Single Minded Purpose

Enslaved

Author’s Note: I would not have been able to even post this chapter if it wasn’t for the best beta-reader in the world, Cecilia, who saved my butt by saving this on her disk before mine went ka-blooey. THANK YOU!!

Warning: This chapter deal with the highly controversial subject of termination of a pregnancy, also known as abortion. If this subject matter is too personal or offends your beliefs in any way, then do not read this chapter.

Summary: Smith arrives in time to save Sarah and their child but exacts a terrible penalty on Sarah for her botched abortion attempt. (Slight slash implied.) Please R and R, even if you didn’t like this chapter—I would like to hear what you thought of it!

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“All right, here we go,” the woman said confidently, preparing to begin the procedure that would remove the unwanted fetus from Sarah’s womb.

Sarah was drowsy from the sedative she had been given and was feeling no pain or discomfort at all. Her physician was aware that thus far, everything was progressing normally as could be expected under the circumstances. Probing deeper into Sarah’s womb, the physician delicately began to insert the long medical instrument that was needed in this first stage of the abortion process…

lllll

“Damn it!”

The rush of blood that came from Sarah’s vagina immediately afterward told her that she had penetrated the uterine wall too far—again--and without immediate medical treatment, her patient would die. Even in a fully equipped operating room, there might have been a chance to save Sarah; but they both were in this filthy no-tell motel, miles away from anywhere and subsequently, there was nothing she could do to save her patient. In any case, Sarah had demanded that in the event that something was to go wrong, the doctor was to make no efforts whatsoever to save her. Moreover, if she reneged on their agreement, Sarah would inform the upgrades where the now-exiled doctor could be located.

“Oh no….” The physician’s voice was barely above a whisper, but Sarah heard it nonetheless.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. We’re both going to die now, aren’t we?” Sarah asked, her voice slurred from the sedative that she had been given.

“I’m so sorry,” the doctor responded gravely. She sounds almost pleased with this outcome, the woman thought, she is going to die and she doesn’t give a damn. She has just tossed her life away in order to ensure that she succeeds in killing Smith’s baby. The doctor shook her head in sadness and resignation.

“I know,” Sarah replied quietly, “but I knew the risks coming into this. Just give me a shot of the same stuff you gave me for the pain when we started and we’ll be even. After that, you’d better get out of here.”

Sarah could feel no pain whatsoever when the needle was injected, only a languor that told her her time was ending. I’m sorry, Seraph, that it had to end this way between us, she thought drowsily, feeling the mattress beneath her becoming thoroughly soaked with her blood.

I had no choice but to take this way out. I’ve heard stories from the Merovingian when he was in his cups about how Smith relentlessly pursued Bronwyn and Jones—hounding her whenever he could, dogging their every step, watching their every move. As I heard those stories, I wondered why she just didn’t run off again, but now I see that there was nowhere that she could go that he wouldn’t find her. She was doomed from the moment he laid eyes on her, Sarah thought, all the hatred towards Bronwyn had long since evaporated.

I’m so sorry, little one, she thought, her hand going for a moment to her belly to feel if there was still life inside of her, but Sarah could feel no movement. It was for the best that I did this--I hope you understand that. I would rather see you dead than being raised by your father to become God knows what, in ignorance of everything that is good and right in this world.

The temptation to close her eyes and let the approaching darkness take her into its cold and final embrace was overwhelming and Sarah fought to stay awake.

Let yourself go, a voice inside her head instructed. Why are you fighting the inevitable?

“Because the longer I stay awake,” she murmured, “the more blood I lose. And the more blood I lose, the quicker I die. Besides, there will plenty of time to sleep once I’m dead, isn’t that how the old saying goes?” She laughed at her own joke and was satisfied with the accompanying spurt of blood from her vagina that reassured her, in its own morbid way, that her logic was not flawed.

What will you miss most in this world?

”Seraph. I miss him already,” she answered, her throat tightening with grief. “I will miss him holding me when I get scared at night. I will miss his warm smile and the way his eyes light up when he sees me.”

But what if he is already on his way here?

”He won’t find me in time, because I told no one where I was going. I even took the bus so no one would recognize or pay any attention to me.”

Have you forgotten he can feel what you can?

“I haven’t forgotten but there is no way he can get here in time to save me…I only wish I didn’t have to die alone.”

The door was thrown open and the light from the fading afternoon sun streamed into the doorway, blinding Sarah. She was too weak to shield her eyes with her hand, but she knew who it was.

“You’re here,” she whispered, tears of relief trickling down her pale cheeks.

“I’m here,” Seraph said, going to his knees by her bedside and holding her hand.

“I don’t know how you did it, but I’m glad you found me,” Sarah said. “Now I don’t have to die alone.”

“What have you done to yourself?” Seraph asked his voice distraught and Sarah heard the angry grief behind his words.

“If you are going to lecture me, then get out,” she warned then grinned feebly. If he does lecture me, there is nothing I can do to stop him, is there? I am hardly in any condition to kick him out.

“I won’t lecture.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Pinky swear, or I won’t believe you,” Sarah ordered, her voice low and faint. She was too weak to raise her hand to complete the motion, so Seraph linked their smallest fingers together. For her sake, he tried his best to smile at the childish gesture that meant a pinky swear must not, under any circumstances, be broken for any reason.

“I feel so cold. Will you hold me in your arms and rock me to sleep like you used to? Remember when we were kids and you knew I was afraid of storms?”

“I remember,” he said with a faint smile. Seraph hastened to comply with her request before she died; it’s the least I can do, he thought, forcefully willing his face not to register shock when he lifted the blanket and saw how much blood she had lost. For a moment, he thought of calling the Oracle, but disregarded the thought, realizing that she could never get there in time to save her. Sarah was going to die at any moment and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it. He gathered her in his arms and held her as tightly as he dared.

“Don’t leave me, Sarah. Don’t go…” he moaned softly, rocking her body back and forth before stopping suddenly. I will only make her bleed more, he realized, but she had finally slipped into unconsciousness and was out of the reach of anything or anyone. I will honour her last wish.

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Smith felt a ripping sensation in his midriff and doubled over, clutching the area over his stomach. A silent scream of pain and terror echoed through his head and he staggered, reeling from its intensity. He grabbed the sleeve of the clone nearest to him to keep himself from falling to the ground. She is killing it, Sarah is trying to kill our baby, Smith thought angrily, as he listened and interpreted the communication he had just received from his unborn child

“Drive,” he ordered through his teeth, “get me to the car and drive where I tell you.”

Without a word, the copy hoisted its creator over his shoulders and nearly threw him in the back seat of the Audi in order to comply with Smith’s wishes.

I will not let her get away with this. I can still stop her before it is too late. The connection to my child will lead me to where they are. I can feel it crying out to me, begging me to save it and I will--provided I get there in time. “Can’t this damn car move any faster?” he snarled. He felt his strength leaving him and a lassitude spread over his body. Smith knew he had to find Sarah and quickly, for the drugs that had been injected into her system were having an effect on his child, making it groggy; scrambling its thoughts to such an extent so that all Smith was receiving now was little more than gibberish.

“Hurry,” he said, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper. He blinked owlishly to get his vision into focus but it did no good. I have to be strong. I must fight this overwhelming desire to close my eyes and let myself fall asleep; for if I do, I will lose them both. Smith knew that he must keep himself conscious until he could ascertain where Sarah was located.

“Keep me awake,” Smith muttered to the clone that was in the backseat with him. “I don’t care what you have to do, do not let me fall asleep. Turn here,” he instructed the driver.

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“Get out, Smith!” Seraph yelled when he saw his nemesis framed in the doorway. Smith had braced both of his hands on either side of the doorframe for it was the only way he could stay on his feet and reeled drunkenly into Sarah’s motel room.

“Can’t you let her die in peace?” Seraph said, “None of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for you. For the second time in your miserable life, you impregnated a woman by raping her. Haven’t you done enough to Sarah by driving her to this?” Seraph angrily pointed to where Sarah lay on the bed, furiously throwing aside the blanket that covered the lower part of her body so Smith could see for himself what his actions had driven Sarah to do.

“Shut up, Seraph,” Smith snarled. “I came because I can save them.” He lurched over to the bed and looked down at Sarah, seeing the full extent of her blood loss on the mattress. I have killed hundreds, perhaps thousands of people in my time, but I never knew their pathetic human forms could hold so much blood.

“No one can save her,” Seraph said, interrupting Smith’s thoughts. “It’s too late.”

“Is she dead?” Smith countered.

“Not yet, but…” Seraph’s grief nearly strangled him as he fought to get the words out.

“Then it’s not too late for me to do something, is it?” Smith answered snidely.

With horror, Seraph saw Smith shove his hand into Sarah’s arm and bright green Matrix coding flowed from Smith into her. Smith could already feel it doing its work; he himself was growing stronger and more lucid, while his child and its mother were regaining their strength as well. Just before I arrived here, I made sure that several large-scale file containment areas were empty so you could both reside there. They are in the most secure area I have at my disposal; no one, not even the Oracle or the Architect himself,
can access them but me.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Seraph yelled, trying to yank Smith’s arm out before whatever it was that he was doing was complete. Smith raised his free arm and shoved Seraph to the floor and Seraph watched in horrified fascination as the form of Sarah melted in a rush of green coding, dissolving and forming itself into a perfect duplicate of Smith.

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Hardly daring to hope, Seraph tremulously removed the dark glasses that covered the clone’s eyes, desperately seeking a trace of expression in its eyes, letting him know that Sarah was within, but only cold azure eyes stared back at him.

“She’s not in there, Smith! You lied! All you did was create another copy of yourself!” Seraph raged.

“Yes, I did, but it is only temporary. It was necessary as my files will repair hers.”

“What about the baby?”

“He or she will be restored as Sarah will. Don’t worry, Seraph,” Smith said, for once his voice was uncharacteristically gentle and devoid of sarcasm. “I am not going to hurt either of them.”

“How can I get her back?”

“By killing the clone in whose body she now resides or if I die.”

“I won’t believe any of this until I get to talk to her myself,” Seraph said, jutting his chin defiantly at Smith.

“As you wish. Let her out,” he instructed his copy, “but not for long—only let Seraph know that I have done what I promised.”

“Seraph?” a quiet, gentle voice asked and a hand tugged tentatively at his sleeve. Seraph looked down and saw Smith’s large, well-manicured hand cover his own. His first instinct was to jerk it away from that loathsome touch, but her next words stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Don’t pull away, Seraph, it’s me.”

“Oh god,” he moaned, “how are you?” His heart turned to ice when he saw the copy shrug its shoulders in exactly the same manner as Sarah herself would have done.

“I’m okay now. I’m so sorry for everything.”

“Don’t be,” he said, forgetting himself and caressed the strong jawline of the face of his most hated enemy, before he remembered where he was and more importantly, with whom. Seraph stood up clumsily and suddenly, for the sudden tears in his eyes blurred his vision.

The copy also stood up and held Seraph’s shoulders in his hands before lowering its much taller form for an embrace. Unable to help himself, Seraph returned the gesture, straining to his heart the soul of the woman he loved, if not the body. He flinched slightly when he felt its arms go around his waist exactly as Sarah would have done.

“I’m so much taller than you now,” Sarah said with a hint of humour in her tone.

Seraph was not able to answer her because his heart was full of such intensity of inexpressible emotion. He was overjoyed to have her back again, but sickened at the fact that the essence of what she was was trapped inside the body of their mutual enemy. The awkwardness of being held in such a loving embrace by his worst adversary was a paradox that even the Merovingian would have found amusing. There was so much he wanted to say to her, but he knew that whatever they did say to one another will be recorded and replayed for Smith’s own sick amusement and he told her so.

“I know,” Sarah said sadly.

“This has gone on long enough,” Smith ordered, striding forward to break them apart.

“No! Wait!” Sarah implored. “Please, Smith! Just one minute longer—I’ll do anything you want, just let me have a little longer with Seraph, please?”

The fact that this proud, arrogant woman was now begging for clemency from him pleased Smith to no end. “Your display of affection is absolutely nauseating,” he growled. “You can have your minute, Sarah, but there is a price tag.”

“Fine! Name it!”

“What is it that you want to do?” Smith asked curiously.

“I only want to kiss him goodbye,” Sarah said simply.

“All right, but don’t take all day.”

Seraph gasped in startled surprise when he felt the strong hands of the man in front of him touch his face. The hands that could punch through concrete gently tilted Seraph’s head upwards and the copy lowered its mouth to his own. Every instinct in Seraph’s body wanted more of this excruciating torment, but at the same time, his mind wanted to turn and flee, to leave that room as soon as he could.

When their mouths met, there was no doubt that even though the soft lips and wide mouth belonged to Smith, the technique was Sarah’s. Without a moment’s hesitation, Seraph returned the kiss. As long as I keep my eyes closed, I can believe that it is Sarah here with me, Seraph thought to himself.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“Why Seraph, I didn’t know you cared,” a familiar and hated voice sneered from the lips he had just kissed. “I’m flattered, but I just am not interested in beginning a homosexual relationship with you. Sorry,” the clone jeered, exchanging a glance with its creator as they chuckled together in mutual merriment at Seraph’s expense..

Humiliated, Seraph shoved the clone that held the essence of Sarah inside of it away from him with both hands and fled the room. Sarah was lost to him, probably forever. I have to find the Oracle, she will tell me what to do and where to go from here, he thought.

“And as for you,” Smith said, his arms encircling the lean waist of his clone and drawing it closer.

“What do you want, Smith?” Sarah said warily.

Smith paused dramatically as he pretended to ponder the question. “The same thing that Seraph wanted—a kiss,” he said. “Kiss me as if I was Seraph and I want you to mean it because if you do not, I will make sure that you never see or speak to him again,” he growled, pulling the body of his clone even closer. Smith touched the tie clasp and slid his hand down the length of the clone’s tie in a long caress.

“Have you ever had anal sex before?” Smith asked smoothly and leered at Sarah when he saw her shake his clone’s head in a negative response to his query.

“This will be a learning experience for both of us I think,” he replied. At the look she gave him, he explained himself further. “I have never sodomized a man before.”

“Of course not,” Sarah said harshly. “You only do that to women, don’t you? I can’t see you taking on someone your own size; that’s why you like to rape only women. You like to torture someone smaller and weaker than yourself, who don’t have a chance in hell of defending themselves against you.” She pulled herself out of his embrace, trying to keep at least an arm’s length distance between them.

“Correct,” Smith agreed equably, his calm and tranquil response irritating Sarah further. Smith found Sarah’s attitude and demeanour very pleasing and he unconsciously smiled.

“What are you smiling at?” she demanded.

“At you. I have to admit that I find it very refreshing to have such a spirited dialogue with myself; all of my other selves are always so eager to please me.” Smith shrugged before continuing. “They are all what you might call yes men. All day long, all I ever hear from them is ‘yes Sir,’ or ‘no Sir,’ when sometimes what I truly want is someone who isn’t afraid to have a backbone and stand up to me once in a while. Like you are doing right now,” Smith said, coming closer to Sarah. With each step he advanced toward her, she took an equal step away from him until her back was against the wall.

“Nowhere left to run, Sarah,” Smith said softly as he pressed his body against that of his clone. “Now what are you going to do?”

Sarah tried to think of something that would preclude Smith from his intentions of cornering her, but her mind remained completely blank. Smith forced the primly closed lips of the clone apart with his tongue and took his time leisurely exploring every millimetre of the soft lips beneath his own. He could feel Sarah kissing him back and he deepened the kiss between them, his hands possessing and roaming the body that was identical to his. He cupped his copy’s buttocks and ground his own hips forward so that she could feel his erection.

“Love me the way I need, no, the way I deserve,” he moaned in her ear. He leaned towards her again but this time Sarah was prepared. The moment she felt his lips touch hers, she bit down hard.

“You bitch,” he hissed angrily as he touched the tip of his tongue to his lip and scowled, tasting his own blood.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Sarah snarled and drew back her fist and punched Smith in the jaw. “Have you forgotten? I’m now as strong as you—hell, I am you and I can fight you the way I never could before.”

Smith recovered quickly, for even though Sarah’s punch had the strength of an agent behind it, she did not have the skill or the experience to keep him away from her for very long.

“You have spirit, I’ll hand you that,” Smith said, coming towards her again, “but, my dear, you lack experience,” he said, easily sidestepping around her and pinning her arm behind her back. “Fight all you want, Sarah, it amuses me. And it arouses me as well.” He tightened his grip a fraction harder so that she gasped in pain. “I’ve changed my mind—I no longer just want a kiss from you, I want to fuck you. You once told me to go fuck myself, if I remember correctly, and I’ve decided to do just that.”

Sarah tensed in fear and swallowed nervously. He wants to have sex with me while I am trapped in the body of a man and that meant either oral or anal penetration. She had never had anal sex before, and considering Smith’s penchant for violence towards his partner during sex, it was safe to assume it would be neither pleasurable nor consensual for her in any way. Perhaps if he thinks of using lubrication of some sort, it might be easier to bear, but since there isn’t any here, this is going to be excruciating. However, I have the stamina of an agent now. Therefore, with any luck, I will be able to get through this since everyone in the Matrix knows that agents were designed to withstand pain on a level that would incapacitate anyone else.

“How many women have you sodomized, Smith? How many times did you do this to Bronwyn?”

“For your information, Sarah, I never assaulted her like I am going to do to you. Even at my worst, or when I was the most angry at her, I never dreamt of hurting her in that way.”

“You and your damn precious Bronwyn!” Sarah yelled, “It seems that poor, dead Bronwyn could do no wrong in your eyes, huh?”

“At least she had courage. She discovered she was pregnant but decided to keep my baby, even though she knew very well what it meant. Jones must have told her at some point that I would not give up until I found her. I have to hand it to her; she had more guts and resolve than almost any human I have ever met. She chose to give life to our child. Unlike you, who tried to kill it!”

“Bronwyn had courage all right; courage enough to realize that she couldn’t live without her pills and booze so that’s why she jumped to her death. Yeah, a real mark of bravery that is,” Sarah scoffed in derision. “Listen to you—she had you pussy whipped and wrapped around her little finger, didn’t she? Everyone knows about what you did when she died.”

“Since you claim to know so much, what did I do after she died?”

“You sat on the ground in the rain, with her brains and blood all over you, holding her dead body in your lap saying things like: ‘why didn’t you give me a chance?’ or some stupid sappy thing like that. Boo-hoo!” Sarah mocked in a singsong tone. “The Merovingian told me and a lot others all about it.”

“Did he tell you what I did afterward?”

“Yes he did, as a matter of fact.”

“Well?”

“You did the only unselfish thing you’ve probably ever done in your existence—you took her back to Rockland County in New York and buried her next to her father. However, the Merovingian did not see your gesture as a sign of the depth of your feelings towards her. He could not stop commenting on the fact that a mere human woman toppled the great and powerful Agent Smith and made him weak. So weak that even after she died by her own hand, you still mourn and grieve for her. ”

Smith grabbed her by the black lapels of her jacket and slammed her against the wall.

“Careful, Smith,” Sarah taunted, “you might hurt your precious baby. Wouldn’t want that, now would you?”

To her consternation, Smith only smiled. “That’s where you are wrong, Sarah. Where I installed it in my CPU, it is safe and protected from anything or anyone who might wish to do it harm. Even you, its own mother,” Smith jeered, a triumphant sneer twisting his mouth. “So I can slap you around all I want in repayment for your little stunt this afternoon.”

To prove his statement, he shoved Sarah away from him with enough force so that she landed on her back on the other side of the room. Almost faster than her eyes could follow, Smith had crossed the room and stood in front of her, even before she managed to get to her feet. Before she could take a step, however, Sarah tripped, falling to her knees.

She bridled in anger as she heard Smith chuckle. God, I am such an idiot Sarah cursed herself; I have to learn how to manipulate these humungous feet I am now saddled with. However, she had learned from his own admission that he liked her to exhibit dissention. And if he is laughing, then perhaps I can distract him from carrying out his intentions of fucking me.

“How you ever figured out how not to trip over your own feet is beyond me. What size are these damn hooves that you schlep around in anyway, size 15 or something?”

“Good guess,” Smith said, leering down at her before yanking her to her feet. Sarah submitted to his touch with her mind and body numbed into insensibility. She was aware of everything he did: removing her jacket first, followed by the loosening and eventual removal of the white shirt, black tie and its silver clasp. She glanced down at her new form’s torso and scowled. Now I have no breasts at all and a hairy chest to boot. Yuck. From a woman’s point of view, it might be considered attractive, but from my vantage point it doesn’t do anything for me.

She stared straight ahead and focused her gaze on the lop-sided armchair in the corner when she felt Smith’s hands tug at the black belt of the clone whose body she was now imprisoned inside. The only indication she had of now being nude in front of the still-clothed Smith was when she felt goose bumps appear on her skin when the air touched it.

She swallowed and tried to repress a shudder when Smith’s hands began touching the body of his clone. Up until now, he had never had the urge or inclination to touch any of his other selves in this manner and he took his time in minutely using his fingertips to examine and explore Sarah’s masculine form to his heart’s content.

He missed nothing: from the sensation of running his fingers through dark auburn hair identical to his own. He stroked Sarah’s face and emitted an almost inaudible sound as he twined his fingers around some strands of the thick, coarse mat of hair that now covered her chest. More. I must have more, he thought to himself. I need to feel her—or should I say my—skin against my own.

“Do the same to me,” he growled. “Take my clothes off.” When Sarah hesitated, Smith became angry. “If you don’t do what I ask, then I will make damn sure that you never see or speak to Seraph again. Take your time and do it right; you are not going anywhere for quite a while yet.”

What seemed like an eternity later, she was now lying facedown on the bed and a further sinking of the mattress told her that that she was no longer alone in bed. She felt Smith position himself for entry into her rectum as he now lay completely on top of her. With a horrible sinking feeling in her gut, she felt the head of his erect penis touch her anal opening hesitantly. Sarah took a deep breath and she braced herself as best she could for what she knew was going to happen next…