Smith Smut aka What is Real

Twelve Floors – The Door

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I’m not sure about a life after this

God knows I’ve never been a spiritual man

Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river

That is running to the Promised Land


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He had to choose. There was only one way to find out what was on the other side of the door, use the key, and he held the key in his hand. All this uncertainty was frustrating. He had always been in control, in charge and sure of what he was doing. Now, since she had come along, everything was chaotic, and the worst part was, he liked the chaos better.

If he went through that door, everything would change, forever. Maybe, he thought, Agent Smith was not ready. Maybe he should turn back now, before it was too late, before he stepped through the door. What was on the other side? The lady? Or was it the tiger? Was he the victim of a semi-barbaric mainframe game, or was he free from the control that created him?

The humans had created the machines. The machines now manipulated the humans for their own purposes. The machines had created him and now was he being manipulated? Was he the manipulator? Too much information, not enough information, processing information was pointless at this point; time to decide was now.

He chose. The key slid easily into the lock and he turned the knob. He opened the door slowly and carefully, still unsure what he would find, but his unnatural curiosity won and his desire to be with her and believe she was real, that took over.

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‘Agent Smith, repeat last transmission.’

[static]

‘Agent Smith, report.’

[static]

‘Agent Brown, Report on Agent Smith.’

‘Repeating last transmission received from Agent Smith: Agent Smith is ready, fuck the report.’

‘Agent Brown, report.’

‘Awaiting orders from Agent Smith.’

‘New orders: Find Agent Smith. Last transmission received at 8:49 PM from Michigan Avenue bridge over the Chicago River’

‘I will comply. Agent Jones and Agent Young, report.’

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He pushed the door open and stepped into the room. He slid the key out of the lock and back into his pocket and drew his weapon.

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‘Agent Young reporting, awaiting orders.’

‘Agent Jones reporting, awaiting orders.’

‘Agent Smith’s last transmission was at 8:49 PM from Michigan Avenue Bridge.’

‘Orders?’

‘Retrieve Agent Smith and return him to the complex. Further instructions pending. Meet at Michigan Avenue bridge.’

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Carefully he maneuvered around the corner and leveled his weapon, at her.

Golden hair fell across her shoulders luminous against her white silk robe. Dark sunglasses covered her eyes. A glass of champagne in one hand, the other toying with a strawberry, feet up leaning back in a lounge chair she was clearly anticipating his arrival. An empty crystal glass sat on the table next to her and the bottle of champagne was chilling nearby. Only one strawberry was missing from the neatly arranged plate. As she looked up at him a smile slowly crept across her face. “You won’t need that here.”

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Brown materialized on the bridge where Smith had stood before. Jones appeared a few moments later. Young, being a newly created Agent, did not have the ability to manipulate the Matrix yet, so he hoofed it.

‘Agents Smith’s last transmission occurred at Michigan Avenue Bridge at 8:49 PM. Transmission garbled. Transmitter not responding. Suspect foul play. Orders are to track down Agent Smith and return him to the complex for repair or disassembly.’

Agent Jones shuddered.

‘Mainframe search and scan of Matrix indicates Agent Smith headed North on Michigan Avenue and East on Kinzie. Young, begin search at corner of Michigan KinzKinzie. Interview and or interrogate all humans in area. Current data indicates Agent Smith is no longer in the Matrix.’

‘Yes sir Agent Brown’

‘Jones, search the buildings on the south side of the street’

‘Yes sir Agent Brown’

‘I will search the north side since many are closed or locked at night. Transmit any findings or sightings immediately. Use whatever force is necessary. Lethal force is acceptable.’

The three walked across the bridge and turned east at the corner. Young immediately began to question the pedestrians, the homeless and the street vendors. Jones headed into the first building, a drug store. Brown disappeared into a building on the north side.

Moments later several patrons ran out of the pharmacy. Young began to question them on sightings of Smith. Several pointed to the pharmacy and ran.

‘Brown this is Young. Sightings of Smith at corner pharmacy.’

‘Apprehend Smith.’

Young entered the 24 hour pharmacy, weapon drawn.

Jones walked past the end of an aisle at the same time Young did at the other end. They aimed their weapons at each other. Brown materialized behind Young. He was mad.

‘We do not have time to waste playing games, gentlemen.’ He snarled, handing pictures of Smith to Jones and Young. ‘Use these, and Jones, do not terrorize the humans unnecessarily.’

They returned to their assigned search areas.

Jones entered the next buildingthe the south side of the street. Young resumed his questioning of pedestrians. Brown returned to the north side of the street and the search for the missing Agent Smith continued.

Young approached a homeless man in the doorway of a shoe store. “Have you seen this man?” he showed him the picture.

“Heyuld uld you spare a few bucks. I haven’t eaten all day.”

Young pulled his Desert Eagle and pressed it against man man’s temple shoving the picture under his nose he asked again. “Have you seen this man?”

The old guy trembled and took a good look at the picture and pointed to the luxury hotel Jones was entering.

“Not him you idiot!” Young’s finger trembled momentarily on the trigger but walked away and continued his search.

Jones questioned several of the patrons at the bar before approaching the night clerk at the front desk. “Which room is your guest named Smith in?” His demeanor coupled with the tone of his voice told her he meant business.

“I’m sorry sir, I can’t give out information on our customers. If you like you can leave a message.”

Jones pulled his Desert Eagle and repeated very slowly “Which room is your guest named Smith in?”

Her eyes widened and she paled. “Um, okay, um, let me look and see, please, give me a minute, okay?” She began nervously tappingthe the computer keyboard while cursing under her breath. Shooting sideways glances at Jones she kept keying madly at the computer. The elevator door opened and Jones turned to watch the patrons exit. She took her opportunity and hit the silent alarm button.

“Hurry up” Jones waved the gun at her.

“Um, sir, I’m afraid we have seven Smiths registered, could you give me a first name?”

“No, just give me the list.”

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“You won’t need that anymore at all.”

He looked at the Desert Eagle. It was as much a part of him as his hand. Not need it? Absurd. He holstered his weapon, glad to see her but still suspecting some trap might await him. “The lady?” He asked apprehensively.

Dropping the strawberry she pointed to the glass on the table. “That’s yours.” A black silk robe, the perfect masculine match to her feminine robe, in his size was flung over the back of the other chair. “Make yourself comfortable.” The door slammed shut.

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Dozens of police cruisers converged in front of the hotel. Brown approached some of the officers.

“I am Agent Brown. What is the disturbance?”

“The silent alarm was activated by the front desk. Surveillance shows a man posing as an agent holding the front desk clerk at gun-point.”

‘Jones Report!’

‘Waiting for the list of persons named Smith registered in the hotel. Witnesses at the bar indicated they had seen Smith enter the elevator but the elevator stopped at every floor.’

‘Idiot, you should not have used your weapon.’

“Officer….” He hesitated.

“Carlson”

“Officer Carlson. The gentleman at the desk is indeed one of our agents. He has obviously made a serious error in judgment, but there is no need to overreact”

“Overreact?!?! The man is holding the desk clerk at gunpoint.”

‘Jones, lower your weapon.’

“No he is not. He has simply requested information regarding a guest of the hotel, and, perhaps became a bit over zealous in his attempt to retrieve that information.”

“What information e ine in such a hurry to get? Unless someone rewrote the constitution while I was sleeping using a gun instead of a search warrant is not legal.”

“We will straighten this out right now. Come on.” They entered the hotel; several other uniformed police officers followed.

“Agent Jones. Apparently you frightened the desk clerk here into tripping the silent alarm. Now we have the good fortune of having these dedicated uniformed officers to assist us in our search for Agent… um the imposter of Agent Smith.”

Jones looked at Brown quizzically for a moment then realized his error and understood Agent Brown’s cover.

“Imposter?” Carlson questioned.

“Yes. Unfortunately it has come to our attention that there is a criminal, armed and dangerous, posing as an Agent of our organization. No one will be safe until he is apprehended.”

“What is going on here?” A middle aged overweight balding man approached them.

“Who are you?”

“I am the manager here! Who the hell are you?”

“I am Agent Brown. I have reason to believe an imposter posing as an Agent is currently in your hotel. He is armed and dangerous and must be quickly apprehended.”

“Are my guests in danger?”

“Yes. But we are here to take him into custody. We will need your assistance. We must search the entire hotel. It is unlikely that he would use his name to register.”

“It’s the middle of the fucking night. Most of the guests are sleeping. I can’t go waking them up. Come back tomorrow.”

“You will allow this search.” Brown snarled so threateningly that the man actually backed up in fear.

“Yes, but I will go with you. I will get the master pass card.”

“Fine.”

‘You were warned not to use terror to accomplish your goal, Jones. Now we will have to enter each room through the door with this fool. We have lost precious time because of your lack of control. Go get Young, now.’

Jones quickly exited the building and met Young outside. They returned at the same time the manager emerged with the passkey.

“You do not need to go with us.” Smoothly Brown tried to convince the manager to let him search the building alone.

“Oh no. I’ll go with. This is the most excitement I’ve seen in years.”

Brown rolled his orbs.

“And don’t you think we ought to have some uniformed officers with us, I mean, just in case.”

Seeing that arguing would be pointless Brown agreed to have the police and manager join him in the search. He considered the idea of splitting up, but based on the incompetent behavior the other Agents had displayed so far, he decided they would go together.

“The witnesses I talked to said Smith was seen entering the elevator, but the elevator stopped on every floor.”

“Very well then, we will start at the top. That would be typical of Smith.” The entourage entered the elevators.

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Anticipation. The door had slammed shut behind him. Nervousness? The odd sensation he felt in his gut was a new addition to the usual foreboding he felt in a dangerous situation. Quickly the key was out of his pocket and back in his hand. Leave now, the thought crossed his mind, but he had made his choice, so he set it on the table instead. Slipping his hand in his other pocket he tenderly played with the “DEL” key before removing that and setting it on the table by the door key. His sunglasses joined the other items on the table, and then, for a split second he vanished. He reappeared in the chair, wearing the robe, and nothing else. His clothes were in a heap on the floor where he had stood a moment earlier. His weapon was underneath the heap.

A precarious smile danced across her lips.

Pouring some champagne he studied her. “Take off those sunglasses.”

She pouted at him. “Who says you are in charge?”

“Who says I’m not?”

“If I take them off, what will you give me?”

“Everything.”

Sipping the champagne she leaned back in the chair still donning the sunglasses.