Chapter 10: Freedom isn't free; We pay the price with bullets

Date: 2004 Matrix time

Time: -

Area: The Construct

When Janus and Kira answered the phone to exit the Matrix, they wound up back in the Construct instead of waking up on the ship. Glitch nodded over to Blade.

"Okay, the other two made it back," Blade walked over and checked the screens. "Alright. You know what they gotta do."

Janus pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed the number for Glitch. The phone rang once before he answered. "Operator."

"Glitch, why are we still in here?"

"You two have to go back in and get those guys out of there." Janus' eyebrows went up, surprised.

"What is it?" Kira asked him.

"We're going back in to get them," he answered.

She arched a brow. "How are we gonna get them? They have three top soldiers with them and those other guys."

"You guys are gonna need some equipment," Glitch told Janus.

"Yeah, you got any suggestions?" he asked. Glitch typed in "B:\ GUNS" and hit the ")(" key.

Janus heard the sound of something loading and turned his head to the left to see hundreds of rows of racks come flying in his direction from out of nowhere, and they stopped a few feet from him. He saw that they held thousands and thousands of guns and other weapons. He also noticed his clothes had changed into a black ankle length trench coat over a black thermal-fabric shirt, with black BDU pants tucked into jungle-type combat boots, and kneepads, along with holsters strapped to his thighs and his belt.

"Whoa."

Kira rolled her eyes at his reaction, as she was used to the equipment's form of loading in the Construct, and at the same she understood Glitch's suggestion that Janus asked for.

"I was hoping you'd be more specific," Janus said to Glitch.

"Heh. Just pick out the hardware you'll need, make a game plan and call me when you're ready. Hurry." With that, Glitch hung up.

Janus looked at the phone before closing it and returned it to his pocket. "Well, we better get started."

"What do we need?"

"A lot of guns," he said in an apparent tone as he picked up a double shoulder holster off of one of the racks.

"You're just planning for the both of us to run in there and shoot the place up to get them out?"

"Yeah," he answered, now putting his coat on over the double shoulder holsters. Once he was done he grabbed thigh holsters for each leg off of a rack. Kira was appalled, at the fact that Janus, the new guy, who only immediately after his first mission back into the Matrix, was ready to do something like this. She didn't understand it.

"You better start getting your gear," he said, pulling two Glock 21s from a rack and placing them into his shoulder holsters.

"What makes you think that we'll be able to get Anubis and Irvine out of there without backup? There's only one time something like this worked, and that was when Neo did it, and he was--" she was cut off.

"Good for Neo, I don't care what he did," Janus said in a stern tone. Kira narrowed her eyes at him. "We don't have time to wait for backup. I may not be anyone special, but if I don't try to help Irvine, then I'm not even what I think I am."

"What are you?" Kira asked.

"His friend." He pulled two Beretta 96s from a rack and placed them into his thigh holsters. Kira watched as he moved on to remove two UMP45's from the racks and held them up in front of him, testing their weight, and finally clipping them to his belt after folding the stocks. He wasn't going to back down, and she couldn't help it.

"Janus, this is crazy," she said.

He pulled a short-barreled SPAS-12 with a pistol grip from the rack and looked at her.

"After all that shit you were saying about having a free mind? It's crazy enough to work," he said, followed by the CHICK-CHACK of the shotgun being pumped.

Kira's eyebrows raised questionably at his confidence, and she scanned over the racks, selecting a set of shuriken.

----

As Gash and Kane were climbing the second large concrete staircase, lined with walls of plywood and red support beams, the simulacra were one floor ahead of them in the chase after the two stranded fighters. Kane pulled a speed loader from his jacket pocket after holstering one of his revolvers, popping the cylinder out and loading six fresh rounds with a twist.

"Pain in the ass.." he mumbled as he popped the cylinder back in with a flick of his wrist, and repeated the process with his other revolver.

"Perhaps you should use a handgun that has a magazine," Gash said suggestively in his deep cybernetic voice.

"No, that'd be too easy. Using a revolver requires some skill, never mind two," Kane retorted, twirling one on his right hand in a quick and fancy manner.

"Or you could join a circus.." Gash said sarcastically. "

No, you're the freak with the gas mask on, you'd fit right in," Kane answered, following up with a "Heh."

"Silen--"BAM BAM Gash was cut off by gunshots, and he immediately looked up. "They're on the top floor and they've probably run out of ammunition."

Kane looked to him. "All they have is that sword.."

"Irvine's probably killed them already, I don't hear anything else." Gash's helmet did enhance his senses by 50. "I'll fill him with so much lead he'll sink to the bottom of the river before you can blink."

"Of course."

They made it to the top floor and walked a few feet beyond the steps, surveying the area. The three bodies of the simulacra lay scattered all over the place. The floor was solid concrete, with plywood walls here and there, and red support beams running along the ceiling and connecting the ceiling and the floor. The perimeter of the floor was surrounded with wooden scaffolding, and the outward walls made of glass. Several stacks of supplies, wood, steel, and other items were placed here and there.

"Where could they be..." Gash said to himself.

"Irvine, why don't you come out and have a chat with us? We'll give you some bullets...of course, they'll be shot at you, but it's all in your head, right?" Kane taunted, walking around slowly, twirling his pistols. He heard a noise and looked in its direction, catching Irvine running to a new hiding spot. He watched as he ran and fired a shot at an adjacent vertical support beam. The bullet ricocheted off the iron and hit Irvine in the ribs.

"Rrgh!" he roared under his breath, keeping in what would have been a yell of pain.

Gash scanned around, looking in all possible places someone as silent and crafty as Anubis could hide.

Peering out from the sacks of mortar he crouched behind, Anubis watched as Gash began turning in the opposite direction from his location. When he figured the timing was right, he jumped out from behind the pile and went to run behind a stack of wooden boxes, but he wasn't fast enough.

Gash heard him move and he turned around, following Anubis in the lined up sights of his MAC-10, and then fired. Hit in the arm twice, Anubis growled in pain, dropping his sword as he ran. He nearly tripped over himself as he fell behind the stack of boxes.

"Well..what have we here..." Gash said questioningly, walking over to the sword. He put away his MAC-10s and picked it up off of the floor with both hands. Taking a moment to study the sheath, he removed the sword, examining the blade, noticing the razor sharp edge and that it lacked the stain of blood.

"Very nice...a trophy indeed." Re-sheathing the sword, he took out his phone and dialed the ship.

"Operator," Syx answered.

"Syx, this is Gash. I want you to send more of those programs to fill the building. We'll lure their friends into a trap and take them out all at once."

Syx looked up to Vega to see what he should do.

"Alright, do it." Vega told him, and Syx responded with a nod.

"Okay Gash, I'll send you about 30 of em, that should be enough."

"Excellent. Make sure they're normal ones, no more of those animal-freaks." Gash hung up.

With the push of a button, the simulacra loaded into the building, ten per floor. Immediately after, the others arrived.

----

"You're on guard duty, but I want you to encourage them to fight you anyway, the idea is to trap them. However, don't hesitate to make kill shots, understand? Report back when you finish your first rounds," Gash's voice emanated from one of the simulacra's cell phones, which was in its "walkie-talkie" mode for the others like to hear.

"Understood sir, we'll be ready for them," the simulacra said, and hung up once Gash killed the connection on the other side.

"You heard him, weapons ready." They all loaded their guns, which were either handguns or sub-machine guns. Taking patrol positions throughout the floor, they began their watch, waiting for any other parties to arrive.

Dark glasses. Game faces. Janus and Kira approached the building in a bad ass, almost "western" stride. With stacks of supplies and building material all over the place in the building, there were several hiding places they could go to and from.

I'm not in the mood to play hide and seek. Janus nodded his head to the right and Kira split from him, heading in that direction. He came up to the side of the rather wide entrance to the first floor, big enough for loading vehicles to pass through, and wasn't noticed. As he peeked his head around the corner, he saw two guards speaking to one another in the middle aisle out of three, the aisles formed by stacks and stacks of crates and building equipment acting as walls.

He could only make out mutters, and he figured they were going over guard positions and patrol routes. He noticed, on the other end of the room, Kira was peeking behind the doorway opposite the one he was peeking from, and nodded to her. The guards nodded their heads and did an about-face, walking down the aisle in the opposite direction from each other.

Janus waited as the one guard walking in his direction came close enough, and then came out from his hiding spot. The guard looked at him with a surprised, almost confused look as he tried to determine who this man in the long black coat was. Before he could move however, he was met by the muted spit of a silenced Beretta, and fell to the ground with a thud. The whistle of a razor sharp shuriken pierced the air followed by a THAK. Janus looked up to see the other guard drop to the ground with the shuriken in his forehead. Kira walked over and examined the body. She picked up his MP5-K.

----

Gash looked over at Kane, though his impatient facial expression was hidden by his mask. "They haven't reported anything. It's been 30 minutes."

"So maybe they aren't done yet," Kane suggested, and looked over to the direction Irvine last ran to.

"You're lucky Gash is being so generous, Irvine. With all these guards, if it was up to me you and your friend would already be dead."

Anubis smirked in his hiding spot, checking his 1911. He had no more ammo, and without his sword, he couldn't do anything against twelve men armed with guns.

Gash grumbled. "What the hell are they doing down there.."

His answer came at the door. Gash and Kane turned their heads as they heard it slowly creak open. There stood Janus, staring at them behind mirrored lenses, a UMP45 in each hand. The simulacra guards looked over, and everyone had a confused look on their face, except for Janus. He held each gun up in front of him, picking random targets.

"Damnit..." Gash said under his breath, realizing why the guards weren't responding. He and Kane jumped out of the way. Bullets began flying all over the place. One guard jerked around in his place as blood burst from his chest before he fell, and another went flying back into a vertical support. As Janus moved from the doorway and strafed to his right, Kira came out behind him armed with two P-22s and fired at the guards taking aim at Janus as he moved.

Return fire started coming back, and Janus moved behind a vertical support to cover himself, fired out from behind it, and the guard he hit went crashing into a wooden crate. Kane came out from his hiding spot only to quickly duck back behind it as Kira fired in his direction, the bullets' velocity dying as they smashed into the stack of wood. One guard ran out with a TEC-9 and fired at Janus without aiming, and Janus proceeded to gun him down before he could take more than a few steps.

"God damn it! How did they make it up here!?" Gash yelled from his cover.

Anubis and Irvine didn't know what the hell was going on.

"Syx!" Gash yelled into the phone.

"Yeah, more guards, you got it."

As Gash hung up, more of the guards loaded into the room. As two of the new guards ran at Janus, he used up the rest of his UMP ammo on them and sent them falling back down on themselves.

He saw Anubis in his hiding spot and nodded over to him, pulling two Glock 21s from his shoulder holsters. Holding them up in front of him, he ran into Anubis' direction, firing at whatever guards in the way. One of them jumped up into the air in a pounce, gun in hand. Two shots later from Janus's guns, and he fell back through the air through a crate.

Another guard popped out in front of Janus with a shotgun, cutting his run, and he quickly hid behind a vertical support as the shotgun round that would have ripped him apart smashed into the iron beam. He peaked out to his right, and quickly went back as another shotgun blast missed his head. He looked out to the left and the same thing happened, so figuring the guard would guess he would move out to the right again, he turned and stood out to the left again. As the guard was ready to blow Janus open on the right side, Janus came out and lit him up. He heard a yell behind him as another one of the simulacra came at him from behind. He jumped and twisted in the air, jump kicking it in the chest. As it flew back, Janus fired off the rest of the bullets into its chest, blood spurting out as it flew back and fell. Throwing the empty guns to the ground, Janus took cover crouching down next to Anubis.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Here, these are for you," Janus answered, pulling two new M1911A1's from the back of his waistband.

"What about my sword?" Anubis questioned.

"I'll get it, just work with these for now."

He pulled out his SPAS-12. "Ready?"

Anubis nodded, and they both stood up from the hiding place, back to back and firing. Janus blasted the head off the shoulders of a guard firing at him with a CAR-15 as Anubis broke a guard's spine into pieces with a few well placed shots. They nodded to each other and split up.

Now, there were many targets of choice in this situation. The masked guy in the Nazi SS uniform, the simulacra and even the potential Agents that may or may not show up, but there was only one Anubis wanted, and wanted dearly. And that was the ingrate with the Colt Anacondas. As he had heard on the Nemesis, the one called Gash was supposedly one of the best Matrix fighters in the human race period, second to another man in the Resistance that Anubis kept hearing about, "the Potential," whom he hadn't seen yet.

After seeing the man in action, Gash was simply too arrogant for the syndicate ninja to have an enjoyable fight with. In fact, the only reason he considered going up against the iron masked assassin at all was to get his sword back. It didn't matter how skilled or strong his opponent was, if the mind is set elsewhere, then all that special power is put to waste. To Anubis, the one called Kane was a much more interesting opponent. But first, he wanted to get back at those simulacra just for being damn annoying.

He ran at one of them, rolling on the ground while avoiding its machine gun fire, before popping a .45ACP round into its skull, specifically into its nose area. Since the nose wasn't the densest part of the human body, the bullet went straight through it, into the brain and out the other side, leaving a nice trail of sprayed blood on either side. Anubis then acted fast and grabbed the corpse before it could fall over, then ducked behind a steel beam.

As he expected, Kane took notice of his little escape, as he drew both Anacondas in a cowboy-style quick draw, and squeezed off two bullets, one from both guns at the steel beam. With little time to dodge, Anubis yanked the dead program's assault rifle and ran to another beam.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Kane taunted, firing another shot at the beam as he walked through the center. The sound of his boots along the floor gave off a distinct metallic sound for some reason, like those of cowboy spurs, even though Kane's boots weren't tipped with steel. It was very distinct, but the Resistance gunner didn't mind, because his opponent was wounded and cornered behind a steel beam.

"Die!" Kane laughed, jumping out to where Anubis was kneeling and firing off three bullets from his left gun. However, much to Kane's shock, Anubis wasn't there, but the corpse of that simulacra he took out. The corpse was leaning against the beam, appearing to be standing, but when Kane opened fire, it fell to the side.

"Where did-?" He was answered by a bullet shot into his shoulder socket, then another one into his hip. A third bullet was also shot, but at this point, Kane instinctively rolled.

Son of a bitch, how did he get over there!? Kane's mind roared, seeing Anubis directly across from the beam Kane had cornered him at. It was fairly obvious that the redpill had made his way across from the beam Kane was at now, but what the gunman didn't understand was how he did it without being detected. Much more, how did he move the corpse from that one side to this one?

To Kane, it was like one of those Japanese comic books or animations, in which whenever an acclaimed ninja got hit by an attack, there would be a puff of smoke and the 'ninja' would turn out to be some random object, usually a piece of wood. Then, the real ninja would pop out from another direction and nail the attacker in the ass with shurikens. Only, Anubis was using a pair of Colt 1911A1s and a CAR-15 assault rifle.

There was no way Kane would know he wasn't too far off from his thoughts on Anubis. When Anubis seemed to grab the assault rifle and run for it, he managed to keep the corpse as well. He then ran across the relative short distance to the opposite pillar, keeping the corpse concealed on the opposite side of Kane's view. Once he got to the pillar, he stood the corpse up and made it so its silhouette made it appear to be standing. After that, Anubis simply snuck around Kane while he was focused on the silhouette behind the beam, using stealth techniques he had learned while working in the syndicate.

Now though, Anubis was exhausted, and what felt like hours of fighting started to catch up with him.

"Bastard!" Kane roared, running from his cover spot and firing his revolvers rapidly at Anubis' position. He ran and rolled, attempting to draw out the CAR-15 he swiped from that simulacra, but one of Kane's shots sliced off the strap while another shot hit the rifle itself, sending it flying back a good distance away. Anubis drew his own M1911A1s and ran again, firing strafing shots at Kane, as the two made it to opposite beams again.

Kane took the opportunity to reload his guns, but with the shots Anubis sank into him, he had trouble even with the speed loader. Fucking ninja, He thought. After finally reloading, he jumped back up and fired three shots at the beam he saw Anubis duck behind in, but none of them hit human flesh. He looked around from his position, and saw the syndicate assassin running back to a different area.

"Oh no you don't!" he snarled, firing more rounds at Anubis, but the assassin evaded each shot. Kane, not taking people running from him, gave chase.
----

Kira ran along the wall firing her handguns, hitting whatever guard she could. As she came to a stack of wood a guard was hiding behind, he came out ready to put one in her skull, but instead her heel smashed up into his face and sent him staggering back. She aimed and pulled the trigger but her handguns were out of ammo. He grinned at this, aiming his revolver, but she grabbed the barrel and pulled it towards her, smashing his face with a roundhouse elbow strike, following up with a backhand punch to the side of his nose. This disoriented him a bit, and when she had the chance to finish him off, guards began firing at her, so she ran. When she safely made it to cover, she pulled out two USP Match handguns and was ready to go. She ran out from behind the wall and did a no-hands cartwheel, firing as she flipped, taking down a pair of guards shooting at Janus. When she made it to Irvine, she kneeled beside him.

"Are you alright?

"Just a hit in the ribs but I'll live."

"Oh yeah? You might need this." She handed him the MP5-K she had taken from the guard downstairs earlier.

"Thanks."

"Ready?"

"Hell yeah."

Kira grinned. At that moment, both Irvine and Kira both ran out into the open, firing at the simulacra on each side of the construction building, with Irvine covering the left portion and Kira covering the right. The simulacra programs strafed from their fire, returning fire while others charged at them. Those that close were gunned down by the duo, while the rest were forced to cover. Otherwise, they were gunned down anyway.

Three simulacra did manage to avoid fire and get past the hail of bullets, but since their primary target was Irvine, the three attempted to gang up on the Nemesis captain. Kira covered for Irvine by shooting holes into the programs, but it was Irvine that did the real damage. As one of the programs aimed a punch at him, Irvine dodged the blow and grabbed at the program's throat, quickly crushing it. He then whipped the body around to the other simulacra and 'kicked' its head with the corpse's feet. It stumbled back from the blow, giving Kira enough time to nail the bastard with one of her USPs.

The firing continued, until their part of the building was cleared of renegades, and only Irvine and Kira were left standing over the corpses. As if the timing weren't convenient enough, Irvine's cellular phone rang, to which he looked down at, arching an eyebrow. He then looked at Kira, earning a shrug from his comrade.

"Figures." He griped, picking up the cell phone and pressing the 'send' button, "Irvine."

"This is the last time I let you go out on a school night, young man," Glitch mock lectured, giving off his best 'angry Grandmother' impression.

"Glitch, you bastard, where the hell were you all this time?" Irvine berated.

"Sorry, sir, I was trying to save car insurance by switching to Geico."

Irvine rolled his eyes at Glitch's poor attempt at a comeback. "Look, just what the hell is going on up there?"

"It's the Merciless, sir. They picked up your broadcast signal and sent Kane, Gash and possibly a third fighter along to hunt you. And if that's not bad enough, they now have some kind of programs working for them."

"Damn," Irvine grumbled, "Are there any other ship crews near our position?"

"Not at the moment, but if they reported your position, you can be sure as hell Blood's going to show up."

"Great…" Irvine said under his breath. He didn't want anything to do with Blood at this point, especially since he had "the Potential" in his crew, and one of the most powerful human made ships at his possession.

"Alright, get Blade and Solitaire in here, we're going to need some help getting out. And tell Marley to arm the guns, in case Vega or the other Blood-hounds pop up out of nowhere." Irvine then looked around the area he was standing in, "And try hacking some weapons into this place."

"Alright sir, I'm on it." Glitch said on the other end, immediately typing on his console.
----

Janus fired at a guard, sending his guts flying all over the place, pumped the shotgun, ducked, and rolled. One of the simulacrum guards was crawling on the ceiling above him ready to pounce, but Janus saw him and blasted him down.

Gash came out armed with his two MAC-10s flanked by a few guards, all firing at Janus. Janus took one more out before he had to move for cover, but he had to be quick. Scurrying around before they could get to him, he popped out from behind, wasting the other three guards with the remaining shells he had left in the shotgun.

Gash quickly turned to face Janus, holding up his guns in front of him ready to fire as Janus ran at him. Before he could fire though, Janus grabbed his arms, pushed them out to his sides, and in the same motion he back flipped and kicked him up in the chin. There was a CLANK noise from the contact of Janus' steel tipped boot with Gash's mask, and his head was knocked back slightly. As he slowly brought his head forward, Janus was back on the attack.

First he struck Gash's guns out of his hands with cross-body strikes, then sent a palm strike to his chest. It wasn't so effective however, as Gash only took a step back, so Janus sent a high kick at Gash's head which he automatically blocked with his forearm, as well as the follow up kick aimed at his ribs, one after the other, and punched Janus in the face with a right hook and spun quickly to follow up with a left roundhouse kick to his chest.

Janus took two steps back from the blow. Taking out Anubis' sword, Gash got a two-hand grip and swiped down at Janus, but he leaned all the way left from the waist up, so Gash swung out to his right. Still ducking, Janus moved under it, dodging again and now leaning to his right. Angered, Gash swung down overhead, but Janus grabbed onto Gash's hands as the sword came down and stepped back to his left. When the sword came down and missed, Janus struck Gash in the face with his elbow, knocking his head back and causing him to let go of the sword.

Pulling the sword away and gripping it, Janus quickly spun around as Gash was standing up straight again, and as he spun and faced him, in the same swift motion he swung out left slashing across his neck and then brought the sword back swinging out right and cutting into his torso. Struggling for air, Gash brought his hand up to his throat and looked at fingers to find blood stained on the black leather. He looked back up to Janus, who turned and sent a hard left kick to his chest. The kick sent him flying and he smashed through the wall of windows behind him.

Gash screamed as he fell, the cybernetic roar of his voice through his helmet accompanied by the sound of blood gurgling in his throat. His body slammed through a pile of debris, and was impaled upon a sharp iron rod through his back and out his chest. Anubis came out after gunning down another guard program, and Janus turned to him. Anubis stopped to see if he needed help. Janus looked at him, tossing him his sword. Anubis caught it and looked at it, and then to Janus, surprised at what he just did. Janus simply nodded to him, pulling out his two Beretta 96s as he turned to get back to work.

Anubis immediately holstered his Colt M1911A1, and then drew his sword from his sheath, grinning like a demon. A few simulacra immediately targeted him, thinking that with his sword, he would be susceptible to gun fire. Unfortunately, he didn't give them a chance. He focused and ran at the first three that got in his way, slashing one of them across the forehead, effectively scalping the program, then jumped into the air and landed between the other two. In a blink of an eye, Anubis spun and slashed both programs from the waist, in a form similar to a samurai warrior. But it didn't end there.

He saw Kane and four other renegades come out into the opening to greet the warrior, firing at him with their machine guns and Kane's now freshly reloaded revolvers. Anubis jumped backwards in the air, focusing again.

"Scatter!" Kane commanded. The simulacra complied and ran in different directions, still firing at the dashing blonde swordsman. Anubis wasted no time at running at the next simulacrum, who was wielding a Colt M4A1 with an M203 grenade launcher. The simulacrum tried to squeeze off a grenade at point blank, but Anubis split the gun barrels with a swipe with his sword, then spun around and slit the simulacrum's throat. He then flipped up into the air, dodging bullet fire from another program, and landed with his katana blade pointed down. The blade pierced through the simulacrum's mouth and down his throat, slicing the program's innards from the inside.

That left two simulacra before Kane. Anubis drew his sword from the simulacrum's corpse, and threw the body in the path of one of Kane's bullet shots and an assault rifle burst from another simulacrum. He then somersaulted to the side of the corpse, going into a mad dash toward another simulacrum. This one, possessing a bayonet, attempted to stab at Anubis, but the assassin squatted and sliced at the simulacrum's legs. The cut severed the limbs at the knees, but before it could fall backwards, Anubis made an upper slash from the pelvis all the way up through the head, splitting the program in half and spraying blood in between the two halves.

Time seemed to slow, as Kane saw the crazed, almost psychotic grin on Anubis' face. For the first time since he joined the Resistance, he felt fear in his mind. No one, not even Gash or the Potential had caused him to feel like this. Even as the last simulacrum leaped into the air to kick his opponent, the blonde haired swordsman merely forced his blade into the air, the simulacrum was effectively impaled upon the blade. In a fast motion, Anubis kicked the body at Kane, which he dodged, letting the corpse splatter against a metal beam.

"Damn you, ninja!" Kane roared, firing his revolvers at the man before him, but each shot missed. Once again, Anubis dashed at Kane, slashing at the gunman. However, Kane had managed to parry the slashes, attempting to block one of them with one of his revolver, but the blade cut through the barrel as if it were made of paper. Kane threw the gun at the swordsman in an attempt to dissuade him, but the blonde man dodged and slashed again.

This time, he got Kane. A silver wave slashed at Kane's right, and a second later, his arm exploded from his torso.

Kane cried out, seeing blood spray from his side. "My arm!" he cried, dropping the ground and grasping the wound. He expected Anubis to finish him off, but the swordsman, seeing that his opponent was disabled, decided not to grant him death. Instead, he backed off, allowing Kane to continue to weave from the pain before eventually realizing none of it was real. Grasping the wound, he backed away to the staircase behind him and escaped the fray.

One of the simulacrum jumped on a vertical support and went to pounce on Janus. As he walked, he turned and saw it waiting to be noticed. It sprung out with a "RARRRGH" but Janus' instinct kicked in first. It was on the floor with three bullets in its face before it knew what hit him. In the distance, two more guards armed with guns came out from their hiding spots. Strafing to the side, Janus fired in their direction, blood bursting from their chests as they fell, their weapons going down with them.

When he stopped, he saw a shadow above him and looked up in time to see another simulacrum hanging from the ceiling above, ready to land on him and stab him. He dashed sideways and the guard's attack missed when it landed , but when it looked up it was greeted with a volley of bullets. Another guard came around the corner behind Janus, armed with a handgun. Everything else seemed to fade out, when Janus heard a distinct click behind him.

As the guard aimed the gun, Janus turned and smashed it in the face with his right foot. With blurred vision, the guard could just make out the barrel of a gun in his face.

BAM.

The lone Beretta 96 had now run out of bullets, so Janus tossed it aside. With the last enemy now dead, he holstered his other Beretta 96 and looked over to the others. Kira was tending to Irvine, making sure his wound would be alright, and Anubis was re-sheathing his sword.

"Thanks," he called out to Janus.

He looked over to Anubis behind his mirrored lenses, not expecting the gratitude. He paused for a moment. "Don't mention it."

----

Two people jogged down the street side by side as squad cars flew past them down the road in the opposite direction. Suddenly, their bodies twisted in all sorts of directions as they transformed into Agents Williams and Miller. Williams's hand went to his ear plug. "Conflict in sector thirty-two."

"Unknown entities and forbidden operatives detected," Miller answered.

"Report to the situation immediately," Williams said in orderly fashion. They both turned and ran in the same direction as the squad cars were headed.

----

"Oh shit, this isn't good!" Glitch called out.

"What's the matter?" Marley asked.

Glitch did some quick typing and the screen refreshed, showing the new players who entered to game.

"What tipped you off, the Agents or the police?" Marley snapped back at him.

"What's the problem?" Blade asked, turning from the keypads on the side of his chair.

"Authorities are headed to the construction site like going over the speed limit is the new fad, and Agents are also on the way."

"Damn, where are the others?" Blade asked.

"Stuck on the top floor. By the time they get down to the first floor the building will be surrounded and Agents will be ready to sweep the place."

"Okay, we're gonna need car, so get one of those ready at our entrance point, and a gun. Call the Captain, tell him we're on the way, and we're gonna create a diversion to get at least the Agents out of the way."

"How do you want me to get the others out?"

"Hack a helicopter onto the roof, and expect a phone call."

"A heli--"

"Don't ask questions, just do it."

Marley patted Glitch on the back as he made his way over to the chairs to help load the others in.

Glitch nodded. "Alright, I'm on it."

----

The receiver began to ring suddenly at Sideways's workstation aboard the Nosferatu. Puzzled, he looked over to Blood as it rang a second time.

"Well what are you looking at me for, pick it up," Blood told him. Off to the side, Balthasar, leaning against a wall with his arms and legs crossed, rolled his eyes.

"Operator," Sideways said as he answered the call.

"Sideways, this is Stealth. Let me speak to Captain Blood."

Sideways's eyebrows wrinkled and he turned to Blood. "It's Stealth, he wants to talk to you, Blood."

"Where's he calling from?"

"Where are you Stealth?"

"I'm in the Matrix. I have some news he'll want to hear." Stealth said in his cool-toned voice. Sideways looked back over at Blood.

"He's got something for you."

Blood arched a brow, and walked over to take the headset from Sideways. Once he put it on, he spoke up. "What is it Stealth?"

"Roughly an hour ago, the Nemesis crew entered the Matrix in a strange area effected by some sort of glitch, they were probably investigating. Syx saw the same glitch, and reported to Captain Vega that the Nemesis crew was also inside. He decided to send in Gash, Kane, and Myself, with a few of those program entities that Captain Raven copied and gave to us, the ones he got from Anome."

"He did what!? I didn't give the authorization to anyone to use those!" Blood yelled. Balthasar snickered too himself off in his corner.

"There's more. Once we got there, we made contact with the Nemesis crew. There were also some sort of exiles, all dressed up in silver."

"Well what happened once you made contact?"

"Shooting started, and before long, the four from the Nemesis crew escaped. Irvine, Kira, and two new crew members I've never seen before were there. Gash, Kane, and the simulacra went after them, they split up."

"What about you?"

"I parted from the group to watch from afar for recon so I could provide this accurate report of the situation."

"Good thinking. What happened then?"

"Kira and one of the new guys got out, while Irvine went with the other new guy, a blonde. They ran to a construction site where they were trapped by Gash and his entourage. They played cat and mouse with them, both Irvine and his crew mate suffered bullet wounds. Then, the other two that got out earlier had come back, armed this time, and they silently infiltrated the building, which was now filled with more copies of the simulacra, acting as guards."

"Once they made it to the top floor where the others were, a gunfight started, which was part of a rescue attempt to save Irvine and the blonde guy. Many of the simulacra were killed in the fight, but Syx kept loading them into the Matrix to help Gash and Kane out. Gash took the blonde guys sword before the gun fight started, and during the gunfight, he went to fight the other new guy that was with Kira. He was disarmed, and with the blonde guy's sword, the new guy cut open his throat and his chest, before kicking him out of a large window paine. He fell many stories down to the ground and was impaled upon a piece of metal debris."

Blood was dumbfounded, at a loss of words, and it became obvious on his face. All he could let out was a "Huh?"

Balthasar arched a brow. "What's the matter?"

"Gash is dead."

Balthasar's eyes widened. "Who killed him?"

"A damn new guy!" Blood yelled. He gritted his teeth. "Is there any more?"

"Afterwards, the blonde was given back his sword and he started fighting with that as well as the guns he was given by the new guy earlier when they first got in. The blonde guy cut Kane's arm and then Kane escaped, while the Nemesis crew finished off the rest of the simulacra. Authorities, and possibly Agents, are now proceeding to the area."

"Are they still inside?"

"Trapped on the top floor with authorities surrounding the ground level, they have no way out besides up, and the building's too far for them to jump to any other rooftops."

A slight grin came over Blood's face. "Perfect. Stealth, we'll take it from here. I'll have Sideways hack an exit for you that will patch you back to your ship. I have that idiot Vega to take care of. Don't worry about an excuse, I'll tell him we noticed from the monitors."

"Understood." Stealth hung up the phone.

Blood turned to Sideways. "You get that exit ready." He then turned to Balthasar. "You get your gear ready, you're going in."

"To do what?"

"To kill Irvine and his friends."

A mischievous grin crept up on Balthasar's face. "Yes, Captain."

----

Kane's eyes opened quickly and he took a breath as he lay in his chair on the Merciless. You could see in his eyes, first, a look of confusion as he placed himself and tried remembering where he was, a side effect of jacking out of the Matrix, much like when you first wake up from a deep sleep. Once it all came to him, he exhaled a sigh of slight relief. When he went to get up, pain shot up through his left arm and he looked at it with gritted teeth, remembering how Anubis cut him earlier with his sword.

The sword... he remembered, an angered look forming on his face as he remembered its owner whom he now despised, and how he caught him in the arm with it. He looked over to Gash's chair, where Gash's body lay motionless with no breath, and that look of death on his Vietnamese face, blood all over his chin, neck, and shirt from gurgling it up after his throat was slashed open by Janus, the man only known to them now as "the new guy", using Anubis, "the blonde guy"'s sword to do it.

That new guy... Kane thought as the quiet sound of a flat lined vitals monitor whined in the background. Behind his stone face of anger, you could almost see in his eyes, a touch of sadness or depression in the death of his friend.

"Are you okay?" he heard a voice say from behind him. He turned to look and saw Pagan. He was about 6'0, dark hair, in his late 30s. He wore old olive drab fatigues and a black t-shirt, along with his boots and black gloves. On his head she wore a black bandana. He could see Kane was distressed.

"Kane?" he asked again.

He shook his head, coming out of his trance. "Yeah...I'll be alright, just need to fix up this arm. Why haven't you guys cleaned him up yet?" he asked, waving his hand at Gash's body.

Pagan sighed, it wasn't like Kane was the only one who cared. "...We'll get to it."

Syx's receiver rang. It was Blood. "What is it Captain?" Syx asked.

"GET VEGA ON THE LINE RIGHT NOW!!" Blood yelled. Vega's eyes widened when he heard it, and Syx winced from the sound blasting into his ear. He handed Vega the headset and he put it on.

"You shouldn't yell that loud, sentinels might hear you," Vega stated.

"No Vega, I think I need to, because apparently, common sense and logic doesn't sink into your thick head!" Blood berated.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me Vega, you're already an expert. Why did you use those combat programs Raven gave everyone?"

"Because, 'Captain', it was a good opportunity to squash the Nemesis crew."

"I never gave you the authorization!"

"Why do you think I didn't ask for your permission? Sending in three men would have been stupid, they would have been outnumbered."

"One of them died anyway, you damn shit!" The look on Vega's face said "Damn, he caught me there."

"Do you have an excuse for that too Vega? Of course sending in three men would have been stupid, but apparently, according to you, so is thinking!"

"Blood, the--"

"Wrong answer, there is no excuse. Gash unnecessarily died today, and it's your fault because you have poor judgement. He was our best fighter after Balthasar, and now, because you had to try and play hero, he's no longer with us."

"Don't give me that shit about Balthasar, Teacher's pet is more like it."

"You don't get it, do you Vega? Gash is dead. Because of you. You basically killed one of your men."

"I didn't think he would have died, I thought he'd be able to handle himself."

"That's the problem, you didn't think. If you told me, I would have established a crew of guys to go in and take care of them with a plan. Instead you went on your own, sent your men in with a crew of simulacra that were poorly programmed, and two of our men were hurt, one of them dead. There's no excuse for that."

"How the hell did you find out anyway?"

"We were watching the whole thing on our monitors. You didn't think anyone'd notice did you?"

"Hey you listen Blood, I'm tired of your shit, acting like you're the boss and that everyone has to answer to you, just because you have the biggest ship. I'm a captain the same as you, I didn't intend on anyone dying today except Irvine and his crew mates."

"Don't give me that bullshit Vega. I'm the leader around here because I'm the one keeping us alive, not because I have a big ship. If you were in charge, we'd be dead already. You're a captain, and have your own ship? Go back to Zion and listen to Morpheus babble about Neo and his greatness for all I care. The fleet's suffered the loss of a ship already, and we've been fine, we wouldn't suffer greatly if we lost another. Hell it might even do us some good, because now anyone around you has a death wish."

"Go to hell, Blood."

"Look around you. We're already there. I'm just the devil that's here to make life worse for the ones who have their heads up their asses. Today that's you." Blood then hung up.

Syx looked up at Vega. "You alright?"

Vega was furious. With a "RRAARRGH!", he threw the headset hard down on the floor. Kane and Pagan looked over fast.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" Kane asked.

"Blood was watching the whole thing on his monitors and I just got chewed out for using the programs without asking him, and for Gash being killed."

"Sounds...orthodox.." Kane said in a suggestive, yet sure tone.

Vega looked over at Stealth in his chair. "Where the hell is he?"

Suddenly, Stealth's eyes opened as he took a breath and then looked around. Syx looked surprised, as well as everyone else.

"How the hell did you do that?" Syx asked. "I never made you an exit."

"When Blood saw the situation on his ship, he had Sideways make me an exit and reroute it to here so I could get out."

"Well, he's doing everyone favors today, isn't he?" Vega asked sarcastically. He looked over at Pagan, who was helping Stealth out of his chair. "Get Kane's arm fixed up, and then clean up Gash's body. We have to say goodbye."

He sighed. He'd never felt so guilty.

----

Blade opened his eyes and found himself looking out of a phone booth on an empty street. Across the street parked in the alley he saw the truck Glitch gave them, a black Chevy Silverado. He checked his gear: An MP5K with a 15 round clip hanging by a strap and three extra clips, sword in sheath on his back under his coat, cellphone. He hung up the phone and stepped out of the booth.

"C'mon Solitaire, we ain't got time..." he said to himself.

Soon after, her body formed in the phonebooth, in the same way people's bodies disappear when they leave the Matrix, but in reverse. She checked for a gun, and found a Walther PPK. She stepped out and looked to Blade. "Are we ready?"

He nodded in the direction of the truck. "You drive. I got a call to make."

They walked over to the truck. Solitaire climbed into the driver's seat, taking the keys down from the overhead visor and turning on the ignition. Blade hopped into the bed of the truck and found an M240 with a full box magazine of 200 rounds. "Not bad," he remarked as he kneeled down on one knee against the cab and rested the M240 atop his thigh. Solitaire got the truck rolling, and Blade pulled out his phone. He dialed Irvine.

On the top floor of the skyscraper in construction, Irvine and the others could hear the sirens from the other end of town. A look of knowing the impending doom came over Irvine's face.

"Cops," Janus said.

"We'll never get out of here in time," Anubis added.

"How the hell are we gonna get out of here...?" Irvine asked out loud. He tried not to show his panic. Then, his phone rang. He hesitated before finally answering it.

"Hello?"

"Irvine!" Blade said out loud over the engine of the truck. They were moving pretty quickly down a street, passing by a block of apartments going over a face renovation.

"Blade? Where are you?"

"Coming your way with Solitaire."

"What are you going to do?"

"Well I think everyone knows you have no time to get down there before the police get to you, so we got some favors for you."

"What do you mean?"

"By the time we get there, the cops will already be surrounding the building. We'll drive by and try and get some heat off your tail."

"That won't get all the cops away."

"That's what the helicopter's for."

"What helicopter?"

"Glitch hacked one onto the roof, that's your ride out of there. Call him up, he'll have directions for your exits." Blade then hung up. He could tell by the streets they were taking that they were almost there, and he could hear the sirens. Up ahead, there were patrol cars speeding down the road.

"Follow them!" Blade yelled. Solitaire nodded and picked up the speed.

----

Irvine hung up his phone and put it back into his pocket. "Come on, we have to go to the roof."

"Why?" Kira asked. "We can't jump, we'll die."

Irvine sighed at the irony of her statement. "I know, we're not going to jump. Just come with me. Janus, Anubis," he motioned for them to follow him, and to the stairs they went. On the roof, they found a Black Hawk military helicopter, sitting as though it was always there. Irvine removed his phone from his pocket once again. This time, he dialed Glitch.

"Operator."

"Glitch, wanna give us a hand?"

"Alright, listen up. You guys are gonna take the helicopter and fly to separate exits I'm gonna establish in different points of the city, you guys decide who goes with who, you're going in pairs of two."

"Why don't we use just one phone?"

"You guys are all together, you're at a greater risk of attack and death if you all stay together, you'll be splitting up for safety. Which one of you are planning on flying that helicopter?"

Irvine looked at the others. "Who wants to fly?"

"I will," Anubis called out. Suddenly his eyes closed and his eyelids flickered, the pilot program for the Black Hawk downloading into his brain. Once it stopped, he shook his head slightly.

"Okay," Glitch said. "Get going, and stay on the phone, I'll tell you where to fly for the first exit. Hurry, we'll be lucky if this works."

"Come on, let's go." Irvine said to the others. They all got into the Black Hawk, Anubis and Irvine in the cockpit, Janus and Kira in the back. Anubis flipped all the switches, and the rotors began to spin, slowly at first but then they got faster. The helicopter was ready to go.

"Get us out of here," Irvine said. Anubis nodded, pulling back on the joystick. The helicopter lifted and inconspicuously pulled away from the rooftop, unnoticed by the police below.

----