On a rooftop, the General meets with Niobe and her followers, offering her the key to the cheat codes his commandos have obtained from the Machines. He tells her the cheat codes will give them powers beyond their wildest dreams. But when he tosses the key to Niobe, Anome makes a grab for it, and the key falls to the streets below, landing on a van that speeds it away.
Anome noted the Van’s license plate number before it was out of sight. Anome forms a plan and quickly sends one of his operatives to the Machines’ Transportation
Department, where bluepill license plate records are stored. Anome figures the Machines won’t mind if they “borrow” a little information if it’s for a good cause. The owner of the van is traced to the Achan, but the owner reveals that members of the Bells gang broke in to the van and stole the key. The Bells subsequently lost the key, apparently to the Crossbones gang.
Merovingian operatives are also seeking the key to the cheat codes, but after tracking down the location of the van, arrive too late as the Bells have already taken it. After investigating a complex turn of events, the Exile Silver is found to know the location of the key, claiming that it is tucked away in a construct. Silver wants to broker a deal with the Merovingian: bring him the case with the cheat code vials, and he'll bring the key to the case, and they can split the contents. However, an attempt to retrieve the case from Zion fails, as the case has already been moved.
The Machines are eager to retrieve the case with the vials, and include Kalt Corporation in the investigation, since they manufactured the case for them. Kalt Corporation provides a code sample to Machine operatives so that the case can be tracked down. Their code scanner leads them to a building, encountering members of the Bell gang who also seek to regain the key. Although the key is not at the current location, the Machine operatives thoroughly scan the location to find a clue as to where the key could be. After further investigation, including meeting with the Oracle,
Machine operatives discover that the key is in a construct thanks to Silver. The Machines begin to devise a way to obtain the key...
Zion operatives storm through several Crossbones cell locations, but subsequently come up empty regarding the key. After following up on some leads, they discover that Silver has the key.
Zion command believes that the Machines have new data on the key, and order operatives to infiltrate a Cypherite base that is known to have Machine contacts. After attacking the base, the intel they discover there reveals that the key has re-entered the Matrix. The trail leads them to Silver and his bodyguards. After takin9g down the bodyguards, Silver has no choice but to give up the key. It is taken to Zion guards for safekeeping.
As the Machines prepare to crack the security code to the key's construct, they hear word that the key is back in the Matrix. Machine operatives are able to pin down the location of the key and storm it, only to find the key is in Zion's hands.
The General meets with Zion operatives, informing them that the Machines have marked the Commandos and himself for extermination for stealing the vials. The
Commandos will keep a low-profile and take a lesser part in the crusade against the Merovingian. Zion operatives are called away from the meeting to the location of the team that has the key, who are under attack by Merovingian forces. After defeating them, Zion operatives obtain the key from Anome and transport it to Niobe, who will keep it safe.
Chapter 5.1 Betrayal
Niobe and her followers gather as she ingests one of the vials. After doing so, she remarks that she does not feel different, when she is suddenly shot. Anome is the one holding the gun, and several of his comrades open fire on the others. After a shootout, Anome and his followers confiscate the vials for themselves, and leave. Upon leaving, and after ingesting a vial, Anome uses his newfound powers to separate the room they are exiting off into a separate construct, trapping the mortally wounded Niobe and cutting her off from contact with the rest of the Matrix.
Zion operatives rush to find a way to save the critically injured Niobe. An investigation of the building proves pointless, as the elevator won't go to the floor she is on and the stairs simply end before arriving at her floor. Hindering their efforts are attacks by Anome's followers. The situation is desperate enough that Zion contacts Machine Agents in order to find a way to save Niobe.
Machine operatives are ordered to assist in the effort to retrieve Niobe. Agent Pace reveals that, in a previous version of the Matrix, Agents were given amazing powers to allow them to carry out their jobs. Powers that have never been witnessed within the Matrix, that would astound anyone. It soon became apparent that such powers were counterproductive. Agents of the Machines, using those powers, caused enough problems to warrant the end of the program. Now imagine those same powers in the hands of the unpredictable, willful, humans. The codes for these powers were put into storage, never to be touched again, until the General stole them from storage. The Machine operatives investigate but are unable to locate Anome and his followers, both within the Matrix and the Real. It is as though they have disappeared...
Merovingian operatives investigate the matter as well, uncovering the information both Zion and Machine operatives have found. The Merovingian decides that Anome's betrayal could be quite useful after all...
Zion operatives are stumped as to how to access the special construct that Niobe is trapped within, and with no little choice decide to contact the Merovingian Exile, the Effectuator. They meet with Flood, the Merovingian controller, who agrees to help Zion, for a price. The Merovingian has decided to help Zion so that they may be in his debt, and cease hostilities against him. Zion grudgingly agrees and operatives gather data to help the Effectuator find a way to get to Niobe.
Machine operatives discover that Anome is killing off old acquaintances, and a strange code signature is always detected near or at the scene of the crime. Although they arrive too late, Machine operatives are able to fight off several of Anome's men, who have used the cheat codes and are beginning to show some unusual effects...
The Effectuator makes an unusual discovery. Due to Anome using one of the cheat codes to trap Niobe in the construct, time is passing more slowly inside the construct
than in the rest of the Matrix. Although this is little comfort to Zion operatives, it does offer a glimmer of help in saving Niobe.
Chapter 5.2 Unlimit
Anome's followers, now calling themselves Unlimit, begin partaking of the cheat codes, gaining incredible powers (such as projecting energy from their eyes) and begin
wrecking havoc in the city. Meanwhile, Niobe clings to life in the construct.
The Effectuator enlists help from Zion operatives. Anome's people are making it difficult for him to pin down Niobe's location, and the Effectuator needs Zion operatives to go to several network locations to stop Anome's men. Zion operatives engage Anome's men, but they are now different. They are stronger than previously, and their eyes constantly drip green Matrix code. Eventually, the Effectuator hits upon a
potential solution, requiring Zion operatives to repair several hardline junctions. Zion operatives are able to do so (despite Unlimit's interference), and this proves critical in rescuing Niobe.
Unlimit's attacks draws the attention of the Machines, who begin to assess Unlimt's threat to the system. Machine operatives investigations reveal that not all of Anome's followers ingested the cheat codes. They also discover that Anome appears to have compiled weaker, diluted versions of the cheat codes and passed them on to other Unlimit. Finally, it appears that the cheat codes have corrupted the user's RSI, so that they are unable to jack out of the Matrix. Later, Machine operatives are tracking an Unlimit within the Matrix while Sentinels in the Real target and destroy their hovercraft.
Machine operatives are shocked to find that, thanks to the vials, Unlimits can continue to exist within the Matrix after their bodies have been destroyed.
Chapter 5.3