The President climbed into one of the Sleeper chambers while Miller prepped the conduit to the Steelport simulation. As soon as the program had loaded, Rain's body began to exhibit signs of "sleeping". Her jaw went slack, her eyes fluttered closed. It was from this state that the room derived its name.
Ever since his arrival on the ship, he had been exploring the simulation. The concept was vaguely similar to the simulation programs he had designed and run with Asha, but the mechanics were vastly different. Though Matt was a programming linguist, the technology the Zin employed was foreign to him. The learning process would be an interesting one.
Former agent Kenzi Kensington was a wealth of information. Though he initially hated to admit it, she was remarkably talented at breaking the Zin program down into its most basic parts. Her method was painstakingly slow, but effective.
Step one: Poke and prod absolutely everything. How does Object A react when Scenario B is introduced? Instruct Rain to shoot the graphics representing cars, civilians and power boxes.
Step two: Resist defenses in the system. Zinyak, the leader of the Zin, had programmed Rain's simulation to resemble Steelport. It possessed all of the technical features of the former city. To safeguard the program, police and "wardens" kept order. What the Zin possessed in fire power (or rather pixel power), they lacked in creativity. So a gun in the Steelport simulation was just as effective at putting down an enemy as was in the real world. Have Rain mow down any and all opposition.
Step three: Introduce new programming. If the existing programming rules did not allow for certain functions, create new ones. Enable new weapons, new powers. Convert existing programming to your purpose, like coding a virus. Ask Rain to inject these viruses and hijack aberrant code.
Kenzi begrudgingly took him under her wing. She was a harsh teacher, though he had expected nothing less. Frequent were the snide remarks and belittling of his manhood. But eventually, Matt began to appreciate her methods. Matt was sure that he would have gotten the hang of the simulation eventually. But it would have taken much longer without Kenzi's help.
Today, he was working without her. He still had not had time to come to grips with the news of Earth's destruction. He was glad of the opportunity to help Rain. Glad of the opportunity not to think about what he had lost.
Immediately, data began to display on his screen. Matt viewed the raw data and the images that the simulation created simultaneously, the way one views opening credits to a movie.
Steelport opened its sharp metallic maw to Rain. Buildings, alight with code, stretched like piano wires overhead.
"Alright, Matt." He heard Rain's disembodied voice through his headset. "What am I killing today?"
Matt's blue eyes scanned the code. An anomalous amount of activity was taking place in a nearby quadrant. The simulation was spending an inordinate amount of energy running whatever was happening there.
"I'm patching you the coordinates now. There's entirely too much of the program's resources being diverted to this location." Matt responded, his fingers flying over the keyboard at a dizzying speed.
"In English, Matt?" She asked crisply.
"Uh, I think I've found something important." Miller simplified his statement. In the few days he had worked with Kenzi, she had taught him to water down the technical jargon so often associated with technology.
"Gotcha'." The President was not stupid. Matt had made the mistake of that assumption too often when he and Rain were enemies. Rain was a woman of action. It wasn't that she was incapable of comprehending Matt's words; they were superfluous. She did not need to know how or why things worked; she needed to know where she came in. A bullet is not made any more deadly by knowing how fast it is traveling.
He watched with pleasure as a line lit up before Rain, guiding her forward. There was something fundamentally fulfilling in watching a creation come to fruition. The leader of the Saints took off at a run.
It was a unique experience to watch Rain Franklin in action. She had spent years as a member and leader of a gang, a hyper masculine society that prized physical prowess and combat skills over nearly all other attributes. She was built solidly of iron muscle, but not to the point that it detracted from her speed. Running was a priority for any gang member.
And it was fascinating watching her run. Muscles tensed and relaxed, visible even through the fabric Rain's virtual avatar wore. Preoccupied with his observations, Matt was caught off guard by what came next.
"Matt?" She asked, still running.
"Hmm?" Matt coughed.
"I said is there something wrong up there? You're breathing kinda' heavy." The President's tone was neutral, like she was inquiring about the weather.
"The microphone must be too close." Matt stammered, readjusting it. "Better?"
Focus on the task at hand, Matt, he mentally chastised himself. He wasn't entirely willing to admit his growing appreciation for Rain Franklin's physical appearance.
The President rounded a building and the source of the energy spike became apparent. A hotspot of Zin had formed. They were swarming, writhing over the decrepit architecture of an abandoned factory.
Rain skidded to a halt and ducked behind a low wall. "Matt, they're all over this place."
"I know, I'm picking them up. Let me think for a moment." Matt went silent, trying to formulate a plan. Retreat to a safe location. Conduct reconnaissance. After gathering intelligence, infiltrate the hot spot.
His eyes swept away from the screen to rest on Rain's actual body. A slight smile rested on her lips, as if she were in the middle of a very entertaining dream.
"Yeah, I'm going to go with overwhelming fire power." Her voice in his headset pulled him back to the simulation.
Matt began to protest, but was silenced by the bark of gunfire. Rain took down the two Zin closest to her, crouching low as she ran. She took down a third leaving the safety of the wall.
The gunfire attracted the attention of the remaining Zin. Data streamed furiously across Matt's screen.
They rushed towards the leader of the Saints, guns roaring. Bullets whizzed past Rain, some even grazing her.
Rain Franklin was no professional. She did not have the measured grace in combat that Asha did. The British spy killed with precision and cold calculation, never letting her emotions cloud her judgment.
Rain, on the other hand, was a hurricane: a whirlwind that lashed out with deadly force and emotion. At times she was gleeful. "Four, five, six." She kept time with her kills. At other times, she smote her enemies with near biblical wrath, calling out the names of people he could only assume had passed away. Why, she was almost like..
"Franklin Nyte." Matt pronounced the mortal name of Nyte Blayde reverently.
Not to be distracted from her carnage, Rain talked over the gunfire."What was that?"
"Ahrm, nothing." Matt tried to recover. The similarity between Rain and the eponymous vampire after the death of his wife was striking. Both had had their worlds ripped from them and had set upon a path of revenge, no matter the personal cost.
Zin were dropping like flies, but more kept coming. Portals of code opened up around the hotspot, generating new troops.
"Matt?" Rain called out. She dropped her semi automatic in favor of a shotgun, pressing forward into the surging mass of Zin.
"I'll try and close the portals for you." He said quickly, attempting to inject his voice with confidence. He examined the programming streaming from the portals. Matt doubted he could do anything about the existing Zin, but he could possibly turn off the portal itself.
He worked in a fervor, encouraged by the warrior that was the President of the United States. At last, he succeeded in shutting off the portals. They winked out one by one, leaving behind Rain's heavy breathing and the lingering silence of death.
"Looks like you got 'em." Miller commented, scanning the program carefully for signs of any more portals.
A strange, not unpleasant, feeling was worming through the pit of his stomach, like the sensation one experiences on a roller coaster. The more Matt thought about it, the more tangible the feeling became, and the more it began to resemble panic.
Rain grunted in response. "Time to get back to the ship, I guess. Find me a way home?"
Miller identified the exit to the simulation and mapped a visual route for her. Within moments, she was stepping through the virtual portal.
Matt looked up from the screen, giving himself a few seconds of an uninterrupted view of the President. Rain stirred, her eyes fluttering open and focusing on him. The feeling in his stomach redoubled, causing pangs of unmistakable pleasure and excitement to wind like party streamers up and down his nervous system. There was no denying it now.
Matt had it bad for Rain Franklin.