Hunting Rebels

[Persephone]

The Executioner ran long tapered fingers down the machine gun magazine, before shoving it up into the chamber with a satisfying clink. Did the same with the other, cradling the pair in the crooks of her elbows. The Derringer in the holster on her hip. Uzi hung around her back, semiautomatic pistol and revolver shared two closely tied holsters on her other side. Clips shoved in the makeshift black belt that slung around the jeans. Infantry issue Ka-ba knife shoved into the hilt that strapped around her left forearm. Full Tang knife on her right, and twin stainless steel 420s in the spines of her thick black boots.

White blonde dreads hung unchecked around her face, provoking the same apparition as if she was one of the Twins. Felicity slid one gun between her legs, then the other, refusing to drop her precious weaponry on the dirty damp streets. Partially smothered by shadow, she yanked back the blonde hair, clasping it with a rubber band from around her wrist. A couple wisps escaped, but nothing unbearable. Yanking down the sleeves of the green leather jacket, she drew the guns again.

Made her way out from beneath the shadow of the warehouse, green eyes narrowed, pupils large, drawing in the dark. The Executioner sniffed them out. Renegade specimen in the Matrix. Felicity chewed gum-a cinnamon stick that suggested anticipation, expectation, as she started a slow, languid walk down one of the vacated New York streets. The sight of guns seemed to give her wide berth from the Matrix bound drones. Good. Too many casualties lately had given her a reprimand-the Architect threatened to rewrite her program.

That terrified Felicity. So she was more careful. Spare the ignorant. Kill the rebels. Easy.

[Neo]

Neo promptly landed, black trench coat guttering around his legs. At the impact of his landing boots, he sent the cement splintering like a charred spider’s web.

He straightened, scanning left and right. The One had entered an abandoned alleyway, just out of the heavily populated street. Good Seeing a flying man would not make a normal sight, and that would consequently alert Agents. He didn’t have time to defend himself. Neo had a mission; a Red Pill needed rescuing. A young teenager who worked at a garage. The kid had been putting gas in a customer’s car, when the white petrol had become green enscripted code. Owing to his unusual sighting, the Agents were now after the bloke and would silence his findings. Neo had to intervene. Unplug the kid.

Following Link’s co-ordinates, he strolled down the alleyway, towards the sharp, obstructing corner. Rather than see colours and surfaces, his code vision displayed a series of babbling symbols wriggling and writhing.

As he turned the corner, the code formed humans. Hundreds of green humans. Aside from one. A bright orange shone amidst the crowds. A program. Who? He should really ignore the sighting and attend to the Red Pill. But… Link had said the Agents hdn't even pursued yet. Morpheus had even said there was no dire hurry. Just an early precaution.

So… He would follow this program. Just for safety purposes. It could be dangerous. Like the Agents. Or worse. If possible.

Feeling curious, he started following the program. Its orange coding providing an easy trail through the green sea.

[Persephone]

(nice siggy )

Felicity's gaze swept back and to over the streets, calculating, listing, determining the threats, the casualities, over and over, the words, the problems, constantly rearranging with every new variable that strode past on his or her way to work, to home, to dinner-to all the places that never existed. Those who noticed her pointed or stared, then moved on as she did. Places to go. Couldn't contemplate everything-and how could they justify it?

Idiots.

Turn around. The urge was irresistable, the defense mechanisms of her program screeching to a stop. She was being followed. A threat?

The Executioner spun around, one gun raised, the other poised. Tense.

Him. The One. Black trenchcoat, black sunglasses-the trademark of Morpheus' team. But this one...she blinked. It played haywire-like a bad virus-on her program. Felicity clenched her teeth in response to the foreign sensation-apprehension.

She feared nothing. The One. The source of the problem. A smile curved her lips. This was what she had been created for. He glowed brilliantly against the dull background of the Matrix enraptured spawn.

"Hello." More mouthed than truly spoken. Then the Executioner released the trigger, spewing out bullets towards Neo as she started to sift her way through the now screaming crowd. Running. Always running. A few casualities were nothing if she captured the One.

[Neo]

(I prefer yours. My keyboard’s covered in saliva.)

She spun around, guns open and exposed. Neo halted, standing straight and silent. So… His question had been answered a lot clearer and quicker than anticipated. She was obviously an enemy. Another foe which could harm the population of innocents. The next question to ask was whether she had the same malicious power as Smith and the Agents.

Her smile provoked the raising of his head. Sunglasses hiding the twitch of emotion. Sadistic? Like Smith? Surely not an Agent. A malicious program of some sort.

She started shooting. Running at the same time. Definitely a new approach... Had it been Smith, or the Agents, they would be attacking and shooting. He was dealing with something different. For the good of the unknowing Matrix inhabitants. The Rebels. He'd pursue. But first...

In bullet time, the metal pellets came soaring towards him. Their sharp bodies slicing through the air currents. He lifted a hand, the bullets stopped as they neared him. He gave a few sideway glances, caught the screaming, writhing crowd hesitating. Mouths agape at the sight. Shit. So much for appearing normal.

With a nod of his head, the bullets abruptly dropped. Scattering against the floor like pebbles. He glanced back up, saw the program gaining distance.

Neo broke into a sprint, coat swinging around his legs. Hands slicing near his chest, trying to gain more speed. Whilst dodging more bullets.

[Persephone]

(sexy women with guns. works every time )

Felicity backpedaled away from the One, freezing only when the bullets stopped. Dropped. His hand bending the Matrix in such a manner...very impressive. Clever human. The Executioner's smile faded, replaced by an unreadable expression of, in effect, sizing up the One. She continued running, back facing the crowds as she dodged and darted around those humans too slow to jump out of the way. Her programming had granted her excellent senses. Reflexes, the works.

Neo chased after her, black trenchcoat snapping back as if caught by wind. He dodged the bullets easily as the steady stream shot towards him. Hm.

New tactic. Whilst Felicity was concentrating on hitting the T-zone of her target, a Matrix drone rammed into her shoulders. An older man-he hadn't been fast enough. Running, not paying attention. Like her. Felicity stumbled, staggered, twisted around in a flash of rage and shot him. Three bullets. In the head.

He dropped. She leapt over the body and pivoted around, skidding on the glistening water that coated the streets from early rain. Neo was running. Still. She shot at him-in a horizontal pattern now. Swinging her arm around in an arc level with her shoulders, hoping to catch him with a bullet as he dodged-and damn the casualities. Sprayed the bullets across, polluting the air with shouts and whistles of artillery-

The Executioner spun around and took off, faster, catching a glimpse of the end of the street. A fire escape. Some six feet above the ground-it had to be let down from the lever at the first floor. Excellent.

Felicity hooked one gun over her shoulder, grasping the other one in her left hand. Leapt up into the air, grasping at the decaying red bars with her right, swinging once, twice, curled up into a near fetal position until her feet brushed against the bottom bar. Slammed them hard into the ladder-

The lever broke. The ladder fell, extending to the ground, catching her before she slipped. The program continued to scale it, up to the roof.

[Neo]

(Certainly! ;D)

She shot the man. An innocent. Neo halted. Watched the bloke falling. Shit. The program was very dangerous. Whilst the Agents used these minds, they did so, knowing they had to protect the others. But she… Like Smith. They. It didn’t care. Dammit. Neo hadn’t intended killing the program. Merely assessing her morality. Her power. But this… He would have to kill the program.

Growing more certain, Neo resumed his pursuit. She shot bullets horizontally. His mind had to think quickly. Trying to avoid the line, he leapt over them, shoulders spinning around. Legs straight and still. The metal pellets whirled underneath his boots. Missed splitting fabric and flesh.

He landed back down. Boots smacking hard. His eyes scanned left and right. He glimpsed her figure. At the fire escape. Bringing the ladder down. Trying to get to the… Roof.

He stopped running, boots skidding over the wet terrain. He bent low, entering a crouch. Suddenly shot up, as though fired from a cannon. He shifted into a lopsided horizontal position, coat billowing violently behind. He rocketed straight for the ascending program. Once close, he intended to rip her down, throw her back to the cement.

[Persephone]

(*sigh* we never get along )

Felicity grasped the two bars on either side of the ladder, with two fingers on her left hand-still managing the gun as well. Yanked herself up, climbing, climbing-had to make the roof. Away from the drones. Away from the potential targets. Too many targets, wasted ammunition, rewritten program...

These thoughts dashed through her mind, dampening the normal fervor with which she approached her work.

She was a little over halfway; air whistled, she froze. Twisted around, releasing one hand to peer at the threat that tickled her spine with a shiver. Neo!

The One burst up like a black bullet from the cement, for her. Felicity could never outrun that. So she didn't. The Executioner jumped down, off the fire escape, with intent to bash into the One and bring him down with her. From there, a good position from which to yank his cord.

[Neo]

Neo thundered towards the program masquerading as a woman. Through blurred surroundings, he glimpsed the orange silhouette leaving the ladder. She jumped. Body endeavouring to strike and smash his skull.

At his breakneck speed - which he visualised through slow motion - Neo twisted his body sideways. She plunged past his writhing frame, and would have continued falling. He instead twisted backwards, outstretched fingers grabbing her shoulders.

Still grabbing tenaciously, he flew towards the nearby wall. He smacked her back into the brick, sending - hopefully - both smashing inwards. Pulped stone and shattered cement crunched sickeningly.

Neo released his hold, but not before his boots stabbed her chest. He somersaulted backwards, pushing with his legs, hoping to crush her deeper into the splintered wall.

Returning upright, he hovered in the air, awaiting her response.

[Persephone]

Felicity leapt through air, wind whispering against flesh, shoving the stray strands of hair back, smoothing them against her face. The pressure was hard; Felicity blinked back unintentional tears from the lashing. She expected to slam-

Into nothing. Neo was gone! The Executioner cursed, struggling to straighten midair, wheel backwards-the ground approaching steadily. Shit! His hands dug into her narrow shoulders, yanking her back-

The momentum like a bulldozer slamming her into the wall, using her as a shield to smash through mortar, stone, rock. The Executioner let out a shriek of rage as flecks spattered in her hair, on her face, clothes, coating everything, tongue, nose, disgusting. She growled at the impact of pain that shot through her body. She rarely felt that.

Crushed into the crater of the wall, she arched her back against it. Glared at him, eyes blazing. Kicking at the tiny stones and crumbling brick, she thrust against it, shooting forward, releasing the triggers simultaneously. Their release mimicked her rage.

[Neo]

She glared. Fiery eyes singing his own pupils. Such an intense expression. Worse than any agent. Any human. Any Smith. While he remained stoic, his jaw tightened considerably. Like any ember, or flame, an explosion proved imminent.

There. The inferno.

She shot forwards. Guns pointing. More bullets slicing air currents. He flew vertically upwards, barely missing the pellets.

Acquiring more distance, he flew a further few feet, before twisting around. Hovering above the program, he studied her appearance and demeanour.

“Who are you?” he asked, speaking in his trademark whisper, which somehow outwashed the firing guns. “Why are you doing this?”

[Persephone]

Damn!

Neo leapt up, vertically, avoiding the bullets that punctured the opposite wall or pinged out in ricochet to the wide mouth of the streets. Felicity kicked her shoe into the stone, pushing up cement in a ripple, like gravel. Bending the matrix to form her stop. Half crouched, she turned, legs in a stance apart, arms mimicking the movement. Froze.

She looked up at him, guns raised slightly. Shook her head, cascading stone dropping on the ground. Tried to squeeze the trigger with her left hand, failed. The click of an empty magazine and the shocking pain of her digits froze the movement. One finger had smashed into the gun from the impact in the wall. It stung, dislocated. Felicity unwrapped her hand from the weapon, dropping it on the ground. Grasped the end of the finger and cracked it back into place. Pain intensified, then faded.

She left the emptied machine gun on the ground. Studying, measuring height, distance, gravity-how far, how fast, how easily she could shoot. Whether or not it would be fast enough?

Felicity straightened at the question, sliding into a taller, less vulnerable standing. "I am the Executioner." Her eyes flickered down his form, examining the figure without bullets. "My purpose is to eliminate the random illogical codes that have escaped into the Matrix. You are an illogical code, Neo. I have no choice." She released an empty casing of bullets from the second gun, snatching a second magazine out of her belt to shove into its place.

"Please don't take it personally." That said, she tossed herself up into the air, level with his torso, and sputtered out another foray of bullets in the hopes of driving him from the sky. Her free hand shifted, flattening against air to palm the blade that shot out of its spring hilt.

She landed with a resounding thump against stone, grasping gun and knife firmly in her hands.

[Neo]

EDIT:

He looked down. The program’s gaze still unsettling him. His jaws clenched together, tongue probing the left cheek. Executioner? Great. Promising name.

"My purpose is to eliminate the random illogical codes that have escaped into the Matrix. You are an illogical code, Neo. I have no choice. Compulsion demands you be eliminated."

“There’s always a choice,” he responded, voice still low and soft.

Before he could add more, she had flown and fired. More bullets raced towards him, although their movements seemed almost sluggish. He plunged vertically downwards, letting his body spin around the slow spheres. Or so they seemed. So very slow.

He hurtled towards the Executioner, his shoulders slamming against her chest. Still in motion, he pummelled downwards, his shoulders maintaing the ramming contact. Neo intended to smash the program into the tarmac below. Hoping in the process, she wouldn't have chance to use her gun, or knife.

[Persephone]

(trigger happy shardae : / especially with the keyboard commands)

It may have seemed slow, but his shoulders smashing into delicate human flesh was a movement too fast to be avoided. His bones collided with the flat expanse of skin and muscle between collarbone and breasts, digging in with bruising accuracy. The impact worked as a slingshot, flinging her body back towards the road. And with the One on top of her, she couldn't change position-make it more bearable. Stop.

Felicity's shoulderblades, followed by elbows-tearing through leather-then hipbones, legs-bashing into unmoving cement that crackled under the weight, but did not give way. Her head snapped forward then back-whiplash, crushing skull against stone. Felicity gasped for breath, the pain eminating forth-promising bruises and a faint whisper of broken bones? If she was human, perhaps.

As it was, the pain fueled the manifestation of the goal, illuminating it through haze. Wrists smacked against the stone, body momentarily stunned. Grip loosened on the weapons. No. Blood. Tasted blood in her mouth. That eased the daze.

She spat it to the side, torso still pinned by Neo.

Felicity protested, throwing herself up into a sitting position, head bowed, intent to smash into his face with her aching skull. Legs bucked, knees drawn up. To force him off. Dropped the knife that cut her fingers. Instead lunged to wrap her arm around his neck. Break his neck.

That was easy too.

(let's see if I can post 34598435384 times)

[Neo]

(It’s the peeceewees!)

Skull, legs and knees collided, sending Neo staggering backwards. Smoothly regaining balance, just as she wrapped an arm around his neck. The breath oozed from his lungs.

Sensing the imminent danger, the One flew upwards, once more defying gravity. His own hands grabbed those entwined with his neck.

Neo somersaulted, so his skull pointed towards the ground. In the process wrenching his throat free, through wriggling like a slippery black eel. As he did so, they lost height, rocketting towards the ground again.

The One twisted into his original position, so his legs would slam the ground first. Twisting as such, so when they landed, she would hit first, and his feet would smash into her stomach.

For now, they fell through air.