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: Second-last chapter. Once this fiction is finished, I'll probably take a break until stupid school stops stressing me out. That's unlikely to be any time soon, seeing as I start university next week. I THINK this chapter has been spell-checked. If there are spelling/grammatical errors, I don't care. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. The next, and last, one will probably follow shortly.
My reviewers – ReDblooDpassioN, Brooke, Bagpipes5K, and Mystic Kyra – thanks, like usual, for your great comments. And thanks to everyone else who has read this but hasn't reviewed.
Chapter eleven
Little brightly glowing cracks had started to show on Smith's body, as though he was expanding beyond his capability. Morpheus had just figured out what was happening as Agent Smith's shell exploded, sending pieces of him everywhere to disappear into nothingness.
Upon the explosion of their enemy, Morpheus, Switch and Trinity hid their faces from the glaring light from within Smith. Afterwards, they all looked back at the place Smith had been.
Neo stood there now, alone, the glow just fading away. His eyes closed, he looked at peace, although completely tense and ready. He breathed deeply, flexing his arms – and the walls of the lobby bent to his will.
Trinity glanced up at Morpheus, eyes wide like a child's, looking for answers.
"He is the One," he said finally. Trinity turned back to watch Neo.
Neo relaxed, and opened his eyes, staring right at the remaining agents. Neither of them wanted the same fate as Agent Smith. They glanced at each other for a moment, then turned and ran back through the revolving door as fast as they could manage it.
There was another round of silence. The host with the bullet in his neck finally died, and no one moved. Finally Trinity stepped forward into the open lobby, walking straight over to Neo. Morpheus heard the phone Neo had given to Smith ring from its place on the floor, and went over to answer it. He could hear Switch tearing the papers to shreds.
Morpheus picked up the phone and answered it, turning back to his crew. Trinity had reached Neo but wouldn't get near enough to touch him – perhaps she was still worried that he wasn't really there. Neo wasn't saying or doing anything either. Switch had finished destroying the papers.
"Sir, that was amazing!" Tank said over the line, completely excited. "It was amazing to see from here but it must have been unbelievable from what you saw! Neo… He's the One, then, right?"
"Yes, I believe so," Morpheus answered. "I'd like an exit if you don't mind. Not too far away."
"There's one a few streets away, I'm just finding it now," the operator said, going serious again. "Uh, yeah…" He gave complete directions to the exit phone. "Hurry, we think there's some sentinels heading this way."
"Where did Cypher go?"
"Dozer put him in the Construct where he can't hurt anyone," Tank answered. "He reckons that Cypher must have pulled Apoc's plug and then replaced it to hide what he did. I didn't think that Trinity pushed him hard enough to kill him."
"Thankyou." Morpheus hung up and shoved the cell phone into his pocket. He hated to break up Neo and Trinity's staring contest but he waved at the three and started out the revolving doors. They followed him out of the building and down the front steps to an unlocked car, which they took. Morpheus drove them to the exit and stopped the car.
Inside, the phone was ringing. He sent Trinity back first, then Switch. He hung the dangling receiver up onto its cradle and looked at Neo.
"Sir, I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier today," Neo said earnestly. "I was out of order and it was not my place to speak to you like that. I'm sorry. I know how much Trinity means to you and I accused you of not caring about her."
"You were panicking, Neo. There is no need to apologise."
"There was no need to speak to you like I did," Neo mumbled, ashamed of himself. "It wasn't very well thought out."
"There isn't much room for logical thought when strong emotions take over," Morpheus answered.
"Sir… Do you allow… relationships to take place on your ship?" asked Neo, nervously, as the phone started to ring.
"If it will make my crew happier, I encourage it," Morpheus said with a smile, indicating for Neo to answer the phone.
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Rodney sat with his back against the medical van wall, sipping soup. He wasn't about to tell his doctors what he had seen. After getting to the bottom of the stairs, he had peered into the lobby. He had watched a sequence of impossible events – people who fought faster kung fu than he had seen even in movies; that man, Agent Smith, holding the woman, Trinity, hostage to keep the dark-haired man from killing him, then murdering the man anyway, even though he posed little threat. And that wasn't all. Trinity had gone on to kill all three of the Federal Agents with the same gun, which she had kicked into the air without effort.
Those Federal agents had then somehow morphed into completely different people, which was impossible. If Rodney told anyone about that, he was sure to be sent away to be checked for mental injuries.
Perhaps it was lucky for Misters Smith, Brown and Jones that they no longer existed. Now they wouldn't be put under scrutiny for going against their training and laws and actually holding a woman hostage. For using emotional leverage over a defenceless man, who Smith had then killed.
But the most impossible thing of all had been seeing what Trinity had done after killing the agents. She had gone back to the dead dark-haired man with her two other accomplices, and, looking broken-hearted, kissed him. Rodney hadn't known that criminals like her could be so hurt over a death, even of a friend. She had killed all three Federal Agents because one had killed that man. Obviously she and her friends weren't like normal criminals and terrorists. They were a part of something bigger.
Then – impossibly – the dark-haired man, the one Trinity cared so much about, had come back to life through her kiss.
Afterwards, during a debriefing, Rodney had been shocked to discover that the Trinity he had chased today had been the Trinity. The real thing – the completely dangerous hacker/terrorist renowned for being merciless, subtly cunning, quick and generally heartless. She rarely left living witnesses, and had never been documented for having any respect for human life.
It was all too much. But it sparked a question that Rodney had been wondering about for a while. He had been frequently coming across something called the 'Matrix' while on the Internet. No one seemed to know what it was, but many people wondered. And Rodney wondered, too. He was sure that somehow those four incredible people were connected to whatever this Matrix was.
And now he wanted to find out how. He smiled as the doctor announced that he was okay, but he was only thinking of his computer at home.
Sólia