(currently untitled) The Matrix: The Story of San

One month.

That's how long it had been. One month to totally change her life.

She sat in her bed, looking around her surroundings. The room was tiny and cramped, and hardly designed with comfort in mind. Everything was metal, harsh and cold. But these details didn't matter to her. To her, the small cabin aboard the Aesculapius was home, and had been for a month.

At the beginning, she didn't feel this way. She felt like a caged animal, terrified and with nowhere to go. But that was understandable; they say that such a reaction is normal and that they worry more about those who adapt without so much as the tiniest bit of fear, disbelief, or caution.

It had taken nearly the entire month for her to adjust. Of course, the first few days she didn't remember as anything more than a blur of lights and faces; she had been unconcious for the greater part of them. But of course, in a way, it had been the first time she had actually woken up. Once she was able to be up and moving around, she went through a short period of stark disbelief where she had holed herself up in her room and refused to talk to any of the others. Once the initial shock had worn off, though, she began to become sociable...or at least, as much as someone can be when thrown into a totally strange situation, upon learning that everything they thought real is only an illusion.

Everything had happened so suddenly. One moment she was Sarah, an average 17 year old who was starting out her senior year in high school. The next moment she found herself being chased by Agents, who had, for some unknown reason, decided she was a threat to the system. She got lucky, though; she was rescued by a man named Chronos, and given a choice to make: Stay in the Matrix, or leave.

She chose to leave.

She now went by the name San. It was a name with no seeming meaning to it -- it was simply a word, the Japanese word for the number three. But it had a hidden meaning to her, something that she'd never share with anyone. As far as anyone else knew, she had picked that name simply because she had liked the sound of it. It had taken a while for her to get used to being called by that name, but now she couldn't imagine being called anything else.

Just like, after a month of being free of it, she couldn't imagine living in the Matrix.

The other members of the crew had gone back into the Matrix since she had left it; she hadn't gone with, of course, having just left. She wasn't ready yet, they said.

Frankly, she was in no hurry to be ready.

Now, after a month, they were finally nearly back to Zion. The last remaining human city on the Earth, the others told her.

The other members of the crew...Chronos, the single-minded and fiercely determined captain; Omega, the voice of reason and the first mate; Aquila, the operator and only Zion-born on the ship; Quickstrike, the joker of the group; Amaterasu, the volatile one, who made it no secret that she'd pummel anyone who crossed her; and Flare, who was quiet until pushed far enough, at which time his temper would match his name. They were a very interesting group, and San never failed to be amused at their antics. They also went out of their way to be sure that she was adjusting to the real world.

And today they'd finally be arriving at Zion, their home...her new home.

Chapter 1

San awoke with a slight feeling of anticipation. Today they would be entering the Matrix. It wasn't her first time going in, in the nearly three years since her escape from the world of virtual reality she had gone back in many times. But for some reason, something about today seemed different to her. She frowned, and pushed her doubts away while she dressed.

"There's no time to think about what could go wrong, and no point, either." she said to herself. She knew as well as the others that in the Matrix disasters could come up at any given moment, having nearly been victim to one of these 'disasters' herself. The memory replayed itself in her mind.

It happened a little over two years before, and it had only been San's third or fourth trip into the Matrix. It had seemed to be a perfectly routine assignment, except for one little snag. On their way out of the Matrix, they had somehow been found by Agents, who had attacked the small group consisting of Chronos, Flare, and San. Taken by surprise, San had been shot three times, and would have likely died had they not been so close to the hardline.

San shook her head, trying to make the memory go away. But while she was lost in her thoughts, she didn't hear the door opening behind her.

"Hey, are you just going to stand there and think all day?" Quickstrike said from the open door. San jumped, and whirled around, glaring at him.

"Don't you know how to knock?" she asked.

"I did, and you didn't answer." he replied, before having to duck the shoe that was chucked at his head. "Hey, watch it, those things hurt..."

"Well, then, next time WAIT until I say it's okay to come in instead of just walking in!" she responded, pushing the door shut in his face and picking up the thrown shoe.

"Someone's got a temper..." she could hear coming from the other side of the door, but she ignored that comment. San finished dressing, and after putting on her boots, left the room. Quickstrike had wisely realized that hanging around to wait for her would have been a bad move on his part, and the corridor was empty. She made her way to the Core, where the rest of the crew was already waiting.

"Everyone's here. Let's go." Chronos said. They all sat in their Ecto chairs, where one by one, Aquila jacked them into the Matrix. Their first stop was in the Construct, where they all grabbed weapons. San, as usual, took two Glock 18's, Chronos went with an MP5, Omega took two knives, Amaterasu took a staff and a pair of nunchaku, Flare grabbed a katana and a Desert Eagle, and Quickstrike took an M16 and a Beretta. From there, they then were loaded into the Matrix.

They entered the Matrix inside an old warehouse; exiting, they found the street outside to be nearly empty. San looked around her. Even after nearly three years it was still unnerving to her, that all that she used to believe to be real was nothing more than a computer simulation. She could feel a slight breeze ruffle her short black hair...no, the Matrix was only making her think that there was wind. Indeed, as she removed the sunglasses that hid her brown eyes to look at the sky, she could see that it wasn't even truly blue, but tinted green. She shook her head, and replaced her sunglasses.

"Still gets you sometimes, huh?" Quickstrike said. "I've been out for 8 years, and every once in a while I'll still forget that this isn't real." San simply gave him a dirty look, and turned away.

"I'd say that you're still on her bad side from earlier." Amaterasu commented. Her nunchaku, which were considerably smaller than most nunchaku, were hidden in a pocket on the inside of her jacket, and her staff was strapped across her back but still in easy reach. Her long blond hair was pulled into an intricate braid and sunglasses covered her green eyes.

"I didn't do anything wrong on purpose..." he responded. The strap to his M16 was slung over one shoulder. He flushed, turning nearly as red as his hair.

"Saying sorry might help next time." San stated. She stashed her twin Glocks into the front pockets of her jacket, where they'd be hidden but in easy reach.

"You can bicker later, but right now we've got work to do." Chronos said. He was easily the tallest of the group; standing at six feet, two inches he was a foot taller than San. His gun was already hidden out of sight. Together the group made their way to the car that was parked at the curb; Omega took the driver's seat, with Chronos and Flare also sitting up in the front. Amaterasu, San, and Quickstrike sat in the back; San, much to her chagrin, had to sit next to Quickstrike. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but San shot him a look that clearly said 'save it for someone who cares' before he could so much as make a sound.

"We're to pick up a package; in it contains surveillance information recorded by the Titan." Chronos said, naming a ship that had recently been destroyed by sentinels while away from Zion. "This should be a simple assignment; we grab the info and get out. But--"

"Be careful, anything could go wrong at a moment's notice." Flare finished the sentence. They had all heard this many times; Chronos had said it at the beginning of every assignment.

"We know." Omega added.

"Well, it never hurts to remind you to watch out in here." Chronos said. "There: the package should have been delivered to that hotel." Omega pulled the car up in front of a dilapidated old hotel and came to a stop.

"Myself, Omega, and Quickstrike will go in to pick up the package. Amaterasu, Flare, San, you three stay out here and keep a lookout. Let us know if you see anything suspicious. This should only take a minute, but you never know." Chronos said, as the six of them got out of the car. Quickstrike wisely left the assault rifle in the car, but carried his Beretta on his person. He, Chronos, and Omega entered the hotel, leaving the other three alone.

"So, what did he do that got you all pissed off?" Amaterasu asked, perching on the front of the car.

"Yeah, even I'm curious." Flare added. San rolled her eyes.

"Decided to come in my room without waiting for me to say if it's okay...he claims he knocked, but I didn't hear it. I kinda threw a shoe at him..." she replied. The other two laughed. "What? It's not my fault he has no regard for other people's privacy!" San continued, somewhat defensively.

"Oh, it's not that..." Amaterasu said, grinning somewhat wickedly.

"Ama used to throw things at people who walked into her room without permission, too." Flare responded, his blue eyes twinkling. "As I found out the hard way, several times."

"Hey, it worked at keeping unwelcome people out." Amaterasu stated. "And I stopped...eventually..."

"This place is empty..." San said, looking around her. In the two minutes they'd been waiting outside, only one car had driven by.

"It is...it's kind of creepy. They should be back out here by now, too." Amaterasu replied. No sooner had the words left her mouth, though, did Chronos, Omega, and Quickstrike exit the hotel.

"We've got it, let's get out of here." Omega said, as they made their way to the car. The group piled back into the car, Chronos taking out his cell phone.

"Aquila, have that hardline ready for us. We'll be at it in approximately five minutes." he said into it.

"Got it, captain...but you've got a bit of a problem." Aquila replied.

"Problem?" Chronos repeated. This caught everyone else's attention. "What kind of problem?"

"Well...I don't know how, but Agents have figured out that you're there and where you are. Three of them, plus about 15 police are after you." Aquila responded.

"How far are they?" Chronos asked.

"Not far behind, and they're gaining quickly...oh, SHIT! They're coming up right behind you!" the others could hear Aquila's shout through the phone. San twisted around in her seat to look out the back windshield; there were no fewer than 5 police vehicles, as well as a SWAT van following them. Omega put the pedal to the floor, but he was unable to lose their pursuers.

"Have that exit ready." Chronos stated into the phone, before hanging up and stowing it away in his pocket.

"How the hell did they find us..." Flare muttered to no one in particular as Omega turned a corner.

"No idea...LOOK OUT!" Omega said, as a police car barreled towards them. He tried to steer out of the way, but both cars were going too fast and they collided, head-on. San shrieked, and she was fairly sure that the others all did, too. When their now-smashed car finally came to a complete stop, about 100 feet from where it hit the police car, she looked around at the mess.

"Everyone okay?" she asked. No one appeared to have more than cuts from broken glass.

"I believe so..." Chronos said. "Damn lucky, too, that we weren't all seriously injured, or worse."

"Exit the car with your hands up. I repeat, exit the car with your hands up." a voice boomed from a megaphone.

"Well, you heard the cop..." Chronos said, drawing his gun. The six fighters managed to make their way out of the mangled car.

"Put your hands up in the air." the cop with the megaphone stated, while several other cops moved in, their guns trained on the six of them.

"We'd rather not, thanks very much." Chronos replied, before opening fire on the cop with the megaphone. The rest of the group followed suit very quickly, and soon everything was a hail of gunfire. Amaterasu knocked the gun out of the hand of a police officer before stabbing her staff into his stomach; he dropped, winded, and she finished him off with a blow to his head. Omega had thrown a knife at another police officer, and the cop quickly fell to the ground. Flare charged a cop, his katana in one hand, while firing his Desert Eagle. The cop returned fire; A bullet grazed Flare on the shoulder, but that didn't stop him. He dropped the now-empty gun and sliced at the police officer with his sword. Chronos, San, and Quickstrike were spraying the police with automatic fire from their guns. The cops fired back, and Quickstrike was hit in the leg, but otherwise their opponents fell without any problems.

"Damn coppertops..." Amaterasu muttered. She already had a bruise forming on her arm where a cop had managed to hit her with his nightstick.

"Let's get the hell out of here, before anyone else shows up." Omega said. Of course, with impeccable timing, four SWAT vans screeched to a halt near them, and about 24 SWAT team members poured out, surrounding the group.

"Four to one...not bad odds there." Quickstrike said, as he, Chronos, and San quickly reloaded their guns.

"Drop your weapons or we will open fire!" The SWAT captain shouted. The SWATs were better armed than the police had been; instead of pistols, they carried shotguns and assault rifles, and they also wore body armor. But they still were no match for warriors of Zion.

"This is your last warning! Drop your weapons or we will open fire! You have until the count of three: one, two--" the SWAT captain continued, before he was forced to drop to the ground. San had grown irritated and opened fire on him, shooting at him with her twin Glock 18s. Most of her bullets had missed, though, and the ones that did hit only hit in non-vital places.

"Damn..." she whispered, before having to twist out of the way to avoid the shotgun blast the captain fired at her. She didn't quite get out of the way, however, and she was hit in the side. Before the SWAT captain could fire at her again, though, he was blasted away: Quickstrike stood at San's side, his M16 aimed at the now dead coppertop.

"Consider that an apology." he said.

"Consider yourself forgiven." she replied, before they both continued to fight. Amaterasu's staff had somehow broken, so she was now flailing around her nunchaku, and none of the SWATs were too keen to get too close to her. Omega and Flare were causing havoc in the middle of a group of SWATs with their blades, and Chronos was firing at any coppertop he could see. San quickly emptied her guns into two SWATs that were charging down on Flare; one of them fell to the ground, dead, and the other was dispatched by Flare's sword. Now out of ammo, she dropped her guns and ran into the fray, kicking a SWAT in the head and disarming another. The now-disarmed SWAT punched at her, hitting her in the arm; she responded by firing his gun into him at point-blank range. Chronos and Quickstrike were both busy reloaded their guns. Soon they managed to take down all the SWATs, but not without injury to themselves; thankfully, they had been lucky and none of the injuries were very severe.

"We'll have to continue on foot to the hardline. Everyone keep a look out: Aquila said that Agents were following us, so let's try and avoid them." Chronos said. They set off down the street, thankful that it was empty. They had been walking for a few minutes when Chronos's phone rang.

"You're almost to the exit, but the Agents are only about two minutes behind you. Unless you manage to widen the distance between the Agents and yourselves you'll be cutting it very close. Hurry up and get the hell out of there!" she said as soon as he answered the phone.

"I know. We'll get there as quickly as we can." Chronos said, hanging up and putting away the phone.

"Let me guess. The Agents are right behind us." Omega stated. Chronos nodded, and he continued. "Then would running be a good idea right about now?"

"It would be a great idea right about now." Chronos replied. The six of them ran as fast as they could, until finally the old warehouse they had entered the Matrix from came into the sight. They could hear the payphone inside ringing, when Chronos's phone rang again.

"They're on to you, and they'll be there in about 30 seconds! Get out NOW!" Aquila could be heard shouting over the phone.

"We know, we're about 10 seconds from the hardline--" Chronos replied, when he was interrupted.

"Too late..." Flare said, looking over his shoulder. Just behind them the three Agents finally caught up to them, their Desert Eagles out and aimed at the six rebels.

"Shit..." Chronos whispered, putting away the phone.

"Do not think we will let you escape." the first of the three Agents said, smirking.

"Yeah, well, don't think we're not going to go down without a fight." Chronos responded. To his crew, he whispered, "First chance you get, make a break for the hardline."

"What? We're not leaving unless you're with us!" Amaterasu said, her eyes flashing.

"Yeah, you are NOT facing three agents on your own." Flare added.

"Would you guys just follow your goddamn orders for a change? When I say run, then run!" Chronos replied.

"Eliminate them." the second Agent said. Before the Agents could act, though, Chronos opened fire on them. As the Agents twisted out of the way, dodging every bullet, Chronos shouted, "Now! Go!" The rest of the crew hesitated for a moment. "I mean it! Go!" he continued.

"C'mon!" Omega said, his mind made up.

"What?!" San replied.

"If we run, two of the Agents will likely follow us, and it'll be the best chance we'll get to get out of here. Chronos knows what he's doing." Omega said, though he added, "I hope." Flare nodded, and they sprinted towards the door of the warehouse, ducking inside the building. Right behind them were two of the three Agents.

"Well, you called that one..." Quickstrike commented, leveling his M16 at the first of the Agents to come through the door and opening fire. The Agent blurred, every bullet missing the target, but it still managed to slow both Agents enough for them to reach the ringing phone. Omega snatched the reciever off the hook.

"Okay, you first--" he started saying, but before he could hand the phone off to someone, one of the Agents had caught up, aiming a punch straight at him. He dodged as best he could, but since he was caught totally off guard, the blow landed dead-on, hitting him in the face. He fell to the ground, the phone falling to the ground and hanging from its cord.

"You sonofa..." Quickstrike said in a low, dangerous voice, firing his gun at the Agent. The Agent once again dodged every bullet, and very quickly Quickstrike's clip was empty and he was completely out of ammo. Knowing that he was no good at close combat battle, being primarily a gunner, San attacked the Agent, first punching him and then leaping into the air to launch a kick at his face. The punch connected, hitting him in the chest, but when she kicked at him, he caught her foot in his hand and threw her to the ground. Before she could get back to her feet, he punched at her. She tried to roll out of the way but wasn't fast enough; the punch hit her in the stomach and she found herself unable to move, the breath knocked out of her. She could only watch as the Agent quickly pummeled Quickstrike to the ground.

Amaterasu and Flare had engaged the other Agent; nunchaku flew and sword flashed as they fought the program. They were actually managing to actually do some damage to the Agent, too, it appeared...

"NO!!!" Flare suddenly shouted. The Agent had fired his Desert Eagle point-blank at Amaterasu, and she fell to the ground, hit in the chest. Flare fought on like a madman, swinging his sword this way and that, until finally a lucky thrust caught the Agent in the ribs. The Agent fell, and with a flash of green code became the body of an innocent bystander.

"Do you still believe that there is any chance of your escape?" San looked up to see the other Agent standing over her, aiming his gun at her head.

"Of course I do." she replied, before catching his ankle with her foot. He fell to the ground and she snatched his gun, rolling away and climbing back to her feet. "But you can't dodge bullets very well when you're lying on your ass, now can you." she continued, before firing the Desert Eagle at the Agent. He, too, vanished in a flash of code and became a young police officer.

"You okay? You took a pretty nasty hit, there." Flare said, coming over to San.

"They're all dead." she replied, ignoring his comment. Flare simply put the reciever of the payphone back on the hook, where it began ringing almost immediately.

"Here." he said, picking it up and handing her the receiver. "You go first." She looked at him for a moment before nodding. She took the phone and put it to her ear. A second later, she was gone and the phone fell to the ground.

When she opened her eyes, San was back on the Aesculapius. Aquila was next to Flare's chair, removing the jack from the back of his neck. She winced and sat up; her body hurt all over.

"You two are the only ones that made it out..." Aquila said, looking at San and Flare.

"Chronos didn't..." Flare started saying. Aquila shook her head.

"I don't know what he was thinking, trying to fight an Agent by himself when he clearly is a gunner and guns are practically useless against Agents..." she said, her sentence trailing off. After a moment, she spoke again. "Let's get back to Zion."

"I...excuse me..." San said. Before waiting for a response from the other two, she left the Core, making her way through the corridors to her cabin.

The trip back to Zion was a somber one; Aquila and Flare took turns piloting the hovership, and San, who wasn't much good at piloting anyway, spent much of the time in her cabin. Once they got back to Zion she quickly grew tired of everyone saying they were sorry, and after snapping at several people decided to just stay in her rooms as much as possible.

About a month later, she recieved a notice from the Council: She had been assigned to a new ship, the Persepolis, piloted by Captain Marduk. Her new assigment was effective immediately, and the Percy would be leaving Zion to go into the Matrix in two days. Upon reading the notice, she sighed and began tossing belongings into her pack. A chapter of her life, it seemed, had just come to an end, and another was about to begin.

Chapter 2

It was now some time later, and San was back in the Matrix. Sitting in the parking lot of an airport, to be exact. This was her first assignment as a crew member of the Percy; along with the crew members of the Shehazarard they were to steal a USB device from a courier containing the machine's security codes, copy the codes, and get the device back to the courier. San had the job of getaway driver. Originally Virus, another member of the Percy had this job, but she had at the last moment chosen to stick with the surveillance work she had been doing and San volunteered to take over.

Now they were just waiting for the people from the Shez to show up.

Celsius and Cloud, the other two members of the Percy's crew who were on this assignment, were inside the airport. Along with Rade and Hephaestus of the Shez, they would be intercepting the courier and getting the codes. She knew that Mors, Fire, and Burn would be on lookout duty, and Ares would be the Shez's getaway driver. San didn't really know the crew of the Shez that well; she had seen them all around Zion and knew a little bit about each of them, but that was it, really. The most she knew about any of them was about Mors and how he used to be the captain of the Jabberwocky, but then again all of Zion had known about the disaster that lost him his entire crew and ship. Now, he was the first mate of the Shez.

And they were late. San, growing impatient, was about to call Celsius to find out if he knew what was going on, when she saw Ares and Fire. They were all now ready to get this show on the road, and all she had to do was wait for the others to complete their part of the assigment.

Marduk had reassured them that this assignment should be very easy, as the system had no idea what they were up to.

After a few minutes of waiting, she heard gunfire. Apparently, Marduk's prediction had proved to be false.

Ares abandoned the argument he'd been having with some coppertops and he and Fire drove off towards a fence. San, not sure what was going on or what to do, stepped out of her car, making sure that her twin Glock 18s were within easy reach in her jacket but still out of sight.

Very soon, she got an answer. Or as much of one as she'd get in this situation.

An Agent and another person came into view. They were fighting, and San didn't recognize the man. Next thing she knew, Burn came into the fray, firing his gun at the Agent. San, remembering what happened last time a gunner fought an Agent one-on-one, made up her mind very quickly as to what she was going to do.

"No one is going to die today..." she said to herself, a determined look on her face. Trying to stay out of the sight of the Agent, she quickly made her way towards where her teammate was trying to hold his own against the program. She made it into range just as Burn took a nasty punch from the Agent; she winced at the sight but kept her mind on what was going on in front of her. She pulled out her two guns, and leveled them at the Agent, opening fire. The Agent blurred, dodging her shots; doing so had slowed him down enough that Burn was able to get up and make a dash for it. Mors soon caught up, and prepared to fight the Agent, but soon they were in for another surprise...out of nowhere came another person, a woman with blond hair, who was wearing red pants and a black jacket. She engaged the Agent, giving Burn more time to make his escape. Once it was clear that he'd be able to get away safely, the mystery woman made one last attack on the Agent and then ran for it. The Agent, seemingly annoyed with the loss of two targets, plus the sudden appearance and disappearance of a third, turned to face Mors. The older man gestured to the program that he was ready to fight, and their battle began. On the other side of the carpark Ares and Fire were busy trying to drive through a fence; the fencing tangled in their tires and blew them out, yet they continued driving on towards the tarmac.

She didn't stick around to watch all this happen, however; she and Burn ran for her car, hiding behind all the other cars in the lot to keep the Agent from seeing them. They made it back to the car, and she dove into the driver's seat, looking back to check Mors.

To put it mildly, he wasn't doing too well against the Agent. When he finally turned to run for it, the Agent punched at him, hitting him hard in the back. Mors staggered and nearly fell, while the Agent got ready to attack again. Taking aim, San fired at the Agent with both of her guns. Busily dodging bullets, the Agent was unable to do anything while Mors escaped. He managed to get himself into the car, and they sped off.

"Shit...you okay, Mors?" she asked, looking back at him as she reloaded her guns.

"I'll be okay..." he replied, cringing. "Thanks for the cover fire, he would have killed me back there. But now I think I'll take my sword into the Matrix with me every time."

"Well, that went over as well as shit on Christmas..." Burn commented, driving to the hardline.

Mors pulled out his cell phone, dialing the Shez. "Ariadne, pump as much morphine into me as you can without killing me. He broke my spine." He tried to get into a more comfortable position, cringing. "And then I'd like you to tell me what the hell just happened back there! Why did the Agents pop up if we hadn't done anything violent yet?"

"I sure as hell would like to know what happened back there..." San muttered.

"Well, we did see this girl in red leather and a black trench coat. She aided Burn shortly after he was punched half way through a car, but she disappeared after that." Mors continued into the phone. "...damn, more problems...San, Burn, get ready to blow them away...how many?"

"Damnit...more problems?" San said, glancing out the back window of the car.

"How's the captain taking this?" Mors asked into the phone. San and Burn, while not being able to hear Ariadne's response, were able to hear Dallas shouting in the background. "Sounds like he's taking it well..."

They continued driving on for a while, following Ariadne's directions, until she instructed them to dump the car. San, along with Burn, held the police that had been following them until they reached the building with the hardline that Ariadne had directed them too. San kicked down the door, and they entered. Moments later, they were gone.

She awoke back in her Ecto chair on the Percy. The first thing she noticed was Cloud and Celsius. Cloud had a few injuries, but Celsius looked as though he had barely made it out alive. San looked at Cloud with a questioning look on her face.

"Later." he mouthed at her. Finn moved as though to help San out of her chair, but she waved him away.

"I'm fine, didn't even get hit. Help Celsius." she said, getting up on her own.

Sshh, my friend, don't try to talk," said Captain Marduk, as he tended to Celsius’ wounds. "Finn," he ordered, "pull everyone else off their stations; they are to leave the Matrix at once. The Machines will almost certainly do a security sweep on all sensitve areas now."

"That means thowing away a lot of work," said Finn.

"It's lost already," said Marduk. "It is too late to worry about that." He turned to the others of his crew, including Cloud, that were there. "Well... that did not go well..." he said.

"Ughh, I cant believe my unatentiveness.........I lost my focus..." Celsius said, disobeying Marduk’s order.

"It was a very brave thing you did," said Marduk, not seeming to mind "Were it not for you, I doubt if Coeus and Hephaestus would have made it."

"Thank you captain...Is everyone alright?" was the reply.

"A lot of people aren't well, but everyone will live. We shall have to return to Zion." Marduk answered.

"Somehow....I don’t think *cough* URGH!......I don’t think they will be happy with our progress...." Celsius said almost passing out.

“The failure was not ours," said Marduk. "Interesting..."

"There were others......a blonde woman......"

"Yes, we saw," said Marduk. "I have a bad feeling about them."

"Were they sent by Zion? I dont think I know them."

"Why would Zion have sent them?"

Cloud glanced at San; clearly Marduk, Finn, and Celsius weren't aware that the two of them were still there. San, feeling slightly uncomfortable at eavesdropping, went back to her cabin. There she stayed, thinking about what had just happened, for much of the remaining journey back to Zion.

Chapter 3 -- Calm Like a Bomb

It was just going to be one of those days, it seemed. San, having been unable to sleep the night before, had awoken in a mood that made her not one to be trifled with, as people were beginning to find out. Already that morning, while eating breakfast with the crews of the Percy and the Shez, she had snapped at Ares, who had made the mistake of teasing her and asking her if she actually ever showed any emotion. In response, San had, in very clear but not very nice terms, informed him that yes, she did have emotions and she'd show them when she felt like it, before storming out and back to her room. She had left them in a shocked silence, though she had caught a muttered comment from someone about PMS. She wasn't quite sure who that was from, but when she found out, they'd be a candidate for a good smack in the head. She had a sneaking suspicion that it was Ares...or possibly Dallas.

"Uhh...San?" she heard someone say, as her door was pushed open.

"WHAT?!" she snapped back, throwing in that general direction the first thing that she happened to see; in this case, it was a book. A particularly large, heavy one.

"Ow!" the person at her door, who turned out to be Burn, yelped. "That hit my arm!"

"Then learn to knock." she replied, picking up the book off the floor and replacing it on her bedside table. "What do you want?"

Burn, taking that as an invitation, entered the room and sat in her chair. "I was just wondering...are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy. I was only up all night unable to sleep, but other than that I'm GREAT." she replied, glaring at him. "Did Ares send you up here to apologize for him?"

"What? No!" Burn said, shaking his head. "I don't know where he went, actually..but you certainly surprised us all there. I mean, don't take offense at this or anything, but for the most part you are really calm and quiet..."

"Yeah, well, not all the time. Even the calmest, most quiet person can have bad days." San stated.

"No kidding..." Burn muttered to himself. San fixed her glare on him, and he got up. "Well, I think I'll be going then..."

"Fine." she snapped, slamming the door shut behind him. For good measure, she also kicked the door, but since she was barefoot all that accomplished was smashing her foot. She hopped up and down on one foot with tears of pain in her eyes, shouting an interesting string of swear words. She hobbled over to her bed and sat down on it, inspecting her injured foot.

"Ow ow ow ow..." she said, trying to move her toes. She heard a knock at her door.

"San?" someone called from the otherside, before knocking again.

"Now what...yeah?" she replied. The door opened, and Cloud entered this time.

"Burn warned me that if I valued my life I'd knock on the door first...what happened? I heard you yelling halfway down the corridor." he asked.

"Oh, I only just nearly broke my foot." she replied, trying to put her weight on it. It didn't work.

"How did you manage to do that?" he asked, helping her to sit back down.

"Kicked the door barefoot..." she replied, biting her lip. Cloud laughed, and suddenly San's anger, which had temporarily disappeared, returned full-force. "Shut up! It's not funny, it hurts like hell. What do you want anyway?"

"Just wanted to see what's wrong...oh, and I thought that you'd like to know that Ares got royally chewed out by Marduk for picking on you." he replied.

"Oh, yeah. Who was the dumbass who made that stupid comment as I left? I did hear that, you know."

"Oh...um...that was Ares, actually..." he said.

"I KNEW it!!!" San raged, jumping up and heading for the door. Of course, as soon as she put her weight down on her hurt foot, she stopped. "OW!!!" she shrieked.

"Maybe you should get that looked at..." Cloud suggested.

"I'm fine! Just in a really, really bad mood." San replied, laying back on her bed. Cloud nodded.

"I guess I'll go, then. Just don't kill anyone, okay?" he said, leaving the room as San shot him a nasty look.

"Fine, I won't kill anyone...but that doesn't mean I won't kick the shit out of the next person to bother me..." she muttered to herself.

"Hey, San?" she heard someone say. She recognized the voice of Barbarossa, one of the newer members of the Percy: he still primarily did surveillance duty.

"WHAT?!" she responded.

"I was just wondering if--" he started asking, pushing the door open.

"I'M FINE!!!" she interrupted him, reaching around for something to throw.

"That wasn't what I was going to ask. I was wondering if you knew when we were going to be leaving again." he said.

"Why the hell are you asking me? I have no idea. Go ask Marduk. Now would you leave me alone!" she shouted, her hands finally finding an object: one of her boots. Barb, apparently not wanting the boot to be chucked at his head, beat a hasty retreat.

"Just a warning, I think that going to bother San right now would be a bit of a deathwish." Barb said, passing Ares in the corridor. Ares shrugged, and pushed the door open.

"Now what?!" San said, exasperated. When she saw who it was barging into her room this time, she became thoroughly irritated...and threw the boot. Her aim was slightly off, though, so instead of nailing Ares in the head like she had intended, she clipped his shoulder.

"What the hell?" he said. "What is wrong with you today?"

"You want to know? FINE. I was up all night and therefore got no sleep. Then you had to make stupid-ass comments and tease me during breakfast, which I did NOT appreciate. I haven't gotten a moment's peace all day because as soon as one person leaves, someone else barges in to bother me. On top of that, I kicked my door barefoot and hurt my foot to the point that I can't walk on it. I'm just having a GREAT day, wouldn't you agree?" San shot back at just under a shout. "But you know, God forbid that calm, quiet, emotionless San is allowed to have a bad day!"

"Are you sure you're not--" Ares started saying.

"Don't even think of finishing that thought, because I KNOW you're not that stupid." San interrupted in a low, dangerous voice.

"Okay, okay...sorry, that was stupid of me to say." Ares said. "And I'm sorry about this morning, too. I didn't know it would have set you off like that."

"Yeah, well I can only hold in so much before I'll explode." she replied. Ares turned and started heading out the door, but stopped before closing the door.

"Oh, by the way, I saw Aquila and she asked me to say hi to you. She was the operator from your old ship, right?" he said. When she didn't respond, he continued. "San? You okay?"

"Yeah..." she said, laying back on her bed and turning away from the door. Her old crew...it wasn't something that she wanted to think about in her current mood, and her anger turned to depression. Thankfully no one else bothered her until that night, when Finn, the Percy's operator, came to tell her when they'd be leaving on their next assignment; they'd be leaving Zion the next day.

"Well, so much for a vacation..." San muttered to herself, before falling asleep.