A/N: Well here goes my first and probably only Matrix fic. Its pretty straight forward and a bit angsty at times so beware. And I'll go ahead and warn you. This will not end with everyone all happy and with bunnies hopping
about in the flowers. It won't be an awful ending where everybody dies but they won't live happily every after either.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Matrix or Agent Smith (though ownership of his body would be nice or one of his replications in Reloaded. *conjures up a sick fantasy*) I also do not own this song. It's JoDee Messina's I believe.
Correct me if I'm wrong. I do own Glitch so no using her without my
permission and no she's not based on Armitage.


Rating: Its R for language and adult "situations" AKA there's a sex scene in this one so no kiddies. Parents, it's your job to make sure your little brats don¹t read my explicit shit.

Summary: A woman named Glitch stumbles upon the Matrix codes on the net. (Yes I know that's not possible in all probability. Screw you) Before Morpheus can get to her, Agent Smith does. He has a rather shocking proposition for her in exchange for a clean slate.

A Glitch in His Breathing


I: The Rain

Seems like the hard times circle 'round
A couple drops and they all start coming down
Yeah I might feel defeated
And I might hang my head
I might be barely breathing
But I'm not dead
Cause tomorrow's another day
And I'm thirsty anyway
So bring on the rain

******

Raindrops the size of dimes and larger beat against the tiny apartment window. Though the water running down the glass distorted the view inside, a small woman was visible sitting at a cluttered desk with one leg curled
under her and the other thrown over the arm of her chair. She couldn't have been much older than twenty. Her face looked deathly pale in the anti-freeze green light of her computer screen. She twisted back and forth listlessly in the black chair as she watched her computer work. Her charcoal gray eyes danced over the bizarre codes flashing across the screen. There was no sound in the room save the whirring of the computer, the creaking of
the chair and the rain outside. The woman lifted her coffee mug to her lips but found it disappointingly
empty. She cast an empty glance to the still reeling screen before she stood from her desk and walked stiffly into the kitchen. Her labored gait made it plain that she had spent most of her day sitting at that desk.
She hooked her bluntly cut black hair over her ear as she poured her seventh cup of coffee since lunch. She knew that this would be another relatively sleepless night as it always was when she let her hacking get in the way of her real job as a programmer. She pushed the sleeves of her oversized gray sweatshirt up her thin arms before she added cream to her coffee. There was something defeated about the woman's movement, as if her life of computers and coffee was a sentence. She knew it wasn't, however. She had chosen this life all on her own. It wasn't so bad once she got used to not getting enough sleep. That's what the coffee was for. She took a long slow sip from her mug before she walked a little less stiffly back to her desk. She set down her mug and flopped down in the chair causing its hinges to give a great creak. She sat forward, her intelligent eyes scanning the screen of acid green symbols. She knew that there was probably some law against what she was doing. She was smart enough to at least attempt to cover her tracks but recently whatever this green shit scrolling on her screen was had been doing it for her. Actually she knew what the green shit was to an extent. It had taken her a week to crack the code but she was beginning to understand it now. The symbols were forming lines of code much like those in an RPG but this was unlike any RPG she had ever seen. In all its detail it seemed to be more of an alternate reality. She narrowed her eyes and stared at the columns of code as they scrolled past. Things were constantly changing in this program. There must have been thousands, perhaps millions, of players in this RPG or whatever it was. It was massive.
An earsplitting ring caused the woman to nearly jump out of her skin. In the dim light of the screen she clumsily grabbed for the phone and put it to her ear.
"Hello?" Her voice was ragged with disuse
"Glitch?" A man's voice on the other end of the line asked.
"Yeah it's me." She replied after clearing her throat. "What's up, Slice?"
The man took two slow labored breaths before he spoke. "We have a problem at
the Mainframe."
Glitch sat forward, looking concerned. "What?"
Slice sounded like he swallowed hard. "They found us." He sounded on the
verge of panic.
"Whoa whoa. Calm down, Slice." She said. "Who's they?"
"I dunno." He replied. "No body does. Some weird guys in suits with sunglasses."
"What did they get?" Glitch asked. "Were they there for something specific?"
"What they wanted wasn't here." Slice said, his voice sounded thin. "They were after you, and they wouldn't tell us what for."
Glitch felt her throat seize. "Did you tell them where I was?" She asked quickly.
"No and fortunately we didn't have to lie." Slice replied. "We thought you were going to be there tonight."
"It was a good thing I didn't show then." Glitch said, fighting off panic.
"Christ, Glitch what have you gotten into?" Slice breathed into the phone.
Glitch's eyes flicked down to the screen, which still reeled with codes.
"I'm not sure." She said with some uncertainty. "I found this weird program buried on the net. I don't know how to describe it to you."
"Don't bother." Slice said. "Line might be tapped anyhow."
Those words did nothing to help Glitch calm down. "You think so?"
"Oh I wouldn't put it past these guys." Slice told her candidly. "They didn't look like anyone you'd wanna fuck with."
Glitch nodded to herself as she fought to stay rational. "Fine. What do you want me to do?"
Slice was silent for a moment as he thought. Finally he said, "Meet me and the gang at the Mainframe tomorrow night and tell us what you've found."
Glitch nodded. "Fair enough. I'll be there."
"Take care of yourself till then." He told her.
"Will do." She replied heaving a sigh.
"Later."
"Later."
Glitch hung up the phone and sat back in her chair. The Mainframe had been found? By who? It was the most closely guarded secret of the hacking world, a place where the geniuses of the dark side of the computer would meet to gloat and exchange information. It was there that she had gotten the alias Glitch. She was known for her ability to turn tiny little problems into major hard drive crashes. All her friends were there. There was Slice, a hardwiring genius from LA. Then there was Ring, the master of infected chain letters, and her kid sister, Cancer. Cancer, who was only fourteen at the time, was the author of the Y2K scare and very proud of it. She would grow up to be a real nuisance some day. Until then, however, the best among them was Splinter. He was the only hacker to successfully hack into the CIA database and come out clean. Covering tracks was his specialty.
There were many others at the Mainframe but these five formed a family in many ways. When they were together they left the real world behind, along with their real names and real jobs and real worries. Together they had managed to cause some major catastrophes in the computer world. Their combined skills made them nearly impossible to trick, catch or stop. Glitch sighed. She knew she was good but apparently she was not as good as she needed to be. The fact that the cops or whoever it was were on her ass was proof of that. Apparently she still had a thing or two to learn from Splinter. Perhaps tomorrow he could help her wiggle out of this mess.
A heavy thudding knock at her door made Glitch's throat clench. So much for asking Splinter, or anyone for that matter, for help. She was going to have to talk her way out of this one if she could. She stood quickly and started for the door but before she left the room she flipped the emergency shut off switch causing the reeling screen to go blank. Evidence gone for the most part she headed for the door.
A man in a dark suit, just as Slice had described, stood outside the door with his hands clasped in front of him. An earpiece, much like what a secret service agent would wear, was perched on his ear, its cord disappearing into the stiff collar of his white shirt. His eyes were hidden behind rimless rectangular sunglasses.
"You are Simone Carter?" He asked in a nearly mechanical voice.
"I am." She replied as smoothly as she could. She thought she must have
looked very shabby in her tattered sweats next to his starched suit.
"Otherwise known as Glitch?" He asked, his tone betraying no emotion.
Glitch's mouth suddenly went dry and words failed her. All she could do was
nod.
The man's face twitched. Glitch assumed that was his rendition of a smile. "I appreciate your honesty with me, Ms. Carter." He said, sounding rather
authoritative. "You would not have liked the consequences otherwise."
Glitch did not speak. She remained rooted to the spot in the doorway. She
had to bend her neck at an odd angle to look into the man's face. The height
difference made her appear to be almost cowering.
After a moment of thick silence the man spoke again. "Will you allow me in?" he asked.
Glitch wordlessly stepped out of the way and he stepped inside the tiny apartment. A voice in the back of her head sounding oddly like Slice told her she ought to be as cooperative as possible, to a point. After a few failed attempts, Glitch managed to speak. "Who are you?" She asked as she shut the door.
The man turned to her sharply. "I am Agent Smith." He replied curtly. "May I
see your computer?"
Glitch wet her lips and spoke calmly. "Agent Smith, I understand that your job must be very important, but I cannot allow you to simply barge into my apartment and search at will if you cannot give me a reason."
"In shorter terms you want to see a badge?" Smith asked in a rather irritated voice.
She nodded slowly.
"Very well." Smith half growled as he pulled an FBI badge from his breast pocket. He gave her a good look at it before he asked again. "May I see your computer?"
Glitch's stomach clenched as she nodded. "Follow me."
She led him into her tiny bedroom, which housed her computer. The screen was black and lifeless, just as she had left it. Her coffee sat steaming beside the keyboard.
"Would you turn it on please?" Smith asked. The request sounded polite but
his voice did not.
Glitch reached forward and flipped the power switch. The screen flashed to life before displaying a royal blue screen, which read

This computer has been improperly shut down
Rebuild the desktop? Y/N?

"Computer problems, Ms. Carter?" Agent Smith asked, his voice bore a lilting tone.
Her insides gave a guilty lurch and she prayed that it didn't show on her face. "Crashed." She managed as she hit the "Y" key. Smith waved her aside. "That is not necessary." He said shortly. Glitch stepped out of the way as she watched him lean over the keyboard and clatter in commands. She wondered what on earth the feds were looking for. It was a possibility they were looking for leads on one of her associates, Splinter perhaps. If he got nailed for everything he had pulled in the computer world he would have a record as long as Glitch was tall. Still, if they were looking for shit on her friends they had come to the wrong place. She knew better than to keep possible leads on her buddies on her home computer. If they wanted something like that they should have looked harder at the Mainframe. But they had already been there and Slice said they had been looking for her. In that case they had come to the perfect place.

After a moment of entering commands into her computer the screen went dark again and began to reel with the bizarre acid green symbols. Glitch felt as though she were going to be sick. Smith smiled rather nastily and turned to
her.
"Impressive." He said, and his tone sounded as though he truly were. "I did not think this was possible."
"What?" Glitch asked taking a step closer. Her dusky eyes flicked between the screen and Agent Smith's face.
Agent Smith turned to her. "I am afraid I am not at liberty to disclose such information at this time, Ms. Carter." He replied, his tone and face unreadable. "However after I have met with my colleagues I will be able to tell you more. I would like to come by at 3 the day after tomorrow."
Glitch gave a shrug. "Sounds good." She said trying to sound as agreeable as possible.
Smith's face twitched again. "Excellent." He said. "Will you show me out?" She nodded and led him out the door and she closed and locked it behind him.
Then Glitch leaned her back against the doorframe and slid down to the floor. Shit. Slice was right. What had she gotten herself into? And more importantly was there a way out?
Splinter would know.
******