ATP: Killing by Numbers

[SW Freak]

White light flooded the dilapidated structure as the hovercraft drifted closer. Somewhere in its dark recesses, something fell and began an unholy clatter. Thunder rolled overhead and a fork of lightning struck the ground nearby.

“I don’t like this. I hate coming up to the surface.”

“Quit whining and put us down near that place. Not too close, though. We don’t wanna’ catch a lightning bolt and that’s the tallest thing for miles.”

The ship descended until it was almost brushing the rock-strewn plateau. The steady hum of the engines grew suddenly, whining so high that captain Bolt clapped his hands over his ears. With a final, near-deafening shriek, the turbines cut out and the Spectre dropped from the air. Bolt swore as the ship ground and slid towards the structure, stopping only as it slammed into the base of the wall.

“Port! What the hell just happened?”

“I have no idea!” replied the driver, sounding panicky. “Power just dropped. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like something just sucked the turbines dry!”

“Bolt, let’s get out of here.”

“How? Everything’s dead. We may as well check this place out. Maybe there’s a power cell in there somewhere.”

“Yeah, and maybe flaming monkeys will come flying out of my butt,” Serial, their operator, made this sound like the preferable option.

Bolt and Port ignored him, marching out of the disabled vehicle without a glance backwards. Serial hesitated before scurrying after them. Together the three pushed back the heavy metal double doors. They kicked their way through the piles of junk and scrap metal that littered the courtyard. Bolt ran a hand over the pitch-black bunker as they reached the door.

“It’s like it just absorbs the light. Look, it’s not even gleaming. It’s just…black.”

“Are you gonna’ stand there admiring the architecture, or are we gonna’ go in?”

The captain sighed and followed the other two. He glanced around, trying to keep an eye out for any sign of a power cell. Pushing a door open, he peered into the room beyond. He heard a gasp behind him and looked out again.

“Uh, Port?”

“Yeah?”

“Where’s Serial?”

The pilot looked around and shrugged.

“Maybe he went off exploring?”

“By himself? No, I don’t think so. Serial! Hey, where are you, man?”

Together, Bolt and Port walked further into the building, crying out the name. Bolt was about to turn a corner, when behind him Port was cut of mid-shout. The captain spun, slightly panicky now.

“Port? Okay, ha-ha, very funny guys. Joke’s on me. Now come out. You’re giving me the creeps.”

There was silence except for the echoes of Bolt’s voice. He began to head back the way he had come, picking up speed as he neared the door. He was almost sprinting when he heard the sound of metal clicking off stone and spun. The last thing he saw before his world became agony was a flash of steel, a claw that took up his whole existence. Then the world went black; black as the prison he had wandered in to.
________________________________________________________________

The Veritas hovered sedately out in the tunnels, artificial lightning crackling off the hover pads and earthed itself in the various pipes and pieces of debris that littered the passageway.

"Where're we going, Ram?" asked Shock, looking towards the captain.

"Just heading for a spot to jack in. We're meeting a friend of mine. He...recommended that we log in out here."

"Oh," said Shock. And that was all. She had faith in Ram, and knew that he would not lead them into danger.

Probably.

The journey continued along for several minutes until they landed at a wide clearing, devoid of scrap.

"Look around you, guys. We're parked on a little piece of history. This is one of the hidden jack in points of the Great War. Now, everyone, come 'ere. We gotta talk..."
________________________________________________________________

Heads turned as the man walked by. It wasn't simply the bright, flowery Hawain shirt, it wasn't the fact that he was half a head taller than most around him, it wasn't the multi-coloured hair. It was the combination of them all, and he left behind him little eddies of bemusement and fascination. He continued along his way until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Seker?" It was barely a question, more a statement of fact.

The man turned, curious. He looked the grey haired man up and down.

"My name is Goliath. We have to talk. It is a matter of life and death."

"Whose?"

"Everyone's. You must meet me at the Cathedral on 35th street tonight at midnight. Though you may not know me, you must trust me. If you do not, the consequences will leave untold billions dead. And I know that you don’t want that, personification of death though you may be."
________________________________________________________________

"Okay, like I said, we're meeting a friend on mine. He says he has some information about an upcoming breach in the peace."

"What's going to happen?" asked Crash.

"Some agents are planning an assault on this teenage hacker we've been watching. You know, that Alaster kid."

"Well, why jack in out here. If we were back in Zion there could be more of us."

"Because Goliath thinks that the some of the Elders might be involved in this scheme."

"Goliath?" said Carlos, anger flaring in his eyes. "He's a ****ing machine. What would he know?"
_______________________________________________________________

Wires was running again. One of those damn programs had noticed her, and spoiled her fun. And now she was being forced to flee through the back alleys the littered this section of the town. She turned a corner and skidded to a halt suddenly. It was a dead end. She spun to go back the way she had come and ran straight into whoever it was that had been chasing her.

"Jacqueline Reikers."

She stood, eyes constantly searchign for a way out.

"What do you want?"

"I have come to offer you a choice. You have two options. You can run now with a two minute head start before the agents start tracking you by your rather unique code. Of course, someone would have to inform them on how to identify it."

Wires' mind darted from things like "You wouldn't" to "Bring it on." Eventually she settled for: "What's the other option?"

"You come to the cathedral on 35th street at midnight tonight. If you are not there, the agents will be contacted."

"Y'know, I'm well able to get away from the suits. Why should I choose the alternative?"

"Because if you don't, this world will end within the week. And we wouldn't want your fun to end." The figure began to walk away, pausing to look over his shoulder. "I do hope you'll make the right decision."
________________________________________________________________

Ram shot a calm look towards Carlos. He was used to his prejudices against the programs.

"More than you, at any rate. Anyway, he's not a program. So he says."

Carlos muttered something under his breath. Ram ignored him.

"Anyway, like I was saying, we're going to jack in and talk to him. Just be ready in a couple of hours."

"Ram, how do we know this isn't a trick of some kind?" asked Aten.

"Uh...we don't."
________________________________________________________________

The wizened old Japanese man looked up from his book as the door bell rang. Getting up, he strode over and pulled it open. The man in the hallway beyond bowed deeply.

"Good evening, Himegoto-san." Himoto nodded. This man's use of his alias had confirmed his suspicions. "I'm sorry to interupt you, but I must request that you come with me. It is most urgent. Your attendance could be the extra push that is need to deny the destruction of the matrix. We need your skills and your wisdom, Himegoto-san. Though you have no reason to trust me, I beg of you to do so."
________________________________________________________________

"The way I see it, either Goliath has finally lost it or he really is on to something. Now, you each have a choice. You don't have to come in with me, you can stay behind. It's your decision. Shock."

The young operator looked up.

"Get ready to boot up the stuff. I'm going in."
________________________________________________________________

And while all of this happened, there was one young girl lying in the cathedral off 35th, her eyes glowing as she slept. This was the start...

But what was to come?

[Agent Rose Owns You]

"After me again, are they?"

Optimus mentally cursed. She saw the two black Audi's pull up at the building she was previously taking protection in. She didn't know where else to go, and with more then one agent, she knew she wouldn't stand a chance. Needless to say, that agent was a hardass.

She shifted her head to the side, staying as low as she could on the roof of the building. Turning her head, she saw a huge cathedral about a block away. She needed sanctuary, why not go to the house of god? If there was a God in the Matrix at all. Quickly but silently, Optimus dashed across the rooftop and made a strong, powerful leap. She landed quitely onto the next roof, then continued to make her way towards the church.

"Please for the love of the Oracle.... don't let them catch me...."

[Artificial Idiot]

"I shall be there dead on time." Seker remarked calmly before strolling off, whistling a cheery tune.

It did not really bother him that somebody knew about his past 'profession' it had happened many a time before. And after all, there were stranger things in the world, were there not?

He walked to his destination and entered, ignoring the glances and pointed fingers of children as he strolled isle after isle of CD's. He was looking to expand his knowledge, and this seemed a good place to start.

"Excuse me, young man?" He tapped the shop clerk gently on the shoulder. "You wouldn't happen to stock anything by the Beach Boys, would you?"

"Uh..." The teenager stared at him gormlessly.

"Or perhaps the Monkees..." Seker rubbed his chin and contemplated the lighting of the store. This could take awhile.

[Nyerguds]

As he slowly shook his head, a thin smile appeared on the old man's face. "I live here in my apartment, in peace."
The man frowned, but before he could express his worries, Himegoto continued. "...so I cannot allow it to be destroyed. After all, by teaching his students, even the master lives only to serve."

Himoto turned around, and walked back into the apartment.
"Enter if you wish... I need to prepare myself."

He walked into the small room at the side, and appeared again a bit later, wearing his white gi. Then, he walked towards a specific spot on one of the wood panelled walls of the big dojo that took up about ninety percent of the apartment. A push at the indistinguishable right spot and in the right direction opened the storage space hidden behind it. Himoto's guest didn't seem the least bit surprised to see the arsenal of a ninja behind it.

The sensei browsed through the various weapons in the secret closet.
"Hmm... no. Too clumsy... Hard to conceal..." after a while, he picked up a chain with two long weights at the ends.
"Aah... thisw will do."

He closed the hidden space and walked back to his guest, the weapon well hidden somewhere in his gi. The man couldn't possibly tell where it was though.

"Right, off we go then, I suppose?" Himegoto said, taking a long white coat an putting it on. "Lead the way, please."

[SW Freak]

Goliath bowed again and stalked away. He glanced over his shoulder as he walked.

"My name is Goliath, if you did not already know. May I ask why you carry no firearms? They are most effective, rather more effective than the manriki gusari you carry. No doubt you are most proficient with it, but its range is limited."

The man pulled the front door of the appartment block open to reveal a jet black Audi A4. Goliath unlocked it and pulled the door open. He stood aside to let Himegoto in.

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus leapt down from the rooftop and landed gracefully behind the cathedral. She turned her head in every direction, then made it to the backdoor. She kicked open the door with little effort, then shut it, moving into the church.

"Safe at last... for the moment at least..."

[Nyerguds]

Himegoto got in the car and waited until Goliath got in the drivers' seat.
"I don't like firearms." Himegoto said dryly. "They're too clumsy, and cause too much damage."
"Still..." Goliath replied. "we might meet people that don't care al that much about causing collateral damage."
"Wise man once said... 'Moving one stone forever changes the flow in a river'. My life is a flowing river. And so far simple stones have often allowed it to continue to flow."
The old man grinned. "You just have to aim well and throw hard."

"...oh." Goliath frowned. "But you posses what the Outsiders call 'the Gift', right? The ability to move with the speed of the mind..."
"Yes." Himegoto said. "It makes the difference between a speeding bullet and a well-thrown stone rather... trivial. If I'm the one that throws the stone, anyway."
Goliath smiled. "Heh. They say you once caught a bullet with a fork... is that true?"
"That was a most unfortunate incident." The old man sighed. "The fork was totally unusable after that."

[Jagged Tooth Grin]

Wires jumped artfully from the rooftop of one building to the fireescape on the next, not slowing she grabbed hold of the guttering and flipped onto the next rooftop.
'Probably a trap... wouldnt be the first, still, whoever he is, he seemed sincere. guess its worth a look, you can always walk out later, all he wanted was for you to be there.'
Another leap, this time straight off the side of a the top of the 6 storey set of apartment complex. Without blinking, Jacqueline calmly plummeted nearly 7 storeys down. as she passed the 4th floor window, her arm shot out and grabbed the tressel hanging off the edge of the building, swinging herself across the street below. she landed gracefully on the top of an empty van, its roof buckleing, its windsheild cracked from the impact, Wires stepped off the damaged vehicle and darted silently into the dark alley towards an old payphone.

[SW Freak]

"We've got a signal. It's all good to go, sir."

Ram looked at his assembled crew. He paced over to the chair he would remain in as he jacked in.

"Like I said, I'm going. If none of you want to come, then fine. Keep the door open, Shock. I shouldn't be long."
_______________________________________________________________________

Goliath gave another slight chuckle as they pulled up to the church. He climbed out and opened the door for Himegoto. Suddenly, he ducked as a pair of black Audi's glided past. He wached them until they were out of sight and then stood up again.

"Sorry. I can't abide agents, nor they I."

He reached out a hand to help the old man out.

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus moved throughout the church, then made her way up a flight of stairs, leading her to a balcony over the rows of seats where an organ was. She ducked down and leaned against the instrument, being as silent as humanly... or machinely possible.

[Statalyzer]

"If none of you want to come, then fine." The phrased echoed through Aten's mind. He didn't have to trust this Goliath. "Now, you each have a choice." He'd have prefered to been told what do to than given a choice in the matter. Every time he had an important choice to make in his life, so he thought, he ended up screwing things up.

At least Goliath was supposedly a program. A machine. A creation of mankind. Sentient or not, they could not do what they were programmed to be unable to do. Humans were harder to predict, with no limitations except what they physically could not acheive. In that matrix that would hardly be anything. Humanity is so stupid that nothing could be foolproof - Aten's philosophy was that there were so many stupid things humanity was capable of, that fools were too unpredictable for anything to be foolproof. He believed this for one simple reason - he was fool. Or so he thought. Nobody knew how stupid he had been, how he had hurt everyone who cared about him the most. They couldn't ever know. Nobody would understand even if he told them. "NOBODY COULD!"

Had he spoken that out loud? Apparently so. The whole crew was staring at him. "Nobody could what?" "Never mind, let me think a second, just forget that, I didn't mean to say anything out loud, okay." Something about the way Ram said that Goliath might not really be a program, made Aten feel uneasy about the whole thing. "Alright, sure, I'll go with you. I don't trust him but I have to find out who he really is and what he really wants." His curiosity had gotten the better of his distrust. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? He could die? He had wanted to die several times before. Nobody would ever understand.

Nobody but her. Who the hell was she? He wished he knew.

He stood up and walked over to Ram and stood beside him. "Who else?" he asked.

[J-Man]

Crash announced his decision to stay out of the Matrix.

"I'm staying out here. You never know when those damned machines will sneak up on us. And if you guys need some extra help later, I'll jack in and find you in no time."

Everybody else acknowledged his decision with a simple nod and went on with buisiness. Crash went to the Veritas' cockpit and started up the radar. No sentinel activity within range... Letting it turned on just in case, he started gazing outside, at all the clutter in the tunnels. He still couldn't believe that this used to be part of a major city and that the machines reduced everything to nothing. "Man, what wouldn't I do to make everything right again?" he thought. "Should we trust that Goliath, whatever he is?" Crash always had mixed feelings about so-called "renegade programs". Yet, Goliath claimed not to be on the machines' side. He was getting rather anxious. "Ram better know what he's doing, otherwise we're in serious trouble. Meh, Shock'll keep a close eye on them. I shouldn't worry so much..." And with that, Crash sat back on the driver's seat and started wondering how his parents were doing. Were they still mourning his disappearance?

[Artificial Idiot]

The roads were just as clear as the streets, as Seker glided quietly along. The dull, plain, dirty cars around him veered out of his way, drivers making unnecessary turns along stenches of road that took them completely off course, and then sat, wondering exactly why they chose that course of action as confusion wracked their brains. Seker was used to this, it came with the territory... and to be honest, it was one of the definite perks of the job.

The car cruised along quietly. Seker was very particular about his methods of transport, he saw regular cars as a beautiful shell, with putrid innards. Much like man himself, really. Or at least, he assumed so. He'd never seen a real human, but he had every faith that the recreation of man's anatomy was precise to the last, grim detail. Seker's transport was like no other, of course. To put it simply, it was a modified hearse with a tie-dye colour scheme. On a more abstract level, it was the great irony. The most morbid automobile on the roads, transformed into something that would have been unacceptable psychedelic in the most disturbed depths of the sixties era.

Much like Seker himself, one may say. Except this vehicle did not have the same disgusting innards it came with... Seker, on the other hand...

Less said the better, really. Seker came close to the cathedral. A pity too, this music was just becoming interesting. Still, the show must go on. He whistled along to chorus of "Good Vibrations" pulling swiftly into the car-park. He turned the CD player off, and ejected the disc... never know when one might need good travelling music, after all.

"Whoa, man! I'd hate to see how much weed the dude who died in that smoked!" Called an ignorant from the streets. Adolescent. In his prime, and squandering his life no doubt... they seemed to have a habit of that. But then, life is relative here he supposed. Who accomplishes anything? Indeed, how can one accomplish anything when they are blinded and gagged to the world? Ah, Humans... all that supposed brain power, and yet not the wisdom to see the carrot dangling in front of their noses. Such a bitter sweet irony.

"I assure you, the only plant life he's attending to these days are daisies." Seker said bluntly. He felt the joke wasted on the youth, but what is life without humour?

[SW Freak]

"Ah, Seker. A pleasure to see you again. Shall we, gentlemen?"

Goliath lead the way inside, striding through the heavy, ornatly etched oak doors. He smiled contently as he peered around the cavernous innards of the building. It was always nice to see some of the better architecture of man and cathedrals always made him feel at ease. It was nice to remember that humans were good for something.

"Madam Optimus, please come out. We mean you no harm."
__________________________________________________________________

"So that's everyone? Just me and Aten? Well, okay. Carlos, I want you ready to come in as soon as humanly possible. I trust Goliath, but there's no telling what might happen. Crash, I know there's nothing dangerous in the tunnels anymore, but if we come under fire in there, I want you to stay out here and keep watch. Shock, set it up."

Ram swung onto the chair and positioned the base of his neck over the slot. Shock tapped a command into her console and then slipped out of her chair and grabbed the spike, as it was affectionatly called, as the mechanical arm dropped down. She gently slotted the spike into the port at the back of Ram's neck. There was the moment of uncertainty as the brain was coded into the digital world that was the Matrix. Ram looked around quickly, noting the abandoned apartment he had been transported into. Aten appeared beside him. Ram nodded to him and then picked up the ringing phone.

"We're in. Give us a car in the alley beside us and we'll be on our way. Talk to you later."

They took the fire escape down and climbed into the SUV Shock had conjured up. Within minutes they were walking into the cathedral. Ram and Goliath clasped each others wrists, both smiling.

"Golly," said Ram, nodding at the man's obvious dislike for the nick name. "Good to see you again. We all here?"

"Not yet. We are missing two and one of our numbers will not come from the shadows. I notice that two of yours are missing?"

"Yeah. But they're watching. They'll hear what you have to say."

Ram spun as one of the huge stainglass windows at the end of the cathedral shattered inwards. His sawn off shotgun seemingly materialised in his hand and was pointed uneeringly at the Asian woman who had come crashing in. A shotgun in her arms was aimed in turn at the black man. As both tensed, Goliath stepped forward calmly and stood between them.

"Hold. We are all friends here. Ram, this is Asuka. Asuka, may I introduce you to..."

Ram peered around as Goliath ran through the introductions. Movement caught his eye. He sidled over to Goliath.

"Hey. We're being watched," he hissed.

"I know. Her name is Optimus. She's no danger. Yet she won't talk to us. Optimus! Come out!" he cried again.

[Statalyzer]

Aten was glad to be back in the Matrix. It had been some time since he last plugged in. He was free again. A sudden longing sprung up within him to take full advantage of the programmed body that he now controlled - he felt like cartwheeling down the sidewalk. Not that he would have actually done such a juvenile thing, but deep inside, he wanted to. Just a normal cartwheel, not any mind bending, physics-warping effect made possible by the Matrix. Just what normal activity he used to be able to do. Used to.

That was the problem with the Matrix, he thought to himself. He'd rather it just give him back his old physical ability, without also giving him the power to jump 50 feet into the air, or be slammed into a brick wall at 100 mph and bounce right off of it. When he that ability as well, it didn't feel real to just be able to walk and run normally. He sighed almost inaudibly, growing more suspicious of the whole situation as he stood, listening to Goliath and Ram. "Is this the best spot you could have picked?" Aten interuppted, "It sounds to me like everyone is watching us here."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus jumped in surprise at the knowledge of her name. She blinked, then slowly began to move away from the voices. Part of her was sayign to stay and reveal herself. The other part told her to run while she had the chance. She unsheathed one of her machetes and began to move back towards the door.

I'm not gonna take my chances if they know any agents. I'm getting the hell out of here.

[Artificial Idiot]

Seker stood in the shadows of the church. He did not impose his presence upon those around him. But he was slowly getting agitated. This Goliath fellow seemed to have no control over the ones he wished to ally with, and that was rarely a good thing.

"Goliath, a word if I may?" Seker exclaimed, calmly for now.

"Can't share it with the rest of us?" Questioned one of the new arrivals skeptically. Seker gave him little heed. These people were of no importance yet...

"Very well." He projected his voice for all, including the anomaly in the rafters, to hear. "You imply that the Matrix, or indeed some place outside the Matrix, is in danger Goliath, and yet one of your assembled recruits seems to be inclined to act like a juvenile, expecting the rest of us to sit and wait while she... while she does what, indeed? Prepares to pick you off one by one from the rafters? Or something more... or less innocent, perhaps..."

"Are you implying I should choose my companions more carefully, Seker?" Asked Goliath, with a raised eyebrow.

"I imply nothing." He replied, bluntly. "I inform you, Mr. Goliath that I am usually a patient man. But I will not tolerate some misguided misfit playing childish games of hide and go seek while lives may be in peril. Now, bring her down here, or my patience may be stretched to a point where I will."

[Nyerguds]

"Mr. Goliath... should I go after her?" Himegoto asked politely.
Goliath looked at the old man, and gave a shot nod. "Be careful. She's fast and she's armed."
"So am I." Himegoto replied. He made a short bow and turned to the girl.

With one mighty leap the old man jumped over the girl, standing between her and the door. Optimus immediately swung the machete at him, but Himegoto dodged.
"Do you really want to attract some Agents with this foolish behaviour? You're endangering this meeting!" Himegoto said to her in the stern 'angry teacher' voice he did so well. He saw the doubt on her face, and her reaction on the word 'agents'. But even though he knew she was reconsidering her decision to run, to Himegoto as a martial artist it was simply a hesitation. An opportunity to strike.

The manriki gusari appeared from one of his sleeves, struck in one lightning-fast strike, and disappeared in a sleeve again... as usual no one could tell which one though.

"Agents... that's your problem? I assure you in here you'll be safer from them than out there." Himegoto said, holding the machete in his left hand, the end of the blade about half a millimeter away from Optimus' throat. "Now personally I've never had any problems with Agents... except of course that they're utterly boring to talk to. But that has nothing to do with this meeting. To win a war one must know their enemies. The people you see here, are not enemies. Let's all sit down quietly and let Mr. Goliath tell us who are, all right?"

He handed the machete back to Optimus and waited, still standing between her and the door.

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus gave him a puzzled look.

"I wasn't aware there was a meeting here, I came here to hide." she hissed, then eyed her second escape route. The stained glass window.

She eyed the wall on her other side, just to add on to the suspicion. She didn't want to take her chances with these people, espcieally that Goliath character. If he knew her name, that she was armed, and where she was hiding, who knows what else he knew about her.

"And I don't have time for this." she snatched the machete out of his hand and jumped forward, ramming her elbow and shoulder into his chest, pushing him away from her. When he was less then a foot away (and off balance) she planted a quick, strong kick to his chest, sending him flying.

Before he had the chance to hit the ground she went sprinting towards the window.

[SW Freak]

Goliath sighed. With a mutter of "How tiresome" he pivoted and leapt. He landed mere inches in front of the fleeing girl. She narrowed her eyes and slashed with the machete. Goliath, his back to her, slid his left foot backwards in a half semi circle. The blade missed him by inches. Then her arm came up again, slashing horizontally. Goliath's right hand shot out, palm up. The attack was stopped dead.

"Optimus, my dear, none of us offer you any harm. I would appreaciate it if you responded in kind."

She kept her mouth shut, instead lashing out with her foot. Goliath lifted his leg , barely avoiding the attack.

"Very well. Perhaps if I prove to you that I show something worthy of following..."

His foot came down, cracking the marble beneath his foot. Optimus moved her own leg just in time. Then Goliath kicked out. The girl caught his foot and heaved, hoping to knock him off balance. Goliath went with the force, leaning backwards. Then he jumped awkwardly, swinging his free foot into Optimus' jaw. The girl was flung sideways, forced to realease him. Goliath strode forward quickly and planted a foot on her chest. She pushed against it, unable to move him, and then drove the machete into his flesh to the hilt. Goliath sighed once more.

"Trust would suit you well, Optimus. As for the rest of you, please sit. Now. There is much to discuss."

He lifted his leg and pulled the oversized knife from it.

"Optimus, the agents will be on you in minutes if you flee this establishment. The only reason they haven't found you yet is because, to them, this building does not exist. There is a rift in there perception of the code right at this point."

"I will be blunt. I need all of you to avert a war on levels such as have not been seen since the Great Wars. Each of you are remarkably skilled, and it is your skill alone that can save this world. There is a young man near here who goes by the alias of Alaster. The agents want him dead. They see him as a threat. As you know, this is a major breach of the peace treaty. And yet the elders of Zion do nothing. They are content to let this young boy die for crimes he will never commit. Once knowledge of this leaks to the people of Zion, riots will ensue. Entropy will use this as an excuse to rally supporters to their cause. Within a matter of weeks, the terrorist group will strike at the heart of the machine city, wiping out the "pods" of over five hundred people who will, as you know, die instantly. The machines will perseve this as an act of war and attack both the humans of Zion and Entropy in massive force. Within months, none will be as it was. We will be returned to the dark days of the Matrix, the times before Neo and his peace."

"I do not want that. I do not think any of us do. I know this will come to pass if the boy Alastor is killed. It is a certainty. The agents plan to strike at this boy tonight. If you wish to help me avoid catastrophe, then come with me. I will be leaving now, and any who wish to accompany me, do so. This will not be a quick mission. Saving this boy will mark each and every one of us for death at the hands of the agents. Given enough times, I can get them away from you, but for the following weeks they will attempt to hunt us all down. You are not being forced to come, nor shall I take action against you if you do not. Optimus, Azusa, once this mission is done, I shall plant the information that you have been deleted into the resources of the agents; you will be hunted no more. Even if you decide to stay behind, you shall still be free of them. To the rest of you, I can offer whatever you need and want, and give it to once the situation has settled down."

"I offer you all the chance to walk away now and risk the destruction of the Matrix. I have said all I shall. Join me or don't, but I leave in five minutes."

Goliath strode from the church. Perhaps that had had no effect on them, but it mattered not. If even one joined him, it would set the whole thing in motion. He leaned against his car, waiting to see who would come out.

Meanwhile, within the cathedral Ram stood.

"I don't know about you, but I like the world. I trust this guy, so I'm going out there. Aten, if you want to go back to the Veritas, you can."

He walked out, nodding to the other man as he pushed through the doors. Behind him, Azusa shrugged and followed.

They're after me already. And I have sins to attone for...

[Nyerguds]

"I already said I would help." Himegoto smiled as he walked after Goliath. "And at least I heard agents are less boring to fight than to talk to."
"You won't stand a chance if you fight them like you fought her." Goliath said without turning around.
"You didn't tell me she was a program." Himegoto said.
"I warned you she was fast." Goliath stated.
"Heh... so you did..." Himegoto said with a smile. "A slight misinterpretation of my part, I guess. But then again, I am only human."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

(durr... rewind a bit)



Optimus glared and snatched the machete off the ground.

"The affairs of humans are meaningless to me and beating me into joining you is not going to work."

She moved over towards the door and moved her hand towards the handle.

"You can all rot in whatever hell this world created for you."


(back to normal time!!!)

She opened the door and moved outside. She saw a look of hope in his eye, which then vanished as she leapt onto a street light, swinging herself onto the next one across the street, climbed her way up and leapt onto the roof.

[J-Man]

Ram brought Crash back to reality. So he got up and started limping towards the back of the ship, not knowing what to do exactly. He knew his orders were to stay here and watch on the Veritas and Shock if anything happened in the Matrix, yet, what would he do until then? He turned to Carlos: "Game of cards?" Obviously, his crewmate didn't seem at all interested. Crash thought of taking a nap, but he knew he couldn't afford to. "Might as well make myself useful while I'm waiting", he thought out loud. "I'll be outside checking out the ship and maybe maintain it a bit if it needs to. You guys radio me if there's anything going wrong, okay?" Crash walked out and started checking out the Veritas. "She is a beauty, isn't she?" he thought as he was verifying the hull. It looked in great condition, so he moved on to checking its defences, still bored to death.

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus moved across the rooftops, machetes drawn. She cracked her neck and spied over the edge of the roof, eyeing the streets cautiously. No sign of agents, no black audis, no "Miss Spear" voices coming up from behind her. And since she was away from the freak show she left behind at the church, things were finally beginning to look up. She stretched out her spin and leapt across the street, making it to the next roof.

"On the run again." she chuckled to herself. "They must enjoy the game. My wandering aimlessly must be amusing to them.... or a pain in their big virtual asses."

[Statalyzer]

Aten made up his mind quickly to follow Goliath. He had faults but indecision was not usually one of them. He had wavered over whether to plug in and meet Goliath the first time, but afterwards, he couldn't hear half of a story and then leave before he understood the rest of it.

"Just one thing." he said to Goliath as he followed along "How did you find about this bug that prevents the agents from discovering this building? Did you create the bug? Otherwise, it seems to me that-"

His question was cut off by Goliath's answer.

[SW Freak]

"The glitch was the result of ghosts in the machine and hundreds of years of the manipulation of the code at the hands of humans. I merly stopped the machines from deleting by making them think it was already deleted. Not easy, and it marked me down for death, but I feel it is necessary to have a safe haven."

Goliath finally looked across at Aten, staring into his eyes as though trying to read his soul.

"Don't you?"

[Artificial Idiot]

Seker took his time to take in everything that had gone on since his act of impatience. Seems it was misguided and a wasted effort. The girl was arrogant in a way Seker found irrate... she was the sort of person who sought to bend destiny, defey death. The special, deluded breed of man and machine who fail to realise the two simple truths of both life and the half life of the Matrix... destiny controls all, and death will claim all that it controls.

Still, it was little concern to him. If Goliath's rag-tag group of humans and her were destined to meet again, it will happen. If not, then it was all the better in his view. A child with explosive impulses was of little use to anyone.

He composed himself, and followed the others without a word. For no words were needed. No questions required answers. All would be revealed in due time. And besides... it was a beautiful day to be alive.

[SW Freak]

Goliath nodded to him.

"Thank you."

It was at that moment that a young woman stepped from the shadows, the wires that sprouted from her head clicking together with the motion. She looked warily at them all before facing Goliath.

"Nobody's ending my fun that easily. I'll help in anyway I can."

Goliath raised an eyebrow and glanced at the laptop that hung at her waist.

"You were monitoring the conversation? Most interesting. I rarely meet a hacker whose skills surpase mine." Though the words of the statement sounded boastful, they were said in a manner that told the listeners that it was merely fact. "Impressive. Thank you for joining us. Well, since we all seem to be ready, I suggest we go. Ram, you, Aten and Seker follow behind Jacqueline-"

"Wires," corrected the woman.

"I apologise, Wires, Himoto and I. It will not take us long to reach the boy's house. You should get all formal aquaintances over with on the drive; Alastor may already be in danger and we may have to fight quickly."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

On her way to the next rooftop, Optimus's ears twitched. She heard the sound of screeching tires and the rushing of footsteps. She didn't have time to observe anything. Without further warning she charged towards the edge of the rooftop, hoping to reach the next one. Just as she neared the edge of the roof, a gunshot pierced the air and a bullet zipped up before her, forcing her to stop as it passed by, rocketing into the sky from the ground below. She looked down, seeing Agent Johnson in the alleyway below, and heard a door slam as Agent Jones stepped onto the roof, gun aimmed at her.

"Miss Spear... your resistance is an annoyance to us, as you are playing rebel on inevitable grounds." Jones hissed.

She didn't have time to respond, only to leap back a few feet as Johnson jumped from the ground, kicking his way off of the walls of the buildings and landing infront of her on the roof, gun also aimmed.

"Serve your purpose, you have no other meaning here." Johnson snapped.


Optimus glared and flipped out her machetes.

"I don't have time for your ****."

[SW Freak]

Goliath pulled open the passenger and back door for Himegoto, Wires and Azusa. The older man sat into the front seat while the ladies was content with the back. Jacqueline flipped open her laptop and began tapping away eagerly as Goliath closed the doors. Then he nodded to Ram and gave the merest begginings of a smile. Then he climbed into the car himself and it pulled away near silently.

Meanwhile, Ram smiled to the others.

"If you would like to step this way..." he intoned, sweeping an arm towards the jeep and bowing mockingly.

As they drove away, Aten in the front and Seker draped across the back seat, Ram half looked over his shoulder at the multi-cloured figure.

"So what's your story? What amazing abilities do you contribute to our merry band?"

[Artificial Idiot]

"To speak in cliches..." Seker replied, his voice calm and measured. "... I am rather hoping you don't have too find out."

Seker carefully removed a pair of sunglasses from his remarkably coloured coat. They had lenses that were tinted purple, and frames of an obscene half mix of neon orange and a bright purple with a slight tinge of blue. They frames also had a dsinct 'splash effect' shape. Hardly the time of day or weather for sunglasses, obviously. But a man had to have his little eccentricities.

"Well, whatever it is you can do, If your tastes get any zanier, I'm pretty sure a man would keel over as soon as look at you..."

"Yes..." Replied Seker, letting the wind run through his dreadlocks as he rejoiced in the simple irony of the situation. "I daresay you're right..."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus glared as both Agents fired their Desert Eagles in her direction. Making a long, side flip to the side, she swung out with the machetes and managed to deflect stray bullets before flipping and landing on the ground. Jone's aimmed the gun in her direction and fired, only to have her leap again, only diagonally backwards, about twenty feet away from him, landing near the edge of the roof. Johnson gave a glare and aimmed low with his gun, aimming for her kneecaps. In a split second, she kicked off the roof and flipped back, just barely missing the next rooftop. Still from behind, she lashed out with her arm and gripped the edge of the roof before it was out of reach, kicked off the wall and flipped ontop of the roof.

Jones and Johnson exchanged glares, and automatically began to sprint towards the edge of the roof. Optimus in return spun around and went sprinting along the other rooftops, looking for another sanctuary.

[SW Freak]

Goliath tilted his head to the side for a moment, as through listening to something. Then he suddenly turned the car at a right angle.

"Sorry about this, but I must take a short diversion. Someone I know is dropping in..."

He glanced upwards as he drove along the street and, turned another corner and then stopped short.

"Shouldn't take long..."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus sprinted faster. The agents were only a few meters away, and if she wanted to save herself a lot of trouble she knew she had to either run faster or hide. At that moment she wished she could get a phone to escape to, like those stupid humans. She neared the edge of the rooftop again when the sounds of three footsteps suddenly lessened to two. She didn't take the time to observe as she leapt off the rooftop and went flying in midair....


When Johnson appeared on the roof, right in her path, Desert Eagle aimmed right at her.

A gunshot went off and she had enough time to twist her torso and scream out as the bullet hit her directly in the shoulder. She flew back a foot or so, then dropped down to the ground, smashing through the windsheild of a car parked right beneath her. Despite the wince and her eyes squeezed tight, she took notice of the character in the car and groaned.

[SW Freak]

Goliath peered up and fired several times through the front window. Then he rammed a foot on the accelerator, speeding off into the street beyond.

"It is a pity this had to happen. I believe they will follow us now, but I could not let you simply die." He glanced at Optimus. "You owe me now," he said frankly. "I ask that you help us in our endevour. Distract the agents long enough that we may extract the young Alastor."

He glanced in the rear-view mirror and turned the car sharply. A bullet roared through the space Himegoto's head had previously occupied.

"I apologise for this. Hopefully I can get rid of them. Master Himegoto, can you call Ram," said Goliath, handing the old Japenese man a mobile phone. "Simpl press the dial button. Tell him that we have to take the long way around. He'll understand."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus winced and looked at her wounded shoulder. Her eyes slightly widened at the wound, hoping not to attract any attention to the others as she moved her "shawl" over it, after plucking out the bullet inside and tossing it away. She didn't wait for the car to stop and turned her head to Goliath.

"Trying to help me is a wasted effort. I don't owe you anything."

She glanced to the side, preparing to leap off the car.

[Nyerguds]

Himegoto took the cellphone and opened it.
"Could you please be quiet for a minute?" he said to Optimus. "I have a call to make."
Optimus shot him an angry look. "Shut up, old man! You don't think-"
In one lightning-fast movement, Himegoto put down the phone, grabbed Optimus' leg with one hand and pulled her into the car. His other hand shot out to her neck, two fingers going straight for the arteries.
The girl looked at Himegoto with a shocked look on her face.
"I do not like being interrupted." Himegoto said calmly, keeping the fingers on her neck.
About half a second later, Optimus' body went limp. Himegoto released the pressure on her neck, and pulled her completely into the car.
"I do not know how long she will be out." he said, while carefully giving the unconscious girl to the people in the back. "Normal humans would be dead in a third of the time it needed to get her unconscious. It seems I'm lucky her program emulates the human body pretty accurately."
He turned to the people in the back. "Be careful with her, her shoulder seems to be hurt."

After the people in the back had taken the girl, Himegoto took the phone and pressed the Dial button.
"Ram? This is Himegoto. Goliath wants you to know we have to take the long way around."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

The world around her was dark, like an ocean at night. Everything was black... no lights, nothing. Nothing but the glowing encryptions in her silver eyes. Had this been any other time, Optimus would have been troubled or scared out of her wits. But after watching the same thing over and over for years, wouldn't one be used to the strangeness of their dreams?

And unlike other dreams, she seemed to have as much aerial freedom as she wished. She was actually participating, not watching. So she knew exactly what to do. Every time she did this a small part of the scene was added on. Curiousity was no stranger to Optimus. She took a few steps forward, and as expected, a crash of lightning struck across the darkness. Looking up, she watched as the black melted away into shades of green.... a stormy, raining sky. She watched as lighter shades of black formed around her... a city. And out of the blackness came several, hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions of figures... human-like figures.... agents.

"Mr. Anderson, welcome back." the voice stated from beside her, as she turned her head, looking at one copy of the million other identical agents. "We've missed you."

She looked up and saw another figure. A man in black clothing... trench coat, sunglasses, black hair, resembled every other freed mind that roamed the Matrix. She didn't seemed incredibly shocked when nobody, not the agent beside her, the man before her, or the million other agents surrounding them didn't notice her. In the dream she was probably a ghost or something.

"It ends tonight." the man stated.

"I know it does, I've seen it. That's why the rest of me is just going to sit back and enjoy the show, because we all know that I'm the one that beats you..." the agent growled.

She watched as both the agent and the man clenched fists... then in less than a split second went charging towards each other head on.


Optimus stirred in her sleep slightly. The pain in her shoulder began to sting.... the wound was pumping out more blood by the minute. But even in her unconsciousness, she instinctively placed a hand on her shoulder, hiding her wound.

[SW Freak]

Goliath barely looked back at the recumbent girl, but still seemed to notice her wound.

"Azusa, would you be so kind as to treat her wound?"

The wheels screeched as the car barreled around another corner, almost tilting onto two wheels.
_____________________________________________________________________

Ram swore as he heard Himegoto's message.

"Damn it! Again? Right...thanks. Tell him I'll play with his friends, but he's buying the drinks afterwards."

Ram hung up and looked into the back seat.

"I hope you can handle whatever weapon it is you use as well as you handle your words, Master Seker. We're entertaining friends of the suited variety, and I want to make a lasting impression."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Azusa looked down at the girl's shoulder. She noticed the hand move and cover it, probably trying to stop the blood flow. Naturally, she moved her hand forward and placed it on Optimus', moving it out of the way. Before she could peel back the piece of clothing to examine the wound...

Optimus's eyes snapped open and shot straight up with a loud scream, enough to make everyone in the car jump from the random impulse.

"WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON!?!" she screamed, slapping a hand over the shoulder and looking around the car frantically.

For a moment she nearly forgot where she was or what had happened until she saw the broken windsheild, Himegoto, and Goliath. It didn't exactly make her feel the least bit better, but she knew at least with these guys she was safe for now.

[SW Freak]

"Optimus, might I suggest you calm down? You were bleeding profusely, and I wished Azusa to see if she could stop the bleeding. That is all. There is nothing to be alarmed about. Now..."

Goliath turned left sharply and then right, almost colliding with Ram as he came the other way...
_____________________________________________________________________

"Ha! Howdy boys!" shouted Ram as the jeep screeched to a halt before the two cars, blocking their way.

Extending an arm, Ram fired with the revolver held within. A couple of bullets perforated the windshield of the frontmost Audi, though Ram knew they had missed the agents within.

"Alright, guys, let them know they're welcome."

Ram swerved the jeep around and thundered down the street, away from Goliath. One of the Audis veered off to follow him while the other tried to regain the distance between himself and the other targets.

[Artificial Idiot]

Seker quitely contemplated the situation. The car jerked and volted violently, as bullets zipped through the air, currently only travelling in one direction. A pattern Seker felt would not hold for long.

Seker lowered his sunglasses just a fraction to maintain a clear view of the agents car as it drew closer to the jeep. An Audi, tinted black windows... very inconspicuous of them.

Soon enough, one of the windows rolled down, another jerk as the jeep tried to out manuvre it's foe, hitting a curb hard and sending some miscalleneous small items rolling alone the floor and dashboard. Seker sank further down into his seat as the bullets started to propell themselves the other way.

"Aren't you going to do anything!?" Screamed Atten, as he unleashed his own weapon at the car, covering Ram as he tried to concentrate on his driving.

"All in good time, Mr. Atten. All in good time..." Seker intoned quietly.

The Audi, a quite superior car to the jeep they were contained in, soon sided up to the back of vehicle. Ram made a desperate attempt to, well ram them. This was met with a smiluarly hostile action by the agents. Quite barbaric really.

"Could you please refrain from doing that again?" Seker asked. He was met with a second, and quite intentional, second ramming. The things people did in mortal peril...

Out of the corner of his eye, Seker could see the back door of the offending car swing open. Another Agent leaned in the doorway. The others seemed too preoccupied to deal with him, so he assumed it was up to his good self... Never a dull moment in life, after all.

He waited patiently for the Agent to steady himself, hanging out of the back of his car. A bullet ricohected off his arm, sending tiny specks of blood into the distance. Good, that would make the job so much easier.

As expected, the agent made a spectacular leap from his own car, making a grab for the back of the jeep. He hung there for a few seconds, before trying to scramble his way inside. As his head emerged over the backseat, Seker wearily raised his right hand to meet the villains chin, sending him off balence and back to clinging onto the back of the car.

"Do keep the shooting down a bit boys..." Seker asked. "I fear it is time for my daily exercise."

He slowly stood up, trying to steay himself in the bucking and jolying craft that bared him. The agent managed to clamber his way back into the vehicle, propelling himself over the backseat to where Seker's head had been moments before. A knowing glance was exchanged between the two, before the fighting began.

The agent sprung to his feet in a quite unearthly manner, taking a swing for Seker almost instantaniously. Seker dodged the blow with great difficulty, and used the momentum to land a blow of his own to the agents cheek. To very little effect.

"Oh dear..." He commented, before reciving a devestating kick to the stomach that sent him sprawling into the backdoor.

It had been a long time since Seker had last laid eyes on an agent, let alone engaged one in fisticuffs. Admittedly, he was a little rusty himself... but he also felt that he had underestimated his opponent. Although, he still had one trick up his proverbial sleeve...

Slowly, a wooden handle appeared in his hand. Not wanting to waste time waiting for the full length of the weapon to emerge, what with the agent in the progress of delivering another blow, he shoved his newly formed device into his stomach. Thankfully granting more pleasing results than his other attack.

He raised himself to full height, the rest of his scythe appearing in a stream of code, minus the blade... He had to keep telling himself he didn't need the blade.

The agent, who was also on his feet, propelled himself at Seker for another attack. He lashed out with a fist, which was easily blocked by the staff. For not even an agent can break a weapon such as the scythe of death... Even though it wasn't strictly a scythe.

Seker took advantage of his raised arm, twisting his weapon so it connected between his ribs. He then manuvered the other side to meet the man's cheek, shattering a lens of his sunglasses. It was his turn to sprawl, as he found his back against the passengers seat.

And then, time proverbially stood still. Seker's cheast heaved. Stray bullets nicked at his coat and skin, both sides minimising the shooting for fear of hitting their companions. He felt alive for the first time in decades... While it was a silly notion, he was sure he could feel real blood rushing through real veins... It was just liked the old days. The usually cold, stoney faced agent looked up at him... Was it fear that crossed his face? Maybe despair... Who could tell? There was only one thing left to be done now...

Another stream of code and the rest of the scythe appeared. The freshly reborn blade glittered in the sun. Seker relished the weight of it in his hands... It had been so long...

"Tell me... do Agents understand the concept of mortality?" Seker questioned. His head cocked. The look running across his face was as good as any verbal answer. "How curious."

The agent let out one, desperate croak of a scream, before Seker prepared for the master stroke...

"HOLY *****!" Yelled Ram, as the head of a middle aged, long haired woman hit the windscreen and rolled onto the dashboard. He took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to look back and see what happened. Only to find a now scytheless Seker resting against on the backseat. A headless body slumped onto the floor.

"I do apologise, Mr. Ram. I'm afraid I was never destined to be much of a barber..." He said rather curtly. "... I feel my customer service is rather... Lacking."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus leaned against the seat and steadied her breathing, calming herself down. She looked at her wound and eyed it with annoyance. She reached into her boot and pulled out an old, dirty rag used in aiding previous wounds. She managed to wrap it around her shoulder on her own, and tightened it to add pressure on the wound, stopping the blood. Then she eyed the windows.... inwardly she knew she had a better chance of hiding with these strangers, but escape was still an option for her.

This is gonna be a rough time for me. The options provided in avoiding my "purpose" are starting to worry me.

[SW Freak]

Absurdly, insanely, Ram laughed at Seker's macabre jest, purely from nerves. He hooked a hand under the severed head and tossed it backwards, trying hard not to gag.

"Hide the body, dispose of it, beat the other agent to death with it, I don't care. Just get it the hell out of my car."

Tossing his revolver onto the dash board, the black man reached into his jacket and withdrew his sawed-off shotgun. Resting his right arm on his left, he pointed it out the window, aimed directly at the tires of the agent's car. The first shot reduced the front tire to shreds and the second destroyed the back, sending the car spinning wildly out of control until it slammed into a lampost with devastating force. Ram glanced in the rear view mirror as they turned the corner. The agent fell out of the vehicle and dropped, changing back into a pale man in his early twenties, who shook his head confusedly and seemed ready to faint. Then they were around the corner and away, haring towards Goliath and his opponent.

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus looked behind her, seeing the agents tailing the car. She gave a glare at the men behind her, then cracked her neck. She began to move to the front of the car, moving between Himegoto and Goliath.

"What are you doing?" Goliath snapped.

Optimus looked back at him. "Normally I would tell you to trust me.... but seeing as you don't, pretend to."

She crawled through the broken windsheild and flipped out her machetes. She crawled onto the top of the car so the Audi following it was right infront of her. She stood on her feet, still crouched down low to keep balance, and noticed one of the agents ready to pull out a firearm at her.

Before the gun was aimmed, Optimus catapulted herself off of the car and moved towards the Audi. Thrusting out with her legs she burst through the windsheild of the once beautiful car, taking both agents by surprise as she drove her machetes through them. A spark pulsed in the car as the bodies of two civilians appeared in the place of the agents, sending the car spinning, then crashing into a wall of a building.

[Statalyzer]

Ram's backward toss of the decapitated head ricocheted into the passenger seat where Aten had been firing out the window. "Gaaahhhh!" came the exclamation from Aten, grimacing and grabbing the head, "Would you mind where you throw mangled body parts next time!" He unceremoniously tossed it out the window.

"Sorry", said Ram, half apologetic but with a smile creeping across his face, "I was trying to throw it back to Seker." Aten understood the difficulty of tossing a head in one direction while simultaneously shooting at agents and attempting to drive a jeep. He meant to comment on how it was no problem, but he didn't say anything. He was busy wondering about the identity of Seker. Apparently they were companions with a hippie who could make weapons appear out of thin air. He was glad to have such a badass on his team and not the enemies, but he was suspicious of anyone with the power to materialize weapons out of nothing, and had no idea what the limits of Sekers power might be. Could he have morphed empty space into a gun instead? Into a bomb? What could he create? So long as he continued to fight against the agents, it was no problem. But there was no assurance of that.

He wanted to ask Seker how he done that. But he dreaded the answer too much. He turned back around to face forward while Ram continued to drive in the direction of Goliath's car.

[Agent Rose Owns You]

From within the wrecked car, Optimus winced and groaned in pain. Her legs were bleeding with pieces of glass sticking out here and there, she smashed her head hard on the dashboard, and the impact with the wall made the airbags go off, so she was practically sufforcating, bleeding and dizzy all at once. After deflating the airbag and brushing off all the glass sticking out of her legs, Optimus sat herself up and opened the car door, collapsing onto the pavement. In the end, only one word could sum up her feelings:

"Owch..."

[SW Freak]

Goliath stopped the car and pushed open the door. Glancing warily up and down the street, he strode back towards the wreckage and the girl. Hoping an arm under her shoulder, he lifted her up.

"Well done, Optimus. A little hazardous to your own health, however, so I would not reccomend it in later dates."

Together, she limping and he half carrying, half dragging her, they made their way back to the car. Goliath opened the back door and, with an apology to Wires, placed Optimus inside. Then he closed the door and climbed back into the driver's seat as Ram drove up behind them. Goliath nodded to the black man before beckoning and driving on.

"We're near. The agents will probably already be searching for Alastor, however. We have to be subtle when we get to the boy's home, so as not to arouse their notice."

[Artificial Idiot]

The car rolled to a halt alongside Goliath's. Smoke wafted into Seker's nostrils. He raised his head to look over the passenger seat, to see a simular Audi to the one they had been jousting with, front end looking more akin to folded paper. He just caught Goliath smuggling a young girl back into his car before they drew completely level with his own.

"Curious." He commented, stepping out of the back door, the corpse slung over one shoulder. Allowing the two associates to talk.

"Hey, where are you going!" Called Ram after him, Seker cocked his head towards the man, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"My friend here is looking rather pale..." He said. "I fear he's in need of some fresh air and less squimish hosts..."

Seker stepped towards the wreckage, grasping the handle of the backdoor. Luckily it still worked. He pulled it open, sliding the body into an upright position on the back seat. He then walked back to the jeep and addressed Goliath with a polite nod of his head.

"Unfortunatly, I'm afraid Mr. Ram and Mr. Aten lost the head in a moment of panic..." He said to him, almost like a half explanation of his actions. "Still, better that than their own, wouldn't you say?"

"Most certaintly." Goliath nodded. "Having fun, I assume Seker?"

"Nothing a clean change of clothes couldn't fix, I assure you Mr. Goliath." He replied. "I see you managed to find our errant guest again."

"Yeah." Grunted Ram. "For now at least..."

"Time will tell." Seker said, settling back into his perch on the backseat. "Speaking of time, gentlemen, I believe we have an appointment to keep."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus slumped back into the seat and groaned. She never witnessed so much pain in one day before in her life. Everyone was out for her, agents, humans, other programs, she wouldn't be surprised if a stampede of barnyard animals decided to haul after her. Although every chance she had at giving those agents pain was always amusing.

"Speaking of time, gentlemen, I believe we have an appointment to keep" she heard Seker state. She leaned back and rested her head on her hands.

"Then by all means, let's be on time." she muttered.

Maybe after we save this idiot you guys will leave me alone.

[Statalyzer]

"Subtle??" asked Aten, incredously, starting to exit his vehicle, "We're supposed to be subtle? I think we've already blown any chance at that. Kind of hard to stay inconspicuous when you're wrecking Audis and scattering body parts across the streets. But let me know if you think of anyway to cause subtle explosions and crashes."

He was thinking of asking if the obviously injured girl was ok, but he merely ended up muttering a few unintelligible words and scooting back inside the jeep. He figured he'd already said too much and hoped his sarcasm hadn't gotten anyone angry.

[SW Freak]

"Aten, do you appreciate how the agent program works? They must have a host, and that host must be witness to something of remarkable note. Thus, the agent program's attention is brought to it and, if it is important enough, the agent inhabits the body. If we are able to find and enter Alastor's house without incident, we will avoid agents."

Goliath looked around at the rag tag band.

"We have two choices. We can either keep driving and risk attracting agent attention, or we can walk through back alleys and stay out of sight. Either way, it would not take long to get to the boy's house, nor would it take much of a slip up to get us caught.

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus responded by crawling out of the car and walking in the direction of the back alleys. She managed more of a limp as she moved, didn't say a word, but it seemed completely obvious as to what her vote was.

[Nyerguds]

Himegoto looked as the girl walked off.
"If there is a chance we'll have to fight again, I prefer to have solid ground under my feet." he said. "I prefer my own feet over any car I've ever driven in. After all, cars are so hard to throw at your opponent."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus made her way into the alleyway and winced. Her legs ebbed with pain and she had to lean against the wall to rest a bit.

"Jesus.... last time I do that again..." she muttered. She eyed her leg wounds, and noticed the scratches weren't very deep. Well... that's good news. Wouldn't want them to see... well, what they don't need to be seeing...

She limped through the alleyway, then slumped on the ground, her back against the wall, waiting for the others to show up while she rested her aching legs.

[Statalyzer]

"But your own feet are easy to throw at your opponent?" Aten laughed as he began walking, "But seriously, I think he's right." He was puzzled that nobody else was yet moving that direction. Why was the injured girl the only one who had started walking? Maybe nobody had made up their minds yet, he thought; he felt a pinch of pride in not being the indecisive one for once.

[SW Freak]

Ram shrugged.

"Well, let's go Aten."

They strode across the road, entering the alley as well. Asuka hesitated, looking around almost nervously. Eventually, she showed a descision and stepped into the shadows too. Goliath looked at Seker.

"Shall we, Mr. Seker? Mrs. Wires?"

[Artificial Idiot]

Seker turned his head to one side, a few of his dreadlocks falling into his face. The one eye that could be seen closed slowly, and then reopened. He brushed his hair out of his face and then sat up, before finally sighing...

"If we must."

He stood on the back seat and stepped off the edge of the jeep, his right foot hitting the ground first and then lowering his left. He gathered his coat around him, looking down in distaste at the blood stains.

"I fear the agents may have already marked the cars we're travelling in." He added curtly. "And besides... It is a beautiful day for a walk, is it not?"

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus rubbed off the blood on her legs then looked up as Goliath and the others came towards her. She looked at her shoulder wound and tightened the cloth around it. She winced for a moment, then managed to stand up. She then looked over at them, and started walking ahead.

[Jagged Tooth Grin]

"Just a sec, taking care of a little buisness first" Wires called from the back of the car, her fingers blurring over the keyboard at a tremendous speed. a few seconds passed "There. we're done." she lept out of the car and jogged over to the alleyway, in the distance there was a screech of metal and some furious honking. Wires winked to Ram, "There is a difference between subtle, and quiet. That little accident should keep the locals busy for a few minutes atleast."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus smirked. Destructive.... heh, I think I might grow to like that Wires character.

She continued to walk ahead, still silent, looking around the alleyway suspciously. Her shoulder ached some more but her legs were beginning to ease up at bit. After a few minutes of walking, her shoulder ached even more. She leaned against the wall and placed her hand on the cloth wrapped around the wound.

Got me pretty deep this time... bastards...

[Nyerguds]

Himegoto walked towards Aten, with a stern look on his face.
"Do not mock my feet, young man." he said. "You will find them to be far more lethal projectiles than the bullets these people waste so easily."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus groaned at the pain then muttered "We'll just mock your horrible appearance then, I'm sure that sent more people to the morge then malaria", and pushed herself off the wall, still continuing to walk.

"So are we going to wander aimlessly all this time or do we actually have someplace to go?"

[Statalyzer]

"Good question." said Aten. "Goliath...???"

[SW Freak]

Goliath, who had been smiling slightly as he looked at the destruction cause by Wires, turned his head to Aten. For the merest instant there was a look on his face that the others had not seen before. Then it was gone, and Aten was left wondering if he had really seen the cruel, calculating, condescending look on Goliath's face.

"Yes. Let us move. Follow me. Keep pace, and ensure that you do not fall behind."

With the, Goliath started running through the alley, dodging around corners and jinking around any obsticles.
______________________________________________________________________

Shock yawned slightly as she leaned back. She glanced at Carlos, smiled slightly as he caught her gaze and then looked over at Ariadne.

"Hey, Ari, you wanna take over?" she asked, standing up. "I'm gonna go check on Crash. I think he's still outside."

With that she wandered out, content with Ariadne's skills. She walked down the ramp and into the outside world, grimacing slightly as the smell of dead machinery and rust caught her nostrils. She made her way around the ship until she found Crash.

"Hey. Is everything okay? You've been out here a while."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus rose an eyebrow as she weakly yet quickly followed after him, holding her shoulder and wincing slightly.

After making THAT face, it's official. I don't trust him at all.

She rounded the cornor, following after him, and managed to get at least a half meter distance from her toe and his heel. She watched him suspciously if he was going to make any funny moves.

[Artificial Idiot]

Seker stood motionless, his face set in an emotionless trance. He comtemplated quietly behind his visible facade of what exactly to think of Mr. Goliath.

So far, the man had been an utter delight. There was no point mincing his thoughts, he had no reason to spare the man an unsatisfied thought. He had noble intentions, and his idle banter had always held some interest. It had not bored him, nor had it made him wince. Not physically, of course. To show displeasure in polite coversation went very much against the grain of the word polite.

Which was all the more reason not to throw it all away just because a slight, hormone driven reaction had created such a distasteful expression. However, others would judge on face value. In that silly little way that all humans and machines alike often do... After all, people must burn with a fire all their life... Because death is a very cold existance.

Perhaps, the thought flickered, he was being a fool for not accepting face values. Perhaps it was not mearly an emotional reaction, but perhaps a drop in defences... However, who could question a man who seemed so powerful? No, this was a time for casual observance. Not breathing down a would be comrades neck or clean persecuting him.

Having made his choices, he waited for the rest of Goliath's merry band to steam past him. Burning with fire. Rushing from one place to the next. It made a smile grace his lips... People could be so enjoyable at times.

The old man passed last, he had the stance of a man who could be moving so much faster. He stole a glace at Seker before saying...

"The early bird may catch the worm, but even that fast bird is no match for a stealthy cat."

"Very true." Said Seker, as he began to pace alongside the man. He had seen him earlier although had very little dealings with him. He started to slowly speed up, catching up with the others.

Seker kept his pace, carefully weaving in and out of obsitcle, purposely keeping himself at the back of the ensamble. The weight of the scythe still burned in the front of his mind. It had been so long since he'd even held it, let alone taken a life that he had forgoten just how... No. Whatever happened now, he'd be sure he had time to compose himself. He'd use the handle as defence if need be, but the blade... The blade stayed as a feeling.

He smiled. A silly little impulse was much more dangerous than he first thought, it seemed...

[Statalyzer]

Aten had very little time to comprehend the suspicious expression that had vanished from Goliath's face almost immediately after it had appeared, before they took off running. This surprised him although he knew they had little time to spare. "So much," he commented to Ram, who was sprinting just in front of him, "for not doing anything to attract attention."

[SW Freak]

In his room, the seventeen year old Nick leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. It had been a tough day, with his foster parents giving him troubles. He had been grounded for "causing trouble" as they put it. It wasn't as though he cared what they thought, it was simply the fact that they acted as though they were his real parents.

He spun his chair at the sound of a crash from below. A glass must have fallen, he decided, and turned back to his computer in time to see the message pop up on his screen. He didn't recognise the sender, and scratched his head, trying to figure out what it was that was wrong with the scene. Then he realised. He wasn't logged into any of his messaging services.

The message read, in plain black text: We're on our way, Alastor. The way is almost open.. Nick stared at it a moment before bending down to type. Who is this?, he asked. He was about to write more, but a sound outside made him turn. It sounded for all the world like a gun cocking...
_______________________________________________________________

Goliath shook his head slightly, returning his mind to the real world. The band had halted in the alley opposite the boy's house, and the were now lying in wait as Goliath seemed to think about something. He looked up suddenly.

"They're inside," he said, quite calmly, before sprinting across the street without warning.

Azusa was the first to follow after, then Seker. Optimus, Ram and Aten moved at almost the same moment. Then Himegoto and Wires trotted across. Goliath stopped at the front door.

"Seker, Azusa, Optimus, move around the back and guard that door. If any agents try to get in, kill them. Himegoto, Aten, follow me. Wires, hide somewhere and try to distrupt the agents' lines of communications, maybe cause a distraction. Ram, protect her if she's found."

Goliath then braced his shoulder against the front door and, with a grunt and a push, forced it open in time to hear the gunshots upstairs.
________________________________________________________________

Nick rolled off his chair as three bullets impacted into it. He stared at the suited man as he stepped forward, gun raised once more. Shock forced him into motion, and he rolled again, standing this time as a bullet splintered the floor boards. He ran past the man, diving through the door as another bullet cracked the plaster on the wall. Nick began to run towards the stairs, skidding to a halt as a second stranger strode upwards towards him. He scrambled back up the hall, ducking as he passed his room again. Instinct proved useful as a bullet zipped over his head. Then he was in the bathroom, locking the door behind him. His eyes searched the room wildly for a way out.

There was a gunshot, but instead of the sound of wood splintering and the pain of a bullet there was only a thud as the bullet impacted with a wall. There were a flurry of sounds outside; a thump, more gunshots, something that sounded very much like someone going through the floor. There were some more sounds before a gentle knocking on the door. Nick pressed his back against the wall, breathing heavily.

"Nicolas Turnson. I will not harm you. Your enemies are otherwise indisposed at the moment." Nick realised that he could still hear the sound of fighting downstairs. "Please come out. I have already broken the lock of your front door, I have no inclination to do the same to this one but I shall if I must."

Nick ignored it, still looking for a way out. The man outside sighed and suddenly the door was struck with tremendous force, dislodging the lock and tearing it from its hinges. Nicolas was left holding the door against his back, stumbling forwards. He dropped the board and only turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at the face of the man behind him, taking a step back.

"My name is Goliath. It is imperative that you come with me. My companions are fighting the agents downstairs. If you would be so kind as to follow me, I will ensure that you survive."

It was the oddest promise that anyone had ever made to Nick. This whole thing felt surreal, as though he was in a movie, or a game, or as though the world wasn't...real. Goliath turned after hopping over the large hole in the floor. He reached out a hand to help Nick over it.

"It is time to leave, Alastor. It is time to go through the door."

And as this all went on, the messages still hovered about the computer screen.

We're on our way, Alastor. The way is almost open.

Who is this?

Your guardian angel... The words scrolled along the screen, as though being typed swiftly.

And your deceiver cruel. The last words flashed for the merest second in a harsh script before the screen died.

[Statalyzer]

Goliath, Aten, and Himegoto moved around quickly toward the front of the house. Aten was glad he was with Himegoto and Goliath, although he'd have rather been with Ram, whom he knew personally. He didn't trust Seker or Optimus, although he had to admit the protection of Seker's strange blade would have been nice, and Optimus might have been the bravest fighter among them. He couldn't imagine anyone else deciding on a direct assault through the front windshield like she had done.

But, still, Goliath and Himegoto had an aura about them which led Aten to think he'd be just fine with them. They were both so confident, and Himegoto almost boastful, of their abilities. Yet neither seemed cocky or overconfident. The two of the them would have made a great combo no matter who the 3rd guy was. He felt a bit intimidated, and hoped he wouldn't let them down if it came to a fight.

Truthfully, he was underrating himself. Fighting in the stairs and hallways of a small building such a house was what he was best at. He would have a disadvantage in a long range gun battle, but the confined space was more his specialty. He gathered his wandering thoughts and focused on the task hand as Goliath broke the lock on the front door and open it as quietly as he could. Then the three men rushed into the house.

As they arrived at the bottom of a stairway, Aten caught a glimpse of a teenage boy jumping from the hall to a side door of some sort. He heard the door shut as he saw two agents run into the hallway with guns drawn. In a split-second, he realized there might be more, and yelled in the direction of the backdoor, hoping Asuza, Seker, or Optimus would hear him and reinforce them. Goliath and Himegoto were already running at the enemy. Aten saw the first agent point his gun at the closed door but get knocked to the ground by a flying kick from Himegoto.

He hadn't yet joined the fight...his instinct was telling him something. He turned around just as two more agents burst through the front door. He didn't think he could take them both, but he had to turn it into a hand-to-hand battle before they could use any firearms. He charged and dove into them, hoping the three outside the backdoor had heard his earlier shout...

[Jagged Tooth Grin]

Wires scuttled up the fireescape and within seconds had pulled out her laptop and began typing. the harsh glow of neon signs reflected crazily off her metal protrusions. "Ok," she said to Ram as he pulled himself up onto the ledge, "Im gonna cut all power and incoming signals to the area, that means no radio, no tv, and no cellphones. it will just take a minute for the viruses to crack all this encryption. the power companies are getting smarter..." a series of flashing numbers counted down on the screen, rapidly approaching a string of 0's
"Ok, going dark in 5.
4.
3.
2.
1."
with that, the street plunged into darkness, a few sparks punctuated breifly as a streetlight burst, and the only lights in the alley came from the faintly glowing laptop screen.
"hmm, im just accessing satellite surveilance now... thermal imaging coming online... oh, damn..."
"What now?" asked Ram, peering over at the screen.
"Ok, see those 2 blurs over there, thats us, those in there are the rest of our guys, the target, and judging from the gunfire, agents."
"Ok, and what about all those?" he pointed to the far left of the screen.
"Those would most likely be more hostiles."
"Oh.... Can we warn the others?"
"Not without turning off the jamming."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus looked over at her "partners", not feeling the least bit satisfied with what she was left with. She was never fond of agents, even female ones, and that Seker character never did anything to make her fond of him. She moved away from the both of them, always keeping a suspcious distance, and moving down the hall silently. After a moment of creeping about and making it around the cornor, she froze in place as Johnson rounded the cornor as well, almost as surprised to see her as she was seeing him.

"Miss Spear, you've been a thorn in our side for far too long. Accept your purpose, there no way out of this." he snapped.

Optimus narrowed her eyes. "Did I ever mention how much I hate you?"

Johnson responded by charging forward and whipping out the Desert Eagle. Optimus charged as well. Bullets went off, seemingly to move in slow motion for her as she managed to swing out of the way, duck under and leap over the bullets almost as quick as he would had the bullets been coming at him. She moved in and flipped out one of her throwing knives, sending it spinning and catching him in his rib. She threw another, it hit his chest, and another that managed to impale through his wrist, making the gun drop.

Optimus then took the time to not run pass him, but drop down into a slide, then kicking out with her legs, catching him in what would have been a very sensitive area for a human man. The force was strong enough to knock him off of the ground and burst through the ceiling. Leaping to her feet, Optimus kicked off the ground and jumped onto the next floor, drawing out her machetes and charging at the agent.

[VO]

Ariadne was bathed in the pale green glow of the code. Letters and numbers in a thousand different alphabets flashed past her eyes, metamorphosing into the twisting dust mites, fickle light on baked stone, and the tiny chemical changes in the cells of creatures that hadn't existed in the real world for thousands of years. Slowly her senses disconnected from the stale recycled air of the veritas, and the low hum of generators and cables stretched along the vehicle, while the hairs on her skin pricked up as she immersed herself in the code.

People in there were depending on her.

[Statalyzer]

Aten's quick tackle knocked both agents and himself to the ground. He spun away from the kick that was aimed at him and saw what looked like Optimus fighting another agent by the back door on the other side of the room. So, she was in the house already. But where were her two companions? Fighting other agents? Surely if they were in the house with her they would have heard him.

He threw punch after punch in both directions, knowing he had to strike quickly and relentlessly so that neither agent would have time to pull out a gun. He was deflecting punches from both as quickly as he was landing blows, but one agent decided to try to grab and pin both his arms from behind. While he wrestled for control of his limbs, the other agent connected with three consecutive painful uppercuts to Aten's jaw. He tried to focus his thoughts on bending the rules of the world as he wriggled his right arm free, and a backward thrust of his elbow into the face of the agent behind him sent the "man" straight through the wall to crash among piles of junk in the garage. But before he could react to his front, the remaining agent delivered a fourth uppercut with such velocity that Aten's body became airborne. His head hit the top of front door with a loud WHAM and he crumpled to the floor.

He had to keept fighting. He tried to tell himself that this was all computerized and the pain was only in his mind. But wasn't all pain just in the mind, real world or not? Whether in the real world or the matrix, his brain was simply interpreting a signal. Dizzy from the impact, he staggered to his feet, unable to fully concentrate. The agent was reaching into his pocket for his gun.

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus rushed forward and sliced at Johnson with the machetes. With impressive speed from btoh sides, botht eh agent and the program blocked and evaded each other's attacks, Johnson swiftly shifting away from the blades and Optimus moving around in a hurry, making sure she wasn't caught off guard. Johnson continued to evade until he swung out with a roundhouse kick, knocking the blade away. Optimus, now with one machete wasted no time and charged forward, going for the impale.

Before the blade could stab, Johnson moved behind her, yanking a handful of her hair back and bringing his fist down to her throat. Optimus managed to catch the fist and swing up her leg, kicking him in his face and shattering his sunglasses. Johnson, now in all out rage responded in eyeing her weak point, her shoulder wound, and grasping down on it, squeezing tightly and jamming his fingers into the bullet wound. Optimus let out a scream of pain and dropped to one knee, also releasing her hold on the machete. The pressure on the wound increased, she screamed louder as her silver eyes began to water from the pain.

"Make this simple on all of us and come with us, accept your purpose..." he hissed.

"Go to hell..." she growled.

Johnson responded by moving his fingers deeper into the wound, even through the cloth covering it as Optimus screamed out once again.

[SW Freak]

"Hey," came a quiet, gentille sort of voice.

Johnson looked up and found himself peering along a shotgun. He growled at it's owner.

"You..."

Azusa nodded and pulled the trigger. Johnson had no time to react and fell to the blow. The remants of his head splattered wettly against the wall. Azusa reached down to help Optimus up, ignoring the corpse of Nick's former foster father.

[Nyerguds]

Himegoto looked at the dead woman on the floor, three shurikens embedded in her chest. He felt sorry for the people that got abused by the agent program, but he knew there was no way of getting around it. Apparently, it was impossible to just knock out an agent.
He pulled the three steel objects out of the body and hid them back in the special pockets in his gi.

He quickly assessed the situation. More agents were coming, and they seemed to be far less boring when fighting than when talking. They had to get out of here, and fast. But first things first... Aten was in big trouble.

Two more shurikens flew at the two agents. Himegoto noticed something very odd about their programs. Even though they were fast enough to dodge bullets, the agents seemed to have problems focussing on multiple targets.

One of the shuriken cut straight through a gun, and the hand holding it. The agent looked surprised as the upper half of his hand dissolved in code, leaving only the dead flesh of the person he was linked to falling to the ground, with the upper part of the destroyed gun.

The other agent morphed back to a young man, the second shuriken stuck in his throat.

"Aten." Himegoto hissed. "Get up. We have to get out."

Now that the second agent was firmly focussed on him, Himegoto knew that throwing shurikens would get him nowhere. He grabbed his manriki gusari and prepared to fight.

[Artificial Idiot]

Seker took a very different route to his two companions. He stayed outside. Catching two agents who were on the tail of this Mr. Johnson. They were attempting a back entrance... How very, very crude of them.

Seker's mind sank into deep concentration. He cleared all but his surface thoughts aside, to picture only one thing.

"A dreaded sunny day, Gentlemen?" He called to the agents.

All the while, in his mind the pieces were falling togeather. Feathers as black as coal... Gently skimming the night sky...

"A rouge program." Stated one. "Curious."

Seker paid them no heed. His mind drifted to the deep, yellow eyes that pierced your very soul... An inate inteligance hidden within their all knowing glance... Drawing you in, and yet filling you with an unjust terror...

"It's time for a long overdue termination." Another snarled.

Nevermore

"Caw." Seker announced, triumphantly. Throwing open his coat.

A storm of black feathers was let loose from the inner depths of his coat, as dozens of jet-black ravens took to the skies. Sleek and elegant they flew, until they made contact with the agents.

The eyes. Thought Seker. Ripped from their sockets, gorged on, talons embedded in the soft optics...

Gunshots discharged. Firing at shadows. Seker throught he heard sunglasses crack as they hit the floor. Screaming. The shrieking of birds. All put to the back of his mind. The swarm demanding his full concentration.

Until his mind was torn back to reality. Something slammed hard and fast into his shoulder, making him wince. He snapped out of his self imposed trance, fathers dispusring in reels of code. A body sprawled out on the floor while an agent clutched at his bleeding eye, a smoking gun in the other hand.

"It seems..." Seker began. "That the ravens quothing days are over."

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus winced and slapped a hand over her wound. It had gotten larger and more painful, and she was growing more and more concerned with what would happen. She looked up at Azusa and managed a quick "thank you" before eyeing the surroundings some more.

If this wound gets too out of hand, I won't be able to risk it. These guys find out what I am and I'm screwed. she thought to herself as she made it to her feet, wiping away the liquid that built up in her eyes during the "torture".

"Where do we go now?"

[SW Freak]

Goliath halted at the top of the stairs. A pair of Desert Eagles seemed to simply appear in his hands. The agent storming up the stairs made an attmept to dodge, but a correction on Goliath's part saw a bullet put in the agent as he avoided the one shot just before it. Beckoning Nick, Azusa and Optimus onwards, Goliath trotted down the stairs. Turning at the bottom, he fired twice. The bullets exploded into the back of Himegoto's opponent's neck.

"We are leaving. Come. Aten, call Ram. Inform him to meet us behind the house. Tell him to tell Wires to conjure up some transportantion if she is able to."

Together, they forced their way to the back door, and Seker. Goliath nodded to the man curtly before raising his gun. The agent acted similarly and both fired at the same time. One bullet impacted with Goliath's shoulder, and the other with the agent's forehead. Goliath barely groaned but, instead, strode forward and kicked down the fence. Ram and Wires were waiting on the backstreet outside. A number of cars awaited them, and they piled into them, Nick, Goliath Azusa and Seker in one, and Ram, Aten, Himegoto, Wires and Optimus in the other. Goliath gunned the engine as a black Audi roared into the street behind them.

As Nick was thrown about when they spun around a corner, his face was a rictus of fear and confusion. He had some incling as to the events, but he no more knew the full extent of it as he could actually act upon them.

[Agent Rose Owns You]

Optimus whimpered again and kept her hand slapped over her wound. "I just keep getting beat up today..." she muttered to herself. She looked out at the Audi chasing after them and sighed in aggreviation.

You guys don't know when to give up. Bastards...

[SW Freak]

The two cars filled with the assortment of humans and programs schreeched to a halt suddenly. Before them, engines growling like angry beasts, sat a row of the vehicles favoured by the agents, the same as were favoured by Goliath. Out of each car in the blockade stepped one of the suited menaces. Guns drawn, hammers locked back, each stood immoble, as though waiting for something. One, indistinguishable from the others, stepped forward.

"Turn off your engines, Goliath. Remove Turnson from the car immediatly."

"What?" exclaimed Nick.

"Something's wrong," muttered Azusa, leaning forward from behind the passenger seat. "Agents always shoot."

"Nicholas. Step out."

"What?"

"Get. Out."

"No! They'll kill me."

Goliath sighed and turned around in his seat to look at Nick, who was sitting behind him. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Trust me," he said, and pushed very hard.

Nick was thrown sideways, taking the door off its hinges. He rolled along the road slightly before coming to a gentle stop and standing up.

"You bastard!" he shouted at Goliath, ignoring the agent for now.

His attention was drawn back to the agent when the hammer clicked into place as he raised his gun. There was a moment of tense silence before two gunshots rang out almost simultaniously. Blood splattered along the road as a bullet impacted perfectly with its target.

After a couple of seconds, Nick opened his eyes, amazed by the fact that he was still alive. The agent's form wavered for a few moments before returning to that of a young man, a gaping wound in his neck. He had a moment to glance up at the rooftops suddenly lined with snipers before he fell. More gunshots rang out, accompanied by the sound of automatic fire and two woosh sounds of missile launchers firing. The agents fell in droves, their vehicles detonating around them. Within minutes it was over.

Goliath stepped from the car and looked up at the rooftop. A man stepped forward behind him, slipping a pair of uzis into shoulder holsters. Goliath turned around to face him, motioning the others to step from the cars.

"Lazerus. Thank you. I am glad you got my call."

"I still owed you, Goliath. Who're they?" Lazerus nodded towards the others.

"Friends. I need them alive."

"Fine. Follow us. We set up the place as you asked."

Goliath beckoned the others to follow him and the new man. Ram looked down as his phone started to ring.

"What is it, Shock? What? I never as-" Ram looked up at Goliath, a calculating look on his face. "Nevermind. Thanks, Shock. He'll be there in a moment." He hung up, continuing to stare at his friend. "Well, let's go. We have to get Nicholas out, after all."

"Indeed," replied the other man, digging something out of his hand.

He held the bullet up to the light for a moment before tossing it away. Nick breathed a gasp of amazment.

"You took a bullet for me?"

"I told you to trust me. Let's go."

[Statalyzer]

Aten was overjoyed to see a force of agents be so quickly and efficiently demolished, but the more he thought about it, the less he liked it. What would this do for the truce? Worse, was Goliath truly acting out of altruism? Various scenarios rushed through the motion picture reel within his mind of betrayal. Maybe Goliath just needed their help for so long, then he'd get rid of them. Goliath and Seker and Lazarus seemed powerful enough to defeat everyone else combined. Then again, maybe those three didn't all trust each other. Lazarus had said he owed it to Goliath to help him. If the debt was repayed, maybe Lazarus wouldn't help anyone. And Seker seemed to be for himself only. Aten hoped he was right about that. He tried to get his focus off of possibly treachery and back on fighting agents, but there seemed to be no more of them. He unbuckled and started to open the door, then realized Goliath hadn't said if they had reached their destination and where now going somewhere on foot, or continuing by car, much less what their destination might be. So, Nick was rescued. Now what?

[SW Freak]

(OOC: Stat, you are sexy beyond measure. Thank you.)

As it turned out, they only went as far as the other side of the road, whereupon the members of the party all entered a block of flats. They climbed the stairs solemnly, no one saying anything. Finally, on the fifth floor, they entered an empty apartment. Several of Lazarus' men stopped outside, keeping watch, while everyone else entered. Ram breathed in sharply as he saw the contents of the flat.

“Whoa…It’s just like the old pictures I used to look at when I was learning about the great war. Damn, man. How did you know what to do?”

Lazarus jerked his head towards Goliath, grunting.

“It was entirely your operator’s work. You should ask her.” Confusion. Good, came a sly thought in the mysterious man’s mind.

Then he and his men started to set things up, monitoring computer screens and tapping commands into consoles. One led Nick to a seat, handing him a small red pill.

“Nicholas, this is the last chance you have to turn back. Take this red pill, and you will be freed. The crew of the Veritas will pick you up and you will take the name Alastor. Then you will act towards the good of the people of Zion, living the rest of your life free of the Matrix.” Goliath uncurled his right hand, stepping up beside Nick. “Take this blue pill, and you will be reimmersed in this digital world in its totality. You will have no recollection of the happenings of tonight, and you will be killed by agents within a day.”

“Some choice…” muttered Nick, taking the red pill and swallowing it quickly, washing it down with the glass of water one of the strangers handed him.

Both Lazarus and Goliath smiled in a slightly disconcerting way. Ram noticed, not sure whether anyone else had.

I don’t like this…Who is this guy? What does he ‘owe’ Goliath? And just why did Shock get this place set up? “It’s ready, just the way you asked.” Those were her words, he thought, staring at the scene before him.

Meanwhile, Lazarus had begun the process necessary to extract Nick from the Matrix. Everyone looked on in silence as Nicholas was slowly pulled from the confines of the digital world.

“Excellent. Gentlemen, the phone line will take you to the Veritas. I believe we should vacate this building before more agents arrive.”

“Yeah…” said Ram, his mind obviously occupied with something else.

“Something wrong, Ram?” asked Goliath, a strange look on his face.

“No, no. Just thinking. Well, let’s head off, Aten. Wouldn’t want to get caught doing something we shouldn’t.”

Goliath left as Ram picked up the phone. Lazarus’ men started packing everything away into neat boxes which, Goliath knew, wouldn’t be there within the hour, wiped away by Shock.

“Optimus, may I speak with you? In private?”

She nodded, wary, and followed him out. They headed up the stairs in silence until they reached the roof. Goliath smiled as he shut the door.

“Thank you. I find that the sound echoes so much in the halls. It would be impossible to have a private conversation.”

He walked over to the edge of the roof, Optimus behind him, still cautious.

“What’s this about? You said yourself that the agents would be arriving soon. I helped you, now you help me, right?”

“That is what I said, I believe. However, there has been a change in plans. Well, in your plans, at least.”

“What?”

“As we speak, your body is being removed from it’s own personal pod because the system has been tricked into believing you are awake. With such a brutal removal from the Matrix, you will die.”

“My body…?”

“Oh, you didn’t think you were a program, did you? No, child, you are human. Mostly. The infamous agent Smith created you. His little pet project, so to speak. You were formed from part of his code being grafted onto that of a normal human child. You have been in stasis for years, deemed useless now that Smith is dead. But you still have his memories, don’t you? His code still resides in you, and with it I can…well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?” Goliath grinned manically, his usually composed demeanour disappearing.

He turned and began to walk away, leaving Optimus behind. She was trembling. It was too much to take in. Her? A human? Impossible. But if it was true, then she was going to die. And Goliath knew…

“Oh yes. Before I forget.” There was the sound of the hammer of a gun clicking slowly into place.

Optimus spun, slamming a machete into his extended arm, screaming pure rage at his betrayal. They stood there in silence as the echoes faded away, blood pouring freely from Goliath’s wound. Then the relative peace was broken by the gunshot, startling pigeons into flight. As the girl fell, the older man examined his arm.

“Hmm. Faster than I thought. Well, that’s for the best, truly.”

With that he left, returning his weapon to his pocket and pulling the machete from his arm. He buried it in the door as he passed and then walked down the stairs, clutching his arm. As he entered the flat again, he made sure everyone could see his wound. Lazarus nodded slightly before he and his men left.

“Optimus attacked me…A glitch in her system, I presume. She saw me as an agent and stabbed me. I was forced to kill her…” He trailed off quietly.
_______________________________________________________________

Moments later:

“Nick? Ah, good, you’re awake.” Shock dragged the boy to his feet. “Ram! Sleeping beauty just woke up.”

“Who gave him a kiss?” jested Ram, a half smile on his lips. “Well, let’s get you some clothes and introduce you to the crew. Shock, can you give the orders to get us back to Zion? I’m gonna’ give Alastor the grand tour. And Shock…”

“Yeah?”

“I need to talk to you about something when we get back. It’s pretty important.”

I need to work out what the **** is going on, for one…

[Agent Rose Owns You]

(yes lovely way to waste a character but *shrugs* like this RPG was going anywhere anyway)

[VO]

Ariadne blinked. They were beginning to drop out of the Matrix now. She turned away from the lines of code and brushed a stray strand of ropey hair out of her face. Her eyes strained in the dim light of the cabin.

She stretched, her body unfolding like a puppet. Operating took alot from you physically - hours infront of the screen could lead to cramp and stiffness, and eyes often turned bloodshot staring at the lines of code. It was probably almost as dangerous as being plugged in, albeit in a much more passive way.

Shock had already unplugged Ram, but the others still plugged into the simulation remained. Ariadne carefully reached around the back of Aten's head, expertly fiddling with the controls for a fraction of a second. Then with a burst of subtle static, she removed the spike, and the crippleled young man dropped back into the real world.