Dead. (Part 1)

**GammaRage** · 01/07/2008 20:41:35

(This is a very continuing story; the following parts will be released on a weekly basis and will include many unknown reasons for events, backstories for the characters, etc. So if it seems unfinished, remember, it's only part one.)

Dead. (Part 1)

Timeframe: Matrix, ver. 6.1.-6.2

"Are you done with that d--n kitchen yet, you stupid b--tch?!" yelled Vincent.

"Baby, I'm just setting up the --" Tia, horrified, replied.

"How many godd--n times do I have to tell you to stop slacking at this time of day.
Every time with you it's the same thing; you never learn your f---ing lesson."

Vincent walked to the hallway closet of his apartment complex in Camon Heights, and took from it
his .12 gauge shotgun that he had hunted buck with in the mountains just last week. He loaded 2
rounds into the weapon and pumped it.

"Now," he said walking back to the kitchen; he didn't realize that she had heard him load the weapon,
"where's that pretty little *CENSORED* of yours hid--"

Tia came around from behind the wall of the kitchen and delved a knife into the chest. She remained
atop him, stabbing, and cutting, and digging into his body with the blade. She had blood all across her dress.
She had been hit before, even knifed before, by her own husband. She wasn't going to get shot by him, nor did she plan
to be threatened by him.

She then picked up the shotgun, put it to her mouth, and gave the trigger
a squeeze.

Then Dedrick came home.

_______________________________

2 weeks later

_______________________________

Dedrick's cellphone began to ring.

He chose not to answer it; that is no different, however, from all of the other calls he had received.
Dedrick was held under Child Protective Services. Not only did he simply not want to talk to anyone
(he had even secluded himself from others in the shelter whose parents were murdered, as well), all incoming
and outgoing calls were monitored by a strange man in sunglasses and a business suit with a nametag reading "Green". Apparently, he was the
only kid in the shelter to be monitored in such a way, and by such a character.

The cellphone continued to ring.

"Why the hell did they give me a cellphone. None of the others here are monitored like I am, and no one
but me was given a cellphone. Come to think of it, the dark woman with the braided hair at the front desk
did give me a strangely knowing look," Dedrick thought desparingly.

Again, it rung. This time it did not stop.

He sighed, "Fine...what's the worst that could happen. Obviously someone really wants to talk to me."

He picked up the phone and opened it.

"Hello?"

_______________________________

3 Days Later

_______________________________

From a distance, Dedrick could see the smoke billowing into the air from the factories in Industry Square.
He felt horribly out of place in this downtown setting; he had become fond of the simple life of his apartment,
where if you opened your window you wouldn't risk contracting a disease carried by the smoke.

"So...this is where I learn that nothing that's happened to me matters, eh? That losing my parents didn't mean a thing."

He continued to walk down Maribeau and into Hampton Green. He felt a presence there; he felt as though he simply
"wasn't allowed" to be inside of the area. Almost turning back, he heard his phone ring again. This
was only the second time it had rung since the night he answered back at the shelter; something must have gone wrong.

"Look Deddy, there's an agent that's been tracking your movements since you escaped the shelter - I'm coming to get
you, but just keep North!"

"But how will you know where I --"

"JUST RUN!"

He heard the sound of a motorcycle revving a couple of kilometers away. He ran towards it; he knew it would be her.
Behind him he could hear a loud thump on the ground, and when he looked back, a car had flown 20 feet into the air.
The sound of the motor got closer - he did as he was told, he just kept running. Then Dedrick felt a very strange sensation;
she was but half a kilometer away when he reached his hand to his heart and grabbed hold of it with all of his might; when
he could see his sneakers turn into shoes like that of the man whose name was "Green". He felt his face twist and turn.
Resisting it as much as he could, he held on.

Then, as she was zooming by, she grabbed him by the collar and put him on the backseat. She then pulled out her cellphone;

"Operator! Start initiating a killcode on Dead, NOW!"

"Got it."

Just as Dedrick had almost completely transformed into Agent Green, he felt his heart stop. He collapsed onto Niobe's back.

_______________________________

The Aftermath

_______________________________

When Dedrick became conscious on the Logos, he had no recollection of the Machine City, or being unplugged.

"I...I was dead. What the hell just happened to me?" he said.

"Well, 'Just' happened is a bit of a misjudgment on your memory's part. It's been about 4 months since that day," said Spark.

Spark was the only one watching him at the time; someone had to make sure he didn't hurt himself in case he woke up.
The rest of the crew was in attendance at a meeting in Zion, with Morpheus
being the man who had called it. From what Spark knew, this was the 6th time that he had called the same meeting - again, he thought
he had found "The One".

"How...where am I...how the hell am I alive?"

"Look, I'll uh...I'll let Niobe explain that one for ya when she gets back on the ship, alright buddy?"

Dedrick falls back asleep, and Spark takes his bunk in the crew compartments of the hovercraft.

_______________________________

4 years later, Matrix ver. 6.2.

_______________________________

"They look like they're inside of the Exile's hideout in Uriah; I just seem
to be picking up some weird code coming from inside..."

"It's those d--n Mervs, you always see weird code coming from them. Get used to it, Jax."

"Sorry; I'm learning, Dead, I'm learning."

"Well next time, come prepared please."

"Yes, sir."

Dead moved into the Exile's hideout with two other crewmembers from his ship "The Mecha".
One of the operatives was named Feynt, and the other Tamed.

Feynt moved in quietly; he went unseen as he cleared the first room of Exiles, as he
signaled for the rest to follow him.

Just before they had opened the door to the third floor, Jax called them a second time.

"Listen...I can't quite make out what's in there, but I swear to you that there's something wrong with that place."

Dead sighed, "What's it look like, Jax?", he asked nonchalantly.

"Sir. Get out - get out, now."

"Jax, don't you poppycock me."

"AGENTS, DEAD!"

Suddenly, twenty suit adorning men swarmed the doorway. They knocked Feynt into submission and carried him
out of the building, with Tamed firing full clips at them and hitting nothing but drywall and wood.

Dead was on his back, watching the events around him unfold in what seemed to be slow motion. He then
rose up, grabbed two of the agents by the collar, and noticed they appeared to be the exact same person.

"Smith," he said, "This isn't real. I remember the day that Neo defeated you. The day that the Nebuchadnezzar sailed
into Zion with news of your destruction, and of confirmation of Neo's being the one. I also remember you to be stronger."

With those words, after defeating Tamed, the 3 other agents gathered around Dead.

"We will never be gone, and we will most certainly never be defeated. In fact, we are now much more
like you humans aspire to be, if you'd prefer to think of it as such. I am now becoming a virus; a plague upon the Matrix,
much like you humans were a plague upon the earth," the Smith in the middle of them said.

"Please, let me know one thing before the deed is done, Smith."

"And what would that be, Mr. Dedrick? Hmm. Another interesting side to your story; no matter
where I looked, I could not find files on your family history or even your last name."

"That story doesn't matter - all I want to know is how you've returned, and how in the hell
you've multiplied.

"Well, one would take far too long - you will have been me by the time I finish telling you the answer. As for the other...it must be shown."

In unison, all of the surrounding smiths dug their hands deep into his chest. A chromelike substance
began to envelop his body.

"I...I've felt this before."

...

"Goodbye, Smith."

TO BE CONTINUED/TO BE EXPANDED UPON.