Title: The Kingdom of Hell.

Author: TheRedPony

Rating: R, consensual sex and language.

Feedback: Please and thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix nor any thing else related the films. It is not my world, just my playground.

Story Notes: Twins go to the real world and um stuff happens, and Neo is a jerk *grrrrr*

You may be a star in your own mind

but you're greatly deluded in my mine

I heard reports that you drink

and you take drugs most of the time

and that your life is in danger

And that you were involved in a crime

Is it over, is it over will you come home now

-Electronic

***

This was the worst punishment they had had to endure yet. A single tear rolled down Two's cheek in pain, from his twins tongue. The deep cuts the Merovingian had placed every were on his body were bleeding openly and the once silver bed sheets were now a muddy black, stained with blood and fear. One gave a half choked sound as he felt his brothers pain mentally and him shiver physically below him, between his legs. Two's blood was now glittering red on white on both their bodies.

The Merovingian had been spending his time, slowly cutting away their clothing. "I've seen you do this. I know you love it." He whispered like a sick hyena in One's ear. He had non of the gentle touch that the Twins had, the clothing burning their skin as it was ripped form their body, the blade drew sickening red mars that adulterated the twins pure forms. Red on white, red on white. It was all that filled Ones vision. The sight of the pooling blood was horrific. The Merovingian had forced them to have sex in front of him before, he had even forced them him self, but he had never been this dark, or this violent to them. One was muttering unintelligible apologies under his breath. "What was that my pretty little pédale." The Merovingian, was stroking One's sides and legs. "You want to fuck your brother, because his blood is all over your trique. Such a pretty sight." One tensed and his jaw clenched silencing him immediately. The Merovingian reached between them and with a perfectly manicured finger stroked the underside of One's shaft causing his already full erection to stand taller.

Red on white, Two's blood on his flesh, and the Merovingian, the sick pervert making him hurt Two. He hated the Merovingian for forcing this, he hated him self for not being able to do any thing. Two sensed his other halves self-loathing. He reached out and kissed One gently, reassuring them both. His eyes closed tight, and he mentally portrayed a plan into One's mind. One seemed to relax immediately, why should they worry, they were the best there was; no fool of a sado-masochist French freak was going to break them.

In a single motion Two shoved One away, and One disentangled him self from Two's limbs and stood beside the bed.

"What are you doing Salope!" The Merovingian had jumped up as well. "Do as you were ordered to do."

One lowered his head. "We…," he jutted a finger angrily at Two, "…do not want us…" he stabbed his chest with the same finger "…we want you," he pointed finally at the Merovingian. His head was lowered, but the Merovingian could see his face burning in anguish, and hatred.

"So he wants me does he? And he has tossed the poor little One, off of him has he?" One nodded almost imperceptibly. The Merovingian positively grinned from ear to ear. "And why is that pédale?"

Two looked with half hooded eyes and deeply pouting lips. His bloody chest rose and fell in abstract drunken breaths. Two reached up and removed his dark glasses. For the first time the Merovingian saw what was under there, never before had they removed them in his presence. Scarlet eyes burned with passion and desire back at him. "Only the master knows how to play for fun." His voice was raspy and laced with a heady desire. "Please I, want you now." he stumbled over the word I, never once meaning it. The Twins had spoken together through Two's mouth. The word burned them. Neither had ever said I before.

The very aroused Merovingian had not needed to be asked twice. His carnal lust was by far outweighing logic at that moment. Belts, boots and pants were hastily tossed to the floor, but always he held his black knife firmly in his hand. He lifted the blade to Two's neck and rested it against the pale white skin. Red blood welled up at the contact and the Merovingian himself licked the blood away. Two moaned provocatively for him, tiny whimpers and pleads edging him on.

The Merovingian was holding him self inches from Twos opening, when a white hand reached out to stop him. Red on white, blood on pale skin, it was Two and he was grinning and rather darkly at that. The Merovingian lifted the knife and smiled back. "Behave" He said and tried to wrench his wrist free. Two however held his wrist fast. "What is the meaning of this?"

"We" Two drew out the comforting word "have grown tired of this game."

"Yes we have" Ones voice resonated out, from deeper with in the room.

"Don't be stupid, you know what I can do to you…"

The Merovingian was interrupted however before he could finish his threat. "You mean what you could have done to use." Two was smiling again, and motioned for the Frenchman to turn around.

As the Merovingian stood from the bed a sickening realization hit him. He was nude and all he had in his hand was the knife. He instantly became to fumble through his dishevelled clothing that lay on the ground.

One tisked at him. "Lookin' for this, mate?" In his white and bloody hand was the black devise. The Merovingian sank to his knees, and dropped his knife.

"Oui! Shit." He mumbled and the twins laughed. They were standing they were bleeding and beaten, but they were laughing, they were whole, and they would face the scavenger that had leached off their skills and their love for too long. The black device shattered like glass in Ones hand, the bits and shards of it imbedded into his palm. His own blood flowed, again red on white, but now their blood mixed together. One and Two, strength poured from them, as they fazed. Willing their silver suits back on them, and their cuts healed and their pale skin once again the purest white. The black shards rained to the floor, the sound like bullet casings.

One smiled "That is a most glorious resonance." They glared down at the Merovingian cowering like a fool naked on the floor. Two's blood still covered his front. "Such a thing as you deserves a most horrible death for what you have done." The Merovingian whimpered "But we are not with out mercy. We don't plan on killing you." He looked up, eyes widened.

Two shook his head "We are going to take you to the only place we know can hold you."

"What are you going to do?" His voice stuttered over his French accent as he attempted to sound in control.

One picked up the keys from the floor, while Two pointed his razor at the Merovingian. "Up!" And the bloody and nude Merovingian obeyed.

One stepped up to their closet door and slid the key in the tumblers. He turned it once and felt the door click. The door swung open and they stepped inside.

They were standing in a white hall with many doors leading in all directions. As they started to walk, their foot steppes could be heard echoing dimly in the hollow space, and shuffling feet make animalistic scratching noises as the Merovingian was prodded down the hall way by Two's razor. The blood on his sickly yellow chest was drying, to a flaking red paste. It itched and burned uncomfortable on him, and the fact that he was walking around the hallways with nothing but blood on did nothing to lighten his sprits.

Finally they reached a green door that looked identical to all the others. One slid the key into the lock, turned the handle then removed the key, but did not open the door. The Merovingian tried to squirm away, knowing instantly where this door led to but was stayed by yet another pearl handled razor pointed at him.

Then One lifted his other hand and knocked loudly and persistently at the door.

Brusque communications were heard on the far side of the door, and finally swung open. Three desert eagles were pointed through the door way and three very stunned agents were gaping at the scene before them. The most wanted exile program in the entire Matrix was on his knees before them, completely nude and covered in blood, and his body guards were standing beside him knifes to his neck.

******

He was sitting quietly watching scrolling green codes drip their way down two of the screens. The symbols were as rain the same purity, the same edge of danger. Fish was marking bits of the code down on a third screen. His eyes darted back and forth between the three with great concentration, and absent-mindedly he kept pushing the black-rimmed glasses he wore back up his nose each time they slid.

"What are you working on Fish?" Neo was on shift, watching the Matrix for unusual activity in the neighbouring station, but his mind had drifted as he watched the young man study the code with such interest.

Fish looked at him and smiled. He rarely ever spoke on his own accord, but the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar had found that with a bit of a nudge one could strike up most intriguing conversations with him. "The council of Zion asked me to look over the logs of your encounters with the Smith clones, and compare it with existing data I have on the agents."

"What kind of data do you have?" Neo cocked his head slightly. It made him look younger more relaxed some how.

"Every thing Zion knows, I know." Fish stated proudly. "I have spent many years studding agents. It is my specialty." Fish had turned away the scrolling green code, it has paused now, and looked like the rain had flash frozen. "When I learned that they wanted me on the Nebuchadnezzar, I asked permission of the counsel and of the captain to go through the collected data. I was quite excited when I heard of your encounter with Smith."

Neo unattractively scrunched his face up. "You would not have been excited if you had to fight all of them."

He gave a half snort at Neo's expression, his glasses were sliding again, and this time he took them off. "Perhaps you are right, but that does not mean I am not trilled at the recount. An Agent that's gone viral, its unheard of, unprecedented, nearly impossible. They aren't written to do that. They can't choose exile by them selves." He was fidgety and rapped the black rims against his palm. "Smith is something amazing as far as programs go and you have to respect that."

"He doesn't deserve respect he's a cold-blooded murderer, and now there is hundreds of him" Neo spit his words out. Smith was a machine, a slave driver, he deserved nothing.

Fish did not react to Neo's harsh tone, but kept his gaze and melodic voice level. "The Agents are sheepdogs and we are the wolves. We both want the same thing, we both want the sheep, it's not a wonder we fight. How can we berate the sheepdog for door the task he was bred to do?"

"You're siding with the Agents and with Smith?" Neo shook his head and backed away from the other man.

Fish frowned at him. "You can not see the world has no sides, it is round Neo. All creatures of the earth deserve their own place; however, my philosophical beliefs are most insignificant at this time. I am loyal, I always will be, and you need never fear my allegiance."

They were interrupted as Morpheus approached behind them. The tall black man looked down over the two. He had listened to their debate, but had decided to let them work it out them selves. It was a fine line between being the father figure, and being the captain. "Were loading in"

As Neo, Fish, Ammit and Wyvern, settled into the tattered old chairs Morpheus explained what they were doing. "Were going to run through some basic training programs, not because I don't trust your skills but I want to see them for my self. We have to work as a team, we need to know our strengths."

***

The cold digital sound of logging on ringed for an instant in Fish's ears. He shook his head to clear it then looked at the others around him. Neo and Morpheus wore the same outfits they always had. Ammit was dressed gracefully in a soft camel colored suit. It was trimmed in sapphire blue accents that matched her burning blue eyes. The soft hues etched their blue and the cut of her black hair, she looked like a walking queen of the Nile, under her right eye her name in hieroglyphs was tattooed it black and radiant blue. Ammit never wore sunglasses; it impeded her ability to read files. Wyvern was dressed quite the opposite, while Ammit was sophisticated and regal, he looked like some one trying too hard to fit in. His maroon snakeskin cape hung low and impassive, and his black clothing and glasses were nothing to be excited about. He looked the part but had none of the flair.

Fish however wore a cosmopolitan choice of clothing. He had a simple black coat and simple black pants both were perfectly tailored with clean modern lines. His black boots where explicitly polished, and shone like onyx in the sunlight. His shirt was a soft silk and saffron yellow in color. They tie was of identical color and created a refined look. He was still bald but on his head a set of sun glasses rested were his black frames had sat moment before. The lenses were deep black and had bands of gold and red that seemed to dance in them. He seemed out of place, like sunshine in a dark forest. Too much gold on to much green.

No one seemed to take much interest in his non-conformist color choices. They were standing atop a tall building with a large flat roof. Before them was a colossal span then another building. "It's a jump program," Ammit said stating the obvious to her self.

Neo kicked gracefully off the ground and jetted across the void. He landed with an audible thud then turned and looked back at the others.

Wyvern seemed discouraged "How is it the Neo is so skilled, and even with the so many years of training no one even comes close to his talent."

"He is the One it is his purpose" Morpheus spoke mater-a-factly.

Fish shook his head "There is no One, there is no purpose." He looked at Wyvern and smiled, he had that look in his eyes that denoted another parable coming on. Wyvern shrank back a bit, these never made any sense to him.

"Matajura wanted to become the greatest swordsman, but his father said he was not quick enough and could never learn. So Matajura went to the famous dueller Banzo, and asked to become his pupil. 'How long will it take me to become a master?' he asked. 'Suppose I become your servant, to be with you every minute; how long?'

'Ten Years,' said Banzo.

'My father is getting old. Before ten years have passed I will have to return home to take care of him. Suppose I work twice as hard; how long will it take me then?'

'Thirty years' said Banzo.

'How is that?' asked Matajura. 'First you say ten years. Then when I offer to work twice as hard, you say it will take me three times as long. Let me make myself clear: I will work unceasingly; no hardship will be too much. How long will it take?'

'Seventy years' said Banzo. 'A pupil in such a hurry learns slowly.'

Matajura understood. Without asking for any promises in terms of time, he became Banzo's servant. He cleaned, he cooked, he washed, and he gardened. He was ordered never to speak of fencing or touch a sword. He was very sad at this; but he had given his promise to his master, and resolved to keep his word, Three years passed for Matajura as a servant.

One day while he was gardening, Banzo came up quietly behind him and gave him terrible whack with a wooden sword. The next day in the kitchen the same blow fell again. Thereafter, day in and day out, from every corner and at any moment he was attacked by Banzo's wooden sword. He learned to live on the balls of his feet, ready to dodge at any movement. He became a body with no desires, no thoughts - only eternal readiness and quickness.

Banzo smiled, and stated lessons. Soon Matajura was the greatest swordsman in all of Japan."

Wyvern looked lost again, and Morpheus was looking over Fish quizzically.

Ammit was translating to the two. "He says that Neo is skilled not because he tried to be, but because he was forced to be." Fish nodded in reply.

Morpheus sighed, and then leapt a ridiculously high arc into the air before landing to the other rooftop with cement cracking smash. Wyvern leapt next. His jump had much less style too it and he flailed in the air, his self-doubt evident but he managed to make the span with out too much of a problem. Ammit smiled as Fish then leapt across. She was certainly the most graceful of the four so far. Her jump was low and elegant, and she landed with no more then a whisper. Neo's mouth twitched as if he was hiding a scowl; Morpheus however, commends the fine jump.

Fish was the only one left, he had yet to jump and his eyes lifted sky ward as if in contemplation. "Come on Fish, while were young." Neo baited him like an older sibling, still angry from Fish's respectful words for the agents. A full minuet passed without Fish even breathing. Morpheus was about to leap back to speak to Fish when he suddenly blurred towards him. He hadn't jumped, he had step from one building to another across that huge gap. Every one was startled.

Fish was just a foot in front of Morpheus who stepped back surprised. "How the hell did you do that?!"

Neo was just staring at Fish like he had personally insulted him.

Fish ignored Neo and instead answered Morpheus question. "The same way Neo flies, I simply altered the way in which my file moves form one location in the system to another. "

"You can't do that it breaks the rules of the program."

"It most certainly does not" Fish looked a touch offended, if that was possible on his docile face. "I learned how to do it by watching the way agents moved"

"Oh." Was all that Morpheus replied. He stood puzzled for a bit then his curiosity spurred he continued "You learned that from just watching the Agents. How much time do you spend doing that?"

"Many hours Sir, I know their code inside and out. That's why I was so eager to see your logs because there is no possible way Smith can do what he does." Fish was winding up into that excited state that he got whenever he was able to explain his work to some one. "I have been comparing the information from his clones now, with the Smith Neo faced before he was destroyed, and with the code of Brown and Jones, plus a whole host of other agents, that other crews had fought, well ran from."

Neo held up one hand to slow him down "Who are Brown and Jones."

Fish glared at him. "Brown and Jones were the associates of Smith. Jones was the taller one and Brown was the smaller and slighter built."

Neo looked disgusted again. "Who knows things like that? They are all the same, they are all killing monsters. What did you march up to them and ask their names, agent lover?" His patience had snapped.

Ammit gasped and Wyvern cringed. "Neo, you have no right to say such things to your crew mate, you will apologize." Morpheus had a cold gaze on his soldier now. "And you will treat him with equal respect. Fish does his job as instructed by Zion."

Neo stood tall and met Morpheus inert stare, but not for more then an instant. Morpheus was more then a superior office, he was a friend, and Neo did not want to jeopardize this. His bitter eyes fell to Fish, who hadn't seemed to hear the commit. He was only smiling like he always did. "Forgive Me, Fish. It was not my place," Neo managed to mumble out.

Fish was still smiling almost absurdly, "No harm Neo." Then as though noting had happened Fish returned to describing his work. "I know their names because I have read their code, all of it, form the first symbol to the last. I have spent enough time that I know which areas define outward features, how the suit is written in the program, the way they move, how they communicate."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Man" Wyvern spoke, sounding like a hippie. "You just stepped across that thing." The word "stepped" was long and heavily annunciated; he motioned to the massive gorge with one hand.

Ammit glared at him "Yes Wyvern, but we are past that would you pay attention!"

"Alright then" Was all he said but he wandered over to the buildings edge and gazed across the divide. "Just stepped," He was mumbling under his breath. Had Fish be inclined to such things he would have rolled his eyes. Ammit; however, did so for him.

Morpheus although slightly disturbed by Wyvern's total lack of attention, motioned for Fish to continue. "How is it you learned all these things"

"You see Sir, it was like trying to figure out every thing about a new species, simply by reading its DNA. The thing I am most interested in is their subroutine programming. Their most basic functions. Humans have subroutine programs too but we just call them instinct. Things like how fear drives up adrenaline making our bodies ready to run should we need it. I found out by studding the Agents, that many of their higher programming actually shut down while they are fighting, and more basic subroutines take over. It's a self preservation system, I think. That way should their host die, more vital and more individual programming is not lost accidentally in the transfer."

Neo seemed to forget his earlier hostilities, and spoke with a curious voice. "What kind of individual programming?"

Fish shook his head. "Its hard to explain but I think its their personalities, but I found something interesting, when I was reading the files for this location I saw an other interesting program"

"You read programs like Ammit, Fish?" Wyvern called from the edge of the building, he seemed to have caught up to the conversation.

Fish turned to face him "Not in the way she does, she read an individuals files, I can only read static files. The way the agents move, and the way I did for that mater is to actually move up a directory then back down, to the location you want. I was "up a directory" when I spotted your Agent training program. Can we load that up Morpheus and at the place just after she becomes an Agents." Ammit and Wyvern glanced at each other. This was not a standard training program used on all ships, so their curiosity grabbed them. The feeling of falling was only momentary as the program loaded up under their feet.

The glitch and somewhat irregular, program had doubles of random people walking about in it. It was lower resolution then the Zion appointed jump program and looked crafted by hand. In the center of a clearing an agent with a drawn Desert Eagle stood pointing his gun towards the crew. Although the program was frozen, Fish's mouth twitched before he took the gun from the Agents and holstered it in his belt.

"This agent look alike has only the most basic of subroutines, but it has something the other agents don't." Fish lifted his hand and a large plasma screen TV appeared hanging in mid air. This would not have been so strange if momentarily ago it had not been a pigeon flying away. The screen showed a single frozen stand of code. "This is the digital signature, its singed by a programmer named Mouse." Neo and Morpheus looked down slightly but Fish continued to speak. "All programs have digital signatures, originally it was a human practice as we know, as even now humans in the matrix sign their work with a tiny bit of coding."

"But agents don't have digital signatures?" Morpheus asked.

Fish smiled "No they do, but this is were it gets interesting, all agents have digital signatures," Two new frozen lines of code appeared. "Most agents are signed with this on the left here. Its by the Architect." He motioned to the undistinguished line of coding. "But a small number of agents, our pals Smith, Brown and Jones included, have this digital signature." He motioned to the line of coding on the right. "I have been making comparisons in their code, and I think its safe to label them as two compliantly different types of agents. This one on the right is by far more complete in it's coding. More advanced, if you will. The ones on the left are more specifically created to hunt and kill us. I think the agents had two completely different programmers."

"Does Zion know about this?" Morpheus asked a hushed frenzy.

Fish shook his head no. "I just thought of this. It was in front of me the whole time. I had been working under the foolish assumption that all programs in the Matrix had been created by the Architect. I thought maybe he just had two different signatures, and had created agents in two different styles. That had always bothered me because of the inefficiency it would create, not a logical path for a machine. I saw Agent Prick here, which by the way his author was kind enough to name him, and I could instantly tell he was written in a third style, with a third unique signature. That's when it hit me, there has to be two programmers."

"What does this mean?" Ammit asked softly

"It means the Architect lied. He did not create the entire Matrix. We most report to Zion immediately," Neo spit out.

Fish shook his head again "No there is one more there I most show you." A new third code appeared in the center of the screen. "This is the signature of Smith the last time you fought him. These few symbols here are new."

Morpheus eyed them closely. "It not in standard coding. Can you read it Fish?"

He nodded. "It says: Created by Her Lady L 101000001101, edited by Mistress Vanth 1001000100101 ." He took a dramatic pause. "This is not the same Smith you destroyed Neo, this is a virus, inserted into the Matrix, but I don't know why."

"And the numbers?"

"Its possible its some sort of ID system, but it looks like years, 2573 and 4645. If so then we just found out how old the Matrix is. Just over two thousand years fits with what the Architect had said, and the first date, if that is what that is, fits with the time frame we would be looking for."

"Shit" Neo ran his hand through his hair.

"Lets go back" Morpheus whispered.

"Fish you're a fucking genius" Wyvern mumbled as they were sucked out of the program, and flung back into their bodies with a metallic hiss.

Fish sat up and shook his head to clear it. The others were unplugging and all the rest of the crew from the Neb had gathered around the operators council. Not a single eye was not on him. "I better write a report then?" He asked to Morpheus.

"No kid were going back to Zion."

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

OMG! I have to write in an Agent Wesson, That is way to funny to pass up. MY IDEA! NOBODY STEAL! L may be crazy, CRAZY LIKE A FOX! Maybe that only funny because its late and I haven't slept in God only knows how long.

Thanx Rose for betaing!

Review Please !