Morpheus: He is beginning to believe.
Trinity and Morpheus on Neo:
The Subway Fight is the first duel between Neo and Agent Smith upon which Neo manages to succeed and survive an encounter with an Agent, marking one of the events that allow Neo to eventually awaken as The One.
Prelude[]
“ They're not out yet.
”― Agent Smith[src]
Having successfully rescued Morpheus from the custody of Agents, Neo and Trinity contact Tank and request the closest exit. They are then directed to a subway station telephone booth as their hardline out of the Matrix.
When the telephone rings, Morpheus is the first to answer, resulting in his avatar disappearing from the Matrix as his mind is safely returned to his physical body in the Real World. However, the operatives fail to detect a homeless man sitting in the shadows which leads to Agent Smith getting notified of their location when the witnessed anomaly greatly disturbs the bluepill. A second later, the man is possessed by Agent Smith.
The telephone rings a second time and Trinity, this time, answers. As soon as she raises the phone to her ear, she spots Agent Smith stepping out of the shadows just as he aims his pistol at her and fires. Fortunately, Trinity's consciousness is safely returned to the Real World before the bullet demolishes the phone and passes through the space Trinity once occupied.
Neo, now alone with Agent Smith, chooses to stand his ground and fight instead of fleeing.
The Duel[]
Neo and Agent Smith, while in midair, try to shoot one another in the head
“ I'm going to enjoy watching you die... Mr. Anderson.
”― Agent Smith to Neo[src]
As if in a Western duel, the two stand facing each other for a moment, then without warning Neo draws his gun and fires while he runs to the walls and towards the Agent. Agent Smith, following suit, fires back and runs to meet Neo while dodging the bullets.
They leap while continuing to fire and meet each other in the air, taking hold of each other's weapon as they continue to pull the trigger. Trying to divert each other's aim, they both land flat to the ground before managing to train their empty handguns against the other's head.
Neo jumps to his feet as Agent Smith slowly picks himself up. They then cast both of their weapons aside as Agent Smith cracks his neck and Neo charges at him.
Agent Smith blocks Neo's array of punches
Neo comes attacking with a series of kicks and punches. Agent Smith demonstrates his superiority, deflecting, blocking, or parrying each blow before his own attacks push Neo back against a stone column. Neo dodges Agent Smith's concrete-shattering punches and retaliates with a neat array of kicks. After performing a spinning kick that lands on the Agent's face, Neo shatters a lens of Agent Smith's sunglasses and drives him into the opposite stone column.
Agent Smith throws the sunglasses away and, after declaring how he will enjoy observing Neo die, pummels at Neo with his fists, staggering Neo until his own punches land and sends Neo smashing hard enough against the wall to damage it. Neo falls to the ground but is quick to get up and go on the offensive again, managing to punch Agent Smith several times in the chest before landing a clean hit in the Agent's face. But Agent Smith simply braces through the multitude of attacks thrown at him, instead countering Neo with a few choice powerful blows.
Neo performs three jumping front snap kicks in midair
Eventually, Agent Smith grabs hold of Neo's arm during one of his punches and lands three uppercuts to Neo's ribs, bending his body forward followed by a heel kick to the face. Neo does not falter however and answers back with a barrage of his own. But the Agent's power seem to reign supreme as a single well-placed punch to the chest flings Neo back a few meters into the air and then skidding through the cement. Neo spits blood from his mouth and Agent Smith smirks. Neo, pulling himself together, stands and beckons for the Agent to come at him, mirroring Morpheus' technique.
Agent Smith punches Neo several times at lighting speed
Agent Smith runs to meet him head on but instead receives a slew of unconventional attacks from Neo. Powering through the damage, the Agent grabs hold of Neo amidst his attacks and throws him into the wall then, without missing a beat, delivers a brutal onslaught of punches delivered to Neo's abdomen at lightning speed. Agent Smith then grabs him to the side and sends him crashing into the ticket booth with a right straight to the chest.
Hearing a train coming, Agent Smith drags Neo by the foot and throws him into the wall next to the tracks. Neo smashes to the wall before dropping and hunching on top of the tracks.
Loop Train Collision[]
Neo performs a backflip to dodge a train
Neo: My name...is Neo!― Neo disavows his bluepill name[src]
To ensure the death of his adversary, Agent Smith joins Neo on the tracks and locks him in a kneeling choke hold. As the train nears, the Agent then taunts Neo of how the increasingly loud train sounds knell his impending demise. He then bids "Mr. Anderson" goodbye.
Neo declares to Agent Smith that his name was Neo and then launches himself high into the air so as to smash the Agent against the ceiling, freeing himself from the Agent's hold. The two land back on the tracks with the train quickly bearing down on them but Neo nimbly back-flips out of the way, landing on the platform and dodging the train in time to see Agent Smith get crushed beneath the machinery.
Aftermath[]
Neo asking Tank via a stolen cell phone to guide him to the nearest exit
“ Mr. Wizard, get me the hell out of here!
”― Neo to Tank[src]
Neo is almost atop the steps exiting the station when the train finally comes to a halt and the train doors open. Turning around, he sees Agent Smith step out of the train and into the platform with a newly possessed body. The Agent glares at Neo with an angry expression on his face and Neo, this time, chooses to flee to the streets of Mega City. In hot pursuit and together with Agent Smith are Agents Brown and Jones.