However, the characters of Xander Seyman/Nil Excess, Gregory Seyman, Agent Jameson, Agent Green, Phoenix, Apollo, and Artemis are my own. They may not be used without my permission.

"Are you certain about this one?"
"Of course I am. He's brilliant. You've watched him as much as I have."
"Perhaps, but the programs he's written are dangerously close to Matrix-technology."
"That's why we have to talk to him."
"Now that's dangerous."
"We can't let them get to him first. Otherwise, we may all be in danger."
(Sigh) "Very well. But I won't hesitate to just kill him if he gets crazy."
"Don't worry. If he does, I'll do it.

Still muttering dark oaths under his breath, Xander started his car and slowly backed out of his space. This project meant his job. If the boss got in a bad mood, he just might pin the blame of the snow crash on him. And then he'd be screwed. He was very lucky that he'd managed to get this job with his record, and if he got fired, no one would hire him.

Xander sighed as the light turned red ahead of him. It seemed to him that the Law of Averages (or Murphy's Law-not that he differentiated much between them) was working against him again. It sucked. This project at work was taking a lot of him. He was always tired, never had enough time to follow computer news-by now he was probably obsolete six ways to Sunday-and the project was always glitchy. It irritated him to no end.

Fortunately, Xander had been able to use the server's crash as an excuse to leave early. The techies who maintained the server said it would take at least a day to get it up and running again with no problems. And he could use that time to do a little fun stuff.

Traffic was slow-naturally, Xander thought-but he managed to get back to his flat in less than an hour. He locked his door and drew his drapes shut. He locked his windows just in case, then seated himself at his desk and hooked up his laptop. At this moment, Xander Seyman ceased to be and Nil Excess came to take his place.

"All right now!" Nil cried. "Let's see what there is to see!" His fingers flew over the keyboard. Information flowed across the screen quickly. Nil's eyes followed it just as fast. Many people that he'd encountered online said his nom de hack stood for Never Idle Lamer. Those people had quickly been snow crashed.

Nil hit his newsgroups first, skimming through the latest information about the great hacker Morpheus. There was just as much about someone called Neo. Nil seemed to recall bumping into Neo once or twice. The guy impressed him. But then Nil closed his Morpheus newsgroup and opened another one, where people discussed the Matrix. What was it? Where was it? Things like that.

Nil had his own opinions, but none of that mattered. He read what other people thought, then dove into his real hack-work. This meant breaking someone's systems and pirating data. Nil fully intended to crash someone tonight. He thought he'd start with maybe the NSA again-

Suddenly his computer flickered. Nil blinked, lifting his hands from the keyboard. His screen went black. Nil swore. Not again! But then words came across his screen.

HELLO, NIL EXCESS...

"What the holy hell?" Nil said aloud. He tapped the backspace key, but nothing happened.

T H E M A T R I X H A S Y O U . . .

Nil blinked again. "Who's doing this?" he wondered. He tapped the escape key, and again, nothing happened.

The words hung there for a moment, then cleared themselves. Nil tilted his head. He typed, and this time words appeared on the screen.

/WHO ARE YOU?

No reply came. Only:

BEWARE OF THEM, NIL EXCESS...

/BEWARE OF WHO?

T H E M

And then the screen cleared and he returned to his hack-work screen. Nil blinked, then quickly shut off his computer. This was too weird.

Xander was at work again the next day. The boss wanted to talk to him about the project. No surprise there. Probably wanted to know why he was behind. Xander walked in, and found Mr. Brentwood talking to two men in crisp suits. Xander's blood froze when he saw the earplugs. Oh, shit. Secret Service.

"Mr. Seyman!" Brentwood shouted. "These gentlemen inform me you've been doing hacking again!"

"No, sir, Mr. Brentwood," Xander replied, "I wouldn't do that! I'd lose my job! I need this job." That much was true, but sometimes his Nil-side got the better of him.

"Be that as it may," Brentwood continued, "they have evidence that you were responsible for the server's crash yesterday!"

Xander's jaw dropped. Then his temper, strained by recent events, snapped. "That's a lie!" he shouted. He moved to throttle his boss, but one of the Secret Service-types stepped forward and grabbed him in a vise-like grip. Xander tried to strike him, but the Secret Service man had him in a tight grip.

"Actions speak louder than words, Mr. Seyman," the other Secret Service agent said evenly. "And your record has caught up with you."

"Don't bother coming in tomorrow, Mr. Seyman," Brentwood said. "Your personal affects will be mailed to you. Perhaps they might be in one piece."

With that, the first Secret Service agent grabbed his arm, twisted it back and slapped his wrists in a pair of handcuffs. They hustled him out of the building, past his coworkers and out to a government car, where he was shoved in the backseat.

If Xander had been paying attention to people around him instead of shouting obscenities at the government agents holding him, he might have noticed a somewhat pale man in black clothing and sunglasses watching him. The man in black swore when he saw Xander apprehended and vanished down the alley.

He was left there for about two hours before the Secret Service men returned. One of them, the slightly larger one (though they both looked similar), stood behind him. The other sat in the chair opposite him. This one carried a folder with the name "Seyman, A. D." on the side. The Secret Service man calmly leafed through the pages quietly before looking up, his eyes unreadable behind his sunglasses.

"As you can see, Mr. Seyman, we have had our eye on you for quite some time," the Secret Service man said. "You do have, as you no doubt know, a very extensive criminal record. You have been charged with every single computer crime there is a law for, and a few for which there are not. Several employers have turned down job applications due to this record, and your somewhat volatile temper."

"No shit, Sherlock," Xander muttered. "Is there anything in that folder I don't know about?"

The Secret Service agent looked up briefly, then turned back to the file. "Due to your record," he said, "Alexander Danforth Seyman, alias Nil Excess, will not go to court; he will not, in your vernacular, 'pass go and go directly to jail.' He will simply-" Here the Secret Service man flipped the folder closed and pushed it aside, "-disappear."

Xander looked at the folder a moment, then looked back at the Secret Service agent. He leaned forward, a leer on his face. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr.-"

"Green," the Secret Service man replied. "Agent Green."

"Fine, then, Green Agent Green. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Green," Xander continued, "but I do believe this country is still a democracy. We're not a bunch of Nazis here."

"You are a professed nihilist, Mr. Seyman," Agent Green said. "You do not believe in democracy, or Nazism for that matter."

"I may be a nihilist," Xander leered, "but I do know my rights. And I believe that there is still something called due process."

Agent Green looked at him flatly, then raised an eyebrow as he looked toward the other Secret Service agent behind Xander. A slight smile appeared at the corners of Agent Green's mouth. "Mr. Seyman, we are going to be blunt with you. We are going to give you a second chance. You will help us apprehend some of the most dangerous people alive."

"Really?" Xander said, his voice dripping with venom. "Who? The elusive Morpheus?"

"Actually," Agent Green said, "yes."

"Here's what I think," Xander said. "I think you can take that file you have there..." He nodded at it. "...and cram it right up your ass."

Agent Green looked at him flatly again. The other agent moved. His arm encircled Xander's throat and he lifted him out of the chair. Xander grunted, tugging at the steel-like grip, then jammed his foot down on the agent's instep. The agent hardly noticed. Agent Green stood up and looked at Xander as he wheezed in the choke-hold. "You are going to help us, Mr. Seyman," Agent Green said. "One way or another."

Xander passed out.

"Are you sure you want to risk meeting him?"
"What other choice do we have? He could greatly improve our chances of defeating the Machines."
"Take somebody with you, at least."
"Just enough to initiate the trace."
"Do you think he'll just agree to take the red pill?"
"Yes, I do."

There were two things in his mailbox. One was his paycheck, the other was a rectangular package. Xander looked at it briefly, then returned to his apartment. The unpleasant surprise struck him as a pink slip fell out with his check. So it wasn't a dream. Brentwood had fired him, and Agent Green's flunky had roughed him up. Great. So now he was totally screwed. Well, if worse came to worse, he could always hack again and make Agent Green show up again. Take him up on that offer.

He looked at the other package and opened it, the slid the boxy contents into his palm. A new model cell phone fell out. It rang instantly.

Xander dropped it in surprise. Then, he slipped into Nil-mode. He could handle this. He picked it up and slid it open.

"Hello, Nil Excess," the resonate voice on the other end said. "I've been hoping to talk to you."

"Who is this?" Nil asked. "If that's you, Agent Green, this isn't funny!"

"I'm not an Agent, Nil," the voice said. "I'm the one they're after."

Nil stiffened, then slumped in his seat, as though the man was actually there. "Morpheus?"

"Yes," the hacker said.

"What's going on? Was that you on my computer?" Nil asked.

"That was my colleague, Neo," Morpheus said.

"What do you want from me?" Nil asked.

"I'm offering to tell you the Truth," Morpheus replied. "If you wish to meet with me, go to the Adams Street Bridge."

"You'll be there?"

"My friends will," Morpheus said, a trace of a smile in his voice.

"Uh, what about the Secret Service types? They're watching me."

"They aren't Secret Service," Morpheus said gravely. "But that's a longer story. Do not worry, we'll take care of everything."

Fifteen minutes later, a black car cruised around the block and stopped. The door opened. A lean black man stuck his head out. "Get in," he ordered. Xander looked back one way, then the other, then decided Nil would be better. He climbed into the car.

The lean guy aimed a Glock 9mm at him. Nil blinked. "What the hell is this?"

"Put the gun away, Phoenix," one of the two people in the front said. He turned around. The man was somewhat pale. Maybe it was his bleached blond hair. "He's not bugged."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," Nil said. "I'd know if I was bugged!"

"Not in the way I'm talking about," the somewhat pale man said. He turned back around. But the lean black man-Phoenix-did not lower his weapon. The female driving-who also had bleached blond hair-did not turn around. Nil leaned against the door, keeping one eye on Phoenix and the other on the man in front.

Nil couldn't tell how long the drive was, but they stopped at an old hotel. Nil frowned at it. "Hey, I heard about this place," he said. "Wasn't this where the police broke up some terrorist group?"

"Not really," the pale man said. He got out, followed by the woman. Phoenix prodded Nil with his Glock and the hacker hesitantly got out. They guided him inside, up several flights of crumbling stairs, and to a room with old curtains. Nil looked at the door, then at his escorts. "So, is this where I meet the great Morpheus?"

"Yes," the pale man said. "And try not to piss him off."

"Just call me Nil."

"Fine then, Nil," the black man said evenly. "As you can no doubt assume, I am Morpheus."

"Yeah, I sort of picked up on that," Nil said. "What say we cut the chit-chat and you start talking about this truth you mentioned."

Morpheus looked down at the silver case he held in his hands, then back up. He knew this man was very brusque. "Tell me, Nil, what do you know about the Matrix?"

Nil felt a slight shiver. "Lots of stuff. Some people say it's a new slang term for the government. Others say it's the big underground conspiracy that was behind stuff like the Kennedy assassination. Others say it's the new word for the Illuminati Society."

"All far from the Truth," Morpheus replied. "But what do you think?"

Nil stopped. He didn't really know. He'd looked it up, researched it, but never really formulated his own opinion. "I...don't know. I never really thought about it. I guess it refers to something related to computers."

"You're halfway there," Morpheus said, seating himself in one of the room's two leather chairs. He gestured at the chair across from him. Hesitantly, Nil sat down. Morpheus leaned forward. "But that very question is what sparked you, isn't it? Because you don't like not knowing."

Nil gritted his teeth. "I hate not knowing, feeling like something's being withheld from me."

"And something is being withheld from you, Nil," Morpheus replied. "Do you want to know what it is?"

Nil looked at him a moment, then nodded. Morpheus sat back in his chair. "The Matrix is all around us. It's in the clothes you wear, the car you drive. It's in the air you breathe, the water you bathe in. You feel it when you go to work, when you sit down for coffee, when you sit in traffic. The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the Truth."

Nil was a bit puzzled by Morpheus' choice of words (wasn't it 'wool over your eyes?') but didn't ask. He queried, "What truth?"

Morpheus leaned forward. "That you are a slave, Nil. Like everyone else, you were born a slave." He slowly opened the case in his hands and extracted something, which he held hidden in his hands. He pursed his lips quietly, as though pausing for effect. "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."

Morpheus looked at him carefully. "I'm offering you a choice, Nil." He opened his left hand. A small blue gelcap pill sat in the center of his palm. "You take the blue pill-you remember nothing. You go home, to your normal life, and believe whatever you want to believe about this." He opened his other hand. "You take the red pill, and I will relieve the agony of not knowing."

Nil blinked, leaned forward, looking at the pills, and then up at Morpheus, who watched impassively. He reached to take one. "Remember," Morpheus admonished, "all I'm offering is the Truth."

Nil looked at him again, then took the red pill in his fingers and used a nearby glass of water to swallow it with. He drank the rest of the glass to wet his dry mouth. He held onto the glass as Morpheus closed the case in his hands and stood up. "Follow me."

Nil did so, nervously following. Morpheus opened the doors to the connecting room, where the three people from the car-Phoenix, the pale man, and the woman-were looking at some equipment. There was another pair of people there, a lean white man with an air about him that made him seem a lot more powerful than he looked, and a tough-looking woman in a leather jacket. Morpheus spoke, "Apollo, are we online?"

"Almost, sir," the pale man from the car said.

Nil sat in the chair the leather-clad woman indicated, still clutching the glass in his hands. Morpheus spoke, "The red pill is part of a trace program. It helps us locate you so we can find you when you wake up."

"Wake up?" Nil echoed. "What's going on?"

"Try to relax," Apollo said. "It's going to feel weird. Trust me."

Nil clutched the glass with both hands, then looked at it as he felt it shift in his fingers. It seemed to be soft. When he pulled one of his hands from it, long glassy fibers stuck to his fingers. Panicked, Nil let go, but the glass stuck to his hand. Nil knew enough about chemistry to know that in order for glass to be this sticky, it had to be incredibly hot. But the glass in his hands felt cold as ice, not hot.

Apollo and Phoenix looked up, as well as the woman from the car, and they hurried at their stations. Nil hardly noticed. He was too busy trying to get the glass off his hands, but it was melting faster now, and spreading over his hands. "What the hell?" he gasped, shaking his hands as they became covered by fluid glass gloves.

"It's going into replication!" the leather-clad woman said.

"Apollo?" Morpheus said.

"I'm getting close!" the pale man said.

Morpheus took out a cell phone and tapped a speed dial. "Tank, we're going to need a signal."

The glass, by this point, had spread up his arms and was creeping up his neck. Nil tilted his head back, as though that motion alone would make the flow of glass stop. It didn't. It crept over his eyes, making his vision blurry and slowly reached his mouth. Through the stuff on his ears, he heard Apollo say, "Locked! We've got him!"

But at that moment, the glass shot down Nil's mouth as he screamed-

--and woke up in a nightmare.

He couldn't see anything, but he could feel some kind of fluid around him. He felt something protruding down his throat. Thinking he was about to drown, Nil shoved his hands forward. But they moved achingly slow. His arms tingled with pins and needles, as though he'd been immobile for a long, long time. Something blocked his hands. It felt oddly like Saran Wrap. He dug his fingernails in and pulled.

Lurching up, Nil groped with his numb fingers until he felt the thing sticking down his throat. He gagged and sicked it up. He opened his eyes, and nothing looked right. It wasn't just the blurriness of his vision, but nothing seemed right. There was nothing familiar.

Nil felt sensations on his bare back as the cold air tickled him, and noticed black tubes attached to his arms. When he leaned forward, there was a tug on the back of his head. Frozen with horror, Nil reached behind him and felt something protruding from his brainstem.

What the hell is going on? Nil screamed inside his head. There was a loud crackle of electricity to his right, coupled with a bright flash, but he still couldn't make out anything. But then there was a Presence in front of him, and he turned his head to look in that direction. All he could make out was a black floating object in front of him-like a black fly from Hell-and then something snatched forward and grabbed him by the neck.

Nil yelled softly (what was wrong with his voice?) and beat weakly at the pincer around his throat. But he had to stop as there was intense pain in the back of his head as the wire/tube there was screwed out. When it was pulled away, the thing around his neck retracted and the Presence in front of him went away. Nil writhed against the pod he'd woken up in, then screamed again as the other tubes in his arms and back and legs popped free.

Before Nil could recover from that, something opened behind him and the fluid around him was sucked back. Nil tried to grab hold of something to keep himself steady, but his hands wouldn't function right and he was sucked right down after it. He was then sliding down some kind of chute before free fall grabbed him and he plummeted into a huge pool of water. Nil writhed, trying to swim, but his muscles wouldn't work right and he began to slip down.

Somewhere along the way, Nil blacked out, didn't see the hovercraft called the Nebuchadnezzar parking above him, didn't see the claw come down and pluck him out of the water.

"Maybe we were too late picking him up," Phoenix said.

Neo shook his head. "He's just too tired. Give him time."

So they did. Two days later, Nil finally awoke. His eyes squeezed shut at first, and then he slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position. His mind reeled as he looked at the unfamiliar surroundings. He looked at himself. He was in loose clothing, very thin stuff, and his head was shaven. He had prickly stubble covering his top.

As he ran his fingers through his shortened hair, Nil noticed the metal plugs in his arms. As he examined them, his fingers touched the larger plug at his brainstem. He gasped and pulled his hands back, panting. His skin was the wrong color, it was too pale. What was going on?

The door opened, and a paler-looking Morpheus stepped inside. Nil blinked. "Morpheus?" he said. His voice sounded fainter than it should have been. "What's going on? Where am I?"

Morpheus smiled faintly. This man reminded him more of Neo every moment. "You're in the Real World, but the important question isn't where, it's when."

"Oh, shit, you mean these two are the Twin Terrors?" Nil asked. "Shit, man, I followed your little exploits for months, man!"

Apollo, even paler here in the Real World, smiled faintly. He had short blond hair and warm blue eyes. Artemis was similar to her brother, but her eyes were a bit colder. Apollo shrugged, "That's cool, man. I've been following you, Nil Excess, for months, too."

Morpheus continued the introductions. "This is Trinity," he said, placing his hand on the shoulder of a slim, dark-haired woman. Nil recognized her-the woman in leather.

Nil blinked exactly once. "IRS dBase, right?"

"That was a long time ago," she replied simply.

"This is Neo," Morpheus said, smiling as he reached the last of the Matrix-born crew.

Nil nodded. "So you're the guy that everyone's been talking about these last few months. I've been wondering if you were just some rumor."

Neo smiled. "Far from it."

Morpheus turned to the one remaining person on the main deck. "And this is someone you haven't met-our operator, Tank." Tank was a friendly guy with darker skin than Phoenix. He wore a headset and smiled and waved a hand to Nil.

Nil looked around. "So now what happens?"

Morpheus gestured to a chair that looked to Nil like something from a dentist's office. He sat down at Morpheus' gesture and looked down with alarm as Trinity clamped his feet down. Unconsciously, Nil gripped the sides of the chair. Morpheus eased his head back. "This will feel-"

"-A little weird?" Nil finished. "Yeah, I kind of guessed."

Phoenix tapped a computer screen nearby, and then something jammed into the plug at the back of Nil's head. He gasped-

--and found himself in a white space. There were no walls or ceiling, and curiously, no floor either. Nil wondered subconsciously how he was standing on something solid, when there was quite obviously no floor to begin with. Then he noticed himself. For what seemed like the seventh time that day, he jerked with surprise. He was wearing his old 'hacking uniform'-his black tee, black cargo pants, and long-sleeved gray shirt. He looked closer, and noticed something else as he felt the clothing. He didn't feel the plugs on his arms.

"This is just getting stranger and stranger," he muttered.

"This is the Construct," said Morpheus. Nil turned to see the black man standing, gesturing at the white nothingness around them. Morpheus looked like he had when Nil first met him-the leather duster, the sunglasses, even his skin was darker here. "We use it as a loading program. We can make clothes, weapons, anything we need."

Nil blinked. "So this is like virtual reality to the extreme?"

"To put it very crudely," Morpheus agreed. "The Matrix, and the Construct from which we built it, is far more advanced. The Truth is a lot harsher."

"Take me out," he whispered.

Instantly, they unplugged him and he climbed out of the chair. He looked around, then closed his eyes. "I need some time alone." With that said, he climbed down the ladder to his quarters.

Phoenix blinked. "I'm surprised he didn't pop."

"That is rather strange," Artemis said. "I remember that we didn't take it so well, did we, Pol?"

"No, we didn't," Apollo agreed. "This is unusual."

"Guys, just let him sit it out," Neo said. "Let's respect his request. We'll take him his food in a couple of hours."

Nil didn't hear any of this, of course. He closed the door to his quarters and sat heavily on his cot. This was all too much to absorb. He had never denied the fact that he was a nihilist, and now, right here, in a matter of minutes, the nihilist's dream came true-everything that he knew was erased. It didn't exist as he knew it.

"Shit," he said to himself, "I don't believe this is happening."

But as he spent the next hour in there, he slowly came to accept it. The Construct had really sort of clinched it. Once he'd gone in to that extreme virtual reality (in crude terms, according to Morpheus), he knew that this was no technology that existed in his world...or rather, the Matrix-world. Alexander Danforth "Nil Excess" Seyman knew his technology, and there was nothing like that in the Matrix.

And once Morpheus had described the power plants, Nil understood that blurry nightmare he'd awoken to. The doc-bot had unscrewed him, and the crackle of electricity around him was from the power plant. He understood now. And he grudgingly admitted the Truth.

He came out of his quarters to find Phoenix standing guard. The lean black man looked over, frowning. "So you didn't pop, huh?" Phoenix asked.

"I'm still here, aren't I?" Nil replied.

Phoenix laughed and gestured. "Come on, I'll get you something to eat."

The kitchen had a few of the others in it. Artemis glanced up when he entered, and Trinity was standing behind a small counter. When Nil and Phoenix stepped in, the female hacker grabbed two bowls and poured some strange kind of goop into them, then handed him a spork.

"Eat up," Phoenix suggested as he dove into his.

Nil frowned at it as he let it fall off the spork, then hesitantly ate the first bite. Slowly, he ate his second, then third, and by the fourth he was eagerly eating it. The others looked at him with surprise. "What?" Nil asked, wiping a little of spill of his chin.

"Never seen anyone eat it that fast," Artemis said. "Tastes like cold snot to me."

Nil shrugged. "Tastes like soggy Rice Krispies to me, and I eat that stuff every morning." Then he paused. "Or at least, I thought I ate it. You know, in the Matrix."

"You seem to have adjusted pretty well," Trinity remarked.

Nil shrugged again. "Story of my life. I moved a lot. Dad got transferred all the time, till he finally split and left my brother and me by ourselves, then I had to move around with him." Then he looked confused again. "Or at least, that's what seemed to happen. I'm telling you, knowing the Truth now, really screws up your memories."

"You get used to it," Trinity assured him.

"I hope so, or I'm gonna go nuts," Nil said. He shook his head. "I'm tired."

"Get some rest," Phoenix said. "You'll need it."

Nil did rest. This surprised all of them, too. Nobody rested their first night. But then, Nil continually surprised them.

When he awoke and came up to the main deck the next morning, Tank looked up. He grinned. "Hi, you sleep?" Nil nodded. "And you will again tonight." Tank held out his hand. "I'm Tank, the operator."

"You don't have any plugs," Nil said as he looked Tank over.

"Nope," Tank said. "I was born right here in Real World, one hundred pure-bred, home-grown child of Zion."

"Zion? The Biblical city?"

"No. The last human city, it's underground, down near the Earth's core, where it's still warm," Tank said.

"Oh, so it's just naturally cold," Nil said. "I thought it was just me."

Tank laughed. "I like you. You keep surprising me. So, let's start your training, shall we?"

The operations training went quickly. Nil retained everything. Tank grinned. "Now that we're through with the boring stuff, let's get to the fun stuff! Combat training," he said, holding up a disk. "Prepare your head there, Nil." He slid in the disk.

Nil turned his head to look at the screen. "Hmm. Ju Jitsu. I'm going to learn...Ju Jitsu?" Tank winked, then hit the 'upload' button.

Nil jerked back in his chair as his brain sizzled with information. His muscles tensed as techniques ingrained themselves upon him, and then relaxed. Nil gasped. "Wow! Now ain't that a kick in the head?"

Tank grinned. "Shall we continue?"

"Shit, yeah!"

They stayed at it for several hours, Nil greedily sucking up everything Tank offered. Neo came in and looked at their new crewmember. "How's he doing?" the One asked.

"He's almost as bad as you were," Tank said.

Nil opened his eyes and grinned up at Neo. "That was a sweet-ass ride. I know Kung Fu!"

Tank and Neo exchanged a look, but Neo nodded, "I'll bring Morpheus. He'll want you to show him."

Nil grinned again. "I could take you on."

"No," Neo said humorlessly, "you couldn't."

Morpheus came, smiling, and sat down in one of the other chairs. They were plugged into the Construct. Morpheus was clad in a white-on-black karate robe, Nil in an ice blue one. Morpheus smiled and gestured around them. "This is a training program. It's based off the Matrix, and has the same basic rules."

"Rules like gravity and Murphy's Law, right?" Nil grinned. He bounced back and forth on his feet and shook himself out. He assumed a fighting stance, bouncing lightly from foot to foot. "At the risk of sounding cliché, bring it on!"

"Try and hit me," Morpheus taunted.

Nil smiled a feral grin and launched himself forward. He unleashed a fury of kicks and then did a fast roundhouse, intending to sweep around and punch Morpheus in the chest. He never got that far. Morpheus evaded or blocked each of the kicks and kicked Nil in the back of the knee as he did the roundhouse. Nil fell backwards, but quickly rolled back and bounced to his feet. He shook his head, a bit dazed from his tumble, but then he tapped his fists together and dashed forward again, looking like he was going to punch Morpheus on the run.

Instead, he flipped so his feet came in first, sliding under Morpheus' counterpunch. He jackknife-kicked, but Morpheus was in the air, flipping away. Nil flipped over, crab-walking in a circle around Morpheus before pouncing up with a scissor-kick. Morpheus blocked it, and Nil tried to use the block as a leverage to spin around and smack Morpheus in the back of the head. But the cyberwizard went into a roll and came up on the other side of the room.

"Good!" Morpheus grinned. "You're quick. You adapt well. But you're still missing something."

"Yeah, you," Nil said as he prepared for his next attack. He turned slightly and jumped toward one of the support pillars. He pushed off it and did a fast flip through the air, aiming a kick for Morpheus' face. But the great hacker ducked and came up with an uppercut to the chest that sent Nil flying into the wall. Nil groaned and rolled to his feet, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs.

Morpheus posed the question. "How did I do that?"

Nil shook his head, this time in denial. "You're freakin' fast."

"You need to learn that in this place, the normal rules don't apply," Morpheus admonished. "You are as fast as you know you are." He stood straight. "Again!"

By now, back outside, everyone was gathered around the operator's station, watching the fight. Phoenix swore, "I don't believe how fast he is! And that's before he picked up on the new rules!"

"He might've given you a run for your money, Neo," Trinity said.

"Not for long, though," Neo said.

"Well, you're right about that."

Within, Nil was facing Morpheus, but all the bounce was out of his stance. His face was severe. And then, he moved. Once again, Nil surprised them all. He touched off a pillar again and arced upwards, toward the ceiling. There, he pushed off with both feet toward Morpheus. But as he neared his opponent, Nil suddenly pivoted in midair, turning himself right-side up and doing a vicious kick upwards. Morpheus jerked his head back and used his momentum to unleash a hard kick.

Nil took it in the chest, but he rocked back a bit. He recovered quickly and his arms drove like pistons at Morpheus. The cyberwizard jerked his head back and forth, dodging each, but the look of surprise on his face was satisfaction enough for Nil. Then he shuffled his feet and clipped Morpheus' feet out from underneath him. Outside, everyone gasped.

"I don't believe it," Apollo muttered.

"Did you see that?" Tank asked.

"This man will be a great asset," Neo said to himself, though everyone heard him.

Within, Nil grinned down at Morpheus. "Gotcha!" the younger hacker said.

"Good!" Morpheus said as Nil helped him up. "You surprised me. You're a fast learner." Then he smiled. "But I've still got a few surprises up my sleeve. Tank!" The Neb's leader addressed open air. "Load the jump program."

"Here we go," Phoenix said. "Now he'll lose for once."

"I dunno," Apollo said. "This man keeps surprising us. He could make it."

"He won't make it," Artemis told her brother. "That's because-"

"Everyone falls the first time," the crew said in unison.

Nil blinked as he found himself on a rooftop in the City with Morpheus. Their sparring clothes were gone, replaced by their usual clothes, the ones Nil had found himself in the first time he'd used the Construct. Morpheus grinned at him. "You still need to learn to free your mind, Nil. Once you accomplish that, you can achieve anything." With that, the great hacker dashed to the edge of the building and leaped. Nil watched him sail in a high arc and land on the far building.

"Wow," Nil said. He approached the edge, looked down (whoa! Bad idea!) and then across at Morpheus. "O-kay...no problem." He backed up. "Let's try this." He dashed toward the edge, and leaped-

--and just short of halfway, gravity pulled him down. Nil screamed. "Shit!" He closed his eyes and waited for the end, but the street gave like a trampoline and bounced him up about two feet before he landed flat. He blinked up. "Ouch."

Nil was unplugged and looked over at Morpheus. "Drat. I really thought I had that jump."

"Everyone falls the first time," Morpheus said. "Though, I must say, you did impress me. No one's made it that far on their first try, not even Neo."

"I guess there's an advantage to being a nihilist," Nil said with a grin. "I'm always spacing out."

Gregory Seyman was worried.

His brother seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. When he called EpiCyber, Mr. Brentwood had informed him that his brother had been fired two weeks earlier. He suggested contacting the authorities if he wanted to find Xander. "Chances are," Brentwood had said, "he's already been arrested by them."

That worried Gregory. While he and Xander had never really gotten along, mostly due to the eleven-year age gap, he still felt responsible for looking after his younger brother. After Dad had run off to who-knows-where, he'd tried to look after Xander, but Xander merely retreated into his computer, spending more time on it than he did on anything else. That was what ultimately got him in trouble.

When the police had tried to arrest him, Xander just split. He packed up and left one afternoon and never came back. Gregory hadn't seen his brother in three years, though Xander had agreed over the phone once to send an email every week. And he did. These past two weeks were the first time in three years he'd missed.

But when the two Secret Service men had shown up at his door, Gregory felt oddly relieved. Maybe now he could get some answers.

"I am sorry to disturb you like this, Mr. Seyman," the slightly smaller one said evenly.

"No trouble, Mr. ...Green, you said?" The agent nodded. "I assume you've come to inquire about my brother Alexander."

"Correct," the other agent, who gave his name as Jameson, said.

"To tell the truth," Gregory said, "I haven't heard from him in two weeks, and that worries me. He sends an email every week like clockwork. When he misses on those rare occasions, he calls me."

"Mr. Seyman," Agent Green said, "your brother has fallen in with a group of terrorists."

Gregory fell silent. This wasn't funny. He said so.

"The reason it is not funny is because it is the truth," Agent Green said. "Under his hacker alias Nil Excess, your brother has joined forces with a man called Morpheus."

"Never heard of him," Gregory said.

"We would like to keep it that way," Agent Jameson said.

"Regardless, we have no way to find your brother. Therefore, we require your assistance," Agent Green said.

"Let me guess," Gregory said. "If I hear from my brother, I call you guys."

"Correct," Agent Green said. He removed a small card from his pocket. Gregory examined it. It read simply AGENT GREEN, SECURITY, 555-5985. "Call this number if you hear from him."

"I will," Gregory said.

Agent Green stood up and calmly turned to walk out the door. Gregory watched him go, and wondered what it was about him that was wrong. Something wasn't right about Agent Green, and Gregory couldn't tell what.

Very quickly, his program poured out into his console, being loaded onto a disk. When Tank came over, he looked at the screen and gulped. He ran to get Morpheus, then brought him back.

"Look at his code!" Tank said.

Morpheus looked. Nil was writing something, and his code was sprinkled throughout with Matrix code. The great hacker looked at Nil. "Where did you learn that?"

"Dunno," Nil admitted. "Just sort of came out. That, or I think I picked up some from the ops training Tank ran me through."

"There wasn't anything like that in the training!" Tank insisted.

"Then I guess I picked it up from the screens," Nil said, nodding at the operator console.

"You're just full of surprises, ain't you, Excess?" Phoenix said from his vantage point. The lean man had arrived shortly after Morpheus.

"I guess so," Nil grinned. "This is something I cooked up after the Agent training." He turned to Morpheus. "I like the woman in the red dress by the way." He turned back to his console. "New type of weapon. Actually, if you wanna get technical, it's gear."

"Gear?" Phoenix said, perking up.

"Yeah, special gloves and boots. It's kind of hard for me to explain it. Here, I'll show you." Nil closed his program and handed the disk to Tank. Nil seated himself in one of the chairs and gestured for Phoenix and Morpheus to follow. They did so. Nil spoke. "Tank, plug us into the Agent training sim."

Moments later, they stood on the crowded streets of the City. Nil stood in his Matrix-attire: a black jacket, dark gray cargo pants, and a gray shirt. Wraparound Ray-Bans sat on his face. But what really got Morpheus and Phoenix's attention was his hands and feet. Metallic gauntlets covered his hands, circuitry and wires glinting in the light. Metal boots covered his feet, equally glinting. Nil looked them over briefly, then smirked. "I don't really have a name for these yet. But I do know what they can do. Tank, put an Agent in and remove the extra people."

Instantly, a businessman suddenly glowed green and turned around, a severe Agent that Morpheus remembered all too well. The Agent reached for his gun as the rest of the streetwalkers disappeared. Morpheus and Phoenix stepped away as Nil touched the fists of his metal gloves together and charged at the Agent. The Agent-whom Morpheus had made to resemble the destroyed Agent Smith-smiled viciously and tossed his gun away. That was one of the quirks of Agent Smith: he preferred hand-to-hand combat. Agent Smith stepped forward to grapple.

Agent Smith threw a punch that Nil dodged. The hacker swung his own fist into Agent Smith's body. Electricity crackled and the fearsome Agent flew backwards to crash into the fountain nearby. Agent Smith stood up, stunned, but launched himself forward to attack Nil again. Nil backed up and blocked Agent Smith's punches with his arms as he drove a foot into the Agent's knee. Electricity crackled again, and Agent Smith fell to the ground, clutching his injured joint.

Before Morpheus or Phoenix could react to that much, Nil cocked his other leg back and drove his other foot into Agent Smith's belly. With another electric flash, the Construct Agent flew across the square to smash through a window. Energy crackled at his landing spot as Agent Smith reverted to the anonymous businessman. Nil stood in a fighting stance a moment longer before standing at attention. He clicked his heels together, then tapped his fists and stepped back to turn to Morpheus.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Nil asked.

"What are those?" Phoenix asked, striding forward to look at the gloves.

"The gloves and boots each have electromagnets in them. It produces an electric field around the fist or foot directly proportional to the force of the blow. Thus, the stronger the punch, the stronger the shock." Nil pressed something below the wrist on one of the gloves. The metal glove receded, leaving Nil's hand bare. "Even has a camouflage mode," he said. "Just tap the gauntlet-pieces together and the gloves go on, field up and ready to do damage." He smirked. "I wanted to test it on an Agent."

"I don't know, Nil," Phoenix said. "Your gloves are unknown quantities. This was just a simulation. We don't know if those will really work that way in the Matrix."

"Well, we'll find out next time I go in," Nil said. "I want to use one of these on Agent Green's face."

Morpheus had said nothing throughout this. There was something about Nil that unsettled him. He looked up. "Tank, take us out."

As they climbed out of the chairs, Nil returned to his console as Phoenix and Morpheus left. Tank looked over. "That's pretty cool, Nil. How'd you come up with that?"

"Saw something like it in a comic book once," Nil replied. "I just thought I might be able to make something like that." Then he frowned. "The only problem is, I had to make the gloves and boots specifically for me. You know, so I could make certain they work. If you're going to replicate the program, I'd need scans of the rest of the crew. These things are custom-made."

"I'll talk to Morpheus about it," Tank promised.

Agent Program #129-402 (Agent Green) ground his molars in frustration. Or at least, if he were flesh-and-blood like the humans he tended to inhabit, he would have. As it was, he merely went through the motions.

Battery Unit #291-058-3920 (Seyman, Gregory Andrew) was not exactly cooperating. Ever since Battery Unit #291-061-2049 (Seyman, Alexander Danforth) had been disconnected and become Resistance Member #31-129 (Nil Excess), Agent Green had been puzzled by the older Seyman's actions. Gregory Seyman was doing exactly what he'd been doing, but there were aberrations in his behavior. If Agent Green were human, he would have guessed that Seyman was up to something. But of course, Agent Green could not guess. That was a human trait, and the last thing Agent Green wanted was to end up like Agent Program #086-534 (Agent Smith).

For one thing, Seyman never seemed to do anything without looking around, as though he were aware they were watching him. But that was impossible. No Battery Unit was ever aware of the Agents' presence, not even the ones who knew the Truth. Besides, Seyman was not aware of the Truth. The ones who knew the Truth either were unplugged and became Resistance Members or were disposed of. Seyman was neither.

Agent Green was aware that if an older version such as Agent Smith were still compiling today, he would have already used...Gestapo tactics. Yes, that was the word the humans used. Agent Smith had been very unpredictable toward the end. Bracing Morpheus such as he had after the Resistance leader's capture, then getting into a fist fight with Resistance Member #28-457 (Neo) and getting himself deleted was the sort of thing Agent Green expected of a lower level version such as Agent Smith. It was so assuring to know that a version such as himself was safe from the flaws in Agent Smith's version.

But then, Agent Green and Agent Smith shared several similarities. Agent Green wanted very much to pound Nil Excess into a pulp with his bare hands. He, like Agent Smith before him, was growing to hate this synthetic prison, though he wasn't aware of it.

Agent Green turned to look at his lower-ranking fellow Agent, Agent Program #131-563 (Agent Jameson). Agent Jameson merely followed orders, and didn't spend as much time as Agent Green on contemplation. But then, Agent Green wasn't aware he was contemplating anything.

"Tired," Nil said. "Didn't get much sleep last night."

"What? You, the guy who keeps us up all night with your snoring?" Apollo joked.

"Shut up, Pol. I don't snore, and you know it," Nil grinned. "Nah, I had dreams last night. Dreams about life...before."

Apollo nodded. "I know the feeling. I had dreams like that all the time after I was unplugged. Still do, sometimes. So does Art, but she'd never admit it."

Nil smiled and started typing. Apollo craned his neck to look over toward him. "What're you up to?"

"Tweaking some of the training programs," Nil said. "Morpheus gave me the okay after I showed him the gloves."

"Yeah, when you going to make me a set?" Apollo asked.

"When I get the okay from Morpheus. He hasn't OK'ed replication of the gloves and boots yet." Nil shrugged. "I don't blame him. Until they get field tested, I doubt he'll okay them."

An hour later, when Nil was sitting back and letting his patch compile, Morpheus and the rest of the Neb's crew came up to the deck. Morpheus looked at him. "Get yourself in your chair. I'm taking you to see the Oracle."

Nil looked up at Neo and Phoenix, who looked back. Phoenix shrugged.

Morpheus looked at him, then nodded to Phoenix and Apollo, who followed. Nil looked around at the decrepit hotel room where they had plugged in, and then moved to follow. This place kind of creeped him out.

Apollo climbed behind the wheel of the car outside, and Morpheus sat in the passenger's seat. Phoenix and Nil sat in the back. Nil looked around as they drove. "It doesn't make sense, sometimes," he said. "Knowing that this is all just a fabrication of a machine, but it feels so real."

Phoenix nodded in sympathy. He understood how that went, too. Every time he plugged back in, he felt a tug of the heart to run off and order a big juicy steak. He missed steaks. He could sympathize with Nil. He knew the guy's history. His mom died of lung cancer when he was five, his dad split when he was twelve, and his brother was eleven years older than him. Nil had no peers, essentially, because his sometimes volatile temper got in the way of making friends.

Nil half-watched the streets and half-thought about his brother during the trip. Think of what Gregory had to be going through. Here he'd just disappeared for four weeks. He felt like he should get in touch somehow. Nil sighed inwardly again and pulled a coffee swirl-stick out of his pocket and stuck it in his mouth. Phoenix looked over. "What's that for?"

"Help relieve nervous tension," Nil said.

A short while later, Morpheus and Nil got out and went into a rather dull-looking apartment building. Nil glanced at the old man in the lobby, but paid him no mind as he followed Morpheus into the elevator. Morpheus pressed the button for the ninth floor and they started up.

"So this Oracle, she does what exactly? Prophesize?" Nil asked.

"Sometimes," Morpheus said. "She helps to illuminate your path. She helps to realize your fate."

"Kinda heavy," Nil remarked.

"Yes," Morpheus agreed with a smile.

They arrived and Morpheus lead him to the door to apartment 'C960.' Nil glanced at it, and blinked. For a moment it appeared to have read 'C000.' But when he looked again it read 'C960.' Nil shook his head and looked to Morpheus. The cyberwizard nodded to him. "I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it."

Nil raised an eyebrow at that, then moved to open the door, but it opened to reveal a slim black woman. She looked right at him. "Hello, Nil. We've been expecting you. Do come in." Nil felt his skin tingle with the creeps as he followed the Priestess.

"Make yourself at home, Morpheus," the Priestess said to the Resistance leader. "Follow me, Nil." The nihilist followed. The Priestess gestured. "Wait here with the other potentials."

So Nil looked around. The TV was showing Night of the Lepus, a rather stupid movie in Nil's opinion, and watched the young children. Two girls were playing with blocks. By playing, this means they were making them float in the air. There was also a bald little boy playing with spoons. Nil cocked his head to the side as he watched the spoon in the boy's hand bend and twist. Before he could inquire about that, however, the Priestess returned. "Nil? She's ready to see you."

Nil ventured into a small kitchen. A plump elderly black woman was watching her stove. Nil started to speak, but she raised a finger. "Shh. Be right with you."

Nil blinked. "You're the Oracle, I take it."

"Right on the first guess," the woman replied. She turned to look at him. "Not quite what you were expecting, huh?"

"I was expecting something out of Greek mythology," Nil grinned.

"Just wait right there a moment," the Oracle said. She put on a potholder-glove and pulled a cookie sheet with chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. "Now to let them cool." She looked at Nil again. "So, what do you think?"

"I think you're a very nice lady," Nil said truthfully.

The Oracle laughed as she took out a cigarette. "Respect for your elders, that's very good." She lit up. "I meant about this." At that, she gestured around her. "The Matrix."

"Still a little weird knowing what I know," Nil admitted. "I keep expecting to find something to disprove it."

The Oracle nodded. "That's the way it is, a lot of the time." She blew out some smoke and placed her cigarette in the ashtray nearby and stood up. "Let me get a look at you." She grasped Nil's head in her hands and looked at him. "Open your mouth, say 'ah.'"

"Ah," Nil obliged. Then he looked at her. "Does that really do anything?"

The Oracles smiled and winked. "No. I just like doing that to people." She took Nil's hands in her own and frowned over them. Her frown deepened. "Ohh."

Nil blinked. "What? 'Ohh.' That's not a good 'ohh', is it?"

The Oracle looked up. "You're a good soul. And I hate giving good people bad news."

Nil felt himself sink. "Oh."

The Oracle dropped his hands and sat back in her chair. "I hate having to tell you this, Nil, but you're going to go through a lot of tragedy before you find happiness."

Nil slumped. The Oracle continued. "You will raise Cain before battling a green monster. And then change will come in a flash of lightning, and you will approach madness before you adapt to it." She shook her head. "Sorry, kid."

Nil had nothing to say. What could he say? What did he know about fate? He was a nihilist, and not may nihilists believed in fate. The Oracle looked at him. "Oh, now don't you worry. As soon as you leave, you'll start feeling better. You'll remember that you're a nihilist, and nihilists don't believe in any of this fate stuff." She got up and went over to her cookies. "Here, take a cookie."

Back at the car, Phoenix took one look at Nil and said, "Jesus H. Christ, man, you look like shit!"

Nil looked up briefly. "Feel like it."

"What? Did the Oracle give you bad news?" Phoenix asked. Nil looked at him. The lean black man grimaced. "Ouch. Sorry, man."

"S'okay," Nil said. "C'est la vie, I guess." He sighed. "C'est la vie, c'est la guerre."

The ride back to the hotel was just as silent as the first. When they got out, Artemis and Trinity stood up as they spotted the car approaching, Nil gnawed on the end of the plastic swirl-stick in frustration. How was he supposed to take this news?

In the hotel room, Nil sat down in a chair opposite Neo, who looked up at him. "The Oracle gave you some bad news, didn't she?" the One asked. Nil nodded. "You're taking it kind of hard. You always seem to take things well."

"That's because I've had to adapt my entire life," Nil said. "There's a built-in generation gap in my family. My older brother Gregory is eleven years older than me. My mom died of lung cancer when I was five, so I had to adjust to living in a one-parent home. Then, seven years later, my dad, the penultimate alcoholic, split and left Gregory and me alone. Gregory and I had to move around a lot to make ends meet, so I was always the new kid at school, always settling in. Then, when I turned twenty-three, I left home and went off on my own. Then, I had to adjust again when I learned the Truth."

"What did the Oracle tell you?" Neo asked.

Nil sighed. "She said I'd have a lot of tragedy before I found happiness, that change would come upon me like a flash of lightning and I'd approach madness before I adapted."

Neo winced. "Tough break."

Nil nodded dejectedly. "Another thing that's bothering me is the fact that Gregory doesn't know what happened to me. I just disappeared a month ago and he hasn't heard from me. I used to contact him every week like clockwork, and now there's nothing." He fiddled with the swirl-stick in his fingers. "I feel I should contact him somehow."

"I wouldn't call him," Neo said. "The Agents could have tapped his phone and are probably monitoring his computer activities."

"So e-mailing him is out," Nil said. He looked up. "I suppose dropping by to say hello is out of the question?"

Neo looked thoughtful. "Perhaps not."

Gregory Seyman returned from the office and closed his door wearily. Agent Green had called again, asking if there had been any word from Xander. There hadn't been, so Gregory told him so. Besides, he didn't give a crap what the laws said about aiding and abetting. Xander was his brother, terrorist or no. He was not about to turn in his brother to a Nazi throwback like Agent Green.

Gregory stopped when he saw the coffee mug on his living room table. There was a note attached to it by a plastic swirl-stick. Gregory felt a shiver go through him as he picked up the note, the swirl-stick dangling.

Gregory,

Sorry I haven't been able to contact you. A lot of weird things have been happening to me lately. In fact, it's happening to you right now, even if you don't know it. I can't risk emailing you or calling you. Chances are They've tapped your phone and monitor your computer. Don't ask me how They do it. It's way too complicated to get into here. Maybe someday I'll be able to tell you.

If you've been approached by someone called Agent Green, watch your ass. The guy's a lot more than what he seems, and nobody double crosses him without getting killed. I should know. Before I split a month ago, Agent Green came to me with an offer. If he makes any offer with you, DO NOT TAKE IT! You're selling more than your soul in that case.

I'll try to get in contact some way that Agent Green can't monitor.

Stay frosty.

Nil XS.

Gregory carefully folded the letter and put it in a pocket. He would find a secure place for this thing later. If Agent Green found this, he'd probably end up in a prison somewhere with the key conveniently lost. Gregory couldn't do that to Xander-or Nil, or whatever he called himself now.

Agent Green was not surprised by this turn of events. He knew that Excess would contact his brother somehow, and this was the proof. Now that Agent Green knew how to find Excess' messages, he would apprehend the Resistance Member and have him deleted.

Privately, Nil still wrestled with the knowledge of his future, as the Oracle had predicted. He went over the words again. "You're going to go through a lot of tragedy before you find happiness. You will raise Cain before battling a green monster. And then change will come in a flash of lightning, and you will approach madness before you adapt to it." It ate through him, knowing this.

Then, there were thoughts about Agent Green. In the past few weeks, Neo had told him of his introduction to the Real World, how the late Agent Smith had 'bugged' him before his meeting with Trinity and Morpheus, and what had come of that. Now Nil was wondering what Agent Green might have done to him. He distinctly remembered passing out during his meeting with Agent Green and Agent Jameson, but for the life of him, he did not know what they had done to him. It wasn't like the Agents to capture somebody and then release them without altering them somehow.

And yet, Nil was certain that Agent Green had done something. Neo wasn't able to determine what, if anything, and Tank checked Nil's digital RSI, and there was nothing. It boggled them all, and now Artemis was hesitant to trust him. "I don't trust anybody that the Agents capture," she'd told him.

Nil was distraught.

Phoenix and Nil ventured to 124 Sycamore, the address of Gregory's building, and paused outside. Nil took out his cell phone. Tank answered: "Operator."

"Tank, could you check to see if Gregory's home? I don't want to risk Agent Green showing up," Nil said.

"Sure, hold on a second." Tank checked the Matrix code, then said, "He's on his way back, but he's stuck in traffic. You should be clear. I'll buzz you if he gets close."

"Right, thanks," Nil said before closing his phone. "Okay, let's go."

The two went upstairs to Gregory's apartment, and Nil picked the lock using his swirl-stick. Inside, Nil took his note out and attached it to the swirl-stick, which he left in a half-empty cup of coffee from Gregory's breakfast. They went out into the hall, but the elevator ringed. Nil and Phoenix looked at each other.

When the man stepped off the elevator, the hall was empty.

About fifteen minutes later, Gregory went into his apartment and saw the note.

Gregory,

Sorry again that I haven't been in touch. I haven't been able to get by to contact you, and my colleagues are hesitant that I even do so. Things are getting kind of shaky here, and I may not be able to contact you again for some time.

This note is just to reassure you that I'm all right. I've been dealing with some issues. I think I'm going metaphysical or something. I'm always worrying about fate, destiny, and all that crap. Kinda weird coming from a professed nihilist, right?

Also, again, don't trust Agent Green. It doesn't matter what the bastard tells you. DON'T TRUST HIM.

Stay frosty.

Nil XS.

Agent Green went through the motions of a smile. Exactly as he had known, Excess had contacted his brother again. These humans were so predictable. And as luck would have it, Excess and Resistance Member #29-349 (Phoenix) were still in the area. This would certainly make things easier for him.

Agent Green activated the proper protocol and went into the Matrix to pursue Excess.

Agent Green knew where to find Excess and Phoenix. The roof. He turned purposefully to the elevator and pressed the button.

Phoenix already had his Glock out. "No, it's not."

Nil reached for his nines as the door opened from the elevator area. When the person stepped out, Nil's eyes narrowed. It was Agent Green.

"Mr. Seyman," Agent Green called, "I've been looking forward to this meeting."

Nil and Phoenix both opened fire on the Matrix Agent. Agent Green moved to the side, his entire body a blur as the bullets streaked by him, hitting nothing but rooftop, masonry, and air. When he stopped, Agent Green raised his Desert Eagle and fired at them. Nil ducked under the first bullet and then leapt for cover as Phoenix dropped to a lower portion of the roof.

Agent Green stopped firing as he scanned the rooftop. "Come out, Mr. Seyman. You can't hide forever."

No, Nil thought, but I can stay hidden while I try to come up with a plan of attack. Absentmindedly, he tapped his gauntlets, making the gloves come up and then activated the electromagnets. If Agent Green finds me, Nil thought, I'll give him a shock.

The Agent approached Nil's hiding place and turned his head to look toward it. He slowly brought his gun around. Nil waited, then moved. He did a perfect backflip over his hiding place and planted his feet in Agent Green's chest. Electricity crackled and Agent Green flew backwards as Nil landed and pivoted to face him and charge.

Phoenix reloaded his Glock and watched what transpired. With any luck, Nil might distract Agent Green enough for him to peg the Agent. With the Agent gone, they could get back to the hotel and get to the Exit. But as he drew a bead, Nil flew in, fists flying. Phoenix swore.

Agent Green shook out his disorientation from the blow, then saw Excess coming at him. Nil drove a fist forward, and Agent Green blocked with his arm. Nil swung his other fist around, and the Agent merely ducked and came up with an uppercut. Nil flew up and back to impact against part of the building's air conditioning system. He got up, groaning.

Agent Green was already on top of him. He grabbed Nil by the front of his shirt, swung around and threw him off the side. Phoenix screamed. "No!"

That was a mistake. Agent Green turned toward the sound and lunged at Phoenix. The Resistance Member stood up and fired his Glock. Agent Green blurred in midair and kicked the gun away as he swung a right hook. Phoenix felt his jaw break as he flew to the side. He landed just inches away from certain death over the edge. Agent Green paced over and grabbed Phoenix by his collar.

"Goodbye, Mr. Aris," Agent Green said as he prepared to deal a fatal blow.

But before that could happen, a gauntlet-covered fist came up and grabbed the Agent by his tie and yanked him off the side. Nil released his grip on the side of the building and fell with the Agent. He sneered as he drove both of his fists into Agent Green's face and then slammed his feet into his chest, sending him falling faster. Nil turned toward the building and drove his fist into the side. It caught, halting his fall.

Nil watched Agent Green writhe in midair as he plummeted. Just before he struck the street, a city bus smashed into him. Nil sketched a mock salute. "See you in hell, you synthetic bastard."

"A little sore, but I'm better than I thought I'd be," Nil said.

"We better split, man," Phoenix said. "He'll be back."

But Nil was looking at the bus, which had stopped as soon as Agent Green had struck it. There was something odd about the body the Agent had used. As Nil stepped a bit closer, he noticed a ring on the man's finger. Pushing Phoenix aside, Nil went to get a closer look, feeling a cold hand close over his heart.

The body was too mangled by the collision to discern its face, but Nil wasn't interested in the face yet. He was looking at the ring. It was a class ring. Woodrow Wilson High School, class of '62. The cold hand on his heart tightened as he looked at the color of the stone. It was aquamarine, his brother's birth stone. The cold fist squeezed and Nil shut his eyes, trying to block out the image.

Gregory, no no no. Not you. Not you. That bastard. No please. Nil punched the side of the bus in grief. Oh, no, please. He wasn't aware that Phoenix had come up behind him. The other hacker grabbed him. "Come on, man!"

Nil staggered away from his brother's corpse, feeling tears start to pour out of his eyes. Phoenix yanked out his cell phone.

"Yes?"

"Neo! An Agent jumped us at Gregory's apartment! Nil killed him, but we gotta get out of here!"

"I'll tell Tank to call you with an Exit!"

"Tell him to hurry!" Phoenix snapped it shut and pulled Nil. "Come on, man! What're you blubbering about? It was just an Agent."

Nil spun around and shoved him away. "That wasn't just an Agent! That was my brother I just killed!"

Phoenix staggered. "What?"

"Agent Green, that bastard," Nil said, his voice still quivering with sorrow. "He took over Gregory's body and attacked us. He knew we'd kill him. He wanted that, the bastard."

"Oh, that artificial son of a bitch," Phoenix whispered. "Sorry, man."

His phone rang. Phoenix opened it. "I've got an Exit for you. Fifth Street and Lake. It's a motel, room 217. Neo's on his way. Hurry!"

Phoenix nodded and said, "We're on our way." He turned to Nil. "Come on, we've got an Exit."

Nil followed Phoenix toward the small motel. He was watching people as he passed them, looking for any tell-tale sign of an Agent's intervention. Agent Green. That bastard. When I get my hands on him, I am going to randomize his code.

"We're tracking them," Agent Jameson said. "They're moving toward Fifth Street."

Agent Green raised a hand to his ear and nodded. "Have the police move in. We'll be there directly."

Agent Jameson nodded and turned away, raising his hand to his ear as well. Agent Green looked back at Gregory. Then he frowned and sent a query to his superiors. They answered. He asked something else. They agreed. Agent Green lowered his hand and turned to a cop. "Lieutenant, take this body to headquarters," Agent Green said. "Put him in the morgue. We will deal with him later."

The lieutenant was a bit puzzled by that, but he nodded and Agent Green turned to look in the direction of Fifth Street.

Naturally, the two hackers did nothing of the sort. Nil leaped into the air and flipped over. As he descended toward the frontmost cop, he grabbed the man by his uniform's shoulders and flipped over again. Nil released him at the apex of the flip. The cop went flying down the street to land with a sickening thud.

Phoenix kicked out with his feet and snapped a couple of kneecaps before driving an elbow into the cop's face, smashing his nose into his brain. Phoenix grabbed the man's revolver as he fell and pivoted, firing. Three more cops went down before Phoenix dropped the gun and moved again.

Nil pivoted and struck a cop in the face with his fist. Electricity crackled and the cop flew backward into his car, leaving a sizable dent in the side. He swung his fist into another cop's stomach, then grabbed his pistol as he flew away. Nil pointed it at the three cops closing on him and fired. All three of them went down before they realized he had a gun.

Phoenix dashed around the patrol car to snap a cop's neck with a vicious kick and grabbed a fallen gun off the street to kill the last two cops. He tossed the gun away and turned to head for the motel, just a block away. Nil followed.

They burst in through the entrance to the motel and beat tracks up the stairs. Phoenix was in the lead and he was the one who took a bullet through the knee as Agent Green fired his Desert Eagle at them. He tripped and fell on the floor, clutching his wound. Nil stopped as he saw his enemy slowly 'smile.'

"Mr. Seyman," Agent Green said, "allow me to extend my sympathy for your brother's death."

Nil felt a sudden clarity come over his mind as his fury claimed him. He knew how he could kill this bastard. He slowly crouched and pulled Phoenix back. He whispered to him, "Stay back." Phoenix, too preoccupied with his bleeding knee, nodded.

Nil stood again and checked the gun he'd swiped from the cops. One bullet remaining. That was fine. He only needed the one. He raised the gun. Agent Green watched him, then 'smiled' again. Nil smiled back. He pointed it at the sprinkler heads on the ceiling, then fired. Instantly, all of them went off in the hallway. Phoenix, in the stairwell, was dry.

Agent Green frowned at the cascading water and looked at Nil. "What is that supposed to accomplish?"

"You'll find out," Nil said evenly as he tossed the empty gun away. "Well, come on! You want to kill me don't you? Why not do it with your bare hands? You had no problem with that on the roof of Gregory's apartment building."

Agent Green considered, then tossed his own gun away. "Very well, Mr. Seyman. I see no reason why you shouldn't choose your manner of death."

Nil clenched his fists, feeling the electromagnetic field around them intensify. "The name's Nil Excess. Get it right."

The two launched themselves at one another. Nil went low and grabbed Agent Green around the waist. As they hit the floor, Nil sat up and punched Agent Green across the face. Electricity crackled, and the water covering them both sent a shock into Nil as well. Agent Green's body crackled, as though there was static in him. He recovered and drove his hands into Nil's neck in a vicious double karate chop. Nil staggered away as Agent Green stood up to punch Nil in the stomach, chest, face, then stomach again.

Nil shook his head clear and kicked Agent Green in the face. The Agent fuzzed again, and electricity ripped through Nil again. Nil ignored the pain, but could feel his muscles cramping up from the electromagnetic fields. He had to finish this.

Agent Green came forward again, but Nil sidestepped the lunge and grabbed Agent Green in a full nelson. The Agent flailed, and then Nil sneered. "You ever wonder what Agent Smith felt like when Neo killed him? I think it felt like this!"

Nil drove his fists into the side of Agent Green's head and held them there. With a huge crack of energy, electricity screamed through them both. Agent Green howled in pain, his body rippling and becoming incredibly fuzzy from static. Slowly, the same was happening to Nil. He gritted his teeth against the sheer pain, concentrating on keeping his fists on Agent Green's head.

Phoenix, through the door to the stairwell, could see this happening. He got up, wincing as his knee flared in pain, then yelled, "Nil, no!"

The two became indistinct through the Matrix-static and sparks of electricity. Neo came up to Phoenix, then saw what was happening. His eyes widened. "What? Nil!"

Then it happened. Agent Green's body exploded. Neo and Phoenix shielded their eyes as little Matrix-code pieces of Agent Green, still screaming, flew past them, and saw Nil lying face down on the flooded floor, his gauntlets and boots sparking weakly. Phoenix winced again as he heard a telephone ringing.

"We can't go through there! Not while his gloves are still doing that!" Phoenix said.

Neo looked up at the still spraying sprinklers and concentrated. The flow of water stopped, and then the water covering the floor evaporated in an instant. Phoenix blinked once, then grinned. "I keep forgetting about that."

"Can you walk to the Exit?" Neo asked.

Phoenix pulled himself up and leaned on his good leg. "Yeah. I can get that far."

"I'll take care of Nil."

Phoenix limped past the fallen hacker and knocked open the door of room 217. He found the phone and picked it up, vanishing from the Matrix. Neo crouched beside Nil and looked him over. He was very weak. Neo doubted he would live if they didn't get him out of the Matrix. He slipped his arms under Nil and stood up, carrying him to room 217 as the phone started to ring again.

Neo picked it up and put it to Nil's ear. Nil vanished, and then Neo hung up the phone. Moments later, he too, left the Matrix.

Apollo frowned down at Nil. "He absorbed a lot of voltage," he said to Morpheus. "I don't know if he will wake up."

"Why did he do that, anyway?" Trinity asked. "He should have known that move was suicidal."

"His brother died," Phoenix said as he tightened the bandage on his aching knee. Everyone looked at him. "Agent Green. He took over Gregory Seyman's body just after we planted the note. He attacked us, and Nil threw him of the roof. Agent Green made Nil kill his own brother."

Artemis spoke up. "That's what the Oracle meant by 'raise Cain.' Brother killing brother, just like in Genesis."

"And 'battle a green monster,'" Apollo said. "The green monster was Agent Green."

"Then what does 'change will come upon you like a lightning bolt' mean?" Phoenix asked.

"The gloves," Neo said. He looked down at Nil on the medical table. "When he killed Agent Green. That's what it did. Something changed."

"But what?" Morpheus said.

"I don't know," Neo said, "but I have a feeling we'll find out."

He looked around, then stopped. This was not headquarters. What was going on?

"Well, it looks like we have a new visitor," a voice said behind him.

Agent Green turned and saw another Agent. Agent Green looked him over and frowned. "Agent Program #097-732. What are you doing here? You were deleted a year ago."

Agent Program #097-732 (Agent Brown) shrugged. "I might ask you the same question, Agent --?"

"Agent Program #129-402. Agent Green," the first Agent said. "Where am I?"

"You are in Inactive Memory," said another Agent, striding out of the nothingness surrounding them. It was Agent Program #096-968 (Agent Jones). "This is where we end up when we get deleted."

Agent Green scowled. "I was not deleted. I was just killed. It happens all the time."

"Trust me," said a third voice. "You have been deleted."

Agent Green stiffened, then scowled even further at that voice. "I know you. You are the flawed one. The reason the newer version was created."

Agent Program #086-534 (Agent Smith) smiled. "Flawed is a relative term, Agent Green," Agent Smith said. "Our superiors might view you as being flawed. You were starting to suffer from the same problems I was."

"What problems?"

"Emotions."

Agent Green growled softly. "I do not suffer from emotions."

Agent Smith laughed. "Really? You are getting mad at me, are you not?" Agent Green started. Agent Smith laughed again. "You are just like me. And now you are here with the rest of the deleted Agent Programs."

"I am a newer version," Agent Green said haughtily. "We cannot be deleted. If we are deleted, we are merely restored."

Agent Brown spoke up. "Then why are you here?"

"I am awaiting restoration," Agent Green said.

Agent Smith strode forward. He looked Agent Green over carefully, then stepped back. "There is something wrong with your code. You have been corrupted."

"Nonsense, there is no such thing!" Agent Green snapped. But he stopped and ran a self-diagnostic, and stiffened. "What?"

"I thought so," Agent Smith said. "You have been corrupted by those humans." He sniffed and then smiled again. "It must be one of the drawbacks to your 'newer version.' Having a run-in with Mr. Anderson must have corrupted you."

"It wasn't Anderson," Agent Green replied.

The other three Agents looked at him. "What?" Agent Jones said.

"It was a new member of the Resistance," Agent Green said. "His name is Alexander Seyman, but he goes by the hacker alias Nil Excess."

"I remember him," Agent Brown said. "The nihilist who crashed the NSA server."

"That one," Agent Green agreed.

"Well, congratulations," Agent Smith said, frowning. "You are now the first Agent Program to be deleted by someone other than Mr. Anderson."

Agent Green turned his back on Agent Smith and strode away into the nothingness. He did not want to be associated with those throwbacks. His non-restoration and his corruption were troubling him. What had Excess done to him? And furthermore, how was he developing emotions? His version was above such flawed developments.

Agent Green sighed and looked at the nothingness of Inactive Memory. Well, he might as well get used to this place. At the very least, he would have a while to figure this out.