Chapter 6
Back in the morgue, Jackson and The Architect studied Ms. Henry's very pregnant headless corpse. They were both wearing green scrubs and masks. Jackson took a pair of scissors and cut through the dress exposing the body. The Agent noticed a rather large stab wound in the abdomen. The Architect just watched as Jackson continued with the examination. Jackson took out a tape recorder and started to speak into it.
"Victim appears to have not only lost her head, but it appears that she had suffered trauma to the stomach before dying." He clicked off the recorder and looked over to The Old Man.
"Can you tell me what the MO was among these victims?" Jackson asked.
"I'm not sure." The Architect answered.
"Well we have to find that link. If this were a serial killer, he or she would only go after one type of victim. There has got to be a reason that these victims all so different from all walks of life were chosen." Jackson pondered.
He continued to look at Christa Henry's corpse and then he spoke again to the old man.
"The wounds are all the same with every victim. Cauterized. They weren't chopped off by just any old sword. I think this weapon was a little more advanced."
Jackson pointed to the spinal bone.
"I mean look at this! If the head would have been chopped off, the bone would have been shattered. Judging by the cut, it went through like a hot knife through butter." Jackson told him.
The Architect looked unnerved by Jackson's observation. And then he finally spoke.
"Listen, you can use the morgue anytime. But please let this poor woman rest."
Jackson looked up at the old man who now had a look of concern on his face. The Agent wondered what the creator of the matrix was hiding. Never had The Architect shown emotion for a fellow program or human, so why was this dead woman any different?
"I will return her in time Architect. Just as soon as I finish. It won't take long, I promise." He told the old man.
The Architect nodded and left the room and let Jackson continue his examination on the body.
Early that evening, Jackson made his way back to the cemetery as he re-buried the bodies he examined. He looked towards the church and saw Seraph standing in the doorway and giving him a hard look.
"A great evil has sent you here Agent Jackson and the Gods of Zion and 01 will not forgive your sins." Seraph told him.
Jackson didn't say a word as he watched Seraph close the doors behind Seraph with a loud creak.
Later that might Jackson was sound asleep and dreaming. He dreamt back to a time when he was ten years old. It was dark and he was in bed pretending to be asleep. His door was open and he saw his mother. She looked like she was talking to someone but nobody was there. He heard a drawer being shut and out of the corner of his eye he saw his mother leave the room.
Being a curious child he went to investigate and walked into his mother's bedroom. He slowly walked up to his mother's chest of drawers and opened the top drawer. Inside he found a silver pendant in what looked to be a very intricate design and in the middle of it was a red stone. He looked at it for a minute and then he heard a noise. It was his mother coming up the stairs. He placed the item back quickly and hurried back into bed before his mother would see him.
Jackson's dream switched to the mall, it was Halloween and he was with his father who was an exact duplicate of himself, only he didn't smile and he showed no emotion. Jackson stayed by his father's side but something out of the ordinary caught his attention.
Across the way his mother and another woman were engaged in an argument. The woman was tall and dark haired and dressed in a shiny black outfit, she also wore dark sunglasses to cover her eyes so Jackson couldn't really tell what the lady looked like. The shouting match between his mother and the woman in the shiny black outfit got louder. People in the mall stopped to watch. Jackson couldn't make out the words, but he could tell that Shiny Black Suit Lady was very angry. And shiny Black Suit Lady pulled out a gun and pointed it at his mother's head. The last thing jackson heard were screams.
Jackson thrashed in his bed as lightening flashed and thunder clapped outside and then he jerked wide awake in his bed. He was no longer that ten year old boy. He heard noises coming from down the hall and decided to investigate. He wore nothing but his boxers, so he put on his slippers and a bathrobe and walked out into the hallway and down the stairs where he found Persephone reading what looked like a very ancient and dusty book. She was reading it by a very moderately lit nightlight. Sensing that Jackson was near she quickly closed the book and looked over in Agent Jackson's direction.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to disturb you. I thought someone broke in." Jackson said.
"No you didn't disturb me Agent Jackson. Please feel free to have a seat." She offered.
She took one look at the Agent program and could tell something was wrong with his programming.
"Are you having trouble sleeping?" She asked.
"Can I ask why you closed your book so quickly when I came downstairs?" Jackson inquired.
Persephone gave him a flirtatious smirk.
"My, my, you do pay attention to detail don't you? You see I read these here because Merv would not approve unless it is the Holy Book of both Zion and 01." Persephone told him.
"I have something to show you." Jackson told her.
Persephone looked perplexed.
"Do you have a moment." He asked her.
"Yes, of course." She answered.
"I'll be right back."
He raced back upstairs to grab his laptop computer. A few moments later he was right back at her side. He opened his laptop and as he did so, Persephone noticed his hands which were evenly scared. No Agent program was scared, least not to her knowledge. She touched his hand.
"I've never seen an Agent program such as yourself with scars. How did you get them?" She asked.
"I don't know really. I've had them since my creation. I can't remember how I got them." Jackson explained.
"It would be interesting to find out." She said.
Their eyes met for only a brief moment and Jackson quickly looked away and averted his eyes back to the screen. He pulls up a drawing of what appears to be a bird in a cage. As if by magic he pulled it off the screen and handed it to Persephone. He continued to speak.
"Okay here it is. You got a bird on one side right?"
Persephone nodded. He flipped the card over and showed a picture of a cage on the opposite side. He manipulated the mainframe enough to where it was spinning on it's own between his hands.
"Now as you see the bird is in his cage right?" Jackson asked.
"Yes."
"He only appears to be inside the cage, so the point being..."
"You manipulated the matrix to make this." She said.
"Yes but listen the illusion is easily explained. Humans have been doing it for years. The eye retains each image until they combine. Humans would call this some sort of magic." Jackson said.
"Well you can why Agent Jackson. Just put that mechanical brain of yours aside."
She started to spin it.
"Can't you see what is impossible?" She asked him.
Jackson just shook his head. Persephone thought too much like a human in a way. With a deep sigh Persephone stopped spinning the disc and looked back at him.
"You are hopeless." She said with slight laugh.
"You can keep it if you want. But..." He offered.
"Then I have a gift for you as well Agent Jackson. True magic even a logical program such as yourself cannot deny." Persephone said.
And before he could protest, she handed him a large book entitled The Complete Works of Sir William Shakespeare.
"Thanks but no thanks." He told her.
"No, I insist that you have it." She told him.
At that point, Jackson knew that resistance was futile.
"Well okay but it's going to collect dust." He said.
"Well that would be terrible. His works might show you something you have never even seen before."
Jackson got retrieved his laptop and the book and headed upstairs. As he entered his room he sat down on his bed and began to read the book that Persephone had given him.
The very next day, Jackson met with Morpheus who was now an old man, he couldn't run as fast as he used too but he still had that demeanor about him as one the greatest human leaders that ever lived. The patriarch of Zion did not look too pleased when he spoke with the Agent. They met at a park, it was cold and windy and it looked like rain.
"Not more than a year ago, a man was executed for hacking the government. Hacking the government man! And you have the nerve to dig up both the dead, both human and machine?" Morpheus said with an angry tone.
"Are you saying I should be scared. Hello! I'm an Agent program, we don't know fear. If you recall during the war, it was you who were afraid of us. Is this some sort of message passed along by Seraph?" Jackson asked him.
There was a long silence between the two men.
"Listen, Jackson, the war is over. It has been for a very long time. There is peace on both sides and humans and machines are finally getting along after the Gods know how long." The old man told him.
"I know that." The Agent answered.
"Because of this rogue Agent program or whatever the hell it is. Zion's operatives are fleeing for their lives. There is a danger that peace will be threatened. So if you are going to help us, you are going to have to stop this Headless Agent. That is your purpose Agent Jackson." Morpheus tol him.
"For a leader of Zion, you are not making any sense. Do you know how stupid this is sounding coming from you?"
Morpheus' eyes flashed with anger at the young Agent program as he continued to speak.
"No, you listen! You may thing that all humans and some programs are superstitious and weak..."
"Well, yes I admit that I think that." Jackson confessed.
Morpheus shook his head in disappointment.
"When are you going to realize that this is not a game Agent Jackson. This is serious."
The wind whipped around both men and it started to howl. All of a sudden the sky turned black. Morpheus looked in terror, he knew something bad was about the happen. Both men face the playground as the concrete opened and out came the Agent from hell with a leap and a long Japanese sword as its side.
"Oh my God!" It was the only thing that came out of the Zion leader's mouth when he saw the horrific site.
The ground shook and both men were knocked off their feet. The Agent walked slowly towards the men and drew its sword from its sheath.
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Morpheus said as he scrambled to his feet.
He began to run and Jackson followed after him as the headless program drew near. Even though Morpheus was old he could still run just as fast. They both leaped from roof top to roof top but the Agent from hell kept up with them. Finally Morpheus fell and couldn't go on. He gathered all of his courage ans stopped running. Jackson looked as the headless figure raised its sword to the old leader of Zion as he raised a talisman. But it would do no good. All Jackson could do was watch in terror from the rooftop across the way as Morpheus' head flew off it's shoulders, flew across the air and landed at Jackson's feet.
He drew out his Desert Eagle and fired as the Agent from hell leaped in mid air towards him. He didn't understand. The bullets should have hit it, but they were useless against the demon.. It landed in front of him. They were both frozen for what seemed like an eternity and without warning the Agent skewered Morpheus' head with the sword and raised it above its shoulders like it was a prize. Jackson watched frozen in fear as the figure leaped from out in front of him and disappeared into the night. He felt weak and his knees buckled beneath him. The whole mainframe seemed like it was spinning and then everything went to black.
Jackson was dreaming. He was a boy of ten again and this time he was at home. The wind howled outside and he could hear the rain pounding heavily against the window. He was scared but he knew his mother would rush to his side and comfort him. She was beautiful, just like he remembered. Her warm brown eyes and her sandy blonde hair. Her touch would always calm him down when he was scared at night.
"It's okay sweetheart. Mommy's here." She said.
And then the dream switched to the kitchen where he saw his mother melting wax and pouring it into a mold which looked a form of a person. The wax was shiny and black and reminded him of Shiny Black Suit Lady.
The dream switched again to Shiny Black Suit Lady looking very sad and looking very weak. She had a look of hatred in her eyes as she carried a bundle in a blanket. She fell down weeping and he noticed something dropping out of the blanket. It was a black cat, limp and lifeless aong with it were her kittens that were still born. The woman cried and screamed. Jackson couldn't help but be very scared.
The dream switched again, this time to his mother being taken away by Agents. They escorted her to a car. Jackson ran after her and the two men. One of the men looked older and had grey hair. That Agent was none other than Agent Mather. He was not like any other Agent program in the matrix, he was villainous and frightening.
"No mommy! No!" Jackson screamed as the bad men were taking her away.
"The night of the storm, I saw her sign in my windows." The Shiny Black Suit Lady told the men in black.
The scene switched again to a courtroom. Many people were there. Both human and program. Agent Mather stood in front Shiny Black Suit Lady who was now on the witness stand.
"Are you sure it was her?" Agent Mather asked.
The woman just glared at Jackson's mother as she spoke.
"Yes, I saw her mark." She pointed in the direction of Jackson's mother. "Her, Mrs. Emily Jackson."
His mother sat in handcuffs not saying a word.
"I will never forget it, the next minute I found my cat and her babies dead. I know she manipulated the mainframe somehow!"
Gasps could be heard all over the court room. Jackson was sitting next to his father and for the forst time he showed emotion as tears rolled down his face. He took off his dark shades and started to cry openly, shaking violently.
The scene switched again to the night of the storm and his mother holding him close.
"Don't be scared sweety. Mommy's here." Her voice being calm and reassuring as the thunder rolled and the lightening lit up the night sky.
A loud knock woke Jackson with a jerk. He was in his apartment. He looked down at his hands that were balled into fists. He opened them to discover that both half of Morpheus' talisman were in each hand.
"What the fuck is going on here?" He said out loud to himself.