"Now I don't know what Jazz or Treat my have told you, so I'm going to begin at the beginning. Everything you remember, everything you know, everything you believe, is not real. It was once, about 200 yearrs ago or so. Nobody really knows how long exactly...except the AIs and they're not telling."

Swipe stood, fear and loathing in his expression, "The what?"

"Don't interrupt. I'm getting to them. Now sit down and have some of this," said John pulling a metal flask out of his pocket and handing it over, "You're going to need it."

"What is it?" asked Swipe suspiciously.

"It's what passes for whiskey around here, but be careful we brew it ourselves and you have never really had a drink before."

Swipe took a long pull from the flask without hesitation, then nearly coughed up a lung. John took a seat up against the bulkhead and waited until Swipe was done.

"Told you. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, AIs. Well sometime, maybe the 2050s, man created the first true Artificial Intelligence. I don't know the exact date, but who cares? The point is it happened, and like any other being AIs began reproducing. It wasn't long before there was a fight over who was top dog, them or us, and that's when the war started. We don't know who started it, or even how long it lasted. We do know that we were losing...bad."

"Why didn't they just pull the plug?" asked Swipe, intrigued in spite of himself.

"Well we did in a way. The AIs were using solar power, so in a last ditch effort, the humans put up some kind of dust cloud, like the one they say killed the dinosaurs. It blocked out the sun and brought on another Ice Age. Trouble was the AIs went out and found another source of power. A bio-electric power source."

Swipe swallowed, "Bio-electric? You mean...?"

"Yes, Swipe, us. The human body produces a significant electro-magnetic field. If you hook enough humans together in a power grid, you have enough energy to light a city. That's just what the AIs did; and they kept doing it until everyone was either dead or a Duracell."

"Oh, God," Swipe looked green.

"The trick was," continued John, "they needed us alive. The human body can be maintained with a minimal effort, but the mind was a problem. They tried simple physical restraints, but the captives eventually simply lost the will to live and died. Then they tried destroying our minds and keeping us on life support, but that just used almost as much power as it produced. So the Matrix was created. The AIs took a slice of human history and created a VR environment with it then used direct neural interface to plug us in...after that we all lived inside the AIs video game."

"But this," Swipe faltered, "How..?" he stalled again, and John went on as if he'd never been interrupted.

"There were some minds that just wouldn't accept the Matrix as reality and somehow just woke up and were flushed out of the system. Eventually they went back in to the Matrix and brought out others...but we'll get to that later. I think you've had enough for now."

Swipe was shaking his head, "This just can't be."

"I know what you're thinking; that I'm crazy, or you're crazy, or I drugged you. But look at yourself, check out that jack in the back of your head, the plugs in your arms. You have no body hair, your eyes can't even stand bright light. Think about it seriously, Swipe, try and get your mind around it."

Swipe retreated from John, pulling his knees up to his chin, "Screw you!"

John sighed, "Fair enough. It could be that I did drug you and I am some super spiff programmer and I'm experimenting on you. This could be just a VR dream and you're really tied up in my basement while I toy with your brain with my laptop...which version do you want to go with, Swipe?"

"You are crazy."

"Maybe. It's been said before. But think about it, Swipe, about why you came here in the first place. When you feel ready, come and see me and I'll tell you about what is real instead of what isn't," John Doe got up and left.

Swipe tried to take another swig from the flask, but his last had emptied it. He threw it across the room, then curled up tightly on his bunk, and stared sightlessly at the wall.

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

What the hell is going on? Jake thought. Ai's. Machines. Human Batteries. What John Doe told him had fit with what he'd seen--although that could be explained away as brainwashing or something... Still, this all seemed real enough. May as well at least find out as much as I can before I flip out, Jake thought. He opened the vault-like door and stepped through.

"Welcome to the real world, Swipe," John Doe said from a chair across the room. It was a dark, dull metallic place, with a huge computerized apparatus in the middle of it, surrounded by several beat-up looking chairs. "This is the Hammurabi. I'm the captain. I think you've already met Treat & Jazz. Grab a seat."

Jake noticed for the first time that Treat had no implants.

"Swipe, we are part of a human resistance force, in a war against the machines. Now, don't go thinking 'Terminator' because this is nothing like that. Humanity has been driven underground, to the city of Zion. It is the last place where people are still born, not grown and harvested like vegetables. What we do, is hack into the Matrix and look for minds ready to wake up, as well as try to find ways to make people realize the Truth. Think of it as the most realistic video game you'll ever experience." John Doe stood, walked over to a seat in the middle of the apparatus, and started pressing buttons.

"Why me? What's so special about me?" Jake asked.

"Nothing, really. We just needed another recruit. Besides, you're good with computers--which is always a bonus in this line of work," John replied, swinging a small screen on a pivot-mount around so Jake could see. "Lemme show you something that might help convince you to be on our side." Treat gently pushed Jake back, causing his head to rest in the brace at the top of the chair. She smiled, reaching for something behind his head.

"Relax, Swipe. This is gonna feel wierd," she said, plugging his jack in. Jake screamed. Then, pure white surrounded him.

"What the hell?" Jake began.

"This is The Construct. It's a computer simulation we use to train, design weapons, and enter the real Matrix. If you'll sit down, I'll show you a little movie we've created to help acquaint you with the Truth," John Doe said, from behind Jake. Jake turned to look and saw that he was a totally different person--in fact, he was the tall, black man he had first taken the pill from.

"Why do you look different in here?" Jake asked. John Doe smiled.

"It's called residual self-image. It's your ideal self--it's how you envision yourself. You'll notice your plugs are gone and your hair is back to what you're used to. That's your residual self."

"You're self-image is that?" Jake asked, pointing.

"No," John said, smiling wider, "I have no residual self-image."

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

"You see, Swipe, I'm one of the self awakened ones. I never bought into the Matrix. In the Matrix I was ungovernable, uncontrollable because I knew that what I saw was not real. So, in the world of the Matrix, they had me confined. Ever hear of Bellevue?" John doe smiled humorlessly reminding Swipe of a shark. It was just a show of teeth that didn't really mean anything.

Swipe looked around, only just aware that the white nothingness had been transformed into a classic padded room. He suddenly felt claustrophobic and shuddered, "So why do you look different here. Which is you?"

John Doe busied himself with pulling back the padding on one wall, "This image and the one I use in the Matrix is a tribute to my good friend and mentor Morpheus, the man who saved me from the AI's sewers. The tall, ungainly guy on the Hammurabi, that's me. I haven't decided which way I'm better looking," he flashed his teeth again, "You see, I know all the tricks of the Matrix..." he stopped abruptly as if were going to say more but had decided against it.

He stepped through the hole in the wall he had created, and Swipe moved quickly to follow. He blinked in the sudden brightness and looked around a beautiful meadow heavily blanketed with colorful wildflowers. A large white rabbit wearing a red vest hurried by, muttering to itself.

John shook his head, "Very cute, Treat," he muttered.

"Where are we?"

"Well, it's supposed to be Chicago, but I think Treat is trying to use the gentle approach in our quest to introduce you to the unreal world."

"Gentle?"

John started out up a gently sloping path, "I usually do things like throw people off the Sears Tower."

Swipe started and stared.

John snorted, "This is a safe place - not like the Matrix - in here you bounce. See, for us, the so-called rules will bend quite a bit. They still won't break, but if you're good enough, you can send them into convulsions pretty good."

The path led up a hill, on the top of which was a well tended garden thickly planted with ornamental fruit trees. Some of which were so exotic, Swipe could not recognize them. Suddenly, he found himself at a waist high brick wall half obscured by foliage. He broke off a large obscuring frond, and found himself looking across a cityscape. Inexplicably, he was standing in a rooftop garden looking across the top of Chicago. He gawped for a moment, and without realizing it, he slowly began to believe. Then he shook himself and looked around wildly for John Doe, half expecting the man to rush him and toss him over the wall.

John stood, lightly balanced atop the encircling wall. As Swipe watched, he began running as if approaching a broad jump. At the corner of the building he launched himself in to space. Swipe gasped, then caught his breath as John sailed across the boulevard wide gap between rooftops and came to a perfect landing across the street.

"You've got to learn to disbelieve what you think you know," called John, "and accept what you thought was impossible. Join me, Swipe, you know you can."

Swipe stared across the chasm shaking his head unconsciously. He judged the distance, paced, waffled, and finally mounted the wall. His only conscious thought was: "Well, if he can do it..."

The moment his feet left the bricks was exhilarating and for about three seconds, he believed he had done it - then his trajectory curved downward...

By Who yo Daddy? (Sol) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe rammed into the odd cyber-cement hundreds of feet below. He wasn't dead, but judging from the pain in his head, he didn't know why. He flopped his head sideways, breathing hard and tasting the blood as it poured out of his nose. Leaning on a streetlight was the man he'd seen back in the cab... the one who'd carried him to John... Tamper, was it?

"Hmmm hmm hmm," smiled Tamper as he looked on, "Your brain is making you fall. Self-defeating thoughts. Shut them off and you will succeed."



"It isn't that simple," said John, suddenly appearing from the doorway of a skyscraper.

"Isn't it?" said Tamper, incredulously.

"Well," reconsidered John, "maybe not at first..."

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe stood, brushing himself off. He felt his nose tentatively, pulling his hand away and looking at it, he saw the blood. "I thought you said this wasn't real," he said, feeling the tenderness in his ribs.

"Your mind makes it real," said John. "You just have to learn to believe otherwise." Swipe just shook his head.

"You're insane," Swipe said, turning away from John and walking down the street. Without warning, he was facing a brick wall. "How--?"

"Treat, I think he's ready. Load him up," said John into thin air. Swipe turned to regard him, and noticed he was now wearing a karate gi, and the two were standing in some sort of training dojo.

"Load me up? Ready for wha--?" Swipe stood perfectly straight, his head snapping back as his eyes flickered open and closed for several seconds. In that brief period, the fighting arts of a thousand masters were uploaded into his brain directly. After the rush had subsided, Swipe fell to his knees, gasping.

"Exhilarating, isn't it?" John asked. Swipe silently nodded, a second jolt coursing through his body. "Enjoy your training Swipe--there will be a test..."

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

"Good, Swipe. That'll get you a D-minus on the mid-term," John said sarcastically. He grimaced slightly as he rubbed his ribcage, but managed to hide it before Swipe turned back around. "Keep studying, Swipe. I know you'll do better on the finals." Swipe just stared at him incredulously. "Right now, you need to rest. Even though you still feel strong here, in the real world your body has been 'awake' for over 12 hours. Let's go--there's always tomorrow," John said, dematerializing to Swipe's amazement. Then, Swipe felt the tingling, inside-out sensation as his mind was downloaded back into his body. He coughed, still feeling the pain in his ribs, and saw Treat holding a bloody rag near his nose and mouth. Astonished, he turned to John Doe.

"I told you that your mind would make it real. When you can get unplugged and not be bloody, then I might be impressed," he said, retiring to his quarters. Swipe looked back at Treat, who was offering him a bowl of some white, gloppy substance.

"You should eat something. You really had a busy day. I wasn't sure if you could handle all the training programs I loaded for ya, but I gotta tell ya--you're a natural with this stuff. Anyway, I have more work to do--see ya in the morning!" Treat bounced up as she finished, almost skipping across the deck, her stride was so perky. Swipe looked around, and saw that Tamper's head had swiveled around to regard him, nodded slightly, then swiveled silently back around to monitor an array of video screens.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into," he thought, just before passing out right there in the chair...

By Bryan (Houdini) on Unrecorded Date:

Later that evening. It was Jazz and Treat's shift at monitoring the Matrix and ship sensors.

"Hey, Jazz. What do you think of the new recruit?" Treat asked just because she was bored.

"Swipe has got alot of potential. His nerual kinetics are above normal, he's fast. He's going to be one hell of a close-combat fighter. A regular Jackie Chan or something! Waaaaaa!" Jazz said while performing a chesey kung fu fighter impression.

Treat laughed softly.

"When do you think John take him to see the Oracle?" treat asked.

"You know the answer to that already...'John will take him when he is ready'... I think that...

A ship wide alarm is sounded..

"Oh shit... We got trouble.."

"Squidies, four of them, headed this way! ETA in three minutes!

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Treat reacted instantly. Her hands slapped down on power panels, fingers flicked switches, banks at a time went dark and silent. Jazz moved quickly too, heading for the EMP device.

"Not until I signal," hissed Treat after him.

As the Hammurabi settled in dark and silence, the change in the ship awakened the sleepers. Swipe rose from his bunk and walked on bare feet into the main cabin.

"What's going on?"

Treat frantically waved him into silence and beckoned him over placing her index finger across her lips. Swipe joined her at the console and she spoke to him in an almost silent undertone, "Ever see those World War Two movies were they're hiding from the enemy subs?" he nodded and she continued, "Well, that's what's happening now, and they enemy has a really jazzy sonar so stay quiet."

Treat's head was cocked in a listening attitude, but Swipe couldn't tell if what she was hearing was good or bad, he could hear almost nothing past the sound of his own heart thudding. He noticed that only one monitor was still alight, it showed a view of what he took to be the spine of the Hammurabi, in the distance he could see something almost serpentine moving -- several somethings.

They waited, the minutes ticking away, a sheen of perspiration appeared on Treat's forehead as the stilled air became stuffy, but she did not so much as twitch. Swipe was afraid to move so he too remained where he was, watching until well after the…things disappeared from the monitor. At last Treat let out a massive sigh, and flashed a grin at Swipe.

"All clear," she called her voice awash with relief, "Sorry, Jazz, no hits today."

The bald man returned to the console, "I keep telling you I never did that kind of stuff."

She laid a finger by the side of her nose and winked broadly, "No, of course not, it was a legitimate business you worked for."

Jazz scowled at the tiny woman, but it did no good, she simply grinned and began checking and re-initializing ship systems.

"Excuse me but what just happened?" asked Swipe.

Jazz said "Squids. That's what they look like anyway. It's how they look for us freebies. The only way to stop them is the EMP - electro-magnetic pulse - we have a device installed in the Hammurabi so that we can knock the buggers off if they come calling."
"But it's a bitch because it doesn't do our systems any good either," pitched in Treat.

"Well, what about J.D.'s grand plan to shield us?"

Treat wrinkled her nose, "His plan, my work. In five and a half years do you know how far I've gotten?" she swept her arm grandly around the cabin, "My console and one chair. I have at present exactly 1.7 ounces of lead left to do the rest of this tub. You find me a Stop and Shop that carries lead out here, and I just might manage a little quicker," Treat flounced away, if such a thing were possibly in a pair of cargo pants and a tee shirt.

Jazz smiled, thin lipped, "She gets uptight about that project. If you ever want to yank her chain, just bring up John Doe's Grand Plan of EMP Shielding. But she's right, we don't exactly have a lot of access to raw materials in the real world. If we stumble across an old cemetery, they're pretty good sources. Some of the old building ruins sometimes too, lead gutters and roofs, but they're few and far between."

Swipe nodded, then his attention was caught by the monitors coming back to life in front of Treat. A whole bank of them showing nothing but green code streaming past.

Treat glanced over her shoulder as he approached, "Pretty raw, huh. That my new friend, is the Matrix. Hey, Jazz, " she called, teasing, "got some heavy sex going on on three."

Jazz returned to his seat, slapping Treat's perpetually untidy ponytail as he passed. She laughed then proceeded to ignore him.

"Once you get used to it," she said to Swipe, "It's just like reading or watching a movie."

"How big is the Hammurabi, Treat?" he asked as he watched the flow of the Matrix.

"Sleeps eight," she responded, "but right now we've only got four."

"Five."

She made a face at Jazz, "Okay, if you count Tamper five, but he's no good except in the Matrix and he sure as hell doesn't sleep, so four, smart ass. Cleo retired to Zion, she got pretty beat up over the years and she was ready to quit. Her last job was getting you out, Swipe. She's the one you met in the car, " her voice dropped to a stage whisper, "She and Jazz used to bump into each other in a naked kind of way occasionally, so her leaving has put a burr under his tail."

"Screw you, Treat," said Jazz casually, "If you hang around long enough Swipe, you'll find our little Treat can be a royal pain. Unfortunately, the Hammurabi couldn't run with out her."

Treat's grin widened, "I love being indispensable."

Jazz laughed.

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

"How long did I sleep?" Swipe asked. Treat shrugged her shoulders, then glanced at her watch.

"I'd say about 5 hours. Why?" Treat asked, not looking away from her bank of monitors.

"Nothing, really. Just something John said to me."

"What was that?" asked Jazz.

"Huh? Oh--nevermind. Treat?" Swipe asked, as he moved over to his chair.

"What?"

"Can we, ummm... Hook me up? I want to learn more." Treat looked at Swipe incredulously, wrinkling her nose slightly. Jazz leaned back and let out a low whistle.

"I think Mikey likes it," he commented, eliciting a giggle from Treat.

"Sure, Swipe, I'll hook you up. whattaya wanna learn?" Treat said, moving to Swipe's side.

"I want to know everything about fighting. Let's throw in acrobatics, gymnastics, rock-climbing, and ballet," Swipe said, matter-of-factly. Treat stopped dead in her tracks.

"Ballet? Something you haven't told us, Swipe?" she asked.

"What? It's all about perfect balance and fluidity of movement," he answered.

"Man, this kid's gonna be a killer," Jazz chuckled opening a drawer with some sort of storage disks in it. Treat proceeded to load Swipe up.

"Hey, Treat--when we're done, I want to start your hand-to-hand training programs, ok?" Treat just smiled, shaking her head.

"Sweet dreams, Swipe," she said, jacking his plug into the back of his head...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

When John Doe finally walked into the main cabin, Treat was laughing silently, completely caught up in the monitors.

"What's up?"

"Swipe's been in the chair for almost two hours, uploading every combat program we've got," said Jazz, "Treat just put him in a ballet contruct and he's bitching her out for making him dance with Vladmir Kostov instead of Irina Ivanova."

"How's he doing?"

Treat wiped her eyes, "He's one of the best I've ever run, J.D., he's quick. He does more than just fight, too, the boy can actually use his brain."

"Well then stop screwing around and put him in the Situation Contruct. Let's see how he does in a 'real life' setting. Wanna go in with him, Jazz?" It didn't sound all that much like a question.

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe was fuming inwardly at the cruel joke Treat was playing on him. When he tried to yell at her, she stated that he'd have to dance with the men in order to learn how they move, since they move differently than the women. Swipe grudgingly went along with it, until the scenery around him changed instantly. Swipe found himself standing in a deserted plaza, near a small fountain. One or two homeless were huddled near park benches beyond a hedgerow to the left.

"Treat? what the hell is this?" Swipe asked, into the air.

"Agent training," Jazz said from right behind him. Swipe turned with a start, and Jazz handed him a pistol, butt-first. "Trust me, buddy. You're gonna need this."

Swipe took the Baretta and tucked it into his belt, noticing the all-black outfit he was now wearing. He was starting to take these instantaneous changes of scenery for granted. "What's Agent training?" Swipe asked. Jazz just smiled.

"Agents are AI's. They're everywhere, and everyone. They have the unique ability to jump from person to person, as long as they're 'plugged in' as a battery. You know the old saying, 'trust no-one'? Well, take it seriously. If you're not one of us, you're potentially an Agent." Swipe looked a little confused by this. Jazz smiled again. "Don't worry, kid. You'll understand right-quick in here." Jazz clapped Swipe on the shoulder, and started walking into the plaza. Swipe followed him.

Treat began the simulation, all safety protocols engaged. John Doe reached past her shoulder, and turned them off. Treat just looked at him.

"I want to see how he does when it's real," said John, taking a seat next to her...

As Swipe followed Jazz, he noticed a flash of light off to his left. He turned to look, a little curious, when a man wearing a suit stood from the other side of the hedges. He had dark sunglasses and an earpiece on, and swiveled his head from Swipe, to Jazz, to Swipe again. Then he pulled out a gun, and aimed at Swipe. Swipe yelled, and jumped behind the fountain, bullets exploding through the concrete as Swipe pulled out his own gun. Swipe counted shots--15--then rolled out and stood, firing his gun at the Agent. He squeezed off round after round, watching with horror as the agent's torso became blurry, almost turning into four seperate torsos as he dodged past Swipe's bullets.

"JAZZ!" Swipe yelled, glancing at the other man from the corner of his eye. From what he could tell, Jazz was a little busy at the moment. Swipe gritted his teeth, then threw the now empty gun away, charging into a full sprint towards the Agent, hoping to catch him before he reloaded.

The Agent, only slightly surprised by this unusual tactic, simply dropped his gun and pulled his arm back to swing at Swipe. Swipe leapt over the hedgerow, tucking into a flip, landing behind the Agent, and punching him several times in the kidneys. The Agent spun around, knocking Swipe's hands away, and head-butted Swipe three times, causing him to stagger backwards. Swipe shook his head, and began a series of quick jabs to the Agent's head--all of which were blocked. Swipe tried mixing some kicks in, which were also blocked. Finally, the Agent grabbed Swipe's leg, slamming his elbow into the nerve-cluster above the kneecap. Swipe's leg went numb. He grunted in rebellion as the Agent swung Swipe around, flinging him at the brick building nearby.

Swipe forced his 'body' to obey him, and tucked into a spinning flip, unfolding with his feet towards the wall. He landed on it as if landing on the ground after a 10-foot drop, then used all of that energy and sprung outwards, back at the Agent. As he flew, he tucked his legs back in front again, just in time to land six kicks on the Agent's head. Swipe landed in front of the Agent, and continued to press the attack, launching technique after technique, attempting Tae-Kwon-Do, Jeet-Kun-Do, Kickboxing, Jujitsu, Shotokahn, & several others. The Agent seemed able to counter them all. Swipe decided that the fight was too even, and ran up the Agent's chest, kicking him in the head as he went, and continued back over the hedgerow, landing in a full sprint. He dove for the Agent's discarded pistol, grabbing it as he tucked into a roll, then spun about and came up facing the Agent--who was already right in front of him, ready to punch. Swipe tucked the pistol in his belt while dodging to the side with his torso, the began a series of knife-hand strikes to the Agent's chest. The Agent staggered backwards several paces, and Swipe changed his momentum slightly, now thrusting palm-heel strikes into his ribs. As he did so, he slipped a hand inside the Agent's jacket, feeling for a clip of ammunition. The Agent swung again at Swipe, who slid his left hand down along the inside of the Agent's jacket, grabbed something, and ducked away to the right.

The Agent grimaced, then started another assault on Swipe. it had never experienced such a fast fighter before. Swipe's arms moved quickly, trying to block all of the Agent's attacks, but several got through. They hurt. Swipe staggered back with the impacts, taking the time to put the newly-acquired clip into the gun from the Agent. As Swipe landed on the cobblestoned plaza, the Agent was on top of him, wrapping his hands around Swipe's neck. Swipe put the gun to the Agent's head, and fired, watching as the red mist erupted from the other side of the Agent's head. Swipe shielded his eyes as the body glowed, then transformed into one of the bums he had seen earlier. Swipe rolled the body off him, then stood up, looking for Jazz.

John Doe and Treat looked on, John Doe clicking a stopwatch as Swipe finished. "3 minutes, 25 seconds. That's one of the fastest times we've got," John said evenly.

"It's also the longest any of us have survived," added Treat in amazement. "I told ya the kid was good." John Doe just nodded...

By Who yo Daddy? (Sol) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe was breathing hard over the body. Suddenly, he felt an arm on his shoulder. He swung around instantly, with seven punches and kicks at his would-be-assailant. Tamper blocked them all with such speed that he seemed to be standing completely still. Swipe let up, breathing hard again, recognizing his shipmate now. Swipe looked up, blood on his hands as the homeless bum rotted in his arms. Swipe feigned indifference and let the body drop, then stood up.

"That's very good," said the tall man, "even Neo couldn't take out an agent on his first try. I don't believe I've formally introduced myself. You can call me Tamper."

Swipe confidently extended a hand and shook Tamper's. "Yeah, thanks for getting me into this whole mess in the first place. I'm Swipe."

"You're welcome," smiles Tamper. He has a broad grin, and his eyes almost twinkle. His body is huge, and he is dressed in military fatigues - a guacamole-green tank top and parachute pants, combat boots, and grenades on his belt. "Of course, these Agents are purely a simulation - not like the ones in the Matrix. These ones don't have any life experiences, no history. Empty." says Tamper. "I understand that you've been wolfing down the fighter templates."

"Mmmm hmm," says Swipe, "just finished with Tae-Kwon-Do and Jeet-Kun-Do. I see that you know a few moves yourself. Which ones?" asks Swipe.

"All of them," smiles Tamper, "except for ballet, that is."

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe half-smiles, then glances around, still looking for Jazz. "Do we know where Jazz is? He may need help," Swipe asked, tucking his newly-acquired pistol into his belt once more, and trotting off through the plaza in search of Jazz.

"Swipe," called Tamper, "Be careful in a crowd--Agents can be anyone." Swipe seemed to disregard him as he disappeared around a corner, onto a somewhat busy street. All that mattered to him was finding Jazz...

By Bryan (Houdini) on Unrecorded Date:

...Jazz was standing behind a large oak tree his gun cocked and in a ready position along a path not to far from the southern-most entrance to central park. He knew it was only a matter of time before another agent would be persuing him.

A wave of sadness had overtaken him. He had smoked one sim-agent already. The construct program had randomly assigned a 12 year old boy as the sim-agent's body host. Even though he knew it wasn't real, he could't shake the image of the
dead kid drowned in a pool of his own blood. Real or not, it still didn't make the image any less daunting, nor did the knowledge that he was doing this to help save the world spare him any less guilt.

Jazz swicthing to survival mode, let these thoughts float away as he reloaded his 9 MM pistol and prepared for round two...

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe jogged out into the street, looking left and right. He saw people shopping, laughing, eating at open-air cafes--generally being people. He saw a man sitting at a small table suddenly morph into the Agent Swipe had just encountered.

"What the?" Swipe muttered, just as the Agent drew his weapon and aimed it at him. Swipe ducked back around the corner, and leapt up to a fire escape ladder. He climbed as fast as he could, feeling the bullets from the Agent's gun whizzing past him and ricocheting off the iron ladder. After several seconds, he made it to the roof, and started running toward the rooftop door. Just as he got there, the door swung open, and the Agent strode through. Swipe, in full stride, tried to dive to the left, but the Agent tracked his movement and fired twice. One bullet hit Swipe in the left leg, and he fell to the rooftop.

Not willing to beleive, Swipe swept his right leg around, catching the Agent in the kneecap. With the same momentum, he swung his entire body off the rooftop and pivoted it around his own ankle, coming to rest behind and to the left of the Agent. He hadn't even realized the Agent had fired 2 more shots. Swipe knocked the Agent's gun away, and started to draw his own, but the Agent simply grabbed it and twisted. Swipe was bleeding badly from his leg-wound, and the Agent slammed his fist into the leg, causing Swipe to crumble in agony. Swipe lashed out again, trying to kick the Agent with his good leg, but the Agent took a step back, and lowered the gun to aim at Swipe.

Swipe rolled to his right, trying to roll through the rooftop doorway. Just as he got through it, he heard the gunshot. It almost felt like getting punched in the shoulder, and he continued to tumble down the access stairway. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Swipe pulled himself into a laundry chute, and let himself slide down...

Swipe landed in a heap of dirty laundry, his blood staining it even worse. He wondered exactly when this simulation would end. Then he remembered the purpose of the simulation--to test him in a real-Matrix situation. He had to find a phone. Pulling himself out of the laundry bin, he looked around. Typical sub-basement laundry room, industrial strength dryers, incomplete construction... No phones. Swipe limped down the corridor, holding his bloody left shoulder, looking for a phone or a way out. He knew the Agent was still after him, and he needed to figure out a way to beat 'it'.

As he rounded the next corner, he saw a hallway containing several vending machines, a payphone, and doors leading to restrooms. He staggered over to the phone, put it to his ear, and dialed '0'.

"Operator," came the sound of Treat's voice. Swipe was a little more than annoyed.

"Treat, would you kindly get me the hell out of here?" Swipe said irately.

"Sure thing, Swipe. Normally, this is where I'd tell you where the nearest exit point is, but since this is only a simulation, I guess I can grab you from there. Hang on..."

Swipe opened his eyes in the real world, a dull throbbing in his left shoulder and left thigh. He glanced down, pulling his shirt away, and saw a large, purple bruise on his chest. He imagined he had a similar bruise on his leg, not to mention the other various places the Agent had hit him. He closed his eyes in anger, then let Treat pull his plug.

"Well, you did good on the novice level, but when we upped the difficulty to intermediate, you choked a little. You'll do better next time," was all John Doe said before walking away from the operations center. Swipe glowered after him as Treat sat back down to tend to Jazz's program...

By Who yo Daddy? (Sol) on Unrecorded Date:

Jazz took a look to the left - an old lady pushing a shopping-cart full of soda-cans. Suddenly, she began to change - Jazz took his gun and hauled it around to point at her - as the old lady fizzled in and out, he fired. The bullet sailed right at her, but the old woman dove away in mid-change, hitting the cement with her hands and going immediately into a roll.

Jazz aimed again, but it was Tamper, holding out his two massive hands in a fan pattern saying, "easy, easy!"

"You know," said Jazz, "I'll never get used to you doing that."

"The simulation is over. Swipe failed to complete it."

"I see."

You go ahead. I think I'm going to stay in here for a little while... ask Treat to give me five, okay?" Tamper took off the backpack and let it slide down into his hand.

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe sat up feeling a little ragged, "Some exercise," he muttered feelingly. He looked over at Jazz as the other man opened his eyes, "You okay?"

Jazz smiled, but it seemed to be lacking something, "I'm always okay, partner, " he stood and stretched, then he left without further comment.

"I'm gonna give you some of advice, Swipe," began Treat quietly as she turned to face him, "You are quick and you're smart, but I don't want you to get the idea you can pull razzle-dazzle stunts like that off every time. Once an Agent sees a move ALL the Agents know that move and will have 7,002 counter moves up their sleeves," she met his eyes trying to see if he was paying attention, "Plus, this was, to put it bluntly, a beginner program. There is NEVER just one Agent. Three to five is normal, but anyone around you in the Matrix is a potential Agent. I'm gonna tell you how to take your best shot at survival; run. Get the hell away from then, from there I'll get you out. You're all my boys and it's up to me to keep you alive. A little fear is a healthy thing and there's too few of us freebies now anyway so any death really pisses me off."

Swipe stood and looked down at the tiny woman. The top of her head was level with his breast bone, funny she didn't strike him as being that small, "I had backup, didn’t I," he said reasonably, "Jazz and Tamper…"

She shook her head emphatically, "They're both just as vulnerable in the Matrix. If you guys die in there you die here," she gestured at the chair behind him, "And Tamper; what do you think the Matrix would do to it if it discovered and isolated a rogue AI program running? Tamper would be one seriously crashed little program, that's for sure, and that's AI death. Hell, I could seriously wrack it up if I wanted too. Tamper's just a pile of code and that stuff's my bread and butter. I my be little out here, buddy, but in there, I'm a goddess."

Swipe frowned, "I thought you were resistance and that the resistance was out to free the humans."

"We are, but we don't go about it by Agent hunting. We try to be a little less noticeable than that, it adds years to our life spans. Trust me, your best option is to run from them, only fight them if you have no choice."

She sat back down and dedicated few seconds to her monitors, "You're a good guy, Swipe," she said looking around again "You're really talented. I tagged you about the second week you were at your 'job' in the Matrix. Very clever, very slick. But see, there was a guy called Tux who used to crew with us. He was real fast, too, only about fourteen functioning brain cells, but a real slickster. I couldn't even count the number of bullets the Agents wound up pumping into him. And they just kept shooting even after he was nothing but a bloody rag, no resemblance to anything human at all. I watched it all and couldn't get to him," she blinked rapidly and looked back to the monitors briefly before continuing, "You cannot dodge bullets, my friend, don’t make the mistake of thinking you can.”

Swipe swallowed, his anger forgotten. Her solemnity impressed him, as John Doe had not.

“Treat?” he said at last, gazing over her shoulder at the Matrix stream, “If Cleo was the retiree, and this Tux was the death that John mentioned, who was the convelescent?”

She slid a glance at him and regarded him out of the corner of her eye, “John Doe. He very nearly got to Tux in time, but there’s always more agents in the woodwork,” she said without elaboration, “See, losing just isn’t in J.D.'s vocabulary."

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe dropped his gaze, then took the empty seat next to Treat. He glanced from monitor to monitor, a confused expression on his face.

"What do you see?" he asked Treat quietly. She regarded him for a moment, then shrugged a little.

"This one's a regular office-complex. I'm scoping out recruits," she said pointing to one monitor of streaming code. "This one's the mall. They're really all just standard monitors, really. It's like a closed-circuit surveillance system, only it isn't closed-circuit."

Swipe nodded slowly, then spoke softly once again. "Could you translate the code back into images?" Treat turned suddenly to look at him--he had a completely sincere expression, his grey eyes reflecting the green code as it streamed by.

"I guess you could--but it would take a hell of a long time to do. Plus, this is 3-dimensional data, and the montiors wouldn't be able to handle the depth translations," Treat reasoned.

Swipe spoke again, purpose in his voice. "Have you ever tried?" Treat shook her head slowly. Swipe smiled. "Let me give it a try. Of course, you'll have to show me what the source-code means, but once that's done with, I could probably compile something to handle a translation." Treat just stared at him in amazement, slowly shaking her head...

By Bryan (Houdini) on Unrecorded Date:

"You better do some fast talking Swipe. I don't think treat is buying into it. " Jazz said with a smile.

By 21st Century (Houdini) on Unrecorded Date:

"In time you will get used to the code. I don't even see the code anymore. All I see is blond, brunette, red head." Jazz added with a smile.

By Who yo Daddy? (Sol) on Unrecorded Date:

The Tamper robot comes up to the monitor, hobbling on its two peg-like legs - the only sound is the fan-like buzz from its drumlike chest. It moves its head left, then right, and pushes its input jack toward the console as Treat, Jazz, and Swipe watch. It moves its vice-like hand toward the port, missing it by four inches. Patiently, Tamper retracts his hand and tries again, this time missing the port by five inches.

"Piece of robot junk," says John, then chuckles to himself. Treat shrugs with a half-grin and Tamper turns its head toward John as if silently watching him with his eyeless face. Tamper slowly moves the jack to the console, pressing the metal connector against it, then starts running the jack back and forth across the surface, back and forth, back and forth, left, down, right, down, left, down, slowly mapping the surface a centimeter at a time. Jazz rolls his eyes, takes the jack from Tamper, and plugs it in.

Where Treat is sitting, one of the screens begins to transform from streaming green characters to a visual of a New York city street. It wavers momentarilly.

"I know that place," says Swipe excitedly, "It's the Java Hut on 5th."

"Terrible," says Treat, "this is just a 2D image. I can't see anything about these people, no information on the strength of these structures, ages of these people or energy readings. How am I supposed to use this?"

Tamper seems to twitch its head, and the image changes, first going to wireframe, then spins on its axis. The objects all seem to go abstract, the green wireframe becoming merged with red, blue, and gold. Horizontal and vertical lines appear, numbers and letters, and the image seems to jump back and forth between one overlay and another almost continuously. Little red circles move through the abstraction, pulsing as hearts would beat.

"That's worse than just reading the code!" says Jazz, trying to understand what the visuals mean. As the speed of the images increased, Treat pulls out the plug causing Tamper to step backward and shake its head.

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Treat pulled a grusome face, "Go away, boys. My toys are not your toys. No body screws with Treat's consoles. Now, scram," she said waving them away and casually pushing Tamper aside.

She turned her back on them decidedly and resolutely studied her screens ignoring them completely until they skulked away, each in his own style.

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe was sitting on the bunk in the rather grim cabin that he now called home, feeling a little homesick anyway. He knew he ought to get some sleep, but he also knew he wouldn’t be able to. He wasn’t sure how long he had slept but he knew it probably wasn’t enough considering what he’d been through recently. On the other hand, he could say that he’d spent most of his life asleep and ought to catch up on his wake time.

There was a sharp rap then the door opened and Treat’s pert little face peeked in, “Hey. You want some company?”

Swipe shrugged and opened his mouth to answer but she was all ready inside dragging equipment behind her. She plugged in jacks, set up a monitor, and patched cord every where, all the while whistling tunelessly to herself. Finally she plopped down on the bunk next to Swipe so close that she was practically in his pocket.

“Okay, this is the readout,” she said turning on the monitor, “This is a tape though not a continuous stream so you can get some practice. This is set up on a repeating seven minute loop so you can get used to reading code.”

She handed him a sheet of flimsy, “Read this, it’ll tell you how. I wrote it myself. If you have questions ask. If you want to F it up with 3D after you know how to do it my way, you can try that with this too.”

Swipe drew back a little and looked at her a moment, “Who’s driving?”

She crossed her eyes at him and snorted, “Is that all you think I do? I’m off shift, ya dink, J.D. is watching things. When you are no longer illiterate, you’ll take a turn, too. Everybody does…except Tamper.”

Why what’s up with Tamper?”

Treat slid an incredulous glance at him, “We always double with Tamper because he’s an AI. We also fight against AIs. Does it sound to you like Tamper might get the keys to the city any time soon? He’s an experiment – a really stupid one probably – but it’s a case of turn their own against them, I guess.”

“Oh,” Swipe sighed, “What do you guys do for fun?” he asked almost forlornly.

Treat sat back and looked at him for a moment, she patted his knee sympathetically, “We take a trip to Zion.”

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe nodded and did with this new project what he did with most things in life--he dove in with both feet. Treat actually fell asleep on the bunk, curled up in a little ball, while Swipe lost all track of time. Finally, after what actually was 9 hours--but only seemed like 2 to Swipe--J.D. stepped through the door and turned on the lights in the small cabin. Swipe looked up at him, and Treat stirred from her nap. J.D. wore no expression, and only spoke one phrase before leaving the room once again.

"Time to start Day Two..."

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe stood in the now-familiar whiteness of The Construct, waiting for Treat's disembodied voice to give him a go-ahead. When he heard it, he nodded grimly.

"Set me up with an Agent Program. Make it as difficult as you want," Swipe said into the nothingness. In an instant, he found himself bound and gagged, sitting on a steel chair in a small, bleak interrogation room. An Agent sat across a small table from him, and two more stood menacingly on either side of the only visible door. Swipe wondered why he'd been gagged if this was, indeed, an interrogation. It was then that he noticed the electrodes placed on his temples and chest, then figured out it was some sort of polygraph-esque type test.

The Agent leaned forward, failing at an attempt to smile, and looked threateningly at Swipe. "Did you hear what I said, Mr. Logan?" the Agent asked slowly. Swipe just looked at him.

The Agent leaned back smugly, again trying a smile. "I said, Mr. Logan, that you are in quite a great deal of trouble. I would be fully within my rights to kill you right here." Upon saying this, the Agent pulled out a gun and levelled it at Swipe's head. Swipe reacted. He did not think about it, he just reacted...

Swipe pushed back with his legs, flipping himself and the chair onto the floor, backwards, while at the same time catching his feet on the bottom of the metal table. The Agent staggered to his feet from his chair, while the other two Agents pulled out their guns. Swipe launched the table up and out, planting it firmly in the lead Agent's chest, causing him to stumble backwards, into his comrades. This gave Swipe enough time to tuck his legs over himself, bringing them to the wall behind him. He pulled against the ropes tying him to the chair, while at the same time pushing off the wall with his feet. To his satisfaction, the back of the chair broke free, and the ropes fell loosely about him.

The Agents, now nearly fully recovered after Swipe's surprise attack, began to take aim at the prone figure. Swipe decided that laying on the floor at a time like this would be unhealthy, and so kicked his feet back over his body, springing himself into a standing position, then diving to his left as the first shots were fired. He planted his hands on the ground, grabbing the broken steel chair-leg as he cart-wheeled to the left, launching the leg like a dagger as he started coming out of the maneuver.

The Agent dodged his head to the left and watched the thrown weapon sail harmlessly past his head, then turned his attention back at Swipe, who was now running toward him --on the wall. In the next stride, Swipe kicked the Agent in the side of the head, causing it to snap to the side and stagger into the middle Agent. Swipe continued running, letting his next stride break through the door. He dove through, tucking into a somersault on the opposite wall of the hallway outside, coming out of that technique and into a full sprint (on the floor). He felt more than heard the bullets as they whizzed past him, and he finally made it to a corner where he could get away.

The Chase was on...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe ran down an alley and stopped, pressing himself up against the wall. He quickly assessed his situation. He had one pair of trousers, pockets empty; one dirty white shirt, all the buttons missing; no socks, no shoes, no weapon, no phone. Well, he had said to make it difficult.

He rolled up his shirt sleeves and scanned the alley. He scooped up a three foot legth of chain for lack of a better weapon, and darted to the far end of the alley.

The street was sparsley populated. A few women in business suits and sneakers, a hot dog vendor, a cop on a horse, a bum hunkered down in a doorway with a bottle hidden between his knees. Nobody in a black suit...yet.

He glanced behind him but saw no pursuit. That had him really nervous. He couldn't have been that hard to follow, was he that quick? Or were they laying an ambush? He needed a better weapon, or at least a phone, he thought remebering Treat's advice. He stepped out into the street as he tucked in his shirt, perhaps the fact that it was gaping open wouldn't be so obvious that way. He started walking purposefully toward the corner.

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe strode past a woman in a business suit, and grabbed her purse from her, walking purposefully up to the mounted cop. Swipe rifled through the contents of the purse as he walked, finding a cell-phone. He dropped the purse, arriving next to the mounted cop just as he turned to regard the woman yelling 'THIEF!' Swipe simply reached up and pulled the cop's pistol out of its holster, then placed it against the cop's chest. The cop, surpriesed, started to say something into his radio--and that's when the blue-green energy started racing over his form. Swipe didn't wait for the Agent to arrive. He pulled the trigger, then turned and aimed at the woman whose purse he'd taken. She was now an Agent, as well. Swipe fired three shots at the new Agent, causing him to duck away and dodge the shots.

Swipe ran again, ignoring the pain as he padded over the rough pavement and concrete of the sidewalk. He ducked into an indian restaurant, and ran straight into the back, heading for the kitchen. He opened the cell-phone, and dialed '0'.

"Treat, are you trying to kill me?" he panted into the phone as he ran.

"You wanted it difficult. So I made it difficult. This isn't a shoot-em-up, Swipe. You have a mission to complete. You have to rescue somebody from the Agents," Treat answered.

"What? I thought I was escaping!" Swipe dove over a counter to avoid the hail of bullets from the pursuing Agent.

"You're doing fine, Swipe. Follow my lead, and I'll get you to a safe area. Go out the back door," Treat said purposefully.

"Thanks, Einstein. That's where I was heading."

"Well hurry up, because they're about to try and cut you off," Treat snapped back. She liked the kid, but if he started giving her lip, she'd make his life miserable...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

"Turn left at the end of the alley."

That seemed a lot like he was headed right back out to where he came from, "Are you sure?"

There was a long puse and Swipe could practically feel the ice form over the phone, "Okay, left," he said.

The alley looked like it had been laid out like a drunken maze. Buildings of differing sizes butted into at different intervals, by the time he made the end he was no where near where he had been and gratefully turned left.

It looked like he was heading into China Town, but it wasn't New York, he knew New York. In the long run he guessed it didn't matter since no city really existed anymore anyway.

"Where now, Treat?"

"Four doors down on your left. Go inside. It's a yellow brick building."

Swipe did as he was told.

"Second floor," instructed Treat, "Third door on the right."

Swipe mounted the filthy staircase and began climbing.

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

There was a boney cat glaring at him from the second floor landing. Swipe wondered if agents could be cats. He hissed at the creature and succeeded only in causing the cat's tail to lash violently and it's eyes to narrow. He walked gingerly down the corridor, there was no one in sight but he could hear the crying of a baby behind one of the doors. He counted doors and paused outside the third. There was no noise from within, he realized he was still gripping the phone to his ear.

"I'm here," he whispered.

"Should be clear. Go on in."

Should be? Wasn't this her construct? She was really jerking his chain on this one. Swipe decided Treat would have made a good drill sergeant.

He thought a moment about trying to kick in the door while barefoot, then reached down suddenly and gently turned the knob. It was unlocked. Ha, ha, Treat.

He allowed the door to swing open and took a quick look in to the dusty room. It appeared empty of life. There was a broken down chair and a sofa in even worse shape covered in worn brown tweed and unidentifiable stains. A threadbare carpet that may once have been green and a formica table with two vinyl covered chairs against the window. There was also a closed door kitty corner to the front door.

Swipe took a breath and gave the room another once over before entering, then nearly jumped out of his skin when something brushed past him. The boney cat preceded him into the room, then turned to glare at him. Swipe shook his head, damn cat. Then he moved quietly toward the closed door.

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

As Swipe tried the knob on the inner door, he thought about his bare feet. He was going to need some shoes really soon. As the inner door swung open, he took stock of the new room--no windows, just a small round table in the center of the room with an old, dial-phone set upon it. On the left wall was a stack of ballistic crates. Swipe liked the way this seemed to be going.

"This is your exit point. Remember it. In the Matrix, Agents can trace our cell-phone transmissions, so normally, we won't use extended calls like this. Of course, if they're already following you--" Treat instructed over the cell-phone. "Now, gear up. Your escape was only phase one. You'll find a map, a dossier on your target, and some light intelligence on the security of where he's held. The rest is up to you. When I hang up this phone, the simulation will be fully active. Don't screw up." Treat hung up.

Swipe sighed, then started going through the crates. Black pants, black shirt, black long-coat, leather weapon harness, 2 .45-caliber automatic pistols, an MP-5 with a silencer, and black tanker's boots. He opened a second crate, and found a black nylon shoulder-satchel (very heavy-duty material) with the documents Treat had mentioned, extra ammunition for the weapons, and a pair of black Gargoyles shades. Swipe was ready...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

He read the information through quickly before he left the apartment. The glance at the map told him his destination was twenty or twenty five blocks away, he'd grab the bus at the corner - it wasn't likely to be a cab friendly neighborhood around here from what he saw.

He left the apartment and passed up the first bus stop in favor of the one three blocks down, he did not seem to have picked up a tail.

Forsythe Etsell Hospital was his destination, visiting hours were from one to three, he had fifty two minutes if he wanted to make it in during that time. His target was Felix Sandoval, a patient diagnosed with delusional paranoia and schizophrenia, nice catch-all diagnosis, thought Swipe.

The bus stopped belched noxious fumes and Swipe jumped aboard and grabbed a strap, the bus was pretty full - about three quarters - he hoped like hell no agents would appear before he got to the hospital, the hospital would be bad enough.

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

"What are you supposed to be--some kind of secret agent?" a cratchety old man said, as he gazed disapprovingly at Swipe's black outfit. Swipe half-smiled before responding to the chubby old guy.

"I'm an undertaker," he said as the bus made its next stop. Swipe checked the street signs and noted that he still had 5 blocks to go. He was pushing his luck by staying on this crowded bus--but he'd be pushing his luck if he struck off on his own down the streets. If he took one wrong move, there would be the potential of a bus-load of Agents to defeat. Knowing Treat, she'd probably send them all at him at once.

The old guy nodded, rolling his eyes as he returned to his newspaper. Swipe was grateful that the worst he was getting was concerned looks from some of the more conservative passengers. The bus stopped again, and Swipe checked the streets. He was here.

He strode purposefully into the main entrance of the hospital, right past the nurse's station. She never glanced up from her paperwork. He walked over to a large, color-coded directory posted on the wall, and found the psychiatric ward. It was 6 floors up, coded in a pleasantly nauseating orange. Swipe found the main elevators, and punched 6, 7, & 8. He glanced up and saw the surveillance camera embedded in the ceiling, and smiled.

When the doors opened on 6, Swipe got off, and headed for the opposite stairwell, again right past a nurse's station. There were still 42 minutes of visiting hours left, so they didn't pay him much notice. He walked up to the 7th floor, and looked in through the wire-meshed glass of the stairwell door. Nothing special, just a hospital. He decided to walk through, and look for Felix's room. Funny, Treat's documents didn't show what room he was actually in. Swipe knew there'd be a catch. He walked up to the main nurse's station, looked down at the sign-in clip-board, and started reading.

"Can I help you?" asked the nurse, without so much as lifting her head from her desk-work.

"I'm looking for Felix Sandoval," Swipe said, gripping one of his pistols beneath the long-coat. An interminable moment of silence lingered before the nurse replied.

"Let me check," she said as she typed on her computer...

By Bryan Cummings (Houdini) on Unrecorded Date:

"Here we go. He's in room 23D. Before you can
see him, it says here that I'll have to see your ID."

"Umm.. my ID?" Swipe asked.

"I'll have to see some ID sir. A valid New York State drivers licence, Non-Driver ID, or Sherif's ID card. Only registered friends and family are permitted to see Mr. Sandoval. Normally we do accept walk-ins, but he's a special case. Sorry about the trouble Sir."

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

"ID. Right. Hang on a second, I got it right here," Swipe said quietly, as he pulled out his wallet and slowly flipped it open. The nurse craned her neck forward--ever so slightly--and Swipe made his move. He swung his other hand (the one on the pistol) around in a swift arc, catching the nurse squarely on the temple with the butt of the gun. Without so much as a moan, the nurse collapsed face-forward on the desk, out like a light. Swipe returned the pistol to its holster near the rear of his right hip, and smoothly made his way to 23D. It wouldn't be long now, before Agents started appearing.

The 2 uniformed cops sat outside the mostly glass room, one reading the sports section and the other contemplating a doughnut and a styrofoam cup. A guy in a dark suit was sitting next to the bed, and fully 3 nurses were at the station immediately outside the room. Swipe thought of his options. He could go upstairs, outside, and then in through the window--risky, time-consuming, and semi-sneaky, or he could go in through the front door, facing each obstacle as it appeared--risky, fast, and obvious.

Swipe chose speed over stealth, and walked up to the 2 cops.

"Can't go in yet--police investigation," said doughnut-cop, starting to look up. Swipe already had one gun on each cops' temple. They didn't even have a chance to scream. Swipe ducked into the room, staying below the glassed-in level, knowing the nurses would look towards the gunshot. As he rolled into the room, the dark-suited man slowly turned--Swipe wasted no time in emptying his clips at the guy, whose body erupted with tiny gouts of red mist where the bullets tore through.

Once that guy was down, Swipe put the pistols in his satchel, then pulled out the MP5. He peeked over the bottom edge of the glass section, and saw fully 5 burly hospital attendants barrelling towards the room. Swipe used even, controlled bursts to dispatch them. Seeing that the coast was clear (for now), he turned to Felix, who appeared to be delusional, and started unhooking him from the nearby monitors.

"Wh-Who are y-y-you?" Felix stuttered, speaking with a hysterical chuckle.

"Don't worry, Felix. I'm just a figment of your Imagination," Swipe said, hefting Felix over his shoulder and kicking through the outside window to the ledge beyond. He had to keep Treat guessing, after all...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

At her station Treat grinned, the old out the window ploy, eh, Swipe? She nodded. Nice, unexpected, but six floors up with a heavily drugged man...maybe a bad choice, then again maybe a good one. Depended on how he played it out.

Her grin turn just the slightest bit malicious and she cued up the Agents.

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe glanced to either side, looking for a fire escape or some other such device nearby. No luck. Damn. There was, however, a storm-drain running down the building one window over, and one window beyond that were a series of balconies (obviously private rooms). Swipe glanced back into the now vacant room, just in time to see the backup for the first cops emerging from the end of the hallway. Swipe grabbed Felix by the ankle with his left hand, and let him hang down over the edge of the narrow ledge, and used his right hand to counter-balance as much as he could. Then Swipe began to run along the ledge, towards the balconies. When he got to the storm-drain, he grabbed it with his right hand, then stepped off the ledge...

The storm-drain pulled free from the brick-work, and slowly bent down towards the street below. As the stress on the old gutter grew, the buckles which held it to the wall snapped, progressively lower as Swipe swung further out. Finally, the gutter broke, just as Swipe and Felix were nearly across the street, just a few feet above an old canvas awning. Swipe felt the pipe give, and quickly hurled Felix up with all of his strength, then rotated so when they landed, Felix was cushioned by Swipe's body--as well as the awning, and the stack of fresh oranges underneath it.

Now, Swipe had to cover 24 blocks with a drugged, delusional man in a hospital gown, who was laughing hysterically and singing "WHEE!" Oh, but Treat had a sense of humor...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe saw an Agent swing over one of the balconies and start spidering down to the street, while another one opened up from Sandoval's window with an automatic rifle. He shoved his giggling charge into the produce market and made for the back door. Sandoval slowed him down considerable by wanting to stop and sniff every produce display they passed. As Swipe ran he saw the bulky Indian clerk's sari begin to change into a dark suit. He opened up on the newly arrived Agent even before it could draw it's weapon. He hit it, he was sure but didn't hang around to find out how bad.

The two men burst out the back door, Swipe scanning the area desperately for transportation, Sandoval singing snippets from TV theme songs. Swipe ran for the corner, pushing Sandoval ahead of him. He kept a wary out behind for the produce market Agent, while trying to gauge whether or not the acrobatic Agent could have gotten ahead of him. He hit the corner and slammed Sandoval up against the wall, pinning him with one arm while he snatched a look around the wall. One Agent was just rounding the street side corner. Swipe loosed a hail of bullets, and the Agent dove for cover. Swipe reached for Sandoval, glancing at the man before making a dash for it. He was momentarily riveted with horror as he saw the wash of energy that preceded the arrival of Agents course over Sandoval….

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe knew that killing the Agent meant killing Sandoval--but if he could knock the Agent unconscious, Sandoval would probably revert to his "true" self. It was worth a shot--hell it was his only shot. Without another thought, Swipe executed a perfect knife-hand strike to the throat of the morphing figure before him. Then, he picked up a brick and slammed it against the temple of the Agent-to-be: once, twice, three times... Finally, after the fourth blow and a disturbing cracking sound, The energy flow subsided, and Sandoval collapsed to the ground.

The Agent from the street had just managed to round the corner, and Swipe knew he was coming. The Agent stepped around the corner, stopping as its chest touched the muzzle of Swipe's MP5. Swipe squeezed the trigger back, watching with morbid glee as the Agent staggered backwards in the hail of bullets, finally falling in the street, right in front of an oncoming dump-truck.

Swipe scooped up Sandoval's limp form, and started running back downtown. He knew the Agents were looking for him now--he'd already iced 2 hosts, and disabled a third. He'd only actually seen 2 Agents, but he wasn't sure if that was an accurate count. Swipe wondered if he should use the cell-phone and look for an alternate exit-point, but he figured Treat would just have way too much fun with that. Swipe checked his ammo as he ran, with Sandoval draped over his shoulders. He dropped the empty clips from his pistols, slamming new ones into place before returning the weapons to their holsters. He took the clip from the MP5 and flipped it over, slapping the second clip in (which he had taped, upside-down, to the first). he now had 75 rounds between 3 guns, and he still wasn't so sure if he'd make it through this test.

As he rounded the next corner, he spied a haughty-looking guy getting into a Porsche 911 convertible, its top already down. Without wasting a moment, Swipe tossed Sandoval into the back seat, leaping into the passenger seat himself.

"What the-" the driver started saying, just as Swipe grabbed him by the face and pushed him out the still-open driver's side door. Swipe slid over, turned the key in the ignition, and spun the wheels out as he drove toward the exit point.

"Thank you, Treat," Swipe said aloud as he sped down the city street, loving the feel of this car as it responded to his every command...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe zipped around the corner - right on red - and punched the accelerator. Sandoval was bleeding ominously out one ear and from his nose. Swipe shifted into fifth and reveled in the machine's response. He heard sirens in the distance an assumed the cops were after him, so it was with surprise that he screeched to a halt at the next light as a fire department ladder truck ran the red from the cross street and pulled out in front of him.

He clenched his teeth, and looked around for an alternate route. More fire trucks blocked everything to the right, traffic jamming both lanes to the left as police arrived with barricades, ambulances coming in from behind blocking the other lane as traffic built up behind him. The sidewalks were crowded and getting more so as the rubber neckers arrived. He had to say to make difficult, didn't he.

Half a block ahead he could see black smoke billowing out of an older stone building. Crap! He swiveled again, loathe to abandon the car, but saw no other option. He climbed out and hauled Sandoval out and draped the man's arm across his shoulders. He stole the car owner's trench coat which was lying on the passenger seat, and threw it around Sandoval's limp form. He started moving, his left arm supporting the unconscious man. Now the only question was whether he should go a couple blocks out of his way to avoid the crow, or use the crowd - they couldn't ALL turn into agents...could they?

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe decided it would be better to be less of a public spectacle, and headed to the right, searching for a subway station. There had to be some sort of mass transit--even if it was only a construct simulation. He traversed the first block, turned left, and started heading downtown again, when he saw a subway entrance. The going was slower than he would have liked, but at least he wasn't surrounded by hordes of people. He knew the Agents would be searching for him, so he tried to remain as inconspicous as possible. Every puzzled glance he got from a stranger sent shivers up his spine.

Oddly enough, Swipe got to the subway terminal without incident. He checked for security and, finding none, promptly hopped the turnstile after sliding Sandoval over it. He headed down to the platform, mentally repeating the street name of his exit point as he checked the stops for the lines. F-line stopped where he needed to go, but it was a local. That meant crowds and lengthiness. Damn. It was his only option, though, so he took it...

The train pulled in, and Swipe got on, setting Sandoval on a recently-vacated seat and grabbing a strap right above him. He scanned the other passengers, noting that the car was only half-full, thankfully. And, in typical subway-passenger style, everybody was consciously ignoring everybody else, while at the same time remaining wary of everyone in the car. Swipe counted the seconds as the train sped downtown, just waiting for an Agent to appear.

Swipe's worries were realized after 3 stops--one more stop would be Swipe's. Treat was really playing with him now...

A rough-looking guy got on at this stop, being boisterous and swearing at nobody, and everybody. Swipe smelled trouble as he gave the guy a once-over.

"What the f#ck YOU lookin at?" the guy shouted abusively, walking right up into Swipe's face. Swipe just smiled, shaking his head.

"What the f#ck's so FUNNY, b!tch?" the guy said, now only inches from Swipe, who just continued to smile. "HEY! You DEAF or sumthin, punk? I'm talkin to YOU, mothaf#ckah!" the guy said, shoving Swipe with both hands.

Swipe grabbed the guy's wrists as they made contact with his shoulders, pulling down on them harshly, while at the same time bringing his right foot up into a front kick. The result was the guy's chest meeting Swipe's foot, sending his body backwards in mid-air, while Swipe still held his wrists. He waited for the guy to be fully face-down, then swung his torso against an upright pole, watching as the guy's midsection wrapped around the pole, and he screamed in pain. Swipe let go. The guy crumpled on the floor, wailing in agony--and that's when the concerned old lady at the other end of the car turned into an Agent, and stood up, levelling a gun at Swipe.

The train was in motion, heading for Swipe's stop, and the doors between the cars were locked. In other words, Swipe was trapped until the train got to where it was going...

He had to tell Treat to make it difficult...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

The Agent fired as Swipe lept in the air. There wasn't a whole lot of manuevering room in the car. The fusilade missed him, and he returned fire even as he was falling to the floor once more. His right foot landed on the punk's midsection. Peripherally Swipe thought it would be enough to put the punk over the edge in to helplessless, and was surprised to feel his leg grabbed.

Without thinking he scissored his legs and kicked the newly emerged Agent in the face, throwing off it's aim - instead of firing directly into Swipe's groin, most of the bullets missed entirely and only one punched through Swipe's thigh. Unfortunately one also passed through Sandoval's leg.

Swipe ran at the Agent at the end of the car, skipping from floor to wall, trying to keep their aim off, he emptied one of the pistols into the Agent until all that was left was a very dead old lady. Swipe hit the floor spinning to face to other Agent which was just gaining it's feet. Swipe fired at it, trying to keep it's attention off Sandoval. It charged him, and Swipe had just enough time to see the second Agent return in the body of a pimply teenager who'd been sitting across from where Sandoval was slumped.

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

'Damn!' thought Swipe, 'two Agents is too many!' Swipe placed the muzzle of the second pistol on the forehead of the still-transforming Agent, and squeezed off a round. The glass behind the kid's head shattered, with blood and brains dripping off what remained of it. The first Agent was on top of Swipe now, and Swipe had to concentrate on the fight at hand.

The Agent knocked Swipe's gun away, and it skittered across the floor, stopping at Sandoval's feet. Swipe tried a counter, but the Agent blocked, then punched Swipe in the ribs, knocking him back several steps, into an upright pole. Swipe grabbed the pole with both hands, and swung his body around it, using the force to kick his feet up and out, catching the Agent in the chest and face on his return trip around the pole. The Agent staggered back a step, and Swipe planted his feet, executing a perfect spinning roundhouse to the Agent's jaw. The Agent's head snapped to the side, and his glasses flew off. Swipe pressed the attack, launching several punches to the Agent's head and chest, finally pressing the Agent back to the automatic doors. Swipe heard what sounded like electrical discharge from somewhere else in the car, and he glanced for just an instant to see the fat man (who had been sitting near the old lady) transforming into the second Agent. That instant was all it took.

The first Agent launched an offensive, catching Swipe slightly off guard, and sending him flying back on another upright pole. Swipe grabbed two hand-straps above him, and launched his legs forward, clapping his heels together on the first Agent's ears, then kicked outwards towards the Agent's face, sending the back of his head crashing through the glass of the automatic doors.

The second Agent, now fully formed, pulled out a gun and started firing at Swipe, who launched himself off the hold-handles, beginning an acrobatic sequence between two of the upright bars--hoping against hope that it would be enough to draw off the Agent's aim. He spun around one upright, bringing his feet up and hooking them into a set of handles, then swung his upper body down and around, grabbing the first Agent's heels and pulling. The first Agent fell backwards, his feet being drawn up by Swipe, who let his feet fall to the floor as he launched the first Agent at the second. Swipe charged them immediately, hoping to catch them off guard.

He kicked the first Agent in the head, sending him staggering back against the between-car door, and punched the second Agent several times in the head and chest as he re-planted his feet in a stance. There were still 5 people looking on in amazement, and Swipe knew that even if he defeated these 2 Agents, there were 5 more hosts from which they could choose.

Swipe did a backwards hand-spring, landing next to Sandoval, and grasped his MP5. The two Agents were near to fully recovered, and were also retrieving weapons. Swipe took the initiative, and squeezed the trigger back, letting the hail of bullets plow into the second Agent, forcing the first to dodge behind the row of seats. Swipe continued his sweep of the car, spraying the other passengers with bullets, thereby eliminating other potential Agents. When his ammunition was gone, the train-car was a bloody, slippery, gory mess, and he still had one more Agent to worry about--not to mention whatever nearby cars may have had passengers. Swipe dropped the MP5 back in his bag, and readied himself for round three of the fight with Agent number one, who was an abusive gutterpunk up until nearly 2 minutes ago. Swipe still had a good 5 minutes of ride-time before the train got to his stop...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

The Agent reached up and pulled the emergency cord. Unlike the movies it took a little while for the breaks to engage, but when they did Swipe was braced for it, crouching as the Agent rushed him. The train's sudden deceleration threw the inert Sandoval into Swipe, throwing off his aim, and the Agent tackled him. Swipe found him self leaning painfully backward out the broken window, trying to gain purchase in the puddles of gore that were scattered like mines across the interior of the car.

He could not just flip out the window a leave Sandoval, he'd have to take down the Agent first to get to his rescuee. He tried to bring the gun to bear on the Agent's ear, but the thing moved like a snake. Twice it slammed it's forehead into Swipe's unprotected face, but it was in a situation where it couldn't let go to press it's attack because that would give Swipe the opening he needed, too.

Swipe wiggled enough to gain some range of movement on his left leg and slammed his foot into the Agent's knee. The Agent retaliated by head butting Swipe again. The two echanged similar blows several more time making no progress, until the train lurched about three feet. The Agent lost his purchase and Swipe swung the muzzle of his weapon to bear and fired point blank into the Agent's face.

Before the body even hit the floor, Swipe was hauling Sandoval through the broken window and into the black tunnel.

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

He threw Sandoval across his shoulders in a fireman's carry and started jogging down the tunnel, hoping to outdistance any pursuers before they got their feet under them. He should have known better. He heard one of the brakemen yelling at him - what the hell did he think he was doing - and knew it was only a matter of seconds before an Agent took over. He poured on some speed, then the gun fire started.

He felt the thumps as the bullets found them, striking a line across Sandoval's exposed back - Sandoval's labored breathing faltered and stopped, a gush of warm blood washed over Swipe's shoulder. Swipe cursed and allowed the corpse to slide to the tunnel floor. He didn't have time to spare for second guessing himself, he still had to make it to the exit point without getting 'killed' himself, but he still wished he knew how he could have done it better.

He sprinted down the tunnel, running up on the sides, hoping to lose them in the dark. He saw the light from a platform up ahead and made for it full out. The firing behind him had stopped. The Agent was either busy running or busy getting ahead of him.

He exploded into the light and bounded on to the sparsely populated platform. He had his weapons out in anticipation of a flanking movement. An old and withered nun waiting for her train suddenly sported a black suit and sunglasses and started firing at him through the crowd. Swipe took a snap shot as he dove for the stairs going up, pelting up them three at a time. He just wanted this to be over.

He hit the street, he was only about three blocks from his destination. He clubbed a man in spandex and knocked him from his bicycle as the fellow stopped to adjust his crotch. Swipe jumped on the bike. The Agent hit the street and Swipe fired into it knocking it back down the dark stairwell, and Swipe turned and moved, pushing the bike to top speed by the time he turned the corner.

He rode the bike straight into his building and hit the bottom stair, he allowed himself to fly over the handle bars, tucking and rolling in mid air. He made a three point landing half way up the stairs, and ran the rest of the way to the exit point. He nearly tripped over the boney cat that was still trapped in the room, and very nearly shot it out of reflex. He picked up the phone and Treat's calm voice said, "Operator."

"Get me out of this."

He opened his eyes to the dimmer light of the Hammurabi and sat up frowning, "Complete FUBAR."

Treat shook her head, "No. This construct was a test of how you think in there. You did better than most. The only one to 'successfully' complete this test was John Doe. You know why?"

Swipe shook his head, not really caring, knowing only that he had not been 'successful'.

"Because," continued Treat relentlessly, "He never believed what the Matrix offered in the first place. You did. Jazz bought it, too. So did Cleo. So did Morpheus, Trinity, and even Neo. They all had to be taught to think differently, and so do you. It wasn't that Sandoval you were trying to rescue, it was the REAL one."

Swipe looked at her sharply, knowledge dawning, "He was just the Matrix version, then. A construct himself," he said.

Treat nodded eagerly, "Right. If you'd thought it through instead of treating the construct program as reality, you'd have known and acted accodingly. You should have had Sandoval swallow the tracker, it was in the bag, too, babe."

Swipe struck himself in the forehead, "I really crashed and burned on this. I can't believe I failed."

Treat laughed, "No stupid, you learned, therefore you won," she grinned, "Plus I give you seven out of ten for chutzpah as a bonus."

By Bryan Cummings (Houdini) on Unrecorded Date:

**************************************************
Zion Defense Council Alert #1639 -
April. 21, 2200 11:00 AM ZMT
**************************************************

Sent by: Turbo - General War Secratary Z.D.C.

Attn: Zion Freedom Forces

My Fellow Freedom Fighters,

It saddens me to report that the ZDC Hovercraft Freedom, was destroyed today at 9:45 AM ZMT in an attack by six armed machine sentinals.

Eight of Zion's finest men and women died as a result of this attack. They will be missed by all who knew them.

Please offer these brave souls a moment of silence.

Respectfully yours,
Turbo

**********************************************
********************EOT***********************

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Treat, John Doe, and Jazz stared at the printout. Treat’s eyes looked moist before she pulled her arm across them and looked at John, her expression pinched. His face was carved of stone as he glanced at his operator.

“Enough pussyfooting, no more gentling Swipe into the fold, Treat. Jazz hook up, you and Swipe are going in hot. This construct is going to be 100% reality based. No easing him through, no limited Agents, this boy may be good but we gotta get him going for real.

Treat and Jazz nodded and turned away, “What are you going to run?” Jazz asked Treat quietly.

She looked at him, her face stark, “The Everybody Dies Scenario,” she said, “What else?”

Jazz sighed wearily, “Well, at least that one’s short – but I do hate getting killed.”

“So will Swipe. I think that’s the point,” she said as she settled into her seat, “Go get him, will you?”

Swipe followed Jazz stretching and yawning, “How much downtime did I have just now?”

Treat didn’t even glance at him, “Eight or nine hours. Hook him up Jazz.”

Swipe looked at them, something had happened. There was a new tension in them that had not been there a few hours ago, What’s up?”

Jazz maneuvered Swipe onto his chair, “Some colleagues got killed. One of them was Ice, Treat’s mentor. Taught her how to be a kick ass operator.”

“Swipe looked startled, “How did an operator get killed?”

“Squids,” said Jazz shortly as he plugged Swipe in.

Swipe looked around his new reality. A city street, night time. It looked late, very few people about. It also looked like it had rained recently, the streets were wet and puddles reflected neon eerily. He stood outside a seedy looking pawn shop.

“Somebody want to tell me what’s up?”

The grate over the pawn shop door squeaked as it swung open and Jazz poked his head out, “In here, man.”

Swipe slipped through the door and Jazz closed it behind them. He headed across the room to the glass fronted counters that held the weaponry – far beyond what a pawn shop of this ilk might hold in another reality. Jazz set two Bushmaster machine pistols, a holster rig, two Glocks, and a half a dozen grenades on a belt on the counter in front of Swipe.

“The Bushmasters are nice,” he said equipping himself, “They’re .223 caliber and are good suppressors. These Glocks have a 32 round magazine. If things go wrong you’ll need it.”

Swipe took off his coat and strapped on the ordinance, “Are things going to go wrong?”

Jazz glanced at him with a mirthless smile, “Almost inevitably, buddy.”

He shut off the counter light and slipped across the dark room toward the door, “We have to make contact with Marissa Leopold at the Violent Violet - that’s a nightclub a couple blocks west of here – remember how we got you out? We’ll have to call for an exit. This time…well, just watch your back.”

Swipe pulled on his coat and followed Jazz out into the night.

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

The two men walked in silence, their footsteps echoing hollowly back at them. They could hear the bass thump of the club before it actually came into view. When it did, Swipe had to look twice in order to make sure it was the club they were looking for. The building was actually an old warehouse – small for its type – and apart from the noise, the only thing to indicate its identity were the words Violent Violet written almost microscopically on the narrow front door in marker pen. The music was almost too loud and they hadn’t even opened the door yet.

Jazz stopped and fished a photo from his pocket, “I don’t think communication will be very easy inside. This is our target,” he said displaying the photo of a young blonde woman with dark skin, dark brows, dark lashes. At least she was distinctive.

“What is this place and who is she?”

“This place is just a rave that sort of became a permanent fixture. She’s like you were, untapped potential. Whatever happens, go for the girl. If that becomes untenable, head for a phone and an exit.”

Swipe looked around and noted the blue and white glow of a public phone at the end of the block. He squared his shoulders, “Okay. Let’s go.”

Jazz opened the door and sound blasted them. It wasn’t just loud, it was jumbo jet taking off loud. No, a jet with a faulty muffler loud. And hot. The entire floor was a seething mass of humanity gyrating to the noise – Swipe really couldn’t call it music at this level. The windows, as far up and away as they were, were thoroughly steamed up. The humidity inside was several points higher than it had been outside. The only people who weren’t jumping around were the thin ring of users encircling the floor, mostly static as they bought, sold, or indulged in illicit drugs.

Jazz was all ready heading off to the right, Swipe sighed and began circling the room to the left. He glanced at his watch, 4 am, two hours past closing for legal establishments, so hanging around for the party to break up probably wasn’t an option. But he still didn’t know how they were expected to find the girl in this mess.

Jazz had been through what Treat called Everybody Dies Scenarios three times all ready. Every one had been different, all of them very real, and she wasn’t kidding when she got serious like this. He knew he was good enough to stay alive in the Matrix – at least he was thus far, but she was right, the best tactic was often just to run like hell, and it was a hard lesson to learn

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

Swipe scanned through his dark sunglasses into the moving mass of sweaty flesh on the inner dance floor. Strobes pierced the blue and purple haze of darkness as a dizzying array of green laserlights carved images into the smoke. There were so many people in here that if a disturbance happened, the place could be a potential army of Agents. Swipe didn't much care for that. He began sifting through his pockets unconsciously, his fingers playing across the casing of a cell-phone in his left inside coat pocket, and a thin, metallic object in his inside right pocket. Curious, he pulled the object out and looked at it. It was a chromed silver color, maybe 1/4 inch thick and 2 inches square with a barely perceptible crack running perfectly around the rounded edges, a single, button-like protrusion the only imperfection on one of the thinner edges. Swipe pressed it, and the object snapped open on 3 edges, hinging open to reveal two translucent pills--one red, one blue. A small index card was stuck on the inside top cover reading "Red=trace, Blue=dump" Swipe smiled, returned the pill case to his pocket, then continued his search for the girl...

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

A raised scaffolding had been constructed all around the outer edge of the interior of the warehouse, with several points leading down 4 steps to the dance floor's interior. Glowsticks and other flourescent objects trailed a dizzying myriad of psychedelic patterns throughout the crowd, and Swipe counted 3 sets of steps as he passed them on his circuit around the building. Even the walkways were crowded, but at least it was easier to brush past the mostly staionary throngs up here. Swipe's attention was suddenly caught by what looked like a blonde-haired girl dancing nearby, and he slowed his pace to get a better look when somebody slammed into him from his left.

"Hey, man! Watch it," the female voice could barely be heard over the noise. Swipe turned to respond, and found himself standing face to face with the girl--what was her name--Marissa... Swipe managed a smile.

"Sorry. Let me buy you another drink," he shouted, taking his sunglasses off as he made his offer. The girl smiled, looked Swipe up and down, then raised one eyebrow.

"Sure, baby. Follow me," she said, looping a finger around Swipe's elbow and turning back toward the entrance. Swipe noticed she was almost wearing a very tight, black leather outfit--hot pants and a halter top with chromed zippers adorning it. He also noticed she filled the outfit very well, indeed. He thought about how he would get her to take the pill without her getting suspicious, and an idea started forming in his devious mind...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Jazz looked about as calmly as he could, but irritation and nervousness battled for dominance. He hated being in a crowd, and hated even more being jostled by a crowd. He could no longer see Swipe, and his first pass had not netted him the woman, so he headed back toward the door as best he could.

He was wrestling his way past a knot of girls dancing together sans men, when he spotted Swipe. It looked like he had the girl in tow and they were heading toward the kegs in the corner that served as the 'bar' for this place. He struggled against the tide of sweaty pulchritude that stood in his way feeling like he was stuck in a lake of syrup. Swipe and Marissa stopped by the beer when a guy in a black suit emerged from the crowd behind them.

Jazz's heart skipped a beat. Agents all ready? Maybe it was just the boyfriend. He put his hand on the butt of one of the Bushmasters under his coat, he didn't think he would be so lucky.

By The One Known Only as (Greyfox) on Unrecorded Date:

"Two specials," Marissa shouted to the 'bartender' as he convulsed with the beat of the insanely loud music. Swipe continued scanning the room, noticing the suited figure behind them. He got a little nervous, but tried to blend in as best he could. If it was an Agent, hopefully it wouldn't spot him. If it was an Agent, it probably already had... Marissa turned and handed Swipe a glowing green drink in a plastic cup, then jerked her head to one side, toward the door. "Let's get outta here," she said, grabbing Swipe's arm and pulling him toward a side door near the stack of kegs. Swipe followed, producing the red pill as they made it out the door.

"What's that? Ice?" Marissa asked, pointing at the pill, almost eagerly. Swipe just nodded slowly, and she smiled seductively. "Can I have some? I get wild when I drop ice," she giggled, snatching the red pill from Swipe's hand and downing it with a gulp of her drink.

"Where're we going?" Swipe asked as she led him around to a storage shed on the side of the building. She just smiled as she led him in, shut the door, then knelt down and started playing with his belt buckle...

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Treat sat at the control hub watching the readout from the construct impassively, John Doe stood beside her, reading over her shoulder, making comments under his breath. His lips thinned as Swipe and the Leopold woman conversed, "This is shaping up to be a maximum FUBAR, Treat. If it is and he does, I'll go in to tear a few new ones. Jazz at least should know better."

Treat nodded and watched the program unfold.

By Bryan Cummings (Houdini) on Unrecorded Date:

Jazz knew John was probably fuming right about now. Jazz was supposed to be Swipe's backup, but Jazz hadn't counted on Swipe's "unique" approach to establishing first contact with a new recruit.
He made a mental note to have a nice chat with him
when the sim was over, which knowing treat was going to be very soon. The everybody dies sim never takes too long to execute.

Jazz froze horified when he began to see faces in the dance club begin to morph. Dozens of them. He knew he had to act quickly.

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Jazz eased toward the door, willing himself to be as unnoticeable as possible. There were easily six…eight…ten….crap! He stopped counting Agents and tried to look innocent as they began a thorough scan of all the party goers. Jazz had only seen something like this for real once before that was the night Tux bought it. He slipped out the door with two or three other revelers and sprinted around the corner. He paused and pulled out one of the Bushmasters and looked for Swipe. He swore silently as he pulled out a cell phone, "Where is he Treat?"

There was a momentary pause, "East, about fourteen feet."

Jazz looked and saw a storage shed, he dashed across the alley and threw open the door to find Swipe and Marissa. She was on all fours vomiting on Swipe's shoes, he was trying to back away, his belt flapping in the breeze, she had apparently gotten no further. "For God's sake, Swipe. Did you make her the offer, give her the choice?"

Swipe shook his head, "No I just slipped her the tracer. She thought it was a drug."

"Jeez, we don't even have her hooked up yet. This is not by any definition a safe place, man. The pill is only part of the trace program. Don't you remember the set up we had for you."

"Is she going to be okay?"

Jazz shook his head, "Maybe. But the Agent army is about to descend on our butts, so now's the time to cut and run."

"What, just leave her?"

"If we can track her we will, but right now she's still a potential Agent. We gotta cut our losses."

Swipe looked at the heaving girl, his face a study of conflicting emotions, at last he turned and walked away, joining Jazz at the door, "Do up your belt, man," said Jazz, "You can't run with your pants around your knees."

By Margravine (Ranger) on Unrecorded Date:

Jazz and Swipe started to jog down the alley keeping a wary eye on the door of the Violent Violet. Behind them a ragged scream cut through the night as Marissa Leopold announced "Rape!" to the world.

Swipe looked astonished, "What the hell is she screaming rape for?"

Jazz sped up, "Maybe 'cause the drugs you gave made her heave, maybe she's not the forgive and forget type, maybe she want's some one to kick your ass just for the hell of it, how the f--- do I know."

The bouncers at the door heard the cry and oriented on the running men, "Stop, mofo," called one of them, then the other two morphed. One emptied his heavy pistol up the alley taking out the girl, the other started moving toward the men.

"Agents!"

Jazz spun and hosed down al three bouncers, only the still human one went down though, the top of his head chewed off by automatic fire, the other two dove toward Jazz and Swipe. The two men sprinted away, flying down the street.

"The phone is the other way," called Swipe as they ran.

"So are the Agents," said Jazz pulling out a cell phone, "Nearest exit?" he asked Treat.

"43rd and Conover, Conover Billiards, back room. Take the next right, then right again."

Jazz cut to the right and charged down the alley there, "About six blocks to the nearest exit."

Swipe glanced behind them and saw no pursuit, "I think we lost them."

Jazz looked back and shook his head, "Think again," he began scanning in front in back and above for signs of agents even as he slowed to a more energy conserving jog.

They emerged from the alley in front of a street sweeper, the men watched the driver nervously for signs of change as they trotted toward the corner, so they both missed the police car as it passed the corner. The car breaked and baked up, the spotlight playing over them as they slid to a halt, the Bushamster's prominently displayed in their hands, "Crud."

"Drop the weapons," barked the loudspeaker, as the driver's side door opened and a shotgun came to bear. Both cops were suddenly wearing black suits while almost simultaneously, Jazz and Swipe loosed a clip each on them. The passenger side cop slumped riddled, reverting to form as he did.

They were trapped in the center of the block between the street sweeper and the cop. Jazz tried to zip across the street in front of the sweeper, just as the driver, now Agent, fired at him. Jazz took a couple of hits, spinning and going down, but Swipe was right behind him, firing full auto at the street sweeper Agent. He scooped Jazz up and the two made it to the side door of a church. Jazz blew the lock apart and the two ducked inside and began running across the sanctuary. Two Agents were only seconds behinds them.

"Treat?" asked Swipe, pulling out his own phone as he ran. Jazz fired behind them hoping to make the idea of following seem like a bad plan.

"Go down to the basement and out the door on the west side. Basement door is at the back."

They ran to the basement, blowing through two more locked doors to do so.

Swipe looked at Jazz, "Are you okay?"

Jazz gasped painfully, "Sure, man, it ain't real is it?" but the blood on his jacket looked pretty convincing.

The two Agents caught them on the outside stairs, their two pursuers firing up at them, a trio of transformed nuns emerging from the convent across the courtyard. Swipe was frantically firing up at the threat above, while Jazz alternated Glock and Bushmaster trying to make the downstairs Agents stay inside.

Suddenly the action froze, they were trapped in a post card. Swipe saw bullets stopped in the air a few feet from him. He could count eleven as they hung there motionless, it appeared that a minimum of eight would hit him, one right in the center of his chest. One further out looked like it was going to take him in the face. He could not turn, however, to see how Jazz was doing. Jazz, too, could count the pellets of lead in the air. Some were his, some were ricochets, some were about to kill him. There was on bullet floating in space about two inches above his right cheekbone. He figured it would enter his skull about at his eyebrow and plow through his brains killing him outright. Neither man could move. They were as static as the rest of the painting they were now a part of.

Then John Doe walked across the street and leaned on the rail of the stairwell, "Looks bad boys," he said shaking his head, "Shall I count the ways this went wrong, or shall I just let you view the read out if and when I let you out of here?"

He leaned over the rail for a view of the Agents taking pot shots at Jazz, "Head shot this time, huh, Jazz. Better than the groin shot and gut shot in the last of these you played, I guess," He moved over to Swipe, "Right in the heart, Swipe. Nice clean kill. Marissa Leopold is dead, and as luck would have it so are you. I'm sorry. But this is how it really can be in the Matrix. We have the memorial plaque to prove it."

John Doe strolled to the center of the street and donned a pair of sunglasses, "Flip the switch, Treat."

Suddenly all of the bullets in the air were transformed into paintballs and just as suddenly the world began to move again. Stinging little blows landed on the two men from every quarter, and they fell under the impacts sliding down the concrete steps landing in a tangled heap at the feet of the Agents. The Agents looked at the fallen pair blankly, apparently confirming their 'deaths', then stepped over them and strode up the steps to confer with the others Agents. Within seconds after that, they were gone. The nuns were nuns again, and the cop and the street sweeper were confused.

In the stairwell, Swipe groaned and sat up, "What the hell was that?"

Jazz pushed himself off the ground, covered with blood and paint, "That was what Treat calls an everybody dies scenario."

"So we were set up to lose," said Swipe, not sure if he should be outraged.

Jazz shook his head, "Nah. If you play it right you can not only survive, but even accomplish your objective. We played this wrong." He glanced at the spots of red paint across his chest, his leg, and wiped a palm full off his forehead, "I'm dead. John uses the paint balls to demonstrate how dead we'd be without putting our brains on the sometimes fatal ride into it's real/not real byplay."

Swipe looked down and counted five splotches from heart to belly, "Me too, I guess."

Jazz shook his head, "No guess. You got paint on the back of your head too, man. Your brains are decorating the stairwell, same as mine.

"So what was the point?

Jazz shrugged, "You're mortal? Just because you know the truth, you ain't no god? Play it straight and run like hell? Keeping us humble? I guess they just want us to stay sharp."

Swipe pulled out his phone but Jazz shook his head, "No point, man, she gave us an exit, and she won't let us out until we get to Conover Billiards back room."

"Looking like this?"

"Yeah. Try and be inconspicuous."