Meditation

The chat was strange, as usual Void had his advanced idea as to what things were going on, and Darminian was content with the simplicities of life. They sat and talked, an interesting relationship between these two, Void had tried to kill Darminian over a deal in the past, but no harsh feelings were held. In fact as much as the two had differences (large differences) Darminian also though there was a certain connection or amount of similarity that they shared. This was probably the reason for Darminian’s respect for him.

Contemplation of the monument and even the rain itself occurred as the two sat atop the monument chatting. Void brought some well thought out, deeply informed observations about their connection and shared identity with the rain, and Darminian merely enjoyed the simple beauty.

The two were odd, by most standards even odd in this place, but it was an interesting conversation to say the least. Leaving the monument Darminian left to jack out, it would still be several hours before he could “take care” of Mathias.

Back to the cold dead real, back to the deeper contemplations of life and its meaning, and back to another sleepless night aboard his metal behemoth. He had a crew now, people he was supposed to trust, hell he did even trust them. It scared him, to trust again, he didn’t like the idea that these people could kill him while he was undefended, he didn’t like the idea of a ship where everything that happens might not be in his control, he wasn’t a control freak, just a pessimist.

He sat down at the junction of computers and began typing as usual. Several hours elapsed and Darminian found himself lying in his room. As he gave into the tranquil slumber he found himself shortly afterwards awakened by an alarm. Sentinels were closing in on his ships position and quickly. Evasive action as usual, Darminian flying the ship, his first mate Det0nat0r on guns and there new one, Vorymos backup gunner as well. They kept the sentinels off, good shots; they knew what they were doing. Things like this made it harder and easier to trust them.

After safely positioning themselves and a well times EMP, the sentinels were clear and Darminian checked the MegaCity time. It was time to go see Mathias, the cold steel penetrated his skull as the code flowed over him like a cold shower. The walls of moving green stirred and slowly stopped to become the faulty world so many thought they knew.

The Ol Miller Projects, was a run down building in stamos. Mathias must have been calling meetings here since it was out of the way of most of the families in Westview. Darminian moved towards the door and listened, on the other side a faint moaning could be heard. Kicking the door open, he found himself staring at the Blooddrinker Mathias whose mouth was covered in blood as he was leaning over the body of a blue pill.

“Mathias I take it?” The exile snapped blood flying from his mouth “Who wants to know?” “That would be a yes then.” Replied Darminian. “Seems to me, I have to ways of killing you.” He paused. “I could either tell the families of this two-bit operation you’re trying to run, or I could just off you myself.” The devilish smile returned to his lips as he sized up Mathias. A larger blood drinker than usual, but nothing Darminian couldn’t handle.

“There’s always a third option.” The Drinker grinned with his blood soaked smile. “You could be the main course after this appetizer.” Darminian looked upon the blue pill, it was a young girl who lay dieing in a pool of her own blood. The color of her soft skin was fading to the pale of the exiles as he grinned over her. A deep sadness inside of Darminian was followed by a great anger as he drew his revolver, the exile whipped a flash bomb against the wall and took off towards the elevator. The white faded and Darminian’s vision returned, he leaned over the girl and fired. The right thing to do, only felt wrong some times.

He jumped into the elevator and went to the lower floor, when the doors opened he was met with a spray of machine gun fire, ducking behind the elevator wall Darminian realized he had to hurry. If he didn’t catch up to the exile he would hit the HL at the end of the place and get away. Loading up his needler, Darminian dove out from the elevator and sprayed at the exile’s location, he ran as Darminian got to his feet.

Darminian pursued him through to the lowest floor, as the exile once again took off down the hall. As Darminian turned down the hall he came to a fork. He could hear the exile running to his left, but before he moved he pulled the map into his HUD and chuckled to himself as he moved through the left doors.

Mathias tore out from the double doors and could see the Hardline in front of him, he ran to it and picked up the phone and held it to his ear. He waited to see the code change, the setting change, the world tear from him, but nothing happened. He looked to the phone and could see that the cord had been cut. As the realization of what happened hit him, the familiar cocking noise came from the gun now pointed at the back of his head. “When you mess with things that are beyond you, they come to bite you in the *CENSORED*.” Darminian said as he chuckled. That was the last thing the exile heard before his brains were splattered on the wall.

After a long and boring walk Darminian emerged from the double doors of the Ol Miller Projects he began to walk towards the HL. The phone was ringing as he moved towards it, as he reached for it he heard a moaning coming from the doors of where he had just been. Drawing his gun he moved back to the doors he kicked them open and saw a girl on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Darminian stared in awe before it hit him, Déjà vu. As he reached for his revolver something burst through the wall and sent him flying.

Darminian

His initial thought was why in god’s name a wrecking ball would have hit him, and more importantly how was he still alive. It occurred to him as he sat up coming face to face with aDesert Eagle that it wasn’t a wrecking ball at all, and he wouldn’t be alive much longer.

“Goodbye Mr.Solt….” The agent mid sentence was cut off as he watched his gun fly from his hand. Darminian followed that kick up with one to the mid section of the agent who this time grabbed his foot and threw him into the wall. Getting to his feet the agent had run up and placed his hand on Darminian’s throat and lifting him from the ground. Choking Darminian kicked at the agent, it didn’t phase him, but Darminian raised his foot and drove it into the eye of the agent. The glasses shattered and blood leaked from the agents eye but his grip only tightened.

He could feel it slipping away, the darkness closing in on him as he struggled for air, he didn’t have enough energy left to use a powerful enough attack to break the agents grip. Fumbling inside his coat as the dizziness cause by lack of air started getting to him, he found what he was looking for. Pulling the blade from his coat he stabbed deep into the agents wrist, damaging the internal tendons of his wrist. The agent’s hand fell from Darminian’s neck as he stepped back accessing the situation.

In those short seconds Darminian had bolted for the door, as he flung it open he felt the bullet rip through his shoulder but he kept running. He could hear the phone ringing around the corner, as he neared the hard line he could hear the agent shooting at him from behind. Turning the corner the Hl came into reach, Darminian stopped just outside of the box and withdrew his Needler. As he reached for the hard line with his wounded arm he sprayed the corner where the Agent emerged, not one shot hit him, but it was only a distraction, when the agent stopped moving at insanely high speeds Darminian was gone.

Falling out of the HL, Darminian looked around, he was at the Tabor north hard line with the red pills staring at him. Standing up he dusted himself off and walked towards the subway. As he sat down on the seat he popped a health pill and watched he torn flesh of his arm recompile. It stung and tickled it a bit. “**bleep** agents, I like this jacket.” He said to himself. He stayed on the subway until he reached Historic, he jumped off and headed into the park near the pyramid sculpture.

Darminian placed the call and within 10 minutes the hard line flashed and from it emerged yet another contact within the matrix. An exile named Anix, a rather shady character whom Darminian knew quite well. “You know this really isn’t a good idea, my people would kill me for helping you.” Darminian chuckled, “You know what I would do to you if you didn’t, besides you owe me, for the most part you probably always will.” Anix looked angry before he smiled, “god you’re a cocky **bleep** Darm”. “You know it.” Darminian replied as they gave each other some dap. Anix placed a folder on the edge of the sculptures base and smiled. “Everything you wanted and then some bro, take it easy.” “You’re a pro Anix, take it easy man.” Darminian said as he grinned grabbing the package.

Anix and Darminian had worked on some previous “business” dealings back in the day and in several of the deals Darminian found himself saving the exiles life, he was connected, intelligent and a good hacker but couldn’t handle a weapon and wasn’t much of a fighter. The two found their abilities suited each other, as a series of smash and grab jobs went south before being salvaged by one of their hair-brained schemes. As they had gone their separate ways, Anix ended up joining a group of exiles who made it their business to comb the matrix for information in both senses.

He jumped from the HL to Mara Central, and headed towards Debir court, now wasn’t a time to meditate, he was almost done. He sat on the bench and pulled out the file and opened it. Scanning it he found his first glimpse of Reenon; the only remaining person who had to be dealt with concerning Darminian and his connection to Cylan. He was a Zionist who had been working on a field research assignment somewhere in downtown. Darminian hadn’t been able to locate him, but now he had what he needed.

Putting the file back into his jacket he looked up to find WGAnubis sitting about 50 feet from him. A little chat about memories occurred between the two as they sat, two loners in company, interesting and almost ironic. Both sought solace and found someone to converse with, though neither really needed it, or for that matter wanted it. Another informed ghost within the matrix, Darminian was curious about him but never really asked, as they would just as easily be fighting as talking. Darminian left him to his solace and headed to the Mara central hard line.

Annoyed that he had to come back to downtown yet again, Darminian emerged from the hard line. Checking his pocket he found the tactic booster he loaded with the virus. Jumping from the hard line a good hundred feet from the HL he found himself running towards the building. He recalled a time when it had taken focus, taken his energy and drained him when he accomplished it. How many times he had hit the ground in the jump simulator, the first time he succeeded, it was all a strange example of growth.

He found himself pushing through the revolving door and walking into the lobby of what looked like a hotel. The few blue pills that noticed him smirked and whispered, he grinned and kept walking. As he moved towards the elevator a blue pill stopped him and asked “Excuse me uh….. sir……. Are you currently a guest in this hotel?” Darminian contemplated breaking his arm but decided against it. “why yes, yes I am” As he tried to walk again the blue pill stopped him. “May I ask what room number?” he asked. “No, no you may not. And I would appreciate if you removed your arm from my coat before I remove it for you.” The blue pill stepped back slowly and Darminian grinned at him.

As he moved towards the elevator, he heard the blue pill fumbling with the phone, smirking the doors of the elevator opened and he stepped inside. The room was on the eighth floor, number was 807 and he wasn’t sure how many people were in the room, but he was about to find out. Walking down the hallway he slipped on his gloves and came to the door. “Knock, knock” he thought to himself as he banged on the door.

Placing his hand over the peep hole, he felt the person on the other side of the door. “Who is it?” A voice came through the door. “Maintenance, the front desk sent me up to this floor, someone was complaining about the heat I need to check everyone’s room.” Darminian confidently replied, his ability to think on the spot scared himself sometimes. The door cracked open, Darminian could see the chain lock was still connected. The persons head appeared in the crack and his eyes widened as he tried to close the door, but before he could get it closed Darminian stepped into a kick and tore the chain from the door as it swung open.

The person who had been on the other side had been knocked down and was trying to get to his feet when Darminian crossed the threshold and put his foot down on the guys chest, it wasn’t Reenon. “Where’s Reenon?” “Ugh… uh what are you talking about?” He replied. Pulling the revolver from his coat he decided to try again. “Don’t make me ask you twice.” Darminian said as he pulled the hammer back. “I don’t know, he went out ten minutes ago, said he would be right back.” Darminian looked around the room, it was set up as a BEP with some basic surveillance equipment.

“Get up.” The guy on the floor pushed himself up and Darminian grabbed a hold of his collar and walked him over to one of the chairs. Darminian forced him into the chair and used the restraints, normally in place to keep the blue pills that ‘don’t’ accept reality, calm and controlled, they would serve as decent bindings. “When Reenon gets back he’s gonna kill you, you **bleep**.” “No, when reenon gets back, im going to knock him out and tomorrow you’ll both be trying to figure out who the hell I am.” Darminian let out his usual devilish grin as he waited for the response. “Whatever buddy Reenon is going to mop the floor with you.” Darminian pistol whipped him and knocked him out. “Well so far it would seem Reenon hasn’t discussed what he knows with his people, shame.” Darminian checked the ‘customized’ tactic booster and closed the door.

Darminian

((this one is kinda long cause i was trying to finish it here and still didn't and if theres typos..... bite me.))

The virus was imbedded within the tactic booster and swirled calmly inside of it. It was a complex virus based off of a simple search engine based deletion process. Darminian had adapted the program to locate all of the person’s thoughts regarding a specific topic. Essentially it was a tool to erase knowledge of specific things. Darminian had used it before, normally it got the job done, but once or twice it had some side effects that were..... interesting. An exile he had once tried to use it on once had exploded where as another ended up just getting the tactic boost and nearly killed Darminian.

When dealing with Red pills the only side effects he had encountered were temporary RSI malfunction and glitching, as well as nausea in the real. It was still the best way to deal with them though, since offing them in the matrix didn’t always have the same effect. This reconstruct procedure made it difficult when it came to dealing with humans. All the same Darminian came prepared.

While wandering around the apartment, he came across a small safe on the floor. As usual he was overtaken by his curiosity and headed towards it. He contemplated picking the lock mechanism when it donned on him. He opened the safe and chuckled, the idea that people have safes all over the city but no one locks them was funny but rather strange. Peering into the safe he came found a large envelope and a small stack of $I disks. The devilish grin hugged his mouth as a shadow swept across the safe leaving it empty.

Having everything safely back in his jacket he returned to the main room with a view of the door. As Darminian sat down and contemplated pouring himself a glass of water, someone knocked on the door. Grinning Darminian grabbed the booster and headed for the door. Reenon would be walking right into the trap and wouldn’t even remember it the next day. Peering through the small hole, he could see it was Reenon with some people. “Lovely.” He thought to himself. Unlocking the door and stepping back Darminian watched the door open and Reenon start to process the situation.

It was at this point that the other people with Reenon came into view; it was a security guard with the clerk from the first floor. They had decided to make the connection of red pills, the blues weren’t as dumb as most people thought..... sometimes. Reenon took a step into the apartment before he understood that it was Darminian who had opened the door. He took a step back in shock and shouted something inaudibly. The desk clerk shouted something along the lines of “it’s him” and the security guard rushed past the other two towards Darminian.

He lunged with his hand out and Darminian grabbed it calmly and twisted it until he heard the excruciatingly painful popping and cracking sounds. As the guard fell to the floor Darminian kicked him into the wall and looked into the hallway. Reenon had recovered from the shock and was fumbling in his coat for something. Darminian moved towards him as he learned what that something was. The clerk had move forwards with the intent of stopping Darminian, instead he served as a meat shield as Reenon unloaded a clip from a sub machine gun.

The clerk’s body fell to the floor smoking as the clicks that signify an empty gun echoed down the hallway could be heard. Reenon was frozen in place clicking wildly as though any second the gun would work again. Darminian kicked him into the wall and stood over him. “Zion needs to start training you guys better.” Kneeling down he placed the tactic booster into his neck and injected its contents. Reenon groaned as his RSI began to flicker, side effects but proof that the virus was working. Reenon passed out, whether it was from the nausea or if it was the sedative affect he was out cold. Darminian dragged the bodies into the room he closed door. After a thorough search of the operatives and blue pills alike Darminian found him self slightly richer and left the apartment.

He slipped out of the lobby as two police officers made their way towards the front desk. On the street he headed towards the nearest subway and got on the next train. Travelling along the darkened tunnels he was relieved that it was done, for the time being the only necessary business at hand was avoiding death. The train sped into the darkness of the tunnels and Darminian slowly began to slip into his trance.

The warmth of the light that came to his mind, the embrace of one close to him, the cool breeze that swept across his body as he felt the weight of his world lifted effortlessly from him. Overcome with a great calm he began to transcend his normal levels of understanding, a better connection with the world and even worlds around him. As he freed his mind as it were, it was quickly robbed from him as the weight of the world crashed down upon him with the ringing of his phone. The devilish smile returned to his face as he answered the phone.

The End…… sort of.

Darminian

((that’s it for now people, so yeah feedback if it’s not too much to take in, it won’t change much though cause most of my friends like it as such and I like it the most cause well frankly….. I'm inches from the greatness of neo lol, so yeah feedback.))