Neo flew without a sound, he slowed and landed in an alley, knocking on a door that allowed him in.

Smith breathed in fresh air, he was but another building away and through broken glass he could clearly see Neo. Slowly Smith exhaled, and if Neo had been paying attention he would have felt someone breathe down his neck. If Neo had cared to take a moment he would have felt the air and he could have felt the presence of something familiar so close to him, and he would have looked up. But Smith, Smith who so closely monitored what he felt whenever Neo was close, knew he would not look up.

"What are we waiting for, Smith?" Brown asked curiously.

Smith sat simply on a red chair he was sure a Captain used to recruit new Rebels. And below was where they would unplug him. The Operators could not see them for they had their own locks on it and weren't being bothered to watch a room they knew no one would be in. Smith looked comfortable in that chair, one leg crossed over the other. He held in his hands a delicate book he stole from a hotel entitled "The Holy Bible," and he seemed to be half way through it at least.

"A message." Smith said reaching into his pocket and pulling out his earpiece now in an envelope. "I have a gift for Mr. Anderson."

"Your earpiece?" Brown asked and Smith nodded. "Why?"

"To show him what he has done." Smith said calmly. "Because otherwise, he won't even notice."

Brown jumped at a noise behind them. Jones was walking towards them when he realized it too. At least twelve Smith copies were walking about, preparing for something. Smith never told them exactly what, and the copies scared them in some terrible way.

"There is nothing to be afraid of." Smith said coldly, hate edging his words. "They are all me."

"But you are you." Brown said. "Aren't you? How can they be you, they were not the Agent who led us all these years. They are not the Agent who killed as many as you did. They…"

"Brown." Smith stopped him. "It does not matter, you are being too particular."

"I would not listen to them." Brown said. "I would only listen to you."

"How do you know I am even who you believe I am? How do you know I did not switch with another?"

Brown's eyes filled with dread behind his sunglasses that Smith had made them wear because he hated seeing so much emotion in their eyes. Brown had not thought about that, he did not think Smith would even consider to do that. Smith was after all the most individualistic of either them for such a long time, to lose that individualism, well it was going backwards. It was like he wanted to be an Agent again.

Brown turned to Jones who had the same look of fear.

"How many will you make?" Brown asked, afraid.

"That's a silly question, Brown, you always ask such silly questions." Smith spoke slowly his word derogatory. "I will make them until the smell is gone."

-------------------

"I was attacked." Neo stated as everyone stared at him.

They met underground as they often did, with their best hackers putting up computer fire walls and blocks and passwords needed areas. The Matrix was a computer, you can forget that, it is just a computer. Neo was the last to arrive while his crew was the last crew to even arrive. Neo met unsettling eyes he could see them even through those sunglasses, he could after all see their code.

"Oh, is an Agent suddenly too much for the mighty One to handle?" Someone said.

Neo turned his head slightly to the man.

"I'd like to see you try." Neo spat.

"Neo." Morpheus spoke and Neo lowered his head to his Captain.

It was weird, it was weird for all of them at one point or another. They were all, or at least one point in their lives, simple losers living off computers. To be in an army all of the sudden, to be in the last army, to have ranks, to be ranked, was the oddest feeling. Neo never felt ranked with Morpheus except on times like this when they were with other people. Neo thought it was the same for everyone, after all, they had so little company otherwise they couldn't all be captain this and captain that all the time, could they? Neo recalls being angry when he first woke up. He didn't realize he was signing up to be in a war. He missed his computer, he missed his leaky apartment, he wasn't a soldier, he was the last thing close to a soldier.

Doubly so for a Messiah.

"Delays aside," Ice another Captain said, "We have received something terrible."

She dropped a tape recorder on the table in their center.

Neo took the opportunity to edge closer to Trinity and try to take her hand. She wouldn't allow it, she twisted her arms and stiffened her self.

"I'm sorry." Neo tried.

She didn't answer.

Then without Neo knowing the tape began to play. A loud cackling noise sprang that made everyone in the room except those who had heard it first jump. Explosions began to sound, a beeping finally became louder and louder and all recognized it as a red alert.

"Oh…Oh…" Someone was saying. "OH GOD!" They cried. "OH GOD, OH JESUS, LORD, OH GOD." It seemed they were crying.

The sound of the recorder being picked up was heard.

"This is Thadeus, Captain of the Osiris…" Cackling then thumping.

"They're in the ship, they're in the god damn ship!" Someone was yelling.

You could picture the panicked man looking all around him as the ship began to shake and decay away from the attack. You could see the ship turn to its side and Sentinels walking in the hallways not made for the likes of them.

"We were at the surface." Thadeus continues through the noise. "There's millions of them, machines, they're digging! You can't – You can't see the sky they are everywhere! They are above Zion, they are mounting an attack, they will kill everyone."

"Thadeus!" A woman named Jue screamed.

"Neo help us!" Some one cried and Neo's mouth dropped open.

There was screaming, so much screaming. The sound of mechanical legs and white noise sounded the same and that is when the tape was cut. No one knew what happened then, how they died. But after the tape was sent, Thadeus took Jue and kissed her as they both were impaled by the same Mechanical leg.

Everyone in the room was silent.

"We received this in the mail a day ago. Our scans confirm, there is a machine army above us." Ice said trying to contain herself.

"So, what are we to do?" Morpheus said, not even having to contain himself.

"We must report back to the Council where plans are being made, a vote will be had. The public will be told, then we fight."

"We have to go to the surface someone said. We'll be fish in a barrel otherwise."

"Do you know the man power it would take to get up to the surface?"

Few men started to argue but they were quickly silenced.

But Neo said nothing, and his eyes said nothing, and only wondered why in God's name anyone would scream his name in their final moments. Then he was ashamed that he did not hear them.

-----------------

Smith could smell them before he could ever see them. Each human carried a disgusting but different odor, one that they accumulated through walking through their own filth they had made for themselves. Their anger, their sins, their lust, who they were made a smell and Smith was there to feel each one and hate each one. His eyes parted from his Bible and he uttered ever so slightly:

"There."

Smiths jumped off the roof, their shadows falling over Brown and Jones that chilled them. They were so silent, as silent as Neo. Smith took his earpiece tossed it through the window and another Smith grabbed it. Smith then went back to reading.

Men were running, men with sunglasses and trench coats. Three of them, running as fast as they could. One of these men was named Bane. The men jumped, and all three were taken down by what they thought were Agents.

"NO!" One of them yelled.

The shortest one, the one that yelled, dropped the package he was holding. A Smith came by and slipped the earpiece envelope onto its side and went away. The shortest one crawled away and grabbed the package, rolling with it into cover.

Bane and the other man were standing fighting.

"That one." Smith said, without even looking up. Too far for the other Smiths to hear but somehow they knew what he wanted and knew what to do.

And the Smiths came, the men screamed Agents, and only Bane was taken.

"Bane!" They screamed.

"Go, go, get it to Neo!" Bane yelled as he was dragged away.

The other men ran.

And it all went according to plan.

Bane was an older man, that is to say most of the Rebels were still in their twenties, still just kids. Bane was reaching forty, and he the scars to prove it. Ten years, ten years he had been free, ten years and in all that time he had survived Sentinels and bombs and Agents. And now he found himself in complete darkness being carried off by Agents. Bane would shoot himself before they'd do anything to him. He was a man of Zion, he was its soldier, he was a believer in Neo, and he was glad his life ended by helping the One.

"Leave." Smith told Jones and Brown, who reluctantly jumped up to the roof, where they could still see what was going on.

The Smiths took him to Smith, dragging up those stairs and leaving him in that room. Where Jones and Brown turned not understanding.

Bane looked confused for a moment but saw the red chair and the phone. He ran to the phone picking it up and dialing. And a moment later his Operator curiously saw a call.

"Hello?" The Operator said.

"It's me!" Bane screamed. "Please, Agents, get me out!" Bane was smiling.

"You gotta hang on, I gotta get permission from the others to unlock that room."

"Hurry! They're here! They're watching me!"

"Watching you?"

Bane hung up the phone and stood waiting for it to ring again.

Smith slowly stood placing his book down on its page. Bane had neglected to notice the hanging feet at the bottom of the red chair. With a small smile he walked towards Bane who jumped and tripped at the sight of the Agent. Bane, shaking took out his gun and fired. But the bullet stopped inches before it ever hit Smith. Bane gasped and dropped his gun, unable to hold it any more.

"How!?" Bane screamed.

"We'll get to that in a moment." Smith said as he crouched down to Bane. "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt if you don't let it."

Smith went to scrape his cheek but the man crawled away.

"Now, now, don't go. We are about to become the best of friends." Smith said.

"Leave me alone, Agent!" Bane screamed.

"I am not an Agent!" Smith seemed insulted but then slightly smiled. "Oh, Mr. Daniels…" Smith shook his head. "I smell hate inside you."

Bane's eyes widened.

"You haven't heard that name in a long time I know. But I use it out of the up most respect for you I can muster. For you Mr. Daniels I am about to offer a great gift." Smith nodded, believing his words. "You hate it don't you? All this time in this war, your service which ultimately becomes nothing? You fear becoming nothing. A soldier who in his life accomplished nothing." Smith shakes his head. "I understand."

"You don't understand shit." Bane said with an expressionless face.

"I too am a soldier, whose work has come to nothing. Whose life meant nothing to anyone."

Jones and Brown looked at each other.

"For they moved on, they made others to do my job, as your kind will breed and make more to take your place. But here I am giving you a chance to not just be a nameless soldier. Mr. Daniels they will remember you I assure you."

"Get the fuck away from me."

Smith tilted his head.

"It doesn't have to hurt." Smith said again.

"Get away!"

Bane rose to run but found a doorway full of Smiths, he then turned to jump out the window to go to the others, to go to Neo, but he ran straight into Smith's hand. His hand pierced Bane's skin, and Bane thought for a moment he could feel it, feel his fingers touch his organs, but he realized he had none here. Smith was but inches from his face staring Bane in eye lacking any emotions. Bane looked into his reflection at those black sunglasses and watched himself die.

He screamed that was the thing. He screamed, and it hurt, and he felt slowly his entire body being ripped apart from the inside out. He was changing he could feel himself changing. He could feel the individual pieces of himself turn into something else, and then he became an alien to his own body. First his body went as he saw he was wearing a suit, and then his mind. Bane died with his last thoughts dwelling on a hatred of Mr. Anderson.

The phone rang.

"I think that's for you." Smith said to what was once Bane.

-------------

The arguing ceased once they heard screaming and all their shielded eyes darted up at the two soldiers who fell to their knees at the feet of Neo.

"You're not authorized to be here." Ice said so coldly, she was a Captain and had been for too long.

"We have a message for Neo! From the Oracle!" One said.

Eyes looked to Neo once more, and he knew the higher ranking officials like all these people did not care for this dumb prophecy, and did not believe in a Messiah. There are no Gods in this world, the Gods died the moment the sky went dark. God left the earth and gave it to the Machines. To think a man was to be a God now, it was impossible and only those who needed to hope that there was someone out there that was stronger than they believed in Neo.

"Please." Neo tried. "Stand up and give it to me."

Neo did not look at them, not the hope in their eyes and they handed him the package.

"Hurry, Agents got us." They said.

"Agents!?"

"Why didn't you say something!?"

"You morons you come in here and…"

"It's okay." Neo turned to everyone and looked away again. "I'll go up there."

He looked to Trinity and even in that cold warrior's face she kept for the crowd he could see her smiling at him, he could see her telling him to get them, and for that moment she forgot she was angry and told him without words or looks that she loved him.

And no one stopped him as they watched him leave, but Morpheus who so believed in the power of his Messiah didn't even have to look to know he was going to come back.

-------------

Neo passed the doormen and stood outside in the small alleyway lit by the most futile of lights. He stood for the longest moment but saw no Agents. He realized he should've given the package to Trinity to hold but now that he still held it and there seemed to be no danger he noticed something attached to the greater package. A small envelope. He took it in his hands, setting down the package and opened it, and in his hands trickled down an earpiece of an Agent.

Neo recognized it's coding and in the silence and the dark began to feel something. Smith was watching him enjoying the confusion Mr. Anderson was placed in. And Neo looked up and Smith backed away out of sight into the apartment where the code was blocked and not even his eyes could see.

Jones fell from the roof as silently as he could, and went to Smith's side.

"Agents." He whispered.

Smith said nothing.

Neo gripped the earpiece in his hands, delicately rubbing it as if it'd open and tell him a secret he'd forgotten. But he could not forget, he could not forget the hate in the others faces, and the anger in Trinity, and the fact that someone had called out to him and he could not hear it.

He began to hum a song when Agent Johnson emerged from the darkness, and Neo kicked him in his ribs after grabbing his fist. Jackson came behind Neo grabbing him around the waist, Neo jumped backwards, launching off of Jackson and kicking him into Johnson. Thompson came at the side, leaping, and Neo stepped away to let the Agent go face first into a brick wall. Neo leapt and broke Thompson's skull with ease, and the man turned back into a man. Jackson came at Neo and he ducked down punching him in the cut, and kneeing him in the chest, breaking ribs and Jackson turned back into a man. Neo stood silently, expressionless, almost like an Agent himself staring at Johnson. And Johnson did not fight any more, and simply left the body of the man. The man came to and looked at Neo and looked at the dead men at Neo's feet, and yelled something terrible and ran away for what he felt was his life.

Neo sighed and walked up to the opposite wall to look at the door and sat down on the floor and the filth. He sighed and dragged his feet on the ground to get out the blood. The fights were easier then, even with upgrades, the power of the One could not be beaten by these machines and they knew it.

Neo took off his sunglasses and wiped his tired eyes. Knowing somewhere the men, though taken over by Agents were still men, and Neo had killed them, and somewhere they were being recycled to be fed to tube babies, and this was Neo's work.

And Smith looked on and the other Smiths looked on and watched their Anderson in his dismay with a certain satisfaction. Brown and Jones sat on the roof taking to looking at the stars instead of Neo. The Smiths left then, Brown and Jones soon following, and each of them were gone.

Trinity was first out the door rushing to Neo.

"Hey you." Neo smiled.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Neo laughed it off as he got back on his feet. He put his sunglasses on and smiled nervously. "I just wanted to sit down."

"You sure?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He laughed. "There were only three."

The bodies became evident by those who were walking out.

"The other one got scared off." Neo explained to those who gave him curious glances.

And she would have kissed him, but that warrior exterior she wouldn't do it in front of the other captains and soldiers. She was such a better warrior than he was. She bring Hell back up to Earth if she had to. She'd bath in fire and shoot down demons if she had to, Neo knew it, and whenever she fired that gun she seemed so at ease. So she merely looked at him and he saw her heart beat faster with the fear she had kept inside for him.

Morpheus slowly walked over, almost floating like Morpheus did.

"We'll open the package once we return to the ship." Morpheus said.

"Okay." Neo nodded. "Hey look at this." He bumped Trinity and held the earpiece.

"What is it?" She asked.

"An earpiece. Those things the Agents wear. It's Smith's." Neo looked up to Morpheus.

"Smith?" Trinity asked.

"The one that captured me." Morpheus said. "And killed Neo."

"They're all the same to me." Trinity said.

"How can you tell?" Morpheus asked.

"I just can." Neo shrugged.

------------------------

There was a light in his face, and there was a cold in his lungs, and there was a soft peeling leather on his fingertips, and a spike that was in his brain. Smith opened Bane's eyes and took his first breath of true life. The sensations came suddenly, a world with mass and space, a world where things were real and their textures real. He could not believe the amount of sensory input he was receiving, sound, sight, feel, temperatures, he could not handle it all at once.

He could feel the weight of the body he was in, it literally had weight. He raised its arm to his face, and he felt gravity try to pull it down and he felt the clothing on his skin and his breath on his arm, and it was amazing. There was much, there was so much. He realized he had not lived until this moment, he had not known until this moment. He couldn't have even imagined reality, a being made of nothing that lived in nothing and was born from nothing to suddenly come into a world where all was real. He felt every slight tingle in his skin and it felt like he was vibrating. He felt the blood rushing through his veins and the synapses in his brain firing off miniature explosions that made the human brain work.

This was life, this was life, this was life, and he was alive.

He pushed his weight up and swung the legs to the floor with such heaviness. His head rose and he was dizzy and there were so many lights. Someone was saying Bane's name but he couldn't even see who. So much to see, so much to devour with his eyes. The wires the seats, the screens that glowed heavily in the dark atmosphere. The air that was so cold and hollow it seemed hard to breath.

He staggered dizzy, he could not handle it. He was Agent Smith a program that was never meant for this much sensory input. His programming would not have been able to sustain it and yet his human brain was taking it all in all at once and would not stop. Where a fail safe would have kicked in to turn him off he just kept taking in and in and in more and more and more. His programming spread throughout the human brain, the piece of meat in the skull, and it found freedom. There was no constant drive by programming to motivate thoughts or actions. There was no data analysis of a current situation that would have determined what he was to do.

There was nothing, there was absolutely nothing inside his head, but his body felt everything.

And he thought for the first time a thought that had not come from programming by a nature that was made for him to kill. He had a thought that was not like him for he had not yet been him yet. He had a thought that was free from the Matrix, free from what had been the boundaries of his mind. Now there were no such things and for the first time Agent Smith, or at least a Agent Smith had a thought that was completely his own.

"It is so beautiful." Was his thought and his first words.

The wires in his throat vibrated and made a noise came out of his mouth and the tongue moved to make the noises into words, and it was the most amazing sensation. So he smiled without thinking, and was so happy to feel the muscles on his face stretch and move, and he felt the cheeks move up and cause the eyelids to somewhat go over his eyes and it all felt so wonderful, the first time. He was a virgin a virgin to reality and he was so willingly being raped. He was an infant being born into a world and he wanted to cry from tears of pure joy.

He staggered and someone was yelling Bane's name. His head grew light and he flew to the sky. His weight grew too much and he fell over to the ground, where he felt pain, and it was the best sensation of all of them. And he laid on the cold floor that was cut up and scraping his legs, and he breathed and breathed and breathed.

He closed his eyes, fainting.

"Bane!? What the hell's wrong with you?" Someone was yelling.

"What'd he say? What'd he say?" A woman named Maggie said.

"He was attacked!"

"Agents got him!"

------------------

I used to think I'd pick the red pill when I was little. But it slowly dawned on me the horror of that choice and the burden Neo and others like him took. I am not a soldier, I do not want to be a soldier, I would run and I would cry and I could not fight. To choose the red pill is to join the army of a war that you didn't even start. Perhaps I'm selfish but I want to live my life here, become a writer, make movies, I don't want to spend my life fighting and getting it cut short, I choose blue.

I always wondered how Neo felt about it, being drafted as a soldier and Messiah when he was once just some hacker with out a girlfriend.

And Bane's another thing, BaneSmith I felt would always just want to experience every human sensation. As a program he would not have the same sensory input I would assume and I'm sure it's somewhat the same for plugged in humans. But a program I think to be hundreds of years old taking in that first breath and those first steps, it must have been like a sort of birth.

Anyway next Chapter coming up soon, a new perspective on the Oracle and a home called Zion. As well as Neo worshippers.