RATING: PG 13
AUTHOR: Sólia
STORY: What would have happened if, when the whole crew was in the wall in the first movie, Trinity had rushed to the aid of Morpheus, rather than forcing Neo to leave him?
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, okay! I've updated. To be nice, I'm updating twice in one day, mainly because it's the weekend and I have nothing better to do. Thanks to Bagpipes5K2, ChloroformxCandy, ReDblooDpassioN, Brooke and Mystic Kyra for your supportive reviews, and thanks also to the other people who have read this but haven't reviewed. Thank you for taking the time.
Also, to answer your question, Brooke: In The Walls is just a very long fanfiction on my computer, and whenever I have to upload a chapter, I count four pages from where I left off, and upload that. That's why my chapters are all about the same length. I think In The Walls will end up being eleven chapters long, with the last chapter being a little longer than the others.
Chapter Eight
Cypher flicked a few randomly chosen switches in the engine room and stood back to admire his work. Instantly the primary lighting power was deactivated and the secondary system booted itself up. This system was low energy, so it didn't give off a very good light. Throughout the ship, the lights were flickering, sometimes so badly that the whole craft was plunged into darkness for a few seconds at a time.
Also, the heating function was fluctuating, alternately releasing hot and cold air from the ventilation mechanisms throughout the hovercraft.
So Cypher left the engine room feeling very smug, and hid in the small, dark storing chamber across from it. After about thirty seconds, he heard both Tank and Dozer's voices, coming closer and discussing this power failure.
"I don't know what happened either, it all just went weird," Tank said, his voice passing the store closet and entering the engine room.
"Where did Cypher go?" Dozer wondered, following his younger brother.
"Dunno… Hey, look. It's been turned off manually…"
Cypher left the storeroom now that his dangers had passed and checked on them. The brothers were frowningly discussing how it could have happened. The hinges squealed as Cypher pulled the heavy door shut. The two Zion-born men stared at him as he was cut off from view by the door.
With a single laugh, Cypher secured the lock on the outside and made sure that it wasn't coming free before he jogged easily back up to the Core to play.
---
Morpheus set the elevator to take him and Switch to the ground level. She wasn't talking, but he knew that she was putting up a strong front for the time being.
Watching the level numbers flash onto the screen on the wall as they descended, Morpheus wondered, quite worriedly, about Trinity and Neo. Had Trinity gotten to Neo yet? Would she be of any help at all in a fight against Agent Smith? Considering that she was the best Morpheus had ever had to offer as assistance for Neo, he had to hope so.
---
Trinity clambered up the stairs, ignoring her tiredness. She wasn't tired, not really, so it didn't matter if she didn't feel up to getting up these stairs at a run. She had put her earlier weakness out of her mind.
But Neo was at the top of these stairs and he needed her help. He didn't think he did – maybe he could actually take care of himself – but she wasn't going to sit back, take that chance and let him get hurt.
While punching Smith and dodging return blows, Neo kept glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. Once she stumbled slightly, and it threw off her whole pace. Undoubtedly without much thought, he turned his head to check on her – so stupid. Smith grabbed his shoulder and punched him, hard, in the jaw, where Trinity's own bruise was.
Agent Smith noticed her when he glanced over at where Neo had glanced. While Neo regained his footing, Trinity's insides seemed to freeze at Smith's cold glare. He hated her as programs weren't allowed to hate. She actually hesitated in her rush to save her love because of the way Smith glared at her. But the agent turned his attentions back to Neo and she started moving faster.
She watched as Smith went to punch Neo again, but Neo was quick, catching the offending wrist and attempting to punch his opponent with the other. The agent caught it, and the two of them wrested for the use of their fists for a moment.
"Trinity, run, you idiot!" Neo shouted, annoyed with her.
That set Trinity's resolve more than anything else. She ignored his warning and kept running. Only two flights left.
Agent Smith was the first to regain freedom of his wrist, but that was because of the vicious kick he used on Neo. He slammed his fist repeatedly into the side of Neo's head, too fast to block.
One more flight.
---
Cypher sat back in his new chair, Tank's usual operator's chair, watching the screens of falling rain-like green symbols with interest and envy. He had seen Trinity run freaking fast before, but when she was as drained as her statistics showed, she never moved with as much resolve and desperation as she did now. Trying to save Neo? Figured.
He would leave her be until her precious One was dead or close before he started his 'leverage'.
---
Everything in Neo's vision was blurred or doubled or both. He tried to blink away the blurriness as Agent Smith raised his fist again – there was no way he'd be able to fight back this time.
But Smith turned away to something nearby, down the stairs a little. Before he could actually hit whatever it was, he fell back, crashing right into the plasterboard behind him, scattering dust everywhere.
As Neo blinked and straightened, a hand grabbed him by the fabric of his cloak behind his shoulder and wrenched him forwards. Trinity hardly seemed to think things through, but she always survived whatever she chose to do. Her hand gripping his cloak, she jumped from the landing, taking him with her, and allowed herself to fall.
At first Neo almost panicked when Trinity released him, but then he focused on the thought that nothing here was actually real. He would be fine if he concentrated…
Forcing himself to twist slightly in midair, Neo landed safely on the cement on his feet. Beside him, Trinity landed on her shoulders in a roll and rolled onto her feet. There was no pause or stumble before she was running again, shoving Neo forwards, too.
Neo followed her, wincing internally as she crashed herself into a door to open it. They were in a hall now, a green one with tiles on the walls. At the end was an opening to a larger green tiled room, maybe a foyer. Trinity realised this first, and immediately stopped. Neo had to swerve to avoid colliding with her. Having stopped, he turned to face her, glancing over her shoulder the way they'd come for the agent.
"What is it? We have to go," Neo told her urgently. She opened her mouth to speak, then clamped it shut again. Neo remembered that she couldn't talk. Damn – there was no way she could communicate with him. Except maybe pointing and hand signals.
Trinity didn't bother telling him what she was doing as she walked to the end of the hall and peered around the corner into the larger room. She seemed to have forgotten that an agent was after them.
After a moment, she waved at him and jogged around the corner, disappearing from sight. Neo, wanting to keep her in sight, even though she seemed perfectly able to take care of herself, followed quickly.
There was no one alive here except Trinity, waiting for him in the middle of the jade room. She looked around at the strewn bodies of security guards but didn't seem in any rush. Wasn't she terrified of agents?
"You do know that Smith is after us, don't you?" Neo asked, walking up to her. She met his eyes momentarily then walked, not jogged, to the front of the room, where a few fat security guards lay dead beside their metal detecting equipment. Evidently Morpheus and Apoc came this way. Hopefully they were okay, and Switch.
Trinity had a newspaper spattered with blood and a pen in her hands now, and was writing something as she walked back, having discovered a way to communicate properly. She showed him what she had written.
The words, 'If he was still after us, he'd have us by now', were written in a slightly unsteady hand that showed obvious signs of having once been beautiful handwriting. Now, Neo supposed, Trinity didn't write often, and her neat handwriting wasn't quite so perfect.
"He might be hiding, waiting for us to relax," Neo said, handing her the newspaper back. She took it and wrote something else.
'Smith isn't that subtle. He's either stuck somewhere or after Morpheus and Switch.'
Neo read it and frowned. Had Apoc gotten separated from the group? Not sure, he asked Trinity. Instantly her expression went stony and she blinked. For a moment, she stared at him blankly, before she snatched the newspaper back and slowly, hesitantly wrote something. The whole while she was swallowing and glancing up at him worriedly, like she thought he would hurt her when she wasn't looking. Finally, in the silence in the foyer, she held the paper out. Trying unsuccessfully to hold Trinity's gaze, Neo took it. Considering how long it had taken her to write, there was so little written.
'He was killed'.
"An agent?" Neo asked, still puzzled by her behaviour but feeling sorry for her anyway. She'd lost a good friend. "Or a guard?"
Trinity turned away and fidgeted with the biro she still held, walking a few paces away before she took a deep breath and came back. She looked about to speak, but she walked away again. She did this a few more times, always coming straight back before she lost her nerve again.
"Who killed him?" Neo asked outright. Trinity stopped mid-turn-away and studied the floor for a moment. Then she walked over and, without taking the newspaper from Neo's hands, wrote a small word in the corner.
"'Me'?" he read, looking up at her. She had killed Apoc? But she wouldn't do that…
The elevator at the back of the foyer made a 'ding' noise, and the doors opened. Despite her worries, Trinity had already started to run away by the time they realised that it was Morpheus and Switch.
"You got here, then," Morpheus said, walking swiftly across the room. Neo nodded, processing thoughts quickly. He walked over to meet their captain.
"Sir… where's Apoc?" he asked quietly. Morpheus looked grim, but Switch spoke first.
"He's dead," she said in a machine-like voice. "Trinity killed him."
"By accident," Morpheus added. He forced a smile for Trinity's benefit as she walked over. She looked worse now than Neo had realised. She was tired and beaten, the dark bruise on her jaw looking more sensitive and painful than it had when he'd found her. Her cool blue eyes were hollowly defeated.
"How do we get out of here?" Switch asked. "Front door?"
But then the front door was blocked by someone walking through… The man in the brown suit and cruel glasses stepped through the revolving glass door into the foyer.
The four rebels all turned to run, but two more agents entered the room through the halls behind the elevator, one of which Neo and Trinity had come from.
"Like rabbits in a trap," Agent Smith said with cold humour. The four crowded into a circle, protecting each other's backs. Neo felt a slight touch at his side, and he glanced down at Trinity's hand. She was trying to reach a weapon without attracting attention. Carefully, Neo slipped his hand under his cloak and pulled an automatic pistol from its place. He pressed it into Trinity's hand, allowing his fingertips to linger on her skin. This might be the last time he got to touch her. She didn't resist, or shoot him a nasty look.
Morpheus's phone rang. With a soft curse, he slowly answered it. The agents made no moves to stop him.
"Cypher?" the captain demanded. "Where's Tank?"
The agents looked strangely delighted by this news. Trinity frowned and mouthed the name of the man that, although she didn't know it, had almost killed her earlier that day.
---
"Yeah, it's me," Cypher said, lazily lounging in Tank's chair. "And I have an interesting prospect for you to consider."
"Unless you have some miracle in store, I'm not interested," Morpheus said angrily over the phone. "In case you hadn't noticed, we're in a bit of trouble."
"They won't touch you yet. Put Trinity on," Cypher decided. She had stronger emotions than her captain – she would be easier to bend.
"She lost her voice. Why?"
Cypher sighed and stretched.
"Then tell her everything I tell you," he said, watching the screens. The four of them were in a circle, protecting themselves. Now that he was on the phone, though, the agents wouldn't attack. "Listening? Good. I'm standing beside Neo. Tell her."
He heard Morpheus bewilderedly repeating what he had been told.
"Tell her I have my hand on his plug."
"Don't you dare!"
"Tell her," Cypher snapped. He sat back in his chair and looked across at Neo, peacefully unconscious in his chair.
Sólia