Disclaimer: All characters, places etc in The Matrix belong to the Wachowski Brothers and WB. Other characters belong to me. I'm making no money from this etc etc. Two references to Harry Potter (which also does not belong to me) in this chapter – see if you can spot them.
Author's Note: Thanks to my beta Lisa for helping me beat this one into shape. :) Sorry it's taking me forever to write this story but that's life.
* * * * * * *
Mr and Mrs Caine, of number 36, Rose Avenue, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. The small town they lived in was entirely normal as well and (some might say) a trifle dull. The most unusual thing that had ever happened was the little girl, who had lived next door at number 34, disappearing almost a year ago. It had been such a shock to everyone, not only because it was unusual for little girls to simply vanish, but also because things like that simply did not happen in their little town.
"It's the woman of the house I feel sorry for," Mrs Caine said over breakfast one morning. "Can you imagine, one day, you've got a lovely little girl and an attentive husband, and the next, daughter's missing, presumed dead, and your husband's gone for the most part of the day. Probably in some bar in the city with a call girl, no doubt," she added with a derisive snort. "Well, what did Eda expect? Marrying a man like that... A musician, of all things!"
"Hmm," said Mr Caine, who had given up listening to his wife's ramblings in the morning years ago. He turned a page of his newspaper. "I completely agree."
Mrs Caine rolled her eyes and went to look out the window. She had given up expecting an intelligent answer from her husband in the morning years ago. For a moment she stood gazing out at the street, still talking. It had become something of a habit of hers, to talk even when she knew no one was listening.
"That whole family, just ripped apart like that, it's simply awful. I wonder what could have happened to that girl – what was her name? Mary?"
"Hmm."
Thunk.
Distracted by the noise, she glanced to her right, next-door's house, and noticed several things. First, a police car was parked outside number 34. Secondly, a black Sedan was parked to its right and two men were standing next to it, in identical brown suits. The thunk she had heard had been them closing the Sedan's doors in unison.
"Charles!" she hissed, eyes glued to the window.
"Hmm?"
Mrs Caine said nothing, but waved her hand for her husband to come over. Unaccustomed to the sudden silence, Mr glanced up, closed his newspaper with a sigh and joined his wife, who was now pointing at the two men. As the Caines watched, the men glanced at each other, sunglasses glinting in the pale winter sunshine and, in perfect time with each other, started walking up to number 36.
"What do you think has happened?" whispered Mrs Caine feverishly, craning her neck so she could see onto next-door's porch.
"Must be something about that little girl," said Mr Caine, somewhat gruffly.
"Oh, Charles, do you really think so? Do you think it's good news or bad news? Perhaps they found a body... or a ransom note, or maybe - "
Mr Caine returned to his newspaper, sinking back into the sedate state he had been in since before he could remember. The niggling feeling that something significant was taking place next door faded into the background, along with his wife's excited prattle.
* * * * * * *
Carefully, Eda sat down on the bed, trying hard not to wake her sleeping daughter. She smoothed the hair of Maria's feverish brow. She felt strangely calm, almost serene. It was hard to believe that just a few hours ago they had been sitting in the front room, losing hope that they would ever see her again, when, suddenly – she was there. It had been beyond shocking, just to open the door and see her little girl standing there, looking a little awkward and very scared.
She's grown, mused Eda, staring down at the big black boots Maria had been wearing, now lying on the floor. She's not my little girl anymore... I don't know what she is.
She shut her eyes, trying to block the tears that sprang to her eyes. However, she had learnt a long time ago that closing your eyes did not stop tears. Hastily she wiped them away, not wanting to disturb her child's peaceful sleep. Her daughter had been gone so long, and she had no idea why she had left so suddenly. Eda knew that Maria had been unhappy, but surely that would have made her draw closer to her family, not further away? Maybe I did something, Eda thought, staring down at her child. Maybe I didn't love her enough… or too much, or… She shook her head. Maybe it didn't matter why Maria had run away: only that she had come back.
Ten months. Three weeks. Four days. Approximately six hours. That was what she had lost from her child's life and she did not mean to lose anymore. The last thing she wanted to do was leave her bedside. Patting Maria's cheek one more time, she stood up with a sigh and forced her legs to move towards the direction of the door, then down the stairs and into the front room.
The two men sitting on the paisley sofa looked faintly ridiculous. Standing on her doorstep, in their brown suits and sunglasses (What was the point? she thought. It was hardly bright outside) they had looked quite intimidating. Now, perched very uncomfortably in her front room, grasping cups of tea, they looked very odd indeed. Yet, there was still something about these men that just didn't seem...natural. She shook her head. It was probably just her emotions finally catching up with her. Ever since she had felt Maria's arms round her neck, a veil seemed to have descended over her senses so that everything was muted and somewhat surreal. It was an almost drunk feeling that helped her believe that maybe this was some product of her imagination and that any moment now, someone would wake her up with a hot cup of something (preferably with brandy in it) and a hug.
As she entered the room, her husband smiled at her from the armchair in the corner, looking exhausted. She smiled rather wanly back. She didn't know it, but Mrs Caine had almost hit the nail on the head with regards to the Mendoza's marriage. Although Sanchia had not hooked up with a call girl, he had become a distant figure, someone who occupied some vague place called "out".
"Where's the sergeant?" she asked, keeping close to the door.
"Talking to Jack next door," replied Sanchia. He tried to continue,but one of the agents - Agent Bryson, she thought he had said his name was - leaned forward and cut him off.
"I understand, Mrs Mendoza, that this must be... very difficult for you. But I would like to ask you a few questions regarding your daughter's disappearance. And subsequent reappearance." He had a very clipped, formal accent, but she could not quite place whether he was British, American or even Australian.
"Of course," she said, finally fully entering the room and sitting on the arm of her husband's chair.
Agent Bryson sat perfectly still for a moment, fingertips pressed together under his chin under his chin. The other man (Eda couldn't recall him giving a name, something she found quite disconcerting) remained in exactly the same position as he had been, holding his teacup primly in his right hand.
"Your daughter disappeared on December 19th last year, correct?" He waited for her nod and then continued. "She was on her way to school. We know from witnesses, who reported seeing her, that she was walking through a churchyard when a man and woman dressed in black stopped her. The churchwarden reported seeing the three converse and that Maria looked frightened. However, when he went over to investigate, all three had disappeared. He was the last person to see Maria, until tonight."
"That's right," said Eda in hoarse voice. Sanchia squeezed her hand comfortingly.
Agent Bryson leaned forward, taking off his glasses. He stared at the couple intently. "Tell me what happened last night."
Eda and Sanchia glanced at each other, and slowly Eda began to speak.
"Well, we - that is me, Sanchia and Jack -"
"Who?"
"My brother. His house was... well, it was repossessed about six months ago, so he's staying with us until he can find a place of his own."
The agents nodded.
"Uh, anyway, the three of us were sitting here when I heard the doorbell. I went to get it and... there was Maria. Just standing there on the doorstep."
"What happened next?" asked the other man quickly. Both agents were leaning forward. Eda couldn't remember a time when two people were listening this attentively to what she was saying. She took a deep breath.
"Well, it was - it was pretty emotional as I'm sure you can imagine." She hesitated as the agents nodded, their expressions as blank as a sheet of paper. "Sanchia and Jack came out and we all stood there for a while. Then she sort of collapsed against me and started to cry, and then I started to cry, and then Maria actually did faint -" She had to stop rather suddenly: her throat had constricted and it was difficult to draw breath. Sanchia continued.
"I picked up Maria, and we took her upstairs to her room and called the police. Just to let them know she was safe, you know? And then they arrived about 15 minutes later and... well, you know the rest."
"Did she say anything to you?"
Eda frowned slightly at this abrupt question. "No, she - she said nothing at all. Why?"
The agents looked at each other.
"Nothing?"
"No. Why?" repeated Eda.
"How was she acting? Confused? Disorientated?"
Eda and Sanchia stared at each other. "No, just... upset. Emotional, like I said."
"So she was distressed?"
"Of course she was, heaven knows what she's been through the last eleven months!" Sanchia snapped, glaring at the unperturbed agents.
"Sanchia," said Eda soothingly, although her left hand had balled into a fist.
"Thank you, Mr Mendoza," said the agent with no name, quickly and crisply. "Naturally," he continued, standing up, "the police would like to question you more closely. But that is all we need to know for the moment. We will want to have a word with Maria, once she has recovered, of course," Agent Bryson also stood up.
"If you don't mind me asking," said Sanchia through gritted teeth, the muscles in his hand still tense under Eda's fingers, "who are you? Whom are you working for?"
The agents exchanged a glance.
"A special branch of the police, Mr Mendoza."
"Ah," said Sanchia, smiling in a way that clearly showed that he did not believe it. The agent with no name clearly caught this tone because he added "We were assigned directly onto this case from Scotland Yard. We have reason to believe that there is more to this case than meets the eye."
"What do you mean?" asked Eda, nervously squeezing her husband's hand, needing to know that he was there.
Again the agents looked at each other.
"The description of the man and woman who were seen with Maria appear to match descriptions in other cases, similar to this one, from all over the world. However, this is the first time that the missing person in question has come back, safe and sound. Of their own will at least."
"Similar cases?" questioned Sanchia. "What kind of cases?"
"The man and woman are believed to be ringleaders in a world-wide terrorist network."
The Mendoza's gaped at them.
"Ex-excuse me?"
"What would terrorists want with our little girl?" Eda was gripping her husband's hand so hard his fingertips were white.
"Please, Mrs Mendoza, don't worry yourself. This is just speculation," Agent Bryson said, smiling. Or at least that's what he appeared to be doing: the expression looked entirely wrong on his impassive face.
"It's most likely to be nothing. However-"
"What?" interjected Sanchia. The muscles in his jaw were set, as though he was biting back some furious remark. Both agents hesitated, apparently deliberating over what to say. Agent Bryson made a sudden movement with his hand towards his right ear, but dropped his hand just as quickly again. For the first time, Eda noticed what looked like a hearing aid, coiling from the agent's ear down the back of his shirt. Finally, Agent He-Who-Has-No-Name spoke.
"If the people responsible for your daughter's disappearance are these terrorists, we have reason to believe that they would...fight for her. Try and take her back."
Eda stared at the agents for a moment, certain that the last vestiges of sanity she had managed to cling onto over the last few months had finally been tugged away from her. Terrorists? Take her back? Her head span horribly with this new announcement.
"What on earth would terrorists want with her?" demanded Sanchia, glancing down at his pale wife. Agent Bryson started to reply but Sanchia interrupted, his words spilling out of his mouth before he had time to check them.
"What the hell could they want? She's just a little girl, for fuck's sake! What -" He cast around for more words, but failed to find them. He shook his head desperately, almost sadly, letting go of Eda's hand so he could clench his fists. The agents made a brave attempt to look sympathetic, but again failed abominably.
"This is probably just speculation, Mr Mendoza. However, I am sure that you understand, we need to take every precaution when dealing with these people."
"They won't take our little girl away from us again. I won't let them." Eda was all too aware of how ridiculous that must have sounded, but decided she didn't care. Sanchia would have said the same thing if she hadn't said it first, and she found she didn't care what the other two men thought; she was disliking the agents more and more with each new revelation.
Agent No-Name nodded curtly. "Quite right. We will arrange for some top security for the entire block. Your house will be watched 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Your daughter will be... quite safe."
Eda and Sanchia both frowned slightly at the pause in his words but decided to ignore it.
"She'll be perfectly safe," repeated Agent Bryson. The certainty in his voice was contagious and the tense line of Sanchia's shoulders relaxed somewhat. Eda however could not dispel the lurking feeling in her gut. It reminded her of the first few months of Maria's disappearance, when every phone call could be the one from Maria, telling them she was safe, or the police telling her they'd found a body, would she come down to the station to identify it?
"This isn't fair, she thought, staring down at her hands, at the tiny semi-circle scars where she had dug her nails into her palms. Old scars from those times when the world seemed to be closing in on her and there was nothing certain: if you couldn't even be certain about such a simple thing as to whether your daughter was still alive, what else was there to know?
"Eda?"
She blinked and realised that her hands were gripping each other tightly. She forced them apart and smiled up at Sanchia's worried face.
"I'm fine," she said, although she felt anything but. Sanchia nodded gravely.
"At least one of us will be here at all times," said the nameless agent. "We'll look after her."
Eda nodded but couldn't stop the niggling feeling at the back of her mind that told her not to trust these men. She shivered and forced a smile.
"Of course," she said. "She's home."
* * * * *
The main deck of the Nebuchadnezzar, usually so quiet and solemn, was filled with the sound of raised voices. The crew of the ship had gathered around the still body of s small girl, alternately looking sadly down at the girl and debating what should happen next.
Neo should have been listening, but after one look at Maria fatigue had settled over him, and he had suddenly felt very old, as though this was all too much. He cursed himself inwardly.
Why didn't I see? If she was this unhappy, why didn't I notice?
He forced himself to tear his gaze away from Maria and stared at Morpheus, who was trying to calm everyone down. Maria's actions had hit everyone very strongly. Both Trinity and Tank were thin-lipped and fidgety. Both, Neo was sure, were thinking about the last time anyone had gone into the Matrix without an operator watching... But Maria wasn't Cypher. She was just a scared little girl. Still, if the Agents caught her... they sure as hell would not go easy on her just because she was a little girl.
Neo had given up trying to focus on what everyone was saying a while ago. The conversation was too confused, too jumbled for his tired mind to take in. By the time he and Trinity had made it to the main deck, everyone else was already there, voices ringing out loudly against the cold metal. Auriga had looked massively guilty and tried to apologise to everyone, whilst Morpheus pointed out, very patiently, that Maria had moved so quickly and quietly, without anybody noticing for at least two hours, she probably planned this quite extensively and would have seized any moment to get in. At which point Phoenix had interrupted, asking how did they know that, she could have gotten bored and gone for a little stroll around the old neighbourhood. Everyone else had started talking, about how sad Maria had seemed, how she always asked the other about those they had left behind, even when it was obviously a closed subject, and Neo had actually felt physically disgusted by all of them, for noticing that one of their crew mates had been unhappy and not doing anything.
But then again, you didn't. Someone had once said that sorrow was individual whilst happiness was shared. He couldn't think of anything more true. Newbies were left alone. It was stupid to lean on someone else like a crutch when they could be dead the next day. Being shown the truth was a lot like growing up, decided Neo. You had to learn to get on without your parents holding your hand, learning through your own stupid mistakes.
Don't get too close to anyone... He swallowed. Maria never had a chance to get close to anyone...
Clapping a lid on his thoughts, Neo returned to simply staring at Maria, not wanting to think or consider what to do next. He tried to focus back on the others. They had now lapsed into a thoughtful silence, apparently finished discussing Maria's motives."Can't we... can't we just let her be?" asked Auriga finally very nervously.
Morpheus shook his head. "We can't risk it. The Agents are probably already on their way."
"She doesn't know anything," interjected Trinity. "She wouldn't be able to tell them anything."
"They don't know that," replied Morpheus quietly. There was another bleak silence.
"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Phoenix after a while. Everyone glanced at each other thoughtfully. Neo tore his gaze from Maria and started to speak, a plan suddenly fully formed in his head, as though he had done nothing but think on it, but Tank cut him off.
"No, let me guess. You want to go in there with a very sketchy plan and probably lots of guns, rescue Maria against all the odds, and get back here with seconds to spare, possibly after a spectacular defeat of an Agent." He paused and glanced at Neo. "Am I right?"
Neo felt mildly offended. "I wasn't suggesting we go in guns-a-blazing..."
Tank rolled his eyes. "Been there, done that, huh?"
Neo ignored him. "I do have a plan however." He looked at the others. Auriga and Phoenix looked interested, but Tank and Trinity looked a mite sceptical. Morpheus' expression was carefully guarded as always.
"Please," he said, somewhat icily, "don't overwhelm me with your excitement. I can't take it at this time in the morning."
Trinity smiled slightly. "How excited we are depends on how good this plan is."
"It's subtle. And if it works, we'll get Maria back with the minimum amount of collateral damage." He sighed, suddenly feeling and looking very old.
"That's if she wants to come back," said Auriga in a small voice. Everyone shifted uncomfortably. As far as anyone was aware, nobody had ever gone back to his or her loved ones after being unplugged. It was too hard, looking into their eyes and knowing that somewhere they were lying in a pod, food for a machine and worst of all, knowing that they were likely to live and die never knowing it. It was easy to act superior around crowds of people you didn't know, but people you knew....
Trinity had once told Neo how she'd been watching a new potential (he had asked if it had been him, but she had ignored his question) when an ex-boyfriend had come up to her and started asking her how she was, saying that it had been too long, they made a great couple, still could in fact. Trinity had been so surprised to see him that before she knew it, she was actually talking back to the guy (at this point Neo had tried very hard not to think about Trinity with another man and instead concentrated on fiddling with the hem of his shirt).
It had almost felt like old times, she had said, somewhat wistfully (at this point, Neo pulled a long thread on the cuff too hard and nearly ripped the shirt up to his elbow). Then the Ex made the fatal error of asking her what she did now, at which point she had made some very hasty excuses and ran down the street to the nearest exit. Now, Trinity's words circled endlessly in his mind.
It was horrible. Knowing that he was nothing but a fuel source, and he'll never know because he loves his stupid, pointless existence, because he's not cynical, or unhappy. He's content. Sometimes I wonder if we're doing the right thing, showing these people a world where they were just nothing...
Neo had embraced her and said, "You can't think like that. This is what we have to do. We owe it to them all." He didn't need to explain who "they" were. Parents, friends, people who you only knew vaguely enough to smile at in the street. They all deserved a chance to live...
You didn't go back once you were out. That was the long and the short of it. You had made a choice and you stuck by it, for better or worse. It was an unspoken fact.
And that was precisely the problem, thought Neo suddenly. No one had told Maria. The rest of us had been searching for something, for the answer but she had not started that journey when we took her, at least not fully. Given more time she would've and she would have understood that it's a lonely life but she never -
Neo took a deep breath and reached for Trinity's hand instinctively, needing to know she was really there. Out the corner of his eye he saw her glance at him, but he didn't turn.
"Well then, Neo," said Morpheus, fixing his calm gaze on Neo. "What's your plan?" Neo gave himself a little shake and turned his back to Maria, facing the others.
"I'm going to need everyone's help. Everyone needs to be at the right place at the right time, or the whole plan will fail..."
* * * * * * *
Next chapter: Neo's Plan and a *big* revelation ...