Nanu's Story - Getting Out
Nanu
Her mind is going into overload. If she were a computer she'd be on the verge of crashing.
What had the Oracle actually told her? Anything at all? She tries to sort through what was said.
The Gift. What the hell is the gift? Nanu guesses it's something to do with bending rules to a greater extent than others can do, like the Potentials. And Neo has that gift too.
But there's obviously more to being the One than altering the matrix.
Then there's the past life thing, and the fact that the Oracle knew her before. Did the gift come from whoever she was in her past life?
And that name Pirate is familiar.
"Isn't Pirate on Biosa's crew?" she asks Neo as they step out of the lift into the lobby.
"Yes, he's one of her younger crewmembers."
Nanu wants to ask more questions, but she can see by the set of his shoulders that now is not the time. Something about the Oracle has awoken troubling memories for Neo. She can hardly blame him; the woman predicted his death for crying out loud.
They meet up with Trinity and Gavin. Gavin looks curious, but nobody says anything. Trinity walks close to Neo, and every few steps their arms brush as if by accident. Nanu follows them as they leave the building and begins the few blocks walk back to the hotel, and Gavin follows after her.
. . . I can hardly believe you've only just begun to talk after four years . . .
What did the Oracle mean by that? Nanu remembers how they had slept at opposite ends of the ship and how Trinity hadn't known where Neo was hiding. Have these two been so immersed in the war that they haven't had time to spend with each other?
The main street is crowded for this time of morning. Almost unnaturally crowded. Nanu finds herself looking at faces as people move past her, they look straight ahead.
"Hey - wait!" comes a voice, it's Gavin; he's fallen behind. Automatically she stops. He comes jogging up to her, glancing around nervously.
"This is weird Nanu," he says quietly as they continue walking. "It's never so busy, and these people are freaking me out."
"And we've lost the others," she cranes her neck and tries to walk taller. "I can't see them anywhere."
"We'll catch up to them. We know where they're going anyway." Gavin stays near her. Nanu is grateful for his presence, a shadow on her left-hand side.
Then she slows as a girl bumps shoulders with her, making her turn. She's walking backwards and smiling at her, a girl in a tight red shirt and faded jeans. Nanu frowns as she turns around again, and she wonders idly why there's a bride walking down the street -
Her blood runs cold and she swears. "Jesus Christ . . . Gavin!"
Too late. He staggers and falls and a split second later the sound of the gunshot registers in Nanu's ears. A desert eagle.
An Agent. She whirls as Cunningham slices through the crowd, shoving people left and right. Many people just keep walking, more than half this crowd isn't even real.
She runs to Gavin's side. The coppertops around them are either staring at the blood pooling under the young man in black or running away from Cunningham.
One Agent, she can fight one, maybe even two, but not in this public place where she may as well be fighting dozens. And not with Gavin bleeding . . .
. . . only try to realise the truth . . . Jonah's voice echoes in her head.
"There is no spoon." Nanu stoops and wraps her arms around Gavin. Blood from his chest flood over her hands, warm on her skin, and his head lolls.
Cunningham raises his gun but she stares at it -
truth
- and it dissolves into nothing. She gets one knee under her, one foot on the ground, she holds Gavin tighter, then springs from the pavement and takes off.
"If there is a God you better not let me drop him," her teeth grit as her hair whips back from her face, and she lifts herself and Gavin above the crowd, higher, and then she's above a building and she can barely hold him any more.
He slides from her arms as her boots touch the concrete.
"Nanu . . . ?" his voice sounds thick and slow. The bullet went through his left side above the heart, and she has no way of knowing how serious it is.
"Shh, don't worry. I'm going to get you out of here."
The Lafayette is north of here, she scans the skyline. There.
Taking a deep, unreal breath, she picks up Gavin again and carries him from one building to the other. He is heavy, a dead weight.
No. Don't think like that.
She almost drops him on the Lafayette roof, but manages to hold him up against her and half carry, half drag him to the fire escape.
Neo
He and Trinity freeze at the sound of the gun. As Neo registers the lack of reaction in the people around him, he frowns, scanning their code.
Swearing, he grabs Trin's hand, "These people aren't coppers."
They move quickly and silently off the main street and down into a side alley and around behind the buildings. They're near where they picked up Nanu.
"Are they okay?" Trinity asks him.
"Gavin's been shot - but Nanu's got him," his eyes go out of focus, "They're on the Lafayette roof."
She gets out her phone and punches the control number as they begins to jog down the alley.
- Operator -
"Tank, make the call now."
- Gavin's hurt -
"We know, how bad?"
- Pretty bad, but if he can get out quickly he'll be okay. Where is he? I've lost him -
"At the exit with Nanu. Get them out and we'll be there soon. Call the others, they're still waiting."
- Yes ma'am -
She hangs up and looks at Neo where he lopes beside her.
"Are we being followed?"
"No, but every cop in the City is heading for the hotel. That Cunningham was definitely upgraded, I don't - "
She cuts him off. "Will we make it in time?"
"Barely."
Nanu
Gavin slumps as Nanu sets him down in the only chair. His eyes are open and he blinks, then lifts his head with a visible effort. Her arms are shaky and she breathes deeply.
"What happened?" he whispers.
"You got shot." Immediately she feels stupid.
He smiles weakly. "Forrest Gump."
"What?"
"It's a game. You say a line from a movie and I have to guess where it's from."
"Jesus Gavin, not now. Come on, I have to move you to the phone."
It's a little easier with him trying to help, but more awkward now he's alert. She wraps her arms around his chest and hauls him out of the chair. His head lolls on her shoulder and his arms go automatically around her neck. If he wasn't bleeding so much this wouldn't be so bad.
"I've always wanted to be in this position," he mutters, and she promptly swears at him.
"Shut up."
The phone is on a table against the wall. Nanu hoists Gavin up so he's partly sitting on it. She shrugs out of her jacket and begins to rip at one sleeve.
"Use my knife," he offers.
She pulls the short knife from a sheath on the inside of his combat boot, hacks off one sleeve of her coat and then tears that in half lengthways. Somehow she rolls the cloth up and presses it to his shoulder, front and back.
"Not exactly a field dressing but I'm not about to try change reality now."
"Good," he tries another smile. "Because in your state you'd turn me into a Venomous Knid."
"Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator," she says automatically. "But that's a book, not a movie."
The phone rings, shattering something fragile. Gavin leans back, away from Nanu, as she lifts the phone for him.
But she freezes as he leans forward again, one hand on her shoulder, and kisses her briefly on the mouth.
"You know why I did that," his voice is a breath.
He's read the coding of when she told Neo how she had part of him mind. Oh God. She can taste Gavin's blood.
"Yes, I know." Then she raises the black plastic to his ear and watches him dissolve away.
As she replaces the receiver, Nanu sags against the table, bowing her head. Why did he have to do that? Why did he have to throw her even deeper into confusion?
Footsteps on the stairs, and the door opens. Key gasps at the blood all over Nanu. Tod stares.
The phone rings again.
"Gavin got shot Key, they'll need you."
The woman takes the phone and goes.
"You look whipped," Tod comments. "You okay?"
"I'm fine."
The ringing phone is a harsh, jarring sound.
"It's for you," Tod says. Nanu hesitates at the hostility in his voice, but obeys and picks up the receiver.
~~~~~
As you may have gathered this is now definitely not a Neo/OC fic. It's actually more about the OCs than it is about the movie characters, and gets a stronger focus on Nanu as time goes on. If you don't like that idea, I'm sorry, but it's the way it goes. I can't get into Neo's or Trinity's head as well as other authors can (you know who you are Hardliners!)