Authors Note: Hello! So this is the first fanfic I've ever written and is about the life of Switch; it starts from when she first enters the Matrix right up until her death in the first film. I apologize for the first two chapters, there a little all over the place as I struggled with writing the process of her leaving the Matrix, but it picks up from there! Anyway I hope you enjoy and thank you so much for taking the time to read my story! :) xx
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Switch sat hunched over her computer screen in her small run down apartment. It was just past twelve and she was exhausted, she had spent the night researching into a program called the 'Matrix'. She had run across it when trying to hack into the government database to re-write a client's criminal record. It was the same program she had come across a while back. Since the first day she had come across the Matrix, all those years ago, it had consumed her life. She couldn't understand what it was. When she had come across it again tonight she had tried to decode it but the second she tried to it crashed her computer. She was now in the process of trying to restart it.
Switch tapped her fingers on the desk while she waited for her computer to load. The monitor flickered back on, green streams of coding running down the screen. What the hell? How did this coding get onto her computer? Her fingers jumped to the keys, trying to exit out of whatever this was. Suddenly the screen went black. She hit the power button repeatedly, trying to make it turn back on. Nothing. She ducked under the table to check the power source and everything looked fine. The problem was obviously inside her computer. She hadn't gotten a good look at what that coding was but it looked similar to the coding she had seen before. It looked like the Matrix. Whatever this 'Matrix' what it had completely stuffed her computer. She hit the monitor in frustration, a desperate final attempt to make her computer work. Knowing that hitting it, obviously, wasn't going to help she stood up and walked over to the small bed squashed into the corner of the room. Her apartment consisted of one single room with her computer in the center of it. There was a small kitchenette off to the side and a tiny adjoining bathroom. The entire place was a mess, there were papers and books strewn across the floor, filling up every knock and cranny. Boxes full of old computer parts and discs of illegally downloaded programs were stacked against all four walls. The entire place was a dump, the brick walls were smashed up and filthy, the roof was peeling with a leak above the kitchen. There was a small window on the far wall, but it was barred up and mostly covered by boxes. The only light in the room came from her computer screen and one hanging light above her bed. Her apartment was a rather suiting representation of her life, a small disaster that evolved around her computer. Jumping up onto her bed she reached up to look into one of the crushed cardboard boxes on the shelf that over hanged her bed. Pulling the box down she sat on her bed, feeling the whole bed sink as she sat down. Her knees almost hit the ground as the mattress collapsed onto the broken springs. Rummaging through the box she found what she was looking for, a new hard drive. Climbing off her bed she heard it creak back into place as she dashed back over to her computer, praying that she could fix it. She had programs downloaded on there that would be worth a pretty penny on the black market. As she reached her computer she froze dead her tracks. Her computer was on, a single line of green text lighting up the screen.
Hello, Switch|
Her mind raced and her heart pumped slightly faster. She stood there rendered unable to move. Her mind went straight to one name she had come across when searching the Matrix. In fact it was the only piece of data she had found related to the Matrix and she wasn't even sure if it was a name. Morpheus. This was what she had been waiting for. There was finally something after all these years of searching. She snapped out of her daze and threw herself into the old chair, taking a deep breath she reached out for the keyboard. Before she could even think up what to say in reply another message flashed in green letters onto the screen.
We've been watching you, Switch. You're looking for something aren't you?|
She no longer hesitated, replying as soon as the message came in. She didn't want to lose the connection.
Yes.|
Chewing her nails, a bad habit she had picked up, she waited as calmly as she could for a reply. She knew she should be worried, who was this, how did they know her name? But she couldn't bring herself to care; she had been searching for too goddamn long to back out now. This was probably the only chance she would ever get to find out what the Matrix was and she didn't plan on wasting it.
What is it that you want to know?|
Her fingers flew across the well-worn keys as she asked the question that had been plaguing her for years.
What is the Matrix.|
She couldn't breath. Whatever they said to her would alter the course of her life; she knew that all to well. From what she had found going though old archives it appeared that whenever someone almost cracked the Matrix they disappeared, never to be heard of again. This wasn't a new concept to her; disappearances were common in her field of work. But she knew this was different and she wanted to find out what this was more than she cared about her safety. She was never safe; too many people already wanted her dead. She clung onto the side of the desk, her heart pounding loud enough that she could almost hear it. She was so tense she literally jumped when another reply flashed onto the screen.
Would you like me to show you?|
This was the moment when she had to make a decision. She knew she would never get this choice again, she could walk away now and forget about this whole thing or she could find out the truth. There was no decision to make; if she walked away she would be plagued for the rest of her life, knowing she was oblivious to something.
Yes.|
She typed; making the decision that would change her life forever.
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Switch shivered as a trickle of rain ran down her neck, she pulled her coat tighter around herself as she stood under an old bridge at the edge of town. The long walk from her apartment to the bridge had left her freezing cold and soaked to the bone. She was now stood under the abandoned old bridge, waiting. Whoever it was that had talked to her back in her apartment had told her to meet them here. But she was starting to get second thoughts, there wasn't a soul in sight and this was the dodgiest part of town. She had handled worse than this and was used to meeting strangers in obscure locations. But she didn't go out of her was to get herself into this kind of situation. One thing that calmed her was the loaded pistol tucked safely into her belt. In her line of work you had to watch your back. You could end up dead if you weren't careful; she had seen it before. She knew she could handle whatever was coming; she had a perfected killer aim and was well known for her abilities to get herself out of risky situations. But she had a feeling that this meeting would be different.
An old black car slowly rolled towards her and came to a stop at the edge of the bridge. Her hand instinctively gripping the handle of the gun as she slowly made her way towards the car. She wasn't sure what to expect as she cautiously reached the side of the car. She didn't want to reveal her weapon but was prepared to use it if necessary. As she approached the car's side door it was kicked open and she saw a black man sitting in the back seat grinning at her.
"Get in, Switch." he called with a chuckle, obviously amused by something.
Switch gave him a wary look as she slid into the back seat next to him, pulling the door shut behind her. She looked across at the man, she had thought he was black at first but now that she took a closer look at him she realized he wasn't. His skin was a dark tan colour, almost bronze. She couldn't actually work out what race he was. Turning to look ahead at the other passengers in the car and instead looked into the barrel of a loaded gun pointed directly at her. Her eyes bulged and her heart stopped for a second before she calmed down. This wasn't the first time she had been at gunpoint. The man next to her still seemed to find something amusing, she couldn't understand what was wrong with him. He gave the woman holding the gun a knowing look to which she in response lowered her gun. Switch didn't know what she had expected but it wasn't this. She had found herself in a car with what appeared to be a lunatic seated beside her and a woman with a gun. She looked to the driver for the first time; he was nothing special to look at, balding, mid forties with an awful mustache. As she watched him he put his foot on the accelerator and the car took off back down the deserted road. She didn't have a clue what she should do so she silently observed the other passengers for a moment. The woman in the passenger seat was rather pretty, thin with short dark brown hair. But the thing she noticed about her were her eyes, they had a kindness to them that made her feel somewhat trustworthy. The man sitting next to her was tall; he had to sit slightly hunched over in the backseat. He had dark tan skin and quite long curly black hair; if she was honest with herself he was rather good looking. She didn't exactly know what she should do, who were these people and where were they taking her?
"So," she began, breaking the silence, "where are we going?"
The man next to her started laughing but attempted to turn it into a cough, he fooled no one. She was starting to get annoyed with this guy, who did he think we was?
Switch narrowed her eyes at him; she did not like to be mocked.
"What's so funny, huh?" she snapped.
"Sorry," he started, quickly composing himself, "it's just that you haven't reacted the way the rest of us did."
Switch gave him a confused but still dangerous look that shut him up for a moment. She was pleased that he had at least stopped laughing, she definitely wasn't finding this funny.
"You didn't freak out, ask a million questions, or make a run for it like others have done." the woman explained.
Oh. So she wasn't what they had expected, that was a new one. She was used to the people she met being surprised by her gender but not by her actions.
Switch chuckled almost darkly. "I've been in worse situations than this. A gun in my face isn't enough to send me running." she stated bluntly.
"I like her." the dark man exclaimed, drawing Switch's attention back to him.
He grinned at her again; he looked like an idiot, a good-looking idiot.
"I reckon you'll fit in nicely, Switch." he added with a shyer smile, one that Switch actually returned.
"Thanks…" she trailed off, realizing she didn't even know his name.
"Apoc." he blurted out. "Sorry, how rude of us not to introduce ourselves." he apologized, laughing awkwardly.
He quickly gestured towards the woman. "This is Trinity," he said before moving on to the driver, "and this is Cypher." he added, not taking his eyes off Switch.
Cypher mock saluted her, keeping his eyes on the road and Trinity smiled warmly at her. She immediately knew they were all hacker names, like her own. That gave her a little insight into who these people were and it was nice to put a name to the face. The car fell back into an uneasy silence for a few moments as they continued on towards wherever they were going.
"Hey!" Switch cried suddenly. "You never did tell me where we're going."
"Were taking you to Morpheus." Trinity replied, a smile growing on her lips.
Just as Trinity replied to her the car swerved into a side road before slowing to a stop outside a derelict old building that looked like it might have once been a hotel. Apoc pushed open the car door and stepped out into the night, holding the door open for her. She looked to Trinity who gestured for her to leave the car. Sighing she slid along the leather seat and pulled herself out of the car and back into the pouring rain. Standing up she looked to Apoc who gave her a friendly smile. She smiled shyly back at him before noticing Trinity standing behind him, ushering her towards the building.
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Switch's eyes fluttered open but she quickly squeezed them shut again when a bright fluorescent light hit her eyes. Her eyes stung painfully, making water swell up in her eyes. She tried to open them again and saw there was a lamp swung over her, the light bulb shinning into her face. She sat up and shoved the lamp away from her. Her eyes slowly adjusted after being blinded from the bright light. She scanned the room, trying to work out where she was; it appeared to be some kind of makeshift medical bay. Her mind felt fuzzy, like everything was out of focus. She wasn't sure what had happened exactly from the time she left her apartment till now. She remembered, pills, needles, tubes, pain, a car, and she had a feeling there were two black men involved somehow.
She tried to think, to remember, but was coming up blank. Oh god, what on earth had she done?
She couldn't just sit here any longer; she needed to know what was going on. She swung her legs off the side of the table she had been lying on and stepped down onto the floor. Her legs felt wobbly beneath her and she felt herself falling. She reached out and grabbed the lamp for support. It wasn't as supportive as she had hoped for as they both went crashing to the ground. Her skin slapped against the metal floor and she couldn't find the energy to get back up again. She shut her eyes, unable to move. This had to be some kind of dream. She would open her eyes again and find herself back in her apartment, asleep at her computer like usual. But she wasn't. This was real and she had gotten herself into some deep shit. Looking around she realized that this defiantly wasn't a normal hospital. She was suddenly filled with dread, had something happened to her? She looked down at herself and almost screamed. There were metal plugs in her arms, grabbing one she realized they were embedded into her skin. She felt sick, who or what had done this to her? She started to panic, was this some kind of twisted science lab where they experimented on humans? Her ears pricked up at the sound of incoming footsteps. She frantically tried to scramble away from the door, terrified of what was going to come in. The door pushed open and familiar looking man walked in, smiling when he saw her. She smiled back warily at him. She didn't know how she knew him or if she even knew him at all but there was something comforting about seeing him.
"Well, look who's up! How'd you like the trip? Get it, who's 'up', because awake but you're on the floor…" he chuckled, grinning as he walked over to help her up.
When he spoke it clicked who he was, Apoc. Even after only meeting him once, she would know that stupid grin and loud mouth anywhere. She calmed down slightly at his dry humor; she was starting to remember something but she couldn't put her finger on it. For some reason she had this deep-rooted feeling that Apoc wasn't going to hurt her.
"Hilarious. Where did this 'trip' end up taking me anyway?" she asked as Apoc helped her to her feet.
Once standing she let go of Apoc's hands and tried to stand by herself but almost fell over again. Apoc grabbed hold of her before she hit the ground, holding her forearms to help her keep her balance.
"Well, Miss Switch." he began. "You find yourself on board the Nebuchadnezzar. The finest ship in what's left of the world." he stated proudly.
Switch raised her eyebrows at him confused and unimpressed.
"You know, maybe I should just leave the explaining up to Morpheus." he sighed, defeated.
Apoc let go of her arms now that she had managed to stabilize herself.
"Yes, an explanation please." she agreed, giving him a small smile.
"Don't worry, you'll find out everything soon. But if I can offer you one piece of advice it would be this: trust us. I know that a lot to ask for but it will make things a hell of a lot easier. And prepare yourself, what you're going to find out won't be easy to accept." he said, an unreadable expression on his face.
Switch didn't say anything, simply nodding. She wasn't sure if she trusted him, he had yet to give her any reason to trust or distrust him. As for preparing herself, she didn't know what to expect but would try to do as he said. She knew the truth came at a price. Some things were hard to learn and even harder to accept.
When she refused to say anything he toned towards the door, gesturing for her to follow him. He suddenly stopped, spinning round to face her.
"Oh I almost forgot. You might want this." he said, some enthusiasm returning to his voice. He rustled through his pocket and pulled out what looked like a rag and offered it to her.
Switch took the piece of cloth into her hands and realized that it was a hideous green and red beany.
"What on earths this for?" she asked.
"Thought you might be cold." Apoc replied, grinning at her and tapping the top of his head.
What? She reached up to feel the top of her head and was shocked when her hand made contact with skin where her hair should have been. Running her hands around her head she felt what she guessed to be a round metal plug at the back of her head. There were more of those things? God, she didn't want to even thing about where else they might be.
Apoc smiled, finding her shocked expression at realising her hair was gone rather funny. He beckoning again for her to follow him before turning on his heel and walking from the room.
Switch's mind was now burning with questions and there was only one way they were going to be answered. Pulling the beany tightly onto her head she raced out after Apoc.
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Switch sat on the metal framing of her bed that was bolted to the wall, looking around the room she had been assigned. It was cold and uncomfortable, like the rest of the ship but she was grateful for the privacy. She needed time alone to think. She had been out in the core a few moments ago and had met Morpheus. He had taken her into a training program. A man named Tank had plugged her into a machine through the plug in the back of her head which allowed her to enter a virtual world, like the Matrix. It had left her brain feeling a little sore, like it had been somehow broken and put back together again. Apoc had assured her she would get used to it. Morpheus had showed her the real world and explained to her how everything she thought she knew about the world was a complete lie. She couldn't believe that she had been living in a computer program; it was hard to get her head around it. She had felt in her previous life like she was almost living in the programs she hacked. She had lived alone and only had her computers for company but knowing that her previous life was not only based around computers but also lived inside one was hard to take in.
She felt sick knowing she had spent her whole life, all twenty-one years of it, stuck inside an incubator living out things that had never even happened. All the pain she had gone through during her life, especially her childhood, had been for nothing. It wasn't real. That's what hurt most, not leaving the Matrix but knowing that all the experience she had were worthless; how much time she had wasted.
When she had been in the core she had tried to keep it together. The overwhelming amount of hatred she felt towards the machines had been so consuming that she had to get away from all of them. Tank had showed her to this room, explaining it was hers, before leaving her alone. She had just sat on her bed, anger surging through her, unable to do anything about it. But she couldn't handle it anymore, she was furious. She had been sitting placidly for too long, not in this world but in the Matrix. She had been used her entire life without even realizing it. She'd been helplessly at the mercy of the Matrix, dependent on it for everything. She had done nothing for herself, felt nothing for herself. She need to take out her anger, she want to prove to herself that she was free, that she could really feel and the Matrix wasn't just telling her she was feeling.
She jumped up and punched the metal wall as hard as she could, hearing at satisfying crack as her hand collided with the metal framework. She held her now throbbing hand, feeling a dribble of blood run onto the hand holding the damaged one. Looking down she saw her knuckles were bleeding and she could feel the shatters in the bones of her fingers. She felt the pain but it was numbed by the high she felt knowing that this pain and this blood was real. Not some illusion created by the Matrix. Blood was now starting to run down her arm and the momentary numbing started to fade and her hand was becoming excruciatingly painful. She realized now that her outburst of anger was rather stupid and she would now have to do something about her hand.
She crept to the door and managed to turn the leaver to open the door with her good hand, the other hand was now starting to drip blood everywhere; she needed to get this cleaned quickly. Someone had put her into a woolen jumper, she didn't know who or when but that didn't matter now. She pulled the hem of it up and placed her hand inside it, stopping blood from dripping onto the floor. She was annoyed with herself and her stupid way of venting out the anger. She had only been with these people for such a short time and was already making a mess of the clothes they had given her. As far as she knew they were the only humans outside the Matrix's so she needed to stay on their good side. She hadn't got out to a good start. She had done exactly what Apoc had suggested not do and had flat out refused to speak with them about what she had learnt. She had destroyed her jumper and would now have to ask for medical help for her hand. She couldn't stay in her room any longer. She would have to try and fix the mess she had created.
Checking the coast was clear she crept out into the corridor; tiptoeing in the direction she remembered the medical bay she had been in earlier being. She made her way along the corridor, keeping close to the wall. When she reached the corner of the corridor she peered around and looked out onto the main bridge where the machine she had been plugged into before was. Off to the side of the main bridge was another room where she could hear talking coming from. She picked out Apoc's voice straight away and some she had never heard before, there must be others on this ship. Scanning for anyone else she saw Tank still at the computer he was at before, watching the Matrix coding. There was a staircase directly across from her on the other side of the core that led down somewhere, she didn't have a clue where. Off to the right side of where she was standing there was another staircase that led up to some room above her; she didn't remember coming down any stairs. Near the room where the talking was coming was the only other door coming off of the main bridge. That must be the med bay. She would have to run across the bridge to get to it though. Tank was sitting in the dead center of the core. There was no way she could get there without him seeing her. But she didn't have any other options. She would just have to pray that by some miracle Tank either wouldn't hear her or wouldn't bother to find out what she was doing. Taking a deep breath she decided to attempt speed over stealth and high tailed it towards the door. She ran full out across the bridge and almost collided with the metal door. She heaved the door open and slammed it shut behind her. She let out a sigh of relief as she leaned back against the closed door.
She quickly got to work looking for something to clean her hand with. She crossed the room to look through the cupboards bolted to the back wall. Pulling them open she was met with a rather underwhelming amount of supplies. She didn't have a clue what most of it was used for, her medical knowledge was extremely lacking. She eventually managed to find a bottle of antiseptic and a cloth that would make a decent bandage. She carried them over to the side bench and soaked the cloth in antiseptic. Once it was wet she tied the cloth around her knuckles, feeling the sting of the antiseptic. It did nothing to stop the pain but at least it was no longer bleeding everywhere. Putting away the supplies she had used she checked the room was in perfect condition, she didn't want to cause any more trouble for anyone.
Taking a deep breath she walked back over to her door. She gripped the handle with her good hand, preparing to open the door and run back to her room. She tried to calm herself; she didn't need to get so worked up over this. She had managed it once so surely she could do it again. She hadn't exactly been the quietest on her way in here so perhaps Tank wasn't bothered what she was up to. She hoped that was the case. She pulled the door open as quietly as she could, peering round the door. Opening the door further she stepped out onto the main bridge. Looking ahead her eyes locked onto a pair of dark brown ones. She stopped dead her tracks when she saw Tank standing just outside the door staring directly at her.
