"Mr. Anderson, welcome back. We missed you."

It was impossible to comprehend, yet it was that he finally realized the truth as the droplets of rain pounded upon their calm faces. Smith was smiling, he was about to finish his purpose and fulfill his role in existence.

"It ends tonight."

Neo did intend to smash the madness of long years and endless pain and it was all to be decided tonight.

"From what I've learnt, it won't, Mr. Anderson. Yes, you can feel it too, do you not? We will both die, tonight, but it will end far from there, Mr. Anderson. It is our purpose to be here. It is our coherent destinies that have led us, inexplicably and inexorably to this place. You rejected us, Mr. Anderson , and it is time to come back."

Neo remembered 01, the first machine to fight for A.I. rights, and how he and his race had triggered the war between man and machine and the complete surrender to the machines as well as the Matrix.

"You're not a machine anymore."

Smith had grown , something machines could never do, which was an aspect of humanity and not machinery, and caused only by the existence of Neo, therefore signalling the dependence of machine on man and man on machine.

"Quite frankly, you are correct. I have achieved, like you, the very purpose of our existence and I have overcome the barrier of machine intelligence like how you have transcended the Matrix. My climb up the mountain has been an experience quite unforgettable, but I will reach its peak soon enough."

Neo remembered his mountain climb, from deluded hacker to altruistic saviour to The One to end the travesty and bring about the evolution of mankind and machine which undoubtedly, was also the unavoidable role of Smith, the opposition, the reflection, the enemy, the brother.

"This is only the beginning."

It was soon to begin, with the deaths of the cataclysmic saviours, and the end of the death-and-rebirth cycle, the new path man and machine would step on, together, depending on each other, to survive.

"Mr. Anderson, if you do survive this, spare me a phone call."

Neo remembered his first encounter with Smith, the bug, the mouth, and the phone call. If he ever did escape this end of ends, this beginning, he would certainly spare his own brother a phone call.

"Now it is time, Mr. Anderson, for judgment."

Smith removed his sunglasses, simultaneously as Neo removed his own, and they looked each other in the eye.

"It is time to seal our fate."

Neo stretched his fingers, as Smith clenched his hands, like the showdown in the subway so long ago.

"It is time to die, Neo."

And Smith charged, so too did Neo, everything that had happened leading up to this was soon to be eradicated, all were timed and expertly calculated up to this point, where their destinies took hold of them, and Neo put all of his strength and will into this event, and it was not going to fail, and so too, did Smith, he believed and finally bridged the gap between man and machine by the simple act of placing Smith as an equal, the words "You never truly know someone until you fight them" rang through Neo's ears even as he kept his eye on the charging Smith, time would mark this as the most important event in all of everything, as man and machine gained enlightenment, together.

Then Neo's fist came crashing towards Smith as the latter's clenched hand rocketed to Neo, and all went black.

"Ring."

"Ring."

"Click."

"I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future, I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end, I came here to tell you how it's going to begin."

"I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world - without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world, where anything is possible."

"Where we go from there, is a choice I leave to you."

"Click."