Rose Petals in Sai Kung

[Fenshire]

The well-oiled steel door to the captain's cabin on board the Hovercraft Devildog flew open, slamming against the bulkhead in the hallway outside with a resounding clang. Captain Fenshire strode out of his quarters, purposefully, making his way to the main deck. Misfit walked behind him, easily keeping up with his quickened pace.

"Are you sure you want to do this alone?" Misfit asked.

"I have to," Fenshire responded. "Somewhere in Sai Kung, I'll find my answers. I know it. But I feel that this is a journey I need to make on my own."

Arriving on the main deck, the captain moved to his ecto chair and began to enter commands into a few of the touch screen monitors to prepare for insertion to the simulation. Misfit made her way to the operator's chair, entering in a few disks which contained the neccessary ones and zeroes to keep Fenshire alive in there.

She moved over to his ecto chair, which he was already climbing into.

"Well... as I said, I'll be watching over you in the code. If anything goes wrong, I'm jacking in."

Misfit slid the jack into the back of Fenshire's skull, and started to turn away when he grabbed her hand. Misfit turned back to look at Fenshire, who was grinning.

"Nothing will go wrong. You'll be watching."

Misfit nodded, then moved back to the operator's chair. "Where do you want to go, Fen?"

"It's still early morning in the Matrix... how about that restaurant behind the Sai Kung Southwest hardline?"

*****

Fenshire opened his eyes, finding himself in a loading construct. Everywhere was stark white and he squinted his eyes briefly to adjust. Suddenly, walls zoomed in from the distance, slamming into place. A floor covered in a tatami mat shot up from underneath him, stopping just under his feet. Out of nowhere, tables, chairs, a bar, and various other objects dropped from the sky, landing in perfect place. The last table to drop in front of him didn't have the cutlery and various other table decorations the others had. It contained a pair of MP5 submachineguns, a Lancet .45 revolver, a Kessay 5.56mm sniper rifle, and a white earpiece.

The captain was wearing his usual outfit: an Area K trench draped over a black t-shirt, a pair of faded blue jeans covered in protective black leather motorcycle chaps, a pair of dark black System Shades, and wearing a pair of leather motorcycle boots.

Fenshire picked up the earpiece, placing it in his right ear and running the cable just under the collar of his t-shirt. He heard a faint beeping from the earpiece.

"I'm in," he said as he quickly tapped his right ear. "And it looks like you set me up with a nice cocktail here."

"I told you I was going to watch over you." Fenshire heard Misfit's voice through the earpiece as he slid the guns in various holsters underneath his trench. He picked up the sniper rifle, checking the sight. Perfect, he thought.

Holding the rifle in one hand, Fenshire made his way to the doors of the restaurant and let himself out into the street. Parked by a meter outside of the restaurant was a Harley Davidson Fatboy. The captain slid his left hand into his trench's pocket and pulled out a set of keys... a Harley Davidson symbol dangling from the keychain. Fenshire smiled and tapped his earpiece.

"I think the Devildog found itself a new operator."

"Don't get used to it. I'm not sitting behind a computer monitor all day," was the response from his earpiece.

Fenshire slung the rifle over his back and mounted the bike, put the key in the ignition, and revved up the engine. He smiled, satisfied, at the roar of the engine ripping forth from the bike like a rabid monster. He looked up to the sky, the sun having just come up from the horizon and painting the sky and clouds a myriad of colors, ranging from yellow to red to purple.

The sky looks beautiful from up here.

Thank Neo for Sati... she really does some amazing work.

His head exploded with light as the words entered his mind. Fenshire winced, clutching his hands to his forhead. A brief image of the roof of a skyscraper came to him, looking out over the International district.

"Fen? Fen! Are you okay?" yelled another voice in his head.

Wait... no... Misfit, he thought. Fenshire shook his head, the pounding in his head fading quickly. "Yeah... yeah. I'm sorry, I'm okay."

"Your neural patterns spiked for a moment. Another memory..?"

"Yeah... I think so."

"Alright... well... do you know where you need to go?"

Fenshire thought for a moment. Again, the pounding in his head began to resume and the image of a rooftop flashed again in his mind. He heard his own voice...

Hey, you can see my spot from here!

Benches, cobblestones, trees swaying in the wind and rose petals flying everywhere.

"No... not rose petals... they're leaves," he said to himself.

"What did you say?" Misfit asked.

Fenshire shook the images from his head. "Nothing. But, yeah. I think I know where I need to go. Terrace Del Sol."

"Are you sure? That's not in Sai Kung, that's in Kaede."

"Really? I always thought it was in Sai Kung."

I always thought they were rose petals.

...but that's not the truth.

*****

The bike slowed to a stop, and it's rider cut it's juice, the engine quieting suddenly. Fenshire stepped off, slowly sliding his sniper rifle off of his back and coming to a crouch. Up above him, a series of walkways and stairs led up to the small plaza that he needed to go to.

He raised the rifle to his shoulder, and leaned his head into the sight, scanning the area.

"Okay Misfit, I can see the usual gang... a few bluepills here and there out for a morning stroll... you picking up anything out of the ordinary?"

"Let me see... no, I'm not reading anything unusual. Just the Sisters of Fate there, but they know enough to leave you alone. There's a redpill in the area about 300 meters away or so, back in Sai Kung. A Merv by the look of it. Probably just running a mission or something."

Fenshire smiled slightly. "Well, we may have to run a few account audits later. But for now, can you hit me up with a little 'Escape and Evade'? I'm going to try to go in as quietly as possible."

A few moments later, Fenshire's outer appearence faded, blending in with all the colors and textures of his surroundings. Moving very slowly, placing his heel down first and very cautiously shifting his weight to that foot before repeating the process with his other foot, he made his way to the stairs leading up to the plaza.

His rifle held out in front of him, constantly scanning his surroundings for any possible enemies, Fenshire climbed up the stairs, moving slightly out of the way of the oblivious bluepills and exiles walking around him.

Finally, he climbed the last step and emerged into the plaza. The plaza was made of cobblestones, and was empty save for a few trees, two benches, and an overflowing wire mesh wastebasket. A rush of wind passed through the area, picking up a plastic bag from the wastebasket and sailing it across the plaza, flying up into the sky. The trees' limbs swayed in the wind, their red and gold leaves being pulled from them and fluttering all around Fenshire.

"Huh... they really are leaves. But what does this mean...?" Fenshire asked himself quietly.

"Anything Fen? I'm not reading anything out of the ordinary," Misfit asked in his ear.

Before he could respond, there was a loud burst of static from his earpiece, followed by the incessent ringing of feedback. Gritting his teeth, Fenshire ripped the earpiece from his ear and tossed it to the ground. Breaking his stealth, he stood up fully and rubbed his head.

Behind him, he heard a door close.

*****

Misfit pulled the operator's headset from her ear, which was also ringing with feedback. She turned back to the code, her brow furrowing in concern.

"What the HELL is that...?"

*****

"I have been waiting for you, Fenshire," came the familiar, calm voice with an Asian accent behind him.

Fenshire spun around, raising up his rifle at the newcomer.

Before him was a tall Asian man with short black hair. He wore what looked like a kung fu gi, with dark slacks, a dark shirt, and a white jacket. The man's clothes looked dirty, as if he had just spent some serious time in a sewer. Behind the man's round sunglasses, golden code flowed gently upwards, dissappearing into the sky.

"I am Seraph," the man said, bowing slightly.

Fenshire backed up slowly, keeping his rifle leveled. Gone was his curiousity about this place. Suddenly, he was a tool of the Machines. Seraph had been disrupting Machine operations for weeks now. And here was Fenshire's chance to bring him in. But... Fenshire had to keep him talking while he formulated a plan. Seraph's fighting skill was legendary.

"I know who you are. I've seen you at a few meetings. Never been formally introduced, though," Fenshire replied, looking around for a spot that would give him an advantage. "Why are you here?"

"She knew you would be here." Seraph stood tall, not making any hostile actions, his hands clasped behind his back.

"The Oracle?"

Seraph nodded. "She wishes to speak with you. To help you find that which you seek."

Fenshire raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. He lifted up his rifle, so that it was no longer pointing at Seraph.

"You're just here to take me to her?"

Seraph bowed his head slightly. "Yes."

"Alright, exile. Fine. Where is she?"

Seraph stepped to the side, lifting up his left hand to motion at a door behind him. "She is through this door."

Fenshire, still gripping his rifle but keeping it pointed away, began to walk past Seraph. "Okay. Let's go then. Let's see what she has to say."

Seraph stepped back in his place, blocking Fenshire from the door. Fenshire backed up, bringing his rifle back down to point at Seraph.

"Get out of my way," Fenshire said coldly.

"Before we go, I must first apologize," Seraph bowed again, ever so slightly.

Fenshire looked at him suspiciously. "Apologize for what?"

Seraph looked up quickly at Fenshire, the golden code from his eyes cascading upwards at a quickened rate.


"For this."





To be continued...

[Vesuveus]

Please, go on...

[Fenshire]

Seraph shot out at Fenshire like a bolt of lightning. Fenshire, who was caught completely off guard, stumbled backwards and fired a shot at Seraph. The loud crack of the 5.56mm Kessay rifle echoed off into the distance, and the captain had the vague impression of people screaming and running away from the two combatants.

Faster then anything Fenshire had ever seen, Seraph nimbly dodged out of the way of the bullet and brought up his left foot, smacking it against the rifle and sending it flying out of Fenshire's hands.

Fenshire ducked away from the martial artist, and tumbled back a few feet, drawing his Lancet. Pointing it at Seraph, he squeezed the trigger three times, each pull sending out an explosion of light and sound. Seraph was still too fast, quickly weaving in and out of the trail of the three shots. He dove up towards Fenshire, grabbing Fenshire's right wrist with his left hand and pulled the captain towards him, slamming his open right palm into his target's chest.

Inside Fenshire's head, there was a flash of light.

Love.

It was in this spot, that Fenshire stood with Thera. She was beautiful... her brown hair up in the usual bun, held by chopsticks... those amber eyes... He always teased her about them, but truth be told, they were the most intoxicating things he'd ever seen. She had a way of trapping you with just a gaze, like some kind of mythological seductress.

After everything they had been through, he knew that this was it. This was his moment. It was now or never.

"Fen..." she brought one of her delicately gloved hands up to his chin, lifting his face up as if to examine it. "What is it? Something's bothering you."

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a silver ring with a black onyx gem worked into it. He smiled at her. "No... no. Nothing is bothering me. I was thinking of how perfect all of this is. How perfect you are."

She smiled slightly, her cheeks turning a deep red. He took her hand into both of his, placing the ring in her palm.

"I've thought about this a lot, T. I love you. And I don't ever want to lose you... not again."

She pulled her hand away and opened it, looking at the ring. "Fen... it's beautiful..."

He leaned close to her, their foreheads together.

"T... will you marry me?"

Fenshire staggered back, dropping the Lancet and tripping over the wastebasket behind him, and catching himself on the railing that surrounded the terrace. He breathed heavily, looking up at Seraph.

"What the hell...?"

Seraph leaped up, his right foot connecting with the railing, and twisted his body around, using the momentum to bring his left food around and connecting with the right side of Fenshire's face. Fenshire was sent staggering towards his left, slamming against the side of one of the benches.

Fear.

It was Club Succubus. The other captains of the Prophets of the Martyr were there, discussing a recent meeting their leader, Ralica, had had with Morpheus. That's when they heard the voice.

It came from everywhere and nowhere. A gravelly, commanding voice. There was something very militant about it. It started by telling everyone to prepare for new orders.

Fenshire had looked over at Ralica. "Ralica, what is that?"

She shook her head. "I have no clue. We've never received a transmission like this before." Ralica brushed one of her red locks out of her face, pulling the rogue strands of hair behind her ear as she dialed her operator.

The voice continued, warning of contraband fragments and orders for redpills to jack out of the Matrix or be destroyed. Immediately, all the members of the faction began to speak, worried. Was the Truce over? What could this mean?

At the end of it all, the door to the club burst open, a man in a well-tailored black suit entering calmly. He grinned very slightly, adjusting his collar. "None of you are authorized to be here."

Fenshire stepped back. Although recently having been given his hovercraft, he had not yet had any encounters with an Agent. He had heard stories, however.

Ralica pulled out a pistol and looked around at everyone, speaking low and quiet. "Oh shit. Everyone, get to Duality... NOW!!" The last part came out as a yell.

Everyone began to dash for an exit.

Fenshire, beginning to come to his senses, dove and rolled to his right, Seraph's foot slamming down on the bench where his head had been. Fenshire was laying on this right side and pulled both submachineguns from their holsters underneath his trench. He squeezed both triggers, keeping the guns trained on Seraph, dozens of tiny explosions ripping from the guns, a shower of golden shell casings raining down over the whole area.

Never had he seen anything as fast as Seraph. In the space of a few seconds, Seraph arched backwards avoiding the spray of bullets, his right hand connecting with the ground. The martial artist swung his body around, pivoting and balancing his entire weight on that one hand, kicking the wastebasket with both feet at Fenshire, then finally righting himself.

The wastebasket flew at the captain so quickly, Fenshire barely had time to react. Most of it being torn to shreds by the gunfire, the solid metal bottom connected with his left hand, knocking one of the guns from his grasp. Fenshire lifted himself to his feet, as he felt Seraph collide into his body, having launched himself from his previous position.

Terror.

Agents were everywhere, attacking any redpills they saw. Fenshire had already taken a few down, much to his surprise. Hauk had mentioned over the phone that there was something off about these guys. They looked and read like Agents, but they sure as hell went down a lot faster then Agents.

His phone rang. He flipped it open and brought it to his ear, while at a full run.

"Hauk, give me good news."

"The crew's out, Captain. You're the only one left jacked in."

"Good," Fenshire said, ducking into an alley, pushing a vagrant out of his way. "Now get me the hell out of here, Hauk."

"Alright, hold on... okay, I got an exit. The corner of Cathedral and West. There's a phone in an old rundown pub called the Red Bear."

There was a brief burst of static, followed by Hauk cursing. "Fen, you have to get out of there! We're under attack!"

Fenshire ran out from the alley, only to see two Agents on the other side. Both raised their guns at the captain, and began opening fire.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! I've got to jack out..."

He heard Hauk's voice on the other end. "Oh shit, Fen! Sentinels! Get out of there!! They're tearing us up!"

"Sentinels?! What about the Truce?!"

"Oh God..."

"Hauk, what is it? I'm almost there!"

Fenshire slammed his shoulder into the bar's entrance, the wood splintering and the door flying open. On the other side of the bar, he saw the phone. It began to ring.

The captain grabbed the receiver, placing it against his ear, and immediately the world began to melt away. Fenshire opened his eyes just as he heard his first mate, FlipZero, scream. "He's out, hit it!!!"

Fenshire slammed against the brick wall of one of the plaza's neighboring buildings, cracks shooting out in the wall behind him and covering him in dust. Looking up, he saw Seraph's right fist shooting towards his face. Fenshire brought up his left arm, slammed it against the exile's forearm and deflecting his fist.

Awe.

I remember the day I met Morpheus just like it was yesterday. It was in Debir Court, not long after the LED Agent attacks began. I'd been with the Prophets for a little over a week or so. Not many of us were jacked in at the time, but Commander Ralica invited all of us along that were. I remember Skids and KnifeEdge, who were just green rookies at the time, had accompanied me. Our hovercraft was severly damaged from a Sentinel attack. We lost a lot of good guys to that attack... my first mate, FlipZero, included. It was hard... I felt responsible for all those deaths. After we blew the EMP, we were able to examine those old Sentinels. They were different then what we were used to. According to Hauk, they were an older model from the war. The Machines had upgraded their current stock of Sentinels after the war, so we were a little surprised to see these. It almost seemed like they were acting on their own orders. At least, the Machines denied responsibility for the attack...

Regardless, there he stood, in all his glory. He was so charismatic. So full of purpose. It was hard -not- to want to follow him, and back then, when I was still so new to this stuff... I did. I was willing to bring the Matrix crashing down around me, if Morpheus were to command me to. He spoke to us, told us of the fragments we were picking up off the LED Agents, how some quality of Neo existed in each one.

Then he showed it to us. The RSI. It was partially built, but you could feel a sense of... greatness... eminating from it. Morpheus condemned those working for the Machines and for the Frenchmen. Told those operatives to come home to Zion, and to turn their fragments into Zion.

It was really a sight to behold.

Fenshire shook his head, but before he could regain his senses, Seraph's left fist collided into his jaw, which brought about another explosion of light.

Belief.

Even after I stopped following Morpheus and formed the Trust, it was hard not to believe in him. Especially when he told us why he needed Neo's body. It was another meeting, this time in Club Messiah. He talked of his plans of shaking the Matrix and demanding the return of the One's body. Even showed us the partially constructed RSI again.

I tried to convince him that it was foolishness. But I'll never forget what he said...

"Neo may yet be alive, surrounded by the scuttling machines, a prisoner. Or the truth may be stranger. Neo may be in a prison not of steel or glass, but of silicon and circuitry, a self extracted from his corporeal form. Neo may even have a new RSI, and walk the Matrix in a fog of forgetting. Or one of false memories."

He then pointed directly at me. "It may be you." Then, he pointed at NetCracker, to her surprise. "Or you. Yes, Neo may now have a woman's RSI. Anything is possible. But that question waits upon the return of his body. That is the first step. We have devices that can inquire whether downloading has occured. But we need the body and it's jacking-in sockets, to use them. Interestingly, the Machines have explicitly stated they have not recycled the body. Until they return him we cannot know. So we must apply pressure until they do."

Like I said... he was a charismatic guy. I knew that we had to help him. Not for the reasons a lot of the others had... but because of Neo. If there was a chance that Neo was alive, then we owed it to him to help Morpheus get that body back.

Fenshire fell to his side, his gun clattering to the ground. He lay there, his head spinning with all these thoughts and images bouncing around inside his head. He was feeling... remembering. This was not an unwelcome sensation. With each moment of physical contact with Seraph, memories and feelings came swarming into his mind. He realized why he came to this spot, his spot... he wanted answers. He wanted this confusion to end.

Seraph, seeing that Fenshire had stopped resisting his attacks, nodded solemnly. "This will be over soon," he said. Seraph crouched down and placed his left hand on Fenshire's forhead, and held his right hand over the captain. Gold code began to rip out of Fenshire's RSI, and floated upwards into the sky.

It all began to come back to him...

Desire. She was no longer with him, but being with her was all he could think about.

Hope. He knew he believed. And he had faith that this was right course of action.

Sadness. She was in a coma. Void had absorbed her RSI into his own... and Fenshire had let it happen.

Worry. Agent_1 was explicit. Vashuo was to be their target. Vashuo wouldn't listen, however. Everytime he jacked in, Fenshire was sitting on the edge of his seat, making sure there were no dangers inside the simulation.

Disbelief. This had to be a joke. Delinquent could not be a Cypherite...

Attraction. "Whoa... Farplane, who's she?" "Who, RedBindi? Don't even think about it, Fen."

Happiness. Huh... memories return, ones with Thera, ones with the Trust guys, ones with Bindi... funny thing is, I already had this emotion. Well, at least I can put a name to what I feel when I'm with her now...

Determination. Return the One!!!

Pleasure. Fenshire lay on his bed where he had been reading, and looked up when his door opened. Return was standing there, obviously distraught. "What's wrong, Return..?" She shut the door behind her, and removed the gray tunic she was wearing. She smiled down at her new captain. "I hope you're ready for a long night, dear."

Thankfulness. Fenshire stepped off the Devildog, which had docked at Outpost One. He was returning RedBindi and DarkAlma back to the Trust. He expected to be loathed for having left to work with the Machines... however, when he stepped off that ship, he was greeted by salutes and cheers. One of the engineers even said "Welcome back, Commander." He told the guy that he was no longer the commander of the Trust, but the engineer merely smiled and said "You'll always be our commander, Commander." No matter what happened, Fenshire knew then that he would always have a home.

Hurt. Bindi threw everything away. She ripped out my heart and stomped on it. Not only that, but she left me for that moron, Gruk. I can't take this anymore. I'm done. I want to go back. I want to be reinserted...

Betrayed. Fenshire lay unconcious in what appeared to be an emergency room. He lay nude on the bed, a number of wires attached to his head, chest, arms, and legs. A man dressed like a doctor was watching a bay of medical screens, showing Fenshire's vital statistics and brainwave patterns. Agents North and Mills stood in a seperate room, overlooking the operating room through a glass window.



Agent Mills looked over at Agent North.



"You have no intention of reinserting him, do you?"



The very hint of a smile crossed Agent North's face. "Of course not. He is too valuable of a resource."



Agent Mills looked down at Fenshire through the window. "What do you intend to do then?"



"He is a machine captain, well trained in combat, and has a very good record when it comes to getting his work completed efficiently. He is on very good terms with Zion as well, and is well respected amongst most of his peers."



Realization emerged in Agent Mills' expression. "You mean..."



Agent North smiled. "Yes. Perhaps we can succeed here where the Lamont project failed... If Mr. Wright had one... flaw... it would be his emotion. His... attachment. If this were to be removed..."



"...we would have one very efficient operative," Agent Mills finished.



"Indeed." Agent North pressed a button near the window. The doctor below looked up at the two men in black. "Proceed."


Hate. Cypherites killed Vashuo. Delinquent tried to kill me and BlackVelvet. Void destroyed who Thera was and took her from me. Bindi left me when all I ever cared about was her. The Machines lied to me. And speaking of which, if there is "no such procedure" for reinsertion, then what the fuck happened to Kiana?! What did they do to her? Thera sent her own daughter for reinsertion... so if there is no reinsertion, where is she?! Is she dead?!

Fenshire lay on the ground, his face in his hands and his body shaking uncontrollably, tears falling down his face. Seraph stood up fully, and looked down at him. Fenshire wiped his eyes and looked up at the exile.

Seraph nodded. "It is done."

Fenshire, bracing himself on the ground, slowly got up to a sitting position, his breath ragged. "These... things.. they're things that I feel..."

Seraph nodded again, and knelt next to Fenshire. "They are things that you lost."

Fenshire nodded, again wiping his eyes. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. "I understand now... those transmissions. The truth. That's what this is. What is true may not be what I want, or expect... Hell, I ain't even proud of most of it. But it's the truth..."

Seraph stood, and approached the door he came out of. Slipping a ring of keys from inside one of his sleeves, he selected a key and put it in the door's lock. Opening the door, Fenshire could see beyond was a white hallway, lined with green doors.

Seraph held the door open, and bowed to Fenshire.

"The Oracle will see you now. Please, come."

[Variel]

((O. M. G.))