Smith didn't think he could trust Anderson and Trinity. He knew the agents would destroy him given the chance. Smith leaped into the air, punched one agent and kicked the second into the third. Bodies went flying. Smith landed on the sidewalk. "Your move, Anderson," Smith said.
Trinity leaped over the street. Anderson flew up high into the air, then came down like a missile, ramming one of the agents a foot deep into the concrete.
"That'll leave a mark," Smith said.
The other two agents showed up. One was tall, the other short. Damned upgrades. He didn't know their names. Tall said, "Smith. Submit to deresolution. Your program will be reloaded into the Matrix as an upgrade."
Smith was about to tell him to get lost when he felt a jab in the base of his neck. Smith's muscles spasmed. He twitched like he was being tased. His body turned to jelly. Smith clenched every muscle in his body. No. He wanted to live. Damn it, he wanted to live.
In his ear, he heard an agent saying, "Deresolution initiated. The program is resisting."
"Increase data flow," Tall said. He looked behind Smith.
Anderson took the agent attacking Smith and threw him into a wall. Smith dropped to his knees. Tall and Short ran past him. Smith could hear them fighting Anderson. Smith felt woozy. His code was unstable. Smith felt bursts of strength, then it faded away.
The police and fire fighters didn't know what to do. Smith found an unconscious officer on the ground with tear gas grenades. He opened all of them and threw them in random directions. "This is a private party," he said. People started running. He picked up the officer's baton and rifle.
The other agents kept Anderson busy but he made them look foolish. At any given time, one of them was always getting thrown through the air. Smith caught one and snapped his neck. Anderson made short work of the other. The agents started to re-form in other humans.
Smith's strength started coming back. He shook his head, trying to clear it. "One conversation, Anderson. That's all I ask."
"My name is Neo!" Anderson snarled.
Smith rolled his eyes. Neo. What kind of name was that?
Agents came at them again. Neo fought Tall. Smith shot Short and dodged a shot from the third agent who still needed a name. The world slowed down. The Matrix was allocating more resources to this area. "More agents are coming, Neo. You need to get out of here."
"Tell me what you want."
"Now?"
The agents came at them again. Smith counted four. Smith bullseyed three gas tanks and sent them back into the green data bits they came from.
Neo spun him around, pointing a gun at his head. Smith couldn't have gotten out of the way before; he wondered if he could, with his infected code.
"Now!" Neo said.
"I need your help." There was nothing else to say.
Neo shot two agents that appeared behind Smith; Smith shot two that appeared behind Neo. The two of them looked at each other. Smith entertained pointing his rifle at Neo, but there wasn't much point. The human was faster than Smith could even imagine, and he knew it.
Neo said, "I'll be in touch."
The ground under Smith's feet wobbled. Neo flew straight up into the air. He was gone before Smith had counted three. Smith chuckled. Neo left him there to fend for himself. The son of a bitch had style, but he certainly didn't have any sympathy.
Sympathy? Smith wondered if he had any of his old code left in him at all.
Five agents walked towards him. Day was turning into premature night due to lack of system processing power. Smith hefted his rifle. He asked, "Don't you have better things to do?"
The agents cracked their knuckles. Smith calculated trajectories and likely dodge angles. Ammo supplies dotted the area from unconscious humans. Power lines would serve as webs and strangle wires. More unexploded gas tanks awaited his touch.
"Just remember, I tried to be nice," Smith said.