Chapter 2: Fate
The rain was streaking the windows of the penthouse suite of the Hampton Hotel in what looked like 21st Century New York City. Sitting in a plush seat facing the front door, was a man dressed in a black business suit with red tinted glasses swirling in his hand a glass of scotch causing the ice cubes to clink against the sides. The man was easily six and half feet tall and when standing could tower over most grown men. His jet black hair was combed neatly back behind his ears, matching the depthlessness of his black eyes. A fire crackled in the fireplace to his left but the warth it gave off seemed to be consumed by the overall chill in the room. On the table before him an unfinished steak lay half eaten, with knife and fork placed neatly aside. On the right armrest of the plush chair, sat a brightly polished .44 magnum pistol and a smoldering cigar in an ashtray balancing on the end. The silence of the room was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Come in" replied the man sitting in the chair. "Mr. Black, I see you have returned. Did all go as planned?"
The new man who entered the dark penthouse from the hall, dressed in black and wearing black glasses, took a seat opposite to the man speaking. "I'm afraid we had a mix-up at the retrieval location you gave us. We were ambushed by some rebels and failed to capture the prisoner before was escaped."
"According to my sources, Mr. Black" the man coldly replied as he placed his glass down on the table before him next to the plate "your men were taken down by one man, with a blade of all things, and if that wasn't enough, you yourself were shot dead with a single bullet." The man's tone started to rise as anger started to creep in. "So, tell me Mr. Black how do you explain that?"
"Now boss" Mr. Black replied obviously shaken by his boss's acid tone "you have to understand this one man caught us by surprise and we were not prepared to take him on."
"Who was this strange man you speak of that even with two other agent, you could not apprehend let alone even lay a blow on" the man said from his chair while he crossed his fingers in front of his face.
"Well boss, we don't really know exactly except that his skill with a blade is unmatched by our men and as for how that one shot got me I don't know. What we do know is that he and his accomplices have been in the matrix before and belong to some group that call themselves 'The Church'. Our records do not contain much information about this group wandering around, must be some kind of group of religious nuts or something."
For a brief moment the color drained from the seated man's face "Did you say the Church Mr. Black?" as his face flushed red with growing anger at the sound of the name.
"Yes boss, that's what the others tells me. Who are they exactly, have you run into them before?"
"Yes and no. but that is no concern of yours now. I gave you an easy mission Mr. Black and Church or not, you should have been able to bring in a single little pest. Therefore..." getting up from is chair and walking behind Mr. Black "I have decided to reassign you to another duty that should be easier for you."
"Thank you si..." before the man could spit out his appreciation, the man standing behind him brought his hand down to the base of Mr. Black's head and with a flick of his wrist broke his neck. Mr. Black however did not change into another person in this instant as a vanquished agent would do but instead became millions of lines of green computer code outlining his body. The man, placing his hand on the shoulder of the late Mr. Black, caused a ripple in the lines of green code, which were then absorbed into his hand. Within moments the entire body of Mr. Black had been absorbed into the man. Flexing the fingers on his outstretched hand, he returned to his seat and took a drink of his glass of scotch sitting on the table.
"Well Mr. Black it would appears you had another duty after all." saying this the man started to spasm very violently and with each movement of his body, which was that of great pain, he appeared to glow slightly. After several moments the spasming ceased and the man slumped forward in his chair. Pulling himself from his chair, he once again the man took a drink from his scotch, and walked towards the windows behind him. Placing a hand on the window frame he looked down upon the city below, an endless sea of tiny lights, blurred from vision by the rain streaming down the windows and silhouetted by the occasional lightning.
"Hmm, so the Church is bothering in my business again. Well we'll just have to wait until they see what role fate has left to play in their plans."
Even outside the window, as the lightning flashed, the sinister laughter could still be heard.