Ghost against the machine
Disclaimer:
The Matrix and all characters therein are the property of Warner bros and the Wachowski Brothers. Whilst I do create all of my original characters from scratch, some similarities and /or names of existing characters may crop up. This is not intentional.
This is not a story about Ghost (Niobe's 2nd in command) despite the title.
Summary and background -
Following the machine wars that culminated with the ascendancy of Neo and the final battle with Agent Smith, a new Matrix version began. This new era however did not bring about the end of all conflict within the Matrix's systems as was the expectation. Rogue programs still roamed the Matrix and the machines were forced to design new warriors to combat them and the newly confidant Zion. The soldier and Assassin programs was born. Gifted with a strength beyond that of the Agents and enhanced with a myriad of destructive powers intended to give the soldiers an advantage over any enemy and cut short any future insurrection the matrix could witness.
At least that was the concept they envisaged. The reality was the partial success of the Soldier Program and the utter disaster of the Assassin program . The soldier program produced merely three working prototypes, of the assassin type only one survived the process.
Both projects were further destroyed by the intervention of a sustained attack by a group of rogue exiles led by the Merovingian who sought to capture this power to be used for there own personal gain. Somehow they Succeeded, partially. The projects base was destroyed and the remaining assassin captured and contained. Unfortunately for all sides, one of the three Soldiers escaped due to his Brothers sacrificing there lives so the most powerful among them could live to avenge them.
His given name was Geist and he wanted revenge.
Chapter 1 – Escape
Cowardice. There was no other word for it.
He had ran whilst they fought for his freedom despite there pleas for him to do so. Worst of all, the Infiltration unit had been captured. This galled him the most. The soldiers were her Guardians, unique as she was and they had failed, his brothers dieing in the process. He put the thought from his mind, for now at least, and concentrated on what was needed to reverse the fate he, his brothers and sister had been dealt. He focused on the path ahead and opened his artificial mind to the world around him.
The military base that had been his home since creation was far behind him now, the miles of forest surrounding it cleared in little over an hour. The machines had programmed him well after all. He and his brothers were to be the elite, the infiltration unit the best.
The smell of the forest assaulted his senses mixing together with the choking smell of the smoking base that carried on a breeze and enveloped him. The creatures of this place were panicked into frenzy and they're calls were all around him. Geist was not concerned for them. He knew they were unreal, merely programs, so he could only find pity for them, nothing more.
A new sound carried from behind, an altogether more dangerous noise. The noise of a hunt. He risked the briefest of glimpses back and found his sight filled with the shadowy forms of the Merovingian's forces, the sinewy but lightning fast vamp types and the powerful but slower Dobermans behind them. He was more than a match for any and all, but it would be a useless gesture to stand and fight them. The Merovingian would simply send more. What he needed was the sanctuary of the city and it's urban expanse with which to outmaneuver them in. It was close, so very close, and he had a sizable head start.
In little time the first lights of the cities edge began to shine through the clustered trees that had been thinning for last few minutes of his flight . The boundary of the city was close, the cliff that marked it only meters away. The vamps were practically on him. But his pace was sure and powerful. They would not catch him. At the final moment he planted his right foot on the cliffs edge, the heavy soled combat boot pummeling the dust into a low cloud and loosening the dirt which cascaded down to the ground thirty meters below. He pushed hard and leapt high, his enhanced power driving him forward over the first small Industrial unit and carrying him over the adjoining street to land effortlessly on the unit opposite. The corrugated steel roof gave a little but held. He risked a further glance back and found the Vamps dropping gracefully onto the unit he had sailed over. He could only admire their spirit and they're perseverance.
He turned and continued his flight, using the rooftops of the surrounding low lying units as stepping stones towards the larger warehouses at the heart if the industrial quarter of the city. After another twenty minutes of deft jumps and roof punishing landings he decided that the time to stand was now. A sturdy looking two storied flat roofed building was to his right, it would be his battleground. He turned sharply, never losing his balance, and took a running jump towards another single unit using it as a springboard towards the place of his stand.
He landed and stopped dead a single step forward needed to steady himself. He turned slowly, eyes full of menace and arms braced in front of him in a defensive stance.
"Ready yourselves for death!" He bellowed to the advancing exiles. They had made up ground during his change of direction. Geist noted that the Dobermen were still far behind scrambling across the rooftops. He didn't have long before they would arrive. He eyed up the Vamp types who were close. Seven of them had kept up. Five more behind by a few steps. As they reached the final rooftop between them and the fight. They seemed to slow with hesitation before deciding they had numbers enough to take him on and pushing one last time to reach him.
The first two landed either side and approached him cautiously. Geist thought to dissuade them but he could see that the option was not there. He took the initiative, charging forward and landing a thunderous elbow to the closest Vamps jaw, cracking it with an audible snap. It fell back clutching at the wound but Geist would not let up. He moved swiftly to it's back and snapped it's neck cleanly with a clinical ease that forced the other leading exile to back off slightly in shock.
Geist dumped the body unceremoniously and switched his gaze to the three new assailants joining the forth. He weighed up his chances and took a leap back. Readying himself for the counter he knew would come. He was obliged and the bait was taken. One charged in from his right, hands in fists looking to strike high . Geist sidestepped, planted his left foot and pulled his knee up into a strike to the Vamps gut. It fell forward carried by it's own , gasping for air, before falling face first into the concrete rooftop. The exiles friends had also charged spurned on by Geist's defiance. They came in a crescent formation, Geist calculated the distance, stepped once and jumped high aiming a rolling horizontal kick to the middle exiles head, it collided and the exile fell, his neck crushed by the force of Geists kick. Geists momentum took him past the earlier arrivals into a roll towards the feet of a fresh batch of two only just arriving.
He extended a leg out and swept one from his feet. Drawing a knife from his boot immediately after and stabbing it down sharply into the vamps chest. Geist ignored the grunt as he dragged the knife free and rose to sweep the blade across the the chest of the fallen exiles partner. It was a futile gesture that merely ruined an expensive shirt and cut a light cut across the Vamp's chest causing it to take pace backwards. More importantly it gave Geist space and time. The other two Vamps were still turning as Geist jumped at the wounded exile driving his knife into the heart. AS he did so he was aware of the heavy footfalls as the remaining Vamps landed. Eight against one he counted. Tough odds, even for a Soldier like him.
He had one option remaining, unequipped with firearms as he was. It was risky but he had no choice. They approaching as one, the caution still evident, perhaps discouraged by the ease at which they're friends had been destroyed. A look at Geist would reveal that he had barely broken a sweat if indeed he was capable of such organic processes.
"You have served your masters long enough Soldier." Began an exile in the center of the group, his heavily accented voice twisting the words towards the sinister. Geist merely smirked. His face showing nothing but contempt.
"Your brothers are dead."He continued, the words increasing the anger in Geist. " And your sister is ours to mould and exploit. You are finished before you have begun. Join us, to resist is worthless." He finished a smirk crossing his lips. Geist extended a hand fingers outstretched, causing the exiles satisfied arrogance to become confusion .
"I have one more trick to show you, Carrion." Said Geist, focusing on the code that ran through the tailored shirts the exiles wore. He extended his will to the code using his hand as a focusing device and encouraged speed from it. It ran faster and faster yet at Geists mental demands, the molecules they represented becoming more and more unstable, mixing with the programmed air that bound them. To the unfocused eye nothing was happening but Geist could see the code. The Machine had designed him so and they had given him the slightest of powers over it. To speed it to instability. Instability that produced heat and when given the fuel of the materials code and the oxygen of the programmed atmosphere it finally produced...fire.
The Vamps screams as they were consumed by the flames that were suddenly upon them was deafening. Geist lowered his hand. The act had left him drained. He was powerful yes, but to manipulate the code used up energy. It had been a desperate measure given the Dobermen were not far behind. Having done this he could not fight them effectively. They were close now but the sounds of screeching tires, getting louder as the Vamps voices fell as the crackle of flame took over, gave Geist hope. Hope that the machines were watching. He had given them a beacon and he hoped it was reinforcements that were coming.