Hellooo everybody! Thanks for reviews, they really are appreciated ).

Eyes of Sky, it's great to have a new reader, and thanks for leaving the questions in your review! I've tried to answer one in this chapter but if you're still not convinced then I'll explain again, and the answer to the second will be in Chapter 18. Hope it makes things a bit clearer!

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Chapter 17: The Matrix - Revelations

It wasn't cold, but we began to shiver as we stood in the dark. Without sight, our hearing had become sharpened, and we became aware of voices nearby. They were getting closer slowly, giving us a chance to brace ourselves for whatever might come next. Morpheus had prepared us for traps in the sparring programme what seemed like years ago on the Nebuchadnezzar; in fact it was during one of these training sessions that Hannah had disappeared. We began to run over in our heads everything we could remember having been told, and – more importantly – began to loosen up in case any rule-bending was required.

The still muffled voices stopped a few metres away from us, and the sound of a handle turning pierced the darkness. This was it.

OoO

Morpheus and Trinity sprinted through the streets, trying to dodge passers-by but knowing they were drawing attention. It was probably the most dangerous thing they could do, but if going straight through the town centre meant they reached the twins faster, it was a risk they were prepared to take. Morpheus cursed himself for not foreseeing this dilemma, and silently prayed to anyone who was listening that it still helped them get Neo back. As they turned into the maze of alleyways he snatched the phone from his pocket and hit the key to call Link, who had answered before he had even put the phone to his ear.

"Have you managed to contact them?"

"No sir, I keep calling them but they're not answering."

"Keep trying. And have a ground plan of that building on stand-by."

OoO

As the door began to open, I could feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. I had turned off the ring tone in case stealth became necessary, and for that reason I didn't want to answer it. Realising my intention to leave it, Hannah snapped her head to look at me.

Are you insane, answer it! What if they've found out something we need to know? They wouldn't call us for any other reason!

It's too late for that now! Look, if these guys are gonna try something violent, then it's too risky. We want to use this darkness to hide in - these phones are so leaky they'd be able to hear Link talking and it would show them exactly where we're stood. And if they attack me I'll need both hands!

Sarah, if they're planning something violent then maybe that's what Link has just found out and that's why he's calling us, in which case we need to find out and then run for it!

The door began to open and a strip of light appeared; the voices had stopped and so had my heart. It was no longer a case of wanting or not wanting to answer the phone; I found myself paralysed with sudden fear. In a burst of frustration, Hannah reached over, dipped her hand into my pocket and pulled the phone out. I registered shock but was unable to do anything to stop her. She clicked it open and was raising it to her ear when suddenly a hand appeared from behind her and snatched it from her fingers.

I was jolted back to my senses and we both jumped round, having thought ourselves alone. We could hear Link's fuzzy voice on the other end,

"Listen, Apollo, you gotta get outa there, it's a tra- oh my god…"

I shut my eyes as I knew he had seen the phone being taken. We heard it clatter to the floor and as the door opened fully the light revealed a man standing there. He grinned wickedly at us.

Someone began to laugh behind us and we turned back to face the door again, Hannah's hand finding mine and gripping it tightly.

We're surrounded…

A figure was standing in the doorway, but the light from behind him was so blinding we couldn't make out his face. From what we could see, he was wearing white, and his stance suggested strong confidence and authority.

"Wh…who are you?" Hannah stammered. He laughed.

"I am Haroeris."

He took a step forward and we could begin to see his face, and although it was still unclear we could see him smiling. In her own coat pocket, Hannah's phone began to vibrate in its turn, but she did nothing. It would only be snatched away too. The man standing behind us began laughing as he heard the minute buzzing noise it made and as we looked over at him only laughed louder, and shook his head.

"You're operator can't save you now."

"No, but we can!"

Hannah and I spun round as we recognised Morpheus' voice, but before I could see what was going on, someone grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me forward. I tried to shake myself free but when she ordered me to 'Come on, Apollo!', I realised it was Trinity dragging me away. Relieved that it wasn't an attacker but confused as to what on earth was happening, I stumbled after her, being pulled faster than I could run. Morpheus flung open a door that had been hidden by the darkness, and once we were all through slammed it shut and pulled a bolt across the handle. I couldn't believe it.

"Morpheus, what are you doing? That was him! That was Haroeris! We nearly saw who he was and you're taking us away?"

But he only grabbed the shoulder of my coat and pushed me over to the window, which Trinity and Hannah were climbing through.

"It was a trap, Apollo, didn't you hear what that man said? Now get out of that window!"

I tumbled through and rolled onto the street, Morpheus leaping out after me and pulling me to my feet before I had recovered my sense of balance. I felt dizzy as we began to run, and the sensation was only exacerbated by the spinning of my head as it tried to figure out what was going on. I felt a fool.

Hannah was right – I should have answered my phone when it rang…I'm such an idiot!

Hannah heard me reprimanding myself and slowed 'til she was running beside me.

Don't worry, Sarah, they're here now, we'll be alright.

But what was the point of that? Why did they bother asking us to meet them there if they were just gonna try and do what they'll probably do when we meet them in London?

I don't know, right now that's not important. What's important is getting to an exit. Come on.

OoO

Back on board the Nebuchadnezzar, the first thing Morpheus did was to sit down next to Link and take the intercom headset from its hook. Trinity quietly explained their discoveries about Horus to Hannah and I as we made our way over to join him.

"Niobe?" Said Morpheus, leaning across and operating the touch-screens to activate maps of London. "It's Morpheus. I need your help."

As he continued talking, Trinity leaned over and whispered,

"Be glad he managed that."

"What?" Asked Hannah, whispering back.

Trinity glanced at Morpheus to see he was busy talking before replying, "I wasn't sure if he'd be able to leave." We looked at her inquisitively and she shook her head sadly. "He wants more than anything to meet those hackers and talk to them, but he had to get you out."

"But we're going to meet them again in London, aren't we? It's not like he'll never see them again and he won't ever get another chance to talk to them."

She raised her eyebrows at me. "And what did you say to him when we first got out of that room?"

I bit my lip as I remembered:I had encouraged him to stay for the exact reason of being able to speak to Haroeris, succumbing to the same temptation. But he had left because he knew that no matter how much he wanted to stay, we were in danger, and he had put aside his own impulses to get us out safely. I hadn't even realised there was anything like that going on; Morpheus has always been one to hide any kind of internal struggle but I felt stupid not to have thought about it.

"He didn't want to send you in on your own in the first place," Trinity continued, "but he didn't want to do anything initially that went against what the hackers wanted. They wanted it to be just you who went, not us, and being so close to getting Neo back he didn't want to endanger him. You should have seen how on edge he was after you left."

Hannah and I looked at each other nervously, only just beginning to realise how complicated the situation really was, and seeing a new strength of character appearing in Morpheus.

He hung up and looked round at the three of us.

"Niobe is on her way, she's coming with us to London."

Trinity, Hannah and I exchanged glances. He really wasn't taking any risks this time.

"How soon will she be here?" asked Hannah.

"Within the hour. As soon as she arrives, we will leave – we don't have an arranged meeting place but they seem to be capable of seeking us out."

However, just as he began to stand up a message appeared on one of the communication screens which solved the problem.

'Be at my statue in the British Museum in an hour. Bring the twins with you. Don't be late.

Horus'

We all shifted uneasily, painfully aware of how important it was that we met them this time, and getting impatient for Niobe to arrive. It was just as well her ship was so close, now that the hackers had actually specified a time for us to meet them. I noticed Trinity's eyes moving to Tom's unconscious form in the corner, and her hand tensed around the arm of the chair. Hannah and I also looked at him, then at each other. If we had to be honest, we never really expected that we would see him again. Even when we saw him lying there on the Neb, and even when I found him in that room in the Chateau, there was still a mist of disbelief clouding everything. After all, we hadn't actually spoken to him yet, or seen him awake, and the months of searching had made us sceptical.

Everything that had happened since that first conversation with Trinity in an ICT lesson at school had been so unbelievable that I think our minds had entered a state where we convinced ourselves we understood and believed what was going on, but really never accepted any of it. But now, on the brink of really seeing our brother again, everything began to filter through the psychological blockade we had built.

We might be about to see Tom again, Hannah thought – and though it was obvious, it seemed like a revelation, as this was the first time we had really grasped the concept. Morpheus, Link and Trinity looked at us in a strange way, not being able to hear Hannah's thoughts as I could, and not understanding why we suddenly started to laugh.

OoO

It was dark in London when we arrived at the British Museum; being a cold November evening most people were at home and we managed to slip in unnoticed. With Morpheus leading and new addition Niobe guarding our rear, we crept up to the Egyptian exhibition. Hannah and I hardly knew who Niobe was, but Morpheus clearly regarded her as deeply trustworthy, and we were willing to accept his judgement. It wasn't like we had any other choice anyway.

There were only two people in the Egyptian section – a lanky foreign student enthusiastically taking notes in Serbo-Croat, and at the other end of the exhibition, a man in a black jacket facing away from us. He was standing beneath the statue of Horus. Morpheus took a steadying breath, cleared his throat, and led the way.

As we approached, he turned to face us, and I noticed a scar on his left temple. There was something odd about his smile that I couldn't place, and his voice was gravelly.

"Good evening, good evening, so nice to see you at last." He looked from Morpheus to Trinity to Niobe, before finally resting his eyes on my twin and I. We gulped under his penetrating gaze and looked at the floor, unable to hold it.

"And who exactly are you?" Asked Morpheus, not returning our host's outward friendliness.

"I am Kenti-Irti," he said, holding out his hand, which Morpheus didn't take. Hannah and I looked at each other knowingly.

Of course, the only form of Horus we haven't yet come across. That message earlier must have been from all of them, then.

"Are you ready to open negotiations?" Said Niobe, speaking for the first time since we had entered the Matrix. He shot her an annoyed glance.

"Well, if you're so keen, I suppose there's no harm in starting now." The corner of his lip curled menacingly and he gestured the way out. "Shall we?"

He showed us into a staff corridor and as we were walking Morpheus began to ask him questions.

"What is your circle trying to achieve?" Was his first. Kenti-Irti looked at him oddly.

"Circle? What circle?" Then his face lit up, "Ooh, of course! You don't know yet, do you?"

"Know what?"

Kenti-Irti laughed. "It's not a circle at all. I'm just Santa's Little Helper, as it were," here he paused to chuckle at his own joke, "but all the messages you've received have been from the same person."

"What?"

"Yes, that's right, my friend. Oh, he did enjoy leading you on."

"Who is 'he'?"

"Why don't you find out for yourself…?" We were nearing the end of the corridor, where an emergency exit door was beginning to open. A man stepped through it – the same man who had appeared earlier in Salisbury. He was wearing the same white suit, but we could see him properly now. Neither Hannah nor I recognised him at all, but the Morpheus' jaw almost dropped.

"It can't be…" he breathed.

We looked up at him expectantly, waiting for an explanation from someone. We stepped up so we were on each side of Morpheus to get a better look; he put a hand on each of our shoulders to stop us moving any closer.

"Apollo, Artemis," he said, quietly, "this is the Architect."