Title: The Traitor
Author: Stormhawk
Rating: PG-13 Warning: Alcohol mentioned and consumed. Do not attempt to drink like Stef or you will probably kill yourself.
Disclaimer: This all belongs to The W Brothers and Warner Brothers. And the Agents, don't forget the agents.
Notes: Sorry - if you've read or reviewed the original version of this fic I have changed it. Don't worry about it and trust me it's for the better.
I did this for a couple of reasons - first I thought the ending was a little weak, it was over too quickly. Secondly I was trying to write a sequel for this but couldn't get it to fit around what I'd written so here comes the updated version. Plus I got to give Stevie a couple more speaking lines.
This version is actually twice as long and a more meaningful story.
Part of my Agents series. Anyone who has read any of them skip this. Agents and Daughter are recommended reading. You need to know who Stevie is so if you haven't read Daughter here is the quick version.
Stevie - Smith's human daughter who was part of an experiment to learn about humanity. He didn't want her to die so they made an uneasy truce with Neo & co to take her out of the matrix.
Word Count: 4227
Summary: Smith glitches and it has serious repercussions.
Please Read and Review.
Stef and Smith were doing their job - killing rebels. One shot Smith but he quickly morphed from one of the rebel recruits that hadn't been freed yet. He looked around and saw Stevie edging toward a corner.
'Stevie, Stevie come here,' Stef whispered to the injured human. Smith was busy holding off the other rebels.
Stevie made it around the corner to Stef, someone's shot, probably a rebel, had accidentally shot her.
'You're hurt.'
'Go, you can't let them find you. Please Stef, they'll get you and my dad.'
'Too late,' Stef froze when she heard Brown's voice behind her.
'Run Stevie.'
'I don't think so.' Brown said taking a step toward them and drawing his gun.
As Stevie ran Stef's eyes flashed in anger and defiance as she made a decision that was surely going to come back and haunt her. Stef drew her own gun in one quick movement and shot Brown in the chest.
She shielded her eyes as the body flashed and reverted to the human he had morphed into.
Stef turned and looked down the alley to where Stevie had run. She breathed a sigh of relief when she couldn't see the human girl - she was out of danger at least for now.
Stef went crashing to the ground when someone kicked her in the side of the head. She rose quickly and saw that Brown had returned. He kicked her again and landed on her face.
Before she could get up he cuffed her hands together and pulled her to her knees by her the back of her head. She tried to pry his hand off her hair but he was too strong.
'Let me go you big jerk,' she spat at him. He responded by kicking her squarely in the back and she smacked her head on the pavement again. She tried to get up but he placed a foot between her shoulder blades - she wasn't going anywhere.
Ok, Stef thought as she bit her lower lip, maybe shooting him wasn't a smart idea. There hadn't been a choice - they would never get their hands on Stevie.
'Smith!' Stef yelled, unsure of what he could do but she still needed help. 'Smith!' He rounded the corner.
'What's the meaning of this?' He said as he saw Stef on the ground like some prize prisoner.
'I could ask you the same thing.'
'I'm out of here,' Stef muttered as she tried to morph out. She swore under her breath when she found she was trapped.
'You will find yourself trapped,' Jones said appearing from nowhere. 'You really think we would let a traitor escape us?'
'I am not a traitor.'
'What is this all about?' Smith asked, trying to feign innocence.
The other two stared at him and disappeared simultaneously, taking Stef with them. Smith appeared a second behind them. Brown was holding Stef while Jones fitted something around her head.
'What are you doing to me?' Stef demanded.
'I'd also like to know that,' Smith said. He had known that freeing Stevie wouldn't end well but he hadn't wanted Stef to pay the price even if he had to.
The device was tied onto her head and Brown threw her into a chair. The world around them changed and they were in a green code scroll room like the editing program. Jones sat at the controls and started to pull up memories.
Every one of her memories pertaining to Stevie were displayed, Stef tried to block them or delete but she was helpless, all she could do was watch. She could move her eyes, she looked to Smith helplessly.
For his part Smith was remaining emotionless at least on the surface. Stef had been around him long enough to pick out nuances that most would miss, she knew he was both worried and angry.
'You cooperated with rebels?' Jones said specifically to Stef. Smith realized for the first time that somehow she had edited him completely out of all the memories about Stevie's release from the matrix.
'Yeah - so what?' Her life was over anyway, why lie?
'You will be deleted.' Jones said as he took the memory device off her head.
'Bring it on,' Stef said as she smirked and disappeared. She appeared near the alley.
'Stevie!,' she screamed 'Stevie!'
'Stef?' Smith said appearing behind her.
'What the hell are you doing here? If you love Stevie and trust me you'll go now!'
He nodded and disappeared. 'Stevie!' She heard something move a little along the alley. She ran up and found Stevie hiding under a pile of trash.
'You shouldn't be here, you should have gotten out. An agent could find you.'
'I couldn't move. I'm hurt, help me Stef.'
'I'll do what I can.' She helped Stevie up, they got two feet before Jones and Brown appeared.
'I found her,' Stef said.
'Stef?' Stevie asked fearfully. Stef shoved the injured human to Brown and they all got into a car and drove to the agent building.
They got out and took Stevie to an interrogation room. Smith was waiting there but they locked him out.
He paced outside, a human habit he had picked up. Five minutes later Jones opened the door and nodded. He walked in as calmly as he could.
He silently said thanks to whomever was listening. Stevie was unhurt at least as far as he could see. Stef sat across the room, apparently not having much to do with the proceedings.
'Your weapon Smith,' Brown said. Smith drew his weapon and held it as non- threateningly as he could considering the fact his daughter was captive not ten feet from him.
Her eyes drilled a hole in his unreal heart, he wished nothing more than to kill the other agents in the room - barring Stef of course - and get his daughter to the nearest exit. Or at the very least to Neo.
'Shoot her Smith,' Brown said.
'What?' Smith faltered.
'Shoot the human.'
'No.'
'What did you say?' The question was laced with threats.
'I said no,' no matter what he could never follow that order.
'Why?'
'I can answer that,' Stef said stepping forward. 'It's his daughter.'
'Mimosa?' he asked, what is she doing? He thought.
Stef drew her gun and shot Stevie. The human girl flopped to the floor. 'That was what they wanted you to do, why was that so hard?'
Smith checked for vital signs, anything that would indicate that this was some elaborate trick. When he found none he stood as still as a statue but tears started to run down his face. 'How could you?'
'Quite easily actually.'
'Tears?' Brown said condescendingly. 'You can cry?'
'It's not the first time.' Stef said nonchalantly.
The world around them changed and they were in the editing program. The real versions of the memories Jones had tried to extract from her were shown. Smith didn't care anymore.
He dropped to his knees beside Stevie and held his dead daughter.
'How could you?' he asked Stef again. Though against his program he had actually trusted Stef.
'It's what I was programmed to do.'
'Programmed? You're human.'
'No I'm not. You just thought I was.'
'What are you talking about?'
'You are stupid. He needs to be deleted soon,' the other two agents nodded.
'Explain,' Smith demanded.
'I was never human, never. I was conceived to seek out weaknesses in agents, faults, glitches and the like. I hit pay dirt with you.'
He said nothing so Stef continued.
'As soon as the faults were recognized they were going to delete you or at least initialize a back up copy of your original code. I requested to keep going, see how far your humanity reached.'
'I trusted you.'
'Just one of your faults. The child was the true test, we never thought any loyal agent could be so pathetic. It was interesting to see how it twisted you and made you go against your programming. Now that that's over it's time to delete you.'
Smith gently laid Stevie down and drew his weapon, he leveled the Desert Eagle at her. She smiled at him as the world around him disappeared as he was deleted.
*****
Stef shot the last rebel dead and turned to Smith who was lying on the ground. Except for his simulated sleep when Stevie had been around she had never, ever seen him this still.
'Hey,' she said as she knelt beside him. Maybe his program had a glitch. His eyes fluttered open.
'Are you.' the next word never got out of her mouth, he rose quickly off the ground, kicked her in the stomach and she fell flat on her back.
He drew his gun and shot her. Before she could morph into another human body or back to the agent building he pulled her back.
Now she was worried, without a human body and not at the agent building she was utterly helpless.
He kicked her again and she was on her back again. He lunged forward, one knee on her chest pinning her to the ground while he wrapped his hands around her throat and started to choke her.
'What are you doing?' she asked as he choked her. Not being in a human body it was possible for her to die by any means that would kill a human.
'Die,' he said through clenched teeth as Stef's world began to dim. She tried to kick him off but he was too strong. She couldn't understand what was going on.
As she felt herself begin to die her quick-thinking brain worked one last time. 'Glitch,' she said before the world around her stopped.
He felt her go limp in his hands as he heard her last word.
He stopped dead as the meaning of the word sunk in. Glitch. In some cases agents could experience what could pass as nightmares that seem as real as reality. Though he hadn't experienced one himself before Brown, Jones and even Stef had.
He looked around the alley, nothing he had just experienced had been real. Stef hadn't betrayed him and Stevie.
He let her go, she was unmoving, never to move again. It was impossible to get an agent back online after they had been killed like this, if it had happened to him or Jones or Brown a backup copy of their code would have been initialized but Stef didn't have a backup copy.
Her code was non functional, there were no.what passed as vital signs for agents. There were no human vital signs as that was basically what she was at the moment - how he had been able to choke her to death. Once dead there was no way to get her back online, this was more effective than a decompile as with a decompile data was merely scattered and with enough time could be reconstituted.
Smith took his knee from her chest and her head rolled limply to the side.
'Dad?'
Smith's head jerked up and he saw Stevie standing there. As in the glitch she had really been in the alley. She looked down at Stef.
'What did you do?' He stood and tried to explain but he couldn't form words. She hadn't killed his daughter.but he had killed her. How was he supposed to explain it to Stevie?
Agents weren't programmed to feel shame or remorse but he felt both. But then again, he realized as he looked at his daughter, they weren't supposed to love either.
He took a step toward Stevie but she backed away from him. 'How could you?'
'I didn't know what I was doing. I experienced a glitch. I.' he faltered, there was no excuse for what he'd done.
'It was Stef. You killed Stef.'
'I thought she had killed you.'
'She wouldn't. How could you think that? Maybe what Neo said about you was true.'
'You can't mean that can you?' Stevie started to tremble, she couldn't comprehend what was going on.
Stef's unseeing eyes were staring up at him. He knelt down and closed them.
'I'm sorry Stef.' Stevie came over and knelt beside her father.
'I miss you dad.' He lifted his left arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. Stevie fell against him.
'You have to get to an exit Stevie. It's too dangerous for you here.'
'She's a program like.like you isn't she? Can't you just turn her back on?'
'It doesn't work like that.'
They stood and started to walk toward the end of the alley. Stevie pulled a cell phone from her jacket and called her ship.
'Laddie, I need an exit.' She listened for a minute before hanging up.
'Be careful Stevie.'
'Always dad.'
Smith heard something out on the street that if he had blood it would have frozen in his veins. It was the sound of the other two agents approaching.
Stevie saw her father's expression change. 'What is it?'
'I love you Stevie.'
She looked him in the eyes and saw fear. Stevie turned and looked for a way to run but there was no where to go.
Stevie saw something, she was caught between screaming for joy and fearing for her life. Stef's eyes were fluttering open. She was alive.
Stevie went to tug Smith's sleeve but stopped when Stef's eyes stopped fluttering and stayed open. It took nanoseconds for Stef to realize what was going on. She rose quickly from the ground and smiled at Stevie.
The sound of the other two agents was too close for comfort now, in seconds they would discover Stevie.
Stef ran full-tilt at Stevie and leapt at the human, as she flew at her Stef's body became flowing code as she morphed around Stevie. Since it was impossible to morph into Stevie since she wasn't hardwired anymore the only thing Stef could do to hide Stevie was to surround Stevie.
Essentially Stevie was wearing Stef as a costume though Stef was in control.
As Brown and Jones came into view Smith looked down at his daughter unsure if there was anything he could do to protect her.
Smith felt like he was going to stop functioning. He stood like a statue and stared at Stef. She had come back from the dead and had saved Stevie yet again.
Stef didn't look at him. Her face was an impassive mask - even more emotionless than a true agent. The ever-present mirth in her eyes had died away. There wasn't even a flicker of her sarcasm that Smith hadn't known her to be without.
For that one moment in time Smith was more human than Stef.
'Mimosa?' Jones said.
'Yes?' came Stef's flat answer.
'Are you all right?' A look of confusion crossed her face for the briefest seconds before it reverted to a mask. Agents didn't inquire if other agents were 'all right.'
'I'm fine. Why?'
'Your code was off-line for two point four minutes. Explain.'
Smith swallowed, a human trait he had picked up. He didn't know what kind of answer she was going to give, giving them the truth could be dangerous, lying might have repercussions later.
'It was a glitch Jones. I morphed out of a dead human and was sent back without being placed into a human.'
'How did you code go off-line?'
'I was killed by a rebel.' Jones nodded, all seemed to be in order. There was nothing suspicious about any of her answers and if he had been inclined he would have stated something about the efficient way she explained it. But he didn't bother - she was a fellow agent. Agents don't need compliments.
Jones turned to Brown and without a word they left the alley again. Once he was sure they were out of earshot he looked at Stef who was already walking away.
'You lied.'
'I told them what they needed to hear.' Stef voice was still a monotone.
'Stef,' he said gently taking a couple of steps toward her.
'Keep away from me,' she backed up a few feet. She shook her head and started to walk away.
'If you don't want to talk to me would you at least leave Stevie in case you get.'
'Killed?' He nodded dumbly. She went to say something but it died in her throat. She left Stevie and disappeared.
Stevie stumbled as Stef left her.
'Is she all right?' Stevie asked her dad.
'I think so, you have to get to an exit.' She nodded and started to walk away, she turned, embraced him then left quickly.
After she left Smith returned to the agent building. He searched all of Stef's hangouts; the gym, her room and even the mess hall that was empty since there were no human recruits at the present moment.
Caught up in thinking where to look for Stef Smith almost walked into Brown. He sidestepped as the larger agent looked at him.
'Where's your recruit?'
'I don't know,' Smith said honestly.
'Is there a problem?'
'No.'
'Is she starting to be a problem like Carol Whitman?' Brown's question was in the same tone he always used but with a hint of inflection that was rarely heard.
'No, Mimosa is not becoming a problem like Whitman.' Smith walked past his fellow agent and tried to think of where Stef could possibly be.
He almost kicked himself when he realized he was looking for her the human way. Mimosa did it so often that it was rubbing off on him.
Require, he thought to the mainframe, location of Agent Mimosa. He waited for a few seconds for them to answer. The answer didn't surprise him at all.
He morphed into a man that was in the street of the building he was looking for. Smith quietly ascended several flights of stairs to a third story apartment. Stef had gone home.
This was why it didn't surprise him, he knew the importance of home to humans. It was were they felt the safest and after what had happened he suspected Stef needed to feel safe.
The door was locked so with a simple requirement he made the lock come open.
'Stef?' he said questioningly to the dark room that confronted him. He turned on the light switch and still didn't see anything.
Anything alive that was. At the entrance of the bedroom he saw Stef's agent jacket. He walked forward and picked it up. He looked around the room, she wasn't in the room.
Scattered everywhere in the room was everything that had made Stef Mimosa into Agent Mimosa. The rest of her uniform had been thrown without care onto the floor, her sunglasses had been trampled on - more than once Smith suspected.
Her ear piece had been smashed with a hammer - he knew this because the hammer was sitting right next to it. Stef had been very angry.
The cupboard doors had been thrown open and a few discarded outfits lie on the floor.
He required to know her location again. The answer was the same as before - all the tracking the mainframe did with agents was tied to their uniform and issued equipment.
That raised a question. One Smith answered himself when he walked into the kitchen. Stef's Desert Eagle had been crushed and was lying in its pitiful state on the floor.
Smith was at his wits end. He had no idea where to look for her. He accessed all the phone calls made from the house in the last hour. There had only been one. It was to a club within a few minutes walking distance.
Having no other leads Smith left the apartment and headed for the club. He felt immediately uncomfortable. Rebels frequented places like this. Rebel recruits were often found in this very club.
Smith had a thought but disregarded it the moment he even thought of it. Stef wouldn't go over to the rebels. She was too smart for that. Besides - what could be gained, it wasn't like they could take her out of the matrix anymore. She didn't have a body in the real world anymore.
No, Smith decided, it was her human side that had taken over. She had freed herself from everything that had made her an agent and was probably drowning her sorrows in alcohol that very moment.
He began to search the club.
*****
Stef was sitting at the bar, she had been drinking light stuff for twenty minutes. Pure Vodka and such. Since it was impossible for her to get drunk it was merely an experience. Maybe she could fool herself into thinking she was drunk and forget what had happened.
'Hey Joe.' She said to get the bartenders attention.
'My name is Carmichael.'
'Hey Joe,' she repeated, not wanting to remember such a long name, 'got any pure alcohol?'
'Of course, there is always stupid enough to try the stuff.'
'Bring it on,' she said with a wave of her hand. He fetched a bottle from below the counter and poured a shot. After the drink was poured he went to put the bottle away.
'Leave the bottle.'
'I can't, it's against the law.'
She opened her jacket and placed a wad of cash in front of him, her last requirement.
The bartender faltered, 'I don't want to lose my job. Just call me when you need a top up.'
She sneered and nodded downing the shot. 'Another.' Sighing but pulling the cash toward him he poured another.
'Carmichael, I need some drinks.' A familiar voice said as a woman walked up to the bar.
'Sure Trin, what?'
Trinity rattled off a list of drinks. She was recruiting rebels - most of the time they shared a drink before hauling them off to see Morpheus. Somehow she was completely unaware that she was less than a foot from an agent.
'I recommend this stuff Trinity,' Stef said as she downed the second shot.
Trinity turned in horror to see Stef. 'Mimosa,' she said reaching into her jacket for a gun.
'Do I look like I'm going to give you any trouble? I was just recommending a drink.'
'What's your game?'
'Nothing - say hi to Stevie for me. Another Joe.' Carmichael poured a third shot of pure alcohol.
'She drinks like a fish,' he commented to Trinity. The rebel nodded before returning to her table. Stef looked up at Carmichael and without being asked he poured another shot.
Thirty shots later Stef suspected that she was starting to get inebriated. She accidentally knocked the glass over. Her head slumped to the bar but she reached out her hand to grab the next shot as she heard a glass being set in front of her.
The glass was warm to touch. She looked up - it definitely wasn't alcohol. Carmichael returned with another shot glass but one look from Smith sent him scooting away after he had poured the shot.
Stef stared at the warm milk in front of her. 'Warm milk? You think that's going to make it all better?' she looked to Smith for his answer.
'It's better than alcohol.'
Stef wasn't angry anymore, she was just confused. More confused than she had ever been in her strange existence.
'How could you?'
'I experienced a glitch, I reacted.'
'What the hell did I do?'
'You didn't do anything.'
'In the glitch you stupid son-of-a-bitch. In the glitch, what did I do to make you kill me?'
'You killed Stevie.'
'I.what?'
'You killed.'
'I heard you, how could you believe that I'd ever do that? I would die before I did that. I would get deleted before I betrayed her.'
'I know,' he said honestly, 'but it was so real.'
'I know - I've lived through one remember?'
'I'm sorry Stef.'
'It's just.I trusted you - I never thought you would hurt me. I died, I saw the white light and everything but I fought my way back. I didn't even know if it was worth it or not.'
'When I saw you on the ground. I never thought.'
'I'm stubborn when it comes to dying. Please don't ever do that again.' Unshed tears started to fall and she started to shake. The anger gone, she just needed to get the tears out of her system.
'I promise.' Smith said as he sat on the stool beside her, laying his arm over her shoulders as he had done with Stevie. Still shaken and sobbing but fairly confident he wasn't going to choke her again she fell against him.
A few minutes later she felt all right again. She sat up and wiped her face with the back of her hand. Smith was glad to see the laughter - albeit a little guarded - back in her eyes. Her smirk, though a little weaker than normal assured him her sarcasm had returned. In short, Stef was Stef again
'Are you all right?'
'I will be Smith, I will be.'
'Drink your milk.' Stef chuckled and drunk her milk. Real or not it did make her feel better.
'Agents get drunk?' Stef asked when she had drained the last drop.
'No Mimosa, agents do not get drunk. Nor do we ever consume alcohol.'
Smith picked up the shot glass and downed it in one mouthful.
The End.
Author: Stormhawk
Rating: PG-13 Warning: Alcohol mentioned and consumed. Do not attempt to drink like Stef or you will probably kill yourself.
Disclaimer: This all belongs to The W Brothers and Warner Brothers. And the Agents, don't forget the agents.
Notes: Sorry - if you've read or reviewed the original version of this fic I have changed it. Don't worry about it and trust me it's for the better.
I did this for a couple of reasons - first I thought the ending was a little weak, it was over too quickly. Secondly I was trying to write a sequel for this but couldn't get it to fit around what I'd written so here comes the updated version. Plus I got to give Stevie a couple more speaking lines.
This version is actually twice as long and a more meaningful story.
Part of my Agents series. Anyone who has read any of them skip this. Agents and Daughter are recommended reading. You need to know who Stevie is so if you haven't read Daughter here is the quick version.
Stevie - Smith's human daughter who was part of an experiment to learn about humanity. He didn't want her to die so they made an uneasy truce with Neo & co to take her out of the matrix.
Word Count: 4227
Summary: Smith glitches and it has serious repercussions.
Please Read and Review.
Stef and Smith were doing their job - killing rebels. One shot Smith but he quickly morphed from one of the rebel recruits that hadn't been freed yet. He looked around and saw Stevie edging toward a corner.
'Stevie, Stevie come here,' Stef whispered to the injured human. Smith was busy holding off the other rebels.
Stevie made it around the corner to Stef, someone's shot, probably a rebel, had accidentally shot her.
'You're hurt.'
'Go, you can't let them find you. Please Stef, they'll get you and my dad.'
'Too late,' Stef froze when she heard Brown's voice behind her.
'Run Stevie.'
'I don't think so.' Brown said taking a step toward them and drawing his gun.
As Stevie ran Stef's eyes flashed in anger and defiance as she made a decision that was surely going to come back and haunt her. Stef drew her own gun in one quick movement and shot Brown in the chest.
She shielded her eyes as the body flashed and reverted to the human he had morphed into.
Stef turned and looked down the alley to where Stevie had run. She breathed a sigh of relief when she couldn't see the human girl - she was out of danger at least for now.
Stef went crashing to the ground when someone kicked her in the side of the head. She rose quickly and saw that Brown had returned. He kicked her again and landed on her face.
Before she could get up he cuffed her hands together and pulled her to her knees by her the back of her head. She tried to pry his hand off her hair but he was too strong.
'Let me go you big jerk,' she spat at him. He responded by kicking her squarely in the back and she smacked her head on the pavement again. She tried to get up but he placed a foot between her shoulder blades - she wasn't going anywhere.
Ok, Stef thought as she bit her lower lip, maybe shooting him wasn't a smart idea. There hadn't been a choice - they would never get their hands on Stevie.
'Smith!' Stef yelled, unsure of what he could do but she still needed help. 'Smith!' He rounded the corner.
'What's the meaning of this?' He said as he saw Stef on the ground like some prize prisoner.
'I could ask you the same thing.'
'I'm out of here,' Stef muttered as she tried to morph out. She swore under her breath when she found she was trapped.
'You will find yourself trapped,' Jones said appearing from nowhere. 'You really think we would let a traitor escape us?'
'I am not a traitor.'
'What is this all about?' Smith asked, trying to feign innocence.
The other two stared at him and disappeared simultaneously, taking Stef with them. Smith appeared a second behind them. Brown was holding Stef while Jones fitted something around her head.
'What are you doing to me?' Stef demanded.
'I'd also like to know that,' Smith said. He had known that freeing Stevie wouldn't end well but he hadn't wanted Stef to pay the price even if he had to.
The device was tied onto her head and Brown threw her into a chair. The world around them changed and they were in a green code scroll room like the editing program. Jones sat at the controls and started to pull up memories.
Every one of her memories pertaining to Stevie were displayed, Stef tried to block them or delete but she was helpless, all she could do was watch. She could move her eyes, she looked to Smith helplessly.
For his part Smith was remaining emotionless at least on the surface. Stef had been around him long enough to pick out nuances that most would miss, she knew he was both worried and angry.
'You cooperated with rebels?' Jones said specifically to Stef. Smith realized for the first time that somehow she had edited him completely out of all the memories about Stevie's release from the matrix.
'Yeah - so what?' Her life was over anyway, why lie?
'You will be deleted.' Jones said as he took the memory device off her head.
'Bring it on,' Stef said as she smirked and disappeared. She appeared near the alley.
'Stevie!,' she screamed 'Stevie!'
'Stef?' Smith said appearing behind her.
'What the hell are you doing here? If you love Stevie and trust me you'll go now!'
He nodded and disappeared. 'Stevie!' She heard something move a little along the alley. She ran up and found Stevie hiding under a pile of trash.
'You shouldn't be here, you should have gotten out. An agent could find you.'
'I couldn't move. I'm hurt, help me Stef.'
'I'll do what I can.' She helped Stevie up, they got two feet before Jones and Brown appeared.
'I found her,' Stef said.
'Stef?' Stevie asked fearfully. Stef shoved the injured human to Brown and they all got into a car and drove to the agent building.
They got out and took Stevie to an interrogation room. Smith was waiting there but they locked him out.
He paced outside, a human habit he had picked up. Five minutes later Jones opened the door and nodded. He walked in as calmly as he could.
He silently said thanks to whomever was listening. Stevie was unhurt at least as far as he could see. Stef sat across the room, apparently not having much to do with the proceedings.
'Your weapon Smith,' Brown said. Smith drew his weapon and held it as non- threateningly as he could considering the fact his daughter was captive not ten feet from him.
Her eyes drilled a hole in his unreal heart, he wished nothing more than to kill the other agents in the room - barring Stef of course - and get his daughter to the nearest exit. Or at the very least to Neo.
'Shoot her Smith,' Brown said.
'What?' Smith faltered.
'Shoot the human.'
'No.'
'What did you say?' The question was laced with threats.
'I said no,' no matter what he could never follow that order.
'Why?'
'I can answer that,' Stef said stepping forward. 'It's his daughter.'
'Mimosa?' he asked, what is she doing? He thought.
Stef drew her gun and shot Stevie. The human girl flopped to the floor. 'That was what they wanted you to do, why was that so hard?'
Smith checked for vital signs, anything that would indicate that this was some elaborate trick. When he found none he stood as still as a statue but tears started to run down his face. 'How could you?'
'Quite easily actually.'
'Tears?' Brown said condescendingly. 'You can cry?'
'It's not the first time.' Stef said nonchalantly.
The world around them changed and they were in the editing program. The real versions of the memories Jones had tried to extract from her were shown. Smith didn't care anymore.
He dropped to his knees beside Stevie and held his dead daughter.
'How could you?' he asked Stef again. Though against his program he had actually trusted Stef.
'It's what I was programmed to do.'
'Programmed? You're human.'
'No I'm not. You just thought I was.'
'What are you talking about?'
'You are stupid. He needs to be deleted soon,' the other two agents nodded.
'Explain,' Smith demanded.
'I was never human, never. I was conceived to seek out weaknesses in agents, faults, glitches and the like. I hit pay dirt with you.'
He said nothing so Stef continued.
'As soon as the faults were recognized they were going to delete you or at least initialize a back up copy of your original code. I requested to keep going, see how far your humanity reached.'
'I trusted you.'
'Just one of your faults. The child was the true test, we never thought any loyal agent could be so pathetic. It was interesting to see how it twisted you and made you go against your programming. Now that that's over it's time to delete you.'
Smith gently laid Stevie down and drew his weapon, he leveled the Desert Eagle at her. She smiled at him as the world around him disappeared as he was deleted.
*****
Stef shot the last rebel dead and turned to Smith who was lying on the ground. Except for his simulated sleep when Stevie had been around she had never, ever seen him this still.
'Hey,' she said as she knelt beside him. Maybe his program had a glitch. His eyes fluttered open.
'Are you.' the next word never got out of her mouth, he rose quickly off the ground, kicked her in the stomach and she fell flat on her back.
He drew his gun and shot her. Before she could morph into another human body or back to the agent building he pulled her back.
Now she was worried, without a human body and not at the agent building she was utterly helpless.
He kicked her again and she was on her back again. He lunged forward, one knee on her chest pinning her to the ground while he wrapped his hands around her throat and started to choke her.
'What are you doing?' she asked as he choked her. Not being in a human body it was possible for her to die by any means that would kill a human.
'Die,' he said through clenched teeth as Stef's world began to dim. She tried to kick him off but he was too strong. She couldn't understand what was going on.
As she felt herself begin to die her quick-thinking brain worked one last time. 'Glitch,' she said before the world around her stopped.
He felt her go limp in his hands as he heard her last word.
He stopped dead as the meaning of the word sunk in. Glitch. In some cases agents could experience what could pass as nightmares that seem as real as reality. Though he hadn't experienced one himself before Brown, Jones and even Stef had.
He looked around the alley, nothing he had just experienced had been real. Stef hadn't betrayed him and Stevie.
He let her go, she was unmoving, never to move again. It was impossible to get an agent back online after they had been killed like this, if it had happened to him or Jones or Brown a backup copy of their code would have been initialized but Stef didn't have a backup copy.
Her code was non functional, there were no.what passed as vital signs for agents. There were no human vital signs as that was basically what she was at the moment - how he had been able to choke her to death. Once dead there was no way to get her back online, this was more effective than a decompile as with a decompile data was merely scattered and with enough time could be reconstituted.
Smith took his knee from her chest and her head rolled limply to the side.
'Dad?'
Smith's head jerked up and he saw Stevie standing there. As in the glitch she had really been in the alley. She looked down at Stef.
'What did you do?' He stood and tried to explain but he couldn't form words. She hadn't killed his daughter.but he had killed her. How was he supposed to explain it to Stevie?
Agents weren't programmed to feel shame or remorse but he felt both. But then again, he realized as he looked at his daughter, they weren't supposed to love either.
He took a step toward Stevie but she backed away from him. 'How could you?'
'I didn't know what I was doing. I experienced a glitch. I.' he faltered, there was no excuse for what he'd done.
'It was Stef. You killed Stef.'
'I thought she had killed you.'
'She wouldn't. How could you think that? Maybe what Neo said about you was true.'
'You can't mean that can you?' Stevie started to tremble, she couldn't comprehend what was going on.
Stef's unseeing eyes were staring up at him. He knelt down and closed them.
'I'm sorry Stef.' Stevie came over and knelt beside her father.
'I miss you dad.' He lifted his left arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. Stevie fell against him.
'You have to get to an exit Stevie. It's too dangerous for you here.'
'She's a program like.like you isn't she? Can't you just turn her back on?'
'It doesn't work like that.'
They stood and started to walk toward the end of the alley. Stevie pulled a cell phone from her jacket and called her ship.
'Laddie, I need an exit.' She listened for a minute before hanging up.
'Be careful Stevie.'
'Always dad.'
Smith heard something out on the street that if he had blood it would have frozen in his veins. It was the sound of the other two agents approaching.
Stevie saw her father's expression change. 'What is it?'
'I love you Stevie.'
She looked him in the eyes and saw fear. Stevie turned and looked for a way to run but there was no where to go.
Stevie saw something, she was caught between screaming for joy and fearing for her life. Stef's eyes were fluttering open. She was alive.
Stevie went to tug Smith's sleeve but stopped when Stef's eyes stopped fluttering and stayed open. It took nanoseconds for Stef to realize what was going on. She rose quickly from the ground and smiled at Stevie.
The sound of the other two agents was too close for comfort now, in seconds they would discover Stevie.
Stef ran full-tilt at Stevie and leapt at the human, as she flew at her Stef's body became flowing code as she morphed around Stevie. Since it was impossible to morph into Stevie since she wasn't hardwired anymore the only thing Stef could do to hide Stevie was to surround Stevie.
Essentially Stevie was wearing Stef as a costume though Stef was in control.
As Brown and Jones came into view Smith looked down at his daughter unsure if there was anything he could do to protect her.
Smith felt like he was going to stop functioning. He stood like a statue and stared at Stef. She had come back from the dead and had saved Stevie yet again.
Stef didn't look at him. Her face was an impassive mask - even more emotionless than a true agent. The ever-present mirth in her eyes had died away. There wasn't even a flicker of her sarcasm that Smith hadn't known her to be without.
For that one moment in time Smith was more human than Stef.
'Mimosa?' Jones said.
'Yes?' came Stef's flat answer.
'Are you all right?' A look of confusion crossed her face for the briefest seconds before it reverted to a mask. Agents didn't inquire if other agents were 'all right.'
'I'm fine. Why?'
'Your code was off-line for two point four minutes. Explain.'
Smith swallowed, a human trait he had picked up. He didn't know what kind of answer she was going to give, giving them the truth could be dangerous, lying might have repercussions later.
'It was a glitch Jones. I morphed out of a dead human and was sent back without being placed into a human.'
'How did you code go off-line?'
'I was killed by a rebel.' Jones nodded, all seemed to be in order. There was nothing suspicious about any of her answers and if he had been inclined he would have stated something about the efficient way she explained it. But he didn't bother - she was a fellow agent. Agents don't need compliments.
Jones turned to Brown and without a word they left the alley again. Once he was sure they were out of earshot he looked at Stef who was already walking away.
'You lied.'
'I told them what they needed to hear.' Stef voice was still a monotone.
'Stef,' he said gently taking a couple of steps toward her.
'Keep away from me,' she backed up a few feet. She shook her head and started to walk away.
'If you don't want to talk to me would you at least leave Stevie in case you get.'
'Killed?' He nodded dumbly. She went to say something but it died in her throat. She left Stevie and disappeared.
Stevie stumbled as Stef left her.
'Is she all right?' Stevie asked her dad.
'I think so, you have to get to an exit.' She nodded and started to walk away, she turned, embraced him then left quickly.
After she left Smith returned to the agent building. He searched all of Stef's hangouts; the gym, her room and even the mess hall that was empty since there were no human recruits at the present moment.
Caught up in thinking where to look for Stef Smith almost walked into Brown. He sidestepped as the larger agent looked at him.
'Where's your recruit?'
'I don't know,' Smith said honestly.
'Is there a problem?'
'No.'
'Is she starting to be a problem like Carol Whitman?' Brown's question was in the same tone he always used but with a hint of inflection that was rarely heard.
'No, Mimosa is not becoming a problem like Whitman.' Smith walked past his fellow agent and tried to think of where Stef could possibly be.
He almost kicked himself when he realized he was looking for her the human way. Mimosa did it so often that it was rubbing off on him.
Require, he thought to the mainframe, location of Agent Mimosa. He waited for a few seconds for them to answer. The answer didn't surprise him at all.
He morphed into a man that was in the street of the building he was looking for. Smith quietly ascended several flights of stairs to a third story apartment. Stef had gone home.
This was why it didn't surprise him, he knew the importance of home to humans. It was were they felt the safest and after what had happened he suspected Stef needed to feel safe.
The door was locked so with a simple requirement he made the lock come open.
'Stef?' he said questioningly to the dark room that confronted him. He turned on the light switch and still didn't see anything.
Anything alive that was. At the entrance of the bedroom he saw Stef's agent jacket. He walked forward and picked it up. He looked around the room, she wasn't in the room.
Scattered everywhere in the room was everything that had made Stef Mimosa into Agent Mimosa. The rest of her uniform had been thrown without care onto the floor, her sunglasses had been trampled on - more than once Smith suspected.
Her ear piece had been smashed with a hammer - he knew this because the hammer was sitting right next to it. Stef had been very angry.
The cupboard doors had been thrown open and a few discarded outfits lie on the floor.
He required to know her location again. The answer was the same as before - all the tracking the mainframe did with agents was tied to their uniform and issued equipment.
That raised a question. One Smith answered himself when he walked into the kitchen. Stef's Desert Eagle had been crushed and was lying in its pitiful state on the floor.
Smith was at his wits end. He had no idea where to look for her. He accessed all the phone calls made from the house in the last hour. There had only been one. It was to a club within a few minutes walking distance.
Having no other leads Smith left the apartment and headed for the club. He felt immediately uncomfortable. Rebels frequented places like this. Rebel recruits were often found in this very club.
Smith had a thought but disregarded it the moment he even thought of it. Stef wouldn't go over to the rebels. She was too smart for that. Besides - what could be gained, it wasn't like they could take her out of the matrix anymore. She didn't have a body in the real world anymore.
No, Smith decided, it was her human side that had taken over. She had freed herself from everything that had made her an agent and was probably drowning her sorrows in alcohol that very moment.
He began to search the club.
*****
Stef was sitting at the bar, she had been drinking light stuff for twenty minutes. Pure Vodka and such. Since it was impossible for her to get drunk it was merely an experience. Maybe she could fool herself into thinking she was drunk and forget what had happened.
'Hey Joe.' She said to get the bartenders attention.
'My name is Carmichael.'
'Hey Joe,' she repeated, not wanting to remember such a long name, 'got any pure alcohol?'
'Of course, there is always stupid enough to try the stuff.'
'Bring it on,' she said with a wave of her hand. He fetched a bottle from below the counter and poured a shot. After the drink was poured he went to put the bottle away.
'Leave the bottle.'
'I can't, it's against the law.'
She opened her jacket and placed a wad of cash in front of him, her last requirement.
The bartender faltered, 'I don't want to lose my job. Just call me when you need a top up.'
She sneered and nodded downing the shot. 'Another.' Sighing but pulling the cash toward him he poured another.
'Carmichael, I need some drinks.' A familiar voice said as a woman walked up to the bar.
'Sure Trin, what?'
Trinity rattled off a list of drinks. She was recruiting rebels - most of the time they shared a drink before hauling them off to see Morpheus. Somehow she was completely unaware that she was less than a foot from an agent.
'I recommend this stuff Trinity,' Stef said as she downed the second shot.
Trinity turned in horror to see Stef. 'Mimosa,' she said reaching into her jacket for a gun.
'Do I look like I'm going to give you any trouble? I was just recommending a drink.'
'What's your game?'
'Nothing - say hi to Stevie for me. Another Joe.' Carmichael poured a third shot of pure alcohol.
'She drinks like a fish,' he commented to Trinity. The rebel nodded before returning to her table. Stef looked up at Carmichael and without being asked he poured another shot.
Thirty shots later Stef suspected that she was starting to get inebriated. She accidentally knocked the glass over. Her head slumped to the bar but she reached out her hand to grab the next shot as she heard a glass being set in front of her.
The glass was warm to touch. She looked up - it definitely wasn't alcohol. Carmichael returned with another shot glass but one look from Smith sent him scooting away after he had poured the shot.
Stef stared at the warm milk in front of her. 'Warm milk? You think that's going to make it all better?' she looked to Smith for his answer.
'It's better than alcohol.'
Stef wasn't angry anymore, she was just confused. More confused than she had ever been in her strange existence.
'How could you?'
'I experienced a glitch, I reacted.'
'What the hell did I do?'
'You didn't do anything.'
'In the glitch you stupid son-of-a-bitch. In the glitch, what did I do to make you kill me?'
'You killed Stevie.'
'I.what?'
'You killed.'
'I heard you, how could you believe that I'd ever do that? I would die before I did that. I would get deleted before I betrayed her.'
'I know,' he said honestly, 'but it was so real.'
'I know - I've lived through one remember?'
'I'm sorry Stef.'
'It's just.I trusted you - I never thought you would hurt me. I died, I saw the white light and everything but I fought my way back. I didn't even know if it was worth it or not.'
'When I saw you on the ground. I never thought.'
'I'm stubborn when it comes to dying. Please don't ever do that again.' Unshed tears started to fall and she started to shake. The anger gone, she just needed to get the tears out of her system.
'I promise.' Smith said as he sat on the stool beside her, laying his arm over her shoulders as he had done with Stevie. Still shaken and sobbing but fairly confident he wasn't going to choke her again she fell against him.
A few minutes later she felt all right again. She sat up and wiped her face with the back of her hand. Smith was glad to see the laughter - albeit a little guarded - back in her eyes. Her smirk, though a little weaker than normal assured him her sarcasm had returned. In short, Stef was Stef again
'Are you all right?'
'I will be Smith, I will be.'
'Drink your milk.' Stef chuckled and drunk her milk. Real or not it did make her feel better.
'Agents get drunk?' Stef asked when she had drained the last drop.
'No Mimosa, agents do not get drunk. Nor do we ever consume alcohol.'
Smith picked up the shot glass and downed it in one mouthful.
The End.