Life.

Who am I?

A question we have all as human beings asked our selves at one point in time, who are we? Are we defined by the actions that we take? By the people that we meet? By the objects we posess or the titles that we hold? Are we defined by the memories we have left upon other people, by the interactions we have shared with other living beings?

It is this desperate need to be defined in which we seek out a purpose, whether this purpose is to conform to a standard or to rise above obstacles put infront of you. It is the desire to be defined in which we, human beings, have lived our entire lives blissfully unaware of the bigger picture at work around us.

Shuffling around from day-to-day jobs, trying to buy the latest and greatest in technology, the nicest cars, the fanciest suits, and the best jobs. It is this very same desire in which man turns upon one another, friends becoming foes in the struggle to gain supremecy over each other in a life that doesn't even matter.

It is because of this deep seated desire that wars are waged, that crimes are commited. There is always somebody who is better then another, someone who has more then another. There are those that are jealous and those that are greedy.

It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything

The sky was clear that day, below thousands of people walked and drove around, carrying out their day-to-day activities. Unbeknownst to them someone was stalking them, someone was watching them. From atop a perch, high in a tower office building a man clad in a simple black suit stood in the darkened room.

The office building he was in had tinted windows and the lights were all turned off, behind him the room would occasionaly light up with the crackle of electricity as a computer system sparked up. Upon further inspection of the simple office building signs of a disturbance could be seen, computers destroyed and papers thrown everywhere, bullets littered the walls and bodies would give the occasional twitch from the ground.

And the man stood, and watched, striking up a match and raising it up to the thin white stick in his mouth the glow of the match illuminated his simple business suit, his hands covered with leather clothes tinted red with the blood of those that had died that day.

And he watched them, unbeknownst to them as they scurried about as ants. Opening the window the man slammed his hand down on a fire alarm and he was gone. Several minutes later the authorities arrived to the seen of a masscre to discover that a computer system had been hacked and all of it's files missing, security officers and office workers alike were found dead in the building.

Who am I?

He was once just like them, another ant, another pawn in the day-to-day hustle that was life. He had done well for him self so far in life, he had a decent ammount of money, a nice car, a good paying job in some top-shot company and more importantly he had a purpose, a definition, he was Marcus LaFae, head of research & development for Hajime Inc, some local technology company based out of the International District. But that would all come crashing down one day, for you see, his purpose was much greater then that of most. He would soon be pulled from the sweet comfort of his well-paying, defined life, taken away from his Expensive Clothes, New Cars, and fine dining.

His bank account would soon mean very little to him anymore, he would become non-existent. He would not have an identity anymore, from that day on he would be recongized only as simple Deja Vu, his name surrendered and a new one would be taken up.

You have to realize that someday you will die
Until you know that, you are useless

(To be continued.)

Who are you?

For awhile she had spent some time watching a strange man, his life was a familiar routine and he lived what could be considered the blissful dream. Something was all to familiar about him, the way he had placed value in the objects he surrounded him self with. It was no surprised that she had become fascinated with this strange being, so overly calm about everything around him. He was totally unaware but at the same time it seemed as if he knew this all was just a game, and he was playing to win. She had stopped watching him after awhile....

But one question remained, just who the hell was he!?

It was a quiet thing, to watch another die. To watch the life of another being slip away from them as quickly as it had came, and thats what she did now, watching the bluepills as they formed a circle below a playful giggle passed from her mouth as they stared at the poor man that she had dropped from nearly ten stories up. He made a delightful splatter on the ground as the life had been long since drained from him she highly doubted that he even felt his death, but still it was fun for her to watch as the simpletons crowded around, their day to day lives disrupted and thrown into chaos, some would be fired for being late. She revelled in the chaos that she could create with such a simple action, the blood slowly trickled from the corner of her mouth her tongue collecting it up skillfully.

But her eyes were brought somewhere else, from across the street she heard an alarm wailing and a man simply fall from the twenty-third floor of a building. Her head twisted and turned sideways, her eyebrow arched watching as he disappeared.

"Well...That was interesting..?" She cooed out, an eyebrow arched ever so elegantly on her tanned skin, her black clothes shimmering in the sunlight. She would investigate it more later, but for now she was bored.

I've seen you before...

She had seen him before, but she just could not put a finger upon it. The man who simply fell from the window of the 23rd building that day, it would never cease to bother her as the twisted one spent that night pacing back and forth in her tower of Ivory. Though she had been able to catch a glance at the strange man, it was only for a few seconds.

She was a watcher, it was of her nature to watch. But something very strange had been happening lately, something she couldn't even begin to understand. It was an awkward time in her life and she was finding that the drawbacks of being at least partially human was that her memories were slipping.

Oh how it was annoying, to have a thought clawing at the back of your skull and having it screaming to be released but you just can't bring it back....

How...Odd.

Where am I?

There was darkness all around, the decaying code gave way as my vision had slowly focused back in onto reality. It was strange, the building was on the verge of existence and non-existence. It was one that had been seen before, one that looked as if it had seen better days. It held the familiarity of a mansion with it's large walls and staircases, atop the staircase stood a woman. Clad in a black dress she gave the faintest of smiles, and there I stood in a grand ball-room. All around lights flickered and people danced, it was becoming stranger....

"I...Don't want to die..." The words echoed in the darkness, his body was bound and all that remained around him was gone. The code had decayed beyond repair, all the remained of the area which he had entered was a simple wooden hallway and the wooden beams which he was currently restrained to.

The exile of a woman gave a shrill laugh, her clawed hand reaching up to his cheek slowly slidding the sharp nail along his skin, the man wore a white suit that was stained red with blood. It was his own fault that he had arrived to this place, by his own will that his life would end. And he heard her speak, those beautifully red lips donned upon the palest skin he had ever seen

"It is your fault that we are in the position we are, you have broken the seals and lead them to me. I do not have long left for this world...But I can grant you life, for a price..." She whispered out, her face dangerously close to his as he cried out "Anything! Just spare me!"

And Darkness swallowed the two alive, the man never to be seen again

Welcome My Son...

"Good Afternoon....Mr.LaFae....It would seem that you were the victim of a terrorist attack, we asure you that you are quite alright apart from some minor injuries that were incured upon your person we however are quite worried about your mental state, you see you have been in acoma for several months now...."

Welcome to the Machine...

He sat in the dim room, his eyes blurred and his hair hanging around his face. The once perfect white suit was torn and ripped, he was the enemy to them and would be shown no mercy, no restraint. He did not know for how long he had been inside this construct, how he had gotten there or why they were even keeping him alive.

"What is your name...?"
".....Xa-...."

A pulse of pain shot through his body suddenly as the electricity jolted through them, it was a painful experience but he gritted his teeth. He would have to bear through this if he wanted to survive, he had suffered much worse but the stress was wearing thin on his body. Suddenly he lost conciousness, the Agent's only smirked.

"It is only a matter of time before he caves in..."
"We have the location of the infection, we will remove it and finish the process."

The next time he awoke the men in suits had doubled in number, his head darted around the room trying to figure out what was going on and before he realized it his vision faded to white as a searing hot pain rushed through his body, smoke rose from his clothing as his body bore burn marks.

His head fell downwards, the pain had ended and his conciousness slowly faded as he felt him self being dragged away from the room.

What did you dream?

"We thank you for your co-operation Mr.LaFae, we have taken the liberty of informing your employer that you will be able to return to work this week, since there are no medical or mental complications we see no further reason to detain you, you have a clean criminial record and are so far an outstanding citizen. You will find that the Government has made perfectly sure that your job and properties remained in your name during your...accident...you are to be awarded in helping thwart those terrorists."

It's alright we told you what to dream.

Awaken...

One should be absolutely careful where one leaves their most valueable possessions, for you can never be entirely to sure who it is that will find that which you hide.

The Hovercraft sparked from the electrionical equipment left onboard, the ship had been completely abandoned by it's previous owners. But there was still something of value stored aboard this ship, something that was important enough to someone that they actually braved the hazards of the real looking for this one specific ship.

The man gave a sly smile, his fingers danced across the controls as the ship powered up. It was still in pristine condition and everything was still operational. Hard to believe that they would simply just leave an entire hovercraft laying in the real.

But he had found what he was searching for, his fingers tapping on the keyboard was he entered password after password until finally he had access to that which he wanted most. The ships mainframe was now his, but more importantly this ship would serve as his base of operations. Smiling after making certain adjustments to certain files he sat down in the chair, the ships newly activated A.I System coming to life and he felt the sharp pain as he was thrusted into the Matrix

Now she must bear the wounds
That memories bleed

The AI systems came to life, from the work of this skilled man was she awakened, a sound familiar to that of agents could be heard as her body was pulled from the darkness and into existence and then finally that ear-splitting noise ceased, and she was there on hands and knees coughing franticly as she gasped for air her glasses had fallen off of her face and shattered.

She could hear a laugh, the chuckle of a man as he extended his hand down toward her. Carefully she peered up from behind her hair, staring questioningly at the man asessing the threat level of the one that stood infront of her she reached up and took his hand, pulling her self into a standing position.

It was very awkward for her,  she opened her mouth but suddenly found she could not think or process any words to speak. Her eyebrow only arched as a pair of sunglasses were put upon her face, and then she giggled before falling silent. Her eyes seemed to go blank as the second process began, the memories flooding into her mind along with thought and behavior patterns.

Both of her eyebrows arched as she stared up at the considerably taller man, he was wearing a blacksuit  and her head only tilted to the side, a small smile crossed her lips as she felt the gust of wind flow past her. She had just now realized that they were standing ontop of a tower

"Hello, sir." She finally chirped out, in a half-giggly half-professional, very girlish and somewhat cutsie, voice "What is on today's agenda..?" The man before her's face twisted into a small smirk as his hand reached down and patted the woman on the head, suddenly to his noticeable surprise the womans size adjusted and she was once more at eye-level with him.

She burst out in laughter, seeing the face of the man as she suddenly grew right before his eyes. She smiled and the two turned their backs, staring off at the city below them. But something felt strange inside of her....Did she really know this man?

"Is this some kind of sick joke?"
"Oh you wish it were..."

There they stood, one woman staring into the face of what used to be her. Both had pistols drawn, the hard steel pushed against the others head but as the moment drew ever closer she found that she could not bring her self to fire. Staring into those indentical eyes, the memories flooding through her mind and finally it happened. There was a click, and a bang.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

"THAT SON OF A *CENSORED*!" A voice bellowed from within the decks of a hovercraft, she had been jerked back into reality as the body of the sixteen year old woman twitched rather violently, Mataru had been startled by the sudden outburst of her crewmate and lover, she at first thought that Vanil had once more done something to *CENSORED* Rose off and she gave a simple sigh, but upon further inspection she came to realize that the other girl was actually shaking.

Tears were flowing down the sides of her cheeks as she had bolted up from the chair and ran, slamming the hard door behind her as she had ran into the bedroom. Of course she had not  locked the door or made much of an attempt to make sure that the door had stayed close, in truth the door had slammed so hard that it had slowly re-opened it's self.

And there she sat, in her tattered rag like clothing running the long sleave across her face only adding to the burning in her eyes as the oil mixed in with the salt of her tears and she cursed loudly slamming her hands down on the bed, there were times that she hated being human.

She had not realized it, or noticed when it had happened. But Mataru had walked into the cold room, and now she felt a pair of strong arms around her holding onto her as her face burried into the other woman's neck, still crying.

It wasn't just the fact of what she had seen that had her so shaken up, it was the combined shame of loosing to someone so...so..inferior to her! She had hesitated in pulling the trigger, yet she had not. In her fit of anger she had left all that important data aboard that cursed Hovercraft, and now someone else had it and someone else had activated it.

A low groan escaped her as after what felt like hours of crying passed, her head was pounding and her eyes still stung her head pulled away from Mataru's neck and she stared up at her. Biting down on her quivering lip  she finally broke the silence

"You're going to be pissed off....." Rose finally whispered out......

Who IS he?
"Who is this guy? It's insane, his kinetic levels are way to high to be just any rookie. The roster says he has just been awakened but it's like he's done it all before..." - Treize, Operator of the Exodus II

"So...Your ship was destroyed by Cypherites?"
"Yes."
"And you survived?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"There was an explosion, I was thrown several hundred feet out of the ship and lost conciousness. From what I was told the ship it's self exploded shortly afterwards."
"Interesting.." The woman commented, pulling the dark stalkings up her slendor legs as the man struck a match and held the flame to the cigarette in his mouth. The two had been forced to work together for an entire night, stuck in the simulation on orders from their respective commanding officers.

Agent Gray had told him that he would have to work with a zionite but he nearly jumped for joy when the woman had left the building, the entire night she would not shut the hell up. The rest of the job was up to him as he sat down at the desk, the laptop flickered on and he set to work.

He would have found it earlier, had he not been distracted by that womans non-stop babbling and disturbances but in the end he had found it, several hours after the woman had left, but he had found it none the less. A Merovingian database was in a business near-by, he would have to work quickly if he was going to get in and out before anyone noticed he was away from his duty post.

What he was doing was not exactly sanctioned by his current employers but he did not care, what did it matter to him? Ever since he had heard about it he had been drawn to it, the mystery of it's existence and now he was on the verge of discovering the truth.

Just give me what I want, and no one gets hurt

The data flowed into the computer screen, his head was leaned back now as laughter escaped him. He had found it, two hours after he went to the Merovingian base, killed everybody, and stole the data he had managed to decode it and find the information that he wanted.

Pulling the disc from the laptop and switching it off he rose to his feet. It was only a matter of time now, slowly opening the door he stepped outside the sunlight flooding over his darkly clad body. A grin was spread upon his face as he disappeared into the crowd of bluepills.

It was not so much a mystery as it was a myth, a legend, a rumor. One that was spread through the ranks of Machine Operatives and some had even claimed to of met the object in question personally. He however had a personal interest in it, he felt compelled to find it. For he felt that if he discovered it, the answers to his own questions would be answered..........

Awaken...

One should be absolutely careful where one leaves their most valueable possessions, for you can never be entirely to sure who it is that will find that which you hide.

Dance Dance...

The rain poured over the city, the fists clashed as the black trench coats waved effortlessly in the high wind. Below them the city carried out it's day-to-day life, the sounds of thunder drowning out that of gunfire, the man in the blacksuit bent backwards, avoiding a clean kick from the woman.

Jumping back up quickly he spun to the side, aiming and firing his pistol. The bullet grazed across Rose's cheek as she also fired her own sidearm, the bullet struck the man in the leg causing him to topple backwards. Lightening struck down behind her, the rain soaking her face and body as she glared down upon the figure of the man.

She had met him before....She held nothing but spite for him, nothing but disgust for who he was. Snarling she pointed her gun down at him, only to have her legs kicked out from beneath her. In the process of loosing her balance her pistol slid away from her but she would not stay down, her leg shot upwards and hit the man in the hand knocking his gun away as well before she lunged back up to her feet.

She let an almost feral growl escape her, baring her fangs as she lunged forward at the man who slammed his fist into her chest knocking her backwards, the two continued to exchange blows for awhile as the dance continued on.

They knew each other, and yet they did not. Deep within their souls something drove them both on, driving them to want to kill the other as finally she got the upper hand. Catching his leg she spun around and tossed him into the entrance of the staircase.

Gathering her pistol up off the ground she slowly stepped forward, the rain flowing over her body and onto the ground. She heard a click and instantly reacted, running quickly to the side was bullets struck the roof around her. She spun around several rounds striking into her trench coat and darted forward.

She could not see her foe in the darkness of the rain but as another bolt of lightening struck down from the sky the cool barrel of her pistol had pressed against the other womans head as they came face-to-face for the first time, she stared into the eyes of her self, the feeling of the cold steel pressed against her head brought her senses back

"Is this some kind of sick joke?"
"Oh you wish it were..."

There they stood, one woman staring into the face of what used to be her. Both had pistols drawn, the hard steel pushed against the others head but as the moment drew ever closer she found that she could not bring her self to fire. Staring into those indentical eyes, the memories flooding through her mind and finally it happened. There was a click, and a bang her body toppled over the blood pouring through the air as she hit the floor and her RSI disappeared.

The confused looking program looked turned her head toward the man, lowering the firearm she put it away and walked over toward him. He was still on the ground, his own blood spilt upon his suit and pooling on the roof with the water.

Her hand reached out and helped him to his feet, she gave a little smile and nodded her head toward him "This exile is rather hard to terminate..."

And with those words, the two had jumped away.

Beep....Beep...Beep
"Woah..."

A hand rose up, slamming down upon the blaring alarm clock, the mans eyes shot open wide as he looked around the room to find that he was safe and comfortable in his apartment. He heaved a heavy sigh, dragging him self out of bed his feet hit the ground next to the bed as he stumbled into the bathroom, ready to take his shower.

Soon the hotwater was pouring over his body, the man stood there with his arms pressed up against the showerwall and his head hanging down his long black hair clinging to his face from the water, smirking he could only shake his head.

"What a *CENSORED* up dream..."

Slapping the water off and quickly drying him self off he began to pull his uniform on, staring into the mirror as he put his ID Card on around his neck the name on the card read "Marcus LaFae, Head of Research & Development; Hajime Inc."

The door to the nicely sized apartment  slammed closed and Marcus went about with his life, unaware of the possible meaning of his strange dream....

A story
A man fires a rifle for many years; And he goes to war. And afterward he turns the rifle in at the armoury; And he believes he's finished with the rifle. But no matter what else he might do with his hands.... love a woman.... build a house.... change his son's diaper. His hands still remember the rifle.