Authors' Notes: The history behind Jinx/Morpheus/Trinity will not be explained until further chapters. Make note of this.
Constrained Tribulation: Chapter 2
Run Neo, run!
Run away, Neo. Run far away!
Consciousness slowly dawned upon Neo, the smoky haze of confusion clearing. His eyes began to focus as he sat up slowly, rubbing at his throbbing temple. Events flashed by in his mind in a blur—stopping the sentinels, somehow instantly showing up in the Matrix…and that little Indian girl telling him to run.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on forcing the migraine away. "At least I'm out of the Matrix now…" he muttered aloud. Pushing himself to his feet, dizziness almost overcoming him, he began to tentatively call out her name. "Trinity?" Where was she? Was she hurt? Where was he?
That's when he began to realize that things were not all what they seemed to be. Looking around, he realized that he didn't know anywhere in the real world that looked like a stateroom. But there was no coding around to read. He took a quick glance down at his clothing to see only a simple suit-like outfit, but definitely not his tattered rags of the real world. It was as if the Real World and the Matrix had melded into one.
"Where the hell am I?" The room he was in was blindingly white, which made it difficult to discern its features in the beginning. Once his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he saw a bookcase, a small bed, and a lone white rug on a white floor. And most importantly, a wan luminescent dooor on the opposite end.
Once the dizziness cleared, he walked slowly over to the door and pushed it open, carefully looking around before stepping outside. It was a simple, carpeted hallway in light brown, with bright paintings adorning the walls. The door shut silently behind him, and Neo found he was unable to open it again. He pressed down on the soft carpet to make sure no traps were laid out before him. There were none.
Cursing his luck, Neo began to walk down the hall, rounding the corner to find another door at the end. He reached for the doorknob and tried to turn it, but it was locked tight. So Neo turned and went back the other way, just to find another door at the end of that corner. He reached to try to open the door, but the doorknob turned and the door creaked open before he'd managed to get his hand around it.
He frowned, staring at the opening. Just what the hell was going on? He slowly pushed the door open and shut it behind him, finding himself in what seemed to be a kitchen. He was just starting for the window when he heard voices coming towards the room. He once again tried to go back through the door he'd just come through, but once again, it wouldn't open. The voices were getting closer.
"Hey, are those rumors true?"
"What, the boss has the One trapped here?" A ghastly laugh could be heard. "Unlikely."
"I heard he needed part of his code so he could create a termination program for the agent-gone-insane, or something."
"Oh yeah! What's his name…ah…Smith!"
Neo swallowed a lump in his throat as he could hear them just steps away from the other side. At the last second, he dove into the walk in freezer and pulled the door almost shut, praying silently to whatever forces were there that they wouldn't notice the open freezer door. He strained his ears to hear what they were saying over the buzzing of the machine.
"So, I heard that the Merovingian was pretty pleased with Persephone after tricking that Zion bunch into leaving Club Hel." Neo shivered in the cold.
"Yeah, but he's forbidden her to see him. If you ask me, he's being a hypocrite with all the women HE screws behind her back." Was it dropping in degrees?
The other voice laughed. "Don't let him hear you say that or he'll delete you." How long until they noticed?
"Yeah, yeah…" The sound of metal against metal could be heard. "Hey, isn't it cold in here?" Damn.
There was silence for a moment. "It is. Hey, the freezer door's open." Here they come…
Neo's heart stopped as he heard footsteps coming towards him. He quickly weighed all of his options. He could stay in the freezer and freeze to death, which was not exactly what he was looking to accomplish… Or he could run like hell and hope he could outrun them. He had no code to manipulate, and therefore no special powers. Not exactly what he wanted to do either, but it was a lot better than just staying where he was… He closed his eyes and waited for the footsteps to hit the right spot.
"It IS open." The voice was right outside of the door. "You know what? I bet that new recruit did it when….AHHH!"
The program never got to finish his sentence because Neo slammed the door open, smashing bones and crushing organs as the unsuspecting creature was pinned to the wall.
"What the…!"
Neo dove across the room, grabbing the knife on the table that he'd heard earlier. Before the other program had stood completely up, Neo thrust the knife into its chest, piercing the heart. He convulsed violently for a moment, but slumped back into the chair, his half-eaten sandwich splattered with blood. No breath was heard while the program's head lolled back.
"Shit," Neo muttered, looking around quickly to confirm that both programs were, in fact, dead. The program crushed behind the freezer door looked to be very human-like, while the other one had purple skin. Neo clenched his teeth as he drug both of their bodies inside of the freezer and shut it tight. It was nice to know all of his martial arts 'training' was still useful without his powers as the One. He always knew having Morpheus as his trainer would come in handy.
He left the kitchen as quickly as possible, knowing that someone would soon be on to him. So, he was in the Merovingian's Chateau? But it just didn't feel right… He rounded another corner quickly, opening yet another door and shutting it behind him. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the door, trying to calm his nerves. He was succeeding, until he heard two identical voices beside him:
"The One doesn't leave…"
"…without the Merovingian's permission."
Neo's eyes snapped open.
~~~~~
Help!!! Don't go without me! They'll kill me in here! The screams died as Trinity blocked everything from her mind at the sound of Jinx's voice. "I'll be there. Don't be late," the deadly soft voice answered on the other end of the line. Trinity let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"Neo did what?!" Niobe shook her head, and looked back to them as to make sure she'd heard correctly.
Morpheus nodded. "That's right. He stopped the sentinels with his mind…outside the Matrix."
"We all saw it," Link muttered. "He's in some kind of coma now, stuck in the Matrix somewhere."
Niobe shared a glance with Ghost before looking back to them. "How?"
"We don't know." Morpheus reservedly sighed.
"Where in the Matrix is he?"
"We don't know."
Niobe frowned. "Did you run a search?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"He's not there."
Niobe struggled to not roll her eyes. She would not submit to childish behaviors at the moment. "What do we know?"
The room grew eerily quiet as they all stared at each other, no one wanting to speak at first. Finally Link spoke up, very softly. "Trinity's on the line with Jinx at the moment."
"Oh, great…" Niobe groaned. "So what are we going to do? The machines will beat us to Zion, if we leave now. However, if Neo is jacked in the Matrix like you say, then won't leaving broadcast depth kill him? If it has come to calling Jinx, we're in it deep."
Link frowned. "There's no way to know. I don't even know who Jinx is."
Trinity looked slightly agitated as she strode into the room. She muttered curses as she leaned over Sparks' shoulder. Zooming in on the South and Broad Streets, she grumbled as she watched Jinx drinking tea with an old friend. Did they do this just to spite her? Was it her curse to relive the mistakes of her past over and over again?
"She's in, Morpheus."
"We must take our leave."
Ghost held his bated breath as his captain glanced between the two. Finally, she rested her eyes on Sparks. A silent agreement passed between. If your ninth life goes out the window, I'm going to kill both you as slowly as humanly possible. "Load us up, Sparks. We'll need all the help you can give us." Ghost grinned.
Sparks turned to Link, "Let me tell you a few things about our resident suicidal fighter. She's the best we have, but it wasn't worth. Not the price she had to pay…."
~~~~~
Neo ran as fast as his legs would take him, away from the advancing forms of the Twins. He rounded corners, flung doors open, but still could not find an exit to this maze. It was every rebel's worst nightmare to be trapped in a dream where everything faded into white and black. They were trapping him and he needed an escape. White and Black. Cat and Mouse. It was almost as if they were herding him…
He dove around a corner and barreled into Twin One. Gunshots were fired, but they couldn't be aimed at him. They needed him. He bodyslammed a door to his right, and ran through the steamy sauna as he made his way to the other side. Shades of gray were now occurring as a plan swirled in his brain. He dived under the sauna chair as a bullet pierced placed he had just been.
Light stabbed at his eyes as he tucked and rolled into the opposite hallway. Twin Two grinned as he cocked his gun at Neo. "Is the One ready…."
"…for another round?" Twin One whispered as he phased back into the steamy room. Twin Two raised his gun and fired and the ceiling. Apparently, the Merovingian had wanted another client removed from his sight. "You have lost the first time…"
"We suggest you run."
They wanted games? Why? He dodged around another corner as he saw the escape. He could hear the twins moving as one behind him. There wasn't much time.
A door popped open to his left, and he heard a faintly familiar voice. "This way."
Taking one last look behind him where he could hear the Twins approaching, he dove through the door, slamming it shut behind him. Their voices could still be heard clearly through the wood.
"Where is he?"
"The Merovingian will not be happy with us…"
"We must find him."
"We need a key."
"Yes, we do."
"The Merovingian will not be pleased."
"We will suffice."
He held his breath as he heard them continue on down the hallway, and then let it out in relief. But suddenly, he realized he wasn't alone in that small room…
"They can't find you in here. And you can't leave either, for that matter. This room is sealed from all directions, and there is no code you can manipulate." Neo turned around to see a familiar face sitting on a nearby couch, looking very happy with herself. She sipped the white wine the Merovingian left for her.
"Persephone."
Faintly, he could almost feel the twins phasing towards them.
Notes: Another chapter. Hope you liked it. Review please! Ja ne ~Insane Pineapple from Naboo and Aquarian Wind
There has also been a roleplay I started based on the first chapter of this story. You can find it at lotrmatrix.hyperboards.com under Chaos Reigns. I suspect that neither one will be anything like the other.