Chapter 2

Reason looked at this new person in shock. He looked familiar, but this wasn't the same comfortable familiarity as with the agents before. This was a sharp, painful recent memory. The memory of the man who got up and fought again, even though he should have died, had died, right in front of her. Reason looked at him, at his face, and knew with a sudden glassy clarity that the whole business of "sides", the "us and "them" which she had considered earlier was entirely irrelevant. The best way to divide the world as she saw it is into two, simple easily understood categories. People who were trying to kill her, and people who weren't. As far as she could see, this Neo bloke, or Anderson or whatever the hell he called himself, this guy was unlikely to fit into the latter category. As the realisation slowly dawned on her that he really was dangerous, and that she quite probably should be running away, although she found the idea actually fleeing more than a little difficult to digest, he drew a gun. She stared at it in a kind of strange detached fascination. It was a really big, shiny gun. It looked as though someone had really looked after this gun, carefully polished every shiny bit of it untill it gleamed. But however and shiny it was, however beautifully it gleamed and glimmered, it was still a gun. A device made for killing people. And it was aimed at her.

This realisation cut through the vague fog of her terror right to her brain, which, ignoring Reason's conscious, as it was still admiring the pretty pattern of light sparkling on the instrument of her death, fired up her legs and caused her to turn and run very quickly.

Neo stared at her in brief puzzlement before his brain took control also, and he ran after her. He didn't understand it. Smith's clothes, Smith's memories, Smith's attitude as far as Morpheus had said, Smith's face even, well almost, but that certainly hadn't been Smith's reaction to seeing him. If that had been Smith he would almost certainly tried to fight him, after all, Agents didn't learn from their mistakes, did they? Smith certainly hadn't, not the last time they met anyway. His musings were interrupted, however, before he reached any particularly interesting conclusions, by a breif reminder from his under-developed sense of self-preservation, telling him that, despite being in a different body, this was still Agent Smith he was facing, still the most dangerous and certainly the most psychotic agent that any of the rebels had ever met, and would he please pay attention because frankly his sense of self preservation was tired of being ignored or disregarded. Neo shook his head and sped up, leaving Trinity behind in an attempt to catch up with the desperately fleeing agent.

Reason looked around briefly at the sound of speeding footfalls. She saw that the man Neo was closing on her, and turned sharply into a sidestreet.

Which turned out to be a dead end.

"Oh shit." The curse was out of her mouth before she even realised what she was doing, and turned around to face him. The wall behind her was solid against her back, despite her desperate prayers to anyone who might be listening, and Neo was still holding the gun. And advancing, whilst she tried to force herself further into the wall. This wasn't good.

Neo stared at the girl as she backed further into the wall. This wasn't good. It would have been easier if she looked more like Agent Smith had, but in the badly fitting baggy suit she looked like she'd borrowed her boyfriend's clothes. Ant minute now Trinity was going to run around the corner, and then what? Even if the girl didn't look much like Agent Smith, she could still do some serious damage to anyone who wasn't "The One". In fact, being an agent herself she would almost certainly attack Trinity as soon as she saw her, recognising the weak spot in Neo's defences. He gathered his rapidly failing wits about him and raised the gun.

Reason stared at the mouth of the gun as it raised to point at her. So this is it then, she thought. I'm going to die. Again.

Neo suddenly felt something. He felt the world around him change very slightly, due to an outside influence. he could see that the change didn't come from the inside, and he knew what was causing this change, knew it was the machines, to protect the agent he had cornered. Which was odd, because they'd never made an effort to protect the agents before.

Reason felt the world change around her, but this was a different change, this was a good change, she felt it as though a friend had suddenly reached out a hand and said it was going to be all right. No terrible distortion, no feeling of vertigo or like the world had been turned roughly upside down, this was a smooth ride. When the changing feeling stopped she reached a hand out and slapped it against the wall. It connected with nothing at all. She spun around and sprinted down the alley way that had suddenly opened up for her. She didn't turn round, so she didn't see the wall suddenly re-form itself from fragments of code, and she didn't see Neo as he pulled it down and out of the way. She just kept on running, the most important thing in her life at this moment in time being it's continuation.

Neo stopped as he hit the streets. Where had she gone? Behind him he could hear Trinity approaching. He couldn't see the agent/girl anywhere. His phone rang and he answered it. "Leave her." said Morpheus. "We've got bigger fish to fry."

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As Reason finally came to a stumbling stop as she felt the pressure that Neo creating in the Matrix gradually ease off. She needed somewhere. Somewhere to rest and not have to think about anything. Home? No, that would be too risky. Even if Neo and his fanclub didn't know where her apartment was, the Agents were sure to be waiting for her, with a whole load of questions and headaches. No, she couldn't go home. So, where?

She frowned as a memory surfaced. Not an ideal place to be, but certainly better than anywhere else she could think of. And some of her past life friends were bound to be there. She smiled and began to make her way across town. It should be interesting, if nothing else.

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reason stood in front of the battered door, breathing slowly. In. Out. In. Out. It's just a door, she told herself. Nothing foreboding about doors. And it wasn't as if they'd know. they couldn't possibly know. No way.

Stop behaving like a superstitious peasant and just open the door, dammit!

The door opened from the inside as she put her hand on the doorknob. A tallish dark woman with a face built for smiling opened it and didn't smile at Reason, but held her hand out.

Reason looked at her, she could tell what the woman wanted. With a sigh and a distinct feeling of loss she took her gun out her pocket and handed it to her. The woman ushered her into a largeish room full of children and young adolescents. Without her gun Reason felt oddly naked and vulnerable, and she did not enjoy the experience. The children in the room were casually bending the matrix around themselves, playing various games and puzzles, and the cumulative effect on Reason was like an itch inside her head, like a splinter in her mind. It really was very irritating.

One of the "children" looked up her, then looked quickly away without making eye contact, and Reason felt uncomfortable.

In fact, she felt like she needed an aspirin. the entire left side of her head was throbbing with a really annoying regularity. Her left eye twitched. She felt incredibly uncomfortable, not just like she was the outsider but much more than that.

Thankfully her rather dark musings were interupted by the woman who had answered the door to Reason beckoning her into what appeared to be the kitchen.

"So you're the one I've been hearing about. Hmm. Somehow I thought you'd look more like him. Anyway, what can I do for you?" Reason stared at the self-proclaimed "Oracle". "Don't you know already?" The oracle sighed. "Yes I know, I was asking to be polite. You want answers, yes? Whats, whys and hows?" Reason shrugged. "Yeah, that's about it. How it happened, why it happened and what the hell is the Neo-Anderson guy doing chasing me around with guns anyway?"

The oracle rolled her eyes. "So many questions, so little time. Which one would you like to answer?"

Reason frowned to herself. "Who was Elizabeth Stuward, and why do I have her memories?"

"Hmm, okay then. Elizabeth Stuward was a young lady of about twenty or so. She had blonde hair, green eyes and an insatiable curiosity. She was unemployed, living of state welfare and the occasional payoff from small time hacking jobs. She wasn't any great shakes at computer programming or any of that kind, but her curiosity led her to find out about the nature of the Matrix and she was fascinated by it. She used to come and talk to me quite often. As for the why you have her memories, that much should be simple. Some of your agent code was damaged. When you respawned your code was combined with the code of your host to create a new individual. That's only a temporary thing, and it's very unstable, so you should both be back to normal in a few days time." reason glared at her. "Normal?"

"Well, back to the original states you were in before the respawn." A tiny warning siren seemed to go of in Reason's head. Oh shit. Not good. As far as her rather sketchy memory could recall, her previous states were 1) scattered in very small pieces across the entire width of the mainframe, and 2) very very dead. Definitely not good.

"Oh, and I'd take something for that migraine, if I were you." reason snarled at the woman in a half-hearted sort of way and gathered herself together to go. She was halfway through the door before she realised that she was still minus a gun, and she turned around to ask for it. The oracle had her back to her, checking on something in a pot on the stove, but she still gestured vaguely over to Reason's right. Reason looked, and there, sure enough, was her gun.

"Thankyou." She called as she left. Her left eye twitched again, and a worrying thought occurred to Reason. Maybe, just maybe, the eye twitch and the migraine wasn't just a sign of stress and nerves. Maybe it was part of the whole UN-combination process. Maybe she only had a few hours left untill - it - happened.

Maybe she was going to just collapse onto the floor in a few minutes and that'd be it.

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Maybe she needed a drink.

Reason had absolutely no idea where that random thought came from, but she definitely agreed with it. After all, 'something for that migraine' could easily include a couple of pints of whatever. Yeah, sure. Maybe.

Argh. Her head was a mess of disorganised random thoughts. She felt like there were at least two people other people in there, having a damn great row. her right eye twitched. Urgh. She did not feel good. Maybe she shouldn't go to the pub after all.

She stared in bewildered worry at her left hand as it trembled visibly. This was definitely not good.

She was that deep in her thoughts, she didn't notice as the car pulled up beside her.

The two agents climbed out and strode over to her, and she looked up.

Oh shit. They did not look very happy.

Reason swayed slightly as she attempted to gather her failing wits about her and run. After what seemed like an age to her, she finally got her legs in an agreement with the rest of her body and she began to run.

She made it three feet before the hand on her shoulder brought her up short. She looked up into the eyes of the agent in front of her and knew with a chilly and terrifying certainty that whatever was going to happen to her was going to happen to her here.

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Sorry, I know it's short and far too long in coming, but I've just started college and it's kind of weird. You know, new teachers, new people, and new homework. Ick.

Thank you so very very much for reviewing, you wonderful people you! ~Grins and offers out chocolate flavoured pickles~ I brought enough for everyone! No? Strange people.

Enjoy the cliffhanger, and worry not for the next chapter will be decidedly longer in length and shorter in coming.

For disclaimer see previous chapter, and thankyou also to the wonderful AtheneMiranda for betaing my work. Thanks!

\!/ , o ) ' /!\

BellaShamharoth

P.S. Hooray for the evil rabid plot geese!

PPS Hooray also for the mongeese, or is it mongooses, I forget.