“I am the one who come out from the shadows, with raincoat, cigarette and arrogance, ready to deal with the madness.
I follow my path alone…
Who would ever want to walk with me?
-John Constantine, Hellblazer nº41
“Why I always come back to this place…what keeps me to come here again and again…?”.
That were the questions Ryu was making to himself on his way to the Jade Room. He didn’t know, for sure, the answers…but he knew for sure the way to the club.
Some time ago, when the redpill returned to the district where he was born as a bluepill, he founded the Jade Room…and he founded that the club owner, Jade, was an exile, a rogue program. The exiles are all over Mega city, invisible to the eyes of the sleepers, but for a trained awakened they can be very obvious. As one of the most powerful programs in International, Lotus were always willing to hire redpills to fulfil her agenda, so it was not a surprise that a“commercial” relation was born between the both. The strange thing was that, after some time, the program and the human became some kind of “friends”.
That was the fact what worried Ryu more. After solving some of the Lotus problems with the “piracy”, he thought that the contacts will end. But, some days after, he just came back to the club, and the exile gave him a warm welcome. Without realizing it, week after week, day after day, he frequently visited the Jade Room.
Now, after his sudden “disappearance”(the fight with Oris took more things from him that he expected) and later return, paying a visit to Lotus was a must in the agenda…
The Jade club, as its name suggests, was a place where the green was the predominant color. With not too much illumination and enough space, it was a perfect place to take a drink. That was one of the two reasons that continuously attracted the redpill there. After taking a beer, he went upstairs, to the VIP area, to see the “other reason”
Passing the bodyguards was not a problem(they know him and his friendship with the boss) but, just after Ryu passed the purple curtains, those that served as a barrier between the public and the private area, a mobile phone flew towards the redpill´s head. Catching it without too effort, he saw a very angry Lotus.
“I´m glad to see you again too, Lotus. But sadly, I have not brought any present.”, he said, smiling and hiding his “present” in one of his trenchcoat´s pockets.
”See who is back”, said the exile, smiling too.“Now be a good boy, give me my phone back and perhaps you have a nice welcome party.”
He gave back the phone to its legitimate owner…
The “welcome party” consisted of a simple dinner with her at the private zone of the bar. While the exile and him were chatting and eating, the questions came back to Ryu´s mind. Strangely enough, he felt comforted on that place, listening to her. Then, suddenly, he realized the truth: after all the fights, the persecutions, the dangers and all the usual events of a redpill´s day , it was good to have a place to return, a place where you could relax and rest without worries…a place like this. It was very ironic that he found it at the matrix and not in the real world.
Shrunk in those thoughts, suddenly the sound of his phone brought him back to the reality. He was not in the mood for another stupid chat with Wave, so he “turned off” the mobile in a very drastic way: crushing it with his own hand.
“Looks like I´m not the only one who don´t like cellphones”, said Lotus, watching at the broken cell.
“That reminds me…usually you´re a nice person Lotus. What happened before you threw me your dear phone?”.
“I thought you would never ask me about that, dragon.”, replied the exile with a smile of satisfaction.
“Listen, you have to do me a favor…another one. I suppose you know Ytrri, the “zionist lover” andOperetta, that Caballé wannabe, right?. A certain tension has always existed between us, since we are the best musicians in all Megacity…you can call itprofessional rivality.But now, during the last weeks, the things have gone worse. These…**CENSORED** are making aggressive critics against my music, trying to undermine my reputation all over the city!”. Lotus´ anger returned, talking vehemently and looking directly into Ryu´s eyes.
“But that´s not the worse. No…they are gathering a small redpill army from their allies on Zion and the Merovingian. Ryu, they are going to attack me, they want to destroy the Jade Club.”, she did a pause, trying to find the proper words.
“I need you dragon. You have to gather all the allies you can and defend me…I´m running short on allies. Zion supports Ytrri and the Frenchman is behind Operetta. You are one of the few ones I can call a friend.”
“Me?. Lotus, I…”,all that speech caught Ryu by surprise.”I don´t have allies. You know me, I´m a lonely guy”
“Lonely? I hope that´s a joke. You are not alone. You are a known captain, with friends in the three organizations, you are one of the founders of the Kings of Never, a respected and well-known fleet of ships. Save your ‘I am a lonely wolf` crap for one of your crewmates, Ryumanjisen. I know you well. You have loyal comrades watching your back, ready to fight for you if you ask them. But, of course, you never will, cause you prefer to fight your battles alone…but you can´t now. You can be a charismatic leader if you wants…that the person I need now. I need you.”
“So, you have investigated, didn´t you, exile?”. The redpill was the one angry now. “Then you should know that I will never involucrate my friends in your personal war!I don´t care if you or your stupid club are destroyed! None of this is real, not you, not your music..even notthis horrible meat we are supposing to be eating!”
“Then, if this is not real”, she replied, “why are you here, why you came here?.
Both, program and human, were close, staring at each other. The redpill was not surprised this time. Lotus was very persuasive, trying to “click some buttons” to bring him to her side. He wasn´t the only ally of Lotus, he was very sure that some of the “ex-employees” redpills would help her without doubt. Besides, it wasn´t necessary to be a genius to realize what the Lotus´ enemies really wanted: the secret of her mind influencing music. That was none of his business, if a group of exiles wanted to destroy each other, fine for them.
What really surprised him was his reaction…
Shortly after, Ryu was looking his own reflection in one of the club mirrors, holding his emerald sunglasses on one hand. He accepted helping lotus in that selfish war, but he didn´t know why. It was funny: after finding an answer, another question appeared.
“Raven is right”, she thought,” my eyes looks sad”.
Coding another cellphone was not a problem. After leaving Jade,he called Wave, operator of the Hovercraft Ronin.
“Boss, what the hell are you doing?. You´re not going to help that girl, right?. I mean, she´s not real, she´s only a program. If she were a real woman…well, I can understand how you feel…but she´s not real!. Boss, you have to recons…”
“Wave, shut up now!!”, interrupted abruptly, “Gett your butt off the seat and establish a contact with The Adonis as soon as you can, I have to talk with Symmetric…now!!!”
The only answer were the sound of a very hurried steps.
Message Edited by Ryumanjisen on 01-12-200606:08 PM