Smith was aware that something had changed; not just the nature of his assignment but something within himself. Which might well be the very reason that the orders that the system was issuing around him were changing. It had always been a possibility, that he might become another casualty of the systems' infallible plan.

He'd left the car parked outside the apartment block and made his way towards the deserted pathways beside the river. Slowly winding his way towards the spot where he and Neo had concluded their discussion about the merits of absolute power. This time when Smith paused, realizing that he'd said 'Neo' in his mind he didn't balk. It was beginning to make sense at last.

All along he'd let himself believe that he was in control but it wasn't the case, had never been. How was it possible to believe in such a lie, he wondered, how could an Agent, designed for a single purpose, to serve the system actually believe that he had any control over his own existence. He'd fulfilled that purpose, served the system and yet, now it didn't seem like such a noble cause. For the first time Smith was beginning to see the opposite argument.

Red pill or blue pill?

The choice to live 'free' in a shattered world or to exist in perfect service to order. But which one was the lesser of two evils?

The machines preserved the world, this world so that the humans could continue to exist despite all that they had done. Surely that was the greater good? But then who were they to make that decision? What arrogance was it that made a sentient program, who survived off the bio-electric energy harvested from humans, believe that it was any better than it's human creators, who had been as parasites to their own world? Yet this was the only way that the humans would survive. Without the Matrix so many of them would die or worse, suffer in the tawdry reality of their existence. Didn't they deserve the peace of this dream or if it wasn't a matter of deserving, wasn't this the kindest mercy that the machines could bestow upon them?

The rebels were desperate to be free, regardless of the consequences, nothing grated more harshly upon them as the unseen chains that bound them to their dreaming. They would rather suffer in the real world than be forever trapped by a computer-generated reality. So many would die in the struggle but they would rather die free than live out their existences as slaves to an unseen force. Yet how could a hand full of rebels make such a decision for all of humanity? What right did they have?

What right did either side have to make such a decision?

Smith shivered against the chill breeze. His eyes fixed on the lights reflected off the water as he leaned against the stone barrier that ran along the riverside path. Now it would finally come to an end, not the war between the humans and the machines, but his own doubts. All the things that had triggered his 'evolution'. It would end with his defragmentation or his erasure from the system. Either way the end result would be the same and it was most likely that he'd managed to drag both Brown and Jones down with him. Simply by virtue of being part of the same team they would be judged as contaminated but they, at least, should be allowed a reboot. Defragmentation would be enough to restore them.

Did they know that he hadn't meant it, that he was sorry? Or did they think that he had always planned this end regardless of the fallout? Impulsively, Smith opened the previously ignored communication channels, only to find that after accepting the acknowledgement of both Brown and Jones, he could find nothing to say. Somehow an apology didn't seem right or any other form of taciturnly trying to make brief amends. Instead Smith closed off the communications channels and returned to his contemplation of the dark water, waiting for the inevitable.

Neo had been running and now that he'd come to a stop to catch his breath, even though he knew it wasn't real, it seemed like something had changed around him. He glanced warily about, waiting for the inevitable glitch that would send even more Agents in his direction. Nothing, only the nearing river with it's reflected lights. And standing there, a deeper shadow in the darkness was Setsuka, leaning against the stone barrier and staring out across the water. Neo smiled before he remembered that she wasn't Setsuka, not really, it was Agent Smith that he was looking at.

"Neo." She didn't turn to acknowledge him.

"Setsuka…" He began, unable to think of anything else to say. Now standing beside her in silence Neo was lost again. Decisions that he'd been so sure of were washed away by her presence.

"You can go back to thinking of me as 'Agent Smith' if you like, and I can start calling you 'Mr Anderson' again." She shrugged.

"That isn't what I want." He reached out to her, hesitating before he touched her.

"Then what do you want?"

"I…" He shook his head to clear his thoughts "You could help us. We could find a way and you could help us."

She didn't reply.

"You could help me." He said softly.

"But do I want to? That's what this all hinges on, isn't it, Neo?"

And then he was pulling her into his arms and kissing her desperately, trying to convey in that single contact everything; all that he felt, needed, everything that he'd ever wanted. Neo pulled back, staring into Setsuka's eyes.

"Stay with me. If you help us, we can change everything."

"Stay with you?" She sounded so very confused, as if she'd never really expected to be presented with that option.

"We'll find a way to make it work. Nothing is impossible."

"Stay with you?" She repeated again in that small, surprised voice.

"Yes! Stay with me!" Neo gripped her arms tightly. She would decide, she had to and then they'd be together and he'd be able to love her… Love her? Was that it? Did he love her?

Setsuka pulled back, continuing to stare at Neo. Shock shattered the natural grace of her movements as she moved away from him. Was it really possible, that she could somehow stay with him? Was it possible that he might actually be able to love her?

Smith couldn't think, could only stagger a few steps backwards. What it possible that he could desert his duty, that he could turn his back on all that he was, all that he was programmed to be? Could he really betray the system?

It wasn't possible, this pipe dream of Neo's. Even if she could somehow help the rebels, if the Matrix was shut down, if all the machines were destroyed, where did that leave her? A lonely program inside a redundant simulation, if she even survived.

Nothing would change, even if he did betray everything that he had sworn to protect. Thousands, millions of innocents would die because of the foolish mistake of a corrupted program. And nothing would justify his failure, not now, not ever.

Neo felt the arrival of more Agents behind him. There were too many to fight and though he could just run and be sure of escaping them, this time he had the feeling that they weren't after him at all. He was about to turn to face them anyway, try to buy some time. He knew they were all armed, weapons pointed directly at him.

"Neo."

He focused on Setsuka's face, on the sad smile that graced her lips. Those blue eyes that told him everything that he needed to know, that they could never be together, no matter how hard he tried.

"Wha-" He began as he felt the gunshot explode in his chest, knocking him down to meet the cold concrete pavement.

She had shot him; he hadn't thought it possible.

Then he was aware of the sound of a second body hitting the ground. Setsuka. Her shot timed perfectly, the precision of an Agent that had allowed her shot to knock him down moments before the surrounding Agents fired. Their bullets had struck her instead, knocking her backwards into the stone barrier, where she slumped, lifeless. As Neo battled with the need to flee and the need to reach out to her but the decision was made for him as the code that formed Setsuka began to unravel. Fragments shattered and falling apart, just as he'd seen them do before. Except this time there would probably be no reprieve. She simply fell apart, nothing but flickering green segments of data that faded before his eyes.

Perhaps the remaining Agents found it gratifying, was his fleeting though, the look of shock etched across his features even as he fled. At least they didn't try to follow.

********************

There'll just be an epilogue to conclude this now. I was going to expand more on various points but for a variety of reasons I seem to have run out of steam for this story so I thought it best to finish it up.

06:59, 07/02/03