OK, to save one of my reviewers from certain death by attack chickens -
they were sent after me by a reviewer, and he sacrificed himself to save me
(altogether now, AWWWW!) - I'm updating slightly early again. Yay! Me likes
updating early! Sorry about the evil cliffie, but they're not going to get
any better. as you'll see. (starts arming the Wob-Wobs with pineapples for
use against attack chickens) And just so you know, The Madness: Reloaded is
up and running! I know I said I was going to be putting it all in the same
story, but meh. This is a very meh situation. Meh.
Chapter 10 - Mission
As the streets rolled past, Asha thought about all that she'd been told. Her destiny was waiting... what could that mean? Destiny, destiny - what was the second hope supposed to do? What had she been told? Something about the One-
"Come on," said Morpheus. Asha's train of thought was interrupted. They had arrived back at the exit. It was time to get back to the ship. Asha shook her head, hoping that that would empty it slightly - this was all getting very confusing.
Just as they reached the phone, Morpheus' mobile rang. "Yes?" He paused for a second, then handed the phone to Asha, looking slightly confused. "It's for you."
Asha immediately forgave him for his confusion and took the phone. "Hello?"
"Asha?"
"Oh my God, Jon - is that you? What's wrong?"
"It's..." Asha could almost sense his anxiety over the phone. "It's my sister. I think she's in trouble."
"OK," said Asha, thinking how to put her next words, "Well, Jon, no offence, but as much as I like your sister, I don't think helping her is something we can do..."
"No, you don't understand. I think there are agents after her."
"What?" Asha said this really quite loudly and noticed that Morpheus, Neo, Trinity and Falcon were looking at her oddly. She signalled to them to wait and turned away. "But - but - why on earth would agents be after Kathryn?"
"Agents?" said Falcon, but Asha waved her hand at him to be quiet.
"I don't know," said Jon worriedly. She could hear a tapping noise on his end of the phone and knew that he was hitting his ankle against the chair - he always did that when he was stressed. "But she said that she could see some guys who looked like agents across the street from her who'd been watching her all evening, and then her phone went dead..."
"But what if it's nothing? What will the media make of the stars of the latest Matrix films go racing through East Kent, all guns blazing, only to find that your sister was playing a joke on you?"
"I'm not asking you to do that! Just check on the monitors."
"OK, fine. And what do we do if she IS in trouble?"
"... Then we're racing through East Kent all guns blazing and say it's a publicity stunt."
Asha told Jon that she'd ring her back then turned to the others, quickly explaining the situation. "So we just need to phone Tank and ask him to check-"
"I think we should return to the ship first," said Morpheus.
"We don't have TIME!" said Asha, "If she really is in trouble, then it would take time to be downloaded, to check, to be reloaded... it would just be easier to check from here and then go there directly if they really are in trouble."
"Fine," said Morpheus, and phoned Tank. "Tank, we need to locate someone. Look up a girl called Kathryn Thomas on the database. She's seventeen, lives in Canterbury-"
"Got her," said Tank. Asha blinked. That was quick. Neo saw her look. "DSL and Broadband are nothing compared to our downloading speeds," he said.
"Well, run her photo through the Matrix. See if you can track her down - she should be somewhere in Canterbury."
"Wait a minute," said Tank. There was a few moments pause. "Got her. She's - she's in trouble."
Asha had already pulled out her phone to call Jon. "What's happening?" said Morpheus.
"She and another girl and being forced into a car by agents. Why do you care about this girl?"
"She's a friend of Asha's." Tank didn't say anything, but Morpheus could sense his slight confusion. "And if the agents have a reason to be after them, that gives us a reason to help them. Get us there."
"Right," said Tank. Asha was explaining to Jon what was happening.
"I knew it," he said fretfully, "Why on EARTH are they after her?"
"I don't know," said Asha, trying to sound reassuring, "Maybe they've seen something, maybe it's-" Asha suddenly thought of something, but she tried to ignore it. Suddenly the phone started to ring. "Anyway, we'll be in Canterbury in a couple of minutes."
"Where should I meet you?"
"Oh no," said Asha, as Trinity picked up the phone and vanished. "Not this time. You can't come."
"Why?"
"Because this is dangerous."
"So was last time."
"Yes, but I don't want to risk it again. If I'd known, I wouldn't have let you come and save me as well."
"If I hadn't come, Trinity could have died." Asha glanced at Falcon also vanishing, trying to think of how to convince him not to come, when she realized that he'd hung up. Putting her phone back in her pocket, she stepped forward and lifted the ringing phone, hoping against hope this all went all right.
*****
A few minutes later, the crew were walking quickly along the Canterbury city walls, making their way towards the spot where Tank had seen the girls last. As they got nearer to the street, Asha looked ahead and her heart sank. "Jon!" she said, half angrily and half worriedly, "I told you not to come!"
"Asha, this is my sister we're talking about," said Jon, "Could you really expect me to stay at home?"
"But how did you even know where we were?"
"I knew that there was a phone box near the nightclub that no-one ever uses, so I guessed that was your most likely entrance."
"We should leave now," said Neo suddenly, looking up and down the street.
"But we haven't found them yet!" said Asha.
"Yes, but I don't it's right for us all to be here. It's not safe."
"What's wrong?" said Trinity. Neo didn't say anything, but looked at Morpheus, who nodded. "I think Neo's right. He can manage agents perfectly well on his own."
Asha turned round to Jon to say something, but she never got a chance. What happened next happened so quickly that Asha had hardly recognised that it was happening before it was over.
There was a gunshot. Jon's eyes went wide with shock. He looked at Asha, as if in disbelief, and fell over. Asha saw blood starting to spread on his back. She couldn't believe it. Without realising what was happening, she threw herself forward and knelt next to him, holding his hand.
"Jon, what's happened?" Stupid question, really. Jon looked at Asha, managed a small smile, then closed his eyes. Asha couldn't believe it; she didn't want to believe it.
"No, Jon, no. You can't. Jon. Jon!" She closed her eyes, feeling as though she couldn't breathe. Why? Why was this happening?
She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Asha," Neo was saying, "There's nothing you can do. We have to get out of here, we don't know who fired that, they could have been aiming for any of us-"
"Let me go," said Asha. She opened her eyes. The hollowness inside her had been replaced with anger. Who had done this? She opened her eyes again, and threw thoughts out in all directions. There - someone running away. Without thinking, Asha leapt to her feet and started pelting after them. She heard Morpheus, Neo, Trinity and Falcon calling out after her, voices of alarm and confusion, but she blocked them out. She was going to keep focussed on finding whoever had done this to her friend until they had suffered, the same suffering that she was going through.
She raced down the alley. With a mild shock, she realised that this was her dream - racing through an alleyway, with her quarry just in front of her. Before, this would have shocked her. But now, she only registered it with a mild interest - she was sure that she would think about it more later, but right now it wasn't important.
She could see the person ahead of her. She couldn't see much, as she could only see them for a split second each time. She sent thoughts ahead of her, to try and see if she recognised them. But she found some sort of resistance that she hadn't felt before, except when she was around agents, or the Oracle. Yet it was different this time.
Suddenly she heard the voice in her mind again. She recognized it now as David's voice. It was warning her about something, about a danger. She ignored it. She didn't care about that.
She approached another corner. She could feel that her quarry had stopped, and was waiting for her. She didn't care. She threw herself round the corner-
And found herself waiting for her.
*****
When trying to think of a name for this chapter, all I could think of was 'Oh dearie me'. Now I'm sure you can see why. Sorry about the evil cliffie! (hears attack chickens hurling themselves against the door) EEK! But that's still not the ULTIMATE cliffie, that's still to come. (cackles evilly, but then stops when the attack chickens start banging on the window) EEEK!! (runs)
DarkGoddessLuna - It IS cool! It freaks my sister out though, she keeps thinking I'm going to 'get' her. Why would I use my sword for that? A frying pan would do just as much damage.
Tanuki Yasha - I can't draw either, and I'm supposed to be doing Art for GCSE. WHY did no-one tell me that I suck at Art before I signed up for it?? Hee hee, I put a lot of effort into making the Oracle cryptic. Just to BUG everyone.
Im a Brandybuck - Yeah, can't imagine where it came from.
T'Lorie - (watches T'Lorie dying on the floor) Call that pitiful? I've seen pitifuller. Wait, is pitifuller a word?. Meh.
Artemis - Yeah, I'm sure they are. (cackles at evilness)
KnowInSight - Who knows?. Wait, I do.
Alocin - (watches alocin fall) Whoops. Is that my fault?
Kit19 - Well, cos it seemed like a really annoying cliffhanger. Why else?
Theshiz - Uh, no, not that evil. But still pretty evil.
Jack Cole - I buy both versions! DO NOT MOCKETH ME, THOU!! Sorry, that's my new phrase. As you may guess, we make a big deal about Shakespeare over here too. England's all smug about how "Oooh, we produced Shakespeare, what have America got to say to THAT?" Except now it's more Harry Potter, not Shakespeare. And for smiting, I recommend rolled-up magazines or pineapples.
Huntress - Yeah. I'm hungry now.
Sirocco.flow - Oh, we're all confuzzled. The Oracle DOES know the choice Asha will have to make, but can't tell her, in case it means that she doesn't make it.it's all very confuzzling still.
MollyJean - He's fine. He lives, he plays, he learns, he's starting turning the Wob-Wobs into him.
Sci-freak GrodySpork - Yes, that bit's funny, but not as good as the first one. The first one was best. I heard rumours somewhere that they were thinking about doing a third one.
Geekgurl - Yup. Have fun.
Becca, Claire and whichever hapless person is babysitting them now - Yes, I guessed that. I haven't seen 'Daredevil' or 'Underworld' though, so I don't really know what you're talking about. never mind.
Chapter 10 - Mission
As the streets rolled past, Asha thought about all that she'd been told. Her destiny was waiting... what could that mean? Destiny, destiny - what was the second hope supposed to do? What had she been told? Something about the One-
"Come on," said Morpheus. Asha's train of thought was interrupted. They had arrived back at the exit. It was time to get back to the ship. Asha shook her head, hoping that that would empty it slightly - this was all getting very confusing.
Just as they reached the phone, Morpheus' mobile rang. "Yes?" He paused for a second, then handed the phone to Asha, looking slightly confused. "It's for you."
Asha immediately forgave him for his confusion and took the phone. "Hello?"
"Asha?"
"Oh my God, Jon - is that you? What's wrong?"
"It's..." Asha could almost sense his anxiety over the phone. "It's my sister. I think she's in trouble."
"OK," said Asha, thinking how to put her next words, "Well, Jon, no offence, but as much as I like your sister, I don't think helping her is something we can do..."
"No, you don't understand. I think there are agents after her."
"What?" Asha said this really quite loudly and noticed that Morpheus, Neo, Trinity and Falcon were looking at her oddly. She signalled to them to wait and turned away. "But - but - why on earth would agents be after Kathryn?"
"Agents?" said Falcon, but Asha waved her hand at him to be quiet.
"I don't know," said Jon worriedly. She could hear a tapping noise on his end of the phone and knew that he was hitting his ankle against the chair - he always did that when he was stressed. "But she said that she could see some guys who looked like agents across the street from her who'd been watching her all evening, and then her phone went dead..."
"But what if it's nothing? What will the media make of the stars of the latest Matrix films go racing through East Kent, all guns blazing, only to find that your sister was playing a joke on you?"
"I'm not asking you to do that! Just check on the monitors."
"OK, fine. And what do we do if she IS in trouble?"
"... Then we're racing through East Kent all guns blazing and say it's a publicity stunt."
Asha told Jon that she'd ring her back then turned to the others, quickly explaining the situation. "So we just need to phone Tank and ask him to check-"
"I think we should return to the ship first," said Morpheus.
"We don't have TIME!" said Asha, "If she really is in trouble, then it would take time to be downloaded, to check, to be reloaded... it would just be easier to check from here and then go there directly if they really are in trouble."
"Fine," said Morpheus, and phoned Tank. "Tank, we need to locate someone. Look up a girl called Kathryn Thomas on the database. She's seventeen, lives in Canterbury-"
"Got her," said Tank. Asha blinked. That was quick. Neo saw her look. "DSL and Broadband are nothing compared to our downloading speeds," he said.
"Well, run her photo through the Matrix. See if you can track her down - she should be somewhere in Canterbury."
"Wait a minute," said Tank. There was a few moments pause. "Got her. She's - she's in trouble."
Asha had already pulled out her phone to call Jon. "What's happening?" said Morpheus.
"She and another girl and being forced into a car by agents. Why do you care about this girl?"
"She's a friend of Asha's." Tank didn't say anything, but Morpheus could sense his slight confusion. "And if the agents have a reason to be after them, that gives us a reason to help them. Get us there."
"Right," said Tank. Asha was explaining to Jon what was happening.
"I knew it," he said fretfully, "Why on EARTH are they after her?"
"I don't know," said Asha, trying to sound reassuring, "Maybe they've seen something, maybe it's-" Asha suddenly thought of something, but she tried to ignore it. Suddenly the phone started to ring. "Anyway, we'll be in Canterbury in a couple of minutes."
"Where should I meet you?"
"Oh no," said Asha, as Trinity picked up the phone and vanished. "Not this time. You can't come."
"Why?"
"Because this is dangerous."
"So was last time."
"Yes, but I don't want to risk it again. If I'd known, I wouldn't have let you come and save me as well."
"If I hadn't come, Trinity could have died." Asha glanced at Falcon also vanishing, trying to think of how to convince him not to come, when she realized that he'd hung up. Putting her phone back in her pocket, she stepped forward and lifted the ringing phone, hoping against hope this all went all right.
*****
A few minutes later, the crew were walking quickly along the Canterbury city walls, making their way towards the spot where Tank had seen the girls last. As they got nearer to the street, Asha looked ahead and her heart sank. "Jon!" she said, half angrily and half worriedly, "I told you not to come!"
"Asha, this is my sister we're talking about," said Jon, "Could you really expect me to stay at home?"
"But how did you even know where we were?"
"I knew that there was a phone box near the nightclub that no-one ever uses, so I guessed that was your most likely entrance."
"We should leave now," said Neo suddenly, looking up and down the street.
"But we haven't found them yet!" said Asha.
"Yes, but I don't it's right for us all to be here. It's not safe."
"What's wrong?" said Trinity. Neo didn't say anything, but looked at Morpheus, who nodded. "I think Neo's right. He can manage agents perfectly well on his own."
Asha turned round to Jon to say something, but she never got a chance. What happened next happened so quickly that Asha had hardly recognised that it was happening before it was over.
There was a gunshot. Jon's eyes went wide with shock. He looked at Asha, as if in disbelief, and fell over. Asha saw blood starting to spread on his back. She couldn't believe it. Without realising what was happening, she threw herself forward and knelt next to him, holding his hand.
"Jon, what's happened?" Stupid question, really. Jon looked at Asha, managed a small smile, then closed his eyes. Asha couldn't believe it; she didn't want to believe it.
"No, Jon, no. You can't. Jon. Jon!" She closed her eyes, feeling as though she couldn't breathe. Why? Why was this happening?
She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Asha," Neo was saying, "There's nothing you can do. We have to get out of here, we don't know who fired that, they could have been aiming for any of us-"
"Let me go," said Asha. She opened her eyes. The hollowness inside her had been replaced with anger. Who had done this? She opened her eyes again, and threw thoughts out in all directions. There - someone running away. Without thinking, Asha leapt to her feet and started pelting after them. She heard Morpheus, Neo, Trinity and Falcon calling out after her, voices of alarm and confusion, but she blocked them out. She was going to keep focussed on finding whoever had done this to her friend until they had suffered, the same suffering that she was going through.
She raced down the alley. With a mild shock, she realised that this was her dream - racing through an alleyway, with her quarry just in front of her. Before, this would have shocked her. But now, she only registered it with a mild interest - she was sure that she would think about it more later, but right now it wasn't important.
She could see the person ahead of her. She couldn't see much, as she could only see them for a split second each time. She sent thoughts ahead of her, to try and see if she recognised them. But she found some sort of resistance that she hadn't felt before, except when she was around agents, or the Oracle. Yet it was different this time.
Suddenly she heard the voice in her mind again. She recognized it now as David's voice. It was warning her about something, about a danger. She ignored it. She didn't care about that.
She approached another corner. She could feel that her quarry had stopped, and was waiting for her. She didn't care. She threw herself round the corner-
And found herself waiting for her.
*****
When trying to think of a name for this chapter, all I could think of was 'Oh dearie me'. Now I'm sure you can see why. Sorry about the evil cliffie! (hears attack chickens hurling themselves against the door) EEK! But that's still not the ULTIMATE cliffie, that's still to come. (cackles evilly, but then stops when the attack chickens start banging on the window) EEEK!! (runs)
DarkGoddessLuna - It IS cool! It freaks my sister out though, she keeps thinking I'm going to 'get' her. Why would I use my sword for that? A frying pan would do just as much damage.
Tanuki Yasha - I can't draw either, and I'm supposed to be doing Art for GCSE. WHY did no-one tell me that I suck at Art before I signed up for it?? Hee hee, I put a lot of effort into making the Oracle cryptic. Just to BUG everyone.
Im a Brandybuck - Yeah, can't imagine where it came from.
T'Lorie - (watches T'Lorie dying on the floor) Call that pitiful? I've seen pitifuller. Wait, is pitifuller a word?. Meh.
Artemis - Yeah, I'm sure they are. (cackles at evilness)
KnowInSight - Who knows?. Wait, I do.
Alocin - (watches alocin fall) Whoops. Is that my fault?
Kit19 - Well, cos it seemed like a really annoying cliffhanger. Why else?
Theshiz - Uh, no, not that evil. But still pretty evil.
Jack Cole - I buy both versions! DO NOT MOCKETH ME, THOU!! Sorry, that's my new phrase. As you may guess, we make a big deal about Shakespeare over here too. England's all smug about how "Oooh, we produced Shakespeare, what have America got to say to THAT?" Except now it's more Harry Potter, not Shakespeare. And for smiting, I recommend rolled-up magazines or pineapples.
Huntress - Yeah. I'm hungry now.
Sirocco.flow - Oh, we're all confuzzled. The Oracle DOES know the choice Asha will have to make, but can't tell her, in case it means that she doesn't make it.it's all very confuzzling still.
MollyJean - He's fine. He lives, he plays, he learns, he's starting turning the Wob-Wobs into him.
Sci-freak GrodySpork - Yes, that bit's funny, but not as good as the first one. The first one was best. I heard rumours somewhere that they were thinking about doing a third one.
Geekgurl - Yup. Have fun.
Becca, Claire and whichever hapless person is babysitting them now - Yes, I guessed that. I haven't seen 'Daredevil' or 'Underworld' though, so I don't really know what you're talking about. never mind.