Chapter Two: Training
Revv came back online at exactly 0600 local Matrix time that morning. She rose from her bed and walked out of the room, turning left and walking down the hall. Castor emerged from a nearby doorway and fell in beside her.
"Good morning, Revv. Of course, this morning is artificial, like so much else in this false reality we call existence. In reality, morning is only the Merovingian altering the code to make a bright light source – the "sun" – appear in the sky. It is a time, decided by mutual agreement on all parts, when most programs are "awake." And this morning we start your training."
Revv followed the program through a door and into a large arena. Around the halls hung ancient weapons of many types – spears, swords, axes, maces.
"The Merovingian has what you might call a fetish for history," Castor explained. "He keeps all sort of ancient crap around. We learn about it and train with it because every blue moon or so he holds tournaments to amuse him."
The next room was a large, open circular room. A large light hung from the center of the ceiling. As Castor led Revv through the middle of it, he explained the room's purpose.
"This is the shooting arena. When the lights go off, the programs appear and use non-lethal bullets to shoot at you. The guns in here are programmed with bullets that only kill the programs, so there are no "accidents.""
Castor's voice filled with sarcasm and bitterness at that point, but then he swallowed and continued.
"And the last room in the training section is the instruction room, where you were yesterday and will start off today."
He pushed the two doors open and Revv entered the room.
"Welcome back, Revv," Jade said. "Have a seat."
Revv slid into a chair beside Pyrite. Castor walked over to Jade and leaned close, whispering something in her ear. Jade smiled and nodded. Castor walked out.
"So, Revv, we were discussing the trait of weakness. Care to define it for us?"
Revv's mind instantly ran a search. "Weakness: that which is a mark of lack of strength or resolution; a fault; a defect. Feebleness."
"Interesting choice of definitions. Pyrite, care to summarize it for us?"
"A vulnerability," answered the former cleaner program. Jade nodded slowly, thinking. Then, in one swift move, she drew a gnu and shot Revv three times in the head. Revv was unaffected.
"As we can see, Revv is immune to bullets, as our most of us Exiles. But, we also have a common weakness. Most of us can be killed by a simple wooden stake to the heart. Some of us, however, are even immune to that. Not even the Merovingian's bodyguards, however, can resist silver weapons."
Jade wandered along the room, stopping at a large chest. She opened the door and withdrew a dagger, running her finger along the edge. A line of red appeared in her hand, and she held the dagger up for the other three to see.
"Silver bullets, silver daggers, and silver-edged weapons all can kill us. Of course, our restoration programs will bring us back to life almost immediately, but being killed makes it hard to achieve an objective. Even such a brief inconvenience can allow our pray to escape or our objective to disappear. So we must learn the most advanced combat techniques to protect ourselves from being killed."
Jade lead them to the shooting arena, stopping them inside a circle made out of duct tape. She walked to a cabinet and threw the doors open, drawing various weapons. She tossed a pistol to Revv and a different weapon to each of the other trainees.
"Now when I flick the switch targets will begin to appear. Your objective is to fight your way through and reach the other end before the other three trainees."
They all nodded. Revv checked her weapon. Jade flipped the switch.
"Go," she said calmly.
The shooting arena was a simple program coded by the Merovingian's best program, an Ancient named Hack. It changed makeup daily, but the basic structure remained the same. Fighters began in the center and made there way to the outside proceeding from section to section by the means of ramps which the instructor controlled.
Each ramp led to a different difficulty of targets also. The first section's targets were standard targets: low accuracy, poor speed. The second section led to rebel-like targets with high accuracy and average speed. The third section held the "Agent" targets that excelled in all categories.
The players could also take each other out. If the program running the arena detected significant hits with the programmed bullets, it took away control of the player's limbs and informed him that the game was over. The exit ramps from each level and the space beyond it where no-fire zones where the weapons did not work.
The first level was usually a straight path for each player festooned with enemies. The second level was a sort of maze, with enemies hiding around every corner. The third level was an uphill maze, and the first person to the top always won.
Revv rolled forward, firing her pistol and catching a target in the chest. She flipped her pistol around and fired again, sending another target tumbling to the ground. A third target came up from behind her and opened fire.
Time slowed. Revv bent sideways, dodging the blast. She continued her turn, flipping over as her body twisted. She hit one hand on the ground, propelling her back onto her feet. Time returned to its normal flow.
Revv shot twice, hitting the target in the chest. She dashed forward and jumped, sailing through the air and killing another target as she flew.
Scatch walked forward and dropped to one knee, opening fire with his weapon and bringing it around in an arc. He slid forward, turning over on his back and firing as he shot past a group of three targets.
Pyrite was slower then the others, but more methodical. He took careful aim and fired twice, hitting two targets in between the eyes. He reversed his gun and fired again, hitting one coming up behind him.
Rush began by jumping over her targets and raining bullets down on them. One turned upwards and fired his own gun, the faux bullet hitting her in the shoulder. She gritted her teeth and cut the other program down. She twisted in the air, landing by the exit ramp from level one. The other three trainees came up around her.
"Looks like we're tied so far," Revv said cockily. Rush grinned and slapped the button next to the ramp. It lowered and the four programs entered the next level, splitting off and taking four separate paths down a maze.
Revv walked down her chosen path, keeping her auditory and visual sensors on maximum. A sound came from her left and she moved sideways and fired. Her programmed bullets hit a target and sent it tumbling backwards. Another target emerged from a path to the right and Revv fired again.
The target leaned back, dodging Revv's poorly targeted bullets. Revv ran up and fired at a closer range, shredding the program. She turned left and continued running, coming to an intersection. Scatch came out of the right passage, firing his gun. Revv jumped, hitting the wall with her foot and flipping over Scatch's head. She landed behind Scatch and he whirled around and fired at her. Revv bent backwards, the bullets streaking over her. She fired her own weapon and had the satisfaction of seeing her bullets slam into the fellow Exile and lay him low.
Revv continued running. She approached the safety zone and slipped inside, waiting.
Rush leapt around the corner, gun blazing. The two waiting targets each took a bullet to the chest, sending them falling to the ground. Rush dashed past them, shooting another program that was standing down a side passageway.
Pyrite kicked a door open and emerged into a small, empty room. He shrugged and continued on into the next room. Three programs appeared from nowhere.
Pyrite jumped left, dodging the first salvo. He tracked the first target, firing twice and catching it in its chest. He pushed off the wall with his foot and fired again, hitting the next one in-between its eyes. He landed and rolled, coming up and hitting the final target in the throat. He continued his path through the door and back into the main maze.
Rush watched Pyrite come out of the room and opened fire, hitting the wall inches from his head. Pyrite fired twice, missing, and began running at Rush. She kicked off the wall and propelled herself off the next one, sending her high into the air. Pyrite dove backwards, firing at her form. She pointed her gun down and hit him twice in the head. Pyrite dropped and Rush continued down the maze to the safety zone.
The door to the third and final section slid open. Rush and Revv parted ways, each heading up a separate path.
Revv came upon a target and began firing wildly. The target moved super fast, dodging every shot. Revv kicked out, sending the target flying. She sighted again and fired while it was still airborne, hitting it three times between the legs.
Another two targets appeared from around a corner. Revv ran past them, firing over her shoulder and hitting one in-between its shoulder blades. The target collapsed. The second target turned rapidly and began firing at Revv. She dove to the ground as the bullets passed overhead, rolling around a corner. She got to her feet.
Revv heard the target approaching. She ran to the opposite wall and kicked, jumping around the corner and into the target's head. She landed on top of it and fired twice, killing it. Then she ran.
Rush fired as she rounded a corner, cutting down a waiting target. She grabbed its program gun and kept running, dropping her now-obsolete pistol. She fired at a group of two more targets, cutting them down easily with her rapid fire gun. She came into the final hallway before the safety zone and began walking towards it.
"Not so fast," Revv said, firing from behind her. The bullet caught Rush in the shoulder, spinning her about. Rush fired and dragged her gun up and across, sending Revv falling to the wall. She laughed and continued walking.
The program was telling Revv she had taken massive damage. She crawled forward and aimed her gun, firing twice at Rush's back. The bullets passed through her, "killing" the other Exile.
Revv dragged herself into the safe zone and slapped the finish button. The maze faded away in a flash of green code, leaving Revv alone in a strange room.
Well, not quite alone…there was one other person. Sitting on a couch was a female, who had been watching Revv's progress on a television screen. She lifted a remote control and turned the screen off.
"Greetings, Revv," she said in a heavily accented voice.. "I am Persephone."