Note: Warning. Past torture and body horror. Again, not graphic, but it's still there, since the Anomaleum flashbacks are not pleasent to witness like the mouth-melting scene from first movie.


29. Déjà Vu

Luckily the garage where Trinity's is isn't far from the factory location. Enigma doesn't know if she can move any longer, with all the pain all over her body, even though her father helped her move.

When they're in, Trinity wears a white tank top and blue cargo pants. The woman was stunned upon finding them. She takes off her goggles and moves closer. "Oh my God," she reacted at their face. "What? What happened?"

"An accident," Neo reasoned.

"Kush! Call a doctor!"

"It's okay," Enigma gestures Kush to stop.

"The hell it's not," Trinity disagreed and for a moment, both Neo and Enigma feel a rush of happiness, that her real-self slips back as she drags Enigma on a chair like she always does whenever she got hurt. "Kush, treat her wound."

"Just my face. We don't have a lot of time," Enigma informed and he nods before taking some cotton and antiseptic.

Trinity sighs as she steps closer to Neo again while occasionally checking Enigma. "I wasn't sure I'd see you two again," she began.

"After we spoke, I realized... my life wasn't a life. At some point, I think I gave up searching for something real," he confessed, gently reaching her arm.

"Wait," she stops, slowly takes off his hand from hers. Enigma bites her mouth and it's not because of her injuries Kush currently cleans.

"Something happened."

"I looked for you at the coffee shop, for your daughter at the snack shop. I began to wonder if I imagined you two," Trinity admitted, lost than ever. "And then last night I had a dream. In the dream, you two were surrounded by police, then they started chasing us."

Enigma's eyes wide open as Kush almost finish her wounds. Suddenly, she sees it. She and Neo, hold each other as they enter Simulatte that fills with SWAT and police alike. Trinity also enters Simulatte, looks between uncertain and afraid. Them three in her Ducati, running from many people who attempt to take them away. But how? How can she have that dream?

"Us?" Neo frowns, confused too.

"You two were on my bike with me."

"How did it end?"

Trinity looks uncertain. "Not good."

"We... We've had dreams that weren't just dreams," Enigma shared as she stands up, thanking Kush, wants to hold her mother but stop herself from doing it, simply looking at her.

She glances, back and forth. "You mean a dream that came true?"

"Yeah, it's..." Enigma stops as she lost her breath upon hearing a bell. A black cat stands beside her. She stares at Trinity and her father.

Everything moves so slow as Trinity disintegrates into mere codes. "Finally, we can talk like adults," the Analyst spoke with a huff, leans behind a bike. Both Neo and Enigma watch as Trinity returns to her work. "I hate lying. I do. It exhausts me," he added, taking off his blue glasses. "Tiff and I have been waiting for you two... like, forever."

And then, somehow, they're back near the door.

"Deja vu, right?" He asked with a grin. Neo tries to punch him as fast as he can, but it's futile. "Oh, no use. You can't beat time. This rewind is happening faster than you can blink. You gave me the idea," he noted and walks forward. "Allow me to sum up our goal in a single word. Bullet time."

Time moves fast. Both quickly take that as a cue to attack him, but then, it moves slowly.

"I know. Kind of ironic, using the power that defined you to control you." He chuckles. "I kept such a close eye on you two, and still you found a way out. Clever monkey, using that Modal." He pointed at him before rolling his eyes at her. "And you, girlie, really persistent with those dreams of yours. Then again, having a child stuck in an adult body is not helping my case but," he shrugs, easily avoiding Enigma's punch. "Who cares, right? Call me an optimist, but this could all be for the best. The skin's not looking too bad this time," he checks both their face. "I know some of this will be difficult for you to hear, after everything you two went through. All that pain and suffering, only to learn the world doesn't end when you do." He dodges Neo's punch. "Surprise."

He sits on a sofa, leans his back. "I was there when you two died," he divulged. "I said to myself, 'here are the anomalies of anomalies. What an extraordinary opportunity'. First, I had to convince the Suits to let me rebuild the three of you."

Despite trap in this goddamn slow motion, her vision still kicks in. Enigma sees the aftermath. Machines gently take Neo and herself into Machine City before putting them into a secluded place. Red and blue light illuminate their body as tiny machines fix them, from the eyes to internal organs.

"Why her?" The Analyst pointed towards Trinity. "Getting there. And don't worry, she can't hear me. Resurrecting you three was craaazy expensive. Like renovating a house. Took thrice as long, cost thrice as much. Especially the Little One," he let out a harsh breath. "Took a hell of my time just to got your consciouss out of your RSI, girlie. And let's not start with the search. Dear old Oracle just persistent with her secrets and Seraph just waaay too powerful to be left alone."

Seraph bravely faces the hordes of black-eyed humans, despite already looking tired. The Oracle sits quietly while smoking, looks at the Analyst fearlessly as her body slowly disappears. Enigma's heart sank. That's how they got purged.

"I thought you'd be happy to be alive again. So wrong," he shook his head. "Did you know hope and despair are nearly identical in code?"

Neo screams as big machinery holds him tight and something else drills his ears. Enigma flinches upon that vision.

"We worked for years, trying to activate your source code. I was about to give up, when I realized... it was never just you. Alone, you three are not of any particular value."

She opens her eyes slowly, finds nothing but dark light and heavy machinery. Something enters her mouth. Pain just keeps coming over and over. She can hear Neo's and Trinity's scream from afar. Her body trembles helplessly.

"Like acids and bases, you're dangerous when mixed together. Every sim where you all bonded... Let's just say bad things happened."

Several large machines similar to circular saws descend to Enigma. Despite revolt, her hands and feet are still restrained by several Sentinels. The word 'execution' echoes throughout the place. She sees her parents also rebelling, screaming 'NO' while looking at her, both equally panicked.

Neo quickly pushes one Sentinel away as Trinity yells both of their names desperately, reach her hand to his. When he touches her, a huge light appears...

"However, as long as I managed to keep you close, but not too close, I discovered something incredible. Now," he raises up, "my predecessor loved precision. His Matrix was all fussy facts and equations. He hated the human mind. So he never bothered to realize that you don't give a shit about facts. It's all about fiction. The only world that matters is the one in here." He pointed out their forehead. "And you people believe the craziest shit. Why? What validates and makes your fictions real? Feelings. Allow me."

Enigma grunts as she and Neo nearly get him. But alas, this stupid bullet time just keeps their movement slow. It's both annoying and frustrating.

The Analyst steps closer to Kush. "Kush here is one of my handlers. They're everywhere. Such a pain, cloning Agents over a coppertop. Far more effective just to saturate a population. And, bonus, swarm mode is sick fun," he giggles as Kush's eyes turn black, grabs the gun, and fires to Trinity.

In despair, both leap their way to get the bullet. Their hand desperately reaches it.

"Ooh! Nicely done. You ever wonder why you have nightmares? Why your own brain tortures you? It's actually us, maximizing your output. It works just like this. Oh, no! Can you stop the bullet? If only you could move faster." He laughs. Enigma really wants to kick his jaw right now. "Here's the thing about feelings. They're so much easier to control than facts." The Analyst grabs an apple. "Turns out, in my Matrix, the worse we treat you, the more we manipulate you, the more energy you all produce. It's nuts. Good thing with that whole comatose, eh?" He laughs in front of her face. "Just put a girl under heavy injuries for accidents in any scenarios, and her parents will always be miserable by the pain. Cliche, but work." He grins and still eats it. "I've been setting productivity records every year since I took over. And, the best part, zero resistance. People stay in their pods, happier than pigs in shit."

Enigma's hand doesn't reach the bullet. Same thing happen with Neo.

"The key to it all? You three. Quietly yearning for what you don't have, while dreading losing what you do. For 99.9% of your race, that is the definition of reality. Desire and fear, baby. Just give the people what they want, right?"

As the bullet passes through the apple, fear and despair overwhelm Neo and Enigma. The image of Trinity falls from a tall building and many wires pierce her body in Logos replay inside their heads.

"She's the only home you two have," he leered, clearly enjoy their suffering. "Come home... before something terrible happens."

The Analyst grabs the bullet and everything turns normal. Enigma curses as the Analyst disappears, leaving them by themself. Her hands and legs have shaken than usual. Tears come out of her eyes as her heartbeat moves without precise rhythm. Neo gently holds her shoulder, helps her to get up.

"Are you okay?" Trinity asked them, holding Enigma's cheeks while looking lost at Neo.

"Trinity..."

"You shouldn't call me that."

Her heart aches in pain. But she can't blame Trinity. She doesn't know what just happened.

"I'm sorry, but we have to go," Neo apologized, trying to be calm, but Enigma knows he's hurt by Trinity's words.

"We'll be back," Enigma manages to speak, gently pulling away Trinity's hand from her face. "Just," she takes a deep breath, closes her eyes as she hears noises outside the garage, looking into her mother's confuse face, "just wait for us."

"Neo! Enigma! Time to go!" Bugs warned them.

"We'll be back," Neo repeated, guiding her daughter to walk with others.

▪︎1001▪︎

Enigma doesn't remember much of what happened after exiting the Matrix and before confronting Niobe. Memories after rising from the dead are still stuck in her head, blocking her focus on the current reality. There are moments she can still remember, such as Lexy patting her head after getting up, Bugs showing her the location of the toilet when Enigma was about to throw up, her father helping her to go to the toilet, Ellster anointing her with a warm blanket, and Seq dragging her out of the ship with a gentle grip after seeing her pale face.

"Sheperd should have left you to the Squids. I'm too damn old to sit through some boring-ass trial," Niobe barked.

"Niobe, don't blame Bugs," Neo spoke, trying to reason this situation despite what happened before still shaking him.

"Do shut your mouth. Do address me as General. And do not rob my ex-captain of her agency, which she exercised with her own particular brand of shortsighted stupidity."

"Shortsighted?" Bugs stare at her. "You care more about growing fruit than freeing minds."

Enigma catches something in the sky outside.

"We are not going to have this argument again," Niobe remarked.

"It's not an argument. It's a fact. You gave up on people. You're willing to separate a child from her own mother!"

Not even caring about their argument, Enigma walks to the balcony, stares at the sky. Her blue eyes spot a manta ray-like robot flying closer in her direction.

"Enigma!" Sheperd shouted, sounding worried as it stands a few meters from her head.

"It's okay," she assured them as the robot kindly leans closer to Enigma and she giggles with its funny noises.

Niobe stares at the scene in shock. Kujaku rarely interacts with anyone other than herself. The fact that Kujaku and Enigma became close within minutes indicates a strong connection between the two.

"You want to talk?" She asked Kujaku, frowns, quietly listening to its voice. "Me, Niobe, and Neo?" She looks at the older woman and her father in confusion. Both Niobe and Neo look startled by that as well.

▪︎1001▪︎

As soon as they're connected to Kujaku, Enigma notices a figure of a woman standing by the well. "General," she greeted Niobe as they approach her. "Thank you for seeing me."

"I figured if there was anyone who could make sense of this mess, it would be you," Niobe remarked.

"Hello, Neo. Hello, Enigma."

"I know you," Neo recalled. This is the cashier woman at his favorite noodle restaurant.

"I tried to keep my eye on you two," she smiles.

Enigma gasps. "You're my first customer," She remembered. "You bought so many cookies."

She laughs. "I wanted to test your cookies," she admitted. "It was very delicious."

"Why?" Neo asked, not understanding.

"We met a long time ago."

And then, it hit them. "Sati," they both realized. This woman is Sati, the girl they met on Mobil Ave.

"The Oracle and my father knew we'd meet again, though they would have wished for happier circumstances. His inadvertent role in what happened to you was the greatest regret of his life."

"Rama-Kandra?" Enigma's forehead furrows. "How?"

"My father was the chief engineer at the Anomaleum."

This time, Niobe asks. "The what?"

"My father designed the resurrection pods where Neo, Enigma, and Trinity were imprisoned."

"I'm sorry. You knew what happened to them? You knew that he, Enigma, and Trinity were alive... and you didn't tell me?" The older woman looks pissed.

"There were times I doubted my decision, Niobe," Sati explained, looking guilty. "But IO needed you. This city needed to be built for your people as well as mine. If I would have told you everything, you would have had a very difficult choice to make."

So that's what the Oracle meant to Ghost. She knows Sati will play a huge role in building IO and this moment.

Niobe still stares at Sati. "My friends... let me make my own choices."

"If it was a mistake, you have my deepest apologies."

"Why are you here now?"

"Neo and Enigma's escape has destabilized the Matrix. The Anomaleum draws its current from Trinity alone now. A fail-safe has been triggered to reset the Matrix back to the previous version. But the Analyst halted the reset. He's convinced the authorities that you two will soon return voluntarily."

"And why would he say that?"

"Because if we don't go back, he'll kill Trinity," Neo replied with a soft yet sad tone.

"Faced with returning to your pod or enduring Trinity's death again. What would you choose?"

Enigma folds her arms. "Return to our pod," she answered without hesitation.

Neo looks at her, his mouth open. "Enigma..."

"I can't, Dad," she takes a deep breath. She's not the kind of person who often releases heavy emotions, but right now she's having a hard time controlling her emotions. "I saw you and Trin died twice. I won't let either of you die again."

"Well, the Analyst knows you two well, but that knowledge has made him incautious," Sati pointed out, shifting their attention back on her. "After you escaped, he should have accepted his losses and devacuated Trinity. But that would have prevented this extraordinary opportunity that now exists before us."

"You had a plan?" She asked.

She nods. "But to do so, we need more people."

The three of them looked at Niobe. The General took a deep breath. She didn't say anything for a few seconds before finally speaking. "How many?"