Thanks so much for the continued reviews! I especially appreciated the ones commending my originality. I often worry that my writing is too boring and cliché, so it really means a lot to me. Thank you!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Matrix.
Trinity realized she had two options and her time was running out. The heat was becoming suffocating, and she knew it wouldn't be long before she passed out which may eventually be fatal. She could either try to make it back to the other end of the vent which was unlikely seeing as how long it took her to crawl this far, or she could try to move the heavy metal object that was blocking her exit to the engine room.
Trinity decided to go for the latter and moved to the blockage, pushing against the metal as hard as she could. It was incredibly heavy and wasn't budging. She began to panic as the heat made her efforts increasingly difficult. She began to feel dizzy. She gave one final push and surprisingly the metal shifted quite easily, and she fell out onto the floor of the engine room.
She gasped deeply, breathing in the slightly cooler air of the engine room. She looked up to see Lena, standing above her looking terrified. She had moved what Trinity now saw was a large boiler that was blocking the exit.
"Are you okay?" asked Lean, getting down on the ground next to Trinity who was still gulping for air and coughing.
Trinity nodded and looked around quickly to see where Sphinx was.
"I ran and hid when he chased me in here," said Lena desperately, fear making her voice shake, "he didn't find me but he knows I'm in here. He went out and I ran to help you. He'll come back any minute."
Trinity had gotten most of her breath back and she stood up to lead Lena back over to place where Lena had hidden the first night on the Neb. She motioned for her to get into the hole and bent down to look at her, "stay in here no matter what. I'll come back for you."
Lena nodded and crouched down deeper into the hole, still looking terrified. Trinity stood back up, peeking around the corner cautiously. She looked down the walkway to the door leading back into the core. The room appeared empty and Trinity slowly walked along.
The door suddenly swung open and Trinity dodged behind a corner, praying she was out of sight. She poked her head out to see Sphinx walking along slowly, glancing around the room. He hadn't seen her. He was carrying a large piece of a broke pipe in his hand. Trinity felt herself gasp silently when she noticed the blood splattered on the tip. Whose blood was it, Morpheus', Link's, or Neo's? Trinity swallowed deeply and tried to calm herself, knowing there was nothing she could do at the moment.
"Little one!" called Sphinx in a falsely sincere voice.
He was looking for Lena, and obviously hadn't remembered her name. Trinity watched him edge around the room, looking around him as he walked. The blood stained pipe was down at his side and Trinity could hear the sound of metal clangs as it hit against the steel wall.
"Come out little one," he cooed, "I won't hurt you. I just want to play."
He was now on the other side of the room and Trinity had a clear exit to the door out to the core. She needed to find Neo, Link, and Morpheus, but she didn't want to leave Lena. Sphinx got closer and closer to Lena's hiding place and Trinity hoped he'd overlook it, however, her fears intensified as he stopped and bent down to look inside the dark hole.
Trinity knew she had no choice but to stay and protect Lena. She looked around her to try to find something to use as a weapon. She found a rusty piece of metal jutting out from one of the nearby steel grates on the floor and bent down slowly to rip it off.
Sphinx was about to bend down to look when Trinity lunged at him with the piece of metal. She got him in the shoulder, slicing a huge gash across his back. He screamed in pain and threw Trinity off of him roughly, throwing her against a steaming boiler. She hit it hard and the piece of metal fell from her hand, clattering to the floor. She went to grab it but Sphinx swung the pipe and hit her across the jaw, the blood from the pipe smearing across her face as she fell once again.
"I thought I got rid of you!" he screamed down at her, pure hatred in his eyes.
Trinity looked up at him from where she was on the floor, anger beating through her entire body. She used her anger to fuel her strength and lunged at him once again. He was too quick for her though as she hit her again with the pipe, this time on the side of her head, knocking her unconscious.
When Trinity woke up, her head was throbbing, and her eyes were blurry as she looked around the room. She tried to move her arms, only to find she couldn't. She looked down as her vision slowly adjusted, to see that she had been tied up with computer cables, and was sitting up against the wall in the core. She looked around the room and saw Link lying a few feet away from her, unconscious on the floor. His head had a horrible gash on the temple and it was crusted with blood. Trinity guessed it was his blood that had been on Sphinx's pipe.
Sphinx didn't appear to be anywhere in the room and Trinity quickly focused her thoughts on a method of escape. Her eyes searched the room but nothing useable seemed to be within capable reach. She breathed deeply, trying not to panic or think about where Morpheus, Neo, and Lena were and if they were hurt.
She looked up when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps heading toward the core from the main deck. The steps were slow and pained, as if the person was hurt and she hoped it was Morpheus or Neo. Unfortunately, she waited eagerly only to see Sphinx's face come into view. He looked out of breath and was dragging something behind him. Trinity's heart stopped when she saw it was Neo, unconscious.
Trinity felt something inside her snap and she began to scream irrationally at Sphinx from her place against the wall. She pushed against her constraints and thrashed angrily, feeling the tears of helpless fall down her face.
"Shut up!" yelled Sphinx, still dragging Neo into the room and throwing him against Link. Trinity steadied herself, still breathing heavily, and looked to see where Neo was hurt. Like Link, he too had a gash on his temple that must have been from the same pipe. Trinity saw that Sphinx was indeed still carrying the same pipe as he threw it down on the floor loudly and walked over to Trinity, looking triumphant.
"So much for 'the One' now," he said in a menacing voice, looking down at Trinity's angry face, "you should have seen the look on his face before I hit him."
He made a look of mock shock and erupted into laughter. He'd obviously gone over the edge of psychotic.
"You bastard," said Trinity, "I'll kill you!"
She spoke in a dangerous tone but it didn't seem to phase Sphinx in the slightest as he just laughed harder.
He stopped suddenly however, when a figure entered the room. It was Morpheus. He had a look of absolute hate and determination on his face, as he stood with his legs shoulder width apart, and his fist clenched, glaring at Sphinx from across the room.
"Ah," said Sphinx in an amused voice, clearly not the least bit intimidated, "you were just the man I was going to look for next. Seeing as you found me, it makes my job a lot easier."
Morpheus stood where he was, his fists shaking. He looked from Trinity, to Neo and Link on the floor, then back at Sphinx.
"I freed you…" he said slowly, brimming with anger.
"Did you ever think for a second," replied Sphinx, "that I didn't want to be freed?"
He screamed the last part and that was enough to make Morpheus lunge at Sphinx and tackle him to the ground. Morpheus was strong but so was Sphinx. They had their hands at each other's throats and Trinity couldn't tell who was winning. She tried to wrestle herself free yet again when Sphinx managed to overpower Morpheus and pin him down against the floor instead.
Trinity was struggling but her efforts were futile as the cables were wrapped around her so tightly they weren't budging. She looked over to see Morpheus' face getting more pained as Sphinx was choking him to death with insane anger. Trinity felt the helplessness of her situation weight down her efforts and she screamed with frustration.
"Stop it! Morpheus, No!"
Sphinx paid no attention however, as Morpheus' hold on him was fading and he began to get weaker under his deathly grip.
Trinity turned her head when she saw the door to the engine room open slowly and cautiously. Lena poked her head through and made eye contact with Trinity, looking panicked upon seeing her tied up.
"Lena," breathed Trinity, trying not to let Sphinx hear.
Trinity panicked further as she realized two people she cared deeply about were at the mercy of a crazed lunatic. It was only a matter of time before Sphinx noticed Lena.
This thought didn't seem to bother Lena however, as she opened the door wider and walked in, staring in horror at the scene before here. Trinity didn't even have time to yell at her to run back. Lena had run over to the pipe lying on the ground and picked it up with determination.
Sphinx was facing away from the door and didn't notice Lena's presence behind him. Lena lifted the pipe high above her head, which was shaking in her tiny hands, and hurled it down on Sphinx's head, knocking him unconscious onto Morpheus.
Lena stayed where she was, but dropped the pipe to the floor. It landed with a noisy clang that echoed in the now quiet room. Her whole body was shaking and she seemed to be in shock when she didn't move.
Morpheus gasped for a minute before regaining himself and moving Sphinx off of him. He looked up at Lena, then over at Trinity. He seemed to remember the urgency of the situation as he ran over to untie Trinity, Lena still standing frozen.
Trinity waited for Morpheus to loosen the cables, then helped him wriggle herself free. Her motherly instincts took over as she ran for Lena and held onto her.
Morpheus immediately picked up Neo and carried him to the medical room, coming back to get Link right after.
Trinity felt her own shock and distress dissipate slowly and she pulled back to look at Lena's face.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
Lena remained silent. Her face wore an expression of shock and tears were slowly falling down her face.
"Trinity!" called Morpheus urgently, "I need your help!"
Trinity remembered Neo and Link and let go of Lena to run to the medical room. Morpheus had placed Neo on one table and Link on the other. He was rummaging through the cupboards looking for supplies.
"They both need to be treated for concussions and stitched up," said Morpheus, grabbing two trays full of supplies and handing one to Trinity. Trinity took it and walked over to Neo while Morpheus tended to Link.
Lena walked into the room slowly and sat against the wall in the corner, watching them both work.
They finished quickly and Morpheus helped Trinity finish off stitching up Neo's wound. Both Neo and Link were still unconscious, but their vitals were steady.
Morpheus put down the needle and took off his gloves, setting them aside and leaning down over the table with exhaustion.
"We need to do something about Sphinx," he said slowly without looking up, "we'll have to make sure he's secure this time."
"He's dead," said a small voice from the corner of the room.
They were the first words she'd spoken since she'd hit Sphinx.
"How do you know?" asked Trinity, shocked by Lena's confession.
Lena swallowed deeply and looked down at her feet before she mumbled out, "I checked."
Morpheus looked at Lena then at Trinity, before walking out of the room into the core. He returned a few moments later and walked over to Lena in the corner. He bent down and put his hand on her shoulder so she looked up at him, tears still in her eyes.
"He decided his own fate," he began in a calm voice, "what you did… saved my life."
Lena blinked a few times and wiped the remaining tears off her face. Morpheus pulled on Lena's hand and enveloped her in a hug for the first time. Lena seemed surprised but then hugged him back tentatively. She sobbed freely now, her shock lessening. She pulled back and looked at Morpheus.
"Are they going to be okay?" she asked fearfully.
"Yes," said Morpheus, looking back at Trinity too, "they'll be alright, I promise."
Trinity looked away from them and stared down at Neo. She took his hand and felt herself break down, crying freely, allowing the seriousness of the situation to sink in. At the same time however, she felt a rush of relief run through her. Sphinx was dead.
For some reason this was a hard chapter for me to write. I wrote it and rewrote it more than a couple times. I hope it turned out decently enough. Let me know what you think again! Thanks!