With that, a look of fear came over the Agent's face. Janus turned, and smashed him into the wall he was just being pressed up against, creating a "dent" in the bricks in the same fashion Janus's body had done to the opposite wall. Remembering that wall, Janus turned, his grip still deadly tight, and threw Davis at the hole he made with Janus's body. He flipped forward in the air, and landed upside down in the hole, landing on his head and his neck. Janus was breathing heavy, sounding as though he were enraged. Davis slowly climbed up and out of the hole.

Seeing his opponent standing and waiting for him, he got up and ran at him, throwing a punch for his face. Janus blocked it, but with his other hand Davis punched him across the face, and followed up with a roundhouse kick to his face, knocking him back. As he came in with a punch that would have knocked him the *CENSORED* out, Janus was still leaning back from being knocked back by the kick. Davis's fist flew past Janus's face, causing him to lean in toward him.

Janus punched him in the face so hard that it spun him around to face the other direction. While his back faced him, Janus jumped and sent a kick into his lower back that sent him flying forward. He landed on the ground and skidded a bit, cutting him up some and tearing a bit of his suit. He got up off the floor, examined himself, dusted himself off, and turned around to face Janus, standing in a perpendicular intersection with another alley.

Janus let out a sigh, the Agent just wouldn't give up. But then suddenly, out from the cross alley came an arm clothed in a leather sleeve with blood stain, and it took Davis by the throat.

Caught off guard, the Agent couldn't do anything about it, and he was raised up into the air by this arm. The owner of this arm stepped out from his hiding place. Ankle length leather trench coat, black shirt, black BDU pants with knee-high boots with buckles covering the laces, muscular build, and long black hair. Balthasar.

Davis tried to look down to see *who* it was choking him to "death", but he couldn't tilt his head enough. Balthasar's grip was so hard, that the Agent program and all of its rules couldn't handle it anymore, and it "died". The body hanging by Balthasar's grip was engulfed in a flurry of blue-green bolts until it transformed back into the civilian host body.

When the reversal was complete, Balthasar tossed the body into the brick wall facing him, and it went all the way through rather than just making a "dent". He turned and looked at the other two. Janus had never seen him before, and to each other they were both strangers, but Kira knew who it was.

In a whisper, she had identified him. "..The Potential!"

"Ohh *poop*..." Marley said under his breath.

Balthasar took out his gun. Janus knew that if he moved too fast, whoever this guy was that just helped them, may shoot them both. The two men of similar appearance stared at each other, Janus once again into black lenses, and Balthasar into determined eyes. Behind his lenses, Balthasar could see Kira had come out from her corner into regular sight.

"So," Balthasar began in an elite tone, "you must be the new guy. And I see you have a friend with you."

Janus stayed stone face. Balthasar quickly lifted his handgun;

*BAM*

Janus waited for the pain of being shot, or the sudden loss of control of his body that would cause him to fall to the ground dead. But it never came. This confused him, and he arched a brow is display of this. Why had Balthasar wasted a bullet if he wasn't going to shoot him?

Behind him, Janus heard an "Ugnh..." Turning his head so he could see somewhat behind him, he could see Kira standing there behind him at the corner. He turned sideways so not to turn his back to Balthasar and leave himself open to be shot. When he got a better look at Kira, he could see that she was leaning on the corner of the wall with her one hand, and holding her stomach area with the other. Blood was seeping through her fingers. Without second thought, Janus ran to her, away from Balthasar, forgetting about him completely.

"Jesus, will you be alright?!"

"I..I don't know. It hurts.."

"I gotta get you out of here."

"No, wait.."

Ignoring her protest, he took the arm she was using to lean on the wall with and draped it over his shoulder. The phone on the wall still rang, waiting for the two to answer the call. But Janus knew they wouldn't both be able to make it through the exit with Balthasar there, so he made his choice. Walking her over to the phone, he told her, "You're going back."

"What are you doing?"

They'd reached the phone. He put his hand on it, not yet taking it off the hook. "I'm just the new guy, no one's grown attached to me yet. I can die without costing the crew anything."

Her eyes widened. "No! Don't do it!" She was in great pain, and she was fading.

"I have to. We have to"

"Janus.." Her eyes closed.

He put the phone to her ear, but nothing happened. At first, he didn't understand why. But then she let out a final exhale, and her neck muscles loosened. Her head gave way and hung, lifeless. Janus frowned.

"Kira, come on. Don't do this."

But there was no response. Janus didn't want to believe it, but he knew. He'd seen this so many times in his life. With a sigh, he gently laid Kira's body down on the ground.

Balthasar watched all this in amusement. He knew he had one bullet left in the gun. Janus turned around to face him, not hanging the phone up.

"Quite the gentlemen. The heroic knight sacrificing himself and his chance get away with his life so that the fair lady can make it out alive. Didn't work out that way though did it? You might have passed that training simulation we've all been through. 'Rescue Chip,' right? This time you failed. All a good show of chivalry, but we've all seen this movie before. We know how it ends."

"You and me both."

A silence fell upon them, as they stood staring at each other. Balthasar re-holstered his gun, and Janus frowned in confusion at this.

"She didn't make it. But dying in an alley wouldn't fit you. I'll give you a mercy killing."

Janus arched his brow, and Balthasar took off, bolting down the alley, with Janus in immediate pursuit. His pains from the clobbering he'd received from Davis had seemed to fade; His mind was determined on catching this foe.

Little did he know it was the best fighter in the Matrix since Neo that he was going after. But even if he did, he still would have went.

----

Kira's vitals flat-lined back on the Nemesis. Blood leaked from her mouth and she coughed up more. Irvine and Marley ran over right away to help her.

"Kira wake up!" Irvine yelled. He smacked her face a few times as Marley prepped a shot. But she didn't react. On her vitals display monitor, "CARRIER SIGNAL LOST" flashed repeatedly.

Marley looked at Irvine as though to ask if he should inject the shot. But the Captain merely drew up to look at him with an expression of anger and sadness on his face. Finally, he shook his head. Kira was gone. Marley started unhooking her.

Looking over to the other redpills in his crew, Irvine could see they were all as embittered by Kira's death as he was. He also realized they were torn, between their loss of a long-time crew member, and the safety of a recently-added one. Not interested in losing another crew member this day, he spoke up. "How's Janus holding up?"

"He's doing okay for now," Glitch said. He refreshed the screen, a new screen opening from inside another expanding square of code. "He's right here, running after Balthasar, they're playing cat and mouse." The screens showed Balthasar and Janus running through the alleys and streets, jumping over obstacles and from rooftop to rooftop.

"Looks like Balthasar's leading him somewhere," Anubis suggested.

"He has no idea what he's getting himself into." Blade said in a hopeless tone. "Aren't you going to do something Irvine?"

"There's nothing we could do to save him now."

"What?" Glitch asked, almost shocked. The feeling was mutual among the rest of the crew, they'd never imagine their captain leaving a man behind.

"How can you stand there and not do anything?" Solitaire asked him.

"He won't let us help him."

"What do you mean?" Anubis inquired.

"I've never seen anyone stand up to an Agent, go through a beating like he did, and come back for more, all while not even out of the Matrix for a year even. His confidence is fueling him. His mind is so free right now, that he doesn't care if he comes back or not. To him, if we tried helping him, we'd be putting ourselves in danger. All we can do is wait."

"How are his vitals?" Solitaire asked.

"Go to his chair and check," Marley told her. She ran over and checked his screens. In a nutshell, he was still alive, but he'd seen better days.

----

It was a beautiful day inside the Matrix. The sky was blue, with hues of pink, yellow, green, and orange throughout the clouds, and the sun shined with a beaming yellow-orange. On an empty rooftop stood Janus and Balthasar, their little chase game throughout the city stopping here. A breeze picked up, causing the skirts on their trench coats to sway slightly.

Janus stood at one side staring at Balthasar, and Balthasar the vice versa. A small piece of paper being pushed by the wind blew in between them, and as if on cue, they began to run at each other. They met at the middle of the roof, where Janus began to throw a series of punches and kicks at Balthasar, only for him to nonchalantly dodge and block each one while standing in his place. He returned the flurry of attacks with some shots of his own.

Janus blocked and dodge some of them, however he wasn't quick enough to counter every attack, and was hit. In particular, Balthasar went to strike at Janus's head from the left, was blocked, came from the right, and was blocked again, and as his second shot was moved out of the way, Janus took a shot in the ribs on his left side when Balthasar snuck in a right kick, and then punched him in the chest with his left fist.

While Janus was phased by this, Balthasar wound up his right hand and as Janus gained his balance and came up straight again, Balthasar smashed him square in the face. The hit was so hard that it knocked Janus off of his feet and he fell on his back, his head bouncing off the concrete on impact. His face showed the pain he was feeling. He moved slowly on the ground. Balthasar walked over and stood over him. He took out his pistol. Janus couldn't move- couldn't think.

"Such heroic nonsense."

*BAM*

The gunshot echoed in Janus's ears. There was a pain in his chest, a burning. Through his eyelids, just beyond his eyelashes, he could still see the light from the sky. But everything slowly began to fade. A thousand thoughts crossed over his mind as he lay there. Balthasar stood there and stared for a moment, like a hunter watching to see if his prey had died.

The smoke rising from the bullet hole in the center of Janus's chest passed as a confirmation of death for Balthasar. Hitting the slide release on his pistol, he re-holstered it, smoke still coming from the barrel. He reached into his pocket as he walked away, pulling out his cell phone.

----

On the Nemesis, Janus's vitals had dropped. His heart rate monitor flat lined. On the neural synchronization monitor, "CARRIER SIGNAL LOST" flashed over and over. The constant wine of the flat lined monitor hung in the air.

Blade sighed, as though to say "*CENSORED* it."

Anubis and Solitaire were feeling equally discouraged. It was the second crew-member death in less than 45 minutes.

Glitch sat staring at the code, and Marley put his hand to his forehead. A look of guilt and regret hung over Irvine's face.

"Let me go back in." Anubis simply put. These words came as quite a shock to the crew, although when they saw Anubis' face, they could see he was ready to kill.

"What the hell-? We just got you out! And Janus is dead, why the hell do you want to go back in?" Blade yelled.

If Anubis wasn't holding back his rage at that moment, he probably would've broken Blade's nose, but fortunately he kept himself under control. Without any words, he moved back over to his chair, starting to re-enter his clothing and weapons.

Irvine moved against him. "There's nothing you can do."

"Get out of my way, Irvine." Anubis snarled out of warning.

"Don't do this, Anubis. It'll be a noble, but short fight, and it won't bring Janus back."

"No, but I will at least take from Blood an eye for an eye. Isn't that what we all want right now?" Though Anubis said that sentence without raising his voice, it was clear that there was rage present in his voice, and the look in his eyes that he was very much ready to kill. In fact, he was so convincing, Irvine was about ready to let him have his way when Glitch spoke up.

"Captain, you may want to wait on that..." he said. On his monitor, a curious white strand of code poured down across the screen.
----

(Epilogue concluded)

In the Matrix, Janus lay there motionless. In the dying thoughts of his mind, he recalled his thoughts, like a person who was half asleep, in the limbo between the dream world and the waking world. Irvine's voice echoed; 'The body cannot live without the mind. If the mind was killed, it tells the body it was killed, which results in you being dead.'

Am I dead...?

Janus' eyes continued to stare up into the endless sky, though he had accepted a long time ago that he was dead. Even in the Matrix, he felt his heart shut down and his blood flow began to slow down. His eyes felt dry now from the lack of blinking, which had once been an instinctive action, but along with the rest of Janus' movements, had faded with his mind. After a few moments, the sky had become fuzzy, then slowly faded to black, much like death was portrayed in the movies.

Janus assumed that this was caused by the blood loss, after all, .45ACP had a good reputation for blowing open flesh and inner organs. But that didn't matter now, it wouldn't be long before he ended up wherever he was destined to go.

This made the former detective laugh a bit, it was hilarious. After all this time, after finally learning the truth about his existence, it would all end here. He was never able to completely follow the White Rabbit through his hole, instead ending up being left in Lotus Forest, with no aid from the Cheshire Cat or Tweedledee and Tweedledum. It felt so incomplete, and if it weren't for his lack of energy, Janus would have cried out in frustration. Why did it have to end here? There was so much to learn, so many things to do now that he was free.

Seeing as how there was no way of returning, he decided to stay in the current situation. So... is this how death feels like? he asked himself. He had to admit, outside being cold and not being able to move his body, he didn't feel any pain at all. The feeling of intense heat, melted metal against his chest and the sudden shock from his lungs being blown open had long since faded along with the rest of the Matrix, leaving the former detective to continue... floating in the darkness. He figured he was floating, because he couldn't feel the hard pavement and nothing else for that matter. Instead, he felt himself drifting like a leaf down a river, seemingly no real destination but going on its course none the less.

Wait... What the hell am I thinking? Janus asked himself.

Am I going to die like this? After everything I did to learn the truth, after the choice I made and the road I've traveled? This is my fate, why I left everything important to me?

Janus could feel anger start to grow inside of him.

*CENSORED* you Irvine, you really got me to think that perhaps there was a reason to come out here. You really made it out like there was something here, some reason to exist in the real world. Well guess what, numb-nuts, all you did was lead me to my death. I hope I can haunt your dreams at night, you self righteous pirate son of a *CENSORED*.

He shook his head at that.

No, it wasn't his fault. I made that decision to come out, I knew I could've died in Irvine's company, and I accepted the fact I could die wherever he took me. Heh, that wack job was right, when it comes down to it, we humans never want to accept making a mistake. We'll find every variable we can to make it look like we were innocent, but when it comes down to it, it was all a matter of choice...

Choice... Janus wondered at that. There I go again. Blaming my damnation on a simple word. Yeah, that's right. Just another excuse to justify my fate, not like it matters. But still, I can't help but wonder if there really was a reason for everything... Was living in reality really worth it? Was it really worth fighting for? Was it really worth dying for...?

Almost instantly after that phrase, Janus did something that probably would've killed him if he weren't already dead. He blinked. Almost instinctively, he closed his eyes and tightened his eyelids, as if trying to hold back tears. Then he realized, he was dead, he wasn't supposed to blink.

Slowly but surely, he began to feel his body again. The weight of his clothes, his body laying on the rooftop, the wavering of his trench coat against an invisible wind, all familiar feelings and yet still unique in their own right.

The former detective didn't have long to enjoy these feelings. In the distance, he thought he could see a single flicker of light appear, so close that he could feel the warmth. Naturally, he reached out toward the light, curious as to what it was. When he touched it, the light formed into the familiar katakana code strand, only white this time, which then scrolled down like it was designed to do.

Janus turned to his left and saw another strand scroll down, then behind him, another strand. More and more strands began to rain down until it surrounded him. From each strand, Janus could feel a power unparalleled by anything he felt before, all coming into his body. He could feel life return to him, and his motor functions began to resume as he instinctively took in air.
----

The Oracle sat on her couch, knitting a garment. Sati sat before her, watching cartoons on the television. The Oracle looked up suddenly, as though someone had called her name. But there was no sound. A look of confusion and remembrance came over her face. Something was different; There was a change. However, she couldn't place it. At least, not until she felt the code in the Matrix begin to ripple. For a moment, her programmed heart stopped beating, and she could feel as the simulated blood stopped rushing through her veins. As a result, she dropped the garment and the knitting tools. It had been a long time since she felt this.

In the room of screens, a warning came over The Architect's monitors. Several monitors reverted to display a large view of scrolling code, and in a box layered over the code, read "SCRIPT MALFUNCTION: ANOMALY UNKOWN." The box disappeared, to give a full view of the falling runes of code. The Architect arched a brow as he began to notice the change. More white runes appeared on the screen, and for possibly the first time in his long existence, the Architect's eyes widened, the emotion known as surprise caving in from his programming. He knew what the code read as, but it shouldn't have been there.

----

"What's going on?" Glitch asked. The others looked at the monitors, and too were puzzled by this white coding taking over the green. On the Nosferatu, and every other Resistance ship, and every ship out of Zion, it was seen.

----

The phone rang, and someone picked up on the other end.

"He's dead. I'll need an exit." Balthasar said. He ended the call and put his phone away.

Janus could see the sky. 'Can the mind live without the body?'

He then felt what could only be described as a sudden power that had coursed through his body. His eyes opened, and he inhaled greatly as though he had gone through a great scare. Slowly, he brought his hand to his chest to touch his wound. Blood on his fingers, hot. He blinked. Taking a moment to look around, he saw he was in the same world, on the same rooftop. What happened to me?

He slowly stood, and he remembered. I'm alive.

----

On the Nemesis, Janus revived. The heart beat started up again, only it was rapid. The carrier signal was abnormal. He began to breathe again. The coding that represented Janus strolled again, but it was all over the screen, throughout the white coding.

"That's not possible...." Irvine said.

----

Janus's body jerked in his place as he stood. A power had overcome him from within, in a rush, as though he were hit by an immense wave but was strong enough to overcome it. All of a sudden, from inside out the green coding that made up his RSI had changed to white, glowing brightly. He looked at himself.

And he was suddenly a different person. He looked at his arms, his hands, examining himself, as he could see this new power running through him, the white coding that he had never seen before shining brightly. He looked around him, and for the first time, he saw the Matrix. An entire world made of scrolling green code, the dream world, in its true form, the false reality it always was.

Irvine hadn't lied to him after all, for now, he truly did see this world for what it was. As he took this in however, he wasn't surprised. For some reason he couldn't understand, he was familiar with all of this. He knew it all, from the ground to the sky, and all that was in between. It was as though for that brief moment when his mind was separate from his dying body, he had become part of the world around him, and was resurrected upon realizing it.

He could see every change, every fluctuation in the code before it happened, as it happened, took shape, and changed again. He didn't understand it, and his mind battled itself, his old self trying to come to terms with his new self, and vice versa. Confusion and Nirvana simultaneously. Before him, a man made of bright green coding stood, it was Balthasar. Janus could sense something in him too, but he couldn't see it. In the blink of an eye, his code vision switched to normal sight.

Balthasar turned around, knowing he heard something, but unable to believe it was anything from Janus. However when he saw him standing there, staring him down as though he were waiting to be seen, his eyes widened behind his lenses. But Janus's face never changed. He didn't say a word.

"N..No," Balthasar said tripping over his words. "This can't be. I killed you."

But there was no witty comment. Only that stare. This wasn't the same man Balthasar had just killed. For the first time since he couldn't remember, Balthasar felt fear. Gritting his teeth, he pulled his pistol from his shoulder holster and aimed. He pulled the trigger, but was there was no blast of a gunshot, only the *click* of an empty magazine.

He tried again. *click*. He looked at the gun, and quickly back to Janus, afraid that if he took his eyes off of him, something might happen. Janus reached for his thigh, and pulled from the holster his remaining Beretta 96, which still had some rounds in it left over from before. His teeth still gritted, Balthasar couldn't believe he was going to be shot. He wanted to run, to run at Janus and beat his body down into the concrete.

But instead of firing, Janus tossed to him the Beretta. When Balthasar caught it, he looked back at Janus in a skeptical manner. When he began walking toward Balthasar, he held the gun up and fired, continuously. But as Janus walked forward, the bullets headed straight for him veered off course within inches of his body.

----

On the construct monitors of anyone's ship, the white coding began scrolling down the screen so fast, that the picture on the screens changed from scrolling code to actual footage of what was going on in the Matrix. Everyone was in state of awe.

----

When all the bullets were used up, Balthasar threw the gun away. Janus was only feet away. Balthasar ran to him, and began throwing a series of bunches and kicks at Janus, who nonchalantly dodged or blocked each shot by a simple nod of his head, tilt of his body, or lift of his arm. The whole time, the unimpressed, yet fear summoning look stayed on Janus's face.

Balthasar sent a fist for Janus's face again, but this time, Janus caught it in hand. Balthasar first looked to his hand, then to Janus. He tried to pull it away, but Janus's grip tightened, so much that Balthasar could feel the bones in his hands beginning to crack. It was ridiculous, he knew this wasn't his body. But why did it hurt, now, in the face of fear? He didn't understand, and if there was anything these two men had in common most at this time, it was that neither of them could understand why or how any of this was happening.

Balthasar began gritting his teeth again, and Janus ever so slightly leaned his head to the left. A punch; WAM! Janus's idle fist slammed into Balthasar's chest, sending him flying back to the opposite end of the roof and into the steel door leading to the stairs that led down into the building. The door had severely dented, and Balthasar landed on the ground before the door in a state of shock and ultimate pain.

----

"Get a trace on that *CENSORED* ship!" Blood yelled. Sideways got to work, and established a trace to find the Nemesis.

"What's happening?" Leon asked, in disbelief of what he was seeing. This spectacle could be seen by anyone who could watch a construct monitor, and it made sense to no one.

"I don't know, I've never seen this before," Sonia said.

"None of us have." Blood told them.

A beep went off, the trace was complete. "I found them," Sideways said.

----

Janus took one last look around. It was time to go. Leaving Balthasar behind on the rooftop, Janus left to return to the exit he was supposed to leave from. Since the others could see where it was he was headed, Glitch re-patched the exit. By the time Janus had walked back to the alley, the phone was ringing, waiting for him to pick it up. He took it up off the receiver and looked down at it for a moment, hesitating. He blinked, trying to recall all of these events. He knew he wasn't the same man he was only a few moments ago. A voice interjected his thoughts.

"The answers are coming," it said. He heard it, the same as when a person hears voices as they doze off into sleep. He was sure he heard it, but there was no sound. He brought the phone up to his head, and the world before him broke into pieces as his body disappeared, until he was back in the Construct. Then, his eyes opened on the ship. He took a breath, and exhaled slowly. On the construct monitors, the picture gradually faded back into scrolling green code.

As he lay in his chair, a voice came from the side.

"Janus..?" It was Irvine. As he approached Janus, he could see a look on his face that gave him a sense that there was something different about him.

"What happened in there?"

Janus turned his head to face Irvine, with an omniscient look in his eyes.

"The mind can live without the body."

----

TO BE CONTINUED in: