Time to be Heroes (Tag: Morpheus, Neo, Smith, Molly, Karolina, Trinity, Cypher(?))

[trinity_matrix3]

-Continued from here (Put our Heads Together) and here (A Prison Within a Prison)

The rescue party, composed of spunky little Molly, Karolina and Trinity, stood behind the colossal statue in the square of 7 World Trade Complex, with their backs pressed against the equally massive marble base. They had not even made it into the building and already

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[short_green_tie]

Morpheus watched the fight unfold in front of him exceedingly fast. It was hard to react as fast as everything was happening due to the blow he had taken earlier. He felt more Agents coming, but Karolina dealt with them easily. In fact, she dealt with them far more easily than he had anticipated she would be able to from his knowledge on her. It was amazing how far she had progressed while still within the Matrix. He was beginning to wonder; he had thought her mind was not ready to be free from their conversation, but what if it was something entirely different? What if her mind did not want to be free? What if she were happy here with these powers?

Or...what if she were not in the Matrix at all? What if the Matrix only applied to certain individuals? Could the Matrix reality be superimposed upon another? Or in conflict with another type of Matrix programming? Could Karolina and her friend be from a different Matrix? Suddenly Morpheus's head spun with the insane possibilities. It may go deeper than a Matrix within a Matrix. There might be something else at work. Suddenly he had that 'what if I'm a figment of another person's dream' feeling that had been asked by many pondering the truth of reality. Just when he thought he understood it all, he got hit in the head and things began to not make as much sense as he thought they did.

When he saw Smith dive behind the door, he almost jumped forward. The young girl was under there! But then he realized that she might be able to take care of herself. From what he had seen of her dealings with Agents back in Grand Central... Instead, he turned his attention to Karolina, who was faltering. He moved forward and placed a hand upon her shoulder.

"You have done well, Karolina. Thank you very, very much. Please, let your shield down and take no pain from them. We will deal with the remaining two for you and make sure your friend is safe." It was then that he heard the loud, painful sounding CRACKS from under the vault that were too solid to be the bones of a child. "...Or perhaps she will take care of herself..." His eyebrows shot up and he looked just the littlest bit amused.

He nodded to Neo and Trinity to be ready for when or if Karolina let down her defenses. They would need to make short work of this and get moving towards an exit immediately lest they lose their chance at an escape.

[burningpainting]

By the time Morpheus came up behind her, Karolina was so light-headed from burnout that his hand on her shoulder very nearly tipped her over. As it was, the last of the glow detached itself from her hands, fluttering away like burning scraps of paper to spark out in the air. Light no longer streamed off her body; now she was merely a particularly shiney human being.

Combining offense and defense in one move sapped the last of her solar batteries, and she sagged bonelessly backwards into Morpheus. Karolina had the presence of mind to be a little chagrined; she probably wouldn't be able to walk out of here on her own. She'd spent too much energy, and now she was nothing but dead weight. Hopefully Molly was better at conservation than she was.

[trinity_matrix3]

It would be good to get out of here now.

Looking around the small rebel army she took note of everyone's status and surveyed their ability to face more of an onslaught if it were to happen. They were starting to lose their advantage the longer they stayed in this box-like container. Karolina seemed spent and was swaying on her feet. Moving forward, Trinity offered the girl her side to lean on and she took Karolina's arm and wrapped it around her shoulder while placing her own around Karolina’s waist to better support her. She glanced at Morpheus, obviously relieved to see him alive but noticed that he too had suffered badly at Smith's hands. Perhaps it would be best if Morpheus helped Karolina walk but Trinity was not sure about his own state of health. Looking sideways at Neo, she noticed that he had a nosebleed, possibly because his nose was broken, but otherwise he seemed fine. She could not see Molly behind the door.

"Molly?" She called out anxiously knowing that Smith had landed not far from her.

Everything seemed quite somehow. Smith was gone. At least she thought so as she saw a limp male hand poke out from behind the metallic door that Molly had pulled clean off the frame.

That can only mean that he will be back completely intact. Leaving by the front door was not an option. Trinity closed her eyes briefly and searched the schematics that swam in her head.

Dead end, security centre, maintenance exit...maintenance exit! The door lead to a corridor that lead out of the basement. Then there were a few exits on that level. She hoped to all hell that it would open.

"I know another way out." she said flatly still looking towards the safe door where Molly should be. The main stairway was not a good way to leave. Surely Agents would pool in from there and that was something she was trying to prevent running into again.

She looked worriedly towards Neo before looking back at the door. Was Molly okay?

[neo_thematrix]

The two young women had provided invaluable help with the perfect timing, ripping off the vault's door to let Morpheus out and stopping the second wave of Agents to buy them some time to plan their route out.

After firing at Smith, Neo paused and stood still for a moment. He could finally feel that he was back in full control of his own self, and that he had regained his clear-minded focus, allowing him to read the Matrix code more fluently.

His nose had stopped bleeding.

Interpreting the code flowing through him, he saw that the child of steel had neutralised Smith, who had then fled to re-materialise in another shell. He saw the seven Agents, gathered near the doorway of the staircases leading to the lobby, struggling with the unexpected shield of light and powerful laser beams casted by the lady of light. He also saw Trinity closing her eyes before opening them and announcing that she knew another way out.

Whoa! If she can access that kind of information instantly, she must have an operator somewhere in Zion helping her out along the way. But if she has an operator looking after her, why couldn't she simply leave the Matrix through the nearest phone?

That question puzzled Neo for a split second, but this wasn't the right time for playing questions-and-answers.

As the lady faltered, the shield she had created faded, and the two remaining Agents -- Williams and Harris -- reloaded their weapons, ready to storm the room as soon as the shield disappeared completely. Right outside the building, Agents Smith and Pace had just re-materialised into the shells of two patrolling policemen in their vehicle. And not far away, within the nearby basement corridors, Agent Miller was rushing back towards the room to catch them in a crossfire.

He's coming through the corridor leading to the delivery docks; hopefull does Trinity have another route, otherwise they will bump into him and have no room to fight or manoeuver.

Trinity was actually with Morpheus, both supporting the weakened woman, when Neo stepped out of the vault and onto the floor of the large rectangular room, facing the doorway located at the other extremity of the room. Looking back at his four allies, he calmly stated:

"Move ahead to the nearest exit. I'll hold them up and join you shortly."

Neo then started running towards the doorway, where the shield of light had now vanished, and through which the two raging Agents were now running.

[cute_hats]

Molly's head jerked back from the force of the blow and she blinked in surprise. That almost hurt! Also, she was getting pretty tired now. More than anything though, she was totally depressed that Agent Smith broke the sunglasses. She had so wanted to keep those! What a total meanie!

When he started warping and jerking around in her arms, looking like a really messed up videotape. She screamed in surprise and jerked back. Holding him when he was doing that felt so freaking weird!!!

She frowned as she looked at the chubby security guard guy that appeared in Smith's place. He was wiggling about in pain, confused by his broken arms. Molly felt really sad for him.

"Don't worry Mister, help will come soon! They'll get you nifty casts for your arms!"

She looked up. "I'm okay Trinity!" Then she saw Karolina being supported. "Karolina!!"

Molly started to run that way, but stopped as a huge yawn shook her little frame. Then she moved forward again, but with much less gusto than she had previously been showing.

((OOC: I really apologize for the late late post! I got pretty busy and then went out of town for a wedding. I should have warned you guys but didn't really get the chance to. I'm sorry.))

[smith_matrix]

Being forced to re-materialise into another shell greatly exasperated Smith. Finding himself in the driving seat of a police car, he sped up towards the building's main entrance before quickly glancing at Agent Pace sitting in the passenger seat.

A female Agent... Things are simply getting weirder by the minute around here. Someone has to regain control of this new Matrix otherwise all this nonsense will prevail.

A cohort of police cars, fire engines and ambulances were approaching the building at the same time, while an NYPD helicopter hovered above the courtyard adjacent to the main entrance, where the massive crater stood, right under the still-fuming gaping hole in the building wall.

As the car stopped in front of the main entrance, Smith paused while interpreting the code surrounding the area. More Agents were being defeated by the group of rebels, none of which had apparently died yet.

"This new place is pathetic," Smith thought out loud. "Inexplicably powerful aberrations living alongside bewilderingly weak control mechanisms."

"With the truce, harsher control mechanisms became unnecessary," Pace replied, interpreting Smith's criticism as directed towards the new version of the Agent programme.

Smith slowly turned his head towards her: "You obviously know nothing about human nature. They are instinct-driven, short-sighted, emotion-prone animals, whose only purpose is to provide us with a steady supply of bio-electric energy." Smith opened the car door and stepped out without closing it, standing beside the car and looking at the noisy emergency vehicles coming their way, all sirens blaring. "The truce is as artificial, virtual and short-term as the Matrix itself."

In several of the approaching vehicles, Agents had replaced humans in their shells, ready to storm the building again. Pulling out his gun of his shoulder hoster and cocking it, Smith turned towards the building's main entrance.

"Like lab rats in a miniature maze, these rebels don't know where they are heading. They ignore their purpose. They have no clue why they are still alive. Or why I will kill them all, one by one."

[short_green_tie]

Morpheus allowed Trinity to take on supporting Karolina. As much as he would have liked to do so, she was in far better health at the moment. Quickly, he took in the rest of the situation and nodded to Neo as he explained his plan of action. Without even waiting to ask if she needed it, Morpheus moved forward and scooped up young Molly Hayes. Someone needed to do so if she was about to weaken on them and while Karolina may have been somewhat difficult, he could handle Molly's small eleven year old frame in his weakened state.

When he held the girl in his arms, he looked to Trinity. "Lead the way, Trinity. We must make our exit fast. I feel Smith and other Agents moving closer outside the building. If we can clear the building, I can have Seraph open a back door for us. Unfortunately, they will not work in here due to heightened mainframe security."

[trinity_matrix3]

Trinity nodded and slowly made her way toward the opposite door from where they had entered. She glanced behind long enough to catch Neo's profile in the corner of her eye.

“Be careful”, she said lowly. Walking through the door with Karolina in tow, she spotted two corridors, one leading away to the right and one to the left. Reading the schematics swimming through her head, she noticed that one of the corridors led to the delivery docks.

That would be faster.

She was about to swift her weight in that direction when a foreboding feeling came over her. The feeling was so subtle that Trinity shook it off as a gut feeling and headed the other way. Supporting Karolina, Trinity walked up the ramp that led out of the basement. Pushing her weight against the door she drew her weapon with her free hand in case there were any surprises on the other side. Nothing. There was another short corridor and at the end, Trinity could see the last door.

“That one leads outside,” she called back to Morpheus. Very slowly, Trinity examined the surroundings before they made their way to the door. Trinity glanced back to Morpheus with a slightly annoyed expression. She had seen it on the schematics…but this was the only way out…the emergency door. Once she opened it she was sure an alarm would wail somewhere alerting everyone to their whereabouts.

“How soon do you think Seraph can another open a door for us…and where?”

She wanted, no, she needed to be prepared.

[neo_thematrix]

Neo had never tried stopping bullets while the assailants and himself were running but for some reason, the aim, actions and movements of Agents Williams and Harris seemed more predictable than with other Agents he had encountered, allowing him to easily slow the bullets as they exited the Agents' weapons. During a split second, Neo could see the weaknesses plaguing this new breed of Agents compared to the previous one.

No wonder why the machines need assistance in restoring order and stability in the Matrix.

As soon as the bullets stopped in midair, Neo literally bumped into them, running towards his attackers. The Agents kept firing as Neo reached fighting distance and started dodging the bullets. With each dodging move, crouching one second and jumping the next, Neo launched punches which hit the Agents with force but didn't stop them from trying to shoot Neo at point-blank range.

Williams and Harris then ran out of bullets at exactly the same time and with their weapons drawn, they didn't see Neo quickly enough to avoid his faster-than-light movement during which he flipped backwards, seizing the slide of the two gun barrels and pulling them clean off the Agents' pistols.

With their weapons now rendered inoperable, the Agents jumped on Neo who swiftly counter-attacked with powerful round kicks which sent the Agents flying. Rushing towards them again, Neo grabbed them both and lifted them off the floor before jumping upwards with them, embedding them both deep into the concrete ceiling. As he landed back on the room floor, Neo crouched, pulled out two guns out of his shoulder holsters, and fired two bullets at the struggling Agents. The impact made them both fall back flat to the floor with a massive thump, but they had already started de-materialising before they even touched the floor.

Standing up, Neo looked back towards the vault, at the other extremity of the room, before turning back towards the doorway he was standing close to. Pausing, Neo could see in the Matrix code that several Agents and policemen had already reached the building's lobby and that it was only a matter of seconds before they reached him in the basement room. Neo hoped that Trinity would quickly lead the group out of the building...

[cute_hats]

Molly started to protest at being scooped up, but then she thought better of it. She was kinda tired and saving her energy for if there were any other obstacles on the way out would be really smart. Of course, with Neo there she was willing to bet she wouldn't have to use her powers. Man, if these guys were real, she wondered what their normal lives were like. If they had normal lives. A Real World of the Matrix people would be so awesome!

She held onto Morpheus as he followed Trinity. Hopefully they would get out soon. She was kinda hungry too...

[short_green_tie]

Morpheus came to a stop and looked at the door, considering. He knew why Trinity had paused. As soon as they hit that door, a dozen agents would pinpoint their location and converge. They would be lucky if they had even sixty seconds with which to get a head start. If they did open that door...and what choice did they have?...then they had better have a good plan. Otherwise Morpheus would not be the only one there in a cell with an insane Smith wanting to achieve dominion over the entire Matrix.

"Seraph can open a door anywhere for us. However, he has to know where we are, and at the moment we are shielded from his ability to pinpoint us. I can call him on your phone as soon as we exit, but that will take precious time that we may not have."

Morpheus frowned, looking down at Molly. She just yawned back up at him. The fight really seemed to have taken it out of the girl.

"However, that is the only option that we have. Do you know how far away the nearest door is outside this building?"

He knew that she could download the schematics if she had to. However, he also knew that Trinity had to have done a lot of that already and that she may be overtaxed as it was. Honestly, he hated asking her to do that to herself again, but they had no choice. It was either escape or allow Smith to recapture them and execute his warped plans for the Matrix after killing them. Being killed was the least of his worries at the moment.

[trinity_matrix3]

Trinity reached for her cell phone and passed it onto Morpheus. “Get ready to dial.”

It seemed that most of them were not in the position to run like hell. She would have to provide cover if they ran into Agents and officers. Download, yes, it seemed the only way. Turning back to the door, so that they could not see her face, she closed her eyes and grimaced in anticipation. She needed the schematics of the surrounding buildings. As an electrical impulse of information was transmitted, images of building diagrams flooded her mind and the pain that accompanied such a transfer seared into the base of her skull.

Deal with it later. Trinity held onto Karolina tighter, just to make sure that she would not accidentally let go of her in her slight daze.

“A block away. Corner of Liberty Street on the south end.” Swinging the door open, Trinity did not wait for the alarm to sound as she made her way with Karolina towards Liberty Street. “We’re almost there.”

But where was Neo? And was he alright?

[smith_matrix]

When the SWAT armoured vehicle stopped beside Smith, among the swarm of policemen and firefighters, the Agent did not even look at the driver. Instead, Smith kept his eyes focused on the far left corner of the building, where the group of rebels were apparently heading. They were not moving as fast as he thought, and they actually seemed to waver their way forward. His eyes still focused on that section of the building, near an emergency exit, and decrypting the Matrix code within it, Smith made a step towards the vehicle.

"Get out."

The driver, in his padded, full-body tactical armour, looked down at the Agent with condescension from the height of his cabin. But when Agent Smith turned around, with his severe look discernable behind his sunglasses and pointed right at the policeman's eyes, the SWAT driver knew that it would probably be better not to argue.

"Get out."

The policeman had barely stepped out of the vehicle that Smith had taken his place and floored the accelerator, without even closing the door. The full squadron of SWAT policemen sitting in the back did not know it yet but their mission objective had just been updated.

Let's see how many of these now weakened rebels we can scoop up...

[neo_thematrix]

Agents were coming down the stairs, guns drawn. Apparently all the Agents who had de-materialised were back and eager to implement Smith's order: eliminating or capturing the anomalies -- Neo included.

Through the Matrix code, Neo had seen Smith driving by towards the building's main entrance, while Trinity and the rest of the group were heading in the opposite direction. If Neo could hold the other Agents just a few more moments, his friends would have enough time to...

"Shit!"

Neo had just seen Smith boarding an armoured vehicle and speeding towards the emergency exit where Trinity, Morpheus, Karolina and Molly were standing. Agent Miller was rushing towards the main basement room from the corridor he had previously walked down. Ten other Agents were now a few seconds away form storming the room through the doorway Neo was standing in front of. And several teams of policemen were being deployed in and around the building.

Let's get out of here!

Neo turned his back to the doorway and started running in the opposite direction and towards the vault. Outside the building, the SWAT armoured vehicle was following a route exactly parallel to that of Neo.

Agent Miller finally reached the main basement room and immediately ran towards Neo, firing several deadly bullets. Climbing on top of the tilted vault's door while keeping his running speed, Neo dodged the first bullet but had to jump to the floor to avoid the other ones. He skidded on the floor and clashed with the legs of the running Agent who couldn't avoid him and fell over Neo.

As they exchanged several punches while struggling to stand up again, the ten Agents had entered the room from the doorway at the other extremity of the room. Bullets started to fly in the two belligerents' direction but most of them ricochetted on the massive vault's door. Neo finally succeeded in restraining Miller from behind, his arm tightly wrapped around the Agent's neck like a vise. And as the other Agents got closer and their bullets more threatening, Neo walked backward as fast as he could, towards the side wall, still holding onto the Agent. When he reached the wall, Neo was able to disappear into the concrete structure, thus pulling Agent Miller's head violently against the wall as Neo faded into it, escaping the multitude of bullets fired in his direction.

As Miller fell to the ground, slightly dizzy, Neo focused on his tricky movement through the wall and on the speeding SWAT vehicle outside, hoping to catch up with it on time.

[burningpainting]

Karolina had barely been able to stay standing, even with Trinity's help. She'd beem mostly dragged through the guts of the building, her toes scraping the floor. Trinity was much stronger than she looked, but then Karolina knew that. She'd reassured herself that Morpheus had Molly, and then given up the ghost of coherency. Neo had disappeared somewhere, but she wasn't too concerned about his well-being.

Only the sudden cool brush of an evening breeze alerted her that they'd made it safely outside. She barely registered the shrill cry of a security alarm behind them, but then Trinity seemed to be nearly jogging toward whatever location she had in mind. She could hear traffic, and the annoyed snaps of pedestrians being shoved out of the way, so they must be on a sidewalk-

People started to scream behind them, and cars squealed as they pulled out of the way of an oncoming armored vehicle. Karolina lifted her head and blinked blearily. She couldn't see as well in the dark as humans could, her eyes being adapted to bright lights, but she could make out twin spots of light bearing down on them.

"Truck," she pointed out helpfully. Somehow she didn't think that was Neo behind the wheel.

[cute_hats]

Molly laid docile in Morpheus's arms as they rushed outside. They were in so much trouble right now, but that was okay. She was totally used to running away. However, at Karolina's helpful warning, she glanced up blearily and blinked a few times. Huh. Kar was right, there was definitely a giant freaking truck zooming right at them!

She shoved at Morpheus's hands, struggling to get down. Although she wasn't even putting much of her strength into it, she easily escaped his grasp because she was a grand master of the Art of Squirm. Even as he shouted behind her, she ran right out in front of the truck. Besides making Agent Smith go away, she'd been so freaking useless so far. She could be useful now! Molly thought that she definitely had enough energy for one last feat of strength, and of course she was still totally invulnerable. She yawned really big in the face of the oncoming vehicle.

There wasn't possibly enough time for Agent Smith to stop, assuming he even wanted to. Of course, he had had experience with the eleven year old already so there was a chance that he would change his tactics a bit with her. Still, in this instance the armored vehicle ran right into her with an ear grating squalling of metal as it tried to wrap around her like a car would around an unmoving metal pole. Some of the soldiers inside flew forward into the windows, which since they were bullet proof didn't shatter.

Then, she reached out and got a grip on either side of her body, her fingers digging into the metal like it was putty. This was going to take some work because she was so sleepy. It would take momentum. Molly lifted and began to swing the whole thing around in a circle faster and faster and faster like a little top. Eventually she let go, sending it sailing into the air. She aimed as much as she could for orbit, but even if she faltered and missed that, she'd still buy them some time to get away.

With that task out of the way, her eyes rolled back up into her head and she passed right out. Dreamland awaited and the pavement was as good a pillow as any.