466 BREAKING THINGS DOWN (THE MATRIX)

There was only one real way to make amends, so I took out the contract I used to buy the slaves and signed under Melios' signature. I also changed the amount to one gold coin and handed the quill to Rem. She looked shocked at the gesture and didn't move to take it.

Shera looked a little confused about what it meant and I reached down to touch Rem's collar and dispelled it. Both she and Rem gasped as it formed golden cracks and then shattered and dissolved. They both believed you had to vehemently reject being owned for the collar to break like that and how they were reacting was more than enough to qualify.

“N-no.” Shera whispered and wiped at her eyes.

“Please, take it and sign it.” I said and Rem gave me a wide-eyed look. “It would be meaningless if you were still collared when you signed it, because they would still be mine. This way, you know I'm giving all of it up for you.”

Rem took the quill with a shaky hand and signed under my name. She reached into her pouch to hand me a gold coin and the contract glowed as the ownership of all those slaves shifted from me to her.

“Just so you know, I was going to do that later anyway.” I said and reached for Shera's collar.

“No!” Shera shouted and jerked back. “I don't want you to go!”

I sighed and knelt on the floor in front of her. “Shera, I'm sorry. I went too far with trying to help and now I have to pay for it, just like you and Rem believe I have to. The only way to make up for such a mistake is to give up my connections to you.”

“I summoned you here to help... and you... you have to stay to help.” Shera whispered.

“My dear softhearted elf, I've already helped both you and Rem solve your problems.” I said and Rem sucked in a sharp breath. “She no longer has to ever worry about her problem ever again, since I removed the threat and the potential from her bloodline.”

“Wh-what?” Rem asked, shocked.

“None of your family will ever have anything sealed inside of them again. I made sure that neither you nor any of your progeny can become a vessel for anything. Ever.” I told her. “I would have told you the first time you became pregnant, just so you could stop worrying about it.”

Rem started crying again and hugged the slave contract.

“As for you.” I turned to look at Shera. “I already solved your heir problem and fixed your kingdom by giving them a new chance with an older princess and de-aged the prince to before he was obsessed with you. Even if something else happens with your people, you're fourth in line for the Greenwood throne now and you won't have to worry about that for many years, especially if Keera has more children.”

“You... you really did finish your tasks.” Shera said and more tears flowed.

“Yes, and I'm sorry that the first thing I tried to do after that, caused the both of you to lose faith in me. I didn't intend for that to happen, or that my other actions made you doubt my dedication to you.”

“I... don't... doubt...” Shera's mouth clamped shut because she couldn't lie to me with the collar on.

“It's my fault.” I said and pet her blonde hair. “Despite giving you both all of my attention when we were alone, and did things with the both of you that I haven't done with anyone else in this world...”

Both Shera and Rem looked guilty at hearing that.

“You thought I was doing that with others as well? When did I have the chance to do that?” I asked and didn't wait for a response as I stood. “Then I really am sorry I bought sex slaves and gave your wrong thoughts the confirmation they shouldn't have needed.”

“That's not... entirely true.” Rem said.

“It doesn't really matter now, does it?” I asked and she shook her head. “I've saved this world from the demon lord resurrecting and I just have to erase the rest of the Fallen to keep everyone else safe from them when they try to come here to kill you.”

“How long can you...” Shera asked.

“I only need a few minutes.” I said and leaned down to kiss her cheek, except she leaned away. “Goodbye, Shera L. Greenwood and Rem Galleu.” I said and the collar around Shera's neck cracked and shattered without me touching it. “Don't try to summon me again, it won't work.”

“Atlas...” Shera and Rem said and then said nothing else. There wasn't really anything left to be said.

I paused the world and removed Shera and Rem from my party, paid for them to not have any penalties, and unpaused. “I suggest going back to the guild to get your levels measured again. You're going to be surprised. Be good to each other and your new slaves.”

I stepped away from there and into the main lobby, telepathically checked each slave in one go, and anyone that actually wanted freedom had their collars dispelled. They should figure it out for themselves soon enough or one of the others would tell them.

My next stop was the top of the Starfall Tower. I felt my connection to this world fading fast, now that there wasn't anything magical holding me there, and I took off flying at my fastest speed towards where my danger sense was strongest past the Man-Eating Woods. I found something like a breeding ground for demons, monsters, and Fallen, which was exactly what I was looking for.

I took a gold coin out of my inventory and flew up into the air a mile, then wound up my arm like a professional pitcher, added Legend's power to it with Holy Light, then threw it as hard as I could into the center of the land below and pushed it to about a third of the speed of light.

It impacted the ground and a bright light like a bomb exploding lit up half of the countryside. I closed my eyes and let it consume me as well. The earthquake spread for a hundred miles and the dust cloud flew up into the air and covered several miles in dirt and rocks. When the wind picked up and cleared the space, there was a massive crater and not a trace of the Fallen was left behind.

*

I reappeared in the space between worlds and let out a sigh. My reading buddy was right there and cuddled with me as I felt a feeling from them that was full of sadness and regret.

“Yeah, I screwed up by playing things too casually. I didn't mean for things to get that out of hand, since I thought it was acceptable with how beast-kin behaved. I misunderstood that their heat cycles were treated in a similar way that the Vulcans did them, and that was a huge mistake.”

I felt my hair being petted and I leaned against them.

“I think I want to go somewhere that things like that won't happen, or can't happen.” I said and felt lips on mine briefly. “I want to avoid worlds with people that have animal traits or parts for a while. Maybe a nice normal one? Is there any like that I could give a hand to?”

There was a feeling of reassurance and I relaxed.

“All right, send me along. I don't care where, just that I won't be put into a similar situation.” I said and my chest was patted. I felt the lips on mine again and then everything went black.

*

I came to with my head resting on my own arm, headphones on, and music playing. I didn't recognize the song and the words were muffled. I blinked my eyes and the first thing I saw was a computer screen with small words on it.

Wake up, Neo...

I sat up and pulled off the headphones and stared at the screen as memories that weren't mine flowed into the back of my head. Thomas Anderson's life. I was sitting at my large wrap-around work desk that was covered in computer parts, computer discs, CDs, the stereo I had been listening to, and the computer monitor.

The Matrix has you...

Son of a bitch. I thought as my mind tried to parse out that I was inside a goddamned simulation of a virtual world that copied life in the mid-twenty-first century.

Follow the white rabbit.

I sat there and stared at the screen for what felt like forever, only it was barely for a few seconds.

Knock, knock, Neo.

Two bangs on my front door didn't startle me, because I was expecting them.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“It's Choi.” A male voice answered.

I held in my sigh and knew I had to play this out, for now anyway. “Yeah.” I said and stood up, stretched for a moment to loosen up my muscles after laying awkwardly for so long, then walked over to the door and unlocked the two deadbolts on the door and left the chain. I opened the door and gave the people standing there an annoyed look. “You're two hours late.”

“I know.” Choi said and glanced at the short brunette beside him. “It's her fault.”

“You got the money?” I asked.

Choi dug into his inside breast pocket and pulled it out. “Two grand.” He said and looked a little resigned as he handed it over.

“It's four grand now.” I said and tucked the money into my front jogging pants pocket.

His face paled a little and one of the guys behind him cursed. The short brunette looked a bit scared and also disappointed.

“Naw, I'm just fucking with you.” I said with a laugh. “Give me a sec.”

“Thank god.” A girl in the back of the group whispered. “Tonight would have been a total bust.”

Choi looked relieved and the brunette looked very happy.

I nodded at them and shut the door. I glanced around at my fairly small apartment and tried to not feel disappointment. It was one room, slightly spacious, and it had several shelves full of parts and one rack of books. The filing cabinet was a bit odd until I remembered it was full of all my old work projects. The bathroom was barely big enough for the toilet, sink, and shower.

I walked over to the books and picked up my copy of Simulacra & Simulation and opened it to reveal the hidden pocket inside with some of my bootleg programs I'd made years ago. They were copies of the real ones I had stashed in the bathroom inside the toilet tank in a plastic bag. I slid a few of them around and picked out Disk #567.

I unlocked my apartment door and opened it, then held the 3 inch disk out to him. It also gave me a chance to see the girl with him was wearing a rubber-like chest piece that made her chest seem bigger, since it was moulded and didn't move when she did. The leather pants were nice, though. The two guys behind her had blonde hair and one wore sunglasses. At night.

The other girl was kind of cute in that goth kind of way, too. The huge chain from her nose to her ear was a little off-putting, since it would be difficult to kiss her with it in the way.

Choi gave the disk a look as if it was worth its weight in gold. “Hallelujah.” He said and flipped it over. “You're my savior, man. My own personal Jesus Christ.”

“If you get caught using that...” I warned him and met everyone's eyes briefly.

“I know, it's never happened.” Choi said and handed it to the guy wearing sunglasses, whom stashed it into his jacket's inside pocket. “You don't exist.”

That line reminded me that I kind of didn't, not where we were right then, and my face must have shown it.

“Something wrong, man? You're looking a little whiter than usual.” Choi asked me. He had genuine concern in his voice and that was kind of surprising.

“It's just...” I took a breath and let it out. “I think I need to unplug for a while, you know?”

Choi barked a laugh. “You're definitely feeling off if you're admitting that!”

The guys chuckled, the girl in the back giggled, and the brunette in the front smirked at me.

“What do you think, Dujour? Should we humbly offer to take him with us?” Choi asked.

The brunette's eyes dropped down to my feet and slowly came back up to my face, taking all of me in. “Definitely.”

“I dunno, I have work tomorrow.” I hedged, as if I didn't want to go.

She smirked at me and gave me a knowing look. “Come on, it'll be fun. I promise.”

I glanced at Choi's face and knew he did not want me having any kind of fun with his woman. I looked at the girl behind him and saw her welcoming face, so I nodded. “Sure, I'll go. Just let me grab a jacket.”

“Yes.” The girl in the back whispered and looked happy.

I shut the door and ran to my pile of clothes by the bed, pulled out a clean pair of dark jeans, and whipped off the jogging pants I wore and slipped them on. I transferred the stack of cash to my jeans and then pretended to rifle through the pile of clothes as I transfigured a shirt into a tight leather vest without sleeves.

I pulled off my baggy t-shirt and slipped on the vest, quickly buttoned two buttons, and grabbed my jacket off of the back of my chair. As I slung it over one shoulder, I slowly transfigured it into a nice biker leather jacket. By the time I slid my other arm into it and pulled it up to settle it properly, it looked badass.

I walked over to my door and opened it again and all five people stared at me with their mouths open. I held in my laugh as I shut the door and locked the two key locks, then I turned around and faced them.

I had a huge grin on my face as I spoke. “Let's rock.”

“Fuckin' A.” The goth girl said and pushed Choi out of the way and grabbed my hand.

I glanced down at her partially covered lips and she smiled.

“It unclips.” She said and reached up and easily popped the end from her nose.

“Wicked.” I said and she beamed a smile at me. I pulled the two grand out of my pocket and wagged the stack at Choi. “When we hit the club, the first ten rounds are on me.”

Choi laughed, because he just realized he hadn't lost the money by buying my parking ticket hacking program that cleared them from your record, it was just being used for something else. Both the goth girl and Dujour gave me sexy looks and the two blonde guys let out a cheer and shared a high five.

The night was turning out a lot better than they thought it was going to.

*

“Okay, I've got everything set up.” Tank said as he loaded in the right programs for the mission. “The target is in the right place and he's blended in with the local scene. No one should question you or stop you from approaching him.”

“Are you sure it's a secure line?” Trinity asked as she laid down on the reclining chair. “The last time it was traced and I almost didn't make it out.”

“Don't worry. We double-checked it and we're even right under the hardline. There's no way they're cutting you off if anyone we don't want sees you.” Dozer said and held up the brain cord.

“Load me up.” Trinity said and closed her eyes. She couldn't wait to finally meet the handsome man in person. Watching the code just wasn't the same as seeing him with her own eyes. With a little luck, she would be seeing a lot more of him during the next few days as they tried to pinpoint where his real body was stashed.

*

Having a great time at a goth club rave was better than anything else I could have done to recover after what happened during the last world. The goth girl wouldn't tell me her name and she claimed the mystery would keep me wondering about her for the rest of my life.

We danced several times and she had a great time as she saw for herself that I wasn't pretending or was going to embarrass her among her friends. After two beers and another dance, she hauled me into the girl's bathroom and shoved me into one of the stalls. She gave me a great blowjob before she rode me hard enough to strain her back.

Her small perky breasts were pierced, as was her clit, so I pinched and tweaked them for her to get her off quicker. She really liked that I didn't give her excessive tattoos a second look and I hadn't said anything about how many body piercings she had. Oh, and she really loved my penis. So much so, she swore she would be getting its shape tattooed on her belly as a constant reminder of how good it felt.

After she got off three times and myself once, that she lovingly swallowed, we went back out into the club and sat with our friends. We drank, danced, and had a great time. I felt someone enter the club and knew it was time, so I gave the goth girl a deep kiss and told her I had to use the bathroom and then leave to get a few hours of sleep before work in the morning.

“I'm not giving you my number.” She said and looked a little sad. “Or my name.”

I chuckled and gave her another deep kiss to make her blush. “Normal names are so boring, aren't they?”

She nodded and smiled at me. “I'm glad you understand.”

I nodded back and walked into the crowd to where I knew the meeting would happen. It was out of the way and the music wasn't as loud there, so I leaned against the wall there to wait... and there she was. Trinity walked up to me with confidence and assurance on her face, as if she knew how this would go. Should I ruin that for her? It would be kind of funny if I did.

“Hello, Neo.” Trinity said with a normal voice. She didn't whisper it, even with a few people only about five feet away from us.

“How do you know my secret hacker name?” I asked and turned to face her.

“I know a lot about you.” Trinity answered.

“That's not creepy or anything.” I responded and her confident look faded slightly at my words. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“My name is Trinity.” Trinity said and paused to see if I would say anything about her name, and I didn't. “I brought you here to warn you.”

“Warn me? About what?” I asked.

“All I can tell you is that you're in danger.” She said and stepped close. “They're watching you, Neo.”

“Who is?” I asked and stepped back.

“Please, just listen.” Trinity said and stepped forward again.

I stepped back again as well and held my hands up to stop her from getting closer. “I don't know you, lady. That's close enough.”

Trinity looked surprised before she schooled her face to not show anything. “I know what you've been doing, why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night you sit at your computer...”

“You're spying on me?” I asked, faking shock. “How long have you had my apartment bugged?” I asked and frowned as I stepped forward aggressively, my raised hands becoming fists. “Who are you working for?”

Trinity looked surprised again and it was her turn to step back. “Neo, calm down.”

“A random woman lures me to a club, tells me she's been watching me for who knows how long, and I'm upset about it!” I said, raising my voice. “How else am I supposed to react after hearing that?”

A ringing phone stopped Trinity from responding and she pulled it out of her pocket and answered it. “I'm a little busy here, Tank.”

“First contact is a bust. Pull back and regroup.” Tank said.

“Is Tank your boss? Tell him to fuck off!” I shouted loud enough for him to hear.

“Morpheus said you offered too much info too fast.” Tank said and ignored me. “Get out of there.”

Trinity sighed and gave me a disappointed look. “I'm leaving.” She said and clapped the folding phone as she closed it. “Happy now?”

“I'll be stripping my apartment to remove the cameras and microphones you've been using to watch me.” I said as she put her phone away.

“You won't find anything.” Trinity said and I frowned at her again.

“You're using zoom lenses and boom mikes?” I asked and she sighed.

“I meant there's nothing to find.” Trinity said and turned to leave, then looked back at me. “You're nothing like the man I've been watching.”

“Maybe you should have approached me like a normal person instead of this sting operation.” I said and she winced. “You might have gotten to know the real me and not the fantasy me you've built up in your head.”

Trinity really looked sad now and walked away without saying anything else. I watched her leave and didn't look at her ass, since I was sure I was being watched. As soon as she was out of sight, a pulse of something washed through the room and over me.

I blinked my eyes at the weird sensation and looked around me, only to see the club was now completely empty. All of the people had disappeared. It took me a moment to realize there was also no music and it was deathly quiet.

“That was odd.” I said and walked over to where Trinity disappeared and there was a telephone on the wall. I didn't glance at it as I passed it, just so I wouldn't give away that I knew how she had arrived and left. I made my way over to the doors of the club, then had a neat idea. If there were no people... there was no one guarding the money.

I raided the bar's cash register, the cash box under the counter, then went to the office and broke into the safe there. I grabbed a bunch of stacks of money and put them and the loose cash into a convenient bag on the desk. I carried it out of the place and left the club with tens of thousands of pretend virtual dollars and walked all the way home to my small apartment, since the car Choi had driven was nowhere in sight.