Chapter 2
Disclaimer: Not mine, I'm only borrowing the characters for a while. Don't worry, I'll put 'em back when I'm done...
As Trinity's side slowly began to heal, she and the rest of the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar continued to watch Neo's training. His failure to do the 'jump' program had thrown everyone into doubt and dismay. 'Well, nearly everyone,' Trinity realized as she had observed the neurokinetics of Morpheus as Neo finally bent the program's rules. Morpheus watched Neo make the jump on his third attempt, and there was barely a blip on the monitor to register excitement as Neo sailed much farther than where Morpheus had landed. It was because Morpheus had expected it, in stark contrast to the surprised shouts of joy and celebration on the Main Deck. Trinity had been silent, and left, seeking solitude.
Today, the Main Deck was quiet. Tank sat there, uploading weapons information into Neo's mind. Neo lay in the suspension chair silently, his eyelids fluttering as his mind absorbed the information that was being loaded. Between uploads, he rested, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. They flicked open, though, as he heard Trinity enter the area. Neo, still a little freaked out by the jack at the base of his skull, did not turn his head at all, but he tracked her with his eyes as she crossed the deck to speak with the ship's operator.
"Do you need a break, Tank? I can take over, if you'd like." Trinity's soft voice barely reached Neo.
"Nah, thanks, Trin. You can sit down and watch, though. Sleeping Beauty over there ain't much for converation..." Tank jerked his head towards Neo and started when he realized that Neo was watching and listening to them. "Oh, jeez! He's awake!"
"I wasn't asleep."
"Sorry, thought you had gone into your trance-thing." Tank blinked and moved over to switch chips to begin the final phase of today's upload.
"How are you, Neo?"
"Alright." Neo's hoarse voice was cut off as Tank asked, "You ready for more?"
"Sure."
"Firearms, now. Enjoy." Tank restarted the upload and Neo's eyes closed again.
Trinity studied Neo for a bit, then noticed Tank, who was smiling broadly at her.
"What?"
Turning back to the monitors, observing Neo's progress, Tank said, "I didn't say anything."
Trinity's mouth pursed, but she decided not to say anything more, and instead of affronting Tank with harsh words, she joined him in watching Neo's monitors.
Tank tried to chat with Trinity for awhile, but she was mostly silent, and so he gave up shortly before Cypher clambered down the ladder to the Main Deck.
Tank tensed in his seat upon realizing who had just come in. Trinity, however, was still.
"Yeah, Trin... I'm glad you're here... I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry, you know? About the other day? I thought you were armed, too-" Cypher was silenced as Tank uttered insults. Cypher, deciding to ignore him, continued, "Anyways, I'm sorry." Cypher tried to look repentant as he lowered his head and began to fidget with the equipment in front of him, which happened to be Neo's program monitors.
Able to ignore Cypher until now, Trinity finally acknowledged him. "Get away from there," she growled.
"Huh?"
"Get away from him!" Much louder and clearer, Cypher understood immediately. His eyes glinted as he moved, not away from Neo, but towards his still form.
"So he's it, huh? Thought the One'd be better lookin' than him..." Cypher studied Neo closely. "I assumed that you'd have better taste than this, Trin..." he sneered, as he moved to grasp Neo's jaw.
Trinity jumped up as Tank spun around and punched controls, ending the upload. Neo's eyes opened, and Cypher stumbled back a step. Recovering almost instantly, Cypher said loudly, "It's a pity that you've already got it bad for me, hey, Trin?" He leered over at the slender woman, who glared back.
"In your dreams, asshole."
Cypher merely ginned and winked at her. Seething, Trinity swore once again and slid down the ladder towards the living quarters of the ship.
"What was that all about?" Neo, still jacked in, was not able to get up until Tank came over and unplugged him. "Why didn't we finish?"
"I'll explain later." Tank hung up the jack and clapped Neo on the back as he helped him to his feet. "We'll finish it another day, alright?"
Neo shrugged. "Sure, whatever."
"I try to apologize for an innocent mistake, she insults me... I try to joke around with her a little, she swears at me... What can I do?" Cypher's voice seemed mournful, and Tank and Neo turned to look at him.
"You could leave her the hell alone," Tank suggested caustically.
Cypher shrugged. "How do I do that, smart guy? It's not as if we have a lot of room on this craft to move about or socialize in."
"You don't socialize with people, Cypher." Neo said softly. "You disturb them."
"Are you saying that I annoy people?" Cypher stepped towards the taller man. "Is that it?"
Neo said nothing, only watching Cypher.
Cypher looked him up and down, insulted and angry. "Thinking you're so hot, huh?" Cypher worked himself up, "You don't know shit! You think you could take me, is that it? I'll bet! Bring it on!"
Tank rolled his eyes. "Why don't you stop being such a yejoune?" Tank fell back on Zionese slang to describe Cypher's childish behavior.
"Why don't you go back to your cave, runt?" Cypher glared, then turned back to Neo. "How 'bout it? You think you can take me? Let's go!"
Cypher moved over and fell into a chair, waiting for Neo to follow, watching expectantly. Neo slowly followed. Fuming, Tank picked up Cypher's jack, and slid it home much harder than necessary. Neo lay back, waiting for his jack, but Tank said, "Why don't we just leave him there?"
"In the Construct?"
"Yeah," Tank looked over at Cypher's body. "Think anyone will notice he's missing for a few hours? Or a few days?"
Neo laughed. "Probably. And leaving him there will just make him mad. Better get it over with."
"Why do this?" Tank picked up Neo's jack.
"Because," Neo said slowly, "If I don't, he'll never leave me alone. I think that this needs to be settled."
"Can it be settled with fighting, though?"
Neo shrugged. In the back of his mind were Trinity's words from a few days before, though he did not realize it.
"What if he lambastes you?"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Tank slid the jack into place, and went to run the dojo program. Watching the monitor, Tank looked at both men, who were wearing clean white karate gi's. He mournfully shook his head as they began to circle, watching each other warily. Tank winced as Cypher landed the first blow. Neo's form twitched in the chair as he rolled back to his feet in the program. Closing his eyes slowly, Tank wished that he had just left Cypher in the Construct for a few hours.
Two hours later.
"So Cypher was takin' a round outta him, you know how Cypher can be when he gets all... you know." Tank shrugged and Dozer nodded. "Anyways, so Neo's getting a pounding..."
"Neo goes flying - no, it's true, I watched the data that was stored: utterly amazing, you should see it- anyways, he crashes into the wall..." Apoc leaned forward to rest his arms on the table across from Switch before continuing...
"And Tank said that Neo got to his feet a third time and..." Mouse paused for proper dramatic timing, licking his lips before continuing, "Get this -he laid Cypher out flat! With one straight right! One! I didn't want to believe Tank..."
Trinity sat in front of one of the monitors, seemingly watching the inane events the people still in the Matrix took part in. A young woman with a stroller chatted with a shop attendant; an old man fed pigeons from a wooden park bench; kids played frisbee; a business man climbed into his car. Trinity watched it all, but her mind was not on any of these people. She was thinking about the small disk inside one of the processors. Neo and Cypher sparring had been stored on that disk. She'd watched it three times. The first time, she'd watched only the match. Then she succumbed to temptation and reloaded it and watched it again. Cursing herself, thinking that if anyone caught her watching this bout over and over again, they would see it as unhealthy. But as she had played it again, she'd noticed that the fighters were talking as they punched and parried. Now it was not an unhealthy interest... It was simply an intellectual exercise. How could she get the audio?
Fiddling with the panel's control's, Trinity was able to slowly recover the sound. It was like trying to tune into a Canadian radio station from New York City. Faint and tinny, but there, Trinity listened in as she had watched the sparring for the third time.
Sunlight shone off the hardwood of the dojo's floor and pillars. Circling around each other, Neo and Cypher waited until their eyes adjusted to the bright, gleaming surfaces. Cypher could see clearly faster than Neo, and he rushed first, knocking Neo off of his feet. His fist split Neo's lip, and Cypher felt immense satisfaction as Neo's blood spattered on the shiny floor. He sneered as Neo rolled to his feet. Cypher rushed again, his meaty fists pummeling Neo's ribs. They broke apart, and Neo stepped back, gasping. They began to circle again, and when Neo was able to talk, he did.
"Why don't you just leave her alone?"
Cypher smiled an indulgent smile. "Because I don't want to," he said as he moved for Neo. He bent the program as he struck, and Neo went flying and hit the wall. Splinters of wood and plaster rained down on him as he lay on the floor.
Cypher walked slowly over to where Neo lay recovering. "And, also, she doesn't want me to." He pulled Neo up by the hair on top of his head. "She doesn't want me to. If you knew women, knew 'hard-to-get', you'd see that. She's mine. So..." Cypher finally let go of Neo, only to hit him. "Why don't you leave her alone?"
Neo crashed to the floor again. Blood dribbled slowly down his chin from his cut lip, and he was having trouble drawing a breath - broken ribs for sure. Blood flew from his mouth as Cypher kicked him in the stomach. Neo spat and watched Cypher as he stood beside him and observed him with narrowed eyes.
"She's mine. We'll get together sometime, sooner or later. Whenever she smartens up with this 'hard-to-get' shit. When we do, you'll hear all about it. Well, our berths are close enough, yours and mine. Perhaps you'll hear it for yourself. I'm sure that she's a moaner. Maybe even a screamer." Cypher grinned as Neo stood. The grin fell from his face as he saw the cold fury in Neo's eyes. As Neo's fist connected with his face, Cypher ceased to see anything.
As Trinity sat reflecting in the gloom of the powered down Main Deck, Neo approached, kicking the rungs of the ladder as he stepped onto the metal grate of the floor to announce his usually silent arrival, so as not to startle her. As she turned, her profile was briefly lit by the crawling green coding on the monitor in front of her.
"How are you, Trinity?" His quiet voice filled the area as he leaned against one of the stacks of processors.
She looked up at him and was amazed. There was no trace of injury on it; no swelling, no cut lip, nothing. "How did you do that?"
His hand stole to his lip, and Trinity quashed an absurd urge to put her finger tips there, too. "If the programming's only that, programming... then it should be 'mind over matter', you understand? I thought over that while Tank pulled me out, and he nearly fell over. Cypher looks like hell, though," Neo added, a little complacently. "But I still feel like I've been run over by a tractor a few times."
"Why did you do this?" Trinity asked softly.
Neo considered telling her the truth, but he stuck by the line he fed to Tank. "He wouldn't have left me alone."
Trinity did not swallow it as easily as Tank had. "I have the feeling that this was about what had happened with me." She winced at how self-centered that sounded, but was relieved when Neo half-shrugged and said, "Well, I wanted him to leave you alone, too."
Trinity's mind flashed on the conversation she'd recovered on the disk, and heard Cypher's voice in her head: "She doesn't want me to... She's mine." She thought about saying something about it, but did not. She would destroy the audio of the recording. No-one but her would ever hear it. And no-one would ever know that she had heard it. No-one would know that it existed.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft touch on her shoulder. Neo's warm hand. She dropped her wool-gathering and stared up at him. As she moved to cover his hand with hers, he self-consciously took it away, so she ended up clasping her own shoulder.
"I'll see you, later, alright?" Neo left the Deck as quickly as he had appeared. The only evidence of his presence was the warmth that Trinity felt in his slight touch. She sat unmoving with her hand still on her shoulder, a smile on her lips, her eyes closed, not watching the scrolling code of the Matrix on the monitors in front of her.