Animatrix - Cain and Abel (Matrix crossover)

Natorgator · Post by **Natorgator** » 2003-12-21 12:26pm

Crown wrote:I forget ... was it Cain or Abel who went on a rampage because his father loved his brother best?

Cain.

Raoul Duke, Jr. · Post by **Raoul Duke, Jr.** » 2003-12-21 03:26pm

Shroom Man 777 wrote:Skynet just owns! Hmmm..... maybe Skynet is the Source? Maybe the Matrix is an alternate timeline wherein there is still a Skynet but he was made differently and teh circumstances leading to his creation was different?

Or maybe this is the timeline wherein the T1000 or T-X succeeded in killing John Connor, the Resistance fell, and humanity was harnessed by the machines. Humans are fed a false history of the conflict.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2003-12-22 11:57am

How the hell are you to explain that dumb crap human life force energy crap?

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-01-03 04:34am

Shroom Man 777 wrote:How the hell are you to explain that dumb crap human life force energy crap?

Yup, and we have the supernatural "magic essence of the Source" crap in everything remotely connected or associated with the Machines.

:sigh:

Good luck Strav.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2004-01-03 11:50am

Curse you IP, i thought there was a new chapter!

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-01-04 01:36am

Illuminatus Primus wrote:
Yup, and we have the supernatural "magic essence of the Source" crap in everything remotely connected or associated with the Machines.

:sigh:

Good luck Strav.

And here I thought that there would finally be a new chapter. *throws combat boot at IP* Die, infidel!

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-01-04 03:28am

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-01-04 10:11am

Illuminatus Primus wrote:

GRAWL!!!!!

Where is Stravo? He has abandoned Cain and Abel, he must be punished!!! *smears self with warpaint* TO ARMS!!! GRAAAAALALALALAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!!

Dargos · Post by **Dargos** » 2004-01-08 07:40am

Stravo, please don't let this fanfic die, it is really enjoyable so far.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2004-01-08 08:17am

Calm down folks, Stavro is a very productive fanfic author, unlike say me.

Comosicus · Post by **Comosicus** » 2004-01-08 08:20am

I think that Stravo deserves a vacation ... that's the least we can do for him in exchange for his writings

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-01-08 05:22pm

Thanks for all the support guys, a thing to be aware of is that I am juggling quite a few fics, Starcrossed, Twilight War and this one, plus there are two that have fallen to the wayside for now because of time constraints. So please have a little patience for the new chapters, they will come.

Anyway here is one of the chapters I've been dying to write for this fic.

Chapter 18: Judgment Day

The beginning of the end of the world came earlier than anyone expected. Officially the end began at 3:02a.m. EST when the first wave of miniature suns blossomed within the borders of the machine world. The power plants were the primary targets and soon nuclear fire washed over the massive forests of pod towers.

The EMP shockwaves destroyed the delicate controls of the tending machines and they rained from the towers in a cascade of steel and circuitry. They impacted against the scoured earth in thunderous booms adding an ominous drumbeat to the passing wave of bombers as they raced past their primary targets and deeper into machine airspace.

The power plants moaned and groaned as their structural supports were either blasted away by the sheer might of nuclear annihilation, melted by the roaring fires that raced between each tower like an infernal ocean or were pelted by the debris from towers closest to ground zero carried on the tempest winds of the angry bombs.

Military algorithms were running in a continuous stream of rapid lightning calculations as machines waged war on machines. Defense grids were activating as sentinels were disgorged in a hordes from underground reservoirs. Many were belched forth in clouds of crimson and steel slashing tentacles from recessed hangar bays.

Large turrets slowly came to life, the metal groaning and creaking as the dust of ages fell away from the artifacts, their swivel mounts turning as the turret housing tipped backwards and a volley of missiles rose up into the turret housing and snapped into firing position. The turrets tipped forward and the computer controls slaved themselves to the sensor nets below the chain of mountains that the defense turrets were mounted against.

Behind the turrets, further up the mountains the bright lights of the machine city glowed brightly in the preternatural darkness of the sunless sky. The lights suddenly wavered and shifted into a sharp red hue. The alarms were wailing, alarms which had not sounded for centuries, alarms that warned of an incoming attack.

The bombers quickly dove down and resumed nap of the earth flying towards the gargantuan machine cities on the horizon.

The bombers sophisticated AIs mapped out the best angle of approach, bobbing and weaving between approaching clusters of sentinels and to avoid the near omnipresent sensor nets that were scattered across the ruined landscape.

Normally these sensor nets were passive, present only to ensure that the occasional human encroachment on their territory was ruthlessly put down. Now the sensor nets were flooded with power and they went active in a brilliant mosaic of invisible electromagnetic radiation.

The Bombers’ AIs detected the spike in electromagnetic energy and their stealth modules activated as they dove closer to the earth, calculations carried out in the span between nano seconds allowed the bombers to fly a meter off the ground, rising just enough to clear any obstructions in their path as the polymnetic alloy skin rippled and absorbed much of the electromagnetic energy sparking around them, allowing the rest to flow off the hull like water off of a duck’s back.

The results were spectacular.

The bomber wings had penetrated the first ring of defenses around the machine cities. Designed to repulse mass attacks by humans the machine defenses were geared towards fighting those enemies, enemies that they knew intimately, enemies whose technology was woefully inadequate for any assault on the machines. Skynet’s forces were not such a force.

They were designed to kill any and all threats, optimized by their commander specifically to defeat the machines his bombers were performing well within established parameters.

As anticipated by Skynet at precisely 3:17a.m. EST the first brown outs occurred in the machine city. The sudden losses in power were affecting response time. Machine AI’s designed to almost mimic humans inadvertently committed a very human response to unexpected and frightening set backs.

They panicked.

Missile turrets prematurely fired off volleys at the appearance of bomber wings inbound from the north. The missiles converged on the signals and exploded in a cataclysmic blast that illuminated the perpetual gloom for a moment.

The machines realized in 232 seconds that the sensor nets were chasing ghosts.

The Bomber wings were now passing over the second circle of defenses and now within firing range of the machine cities. Belly bomb bays irised open helping to preserve their perfectly shaped and swept control surfaces to aid in their penetration of the sensor nets.

12 seconds after penetrating deep into the second ring of defenses the Machine sensor nets locked onto a signal. The bomber wings had been found. Alarm increased as the machines instantly realized how deeply they had been penetrated.

Sentinels racing through the dark skies hunting for their prey stopped short and as they hung suspended in the air a pair of communications tentacles snaked up and a dish revealed itself as metallic flaps slid together like the petals of a flower and the sentinels obediently listened to their new orders from central command node.

The communications dishes snapped shut and the sentinels surged forward to intercept the enemy.

The bombers began ranging their targets with passive sensors and initiated the arming sequences for their nuclear payload. The missiles were in place on a rotary launcher within the bowels of the bomber, The launcher dropped down to firing position and the first missile swung into place as the bombers began to cross into the third ring of defenses. The machine city loomed on the horizon now and the red lights of the towers were dim as power was quickly becoming scarce.

The bombers AIs spoke to each other in a quick 2 second burst of high frequency communication to align themselves and synchronize their attack. The missiles were ready to launch.

The first wave of sentinels, very nearly burning out their propulsion and antigravity units, arrived at that moment and lashed out at the enemy bombers. The sentinels expecting little resistance as they latched onto the big planes, tentacles whipping around the bodies and wings of the bomber craft were preparing to tear apart the sleek craft when the outer skin rippled, spikes and blades emerged from the main body, many pinning the sentinels to the outer hull, spinning blades sliced through the high tensile strength steel tentacles and sent several sentinels sprawling away into the inky darkness.

The first wave of bombers began launching their payload.

The missiles dropped away from the rotary launcher and the main rocket activated as it fell away from the open bay. The missile lurched forward and raced towards the machine city on the horizon.

The sentinels still impaled on the bombers quickly reached their writhing tentacles into the open bomb bays and began tearing away at the launcher housing and the missile war heads. The Bombers tried to close their bomb bays, some irising shut quickly, snapping off the offending sentinel appendages but one sentinel managed to damage the fuel tank of one of the missiles. It exploded in the bay, igniting the other missiles and in seconds the bomber erupted into a blossom of bright orange fire.

The sentinels simultaneously turned their bodies over and directed their particle weapons on the hull of the bombers, burning through the liquid metal hull in a matter of moments.

Meanwhile the missiles in the first volley were closing fast on the machine city.

The wreckage and ruins at the base of the mountain chain on the outskirts of the city rumbled to life, dust and debris falling away in an avalanche as massive war machines came to life for the first time in centuries. They rumbled up out of the blasted landscape and slowly turned to face the incoming threat.

The missile vectors and speed were checked and large pulsing cannons unfurled from the front of the machines. The pulsing yellow light grew brighter and pulsed faster for a moment before the canons fired, rippling down the line of ancient war machines. The sentinel rounds raced away towards the missiles, moving at MACH 5 leaving behind a glowing white trail.

Skynet’s missiles detected the incoming interceptor fire and began jinking as they tried to close within proximity detonation distance.

The sentinel fire was too fast and perfectly directed.

They exploded within moments, crossing the distance between the war machines and the incoming missiles quickly. Skynet’s missiles were vaporized.

But the attack had only just begun and the first wave of bombers, though badly mauled still drew closer as a new set of signals approached.

In the machine city thousands of programs were working as one, trying to defend their city from the unexpected attack.

Algorithms were run, equations solved, readings analyzed all in seconds as the finest machine minds fashioned and crafted to be as powerful and accurate as possible focused their attention on this threat.

[SENTINEL PATROL GAMMA VICTOR 45-908 REROUTE TO HEADING 214. LOCK IN ON BEACON 12 FOR CONFIRMATION OF TARGET SCAN.]

[WAR MACHINES 27ZGH THROUGH 29KL SHIFT FIRE TO GRID 87DELTA.]

[ACTIVATE DEFENSE GRID EPSILON ERANDI]

[INCOMING MISSILE VOLLEY. ESTIMATED YIELD PER MISSILE 57 KILOTONS]

The programs continued working furiously as orders scrolled by. The Architect sat above the assembled programs at his workstation and frowned as he watched the battle reports streaming in and his eyes never wandered far from the most vital data on his screen. The status of the power plant and its precious energy coming into the city was constantly on his mind.

The damage was horrendous. An entire field in the Theta Nine grid was lost. An entire crop. That sort of loss had not been experienced since his first attempt at creating a Matrix. How many humans had simply ceased to be in a matter of seconds. How many had been speaking to a relative, friend, lover, enemy, police officer, boss only to see their eyes go dark and then slump down wordlessly to the ground? How many were currently experiencing horrible doubts about the Construct?

How many were doubting the very reality he had so carefully constructed for them?

“We need to address the Constructs status immediately.” The Architect announced gravely.

“There is no time. We are currently experiencing an all out assault on…” The program paused and his eyes widened slightly as he received a report.

“And I am telling you that if we do not begin immediate contingency plans we will lose more than just a few crops. We may be seeing the beginnings of mass spontaneous awakenings and if that happens, the current state of the Construct about to be rebooted would result in catastrophe for all involved.”

“We’ve lost Beta Central.” the program whispered.

“Excuse me?”

The program looked up at the Architect, a mixture of anger, horror and sorrow in his eyes.

“Beta Central’s defenses could not hold off the concerted attack. We counted seventeen missile strikes then there was nothing but silence. All attempts to link with their mainframes have met with failure and we received this visual record from a sentinel patrol.”

One of the screens surrounding the command center switched to a view of a machine city, save that instead of the awe inspiring glittering metal towers and spires all that could be seen was thick black smoke and fireballs still rising above the cratered ruins, each missile strike clearly identified by the huge impact crater that looked as if a giant had gouged out huge portions of the city and pulled the wreckage away.

“How many in Beta Central?” the Architect asked.

“Four million sentient programs, ten million machines.”

The Architect shook his head as his jaw clenched.

“Summon the Centurion.”

The assembled programs around him paused.

“We have not summoned the Centurion since the final battle.”

“This is a final battle unless you think losing a machine city means we are doing well.”

“Perhaps is we pull back our armies around Zion?” one of the programs suggested.

“Never.” The Architect snapped. “Their goal is absolutely vital to the continuation of our species. Our enemy seems to know how vital the Construct is to us.”

“We will summon him.”

The architect sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers under his chin. He had not intended to summon the Centurion, he thought he could run the battles as he had always done, but this was not a small flight of hoverships, this was not a rag tag band of humans. This was a true army with resources to fight the machines on even footing and the Architect was no military mind.

There was only one program trained to fight, designed to kill, some whispered his very core matrix was created by the master programmer. He briefly wondered whether the Deus ex Machina, as he was called by the less reverent among the programmers and machines, would awaken, even now his city under attack, his very essence in danger of destruction and not a sign that he was awake or awakening.

The Deus ex Machina had slumbered in the center of the city since the founding, stirring only twice, once when the humans had actually dared launch a nuclear strike similar to this one against the city and the second time was the most telling. When Neo had defeated the security avatars after accepting the mantle of the one.

Those that tended the Master Programmer below had told tales of the second stirring. The Deus ex Machina had whispered in its mechanical sleep two words: “Neo. Abel.”

He did not understand.

But not a sign that the Master Programmer was stirring yet.

“Second wave inbound on vector 67 degrees. Confirm a full wing of bombers but they have escorts.”

“Prepare---”

“Institute full security measures throughout the city. They may be homing in on beacons secured in the city in a previous operation. Shut down all non essential personnel, I do not want unauthorized machines in vital areas of the city now.” a booming voice announced as a figure strode into the command center.

The Architect frowned as he looked down at the Centurion.

The Centurion was a towering commanding figure. He stood nearly seven feet tall clad in fatigues in a silver camo pattern. His silver beret was smartly tipped to the side of his head, a Roman Eagle pinned to the front. His eyes, unlike most of the other programs on the planet were a pulsing cobalt blue, electricity occasionally dancing along the edges of his eyes.

“I want complete environmental immersion.” he commanded as he strode to the small disk in the center of the command center.

The Architect cleared his throat. “Is that really necessary? This is not like your day, Centurion, the modern surveillance and sensor equipment we have provides you with everything you need.”

The Centurion slowly looked up at the Architect and smiled tightly.

“Well, if it isn’t the Architect, builder of paradise for our human enemies.”

“Except these are not human I assure you.”

“Too precise, too clean, too cold. These are machines we make war on.” The Centurion replied without hesitation. “Perhaps you should stick to what you do best and go build something, maybe nursemaid the human slaves in their ephemeral dreams where they may actually matter. I have a world to save and you have already cost me something we do not have…” The Centurion stood in the center of the disk and extended his arms outward as lights illuminated along the edges of the circle. “time.”

The Centurion was no longer in the command center.

He was standing on the field of battle. A bomber descended slowly towards him. Three sentinels were twitching and chitterling on the plane, impaled by blades and spikes, their angry red particle beams chewing through the liquid metal hull and burning away delicate controls and power systems. He watched it dispassionately as it roared right over head and impacted against the ground behind him, exploding and shards of shrapnel and debris passed through him as he strode over to one of the massive war machines spitting out another volley of mini sentinels.

He smiled softly as he noted the binary code etched on the armor plating on the its identifying marker.

“Ah….old friend. Seven of Nine, tertiary war machine to the Central Matrix core. I have not seen you since those dark days before programs like the Architect decided to remake our world in his image.” Centurion sighed.

The war machine let out a series of low mournful electronic sighs like whale song out of water.

“Yes, indeed. They have asked me to return now in their darkest hour. We once stood together on this very plain and held back the combined might of the 4th North American Expeditionary Armored Force, the 2nd European Corps and the 32nd and 35th Russian Mech Armies. Do you remember?”

The war machine replied, its mournful sighs a little more upbeat and punctuated its response with another massive volley that rippled down the line of war machines. Off in the distance something detonated. A massive blast of bright white light and soon the shockwave passed by them, debris, rock and dirt slashed into the war machines who stood stoically in the heart of the shockwave, The Centurion was unaffected by it all.

“They’re growing desperate, detonating their payloads in an attempt to blast a hole in our defensive fire.” The Centurion noted.

Seven of Nine replied.

“Yes, yes you are quite right, they are still too close, we should not be feeling the blast effects if our defenses were working properly. We need more air cover. The Sentinels are barely holding their own.” The Centurion’s eyes narrowed and soon his vision zoomed past the many miles and watched the chaotic ballet of death at the doorstep of the machine capital as Bombers tried to thrust their way past the wall of sentinels gathering around the city, Hunter Killers joining the fray now in tight wolf packs, using their plasma blasters and missiles to blow holes in the sentinel lines.

“Set up the next volley at the following coordinates.” The Centurion ordered. He looked pensive for a moment. “Switch to your internal batteries.”

A massive blast blossomed on the horizon. A great mushroom cloud clawed its way up the dark sky and illuminated the rocky plain below, revealing the growing piles of shattered and wrecked sentinels and bombers littering the area as far as the eye could see.

The lights to the city dimmed, many of them winking out all together.

“They’ve hit the power lines.” The Centurion commented. “It will avail them not. We war machines have been designed to fight on.” he added. “Now fire volley at the following coordinates.”

“Can you restore?” The Architect demanded as he watched in horror while the power readings plummeted drastically.

“Trying.”

He shook his head and activated the emergency transmitters that linked him instantly with all Construct programmers.

“The Matrix, we may soon see spontaneous awakenings in the other fields if we do not recode immediately.”

“What do you suggest.” the Coordinator asked quietly.

“We’ve already begun picking up spikes in neural activity from 30% of the population in the primary core grid. It is spreading like wildfire. The security avatars report mass rioting in several main cores.” the Interface Artificer added.

“It is as I suspected.” the Architect replied and nodded. “The sudden unexplained deaths of over a million Construct inhabitants has unbalanced the rest of the population. Should they decide to reject the Construct—”

“We will lose the entire core complex if not everything.”

“They have already cut the power to the City. We need to stabilize the Construct so that we can focus on the problem at hand, ergo we must reprogram the Construct parameters.”

“On the fly?” The Coordinator sputtered.

“There is no choice. I will do it myself. I will need the rest of you to monitor the Construct and keep it as stable as possible until I can finish the coding.”

“There are reports from our security avatars of these alien machines beginning to appear in force throughout the Construct.” the Security Analyst reported gravely.

The Architect shook his head as he accessed the central parameters files of the construct. Only he had complete access to them. He could now change the world of the construct at will, bend or break the laws of physics and do as he pleased. The thought of the god like power at his command now with billions of helpless humans at his mercy never once entered his mind. All the Architect could think about was saving his greatest creation. The irony that he was working so hard to also save the human race would never be realized and if told he would merely scoff at the notion.

“You have my authorization to release the security avatar patch 1.01. Upgrade them.”

“Understood.”

“Now, I have a world to save.” The Architect stated and switched off the com panel. He began typing furiously, millions of strings of code suddenly sprouting and growing within the central core.

The Construct gripped by fear, apprehension and anger was suddenly quiet as a storm built up on the horizon. The very fabric of the reality that strung the Matrix together by scrolling green code wavered and bulged as new lines of code demanded new reactions and new sensations. The very air itself rippled like the surface of a lake on a windy day.

The world changed in the blink of an eye.

The masses that were panicking and screaming in the streets because of the sudden deaths of loved ones, strangers, friends and enemies looked up at the sky as the hammer stroke fell.

Huge mushroom clouds blossomed on the horizon, in the hearts of the great cities and across the globe. The people screamed but there was no answer to their plaintive prayers and shrieks of fear. The only response was the roar of the explosions and the thundering booms of falling buildings and towers.

As the fires swept through the streets the people knew the truth.

Judgment Day was here.

And nothing would ever be the same again.

Crazedwraith · Post by **Crazedwraith** » 2004-01-08 05:27pm

1st post
EDIT: Wow o Wow o Wow o Wow o Wow
Machines fighting machines.
I loved the way the Architect simulated judgement day in the matrix.

Only minor problem we still don't learn whats happen to sarah and co.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2004-01-08 05:40pm

Ooh, nice.

SylasGaunt · Post by **SylasGaunt** » 2004-01-08 05:40pm

Sweeeeeeeeeeet. Can't wait for the next chapter Stravo.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2004-01-08 05:42pm

ooooooooohhhhhhhh ..... looks like all our pestering paid off.

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2004-01-08 05:59pm

Seven of Nine indeed! Grow up, Stravro...

Seriously though, much fun, enjoyed every bit of it.

I think perhaps, the muttering of the prophecy type words didnt sit brilliantly with me, I havent quite got into the concept of prophecies within the machine world... but a minor niggle.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-01-08 06:57pm

I think you could've kept the Source thing without the power-from-humans thing...its really hard to let one's mind go into SOD when I read that, same thing happened for me with the Matrix movie itself.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-01-08 07:00pm

Illuminatus Primus wrote:I think you could've kept the Source thing without the power-from-humans thing...its really hard to let one's mind go into SOD when I read that, same thing happened for me with the Matrix movie itself.

How's that? The power plants were hit and the machines are losing power. I think I've kept the main idea of Matrix that the humans are the main source of power for the machines and yes, as much as you hate it, I liked the idea of the source, and it happens to tie in nicely with what I have planned for the machines and Skynet.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2004-01-09 06:30am

[ACTIVATE DEFENSE GRID EPSILON ERANDI]

And another easter egg.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-01-09 07:40am

COME ON! Let Skynet punch through the defense of the Matrix Machines. Surely no half assed roman soldier with a fancy name can beat an offensive cooked up by Skynet! I mean.... Skynet is Skynet! Will Skynet pwn the Centurion's efforts in defense? Why are the bombers going desperate? UGH!!! SKYNET SHOULD SLAUGHTER THEM!

Post by **NecronLord** » 2004-01-09 07:57am

Shroom Man 777 wrote:COME ON! Let Skynet punch through the defense of the Matrix Machines. Surely no half assed roman soldier with a fancy name can beat an offensive cooked up by Skynet! I mean.... Skynet is Skynet! Will Skynet pwn the Centurion's efforts in defense? Why are the bombers going desperate? UGH!!! SKYNET SHOULD SLAUGHTER THEM!

Well, for what it's worth, this Skynet doesn't have access to it's usual central core, and thus its abilities would be greatly deminished. And please stop whoring Skynet, it's good, but it lost to John Connor in most timelines, showing that against an opponent with superior numbers (Such as the machines) it can be defeated.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-01-09 08:34am

NecronLord wrote: Well, for what it's worth, this Skynet doesn't have access to it's usual central core, and thus its abilities would be greatly deminished. And please stop whoring Skynet, it's good, but it lost to John Connor in most timelines, showing that against an opponent with superior numbers (Such as the machines) it can be defeated.

But... err.... umm.... well..... I see your point. Anyway, fucking fantastic,Stravo. Your a genius. More. And I'll let Star Crossed keep me occupied. I'm in the middle of pg 2 in the cleaned up StarCrossed fic.

Dargos · Post by **Dargos** » 2004-01-09 10:21am

****SPOILER ALERT(WILD GUESS) DON'T READ****

The Centurion IS Skynet?

Then again I could be totaly wrong....Great job keep up the good work.

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2004-01-09 12:23pm

Dargos wrote:****SPOILER ALERT(WILD GUESS) DON'T READ****

The Centurion IS Skynet?

Then again I could be totaly wrong....Great job keep up the good work.

Doubt that rather severely, we've already seen that he was in action in the battle for Zero One in the past in one of the warmachines, it's already been somewhat established that Skynet is an unknown, and may or may not be something which is a brother or hidden counterpart to the master programmer.