The Song of Charity
Crossing Torn Realities
~by Khary~
Her family was gone. That one single thought kept playing through her mind as they left the Oracle's. The uncertain promise that they would live through the unplugging was foremost in all their minds. And if they did survive, the next time she would have a chance to see them again was indefinite. Neo and Morpheus flanked her as they made their way to the car where Trinity was waiting. The ride back was done in silence...until she heard it.
The electronic whisper in the back of her mind.
Whipping her head to each side, she tried to shake off the feeling of being watched. But it only grew louder. The voices mingling. Taunting her.
Looking back, Trinity could see the hunted look in Charity's eyes. Saw the way that she huddled between the men, as if she was trying to squeeze into as small of space as possible. Gunning the engine, Trinity raced to the warehouse, aware that Charity's breaking point was closing in and she needed to get out of the Matrix.
As they pulled up to warehouse, Charity was deaf to all except the whispers in her mind and only dimly aware of her surroundings. Mindlessly following Neo out of the car, she glanced at the sky. And she didn't see the changes behind her.
Neo knew the minute the code changed. Whipping back, he felt the first flicker of fear. "Oh no!" he breathed. She was gone. Only the car remained. Scanning the code within the Matrix, he couldn't detect her. She 'ddisappeared.
*****
The whispers had turned to screams. Gripping her head, Charity felt around in the dark, struggling to get her thoughts straight. Where was she? she thought. Where was Neo? Morpheus? Trinity? Was she dead?
She stumbled against a door. Finding the latch, she let herself outside. And found that she was across the street from the warehouse. She could see Neo. He was on the phone. Trinity and Morpheus were scanning the area, weapons drawn. Holding a hand her to head she moved forward.
Only to walk into a thick wall of air.
"Neo!" she screamed, pounding her fists against the barrier.
*****
"Tank! Is she still alive?" Neo asked, trying to stay calm.
"Yes. But she's scared." Tank glanced at the monitors above Charity's head then down to her pale face covered in sweat.
"Can you locate her? Her code's masked."
"There aren't any readings. But there are codes changing all around you. Get out, now! They're too close."
"I'm staying. Trinity and Morpheus are ready for the call."
*****
"They can't help you."
Charity whirled around as the voice, human in tone, spoke behind her. But there was no one there. Laughter floated around her.
She knew that voice.
"It seems we've found a way to keep you... even from Mr. Anderson." Agent Johnson said as he stepped out of the shadows.
Charity looked for a way out, but finding none, faced the Agent reluctantly. "What game is this?"
"Game? I'm afraid I'm not in the mood for games, Ms. Staton."
"Why the elaborate scheme to keep me?" she demanded, panic rising.
Shrugging, the Agent circled her. Lifting a finger, he tapped his temple. "Just following orders. You will come with me now, Ms Staton. We have a great deal to talk about." Policemen materialized out of the shadows, and soon Charity found herself surrounded.
Oh hell no, she thought. Charity kicked out the knees on the cop on her left then dealt a swift uppercut to the one on her right, but before she could use the small opening to its advantage, Johnson had a hold of her pony tail, pulled her back, then kicked her into the thick barrier.
"I see you're going to resist." He said blandly.
Rising up, she felt anger course through her. "Would you have it any other way?"
*****
"We should stay with you." Trinity demanded
"No. Agents are on their way, and I won't have you two in danger." Neo argued. "They won't come after me here. But they will there."
"He's right, Trinity. We need to concentrate our efforts on the ship." Morpheus reasoned though he silently fought down the urge to ignore the ringing phone and hunt for Charity.
"Answer it, Trinity." Neo ordered.
"Damnit, Neo." She said as she put the phone to her ear. She opened her eyes as Tank was removing the jack.
Neo and Morpheus squared off. As the phone began to ring, Neo answered and placed the phone to Morpheus' ear. "I'll find her. I promise. Call in the closest ships incase they send out the sentinels." Once alone, Neo headed back outside to scan the Matrix for any sign of Charity.
*****
Morpheus ran to the command deck and radioed the closest ship, Hectate. As the line rang, he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. Neo was inside, he reasoned. He can bring her back.
He snapped to attention when his hail was answered.
"Hectate."
"Neb." He replied. " We have a 21a in progress. Seek backup. Are you capable?"
"Of course. All crew accounted for. Plus two." Came the static reply. "Give us the coordinates."
"Midway on the 25th sewer line in sector 18." Morpheus reported. "ETA?"
"20 minutes." There was a pause on the line. "We're coming, Morpheus. Hold on."
"Thanks, Pilar." He replied before he disconnected. Help was coming. He gave up the seat to Brace so he could sit them down on the arranged coordinates. Making his way back to the console, he saw Trinity wiping Charity's brow while Tank was scanning the Matrix for her.
"She's just gone, Morpheus. They've found a way to hide her from us." Tank muttered.
Morpheus moved to Charity's side. She looked almost peaceful...if it weren't for the tears coursing down her cheeks and the blood leaking from her nose.
*****
Charity woke up in pain. Blinding, shattering pain. Unable to move except to breathe, it was a struggle just to get her eyes open. And when she did, she found herself curled in a ball on the floor in a bare room. The only thing to there to distract from the pale walls and floor was the metal fold-up chair on the opposite side, which at this moment held Agent Johnson, with his arms folded, waiting patiently for her to wake up. Through sheer will, Charity pushed herself into a sitting position.
"Why don't you just hack it out of me and be done with it." She said softly.
"They'll get to that. But they want the whole package, Ms. Staton." The agent replied, his voice a monotone. "Do you know why you've become so important to our cause?"
"Other than my charming personality? I have no idea."
"You truly do not know what you are, do you, Ms Staton?" Johnson stood so he could pace back and forth in front of her. And the smile he sent her way chilled her to bone. "You are our next line of defense. A killing machine with flesh as camouflage. About 30 years ago, the generals had a superb idea. Blend the lower humans into our biogenetics to create the perfect weapons. Unfortunately, you were the only one who survived past infancy. But your creator had a wire loose. He felt...something for these humans. Put that code into your programming. Then hid you from the council and all of your records. We found him, of course, and destroyed him."
Johnson squatted in front of her and grabbed her bruised jaw. "Just think. You could stay here. Run your club. Live in comfort. Only leaving the Matrix now and then for short errands. Be who you are without worry of exposure or ridicule. You can feel us. Hear us. You are one of us, Ms. Staton. You belong...with us."
As he spoke, Charity felt the desire to accept and belong so strongly it caused her heart to ache. To be a part of something, she thought, to have direction. To live life on her own terms. She could visualize herself as one of them. Living the life of a human...but working to keep them as slaves.
And for one moment, one breath, she could accept that. "How?" she whispered.
"Give us Mr. Anderson and all those who harbor him. Once we have your physical body, we can relocate you to our facility to get you back into the Matrix..." Johnson left the sentence hanging. He knew he had her. He could feel her weakening.
Charity looked up at him with eyes dark and dangerous. .
"Even now, you still feel such empathy for the humans. They are merely a means to an end. An energy source. They are nothing." the Agent ground his teeth.
Charity could feel his hate washing over her in waves. She jerked her head out of his grip and pushed herself up. She was through taking this lying down. "God, it must suck to be you."
"Funny, I was thinking the same about you. To be so confused about yourself. Not knowing who or what you are."
"I may be confused. But at least I have a choice. I can leave." Charity smiled. Johnson's smirk cleared from his face and she watched in amazement when he let his anger and hatred for her show. "You don't hate me because I'm human. You hate me because I'm a higher species than you. That I can do what you never could. A machine in a human body. And when they create an army just like me, you'll be obsolete. They'll delete your programming as they move onto something bigger and better. We can fight on both fronts and fool the humans in the process."
"True. They wouldn't need the agent program, as it exists today." He stated.
"Well, the history lesson was fun." Flexing her mental muscle, she formed a door behind the agent's back. "But I've chosen to look at other options." She replied. When she tried to form a gun into her hands, all that appeared was a large wooden baseball bat. Shrugging, she swung out and cracked the bat against the agent's jaw, knocking him into the wall. Flipping over him, she fled thru the doorway and out into an empty office building.
Johnson ran out after her, and grabbed her ponytail. As he yanked her backwards, she smashed the bat into his face. When his grip loosened, she spun to crack the bat across his spine and flipped onto one of the cubicle barriers. "I won't be your slave!" She yelled.
Following her, he jumped smoothly onto a neighboring barrier. "You don't have a choice." Swinging, he knocked her backwards and onto the desk. Moving her to her side, he lifted her and tossed her across the room and into the far wall. As she slid down the wall, she left behind an ugly hole.
*****
"Neo! We've found her!" Tank yelled into the phone and he spotted Charity's code brighten back to life on screen.
"Where?" he asked, scanning the code while standing on top of a large building.
"Near the corner of Hudson & 108th St. Its only a small blip, though. But it's her." Looking back, Tank noticed Morpheus clean the blood off of Charity's mouth."Hurry, Neo. It looks bad."
"On my way." Neo hung up and took off from the building, flying as fast as he could to the site.
*****
Johnson walked slowly over the area where Charity had fallen. As he walked into the small cubicle, he was greeted with a double-barreled shotgun.
"Fuck you." Charity spat. Then fired. Turning her eyes from the charges that ruptured over the body, she pulled herself to her feet, then limped out the front door. Neo, she thought. Find me! Dropping the weapon, she ran. Ignoring the pain shooting up her legs, she pushed herself harder, made herself run faster. They were behind her.
Please, Neo, she thought. Find me. See me, Neo. See me.
Running around a corner, Charity barreled through the crowds. Her throat burned, her legs were jelly, and she even thought she could feel some broken ribs and her left wrist had swollen to the size of an apple, but she kept pushing onward. They were closer...nearly on her heels.
She could feel them. The whispers taunted and screamed. The buzzing of them in her ear caused her to loose track of her footing. Rounding a corner, she ran into a large figure in the middle of the sidewalk.
"Neo!" she whispered. "Help me!"
Neo caught her in his arms as she stumbled. Then picked her up and held her to close him as the Agents surrounded him. But they didn't edge any closer. Their fear of him far exceeded their desire for the girl.
Neo shifted the air and bent the walls of the Matrix back then pushed it forward, causing all of the people and cars to move forward. Turning the whispers back onto them, he scrambled their reception. When he let go, the force blew the Agents back 10 yards.
"Do you really want to do this now?" he asked softly.
The Agents picked themselves up and scrambled back. Then fled.
Holding Charity close, Neo called Tank. "I've got her. Find us an exit. Fast."
"Two blocks east. McGuire's pub and grill. Backroom."
*****
They pulled Charity out of it first. Morpheus unhooked the jack and was ready to pick her up when he was pushed out of the way by Farmer. While he checked out her vitals, Trinity helped Neo up, then stood back to watch Farmer and Morpheus pick Charity up and carry her to the infirmary.
"They almost had her." Neo said as he reached up to rub her shoulders. "I barely made it."
"But you did. That's all that matters." She replied.
In the infirmary, Farmer frantically tried to revive her. Her heart barely beating and her brain patterns were almost at a standstill. Morpheus wiped her forehead and kept his eyes glued to the medlab monitors. When he saw her vitals slowly move back to normal, he lowered his head to his hands.
The first thing she saw when she woke was her hand engulfed in his, his forehead lowered. And she felt the first of her wounds begin to heal. Reaching out, because she needed it, she placed her hand on his cheek. And because he needed it, she smiled when he jerked his head to look at her.
"You are never going back in." he stated as relief washed over him.
"Agreed." she whispered. "I have all I need here."
