Harper Kingsley blog

They know he has the alien living with him. They’ve seen the creature interacting with the Smith family on camera. Disgusting unkillable monster, that’s what it was.

It had Smith and his whole family in thrall. But as long as it was with them, it remained under State surveillance; State control.

And even under the effects of the creature’s pheromones or space pollen or whatever the fuck it was putting out, Smith was still a good agent. He was keeping it controlled.

All his handlers had to do was clean up the occasional body. Easy peasy.

* * *

It was amazing, watching the changes in the once stolid Agent Smith. He was becoming someone else. Someone looser and wilder, the kind of man that had forgotten consequences even existed.

As a result, he’d spent some time in prison. Short terms that reminded him who he belonged to.

He was the property of the State.

As was his family. He had signed them into service with his very presence.
He’d allowed his children to be implanted with sleeper personalities. They were Human Dolls, technology that gave Wiggens the creeps.

A few wrong words spoken in the wrong order could turn them into unstoppable killing machines, each with their own unique programming and targeting.

The boy was a clone. The original was currently laid up in a coma. He’d been caught in an explosion and hadn’t been able to shake it off. The doctors had medically induced him, and he’d never woken up.

In the meanwhile, his clone had taken his place. No one could know the “Steve” unit was damaged. There could be no suspicions focused on the Smith family.

The wife was so mind-fried that she didn’t notice half the stuff going on around her. But when she was focused, she could cut through near any situation with an amoral practicality that was chilling.

She could clean up a scene with terrifying efficiency. When she acts, Wiggens can sit back with the calm certainty that things will get done and he’ll have another op successfully completed.

Whenever the daughter acted as the foil, Smith would react. And he had no qualms about manipulating his “small wonder.”

She’d gone from precious baby to lab rat with startling swiftness. She’d been Smith’s little buddy for years until she realized how horrible he was.

Wiggens had never seen a personality turn around happen so swiftly in his life. From pampered princess to full on social revolutionary.

Her primary personality wasn’t the stablest. Which resulted in situations of brutal violence (a love interest didn’t return her favor? Ultra violence!) or overblown acts of social justice that did more harm than good.

The young woman was a ticking time bomb.

And when she was Activated, she was dangerously hot. She was like Echo from “Dollhouse.” Just ridiculously attractive and competent, willing and able to make anything happen.

She had deeply embedded motivations. A lot of work had gone into her persona.

It was above his pay grade, but Wiggens didn’t doubt that she was a highly skilled asset.

She’d gotten ninja training as a child. She’d been possessed by the Lady Shiva and spent a summer being chased by Interpol. She’d been paralyzed and rebuilt, her body more bionic than living tissue.

So when he looked at someone like her, there was no way he could believe she was fully retired. She was too valuable to completely be shit down.

He knew but didn’t *know* that she was an active agent like her father.

Smith.

The man was a human wrecking ball.