"What the hell is happening in there?" Devlan asked, looking at the
computer screen filled with Matrix coding.
"I don't know, I lost Neo and Trinity, and Mace is on her way to the closest exit- wounded, but alive." Tank answered quickly, eyes scanning the screens.
Just then, Tank pressed a few buttons and Mace shivered into consciousness once again.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. God this hurts." Mace slid out of the chair with Trish's assistance- the others too preoccupied with trying to find Neo and Trinity.
"Get her to the med lab, now. Strife how's...STRIFE!" Morpheus yelled at Strife who was about to follow Mace, worried about her health.
"She'll be fine, I need you to keep an eye on Neo and Trinity's vital signs- especially Trinity's."
"Why so much Trinity's?" Strife asked as he walked over to her sleeping form.
"Because she cannot stop bullets, nor destroy an agent or even heal herself. Neo can, and he can't protect her all the time." Morpheus explained, keeping an eye on the screens.
~~*~~*~~*~~
Neo was a blur, both stopping bullets from hitting Trinity and fighting an agent at the same time, he was constantly moving. Before long though, Neo's mind began to slow- too many close calls as he and Trinity searched for both a phone and an exit at the same time. Just a few more feet to that man on the corner with the cell phone- just a few more...
"Ahh! Shit! Oh God!" Trinity yelled out through clenched teeth as a bullet lodged itself into her side just above her liver.
Neo whipped around, mentally shielding both of them from any bullets. He ran to her and just as another agent turned the corner with gun trained at her head, Neo picked her up into his arms and flew. Breaking all the rules of gravity within the Matrix, Neo flew as fast and as far as he could.
Before long, Trinity's pleas of help caused him to slow down.
"Neo, put me down, I need to lie down, somewhere safe." Trinity almost whimpered to him.
Neo slowed enough to see a meadow of wild flowers close by. Trinity coughed, blood hitting the back of her lips.
"Trinity just hold on, we're almost there." Neo pleaded.
"Put me down, we're in the wild, you think agents would come here? There are less potential hosts." Trinity coughed again, this time blood dribbled down her chin.
"Oh God, Trinity." Neo instantly landed and bent over to put her down, not caring about anything but her life.
Softly laying her in the long grass, Neo pulled off her leather coat and ripped open her top. Trinity knew by the look on his face, she wouldn't make it. ~And he'll never know that he's saved me from something only he could do outside the Matrix, when he's just a normal guy. He brought me to life, gave me a reason to live. ~
"Neo, listen to me..." Trinity slowly began, short on breath.
"You're not gonna die on me. Not now. Look, there must be some way I can..."
"You can't, my mind is making this real."
"Then stop believing it!" Neo cried out, the first tears she'd ever seen from his eyes slipped down his cheeks, landing softly on her stomach and her gunshot wound.
"I can't. It feels too real. I'm not like you. I can't stop thi-" Trinity's speech caught as she lost her breath for a moment.
"You can Trinity. You have too." Neo tears flowed freely, hitting her wound. He lowered his head to hers and quietly whispered in her ear between cries, "I need you, I can't do this alone. I may be the One, but I'm nothing without you. I have no reason to go on."
"They need you." Trinity whispered.
Zion. Zion needed him.
"I need you."
"Why?"
Neo lifted his head, wiping away his tears and slowly resting his hand over the wound.
"Because you're the one. Without you-there is no me."
"You're so much more than you think, Neo. You can save peoples lives by being who you are. You- you see the Matrix, and change it to work for you. No one can do that but you."
Neo's head snapped up. That was it. Neo stood and closed his eyes for a second, then reopened then, seeing the Matrix coding surrounding him.
"Neo, what...?" Trinity's slurred question was silenced when she felt the pain in her side begin to subside.
He had done this before, and he was shot when he had done it too. If he did it then, he could do it now. But something was wrong, her wound- the coding around it seemed almost like there was an identical one surrounding it, blocking his healing. The agents had found a way to block him from completely healing someone- a new upgrade to the battle against the machines. Neo was about to delete the "virus" when he noticed its attachment to Trinity's coding.
If he deleted it now, without spending time to carefully unwind it from her, he would kill Trinity. He was about to stop and tell her they'd have to take her out wounded when Trinity's voice broke the silence.
"Neo, the agents aren't going to chase us here. You have plenty of time."
"There's this specific code they've wrapped around you. It's stopping me from healing you completely, but if I delete it without carefully unwinding it from your own coding, you'll be killed."
"What does it look like?" The edge in her voice unnerved Neo.
"Very similar to yours. A few differences here or there, but it's very small and very tightly wound." Neo replied, getting nervous by her reaction to his answers.
"Leave it, I'll heal normally."
"But I'd rather just get rid of it and-" Neo was cut off and snapped out of his view of coding by Trinity.
Her blurry ice blue eyes looked up at Neo,
"I'm pregnant." She face looked happy and shocked, with a twinge of resentment boiling underneath her smooth features. It wasn't a question, nor a statement, more of a shocked understanding.
"But I thought you can't get pregnant unless you have some sort of operation to get your body's menstrual cycle working again." Neo pointed out, falling to the grass next to her, trying to find another reason for the coding.
"I know, and I didn't get one. I don't know how this could happen." Trinity's face crumpled as frustrated tears slid down her face. "I don't want to be a mother, I'm not ready. I never planned on having a family during the war. Then again, I didn't believe I'd fall in love either."
"I really do break all the rules, don't I? Not just in the Matrix, but outside it as well. Jeez." Neo fell back, unsure what to say.
"I guess you do. This shouldn't have happened. I didn't-"
"What? You didn't want to have kids? Ever?"
"Not ever. Someday, yes, I would like to have a child of my own. But now? No. This isn't the right time, place or, well, it's the right guy, but you know what I mean."
"Yeah." The silence slowly came back as they both let the truth sink in. Parents. Them. During a war where they could both die. More likely her than him, but they could still both die.
"We should probably, uhhh, get back. They're probably very worried." Neo mumbled quietly.
"Yeah. We should. Wait. How far along am I?" Trinity asked suddenly.
"Hold on." Neo looked at her coding again, reading the baby's codes. "About 2, 2 and a half months. I'm not sure."
Trinity nodded and allowed Neo to pick her up into his arms. He flew them to Los Angeles and grabbed a phone. Within minutes, they were on board the ship with Trinity being carried off to the med lab.
"I don't know, I lost Neo and Trinity, and Mace is on her way to the closest exit- wounded, but alive." Tank answered quickly, eyes scanning the screens.
Just then, Tank pressed a few buttons and Mace shivered into consciousness once again.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. God this hurts." Mace slid out of the chair with Trish's assistance- the others too preoccupied with trying to find Neo and Trinity.
"Get her to the med lab, now. Strife how's...STRIFE!" Morpheus yelled at Strife who was about to follow Mace, worried about her health.
"She'll be fine, I need you to keep an eye on Neo and Trinity's vital signs- especially Trinity's."
"Why so much Trinity's?" Strife asked as he walked over to her sleeping form.
"Because she cannot stop bullets, nor destroy an agent or even heal herself. Neo can, and he can't protect her all the time." Morpheus explained, keeping an eye on the screens.
~~*~~*~~*~~
Neo was a blur, both stopping bullets from hitting Trinity and fighting an agent at the same time, he was constantly moving. Before long though, Neo's mind began to slow- too many close calls as he and Trinity searched for both a phone and an exit at the same time. Just a few more feet to that man on the corner with the cell phone- just a few more...
"Ahh! Shit! Oh God!" Trinity yelled out through clenched teeth as a bullet lodged itself into her side just above her liver.
Neo whipped around, mentally shielding both of them from any bullets. He ran to her and just as another agent turned the corner with gun trained at her head, Neo picked her up into his arms and flew. Breaking all the rules of gravity within the Matrix, Neo flew as fast and as far as he could.
Before long, Trinity's pleas of help caused him to slow down.
"Neo, put me down, I need to lie down, somewhere safe." Trinity almost whimpered to him.
Neo slowed enough to see a meadow of wild flowers close by. Trinity coughed, blood hitting the back of her lips.
"Trinity just hold on, we're almost there." Neo pleaded.
"Put me down, we're in the wild, you think agents would come here? There are less potential hosts." Trinity coughed again, this time blood dribbled down her chin.
"Oh God, Trinity." Neo instantly landed and bent over to put her down, not caring about anything but her life.
Softly laying her in the long grass, Neo pulled off her leather coat and ripped open her top. Trinity knew by the look on his face, she wouldn't make it. ~And he'll never know that he's saved me from something only he could do outside the Matrix, when he's just a normal guy. He brought me to life, gave me a reason to live. ~
"Neo, listen to me..." Trinity slowly began, short on breath.
"You're not gonna die on me. Not now. Look, there must be some way I can..."
"You can't, my mind is making this real."
"Then stop believing it!" Neo cried out, the first tears she'd ever seen from his eyes slipped down his cheeks, landing softly on her stomach and her gunshot wound.
"I can't. It feels too real. I'm not like you. I can't stop thi-" Trinity's speech caught as she lost her breath for a moment.
"You can Trinity. You have too." Neo tears flowed freely, hitting her wound. He lowered his head to hers and quietly whispered in her ear between cries, "I need you, I can't do this alone. I may be the One, but I'm nothing without you. I have no reason to go on."
"They need you." Trinity whispered.
Zion. Zion needed him.
"I need you."
"Why?"
Neo lifted his head, wiping away his tears and slowly resting his hand over the wound.
"Because you're the one. Without you-there is no me."
"You're so much more than you think, Neo. You can save peoples lives by being who you are. You- you see the Matrix, and change it to work for you. No one can do that but you."
Neo's head snapped up. That was it. Neo stood and closed his eyes for a second, then reopened then, seeing the Matrix coding surrounding him.
"Neo, what...?" Trinity's slurred question was silenced when she felt the pain in her side begin to subside.
He had done this before, and he was shot when he had done it too. If he did it then, he could do it now. But something was wrong, her wound- the coding around it seemed almost like there was an identical one surrounding it, blocking his healing. The agents had found a way to block him from completely healing someone- a new upgrade to the battle against the machines. Neo was about to delete the "virus" when he noticed its attachment to Trinity's coding.
If he deleted it now, without spending time to carefully unwind it from her, he would kill Trinity. He was about to stop and tell her they'd have to take her out wounded when Trinity's voice broke the silence.
"Neo, the agents aren't going to chase us here. You have plenty of time."
"There's this specific code they've wrapped around you. It's stopping me from healing you completely, but if I delete it without carefully unwinding it from your own coding, you'll be killed."
"What does it look like?" The edge in her voice unnerved Neo.
"Very similar to yours. A few differences here or there, but it's very small and very tightly wound." Neo replied, getting nervous by her reaction to his answers.
"Leave it, I'll heal normally."
"But I'd rather just get rid of it and-" Neo was cut off and snapped out of his view of coding by Trinity.
Her blurry ice blue eyes looked up at Neo,
"I'm pregnant." She face looked happy and shocked, with a twinge of resentment boiling underneath her smooth features. It wasn't a question, nor a statement, more of a shocked understanding.
"But I thought you can't get pregnant unless you have some sort of operation to get your body's menstrual cycle working again." Neo pointed out, falling to the grass next to her, trying to find another reason for the coding.
"I know, and I didn't get one. I don't know how this could happen." Trinity's face crumpled as frustrated tears slid down her face. "I don't want to be a mother, I'm not ready. I never planned on having a family during the war. Then again, I didn't believe I'd fall in love either."
"I really do break all the rules, don't I? Not just in the Matrix, but outside it as well. Jeez." Neo fell back, unsure what to say.
"I guess you do. This shouldn't have happened. I didn't-"
"What? You didn't want to have kids? Ever?"
"Not ever. Someday, yes, I would like to have a child of my own. But now? No. This isn't the right time, place or, well, it's the right guy, but you know what I mean."
"Yeah." The silence slowly came back as they both let the truth sink in. Parents. Them. During a war where they could both die. More likely her than him, but they could still both die.
"We should probably, uhhh, get back. They're probably very worried." Neo mumbled quietly.
"Yeah. We should. Wait. How far along am I?" Trinity asked suddenly.
"Hold on." Neo looked at her coding again, reading the baby's codes. "About 2, 2 and a half months. I'm not sure."
Trinity nodded and allowed Neo to pick her up into his arms. He flew them to Los Angeles and grabbed a phone. Within minutes, they were on board the ship with Trinity being carried off to the med lab.