Welcome to the Real World
Disclaimer: This story is based on the movie The Matrix starring Keanu Reeves. After watching this movie with my friend, we sat and discussed for some time whether our 'reality' really is reality or not. I can promise you, in all truth, that the conversation between the Heathers really did, at least in our matrix, occur. Other than that, we'll leave the deciding up to you.
Trinity leaned over Neo's shoulder to see what he was working on. "So what exactly is this thing supposed to do?"
Neo continued to type on the computer, his eyes on the screen as lines of complex code streamed by. "This program will implant a device in all copies of the tape, which will allow us to monitor any conversations regarding the Matrix."
Trinity gave him a skeptical look. "And how do you expect to be able to do that?"
"It's a highly sensitive 'bug'," he explained, his eyes never leaving the screen. "It'll pick up conversations up to a mile away. We can use it to tag anyone who seems a likely prospect to be pulled out."
"So how do you get the right conversation? You don't want it to be picking up useless conversations. It won't do us any good."
"True." He finally pushed back from the computer, and eyed the other. "It has special keywords, like 'matrix' and 'reality'. If the conversation doesn't show up with anything productive after an hour, it automatically shuts down until the next time the keywords are heard."
Trinity shrugged. "Let's hope it works."
Neo smiled slightly. "Oh, it will. It will."
***
"Wow," Heather sighed as her friend ejected the movie from the VCR. "That was an awesome movie. I loved it!"
Her friend, oddly enough, also named Heather, grinned. "I know. I've seen it so many times I've practically got it memorized."
The first Heather, Heather Morgan, laughed. "I love that line, 'Okey Dokey'. Ha! That was great! I really thought he wasn't gonna be able to do it, though, at one point."
"What, jump onto the building?" Heather Cares pushed her auburn hair out of her eyes. "Of course he couldn't do it then. He didn't believe he could do it, so he couldn't."
"No," the other disagreed, shaking her head so her reddish gold hair flew everywhere. "I mean that battle. The oracle said he wasn't the One. I felt so let down, like it was me that wasn't the One."
"Oh, I know," the second sighed. "I was so let down the first time I saw it. I mean, think about it-Morpheus believes in Neo so resolutely, and so does everyone else, and here Neo believes that he's not worth the bother, because of what she said."
"It's true though," the first said as they walked down the hall. "It was was exactly what he needed to hear."
"Yeah," Heather C. nodded. "It was neat."
"Y'know, though, it does make you think."
"How so?"
Heather M. settled herself onto the mattress that sat on the floor. She was silent for a moment, and when she did speak, it was slowly, which was quite odd for her. "Well, y'know, what if the Matrix is real? No, wait, I mean, what if Neo and them are really escapees from the system, and we really are batteries for machines? What if our reality isn't really reality?"
"Hmm." Heather C., older than the other's 16 years by 5 more, sat down slowly. "That's really deep. What if it is?" She sighed and leaned back against the wall. "I don't know. Sometimes I've wondered about it myself."
"Sometimes, I think my life is really a dream, and someday I'm gonna wake up to discover that my life was nothing but my subconscious shifting and processing information."
The elder laughed. "That would explain alot. But seriously, there have been people who've wondered about that for centuries. There was this philosopher who asked, 'What if my life is someone else's dream? What happens to me when they wake up?'"
"Ohh," The younger teased. "Now you're talking deep."
Heather C. laughed, and for a moment, there was silence, the elder idly stroking her cat, Tigger.
Finally, Heather M. broke the silence. "But what if it is true? I'd rather have the truth."
"Even when it's like that?" the other queried.
"I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't. I mean, I couldn't just live a lie. I'd need the truth!" she slammed her fist into the mattress, which bounced, not quite giving the desired effect.
The other looked off into the space. "I agree. We're part of that group that's young enough to accept the truth. I couldn't live without it."
"Yeah. That's the question, isn't it? What if...?"
***
Heather sat at the computer screen in the school library, her fingers flying as she watched the screen. No one around her was paying any attention to the ordinary girl with glasses. She logged onto a web site with the name 'Pheonix', and typed in an entry. Her search object-a man named Morpheus. Her eyes followed the letters that flashed across the screen, and she stopped at an article. It was written by someone named 'Saber', and it was a request for information regarding Morpheus.
Curious, Pheonix, as she was now known, clicked on the link titled 'contact me' and ran over the parameters. 'Clever,' she thought. 'They aren't taking any chances. The email address is anonymous on a free internet connection, and any chat room location is completely garbled.' Looking to see that the librarian wasn't watching, she logged into the one chatroom, and with a few well-used codes, hacked into the system. As she watched the results, she realized with surprise that the programmer was so high-tech that Pheonix herself couldn't even get in. 'How is that possible?' she wondered. 'Only one other person knows those codes, and that's...'
She stopped, then with a grin, typed in, 'Hey Tweety! How's it going?'
There was no response for a moment, then a savage reply came back: 'Who are you?!?'
Pheonix grinned in the light of the screen, and typed back, 'Only Pheonix, the world's most creative hacker, who taught you those codes your using to cover your tail.'
The reply came back instantly. 'Heather! Well, son of a gun! Found anything out?'
Pheonix laughed, but quietly, so as not to attract attention. 'Sorry, Cares. Nothing. You seem to be doing pretty well yourself, though.'
'Ha! Not a thing. Oh-and that's Saber, now.'
'Ah,' Pheonix wrote. 'Well I am Pheonix. Fits. But-you've found nothing?'
The reply was short. 'Nothing.'
'Well, that could be a good thing.' Pheonix looked around furtively. 'At least the agents haven't got you. Another hacker went missing this week. "Viper". Remember him?'
'Sure. Have you heard from Rafe either? He hasn't been online.'
'Odd,' Pheonix wrote, her puzzled face lit eerily by the screen. 'He's always on. Always.'
'Yeah, I know. You know, we really ought to get together. Call you sometime.'
'Good idea. I'd probably better scram before the librarian notices. See ya.'
'Bye.'
With that short message, the screen suddenly went blank, dark green. Pheonix tilted her head as she looked at the screen, and quickly ejected her disc. She put it in the small black container in her purse that she always carried, and looked at the screen. Suddenly, in brilliant green, letters appeared. '...be careful...'
Without pause, Pheonix typed back, 'Why?'
After a moment, the letters came across her screen again. 'The agents...they're always watching'
Pheonix grinned. 'Yeah, I kinda got that impression.'
A few seconds passed, then the original message repeated itself. '...be careful...'
Then the screen went black.
***
Several uneventful weeks went by, and even though both girls now knew about the strange incident with the computer, neither could come up with any answers. So they continued their hacking, their searching. As far as they could see, they weren't getting anywhere. As others saw it, they were getting too close to the truth.
***
Saber stood, once again disguised as Heather Cares, behind the deli counter at the Sarinia Anpaa. Her mind wasn't really on her work, but she smiled to everyone as they passed, but as she looked up, her smile froze. Approaching the counter was her boss, accompanied by two men. They wore dark suits, reflective sunglasses, wire taps in their ears. The stereotypical FBI agent look.
Saber froze. For a moment, her brain simply wouldn't work, then she was jolted into action. She turned, and darted into the back room, leaving the woman she'd been serving to yell angrily after her. Pushing her way past the other workers in the back, she darted out into the brilliant morning sunlight, blinking. She glanced back once to make sure no one was following her, then dashed to her car. She slid into the front seat, and taking a deep breath, turned the key, praying silently that it'd turn over the first time.
Amazingly, it did, and she gratefully let out the breath she'd been holding. She slammed it into gear, and tires squealing, peeled rubber out of the parking lot. She hit the highway, and kept glancing in the reiwview mirror to make sure she wasn't being followed. She wasn't, so she set course for the first place she could think of. Lulnen. Pheonix's hometown.
***
Pheonix pulled her prune-wrinkled hands out of the soapy dishwater, and picked up her glass. She lifted it to her lips and looked out the glass case in front of her into the coffee shop. As she did so, she nearly chocked on her water when she saw who was standing at the 'til. Spluttering, she dropped her cup into the sink and darted for the back of the kitchen. "Be right back," she said indistinctly to whoever might hear her.
For she'd just seen three men in suits and reflective glasses speaking in even, calm voices to her boss.
She barreled down the basement stairs, and raced through the door into the hall that separated the basement and the back stairs. She paused for a moment, then did the first thing that came to her mind. She darted into the garbage room.
That was hardly the smartest thing she could have done, seeing as this door, which was only closable from the outside, hid the rank closet where the black garbage bags were kept while they waited to be picked up. She stumbled back onto the pile of smelly sacks, and tried desperately to hold her breath, but the odour permeated her very pores.
Her only plan, which really wasn't a plan at all, but a desperate attempt to buy time, was to wait in her until the agents left, or maybe went outside, thinking that that was where she had gone. A few moments later, she could here her boss's voice drifting down the stairs towards her. She clutched the door as tightly closed as she could, and held her breath.
"They said she went downstairs, oh she probably just went outside or something, she had to dump the boxes, see..."
Pheonix was suddenly very glad that she'd thought to dump the boxes only minutes before.
The agent's voice broke in. "We'll wait here for her. You can return to your regular activity."
There was a shuffling before her, and when Pheonix peeked through the hole where the door knob once was, she could see two agents, their backs to her, standing directly in the way of her escaping either up or out. She leaned back on the plastic bags and racked her brains for a means of escape. Then it came to her. Watching the Matrix, hadn't they often repeated that since reality wasn't reality at all, shouldn't she be able to walk through walls and the like?
She stood up, and closed her eyes, and whispered softly, "The spoon is not there." With a leap of faith, she stretched her hands out in front of her-just in case- and stepped forward.
And kept going.
It was true-the wall wasn't there. Oh yes, she could see it, but she was now standing in the storage room, which was separated from the garbage room by a wall, and reasoned "Technically, since there's no door, I HAD to have walked through the wall!"
She looked at the one wall that stood between her and the hall, where a pay phone hung, tantalizingly close. She shook her head slightly, and said, "So, there's two spoons gone missing." And walked through the wall.
***
Saber was weaving desperately through the heavy city traffic, when her cell phone rang. For a moment, she hesitated to touch it. Suppose it was the agents? She paused, and in the pregnant silence, the phone rang again, it's shrill voice screaming for attention. Finally, deciding it couldn't be as bad as wondering who it was, she snatched the phone and with a flick of her thumb, hit the 'talk' button. "Hello?" she said tentatively.
"About time," Pheonix's voice came through, rather tinny, as though it was a bad connection. "You haven't, perhaps, seen a couple guys in dark suits, reflective glasses, the whole kit and kaboodle, on the prowl, have you?"
"Nice time to warn me, Pheonix," Saber said sarcastically. "In fact, I'm on the run right now."
She could sense, rather than hear, Pheonix's quiet snicker. "Nice to know I'm not in on this alone. Look, I don't know if you should head this way, there's a few up here."
"Here too. I figure that up you're way, we can disappear better."
"Are you sure we shouldn't head for Toronto? We can disappear there pretty quick. Go into the subway and NEVER come out."
"Ha. Look, I'll be there in-oh-an hour if I speed, and-"
Pheonix suddenly cut her off. "Gotta go."
"What-" Saber started, but the connection had already been cut. "That girl, " she growled, and slammed her foot down, and the car shot ahead like a rocket.
***
Pheonix dropped the quarter she'd held poised at the slot in, and dialed a random number, but not long distance so she'd be sure it's work. She then turned, the receiver still held in her hand, though she wasn't listening to the ringings. Instead, she glared at the Agent who stood before her, a sardonic smile on his lips.
"Clever, Miss Morgan," he said calmly. "But I'm afraid it won't do you any good. If you'd like to come along with me, now..."
She dropped the receiver, and left it swinging, as the voice on the other end, someone unknown, demanded, "Hello?....Hello?....Is there anybody there?...."
***
Saber drove well above the speed-limit, shocked at the lack of traffic. Around every curve she expected to run into a police speed trap, but there was nothing. She was starting to get nervous, but thought that this was maybe just her lucky day. She swung into Lulnen, the streets oddly empty.
There was a sudden screech, and Saber slammed on the brakes as a black car pulled out directly in front of her. She went to turn around, just in time to see another black car pull in behind her, parked across the road so she couldn't get past. The passenger door of the car before her opened, and an agent stepped out. He opened the passenger door of Saber's car, and she just stared straight ahead in shock as he sat down.
"If you'd just like to follow the other car, Miss Cares..." he said calmly, and Saber, seeing no other choice, put her car in gear and began to drive.
***
Pheonix looked up as the door opened, and sighed when she saw Saber being led in. "They got you?" She whispered, and Saber nodded.
"Well, young ladies, you have an amazing record for two young people." The agent said calmly, dropping two thick file folders on the table in front of them. Definently, they just crossed their arms and glared back. Their reaction seemed to unsettle him slightly, but he continued, unruffled.
"As you can see, we have a complete file of your various escapades, and you have done remarkably well."
"Not well enough, obviously," Saber said, a dangerous edge to her voice. "Since you caught us."
The agent arched an eyebrow. "Interesting. Any other comments while your at it?"
"Yeah," Pheonix said, leaning forward and leaning an elbow on the table. "You are really boring to listen to, you know that? Droning on in monotone, you could double for my history teacher. Why don't you add a little animation to your speech? Personally, I'd be more creeped put by a perpetually happy FBI agent than a deadpan one. Deadpan's normal. Haven't you ever seen the X-Files?"
He gave her an odd look. "Beg pardon?"
Pheonix rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just shut up?"
The agent's eyes narrowed. "I believe that can be arranged for you," he intoned, his subtle voice taking on a harder edge.
Pheonix's eyes widened, and she tried to open her mouth, only to find it partially sealed. She looked with horror at Saber, to find her friend had the same problem. A single, desperate thought ran through Pheonix's brain, like a runaway train: There is no spoon. If they can do it to me, I can do it to them.
Pheonix took a deep breath, and converted every once of energy into concentrated on reversing the effects. For a moment, nothing happened, then she suddenly ripped her lips apart, and the agents touched their mouths in bewilderment as they began to seal up. "Fight it, Saber!" Pheonix screamed, then leaping up, slammed the table over so it toppled onto the agents. As they began to throw it up, Pheonix gasped, "There is no spoon!" Once before running straight at the wall.
She shot through it, then spun around and gripped the doorknob. It was firmly locked, so she glanced at her army boot clad feet, and shrugged. Rearing back, Pheonix slammed her foot into the door, and it splintered inward, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces. Saber immediately ran through the door, and they looked quickly around the hall.
"They'll call the alarm soon," Saber gasped.
"I'll be surprised if they haven't already," Pheonix replied, equally breathless. "Say, what happened to your car?"
"It's right outside."
Pheonix raced to the large window, and looked down. They were in an apartment in small town Lulnen, only 2 floors up. Saber's car was parked by the sidewalk, directly below, flanked by two black ones. "Feeling up, or rather, down, to it?" Pheonix asked with a mischievous grin.
Saber pulled back out of the window. "What are you, crazy?!?"
Pheonix grinned ferally. "You know it!" With that, she lept out, pulling Saber with her.
The girls tumbled through the air, landing on the roof of Saber's small car. As they rolled off the roof onto the sidewalk, Saber surveyed the damage. Seeing several dents, she cried, "My car! Look what you did to my car!"
Pheonix shrugged. "We'll get you a new one. We can do that. Eventually."
Saber chose to ignore her friend's remark as she slid into the driver's seat. Pheonix hopped in beside her, and looked behind them as the car began to speed along the road. Agents began to pour out of the building, and Pheonix's eyes alighted on one of them. "Say, that agent there. He looks alot younger than the rest of them, don't you think?" Saber grit her teeth and kept driving. "I wouldn't know. I'm trying to drive. "
"Oh, sorry. But really, he looks about our age. Not a typical agent at all." She turned around in her seat as the car turned the corner. Saber slammed down the gas pedal, and the car shot down the highway, out of town.
***
"Guys, check this out."
Morpheus, Trinity, Neo, and their newest team member, a twelve year old named Viper, turned to look at the screen. "What is it, Tank?" Morpheus asked.
"Agent activity. As in major agent activity. Looks like they've got a couple normals with them too."
"Normals?" Trinity asked with the slightest of smirks.
Tank shrugged. "Y'know, ordinary guys."
"Wait a second," Neo broke in suddenly. "Tank, move over."
Tank obediently made room for him, and Neo leaned over the computer. "I recognize some of these codes, from the time I deleted that agent. They're somehow reprogramming those agents."
"You're kidding," Viper gasped.
"No, and-oh, man..." Neo gasped, and typed furiously on the keyboard. "That's not possible..."
"What's not possible, Neo?" Morpheus demanded.
"One of them just walked through a wall," Morpheus said matter-of-factly. "Which shouldn't be possible."
Morpheus shook his head. "Possible or not, Tank, watch them. Don't you dare let them out of your sight."
***
The girls drove in silence for several minutes, then when they came close to an intersection, Saber automatically clicked on the right turn signal.
"Where are you going?" Pheonix asked in surprise.
"Toronto, like you suggested," Saber said through gritted teeth.
"Wait!" Pheonix cried, and without waiting for a response, took hold of the steering wheel and yanked it to the left. The car skidded around the corner so fast, it left a long, black rubber streak, and the car swayed dangerously on two wheels for a couple tense seconds. Then it righted itself, and raced down the street.
"What do you think your doing?!?" Saber screamed. "You're gonna kill us!" "Nope," Pheonix said calmly, and this time yanked the steering wheel to the right.
There was another heart-wrenching moment of skidding, then they sped up a steep hill. The car didn't even slow at the stop sign, and Saber gave up trying to wrestle the wheel out of Pheonix's grip. Another two wheel left hand turn, then Pheonix leaned her foot over and slammed on the brakes. The car skidded to a halt, throwing both of them forward in their seats.
"Your destroying my car!" Saber cried. "This ain't some movie where the hero can't die, you realize!"
"Of course," Pheonix said calmly, turned the car off, took the keys, then hopped out of the car. "C'mon."
"Where are you going?!?" Saber demanded, also climbing out. "And give me back my keys!"
"Later. Right now, we need to get inside." She pointed with her thumb at the huge, dark building that loomed behind her. "E.F. Madwin. My high school."
Pheonix began to walk up the sidewalk, and Saber hurried to catch up with her. "Uh, technically, wouldn't it be closed right now?"
"Yep."
"Then getting inside would mean breaking and entering? As in illegal?!?"
"Only partly right." Pheonix stopped by the brick wall. "Look, I have now walked through three different walls. You saw me. You also saw that we can control the Matrix, at least partially. If I can do it, so can you. C'mon, through the wall."
Saber took a step back. "Why, if you don't mind my asking?"
"We need the internet. I think there's something I came too close to, the other day. It deleted all the files on the school computer. Anyway, no one's noticed yet, but I got another message just before it all quit. I think it was the Matrix."
"What, the message?"
"No, what I got too close to. The message was them telling me to back off, that I was meddling in things that weren't my concern. They claimed I'd 'just get in trouble.' I told them it wasn't going to stop me."
"And if the message senders 'happened' to be Matrix agents?"
Pheonix shrugged. "Then I'm in trouble."
Saber shuddered. "Oh yeah, no biggie. Hey-I'll bet that's why those Matrix agents grabbed us this afternoon!"
Pheonix shook her head. "No way. If it was because of that, they wouldn't've grabbed you, too. You had nothing to do with that incident. There was no way they could've connected you to that. Just the same, though, there's no reason to take unnecessary risks. I'll go in, access the 'net, and you can stay out here and wait for me. Oh, and I'm taking the keys."
Saber looked around quickly, then shuddered again. "Never mind, I'm comin'."
Pheonix laughed lightly, then stepped up to the wall, turned sideways, and walked through. Saber shook her head. "You make it look so easy," she muttered. She took a deep breathe, looked the wall up and down, and stepped forward. "There are no rules," she whispered, and stepped through.
Pheonix pulled her the rest of the way through, and grinned. "Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
Saber shuddered again. "Yeah. Just don't make me do that again."
Pheonix grinned. "C'mon, computers are this way. I know how to get past the motion detectors. I've practiced, early in the morning, when there ain't many people in here. Trust me, it's not too difficult."
Together, the two crept across the room, and finally reached the computer area. With a relaxed sigh, Pheonix sank into a chair, and logged into one of the computers. A few well chosen commands, and she was soon surfing the 'net.
"What are we looking for?" Saber asked softly.
"This." Pheonix hit the enter key, and the screen suddenly went black. Then, like a cascade, green code began to stream across the screen. "There. The Matrix."
Saber whistled lowly. "So, what does it say?"
Pheonix shrugged. "I have no idea, but I have a few theories. The first is this. Do you recognize any shapes or anything in that picture?"
Saber shrugged. "No."
Pheonix let her finger trace a shape on the screen. "Don't tell me that doesn't look like North America."
Saber gasped. "Your right!"
"And here," Pheonix typed in a few codes. Suddenly the view changed, and Saber whistled.
"That looks remarkably like this room, Pheonix."
"Does, doesn't it?" A few keystrokes later, and Pheonix sat back. "Who would've thought," she said slowly.
Then Saber leaned forward, and using the mouse, highlighted a small blob of code. "Think I should try it?" Saber grinned.
"Try what?" Pheonix asked warily.
"This." Saber hit the delete key, and Pheonix let out a shriek as the computer monitor next to them disappeared, as completely as if it had never existed. "Cool," Saber grinned.
***
"Yeow!" Tank cried, making everybody in the room swivel to look at him. "They just went and deleted something!"
"Deleted something?!?" Morpheus demanded.
"Just telling ya' what I'm seeing, boss. Those kids just went and deleted something."
"Contact them, Tank. We can't let this get too far."
***
Pheonix groaned as the screen went completely blank, erasing even the Matrix code. "Not again," she sighed.
Suddenly, green code flashed across the screen, reading, '...get out of the Matrix. you don't realize what your doing'
'oh, I think I know perfectly well what we're doing,' Pheonix typed back.
'you want the agents after you?!?' the fierce message came back.
'too late. we're already running from them.' Saber leaned over, and typed the message in.
No message came back for a long moment, then a message suddenly appeared. 'stay there. we're coming'
Then the screen went completely black, and the two girls just stared at each other.
***
"I'm going in," Neo said resolutely, and headed for the chair used to access the Matrix.
"We're all going, Neo," Morpheus said pointedly.
Neo shrugged. "But I'm going to get those two to the rendezvous point. I have to find out how they managed that modification on the Agent's system. Besides, I'm more likely to be able to get them out."
Morpheus sighed. "Alright, Neo. Just be careful."
Neo gave him his infectious grin. "Of course."
***
The two were still staring at each other, as though trying to decide whether or not to believe that last message, when a loud, resounding crash came from the general direction of the school office, and they heard someone angrily swear. "What a stupid place to put a telephone!"
The girl's eyes widened, but there was simply silence for a few seconds, then suddenly, another crash, much louder than the first, followed. Then, even louder shouts of disgust echoed through the empty halls, and the door to the library was suddenly flung open. Both girls swung to look at the doorway, and saw a tall, very handsome, brunette man, wearing all black leather. He turned to look at them through reflective sunglasses, and they saw his angry expression soften slightly when he saw them.
He straightened, and in a rich, calm, voice, asked, "You the ones messing with the Matrix?"
"Yeah," Pheonix said. "You must be Neo."
He grinned. "The One and only."
Saber stood up. "Good. Then you can get us out of this place. And I mean really out. As in permanently."
Neo gave her a slight smile. "Sure. Now, were my eyes deceiving me, or did you two really walk through walls?"
Pheonix shrugged lightly as she stood up, zipping up her light jacket. "A gift, I guess. Don't you walk through walls?"
Neo shook his head slightly. "Never have, but then, there's a first time for everything."
Saber's eyes widened, as she stopped in the movement of putting on a pair of sunglasses, too. "You've never walked through a wall? And we just did?!?"
"Seems so," Neo shrugged.
Pheonix whistled softly. "Cool," was her only statement.
Saber rolled her eyes. "Look, we gonna get out of here, or what?"
"Sure," Neo said casually, and made a mock bow, letting the girls precede him out of the library.
Pheonix tested the front door, and snorted in disgust. "Locked."
"Actually," Neo said with a little grin, "I have a master key. We could open it that way, but I've been anxious to see you walk through walls. Can you walk through glass doors the same way?"
Pheonix shrugged. "I imagine so." Then, without pause, or any thoughts beforehand, she calmly walked through the wall. The sight was rather odd, really, watching her walk through the clear glass like it wasn't even there.
Once outside, she turned, and coquetiquishly, waved to those still inside. Saber frowned, but Neo looked impressed. "She does that often?" he asked Saber, who looked even less impressed at the question.
"Sometimes," she conceded.
Neo grinned. "And you can do that too?"
"I have," she said grudgingly, not willing to admit that it had only been once.
"Willing to show me?" he asked, waving a hand towards the door in a mock bow.
Saber scowled, but turned to the door, took a deep breath breath, and walked through. She finally emerged on the other side, and Pheonix grinned at her. "Nice job, Sabe. The things you'll do to impress a guy, right?"
"Pheonix!" Saber said sharply, and smacked her friend playfully on the arm.
A moment later, Neo appeared, stepping through the door. He shuddered, and said, "Frankly, I don't know how you two stand it. That's the weirdest feeling I've ever had."
Pheonix shrugged. "Like I said, a gift, I guess."
"Now, have you got a car, or do we have to drive mine?" Saber asked.
"Yours," Neo said with a shrug.
"I'm driving!" Pheonix cried, and raced for the car. Before the other two had even reached it, she had herself comfortably settled in the driver's seat, the keys in, and the engine iddling.
"But you haven't got a liscence," Saber retorted sharply.
"So? I can drive, though." she said, defensively.
"No," Neo said calmly, "I drive. Otherwise, you'll never get to the rendezvous point."
Pheonix scowled slightly, but slid over into the front passenger seat, which made Saber scowl. Saber climbed into the back seat, though, and sat directly behind Neo, which made Pheonix scowl even deeper.
"Let's go, shall we?" Neo asked lightly, apparently not noticing the scowls, and put the car into gear.
Disclaimer: This story is based on the movie The Matrix starring Keanu Reeves. After watching this movie with my friend, we sat and discussed for some time whether our 'reality' really is reality or not. I can promise you, in all truth, that the conversation between the Heathers really did, at least in our matrix, occur. Other than that, we'll leave the deciding up to you.
Trinity leaned over Neo's shoulder to see what he was working on. "So what exactly is this thing supposed to do?"
Neo continued to type on the computer, his eyes on the screen as lines of complex code streamed by. "This program will implant a device in all copies of the tape, which will allow us to monitor any conversations regarding the Matrix."
Trinity gave him a skeptical look. "And how do you expect to be able to do that?"
"It's a highly sensitive 'bug'," he explained, his eyes never leaving the screen. "It'll pick up conversations up to a mile away. We can use it to tag anyone who seems a likely prospect to be pulled out."
"So how do you get the right conversation? You don't want it to be picking up useless conversations. It won't do us any good."
"True." He finally pushed back from the computer, and eyed the other. "It has special keywords, like 'matrix' and 'reality'. If the conversation doesn't show up with anything productive after an hour, it automatically shuts down until the next time the keywords are heard."
Trinity shrugged. "Let's hope it works."
Neo smiled slightly. "Oh, it will. It will."
***
"Wow," Heather sighed as her friend ejected the movie from the VCR. "That was an awesome movie. I loved it!"
Her friend, oddly enough, also named Heather, grinned. "I know. I've seen it so many times I've practically got it memorized."
The first Heather, Heather Morgan, laughed. "I love that line, 'Okey Dokey'. Ha! That was great! I really thought he wasn't gonna be able to do it, though, at one point."
"What, jump onto the building?" Heather Cares pushed her auburn hair out of her eyes. "Of course he couldn't do it then. He didn't believe he could do it, so he couldn't."
"No," the other disagreed, shaking her head so her reddish gold hair flew everywhere. "I mean that battle. The oracle said he wasn't the One. I felt so let down, like it was me that wasn't the One."
"Oh, I know," the second sighed. "I was so let down the first time I saw it. I mean, think about it-Morpheus believes in Neo so resolutely, and so does everyone else, and here Neo believes that he's not worth the bother, because of what she said."
"It's true though," the first said as they walked down the hall. "It was was exactly what he needed to hear."
"Yeah," Heather C. nodded. "It was neat."
"Y'know, though, it does make you think."
"How so?"
Heather M. settled herself onto the mattress that sat on the floor. She was silent for a moment, and when she did speak, it was slowly, which was quite odd for her. "Well, y'know, what if the Matrix is real? No, wait, I mean, what if Neo and them are really escapees from the system, and we really are batteries for machines? What if our reality isn't really reality?"
"Hmm." Heather C., older than the other's 16 years by 5 more, sat down slowly. "That's really deep. What if it is?" She sighed and leaned back against the wall. "I don't know. Sometimes I've wondered about it myself."
"Sometimes, I think my life is really a dream, and someday I'm gonna wake up to discover that my life was nothing but my subconscious shifting and processing information."
The elder laughed. "That would explain alot. But seriously, there have been people who've wondered about that for centuries. There was this philosopher who asked, 'What if my life is someone else's dream? What happens to me when they wake up?'"
"Ohh," The younger teased. "Now you're talking deep."
Heather C. laughed, and for a moment, there was silence, the elder idly stroking her cat, Tigger.
Finally, Heather M. broke the silence. "But what if it is true? I'd rather have the truth."
"Even when it's like that?" the other queried.
"I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't. I mean, I couldn't just live a lie. I'd need the truth!" she slammed her fist into the mattress, which bounced, not quite giving the desired effect.
The other looked off into the space. "I agree. We're part of that group that's young enough to accept the truth. I couldn't live without it."
"Yeah. That's the question, isn't it? What if...?"
***
Heather sat at the computer screen in the school library, her fingers flying as she watched the screen. No one around her was paying any attention to the ordinary girl with glasses. She logged onto a web site with the name 'Pheonix', and typed in an entry. Her search object-a man named Morpheus. Her eyes followed the letters that flashed across the screen, and she stopped at an article. It was written by someone named 'Saber', and it was a request for information regarding Morpheus.
Curious, Pheonix, as she was now known, clicked on the link titled 'contact me' and ran over the parameters. 'Clever,' she thought. 'They aren't taking any chances. The email address is anonymous on a free internet connection, and any chat room location is completely garbled.' Looking to see that the librarian wasn't watching, she logged into the one chatroom, and with a few well-used codes, hacked into the system. As she watched the results, she realized with surprise that the programmer was so high-tech that Pheonix herself couldn't even get in. 'How is that possible?' she wondered. 'Only one other person knows those codes, and that's...'
She stopped, then with a grin, typed in, 'Hey Tweety! How's it going?'
There was no response for a moment, then a savage reply came back: 'Who are you?!?'
Pheonix grinned in the light of the screen, and typed back, 'Only Pheonix, the world's most creative hacker, who taught you those codes your using to cover your tail.'
The reply came back instantly. 'Heather! Well, son of a gun! Found anything out?'
Pheonix laughed, but quietly, so as not to attract attention. 'Sorry, Cares. Nothing. You seem to be doing pretty well yourself, though.'
'Ha! Not a thing. Oh-and that's Saber, now.'
'Ah,' Pheonix wrote. 'Well I am Pheonix. Fits. But-you've found nothing?'
The reply was short. 'Nothing.'
'Well, that could be a good thing.' Pheonix looked around furtively. 'At least the agents haven't got you. Another hacker went missing this week. "Viper". Remember him?'
'Sure. Have you heard from Rafe either? He hasn't been online.'
'Odd,' Pheonix wrote, her puzzled face lit eerily by the screen. 'He's always on. Always.'
'Yeah, I know. You know, we really ought to get together. Call you sometime.'
'Good idea. I'd probably better scram before the librarian notices. See ya.'
'Bye.'
With that short message, the screen suddenly went blank, dark green. Pheonix tilted her head as she looked at the screen, and quickly ejected her disc. She put it in the small black container in her purse that she always carried, and looked at the screen. Suddenly, in brilliant green, letters appeared. '...be careful...'
Without pause, Pheonix typed back, 'Why?'
After a moment, the letters came across her screen again. 'The agents...they're always watching'
Pheonix grinned. 'Yeah, I kinda got that impression.'
A few seconds passed, then the original message repeated itself. '...be careful...'
Then the screen went black.
***
Several uneventful weeks went by, and even though both girls now knew about the strange incident with the computer, neither could come up with any answers. So they continued their hacking, their searching. As far as they could see, they weren't getting anywhere. As others saw it, they were getting too close to the truth.
***
Saber stood, once again disguised as Heather Cares, behind the deli counter at the Sarinia Anpaa. Her mind wasn't really on her work, but she smiled to everyone as they passed, but as she looked up, her smile froze. Approaching the counter was her boss, accompanied by two men. They wore dark suits, reflective sunglasses, wire taps in their ears. The stereotypical FBI agent look.
Saber froze. For a moment, her brain simply wouldn't work, then she was jolted into action. She turned, and darted into the back room, leaving the woman she'd been serving to yell angrily after her. Pushing her way past the other workers in the back, she darted out into the brilliant morning sunlight, blinking. She glanced back once to make sure no one was following her, then dashed to her car. She slid into the front seat, and taking a deep breath, turned the key, praying silently that it'd turn over the first time.
Amazingly, it did, and she gratefully let out the breath she'd been holding. She slammed it into gear, and tires squealing, peeled rubber out of the parking lot. She hit the highway, and kept glancing in the reiwview mirror to make sure she wasn't being followed. She wasn't, so she set course for the first place she could think of. Lulnen. Pheonix's hometown.
***
Pheonix pulled her prune-wrinkled hands out of the soapy dishwater, and picked up her glass. She lifted it to her lips and looked out the glass case in front of her into the coffee shop. As she did so, she nearly chocked on her water when she saw who was standing at the 'til. Spluttering, she dropped her cup into the sink and darted for the back of the kitchen. "Be right back," she said indistinctly to whoever might hear her.
For she'd just seen three men in suits and reflective glasses speaking in even, calm voices to her boss.
She barreled down the basement stairs, and raced through the door into the hall that separated the basement and the back stairs. She paused for a moment, then did the first thing that came to her mind. She darted into the garbage room.
That was hardly the smartest thing she could have done, seeing as this door, which was only closable from the outside, hid the rank closet where the black garbage bags were kept while they waited to be picked up. She stumbled back onto the pile of smelly sacks, and tried desperately to hold her breath, but the odour permeated her very pores.
Her only plan, which really wasn't a plan at all, but a desperate attempt to buy time, was to wait in her until the agents left, or maybe went outside, thinking that that was where she had gone. A few moments later, she could here her boss's voice drifting down the stairs towards her. She clutched the door as tightly closed as she could, and held her breath.
"They said she went downstairs, oh she probably just went outside or something, she had to dump the boxes, see..."
Pheonix was suddenly very glad that she'd thought to dump the boxes only minutes before.
The agent's voice broke in. "We'll wait here for her. You can return to your regular activity."
There was a shuffling before her, and when Pheonix peeked through the hole where the door knob once was, she could see two agents, their backs to her, standing directly in the way of her escaping either up or out. She leaned back on the plastic bags and racked her brains for a means of escape. Then it came to her. Watching the Matrix, hadn't they often repeated that since reality wasn't reality at all, shouldn't she be able to walk through walls and the like?
She stood up, and closed her eyes, and whispered softly, "The spoon is not there." With a leap of faith, she stretched her hands out in front of her-just in case- and stepped forward.
And kept going.
It was true-the wall wasn't there. Oh yes, she could see it, but she was now standing in the storage room, which was separated from the garbage room by a wall, and reasoned "Technically, since there's no door, I HAD to have walked through the wall!"
She looked at the one wall that stood between her and the hall, where a pay phone hung, tantalizingly close. She shook her head slightly, and said, "So, there's two spoons gone missing." And walked through the wall.
***
Saber was weaving desperately through the heavy city traffic, when her cell phone rang. For a moment, she hesitated to touch it. Suppose it was the agents? She paused, and in the pregnant silence, the phone rang again, it's shrill voice screaming for attention. Finally, deciding it couldn't be as bad as wondering who it was, she snatched the phone and with a flick of her thumb, hit the 'talk' button. "Hello?" she said tentatively.
"About time," Pheonix's voice came through, rather tinny, as though it was a bad connection. "You haven't, perhaps, seen a couple guys in dark suits, reflective glasses, the whole kit and kaboodle, on the prowl, have you?"
"Nice time to warn me, Pheonix," Saber said sarcastically. "In fact, I'm on the run right now."
She could sense, rather than hear, Pheonix's quiet snicker. "Nice to know I'm not in on this alone. Look, I don't know if you should head this way, there's a few up here."
"Here too. I figure that up you're way, we can disappear better."
"Are you sure we shouldn't head for Toronto? We can disappear there pretty quick. Go into the subway and NEVER come out."
"Ha. Look, I'll be there in-oh-an hour if I speed, and-"
Pheonix suddenly cut her off. "Gotta go."
"What-" Saber started, but the connection had already been cut. "That girl, " she growled, and slammed her foot down, and the car shot ahead like a rocket.
***
Pheonix dropped the quarter she'd held poised at the slot in, and dialed a random number, but not long distance so she'd be sure it's work. She then turned, the receiver still held in her hand, though she wasn't listening to the ringings. Instead, she glared at the Agent who stood before her, a sardonic smile on his lips.
"Clever, Miss Morgan," he said calmly. "But I'm afraid it won't do you any good. If you'd like to come along with me, now..."
She dropped the receiver, and left it swinging, as the voice on the other end, someone unknown, demanded, "Hello?....Hello?....Is there anybody there?...."
***
Saber drove well above the speed-limit, shocked at the lack of traffic. Around every curve she expected to run into a police speed trap, but there was nothing. She was starting to get nervous, but thought that this was maybe just her lucky day. She swung into Lulnen, the streets oddly empty.
There was a sudden screech, and Saber slammed on the brakes as a black car pulled out directly in front of her. She went to turn around, just in time to see another black car pull in behind her, parked across the road so she couldn't get past. The passenger door of the car before her opened, and an agent stepped out. He opened the passenger door of Saber's car, and she just stared straight ahead in shock as he sat down.
"If you'd just like to follow the other car, Miss Cares..." he said calmly, and Saber, seeing no other choice, put her car in gear and began to drive.
***
Pheonix looked up as the door opened, and sighed when she saw Saber being led in. "They got you?" She whispered, and Saber nodded.
"Well, young ladies, you have an amazing record for two young people." The agent said calmly, dropping two thick file folders on the table in front of them. Definently, they just crossed their arms and glared back. Their reaction seemed to unsettle him slightly, but he continued, unruffled.
"As you can see, we have a complete file of your various escapades, and you have done remarkably well."
"Not well enough, obviously," Saber said, a dangerous edge to her voice. "Since you caught us."
The agent arched an eyebrow. "Interesting. Any other comments while your at it?"
"Yeah," Pheonix said, leaning forward and leaning an elbow on the table. "You are really boring to listen to, you know that? Droning on in monotone, you could double for my history teacher. Why don't you add a little animation to your speech? Personally, I'd be more creeped put by a perpetually happy FBI agent than a deadpan one. Deadpan's normal. Haven't you ever seen the X-Files?"
He gave her an odd look. "Beg pardon?"
Pheonix rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just shut up?"
The agent's eyes narrowed. "I believe that can be arranged for you," he intoned, his subtle voice taking on a harder edge.
Pheonix's eyes widened, and she tried to open her mouth, only to find it partially sealed. She looked with horror at Saber, to find her friend had the same problem. A single, desperate thought ran through Pheonix's brain, like a runaway train: There is no spoon. If they can do it to me, I can do it to them.
Pheonix took a deep breath, and converted every once of energy into concentrated on reversing the effects. For a moment, nothing happened, then she suddenly ripped her lips apart, and the agents touched their mouths in bewilderment as they began to seal up. "Fight it, Saber!" Pheonix screamed, then leaping up, slammed the table over so it toppled onto the agents. As they began to throw it up, Pheonix gasped, "There is no spoon!" Once before running straight at the wall.
She shot through it, then spun around and gripped the doorknob. It was firmly locked, so she glanced at her army boot clad feet, and shrugged. Rearing back, Pheonix slammed her foot into the door, and it splintered inward, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces. Saber immediately ran through the door, and they looked quickly around the hall.
"They'll call the alarm soon," Saber gasped.
"I'll be surprised if they haven't already," Pheonix replied, equally breathless. "Say, what happened to your car?"
"It's right outside."
Pheonix raced to the large window, and looked down. They were in an apartment in small town Lulnen, only 2 floors up. Saber's car was parked by the sidewalk, directly below, flanked by two black ones. "Feeling up, or rather, down, to it?" Pheonix asked with a mischievous grin.
Saber pulled back out of the window. "What are you, crazy?!?"
Pheonix grinned ferally. "You know it!" With that, she lept out, pulling Saber with her.
The girls tumbled through the air, landing on the roof of Saber's small car. As they rolled off the roof onto the sidewalk, Saber surveyed the damage. Seeing several dents, she cried, "My car! Look what you did to my car!"
Pheonix shrugged. "We'll get you a new one. We can do that. Eventually."
Saber chose to ignore her friend's remark as she slid into the driver's seat. Pheonix hopped in beside her, and looked behind them as the car began to speed along the road. Agents began to pour out of the building, and Pheonix's eyes alighted on one of them. "Say, that agent there. He looks alot younger than the rest of them, don't you think?" Saber grit her teeth and kept driving. "I wouldn't know. I'm trying to drive. "
"Oh, sorry. But really, he looks about our age. Not a typical agent at all." She turned around in her seat as the car turned the corner. Saber slammed down the gas pedal, and the car shot down the highway, out of town.
***
"Guys, check this out."
Morpheus, Trinity, Neo, and their newest team member, a twelve year old named Viper, turned to look at the screen. "What is it, Tank?" Morpheus asked.
"Agent activity. As in major agent activity. Looks like they've got a couple normals with them too."
"Normals?" Trinity asked with the slightest of smirks.
Tank shrugged. "Y'know, ordinary guys."
"Wait a second," Neo broke in suddenly. "Tank, move over."
Tank obediently made room for him, and Neo leaned over the computer. "I recognize some of these codes, from the time I deleted that agent. They're somehow reprogramming those agents."
"You're kidding," Viper gasped.
"No, and-oh, man..." Neo gasped, and typed furiously on the keyboard. "That's not possible..."
"What's not possible, Neo?" Morpheus demanded.
"One of them just walked through a wall," Morpheus said matter-of-factly. "Which shouldn't be possible."
Morpheus shook his head. "Possible or not, Tank, watch them. Don't you dare let them out of your sight."
***
The girls drove in silence for several minutes, then when they came close to an intersection, Saber automatically clicked on the right turn signal.
"Where are you going?" Pheonix asked in surprise.
"Toronto, like you suggested," Saber said through gritted teeth.
"Wait!" Pheonix cried, and without waiting for a response, took hold of the steering wheel and yanked it to the left. The car skidded around the corner so fast, it left a long, black rubber streak, and the car swayed dangerously on two wheels for a couple tense seconds. Then it righted itself, and raced down the street.
"What do you think your doing?!?" Saber screamed. "You're gonna kill us!" "Nope," Pheonix said calmly, and this time yanked the steering wheel to the right.
There was another heart-wrenching moment of skidding, then they sped up a steep hill. The car didn't even slow at the stop sign, and Saber gave up trying to wrestle the wheel out of Pheonix's grip. Another two wheel left hand turn, then Pheonix leaned her foot over and slammed on the brakes. The car skidded to a halt, throwing both of them forward in their seats.
"Your destroying my car!" Saber cried. "This ain't some movie where the hero can't die, you realize!"
"Of course," Pheonix said calmly, turned the car off, took the keys, then hopped out of the car. "C'mon."
"Where are you going?!?" Saber demanded, also climbing out. "And give me back my keys!"
"Later. Right now, we need to get inside." She pointed with her thumb at the huge, dark building that loomed behind her. "E.F. Madwin. My high school."
Pheonix began to walk up the sidewalk, and Saber hurried to catch up with her. "Uh, technically, wouldn't it be closed right now?"
"Yep."
"Then getting inside would mean breaking and entering? As in illegal?!?"
"Only partly right." Pheonix stopped by the brick wall. "Look, I have now walked through three different walls. You saw me. You also saw that we can control the Matrix, at least partially. If I can do it, so can you. C'mon, through the wall."
Saber took a step back. "Why, if you don't mind my asking?"
"We need the internet. I think there's something I came too close to, the other day. It deleted all the files on the school computer. Anyway, no one's noticed yet, but I got another message just before it all quit. I think it was the Matrix."
"What, the message?"
"No, what I got too close to. The message was them telling me to back off, that I was meddling in things that weren't my concern. They claimed I'd 'just get in trouble.' I told them it wasn't going to stop me."
"And if the message senders 'happened' to be Matrix agents?"
Pheonix shrugged. "Then I'm in trouble."
Saber shuddered. "Oh yeah, no biggie. Hey-I'll bet that's why those Matrix agents grabbed us this afternoon!"
Pheonix shook her head. "No way. If it was because of that, they wouldn't've grabbed you, too. You had nothing to do with that incident. There was no way they could've connected you to that. Just the same, though, there's no reason to take unnecessary risks. I'll go in, access the 'net, and you can stay out here and wait for me. Oh, and I'm taking the keys."
Saber looked around quickly, then shuddered again. "Never mind, I'm comin'."
Pheonix laughed lightly, then stepped up to the wall, turned sideways, and walked through. Saber shook her head. "You make it look so easy," she muttered. She took a deep breathe, looked the wall up and down, and stepped forward. "There are no rules," she whispered, and stepped through.
Pheonix pulled her the rest of the way through, and grinned. "Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
Saber shuddered again. "Yeah. Just don't make me do that again."
Pheonix grinned. "C'mon, computers are this way. I know how to get past the motion detectors. I've practiced, early in the morning, when there ain't many people in here. Trust me, it's not too difficult."
Together, the two crept across the room, and finally reached the computer area. With a relaxed sigh, Pheonix sank into a chair, and logged into one of the computers. A few well chosen commands, and she was soon surfing the 'net.
"What are we looking for?" Saber asked softly.
"This." Pheonix hit the enter key, and the screen suddenly went black. Then, like a cascade, green code began to stream across the screen. "There. The Matrix."
Saber whistled lowly. "So, what does it say?"
Pheonix shrugged. "I have no idea, but I have a few theories. The first is this. Do you recognize any shapes or anything in that picture?"
Saber shrugged. "No."
Pheonix let her finger trace a shape on the screen. "Don't tell me that doesn't look like North America."
Saber gasped. "Your right!"
"And here," Pheonix typed in a few codes. Suddenly the view changed, and Saber whistled.
"That looks remarkably like this room, Pheonix."
"Does, doesn't it?" A few keystrokes later, and Pheonix sat back. "Who would've thought," she said slowly.
Then Saber leaned forward, and using the mouse, highlighted a small blob of code. "Think I should try it?" Saber grinned.
"Try what?" Pheonix asked warily.
"This." Saber hit the delete key, and Pheonix let out a shriek as the computer monitor next to them disappeared, as completely as if it had never existed. "Cool," Saber grinned.
***
"Yeow!" Tank cried, making everybody in the room swivel to look at him. "They just went and deleted something!"
"Deleted something?!?" Morpheus demanded.
"Just telling ya' what I'm seeing, boss. Those kids just went and deleted something."
"Contact them, Tank. We can't let this get too far."
***
Pheonix groaned as the screen went completely blank, erasing even the Matrix code. "Not again," she sighed.
Suddenly, green code flashed across the screen, reading, '...get out of the Matrix. you don't realize what your doing'
'oh, I think I know perfectly well what we're doing,' Pheonix typed back.
'you want the agents after you?!?' the fierce message came back.
'too late. we're already running from them.' Saber leaned over, and typed the message in.
No message came back for a long moment, then a message suddenly appeared. 'stay there. we're coming'
Then the screen went completely black, and the two girls just stared at each other.
***
"I'm going in," Neo said resolutely, and headed for the chair used to access the Matrix.
"We're all going, Neo," Morpheus said pointedly.
Neo shrugged. "But I'm going to get those two to the rendezvous point. I have to find out how they managed that modification on the Agent's system. Besides, I'm more likely to be able to get them out."
Morpheus sighed. "Alright, Neo. Just be careful."
Neo gave him his infectious grin. "Of course."
***
The two were still staring at each other, as though trying to decide whether or not to believe that last message, when a loud, resounding crash came from the general direction of the school office, and they heard someone angrily swear. "What a stupid place to put a telephone!"
The girl's eyes widened, but there was simply silence for a few seconds, then suddenly, another crash, much louder than the first, followed. Then, even louder shouts of disgust echoed through the empty halls, and the door to the library was suddenly flung open. Both girls swung to look at the doorway, and saw a tall, very handsome, brunette man, wearing all black leather. He turned to look at them through reflective sunglasses, and they saw his angry expression soften slightly when he saw them.
He straightened, and in a rich, calm, voice, asked, "You the ones messing with the Matrix?"
"Yeah," Pheonix said. "You must be Neo."
He grinned. "The One and only."
Saber stood up. "Good. Then you can get us out of this place. And I mean really out. As in permanently."
Neo gave her a slight smile. "Sure. Now, were my eyes deceiving me, or did you two really walk through walls?"
Pheonix shrugged lightly as she stood up, zipping up her light jacket. "A gift, I guess. Don't you walk through walls?"
Neo shook his head slightly. "Never have, but then, there's a first time for everything."
Saber's eyes widened, as she stopped in the movement of putting on a pair of sunglasses, too. "You've never walked through a wall? And we just did?!?"
"Seems so," Neo shrugged.
Pheonix whistled softly. "Cool," was her only statement.
Saber rolled her eyes. "Look, we gonna get out of here, or what?"
"Sure," Neo said casually, and made a mock bow, letting the girls precede him out of the library.
Pheonix tested the front door, and snorted in disgust. "Locked."
"Actually," Neo said with a little grin, "I have a master key. We could open it that way, but I've been anxious to see you walk through walls. Can you walk through glass doors the same way?"
Pheonix shrugged. "I imagine so." Then, without pause, or any thoughts beforehand, she calmly walked through the wall. The sight was rather odd, really, watching her walk through the clear glass like it wasn't even there.
Once outside, she turned, and coquetiquishly, waved to those still inside. Saber frowned, but Neo looked impressed. "She does that often?" he asked Saber, who looked even less impressed at the question.
"Sometimes," she conceded.
Neo grinned. "And you can do that too?"
"I have," she said grudgingly, not willing to admit that it had only been once.
"Willing to show me?" he asked, waving a hand towards the door in a mock bow.
Saber scowled, but turned to the door, took a deep breath breath, and walked through. She finally emerged on the other side, and Pheonix grinned at her. "Nice job, Sabe. The things you'll do to impress a guy, right?"
"Pheonix!" Saber said sharply, and smacked her friend playfully on the arm.
A moment later, Neo appeared, stepping through the door. He shuddered, and said, "Frankly, I don't know how you two stand it. That's the weirdest feeling I've ever had."
Pheonix shrugged. "Like I said, a gift, I guess."
"Now, have you got a car, or do we have to drive mine?" Saber asked.
"Yours," Neo said with a shrug.
"I'm driving!" Pheonix cried, and raced for the car. Before the other two had even reached it, she had herself comfortably settled in the driver's seat, the keys in, and the engine iddling.
"But you haven't got a liscence," Saber retorted sharply.
"So? I can drive, though." she said, defensively.
"No," Neo said calmly, "I drive. Otherwise, you'll never get to the rendezvous point."
Pheonix scowled slightly, but slid over into the front passenger seat, which made Saber scowl. Saber climbed into the back seat, though, and sat directly behind Neo, which made Pheonix scowl even deeper.
"Let's go, shall we?" Neo asked lightly, apparently not noticing the scowls, and put the car into gear.