CHAPTER SEVEN

Trinity's new room is not so different from the old one. Both of them were boring, white, and sterile.

This one just has more locks on the outside of the door.

And oh, yeah, the bed is different too. The old one was conventional twin-sized with hospital blankets. The new bed has rails on the sides. With loops of fabric attached to the rails. Loops just the right size to hold down someone's arms and legs before—or after---the sedative kicks in. But other than that, the rooms are identical---

Wait. One more thing. In this room, when Trinity goes to the window and rips open the shades to see out, the view is quite different, actually.

Why? Well, longer way to the ground. Much longer.

Trinity smiles, because this is what she likes to see…a metal jungle, a bustling place where people go about their lives oblivious to the fact that they're in a dream world. Different, again, from the peaceful woodlands of the Briar Institute. Here, it is even easier to imagine that this world isn't real.

But her parents don't know that, of course. They put her here because it was different. In her father's words, the previous hospital "failed to take necessary precautions to ensure relapses weren't going to happen". In her words, her parents had taken her here because the other institute hadn't 'cured' her enough. This one won't succeed either, Mom and Dad. Too bad.

Yeah, she admits, it was hard an hour ago. She had just been deposited in her new room when they were admitted in to see her for the first time since the restaurant two days ago. And since she still—isn't---a hundred percent certain about whether they're real or not, it was rather difficult to watch. Her mother, anyways.

"Adele…Adele…Try to realize the truth, Adele, come on. There's no other world, nowhere else. Just us, and we'd miss you so much if you went--- away, again…Oh, answer me, damn it! Don't, don't stare through me…" Mabel let out a wail.

She steeled herself. She's a program…she's a program…she's a program…Repeated over and over to drown out Mom's sobs and Dad's steely "Look at your mother! Look at what you are doing, Adele! You have no heart, none!". She had stared over their heads or anywhere but their eyes. It was easier. Besides, who has respect for machines?

She whirls suddenly. There is a strange noise in the corridor…Shouting?

The lights aren't on in the hallway, it being after eight-thirty, so she can't see the people outside clearly. Her slippers flop over to the door, but before she can try to peer through the window to see, the locks fly open.

A man with a white coat is looking impatiently at his watch, an orderly next to him. Their faces are cast in shadow, since Adele's eyes haven't adjusted to the dark yet. She has a general impression of medium height on the man, and dumpy curls on the orderly. But more interesting is the second woman fluttering frantically around.

"Doctor, I really must protest--- And don't give me any of that jurisdiction you Lancomb Ward people like to throw around, the facts of the matter are that Adele has made enormous leaps and bounds under my care, I was the one responsible for her initial breakthrough, you have no idea what it could do to her psyche to be deprived of me…I demand you to--- Oh! Ah, hello, dear!" Dr. Warner finally notices Trinity standing there. "How are you?"

Her eyes are desperate as she smiles widely at her patient.

The new doctor doesn't notice Dr. Warner. Finally Trinity hears him breathe heavily in the dark. "Well, Angela, if the patient works that well with you, then…"

"Go fuck yourself, Dr. Warner," says Trinity, seizing her opportunity.

Warner's face falls as the man turns to her. Adele's eyes widen as she takes in his appearance. "On second thought, perhaps it would be better if you left. I shall meet with you on Saturday evening to discuss the case. Goodbye," he says, striding past the shocked Dr. Warner and shutting the door as the silent nurse follows him.

Trinity should be celebrating mentally. Instead, she is panicking.

"So…" he says, flipping through a file, not noticing Adele's shallow breaths. "A…a….How exactly is that pronounced again, Ms. Cunningham?"

"Rhymes with 'bell'," the nurse whispers to him.

"Of course. I had forgotten. Well, Adele, I'm happy to work with you again. It's been, what, three years since I saw you last?" He chuckles. "If you don't remember me, I'm Dr. Jacobsen. I used to be at Briar, but moved to the city. I handled your case for a few months, if I recall correctly, although you didn't seem to see me at the time and were unusually hard to deal with then. I'm hoping we can work through this issue together, and in time bring you back to a functioning member of society. In most cases like yours, a simple realization that the events imagined cannot possibly be true, combined with some antipsychotics, can treat the person in question quite well. If you consent to deal with me, it can be accomplished in half the time…"

But Adele is not focused on what he is saying. Instead, she is backing up slowly, step by step, and remembering what someone had said once.

"Nobody's ever beaten an Agent." No ordinary human. And all Neo manages is a sort of stalemate.

Of course they wouldn't let me realize it's not real and live. What if I escaped?

The man in front of her is bald. His voice drones, a monotone, peaked eyebrows lifting and falling periodically. Under the lab coat, a suit is neatly in place. No earpiece, no sunglasses, but she cannot shake the fact that his is the face that haunts rebels' dreams.

He's lying about seeing you before, you know he is. As soon as he is done, he'll drop the jolly act. And in his coat pocket, you know that there will be a gun. He will pull it out and he will kill you efficiently. Your blood will splatter on the floor. Your eyes will stare blankly at the ceiling. This is it. As soon as he is done playing with you, you are dead.

Not without a fight I'm not…

"Smith," she says coldly. Oh God oh God I didn't expect it to end this soon---

He stops. He plays the shocked doctor. "---What did you just call me?"

"Stop messing with my head, Agent. You and I both know exactly what you are. Now are you going to give me the gun and let me shoot my way out of this building…unlikely…or am I going to have to hurt you?" Her voice doesn't waver, even though she is shaking. The orderly runs out of the room.

Surprisingly, he doesn't take the bait. "Adele, be reasonable, of course I don't have a gun---"

Yeah, bullshit.

And focus…Now!

This self-image is less lithe and slender than her previous ones. The thighs are bigger, and of course it's harder to fight in blue pajamas than skintight leather. Still, she manages a passable round kick. Six years of tae kwon do before unplugging means that even if the Real isn't real, my skills still are---

Yes!

The Agent drops his clipboard and blocks her foot. So he reveals himself. Perversely happy, she tries to nail him in the gut with the other, but he blocks that too. Her fists flail at his face, again and again, yet he is faster. Why isn't he hitting back?

The door flies open. For the second time in three days, men in uniforms advance on her. She smiles slightly. And this time, she fights.

One comes, and she manages to knock him out with a well-placed kick to the head. An opportunity, isn't it. Stepping lightly over his body and through the temporary break in the group of men, she leaps out into the hallway.

Another line of hospital security faces her. One of them is carrying a gun---with needles? He lifts it.

Shit.

Trinity dodges the first dart, but the second one hits her in the stomach. She pulls it out, her vision already dulling. The world swims around her. Motion suddenly is much harder than it was. Her kicks and jabs slow gradually as feeling in her arms and legs is lost. Finally, she collapses. Her eyes shut as she lies in a heap on the floor, completely confused.

She wakes up God knows how much later. Can't see or feel, but she can hear.

"Excellent shot, Mr. Dobbs. I am very much in your debt," says the doctor's voice.

"Uh, thanks, Doctor," says a young man. "Really lucky that you know jujitsu, isn't it? I mean, she might have killed you. Pretty good for a wacko."

"Yeah, you see that chick move?" another enthusiastic guy says. "Wicked awesome---"

"Shut up, Laurel," a muffled voice mutters.

"Well. We made a mistake in not restraining her. She shall be of course tied down for any future visits with me," Smith says. Trinity is suddenly aware of cloth straps cutting into her arms, legs and ribs.

"When does the tranq wear off?" a woman's clipped voice inquires.

"Oh, it should be any minute now. In fact---"

Trinity's eyelids can open. They do. The doctor who looks like Agent Smith is staring down at her as she lies in the bed.

"Welcome back, Adele. Shall we resume our session?"

"There's no escaping you, is there?" she asks dully.

He smiles. Well, that wasn't quite like him. So what. He's just screwing with your head. "Not at the moment. My superiors believe it would be wise for you to get over your irrational phobia of me, in essence, to face your fears. Of course, should you be unable to work productively because of panic, I believe you would be transferred to another doctor. Do you feel you can cope and not be inordinately hostile towards me? Perhaps even work out the misconception of my identity you have?"

She looks into his---warmer?--eyes. "I don't know what kind of game it is you're playing, Smith---"

"Adele, please! I don't know why you're so afraid of me. I'm not an Agent, or whatever you called me. Really. Now go to sleep and we shall work this out in the morning."

"You mean you'll kill me in the morning."

"Then I will see you tomorrow at ten. Please do the courtesy of not attacking Margaret here as she unbinds you, for then you will be forced to spend entire days with restraint. Good night. Follow me out, gentlemen."

One of them stays with the woman, who clinically unties her and backs out, flipping off the light and locking the door. Trinity spends a sleepless night in frantic thought while looking out the window.

It's him…of course it's him…

&-&

Damn, they beat her again. Sorry for no posts, was being idiotic about a story I wrote and I had a bad case of writer's block. But I compensated by putting in what seems to be everyone's favorite bad guy! It may not actually be him, so be warned, but I sure had fun writing him. A question---Did she just project images from her real Adele life into her Trinity life (i. e. having seen Dr. Jacobsen before), or are the machines messing with her by putting Agent Smith in?

SapphireNight: Thanks! You gave me warm fuzzies, dear. That's incredibly nice of you. Not many people can do that anymore…I updated, so please do tell me what you think of it. PS--- How depressing is this? Really?

Destiny Chaser: Well, the beasties didn't show up this time, so you got one more shot as to extrapolating about them. (And aack! Pawing! RAAAAAAPE!!!!)

Thanks, I'm trying to nail how her parents react and how she does, so I'm glad you think I did good. This is kind of hard to write, to be honest, which is why the updates take forever. It's funny how much of my feelings show up in my writing, since Trinity feels like me about her world sometimes. And I also noticed that her parents are my parents WAY exaggerated. (pauses)

What?

Anyways, I hate obvious fics. So this will never be obvious. Some of you will hate the ending because of it. And I think this sped it up quite a bit, don't you? Thanks again for reviewing nicely…:D

sleeping awake: Hmmm--- the cops MIGHT remember. OR MIGHTN'T THEY??? Bum bum bummmm. More about that next chapter. Trin remembers her life before the Real, then. It'll be shweet. So now you know what's behind the corner, too! Unlike everyone who DOESN'T read every shoutout…Thanks, I love giving suspense. I am afraid that this was a quite long wait-and-see, though.

LiMiYa: Exactly! Exactly. Right on the money. Murky Realities "R" Us, that's what I should have called this story. Thanks, faithful reviewer!

Kailekehe: I like Dashboard Confessionals, although my friend is more into them than me. Still, the lead singer. Me-ow. I recently bought The Animatrix, watched World Record on it, and was just as puzzled as you are now. Yes, wait and see. Why didn't she test the Matrix before now? Because simple answer: she didn't want to know. If the Real World wasn't real, she would have killed herself. Makes you wonder if she would have clicked off the phone before it could ring…The last chapter may contain some limit-testing.

Yaaaaay! Favorites! You rock!

Bagpipes 5k: I'm sorry, but you jumping into the Perkins scene would be a real-person projection, which of course got on my case about because I made Lara Croft maim Lindsay Lohan in a fic. : Do we have a deal, Ms. Nithke? Nithke: Yeah, I got a better deal. How about I give you the finger….and you give me uploading rights? Huh? How about it?) So no can do, gol darn it anyhow. But Trinity appreciates your sentiment.

Sailorfusion: Thanks! But I'm afraid you'll be disappointed if you want real world. Or non-confusing. But I'm glad you like it! I tossed in the orderly especially for you and anybody ELSE reading this out loud.

Cinn: Glad you think so, anyways. Unlike so many other people nowadays. :D Read on!

Review, everyone? Please?