The Marquis and its entire crew is made up by me, as well as certain other characters. The rest of it is the property of their respective owners. So here it is.
MATRIX
ACE
CHAPTER 13
HAVEN
It was the first time people had entered the Matrix and successfully used squirt bottles as a weapon.
"Agent repellant," said Tenshi. It was a better phrase for it than anything else.
"That is even more brilliant than the key," said Pylon, looking over at the codes.
"Um, could you explain this for someone who hasn't gotten around to getting a code program 'crammed into his skull' yet?" said Ace.
"Long story short," said Jaxter. "It's a virus, that can be embedded in any substance. Bullets, water, anything. Then, if it comes into contact with any human who's still plugged into the Matrix, it labels them as uninhabitable for Agents, as if they were dead ..."
"... without actually killing them," said Zephyr.
"I want to try it," said Fate.
"First we want to make sure that they haven't found a way to quickly remove it since that little stunt they pulled with Brain," said Tenshi sharply.
Napalm snickered. "I hear he kicked Themus's ass when he was trying out his moves in the dojo," he said.
"I can't wait to try it out," said Styx. "Can ya install it in a taser?"
"I don't think we should just 'try it out,'" said Norton. "Code like that is going to be noticed, even moreso than our errant signals."
Pylon nodded. "Yeah, especially if more than one person at a time brings in something with the Agent Repellant in it," he said. "Let's just bring one weapon on the next mission, and ... well, we won't find out that it doesn't work, cuz dead people don't usually find things out."
"You're such a pessimist," said Ace.
"I prefer the term 'realist'," said Pylon. "Anyway, back to the subject that got interrupted by this broadcast ..."
"Right," said Tenshi. "We're going back to Zion for general service and refuelling. Napalm, what's our current ETA?"
"Another nine hours," said Napalm. "I suggest we all get some rest and relaxation. Zephyr, Ace, get ready for the sight of your lives."
Ace grinned wryly. "So, do we get some kind of bare-bones apartments there, or what?"
"Actually, we're at the point now where what you get looks vaguely like an apartment back in what you probably still think of as home," said Red. "They've worked up some synthetic plastic, some artificial hardwood -- it can get pretty expensive, but it feels like every day we come up with better ways of living."
"So the Real World is getting more like the Matrix," said Zephyr.
Red shrugged. "Well, when you put it like that ..."
Ace felt a plethora of feelings as the Marquis approached the large double-doors, bristling with weaponry, that was large enough for three hoverships to go through at once. So, this was where the humans lived in the Real, in their neverending war with the Machines: a city underground, built on tiers, with over a million inhabitants there. He'd begun to think of the Marquis as home, despite Red's comments to the contrary, but this was ... well, it was the home of the Marquis, when you got right down to it.
He glanced to the side, and saw Zephyr glancing towards him. She looked exactly how he felt.
"This is the Marquis, requesting clearance to land," said Tenshi. "Transmitting clearance codes now."
A voice crackled over the radio. "Marquis, you are cleared for landing in Bay 4. Welcome home." The doors began opening.
"Thanks," said Tenshi. "It's good to be back."
The hovership flew through the bay doors. Ace watched as several dozen heavily-armed soldiers, including a large robotic battle suit, lowered their weapons as the Marquis approached.
Hundreds of people were milling about the docking bay, wearing both the red and blue uniforms, as well as a few white-sleeved brown uniforms; Ace saw at least four other ships, and now that he could see the ships clearly from the outside, he saw that they looked vaguely like submarines and vaguely like helicopters, with their names emblazoned on the sides. Kyushu. Argent. Mohammed. Nebuchadnezzar III.
"Three," he murmured.
"The first Neb found the One in the sixth Matrix," said Tenshi. "The first two had been destroyed, in various conflicts with the Machines."
"I see," said Ace.
The first thing Ace noticed when he stepped out of the ship was the smell. He hadn't really identified the smells on the Marquis, given that the ship contained the only smells he had ever actually experienced, but there was a definite difference. Dusty machinery, for one thing. More oily. A hint of plasma, too, which Ace assumed had something to do with the hover generators.
"Captain Tenshi!" A man with swept-back black hair in one of the white-sleeved uniforms approached. "Got your new recruits?"
"Yes, Commander Jaxom," said Tenshi. "Ace, and Zephyr. I was going to contact housing to get them one of the vacant military apartments ..."
Jaxom nodded. "You handle the business. I'll show these newbies around ..."
Ace stayed in his position behind Tenshi. Commander Jaxom made him slightly nervous. "CS fan?" he murmured to Jaxter.
Jaxter grinned and nodded. "He had a string of numbers after his name, too."
Ace nodded, running slightly to catch up with Jaxom and Zephyr.
"Since this is obviously your first time here," he was saying as they went through a large pair of double doors and into an elevator, "I'm gonna have to tell you to watch out and make sure you aren't killed by vertigo."
"Killed by vertigo?" said Ace.
"Right," said Jaxom as the elevator began to descend. "Of course, it ain't the vertigo that's gonna kill ya ..."
"Pardon?" said Zephyr.
Jaxom grinned. "You'll see!"
Ace blinked at the size of the area the elevator opened out to ... and when he stepped out, and saw how far down it went, he outright stared. "Holy shit," he muttered.
"Whoa," said Zephyr.
The view was amazing. He'd known what to expect, but to quote Morpheus again, there was a difference between knowing the journey and actually walking it.
"You like?" said Jaxom.
"Yep," said Ace, staring downwards as if hypnotized. There seemed to be hundreds of stories, spiraling downwards, with immense bridges spanning the gap every dozen or so floors. "And people live here!"
Jaxom snickered. "So, howabout I show you two to yer apartments? Or would you rather share one?"
Ace blinked, turning towards him in surprise. "Um, no thanks, separate works for me." He glanced to Zephyr. "Uh, if it's all the same to you ..."
Zephyr, to his mild surprise, was blushing faintly. "Um, separate is fine," she said.
"Aww, c'mon, you two make a cute couple!" said Jaxom, grinning widely. He withered under their combined glare.
"If this were the Construct," said Zephyr, "I'd so kick your ass."
Jaxom's grin returned and redoubled, suddenly taking a nasty edge. "I can arrange that," he said. "Lotsa people with holes can afford a Construct in their apartments. And I happen to have three plugs for it, and I'm goin' off-duty in twenny minutes. Once I've gotten you two to your places, let's all have some fun!"
Jaxter's choice of scenery for sparring was the jump program. In the Matrix, he wore a pair of loosefitting black pants and a leather jacket. (The pair of dark glasses went without saying.) He grinned, and struck a combat pose. "I'm gonna give you a taste of yer first jump all over again!"
"I'll make you eat those words," said Ace, and struck a slightly more relaxed stance, beckoning.
"And the pavement," said Zephyr, adopting a pose that reeked of tension to begin.
Jaxter snickered. "I've only been taken down on three-to-one odds by new recruits," he said devilishly. "You two are so green, you might as well be still plugged in!"
Trying to provoke us, noted Ace. That, or he's just plain damn overconfident.
And then the alarms went off.