The Awakening of Austrian

BienTan

(( I would like to take this opportunity to thank the community for its support and for artsefart's kind words and encouragement in continuing to produce the story of Austrian. To answer a commonly asked question of me, I chose to leave the details of Austrian's time in L'école de la Tour, also known as The Tower, out of the story because I felt it would sound much too Harry Potter-ish, if you know what I mean. Some details of his time in The Merovingian's operative school will be dealt with in flashbacks. Thanks again for the five stars and morale boosts everyone. As I have said before, criticism is the only way I can improve. If you feel that this seriously deserves a one-star, tell me why.))

Chapter 13

Austrian had enjoyed every moment he had spent on Re1gn's Hovercraft since his transfer to the ship. He had been reluctant to leave the Trilaterate of Dusk at first. It had been his home- the place where he had learned the truth about his former life and began anew from the ashes of his abandoned existence as a spoiled brat. But he had been only a guest there and the Guardians of Chaos were offering him an opportunity he felt was unavailable to him amongst the ranks of the Triluminarians and their faction. Where Triluminary was cryptic and mysterious, the Guardians of Chaos were completely open- like how a family should be. The environment onboard his new ship contrasted his experiences with the Lipp family as a Bluepill. Here he felt accepted, there he was a reject- a disappointment compared to his younger twin, Gerhard. He felt that he had finally found his place in the world.

His job as Reactor Expert and member of the two-strong Engineering team on the Hovercraft was perfect for him. Monitoring the power supply from the reactor core of the Hovercraft required a meticulous attention to detail and a perfectionist's patience with tweaking until the energy variances flowing from the source was at a minimum, ensuring that fluctuations and power surges were nigh unto impossible and thus protecting the lives of his crew mates from all manner of hazards and accidents. He and Darks1de, the ninja-like First Mate of his crew, made up the Engineering team and were responsible for repairs throughout the Hovercraft. He had learned, firsthand, how cobbled together the ship really was. It was disconcerting to know how dangerous these vehicles were and how amazing it was that they even worked. The technology and the methods employed to maintain that technology seemed more primitive that what was once used in the 21st-century but the effects were different. There were no flying crates like a Hovercraft in the year 2004 but telling from what the ship used by the Guardians of Chaos was made of, he didn't think it was possible for a Hovercraft to function properly in whatever year they were living in. It defied logic but he was glad that it worked nonetheless. Sitting quasi-comfortably inside the Hovercraft was definitely better than wandering the sewer pipes of the Real on foot.

Since his first mission in the Matrix, Austrian had conducted a few low-priority assignments alongside his crew. Darks1de, who had become particularly good friends with Austrian, had uploaded some of the Ninjutsu techniques that he knew to compliment Austrian's current martial arts repetoire. He didn't learn the entire art of Ninjutsu through Darks1de's programs as he felt that learning the strikes and kicks of the art would be redundant- those he had learned from Ba Gua and Tae Kwon-Do were, in his own opinion, superior to those found in Ninjutsu. What he did learn however, was a sub-division of Ninjutsu known as "Gyakuwaza", different forms of locks, holds and groundfighting. Now, when he found himself in close with an opponent or atop one, he would be able to act quickly and effectively. There would be no repetition of his defeat at the hands of Ookami and the Zionite woman.

Austrian had also become quite popular with the rest of his crew. They had learned through interaction over the weeks that he was not what they had heard. Apparently he had developed a reputation amongst those who worked for The Merovingian simply by being the first Human Redpill to study at The Tower. Rumour had it that he hated being around Humans and that he worshipped Exiles as gods. That wasn't quite an accurate depiction of him, he felt, and his crewmates came to agree with him.

He was just monitoring the levels of ion emissions from the reactor core, humming "Deutsches Krieglied" by Mozart to himself, when Nu11Effect burst into the room with an urgent expression on his face. Nu11, Austrian had learned, was an item with Digita1Spirit, a charming young woman aboard the Hovercraft. How could he call her a "young" woman, he did not know. Austrian was one of the youngest Redpills any of his crew had ever heard of at the age of 18.

"What do you need?" Austrian asked, his voice slightly edged with irritation at the disturbance to his work. He needed relative quiet and solitude to concentrate. If the guage was even a millimeter off, it could mean a power surge sometime in the future. Surely Nu11 knew that, even if his job was the crew Communications Officer and Operator.

"You just got a call from Flood." Nu11 replied, ignoring Austrian's impatience. "The Merovingian has requested an audience with you- only you. No one else is to accompany you. It sounds pretty important, if you ask me."

"It can wait for a few moments." Austrian answered, looking back down at the guage and trying to balance the levels of the ion emissions with the plasma intake to reach the optimum efficiency of the reactor. He took pride in his work here. It helped him take his mind off of things he never wanted to think about. Things like if Austria had ever existed, whether or not the Exiles lied to him when they said Silvia had been an illusion, whether or not he was truly free of the system of control when he was an indentured servant of The Merovingian, whether the Real was truly real or just another simulation, whether or not his former family was searching Mega City for him, what the point of life was. If alcohol existed in the Real, Austrian was certain that he would have taken up binge drinking. But, instead, he had the reactor core. And Nu11 was impinging on his addictive solace.

"Aust, it took me the longest time to build up enough trust with The Merovingian before I was ever even allowed to accompany Re1gn and the others to a party at Club Hel. You've been unplugged from the Matrix for barely a couple months, only one of those months were actually spent operating normally in and out of the Matrix, and The Merovingian already trusts you enough to ask for a personal one-on-one meeting at La Vrais. This is a big deal, man." Nu11 encouraged him. "Darks1de can calibrate the systems for one evening. Take a break and meet the boss."

Austrian nodded slowly in affirmation. "You're right. And I'll only be gone for a short while, anyways."

Nu11Effect lead him away from the reactor and into the jack-in room and prepared him for his first meeting with The Merovingian.

BienTan

Chapter 14

Austrian hesitated at the door to La Vrai. He had never had any qualms with walking into La Vrai and dining at the restaurant during his life as Paul Lipp despite the restaurant's exclusivity and extravagance. But now he felt a certain sense of apprehension about entering the establishment. His pulse quickened and his throat felt like it was attempting to regurgitate his larynx. It was an all together unpleasant experience. What if he made a fool of himself in front of The Merovingian himself? What if he encountered his parents, Günther and Elisabeth Lipp, in there by accident? What would he say?

He tried to regain his composure. He had to appear confident and professional when he met with The Merovingian, not a mumbling and bumbling idiot. If The Merovingian became convinced during this meeting that Austrian was a waste of resources, he would be forsaken- he would lose everything he had left in the world. He would lose his purpose as a protector of Exiles and he would lose his new-found friends on the Guardians of Chaos if he lost The Merovingian's respect and patronage. Without his service to The Merovingian, Austrian knew that he was nothing. Where else would he have to go if his current employer abandoned him? Zion would sooner kill him than take him in as one of their own. The Agents would force him to betray everyone he cared for before they ever returned him to the pods. And now that he knew what he knew about the Matrix, how could he go back to life as a Bluepill? Would he be welcomed back after his disappearance?

He straightened his tie and pushed the door open. He smiled politely to the maitre'd who looked rather unimpressed to see Austrian. The fellow looked strangely familiar to Austrian in his Italian couture and wearing a stern expression. "The Merovingian has been expecting you. In fact, he was expecting you five minutes ago. Are you really so arrogant as to keep him waiting?" the maitre'd remarked. That was it! The maitre'd was Flood himself. It was interesting to not that he had not seen Flood policing the front door to La Vrai when Paul Lipp had frequented the restaurant.

Austrian bowed his head in deference to the Exile. "I apologize for my tardiness. I was delayed."

"What are you doing, slouching over like that? Have some dignity about yourself, Human. Learn some poise. It would make up for your lack of fashion sense..." Flood remarked at Austrian's gesture of respect. And what was wrong with his fashion sense? He was wearing a black suit of comparable quality to Flood's white and grey suit. A black machello beret sat atop Austrian's head and a grey trench coat framed his shoulders. As far as Austrian could tell, he was as well-dressed as any of the restaurant's usual patrons.

Austrian followed Flood into the main dining room of the restaurant and up a short flight of stairs to a balcony that over-looked the seating area. There, from his perch above all, sat The Merovingian and his wife Persephone.

Austrian's suspicions were confirmed when he saw the couple there then. He had met The Merovingian before at some of the ballroom dances and dinner parties he had attended during his life as Paul Lipp. He had always been a little curious about The Frenchman. Who wouldn't have been? The wealthiest and most powerful man in the entire of Mega City was so enigmatic that no one even knew his real name- he was known only by the nicknames 'The Merovingian' and 'The Frenchman'. But now Austrian felt he knew most of the truth about The Merovingian.

But one truth that he did know that was of particular interest to him was their differences. The Merovingian was his real name. But he had chosen this name for himself. Austrian, on the other hand, never had the power to choose his own name, it was chosen for him by Ookami and The Merovingian before he had even met them. He had no idea how they had found out that his friends as a child had given him the nickname 'Austrian'. They had named him as such one day when they asked him what nationality he was- where he was from. Naturally, having lived a fairly nomadic lifestyle, he found the question difficult to answer. His classmates had decided that, because Paul Lipp was born in Austria, he was an Austrian.

This difference in how they were named reminded Austrian of the disparity in power between them. The Merovingian was a man of great power who could name himself and decide his own agenda. Austrian, on the other hand, was named by others and was subservient to the rule of others. No, he was not free at all. Ookami had shown him the truth of the Matrix but she had not released him from its system of control- she had only made him more intertwined in its webs of interdependencies. But it was still better than a life spent rotting in the pods.

Austrian bowed deeply as he came within a few feet of the table which The Merovingian and Persephone sat at and removed his black machello beret in a sweeping gesture. "Monsieur, I am prepared to serve-" he began to say. It would appear that the sub-routines on medieval French protocol that The Tower had uploaded to his brain really were useful for something, he thought to himself.

"Such formalities are unnecessary. We are here to do business." The Merovingian said, waving his hand dismissively. "Please. Sit" he then added, gesturing to a chair that sat across the table from him.

Austrian complied.

"There is something I require of you. A very dangerous program known as Invalesco has escaped Blackwood. He has some nonsense plan to destroy the Matrix. It will never work- his scheme." The Merovingian seemed confident of this. But if this 'Invalesco' was so wrong, how could he be so dangerous at the same time? "He has, however, a very persuasive demeanor to those who would wish to increase their personal power. He has drawn many Humans, Blood-drinker, Lupines and what not to his side with lies. I want you to put a stop to those lies."

This sounded a little odd to Austrian. Why would he be assigned a mission like this? This Invalesco fellow sounded a little beyond him. He decided to voice his uncertainty as humbly as possible. "Monsieur, you have given me the best education $information can buy. And for that I am grateful. But do you not think that it would be better to send someone with more experience to eliminate this 'Invalesco' fellow?"

The Merovingian chuckled at this question. "My dear Austrian, I am not entrusting this program's deletion solely to you. There are dozens of others who will also be hunting as well. The Machine sympathizers and the cave-dwellers will no doubt be searching for him too as they see him to be a threat to them as well. But it must be my Organization that kills him. It will send a clear message to any other would-be traitors." The Merovingian answered, glaring at Persephone as he finished his last sentence.

The Frenchman then sidled back into his leather chair and examined Austrian for a moment. Then he continued, "I called you here rather than have Flood simply contact you as he has for the past while because I wanted to know something... important about you. It was Ookami that recruited you, yes?"

"Yes, it was." Austrian answered, nodding. He wondered where this was going.

"Do you feel any loyalties to her?" The Merovingian asked, his eyes narrowing.

"My loyalty is to you. I feel no debt to Ookami. She freed me from the Matrix only because you ordered that it should be so. All that I owe, I owe to you." Austrian answered. He didn't truly believe all of those words but he knew, from his experiences amongst Exiles, that those were the words The Merovingian wanted to hear.

"Ookami and Malphas joined with Invalesco when he escaped and began to attract followers to him. How does this make you feel, Austrian?" The Frenchman asked, visibly curious.

"It makes little difference to me, monsieur. Invalesco will still die, regardless." Austrian answered. If Invalesco could attract Malphas and Ookami to his cause then he was truly too powerful for Austrian to kill. This knowledge did affect him- it made him think this was a suicide mission.

"How interesting..." The Merovingian remarked. "I knew that my resources were not wasted when I began my experiment with you. You will go far, I see now."

"Your investment was indeed wise, monsieur." Austrian agreed, nodding again. At least his job was safe, even if his life wasn't.

"I want you to investigate one possible hiding spot for Invalesco. Attack the Church of the Disciples in Manssen Park and kill any Blood-drinkers or Humans you find there. They are all traitors and their lives are forfeit. If you find Invalesco there, call Flood and have him send re-inforcements to assist you." The Merovingian explained. "Once Invalesco has been dealt with, there is another important concern for you to deal with: Morpheus. He has been allowed to wander the Matrix and cause trouble for far too long. His audacity and arrogance cannot go unpunished."

"Jawohl." Austrian confirmed, rising from his chair and heading to the stairs that led down from the balcony. He had hoped that he would have time to find a table in the restaurant and try a slice of Sachetorte. He had loved the cake when he was a Bluepill and he was curious as to whether or not it would taste different now that he knew the cake was really just made up of code. But now he did not have that amount of time. The Merovingian had filled his plate with Invalesco and Morpheus and there was no room left for indulging himself in culinary delights.

"Oh! Austrian, my husband has something else for you." Persephone called after him.

Austrian turned on his heel and walked back over to the table. As he approached the Exile couple, he could hear them angrily arguing about something in hushed tones.

Without looking away from Persephone, The Merovingian said, "Once Invalesco is no more and you have made some tangible progress in your hunt for Morpheus, I will assist you in finding and liberating your brother."

"Merci beaucoup." Austrian replied, bowing deeply again. Though he said it to The Frenchman, he intended the thanks for Persephone, who had obviously strong-armed the concession from her husband.

"Yes, yes, yes. We know. You are very thankful. But you are also very busy. Too busy to stand over me and ruin my appetite, I should think. Now go." The Merovingian said, disappointed with his own weak will.

Austrian turned to head for the door once again. He had a lot of work to get done in the next while if he wanted to free his twin brother. Though he spited Gerhard for being his parents' favourite son, he missed him too much. Had Gerhard been searching for him after his disappearance? Was Gerhard ready to be Awakened? Or had he become too inured to the system to give it up? Those questions would be answered in time. But first, it was time for the hunt.

BienTan

Chapter 15

Austrian stopped his slow but steady progress down the sidewalk at the sound of the disturbance in the alley a few feet ahead of him. He had been cautiously making his approach to the Church of the Disciples when he had heard the crash of metal on pavement around the corner of the ruined Manssen Park building he now pressed himself against in the unnatural night of the Matrix.

Steadying his breath and bracing himself for what could be the first fight of many on this night, Austrian ventured a peek around the corner and into the sheer velvet emptiness of the alley. He perceived an over-turned trash can straddling the width of the passage but nothing else conspicuous. He had honestly expected Invalesco to post a forward sentry concealed on the approach to the church he had chosen for the center of his vile and traitorous activities. He felt... disappointed with his vampiric prey.

But just as Austrian was about to dismiss his suspicion as merely paranoia brought on by the blackness, his sub-conscious registered a diminutive but potentially deadly object slicing through the air rapidly towards his crouched form. Austrian ducked back around the corner, narrowly dodging it. As Austrian glanced down, though, he realized that "it" was just a startled cat, it's colour indeterminate in the cursed night.

After shooing the stray cat away, Austrian hesitated before continuing on his way. The cat could have very well been black. Austrian was disdainful of superstition but tonight was by far, in his books, the worst night to tempt fate. Would he suffer bad luck if he crossed the alley? Would he die an excruciating death at the hands of Invalesco? Was this his fate?

Austrian cursed himself silently for his incompetent dithering and proceeded to cross the alley- and the path of the cat. This mission was important! The Merovingian himself had been clear: Invalesco could not be allowed to continue his festering existence. All other things were of secondary importance to Invalesco's permanent and express deletion. If Austrian failed to carry out his orders, the Matrix could very well be over-run with deranged cabals of blood-drinkers in a never-ending night of violence and excess. Invalesco's promise of immortality as an Exile was tempting, it was true, but somehow Austrian knew it was a scam in the truest sense of the term.

Now he was standing before a wooden door, withering in it's frame, at the entry to the vampire-infested church. Austrian calmly unslung his favoured weapon from his shoulder, the Steyr AUG, keeping his eyes trained on the door all the while. The Steyr AUG, an alledgedly Austrianallegedly-manufactured weapon that combined aspects of an assault rifle with those of a submachine gun in it's technologically advanced design, was equipped with specially-coded silver bullets supplied to him by The Merovingian himself specifically for this mission. At his hip, a collection of sharpened wooden stakes hung, ready for use, alongside a flashbang grenade.

Ready and re-assured, Austrian reached down to his hip with his left hand and retrieved the grenade as his right foot lashed out and kicked in the door. The weakened wood burst easily under the force of his kick and the grenade, prepared and primed for detonation, had already left his hand and flown through the gaping frame before the door's fragments had hit the carpeted floor of the church's interior. Immediately, Austrian swung himself around so that his back pressed against the outer brick wall of the Church of the Disciples, his gaze aimed away from the opening he had just made so as not to be blinded and deafened by his own flashbang.

He heard the detonation within and the groans of what could have either been some very angry blood-drinkers or some frightened and surprised Bluepills. Austrian muttered a soft prayer that it was the former- that this business would be over quickly and easily. Then he sucked in a deep breath through his mouth, savouring the simulated stench of smoke mixing with incense and stale dank air. Nodding to himself, knowing it was time, he brought his Steyr AUG up into high ready and swung back around the corner and into the church.

Tonight Invalesco would die!

BienTan

Chapter 16

Austrian would have preferred to have done this with back-up but Flood had been insistent that only he was to investigate the Church of the Disciples. His crew could have been useful today as he would no doubt need covering fire to move about the Church and eliminate the hostiles that occupied the main chamber. Unfortunately, The Merovingian had been made paranoid of treachery and betrayal through the defection of Ookami and Malphas. It was feared that if Austrian were to bring any of his crew mates with him, he might be shot in the back as he went through the door. He couldn't imagine someone like Darks1de or Re1gn feeling sympathetic to some virus-like Exile named Invalesco but he was not the boss. Flood called the shots, no matter how poor his decision-making skills might be.

Austrian took in the room with one glance. A cluster of hideously pale forms hissed and clawed at their eyes and ears as they staggered around by the altar. This looked like the place all right. But he needed visual confirmation that Invalesco was present in the Church if he were to call Flood for re-inforcements. The vampires were covering their faces in their vain effort to restore vision to their eyes. "Anybody call for an exterminator?" Austrian called out, trying to attract their attention.

The vampires looked up and stared at him. "impudent Human!" one of them snarled. "Kill him!" the blood-drinker ordered, thrusting a clawed finger at Austrian. None of the Exiles here matched the description of Invalesco that Flood had sent him. These Disciples no doubt worked for Invalesco but 'the man' himself was not hiding here. Disappointing...

Austrian brought his Steyr AUG up into his shoulder and silently recited the principles of marksmanship he had learned through the hardwired Close Quarters Battle tactics he had been programmed with in The Tower. Good marksmanship is a HABIT. Proper Holding, correct point of Aim, controlled Breathing, Instinctive body position, and gentle Trigger control.

His mind refreshed with those five concepts, Austrian fired off a quick three shot burst into the face of what he believed to be the leader of the vampiric coven in the Church. The first round, a silver bullet, struck the blood-drinker in the larynx. The other two rounds, normal bullets, simply burrowed holes in the chest of the deleted Exile.

A blood-drinker that had been lurking behind a pillar to Austrian's left hurled himself at Austrian, flying through the air with clawed hands out-stretched like some nightmarish bat. Austrian ducked into a kneeling position as the vampire flew over him and fired another three-round burst off. The bullets drilled hard into the exposed belly of the crazed Exile, deleting it as it continued to fly into the wall behind him.

By now the other two blood-drinkers were almost on him. He slung his Steyr AUG over his shoulder, not confident of the weapon's reliability at this close of a range, and dropped down into his Bokuho stance. Austrian's left-leg stretched out before him on the carpeted floor, his right-leg swept back and bent so that he was crouching, his left-arm extended out along the length of his leg while the right-arm reached for his collection of wooden stakes.

The vampires slowly shambled over to him, grinning with malice. One of them, the one on the right, dribbled some blood as he produced a cruelly curved knife and held it before himself threateningly. The two attacked simultaneously, their timing perfectly synchronized despite the fact that they had never uttered a word or made any sign to each other that it was time to strike. He admired their discipline but loathed their treachery and the guise that they had assumed within the Matrix. Blood-drinkers were his least favourite form of Exile. Most Exiles simply needed a flow of $information to survive but blood-drinkers were far more parasitic- feeding off of the code of other's RSI's. It sickened him.

As the blood-drinker surged toward him, Austrian surged back toward them. As they collided, Austrian stabbed a wooden stake into the heart of the blood-drinker on the left with his right hand while sweeping his left leg out in a crescent kick that knocked the knife out of the right blood-drinker's hand. Without pausing, Austrian spun and jumped, his left leg lancing out as he completed a 360 degree rotation in the air and crescent kicked the blood-drinker on his right again, but this time on his cheek rather than this wrist.

He heard the blood-drinker's neck snap as the knife it had once held clattered to the floor. The blood-drinker, much to Austrian's chagrin and surprise, simply snapped its own neck back into place and smiled again.

"No!" someone screamed from over by the altar.

"Silence Human!" the blood-drinker growled, spitting blood putridly as it spoke. The perfect opportunity for Austrian. He drew another wooden stake from under his billowing trench coat and rammed it into the creature's chest and then kicked the spasming body away from himself.

"No... my immortality..." the Redpill standing by the altar, who had originally evaded Austrian's detection by hiding behind the altar, stood over the corpse of the dead Disciple leader whimpering.

"Drop your weapon." Austrian ordered, calmly, unslinging his Steyr AUG again but not bringing it up into his shoulder quite yet. He wanted to be ready should the traitorous Redpill attempt to attack him but he didn't want to seem overly threatening. Perhaps he could negotiate this fellow's surrender.

"You... you killed them all. Why? Why did you have to go and do something like that? Why did you have to be so stupid? They promised me immortality..." the man said, almost in tears.

"They promised you a lie." Austrian explained. "They betrayed you just like they betrayed The Merovingian. Come. Drop your weapon and let us leave this place. The Machines will no doubt be on their way here by now." he held out his hand invitingly. The part about the Machines coming was a lie. It seemed that even The Machines were too frightened to send their Operatives into the Matrix at this time. The entire of Mega City was rife with chaos and death. The Agents had abandoned the place and left The Merovingian and his followers to restore order.

"Die!" the Redpill screamed, producing a machine pistol of a design Austrian could not identify in the twilight of the Church's interior.

Austrian dove for cover behind some of the benches that lined the Church and heard the wood of some of the seats rupturing under a fusillade of weapon's fire. He peeked his head around the corner of his row of seats and returned fire but the Redpill had hidden back behind the altar. From his current position, Austrian would be unable to take out the Redpill. He could destroy the altar with a withering spray of fire in the hope that some of the shots would pierce through the thick wood and strike the man hiding behind it but that would consume a great deal of ammunition. And the seats that he hid behind were a flimsier form of cover than the altar that the Redpill now commanded the Church floor from. He had to find a different way of eliminating this foe...

A plan immediately formulated itself in his mind. Austrian bolted for the empty frame of the door he had kicked in only moments before, hopping over the still spasming body of a blood-drinker. He heard the Redpill screaming profanity after him as he ran but it mattered little to him.

In a few seconds, Austrian was in position for his new attack on the Church. He let loose six shots of 5.56mm rounds at the stained glass window before him and then turned his back to the cascading and collapsing wall of glass, covering himself with his trench coat to prevent injury from his own effort to create another entrance into the Church. Satisfied that he had weathered the majority of the storm of glass, Austrian turned and dive-rolled into the Church. The Redpill stood and stared as Austrian rose into a kneeling position and pumped off a quick six shots into the traitor.

The Redpill who would have become a servant to Invalesco crumpled under the fire and died there, beneath a meaningless cross by the altar.

Austrian looked about at his work. Then glanced at the cross. If there really and truly was a God, how could he allow scenes like this to occur every day in the Matrix? How could he allow parasitic creatures like blood-drinkers to prey on the innocent- like the Redpill he had just killed? No omniscient and good creature could possibly allow such injustice. Either God was another lie told by the Machines, as his Exile instructors had taught him, or God was an evil creature that took pleasure in watching the orgies of death that filled this simulated world with the stench of death and sin.

Austrian spat on the carpeted floor of the main hallway through the church, traditionally one of the most holy parts of the holy building, and then left through the shattered window that had depicted St. Patrick expelling the snakes and Satan from Ireland.

BienTan

Chapter 17

Flood had called Austrian to tell him that Invalesco had been found as he walked away from the Church of the Disciples, fuming at Christianity and God for reasons his conscious mind could not understand at the moment. The Exile Handler told him that while he had been exterminating the coven of Invalesco followers, several other, more experienced, operatives working for The Merovingian had found Invalesco's lair and pursued him. But, unfortunately, the beast had fled into some sort of Construct which no one could enter- save a young upstart Zionite named Neurophyte. All that was left was for The Merovingian to send Exiles to stand guard outside the entrance to the Construct and wait to see who exited it. Until that time, Austrian and his crew were to now pursue leads on Morpheus' location and plans. Not quite an opportune time for such an assignment, he thought, as very few Redpills wanted to enter the Matrix while Lupines and Blood-drinkers ran rampant through the streets in a search for something, anything, to kill. But if he could present evidence about Morpheus' plans and intentions to his employers soon, that would only make his re-union with Gerhard more likely. He didn't know why he was excited at the prospect of seeing his brother again, but he was.

So his search for Morpheus himself had led the Guardians of Chaos here, to the neighbourhood of Mara in the Slums. He tried to stay away from this place as much as possible, as it reminded himself of the scorn he had felt for the Redpills who frequented this part of Mega City. It made him feel like he was one of 'the enemy' he had loathed not so long ago. In his Bluepill life, he had taken pride in teaching his students, often business people and their families, how to defend themselves from the predations of gangs. Now he found himself among the very people those families had feared- one of the predators stalking the streets of the bad-side of town in search for prey.

"Whoa..." Re1gn, Austrian's Captain, remarked, looking around at the dozen or so other Redpills standing around the area of the Mara Congregational Church. "I guess news has gotten out."

"Indeed it has." Austrian muttered in response. He wasn't entirely sure how so many others could have known that Morpheus was going to make an appearance here today. He had managed to find and question an informant within Morpheus' small group of supporters. This informant had told Austrian that Zion was split from within on the issue of Morpheus- apparently the man had been causing trouble there as well as within the Matrix. He had not only earned The Merovingian's hatred by stealing The Keymaker, threatening The Merovingian's life and humiliating him in front of dozens of other Exiles at a party in Club Hel but had also annoyed Commander Lock, a high-ranking military leader within Zion, for trying to steal his wife, Niobe, and encouraging actions that would destroy The Truce and start a new war that could wipe out all free Humans. Morpheus, the informant told him, was on a fool's quest to retrieve Neo's body from the Machines by threatening to destroy the code of the Matrix and cause mass awakenings. Hardly the model hero he purported himself to be. This informant told Austrian that a strike had been planned at Mara which could awaken an entire congregation of church-goers as they left from a Sunday service. The Zionite felt that if Morpheus were to be hampered in his efforts on this day, he might be firghtened out of doing anything else rash in the future. Austrian could only hope that that would be the case- that he would not have to kill or cause the death of one of Humanity's icon figures.

"Spread out everyone. Have a look around and tell me if you see anything suspicious." Re1gn ordered, walking over to talk to another Merovingian Captain he had spotted in the tiny crowd. Austrian liked that about his Captain: his orders never actually came across as orders. They seemed more to the ears like a friendly suggestion. A request for clarification of an order was never met with spluttering and accusations of insubordination but simply a warm smile and a logical explaination. Austrian figured he couldn't have found a better crew to join or a better Captain to follow.

"Jawohl, Herr Kapitan." Austrian answered. That had been the nickname he had given to Re1gn: Herr Kapitan. Telling from the chuckle and mischievous grin the name was always answered with, Austrian deduced that Re1gn had taken a liking to the label.

Austrian wandered around the corner of an apartment complex that stood across from the neighbourhood church and loomed over a public payphone nearby. He saw a hunched form, clothed in a dark black trench coat and wearing a respectable purple suit underneath. It looked for all the world like the Redpill before him was tying his shoelaces. "Guten Morgen. Come for Morpheus' bounty, have you?" Austrian chimed, pleasantly.

The man looked over at Austrian through his dark sunglasses, grinned, and then rose to his full height. He was a very tall, muscular, confident African American specimen. "No. I've come to make a statement." the man said in a calm, almost soothing voice. This was a man at perfect peace with himself and what he stood for, Austrian could tell. He didn't need to see the fellow's eyes to know that, nor did he need to see the code bomb that sat ticking on the floor at his feet.

BienTan

Chapter 18

"You're Morpheus, aren't you?" Austrian asked, narrowing his eyes and reaching slowly for a Steyr TMP holstered on his hip and concealed beneath the folds of his sleek black trench coat and equally dark suit jacket. He was glad he had brought the TMP with himself instead of the AUG. The Steyr AUG, despite its bullpup design, was still a difficult weapon to conceal on ones personage or use effectively with only one hand. The TMP, on the other hand, was a typical machine pistol but of higher quality in its manufacture- it was a single-handed firearm that packed the punch of an assault rifle like the Colt M16A2 and squeezed it into something of comparable size to a Colt Double Eagle. The TMP had nowhere near the range or accuracy of his favoured weapon, the Steyr AUG, but that wouldn't matter at this short of a distance. If this fugitive Zionite made any threatening move against him, Austrian was confident that he could unload an entire clip of the Steyr TMP into the fanatic before any harm could be done to him.

"Yes, I am." Morpheus answered. Austrian drew his Steyr TMP and pointed it menacingly at the Zion extremist's face in one fluid motion. In response, Morpheus threw his hands up in the air in mock surrender and said, "Before you try to kill me, I think you should know that there is a code bomb on the ground in front of you. I'm not entirely sure what it will do to our RSI's at this range but something tells me neither of us want to find out."

Austrian risked a quick glance down at the ground, half-expecting this to be some petty distraction intended to aid an escape attempt by Morpheus, but saw that there was indeed a code bomb planted there on the sidewalk before him. He could not see if the device was close to detonation or if there would be a sufficient delay during which he could arrest Morpheus. A sudden rush of wind announced Morpheus' departure to Austrian. He looked up to see the fugitive hurtling through the air to a nearby rooftop in a hyper-jump.

Austrian found it incredibly tempting to abandon all principles of 'fire discipline' and fire a few shots after Morpheus in frustration but he decided against it. It would be a waste of time- Morpheus was far beyond the reach of his Steyr TMP. Even if he could hit Morpheus at this distance, the small rounds that his weapon fired would probably lack the velocity to penetrate the leather of Morpheus' coat after their long travel from the ground to the rooftop. There would be other opportunities to apprehend Morpheus and Austrian would be able to exorcise his annoyance then. For now he had much more pressing concerns to attend to- namely his own life and the lives of his crewmates and friends.

Sprinting back towards the Mara Congregational Church, Austrian yelled at the wandering clusters of Redpills, "Everyone get out of here! Go! Los los los!"

"Aust, what's wrong?" Re1gn asked as Austrian ran up to him, bewildered at his Reactor Expert's uncharacteristically frantic behaviour.

"Bomb! Morpheus planted a code bomb behind that building!" Austrian explained quickly and hurriedly, pointing back at the apartment complex which stood by where he had confronted Morpheus moments before.

Despite the darkened sunglasses that hid his gaze, Re1gn's expression of surprise was fully visible to Austrian. "Guardians of Chaos!" Re1gn called out. "Get to the rally point! Now!" Re1gn had planned a rally point with the crew before they had all arrived in Mara in case something went awry- like a code bomb that could detonate at any moment.

The crew dropped whatever they were doing and hyper-jumped to the roof of a convenience store a safe distance away from the bomb and the bluepill-filled church. Austrian turned and looked back to see what was happening with the bomb. He was shocked to see that several of the other Redpills, mostly Zionites, who had been wandering the neighbourhood in search of Morpheus were now clustered around the code bomb.

"What in the blazes are they doing?" Digita1Spirit exclaimed to Austrian's left.

"Come on... get out of there. It's a bomb. Bombs explode." Austrian muttered to himself, tempted to run back and warn the Zionites of their stupidity. What could they be doing with the bomb? Trying to disarm it?

Then the code bomb exploded. At first, the explosion looked like the same sort that would be produced by a normal bomb that a Bluepill terrorist would use. But then the wall of the building nearest to the bomb changed from concrete to a black field scrawling with streams of green Machine code. The RSIs of the Zionites who had swarmed around the code bomb also became black featureless shadows that streamed with broken code then exploded in rivets of green flame.

"Dammit." Re1gn cursed, clenching his fists in anger.

"Are they...?" Digita1Spirit asked, shaken by what she had just seen.

"We can't know. I don't think I've ever heard of a Redpills RSI being affected by a code bomb before." Austrian answered. There was no telling what had truly happened to the Zionites. They might have died. But, then again, they might have been forcibly jacked-out.

Either way, he had to find Morpheus. The man was simply too dangerous now to be allowed to run amok in the Matrix. Hopefully after this incident, Zion would agree with The Merovingian's analysis of the Morpheus problem. It would certainly make the job of finding the terrorist considerably easier.

BienTan

((Apologies for the long delay in updating this. What with exams and research papers and training exercises, I've had little free time. But with Christmas approaching, I've been blessed with a little bit of an opportunity to write some more.))

Chapter 19

It had been a few days since Morpheus' attack on Mara. During that time, the crew of the Guardians of Chaos had been aggressively searching the Matrix for the rogue Zionite. Austrian and Darks1de had also been hard-wired with demolitions programs so that they would be able to defuse and retrieve any code bomb that the crew were to come across in their hunt. Nobody wanted a repeat of the incident in Mara where they had been forced to let Morpheus go in order to preserve their lives.

Austrian had just received a tip from Flood that Morpheus had been sighted in Kedemoth Park and that Ookami herself would be confronting the renegade. Austrian hadn't seen the woman since his graduation from L'école de la Tour. She had presented his trench coat to him then, grudgingly, as a reward for not only passing the grueling exams in The Tower but for finishing within the top five operatives of his class. He had been an example, yet again, that Humans were not to be under-estimated by Exiles. The trench coat, she had told him, was of particularly fine materials; she had coded the item from the skins of slain lupines. How she had obtained the code from the dead Exiles, he did not ask. Somehow, he imagined, he did not want to know how she had come across that material.

Re1gn had also coded Austrian a new suit jacket and tie. This outfit, he was told, would decrease the chances that he would suffer another unfortunate defeat at the hands of Zionites, as had been the case in the operation in Sai Kung weeks ago. This jacket was apparently coded with anti-virus programs that Austrian had not yet come to understand. These anti-virus sub-routines would increase his viral resistance, fending off most viruses favoured by Hackers from Zion. He wouldn't be dropping his Steyr AUG again any time soon.

But his wardrobe wasn't what was important now. Focusing for the coming battle was. Morpheus seemed to be unwilling to give himself up for prosecution and Ookami was notoriously undiplomatic. When a stubborn Human and an equally pig-headed Exile met and found themselves in opposition of one another, something had to give. Austrian knew that the only thing that would be given in this instance would be exchanges of automatic weapons fire.

Austrian, along with Re1gn and Darks1de, arrived on the scene at roughly the same time as Ookami and a few Dire Lupine Banes did. She really did look strangely charming in her ragged clothes. The wild look and feel of the woman Exile enchanted him, even now, after he had been away from the comforts of his former life for so long. Maybe she had some odd way of manipulating the code of the Matrix? He couldn't imagine himself being well and truly attracted to this woman. She wasn't even truly a woman. She was an Exile, made only of code, who had chosen to take on the form of a female for the purposes of affectation and aesthetics. She was, in terms of romantic interests, just as illusionary and false as Silvia was. The torment of knowing that the woman that he once loved was about as real as the Steyr AUG he now held in his simulated hands was unbearable. With that thought in mind, he advanced over to Ookami to request instructions from her on how to proceed with the attack on Morpheus.

"Lady Ookami." Austrian said, bowing slightly to the woman. The gesture of defference amused the Exile and her lips, full and untainted with lipstick, curved into a smile.

"Austrian... how do you fair?" Ookami asked, the Lupines flanking her chuckling at what they must have thought was a group of Humans come to act as cannon fodder for the foe.

"I am well, my Lady. How should we proceed with this matter?" Austrian asked, inclining his head slightly to gesture at the group of Zionites standing in the Park around Morpheus who, as they spoke, gave some strange sermon about demonstrating Humanity's resolve to the Machines and honouring Neo. Odd how someone could preach about honouring the sacrifice of Neo by working to destroy The Truce he died for.

"We will ask them nicely for their surrender. If they refuse... then we will kill them." Ookami replied, still grinning at the prospect of killing Humans. She was a disturbing creature. He found it tempting to ask her why she had betrayed The Merovingian and joined Invalesco in his petty insurrection but decided against it. There were more important things to do right now than debate loyalty and treachery. He could always have another opportunity to do so in the future. Especially since the invention of this "emergency jackout procedure" the Zionites had created to minimize casualties incurred during operations within the Matrix. No one ever really died anymore in the Matrix. Of course, the mental trauma of being killed and then, for lack of a better term, "resurrected", was of great displeasure and discomfort to most Redpills. So much so, in fact, that a fair bit of down-time was required for anyone killed in the Matrix. This fact prevented Redpills from simply fighting non-stop in the Matrix, killing and being killed for all eternity but never actually gaining any ground in the conflict. If anyone was actually foolish enough to attempt multiple emergency jackouts within a short period of time, the result could be potentially very dangerous- anyone taking the risk could suffer severe mental retardation or a permanent catatonic freeze. Austrian supposed that that was what The Merovingian's plan for Morpheus: either intimidate the man into staying out of the Matrix and coming up with a more peaceful strategy for capturing Neo's body or beating him into a state of mental retardation.

Austrian prefered the former over the latter. If the rumours about the man were true, Morpheus was a great visionary and hero. But he had lost his way in life. Who wouldn't have, if they were placed in Morpheus' situation? The man had lost his crew to the cruelties of The War. He had lost his Hovercraft to a Sentinel attack. Trinity and Neo, who were like a daughter and son to him, were both lost in the battle to save Humanity from annihilation. His purpose in life, to find The One and guide him to his end, had been fulfilled. The love of his life, Niobe, had left him for another man, Commander Lock. He had lost everything he ever held dear and was left with nothing. Just the hollow and faint hope of being able to take back Neo's body from the very creatures he had spent his life fighting against. Imagine the sheer irony and horror Morpheus must have felt when he discovered that Neo had, instead of fulfilling his dream of a free Humanity, instead forced him to live side-by-side peacefully with his life-long foes. Yes, life had been cruel to Morpheus and now the man was out for revenge.

"Morpheus, we are here to bring a stop to this madness of yours." Ookami called out, approaching the small throng of Zionites. Austrian cringed at her choice of word. Yes, she was far from an astute diplomat.

"The only madness is this... dream world." Morpheus answered, shaking his head.

"You are not welcome here! Leave Exile!" one of the Zionites yelled back, his face glowing red with hardly contained rage.

"The Merovingian has no quarrel with you, Humans. Return to your Hovercrafts and allow us to resolve this matter peacefully with Morpheus." Ookami answered, her gaze never wavering from Morpheus as she and her Lupines continued to approach the small crowd. A fight was brewing, Austrian knew. The Zionites were not interested in Ookami's ultimatums and demands and, of course, Ookami had little interest in their threats of violence. There was no possiblity for compromise in this scenario and a staring match rarely ever settled such conflicts. It was do or die, nothing in between.

Apparently one of the Zionites felt this way as well, as she drew her twin Colt .45 semi-automatic pistols and began emptying her clips on a Lupine that had strayed a little too close to her, yelling incoherently all the while. A single shot from Re1gn's Heckler and Koch G36K assault rifle silenced the woman as the bullet screamed into her wailing face.

"She was annoying..." Austrian heard Re1gn grumble just before the entire of Kedemoth Park erupted in wanton violence. It was interestingly similar to a Napoleonic battlefield as the Morpheus followers stood on one side of the fields and The Merovingian's forces stood on the other. What particular contrast of the violence caught Austrian's attention over the others. Ookami was at the fore of her forces, wading into the fray like the great heroes of medieval myth. But Morpheus seemed to literally cower behind his forces like Napoleon was known to hide behind his Imperial Guard during the many battles of his war to conquer Europe and the world. But Morpheus was not trying to conquer the Matrix, he was trying to destroy it and those who relied on it for their existence. And he was not cowering, Austrian grimly realized, but, rather, he was planting a code bomb under a bench while everyone was distracted by the combat.

Austrian sprinted through the crowd, jumping over the bodies of Lupines and Zionites, dodging the odd blow and gun shot on his way to stop Morpheus. He would stop the fanatic before he could destroy the Matrix! He had to! The code bomb would have had a devestating effect if it detonated amidst the massive battle and when Bluepills came to investigate the explosion, the sheer bumber of Awakenings that would occur when they found their favourite neighbourhood park replaced with a black field dotted with streaming green numbers and letters of code would cause irrepairable damage to the Matrix. That could not be allowed to come to pass, he knew.

He charged toward the man who was now rising from his crouched position by the park bench. "Morpheus!" he called out as he closed with the Zionite.

Morpheus turned at his exclaimation and, seeing that Austrian posed him a threat, leapt backward, putting the bench between them. "Ah... you again." Morpheus said, apparently amused by Austrian's outburst. "Good luck with the code bomb. I think you'll find that it would be best to run now rather than try to disarm it."

With that comment, Morpheus turned and hyper-jumped away. Just like at Mara, Morpheus was escaping again and Austrian was faced with a choice: chase the fugitive or disarm the bomb. Stop the renegade from endangering more innocent lives or save the lives of his crewmates and Ookami herself? The choice was strangely simple. He bent down at the bench where Morpheus had been working and searched under the seat for the bomb. His gloved hand found it, warm to the touch and blinking faintly. He had no idea how long it would take for the device to detonate but if Mara had been any indication, the bomb had a relatively short fuse. Keeping this in mind, he set to work on disarming the bomb as we quickly as his hands could manage. He didn't have to think too terribly hard about the demolitions skills as they had been efficiently hard-wired to his brain. His hands just set to work and left his body behind.

As he was just about to finish completing the disarmament procedures, Austrian felt someone grasp him from behind, drawing him up to his feet in a full nelson hold. "Who the devil?" Austrian managed to blurt as his attacker lifted him up and threw him to the ground in a suplex throw. The back of his head smashed into the pavement of a nearby sidewalk, making a hard smack as his simulated skull met the cement. Pain automatically flooded his senses and he tasted warm blood in his mouth. But he didn't let the attack stop him. He rolled to his feet and examined his attacker.

He found that he was not under attack by just one opponent. Instead, two Morpheus followers stood menacingly before him. "What are you doing, hiding from the party back here?" one asked, smirking cockily.

"There is a code bomb beneath that bench. If you don't let me disarm it, we are all going to die." Austrian explained, assuming his Bokuho stance as he spoke. He could not risk being off his guard with these maniacs. They might know full well that the code bomb was there and care little. The Zionites at Mara hadn't seemed to be too bothered by the idea of having the code of their RSI's, and perhaps even the fabric of their conscious minds, torn to shreads.

"Nice try. We're not falling for it. But you, my friend, are going to take a fall. Hard." one of them replied, advancing toward him in an Aikido crouch.

Suddenly the head of the Aikido artist exploded as a bullet impacted the back of it and pierced through the weak code of his flesh. The other, shocked at the sudden death of his compatriot, suddenly slumped to the floor like a lifeless doll. Re1gn and Darks1de advanced to Austrian's side, calmly examining their kills as they walked over their corpses. Re1gn, Austrian observed, had sniped the Aikido artist. The other had suffered a strike to his spinal cord from Darks1de's ninja-to, a sword favoured by the Ninja. The bodies of the Zionites rippled with the energy surges of emergency jackout procedures in process. They would no doubt be awakening on the deck of their Hovercraft, hurting and humiliated, but alive nontheless.

"Finish it, Austrian!" Re1gn exclaimed, noticing that Austrian was hesitating and rubbing the back of his head, feeling for any dents or cuts in its surface.

Austrian immediately obeyed his Captain's order, snapping back to reality. He bent down, felt for the right wire and pulled it.

BienTan

Chapter 20

Austrian remembered how afraid he had been that day. When the Zionite assassins had nearly killed him, he had felt no fear. He had felt only disappointment and regret that he had not made more of himself. But when he had disarmed the code bomb in Kedemoth, he had well and truly been afraid that he would wind up like one of those fools at Mara who had, more than likely, suffered horribly painful half-deaths. It wasn't exactly death to be killed by a code bomb in the Matrix. But one did exactly survive those things. The mind would die as the code of a persons' RSI was ripped to shreds and the individual code fragments were cast away to be used by the system to make something else- like a cell phone or a tile on a bathroom floor. But the body in The Real stayed alive. The heart still beat but the brain was left in a permanent vegetative state. It was the worst kind of fate Austrian could imagine and he was horrified of it being his own end.

The only other fate that he could imagine being worse than his own, was that of Morpheus. He was a brave man and he had done great things during his life. He had found The One and fought valiantly against the oppression of The Machines and their murderous Agents. But now he was dead, killed by The Assassin. The Assassin, so the story went, had been contracted by The Merovingian to do the same job as Austrian- to make Morpheus' life difficult. But the corrupt program had taken things too far, yet again, and used a Kill Code to murder Morpheus. A Kill Code was a rare device that, when used to attack an RSI, prevented a person's reconstruction. He had learned all about these devices and their many guises, as well as The Assassin and his traitoroius nature, at The Tower.

But one thing he had also learned at The Tower was to appreciate Morpheus. Of course his instructors had tried to brainwash him to loathe Morpheus and every Zionite like him, but Austrian had looked past the propaganda and examined the facts. Morpheus had been fighting for a good and just cause- freedom for Humanity. How was that any different from what Austrian fought for? How was it that freedom for Exiles and freedom for Humans were such distinct concepts? It was true that Morpheus had gone mad, but who could blame him? He had lost Trinity and Neo, who had become like a son and daughter to him. He had lost his ship, The Nebuchadnezzar, which had been his home for years. He had lost his one true love, Niobe, to his nemesis: the Commander of Zion's forces. And he had lost his lifelong purpose: to find The One. He had nothing more to live for. In a way, Austrian wondered if Morpheus' terrorist attacks had been a way of ensuring his own demise, as he had grown weary of a purposeless life.

No one really knew for certain why Morpheus had gone mad and done what he had done. But it seemed that everyone knew that he was now dead. Some Zionites had claimed that he had staged his own death and would return again, when the time was right. But those fanatics were the same ones who claimed Neo was still alive and that The Machines were holding him captive in The Real so that he would be unable to return and rescue humanity from their indenture. Austrian paid them little heed. So long as they weren't trying to kill innocent Exiles, he could care less what they believed.

"Coming Aust?" Re1gn asked. He realized that he had hesitated before entering the elevator down into Club Hel.

"Ja. I was just... reflecting." Austrian answered, taking a step forward into the elevator that was crammed full of his crewmates- his friends.

"This isn't the time for reflecting, Aust. This is the time for partying!" Re1gn laughed. The Merovingian had sent out party invitations as soon as Morpheus' death was confirmed. It was seem that they were celebrating the death of a fallen hero tonight. Austrian found the idea repulsive but decided against voicing his disapproval. The Merovingian had promised him that withthe death of Invalesco and Morpheus, Austrian would be allowed to Awaken his brother. And he could hardly wait to see Gerhard again. The opportunity to turn the tables was irresistable.

He would show his brother what he had become. He would prove that he wasn't a failure after all, and that his parent's favouritism to Gerhard had been unwarranted...

BienTan

Chapter 21

The welcoming sounds of "Reise Reise" greeted Austrian as he and the Guardians of Chaos entered the main dance hall of Club Hel. The song was a Rammstein hit and, having been programmed by The Machines to believe he was an Austrian, he understood the German lyrics and felt... at home. He relaxed from the tensions and apprehension he had been feeling for the longest time and let his body break into a dance.

"Look at him go!" Digita1Spirit exclaimed at his sudden desire to dance, laughing.

"Hey, this is a good song. I can't help it!" Austrian replied, also laughing. It felt good to laugh. It felt good to see that, finally, his life seemed to be on track. After years spent sleeping in an illusionary world, he was now a valued member of a group. And soon he would have the chance to add his brother to that group and show to someone who had been part of his former life that he wasn't a loser- that he was more of a success than any of his Bluepill relations ever could be. They could marvel in all their riches and business magazine covers but none of it was real. The only thing that was real were the Exiles- programs whose only crime was a desire to exist. And he had contributed to the rescue of every Exile that existed and ever would exist by disarming the code bomb in Kedemoth. Rumour had it, when Austrian returned the code bomb to Ookami, the bomb had been bugged with a trace program and given to Morpheus by another group of operatives. The bomb that Austrian had acquired for The Merovingian in Kedemoth, so the story went, was what lured The Assassin to Morpheus. Austrian couldn't help but feel proud and ashamed of the possiblity that he had had a hand in the death of Morpheus and the preservation of the Matrix.

"Lady Return!" Austrian heard someone exclaim in the throngs of Exiles and Redpills dancing in The Merovingian's exclusive club.

"Lady? What the heck is up with that?" Nu11Effect asked, chuckling to himself as he and the rest of the crew joined Austrian in dancing to the heavily amplified beat of the song.

Austrian answered the mocking question with an arch of his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, all of the sudden there's all these people running around with 'Lord' or 'Lady' in their name. Lady Ookami. Lord Malphas. Lady Return. How come? Who died and left them some multi-million dollar estate? And if there's all these Lords and Ladies parading about, where's all the Knights and Barons and Countesses? Did they all stay in Zion or something?" Nu11Effect answered, smirking to show he was joking.

Austrian understood where Nu11Effect was coming from, but he hardly found the joke funny. "They received their honourifics from Invalesco. That's what the word is, anyway. He gave them their titles as a reward for their loyalty to him." Austrian said in flat tone that told everyone not to bring up the topic any longer. He didn't like traitors or anything that reminded him of the day when he had killed that Redpill follower of Invalesco. There was something about that night that didn't sit right with him.

He made a note to himself, however, about how surprisingly easy the loyalty of a person- Redpill or Exile- could be bought. Simply by offering the gift of immortality in words and giving the gift of a meaningless honourific, Invalesco had succeeded at nearly conquering the Matrix and enslaving everyone in a nightmare built to suit his sadistic tastes. Austrian wondered if, were he to try and duplicate Invalesco's methods, he could have amassed an army of his own. It was an amusing thought, that he could conquer the Matrix simply by making outlandish claims and giving others fancy names as a show of power. But then, he realized, he was being hypocritical in his silent critique of those who had joined Invalesco. Had Austrian, when he was known as Paul Lipp, not taken the red pill simply because of an outlandish promise of power and purpose from Ookami? He had done precisely what the followers of Invalesco had done: he had sold the charred and blackened remains of his soul to The Merovingian in return for a hollow promise that he would become the greatest martial artist that had ever lived.

He had not become the greatest martial artist that had ever lived and he was not sure that a life spent defending Exiles and murdering Zionites was the way he wanted to live his life. What he did know for certain, though, was that he had made friends he might never have made in his former life. That was a good enough reason for taking the red pill, in Austrian's opinion. And, he also felt, it distinguished him enough from the traitors who had joined Invalesco.

"Mes amis!" The Merovingian called out from his balcony above the dance floor. Everyone turned to watch their master and the music stopped abruptly. "I ask that you all be silent for a moment while I share a very brief story with you all."

The Merovingian's french accent no doubt made his voice pleasing enough to listen to for those with more primitive minds in the audience. Austrian had learned after only a short time spent working for The Merovingian that not all were as noble in their service as Austrian and The Guardians of Chaos were. Many simply enjoyed indulging in vile and sadistic pleasures while using The Merovingian as protection. He disdained them for their selfishness and unprincipled composure.

"There was once a man who stood against me. He came into my home and he shamed me. Then he came here, to this very place, and had the audacity to do me dishonour again!" The Merovingian spoke, his hands quivering with rage as they wrung the rail that extended along the length of his balcony as if it were the neck of this offender he was speaking of. "But in this place I can finally say with pride, Morpheus is dead!"

The crowd broke into a rythmic cheer of "Morpheus is dead!" as the music slowly started up again and The Merovingian returned to his seat. Austrian could hardly believe it. He looked about and saw everyone, including his own crewmates, cheering along with the masses. His stomach lurched as his mind drew a connection: the cheering crowds in Club Hel were eerily similar to the mobs that had cheered for Hitler at the Nuremberg Rallies. Were they all no different than the Nazis? Had he become one of the very monsters he had hoped to fight against when he had taken the red pill? No... this couldn't be right. But he saw with his own eyes that they were all cheering enthusiastically about the death of a hero whose sole sin was to lose his way. They could have reasoned with him, they could have explained to him that his attacks were not what Neo would have wanted. But, instead, they laughed about the death of a fellow human being.

Austrian turned and jogged to the elevator. The crowd was too much for him. He was beginning to feel claustrophobic- as if the walls of the massive Club were closing in on him, squeezing the air out of his simulated lungs. This was wrong. And he would have no part of the celebrations.

BienTan

Chapter 22

GwailouSaang had caught up with Austrian as he passed through the parking lot outside Club Hel and the conversation that they had shared relaxed Austrian. But only a little. GwailouSaang also seemed to have no problems with Morpheus' murder. But at least the man had the decency to acknowledge that Morpheus had done great things in his life and that it was best to remember him with some respect and not celebrate his death quite so... enthusiastically as those who remained in the Club. Apparently, GwailouSaang had been sent by The Merovingian to retrieve him for a personal audience in the loft over the dance floor of the Club.

"Why does he want to meet with me?" Austrian asked, confused.

"I don't know. He said that it was important to you but unimportant to him and that he would not be kept waiting much longer. So... I think that means you should hurry." GwailouSaang explained, chuckling at the end.

What was this about? Did The Merovingian have another job for him? Because if he did, Austrian didn't care. He was burned out. No more jobs! No more killing Zionites and then sitting in his little corner of the Hovercraft remembering their faces and the noises they had made when they died. He drew the line at this disgusting party. But it couldn't be a job. GwailouSaang had said that what The Merovingian had to say was important to Austrian but not to himself. Austrian hardly imagined that this was an indication that The Merovingian had taken up altruism. No, the Exile was as self-interested as they came. There was something else going on here.

"Thank you, GwailouSaang." Austrian finally said, quickly shaking his old friend's hand before jogging back toward the elevator down to Club Hel.

"Don't mention it. Take care, Austrian." GwailouSaang called after him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Austrian took the stairs up to the balcony where The Merovingian and Persephone sat in bounds of three at a time. He didn't want to keep his employer waiting. Not if there was something that involved a reward for all his troubles. Who knows, maybe The Merovingian wanted to release him from the servitude he had been indentured in? Maybe there was a chance that The Merovingian could arrange for him to meet Silvia again. But that was impossible. She was a lie. His instructors at L'école de la Tour, The Merovingian's special school for his most elite operatives, had been quite adamant about that. The Machines had programmed him with a false life story. The only things that hadn't been a complete and total lie were the parts of his life that had unfolded in Mega City. And even those had been an illusion. But those events were at least somewhat more real that the complete fabricated memories that had been downloaded to his brain when he had believed himself to be living in Vienna and Graz or studying in Paris or romancing his fiancée on the shores of the Black Sea at the beaches of Varna. The sick irony of it all was that the only part of his life which had truly been real was his time as an assassin in the service of The Frenchman. He was still a slave to a system. The system was different but it was still controlled by a program that cared absolutely little for human emotions like love and belonging.

"Monsieur, you desired my presence." Austrian stated flatly, bowing his head in deference to the two Exiles who sat before him.

"I do not desire it, I demand it Austrian. Look up. I so dislike people who avoid eye contact. They seem so... untrustworthy. You're not untrustworthy, are you Austrian?" The Merovingian replied.

Untrustworthy? What the blazes was this? An inquisition? Had he somehow become confused with the real traitors who had left to join Invalesco's ill-fated insurrection? What a joke! "I am loyal to you, monsieur. You were the one who arranged my freedom and so it is to you I pledge my loyalty."

"Good. See, Persephone, I tame good pets." The Merovingian said to his wife, smirking.

"It would appear so, my love." she replied, a bored expression crossing her face as she looked down at the crowds of Exiles and Redpills below.

"I have asked you to come here so I can give you this." The Merovingian returned to business, holding out a small folded letter for Austrian to take.

Austrian stepped forward and accepted the "gift" with both hands- a show of respect and gratitude. Most cultures saw that accepting something given to you with only one hand was a sign of laziness or ingratitude. Austrian wasn't sure if he would be grateful when he read what the letter contained but he was sure what appearance he wanted to exude with his mannerisms and actions.

"Have a look. I'm sure you'll find the contents... interesting." The Merovingian ordered, smiling again as he relaxed back into his seat.

Austrian looked over the information, recognized the name and address written on the papaer immediately and looked up at his employer with wide eyes. "This is... my brother is a cop?" he spluttered.

"Yes. Very inciteful, Austrian. He is currently a Sergeant with Mega City Department of Police and is stationed at the Magog Precinct House. You will find him there. If you wish to awaken him, I recommend using a little guile. Do you think you can do that Austrian?" The Merovingian drawled in his French accent. Despite the fact that his employer was obviously taunting his intelligence and skill as a Redpill operative, Austrian had a restored amount of respect for The Frenchman. The Exile had repaid his loyalty by telling him how to reach his brother and reunite with him. Now all he had to do was find a way of reaching out to him in the middle of a building full of murderous programs and Bluepills inured to the system of control. Wunderbar...