As there was nothing else to do, Stef went to the gym to practice. The only other person in there was Curt.

"Hey," he said and she shrugged. She required her jacket away and jumped up onto the balancing beam, steadying herself with her hands, she stood.

"I'm not mad at you," he said.

"I don't care if you are."

"I know you didn't lie."

"So why didn't you say something?" she asked as she closed her eyes and jumped up into the air. Coming back down, she missed the beam, but landed in a crouch as to not hurt herself. "Well?" she asked him.

"They wouldn't have believed me."

"Is he really that unbeatable?"

"Yeah, he is." He smiled, "so there is anything you're skilled in? Speed, strength, gravity?"

"I've been here less than a day Curt. I really don't know."

"The key thing is to remember that none of this is real." He smiled and rose about a foot off the floor.

"How did you do that?"

"Just extend the jump. Jump, but then hold it if that makes sense."

"Think happy thoughts?"

"If it helps you."

She concentrated, then forget about the rules of gravity and rose off the floor. "Cool." She rose higher, then flipped backward and fell slowly back down to the balancing beam.

"You're a natural at this."

"Well the jump test was pretty easy." She leapt fifteen feet up and held herself there for a moment before landing softly at the other end.

"No need to show off golden girl." He said spitefully.

"Hey what's your deal?"

"You're hogging the balancing beam."

"Sorry," she said sarcastically and she hopped off.

"You see," he said as he walked along it. "Walking this fine line is like walking the fine line between rebel and recruit."

"What are you talking about? They are the opposite sides of the war."

"Separated only by one choice. Tell me Stef, what pill were you going to take?"

"That's none of your business."

"Oh, but I can guess. Red pill. It's the truth, it's what you wanted. But instead, you're here like the other recruits, choosing this world over the truth."

"But we know the truth."

"Recruits know only what the agents choose to tell them. There are things that the recruits will never know that the rebels are told."

"Like what?"

"What matters is," he lifted his right foot and slammed it down on the beam, snapping it in half and jumping down. "This isn't the truth. You chose the lie."

"I chose what I believe in."

"Then you are deluded. I really thought I had a chance with you, you were found right before you made you decision. A lot of the other recruits only ever hear the agent's point of view. You've heard both, what do you think of my side of the war?"

"You're a rebel." She breathed.

"Yeah."

"But your loyalties were tested, you passed the tests."

"Are you talking about killing the simulation? Was that actually supposed to be a test?"

"You traitor."

"No Stef, you're the traitor. I'm going to give you one last chance to join the right side of the war and get out of this lie."

She shot at him.

Whipping the gun out of thin air she had fired on him, hoping to kill him. But he was too fast, dodging it and requiring a gun of his own he fired at her. She jumped around avoiding the bullets from each other's guns until they stood with their guns held at each other.

"You're empty," she said.

"Yeah...so are you."

Another shot rang out in the gym.

"But this one isn't," she said blowing the smoke off the gun she had required in her left hand. His body landed with a thump and she looked down in distaste at him.

"Traitor."

"What happened here?" Smith's severe voice asked from the door of the gym. She turned to look at him.

"Curt was a traitor."

"He was a what?"

"Rebel. Was this another test?"

"No. How do you know he was a rebel?"

"It may have had something to do with the fact he tried to convert me over to the rebel's side and when I declined he tried to shoot me."

"Ah." He paused, "are you injured?"

"No, Jones will be pissed off though." She said flippantly, not even sure it was possible for an agent to get 'pissed off'.

"He was a well trained deceiver if he lasted this long. If he could infiltrate to this level..." He trailed off and looked at Stef with more than a hint of accusation.

"Me? Do you think I'm a traitor? I was the one who killed him."

"You might be the rebel and he may have been going to expose your secret."

"Oh come on. Don't you have security cameras or something?"

"There is a security system yes. For events such as these."

"Then check it. I don't want you thinking I'm a traitor. Trust me, I wouldn't betray the Agency."

"Agents don't trust Miss Mimosa."

The world blurred and then they were standing in his office. He sat in his chair and typed something on his keyboard. "How long ago did the fight start?"

"Go back five minutes and you'll catch everything." She said as she sat down in the chair across from him. He started to watch it.

She reached her hand up to her head and held it. It was starting to hurt.

"Fine, he was the rebel," he said a minute later and he looked over at her. She had both her hands pressed to her head and she was quietly rocking back and forth in pain.

"Recruit?"

"Hurts..." she whispered. "Really, really hurts." She grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, it hurt to much to talk, that was why she hadn't asked for help.

"You said you weren't injured."

"I wasn't," she said and she jerked her head back. The chair toppled over and she fell to the ground. "Stupid brain tumor!" she screamed.

"You don't have a tumor. It would have been on your file."

"I don't know what the hell is wrong! My head is going to explode!" He went over to her and helped her to her feet and shifted them both to the medical facility. She collapsed on the nearest bed and kept her hands locked to her head, hoping the pain would go away.

The doctor pulled her right arm away from her head and injected her with something. It calmed her immediately, her other hand detaching from her head and dropping to her side, she relaxed back on the bed and breathed deeply, still in pain.

He gave her another shot and she fell unconscious.

She roused a matter of hours later, it was late early in the evening according to the clock. "I have discovered what is wrong with you," the medical agent said.

"Well what is it? What's wrong with me?" She asked as she sat up and let her legs dangle off the side of the bed.

"Quite simply," he said, "your real world body is dying."

"What?"

"You came from a bad crop."

"It happens sometimes when something goes wrong the growing process in the fields. If it is any comfort around a thousand others have the same problem. None of them have any idea that this is wrong with them. They could die at any time."

"Thanks..." she muttered not putting any feeling behind the world. "Do I have to stay here?"

"No. You are free to go. But if you experience any more symptoms come back and I can give you another shot."

She felt very odd as she returned to her room. Like she wasn't part of the world anymore. Well she wouldn't be for much longer, she realized bitterly. She was calm until she shut and locked the door of her room.

Then she started shaking.

She was going to die.

She wasn't crying though. She didn't want to cry, there was nothing to cry about. It was just the end of her life.

It wasn't like it mattered, she didn't have anyone who would miss her or anyone that she would miss.

And she wasn't afraid. She knew all about death.

It was just so...final.

And it wasn't fair.

She punched the wall as hard as she could, expecting some kind of pain that would take this numbness away. Maybe she was just in shock. The one thing she did know was that she was angry, very angry.

The wall gave easily under the force of her punches and soon her anger was spent on destroying the wall. There were pieces of plaster and wood strewn all around her room. Her knuckles and fingers were red and screaming in pain but she didn't feel it.

Collapsing on the bed she looked around blankly.

Someone knocked on the door. "Go away, come in, I don't care," she said loud enough for whoever-it-was to hear. The knob twisted and Smith walked in.

"Bad news I assume," he said as he walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Yeah I'll say," she said sitting up with a heavy sigh. "I'm dying. My real world body came from a bad crop or something like according to the doctor."

"Bad crops do happen. Not as often as they used to though." He looked up at the wall and the small pieces of debris, he made a requirement and it was all fixed and the debris gone.

"Gee, that's wonderful. Doesn't help me though." She scowled, "this sucks. I finally find something that I'm good at and now I'm going to die."

"I could make it painless if you want." He stated simply and she looked up at him. No matter how strange the offer sounded, he had intended it to be kind.

"Are you offering to kill me?"

"Yes."

"Well if it's any worse than that headache I had before I will gladly accept." She paused, he had just offered to end her life and she had politely accepted. The world was getting stranger by the second. "Painless would be nice," she said with a slight shake in her voice.

Smith sat down beside her and held out his right hand, a second later a steaming white mug appeared in it.

"What's that?" she asked curiously. As far as she had gathered though Agents didn't eat or drink.

He handed it to her, "it's warm milk. Psychological studies of humans have determined that it has certain calmative properties."

"Thank you," she said as she started to drink it. He was right, it did help.

"Did you want to leave the Agency? Knowing what you do now?"

"Why?"

Her question confused him, "in cases like this Recruits are given the choice to leave and spend their remaining time with friends or family."

"That's nice...I don't have any of either. I think I'll stay here, do as much good as I can while I'm still around."

"That's your final choice?"

"Yes."

"All right," he rose to leave. As he reached for the door handle she had another question for him.

"Is there anyway...anyway I can find out how much time I have left?"

"No," he said. "Deaths caused by real world errors are unpredictable. I'm sorry."

"Can I tell you something really stupid?" she blurted before he could leave.

"If you wish."

"Remember I said I remembered you?"

"Yes."

"Well...I was like two at the time so my brain didn't register you as an agent."

She paused; knowing how stupid this was going to sound. He probably wouldn't understand. "You fixed my doll. I thought you were an angel." She smirked, "Smith, Angel Smith."

He smiled a genuine smile, "that's an interesting interpretation."

"I thought you were going to think it was stupid."

"It's a refreshing change."

"What?"

"Almost everyone else thinks that I am a cold, heartless killing machine."

"Isn't that what agents are?"

"Yes." He stopped talking and looked down at her, as if unsure to say anything further.

"Whatever you were going to say I won't repeat it to anyone else."

"Our programming is adaptive. It is possible for a program to become more than what it was originally intended to be."

"I can understand that." She said with a yawn.

"Did the doctor tell you to rest?"

"No, but I guess it's expected."

"Then goodnight."

"Smith?" She asked as he opened the door, he turned back toward her. "Is it ok to be scared?"

"Yes." He said then walked away, closing the door behind him.

The she cried herself to sleep.

With a scream she woke up a few hours later. She pulled herself out of her sheet that she had become tangled in during her fitful sleep. She made it to the bathroom where she threw up then she leant back against the cool tiled wall.

It hadn't been a dream, it had been a nightmare. A suffocating, dark murky blue-black space that she couldn't find her way out of, then it had become so bright it was burning her eyes and the headache had come again.

Thankfully it hadn't followed her into the waking world.

She required a cool glass of water and tried to relax but found no sanctuary from her thoughts. It was all too real. Her gaze looked back to her bed.

No.

She didn't want to go back to sleep, she knew if she went back to sleep she was going to die. She didn't want to be asleep when it happened.

Even if there wasn't much point sticking around it wasn't something she was just going to accept without a fight.

She required her suit and walked out of her room. The Agency was quiet this time of night. Then again, most of its occupants were asleep and she doubted the agents held loud parties in the early hours of the morning.

Did the agents sleep? An interesting question but she doubted they did, they probably needed to be online twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week so they could patrol, hunt and kill rebels.

She found her way to Smith's office and knocked on the door. "Come in," he said. He looked up with a mild surprise as he saw who it was. "It is two thirty-seven am, most humans are asleep at this hour."

"I know that." She walked across and sat in the chair. "Is there something I can do?"

"In what context?"

"An assignment, a patrol, a...something so I don't have sit around and think about my impending death. And I don't want to go back to sleep cause I'm afraid I won't wake up. I don't mean to dump all this on you but you remind me of my IT teacher, really easy to talk to."

"Assignments and patrols usually aren't done at this hour. Recruits with insomnia usually find ways to amuse themselves or practice in the gym."

His computer beeped, he looked away from her and over to it. "What is it?" she asked as his expression changed.

"It's the Nebuchadnezzar."

"The what?" she exclaimed, wondering if had just made that word up.

"It's the ship that Anderson and Morpheus are on."

"What about it?"

"They have just hacked into the Matrix."

She shut her eyes and was silent for a little while. Smith was just about to inquire her headaches were coming back when she opened them and smiled. "I've got an idea."

"Are you aware it doesn't take you more than thirty-two seconds to come up with a viable idea?"

"No I didn't, thanks for telling me."

"What is your idea now?"

"Wait, I've got a few questions first."

"Such as?"

"Is it possible for someone not in the rebellion to communicate with their world?"

"Only to certain ships. Each one has a different phone number, when they come in this number is programmed into a cell phone that they carry. If we retrieve a phone we make notes of the number before discarding it."

"Have you got the Neb-buck-had-whatever's number?"

"Yes. So what are you thinking?"

"Well I'm going to attempt to kill whoever hacked into the Matrix."

"How?"

"I'm going to ring the ship and tell whoever picks up to send them over to meet me."

"And why would a rebel willingly meet an agent recruit?"

"Because I am going to pretend to defect."

"I don't think they will fall for that."

"Trust me Smith, I think they will."

"Agent don't..."

"Trust me Smith," she said again and he gave a slight nod. "They are going to fall for it."

"What do you need?"

"Just the phone number, I'll take care of the rest."

*****

On the Nebuchadnezzar, Morpheus was still fuming about their potential being a recruit. "I can't believe that the Oracle gave us false advice."

"Calm down Morpheus, not even she can see everything," Trinity said.

Morpheus relented, "maybe this has served some higher purpose. Maybe it is a good thing we did not keep her, she may have turned into another Cypher."

"Operator," he heard Tank say.

"Is it Neo?" Trinity asked.

"No..." he said slowly. "I think you had better take this Tank," he said as he pulled off the headset and handed it to his captain.

"Tank? Who is it?" He asked as he put it on.

"Tank...what an original name," he heard Stef say.

"Traitor," he hissed.

"Not anymore. I want to defect."

"You want to what?"

"Did you hear me? I want to defect, I want to join the side I belong on."

"Give me one reason I should trust you."

***

Stef was walking down the street holding a newly required cell phone, looking around at the lights on the buildings for she might not get a chance to see them again.

"Your insider has been killed, did you know that?"

"C-it?"

"Was that Curt's alias?"

"Yes. How did he die?"

"Smith shot him. He was talking to me, telling me things about the resistance's side of the war. He got one straight through the temple. I just haven't seen the Agency the same way since."

"It's not too easy on this side either."

"Yeah...but I think you would give someone a chance to explain themselves before ending their life."

"You do realize that if this is a trick we will kill you. We don't put up with traitors any more than your people do."

"They aren't my people. Not anymore. Can someone come and get me, I want to escape wonderland."

Before he could give her an answer a pain shot through her head and she dropped to her knees as she felt a pain in her gut. Wrapping both of her arms around her middle she rocked back and forth and hoped it would go away.

She gave it a moment and although it didn't dull completely, it was better than what it had been. She reached for the cell phone, which she had dropped.

"What happened?"

"I'm not exactly sure. Can I meet someone somewhere before they find out I'm missing and defecting?"

"Neo is in there at the moment. He'll be able to get you to an exit."

"Where do I meet him?"

"Fourth and Orion. Be there in ten minutes."

"I will." She made her way to the corner that the rebel had specified, she made it there in about seven minutes but Neo was already waiting for her.

The rebel was dressed in his trademark black coat and sunglasses, she wondered how he could see with them on in the lowly lit night. He shook his head at her as she approached. "If this is a trick I will finish you off and this time I won't be tricked."

"I'm not going to try anything, I promise." She said, lying with a slight smile that was supposed to reassure him.

"We have saved some others like you," he said as they walked toward an exit for first-timers. "Some that chose to stay in this dream a little while longer. Some that chose the lie before seeing the light."

"I guess I'm one of those." She said as she winced in pain, she could feel it building up again.

The doctor's words came back to her; "a thousand others have the same problem. None of them have any idea that this is wrong with them. They could die at any time."

Any time. She knew her time was going to be soon, very soon judging by the pain. It had never been quite this bad before. It had always been headaches, or splitting seconds of pain but never a constant pain like this.

He led her into a room, yet another exit. She inhaled sharply as a pain shot through her. She had been right, if she had of been asleep she would have died in her sleep, unless the pain had woken her.

But, no matter what, she was glad she was awake.

Time to do what she had come here to do.

She took a deep breath to focus herself then required a gun. She shot the phone first so he couldn't escape then shot at him. To her surprise he didn't try and dodge the volley of bullets, he simply held up his hand and they stopped just in front of his hand.

He smirked darkly then lowered his hand and the bullets dropped. She dropped her gun as he started to walk toward her, "I could have guessed you were still a traitor. It ends now."

She required another gun but before she could shoot again he ripped it out of her hand and grabbed her by her throat with his left hand and threw her back against the wall. She looked at him but before she could move he pulled the trigger.

She looked down and saw a hole in her tee shirt and it was rapidly getting dark with blood from her stomach. He fired again and then punched her in the face. She fell down to the ground and saw her first gun just across from her.

She was sure she hadn't fired all the bullets from it.

She flung her hand toward it at the same time that he fired the third shot. But the world blurred and she found herself in a bright place. No, it wasn't the non-existent beyond, it was the medical facility.

She collapsed back to the floor, and gently reached her hand across to her stomach, feeling the blood there. Maybe it was the shock, but she couldn't register the pain of the shots.

Then the headache came again, worse than ever. And then she felt pain in her guts, but not like she had been shot, it felt more like she was being eaten from the inside. She looked around at what she could see through pain- blurred eyes.

"Real world body failure," she heard the voice of the doctor say.

Her eyes fixed onto Smith who was standing near her. "Painless," she pleaded as her body went to hell. "Painless please." She started to write in pain, trying to fend it off as much as she could.

She looked up at him and saw he had drawn his gun that he was now training down on her. "Are you sure?" he asked softly.

"Yes."

Angel of death or of mercy. Maybe he was both.

He fired a single shot.

***

Emma walked out to the living room and found her two year old standing on a chair pulling a book off the shelf.

"Stephanie I thought I told you to go to sleep."

"Didn't mean to wake you."

"What could you possibly be doing at this hour?"

"I wanted to find my angel," she said as she found the book she was looking for. It was Emma's book of angels.

"I don't think your angel will be in there Stef."

"Can we have a look anyway?"

Emma nodded and picked up Stef and the book and took her back into her room. She flicked on the lamp and opened the book so Stef could see the pictures as well. "You see there's lots of different angels and different types of angel."

"What types?"

"Well first of all there's your guardian angel, we all have one of those. Then there is an angel of death, but you don't need to worry about those ones for a very long time yet. And then there is the angel of mercy who comes to you in a time of need and helps you."

"He helped me, he fixed my doll."

"Do you think you can go to sleep now Stef? There's nothing to worry about."

"I'm not worried."

Emma leant down and kissed her forehead, "just close your eyes and go to sleep."

***

Everything stopped and went black.

"Morgue," Smith stated simply before turning and walking out of the medical bay.

One month later.

Smith, Jones and Brown were waiting in Smith's office to meet the new agent. Since new agents were a rarity they were expected by the mainframe to meet them. A few minutes later they heard footsteps outside the door, it opened a woman walked through.

Brown walked away and looked even more displeased than normal. He was quite unhappy with the new agent for a good number of reasons, though he kept most of them to himself.

Jones was silently pleased with the fact that the time he had spent assisting the mainframe with the programming of the new agent hadn't been in vain. She seemed to be fully operational.

Smith stepped forward to greet the new agent. "Agent Smith," she said with the slightest hint of a smile.

"Welcome Agent Mimosa," Smith said betraying the slight hint of a smile as well.

The End.