The Kingdom of Hell

Title: The Kingdom of Hell.
Author: TheRedPony
Rating: Rnsennsensual sex and language.
Feedback: Please and thank you.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix nor any t els else related the films. It is not my world, just my playground.
Story Notes: WIP, The Twins are freed from the Merovingian, only to quite literally find them selves in hell. How will they cope with the real truth of the Matrix?
 
Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close I heard a voice
Standing stretching every nerve
I had to listen had no choice
I did not believe the information
Just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom-boom-boom
Son, he said, grab your things
I've come to take you home
- Peter Gabriel
 
***
 
The room was white and sterile, a crisp sort of clean that you would find no were else in the real world. Shinning silver tools and sensitive reads and registers sat on shinning silver tables and all glittered in the white void. No corners could be seen in the room and the only places ones eyes could rest from the harsh white light was the tall black door with its silver hardware on one end of the room or the red door with its gilded filigree at the other end.
It was on this red door where a severe looking mans eyes were hanging. He stood legs spread to shoulder's with and his hands together behind him, he was dressed in a white coat with a black shirt and pants. The black was a vivid contrast to the white of the void, and was alluring in its dark comfort. Behind him was a group of several others, similarly dressed and behind them was two stretchers with similarly glittering silver legs and braces and toped in burning white fabric. Slowly the door had melted away and as it did so the rooms bleached state was contaminated by a swooning red light. It did not spread out word into the room, but instead its presence drew the white too it. The whole thing was distractingly beautiful.
Five Agents stepped through the now gone red door; into the room along with an innocent looking girl. They were dressed in black suits and their dark glasses practically burned with fierce green and red bands, that flashed and danced like rainbows in the blank void of white. The entered half way into the room and, neither looked to insure their comrades where with them or to acknowledge the caustic looking man in the white coat. Their seemed to be a lot of cranky people in this place. Perhaps it was age, or the bright lights, or… well what ever it was that was irrelevant. This place, these people, simply was, and in the white light they had no need to be explained.
Two solid thumps were herd, and the not so innocent girl grinned a not so innocent grin, but still did not turn around. Another man, this one looked not half the age of the Agents, but he stood with a renowned look of self confidence. He was important too. Two men lay at the feet of this one in black. "Take good care of them Charon, I want to know once they are awake." The girl spoke. Then one of her accompanying agents hurried forward to open the black door. The younger man whom was named Mouse stepped over the unconscious silver and white twins by his feat and scuttled to join his comrades in black. They slipped out the black door and shut it with a snap.
Charon turned to the waiting assistants. "Lugos and Nari take the one on the right, Coronis help me with this one." Then in silence the fair skinned twins were lifted to the awaiting stretchers, and were carted off though the black door.
The red door had already sealed by the time the black door closed again for the second time. The white room stayed bright, and its light seemed to intensify by its own accord happy to be left with only its doors an off offending black outfits to greedily steel its purity. The room was once again silent and pure.
***
The black door closed, and he watched L snapped off down the hallway, black suites trailed in her wake. The hall was long and reminded Smith of the white hall with its green doors that was the back doors to the Matrix. This hall however was nothing like the white halls of the Matrix, even though they felt similar. The most obvious difference was the color, this hall was not white but a resounding red, ceiling to floor. It was a soft and comforting red, that could be described as vermilion or carmine, it was almost the same hue as a blood red but it was some how different. One could not describe the color like that, such an analogy was too simple. This was not the same tainted maroon that danced in the sunglasses and equipment of all things of hell. It was pure and corrupt at the same time. Like his Lady L.
This hall was not a place for neophytes, it had a truly ageless savor to it. Something Smith responded too, it grasped him in a way. He knew why L preferred the red hall. It was his favorite as well, but his quarters were in the blue hall that led to the blue gate. One could say that the blue hall was just as nearly as nice as the red hall. All the halls had identical black and white granite floors, with identical silver hardware, the doors were all the same black and the same care was taken for each. Smith however had not been written to see the world in such shades of gray. In his mind if something is superior, even a little, then that is what should be striven for. Mouse lived in the Red Hall, Smith was the first written agent, he should be in the red hall too. Besides the blue hall was not always the most high class place. It was lavish like the other halls no doubt, but it was so far from the Red Hall. So far from every thing and every one important. Those of master level and the most trusted servants of her lady lived in the Red hall. Why should he not be their too. He knew that this emotion the humans called jealousy was a waste of his time, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel it.
He followed behind the other Agents. They were not really agents because they were no longer Agents of the System, not part of the mainframe, that was still their designation.
They halted before long at a black door identical to the others. In the center of the door a silplatplate was nailed. Engraved in the glittering metal was the letter R and the number, 1110110. Mouse drew a silver key with the R118 in turn engraved on it. It slid effortlessly into the highly polished lock. The group exchanged dunned goodbyes to one another, then continued down the hall, one fewer, as Mouse entered then closed the black door to his quarters.
They passed just a few more doors, before the Red corridor abruptly ended. At this end a large set of double black doors glittered with a mirrored finished of high glass black. The hardware was not silver, but the iridescent dancing black. It was lime and ruby and so many things in the warm light of the hall way. The only silver was the metal plate the hung in the center of the door to the right, "R1111001" it read. L with drew an Onyx black key that had the same dancing fire as her glasses and the hardware. This was engraved with R121.
Smith had often wondered why the highly inefficient binary code was used for the door numbers, this disturbed him however so he kept the though to him self. If binary on the door was inefficient, then he must be inefficient. He was a program, he was code, he was walking breathing binary. But then the humans and even L did not utilize the more efficient decanary system for their own coding, they were built on four base pairs, and L was built with six. More base pairs had meant more control and more strengths but it also meant increased complexity. The machines had proven the most simple organisms were the most effective. Their binary code was simpler wasn’t it, but did that necessarily mean more effective? Smith pondered, but maybe it only seemed inefficient because he was looking at it with a human standard. He shuddered, he hated when he did that. "Damn human standards."
The effulgent black doors swung inward, revealing a large office. The walls were simple white, and the floors were simple k, Bk, Beams and columns, created a largely architectural space, no art hung on the walls, but on the far end of the room a massive window reached from floor to ceiling. For now, it streamed in light through opaque glass. It was falsely lit. This was a window in the real word, and although it seemed to now, no sun would rush through it, not for many hundred years.
The black doors swung shut behind them. L turned to the other four agents. Bryant, Kelly, Miller and Evans he remembered. They were removed form the system long ago, and had eared the complete trust of Lady L. Not only did all four of them always accompany her to the Matrix, they traveled with at least one of them at her side regardless, while they were here in Hell. They also slept in her bed. If he had to Smith would be quite willing to share, he was bound by no human modesty. It wasn’t some sort of want or sexual desire, it simply was a need written into him. It was the same programming that had made Evans start to kill human heads of state in the Matrix. It was the same programming that had made Jones like a drug addict, drawn to the swirling green of the Mainframes code. It was this that had lead Bryant, to defragment his own code, because he was convinced he was contaminated beyond repair. All the Agents had problems. Smith's were just putting out shoots.
It took some convincing but the other agents were finally out of the room and into an adjoining sitting area, taking the white dog with them. Bryant had put up the most resistance, not entirely trusting Smith, not that Bryant normally trusted any one.
He was nervous, more nervous then a proper agent ought to be. Maybe he wasn’t a proper agent, what if he was still faulty? Smith turned his gaze to his feet, ashamed at his self doubt, a human emotion. The black highly polished granite was alive under his feet. Had he really never noticed before, how the alexandrite played shapes in the black void. They floor shimmered green, then red, then green. One of the amazing properties of the gem, its hues changed in different lights. How odd that Smith had never noticed this before.
"Is the floor different?"
This caught her off guard, "What do you mean?"
"Did you have the floor changed? Its so beautiful now. I had always thought it was just black, with spots"
"The last time you were in my office Smith you were still part of the System. Have you not noticed your perception with other things changing as well"
"I have but I can't seem to believe that I never noticed before. How could this not have drawn my attention"
She motioned to Smith who followed her into the library. He had seen this room before him. Books with out number, with out any purpose but to be. They were perfect, that is what he longed to be. Perfection is what all Agents wanted, their purpose was to find perfection, and to match it, and in reaching that perfection, to then need no purpose. Perfection was a lie. It did not exists, in creatures that could analyze their own faults, and want better and more. Books and trees, were perfect, because they were beautiful and they need no reason to be. No tree ever faulted its self for a weekly turned branch, no book ever wanted for more fancy bindings. Smith had found something else perfect. In her touch, and her sweet hands. She was dark and changed her moods more often then the tide turned and with much more force. He would claim her and defeat her and take such perfection from it.
The girl took Smith's hand and led him to a black leather couch. The soft warmth eased such torrid thoughts from his mind, the soft leather gently held the tense lines of his body. "Maybe this was perfection just to be here in this warmth. To have her hold my hand. I want to protect her to make her mine. These damn human emotions Are EATING MY MIND! If I kill her I will be above this, then I can find perfection. What if love is perfection. Love is human love cant be the answer."
She saw the emotions play on his face. She had seen them before, agents were not made to go through this. The real world, the isolation from the mainframe, it changed them inside. It had always been for the better before. But then again, she had never tried to save an agent with emotions quite like Smith.
"I cant say I am happy with you Smith. You not only directly disobeyed me, but to keep Brown and the others from accidentally shooting, you I had to use my self as a shield to get you out of the corner. You cant just jump to different bodies whenever you die any more Smith. I worry that you will get hurt. That I will loose a good friend so soon. You have only been here a few months"
"I am sorry My Lady", he whispered. His is eyes were on the pale hands that held his. Her fingers played there softly, then one hand raised and came to his face. It entwined its self gently in his hair and its warmth burned like sweet fire on his ear. His head still bowed, she drew him forward, and kissed his forehead lightly.
His breath caught. He had been excepting her to yell at him, he wanted her to yell. He had wanted her to YELL!
That sort of emotion he was good at. So many long years with the mainframe had taught him how to use that anger, the fire people shot, to his own advantage. Blow fire at him, and it was you who would get burned. "Damn this woman" he thought. "Every emotion portrayed, every breath she takes is planned and exacting". With Mouse she was angry, he shrunk from that. With the other agents she became reserved. She drew away from the four and they visibly suffered. But she was using a cruel punishment on Smith.
The touch of her mouth burned through him. "She will not capture me with this indignity. She will not make me feel"
"Do you think that your emotions will eat your logic my friend?"
He did not answer
" There are worse things then loosing your logic now and then"
He snorted "My logic is my life line." After a pause, he continued but his voice softened. "I didn't come here for a physiatric session."
"No you can because a asked you too."
"You told me too"
"You didn’t have to come, you live under my roof Smith, that doesn't mean your bound to my word."
"I may be a guest, but I will still reside here, for forever and a day. Should you see fit."
"Then my friend you have a very long road, and I dare say there is no easy way to make the journey."
"Will you walk with me?"
Her eyes met his.
"Would you truly want such a thing?"
He nodded and brushed his lips with hers.
 "Damn! She's making me feel again. The witch" He thought. Then her tongue met his and he stopped thinking at all.
The kiss was to much. It was pure pleasure, and she gave her mouth to him. She drew him out, pulled his soul to the surface. Did he have a soul? Hell! It didn’t mater. Nothing mattered any more. Just this, this burning in his heart. Not that he had a heart. This instant time stood still. It was with out discussion, it was with out having to have a purpose. Just feeling was enough. Just benign, here in this warmth, was perfection.
He pulled back and gasped just slightly.
"Perfection is not real" he whispered, his voice was shaken.
She smiled. And stroked his cheek with affection. "I think its time you went back Smith. Contemplate on perfection for me a bit would you." She kissed him once more, this time chastely, a striking juxtapose to the fire that he still felt.
Rising, L took his hand and drew him with her. Smith nodded once then left, confused, to return to his rooms.
***
One's eyes fluttered open, the room was dark cool and welcoming, a razor edge contrast to the overwhelming brightness that had taken them. His had reached out for Two, whom he could hear breathing beside him, and he caught his lovers fingers. They were week too weak to move much, but they managed to pull them selves closer together. They were not sure how they had come to be in this place but they sensed that this double wide hospital bed was not the standard. Some one was looking out for their sanity, and One smiled a silent thanks to who ever there guardian angle was they realized they needed to be so close.
Two's hand can between them and twined its self around One's tie. He pulled One's luxurious mouth close to his, but before they could kiss some one in the room cleared their thought.
I man was hanging, or rather standing on the ceiling. His armed were crossed, and he had a long tailed jacket that draped inverted behind him. He wore what seemed to be the standard black pants, with the same red shirt and that Mouse wore. But he also had something else that the boy did not. He had on a vest it was black, with a cut red paisley that seemed to come and vanish as the mans chest slowly raised and fell. He had sun glasses too, but instead of a tradition frame, they swept back and closed his eyes of completely, they could be seen from no angle. The man smiled and stunning white teeth with long fangs made an eerie but not unwelcome upside-down grin.
He flipped mid air and landed squarely on his feat. "Sorry to intrude boys, but I felt you might want to know I was here before you continued your season." He had an intriguing way of speaking. His accent was not British entirety, more like a Brit who had half lost theirs. It was not course as one might expect but instead seamless and smooth. It made him sound regal. And maybe that was it, maybe he wasn’t British at all just a delightfully aristocratic speaker. He raised a hand and bowed to the twins. "My name is Master Severus, but you can call me Needles. As long as we're not in the company of Her Lady or any of the Agents that is."
The twins pulled them selves up and faced him.
"Why do they call you Needles?" Two asked being the more lucid of the two. Well at least lucid enough that his curiosity was peeked.
"Well that just happens to be one of my favorite topics" Needles opened up his vest and as good as his name the whole inside of it was lined with hypodermics and needles of all sorts.
"Wow, what are all they for?"
"Wouldn’t you like to know!" His grinned widened "Don’t worry I am only messing with you. Their for all kinds of things. I'm a vampire by blood acts a catalyst and it can form all kinds of chemicals with the right additives. Its quite hand in a fight. I can simply make you dizzy, knock you out or kill you depending on the combination. And I proudly say I know over five hundred different poisons that can kill a human rebel. That’s I earned my Mastership ranking."
Two knitted his brow. 'The Merovingian had vampire programs and they never could do any thing like that?" His voice was questioning.
"Well I'm not a program, I'm a real vampire. Born of the blood Ni in the real world. I have been alive even longer then L, by a good four hundred years I should think. Its gets hard to measure years when you don’t have seasons any more." He frowned and sighed. "I miss summer nights in Cairo more than any thing. But the past is gone and this is your life were here to talk about right? Should I inform her that your awake or do you need a bit to collect your selves."
Two stroked ones hair and glanced to Needles "The latter one. We need a minute."
The odd vampire, buttoned up his vest and smiled at them. "I am required not to leave the room. Seeing as I don’t sleep more then few hours a day any ways I am often put on night watch for the newly unplugged. No offence but tis not the most intriguing thing I could be doing"
One found his voice, and shrugged his comment off. "Is it common for programs to collapse."
"Yes and not just programs every one collapses after their first go through the gate. In fact it is expected and planned for. I don’t know why it happens. It just dose."
The Twins were feeling better, their weakness had not been so bad after all. One half sat up and half climbed up Two until they were both fully upright. For some reason he felt the need to explain to this… Non Human? Undead? Well what ever he was, that they were not brothers. Every one assumed that because they were twins, they thought they were brothers. The twins hated assumptions, they were often fruitless and more often dangerous.
"Master Severus, you should know that… Well about earlier, we're not actually brothers"
Needles smirked "Its alright Apollo I know what you are. I remember when you were created. And please call me Needles, Master Severus is so stuffy "
The twins were struck dumb "What did you call me? And you remember when we were written? What was our purpose?"
He held his hands up defensively "Slow down! I called you Apollo, this was your given name" His eyes fell to Two. "And you were Artemis."
Two's face wrinkled "That’s a girls name"
"No it’s a hunters name, and as for your purpose this I can not say. You would have to ask L. She remembers more about the programs then I do. But she did right a good number of them."
"We are Apollo and Artemis" One mused in a whisper to him self. If they had different names did that make them less the same.
The vampire seemed to pick up on One's misgivings. Was that one of his gifts? Vampires were said to be highly empathic, but maybe they just read body language better then others. Dying often puts things in more detailed perspective. "You are now the same beginnings you were when you woke this morning. Nothing has changed, only the state of mater in which your soul exists. A name, an identity, these things may change, our perceptions and our personalities may do the same, but in the end we are the same people we were at the beginning of time."
One seemed eased by this, and his voice had gained a bit of its former human to it "Was it dying that made you a poet and philosopher Needles?"
He smiled again "No my friend but living for many long years did. Seeing tides turns, kings rise and fall, empire crumble, and in their place unnamed deities rise to power. These are the things that keep me melancholy, but it is the hope of a new future, a life were trees exists because they are beautiful not because they need a propose. Its this hope that keeps me sane. I want to spend one more summer night in Cairo you see. Then I will have all I need in life."
"We have on more question. Do you remember 01?"
***
wondering about L's 6 base pairs here they are. " Adenine Guanine Cytosine Thiamin Verlisine Sedramin"
I don’t have much to tell you. Except review review review, I will hunt you down with a cattle prod.
Ok maybe not but. Still! I NEED A BETA!
The first 9 chapters are a bit on the washy side. I am trying. I think this one has really come into its own. If it didn’t have back story, this is were the story SHOULD start. I am finally stating to like how things are moving. Should pick up a bit I hope from here out.
Any plot bunnies burrowing in your mind? Post them I would love to here.