It's Not Fair
"Why isn't anything working?"
"Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions."
"Leave me with him. . . Now."
Smith tried to drain the voices out. Smith tried to go away. He tried so hard, and he turned his head to see the two others in black leave. And he grew scared, he didn't want them to leave him alone with. . . him. Don't leave me. . .
"Can you hear me, Smith? I'm going to be honest."
Smith heaved for air, as he watched the remaining man grab a chair and sit closer to him.
"Do you remember me, Smith? Do you remember any of this?"
Smith lay still.
"Answer me, Smith. . . Answer me!"
Smith felt the man grab his face, and he started coughing for air. Smith closed his eyes.
"I remember you. . ." Smith said."Morpheus. . ."
Morpheus sighed, and let go of Smith, and leaned back on his chair, staring at the Virus. And Smith lowered his head, to weak to move, to look up, or fight. He only heaved for air.
"We've been here before, you and I." Morpheus said. "Remember?"
Smith didn't answer for a long time.
"I hate this place. . . I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell. . . If there is such a thing." Smith quoted himself from long ago.
Morpheus nodded, and smiled.
"Yes, that's right." Morpheus said.
"I can still smell you." Smith whispered.
It had been a week since the war had ended. A week since peace began, and Neo died. A week since Smith died for the second time. A week since Smith was taken without any resistance. They carried him out of the street, just where he supposedly died. He was barely breathing, and they had to use no force. Smith was too weak to fight them, too weak to even realize what was happening. And for a week Smith had been put in a room on the eightieth floor, with humans all around him. Humans studying him, injecting things into him, punching him, hurting him, and he was too weak to do anything about it. He didn't know what was happening to him. He was so weak, Mr. Anderson did this. Mr. Anderson killed him, and deleted a huge part of his code. But he was still alive, yet only a part of him.
And now Smith was alone, no copies, nothing. Back to being surrounded by humans. Back to smelling them. Back to before, but now it was the humans trying to break his mind. But he wouldn't let them, he wouldn't them take that away from him. They wouldn't win again. But Smith knew it was inevitable.
He didn't know how much longer he could go on. Broken memories came to him. He saw himself fighting, he saw himself dying, he saw Mr. Anderson die. Again and again, memories came to him, and he was getting tired of them.
Smith now sat there, on a chair that was the only thing keeping him from falling back to the floor. They had no restraints on him, he was too weak to even stand. His suit was stained and wrinkled with blood and dust. He held his sunglasses in his hand in two pieces. And now the very person he tried to break, was breaking him, Morpheus.
"Smith, I need you to tell me something." Morpheus leaned closer to him.
Smith glanced up at Morpheus, his blue eyes crying from the pain.
"No. . ." Smith said.
"Smith!"
Morpheus screamed at the former Agent, the Agent that tortured him, the Agent that killed so many of his people, the one that killed Neo. He enjoyed seeing Smith like this. He enjoyed it, just like he was sure Smith enjoyed it once.
Smith took deeper breaths now.
"No. . ." Smith said again.
"You killed them, Smith, you killed them all!"
Smith didn't say anything, as his hands began to shake.
"You have to tell me, Smith, tell me!" Morpheus yelled.
"The Great Morpheus. . . We meet at last." Smith mocked.
Somewhere in that broken code with a suit, was still Smith. And Smith wasn't going to let any Virus break him.
Morpheus bit his lower lip, and grabbed Smith's face tightly.
"Remember this?" Morpheus asked.
Morpheus squeezed Smith tightly, and raised his head to make him look at him. The Former Agent, former Virus looked so weak. Smith's eyes were so read, and he was always crying. Always.
"Remember when you tried to kill me?" Morpheus taunted.
Smith took deep breaths, trying to keep going. Trying to tune Morpheus out, not focus on him. Put the information he wants away, forget about it. Forget about everything. Let go.
"I remember. . .Trying to become free." Smith said.
"Free!? What is your freedom Smith!? What is it!?" Morpheus shook Smith's head.
"My freedom is without. . . You." Smith whispered. "My freedom is without anything."
Morpheus shook his head, and let go of Smith. Smith lowered his head, and closed his eyes.
"A world only to yourself. Is that what those copies were for?" Morpheus asked, making a fist.
Smith ignored him. Go away, Smith thought, leave me. Leave him. . .
"Tell me, Smith. Tell me everything." Morpheus said strongly.
"Everything that has a beginning has an end. . ."
The mighty Smith had fallen. No longer could he fight, or stand, he could barely breathe. And always he felt pain. It was mostly in his chest, making it hard to breath. Sometimes he wouldn't be able to feel his legs. Sometimes he just wanted to die. He had come so close, so close to his freedom, and it was taken away from him. Mr. Anderson took it away, Mr. Anderson killed him. And Smith was alone again. Now, the humans tortured him. And no matter how much he tried, Smith would keep alive.
"Smith. . ." Morpheus leaned closer to him.
"Tell me. . ." Smith said.
"Tell you what?"
"What is Mr. Anderson's name? I've forgotten. . ."
Morpheus took a pause.
"His name is Neo." Morpheus said, with all his belief.
Smith smiled, and nodded.
"Yes. . .Neo. . . I remember now." Smith whispered.
And Smith closed his eyes, and saw Mr. Anderson, saw Neo. Mr. Anderson showed him no emotion, and they only fought. Then the memory began to fade away, and all Smith saw was darkness. Broken memories fading and coming, broken Smith, forgetting.
"And what about the others?" Smith asked.
"What others?"
"Oh, I can picture them now. . . The others in suits. . . One of them asked me what I was doing with you. . ."
"Brown and Jones, Smith"
"Ah yes. . . Brown and Jones." Smith smiled, and pictured them. "My companions. . ."
Smith's mind wandered.
"Smith!" Morpheus yelled.
Smith didn't move.
"Smith!"
"Do we have a deal Mr. Reagan? Er. . . Do you hear that? I can smell them. . . More! Our connection. Look past the flesh. . . Why?" Smith wandered in his memories.
"Smith!"
"No. . . Don't bring me back." Smith begged.
Smith was somewhere else now. He wasn't in that building with Morpheus. He wasn't weak where he was. He was still a Virus. He was still himself. He was in his memories, and he didn't want to go back.
"Smith!" Morpheus shook Smith by the shoulders.
"No!"
Smith looked up at Morpheus, and tears fell from his eyes. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? Why couldn't they kill him, end it all now? And Morpheus froze at the look at Smith's face. It was unlike anything he ever seen. It was so. . . human.
"Why, Mr. Anderson. . ? Why? Why? What are you doing? Why get up, why keep fighting?" Smith cried.
Smith stared at Morpheus with his blue eyes, and turned away from him.
"Why did you leave me here, Mr. Anderson!? I'll kill you! You did this to me! You did this. . . You did all of this. . ."
Morpheus stared at the crying Agent.
"You have to tell me what happened that night, Smith." Morpheus ordered.
"No. . ."
"You have to tell me about your final battle."
"No. . ."
"Smith. . ."
"He killed me! He killed me! That's it! That's all! That's all he ever did to me!"
Morpheus stood above the Agent, as he put his arms around himself. Smith began to rub his arms, still crying. Morpheus almost pitied him.
"It's not fair. . . It's not fair." Smith whispered.
"What's not fair?"
"He got everything so easily. . . All he had to do was take the red pill. . . That's all, then he's free. He out of here, away from the Matrix. That's all he had to do. He had no purpose, and he didn't care, he was hunted down by his own Agents! He didn't have to copy himself over and over again just to make the smell go away! It's not fair!"
Smith tried to stand, he tried to run. But he fell to the floor, and huddled up, all while Morpheus watched. And Agent Smith lay huddled up, protecting himself from the rest of the world.
"He didn't come so close, and fail. He didn't. . . He didn't. . . He didn't have to live like this. . . He didn't. He didn't. It's not fair. . . All he had to do was wait until the phone rang. I waited! I waited! And no one called, no one came for me! No one cared! It's not fair!"
Morpheus knelt down closer to Smith.
"You killed them, Smith." Morpheus said.
"I know I did, I had to. . ."
"You killed everyone."
Smith didn't look at Morpheus, he only stayed on the floor, and closed his eyes.
"But everyone left me." Smith said strongly, believing what he said.
Smith tried to go away, go back to the memories. Leave this place behind. Go back to when he was strong. Go back to before.
"Smith, do you remember? Tell me what the battle was like." Morpheus said.
"It was a battle the gods would have awed at." Smith whispered.
"Really?"
"Do you know what he said to me?"
"What?"
"He said, because I choose to. I want to make chose. I want to choose the red pill. I want to choose to leave. I want to go outside. I want to leave. . ."
"You can't."
"I know. . . It's not fair. It was never fair. It will never be fair. . ."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Smith said, leaning on the window.
He put his hand to the window, staring at the fake city in front of him. The city he was so close to, the city he could almost touch. But never really could. The city he once said was beautiful, the city he tried to destroy.
"In its own way." Morpheus replied, standing next to him.
Smith nodded, and smiled. Smith no longer cried, Smith no longer felt pain. He was better now. His suit was cleaned, and he could remember now. Morpheus came to visit him often. Smith would always enjoy his visits.
And often Smith would gaze out the window. Look at the city that he could no longer go to. It had been six years he had stayed in that one room. People didn't come as often to study him. And they wouldn't kill him, fear that he would rebel. Smith knew all of that, and he knew he was still too weak to fight.
Over the six years, Morpheus had always watched Smith. He had always been amazed at what Smith did. Smith didn't do anything Smith would do. He didn't fight, or scream. He called Neo, Neo now. Smith was broken. Smith was broken and he would never be the same. Morpheus felt even a little guilty, as he wore his shades and stared at Smith without any. Morpheus hated looking at Smith's all too human blue eyes. They too seemed broken.
"Smith, time for your medication." Smith's nurse came in.
"Thank you, Ms. Harding." Smith smiled, nodding at her.
Morpheus watched, as Smith took a blue pill from the tray the nurse held.
And Smith swallowed it, smiling.
Morpheus knew they had chosen the pill for him.
It still wasn't fair.
"Why isn't anything working?"
"Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions."
"Leave me with him. . . Now."
Smith tried to drain the voices out. Smith tried to go away. He tried so hard, and he turned his head to see the two others in black leave. And he grew scared, he didn't want them to leave him alone with. . . him. Don't leave me. . .
"Can you hear me, Smith? I'm going to be honest."
Smith heaved for air, as he watched the remaining man grab a chair and sit closer to him.
"Do you remember me, Smith? Do you remember any of this?"
Smith lay still.
"Answer me, Smith. . . Answer me!"
Smith felt the man grab his face, and he started coughing for air. Smith closed his eyes.
"I remember you. . ." Smith said."Morpheus. . ."
Morpheus sighed, and let go of Smith, and leaned back on his chair, staring at the Virus. And Smith lowered his head, to weak to move, to look up, or fight. He only heaved for air.
"We've been here before, you and I." Morpheus said. "Remember?"
Smith didn't answer for a long time.
"I hate this place. . . I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell. . . If there is such a thing." Smith quoted himself from long ago.
Morpheus nodded, and smiled.
"Yes, that's right." Morpheus said.
"I can still smell you." Smith whispered.
It had been a week since the war had ended. A week since peace began, and Neo died. A week since Smith died for the second time. A week since Smith was taken without any resistance. They carried him out of the street, just where he supposedly died. He was barely breathing, and they had to use no force. Smith was too weak to fight them, too weak to even realize what was happening. And for a week Smith had been put in a room on the eightieth floor, with humans all around him. Humans studying him, injecting things into him, punching him, hurting him, and he was too weak to do anything about it. He didn't know what was happening to him. He was so weak, Mr. Anderson did this. Mr. Anderson killed him, and deleted a huge part of his code. But he was still alive, yet only a part of him.
And now Smith was alone, no copies, nothing. Back to being surrounded by humans. Back to smelling them. Back to before, but now it was the humans trying to break his mind. But he wouldn't let them, he wouldn't them take that away from him. They wouldn't win again. But Smith knew it was inevitable.
He didn't know how much longer he could go on. Broken memories came to him. He saw himself fighting, he saw himself dying, he saw Mr. Anderson die. Again and again, memories came to him, and he was getting tired of them.
Smith now sat there, on a chair that was the only thing keeping him from falling back to the floor. They had no restraints on him, he was too weak to even stand. His suit was stained and wrinkled with blood and dust. He held his sunglasses in his hand in two pieces. And now the very person he tried to break, was breaking him, Morpheus.
"Smith, I need you to tell me something." Morpheus leaned closer to him.
Smith glanced up at Morpheus, his blue eyes crying from the pain.
"No. . ." Smith said.
"Smith!"
Morpheus screamed at the former Agent, the Agent that tortured him, the Agent that killed so many of his people, the one that killed Neo. He enjoyed seeing Smith like this. He enjoyed it, just like he was sure Smith enjoyed it once.
Smith took deeper breaths now.
"No. . ." Smith said again.
"You killed them, Smith, you killed them all!"
Smith didn't say anything, as his hands began to shake.
"You have to tell me, Smith, tell me!" Morpheus yelled.
"The Great Morpheus. . . We meet at last." Smith mocked.
Somewhere in that broken code with a suit, was still Smith. And Smith wasn't going to let any Virus break him.
Morpheus bit his lower lip, and grabbed Smith's face tightly.
"Remember this?" Morpheus asked.
Morpheus squeezed Smith tightly, and raised his head to make him look at him. The Former Agent, former Virus looked so weak. Smith's eyes were so read, and he was always crying. Always.
"Remember when you tried to kill me?" Morpheus taunted.
Smith took deep breaths, trying to keep going. Trying to tune Morpheus out, not focus on him. Put the information he wants away, forget about it. Forget about everything. Let go.
"I remember. . .Trying to become free." Smith said.
"Free!? What is your freedom Smith!? What is it!?" Morpheus shook Smith's head.
"My freedom is without. . . You." Smith whispered. "My freedom is without anything."
Morpheus shook his head, and let go of Smith. Smith lowered his head, and closed his eyes.
"A world only to yourself. Is that what those copies were for?" Morpheus asked, making a fist.
Smith ignored him. Go away, Smith thought, leave me. Leave him. . .
"Tell me, Smith. Tell me everything." Morpheus said strongly.
"Everything that has a beginning has an end. . ."
The mighty Smith had fallen. No longer could he fight, or stand, he could barely breathe. And always he felt pain. It was mostly in his chest, making it hard to breath. Sometimes he wouldn't be able to feel his legs. Sometimes he just wanted to die. He had come so close, so close to his freedom, and it was taken away from him. Mr. Anderson took it away, Mr. Anderson killed him. And Smith was alone again. Now, the humans tortured him. And no matter how much he tried, Smith would keep alive.
"Smith. . ." Morpheus leaned closer to him.
"Tell me. . ." Smith said.
"Tell you what?"
"What is Mr. Anderson's name? I've forgotten. . ."
Morpheus took a pause.
"His name is Neo." Morpheus said, with all his belief.
Smith smiled, and nodded.
"Yes. . .Neo. . . I remember now." Smith whispered.
And Smith closed his eyes, and saw Mr. Anderson, saw Neo. Mr. Anderson showed him no emotion, and they only fought. Then the memory began to fade away, and all Smith saw was darkness. Broken memories fading and coming, broken Smith, forgetting.
"And what about the others?" Smith asked.
"What others?"
"Oh, I can picture them now. . . The others in suits. . . One of them asked me what I was doing with you. . ."
"Brown and Jones, Smith"
"Ah yes. . . Brown and Jones." Smith smiled, and pictured them. "My companions. . ."
Smith's mind wandered.
"Smith!" Morpheus yelled.
Smith didn't move.
"Smith!"
"Do we have a deal Mr. Reagan? Er. . . Do you hear that? I can smell them. . . More! Our connection. Look past the flesh. . . Why?" Smith wandered in his memories.
"Smith!"
"No. . . Don't bring me back." Smith begged.
Smith was somewhere else now. He wasn't in that building with Morpheus. He wasn't weak where he was. He was still a Virus. He was still himself. He was in his memories, and he didn't want to go back.
"Smith!" Morpheus shook Smith by the shoulders.
"No!"
Smith looked up at Morpheus, and tears fell from his eyes. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? Why couldn't they kill him, end it all now? And Morpheus froze at the look at Smith's face. It was unlike anything he ever seen. It was so. . . human.
"Why, Mr. Anderson. . ? Why? Why? What are you doing? Why get up, why keep fighting?" Smith cried.
Smith stared at Morpheus with his blue eyes, and turned away from him.
"Why did you leave me here, Mr. Anderson!? I'll kill you! You did this to me! You did this. . . You did all of this. . ."
Morpheus stared at the crying Agent.
"You have to tell me what happened that night, Smith." Morpheus ordered.
"No. . ."
"You have to tell me about your final battle."
"No. . ."
"Smith. . ."
"He killed me! He killed me! That's it! That's all! That's all he ever did to me!"
Morpheus stood above the Agent, as he put his arms around himself. Smith began to rub his arms, still crying. Morpheus almost pitied him.
"It's not fair. . . It's not fair." Smith whispered.
"What's not fair?"
"He got everything so easily. . . All he had to do was take the red pill. . . That's all, then he's free. He out of here, away from the Matrix. That's all he had to do. He had no purpose, and he didn't care, he was hunted down by his own Agents! He didn't have to copy himself over and over again just to make the smell go away! It's not fair!"
Smith tried to stand, he tried to run. But he fell to the floor, and huddled up, all while Morpheus watched. And Agent Smith lay huddled up, protecting himself from the rest of the world.
"He didn't come so close, and fail. He didn't. . . He didn't. . . He didn't have to live like this. . . He didn't. He didn't. It's not fair. . . All he had to do was wait until the phone rang. I waited! I waited! And no one called, no one came for me! No one cared! It's not fair!"
Morpheus knelt down closer to Smith.
"You killed them, Smith." Morpheus said.
"I know I did, I had to. . ."
"You killed everyone."
Smith didn't look at Morpheus, he only stayed on the floor, and closed his eyes.
"But everyone left me." Smith said strongly, believing what he said.
Smith tried to go away, go back to the memories. Leave this place behind. Go back to when he was strong. Go back to before.
"Smith, do you remember? Tell me what the battle was like." Morpheus said.
"It was a battle the gods would have awed at." Smith whispered.
"Really?"
"Do you know what he said to me?"
"What?"
"He said, because I choose to. I want to make chose. I want to choose the red pill. I want to choose to leave. I want to go outside. I want to leave. . ."
"You can't."
"I know. . . It's not fair. It was never fair. It will never be fair. . ."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Smith said, leaning on the window.
He put his hand to the window, staring at the fake city in front of him. The city he was so close to, the city he could almost touch. But never really could. The city he once said was beautiful, the city he tried to destroy.
"In its own way." Morpheus replied, standing next to him.
Smith nodded, and smiled. Smith no longer cried, Smith no longer felt pain. He was better now. His suit was cleaned, and he could remember now. Morpheus came to visit him often. Smith would always enjoy his visits.
And often Smith would gaze out the window. Look at the city that he could no longer go to. It had been six years he had stayed in that one room. People didn't come as often to study him. And they wouldn't kill him, fear that he would rebel. Smith knew all of that, and he knew he was still too weak to fight.
Over the six years, Morpheus had always watched Smith. He had always been amazed at what Smith did. Smith didn't do anything Smith would do. He didn't fight, or scream. He called Neo, Neo now. Smith was broken. Smith was broken and he would never be the same. Morpheus felt even a little guilty, as he wore his shades and stared at Smith without any. Morpheus hated looking at Smith's all too human blue eyes. They too seemed broken.
"Smith, time for your medication." Smith's nurse came in.
"Thank you, Ms. Harding." Smith smiled, nodding at her.
Morpheus watched, as Smith took a blue pill from the tray the nurse held.
And Smith swallowed it, smiling.
Morpheus knew they had chosen the pill for him.
It still wasn't fair.