“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.” 

G. Orwell 

  

“So, how did you find your first day in the office?” Luke asked in that overly deep voice of his, his eyes glued to the drink that he had just brought over to the table.  

Sam looked over his blond hair before she answered: “It was OK, I think.”.  

“Oh, she is probably not used to it yet.” said Rod; “After all, I always imagined you lot working whenever you want to.”.  

Sam chuckled: “What do you mean, us lot?” she asked jokingly although she already knew the answer; “Also, it’s not really like that. We work a lot, all the time really. I barely have any time for anything else in my life.”.  

“Oh, so no significant other?” asked Olivia before she took a sip of her beer.  

“No, no time for that.” Sam answered and followed her lead, taking a sip of her own drink.  

She didn’t even have the time to think about finding some proper friends, let alone someone who could become someone special to her. All that she had were the aliases on the screen that she worked with and, although they were real people, it often didn’t feel like it. It felt as if she was working with artificial intelligence for the majority of her time. After all, she and aliases barely talked in spoken language, it was all codes instead.  

“So, how is it like then?” Adam asked curiously, breaking the conversation that he had with Dan, this discussion drawing his attention.  

“Oh, you know. I get up late because I go to sleep late. I check my emails and have virtual meetings with the squad, all while I’m plotting the next attack and writing my codes, programming my programs.” she said nonchalantly, wondering how good of an idea it was to reveal her secrets just like that, especially to this group.  

Well, perhaps it didn’t matter. She was to catch Morpheus and get a different job after, just like she was promised, or she was to disappear in the meanwhile, whenever she got the first chance.  

“You can’t tell me that you use emails?!” Adam exclaimed.  

“Of course not. Well, not the emails as you guys know it. We have our own. Same as we have our own browsers and similar.” she answered, feeling more and more uncertain on how much information she was willing to share.  

“Enough guys.” Olivia said firmly; “Can’t you see that you’re making her uncomfortable?”.  

Everyone stopped what they were doing and they collectively shrugged their shoulders before they returned to their drinks. Sam, on the other hand, felt very grateful for Olivia saving her from having to spill any more beans.  

“One last question.” Rod said and didn’t wait for a moment longer before he spoke again: “You’ve said that you stay up late and get up late. Will your, erm, squad, as you call them, notice if you’re online only during  certain hours?”.  

“Of course they will.” Sam said, scratching her head: “That’s why I decided to bring my laptop everywhere I go. You guys might be done with your shift, but mine’s just starting.”.  

“I don’t think that the boss will be happy to hear that you’re working on this outside of the office.” Luke said in his deep voice and was about to continue when Sam cut him off.  

“I know, but I gotta keep my appearances. I think that he’d be angrier if everything went to shit just because I started working nine to five.”.  

Luke hummed and took a sip of his drink: “OK, sorry. I won’t bother you anymore.”.  

“You’re not bothering.” Sam said; “But it’s certainly odd talking about this to government officials.”.  

“Meh, we’re not really like them.” Dan said.  

“What do you mean?” Sam asked.  

How could they not be like them? Aren’t they all the CAU?  

“Like the boss, Jones and Brown. They’re always working. They’re proper government officials, we’re just a bunch of geeks working for them.”.  

“You can’t be telling me that they don’t know much about programming themselves?” she asked, feeling slightly confused.  

She would have expected them to be one of the best in the area of programming in order for them to end up in as high of a position as they did.  

“Oh, he’s not saying that.” Rod jumped in; “They’re good at it and they know their stuff, but I guess that they just have more important things to do. We help collect the information and they’re the ones who make a break in the case. They’re the ones who manage to put that information together and then they go out and bring in the bad guys.”.  

“Don’t you guys ever go out to catch the bad guys yourselves?” Sam asked curiously.  

“No, that’s their job.” Olivia said; “We’re just the office hermits.”.  

Sam sniffed and took another sip of her beer. This didn’t sit well with her. After all, if she was going to be hunting Morpheus, she was going to do it personally, not just over her laptop. She had already tracked down a few hackers whose idiocy threatened some of her jobs, so she had had to find their butts in person and kick them.   

Additionally, she wasn’t just a stay-in type of person. There was too much out there for her to experience, despite her love of computers. Nature, the people... There were so many wonders for her to explore and to see. Sam was a big outdoor type and she certainly wouldn’t let Agent asshole keep her locked in the office all the time. Perhaps he didn’t know it yet, but she was coming along with him, whether he liked it or not.  

“Don’t they join you guys for the drinks?” she asked all of a sudden, measuring out the crowd before her.  

“Nah, not really.” Adam said; “They’re too busy, and then they go back to their lives, I guess.”.  

“What, like, to their wives and kids?” Sam asked curiously.  

The whole group chuckled.  

“What?”.  

“I don’t think that they have anyone waiting for them at their homes. The life of an Agent isn’t an easy one. Most marriages fall apart. We’re lucky to be just the office people, we get to have our lives outside of work.” said Dan.  

Sam thought about it for a moment, but it wasn’t long before she shrugged her shoulders and downed her drink.  

“OK, guys. I gotta be on my way.” she said and stood up.  

“Aw, already?” the group asked in unison.  

“Yeah, I’ve got plenty to do. This operation won’t plan itself out and I need to have something worth everyone’s while by tomorrow.”.  

“OK, I get that.” Rod said; “See you tomorrow at eight sharp.”.  

“Uh, I don’t know about that.” Sam said, knowing herself very well.  

I’m not an early bird.  

“Oh, don’t play with the boss, dear.” Olivia said; “He doesn’t take kindly to people being late.”.  

Sam huffed: “Fine. See you all at eight.”.  

___oOo___  

Sam turned around in her bed and slowly started to wake up. She licked at her lower lip when she realised that she felt way too rested for it to be seven in the morning.  

“Oh shit!” she told herself and quickly reached for her phone that was charging below her pillow.  

“Please don’t be past eight!” she pleaded before she unlocked her phone screen.  

The clock read ten o’clock and above it, there was a notification: Four missed calls.  

“Fucking shit!” she exclaimed and, in a moment, she jumped out of her bed, rushing towards the bathroom.  

She was quick to brush her teeth, only taking a moment to notice her green eyes and long dark brown hair before she returned to her room.  

“Shit, shit, shit!” she kept saying while she kept tripping over her own legs, trying to be quick about pulling her jeans on.   

“Oops!” she managed when she found herself losing balance.   

Moments later her body hit the floor with a loud thud and she cursed out loud once again.  

“I fucking hate this!” she said angrily while she did her best to carefully stuff her laptop in a bag before she rushed outside.  

She didn’t drive, so she would have to take a bus or run to the office, there was nothing else that she could do. She was short on money, so calling a taxi wasn’t an option either.  

Sam quickly locked her door and turned around only to bump into someone tall and strong, saying "Oof" as their bodies collided, dropping her keys to the ground in the process.  

“What the fuck are you - “ she started, but cut herself off when she lifted her gaze to meet the eyes, or, rather, the sunglasses of an unexpected guest.  

“Miss Marshall, you are late.” Agent Jones spoke in a leveled tone, nothing but slight annoyance visible on his face.  

If it was annoyance; Sam couldn’t tell.  

“I’m so sorry, Jones, I’ve - “.  

He cut her off by lifting his hand in the air: “Save your excuses for the boss.” he said simply and turned around; “Follow me.” he said and didn’t wait for her to fall into step behind him.  

Sam quickly grabbed her keys from the ground and rushed after him, trying her best to hide her blushing cheeks below her long hair. She followed after the tall Agent’s footsteps the best that she could and, luckily, it wasn’t long before they reached a black car.  

“Get in.” he said simply while he lowered himself into the driver’s seat.  

Sam obeyed and, moments later, she was sitting next to him. Agent Jones started his car and, in seconds, they were on the road, on their way to the office.  

“How long?” she asked him.  

“Twenty minutes.” he said, keeping his sunglasses pointed towards the road ahead.  

“Boss won’t be happy, will he?” Sam asked, feeling slightly concerned.  

She really didn’t need this on her second day.  

“No.” Agent Jones replied; “But he is not at the office at the moment, so he will be displeased with you later.”.  

“What do you mean, he’s not at the office?” Sam asked, feeling curiosity rise up in her.  

“He’s busy.”.  

“Busy where?” she wouldn’t back down.  

“A case.” he said simply.  

“Are you joining him there?”.  

“After I drop you off, yes.”.  

“I want to go with you.” she said, looking at Jones expectantly.  

“No.” he said simply and kept his eyes on the road.  

“I have nothing to do until I discuss my plan with the boss.” Sam said; “Perhaps I could be of some help over there instead?”.  

Jones remained silent.  

“Oh, come on, cutie.” she said; “I won’t bother, I swear. I’ll just watch.” she lied.  

She knew very well that she was too curious of a person to just stand on the side while others were working on a mysterious case.  

A small pause came before he spoke: “No.”.  

“You’re making this harder than it needs to be. I’m late, it’s not good, but it is what it is. By the time you take me to the office, you’ll be late too. Unless,” she said; “unless the office is on your way there.”.  

Jones took his eyes off of the road for a moment and looked at her. He turned back and swiftly turned the car around, brakes creating screeching sounds that echoed in Sam’s ears.   

“Hey, watch it!” she said, but he paid her no mind; “I thought that you were a government official, Special Agent and all that. I thought that you’d obey the road rules!” she complained.  

“It is an emergency.”.  

With that, he went completely silent, leaving Sam to wonder what this was all about. She wanted to ask, but she knew better than to annoy Agent Jones any further. He wasn’t happy taking her with him, so she didn’t want to push it in case that he would return her to the office instead. She had kept her mouth shut as they drove and drove through the busy streets of the city.  

At one point, Jones slowed down and turned to park the car. Sam was dying out of curiosity by that point and she was super excited to see what was going on. He was quick to step out of the car and she was about to open her own door when she heard them lock.  

“Hey!” she managed; “You can’t leave me in here!” she yelled and pounded on the window angrily.  

Who the hell does he think he is?!  

She was becoming beyond frustrated and angry. No one had ever acted that way towards her.  

Jones clicked a button on his car key and the front windows opened just slightly; enough to leave her with plenty of air, but not enoughto cause her to freeze in the cold autumn weather.  

“Stay put.” he told her; “I will be back soon.”.  

Sam kept on pounding on the window and protesting while she watched him leave and enter the building; a bank.  

“This is bullshit!” she finally said and sat back down, giving up on pounding on the door.   

There was no point in it. Jones was long gone and he wasn’t coming back until whenever he decided to.   

Her eyes scanned her surroundings and she noticed another two cars parked outside; they were the same as Jones’. No doubt that they were Smith’s and Brown’s.   

Sam sighed and grabbed the bag that she had placed between her feet. She quickly rummaged through it and pulled out a small device that resembled a garage door key. She quickly connected the device to her self-made phone with a small wire before she proceeded to open an app on her phone and play with it for a moment. During this time, she kept glancing up to see if she would notice Jones or any of the other Agents come around to curse at them, but they were nowhere to be seen. Her app finally glowed green and she sighed once again before she pressed a single button on the device.   

The door unlocked.  

Sam was quick to get herself outside of the car and she swiftly closed the door, clicking the button again in order to lock the car behind herself. She took a deep breath and fixed her bag to her back, looking around herself one more time. Then she looked down at herself only to realise that she had on what she usually wore; black jeans and a simple oversized, dark hoodie. She sighed again. She didn’t look anything like she was supposed to as a part of the CAU, she didn’t even have a badge or anything of the sort to prove that she was a part of the CAU either.   

She bit the inside of her cheek and got on her way, there wasn’t much else that she could do.  

She walked inside of the bank and instantly noticed police everywhere. One of the officers noticed her straight away and rushed in her direction. Her eyes searched for any of the Agents since she knew that she would need one of them to confirm who she was if she wanted to stay there and find out what was going on.  

“Miss, you can’t be here, the bank is closed for the public at the moment.” the officer said and waved his hands at her.  

“It’s okay.” she said, her eyes still scanning for any of the Agents; “I’m with the CAU.”.  

The officer stopped in his tracks and looked her over: “As I’ve said, Miss, you can’t be here.” he concluded and looked at her sternly.  

That was when her eyes landed on Agent Smith in the distance: “There’s my boss.” she said and pointed a finger at him; “Go and ask him, he’ll tell you.”.  

The officer looked at her one more time and then turned to follow her finger.  

He sighed when his eyes landed on the Special Agent: “Wait here.” he said and was on his way.  

Sam waited nervously, holding onto the strap of her bag and taking in the scene around her. People rushed everywhere, police were talking to the employees of the bank and, overall, it just seemed chaotic. It made her feel uncomfortable, being surrounded by the police, considering that, until yesterday, she was nothing more but a criminal; a hardened one at that, despite her young age of twenty-five. She had had criminal tendencies from ever since she could remember, starting off her career by shoplifting and turning it to breaking and entering some years later when simple stealing wasn’t enough to satisfy her ever-growing appetites. She only wished that she had established her criminal morals and rules somewhat sooner than she did. She would have done a lot less damage to those who didn’t deserve it.  

It wasn’t long before the officer reached Agent Smith and they both turned to look at her. Her cheeks went bright pink, but she waved in their direction nonetheless. If Agent Smith could make her feel embarrassed, she could make him feel embarrassed too. To her surprise, it wasn’t the officer who started to walk towards her, but it was her boss.   

Oh, shit. I’m in trouble...  

She watched him approach and studied his form. He still wore the same dark green, almost black suit and a tie with golden lining, his deep greenish-blackish rectangle sunglasses were glued to his face and the usual white earpiece was in its place. It all seemed so bland and too serious, yet, there was something about the way he looked overall. It intrigued her. She watched him cross the big room in a quick stride. He almost looked like he was gliding, or, or something. She lacked the word for it. There was something odd in the way he moved, yet Sam found it...  

Snap out of it.  

Seeing his serious, almost angry face made her knees feel weak with fear.  

No.  

She told herself.  

I am NOT afraid of him.  

She clenched her fists both in discomfort and in anger.  

“Miss Marshall, why are you here?” he asked her when he came close enough to her.  

“I’m here to help if I can.” she said, feeling almost embarrassed since she knew how silly she looked in her jeans and hoodie.  

“This is not the time nor the place for you to - "  

She cut him off: “I know, I’m sorry.” she said sincerely; “I can’t do anything else before we have our meeting, so I thought I would come here with Agent Jones and see if I can help.” she said honestly.  

Agent Smith turned his head to look over his shoulder for a moment and turned right back to observe her before he spoke: “Is that your laptop bag?”.  

She grabbed at her bag straps again: “It is. Why?”.  

“Perhaps you could be of some help, after all, Miss Marshall.” he said and turned around; “Follow me.”.  

Sam stood in her spot for a second since she was caught off guard. She had expected to be yelled at and sent outside, not invited inside to actually help.  

“Miss Marshall?” came from Agent Smith, but he didn’t stop nor did he turn around to look at her; “This way.” he said simply, leaving her to wonder how did he know that she wasn’t following.  

She snapped herself out of it and quickly fell into the steps behind him: “How can I help?”.  

“The owner had received a digital threat and someone has been playing with his security system. You could help me check it out and see what we can find.” he said.  

“OK!” Sam said excitedly; “Where can I put my laptop?”.  

“This way.” he said and continued onward.  

It wasn’t long before they reached an office where both Agents Jones and Brown sat at the computers, typing something away. Agent Smith held the door open for her and motioned with a hand for her to take a seat at the remaining empty chair. She did as she was told and was quick to settle in, pulling out her laptop and placing it on the desk before her.  

“OK.” she said as soon as she connected it to the network.  

“Get to work.” Agent Smith said simply.  

She nodded and, in moments, she opened her applications and started typing away, working vigorously to get into the security system of the bank. She knew that she was supposed to be searching for the errors in the system itself, but the only way that she knew how to do that was to break in. That was what she did the best.   

Sam typed at the speed of light, playing around the bank’s code like it was a game, trying to find a way in. If she would find a way in, the most obvious one, she would find how the trespassers managed to get in too.   

It took her only half an hour to sit back, lift her hands in the air and exclaim proudly: “I found it!”.  

All Agents’ eyes shot in her direction.  

“You are in?” Agent Brown asked.  

“Yes, I’m in, and we have a problem.”.  

“We know about the problem.” said Agent Smith who stood some meters away from her, his gaze lost to the outside of the office’s window with his hands cupped behind his back.  

Sam looked at him quizzically.  

“We have used the access that the bank owner gave us and we are already working on resolving the issue.” Agent Jones explained.  

“Wait, you’re telling me that I just wasted my time breaking through their security system for nothing?” she asked, feeling surprised; “It could have taken me hours!”.  

“We needed to see how good you are, Miss Marshall.” Agent Jones said, returning his sunglasses’ hidden eyes to the computer screen.  

Sam looked up at Agent Smith: “You’re OK with that?” she asked him in disbelief.  

He turned his head slightly over his shoulder to face her: “Return to work, Miss Marshall.” he said simply before he turned around to face the window again.  

Sam gawked at him for a moment before she managed to pull herself out of it and dug into the issue: “It’s a virus. A Trojan Horse.” she said; “Don’t open it, it’ll screw us up.”.  

All Agents remained silent, obviously aware of the nature of the issue, making her feel embarrassed for pointing it out in the first place. She ignored the silence and was quick to try and find her way around the virus. She had two options, one was to try and to extract the virus away from the code and the other was to break inside the virus and to destroy it from the inside out.  

“Which one do you all prefer, extraction or destruction?” she asked and lifted her eyes to the back of Agent Smith’s head.  

“Destroy it.” he said in a low voice, not turning around this time.  

Sam returned her eyes to the screen and opened another app, one that she had made to deal with Trojan Horses specifically. All she needed to do was to insert her own program into the virus and this was both easily said and done. Within minutes, her program would destroy its code within. However, the viruses’ green glow drew her attention, making her feel very curious.  

What is this all about?  

“OK.” she answered him, but decided to take a different course of action.  

Instead of destroying it, she sent in the code that started isolating the Trojan, soon leaving it floating between the codes, waiting to be picked up and moved to a different space. That’s exactly what Sam did; she extracted the virus and moved it to a program she had made for viruses such as this one on her own laptop.  

“It’s done.” she said; “I think that the bank owner needs someone to fix his system so that this can’t happen again.”.  

Agent Smith turned around to face her: “The virus is destroyed?” he asked.  

She nodded her head in confirmation, hoping that her little lie would go unnoticed.  

He looked at the other two agents and tilted his head only for both of them to nod. They couldn’t see the virus anymore; it was safely stored in her laptop now. Then Agent Smith nodded his head, causing Jones and Brown to swiftly stand up and start packing their gear.  

“Wait, we’re leaving?”.  

Agent Smith remained silent. He didn’t even look at her when he turned around to leave the office.  

Sam was quick to stand up and grab her laptop, bolting after him: “That’s it?”.  

He half-turned his head over his shoulder as he continued his walk down the hallway: “You may wait outside, Miss Marshall.” he said simply.  

She stopped in her tracks, a million questions rushing through her head.   

Surely, they didn’t need that many Special Agents to deal with something so mundane? It makes no sense. This was too easy. Any of our colleagues could have had it sorted in a matter of hours and they, the Special Agents, sooner than that. There was surely no need for all three of them to be here.  

She was about to speak up when she realised that she was alone in the hallway, Agent Smith long gone. She stood in her spot in confusion, unsure of what to do. Should she race after him and ask him more questions? Or should she wait until they’re back in the office?  

“It is time for us to leave.” Agent Jones' cold voice startled her.  

“OK, cutie.” she said, still feeling uncertain, but deciding that it was best to follow after his command.  

She did what she was told.  

___oOo___  

“Miss Marshall. Where were you this morning?” Agent Smith asked; “You were late. A waste of my time.” a small growl-like sound formed in his throat as he spoke the last sentence, catching her off guard.  

“I’m sorry!” Sam managed sincerely; “I stayed up working late last night and I guess that I forgot to put on my alarm.”.  

He looked at her with displeasure obvious on his face.  

After a moment of silence, he sighed and took off his sunglasses in a smooth motion, his eyes finding hers: “It will not happen again, Miss Marshall.”.  

“It won’t, I promise.” she said, feeling bad for what had happened.  

He observed her for a moment, considering her appearance closely, reminding her of what she was wearing and making her cheeks go warm: “What do you have for me?” he finally spoke.  

“Boss, don’t be mad at me, but I’m starving. Can we talk about this over lunch?”.  

His face turned odd for a moment, as if he didn’t expect to hear it, which surprised her.   

Doesn’t he ever have lunch with his colleagues?  

“Miss Marshall.” was all that he said, obviously not being happy about the idea.  

“Oh, come on, boss. You must be hungry too. It’s already past one PM! I haven’t had a chance to grab breakfast either.” she pleaded with him, unsure why she had to do it.  

He looked to his side and then outside of the office's glass wall to see what his employees were doing before he finally spoke: “You can go and have a quick break, I need to finish some paperwork.”.  

Sam lifted her eyebrow: “Oh, always hard at work I see. That won’t do you much good. You need some time to enjoy yourself.” what her colleagues had told her last night played again in her mind.  

He always worked hard, never went out for drinks and didn’t have much life outside of work. It must be exhausting.  

She almost took pity on him.  

He just looked at her with his usual serious expression on his face.  

“Come on, Smithy.” she said in a sweet voice, using the opportunity to annoy him; “Come with me.”.  

Agent Smith arched an eyebrow: “It is Mr. Smith, Miss Marshall.” he said dangerously and sternly, giving her what felt like a final warning.  

“Party pooper. OK, Mr. Smith. Please come and eat something with me?” she asked him sweetly once again, a small giggle almost escaping her breath when she saw how serious he still was; “Oh, come on. You can’t always be so serious. Relax a little. Come out and eat something with me. It’s a nice and sunny day too, so it’s perfect for your sunglasses to go for a walk.” she giggled now: “It’ll do you both some good. If you do this, I won’t call you anything else but Mr. or Agent Smith ever again, I swear!”.  

A small smile appeared on his face. The smile seemed twisted and her stomach dropped in discomfort. She didn’t like it. He found her eyes with his before he slowly crossed the room, coming to stop right in front of her, making her feel very uncomfortable. Sam wanted to take a few steps back in order to get away from him since he seemed very threatening at that moment, but she stood her ground.  

“You do not seem to understand, Miss Marshall.” he said in a low voice, taking another step towards her, invading her personal space; “If you do not drop this foolish act, I will be forced to have you locked up.”.  

Sam gulped and took a small step back: “It’s the way I am, Mr. Smith. I’m sorry but I can’t always help it.”.  

“Well, then, Miss Marshall, I suggest that you find a way.” he said, still in a low voice, that small smile tugging at the edges of his lips.  

Does he enjoy this? Scaring me?  

A thought quickly crossed her mind before she managed, taking another small step back: “I’ll try. I’m sorry. I’ll go grab something to eat and we can get on with work, Mr. Smith.”.  

He nodded his head, his eyes not leaving hers: “I will be waiting, Miss Marshall.”.  

With that, she turned on her heels and started swiftly walking away, not wanting to spend another moment in his presence.   

“Oh, and Miss Marshall.” he called after her.  

She turned around to look at him, his face now being back to its usual stern and serious expression.  

“I suggest that you do not take long.”.  

She nodded and was out of the office in less than a moment, quickly closing the door behind her.  

Only then did she realise that she felt pale, the blood draining from her face completely. She took a shaky breath and lifted her gaze towards the cubicles only to see Olivia standing there, holding a bunch of papers and observing her with worry visible in her eyes.  

“You OK, dear?” she asked in a soft tone.  

Sam wanted to answer her, but her throat felt too dry. Instead, she nodded her head and quickly tried to get away from her presence. She needed a moment.  

“Hope he wasn’t too harsh on you.” Olivia said when Sam walked past her; “The bathroom is that way, if you need it.” she pointed at a door on the far side of the room.  

Sam nodded and walked towards it.  

She shut the door behind herself, slumping her back onto it as she did, taking in a long, shaky breath.  

What the fuck was that?  

She didn’t expect to be threatened with prison for being herself. Yes, she knew that she could be a bit too much to handle, but Mr. Smith seemed like he could handle anyone. She hadn’t expected him to react the way he did. Perhaps she was too harsh in settling in and thinking of herself as one of their colleagues. After all, only the day before she had been in the interrogation room, waiting to be locked away for good. At least now she knew that she had indeed crossed a line that she didnt know she had been trying to cross until that exact moment. After all, she had to know what his limits were. How else was she supposed to work with a man that she didn’t know anything about? If nothing else, knowing his limits was a good start.  

She looked at herself in the mirror and observed her pale cheeks for a moment. She huffed and dampened her hands with cold water before she brought them to her face.  

You need to calm down.  

In moments, she could feel her heartbeat slowing down, although she barely even noticed how fast it was beating. Mr. Smith really managed to throw her off, making her lose control over herself, making her feel powerless. She ought to be more careful from now on and, the way he had said it, more professional.  

Sam sighed and looked deep into her own bright green eyes in the mirror’s reflection. She shook her head.  

I don’t know if I can do this. He’s asking me to be what I’m not. I’ve never worked with the Special Agents, or, rather, I’ve never worked with anyone quite like these people before and I just don’t know how to act other than to be myself.  

She bit her lower lip.  

No.  

She thought.  

His empty threats won’t stop me. They need me. If they didn’t, I would’ve been in prison by now. They need me to get to Morpheus no matter the way I am and what I do or say. That asshole can kiss my ass. I’ll be who I am and he’ll have to deal with it.  

She sighed.  

After all, what’s his deal? Being so serious and so ‘I’m so important, you wasted my important time’… Special Agent or not, no one is that important, or more important than others and I’ll show him that. Also, if he learned how to relax a little, he perhaps wouldn’t be such an asshole in the first place.  

She lifted her gaze to her eyes once again.  

I’ll show him that I’m NOT afraid of him or of his little threats. No matter if they’re empty or not, I don’t care. If he won’t want to put up with me, then he can have me locked up and try his own luck at finding fucking Morpheus.  

In a swift motion, she pulled out her phone and earphones and placed them in her ears, swiftly going through her playlist before she pressed the play button.  

She hummed the tune while she watched herself in the mirror, her hands gripping at the sides of the sink.  

Wake up now, child.

She hummed.  

Yeah, I’ll help him wake up alright.