"Everything's online and operational, Sir. Whenever you're ready." Tank informed his captain while in the Operator's chair.
From the cockpit, Morpheus spoke over the intercom, "How long does it take them to get here? Trinity has never been late to leave Zion; in fact, she's always been early. I wonder what has come over her?"
"Try sex. Like in a really big way." Tank replied shortly, smiling.
"I did not need to hear that Tank. My crewmembers' personal lives should be kept private unless they interfere with our job."
"Which they seem to be doing right now. Here they come, running up the ramp like flushed bunnies."
"Tank! Please, shut your mouth before I have to do it for you." Morpheus chastised sternly. Only Tank and Trinity knew that beneath the hard commander was a loving father figure who could be taken lightly in non-combat situations.
Tank only smiled as the pair dropped their bags. Trinity turned to close the ramp while Neo looked around before finding Tank's gaze. Smiling gently, Neo nodded in greeting before picking up his bag and moving towards the ladder. Trinity looked at Tank a moment longer before turning to follow Neo.
"First time the energetic bunny has been late. I wonder why." Tank called out jokingly. Neo stopped on the ladder and Trinity froze mid step.
Turning around, Trinity spoke over her shoulder, "Neo, I'll meet you in our room."
"But-"
"Go!" Neo complied readily and shimmied down the rest of the rungs.
"Tank, how are you feeling?" Trinity asked, dropping her bag again.
"Better, thanks for asking." Tank replied coolly. He'd done this to Trinity before, but he'd never actually had this type of response, his calm answer was a cover of worry.
"I love you, you know that. But you also know that there are lines that are not to be crossed in some conversations. My personal life is one of them. Don't do that again." Trinity turned on her heel, grabbed her bag, and descended the ladder, leaving an open-mouthed Tank to gape at the space she had left. It was the deadly calm tone of her voice that had scared the shit out of him, not the actual words. He now knew what some of the men in Zion felt like after trying to come on to The Trinity.
A few moments later, Morpheus's voice crackled through the headset, "So, I guess Trinity shut your mouth before I had to."
The moment Trinity entered hers and Neo's new room- Apoc and Switch's old room, Neo looked up from where he sat on the double bed and opened his mouth to speak.
"You know, this is a relationship and it only works when both people work together. You shouldn't have sent me here and dealt with Tank alone." Trinity felt a pang of guilt at the obvious pain in Neo's voice, but ignored it.
"Neo, I've known Tank ever since I joined Morpheus's new crew on the Nebuchadnezzar. That is fourteen years longer than you have known him. How I deal with his comments will be different than your own." Trinity sighed; she did not want a lover's quarrel right now.
"Because you've known him longer?"
"Precisely. Tank poked fun at all of us and only the people who weren't newbies knew that most of his comments were to be shrugged off. My personal life here has always been a large topic of rumors since I've never even tried to get closer to someone than as a crewmate. Only Switch and Tank were real friends. The others just, existed. I worked with them and I trusted them, we would play poker and drink together in Zion, but aside from that, we were just comrades. You never really got to know any of them, and now, it's just the four of us. I know you'll have plenty of time to get to know Tank but, right now, let me handle him."
"No." Neo replied stubbornly.
"Excuse me?" Trinity had been ready to leave the room, but tilted her head back up to look him in the eyes. Right now it sucks to be the shorter of the two of us.
"You heard me."
"Yes I did. Now, explain yourself." Trinity crossed her arms in front of her chest, anger burning underneath her skin. Alongside that burning of anger was of want- amazing how anger and desire run along the same wavelength.
"I will not let you become the leader of our relationship. I won't follow your orders other than when you are Second-in-Command. This cannot work with one of us the lesser of the two. We have to deal with it all together." Neo leaned back, the stubbornness fading from his face. "I can't live without you, but I don't want to learn what it's like because of this. I just- I don't know. I've always believed that truth- that a relationship works if the two people treat each other equally in every situation. Now, granted, you do outrank me outside of this room, but I'm not about to use my powers as an advantage, and I don't expect you to either. In here," Neo paused to stand up and move towards her. "We are nothing more than-"
Neo paused again as he came within inches of Trinity. He swore he could hear her wild heartbeat as he leaned down slightly to move his temple against hers. Trinity pushed closer, before prodding Neo for an answer.
"Nothing more than what?"
"Than-" Neo breathed in her scent, the feminine smell that no one else noticed. A smell of a soldier, an angry person, a woman who was immensely turned on at this moment, and a woman who had, just twenty minutes ago, had sex with him. "Than two people loving each other in the dark of night." Kissing her softly on the lips, Neo slide his arms around her waist.
A sharp knock pulled them apart, Trinity turning to move towards the door. Opening it, they exited, following Morpheus. Moving down the hall to the ladder, the three people climbed it into the core, where Tank sat waiting for them. None saw the pained look on his face disappear before they entered. Smiling brightly, Tank watched everyone move closer.
"Neo, I believe it is time that you let the machines know what is going on. They have no idea what they are dealing with. I suggest you let them know. They have little to go on right now about your power, and I think a swift kick in their egos will be good."
"What am I supposed to say?" Neo asked, moving towards his plug in chair, Trinity behind him.
"Whatever comes to mind."
"I have something else I want to test right afterwards, do you mind?" Neo inquired as he got into the chair.
"Go ahead. You should start experimenting anyway." Morpheus smiled. "I won't ask what it is, but I think we'll record it for Zion in case it's spectacular."
"Is it going to be spectacular?" Tank asked, standing over the consoles to look at Neo.
"It'll be something." Neo replied, smiling just before Trinity shoved the plug into his head.
Within moments, Neo found himself in the white, vast emptiness that was the Construct. Tank's voice spoke from seemingly everywhere, and yet, nowhere.
"So, what does Mr. Spiffy want to wear today?"
"Black all over. Black dress shoes and dress pants, a collared button-down shirt and a long black coat over it. Don't forget glasses." Neo replied, feeling a twinge before his old clothes transformed into the new attire.
"You want any goodies besides a phone?" Tank asked.
"No. I'll be fine.
Seconds later, Tank had typed in the appropriate hack and sent Neo into the Matrix. Morpheus and Trinity stood on either side of Tank, watching Neo exit a bakery.
Walking down to the corner of an intersection, Neo slid into an empty phone booth. Shutting the door, Neo paused and took a calming breath. Gripping the phone, he lifted it from its cradle to his ear. Upon dialing the number of Tank's phone, Neo waited to hear the now commonplace sound of the machines tapping in and beginning a trace before opening his mouth to speak. Prior to speaking however, he began to push into the coding, shutting down the trace.
"I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid...afraid of us...afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how it's going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world, without you. A world without rules or controls, without borders or boundaries. A world, where anything is possible. Where we go from there, is a choice I leave to you."
He had felt the system fail almost halfway through his speech, and he just thanked Tank silently that he didn't speak when he picked up- he hadn't even thought to ask him not to answer the call. Putting the phone back in its cradle, Neo pushed open the door slowly and walked out. Look at all of these people, completely unaware about their own imprisonment. Looking around, Neo watched people cross the street, pass him by, talk on cell phones, drink coffee. Living what they thought was their own, free lives. Bowing his head, Neo put on his glasses before looking straight up. Bending slightly at the knees, Neo forced the Matrix's rules away from him and pushed off of the ground, hearing many surprised sounds from the people he left below. Flying high up into the sky, Neo swiveled around, trying to feel an agent.
Sensing one not too far away, Neo bolted down and landed with both feet on the ground not five feet from the surprised program. Tilting his head to one side, Neo blinked, reading the coding.
"The anomaly." The agent murmured.
"Yeah, that's me. Give your boss a message for me. This is no longer just your world. It's mine, and I'm taking it back." Neo again pushed off from the ground before the agent could even move forward to attack.
Pulling his cell phone from his inner coat pocket, Neo dialed Tank.
"Give me an exit, scream at me later." Neo commanded upon hearing Tank take a large gulp of breath.
"Waterman and Ford."
"Got it." Neo shut the phone and moved down towards his destination.