Chapter 8
The party walked along the streets until it grew dark. They carried flashlights to light their way as Jackson lead them. It wasn't raining. Finally they came to a tree in the perfectly manicured park. It stuck out among the others. The other trees were perfect, while this one looked quite eerie and out of place. A bird screeched making the Agent jump. He looked up as the bird flew away into the night.
"This must be the place." Jackson said out loud to himself.
"Do you think we should go back?" Locke suggested.
"No." Jackson told the human. "We've come too far now. I think we should stay until morning."
The group unpacked and set up camp for the night. Locke got a fire going and Jackson just looked up holding his Desert Eagle close at his side while he looked up at the stars. He watched as the leaves and branches shifted in the wind and birds flew wildly. Locke took a seat next to him.
"What do you think it means? Climb down into the Agent's soulless place." Locke asked.
"Beats the hell out of me. Personally, I really don't want to find out." Jackson told him. "He who holds the Agent's desire will guide his reaping hand. And what ever that is, I know that it includes taking lives."
They heard a snapping branch and Jackson quickly drew his gun.
"Don't move." He told Locke.
Jackson rose and crept forward with his gun and a flashlight. The bushes were thick and the crunching of leaves were heard. He crouched and put down the flashlight. He picked up a stray branch and threw it. It was a ferret that quickly scampered away. Jackson rose following with his gun.
Something was watching the Agent and he spun almost blind sided. A shot ran out and something that resembled a wolf fell to the ground whimpering. Jackson stepped in to get a closer look and realized that the wolf had two heads. One of the heads being blown to bits. Jackson lifted his gu and put the animal out of it's misery as he fired. After he had done so, he threw up.
"What the fuck? Oh Jesus Christ." Was all he could say.
He looked through the woods and saw a distant fire. He gathered his men and ran in the direction of the blaze. It had come from the direction of the home of the old witch. By the time they got there it was too late. Flames swirled everywhere and at the entrance was the old woman laying there and headless.
The very next day there was a meeting in neighborhood and Seraph addressed the crowd in an angry tone.
"You all stand there with your thumbs up your asses, while this sad excuse for an Agent program, who by the way is supposed to be protecting us goes about with his bag of tricks. You are all standing there jerking off or whatever while something evil is terrorizing this part of the mainframe." Seraph shouted at he crowd.
Agent St. James, Persephone and The Architect all watched at a safe distance as Seraph continued to speak.
"I say if you sit there and do nothing, then you are just as irresponsible as Agent Jackson!" Seraph angrily told the crowd.
Niobe walked up to the platform where Seraph was standing and it was her turn to speak.
"Listen up people! If you want to continue to keep the peace between the humans and the machines. We have to remain calm." She told them.
Seraph turned to her and spoke.
"And how in the hell do you expect us to stay calm. Agent Jackson brought the body of that crazy old woman into our sector!"
Later that night, Jackson was in the morgue examining the woman. He took out his recorder and started to speak into it. He continued to examine the woman who was now headless.
"Obviously she didn't go quietly. The wound is not smooth or cauterized in any way and when her head was severed from her body she flowed like Old Faithful." He said into the recorder.
He lifted her right hand which had bruises and cuts on it.
"And apparently she put up one hell of a fight."
He clicked off the recorder and took more notes as he continued to examine the body.
A few moments later there was a knock at The Architect's door. The old man paced as The Oracle sat nervously rocking her chair. The angry crowd was lead by none other than Seraph.
"Open up! Or we will break the damned door down!" Seraph yelled.
Jackson was still downstairs examining the body until he heard the noise, he rushed upstairs to se what was going on. Once he got to the foot of the stairs, he surprised to see and angry Seraph leading a crowd of equally people. He stepped in front of The Architect.
"Step aside Agent." Said a big burly man as he shoved him out of the way knock his dark glasses off.
"What the hell is going on?" Jackson shouted.
The burly man just slammed Jackson against the wall as the crowd made their way to the examination room where the corpse was held. The group grasped the corpse and hauled it upstairs. Jackson grasped one of the men.
"What the fuck are you doing?" He yelled.
He didn't say anything as he just slammed the Agent against the wall.
The crowd carried the corpse out of the house and towards a raging bonfire. The mob made way as Seraph cheered them on.
"Burn the witch!" Seraph yelled.
Jackson ran but it was too late. The corpse was thrown into the fire as the crowd cheered. A man tried to grab at Jackson's tape recorder and they struggled and rolled on the ground with Jackson throwing several punches into the man's face. Off in the distance Persephone watched as her emotion were conflicted. She watched as other men in the crowd grabbed Jackson, one them kicking him in the balls, another punching him in the face and breaking his nose. Persephone not being able to stand idly by any longer charged at the men.
"Persephone! What are you doing?" The Architect called out.
She didn't hear the old man as she kicked and punched and threw several men off Jackson.
"Stop it God dammit! Leave him alone!" She shouted as she punched a man in the face and then kicking the balls of another making him double over in pain.
Several shots rang out and the chaos stopped. Everyone in the crowd turned and there was silence. It was Merv holding a machine gun. At his side were Locke and Sparks.
"Let him go..." Merv said menacingly as he cocked his machine gun "now!"
The crowd did as the Frenchman told them and released Agent Jackson. They were in no position to argue. Seraph was angry as he pushed people aside as he walked to the front of the crowd.
"So are you now Agent Jackson's protector Frenchmen?" Seraph asked in a mocking tone.
"Only for the moment Monsieur." He answered.
"Then are you taking his side?" Seraph asked.
"No. I agree that he has only made matters in our little corner of the mainframe worse. But I believe that will change if you agree to listen." Merv told him.
He traded his machine gun with Sparks' long shiny silver Baretta. The Frenchman produced a hollow silver bullet.
"My men and I will offer to patrol the area each day and night and watch over the neighborhood. We will stalk the border and haunt the Agent for a change. With guns like this and bullets like this."
Merv brought the bullet up to his lips and blew. It made a high pitch whistling sound.
"As you can see it is hollowed out and can cause some serious damage." Merv told him.
The Frenchman looked down at his wife and smile at her. Persephone seemed unimpressed.
"As you can see Agent Jackson is not the only one that fights with science on his side." Merv said smugly.
"Excuse me. I fired upon the Headless Agent and my bullets didn't do shit. So what makes you think that yours are any different?" Jackson challenged.
"Well maybe you weren't aiming at your target Agent Jackson." Merv told him.
"Uh yeah right! I know damned well I hit that son-of-a-bitch." Jackson answered.
"Well if the Agent is solid enough to take the lives of both human and program, then I think the bastard is solid enough to feel this."
And with that Merv aimed his Baretta at a far off gas tank. He fired and not less than a second later, it exploded.
Later that night Jackson was back in his apartment and having nightmares once again. He was a young boy again and he was sitting next to his father in the courtroom. It was the only time he had ever seen his father cry. The woman in the shiny black suit took the stand. Agent Mather approached the stand preparing to question her.
The woman started to speak.
"It was her. Mrs. Emily Jackson...I will never forget it. The next moment I found that my cat was dead with a mark on its chest." She told the jury.
"Can you describe this welt on your cat?" Agent Mather asked.
"It was a blood welt." The woman said as she teared up and shook on the stand.
"No further questions." Agent Mather then turned to jury as he began to speak. "You heard it here folks, Mrs. Emily Jackson manipulated the matrix to harm the defendant's beloved pet. What she did was against the rules. Now imagine if my client had done that to a child, imagine if it was your child or beloved pet that this atrocity was done to. What would you do? That is why I am asking you as a jury to decide on what you see fit. Me personally, I hope that you will vote for her deletion ... immediately."
The crowd murmured in fear as young Jackson watched his father sit there with clench fist in silence as his face showed no emotion whatsoever.
The dream flashed to the kitchen. They had ordered pizza that night. His father couldn't eat, all he could do was stare at his food.
"She was with me daddy." Jackson told him.
"I feel so lost right now." He said to himself.
"Daddy, she was with me that night." He said but it seemed like his father didn't listen.
The dream changed to an empty church where young Jackson walked up to an Agent who was armed. He tugged on the man's jacket.
"May I see my mom?"
The Agent turned to the child.
"Go home." He said.
Tears formed in the boy's eyes.
"I just want to see my mom. Please."
The Agent took off his glasses and looked down at the boy.
"Listen son, you shouldn't be here. Go home to your dad okay."
Jackson shook as he spoke.
"My mom didn't do it dammit! Please listen to me." He pleaded.
"I'm sorry kid. But she's guilty." The Agent told him.
"That's bullshit! She's innocent!" He shouted.
"Listen up kid. She confessed."
"You're lying!" The boy yelled as he started to shake and tears streamed down his face.
"She confessed and signed a legal document. Do you know what that is kid?"
All Jackson could do was nod.
"The only thing you can do now is pray for your mom." And with that he went back behind the door.
The dream changed again to Jackson's bedroom from when he was a child. He was getting dressed. He looked out the window and into the lawn. He noticed that his father was packing their things into a large moving truck. He ran downstairs. His father turned to him.
"We're moving son." Was all he could say and then he after a long moment his father spoke again. "Your mom is gone son."
Jackson ran across the yard as his father called after him. He was crying as he ran to the church. The man's voice was in his head.
She has confessed.
She has signed a legal document.
The voice just kept talking in his head.
"Mom!" He screamed.
He ran into the church only to be greeted by a large metal chair with straps and electrodes. Next to it was a switch. He sobbed as he slammed his hands down. He didn't realize that an electrical current was still running through as he accidentally electrocuted himself.
Jackson bolted upright, he was in his own bed once more. He was crying. He brought his hands o wipe his cheeks and he as looked at his hands he noticed that they were freshly burned.
Later that evening, Jackson sat alone by the fireplace. His eyes were puffy and his palms were wrapped in ACE bandages.
"Agent Jackson?" It was Persephone.
She sat herself beside him.
"No offense, but I really need to be alone right now." He said.
She took a seat across from him and looked into his eyes.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
She scooted closer and continued to speak.
"Listen, the things I said to you before. Those words were uncalled for and I feel very bad for even saying them in the first place." She said.
"No, actually you were right. I was being an asshole." Jackson admitted.
"So what's changed?" She asked him.
Jackson sat there silent and leaned back as he closed his eyes.
"Agent St. James. She's kind of your rival is she not?" Jackson asked her.
"Huh?" Persephone was puzzled.
"Well you two don't seem like you're best buds or anything like that." Jackson said.
"No we went to school together. Why would you ask that?"
"I don't know. What about your mom?"
"My mother died about three years ago from lung cancer. What is this about?"
Jackson took a deep breath and started to speak again.
"Memories have started to come back for me. I tried over the years to blank them out but they still keep coming back no matter how hard I try to blank them out." He paused. "Jesus Christ, how I hate this fucking place."
Persephone just looked at Jackson.
"Do want me to leave?" She asked.
"I don't know. I don't know what to think or feel anymore."
She put her arm around him and held him close.
"Why are you so afraid Agent Jackson. Is truly any harm in learning about the unknown?" She asked softly.
She kneeled in front of him and took his face in her hands. She slowly guided her lips to his and kissed him. He pulled away knowing that she was married. Did he want her? Yes. But even if his mind was telling him it was wrong, his heart was telling him that it felt right.
"What about Merv?" He asked.
"I'm more of a trophy wife than anything." She said.
"Out of all the men here, why me?" He asked.
"There was something about you. Something special. You made me feel things that I hadn't felt in such a long time Jackson. I wanted to tell you that for such a long time. But I couldn't until now." She confessed.
He held her hands and looked into her deep brown eyes. He could see that even if she was married to another man, that she too needed love and needed to feel wanted just as he did. She kissed him once more and this time Jackson did not protest as her tongue slipped past his lips. God how he wanted her. He wanted her since the first day he laid eyes on her.
He took her by the hand as he lead her up the stairs back up to his apartment. He shut the door behind them as he took her in his arms and kissed her deeply. She kissed him back even more passionately. She whispered into his ear.
"Make love to me Jackson."
He kissed her again and slowly unzipped the back of her tight white dress. He slowly peeled her out of it revealing her full breasts. He took one of them and suckled on her nipple making her moan with pleasure. She slipped out of her dress, letting it fall to the floor until she was in nothing but her panties and high heels. He took her in and then after a few moments he scooped her up and carried her to the bed where he gently laid her down and kissed ever inch of her bare skin, making her shudder with desire and sighing with every touch he gave her.
She then removed his earpiece and undid his tie slowly. She then moved on to his shirt where she slowly unbuttoned revealing his flesh as she kissed every inch, making him sigh. She rolled over on top of him straddling him as she continued to undress him and kiss every inch of his flesh. With ease she removed his shirt and jacket and then she undid his pants, revealing his hard manhood. Her lips trailed down his chest and then finally engulfed him, sending waves of pleasure throughout his whole being.
They had finished getting undressed until they were as naked as the day they were created. He entered her slowly making her cry out in pleasure and making her scream his name. She ranked her nails down his back as he continued to slowly move inside of her. Their sighs of ecstasy filled the room until they both collapsed into each other's arms.
The very next morning Jackson awoke with a sleeping Persephone at his side. He stared at her for a long moment until she slowly opened her eyes and smiled up at him.
"Good morning." She said.
"Good morning yourself." He answered.
He gathered her up in his arms and just held her for a long time. With all the things he had been through since arriving in that part of the mainframe. This more than made up for it. He turned to look at the clock. It was time to get up.
"I need to take a shower. Care to join me?" He asked.
"Sounds tempting. I think I will." She said.
They both got up and headed for the shower. They cleaned up and got dressed and headed downstairs.