Matrix Online: Chapter 11.3: Overrides
Matrix Online: Chapter 13: Uprising
The Architect is in his TV room, with Wright, dead on a Hampton rooftop, on the monitor. He asks Gray if the (biological interface) program has been found; Gray says no, but they found Zion looking for it, too. The Architect frowns, then tells him to "prepare for our visitors."
Ghost lands on a rooftop (supposed to be the rooftop pointed out in the coordinates at the end of the cinematic, Ikebukuro 630 9 -180), looks around, opens a door, goes down dark stairs, opens a door into a dark, mostly empty storage room. Looks around, doesn't see anything, and is just turning to leave as a monitor in a dark corner of the room flicks on and prints out "Ghost."
Code falls down into a female form next to the monitor. This is the golden code character who appeared when Wright was killed. A halting conversation begins, in which Trinity (which is the name that appears above this character in this subchapter) says "I...didn't know," by which she meant that she didn't know she was a program.
Agent Pace interrupts the conversation, her gun on Ghost, who steps between her and Trinity. Pace says the program (Trinity) can't survive there, and will be removed, but then she in her turn is interrupted by a bright flash, out of which gleaming male and female forms appear, descending to the ground. They have no clothes, wires, eyeballs, or hair. In missions, it will be found that the male (red) is "Helian," and the female (purple) is "Tesarova," and that they are Oligarchs. Helian is fairly straightforward and serious, although not as blunt as Halborn.
Pace touches her earpiece, looks frustrated, reluctantly lowers her gun from Ghost's head, and stalks out. Helian looks at Ghost, and asks if he's going to resist, but Ghost says there's no need; H&T realize that Trinity has vanished, and while they look around to find her, Ghost makes a sudden unseen exit as well.
Helian and Tesarova leave, and the room goes dark. A pause, then Ookami creeps out of the shadows--she's observed the entire scene.
Ghost stands on the rooftop, looks up at the moon, and finally says Trinity's name.
Gray sends Machine operatives to Akasaka, scene of the latest sighting of the program. He implies a need to find it before either the Oligarch representatives, Helian and Tesarova, or Zion do. Gray doesn't refer to the program as "Trinity," but the operator discusses it a bit. They find Zionites and a blank computer entry in her recent style (">_"), but nothing else, and are re-routed to head off Helian and Tesarova, who have arrived in the area, along with Pace. Helian and Tesarova are slightly bemused - although not really surprised - by a human operative working for the Machines. Helian says they're there for the BIP and won't be needing any help getting it. Tesarova says something odd about "the exciting ones" (operatives) "escaping" from the pods, and that this explains "why our entertainment's been so dull lately." Helian mentions they know what happened to Halborn and Carlyne, and that those two were operating independently. He says they (the Oligarchs) have "made adjustments that will ensure our safety from the compromises they allowed to our security" [partially an explanation for the difference in their appearance from Halborn and Carlyne: Helian and Tesarova are less transparent, and have no wires]. Pace seems a little relieved to have the player there to talk to the Oligarchs, and purposefully speaks aloud to the player so that Helian and Tesarova will overhear, saying that they'll leave their guest in peace.
On the way out, Machine operatives encounter Satiate, a shoeless female Cypherite boss. She says it would be nice to pop "those pretty new bubbles of theirs" (the Oligarchs), and suggests that the Machines might even have something that could do it, but they probably wouldn't tell the Machinists even if they did, and wouldn't use it themselves. Gray summons the player for their report, concluding that Helian and Tesarova are operating as agents for the Oligarchs, rather than independently like Halborn and Carlyne. He thinks this might cause them to behave a little more levelheadedly, but says it also means the Oligarchs will be watching developments closely. After saying this, he very deliberately states that the Machines do not consider them a threat.
Flood sends Merovingian operatives into Stamos to find the program (like Gray, he doesn't refer to it as "Trinity," but the operator talks about the identity possibility). They don't find anything besides a computer with ">_," but Ookami arrives, and "leads" (ie is escorted by the player) to a Manssen location, where they find Tesarova. Tesarova coos over Ookami, calling her the player's "pet," then gets down to business, saying that she just thought she'd mention that there seem to be others nearby who are also trying to find the program; while sort of playing her ditzy blond act, what she says shows that she's aware of a lot of what's going on: what the player's after, what the other orgs are doing around there--and she even takes a veiled swipe at the player's operator. With coordinates from Tesarova, the operator guides the player to a Guinness Lake location, while Flood mentions that there's also this "Helian" Oligarch around, and saying that they'll play Tesarova's "little game," since they don't want to show that they're on to her. Flood also refers to their names as "barbaric." ["Tesarova" is a Czech name, and "Helian" is a Chinese name. Tesarova's "game" in this case was sending the player to intercept Machinists, who appear, from their comments, to have been trying to keep tabs on her. Flood wraps up by asking the player to find four groups of programs they've lost in South Vauxton.
Tyndall mentions to Zion operatives that Ghost found "the program" by "checking places he'd been with Trinity when they operated together in the Matrix." She sends them to get more details on the Trinity thing from Ghost, who is in an International District room with a computer (">"), convinced that Trinity was just there. He says he doesn't understand how Trinity is the program, but insists that she really is. He guesses that the two strangers he encountered (in the cinematic) were Oligarchs, and says he isn't going to let them or the Machines get Trinity. Tyndall says she trusts Ghost's instinct about "whatever Trinity or the program is now," and reminds the player that the Council had already decided (mentioned in Zion 11.3.1) to do what it could to ensure the program's safety. She sends the player to check a reading in Murasaki, where they find a message on a computer:
"How well do you know yourself?
Are you sure?
I thought I knew. But this_"
(The dangling cursor at the end there is a hint that this is probably from Trinity, although the operator doesn't make anything out of it.)
Inbound hostiles are reported nearby, and the player finds Machines and Machine redpills. Tyndall mentions that intel shows the Machines are cooperating with the two Oligarch representatives. After the hostiles are taken care of, Tyndall says that they could use the player's help in Shirakaba, where their teams have been hit by Machines while looking for the program; they've also started picking up override signals there.
Still in International, Machine operatives deal with some searching Zionites, and are then sent to answer a summons from Helian, who's got a couple of his "Override Function" NPCs with him (whitish-skinned forms similar to Helian and Tesarova, with a mixture of hacker and MA abilities, pretty good accuracy and damage, and high viral defense), and he loans these two NPCs to the operative, suggesting that he's doing this to help the Machine operative deal with the Zionites (he refers to Zionites here as 'the other "Awakened"'), although the operator and Gray hint that Helian has found he actually needs help from the player. The Override Functions don't talk; H refers to them as "basic" combat programs. The player checks for enemy activity and finds Merovingian redpills. One of them rather obviously pretends to be a Zionite (sort of a play on the Merv knowing that what he's doing is probably going to cheese the Machines off, although he isn't so worried about it as to halt his Oligarch power grab). Gray says a Merv Exile named Azuna is known to have obtained sensitive information on the Oligarch's Matrix activities. Between missions, the player has to go find Azuna, following the mission's hint "northwest Downtown." Azuna is a female lupine with a teal mohawk, and she's placed as a collector NPC on the second sublevel of the Museum dungeon in Creston. The player has to kill some of the Merv-aligned lupines around Azuna (a little farther away from her are some Machine-aligned Override Functions).
Flood says the Merovingian thinks "exploiting the Oligarch Tesarova's softer side" might get them some juicy override info, and sends the player to collect data from a contact, Azuna, for whom they'd spared no expense and skullduggery to get into a spot where she could get some dirt on Tesarova's Matrix activities. The player heads to the Downtown rendezvous, but Azuna isn't there; instead, there are a couple dead Machines. Flood is annoyed, and sends the player to look for Azuna in her spying location. She isn't there either, but some hostile Override Functions are. In a separate part of this same area, a certain optional and unspecified series of actions will cause Trinity to appear. She does /talkscared, saying:
"I'm not. I'm not what-- God! What have they done?"
Flood says that some checking has shown Azuna has taken cover in the second sublevel of the Creston Heights Museum. Between missions, the player has to kill Machine-aligned Override Functions near Azuna, and trade the tokens they drop to Azuna, who then hands over her intel. ["Azuna" is a corruption of "Asena," a "she-wolf with a sky-blue mane" in Turkic mythology, according to Wikipedia.]
Tyndall sends Zion operatives into Downtown, following the trail of data that they think may have come from Trinity (Tyndall is still hedging a bit on the name, and here says "from the interface program--from Trinity"). She gives the names of Helian and Terasova, saying they found them out from "our sources within the Machines". The player finds a computer, activates it (it says ">Yes._"), and Trinity appears. She says, "I don't have much time. I don't know what...this means. Before... I thought I died. I was with him... I said goodbye. I don't remember...until-- I don't know how to make it make sense... They're getting close. I have to go."
Tyndall gives the player the location of the intruders, and although she thinks they're Machines on Trinity's tail, they turn out to be Merovingian Exiles. Tyndally thinks this is an indication that the Merv is trying to get in on the Trinity action, and hopes that his machinations with Halborn and Carlyne, which ended up causing a good deal of trouble for the Machines, will at least give the Machines some incentive to act against him. She ends by asking the player to look into an "unusual signal" and override activity in Baldwin Heights.
Gray says the Merovingian's found out that Helian and Terasova have a "virtual space," and is planning to invade it; this should be stopped so that the Oligarchs aren't "aggravated." The operator mentions that the Merovingian tried hitting on Tesarova to get Oligarch programs, but wasn't successful in his advances. Merovingian operatives take out some Exiles and gets a trace running through their computer. In this same area, a certain unspecified and optional sequence of actions will cause Trinity to appear in a side room. She appears upset, even angry, at the situation she's in, doing /talknegative as she says:
"I don't-- I didn't choose this. This can't be--..."
Following the trace, the player runs into heavy Dire Lupine resistance, but in the end gets data that Gray says is about access routes "through 'white hallway' systems." He doesn't have exact coords, but says there seems to be an entry point somewhere high up in north Union Hill. A dead Override Executable NPC was in the room with the lupines/computer. Executables are dark grey humanoids in the same bubble-skin way as Functions and Helian and Terasova.
Flood says that thanks to the information from Azuna, the Merovingian has been able to meet Tesarova. Hints indicate that the meeting has not gone well, possibly because Persephone found out about it. The player finds Persephone and Tesarova together. Persephone is still in her "dark" outfit, but her skin is back to its normal healthy hue. Tesarova says the Merovingian been showing her interesting things, including the android, which she identifies as "Carlyne's android body." She almost seems genuinely surprised about the Merovingian having it, saying she didn't think she'd see it again "after Carlyne let the podling woman steal his signal." ("The podling woman" was Wright--she jacked Carlyne's signal / android body when Carlyne crumpled just before she appeared as the wireframed woman in Chapter 11.1, which forced the Merovingian to dump the BIP/Trinity.) All Persephone says is "Only a human can be 'inhuman.'" Past them, the player finds the Merv, who rants a bit about Tesarova laughing at his offers of power in the simulation. He sends the player to contact Flood for a plan B, which involves getting a trace through an Oligarch-occupied computer in order to locate H&T's Matrix power base. The player runs into some of their Functions, and then a hostile Override Executable, who can spawn a small swarm of additional, higher-level Functions to attack the player. Executables have a constant blur FX over their dark bubble body (this sorta causes them to flicker light/dark), and boosted defense and speed, but no actual combat loadout or weapons. Success results in coordinates of an entry point to the Oligarch hideout: 129 223 789, Union Hill. (This is a doorway at the top of one of those skyscrapers with the flying buttresses.)
Zion operatives respond to an alert from Ghost, who's still been combing International for Trinity. They find him facing Helian and Tesarova, with Helian asking Ghost why he's going after the program. Tesarova coyly interjects that she thinks she knows (wink wink). Ghost doesn't respond to them, and whispers to the player to make sure that Trinity's safe, saying Sparks will have info for them. Tyndall gets the information from Sparks, which is a location where Trinity might have been hiding "from the Oligarch scans." They find an Override Executable there, as well as some Override Functions, but no sign of Trinity. Tyndall, who feels able to refer to her as simply "Trinity" by now, says she thinks they stopped those programs from finding her, but that stopping H&S is going to be tough. She mentions reports of the Merv having got access to some kind of area the Oligarchs have set up, and that they're picking up activity from his operatives on rooftops "at the extreme northeast end of Downtown."
A teleport from the area referred to in the last missions takes the player into some white hallways, which eventually may spit them out into an interior office space [that is pretty similar to floor 77 of the Government Building in Park East]. It's full of nasty Overrides and Executables with special prizes. The only exit is a rotary telephone on a desk in one of the offices, which teleports the user to a public phone on the north side of the base of the SE tower in Park East.
Helian completes negotiations with the Machines. Helian now pursues the Trinity program, with help from the Machines, and opposition from Zion, EPN, and the Cypherites, who do not think that helping Oligarchs is the way to protect the System.
The Merovingian, meanwhile, thinks he has convinced Tesarova to capture Trinity for him. He commits his programs to helping track her down. After the attack by Morpheus, he guesses that Seraph may try his hand to protect Trinity as well. He promises Tesarova that he will remove this obstacle for her; he has coded antiSeraphic darts out of Seraph's pinfeathers, carefully collected over the years (there was an old Live Event with Malphas and one of the Seraphim about this). These are given to operatives, who hit Seraph with them in a Live Event. Suddenly weakened, he has to flee, but not before mentioning that preventing the Oligarchs from obtaining the Trinity program was not his intent.
Even with Machine help, Helian is obstructed by the other organizations, but distracts them sufficiently for Tesarova to capture Trinity. The Merovingian is holding a party to celebrate the capture, when Helian appears, and Tesarova smiles at him: they've been working together this whole time. The Merovingian, aghast, plays the elegantly polite host, and offers Tesarova some cake, which she accepts. The two laugh, and disappear.
Cypherites are relieved that the Oligarchs are gone. Machines are glad about that, and that they've taken Trinity away, too, but the Ouroboros connection is showing another increase in activity. Zion wants to get Trinity back. EPN is mindful of what the woman told them about keeping the encrypted program safe. The Merovingian is having fits about Tesarova tricking him, and is tracking her progress in the Real (the cake is a tracking program--this was revealed in critical missions somewhere around chapter 8). He finds what he guesses is her or Helian's base, but then her signal turns around and comes back.
Helian and Tesarova reappear in the Matrix. This time, they're normal RSIs, not wireframes; they're using the Trinity program's interface, and jacking in from human bodies, not androids. This time they've brought hunter-seeker programs to assist them, though. They want to find the Oracle, and have her make some modifications to the program: they want it to be easier to switch bodies, and to interface with their backup mainframes, and so forth.
Zion puts up a fight. The Machines aren't pleased that they've returned, either, but first try diplomacy with Helian. The Cypherites want the Oligarchs gone.
The Merovingian, meanwhile, is back to work wooing Tesarova, although this time he's just trying to distract her while his Sentinels and operatives locate and surround her hovercraft. He's about to take it out when another, apparent bluepill, woman appears. She tells him that he won't get anything out of Tesarova unless he makes her leave the Matrix, now: the Trinity program was a trap. When he asks why he should trust her, the woman replies that he should know better than that. The Merovingian forces Tesarova to leave.
The Oligarch hunter-seeker programs have been following Seraph. Seraph contacts Veil, telling her to bring the encrypted program the Oracle gave her into the Matrix, to a specific location. The Morpheus sim contacts EPN with the same message. Veil arrives first, but Seraph is nowhere to be found. She sees the girl, Sati, flickering for a moment in front of a computer, before disappearing. EPN operatives appear. Just as a message appears on the computer screen, asking them to input their halves of the encrypted program, the Oligarch hunter-seekers attack. A battle ensues, but eventually both parts of the program are input, and the hunter-seekers stop swarming in. Later, a Machine party sent to meet Helian finds his inert body.
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