The Matrix: The Way the Wind Blows

Cloud stood next to San, Finn and Marduk aboard the Percy. Finn had set up a radio connection to the Shez so that they could hear Dallas’ briefing about their latest mission. Azrael lay in one of the chairs, still connected to the Matrix.

“Our attempt to heist Jericho’s team and steal the codes has failed. Jericho and his team have now returned to Meltius’ realm. Your crewmates, are captives of Meltius and are still trapped in the Matrix. For both of these reasons it is imperative that we storm Meltius’ realm immediately. Your objectives are to eliminate Jericho’s team, steal the codes back, and rescue your team mates and deliver a bit of payback to Meltius.

Although the objectives sound simple they are, nevertheless complicated. In approximately 45 minutes we believe that sentinels will be sweeping by this area, so to deal with them we will lose whoever is left inside.

Jericho’s team are on home ground, they also have the help of any men that Meltius may wish to throw at you. You can storm the factory and deal with these men, but to get into Meltius’ realm you will need the door to be opened from the inside. Something Hephaestus will take care of.

You will need to move quickly. Rade, Castor and Azrael are doomed; they are in a situation they cannot escape. They can survive, but only until they are rescued. They will eventually die, so you will have to get there ASAP.

You do have one advantage. Jericho is not aware that we managed to break his Meltius’ coding. He thinks you are all still badly shot up. Now I want you all to go out there and surprise them, beat them, and get those damned codes! Now, Marduk, is there anything you wish to add?” Dallas’s transmission came over the radio.

Marduk took a few seconds to let Dallas’ message get to people then added, "I would be lying if I pretended this mission had been going well. We have been betrayed and outplayed from the start, and our chance to strike back, went badly. Well, that is war. They have not killed us yet, and as I am sure Dallas can tell you, before they have done that, we can just try again and again and again and we STILL have a chance to make this right. We are playing every advantage we have now. We have broken Melitus's encryption, and have been tracking his activities inside his Realm. We have one shot now, one final shot, to break everyone out, get those damn codes we came for in the first place- and end the Jericho situation, forever.

As before, we must remember that Jericho and his crew are traitors to Zion- even though we are not sure exactly what they have betrayed us to- and they will not hesitate to kill you. Drop them first. As ever... if you CAN talk Medea round, do so. We can guarantee we will do the best to find where the Bounty is hidden and recover her physical form. Bear in mind that this offer will involve you guaranteeing Jericho's death; else he will still control her by being able to destroy her physical form. If she does not think you can do that, she has no choice. In the final analysis, don't get killed trying to talk her around.

This is our last chance for payback- don't waste it."

“Load up…and good luck” Dallas said over the radio again.

Cloud appeared in the Matrix with the rest of his team. His usual katana, which he had grown fond of in his time in the Matrix lay at his waist, below his long leather trenchcoat. He pulled out a pair of reflective sunglasses from his pocket and donned them. His Black trousers covered half of his black, steal toe-capped boots. A white t-shirt lay beneath his coat. This was it…this was going to be it…life or death. He could feel that this would be where he would make his choice. Just like the Oracle had said, he would have to choose between himself and his friends…

Cloud’s phone rang no later than ten seconds after his image appeared in the Matrix. It was Marduk. Cloud listened, then replied “That’s crazy…” but his answer was to no-one, Marduk had hung up. He looked at the rest of the team. “Marduk says that if when we see them Azrael, Rade or Caster are acting “strange” when we find them, we’re to kill them…”

“Wha…” Ares said disbelievingly.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine” Mors said, handling the situation.

Dallas appeared behind Mors. He grabbed him by the shoulder and whispered something to him, slipping an envelope into his pocket. He then smiled at the rest of the team and picked up a ringing phone from the three on the wall, vanishing again.

“Just a bit of advice.” Mors said, “On how we’re going to get our codes…”

The team walked into two Hummers and drove down towards Meltius’ factory. They pulled up opposite and walked across, through the gates and into a courtyard. Eighteen goons stood between them and the factory.

Burn raised his gun and fired a burst of fire at the closest six. Three fell from the fire, two more tripped to the floor, blood spurting from their legs. Burn aimed at these two and shot again. Both fell into two heaps on the ground. Ares raised his gun and downed the sixth man.

The twelve goons closest to the factories gates opened fire as the teams moved forwards, The bullets shot overhead as the five people charged towards the goons. A thought came to Cloud’s mind of how they must look like a charging army, although few of them.

Ares let loose again, his hands ejecting the clip and reloading faster than the human eye could see. Two men fell dead to his gun. Two more fell from fire by Mors. A bullet flew inches past Cloud’s face. San now let loose, as did burn. Three more men dropped to the ground. It suddenly occurred to Cloud that he was the only one of the team who couldn’t use a gun, still he had his sword and that was all he needed.

Ares fired again, now only three men left standing. Their fire useless, they must have known the inevitability of their actions by the time they saw the first six drop, yet the still fought, Cloud admired that kind of honour. Another two dropped as Ares leapt to his right, firing with his left hand Ingram. Now just one man stood, and he was still going to try and take on the five of them. Two bullets flew past Cloud and slammed into the final man’s chest. Cloud didn’t know who had killed him, but the passage onwards was clear now.

Until, the doors into the factory burst open, and another twelve men had come out. That was why the final man hadn’t taken his shot at them, he was calling in backup.

Mors shot again, his shots ringing off the doors as he leapt for the over of a nearby car. Ares shots were more successful, and three men dropped to the ground. The nine men fired, their shots flying wide of everyone. An explosion rang out, and blood ran down Ares cheek, he had been hit by what sounded like a rifle shot.

Mors slipped his gun into his coat and pulled out his katana. Another rifle shot rang out and Ares clutched his arm. San fired at the goons ,watching another one drop.

“Loomis, third floor, sniper!” Ares called out alerting his team.

Four more goons fell as Cloud finally reached them, as six more came from behind them. Cloud spun his blade around the gun of one opponent, knocking it upwards so he was safe from the bullets, he spun digging the blade into the goons gut. Two men fell behind Cloud from his teammates. Mors was now behind Cloud, slashing down at his opponents again. Cloud spun, ducking as he did so, then rose and brought his foot into the chest of another goon, throwing him back into a machine. Mors dropped another one as gunfire dealt with the rest.

“Move on!” Mors shouted leading the team into the factory.

San picked up her ringing mobile, “Yeah? Right. Marduk says we should split up, force them apart take them on one-to-one”

“Cool.” Cloud says, spinning the hilt of his sword in his hand, “I’m up for that.”

Ares turned to Burn, “Good luck. I hope Jericho doesn’t kick your ass again.”

“Ditto.” Burn said.

Cloud headed to the left-most path. He wanted to finally try his strength against an equal. He wanted to know he could do it, he wanted proof that he could do it. He needed to make up for his loss against the Go-go bros.

A burst of fire awoke Cloud from his thought, he hopped backwards as it crashed into the machinery to his right. Someone was down the path to his left. He stood behind a machine, listening to the roar of the machines around him, trying to hear footsteps of his attacker…nothing.

Cloud peeked out, popping back as the inevitable shots rang against the machines again. It was Sinister.

Cloud raised his sword up to his face in a fencing-style gesture, turned and ran at Sinister. The bullets flew past him, as he closed the distance enough to leap forwards, spinning and slashing as he did so. Sinister had dropped his Ingrams and tried to grab at Cloud’s wrist. Cloud quickly, tapped a foot to the ground, changing the angle he was leaping at and slashing at Sinister’s side.

Sinister punched at Cloud, who threw himself back to the machine behind him, avoiding the blow. Cloud let out with a kick, Sinister stepped backwards and grabbed his foot with both hands.

Sinister spun Cloud by his foot, throwing him to the floor. He turned, ran up the side of a machine, flipped in the air and brought his foot down in a dread eagle swoop. Cloud rolled to his side, standing as he did so. Sinister’s knee smashed down into the ground, denting it.

Cloud smirked, using his favourite attack. He spun the blade around faster and faster, before letting out with a quick slash. Sinister brought his arms up to defend himself and the blade cut through his coat, blood flowed onto the tip of Cloud’s blade.

Sinister made for Clouds arm, Cloud just stepped away avoiding the grab with ease. Cloud tried to kick again, his foot once more grabbed by Sinister. He had to hold back his initial desire to day “Déjà vu” and he did so successfully.

Once more Sinister spun Cloud, his fist looking for some revenge as it hit Cloud lightly in the back. Too cocky, Cloud thought about how he had been hit. Cloud slashed at Sinister again, who managed to hop backwards and avoid the sword. He moved forwards for a simple punch. Cloud knocked the hand away with his left hand.

The two men stood, circling each other and sizing each other up. Cloud raised a hand and slipped his trenchcoat off. Throwing it to the floor, then crinking his neck. Sinister charged forwards with another punch, throwing most of his strength into it. Cloud leapt aside, childishly sticking his foot out for Sinister to trip on. Sinister angrily turned around, throwing all his force behind his hands, trying to push Cloud to the floor.

Cloud moved out of the way, spinning and kicking as he did so, third time lucky, the thought. Sinister grabbed Cloud’s foot again and threw him into one of the machines. Cloud slammed into one of the machines, dropping prone to the ground, Sinister ran up and slammed his root into Cloud’s side, trapping him between the foot and the machine. Cloud, threw himself forwards, rolling and getting back to his feet. He turned and knocked aside Sinister’s hand which had come at him as another punch.

Cloud once more spun his blade around, slashing down at Sinister sooner this time and cutting deeper into his defending arm. Sinister, gathered his strength to push Cloud down again, Cloud stepped back, so Sinister’s force had exasperated by the time it reached him. He moved forwards, throwing his sword up into the air and throwing everything into a punch. Sinister reached out and grabbed his wrist.

Cloud watched his sword and easily grabbed it by the handle, bringing it around to stab Sinister. The blade cut through Sinister’s side, as he headbutted Cloud, knocking him backwards. Another punch came Clouds way and he stepped to his right, as the fist fell short again.

Another push came at Cloud, who again, put his weight forwards and took it, not moving backwards. Cloud moved forwards again, throwing Sinister backwards, who attempted to punch at Cloud. Cloud ducked and dropped his sword. He punched up at Sinister’s wound. Sinister grabbed Cloud’s hand and threw him to the floor, leaping up and bringing his knee down again. Cloud rolled to his left, grabbing his katana as he did so and staring up at Sinister.

Spinning the blade again, this time Cloud rolled forwards, spun from a crouch and let the tip of the blade slice through Sinister’s side as he came back around behind his opponent.

Cloud rolled backwards, as Sinister’s fist came around again. His boots hitting the machine behind him and giving him a boost forwards towards Sinister. Sinister was leaping backwards, as Cloud’s blade sliced through thin air. Cloud leapt backwards to avoid a push, then to his right to avoid a punch. His blade staying where it had been before, catching Sinister off guard and cutting deep into his thigh. Cloud spun around, digging his blade deep into Sinister’s ribcage from behind. He yanked it out as Sinister turned, punching at Cloud again.

Cloud stepped back, spinning his sword again and bringing it down on Sinister, who stumbled to his left, fading fast. Cloud had to end this now. Sinister lunged again, Cloud dipped to his right and brought his blade up into Sinister’s side again, using his shoulder to heave Sinister off him.

Sinister yelled out and threw all his strength into a final punch, Cloud ducked, left, then right, then threw his blade above Sinister’s head, he spun to his left, under the punch and grabbed his sword again. His blade shot down and through Sinister’s heart. The man slumped over dead on the ground. The two men hadn’t spoken a single word to each other throughout the conflict.

Cloud sighed, then looked up and charged off down the corridor towards the lift to Meltius’ realm, he was unsure how long he had spent fighting Sinister, but he knew he had to hurry.

Cloud grabbed his ringing phone, it was Finn.

“How are you holding up?”

“I’ll survive. Where am I needed most?”

“You’re needed up ahead. Tyr’s taken out Ares and Burn is in need of you. Move it.” A beeping of the Percy’s sentinel detector came through the background, “I’ll have to call you back…”

Cloud knew that sound, it meant he had 2 minutes before the sentinels would rain down upon the Percy.

Cloud ran into Burn and Tyr, he swung at Tyr, who dodged backwards. Tyr let out another round of fire, it hit the machine behind Tyr as Cloud cut at Tyr’s leg. Another cut. Cloud had been on the other side of this before, two-on-on, but Tyr didn’t seem that badly beaten. He hoped Ares was alright, it didn’t look like he had much luck in his fight.

Cloud focused his strength, spun the blade and slashed down on Tyr. Tyr stepped backwards to the machine, leaping off to get to the other side of Cloud and Burn, as he did so he attempted to hit Burn, who stepped backwards from the attack.

Cloud leapt forwards, clashing at Tyr’s midsection. The attack, cut him deep. Cloud swung again, and fell short. A bullet flew into Tyr’s leg, as Burn fired another burst at him. Another bullet slammed into his shoulder as Burn emptied his gun.

Cloud moved forwards, bringing the blade into Tyr’s gut, pausing for a second then yanking it through. Tyr’s body fell onto the floor, blood splattered onto the machine behind.

San and Khali came running from one of the other paths. Burn turned and fired another round of fire. Khali dodged them all. San tried to cut with a knife and stuck it deep into her ribs. Cloud brought his blade down, cutting her on the other side across her midsection, blood spilled onto the floor, but she still stood.

With the last ounce of strength she flung her knife at Burn. It stuck into his gut and he collapsed to the floor. San, enraged, yanked her knife out and dug it deep into Khali’s breastbone. She slumped over onto the floor.

Cloud looked around at the chaos that surrounded them, then up at the lift. He turned his gaze to San, they were the only two still able to fight. The rest of the team were wounded and unconscious. It was up to them…

Cloud helped Ares up to his feet, San did the same for Burn, helping them to the elevator to Meltius’ realm. Mors came limping up to them from between the machines. He was using his sword as a cane again and phoning Ariadne. “

Burn was handing San Khali’s knife, a memento of the fight. He held Loomis’ gun in his hand. Cloud realized he had left his jacket back with Sinister, but that wasn’t important now. “Guys, I don't mean to rush along our victory celebrations but we've got trouble. We've got to rescue the others and the Percy has squids moving in fast” He knew they had to get a move along.

San bent down and rummaged through Khali’s pockets, pulling out the USB stick they had come for. She helped the injured into the lift and the team headed up to the top of the factory and Meltius.

“I hope this goes well…” Ares said looking up at the roof.

“I doubt it, but what the hell.” Burn replied, checking his new gun.

The lift came to an abrupt halt, Burn, Ares and Mors steadied themselves on the railings. Cloud looked out into the long, well decorated corridor. He remembered how out-of-place it seemed compared to the factory down below. He looked out and realized he couldn’t hear the whirl of the machines any more, “It seems too quiet,” he said, readying his sword.

Ahead of them lay two double doors, both open. Heph lay on the floor, bleeding and unconscious, he looked like he had been bitten. San ran up to him, to check he was alright. Cloud helped the others out of the lift, glancing at San to make sure Heph was still alive.

Burn stood over him, “Damn, what the hell happened to him?”

Cloud looked around, there didn’t seem to be anyone around. Not even the butler to Meltius’ realm. Cloud helped Heph to his feet, he was completely out of it. San put Heph’s other arm over her shoulder and readied her gun. They moved slowly towards Meltius’ realm, carefully moving past the disinfection chamber. The place seemed deserted, no music, nor any signs of life.

The door into Meltius’ office lay open ahead of them. The familiar sssssssssssshhhhhhhhh sound coming from within. The team moved through the doors, checking there was no other hostiles in the room.

"I did not request your...sssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh... presence. You would do well to leave quickly before...sssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh... you are destroyed."

Mors moved forwards, reaching for Dallas’ envelope. “I don’t think we’ll be doing that…”

"You are hardly in a position to oppose...ssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh... Jericho and his crew."

“His crew are dead, thanks to us.” Burn said grinning, before the pain hit him again.

Meltius laughed, then said, grinning, "You understand... ssssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh... nothing. The merest of inconveniences. They will soon...ssssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh... return. You can no more kill them than you can...ssssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh... harm me.”

“Seemed pretty dead to me…” Cloud said, checking out the iron lung.

San scoffed, “Return? Oh, really”

"Then you are soon going to get quite a...ssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh...surprise. They are all alive and in perfect health."

“We watched them die. Is there something you’d like to tell us Mel?” Ares said, glancing at Mors.

Mors took a step forwards, opening the envelope. “We brought a gift for you. Something special from our captain. I hope you like it.”

“I have no interest in your… ssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh ….gift”

As Mors ripped the envelope open, a small object fell out and rolled across the floor. A high-pitched noise emanating from it. It was roughly the size of a pen, a red light flashing on the top. The whole team recognized it. They had received a similar gift a few days before at the CCC building…it was a spammer.

Cloud grinned up at Meltius, “…and so the hunter becomes the hunted…”

“We’ll see who survives this…” Meltius said.

“Indeed we shall,” Cloud said moving towards the door. The rest of the team were on his heels, heading back towards the elevator.

Mors turned to them, one hand holding a phone to his ear. “Follow me! Avoid the agents!”

“We need to get out of here before the agents find us!” San said, heaving Heph along with her, as was Cloud.

“Great idea.” Ares said, limping along behind them.

Three agents appeared ahead of them, moving through one of the doorways and letting out gunfire inside. The team turned a corner and they were gone. Dallas was leading the team towards another exit, the agent’s had the elevator secured. As they turned another corner, they ran straight into another three people – Azrael, Rade and Caster, covered with sword wounds.

“Thank god you guys are alive!” Burn yelled, “Now let’s get moving!”

“This is why I love the term “never leave a man behind”” Mors said, “Hurry!”

They turned another corner to another long corridor with a cargo lift at the end. Rade was on the phone to Ariadne, concerned about his coding. Ares reassured him, “You’ll be fine. We’ve already been out of the Matrix.”

They headed down through the lift, coming out where Khali’s body lay. Cloud guessed any elevator upstairs led to the same point downstairs. Cloud shoved the door aside and helped the wounded out again, they seemed to be running on adrenaline now and were less in need of his help.

Bullets flew down from the railings above. The nine of them moved behind cover, working there way out of the factory. Cloud glanced up to see three agents standing on the railings. Cloud led the group down the path he had traveled, standing over Sinister’s body stood an agent, he level his gun at them.

“The roof!” came a voice from behind Cloud, Burn had called Ariadne. The team turned and ran as the bullets flew past them, into machinery. They were running back to the elevator. Cloud dared not turn around, he knew the agent must be closing in behind them.

The team leapt into the lift, San blindly firing at the agent to slow him down. Mors slammed the door shut as the Agent’s arm extended between the doors. Cloud swung with his sword, San with her knife. As the agent pulled back his hand, the other came through and grabbed the grille of the door, pulling it off in a powerful yank.

Cloud swung again, trying not to hit anyone else in the lift. The agent grabbed his sword mid-swing and grinned menacingly at him.

The doors now prevented the lift from moving. San struck at the agent’s hand, the blade of Cloud’s sword came free again. He swung down onto the hinges of the door. Freeing them from the rest of the lift. The agent stumbled backwards, door grille in hand. San slammed down on the button labeled “R” and the lift shot upwards.

Two floors up the lift shunted to a halt, “Agent’s got the cable!” Burn shouted. Cloud looked out the open lift doors. “San, help the wounded out of the lift, get them to a fire escape. We can use that to get them to the roof.” He looked down where he imagined the agent at, “I’ll take the rear. That way they’ll have someone to help them at either end.”

Ares and Mors took Heph and they headed off down the corridor. This floor was nothing like Meltius’ one above. It was similar to an office block. A bullet rang out from the right, slamming into the wall.

“Head’s down and run!” Mors shouted. The team did as they were told, Mors was the senior officer, and one they all trusted.

They all ran through the door onto the fire escape. Bullets hit the wall either side of the door as Cloud headed out, charging up the stairs and onto the rood. His mind went to the Percy, the sentinels had to be on it by now, but he was still alive, so it must be avoiding them.

The roof housed several chimneys and several pieces of machinery. “Now what!?” Cloud shouted, looking about.

“Materials slide.” Burn said, heading towards the east side of the roof. As they reached it the agent landed on the roof, he had leapt from the second floor doorway up to the roof. San turned and shot at the agent as the wounded headed down the slide. Cloud tapped her on the shoulder and she turned and leapt down the slide. Cloud stepped backwards, bringing his sword down to cut up the slide as he went. His sword jammed on the way down, leaving him hanging. He looked up at the agent, who now stood atop the slide.

Cloud let go and slid down, the agent’s hands reaching out for him as he released his grip from his blade. Suddenly, the whole chute became dislodged, as the agent ripped it out from it’s moorings. Cloud’s hands and feet went to the sides, trying to steady himself. His hands cut themselves on the metal ridges before finding a safe space. The agent moved the chute with great force, snapping it half way down, exactly where Cloud lay. He quickly kicked off the back, leaping through the air and smashing down to the ground in a failed jump. He rolled on the floor of a few meters, before coming to a complete stop. To his left bullets rang out from another agent. His teammates were hurrying into a hut ahead of him, grabbing at the phones and vanishing. The wounded ones were going first, San had dropped her gun. They were out of ammo, there was nothing they could do now. Cloud was alone on this one. He shoved himself to his feet and charged towards the hut.

Cloud waved out in a “go, go” motion with his hands. Rade had fallen to the floor in the confusion and now San was dragging him into the hut and shoving a phone into his hand. He turned and saw the agent advancing on him, “Cloud!” Mors voice called out from the hut as his katana spun through the air. Cloud rolled, grabbing it and swinging wildly at the agent.

The agent’s fist somehow found it’s way through Cloud’s whiling blade, sending him crashing through one of the walls on the hut. His back smashed into one of the phones, blowing it to pieces, the table it lay on collapsing as Cloud slammed into it. Cloud’s face slammed into the wall, blood trickled down it from his temple, nose and mouth. He slowly got to his feet, he was too far from the other phone, but he made a dash for it anyway. The agent launched another punch, it hit home deep in Cloud’s ribs, cracking his ribcage on his right hand side. He flew backwards into one of the beams holding the hut up. The beam snapped in half, and the phone that lay upon it fell down to the ground. Cloud looked up at the agent, trying to make a witty comment, but his mouth was too full with blood. His hand reached for the phone and he was gone.

Cloud’s eyes opened aboard the Percy. The proximity alert screeching. He was aware of the ship moving at dangerously high speeds through the tunnels. San pulled the plug out from Cloud’s neck. “He’s out!” She shouted.

“Get him combatable!” Marduks voice came from the cockpit, “you’ve done all you can.”

Cloud moved to the ladder, glancing out of a small window at the real world. He saw the Shez below as an EMP blast burst out from it. The Percy cut it’s power, it screeched to a halt, spinning in midair and crashing into the ground as it’s own EMP went off, disabling the rest of the sentinels as the Shez turned all it’s power off.

“Smooth…” came Marduk’s voice.

Cloud collapsed in pain…

Cloud awoke a few hours later. His torso had been wrapped in bandages; a piece of metal ran down the side with the broken ribs. The blood had been wiped off his face, and a plaster covered the cut on his temple. He walked with another piece of metal, using it as a crutch. It had been pure chance that he had escaped: fortune had been smiling on him. He made his way over to Finn, who sat in his usual seat, by the monitors. Finn was setting up a radio link to the Shez, the team was to be debriefed by Dallas before they returned to Zion.

“Howdy folks,” came Dallas’ cheery voice over the radio. He had waited to start the debriefing until everyone had been attended to. “Marduk, were you driving that thing? No wonder they won’t give you a bigger ship.”

Marduk laughed, “Well, you know what they say about people who need big ships…”

“No. What?”

Marduk sighed, “Never mind.”

“Well, whatever. That mission was a bit of a freak-out though.”

“And it left a few unresolved issues.”

“Like what Captain Marduk?” came Ares voice over the radio.

“We’ll get to that.” Dallas said, “first though, I think we should fill you all in on what happened to Jericho and his team.

Jericho believed that the war was lost. No matter what we do we will lose. No-one could dispute the points he made, but no-one was willing to give up hope. He had been in contact with Meltius for some time before this. He took the Bounty out for a test run, without operators, and flew for several weeks. He managed to fake the destruction of his ship by using parts of other, destroyed ships. He arrived somewhere that Meltius told him he would be safe from the system, and Meltius provided him with power, food and water. The point also had a faint access point to the Matrix, that Jericho and his team used to hack in and perform jobs for Meltius, much the same way as they had for Zion.

Medea, apparently, didn’t want to fight Zion and so helped you guys. However, since Jericho had possession of her real-world body, she couldn’t be discovered. I didn’t trust her, so I told half of you, those who had to deal with Meltius’ philosophical puzzles, that the other half were dead. Clever, huh? That way, you would believe it, so Medea would believe it, so Jericho would believe it and so would Meltius.

That was when you fella’s were free to act. And you made that botched attempt to steal the codes. Luckily, Ariadne here managed to get you out of there. The philosophical boys found out that Meltius was impervious to harm, and were forced to take the same offer that had been made to Jericho. Again, luckily, we managed to hack in and see what was going on in his little “play pen”.

That’s when you raided the factory, half of you taking on Jericho’s men, and winning. Half fighting Jericho and copies of yourself. Heph lost his fight, and he’s still in critical condition, the sooner he gets back to Zion the better. Rade, Caster and Azrael get beaten up pretty badly but managed to survive until they were rescued.

However, they found something disturbing out. There were millions of copies of each member of Jericho’s crew. Each time one died, they were cloned. Medea found this out and realised that she was just a computer program, who had to remain loyal to Jericho. Then you activated one of the best plans ever. Jericho must be kicking himself wherever he is. You played the spammer card. Nine agents came there and you escaped in the confusion……just about….”

“So, although we destroyed the suite before it was activated, we have no knowledge as to the whereabouts of Jericho, Medea or the clones of Rade, Caster and Azrael.” Marduk put in.

“So Jericho’s crew are all dead?” Ares asked.

“Yes. The agent’s destroyed the suite before any clones were activated.” Marduk said.

“They were already dead.” Dallas said, “I got confirmation of that while you were storming the factory.”

“Confirmation. How?” San asked.

“’cause Captain Roland doesn’t do sloppy work. I asked him to return to the bounty and do a thorough check. He landed and salvaged the reactor core. The machine parts were stamped, it was definitely the Bounty. What Medea told you was a lie. Or if not, she’s had her memory altered. It wasn’t faked. That ship was destroyed three months ago. Jericho and the others are dead.”

“They must have died while in the Matrix, and Meltius re-made them using the suite. Renewed memories and all.” Mors said sadly over the radio.

“We were chasing Ghosts…” Burn said, surprised.

"Their memories might have been altered to smooth over any discontinuity," said Ariadne, "but make no mistake; from what we have observed, the copies were eerily accurate. If it had really been them, you wouldn't have seen any difference."

“Jericho knew,” Finn said, “Khali most likely knew too. Medea said they were the ones who looked after her body in the real world.”

“Jericho knows,” Dallas put in, “I’ll bet you anything he got out of there alive.”

"There is a lot he can tell us," Marduk put in, "Had his original self made a deal with Melitus? Was it sheer bad luck that Bounty was caught by a random sentinel sweep, or did something 'encourage' that? Did the rest of the crew know they were going to give up on physical existence?"

“Who cares?” Dallas said.

“So they’re not real?” Cloud put in, coughing, that really hurt his ribs.

"What's real?" asked Ariadne. "Are the Machines real? What about the Agents, they're pretty real, aren't they? Why shouldn't Medea be? Machine or not, she was trying to do the right thing."

"A man is the sum of his memories," Marduk spoke "Melitus' re-creation of the crew contained everything that made them them... unless you believe in a soul."

"What I don't get," replied Ariadne. "If Melitus can alter the memories of the AIs as he creates them- which makes sense, as their memories are only data in the Matrix, which he can manipulate- why didn't he make them into slaves of his, or make them coldly logical and efficient like Agents? That was within his power. Instead he left them acting like humans, and because of that, Medea tried to help us, and without that we never would have won."

"Even more fundamental than that," said Finn, "machines cannot stand human irrationality. It's the first thing they get rid off if they can."

"It's what he wanted," Marduk said, looking down at the stream of code before him "Clearly Melitus is not like any machine Zion has met before."

"Yeah... I guess we have a few unanswered questions about Melitus as well. Which I suspect is gonna come back and bite us in the ass one day." Dallas said, eerily cheerful.

“There’s just one more surprise…” Came Dallas’ voice again, “ I put a recorder in that spammer. You’ll find this….interesting….”

One of the Percy’s monitors flicked to show Meltius’ room, from a point in the room Cloud guessed was where the string quartet had been. The screen showed three agents walk into the room.

“You…”The first spoke, “What are you doing?”
“You should not be involved in these matters,” the second.
“They do not concern you. They are not your function,” the third.

“How dare you talk to me…sssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh…I am well outside your…jurisdiction. There is…sssssssssssssshhhhhhhh…nothing you can do to me. Leave at once…”

Silence filled the air. Then the agents spoke again.

“This is not why you were allowed here.” The third spoke first.
“This matter will be reported. All irregularities will be investigated.” The first now.
“You will have to answer for what you have done.” The second said, then they turned and left.

“Interesting, huh?” Ariadne said.

“No renegade. He’s definitely part of the system.”

“But what does it mean that he’s outside the jurisdiction of the agents?” Ariadne asked, “he’s part of the system isn’t he?”

"Well, that shows just how much we know about the System!" Ares stated.

“I guess some programs aren’t just for keeping the Matrix safe and quiet.” Rade said.

"Perhaps Melitus is a Machine of some incredibly high ranking in the Matrix," Heph suggested. "But other than that, I have no clue."

“I’m not worried about it.” Dallas said reassuringly, “If he threatens us, I’m sure we’ll soon learn about it. Time to head home. Shehazarard out.”

The two ships powered up and headed home to Zion. They had survived, managed to defeat several powerful enemies, and now had the codes they had been sent after. All in all they had succeeded, no matter what terrifying dangers they had uncovered…

~Fin