Chapter One
One year ago...
A simulation, that's all it was. The cold air he felt was not really anything. A world of nothing, a world of dreamers and run away code, that is what the Matrix is. That is what it has always been. And that is what it was to this man.
Alone now, in this false world. The night air was somewhat soothing to him. The sky was covered in clouds of smoke and other chemicals. There was barely any light aside from the dim flicker of the near by street lamp. Either way you looked down this street, both ends lead into darkness.
Tosuno, that was his name, a former soldier of the rebel city Zion. Once he led his men on operations against the Machines that once threatened al humanity. A captain of his own ship he was held in high respect by his crew mates, they were very loyal to him, and would do anything he ordered. Ironically, it was their loyalty to him that cost them their lives.
A past never left him. Like an anchor it weighed him down every time he tried to move on. The ghosts never left him, haunting him. Yet, he lived on. Each day surprising himself as he somehow manages to cheat death. Although, in a way, he was already dead.
His white suit and trench were a perfect contrast to the dark background of the city streets and buildings. His long coat gently flaying as gusts of wind pushed by him. He walked aimlessly down the street of a neighborhood called Sobra Shores. People passed him by, not even glancing at him once, even in his odd attire. He was a broken man, but still had so much to do.
Finally, his aimless strut came to an end. He stopped in front of an old broke down building, much like the other buildings in the area. Nothing made this one stand out apart from the others aside from the sign out reading ‘Vacancy.'
He made his way inside, it was empty. Glancing around the room he noticed it looked no better then the outside suggested. Still, he walked around the room, observing all the interesting piles of who knows what lying on the floor, along with the sounds of the city echoing from the outside. No one seemed to be in the building, or at least no made any signs of being in the building.
He removed his white fedora hat and sunglasses to get a better look around the place. There was an elevator in the back of the room, in front of it was a desk that looked like it hadn't been used in years. To his right was a torn up couch pushed back against the wall, and on his right were piles of boxes.
He walked towards the elevator; the floor creaked under his weight. In the light of the room you could see he was a young, strongly built man, around mid to late twenties. The manor of his walk suggested he as some on of some importance, but the ill look in his eyes, so full of sorrow and pain, spoke the truth.
He entered the elevator and randomly pushed a button, bringing him to the third floor. The third floor would make it easy to escape using a window. To high for normal people, but he was far from normal. In fact, unlike others of his kind he was the only one, to survive operation Mirage, a secret plan instituted by rogue Zionists to breed a perfect warrior in the matrix, using illegal enhancement codes. Another failure to add to his record.
The elevator doors slowly slid open once he reached the third floor. Stepping out he glanced down either end of a long hallway, doors on either side. It looked no different then the downstairs room. He moved to his right, following the hall until he came to the second door on his left. It looked as if it could fall over with the slightest touch, but Tosuno had to pull hard to get it to move. It swung open with a rusty sound.
The room inside was even more empty then the first room. Four walls, a floor and a ceiling. If anything it could be described as a big box. The only thing that made this room somewhat interesting was the phone sitting in the middle of the room.
Tosuno shut the door behind him as he entered the room. Within seconds he picked up the phone and began dialing at what looked like a bunch of random numbers. But as he did so his long white coat began to disappear right off his back. His while attire changed from a white suit to a black T-shirt and jeans, a gun strapped to his side. The hat and sunglasses he had been carrying were also gone.
He was not done though, stopping only for a second he started up again, dialing more random numbers. As if by some more weird magic a computer began to take form on his right. Not stopping his onslaught of numbers being dialed into the phone he turned and booted up the computer with his free hand. A black screen came up, with a small flashing green box at the top left corner. He hung up the phone after he had dialed in a few other numbers and watched the computer screen as if expecting it to disappear as fast as it had came.
"You won't get a reply," someone had said from behind him. Grabbing his gun, but not drawing it he looked over his shoulder to see a young man dressed in pitch black clothes with a long black coat. He wore a mask over his face and dark sunglasses. His white hair and pale skin stood out so much, he looked like some kind of Blood Drinker, but Tosuno knew better.
"Octa," Tosuno addressed the man, standing up and facing him, letting his hand slip away from his gun. "You decided not to follow my orders to watch Deca, is that right?"
Octa grinned and crossed his arms. "I don't see the point, father. I don't see anything wrong with him. I think you are just being paranoid."
"Sense when have I cared what you think?" Tosuno barked out, now seeming a little irritated by his ‘sons' interruption.
"Now, now, father," Talk like that and I might think you don't love me." His grin widened as his lowered his sunglasses to look over them at Tosuno. His eyes were solid black, just like his clothing. "Besides, I left Hepta to watch him."
Tosuno looked down on his creation, his ‘son.' The last attempt by him and his wife to save his old crew. This child, a virus built using another virus called Black Angel, by him as a weapon, was not supposed to have gotten a mind of its own. There were six of them, Penta, hexa, Hepta, Octa, Nona, and Deca, the Black Angels. Each one displaying its own unique personality.
Octa here was somewhat of a clown in the family. He never took anything seriously. But he could handle weapons like no other. He was a combat virus, developed to be an expert gunman. He was very good at his job, although sometimes he did not follow his orders. Instead he fooled other Black Angels to do it for him.
Tosuno sighed a Octa and turned back to the computer, typing in a few keys. "Stop calling me that, Oct."
"Right, sorry ‘daddy,' forgot you're a little modest about that," Octa replied, his grin growing wider still.
Tosuno ignored his comment and continued his work on the computer when another stepped out from nothing. This one was a young girl, dressed similar to Octa, but she ore tight black clothes and a full head mask; large black glasses covered her eyes. You could not see any part of the actual women inside. She looked to be early twenties by her shape and build, but she really only had the mind of a nine year old girl.
"Nona? Didn't know you were coming," Octa said to her patting her on the back. She stumbled foreword at the impact and bent over as if injured.
"Don't... I'm here for father...," she said in a quiet shy voice.
Tosuno spun around to see her, she was the only one of his children that he actually had some hopes for. She did not disobey his orders like the others. "Nona, did you get what I asked for hun?"
She walked up to him holding out her hand, "Mhmm..." Tosuno took to small disk she was carrying and put it into the computer. Instantly the screen began to run wild with numbers. Nona sat down next to the computer while Octa leaned against the wall looking over Tosuno's shoulder at the screen.
To no ones surprise, another woman walked in on them, again seemingly from nowhere. This one looked older then the other two. She had a wild white hair styled in a Mohawk style, and pale skin like Octa. She also wore black, a long dress and boots.
"Hexa come here," Tosuno instructed the new comer. She did as she was told. "Do you see this.?"
She spoke with a ice cold voice that could send shivers up a persons spine. "Yes, father...." She smiled. "You've found it."
Tosuno pulled out his cell phone from his back pocket and began dialing numbers into both it and the phone on the floor. The computer screen switched to a loading bar as the info on the disk was put into his RSI's memory banks. He would now be able to access the information on the disc just by thought, a nifty trick picked up from Mirage.
As if three weren't enough, another three Black Angels appeared in the room. The small room was becoming somewhat crowded, but still it could hold them all comfortably.
The three new comers were Penta, Hepta, and Deca. Each one wearing similar clothes to Octa, and the same pale skin and white hair. Penta was bigger then the other two. He was strong, he was made as a combat program as well, used for stealth operations, and assassinations. He had a unique tattoo covering his whole face, a red cross.
Hepta was small, he looked a little like Nona. He was a non-combatant like her as well. His job was to create new viral programs, and manipulate code data. Because of this he could make sims, like Redpills.
Even among the odd bunch, Deca was very different. While he looked and dressed the same, the atmosphere around him was much more intense. He had long white hair, tied back. He was the oldest of the group, and the most lethal. Made for pure combat, he has martial arts abilities beyond any other, he could even rival Tosuno perhaps.
Octa was about to open his mouth to say something again but Hepta interrupted him. "Octa, you son of a- you were suppose to be back three hours ago!"
Octa made another one of hi stupid grins. "Ooops, guess I lost track of time, sorry bro, hehehe." Hepta formed his hand into a fist, he was always a bit hot head, and hated being tricked. Which meant Octa targeted him most for his pranks.
"Enough," Penta said in a cool calm voice. "Father called us here for a reason."
Tosuno looked at each of them. The children his wife left him to deal with. Unfortunately it was the very same virus she and he used to create them that killed her. Tosuno was always reminded of his wife when he looked at these ‘things.'
Tosuno sat and thought for awhile before speaking. "Well, you guys know what is going on then I take it. We found it, system Deus... or at least we have come closer."
The group fell silent. What did he mean closer? They have been searching for far to long to hear that they have only come another step ‘closer.'
It was Deca who broke the silence. "Father...," he sighed. "We've been living off these bodies for far too long. How much more do you think we can feed off these... corpses?"
The Black Angel was right. In order to survive they needed a host RSI. They were currently using those of his dead crew mates, a fact that disgusted him. In order for them to live without a host they had to return to their source. The real Black Angel virus. It as being held in a prison construct, called system Deus. Atrum, Tosuno's wife, was the one who found it first. But after creating the Black Angel children the system was moved, and lost. They had been searching ever sense.
"I know, shut up. You think this is easy?" Tosuno said, his temper beginning to flare. "In all honesty I think it revolting, you living off my crews RSIs." The Black Angels fell silent; they knew that if Tosuno was angry he could delete them with out hesitation. It was because they had agreed to help him rebuild the Celestial Hierarchy, his old crew, that they were aloud to survive, and that he was helping them in the first plcae.
"I've been working day and night to find this... ‘thing.' So you guys can go back to your precious core. But I'm only human." Those words cut like knives to them. Their father, the only one who could help them, was a human. They hated humans, for reasons unknown. Probably something to do when they were created.
Nona pulled herself over to Tosuno, still on the ground. She leaned up against his leg and he could hear her whimpers. She was only a little girl in the body of a woman. He sometimes forgot how much he meant to her, compared to the others. He knelt down beside her and wrapped his arm around her.
"I'm sorry hun... I'm not angry... just a little tired, ok?" She did not say anything, but berried her head in his chest. It was an odd feeling for Tosuno, being the father of people who were almost the same age as him, some even looked older.
The other Black Angels look down at Nona in disappointment. They did not like the idea of her being so weak, so attached to their father. When the time came for them to return, taking her away from Tosuno would be difficult.
Hexa walked over and knelt down next to Tosuno and Nona. "Come on little sister. Father needs some time alone. Why don't you and I go play?" She said glancing once up at Tosuno. While she agreed with the others that Tosuno was not much good to them aside from finding system Deus she still respected him as a father.
Nona pulled her head away from Tosuno slowly and looked at Hexa. She nodded and let go of Tosuno. He stood up and she did the same. She hugged Tosuno once before taking Hexa's hand and disappearing into nothing. The other Black Angels knew better then to mock Tosuno's public display of affection for his daughter. So instead they moved back to the matter at hand.
"So, father, what did you find?" Hepta asked.
Tosuno nodded at himself and turned to look at the computer. "A key," he said. "A key to system Deus..."
The black Angels gave each other a look of confusion, all but Deca who pressed on and asked, "What do you mean ‘key?"
Tosuno smiled, so glad to see they were again under his control. While he was not a power hungry man he felt it more efficient this way to find their source as fast as possible. "In order to open system Deus the first time, mother used three keys. I've located one of them, the ‘Will of God.'"