AN: Hiya everyone! Hope everyone's having as much fun as they possibly can with school starting and everything. I don't mind school but I had a very bad class on Tuesday. I had to give a presentation in front of the lecture room and, because of circumstances beyond my control; I wound up having to try to give a half hour speech in about five minutes. I got so nervous that I forgot everything I was supposed to say in relation to the data I was presenting. Of course, my professor forgot to mention that we could stay later so I'd get the full time to finish so I panicked for no good reason. As an aside, I'd like to give a big congratulations to the 2006 New York Mets for winning the National League East Championship! I already have my first round playoff tickets for early October! Anywho, I hope all of you weren't bothered by the last chapter. Hawk's a bit of a dirt bag and what he did was very, very wrong. Please, feel free to let me know what you think! I'm open to any opinion, good, bad or indifferent.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own The Matrix, The Animatrix, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.
"There
has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There
has to be an invisible sun
It gives us hope when the whole days
done…" (From "Invisible Sun" by Sting)
There was something very unfair about the little bet Trinity and Cypher had made. Something that had little to do with the forced fight between Pixie and Hawk and more to do with the reward for the fight. Sure, Pixie, being the victor, earned some measure of respect for not only defeating Hawk but for being able to overcome the fact he cheated during the spar. He'd taken up arms- makeshift arms but arms nonetheless- and broken the rules of their fight.
Using arms was something that was a given in the Matrix but it went against the rules that had been set up in their little battle. Cheating in that way was looked down upon, in a strange way. It was considered dishonorable to do that in a formal spar.
As per the rules, Cypher had to take all of Trinity's late night watches of the Matrix. Despite the fact Cypher gave Pixie the creeps- He reminded her of a used car salesman from the Matrix only ten times worse- he'd done the honorable thing and lived up to his word. He'd, grudgingly, taken Trinity's late night shifts.
Still, there was just one problem with the entire set up.
Trinity might have been able to sleep in but the young female that she'd trained wasn't so lucky. Pixie still had to go about her normal duties. More than a little beat up or not; she was still required to take her own late night watches. Strangely, that fact didn't bother Pixie as much as she thought it should have. It would have been nice to get a full night's sleep but Pixie was more than willing to do her job. Though it sounded odd, she liked working.
The bet had helped her in a way that she considered more rewarding than any days off from work. The training that had lead up to the fight had provided her with a valuable education in the martial arts. Pixie was well aware of the fact that her skills in that area were sorely lacking since fighting was not something she, normally, might do. The training gave taught her how to not only go on the offensive but, more importantly, how to go on the defensive. If she knew how to keep herself from getting hurt, Pixie figured she could use speed to get herself out of the situation.
There was that fact and the fact she'd picked up on several different acrobatic tricks during her training with Trinity and the others. The tricks might not have had any real use in the Matrix but they made her laugh. Plus, Pixie noticed that they made her more flexible in the Real World.
Flexibility wasn't the skill in question at the moment, though, as Pixie sat in the Operator's chair in the Core of the Nebuchadnezzar. Several hours earlier- At least it seemed that way to Pixie- she'd woken from a light sleep and relieved Mouse. The programmer, who was far nicer to Pixie than Hawk was always trying to make conversation with her even when she was trying to work, looked like he was about to fall asleep when Pixie came up behind him and, gently, tapped him on the shoulder.
Mouse jumped ten feet in the air, startled by Pixie, but gave her a smile of thanks as he vacated the Core and left her sitting in the lonely seat. The bank of monitors around her flashed the symbolic rain that represented the Matrix. It didn't take very much mental effort for Pixie to turn those symbols into images in her mind but there was nothing to be seen at the moment. The screens flashed images of people at work or at play. One showed someone working half asleep in front of their computer, apparently, trying to finish some sort of paper for a class.
That image had made Pixie laugh slightly. She remembered hearing stories, when she was in the Matrix, of people working all night on some paper or cramming for an exam. People in the Matrix and, to a lesser extent, in Zion, might have called her obsessive but she liked to have her work done a few days before it was due in to the teacher. Never once had she ever had to pull an "all-nighter" for a project or an exam.
Pixie shivered slightly, wrapping her sweater a bit tighter around her. The Core seemed slightly colder than the rest of the ship. She wasn't sure if it was because of the computers in the room or it was kept cooler in order to keep people on late watches awake. She was hoping it was the former more than the latter. If it was the latter, then, that was just horrible on Morpheus' part.
A buzzing sound from someplace on her right side made Pixie jump a little. Up until that moment, the only sound in the room had been the quiet hum the computers and the ship's engines made. The sound had been lulling Pixie into a reverie but the chill in the air was keeping her from zoning out entirely.
Once she got her heart to stop pounding- the sound really had caught her off guard- Pixie jammed the Operator's headset on her head. In order to get it to stay on comfortable, she pushed some of her hair behind her ears. Prior to that moment, she'd left it hanging loose around her shoulders. Though her long hair wasn't practical, it did have one…unexpected….benefit. It could be used as a makeshift blanket of sorts for her shoulders and back. Pixie noticed that when she was forced to pull her hair all the way up and off of her neck, her neck got very cold.
Pressing a few buttons, one of the screens changed from the ever present of the Matrix code to the image of another ship's Core. Even in the grainy black and white and shades of gray, Pixie could see that the other Core was smaller than the one she was sitting in. The room looked a bit more cramped than her ship's Core. Almost on top of the Operator's station was one of the chairs used to jack into the Matrix. There couldn't have been more than three or four inches separating the two objects.
A few moments of silence passed as the channel between the two ships remained open. Pixie wasn't sure if she should say anything but figured the silence might have meant the link was opened by accident. Informing the other ship of the mistake seemed to be the proper thing to do.
"Nebuchadnezzar here, is there anything I can do to help you?" Pixie asked, keeping her voice as polite and professional sounding as possible.
"Nebuchadnezzar?" came a familiar male voice on the other end of the connection, "To whom am I speaking?"
Unless Pixie was badly mistaken, she was almost sure she knew who she was speaking to. The voice was very familiar to her but the question being posed was throwing her. If it was the person she was thinking it was then why would he ask who he was speaking to? Unless he'd forgotten her in the time they were apart. Pixie hoped that wasn't the case because she'd thought they were better friends than that. Her even using the word "friend" meant that they were they type of friends who wouldn't forget each other after short periods of time.
"Pixie," she replied, her voice sounding a bit confused, "to whom am I speaking?"
She figured that if this was some sort of game, it wouldn't hurt to play along. If it wasn't a game, well, then asking who she was talking to was the proper thing to do. It was like Matrix phone etiquette. If you didn't know who was calling, you asked for a name and gave your own.
"Pixie? Pix? Is that you?" the voice asked, starting to sound a bit excited.
As the person spoke, a very familiar image filled the screen as if the person decided to have a seat down in front of it. Pixie laughed, covering her mouth with her hand as a very harried looking Wheeler took his seat. Though the image was in black and white and just like the images showing the falling Matrix code, it didn't take Pixie very much to fill in the colors she associated with Wheeler. There was dirty blond for his hair and bright hazel for his eyes. As for what clothing she could see, Pixie figured it was faded gray or blue like her own clothing.
"It is you!" he exclaimed, "Boy am I glad it's you and not someone else!"
Seeing Wheeler always brought a smile to Pixie's face. Though she enjoyed her job immensely, she really did miss her friends in the worst way. Strangely enough, she seemed to miss Wheeler most of all. Pixie tried not to dwell on exactly why she missed Wheeler more than Aisling, Adoh, and Ngaio. She preferred the simple reasoning that stated she missed him because they were friends before coming out of the Matrix. They had a connection in that way and, thus, the basis of their friendship.
"I'm happy to see you too, Wheeler," Pixie admitted, "It seems like I haven't talked to you in ages."
"It does seem that way, Pix," Wheeler concurred, "I guess you and I haven't been on the same broadcast depth since the last time you and I talked. That was over a month ago."
"Feels longer," the female commented, keeping her eyes on the screens around her.
Though she was talking to her friend, Pixie knew she couldn't slack off on her job. There were other people depending on her and telling them that they were going to be killed by Squiddies she hadn't noticed because she was talking to a good friend from Zion seemed like a rather lame excuse.
"Yeah it does. So, what have you been up to? Get to go into the Matrix yet?" he asked, in a very friendly tone.
Pixie recalled that the last time they'd talked; she'd mentioned that she hadn't gone into the Matrix yet. Her training both in the medical field and in martial arts had taken president over going into the Matrix.
"Nah…I haven't gone into the Matrix yet," she started but found that the rest of her answer had been left in her throat.
"Pixie, what happened to your face?" Wheeler wanted to know.
His tone was a strange combination of things. On the one hand, he sounded rather surprised that he hadn't noticed what was wrong with Pixie sooner. After all, it was pretty hard to miss even in black and white that something wasn't quite right with Pixie's appearance. On the other hand, though, Wheeler sounded angry. Not that sort of angry where one wanted lash out at something. No, rather this was the type of angry someone sounded when something or someone they cared a great deal about was hurt.
The tone seemed to surprise Wheeler too. Pixie could see his face take on a curious expression as if he was trying to figure out just where that mix of sounds came from. It seemed to be an unfamiliar tone of voice for him to hear as well.
Pixie gave a rueful sort of laugh, rubbing her face with her hands in an attempt to hide the blush that was spreading across it. Her face- well, her entire body really but all Wheeler could see was her face- had a few very distinct black and blues on it. There was one very large one on the left side while a strangely shaped bruise seemed to go from the right side of her head down her cheek. That one hurt more than the one on the right side of her face since it was not only made with a weapon- albeit a virtual one- but it was right against the zygomatic bone just below her right eye.
With a sigh, Pixie told Wheeler the condensed version of the story. She'd tell him the whole story if they ever happened to be in Zion at the same time but, for now, she knew the Cliffsnotes version of the story would suffice. Pixie made sure not to leave out all the major points from the nature of the bet to training with Ghost and Chian to the fight, itself. Though she was trying to be brief, she couldn't help but give Wheeler a blow by blow of the fight as she remembered it. The ending was a bit sketchy since she'd been a bit out of it due to Hawk's actions.
"Well, even though he cheated and used a weapon I still managed to get back to my feet and get him down," Pixie finished, "It's silly but, do you remember what I said that day when Hawk embarrassed the bunch of us in the Academy? You know how I said he'd never get to win? I remembered saying that and that was what, kinda, gave me the boost to keep going."
Wheeler didn't know if he wanted to be proud of Pixie- He, honestly, didn't think she had that in her since she'd always been such a quiet and shy sort of person. Then again, there was that whole Matrix saying "Tis the quiet ones you have to watch out for."- or angry with Hawk. The scruffy blond male settled for a middle between the two of them. At least, he was going to try for a middle anyway.
There was part of him that was very angry with Hawk for doing such a horrible thing to his friend. He'd been taught by his family in the Matrix, especially his father that he had to respect women. That little lesson was proving to be problematic as he was pulling punches when he sparred the females on his own crew. One of them had taken that as an insult- That he didn't think she was strong enough to be able to handle his blows- and had taken her frustrations with him out on him.
"That's amazing Pixie!" Wheeler stated, genuinely proud of her despite his anger with Hawk, "I'm really glad you've finally taught Hawk the lesson we all know he needed to learn. Now, maybe, he'll leave you alone."
"Somehow I doubt that. He's already talking about how my winning was a fluke and he could beat me any day of the week," Pixie admitted, frowning slightly.
The frown she was wearing was mirrored on Wheeler's face. It didn't seem right to Wheeler that Hawk would demean Pixie's hard fought victory with words like that. Then again, it didn't seem right to him and Hawk's mindset was very different from his own. That was probably why Hawk had always tried to goad Wheeler into a battle of more than just wits.
"Well, I don't think it was a fluke. You're a whole lot tougher than any of us give you credit for and I do remember you saying that stuff about Hawk not ever getting to win. I'm glad he didn't get to win this round," Wheeler stated, feel like he should bolster Pixie's confidence in herself for some strange reason.
Shaking his head, sending his scruffy hair in disarray, Wheeler added, "It doesn't mean I'm happy with what he did to you. You could have gotten seriously hurt. Did he get in any trouble for cheating like that?"
"He got an earful from not only Captain Morpheus but from Trinity as well. They didn't take too kindly to him taking things as far as he did," Pixie answered, "There wasn't much else they could to him other than give him extra tasks to do around the ship but they never get done anyway. He slacks off a lot of the time."
"Which leaves more work for the rest of you. I don't know what he's doing on a ship. It doesn't seem like he's much of a team player," Wheeler quipped.
"He says that he works on the ship because he's some kind of hero. I don't know what he's talking about, really," Pixie sighed, putting her head, carefully, in her hands.
"Speaking of heroes, I should probably give you the message that Captain Mace told me to give to whoever was on watch on your ship," Wheeler stated, suddenly remembering the reason he'd contacted the ship Pixie worked on.
It was just dumb luck that he'd wound up catching Pixie during her shift on watch. His call hadn't really meant to be a social one; it just turned out that way because of Pixie. Not that he was complaining, mind you. Talking to Pixie was something he enjoyed doing. Though she was quiet and shy to anyone that she'd just met, once you got to know her, in Wheeler's opinion, she was one of the nicest people anyone could ever hope to meet. She never failed to make him smile.
"Well, I'll make sure Captain Morpheus gets the message from your Captain Mace," Pixie laughed, preparing herself to remember the message.
Wheeler cocked his head to one side, looking at something in the upper left hand corner of the screen. His tongue peeked out of his mouth, as he tried to remember something.
"I'm supposed to tell you tell your captain that she's waiting for him. Captain Mace didn't tell me who 'she' was but he said your captain would understand what that meant," Wheeler told Pixie.
"I'm not sure what that means either but I'll make sure to tell Captain Morpheus," Pixie said with a nod of her head, "and I bet your captain's right. It'll make perfect sense to him."
"I think I'd better get going," Wheeler said, looking over his shoulder, "Elan is set to come on shift after me and I don't want him talking to you."
"Why don't you want him talking to me?" Pixie, curiously, asked.
"Because Elan has a twisted sense of humor," Wheeler answered with a shake of his head, "The things he says aren't fit for a lady's ears."
"Sounds like a good enough reason to me," the young female commented a small giggle, "Maybe the next time we're both in Zion we can hang out. I miss talking to you…and the others too…all the time like we use to do."
"Yeah….I miss that too, Pix," Wheeler started, "I'm going to get going. Stay safe, Pix."
"You too, Wheeler. Stay safe," Pixie blurted before the screen went back to showing the normal Matrix code.
Making sure to remember Wheeler's message, Pixie went back to her staring. She couldn't help the smile that was sitting on her face as she monitored the screens around her. Though she'd only had Hawk as a friend of sorts in the Matrix, having friends like Wheeler and the others made her realize that it wasn't so bad to have friends at all. They always made you smile.
Especially friends like Wheeler.
