A/N: Thanks for the review alocin, I really appreciate it J All will be revealed about her name in the next chapter or so, please let me know if you don't like anything I am open to suggestions.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was quiet when she awoke, the lights dim to simulate night. She curled back against the cold wall, clutching the blankets around her. She barely made a sound, taking deep breaths to calm her frightened nerves. The nightmare that had haunted her had come back. She thought she had got rid of the dark images when she was unplugged but there they were, clear as day and just as terrifyingly real as they had been. Footsteps outside the doorway, she closed her eyes and covered her face, not breathing or speaking, tears running down her face. Trinity looked at the bundle of blankets jammed into the bulkhead and frowned, turning and closing the door again. She waited until she heard the rustle of fabric being moved, her forehead clearing as she patrolled the deck. She must remember to talk to Neo about this. Morpheus was waiting for her when she made her circuit.
"How is she?"
"Something's not right, she was hiding under her blankets when I opened the door, and yes, I do mean hiding. She was jammed against the bulkhead." She sighed. "I still can't believe you went and got her."
"I was the victim of a similar plot to get the codes if you remember. It is because of this girl that her captain didn't have to face the Agents as I did. She is remarkable, nothing to compare to either you or Neo but she is remarkable. I intend to see what training she's had in the morning." She nodded, casting a glance towards Switch's old room, then one to the room that she and Neo shared. A sigh passed her lips.
"What if she's dangerous?"
"We will proceed with caution." She smiled.
"You want me to Op for her?"
"No. I will, I want Neo to go in with her." Trinity blinked but said nothing. She continued on her self-imposed night watch.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"You want me to go into the construct with her?"
"Just like I did for you, yes. There will be no danger to either of you. I will Op and Trinity will watch for any signs of distress." Neo took a deep breath.
"You want me in there because?"
"You are the One Neo, you have already done more for her than anyone else. She will feel safe with you." Again Morpheus had left no room for argument. Cypher's words echoed in the ears of the One. 'What do you say to something like that?'
"Alright, I'll be ready." The captain smiled and made a final check of the cockpit before retiring to his room, Neo watched the controls as they flickered with life, checking the heartbeat of the Neb itself.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I don't want to go in there." She was sitting right up against the wall, legs tucked up to her chest, eyes glaring at Neo.
"We have to see what happened, we need to know what you can do." She sighed, uncurling a little.
"Will she be there?" He nodded,
"Ready to help if you need her." There was a lengthy pause and the echoes of the movement at the other end of the ship seemed loud. She stood slowly, leaning on the wall for support, still not accepting his help. Without waiting for assistance she made her way to the others. Trinity smiled a greeting, Morpheus doing the same, indicating the chair she was to use. In silence the girl settled her weight into the supports as Trinity strapped her in.
"I'm scared Trinity." The tiny voice failed to echo as the earlier noises had.
"Neo won't let anything happen to you." A moment later both Neo and Harregale were standing in the busy street of a city, the people walking towards them dressed in somber black suits with expressionless faces. She took a deep breath, casting a glance at Neo who stood in his typical image, black leather coat and sunglasses reflecting the artificial light.
"This is our Agent training program. Follow me." He started walking and she stayed close on his heels, hardly more than a shadow amongst the crowd. He was repeating the same speech he had heard when he had been first introduced into the program, the woman in the red dress walking down their right side.
"Were you listening to me, or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?" He smiled at her small shake of her head, waiting for something. "Look again." Just as it happened with him, the Agent was standing with a gun pointed at her head, but instead of panicking completely she grab Neo by the wrist, leaping to the right of the Agent, running towards the clear street just past the fountain.
"Freeze it Morpheus." A person stopped mid-stride in front of them, Harregale trying to dodge but ramming into the man, who toppled over too, remaining frozen. She looked up with frightened eyes.
"What the hell just happened?"
"I stopped the program."
"Why?" She sounded shocked, confused. Outside the program Trinity frowned at Morpheus who tapped away at a keyboard. Neo's phone rang.
"Yes?" There was a pause, she sat on the edge of the fountain, as pale as the birds overhead. He knelt in front of her, the mobile back in his pocket.
"I didn't mean to hurt you." She mumbled without looking up.
"I'm ok but why did you run?"
"I was taught to, no one stopped the program here, the object was to get away as fast as you could without getting captured or killed. If you did you ended up in a white room until the last person was caught or made it to the exit. I figured you wouldn't want to end up there first." The frowns deepened, Neo's masked better.
"In this program you don't need to run, not yet. I was explaining that anyone could be an Agent and unless a person is one of us, they are one of them. How did you get out of the room?"
"If you were in there more than 2 days they said they'd get you out. I was in there for 3 once. It was scary." Neo swallowed hard, offering her his hand.
"Morpheus, get us out of here." An exit appeared about 3 feet away and slowly they walked over to it, Harregale still not convinced that the frozen people weren't going to kill them. She refused to go out before Neo, there was no way he could make her.
"If you're the One then you're better off in the real world than in a white room. Go." He opened his eyes on the Neb, waiting to be unplugged. Trinity's silence said more than any words could, her eyes flashing hatred at the people who had tampered so much with the basic program from Zion. He stood at the girl's still shoulder, ready for her to come out of the construct. The phone rang. No one answered. He looked to Morpheus.
"She isn't moving Neo, she's scared."
"Of what?"
"Him." Trinity pointed at the screen where the frozen Agent had been, the figure was slowly clenching the trigger finger.
"Holy shit, how did that happen?"
"I don't know Neo, but we got to get her out now." He nodded, Trinity grabbing the headset from her captain. A yawning Link came in.
"What's going on so early in the morning?"
"We put the girl in the Agent program and something's gone wrong. We're trying to get her out." Neo said quickly. The exit was ringing and so was the girl's mobile, which she answered slowly.
"Arre this is Trinity, I need you to pick up the other phone and talk ok? Just pick up the other phone and put it to your ear." The sound of a shot being fired echoed through the program as the girl reached for the exit line. No one moved on the Neb, they watched the bullet inch it's way across the screen as the girl pressed the receiver to her ear. The earpiece exploded a moment later leaving the dangling end a mess of wires. Neo unplugged her.
"You ok?" She shook her head, fighting to get away from the restraints. "Hey, calm down you're out, no one's going to hurt you." This did nothing to reassure her. Once the last strap had come undone she slipped through the attempts of the crew to hold her and dashed to her room, the door shutting with a clang, the wheel turning from the inside. Link blinked a few times.
"Well, that's one way to start the day." He quickly shut up when Trinity glared at him, making for the galley with unusual speed.
"That is the worst reaction I've ever seen. Trinity, get me Zion, I think we need to tell Locke about this."
"Locke wants her dead."
"He wants to find the traitor. All we need to do is clear her name and he can start a proper search. Would someone who betrayed her own family try to save the One?" No one answered and Morpheus shrugged, heading for the core of his ship. Neo laid a hand on her shoulder.
"I think she's scared of me."
"If I were 18 and on the run from everyone I'd be scared of you too." He smiled, knowing she was teasing him. "I'd be scared of Morpheus and Link as well. But it feels like it's more than that Neo, I can't explain it."
"You just know. We'll figure it out Trin, it can't be that hard to find a needle in a junkyard." She rolled her eyes and they both headed for the galley and the wonderful goop. Trinity delivered a tray to Harregale later, the room close enough to silent. The girl was under the bed.
"No one here will hurt you Arre, trust us." There was no answer so she left, unable to shake the feeling that there was something more wrong than the training program. She checked the files, the code streaming before her eyes on the consoles. Nothing was out of place, not a single error in the program or in the read out of its last application. There was no obvious reason for her almost getting killed by a fake Agent. 'But there has to be,' reasoned with herself, 'you're just not looking hard enough.' With a curse she left the screens, determined to work this problem out without resorting to self-name calling. Neo watched from the shadows, trying to decide how much he could ask and how far she would go to find the truth.