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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 10:33:52 GMT -5
"Cockpit. I'll go see what he's doing." He nodded to Glitch and lightly punched him in the shoulder, and patted Jarvas on the shoulder before he walked past them by going in between them. Jarvas looked over to Glitch, who looked back over to him. "You ready?" Glitch asked, and Jarvas replied with a nod. Motioning over to the chairs, Glitch told Jarvas to have a seat. He then grabbed the plug and inserted it into the canal in Jarvas' head, and chuckled when Jarvas's face cringed. "You'll get used to it," he said. "You're going to upload the training into my head?" Jarvas asked. Glitch shook his head repeatedly in the yes fashion and with an assuring tone he said, "Don't worry, you'll like it, I promise." Then he made his way over to his control setup. He pulled out a small metal box containing several small square shaped disks. He picked one up that had "Basic Operations" written on it and smirked, dropping it back in and digging through the box some more to find a different one. Finally, he said "aha!" and pulled a disk from the box. Jarvas looked over to see what the commotion was about, and Glitch grinned. He popped it into the nearest drive and pressed the engage button on his keyboard. Since his chair was located behind Glitch's station and to the right, Jarvas could see some of the screens. When Glitch put the disk in, one of the screens read "Jeet Kune Do."
"You're gonna upload it into my head? And I'm gonna know it just like that?"
"I hope you're strapped in." Glitch answered with a grin. Jarvas's forehead and eyebrows wrinkled as he tried to figure out what was about to happen, and then Glitch pushed the engage button again. Jarvas's eyes closed but his eyebrows raised, and then his face cringed, and then his eyes opened. He panted for air trying to figure out just happened, but one change he noted was he now knew Jeet Kune Do like the back of his hand.
"Whoa.."
"Ready for more?"
"Bring it on."
Glitch nodded, and the uploading continued. Over the course of the next few hours, several different styles of combat were uploaded into Jarvas's head. Every so often, the words on the screen would change in accordance with what style was being loaded. Hapkido, Xing Yi, Drunken Fist, Mi Zong, Ninjitsu, Sambo, Tong Bei, Yuan Yang, Shuai Chiao, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Judo, Karate, Tai Chi, San Shou, Aikido, Eagle Claw, Ba Gua, Mantis, Shaolin Fist, Baji Quan, Lui He Ba Fa, Longfist, Wing Chun, Tae Kwon Do, Gun-Kata, Leopard, Fu Jow Pai, Tang Soo Do, Escrima, Nan Chuan, Jujitsu, Hung Gar, Crab, Pi Gua, Snake, Crane, Kenpo, Shotokan, Dragon, Kickboxing, Kung-Fu, Black Dragon, Judo, and Kendo, among many others, were all loaded up, just to name a few. Irvine approached Glitch as he was typing commands for the uploading procedures.
"What's his status?"
"Nonstop. He's doing pretty good."
"How long until he's finished?"
"You couldn't have come at a better time." He watched as a bar finished growing from one point on a screen to the other and when it did, the uploading procedures were finally complete. Irvine stood over Jarvas and his eyes opened, and he let out a sigh of relaxation as he looked up at Irvine with newfound knowledge in his eyes.
"I'm unstoppable."
"Let's see.."
The next thing Jarvas knew, he was standing before Irvine on the rooftop of a skyscraper building. He looked around in amazement, in awe at the fact that this was all a computer program yet it looked so real. Real. What was real now? He shook his head, telling himself not to worry about it. He looked down at his clothes. He was dressed in a form fitting black t -shirt, black BDU pants, and combat boots that went up over his pants and reached up as high as his knees. It was night time. He turned around and saw Irvine standing there in his dress pants, dress shoes, and dress shirt, all black in color.
"What is this?"
"This is the Jump Program. Our version is made differently from the kind the other ships use, in order to condition you a bit more. Practice makes perfect."
"Practice at what?"
"Before you can survive in the Matrix, no matter how much combat and fighting knowledge you have, you must free your mind."
"Free my mind?"
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 10:34:32 GMT -5
"Yes. Open it up. Throw away your fears, your disbelief, your inconfidence. Concentrate on executing the improbable, and more importantly, the impossible. Free your mind."
Jarvas arched a brow, and then suddenly Irvine ran from him and jumped across the six foot gap to the building across from the one he previously stood on. In response, Jarvas lifted his eyebrows. That looked easy..But we're pretty high up... Irvine looked back. "Well? What are you waiting for?" Jarvas looked up and had a skeptical expression on his face. Nevertheless though, he shrugged, shaking his head, and took a few steps back so he would have a decent enough distance to get a running start. After walking a few steps, he stopped, turned around, and looked back. Irvine was standing with his arms crossed, looking around as if he had better things to do. Jarvas broke into a quick sprint, and eventually built up speed. When he reached the ledge, he stepped up onto it and pushed off, flying over the gap and landing next to Irvine. He looked back before looking to his mentor. "That was it?" Irvine grinned and shook his head. "It gets better." Jarvas' forehead wrinkled when he tried to comprehend what he meant, but once again, Irvine broke off running and went from one end of the roof to the other and jumped up. He went through the air and landed on the next building. This time, the gap was about half of the width of a city block. Ooookay.. Jarvas shook his head, got into running position, and bolted off again. The closer he got to the other edge of the building, the faster he ran. The edge came, and he jumped. Up into the air he went, bringing his legs down in front of him before he landed, and with a "WAM" he landed on the next rooftop. He stood up and stopped for a moment, and turned around. He looked over the ledge and looked at how high up they were. Then he looked at the distance of the jump. How the hell did I do that? He turned back to Irvine as though he was expecting something. "This is it," Irvine said. "This is the last jump. If you can do this, you can do anything." Jarvas stared at him as he nodded. And then he was off. He repeated the same process, running and gathering speed, and jumping at the ledge, soaring over the gap that was literally a city block wide and landing on the rooftop across the street. Now Jarvas stood there alone. He inhaled, and sighed slowly, fixing his view on the rooftop. Free my mind. I can do this... Irvine watched through his sunglasses. Jarvas began to run. "Come on, come on...." Irvine said to himself. He got closer to the ledge. Glitch, Marley, Anubis, Blade, Ride, and Solitaire's eyes were all glued to the screens, the suspense building. "Here it comes," Glitch whispered. He made it to the edge and pushed off and flew up into the air. Moving his legs as though he were running, he stared at the point on the rooftop next to Irvine. I have to get there.. Irvine looked up and followed Jarvas' path through the sky, and was eventually looking straight up above to his zenith. Jarvas touched down behind him and the sound of crushed concrete was heard. He had landed in a kneeling position, and it seemed as though he was waiting for something. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around. I made it. "He made it!" Solitaire said out loud. Blade nodded his head a few times. "This guy's pretty good. How useful you think he's gonna be now, Ride?" She smirked and hit him in shoulder and he chuckled. Jarvas stood up and Irvine came over to him with a smile. "Good work. See what happens when you believe?" Jarvas nodded. He looked at the rooftop he had jumped from across the street, then back down to himself, and all around. "In this virtual reality, we can do anything as long as we believe?" Irvine shrugged slightly and nodded at the same time. "Almost anything. Only The One could do whatever he wanted." Jarvas nodded as though to say he understood. Irvine took his phone out of his pocket and opened the face shield. The phone rang, and Glitch answered on the other side. "What's up?" he asked. "Next training program, please." Glitch nodded, typed in the command, and pressed engage, and the rooftop slightly changed around them. Jarvas looked at Irvine with a questioning look as he put his phone back in his pocket.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 10:35:11 GMT -5
"This is a sparring program. Unlike the other ship captains who use a dojo for their sparring simulations, we use city locations like this one to be a more accurate simulation of the real thing, because the odds are, you're more likely to be defending yourself somewhere in the Matrix rather than a dojo. Therefore, this gets you better conditioned. Before we fight though, there are a few pointers you should know. First of all, this sparring program is just like the Matrix in that both are virtual reality simulations based on rules. Some of the rules can be bent, and some of them can be broken, for example, physics like breathing and gravity need not apply, but that all depends solely on one thing."
Jarvas arched a brow and Irvine tapped his own forehead with an index finger.
"The more open your mind is, the more things you can achieve. Now, fight me, if you can. Remember: free your mind."
In an instant, Jarvas put himself into a random ready stance, and Irvine did the same. Then, the fight begun. They ran at eachother. Jarvas punched for Irvines's head with his right fist, but he blocked with his left forearm, and punched back with his right fist. Jarvas pushed his arm down to his right with his left hand, and executed a mid kick to his kidneys on his right side. The kick connected, but Irvine showed no expression of pain. Then Jarvas went to chop at his neck, but Irvine raised his left arm, wrapped it around Jarvas' oncoming arm, and pulled it over to his left, yanking him down in the same direction. His head was right in front of Irvine's now. Irvine punched his head twice with his right fist, then followed with a knee strike to Jarvas' gut area, causing him to bend down forward slightly, so Irvine finished off the combo with an elbow strike to Jarvas's back. He fell sort of, but then came back suddenly and gave Irvine a hard uppercut with his right fist, causing him to nearly fall backwards, his arms going up. With the same fist, Jarvas backhanded the right side of Irvine's head, causing him to face his left, and followed up with a punch to his gut. Irvine kneeled over, and Jarvas chopped Irvine's mid back, sending him downward. With his left foot, Jarvas kicked Irvine back up to his feet, and with his knuckles in the middle of his fingers, he struck Irvine right in his chest. From the waist up, Irvine tilted back. Jarvas went to follow up with a left fist towards Irvine's head, but with his right forearm he blocked, and wrapped his arm around the Jarvas' arm and pulled him towards him, so that now the his left side was facing Irvine. He gave out a medium kick to the his gut, causing him to bend forward and lean right into Irvine's followup attack, which was a kick to the his head. Irvine then let go of his arm and punched him right in the nose with his left fist. Jarvas spun around 270-degrees counter-clockwise, and was now facing Irvine. He delivered a palm strike to Jarvas' chest and sent him flying back and he landed on the ground. He landed on his hip, but he was unphased. Irvine dusted himself off and looked at Jarvas
"You did good. Solid, fluid motion, yet you try to get too many shots in too fast. Your mistake however was not in your method.."
Jarvas got up and started running at Irvine. He got ready, and started running at Jarvas. When they had about 5 feet between themselves, They jumped up into the air.
[Slow motion]
When Jarvas jumped, his left leg was bent at the knee and bent at the pelvis area so that if he was sitting, it would be one half of his lap. His other leg was nearly fully extended. His left arm was held out in front of him with a clawed hand, and his right hand was back, like he was about to give out a punch. As his right fist was brought forward, his left hand came back. Irvine had his arms wide open with fists similar to a Gorilla would have before pounding his chest, and his chest was facing Jarvas, unguarded.
[End Slow Motion]
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 10:35:39 GMT -5
Jarvas' fist smashed right into Irvine's head, in his left eye. His head snapped back, and Jarvas landed in front him. His head came forward, so Jarvas gave him a roundhouse right elbow to the nose, causing him to look towards his right, and then Jarvas smacked his face back forward by using his left fist, with his elbow still pointed forward, executing a back hand punch. He was still trying to place himself from getting smacked up so much, so Jarvas used it to his advantage and gave him a right hand forward punch into his chest, sending him back about two feet. Behind Irvine was the rooftop stairwell doorway and behind Jarvas was nothing. Irvine shook his head, and made a quick dash towards Jarvas with his right fist out forward, and came at him like a bullet. He had just barely missed, for Jarvas had leaned back slightly and Irvine's fist barely clipped his face. If he had hit him, it probably would have had knocked him out and nearly took his head right off his shoulders. Jarvas jumped up when he was safely out of Irvine's range of attack.
Back on the Nemesis, the crew had rounded up around Glitch's control setup after they heard from Marley that Irvine was fighting Jarvas after they has asked where he was. Ride whistled. "Didn't think he'd be this good on his first spar match." Blade smirked. "Beginners luck." Marley shook his head, "Wow, he's got a lot of fight in him." He chuckled. "Maybe he can square off against an Agent." Anubis arched a brow and glanced over at Marley before he looked back at the screens. "He'll never be that good." Solitaire chuckled. "He speaks," she said as though she was amused. Glitch spoke out, "Yeah okay we know guys, shut up. Fight's still on."
[Bullet-time]
As Irvine came by, Jarvas jumped up in the air and performed a spinning round house kick, with his fists up in karate stance fashion.
[End Bullet-time]
Jarvas's foot smashed into Irvine's back, and sent him flying. His head would have smashed into floor, had he not put his arms up in front of his face prior to impact. Irvine got up as fast as he could and turned, now facing the city below, and when he looked behind him to see Jarvas was running at him. It appeared as if he was going to punch him, so Irvine put his arms up ready to block a punch. But a punch wasn't what Jarvas had in mind. When he was 2 feet away from Irvine, he dropped. He caught himself on the floor with his hands, and with his right foot, sent a kick right up behind Irvine's arms. It would have been perfect, but he leaned back and Jarvas' foot went flying up past his head in front of his face. He stepped to the side and kicked Jarvas up. He flipped up backwards and landed on his back, and looked up in time to see Irvine right about to stomp on his mid section with his foot. He rolled out of the way just in time, and Irvine's foot smashed into the concrete, causing it to crack slightly. Jarvas picked himself up and got back into a fighting stance, but Irvine merely nodded.
"Good, that's enough. You handled yourself quite well."
Jarvas nodded. "Thanks. Is that all?" Irvine shook his head. "No. There is one more test you have to take in order for this training to be complete." Arching a brow, Jarvas thought of what he could have been talking about. "What else do I have to do?" Irvine walked over to the edge of the building and surveyed the view of the city below. "Whenever you go into the Matrix, you run two major risks: Getting killed, or getting captured, and we run that risk now more than we ever have."
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:10:51 GMT -5
"Why?"
"When the War began, Agents, who had previously been removed from the Matrix, were upgraded and reinstalled for exterminating purposes. They're programs that can move in and out of any body still plugged into the Matrix, and you've seen them before. Originally they weren't as hectic, and we didn't have to worry much about them, and if the situation called for it, we could briefly stand our ground against them. Now, they're practically impossible to fight, and they're frequently present. They'll either kill you on the spot, or if you're a ship captain, they may capture you to get Zion mainframe codes, and then kill you. Either way, we're more of a priority to them, and they are extremely dangerous." Jarvas's eyebrows raised in reaction to how bad the Agents sounded. He took note that Irvine had mentioned Zion again, that which he had no knowledge of. Now was the time to get out of the way. "You keep talking about Zion; What is it?" Irvine turned around to face him. "Zion is the last human city. It's the only place we have left for refuge when we aren't in our ships. It was once almost destroyed, but thanks to Neo we were lucky and avoided that. It has more defense systems than it did before, but it's still treated as though it's always at risk." "What for?" Irvine's tone became more serious. "Those machines are still out there, and we are now in another state of war with them. As long as they exist, Zion will always be in danger of attack. If it were to be obliterated, we would have nothing." He sighed. There never seemed to be an end to this living in fear. Living day to day, hour to hour, hoping and praying they would see the next. He called himself a fool for thinking that when Neo made the peace deal with the machines, that Zion was really safe and that their worries were over. He knew it wasn't. He knew that the machines could attack at any moment they pleased; The fear was still there. That's why he chose to leave Zion. Living as though the war had not ended was more comfortable to him and the other ships' crews than living where you weren't sure if it was over or not. Now, he got what he wanted, at the cost of the peace of Zion. It was a guilt that weighed on his shoulders that he didn't think he would ever be able to get rid of. The look of reminiscent remorse slowly crept over his face. Jarvas stood there waiting, and he didn't seem to notice or remember. Glitch frowned. "What the hell is he doing, taking a coffee break?" Blade walked over to the chairs and stood over the one Irvine sat in. With his right hand, he slapped Irvine on the cheek, but not too hard. "That oughta do it."
Irvine snapped out of his trance when he felt the small bit of pain on his face. He shook his head and looked back over to Jarvas. "I'm sorry, I--" but he was cut off by him. "No, it's alright. I understand. What does this last training involve?" Irvine tilted his head slighlty to the left, and then he remembered what he was talking about, and clarified with a nod, "Oh! Yeah, that's right. Like I was saying, when you go into the Matrix these days, you risk your life, and the chance of getting captured. Should anyone be captured or held up and not able to get to their exit in time, the first available person from any of our ships will be sent in to get you out. Your objective here is to be the knight in shining armor. There will be people who can turn into Agents at any possible moment. Cops can be called in and will try to kill you, their bullets will hurt, but if they hit you in an area where you would die immediately, the simulation will end. There will be a simulated fighter that you have to rescue, and if it is killed before you get back to the exit, you fail. You are to make sure it gets out of the Matrix before you do. You'll be given a pistol and two extra magazines. You'll have a phone to contact us with in case you need any help. Good luck."
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:11:15 GMT -5
As he stood there, Jarvas watched the world around him change. Irvine's image before him faded into a transparent figure broken up by particles of light and then disappeared. The new surroundings consumed the existing environment he was in like a huge expanding mass and though it were a puddle. The border of the new programmed reality as it swarmed over all of the buildings and streets and floor and sky was hi-lighted in a bright green light. Jarvas took a moment to look around him as the changes took place. Now, instead of standing on a rooftop, he stood in a crowded street full of pedestrians and cars, and skyscrapers towered over him. There were changes on him as well. Adding to what he was already wearing, the bright green light came over his body and a black ankle length coat with a collar but no lapels, and skirt with extra fabirc formed over him. It almost resembled a cape. On his head, the green light took the shape of sunglasses. The lenses were sort of oval shaped, with a frame holding them in place on the top and in the middle of the lenses but with no frames on the bottom of the lenses. He felt the gun in the back of his waistband, and the two clips attached to his belt in the back, both well concealed by the coat. Theses change happened in a matter of maybe five seconds tops. He looked around a bit more at the people and the buildings to familiarize himself with the new environment he was in, and then he heard the phone in his pocket ring. He took it out and pressed the button to release the face shield, and it quickly slid down with a "CHAK!" He put the phone up to his ear.
"Alright, you all situated?" the voice on the other end asked. It was Glitch.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Tell me where he is."
"Okay. He's stuck on an apartment rooftop downtown from where you are, building 344. He was running from an Agent but he stalled it for now, but you have to hurry, because the cops are after him and they'll have helicoptors."
"I'll need something fast."
"Coming right up. Anything else?"
"A shotgun, SPAS-15 model. Make it quick."
"The alley to your left."
Jarvas shut the face shield and put the phone back into his pocket. Looking over to his left, he saw an alley, just like Glitch said, so he made his way over to it, pushing his way through people as he went. When he finally made it to the other side of the street, he didn't waste time and went down it quickly and saw what Glitch left for him. It was a black ninja-type motorcycle. "I said fast, not a crotch rocket." He noticed that on the back right side of the bike, there was a gun boot and inside it, the SPAS-15, set to auto. He hopped on and started the ignition and revved the engine making a loud "VVVMM" noise. The traffic and all the pedestrians in the street would be a problem, so he turned the bike and went down the rest of the alley into the less occupied backroads. Speeding through the roads in the downtown direction, he thought of what Glitch told him, how the guy he had to go in after was stuck on a rooftop. He turned right and thought of how he could get up onto the roof in a mannaer that they could both get down. He built up speed, going about 40 MPH, and he could hear sirens from the other end of the city. Time was running short. He looked at the address number on one of the buildings he passed, and it read 426. He still had some way to go. He switched gears and kept going straight and then made another left. Looking to the number signs again, he caughta glimpse of 340 as he passed by, so he knew the building was just down the block.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:11:53 GMT -5
The man stood on the roof dressed in black pants and boots and a red shirt tucked into his waist line and belt. He had a two-tone P8 in his waist band, black gloves on his fist that ended at his wrist. His hair was short, black, and spiked, and he had a goatee. His glasses were black framed with red lenses. He listened nervously as the sirens got closer, and he heard the whooping of helicoptor blades. In the distance, he saw the helicoptor itself. Looking around, seeing buildings with rooftops too low to jump on without hurting himself, and buildings that were tall enough were too far to make a jump to.He clenched his fist. "Shit!" He tried his phone again, but it was dead, of no use. He threw it down to the street and it smashed into bits. Back a few blocks back he was being chased by an Agent, but he caused a ten-car pile up and that gave him enough time to run a few more blocks. It was unfortunate though to find after climbing up the fire escape ladders that the door to get down into the building was locked, and he couldn't jump. If he went back down, he risked another Agent getting a lock on his position.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:12:09 GMT -5
Jarvas zoomed down the block past the building the guy was stuck up on. He saw a multi-story parking garage across from the building that was too far to jump from to get to the apartment rooftop, but he wasn't planning to jump. He stopped the bike in front of the parking garage with a fish-tail, and the back tire screeched. After switching gears again, he went forward and busted through the small gate and went up the ramp to the next level. There were five levels in all. Ride watched the screens and arched her eyebrow. "What's he doing?" Anubis shrugged. "I don't know. I would have used a grappling hook." When Jarvas made it up to the fifth level, he saw a small ramp on the other side farthest from him. He backed the bike up, and he heard the helicoptor and sirens getting closer. "No way," Irvine said out as he watched. Jarvas hit the gas and with a loud "VVVVMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM" filling the air, he flew across the rooftop and hit the ramp. He went flying up into the air. The guy on the other roof watched in awe. The bike slammed down on the roof and Jarvas swooped around, hitting the breaks. The pilots of the helicoptor were in eye view now. The Agent was with them. The helicoptor flew overhead and circled around to come back to make another pass. "I'm Chase," the guy said. "Come on!" said Jarvas. Taking the hint, Chase jumped onto the bike as Jarvas revved the engine again. He started to drive, and the pilot brought the helicoptor around in the air in front of the building to stop Jarvas from making the jump, with the door facing Jarvas, the Agent facing him. Acknowledging this, Jarvas pulled the SPAS-15 out from the gun boot, pointed it up at the blade rotors and fired twice. The bits from both blasts went up and hit into the the spinning blade on top of the helicoptor. It sparked and whined, and the helicoptor began to spin out of control. The pilots flew forward and tried to move out of the way of the building. He hit the gas, and the bike raced forward, off the rooftop of the apartment. They flew through the air and the bike went through one of the huge glass windows on the fourth level of the parking garage . The pilots tried to control the coptor, but it started to fall and it leaned forward, and crashed into a nearby buildingside with a loud explosion, killing the pilots inside. When they landed on the top of the parking garage however, Jarvas looked back to see the Agent jump up into the window after them from the ground below. "Damnit!" He turned and drove down to the next level of the parking garage, but he knew it would be of no use. "We gotta ditch this bike." Jarvas said. He rode off into a corner and they both got off. Now they were on level three of the parking garage. Jarvas looked over and saw all of the cars. "We can sneak out behind them." The Agent came down and saw the lone bike, hesitating for a moment, then began scanning the area. Jarvas and Chase were ducked behind the cars, moving ever so gently as not to make a sound. Slowly moving along, Chase slipped and hit into a car with an alarm. It sounded off, giving away their spot with loud sirens blaring and echoing. "Oh that's bad," Glitch said as he watched. Seeing the Agent look over in their direction, Jarvas first pushed Chase away and then dashed out of the way, quick enough not to get hit by the bullets sent flying his way. They both ran, ducking behind cars and hiding behind pillars, over to the nearest set of ramps leading down to the next lowest level. The Agent fired and they ducked, the bullets almost making their mark, concrete bits flying up into the air from the impact points. More car alarms sounded off. Jarvas looked out from the concrete pillar he hid behind and fired back three rounds. The Agent's body suddenly blurred, and he moved in all sorts of positions, the bullets passing him by and hitting the wall far off behind him.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:12:59 GMT -5
Jarvas looked back to Chase. "Go," he told him. He nodded and jumped over the railing, falling down to the next ramp. He landed in a crouch and ran down the rest of the way to the bottom. Jarvas faced the Agent as he backed toward the ramp cutout, and kept shooting until he ran out of bullets. When he did, the Agent went from blurry to solid again and a sly smile came over his face. He raised his gun and Jarvas ducked back behind the pillar. Three rounds flew past where he was standing. Had he not moved, he would have been killed. He ran quickly and jumped down the same way Chase did, following the same path down to the bottom. Putting his gun back into the holster under his jacket, the Agent walked over to where Jarvas jumped from to see where he might have landed. Smirking, with a nod, he walked off. "Are you hurt?" Jarvas asked as he made his way over to Chase and reloaded his gun. He looked back to check for the Agent, seeing no sign of him. "Where did he go?" he asked out loud. "No, let's keep movi--DUCK!!" Jarvas turned his head to see the Agent pick up a car as if it was as light as a feather. His eyes widened; He was awe struck. He shook his head and jumped out of the way as the Agent hurled the car in his direction. It slammed through the wall of the parking garage, and that was all it took to get Jarvas moving again. He and Chase both started to run agaun, the Agent running right after them, fast. Very fast. As they both ran as fast as they could, Jarvas pulled the phone out of his pocket as his coat billowed out behind him. After opening the face shield, he put the phone up to his face. "Glitch!!--" [BOOM..BOOM BOOM] the bullets zipped past his head. "Where's the exit!?" he yelled into the phone. Chase turned back and fired back [BAM BAM]. "It's two blocks away on 5th street. A phonebooth. You're almost there." Dropping the phone, he pulled onto Chase's arm and pulled. The both of them started running as fast as they could, but the Agent was still about twenty feet behind them. There was no way they were going to be able to run two city blocks away from this thing, so they had to find a short cut. Jarvas looked up ahead and saw one of those stores where the owner lives on the top of the store, and the door to get upstairs is next to the door that leads into the store itself. Holding his gun up and aiming at the doorknob that he was sure of being locked, he fired a few rounds until he saw it hang limp. Leading Chase, and unfortunately the Agent, he ran up to the door and kicked it in, running up the stairs and into the apartment. Chase followed, the Agent at least twenty feet behind him still, so he didn't want to give him the chance to catch up by shooting at him. He follows Jarvas up the stairs and to the back of the house where he was waiting. "Up the fire escape! he instructed, and up they went. When the Agent caught up, he was slowed down when he tried shooting at them and climbing the stairs at the same time. Every round he fired missed and made a loud "PANG!" or "TWANG!" noise when it hit the steel. They made it up to the roof, and without say, they ran to the edge and jumped over across the street to the roof top on the other side of the street. When they landed, they ran and jumped one more time. The Agent was one roof behind them; The exit was on the sidewalk below. "The exit is down there. Go, I'll cover you." Jarvas said to Chase. He looked and nodded. "Alright. Thank you." He ran over to the fire escape and ahead and Jarvas looked back at the Agent. [BOOM BOOM] Two shots wizzed past him and he fired back [BAM BAM BAM BAM]. The Agent's body blurred again, and he stood there like that until Jarvas had stopped firing, then solidified again. Jarvas ran over to the fire escape ladder and looked down to the sidewalk. He saw Chase enter the phone booth and disappear; Then he started his way down. The Agent stood there and waited for a moment. His head shook and his body transformed into the civilian he had originally taken over. When Jarvas was low enough, he let go of his ladder and fell down the rest of the way to the sidewalk, only a ten foot drop. The phonebooth was just down the block, so he started running. Jarvas looked back again to make sure he wasn't being followed; He saw a car pulling into a parallel parking spot. The driver's head began to shake, and it transformed into the Agent. He dropped to the floor as the Agent moved to open the car door. As he fell he aimed at the gas tank under the backside of a car, and when he fell , he fired a shot. The bullet ripped through the air and smashed into the gas tank making a small hole. A "CLANK!" was heard, there was a spark, and was the Agent passed the car, the exploded into a fury of flames, definitely putting the Agent out of commission-for now. Slowly, he got himself up off of the payment and walked over to the phone booth. The phone rang when he saw it, like someone was waiting to call him. He walked over to it, opened the doors and took the phone off the receiver. Hesitantly, he put it up to his ear, and felt his eyes close. The next thing he knew, he was taking in a deep breath and looking back up at the ceiling of the Nemesis. Irvine was staring down at him. "You made it. So did he. Good job. You're ready to operate in the Matrix." Jarvas nodded. "Thanks." Anubis looked over at him. "Don't let it get to your head, it's nothing fun," he said as he passed by. Jarvas's eyes followed him as he left. What's his problem? "Don't mind him," Marley said as he walked over. "He's always in a bad mood. We just ignore it, he does what he has to. Congradulations. You're a full member of the team now." Jarvas looked back up at him. "Uh, yeah. It's great." ----
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:13:15 GMT -5
"Balthasar, behind you!" [BOOM BOOM BOOM-TATATATATATATATATATA]. "Come on, move!" Blood shouted. He wore a black tactical vest over a blood red t-shirt, and black BDU pants over his combat boots of the same color. He fired an UZI back at the Agent on the other end of the car garage so Balthasar could get over to the car so they could get to their exit. Balthasar had long black hair that went to his mid back. He was dressed all in black: Leather pants and an ankle length black coat. A black t-shirt covered him underneath that and was tucked into his pants. The boots he wore went up to his knees, with four buckles going up the front of each over the laces. He was armed only with a Glock 21 and his magazine was running low. He was ducked down behind a dumpster with an Agent firing at him. Blood fired and the Agent blurred, giving Balthasar the chance to run. He did so in the fashion of rolling out of the way and diving over to the car. He climbed into the back seat and Leon, the person driving the car, shouted out to Blood. "Blood, into the car, time to move!" Leon and Balthasar aimed out of the window and fired at the Agent to keep him over on his end while Blood climbed into the car. He ran around, opened the door, and climbed in, slamming the door. Balthasar chucked a grenade out behind the car as they peeled out, for cover. As they drove up out of the garage, they heard a loud BAM behind them accompanied with an explosion. "Is the exit ready?" Blood asked as he reloaded his clip. "Not sure, why don't you check?" Leon suggested sarcastically as he dodged cars and people left and right. "Maybe if actually learned to drive.." Blood started off. "Hey, guys, shut up, I'm trying to call Sideways now, okay?!" Sonia shouted. She sat in the back with Balthasar, and was dressed in black and green. The phone rang and Sideways picked up on the other end. "I know, I know, Exit right? I'm working on it," Sideways said as he typed DIAL.EXE into the keyboard so he could patch the exit. Make the next turn on your left and drive under the overpass, it's right there. We'll be waiting for you." She hung up the phone and repeated the directions to Leon. He followed them, but when they got to the overpass, someone was waiting for them. A black car. "Who's that?" Blood asked. The doors open. From the driver's seat stepped out Niobe dressed in her brown leather and armed with an AK-47 Beta Spetnaz; The front passenger seat: Morpheus, in his purple suit and crocodile leather trench with a Tommy-gun. Out from the back came Ghost in his black suit and trenchcoat with two Walther P-99s, and Kidfried (formerly known as The Kid) in a knee-length cassock with the grid pattern fabric and an HK P2000. "Shit." said Balthasar. "We can handle them." Leon put the pedal to the floor and hit the car into the wall so that it made a sort of barrier in front of the phone, but so that no one was injured. As soon as their car stopped, the bullets started flying. Leon and Balthasar opened their doors up and everyone jumped out of them and got behind the car and started shooting back. The phone started to ring. Blood shouted out over the gunfire: "Morpheus, you got a lotta balls trying to pull some shit like this!!!" Balthasar reached up over the roof and fired two shots over at Ghost, causing him to wince slightly even though he missed. "Someone get through the exit!" He yelled. "Blood, you go!" Leon told him, and he nodded, handing his gun over to him and reaching for the phone. When his RSI disappeared, Sonia hung up the phone so Sideways could load the exit again. When it rang, it was her turn. She left, and as Leon hung up the phone, Balthasar guarded him with cover fire. "They're outnumbered!" Kidfried yelled as he shot for Leon's head as he answered the phone. The bullet traveled through the fading avatar though. Balthasar was the last man left. He grabbed the UZI and aimed over at Morpheus and fired through the windows, hitting him twice in the stomach region. He yelled out; "AGH!" The others stopped firing for a moment, just enough time for Balthasar to hang up the phone and pic it up again. He faded away, and the four Zion fighters were alone. Niobe tended to Morpheus. “Are you alright?” she asked. He nodded. “I’ll be fine. Did he get out?” She nodded. “Barely, but nonetheless, yeah.” He sighed. “Damnit. Call Sparks, tell him to set up the exit. Then have Link ready to get the ship back to Zion, we’ll need to recharge the ship.” Ghost took out his phone. “I’m on it.” ----
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:14:50 GMT -5
Chapter 8: Other than the Matrix
Date: Approx 2203 Time: - Area: Tunnels of the Real
The Nosferatu sat dormant on the composure of rock and metal that made up the ground it sat upon, and the walls that surrounded it. The tunnel was dark and damp, hues of depressing blue fading off into black as the rock and wires and pipelines stretched off into the dark. The Nosferatu itself was one of the larger hovercrafts, the largest hovercraft Zion had next to the Mjolinr, both ships in the large class. It had at least 12 pads, and it looked like a large control center building as it sat in the dark with steam all around it on the floor. Aside from all the pads, there were four antennae for transmissions, and six gun turrets. Since it was the largest ship the Resistance had with them, it was crowned their flagship, and it's Captain, Blood, the main Captain of the fleet. Blood was one of those tough-as-nails types of people. He was usually quiet but spoke often. One could tell by the scars on his face, one running alongside his right eyebrow, one perpendicular to his left on a diagonal slant, and the one under his right eye, that he had experience with this life and how to live it. He was a man they could depend on and trust, wise and with a few tricks up his sleeve for anyone who tried to come after them, man or machine. In the core of the ship, the four who had just had a run in with Morpheus's crew were being unplugged from their chairs. Blood got up from hsi chair and looked at the others. "Is everyone okay?" he asked.
Balthasar sat up from his chair and pushed his hair away from his face and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about the others?" Sonia's eyes opened and she inhaled as though she was momentarily shocked. After blinking a few times, she exhaled. "Are you alright?" Blood asked her, looking at her vitals screen. She nodded. "Mhmm." Leon shook his head when he sat up and looked around. "What an unexpected pain in the ass that was." He looked over to Sideways. "Didn't you see those guys waiting for us?" Sideways, the Nosferatu's Operator, looked up from his screens. "I was concentrating on getting that exit up fast enough before any Agents began to chase you again, alright? I can't do everything, I'm only human." Leon rolled his eyes. "Whatever.."
"Hey!" Balthasar called out. "Both of you shut up, I'm not in the mood to hear it, I was just getting shot at."
"Oh yeah, that's right," Nitro said as he put the last insertion needle back onto its rack. "Hot shot over here hit Morpheus, twice." Sideways chuckled. "Yeah, that was awesome. Score for Balthasar!"
Balthasar grinned and nodded. "Yeah, that's right. I did hit him. Maybe he won't be so self righteous and macho next time we meet." Blood walked around so he could join into the conversation. "I couldn't believe he had the balls to show up and try to kill us right there. If we find his ship he'll be sorry." Leon arched a brow "Oh yeah, when was he allowed to get a new ship?" Blood scratched the back of his neck to take care of an ich. "He was granted a new ship when Hamann made him the head of Zion's Matrix Corps. He believed our job wasn't over in the Matrix even though there was peace, and Hamann thought the same. Remember when he let Morpheus leave after Lock called back every ship because he thought something about the oncoming sentinals could be done in the Matrix?"
Sonia nodded. "Yeah, I remember watching it leave and wondering why it was being allowed to leave in the first place. Both of them are crazy."
"You can say that again," Leon claimed. "In either case, now our reason for going into the Matrix is the same as it was before: To find a way to destroy it."
"A lot of work five ship crews are going to have to do." Sideways said.
"We'll pull it off, trust me. A free mind's more effective than a closed one. It'll be destroyed before we know it."
"Okay, enough with the wishing and hoping, we're off. Let's see if we can find something new besides uncharted tunnels. Nitro, come with me."
Nitro nodded and he followed Blood off to the cockpit. The other three looked at Balthasar. "Sideways, I want you to monitor sentinal activity," Balthasar ordered. "Sonia, Leon, do whatever you want, I don't care." Leon gave Sonia a suggesting look with a nod, and Sonia shrugged back. Leon tilted his head forward slightly, and Sonia's eyes widened a bit. Leon shoved her and she smirked and shove him back. He went to shove her back again but she ran off and he chased her. You could hear their giggles as they ran off down the corridor. Sideways looked at Balthasar and he rolled his eyes and chuckled. "I can't be a hypocrite. Why deny it?" Sideways shrugged. "I don't know man, you just go with the flow." Balthasar shrugged and walked behind the consoles, grabbing a swivel chair and setting it behind Sideways before sitting himself down. Rather than being situated in some random spot on the ship, the consoles and monitors were wired and attached to the wall a few feet from the chairs, on top of a grated floor, with wires hanging down above him and pipes all around him. The chairs were over to Sideways's left. Behind him, the ship's fuses. He typed in a a few commands and the three central monitor panels displaying the code script of the Matrix switched to three different HUD screens. One displayed sonar readouts, one displayed radar readouts, and the other displayed what the camera's in front of the ship could see, that way, Sideways could see what they saw. A few of the smaller screens switched to display things just as proximity, power display, and hull integrity. Some of them also displayed the matrix script code so that it could still be checked on without being in the way of monitoring sentinal activity. Sideways spoke into the headset. "Alright cap, me and Balthasar are ready. Nothing near us at the moment."
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:16:09 GMT -5
"Alright. We're setting off," Blood answered. He flicked the right switches and pushed the necesarry buttons while Nitro started up the ship's hologrpahic and navigational systems. Blood flicked three main switches to his left on a panel full of the critical controls, and Nitro pulled back on an overhead lever. The lights glowed as they lit up, luminating the inside of the cockpit, and the hum of the pads coming to life followed. The ship rocked and dropped a bit when the landing gears were taken up into the ship, but remained hovering nonetheless. Gripping his controls, Blood spun the ship around 180-degrees while Nitro kept it steady, and then they headed off down the tunnel the same way they had come earlier before landing in that area. The pads gave off light blue trails as the ship flew, and the light that came from them lit up the tunnel before them. It wasn't long before they came to a crossroad of sorts. One path leading straight up from their current position, one going down on a slant, and then the tunnel continued forward and downward. Since they had previously come from the path leading down, Blood and Nitro exchanged looks as they thought of which way to go. Blood nodded his head forward and and Nitro nodded. Turning back to that paths that lied before them, they continued on the path leading forward. The ship buzzed as it flew down the tunnel, lined with pipes jutting out from the top and bottom and running along the path. The tunnel began leading downward, and so, the ship tipped down with it. It straightened out after a while, so Nitro tipped the ship's rear down slightly to prevent crashing and causing a ruckus. The radio began to crackle, and someone's voice came through.
"Heading off?" the voice asked. Blood identified it as the voice of Vega, Captain of the Merciless. He grabbed the reciever and brought it up to his face, pushing down on the return button.
"Affirmative. We're seeing if we can find anything interesting. What about you?"
"Same thing, we'll be heading opposite your direction though. Going anywhere special?"
"We're taking an uncharted route that's currently just going straight ahead. Looks like it'll stay that way. Any sign of anything we should be worried about?"
"We thought we detected another ship before but whatever it was it left pretty quick. Crew started scaring themselves saying it was a ghost ship."
"Heh, you never know out here. We'll see you later, we're gonna maintain radio silence from here on out."
"Alright, good luck. Don't do anything I wouldn't."
"Right, right." Blood sighed as he hung the reciever back up and switched off the radio. Nitro listened in on that sigh. "Something the matter cap?"
"It's just the irony of it all," he answered. "What do you mean?"
"We left Zion because we thought living there with the machines at large would be a risk. We're at more of a risk out here going into uncharted areas than we were living in Zion."
"Yeah, I guess you have a point. But we're out here for a good reason. The ones back at Zion don't want to be a part of this anymore. So, leave them behind. Those fit will be the survivors." Blood simply nodded in response as he thought of it. The tunnel stretched on forward and remained this way for a while with no tunnels branching off on the sides for about a hundred miles. They were the bullet, slowly travelling down the barrel of the gun. Blood turned on the microphone on his headset.
"Anything Sideways?"
"Nothing boss. Smooth ride so far."
"Good. Tell me when something comes up."
"You got it."
He shut the microphone off and typed a command into the keyboard before his piloting joysticks, speeding the hovercraft up a bit.
"Getting impatient?"
"Getting bored."
Nitro chuckled and checked the holographics. "This should bring some sunshine to your day."
"Don't play with me."
"No, I'm serious. The tunnel moves up and branches off up to the right. To the left is what looks like a desolate factory that was used for construction."
"Where are we?"
"300 kilometers below a stretch of mountains."
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:17:15 GMT -5
"A construction factory in the middle of the mountains? Nevermind, the turn is coming up now." Gripping his controls, Blood turned the ship so that the stern swerved 90-degrees left, while Nitro took care of stabilizing the ship. The climb before them was pretty steep. "Gee you really find the good spots don't you?" Blood asked. Nitro's forehead wrinkled. "What? You wanted to go this way!" Blood hit him in the shoulder. "You're a softee, I was only kidding around. Don't make me drop you off before one of the Zion gates.." Nitro shuck his head. "Alright, alright." Blood turned his headset on again. "Balthasar, Sideways, hold something, we're going up and we're making a tilt that might throw you into a wall." Balthasar and Sideways exchanged looks. "Uh, thanks," Sideways responded. Balthasar rose from his seat quickly and poked his head down the hallway leading to the quarters. "Hey! Love birds! Vertical tilt, find something to hold onto!" Leon and Sonia, who lay under covers, looked at each other with an alarmed look. They both frantically looked for something to hold onto before Leon came up with an idea. "Let's just sit up against the wall!" So, they did. Needless to say, their bare upper bodies were exposed, but nonetheless, if the ship tilted any, they'd be in a reclined position. After letting a few minutes pass by, Blood and Nitro pushed the ship forward and up. The whole ship tilted back until it had nearly turned upwards 90-degrees going straight up. "Boost power to the pads!" Blood shouted, but Nitro was two steps ahead of him, already typing in the commands. The pads glowed brighter, with more white and light blue bolts moving from the pads to the tunnels that surrounded the ship. After increasing the ship's speed, Blood pushed his joysticks forward. Balthasar and Sideways held onto their chairs for dear life, and Leon and Sonia laughed as though it were a roller coaster ride. Blood and Nitro were doing all of the work and it wasn't a walk in the park. Soon enough, they came out of the top of the tunnel, and they straightened the ship out so that it floated as though it were idle. Blood and Nitro took a look at what they were in. The ship floated amidst a waste factory, compacting, melting, and burning wasted over materials the machines had used for power and construction. The chamber was rather flat in shape, and lined with furnaces. Steam and smoke rose from underneath the ship, and went out through the shaft that was above the ship in the chamber. Nitro studied the holographics. "This is new. Well, ancient. It's been around for years according to the return readouts but we've never seen it before. You know what it is?" Blood looked at the furnaces and noted how the steam and smoke moved from under them and rose above them. He looked up the shaft, lined with pipes, grates, conduits, batteries, and tried to see what it lead to. Then there was a flash in the smoke. But then Blood realized it wasn't smoke. Thunder cracked like a whip. It was then he realized that the shaft led up to the surface. "We're in an exhaust shaft. The furnaces are disposing the waste from that factory we passed before. Boost the power to the top pads, we're going up." Nitro's eyes widened. "We're going to the surface!?"
"We're so far away from Zion and the rest of the ships. It's worth a shot, we've never seen this part of the world before."
"Well, I guess we have no choice. Let's go."
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:17:38 GMT -5
Shifting the power to the top pads, Nitro made sure the ship didn't tilt or slide as it floated up in it's regular horizontal position. Blood's eyes followed the pipes and cables that lined the shaft as they ascended, and he kept alert. The ship was moving slow, but steady none the less. Bolts generating from the pads would every so often zap out onto the shaft's inside. The shaft itself was big enough to fit two Large class hovercrafts into. Above the opening of the shaft, lightning broke the clouds followed by the rumble of thunder, highlighting the wreckage below. The Nosferatu rose out with steam and smoke from the top of the shaft, that was lined with a teeth-like crown of sorts. Spinning the ship around, Blood and Nitro surveyed the land before them. Huge, destroyed towers rose up from the ground, amidst the fallen debris. Buildings lay decimated and crumbling, with parts of machinery all over the place. It was rare that any of them saw the surface. It gave gave them a creepy feeling, a feeling that said "This is what lays above you while you are deep underground. The graves of your fallen ancestors," as though their ghosts may be walking amogst the ruined cities. Lightning flashed again, and something caught Blood's eye. In the mountains that were the wall behind the city wreckage, he saw a rectangular shaped passage tunnel, just big enough for the Nosferatu to fit into. "There," he pointed. "The tunnel. Something's behind the mountains." Nitro nodded and pushed the ship forward, and with a loud buzzing hum, the ship sped quickly towards the hole. "It's conveniently big enough," Nitro commented. "It could have been used by people once with ships like these," Blood answered. Nodding, Nitro drove forward into the hole, and the pads brightly lit the narrow space with a blue tint. They came out the other end, and the sight before them took their breath away. A huge, almost endless city lay out before them. It was obvious that the structures were human made, but it had been overrun by machines. The scary part was, it was so much in any bad condition as it was abandoned. Power lines, nearly 1/5 the size of a Small class hovercraft, winded and twisted throughout buildings and structures. That was another thing, the buildings. Insanely tall towers rose from sections of buildings, and in between each of these square shaped sections were gaps. Very deep gaps.
"You sure you wanna go down there?" Nitro asked.
"The place is abandoned. The machines have already passed the place over. As long as we're quiet, they won't suspect a thing."
Nitro shrugged. "Can't hurt."
Blood brought the ship down into the city and inbetween two sections, turning around a corner as he descended. The both of them stared at the structures as they passed them by, and also looked down deeper into the gaps at what was below them.
"This is intense...." Blood managed to say in his state of awe.
"You can say that again.." Nitro replied.
Balthasar and Sideways said nothing as they watched the display. They were both alert and hypnotized by the images of this unseen city at the same time.
"We'll set down over there," Blood said pointing ahead. There sat a tremendous dome with a large 04 painted onto it. There were more power lines leading into it and out of it on the opposite side. There was a hole in the top of this dome, so Blood flew the ship in and swooped around before going in. When they did, he found a place and land and with a rumble they did so, sitting down under the hole from which they entered. Sideways spoke up on his headset. "Everything alright?" Blood turned his headset on. "Yeah, we're fine. Any sign of sentinals?" Sideways checked the readings, and saw no sign of anything. "I got nothing, but the readings are saying that there's a huge amount of electricity in whatever you landed us in. Do you know why?" Blood looked at one of his side monitors to verify Sideways' claim, and he was right. "We'll check it out," Blood said and turned off his headset. "So what is it?" Nitro asked. After a moment, he spoke out again. "It looks like the inside of Zion's dock." All Blood could say was "Hmm.." Inside of this dome, a large generator sat in the center, and power lines lining the inside of the dome were all wired to it. Every so often, bolts of electricity would spart from a random power line to the generator. Considering what Nitro suggested it looked like, he compared the size of this dome to the size of Zion's dock in his head. "This used to be a dock," he said. "When the machines came through they cleaned it out and put this huge generator in here. There's millions of volts passing through here. Now it's a power station." Nitro's eyebrows raised up. "Are we gonna blast it?" Blood sat there considering the effect it would have, both on the ship and the machines. "Yup." He switched on his headset again. "Sideways, charge the EMP." He and Balthasar exchanged looks, and Sideways shrugged, pushing down the button marked "ARM". It glowed red after being pushed down, to signify that the EMP was now armed. "EMP's armed," he told Blood. Blood sat there and waited a moment. "Punch it."
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 11:18:51 GMT -5
With the loud sound of an electrical explosion, the blue shockwave flashed out from central area of the ship and consumed the entire dome in its blast radius. In the same instance, orange sparks exploded from every single point in the dome creating a super bright flash that could have blinded Blood and Nitro if they didn't look away, and there was a loud noise, a "BAAMMMMMMM", from the millions of volts of the electric power suddenly being strangled and killed. Electrical fires broke out all over the dome and it suffered structural damage.
Sitting in his black chair surrounded by hundreds of screens sat the Architect, monitoring activity and anomalies all over the Matrix. Suddenly, in red blinking letters reading “ALERT: POWER LOSS” came up on all of the screens. Arching a brow as he read the message, he hit the button on his pen, bringing up damage detail. It read: “Damage suffered: 03/04 Mid-area. Time: 23:09:27:12. Reason: Electro-megnetic pulse.” He rolled his eyes. “They knocked out a serious power station. Sentinals will be deployed.”
Alarms in the ship went off, and Blood stared out at what was becoming an inferno inside the dome. Their power was out, all except for their headsets and the radar. Their power junctions within the ship were insulated to survive an EMP. "What happened to the ship?!" Blood yelled. "Nothing happened yet besides a power loss, but it's about to get the Osiris treatment if the auxilary power doesn't kick in soon!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Sentinals coming in fast. Whatever you did, you gave away our position and pissed them off. I count ten sentinals incoming."
"How long before they get here?"
"I'd give 'em four minutes"
"Shit. How long before the auxilary power kicks in?"
"Three minutes!"
Blood looked over to Nitro. "Some sunshine to light my day huh?" All Nitro could do was shrug with a "heh.." Blood shouted back into the microphone. "Is there anyway you can get that auxilary power to charge faster, we're sitting ducks!" Sideways typed like there was no tomorrow, accessing the ship's power setup. "I can try to reroute the power, but it might take me a few minutes."
"You have two!"
"Got it!"
Sideways began reworking the ship's power shift path, annd then Leon and Sonia entered. "What's the matter, we heard sirens." Leon said. "Turrets, now." Balthasar answered, and the three of them ran to the nearest ladders and dropped down to the turret stations. Outside, the sentinals were getting closer and closer with that familar whine as they tore through the air. Blood looked at the holographics. "Where the hell did they come from?!" Nitro shook his head hitting all sorts of switches as he turned on the ship's front turrets. "I got no idea sir, all I care about right now is getting out of this city before I get torn apart limb by limb." Blood turned back to his controls. "Sideways, the power?"
"Almost finished..." Once he accessed the final circuitry path, he switched the root path so instead of the auxilary power spreading out to the entire ship, it would go directly to the priority emergency systems and then worry about secondary ciruits. Once this was finished, there was a distinct repetitive beeping noise that confirmed that the new path would work out, and the power rushed back to the ship. As the sentinals drew nearer, the Nosferatu rose up from where it landed, spun 180-degrees and flew up out of the old dock and now useless power station. Buzzing through the city sections in the deep gaps, the Nosferatu fled, with the sentinals in pursuit. "Can we lose them in the city?" Nitro asked as he checked the proximity of the sentinals. "I wouldn't waste the time. If we're lucky we can get them in the tunnels."
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