Author's Note: When you read the first few chapters of this story, all you will do is think to yourself 'This Sucks.' But the multiple authors of this fic have been learning more and more as we have written, and it does nothing but improve as you continue reading. At the moment, one of the authors is going through the story and revising all of the POV issues and most of the grammatical problems, and once you pass Chapter 14, the story becomes good (Chapters 1-14 are kinda trash).

Introduction

"When my father was young, he visited a planetarium. There, he was able to see the many constellations of our galaxy, the Milky Way. He decided then that he would name his daughter Cassiopeia. That's me, and Cassiopeia "Cassie" Sullivan is one of my many names.

I write this introduction in my diary, on April 31st, 2019, in hope that if humanity pulls through this and I don't make it, my legacy can be left behind in the story of the events that take place.

Mysterious aliens, who I call the Others, arrived on November 28th, 2018. They stayed in orbit until the 8th of December, and on the 8th began unleashing catastrophic waves of destruction against us, in order to wipe out humanity. So far, four have hit, and as I lie in my tent at night, I can only pray to God that there won't be a fifth.

The truth is, once they found us, we were toast.

My family has been torn apart, and my father and mother are both dead. My brother is missing, and I promised to come to him. Every night, in my tent, I think in my head, Alone, Cassie, Alone. And that's not the worst nightmare.

Sometimes, I wake in the night clutching my M16 close to my chest. In the apocalypse, guns are the only thing you can trust. At least you know that a gun is a gun.

The hum is gone. The constant drone created by human technology is no more, and all that is here now is a deafening silence. It is so quiet that sounds I never knew existed can be heard.

Sometimes, for instance, I think I can hear the stars scraping against the sky.

I certainly hope that, when someone reads this, I am alive. Just know, reader, that no matter what happens, there will always be Others.

No matter how many we kill, there are always Others.

And there are always us.

-The Last Historian

September 8th, 2018

Justin woke up with a start. Remembering where he was, he calmed down. Things had been very different ever since he entered the real world. He had barely any hair, the food was bad, but at least he was with friends, Mike and Lena. For his whole life he had lived in a computer world called the Matrix. There, his family was rich, he was popular, and he had all his hair. Why he wanted to come to the real world, was because he wanted a new life. Mike and Lena, came, not because they needed to, but because they wanted to. He was sure though, that if any of them knew what this was like, they would've stayed in the Matrix.

He couldn't stop thinking about who was before him though, why him? After they were rescued, they heard the stories of Neo, the One. He had sacrificed his life for so many, yet the war with the machines was still raging. Agent Smith was gone, but there were still more, and no one knew how to stop them. Justin always imagined himself, fighting alongside Neo, and finding another way to destroy Smith. The fighting had also killed Dozer, Tank, Trinity, Apoc, Switch, Mouse, and a bunch of random people with no names. Mouse was his favorite, he didn't know why really, but he was for some reason.

Justin rolled on his left side to see the clock, which read 4:30 AM. Justin was always the first to get up. He cursed his luck and slid out of the bunk down to the floor. He didn't need to worry about making any noise, thanks to his light frame. Mike was snoring softly on the bunk below him, while Lena you know, just… slept.

He walked up to the oven, to fulfill his first mission: eat. Most of the time, people in Zion ate strange oatmeal-like stuff that tasted really bad, but Justin had managed to smuggle in a package of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls. Man, did Justin love Pillsbury products.

He popped it open, and put the rolls on a pan. He set the oven to the correct temperature, and headed to the bathroom to get dressed. He changed out of his sleeping garment into his favorite outfit: a batman t-shirt under a black leather jacket, with jeans and thick woolen socks. He didn't put on shoes, not just yet, because he didn't want to make clumping noises and wake his friends up. Next, he got his hands wet, hot, and soapy and washed his tanned face well. He grabbed a comb, just on instinct, before realizing that his hair was too short to comb. Normally, it would be a thick chocolate mess that kept him warm, but he'd have to live without his natural blanket for a while.

The oven beeped quietly: Justin dried his face quickly and went out to the room. He put on two oven mitts (his worst fear was hot metal) and put the pan of rolls in. He set the oven for the correct amount of time, and sat down to read his favorite book: Divergent.

He read for a while, but the oven went off. He heard Lena and Mike stir from the noise. He quickly opened the oven door and began wolfing down cinnamon rolls as fast as possible, before the others could get them. Greedy.

Lena stretched mechanically, and got up. She gave Justin a look with her brown eyes, like, Why do you have cinnamon rolls? Give me cinnamon rolls. Justin laughed.

"Good morning, Lena," he said. "How you doing?"

"Wonderful," said Lena, "I'm gonna get dressed now. Don't interrupt me."

Lena was new to America when she came to Brooks Elementary. Both of her parents were Japanese, and they had worked at a car dealership. However, her father got a job working in Mega City, Ohio, for Justin's dad. They made friends at school, and Lena was unusually smart and the top student. The trio were often picked on, but Mike usually taught the bullies a lesson.

Mike was unusually tall for his age, and slightly intimidating. He was very caucasian in his appearance, having a thoroughly russian parent. He had thick, wavy golden hair that accented his sharp, blue eyes. He was by no doubt the most muscular member of the team, and yet somehow ate the most treats.

His mother had immigrated from Russia while with child, and Mike's older brother was born a month later. His mother had been divorced, and she remarried an American in Mega City. They had Mike.

Mike was picked on in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade for his slight russian accent and being a weakling. However, when Justin met him, he encouraged Mike to work out and gain the strength he needed to face the bullies. After an "accident" in the hallway, the bullies stopped pestering him.

Mike flopped out of bed in his usual fashion. "Where's Lena?" he said.

"Dressing," said Justin. "Don't bother her."

"Oooh," said Mike, "cinnamon rolls."

"Sorry, chum," said Justin, "they're all mine." He popped the last one in his mouth and chewed luxuriously, whilst making exaggerated noises of pleasure.

"So," said Mike, "you make a pack of cinnamon rolls that could serve four, eat them ALL, and leave your best friends with disgusting tasteless wheat?"

"Sorry, mate," said Justin, "you know what happens between me and Pillsbury."

Mike sighed, and Lena walked out of the bathroom. She was wearing a denim jacket, a shirt that said "Girl Power!", and white jeans.

"White jeans?" said Justin.

"Girl Power?" said Mike.

"Are you saying that girls don't have power?" said Lena.

"I'm saying that most of them have less power than me," said Mike, "and you're one of them."

"Get a shirt that says Mike Power," Lena responded, pouring herself a bowl of tastee wheat. Mike sighed again.

"I'm taking the bathroom," he said, heading in.

Justin walked over to the sink and started washing the cook pan. Lena kept eating her tasteless wheat with a plastic spoon. Justin finished washing, and sat down.

"Excited for training?" said Justin.

"Not really," said Lena. Justin looked surprised.

"Why not?" said Justin.

"I'm training for missions at this point," said Lena. "I always wanted to be an operator. Suits me better. I'm a genius."

Stuck up.

"You've been assigned where we need you Lena," said Justin. "We're the muscle, we just need brains."

Lena finished eating, threw away the spoon, and started washing the bowl. Mike came out of the bathroom, wearing a tan tank top, a red bandana, and a pair of camo pants.

"Dude," said Justin, "you look so stupid!"

Mike looked offended. "I don't need to look smart, we've got Lena for that."

"What do you need me for?" asked Lena from the sink. She was almost finished washing.

"Nothing," said Mike.

"We should probably get our shoes on," said Justin. "It's almost 5:15, which is when the training starts."

"I concur," said Lena, who started putting on a pair of white tennis shoes. Justin grabbed his combat boots, and Mike put on hiking boots. After they were finished, a beep sounded. A little flap opened over everyone's beds, and little tags fell out. Justin ran to his bunk to see what it was.

It was a little rectangular thing that said Singe on it.

"Ah," said Mike. "Our new names."

"Who are you?" Lena asked.

"Macho," said Mike. Lena burst out laughing.

"I don't care what they call you," said Justin, "you'll always be Mike to me."

"I agree," said Mike. Another beep sounded over the door, and a piece of paper fell out. Lena ran to it, and Justin dropped out of his bunk.

It was a schedule, showing their daily routine for the next three months, as well as showing the preparatory operations they would go through before training began. Apparently, their instructor was Vice President Zhantov. Sad. Justin hoped it would be President Morpheus.

"Zhantov?" said Mike.

"I've seen pictures of him," said Lena. "He's a skinny redhead who plays Geometry Dash. His internet alias is MiGhosti."

"Ah," said Justin.

"The first thing on our preparatory operations list is Meet Your Teacher," said Mike.

"Followed by Weapon Selection, then Meet Your Course, then Selective Testing," said Lena.

"Okay, my friends," said Justin. "This is gonna be fun."

A knock sounded at the door.

Mike

Mike had always been best friends with Justin. Since 2nd grade, all the way until now, they had the best of times. Lena often had tagged along. She came to Brooks Elementary in 4th grade. Everyone was jealous of her because she was the smartest kid in the class. Mike and Justin took advantage of that and let her teach them. They rode bikes, had sleepovers, watched movies, played video games and (obviously) went to school together. Justin's house was amazing. His dad was rich, so he lived in a huge house. Once they got the whole class together and played tag and hide and go seek there. But, as it seemed, all that was fake. But it seemed so real. Morpheus had told them earlier that what they lived in was the Matrix. Mike was all fascinated, mostly with Neo. Neo had saved Zion twice, and Mike wanted to be just like him. He wanted to be popular and have everybody like him, he wanted to be the hero. He felt though that he was too late in the game for that. Once, Mike had thought that whatever the challenge, he could push through. Now, he wasn't so sure.

Lena

Lena was always the smart girl. Everyone thought she liked being the best, but she really didn't. Her Mom and Dad made her study all the time, that's why she wanted to get out of the Matrix, so she could get away from all of that. And, it turns out, she never had any parents, according to Morpheus. There was one good thing about living in the Matrix, Justin and Mike. They were her best, and mainly only friends. Whenever her Family came over to visit, they would always quiz her on any question they could come up with. Eventually, she would just get some food, run up to her room, and barricade the door. At least for her, she lived a bad life. The only good memories of the Matrix were spending time with Justin and Mike. But even they only knew half of what she felt like. She had never shared all her feelings with them.

To her parent's credit, Lena was probably smarter than the average West Point student, and that was because the pushed her. She had an IQ of 176, and her only good moment with her parents was when they threw her "176 Party", and she had Justin, Mike, and their families over for cake, ice cream, and fun.

She still couldn't help hating her parents as she walked to training, accompanied by her best friends and the wiry Zhantov. He rarely spoke at that time, except to tell them to be quiet, or to advise them on not getting hurt in class. He asked Lena her IQ, and she responded with 176. Zhantov looked surprised, and said that they were exactly equal.

Lena was lost in thought throughout all of Meet Your Teacher. Mostly, she just caught Zhantov looking happy. Next was weapon selection.

Mike grabbed a heavy M60, and slung it over his shoulder. He also grabbed a few random guns for backup. Both Lena and Justin immediately started criticising him over the thing's size. Justin grabbed two shotguns, two TAC-45s, and some other guns that Lena wasn't paying attention to. Lena didn't plan to do much shooting, so she didn't pay attention to her weapon selection.

Next was Meet Your Course, in which the three were familiarized with what would take place during training. For three months, they would go by a seven day schedule, doing different things every day. Sunday would be a day off, Monday would be physical fitness, Tuesday would be weapons training, Wednesday would be more physical fitness, Thursday would be martial arts and hand-to-hand, Friday would be MORE physical fitness, and Saturday would be education.

Finally, there was Selective Testing. This was Lena's favorite part, because it was so easy. Essentially, they were each assigned a fifth grade math test to complete in five minutes. Lena did it in two, and Justin and Mike just barely scraped it. Justin did it in four minutes and fifteen seconds, while Mike did it in four minutes and thirty.

The next three months were some of the fastest days in Lena's life. Four-thirty every morning. Eleven o'clock every night (except Sundays). Lena found martial arts to be her weakest class, while education was her strongest (of course). She, as well as Justin and Mike, learned the best way to defeat agents: don't. They also learned how to manipulate the Matrix by force of will, and to use a single highly specialized power that would be unlocked at some point. In addition to Matrix Studies, they also worked on advanced calculus, deductive reasoning, and process of elimination.

At the end of the three months, President Morpheus came personally to assign the first mission.

The Mission (Justin)

"The three of you are just recruits," said Morpheus, "fledglings in chief. But we, for some stupid reason, have chosen to give one of the most difficult, and most important, assignments."

"Yes sir!" said the three in unison.

"You'll be sent into the Matrix to get a device called the Changer, which will allow us to make changes in the Matrix," said Morpheus. "Without force of will. If we get it, we will have the upper hand."

"Sir, yes sir!" three said again.

"Are you ready?" Morpheus asked.

"Ready." said the three in unison. And suddenly, they were transported to the Matrix. They stood in front of the Pierce Tower, a famous structure throughout the Matrix. Justin had always wanted to come here, and now here he was.

"Remember, Justin said, "do not engage an agent." Lena and Mike nodded, like they understood.

"Alright, let's do this."

They walked in, expecting a lot of guards and soldiers, when all they found was normal people walking.

"Act casually," Lena ordered. They got to the elevator, and decided to take different floors. Justin wasn't far when he spotted an agent. Over his communication system, he told Mike and Lena, "I've spotted an agent, surrounded by soldiers."

"Do not engage," Lena ordered.

"Yeah," replied Mike, "we wouldn't want you dead."

"Be quiet Macho!" Justin and Lena quietly laughed.

"Justin, wait for backup, said Lena.

"But what if they have the Changer?"

"It doesn't matter," Justin, who was very stressed at the moment, had to make a quick decision, and the agent and soldiers were getting closer.

Finally, he grabbed his two shotguns out of his crate and lit them up. They didn't have time to dodge these. The Agent fell, but a few men started firing. Justin ducked for cover. Meanwhile, one floor below, were Mike and Lena.

"Just one more floor," Mike said. "God I hope he knows what he's doing."

Truth be told, Justin had no clue what he doing. Justin got up again though and fired more. It was a great shootout, just as he ran out of ammo, Mike yelled behind him, "Get down!" Justin didn't hesitate he dropped, quick enough to confuse the soldiers. It was the right amount of time for Mike to fire off his M-60, and every soldier left alive fell. "Thanks guys," replied Justin.

"Don't ever do that again, we were ordered to not engage if we came across an agent!" yelled Lena.

"But I killed him, he's gone, for now at least," Justin huffed.

"Let's keep looking for the Changer thing," Mike chimed in. They kept running and dodging soldiers and agents, there was no time for play.

"There!" Shouted Mike. They ran over to the computer. "It needs time to install the info."

"We'll give you time," replied Justin and he armed his guns.

Just as he said it, agents and soldiers rounded the bend. Mike fired his M-60 as Justin shot his Tac-45s. All of a sudden, Mike, again, was hit in the arm. "Ugg," He groaned and Justin took him under his arm.

"Lena!" Justin asked, "how much longer?"

"Eighty percent, it should take only another minute…" Just as she finished speaking, a soldier run up and hit her over the head with a baton.

"NO!" Justin screamed. Then he was shot in the torso multiple times before falling. "No," he said, "no, I can't be down, I'm not done." As soon as he said it, he felt a surge of power, and grabbed the M-60. Immediately, he started blowing them away (woah there scout that doesn't sound right at all).

Two of the agents ducked behind a wall, and Justin ran over to finish them off. His gun was too fast for them. Morpheus had told them that they could have powers, his was the ability to stay alive while being shot, as long as he believed.

He grabbed Lena and Mike: Lena didn't look too bad, but she was definitely in pain. Mike stood up, seeming to ignore the pain of his wound. The Changer was finished, and Justin pocketed it.

"How the [censored] did you do that?" Mike asked.

"I kept on believing, in my mind, that I was alive, even though I should have been dead."

"You did great Singe," Lena said, with a smile on her face. Justin liked to see her smile, after the hard life they had. They got out of the building, into a car, and drove south. Suddenly, a rocket blew the car up, sending, Mike, Lena, and Justin flying out.

"Holy [censored]," said Lena.

"Watch your mouth," said Justin as he sprawled on the ground.

"Come on," Mike said, and they ran towards a high school.

Cassie Sullivan

It was Friday, the last day of school before Christmas Break. Hooray! Unfortunately, the day was a lot worse than expected.

The Mothership had been in the sky for ten days. That is, since two Wednesdays ago. Of course, the world went crazy, setting Cassie Sullivan along the path to escape from a Matrix that she didn't know existed. And this craziness is recorded in a diary.

It is probably the last remaining record of humanity, and can probably go into the history books someday.

She was in English class on Friday and was poking around on her phone like a true sixteen-year-old, when some REALLY weird things happened. There was an explosion outside, and she looked out the window at three kids tumbling out of a car. The kids got up and started running towards the school.

Then, a voice came on the intercom. "We have three unknown civilians on campus. They are armed with deadly weapons. Please stay in your classrooms. This is a lockdown."

Utter panic ensued, with kids leaping out of windows to escape. Cassie's friend Lizbeth and her stayed slightly calmer than the rest of the class, instead heading to the backpack area and burying themselves. Cassie heard the teacher trying to restore order, when her voice was cut off. Cassie peeked out from under the packs to see what she had done.

Standing there was a man wearing a grey suit. His brown hair was immaculately combed to the side, and he was wearing black shades. He took one look at Cassie and pulled out a pistol.

"Stay down," he said.

"Never," said a voice. Suddenly, one of the three kids jumped on him. But he was easily thrown off and smashed into the wall.

"Ha ha ha, Mike French," he said.

"Agent Oscar," replied the kid, whose name was apparently Mike.

"You can't kill me, you are only a boy," said the tux guy.

"My Punches will send you to the moon!" the boy ran to him and gave a terrific punch. The man sailed out of the school and through several buildings. "Yes whoo hoo!" the boy cheered said. He started doing a dance when a girl yelled his name far across the hall. "I'm on my way!" he replied" and just like that, he was out the door.

Cassie decided that she was better off not coming out. "Cassie, what was that?" Lizbeth said shakily.

"Why the [censored] are you asking me?"

End of Chapter One