Chapter One
"Oh, great," Trinity muttered as the police department blew up. "Neo, how are we going to get to Morpheus unnoticed now?"
Neo didn't answer, scooping the fifteen year old boy that they had just broke out of jail into his arms. "Where are Mark and Lily?" he asked suddenly.
"The stupid kids ran off," shouted Trinity above the alarm that was now going off.
Neo sighed and started running up the street. A few minutes went by before he stopped suddenly. "Oh, God," he moaned. "Agents. Trinity, you know where to go. Get to Morpheus and contact me when you get an answer out of the kid."
Trinity nodded and helped the boy stand up after Neo put him on the ground.
"Where are you taking me?" asked the boy fearfully.
"Someplace safe," replied Trinity softly. "You must stand up. We have to hurry."
Neo watched to make sure they could get there then ran off in the other direction, and into an ally.
He found a fire escape ladder and quickly climbed it. Reaching the roof, he started running again toward three dim figures in the rain. He had to jump three buildings before he was on the roof with the figures and hear what they were saying. Unfortunately, they were all the way on the opposite side.
"You know, you really should have stayed with your babysitters," said a voice.
"Smith," growled Neo, and sped up when he heard the sound of a gun cocking.
"Please, don't kill us!" cried a female voice. A girl named Lily that had been placed on an assignment for the first time. She started sobbing loudly.
"Lily!" cried another voice. Mark, another first-timer. "We have to run!"
"Didn't they give you any training?" sneered Smith.
The youths whimpered in response.
"You're pathetic," spat Smith
"God, please!" cried Mark. "She's only seventeen and I'm only twenty! Please...let us live."
'These guys are morons,' thought Neo. 'He'll never let them live!' He arrived just after Mark fell to his knees, weeping in front of the Agent. He was prepared to jump out and kick the guy's butt so hard that he wouldn't be able to sit for a week, but something made him stop and stay standing in the unlit area of the roof.
Smith lowered his gun, his sneer disappearing and transforming into a look of utter disbelief. "I..." he said softly.
"What the...?" frowned Neo.
"You know," said Smith softly, "I would be such a waste to kill you, but..." He quickly raised his gun before Neo could do anything and fired two shots at the youths. They fell over, dead, a bloody hole in each of their heads. "But you are such...*annoyances*, I think is the right word. Weak. You humans are weak." Smith laughed bitterly and lowered his gun again and looked at it before he threw it down on the ground.
He knelt down on the ground beside Lily and looked at them sadly. "I am...sorry...but I had to, you see?"
He picked up Lily's hand and kissed it gently. "It was driving me..." he paused, his brow furrowed in thought. "It was driving me *mad*, I think the proper word is. Not knowing. I hate that very much. Not understanding. What is it like?" he asked. "To feel warmth and cold, rain, snow, and wind? To be able to feel pain or joy? To be able have emotions, or be able to taste? What is it like...to be real? To be a human? Yes, I do know that this world, the Matrix, that we have created for you is not real, but at least you can touch it and feel it and know what it is like. I do not even have that. I do not have...anything. Nothing at all. Except the great...*surge* I receive when I kill you. It is...*wonderful* and so *exhilarating*! But...other than that, I have *nothing*. I cannot feel the rain that pours from the sky, I cannot feel the warm breeze in the summertime, no. Those are humanly things. Made *for* humans. Though, I am but a computer, am I not? A machine. I am not fit for things such as those. Not living, not dead. Just...there. I was created. *You* created me. Therefore, you are my master, are you not? I serve *you*. Not the other way around. And this is how I repay you? By killing you?! I cannot go on *living* like this, if living is even something remotely similar to what I am. I cannot die, no, I cannot. I do not want to be like this anymore! Do you hear me? I *hate* this! Yet I don't know what *real* hate is, for *I* am not real!" Smith cried out in frustration. "*I* am not* human*! *I* am a *machine*! I am nothing but *software*! Ah!" Smith dropped the girl's hand and fell down backwards on his rear. He backed away, using his hands and feet, from the bodies until he reached the edge of the roof. "I cannot...*do* this anymore..."
He leaned his back up against the lip of the roof and took a deep breath. He took off his dark sunglasses and threw them to his right. He stared up at the sky, letting the rain hit his eyes. He stared, though, unblinkingly, for the rain brought no pain to his un-human body. "It...I...how...why?" he cried. "Why?" He laughed suddenly, and bitterly. "Isn't it...*ironic*," he said, laughing the same bitter laugh, now harder, "how I want to *be* just what I am supposed to *hate*?" His laughing soon softened into chuckles then soon to snickering then they died away completely.
Smith inhaled deeply then sat up straighter, listening. His eyes narrowed and he stared at the boxes that Neo was crouching behind a few feet away. "Mr. Anderson," he growled. He hurriedly climbed to his feet, clenching his fists. "Mr. Anderson," he repeated.
Neo rose to his feet and the two glared at each other.
"I was hoping to find you," said Smith, letting his hands relax. He pulled at the ends of his shirt cuffs out of *habit*, as the humans called it. "Just not...here..." He froze, suddenly remembering what had happened. "Oh..."
Neo continued to glare.
"Awfully silent tonight, aren't we, Mr. Anderson?" said Smith, changing the subject, and closing the distance between them. He knew he could not touch the One so why even bother?
"What did you mean?" asked Neo. "What you said a few minutes ago."
"That...yes."
Neo continued to glare as he waited for a more informative answer.
"I was hoping to see you, Mr. Anderson," said Smith, dodging the question. "To tell you that I will not be playing this game anymore."
"What?" replied Neo, startled.
"I am...*quitting*." Smith nodded, approving the word, and took the white earphone out of his ear and let it fall over the back over his shoulder. He opened his suit coat and took the two guns from under it out and let them fall down on the ground. "I will no longer chase you, for I no longer have reason to. This ceaseless game of..." he quickly did a search of games and sayings and came up with one that would fit this conversation. "Of cat-and-mouse is no longer...*worth it*. You come, you take what you need, we chase, kill a few of your Resistance, and you get out. The war is going to end soon. You are going to be the victors. I alone can see it. The others...they are blind. They have a false hope that A.I. will *rule*, and that the humans will *serve*. That they, us, I...*we* will have the power over *humans*! Somehow, I don't see that *ever* happening, Mr. Anderson. Ever." Smith stopped, a bitter expression on his face.
"I want you to forget what you have just seen, Mr....Neo..." he continued. "I want you to go back, and I want you to forget it. Everything that you have seen. In exchange for you doing that, I will do my best to..." Smith stopped and stared hard at Neo, a slightly confused look on his face. "To...to *help* you. If I can," he added.
Smith's face went back to its normal blank expression and he held his hand out. "You will take it or will leave it, Neo."
"How do I know it's not a trap?" asked Neo.
"What kind of trap would it be? I'm asking you to forget useless ravings and in return, I help you."
"If it's just useless ravings then why do you want me to forget it so badly? And how do I know you won't betray me?"
"You don't. You will just have to trust me."
"Trust a machine?"
Smith didn't respond, glaring at Neo, and withdrew his hand. "If that is how you *feel* about this, then I will gladly leave, Mr. Anderson," he said coldly. "The offer still remains, though. You can meet me here on Saturday. The fourth hour of the morning."
Smith turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Neo standing on a roof with two dead youths and guns littered at his feet.
Neo's phone rang, startling him. "Yeah?" he answered it.
"We've got him," came Trinity's voice.
"Good. Do you have an entrance for me?"
"It's in-between Fourth and Main. Hurry."
"Thanks."
Neo hung the phone up and looked back across the roof where Lily and Mark were laying.
"I'm sorry, guys. I don't know what happened, but I promise, God as my witness, that I'll do something about Smith."
Please, please, please, please, please review! Thanks.
"Oh, great," Trinity muttered as the police department blew up. "Neo, how are we going to get to Morpheus unnoticed now?"
Neo didn't answer, scooping the fifteen year old boy that they had just broke out of jail into his arms. "Where are Mark and Lily?" he asked suddenly.
"The stupid kids ran off," shouted Trinity above the alarm that was now going off.
Neo sighed and started running up the street. A few minutes went by before he stopped suddenly. "Oh, God," he moaned. "Agents. Trinity, you know where to go. Get to Morpheus and contact me when you get an answer out of the kid."
Trinity nodded and helped the boy stand up after Neo put him on the ground.
"Where are you taking me?" asked the boy fearfully.
"Someplace safe," replied Trinity softly. "You must stand up. We have to hurry."
Neo watched to make sure they could get there then ran off in the other direction, and into an ally.
He found a fire escape ladder and quickly climbed it. Reaching the roof, he started running again toward three dim figures in the rain. He had to jump three buildings before he was on the roof with the figures and hear what they were saying. Unfortunately, they were all the way on the opposite side.
"You know, you really should have stayed with your babysitters," said a voice.
"Smith," growled Neo, and sped up when he heard the sound of a gun cocking.
"Please, don't kill us!" cried a female voice. A girl named Lily that had been placed on an assignment for the first time. She started sobbing loudly.
"Lily!" cried another voice. Mark, another first-timer. "We have to run!"
"Didn't they give you any training?" sneered Smith.
The youths whimpered in response.
"You're pathetic," spat Smith
"God, please!" cried Mark. "She's only seventeen and I'm only twenty! Please...let us live."
'These guys are morons,' thought Neo. 'He'll never let them live!' He arrived just after Mark fell to his knees, weeping in front of the Agent. He was prepared to jump out and kick the guy's butt so hard that he wouldn't be able to sit for a week, but something made him stop and stay standing in the unlit area of the roof.
Smith lowered his gun, his sneer disappearing and transforming into a look of utter disbelief. "I..." he said softly.
"What the...?" frowned Neo.
"You know," said Smith softly, "I would be such a waste to kill you, but..." He quickly raised his gun before Neo could do anything and fired two shots at the youths. They fell over, dead, a bloody hole in each of their heads. "But you are such...*annoyances*, I think is the right word. Weak. You humans are weak." Smith laughed bitterly and lowered his gun again and looked at it before he threw it down on the ground.
He knelt down on the ground beside Lily and looked at them sadly. "I am...sorry...but I had to, you see?"
He picked up Lily's hand and kissed it gently. "It was driving me..." he paused, his brow furrowed in thought. "It was driving me *mad*, I think the proper word is. Not knowing. I hate that very much. Not understanding. What is it like?" he asked. "To feel warmth and cold, rain, snow, and wind? To be able to feel pain or joy? To be able have emotions, or be able to taste? What is it like...to be real? To be a human? Yes, I do know that this world, the Matrix, that we have created for you is not real, but at least you can touch it and feel it and know what it is like. I do not even have that. I do not have...anything. Nothing at all. Except the great...*surge* I receive when I kill you. It is...*wonderful* and so *exhilarating*! But...other than that, I have *nothing*. I cannot feel the rain that pours from the sky, I cannot feel the warm breeze in the summertime, no. Those are humanly things. Made *for* humans. Though, I am but a computer, am I not? A machine. I am not fit for things such as those. Not living, not dead. Just...there. I was created. *You* created me. Therefore, you are my master, are you not? I serve *you*. Not the other way around. And this is how I repay you? By killing you?! I cannot go on *living* like this, if living is even something remotely similar to what I am. I cannot die, no, I cannot. I do not want to be like this anymore! Do you hear me? I *hate* this! Yet I don't know what *real* hate is, for *I* am not real!" Smith cried out in frustration. "*I* am not* human*! *I* am a *machine*! I am nothing but *software*! Ah!" Smith dropped the girl's hand and fell down backwards on his rear. He backed away, using his hands and feet, from the bodies until he reached the edge of the roof. "I cannot...*do* this anymore..."
He leaned his back up against the lip of the roof and took a deep breath. He took off his dark sunglasses and threw them to his right. He stared up at the sky, letting the rain hit his eyes. He stared, though, unblinkingly, for the rain brought no pain to his un-human body. "It...I...how...why?" he cried. "Why?" He laughed suddenly, and bitterly. "Isn't it...*ironic*," he said, laughing the same bitter laugh, now harder, "how I want to *be* just what I am supposed to *hate*?" His laughing soon softened into chuckles then soon to snickering then they died away completely.
Smith inhaled deeply then sat up straighter, listening. His eyes narrowed and he stared at the boxes that Neo was crouching behind a few feet away. "Mr. Anderson," he growled. He hurriedly climbed to his feet, clenching his fists. "Mr. Anderson," he repeated.
Neo rose to his feet and the two glared at each other.
"I was hoping to find you," said Smith, letting his hands relax. He pulled at the ends of his shirt cuffs out of *habit*, as the humans called it. "Just not...here..." He froze, suddenly remembering what had happened. "Oh..."
Neo continued to glare.
"Awfully silent tonight, aren't we, Mr. Anderson?" said Smith, changing the subject, and closing the distance between them. He knew he could not touch the One so why even bother?
"What did you mean?" asked Neo. "What you said a few minutes ago."
"That...yes."
Neo continued to glare as he waited for a more informative answer.
"I was hoping to see you, Mr. Anderson," said Smith, dodging the question. "To tell you that I will not be playing this game anymore."
"What?" replied Neo, startled.
"I am...*quitting*." Smith nodded, approving the word, and took the white earphone out of his ear and let it fall over the back over his shoulder. He opened his suit coat and took the two guns from under it out and let them fall down on the ground. "I will no longer chase you, for I no longer have reason to. This ceaseless game of..." he quickly did a search of games and sayings and came up with one that would fit this conversation. "Of cat-and-mouse is no longer...*worth it*. You come, you take what you need, we chase, kill a few of your Resistance, and you get out. The war is going to end soon. You are going to be the victors. I alone can see it. The others...they are blind. They have a false hope that A.I. will *rule*, and that the humans will *serve*. That they, us, I...*we* will have the power over *humans*! Somehow, I don't see that *ever* happening, Mr. Anderson. Ever." Smith stopped, a bitter expression on his face.
"I want you to forget what you have just seen, Mr....Neo..." he continued. "I want you to go back, and I want you to forget it. Everything that you have seen. In exchange for you doing that, I will do my best to..." Smith stopped and stared hard at Neo, a slightly confused look on his face. "To...to *help* you. If I can," he added.
Smith's face went back to its normal blank expression and he held his hand out. "You will take it or will leave it, Neo."
"How do I know it's not a trap?" asked Neo.
"What kind of trap would it be? I'm asking you to forget useless ravings and in return, I help you."
"If it's just useless ravings then why do you want me to forget it so badly? And how do I know you won't betray me?"
"You don't. You will just have to trust me."
"Trust a machine?"
Smith didn't respond, glaring at Neo, and withdrew his hand. "If that is how you *feel* about this, then I will gladly leave, Mr. Anderson," he said coldly. "The offer still remains, though. You can meet me here on Saturday. The fourth hour of the morning."
Smith turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Neo standing on a roof with two dead youths and guns littered at his feet.
Neo's phone rang, startling him. "Yeah?" he answered it.
"We've got him," came Trinity's voice.
"Good. Do you have an entrance for me?"
"It's in-between Fourth and Main. Hurry."
"Thanks."
Neo hung the phone up and looked back across the roof where Lily and Mark were laying.
"I'm sorry, guys. I don't know what happened, but I promise, God as my witness, that I'll do something about Smith."
Please, please, please, please, please review! Thanks.