The rise of...

Taking place in between Convert and Rebirth:

The Rise of…

1: Zionist Report.

…Accessing Zion Mainframe…

…Accessing Criminal Reports…

Username: CLocke

Password: *****

…Access Granted…

…Accessing file report: Khao…

Name: Khao

Time awakened: 1 Month (approx.)

Current affiliation: Unknown. It is believed he will try to seek out the Machines.

Wanted for: 2 murders.

Details: Awakened by the Freelife crew (originally captained by Ibis) shortly after seeing a conflict between exiles and redpills. Crew members described him as being very quiet, but adjusting normally.

The incident started when he tripped an alarm entering the Zion Mainframe. It is unknown what caused him to go. A guard confronted him but Khao murdered him. The guard suffered wounds to the back of the head. A camera recording of the night shows that Khao collided with the guard causing his head to bash against the doorframe. The guard was still breathing when found, but never became conscious.

The 2nd murder occurred on the Freelife. The next part is assumed as there are no recordings or witnesses. Khao was looking for a way out of Zion and attempted to commandeer the Freelife. However, he was confronted by Ibis. A fight ensued and Khao murdered Ibis with a sharp piece of metal, most likely from the smashed control panel. The damage done to Ibis was disturbing. He had a gash across his face, and many across his body.

We have come to the conclusion that Khao is unstable and psychotic. He must found and apprehended immediately. We have searched Zion thoroughly and have found no trace of him. We have sent a message to all Zion Hovercrafts and Hoverbarges to be on the lookout for stowaways. He will be caught.

Part 4: Leadership

To: Agent Gray

From: Aggie

Subject: New Leadership

Message: Greetings. As you know, g7g has recently been suffering tremendous difficulties. Two of our founders, Archon and Mononoke are dead. This has put extra strain on us, along with all of our new responsibilities considering the current situation of the Matrix. The influx in Zion and Merovingian operatives, as well as the new Cypherite threats has kept us extremely busy. The remaining leadership, I, Fatum and Travieso have decided to choose a fourth member to help lead the faction.

After careful thinking we chose Oranos. His methods are unorthodox, but he has been a successful crew leader, and he is a good friend to many of our operatives. They will listen to him. He has proven himself, time and time again, to be a loyal Machinist operative.

Part 5: Crash #1

The stress had been getting to him. Oranos, recently made one of the leaders of Guardians of the 7th Gate, had felt a tremendous weight placed on him. He was the first Rank 1 to not be a founder, and a lot was expected of him. Currently one of the largest of the Machinist factions Oranos was responsible for many people.

Although he never explained fully the situation of his being smuggled to their Hoverbarge they had taken him in. Although he had made the name Oranos on the spot, it had stuck with him and now sounded more correct than anything else, including Khao

However, things were now becoming difficult. Since he had been made a Rank 1, approximately a week ago, the dreams had returned. Before he became a Machinist, and even before he had been awakened, he experienced odd dreams that made no sense and disturbed him. They had returned, and brought along friends it seemed. For example, he now often had a recurring dream about the deaths that occurred on his way out of Zion. The dream showed the events exactly as they happened except for a few odd details, which were blatantly wrong. For a start, Sonaro did not appear in the dreams. This suited Oranos fine, as he did not want to think about that wretch. However, this meant that he was shown as the one killing Ibis in his dreams. This disturbed him, as he had blacked out while Sonaro killed him.

*****

Oranos and his crew had taken the Valiturus and left the hoverbarge early on in the day. Their job was to travel to the fields, and make sure that no one had been awakened and left there. This was a routine job. One crew, from any of the factions would go every day. With so many crews throughout the factions, crews found themselves going only once every 3 months.

“We’re almost there” Leetch told Oranos. One of his newer crew members. Since he had become a crew leader he had seen many of those under him come and go. Death. Betrayal. Power. There were various reasons as to why they had leaved. Death was something he could understand as that was not there fault, but Betrayal was something he hated. He expected loyalty.

“Good. Let’s get this over with and go back home. It’s a waste of time as there’s never anybody there.” Oranos replied.

“Yeah, but an order is an order” Leetch laughed.

“Stop imitating me or I’ll send you outside on your own.” The laughter stopped….Then Oranos started chuckling.

*****

As they were almost there, Oranos went to the back of the Valiturus to check on everything before disembarking. Like bluepills often fawned over their cars, Oranos loved his hovercraft. When he was first made into a crew leader he often took it out just for fun. Travelled across the pipeways.

He was checking the engines when suddenly he heard a voice from behind him.

“Long time no see…”

Oranos recognised the voice. He recognised the eccentric tone. As he turned around he recognised the purple hair, and the insane eyes. But it could not be him. It was impossible.

“No! I killed you! You’re not real!” Oranos stumbled backwards, falling against the wall. He was in disbelief.

“What? No hugs? No kisses? No where’s the metal shard I plunged into your heart?” Sonaro did a mock cry.

Part 6: Crash #2

“How about I replace that metal shard?” Oranos was getting up, clenching his fists.

“Oooh, when did you grow a pair? Before you woulda just stuttered and made a fool out of yourself. I guess all that killing’s making you feel good?” Sonaro was smiling. It was a twisted smile.

“How did you get here?” Oranos needed an answer. He thought he was going insane.

“Now that’s the question. I mean you could mean how did I come to be? Or you could mean what the hell am I doing on your hovercraft?” Sonaro shrugged.

“How are you alive? I watched you die.”

“Did you really? Was it fun? We can do it again you know!” he sighed and his expression turned serious. “Are you really that stupid?”

“I don’t understand”

“And isn’t that obvious.” Sonaro smiled again. Oranos was infuriated.

Oranos threw a punch at Sonaro, but much to his surprise, Sonaro dodged it. It was not the fact he dodged it, but the movement was smooth. Sonaro seemed ethereal again.

“Try again if you think it will help.”

Oranos complied. He threw many punches at Sonaro but he dodged them all, yet he seemed so relaxed.

“What are you doing!?” It was Leetch. He looked confused. Oranos and Sonaro turned to face him, surprised.

“Get out of here Leetch. This guys a murderer!” Oranos wanted Leetch out the way in case Sonaro told him what had happened at Zion.

“Who? Who are you talking about? I don’t see anyone!” Leetch looked alarmed.

“What?” Oranos said.

“Oh don’t be so surprised” Sonaro said. “You thought you were going insane anyway.” He started to laugh again.

“I think I’ll go and fetch someone…” Leetch started to walk out.

“No! No...You mean you can’t see him?” Oranos was getting scared. He really was going insane.

“See who? Look you’re starting to scare me!” Leetch began to walk out again.

“No! Please stop!” Oranos said.

Sonaro became serious. “You can’t let him go. He leaves and you lose all this power. He’ll take your crew. Your leadership position. He needs to die. I’ll explain to you what I know if you kill him.”

“What?! I can’t do that! You really are insane!” Oranos was once again in disbelief. Leetch stood there watching Oranos talking to thin air.

“Then I’m sorry. You give me no choice.”

Oranos had felt this before. Everything was fading. Darkness. Nothingness…

Part 7: Crash Epilogue

Oranos had awoken to a similar situation once before, only this one was more dire. There were flames around him, and he was covered in blood. However, this time that blood was his own. He was injured. His arm was broken. His hovercraft had crashed. He cursed to himself. Near him was Leetch, who was dead, also covered in blood. Standing above them was Sonaro.

“Everyone else is all right. I checked.” Sonaro said seriously.

“What have you done?!” Oranos said, his whole body racked with pain.

“After killing Leetch, I caused the hovercraft to crash near the Fields. Now you cannot be blamed for his death, and no one will find out about your…problems.” Sonaro smiled.

“But I didn’t kill him! You did!” Oranos wanted to attack him again, but he could not fight with one arm, and his body was in agony.

“That’s not how it will look to them.”

“I need answers. You promised me answers.”

“Why should I? You didn’t do as I asked.” Sonaro shrugged.

“Dammit. After all you’ve done you refuse me answers?” Oranos could not hate anyone more.

“No I guess not. Brace yourself though. It’s going to hurt…a lot.”

Okay..."The Rise of..." Is completed. Hopefully it answered a few questions and left more to be answered. Now to remake Rebirth and then on to the story i've most been looking forward to writing.