Chapter 17
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Balancing the equation
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In the cockpit of the Neb Niobe, Ghost and Morpheus prepare for take-off. Niobe looks out one last time at her ship.
"Goodbye baby. Take good care of them"
Strings of electricity leap from the pads, as the Neb lifts off the ground, spins and glides by leaving the Logos behind.
In the cockpit Neo climbs into the seat beside Trinity. He looks out as the lights from the Neb disappear around the corner of intersecting pipe.
"Ready?"
Neo nods, looking at Trinity as she tries to fasten her seatbelt. It looks like the two extremities are too short to meet in the centre. And the hint of a smile plays on Neo's lips despite the tension of that moment. His hand reaches out for her seatbelt in an attempt to help lengthening one of the extremity.
"It looks like Niobe's skinner than I am" she rolls her eyes, letting Neo grip her seatbelt.
"Yeah. You got some weight, lately, love"
She rolls her eyes again, but smirks, then taking hold of the stick. The little one inside her is kicking frenetically, like every time she's tense. She tries to ignore it, focusing just on the many levers and buttons in front of her. She checks several gauges and listens to the ship's engine.
It's time to go.
It's dark all around. In the silence of the cockpit the ancient pipe labyrinth looks even scarier... scratches and encrustations giving it a spectral aspect. None of them speak like for the first time in their life they can't find words anymore.
Trinity feels the cold wind whistling down the throat of the pipe. Temperature's dropping. She weaves the ship into a wormhole through the debris until she can see the dim light streaming into the opening.
"Here we go"
The opening appears to have been made by an earthquake; the pipeline cracked and separated, one side wrenched from the other.
The ship shoots into the deep jagged fissure before banking straight up, revealing...the surface of the Earth.
The fetus fields run right up to the edge of the ravine. The pickers continue their work like grazing animals, oblivious to the Logos.
The sky is black and just a pale yellow light leaks from the clotted clouds, casting an apocalyptic light all around.
In the distance they can see the mile high towers of the Power Plant.
Trinity's abdomen tenses even more and she swallows hard as she tries to think to something else than how much those fetuses remind her of the one in her womb.
... ... "If you're asking if conception still works the old-fashioned way... well...yes, it is. We don't cultivate babies in Zion, machines do" she says, making fun of him "Anyway..." she lifts an eyebrow and gives him a teasing look "Contraceptive device" she says touching the plug on her left deltoid "it's mandatory in the army in operative roles. It's finally come in handy" she smirks founding his lips in another brief kiss.
... ... "The power to give life to a human being. A baby, born because of love, not because of rage or slavery. It's our real victory against machines, Trin" he look into the blue of her eyes "despite machines did a great job with you anyway" he teases in a clear attempt to play things down.
She just swallows.
Neo stares out, silent, but the thoughts in his mind are probably the same of hers. And he avoids purposely to look at her. He needs her focused now.
"Over there" He points out across the charred desert that surrounds the fields "There's our path. Can you see it? Three lines"
Three enormous cables, each several hundred feet thick snake from the Power Plant out across the scorched earth.
"The power lines"
Neo nods.
"Follow them"
She swallows down her fear and steers the ship along the path of the giant umbilical cord.
Neo looks out at the distant horizon that breaks against the jagged edge of a mountain range.
"There. Those mountains. That's it"
"Neo..." Trinity's voice shakes as, through the window of the cockpit, she can see what's coming; a massive force of huge, heavy war Machines led by a swarm of Sentinels.
"We'll make it"
She nods, once again swallowing the lump in her throat
"If you tell me we're going to make it, I'll believe you"
He reaches out for her hand. She takes it.
"We have to"
The Logos flies into the jaws of the Armada, Machines forming rows like jagged shark-teeth.
The Machines attack and Trinity's eyes widen as red lasers stab into the Logos.
The war is going to end... in a way or another, it's going to end...
And she can see Zion... her home... her friends...
They're fighting the same war. And she can see it, in her mind, like she's there with them.
... At the top of the dome a spiderweb fracture begins to form. One of the fissures begins to widen in a zig-zag over the hardened steel-crete as pieces of it plummet to the dock floor. And suddenly the nose of the digger punctures the roof, a whirling white-hot tornado of teeth. The roof seizures as the earth is cleaved open...the machine breaks...its free falling in the open space above the docks lands in a deafening crash.
She can hear the alarms screaming... she can see Lock standing against a tide of rising panic.
... "Breach! The dock is breached!"
... the air is thick with Machines as they continue to pour in, red laser lines dissecting the air. The gun-barrels of the APUs glow as they throw a pulverizing barrage against the Machine army. Fat rounds crush dents in the sentinel armor cleaving through their tentacles spread like talons but...
... they are everywhere.
... and everywhere is blood, corpses... death...
As large armored crab-like machines spit bolts of energy that break against the hull, sending a shiver of sizzling electricity through the entire ship, Trinity has to let go of the control stick as hot arcing voltage surges through the controls.
She gives a start.
"Trinity!"
Neo clings to her hand.
"Are you ok?" He asks, the fear in his voice can't be hidden this time.
The sentinels are now close to the Logos, ready to leap onto its back, sticking their lasers through its hide.
A sentinel dives like a kamikaze straight at the cockpit, it corkscrews wildly out of control, slamming against the heavy plated glass. The ship shakes like in a earthquake, wrenching free Neo's grip from Trinity.
She snatches hold of him again.
"Neo! I can't take it!"
The tension in her shoulder and neck muscles is almost unbearable. Her fingers grip around the stick so tight that she think she can break it. She can't keep the ship straight.
Ahead they are approaching a perfect line of fearsome floating Machines, each like an entire division of tanks welded into one.
"... left"
"What?"
"Bank left"
A tank fires just as Trinity banks left, a missile of energy chewing up the entire underbelly of the ship. Inside the cockpit several monitors explode and the main lights die.
"Go up. Over them"
"What?!"
"The sky"
She looks at him, reading that 'it's the only way' in his eyes. She trusts him, like he trusts her. No matter if one of them wavers sometime... they're two perfect complementary pieces of a whole thing. One begins where the other ends, filling each other's lacks.
She holds his hand tighter.
"Then, up we go"
Trinity pounds on the pedal and outside the pads erupt, opening all the way as the ship tips and plunges into the sky.
The sentinels still gripped to the ship fall dead. The Logos is engulfed by lightning and it shakes violently... every light blow out, until the ship dies.
In the sudden darkness of the cockpit Neo and Trinity's hands don't leave each other. Then, as the ship breaks out the other side there is a spectacular explosion of light revealing a perfect blue sky lit by a brilliant yellow sun. The light washes over Trinity's face with a warmth she has never known. It is a vision of the real world she has never seen.
"... beautiful..."
The ship hits its apex, hangs then slowly twists, as it begins to fall, slipping quickly back into the black clouds.
Their stomachs pitch as the Logos is buffeted by storm and wind, spinning like a falling leaf. As the ship splashes out of the clouds they can see it... the Machine City.
It looks like a massive mechanical coral reef, spreading as far as the eye can see.
Their fall accelerates, the city rushing towards them as Trinity turns to Neo again. Scare is now clouding her mind, cracking her usual armor, her renowned coldbloodedness wavers.
... ... I need you... with me... I need you to be strong...
"Trinity, I need you strong" Neo says in an attempt to calm her down and have her focused "Pump the igniter. The ship will start"
She grabs the lever and pumps. She tries the ignition.
Nothing.
"Again"
She does it again, pumping vigorously.
"Slowly"
Calmly, methodically, she pumps the lever while another swarm of sentinels moves toward them. Behind them, the architecture of the city gains dimension, its towers rising like fingers of a hand reaching up with a rushing force.
Trinity closes her eyes at the tension growing in her abdomen. She's still pumping the lever vigilantly, but they can't do it... even if the engine fires now, there's just two available option... they'll be killed by the incoming army or they'll bore the tower, plowing through the nano-built structure, in both cases they can't do it alive.
"My God..."
Her blue eyes widen in front of the scaring view and her pupils tighten, together with the grip on Neo's hand.
There's no way they can survive an attack of this magnitude. They're just two bodies in a metal cage, like gladiators ready for the lions in the arena.
She was wrong...
Or Kamala changed her mind or she didn't succeed in her task...
In both ways, she can see the end coming.
"I'm sorry..."
She closes her eyes and inhales deeply at the sharp cramp coming from her belly. Her hand loses the grip on the lever as she suddenly has to press it on her stomach. She moans, grimacing in pain.
Neo turns to look at her, her face ghost-white as her blue eyes meet his again.
"I'm here" he just says. A whisper in the noise of metal against metal, as the ship gives a start at the impact. Squids are all around the ship. A thousand red eyes in metal bodies somehow looking at them.
She takes a deep breath but doesn't exhale... she tilts her head back, resting it on the headrest and turns to look at Neo. His hand in hers, his eyes in the blue of hers.
She can feel the weight of the many sentinels pulling the ship down, according to gravity force...
...and yet they're not falling.
"Neo?"
She slowly pushes herself up, straightening her back again and she looks around. She's still breathing heavily. Her face regains a little colour despite the way in which she's still massaging the side of her baby bump. The other hand is still holding Neo's.
No sentinel is trying to breach the metal and reach them inside. The ship is like hanging, keep up by their magnetic fields... then, suddenly, the multiple red eyes turn blue.
"What does it mean?" Neo's voice is a whisper, like he's asking to himself actually than to her.
Despite the previous attack, now it's like they're being convoyed from a sentinels army.
Trinity doesn't look at Neo this time, her eyes still mesmerized by the eyes of the sentinels, as blue as hers, somehow staring at her.
"My God... she did it"
"Kamala?"
Their eyes meet again and she holds Neo's hand even tighter.
"Yes, Sati's mother"
Neo doesn't reply to her choice of words.
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The hold door opens and Neo turns to Trinity, standing behind him.
"You should stay here..." he says in a worried tone, looking at the hand still holding her lower abdomen.
She stares at him. If fear had been there, there's no trace of it anymore, and she gives him just a sure, confident look.
"I'm fine"
Neo just gives her a serious nod, climbing down the ladder first, then helping Trinity along it.
"I can remember you, jumping down, quick and nimble like a cat" Neo teases as Trinity's eyes roll.
"Yeah, a dozen pounds ago maybe"
His lips curls up, mirroring hers.
She knows what he's doing... he's lighting her mind, warding off negative thoughts even if for just one fleeting second.
There are sounds all around them: a ratcheting clatter that rises and fades like a rattlesnake warning, the hiss of a radiator pipe, the scrape of a rake dragged against concrete.
The sounds circle as if patiently watching them like vultures watching dying men.
Neo heaves himself up into a large passageway, then taking Trinity's arm and once again helping her to heave up in turn.
Their eyes meet. His dark one in the blue of hers. And once again a similar, ad yet so different, image runs in both their minds ...
... ... their eyes meet as he pulls her up, still shaking after the helicopter exploded... the grip of his hand around her forearm as he heaves her up... on the roof... into his arms...
Just a look, but none of them talks.
The passageway runs horizontally through the tower, it spirals, coiling inward. The shiny metal rods are ribbed and knuckled like bones.
They stand and step forward... at the end of the passage there is an opening that windows out of the tower.
Neo moves towards it, holding Trinity's hand, until they stands on the edge.
They see the Machine city, an endless sprawling metropolis. A dark industrial nightmare, highlighted by angry bursts of lightning. Demons of black steel and chrome hang everywhere...crawling along the walls, the springs in their limbs tightening like a rat trap being loaded... And yet, where probably were thousands of blood-red eyes, now they can see thousand of blue eyes bore into the two of them. A few red-eyed machines are still there, but somehow kept at bay by the others.
Suddenly those closest to them, scatter, leaping from the walls, flying away, clearing, as small fish run from the approach of a much bigger fish.
From below, an enormous and complex Machine rises to face both Neo and Trinity. It is so large that it eclipses the entire city.
Neo steadies himself, overwhelmed momentarily by its power, his hand grips Trinity's tighter, almost fearing to lose her grip.
"We only ask to say what we have come to say. After that, do what you want and we won't try to stop you"
The Deus ex Machina unleashes a sort of locust swarm of tiny machines. It swirls back creating an undulating ball of mechanical bugs that remain in constant motion, then the bugs coalesce and an almost human face pushes itself out from underneath.
"SPEAK!"
The voice has a synthesized quality, resonating with a sense that it is not one voice, but every voice.
"The program called Smith has grown beyond your control. Soon he will spread through this city as he spread through the Matrix. You cannot stop him. But I can"
"WE DO NOT NEED YOU! WE NEED NOTHING!"
Rage explodes from the face, spitting bugs at Neo as it screams, and Neo's arm instinctively pulls on Trinity's hand to move her behind him, shielding her with his body from whatever is going to come.
A loud laugher burst all around, sinister like a demon's laugher. Then, suddenly, it's like seeing a director reckoning to his orchestra and the laugher immediately stop in unison.
"STUPID HUMAN! WE COULD CRUSH HER LIKE A BUG, AND THERE WOULD BE NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP IT"
Neo's eyes are serious and dark like never before.
"Right now, the only bug you should bother about is the one called Smith. He's out of control. But you already know it"
"WE ALREADY TRUSTED YOUR RACE ONCE. WE NEVER GIVE SECOND CHANCES"
"If that's true, and if you can handle Smith, then I've made a mistake and you should kill us now"
The face fades, the storm circling both Neo and Trinity for a moment before slowly collecting itself as the face re-emerges.
"WHY? WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
Neo looks up, his voice firm and steady.
"Peace"
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(Zion)
...Suddenly, a circling sentinel jerks upward, its communication dish snapping open. It raises it as if trying to hear something...
...The message spreads quickly as the clicking dishes fan open in every sentinel. The lead sentinel backs up.
...What are they doing?
...Neo...
...Trinity...
...They fight for us.
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..."WHY? WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
..."Peace"
"AND IF YOU FAIL?"
"I won't"
A single sentinel approaches Neo and Trinity, standing behind them like an attack dog. The entire passageway comes alive around them as cables and metal rods grow like a time-lapsed plant.
Neo's finds Trinity's cheek, his other hand her baby bump.
"Trin... I need you safe" he whispers on her lips.
She knows what he's asking one more time. To stay away from the Matrix. From the fight. To stay there, just holding his hand.
"Neo... you're my only safe place"
He finds her lips again.
"Please," he just says "for me. For him"
"I promise if I can I'll do it"
Their 'I love you' get lost on each other lips as they breath in each other smell, once more.
"Eon," Neo whispers on Trinity's mouth as a smile plays on her lips despite her teary eyes. She bites on her lower lip preventing it from trembling.
... ... "do you want to name him after you? Thomas?"
... ... Neo's hand is caressing her belly, his fingers drawing circles around her navel, somehow teasing the baby from time to time, as he replies with light kicking.
... ... "if it had been a girl would you have called her Alice? Alice Victoria?"
... ... "fair enough" she chuckles "Neo?"
... ... He shakes his head. He's not going to give his own name to his son. He needs his own name. Something which can represent him.
... ... "Your name can be anagrammed in One..."
... ... It's Neo's time to chuckle and he kisses her belly, talking directly to the little one in there
... ... "You're gonna have that burden even without your mother gives you a name to remind it to you every single moment?"
... ... A stronger kick, enough for a light moan from Trinity's lips and for Neo to chuckle again.
... ... "He's saying you're not allowed to choose his name. I'll do it"
... ... Another kiss on her belly... followed by many more kisses all over her body...
Eon. Their child's name. Eon... like time... like eternity... like forever...
"It's still an anagram of One" she smirks on his lips despite the tears wetting Neo's fingers, his hand still on her cheek "Neo...One... Eon..." she repeats in a whisper.
"A triune name then... another trinity..."
Again, he lowers his lips to hers... if this is the end, he's going to end it as it began...with a kiss.
The cables and metal rods form a seat under Neo, filling every jack. A cobra-like cable rises up to the back of Neo's neck pausing, its needle probing at the brain-jack. The cable thrusts into Neo, plunging the pistol-needle into his brain, and Trinity holds his hand even if he can't hold hers back, as his consciousness is plugged into the Matrix.
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A green-black sky. A raging storm. Lightning come from every cloud lighting the urban nightscape below.
Black boots stride down the center of the rain soaked street.
Neo walks, glancing left, then right... it's a city of Agent Smiths, a city of dark-suited, sunglass-wearing shadows. They line the streets, their perfect silhouettes filling the windows of skyscrapers.
A singular Smith enters the street and turns towards Neo, walking at him until they stand. Face to face.
"Mr. Anderson. Welcome back. We missed you" Smith says as rain pours off his face. Lightning pitch-forks the sky behind him.
Neo snaps open his coat, his body automatically settling into a defensive position. Smith's smile twists into a sneer and he hurls himself at his enemy.
The first exchange is a squall, fast and furious, as lightning strobes the water exploding with every blow.
They mirror one another, neither one gaining or losing ground until each sees the exact same opening... they simultaneously deliver a strong punch that sends both them flying backwards. Neo flips and lands gracefully, while Smith smashes down, concrete buckling beneath him. Smith growls, cocking and loading himself, then firing out, hurtling up through the driving rain as Neo leaps to meet him and they collide high above the street.
Two equal and opposite forces slamming together like atoms smashing. Energy is unleashed all around from that collision.
Neo fights with ultimate precision, but Smith has become overwhelmingly powerful. A blow snaps Neo's head back, sending his glasses flying and before he recovers Smith grabs him, spinning like in the hammer toss, and hurling Neo into the side of a building. As he smashes into the building he shatters its face like a seismic wave.
Trinity's watching Neo as his body jerks, his mouth coughing blood.
"Jesus, he's killing him!"
Her voice is a whisper as her hand holds Neo's tightly. She pulls away her sweater, unaware of the cold air hitting the naked skin of her shoulder and arms. She balls up her own sweater, using it as a towel and passing it on Neo's forehead and mouth.
In the Matrix, Neo barely has time to stand before Smith barrels into him.
The battle rages through the building, Smith pummeling Neo with wrecking ball force, smashing him through walls of concrete, brick and steel.
Smith steps through one of the holes as Neo struggles to get back on his feet. But he does.
Once more, Neo picks himself up, settling into a "come get some" pose. Nothing frustrates Smith as much as the little wave of that gesture.
It's a fight to the death.
Neo's body jerk again as, in the Matrix, waves of force shatter windows and rip lamp posts from the concrete like a hurricane uprooting trees. They fight in mid-air, punching, kicking, grappling, locked together but in constant motion like electrons chasing each other around a single nucleus.
Smith lands a series of savage blows that stun Neo and he slips down, twisting, lost for a moment, suddenly vulnerable.
Above him, Smith attacks, diving down, he slams into Neo, tackling him, driving him back to the earth. The concussive blast craters the street, buckling buildings, as a wave of unequaled destruction rushes out over the urban chasm.
The explosion thunders away until there is only the hissing rain, as the Smiths gather along the crater's edge. The rain on his face slowly brings Neo's consciousness back. Smith stands over him as he tries to get up.
"Why, Mr. Anderson?" For Neo it is an effort to even pull his arm from the wet sucking mud. "Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting?"
Neo rolls over, pushing himself to his hands and knees.
"Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love"
Neo's hands clench into fists. Rain streaks the mud down his face like black tears. He summons his strength and once more, he stands up.
"Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?!"
"Because I choose to"
Smith howls in frustration, hurling at him, but Neo absorbs the attack, catching Smith momentarily off-balance.
Neo sways in the rain with barely enough strength to stand. Smith dives into Neo who has nothing left and batters him, each bludgeoning blow striking in time with searing bolts of lightning. He seizes Neo by the throat, hoisting him up like a rag doll and fires a super-punch that sends Neo flying, bouncing down to the earth like a crashing airplane, trenching to a stop.
"My God..."
Neo's body jerks again, harder this time, like he's having a seizure. Trinity inhales deeply, running a hand on her forehead. Is she really supposed to just stand there, without doing anything... just watching him die? He can't do that! He can't ask her that!
Trinity stares at Neo as if reading her fate.
...It's all over.
"The hell it is!"
She turns to the sentinel, still balled up on the ground. And she sees it this time. The large scratch on its metal skin... it's not watching her like an attack dog but... like a watchdog. She can feel it purring, a relaxing sound.
She looks up as she senses a presence in there, despite the death silence all around. No steps... and yet she can feel it. Her eyes can't really understand what they're watching at, then... she sees it... multiple spots put together to give a whole image, like pixels of a picture... the single spots like put together just by a sort of paramagnetic oscillation. It's like reading a code... but she's not in the Matrix.
"Exomorphic-particle code" the Indian woman says like reading Trinity's question "It gives programs access here without needing the Matrix access" Their eyes don't meet since Kamala's eyes are fixed on Trinity's baby bump, clearly stressed up by the thin tank top she wears now.
Kamala's look isn't supposed to soften at that view... but it does.
"He's ready to die for you and your baby" she says glancing at Neo this time as Trinity just stares back at her.
"You're taking the same risk...helping us"
A nod. A deal. An alliance.
"I need to go inside" Trinity says as it's Kamala's turn to just stare at her "I will not stand here and do nothing! I will not wait here to watch him die!"
Her voice is a whisper but it sound like a scream in Kamala's ear. She turns where the huge human-like face was, then back to the Indian woman.
"I beg you, please, load me in!"
It's just silence all around and her voice echoes like in an empty cave.
"If you die..." Trinity swallows at Kamala's words... "If you die... I'll do whatever I can to give your child a chance. Like you're doing with mine"
As a hearted 'thanks' exits her lips she reaches out for the hand stretched toward her. A weird feeling, a tingling one, like having a numb hand.
She's not prepared at the feeling of that same hand on her baby bump instead... again just a pins and needles sensation, but enough for the baby to react to it with a kick.
"You sure?" Kamala asks again, her hand lingers on what is probably an unexpected feeling against her palm too.
"Isn't this something worth dying for?"
Their eyes meet again. Understanding, sympathetic eyes.
A nod.
Suddenly cables and metal rods grow from the floor again, forming a second seat next to Neo's one. She inhales at the feeling of the cables wrapping her body. A moment later she's jacked in.
It's dark all around. Rain pouring and sliding on the black vinyl of her suit. She can't see Neo at first, just a city made of Smiths. Smiths. Hundreds, thousands of him. All around. She knows it won't be a fight, it will be a massacre.
As she walks toward them, she can see it... Smith rising up, above Neo... bolts of lightning striking, haloing him... a dark-suited demon.
And all of a sudden, Neo can feel it... a familiar sense... like on that night in the club, waiting for her... like in the temple, as she walked toward him, almost glowing against the darkness of the cave ...
Once again, when she catches his eye as only she can, she steals the breath from him.
A black vinyl angel.
"Trinity..."
Smith's head suddenly turns at the look in Neo's eyes. Hope and fear, mixed together.
"Oh, this is unfair, Mr. Anderson" Smith gives Neo a teasing and mischievous look "You shouldn't let your lady watch your end. Or do you want to watch me ending her first?"
When he turns to Trinity, Smith gives her a completely different look.
"I should have known he'd call for his bitch in here. No one ever got away from me as many times as you did. Every single time I thought it was the last, every time I was sure we had you, somehow you'd slip through our fingers. I really can't express just how aggravating that can be. I think I might even enjoy killing you as much as killing him"
At the mention of Neo, Trinity's eyes fire with the intensity of a lion guarding its cubs.
And Smith's taken off guard by her attack.
Trinity moves. He almost doesn't register, so smooth and fast, inhumanly fast. A quick perfect jump which leave her like hang up for a second, like a spider on its web, and her leg kicks Smith's chest with the force of a wrecking ball and he flies back, slamming him on the ground.
Her eyes moves on Neo, his hand on his chest like he's keeping his ribs in place. It's mud all around him and he looks like he has no strength left to get up. Her fingers clench in fist and she twists back, a rotating kick hits Smith right in his face.
"What a sweet vision, Mr. Anderson" he says still looking at Trinity though, fixing his jaw "You have good tastes. I would be up myself for a quickie with this piece of cake"
It's the time of Smith to press his frenzied assault to her. Trinity falls on all four and he's right behind her. He grabs her hair, forcing her head back, so he can talk near her ear.
"Do you like it hard, you fucking bitch?"
She grabs his hand, fighting it with all her strength as she screams throwing them both backward crashing to the ground. The two bodies writhe and twist, knotting and unknotting until Trinity slips free. She lunges forward as a shadow leaps after her. Smith snatches her foot, tripping her. She slams to the ground, but as he rises up she kicks him in the face, breaking his nose, the treads on her boot ripping open his upper lip.
"You're going to pay for that"
On the ground and before she can recover, he kicks her savagely in her ribs and stomach, almost flipping her over. Pain explodes through her body, black spots bursting in her vision.
They're not real, the kicks can't really hurt her, and yet she can feel it... the sharp pain in her chest and stomach, her womb muscles going into spasm.
It's not real.
As adrenaline runs through her veins all her agonist and antagonist muscles get ready for the fight again.
But her reaction isn't fast enough.
Smith's hand moves on the front of her neck, his fingers dig under her jawbone. And they both get a shock for the little contact of their codes, like an electrical wave running through them. Trinity cries out and her teeth clench as she uses all her strength to push him away from herself.
Smith is pushed away and his body abruptly hits the ground, making a few stone roll down.
She's on him again, just giving Neo a glance as he tries to get his breathing back. His hand is still holding his chest like he can feel his broken ribs entering his lungs.
She's quick. Quicker than she ever was. Like a continuous energy flow. A spider-like move. A scorpion-like one. She's relentless.
There's an electrical shock between the two of them every time she touches him, and every time he touches her. Like Smith can't touch her without feeling a sort of connection. Like equal poles, pushing each other away.
Trinity's hand reaches her own back just for an instant.
"Trinity!"
She doesn't turn to Neo's voice. She has no choice. No more. She knows what's happening, but she knows she can't do anything else than fighting. She's not letting go without fighting. For her life. For her baby's life.
"You're still just human"
Smith's hand reaches again for Trinity's neck and he lifts her from the ground. Her feet try to kick, but they can kick just air instead.
Suddenly, he lets her go, looking wide at his own hand. There's not bruises on it, but it hurts like he touched fire.
Trinity falls on the ground heavily as he lets go of her neck. Her body collapses on the concrete like a stuffed puppet. One hand reaches for her belly, the other one for her own neck, at the same white-hot burning feeling.
Trinity freezes as her eyes widen in understanding.
... ... "I don't know your name?
... ... "My name is Trinity. Why it's so important for you to know the name a digital system gave me? Both you and me... we didn't get delivered by a woman, remember? We've been cultivated. And this sound unbearable to me...
... ... "I'll tell you. And you'll laugh"
... ... "Alice... like Alice V. Smith, actually... now you know why you followed me in the white rabbit hole"
... ... "What the V. for?" ...
... ... "You'll have to pass over my body to know that"
... ... "Is it a challenge?"
... ..."An invitation"
... ... Alice Victoria Smith...
And she's on her feet again, unsteady on her feet as her hand presses on her stomach again.
"Trinity, don't!"
Trinity doesn't turn to Neo, but he knows she's heard him. From the stiffening of her neck muscles.
She inhales deeply, aware she's not breathing real air. Her eyes closes and her hand presses on her belly even more. It's clear for him that she's in pain. She looks down at her flat abdomen, where her baby bump should be, and release the pressure, giving it a caress instead. The hint of a smile on her lips.
She takes a step back from Smith. And then another one. And it's Smith's time to smile. To grin actually.
She moves back till her feet is close to Neo's body. He looks at her and she at him. Dark eyes in blue eyes.
"I'm never letting go" She whispers, stretching her arm toward him so he can stand up "Trust me"
"I trust you" He says back. The grip on her hand is tight like he's holding to life.
Smith's laugher comes mocking and terrifying, echoing all around together with the rumbling of thunders.
"Time to finish what I began, Mr Anderson. With you and your missus"
Smith grins as Trinity leaves Neo's hand and takes a step forward him.
"You're disappointing me, Mr. Anderson. Are you really letting her go ahead. What is she supposed to be in your world? The love of your life? Your wife? Your spawn's mother?" He gives him a piercing and pleased look as Neo stares back to him "You're beginning to think like a machine, after all. Nothing matters despite your own preservation"
"Fine, Mr. Anderson. Suit yourself"
He turns to Trinity as she doesn't moves an inch.
"Trinity!"
Neo's whisper is a plea...
"Don't. Let her go. This fight is only between me and you"
Smith laughs louder.
"Haven't you understood yet, Mr. Anderson? She's part of the One thing. And I want everything, every bit of both your code and hers... I'll be the only One in here! This is my world! My world!"
Neo looks up as Smith looks down.
"But I'm pity enough, Mr. Anderson, to not let you watch her die in front of your eyes" he grins "I'll take you both, together"
One of his hand penetrates Neo's chest as he pushes the other one in Trinity's stomach. Her eyes widen and she inhales deeply as their codes match.
The black mirror begin to cover Neo's body and hers, and her eyes meet Neo's eyes... or better what's left of Neo's code as Smith's code overwrite his, exactly like he's doing with hers.
Neo is desperately clinging to his consciousness as if hanging from the edge of a precipice, his mind's still fighting against the gleaming blackness.
With the little strength left, Trinity reaches out for Neo's hand.
"I'm here"
She's the one saying it this time and he just nods.
She's his safe place. He's hers. Nothing else matters.
Trinity's eyes meet Neo's one last time as they're both overpower by Smith's code. A few bytes left and it will be over. Her hand finds his. Their fingers intertwine.
... ... everything that has a beginning has an end...
Darkness is covering Trinity's face, like liquid obsidian, but her face is calm, even serene. A second later Neo's covered too.
The code of the three of them mix.
... ... What is he?
... ... He is you. Your opposite. Your negative. The result of the equation trying to balance itself out.
1=1
+1 -1= 0
The equation tries to balance itself out...
...then unbalancing again... as it's not just the codes of the three of them...
...but of the four of them.
+1
And it's a moment. A flash. Like a detonation of an atomic bomb.
The blue of Trinity's eyes as she takes off her welding mask... her lips on his... their first kiss...her lips opening in pleasure as she comes... her laugher... the hint of a smile as she turns to him before closing the door... their hug in the train station... his hand on her baby bump... a kick against the palm of his hand... a kiss... another kiss... the grip of her hand... you feel this?... I'm never letting go...
Light breaks the darkness all around. Like a strong destructive wave of atomic energy. And for a second everything disappears in the blinding brightness.