Chapter 9: A Glitch in the Matrix
Date: Approx 2204
Time: -
Area: Tunnels of the Real
The Vehemens slowly cruised through the tunnels of the unknown region, the bright search lights and the blue energy generated from the hover pads providing the only lights in the tunnel. Being a medium sized hovercraft, it was a little harder to maneuver in tight spaces than the Atlantis, a small hovercraft Ravage was put in command of before receiving the Vehemens. At times like this, he really, really missed the little ship, since he was currently deep within the unknown territories, probably somewhere around what used to be Russia.
Next to him, on the co-pilot's seat, Iratus was laid back, with a pair of operator headphones over his ears, listening to some music downloaded from a file sharing program in the Matrix. The large, well built captain let out a small grumble at the sight of his so-called first officer, silently wishing he had the same "bad luck" as Irvine when it came to crew assignments.
While Iratus was an expert gunman and fighter, since he was a former bounty hunter in the Matrix, he lacked any enthusiasm toward his job, and had over time adopted a lax nature, even around Ravage. Not that Ravage minded this, it was just in situations like flying through an unknown region that he wished Iratus would take his job more seriously. Or at least, take off the stupid headset and talk to him, so Ravage wouldn't feel so goddamn bored at the helm.
The Resistance captain then noticed that the tunnel began to extend upward, toward the surface. He keyed in the intercom to the main part of the ship.
"We're going up, hold onto something." Ravage said, in his usual, nearly booming tone. After a moment, he pulled the medium sized hovercraft up along the tunnel's curve. He fought the urge to suddenly turn the ship to the side, just to throw the now snoring Iratus out of his seat. He didn't have to though. The ship was angled back so much, the co-pilots chair turned ninety degrees, forcing Iratus to fly out of it, and roll along the deck until he fell against the entry way.
"If you're going to sleep like a dog, then you can sleep on the ground," Ravage said, now in the tone of a master training his pupil.
Iratus merely blinked a little at his statement, "You could've dumped water on me," he said, before yawning.
Ravage just shook his head, as he angled the ship out, so that they flew along the rugged terrain of the region. Unlike the area surrounding 01, this point was a more mountainous region, with large peaks stretching over the land, as far as the eye could see. And also unlike 01, this area was much, much cooler. The black atmosphere remained abundant, but the ground was littered with black ice and snow. In fact, at that moment, both Ravage and Iratus could see small drops of snow hit the view port.
"I hope this doesn't turn into a storm," Iratus complained, getting back into the co-pilot's seat, slipping his headphones back on.
Ravage nearly ripped the headphones off his head. "We're near our objective point, stay alert!" he ordered.
The first officer held his hands up in surrender, "Alright, alright. I'll go back and make sure everyone's ready," he replied, wanting to avoid Ravage's trademark temperament. He got out of his seat and paced out of the bridge, walking down the hall until he got to the main deck.
It took him a few moments to get to the main area of the Vehemens, where the rest of the crew were. Including Ravage and Iratus, there were six crewmen: four Matrix fighters, one operator and one crew assist.
The first one that Iratus saw was Zero, the Vehemens' operator, sitting at the main console, monitoring a duel between Reiko and Alucard. Or at least it looked like it, because he kept switching in between the monitor that displayed the duel to another one which had code on it. As far as looks went, Zero wasn't anything special, and because of his attitude, many had considered him a lowlife of sorts. His messy brown hair and the many stubbles on his chin hinted to his spending hours on end at the operator's screen, or in the medical ward before leaving Zion as a volunteer nurse. Iratus grimaced at that last part, knowing he wasn't a real medical man, and at the same time, he was usually posted in a room where there were lots of comatose woman. Which was probably why he was on the Vehemens, to escape life in the stockade. His only saving grace was, he was a lowlife with computer skills, the best out of Zion arguably. Who else could hack timed explosives into a government facility in the Matrix, without alerting the Agents, like he had done on more than one occasion?
As Iratus approached, he saw that Zero was shivering, keeping his arms crossed and his knees up to them in an attempt to conserve body heat. "Why did it get so damn cold all of a sudden?" Zero asked.
"It's snowing outside, that's why." Iratus replied, "We're near the operation point, so call off their little fight and get back to work," the first mate ordered in cold monotone.
Zero grumbled, looking over at that side monitor again, "Dammit, Iratus, you know how hard it is to hack a pornography file out of the Matrix!?" he complained, "Especially the kind that you carry home in a brown paper bag?"
"How far are you on downloading it?" Iratus rolled his eyes, feeling like he was a father, telling his son to get up from the TV set on a Saturday morning to go mow the lawn.
"76 right now," Zero replied.
"Alright, I'll let you keep it on, but concentrate more on the sensors." Iratus said.
Zero nodded to this and keyed into the training simulation, "Okay, fun times over you guys. Back to reality."
Without waiting for a reply, he deactivated the simulation program and brought the two fighters into the construct, before jacking them out. The first to wake up was a pale skinned man, in his mid-30s, with combed back black hair, and a calm looking exterior, although the other crew knew better on that last part. He was plain looking, but a cunning thinker underneath. He was dressed in a white uniform sweater with black pants and black boots, as if he were still in the Zion military.
The other one was a young teenage girl, 17 years in age, something of a rarity to see on board a ship. She was oriental, with dark brown eyes and a long mane of black hair. As well, despite her age, she had fully developed breasts, which an observer would first notice do to her chosen outfit: a pair of uniform pants with boots, and an olive green tank top that barely drew down to her waist, fully showing off the size of her chest. She followed the man in waking, stretching her rather-built arms out in order to get blood flowing again.
"That was a fun break," she said, looking at her left arm, running her right hand index finger down, indenting where a scar had been. "Although I'm getting really tired of your knife tricks, Alucard. Why can't you use a handgun like everybody else?"
"And why can't you fight in a close-range battle, Reiko?" Alucard shot back, speaking in a pure Romanian accent, "Hiding on a roof top with a PSG-1 isn't exactly very bushido," he simply put, in an amused tone of voice. "Although, you shouldn't complain," he wiped his hand across his mouth, turning it around to reveal blood to her.
Reiko smiled at her handiwork. "I can't help it. I love watching the little people run up and down the city through a sniper scope, because no matter what they're doing, their lives are in my hands."
"Will you two knock it off? We've got work to do," Iratus said.
"What kind of work do you mean?" a new voice said. In came a woman with blonde hair, late-30s, dressed in a gray outfit that signified her as the ship's crew assist. There wasn't much to discern, she wasn't very beautiful, with her built exterior and aged expression, but one could say she looked deadly and at one point had her looks. However, where right eye would have been, there was a black eye patch, and a scar the size of a Sentinel claw going down through her eye to the bottom of her cheek.
"Trancing around an unknown region is a lot of hard work indeed. I honestly wonder how we'll ever survive, Iratus."
"Shut up, Artemis," Iratus put out. "I'm only following the Captain's orders. We're to remain alert in case we find anything 'important'."
"And what's so important that Blood would sent us all the way out here?" Artemis shot back. "This place is a waste zone. There hasn't been any machine activity in this region for decades. Hell, even Commander Lock chose not to explore further into this area, because the climate is more of a threat than the chance of Sentinels operating here!"
Iratus merely gave a "whatever" smirk and shrugged. "I'm not going to question Blood on this one, because he was so damn sure about it. As much as I hate asking machines for guidance, following the Oracle's advice is a lot better than wandering around the region blindly."
"With all due respect, 'sir'," Artemis seethed, "I don't believe in her prophecy mumbo-jumbo. A program that can predict the future... heh, right."
"She's proven useful so far." Iratus said.
"Hey, I got something!" Zero yelled out, breaking up the conversation. Iratus gave Artemis an 'I told you so' look, before everyone in the room gathered around Zero, looking at the main monitor. It was displaying a large red area on a black landscape, which nobody but Zero knew.
"Okay, I'll start," Artemis said. "What are you using, and what have you found?"
"To answer your first question, Arty, this is infrared," Zero replied. "It's a sensor system that detects heat, instead of sound like Sonar or objects like radar. I just copied some data from the Matrix and wrote my own program for it. As for what I found, it's some kind of facility."
Zero typed further, switching over to RADAR.SEN. Angling the radar over to the location, he got a general outline of the facility. It was square shaped and generally uncovered, outlined by a perimeter of metal. The main building itself looked like a bunker of sorts, since radar couldn't scan further into the base line.
Zero then remembered they were still flying, so he keyed in the intercom. "We struck pay dirt, Captain. Better land here. We have a big heat signature in those mountains."
"Alright, I'm putting her down." In a few moments, everyone felt the forward motion of the ship slow, and eventually drop down onto the soft, black terrain below. Although they were well out of the range of infrared, everyone could feel the spot they landed in was warm. Rather strange, considering this territory was a frozen wasteland. Another few moments went by, and Ravage emerged from the cockpit as the sound of the Vehemens' hover pads winding down echoed across the ship.
"Okay, so what are we looking at? Volcanic activity?"
Zero shook his head, "I'm not detecting any movements in the ground. Whatever it is, it's on the surface. And it's very, very hot." Everyone, without a word, looked at Ravage for orders. "You want to find out what it is?"
"Of course I do. Reiko, Alucard, Artemis, join me at the exit hatch and get suited up. Iratus, stay with Zero on the ship. If this is a trap, I want you to fire the EMP and get the hell out of here, with or without us."
"Why does he get to stay behind? He could fly off witho..." Artemis began to complain in her scathing tone. Before anyone blinked, Ravage grabbed her shirt with his right hand, yanked her into his grip and threw her on the right side of the operator's console. Seeing Artemis' expression turn from anger into fear and shock made Ravage feel self-satisfaction inside, and also told him she was now more than willing to listen to him.
He continued. "Out of all of us, Iratus is the best at flying the ship, thus our best getaway driver. But, assuming he is a traitorous bald-headed caucasian bred dog for a moment, as you think of him, I'll clarify. Yes, he could fly off without us, but he wouldn't get far. The closest ship to our position is the Nosferatu, way back in the 01 region. Since I'm the only one that knows the route back to the 'Bloodsucker', he'd most likely end up getting lost. And if he gets lost, chances are, sentinels will find him. Without Reiko, Alucard and yourself, he'd have one hell of a time to fight them off."
"Even if he didn't have all that to deal with, Iratus is the first mate of this ship, and your fellow comrade, so you better put as much trust into him as I do. Because that, my dear Artemis, is what will keep you alive."
Ravage wrapped up with an even deeper, more intense voice, "Do I make myself clear?" he said, returning to abnormally calmer vocation, as calm as he was anyway.
Artemis grimaced at that part. Ravage was very well known for his disciplinary methods, and she didn't really want to know what the big oriental man was capable of. "Yes Sir," she growled, in pure, unjaded irritance.
"Good," Ravage said, dropping her, "Now, if everyone will join me..."
After some time, the Vehemens' loading ramp lowered, revealing Ravage, Alucard, Reiko and Artemis clad in environmental suits. One of the latest designs from Zion, the environmental suit was made to allow humans to explore some of the more hazardous environments on the planet. Originally made for the lava tubes that were around Zion, they could absorb a great amount of heat, making them ideal for this situation.
"Alright, let's go." Ravage ordered, after taking a moment to survey the scenery.
Hesitantly, the others followed him as he walked toward the ruins ahead of them. The complex wasn't very big really, but it looked extremely sturdy, built in an age where the force of an explosion was mankind's most powerful weapon. It was rectangle shaped with rounded edges, and a large shutter type door at the end of the building. Despite its durability, time had taken a toll on the building.
The metal walls that had been designed to absorb missile attacks were now rusted over, with some tears appearing around the sides. Only a few metal bars remained of the chain linked fence that once surrounded the facility and an empty checkpoint post was all that evidenced a gate being there. Aside from that, there were some remains of EMP-Tesla Tanks, perfectly lined and parked in front of the complex, and the wreckage of a VersaTran attack-craft scattered across the landing pad.
Everyone ventured past the wreckage and approached the shutter door. Alucard was the first, reaching out and wiping the black frozen ash off a sign. Although the sign was written in Russian, Alucard stumbled back when he recognized the black fan-like symbol. Ravage rose an eyebrow behind his visor, showing great interest, while Reiko remained indifferent. Artemis was the only one that didn't know what it meant. "What is it?"
"That explains the heat signature." Ravage said, "It's a nuclear waste facility, left over from the Man-Machine War," he pointed at the HazMat emblem.
"Looks like the machines haven't got here yet." Without saying another word, Ravage reached down, and with his immense strength, forced the shutter upward. Being over two centuries old, the shutter was almost rusted tight, but Ravage managed to open it all the way, doubting he could pull it back down though. But that didn't matter, it was inside that counted.
All around, there were tight-sealed boxes, almost perfectly preserved thanks to the armored structure. All of these boxes had the same emblem on the warning sign, the radioactive HazMat symbol.
"I understand now." Alucard spoke up, "This was probably a disarmament or storage facility at some point. A lot of these places were abandoned when the machines won the war, since there was no organized functioning military to staff the place."
"Captain," Reiko called out. She pointed to one of the boxes that had been crushed open in it, probably from a shard falling on it, "That explains where the radiation is coming from."
Although nobody saw it, Ravage had a very large grin on his face. If he were religious, he would've thanked God, Allah, Ryujin or whatever God had led him to this place on the spot. This would be useful against the machines. "Okay, we're going to take a few boxes with us back. Alucard and Reiko take one box, while Artemis and I take another."
"You're not serious, are you Captain?" Artemis griped, "It could endanger the crew..."
"We'll be fine, as long as its in the case." Ravage shot back.
"Out of curiosity, Captain Ravage, how do you know so much about nuclear weapons?" Reiko chimed in, "You know how much I love intelligent men."
Ravage grinned. "Believe or not, I was a military officer before I got my mind freed, in charge of a nuclear facility in Arizona, so I know a fair share of information. But most importantly, I know how to put these to good use," he waved his hand around at the various boxes. "Now get to work."
----
Raven couldn't have been more pleased with himself at his accomplishment. Before him, he watched as Axe, the ship's operator, was typing with great hype at his monitor, browsing through the simulacra Raven had obtained from Anome, like a fourteen year old looking over his dad's porno mags. Arius gave his nod of approval, highly anticipating the usage of these programs in the future. Magnus, however, remained unphased at this.
"I've got to hand it to you, Raven, this is some cool shit," Sideways said with great excitement. "Zion actually had some decent programs in their arsenal."
"All in a days work my dear Sideways," Raven said with his usual charisma. "You will relay these babies to the other ships, won't you?"
"The one's that I think are useful, sure," said Blood, who's face was displayed on one of Sideways' monitors. "The rest we'll save for when we get into Zion's mainframe. Just a little 'thank you' for all the support they've given us," he said with sarcasm.
"That ought to be entertaining." Arius said in the background
"So, what do you want us to do now? We've still got that office building for a few more days, and if not that, we can always get another one," Raven said.
"Just do what you're doing right now, keeping an eye inside the Matrix," Blood replied. "We just got word that the Nabonidus is in Zion right now, so that'll take Morpheus off our backs for a while. However, Sideways' been picking up some abnormal activity in the Matrix, and I want that investigated."
"Axe has as well. Unfortunately, not even Magnus can figure out what it is, though it does seem to put pressure on him. Some new type of reaction to the code fluctuations I assume."
"Whatever it is, Raven, I want to know about it yesterday, so head back into the Matrix. Nosferatu out." The comm. screen ended there, and the monitor Blood's face was on at Axe's consoles switched back to flowing green code strands.
"So much for our benefit." A black woman with a ponytail complained, "Can't the guy cut us a break for once?"
"If he did, Kahn, he wouldn't be Captain Blood," Raven chimed. "And if he wouldn't be Blood, then this would all be a waste of time anyway."
"Whatever," Kahn said, looking at Magnus. "What about him? You just said the waves are having some effect on his brain..."
"I'm fine," Magnus simply replied, not turning to look at her, "The pressure doesn't hurt, it just doesn't feel normal. The whole reality fluctuates to this wave, like an ocean. I myself want to know what's causing the waves."
"You sure, Magnus?" Raven said, his usual demeanor now traded over for concern, "I can do this without you."
"No, Captain, I have to find out what this is." Magnus looked up at Raven with his pale blue eyes, "Because I can feel the pressure now, even outside the Matrix."
----
The Nemesis sped through the tunnels, and as Marley typed in the commands to bring up sensor readings, he noted the temperature was dropping.
"Temp's dropping Cap, we're getting closer to the surface."
Irvine let out a hiss of air through his nostrils as if the news were obsolete.
"Only thing that matters right now is getting as far away from that swarm as we can, got it?"
Marley nodded and in a more serious tone he answered, "Yes sir."
From their last location, Glitch suddenly picked up readings that sentinels were swarming the ship from all directions in a circular shape, so Irvine had the crew get ready and got the hell out of there. Problem was, they were leaving a heat signature behind and since the area they were in was cold and only getting colder as they went, it would be easier for the sentinels to find them.
The ship rumbled and those on the main deck stumbled into a wall or fell.
"The hell was that?" Anubis asked, clinging onto a ladder.
Glitch brought up the ship's hull integrity and it showed damage in the tail. "What's going on up there Irvine?" Glitch asked into the microphone on his headset. "Did we hit something?"
Irvine's radio voice crackled over the head phones. "No, a lump of rock and metal just rose up from the ground and hit us in the ass," he said. Noting his answer was saturated in sarcasm, Glitch took the hint.
"No further questions," he answered, and rolled his eyes as he shook his head. "Can't provide a good explanation, 'nub."
Anubis glared, and would have went over and hit him if it wasn't for the fact he had to stay at the ladder, or else he's have a fun time trying to get over to him without falling on his ass, so he had to improvise.
"Don't call me that."
Janus, hugging the corner of two walls meeting, looked over when he heard Anubis's rash reaction to Glitch's choice of nickname. Anubis shot him a look that had "What the hell do you want?" written all over it, but Janus continued to look in his direction with no words, only coming up with analytical conclusions. When Anubis saw that he hadn't looked away, he stared back. Janus never got why he was such a loner, but figured he'd find out one day. Carefully guiding himself, he went off to the cockpit to join Irvine and Marley.
"Cap, over there." Marley pointed out. There was a small cavity in the tunnel wall up ahead and it was big enough to fit the Nemesis in. "You think we have enough time to stop to park this thing, shut it down, and charge the EMP?"
Irvine frowned.
Marley shook his head and blinked with a sigh as though to scold himself for coming up with such an idea. "I guess not. You got a better idea?"
Light flashed from the sky followed by a rumble, lighting up the wall coming up ahead. A crack to the surface.
"Now I do," Irvine answered.
Marley smirked and readied the ship to hover vertically. Once Irvine brought the ship into the ravine leading to the sky, he turned it 90-degrees and it began to ascend. As it went up, it hit into wires, cables and rods that jutted out from either side of the ravine, scraping along the surface of the hull.
"Which way do we go?" Marley asked. "They're getting closer".
Irvine's eyebrows wrinkled as he surveyed the land before him displayed on the holographics.
"East."
Marley nodded, and so, the ship was turned in said direction, and off they went. They passed over wreckage and debris that stuck up from below, and lightning struck again. Ahead of them, the land mirrored the sky and everything above it when it flashed. Marley had a double take. The thunder rumbled.
"What is that?"
Irvine moved his head forward slightly, his forehead and eyebrows wrinkled. "That's a body of water. A big one." He moved the ship forward and Marley looked confused.
"A body of water?"
Irvine looked over to him as though to say "what do you mean?", then he remembered, Marley is from Zion, and had never seen a body of water before.
"I forgot for a moment that you aren't from the Matrix." Marley arched a brow.
"Don't worry," Irvine told him. "Just keep your eyes open."
The Nemesis buzzed forward and as it passed over the water, its image was reflected on the surface in the dark, the reflection of the hover pads standing out the most. Lightning flashed overhead, showing the ship clearly against the water for a brief moment against the bright white sky.
"I've never seen so much water."
Irvine chuckled. "Neither have I. At least, not here anyway."
Marley glanced over at him. "They have water like this in the Matrix?"
Irvine nodded. "All over the place. Those sentinels still after us?"
Marley spoke into the microphone on his head set. "Glitch, update on the squiddies?"
Behind Glitch stood Blade, Anubis, and Janus, all watching Glitch's screens displaying sensor and radar outputs. He shook his head. "No sign of em. Better stay alert though, these guys are like cops. You never know if they'd alert another sentinel bunch in the next area to be on the lookout."
Marley looked over to Irvine. "We lost em, but we should stay on alert anyway."
Irvine nodded. "Good."
Marley scanned the area. "Where we gonna land?"
Irvine spotted a large charred building off in the distance, big enough to safely store one of these ships in. "Over there, the building wreckage." As Marley and Irvine directed the ship over in the building's direction, Marley thought of something.
"What about Resistance ships, should we look for them?"
Irvine shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about them. They can't hurt us."
Marley again arched a brow. "You sure?"
Irvine looked over at him with a face that demanded to know why he was being questioned.
"Of course you are," Marley said, looking ahead again. He noticed a sign on the ground among the wreckage. It once read "Paradigm City", but now, only the portion that read "Paradigm" was visible. Once they guided the ship into a hole in the side of the building, the set it down and it landed with a rumbling thud. Marley began shutting down the hover pads and navigational systems and prepared the auxiliary power for standby.
"How long until we have to recharge?" Irvine asked as he sat back in his chair in a rather relaxed posture, examining the world outside, visible through the hole they had just come in through. Marley glanced over to Irvine before checking the power supply, because he knew there were two meanings to that question.
"We'll have to go back to Zion pretty soon," he said, conscious of what Irvine was thinking. Irvine arched a brow and looked over at him with a smirk, but sighed reminiscently and looked down at his feet, figuring Marley knew why he cared so much. He looked back over to him and nodded his head toward the cockpit's exit. "C'mon. Let's go see what's new." Marley nodded and when Irvine left, he followed.
But the time Irvine and Marley made it to the main deck, Kira and Solitaire had joined the party and they were all huddled behind Glitch watching the screens of code strands. This irked some curiosity in him, and he arched a brow as he walked over. "What's everyone looking at?"
Glitch spoke up, keeping his eyes on the screen. "I found some sort of glitch in the Matrix."
Kira smirked. "How fitting," she added.
"What's going on?" Irvine asked as he came over to the console setup.
"Well, look at this here," Glitch said as he typed in a command. The center and left screens froze while the right screen kept going in real time, a section from the center screen was highlighted, and transferred onto the left screen, and the center screen resumed displaying real time code. Glitch pointed to the playback footage on the left screen.
"Watch this."
Irvine payed close attention. As the code strands streamed down the screen, one strand disappeared from its location altogether and reappeared on the other side of the screen, and as it happened, the rest of the coding in the vicinity of points A and B got all screwy and started displaying in abnormal fashion. Janus and Anubis studied this while they waited for some sort of explanation.
"It's like it teleported from one location to another immediately. It's not the same as an Agent though, since this was right away, and usually an Agent program has to zero in on a specific host body to move into before it can proceed," Irvine figured.
Glitch nodded. "Yeah, exactly, and whatever it is, switching from one place to another is messing up everything else around it. But look at this.." Glitch punched in a few more keys, and a different set of playback was displayed. This time, the same strand of coding was seen falling down the screen. This time, however, it moved through the next few rows of coding strand next to it and then resumed falling down the screen in its new position.
"So, not only can this thing teleport, but it can move through things too now?" Blade asked.
"You got it," Glitch said with a nod.
"Could be a faulty building structure," Solitaire suggested.
"Could be a dangerous program." Irvine said. "Either way, it could be a liable risk."
"Then maybe we should go in to check it out," Janus suggested. Irvine smiled.
"Looks like those old cop investigation tactics of yours are still useful, eh?"
"I hope so." Janus answered. Anubis frowned, yet no one noticed.
"Okay then, let's see, if we're going in, we're going to need a balanced group to go in," Irvine stated.
"You're gonna go in?" Blade asked, surprised. Irvine nodded.
"Now, there are eight of us all together. Glitch and Marley are obviously going to stay behind since they can't go into the Matrix, but we need them to work the ship anyway. Blade, since you're the first mate, you're staying behind, and Solitaire will stay with you. If anything goes wrong out here, Marley can get the ship moving while Glitch covers us while we're in the Matrix, and, should we need assistance, either or both of you can come in and assist us. I'm taking Anubis, Kira, and Janus with me. They can fight, and Janus hasn't been back to the Matrix yet, so it's about time he goes back in."
Anubis arched a brow. "You sure about that?" he said in his cold tone. "He is new.."
Irvine turned and gave him a stern look. "You've got about two weeks over him, that's all. Don't inflate your ego, Anubis."
Anubis narrowed his eyes. Irvine took this as his way of saying "I get it," and turned back to the others. "Get your gear ready. We're gonna go in soon, there's really nothing else for us to be doing aside from surviving, and we do that good enough already."
My gear..Janus thought. He knew this meant to select the clothes and weapons he'd want to have with him in the Matrix. He walked over to one of the chairs and grabbed the rack of screens and keypads next to it, typing in the equipment he would need.
"Hey.." he heard Anubis call to him from his right. He glanced over and raised his eye brows.
"A tip..these days, it's best to carry a lot of ammo." He studied the look on Anubis' face, a look Janus could trust because the other man's face said "believe me, I'd know," all over it. He nodded and Anubis looked away, and he continued on with readying his equipment.
Kira and Irvine had already had theirs finished, and Anubis finished soon after.
"How should I dress?" Janus asked.
The other three looked at each other, snickering.
"Dress ready for combat. You never know when shit could hit the fan," Kira suggested.
Janus nodded and typed in his attire. "I'm ready to go," he said.
"Well then," Marley began as he walked over with Blade and Solitaire, "get ready to go."
He laid in his chair and strapped on the metal harnesses for his feet and laid back. One by one, from his left, coming around to his right, he heard the ZZzzt of the needles being plugged in to his partners' heads. Then it was his turn. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
ZZzzt
----
When Janus opened his eyes, he took in the sight of his new surroundings with a slow, calm exhale. The Matrix. The world he was born into, his old "home." Except now, despite its blaring similarities to all he had known for his whole life, the world now had a surreal sense to it. He looked down at his clothes: a classy-looking black leather trench that was about calf-length, a black dress shirt under that, with black jeans, boots, and a holster strapped to his belt, which held an SVI 2011 and two spare mags. He felt his hair; It was longer now, shoulder length to be specific, dark brown in color and parted down the middle. He looked up at the others, and saw them all dressed in the same outfits he saw them wearing on their last encounter, when half the crew had guns pointed in his face. He noted Irvine's suit with the knee length jacket.
"I thought you said dress for combat."
"Heh. Yeah, we said dress ready for combat, not an all out assault," Kira said. "You look fine, relax."
"It's alright, at least he's prepared. Come on," Irvine said.
They began walking down the block, and Janus felt something in his pocket rub up against his leg. He put in his hand and clutched the contents, pulling out a pair of sunglasses. They were frameless, with oval rimmed black lenses. Taking a moment to examine at them as he walked, he put them on, seeing the world through their black shade.
As they walked, they hit and shoved into people walking in their direction down the busy sidewalk, but he didn't seem to notice, as he was too busy staring up at the skyscrapers and the sky and everything around him, telling himself it was all a virtually simulated world.
"It feels like a dream, doesn't it, Janus?" Irvine asked as he walked ahead of the group without looking back to him.
"Why is it like that?" Janus asked, as though Irvine had read his thoughts.
"It's because you're a free mind now. The system no longer has a hold on you. Soon enough you'll become used to it," he answered. "Be warned though. It's not your world anymore, and there are others here that also know that. You'll experience more hostility directed toward you because of it, so you'll have to learn to never let down your guard."
Janus shrugged. "Just like every day on the job."
As they walked, Janus noticed that the surrounding area became more and more familiar. He knew he'd been here at some point before.
"Where are we going?" he asked. They all stopped at the corner of an intersection, while the masses walked around them, obeying the lit up street sign that said "WALK". Cars were driving in the same direction people walked on the sides of the street.
Irvine pulled out his phone. "Where to, Glitch?"
"Make a left and keep going until you get to the industrial district, you're a few block sections down. Stay on the same street."
"Good." Irvine shut the face shield and placed the phone back into his pocket. "We stay on this street. Down that way," he pointed. "In Dannah Heights."
They continued to walk. After going down the block for about a half a mile, the place started to look more familiar. Old, abandoned looking buildings. Empty streets. Janus caught a glimpse of the street signs of a cross section as they passed. He saw a road sign. It read "Kedemoth," and he recognized it as the area where he met Irvine and his crew. He looked up at Irvine, and then Anubis. The fact that the path that brought him here completed itself in a circle, now with the same people he was searching for, warped his mind. He let out a "heh", laughing at the irony.
"What is funny?" Anubis asked.
"It happens when you tell a good joke."
The others snickered at Janus' remark. Anubis looked at him for a few seconds as though to analyze what he could be thinking, then turned back forward.
They had finally reached the site of the glitch, in the northwest area of the district, an abandoned high school, large, built with bricks still red. The four of them stood and stared at it for a moment to get a good look. Most of the windows were broken out, some replaced by boards of plywood, some not replaced at all, making the inside visible to outsiders in some areas. An overall creepy appearance. The building was three stories high.
"Come on," Irvine said, leading the way to the front doors, only to find they were all boarded up. He let out a sigh as though to say "Shit.." Then, with one fierce palm strike, he busted the wood out of the doorway and it flew back and hit the ground. Cracking his knuckles, he proceeded through, and the others followed. Irvine took out his phone again, and opened the face shield. It rang.
"Operator."
"Glitch, get a blueprint of this building and tell me how it's laid out."
"Comin' up." Irvine heard the clacking of they keys in the background.
"Alright, got it," Glitch said. "All three floors are basically the same size, but they're all laid out differently. And it's pretty big inside. The first floor consists of the basics that you'd find in a school, a few offices, some class rooms, laboratories, hallways. The second floor contains more of the same, and on the third floor there's even more."
"Is the code acting up again?"
"No, not yet. I can see you guys but I don't see anything abnormal."
"I'll call you if we need anything." He hung up and put the phone back into his pocket, turning to the group.
"Okay, Anubis, you take the second floor and see if you find anything. Janus, go up to the third floor. Kira, go with Janus. Anubis, I'll meet up with you once I'm finished down here."
They all nodded, and the three went to the nearest staircase while Irvine departed from the group. Glitch watched as the code fell down the screens. Then, the unusual code activity started up again in different areas of the screens. "Getting warmer."
----
"Hey, look at this," said Syx, the operator of the Merciless. He pointed at the screens where a strand of code transferred from one end of the screen to another, causing the code around it to flicker and blink sporadically.
Gash looked over his shoulder. "What is that?" he said in a deep, grainy tone. Standing at about 6'0, he wore the usual clothes everyone else wore. He was of vietnamese descent and had black spiked hair, and a mean look in his eye, maybe due to the gash right under it that earned him his name.
"I have no idea. Get Vega," Syx told him.
"Vega!" Gash called out. "Something you need to see."
Vega came in not long after, followed by Kane and Stealth, the ship's only other Matrix fighters besides Vega and Gash.
"You think you could have yelled any louder, Gash?" Kane asked as he came in. "Why don't we just tell the sentinels where we are over the radio?"
"Be quiet, welp."
"Alright, both of you shut up," Vega said as he came in. "Whatcha got Syx?"
"Look at this here.." He pointed at the screen. Vega's face went from inquisitive to wtf in a matter of seconds. "What the hell is that?"
"Beats the shit outta me."
"Looks like a glitch," Stealth said.
"I've never seen a glitch do that," Vega said. Then he saw something that caught his attention by great measure. Everyone could see it on his face.
"What's the matter?" Syx asked.
"Look at that, there." Vega said, pointing at an area on the left screen. "Is that who I think it is?"
"Holy shit, look at that. Irvine," said Syx.
"He's got some crew members with him," Gash said. "Will you tell Blood?"
"No, we can handle this ourselves." Vega said in a stern tone.
"You're not gonna tell him about this?" Kane asked. "He'd get pretty pissed."
"Doesn't matter, he gets enough to boast over. We're gonna take this trophy." This was something Vega had never usually done before. Gash frowned slightly as he thought of this, he never saw Vega so ambitious or eager for credit. However, it didn't come off as a bad thing, and he enjoyed seeing Vega take a stand to do something like this rather than be Blood's bitch and tell him so he could send in his pack to deal with it.
"Alright," he began. "What are we gonna do?"
"You, Stealth, and Kane are going to go in after them."
"Alone? We're outnumbered. There's four of them."
"No, we outnumber them. By many. Remember those programs Raven was so competant in gathering for us?"
"That's right.." Kane said in a reminiscent manner. "We could take on the rest of Zion's fleet with them."
"That's true, but for now, we're gonna concentrate on these four. Get ready to jack in. Syx, give them some of those programs to work with."
Syx nodded and got to work, and the others got to their chairs. Vega crossed his arms and a smug look came over him. "They're gonna have quite the surprise."
----
Irvine removed his USP Compact from his shoulder holster and proceeded down a hallway. It was dark and dirty, and it looked like the place hadn't been cleaned in 30 years. Slowly approaching a doorway, he leaned with his shoulder on the framing of the doorway, and tilted his head in to see what was inside, with his gun ready. Nothing. Then he heard something strange, like the scrambled sound of Matrix coding, only it sounded more..infected.
He looked down the hallway, and in the dark, all the way at the end, he saw, or at least he thought he saw, a ghost like figure come out of wall and into the hallway. He frowned, and took a good look for a moment to make sure he'd seen right. He put his glasses back and put his gun up, disengaging the safety. The ghost snarled as bullets shot through its transparent body, in full rage. It solidified into a silver clothed male, though Irvine didn't have enough time to get to the details of its appearance. It quick drew a gun from its coat, what Irvine identified as a Taurus PT945, and fired back. Irvine strafed and jumped behind a support beam at the corner, and the entity continued to fire its weapon.
It didn't take long for the captain of the Nemesis to figure out this was the disturbance. Or it was at least a part of the disturbance, as worst case scenario dictated there might be others like it. He'd worry about that later though. Irvine fired three more shots at the program, and as he saw, it phased into its transparent form to let the bullets fly through. At the same time, though, the Taurus it was holding also went transparent. So it can't shoot me, Irvine thought. He spun out from the corner and fired another pair of .45 bullets at the program, forcing it turn into its ghostly form as it fired a three shot burst. The bullets flew through the entity's body, not effecting any of his internal organs.
After the burst, the entity saw that it had used up all eight bullets in the magazine. No, wasted them, though it really didn't matter. It seemed to enjoy a good sport. It threw the weapon down, and leaped at Irvine while transparent. The human fighter dodged, but instead of flying past Irvine, the entity resolidified, turned toward him and kicked his gun out of his hands. Irvine blocked the following punch, and threw his own punches and a kick at the head. The program blocked all the punches, but it didn't react fast enough to block the kick, which made its head fly back. Irvine followed this by grabbing the program by the face and head butting it in the forehead three times, with the last so hard that the program almost stumbled back. Seeing it was no match for the human's unorthodox fighting style, the program phased, again, and flew around the room like a ghost, then dove and picked up its Taurus. It resolidified, reloaded the weapon, and fired two shots at the slightly confused Irvine.
Fortunately, Irvine snapped out of the trance at seeing the thing fly around when it turned back into a human, diving for his own gun and firing three shots at the thing. It phased, letting the bullets fly past, then turned human again. What it didn't realize though, was it had returned into a solid state just in front of one of the metal structural beams that held the building together. All three bullets ricocheted off the beam and shot right into its back. One bullet impacted with such velocity that it blew the right hand off, which was holding the Taurus, and the last two had shot through the torso.
Irvine didn't waste the opportunity. He made one last shot into the creature's forehead, in between the eyes, the shot having enough force to actually send it flying backwards a few feet before it hit the floor.
"So much for interrogation." Irvine sighed, walking over to the corpse. As he came over it, the corpse phased, and sank into the floor.
----
Anubis made his rounds as though he were taking a stroll in the park. His gun remained in its shoulder holster, and his sword remained sheathed. His shoes were the only noise that could really be heard as he went down the hallway, looking into each room finding nothing at all particularly interesting.
He was looking out for basic things he would consider glitches in programming, like flickering walls or disappearing objects, basically faulty coding, but kept in mind that whatever it was they were looking for also went through things and could teleport. Letting out a bored sigh, he turned a corner and began down another hallway, the lights overhead flickering in the dark. The only light other than those was the daylight from outside, which obviously couldn't get into all parts of the building, notably his.
Looking into the first room he came to, he saw his reflection in a mirror, which made him scoff a little. He wasn't jumpy enough to get alarmed by the mirror like many other people would be in this situation, but in his opinion, it seemed like a bad joke. Why was there a mirror placed there? Then, behind him, he heard the infected code noise, but didn't turn around right away because he'd never heard the noise before. As he tried to identify it, he saw what was making the noise in the reflection of the mirror. A transparent, blurry figure rose from the ground. It had a slender face with bony cheeks, and in place of its eyes were dark shadows. One of the more eye catching features of this thing was it's long hair, rose up and on end like a sentinel's tentacles in attack mode.
"What have we here?" the program quipped in a grainy voice, "A lowly snake masquerading as a human." It appeared to smile at him, and then showed what looked like razor sharp teeth behind its lips. Wouldn't expect any less from a haunted house, Anubis thought as he saw the image in the mirror. In a split second, he spun around and charged at the entity head on.
He ran at the "ghost" and made a drawing slash at the thing's torso with his katana. As he partially expected, the sword flew through. His adversary laughed at that, then in a mere second, unphased into an RSI of a male dressed in a classy looking ankle length trench coat that was fashioned after a suit jacket, along with a dress-shirt and tie, and slacks. Every article of clothing was colored silver. The waving hair turned into thick silver dreadlocks, extending down to the man's mid-back, and its 'eyes' formed into a pair of frameless shades. His skin was a pale white color.
The ghost started out by throwing a punch at Anubis' head, which Anubis blocked with his right elbow, and countered with a kick to the stomach. He followed this up by performing a three slash combo, the first two aimed at the ghost's shoulders and the last at the head. The ghost program dodged the first two slashes and then turned back into its transparent form when Anubis slashed at the throat, since Anubis' last slash was too fast for it to dodge. When he resolidified, he grabbed Anubis' sword arm and forced it out of his hands, throwing it to the side.
Without his sword, Anubis punched at the ghost's face, and then at his torso, all of which were blocked by the ghost. Worse off, the ghost seemed to be enjoying the fight, as he wasn't punching back or countering, rather, he merely blocked all of Anubis' attacks. It laughed a little when it gotten a hold of both of Anubis' hands and forced him into a face-to-face standoff.
"You're testing me, aren't you?" Anubis' mouth crept into an almost unnoticeable smile. "That's rather rude."
He broke the ghost's grip, and focused into a long dive at his sword. After grabbing it, he spun so that he was upright, quick drew his Colt Government M1911A1 from his right holster with his left hand, and fired five shots at the ghost. The ghost went transparent again, as expected, then reforming once Anubis' assault was over. That would prove to be a fatal error. Anubis flipped and landed into a crouching position, just as the program was reforming, then went into a focused dash, both hands gripped on his sword. The ghost tried to go transparent again, but it was too late. All it could do was dodge, as Anubis made a horizontal slash at the gut. In one last move, the ghost used its left arm to knock the sword away from its torso, before jumping away in a similar move to what Anubis made.
Blood dripped from a long scar on its left arm from Anubis' slash.
"So you bleed after all," Anubis said, in a serpent's voice rather than his usual cold tone. The ghost attempted to go transparent again, but Anubis didn't waste the second. This time, he slashed off the left arm entirely. The ghost was disoriented, allowing Anubis to slash off the other arm, with the same result. The ghost felt shock that this human could strike it down, which was over-riding it's though to phase and repair itself. It stumbled onto its knees as a result, barely landing on the floor and looking up. That's when Anubis made one last stroke, this time through it's neck, and a red ring of blood formed around the circumference. As the body then slumped over, it phased, sinking into the floor.
"It only takes one bite from a snake," Anubis said simply to the corpse, "One bite for its venom to flow into your veins." He whipped out the blade of his sword to throw the blood off, then re-sheathed it.
Back on the Nemesis, Glitch was impressed as he watched the ghost's code disappear, reading out how Anubis destroyed it. "Nice."
----
Janus and Kira walked down a hallway side by side. Janus looked into the rooms on his side of the hall, and Kira did the same with her side. Janus coughed to clear his throat.
"I've been gone for...how long has it been since I came here? It's difficult to tell when a full day goes by without sunlight or anything."
"I think you've been with us for seven months now."
"Seven weeks.. They've probably considered me dead now. At least, I have."
"Why?"
"I don't live that life anymore. I'm Janus now, and I can't be two people."
"Hah, you sure about that?"
He realized the irony of what he said. "Oh. Maybe I am."
They turned a corner continuing their search, and stopped. Before them now, instead of the rest of the hallway, was a wall 15 feet away from them. "That's weird.." Janus remarked.
Then they heard the noise of infected code.
"Hey..what's that noise?" Kira asked. Out from the wall in front of them came another ghost-like entity, the wall glitching and blinking as it came through. Behind their sunglasses, both Janus and Kira's eyes widened at the site. The entity stayed there floating for just a moment, and then it assumed a normal, human looking form, and looked the same as the one Anubis had just dealt with. Janus and Kira exchanged looks, and when they looked back, a creepy smile crept over the entity's black lips.
"Well then," he began, speaking in an upper-crust british accent. "You don't belong here.."
"Who are you?" Janus inquired in a demanding tone, his facial expression accented by his sunglasses made him look all the more serious.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He let out a "Heh." Testing the patience of this human who had the fortitude to challenge him seemed like a fun idea.
Janus let out a huff of air through his nose. I guess we found the glitch. But I don't have time for Sterling's bullshit right now. He looked over at Kira, and she looked back at him.
What is he looking at me for? Shouldn't we be worried about-- she saw him slowly reaching for his gun.
"What are you doing here?" The silver clad program asked.
Janus stared back at him, making sure to establish some sort of mutual eye lock past the lenses of their dark glasses, enough to keep the entity from noticing him going for the gun.
"Don't be rude. I asked you a question!" He yelled. Janus didn't say a word.
The ghost became impatient now. "I'll take care of--"
He was cut off by the blast of Janus' gun. BAM-- BAM BAM
However, as soon as Janus fired, the ghost phased again, and the bullets flew through it and smashed into the wall behind it.
Janus had a double take. "What the...?"
The ghost unphased and with a frown, punched Janus square in the jaw. He staggered back, dropping his gun. As it slid a few feet from him, he looked back up in time to see the bottom of the program's white croc-pattern boot come flying at his face. Moving to the side, the kick flew past him, and Janus struck the ghost in the chest and followed up with a high round house kick, but missed since the ghost ducked.
Just as it came back up, Janus dealt it a palm strike to the center of its rib cage. It stepped back a step or two, and Janus moved in to attack again, but this time the ghost kicked out once more, connecting with Janus' face. As he was knocked back, his glasses flew off, and the ghost turned towards Kira, flashing his creepy grin.
He sent his fist flying at her but she moved out of the way in time, and it went into the wall. Side stepping to her left, his right, she sent a hard mid kick to the program's stomach region while he was still stuck, but he was unaffected. In one fluid motion, he ripped his hand out from the wall and back handed her across the face with his knuckles, knocking her to the ground.
He wasn't as powerful as an Agent, but he still dished out pain nonetheless. As she hit the ground with an "Agh!", he reached into his coat and pulled out his Taurus PT945, and while aiming it at her, he pulled the hammer back. He smirked at the sound of it locking into place, and snickered. "What a waste.." She stared up at the gun barrel.
BAM
And the ghost started to fall before her. She blinked a few times, trying to figure out what had just happened. Then, the ghost's body phased again, sinking into the floor. She looked over to her right and saw Janus, laying back on the ground with his gun in the air, smoke leaking from the barrel, and they exchanged looks.
Glitch watched the program's code fade away as it ran down the screen. It didn't come back in any other location. "Good shot.." he said to himself. Marley nodded in agreement.
----
Three black SUVs drove down the street single file toward the school. Each car contained one of the three men sent in by Vega, and as many of the simulacra that could fit with them. The simulacra, originally developed by Zion, were to be used as backup and distraction forces for Morpheus' Matrix Corps, but since the Resistance had acquired them thanks to Raven, they'd been reprogrammed to be used against Zion and Anti-Human Programs within the Matrix, thus giving a tremendous advantage to the Resistance that neither Zion or the Nemesis crew was currently aware of.
They all seemed as though they were redpills, and you wouldn't be able to notice a difference unless you were informed. Due to their various outfits and different yet dangerous but styled looks, they fit in with the rest of the Resistance, each taking on an individual appearance, making it look as though the Resistance had suddenly gained new free minds into their ranks.
When the trucks pulled up to the abandoned school, Glitch became confused. "Who the hell are these people?"
The doors swung open, and those inside exited the vehicles. Gash was the first one out, since he was in charge of the attack. He wore the outfit of a WWII Nazi S.S. Officer, complete with knee high officer boots, black pants and gloves, and jacket. Over this was the trademark leather trench coat that made the S.S. all too recognizable, except it lacked the Swastika arm band, and Gash wore it closed.
On his head was a German panzer helmet, the headgear used by the Nazi troops that became their trademark during the war. However, this one had a mask on it, something like a gas mask yet without the tube, and an angled extension on the mouth area, black armor that covered the entire face, and black circular eyes.
Kane wore a black military field officer uniform with a dark red shirt under the jacket, and over this, a black double breasted overcoat.
Stealth was dressed in a dark gray ankle-length coat over a t-shirt and cargo pants both charcoal grey in color, and standard military combat boots, worn over his pants.
The simulacra, armed with all different kind of guns, were now all out of the SUVs. Everyone had a different pair of sunglasses on.
Gash spoke in a deep and filtered sounding tone. "Is everyone ready?" he asked.
Watching through the goggle eyelets of his helmet, he saw everyone nod as they either readied their guns or stood there waiting. "Then let's go. Shoot to kill."
Glitch's eyes widened. "Oh...shit..." was all that managed to escape his voice box.
Marley couldn't believe what was going on. "Holy hell..call Irvine, now!"
Glitch nodded, and dialed Irvine's number and waited, but instead of a ring, all he got was static. "What the hell?"
He tried again. Still, static instead of a ring tone. "Why won't the call go though!?" he asked frantically. "The glitches in the code must be disrupting the area and preventing calls from getting through, like a dead zone."
"They've got no service...There's no way to warn them!"
Janus and Kira ran down the hallway, looking for a staircase.
"What was that thing?" Kira asked.
"You're asking me? I'm the new guy, remember?"
She shook her head with an grumble. "We gotta find the other two and get outta here before more of those ghost things show up," she said. As they came around a corner, they stopped in their steps, for Kane and his band of programs had come around the corner of the parallel hallway. Kira knew who it was. Janus had no clue.
"Shit." Kira whispered
"Going somewhere?" Kane asked smugly. They saw the other men bring up their guns and on instinct, both jumped out of the way, Janus one way, Kira the other. The spray of bullets just missed them as they jumped out of the way, the loud noise of gun fire filling the air.
Janus rolled as he landed and ducked behind a corner, and Kira landed across from him on the other side of the hallway. Janus held his SVI out around the corner and fired three .45 shots into one of the simulacra. All three shots hit through the chest, and the program dropped to the floor. Janus noticed, as the program died out, it sprawled onto its back, its arms and legs twitching in all directions like some sort of dying animal.
Kane held up his Colt Anaconda and fired a round at Janus, the bullet smashing a chunk off of the brick edge of the corner, however he had moved out of the way in time.
"Get them!" Kane's voice roared over the gunfire. Kira ducked out and fired, and two .380ACP rounds from her Beretta 85FS went into a combat program's chest and he dropped onto his back.
Janus came up and fired twice and ducked back down again, unsure if whether or not he had hit anything. On the other side, one of the combat programs noticed that its M16 assault rifle had run dry, and it threw to the side. Reverting to "close combat mode" as Syx referred to it, it crouched to the ground on all fours, then jumped into the air, landing on the left wall, then leaping again onto the opposite right wall.
"What the hell?" was all Janus could let out before the program pounced on him, and pushed him to the ground. Janus struggled at its grip, as the program opened its mouth to reveal large canine teeth that in no way fit into a human, and at the same time, letting out a hiss of hot air into Janus' face. Janus kicked the thing off of him, but it spun in midair and landed on all fours, then pounced back at him. The ex-detective reacted fast, jumping into the air just as the program pounced and kicking it in the face with enough force that it literally keeled over and fell to the ground on its back. Janus then promptly finished it off with a single shot to the forehead.
----
Pagan, the Merciless' crew assist, was watching the whole ordeal while standing behind Syx, who was still seated in front of the operations consoles. "Shit, Syx, what the hell did you do to those simulacra?"
"I played with their coding a bit and styled some of them after a few of the more exotic exiles we've seen in the Matrix. Looks like they have a pack of the Lupine-types with them."
"Nice thinking," Pagan said. He rolled up a chair and took a seat next to Syx, as though they were watching a movie.
----
Wincing behind his glasses as more bits of debris flew in his face from a bullet hitting the floor in front of him, Janus reached to his belt and pulled out a fragment grenade. He pulled the pin as Kira fired three more shots around the corner, and when she came back to reload, he tossed it around the corner. It bounced down the hall unnoticed at first until it landed in front of the four gunmen.
"Ah, fuck!" Kane yelled, and drew back behind the corner. Before the simulacra noticed, the grenade exploded, and the building shook. Kira looked back at the damage through the smoke and looked over to Janus. After checking his magazine to see how many rounds he had left, Janus looked back around the corner and saw that the grenade had killed the rest of the programs that were with him.
"Who were those guys?" Janus asked.
"Resistance. The one in the black suit was Kane, but I didn't recognize the rest. Must be new redpills," Kira explained.
"Bastard, I'm really going to enjoy shooting his balls off..." Kane said to himself, his ears ringing from the blast.
Figuring he'd try his luck anyway, he fired in their direction three times. His shots hit the wall opposite from Janus and Kira in the center of the hallway twice and the floor once.
Janus glanced over at Kira, and nodded down the hall where there was an open hole in the ceiling. "One's alive. I'll cover you."
She nodded and ran for it, going down the hall to the hole. She jumped up and grabbed onto a pipe, and pulled herself up to the roof. Janus followed, backed against the wall and fired through the smoke left over from the grenade blast as it cleared.
Kane ducked away from the bullets and they smashed into the concrete wall behind him. He shot back twice and when he pulled the trigger again and heard click, he snorted.
"Rrgh.." he grumbled under his breath, remembering that his weapon of choice only had six shots to it. How the hell does Arius put up with this shit? It'll take too long to reload, better get out now, he thought to himself, and escaped down the hallway.
Once Janus confirmed Kane had left, he followed Kira up to the roof.
"Come on, there's a fire escape on the side of the building," she said, nodding over to a ladder that was leading to the roof. They climbed down and reached the fire escape, continuing their way down until they made it to the ground.
----
Anubis and Irvine, however, weren't as fortunate as Janus and Kira. Since the captain of the Nemesis was the primary target for the Merciless' crew, Gash had focused the other six simulacra onto him like hunting dogs on a pheasant. He and Anubis had managed to make it to the lobby of the building before Gash caught up with them.
"To whom do we owe the occasion?" Gash's filtered voice emanated out to them. Seeing they were outnumbered and cut off from escaping, Irvine went for his phone. Putting two and two together once the connection failed, he and Anubis both realized there was no way to contact the ship or get an exit.
Four of the programs held back behind a wall with Gash, firing their guns at the two redpills, while two of the programs had went into to close combat measures after running out of ammunition. They crouched down on all fours, leaping and rebounding off the floor and walls, dodging shots from Anubis and Irvine's handguns, then pounced at the two humans.
Anubis back flipped before the program could land on him, and instead, it hit the ground with its open hands piercing through the concrete.
Irvine had shot his attacker in midair while Anubis drew his sword and beheaded the simulacrum attacking him. Anubis' actions, though, left him open to a shot from Gash's Walther P38. A single 9x19 Luger bullet shot through his left arm, just missing the shoulder blade, but managing to slow Anubis down some.
"Anubis!" Irvine yelled, firing two more shots at the masked fighter. Gash ducked back behind the corner as a result, allowing Anubis to dash behind a support beam. One of the programs couldn't resist attacking the weakened fighter, not when its blood was spilling. Foolishly, it pounced at Anubis, and was swatted down by his sword. The program gave out a dying hiss as it keeled over on the ground, before Anubis slit open its throat.
"We gotta get out of here!" Irvine called out to Anubis. "Cover me!" he ordered.
Anubis complied, sheathing his sword and continuing to fire with his 1911 while Irvine drew a high explosive grenade, armed it and threw it at the wall.
BOOM
The grenade detonated, punching a large hole through the side wall. Irvine pulled another grenade out and threw it at the corner that Gash and the last three programs were behind. This time, the three programs jumped away as the grenade landed, with only Gash standing above it as it exploded. Irvine took the opportunity to run out the hole, followed by Anubis, and the simulacra gave pursuit, seemingly bouncing off the ground at great inhuman altitudes like three werewolves. Gash quickly recovered from the blast, being unwounded thanks to the armor he wore under his overcoat, and gave chase.
Now Anubis and Irvine were running down the streets, avoiding the public areas as much as possible as the programs continued to jump at them, firing their assault rifles. Once again, Irvine tried calling the Nemesis for an exit, but all he got was the default, seemingly cynical female computer voice that said "This number is no longer in service. Please try your call again later."
Irvine snarled at that voice. Got to get to an open area. Then he remembered one such area close to their position. Reloading a magazine into his USP and firing shots to keep the simulacra back, he waved at Anubis to follow him, and the former syndicate assassin had no problems doing so. He knew what Irvine was thinking, remembering the construction area not too far from the abandoned school building. They had no choice but to retreat for now anyway, seeing as they were now heavily outnumbered.
After running down the streets, the two ducked into the elevator that led to the top of the building, which was still in framing stages, the support beams and concrete blocks and plywood still visible. Irvine threw a third grenade out the entry way to keep the simulacra away as Anubis activated the elevator, raising them up above the ground. All three of them leaped back, just as Kane and Gash drove up in one of the SUVs. They both walked out, watching as the simulacra continued to fire their weapons up at the elevator. The bullets bounced off with PANG and TWANG noises. Gash took out his cellphone and contacted the Merciless.
"Operator," Syx said.
"We have them cornered, Syx. Can you spare a few more programs from there?" Gash asked.
Syx shook his head from the other side, "Sorry, Vega advises against it. You'll have to make due with what you've got. And hurry up too, before the cops show up."
Gash cursed to himself, saying a random phrase in Vietnamese.
Syx laughed at that, "What are you complaining for? Two fighters cornered in a construction complex with one wounded. That shouldn't be any trouble."
"We can't exactly close in on them until they waste ammunition, and if we send simulacra in, then they'll either be gunned down or cut apart by the asshole with the sword," Gash replied. "And where the hell is Stealth?"
"How should I know? You know how he operates. Just finish them off quickly and get back here. Merciless out." With that, Syx hung up.
Gash closed his cellphone, and looked at Kane, sighing, "And I was so enjoying this hunt."
Kane laughed a little, "All things must come to an end, Gash. Those two can't hold out forever, they only have handguns and maybe one or two grenades."
"I know," Gash said, pulling out his two MAC-10s. "Let's get it over with."
"Gladly," Kane said, drawing both of his black Colt Anacondas, gun twirling one of them in a similar manner to a cowboy. With that, the two casually walked toward the construction building, as the simulacra began pursuing the cornered Irvine and Anubis...
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