Chapter 4: You never see it coming
12-8-03
5:30PM
MCPD
Without realizing that he was staring at the floor in his deep thought, Vince knew Indigo came through. Soon. He shook his head. Now he knew he was out there, but he hadn't the slightest idea as to where. He looked back up at his computer monitor and saw the search results and remembered what he was doing before he had gotten the phone call. Finding out what the Matrix was. He looked over out the window across the floor to Howard's office again. How many times have I looked over there in the past few days? He got up out of his chair and exited his office and went over and knocked on the Howard's door and was greeted with an immediate "Come in". He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Howard looked up from whatever it was he was doing at the moment and blinked as he took a moment to see who came in. "Whatcha got, Vince?" he asked. He seems calm.
"I just did a search on the FBI's database for the Matrix. Every case that came up was related by one specific factor other than mention of the Matrix."
"Yeah? What, what is it?"
"They're all missing persons cases. Every single one."
"This looks like it's deeper than just one guy who fell off the face of the earth with a drug dealer. Something's not right here."
"You have any suggestions?"
"Well you said all of the cases related to the term Matrix were all filed as missing persons cases. Obviously your friend isn't the only one doing all of the disappearing acts, so there's more like him out there, meaning that going after one guy might be a waste of time."
"A waste of time? People are disappearing and leaving no trace as to where they go and all we get to do is play around with our thumbs up our asses trying to figure out what the Matrix is."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, this isn't any walk in the park it's been happening all over the place it seems. Okay then, listen. You're in charge of this now."
"What do you mean I'm in charge of it?"
"The whole missing persons thing with the Matrix, I want you to lead the case."
"I'm a narc, I don't work in missing persons why don't you hand it over to them?"
"Because this Irvine guy is still in your hands and you've got a lead now."
Vince sighed. His facial expression became that of one who was concerned or worried about something else other than the situation at hand, as he thought about Irvine's phone call once again.
"What's the matter with you?"
He snapped out of it. "Wha-Oh, nothing, I'm fine. Yeah, I'll see what I can do with this. If I don't find anything you'll be the first to know about it."
"Do whatever you gotta do to find out where these people are going, who Irvine is, and what the Matrix is. Find out by any means necessary."
"Alright." Vince looked at the clock. It was 5:50. His shift ended at 6:00. "Hey I'm gonna get outta here okay?"
"What? Oh, yea, that's fine, see you tomorrow." said Howard, already putting his attention toward something else on his desk. He was busy in paperwork. Vince stepped out and went back into his office. He turned off his computer, and as he walked out of his office, he shut the door behind him and locked it. After he made it downstairs and went outside, he began walking over to his car. He reached into his pocket for his keys, and then his cell phone rang. He took it out and flipped it open.
"Hello?"
"I did say I would contact you soon."
Vince had a double take. "Irvine!!"
"You sound excited. And now it looks as if you're searching for me more now than you ever have in the past."
"How long have you been watching me?"
"Questions, questions. That's irrelevant."
"Questions?! You act like you think I'd have none!"
"Well, I did know you would have questions, and you'll have more soon, but I was looking for something more specific. I hear you're interested in the red pill."
I know what he wants.
"Yeah. What is the Matrix?"
"Aha. Now we have progress."
"What is it?"
"I can't tell you what it is. You have to see it for yourself."
"What?"
"The Matrix is pervasive, it's all around you. You're staring at it as we speak. It's right under your nose. You've been living these past 29 years oblivious to its existence. It has you Janus. I can help you escape, but only if you want me to."
Vince considered this. Help me escape..?
"So where's this meeting going to take place?"
"Are you sure you're ready for the truth? I think you are, but I won't force you to do this."
"I'm sure."
"We'll meet tonight at 1:00. In Kedemoth there is a nightclub called Club Duality. I found it appropriate, don't you? I'll be inside. Until then, keep dreaming."
Irvine had hung up the phone before Vince could ask another question. He looked at his phone, and thought about what he said. He looked down the street as he put his phone in his pocket. He turned his head and looked in the opposite direction. He looked at the buildings in front of him, the cars parked alongside the street, and then all around him. Nothing seemed at all strange. Pervasive? He shrugged and moved to climb into his car, started the ignition, and drove off.
----
6:00PM
When he got out of the car, he slammed the door shut, but in the process, dropped his keys. When he kneeled down to pick him up, he thought he saw someone standing on the street corner in the corner of his eye. Maybe he's waiting to cross the street. After picking up his keys, he stood up and turned his head toward the person standing there. In a second, he scanned the man from head to toe. Black suit, white shirt, tie, glasses. Staring at him. Williams?! He had a double take. Then, a group of people walked in front of the man who was supposedly Agent Williams. When they'd passed by, he was gone. Vince looked in the direction he stood for a moment and shook his head. Just a dream... just a dream. He turned and crossed the street, and then walked up the steps to the apartment complex lobby and stepped inside. Down the block on the sidewalk on Vince's side of the street this time rather than the opposite stood Agent Williams, watching silently. A couple passed him by, and when he saw Vince make it inside the building, his right hand went up to the ear plug. He took a moment, registering whatever instructions it was that was coming over the link.
"Subject is inside home. Irvine nowhere in proximity. We will continue to watch Mr. Burnett until further instructions are received."
With that, he turned and walked away down the street, amidst every other non suspecting person.
----
1:00AM
Kedemoth
Pulling up in front of Club Duality, turning the engine off, and checking his gun all seemed like Deja-vu to Vince. He'd only just done this the night before, and although he was in a different area of the city, it didn't matter. The same setup. Meet in the club, discuss business, see where it goes. But unlike his meeting with Indigo, this wasn't for information. This was it. The break in the case, meeting the man he'd been searching for for a year now. He shook his head. Vince was going to sit this one out. Game time.
He had parked down the street from the club's front entrance, so he began walking down the sidewalk toward the place. It was crowded, but it didn't get to him. He noticed someone walk up alongside him to his right, dressed in rather outlandish fashion that seemed cool for being so out of the ordinary. He thought nothing of it until he saw another one in front of him, walking in his direction. Instinctively, he looked down to his side and noticed someone was also behind him, and didn't have to think twice about the person on his left. Not only were these people following him, they had him boxed in. He knew something was up, but he also knew they did too, based on their configuration. They had the drop on him, it seemed.
"Janus," the one on his right spoke. "Stay silent. Don't turn your head to look at any of us, focus on the sidewalk and just keep walking straight," he said. "We're what you might call friends of Irvine. We're taking you to him."
"We know you're armed," the one in front of him said. "So don't try anything funny. This is for our protection. Once we get you inside the club, head to the back. Irvine will be waiting for you there."
In his silent compliance, Janus offered no argument. They approached the door, and the man in front of this escort squadron presented some sort of card to the Bouncer. Upon examining it, he handed it back and stepped aside, allowing the group entry. Once inside, flashing strobe and laser lights pierced the darkness, with smoke machines doing their thing. Along with this, the fast paced, booming, almost hypnotic techno music.
"Rise FM, broadcasting LIVE from Club Duality! The 24/7, 365, off the hook stay up FOREVER party venue! WE MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE," the DJ yelled into his microphone, drawing loud cheers from those on the dance floor.
One of the escorts nudged Janus with his elbow, so he turned to look.
"He's in the back, behind the doors. Be careful in here, there's a lot of exiles in the joint."
"Exiles?"
The man smiled behind his sunglasses, something Janus thought strange for him to be wearing in this dark club.
"Never mind about that for now. Maybe we'll see you around again," the stranger said, before disappearing into the crowd. Janus pondered for a second, after realizing the rest of the team escorting him had also fell out of sight. Now alone, he turned and looked toward the doorway Irvine was supposed to be waiting behind. Wasting no time, he went straight to them, a set of tinted glass doors that you couldn't see through, like windows on a limousine. He pushed them upon and stepped inside. And the greeting he received wasn't what he expected.
Irvine stood in the center of the room with his arms crossed. He wore a simple three piece black suit, the jacket of which was knee length. His shirt underneath was colored maroon, with a matching tie. He grinned upon Janus' entry. "You finally showed up."
Besides Irvine, there were four other people waiting there with him. Three of them had guns pointed at Janus. He stood wide eyed looking at each of them trying to figure out what he'd just gotten himself into. One of these people was a black man that was maybe an inch taller than Vince was. He had a mustache, and sunglasses covering his eyes like the rest of them. His hair was short cut, almost like a soldier's would be but with the curled hair of a black man. He wore a leather calf length trench coat. Under this was a black bullet proof vest made with leather covering the kevlar, and under that, what could be a black long or short sleeve shirt. He wore a generic pair of black pants that looked like they were made of denim and were slightly baggy, and pair of boots. He noticed a cylindric silver and black colored sword hilt that obviously belong to a sword being covered by the rest of the coat, on the man's right hip. Black gloves covered his hands. But what Janus took major note of was the MP5-K with a 15 round clip that he had pointed in his face. He looked from the barrel of the gun, to the black guy's face. He had no facial expression.
Janus then looked to the next one. A female of oriental descent who was petite in size. Her jet black hair was tied back into a long french braid that went down to her waist line. She wore a skin tight body suit made of black spandex, and it was all one piece for ease of motion. Her boots were also skin tight and they looked like they were a part of the body suit except you could tell it was thicker leather material. They were definitely feminine, made for quick and agile activity, and they went as high as her calf. Over this body suit she wore a small leather jacket. She had a Walther PPK aimed right between his eyes. The sunglasses made her look as if she were a stone cold killer. If the shoe fits..
He looked onto the last person aiming a gun at him. Another female. This one was about an inch taller than Cheryl was. Her hair was red, and up in a ponytail. She wore a skintight red and black leather pants, and a black leather corset, over which she wore a red vest. She stared at him through her red-tinted sunglasses as she held a Beretta 85FS aimed at his face in her hand. She wore gloves over her hands with the fingers cut half way.
Then there was the last thug of Irvine's pack. This one seemed laid back, or not at all worried or concerned about Vince than the other three did. Unlike the others with black or dark brown hair, this man had slicked back platinum blonde hair. He had black sunglasses in his own style like the others did on his face, along with an observant expression.. He had a long, ankle length black coat on. Under the coat he wore a black dress shirt with a raised collar that stopped just under his jaw, and over this, a vest. Under the collar of the dress shirt he wore a dark violet tie. The coat itself had no buttons to hold it closed but instead there was a gold chain that was attached and fastened at about the same level as the middle of his chest. The vest itself had gold buttons rather than black. Instead of a gun, his weapon of choice was a Katana, which was approximately 29 inches long, encased in a black sheath with gold thread wrapped around the base. He wore black gloves on his hands. His pants were black dress pants, and he wore black dress shoes with them. Rather than being ready to kill Janus at the first sign, he had the sword at his front with his hands placed over the top of the hilt, as if it were a cane. This man was Anubis, the man known in the MCPD precinct as Daniel Lancaster.
Out gunned, and outnumbered, Janus knew he had no chance. "Alright. Alright," he said to signify his surrender. Removing his gun slowly from his jacket holster, he released the magazine from the gun and let it drop to the floor with a CHANG. He slowly brought his free hand up to the slide on his gun, and pulled it back, ejecting the last round from the chamber. It fell to the floor and bounced once before finally resting. Then he dropped the gun itself. However, the three people still had their guns pointed up at him. He looked over at Irvine.
"What's the deal?" He asked, raising his arms.
"You've been bugged, you're being watched. This is for the safety of everyone here. Kira,"
Vince arched a brow when Irvine said Kira, but then realized he was talking to one of the people holding a gun to him. The one wearing the black and red leather put her gun into the holster and stepped towards him. He turned to face her. She pulled a syringe like object out from her coat and Vince eyed it skeptically.
"What is that?"
"Don't move." She answered with a serious tone. She brought the syringe up to his right ear and pushed it in. He started to worry, and heard a loud whining noise. She pulled back on the "pump" part of the syringe and the next thing he knew it felt like someone jammed a Q-Tip into his ear and pulled it out. Slightly stunned, he put his hand up to to his ear and looked at the syringe. His eyes widened with horror. Inside the syringe, the metallic centipede that Agent Williams dropped into his ear in his "dream" squirmed around inside like a trapped animal until it seemingly died and was lifeless and still. Kira threw the syringe away. Vince's hand was still over his ear.
"That thing was real?!" he yelled out, looking to Kira for an answer. She said nothing and stared at him again. The others hadn't yet dropped their guns. Irvine put up his hand.
"Blade, Solitaire, please, put your weapons down. Our friend here is no longer a danger."
In the respective order their names were mentioned, Blade and Solitaire put their weapons away under their coats. They turned their heads toward Irvine, and he smiled.
"Now, Janus, time to get to business. You probably feel as if you've gotten yourself caught up into something you have no knowledge about, but strangely, it doesn't feel wrong, no?"
"..Yeah."
"When we last spoke you asked me what the Matrix was."
Janus nodded.
"Do you really want to know what it is?"
"Yes."
"You're lookin' at it."
A puzzled look came across Janus' face, to Irvine's amusement.
"The Matrix is all around you. Here, now. On the dance floor. Outside, all over the place. You see it everywhere. When you drive your car. When you go to the precinct. When you have sex with your girlfriend. I told you earlier, it's pervasive. You would never know of it's existence until now. It's a deception, leading you to believe that you're living a peaceful regular life in the early 21st century. Sometimes, you can sense it, like there's something big or important around the corner, but it never comes. This can change."
Janus knew this feeling Irvine was talking about, about feeling so close yet so far from something you knew was there but couldn't see or know in any way. It wasn't something he only experienced at work. It was a feeling he had for as long as he could remember.
"It can?"
"Yes, if you want it to. I'm giving you the option to get out of the Matrix, and free your mind. Either that, or you can stay here in the Matrix and live the same life you've been living every day where you wake up, go to work, come home, spend time with your girlfriend, go to sleep, and start it over again the next day."
Janus looked at him and thought it over. This talk of truth and another world wasn't something he expected. He was anticipating a drug exchange, but the things he said had effect. They summoned idle thought Janus had always had about this life and place, idle thoughts that were buried and pushed aside by the life his work put him into. Irvine could see he was considering his words.
"Have you ever felt like you dreaming, and couldn't tell if what you experienced was real?"
What is this guy a mind reader? Janus remembered his experience with the Agents, and how life after that seemed aloof. "All the time."
"Would you like to wake up and find out?"
Janus arched a brow. He had no idea where this was going. "...Yeah."
Irvine reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver case, and poured its contents into his hand.
"This is it Janus. You've been searching for me for a year, and here we are. Once we've reached this point, there is no going back."
Janus continued to pay attention. The pain in his ear was killing him.
"You said you wanted the red pill..." he began, and opened his hand to revealed to Janus both the red and blue pills Indigo had mentioned to him the night earlier.
"If you take it, everything will change. Everything you've known your whole life will be revealed for what it really is. There is no going back. If you take the blue pill, the road ends here. You wake up in your bed, as if this was another dream, and keep living your life as you have been, searching for that which you cannot find. Choose your destiny."
Janus stared at the pills. After a moment, he reached out and took the red pill from Irvine's palm. He noticed that Irvine and the rest of his crew had their eyes on him, including Lancaster. He couldn't not take the thing now, it wasn't like he could put it in his pocket, go home, and say "I'll get back to you." Without any other option, he gathered saliva in his mouth, placed the pill on his tongue, and swallowed.
"Just a moment," Irvine said. He took a cell phone out from the inside of his coat and pressed a release button, and the face shield snapped up. He pushed a button on the phone and brought it up to his ear. It rang and the person on the other end picked up.
"Operator."
"Glitch, are you tracking him?"
"We got him, we see where he is, we just have to wait for him to 'die'."
"Very funny. Is the exit ready?"
"It's all set-- what the..."
A look of concern came over Irvine's face upon hearing this. After seeing this, Janus, and the rest of Irvine's crew looked to him to see what the problem was.
"What's the matter?" Irvine asked.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE! AGENTS AND SWAT ARE CONVERGING ON YOUR POSITION NOW!!" Glitch screamed.
Without further comment, Irvine closed his phone and looked to his team. "Agents and SWAT are inbound, we gotta move."
"A fuckin' sting operation?! He set us up!" Blade said in disbelief as he moved for the door.
"No, they probably tracked him here without anyone realizing it. Get to the Kedemoth Central exit," Irvine said. He turned to Janus, who was trying to figure out what was happening. "Janus, this goes against procedure but we have no choice, get out of here as fast as you can. We'll come back for you." With that, he turned and hurried for the rear exit the rest of his team had already escaped through.
"What the fuck's going on?!" Janus yelled after him in confusion. Then, from the inside of the club, he heard yelling. He turned to look out the tinted glass doors of the VIP room and saw a team of men dressed in tactical gear clearing out the club, and coming in through the doors after them were three men he immediately recognized: Agents Williams, Davis, and Miller.
"Oh shit!" he exclaimed, before escaping out the rear entrance as well. Without taking time to look back, he ran as fast as he could down the street. Outside it was dark, cold, and it had started to rain. Irvine and his team were nowhere in sight. He felt fear and adrenaline pushing him to run faster, and he felt lighter on his feet. He didn't know where to run, just that he had to get away and hide. The fear of knowing someone was chasing you, and that you had to get away by any means necessary was no stranger to him.
He'd had dreams of this all the time throughout his life, running to get away from someone chasing him, and pulling all sorts of stunts like jumping extremely far and high distances to do so. That was something he wished he could do now. He knew those three Agents weren't on his team or looking out for his best interest. They'd used him to find Irvine. But now that Irvine was apparently safe, the only thing Janus was worried about now was getting himself out alive, having never fully known was he was getting himself into. He blamed himself for being foolish and impulsive, and told himself he should have known better.
His throat was getting cold, and now about three blocks away from the club, he was running out of breath from breaking into a sporadic top speed run. He heard someone calling out behind him.
"There's no use running, Mr. Burnett. You're only making things more difficult."
No way! He thought in his mind. How had they already caught up with him? Did they even bother to check through everyone else in the club? How did they manage to cover this distance so quickly? It wasn't possible, he told himself. Nevertheless, he continued to run, into the night, and the uncertain darkness that was ahead. He twisted down alley ways, hopped over fences, ran through moving traffic. He was feeling tired. His vision was getting blurry. He didn't understand why, until finally he remembered the red pill. What the hell was it anyway? Janus had no idea what kind of narcotic it was supposed to be, because right now it was giving off the effects of a large dosage of sleeping medication. By now he'd ran into the Moriah Projects area, and was crossing over a metal bridge that went over water. Ahead, suddenly, it seemed as though the bridge had vanished and a cyclone opened in the water, into which he was being sucked in like a vacuum. Was this some hallucination side effect the red pill? This is the Matrix? He felt his balance go, and he started to fall down forward. He blacked out.
----
An hour had passed since Irvine and his crew had jacked out of the Matrix. They had to take emergency protocol procedures and drop from broadcast depth, and then locate a new place to hide the ship. It was either that, or sentinels would have came and destroyed them all. Now, the team was hunched over and crowded around the construct display monitors, watching.
"What's going on?" Kira asked, trying to read the screen.
"Looks like they're in the middle of refreshing the Matrix. All the code is renewing itself and starting it over, I'm seeing glitches and changes all over the place," Glitch said.
"Where's Janus?" Irvine asked. "Did they get him?"
"Hold on, lemme trace his signal. Hopefully the red pill didn't cut him off or cause him to wake up, or else he's dead," Glitch said as he banged away at the keys. After a short period of lag, he finally located Janus. "There he is. Looks like he's asleep in his bed. I guess they relocated him."
"He must have passed out," Solitaire added.
"Wait, wait a minute. Look," Irvine pointed out.
Glitch watched, and then a look of confusion washed over his face. "He's... moving? That's impossible."
"Why is that impossible?" Anubis asked.
"Because when the machines give the Matrix a refresh they're just cleaning out all the small glitches or sectors that display bugs. During this time, all bluepills are put to sleep."
"Put to sleep?"
"They can't wake up, they're put into a state of mind where it's like they're asleep in bed having a regular dream."
"How do the machines fabricate the dream?"
"It's a playback composed of whatever you did for the last 24 hours before the refresh."
"So what's the big deal?"
"Our friend here has somehow awoken during the refresh period, he shouldn't have been able to do that. It's like waking yourself up out of the Matrix."
"So he's sleepwalking..." Kira concluded.
"I guess so. Still, I don't know he managed to pull it off." Glitch said.
"We've gotta go in and get him." Irvine said. His words were like two cymbals being smashed together during a moment of silence. His crew looked at him.
"What are you nuts? That's never been attempted, ever." Blade said. "We could die in the process, we don't know how stable the uplink is."
"The uplink is going to be fine."
"How do you know!?" Blade returned.
"He's still alive. And if we intend to keep him that way, we've gotta go get him before Agents kill him."
"Uh, Captain," Glitch said. "I don't know if you know, or care, but our computers on this ship have been all fucked up recently. Either the hardware's screwed up and we need repairs or we need a firmware update, but they just haven't been cooperating. So if they cut out while you're in there, well..."
"Just shut up and jack me in already."
"Will do, Sir."
----
Janus stumbled around. He didn't know what was happening to him. His vision was blurry. He saw the hallway and his hands in front of him extended forward as though he could see through a vertigo effect, but he didn't feel his body moving forward. He felt like he was drunk and delirious at the same time. He could see what he was doing but he felt as though he had no control. The air in his lungs tasted like it was coming out of an air conditioner, but he couldn't feel any air in the atmosphere at all.
Where... where am I...? What's going on?
He made it outside of his apartment, by some virtue of not falling down the stairs on the way down. He tried to look around and take in his surroundings. All he saw was darkness, all around. Not a pitch black darkness, but the light was very dim, like walking around in the middle of the night. Cars on the road weren't moving, as though they were stuck in traffic. No people were around.
Where the hell is everybody? Why can't I move right?
Now, he was walking in the middle of the street, and noticed something he didn't seem to have caught onto.
What's that...?
It looked as though spots of reality were dissolving, revealing green strands of shapes, running over the surface of every single thing he could see. The shapes were changing every second.
What the hell is going on?!
And then, he heard a voice. It was behind him. His head felt like it was spinning as he tried to turn around.
"Janus. Come to me. It's safe."
That's Irvine's voice...
Before him, he saw Irvine. His vision began to get more blurry. He felt like he was staggering forward.
"Irvine.. what's happening...?"
"It's all a dream, Janus. And the whole world is in it."
"A dream..?"
"Come to me Janus, this way."
Irvine went to Janus and slung his arm over his shoulder to help him along. What he saw was odd. Everything in the Matrix looked as it should, but along with the darkness, everything was blurring as though he had slight double vision, and he noticed that there were patches of coding all over, giving the world a decayed look. No doubt that it was part of the repair process, with code renewing itself. It made things difficult to see, but it was easy for him to move around and find his way.
Janus had no balance however. He was still disoriented from the effects of the red pill. Finally, they reached the same phone booth exit Irvine used to get in. Lucky for him it was just around the sidewalk from Janus' location. He put Janus into the phone booth.
"I hope this thing rings..." Irvine said to himself. The phone rang with a noisy echo effect added to it. For a moment, Irvine worried an Agent might show up, but he remembered how all the bluepills were in a sort of stasis mode, this preventing an Agent program from entering someone's body. He picked up the phone and held it to Janus' ear.
"Irvi--..." Janus disappeared.
Catch you in the real, comrade, Irvine thought to himself.
----
Janus shook as if he was scared out of his sleep from his leg falling off the side of the bed. The world was just a dream...?
Something felt... wrong.
He looked down in front of him and saw his hands. Everything was red. There were tubes. He was confused. He saw a flash of light above and raised his hands toward it. He pushed up at what felt like some sort of sheet of jello. It stretched, and he put all of his effort into trying to break out of it, but all of his strength had left him.
Finally, he broke out from the womb that held him in and sat up and leaned forward. There was some sort of a hose attached to his face. He pulled it off and he took a deep breath but fell forward with the weight of the tube and accidentally inhaled some of the red goo and closed his eyes. He began to cough and leaned over the edge of whatever it was he was sitting in to clear his mouth so he could breath.
He opened his eyes and his vision came into focus. He saw hundreds of thousands of red pods with people sleeping in them. He looked to his left and to his right. More naked bodies with tubes attached to them, each in an individual pod of red fluid. He looked down at himself. The tubes were attached to him to. And suddenly, as he looked in front of him and upwards to see colossal towers lined with millions of the pods, he realized that he wasn't dreaming anymore. He felt awake.
This is real...?
Lighting struck in the sky, the flash of light hurting his eyes. Static shocks burst randomly in between pods everywhere. The sky was black, charred, as if it were burnt. He looked down below and saw no floor.
Where am I...Where's Irvine?
He turned his head to look around but felt something holding his head back. He reached behind slowly and felt a large cable plugged into his head.
What..
Suddenly, a large machine rose up in front of him and extended four large legs from his body. It scared the hell out of Janus, he had never seen anything like it before. Then, it released a huge arm that was strangling him by his throat. A camera eye extended forward as if it were examining him. The plug in the back of his head detached it self and it felt like someone scratching nails on a chalk board. As a result of this feeling combined with fear, he began to twitch furiously. When the cable fell out, the machine let go and flew away.
Janus braced himself on his pod trying to breath. Then suddenly every other tube on his body had burst off, and it hurt, it felt like being shot, and he moved and jolted about as if that was happening to him. Then, something else happened. His pod drained, and he was sliding down some sort of a chute. He had no control. Nothing to grab onto. He was just falling.
Finally he was shot out of this chute and ejected into a pool of murky water. He tried to swim, but he couldn't. There was a bright light above. He reached for it as his muscles tired out, and he could no longer keep himself up. He began to sink, but a large crane came down from the light above and grabbed him just as his hand was about to go under. It reeled him up into the light, and then he heard a loud slam behind him as if something shut.
He could barely see. He was in some sort of a room. There was a blue tint everywhere. Someone was carrying him. Whoever it was had set him so all could see them. Then he saw them all: Irvine, Blade, Anubis, Solitaire, Kira, and two others he did not know. They were no longer dressed in black. Irvine came over him and spoke gently.
"Welcome to the Real World, Janus."
His vision and hearing blurred. He was cold. He passed out and fell once again into an abyss of darkness.
----
