Sanders Sides One Shots

Code (Logicality)

Another inspired by a movie. One of my all-time favorites, The Matrix.

*Logan's POV*

"Remember, get to a pay phone-" Joan reminded me yet again, so painfully worried about my well being.

"Joan, for the last time, I will be fine. I have done this before, if you need to be reminded of that." I assured them as I prepared to be entered into the Matrix.

My mission was simple: map out what mental Miami had been reprogrammed to look like. In and out. No agents should even detect anything was off. I'd done this so many times before. Still, I would most likely never get used to the sensation of being brought in.

Suddenly, I was standing on a subway, feeling like I had just woken up from drifting off. I adjusted my glasses and got off at the next stop, looking around as I went.

"Is this your first time around here?" A friendly voice asked me. I turn to my right to see a chestnut haired man about my age.

"Y-yeah. It's quite, um, different in California." I scratched the back of my neck, feeling uncomfortable in my character.

Even though I still had glasses, they weren't my usual pair. I didn't have a necktie, either, which annoyed me immensely. I was wearing a black and white plaid button up shirt underneath a gray jacket, blue jeans, and silver tennis shoes. All were things I would never wear, most likely to lower the chances of me being traced into the real world.

"All the way from California? You're here visiting family or something?" The man smiled. "Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Patton." He extended a hand. I shook it.

"Logan. It's a pleasure to meet you." I couldn't help but to feel some degree of guilt that he could potentially die because of my missions, and that I would maybe never see him again.

"Do you know where you're going from here?" Patton asked me.

"No, actually. I haven't been here since I was a child. So much has changed since then..." I trailed off, looking at the subway station.

"If you want, I can give you a tour around. I mean, I don't have anywhere to be until 4:00, so I can show you around this part of town if you want?" He offered, his hands behind his back as we continued walking up the stairs. I looked around and spotted a pay phone.

"That would be wonderful, actually. Thanks." I smiled at him before looking around at the surface streets. "It's a beautiful place."

"I'm glad you agree. They just finished that building." He points to a blue and glass building that rises above everything else. "It's the tallest building in Florida now."

"Amazing." I breathed. I remembered that building. Before humans blew out the sun and AI took over, everything was normal.

"And," Patton lowered his voice immensely, causing me to look over at him. "I don't know if I should be confiding in you for this, but have you, um, ever noticed the weird men in suits?"

That was the last question I was expecting from him. I sucked in a breath. "Why?" I asked, thankful that my voice didn't shake.

"I don't know. They glance over at me a lot, and the fact that I know they're not human makes me uncomfortable." Patton scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I know them. Only too well..." I sighed, and then immediately regretted saying anything.

"You do? What can you tell me about them?" Patton looked into my eyes.

"I can't tell you anything without putting your life in danger." I admitted.

"So they're your enemy?" Patton tilted his head. He looked adorable like that.

"I- yes." I sighed.

"Well, I..." Patton looked around anxiously. "I'm supposed to be one of them, but I can't do the things they do. I have a suit, sunglasses, and an earpiece, but I can't... jump into other peoples bodies. I have a conscience. I don't know if they know or not, but I'm scared, Logan. I noticed how you just appeared on the subway. That's why I approached you in the first place. I need your help."

I blinked at him, dazed by what he had just told me. Everything from my training screamed at me to run, but my instincts made my feet stay put. "Are you human?" I whispered.

"I think so." Patton shrugged. "I just know that I'm not an Agent."

I put on a different pair of glasses that allowed me to see what the Matrix really was - lines of code. It allowed me to see what could and couldn't be altered. What does and doesn't belong. I looked at Patton. He looked the same. Surrounded by code, but he still looked like he did without the glasses. Nothing did that.

I took them off and looked at him. "I have a plan."

*Patton's POV* (and a short time skip)

"Why are you leading me into the alley? I thou-mmphh!" I was cut off as Logan turned around and placed a short kiss on my lips. He pulled away as quickly as he had leaned in, leaving me flustered and confused.

"Part of the plan. See how my outfit has changed?" Logan gestured to his body, seemingly unaffected by what he had just done. He was now wearing a black shirt, dressy pants, dress shoes, and a blue tie.

"I do see that. What about me?" I ask, trying to calm my racing heart and make sense of how he did that.

He grimaced "I don't really know if I can do that for you."

"What? Why not?" I felt a small pang of disappointment.

"It's a bit more complicated than I'd like to admit, but I think you'll understand better than most." Logan leaned towards my ear, his voice dropping to little more than a whisper. "This isn't the real world. In order to alter this world, The Matrix, as my team and I call it, you need to know what the real world looks like. You need to mentally train a lot in order to know how to do it. I've put you in mortal danger now that I've told you."

He paused for a second and took a shaky breath. "The Agents probably won't kill you, but they will do many things to you, and most of those things I won't ever forgive myself for. Patton, I think you have a life worth living unaffected by us here, so I'm going to give you a choice."

He took a step back. I feel a fair bit of warmth leave my body, along with a little bit of my stability. This isn't the real world? Then what is? The Agents couldn't possibly be not human, could they? And if they weren't human, did we create them?

"How are you feeling, Patton?" Logan seemed to notice how shocked I was.

"I mean, I don't know. My whole life, I knew something was off, but I never expected it to be this..." I trailed off, searching for the right word.

"Bad, serious, jarring, dramatic, extreme-" Logan supplemented.

"I guess extreme is the right word." I shrugged, feeling myself at the brink of going into shock. "But now that I know that I always have been right, I can't just go back to what my life once was. Now I know that there's an entire world of possibilities and an entire world worth saving. I can't just walk away from the rabbit hole to Wonderland and leave you behind."

Logan seems to smile at this. "The rabbit hole to Wonderland. I venture you're  feeling an awful lot like Alice tumbling down and down, but this is only the beginning." He opens the palms of his hands.

"A red pill and a blue pill." My voice comes out shaky as I notice what Logan has in each of his hands. He nods, maybe a bit nervous.

"If you take the blue pill, you wake up. Believe whatever you want to about this experience. Maybe it will be a dream." He looks at the red pill. "If you take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you just how far the rabbit hole goes."

I immediately reached for the red pill.

"There's no turning back after you take it. There's no ducking out." Logan warned me.

"Quack." I shrugged before I took the pill.