Chapter 1

The New Recruit

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Trevor had been with the crew of the "Belmont" ever since he was unplugged. He had been born into the Matrix. He was born on one of the "human farms" the Machines kept. It was more like being a test tube baby. It took Trevor a while to comprehend that the life he used to know was nothing more than an illusion transmitted to his brain by the tyrannical Machines.

It was Leon that offered him the choice between the red and the blue pill. It was after he made his decision that he realized that ignorance, truly, is bliss. The world he lived in now was completely alien to him. A world blackened by mankind's own pride and lust for power. A world where all humans were now in slavery serving as a living battery for an emperor more sadistic than any Nero or Claudius.

Trevor was the third member of the "Belmont" to come aboard. Only Leon, the captain, and his co-pilot, Sonia, preceded him. After his training was completed, he assisted in unplugging Christopher and Simon. Together they proved to be a formidable team. And now it was time for him to help train the newest recruit of the team, Richter. He had been on the ship for a week and it was time to get him ready.

"Godamnit, Leon! Could you jam that thing in any harder?" The man named Leon only laughed at this remark and sat back down at his array of keyboards and computer screens.

"How many times have I plugged you in Trevor? After all these years, you should be used to this by now. Even the new guy doesn't complain as much as you do." Trevor was used to this kind of teasing from Leon. He got it every day for nearly fifteen years now. Truth be told, Trevor rather enjoyed provoking Leon. It kept things light in spite of the crew's daunting task.

"Yeah, like someone can get used to having a fucking metal rod shoved in the base of his damn skull," Trevor said in retaliation.

"You ready folks?" Leon asked from his operating station, ignoring Trevor's comment. "Richter this is your first time plugging back in, isn't it?"

"Yeah, though I still don't understand everything." Richter replied.

"Oh you will soon enough. That's what these slackers are here for. They're gonna show you the ropes. So get ready because it's time to broadcast." With that, Leon hit a few keys and the next thing the crew knew, they were standing in what appeared to be a whitewashed warehouse.

"Where are we?" asked Richter. "And what the hell are we wearing?" Richter was examining his new clothes. The entire crew was now wearing all black outfits with long black trench-coats.

"This is a program Richter," explained Sonia as she removed her dark glasses. "From here, Leon can send us anything we will need inside of the Matrix. As long as you know the code and how to input it you can have virtually anything." Sonia pulled out a cell phone and asked Leon to send in the weapons. This did nothing but make Richter even more nervous. It was his first day of training and already they were having him squeeze off practice rounds.

Suddenly a rush of wind nearly swept Richter off his feet as rows upon rows of weapons flew into the construct seemingly from nowhere. It was Christopher's turn to speak up. "I'll take over from here," he said confidently. "Now listen here. Weapons are my specialty and I'm going to be training you today."

Richter was slightly confused. "Then what are Sonia and Simon doing here?" he asked scratching the back of his head.

With a wide, toothy grin spread across Christopher's face as he replied, "Well, we need someone to fight don't we?" With those words, all of the color flushed out of Richter's face.

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Next chapter: Richter's Training!