Author's Note: First fic for The Matrix, please be nice. Takes place pre-movie by several years, and all of this is basically out of my imagination so if anything doesn't make sense, just say so and I'll do my best to fix it.

Warning: This predates the first film obviously, as characters are younger and thus there will be mild OOCness in the beginning, hopefully by the end they will all round out to the characters we know and love. Eventual Smith/Trinity

Disclaimer: I own the premise of this story and the words that are printed in it, all names that you recognize are not mine, and if you don't recognize them, they are probably filler OC characters which are mine.

Hollow

"This is the way the world ends,

not with a band, but a whimper."

~T.S Elliot, The Hollow Men last line

"This is the place?"

Agent Smith glanced at Brown over his sunglasses as he got out of the car. "This is the place." he confirmed nonchalantly.

The door of the Audi slammed once more as Agent Jones exited the vehicle as well. "Are you sure about this?" The Agent's voice did not ring with doubt as the question he posed would suggest, instead he seemed to be merely looking for confirmation as Brown had only moments before.

Smith replied as he had before, unemotionally, "If we are going to track down the Codename Morpheus we need someone on the inside."

"But wouldn't it be more efficient to enlist a person with more experience?" Brown asked.

Smith glanced to the building in front of them, it was a high school, "No. Someone with more experience would already have been noticed by the rebels. We need someone who has no suspicion of the Matrix." As he said this Smith's nose crinkled.

He hated the Matrix, he hated the fake world, the way it smelled, the way it imprisoned him. He once expressed his feelings to the other two agents, they had discussed it, but Smith didn't think they really understood how much he wanted to be out of this place. They needed to destroy Zion, and the sooner they did that, the sooner Smith would be away from this place.

Or so he hoped at least.

"Let's go."

–

Christine Edwards was alone in the computer lab. She was a plain looking girl, wearing mostly black, and gray, her hair was shoulder length, but no one could tell that because it was always stuck back in a ponytai. Christine came in so often that the lab assistants could trust her to be left alone for short periods of time. And in those short periods of time other student could come in, and for a certain price she would hack the the school's computers and change grades, or erase bad marks on permanent records. That was the limit of her skills. She wasn't a hacker.

She wasn't "Trinity" yet.

Which was why the Agency had chosen her from a list of candidates for the proposed plan. When Christine heard the door to the lab open and several sets of unfamiliar footsteps she assumed they belonged to new 'costumers'. Well, too bad, the lab assistants would be back soon, they'd have to try again tomorrow.

"Miss Edwards?"

That voice did not belong to a high schooler, or any of the school faculty she was familiar with. She turned around and was surprised to see three men, all in identical suits and sunglasses, they looked like government. What the Hell? She couldn't possibly be in this kind of trouble for changing grades, could she.

"Are you Miss Christine Edwards?" The man in the center asked.

She could have lied, she could have given a false name and said Christine wasn't in school today, but instead she nodded, figuring that if she wasn't in trouble for her computer shenanigans, then she would definitely be in trouble for lying to the FBI or whoever these guys were.

"May we speak with you Miss Edwards?"

Again she simply nodded, though her eyes drifted to the door, wondering what chance she had at making a break for it if things got nasty. These guy were probably trained for fist fights, but she was sure even they wouldn't be able to handle a good kick to the nuts.

The man in the center sat down, even sitting he was still taller than her, the glasses obscured his eyes, making him impossible to read. "Miss Edwards may I introduce myself. I am Agent Smith, this is Agent Jones and Agent Brown." The two others nodded at her as their names were mentioned, but they said nothing.

Christine rolled her eyes, already tired of the cop games, "What do you want? I didn't do anything."

Smith's lips twitched, "As a matter of fact, Miss Edwards, you have done plenty." he pointed to the computer, "We already know that you have been using your skills with computers to modify school records.

"You can't arrest me for that." She said, "In fact you shouldn't even have been bothered with it. That's the school's business."

"That is true Miss Edwards. That is true. However we are not here on school business." He reach up and removed his sunglasses, even with them off his eyes were cold and stoic, as impossible to read as when he had them on. "We are here to offer you...A job of sorts."

"What?"

Smith folded his hands in his lap, "We are tracking a net terrorist organization, and we need someone on the inside, someone who can gain the trust of the lead terrorist and help us bring him to justice. Your hacking may be juvenile at best, but that is exactly why we need you."

"Not someone with more experience?" She asked.

"Someone with more experience would already be aware of the terrorist and be well on the way of becoming part of the organization." he explained.

"They'd become terrorists?" She almost burst out laughing at the absurdity of the idea.

"Their leader is quite...Charismatic." Agent Smith told her, "We need someone who isn't already under their radar, someone they won't suspect is undercover."

"Do my Foster Parents know about this?" She asked suspiciously. "I'm only sixteen, don't you need their permission of something?"

"Do you want us to get their permission?" Smith replied. "We can give them a call if you'd like."

"No!" Christine answered, "No. The last thing I need is for the old man to know I don't really have an A in Math."

"Then will you help us?"

What will happen if I don't?" She asked.

Smith gave a half shrug, "We'll find someone else. You'll continue with your computer scams until you graduate, get a job somewhere, possibly hone your hacking skills until the terrorist we have warned you about contacts you, and you will end up on the opposite side of this little war."

Christine stared at him.

"We'd prefer it if you would be on our side Miss Edwards."

Christine paused to consider it. The agents must have asked the lab assistants for a few minutes of privacy, Steven and Debbie should have been back by now. "I guess..." She said.

"Very good Miss Edwards. We will contact you again shortly to discuss what you will be doing for us..." Smith stood up, Jones and Brown turned with him leaving without a word, but nods of acknowledgment.

Christine stared after them a moment, unsure if what has just happened had really happened. The lab assistants returned after a while, and Christine turned back to the computer decide it didn't matter.

–

Outside, Smith got back into the diver's seat of the Audi. "That went better than expected." Jones said.

"Indeed." Brown agree.

Smith made no comment. He celebrated in silence. If only the rest of this plan would go so smoothly. He would finally be out the the Matrix, maybe sooner than he thought.

Author's end note: The other chapters will probably be longer.