Apologies that I've been away so long. I was on holiday, and then came back to discover that I'd had two stories taken down, and couldn't update for another week. This is also the reason for the disappearance of over half my stories. There is a possibility I'll be leaving , but I'll let you know if I do.

Thanks everyone who reviewed! I realized some time ago that this story is at least verging on Mary-Sue. A terrible shock, I can say. But then I thought – what the hell, it's fun to write, some people like it, and at least no-one's out of character (as far as I know) and I can handle grammar rules. I would stop putting it up, but I have a feeling I'd suffer slow death from attack chickens as a result.

Chapter 5 - Missing

Exhausted, Asha and Etain returned to the abandoned building where the captains were meeting. It seemed that everyone else was there before them. Most people were talking quietly, a couple of people were joking about someone they'd had to unplug who'd refused the red pill, saying that they didn't take drugs. Neo was talking to Morpheus and Trinity in the corner, looking serious. When they entered, Morpheus looked up.

"Good," he said with relief, "When I heard about what happened-"

"What?" said Asha, worried that he'd heard what she'd done. But the look on his face told her otherwise. "Morpheus, what's happened?"

Morpheus had turned to rest of the group. "This plan has been executed to near perfection. We have succeeded in unplugging about 382 people. Some of the other eighteen refused to believe us. The others didn't survive the unplugging process. The shock was too much to their minds."

"Did all the crewmembers get back OK?" asked Etain.

"Most," said Niobe, "But Falcon vanished. We still don't know where he is."

"What?" said Asha. She'd been thinking about Kathryn, wondering if there was anything else she could have done, but this brought her back to the present with a sickening thump.

"His partner left him alone whilst he went to unplug someone," explained Morpheus, "When he returned, Falcon had vanished."

"Sorry, Asha," said Neo, resting a hand on her shoulder. Asha sank down into a chair. She couldn't think for a second. This was all too much, why couldn't the world just give her a break...

"Well, where could he have gone?" she said finally, "I mean, agents would have just left his body there, wouldn't they? If they'd-"

"They would," said Morpheus, not making her finish her sentence, "Your guess is as good as ours as to what's happened."

"But - aren't we going to look for him?"

"We have no idea where he is. We may as well search back on the Nebuchadnezzar, then we can cover a wider area."

"We have to return to Zion," said Niobe, "We must bring those unplugged today to safety, and discuss our next move with the Council."

"We will look for our missing crewmember first," said Morpheus, "If we don't return in a week, then something has happened to us, and someone else must lead the attack."

Niobe nodded, and all of the crews started to leave, heading for their various exits. "See you back in the Real World," said Phoenix, winking at Asha as he walked past. Asha smiled back half-heartedly and followed Neo and the others. As the other captains and their crews departed, she could hear them discussing why there hadn't been any agents around today. In fact, aside from the disappearance of Falcon, there had been no resistance to their removal of over two hundred people from the power plant at all.

"It is strange though, isn't it?" she heard Neo saying to Trinity, "No agents. Not even Agent Smith, and he seems to have it in for me, doesn't he?"

"I know," said Trinity, "It is very strange. But doubtless the answer will show itself at some point."

"Whether we will want to hear it or not," said Morpheus, "is another matter entirely."

That evening they were all very busy. The people they had unplugged that day had to be looked after and reminded of how things stood. As Asha moved from one person to the next, her mind returned to Falcon. Where could he have gone? He wouldn't have just left. Agents would have shot him, not bothered with the whole kidnapping thing – what was the point now that the Matrix was being shut down? But otherwise, where could he be?

Her mind sometimes brushed against the chance that it could have been David. She would chase the thought away immediately, but it would remain lurking at the back of her mind, worrying her, filling her mind with suspicions she didn't want there. David could have been tricking them all along – he could have been on the side of the agents all this time. But then why did he save her life? Twice? Maybe he hadn't been doing that really – maybe it was all a plan to gain her trust. They were waiting for her to come to see him again, and then they would kill her. But why didn't they just do it before? This really was all too confusing.

She walked over to the monitors and stared at the code of the Matrix. She wondered what they would do if it shut down, right this second. Well, there wouldn't be very much they could do.

"Hey," said Trinity, coming through, "You alright?"

"I'm fine," said Asha. She paused a second. "Did you know that everyone in England's been told that I joined a gang against the government and killed my best friend?"

"Were they really?" said Trinity, "How did you know that?"

"I, uh, looked it up on the internet," said Asha quickly. Trinity nodded. The Matrix search system was so complex that it could look up immediately pretty much and information you needed; except how to get into the Matrix mainframe, apparently. "But I can't even spell distabli – disestables – hell, I can't even say it!"

"Well, that's what happened to all of us," said Trinity, trying unsuccessfully to suppress a yawn, "If our families asked, they were told we'd joined terrorists... You should get some sleep, Asha."

"No, I'm not tired," lied Asha. Truth was, she was still exhausted from her journey to and from England, but she didn't want to go to sleep – because when she was asleep, her demons came to haunt her. "I may as well stay up and keep watch. You never know, I might find Falcon."

Trinity nodded, and both girls' eyes darted up to the main deck, where Falcon's body was still in one of the chairs, seemingly peaceful. "If you do..." said Trinity, "Don't hesitate. Wake us all up straight away." Asha nodded, throat suddenly becoming tight. Neo came towards them both, put his arm around Trinity and led her away.

Asha stared at the screen with the falling symbols, willing something to show up on it. They'd already tried tracing him, but he wasn't showing up. His vital statistics were still constant, if slightly high. That left two possibilities: he had been taken somewhere that was hard to see, like the core network; or he had joined the agents. When David had, they'd blocked his signal so that his crew couldn't find him. Asha didn't know which possibility she preferred.

Well, while she was awake, she may as well try and find out something on the mainframe. She loaded up the news pages, ignoring the articles about her. Saying she'd killed Jon. She couldn't believe that.

Ah-ha, said a voice at the back of her head though, You did kill him though, didn't you?

"No," muttered Asha angrily, "I didn't. It was Calypso, not me."

Yes, but you could have saved him easily, couldn't you? continued the voice, You let him die.

"Shut up."

You let him go. You killed him.

"Shut UP!" said Asha, gripping her hair, as if that might silence the voice, "It was to save Neo and the others! I did the right thing!"

The voice was silent.

Asha furiously began searching for anything that might indicate someone getting to the Matrix mainframe, anything to keep her mind off guilt. But there was nothing. She kneaded her eyes with her hands in frustration. There must be something she could do, something, anything...

Asha woke up. For a second she was confused, but she didn't know why. Then she realized – she was in her room. Last thing she remembered, she'd been at the monitors. Rubbing her eyes, she scrambled out of bed and walked out of her door towards the main deck.

"Oh, you're up," said Neo, emerging from his room across the hall, "You were exhausted last night. I got up during the night, and when I found you asleep we just carried you to your room."

"Oh. Thanks."

Neo looked at her face. "Are you OK? You still look tired."

"No, I'm fine," said Asha firmly, half to Neo and half to herself. The exhaustion she'd been feeling since the trip was still lingering in her mind. She forced herself to ignore it. "Who's on the monitors?"

"Trinity, last time I checked."

"Is she OK?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, her sister's still in the Matrix."

"Oh." Neo looked thoughtful. "She hasn't mentioned anything."

"But at the meeting yesterday, I think she was quite worried. I could just sense it."

"I'm sure she's fine," said Neo. He smiled reassuringly and headed off towards the canteen. Asha, however, still felt uneasy, and decided to go and check on her. She clambered up the ladder towards the area with the monitors and where they were all jacked into the Matrix. As she walked towards the chair, she could see that Trinity wasn't in it – Trinity always rested her feet on the counter, no matter how many times Morpheus rolled his eyes when he saw it.

She walked faster towards the monitors. No, Trinity definitely wasn't there. She looked into the code of the Matrix, though she didn't know why she would find Trinity in there. Getting worried now, she glanced over the top of the monitors. She froze, but only for a moment. Recovering her voice quickly, she shouted "Neo!"

Neo came running up the ladder and down the corridor to the chairs. He looked at her questioningly, but then saw where she was looking. "Oh no."

"Oh yes." They both looked at Trinity's body in one of the chairs. "She's gone in to look for her."

Dear me, another cliffie. Where did that come from?

Im a Brandybuck – Yeah, sorry about that. Took a lot of umming and erring to do it, believe me. "Do I kill her or not? Do I kill her or not?" Big decision. I don't think Mafia boss is a career for me.

Eowyn Skywalker – I had realized that it was. I think I realized right when I started it, but I've been in denial for some time. I've gone through the five stages of grief: Denial ("It's not! It's NOT!"), Anger ("Idiot, Katie! How can you have been so fangirlish?"), Fear ("What have I unleashed upon the world?? What'll I do??"), Bargaining ("Maybe if I go back and change it – how the hell can I do that?") and have finally reached acceptance ("Meh, not as bad as some out there, and at least Neo hasn't fallen in love with her or something").

LiMiYa – Uh... you will find out soon... just not for a few chapters yet.

Sirocco.flow – No, my sister got it for me. All my violin teacher got me to do with him was an account of what he was like when she taught him.

Theshiz – Oh dear, I didn't mean to keel you with sad. I really must stop killing reviewers. And characters. Am I just this murdering psychopath?? Wouldn't be surprised...