Trinity looked shocked when I stepped out of the building holding the hands of the two girls, then it changed to hate and then disappointment. She had schooled her face by the time we reached the car; but, by then it was too late. Both the tween blonde girl Saga and the Asian teenager Akira had seen her face and their looks responded in kind.

Apoc was a gentleman and stepped out of the car and opened the back door for us. I nodded my thanks and looked at Akira. I motioned to the door and she nodded, because she understood that I was letting her sit by it, and she let my hand go to let me climb in with Saga, whom I sat on my lap after I sat in the middle of the back seat. The girl was delighted by that and Trinity was not.

Akira climbed in after me and Apoc shut her door, then climbed into the driver's seat. Morpheus entered the passenger side and faced forward, avoiding the whole situation. Apoc started the car and drove us out onto the street, the traffic separating slightly to let him out. He honked his horn twice in thanks and pulled out.

The silence was a little uncomfortable, mostly because Saga had an excited look on her face as her neck worked like a swivel and she tried to stare at everything. Akira hugged her laptop and didn't say a word, either. She did give me several furtive glances, as if trying to avoid attention and asking if she had to be there.

I slid an arm around Saga's waist to hold her steady and used my other arm to put over Akira's shoulders. She blushed for a moment, not really knowing what to do, so I looked at her and gave her my best reassuring smile. She locked eyes with me for only a second before she let out a soft sigh and cuddled in.

Saga liked having my arm holding her steady and leaned forward and rested her hands on the two front seats and stared out the windshield. Her blonde curls whipped from side to side as she took advantage of the better view. Surprisingly, neither Apoc nor Morpheus told her to lean back out of the way or to behave herself.

Trinity silently fumed at the car being so crowded and hid her frustration at having to deal with two other girls vying for my attention. I couldn't have her thinking that, since she was not going to get my attention. She only liked my facade and not me, so there was no way I was going to encourage her.

“I think it's safe enough to drop my disguise.” I said into the silence.

“We're heading back to the safe house.” Morpheus said with a nod. “Go ahead. Your two new acquaintances can cover you.”

Saga stopped her rubbernecking like a tourist and half turned on my lap to stare at me. “You're wearing a disguise?”

“I am.” I said and let my hair slowly change back to blond. “I stand out too much like this.”

“That's so cool.” Akira whispered in my ear.

“You're blonde like me!” Saga gasped and grinned. “That's AWESOME!”

Trinity winced at her yell and turned her head to stare out the window instead of at me, now that I didn't look like my old self anymore.

“I don't want either of you to not recognize me when we're out.” I said and both Saga and Akira nodded. “I also don't want either of you to be scared or to panic. What's going to happen next is what happens to everyone when they wake up. It's normal and I'm going to be right there to get you, all right?”

“It's okay! I'm brave!” Saga said and puffed out her chest. “You can save me for last!”

I glanced at Akira and she rolled her eyes, meaning we both knew Saga was going to be first after a boast like that. “The others are staying in to keep watch and to make sure I'm not disturbed while I'm out to help you. I'll get you first and I'll make sure you're safe, then I'll jack back in for Akira to do the same thing.”

“That's not how we normally do it.” Trinity commented without looking at us.

“I know, which is why it's going to work.” I said, confidently. “After going through it myself, I can easily guide them through it, too.”

Both Akira and Saga looked relieved.

“Why don't I tell you about it? That way, you'll know exactly what to expect.” I said.

They both nodded and I explained everything that I went through, almost word for word, and what they should expect when they woke up. Akira looked surprised at what happened and Saga looked like she couldn't wait to ride on what I called a waterslide.

“Just remember. Do. Not. Panic. The doc-bot is only helping you to disconnect after you break through the membrane.” I cautioned them. “If you're nervous about the hoses disconnecting after that, hold your breath and drop back down into the fluid. It only takes a couple of seconds and then the fluid will be flushed.”

Saga looked even more excited and Akira shivered slightly, visibly nervous.

“Don't worry, I'll be right there to catch you.” I reassured them again.

Saga nodded and turned back to face forward and looked at everything again. It would be the last time she would see it officially for a while, possibly years. Akira looked nervous and she glanced down at her laptop that had everything on it.

“I'll back it up.” I whispered and she gave me a pointed look. “Encrypted if you want. I won't see anything and I'll give you the unlock key for the zip file.”

“Okay.” Akira said with a small smile.

“We're here.” Morpheus said as the car came to a stop behind the abandoned Lafayette Hotel. “Everyone out.”

Trinity was the first and she hopped out. As soon as she saw Cypher coming back from his patrol, she rushed over to him and started whispering. Apoc stepped out on our side of the car and opened Akira's door for her. She nodded and climbed out, then Saga hopped off of my lap and kept hopping in place until I climbed out and she took my hand again.

Switch looked surprised until Apoc walked up the stairs and whispered to her. She nodded and opened the back door for us and Apoc went through. I put a hand on Akira's lower back and guided her up the stairs and through the door, with Saga practically vibrating in anticipation at my side. Switch glanced from the girl's blonde hair to mine and gained a conflicted look on her face.

Morpheus came through the door behind us and then Cypher and Trinity. Switch entered and closed the door, locked it, and followed us to the lobby. Apoc had warned Mouse already and the thin man gave each of the girls a welcoming smile before he took out his cell phone, turned it on, and hit the recall button. The cases of guns and ammo changed into green code and disappeared.

“Awesome!” Saga almost shouted and Mouse looked happy.

“It's a bit of a walk up to the top floor.” I said and stopped at the set of stairs, then knelt on one knee. “Who wants a piggy-back ride?”

Saga was on me an instant later with a huge smile and a laugh. Her arms wrapped around my neck and her legs hung at my sides. I held them with my hands to brace her properly and stood up. That was when I saw the brief look of jealousy on Akira's face and I thought about how to fix that.

It took a moment to come up with a solution and I crossed Saga's ankles around my waist and braced them with a slight alteration to my jacket's code, used a sticking charm on the back of my jacket to keep her secured, and that left my arms free. I scooped Akira up in my arms into a princess carry and her face flushed to a bright red and she ducked her head to try and hide it.

Surprisingly, I now had two jealous looks from Switch and Trinity. There was nothing I could do about them, so I ignored them and walked up the stairs as if the two girls I carried weighed nothing. Both girls noticed and looked pleased that they weren't a burden, with Saga visibly enjoying the ride and Akira hugged her laptop to distract herself from being carried like she was.

Since I had already briefed the two girls on what the process was going to be like, Morpheus didn't need to use the other room for a personal encounter with each of them to give the recruitment speech. Although, he did say that everything I told them was the truth as we entered the side room with all the equipment.

Neither girl looked surprised by the setup and I waited for the crew to go to their assigned stations. The only difference was Mouse. Since he wasn't normally involved in this part, he picked up the landline and dialed the number to the operator on the ship. It only rang for a second before it was picked up.

“NEO IS WORKING WITH THE AGENTS!” Tank's voice filled the room, despite the phone not having the capability to do that.

Mouse's mouth dropped open and he dropped the phone's receiver as Trinity, Switch, Cypher, and Apoc drew their guns and pointed them at me, which also pointed them at the girl I had in my arms. Saga's arms tightened around my neck instead of letting go and Akira didn't react, except to glare at Trinity, whom was closest.

Morpheus looked shocked and didn't move for a weapon. He reached up and pulled off his sunglasses to give me a disappointed look. “Neo, tell me it isn't true.”

“Do you want me to lie?” I asked him and he sighed.

“Why?” Morpheus asked.

“I'm maintaining my cover, of course.” I said and his eyebrows raised. “Remember how they recruited me? And why?” I asked and he looked confused. “Oh, right. You can't see inside the Fed building. Well, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.” I looked at Trinity. “Remember the tracking bug? They don't hand those out to just anyone, you know.”

“We gave it to someone else and then removed you from the system right afterwards.” Trinity said with a sigh. “You were both logged out and their tracker was still active and they obviously noticed.”

I chuckled. “As soon as I popped back up on the grid. They wrecked my active cell phone's signal and confronted me.”

“Which Tank watched and couldn't hear, because your phone was scrambled.” Apoc said.

“Yes, since the monitors for the Matrix are not capable of sound.” I said and he nodded. “I couldn't use my backup phone until they left and were done with their alteration to the system...”

Trinity, Switch, Apoc, and Cypher took out their active phones and tried them, only to get static. Morpheus sighed and crushed it, while the other three discarded and dropped them. “Tank, load in backups for us.”

A minute later, four cell phones appeared on the table around the landline. They picked them up and turned them on, and received normal signals.

“We must be careful of that alteration in the future.” Morpheus said and closed it and put it into his pocket.” He turned to look at me. “What did you talk about?”

“The resistance, of course. What else?” I asked and he nodded. “He thinks I'm infiltrating your organization, as if you're the leader...”

The others let out laughs at hearing that.

“...and I didn't dissuade him of the notion.” I said and smirked. “I even told him his plan was working even better than he thought it would, because I managed to successfully join the resistance and even became part of your personal crew.”

Morpheus smiled and looked pleased. “You're stringing him along and he's letting you operate freely, because he believes you are working for him.”

“It was the best way to keep him happy, keep me alive, and maintain my access with little to no oversight by the system's enforcers.” I told him.

“That's good. That's very good.” Morpheus said and motioned to the others, whom lowered their guns. “You've become an information source for them that we can use to feed them the information we want them to have.”

I didn't correct his assumptions, because it was working out for me. I would be feeding the agents information, only it would be real, thanks to my assumption of the Oracle's position. She would have information programs and things set up for things like that and I would need to visit again soon to handle all of that.

I was going to need help of some kind to handle it all, not to mention installing appropriate rules and regulations. I'd have to think about what I could do after we leave the Matrix. Trying anything now without any prep work would be a huge mistake. I wasn't behind the Oracle's safety firewall right now.

“One more thing.” I said and the entire room grew excessively hot and everyone but Mouse, Morpheus, and the girls in my arms felt gravity increase by five times and they cried out in shock and dropped to their knees. “If you ever aim guns at innocent people near me again, I'll ensure you never enter the Matrix to endanger them ever again.”

“Neo.” Morpheus said as he watched Trinity, Switch, Cypher, and Apoc collapse under the heavy pull. “That's not necessary.”

“It is.” I said and walked over to Trinity. “It's one thing to keep me under guard when you think I'm a danger to you. I would have accepted that easily. Aiming at a teenager with the thought of shooting through them to get to me? That's a hard no on my part and you will never do that again.” I increased gravity again and the four of them grunted.

“Neo!” Mouse exclaimed. “That's enough! Their brains are making their physical bodies feel that, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember.” I said and cancelled the alteration.

All four of them let out sighs of relief. They also stayed on the floor and groaned with remembered pain.

“Mass Heal.” I said and everyone in the room glowed gold and sucked in sharp breaths.

Mouse's words were barely squeaks. “That... that was... a Ninth Level spell from D&D.”

I didn't correct him and say it was a spell I had leaned from a magical elf from Danmachi. It was called something different; but, this was the Matrix and I could do whatever I wanted like renaming a spell and applying its effects in a limited area.

“I don't want anything going wrong with either Saga's or Akira's extractions. I need everyone at their best.” I said and walked back over to the chair I had sat in, then whispered softly. “I'm sorry, Akira. I have to put you down to let Saga be hooked up to the monitoring machines.”

Akira blushed and nodded, so I stood her beside the chair and then knelt as I undid the things I did to let Saga stay attached to my back and be supported.

“I don't wanna let go.” Saga said and held on tighter. “That adventure was scary.”

Everyone in the room looked guilty as I sat down on the floor and waited. Saga only loosened her grip enough to move around to the front and sat on my lap to hug me. I didn't say anything and just sat there as I held her and pet her hair. She might have thought she was a big girl, with her age approaching being a teenager; but, she was just as susceptible to being nervous and scared like everyone else was.

“Akira?” I asked after a few minutes.

The Asian teen nodded and handed me the laptop and sat down on the chair. The crew hooked her up to the various machines and Mouse picked up the landline. He hung it up and it rang. He picked it up and used it to log out. Morpheus hung it up and hooked it back into the machines used to follow the trace program, then he reached into his pocket and pulled out the small case with the pills in them.

“We don't need that.” I said and reached up and took Akira's hand. I copied the Oracle's connection attempt with Akira's avatar and she sucked in a sharp breath as she felt me do it. “Apoc, here it comes.”

Apoc watched his laptop and was surprised that he was actually getting a signal. “Neo, how are you doing that?”

“Once I did it once, it's easy to do it again.” I said and kept toggling the input output carrier wave to let Apoc zone in on the location of Akira's body in her bio-pod. “Remember my advice, Akira. Don't panic. Let the doc-bot disconnect you, hold your breath, let the hoses disconnect, and then go with the flushed fluid. I'll be right there at the end of the ride waiting for you.”

“There's no change in her status.” Trinity said, her voice full of disbelief.

“All clear here.” Switch said from the signal monitoring station.

“Lock! I got her!” Apoc exclaimed. “Somehow, I got her.”

“Tank, send the signal!” Morpheus said into his cell phone.

“See you soon.” I said and Akira changed to green code and faded away. “Saga?”

“I know.” Saga said and reluctantly let me go. She stood up and looked around, decided she didn't want anyone else to comfort her, and sat in the chair. “Hurry back.”

“I will.” I promised and went to the landline. I hung it up, disconnected it from the machine, and let it ring. I picked it up and logged out.

Tank pulled the brain spike from my head and I hopped out of the chair and avoided his punch.

“I don't have time for this.” I said and slapped his second punch away, then jabbed my fingers into his side and he hissed and dropped to his knees. “That's a pressure point not included in the Jujitsu instructions.”

Tank clutched at his side and stayed there on the floor.

I ran over to the ladder, slid down to the bottom of the ship, and ran over to the bottom hatch and the grapple hook there. I hit the intercom button. “Dozer, tell me when we're in position!”

“We're there!” Dozer said and I felt the ship come to a stop.

I hit the release for the hatch and the grapple, grabbed the grapple, and jumped. I splashed into the water and stayed under the surface as I looked for where the water was being disturbed. It was twenty feet away and I swam over and waited, still under the water. I felt her and swam back slightly and Akira's thin frame splashed down into the water. She had a panicked look on her face as her arms flailed, then she froze for a second when she saw me right there. A second after that, she grabbed onto me and held on with all her weakened strength.

I gave her a basic upgrade package and her grip tightened. I brought us up to the surface and swam over to where the grapple was in the water. I stood on it and held the cable with one hand and cradled her with my other arm. Dozer's face appeared in the hatch a moment before the grapple activated. We were pulled up into the ship and Dozer frowned at me.

“He tried to punch me twice.” I said and Dozer nodded and handed me a blanket. “He's only temporarily disabled.”

“I know.” Dozer said and closed the hatch. “We need to get back to the starting location for the next trace.”

I nodded and he ran for the cockpit and I brought Akira to the medical bay. “I'm going to put you to sleep, so you won't have to be conscious as you wait for me to come back, okay?”

“My... laptop.” Akira mumbled.

I chuckled. “I'll load a file compressor before I log back in. I'll have it ready for you beofre I wake you back up.”

Akira nodded. “Thank... you.”

I put her to sleep and tucked her into the blanket and laid her on the medical table. I cast a warming charm on the blanket and the bed, then ran for the login setup. Tank glared at me and I hit the opposite pressure point to release the coiled tension I caused to his muscles, like a charlie horse.

“I'm not apologizing. You were going to delay me being there for her.” I said and gripped him by the throat and picked him up to dangle his feet a foot above the floor. “Don't you ever come between me and my duty.” I shook him and glared at him. “Do you understand?”

Tank nodded and I shook him again as he choked.

“Say it!” I shouted.

“I... understand.” Tank growled out.

I let him go and went to the station I used to log in and loaded in the files I needed. “Good. I'm trying to save everyone and I can't have you working against me.”

“You're playing both sides.” Tank said and rubbed his neck with one hand and his side with the other.

“No, I'm playing three sides.” I corrected him and he looked surprised. “Soon to be four.”

“Wh-what? But... what...” Tank stammered.

“You don't have the clearance to know that.” I said and laid down on the barber chair. “Hell, Morpheus doesn't have the clearance for it.”

Tank stared at me as if he didn't know what to say.

“Load me up.” I said and closed my eyes. “I have my daughter to rescue and she's nervous enough as it is waiting for me to get back.”

Tank picked up the brain spike and frowned at me.

“You can punch me after I'm loaded in. I won't feel it.” I said, giving him permission.

Tank nodded and loaded me back into the Matrix.