Joint Matrix Fic            Chapter 1:  School House Failure

            "Let's run this one last time.  Binary…"

            "I stay in the car.  If anyone comes I say I'm waiting for a student."

            "Code…"

            "I walk into the office and deliver the note.  Then I come straight back to the car."

            "Neo, Trinity."

            "We will watch the two other main parking lots."

            "Jake…"

            A sigh of annoyance was uttered by their youngest constituent.  "In the halls, making sure things don't get screwed up."

            "And if an agent appears?"

            "Pull a gun, duh."  Morpheus's look stifled her sarcasm and she pulled away from him.  "I was just kidding, gees!"

            "Amethyst…"

            "I'll be outside the office, looking like the target's mother."

            "If she asks a question…"

            "I pretend I have a sore-throat and speak as little as possible."

            "Good.  I assume we all know what we're going to do after we get the target, so I'll let that go."

            "It's almost time," Neo pointed out.

            "Alright.  Let's go."

            Five of the six exited the car all at once.  There was no danger of being caught on tape, as there had been a power-outage two minutes before arrival when a squirrel "happened" to short out the line.  There was no great emergency on behalf of the school, as it had already occurred in the past and they knew what to do to take care of the situation.  Trinity, Amethyst, and Code headed off towards the main entrance on the right while Neo, Jake, and Morpheus headed for the 2nd floor teachers' parking lot.  Morpheus went with Jake to help cover the hallways.  They all wore relatively casual clothing to keep from being easily identified.

            Upon reaching the stairs in front of the main office, Amethyst paused and waited while Code walked into the school and Trinity veered off to the left.  Amé stood with her glasses off and looked up at the side of the building.  She looked for variations in the code where she assumed that windows would be placed.  Quite certain that she was out of anyone's line of sight, she pulled out the picture of a woman and studied her features one last time.  Then she closed her eyes and formed the same exact picture in her mind.  Upon applying it to her body, she opened her eyes, looked down at herself, and saw, with a feeling of accomplishment, that her residual self-image had changed.  Okay, she thought, let's go.

            "Would you have someone deliver this to Jessica Bader, please?"

            "Do you know what class she's in, by any chance?"

            "I think she's in English class right now."

            The secretary pulled out a clipboard from underneath the desk and placed it before Code.  "If you would like to take it to her yourself you can sign your name and phone number and I can issue you a visitor's pass."

            Code smiled and reached for the pen.  "Thank you," she said as she began to scrawl the name "Bridget Matthews" on the paper in neat and orderly cursive.  Once that was done, she took the pass from the secretary's outstretched hand, thanked her again, and began to walk down the hallway to her left.

            She knew where the English class was: down the hall; up the stairs; turn right; first door on the left.  Upon opening the door she saw the teacher's head turn to focus upon her.  Very politely she asked, "May I borrow Jessica Bager for a moment?"

            "Sure," the teacher replied before going back to the book she was reading out of.

            A girl Jake's age walked out of the doorway.  Her inquisitive blue eyes were framed by a thin pair of silver spectacles.  "Jessica?" Code asked.

            "Yes, that's me," she replied.

            Code took the note out of the inside pocket of her jacket.  As the girl took it, she said, "I was told to give this to you."

            The girl opened up the letter and upon looking at the four words clearly printed thereon, her faced blanched.  "Who are you?" she whispered.

            "I'm just a messenger."

           Before she could say anything else, the school's intercom turned on and Jessica was asked to go to the office.  Code, knowing what was going on, turned and started to exit the building.  Jake eventually followed her out, leaving Morpheus to be the only on in the hallways.  Jessica did her best to think rationally and not bolt after the stranger, her feet carrying her as quickly as humanly possible down the hall, down the stairs, and over to the main office.  The secretary at the front desk said, "Your mother's waiting outside for you."

            "Okay," was the only thing that Jessica could think of saying at the time.  Then she turned and started to walk out of the building.

            "What is it?'

            "Something's wrong, but I'm not sure what."

            "Agents?"

            "I don't think so.  The code is different."

            "Alright."

            Neo and Morpheus started to walk back to the car.  Trinity, who had been watching the side parking lot, saw them and went to rejoin them.  Code and Jake returned as well, leaving the most questionable alone.  After a short time, though, the front doors of the school opened and out stepped Jessica, a vapid look of confusion plastered on her face – a look everyone but Amethyst could see.  She had to glean that information from the way the girl spoke.

            "Hey, mom!" Jessica called out, waving a little bit to let her know further that Amé had her attention.  "What's up?"

            Amé touched her hand to her throat and made a face that spoke her feelings.  The younger teen showed a fair amount of sympathy but Amé soon beckoned to be followed.  Jessica unwittingly remained at her "mother's" heels as they walked towards the parking lot where everyone else was waiting for them.  As they approached, Jessica saw all of the people in their car but was not expecting for it to be their actual ride.

            Jessica didn't make it to the car.

            By the time Neo saw what it was, it was too late.  The back end of a nearby car burst into flames, catching the young girl and engulfing her in the blaze.  Amethyst would have been caught as well were it not for Neo jumping out of the car and pushing her a good thirty yards away.  Immediately Binary started the car and began to move it away from the bomb hazard.  All the time, Jessica was screaming.

            As was expected, the flames hit the gas tank and ignited, causing it to erupt and turn the car into a projectile weapon.  The scream of the young girl was cut short and all watched her body be flown half-way across the parking lot and skid several feet before resting, smoldering before another car.  There was no doubt in anyone's mind that she was D.O.A. and no one bothered to go close.  No doubt the intense action would bring severely unwanted visitors.

            The car was brought around and two Neos ran back into it.  Amé was quickly reminded and became herself once more, deeply troubled and shaking uncontrollably.  She hadn't seen the car or the flames or the body of the young teen fly off.  Rather, the code was all she saw but it seemed no less horrifying to the nineteen year-old.  She heard the explosion and the screams and felt the flames lick at her own body.  Binary took them back to their exit point as quickly as humanly possible trailing squad cars behind them.  Amé could only think, She's dead!  How?

            On the same mind-track, Trinity said, "Morpheus!  That's the fourth one at this school alone!"

            "I know that, Trinity," Morpheus replied through his teeth, trying not to snap.  "We all knew that."

            His tone set Amethyst's teeth on edge.  I didn't, she thought.  So they tried to get people out of this school before.  Her mind then snapped back to the ear-shattering scream.  So young! She noted, though she, herself, was only about four years older than Jessica had been.

            "What went wrong?"

            "There's someone inside of the school who's doing it."

            "How do you know?"

            "I saw them through the walls.  I wasn't able to see their face, of course, but it was not an outsider."  Neo paused.  "They knew we were coming, they knew when, and they knew for whom."

            "How?"

            "I don't know.  All I know is that that school isn't safe."

            "Bull…" Jake spat.  "You just don't want to spend time looking around."  Everyone turned their attention towards the runt.  Having issued the challenge she had no intention of backing down.

            "We don't have time," Morpheus said sternly.

            "Why not?  I don't see some huge event that's going to take place within the next week or so that's going to shake the fate of the world."  She waved her hand in front of her, trying to gesticulate her point.  "I don't see why we can't just go back there and find out who is behind this."

            "We'd be too easily recognized from the incident."

            "I wouldn't."  Rather hesitantly she cast her eyes in the direction of Amethyst.  "And neither would she."

            Amé, aware that she was being brought into the conversation, turned her face away from the floor and in the direction of the sound.  "Haven't I done enough getting that girl killed?"  A twin pair of crystal tears fell from her blind eyes.

            "You didn't get her killed," Trinity reassured her.  She wasn't the only one, but it didn't seem to help Amé feel any better about what happened.  "There was nothing we could have done to stop it."

            Except not have started it in the first place.  She tried very hard not to say anything, knowing that whatever came out would probably not be very constructive for anything.  She just needed a night's sleep and some time to work it all out on her own.  Luckily, the conversation returned the focus on Jake.

            "You're proposing having the two of you go to the school and root out a mole," Neo said.

            "Well, yes, Captain Obvious.  Any other revelations?"

            "Jake!" Morpheus barked.

            "Sorry," she spat back, though she felt not the slightest bit apologetic.

            Morpheus's hands came up to rest on his bald scalp and several breaths passed before he spoke again.  "We'll have to spend time planning this out, but I will not deny the possibility that it could work."

            "Would," Jake corrected before she could catch herself.  Having now made her point, she excused herself from the room and headed back to her quarters.

            Morpheus decided that the conversation was over and released everyone else go and get some sleep.  Eventually it was the trio of Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity – as usual – who were left to discuss matters amongst themselves.  Amé absolutely refused help when it was offered; preferring to take her chances with the walls and ladders that plagued the ship.  It was a nightmare in itself getting back to her room, but it made her mood no less sunny than it already wasn't.