Hi, thanks everyone who reviewed! Without further ado (about nothing – haha, love that Shakespeare play – uh-oh, am causing ado) onto the next chapter!
Chapter 3 - Meetings
"We were expecting a more polite welcome," said Etain, looking around, "You could have at least tidied up."
The man looked up at them both. He looked like he was in his early twenties. He was wearing what looked like a charity shop ensemble, with a couple of stains on the shirt. Asha wrinkled her nose slightly. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Who are you?" said Asha, "I presume I am speaking to Odin, the man who hacked into the KGB top secret files, and has been hiding out here ever since? Don't look proud," she said, seeing him smirk slightly at hearing that his reputation preceded him, "I know an eighteen-year-old who did the same thing, and he's not being tailed by the secret police."
"Yeah, right," said Odin.
"You don't believe us?" said Etain, "Then will you believe that I'm Etain?"
Odin blinked. "The Etain?"
"Yes, the Etain. The one who hacked into various global corporations and transferred millions from their accounts, then gave it all to Amnesty International. Or did you believe that I was too virtuous to be true?"
"Or a guy?" said Asha. Odin looked slightly sheepish.
"Anyway," said Etain, looking as though she was trying not to laugh, "As we were saying before you tried to shoot my friend here, we have information for you. Do you want it or not?"
Odin looked from one to the other. He got to his feet, causing Asha to tense ready to spring should she need to, but he simply walked over to his computer chair and sat down again. "What kind of information?"
"Information that you want," said Etain, "Or you think you want."
"Some think they want it but then discover they wish they had never wanted it," said Asha.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"The Matrix," said Etain. Odin started. "You see? Even the name has an affect on you."
"It does on everyone who, in the smallest corner of their brain, knows that there's more to the world than what we see," said Asha, "And that small corner eventually grows, and grows, until your entire brain is filled with it, and you can no longer distinguish what is real. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
Odin didn't answer. He didn't need to. Asha could see it all over his face.
"Then," said Etain, "You'll know what'll happen when we give you this." She held out a hand. On it was a single red pill. Odin stared at it as if it were the answer to all his questions. He stared at it for a few seconds and was silent. Finally he looked back to Etain and Asha.
"It's real, isn't it?"
"It's real," said Asha, "Or as real as anything can be."
"Then if I take it- if I-"
"Then everything will be real," said Etain. Odin looked at it for a few more seconds, then took the pill. Asha took off her backpack and pulled out a complicated piece of technology. It was a mobile locating unit. They'd only recently been developed, so not even the agents knew about it Asha and Etain quickly hooked him up to it, and dialled Tank's number.
A couple of minutes later, Odin's body vanished before their eyes. Asha and Etain looked at the space where he'd just been. "Done," said Asha, glancing at her watch, "Only took about forty five minutes. At this rate we'll be done in a few hours."
"That's optimistic," said Etain, "Didn't you watch the Matrix before you were unplugged?"
"Of course."
"Well, then you'd have learnt that what can go wrong most likely will."
Asha quickly looked out the window. "Well, no agents yet, maybe we'll get a couple more people done before they all appear and kill us all in a highly dramatic manner."
Neo wasn't unplugging people. He had agreed with Morpheus before that he would make a trip to New York. They'd received a message from the Oracle a couple of days before, and Morpheus didn't think that the whole crew should go when Neo could go quite well by himself.
He walked to the Oracle's apartment building by back ways; the impending release of the Matrix: Revolutions would mean he would be even more conspicuous on the streets of America. It only took some teenage fangirls to phone one of their friends excitedly telling them that they'd seen Neo for the agents to find out where he was. Finally he reached the building and slipped through the front doors. Once inside, he hurried up to the Oracle's apartment.
He was shown straight into the kitchen. The Oracle looked up as he entered. "My, Neo," she said, "I do believe you've grown." Neo didn't say anything – he knew that she'd sent him the message for a reason, but she'd get round to it in her own time. The Oracle smiled at him. "So, will you sit this time? Or won't you?"
Neo actually found it slightly unnerving that she already knew what he was going to do. Finally he decided to sit down at the kitchen table next to her. "You're learning," said the Oracle warmly.
"Why didn't you tell us about the Matrix being shut down?" asked Neo shrewdly.
"Why should I? You would figure it out anyway," said the Oracle, "And the way you found out was better. You'll see."
Neo didn't say anything. "Now, I know what you're thinking," said the Oracle, "Why's she actually called me here?"
Neo smiled as well. "Well, one main reason really," continued the Oracle, "You may not know it, but Asha went into the Matrix last night."
"She did?" said Neo in amazement.
"Yes. She saw some people in trouble, and she went to help them." Neo shook his head in despair – he knew that she rarely thought things through before she went to help people, relying mainly on luck. He would have to mention it to Morpheus.
"Neo," said the Oracle seriously, "You're going to need to be more careful about things like that. She's more important than you know."
Neo stared at her. "Why?"
Asha had no idea that her fate was being discussed across the Atlantic Ocean. The rest of the day went very similarly for her and Etain. They would go to apartment buildings, usually in the back streets of the cities, and pretty much use the same speech they had with Odin. Some believed them straight away, others required a kung-fu demonstration from Asha. Some had never even seen the Matrix. These people had taken a lot of explaining.
"Last one," said Etain tiredly, glancing back at the sheet of paper. She was driving them through the streets of Dublin, as Asha phoned Tank to check that he'd picked up the last one they'd sent back to the Real World, "We need to be careful, the agents will have noticed that people are waking up all over the place."
"Wouldn't that worry them?" said Asha, "Make them put on extra security at the power plants?"
Etain shrugged. "Well, we haven't had any trouble yet. Maybe they don't see it as a major problem any more or something."
"Maybe," said Asha, still feeling uneasy. This was all going too well. She was just waiting for something to go wrong. 'Shut up,' she ordered herself silently, 'It's time we had a lucky break.'
Something had been playing on her mind. Whether awake or asleep, Jon was never far from her thoughts. If Jon hadn't died, then she would certainly be wanting to unplug him; but, luckily it may seem, she didn't have to face that dilemma. But that still left his sister. Kathryn. Asha knew her pretty well, having spent a reasonable amount of her childhood at his house. It didn't seem fair to take her brother from her, and then leave her in the Matrix; at least she would have a chance to explain what had happened.
"Hey, Etain," she said, making up her mind suddenly as they drew up outside the apartment building. "Can I ask a favour?"
"Course," said Etain.
"When this one is done, can you leave me outside, drive around for about half an hour, then come back and pick me up?"
Etain probably had never looked so curious. "Why on earth do you want me to do that?"
"There's just something I have to do."
Falcon was waiting outside an apartment building. He had been paired with a captain from another ship, who seemed to believe that Falcon was incompetent. So Falcon was made to keep watch. Not that it would make all that much difference if agents came.
He looked up and down the street. There had been no scandal about how he'd vanished – not that he'd been expecting any, his parents wouldn't miss him. They'd probably only notice that he'd gone when the pizza place realized they hadn't had any orders from his apartment for a while.
Suddenly he heard rapid footsteps behind him. Before he could turn round, he felt a hand go over his eyes.
"Guess who?" came a taunting voice.
Falcon had no idea, but the voice sounded female. "Asha?" he said.
He felt a gun rest on his back between his shoulder blades and tensed.
"You wish."
-
And we're back to cliffies! Gee, how much you must have missed them. The next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it, but I haven't exactly finished writing it yet – I have a bit of a plot decision to make, which affects the rest of the story. Hahahaha, as if the cliffie wasn't enough.
Im a Brandybuck – Whoa, you really ARE hyper. Good for you! (applauds) And I'll try to update as often as I can now, since you seem so, um, hyper to know what happens next...
TBI – Of course Smithy's in this story!! How can you have a Matrix story without Smith? He rocks! Did you notice that I'd updated the Secret Diary of Agent Smith?
Jack Cole – Ummm... well, you're close... And I know how you feel about finals, I've just got through them too...
Ohiwishihadaname – It's about time you got a name. What about oretty, since you seem to like it so much?
Theshiz - ... uh-oh... How readily available is your medication? And, more importantly, caffeine? I love Irish legends (being a quarter Irish) so any excuse to fit Ireland into the story...
Calliope-Elven-Agent – I know someone called David too, and he couldn't be more unlike this David. This David, at a party, would probably stand alone in the corner. The David I know, from my experience, would come dressed as a fairy and spend half the evening chasing my friends around the hall because they'd stolen his wand. And I'm sorry to say that Apoc isn't alive, because the first movie did actually happen. Sorry, I liked Apoc too.
Sirocco.flow – Well, that's good, since I do German, not French... but I can roughly translate what you said... thanks!
AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS... aka ME...
First of all, I've started writing a Pokemon story in conjunction with Bulma Greenleaf – check our joint account, under the name Wob-Wobs United, to read it. Of course, if you don't like Pokemon, don't bother...
Second of all, I've started a message board for the Official Fanfiction University of Troy, coming soon, so please go and check that out! The link is on my bio!
Third of all, all of the stories in this massive update of mine were dedicated to everyone in the world who have been taking exams recently. Congratulations! You made it through them! Now RELAX! That is an order, dagnabbit! An order from the Wob-Wobs, no less!