Chapter 2

Neo could beat one Smith any day, but there were just too many Smiths. It seemed like for every Smith Neo knocked out two more attacked him. Neo dodged and returned punches with practised ease, but it didn't seem to achieve anything. Neo was already getting tired, and he started to doubt whether he could defeat all of them. In the Matrix doubting oneself was especially dangerous. If he believed he couldn't do it, he would never win. He knew it, of course, but he couldn't help thinking unpleasant thoughts.

His situation seemed almost hopeless, and he was already in the middle of the room. Now Neo couldn't even get to the exit, and there was a ceiling that wouldn't allow him to fly away. It took a lot of willpower just to keep on going. The tired hands refused to move, and it was pretty hard to convince oneself that there are no hands. Neo knew that the smallest mistake, one moment's hesitation - and he'll be overrun. He just continued fighting. But he couldn't keep this up forever. Eventually he was bound to slip up, and then...

Neo was almost ready to give up when the door opened and three people walked in. Getting a glimpse of them over the roomful of Smiths he realised those weren't people - they were agents! And what was even stranger, they were female agents. They started shooting at Smiths.

To Neo's surprise, the bullets actually reached their targets. It was probably because there was so little space to dodge bullets with a gazillion Smiths packed in one room. The rouge agent copies were picked off with an amazing efficiency, until finally there were only a few Smiths left. They gave Neo an "I will be back" stare and left the room.

Now there were only the three strange agents to worry about. But the fact that they just rescued him was troubling.

"They need something from me," Neo thought.

The three walked up to him. All of them were dressed like agents, with a black suit, a tie and sunglasses, but Neo noticed that one of them was wearing a skirt and didn't have an earpiece. The other two seemed completely like normal agents, except for the fact that they were female. One of the "normal" agents spoke up.

"Someone wants to see you," she said, "come with us."

"Why should I follow you?" Neo asked. "What if it's a trap?"

The agent shrugged.

"You have no choice but to trust us. After all, we just saved your life." She thought for a moment, then added, "She wants you to come of your own free will, but we will use force if you make it necessary."

"Is this mysterious "she" the one who called me here?" Neo asked.

The agent nodded. "Yes, she sent you the message. And she wants you no harm. Now let's go."

The agents put away their weapons, as if expecting they wouldn't need them.

"All right," Neo said. "I'd like to find out who this "she" is."

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The agents led Neo out of the recreation center and to the apartment buildings. One of them walked in front of him, showing the way, another behind him, probably to stop him if he decided to run. The skirted and unplugged agent walked beside him, smiling sweetly at him every once in a while. Neo raised his eyebrows and pretended not to notice it.

"I wonder how the others are doing," he thought. In the fight with Smith Neo broke his cell phone, so now he couldn't contact them. And even if he could, he doubted the agents would allow it. "As soon as I deal with this matter I'll have to go find them. If they already found the control room, there's no point in going back to search in the recreation center."

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Render was sitting at his usual work station, watching the code scroll down the computer screen. A troubling reading appeared - it was Smith.

"And I used to hate normal agents," Render thought, scanning for the nearest exit in case it was needed. "But compared to this guy they're cute little puppies."

The worst thing about Smith was that he had his own mind, thus he was unpredictable. He didn't just follow orders the way normal agents did, he did whatever he wanted to do. And now he wanted revenge.

Render wasn't going to warn Neo - it would only be a distraction. Neo should be able to sense Smith anyway. Render watched the fight start, and watched Neo's situation get worse. When it seemed that Neo wasn't going to make it on his own, Render established contact with the others.

"Trin, Morpheus," he called out into his microphone, "Neo's in trouble. Recreation centre, just inside the door. He's fighting Smiths."

"I'm on it," he heard Trinity acknowledge the situation.

"On my way," intoned Morpheus.

Render was starting to read off some tactical information that might be helpful to the rescue team, but then something else happened. The operator stared at the screen, dumbfounded.

"What in the Matrix?.." he muttered, pressing buttons with almost superhuman speed. But it was useless.

Neo and Smith just disappeared. The recreation center was still there, but there wasn't one living thing inside.

"What happened," Morpheus demanded through the phone.

Render lay back in his chair helplessly. "Someone must be messing with my signal. Either that or my computer's the most messed up piece of junk ever to exist on this planet."