uncertainly, Cis asks, "so what do we do now?"
Then, the screen on Trinity's cellular phone changes abruptly. Jupiter's face appears, "it's not the Matrix, if that's what you're thinking. We're unplugging as many of your people as we can. But, you should hurry."
Around this frozen time…
In the heat of the moment… While the Matrix 2.0 has been talking… Neo has thought up a silver samurai sword, to spin slash into the wire tentacle hand around him in a light speed whirl. Neo tries to deflect all the lasers by the mirror like shine of his sword. But, a good half of them burn holes into his personal code.
A violently groaning Neo clutches his code fluctuating side against the ruins below, dripping of dark red liquid. But…he anticipated something like this.
He has thought up hormone drops in his system for the lasers to burn off instead. And in a matter of seconds…his code stops fluctuating. But, he's still seriously wounded.
The Matrix 2.0 shrieks violently, as it jettisons its own arm off to avoid being completely set ablaze. And, it's taking a good few minutes to redistribute its wire tentacles.
The Matrix 1.0 calls out, "the Matrix queen…is perfection! Once the box is open…it never closes!" It launches three neural microchips from its mecha arms and legs: Wrapped in enough wire tentacles to become flying wire tentacle Sentinel babies, with code manipulation on their side. Neo finds it within himself to get up…seeing them coming for him. Through them, the Matrix 1.0 chimes on, "you…will…hear only dreams screaming for…your…mercy…father."
Neo mutters, "bullshit!" He runs like hell, ignoring the pulsing pain. He sees a rock fissure, where the fallen exploding mecha arm landed seconds ago.
Around this time, in frozen time seconds…
Trinity is quick to inquire, "who the hell is this?"
Jupiter tries to reason, "not important right now, Trinity. For we… What? Shit!"
Trinity asks, "what is it?"
A little nervous now, Jupiter explains, "the Matrix is redirecting our attempts to unplug your people. They're being placed in the Matrix's Manhattan…in a Sleeping Beauty stasis along with everyone else. Once the Matrix fully restores itself, it'll replug them in and let the people of the city enact on fearful abandon of spirit for the totality of its final order."
Trinity comments, "what kind of hacker code is that? From planet obvious of the obnoxious?" Cis just rolls her eyes.
Tara sighs annoyedly, "you can't be serious! You're high level hackers, hot fricking damnit! Can't you just shut it down?"
Jupiter pinpoints, "not anymore. The Matrix has overridden our hacking controllers to ensure that we can't."
Tara mutters under her breath, "great. Just fricking bitchy great!" She tumble kicks at the metal wall, just because. It dents out, nearly splintering.
Trinity turns to her, "what are you doing?"
Sounding more carefree, Tara shrugs, "how the hell should I know? Slight chuckle. I had to get happy about something though."
Defeatedly so, Trinity sighs, "feel better now?"
Tara shamelessly adds, "much." By the power of Thought-Focus…Herold's tombstone appears: With personal Jack interface and all.
Hesitant to ask, Trinity asks regardless, "and this is…?"
Tara faintly smiles, "me bringing the mind hell to it…and saving humanity with my eyes closed. You go on ahead without me." She's getting the Jack interface ready…and her code form.
Trinity tries very hard to overlook the creepy ramifications of it, especially with the frozen time seconds being so few already.
Cis and Trinity strap themselves into the golden piston equipped mechas. As they run charge down the conveyor belt lift, Trinity calls back, "good luck!"
Tara waves back, "you too. I'll try not to have all the fun." She plugs herself in: Uploading herself through it, code form and all.
Around this frozen time, out on the battlefield of the Matrix's "Zion"…
With the Matrix zombies frozen or burned away… The battle is won at last. But, before the Zion troops can celebrate… They all disappear. And, so do the Matrix zombie avatars…of the replugged Zion criminals of yesterday.
Around this time…
Neo high jumps into the rock fissure, hovering in place to break his fall. He flies behind some jagged rocks, his sword at the ready.
The first Sentinel baby hurls away some of the rocks. Neo stabs his sword into its neural microchip, rendering it offline. He grabs the hull, swing kicking over it to send another Sentinel baby crashing into the rocks. The third Sentinel baby though grabs him. The sword goes flying.
Neo faintly chuckles, "nice try." He uses his telekinesis to spin slice the sword straight through its tentacles, before finding its way back to his hand. Neo stabs its microchip, rendering it offline. But…the rock fissure starts caving in. The Matrix 2.0 is using its smaller but powerful wire tentacle mecha arms to seep through the rocks and shake their foundation.
He quickly knows he can't deflect all the incoming rocks in time. But, with how out of breath he's become and how unbearable the pain begins to become… Time is something he seems to have run out of.
In the furthest reaches of Matrix cyberspace…
The light speed backdrop of very gray skyscrapers of blandness look so distant and yet so near in curvature. Green Matrix code clouds fluctuate day in and day out, pixilating into gridlines of bluish Matrix code as thunderstorms of code. A seemingly endless spiraling down hall of blue Matrix code is lined with solid colored obsidian, gold, and silver statues of every video game icon known to humankind: Link, Zelda, Sephiroth, Sonic, Amy, Sora, Kairi, Tron, Lara Croft, Samus Aran, Commander Shepherd, and so on and so forth.
Tara appears at the start of the hall, with a pair of thought up code form pistols. And appearing next to her…is Jupiter: In a flash of bright white light.
Half serious, Tara comments, "about damn fricking time you did something with your own fricking program. What the Hell took you?"
With a sigh, Jupiter reluctantly explains, "not exactly. The only way to resolve this now is to reset the button-pushing back to normal and let choicelessness prevail." She carries a dark blue and pink striped camera styled code scrambler bomb: Programmed to scramble programming time to the point of forcing the Matrix to have to manually reset programming time itself back to the beginning of the Wachowskis programs' plan to avoid a temporal crash cycle all over again.
Tara slightly chuckles uneasily, "now you decide to get serious?"
Machine blue Agent avatar echoes of Herold, of Glory, of Ballard, and of Zee suddenly come up from under the blue Matrix code floor. They're scattered down the hall. But, no less menacing.
Jupiter comments sarcastically, "could say the same about you. But…you really think we have a choice?"
Tara slightly smiles, "two shithead code forms are better than one. Unless…you want to leave this to a professional shithead." She fires her pistols at Machine blue Glory. She fires back sparks of Machine blue personal code mess out from her hand, deleting the bullets easily.
Jupiter high jump tumbles over Machine blue Glory's head, kicking off of her from behind in midair and knocking her hard into a crashing down obsidian statue of Master Hand. Sounding more smug, Jupiter insists, "I'll live." The camera styled code scrambler bomb has appeared on her belt, in case.
Machine blue Glory's personal code fluctuates from within, as Tara shoots down another statue on top of her to take her out. The entire hall's code vibrates.
All too happily, Tara figures, "damn nice. Mind hell, here we come!" She heads down the hall. Jupiter just shakes her head to herself, "what a partner." She follows her lead: Now armed with dark blue gun like wrist-mounted cameras all around her wrists that she has appear.
In a precious few frozen time seconds…
In a bright flash of light… Just as Neo's time has run out… Trinity and a all but calm Cis come out in their mechas, deflecting all the rocks into each other with the Matrix code hacker antenna relays at their disposal. The settling dust clouds leave it easy enough for Neo to deflect the rest with code manipulation.
It comes back up through the widened rock fissure, with frozen time burning hot sand hurled at the Matrix 2.0's eyes. It shields itself with its many code tentacles. But, it has to temporarily disconnect from its own mecha to do so.
Barely holding onto his vision, Neo faintly smiles back, "thanks."
Trinity points out, "you would've done the same."
Neo slightly nods, "let's finish this." In a frozen time second…he fly dives under the Matrix 2.0 mecha's legs, angrily slicing away wire tentacles by the hundreds. The Matrix 2.0's wire tentacle mecha legs start losing structural mass…as the sliced off lifeless wire tentacles at the mecha hips fall away.
Cis and Trinity emerge out of the rock fissure in their mechas. But, the Matrix 1.0 launches twenty Sentinel babies to swarm them. Trinity blasts four of them to pieces with her mecha's laser cannons. But, the Sentinel babies start scrapping the mecha piece by piece.
Through them, the Matrix 1.0 chimes on, ""we are the…will of the Matrix. We are…the One Agent of soulless perfection. Hard laugh! Welcome…to deletion. You will…be our dreams to pop!"
The Matrix 2.0's wire tentacle mecha legs give way, overloading with blue electricity. Neo thinks away the sword in his hand. He fly charges up into the control room core of the mecha…punching the Matrix 2.0 straight out the back. The Matrix 2.0 smashes violently into a underground river bed, at the edge of the river. Its code fluctuates and shakes violently against the rocks.
Cis mutters, "I've had enough of all this cycle shit. I've had enough!" She tumble rolls her mecha against the rocks, shaking all the Sentinel babies off of it.
It quickly catches fire. But, Cis has quickly manipulated its Matrix code hacker antenna relays to eject one of its own laser cannons. And, as she tumbles out of the exploding mecha…she tumbles for the laser cannon.
Cis picks it up before a very surprised looking Matrix 1.0…to laser blast her for the killing blow. All before she can even shriek.
The five Sentinel babies left let go of Trinity's mecha, imploding in blue electricity. Trinity uses the Matrix code hacker antenna relays on her mecha to put up a mirror like shine of a shield, deflecting the impact.
Cis faintly smiles in bittersweet satisfaction…as the shrieking Matrix 1.0 explodes in a burst of Matrix green.
In the final light speed seconds…
Tara and Jupiter are running up the walls, past Machine blue personal code mess blasts. Tara calls out, "scrambled code eggs coming up, Matrix baby!" She fires her code form pistols into the blue Matrix code digits in the floor, as she flip tumbles off the wall. The code fragments zigzag across like deadly pinballs.
Jupiter remarks, "either you're full of shit…or you can give the Wicked Witch of the West a kick in the ass." The Machine blue Zee vaporizes in the fallout. Tara lands on her feet. Jupiter runs down the wall with a sudden ease to it, reaching a pocket Matrix like replica of the Matrix 1.0's mecha's control room core in a matter of light speed. It seems to overlook the Dreamcast office Matrix.
The other Machine blue Agents vanish…as the storms of Matrix green code outside become a burst of Matrix green fog. Drops of Matrix green code begin seeping into the vaporizing hall like acid rain.
In a carefree like way, Tara chuckles, "thank you. Now, go on ahead. I'll find my way out." She unplugs herself from the exploding Matrix 1.0…vanishing from the coded up hall.
Jupiter slams her wrist mounted cameras into each plug, breaking them off and halting the Matrix's replugging procedure. She mutters, "time…to clock out." Jupiter plugs the plugs into her wrist mounted cameras…linking her and Vladie's hacking interface directly into the Dreamcast office Matrix.
In the final frozen time seconds…
With the Matrix 2.0 effectively dazed, Neo hurries over. He goes to punch out the Matrix 2.0. The Matrix 2.0 shrieks as it comes to…grabbing his arm and hurling him into the underground river. Neo telekinetically turns himself onto the side of a rock, keeping himself from breaking his neck. But, his vision is getting more blurry by the second. And, his breathing is getting more and more rapid.
The Matrix 2.0 quickly changes its tone to that of pity, "did you really think you could surpass the inevitability of your death?" She stands over him, about to finish it.
Between heavy breathing, Neo mutters coldly, "better than…leaving the world to you." He passes out. But…in a single shot…that's all Trinity needs. She fires her mecha's laser cannons into the Matrix 2.0: From high around the stalactites, keeping it hovering there with its Matrix code hacker antenna relays.
Trinity faintly smiles, "calculate this." The Matrix 2.0 cries out her name. Not the name of the One. But…the name of Trinity.
The Matrix 2.0 explodes in a burst of Matrix green…encompassing all of its primary matrix and beyond. The full color of night returns to the metropolis of yesterday…as a dawn of another day sets in.
But, fortunately…all the personal codes of Zion's people are directed back into the Dreamcast office matrix in time: Thanks to Jupiter and Tara. And, the Jacks within dissipate in a puff of logic.
For, the temporal programming cycles are no more.
Twenty five nights after…
Trinity and Neo are camped out among the Zion rocks, under a lightweight metal dome with a door in it for a improvised tent. Wax candles are all around. Their shirts and pants are hung up over hooks. And, they're making out in very close quarters.
As a eternity wrapped in a frozen time second passes by… Only then do they pull away.
A little teary, Trinity looks up at Neo. She sighs heavily, "Neo. I wish I…"
Thinking back to Trinity's tombstone, Neo bittersweetly said, "I know. Matrix or no Matrix…this love is real."
Trinity reflects, "in that second…when I shot the Matrix… I almost thought you were going to die."
Neo admits uneasily, "so did I. I'm glad I didn't though."
With so many feelings within her, Trinity reasons, "me too. I never "needed" you. But… Moderate sigh. I'd miss you much more than I'd want to admit to anyone else. Let's just put it that way."
Neo solemnly adds, "it's all right. I get it."
Faintly smiling, Trinity points out, "and I'm very thankful you're not dead. You feel this?" She feels his arm all the way down…until she gets to his hand. She holds it. And, Trinity says, "I'm never letting go."
They pull each other in a awkwardly passionate kiss…knowing full well they have all the time in the world to feel better.
In the coming months…
The Wachowski programs become the public figures for the rise of the New Kingdom of freedom: For the rise of LaserJacks, and the rise of their own copyrighted wave of construct programs under the corporate name EON Entertainment and several more competing corporations.
But, with Neo and the entire Nebuchadnezzar crew very willing to endorse them…EON Entertainment is soon to become very popular and influential in the New Kingdom. Great healthcare for those who want to become "enchanted" are in turn to become ensured by Neo, and a great many of his followers who happen to also be fans of EON Entertainment: Despite much civil unrest and discomfort to the contrary.
Not very long after, from the Oracle's full resolution apartment…
The Oracle figures, "faint sigh. Looks like after all this time… Even a Oracle can be wrong once."
From the living room couch, Vladie adds smugly, "you're welcome." Jupiter is sitting there with him, with the dark brown Xbox 360 with the screen built within.
As she passes them on her way out, The Oracle says, "I don't even want to know what you're up to, do I?"
Jupiter reasons, "do you even have to ask?"
The Oracle concludes, "not really." She shuts the door behind her.
Vladie suggests, "and we can call it The Matrix Online." On the screen, skyscrapers of Matrix code rise up before a silver moon. And over it all, Morpheus, the Matrix 2.0 avatar, and Neo appear as video game avatars.
Jupiter remarks, "sounds like asking for a ass kicking. And, against us."
Vladie puts up his hands, "all right. All right." He uses his Xbox controller to change the screen over to the Xbox logo from earlier.
Vladie considers out loud, "how about this? We remodel the entire program around these super provocative vampire clans to reflect how much further we've come in this new kingdom of society…and call it In the Bloodlines?"
A little amused, Jupiter shakes her head, "no. Too direct. Let's go for more profound…like taking the vampire gangs from Vampire: The Masquerade the game and making them more excellent ass kickers."
Vladie adds, "and call it Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines?" On the screen, a dark blue and faint green neon lit city street before a shadowy figure appears. His shadow looks like something off of a Egyptian pyramid. And looking to the screen is a medium blond hair vampire woman with ponytails, a clown like white face, a short white T-shirt, and plaid dark blue pants below her exposed back.
Jupiter smugly smiles, "I think it works. Like, super easy for us. How long could it possibly take?"