"THE MATRIX RELOADED" (2003)

Passing through :che two-dimens"i_:,r:211 sheet of code th21t formed tie main title, we enter a tr.ree--dirnensional wcrld cf code.

Drifting through a universe built ent.i"rely c:>f p;1ospl!o1ebce11t characters, we begin to sense shapes.

The enormous teeth of slow grinding gears drive a vast green scintillant kaleidoscope cf churning cogs and ratcheting springs co:rnected to--

Two immense armat•-1res Jutting :::rorn a central shaft that, as we glide away from coalesce, becoming the hands of--

A punch clock.

2 I'.'lT. REM OF REROUTING FACILITY - SECURITY BUNKER - NIGHT 2 *

Just as the minute hand clicks over to rnidniqht, a man's hand sweeps in, forcing a :.ime card into the clock's gullet.

Ka-chunk.

-'IAN See you tomorrow.

A group of security guards have punched out, their shift over.

The city power grid maintenance and routing faci::.ity.

The off ::l.uty guards exit into a main courtyard in front of the seventy-story b"-1il::l.ing that is smeared with yellow-green security klieg ::.ight.

The four men head for a ramp that leads down into an underground parking structure as a motorcycle revs with a scream of rubber in the distance.

One guar::l. pauses, looking up over his shoulder and beyon::l. the eight-foot cinderblock perimeter wal::., at the uppermost level of the parking garage across the street as he hears--

The sound of the sl:rieking engine rise, amplified in the concrete canyon, escalating toward the inevitable.

The other three sec•-1rity guar::l.s turn almost simultane0"-1sly as the big black metal beast leaps into the open air above. It hangs in space for a moment, flying si:rreally, the rider, a black vinyl-clad valkyrie.

They watch in disbelief as she pushes off tr1e bike, still ir, mid-air, somersaultic1g backwards--

Landing hard jn the driveway Just as the motorcycle crashes -::hrough the roof of the security station.

Ka-:Ooom!

The security bunker comes apart like wet cardboard, its walls separating against the furiously expandlr.g fireball.

The woman rises, b3cklit by the twisti:-:ig sq·.1all of flame, hot debris raining into the courtyard.

The four men claw fer :.heir weapons as she is suddenly on top of them, a shadowy wraith, slippery fast. She leaps into the air.

A scissorir.g jack hammer kick crushes one guard's windpipe, her other foot caving in the jaw of a second.

Desperate shots ring cff the asphalt around her as she lands and rolls. She plants a foot, spin:-:iing back at the gunman, kicking a smoking 2x4 of:: the ground at hi!'.1..

And in one final blurring motion, she wrenches her helmet off, swinging it in a brutal uppercut at the last guard's chin.

His face shatters like a potato chip before he flies backward, crumpling tc the ground.

The woman drops the helmet and li::ts a cell phone ro her ear.

It is Trinity.

':'RINITY I'm in.

Suddenly, Tri:-:ii-:.y and the courtyard behind her disintegrate, overtaken by the frenzied mass of code as before. It shifts and seethes, a twisting digital mercury snake bed.

We r,.1sh along the writting lar.dscape, whipping through the green arteries of the building I space and time---

Entering a code-b·.1ilt elevator shaft., rocketing s-:.raight up, gaining on the rising elevator, passing through its bottom carriage as--

Sizzli.ng lines of code shoot into the body of: a man, sending an electronic spasm through the code of his body, changing it, overwri.ting it.

The code world reforns.

We realize we have seen an Ager.t take-over, beginning at a code leve:;_ and as the transformation is completed, we see the security guard's body subsumed. The Agent is a new model: Agent Jackson.

His sunglasses snap into place just as the elevator dings and opens, reve3.ling--

'.Ir:.r.ity, si::unned for a moment, grabbing for a gun but too late as--

Agent Jackson ai::tacks wi~h a fury, overwhelming her just 3.S she overwhelmed the guards.

She fighi::s desperately bc;t has absolutely no chance, ura.til he smashes her through a wall and before he can finish her--

She's up, finding her feet, diving into the dark labyrinth of the office bu.i2.d.ing.

Aoent. Jackson is .immediately in pursuit., :mnt.ing, ~ust behind her.

She tries to get to the stairs but. the door opens and another Aoent, na.med 1'hompson, steps out, turning just as she dives oi:t of si:,ht.

Agent 'I'ho:npscn i:,au3es, t0'.1ching his earpiece as--

rhe world again dissolves into code and we zigzag through the maze at a blistering pace until--

We pass throuqh a window, looking straight down the face of a wall of streainir:g code; a waterfail of geo:netric perspective that again re-forms.

We ,;.l.:,w into a steady descent alone; t:ce smooth perfect glass face of the skyscraper, staring at. the lights of traffic far be.low c.nt.il---

KE-RASF:l

Trinity exp.lod2s out into the air, high above ::he street.

The shards of glass float around her, twinkling .:..n the night. As she falls, she twists her body, lifting her gur.s, aiming back toward the window she Jumped from--

At another Agent named Johnson now leapin9 a::ter her, firing * as he falls.

Trinity's g:.ms light up and we enter Bu::._let ':'ime.

she dri::ts by, story after story, the eartt tug9in9 her down as the Aqent's bullets hum around her like a fleet of ~iny zeppelins.

we see TriEity's face frozen in a teeth-gnashing 9rowl, tw.:..n :lames at the mouth of eacr. of her guns, throbbin9 like orange jellyfish. Double-helix ladders of bu:let casings twist up and away from the hot reg·irgi raJ-i D<J gin slides.

Behind her, tie ground closes in.

With their widening wakes, her hail of bullets seem more lJ.ke a bed of spikes whistlJ.ng up to impale Agent Johnson. *

As Trini~y falls away from him, still firing, exit wounds begin to open up on his back, arms and legs, blooming like time-lapse f::._owers.

But he fires a final shot.

It cuts through the space between them steadily like a torpedo and as the world rushes up at Trinity, we see it. enter her midsection.

Trinity eyes widen, her guns suddenly silent, as she falls away from us soundlessly, until--

She crashes or.to the rcof of a parked car; its wheels buc:kle, axles snapping beneath it, and as the windows detonate in a cacophonous thunder clap--

Neo awakes, his eyes snapping open.

In the darkness, the Nebuchadnezzar whispers a low unending murmur.

Slowly, he lifts hi:nself from his bed, a sheen of sweat glistening his forehead.

Stepping through the door, Neo looks back at Tri.nity stil::._ asl~ep in his ~ed, the ghost-image of her death burned in his retina.

The Nebncbadnezzar emerges out of a thick frozen mist.

With its grotesque welded scars and steel plate patch work, it looks to have seen better days, though it still blisters by in a crackle of electromagnetic afterburn.

A man's sure hands grip the controls of the immense machine, guiding it with a practiced ease.

We recognize the voice immediately.

Morpheus pilots the ship, staring down the black bore of sewer pipe at something perhaps only he can see.

Link sits in the co-pilot seat, anxiously studying the holographic radar.

The Nebuchadnezzar weaves through a series of tributaries until reaching a large crack in the pipeline.

The ship spins gracefully, slipping up inside the jagged opening before nestling into the hidden pocket of rent, stratified earth.

Both men work quickly, shutting down the ships main operating power. As the cockpit grows quiet and dark, Link softly sighs with relief.

Neo sits in the darkness of the empty galley, steam rising from a hot drink between his hands.

He looks up to find Trinity at the door.

Neo shakes his head as she sits down beside him. She touches his hand.

She knows there is something he is unable to say.

Link enters.

A tough looking woman tosses a pile of thermal photographs and corresponding data across a table.

Her name is Niobe, Captain of the Logos, the fastest ship in the fleet.

The Captains and First Mates of every crew have gathered in a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the city's main transit system.

Hard and dangerous looking men and women lurk around the long folding table that sits in the center of the room, awash in pools of light from hanging hooded bulbs. Representatives from twelve different ships, all in all totalling forty-two.

At each entrance, a guard hovers, cradling a large automatic weapon.

TIRi\NT What about the scans from the Osiris?

They turn as Morpheus emerges from a long brick corridor, his sunglasses floating in the darkness like alligator eyes.

Trinity and Neo enter with him.

They exchange something private in their looks.

Neo cocks his head as if sensing something in the shadows.

] 6

1-'.ORPHKJS I think we sho:.,ld proceed as ordered, however, I rr.usc: ask one of you for help.

Trinity turns to Neo who is staring out over his shoulder into the dark and whispers to hirr ..

NE:O I don 't kn01, ...

WRPHE'JS Some of you believe as I believe. Some of you do not. 'I'hose that do, know that we are ne3.r.i.ng the end of our struggle and t.ha:: the prophecy will scon be fulfilled. B•.1t before it car. be, the Oracle m.1st be consulted.

Neo rises and slips away from t~1e table.

BALLARD * Bullshit., you're askir.g for one of * us to deliberately disobey a direct ord-2r.

11~

Ballard bursts into laughter.

A shiny new four-door rolls down the narrow brick alley easing to a stop, its high beams blaring against a metal maintenance access door.

The car door opens, a silhouetted suit stepping out, crossing for the door.

He knocks once, the heavy steel ringing loudly and a peep slot slides open.

A man named Corrupt looks through the slot, a rectangular swatch of light cutting across his face.

Wurm, another guard, hefts a sawed-off shotgun.

The figure reaches into his side pocket.

He holds up a letter-sized envelope that bulges slightly at its center.

1B

He sl.ides it through the slct t.o Corrup::. w:1.0 peers past h:.Jn to the other figures in the car.

The shadow turns back for the car as the slot snaps sh~t.

Corrupt turns to see Neo running up the stairs, h.i.s ,::;oat swirling behind hio.

Nee pushes past them through the door but 1:.he alley is empty, the car is gone.

Cor:cupt har,ds hi:n the envelope.

Neo tears open the envelope and pours the center.ts into his hand; an Agen-::'s earpiece.

He locks down the alley.

Neo quickly t·.1rns back into t:ie access hall, slamming shut t:ie door and throwir.g the heavy deadbolt.

To:,m! The iron door suddenly bulge,3, rivets ;,oppinq around a fist-siapeci imp~int.

The door shrieks again in another cratering blow and the two soldiers sprint down the stairs.

Neo steps back, as another blow blasts the door from its hinges.

Three new Agents: Thompson, Jackson and Johnson step through the rent opening swirling with dust.

Automatically the Agents reach for their guns, but stop short of drawing them suddenly recognizing their enemy.

Agent Thompson hurls himself at Neo.

Their exchange is an impossible blur, fists and feet used with the bolt action speed of a machine gun. Neo at first seems to have the upper hand and delivers a vicious right cross but--

Agent Thompson catches it.

In the silence of the deadlock, Neo eyes the Agent up and down.

Neo whirls, snapping free of the hold, as the three Agents rush Neo.

Their attack is a devastating onslaught of speed and power closing in around Neo like a vise. But Neo is a mirage, slipping and flipping around them in a deadly counter attack, heaving the Agents in the air.

F.:...na:Lly it is over, Ager1t 'l1 hompson kicked i1;to a lamp post, foldirig him at an unnat:urally 3cut:e angle. The vibrat.i.on from the impact. loosens the glas1= c.>:)ve~ wbich £al.ls, E:xplcding <)Ii the c;rcund, its ed:o fading from the alley, until silence.

Neo scans the alley, peering into the coded curtain fo:ds of the Matrix, sensing sonethin9 hidden Just beyond hi2; s::.ght.

The guiet of the Matrix cl.osir:g in :Jr. hirr., Nee suddenly juJ1ps into the air, soaring off into the night.

After a mo:ne:-it, ":he dist.ant drone of a ca::_:-can be heard. It rises stea:li.ly until a se-: of headlights sweep into the alley.

A pair of executive black leat:ier shoes step from t:,e car.

Cr~nchinq across the shards o~ glass, the shoes stop in the center of the alley where Nee last stood. The scrape of leather 3gainst. brick, tho·.igh, :lees not stop.

An identical pair of shoes join the first.

M..1\.N That went as predicted.

It is the voice of the man Neo "freed."

2ND MAN Yes.

Though we can hear the perspective change as the second man speaks, the voices are so alike it seems the firs-:. man is answer2-ng himself.

We rise up t:ie razor-sharp pleated pant-leg to the m3n's faci2.

Age:-it Smi t:-1.

He smiles slightly as tie turns to an identical. copy o= :i:_mself.

AGEN':' SMITH Wel:, not exactly.

A dark green reptilian Lincoln glides aLong the streetlight- dappled asphalt.

Trinity wrings the steering wheel, one eye on the road, one eye on Morpheus who is already on his cell phone.

Link sits behind the mosaic of monitors at his Operator's Station.

Through his headset, we hear Trinity's voice in the background.

Link swings over, scanning a downpour of code and smiles.

We are rushing at incredible speed, skipping over a choppy sea of clouds like an adrenaline injected hydro-foil.

We emerge from a slate grey cloud bank into the open charcoal moonlit sky as Neo rockets over us. A wake of light-bending heat trails behind him, his coat whipping like a strobic Rorschach test.

He races forward at a staggering velocity, ripping through the air, then banking--

Dropping down through the wet blanket of low-hanging nimbostratus clouds, revealing the vast grid of the city, laid out like an enormous electric fisherman's net.

A guided missile, Neo plunges toward the sprawl. The qround screams up at him and, at the last second, he levels off--

Rolling, cutting, and slashing through the uniformed urban topography.

A row cf tenement buildings opens up before him and he blazes toward one racing at it as if he were going to bore right through it. But suddenly, he twists, somersaulting at the pebble covered roof--

Slamming onto it, sticking a perfect feet first landing.

Neo rises from a half-crouch and starts for the roof access door, gravel crunching softly ~nder his boots.

The elevator door sounds and mechanically grinds open. Neo steps from the carriage, starting down the long cinder block green hall for the Oracle's apartment.

Neo gives a push to the already ajar front door. It cracks open.

He steps inside.

He edges into the living room. A thick layer of dust covers the neatly arranged furniture like a shroud.

Her home is abandoned, its stillness unsettling.

The deepest, blackest tunnels yet seen.

Link is pilo~ing the ship.

A sleek, clean operations system; controllers sit in comfortable modern chairs effortlessly multi-tasking, interfacing with both the apparently real and the virtual. A hologram of the Nebuchadnezzar on its approach to gate three is surrounded by screens that seem like unframed, floating panes of glass with the colored light of data streaming across them.

VIRTUAL CONTROL * Nebuchadnezzar, this is Zion Control, maintain present velocity and stand by.

The operator's hands glide across screens and keyboards like someone playing a musical instrument.

VIRTUAL CONTROL * This is Zion Control requesting immediate stand down of arms at Gate Three. We have the Neb11cbadnezzar on approach, let's open her up.

The darkness is suddenly bisected with a razor's edqe of light. The slit widens, pulled apart by the thunder~of heavy machinery that spits clouds of billowing steam as light pours into the tunnel.

Beams of celestial radiant light guide the Nebuchadnezzar.

L

18 ..

::..INK No place like it.

The Nebuchadnezzar glides in over the heavy battleslnp-type weaponry, several soldiers waving trcm the parapets of t:~e gateway.

The docking bay is enormous, large enough to hold at least nineteen ships.

It is spherical and crowned with four major gated intersections and another e2.ght smaller ;:,arred passages. It is a kind of mechanical heart that once ·.mited the subcutaneous systems of a vast urban sprawl ..

Most of the other docks are already filled as the Nebuchadnezzar spins gracefully towards Bay Seven.

At the center cf the dock, the armored gate control tower bustles with soldiers.

The controller clicks open a connection.

VIRTUAL CONTROL * Copy that.

The real coni:rcl, not as nice as its virtual counterpa:ct; a dark cave lit with glowir.g sticks of pale bluish ::.ight. It ::.ooks like the technology of the Nebuchadnezzar; pipes, metal grated floors and cables like creeping vines crawling over the floor and up the wa::.ls.

~he controller lays unconscious, jacked into the virtual system.

Behind him is his controller.

The bay door opens with the grind of a tank tread's metal teeth.

A military escort led by a man whose scarred and weathered face looks more like a piece of driftwood waits as Morpheus steps down the gangway.

Morpheus smiles as the two soldiers look at each other nervously.

Morpheus turns and leads the escort away.

Neo nods.

Trinity grabs her pack as someone yells.

A skinny, teenaged kid races across one of the bridges to Bay Seven.

Trin2- ~y srr.iles.

TRIN:TY You know what they say about the l:.fe ycu save.

Neo shoulders his bag as the kid reaches them, s~iling but out cf breath.

1{30 Thanks, .::;__t,'sgood to be nack.

Neo starts walking, the kid at his heels. *

20A.

KID * Can I carry that for you, Neo? *

NEO * I can carry my own bag. *

KID * Trinity? *

TRINITY * I'm fine. *

LINK * Hey, you can carry one of these. *

KID * Oh yeah, sure Link. *

The bag weighs almost what the kid weighs. *

LINK * Let me guess. *

KID * I want to join the Nebuchadnezzar. * I know Morpheus hasn't filled the * other crew positions except for * you, Link. I'm sure he has his * reasons but the more I think about * it, the more I think it's meant to * be. It's fate. I mean you're the * reason I'm here, Neo. *

They slide open the metal grated elevator door and get in. *

NEO * I told you, kid, you found me, I * didn't find you. *

KID * I know but, you got me out. You * saved me. *

NEO * You saved yourself. *

Neo slams the door shut. *

36A OMI'l'TED SCENE 36A DMMITTE;:1 ;·

361\

21-22.

The entire room is made of metal. Lock looks up from his computer screens as Morpheus enters.

The name knots the muscles in his jaw.

A makeshift ::..nduatr::_al elevator has been retrofitted into a black overflow pit. The heavy metal gate opens horizontally; rusted rivets bleed down across the stenciled letters: "To docking bay, authorized personnel only."

Trinity steps out, the Kid struggles to stay close tc Neo.

39 TNT. z:oN -- JAY 39

'!'hey descend a wide, curving metal stairweL_ that follows a na-::ural cave that has been widened i.n places; pipes run everywhere, a i-:.::_ndof :nechanized expression of f2.owing water.

The Eound of Liei.r steps fall away as tr.e ground drops cff inco a sheer cliff, creating a waterfall of pipe2.ines.

'!'hey step down or.to a large metal balcony where we find at last, th~ bottom of the rabbit hcle--

Z io:1.

1ns.ici.e what miqh:. have cnce bee::1 calJ.ed a "botto::nless pit" ..1-s -::.he last. h·.:ur.an· ci t.y.

Down the center of this vertical bowel, an industrial tower seemingly hangs from the ceiling, as though roots had grown from a massive steel refinery and bored in among the stalactites and the natural rock formations of the cave roof. Then, growing downward, a geometric tangle of pipes and power lines, it thins at the middle before widening again at the base so that it feels like some huge wire-frame sculpture mimicking a stalactite growing into its own stalagmite.

Spreading out from the core which includes a thick bundle of industrial elevators, is a complex lattice of suspended catwalks and bridges that run to and from the core and around the curved edges of the towering cave.

Along each level of the grated walkways, carved into the rock like ancient cave dwellings are the homes of the people of Zion.

Link smiles.

Lock has had enough.

Lock looks ready to leap over his desk when the door opens. An old man enters whose gentle smile and twinkling eyes belie his warrior heart.

Commander. Captain.

Morpheus bows his head respectfully.

2.5"

Cour:ci1=..or~

HM1&"1N What makes you so sure?

MORP::IEUS Consider what we have seer .. Consider that in the :iast six months we have freed more people than we have in six vea.rs. This attack is an act of desperation. I ;:,elieve that very soon the prophecy w::-11 :Oe fulfilled ana this v:ar: will end ..

MOR?HEUS I do not believe it to be a matter of hope, Councillor. I:. is simply a matter of tine.

rhe doers open.

My step. See you soo:1, hopefully not too soon. Let's 9c, kid.

He yanks the kid off the elevator.

The doors close and suddenly they are alone, they look at the numbers counting down then at each other, wondering if they are thinking the same thing.

They are.

Packs, belts, tools, bags; everything drops to the floor as they reach for each other, their lips drawn into a kiss that they drink like water in a desert.

It is a transfusion, a resuscitation, the sustenance of life.

Warm and flushed, they break the kiss.

The elevator rattles open and her smile slowly dies.

Gathered along the metal catwalk, a crowd has been waiting, perhaps praying, for Neo's return.

He hears his name being whispered along with hushed voices repeating: ''It is him," uHe has returned.''

As Neo and Trinity edge out of the elevator, several come forward offering gifts of homemade linens, food, seeds, and small bits of technology.

An old woman offers a red blanket.

Trinity pulls away from him.

She steps back into the elevator.

Distracted by the group, he looks back but the doors have closed and she is gone.

The metal door bangs open and Link stomps inside.

Two women sitting at a small table turn towards him. The older woman smiles, the younger one blushes.

A little boy and girl rush at Link who scoops them up.

He sets them down and they each latch onto a leg.

Amazingly, Link begins to rise off the ground.

Link is holding himself up with an overhead pipe.

She kisses him.

The door closes. Link smiles, sidling up to her.

She turns away from him, knowing that she is not saying what she wants to say.

She grabs hold of him, not wanting to hear anymore.

It is quiet, no people are visible. Footsteps can be heard of someone racing across one of the metal catwalks near the base of the tower.

Beneath us is a row of shoes and sandals of varying size and shape. We glide along the row as the awkward running overtakes us, pulling us as we reveal hundreds of shoes laid in rows, creating a small path on the otherwise extra wide catwalk that leads into the mouth of another cave.

The kid barrels towards the cave, trying to remove his boots without slowing down.

The Temple is a series of naturally-formed chambers linked like organs of the body all leading to a vast cavern.

The entrance is one of the smaller but more elaborate chambers with its heavy limesto11e d.La~c.1..._;_co::;:rippling the walls.

The kid drops his boots as a procession of priestesses pass, bearing baskets filled with bread and mushrooms.

The kid hurries to the entrance of the next chamber but abruptly stops. At his feet is a naturally formed pool of water.

Ritualistical:y, he steps intc the poo~, closes_his eyes and takes a calming breatn. He steps out ot the pooi, crossing a threshold and then quickly :cushe:3 down the pat:-1, ieaving r.is wet footpri.nts or. the warm, hard ro::k.

A multi-tiered catliedral; cclumns rise around us ,.ike the ribbed pillars of a Gothic age.

rhere is a pool of molten earth; a steaming bubbL.ng pit of liquid fire ~hat is near the core of -:he gathering.

The cave is packed with the people of Zion; a hundred fifty tho-.,sand faces as vari.ed as the rows of shoes, all listening intently to a single voice.

Cou~1cillor Hamann star.ds at -:he edge of a large plateau.

Beneath the plateau is a series of ontcroppicgs and alcoves, creating a ridge or a balcony along one of the sides of the cavern where the crews of all the ships stand.

* HAMANN (CON'I'D) *

Let. us remernlier -:hose that have been lost and let us give thanks fort.hose tl:at have been fouc1d ancl who stand here beside us.

T'hE, kid wedges himsel:: into a small ncok near the back.

HAMAN!, /CONT'D) * Now I would like someone else to close this prayer, .someone who hasn't spoken here in a long ti:ne but w::-10 I believe has something to say that we all need t.o hear. I give you Morpheus.

A U·.underous chee:c: erupts from the th::,uBands gathered that takes a momer.t to echo ar.d recede.

Morpheus ascec1ds the pla.teau, stepping out onto the ed9e.

MORP:-lElJS Zion! Listen to me! It is ~r~e wha.t. ma.ny of ycu have :,ea.rd. (MOP.3)

A sense of panic sweeps through the cavern like a wind.

The wind quiets.

Even the crews are affected by the power of his voice, especially Niobe.

A cheer jolts through the crowd.

A thousand voices unite and become one.

Morpheus gestures and a thunder of drums roils up from the booming cheer and into bodies of thousands of Zionists.

A rhythm that is both modern and primal is pounded out with dozens of percussive instruments that drives the people to shake the fear from their hearts and minds.

It is a tribal celebration of freedom, hard-earned, by a warrior people, joyous and proud, that seems to stoke the pools of molten lava, showers of sparking flame spitting into the air. Among the dancers we see Link and Zee.

Morpheus moves along the alcove until a familiar voice stops him.

He catches the gleam in her eyes.

MORPHEUS

* There are some things in this

world, Captain Niobe, that will never change.

He takes her hand to lead her down but--

She glances at Lock and when she turns back to Morpheus, he knows she is already gone.

* NIOBE

I'm sorry--

He lets go of her hand.

She turns as if uncertain about that change.

Neo stands among a group of crew members as a priestess passes them mushrooms from a basket.

There is a familiar sense of Neo somehow disronnected from the experience that surrounds him. He is, as he was in the club, waiting for her--

And when she catches his eye as only she can, she steals the breath from him.

He moves through the crowd towards her; dressed in white, she is radiant, almost glowing against the darkness of the cave.

They share a quick kiss that is obviously not enough.

She smiles and leans in to whisper in his ear.

As always, he does.

The swell of drums rises like a cresting wave as feet beat the earth, splattering the warm red clay.

Carrying their shoes, they wait for the doors to close. Even when they do, the drums can still be heard.

He shakes his head, looking at his hands.

'.(JEQ ( CO'.(JT' D) * my palms start to sweat.

smiling, she walks towards him.

Her eyebrow cocks like a gun.

1'RINI".'Y I don't scare you a~ymore?

He offers her his hand.

1'RINI".'Y (CONT'D) * They are wet.

She leans in close to again whisper to him.

They k.iss again.

A fever takes hold, a heat that rises up from the molten core, spreading up -::hrough the feet o: shadow covered dancers.

At last, the lovers unite; two bodies c01;pled together ir. a cove of :ilack hew:-i rock.

They lie intertwined on a ,3mall bed, tneir flesh studded by :.he small metal jacks that r'.lark their l.imbs and the curve of their vertebrae.

'l'he liquid f.ire seems ne creating a forge, melting the multitude of bodieB :_r.tc a single driving force.

Neo enters Trinity.

36~

Sweat, spit, and mud fly from the growing fury with the rhythmic slap of naked feet against wet clay.

Two become one.

The cave trembles; the earth seems ready to crack.

A blaze rushes through them, fuses them and in a singular instant both creates and destroys them.

All at once, the drums stop. And--

Neo opens his eyes and, in that moment, the echo of drums fading to silence, he sees--

Trinity falling, her expression at the moment that she knows she is going to die.

He closes his eyes, burying his face beside hers, trying to drive the image from his mind.

She turns to see him.

He touches her face, his hands trying to speak for him.

TRIN:::TY Neo, _ycy.1 ,,,101:. 1 t 1ose me.

She takes hold of: his hand.

TRIN:TY (CONT'D) * Y::,u feel that?

She tightens her hold.

He draws her into hi:n, his eyes ho2-ding hers as we pc1::_1.away in a series of dissolves, leaving them cupped together :'..r,side a womb-.'-ike cove of dark earth um::il--

The dim light intensi:::ies, :::irightening, burning away the room as it ::>ecomes--

One of: the day lights that wash down over Zion. The light is turned of:f, the coils still glowir.g red wit:-i heat.

Morpheus stands on t:-ie ledge of the catwalk ::iverlooking U·,e ur.derground city as the main lights are switched off for -:.he night.

Soon, only small guide lights along the tower and it's walkways are left hanging :.r. the darkness above them like stars.

He turns to enter his room as we rise u;,, d:ci:::ting towards a distant s::mnd, moving past the a:::iove ::catwalk that wipes by becomi~g a table--

65 n,T. :Nm;STRIAL LOFT - NIGH'I' 65

'iihere an old phone is r i.nging.

After a moment, the skylight exploc:es into a tr.ousand twink_::_ing shards as a man c:rashes to the floor. Quickly, he gets to his feet as another mact drops t.hro:.ig'.'l the shattered opening.

:>1.alach:i. a:-id Bane, two cf Captain Ballard's men, train their guns fo2: a moment on the empty darkness c1bove them.

Malachi is bleeding ~rom a gunshot. wocnd.

He pulls a letter from his pocket.

He gives Malachi the letter who answers the phone.

As he disappears, a figure standing in the frame of the broken skylight is revealed: Agent Smith.

Bane reaches down to reset the phone just as Smith attacks--

Leaping down, catching Bane off guard, burying four fingers in his chest before Bane barely has time to react.

From the connection, Smith begins copying himself onto Bane. A gleaming liquid darkness spreads out from the four fingers, covering Bane as the mirror had once covered Neo.

Bane tries to scream but the mercurial malevolence fills up his mouth, rushing up over his face, drowning his features beneath liquid coal.

UO..L.,!',...LJ.(.,..U-...>-1-~-lr,...__...._~,.... rlrfl i ning

All at once, the black shinuueL l11g into his eyes, becoming--

The sunglasses of Agent Smith.

The two Smiths stand in almost perfect reflection as the first Smith withdraws his hand and then straightens the tie of the Bane/Smith.

Beside them, the phone begins to ring. They look at it, watching it ring again, then slowly turn towards one another, the same idea hitting them at the same time.

ss 65

sroi:'_e.

, Bane/Srr.ith answers t.he phom,. Carefu:._ly, as .if unsure what tc expect, he places the pr.one to tu.s ear.

As the sear:..ng electronic ?itch sears .intc his ear, we cut--

Neo wakes, st:al'.'tled from anot.her bad dream. Trinity is asleep beside hin. G•cent].y, as not to wake her, :'le cli.m::,s oct of the bed.

Outs:..de the door, Neo finds more gifts left. for hi.m. 'Chey i.rnmedi.ateiy remind him of his burden.

He walks out onto a catwalk; tiny gui.delights al:._ around hi.m like frozen ti.re flies.

After a moment, he hears footsteps.

HAMA..'lN Would you care for some company?

He sta.r:ds beside Neo, leani.r.-g on the ra.il.ing, faintly smiling.

:-JAMANN( CONT ' L) * It.'s n.ice tonight. Very calm. It feels like everyone is sleeping very peacefully.

HAM.Al\"N - hate sleeping. ! r1ever sleep more tJ-:3.n a few ho1.::.rs. (MORE)

40~

He smiles.

Neo shakes his head.

HAMA,_'JN( CONT 'D)

I love to walk there at night. It's quite amazing. Would you like to see it?

They are surrounded by massive machines in constant motion, grinding and groaning, churning and pumping, giant mechanical monstrosities chained and slaved to the heat of the earth's mnli-Pn rnrP.

The machines continue to labor, oblivious to the two men.

)/ 68

HA"'lANN Of course not. How could they'? The idea is pc1re nonsense. • . But .i.t does make one wonder just what is control?

KZ\MANN Yes, o~ course, that's it. You've rat it. That's control, iEn't it? If we wanted, we could s~ash them to bi ts. . . al thou gr. if we did we would have to consider what woi.::ld happen to our .L.ghts, oi.::r heat, ou~ air?

)lEO I.s tha.t why t~'1ere are n.o younq men en the C:our.ci.L?

c!AMANN Gooci po:_r:t.

HA_IV[ANN There is so much in this world that I do not understand. Do you see this machine here? It has something to do with recycling our water supply. I have absolutely no idea how it works but I do understand the reason for it to work.

He turns to Neo.

The pounding of the machines becomes--

A fist pounding against the iron door. After a moment, Trinity swings the door open.

Captain Ballard is standing with several members of his crew. Malachi has his arm is in a sling. Bane is not among them.

She steps back, revealing Neo.

He hands Neo a disk. Neo knows what it is before anything more is said.

He looks at Trinity.

TNT. Z I::JK -- LINK'S HOME ·- DAY 70

Link is stuffing his things back into his sack.

LD!K Morpheus said :.his is how it would har:;pen. I do~t' t know, maybe the prophecy is -::crue. ~ayoe net. AlJ. I know is that ship needs an operator a'1d right new :.hat O?erat,o:::- is me.

She climbs out of :.he bed, pulling off a stae1ro:_ite necklace from the collection she wears.

L:NK

L:::NK You know I den' t bel.ieve in this st·.1ff.

She p·.1ts it over his head.

She kisses hio gcodbye.

71 DJ':'. ZION --· ELEVAT'.JF. -- DA\' 7J

'I1hE~palm of a hand .i.s 2Je.i.ng· studied 1_lff':.il a knife P8int :races alo~g one of the l~nes, slicing open the fl~sh, let-:ir:q b:::..00C..

Bane sits hidden in the shadowed caves connecting Zion to the dock. He crouches in an alcove, both arms marked with dozens

of knife cuts.

His eyes are animal wide, shifting, blinking, reacting to

every sound, every smell but always returning his attention

to the cut as if using it to focus his thoughts.

Finally, through the tangle of pipes and stalactites, he sees what he has been waiting for: Neo.

Neo, Morpheus, Trinity and Link get out of the smaller lift and head towards the elevator to the dock.

Bane follows them, a shadow trying to attach itself to Neo.

Just before they reach the elevator, Bane rushes forward--

His knife flashing like an animal baring its teeth.

Bane is caught, still too far away to attack, he hides his knife just as they turn.

For a moment, Neo sees who it is that is staring at him behind Bane's eyes but only for a moment.

He reaches out his hand to Neo.

Neo shakes his hand while Bane squeezes the other hand into a

fist leaking blood.

44A.

1 71A

He spins away as the kid bounds towards them.

From his pocket, he hands Neo a spoon.

Neo looks into the spoon and smiles.

Commander Lock bursts through the door.

-

:-, NEBUCHADNEZZAR - MAIN DECK - DAY 73 INT- *

NeO lies back as Trinity plugs him in.

She kisses him and he breathes deep, closing his eyes. We push in on him, then on Link's monitors and at last into--

Where the streets are jammed with tourists and merchants peddling the ultimate simulacra; spiritual and historic symbols, once-powerful images now reduced to plastic, laminated bric-a-brac.

Neo glides down a back alley to the rear entrance of a tea house.

Cautiously, Neo slides open the only door there is, revealing a man sitting cross-legged, bathed in the rays of afternoon light, sipping tea. His name is Seraph.

In the code world, Neo sees his true form; sitting Buddha- like in the surrounding swirl of code, a being of pure liquid light contained by a web of Matrix code that is written in the negative or rather with the absence of light.

Seraph sets his tea cup down.

Neo nods as Seraph stands.

Seraph attacks, his hands and feet striking seemingly all at once--

But Neo parries each of them. The speed of the blows increases--

The attacks and counters in perfect sync as though each knows exactly what the other is going to do before they do it.

There is a final quick flurry which Neo just barely manages to stop.

Seraph snaps back.

He leads Neo back to the door he entered. Pulling a chain from around his neck, he selects one of several dangling keys.

He pushes it into the lock, twists and opens the door. Where it once opened into a back alley, it now opens into a long industrial hallway.

They step into the hall. The door slams behind them.

Link searches madly for Neo's signal.

They are walking down a seemingly endless hallway of doors. It is a very clean, very utilitarian place: a vast network of identical halls, doors, and fluorescent lights.

47 48.

7S seraph nods.

He shakes his head, as he stops at a door.

Using his key chain, he opens the door.

He gestures to the open door.

Neo steps out of the brick maintenance building of a small park. It is stark and urban with gray pebbled stones instead of grass.

Sitting on a dark green bench is the Oracle, casting crumbs to a clutch of black birds.

In the distance, several children are playing on a swing set.

Neo stares at her for a moment seeing her code-form which is the same as Seraph's.

Once again, she starts talking to him before she sees him.

Neo steps around the bench and the Oracle's face lights up.

49~

He remembers their first conversation.

He reconsiders, the choice of sitting or standing quickly escalating into a matter of free will versus fate.

She waits.

He sits.

She smiles, flinging another handful of crumbs to the birds.

He glances at Seraph who stands guard near the door.

She slaps the crumbs from her palms.

She begins digging through her purse.

She offers him a piece of hard candy, wrapped in shiny red cellophane.

Sorting through that bit of Oracle-ese, he carefully takes the piece of candy.

She digs out another piece.

She twirls the candy free of its cellophane.

She pops the candy in her mouth.

A black bird suddenly takes off.

Slowly, Neo nods his head.

He is uncomfortable talking about it.

53~

He is getting tired of that answer.

....

He sighs, no way out.

Seraph signals to her.

From her purse, she hands him a folded piece of paper.

She stands.

She winks.

He watches as they enter the maintenance building and close the door just as there is a sudden panic of beating wings as the black birds seem to frighten at once, leaping into the sky.

Through the fanning flash of black wings, Neo sees what seems like a ghost walking towards him.

Neo rises from the bench.

Morpheus doesn't quite believe what the screens are telling him.

smith walks right up to Neo. Plastic bags flutter, caught in the bare branches of trees like the carcasses of rotted black birds.

A fact that is as repellent as it is undeniable.

He still can't believe it.

He steps closer and Neo does not back away.

Another Agent Smith appears, continuing the dialogue.

Neo turns as another Smith appears.

Agent Smiths gather around Neo like black birds swarming to seed.

He stabs his hand into Neo, his fingers burying into Neo's chest.

___ ;

The jolt of Smith sears into him, his code spreading like a cancer, metastasizing with binary speed.

Stunned, Neo looks down at the darkness that begins to cover him.

Link tries to translate the code that is describing what it can't describe.

Neo begins to panic, fear clouds his eyes.

Focusing the entirety of his will, Neo slowly takes hold of Smith's arm.

The Smiths all look at each other, sim11JtauernisJy experiencing the same disbelief.

The blackness spreading like liquid obsidian suddenly stops as Neo summons a final surge and shaking from the effort, rips the fingers from his chest--

Severing the connection, the darkness instantly evaporating.

The other Smiths immediately attack as--

Neo retreats, panting, trying to regain his center, flipping back over the bench to catch his breath but--

The Smiths hurl at him, hands and fists attacking from every angle, stabbing and grabbing, groping for any hold as--

Neo blocks, twists and kicks like a dervish, desperate to keep them from connecting.

Across the park, a woman with a stroller stares at the fight, nearly paralyzed with fear until--

Her face blisters open, transforming into Agent Jackson who barely has time to grab his gun before another Smith spins him around.

AGENT JACKSON * You?!

Smith jams his fist into his chest, copying himself onto the Agent.

The sunglasses snap into place.

They go to join the clutch of Smiths tightening around Neo, their numbers now doubled.

Neo thrashes at the surrounding frenzy like a man in a cloud of hornets. A crushing kick opens the space around him for a moment and with a heave, Neo uproots a fence post.

He whips it around him like a crude irgaak, cutting huge swathes of Smiths away, metal ringing against bone.

Smith scans the park, gritting his teeth.

Neo spins in time to see Smiths pouring from a nearby tenement.

A man screams as he tries to clamber up the fence surrounding a basketball court nearby, hands hauling him back down, when the fence door bursts open against another Smith horde.

The courtyard is overrun by the seemingly endless mob and their relentless attack begins to overwhelm Neo.

Trinity can't stand it~

Almost buried beneath Smiths, Neo seems to hear her. screaming with Herculean effort, he hurls himself upward, reaching for the freedom of the sky but--

The Smiths refuse to let go.

Together they rise; a twisted knot of bodies uncoiling as it bends up into the air--

Several Smiths slip off, others leap up to grab on--

The last snatching onto the lowest Smith's ankle as--

Neo drags his chain skyward.

The Smiths cling to him, arms and legs wrapped like strangling vines around the trunk of a tree as their fingers dig, gouging, slowly sinking into his skin.

Neo tries to shake them loose, jack-knifing, suddenly reversing his direction as--

The ankle-holding Smith is whip-snapped free--

Thrown spinning through open space until smashing into the glass wall of a skyscraper.

,Still, Neo cannot get free.

Like a devil perched on his back, the Smith nearest his ear smiles.

Fingers sink like vampire fangs into Neo's neck.

The blackness spreads, enveloping his face, one eye covered as the other eye seems to go dead and his flight becomes a fall--

Plunging with his comet-tail of Smiths to the city below.

~, b~ INT. NEBUCHADNEZZAR - MAIN DECK - DAY 91

Trinity covers her mouth.

The chain of bodies smash down, exploding through the roof.

They break through, falling into the center display, toppling stacks of screens.

Neo's eyes focus as the collision severs Smith's connection and he leaps to his feet.

Before the Smiths can reach for him, Neo leaps into the air, soaring through the hole in the ceiling.

The Smiths stand, the image surreally filling up the monitors through the store's live camera feeds.

A woman screams as Smith stabs his fingers into her neck.

Neo is jacked out, Trinity sliding the needle from his skull port.

He nods.

A large circular room with windows near the top of Zion.

The twelve membered Council sits behind a curved table. The Council is mostly women and only Hamann is pod-born. One of the women is breast-feeding.

The room is packed and includes the Captains and crews of every ship.

Flanked by his war advisors, Captain Mifune among them, Commander Lock is addresses the Council.

Niobe sits just behind Lock with her crew.

The oldest councillor answers.

63~

Lock tries to reign himself in.

64~

She addresses the room.

Almost immediately one stands.

There is a nervous silence as the crews look to one another. Bane leads forward to Captain Ballard.

MALACHI * What? You have gone crazy.

Malachi pulls Bane back into his seat.

An enormous clock governs the towering lobby of glass and gleaming metal: a cathedral of commerce.

People clothed in the status quo move through familiar lunchtime patterns.

From above, three figures move across the lobby, disrupting the patterns like an opposing charge through iron filings.

Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus glide into the elevators. Several people start to get on but Morpheus stops them with a small shake of his head.

Neo is reading the code of the building.

..

The elevator stops.

A very exclusive French restaurant. Hyper-nouveau with a deific view and the accompanying tones of ethereal string music.

A slick onanistic maitre d' stops them.

They are led past the power lunches toward the far wall of tinted green glass which casts a money-colored hue over the city below.

A small Indian man is escorted away by a big bald man from a * raised table, where Neo immediately recognizes the Merovingian.

The Indian catches Neo's attention but quickly averts his eyes.

Neo whispers to Trinity.

67~

Trinity nods.

The Merovingian smiles, gesturing to them. He is a perfectly preserved mature man who speaks with a French accent. There is a sharpness that extends through every part of him, from the cut of his suit to his razor thin smile; he is like a surgeon's blade.

Beside him is his wife Persephone; sex and death squeezed into a woman's business suit made of latex.

There are four others gathered around them. Two of them are twins; pale ghost-like beings with black painted fingernails. The other two, blood-drinkers, wearing outfits that seem a cross between a mortician and a rock star.

There is an ease in the postures of all of them, a confidence that suggests a sated animal regarding something it considers its prey.

He kisses her hand.

She smiles, her eyes hidden behind sunglasses but obviously staring only at Neo.

He smiles.

He smiles again, pouring himself a large glass of wine.

He lets loose a string of French expletives.

He drinks.

The wine swirls about his glass.

He aches while gazing at an attractive woman in a business suit.

Persephone's jaw tightens.

A waiter sets a beautiful dessert in front of the woman. The men at the table smile as she lifts a delicate forkful of dark chocolate.

Her lips close around the fork as a luxurious richness spreads through her.

She sips from a glass of water and as she sets the glass down we see her as code, burning white rivulets racing like goose- bumps down her arms .

...

.. I

M:C:ROVINGIAN(CO:lT'D) * She can't understand? Why? Is it :.he wine? No. But what then? Wha:

There is 3. gleam in his eyes as he watches her.

The wcman shifts in her chair, smiling fair.tly, trying to f::illcw the conversatio:t.

She fidgets again, pulling at t:ie hem of her skirt, crossing and uncrossing he::c legs as we see her again as code; a binary blaze raging in her base chakra.

M3ROVD!GIAN ( CCN':'' D) * Beneath our poised appearance, the trutr. is :hat we are completely--

The fire-storm reaches the peak of its intensity and explodes.

MEROVI:lGIAN (CCN':''D) * Out,--

A bee swarm of code flies up from her pelvis--

MEROVl:lGIAN (CCN':''D) * Of---

Cctscading like water down her legs in shimmering waves.

JVc.EROVINGIAl,I CONT'D) * Control. ' ·

Gather:.r,g her purse, sh" smiles politely c1nd riBes to go to ~he ladies' room.

P.EROVINGIAK ! CONT' =iI * CauBali ty. There is' no escape from it. We are forever slaves to it. Our only hope, oi.:r only peace is to ucders~and it, to ~nderstand the why. W~y is wha~ separates u2 from them, you from :ne. ~MORE)

Contempt drips from him.

He pushes away from the table.

Oh yes it is. The Key-Maker is mine. I see no reason to give him up. No reason at all.

With an aifable shrug, he is gone.

The four killers and the large bald man surround Morpheus, Neo and Trinity. One of them reaches for her shoulder.

They are escorted into the elevator. The threatened twin blows a kiss at Trinity as the doors close.

-

,9 99

The elevator dings and they all stare stunned at the open doors.

• me.

Neo looks at Morpheus who smiles and follows.

Her stiletto heels clack across the ceramic tile. A man at a urinal nearly zippers off his dick when he sees her.

He stumbles by the three as they follow her in.

She touches up her makeup, looking into the mirror.

• was so different. He was like

you ...

73~

She turns to Neo.

Trinity whips out a gun.

Neo thinks for a moment, feeling trapped.

He closes his eyes but can feel Trinity's stare. Persephone waits for his lips to touch but as they do--

She waits again and this time in his mind he conjures Trinity, giving himself as he would to her.

Persephone melts from the heat of the kiss, her eye languidly opening to enjoy the effect the kiss is having on Trinity.

Neo looks at Trinity who turns to Persephone.

PERSEPHONE {CONT'D)

I envy you. But such a thing is not meant to last.

Trinity grinds her teeth, her thumb still on the hammer of her gun.

PERSEPHONE {CONT'D) * Come with me.

She leads them through the back of the kitchen, down a hall and into a small office.

She takes a key from her purse and inserts it in what appears to be a closet door until she opens it--

Link shakes his head.

7C '~.

They enter the elaborate foyer of a chateau that is at once modern and classical, stylish though a bit excessive.

A long hall splits a curving stairwell, with armaments throughout the ages decorating the walls.

They follow Persephone, the click of her heels like a metronome.

Two Exiles are draped across leather barca-loungers, watching "Brides of Dracula." They prick up nervously at the sight of the three strangers.

They relax a little.

They snigger at each other.

She reaches into her purse and pulls out a beautiful little gun.

Click. Boom. She blows a hole in the nearest Exile, blood speckling the big screen TV.

She turns the gun on the other.

He lunges for the door.

She throws open a door in the wall of books.

It feels like a medieval dungeon lit by halogen spots instead of torches. They appear to be following the faint sound of grinding metal.

She pulls a heavy iron bolt from one of the doors, opening it. Inside is a surreal locksmith shop; a key seemingly for every lock in the world.

An older Japanese man wearing glasses and a visor stops grinding his latest key.

As they rush from the library into the great hall, the Merovingian and his men charge in through the front door.

Guns leap into every hand except Neo's.

The Merovingian is overwhelmed by what he sees, almost working himself to tears.

A nearly indecipherable string of French obscenities choke him as she calmly walks toward him.

He wipes at his mouth, checking, but there is nothing.

Her smile cuts like a razor blade. She saunters out the door.

The Merovingian tries to gather himself.

The Twins nod and immediately phase. They become transparent, like ghosts, and walking forward, they slowly sink beneath the floor.

Neo nods.

He turns and runs in the opposite direction.

7 ::: .

Morpheus chase after the Key Maker.

hey all open fire, emptyir.g every clip.

~Neo's small gesture stops them dead; a cloud o:: smoking lead

VlEROVINGIAN(CON~'D) Okay. You have so:ne s:.<::'..ll.

-tvNeosnaps open :,is coat, settliog intc a :::alrr:, defensive 5position. ,;;;t( "'i: MEROVINGIAN {CCN':''D) i1.i~- Kill him. ,~, ~J,' XThe dobermen attack. if-, t They are killing mac:iines, every part of them, a weapon ~ delivered with murderous intent but--

Nee is Neo and holds his ground as no one can.

IN'I. THE MERGVINGIAN'S '.:'.HATEAU- HALLWAY- DAY 108 *

Key Maker hurries '::hrough several conYiecting passageways until he reaches a door at the bottom cf several steps.

He searches tr.roc1gh a key ring as Morpheus and Trinity race .. towards him.

They are almost to him when Twin One rises up through the floor like gas from a sewer grate.

Morpheu3 stops arid grabs a sarr.urai sword from the wall.

Trinity rurJS through the ghost cf 'I',1in 'Iwo who just begins to emerge.

KEY !1AKSR Anot.her way. A~ways another way.

The Key t-Caker un locki; the :loor just as i'>Nin One is able to phase back, becoming co~pcreal, lun9ing 2t them as they race through t:h.2 door into--

The lowest level of a massive concrete urban car park which is mostly empty save for the Merovingian's beautiful car collection.

Morpheus tries to slam it shut but Twin One manages to just wedge his arm between the door and the jam.

Trinity whips out a gun, pressing it to the Twin's arm. He looks calmly at his brother who is just now clearing the floor.

Trinity opens fire, blasting away at his arm like an ax whacking at a tree as--

Twin Two runs at the door; diving and phasing--

He sails through his brother, through the door, through Morpheus and Trinity before phasing back, somersaulting up to his feet.

A straight razor flashes open and Trinity unloads a few rounds but the moment she fires, he phases, the bullets passing harmlessly.

The gun clicks cpen and he att.sr,ks--

She tries to stop him, hands and feet parrying the whistling blade but he is too fast--

A slash of red opening in her black vinyl armor--

Stunned, she is twisted into a hold, the razor leaping to her throat.

Morpheus does and Twin One enters with his mangled bloody arm. Twin Two whispers to Trinity.

r-

Twin One phases and his arm re-gathers, re-forms like an idea being remembered.

Morpheus tightens his grip on hi~ gun and his sword.

He fires, his aim true; the bullet sizzling through the Twin's phased forehead but in that instant--

Trinity is able to tear free, drawing her last gun as she does.

One of the cars suddenly roars to life.

MORPHEUS

• He can handle himself.

The battle escalates to insanity; acrobatic, rule-bending attacks and equally impossible defenses.

Weapons from the ages are grabbed from the walls and the Great Hall fills with the sounds of ringing steel.

A series of incredibly fast blows, each one coming with blurred fury, ends when a slash opens Neo's hand. For a moment, everyone is too stunned to move, unsure if to believe it until--

Blood dots the tile.

Neo rises; a Neo we remember from the subway. His jaw tightens, now he's pissed.

They charge and this time he flips up and away--

Landing, his hands immediately begin conjuring, summoning his chi, creating a ball of energy--

That we glimpse in Matrix code, his hands swirling the code, exciting it, heating it into a bristling ball of electricity which--

He hurls at the oncoming attack--

A cannonball that blasts one of them back, burying him in the opposite wall.

Neo flips free again, bouncing off another wall, while his hands reach out, calling for weapons--

That fly to him.

It is now Neo that is attacking and the Exiles that are fighting for their lives.

He is an unrelenting fury which lays waste to anything foolish enough to get in his way.

The bald man is the last to fall. Neo turns to the Merovingian who seems ready to burst into tears or laughter.

Neo drops his weapons as the Merovingian turns to him.

Spinning on his heel, he marches to the front door.

It takes Neo only a moment to realize what is going to happen and he flies at the door just at the Merovinqian slams it shut so that--

Neo explodes through it and finds himself outside the chateau in the middle of some snow capped mountain range.

He rushes back inside.

The Twins rush after Trinity and Morpheus as they race to the car started by the Key Maker.

Trinity dives into the driver's seat as Morpheus slides along the hood and slips into the passenger seat.

Trinity stomps on the gas--

Aiming for the closest Twin who phases to avoid being crushed, part of him passing through the inside of the car--

His ghost razor flailing uselessly at their throats.

'

Neo hears the screech of tires and hurries.

Trinity lays down a smoking trail of rubber heading for the exit ramp as--

Twin Two turns just in time to see Neo racing for the door, a hair too late--

Slam.

Neo shoulders out the back door of the chateau into another picturesque view.

1\6 INT. UNDERGROUNDGARAGE - DAY 116

The Twins climb into another car, the scream of Trinity's tires still audible.

Link is pounding keys bloody, trying to keep track of what is happening. A call comes in.

LINK * You won't believe this but you're * all the way up in the mountains. *

Neo stands in a mountain vista. *

get up an exit-- oh shitl

Morpheus and Trinity and I got no way to get them out. *

miles due south.

Neo cocks himself like the hammer of a gun, then explodes

upwards, tearing across the pale sky. *

Link just lost him.

away shit still freaks me out. *

Trinity's car comes flying out from the dark mouth of the underground garage, bottoming out in a damburst of sparks, tire-squeal filling the concrete urban underworld.

Morpheus dials lonq distance on the car phone.

MORPHEUS * I know. We're inside the core * network. *

LINK * Yes, sir. The only exit I got near * you is the Winslow overpass. *

83A.

-

Trinity hears the word and shoots a look at him. *

shit! Look out behind you!

Before Morpheus can turn, the Twins' s.u.v. slams into the

back of Trinity's car.

Twin One rams a clip into a machine gun, jacks home the first * round and stands up through the sun roof. *

Link sees it all happening.

Morpheus barely has time to say the word. *

MORPHEUS * Down. *

The Twin unloads the entire clip into Trinity's car, pock- * marking metal, shattering glass. *

A hailstorm of debris and shrapnel whistle around the

interior like lotto balls.

She throws the car across an intersection, weaving through * the cross-rushing traffic. *

83B.

Trinity's car slices between a passing truck and the

following car which--

The Twins' s.u.v. smashes through, tearing off the back of

the car as a shark might bite through the belly of a seal.

Twin One, jostled a little from the impact, glances at the * mangled automobile, turns back and smiles.

His brother does the same. *

Link watches as the situation grows worse. *

LINK * Oh no. This is getting real ugly,

real fast--

LINK * Yes, sir. There's an all points on * you. I make eight units headed

your way. *

Trinity slashes through another intersection, revealing a * street with two police cars racing towards them. *

MORPHEUS * Any suggestions? *

Link is pounding his keys furiously. *

LINK * Turn right! *

The police cars swerve into their lane, cutting them off. *

MORPHEUS * Right. Now. *

Trinity cranks the wheel and the car bounds up over the curb * and smashes through a fence. *

L

-

83C.

/EXT. OVERPASS PARKING LOT - DAY 120L

The Twins' S.U.V. lurches after them, followed quickly by the

police cars.

Link finishes guiding them.

next fence and you'll hit a

connecting tunnel to the 101.

freeway, I mean. It's dangerous.

In fourteen years of operating,

I've never seen--

overpass. It'll be ready for you.

Morpheus hangs up.

freeway.

MORPHEUS * Yes, that's true. *

He opens the glove compartment and finds a mini-machine gun. *

TRINITY * You told me it was suicide. *

He checks the clip. *

MORPHEUS * Then let us hope, for all our * sakes, that I was wrong.

83D.

He snap-cocks the first round into place as they race towards

* l

the second fence--

Tearing through the chain link, leaping down the incline,

swerving onto the concrete ramp that delivers them straight into the open maw of the tunnel. *

Link takes a deep breath. If he were a religious man, he

would be offering a prayer.

gonna make it.

If he were a religious man, he might think his prayer was

about to be answered when--

The phone rings. *

LINK * Niobe! *

Ghost and Niobe are climbing into their Firebird. *

NIOBE * We've been sent to bring you in. I * need to talk to Morpheus. *

NIOBE * Where is he? *

Trinity leads the snake of chasing cars, slicing back and * forth across the tunnel, trying to avoid the pummeling * barrage of the Twins' machine gun. *

83E. 120R

iMorpheus leans out the window, firing back, chewing up the

[front of the S. U. V.

r:rNT. COP CAR - DAY 120S

'The trailing police car responds to the main system.

the 1-0-1. Repeat, they are approaching-- *

Suddenly, both cops seize violently as Agent Thompson and

Agent Johnson commandeer their bodies.

Ahead, the freeway can be seen.

84-86.

The Twins race up on her flank, trying to get a clear shot and Trinity pitches the car across several lanes, ducking behind a pickup truck.

Twin One opens fire anyway, blowing apart the pickup, which almost collides with Trinity before cartwheeling into an embankment.

The Agents and other squad cars barely avoid the tangling knot of metal as the chase presses on.

Twin Two guns the car up ahead of Trinity, cutting her off. Twin One turns, facing back, coiling himself.

Morpheus realizes what is about to happen seconds too late.

The phased Twin comes flying out of the black s.u.v., an airborne spectre hurling straight at them--

Sizzling through the windshield, soaring through Trinity and Morpheus like a bitter cold wind before--

Phasing back, slamming into the back seat beside the Key Maker.

Morpheus spins to shoot but Twin One slashes at him with his razor--

The gun falling to the ground.

Twin One unleashes a furious slashing attack, opening wounds on Morpheus' hands and arms slowly overcoming him until--

Morpheus grabs the seat belt, wrapping it around the razor hand, pinning it to the side.

Twin One, scrambling, snatches up the fallen gun--

Morpheus immediately grabbing the barrel as they fight for control.

Trinity looks across the three lanes of freeway as the Agents' squad car pulls up even with her--

Agent Johnson smoothly swinging out his window onto the car hood.

They all watch as he leaps--

Heaving his body forward into a high diagonal arc across the road--

Slamming onto the car between them. Its axles buckle and it careens off, airbag deploying but not before Agent Johnson leapfrogs another two lanes onto Trinity's car in a three point cat's crouch.

The hood craters under the impact, springs breaking, frame bending, metal wrapped in the Agent's fist like a handful of hair.

Trinity fights for control as Agent Johnson holds on as though bull riding, whip-drawing his gun with his free hand.

Morpheus, still locked arm and arm with Twin One, yanks the gun hand between them and pulls the trigger--

Bullets spraying through the shattered windshield but--

Missing the dodging quicksilver fast Agent who twists and bends like a blade of grass in a hurricane.

Morpheus continues to fire as Trinity bucks the car left, zagging right onto the shoulder of the road, trying to shake him.

She slams on the brakes and finallv Aaent Johnson is flunq free, skipping hard over the concrete-like roadkill-- -

Morpheus and Twin One pitch forward, as Trinity pounds on the gas pedal, barely avoiding two police cars that collide behind her, a pollen cloud of debris filling the air.

Morpheus twists and turns, wrapping and snapping the belt around Twin One's wrists--

Grabbing his sword, stabbing it though the seat.

As the blade point reaches his gut, he phases and, without any purchase, falls through the back of the car--

Onto the stretch of freeway behind them.

He looks back, the S.U.V. bearing down on him, gunning its engine as he phases, passing through the front end, solidifying in the passenger seat.

Twin One looks at his brother.

• EXT. FREEWAY - EXIT RAMP - DAY 143 *

Agent Thompson opens fire as Trinity, barely in control * sweeps across the lanes, bouncing against the concrete barrier.

She slices back, barely avoiding the crash drums--

But Agent Thompson isn't as lucky. His squad car explodes against the detonating crash drums, smashing into them, somersaulting over the reinforced embankment in a spine- shattering collision.

As Trinity plows up the ramp, slamming along the curved rail of steel and concrete--

Morpheus is buffeted by the centrifugal force, sparks showering just behind them until--

They skid to a violent stop.

The Key Maker scrambles free as sirens close in, flying up the interchange.

Morpheus sees it is the Twins at the front.

She looks out at the highway below, hope rushing toward her.

She grabs the Key Maker, almost throwing him over the railing as they jump--

Crashing onto an enormous rattling truck, among the motorcycles chained in place to the payload.

The s.u.v. gathers speed like a falling comet, bearing down on Morpheus who stands poised, sword in hand like a scorpion's tail.

Twin Two floors it.

Morpheus flexes into his stance. The car is almost on top of him when he moves--

Sliding to one side, the charging car passing him as the sword flashes, a strike with no shadow.

The back tire explodes.

The S.U.V. careens out of control and crashes into Morpheus and Trinity's abandoned car, flipping over as--

Morpheus spins, guns flashing with instinct speed.

Bullets tear into the s.u.V.'s belly--

The fuel lines igniting, exploding behind the airborne Morpheus, a sword wielding dragon.

The tvJo fleeing T\·Jins are thro,.-1n into the sky as thi?y pha,c::P; soaring away like untethered helium balloons.

Trinity looks back and sees the explosion on the horizon.

Link knows immediately what she's thinking.

151 *

I She turns from the explosion, grabbing the Key Maker.

She leads him to the front of the truck where she examines the first motorcycle, then pulls out her phone.

The call comes through.

The Key Maker holds out a key to her.

She hangs up.

She straddles the big bike.

Nervously, the Key Maker climbs on behind her as she shoots the chain tethering the beast and throttles it. The back tire screams for mercy as she pops the clutch--

And the motorcycle blasts up the last bit of cargo ramp, leaping into the air--

Flying up over the cabin, the driver watching them bounce down in front of him before rocketing away.

Police sirens wail by the speeding bike in the opposite direction.

Trinity weaves through the flow of cars and trucks using them as shields, racing for the exit but--

Agent Jackson targets her in a semi's rearview mirror. *

As she tries to pass the semi, Agent Jackson hurls the truck * at her, running up over cars, almost pinning her against the far median but--

Trinity squeezes through, the truck barreling after her down the freeway shoulder.

And Trinity dives behind another car that the semi nearly

flattens, slowing it down just enough--

To allow her to throw the bike almost perpendicular to the traffic, slipping through the rush of oncoming cars until--

She is going in the opposite direction--

Ducking back through the traffic as if dodging bullets.

From a distance we see her as Morpheus watches, standing sword in hand, black coat billowing atop an eighteen wheeler speeding towards Trinity.

The motorcycle races along the far shoulder until a converging squad car forces her back into traffic.

155 SCENE 155 OMITTED 155 *

Trinity stabs the bike a:r:-ound the f:r-cr..t of the truck, s}i<:ins along the side screening her pursuers momentarily as--

Morpheus reaches down and snatches hold of the Key Maker--

Yanking him on top of the truck.

The Agents watch as Trinity slashes away, dodging up an on ramp.

-

15 7 157

AGENT THOMPSON * She means nothing.

Agent Thompson touches his earpiece. *

AGENT THOMPSON * We have them. *

An abandoned squad car idles on the overpass as the truck carrying Morpheus and the Key Maker rushes toward us.

As the truck barrels beneath, Agent Johnson lands with a booming thud just behind Morpheus who immediately attacks, blade slashing, gun blasting but--

The Agent is too fast, disarming him, though Morpheus continues to fight using every ounce of his strength, every bit of his skill--

But it is not enough.

AGENT JOHNSON

• You have caused enough damage. It

is time for you to die.

The Agent goes to finish him, but Morpheus leaps up and over him, landing off balance on the very edge of the trailer.

Inertia carrying him backwards, he falls--

But lands with a soft crunch on the hood of a car breaking his fall.

He looks at the driver. It is Niobe.

Link can't believe it.

Morpheus points, Niobe nodding.

The engine revs and she circles the truck, passing it as--

Agent Johnson crosses toward the Key Maker. The Key Maker stands and slowly counter circles around the Agent, watching them pass through the corner of his eye.

The Agent's shadow eclipses the Key Maker.

Niobe's car pitches in front of the truck as, Morpheus turns and runs up the windshield, leaping into the air--

A flying eagle--

165 RY'T _ RT~R'T'RRN \f\THRRT.KR - DAY 1 r;s *

Delivering a thunderous kick square into the chest of the Agent Johnson--

That sends him hurtling straight into a oncoming traffic--

Only to re-emerge into the body of the truck driver.

Agent Johnson wrenches the wheel, smashing the truck into Niobe's car, bucking it skittering into the median.

Morpheus and the Key Maker fight to hold on.

95~

The startled truck driver up the road is again corranandeered * by Agent Jackson, who whirls the wheel, arcing the big rig in a wide CT-turn, racing it back against traffic.

Agent Johnson smiles. *

Morpheus sees the semi up ahead, picking up speed, barreling at them.

Link glimpses something in the code.

High above the city, the atmosphere rumbles as though shaken • by a jet's sonic boom--

As Neo plummets toward the highway littered with Trinity's trail of destruction.

The two trucks barrel toward a ballistic conclusion, as Neo rockets over the interstate, a black ICBM.

The trucks collide, head on, like merging mirrored reflections--

Morpheus and the Key Maker drift into the air as meta·l folds into metal, sheering sheets of mercury, glass, and debris starbursting, radiating out like time-lapse ice crystals.

We see the trucks folding, collapsing, knotting together, re- attached Siamese twins--

The back ends rising as--

'Neo slices in, snatching hold of both Morpheus and the Key Maker--

Arcing up and away as the trucks explode--

A gelatinous gusher of orange flame rising up behind them.

Link leaps up, screaming.

From high above we see the wreckage knotted and twisted on the constipated freeways, stretched out like a massive, bloated tapeworm.

Commander Lock moves across the ramparts of Zion Command * Center. *

He stops behind the Operations Officer Wirtz monitoring the * seismic activity of the machines.

OFFICER WIRTZ * It looks like they hit a pocket of iron ore here, slowed them down a little.

OFFICER WIRTZ * Maybe an hour.

OFFICER WIRTZ * Yes, siro

The screen blips; a small, seemingly insignificant thing portending such doom.

We move at the screen until the sound of melting earth fills our ears and we cut to--

1 77

''

The searing red core inside the port reactor of the digger.

Rising, we see the chewed earth converted into molten magma and pressed to the sides, the slow churning exhaust port feeding the excess into ridges that spiral up like the coils of a fossil--

At first red-oranqe and steaming with heat cooling into obsidian slag as we rise along the ridged black glass tube, like the barrel of a gun, emerging into a sewer line, revealing--

The Sentinel army.

Thousands of them, clinging to every surface hovering like bees, chattering as they buzz by, everywhere, millions of red eyes--

Waiting.

We glide over the glittering electric lace-work that drapes the city, towards a singular building, a reigning malefic tower of glass and steel.

We draw closer and closer to the black mirror of its face reflecting the city below.

Suddenly, the mirror blisters; bubbles boiling up across its surface.

Unable to contain its fury, the face bulges and begins to rend, for a frozen moment, it holds, marbleized with veins of orange flame before--

It explodes, an enormous cloud of fire engulfing us.

Trinity watches as Neo shudders, his vision passing.

The crews of all three ships are gathered here listening to the plan of the Key Maker.

The Key Maker nods.

He nods again.

Heavy fences topped with spools of razor wire judiciously surround an enormous power plant.

KEY Miu<ER ( V. 0 . ) There is a power station.

Hidden in the darkness, Niobe and her crew recon the situation.

Niobe continues working through the plan.

It is the central building of the electric company; it is a building we have seen. The building where Trinity falls.

A van exits the main gate, sweeps beneath us where we find a sewer grate. We drop towards the grate until--

Reversing, we follow the streams of green-tinted street light leaking down through the grate to find--

The crew of the Vigilant.

Soren leans forward.

Neo st.ands at a window looking out over a sea of darkness gleaming with urban light.

There is a sound in the room, a constant, insistent sound: zik, zik, zik.

Neo stares at the Key Maker, feeling the plan tightening around him.

He looks back at Neo.

Neo sits alone in his room, wrestling with the same feeling that once drove him to find Morpheus.

Again, Trinity comes to him.

She sits beside him.

101~

He is unable to say anything.

She takes hold of his hand.

We push in at the clock from the opening which reads just before midnight.

A minute clicks off in rhythm with--

Zik. Zik.

Behind Neo is Morpheus and the Key Maker. The sound is the Key Maker filing the teeth of a new key.

The rhythm continues with the shik, shik of needles jacked into crew members.

Link takes out the staurolite necklace from his pocket and puts it on.

Morpheus takes over.

A bomb is synchronized to detonate at midnight. Its clock ticks quietly.

The security guard, sitting behind the bank of monitors yawns broadly as the next shift enters.

The crew of the Vigilant flash across the screen as we sweep behind the monitors, cutting to--

The back of the monitors of Vigilant. The operator and Soren's second, Axel, scan the raining code.

Suddenly, an alarm sounds.

He runs for the ladder, the heavy brace around his knee squeaking artbriticaJJy.

We are drawn closer and closer to Morpheus.

Neo glances at his watch. Twelve to twelve.

---

103~

We push in towards a small metal bolt as Axel thunders, stone leggedly, across the catwalk racing for the cockpit.

As he passes over the rust soaked bolt, it seems to give a little.

His voice is like a magnet, pulling us in.

MORPHEUS

I We have not come here by chance. I

do not believe in chance. When I see three objectives and I see three Captains, three ships, I do not see coincidence, I see providence.

A group of Sentinels begin preparing a strange device they were towing.

Axel studies the hologram, speaking to the operator over the intercom.

Morpheus looks to each of them.

Neo still holds on to her hand.

He can feel her falling away from him.

He tightens his hold of her hand.

There is nothing she wouldn't do for him.

Niobe gets up, obviously upset.

Niobe hits a security booth with the pulverizing force of a sledgehammer crushing a carton of eggs.

A SE'on-rinel hAgins to spin, holding the device, whirling it around.

Move in closer to the bent bolt.

The Sentinel hurls the device.

Axel leaps up, the radar now sighting the rapidly approaching device.

As he runs across the catwalk, the bolt that has held for one hundred years--

Holds no more.

The catwalk collapses, Axel slamming to the grated floor, breaking his neck while--

The operator barely turns his head before a metal strut buries itself in his back, spitting blood across the monitors.

Niobe knows where Morpheus is going.

Neo is almost unable to breathe from the building pressure.

Blood runs down the screen, mirroring the rain drop streams of code.

The device hurtles toward the hull of the Vigilant.

They are working fast, trying to hack the computer network and shut down the emergency systems.

The device hits and explodes; the ship buckles with an orange wound of flame opening as the entire pipe shudders from the impact.

Soren feels it first; his life cut off, his eyes, like a light, instantly dead.

Flame washes over the bodies of the crew.

-

T:i,inity stands behind Link as they hear the distant rumble like thunder.

The Key Maker blows away the metal dust from the key.

Trinity knows something is wrong.

Niobe stands on an overpass, looking down at the power station.

She checks her watch, the final minutes sweeping by.

Link searches for the crew of the Vigilant.

The punch clock, just as we started, the time card inserted--

Ka-chunk--

The bomb counts the last seconds--

Tik, tik, tik--

108~

Shik--

The Key Maker inserts his key.

The bomb goes off, the power station disappearing beneath a rippling silk cloud of flame.

The crew of the Logos is lit by the orange bloom.

Neo looks out as the city lights begin to flicker off.

The Key Maker opens the office door, revealing another infinitely long industrial passageway.

Trinity knows they are dead.

They step into the hall and the door slams behind them.

They disappear from the screen.

The bodies lay silently in the dark as the computers continue their work, activating the emergency system, functioning exactly as they were meant to.

Lights begin to switch back on.

f J 231 INT. NEBUCHADNEZZAR - MAIN DECK - NIGHT 231 *

I Link speeds through a diagnostic. I l I LINK

Everything is still operational. The emergency system is already rerouting power.

Floor by floor, lights spread up through the body of the monolith.

I 233 INT. INDUSTRIAL HALL - NIGHT 233 *

They move past endless identical doors, closing in on their destiny.

Link stares at the emerging pattern.

There is only one conclusion.

Trinity stares at the monitors as if reading her fate.

She heads for her chair.

They approach an intersection.

But as they turn the corner, they find they are no longer alone.

Link's fingers hammer the board.

He pounds enter.

No wings, just three thousand horses clamped between her legs.

The motorcycle surges forward with the scream of rubber burning concrete.

~hP hrlrrPlQ aT the edse Of thP and _hrn--r1P.c:out the night sky.

A black vinyl angel.

Link can't believe it, his mouth hanging open.

A quick slice and dice as Trinity again drops the guards.

Link reacts as one of them gets smashed. The phone rings.

--

Smith stands between them and the door at the end of the hall.

He walks toward them.

He smiles.

Morpheus snaps the barrel of his gun to Smith's head.

All around them, doors b,egin to slam open as Smiths fill the hallways.

112~

Several guards follow a head technician into the main computer room where they find the dead bodies.

Trinity rushes towards the room.

They fall like bowling pins; she is a force of nature leaving a wake of destruotion without slowing.

Neo slashes his way through the tangle of Smiths, protecting the Key Maker while--

Morpheus empties his gun and is then overwhelmed.

Strangling fingers gouge into Morpheus' neck and the black mirror begins to pour over him.

Hurling Smiths out of his way, Neo bulldozes towards I11lor plieus ~

Ripping the Smith from him, severing the connection.

Trinity is behind the computer.

Link checks the window.

-

Neo and Morpheus carve through the Smiths as the Key Maker locates the right key.

Trinity loads the final program, punching "enter." The computer responds, a window opening, "Error: Emergency System Failure."

The Key Maker reaches for the door.

24Q TWr. REROUTING FACILITY - COMPUTER ROOM - NIGHT 249

Trinity can only watch as the failure begins to spread.

Again lights start to die.

Link sees the lights going out.

The Key Maker inserts his key.

Trinity closes her eyes, her mantra becoming a prayer.

The lights die inside the monolith.

The Key Maker opens the door.

All at once, the Smiths scream.

They grab for their guns, clearing a kind of path as they do.

Neo spins and hurls himself at the path, diving as dozens of guns take aim--

Tackling Morpheus and the Key Maker as the guns fire, barreling through the open door--

Rolling up and slailli~ing it shut.

Link almost leaps out of his chair.

Trinity melts with relief.

The entire floor looks like an unfinished construction project. Metal studs frame the walls like the skeleton of a building plan but throughout the doors are finished.

The Key Maker ,tries to get up but cannot. Blood gushes from several bullet wounds.

He coughs and blood fills his mouth.

He pulls the key from his neck and gives it to Neo.

Link sees something.

L

-

115~

She's already moving.

Neo stands in front of a door that looks like any other door. He inserts the key and as he touches the doorknob--

Light begins to pour around the edges so that Neo is framed by light. The increasing intensity of the light bleeds away the edcres. dissolvincr them. snreadina through the entire door until-: , , , " "

Only Neo remains, a silhouette against a nova of white light.

We see him from the side for a moment; the square beam of blinding light emanating from a two dimensional plane as--

Again, from behind, pushing towards the door, Neo's silhouette is dissolved away as the light fills the entire frame and the moment it does--

It recedes instantaneously, becoming a pin-prick among thousands of pin-pricks--

A night sky filled with stars that we drift back from, revealing--

A familiar bank of monitors each screen filled with the same image of starlit space.

We hear the click-clack of a keyboard and the monitors change to the image of Neo standing in a room filled with monitors and as we pan--

We find Neo standing in the same spherical room of monitors, each showing the exact image we are looking at.

An older man in a well-tailored suit sits in a high-backed leather swivel chair.

Trinity hits the elevator button. The numbers climb towards her.

Link sees it but it•s too late.

The elevator opens and Trinity is attacked by Agent Jackson as we saw in the opening, managing to barely escape with her life.

The Architect leans back.

Images from Neo's entire life fill the monitors, creating a visual chaos beneath the measured tone of the Architect's voice.

The monitors unite, filling again with the exact image we are looking at.

All the Neos on the screen speak as one.

A_RCHITECT Quite right. Interesting. That was quicker than the others.

Now the Neos respond differently.

NEG NEO

What others? There were others? *

NEO NEO

How many others? I don't belie-ve anything--

NEO NEO

Answer my fucking question. I want out. I want out.

The Neos respond in a barrage.

We move towards a specific Neo, centered among the others, closing in on a single line of thought.

We enter that monitor and turn to the Architect.

He smiles.

Neo pauses, turning as he stares at all the monitors filled with the same image of himself.

There is a sudden cacophony as dozens of Neos realize the same c:hing.

want! *

--

118A.

Again, we move into a monitor, returning to Neo as he was looking at the monitors, quietly realizing the truth.

Trinity dives into the shadows as the Agents' search tightens around her.

The Architect folds his perfectly manicured hands.

It is a bitter memory still.

He picks at an imperceptible imperfection from his pant leg.

He regards Neo's reaction.

Trinity tries to get to the stairwell but Agent Thompson is already there. There 3.s no way out.

The Architect reveals his final truth.

There is an explosive reaction from the monitor Neos while the one standing before us is quiet.

The raoni to:::s images of in.sidethe Matrix.

The Architect enjoys the moment.

-

One by one all of the screens turn to images of Trinity in the rerouting facility.

He sees her again trapped as in his dream.

The Agents close in around her.

Neo looks at the doors to either side.

He smiles, amused.

i

122A.

<

Unable to watch or listen any longer, Neo goes to the door to the left.

The Architect chuckles.

Neo pauses at the door, glancing back at him.

Neo throws open the door and the Architect is flashed with light before returning his attention to the monitors--

Where Trinity is now found by the Agents, firing and running as we enter the monitors--

Where Trinity is fighting the last fight of ,her life.

Link is watching Trinity while unloading Morpheus.

Morpheus' eyes snap open as Link leaps to his side.

He looks across and sees Trinity unconscious in her chair.

Trinity is getting the sh.it kicked out of her.

They watch, helpless.

The door opens as before but where there was just light, there is now heat; paint blisters, the metal door rattles and where it once dissolved away gracefully, it is now incinerated as--

A raging storm of fire is revealed. A billowing boil of expanding flame shoots through the framework as Neo emerges--

A black suited revenant borne upon the fires of hell--

Flying in Bullet Time as the waves of orange flame crash and split all around him--

Overtaking him.

The explosion of orange cuts the building in half, reaching its peak of expansion just as--

A black bullet blasts free of the flames.

It happened so fast it almost didn't register.

A missile weaves through the concrete urban chasm.

With no choice left, Trinity dives through the window.

-

Sonic booms ripple the towers of steel and glass as Neo sears past.

Trinity falls, fighting to the last until she feels the bullet enter her midsection.

Blood ribbons out from her, unwinding from her ribcage as though held by some unseen hand.

Her body spasm2 1 the monitors erupting with rilarmc::~

She falls away, her expression softening into one of astonishment and loss.

Neo can almost feel her, as he drops with her--

In his wake, cars flip through the air with the swirl of leaves·.

Morpheus rushes to her as her monitors reveal her fate.

Beside her, Neo sits jacked into his drive-chair where we see his grip tighten on the hand rest.

At full speed, we see only a flash of black and then the churning chaos in his wake.

Still at full speed, we see Trinity and the Agent plummet to the earth.

It lasts as long as a blink as--

Neo slices in, grabbing Trinity just before--

Agent Johnson smashes into the car, blood rain covering the

ground while--

Neo explodes up into the sky, cradling Trinity in his arms.

Again, Link can't believe what he just saw.

He lands atop the highest building around.

The black vinyl is slick with blood.

A shudder runs through her body as he sees the bullet inside her.

He touches her.wound and takes her hand.

She grips it, closing her eyes as he pushes into her, his hand entering her body as though it v-.rere a pool of water.

Her body contracts in agony, blood coughing up from an internal injury.

·The pain is excruciating, her grip almost breaking his hand.

We glimpse them as swirling intermingled streams of code, as Neo finds the bullet.

-

Another violent convulsion as Morpheus injects her with a hypodermic needle filled with adrenaline.

Neo drops the bloody bullet to the ground.

As she grabs hold of him with the last bit of her strength.

Her body slumps, the monitors flatline.

The fight drains out of her body and--

Her hold finally lets go. He continues to cradle her slumped body.

He lays his hand upon her.

Again, he reaches into her.

Her code lies still and dormant as his hand cups her heart.

Gently, he begins to coax movement from it.

The tiniest connection suddenly bursts into a spiral of activity, coiling outward, spreading throughout her body which-- "

Leaps back to life, her grip once more finding his.

Her body jerks as the monitors flash back to life.

He kisses her, relief and joy watering both of their eyes.

Morpheus heaves with relief while Link collapses, hanging exhausted from his chair.

'LINK I can't take this •..

The kiss breaks for,a moment as they hold each other with their eyes. She smiles, her voice just a whisper.

He smiles and kisses her again."

We creep towards the Nebuchadnezzar hidden in the shadowy atmosphere of.the dead sewer pipe.

Morpheus is unable to make sense of what happened.

Neo sits while Link bandages Trinity's ribs.

Finally, Neo speaks.

It was all another system of * control.

isn't over? *

Morpheus is lost, searching for a response he doesn't have.

l

129A.

The alarms suddenly sound.

Another scout patrol of Sentinels gather around and begin activating their bomb device.

They all stare at the hologram.

1T1PTl\TT1T1V They're just out of E.M.P. range.

Somehow, Neo can feel what it is.

The Sentinel image begins to flicker as before.

The spinning Sentinel hurls the bomb.

The bay door opens and they bolt from the ship.

The bomb glides, homing in on the Nebuchadnezzar.

They run through muck and icy slag while behind them the device hits and--

The Nebuchadnezzar erupts with flame.

Morpheus turns back, his face lit by the destruction of the only ship he has ever captained.

The ship bursts apart as he watches a part of himself die.

The Sentinels fly down the throat of the pipeline; blood red eyes shuttering with anticipation.

They are racing through a series of smaller pipelines but they are still very far away. The Sentinels pass the burning hull of the N,c,bncbadnezzar, immediately spreading ove; the area.

Neo slows down.

Turning, he can see them.

The Sentinels bank with shark speed and ease,zeroing in on them.

They are almost on top of him, rising up to strike when--

He lifts his hand as one might reach out to feel the heat of a fire and suddenly, an electronic seizure shivers through each of them.

One by one, struck by some invisible lightning, an individual E.M.P.--

That sends them crashing to the ground and as the last one falls--

-

So does Neo. Like a puppet cut from its strings, he collapses to the wet ground.

They kneel around him when the entire pipeline begins to shake. A deafening rumble thunders through them as emerging from 1:"hP d;n:ckness--

Mjolnir blasts overhead.

Trinity is holding Neo's hand. Mjolnir's medic, Maggie, is checking a readout while Neo lies unconscious on one of the medical tables.

Link and Morpheus are surrounded by the crew of the Mjolnir.

Trinity remains vigil over Neo.

Beside him, in a mirrored position, lies another unconscious man.

We move closer, revealing his face.

Bane.

TO BE CONTINUED.