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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:00:17 GMT -5
The ship rumbled and those on the main deck stumbled into a wall or fell. "The hell was that?" Anubis asked, clinging onto a ladder. Glitch brought up the ship's hull integrity and it showed damage in the tail. "What's going on up there Irvine?" Glitch asked into the microphone on his headset. "Did we hit something?" Irvine's radio voice crackled over the head phones. "No, a lump of rock and metal just rose up from the ground and hit us in the ass," he said. Noting his answer was saturated in sarcasm, Glitch took the hint. "No further questions." he answered, and rolled his eyes as he shook his head. "Can't provide a good explanation, 'nub." Anubis glared, and would have went over and hit him if it wasn't for the fact he had to stay at the ladder, or else he's have a fun time trying to get over to him without falling on his ass, so he had to improvise. "Don't call me that." he said in a cold tone. Jarvas, hugging the corner of two walls meeting, looked over when he heard Anubis's rash reaction to Glitch's choice of nickname. Anubis shot him a look that had "What the hell do you want?" written all over it, but Jarvas continued to look in his direction with no words, only coming up with analytical conclusions. When Anubis saw that he hadn't looked away, he stared back. Jarvas never got why he was such a loner, but figured he'd find out one day. Carefully guiding himself, he went off to the cockpit to join Irvine and Marley.
"Cap, over there." Marley pointed out. There was a small cavity in the tunnel wall up ahead and it was big enough to fit the Nemesis in. Irvine frowned. "You think we have enough time to stop to park this thing, shut it down, and charge the EMP?" Marley shook his head and blinked with a sigh as though to scold himself for coming up with such an idea. "I guess not. You got a better idea?" Light flashed from the sky followed by a rumble, lighting up the wall coming up ahead. A crack to the surface. "Now I do," Irvine answered. Marley smirked and readed the ship to hover vertically. Once Irvine brought the ship into the ravine leading to the sky, he turned it 90-degrees and it began to ascend. As it went up, it hit into wires, cables and rods that jutted out from either side of the ravine, scraping along the surface of the hull. "Which way do we go?" Marley asked. "They're getting closer". Irvine's eyebrows wrinkled as he surveyed the land before him displayed on the holographics. "East." Marley nodded, and so, the ship was turned in said direction, and off they went. They passed over wreckage and debris that stuck up from below, and lightning struck again. Ahead of them, the land mirrored the sky and everything above it when it flashed. Marley had a double take. The thunder rumbled. "What is that?" Irvine moved his head forward slightly, his forehead and eyebrows wrinked. "That's a body of water. A big one." He moved the ship forward and Marley looked confused. "A body of water?" Irvine looked over to him as though to say "what do you mean?", then he remembered, Marley is from Zion, and had never seen a body of water before. "I forgot for a moment that you aren't from the Matrix." Marley arched a brow. "Don't worry," Irvine told him. "Just keep your eyes open." The Nemesis buzzed forward and as it passed over the water, its image was relfected on the surface in the dark, the reflection of the hover pads standing out the most. Lightning flashed overhead, showing the ship clearly against the water for a brief moment against the bright white sky. "I've never seen so much water." Irvine chuckled. "Neither have I. At least, not here anyway." Marley glanced over at him. "They have water like this in the Matrix?" Irvine nodded. "All over the place. Those sentinals still after us?" Marley spoke into the microphone on his head set. "Glitch, update on the squiddies?"
Behind Glitch stood Blade, Anubis, and Jarvas, all watching Glitch's screens displaying sensor and radar outputs. He shook his head. "No sign of em. Better stay alert though, these guys are like cops. You never know if they'd alert another sentinal bunch in the next area to be on the lookout." Marley looked over to Irvine. "We lost em, but we should stay on alert anyway." Irvine nodded. "Good." Marley scanned the area. "Where we gonna land?" Irvine spotted a large charred building off in the distance, big enough to safely store one of these ships in. "Over there, the building wreckage." As he and Irvine directed the ship over in the building's direction, Marley thought of something. "What about Resistance ships, should we look for them?" Irvine shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about them. They can't hurt us." Marley again arched a brow. "You sure?" Irvine looked over at him with a face that demanded to know why he was being questioned. "Of course you are," he said, looking ahead again. He noticed a sign on the ground among the wreckage. It once read "Paradigm City", but now, only the portion that read "Paradigm" was visible. Once they guided the ship into a hole in the side of the building, the set it down and it landed with a rumbling thud. Marley began shutting down the hoverpad and navigational systems and prepared the auxilary power for standby. "How long until we have to recharge?" Irvine asked as he sat back in his chair in a rather relaxed posture, examining the world outside, visible through the hole they had just come in through. Marley glanced over to Irvine before checking the power supply, because he knew there were two meanings to that question. "We'll have to go back to Zion pretty soon," he said conscious of what Irvine was thinking. Irvine arched a brow and looked over at him with a smirk, but sighed reminscently and looked down at his feet, figuring Marley knew why he cared so much. He looked back over to him and nodded his head toward the cockpit's exit. "C'mon. Let's go see what's new." Marley nodded and when Irvine left, he followed.
But the time Irvine and Marley made it to the main deck, Ride and Solitaire had joined the party and they were all huddled behind Glitch watching the screens of code strands. This irked some curiosity in him, and he arched a brow as he walked over. "What's everyone looking at?"
Glitch spoke up, keeping his eyes on the screen. "I found some sort of glitch in the Matrix." Ride chuckled. "How fitting," she added.
"What's going on?" Irvine asked as he came over to the console setup. "Well, look at this here," Glitch said as he typed in a command. The center and left screens froze while the right screen kept going in real time, a section from the center screen was highlited, and transferred onto the left screen, and the center screen resumed displaying real time code. Glitch pointed to the playback footage on the left screen. "Watch this." Irvine payed close attention. As the code strands streamed down the screen, one strand disappeared from its location altogether and reappeared on the other side of the screen, and as it happened, the rest of the coding in the vicinity of points A and B got all screwy and started displaying in abnormal fashion. Jarvas and Anubis studied this while they waited for some sort of explanation. "It's like it teleported from one location to another immediately. It's not the same as an Agent though, since this was right away, and usually an Agent program has to zero in on a specific host body to move into before it can proceed." Glitch nodded. "Yeah, exactly, and whatever it is switching from one place to another is messing up everything else around it. But look at this.." Glitch punched in a few more keys, and a different set of playback was displayed. This time, the same strand of coding was seen falling down the screen. This time, however, it moved through the next few rows of coding strand next to it and then resumed falling down the screen in its new position. "So, not only can this thing teleport, but it can move through things too now?" Blade asked. "You got it," Glitch said with a nod. "Could be a faulty building structure," Solitaire suggested.
"Could be a dangerous program." Irvine said. "Either way, it could be a liable risk."
"Then maybe we should go in to check it out," Jarvas suggested. Irvine smiled.
"Looks like those old cop investigation tactics of yours are still useful, eh?"
"I hope so." Jarvas answered. Anubis frowned, yet no one noticed.
"Okay then, let's see, if we're going in, we're going to need a balanced group to go in," Irvine stated.
"You're gonna go in?" Blade asked, surprised. Irvine nodded.
"Now, there are eight of us all together. Glitch and Marley are obivously going to stay behind since they can't go into the Matrix, but we need them to work the ship anyway. Blade, since you're the first mate, you're staying behind, and Solitaire will stay with you. If anything goes wrong out here, Marley can get the ship moving while Glitch covers us while we're in the Matrix, and, should we need assistance, either or both of you can come in and assist us. I'm taking Anubis, Ride, and Jarvas with me. They can fight, and Jarvas hasn't been back to the Matrix yet, so it's about time he goes back in."
Anubis arched a brow. "You sure about that?" he said in his cold tone. "He is new.."
Irvine turned and gave him a stern look. "You've got about a week over him, that's all. Don't inflate your ego, Anubis."
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:00:45 GMT -5
Anubis narrowed his eyes. Irvine took this as his way of saying "I get it." Irvine turned back to the others. "Get your gear ready. We're gonna go in soon, there's really nothing else for us to be doing aside from surviving, and we do that good enough already." My gear..Jarvas thought. He knew this meant to select the clothes and weapons he'd want to have with him in the Matrix. He walked over to one of the chairs and grabbed the rack of screens and keypads next to it, typing in the equipment he would need. "Hey.." he heard Anubis call to him from his right. He glanced over and raised his eye brows. "A tip..these days, it's best to carry a lot of ammo." He studied the look on Anubis' face, a look Jarvas could trust because the other man's face said "believe me, I'd know." all over it. He nodded and Anubis looked away, and he continued on with readying his equipment. Ride and Irvine had already had theirs finished, and Anubis finished soon after. "How should I dress?" The other three looked at eachother, snickering. "Dress ready for combat. You never know when shit could hit the fan," Ride suggested. Jarvas nodded and typed in his attire. "I'm ready to go," he said. "Well," Marley began as he walked over with Blade and Solitaire, "Get ready to go." He layed in his chair and strapped on the metal harnesses for his feet and layed back. One by one, from his left, coming around to his right, he heard the "ZZzzt!" of the needles being plugged in to his partners' heads. Then it was his turn he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "ZZzzt!" ----
When Jarvas opened his eyes, he took in the sight of his new surroundings with a slow, calm exhale. The Matrix. The world he was born into, his old "home". Except now, despite its blaring similarities to all he had known for his whole life, the world now had a surreal sense to it. He looked down at his clothes: a black full length trenchcoat, a black t-shirt, black BDU pants, knee high combat boots, and a holster strapped to his right thigh, holding a Glock 21 and a spare mag. He felt his hair; It was longer now, shoulder length to be specific, black in color and straightish-wavy in style, parted down the middle. He looked up at the others, and saw them all dressed in the same outfits he saw them wearing on their last encounter, when half the crew had guns pointed in his face. He noted Irvine's suit with the knee length jacket. "I thought you said dress for combat."
"Heh. Yeah, we said dress ready for combat, not an all out assault," Ride said. Jarvas arched a brow.
"It's alright, at least he's prepared. Come on." Irvine said. They began walking down the block, and Jarvas felt something in his pocket rub up against his leg. He put in his hand and clutched the contents, pulling out a pair of sunglasses. They were frameless, with oval rimmed black lenses. Taking a moment to examine at them as he walked, he put them on, seeing the world through their black shade. As they walked, they hit and shoved into people walking in their direction down the busy sidewalk, but he didn't seem to notice, as he was too busy staring up at the skyscrapers and the sky and everything around him, telling himself it was all a virtually simulated world. "It feels like a dream, doesn't it, Jarvas?" Irvine asked as he walked ahead of the group without looking back to him. "Why is it like that?" Jarvas asked, as though Irvine had read his thoughts. "It's because you're a free mind now. The system no longer has a hold on you. Soon enough you'll become used to it," he answered. Jarvas shrugged as they walked along. As they walked, Jarvas noticed, that the surrounding area became more and more familiar. He knew he'd been here at some point before. "Where are we going?" he asked. They all stopped at the corner of an intersection, while the masses walked around them, obeying the lit up street sign that said "WALK". Cars were driving in the same direction people walked on the sides of the street. Irvine pulled out his phone. "Where to, Glitch?"
"Make a right and keep going until you get to the industrial district, you're a few block sections down. Stay on the same street."
"Good." Irvine shut the face shield and placed the phone back into his pocket. "We stay on this street. Down that way," he pointed. They continued to walk. After going down the block for about a half a mile, the place started to look more familiar. Old, abandoned looking buildings. Empty streets. Jarvas caught a glimpse of the street signs of a cross section as they passed. The sign for the street they were crossing read "11th AVE", and the sign for the street they were walking down read "9th STR". Then it hit him. Ninth street?!?! He looked all the way down the road behind him, and he saw it. The old storage warehouse where he found the piece of paper that said "The Matrix Has You." He looked up at Irvine, and then Anubis. The fact that the path that brought him here completed itself in a circle with him now with the very people he was searching for warped his mind. He let out a "heh", laughing at the irony. "What is funny?" Anubis asked. "..Nothing, nevermind." Anubis looked at him for a few seconds as though to analyze what he could be thinking, then turned back forward.
They had finally reached the site of the glitch, in the northwest area of the district, an abandoned high school, large, built with bricks still red. The four of them stood and stared at it for a moment to get a good look. Most of the windows were broken out, some replaced by boards of plywood, some not replaced at all, making the inside visible to outsiders in some areas. An overall creepy appearance. The building was three stories high. "Come on," Irvine said, leading the way to the front doors, and they were all boarded up. He let out a sigh as though to say "Shit.." Then, with one fierce palm strike, he busted the wood out of the doorway and it flew back and hit the ground. Cracking his knuckles, he proceeded through, and the others followed. Taking out his phone again, Irvine opened the face shield and it rang. "Operator."
"Glitch, get a blueprint of this building and tell me how it's layed out."
"Comin' up." Irvine heard the clacking of they keys in the background. "Alright, got it," Glitch said. "All three floors are basically the same size, but they're all laid out differently. And it's pretty big inside. The first floor consists of the basics that you'd find in a school, a few offices, some class rooms, labratories, hallways. The second floor contains more of the same, and on the third floor there's even more."
"Is the code acting up again?"
"No, not yet. I can see you guys but I don't see anything abnormal."
"I'll call you if we need anything." He hung up and put the phone back into his pocket.
"Okay, Anubis, you take the second floor and see if you find anything. Jarvas, go with him and go up to the third floor. Ride, go with Jarvas. Anubis, I'll meet up with you once I'm finished down here." They all nodded, and the three went to the nearest staircase while Irvine departed from the group. Glitch watched as the code fell down the screens. Then, the unusual code activity started up again in different areas of the screens. "Getting warmer." ----
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:02:28 GMT -5
"Hey, look at this," said Syx, the Operator of The Merciless. He pointed at the screens where a strand of code transferred from one end of the screen to another, causing the code around it to spark and blink sporadically. Gash looked over his shoulder. "What is that?" he said in a deep, yet grainy tone. Standing at about 6'0, he wore the usual clothes everyone else wore. He was of vietnamese descent and had black spiked hair, and a mean look in his eye, maybe due to the gash right under it that earned him his name. "I have no idea. Get Vega," Syx told him. "Vega!" he called out. "Something you need to see." Vega came in not long after, followed by Kane and Stealth, the ships's only other Matrix fighters besides Vega and Gash. "You think you could have yelled any louder, Gash?" Kane asked as he came in. "Be quiet, welp."
"Alright, both of you shut up," Vega said as he came in. "Whatcha got Syx?"
"Look at this here.." He pointed at the screen. Vega's face went from inquisitive to wtf in a matter of seconds. "What the hell is that?"
"Beats the shit outta me."
"Looks like a glitch." Stealth said.
"I've never seen a glitch do that," Vega said. Then he saw something that caught his attention by great measure. Everyone could see it on his face. "What's the matter?" Syx asked.
"Look at that, there." Vega said, pointing at an area on the left screen. "Is that who I think it is?"
"Holy shit, look at that. Irvine," said Syx.
"He's got some crew members with him." Gash said. "Will you tell Blood?"
"No, we can handle this ourselves." Vega said in a stern tone.
"You're not gonna tell him about this?" Kane asked. "He'd get pretty pissed."
"Doesn't matter, he gets enough to boast over. We're gonna take this trophy." This was something Vega had never usually done before. Gash frowned slightly as he thought of this, he never saw Vega so ambitious or eager for credit. However, it didn't come off as a bad thing, and he enjoyed seeing Vega take a stand to do something like this rather be Blood's bitch and tell him so he could send in his pack to deal with it. "Alright," he began. "What are we gonna do?"
"You, Stealth, and Kane are going to go in after them."
"Alone? We're outnumbered. There's four of them."
"No, we outnumber them. By many. Remember those programs Raven was so competant in gathering for us?"
"That's right.." Kane said in a reminiscent manner. "We could take on the rest of Zion's fleet with them."
"That's true, but for now, we're gonna concentrate on these four. Get ready to jack in. Syx, give them some of those programs to work with."
Syx nodded and got to work, and the others got to their chairs. Vega crossed his arms and a smug look came over him. "They're gonna have quite the surprise." ----
Irvine removed his USP Compact from his shoulder holster and proceeded down a hallway. It was dark and dirty, and it looked like the place hadn't been cleaned in 30 years. Slowly approaching a doorway, he leaned with his shoulder on the framing of the doorway, and tilted his head in to see what was inside, with his gun ready. Nothing. Then he heard something strange, like the scrambled sound of Matrix coding, only it sounded more..infected. He looked down the hallway, and in the dark, all the way at the end, he saw, or at least he thought he saw, a ghost like figure come out of wall and into the hallway. He frowned, and took a good look for a moment to make sure he'd seen right. He put his glasses back and put his gun up, disengaging the safety. The ghost snarled as bullets shot through its transparent body, in full rage. It solidified into a silver clothed male, though Irvine didn't have enough time to get to the details of its appearence. It quickdrew a gun from its coat, what Irvine identified as a Taurus PT945, and fired back. Irvine strafed and jumped behind a support beam at the corner, the program continuing to fire its weapon.
It didn't take long for the captain of the Nemesis to figure out this was the disturbance. Or it was atleast a part of the disturbance, as worst case scenario dictated there might be others like it. He'd worry about that later though. Irvine fired three more shots at the program, and as he saw, it went transparent to let the bullets fly through. At the same time, though, the Taurus it was holding also went transparent. So it can't shoot me. Irvine thought. He spun out from the corner and fired another pair of .45 bullets at the program, forcing it turn into its ghostly form as it fired a three shot burst. The bullets flew through Irvine's body, not effecting any of his internal organs.
After the burst, the program saw that it had used up all eight bullets in the magazine. No, wasted them, though it really didn't matter to the program. He enjoyed a good sport. It threw the weapon down, and leapt at Irvine while transparent. The human fighter dodged, but instead of flying past Irvine, the program resolidified, turned toward him and kicked his gun out of his hands. Irvine blocked the following punch, and threw his own punches and a kick at the head. The program blocked all the punches, but it didn't react fast enough to block the kick, which made its head fly back. Irvine followed this by grabbing the program by the face and headbutting it in the forehead three times, with the last so hard that the program almost stumbled back. Seeing it was no match for the human's unorthodox fighting style, the program went transparent, again, and flew around the room like a ghost, then diving and picking up its Taurus and reloading it in middair. It resolidified and fired a two shots at the slightly confused Irvine. Fortunately, Irvine snapped out of the trance at seeing the thing fly around when it turned back into a human, diving for his own gun and firing three shots at the program. The program went transparent, letting the bullets fly past, then turned human again. What it didn't realize though, was it had returned into a solid state just in front of one of the metal structural beams that held the building together. All three bullets ricocheted off the beam and shot right into the program. One bullet impacted with such velocity that it blew the right hand off, which was holding the Taurus, and the last two had shot through the torso.
Irvine didn't waste the oppurtunity. He made one last shot into the creature's forehead, inbetween the eyes, the shot having enough force to actually send it flying backwards a few feet before it hit the floor. "So much for interrogation." Irvine sighed, walking over to the corpse. As Irvine came over it, the corpse started to break down into coding, specifically in the katakana like characters that make up the Matrix, but instead of green, they were silver. Irvine reached out and stuck his hand through the torso as it broke down, feeling a strange sensation run over his body. The world seemed to phase around him, and his own self image resonated at the touch of the coding. Before he could experience anymore effects, he pulled his hand away, and let the corpse break down entirely. ----
Anubis made his rounds as though he were taking a stroll in the park. His gun remained in its shoulder holster, and his sword remained sheathed. His shoes were the only noise that could really be heard as he went down the hallway, looking into each room finding nothing at all particularly interesting. He was looking out for basic things he would consider glitches in programming, like flickering walls or disappearing objects, basically faulty coding, but kept in mind that whatever it was they were looking for also went through things and could teleport. Letting out a bored sigh, he turned a corner and began down another hallway, the lights overhead flickering in the dark. The only light other than those was the daylight from outside, which obviously couldn't get into all parts of the building, notable his. Looking into the first room he came to, he saw his reflection in a mirror, which made him scoff a little. He wasn't jumpy enough to get alarmed by the mirror like many other people would be in this situation, but in his opinion, it seemed like a bad joke. Why was there a mirror placed there? Then, behind him, he heard the infected code noise, but didn't turn around right away because he'd never heard the noise before. As he tried to identify it, he saw what was making the noise in the reflection of the mirror. A transparent, blurry figure rose from the ground. It had a slender face with bony cheeks, and in place of its eyes were dark shadow looking blurs. One of the more eye catching features of this thing was it's long hair, rose up and on end like a sentinal's tentacles in attack mode. "Well, what have we here?" the program quipped, "A lowly snake masquerading as a human." It appeared to smile at him, and then showed what looked like razor sharp teeth behind its lips. Wouldn't expect any less from a haunted house. Anubis thought as he saw the image in the mirror. In a split second, he spun around and charged at the entity head on.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:03:25 GMT -5
He ran at the "ghost" and made a drawing slash at the thing's torso with his katana. As he partially expected, the sword flew through. His adversary laughed at that, then in a mere second, materialized into a male dressed in an overcoat, vest shirt and slacks similar to Anubis', but was colored silver in place of the black. The waving hair turned into silver dreadlocks, extending down to the man's shoulders and its 'eyes' formed into a pair of frameless shades. The ghost started out by throwing a punch at Anubis' head, which Anubis blocked with his right elbow, and countered with a kick to the stomach. He followed this up by performing a three slash combo, the first two aimed at the ghost's shoulders and the last at the head. The ghost program dodged the first two slashes and then turned back into its transparent form when Anubis slashed at the throat, since Anubis' last slash was too fast for it to dodge. When he resolidified, he grabbed Anubis' sword arm and forced it out of his hands, falling to the side. Without his sword, Anubis punched at the program's face, and then at his torso, all of which were blocked by the program. Worse off, the ghost seemed to be enjoying the fight, as he wasn't punching back or countering, rather, he merely blocked all of Anubis' attacks. It laughed a little when it gotten a hold of both of Anubis' hands and forced him into a face-to-face standoff.
"You're testing me, aren't you?" Anubis' mouth crept into a sadistic grin, "That's rather rude." he broke the programs grip, and focused into a long dive at his sword. After grabbing the sword in middair, he spun so that he was upright, quick drew his Colt Government M1911 from his right holster with his left hand, and fired five bullets at the program. The program went transparent again, as expected, then reforming once Anubis' assault was over. That would prove to be a fatal error. Anubis flipped and landed into a crouching position, just as the program was reforming, then going into a focused dash, both arms around his sword. The program tried to go transparent again, but it was too late. All it could do was dodge, as Anubis made a horizontal slash at the gut. In one last move, the program used its left arm to knock the sword away from its torso, before jumping away in a similar move to what Anubis made.
Blood dripped from a long scar on its left arm from Anubis' slash. "So you bleed after all." Anubis said, in a serpent's voice rather than his usual cold tone. The program attempted to go transparent again, but Anubis didn't waste the second. This time, he slashed off the left arm entirely, letting silver blood squirt from the wound. The program was disoriented, allowing Anubis to slash off the other arm, with the same result. As the fundamental laws in the Matrix made, the program felt shock run through its 'body', both at the fact it had been seriously wounded and that this human could strike it down. It stumbled onto its knees as a result, barely landing on the floor and looking up. That's when Anubis made one last stroke, this time taking off the thing's head. The body kneeled like that for a moment, blood gushing out just like the arms did. Apparently going by a human body, the gushing turned into a geyser, as the blood tubes continued to work even though the head was gone. After the geyser ended, the body slumped over, fully dead.
"It only takes one bite from a snake." Anubis said simply to the corpse, "One bite for its venom to flow into your veins." He wiped the katana blade on the back of the suit, getting all the blood off, then reseathing it.
Back on the Nemesis, Glitch shivered as he watched the program disappear, reading out how Anubis destroyed it. Just who the hell was this guy? ----
Jarvas and Ride walked down a hallway side by side. Jarvas looked into the rooms on his side of the hall, and Ride did the same with her side. Besides looking around for whatever it was causing the glitch, they had something else on their mind, now that they were together, and alone, but neither of them wanted to say it first. Jarvas coughed to clear his throat. "Why did you kiss me?" Ride blushed slightly but it was too dim to notice. "I really don't know. I didn't offend you did I?" Jarvas looked over to her. "No. Why?"
"I know you had a steady girlfriend before Irvine freed you."
"Oh, Cheryl you mean. I can't really worry about her anymore. I knew what I was risking when Irvine offered me those pills. I've been gone for...how long has it been since I came here? It's difficult to tell when I full day goes by without sunlight or anything."
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:04:24 GMT -5
"I think you've been with us for seven months now."
"Seven months.. They've probably considered me dead now. At least, I have."
"Why?"
"I don't live that life anymore. I'm Jarvas now, and I can't be two people."
"I know what you mean."
"Back to that again, huh?" he said in a jestful tone. She laughed. They turned a corner continuing their search, and stopped. Before them now, instead of the rest of the hallway, was a wall 15 feet away from them. "That's weird.." Jarvas remarked. Then they heard the noise of infected code. "Hey..what's that noise?" Ride asked. Out from the wall in front of them came another ghost-like entity, the wall glitching and blinking as it came through. Behind their sunglasses, both Jarvas and Ride's eyes widened at the site. The entity stayed there floating for just a moment, and then it assumed a normal, "regular" looking state, and was a male. Now, rather than being transparent and blurry, he was solid, and wore silver clothing consisting of a vest with dark grey buttons, pants, and a full length coat with wide collar lapels. The shirt underneath the vest was silvery-grey, accompanied by a silvery-white tie also under the vest. In place of the blurry shadows where his eyes would be were wide framed black sunglasses. His skin was very pale, pracitcally white, and his hair that once stood on end now fell as thin silver dreadlocks. Dark grey were his fingernails. Jarvas and Ride exchanged looks, and when they looked back, a creepy smile crept over the entity's black lips. "Now now..." he began, speaking in an upper crust british accent. "You don't belong here.."
"Who are you?" Jarvas inquired in a demanding tone, his facial expression accented by his sunglasses making him look all the more serious.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He let out a "Heh." Testing the patience of this human who had the fortitude to challenge him seemed like a fun idea. Jarvas let out a huff of air through his nose. I guess we found the glitch. But I don't have time for Sterling's bullshit right now. He looked over at Ride, and she looked back at him. What is he looking at me for? Shouldn't we be worried about-- she saw him slowly reaching for his gun. "What would the two of you be doing nosing around here?" The silver clad program asked. Jarvas stared back at him, making sure to establish some sort of mutual eye lock past the lenses of their dark glasses, enough to keep the entity from noticing him going for the gun. "Well? I asked you a question!" he yelled. Jarvas didn't say a word.
The program became impatient now. "I'll take care of--" He was cut off by the blast of Jarvas' gun. *BAM, BAM BAM* However, as soon as Jarvas fired, the program phased again, the bullets flying through it and smashing into the wall behind it. Jarvas had a double take. "What the...?" The program unphased and with a frown, punched Jarvas square in the jaw. He staggered back, dropping his gun. As it slid a few feet from him, he looked back up in time to see the bottom of the program's white crocodile pattern boot come flying at his face Moving to the side, the kick flew past him, and Jarvas the program in the chest and followed up with a high round house kick, but missed since the program ducked. Just as it came back up, Jarvas dealt it a palm strike to the center of his rib cage. It stepped back a step or two, and Jarvas moved in to attack again, but this time the program kicked out once more, connecting with Jarvas' face. As he was knocked back, his glasses flew off, and the program turned towards Ride, flashing his creepy grin again. He sent his fist flying at her but she moved out of the way in time, and it went into the wall. Side stepping to her left, his right, she sent a hard mid kick to the program's stomach region while he was still stuck, but he was unaffected. In one fluid motion, he ripped his hand out from the wall and back handed her across the face with his knuckles, knocking her to the ground. He wasn't as powerful as an Agent, but he still dished out pain nonetheless. As she hit the ground with an "Agh!", he reached into his coat and pulled out his Taurus PT945, and while aiming it at her, he pulled the hammer back. He smirked at the sound of it locking into place, and snickered. "What a waste." She stared down the gun barrel.
*BAM*
And he fell before her into a slump. She blinked a few times, trying to figure out what had just happened. Then, the program's body began appeared as though it were phasing again, but broke apart into the silver katakana coding glyphs, disappearing after two or three seconds. She looked over to her right and saw Jarvas, laying back on the ground with his gun in the air, smoke leaking from the barrel, and they exchanged looks. Glitch watched the program's code fade away as it ran down the screen. It didn't come back in any other location. "Good shot.." he said to himself. Marley nodded in agreement. ----
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:04:55 GMT -5
Three black SUVs drove down the street single file toward the school. Each car contained one of the three men sent in by Vega, and as many of the programs that could fit with them. The programs, originally developed or taken in by Zion from the Matrix, were to be used as an inner Matrix defense/offense measure for Morpheus' Matrix Corps, but since the Resistance had acquired them thanks to Raven, they'd been reprogrammed to be used against Zion and Anti-Human Programs within the Matrix, thus giving a tremendous advantage to the Resistance that neither Zion or the Nemesis crew was currently aware of. They all seemed as though they were the same as the humans jacked in, and you wouldn't be able to notice a difference unless you were informed. Due to their various outfits and different yet dangerous but styled looks, they fit in with the rest of the Resistance, each taking on an individual appearance, making it look as though the Resistance had suddenly gained new free minds into their ranks. When the trucks pulled up to the abandoned school, Glitch became confused. "Who the hell are these people?" The doors swung open, and those inside exitted the vehicles. Gash was the first one out, since he was in charge of the attack. He wore the outfit of a WWII Nazi S.S. Officer, complete with knee high boots, black pants and gloves, and jacket. Over this was the trademark leather trenchcoat that made the S.S. all too recognizable, except it lacked the Swasticka arm band, and Gash wore it closed. On his head was a German panzer helmet, the headgear used by the Nazi troops that became their trademark during the war. However, this one had a mask on it, something like a gas mask yet without the tube, and an angled extension on the mouth area, black armor that covered the entire face, and black circular eyes. Kane wore a black Russian Special Ops officer uniform with a red shirt under the jacket, and over this, a black double breasted overcoat. Stealth was dressed in a white full length coat over a t-shirt and cargo pants both charcoal grey in color, and standard military combat boots, worn over his pants. The combat programs, armed with all different kind of guns, were now all out of the SUVs. Everyone had a different pair of sunglasses on. Gash spoke in a deep and filtered sounding tone. "Is everyone ready?" he asked. Watching through the goggle-esque eyelets of his helmet, he saw everyone nod as they either readied their guns or stood there waiting. "Then let us go. Shoot to kill."
Glitch's eyes widened. "Oh...shit ..." was all that managed to escape his voice box. Marley couldn't believe what was going on. "Holy hell..call Irvine, now!" Glitch nodded, and dialed Irvine's number and waited, but instead of a ring, all he got was static. "What the hell?" He tried again. Still, static instead of a ring tone. "Why won't the call go though!?" he asked frantically. "The anomalies in the code must be disrupting the area and preventing calls from getting through, like a dead zone."
"They've got no service...There's no way to warn them!"
Jarvas and Ride ran down the hallway, looking for a staircase. "What was that thing?" Ride asked. "You're asking me? I'm the new guy, remember?" She shook her head with an "Rrgh." "We gotta find the other two and get outta here before more of those ghost things show up" she said. As they came around a corner, they stopped in their steps, for Kane and his band of programs had come around the corner of the parallel hallway. Ride knew who it was.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:08:24 GMT -5
Jarvas had no clue.
"Shit." Ride whispered
"Going somewhere?" Kane asked smugly. They saw the other men bring up their guns and on instict, both jumped out of the way, Jarvas one way, Ride the other. The spray of bullets just missed them as they jumped out of the way, the loud noise of gun fire filling the air. Jarvas rolled as he landed and ducked behind a corner, and Ride landed across from him on the other side of the hallway. Jarvas held his Glock 21 out around the corner and fired three .45 shots into one of the combat programs. All three shots shot through the chest, and the program dropped to the floor. Jarvas noticed, as the program died out, it sprawled onto its back, its arms and legs twitching in all directions like some sort of dying animal.
Kane held up his Colt Anacoda and fired a round at Jarvas, the bullet smashing a chunk off of the brick edge of the corner, however he had moved out of the way in time. "Get them!" Kane's voice roared over the gunfire. Ride ducked out and fired, two .380ACP rounds from her Beretta 85FS sent into a combat program's chest and he dropped onto his back. Jarvas came up and fired twice and ducked back down again, unsure if whether or not he had hit anything. On the otherside, one of the combat programs noticed that its M16 assault rifle had run dry, which it threw to the side. Reverting to "close combat mode" as Syx referred to it, it crouched to the ground on all fours, then jumped into the air, landing on the left wall, then leaping again onto the opposite right wall. "What the hell?" Was all Jarvas could let out before the program pounced on him, and pushed him to the ground. Jarvas struggled at its grip, as the program opened its mouth to reveal large canine teeth that in no way fit into a human, and at the same time, letting out a hiss of hot air into Jarvas' face. Jarvas kicked the thing off of him, but it spun in middair and landed on all fours, then pouncing back at him. The ex-detective reacted fast, jumping into the air just as the program pounced and kicking it in the face with enough force that it literally keeled over and fell to the ground on its back. Jarvas then promptly finished it off with a single shot to the forehead.
Wincing behind his glasses as more bits of debris flew in his face frow a bullet hitting the floor in front of him, he reached to his belt and pulled out a fragment grenade. He pulled the pin as Ride fired three more shots around the corner, and when she came back to reload, he tossed it around the corner. It bounced down the hall unnoticed at first until it landed in front of the four gunmen. "Ah, fuck!" Kane yelled and drawed back behind the corner. Before the programs noticed, the grenade exploded, the building shaking. Ride looked back at the damage through the smoke and looked over to Jarvas. After checking his magazine to see how many rounds he had left, Jarvas looked back around the corner and saw that the grenade had killed the rest of the programs that were with him
"Who were those guys?" Jarvas asked.
"Resistance. The one in the Soviet suit was Kane, but I didn't recognize the rest. Must be new crewmembers." Ride explained.
"Bastard, I'm really going to enjoy shooting his balls off..." Kane said to himself, his ears ringing from the blast. Figuring he'd try his luck anyway, he fired in their direction three times. His shots hit the wall opposite from Jarvas and Ride in the center of the hallway twice and the floor once. Jarvas glanced over at Ride. "One's alive. I'll cover you." She nodded and ran for it, going down the hall to the hole. She jumped up and grabbed onto a bar, pulling herself up to the roof. Jarvas followed, backed against the wall and firing through the smoke as it cleared. Kane ducked away from the bullets and they smashed into the concrete wall behind him. He shot back twice and when he pulled the trigger again and heard *click*, he snorted. "Rrgh.." he grumbled under his breath, remembering that his weapon of choice only had six shots to it. How the hell does Arius put up with this shit? It'll take too long to reload, better get out now, he thought to himself, and escaped down the hallway. Once Jarvas confirmed Kane had left, he followed Ride up to the roof. "Come on, there's a fire escape on the side of the building," she said, nodding over to a ladder that was leading to the roof. They climbed down and reached the fire escape, continuing their way down until they made it to the ground. ----
Anubis and Irvine, however, weren't as fortunate as Jarvas and Ride. Since the captain of the Nemesis was the primary target for the Merciless' crew, Gash had focused the other six combat programs onto him like hunting dogs on a pheasent. He and Anubis had managed to make it to the lobby of the building before Gash caught up with them.
"To whom do we owe the occasion?" Gash's filtered voice eminated out to them. Seeing they were outnumbered and cut off from escaping, Irvine went for his phone. Putting two and two together once the connection failed, he and Anubis both realized there was no way to contact the ship or get an exit.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:12:53 GMT -5
Four of the programs held back behind a wall with Gash, firing their guns at the two Nemesis fighters, while two of the programs had reverted to close combat measures after running out of ammunition. They crouched down on all fours, leaping and rebounding off the floor and walls, dodging shots from Anubis and Irvine's handguns, then pouncing at the two humans. Anubis backflipped before the program could land on him, instead, it hit the ground with its open hands piercing through the concrete. Irvine had shot his in middair while Anubis drew his sword and beheaded the program attacking him. Anubis' actions, though, left him open to a shot from Gash's Walther P38. A single 9x19 Luger bullet shot through his left arm, just missing the shoulder blade, but managing to slow Anubis down some. "Anubis!" Irvine yelled, firing two more shots at the masked fighter. Gash ducked back behind the corner as a result, allowing Anubis to dash behind a support beam. One of the programs couldn't resist attacking the weakened fighter, not when its blood was spilling. Foolishly, it pounced at Anubis, to which Anubis swatted down with his sword. The program gave out a dying hiss as it keeled over on the ground, before Anubis slit open its throat.
"We gotta get out of here!" Irvine called out to Anubis, "Cover me!" he ordered. Anubis complied, seathing his sword and continueing to fire with his 1911 while Irvine drew a high explosive grenade, armed it and threw it at the wall. *BOOM* The grenade detonated, punching a large hole through the side wall. Irvine pulled another grenade out and threw it at the corner that Gash and the last three programs were behind. This time, the three programs jumped away as the grenade landed, with only Gash standing above it, as it exploded. Irvine took the oppurtunity to run out the hole, followed by Anubis, while the programs gave pursuit, seemingly bouncing off the ground at great inhuman altitudes like three monkeys. Gash quickly recovered from the blast, being unwounded thanks to the armor he wore under his overcoat, and giving chase.
Now Anubis and Irvine were running down the streets, avoiding the public areas as much as possible as the programs continued to jump at them, firing their assault rifles. Once again, Irvine tried calling the Nemesis for an exit, but all he got was the default, seemingly cynical female computer voice that said "This number is no longer in service. Please try your call again later." Irvine snarled at that voice, Got to get to an open area. Then he remembered one such area close to their position. Reloading a magazine into his USP and firing shots to keep the programs back, he waved at Anubis to follow him, to which the former syndicate assassin had no problems doing. He knew what Irvine was thinking, remembering the construction area not too far from the abandoned school building. They had no choice, but to retreat for now anyway, seeing as they were now outnumbered.
After running down the streets, the two ducked into the elevator that led to the top of the building, which was still in framing stages, the support beams and concrete blocks and plywood still visible. Irvine threw his third to last grenade out the entry way to keep the programs away as Anubis activated the elevator, bringing them up above the ground. All three of them leaped back, just as Kane and Gash drove up in one of the SUVs. They both walked out, watching as the programs continued to fire their assault rifles up at the elevator. The bullets bounced off with "pang!" and "twang!" noises. Gash took out his cellphone and contacted the Merciless.
"Operator." Syx said.
"We have them cornered, Syx. Can you spare a few more programs from there?" Gash asked.
Syx shook his head from the other side, "Sorry, Vega advises against it. You'll have to make due with what you've got. And hurry up to, before the cops show up."
Gash cursed to himself, saying a random phrase in Vietnamese. Syx laughed at that, "What are you complaining for? Two fighters cornered in a construction complex with one wounded. That shouldn't be any trouble."
"We can't exactly close in on them until they waste ammunition, and if we send programs in, then they'll either be gunned down or cut apart by the asshole with the sword." Gash replied, "And where the hell is Stealth?"
"How should I know? You know how he operates. Just finish them off quickly and get back here. Merciless out." With that, Syx hung up.
Gash closed his cellphone, and looked at Kane, sighing, "And I was so enjoying this hunt."
Kane laughed a little, "All things must come to an end Gash. Those two can't hold out forever, they only have handguns and maybe one or two grenades."
"I know." Gash said, pulling out his two MAC-10s, "Let's get it over with."
"Gladly." Kane said, drawing both of his black Colt Anacondas, gun twirling one of them in a similar manner to a cowboy. With that, the two casually walked toward the construction building, as the programs began pursuing the cornered Irvine and Anubis... ----
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:16:11 GMT -5
Chapter 10: Freedom isn't free; We pay the price with bullets
Date: 2004 Matrix time Time: - Area: The Construct
When Jarvas and Ride 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."
Jarvas pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed the number for Glitch. The phone rang once before he answered. "Jarvas,"
"Glitch, why are we still in here?"
"You two have to go back in and get those guys out of there." Jarvas' eyebrows went up, surprised.
"What is it?" Ride 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 crazy program things."
"You guys are gonna need some equipment." Glitch told Jarvas.
"Yeah, you got any suggestions?" he asked. Glitch typed in "B: GUNS" and hit the ")(" key. Jarvas 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.
"Whoa."
Ride 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 Jarvas asked for.
"I was hoping you'd be more specific," Jarvas 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. Jarvas 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. Ride was apalled, at the fact that Jarvas, 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? There's only one time something like this worked, and that was when Neo did it, and he was The One--" she was cut off.
"Good for Neo, I don't care what he did." Jarvas said in a stern tone. Ride narrowed her eyes at him. "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?"
"His friend." He pulled two HK Mk.23 mod.0 SOCOMs from a rack and placed them into his thigh holsters. Ride 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.
"Jarvas, this is crazy." she asked.
He pulled a Remington 870 with a pistol grip from the rack and looked at her. "Crazy enough to work," he said, followed by the "CHICK-CHACK!" of the shotgun pumping. Her 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 rather animalistic programs were one floor ahead of them in the chase after the two stranded fighters. Kane pulled a speedloader from his jacket pocket after holstering one of his revolvers, popping the cyclinder 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 uses a magazine," Gash said suggestively in his deep cybernetic voice. "No, that'd be too easy. Using a revolver requires some skill, nevermind 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*. He 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.."
"He's probably killed them already, I don't hear anything else." His 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 walk a few feet beyond the steps, surveying the area. The three bodies of the programs 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 yellof 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 fired. Hitting him 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.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:17:32 GMT -5
"Very nice....a trophy indeed." Resheathing 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. "Good idea, do it." Vega told him, and he responded with a nod. "Okay Gash, I'll send you about 30 of em, that should be enough."
"Excellent." Gash hung up. With the push of a button, the combat programs 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 eminated from one of the non-animalistic combat program's cell phone which was in its "walkie-talkie" mode for the others like himself to hear.
"Understood sir, we'll be ready for them," the program 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-machineguns. Taking patrol positions throughout the floor, they began their watch, waiting for any other parties to arrive.
Dark glasses. Game faces. Jarvas and Ride 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. Jarvas nodded his head to the right and Ride 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 made 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, Ride 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. Jarvas 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*. Jarvas looked up to see the other guard drop to the ground with a shuriken in his forehead. Ride walked over and examined the body. She picked up his MP5-K. ----
Gash looked over at Kane, though his impatient face 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 1911A1. 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. He and Kane turned their heads as it slowly creaked open. There stood Jarvas, staring at them behind mirrored lenses, a UMP45 in each hand. The guards looked over, and it looked like everyone had a confused look on their face, except for him. 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 bursted from his chest before he fell, and another went flying back into a vertical support. As Jarvas moved from the doorway and strafed to his right, Ride came out behind him armed with two P-22s and fired at the guards taking aim at Jarvas as he moved. Return fire started coming back, and Jarvas moved behind a veritcal support to cover himself, and 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 Ride 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 Jarvas without aiming, and Jarvas proceeded to gun him down before he could take more than a few steps.
"God damnit! 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 Jarvas, 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 out in front of him, he ran into Anubis' direction, firing at whatever guards were near him. One of the animalistic ones jumped up into the air in a pounce like some rabid feline, gun in hand. Two shots from Jarvas's guns, and he fell back in the air through a crate. Another guard popped out in front of Jarvas with a shotgun, cutting his run, and he quickly hid behind a veritcal 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 Jarvas open on the left side, Jarvas came out and lit him up. He heard a growl behind him as another one of the animalistic types came at him from behind. He jumped, and twisted in the air, jump kicking it in the chest. As it flew back, Jarvas 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, Jarvas took cover crouching down next to Anubis.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Here, these are for you," Jarvas 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 Remington 870. "Ready?" Anubis nodded, and they both stood up from the hiding place, back to back and firing. Jarvas 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 rogue programs 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 the ‘Lost Prophet’ in the Resistance that Anubis kept hearing about, but 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 rogue programs just for being damn annoying.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:19:04 GMT -5
He ran at one of the non-animalistic ones, 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 end, 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 Russian BDU styled 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 program he took out. The corpse was leaning against the beam, appearing to be standing, but when Kane opened fired, it fell to the left 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 Nemesis fighter had made his way across from the beam Kane was at now, but what the gunman didn’t understand was how did he do 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 Colt M16 assault rifle.
There was no way Kane would know he wasn’t too far off from his thoughts on Anubis. When the syndicate assassin 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, as 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. The assassin ran and rolled, attempting to draw out the M16 he swiped from that corpse, 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. ----
Ride 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 Jarvas. 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.” he told her. “Ready?”
”Hell yeah.” Ride grinned. At that moment, both Irvine and Ride both ran out into the open, firing at the rogue programs on each side of the construction building, with Irvine covering the left portion and Ride covering the right. The humanistic programs strafed from their fire, returning bullets from their MP5-K machine guns while the animalistic types leaped and bounced at them like an angry swarm of frogs. Those that close were gunned down by the duo, while the rest were forced to cover. Otherwise, they were gunned down anyway. Three programs did manage to avoid fire and get past the hails of bullets, but since their primary target was Irvine, the three attempted to gang up on the Nemesis captain. Ride 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 program and ‘kicked’ its head with the corpse’s feet. The program stumbled back from the blow, giving Ride enough time to nail the bastard with one of her USPs.
The firing continued, until the entire room was cleared of renegades, and only Irvine and Ride 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 Ride, 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.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:33:06 GMT -5
”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 soem 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 with the ‘bloodsucker’.”
”Great…” Irvine said under his breath. He didn’t want anything to do with Blood at this point, especially since he had the ‘Lost Prophet’ working for him 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. ----
Jarvas fired at a guard, sending his guts flying all over the place, pumped the shotgun, ducked, and rolled. One of the animalistic program guards was crawling on the ceiling above him ready to pounce, but Jarvas saw him and blasted him down. Gash came out armed with his two MAC-10s flanked by a few guards, all firing at him. He took one 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 Jarvas, holding up his guns in front of him ready to fire as Jarvas ran at him. Before he could fire though, Jarvas grabbed his arms, pushed them out to his sides, and in the same motion he backflipped and kicked him up in the chin. There was a "CLANK" noise from the contact of Jarvas' steel tipped boot with Gash's mask, and his head was knocked back slightly. As he slowly brought his head forward, Jarvas 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 Jarvas 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 Jarvas in the face with a right hook and spun quickly to follow up with a left roundhouse kick to his chest. But, like Gash, Jarvas wasn't as blown away, taking only a step back. Taking out Anubis' sword, Gash got a two-hand grip and swiped down at Jarvas, but he leaned all the way left from the waist up, so Gash swung out to his right. Still ducking, Jarvas moved under it, dodging again and now leaning to his right. Angered, Gash swung down overhead, but Jarvas grabbed onto his hands as the sword came down and stepped back to his left. When the sword came down and missed, Jarvas 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, Jarvas 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 Jarvas, 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 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 Jarvas turned to him. Anubis stopped to see if he needed help, and Jarvas looked at him, tossing him his sword. He caught it and looked at it, and then to Jarvas, surprised at what he just did. Jarvas simply nodded to him, pulling out his two SOCOMs 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 serpent. A few programs immediately targeted him, thinking that with his sword, he would be susceptible to gun fire. Unfortunately, for them, the syndicate assassin didn’t give them a chance. He focused and ran at the first three programs 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. Oh, 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 in the air and flew back, focusing again. Appearing like silver cuts in the air to the naked eye, he swatted the bullets out of the air with his katana, then landing again farther back and running to the side. “Scatter!” Kane commanded. The programs complied and ran in different directions, still firing at the dashing blonde swordsman. Anubis wasted no time at running at the next program, who was wielding a Colt M4A1 with a 40mm grenade launcher. The program 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 program’s throat. He then flipped up into the air, dodging bullet fire from another program, and landing with his katana blade pointed down. The blade pierced through the program’s mouth and down his throat, slicing the program’s innards from the inside.
That left two programs before Kane. Anubis drew his sword from the program’s corpse, and threw it in the path of one of Kane’s bullet shots and an assault rifle burst from another program. He then somersaulted to the side of the corpse, going into a mad dash toward another program. This one, possessing a bayonet, attempted to stab at Anubis, but the assassin squatted and sliced at the program’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 Lost Prophet had caused him to feel like this. Even as the last program leaped into the air to pounce on his opponent, the blonde haired swordsman merely forced his blade into the air, the program effectively getting impaled upon the blade. In a fast motion, Anubis threw the body at Kane, to which he dodged, letting the corpses splatter against a metal beam.
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:33:55 GMT -5
”Damn you, ninja!” Kane roared, firing his revolvers at the man before him, but each shot was swatted from the air with that damned sword, once again appearing as silver waves rather than swipes. 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 weeve 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 animal-like programs jumped on a verticle support and went to pounce on Jarvas. As he walked, he turned and saw it waiting to be noticed. It sprung out with a "RARRRGH" but 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, Jarvas fired in their direction, blood bursting from their chest 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 program hanging from the ceiling above, ready to land on him and stab him. He dashed sideways and the guard's attack missed, but when it looked up it was greeted with a volley of bullets. Another guard came around the corner behind him, armed with a handgun. Everything else seemed to fade out, when Jarvas heard a distinct *click* behind him. As the guard aimed the gun, Jarvas 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 one SOCOM had now run out of bullets, so Jarvas tossed it aside. With the last enemy now dead, he holstered his other SOCOM and looked over to the others. Ride was tending to Irvine, making sure his wound would be alright, and Anubis was resheathing his sword. "Thanks," he called out to Jarvas. 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, Balthsar, 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 Roland."
"He did what!? I didn't give the authorization to anyone to use those, they haven't even been programmed with combat training yet!" 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 new programs there, but they weren't normal. Clad in Silver suits and coats, they must be some new Agents or something."
"Well what happened once you made contact?"
"Shooting started, and before long, the four from the Nemesis crew escaped. Irvine, Ride, and two new crew members I've never seen before were there. Gash, Kane, and the programs 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?"
"Ride 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 crewmate 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 infested with more copies of the programs, 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 programs 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 Ride. 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."
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:36:42 GMT -5
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 those 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 programs. 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 roof's too high in the air 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 Jarvas, 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 flatlined 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, the Merciless's crewman and helper on board. She was about 5'7, blonde, aged looking being that she was in her 40s. She wore old olive drab fatigues and a black t-shirt, along with her boots and black gloves. On her head she wore a black bandana. She could see Kane was distressed, and a look of concern came over her.
"Kane?" she 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.
She sighed, it wasn't like he 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 that treacharous 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, 'the Lost Prophet'. 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 combat programs that were poorly programmed without any combat or fighting knowledge, and two of them 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 crewmates."
"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 deathwish."
"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 surprise, 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. ----
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Post by Return of the Peacecraft on Sept 17, 2004 12:37:16 GMT -5
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 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 her gun, finding a Colt Mk. IV Centimeter Master, and stepped out. She 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 M60 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 M60 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." Jarvas 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?" Ride 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. Jarvas, 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 there 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, Jarvas and Ride 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. ----
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