Life in Death, Part 5
by noiseforyoureyes
disclaimer: the Matrix owns me.
Set between The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded.
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The three of them practically slid down the ramp in their haste, breaking the silence of the sewers with the crunch of metal and heavy breathing, and Morpheus's low, insistent voice: "They're coming in too fast. They know we're here."
This was no routine level check. The only way the Sentinels could have locked onto them while still so far out of range was if they'd been alerted by an outside party - a knowledge that only sharpened the nervousness with which Neo, Morpheus and Trinity cast about in the dark. An EMP blast was unthinkable, suicidal - without any power, a second wave could come and wipe them out entirely. A singular line of thought drove them all: Get Tank, get back inside and get the hell out of here.
Neo clung to his EMP gun with fierceness, as if it were the last defense he had against the madness of the situation. He'd never used one before, but guessed he would figure it out quickly enough if a big, ugly Sentinel suddenly started bearing down on him. He was prepared to stay out here and fry as many squiddies as need be if it meant Tank's life; and he knew Morpheus and Trinity felt the same.
The why of it all could not be dwelt upon, not yet, without risking a complete breakdown of purpose. They had to find Tank; it was as simple as that. The reason he had come out here was secondary. The Sentinels would be down upon them in less than three minutes...
Neo glanced over at Trinity, and saw reflected in her the same manic intensity he felt as he searched. Too many had been lost in too short a timespan; it was almost suffocating to think of losing another. And Tank was their sanity, in so many ways. His comfortable familiarity kept them grounded in the drive of the mission, one that would consume them if they let it. No. The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar had already become too pitifully small for the proud size of the ship. Not one more crewmember would be surrendered... not again, and not so soon.
Tank, damnit. Neo felt his stomach sink as the empty darkness around him returned no movement, no flicker, no sign of life. He saw Morpheus returning from a second trip around the perimeter, face heavy, and thought he saw unguarded disbelief in those eyes as the dim light reached him. How ironic, Neo thought, with no bitterness. Morpheus failing to believe something.
In the distance, a faint hum began, felt more than heard. They all knew what it was; it didn't deter them, only set their wills in stone. There was a click as Trinity raised her gun. She gestured curtly for he and Morpheus to continue searching. They didn't argue, but kept their own guard.
Neo felt a chill as he looked back and realized how far they'd strayed from the Neb. Two minutes was all the time they had left; they could very well be dead in three, or less.
What a constructive thought. So absorbed was he in pushing it from his mind he almost missed the slight red hitch in the grey scenery that his flashlight beam had suddenly skimmed over. He swung it back immediately, to illuminate the bloody, stumbling form of their estranged operator, making his way quite unceremoniously over the wreckage.
"Tank!" Neo was surprised at the force of his own voice as the name tore from his throat, managing to carry over the steadily growing buzz deep in the tunnel. Trinity turned instantly, and Morpheus was already closing the distance between them as Tank looked up in the dull glare of the flashlight, his expression clearly reading get the hell back inside, you idiots!
Morpheus and Neo each gripped one of his arms and held them firmly around their shoulders, wincing as they took in the extent of their comrade's injuries. A nasty gash had opened up his entire left side, and he was bleeding threateningly from low in the neck. Trinity appeared in front of them, and her face for once was open with what they all felt: fear, shock, horror, and the desperate, fleeting hope that he could somehow be saved.
As they scrambled over grit and metal together, Tank made a valiant effort to speak. "Home..." the word came out in a wheeze; Morpheus hushed him, but he shook his head, obviously frustrated with himself, setting his jaw and summoning up more energy than he had left. "Homing device. On the disk," he took a quavering breath, "They set us up. Damn pieces of shit..."
Trinity exchanged a look with Morpheus, as the roar of the incoming Sentinels blocked out all other sound. Only a dozen or so meters were left between them and the Neb... Trinity sprinted ahead of them and inside, making a beeline for the controls. They'd have to escape this wave the old-fashioned way.
Neo turned to see the first Sentinel come screaming into range. Had he more time to dwell on the situation, it might have amazed him how swiftly he was able to raise his EMP gun, take aim, and fire, watching the mechanical beast shudder in the blue electricity and then drop like a stone.
Then, without warning, the event recurred in front of him; but his gun was gone, and it was merely an outstretched hand - his own - between him and four other Sentinels, all shorting out at once.
The vision was gone in an instant, and in that outstretched hand a gun reappeared, the force of its energy taking him by surprise as it fried its third Sentinel. Morpheus's voice came into focus, shouting his name.
"Neo! Now!"
Disoriented, he turned and dashed inside, feeling the ramp below him rise even as he ran.
Tumbling onto the main deck, he saw Morpheus heading for the gun turrets. Tank was leaning heavily in the operator's chair, still bleeding a frightening amount. He felt Neo's stare and dismissed it. "Go, Neo, or you're all gonna look like this."
As Neo slid into the seat of the second rear gun turret, he felt for the first time the cold sweat that had drenched him in that peculiar moment of... what? Clairvoyance? What the hell was wrong with him? He struggled to clear his mind. Protecting the mind was a necessary and natural means of survival in the Matrix: so why was it so damn difficult to do in the real world? He shook his head. Staring at the VR screen in front of him, he grabbed the triggers and shifted all his focus to eradicating those relentless red dots.
Trinity's voice came through the headset, and despite the terse warning in it, it calmed him considerably. "Six kilometers."
Six kilometers left to wipe out this wave, and finally fall off the map enough to burn the EMP.
He didn't let himself think, then, of all the unanswered questions that had been piled anew upon the four of them in a matter of hours. He simply thought of Tank stranded in front of that feed station: all too symbolically, their sanity slowly ebbing away as the minutes passed. He saw two more Sentinels turn into fireballs lighting up the tunnel, and took a deep breath.
