(Chapter 2 cont'd)

Suddenly, Morpheus leapt up and flipped over Anubis in a similar move that the assassin had performed earlier, but instead of slashing him he kicked Anubis in the back of the head. The force was enough that Anubis saw stars, disorienting him for a moment, but it wasn't long as he managed to turn and deflect Morpheus' cut.

Anubis pushed at Morpheus once more, making the veteran back down along the rooftop while deflecting slash after cut, as well as returning them in full favor. More cuts and slashes came across both fighters, with Anubis even managing to shatter one of Morpheus' shoulder guards.

But there was no time to celebrate. Again, Morpheus cut and ran, this time running toward one of the windows of the castle. Had it been any other man, Anubis would have thought Morpheus to be a coward, but his instincts told him the General wasn't that kind of man. Anubis ran after him and dashed into the same window. Morpheus was waiting for him there, in what looked like a throne room, and when the two blades met, a high-pitched *TWANG* echoed throughout the room.

Swinging the katana in three successive overhead slashes to keep Morpheus on the defensive, Anubis twisted one hundred eighty degrees in an attempt to impale Morpheus. The veteran simply sidestepped and let the sword pass through, while bringing his twin katana to bear against Anubis' unprotected side. Anubis noticed the change as he deflected the sudden flurry of nito-ryu slashes; now Morpheus was moving toward the offensive unlike earlier.

Anubis managed to strike again though, with a sudden downward slash that could have split Morpheus' head down the middle, but for some reason it only split Morpheus' mask into two, both pieces falling off to reveal the face underneath. The slash happened so fast that it appeared as a silver flash to the human eyes.

That caught Morpheus' attention immediately. This must be what cut off Kane's arm.

Another silver wave cut at Morpheus, this time in the right shoulder, and he realized at that close range there was no way of dodging. Anubis then dashed forward and made a flurry of slashes, appearing as multiple silver waves that exploded behind him. Morpheus lunged out of the way before the vital cuts could land on him, but it was still pretty close.

But Anubis continued his offensive, moving at a speed that Morpheus thought was more fitting in desperation against Agents rather than humans. The opposing swordsman managed to make a deep cut into Morpheus' right wrist, which was an obvious attempt to disabling his sword arm, but fortunately Morpheus was experienced enough to adapt to it and keep hold of his sword. More cuts followed, striking points all over Morpheus' body, but again the veteran managed to keep from getting cut on anything vital.

Even if the strikes weren't real though, their bodies still ached from the cuts. Though not critical, Anubis was skilled enough that whatever he landed was quick and deep, and Morpheus felt more like he was getting cut by a master chef with a kitchen knife rather than some novice. If it were the real world, the more experienced fighter would have definitely ended up bleeding to death if anything. On the other hand, he knew at his level Anubis wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

It seemed like an eternity between Anubis and Morpheus, as either danced back and forth, each fighter bringing to bear their own individual skills, offensive and defensive alike. Even though Morpheus only nearly matched the speed of those silver flash cuts Anubis was now making off and on, he had memorized the movements he made before the actual cut, giving Morpheus the ability to dodge the attack before it was executed. The young redpill, however, remained persistent.

Then it seemed the fight would finally shift. Anubis swept his sword backwards for another diagonal cut, one that Morpheus could tell would be another power slash. Just as Anubis made the cut, Morpheus did something quite unexpected; instead of dodging the slash, he brought his right katana up as if he was going to parry it. The force of the opposing blades meeting was enough to shatter both blades into a million pieces.

With their swords destroyed now, Morpheus switched his left katana to his right, and Anubis drew his wakizashi to parry the following attack.

"Perhaps you would like to end this as a draw?" Morpheus offered. Although he sounded like he'd been put through a decent workout, it rather seemed as though he was taunting Anubis, testing his minds' limits.

"Forget it." Anubis replied, still holding his defense.

"This was a good fight, but now you're disadvantaged with that wakizashi. There's nothing cowardly to admitting a draw." Morpheus explained.

"I said forget it!" Anubis practically roared. At that point Anubis broke away and attempted to make a stab at Morpheus, the veteran dodged the attack. Then stepping forward, Morpheus made a five slash combo that knocked the wakizashi out of Anubis' hands as well as hitting him in the torso and upper legs.

As Morpheus moved past his opponent on the final strike, kneeling down with the sword blade pointed forward to complete the attack, Anubis stood there for a few moments, not moving at all. But then, feeling as though seconds had turned into hours, he knelt forward, falling on his knees, false blood leaking out of his mouth. It was apparent he couldn't continue.

Morpheus turned and looked at Anubis solemnly. "Don't worry, the wounds you have no will not transfer to your real body. There are safeties put in place to prevent that."

"...You bastard." Anubis muttered.

"Hm?" Morpheus arched an eyebrow.

"You were holding back." Anubis said.

"Yes, I was." Morpheus answered. He studied Anubis' facial expression, and took in the vibe he was giving off.

"You are angry with me," the veteran said.

Anubis remained silent, breathing heavily despite the fact that he knew it wasn't real air.

"It's natural. But if you never know failure, you can't know success either. Anger is a gift, and a tool, but you can't let yourself get carried away. You have to learn when to let that anger go. You must let go of everything.. you must empty yourself to free your mind."

Anubis remained expressionless. "I knew at the beginning I wouldn't be able to beat you, there's too much of an experience gap between us. Despite that, I decided to make your victory hell to gain."

"And you did. There's no shame in that." Morpheus sounded reassuring.

"So why did you hold back when I didn't?" Anubis seemed to snarl.

"Precisely for that reason." Morpheus said. "I knew at the rate you were going you would only exhaust yourself. Many of your attacks were too fast for me to parry anyway, so I waited patiently until you were spent."

Getting up again, Morpheus turned to face where Anubis was kneeling. The assassin at this point looked ready to commit seppuku, even if it wouldn't have effect on him in the real world. The general laughed at that a little bit. "You are skilled Anubis, there is no question about that, and you have a certain potential that very few possess. Your only two weaknesses are your inexperience and impatience."

Morpheus walked around to the front of Anubis, who looked up at him, breathing heavily. The adrenaline still hadn't worn off it seemed. "Experience can be gained, and so can patience, but only if you allow it. ‘Disciplined and calm, to await the appearance of disorder and hubbub amongst the enemy: this is the art of retaining self-possession.'" He quoted.

Again, Anubis smirked a little bit, even among his wounds. "Maybe, but that doesn't always follow Sun Tzu's primary principal."

Morpheus gave him a curious gaze. "And that is?"

"‘As swift as the wind, as silent as the forest, attack as fierce as the fire, defend as unmovable as the mountain.'" Anubis said. "Furinkazan."

Morpheus nodded approvingly, for Anubis did have a point. Still, he could see the fighter had taken his words to heart, so he felt there wasn't anything more to do here. "End program." He commanded. And then the world around them went black.
----

(Chapter 2 concluded)

"Yeah, and then something happened," Leon answered. "Somehow he was revived and when he came to, he gave it right back to Balthasar."

Balthasar, surprisingly, remained calm. "He will not go unpunished. Whatever happened to him is a mystery, but he had caught me by surprise and impossible things happened. He should not have gotten back up. But I will find him and kill him again, and it will be final this time."

"In any case," Blood said, "he'll need to be watched. I have no doubt that Morpheus will take him to see The Oracle to find out what happened to him."

"Should we try to intercept?" Raven asked.

"No, it's not worth going toe to toe with Seraph over. Let him go and take Janus to the fortune teller. While Zion's General is distracted, we'll make some moves of our own against his army. For now, our missions in the Matrix will include raiding Zion's safehouses and hacking into their networks, to find any data or information we can on whatever movements or plans they're trying to make. With this knowledge, we'll know when and where they'll be working, that way we can ambush them should we ever have to."

"Any other orders, Captain?" Arius asked.

"Besides trying to break into Zion's networks, Machine networks and databases are priority targets. Hack into them, get whatever information you can, leave viruses, sabotage their systems, whatever. When you're pulling information from them, try to find whatever details you can about the Source: Where it's located, both in the Matrix and the real world, how its accessed, etc. The closer we get to the machine mainframe, the closer we'll be to finding a way to destroy it and end the Machine's rule. We'll have to finish the job Morpheus started, even if deep down he's working towards the same goal or not."

"Captain, I have to ask," Magnus said.

"Go on, soldier."

"Why does General Morpheus look upon us as his enemies? Why does he fail to endorse or cooperate with us or join our cause? Does he not realize we're fighting for the very same thing he's fought for his entire life outside of the Matrix?"

"Morpheus is getting old, and delusional. He used to have the fire inside that drove him towards the same goal we're after, but after his false messiah established that truce, he lost sight of the mission. Now he thinks that by fighting to protect Zion instead of destroying the Machines, in hopes that it will demonstrate Zion wants peace, that he's fighting for a more powerful cause, or for what Neo wanted. Therefore it's up to new officers and fighters like us to take his place and walk that path until we're victorius."

"Do you think he'll ask The Oracle for guidance?" Kane asked

"Probably. He's always chasing after dreams she puts into his head, ending up on some stupid crusade."

"What if Neo comes back?" Sonia asked.

"What?" Balthasar asked. After all this time, it seemed like an obviously stupid question to ask, thus he was caught by surprise.

"What if Neo returns to save us? Would we then cooperate with Morpheus and rejoin Zion?"

"He's not coming back," Blood said. "Neo didn't save us. We have to save ourselves, and I'm not about to start praying he comes back to pull off another wasted stunt. We were already let down once, and I won't entertain the chance of that happening to us again."

Blood took a moment to think over what he just said. After the disappointment and near betrayal they felt when Neo failed to destroy the Matrix and saved it instead, this was the basic doctrine of the Resistance's resolve to fight: No saviours, no miracles. This time they wouldn't wait for a messiah to come help them; Now they would stick to their guns and depend on themselves to complete their mission.

However, despite that the Resistance had adopted this agnostic nature, there were those among them that secretly hoped someone would come along to lead the way to freedom, in light of the odds stacked agaisnt them. They dare not say it though -- such talk was taboo, especially around Blood.

"In any case," he continued, "We're not going to be cooperating with Morpheus any time soon. A new weapon is being developed by our operators to use in our missions inside the Matrix against both the Machines, and I would expect Zion's Matrix Corps to interfere once they catch on."

"A new weapon? What is it?" Django asked.

"A special kind of weapon that will give us an advantage in freeing our brothers and sisters from their prison, and show everyone still trapped in the Matrix the true nature of their world whether they believe it or not, red or blue..."

The others stood silent, trying to figure out what he could mean. Then, suddenly, the silence was broken by the ringing of a cell phone. Balthasar reached into his pocket and placed the phone up to his ear after opening the face shield.

"What is it?" he asked. He listened, nodded his head, and shut the phone. The others looked to him as he quickly returned the phone to his pocket.

"Get to your exits. Agents are coming."

"Agents?!" Raven exclaimed.

"They'll kill all of you right here since you're all gathered together. I'll hold them off and buy you some time."

"You heard him," Blood said, and with a hand signal, everyone began to retreat from the warehouse. "He can handle himself, let's get the hell out of here."

Balthasar stood and watched as the Resistance troops fled the warehouse through it's several exits and made their way out, either on foot or in whatever vehicles they used to get there. He waited a moment, and took the time to crack his knuckles as he waited for the Agents to show up. Then he checked to make sure his pistol was fully loaded, and then returned it to his shoulder holster.

Since his skill had started to increase by leaps and bounds, after the first time he successfully defeated an Agent, he felt no fear against them. They were just another obstacle to get past, pushovers like any other ballsy Exile to him, another block in the road to move past on his way to the ultimate goal of the Resistance.

This was how he'd earned his alias as "The Potential," for the fact that his skill would have made him a potential candidate to be The One, had he been found before Neo. But Blood didn't take him to see The Oracle and have her check him even after Neo's death. There would be no false hope in a hero on his ship, and he would have no part of Morpheus' blind beliefs either, nor would he risk Balthasar getting hyped up thinking he was The One and ending up dead like those that came before Neo.

At best, Balthasar was viewed to be on their level, as a redpill so advanced that he could break rules with greater ease than any other, but not enough to be the person The Oracle had once had all of Zion searching for. However that didn't stop the Resistance from looking upon him as their champion, and like any potential before Neo, Balthasar believed it. At times it would transform into a dangerous kind of pride, and he'd think of himself as the one chosen to finish what Neo started.

Suddenly there was a loud noise. *SLAM* Balthasar turned his head towards where the large double set of sliding steel doors were located. Or at least, where they used to be. They came sliding to a grinding halt before Balthasar's feet, and the breeze caused his ankle-length biker-style leather trench coat to waver slightly. He fixed his gaze upon the open doorway, where three Agents now stood: Norris, Benson, and Stewart. Balthasar's eyes narrowed behind the dark tinted lenses of his glasses, and then a sly smirk crept up on the ends of his lips, nearly unnoticeable. But the Agents, they noticed nearly everything when profiling a target.

"Mr. Daniels..." Norris said out loud in the best effort of a greeting he was programmed for. He sounded impatient though; Balthasar was someone they were all too familiar with. "You are in violation of trespassing."

"Trespassing where?" Balthasar asked. "This warehouse... or the Matrix?"

"It doesn't matter," Norris answered coldly as he reached into his jacket for his Desert Eagle, while the other two Agents followed suit. "Either way, we're going to kill you."

"I'd encourage you to try your best, but you'll miss."

Williams merely let out a snort of air, and in response to Balthasar's remark, all three Agents disengaged the safetys on their pistols. Balthasar flinched, and they opened fire - *BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM*

But to their surprise, the saw Balthasar do something they knew he shouldn't; His body seemed to blur and twist and duck and dip and lean in at least a hundred different positions as they fired, and every bullet missed its mark. When their magazines ran dry, Balthasar re-assumed his normal posture. He flashed a grin, as though he'd only been toying with them. Stewart's face turned into a scowl at this, for this was a feat no ordinary human should have been able to execute.

"Now that I've dodged all your bullets," Balthasar began as he reached for his own pistol, "We're going to do things my way!"

With that, he jumped high up, nearly touching the ceiling of the warehouse before he came down before the Agents with a slam. Immediately, they attacked. Norris punched for Balthasar's face, aiming to knock his head off of his body, but as Balthasar tossed his pistol high into the air, he merely leaned down and forward so that the Agent's punch went flying overhead. With Norris left wide open, Balthasar quickly punched for his ribs, smashing a few of them on impact. Norris was phased from the blow, and Balthasar grabbed him by his still extended arm and his leg, lifted him up over his head, and then slammed his body down.

As he did this, he used Norris' body as a counter-weight and used the momentum to jump up high enough to send the heel of his left boot soaring out and smashing into Benson's face. As Benson reeled back from the blow, Balthasar kicked out with his other foot, using Benson's chest as a platform. The kick sent Benson to the ground as Balthasar backflipped up into the air and landed behind Agent Stewart.

Stewart was quick on his reflexes and as soon as Balthasar's feet hit the ground he let out a spinning roundhouse kick, hoping to hit Balthasar as he landed. The renegade soldier saw this coming however and dipped down to allow the kick to move over him without being hit. When it did, he came up with an immediate punch to Stewart's chest, but Stewart blocked and returned the punch, landing it on Balthasar's face with full force.

This sent Balthasar falling backwards, but he was quick to improvise. He allowed the weight of his body to be thrown back with enough power to shift his body into a backflip. When he planted his hands on the ground, Balthasar kicked his legs up into the air to follow his upper body and both of his feet struck Stewart in the chin in uppercut fashion. As he was knocked back, Stewart threw his hands up into the air from the force of the blow. This left him open for attack, and as Balthasar came back up from his backflip, he thrust out a palm strike to Stewart's chest and landed it, which sent him sprawling back into the air before he hit the ground.

"You," Balthasar began, catching his pistol he had tossed up earlier before it hit the ground, "are all," he continued as he aimed for Norris' head. *BAM,* "scheduled," he said as he pointed the gun at Benson *BAM,* "for deletion!" he yelled, swinging the gun over to Stewart. *BAM*

The three Agents' bodies all simultaneously began to spark with a flurry of blue bolts of light as they were transformed back into their bluepill host forms. "Collateral damage," Balthasar said as he returned his pistol to its holster. His cell phone rang and he took it out to answer it.

"You never cease to amaze me," Sideways said. "It's like watching a blockbuster kung-fu movie."

"Very funny," Balthasar replied, unamused. "Do you have my exit ready?"

"Yes Sir. There's a payphone in Stamos Courtyard waiting for you to pick it up."

"Good work. I'll see you shortly."

"We'll be waiting for you."

Balthasar hung up the phone and returned it to his pocket as he exited the warehouse and made way toward Stamos Courtyard with haste.
----

Irvine stood outside the door to his living quarters, leaning on the railing as he surveyed the view of Zion both above and below. It was still one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen, and it felt good to be settled back in again. His welcome back was a mixed bag, though. Some, like Captain Vir, were happy to see that he had returned from his well-crafted exile.

Others, like Commander Lock for example, weren't all too pleased to see him, and looked upon him both as a traitor and a maverick. Of course, the ladies' reactions were a mix of both. He couldn't blame any of them though, they didn't know the truth, and likely they never would until the Resistance was dealt with. There were always people willing to turn coat for the right price. Problem was, you could never tell who.

Still though, these negative thoughts were cast into oblivion every time he switched his focus from one part of Zion to another. He saw hundreds of people walking about, tending to whatever their needs were, and most of them were civilian, although he spotted the occassional patrol guard here and there. The "home" of Zion's military was up above on the dock, situated on top of the living quarters and city town sectors.

Thankfully, he thought to himself sometimes, this part of Zion had gone untouched by the sentinel attack years ago, save for the huge hole that the one Digger machine had bored through. By now it had been repaired and closed, but you could still tell where it happened due to the difference in color between the ceiling and the materials used to repair the hole.

It made him glad that there was still something left in this world to appreciate, not because it had any sort of value in currency or because it was the last human refuge on the planet, but because he felt at peace now that he was here. Nah, that's total **bullcrud**, he told himself. You're just glad to be home and seeing things you haven't looked at in years. Give it a few days and you'll remember how unsafe you felt during the time of peace, and then realize that you're back at war again. Then we'll see how peaceful you feel.

Footsteps. Irvine turned his head to the direction from which they were coming, and he saw Morpheus coming to him around the bend. He stood up into a relaxed posture, and when Morpheus stopped before him, Irvine issued a casual salute, characteristic of his laid back nature towards formalities.

"General," he said in greeting.

"Captain," Morpheus replied, answering Irvine's salute with a nod of his head. "I see you've gotten yourself settled in. Did everything turn out alright?"

"Everything's fine. Got myself a nice cozy bed waiting for me for when we get back," Irvine said.

"Good. Speaking of getting back, your ship's repairs are all finished. It's time to go. We're taking Janus into the Matrix to see her."

Irvine nodded his head a few times, remembering the message brought to them earlier by Captain Vir. "Alright then, no stalling then since I'll assume you're wanting to get there as soon as possible," he remarked. "I'll round up my crew and have them ready on the dock."

Morpheus nodded his head. "Very good. I'll see you when we take off."

Irvine nodded. "You got it." He patted Morpheus on the shoulder as he walked past him.

----

Solitaire was in her apartment, and was packing things into her bag. There was a knock at the door, then the creaky-hinges whined at it was opened. She turned, and saw Irvine there. "Time to go," he said. She smirked, finding amusement in his timing.

"I was just heading out. After you, Cap."

Irvine had gotten to Blade first on his rounds to get his crew ready, and so he was dispatched to help find the others. He signaled to Marley as he walked beside him to go get Glitch, while he himself went to find Anubis, who had been located a few doors away. He opened the door and poked his head inside.

"Anubis! Let's get going!"

But there was no answer in any form. Blade frowned, thinking Anubis was already getting back to breaking his balls.

"You're supposed to knock first, aren't you?" he heard someone say behind him. Quickly pulling himself out of the doorway to turn and see who it was, Blade was a little surprised to have found Anubis standing there, with his bag slung over his shoulder.

"Looking for me?" Anubis asked, with a slight cocky tone.

"Not anymore. Quit standing around and cut it out with the ninja bull-*poop*, the Captain wants us all on the dock on standby."

"Of course. Being new here though I didn't want to end up getting lost on the way back, and I figured someone would come by to let us know eventually," Anubis said.

"Yeah, sure, always on top of the game one step ahead of people, I got your number. Now let's go," Blade said, slightly annoyed. Anubis shrugged slightly as he followed after Blade.

When Irvine got to Janus' apartment, he found him sitting on his bed all by himself, with his hands on his lap, staring at the floor as though he were deep in thought. As Irvine stepped in, Janus glanced up at him, and he saw a smile of familiarity come onto Janus' face. He let out a "Heh," but at the same time he felt kinda bad. Janus was still new and didn't really have any friends or know anyone else in Zion, so he knew how lonely he must have felt, sitting there alone in his room.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Irvine asked.

"We've got a new mission into the Matrix already?" Janus asked.

"We're taking you to see The Oracle," Irvine answered. He saw that Janus had his bag sitting on the bed next to him, all packed with whatever clothes he had just bought when Irvine had taken him on a tour of Zion earlier on, which answered his question of whether Janus was ready or not.

"The Oracle??" Janus asked, curiously. Suddenly, Janus seemed to have been overcome with interest and concern. He remembered what Irvine had told him about her, and she seemed to be a very sacred and important entity. But he didn't have to wonder about why they were going to see her.

"Yeah. She's probably going to ask you about what happened. You still remember all of it?"

"I was just thinking it over before you walked in, so it's all still fresh in my mind."

"Good, keep going over it until we get there. Let's get to the ship," Irvine said.

Janus nodded, stood up, and hefted his bag over his shoulder. Then he looked at Irvine, expectantly. Irvine caught this as Janus' way of telling him to lead the way to the dock, so Irvine motioned for him to follow with a nod, and they were on their way.

----

"Look at that!" Irvine exclaimed. "She's beautiful!"

The rest of Irvine's crew set its gaze on on the Nemesis, waiting by itself on deck of the repair bay and looking as though it had a complete makeover done to it. The missing hover pads were replaced, the hull plating had been switched out with new armoring, the turrets had been repaired and tuned up. For a j-rigged hovercraft, it looked prestine compared to the way it looked when they had set down. Almost as if it was brand new.

Irvine was very pleased with what he saw. "You boys did an excellent job on her, better than any repair me and my crew could have ever done by ourselves." He walked over and ran his open palm along the surface. "You haven't had a fix up like this in too long, eh baby?" he said in a mutter to the ship. The others were equally impressed. What had gone from a busted up, bullet ridden hovercraft had turned out to look quite nicely after repairs.

"Check it out, they pimped our ride," Glitch said with a big smile. The others, sans Anubis, got a laugh out of it, being familiar with the TV show from their days still plugged into the Matrix.

"Yeah, maybe they added in a PS2 and a shitload of DVD screens all over the place on the inside," Blade said as he headed towards the ramp. The rest of the crew followed while Irvine stood back stroking his chin as he looked over his ship still. A voice from behind snapped him out of his trance.

"Are you satisfied with the repairs, Captain?"

Irvine turned around and saw Morpheus approaching. He smiled and nodded his head. "Satisfied is an understatement. Your crew's all ready to go?"

"Yes, I just came by to check and see if everything was all right with your ship. You'll be following us out of gate four and then we'll seperate once we reach broadcast depth."

Irvine nodded. "Alright then, let's get going."

Both med nodded, turned, and headed for their ships. When Irvine made it to the cockpit, Marley was already inside doing pre-flight checks before takeoff.

"How's it looking?" Irvine said as he sat down and buckled into the chair.

"Everything's green lit. All systems are go, power is up and running with no trouble, auxiliary power is on standby. No damage reported whatsoever."

"Heh, we'll see how long that lasts," Irvine said as he activated the hover pads. Marley smirked at his remark. It was characteristic on Irvine to be blunt with the truth, but Marley was surprised and thought he'd be a little bit more optimistic about how much time it'd take before the Nemesis was heavily damaged again. He just shook his head and carried on with the systems activations. The Nabonidus was up and heading out of gate 04, and soon the Nemesis was following after.

----

It wasn't long before both Zion hovercraft reached broadcast depth and went their seperate ways to find broadcast points. Having landed itself in a small cave just off of a secluded tunnel path, the Nemesis crew was now situated on the main deck getting ready. They were back on the frontline, and the game was on. Irvine stood at one of the loading chairs keying in what he'd be going into the Matrix with, and Janus was doing the same.

"Alright, here's the deal," Irvine said. "Only Janus and I are going in. We're gonna meet up with Morpheus and proceed to The Oracle from our rendezvous point. There's always a constant presense of a Zion crew guarding her apartment, so we'll be alright. In case we do need anyone's help though, I suggest you key in your gear and have it ready for immediate deployment."

There were various nods, grunts, and gestures of approval from the rest of the crew. Irvine looked over to Janus and nodded his head up. "You ready?"

Janus swallowed the knot in his throat, still able to recall how he felt after he had exited the Matrix last time. That omniscient feeling that had stayed with him ever since then was eating at him, for the fact that he'd only been unplugged a few weeks ago and yet felt like he had years of experience under his belt at the same time. Confusion and Nirvana, once again.

"Yeah, let's go." They both sat in their chairs and waited as Marley and Blade helped strap them in. Janus listened and heard as Irvine's needle was inserted first. Marley reached around, and then Janus felt as the needle was put up against the port in his skull.

*ZZzzt*

----

The Matrix
Mara, Richland
March 2004, 12:04PM

When Janus opened his eyes, he saw Irvine standing before him waiting for his RSI to materialize. He looked around through the lenses of his sunglasses, noticing the phone booth behind him from which he'd entered the Matrix from, and took in his surroundings, recognizing the area as Mara South. He turned back to Irvine.

"Well, look at you then. Feeling a bit enlightened after that experience eh?" Irvine teased.

At first, Janus was confused, but then he realized Irvine was talking about his choice of clothes. Rather than what he first wore into the Matrix on his first return trip or the combat gear after that, Janus had a sharp, prim style to his choice of clothing. Now he wore the same black, ankle length, cape-like trench he had worn during his rescue mission to save Irvine, only buttoned up to the top, leaving just enough of an opening to see the matching black dress shirt and tie underneath, which went along with his black slacks and square-tipped dress shoes. Overall, he looked a combination of smart and sexy. His shoulder-length layered hair blowing in a virtual breeze.

In response to Irvine, Janus simply waved him off as though to dismiss his nitpick. "Where's Morpheus?" he asked.

Irvine frowned, wondering the same thing himself. "I would have imagined he'd be waiting for us before we got here," he said. Just as he finished speaking, Morpheus came walking through a door off to the side, late as always, wearing his usual purple slacks and vest along with his green tie and black dress shirt under his croc-print leather trenchcoat. He walked over in stride, nodded to Irvine, and extended his hand to Janus for a handshake, which he firmly returned.

"A pleasure meeting you again, Janus," Morpheus said with a smile.

"Pleasure's mine," Janus answered, smirking back a smile of his own. He let go of Morpheus' hand and payed attention for what he might say next.

"The Oracle's apartment is close by," Morpheus said. "Let's get going before trouble finds us."

The trio began to walk, heading into an alleyway so to avoid any pedestrians on the street. "So she still lives over at Debir Court?" Irvine asked.

"Yes. Seraph does his job of protecting her quite well, as do the soldiers we have posted nearby on rotating shifts," Morpheus said in confidence. One could tell he was proud of the work his soldiers were capable of doing, since The Oracle's safety was always something of high priority. Having never wavered even since the moments before he'd lost the Nebuchadnezzar, Morpheus still believed her to be some sort of a goddess or prophet, always with the best interests of Zion and the human race in mind.

Soon, the group had reached Debir Court and began crossing the courtyard, the very place Neo had faced nearly a hundred Smith clones five years earlier. Morpheus still remembered watching the event from the Nebuchadnezzar's main deck, in awe as more and more Smiths showed up to overtake Neo, as he bravely stood his ground and fought them off until the last moment, a feat not even the strongest redpill soldier could dream of pulling off.

To Morpheus however, that time also felt only like a dream now, for Zion was back at war with the Machines, and without The One, as if time had rolled itself back to before Morpheus had found Neo and was taking Potentials to The Oracle to be examined. Fate, it seemed, had still retained its sense of irony.

Seraph stood there waiting for them, his arms behind his back as though he were patiently meditating. The group stopped before him, and Morpheus approached him and they exchanged greetings. As this was happening, Janus sensed something strange about this new character before him dressed in martial arts gear and circle-framed sunglasses, but he couldn't tell what it was at first. Was he another redpill assigned to protect The Oracle like Morpheus had mentioned before? Janus wasn't sure.

Then, Janus remembered how he had looked upon the world after his resurrection, and saw the entirety of it composed of scrolling green code. He blinked, and saw the world in this form once again. The scrolling code was running all over the place, on every surface, and in the sky. He glanced over and saw Irvine, and recognized him in this new sight for the code that made up his RSI, since most people looked the same.

(Chapter 3 concluded) 

Looking back, he saw Morpheus standing before him, but what caught his attention as if it were violently pulled from him and refocused was Seraph. His body, unlike Morpheus and Irvine's, was made up of sprawling gold code, that shined brightly in contrast to the green world around him. Now, Janus was sure that Seraph was not human, but whatever he was, it was not of this world. He felt Seraph set his gaze upon him, and in a blink, his vision returned back to normal.

"Come now. She is waiting," he said in a thick Asian accent. He made a hand motion as if telling the group to follow him, and they did. Irvine looked around as they walked, and happened to notice a sniper posted up in the higher levels of the complex. He laughed to himself over it, amused by how serious the new security measures were. Once inside the complex, they moved into an elevator. Irvine and Janus stood in the back while Morpheus and Seraph stood in front. Janus glanced over at Irvine, who returned his look.

"Nervous?" Irvine asked.

"No. I just don't know what to expect," Janus said. Irvine nodded in agreement.

"Nobody ever knows what to expect," Irvine reassured him. "You get used to it."

"You may not understand what it is she says at first," Morpheus told him. "But sooner or later you'll understand, because she'll only tell you what you need to hear."

"What I need to hear? Who decides what I need to hear?" Janus asked.

"You do," Morpheus answered. Before another word could be said, there was a *ding*, and the doors parted to reveal a while corridor with cement walls and lineoleum tile flooring. Seraph stepped out of the elevator and the other's followed in a two-by-two formation since the hallway was narrow.

Janus noticed that graffiti had been done in various places on the walls, saying things like, "PEACE," "GUTS," and "HE RETURNZ." Janus shook his head slightly as though he didn't get it. Why would this Oracle, someone said to be so sacred and revered, live in the Slums district, much less a place like this? He remembered how Irvine said appearances were deceiving, and nodded in agreement. Now he was beginning to realize how pervasive that notion was.

When they reached the door to The Oracle's apartment, Seraph opened the door and let the other three inside. Once they were all inside, Seraph closed the door and motioned for them to take seats in the living room. Morpheus took a seat in a recliner while Irvine sat down on the couch. Janus did a quick scan of the living room to find a seat for himself, and decided to sit on the opposite end of the couch from Irvine.

As he sat down, he registered how comfortable the couch felt, and simply shook his head with a huff of air through his nose as though he were laughing at the fact that it wasn't real. Seraph had walked off into another area of the house, and as he exited the room, a young girl who looked to be 11 or 12 years old and wearing a yellow and white sun-dress entered the living room.

"Hello," she said politely with a smile to the guests. She recognized Morpheus immediately, and went over to hug him as he sat. "How are you, Morpheus?" she asked

"Hello Sati," he said with a smile. "I'm doing just fine."

"Good! Who are your friends?"

Morpheus pointed over to Irvine first. "This is Irvine. He's another Captain like myself."

"He's from Zion too?" Sati asked, and Morpheus nodded. Janus was impressed -- how did this little girl even have a clue? He said nothing and merely watched as Sati walked over and stood in front of where he sat.

"And who are you?" she asked him.

"My name's Janus," he said.

"Nice to meet you. Are you here to see The Oracle?" she asked.

Slowly, Janus nodded his head. "Then you must be special," Sati said. "Come look what I can do," she said, beckoning Janus to follow. He glanced over at Irvine, and then at Morpheus, and he nodded in Sati's direction as if to tell Janus to go with her. He shrugged a bit and got off of the couch, and she took his hand and led him over to the back door where the fire escape was located. The sun shined directly into the living room, cascading it with warm light.

"Watch this," Sati said. Janus watched as she put her hands up before her face as though she were praying, but seperated them and bent her fingers as though to make a set of parenthesis with her hands. She lined them up in front of the sun so that it appeared to be between her hands. Janus glanced up into the sky at the sun, his eyes protected from his glasses, and all he saw was the sun in the middle of a pale noon sky. He looked back over to Sati, and arched a brow. What was she trying to show him?

"Look now," she said to him. He looked back at the sun and had a double take. Now, the sky was filled with a beautiful mix of colors, with clouds colored in different hues of blue, purple, pink, gold, and orange, and the golden sun shined bright amongst them. Janus felt jaw drop slightly as he was mesmerized by the sight, and he looked back at Sati to see her looking back at him expectantly, waiting for his response.

"That's amazing," he said. "How did you do that?"

"Haha, it's easy!" she exclaimed. "You try."

Upon Sati issuing this challenge, Janus arched a brow, and Irvine immediately turned his head toward Morpheus, in time to see him lean forward in his chair and rest his elbows on his knees, having taken a great interest at this point.

Janus considered it. "You want me to change the color of the sky?" he asked Sati.

"Haha, silly," she laughed. "You can't change a sky that isn't there. What you have to do is look inside and change yourself. Then you can make all the colors you want."

"Hmm." He kneeled down so that he was closer to Sati's height and positioned himself so that he had a clear line of sight with the sun, and held his hands up the same way Sati had earlier. He glanced over at her one more time.

"Change yourself," he said. With a smile, she shook her head as though to say yes. He looked back into the sky, closed his eyes, and started to concentrate. He envisioned himself in his code vision, his RSI constructed of white code, a blank canvas to be colored upon. With a clear vision of this in his mind, he focused, and began to picture various colors in his mind. Irvine leaned forward on the couch in order to get a better view of the sky outside, and Morpheus rested his face upon his hands as he watched closely.

Soon, Janus was able to see various blends and mixes of the colors he saw in his mind, almost as though his eyes were opened and he was still looking at Sati's sky. Suddently, someone touched him, placing a hand on his shoulder. His concentration broken, he opened his eyes to look and saw that it was Seraph looking down at him. A smile slowly developed on Morpheus' face.

"The Oracle will see you now," he said. Janus nodded, and turned to look back at the sky. He noticed that the formation of colors had not changed a great deal, but there were slight changes and noticable differences from the way they had looked just a few moments ago. He looked back over at Sati, who was still smiling, and now looked a little proud.

"Come along, Sati," Seraph said, and held his hand out for her to take it. She glanced up at Seraph, nodded, and took one last look at Janus.

"Good job," she whispered. She then took Seraph's hand and he led her towards the door. As Janus stood and turned around, he saw an old black woman enter the room from the kitchen area. She wore a green dress with orange design patterns all over it. Her silver and black hair was up in a bun, and she wore jade-colored ying-yang earings. He noticed that she looked happy to see everyone, as though old friends were visiting.

"Hi Oracle," Sati said as she passed by.

"Well hello there, Sati. What've you been up to?"

"I was showing Janus how to play with the sky. He did good!"

The Oracle's face lit up with a smile, and she looked right over at Janus for a moment, as if she knew already knew who he was. "I'm sure he did," she said before turning back to Sati. "Why don't you go run along with Seraph and play? I've got some grown-up stuff to talk about with Morpheus and his friends. When I'm done, we'll make a batch of cookies, alright?"

Sati smiled brightly. "Okay! Come on Seraph, let's go play," she said. Seraph nodded his head, and Sati led him down the hallway to her room.

"Now then," The Oracle said as she moved into the living room area. "Why don't you have a seat, Janus? You might as well get comfortable, I'm sure you have a lot to tell." She motioned for him to come follow her into the kitchen area. Morpheus stood and motioned for Irvine to follow.

"Oracle, if you don't mind, Irvine and I are going to step out for some fresh air. I would feel rude sitting here during this meeting," Morpheus said.

The Oracle simply shrugged. "It doesn't make a difference either way, but the choice is yours."

With that, Morpheus nodded to her as if to bow, and Irvine waved. "See you soon," he said as he followed Morpheus out.

"I'm sure you will," The Oracle said. As the door shut, she turned her attention back to Janus and led him into the kitchen, where they both sat down at the table.

"So, Janus. That's an interesting name. Appropriate too..."

Janus arched a brow. What did she mean by that?

"You had an interesting run in recently, hmm?" she asked. Janus merely nodded his head, and she laughed. "Don't be so nervous, I don't bite," she joked with him.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?" She asked. Janus cocked his head slightly.

"You want to hear everything that happened that day?" he asked.

"No," she said as she lit up a cigarette. She took a drag, and blew out the smoke as she looked back at him. "When he killed you," she told him.

He nodded his head. "After I was shot, I could feel myself in some sort of limbo," he said, trying to recollect what happened. "Then there was a bright light. It was warm, and I was drawn to it. Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away from the planet on this stream of life. I saw the earth fly away. The solar system, in all its splendor, whizzed by and disappeared. At faster than light speed, I flew through the center of this light, absorbing more knowledge as I went. I learned that this place, and all of the universe, is bursting with many different varieties of life. I saw many worlds."

She nodded her head as she listened, flicking her cigarette tip into an ash try. "Mhmm. Sounds like you got yourself an express ticket straight to the Source," she said.

"The Source?"

"A little self explanatory, don't you think? But you don't need to know about any of that for now. Go on with your story," she told him.

He nodded, and continued. "As I passed into the light, the awareness came to me that I had just transcended the truth. Those are the best words I have for it, but I will try to explain. I found myself in a profound stillness, beyond all silence. I was in the void. I was in pre-creation, before there was life. I had crossed over the beginning of time - the first word - the first vibration. I was in the eye of creation. I was at one with absolute life and consciousness. I could see or perceive forever, beyond infinity. I could experience all of creation generating itself. It was without beginning and without end."

The Oracle nodded, taking another drag of her cigarette. "That's a mind-expanding thought, isn't it?"

He nodded in agreement, and could see she was very interested in what he had to see, and so he continued.

"At first I saw a tremendous explosion, that I perceived as the single event which created the universe. But then I saw that it was only one of an infinite number of explosions creating universes endlessly and simultaneously. Endless fractals of golden light, everywhere."

Based on how The Oracle suddenly shook her head in agreement, Janus figured he must have hit some sort of nail on the head. She put her cigarette out in the ash tray and looked back to Janus.

"You know something," she said. "Your people have known about this for years. The ancients knew of this. They said that a Creator, or Godhead if you will, periodically created new universes by breathing out, and de-creating other universes by breathing in. These epochs were called yugas. Modern science called this the Big Bang. It sounds like you were in absolute, pure consciousness, and could see or perceive all the Big Bangs or yugas creating and de-creating themselves. What was that like?"

Janus blinked for a moment, trying to remember. He did note however, that it sounded like she already knew the answer to her question, and was only asking to see if his answer would be the same. "Instantly I entered into them all simultaneously. I saw that each and every little piece of creation has the power to create. It is very difficult to try to explain this. I'm surprised I was able to tell you this much, I still feel speechless about this."

"Well, you're doing good so far," she said. "Keep at it," she beckoned him.

"I was in this void, and I was aware of everything that had ever been created. It was like I was looking through the eyes of the all-powerful. I had become a God. Suddenly I wasn't me anymore. And I knew why every atom was, and I could see everything. The interesting point was that when I returned from the void, I came back with this understanding."

"Keep going," The Oracle said with a smile.

"Then I suddenly came back through the light, hearing several more velvet booms. I rode the stream of consciousness back through all of creation, and what a ride it was! The superclusters of fractals came through me with even more insights. I passed through the center of a fractal, which was like a black hole, which functioned like great processors or recyclers of the universe. On the other side of this was another fractal, which had been reprocessed from another universe-like fractal before it. I could see all the energy that the humans plugged into the Matrix generate, and it is an incredible light show. All together, it generates a unique matrix of light, sound and vibratory energies. "

The Oracle crossed her arms over her chest, and she made a face of concern that formed wrinkles in her forehead. Janus could see that her interest had increased in what he was saying, and so he continued.

"I passed through what I could only think of as a Construct of heaven of some sort. It was beautiful, everything was like a paradise. Like it was perfect. I heard a voice speak out, and it said that this, what I saw before me, was both the beginning and the end. Then, in an instant, I was returned to the Matrix. It seemed like it had all happened in the matter of a few seconds, but it felt like forever. After that I woke up, and--"

The Oracle cut him off. "It's alright dear, I know the rest of the story. It sounds like you had quite a trip. How do you feel?"

Janus thought about it. How did he feel? It was question he had neglected to ask himself, so now was a good time to find out. "How do I feel... I feel like..."

"Like you've seen it all, right? Like you know everything there is to know, but at the same time, you know you don't. Confusing, isn't it?"

He nodded his head. How did she know? He guessed this was why she was called The Oracle. "Yeah," he said to her. "Really confusing."

"I'm sure, but it won't seem that confusing when it comes to the choice you'll have to make."

Janus narrowed his eyes, his eyebrows wrinkling in confusion. "What choice?"

"You already know what it is. You just need to understand it," The Oracle said. She pointed up to something up above and behind him. When he turned around to look, he saw a sign that read "Temet Nosce." After reading it, he turned back to her.

"What is it?"

"It's in Latin. It means 'Know Thyself.'"

"I don't understand," he said.

"I know," she told him with a smile. "Let me put it to you this way. It is sometimes a mistake to climb; it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt. If you do not climb, you will not fall. This is true. But is it that bad to fail, or that hard to fall? Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes when you fall... you fly. My point is, only you can know what's going to happen. And when the time to choose comes only you can decide, whether or not you'll be the one others need... because deep down, you'll know."

Janus sat there and took in her cryptic explanation and committed it to memory. He didn't understand what it meant, but he was sure he'd get it sooner or later, just as Morpheus had told him earlier. "Was there anything else you wanted me to tell you?"

"No, that's quite enough for now," she said with a smile. Seraph entered the room. "It's time for you to get going, things have only just begun to get interesting today. Seraph here will escort you out."

Janus stood up, and The Oracle took one last look at him before he would leave. She looked as if she was studying him.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Nothing at all," she answered. "You're somethin special, kiddo. I'll be seeing you again. Until then, stay healthy."

Janus smiled. "The best advice The Oracle has, huh?"

They both laughed. "Take care, Janus," she said.

"So long."

Seraph led him out into the hallway, where Morpheus and Irvine were waiting for him.

"Thank you," Morpheus said to Seraph. With a silent nod, he bid them farwell, and went back inside the apartment. When the other three heard the door locks click into to place, they knew the meeting was over and that they were free to leave.

"How'd it go?" Irvine asked.

"...Weird," Janus said. He looked to Morpheus. "Is it always like that?"

"Not all the time. The important thing to remember is that she told you exactly what you needed to hear. Nothing more, nothing less. You don't have to tell me what she spoke of, because I already know. You just needed to hear it for yourself. No one will ever ask you because it is a gift from her. It is for you and you alone."

Janus simply nodded his head is response. Despite his demigod experience, he learned something new all the time. Irvine nodded his head over to the elevator.

"Come on, we did what we had to do. Let's go before we're traced," he told the other two.

With that, the trio headed for the elevator and made their way to the building's exit.

----

Through the magnified vision of his binoculars, Zhael had a clean view of Debir Court. He watched as Morpheus, Irvine, and Janus walked down the street. Judging by the direction in which they were heading, it looked as though they heading towards the Mara Central hardline. Having been dispatched on a recon mission to watch for Matrix Corps and Exile activity, Zhael knew that the Rebellion crew had struck pay dirt.

"Captain," he called out. Django was on the other side of the room looking over surveillance recordings on one of the high-tech terminal stations that had been custom written for things like recon missions and bluepill extractions. He heard Zhael call to him, and looked over to see what he wanted. When he did, Zhael waved him over and motioned with the binoculars for him to come see what he had found.

When he made it over, he took the binoculars from Zhael and looked out the window outside. When he saw the three Matrix Corps redpills down below, he acted immediately without hesitation. He reached under his black military-styled poncho and grabbed his cell phone off of the clip on his belt, snapped open the face shield, and hit the speed dial for the Nosferatu.

----

While Sideways was busy at his consoles going over repairs to the Nosferatu's vast array of computer systems, working madly to get them back online without a hitch, the receiver rang. It snapped him out of his work trance, and he sat for a second to listen for it ring once more. When it did once again, he put on the headset and turned on the mic.

"Operator," he answered. As he did, he looked all over his screens at the scrolling Matrix code to try and see if he could pick out who was calling him, but the answer came before he had any such luck.

"Sideways, this is Django. I need to speak to Blood immediately."

"Right away," Sideways answered. He put Django on hold. "Blood! You got a phone call!" he shouted.

A few second later, Blood came climbing down the ladder that was used to access the upper decks and the cockpit area, and walked over to Sideways' console station. The Operator was already waiting, headset in hand, ready to give it to Blood. When he took it, Sideways took Django off hold.

"This is Blood," the Nosferatu Captain declared.

"Sir, this is Django. My crew and I have spotted Morpheus, Irvine, and the guy that attacked Balthasar, the new one, Janus, inside the Matrix."

Blood's eyebrows raised in surprise. A nice catch and a rare opportunity. "Where are you?" he asked.

"We're in Magog, overlooking Debir Court in Mara. They must have just left The Oracle's apartment, and my guess is they're heading toward the Mara Central headline. Should we pursue, attack, or hold?"

Balthasar, who had been nearby working on repairs to the ship's wiring, had dropped what he was doing and listened in from a few feet away when he heard the urgenncy in Sideways' voice as he shouted for Blood. Now he'd overheard the conversation, and upon hearing Django ask for orders, he stepped in. Blood saw him approach from the side, and he immediately knew what was going through his head when he saw the lust for blood and revenge in his eyes. He nodded his head in the direction of the chairs, and Balthasar returned the nod, getting to work immediately on the gear he'd be bringing with him.

"Orders, Sir?" Django asked over the line.

"Right. Follow them, but make sure you stay out of sight so that their Operators can't warn them that they're being tailed. I'm sending Balthasar in to get Janus isolated. Once he does, attack the other two. Take no prisoners," Blood said.

"Sir, are you sure that's the right thing to do? Last time Balthasar made contact with Janus--"

"He killed him. And he'll do it again. Just get after them before they get away. You have permission to engage if they make it to the hardline, although I'm sure you won't allow this to happen."

"Yes Sir!" Django said. The line went dead. Blood returned the headset to Sideways, and looked over at Balthasar. He was in his chair, being strapped in by Nitro.

"Balthasar," Blood called out to him. The Potential looked to his Captain.

"Don't screw this up," he said. "That's an order."

"I won't," Balthasar answered. Nitro brought the needle tip up to Balthasar's skull-port.

*ZZzzt*

----

By this point, the three Matrix Corps redpills had covered half the distance to their hardline at Mara Central. They had taken a detour of their originally planned exit strategy right into the middle of a crowded area of the city, where there were people all over the place. The reason for this was that Morpheus figured that if anyone was following them, Exile or Resistance fighter alike, they would be discouraged from pursuing them into the middle of a crowded area where an Agent could show up at any time from any direction, if not multiple Agents.

Irvine tried to convince himself it was a good idea, but he couldn't ignore that it was a double edged sword that also placed them in the same danger. Nevertheless, he pressed on and stayed in formation, and just concentrated on getting to the exit as fast as possible without any problems coming up along the way. In the time Janus was with The Oracle, the sunscape that Sati and Janus had created had been overcome by dark rolling storm clouds. Every so often, the flash of lightning was following by booming thunder. Now, those clouds broke, and it began to rain. Irvine rolled his eyes at this, and hoped it wasn't a sign that their luck was running out.

With Morpheus at point leading the group as he walked in a powerful stride with his arms clasped behind his back, that left Janus standing to the right of Irvine as they walked in formation. When it started to rain, Janus looked up at the sky, noticing the change in the clouds from the beautiful vista of clouds he'd helped to make earlier. Droplets of rain splashed off the lenses of his glasses, and when he blinked to access his code vision, no longer did he see rain. Instead, individual lines of code came down to his face and burst into smaller pieces of code upon splashing into where the lenses of his glasses were.

He continued to look around in his code vision, surveying the world for what it really was and how those still plugged in were completely oblivious to the truth. He found that when looking at the Matrix this way, in order to literally see, he had to look at code for what it said rather than for what it was, since attempting to see everything on the surface proved to be a challenge, as everything in the area blended into the surrounding environment.

Suddenly, something intruded his thought process. It was as if someone had yelled out his name while he sat in a movie theatre, completely focused on the movie being played until the shout of his name broke his concentration. He blinked back into normal vision and looked around with his head on a swivel, trying not to look frantic as to not worry the others. He looked and saw Irvine and Morpheus walking still, looking as though they hadn't noticed a thing. Despite this, he stayed alert.

He had sensed something strangely familiar, but what was it?

----

Balthasar walked through the tightly packed crowds of Mara Central, scanning from head to head as he searched for his target. Although it was his self-sworn mission to liberate all of the bluepills in the Matrix, that didn't mean he particularly cared about their well-being, at least not in this state of mind. As he walked, he bumped and shoved past people that failed to stay clear of his path. Some of them ignored it and carried on, others looked back to see whoever the jerk was that had just regardlessly shoved past them.

Then, out of nowhere, as though he'd been scared out of a deep sleep, a sensation he'd never felt before came over him like a powerful wave. What the hell was that? He looked around the area, trying to see if maybe there was a Matrix Corps soldier with a disruption device of sorts, but then he stopped looking when he realized that the sudden alert he'd felt had brought with it a sense of familiarity.

His cell phone rang, calling his attention from what he'd just felt. He pulled it from his pocket and snapped open the face shield, bringing it up to his ear.

"Balthasar," he answered.

"Balthasar, this is Django. We're down the street from you on the rooftops, we've been tracking Morpheus' group. They're about 50 yards away from you, look for them. Do you see?"

Balthasar looked down the street in front of him, and there he saw Morpheus, leading the group. Behind him was the man he'd recognized as Captain Irvine, who used to be one of his comrades. Then he saw him. Behind Morpheus, to his right, was Janus, looking straight in his direction. Was that a gun in his hand?

----

Janus continued looking around, trying to find whatever it was that had caused him to feel suddenly alert to its presense. As they manuevered through the crowd, he looked at everyone, all over the place, looking for the slightest hint that something was wrong, but he saw and sensed nothing. No Agents came cutting through the masses to come kill them, and no exiles were around to cause trouble. What could it have been?

He heard a cell phone ring. Almost as if all other noise had been cut out for the brief moment, he heard it clear as day. His brain processed that it had come from somewhere in front of him, so turned to look in that direction, unsure of why he was drawn to the noise. And then he saw him. Balthasar, about 50 yards down the road from them, mixed into the crowd. It was as if all other people faded, for now it was only Balthasar he seemed to be able to focus on. He blinked into code vision quickly, to verify the code buildup of his RSI.

Yes, it was him, with no mistake. Blinking back into normal vision, he tensed the muscles in his forearm by making a tight fist, and his pistol sprung out from his sleeve into the palm of his hand. He got a tight grip on the gun, an SV Infinity chambered for .45ACP, and the spring loaded wrist holster retracted up into his sleeve. He cocked back the pistol's hammer, and Morpheus heard this. He turned his head to the right and looked downward slightly, enough so that he could move his eyes to the right and see Janus behind him.

"Janus? What's the matter?"

Irvine looked up at Morpheus, then over to Janus, and noticed he had his pistol out and ready to fire. His heartbeat picked up right away and the adrenaline started to flow.

"Morpheus," Janus said, in that same tone he first spoke to Irvine in after exiting the Matrix after his resurrection. The Matrix Corps General noted that his attitude had changed. No longer was Janus the confused redpill who had just survived a miracle. Now, rather, he seemed like a being to be feared. It gave him chills.

"Get down."

----

The two long-haired redpills picked up their pistols and aimed at each other from across the crowd, and then opened fire. What had once been a calm and peaceful scene in Mara Central had now turned into a scene of complete chaos. The blast of gunfire rung out into the air, and the bluepills panicked. Irvine had taken out his own pistol, grabbed Morpheus and pulled him down into a crouch as they ran to find the nearest cover. People started screaming and running in every direction, even exiting their cars in the middle of the street, guaranteeing that there would be collateral damage, and even worse, the presence of Agents in the area.

Neither man's bullet hit it's intended target though. While Janus' shots missed on account of the fact that Balthasar had given Janus less of a target by facing him with his side and moving as he returned fire, Balthasar's shots were deflected within inches of Janus' body and fly off into another direction as if they had hit some invisible forcefield. As a result, the deflected shots unfortunately hit into whatever bluepills were too close to Janus in no particular shot grouping. Some bluepills escaped with non-lethal wounds, some would need immediate medical attention, some died.

It was for this reason that Irvine and Morpheus ducked for cover on the intersecting street, not only because Balthasar was firing in their direction, but also due to the act that any of the shots Janus managed to deflect away from him might also hit them if they were standing in the wrong place. Fortunately the both of them had seen Janus use this trick against Balthasar the first time they met in battle, so they had the jump on it ahead of time.

This ability angered Balthasar however. For one, it reminded him of what happened on that rooftop, and fueled his anger and passion for revenge further. Another reason was because of the fact that Balthasar's shots were well placed; Had he been aiming at anyone else, they'd be dead for sure. To him, Janus was cheating. Finally, the fact that bluepills were killed by his own bullets being effortlessly deflected away from Janus put the icing on the cake. This type of collateral damage was unnecessary to him.

On the other hand, it wasn't as if Janus didn't have a care in the world about the innocent bystanders being hit by Balthasar's bullets. He decided it was time to adopt a new strategy. At this point, most of the bluepills gathered in the area had dispersed in the panic the two redpill warriors had caused, and this gave the two of them more room to move around. While the air smelled of steam and lead as a result of their hot bullets shooting through the humid air, they both quickly switched out their magazines for fresh ones and continued in their gunfight.

To decrease the number of innocent bystanders being hit and to also ensure that all of the bullets stayed away from him, Janus came up with a different kind of trick to pull. Rather than aiming for Balthasar and deflecting his bullets while he returned fire, now Janus aimed for Balthasar's rounds themselves. In bullet time fashion and accuracy, Janus' bullets flew through the air and smashed into Balthasar's half way across the distance between the two of them, causing a series of what appeared to be sparks igniting in the space between them like mini-firecrackers going off. It wasn't going to hurt Balthasar any, but it was a good way of ensuring none of Balthasar's shots, no matter how well placed they were, would reach anywhere near there mark. As this continued, the two moved in closer to each other.

----

With plenty of abandoned cars all over the wide four-lane street, as well as those parked along the sidewalk, the two Captains found suitable places to hide from the gunfire.

"What the hell's going on?!" Morpheus yelled from behind his cover, over the gunfire as he pulled out his GLOCK 18C and inserted an extended magazine. In a matter of seconds, gunfire had rang out and bluepills were dropping left and right.

"Chaos," Irvine answered. "Complete, unscripted chaos. Who the hell knew Balthasar would be here poking around?"

"Why didn't our Operators see him?" Morpheus asked. The answer he got wasn't one he was expecting though. Suddenly a trail of automatic weapons fire punched a dotted line into the street before him, and would have hit him had he not rolled back in time. He looked up as the drops of rain splashed down onto his sunglasses to see Sigma of the Resistance hovercraft Rebellion standing on the rooftop of the building across the street, holding an AKS-74U with smoke still rising from the barrel.

Quick to return fire, Morpheus fired a burst from his GLOCK 18C up in her direction, but to no avail as she jumped down to meet him on the street below. Morpheus fired another stream of full-auto fire at her, and she ducked back behind one of the abandoned cars for cover. When she did, she resumed firing at him.

Irvine could see Sigma through the windows of the car in front of the one he was hiding behind. He leveled his pistol and just before he could squeeze off a round that would have ended Sigma's life, a series of loud *BOOM*s erupted from the front, and he ducked and looked in time to see where they came from as the .357 magnum rounds just barely missed him, breaking through car glass and tearing holes through chassis. Irvine retreated from his position and rolled back to take cover behind a dumpster, where he could see both Janus and Balthasar going at it with each other, as well as his new attacker.

He saw Django, dressed all in black, wearing a kevlar vest, and the same type of kevlar gauntlets and shield guards worn by riot police, under his black poncho. The booms Irvine heard were the reports sounded off by the twin .357 Desert Eagles he brandished, each with an extended barrel to improve accuracy. Needless to say, Django was quite muscular in his physique, so hefting the two magnum round firing pistols was no trouble to him.

"We've got you now Irvine! You traitor! You crawled back to Zion didn't you? I bet you begged Morpheus to take you back. Now you'll both pay!!" Django roared.

"Django, you've got the wrong guy, I didn't shoot Maria!" Irvine yelled back. His smartass remark was answered with another volley of bullets that slammed large dents into the dumpster with loud *P-DANG* noises. Irvine leaned out from his cover to fire a few rounds back at Django. When he came out, he found Sigma reloading her rifle just a few feet away. He quickly aimed his USP, but then he heard something land on the ground behind him.

He turned just in time to see Zhael's spiked dirty blonde hair and then *BAM*, he took a punch-kick combo followed by a headbutt that sent him back into the dumpster he'd been hiding behind, knocking his gun from his hand. Shaking his head, he realized this member of Django's crew must have come down the fire-escape behind him after running across the overpass above. He was in pain, but it wasn't enough to keep him back down. As he got back to his feet, Zhael unsheathed a combat knife and took a swing for Irvine's neck, but he leaned back to dodge the blade.

Then Irvine came forth, grabbed the same arm Zhael had swung out with with one hand, and with the other hand, decked him square across the face. Following this with the same arm, Irvine struck him with his elbow right into his forehead. Zhael stumbled back a few feet, but before he could react, Irvine delivered a side-kick to his ribs that sent him flying back a few feet before he landed hard on the concrete sidewalk. He quickly reached down for his pistol and picked it up off the ground.

"*blinking*' punk, I never liked you anyway," Irvine muttered. He would have shot Zhael right there, but he heard another blast of gunfire, and found himself ducking back behind the dumpster again to evade a volley of bullets sent at him. As he looked out, he saw that Sigma had reclaimed her assault rifle and was back on the attack. The rain was pouring.

"This sucks," Irvine said.

----

(Chapter 4 cont'd)

Janus and Balthasar had now met in hand to hand combat, having run out of bullets and closed in on each other. To Balthasar's surprise, the two were evenly matched, trading various forms of punches and kicks that they both managed to block and return with equal speed and strength. What made Balthasar a bit nervous was wondering whether this was all Janus had, or if he was only holding back to defend himself. Despite the rain, the two had both managed to stay relatively dry since they were fighting in the intersection under the overpass.

"You're not going to escape with your life. Not like last time," Balthasar threatened. It had been a while since he'd spoken directly to Janus.

"You sure about that? Janus asked him reply. He smirked as he blocked a combo of punches and kicks and snapped Balthasar in the face with a quick jab. "You already tried killing me once and I came back, who's to say I can't do it again?"

Balthasar came back by sneaking in a one-two combo that ended in an uppercut he snuck in at the last minute that put Janus off of his balance a little. "You fool! I destroy groups of Agents at will, you'll be no where near that type of challenge. Last time you surprised me. This time I'll be ready for your little tricks!"

"Like this?" Janus asked. He pretended to go in for a punch but instead held punched out to his side, completely away from Balthasar, and then snapped his fingers, playing on the way a human mind reacts when it's caught up in something that requires quick reaction time. As predicted, the simplicity of the manuever wasn't one Balthasar would have anticipated, and he ended up moving to block for a punch that never came. Instead he received a heavy front kick straight into his sternum that sent him flying back some and he landed on the ground.

Janus merely stood there in a stance, waiting for Balthasar to come back up. This only angered The Potential further -- who did this new recruit think he was, toying with him like this? He quickly got back to his feet and moved in, and the constant block-attack trading of punches and kicks resumed between the two. Janus had now resorted to accomplishing this by simply moving his body only slightly in certain directions to block Balthasar's strikes or dodge completely.

"You know, for someone with a reputation like yours," Janus said as he bobbed and weaved, "You think I'd feel a little more intimidated."

"SHUT UP AND DIE ALREADY!!!!" Balthasar yelled. Then he went into a furious rage of attacks that were so fierce and quick that Janus had to step up his game and actually use his arms and legs to block again. He focused his mind and tapped into the pre-cognitive sense that had allowed him to defeat Balthasar the last time. He waited for the right moment, and it came when Balthasar sent a power punch aimed at Janus' face. Janus leaned to the side, clear of the punch, and then grabbed the same arm Balthasar punched out with and pulled him in to slam his knee into his gut. After this, he turned and delivered a side kick that knocked Balthasar back into an iron railing.

Janus knew Balthasar had a lot more fight in him and that he'd be back for more. He took a brief moment to glance over to where Irvine and Morpheus had ran to for cover, but saw neither of them, and wondered if the both of them were alright, wherever they were. Then he looked back, focusing on Balthasar who was already on his feet and charging back at him.

They would have met in another clash, but then they heard the roar of engines at top speed followed by the loud screech of tires as they fishtailed around the corner. The two both stopped in the middle of their charge to look and see who was coming. Four truckloads of Blackwoods, the local Mara gang, sped towards them in black Hum-vees, and all of them strapped with guns.

As the two trucks went airborne from speeding up the inclined road, Janus and Balthasar both dived for cover on opposite side of the street from each other, behind the steel and concrete support struts that held up the overpass. As soon as the hummer trucks screeched to a halt in the middle of the intersection, they poured out and started shooting -- at everyone.

"Who the hell is that?!" Janus yelled to himself, thinking out loud. The Oracle was right in what she said earlier -- the day was only just starting to get interesting when he walked out of her apartment.

Balthasar, in his anger, saw fit to answer and obliged. "Exile scum! Always showing up at the wrong time!"

"They're on our turf starting trouble!" A Blackwood leader yelled to his comrades. "Now we punish them for it!"

From behind his cover, Irvine had heard the eruption of additional gunfire. He blind-fired a number of shots out to distract Sigma, and when she paused in firing, he looked out from behind the dumpster and saw the newly arrived gang of exiles, right before a number of bullets struck the dumpster, nearly hitting his face. Irvine let out a sigh; While the gang of exiles was shooting at everyone and it did distract the attention of Django's crew to defending itself, all this being shot at was getting annoying.

"This is bull-*poop*," he said to himself, and he pulled out his phone and called the Nemesis.

"Operator," Glitch answered. "You guys need help?"

"No *poop*, how'd you guess?"

"Anubis is already on his way."

"Good man."

After a few moments, Janus and Balthasar both reached the conclusion that hiding behind cover while being shot at suited neither of them, although this wasn't something they figured with each other's best interest in mind, rather than their own. They both came out from hiding, and using their superior speed and power in comparison to the exiles, engaged them from opposite sides of the street, drawing fire and close range attacks. A war-zone had slowly begun to develop.

----

To free up Irvine from the onslaught of three attackers at once, Morpheus engaged Django and was trading blows with him in close range. He found that blocking Django's strikes, which for the most part were power-kicks and overhead chops, wasn't a pleasant experience due in part to the kevlar armor he wore. As they traded punches and kicks, Morpheus remained focused on the fact that the pain wasn't real. That wasn't the only problem though. To make things worse, Laser, another man on Django's crew, was shooting down from a window on an upper floor of the building the Rebellion crew had came out from.

To counter this, Morpheus resorted to fighting with Gun-Kata, mixing his attacks with melee strikes at Django along with moving among abandoned cars for cover and firing bursts of suppressive fire up at Laser to keep him at bay. He knew he'd have to improvise quick, because soon he would run out of ammo, and Django wouldn't allow him the chance to reload.

As he fired a few rounds up at Laser, which ended the spray of bullets he'd been sending down while also trying to not hit Django, Morpheus willingly took a kick to his exposed ribs, and then blocked a hard elbow strike that caused him to wince slightly in exertion. Laser had withdrawn from his position on the roof.

"What's the matter Morpheus? Pain's getting to ya?" Django taunted. He delivered a kick-punch combo, and Morpheus had only managed to block the kick, for the punch Django threw was directed straight at Morpheus' chest, mixing up the routine he figured Morpheus was used to by now. As Morpheus stepped back on one foot, he used to momentum to come back and deliver a headbutt right into Django's face. While he was phased from this, Morpheus turned and sent the heel of his purple croc-print shoe straight into his chest which, despite the blow being absorbed by Django's kevlar vest, still managed to set him off balance a good deal.

"No," Morpheus answered. "But I'm sure, considering that small mind of yours that you must be in a world of hurt right now." He fired his last few rounds of ammo in his GLOCK 18C up at Laser as he was about to fire down again, and he retreated behind cover. His pistol empty, Morpheus tossed it away and focused on Django.

"*CENSORED* you," Django said in retort, and quick drew one of his guns to blast a few rounds into Morpheus' torso. Morpheus spun out of the way in time and the bullets missed their mark. Now that he was off to Django's unguarded side, he punched him right in the jaw so hard it knocked him off his feet. Now he pulled out his secondary pistol, a Walther P99, and headed over to see if he could help Irvine out. As he made his way closer, he heard a door open, and the distinct *CHICK-CHACK* of a shotgun pump.

He turned just in time to see Laser holding a Benelli M3 aimed at his abdominal region, and with a triumphant grin on his face. Then, all of a sudden he heard two loud *POP* noises and the next thing he knew there was a spray of blood all over his face, at which he grimaced. As Laser fell down with a smoldering hole in his forehead, Kid walked out behind him holding a Beretta 92F.

"Nice shooting," Morpheus said sarcastically. He took off his glasses to reveal that his eyes were the only part of his face without blood droplets all over, and wiped the lenses clean. Then he wiped the rest of the virtual blood off of his face with a handkerchief he had in the breat pocket of his vest.

"Sorry about the blood, Sir," Kid said. He traded his pistol for Laser's shotgun, and handed Morpheus an MP5K. "We saw you needed help so I came right away."

"Good timing," Morpheus said. They both took cover positions and returned fire at the truckloads of Blackwoods, who had now taken cover behind their bullet-proofed trucks.

"What the hell do they want?" Kid asked Morpheus over the gunfire.

"I don't know, just shoot them."

Django had come to his senses amidst the added confusion of the three-way battle, and after realizing what was going on, he carefully snuck away from where he lay in a belly crawl so that Morpheus and Kid wouldn't see him trying to escape and gun him down in the process. When he was clear, he super jumped back up to the roof he originally jumped down from when this fight started, as to get a better view of what was happening. With Laser dead, he had to find Sigma and Zhael and get out of there.

----

(Chapter 4 concluded)

Morpheus and Kid had moved forward from car to car and were doing their best to pin down the Blackwoods. Irvine and Sigma had run out of ammo, and when she tried to fall back, Irvine ran out from behind the dumpster, down the sidewalk and behind the parked cars as Morpheus and Kid covered him, and cut Sigma off before she could escape. Now, further down the block behind Morpheus and Kid, they were now going toe to toe in close combat, and at less of a risk of being hit by the exile gunmen.

She traded a sneak attack kick to his chest for an overhand smash combo in return. She was knocked down and came back up for more. Her speed and agility made her a fierce opponent in combat, and reminded Irvine of the gang of Exiles known as the Furies. He didn't let his concentration waver though, as defending himself was more important.

Having escaped to cover after Irvine turned his attention away from him, Zhael had recomposed himself and pulled a .38 "Redpill Special" out from the waistband of his pants. He looked out to see what was going on, and saw Sigma keeping Irvine distracted a good deal, enough to give him an opening to finally put the Nemesis' Captain out of his misery. Unfortunately, he had been spotted by one of the Blackwood exiles, and it started firing in his direction. Before said Blackwood could correct his aim, Zhael shot him twice in the head with the small revolver, ending the exile's life.

Ready to move on in the fight, Zhael was ready to come out and fire at either the Blackwoods or one of the enemy redpill soldiers, whoever he saw first. When he came around, he saw Kid for a brief moment, but Kid spotted him and fired a shotgun blast in his direction. The shot missed though, as Zhael had ducked back behind an abandoned car, close to where Balthasar was fighting.

He took a moment to look around and see if there was any way out of this mess. When he looked behind himself, some dark, caped-looking figure landed there from above, with platinum blonde hair slicked back and a classy combintation of black and gold clothes, both in his suit and ankle length jacket. Zhael's attention was brought to the samurai sword he held, as he found it strange to wield in the middle of a shootout.

"Who the hell are you?" Zhael asked, unsure of whether or not this was a friend or foe.

However, the answer would never reach his ears. All he heard was a *SHLING*, and the last thing he saw was a quick movement and a silver glint of steel. As Anubis watched blood leak from the cut in Zhael's neck before his head fell completely off, he returned the sword to its sheath.

"I'm the guy that brings a knife to a gun fight," he answered in a ice-cold tone.

He glanced out at Irvine to see how he was doing, and he saw that he'd gained the upper hand in the match with Sigma. To assure that Irvine could stay focused on her, Anubis pulled a pair of TEC-9s out from the folds of his long jacket and started firing at the Blackwoods, adding to Morpheus and Kid's cover fire as he strafed toward their position. As a result, some of the gunners had divided their attention and began firing back at him, as well as Morpheus and Kid.

Seeing that the Zionite redpills were now distracted, Django unholstered his two guns and took aim at Irvine. Already, he had lost two of his own crew, and he wasn't going to let Irvine make him the last one left that could enter the Matrix.

"Normally, I don't hit girls," Irvine said. Then he cross body blocked both of her oncoming attacks, smacking them away. "But for you I'll make an exception, *CENSORED*." As he said this, he got in close and kneed her in the gut in order to get her to double over. When she did, he gave her the hardest back-handed slap across the face he could come up with, and the whip of his knuckles spun her around before she hit the floor.

But before he could deliver the death strike, Irvine heard a familiar series of *BOOM*s, and a rain of bullets from above smashed down into the street around him. He rolled away behind a car left in the middle of the street. When he looked back he saw Django jump from the rooftop, and then land on the bullet-riddled street with a loud slam. While keeping one of his guns trained on Irvine, he rushed over to Sigma and picked her up off the ground, hefting her up over his shoulder.

"You'll get yours Irvine! Maybe not today, but your day will come!" Django roared. Without wasting anymore time, he super jumped back to the rooftop above, and successfully escaped the fray.

"Son of a *CENSORED*..." Irvine muttered to himself. It wasn't the first time one of his targets got away, but he still hated when it happened. He moved forward to join the line Anubis had formed with Morpheus and Kid, so that they could start getting rid of the Blackwoods. Normally they weren't this much of a challenge, but since they'd taken the group of redpills by surprise, it had been a disadvantage.

The sound of police sirens filled the air and grew louder. Morpheus looked behind them, on the opposite end of the street from the Blackwood gunmen, and they came swarming around the corner-- a whole unit of squad cars and SWAT vans racing towards them. His eyes widened behind his sunglasses, because he knew: Where cops went, Agents followed. It was time to go.

"SWAT!" he yelled to his fellow soldiers. Now this shootout was about to turn into a full-on battle, and with the low amount of ammo they had left on them, the Matrix Corps soldiers wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

At this point, Balthasar knew he'd be better off escaping with his life to fight another day than to stay here and get riddled with bullets. While he could face numerous Agents and Exiles at once with little effort, especially in close range, dodging or deflecting bullets was not something he'd learned yet. He hated having to do this, but at this point it was the best tactical move he could make. He looked over at Janus with a glare as he smashed his last Blackwood opponent's face in with a punch.

"Our fight isn't finished yet, Janus! We'll fight again, and I promise you, you will die. But until then, do your best to stay alive. Your life is mine to take!"

Janus could only watch while he fought as Balthasar seemed to nod at him, as though to tell him to remember what he said. After that, The Potential jumped, backflipping into the air and successfully landing on the raised land where the Mara Central hardline was located, and then super jumped away to make a clean escape, leaving Janus in the middle of the intersection surrounded by Blackwoods that were shooting all over the place and trying to pummel him. Still, he managed to keep his head above water.

"Sir," Kid yelled over the gunfire as he ducked behind a car. "There's an exit prepared for us. We leave on your orders, General!"

"Wait a moment," Morpheus said. He looked at Janus, and then back over to Irvine. "Will you be alright?"

"We have an exit connected also," Anubis said. "Get out of here, we'll cover you."

Morpheus nodded. "Okay. Good luck!" With that, he and Kid escaped into an alleyway, running south into Magog. Once they were clear, Anubis looked back at Irvine."

"The exit is in room 2F in the apartment complex across the street," Anubis replied. "Go to it and get out."

"What? No! You're coming with me once we get Janus out of there, we can't leave him out there in the middle of that out there!"

"I know. That's why I'm going to stay behind and help him," Anubis said. "You're wounded from fighting this whole time, you should go. We'll be right behind you."

Irvine knew the assassin had a point. He looked back over at Janus one last time before turning back to Anubis, and then nodded.

"Hurry the hell up. That's an order."

"Of course."

As Irvine ran off to find the exit phone, Anubis covered him with whatever ammo he had left in his TEC-9s, and then threw them away once they were emptied. His phone rang, so he took it out to answer it.

"What is it?"

"This is Glitch. Listen, we got Irvine back safe, but you're gonna have to get out of there."

Anubis frowned. The exit should have been waiting for them. "Why?"

"Because the exile programs had some more of their buddies come cut the hardline. The exit we set up is no good, and Mara Central's too hot, so you and Janus better hurry before you end up dead."

"Fine, we'll handle it." Anubis answered, and ended the call. Once the line was cut, he dialed up Janus' number. Although he could barely hear it ring, Janus fished a free hand into his pocket and hit the speaker phone button on his phone as he fought.

"Janus, it's Anubis. I came to help you get out of here, but they cut the hardline for our exit and they're trying to trap us." As Anubis said this, he was running down the street toward the direction of the oncoming police, and made a right turn down the street to where he could find a car. The second he saw the black Cadillac XLR Convertible parallel parked alongside the street, he stopped in his tracks and his eyelids started to spasm; Glitch had uploaded the hotwiring program without warning. When it was finished, Anubis jumped in and got to work on the wires.

While he felt grateful at first after hearing that Anubis was here to help, Janus also found himself surprised. Why was Anubis suddenly eager to help him? He shook the question from his head, and got back on track with what was going on around him.

"Where are you?" he yelled.

Just then, further up the block coming off the side street Anubis had run down, the XLR fishtailed out into the middle of the street. Anubis was at the wheel. Taking the hint, Janus nodded. But he wasn't so eager to retreat at first. Before making his getaway, he'd need a gun to hold off the enemies that would inevitably follow.

By now, the Blackwoods were down to about half their numbers after the rest had been killed by Irvine, Morpheus, Kid, and Anubis. A particular thug noticed Janus from a distance too far for him to engage in melee combat, so he fired his weapon. As with the rest of the bullets that had been fired at Janus that day, they simply deviated away from his body and missed just as they were about to hit him. With the Blackwood gang member stalled in confusion, Janus dashed forward, decked him in the face, and then grabbed his gun.

"I'll take that," he said as he turned the gun on the exile thug. "You take this," Janus told him as he pulled the trigger, unloading a burst of rounds into his gut, killing him instantly. Not wasting another second, he super jumped up into the air, and came down at Anubis' car. The bullets fired at him by the remaining Blackwoods wasn't something he was concerned about, but the police were getting closer. Time was running out for the two redpills.

When Janus landed, he jumped over the hood of the car, came back, and climbed into the passenger seat. Anubis sped off, heading north.

"After them!" the Blackwood pack leader yelled, "And call for backup!" Soon, they were following after Anubis and Janus at top speed, while the police maintained close pursuit.

The chase was on.

----

When Morpheus' eyes opened, the first thing he felt was a big headache. Why is it whenever I go to see her, a conflict always follows? He thought, as memories of when he first brought Neo to the Oracle entered his mind and how not long after he got captured by Agent Smith. At the time there had been a traitor in his crew though; this time he decided it was chance that the Resistance had found him and Janus, since there was no way they would have known about Morpheus' plans. Still, it was quite frustrating.

Link and Zee both moved to help Morpheus and Kid out of their chairs; even though both were veterans and jacked into the Matrix regularly, no human mind ever got the hang of "waking up" right off. "You alright sir?" Link asked, looking over Morpheus for any wounds that might have transitioned from the Matrix. He didn't find anything obvious.

"Yes, I can stand." Morpheus said, waving Link away and positioning himself on his feet. He hadn't been in the Matrix for that long, and yet it still felt like hours. "What happened in there?"

Link shrugged. "Sorry about that sir, Django and his crew managed to keep out of our line of sight somehow, and we didn't notice Balthasar until Janus started firing. We got Kid in there as fast as we could."

"Don't worry about it Link, just be more efficient next time." Morpheus stated. He was more than a little peeved that they had been ambushed that easily, but Link knew they screwed up, so there was no need to reprimand him. After a moment, he managed to relax himself with the knowledge that he made it out of there alive and well. "Did the ones from the Nemesis get out as well?" he asked as he rubbed the sweat off his forehead.

"Irvine managed to reach his exit before it was cut." Link said.

That last part chilled Morpheus' spine. "What about Janus and Anubis?"

"That's the thing. You may want to see this sir." Link directed Morpheus over to the operator's console, where Sparks was currently posted. Much to Morpheus' half-surprise, Ghost, Gizmo, Hacksaw and Niobe were looking over the console with full attention, as if they were watching a movie. However, there was more tension around them than veteran redpill felt comfortable with.

When Morpheus moved over to the console and saw why everyone looked tensed, silently cursing to himself. Unless he was reading the coding wrong, the two had managed to steal a car and were now leading a whole line of Blackwoods and cops on a chase into the Uriah district. "How many are after them?"

"I stopped counting around twelve, not including the cops." Sparks reported. Even he was concerned.

"Niobe and I could go in and take some off their tail." Ghost volunteered.

"You wouldn't be able to intercept in time, and besides, I can't afford to send any more people in there." Morpheus replied to her.

By now, Kid and Zee had joined the rest of the crew at the operator's console themselves, just as they heard Ghost volunteer. Zee looked at Morpheus as if he had said something disgusting. "So you're just going to leave them in there?" she sounded as though she were threatening Morpheus with something. "They'll get killed before they reach an exit!"

"We have no choice." Morpheus replied solemnly.

"Why?" Zee demanded.

"Because it's too hot to send anyone else in there." Niobe explained solemnly. She also hated the idea of staying put. "The cops are on full alert, SWATs are deployed and it won't be long before any Agents show up. If anyone else goes in, they run the risk of getting themselves trapped too."

Once again, Morpheus remembered Neo, this time when he and Trinity entered the Matrix against all logic and odds to retrieve him during his aforementioned captivity. He felt degenerated knowing that his friend would have done the same here if he were still alive. But Morpheus couldn't; as a General he was just as responsible for the people being sent in as he was for the people that needed to be saved, and he knew he would just be wasting more lives by putting them into harm's way. Lives that didn't have to be there.

But that didn't mean he felt good about it. "We will just have to put faith into those two." He said. "And hope."

----

As a detective, Janus had actually been in a few car chases before; usually when he pissed off some mafia head or drug dealer. However, the car chases Janus had experienced only had one or two cars coming after him. This one, on the other hand, felt more like a parade line with guns involved. Janus never thought he would have been able to *CENSORED* off so many people all at once.

"Two more of them coming up!" Anubis announced after looking through his rearview mirror, putting more gas into the Cadillac and swerving to avoid the other vehicles in the road. He tried his best to make it so he wouldn't put innocent people into the gunfight, but it seemed like the Blackwoods weren't very distinguishing, and the street was fairly crowded with lunch time traffic.

Janus responded in kind by letting loose the FAMAS once more, also trying to avoid hitting civilians. Although he didn't get any critical points on his next barrage, he managed to hit one of the passenger side gunners that was leaning out for better aim, knocking the Blackwood out of the car. The gangster was subsequently run over by one of the cars trailing behind, letting out a scream before a vibrant squish. For some reason, this only angered the other gunners, who increased their rate of fire at the two redpills.

Bullets pelted the black convertible, making a collection of sounds. *PWANG*, *TWANG*, *PTEW*. Several bullet holes appeared over the trunk, rear bumper and windshield, but thankfully nothing vital was hit as the gunners were aiming for Janus mostly. Those bullets that came close simply deflected off of Janus' apparent barrier and flew in another direction.

However, some of those bullets ended up hitting other cars and pedestrians along the road. One deflected round even ended up grazing Anubis across the cheek, much to his irritation. He reached a gloved hand up to wipe away some blood, and then cast a glare at Janus. "Can't you just stop the bullets?" he asked, more annoyed than anything else.

Janus stopped for a moment to consider what Anubis said. "You know, I never thought about that!" he yelled, before he turned his attention back to their pursuers.

It was during mid-fire that Janus noticed that the second car was moving closer to the first so that they could concentrate their fire easier. The soldier saw an opportunity and fired more rounds from the FAMAS, scoring a hit on the second car's front driver's side tire. The rubber easily shredded from the 5.56mm rounds, forcing the car to swerve violently, inevitably striking its comrade and also making it swerve. The first car ended up crashing into the side of a building while the other car turned into a nearby alleyway as the driver attempted to regain control. A metallic crunching sound followed not long after.

"That's four! Count em!" Janus yelled triumphantly to the other Blackwoods that were following.

Anubis shook his head, but allowed himself to let out a ‘heh'. If we can hold them off just a little longer, maybe we'll get out of this yet. With a free hand, he reached into his pocket and retrieved his cell phone, opening it and then speed-dialing the Nemesis.

----

"Operator." Glitch said into his mic. Behind him the entire crew of the Nemesis was watching the action on the monitors.

"Is the exit ready?" Anubis asked above the sound of machinegun fire.

Glitch noticed for once Anubis sounded hurried rather than his usual ice cold self. "Getting to it..." He typed into his keyboard, checking for any available areas. "*CENSORED* it, what the hell is going on...?"

Anubis hoped he heard that wrong. "What?"

"I'm having problems on my end as well. My connection's wavering and I can't get any of the usual places." Glitch said, still typing.

"I would appreciate it if you tried harder." Anubis replied dryly, with a large amount of anger welling up in his voice. "Before we get shot to hell."

"Just wait a minute ‘nub..." Glitch replied in a mutter as he worked. He realized he just called the former assassin "‘nub" again, and that he'd probably pay for it later, but at the moment he was more concentrated on getting them out of there. "Got it! Due east of the Historic District, just across that bridge you're coming up to. Arlington Heights, room 376."

"Thank you." Anubis said dryly, then hanging up the phone just as quickly.

With that done, Glitch could put his full attention over to the chase. He noticed one of the code strands flicker. "And Janus bags another one. That's what, four?"

"Five, if you include that one that crashed into the other." Blade answered.

"I wonder if there's a record for ‘most cars blown up during a high speed chase'." Glitch thought wistfully.

"Should've seen the stunt Morpheus and Trinity pulled a few years ago..." Blade remarked.

"Just concentrate on getting them out of there." Irvine ordered in an uncharacteristically stern tone. To him this wasn't a time for kidding around, especially when the events of long ago were still fresh in his mind. He had already lost Kira, as well as Janus once, and now he was fearful of losing him again as well as Anubis.

Glitch saw that and went back to work. "Right boss." He said.

At the corner, Solitaire also watched the action, equally concerned. Like Irvine, the previous events were still fresh in her head, only she remembered when Anubis came to her rescue against that Agent. Looking over to the ex-assassin's dormant form, Solitaire truly felt helpless standing there. Not that she could really do anything, even if her arm wasn't in a sling she knew all she'd do was put one more life on the line. And yet, wasn't that what Anubis did for her just days ago?

She pushed back such thoughts in her head and focused her attention to the monitor. C'mon, get out of there. She thought, trying to hope.

----

A few cars back down the line, an old '68 Dodge Dart convertible was running down the road just as fast following the other Blackwood vehicles. This one had three gang members in it: one gunner in the back, one in the passenger seat and the driver. They were usual thugs, armed with AKs and other vintage firearms, but that was enough to take on the two redpills that dared violate their territory. The only trouble was catching up to them.

"*CENSORED* it Sully, can't this piece of *CENSORED* go any faster!?" the passenger side gunner complained.

"*CENSORED* off Luther, I don't see you driving!" Sully complained, flipping Luther the finger for a second before putting the hand back on the wheel.

Another burst of stray bullets hit the sides of the car, shooting off the driver's side mirror and grazing the windshield. As this happened, the car suddenly bounced, as if it had run over a speed bump or one of the dead bodies that fell out of the cars ahead. Sully grumbled to himself at that thump. "It's like a *CENSORED* battle zone out here." he complained. "Hey Darwin, are you alright back there?" he asked to the gunner in the back seat, having no time to turn around.

"I'm afraid Mr. Darwin has been detained indefinitely." came a very monotone voice that obviously wasn't Darwin.

Both Sully and Luther turned back to see who was talking, and when they saw, their faces went white. There sat Agent Skinner, who had dropped into the Dart from a nearby building, which was the source of the ‘thump' the two felt earlier, his left hand holding Darwin, whose neck had been broken.

Moving quickly, the Agent tossed the corpse aside, then reached out and grabbed Luther as he went to pull his AK-47U against the Agent. A quick yank and a throw, and Luther ended up flying into a humvee that was several meters behind the Dart, smashing its windshield. Sully tried to swerve the car so that the Agent would fly out, but Skinner was faster, jumping into the passenger's seat and at the same time drawing his Desert Eagle. A quick shot to the scalp and Sully was dead.

While the driver was dead and the car was now out of control, his foot was still pressed against the gas and thus it still ran. Skinner simply had to move over to the driver's side, open the door and throw the corpse out while still having his foot on the gas pedal, and then he had full control of the car. That in mind, he reached up to his earpiece as he received orders.

"Commencing pursuit of offenders Burnett and Lancaster."

----

Six! Janus mentally announced after seeing another car run right off the road. Taking a moment, he took off the magazine to the FAMAS and checked how much he had. There were still plenty of bullets left, but Janus was sure he had used most of the ammo up by now. He silently wished he had gone into the Matrix fully loaded like he did the first time before; at least he was better prepared back then.

Training his rifle's sights on the next vehicle up, which was a beat up Ford F150 pick-up truck with about five guys in the bed aside from the passenger gunner and driver, Janus opened fire. His fire hit the hood of the truck and shot the passenger Blackwood in the shoulder, but it failed to deter the truck. A second later three of the exiles in the bed fired back from either side of the truck. Janus simply rolled his eyes and concentrated again, letting the bullets deflect away like before. Again, one of the stray bullets came close to hitting Anubis, who managed to flinch in time.

"Sorry!" Janus called over the bangs of machinegun firing. He put up another barrage from his FAMAS, managing to keep it short to conserve ammo. His fire managed to clip one of the exile gunners, who inadvertently fell out of the truck in a heap. The rest hit the driver, who although didn't die was shot badly in the arm and chest. He struggled to hold the truck under control, which made Janus smirk. All too easy. It took only one bullet to blow out the driver's side front tire, and the truck spiraled out of control and crashed into a minivan, sending its occupants flying forward until they slammed into the streets and buildings. Seven.

By now they had managed get out of Mara and onto the Reeves Bridge. Thanks to the combination of Janus' shooting and Anubis driving, they managed to evade the rest of the Blackwoods for the time being, or at least put enough distance between them. Janus took a moment to relax a little bit. He looked over and saw the river under the bridge, concentrating as much as he could as Anubis weaved around traffic on the blue water and the sun reflecting over it. At one time, even a few days ago, Janus would have thought it was beautiful, but now all he could think of was how artificial it was. He was no longer fooled nor confused about the Matrix like he once was, now he was a soldier that knew the territory as much as the dark truth behind it.

"Hey, you alright?" Anubis asked. Cold and monotone, but the act was still somewhat uncharacteristic of him.

Such was it that it immediately snapped Janus out of his trance. "Yeah, sorry." He said.

"We're almost at the exit. Stay sharp." Anubis stated, turning his concentration back on the road.

Again, the ex-assassin's apparent concern confused Janus. Why was Anubis being open to help all of a sudden, when before he would have gone out of his way to avoid Janus and the rest of the crew? Then Janus remembered Irvine telling him that when he "died" in the Matrix, Anubis was ready to go back in just so he could put a scar on Balthasar, even knowing he would have died himself. This made Janus wonder if his leaving the Matrix had somehow caused Anubis to break out of his cold shell, even if a little. I guess I'll figure it out someday. He concluded.

That's when Janus thought he caught something in the distance. A single car, coming at them at a high speed, also moving around all the others. At first Janus thought it was another Blackwood vehicle, but his instinct told him otherwise. When the car pulled close though, he immediately knew why, recognizing the familiar black suit and square rimmed sunglasses the man was wearing. "*poop*! It's an Agent!"

As soon as Janus yelled that out, Agent Skinner drew his Desert Eagle and began firing. Each shot, much like Balthasar earlier, were well placed marks that would have hit Janus several times in the head or chest had he not deflected the bullets. Janus returned fire with the FAMAS, but as expected the Agent blurred and dodged each shot with ease as well. Janus at least figured since the Agent was driving he could at least for a second get the enforcement program's hands off the wheel and force him into a crash, but the Agent kept in firm control of the vehicle. He stopped firing for a moment to rethink his strategy.

Since his initial target was obviously impervious to bullets, Skinner immediately took aim over at Anubis and started firing at him. Unlike Janus, the shots weren't deflected, but after seeing the first bullet come a hair's width from his skull, Anubis started swerving the car violently to make it harder for the Agent to keep track. This time he weaved in between the other cars to use them as shields; he hated it, but he had no choice since he couldn't risk anything with Agents.

When Janus saw the first couple of bullets aimed at Anubis, he felt a surge of anger well up inside of him. That scum... he thought, bringing his gun up and firing back again. Again, the Agent blurred and dodged the bullets, but this time after a few seconds, the FAMAS stopped shooting and simply made a clicking sound. "I'm out!" Janus yelled, throwing the gun back at the Dart, then sitting back down in his seat and putting his hand behind Anubis so he could deflect the bullets from his partner.

Fortunately for them, Skinner also ran dry not long after, to which he simply reholstered the Desert Eagle. With both sides without a firearm, Skinner floored it and sped the Dart up, weaving more and more around traffic, until it moved to spitting distance of the Cadillac. From there, he pressed further and slammed the front of the Dart into his quarries' back bumper, disorienting them.

Both Anubis and Janus rattled in their seats when the cars collided. "Yeah, that's *blinking*' original!" Janus yelled out loud in sarcasm; it just couldn't be a car chase without somebody trying to run the other guy off the road, could it?

Skinner kept at the rear of the Cadillac two more times. By the third time, he concluded that it wasn't enough, Lancaster still remained in control. So to amend the situation, he pulled to the opposite lane and sped up until he was right beside Cadillac. Anubis and Janus turned to face him. Skinner looked back at them, face impassive. It was just like a racing movie during the final stretch between two bitter rivals. Only a moment later, Skinner turned the Dart over and slammed the car into Anubis and Janus' side.

It was at that point Janus had it with this Agent. Anubis started to speed up and turn away from the Agent, but his partner stopped him. "Hold it here for a sec!" Janus said.

"What?"

"Trust me!" Janus said, unbuckling his seatbelt and rising up from his seat. "I'll be back!"

With that, Janus leaped from the Cadillac and into the passenger's side of the Dart. Immediately Skinner threw a punch with his free hand, to which Janus blocked and countered with his own punches. Skinner effortlessly blocked the first two and then tilted his head to avoid the third, but the fourth one he grabbed. Janus gritted his teeth as the Agent started to crush his hand, but then he alleviated that by delivering a palm strike to the Agent's face, one that would have broken the nose if the Agent were human.

The car started drift as the redpill and program fought each other, trading punch after punch, even if one was handicapped by having to keep a hand on the steering wheel. Anubis pulled the car ahead so that he would avoid another collision, but he still watched the fight from his rearview mirror, while also keeping on the road. We're running out of time. Hurry up Janus.

Janus took another sock to the face from the Agent, making his head fly back. Now he was getting really pissed off. Moving forward, he lunged at the Agent and made a trio of punches; the Agent took the first one, dodged the second and then blocked the third, delivering a follow up punch with his free hand again, only this time Janus blocked that one as well. Janus held that punch down, trying to keep the Agent's arm in check, but slowly the program began to overwhelm him. That's when his mind flashbacked to something.

He remembered a week ago the moment Balthasar's arm shot out of the brick wall and grabbed Agent Davis' neck, snapping it with one try. With that memory, he threw off Skinner's hand and in a quick motion, reached out and grabbed the Agent's neck, applying pressure. Skinner attempted to throw his head around, but Janus' grip remained firm, to the point where he threw his own back up to try and remove it. But Janus remained focus, tightening his grip even if it felt like little by little. Not getting out of it that easy, *CENSORED*. Was all he thought as he watched the Agent struggle. It was almost like trying to hold a gasping fish out of water, only ten times as worse.

And then with a roar, Janus put all his focus into his hand and tightened, feeling the host's windpipe finally snap. Skinner disappeared, leaving the limp body of the man, a plumber judging by his overhauls, he had used as a host.

Anubis saw all this through his mirror and remained solace. A while back he wouldn't have believed it, but now he didn't put anything past Janus. He's getting stronger.

Of course, now that Skinner was gone, there was nothing controlling the car, to which it started to decelerate. Janus took that as his cue, seeing Anubis back the Cadillac closer. Taking his chances, Janus jumped into the air and flew for what felt like an entire football field length before he landed back in the passenger seat of the Cadillac. The Dart ended up spinning over behind them.

"What kept you?" Anubis asked in very dry sarcasm.

"Dealt with the law. It was a real pain in the neck," Janus said off-handishly.

----

(Chapter 5 cont'd)

The Matrix

Historic District, Downtown

March 2004, 1:22PM

Minutes later, the Cadillac XLR had entered the Historic District and arrived up to the Arlington Heights apartment complex. Knowing they had very little time to reach the exit, Anubis parked the car in front of the building itself. He and Janus immediately jumped out of the car and were about to proceed into the building when Janus' phone began to ring.

Janus rolled his eyes and picked it up. "Now what Glitch?" he asked, still edgy from fighting off Blackwoods and the Agent.

"Don't go in there yet, I'm getting a weird reading from the building." Glitch said, as he looked over the code. "I can't tell if the exit's secure or not."

"So what the hell are we supposed to do, wait around for another Agent?" Janus almost snarled at Glitch, much like Anubis did earlier. "Speaking of, aren't you watching anything from up there? He came out from nowhere!"

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry. I didn't see the Agent until he was already on top of you." Glitch added defensively. "Those bastards are getting sneakier all the time."

"No *poop*. Is the exit secure or not?" Janus asked out of impatience.

"That's what I'm checking for now. It'll take a while." replied Glitch.

"We don't have a while Glitch!" Janus was practically steaming now.

On the other end, Irvine took the headset off of Glitch's head and put it on himself. "Janus, calm down. You're not thinking clearly, and you can't afford to break down now." The captain stated with all seriousness.

Janus took a deep breath at hearing Irvine's words; he was still angry, but he knew better. "Alright, I'm fine. Call back when you're ready."

"Good. Stay alive until then." And with that Irvine signed off.

When Janus hung the phone up, Anubis looked at him for an explanation. "Exit's not secure. Give or take a few minutes to confirm." Janus replied calmly.

"Naturally." Anubis said, also sounding fed up with their situation. He crossed his arms together, his katana held in his left hand. Not much he could do in this situation but wait.

At least one of us is calm. Janus thought, looking up at the building. Remembering his code vision, he blinked and glanced over to the third floor of the building, scanning the different rooms for the exit.

It was at that point he felt a surge come over him. What the-? He thought, narrowing his glance. He thought he saw strange code segments flow faster toward a particular point in one of the rooms. Janus gaped as he watched the codes move faster and faster. "No way..." he said in disbelief.

Anubis heard Janus' muttering and turned to check his comrade. "What's wrong?"

Janus blinked back to reality. "Get down!" he yelled, crouching to cover himself. Anubis chose not to ask questions and followed.

Sure enough, the room exploded with a thunderous bang, the force being enough for almost all the glass windows on the building to shatter. Glass and other debris rained down on the two redpills, but thanks to Janus they had anticipated it just in time, and neither was injured.

No more than moments later, Janus' phone rang again. The ex-detective couldn't help but think of a few curse words when he answered. "Let me guess, it was rigged?"

"Yes, but don't ask me how. I only set that exit up a few minutes ago. There should have been no way to trace it, much less booby trap it." Glitch said defensively. "Good thing I ran that security check, didn't I?" he smirked on his end. He left out the part where it was his program that set off the trap.

"Yeah yeah..." Janus was about to say some other words when suddenly Anubis jumped at him.

"Watch it!" Anubis yelled, pushing Janus to the ground. Right at that moment, a rocket propelled grenade shot over them and hit the lobby of the building, obliterating it and again raining on the two with debris. They both looked up to see Blackwoods vehicles driving down the road and moving toward them, all loaded with armed exiles.

Simultaneously, both jumped back into the XLR. "Do you have another exit ready or what!!?" Janus yelled as Anubis got the engine back up. Another RPG was shot at them, but Anubis managed to get the car moving and narrowly dodged it, leaving it to hit the apartment building.

----

"Tabor Plaza, Apartment B, Room 213!" Glitch said, typing commands as he talked. "Take the Weaving Bridge and you'll go straight in."

"Tabor Park's right next to Mara! Why didn't you set it there before!?" Janus yelled.

"Because I wanted to give you room to ward off your pursuit, and I'm doing just that now!" Glitch explained hurriedly. "Bite my *CENSORED* of later, just get out of there!"

"No need to tell us twice." Janus said before signing off.

Glitch rubbed his forehead as he watched the chase started anew. "Just what the hell is going on..." he moaned to his crewmates. "First the Resistance, then the Agent and now the exiles. It's like something out there's blinding us."

"Do you think we're being jammed?" Solitaire asked.

"We would know if we were being jammed. It's more like something is keeping us in the dark about what's going in there." Blade muttered.

"And then there's the exit trap, which was definitely not a coincidence." Irvine rubbed his chin. Can't blame Janus for being pissed, I know would be too. "Diagnostics?"

"I ran checks before we left Zion, everything checked out." Glitch said.

"And if there was something wrong, how could the shipyard programmers have missed it?" Marley wondered.

Irvine shrugged. "Yeah. Let's just concentrate on getting them... out..." his voiced turned to a mutter as his eye caught something. "Glitch..." he said.

Immediately everyone noticed what their Captain did, and the atmosphere in the room grew colder. "No *CENSORED* way!" Blade yelled, mirroring everyone's thoughts.

"Call them!" Irvine ordered.

Glitch started dialing even before Irvine gave the order. However, before any rings could make it, a message flashed across one of his monitors. ‘NO SIGNAL'. Glitch tried a few more times, disbelieving what he was seeing. Each time he did, the same message came up. "I can't reach them!" he slammed his hands on the keyboard in frustration.

"Then there's no way to warn them..." Solitaire said, horrified.

Irvine could only stay silent.

----

Janus was burning with rage and irritation now. It was bad enough that they had to go through yet another car chase, as if one was not enough, and even worse that they had to drive all the way back to the other end of the river where they were before, but to top it off, no he didn't have a gun. All he could do was stand up and deflect as many bullets as he could from hitting their car. At the very least he tried to redirect a few back at their pursuers, which especially came handy when they tried shooting more RPGs at them. But still, it was repetitive and Janus was already tired from the first chase. "Please tell me you have something on you!" Janus yelled to Anubis.

"If I did I would have given it to you by now!" Anubis yelled back, also feeling irritated that he had to weave through traffic again. Technically he still had his katana tucked next to him, but what good is that in a high speed chase? He ducked his head to avoid a stray bullet burst.

At that point, Janus got up in his seat so that he could better deflect the oncoming projectiles. When he did, he noticed something he didn't before tucked away in the backseat: a suitcase. Was that there before? He wondered. Then again he never took the time to look back before. Curious, he reached back and grabbed hold of the the case while still deflecting fire from himself and started to open it.

"What's that?" Anubis noticed from the corner of his eye.

"No idea, it was just sitting back there!" Janus said over the gunfire, opening it. "Holy *poop*..."

Anubis looked back to see what Janus meant, and despite his character, even his eyes widened in surprise. Laying in the case was a Robinson Armaments M96 Recon Carbine, stock folded, with an A-G36 grenade launcher attached under the barrel. As well, laying just under was a belt that contained magazines and four grenades.

Janus looked back at Anubis in bewilderment. Obviously it wasn't something he was expecting. "Whose car is this anyway!?" he yelled over more incoming fire.

Anubis again flinched when another bullet came close to hitting him. "Who knows? Shut up and shoot back!" he yelled at Janus.

After taking the gun out and slapping in a magazine, which held 5.56 mm NATO, and putting a grenade into the launcher, Janus set the gun to full auto, swung up, and returned fire. He sprayed the oncoming vehicles with bullets, hitting exiles and vehicles alike. The initial spray even managed to make one humvee flip over. But in response to this, one of the cars drove up closer, with an exile bringing up an RPG-7.

I've got to say it... Janus thought as the exile prepared to fire. Then with a swift motion, Janus took aim at the car with the RPG carrier. "Say hello to my little friend!" he yelled as loud as he could, lobbing a grenade off. A moment later, the car exploded in massive flames.

However even that did not stop the pursuers, as they continued to hound the pair. Janus traded machinegun fire with them further, then managing to load another grenade in and firing it off, taking out a Chevy pick up truck. Shortly after, Janus reloaded and shot another grenade off, one that actually divided one of the pursuing cars into two parts due to the resulting explosion.

By now they had made their way from Maribeau and had entered the Chelsea district, where Weaving Bridge was not too far off. Anubis made another tight turn as Janus continued to trade fire with the assault rifle, proceeding south. A few turns away, Anubis saw the bridge straight ahead. "We're almost there; I'm going to gun it!" he yelled.

"Hold on!" Janus called back. A second later, he fired his last grenade and took out another humvee in a fiery explosion, one that seemed to disintegrate the entire vehicle. That finished, Janus sat back down in his seat and buckled. "Alright, go!"

The XLR sped off down the road and onto the bridge, back towards the Richland area. With two more truckloads of exiles in their pursuit, Janus switched the M96's firing setting to three-shot burst mode and took a little more time to aim, as to make sure his shots hit with better accuracy. Eight, nine, ten, he thought to himself, as he first picked off the two gunners in a specific truck and then the driver, causing it to off-road into a nearby store-front. Along with a few cars and trucks full exiles from the Pit Vipers and Daggers gangs that caught on when the chase had moved through their turf in the Historic District and Maribeau, respectively, there were still a handful of police squad cars, chasing both the redpills and the exile gang members that were creating a path of destruction throughout the city.

"How we doing back there?" Anubis yelled over the gunfire.

"One down, few to--" was all Janus managed to say. Before he could say "go," two cops in one of the squad cars starting convulsing out of nowhere, and it appeared as though something had changed about them. His eyebrows wrinkling in confusion, the prodigal redpill threw off his sunglasses in order to make sure he was seeing correct. He snorted a puff of air out through his nose when he was sure of what he saw. This guys come right off a supply line don't they?

Anubis, having heard Janus' gunfire stop, grew concerned. "What's the matter?" he yelled over the roar of the engine.

"More Agents," Janus answered. "Two of them."

Anubis rolled his eyes in frustration. Today they couldn't catch a break. "You're not gonna carpool with them again are you?"

Janus switched the gun back into full-auto again. "No, just drive," he said, and began firing a volley of suppressing fire toward the cars chasing them, hoping the random grouping of shots would slow them down. To his surprise, the Agent in the squad car's passenger seat was gunning for the exiles along with the cops, carrying out the function he was programmed for, and blending in. With a few well placed shots of his Desert Eagle, he hit one truck's gas tank and caused it to explode, going up end-over-end in the air and crashing back down on the street on it's roof.

"One exile group eliminated," Agent Taylor confirmed.

"The primary targets are the redpills," Agent Park said as he swerved the car around the flaming wreck in the middle of the street. The other squad cars did the same, except for one that had come to a screeching halt right before crashing into the wreck. Once the other cars had passed, the driver moved around it and joined them.

Agent Taylor brought his hand up to his earpiece so he could hear the incoming message. "The bridge.." he began to say, but Park cut him off.

"I know. They'll be terminated before we get there."

As he drove across the bridge at full speed, Anubis had a double take at what he saw up ahead. He yelled out in a panic.

"Janus!"

The sound of panic in Anubis' voice immediately caught Janus' attention, so much that he actually turned around to see what was wrong. But before Anubis could tell him what the problem was, Janus didn't even have to ask because he could see for himself. Up ahead, the bridge was incomplete, only crossing the aqueduct half the distance back towards Richland. As his eyes widened, realizing there was no way out, he felt a wave of fear overcome him.

"Why the *CENSORED* didn't Glitch warn us about this!?" Anubis yelled.

Janus pulled out his phone and snapped open the face shield. "NO SERVICE" blinked on the screen. Annoyed, he tossed the phone away and it landed in the street, breaking into pieces.

"No service!" Janus yelled, as he fired another burst of rounds at the cars chasing them, this time with a sense of futility.

"They can't even get that right in a computer program?" Anubis muttered in anger and disbelief, feeling for the first time animosity towards the minute details of how real the Matrix acted despite it's falseness. "Well if you've got any tricks up your sleeve, you better come up with something quick," he yelled to Janus.

Tricks up my sleeve? Janus wondered. Suddenly, as if having an epiphany, Janus thought back to the cryptic advice he'd received from The Oracle just before this whole mess had started. The words echoed in his mind: "It is sometimes a mistake to climb; it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt. If you do not climb, you will not fall. This is true. But is it that bad to fail, or that hard to fall? Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes when you fall... you fly. My point is, only you can know what's going to happen. And when the time to choose comes only you can decide, whether or not you'll be the one others need... because deep down, you'll know"

The realization of how her words applied to the situation surprised him, and he nodded his head. "She was right, *CENSORED* fortune teller," he thought to himself. He understood what she meant; Now was the time to make the choice, but in truth, he had already made the choice. Deep down, he knew this, and now, he believed.

"Anubis, speed up." Janus told him. That odd omniscient tone of voice had come back, and when Anubis heard it, he knew Janus had a plan. But driving faster towards their impending doom wasn't something he was expecting.

"Speed up?! Are you crazy?"

"No. I'm The One."

That hit Anubis far out from left field. Janus' words hung in the air; With all the lore and legend surrounding this title, it was the only way he could make sense to describe what was happening to Janus lately. Still, it was the last thing he expected to hear. Without question, the ex-hitman put the pedal to the floor - If Janus was so sure of himself to make that declaration, then the only thing Anubis could do was to trust him.

----

(Chapter 5 concluded)

"They're going faster!" Sparks said out loud, as the Nabondinus' crew huddled around the Operator consoles to watch the screens. Then the phone rang, much to everyone's surprise. Who could be calling them?

Link picked up on the receiver, turning his headset on. "Operator," he answered. The others could hear a screaming voice on the headset form the other end of the line, causing Link to cringe. Right away, he took the headset off and handed it off to Morpheus.

"Irvine wants to talk to you, Sir."

Arching a brow, Morpheus took the headset and put it on. "I know, I'm watching it too," he started.

"What the hell did you say to Janus? They're gonna get themselves killed!" Irvine said as loud as he could without risking a possible Sentinel patrol hearing him and zeroing in on the ship.

"I didn't say anything, you were right there with me. The Oracle..."

"Hey, Morpheus, look at this," Gizmo said. Morpheus glanced over at the screen and saw a random burst of white code flare up on the screen.

----

Agent Park had handed his Desert Eagle over to Agent Taylor so that he could shoot while Park focused on driving. Between the final remaining car of Blackwoods shooting at the Jaguar, and the two redpills speeding up toward the end of the bridge ahead, things were getting hectic for the two enforcer programs. Park spun the wheel and slammed into the truck of exiles next to them, so hard that the driver lost control and ended up slamming into a telephone pole, putting them out of the race.

Janus had climbed into the front seat by now, and was watching the road rage as it happened behind them. Still, the Agents in their squad car along with the rest pursued them, as well as exiles from local gangs. He glanced ahead to see how much distance was left, and estimated they had about 30 feet until the end of the bridge. At their speed, they'd be off into the water in seconds.

"Anubis," he said calmly, and got a tight grip with his hand on the collar of Anubis' jacket. Anubis glanced over, trying to figure out what Janus was going to do, and Janus accepted this as Anubis' way of saying "What?"

"Hold on."

They continued to speed toward the gap in the bridge. Janus kept his eyes on the Jaguar as he waited for the right moment.

"Janus!" Anubis yelled. Right at that moment, when the Agents had too little distance to come to a complete stop, Janus jumped up out of the car and soared up into the air with Anubis clutching onto him desperately, a spectacle that distracted both Agents from the road ahead. Before they could get back on track, their squad car went right off the bridge and fell down on an arc, crashing into one of the bridge supports on the way down and exploding into fire before splashing down into the water. Two more squad cars fell off into the water as well, while the others had come to a screeching halt.

"That's impossible," one of the cops managed to mutter as he watched the renegade terrorists escape from their convertable, as it fell down into the water with the other cars.

Janus soared up into the sky with the grace of an angel, with a fist raised up in the air as though he were a superhero. No longer was he conflicted with clashing feelings of confusion and omniscience. Now, only his extreme sense of awareness and self-actualized identity of who and what he was remained in its place. He twisted in the air as he flew, as free as a bird, while Anubis hung onto him for dear life. While he wasn't afraid of heights and was plenty used to hyper-jumps, this was something he'd have never prepared himself for.

Unbelievable, Anubis thought to himself.

----

No words were spoken amongst Irvine's crew, as they all silently watched, shocked, as Janus had pulled off a move that no one saw or would have expected anyone to even try since the days of Neo. In his taking to the skies and saving both he and Anubis' life, Janus had brought up in them so many questions of how he did it. Even though Janus was destroying and then reinventing thier definition of what was impossible, none of them dared suspect a certain possibility. It seemed just as impossible as Janus' act.

Right off the bat, Irvine knew this wasn't something he'd have to verify with Morpheus. For all the Nemesis' captain knew, the Matrix Corps General was collecting his thoughts and piecing all of this together and how it would effect the future of Zion, and more importantly, which direction it would go in the war. While thoughts like these ran across their minds, Irvine knew that at least two, if not every ship capable, once again had witnessed a supernatural feat by Janus, and watched him as he flew from the site of the bridge gap all the way to Tabor Park, where Glitch had established the exit for the two of them. And despite all the factors, Irvine himself was beginning to believe...

----

Just the same as the crews onboard the Nabodinus and Nemesis, so too was the crew of the Nosferatu crowded around the monitor, having never stopped watching the turn of events once Balthasar had gotten involved. Now however, Balthasar was also with them, having joined them once he got out of the Matrix to watch as Janus come to his end. Unfortunately for him, his wishes would go unanswered, for what he saw was something so much more.

"What does that mean...?" Sideways asked in honest confusion. "How'd he do that?"

"I don't know," Blood told him. "This Janus character... He's a lot more than what we took him for. Perhaps even more than that."

Sonia and Leon looked at him like children listening as the parent described a situation they didn't understand.

"Could he be--" Sonia began to ask.

"No! It doesn't mean anything!" Balthasar yelled, breaking the quiet brought on by the crew's surprised state. "There's no way in hell he could be like Neo. He's dead, and Janus is a nobody!"

"That's exactly the point," Nitro said. "Neo's dead. He can't come back. But Janus, he's a different story."

"I refuse to believe this! Just because he pulled off a stunt like that? No! I've pulled off things people thought were impossible."

"Balthasar, after seeing that, you can't really deny he's special," Blood said.

"HE'S NO SAVIOUR OF MINE!" Balthasar screamed. "And if for one second any of you even think so, then you've forgotten why we're here!"

"Balthasar, watch who you're screaming at," Leon warned him.

"Why, am I wrong?"

"No, you're not," Blood told him. "Balthasar's absolutely right. Just because Morpheus has a redpill that can do things like Neo doesn't make it any different. We won't be fooled into believing some gifted soldier is going to be The One's successor, much less a savior to any of us. Now we just have to wait and see what they do next. For now, we've got our own problems to deal with."

----

The next thing they heard was someone taking a deep breath, and they realized that one of the two had come through and successfully exited the Matrix. Marley went over to the chairs and saw that it was Anubis. Right away, he started removed the uplink needle and started undoing the straps and buckles that kept him in the chair. Once he was free, he stood up and stretched, and then closed his eyes and rubbed his head from the exhaustion

Solitaire had come over. "Are you alright?" she asked, placing a hand on his arm. He opened his eyes to look for her, and for a second she wasn't sure if she should take her hand back or not, knowing how he wasn't one who liked to be touched. Instead, he just nodded his head and walked along.

"I'm fine," he said. He glanced at her hand on his arm, and into her eyes for a moment, before he looked over at Irvine when he noticed him approaching.

"Where's Janus?" Irvine asked as he walked over.

"Janus should be on his way through as soon as the exit's ready."

Irvine simply turned at looked over at Glitch. "I'm on it," the Operator said, already busy at reconnecting the exit.

After a few seconds, a look of confusion came over his face. "What the hell?"

"What's wrong?" Irvine asked.

"I lost the connection. Like there was a network error or something," Glitch said, unsure.

----

After Anubis' RSI disappeared from the phone, Janus picked it up and placed it back on the receiver so that Glitch could repatch the exit for him to come through. While he waited, he thought about everything that had happened up to this point. After coming to the level he'd reached, it was almost like being given the redpill, being unplugged, and taught the truth all over again. Normal redpills go through the procedure of learning the truth about their world, and that alone is enough of a surprise. Now however, Janus had gone beyond that, and was slowly learning the truth behind the truth of the Matrix. He figured, that this must have been how Neo felt after coming this far.

Finally, the phone rang. Janus picked it up and brought it up to his ear, but found that he wasn't exiting the Matrix as expected. This confused him for a moment, and he wondered what the problem was.

"Hello, Janus..." said a cold, dark tone on the other end. Janus felt his blood chill at the mere tone of the voice.

"Who is this? How do you know me?" Janus demanded.

"You always were one to ask many questions before they could all be answered. Nevertheless, I do believe I was the entity that let you know the answers were coming. They're here, down the rabbit hole as your friends might say. Are you still interested?"

"...Where are you?"

"Just a stone's throw away. This city sector is named after it."

Before Janus could clarify, there was a *click* on the other end and the line went dead. But Janus knew that whoever it was meant that he was in the actual park itself. He made his way up to the roof, crouched down slightly, and once again flew up into the air, leaving a warped shockwave behind him on the roof surface as he soared through the sky.

Within seconds he could see the park below him, and he zeroed in on the strange presence he was now sensing in the area. The presence was subtle, but it was enough to make him fully alert, even more than that Agent he fought earlier. Once he came down onto the grass on both his feet with a *THUD*, he looked around, scanning the area for the person who had somehow interrupted the exit protocol and sent him a call.

----

"What the hell is he doing, strolling through the park to take in the sights?" Anubis asked as he watched the screens.

"I don't what he's doing, but I gotta get a patch through to that payphone behind him before anything else gets weird," Glitch asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Look here," Glitch said. The scrolling code froze in place, focusing on a single katakana character, and a square of brighter green code opened from it to a reveal a different screen of code. "The code looks normal, but it's behaving weird. The area near Janus, or something near him at least, is screwing with the code where he's located."

"Hmm. Better get to work on that exit then," Anubis said. "I've had enough adventures in the Matrix today."

----

"Quite the entrance," someone said behind him in a sly, yet intimidating voice. He identified the voice as the same one on the phone he'd heard just a few moments ago as he turned to face this man.

There standing before him, he saw a man who looked to be in his 70s, late middle-aged and with few wrinkles in his face. His hair was a faded gray, and he had a stern, serious look on his face, save for the slight smile that developed as Janus took sight of him, the kind of smile devils made when they had deals to be made. He wore a black leather trenchcoat that was buttoned up to his chest, where it divided off to partially reveal a dark purple dress shirt underneath. His hands were covered in black gloves, and under his right hand was a silver cane that was sculpted with the faces of angels and demons at its base, all coming up to form a skull of sorts at the top. It seemed the cane spoke more about this man than his well dressed and stylish appearance did.

"You're the one that called me," Janus said to him.

"Yes, I did call you, but to avoid confusion, you are The One, not I," this man said in semantic fashion that Janus would have rolled his eyes at had he not been more focused on finding out what this person's story is.

Before asking how he would know anything about The One, or even what his name was, Janus blinked into code vision to look and make sure whether or not this was a bluepill he was dealing with. As he read the man's code, it became clear that he wasn't human; rather, he read like a program. But there was something about his code that didn't seem standard with other programs, something Janus couldn't quite explain.

"Like what you see?" the man said, smirk growing obnoxiously. With a frown, Janus returned to his normal vision.

"Who are you?"

"You don't need my name. What you need is answers to your questions; answers that I alone possess and that's all that matters. I suggest you listen closely."

Janus arched a brow. "I'm all ears." He said, some of his old detective attitude bleeding through again. He could never pass up a good informant.

"We'll keep things simple. You already know what you are, and you have a pretty good idea of the kinds of things you're capable of. However, what you don't know is you're unique Janus. Quite different from anyone like you in the past."

"You mean Neo?"

"Yes, Neo. And those before him."

"What do you mean...?" Janus started to ask. The Old Man merely raised his left hand up as if to tell him to be quiet.

"You've know of the Prophecy, yes?"

It took a moment for Janus to recall what he meant, but then he remembered what Irvine told him during his initial training. "Yes. What about it?"

"Obviously, it has never been fulfilled. Do you want to know why Janus?" the Old Man asked, as if he were dangling the question over Janus' face.

"Enlighten me." Janus replied flippantly.

"Simple. Because your predecessors were all, in the end, deceived."

Janus arched an eyebrow. "By who?"

The Old Man laughed as if that were a foolish question. "By who else? The Machines. Those who are in control of this system." He looked Janus directly in the eyes. "But do not falter and be tricked by their lies Janus. To them The One is a system of its own, which they will undoubtedly use against you to keep the Matrix alive.

"Keep the Matrix alive? Janus thought confusingly. Wasn't the purpose of the One to end the Matrix in the first place?

"What are you talking about?"

The Old Man dismissed that question and continued. "You must use the powers available to you to overcome whatever obstacle they place to hinder you. Yes, become more powerful than anyone before you who's ever been called The One. The Machines are no match for you, and you must make them know that you will not be a pawn in their game."

Janus understood what he was being told, and thought it was a little redundant. Still, he couldn't figure out the Old Man's motive. "Why are you telling me this? I don't suppose you're one of my ‘worshippers'."

The Old Man smiled once again, and in a rather patronizing tone, he spoke. "So intriguing. Even after all you've gone through today, you still hold your sense of humor." He then tapped his cane. "As for why I'm telling you this, what does it matter now? You shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth after all." The payphone behind Janus began to ring. With a nod of his head, the Old Man motioned over to the phone behind Janus. "I believe that's for you," he said.

Janus turned around and saw the pay phone there. When he turned again to look at the Old Man, he was gone. Janus quickly looked around in all directions to see where he might have went, both in normal and code visions, yet he was nowhere to be found.

"We will meet again..." a voice entered his head saying. He looked into the sky, but there was nothing there but clouds.

He looked back to the phone, and nodded, knowing what the Old Man meant. It was time to let the Machines in this war know who he was and what he was bringing to the table. He walked over and picked it up off the hook. His RSI broke up into fragments and disappeared as he exited the Matrix.

----

The familiar sound of a ringing phone was met with the *click* of the call being picked up on the other end. For a brief moment, no words were spoken.

"...Can you hear me now?" he started, laughing a little. "Heh, of course you can. You know who I am, and I know who you are. I know that you're out there, looking all over the place trying to find me. I can feel it. I can sense your fear and uncertainty, because you know I'm different.

You can't control me, because I'm not a part of your recurring cycles of control or your lies. Don't feel bad; if humans fear the unknown, then so do you. I'm going to tell you who I am. I'm not your friend. I'm something beyond your comprehension. In the Matrix, I am everything.

You know me as The One. Leave aside all other words. I can free you, or I can destroy you. Things can't continue without change, or both of our races will cease to be. Follow me, and I can lead you to that change. From delusion, I can lead you to truth. From darkness, I can lead you to light. From death, I can lead you to immortality."

Janus stopped for a moment, letting the words sink in. "I know what you're thinking. When I was a battery, I didn't give a *CENSORED*. As long as I had love and a purpose in my life, I was content. But because of you, I know what's important now. I know what I need to do. And I will see it through, whether you follow me or not. The choice is yours to make. Choose wisely."

*click*

----

Despite all the conflict that had overtaken the city in the past year, the bluepills of Mega City still knew how to get out at night and have a good time. The streetlights were lit, and people walked the sidewalks or drove down the streets, holding true to the notion that the city never slept. Janus found this ironic, seeing that contrary to their awareness, 99% of all people connected to the Matrix were unaware that they truly were asleep.

Perched high above on a skyscraper, Janus could see the happenings of what was going on down below as if he were there. His ponytail, which ran down to the middle of his back, picked up in a breeze and wavered in the wind. He could hear the pounding beat of trance music booming in a nearby club and it's almost hypnotic lyrics sang by a female vocalist. He could see as bluepills that lived the nightlife formed up in groups of friends, happy to see each other, knowingly going out to have a good time to forget the violent and deadly occurances that happened in the city.

Janus sighed to himself. These were the people he was supposed to free from their slavery of a dream they obliviously walked through every day of their lives. These were the people Zion was supposed to protect from harm, and liberate from their shackles, and as The One, he was to lead the way. Instead, all that had happened was the exact opposite. Since his awakening, conflict with the Resistance inside the Matrix had nearly boiled over into an all out war inside the Matrix, endangering the lives of millions. The sad part about it was, they were at a stalemate.

Both the Matrix Corps and the Resistance had lost soldiers and were constantly replacing them to cover their losses, which brought a question to mind: Were both sides freeing more and more bluepills with their best interests and the mission of liberating them in mind, or were they merely bringing in more resources so that they could continue fighting each other? Janus didn't know the answer right now, but he knew that it didn't matter at this point. There had been so much fighting in the past twelve months, against both the Resistance and the Machines, and including the Cypherite rebellion, that it served as a reminder: This was a war that had to be fought, and soldiers were in constant supply.

No one went uneffected by the war's recent developments, not even Janus. His sunglasses did little to cover the scar on his race that ran over his right eye from his forehead and down to his cheek, the trace of an injury not sustained during battle inside the Matrix, but rather from the razor sharp claw of a sentinel that had nearly taken his life in the real world, and carried over onto his residual self image inside the simulation. It was an encounter that hardened him to a point where even Anubis noticed it.

Deciding he'd had enough of playing Batman up on the skyscraper, Janus lept off the edge of the building and took flight throughout the city, making sure to stay high enough above the streetlights so that he'd be nearly impossible to see as he twisted and winded past the skyscrapers while following the streets. He flew with grace, rolling and turning in the air as he made his way around. As relaxing and soothing of an activity this was, it wasn't enough to fully put the thought from Janus' mind. He could still feel the increased tension throughout the Matrix, almost as if the system itself was crying out for solution. At this height, a normal person wouldn't be able hear a thing -- but Janus could hear everything.

By now he figured it was time to call it a night. As he flew far above the skyscrapers as to make sure the sonic boom left in his wake wouldn't destroy any building fronts, he silhouetted against the moon, shining bright and full in the night sky. When he was clear, he blasted off at his full speed. A *BOOM* sounded off behind him as he broke past the system standard for the sound barrier, yet any of the bluepills below that heard it would merely wave it off as thunder.

After reaching the desired altitude, Janus took one last look at the city below - a beautiful fesitval of lights in the dark that stretched as far as the eye could see. As he took the sight in, he remembered, one day it would all be gone. He closed his eyes and concentrated, and soon felt the air pressure change around him. When he opened his eyes, he stood before the payphone he'd previously selected as his exit before he jacked in.

He lifted his arm to see his watch, and as the clock struck 2:30, the phone began to ring, right on time. He picked the phone up off the receiver, and held it to his ear. In a matter of seconds, his RSI disappeared as he exited the Matrix.

----

When Janus opened his eyes, the ship was quiet. The sounds of voices in conversation, and of tools being put to work all around each deck, and of the engines humming as the hover pads buzzed, were all absent from his ears. Right now, the ship was parked and shut down, hidden in the tunnels while the rest of the crew slept. It was Janus' turn for the fire watch shift that rotated throughout the night, so he didn't expect anyone else to be awake.

As he pulled the jack needle from the port in his skull, he winced at the feeling, his left eye closing slightly along with his right, which was concealed behind the black eyepatch he wore to cover his injury. Once he was free from the chair, he replaced the needle onto the rack next to the chair, and ran a hand through his long, just-past-shoulder length black hair that he'd cut into a layered fashion to keep the most of it out of his face. While he had only a year's worth of hair growth in the real world, his hair in the Matrix was twice as long since it was already grown out when he was unplugged.

He exhaled a puff of air, exhausted, and noted how chilly the air temperature seemed when the clothing he had was a black tank top along with his dark blue cargo pants and black boots. Quietly, he made his way over to the Operator's consoles and was surprised to find Anubis sitting there, typing away and doing routine checks while also watching the Matrix.

"How's it going?" Anubis asked, having heard his approach, but never taking his eyes off the screens.

"How long have you been here?" Janus asked.

"Probably the whole time you were plugged in for, seeing that you programmed the exit and had yourself plugged in and ready to go right when your shift was about to end, save for maybe two or three minutes of time in between."

Janus nodded. "Makes sense. I wouldn't have went in during my shift -- that's a stupid way to risk everyone's life considering the circumstances. Were you watching me?"

"For a bit, since there was no other way to amuse myself than watch you do things the rest of us can only dream of. What were you doing in there anyway?"

"Just thinking. Trying to sort out my thoughts, and figure out what's going on."

"In the Matrix?"

"Something doesn't feel right."

Anubis turned, and arched a brow. While he wasn't near the skill level of Glitch when it came to this kind of stuff, he didn't recall seeing or hearing anything about strange code other than the usual exile activity. Janus caught his facial expression, and merely shook his head as he started off for his quarters.

"Don't worry about it. I'm going to sleep."

Anubis watched as Janus climbed down the ladder until he was out of sight, and still looked in that direction for a few seconds. He thought to himself, that if Janus felt like something wasn't right in the Matrix, it was probably something an operator wouldn't be able to detect until it got worse. He glanced at the code display monitors and wondered what could have been troubling Janus, before reassuring himself that he was probably fatigued like everyone else would get from time to time, and that some rest would do the trick. However, he knew in his subconscious that this was just his mind's way of preventing itself from getting stressed, and hoped that whatever it was Janus picked up on, it wasn't anything too serious.

----

When he reached the hatch of his quarters, Janus turned the latch and opened it as quietly as he could as he stepped in, and then closed it behind him just as carefully. However, when he turned and looked down at his bed, his gaze was met by the tired, weary eyes of the dark haired woman laying there, dressed in one of Janus' long sleeved shirts that fit her loosely, while the rest of her body was under the covers.

"Janus..?" she asked, half asleep. "Is everything alright?"

"It's just me Camese, go back to sleep," he said as he kicked off his boots.

Contrary to his command however, she propped herself up on her elbows and blinked a few times as she focused on him. She could see the look on his face that said his mind was elsewhere. "What's the matter?"

"Everything," he said in a voice of tired contempt as he pulled his shirt off, revealing scars of battle on his muscular body. He layed down in bed next to Camese and pulled her close up against him into his arms so that they could share each other's body heat. "Everything and nothing," he said in a whisper.

"Your job's hard enough," she said to him as they both began to doze into sleep. "Let everyone else do theirs..."

He answered with a grunt as if to agree, but in his mind it was the exact opposite. If it was only that easy, he repeated in his thoughts, before finally falling asleep.

----