Log 4
Neo choked and struggled under the relentless and powerful hands of the Agent, who reveled in the suffering of his enemy. Chunks of the skeleton of the third floor were tumbling to the ground all around them. What was left standing was sucked into the monstrous hole, green code streaming and flashing within its core. The hole opened in the ceiling, revealing the nothing.
Tucking his legs up to his chest in between himself and the agent, he frog-kicked Smith with all of his might. His fingers slipped from around Neo's throat as he vertically soared towards the ceiling. Puncturing an even wider hole in the ceiling, the agent was caught by the gravity of the swirling black hole. Bits of code exploded in a spray as the agent was pulled through into the chasm. It devoured him whole.
Neo quickly stood up, dusting himself off and concentrating on his purpose. The house was in ruins all around him, more and more of the ceiling disappearing by the moment as matter and time itself were dismantled and disintegrated.
He concentrated his senses on looking for human activity around him. Morpheus and Trinity appeared at the stairs, expressions of relief and worry. They joined him in the den.
"Neo we have," Trinity started, but was cut short.
"Shh, I hear her!" He cried aloud. He followed his intuition to the closet, where he reached into the darkness. Amongst the clutter lay a girl bound and gagged, curled in the fetal position. Blood caked her face and clothing, her left eye socket was swollen and a large black hole on her forearm was burnt into the flesh of the bone from the code. Cuts and scratches lined her broken skin. Gathering the girl in his arms quickly but gently, he was overcome with a million different emotions - joy, sorrow, pity, relief, nostalgia, déjà vu. I have seen you before, stranger, he softly said to himself. If only in our dreams have we already met.
The foursome made their way to the entry as the third floor caved in on the first, backgrounded by random and frequent sounds of glass shattering, wood splintering, furniture and foundation crashing and breaking apart like paper. The house would be gone in a matter of moments.
They darted out the warping doorway and raced against time to the running car. As they neared it, Trinity reached into her holster and pulled out a grenade. She bit down on the pin, yanked the grenade from it, and hurled it towards the intersection of Minerva's driveway and the street. Just as the group reached the car and literally hurled themselves inside, a team of SWAT vans and police cars swerved around the corner down the road and roared towards her house. Several cop cars pulled around the driveway, blocking any possible vehicular escape (as only a common police officer of the law would predict), whereas one bulletproof van careened towards the car. The car roared into first and they pulled away as an explosion rocked the neighborhood. Several police cars burst into flames and officers went flying in all directions. Two of the SWAT vans tipped over, emptying the teams inside into the street.
The car fled up the road as the SWAT van fishtailed behind it. Swinging to an almost seventy degree angle, the van kept close on the little black Nissan Maxima.
"What is going to be done of the black hole?" Trinity asked, yanking the phone out of its holster.
"Do you see the white car that just pulled up behind the group of others?" Morpheus said, peering in the rearview mirror and he sped away from the scene.
"Yes," she nodded.
"Those are programs dispatched to the site of a glitch. They are the repairmen of the Matrix - the plumbers and carpenters, if you will. They are designed to attack the problem and fix it by any means necessary."
"What will they do?" She asked.
"They have a number of options. Personally, I believe all history of the incident, starting with the existence of Minerva's family and their past, the phone number and address along with the entire property of the house will be erased, and the programming of the Matrix will be adjusted so that nothing had ever happened at a non-existent address." Trinity looked down, and for a moment felt sorry for the remains of Minerva's now shattered life.
"How is she doing?" She asked, leaning over the seat and staring into the back where the girl lay across Neo's lap. He was checking her pulse and soothing the hair back from her face.
"A weak pulse, barely detectable, but its there." He peeled back the fabric that had melted into her skin from a wound of particular interest. "But look at this Trin," he said, exposing the burn. "What do you assume could have done this? It's so concentrated, and all the way to the bone."
"Looks like she was exposed directly to a stream of code. I've never seen anything like it before," she replied, studying the wound. Morpheus nodded.
"When a string of pure code directly touches exposed flesh, the code sinks deep within the skin and penetrates immediately all the way to the bone. The pain she will feel when she awakes, I pity, will be like the pain that no human on this Earth has felt before." He took noticed of the SWAT vehicle coming up quickly on his rear, gaining speed and gunning for them all.
"Operator," Link said.
"Link," Trinity cried, exasperated, "we need a safe haven, any way we can ditch these SWAT bastards?"
"Hold on a sec, bringing up the map," he replied. There was a pause as the sound of bullets began exploding in their ears. The back left window shattered, and the sound of ratta-tatta-tatta-tatta as bullets flew rocked the car. "Are you guys alright? Hello? HELLO?" Link cried into the phone.
"Dammit," Morpheus cursed, swinging around an S-curve before flying through a stop sign and booking it down the road. The car bounced violently, causing the cel phone to fly out of Trinity's hands.
"They're gaining on us," Neo yelled. His answer was 3 bullets through the back windshield. "SHIT!" he cried, shielding himself and Minerva from the spray of glass.
"Neo, do you see the gun lying under Trinity's seat?" Morpheus asked. Neo reached underneath, just missing a bullet to the side of the face, and felt for a gun. Trinity's heart jumped in her throat as she watched the bullet narrowly miss his head. Finding it, Neo picked it up and analyzed it.
"Aim for the left headlight. The fuel tank takes up most of the entire front, so hitting it shouldn't be a problem," Morpheus instructed as he swerved the car around another corner. Neo regained composure after being flung across the back seat, sat up, and concentrated on guiding the bullet to its destination. He focused, squinting one eye shut, and fired rapidly into the front chamber of the armored van. Most of the bullets reflected off, but two hit home and shattered the headlight. There was an explosion of sparks; fire shot from underneath the front end and engulfed the nose of the van. The van immediately slowed down. The team's response was to unload as many bullets as possible before the van burst into flames.
The sound of a thousand metal raindrops detonating against the car's metal frame was heard, almost deafening all 3 of its conscious passengers. The rest of the windows shattered - Trinity's leather suit was cut in several places. Morpheus' cheek was scratched and 2 of his knuckles were cut open. A gigantic fiery explosion shook the Earth just as a stray bullet punctured and burst the back left tire of the Maxima, sending the car veering wildly all over the road. An oncoming SUV slammed on the brakes and backed into a driveway in terror as the Maxima swerved onto the lawn of an unsuspecting neighbor's house. The car plowed through the mailbox, tearing up the entire front lawn and sending a spray of dirt and rocks in all directions. The car finally stopped as it nailed a large bush adjacent to the left side of the house. Morpheus quickly looked around at all of his passengers.
"Are you all alright? Neo, how is she doing?" He asked, unbuckling himself.
"I'm fine," Trinity said, wiping a smear of blood off of her leather suit.
"I'm ok, she still isn't conscious though, but she's holding in there," Neo said, wiping some glass off of her face. They all exited the totaled car and made their way into the forest at the end of the cul-de-sac up the road on the right. A clear path was paved through the woods.
"Walk along the path and up to the back of the elementary school. The door to the gym is open - you can hide out in there. Seems clear for the next few minutes," he spoke, the sound of keys tap-a-tapping in the background. The smoking van was sending up plumes of smoke, but no survivors were seen crawling out of its exterior. The coast was, for the moment, clear.
"Alright, thanks. I hope this works," Trinity said doubtfully, closing the phone and placing it in its holster.
"We have to wake her up, we cannot do this without her consent," Morpheus spoke as they made their way up the path to the school. They saw across the yard on the road at the end of the opposite exit numerous police cars fly by down the road.
"We haven't much time," Trinity exclaimed as they opened the door and stepped into the elementary school gym. Her voice echoed off of the walls of the gym, slightly startling her. She looked around in the darkness and wondered what they were to do.
"Neo, Trinity, stay with her, I'm going to find the nurse's office and see what we can do with our little friend here," he said, looking into her solemnly peaceful face. Morpheus took off down the hallway with no time to lose. Neo looked around but failed to find any proper seating. With a swift, powerful kick, the grid of auditorium benches came crashing down. Trinity flinched at the loud noise, realizing just how worried she was at the moment. She didn't want to voice or expose her true fears, but when she saw how close the bullet came to Neo's head only moments before, her heart screamed in her throat, paralyzing her instantly. Her poor, jittery heart was still relaxing from that frightening moment. She found a water fountain on the side of the gym and had a drink. She started to feel a little better when she heard footsteps coming down the hall. Neo looked up at her with a curious expression. She drew her weapon and aimed it at the source of the noise, not wanting to let her guard down for an instant.
Morpheus rounded the corner and came into the gym, his arms full of equipment. He smiled at Trinity's gun aimed pointedly in his direction. "It's good to see you're on your toes. I have taught you well," he said affectionately as he made his way over, setting the equipment down beside the girl. He looked at her, her face growing paler with every moment. Trinity relaxed and put the gun away.
"They will be coming soon; it won't be long, so we must act with haste," he said, handing her a pair of paddles. She looked at them tentatively, realizing what they were for and hoping dearly that they wouldn't be needed. Morpheus looked at her, sensing her discomfort, and spoke softly. "Somehow, I don't think we'll be needing those," he said, his eyes traveling in Neo's direction, "but better safe than sorry." Trinity nodded, watching him set down a syringe and an unlabeled vial of clear liquid. She hoped they wouldn't have to use the unknown substance either. Morpheus turned to Neo tentatively, and smiled warmly.
"Neo, my friend," he said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We have all seen your tremendous abilities to influence the Matrix in your own way. I ask you now to do what you can for her. She must be awoken; the pill cannot be taken without her consent, for it would be wrong to take her without choice."
Neo nodded knowingly and crossed over to where the girl lay lifelessly. He could sense all eyes on him. Swallowing hard and pushing away the persistent doubt buzzing around in his stomach, he kneeled by her and grasped her hands in his. Concentrating vigorously, his mind completely clearing and focusing on her, he felt an odd sensation growing around him. The air around his body was positively vibrating, the life source being her powerful mind. He felt pulses bouncing off and traveling through his body, sending oddly pleasurable jolts through his nerves. The air was alive with what felt like static electricity. He felt like his hair was completely standing on end. The aura of magnetism was extraordinarily concentrated not only around her head but in her hands as well. The intensity of magnetism and power was like standing next to a bar magnet the size of a skyscraper. It was a feeling Neo would never be able to fully comprehend, understand, or experience again.
Pushing the thoughts from his mind, he concentrated once again on resuscitating her. An activity inside her body, pushing its way to the surface with incredible force, demanded to be freed. It was her will to live.
Come on, come out, I'm here to help you, he spoke softly, knowing that somewhere inside of her consciousness she could hear him. Don't be afraid, it's all right,.. come on and live.
When he opened his eyes, the Matrix was surging and rushing all around him. Green code spilled down the walls and surged across the floor, creating borders and boundaries of everything in the room. He noticed something strange about the aura around the girl entirely composed of code - strange rays of light and swirling magnetic pulses surrounded her body. He had never seen anything so odd before, and couldn't help but get lost in the moment. The code, very colorful in contrast, was jostled and jumbled all around her, constantly mixing and unmixing - colliding at some points and causing fluctuations in the Matrix. Closing his eyes, he heard somewhere in a dark corner of his mind a door swinging open and crashing against the wall. The agents were nearing the entrance of the school.
"Morpheus, would you please go lock all of the doors to the gym and barricade them," he said urgently, never taking his mind off of the girl. Morpheus and Trinity both split up and began piling chairs and objects in front of the doors. He felt her heart begin to beat faster and faster, the blood in her veins pumping with a purpose. He was so close that he could feel her life.
That's it, don't be afraid, he soothed softly. His grip on her hands tightened, literally trying to pull her soul out of the darkness and into the light. You have to trust me, Minerva.
With that, he noticed a peculiar reaction within her at the sound of her name. Her mind pulsed and throbbed as her ears started ringing. She knew - she knew and remembered everything, and everything came surging into her mind all at once. The crashing of the waves on the shore of her consciousness nearly split her mind in half.
Her eyes exploded open, and arching her back fiercely, she let loose a violent scream - a scream that ripped through the air and reverberated down every hall in the building, echoing on for what felt like forever. The vibrations coming from her were maxing out, and Neo was sent flying several feet through the air before crashing to the floor. The magnetic field around her had grown to innumerable lengths. Her breathing was intense and choked, as if she was going into cardiac arrest.
Her eyes were filmed for a moment, almost milky even in the dimness of the room. She then relaxed and slumped back against the bench, breathing heavily and obviously very jittery. Neo stood up, eyeing her cautiously, and brushed himself off. Morpheus and Trinity stood back, knowing this was his place to speak with her - he had already met her, even if it was just a dream. "Hello, stranger," he said softly with a smile, looking down into her large, scared eyes. She was still breathing with a panic, but had relaxed considerably. She looked up at him, her eyes widening as the color drained out of her face. "You," she gasped, her chest heaving. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, even with all had happened in the past few hours. "You're,." He nodded. "But how,.." she spoke, the sight of the man she remembered from her dream sending pangs of confusion through her already burning mind, and awakening the butterflies in her stomach. "There isn't much time to explain," he said softly, knowing the agents would be there any moment. He was right. Suddenly, there was a loud bang from one of the gym doors, followed by another bang from the door opposite the gym. Trinity and Morpheus both looked at each other, knowing the agents had found them.
"Neo, stay with her and get her out of here - we'll take care of the agents," Morpheus said, cocking his gun. "There should be a computer room on the second floor." Trinity pulled 2 objects from her pocket - one a small box and the other a cel phone - and placed them in his hands.
"Keep this with you, and find the nearest computer mainframe. Take my phone, and Morpheus will have Link reach you as soon as the ports are open and ready. Make haste!" She cried, as they prepared to fend off the assault.
We should have brought more people, Neo thought sadly. His opinion changed somewhat in their favor when he noticed Morpheus reach into his jacket and pull several pocket-sized explosives out. Trinity's secret pockets hid several proximity mines and grenades. She armed herself with a gun and several mines, placing them strategically around the barricaded doors. The pounding against each door was growing substantially, as large dents formed in the door and barricaded objects flew across the floor. Dust and pebbles from the plaster of the walls rained down as the agents beat their way in through the entrance.
"RUN!" Trinity screamed as Neo scooped up Minerva into his arms and fled down an opposing hallway. He found a flight of stairs and searched through the code to find the computer room. Room 241 at the end of the upstairs hallway was the closest one. Several large explosions rocked the floor beneath him as he flung the doors open and made his way upstairs. Sweat dripped down his brow. He mentally hoped and prayed that his friends were winning the battle against evil.
Neo choked and struggled under the relentless and powerful hands of the Agent, who reveled in the suffering of his enemy. Chunks of the skeleton of the third floor were tumbling to the ground all around them. What was left standing was sucked into the monstrous hole, green code streaming and flashing within its core. The hole opened in the ceiling, revealing the nothing.
Tucking his legs up to his chest in between himself and the agent, he frog-kicked Smith with all of his might. His fingers slipped from around Neo's throat as he vertically soared towards the ceiling. Puncturing an even wider hole in the ceiling, the agent was caught by the gravity of the swirling black hole. Bits of code exploded in a spray as the agent was pulled through into the chasm. It devoured him whole.
Neo quickly stood up, dusting himself off and concentrating on his purpose. The house was in ruins all around him, more and more of the ceiling disappearing by the moment as matter and time itself were dismantled and disintegrated.
He concentrated his senses on looking for human activity around him. Morpheus and Trinity appeared at the stairs, expressions of relief and worry. They joined him in the den.
"Neo we have," Trinity started, but was cut short.
"Shh, I hear her!" He cried aloud. He followed his intuition to the closet, where he reached into the darkness. Amongst the clutter lay a girl bound and gagged, curled in the fetal position. Blood caked her face and clothing, her left eye socket was swollen and a large black hole on her forearm was burnt into the flesh of the bone from the code. Cuts and scratches lined her broken skin. Gathering the girl in his arms quickly but gently, he was overcome with a million different emotions - joy, sorrow, pity, relief, nostalgia, déjà vu. I have seen you before, stranger, he softly said to himself. If only in our dreams have we already met.
The foursome made their way to the entry as the third floor caved in on the first, backgrounded by random and frequent sounds of glass shattering, wood splintering, furniture and foundation crashing and breaking apart like paper. The house would be gone in a matter of moments.
They darted out the warping doorway and raced against time to the running car. As they neared it, Trinity reached into her holster and pulled out a grenade. She bit down on the pin, yanked the grenade from it, and hurled it towards the intersection of Minerva's driveway and the street. Just as the group reached the car and literally hurled themselves inside, a team of SWAT vans and police cars swerved around the corner down the road and roared towards her house. Several cop cars pulled around the driveway, blocking any possible vehicular escape (as only a common police officer of the law would predict), whereas one bulletproof van careened towards the car. The car roared into first and they pulled away as an explosion rocked the neighborhood. Several police cars burst into flames and officers went flying in all directions. Two of the SWAT vans tipped over, emptying the teams inside into the street.
The car fled up the road as the SWAT van fishtailed behind it. Swinging to an almost seventy degree angle, the van kept close on the little black Nissan Maxima.
"What is going to be done of the black hole?" Trinity asked, yanking the phone out of its holster.
"Do you see the white car that just pulled up behind the group of others?" Morpheus said, peering in the rearview mirror and he sped away from the scene.
"Yes," she nodded.
"Those are programs dispatched to the site of a glitch. They are the repairmen of the Matrix - the plumbers and carpenters, if you will. They are designed to attack the problem and fix it by any means necessary."
"What will they do?" She asked.
"They have a number of options. Personally, I believe all history of the incident, starting with the existence of Minerva's family and their past, the phone number and address along with the entire property of the house will be erased, and the programming of the Matrix will be adjusted so that nothing had ever happened at a non-existent address." Trinity looked down, and for a moment felt sorry for the remains of Minerva's now shattered life.
"How is she doing?" She asked, leaning over the seat and staring into the back where the girl lay across Neo's lap. He was checking her pulse and soothing the hair back from her face.
"A weak pulse, barely detectable, but its there." He peeled back the fabric that had melted into her skin from a wound of particular interest. "But look at this Trin," he said, exposing the burn. "What do you assume could have done this? It's so concentrated, and all the way to the bone."
"Looks like she was exposed directly to a stream of code. I've never seen anything like it before," she replied, studying the wound. Morpheus nodded.
"When a string of pure code directly touches exposed flesh, the code sinks deep within the skin and penetrates immediately all the way to the bone. The pain she will feel when she awakes, I pity, will be like the pain that no human on this Earth has felt before." He took noticed of the SWAT vehicle coming up quickly on his rear, gaining speed and gunning for them all.
"Operator," Link said.
"Link," Trinity cried, exasperated, "we need a safe haven, any way we can ditch these SWAT bastards?"
"Hold on a sec, bringing up the map," he replied. There was a pause as the sound of bullets began exploding in their ears. The back left window shattered, and the sound of ratta-tatta-tatta-tatta as bullets flew rocked the car. "Are you guys alright? Hello? HELLO?" Link cried into the phone.
"Dammit," Morpheus cursed, swinging around an S-curve before flying through a stop sign and booking it down the road. The car bounced violently, causing the cel phone to fly out of Trinity's hands.
"They're gaining on us," Neo yelled. His answer was 3 bullets through the back windshield. "SHIT!" he cried, shielding himself and Minerva from the spray of glass.
"Neo, do you see the gun lying under Trinity's seat?" Morpheus asked. Neo reached underneath, just missing a bullet to the side of the face, and felt for a gun. Trinity's heart jumped in her throat as she watched the bullet narrowly miss his head. Finding it, Neo picked it up and analyzed it.
"Aim for the left headlight. The fuel tank takes up most of the entire front, so hitting it shouldn't be a problem," Morpheus instructed as he swerved the car around another corner. Neo regained composure after being flung across the back seat, sat up, and concentrated on guiding the bullet to its destination. He focused, squinting one eye shut, and fired rapidly into the front chamber of the armored van. Most of the bullets reflected off, but two hit home and shattered the headlight. There was an explosion of sparks; fire shot from underneath the front end and engulfed the nose of the van. The van immediately slowed down. The team's response was to unload as many bullets as possible before the van burst into flames.
The sound of a thousand metal raindrops detonating against the car's metal frame was heard, almost deafening all 3 of its conscious passengers. The rest of the windows shattered - Trinity's leather suit was cut in several places. Morpheus' cheek was scratched and 2 of his knuckles were cut open. A gigantic fiery explosion shook the Earth just as a stray bullet punctured and burst the back left tire of the Maxima, sending the car veering wildly all over the road. An oncoming SUV slammed on the brakes and backed into a driveway in terror as the Maxima swerved onto the lawn of an unsuspecting neighbor's house. The car plowed through the mailbox, tearing up the entire front lawn and sending a spray of dirt and rocks in all directions. The car finally stopped as it nailed a large bush adjacent to the left side of the house. Morpheus quickly looked around at all of his passengers.
"Are you all alright? Neo, how is she doing?" He asked, unbuckling himself.
"I'm fine," Trinity said, wiping a smear of blood off of her leather suit.
"I'm ok, she still isn't conscious though, but she's holding in there," Neo said, wiping some glass off of her face. They all exited the totaled car and made their way into the forest at the end of the cul-de-sac up the road on the right. A clear path was paved through the woods.
"Walk along the path and up to the back of the elementary school. The door to the gym is open - you can hide out in there. Seems clear for the next few minutes," he spoke, the sound of keys tap-a-tapping in the background. The smoking van was sending up plumes of smoke, but no survivors were seen crawling out of its exterior. The coast was, for the moment, clear.
"Alright, thanks. I hope this works," Trinity said doubtfully, closing the phone and placing it in its holster.
"We have to wake her up, we cannot do this without her consent," Morpheus spoke as they made their way up the path to the school. They saw across the yard on the road at the end of the opposite exit numerous police cars fly by down the road.
"We haven't much time," Trinity exclaimed as they opened the door and stepped into the elementary school gym. Her voice echoed off of the walls of the gym, slightly startling her. She looked around in the darkness and wondered what they were to do.
"Neo, Trinity, stay with her, I'm going to find the nurse's office and see what we can do with our little friend here," he said, looking into her solemnly peaceful face. Morpheus took off down the hallway with no time to lose. Neo looked around but failed to find any proper seating. With a swift, powerful kick, the grid of auditorium benches came crashing down. Trinity flinched at the loud noise, realizing just how worried she was at the moment. She didn't want to voice or expose her true fears, but when she saw how close the bullet came to Neo's head only moments before, her heart screamed in her throat, paralyzing her instantly. Her poor, jittery heart was still relaxing from that frightening moment. She found a water fountain on the side of the gym and had a drink. She started to feel a little better when she heard footsteps coming down the hall. Neo looked up at her with a curious expression. She drew her weapon and aimed it at the source of the noise, not wanting to let her guard down for an instant.
Morpheus rounded the corner and came into the gym, his arms full of equipment. He smiled at Trinity's gun aimed pointedly in his direction. "It's good to see you're on your toes. I have taught you well," he said affectionately as he made his way over, setting the equipment down beside the girl. He looked at her, her face growing paler with every moment. Trinity relaxed and put the gun away.
"They will be coming soon; it won't be long, so we must act with haste," he said, handing her a pair of paddles. She looked at them tentatively, realizing what they were for and hoping dearly that they wouldn't be needed. Morpheus looked at her, sensing her discomfort, and spoke softly. "Somehow, I don't think we'll be needing those," he said, his eyes traveling in Neo's direction, "but better safe than sorry." Trinity nodded, watching him set down a syringe and an unlabeled vial of clear liquid. She hoped they wouldn't have to use the unknown substance either. Morpheus turned to Neo tentatively, and smiled warmly.
"Neo, my friend," he said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We have all seen your tremendous abilities to influence the Matrix in your own way. I ask you now to do what you can for her. She must be awoken; the pill cannot be taken without her consent, for it would be wrong to take her without choice."
Neo nodded knowingly and crossed over to where the girl lay lifelessly. He could sense all eyes on him. Swallowing hard and pushing away the persistent doubt buzzing around in his stomach, he kneeled by her and grasped her hands in his. Concentrating vigorously, his mind completely clearing and focusing on her, he felt an odd sensation growing around him. The air around his body was positively vibrating, the life source being her powerful mind. He felt pulses bouncing off and traveling through his body, sending oddly pleasurable jolts through his nerves. The air was alive with what felt like static electricity. He felt like his hair was completely standing on end. The aura of magnetism was extraordinarily concentrated not only around her head but in her hands as well. The intensity of magnetism and power was like standing next to a bar magnet the size of a skyscraper. It was a feeling Neo would never be able to fully comprehend, understand, or experience again.
Pushing the thoughts from his mind, he concentrated once again on resuscitating her. An activity inside her body, pushing its way to the surface with incredible force, demanded to be freed. It was her will to live.
Come on, come out, I'm here to help you, he spoke softly, knowing that somewhere inside of her consciousness she could hear him. Don't be afraid, it's all right,.. come on and live.
When he opened his eyes, the Matrix was surging and rushing all around him. Green code spilled down the walls and surged across the floor, creating borders and boundaries of everything in the room. He noticed something strange about the aura around the girl entirely composed of code - strange rays of light and swirling magnetic pulses surrounded her body. He had never seen anything so odd before, and couldn't help but get lost in the moment. The code, very colorful in contrast, was jostled and jumbled all around her, constantly mixing and unmixing - colliding at some points and causing fluctuations in the Matrix. Closing his eyes, he heard somewhere in a dark corner of his mind a door swinging open and crashing against the wall. The agents were nearing the entrance of the school.
"Morpheus, would you please go lock all of the doors to the gym and barricade them," he said urgently, never taking his mind off of the girl. Morpheus and Trinity both split up and began piling chairs and objects in front of the doors. He felt her heart begin to beat faster and faster, the blood in her veins pumping with a purpose. He was so close that he could feel her life.
That's it, don't be afraid, he soothed softly. His grip on her hands tightened, literally trying to pull her soul out of the darkness and into the light. You have to trust me, Minerva.
With that, he noticed a peculiar reaction within her at the sound of her name. Her mind pulsed and throbbed as her ears started ringing. She knew - she knew and remembered everything, and everything came surging into her mind all at once. The crashing of the waves on the shore of her consciousness nearly split her mind in half.
Her eyes exploded open, and arching her back fiercely, she let loose a violent scream - a scream that ripped through the air and reverberated down every hall in the building, echoing on for what felt like forever. The vibrations coming from her were maxing out, and Neo was sent flying several feet through the air before crashing to the floor. The magnetic field around her had grown to innumerable lengths. Her breathing was intense and choked, as if she was going into cardiac arrest.
Her eyes were filmed for a moment, almost milky even in the dimness of the room. She then relaxed and slumped back against the bench, breathing heavily and obviously very jittery. Neo stood up, eyeing her cautiously, and brushed himself off. Morpheus and Trinity stood back, knowing this was his place to speak with her - he had already met her, even if it was just a dream. "Hello, stranger," he said softly with a smile, looking down into her large, scared eyes. She was still breathing with a panic, but had relaxed considerably. She looked up at him, her eyes widening as the color drained out of her face. "You," she gasped, her chest heaving. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, even with all had happened in the past few hours. "You're,." He nodded. "But how,.." she spoke, the sight of the man she remembered from her dream sending pangs of confusion through her already burning mind, and awakening the butterflies in her stomach. "There isn't much time to explain," he said softly, knowing the agents would be there any moment. He was right. Suddenly, there was a loud bang from one of the gym doors, followed by another bang from the door opposite the gym. Trinity and Morpheus both looked at each other, knowing the agents had found them.
"Neo, stay with her and get her out of here - we'll take care of the agents," Morpheus said, cocking his gun. "There should be a computer room on the second floor." Trinity pulled 2 objects from her pocket - one a small box and the other a cel phone - and placed them in his hands.
"Keep this with you, and find the nearest computer mainframe. Take my phone, and Morpheus will have Link reach you as soon as the ports are open and ready. Make haste!" She cried, as they prepared to fend off the assault.
We should have brought more people, Neo thought sadly. His opinion changed somewhat in their favor when he noticed Morpheus reach into his jacket and pull several pocket-sized explosives out. Trinity's secret pockets hid several proximity mines and grenades. She armed herself with a gun and several mines, placing them strategically around the barricaded doors. The pounding against each door was growing substantially, as large dents formed in the door and barricaded objects flew across the floor. Dust and pebbles from the plaster of the walls rained down as the agents beat their way in through the entrance.
"RUN!" Trinity screamed as Neo scooped up Minerva into his arms and fled down an opposing hallway. He found a flight of stairs and searched through the code to find the computer room. Room 241 at the end of the upstairs hallway was the closest one. Several large explosions rocked the floor beneath him as he flung the doors open and made his way upstairs. Sweat dripped down his brow. He mentally hoped and prayed that his friends were winning the battle against evil.