Mirror Account: 2.1
Mirror Account: Chapter 2
Ranma stood across from Morpheus in the dojo, relaxing
his posture as the older man unfolded into a
drunken-fist stance.
This was going to be fun.
Morpheus put out his forehand and waved Ranma forward,
but the young man simply shook his head. This seemed
to surprise Morpheus, but he quickly compensated,
taking an offensive stance and lashing out at Ranma
with a double punch that would have knocked the wind
out of him, had it hit.
Ranma was not where Morpheus would be, but his hands
were as he caught Morpheus' wrists and tossed the
larger man into the wall behind him.
Morpheus got up and brushed the dust from his Gi.
Ranma waited.

***

Trinity watched the monitor for any hint of the girl,
but she did not show up. As Morpheus moved faster and
faster, so did Ranma. Finally, the refresh rate of the
monitor was not enough, and the boy became a blur.
Morpheus flew against the opposite wall of the dojo
for what seemed like the hundredth time during the
match. A hand caught Trinity's shoulder.
"Look at this, Trin." It was Tank. He quickly lead
Trinity over to the screens that displayed the
neurokinetics of the two combatants. The screen
labeled "Unit 2" almost seemed to be a solid block of
light blue, while the other was going in a steady sine
wave.
"This is insane, Trin. Nobody has neurokinetics like
that. He'd be breaking the damn sound barrier in there
if there was one!"

***

Ranma pummeled Morpheus again as he was attacked yet
again.
"Give it up, Morpheus. I'm not even catching my second
wind!" he folded his hands behind his head and jumped
lightly onto Morpheus' shoulders and giving the man a
gentle kick into the wall behind him. "You can't even
hit me!"
Morpheus said nothing, but instead came at him again,
with similar results.
Finally, Ranma gave it up and began to lead Morpheus
into a mild spiral, allowing the man a hit or two to
make him feel better until he let loose with a Hiryu
Shouten Ha.
The result, as expected, was Morpheus being blown
through the roof.

***

Ranma looked surreptitiously around the lobby at the
others who were sitting there waiting. They were all
so quiet! Bored, Ranma walked over to a young girl in
Buddhist-style robes who was playing with a pair of
metallic balls.
As Ranma approached the balls began to float. The girl
was not moving a muscle, Ranma was positive, but the
Balls were maintaining positions in mid air just as if
they were suspended on strings. As Ranma allowed her
arms to drop to her sides the girl seemed to notice
her for the first time and smiled at her as the balls
dropped lifelessly to the floor.
"How did you do that?" Ranma's eyes remained locked on
the balls, expectantly waiting for them to come back
to life.
"Do what?" The girl spoke perfect Japanese. "Nothing
happened at all!" Her eyes glittered with held-in
mirth as the smiled once again and trotted off into
another room, leaving the mysterious balls to wait for
the next child who wished to play with them.

***

"He beat him." Cypher twitched nervously as he looked
at the screen which displayed Morpheus' inert bulk,
spread out on the matt of the dojo. He turned to
question Trinity. "Has that ever happened before?"
Trinity was not there, but was instead already at
Ranma's side, helping him to his feat. Scarce minutes
later Morpheus was also on his feat, and smiling
proudly.
"I knew you could do it, Ranma. I knew you were the
one!"
Ranma turned towards the exit to the uncomfortably
snug room. "You're just one in a long line. This
doesn't mean anything."
Even as the boy's back turned Cypher new that this was
going to be another dangerous situation. Morpheus was
getting old. It had been ten years since the screwup
with Neo and the man was still trying. As Tank, and
finally Trinity left Cypher to his duties of watching
for serious anomalies in the Matrix. Now was his
chance.

***

"So. You feel that you have another opportunity to
present to us." The Agent was somehow ore imposing as
the soft-spoken Japanese man who sat across the table
from Cypher, sipping tea.
"Yeah. You know the deal, though." Cypher fiddled with
the chopsticks nervously. He had never liked sushi.
"Yes. Of course." The Agent scarcely moved. "We feel
that there is something that we must add. For our
protection in this...deal, let us say."
Cypher shivered immediately gave a quick glance behind
himself for danger. It was as if the room temperature
had just dropped ten degrees.
"If we find the access codes on our own, all deals are
off." The Agent smiled, making Cypher even more
nervous. "You will be hunted like any other human."
It took a good deal of self control not to stand up
and break into a run. After all, Cypher had been
hunted by these things for almost three decades.
"Fine. No squidies, though."
The Agent promptly stood up and handed Cypher a rotary
phone. 
"Deal."

***

Ranma stared at her hands as she followed the woman
through the `employees only' door that led into the
bowels of the hotel and finally came to a small family
shrine, where a statue of Amida Buddha sat.
"She will be here shortly"
Before Ranma could turn to thank the woman she was
gone, off to tend to another of those who were still
waiting in the lobby. Turning back to the Shrine in
confusion, Ranma found an old woman sitting there
quietly, as if she waiting for something.
"Excuse me..."
"Yes." The woman answered affirmatively before Ranma
could finish her query.
"Why am I-"
"Wait." The woman turned to look at Ranma. "Come
closer so that these old eyes can get a good look at
you."
Ranma got a good look at the old woman's face even as
the latter seemed to be analyzing Ranma. This woman
was old. She may have even been older than Cologne!
"I guess you're about halfway there, child. You're
just waiting for your prince to come." The woman
chuckled to herself, infuriating Ranma. 
"I'm a guy, you-"
"So you are?" The woman's voice was suddenly harsh,
much as Colognes had always been. It carried pain of a
war. "Do all `guys' have breasts, child? Do all guys
have capacity to bare children? You're delusional.
Maybe you won't be able to handle it."
"You don't understand, old woman. I'm cursed-"Ranma
was once again cut off by the old woman.
"You will be silent, now! When was the last time you
touched an ounce of hot water. Was it when you awoke
in your bathtub? How many days ago was that, Ranma
Saotome?"
Ranma shrugged, and was about to speak when the woman
continued.
"You will not speak! I shouldn't have to tell you so
many times." Her voice softened suddenly. "Children
these days...you think you own the world!" She
chuckled to herself yet again.
As if that chuckle had signified the end of a ceremony
the woman arose and took Ranma's right hand in her own
soft, wrinkled palms.
"Come with me, young one. I'm sure you're confused."
Ranma allowed herself to be led into a busy kitchen,
where food was being prepared on all of the stoves
except for one, which housed a kettle. The woman
quickly took the kettle in one hand and handed it to
Ranma.
"Do your thing, child."
Ranma dumped the kettle over her head and turned to
the woman. "There! You see! I'm not a gi-" The old
woman was holding up a mirror. In the mirror was a
very tired looking young redhead.
"Now you see, child. That room, and that tearing were
not dreams. You're free to stay here and wait for your
brother. We've had a room prepared for you for a few
years now. It's all set up even as we speak. Here's
your key. It's even got a view of the outside dojo,
just the way you like it. A perfect option to go
collect your thoughts, wouldn't you say?" The old
woman, no, the Oracle led Ranma out as she handed her
the small silver keychain which sported a single
numeral with clarity.
1/2

***

Ranma stood, staring at the iron claw that had brought
him, unclothed and immobile, so like a newborn child,
into this world with reproach. It looked like some
mechanical, mutated perversion of a human hand. It was
hard to wonder whether or not that painful, scalding
water down below that pod from whence he came, down
below that small thing that Morpheus claimed made
Ranma a battery, may have been a better fate than this
darkened sky and twisted metal. He got up, gradually,
as his muscles still ached, and pressed a hand, skin
still as pink as the day he was born, against one of
the joints of the claw.
"Mechanical mother..." His voice sounded so weak as
the half-joking statement rolled off of his tongue. He
ran his fingers up to the cable and investigated it
gingerly. Flakes of red rust came off on Ranma's
fingers, feeling so unnatural. If he wasn't so certain
that he was not dreaming, he would have been able to
swear that this was a dream. It was not, of course. It
could not be. The warmth was warmer, the ice colder.
It was just all so unnatural, though!
"Lookin' for something to grasp onto, eh kid?" It was
the bald guy, Cypher, holding a metallic mug that
exuded a smell that caused Ranma to want to gag from
many feet away.
"Yeah." He wished he could have his voice back more
than ever now. What would have had happened if he'd
taken the blue pill?
"I know what you're thinkin' kid." Cypher sat down on
the floor next to Ranma. "Just wait til a few decades
are up. Maybe you'll be as crazy as Morpheus is."
Ranma looked up at Cypher's round face. "When did
he...take you?"
Cypher shrugged. "I was sixteen or seventeen years
old, and just like every other hotshot hacker kid out
there, trying to prove my name. Morpheus used a pretty
girl to get through to me and we had a bit of a
contest. I made an ATM spit out cash and she cracked
the IRS T-Base in the US. Guess who won?" He chuckled
to himself and sipped some more of his noxious
beverage.
Ranma finally rubbed his eyes and stood up.
"Where ya' going, kid? Cypher half-turned to give
Ranma a sidelong glance.
"Sleep. I have more operations programs to run
tomorrow. Morpheus says he wants me to meet the oracle
as soon as possible." Ranma turned towards the large
hatch that led into the main body of the
Nebudchanezzar just in time to miss a wide grin coming
to Cypher's face.

***

Ranma stood atop the skyscraper next to morpheus,
wearing a black T-shirt that flapped in the high winds
in a way that made Ranma feel just a little
off-center.
"The trick in the Matrix is realizing which rules you
can bend and which you need pay no mind to. Observe."
Morpheus took a running start and leapt from the top
of the building on which he and Ranma stood onto the
next building. When Ranma only shrugged noncommittally
Morpheus grinned triumphantly and called out to him.
"Now you try!"
Ranma leapt straight up and came down a few moments
later mere steps away from Morpheus stood.
"Are you done?"
Morpheus only smiled as if he'd had some small victory
and nodded to some unknown deity.
Moments later Ranma was gasping for air as gentle
hands removed the offending needle from his neck. As
he sat up and surveyed the transmission room again he
found seven six pairs of eyes looking directly into
his own.
"Amazing." The solitary word from Cypher broke the
silence and the motion on Nebudchanezzar resumed as if
nothing had happened. Confused, Ranma returned to his
room to rest.

***

"It doesn't make any sense!" Ranma went through her
katas with a fervor that she had not felt since
leaving Nerima. "There was no Chisuiton this time.
There was only the little red pill. It wasn't the
Phoenix pill. Cologne said that there was only one of
those." She quickly incapacitated another imaginary
enemy
Ranma's assigned room stood in disarray, all of the
furniture shoved to one side so that she could
practice her katas and maybe achieve some sort of
balance in her current confusion.
Desperate for some sort of answer, she launched into a
Chestnut attack and nearly demolished a wall in her
blind frustration, hesitating just in time to avoid
damage that the small hotel would surely not
appreciate.
Finished with her kata and only more distressed
through the effort that she had put out, Ranma
retreated into the suite's bathroom, drawing a hot
shower for herself.

***

Morpheus occupied a stool near Ranma as the boy
rested, neither one of them making any sound at all
until the silence was almost tangible.
"I'm sorry." Morpheus' voice betrayed immense pain. "I
believe that my time is almost up, and I believe that
you know why."
"Because I'm 'the one'?" Ranma snorted derisively.
"I'm just a martial artist. I don't bother with any of
this techno-crap. If you're going to feed me this
bullshit, at least have the sense to talk about it
like someone who's not just some fanatic, devoted to a
dying religion."
The silence came again, and for longer. It seemed to
be a continuously widening gap between Ranma and
Morpheus.
"I..." Morpheus' forehead glistened with sweat. "I
think you don't grasp the situation, Ranma."
Ranma sighed and rolled onto his side, staring at
Morpheus.
"You're the first person I've ever seen who could make
that jump on the first try. Out of all of the captains
of the ships, out of all of the 'ones,' none has ever
been able to make The Jump on the first try. Not ever,
Ranma.
Ranma shook his head in denial, refusing to debate
with the older man any longer.
Morpheus shrugged and held his hand up, standing and
making a polite bow 
in Ranma's direction.
"Tomorrow we dive into the Matrix, Ranma. Be ready."

***

Morpheus, Ranma, Trinity, Cypher, Tank, Switch, and
Apoc all sat in a circle, awaiting the wrenching
feeling that was to come. It was time to see the
oracle. It was time for Ranma to find the truth for
himself.
After an eternity of waiting, the needle came in a
moment of white-hot pain, and then.....Nothingness.

***

Ranma shrieked in agony as she clutched the shower
curtain, grasping for balance in retaliation against
the piercing pain that had suddenly come upon her.She
strove to reach to the elegant medicine cabinet that
sat mere inches from her desperate gasp and fell in an
unreally fast, and yet blindingly, painfully slow
plunge as her forehead made hard contact against the
edge of the marble sink. As she blacked out she saw
the woman who called herself the oracle, standing in
the doorway of the bathroom in panic, ready to catch
Ranma as she fell.

***

Ranma came to in a warehouse, surrounded by vaguely
familiar figures and agitated voices.
"What the hell happened? That felt like I had my skull
ripped out and rearranged."
"Quiet, Cypher. We've got a problem on our hands, a
big problem."
"It looks more like a girl to me," a soft feminine
voice said with irony.
Ranma felt that this would be a good time to sit up
and look around and open her eyes all the way, and was
immediately sorry that she had. She hadn't had this
much of a headache since the hangover that had
followed that 'Drunken Fist' fiasco.
"Where the hell am I? Why am I with you guys again?
Where's the oracle?" Ranma looked around at her new
companions until her view centered on the large man
known as Morpheus.
"Who are you?" Morpheus' voice was silent. 
Trinity stepped out of the still-blurry darkness from
behind Morpheus and smiled smugly.
"I told you so, Morpheus! There were two signals!
That's the girl who helped me!"
Morpheus' gaze shot from Ranma to Trinity and then
back to Ranma, piercing her soul like a barbed arrow 
"How is this possible? The Oracle never said anything
about there being two of you!"
As Ranma looked from Morpheus to Trinity confusedly a
cel phone rang. A kid with a large black anvil case
pulled a small cel phone out of his jacket and
answered. "Mouse here"
He nodded once and his face fell into a look of
despair.
"How many?" He waited another moment and then dropped
the phone, shattering it on the ground, creating
another deafening silence.
"We're dead. There're ten of them. Ten Agents."

***

Yamada surveyed his partners, useless machines. All of
them simultaneously cracked their various joints as if
it mattered. There was no body there to tune up. There
was not the joy of being a well-oiled machine. There
was just his subroutines, and their victims. 
Even now, he could see the young boy, now a man of
twenty-eight years. He was sitting there with two
Gattling cannons, just as he had when trying to defend
Neo. The foolish programmer had sacrificed his own
life so that his compatriots could escape. Neo. What a
pathetic waste of the humans' time. He never even made
it to the Oracle.
Yamada gave a glance to the rest of the agents and
began to run towards the door of the warehouse. He
increased his speed past human limits until his legs
were nothing but a blur. Faster and faster he ran
until the asphalt under his feet began to blacken
under the friction that he was causing. One hundred
yards. Twenty five yards. 
The groan of the steel as Yamada plowed through the
door would have been considered raucous if he were a
human. Instead, he found it pleasurable. It was the
sound of the human's demise. It was the sounds of the
codes that allowed him into the mainframe of Zion.
It was the sound of Victory!
Yamada zeroed in on the kid, Mouse, and made a beeline
straight for him, ignoring all of the other pitiful
humans. It was time to rectify a mistake.
As he picked up speed yet again, something went wrong.
The body of another agent hit him squarely in the
midriff, knocking him back. The startled kid turned
his two Gattling cannons on him and blasted. The
momentary oblivion was unsettling, but the recovery
was quick. Another hardwired human disappeared and
Yamada was a dockworker. Yoji Takeshi, age 36, father
of two. No more was he. Now he felt Yamada's joy and
made a run for the warehouse even as he felt the
re-entry of three other agents. Something was not
right about this battle. The humans had a new weapon.
Yamada checked his data as he accelerated once more
towards the warehouse, this time aiming for a side
door, and found that there was one human who was out
of place in this mix. There was one human who was
still hardwired into the system. It was the girl from
the other day!
Yamada's frown turned into a vicious snarl as he dove
for the wall. Twenty feet of hard cement passed under
him as his head collided with the fist of a young
girl, not more than 19 years old. Then, his head
collided with it again, and again, and again. The
color identifiable as Red filled Yamada's vision as he
found his target and attempted to move into her only
to find a solid wall. He desperately searched for
another hardwired human in the area and had no luck.
They had lost this battle, and the higher order would
not be happy.

***

Ranma gasped for air as she looked at the battered
corpse of a normal Japanese man, skull pounded into
some sort of concoction that resembled moldy oatmeal
with tomato juice mixed in.
She looked around at the people who had been here and
woke up and found them staring directly back into her
eyes, the young man with something like triumph.
"I've never seen a single human take down an agent
one-on-one," Morpheus walked towards Ranma with a
brisk, triumphant spring in his step, "and yet, here I
see a girl taking out not one, but ten agents!"
Morpheus removed his sunglasses, revealing eyes darker
than Ranma would have thought possible on a man, but
bloodshot around the edges. "Surely, we have had a
change in luck. Let us make our way to the Oracle."

***

Ranma tossed and turned, pain wracking his limbs as he
gasped for air, the needle that he had thought he
would be used to by now stinging all the way in, and
then exploded into eddies of pain which wracked his
entire body, not allowing him to settle even as he
felt the confinement of the pain confining each and
every muscle of his body. He felt the pain of a
battle, the ice that was felt when he knew that one of
his fists was snapping bone, and the glory of beating
what everybody else thought the odds were, but he knew
the truth. He would always win.
Pain caused his body to spasm again, still leaving him
in darkness, unseeing, but feeling something soft and
cold pressing up against his forehead.
"Are you okay?" A worried voice attempted to sound
soothing, but just betrayed worry. The accent was
unmistakably rural Japanese, but Ranma could not place
the voice, only that it sounded familiar. He attempted
to move and failed. He was still confined.
Warmth began to spread through his legs, causing them
to thrash violently with the sudden onrush of feeling.
He heard a frightened shriek as he kicked out
violently, involuntarily.
The warmth spread up to his abdomen, causing him to
want to wretch with the sickness that followed, but he
could not. He simply sat there as blood seeped out the
corners of his mouth.
The warm feeling made it to his torso and caused him
to violently shudder in pain again as his lungs burned
in an unholy fire and he gasped for the air that he
knew he would need, or he was going to die.
I'm dead. Dead. Dead. DEAD. Ranma could only come to
the conclusion that some unknown poison had infected
his body as he systematically stretched his burning
arms and the warmth moved throughout them as well. He
tested his arms as if newly born and flexed each
finger in turn, ignoring the fire that coursed through
his veins.
Then the fire maid it through his neck to his head,
and pain overcame Ranma, and he screamed, and darkness
came, but the pain did not end. He continued screaming
and screaming, until finally he awoke.

***

Darkness invaded Ranma's vision as the pain receded,
but he exuded satisfaction as he investigated that
darkness and found that it was darkness with depth. He
was not dead! He was somewhere! But where?
He slowly turned around, grasping the covers that
enveloped his body, feeling that they were something
like cotton, and trying to make out any details. After
he'd taken in all that he could of the room the lights
came on, barely bright enough so that Ranma could make
out a solitary, feminine figure, curled up in a chair
opposite to the bed that Ranma had found himself in.
Before Ranma was barely able to stand before the
figure stood and made its way out of the room,
allowing a small bit of light on it as the door opened
and silently shut.
He attempted to disentangle himself from the blankets
as he felt movement on the bed and immediately felt
stirring on the other half of the bed.
"Why are you moving all around?" The voice from before
sounded annoyed as the stirring continued. "What is
it, 3 AM? Couldn't you have picked another time to
have a nightmare love?"
Ranma sat rigid as a board as a feminine curvature
slowly made its way up his back, breasts sliding
smoothly along either side of his spine and arms
wrapping themselves gingerly around his necks.
"I'm sorry, hun." The voice sounded hurt, now, quickly
converting from annoyed to pouting. "Mmm...I love your
back so much! It's just like a girl's!" A nervous
giggle followed.
Ranma'd had enough. He edged to the side of the bed
and stood up, knocking the girl, whoever she was, to
the ground.
"Ouch!" The girl stood up, thankfully obscured in her
nudity by the darkness, brushing her short, boyish
hair out of her eyes. "You Baka! What's the big idea!"
The voice was right, but the tone was wrong. Something
was terribly wrong! Ranma rushed to the light switch
and pushed it up the rest of the way, looking at the
girl who stood with her arms around her chest, in
front of him, indignantly staring at him.
"No..." Ranma turned from her. "This can't be."

*******

Author's Note:

This chapter was very long in the making. I NEED C &
C. Ream it. Rip it up! Criticize! Flame! Just tell me
what you think!
No special thanx yet. Nobody's read it.

-Inu

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