Author's Notes: This is it. This is the chapter that will test the wills of all the characters. Stay tuned.
Chapter 9: The One
The access door to the roof opened, and the three agents rushed through. But Neo, Morpheus and Trinity were already gone.
"Damn!" yelled Smith.
"The trace was completed," said Agent Brown.
"We have their position," said Agent Jones.
"The extermination unit is in place," said Agent Brown.
"Order the strike," said Agent Jones.
"Hey, why are you still here? Didn't Trinity kill you?"
"Didn't Neo kill you?"
"Oh, yeah. Nevermind."
Agent Smith was not listening. He was looking out on the huge city.
"They're not out yet," he said to himself.
Back in the subway station, an old homeless man sat in the corner, covered in some spare blankets. He looked over and saw three people walking up to the graffiti-stained telephone booth. One was a bald man dressed all in black, another was a thin little creepy man with a trench coat, and the third was a woman in a black jump suit. The phone in the booth began to ring.
"Morpheus, you first," said the woman to the bald man.
"He's not Morpheus, I am!" said the thin man.
"Honestly, woman, you call yourself our crewmember."
"Oh, sorry, Neo!"
The bald man walked up to the phone.
"Only joking, I am Morpheus!" said the bald man, and he picked up the phone and vanished.
The old man blinked in amazement.
Trinity turned to Neo.
"Neo, there's something I need to tell you," she said. "Something I've never told anyone before."
"It's okay, Trinity!" said Neo. "I'm perfectly fine with closet homosexuals!"
"What? No, no, no, it's not that!"
"Oh. Sorry."
The phone began to ring again, and a low rumble could be heard in the distance.
"It's just that...when I visited The Oracle's house, she told me that—"
Just then, Neo saw that the rumbling turned out to be a subway coming up. The sound of the train totally blocked out what Trinity was saying. After a few seconds, the train went out of view and the sound died down. Neo could now hear Trinity's voice again.
"...and that's what I wanted to tell you," she concluded.
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Neo, "I couldn't hear you over the sound of the train. What?"
"I said—oh, I'll tell you when we get back on the ship."
"Aww..."
Trinity reached for the ringing phone. She paused, and turned over to see that the old man had dissolved into Agent Smith. She stared in horror for a moment, and then picked up the phone. She disappeared just as several bullets flew from Smith's gun into the booth. She disappeared before the bullets hit her, but Smith did manage to shoot the receiver, leaving the phone broken beyond use. It seemed that Neo would not escape so soon after all.
"Aww, crap!" exclaimed Neo. "So close!"
Back on the Nebucadnezzar, Trinity felt her eyes open.
"Neo!" she yelled.
"What is it?" asked Tank from across the room.
"An agent! Neo! Gun! Bang! Glass! Elephant! You've gotta send me back!"
"No can do!"
"Why not?"
"No reason. Just makes the movie more interesting."
"Damn you, plot device!"
Back in the subway station, there is silence for a second. Smith and Neo stared at each other, and then suddenly, the whipped out their guns and open fire. It seemed that everything moved in slow motion for a moment, as bullets whizzed by.
Neo and Smith lunged forward into the air, bullets shooting out of their guns at each other. They collided onto each other, and landed painfully on the ground, but they landed with their guns at each other's head.
"You're empty."
"Am not!"
"Yeah! You know it!"
"Nu-uh!"
"Yeah!"
"No!"
"You know it!"
"Nu-uh!"
"You know it!"
BLAM!
There was a pause.
"Okay, you weren't empty, but you still missed that last shot."
"Damn."
"Haha!"
"Well, you're empty, too."
"I am?"
Click!
"Damn."
They stared at each other. It looked like this was going to be hand-to-hand combat.
"CHY-AAAAHH!" yelled Neo.
"HYA-CHAAAAHH!" yelled Smith.
They ran at each other.
A knife-hand opened his forearm, and a kick sent him slamming back against a steel column. Stunned, he ducked just under a punch that crunched into the beam, steel chunks exploding like shrapnel. Behind him, Neo leapt into the air, delivering a neck- snapping reverse roundhouse. Agent Smith's glasses flew off and he glared at Neo, his eyes ice blue.
"I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson," he said angrily.
"What, are you some kind of sadistic asshole?"
"Well—um...yo mama's so fat, that if she...um...did...the thing..."
"You suck at telling jokes."
"Oh, I suck?"
"That's what I just said."
"I'd like to see you tell a joke."
"Okay, here goes..."
"Gotcha!"
Agent Smith, using Neo's distraction, attacked with unrelenting fury, fists pounding Neo like jackhammers.
Inside the Nebucadnezzar, Trinity watched Neo as his body jerks, his mouth coughing blood, his life signs going wild.
"Jesus, he's killing him!" yelled Trinity.
"He'll be fine," laughed Tank.
He looked at the screen and saw Neo's life monitors.
"Jesus, he's killing him!" he yelled.
Trinity groaned.
Agent Smith grabbed hold of him, lifted him into the air, and hurled him against the curved wall of the train tunnel, where he fell inches from the electrified third-rail. The Agent was about to jump down and press his attack when he hears something. From deep in the tunnel, like an animal cry; a burst of high-speed metal grinding against metal.
"Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson?" asked Smith. "It is the sound of your death."
"Yes, of course I hear it. What, you think I'm some kinda deaf-guy?"
"Well, no, I was just—"
"That's it! This relationship is so over!"
"But, I can change!"
"That's what they all say..."
"Yeah, but—wait a second, what the hell are we talking about? I should be telling you about how you're going to die."
"Oh, right."
"Well, you are."
"Shit."
"Goodbye, Mr. Anderson."
Neo paused. He stared down the tunnel, at the train speeding towards him. He knew that this was not his time to die.
"My name is Neo."
He lunged up through the air, higher than humanly possible. He flew up, did a double mid-air front flip and landed on the floor beside the tunnel. He watched as Agent Smith, still in the tunnel, disappeared from view as the train shot into the station, smashing into Smith with full force.
Neo turned to leave, when suddenly, just as the subway grinded to a halt, the doors of the last car were flung open, and Agent Smith stormed out, mad as hell.
"What the...? Now, how the hell did that happen? Jesus!"
Back on the Nebu—oh, screw it.
"What happened?" cried Trinity.
"I dunno. I just lost him," replied Tank.
"He's on the run," said Morpheus.
"Oh, shit," said Tank.
A siren began blaring.
BLAAAAAH! BLAAAAH! BLAAAAH!
"What's that?" cried Trinity.
"That's just the microwave," said Morpheus. "My hot pockets are done!"
A different alarm began blaring.
WEEEEEeeeeeeEEEEEEoooooOOOOOoooooEEEEEEeeeeEOEOEOEOEO!
"Okay, now what's this alarm for?"
"Squids," answered Tank.
"Hphw fphpr awphpy?"
"Morpheus, don't talk with your mouth full. And about five minutes."
"APHM THMPH EMP!"
"Cut it out, Morpheus!"
"EMP ready!"
"FIRE THE LASERS!"
"You mean EMP?"
"Um...yeah, sure..."
"But, we can't fire the EMP without Neo on board!"
"I know, I'm not stupid! But don't worry, he'll make it."
Back in The Matrix...
Keywords "..."!
Oooo! Dot dot dot! Scary!
Anyway, back in The Matrix, Neo ran down the street. He looked up and saw a guy talking on a cell phone. He could hear what the guy was saying.
"So then, I was all like, 'I totally saw Ted Danson,' and Becky was all, 'No way that was Ted Danson,' and then—what the hell?"
Neo had snatched the guy's phone and began running into an alley.
"Hey, that guy totally stole my phone! Like, what-EVER!"
Neo quickly hung up and dialled Tank's number.
"Operhello," said Tank.
"Mr. Wizard, get me the hell outta here"
"Sure thing, but why are you saying it like a question?"
"The author accidentally pressed the 2 key instead of the 1 key."
"Then why doesn't he just, you know, scroll up and re-type it?"
"Too lazy."
"Ah."
"Anyway, Smith's comin' down on me with a truck! Get me outta here!"
"I got a patch on an old exit. Wabash and Lake. A hotel. Room 303."
"Now, why does that sound familiar?" asked Neo rhetorically.
"DUCK!"
Neo ducked down just as bullets chewed into the wall in front of him, fresh from Agent Smith's gun.
"GAAH! THAT ALMOST HIT ME!"
"That door!"
"What door?"
"The door to your left!"
"Which left? This left?"
"No, the other left!"
"Oh. Hey, a door!"
"Go through it."
"It's locked."
"Kick it in!"
"But that would be vandalising!"
"So?"
"Isn't vandalisation a crime?"
"Dude, you killed about 30 security guards 20 minutes ago. I think your criminal record is as low as it can go."
"Oh, right. I forgot about that."
"Okay, now go through the door on your left."
"Why haven't the Agents fired at me yet?"
"I dunno, just go!"
Neo kicked down the door and ran in.
"Now down that hall."
Neo ran down that hall. The door at the end of that hall crashed down and an agent ran in.
"Shit! To your left!"
Neo ran to your left.
"No! Your other left!"
Neo ran to your other left. He kicked down the door in his way and ran through. The door was destroyed with bullets seconds later.
"Now straight! Now left! Now down! Now up! No sideways! No up side down! Now back side up! Now front side ollie! Now right!"
Neo was now in an apartment. He ran past an old lady watching Blues Clues on television and into the kitchen, where another old lady was chopping brains.
"Now, that window!"
Neo jumped through the window just as a knife was launched at his head by the dissolved old lady/agent. Neo landed on the fire escape. Neo shot down.
"You're almost there! Jou can do eet, Neeky! The fire escape on the end of the alley!"
Neo landed on the ground with a thud and ran off towards the other side of the alley. The hotel looked strangely familiar. He did not realise that was Trinity's hotel.
"I'm gonna make the call," said Tank.
"And you're telling me this...why?"
A red light flashed.
"No," muttered Trinity.
"Here they come," said Morpheus.
The sentinels crashed down on top of the Nebuwhatever and jammed their spikes into it."Hurry, Neo!" urged Trinity.
Neo bolted down the hallway, bullets blasting left and right, just missing him each time. Neo checked the door numbers. 310, 309, 308, 307, 306, 305, 304—
Neo lunged at the door of room 303, and just as he opened the door, he saw Agent Smith standing there, with his .45, armed and ready.
Agent Smith made the sound from PacMan when you died.
"Eee-ooo-ree-ooo-reee-ooo...blip blip!"
"You have an awful singing voice."
"Oh, yeah? Well...you're dead!"
BLAM!
The crew of the Nebublahblahblah stared in horror as Neo's body jerked violently, and his heart monitor went Flatline."No! It cannot be!" yelled Morpheus. "This is just—ahh!"
Morpheus fell over.
"What happened?" asked Tank.
"I tripped over Cypher's dead body. Didn't anyone move it out of the way or anything?"
"Um...no, but back on topic. Neo's dead!"
"Check him," said Agent Smith.
Agent Jones felt Neo's wrist.
Trinity ran up to Neo's body.
"Neo, no!" she yelled.
"He's dead," said Jones.
Smith smiled.
"Goodbye, Mr. Anderson."
"Neo," yelled Trinity, "Please hear this. I know that you're not dead, I know you're The One! Because when I visited The Oracle, she said that when I met The One, I would fall in love with him, so I know you must be The One, because I love you! You hear that? I love you! So, if you can hear this, please know that you aren't really dead."
Trinity leaned forward, and kissed Neo.
Back in The Matrix, for a moment, Neo's body lay still, and then, suddenly, his eyes jolted open.
"Now, get up!" snapped Trinity.
"Haha! Motivation!"Neo jumped up and turned to the agents at the end of the hall.
"Hey, agents! Missed me!"
The agents bolted around. They stared in horror for a moment, and then whipped out their guns.
"Oh, crap."
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Neo stared as the bullets shot through the air at him, when suddenly, everything went it slow motion again.
"Sweet!" he yelled. "Thank you, cool cinematography!"
Neo looked at the bullets. He reached into the air, grabbed one of the slow-moving bullets, and dropped it to the ground. Everything snapped into real time again. He watched as the bullet he had dropped, and all the others that had been fired, tumble to the ground.
"How...?" murmured Tank, staring at the screen in disbelief.
"Sweet!" yelled Morpheus. "He is The One! Pay up!"
Tank sighed and handed Morpheus $50.
Just then, an explosion shook the ship.
"Oh, right, the sentinels have broken in to our ship. I forgot about that."
Neo looked forward. Neo had defied the laws of The Matrix. He watched as the hallway, the agents, and everything he could see turned into the Matrix codes. He saw that the agents, for the first time since their creation, felt fear.He turned straight forward. Smith glared at him, and ran up to him. He began to deliver blows more ferocious then he had ever before, but Neo deflected them all. Now that he knew he was The One, he didn't even have to try. It was as if he was so talented, his body did all the work for him. Neo was defending Smith, and he wasn't even looking! Neo was defending Smith, and he was doing a crossword puzzle! Neo was defending Smith, and he was hosting a talk show!
"So, how did that occurrence help your career?" Neo asked Matt Damon.
"Well—" he started, but then Neo pushed him away.
"I'll get you for this, Anderson! The Bourne Supremacy will make more money than this movie ever can!"
"I'm making two more!"
"You are? Oh, crap! I'm screwed! And it's not like Ocean's Twelve is going to be the next Titanic."
Neo turned to Smith. He delivered one, single punch to him, and sent him flying across the room. Smith landed painfully on the other side. Neo bolted up to Smith, but he disappeared halfway through his run. After a few seconds, the agents stared at each other in confusion. Then, suddenly, Smith's body began to blow up like a balloon.
"I told you to keep off the carbs!" chimed Agent Brown.
"Oh, shut up!" yelled Smith, and then he exploded. Agent Smith was now gone, and Neo was standing there. Neo exchanged glances with the two agents, and they ran off in fear. Neo laughed.
Back on the ship, the sentinels were fully inside, destroying the entire place.
"Come on, guys!" yelled Morpheus. "Stop trashing the place! My parents'll be home in two hours!"
"Come on, Neo!" urged Tank.
Neo paused, and heard the sound of the phone ringing. He ran into room 303 and lunged at the phone.
There was a blinding flash of light as the EMP was activated. For a second, there was total silence.
When the flash cleared, everyone saw that the sentinels had been deactivated, their robotic corpses lying on the ground.
Trinity looked at Neo's body.
"Neo?" she asked, hoping that he got to the phone before the EMP was activated.
There was a pause.
Then, Neo's eyes opened. He smiled at her. Trinity ran up, and they shared a long, passionate kiss.
2 months later...
The green letters began scrolling across the screen as the computer traced the call. A voice began to speak.
"I know you're out there," said Neo's voice. "I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid... you're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you."
And with that, he hung up the phone, and stared around the street at all the people. He paused for a moment. Then, he looked straight up into the air, and soared up, higher and higher, high above the city, in the world that knew no boundaries.
Then, he ran into the camera.
"OW!" he yelled "Stupid script...Superman rip-off..."
Then, he flew off.
The End.
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading! Watch out for a Matrix Reloaded story, coming this summer! Or...maybe sooner. Stay tuned!