Title: The Matrix: Resurrection
Author: AntipodeanOpaleye
Rating: PG-13
Summary: ~ Spoilers/Post Revolutions ~ The machines still owe Neo his peace; peace on levels he didn't intend, couldn't imagine, and had never brought himself to hope for.
Disclaimer: Everything you recognize from any other source either doesn't belong to me or is a purely coincidental occurrence. Anything that you've never seen probably belongs to me. I write for enjoyment and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Sorry for the extended wait. Hope everyone had a nice holiday, whatever it happened to be for them, and an enjoyable New Year's. As always, thank you so much to all who read, and even more to those who reviewed.
Chtrin - Thanks! And I agree; can't say I loved the ending to pieces (*cough*like Lotr*cough*) but hey, what can you do?
Xauhquia - Thank you, and your Neo/Trinity fix should come soon, I promise :D
Wing'dCallisto - You flatter me! *blushes* My sincerest thanks for your compliments! I hope you like this chapter, anda again, I agree with you whole-heartedly on the movie front.
leeloo_dalas_multipass84 - Thanks, and I hope that you enjoy the new chapter :D
Loper - You're back! Glad to know you're enjoying it, and that you see my humor! Thanks for sticking with me for at least two chapters.
Richard the pedantic - Thank you, and believe me, I wanted to do what you asked me to, about locking myself in my room (which happens most of the time, anyway) but I couldn't. And for that, I am infinitely sorry. Hope that the chapter makes up for that.
lotrmatrixstarwarsfan - Love the name, first off. Lord of the Rings is my first and foremost devotion, fandom-wise. So the LotR coupled with Matrix, and even Star Wars was a big treat. Glad you like it. As for description, I really aimed this fic for less description, just because I wanted to write soemthing fast-paced and less bogged by endless detail (something I tend to get caught up in) Maybe I'll add some in the future, just for you :D Glad you are enjoying, anyway, and hannon le (thank you in Elvish).
Divamercury - Sooner…. I'll remember that and do my best. Thanks; glad you like it.
No Name - Another return! I'm so happy you've stayed with this fic through at least two of its chapters, so for that, and your enjoyment and reviewing, I thank you.
Enjoy this new chapter; I've been working on it, not sure where to go, and I think this one is, well, ok for now. Don't hit me if the broadcasting scene isn't plausible in your frame of mind. If it helps, you can borrow my frame of mind to read that part *hands frame over* Enjoy. Yeah. Going to stop yacking my head off.
As always, enjoy, and please review!
~AO
Chapter Three
She felt comfortable, finally, in her eternally familiar trench coat. The pain had subsided considerably since she'd jacked in; and she thought much more clearly. She wasn't sure what had happened, exactly; last thing she remembered was being skewered by some incredibly large wires and such, spilling her heart out to the man she loved, and fading slowly from the waking world. And now she was here. She knew it wasn't Heaven: Heaven had to be better than this. And it wasn't Hell; hell would be worse. Was it some sort of Limbo; a waiting ground? Or just the eternal afterlife?
But none of those things resembled the Matrix. They couldn't. Could they?
No, she reasoned. Because she didn't think that black vinyl was allowed in Heaven; it was a more white-and-pure place. And hell, well, the vinyl would melt, or at least… do something there. Yeah. And Limbo… she'd always imagined any type of judgement place to be like an internment camp, with uniforms. Obvious no. And the afterlife? Well…
As much as she loved the ensemble, it wasn't her first choice to stay in for the rest of eternity.
So as she sidled through the streets, staring ahead through her black shades, she continued to ponder where exactly she was.
And, seeing as this 'place' so resembled the matrix itself, she headed to the one place where she might be able to find some answers.
"Dammit," Trinity cursed under her breath. "You'd better be here, Oracle. And you'd better have some answers."
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"I think," Link's muffled voice came from inside the pod as he secured a final wire, which emitted a small spark in its placing, and flipped a small switch. The humming sound that followed evoked from him a large smile. "We're online."
"Link, you're a Godsend," Niobe replied as she and Zee helped him out of the very cramped pit and onto the main deck of the Nemesis, one of the only surviving semblances of a craft. The unused shell had been a model waiting for authorization, and somehow, Link had secured it for their own. Using what he was able to salvage from the mass wreckage that was once the loading dock, he and Morpheus had compiled enough technology to erect a monitoring station in which the operator could oversee the comings and goings of those in the Matrix, and a primitive contact system. It was, at the very least, a start for the ship-less, ragtag crew.
"Shall we test it out?" Link offered eagerly.
"We don't have any ports," Niobe pointed out, "What the point of broadcasting if we have no ports?"
"Well, maybe we can get a call, just to be sure that everything works," Zee added hesitantly; being the newest member of their elite crew. She didn't know much about the working of a hovercraft, save what she'd picked up from Link over the years, and she hadn't the foggiest clue about broadcasting or hacking the Matrix. She simply hoped that her modest logic would make sense to these much more traveled and learned people.
"Good point," Niobe said with a smile, nodding to Zee as she continued. "But it isn't as if we can do them much good. We can't get them out, if they're still there. We can't know where they are, or how to contact their operators."
"But we can guide them through to where they need to get to," Link countered. "When you insert someone, they're usually smart enough to take care of themselves once they're inside."'
Niobe sighed. "I suppose you're right. You got a decent image?"
Link grinned, pulling up the familiar coded image on a small screen.
"Well, open the com lines," she said. "See if we can get anything before Morpheus gets back."
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Neo strode confidently out onto the lush green grass of the park-like setting. Seeing as empty bench, he was tempted to rest there, but thought better of it. He was still unsure of how and why he was here, why he had been inserted into the Matrix. The machines; they'd wished to speed his rehabilitation, but it seemed as if there was something more to the situation; something deeper than what he knew for certain. Something…
Out of habit, he reached into his trench, extracting a cell phone form its billowing depths. He flipped it open, and dialed a number, though whose number it was, he didn't know, nor did he know to where it connected.
A single ring, and then a voice. A tentative one, but one that sounded familiar.
"Operator."
Very familiar.
With the sound, the phone slipped from Neo's hands and to the ground.
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"Operator?" Link asked again, not looking at the screen in front of him but instead at the headset microphone that he was now wearing.
"Link," Niobe said softly, approaching him slowly as his attention shifted to her.
"Yeah?"
"What," she said, her voice barely audible, "do you think that looks like?"
"Code…" he said, not seeing what she obviously was.
"No," she said, her elegant index finger tracing the figure gracefully on the screen. As she did so, the coded cutout seemed to glow, making a sudden movement, the nature of which she was unable to catch.
"It looks like," Link began, but stopped. "But it can't be."
"Can't it?" Niobe asked incredulously.
"It can't. He's…"
"Search for him. Tell me it's not him."
"But the technology might read wrong; it's not what we're used to, Niobe. We…" he paused, looking over his shoulder at her. "We don't need that kind of thing right now. We don't need to be holding onto false hope."
"It won't hurt to try."
"Won't it?"
"Dammit, Link! Just search for him."
"And I suppose I should look for Trinity too, while I'm at it?"
"Damn straight, you should."