Haven't updated anything for a while – sorry, but I've been so busy with schoolwork and all that that I haven't been able to write anything. This was ready, though, so I'm updating this without anything else… hopefully more updates will follow.

Chapter 11 - Hunted

David, Asha and Falcon hurried out of the room and down the back stairs of the building, Falcon still supporting Asha slightly. She didn't think that the bullet wound would kill her – yet, anyway – but she needed to get back to the Nebuchadnezzar, and quickly.

"Phone Neo," said David to Falcon, giving him back the phone that he and Calypso had taken, "Tell him not to come directly here. The agents will be watching this building. We'll meet him in Silver Birch Avenue. It's a couple of streets away, and is on the way to the nearest exit. The agents disabled the one you came in by."

"They'll be able to track the call," said Falcon as they threw open the fire exit and crept around the outside of the wall around the car park behind the building.

"They know where we are anyway," said David grimly, "We won't be able to lose them, but we can hide from them for as long as possible. Speaking of which…" He took out a couple of guns from his jacket and handed them to Falcon and Asha. "Here. Just in case."

Falcon quickly dialled Neo's number. While he did, David took over helping Asha along the road. It struck her as strange that only a little while ago, he'd been fighting her, but now he was helping them.

"Shit," David said, bringing Asha out from her thoughts. He was looking at her top. "You're still bleeding pretty bad. Here." He ripped a bit off his shirt and gave it to her. "Hold it against the wound. It might help." Asha did so.

"Neo, we're fine," Falcon was saying into the phone, "Well, not technically, Asha's been shot. No, don't worry, just – look, we'll meet you at . Because there are agents around where we just came from. David told me. Oh yeah, he's here. OK. OK. Right." Falcon handed the phone to David. "He wants to talk to you."

"Can't it wait?" said David, looking over his shoulder. Asha understood. The longer they were on the phone, the more precise a fix on their location the agents could get. They had to keep moving. Falcon shrugged. David sighed, and, after shifting Asha over to him, took the phone.

"Hi, Neo."

"It's Morpheus, actually," came the voice, "Neo shifted the call. He'll be with you soon."

"Oh." David suddenly felt uncharacteristically nervous. Morpheus had been his captain once. "Hi, Morpheus. Long time no see."

"Just what I was thinking. Asha tells me you saved her life."

"Well, yes."

"But you also killed your crew all that time ago."

"I know I did. And I know I can never fully make up for it, but I hope I can at least begin to repay the debt."

"Hmm," said Morpheus, "You realize you'll have to speak to the Council on our return to Zion."

"I do."

Morpheus was silent for a moment. David scarcely dared to breathe. "You should have the right to a fair trial. Fine. We'll be ready for you. The exit's ready. You know where to go?"

"Of course. Thanks, Morpheus." He hung up and handed the phone back to Falcon.

"All OK?" he asked.

"Close enough," said David. Asha, meanwhile, had seen something in the sky.

"There's Neo!" she said, pointing at the fast-approaching black speck coming towards them. Seconds later, he had landed in front of them. Though Asha couldn't see through his sunglasses, she could imagine the surprise in his eyes, at seeing Falcon holding her up, blood coming out of the wound in her front, and David standing there as well.

"Looks like you had it all covered," he said finally.

"Only just," smiled Asha. Neo smiled slightly as well, then turned to David.

"Where are the agents?"

"I don't know exactly, but they've got to be close by," said David, "They will have tracked the phone call, and they'll probably have seen you. In fact…" He glanced around. "I'm surprised that they're not here already."

"Well, let's get going then," said Neo. They set off down the street again. The wound in Asha's chest was starting to ache terribly, and she was leaning on Falcon even more. Though they didn't say anything, she could see all three of them glancing worriedly at her.

"I'll go back now," said David finally. The tone in his voice suggested that he'd been thinking about it for some time. "I'll go and find out where the agents are, then come back and tell you. Then we don't use the phones unnecessarily."

Neo nodded his assent. David shot Asha and Falcon a brief smile, and then vanished.

"Handy trick that," said Neo as they turned off the main road into a smaller side road. He looked at Asha again. "Can't you go that way too?"

Asha shook her head. "I'd rather not." She still hadn't told anyone about how she had found it so draining to go and forth from the Matrix without being jacked in; she'd decided that she wouldn't do it again unless she had to. She'd nearly got lost in the symbols, and her mind refused to acknowledge what the results of that could have been. And with the bullet wound, she doubted that she could make it.

They had nearly reached the exit when Neo's head suddenly darted to a street to the right. He frowned. "What is it?" said Asha.

"Smiths," said Neo, "Lots of them." In the distance, they could hear a phone starting to ring. "It's not like we weren't expecting this. You two run on ahead, try to get out. I'll deal with this little lot."

"Right," said Asha. She and Falcon turned and ran down the street towards the sound of the ringing phone. Asha ignored the pain in her chest. 'It's not real,' she thought over and over again, and somehow the pain lessened. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Neo running down the street the other way, towards some agents who had just rounded the corner. Falcon put his hand on her back and tried to make her run faster.

They sprinted down the last section of the street and barrelled round the corner. In the split second that they did, Asha suddenly sensed movement on the other side of the corner. It was explained when they saw a crowd – no, a swarm – of Agent Smiths ahead of them. "Stop!" shouted Falcon, grabbing onto Asha's arm, "Back! Back!" They skidded to a halt, almost falling over as they abruptly changed direction to run back the way they came.

They hadn't run five steps back that way when they saw that that route would be impossible. Neo had, as he put it, dealt with that little lot – but it turned out there were a lot in that little lot. He was surrounded by another group of them, fighting them all off, but oblivious to anything else. They were on their own.

Asha scanned the surrounding buildings. "Come on!" she urged, grabbing onto Falcon's hand. They both jumped into the air onto the nearest building and ran across it; Asha could the thuds of Smiths following them. Quickly she pulled out her phone and dialled the number of the Nebuchadnezzar. The agents knew where they were anyway; what other harm could be done by phoning them?

"Tank, are you seeing this?"

"I'm seeing it, Asha. The Smiths have cut the hardline on the exit I had ready." Asha swore. "I'm trying to get one near you."

"Are there any other agents around?" She and Falcon leapt over the gap between the building they were on and the next, hands still held.

"There's a helluva lot of Smiths, but I can't see any other agents," said Tank, "Shit, you're running straight towards another group of them! Go left! Left!"

Asha tugged Falcon towards the left, and they started running parallel to the road. Bullets shot over their heads. Asha tried to divert them, or to take their guns, but their were just too many to focus on. She was forced to simply duck them, as Falcon was.

"Asha, they're circling all around you. You need to get out. Can't you come out your other way?"

"No, I can't."

"Can't you at least try?"

"I suppose," said Asha hesitantly. She quickly pulled Falcon away from the edge of the roof, looking for an area where they could hide for a few seconds.

"Down there," said Falcon, pointing to an alley where the Smiths didn't seem to have reached yet. They both jumped down from the roof and hit the pavement. Immediately Asha closed her eyes and, taking a deep breath, tried to force herself through the code of the Matrix, still keeping a strong hold on Falcon's hand.

The difficulty of doing so was much more pronounced this time. It felt like trying to push her way through treacle instead of the usual water. She'd only just got into the code when she felt herself slowing down, almost still. She tried desperately to turn round, but found herself just twisting on the spot. Looking back, she couldn't see the way she had come, only the code falling on all sides. Panic started to fill her.

Suddenly she felt a strong tug on her hand, and came rocketing back into the Matrix. Falcon had pulled her back out of the code. As her feet hit the pavement again, a wave of irresistible exhaustion hit her, fatigue beyond she'd ever known it; her knees crumpled and she fell to the pavement, the pain in her chest increasing terribly. Blackness was eating from the corners of her mind, and she would have fainted had Falcon holding her hand not kept her mind focused.

"Asha!" said Falcon urgently, bending down next to her, still not letting go of her hand, "What happened? Why couldn't you go?" She didn't answer. Her head was spinning unbearably, and she was breathing in short gasps.

With considerable effort, she forced her eyes open and tried to sit up. "I don't know," she said, still struggling to get her breath back, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in her chest as she did so. Blood seeped between her fingers. How much had she already lost? She tried to get her thoughts in order and think of what they could do. "Just recently I haven't been able to-"

Suddenly she heard the noise she had been dreading; many feet walking down the alley towards them.

xxx

Yeah… another evil cliffie. Sorry about that. Wow, I'm evil.

Im a Brandybuck – The end would normally be around here somewhere, but for some reason it's not… this story's got a long way to run yet.

Misao, Demon Master – You were right, it was a leetle more action-packed. Hope ya liked it. As a reward for correctly guessing the genre of this chapter, here's… a Legolas night light!

Calliope-Elven-Agent – I've put all my parodies up on my message board. The link's on my bio.

LiMiYa – Hmm… everyone seems to have accepted that David's saved Asha… interesting…

Sirocco.flow – Urrrgh. GCSEs. Now I'm having to handle GCSEs's evil cousin… AS Levels! Huzzah! Not. And apologies for this new evil cliffie. (hits self on head) must get over this habit…