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: I'm under a lot of stress at the moment, and somehow, in relation to uploaded chapters of my fanfictions, stress bears a strong resemblance to boredom, because here I am, uploading another chapter as if I'm bored and have nothing else to do.
Thanks ReDblooDpassioN, Mystic Kyra, hurricane-leeloo, ShardsofShadow, Rush stuck in the Matrix and Brooke for your reviews.
Chapter ten
Morpheus watched as the fourth bullet was fired into Neo's stomach. He couldn't see Smith or Trinity from where he stood, but he knew they were just behind the pillar, where the bullets were coming from. He wondered briefly why Trinity was doing nothing. Perhaps – no, most likely – she was being held.
The captain couldn't stand that the very person he thought to be the One, the saviour of mankind, was most probably going to die in a matter of minutes. And there was nothing he could do, trapped in handcuffs with Agent Brown directly behind him. He could no nothing until there was absolutely no attention on him from any of the three agents.
---
Quietly, Dozer sneaked over to the unaware Cypher. He wouldn't know what hit him until afterwards.
He leaped on Cypher, tightly wrapping his arms around him, pinning his arms to his sides as he yelled out in surprise. Although he struggled, he wasn't able to break Dozer's grip, and was dragged away from the computers.
Tank had retrieved a short length of rope, which he used to secure Cypher's hands behind his back.
"What the hell are you doing? Let me go!" Cypher shouted in fury, struggling uselessly.
"His room can't hold him, and I don't want him where he can cause trouble," Tank said, finishing the knot. He suddenly paused, stiffening. "What is that? Shut up, Cypher."
There was a bad sound, other than Cypher's swearing. An erratic heartbeat, although all of the pulses were terribly fast. The four rebels in the Matrix were panicking.
"Do something with him," Tank said dismissively, of Cypher, as he dropped into his chair and scanned the screens.
---
Neo blinked as he received the fifth bullet, and tasted blood gurgling in his throat, sent from his internal wounds in his stomach. He was going to die.
---
Tank jumped in his chair as Neo's body gave a violent jerk. He'd been hit by a bullet?
"What's happening?" Dozer demanded, pinning Cypher down. He sighed and dragged the struggling traitor over to a jack-in chair.
"Neo's taking fire from an agent," Tank said quickly, already running extra support programs to try and keep Neo going. He didn't ask what his brother was doing.
Dozer managed to hitch the rope restraints on Cypher's wrists around a bolt on the chair to keep him still for a second while he shoved his head into the headrest and plugged him into the Construct. Cypher fell silent and unconscious at once.
"Can't we do anything?" he asked, watching Neo's quickening pulse on the monitor.
---
He knelt down again, finally becoming defeated and overpowered. He was dying – Trinity could almost feel Neo's pain herself.
She wasn't going to let him go through any more for her, and when she felt a slight tensing of Smith's wrist as he readied himself to pull the trigger for a sixth time, she snapped. She yanked her arm free of his loosening hold and grabbed his wrist with it, twisting it hard while she used her toe to skilfully kick the loaded gun on the floor into the air. As she twirled herself underneath Agent Smith's arm, Trinity caught the pistol in her free hand and immediately placed it on Smith's forehead. She didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, and didn't blink when it went off.
For the first time ever, Agent Smith was caught off guard, and fell to the floor, morphing into a security guard with a flash of green electricity. But by that time, Trinity was already out in the open lobby, firing at Agents Brown and Jones. Her shot was aimed at Jones's forehead, but the agent morphed into a businessman just as the bullet hit, killing the innocent. Trinity was too furious and emotionally charged to care.
Morpheus had kicked Brown and used his cuffed hands to almost totally beat him down, and when Switch raced over to help, the agent was completely distracted. Trinity fired off a round, shooting well, although the agent dodged the bullets. All but one, anyway, which hit him in the neck. It didn't kill him but he abandoned the fatally injured host.
There was a ring of silence. Trinity met her captain and crewmate in the centre of the lobby and silently shot the chain between the cuffs on his wrists. Dryly, she noticed that she still had hers, from when Neo had helped her from –
Neo!
She turned, staring at where she had left him. He met her eyes for an instant before he keeled over onto the tiled floor. Flinging the gun aside, Trinity bolted back to his side, collapsing to the floor next to him. She gently rolled him over a little. Morpheus and Switch arrived beside her.
Neo's eyes – beautiful, rich chocolate coloured eyes – were shut, and blood was dripping from his mouth. He made a feeble choking sound before he ceased to breathe.
---
Tank lowered his head in despair as Neo's pulse became a long, droning bleep. He was dead. If Tank had been here, and not stuck in the engine room, maybe this wouldn't have happened.
As Neo's turned into that nightmarish, ever-lasting sound, Trinity's skipped a few beats. Tank glanced up at her monitor, wondering miserably what had happened, but then it became clear that she was just in a state of shock and couldn't believe that Neo was gone.
Neo was gone. Tank didn't believe it either. It wasn't possible.
Behind him, Tank could hear his brother sighing. They had been wrong. Neo wasn't the One.
---
Trinity looked over Neo's motionless body as Morpheus silently knelt down beside her. He took Neo's pulse. His hands were shaking.
Why Neo? Why did he have to be hurt like this? One part of Trinity's brain wouldn't accept that she had lost him until it was put into words.
"He's… gone," Morpheus said finally. He couldn't believe it either. But it had suddenly struck home to Trinity, who stumbled backwards, standing and pressing herself against the pillar again. She had lost the one thing she couldn't live without. He was gone.
She barely cared that the three agents would return in their new hosts any minute now. She barely noticed as Morpheus said a few quiet words to Neo and stood again. She barely saw Switch take his place and whisper some words under her breath, although she managed to feel a slight pang of jealousy when her friend respectfully kissed Neo's forehead.
Only she was allowed to kiss Neo.
Switch stepped back and waited. Trinity knew it was her turn. Slower than either of the others, she knelt down beside her lost love. She sat back with her ankles beside her hip.
Even if she had a voice, there would have been no words now. She touched Neo's cheek, still warm with former life. How could he be dead? She let her eyes wander over his beautiful face, taking in every perfect feature. Why had she been stupid enough to get herself caught? Neo might still be alive if she hadn't needed saving.
With nothing to say and no way of letting her opinions be heard anyway, Trinity leant forward, holding back all tears, and kissed Neo on the lips, the last time she would be able to. He tasted like blood, but she ignored it. Her hand on his cheek, she closed her eyes and imagined that he was still alive…
The kiss should end now… She was about to draw away, but she felt reluctance. Something had changed. Beneath her hand, she felt a twitch. Then Neo was kissing her back, weaving his hand behind her neck and sitting up with her.
Kissing her back? He was dead.
Wasn't he? Trinity opened her eyes, not breaking the kiss, and felt her heart skip a beat. Neo's eyes, beautiful, rich chocolate coloured eyes, were staring straight into her own.
---
Tank stared in surprise as Neo's heartbeat restarted of its own accord for no apparent reason. It was impossible. Immediately it was even and healthy, as though it had never ended. He turned to the Matrix screens and tried to figure out a reason for this miracle.
Neo was alive… Oh, God, it wasn't possible…
"He's alive?" Dozer asked in disbelief. Tank didn't answer. He had found his reason.
Neo was the One. He had to be. There was no other explanation for his death-defying thing. Tank glanced at the Matrix. Neo was alive, all right. He was sitting up now, closest to Trinity.
She had kissed him. Well, she hadn't stopped – she still was.
"Kiss of life," Dozer said, slightly amused, shaking his head.
---
He was alive!
Trinity let the kiss end and leaned away a little to get a better view. He was. He was breathing, he was blinking at random intervals and he seemed perfectly healthy except that he had been dead a few seconds ago. Oh, and that he had five bullet wounds in his chest and stomach.
Otherwise, he was fine.
He didn't speak as he stood up, removing his hand from her neck. He gave a respectful nod to Morpheus, and then turned to the lobby entrance, walking over, looking around, and leaving Trinity to stand and stare after him.
She hadn't believed that he had died. Now she couldn't believe that he was alive. She glanced at Morpheus and Switch, waiting for one of them to verify that she wasn't dreaming.
Understanding, Morpheus nodded, shocked himself.
Neo stopped in the centre of the lobby, looking around like he had never been here before. He was waiting for something.
The revolving door moved, and Agent Smith entered the lobby, renewed, followed by his cronies. Trinity froze. How many times did they have to show up? And why now, when she had just gotten Neo back? They would kill him again.
She would lose him again. That couldn't happen. Trinity started forward to his side, but Morpheus caught her by the shoulder.
"He has to do some things alone," he said softly, letting her go to make her own decision. He was wiser than she was, and knew what he talking about, so she stayed back as the three agents advanced on Neo.
She ignored Switch as she scooped up the paperwork Neo had dropped upon dying. It didn't matter any more. What mattered was that she was about to lose Neo again. The agents were going to take him. They would take away her Neo. Again. She couldn't let it happen, but she couldn't stop it…
"Impossible," Smith spat upon seeing Neo. "You're dead. You have to be by now."
Neo didn't answer, which infuriated the agent further. Smith ran at him, fists whirring faster than Trinity could hope to keep track of. Neo was going to die – again.
But he didn't. He was faster than ever, well ahead of Smith, blocking every punch with eerie ease. He was frowning, surprised by the simplicity. He turned away, blocking with only one arm and not even watching what he was doing. Not once did he get hit. His movements were so fast, faster than the agents… He was the One.
Not that she hadn't already known. It was difficult not to guess when she had been told years before by the Oracle that she would fall in love with the One.
---
Neo kicked Smith soundly in the stomach, sending him flying across the lobby. He crashed onto the tiles a few metres away. Everything Neo saw was in code now – green numbers and symbols falling gracefully in all directions, according to what they represented. It was pretty cool. When he got close to things represented by code – like, say, as close as he had been to Trinity when he had woken up to her kiss – he could see every detail, portrayed by green code.
Smith got to his feet. Neo spotted a tiny symbol… It was time to end this. He started jogging towards his enemy, quickly breaking into a run, and when he was close enough, he dove into Agent Smith's chest, disappearing inside of him.
---
"What the hell?" Tank demanded, surprised. Neo was inside Smith.
---
Switch frowned. Neo was gone – disappeared. Smith was swallowing with discomfort and twitching, writhing as though he was being tickled on the inside.
Where had Neo gone, though? Beside Switch, Trinity was staring at Smith tensely, waiting. She was shaking. Of course, if it had been Apoc who had disappeared after diving into an agent, Switch would be in terrible distress. She couldn't blame Trinity – it was natural.
Agents Brown and Jones stepped back from their leader, confused but not willing to risk going near him. Something was going on.
---
Neo concentrated, and felt Smith start to crack.
Sólia