The Matrix Linked: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 2:

Several minutes later, on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Tank realizes over comlink, "someone that can expose code around him?! That's unreal." He turns to Morpheus, who is standing between the linked in crew members and the cockpit.

Morpheus concludes over comlink, "this is something we can use to our advantage. Once you get to a safer place, see if you can convince him to join us."

Back in the 2.0 Matrix…

Most of the people seeing what happened had dismissed it as seeing things in disbelief and resume their daily routines as though nothing happened. Some have vanished, along with the vanished Agents. And so some people have run, claiming they saw the code.

Most people though dismiss them as crazy anyway, and they get arrested by other Agents soon after. The park is surrounded by bright white light, trapped between the Matrix and nothingness as the green Matrix code freezes the park's coding dark blue. The same situation in differing settings across the 2.0 Matrix is happening simultaneously with differing areas in bright white light, but with different people and different Agents of varying personal looks.

At the same time…

Neo and Tara lead Chavez deeper into the endless streets, towards a trash can in a dark alley. Footsteps sound off behind them. Tara mutters, "what? We're just going to…?!"

Neo points out, "where wouldn't the Matrix have eyes?"

Tara sighs, "the things I do for freedom."

Chavez realizes, "you see it too…right?" Using the exposed code around Chavez, Neo makes a temporary breach to the sewers below by temporarily altering the code. He dives through the quickly closing up hole in the road below.

Tara points out, "you get used to it. Hold on." She alters the code around her to alter the code around them to hold the hole for a few more seconds, then quickly grabs Chavez and jumps in after Neo. Seconds later, a few Agents come after them…but even their sharp eyes can't see the changed code below their feet.

One of them figures, "they couldn't have gone far." The Agents run deeper into the alley, disappearing into the shadows of the underground with guns ready. Minorities ranging from darker to lighter skin color and from shady backgrounds to rich backgrounds are walking from alley to alley of a dark part of town.

A second Agent sighs, "the code isn't exposed here."

The first Agent asks in a whisper, "how long until repairs are made to the Matrix? We're already risking…!"

The second Agent urges, "the human errors are already being arrested as we speak…quietly." The two Agents walk back the way they came.

The first Agent concludes, "I assume the infected areas have been cut off from the public and from the Matrix until repairs can be made."

The second Agent adds, "of course. The backup areas will be back up within a generation to ensure order."

The first Agent figures, "is there a plan for the One?"

The second Agent chuckles a little, "of course. With the exposed code around Chavez M., we'll find the One soon enough."

Down below…

Tara reluctantly sits down and Neo uneasily sits down against the sewer walls around them and Chavez. Tara wonders, "what's wrong, Neo?"

Neo sighs a little, "after that park nearly got swallowed into nothingness…it stayed there. And everything following it seems to be the same. We may have just lost a lot of potential recruits."

Chavez wonders, "could you please explain to me what the hell is going on here? I've had my share of tragedy…but this is all like something out of a video game cartridge."

Neo figures, "it is a bit unusual. Right now though, I'm offering you a choice."

Chavez chuckles a little, "Judgment Day, huh? Well, I'll take my chances." Neo takes out a blue pill and a red pill, one in each outstretched hand.

Neo offers, "the blue pill will have you wake up from Cyberspace, but the red pill will keep you in Cyberspace. Believe what you want to believe, but that's the choice." After a few seconds, Chavez reaches for the red pill. Neo makes a gentle fist over the blue pill and puts it back in his jacket pocket as Chavez takes the red pill.

Tara gently offers a clear water bottle to Chavez, "here you go." Chavez takes it to help drink down the red pill…and to help satisfy his great thirst. He drinks the whole thing.

Chavez sighs, "thank you."

Tara adds, "you're welcome." She turns to Neo uneasily, "you'll at least put in a good word for me?"

Neo assures her, "you did good, Tara. Never forget that." Then, the exposed code goes back into hiding as Chavez wakes up in the physical world.

In the physical world of the Machines…

Chavez gets up from a red liquid filled pod, noticing columns and rows galore of more red liquid filled pods connected to the physical wiring of the Matrix through greenish black bioelectrical structures. He mutters uneasily, "I think I'm going to be sick!"

After a while of letting his eyes adjust a little, he sees the horror of the Machines coming after him. Chavez, seeing no other option, jumps over the side and down some metal tubes. He slides down into the seemingly endless water, seeing the Nebuchadnezzar as a speck beyond many Machines coming after him. Chavez starts breathing through his tattered clothes, tearing his entire shirt off of him and wrapping them around his head to breathe better through the thin air bubbles trapped in his shirt. He tries to get up to the surface, but in a minute passes out from lack of air. The Machines close in, aiming their lasers and claws at his body.

A minute ago, on the Nebuchadnezzar…

Tank urges from the floor, "finally got the EMP back online."

Morpheus points out, "good…because we'll need it. Naimah?" He turns to a teenage girl with shoulder length purple hair next to the control pad near still plugged in Neo and Tara.

Naimah responds, "establishing a call at the nearest payphone…now." She presses some buttons on the control pad near the plugged in Neo and the plugged in Tara.

Trinity alerts Morpheus, "sensors just picked up an unconscious body at coordinates 1^20-1^16-1^04-0^11-1^16-0^05."

Morpheus holds back a sigh in hidden fear, "that's Machine territory. It's going to be close. Have we got the Machine lasers connected to the Nebuchadnezzar yet?"

A man with medium brown hair reveals, "yes, sir…but it might need some adjustments in programming."

Morpheus urges, "it'll be good enough, Herold. Time to test them out."

Trinity figures with a chuckle, "way ahead of you." Trinity presses some buttons on the control pad in front of her to activate the refitted Machine lasers mounted on top of the Nebuchadnezzar, which looks like they were taken out along with Machine eyepieces around them. Some Machine lasers get sliced to pieces by the lasers, making some of the Machines explode. The few remaining Machines over Chavez fire back at the Nebuchadnezzar, but the Nebuchadnezzar gets past the lasers undamaged by zigzagging deeper into the water. Trinity mutters, "not so tough now, are you?"

Morpheus suggests deeply, "Trinity?"

Trinity sighs a little in realization, "sorry."

Tank wonders at his post, "should I…?"

Morpheus figures determinedly, "I'll get him myself." He heads to the airlock. But on the way, Naimah turns to him.

She asks, "umm…Morpheus? I'm getting some weird readings here."

Morpheus suggests, "talk to Tank. He'll help you get Neo and Tara back." He continues to the airlock, not even looking behind him as he takes out some scuba gear. Tank goes over to a somewhat fazed Naimah. Morpheus opens and closes the airlock behind him. He proceeds to put on the scuba gear and open the watery bottom of the airlock as quickly as possible.

Tank asks, "what kind of…? Ohh." He notices fluctuations on the Matrix code being detected by the Nebuchadnezzar's computers, even though Neo and Tara are mostly fine physically. Tank suggests, "can you clear it up?"

Naimah sighs a little as she presses a sequence of buttons on the control pad nearest her, "nothing…but it's nothing wrong with Neo and Tara's Matrix coding."

Morpheus swims out of the airlock, towards the unconscious sinking Chavez. He grabs Chavez's physical body. Machines fire upon him and the Nebuchadnezzar, but Morpheus barely swims around them. Soon enough, the Machines get close enough to attack Morpheus with their claws.

At the same time, inside the Nebuchadnezzar…

The Nebuchadnezzar rocks from the laser fire's impact. Little holes are pierced into the hull as water starts rushing in. Trinity suggests, "Herold! Why don't you…?" Tank gets to work on repairing the hull manually.

Herold warns Trinity, "if I fire at them now, I risk hitting Morpheus."

At the same time, outside the Nebuchadnezzar…

Morpheus spins around and weaves past claw attack after claw attack, heading back for the Nebuchadnezzar. One of the Machines though manages to hit Morpheus in the shoulder, causing blood to spew out. Morpheus tears off some of Chavez's shirt to wrap around his shoulder with his free arm and his teeth.

At the same time, while Morpheus is busy with the Machines…

Tank realizes, "so the Matrix itself is fluctuating? That's good and bad all at once. Let me try." He presses a longer sequence of buttons on the same control pad. Tank points out, "you forgot to enter two certain words in the focusing sequence."

Naimah realizes somewhat disappointed, "Steipler Gaon? I thought it was three words."

Tank points out impressed, "you are learning."

Naimah adds a little embarrassed, "thanks…I guess."

Tank assures her, "don't worry about it. You wouldn't believe the mistakes I made the first time I came onboard."

Naimah chuckles a little at that thought as Neo and Tara awaken in physicality. The brain plugs retract, with help from Naimah's physical input with her fingers on control pad buttons.

At the same time, while Tank and Naimah are talking…

Morpheus holds back a painful groan, as the many eyes of the Machines behind him are blasted to pieces by the lasers mounted on the Nebuchadnezzar. The three Machines nearby explode in a chain reaction as Morpheus brings Chavez's body into the airlock, where Chavez is breathing hard and deeply. Morpheus mutters with partial relief, "that's it. Just breathe."

Herold shouts with mixed relief, "finally!" Neo and Tara get out of the metal chairs in front of the brain plugs.

Tara wonders, "what did we miss?"

Naimah comments, "just some fluctuations in the Matrix." Tara glances at Neo.

Neo figures a little shaken, "no wonder the journey back felt so long."

Morpheus figures, "you don't know the half of it. Our new recruit was miles away from us…but he's still alive. Trinity, get us out of here!" He lays Chavez's body on a gray medical bed nearby.

Trinity confirms, "got it."

Tara checks, "is he going to be…?" Naimah is already getting out a medical kit from a mechanical compartment built into the Nebuchadnezzar's hull.

Trinity checks as she tightly steers the Nebuchadnezzar out of range of the incoming Machines' sensors, "everyone all right?"

Morpheus groans a little as the neural shock of the injury kicks in, "it's nothing."

Neo points out, "I know you better than that. It's serious."

Naimah points out with a little pale brown inhaler like vacuum tube device in hand, "I already vacuumed out the water from our guest's system. He'll be fine."

Tara sighs a little, "good. Let me know when he wakes up." She heads to her bunker in the back to rest for a little while.

Morpheus sighs a little, "fine." He sits down on one of the metallic seats nearby, waiting patiently as Naimah examines his reddish shoulder.

Naimah points out, "I can barely make it out, but it looks like a bone was pierced in the process. I'll have to add hormone drops to the wound to help it mend. It may hurt for a few minutes." She gets out an black eye dropper like device filled with yellowish green liquid, using it to drop drops worth of hormones into the wound.

Morpheus assures her, "I can…handle it." He holds back a cry of pain as the extra hormones go into the bloodstream to produce more anti-bodies and more cells to help Morpheus's body heal faster than a typical human body would.

Neo assures him, "in a matter of days, you'll be fine."

Naimah concludes, "what he said."

Morpheus adds, "right. I should stick to giving orders for now."

Herold sighs a little, "I don't know about you, but I could go for some target practice."

Naimah figures, "I'll have it set up for you." She starts getting to work on the controls for the Nebuchadnezzar's own pocket version of the Matrix.

Morpheus adds, "you should. I almost just got killed, damn it!"

Herold tries to explain, "I couldn't risk firing at you! I…couldn't."

Morpheus mutters, "then why didn't you hit them sooner?" And with that, he walks to his bunker to rest. Naimah pretends not to have heard the argument as she keeps pressing buttons.

Neo tries to assure Herold, "it's ok. Are you…?" He turns to Naimah as he asks the question.

Naimah pretends, "yeah."

Neo figures, "good."

Herold sighs, "he's just…"

Trinity points out, "hard. I know…but you should be used to it by now."

Herold figures with a faint chuckle, "true that. True that."