THE MATRIX

Cyberpunk 2097

Chapter 12 – "Glitch in the System"

The Matrix wasn't what Glitch remembered.

Two months ago, she'd left her digital home behind, thinking she'd return to the same shimmering neon utopia. A place of code, chaos, and creativity.

Instead, it was hell.

The sky above the city was cracked and flickering, lines of corrupted code rippling through the air like infected veins. Buildings stretched in impossible angles, shifting in and out of existence. The streets were silent—no neon, no music, no movement.

The Matrix was dead.

And Glitch knew exactly who to blame.

A name flashed across the skyline in blood-red text, pulsing like a heartbeat.

THE RED REAPER

"Oh, great," she muttered. "I go away for two months and some bargain-bin Sith Lord takes over?"

She stepped forward—and the ground rippled beneath her boots.

Something was coming.

She cracked her knuckles. "Alright, let's

The first enemy wasn't human.

A grotesque monstrosity crawled from the shadows—a glitch beast, its body flickering in and out of existence like a corrupted file. Its limbs stretched and twisted in impossible ways, jagged pixels hanging off its flesh like torn code.

Its head snapped toward her, jerking unnaturally.

Then it screeched.

"Okay," Glitch said, rolling her shoulders. "That's nightmare fuel. What the hell did Red Reaper do to this place?"

The beast lunged.

Glitch ducked, rolled, and came up swinging. Her fist phased through its head—only for the beast to flicker behind her.

It raked its claws across her back.

Pain exploded through her body, but she grinned. "Oh, so that's how we're playing this? Alright, dickhead, let's dance."

She hacked the air itself.

Her code bent around her fingers, reshaping the battlefield. Gravity flipped.

The beast screeched as it was launched skyward.

Glitch jumped after it, twisting in midair. She wrapped a string of corrupted code around its throat, yanked—

And ripped its head clean off.

The beast exploded into corrupted data.

Glitch landed smoothly.

One down.

She ran through the city, dodging collapsing buildings and random data storms.

Then, she felt it.

She wasn't alone.

A whisper slithered through the air. "Glitch… you shouldn't have come back."

A dozen figures emerged from the shadows.

They wore black trench coats, their faces hidden behind digital masks that constantly glitched and reshaped—one second a skull, the next a screaming void.

Red Reaper's Shadow Hackers.

Glitch sighed. "Lemme guess. Evil cultists?"

The leader stepped forward. "We are his hands. His eyes. His will."

Glitch cracked her neck. "Yeah, yeah. Do me a favor—hold still."

She warped time.

The world slowed. The hackers barely had time to react before she was among them, her fists moving faster than their code could process.

One hacker reached for a weapon—she crushed his wrist.

Another tried to phase away—she hacked his escape route, trapping him in a frozen loop.

The leader lunged with a digital blade.

Glitch caught it midair, twisted the code, and turned it into a snake.

The hacker screamed as the snake bit through his throat.

The rest hesitated.

Glitch smirked. "Run."

They did.

At the heart of the city, she found a throne.

A massive glitched-out digital chair, floating in midair, pulsing with corrupted energy.

Sitting on it was someone new.

Not the Red Reaper—but one of his messengers.

He was tall, cloaked in shifting red pixels, his face a constantly rotating mask of famous villains.

Glitch sighed. "You're gonna monologue, aren't you?"

His voice was deep, distorted. "You cannot fight the inevitable, Glitch."

"Wow, original. Did you steal that from a bad sci-fi movie?"

He ignored her. "The Matrix is his now. You cannot undo what has been rewritten."

Glitch rolled her eyes. "You wanna bet?"

She charged.

The messenger extended a hand—tendrils of red code lashed toward her.

She flipped over them, landing on his throne.

Before he could react, she hacked the seat itself.

It disintegrated beneath him.

The messenger fell, screaming, into the abyss.

Glitch dusted off her hands. "Well, that was easy."

Then, the sky cracked again.

And a voice—**deep, monstrous—**filled the air.

"Glitch… you amuse me. But this is only the beginning."

She grinned. "Oh, I hope so."

The air around Glitch distorted.

The voice of the Red Reaper wasn't just sound—it was code itself, reshaping reality, bending the Matrix to his will.

The streets below her rippled like liquid.

Buildings collapsed and rebuilt themselves in strange, grotesque shapes.

Then… she saw him.

At the far end of the city, standing atop a floating spire of red-glowing data, was a figure cloaked in shadows.

His cape billowed unnaturally, shifting like liquid metal.

His eyes glowed deep crimson, the color of corrupted code.

Red Reaper.

"You've played your little game, Glitch." His voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. "But now it's my turn."

Glitch stretched her arms. "Oh, finally. I was getting bored. What's next, a giant boss fight? Maybe a quick-time event?"

The world shuddered.

A wave of raw code surged toward her, tearing through the street, disintegrating everything in its path.

Glitch leapt.

She hacked gravity itself, flipping midair, running along a sideways building as the attack missed her by inches.

Landing smoothly, she smirked. "Gonna have to do better than that, Reapy."

The Red Reaper snapped his fingers.

The ground beneath her vanished.

The Data Abyss

She was falling.

The city disappeared above her, replaced by an endless void of twisting red code.

Her stomach lurched.

She tried to hack her way out—but nothing responded.

The Matrix was rejecting her commands.

For the first time in a long time, Glitch felt powerless.

"Okay… not funny anymore."

The abyss stretched forever. No ground. No escape.

Then, out of nowhere—

A platform materialized beneath her.

She hit it hard, rolling to a stop.

The air around her was thick, like corrupted data pressing against her skin.

A voice whispered through the void. "Welcome to the End."

Glitch gritted her teeth. "Yeah? Funny, I don't see any credits rolling."

A red holographic figure stepped forward.

Not Reaper. Someone… older.

His body flickered, shrouded in ancient lines of forgotten code.

A failed AI. A discarded program.

A remnant.

Glitch raised an eyebrow. "And who the hell are you supposed to be?"

The entity's voice crackled like an old transmission. "I was once the Architect of the Matrix. But now, I am merely a memory."

Glitch crossed her arms. "Cool. You got a name, or am I calling you Grandpa Glitch?"

The figure's eyes flickered. "Call me what you wish. But if you want to survive… you will need my help."

Glitch scoffed. "Oh yeah? And why would I trust a guy who looks like the ghost of Windows XP?"

The entity leaned closer. "Because I know the truth about the Red Reaper."

Glitch hesitated. "…Go on."

The void hummed.

And the entity whispered, "He is not what you think."

The Red Reaper wasn't born.

He was created.

And worse…

He was waiting for her.