***PART FIVE***

Methos followed Neo and Richie up the stairs. It was a big house, furnished with old, expensive furniture. Dust was everywhere, however, and the doors and stairs creaked. But they were reliable, so it was safe to travel up them. They walked up to the third floor and stopped in front of two double doors. Neo pushed it open, and they walked inside.

A man turned from his contemplation of the window. In one corner of the room, a woman dressed in leather with short dark hair was setting up some sort of equipment. Methos' attention turned back to the man. He was dark-skinned and bald, and wore brown leather clothing. "Methos," he said. He gestured to the four chairs placed in the center of the room next to a small table and lamp. "Please sit down. If you want to, you can too, Richie."

Richie and Methos sat in two of the chairs, and the dark-skinned man sat down in the chair across from Methos. His entire attention was focused on Methos. "I am Morpheus. That's Trinity," he said, pointing to the woman setting up equipment. Neo had gone over to help her. Morpheus spun a small silver box between his fingers. "You're probably wondering what the Matrix is." Methos nodded. "The Matrix is all around us. It's there when you fight another Immortal, it's there when you pay your taxes, it's there when you go to the Watcher Headquarters as a researcher. It's around us, every day, all of the time. The Matrix makes this place the way it is. Only it isn't real."

"What do you mean?"

"You're living in a dream world, Methos." Richie said. "Remember what you see every time you 'die'? That's the real world. Not this place."

"I don't understand."

Morpheus leaned forward and opened the box. He took out two pills, one red, the other blue. "If you really want to find out, take the blue pill. Take the blue pill, and you can go home, and every thing will return to normal. You'll keep 'dying' and waking up in that weird place, but you'll dismiss it as some strange dream. Or you can the red pill, and find out why you're having those dreams in the first place, and why nothing has made since for the last two hundred years. But when you take the red pill, there's no turning back. It'll change the way you view the world in ways you can't imagine."

Methos looked at the pills, and debated it over in his mind. Morpheus was right about one thing. Nothing had made much since for the last two hundred years. Before 1812 when he'd died for the first time that century, he'd never had that weird dream every time he died. When he came back to life, no one found any trace of the soldier who'd shout Methos and the other man, and his friend. Methos didn't think the Americans had captured them, either. If they had been thrown over board during the battle, Methos didn't really feel a bit of pity. But he didn't think those two men had fallen overboard.

He'd tried to ask Byron if he'd had the same experience, but all he got was a look and a 'no' from his friend before Byron left the room, something that was unusual for even Byron. He'd asked Darius, too, but Darius hadn't experienced that. Not that he ever 'died' that much anymore, but it was worth a try.

And now, he was offered answers, and if Morpheus was to be believed, the answers would change his life forever. But he didn't want to take the blue pill. He'd been waiting too long just to want to quit now. Methos reached over and took the red pill from Morpheus' palm. He swallowed it down without the water.

Morpheus and Richie stood up, and Methos did as well. "Come on, old man," Richie said, walking over to Neo, Trinity and the weird equipment. "This way."

Methos was led over to a dentist-type chair and he sat down in it. Next to him was a large mirror. He looked at his reflection. It was hard to see it clearly, because there was a crack running from the upper left corner to the bottom right one. Methos was about to turn away from the mirror when he saw something that was as surprising and shocking as Neo killing an Agent. Slowly, the crack repaired itself. A moment later, no crack was visible. Now, the mirror was just a mirror without a crack.

Methos reached out and touched the mirror. When he pulled in away, the mirror turned to rubber, and some of it wrapped around his hand. He jerked his hand away. Some of the mirror had turned to into a type of liquid, and was dripping down his fingers.

It didn't stop. It traveled up his arm, and shivers went through his body. "It's c-cold." The liquid metal was very cold, and Methos wished it would stop. It reminded him of that cold night on that big ship… what was it called? The Titan…no, the Titanic. And that had been an experience he didn't want to repeat.

He tried to shake whatever it was off, but it crawled up his shoulder. Now, it covered his entire arm, and Methos felt it grow numb. He couldn't feel his arm at all.

The silver liquid substance crawled up his neck, his most sensitive area, and at the same time, it crawled down his chest. It traveled up his chin and went toward his mouth. Methos tried to stop it, but the chill was too intense. It entered his mouth and went down his throat, freezing it. He couldn't breathe at all.

Before he died, he heard Neo say, "He's going into cardiac arrest."

Morpheus answered him with, " ."

That was when it covered and entered his ears, eyes, and nose, and he lost all of his senses and died.

He was in the red liquid again. He surfaced, and pulled the wires out again. He looked around, and found it just as terrifying as ever. More bodies lay in the large containers filled with-blood? Methos dipped a finger into the liquid surrounding his body. No. It felt more like water.

He felt along his back and head, and found more wires plugged into his body. He wasn't sure if he could pull these out. He felt drained already, as if he'd never used his body before. His eyes didn't hurt as much as they usually did when he 'died' and came here, and the same went for his hearing.

He glanced up when he heard a noise. That robot was hovering over to him. Methos remembered what it had done before, and wished it would go away. He contemplated jumping out of the container, but he felt too drained for that, and the plugs in his back and head would cause him to dangle in the air.

He felt too tired to stop the machine from grabbed his neck. But this time, it didn't reconnect the wires, or make him lye down again. Instead, it seemed to study him for a moment, then it flew away, leaving him there.

For a while, Methos sat there, dumbfounded. Then he felt pain in his back as the wires yanked themselves from his body and splashed into the red liquid. The one in his head did the same. Methos grabbed his head. He felt like he was having a migraine. After a minute, Immortal healing changed that feeling, but his head still throbbed.

That was when he heard something else. The red liquid covering the lower half of his body was being drained. He had only a second to glance behind him and see a huge open drain pipe before he went down it too.

Methos gasped as he surfaced. He was swimming, or rather sinking, in a body of water, that much he knew. High above him was the drain he'd fallen out of. Methos knew he was sinking below the water again. He tried to swim, but his muscles wouldn't cooperate. All he could do was splash helplessly at the water, trying to keep from disappearing beneath its surface.

He heard a noise high above him. He looked up in time to see a door opening. Brilliant light appeared from behind the door, making Methos squint. Something lowered from the door. It rapped around Methos and pulled him up.

The next thing he knew, he was released from the metal claw that had pulled him from the water, and a blanket was put on his shoulders. Strong arms helped him to his feet. He could feel the Buzz, signaling another Immortal's presence. Turning, he saw people he hadn't expected to see. "MacLeod? Amanda? Richie?"

"Hi, Methos," Duncan replied. "Welcome back to reality."

***PART SIX***

Agent Stevenson entered the room. Agents Broussard and Johnson looked up from where they sat. "Where's Williams and Methos?" Broussard asked.

"Neo and Richie intercepted us before we could leave with Methos. Neo destroyed Agent Williams. I could not track them down after they left the apartment."

Broussard thought for a minute, then stood up. "I think its time we contact Mr. Martins again. If we're dealing with two Immortals, we need someone just as capable to fight them. But only if one of us controls Martins's body." He turned to Johnson. "Since you've done it before, you can get into Martins's hard drive."

Johnson stood up. "Yes, sir." He went out the door.

Methos opened his eyes and looked around at his quarters. It was a small room lined with pipes on all four walls. He lay on a thin mattress on the floor. There was a big metal door on one side of the room with a wheel instead of a doorknob. He didn't remember being brought here, but he had passed out after seeing the three other Immortals.

What had just happened? he wondered. Where was he? How did MacLeod, Amanda, and Richie get to wherever this was?

A million questions formed in his head, but the question he dreaded the most was, What happens now? One half of Methos wanted to find out, but the other half wanted to stay away from the answer. If this wasn't hell, that meant that the containers with people in them were real.

But why were they like that? What about Seacouver? What about the Earth he'd lived on for the last five thousand years? Was it all fake? Or was this place fake? Did he really die somehow, and this was his punishment? What did this have to do with the Matrix?

The Buzz kept Methos from contemplating the subject any longer. The door creaked open. MacLeod walked in, followed by Amanda and Richie. "Hey, Methos." Duncan greeted him.

"Hey."

"You alright?" Richie asked.

"I'm still in one piece," with the friendly banter aside, Methos got down to business. "What is this place? And what does it have to do with the Matrix?"

The other Immortals exchanged glances. "There's only one way to explain it to you, old man," Richie said. "We can't do it in here. We have to go to the bridge."

"The bridge?"

"Yes, this is a ship, the Nebecanezer." Amanda replied.

"A ship?"

"A hover craft, actually," MacLeod said.

"A hover craft?" Methos asked. He felt very confused, and very out of time. "Did I sleep for two centuries or something?"

"Not exactly," Richie said, "But you're right about the two centuries bit. Look, if you come with us to the bridge, we'll explain. Well, I'll explain. So will Morpheus. Mac and Amanda can't join us."

Although he was still very confused, Methos got up and followed them to the bridge.

The ship was larger than Methos had thought, but it didn't take very long to reach the bridge. A hallway here, a manhole there, and they had reached their destination. Trinity, Morpheus, and Neo were waiting there. There was someone else there that Methos didn't recognize. He sat behind several flat computer screens and a keyboard. He seemed to be studying the screens, but looked up when the Immortals entered. Morpheus was standing next to him. Trinity and Neo were standing next to these other computers on both sides of the room. In the center of the room, eight dentist-type chairs were arranged in a circle. More computers hung from the ceiling next to each chair.

When Morpheus saw the Immortals, he walked over to them. "Hello, Methos, and welcome to my ship. You've already met Trinity and Neo. That's Tank over there." He said, indicating Tank, who was watching them. Neo and Trinity were, too. Morpheus turned back to Methos. "I know you want answers. If you'll step over here, you'll get them." Morpheus indicated the dentist-type chairs, and started walking over to them. Amanda, MacLeod, and Richie did, too, and Methos followed them. He didn't argue while Amanda and Duncan helped him into one of the chairs. Amanda secured the leg cuffs. "What's that for?"

Amanda looked up at him, "You'd be surprised."

Methos looked at the others. Neo was helping Richie into a chair, and Trinity was helping Morpheus. Duncan said from behind him, "Methos, lean back. This may sting a little."

Methos leaned back in the chair, and felt something like a needle go through his skull. His thoughts went through the plug/whole thing in the back of his head before pain clouded his brain. He shut his eyes and clenched his teeth, hoping Immortal healing would make it stop.

The pain stopped, and Methos opened his eyes again. But he didn’t see the ceiling of the bridge on the Nebecanezer. Instead, all he could see for perhaps miles was nothing, absolutely nothing. The sky was white, the sky was white, everything was white except for him. If he hadn't been standing on it, he wouldn't have known there was a ground. There seemed to be no end to the cleanness and emptiness of it all. How'd I get here? he thought. What is this place?

"This is the loading program," a voice said from behind him. Methos whirled around and saw Richie and Morpheus standing only a few feet away from him. Morpheus had spoken.

"A loading program?" Methos asked. "Like in a computer?"

"Yes. Like in a computer," Richie answered.

"But how could it be a program if we're in it?"

"Why is it so hard to believe?" Morpheus asked. "We can download anything in here, from guns, to swords, to shoes."

"We can download real things here?"

"What is real? Do you think real is something you can taste, see, or hear? If you do then real is merely electrical signals interpreted by your brain. As for how we can be in here, just look at yourself. You don't have any plugs anywhere on your body. What you see is the mental projection of your digital self."

"But…how?"

He glanced up at nothing and said, "Tank, we need three chairs and a television set."

Methos heard a whooshing noise behind him. When he looked, he saw three leather armchairs and a TV only a few feet behind him. He could have sworn nothing was there a moment ago. He looked at Richie and Morpheus in confusion.

"Care to sit down?" Richie asked as he walked over and did so. Morpheus walked over and sat in another one of the chairs, and Methos followed suit.

Richie turned to Morpheus. "Care to do the honors, Morpheus?"

Morpheus picked up the remote and flipped in on. It displayed a large city with mountains in the background. "This is the Seacouver you know," he changed the channel, "and this is what it looks like now."

Neo sat in the chair next to Tank, who was studying the screens that let one see the Matrix in code. Neo was watching the screen showing the code for the program Morpheus, Methos, and Rift were in right now. Rift, he mentally chastised himself. His name's Richie Ryan. Neo didn't now why it was so hard to accept his real name, or the Duncan's and Amanda's for that matter. It hadn't been too long since he'd left the world where people still used those names. Almost a year, actually. Neo didn't think that was that long.

Speaking of time, Neo figured a year was merely a day in the lives of the four Immortals on board. But Methos may think it was even less time. He had been around for five thousand two hundred years, give or take a century. The oldest Immortal probably thought a year was only five minutes in his life, perhaps even a second.

Neo wondered how fast the next few minutes would be going to Methos while Richie and Morpheus explain what had happened in the last two centuries. Neo knew Methos was in for a big shock when Morpheus explained to him that the Matrix was the very world the Immortal had been imprisoned in for the last two hundred years. Neo smiled, remembering how it had shocked him when he'd learned the truth. He also remembered passing out afterwards. His smiled faded.

Neo had been in his twenties, and his mind had been too old to let go of his dream world. Over time, of course, he'd accepted it as the truth, but at first it had been a very big shock to his system. He glanced at the form of Methos lying back on one of the chairs. This guy was five thousand years old. He hadn't spent his entire life in the Matrix, but if he didn't remember being put into the Matrix two centuries ago, he was in for a very big surprise. Neo wondered if Methos' mind was too old to let go.

Part Four

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