Hotel Ambush

“	They cut the hardline. It's a trap! Get Out! ”
― Tank to Mouse[src]

The Hotel Ambush is an event from The Matrix where the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar, after Cypher divulges their location to Agent Smith, battle against Agents while attempting to escape from the Matrix.

Prelude

The Oracle's Message

“	You're going to have to make a choice. In one hand, you'll have Morpheus' life, and in the other, you'll have your own. One of you is going to die. Which one will be up to you. I'm sorry, kiddo, I really am. You have a good soul and I hate giving good people bad news. ”
― The Oracle to Neo[src]

Morpheus takes Neo back into the Matrix to see The Oracle in hopes of making Neo accept his destiny. The crew use the Lafayette Hotel as their launching pad for the operation and leaves Mouse, Switch, and Apoc to secure the hotel and their exit. Meanwhile, Cypher, Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity head for The Oracle but, unbeknownst to the rest of the crew, Cypher has deliberately left his phone behind, using it as a homing beacon for the Agents to find.

During Neo's visit to The Oracle, discussions about his identity are had and he is warned that, sometime soon, he will have to make a choice between saving Morpheus or saving himself. The Oracle then offers him a cookie and tells him that once he finishes eating it, that he will feel "right as rain." Neo then finds Morpheus waiting outside and is sternly told not to share with anyone else anything that The Oracle had personally shared. Morpheus then leads the way back and Neo takes a bite out of the cookie before following suit.

The Ambush

Struggle to Escape

“	That's what they changed! We're trapped! There's no way out! ”
― Cypher[src]

The operatives re-enter the hotel and ascend through the stairs while Mouse awaits them in the room with the hardline on the upper floor levels. Looking around while going up, Neo notices a black cat standing under an adjacent exit as it slowly walks past and disappears into the hall. Ignoring the sight, Neo is about to make the turn up more flights of stairs when his attention is caught once again by an identical black cat under the same exit. Repeating the same motions, it too slowly walks past the same path and disappears into the hallway.

Trinity hears Neo fascinatingly express a "déjà vu". This immediately concerns her and she asks for Neo to confirm what he just saw, explaining how a déjà vu is often a glitch caused by a change in the Matrix code. Hearing the sounds of a chopper hovering nearby, Morpheus orders everyone to hurry up.

Recognizing that a trap has been sprung for the Nebuchadnezzar operatives, Tank phones Mouse about the hardline being cut and how he needs to escape. Panicking, Mouse runs to the nearest window only to realize that there was instead a solid wall of bricks where the window was supposed to be. Seeing no immediate escape, Mouse opens his weapon case and equips himself with his two favorite weapons, poising himself to fire just as a SWAT team breaks through the doors. An array of bullets quickly go off from both sides and Mouse is killed in action.

A few levels down, the rest of the crew hear the crossfire from above while also becoming aware of another SWAT team coming from the ground. Quickly pivoting to escape through one of the windows, Morpheus only finds a wall of bricks. Cypher then laments how the Agents must have changed up all windows at the hotel into walls.

Morpheus immediately asks Cypher for his phone. Cypher scrambles at his pockets so Trinity readily hands hers to. Ignoring the dangers of the call getting traced, Morpheus contacts Tank and asks for information of the building schematics. He then leads the way to the eighth (8th) floor.

Morpheus finds a restroom and the crew immediately proceeds to crawl through a small hole in the far wall. Quietly descending behind the walls, they make it at least a floor down before being discovered by a SWAT officer who hears Cypher sneeze.

The officer starts firing at the source of the sound and Neo grabs his sidearm and blindly shoots back through the walls. The officer is forced to take cover but is then possessed by Agent Smith who proceeds to walk into the wall and punch both arms through it, grabbing Neo.

Watching Neo struggle to break free, Morpheus launches himself against the wall and crashes down into the Agent, pinning him to the ground. Morpheus then orders everyone to flee and take Neo. Neo is hesitant to just leave but Trinity grabs hold of Neo's ankle and pulls him down.

Reaching the boiler room where more law enforcement was waiting for them, police officers fire at the crew as Apoc and Switch are quick to fire back, pinning the police from moving forward and forcing them to respond with smoke grenades. Trinity uses the low visibility as an opportunity to open a grate from the floor then orders everyone to escape through it.

Cypher looks at Trinity with worry and dives to the floor just as more officers appear behind him. Trinity is left with no choice but to leave Cypher behind and the remaining operatives escape to the streets of Mega City.

Battle with Agent Smith

“	The great Morpheus. We meet at last. ”
― Agent Smith[src]

Back in the restroom, Agent Smith greets Morpheus before forcing himself free of Morpheus' pin. Morpheus then resorts to headbutting Agent Smith but the Agent reciprocates with his own headbutts thrice over before throwing a forceful punch that sends the stunned Morpheus flying into the wall.

Agent Smith prepares to fight within the small confines of the restroom and Morpheus tries to recover quickly enough from the wall to start throwing alternating kicks and punches. The Agent blocks the first few and simply braces through the rest before punching Morpheus' hand away, chopping at both sides of his neck, and delivering a straight that sends Morpheus crashing into the porcelain toilet and hunched into the ground. Agent Smith then kicks Morpheus up and sends him crashing into another wall. Morpheus bounces back up, struggling to reorient himself once again into the offensive. This pattern of exchange then continues with Morpheus now and then landing a few attacks which the Agent simply powers through as he lands more attacks of his own, cornering Morpheus into the defensive.

Morpheus is forced to block and dodge many of the Agent's attacks but soon finds himself jumping up to escape the barrage of blows from Agent Smith. Holding himself high in the corner, he leverages his hold on the walls in an attempt to kick back but the Agent simply grabs his kick and proceeds to loudly slam Morpheus back into the ground, ending the fight with Morpheus no longer able to continue.

Agent Smith then orders the SWAT team to take him in. Several officers quickly move into the restroom and attempt to restrain Morpheus who somehow manages to throw a few more punches but is soon swarmed and beaten into submission before being constrained and captured.

Aftermath

Cypher's Fall

Trinity: Goddamn you Cypher. Cypher: Don't hate me Trinity. I'm just a messenger.

The rest of the crew make their way to the streets of Mega City and away from the hotel in search for another exit. Cypher meanwhile contacts Tank through a payphone and asks for an exit- making an excuse that the police vehicle transporting him had exploded which is how he had been able to escape. After receiving the coordinates, Cypher hurriedly proceeds to extract himself out of the Matrix.

After gaining some distance, Trinity calls Tank and asks for an exit. Cypher, now back in the Real World with Tank, asks for the location of his team mates. Not waiting to get caught, Cypher grabs a lightning rifle and fires at Tank, dislodging him from his operator chair and into the ground. Dozer charges at Cypher to try to stop him but Cypher quickly changes target and shoots Dozer, killing him at point blank range.

Back in the Matrix, Trinity and the rest of the operatives reach their new exit only to find that the hardline has stopped ringing. Trinity calls Tank but is surprised when Cypher answers. Cypher then confesses his treachery and how much he hated Morpheus for apparently misleading him. He then forcibly rips out the connections from Switch and Apoc's headjacks, killing them instantly.

Taunting Trinity the entire time as he walks through how he plans to unplug Neo next, Cypher is distracted from noticing Tank regaining consciousness and picking up the lightning rifle. Tank then calls out Cypher before shooting and killing him.

Resolution

“	I believe I can bring him back. ”
― Neo[src]

Trinity and Neo returns to the Real World and mourn with Tank over their dead crew mates. They also grieve over the captured Morpheus and consider how the Agents will soon break his mind and gain the access codes to the Zion mainframe. Tank then takes the responsibility of having to unplug Morpheus before they face direr consequences.

However, Neo stops Tank and shares how The Oracle had told Neo that this would happen. Believing that he can still make a choice, Neo then decides to jack back into the Matrix. Trinity then starts preparing beside him as she shares in his resolve to rescue Morpheus.

Appearances

• The Matrix
• The Matrix: Path of Neo

See also

• Rescue of Morpheus

References