Part 8: Strange World

"The Merovingian," Smith said, as they made their way back to their car. "I should have known he was involved in this."

"It would certainly explain where the driver and shooter went," replied Morpheus grimly. "The twin 'ghosts' that work for him were probably the ones following us."

"They would be the logical choice for the task," agreed Collins. "They wouldn't need to worry about how recklessly they were driving; they could simply become insubstantial, if they were to be severely injured."

"Just as you would switch hosts," Smith mused. "A very useful skill indeed. Most programs in the Matrix don't have any extraordinary abilities…apart from system agents."

Morpheus frowned. "Could they be former agents who'd become exiles?"

Collins looked almost offended that he'd even suggested such a thing. "Certainly not."

"The Merovingian has made several attempts to recruit active agents in the past," said Evans.

"All his attempts failed."

"All attempts that we know of," replied Smith. "The mainframe doesn't keep files on every program that was deleted or exiled. Who's to say that Clark, Ross, and Greer weren't the last agents to be approached by the Merovingian? He may have gotten to some other team and made them an offer they couldn't refuse. That's something I'm sure the mainframe wouldn't want to let out. An agent who'd chosen exile would be extremely dangerous." He paused. "As we all know."

Collins shook her head. "No agent, exiled or otherwise, can do what they do. Not even you," she said. "So unless the Merovingian can somehow alter an AI's most basic operating code - without causing it to crash, malfunction, or go permanently offline - I don't see how it's possible."

"Whatever they are, we can assume we'll be seeing them today," said Morpheus. "The Merovingian assured me that we'll be operating under a temporary truce…as long as we don't attack first."

"And we won't attack first," replied Smith, looking pointedly at Collins. "Will we?"

"No hostilities will be initiated," said the command unit laconically. "But they will be responded to."

"Fair enough," said Morpheus, as they came up to the Audi. Now that they were close, they could see the damage it had taken during the chase…bullet holes, broken glass, the front bumper hanging nearly off. It was barely drivable, and there was no way they'd even be able to approach the Merovingian's restaurant without being pulled over by the police or turned away at the front door.

Smith turned to the agents. "We're going to need another car."