A/N I don't have much to say except here's chapter five. I'll be posting the next few quickly then there might be a bit of a break. I have exams. (Greek philosophy. OUCH) On the plus side, my movies course (hmm, fun) is doing violence and I got to see a certain Wachowski continuation.... :) Oh yeah, the person who e-mailed me (poitin): the fic takes place four months after 'The Matrix'. Ergo, it takes place two months before Reloaded.
**
"Where are we meeting her?" Neo asked as he, Morpheus, Trinity, and Alpha made their way to the Core.
"The same club where we first talked to you. Choi and Dujour have taken her there", Morpheus replied. "Trinity's going into the club. You and Alpha will be waiting in a car out front. If she decides to come with you, bring her to Heart 'o' the City Hotel. I'll be waiting there."
"OK, sounds good"
Neo slid into the chair he always used for going into the Matrix. He moved to a more comfortable position. Turning his head, he saw Trinity doing the same. Link moved around, plugging in each one of them in turn. Neo felt his eyes go wide as the cool metal spike slid effortlessly into his plug. He saw white then, suddenly, the Matrix as Link loaded them in.
**
Trinity removed the sunglasses from the bridge of her nose. She saw Neo and Alpha sit into the car. She stared to make her way into the club.
Once inside, she looked around for Pedróvna. Through the haze of smoke she saw Choi talking to some coppertops. She caught his eye and he nodded in the direction of the wall. Trinity turned around and saw Pedróvna leaning against the wall. Her hair was shoulder length and brown. Dressed in a startlingly white leather outfit, she reminded Trinity sharply of Switch. Mentally shaking herself, she walked quietly over to where Pedróvna was seeking solitude amongst the blaring beats of the music and the high drug addicts around her. She made her way towards her.
Pedróvna wondered why she even bothered to come here. She was getting close to the answer of her questions, and she knew it. She wondered why Choi and Dujour had even bothered to take her out. She had only known them for about a month and the minute they had entered the club, they had left her alone. Suddenly she felt a presence behind her. She turned sharply and saw a tall, pale woman standing there, dressed in black leather.
"Hello Pedróvna", she said. Pedróvna winced inwardly at the mention of her hacker alias.
"How do you know that name?", she asked this mysterious woman. How could she make the connection between the smalltime hacker known as Pedróvna, and Elizabeth, the arts student stuck in a deadend job and living in a small, dark apartment? How?
"I know quite a lot about you", the woman said, her tone never wavering.
"Who are you?". Pedróvna stared at her. How could she know anything about her?
"I am Trinity". That name... She had heard rumours about the legendary hacker who had cracked IRS. She had heard stories about nearly impossible hacking feats. This couldn't be the same Trinity. Could it? She had to make sure.
"The Trinity? The same Trinity who cracked IRS?"
"Bingo" Trinity thought. "That was a long time ago" she said out loud.
"Jesus", Petróvna said.
"What?" Here it comes, Trinity thought.
"I just thought you were a legend, nothing more"
Well, that's a new response. Trinity said nothing.
"Tell me" Petróvna said. "Is it true?"
"Is what true?" Trinity asked, although she had a fair idea of what was coming.
"Did you really crack FBI? I heard a rumour and..." she stopped short when she saw the enigmatic half-smile playing upon Trinity's lips. Jesus Christ... it was true.
"How did you do that?", she had to ask her. This woman standing in front of her...She was a legend. She was the reason she got into compters, hacking, everything.
"All I can tell you know is that you are in danger. Unless you come with me."
"Danger? What kind of danger?"
"They know you are getting close to the answer, Pedróvna."
"What answer? What the hell is the question?"
"I think you know the question."
Pedróvna felt confused and lost for several minutes, until it clicked. The Matrix...
"What is the Matrix?"
"The answer is out there. You will find it if you some with me" Trinity looked her in the eyes.
"I will come with you". The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them but she knew it was the right thing to do. Trinity turned around and began walking towards the exit. Pedróvna tried to keep up with her stride.
When she was outside, out of the smoke of the club, Pedróvna saw Trinity clearly. She was slim and dressed in a black leather trenchcoat that fitted her perfectly. Her short, ebony hair was slicked back with gel. She began walking towards a black Cadillac. Two men, dressed the same as Trinity stood leaning against the car. When Trinity came closer they stood up straight and one of them went into the driving seat and the other into the back. Trinity opened the back door.
"Get in" she said.
Pedróvna obeyed immediately and sat in beside one of the men. He had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile. Pedróvna watched as Trinity slid into the passenger seat beside the driver. From what she could see of him, he had black hair gelled back. She couldn't see his eyes as he was wearing sunglasses. Weird, she thought. Its the middle of the night.
"Lets go" Trinity said. "You know the way, don't you, Neo?" she added to the man in the driving seat.
"Of course he knows the way", Alpha replied.
Neo. She knew that name. She tried to remember where she had read that name before. Then it hit her like a tonne of bricks. Of course, she thought. He was one of the terrorists responsible for the destruction of a government building a few months ago. Jesus...
"We're here", Neo said as he pulled up to an old, abandoned hotel. Petróvna got out of the car a little apprehensively. It was pouring rain and she had left her jacket in the club. Looking up at the ran and the few stars that weren't totally covered by the clouds for a few seconds, she followed Trinity and the others in side. Pushing her wet, mousey hair out of her eyes she looked up and saw flights and flights of stairs. Looking forward, she saw only Trinity. The two men had disappeared. She followed Trinity up the stairs. She stopped in front of a pair of oak double doors.
"This is it" she said.
She pushed open the door and led Pedróvna through. Taking a quick scan of the room, Pedróvna noticed two red leather, high backed chairs with a table in the middle, which had a glass of water on it and a magnificent fireplace against the wall. A flash of lightning illuminated a tall, broad man dressed in a trenchcoat. He turned around and smiled at her. Pedróvna turned around to see that Trinity had gone and that she was alone with this stranger.
"Hello, Petróvna. I am Morpheus". Well, he was no longer a stranger. He extended his hand in greeting. She took it adn he shook it warmly. Pedróvna was still in a state of shock and suprise. Morpheus. The man she had searched for for over a year was standing in front of her with one hand behind his back and the other one held her own trembling hand. He motioned for her to sit down in one of the chairs. She obliged. This man could probably kill her in less than three seconds, if he wanted.
"Why have you come here?" he asked her.
Petróvna was slightly taken aback. "Because I want to know the truth. And I assume you're the one to give it to me?"
"You want to know the truth" Morpheus relpied. "You want to know what the Matrix is?"
"Yes, sir, I do"
"Well, unfortunately, no-one can be shown what the Matrix is -" Morpheus began.
Pedróvna slumped back in her chair. She came all this way, wasted a year of her life and now she's being told that she can't know the truth?
"- you have to be shown it for yourself." Pedróvna sat up slightly as Morpheus continued. He opened a small silver case, and took out two objects. He held them in his closed fists.
"You take the blue pill-" he opened his left hand and revealed a small blue pill. "-you forget any of this ever happened. You wake up at home and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill-", he opened his right fist to show a small red pill. "- you realise the truth. You come with us and see the Matrix for yourself"
Pedróvna looked at the two pills. Slowly she extended her hand and reached for the red pill.
"Remember", Morpheus interrupted her. She stopped her hand. "There is no turning back after this point"
Pedróvna nodded and picked up the red pill. She placed in on her tongue. She reached for the glass of water and swallowed the pill. Morpheus smiled.
"Come with me"
**
"Do you think she'll take the red pill?" Neo asked while they were setting up the equipment.
"Honestly? I don't know" Trinity said. "I mean, we haven't been watching her for a long time..."
"Yeah, but Morpheus said that she'd been searching for the truth for over a year", Alpha said from across the room.
"I suppose. I guess I'm just paranoid after what happened with Cypher, I mean, we hadn't watched him much either."
"Trinity -" Neo began.
They were interrupted when Morpheus walked in with Pedróvna in tow.
"Are we online?" he asked.
"Nearly", Alpha said.
"Trinity, take her"
Trinity led Pedróvna to a chair beside a cracked mirror and attached sensors to her.
"You did this?", Pedróvna asked.
"Not all" Trinity replied with a quick glance at Neo and Alpha. She went back to her comuter when Morpheus approached.
"Did you ever have a dream, Pedróvna, that was so real, you were unable to distinguish it from the real world? What if yu were unable to wake from that dream? How would you be able to tel the diference between it and the real world?"
Pedróvna, looking totally lost and confused by now, took a passing glance at the mirror. It wasn't cracked anymore. Brows furrowed, she stretched a finger out to touch the surface. She was positive it had been cracked. When her fingers touched the surface, it felt almost liquid. She pulled her finger back in shock. Her breathing became faster when she realised that the substance was sticking to her fingers. It had begun to crawl slowly up her arm. Trinity was watching her heartbeat on a screen near her.
"You'd better hurry" she said.
Morpheus opened a cell phone and hit '0'
"Tank, do you have a signal yet?"
He waited for the response then walked over to Alpha.
"Alpha?"
"I got her"
"Now Tank" he said into the cell.
All the time the substance had been covering Pedróvna. It had covered her arm and was nearing her mouth. She closed her eyes against the pain in her chest from her heart beat. It was pounding in her ears. Then everything went black.
**
The next thing she knew, she woke up covered in a sticky, almost transulcent goo. She tried to breathe but her airway was blocked with some sort of pipe. She broke through the membrane of the goo and remove the tube from her throat. While coughed furiously she felt something in the back of her head. Moving her hands slowly towards the nape of her neck, she felt another tube connected to the back of her head. Looking around her, she noticed more pods like the one she was encased in.
Where the hell am I?
She saw a strange machine coming towads her pod. It stopped in front of her and a huge claw like thing moved closer. She tried to move but it held her around the throat. Gasping for breath, she speezed her eyes shut as she flet something being pulled from her neck. She claw released her suddenly and she cllapsed into the pod. She was just regaining her breath when all the ohter pipes and tubes that were connected to her body began to remove themselves. She tried not the scream as she felt them whipping against her back. She clutched the sides of the pod of support. She could still feel her heart beating wildly. Suddely, a valve opened somewhere and she was pulled out of her pod. She could feel herself falling down some sort of tube, but barely registered it. She landed into ice cold water and struggled to keep her head up. Her muscles were so tired. Looking up, she saw another claw come down. She tried to swim away, but couldn't get her arms to move. She felt the strong pincers sieze her. She struggled to hold on to consiousness.
The claw had released her. She wondered where she was. She felt strong arms pick her up and place warm blanket around her. She saw Trinity. They last thing she heard befor she slipped into unconsiousness was Morpheus' voice.
"Welcome to the Real World"
**
A/N Wow. Waaaay longer than I thought. Sorry about that. Well there ya go. Five chapters in the bag. I know, I know some of the unplugging sequence may give you deja vu, but don't worry, its not a glitch. Cahpter six coming as soon as I fel like it. I was thinking maybe putting Neo and Trinity in the construct... thoughts?Opinion? R/R
**
"Where are we meeting her?" Neo asked as he, Morpheus, Trinity, and Alpha made their way to the Core.
"The same club where we first talked to you. Choi and Dujour have taken her there", Morpheus replied. "Trinity's going into the club. You and Alpha will be waiting in a car out front. If she decides to come with you, bring her to Heart 'o' the City Hotel. I'll be waiting there."
"OK, sounds good"
Neo slid into the chair he always used for going into the Matrix. He moved to a more comfortable position. Turning his head, he saw Trinity doing the same. Link moved around, plugging in each one of them in turn. Neo felt his eyes go wide as the cool metal spike slid effortlessly into his plug. He saw white then, suddenly, the Matrix as Link loaded them in.
**
Trinity removed the sunglasses from the bridge of her nose. She saw Neo and Alpha sit into the car. She stared to make her way into the club.
Once inside, she looked around for Pedróvna. Through the haze of smoke she saw Choi talking to some coppertops. She caught his eye and he nodded in the direction of the wall. Trinity turned around and saw Pedróvna leaning against the wall. Her hair was shoulder length and brown. Dressed in a startlingly white leather outfit, she reminded Trinity sharply of Switch. Mentally shaking herself, she walked quietly over to where Pedróvna was seeking solitude amongst the blaring beats of the music and the high drug addicts around her. She made her way towards her.
Pedróvna wondered why she even bothered to come here. She was getting close to the answer of her questions, and she knew it. She wondered why Choi and Dujour had even bothered to take her out. She had only known them for about a month and the minute they had entered the club, they had left her alone. Suddenly she felt a presence behind her. She turned sharply and saw a tall, pale woman standing there, dressed in black leather.
"Hello Pedróvna", she said. Pedróvna winced inwardly at the mention of her hacker alias.
"How do you know that name?", she asked this mysterious woman. How could she make the connection between the smalltime hacker known as Pedróvna, and Elizabeth, the arts student stuck in a deadend job and living in a small, dark apartment? How?
"I know quite a lot about you", the woman said, her tone never wavering.
"Who are you?". Pedróvna stared at her. How could she know anything about her?
"I am Trinity". That name... She had heard rumours about the legendary hacker who had cracked IRS. She had heard stories about nearly impossible hacking feats. This couldn't be the same Trinity. Could it? She had to make sure.
"The Trinity? The same Trinity who cracked IRS?"
"Bingo" Trinity thought. "That was a long time ago" she said out loud.
"Jesus", Petróvna said.
"What?" Here it comes, Trinity thought.
"I just thought you were a legend, nothing more"
Well, that's a new response. Trinity said nothing.
"Tell me" Petróvna said. "Is it true?"
"Is what true?" Trinity asked, although she had a fair idea of what was coming.
"Did you really crack FBI? I heard a rumour and..." she stopped short when she saw the enigmatic half-smile playing upon Trinity's lips. Jesus Christ... it was true.
"How did you do that?", she had to ask her. This woman standing in front of her...She was a legend. She was the reason she got into compters, hacking, everything.
"All I can tell you know is that you are in danger. Unless you come with me."
"Danger? What kind of danger?"
"They know you are getting close to the answer, Pedróvna."
"What answer? What the hell is the question?"
"I think you know the question."
Pedróvna felt confused and lost for several minutes, until it clicked. The Matrix...
"What is the Matrix?"
"The answer is out there. You will find it if you some with me" Trinity looked her in the eyes.
"I will come with you". The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them but she knew it was the right thing to do. Trinity turned around and began walking towards the exit. Pedróvna tried to keep up with her stride.
When she was outside, out of the smoke of the club, Pedróvna saw Trinity clearly. She was slim and dressed in a black leather trenchcoat that fitted her perfectly. Her short, ebony hair was slicked back with gel. She began walking towards a black Cadillac. Two men, dressed the same as Trinity stood leaning against the car. When Trinity came closer they stood up straight and one of them went into the driving seat and the other into the back. Trinity opened the back door.
"Get in" she said.
Pedróvna obeyed immediately and sat in beside one of the men. He had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile. Pedróvna watched as Trinity slid into the passenger seat beside the driver. From what she could see of him, he had black hair gelled back. She couldn't see his eyes as he was wearing sunglasses. Weird, she thought. Its the middle of the night.
"Lets go" Trinity said. "You know the way, don't you, Neo?" she added to the man in the driving seat.
"Of course he knows the way", Alpha replied.
Neo. She knew that name. She tried to remember where she had read that name before. Then it hit her like a tonne of bricks. Of course, she thought. He was one of the terrorists responsible for the destruction of a government building a few months ago. Jesus...
"We're here", Neo said as he pulled up to an old, abandoned hotel. Petróvna got out of the car a little apprehensively. It was pouring rain and she had left her jacket in the club. Looking up at the ran and the few stars that weren't totally covered by the clouds for a few seconds, she followed Trinity and the others in side. Pushing her wet, mousey hair out of her eyes she looked up and saw flights and flights of stairs. Looking forward, she saw only Trinity. The two men had disappeared. She followed Trinity up the stairs. She stopped in front of a pair of oak double doors.
"This is it" she said.
She pushed open the door and led Pedróvna through. Taking a quick scan of the room, Pedróvna noticed two red leather, high backed chairs with a table in the middle, which had a glass of water on it and a magnificent fireplace against the wall. A flash of lightning illuminated a tall, broad man dressed in a trenchcoat. He turned around and smiled at her. Pedróvna turned around to see that Trinity had gone and that she was alone with this stranger.
"Hello, Petróvna. I am Morpheus". Well, he was no longer a stranger. He extended his hand in greeting. She took it adn he shook it warmly. Pedróvna was still in a state of shock and suprise. Morpheus. The man she had searched for for over a year was standing in front of her with one hand behind his back and the other one held her own trembling hand. He motioned for her to sit down in one of the chairs. She obliged. This man could probably kill her in less than three seconds, if he wanted.
"Why have you come here?" he asked her.
Petróvna was slightly taken aback. "Because I want to know the truth. And I assume you're the one to give it to me?"
"You want to know the truth" Morpheus relpied. "You want to know what the Matrix is?"
"Yes, sir, I do"
"Well, unfortunately, no-one can be shown what the Matrix is -" Morpheus began.
Pedróvna slumped back in her chair. She came all this way, wasted a year of her life and now she's being told that she can't know the truth?
"- you have to be shown it for yourself." Pedróvna sat up slightly as Morpheus continued. He opened a small silver case, and took out two objects. He held them in his closed fists.
"You take the blue pill-" he opened his left hand and revealed a small blue pill. "-you forget any of this ever happened. You wake up at home and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill-", he opened his right fist to show a small red pill. "- you realise the truth. You come with us and see the Matrix for yourself"
Pedróvna looked at the two pills. Slowly she extended her hand and reached for the red pill.
"Remember", Morpheus interrupted her. She stopped her hand. "There is no turning back after this point"
Pedróvna nodded and picked up the red pill. She placed in on her tongue. She reached for the glass of water and swallowed the pill. Morpheus smiled.
"Come with me"
**
"Do you think she'll take the red pill?" Neo asked while they were setting up the equipment.
"Honestly? I don't know" Trinity said. "I mean, we haven't been watching her for a long time..."
"Yeah, but Morpheus said that she'd been searching for the truth for over a year", Alpha said from across the room.
"I suppose. I guess I'm just paranoid after what happened with Cypher, I mean, we hadn't watched him much either."
"Trinity -" Neo began.
They were interrupted when Morpheus walked in with Pedróvna in tow.
"Are we online?" he asked.
"Nearly", Alpha said.
"Trinity, take her"
Trinity led Pedróvna to a chair beside a cracked mirror and attached sensors to her.
"You did this?", Pedróvna asked.
"Not all" Trinity replied with a quick glance at Neo and Alpha. She went back to her comuter when Morpheus approached.
"Did you ever have a dream, Pedróvna, that was so real, you were unable to distinguish it from the real world? What if yu were unable to wake from that dream? How would you be able to tel the diference between it and the real world?"
Pedróvna, looking totally lost and confused by now, took a passing glance at the mirror. It wasn't cracked anymore. Brows furrowed, she stretched a finger out to touch the surface. She was positive it had been cracked. When her fingers touched the surface, it felt almost liquid. She pulled her finger back in shock. Her breathing became faster when she realised that the substance was sticking to her fingers. It had begun to crawl slowly up her arm. Trinity was watching her heartbeat on a screen near her.
"You'd better hurry" she said.
Morpheus opened a cell phone and hit '0'
"Tank, do you have a signal yet?"
He waited for the response then walked over to Alpha.
"Alpha?"
"I got her"
"Now Tank" he said into the cell.
All the time the substance had been covering Pedróvna. It had covered her arm and was nearing her mouth. She closed her eyes against the pain in her chest from her heart beat. It was pounding in her ears. Then everything went black.
**
The next thing she knew, she woke up covered in a sticky, almost transulcent goo. She tried to breathe but her airway was blocked with some sort of pipe. She broke through the membrane of the goo and remove the tube from her throat. While coughed furiously she felt something in the back of her head. Moving her hands slowly towards the nape of her neck, she felt another tube connected to the back of her head. Looking around her, she noticed more pods like the one she was encased in.
Where the hell am I?
She saw a strange machine coming towads her pod. It stopped in front of her and a huge claw like thing moved closer. She tried to move but it held her around the throat. Gasping for breath, she speezed her eyes shut as she flet something being pulled from her neck. She claw released her suddenly and she cllapsed into the pod. She was just regaining her breath when all the ohter pipes and tubes that were connected to her body began to remove themselves. She tried not the scream as she felt them whipping against her back. She clutched the sides of the pod of support. She could still feel her heart beating wildly. Suddely, a valve opened somewhere and she was pulled out of her pod. She could feel herself falling down some sort of tube, but barely registered it. She landed into ice cold water and struggled to keep her head up. Her muscles were so tired. Looking up, she saw another claw come down. She tried to swim away, but couldn't get her arms to move. She felt the strong pincers sieze her. She struggled to hold on to consiousness.
The claw had released her. She wondered where she was. She felt strong arms pick her up and place warm blanket around her. She saw Trinity. They last thing she heard befor she slipped into unconsiousness was Morpheus' voice.
"Welcome to the Real World"
**
A/N Wow. Waaaay longer than I thought. Sorry about that. Well there ya go. Five chapters in the bag. I know, I know some of the unplugging sequence may give you deja vu, but don't worry, its not a glitch. Cahpter six coming as soon as I fel like it. I was thinking maybe putting Neo and Trinity in the construct... thoughts?Opinion? R/R