NOTICE: I do not own the following characters: Agent Smith, Agents Jones and Brown, Neo, or the location Zion. HOWEVER: I do own the characters Persis, Calyx, Priest, Aei, Seefa, Sol, Titus, Neso, Echo, Syenes, Syllis and the ships Antigone and Apollo.
9. Development In A Motel Room.
The train hurtled past the station, crammed full of passengers. Those waiting on the platform exclaimed in exasperation. Some walked away, out of the subway, up the stairs to the welcoming daylight.
Persis sat on a bench, casually slumped, for all appearances looking like she was reading a newspaper.
She wasn't.
Her eyes flickered above the lenses of her sunglasses. The 4:15 train had gone past its station, as predicted. She sighed and stood up, folding the newspaper up and dropping it on the seat. She waited for the next train with baited breath.
Smith would be on it.
She shouldn't have done it. She shouldn't have gone back in the Matrix to contact him. He had been different that time-impassive, cool, but with an undertone of vulnerability that she could almost taste. Persis wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Anyway, they'd arranged to meet-it was too late to back out now. The Apollo was in safe territory-no sentinels had been in that area for months, it wasn't as if she was
risking anyone's lives by being there. Not like before, she thought with a wince.
A screeching noise. The next train pulled up at the station with a groan. The doors opened. Passengers seeped out of the carriages. Persis waited her turn to board the nearest carriage. She looked around for a seat. On finding there were none available, she hooked a hand around an overhead leash and stood, lightly swaying with the moving train.
The door at the end of the carriage opened quietly, but enough to make her look round. Smith emerged soundlessly and scanning the carriage, walked up to her, but remaining a neutral distance away, holding onto a rail, adjusting his tie.
Persis smiled to herself.
The train pulled up at the next station. All the passengers got off. Smith waited until only he and Persis remained in the carriage before taking her arm in his and leading her out of the subway.
Neso called.
Persis picked up, "It's okay Neso. Everything's okay".
"Where are you being taken?" Neso sounded worried-rightly so, watching a captain being strongarmed by an agent wasn't normally something an operator would take lightly.
"I don't know. But I'll be fine. I swear. It's only one, not three like last time, Neso".
"You go kick his ass then Captain".
"Hmm".
Smith looked at her as she replaced the phone.
"Miss. Carlisle?"
"Don't worry, Smith, I told them not to wait up for me".
They crossed the street and got into a black sedan. Smith was driving. Eyes on the road, hands in the precise driving position. Persis relaxed in the seat next to him.
"What do you want, Smith?".
The agent turned round a narrow street corner before answering.
"To find the answer to my question, Miss. Carlisle".
"And what question is that?"
Smith paused and reversed the car into an alleyway.
"You know the question".
Persis looked out the window. Yes, she knew the question. Could Smith reciprocate want completely, or was his 'emotion' just psychological, something that would never be enacted. She knew he had set up a communications block. She could feel it. Persis removed her sunglasses and dropped them in her pocket. Smith wasn't the only one who had changed. Her residual self image had undergone a subtle, but nevertheless significant transformation. The kimono had become a thing of the past, the old Persis, and had been replaced with a white shirt. And a cream silk tie. Androgyny had never looked so stylish, Persis smiled. But it was also a sign of her changing, becoming more agent like, embracing her new self. At least she had it under control, for now.
They got out and entered the back door of a motel, climbing the steps to one of the rows of rooms. Smith opened the blue door to let her in. Persis halted.
"I want something more from you".
She raised an eyebrow at his remark. "More what?"
"More of the ability to reciprocate your emotions".
She hadn't expected this so soon. "Are you sure?"
Smith smiled. "Always".
Persis nodded. She placed her hands on either side of his face, her thumbs resting on his mouth. She concentrated. Then she let the power at her fingertips flow from her to him. A brief but powerful stream of light surrounded them as they stood motionless. Then it disappeared. Smith pulled back and ran a finger over his lips, his other hand pressed against the wall to support himself. He swayed slightly.
"You alright?" Persis asked.
Smith didn't answer. Leading her inside the room, he slammed the door behind them and enveloped her in an all consuming kiss. Persis raised her arms around his neck and pulled him in even closer. Smith placed his hands round her waist. They moved slowly backwards. Persis stopped and broke away from him, looking behind her at the bed.
Smith turned her face towards him questioningly. "The emotion has-developed" he said in a low voice as if he just realised it.
Persis dropped her shoulders as the realisation hit her. She saw the undisguised craving in his eyes. Want had given way and become need. Silently she unbuttoned his jacket and let it fall to the carpet. She removed her coat. Walking round to the foot of the bed she led Smith round. He looked different without his stiff jacket; he looked more relaxed, more-human. Sitting down on the mattress, she took in his features, his eyes hard but almost glittering with a longing to find the answer to his question. Without hesitating, she gently grasped his tie and slowly pulled him down towards her to let him find it.
* * * * * * *
The lilac hue of evening stole across the sky, catching the glints of closing windows in the apartment buildings and offices. It flickered on the pane of glass in the window of the motel room. Smith sat on the edge of the mattress, adjusting his tie pin. Persis stood by the dressing table, donning her coat in the mirror. She was about to pick up her sunglasses when she noticed him looking at her.
"Well".
Smith stopped fiddling with the pin. "Persis-"
She straightened in surprise. "You've never called me that before".
Smith nodded. He gestured for her to come over. She left the sunglasses on the table and walked over. Smith took her hands in his mechanically and pulled her nearer. Persis slid onto his knees. He looked at her fiercely.
"I want you to stay with me".
Persis toyed with his collar, "You know I can't".
"You can exist as human and semi-agent in and out of the matrix. Why not stay in it?"
"Because I chose to be unplugged. I chose to be shown the real world. I'm still plugged into it on the ship."
"Did you choose to want me?"
The silence grew.
"No. That happened by itself".
Smith made as if to get up. Persis rose with him. "I can't risk their lives".
"You've already risked your own by being here. You're already changing".
"Did you choose to reciprocate my emotion?"
Smith handed her her glasses. "Not at first. Then I chose to".
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to know what it was like to feel it".
Persis studied her face in the mirror, Smith's reflection behind her. She squinted at the image. Then she blinked.
It was then that she realised that her eyes had turned a deep shade of blue. Her gaze shifted to Smith's face. She realised it then. Her eyes were the same as his. The same shade, the same coldness with barely noticeable warmth. The same mercenary stare.
She was turning into an agent.
Persis called the Apollo.
"Operator".
"You alright, sir?"
"Yeah. You got an exit for me?"
"Yup-it's a phone box in the subway station you were in earlier".
"Thanks".
"How was the fight?"
Persis looked at Smith.
"Perfect".
She put the glasses on and paused. Smith took her hand in his tightly.
"Let me go, Smith". Persis realised her voice was trembling.
Smith put his dark glasses on, one-handed.
"I'll let you go now. You'll be back, Miss. Carlisle", his voice took on its normal, metallic tone, "and I'll be in the vicinity when you choose to do so".
Persis turned. She could sense his eyes following her to the door. She knew that even if Smith had the ability to want her, need her, to gain pleasure from her, he did not have the ability to love her. Yet, somehow, this was comfort enough. The image of him pressing his face to her neck and the solid warmth of his arms wrapped firmly round her, his palms pressing into her back flashed before her. Their skin touching. She could almost hear his heavy, jagged breathing in her ears. Persis got into the phone box.
It was then that she realised she was smiling broadly, and that tears were running down her face.