Happy new year!!! I just LOVE winter break. I actually was able to upload two chapters! That being said, I don't know when I will be able to update again. Hopefully soon! So, here is chapter 11...

Moisture dripped down Trinity's hand. When she tried to wipe it away there was a pain there. She looked down at her hand and saw a deep cut.

"How did…?" she thought, then remembered, "Oh, right the wall. I'll have Mouse stitch it…"

Then she caught herself. Mouse wasn't there to stitch up her hand. He was dead. Brutally shot. A painful lump formed in her throat.

"Keep a cool, level head. No sense in getting distracted." So far the pep talk wasn't working for her.

"Here we go," Apoc said, looking up at a manhole cover. "This is our way up to the street."

Enormous trucks rattled the cover above, sending showers of dust down to cover them. Neo scowled. He hated dust. He hated dust almost as much as he hated cats at this moment.

Trinity was the first up the ladder. She cautiously poked her head out, and quickly put it back in. "Truck," she explained. After the rattling stopped she looked out again. All clear. Trin pushed the cover behind her and pulled herself out and ran to the sidewalk where the others joined her.

Immediately her phone was in her hand, dialing Tank.

"Operator," his gruff voice came through the phone.

"Tank it's me," Trin said, rushed and out of breath.

"Is Morpheus alive?" Neo asked before anything else was said.

Trinity repeated the question to Tank. Neo waited, holding his breath until Trinity replied, "He's alive."

Now Neo didn't know what to think. He was happy that Morpheus was alive, but yet one of them still had to die. Was it him?

"Come on, idiot. Don't tell me you are starting to believe that," he firmly told himself. But something was still nagging at the back of his mind, and he couldn't make it go away.

"Got it," Trinity told Tank over the phone, and then hung up. Cypher exited? How did he escape? And faster than the rest of them? She just couldn't work it out in her head.

When they got to the repair shop there was a hole already beaten into the wood. So Cypher had been there. As Trin crawled through the old, rickety phone rang. It was music to her ears.

She quickly ushered everybody into the shop and went over to the phone. Then she gestured to Neo. "You first."

Neo didn't feel right taking the phone first, but feeling this wouldn't be the best time to argue he picked it up. A click greeted him. Then silence.

Trinity noticed the bewildered look on his face. "What happened?"

"I don't know. It just went dead."

Trin took the phone, slammed it down and picked up her phone. There were a few rings, and then she nearly dropped the phone. "Cypher? Where's Tank?"

The group stopped dead. Tank always answered the phone.

Cypher hovered over Trinity's motionless body. Why hadn't he thought of this before? They can't fight back without their minds, but yet, their physical beauty was still there.

He spoke gently directly to Trinity's face, but with the receiver next to his mouth at the same time. "You know, for a long time I thought I was in love with you. I used to dream about you."

Trinity felt very violated. It hadn't occurred to her until now that her body was very vulnerable in the real world, until now. He could do anything. She was actually afraid to be sent back for fear of being scantly clad. Then Cypher shot her back into reality.

"Too bad things had to turn out this way."

Her breath caught in her chest. No way. "You killed them," she breathed.

The rest of the crew was just as horrified as her. Trinity stood listening to Cypher go on, and then it hit her.

"You gave him Morpheus."

Neo choked. Oh shit. If a crew member was behind this all, it was never a good thing. A crew member knew all of his weaknesses.

Trinity couldn't believe what she was hearing. "That's not true, Cypher, he set us free!"

He suppressed a laugh. "Free? You call this free? All I do is what he tells me to do. If I had to choose between that and the Matrix, I choose the Matrix."

"But the Matrix isn't real," Trin pleaded with him.

"I disagree, Trinity. I think the Matrix can be more real than this world. All I do is pull the plug here. But there, you have to watch Apoc die."

She turned. No, no, no! Apoc went pale, like he knew what was happening.

"Trinity," he uttered his last word. Then Apoc went rigid and collapsed to the floor, lifeless.

The horrified and traumatized look on Switch's face tore Trinity apart. "No!" Switch screamed in agony as her only lover fell to the floor. She rushed over, tears pooling in her eyes, trying to get one last touch from her soul mate. It was something Trinity could barely look at.

She couldn't find a rationale for all of this. "But you're out, Cypher, you can't go back."

"Oh no. That's what you think," he sneered back, "They're going to reinsert my body. I go back to sleep, and when I wake up, I won't remember a Goddamn thing. By the way, if you have anything terribly important to say to switch, I suggest you say it now."

Those last words rang in Trinity's head. "No, please don't," she pleaded pitifully. "Not my best friend."

Switch knew what was coming. She looked directly at Trinity, her best friend ever, and said, "Not like this, not like this."

Then her mind was severed from her body, and she knew no more.

"Goddamn you Cypher!" she growled into the phone. Nothing could express her anger.

"Don't hate me Trinity." Ha, fat chance. "I'm just the messenger, and right now I'm going to prove it to you. If Morpheus was right, then there's no way I can pull this plug. I mean if Neo's the one, then there'd have to be some kind of a miracle to stop me. Right? I mean how can he be the one if he's dead?"

Nothing could make Trinity breath. Her body was shaking like she was having a seizer. He wouldn't do it. He couldn't. No way could Cypher kill the man she…

"You never did answer me before," Cypher abruptly interrupted her thoughts, "If you bought into Morpheus' bullshit -- come on -- all I want is a little yes or no. Look into his eyes, those big pretty eyes. Tell me. Yes or no."

The question that she had been asking herself was now before her. She was still shaking like mad. Then, she took a deep breath, looked into deep into Neo's dark eyes, and let her heart guide her.

"Yes," she breathed so lightly that it was barely audible. She shocked herself. The answer was out in the open. He had to be. There was no way around it.

"No! I don't believe it!" Cypher shouted. Trinity was confused, until she heard a familiar voice in the background.

"Tank?" she said. There was some screeching sound mingled with Cypher's agonized screams. Quickly, she hung up because the sound was too horrible to bear.

Neo stared at Trin's confused face. "What was th-" he began to ask, but was interrupted by the shrill ring of the phone on the box.

He picked up the phone, and then stopped. He held it out towards Trinity.

"You first."

She took the phone, closed her eyes, and then felt the sensation of being transported back. It was a nice feeling. A deep breath cleansed her. Tank was busy at her side straightening out the equipment. Then she noticed the enormous wound on his side.

"You're hurt," she said after finding his eyes.

"I'll be alright," he replied, in obvious pain. But some of it wasn't physical pain. Then it hit Trinity.

"Dozer?"

A nerve had been hit. The rough, tough man in front of her broke down completely. Gently, she set him on the floor, crying and screaming, and went to his console and dialed the number to get Neo out. Then she went back to his chair and brought him back.

Two chocolate eyes opened wide and he took a deep breath, then he snapped them shut again.

"God, when will that get comfortable?"

Trinity smiled. "Try closing your eyes, it helps."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Out of the corner of her eye, Trinity spotted Switch's motionless body. With her watery legs she wobbled over to her station. All it took was one touch, and she was gone. Both her knees gave out simultaneously, and she fell to the ground, sobbing. It didn't matter who saw her cry. Switch was gone, and she would never come back.

Neo looked on helplessly as Trinity rocked back and fourth sobbing, hugging herself, completely unglued. There was nothing he could do, and it caused an ache so great in his heart that he couldn't breath.

Oh, that was a pretty long chapter! I hope you enjoyed it thouroughly. This is my New Years present to you. Remember, I loooove reviews! Until next time...

Trinkid07