Matrix Fanfiction Chapter 33: End Game (Part One)

Chapter 33: End Game (Part 1)

Brandan sat in the drivers seat of the Navras they were flying cautiously through the tunnels to find another place to sit the large vessel while they were completing there mission inside. Dan sat beside him in the pilot seat with Isaiah at the holographic's station and Colin was manning the main gun.
"Have you got anything for me Isaiah?" asked Brandan.
"Hmm, seems to me like there is a place that's about a kilometer away from our current position, take a left at this next junction," said Isaiah.
"Colin anything on the weapon scanners?"
"No sir all is clear if there is anything around us then it's just out of scanner range, so they don't know we are here either."
"Take another right up here Captain that'll pretty much place us in the spot we should be in." Brandan flew the ship around a large corner and could see the spot Isaiah was speaking of. They flew silently to the desired spot and Dan and the captain parked the vessel. Brandan looked back at the others they nodded to him and got up to head to the broadcast deck.
Isaiah and Colin walked down into the broadcast deck just as the ship landed. They could feel the jolt as it hit the ground and they could see that Parker and the others were checking out the systems running diagnostics on everything. It was 3 am and everyone still had the just woke up look on their face.
"How is everything going?" asked Colin.
"Everything is up and running smoothly the rest is up to you guys, all systems go," said Parker.
"How is everyone holding up?" asked Isaiah looking around at the others.
"Well the girls are slightly nerved up about the situation, but that's nothing different, this is a major mission." Isaiah and Colin walked over to the seats. Brandan and Dan walked down the stairs and the ship went into power save mode and everything went dark except for the code screen and the broadcast system.
"All right guys we're ready to go. We're gonna load into the construct program and our information will be uploaded and explained in detail," said Brandan.
"Have you been into contact with the other captains yet?" asked Tarra.
"I was in communication with them last night we will be givin the meeting place once we're inside and we will have to be there for 0400, so let's get in there and get started." Brandan walked over and sat down in one of the chairs, the others shortly followed and Parker went around jacking each of them into their computer.
"Alright guys good luck with the mission and call me if you need me." Parker sat down in his seat and began to type in the commands to send them into the construct.
Brandan opened his eyes and they were standing in the construct program, the others were standing around him.
"Alright guys here's the plan," said Brandan as a table appeared and they each took a seat.
"Zion's most skilled operators have been working on a top secret weapon. We have seen examples in the past of this weapon, it's a special bomb designed to disrupt the very fabric of the matrix. Doing this it will literally wipe out the fields if we do this right. There are six retrieval ships that will be put on stand by to retrieve the ones that are released. Our job is too make sure that these weapons are properly planted in the right spots so that it will effect the entire matrix as a whole. If we fail to do so then our efforts will be completely in vain. The points that these bombs must be planted at have been uploaded to you. There will be three placed. One will be placed in the main city close to the freeway, the next in little Tokyo next to the slums, and the final one will be placed in the subway system."
"Do we know who we will be assigned with yet?" asked Tarra crossing her hands on the table. Brandan nodded.
"Yes, you and Isaiah will accompany Niobe and Ghost. I will be going with Binary of the Vigilant and Tabatha and Dan. Colin, you and Saba will accompany Captain Soren, any questions?" Brandan looked around the table at his crew waiting for someone to say something. "Then I take it we are ready to go then." They each stood up and the table and chairs disappeared and the weapons table loaded up. They each walked up to the table and picked a weapon.
"Alright here we go," said Isaiah looking at the others, as they were loaded into the Matrix.
All three of the vehicles loaded up, Brandan climbed aboard the Captain's Thrown, Dan and Tarra jumped into the Acura Integra, and Colin jumped into the drivers seat of the Mustang and Isaiah, Tabatha and Saba followed him in. The engines started and began to rev as they pulled out of the warehouse and started through the city to the meeting spot. Brandan flew down the road with the two cars close beside him as they drove they were joined by Niobe and Soren's crew, Niobe in her Thunderbird and Soren in his Chrysler m300. The two other vehicles pulled up along side of Brandan, he looked at each captain and nodded as they pulled ahead of him and continued on. Brandan continued down the road and they each made their way to the sewer system where they would be meeting with the others.
Brandan and the others pulled into the parking lot and stood up next to the other two cars parking his bike alongside the others. They each walked into the sewer system and went down the stairs to see Niobe, Ghost, Soren and Binary all standing at the table.
"Captain," said Niobe nodding to him.
"Niobe," Brandan nodded back to her as they filed down the stairs.
"Alright guys," said Soren as the last of them made it down the steps, "You've all been given your orders correct?"
"Yes Captain Soren, we can leave when ever you're ready," said Colin stepping forward.
"We'll be taking the subway isn't that how it works?" asked Saba smiling and stepping up beside Colin.
"That's correct, we need to leave now, Binary go with Brandan to Little Tokyo."
"Ok no problem Captain, I'll see you when this is over. Good luck." Binary nodded to Soren as they walked by her and headed out.
"Good luck guys be safe," said Brandan.
"Isaiah I'm glad to be able to work with you once again," said Niobe walking over to him and patting him on the shoulder. Isaiah smiled at her.
"Are you ready to leave yet?" he asked. Ghost and Niobe walked over to them.
"Come on we're taking the subway system," said Ghost. Tarra and Isaiah nodded at the others and went up the stairs just as Soren's car was pulling out of the parking lot.
"Well Tab, Binary, Dan let's go," said Brandan.
"Aye, aye Captain," said Binary as they head up the stairs.
They went up stairs and had gotten outside just as Niobe's Thunderbird was pulling out of the parking lot.
"We're taking the Mustang, Dan you drive," said Brandan. They hopped in the vehicle and sped off. They pulled out of the parking lot and drove through the city to the crowded streets of Little Tokyo. They parked the car in an alleyway and went out into the street. "How close to the building are we Binary?" asked Brandan. Binary looked at her wrist watch locator tool and then looked back at him.
"Its about a quarter of a mile up the street from here, Captain," she explained.
"Ok good lets keep moving." Brandan and the other continued on pushing there way un-noticed through the mass of people. As they walked Tabatha looked around trying to see the sites that used to be some of her favorite places to go. Now all they were was just a jumble of code in a false reality that she had almost grown to despise now that she had experienced the real world andthe life it had to offer was almost hard for her to believe that there weren't more people like her and the others that were out there realizing the fakeness of their surroundings. She knew that others obviously existed but why were there only so few? They quickly came up on the building they were to enter. It didn't look like anything special on the outside, but in reality it was one of the main server points for the matrix itself. Brandan looked around and there were no guards visible on the outside. "Do you guys see anything?" he asked.
"Nothing here," said Dan.
"Yeah I don't see anything either," said Tabatha.
"What about on the inside Binary?" Binary focused and brought up a hack screen, doing a window hack so that she would be able to see inside the building.
"There's nothing that I can see on the first point but the actual server point is on the third floor, so we may not run into anything until we get there," she explained.
"Alright guys lets move in then, we don't have the time to waste," said Brandan. Brandan jumped up to a first floor window that just so happened to be hanging open, the others quickly followed.
Brandan got his feet on the floor and looked around the building focusing on the code trying to see exactly where he should set the bomb. The others got in and they walked calmly and quickly toward the stairs that would take them to the floor where they were to set the bomb. They walked up the steps and turned a corner to keep going when they heard a noise on the second floor.
"What was that?" asked Dan. Tabatha took out her gun and cocked it.
"Keep going you guys I'll secure this floor," she said as she stepped off the stair well.
"Ok good luck," said Brandan. The others kept moving while Tabatha went to look into the noise they had heard on the second floor.
Tabatha slowly opened the door and swept the room with her eyes before entering watching for any type of movement. Seeing nothing Tabatha slowly stepped into the room and looked around the corners quickly.
"Hello?" she called out hesitantly. She seen a dark figure step into view, it was one of the Merovingian's exiles. "What are you doing here?" asked Tabatha pointing her gun quickly.
"Funny I was just about to ask you the same thing little lady." The man stepped into complete view. It was Kane one of the Frenchman's head fighters. Tabatha having been informed of the Merovingian's full roster opened fire shooting the man several times not seeming to have an effect as the man approached her.
"All right I guess I will just have to do this the old fashion way." Tabatha quickly flew into him with all her might hitting him several times in the face then jumping into the air and kicking him in the face. Kane quickly recovered from her attack and bent his neck then looked at her and smiled.
"Is that the best you can do?" Kane took up a fighting stance and started to attack her quickly swinging at her Tabatha blocked most of the attacks.
"No actually it wasn't I was just seeing if I was gonna have to try to kick your ass or not fucker!" Tabatha focused and time seemed to slow down as she hit him in the stomach with her fist, then snapped him in the face with her other hand and as he bent over kneeing him in the face, she ended with a powerful kick hitting him against the wall.
"Bitch!" Kane got to his feet and took a gun from his trench coat. Tabatha's eyes widened as she saw the gun.
"Uh oh!" Kane let several bullets fly at her and she jumped in the air spinning sideways as the bullets whisked by her, noticed that the bullets were shining silver. She landed low on the ground balancing herself on one hand and jumped up grabbing the gun out of his hand and throwing him to the ground as she spun around. Tabatha pointed the gun at him and fired off a round hitting him in the arm.
"Ah damn." He jumped up and kicked her into the wall and jumped out a nearby window.
"Damn it, got away." Suddenly her phone rang and she picked up, it was the captain.
"Are you ok down there?"
"I'm fine, did you expect otherwise?"
"No of course not I fully believe in your ability to take care of yourself. What was all the commotion down there?"
"It was one of the Merovingian's henchmen, I shot him and he took off out the window. I'll clear the rest of this floor and catch up with you soon."
"Ok see you soon Tab." Tabatha hung up the phone and went on to check the floor.
The others were just about to the spot they were to plant the bomb and the captain had just hung up the phone.
"What was the noise, is she ok?" asked Binary.
"Yes she's ok, apparently one of the Merovingian's men was in the area, she took care of him though," said Brandan looking around as they arrived at the place, "We're here Binary get the bomb set up but don't set the timer yet." Binary nodded and went about setting up the bomb with Dan's help.
Meanwhile at that very moment, Niobe pulled onto the freeway with Ghost in the passenger side and Tarra and Isaiah in the back seat.
"So Niobe where exactly is this place that we're looking for?" asked Tarra. Niobe looked back at her in the rearview mirror.
"It's located in a construction site just off of exit fifty five," she said, "Don't worry its not that far from here."
"I'm not worried, just wondering."
"What kind of resistance can we expect?" asked Isaiah. "That is something we won't know until we get there," said Ghost checking his gun over. They drove slowly and a cop car pulled up and passed them. Niobe took out her phone and put it to her ear.
"Sparks?"
"They haven't sent out any calls yet so I think you should be fine but make sure you get off there as quickly and quietly as you can or you could get some unwanted attention."
"Ok." Niobe quickly hung up her phone.
"Everything ok Captain?" asked Ghost.
"We're fine for now." The exit they were to turn off of quickly came up and they took it, shortly they arrived at the site. The parked the car in an inconspicuous spot and got out.
Isaiah got out of the car and looked up.
"You've got to be kidding me." The construction site was a half finished skyscraper that had already had about thirty floors onto it. "How the hell are we going to find the place to plant it with such a broad place to check?" Niobe smiled at Isaiah.
"With a little hope and help from the ones that watch over us," she took out her phone, "Sparks where is the spot and is the elevator working?"
"The utility elevator is working but they have placed armed guards, should be no problem to take down though, it's about twenty feet away from you on the other side of the building. And the spot you are looking to plant out little toy is on the seventeenth floor. Doesn't look like it's being guarded I'm not seeing any activity."
"Great." Niobe put her phone back in her jacket and started to walk. "Follow me, there is an elevator over here, Tarra we're gonna need a slight distraction there is some guards just something small so Isaiah and I can get in there and knock some heads."
"Alright," said Tarra. They followed Niobe to the corner of the building. Niobe nodded at Tarra and she pulled up her hack screen, she tapped a few buttons on her screen and the guards suddenly started to break out laughing at each other seemingly. Tarra nodded back to her and Niobe smiled at her then looked to Isaiah and they both quickly took into action moving until they were behind them un-noticed. They each grabbed one of the guards and put him in a chokehold until they shortly fell limp. They tossed the guards limp bodies to the ground and Niobe hit the button for the elevator return, and they waited for a few minutes.
"Gotta love the hasteful maintenance elevators," said Isaiah.
"Yeah really we could of ran up the building faster than this," said Ghost his arms folded. Just then there was a slight grinding of metal as the elevator came to a halt. Isaiah was the first to step in as the door opened, the others shortly followed.
"By the way Tarra what did you make them see that was so funny?" asked Niobe.
"I made them see each other naked," she answered.
"Nice," said Isaiah smiling as the door closed. Niobe looked at Tarra with a smirk on her face and hit the button to take them to the seventeenth floor. "So what now?" asked Isaiah. Niobe leaned against the wall and crossed her arms.
"We wait." Isaiah leaned against the wall and slid down to sit in wait.
"You know Isaiah we really don't know what's at the top of this elevator, you should be ready for anything," said Tarra.
"Yeah your right." Isaiah stood up and took out his gun to be ready. Tarra stood and watched the elevator go up in number as it went slowly from floor to floor, 4, 5, 6, 7. Tarra brought up her hack screen and typed in a hack to watch through the elevator door as they went up floor-by-floor 10, 11, 12, 13.
"So what do you see anything we should be worried about?" asked Niobe.
"No I don't see anything watching the doors yet." 15, 16, 17. Niobe hit the stop button.
"Are we clear?" asked Ghost. Tarra nodded and Ghost hit the button to open the door. Niobe and Isaiah jumped through and then swept the room before they quickly began to file in.
"Ok guys let's move we're clear," said Niobe urgently. With Niobe in the lead and guns drawn they quickly headed to the spot they were to set the bomb.
Captain Soren, Saba and Colin we're in the car with Soren driving slowly through the traffic of one of the busier strips of town heading to the subway.
"We would make it there quicker if we parked somewhere and walked there," said Saba.
"Yeah that's what I am beginning to think," said Soren turning a corner to a back street.
"We can park back here and walk to the subway." Soren drove a short distance into the alley and parked under an emergency stairwell to one of the apartment buildings. They got out of the car and walked back toward the main street. "We're about two blocks from the subway let's go."
They made their way slowly through the crowd trying not to seem in too much of a hurry so they would blend in with the crowd. The people in the street were pushy and impatient almost running into them on several different occasions. Colin looked around at the businessmen and women in the streets these were the people that supposedly ran the world that he used to be part of, it was so weird to be an onlooker now, why couldn't they see past the lie. Soon enough . . .
As they walked Saba couldn't help but feel like she was being watched but she could figure out where the feeling was coming from even by focusing on her surroundings. She decided to dismiss the feeling as they came to the subway stairs. They headed down into it and it was surprisingly empty considering the time of day it was. Just a few loners and a bum laying in a bundle of rags in the corner.
"Where is everybody?" asked Saba.
"Good question," Soren put his phone to his ear," yeah, where is everyone?"
"Three of the main subway terminals are undergoing some heavy construction so the public bus system is now overloaded with the people that normally take the subway. There doesn't seem to be anything strange going on from what I can tell just be on guard." Soren put his phone away and they started walking.
"We'll be fine it's just slow due to some construction in the other subway stations. Come on we have to get this over with." Saba and Colin looked at each other and kept following Soren.
They reached the bottom of the steps and three exiles dropped from the ceiling.
"We don't know what you are doing here, but the boss doesn't like it so we're here to stop you," said the one in the lead in a demonic voice.
"We don't have time for this," said Soren with his arms crossed.
"Let's get'em boys," said Saba. The three of them sprang into action taking on the one that was closest to them. The leader drew a gun and Soren quickly grabbed it from him and back handing him across the face sending him to the ground. Soren jumped in the air and slammed his knee down on the mans face then kicked him off the side.
Saba began with a series of kicks hitting the man with a full four hit combo stunning him, she hit him three times in the chest then kneed him sending him into the wall with a shattering crash.
"Do you really think you can hurt us with such attacks foolish humans."
"We'll see how this goes!" said Colin. Colin quickly jumped into action attacking the third exile with a six hit combo swiftly and easily landing each blow as the exile was stunned he drew his knife and did a flip around in the air off his back then slit the exiles throat quickly the kicked him in the back sending him flying across the room.
"They aren't so tough." The exile Saba had attacked got back to his feet and came at her swinging, she blocked four of the five attacks and began to focus getting frustrated. Time seemed to slow down as Saba struck the exile several times in the face then ducked down and grabbed his foot and slammed him against the ground. Saba tilted her head and smirked at Colin.
"Good job," said Colin smiling back.
"You fool did you think I would die so easily," said The Demonic voice. The three of them turned to see the exile Soren had fought standing as though nothing had happened. They each looked at each other and took after the exile together.
Saba jumped into the air and dropped kick the man and bounced off his chest flipping backwards in the air as to get out of the others way. As he was stunned from Saba's attack Soren hit him three times in the face swirling around with his last hit putting his weight behind the final blow knocking him to the ground. Colin jumped into the air with his knife in hand and dove at the man plunging the knife into his chest.
"Good work you two," said Soren, "Now lets do what we came to do, secure the area make sure there is nothing that will stand in our way from here on."
"Alright Captain," said Colin. Colin and Saba dispersed around the area to secure it.
"Is this where we are supposed to set it?" asked Saba.
"Yes its one of the main system focal points for the matrix. If this plan goes right then it should disrupt the entire matrix."
"Oh, what happens if we get caught in it?"
"The body cannot live without the mind you know this." Saba nodded and went about scanning around the area.
"Looks like everything is clear," said Colin, "There is no further activity in the area." Soren nodded and took his phone.
"Sparks we're in position how are the others doing?"
"The others are ready when you are?" Soren took out the device and set it down on the ground getting ready to arm it.
"Get the others on the line and tell me when to arm it, I don't have to tell you if we are even a second off then our efforts will fail."
Back with Niobe's team they had made it to the proper place undisturbed. Niobe was on the phone with Sparks and Soren as she placed the bomb into position.
"Alright guys I'm ready to blow this thing when you are, just say when Sparks where is Brandan's team what is taking them so long?"
"Hold on I have an incoming call on line three. It's Brandan."
"Ok Sparks I've got this thing set just tell me when to hit the button." Brandan looked around at the floor they were on things just seemed to be going a little too easy.
"Alright everyone on three?" asked Niobe.
"On three," repeated Soren and Brandan.
"Ok . . ." said Sparks, "One two."
"Oh shit Niobe look out!" they heard Isaiah's voice yell."

Matrix Fanfiction Chapter 32: Simulations

Chapter 32: Simulations

Brandan woke up and looked around the captain's quarters, they were one day away from one of the biggest mission attempts in human history within the matrix. He would need to hone the crews' skills today to be sure that all seven of them were ready to take on this huge responsibility. This was also most the first time that they would be all be working with other captains and they would need to prove themselves. He got up out of his bed and got dressed then headed down to the bridge to get stats on where they would need to be for the next mission. He got into the bridge and Dan, Tarra and Colin were sitting in the control seats.
"Report," he said.
"We just about to the co-ordinance you gave me Captain," said Dan. Colin, who was sitting in holographics, looked over at Dan.
"We're in the clear for now I'm not seeing anything within range of the scanners," he explained.
"Good, Tarra has there been any communications activity from Niobe or Soren?"
"They called Parker a while ago and told him that they weren't into position and that they probably weren't going to be ready until tomorrow," said Tarra.
"That'll be perfect it should coincide perfectly with the mission time." Isaiah steps in from behind him.
"Is there any word on what the mission will be exactly?" he asked. Brandan sat down in the secondary pilots seat next to Dan.
"Well all I can tell you is it's an attack on the power plants main frame server. I don't know exactly how it's going to go down and I don't know how they plan on even going about it, but I do know that it's the biggest mission attempt in human history. We will be working closely with the other teams as well so we definitely need to be at our best and you guys know what that means I assume."
"Simulations," said Dan unenthusiastically. Isaiah stood between the two pilots chair.
"When do we get started?" he asked.
"As soon as we're parked, Colin, Tarra, Isaiah you guys go get ready. I'll stay here and help Dan get her seated." Tarra, Colin and Isaiah stand up and go downstairs to the broadcast zone and Brandan stays with Dan to help park the ship.
The three of them walk into the broadcast zone and Saba and Tabatha are looking into the code screen with Parker. Parker points to something on the screen.
"The exiles are really active all of a sudden, I wonder what they are up to," said Parker. Colin walks over to the code screen and looks in.
"Captain says we need to train hard for the next mission, it's the biggest mission attempted in the history of the human resistance, so loader up," he explained. Parker turns his chair around to face the others.
"Did he at least tell you what one?" asked Parker. Colin shook his head.
"Um, no, he's coming right down though, they just gotta get the ship into position."
"Alright then, you guys wanna get the broadcast chairs set up for me?" he asked whirling his seat back around to get the computer ready.
"Yeah sure," said Tarra. Everyone walks over and starts to get there own chair ready to go, setting up the bio readers and the mental scanners. They felt the ship jolt slightly as Dan and Brandan put it into place.
"We must be parked," said Tabatha checking some connections.
"Sounds like it, I don't hear the engines humming anymore," said Isaiah.
Brandan and Dan walked through the door to the broadcast deck.
"Is everything ready?" asked Brandan stopping a few feet away. Dan walked by him and went to one of the seats to start checking it over.
"Everything should be ready to go captain. What do you plan on testing us on?" asked Tabatha. Brandan walked over and looked into the code screen and hit a few buttons on the keyboard.
"I'm going to set up a test to help each of us with our weaknesses within the matrix so we can try to hone our skills a bit," he explained, " I want each of us to be ready to do whatever the other crews require of us, we need to be ready for everything and anything." They each begin to set up a chair and they each sit down. "Actually guys I plan on sending you in each one at a time and doing individual tasks. First I wanna ask you what you each think your weaknesses are?" Brandan stood up and looked at each of them, they all seemed to be dazed by the question.
"Well?" Brandan shrugs his shoulders getting impatient.
"Um well I guess for me it would be my hand to hand combat abilities," said Tarra.
"Very good, anyone else?" Saba took a step forward and looked at the captain shyly.
"My confidence could use some work," said Saba quietly. Colin looked puzzled and stayed quiet as Dan stepped forward.
"I need to work on my speed if anything." Tabatha had a puzzled look on her face as she stood up from her seat.
"I've still never really used my gun I need to work on my accuracy with my handguns I guess," she explained. Brandan looked at her finding it hard to believe what he was hearing, but thinking back, she was right she hadn't been required to use a gun in any previous missions.
"Yeah we will get you set up with that later today. Anyone else wanna step up and take a stab at your weakness?" Isaiah and Colin looked at each other, each waiting for the other to say something. Colin perked his eyebrows at Isaiah.
"Well captain, my weakness has always been my strength, my attacks are really fast and accurate I just need to be able to put a little more power behind them," said Isaiah having a thinkers look on his face. Colin nodded his head at Isaiah.
"Your turn Colin, you're the only one that hasn't gone yet."
"Well I don't really think that I have any problems, I'm fast, accurate, powerful, confident, I don't have any trouble in battle with anyone, except agents." Brandan looked at Colin and smiled slightly.
"Your definitely right about that but you do have one slight problem and I think you will find out later on in the simulator," said Brandan sitting in the operators station, "Alright who wants to go first?" Tabatha stepped forward.
"Might as well be me, no sense wasting any time contemplating." Brandan nodded and sat down in one of the terminals and Isaiah walked over to her and helped her get set up.
"I'm going to load you into the gun training program, its going to give you what you need to know when you load in. Hook her up Isaiah." Isaiah took the jack and slid it into her neck and Brandan loaded her into the construct program.
Tabatha loaded into the construct and looked around, she put her glasses on and the weapons table loaded over to her.
"Did you want me to pick any specific gun or just take one?" she asked.
"Take your weapon of choice." Tabatha picked up the Difesa 092.
"This one will be good, it's got a clip that holds fifteen rounds so it'll last fairly long." Tabatha looked around as a room loaded that was full of pillars and places for things to hide. Her instructions loaded into her, she wouldn't be able to use anything to stop her enemy but her gun. She would only be able to use physical force to keep them away from her. Brandan's voice could be heard all around her.
"Alright Tab are you ready to start?" he asked. Tabatha cocked her gun and took one last look around.
"I'm ready when you are captain," she said, flicking her hair back. Just as she finished speaking she could hear movement begin all around her.
Just then a man became visible to her right, Tabatha quickly responded and turned to shooting him between the eyes. Another man came from behind her and fired his gun. As the bullet left the barrel of his gun time began to slow down. Tabatha bounded into the air back flipping backwards several times in mid air as she fired another round from her gun going right through the top of the mans skull. He fell dead and several more men appeared in the area around her as she jumped off one of the near by pillars twirling around in the air as several bullets whisked by her. She began to fire and knock down the men one by one as she spun in the air. Tabatha landed on the ground and a man put a gun to her back. She focused as hard as she could, bent over forward and kicked the man in the stomach she then twirled around and grabbed the gun from him then shot him three times in the stomach. Tabatha suddenly sensed a bullet coming behind her and did a back flip sending it between her legs. Balancing herself on one hand she shot the shooter with her handgun right in face.
"Is this all I've gotta be able to do," she said jumping back to her feet. Suddenly she felt a gun being pointed right into her back and a man put her arm around her neck.
"Now I've gotcha little girl," he said.
"Really are you sure?" she said. The man started to pull the trigger on his gun but before it went off Tabatha quickly whipped around and backhanded him in the face knocking him to his knees. "Sorry but you don't quite have it on me bub!" She kicked the man in the stomach sending him twirling and then to the ground, she knocked him in the stomach and he slid across the ground dropping a shotgun. Tabatha did a cartwheel and grabbed the gun on her way by just as the man was getting to his feet. She landed back on the ground and shot the man in the abdomen throwing him away several feet. Tabatha cocked the gun and took another look around. "Is it over Captain?" she asked.
"You're doing really well, but you're not out of the woods yet keep it up," said Brandan, "These guys that your fighting are only the equivalent to an average building security guard I'm upping the difficulty level to three."
The men that Tabatha had disposed of disappeared and she could hear more movement in the area. A man stepped into view dressed in a black and white swat uniform and holding an assault rifle. The man took aim and opened fire, Tabatha quickly reacted by running up one of the pillars as the bullets whipped by her. She bounded off the pillar and twirled in the air as the bullets quickly flew by her as she spun and landed behind the man and shot him in the back. Several other men appeared around her and began shooting, Tabatha did several back flips to avoid the shots fired. She dodged as much as she could until she got behind one of the pillars. She cocked her gun and did a cart wheel between the pillars firing two shots hitting both men with ease. Tabatha new that as long as she held her focus she would be all right. She put her back to a pillar and listened. "I know you're there," she whispered to herself. Tabatha quickly looked around pillar and ended up staring down the barrel of a shotgun. The man pulled the trigger and time slowed down as the bullet moved through the barrel. Tabatha tilted her head back and dropped to the ground as the bullet whisked by her, she did a back flip and kicked the gun out of his hand. She stood up straight and raised her gun smiling at the man as she pulled the trigger sending a bullet to his head.
"Ok Tab here comes the big one lets see what you can do," said Parker.
Just then an agent stepped into view and several of the pillars vanished to give her room to fight. Tabatha's eyes widened as the agent straightened his tie, she took a near bye gun from the floor and reloaded it. She took to running at him with both hand guns firing at him, the agent began dodging with ease as the bullets whisked by him. Tabatha got with in arms reach just as the guns were empty. The agent reached for her but as he did, Tabatha moon-saulted over him and did a cartwheel grabbing an assault rifle from the ground as she rolled. Tabatha quickly turned around and ran back at him doing another moon-sault and firing down at the agent as she floated over him. Several of the bullets hit the agent knocking him down, Tabatha landed on the ground and dropped the gun as he fell to the ground.
"Dealt with." Tabatha stood as the area around her transformed back to the construct program.
"Well done Tab," said Brandan, "we're pulling you out now."
Tabatha closed her eyes and opened them again to be look up at Colin as he pulled the jack from her neck.
"Good job Tab," he said, "Captain who's going next?" Brandan looked around at each member of the crew as Tabatha walked over and stood beside him. Colin shrugged his shoulders and stepped forward.
"I'll go," he said. Isaiah walked over to a chair and Colin followed him and sat down.
"You think your ready for what's about to happen, Colin?" asked Brandan. Colin smiled.
"Just get me in there." Isaiah shoved the jack in and Colin closed his eyes as he was loaded into the program.
Colin opened his eyes to the white zone of the construct.
"Alright Colin get ready this won't be easy," said Parker. Colin stood up straight as the rooftops loaded around him. A hunched over man with a strange look on his face appeared at the other end of the rooftop.
"Who's this guy?"
"This is a simulated version of an exile that has been giving the rebels trouble since before Neo was around. His name is Cujo and he works for the Merovingian, no one that has encountered him has been able to beat him to this date," explained Parker.
"Thanks for the info, I doubt that will be true after this, is he an exact replica?"
"You got it the program is starting." Cujo looked at Colin and smirked.
"This is ending here," he said and walked toward him.
"You don't know how right you are pal," said Colin cracking his knuckles and starting to walk toward him. Cujo jumped into the air and landed right in front of Colin, beginning a series of powerful blows hitting him hard. Colin blocked the majority of the attacks successfully then kicked him back and began his own series of attacks finishing with an uppercut.
"Not bad for a human!" Cujo was knocked into the air and landed flat on his feet. "Now lets see how you handle this." Cujo landed in front of Colin so quickly he had no time to react and struck him once in each side the slapped him across the face with both hands knocking him down.
"Holy shit where did that come from I can see this is gonna take some serious concentration."
Colin got to his feet quickly as Cujo ran at him, he focused and time began to slow down. Colin attacked Cujo relentlessly striking at him with his fists and feet flying.
"Let's see how you like this!" Colin jumped in the air and did a round house kick hitting Cujo in the chest and sending him to the ground. Colin quickly ran over and kicked Cujo across the floor. Cujo laid on the ground for a few seconds as Colin stood ready for him. "That's what I thought." Colin stood up straight and cracked his neck.
"Is that all Captain?" There was no answer, Colin walked over to the body and looked at him. "Hmm." Colin went to bend over and Cujo jumped up kicking him in the chin, Colin did a back flip and landed on his feet. Cujo flew into him with both feet hitting him in the chest and knocking him into a near by utility shed. Colin's nose started to bleed and Cujo grabbed him by the neck.
"You foolish human you think you can get me with a pitiful attack like that?" Cujo squeezed tighter and tighter around his neck as Colin grabbed Cujo's arms.
"Your not doing as good as you think vampire!" Colin kicked him in the side several times trying to get him to release his neck. Using the wall as grounding Colin lifted his feet and pushed on Cujo as hard as he could sending him away from him.
As Colin continued to fight inside the computer Brandan and the others looked on from the outside.
"Captain, what is the point of this test?" asked Saba.
"Saba Colin needs to learn when to give up in situations like this, he doesn't seem to realize that he inside the matrix he is not always going to be able to win," said Brandan.
"I see, well how far are you going to let it go?"
"Don't worry Saba the program can't kill him, it can definitely give him a good thrashing though." Tabatha walked over and looked at him in his chair.
"He could definitely use one of those I think," she said.
"Parker let's give him a little more competition I don't think he realizes that he can't win just yet." Parker nodded and hit a few buttons on his keyboard.
Back inside the program Colin had just hit Cujo away from him and was getting his composure back two more exiles appeared and jumped onto the building. Before they could respond Colin ran at them and tore into them with a combo knocking one of them off the building and hitting the other one to the ground. Colin felt a fist sink into his back and he fell forward.
"God damn it how am I supposed to do this Captain? I don't understand." Colin held himself up on his hands and looked at the ground as he thought for a second.
"Are you ready to give up human?" asked Cujo walking over to him with a knife in his hand.
"I think I get it now." Colin jumped up in the air and landed on the other side of Cujo kicking him in the back with a horse kick, then took off running. As he came to the edge of the building time seemed to slow down as Colin focused his hardest as he bounded into the air between the buildings. He landed on the other side and looked back drawing his gun. The exiles were running at him and as they jumped into the air to follow him Colin drew his gun firing at both of them knocking the underling to the ground below, the bullets collided with Cujo's chest and blood sprayed but he stayed on track. Colin turned to run again and took off focusing his hardest of staying ahead of the creature that wasn't far behind him. He jumped into the air and his phone rang, he grabbed it and quickly put it to his ear.
"What is it?"
"Get to the phone Colin," said Saba on the other end. Colin put his phone away and he could hear a phone ringing in the distance. He landed on the ground and quickly scanned the surrounding buildings for the sign of the phone. He spotted the utility phone four buildings away and took to running again just as Cujo hit the ground. Colin pushed himself as hard as he could focusing his speed to as much as he could muster. Colin began moving so fast that he became nothing but a blur to his enemies and made the last jump to the building the maintenance phone was on. Colin turned around to be starring Cujo right in the eye.
"Foolish human, you need to learn to never look back." He swung at Colin hitting him several times in the chest then grabbed him by the jacket and through him of the building.
Colin was now falling to the ground below but was luckily able to grab a hold of a flagpole sticking out of the side of the building. He flipped around on it several times and threw himself back toward the rooftop landing his feet firmly on the ground. Colin ran at Cujo and jumped over him landing several feet away out of reach of his long arms shortly reaching the phone and being taken to safety.
Colin sat up in his chair as Tabatha pulled the jack from his neck.
"What the hell was that?" he asked.
"That was a test to see whether or not you knew when to give up, and you passed," said Saba.
"Whew," Colin stood up and walked over to the computer,
"See I'm even good at retreating."
"Maybe so . . . Saba your next have a seat." Saba took up a position in her chair and Colin walked over and jacked her in kissing her on the lips.
"Good luck babe." Saba smiled and closed her eyes as she was loaded in.
"What should we do for her captain?" asked Parker.
"We're gonna send her into a situation that she can come to the top in. Load her into the training dojo and make her have to deal with three enemies at once all at her level of skill." Parker nodded and loaded her in as the captain ordered.
Saba opened her eyes and she was in the training dojo in full battle uniform. Suddenly three large men walked into the dojo from three separate entrances.
"Remember you can do this," she said to herself. The first of the three men started to run at her and time seemed to slow down as she ducked to trip him then kick him in the chest in mid air knocking him away. The two others started towards her and she ran back at them and quickly engaged them to a quick surprise attack. Saba jumped into the air kicking both of them, one with each foot, then tore into one of them as she landed on her feet. She attacked the man relentlessly until on of the others came up behind her attempting to grab her, Saba did a backwards round house kick hitting the back attacker in the face stumbling him. The man she had been attacking took advantage of the distraction and as she landed hit her in the face. Saba took the hit with grace, back flipping away from him. Saba got her feet on the ground and regained her bearings and the first one she had dealt with had regained his composure and was near her. The man kicked at her and Saba blocked with her forearm, then grabbed him by the leg and threw him into the others who running at her.
Meanwhile on the outside Brandan and the others were watching Saba as she fought.
"She's doing really well, I somehow didn't expect this much from her," said Parker.
"She and I have been practicing with our free time on occasion," said Colin.
"Really shows," Brandan paused and looked at Isaiah who was sitting quietly, "Ok Isaiah get ready you're going in. Parker set up the computer to run two different simulations." Brandan walked over to the chair and beckoned to Isaiah who shortly followed as Parker began setting up the system. Isaiah smiled at Brandan and laid down in the chair.
"You ready?" Brandan slid the jack into Isaiah's neck.
"How ready are you ever for that feeling I still can't get used to it." Isaiah sat and waited for Parker to configure the computer.
"Are you ready yet god, I can't just sit here like this it's itching." Brandan walked over to Parker and looked at the computer.
"What's taking so long?"
"Sorry Captain, the system wasn't adapting right I've got it now though." Parker hit several keys on the across the board and there was a strange noise as the power went up as the computer set up to run on two separate driver systems. The main power came back on and the system was successfully separated.
"Ok can you send me in already!" said Isaiah. Parker hit a few more buttons and Isaiah was inside a separate training simulator.
Meanwhile Saba was still dealing with the three men getting frustrated. Saba jumped into the air as one of the men ran at her and kicked him in the head breaking his neck. The other two men stopped in their tracks and looked at her as she landed on her feet.
"Who's next?" Saba turned to look at them and they each looked at each other, then back to her and began to run at her. Saba jumped into the air and kicked each of them in the face with her feet twirling in the air and landing facing them again. Saba attacked the next one as fast and as hard as she could delivering several blows before he could react. Saba threw one last hard punch and the man fell to the ground as his neck swung around, breaking under the pressure.
Isaiah opened his eyes and he was inside the construct program.
"Ok Cap, what do I gotta do?" asked Isaiah.
"Just wait a second the processor is a little slow loading its not done yet," said Parker. Isaiah stood and watched as the program seemed to load in slow motion all around him. In his vision everything was severely distorted and almost like a choppy old video game.
"Captain are you sure its safe to be doing this, seems kinda choppy or something. It's like a bad video game or something." Isaiah looked around he had been loaded into a carnival.
"What the hell . . ."
"Just sit tight Isaiah, Parker is still working out the bugs in the system we have never used the Navras' computer to do this before," said Brandan. Isaiah sat on a nearby bench and waited for the program to be adjusted. He looked around and everything seemed to phase in and out of virtual reality and was back to normal.
"Ok so now that, that problem is fixed. I bet your wondering why your in a carnival?"
"Yeah kinda." Just then a tent appeared in front of him.
"Inside the tent you will find your test," Isaiah walked into the tent, "It's a pretty basic test just hit until you hit the top." Isaiah looked at the pillars in front of him, there was a bell and a spot for him to hit.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Back on the outside.
"Captain who came up with that idea?" asked Colin. Parker smiled.
"It's an adaptation of a children's program from Zion, I just made a few tweaks to it." They watched as Isaiah began hitting the spot on the pillar sending the bell up it a quarter of the way. "He can do a lot better than that," said Parker.
"I don't understand he doesn't seem to know how to focus on everything at once," said Parker.
"He can but he just doesn't know how to proportion his abilities properly." Brandan looked into the screen at both of the crewmen. "Saba's doing really well."
The simulations went on all night until Brandan had decided that the crew's ability was up to snuff the night ended and they had retired for the evening. Colin and Saba were lying in bed in each other's arms.
"Colin how do you feel about tomorrow?" asked Saba.
"I think if we all do our best we will come out on top for sure."
"We'll be working directly with other teams all of us working as one. What if we can't perform as well as the rest of them and we mess something up?" Colin put his arms around Saba and squeezed slightly.
"Don't worry babe we'll come out on top, we always do. Just relax and try to get a good sleep." Saba laid her head on Colin's chest and closed her eyes.
"I love you Colin."
"I love you too." Colin and Saba went to sleep in anticipation of what was to come.
Brandan was up in the Captain's quarters at his screen having a conference meeting with Locke and the other two captains' that were involved.
"Brandan you, Niobe, and Soren will be working together as a single unit to get this mission done I am uploading the information to each of you. This plan will work but it will be extremely difficult, you must all be at your guard. As such your crew must do the same is that understood?"
"Yes sir," said all three Captains.
"My system is showing that the upload has complete it, I suggest that you and your crews review it thoroughly and begin at 0500 inside that matrix. Commander Locke signing off." Locke's transmission ended and the other two captain's were still on the screen.
"Well boys you better get to bed we've got an early day tomorrow," said Niobe.
"We'll be fine guys we can do anything we put our minds too," said Soren.
"Are we going to be going in as an entire crew?"
"No however your entire crew will be mobilized as my crew only consists of Ghost and myself."
"Alright no problem, I'm signing off I will talk to you both at 0400 good night." The captains nodded and Brandan signed off the system.

Matrix Fanfiction Chapter 31: The Exile (Part 2)

Chapter 31: The Exile (Part 2)

Brandan laid down in his chair and waited for Parker to jack him in, he looked around at the entire crew some of which this would be the first mission they would embark on. Colin was sitting next to Saba he looked over at her and she took his hand.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Colin whispered with a smile on his face.
"I know," she said. Parker helped Isaiah up and walked him over to his chair, then jacked him in. Tarra tapped a few buttons on the screen over her chair and then leaned back to wait.
"So the hacks will be uploaded into my database when I get in there but I need to wait for you guys to knock it out before I can try any of them," she said walking herself through the plan one last time.
"Exactly, piece of cake right," said Parker. Parker jacked her in and then followed with Dan and Tabatha.
"Alright, psych yourselves up guys we're gonna need it," said Tabatha as Parker slid in the jack. Isaiah leaned back in his chair, the pain in his stomach was still fairly prominent. He couldn't wait to jack into the matrix and the pain would be gone. Virtual reality was better than morphine could ever be, Parker pushed the jack into his neck and then into Brandan and went back to his station.
"Alright guys call me if you need me, you know the number."
"Parker you're such a fool sometimes," said Tarra, "Now send us in already." Parker typed in a few commands and sent them into the construct program.
One by one they began to appear inside the construct program. They each walked up to the weapons table and picked up their handguns.
"Alright guys were taking a little extra fire power this time," said Brandan. Just then a larger table appeared in front of them with more artillery.
"Colin take the rocket launcher, Dan you grab the two assault rifles and the sniper rifle. We are gonna go in with two groups, Tarra, Dan, Tabatha you guys are in the Acura. Colin, Saba, Isaiah you're coming with me," said Brandan. Colin looked around at the construct.
"Here we go guys, you ready?" The matrix loaded around them and they were all standing around a hard line phone on a circular table, it was ringing. Brandan picked it up and put it to his ear.
"We're in," he said, "We'll get back in touch with you when we need to find the exit." Brandan placed the phone back on the receiver. They walked down the stairs of the building and out onto the street where the cars were waiting. Tabatha, Dan and Tarra all got in the car and drove away. Colin walked to the driver's side and opened the door.
"Hey dude not this time, I need you to arm that rocket launcher," said Brandan coming up behind him.
"Aye captain." Colin hopped into the car through the sunroof and sat in the back. Isaiah got into the back seat next to Colin and Saba sat in front with Brandan. Brandan started the engine and took off.
"Saba get the radio channel open to the other car," said Brandan. Saba nodded her head and took out her cell phone. She dialed the number for the other car and hooked it up to the radio. There was a bit of static at first but it cleared up quickly. "Tarra can you guys here me?"
"Loud and clear Captain," Tarra's voice came from the car radio.
"Alright good, first things first we have to try and lure it out of hiding, park in the general area of the sighting that we had last and we will meet you."
"Ok." Brandan sped up slightly to get to the destination quickly.
They drove into a parking lot where the Acura was parked and pulled up beside it. Tarra, Dan and Tabatha were still inside. Brandan got out of the car and the others followed.
"Ok split up, we've gotta search the area when you find it call us. We're gonna go in two teams, Saba, Tabatha you come with Colin and I because of your inexperience. Isaiah go with Tarra's team," Brandan ordered. Isaiah nodded and walked over to Tarra.
"Come on you two I will show you where I found it," said Isaiah. The two teams split up and went in different directions.
Isaiah led Tarra and Dan to where he found the creature the first time.
"When you found it, you couldn't see it without focusing could you?" asked Tarra.
"Yeah it somehow blended in with the code, I don't think I even seen it until it wanted me to."
"Great." Dan checked his hand loaded his handgun and looked around at the basement surroundings. "This should be fun." The three of them looked around the room, they starred right into the code but could not see anything.
"I don't think its here, lets go," said Isaiah. They walked up a flight of stairs to the old apartment building, there was people in the building an old man walked out of one of the apartments.
"What were you doing down there?" he said sounding like his age was creeping up on him.
"Don't worry about it old man," said Dan, "We're looking for something." They walked by the old man and he grabbed Dan by the arm. Dan looked at him with a surprised look on his face and the others stopped and turned to look at him.
"If you seek death it will surely come for you," whispered the old man, "there is something lurking in the shadows of this neighborhood, something evil." Dan pulled his arm away from the man.
"Go back in your apartment old man we will take care of it," said Dan. The old man looked at the three of them then at Isaiah.
"I watched you engage this creature last time, this time you may not be so lucky, beware." The old man went back into his apartment and slowly shut the door. Dan and Tarra looked at Isaiah, he turned and they kept walking down the hallway.
Meanwhile the others were not to far away in one of the other apartment buildings.
"You'll have to focus on the code to see it, so make sure you look carefully," said Brandan. The others nodded as they each began to scan the room.
"Whoa, this is weird," said Tabatha.
"I don't see anything," said Saba, "What about you Colin?" Colin shook his head.
"Nothing."
"Then let's move on," said Brandan. The walked down into the basement of the apartment building, it was dark, slightly cool and damp. "The last time we encountered it Isaiah ran into it in a basement. While you two were training he told me that he kept hearing noises before he found it so it was probably hunting him or something, is what I figure." Colin noticed something on the wall as they walked by and into the center of the floor.
"Captain look at this." Colin walked over and touched the wall, it was a large claw-like indent in the wall.
"It had to have made this," said Brandan looking it over. Tabatha looked around the building at the walls, getting the slight feeling that she was being watch by something.
"I don't see anything here either, do you Saba?" she shuttered slightly as she spoke. Saba joined her looking around focusing hard on the walls around them.
"Wait." Saba caught a quick glimpse of what looked like a foot, but then it was gone.
"What is it?" asked Colin urgently.
"Nothing I thought I saw something but it was nothing."
"Are you sure?" Brandan focused as hard as he could and looked around quickly, there was nothing he could see.
"Yes I'm sure. It was nothing." Just then a middle aged man came down.
"Hey folks you guys can't be down here it's a restricted area."
"Sorry sir we were just looking for somebody," said Saba innocently.
"Well if they live in this building or any of the ones around here they won't be down here if they know me." The old man smiled and went back up the stairs they followed him shortly. On the way up the steps Brandan saw a strange shadow pass over the old man and move out the door.
"Colin," he whispered. Colin looked back at him.
"I know." Saba had seen it but for some reason it didn't engage them.
Tarra, Dan and Isaiah had taken to the roof tops in there search they were on top of one of the larger buildings and were looking over the edges and to the other buildings to see if they could see it.
"I don't see anything, do you guys?" asked Tarra.
"I think," said Dan. Tarra and Isaiah ran over and looked where he was looking the creature was slightly phased out of the code and was nothing but a blurry image.
"What's it doing?" asked Tarra.
"I don't know," said Isaiah.
"Look ahead of it a little in the alley," Dan instructed. Tarra and Isaiah did as he suggested and could see that there was a bum searching through the dumpster of the alleyway. Isaiah took out his phone and put it to his ear.
"Yeah Captain, we've found it, we're on top of the largest building in the sector looking down on it, it's in the east alleyway."
"Ok stay there do not, I repeat, do not engage it yet. We're on our way!" Brandan yelled.
"Ok." Isaiah put away his phone and looked around at the other buildings wondering which one the others would come out of. They appeared on the other side of the street that the alley was on, they looked up at them and Brandan signaled for them to get down there.
"Lets go," said Dan. Tarra and Dan headed for the door back inside.
"Isaiah what are you waiting for come on," said Tarra.
"I'll meet you down there." Isaiah jumped up on the ledge of the building in a crouching position balancing him self with one hand.
"All right!" Tarra and Dan ran down the stairs and Isaiah focused his hardest. He balanced himself on the ledge he stood up and began to run down the building, as time seemed to slow down. He ran about half way down and the creature looked up noticing him, he jumped off the building and fell towards Brandan and the others.
Brandan watched Isaiah fall toward them the creature turned its attention to them.
"Ok guys get ready." All four of them took up a fighting stance and Isaiah landed right in the middle of them shaking the ground slightly.
"Tarra and Dan will be down shortly," said Isaiah.
"Alright let's go." All five of them took off at the creature. Tabatha took to the air and kicked the creature in the face landing behind it and turning around. Colin and Brandan both went into a powerful onslaught of attacks on the upper body using combo after combo. Saba slid through its legs and got behind it with Tabatha, Isaiah worked the lower body. Tabatha and Saba began to attack the creature from behind hitting it swiftly with combos of their own. Dan ran out through the door and joined Tabatha and Saba while Tarra waited for the time she would be needed. The creature seemed to be taking the abuse from the six fighters quite easily. "Come on fight harder!" yelled Brandan. The six of them began to focus in sync and they each began to push themselves to the limit.
Tabatha focused her hardest and time seemed to slow down as she land a series of ten blows in just under ten seconds.
"Ya!" she yelled as she hit one last time moving back into regular time. Saba continued attacking as best she could focusing along with the others. She began to feel a heightened sense of awareness as she fought. Her attacks seemed to be landing more and more precise each attack. Isaiah began to speed up and work as fast as he could with all the power he could muster from his body. Isaiah moved so fast that he hit the creature almost thirty times in ten seconds. Dan focused and attacked with ease, not relying on speed but accuracy and power to make his attacks matter. Brandan hit the creature several times with his fists then jumped and kicked the creature several times in the head. Colin focused as hard as he could on where his hands were hitting, his strength is what made his attacks count not his speed hitting the creature only five times the last hit he jumped into the air right after Brandan's kick and hit the creature in the face as hard as he could, almost turning its head all the way around. The creature's hand dropped to its sides and a strange shockwave knocked them all away. Tarra focused and called up her hack screen, she hits the buttons with ease and used a float hack to stop them from hitting the wall. "Holy shit!" yelled Tabatha.
They watched as the creature tilted its head to fix its neck.
"Oh god here it comes get ready!" yelled Isaiah. The creature shot at Colin like lighting and began to attack him, he successfully dodged most of its attacks. Colin moved to the left then to the right then jumped into the air and bounded off its shoulders. Brandan jumped at the creature with his fist out and time seemed to slow down as the creature swung at him with its long arm knocking him into a nearby wall.
"Ah shit!" Brandan fell to the ground and began to pull himself up. "Is that the best you got? Colin lets get this thing." Colin ran over and stood by him until he was up, the creature had taken off after Tabatha.
"Oh shit!" she said as she moved to dodge. Colin and Brandan ran at the creature together initiating their twin element. They began to attack the creature as they did last time but this time from behind. Tabatha rolled out of the way to safety.
"Tarra get ready!" yelled Dan. Tarra watched intently from a distance as Colin and Brandan jumped back from the creature. Colin put his arms out and Brandan jumped into the air using him as a propeller. Colin ran at the creature and attacked it as he had done before. Isaiah realized that he could help at this time and ran at it.
"Dan come on!" he yelled. Isaiah and Dan joined Colin in his attack to hold the creature still long enough. The three of them fought as hard as they could to keep the creature from regaining composure. Brandan suddenly fell on the creatures head only this time it didn't get driven into the ground but grabbed him by the foot and threw him at Colin then whacked Dan and Isaiah away with one fowl swipe. Saba watched as the others were thrown away and realized that she and Tabatha would have to attack it next to give them time to recover.
"Tabatha we need to help!" she yelled as she ran at the creature. Saba ran at the creature and time seemed to slow down as she jumped into the air and kicked it in the chest knocking it back slightly. Tabatha quickly joined her and swiftly tripped the creature then dropped her foot down on its neck.
"Stupid move," Tabatha said to herself as the creature grabbed her by the leg. The creature threw Tabatha and she stopped herself from hitting a wall with her hands. Saba jumped back to avoid a massive fist and the creature stood still for a second.
"Uh oh." They watched as the creature's fingers grew in to sharpened and lengthy claws.
"Oh no," said Tarra under her breath.
Tarra focused and brought up her hacking screen and used a hack to hold the creature in place.
"There guys, that should slow it down a bit, if nothing else." Just then they heard the sound of gunshots being fired and seen bullets hit the creature's chest and head. Brandan looked around.
"Who the hell?" he asked, confused. Just then three agents fell into the fighting circle.
"Oh shit, not now," said Colin.
"Wait a minute." Two of the agents engaged the creature and the third walked over to Brandan. Brandan took up a fighting stance ready for anything.
"This creature is of great threat to both of our factions we have been ordered to help you destroy it, our attempts to reconnect it have failed, you must do so." The agent looked at Tarra. "She is a hacker is she not?" The agent jumped over to Tarra and she backed away.
"What do you want?" she said slightly frightened.
"We need your ability as a hacker we have developed at hack for you to use to get rid of it, now permit me to upload it to you." Tarra looked passed the agent at Brandan.
"Let him," said Brandan. The agent thrust his hand into Tarra's chest and a strange light went over her as the hack uploaded.
"Use it on my signal we will only have one chance human."
"Help them guys, I know its different but we have no real choice here." All three of the agents began to fight the creature with the help of the others. Tarra watched them fight as one of the agents was gouged by the creature and fell to the ground. They all fought hard and one of the other agents hit the creature with one final swipe knocking the creature down, everyone that was fighting dispersed away.
"Now human!" yelled the agent. Tarra focused and called up her hack screen, she tapped in the code and a strange light began to come from the creature's eyes and mouth. It got to its feet and began to thrash around as it was reconnected to The Source. The light began to completely engulf the exile when it suddenly exploded and pieces of it went everywhere.
"Fuck yeah," yelled Tabatha excited. Isaiah rushed over to Brandan.
"Captain I think we should take our leave and celebrate back home." Isaiah had a worried look on his face. Brandan looked at the agent.
"Thanks for your help, seems peace may be possible." The agent quickly turned to face him.
"Only human." The agent ran at them.
"Guys go, get back to the cars!"
"Should of known we couldn't trust'em long!" Colin yelled as he and Saba bounded into one of the windows of the apartment building. Tarra and Dan took to running down an alleyway. Brandan, Tabatha and Isaiah took off down the street and turned a corner the cars weren't that far away.
Colin and Saba crashed through the glass of the window to the vacant apartment hand in hand.
"Come on, we have to hurry the cars are on the other side of this building," said Colin getting to his feet and pulling Saba along. The two of them ran through the apartment building hearing footsteps behind them, they came to a door and Colin kicked it open and they began to run down the hallway and then down a flight of stairs finally seeing the door.
Brandan, Isaiah and Tabatha ran down the street with one of the agents close behind them.
"I hope the others get there as soon as we do, cus we won't have much time to be sitting and waiting!" yelled Tabatha. They heard gunshots behind them and felt the bullets whisk by them.
"Shit keep going," yelled Isaiah. The three of them began to run as fast as they could focusing there hardest to run from the agent. Tabatha could feel a bullet coming behind her and time seemed to slow down as she focused on her next move. She jumped at the wall and ran a few feet as bullets whisked by, she flipped off the wall and they kept going.
Tarra and Dan ran down the alleyway and could see a fence.
"Keep going right up and over!" yelled Dan. They continued to run together and jumped right over the fence landing on an old car hood. Dan landed and looked back at the agent chasing them.
"Go!" Dan pulled out his gun and fired off several shots to distract the agent then continued to run. They came to the other end of the alleyway on the other side where the cars were. Brandan, Isaiah and Tabatha came running from a different angle and Colin and Saba crashed through a window on the bottom floor of a nearby apartment building.
"Good job guys," yelled Brandan as he jumped over the mustang and hopped in the drivers side. Tabatha hopped into the drivers seat of the Acura and the others each loaded in. Isaiah hopped in through the sun roof of the mustang and Colin loaded in the back with Saba. Both cars started immediately and started down the road.
Brandan drove down the street and could hear the sirens of several cop cars coming close to them.
"Isaiah get Parker on the phone and tap him into the radio." Isaiah did as he was ordered and the frequency was opened.
"Captain I've got some bad news for you," said Parker slightly static.
"What's wrong now?" asked Brandan frustrated.
"The agents have destroyed the exit you guys are heading for I am trying to figure out another one for you guys to use right now. But it looks like your gonna have to head across the river so head for the bridge."
"Ok." Colin took out the rocket launcher they had brought with them and stood up through the sunroof.
"Try to hold'er steady captain, I'll do the rest." Isaiah rolled down his window and took out his gun to wait for the cars to become visible.
"Saba call Tarra and tell them to head for the bridge." Saba nodded and took out her phone dialing the other car.
"What's the scoop?" said Tarra calmly.
"Bad news, we have to go across the river they destroyed our original escape exit," said Saba.
"Saba tell them to take a different way that way it'll split up the forces," said Brandan.
"I heard him will do, we will see you on the other side," said Tarra.
Tarra took her phone away from her ear and put it back in her belt.
"Tabatha take a turn here."
"What, why?" asked Tabatha confused.
"The captain wants us to take a separate route to split up the forces." Tabatha swung the car around and drove down the street Tarra had pointed out. Tarra brought up a map on the onboard computer with the direct path laid out for her to follow. "Use this map to guide you for now." Just then several cop cars turned the same corner while several others kept going after the other car.
"Hang on guys!" Tabatha pushed on the accelerator and the car jolted ahead as she changed gears. Tarra rolled down her window and began firing her gun on the police force. Dan was in the back seat he mounted the sniper rifle on the back dash and shot out the window.
"Tarra here use this!" Dan passed Tarra the assault rifle that he had kept after putting the other one in the mustang.
"OK." Tarra nodded and dropped her hand gun then pointed the other gun out the window. They could hear the bullets hitting the car up the side and in the trunk. Tabatha swerved to avoid traffic and weaved in and out of the traffic.
"Damn cars get off the road grandma!" she yelled. Just then one of the cop cars rammed them from behind and Tabatha twisted the wheel every which way to keep her control and sped up.
"Try to keep ahead of them at all costs," yelled Dan firing off the sniper rifle. Several of the cars began to blow up as Tarra and Dan got the final hits in on some of the cars behind them.
"Good work Tarra!" yelled Dan, "Keep it up."
Back with the other car. Colin was blowing up the cars left and right as he saw them with Saba helping him reload the launcher. Isaiah ran out of bullets in his handgun.
"Did I see Dan put that other assault rifle in here before we fought the creature?" he asked.
"Isaiah its right here," said Saba as she passed up the gun for him to use. He took and began pointing it out the window.
"Much better." Isaiah let several rounds fly.
"Agent!" he yelled.
"Colin take him out," said Brandan. Colin fired at the agent vehicle and it swerved to avoid the shot.
"Shoot." He ducked down and Saba passed him a shell to load into it.
"They dodged." He reloaded the launcher and stood back up.
"Take this you suit wearing mother fuckers." Colin fired off again this time another car had gotten in the way taking the hit. When the explosion cleared the agents were not in sight so he had successfully repelled them for now. Just then he could hear another assault rifle being fired and could see the shots moving up the back of the car. He ducked back inside to avoid being shot. "That was close." Just then a cop car came out of nowhere and rammed the front of the car from the side sending them into a spiral.
"Hang on!" Brandan slammed on the breaks and turned the wheel into the swerve getting them balanced. The car stopped spinning and there were several cop cars in front of them, they had gotten turned around.
"Damn it!" Brandan looked back and began to back up as fast as he could.
"Isaiah, Colin get out there and get rid of these fuckers!" Colin reloaded the launcher and got back into the sunroof and let the rocket fly blowing up two of the cars that were driving close together.
"Good shot Colin," said Isaiah firing at one of the other cars.
"Ok guys hang on to something." The car flew into a small opening and they all were pushed to the back of their seat as the car stopped. Brandan floored the gas pedal and the wheels squealed as they spun around a couple of times and the car jolted forward back to a high speed. Brandan drove as fast as he could without going off the road, he could see the bridge they needed to cross not to far away. They were coming up on a checkpoint as the checkered yellow and black block was lifted they seen the little red car come and whip around the corner from the right. The car sped off with several police cars behind them and Brandan drove the peddle to the floor to get caught up with them. "Come on we're almost there," said Brandan under his breath. Isaiah and Colin continued to fire at everything that they could to keep the coast clear even firing at the vehicles chasing the others.
"Man there is way too many of them I'm almost out of shells," said Colin. Saba looked at where she had been getting the shells from and then looked at Colin.
"We've only got two left."
"Save them we might need them!" Brandan swerved to avoid the cop car that had just taken a ram at them. Colin put down the rocket launcher and took out his handgun keeping in the roof as he opened fire.
"Tarra call Parker we need to get to the exit quick," said Dan. Tarra took out her phone and called.
"Operator," said Parker.
"Yeah Parker can you tell us where the exit is yet?" asked Tarra keeping her calm.
"I am going to send you guys to a different exit then the others if you go to the same one. There will not be enough time to get you all out before you get caught. Head for the corner of Smith and Robins street!" Tabatha looked in her mirror and could see the mustang catching up to them. Tarra put away her phone and began to fire back at the approaching cars.
"Tabatha head for the corner of Smith and Robins once we are off the bridge." Tabatha nodded and kept driving.
Back in the mustang Brandan had gotten on the phone with Parker as he was driving.
"Captain I am gonna send you to a different exit than the others."
"Why?" Brandan asked.
"If you guys were to all go to the same one then you might not all be out by the time your pursuers caught up to you. I want you guys to head to the church its not that far from the bridge but you need to move faster."
"Alright." Brandan put his phone away and sped up and went right passed the other car, they stayed fairly close and then came to the end of the bridge. The Acura took a hard left and the Mustang took an even harder right as the car was temporarily up on the two side wheels. It dropped back down and they could see the massive church in the distance.
"That's our exit guys we're almost home," said Brandan.
Tabatha pushed the little car as hard as she could and they were coming up on their exit. Tarra's phone rang and she picked up.
"Yeah!"
"Your exit is in the fourth apartment building on the third floor, in apartment number 308, good luck." Tarra put her phone away and Tabatha swerved the car to a halt as they hit the corner of the two streets. The three of them jumped out of the car.
"Its in that building on the third floor apartment 308. Let's go!" yelled Tarra as her feet hit the ground. The three of them took off into the building as fast as they could running by several of the locals. The agents quickly pursued as they pulled up outside. "Hurry!" All three of them got into the elevator and Tabatha hit the door close button and then the up button. As the door to the elevator closed they seen the agents come in the door down the hall.
"Whew," said Tabatha relieved.
"Its not over yet," said Dan.
"I know." Tabatha leaned against the wall as the elevator moved into the third floor.
"Alright get ready." The doors opened and all three of them took off with Tabatha in the front. They could hear the hard line ringing as they came closer to apartment 308. They quickly came to it and Tabatha kicked the door open and they went in.
"You first Tab." Tabatha picked up the phone and vanished. Dan quickly put it back on the hook and it began ringing again. "You next Tarra." Tarra quickly grabbed the phone and put it to her ear vanishing. Dan pointed his gun at the door and put the phone on the hook. Just as the phone rang an agent came through the door and he opened fire as he picked the phone up and put it to his ear. The agent walked over and grabbed the phone just as Dan vanished and threw it against the wall.
The other car had just pulled into the church parking lot along with several cop cars. They all hopped out of the car and the police cars swung into position. The cops got out of their cars and took out their guns pointing them at the car.
"Come out with your hands in the air!" One of the cops spoke through a megaphone.
"What do we do captain?" asked Saba. Brandan opened the door and looked back at the others.
"Get out of the car, follow my lead." The others opened their doors and they each stepped out of the car slowly.
"NICE AND EASY!" yelled the cops. Isaiah was the last to get out of the car.
"Drop your weapons," they heard from the megaphone. Colin heard several guns hit the pavement as the others dropped the gun he followed. As the guns dropped several of the officers began to approach them with their guns still trained on them.
"They won't shoot there own," whispered Brandan. The four approaching officers had just gotten into arms reach. "Go!" yelled Brandan. The four of them each grabbed the policeman closest to them and disarmed them. They each grabbed an officer and held a gun to there heads. All four of them began to back into the church in a back to back formation pointing there guns everywhere when suddenly the cops they were holding began to turn into agents.
"Shit!" said Colin pulling the trigger stopping the transformation as the others did. The only problem was now they had no cover.
"Open fire!" They heard one of the men yell. Gunshots began to fire off and they each moved to dodge.
Isaiah bounded out of the way and did a cartwheel as time seemed to slow down and the bullets whisked by him. One going between his legs and the other between his arms he landed out of the way of the bullets. Brandan jumped into the air toward the church and timed seemed to slow down as the bullets flew up by up him one almost hitting him but missing just as he did a mid air flip. He landed in the church through one of the windows. Saba flipped forward toward her destination as the bullets whisked by her so close she could feel the air displacement caused by them. She dodged until she made it to the church door and kicked it open. Time slowed down and Colin could see the bullets heading for him as he focused on what was going on around him. Colin dodge the bullet by moving to the side then laying almost on the ground as the next flew by him. Colin did several back flips as he dodged his way to the door which Saba had just kicked open. Colin backed through the door and kicked it shut as he landed on his feet.
Saba could hear a phone ringing but could not see Isaiah or the captain.
"Colin come on!" Saba ran at the sound, which was behind the minister's podium in the office. They both ran and made it into the room of the phone as bullets blasted into the door. They ran in the room and over to the phone.
"Saba you first." Saba quickly picked up the phone upon arriving and put it to her ear returning to the safety of the ship. Colin quickly put the phone back and it rang again. He put it to his ear reaching safety.
Colin opened his eyes as Tarra pulled the jack from his neck and he sat up.
"Where are the others?" he asked jumping up and heading over to the screen.
"The captain is one floor above where he needs to be and Isaiah isn't even inside yet," said Parker answering him.
"Shit!"
Isaiah was hidden behind a statue and was scanning the area for another way into the church that wouldn't be so obvious. He took out his phone and called Parker.
"Operator."
"Parker is there another way in that's not so obvious?" he asked.
"Hold on . . . there is another entrance but it leads to the basement its quite a distance from the hard-line. It's on the left side of the building you will have to go all the way around to get to it."
"Holy shit." Isaiah sighed and shook his head as he put his phone away and started around as quickly and un noticeable as he could be.
Meanwhile Brandan had made it all the way to the balcony overlooking the church seating area he could see where the hard-line was located and it was still clear. None of the others were in sight. Brandan took out his phone as he walked closer to the phone from the area above.
"Operator."
"Parker did everyone make it out so far?"
"Everyone is out but you and Isaiah, who is on his way now." Brandan looked down at the exit. The cops still hadn't entered the building.
"Is the exit clean?"
"Clean as you could ever hope for."
"Ok." Brandan put his phone in the pocket of his jacket, he jumped down over the balcony and landed in front of the door, he kicked it open and walked in to a ringing phone. "Good luck Isaiah." Brandan picked up the phone and put it to his ear.
Meanwhile Isaiah was ducked down running along the side of the building that he was supposed to be on, from here on he knew he would have to hurry to make it in before the officers started to flood the building because once that happened he would have to find another exit. He came to the window to the basement and quickly slid through. He found himself in a dusty basement filled with several religious relics. He ran passed them and up some steps that led him to a wooden door. He walked through and a bullet hit the door as he realized there were agents in the doorway to the church. Isaiah began to focus as hard as he could as he ran and time seemed to slow down. A barrage of bullets whisked by him as he ran at the door that led to the hard line. Isaiah bounded into the air up and over the flights of stairs that led up to the podium. Bullets continued to whisk by him as he took to the wall, the door had been left open so he ran right in and stayed on the wall. He jumped off the wall toward the ringing phone and grabbed the phone in mid air and put it to his ear vanishing just before he would have hit the wall.
As the jack was pulled from Isaiah's neck he sat up and gasped for air.
"We did it," he gasped.
"Good job team," said Brandan, "You all deserve a bit of a break, I have to contact Commander Locke about our next mission." Brandan walked out of the broadcast zone and walked up to the Captain's Quarters to speak with Locke. He sat down at his computer and turned on the screen and dialed a direct link to Zion. He put on a headset as the commanders face appeared on the screen.
"Good evening Captain Brandan I assume you are calling me to report on the new exile that we had discovered."
"Yes commander, I am pleased to report that we have successfully eliminated the new threat and we won't have to deal with it again."
"Glad to hear it, I knew that you and your crew would not let me down. I will be assigning you all the mission we talked about soon, you are currently on stand-by I will contact you in one day, until then rest as I suspect you and your crew well need it," said Locke.

Another Un-edited Sample From Isaiah's Love

Isaiah couldn’t believe that they had talked on the phone all night as he sat on the edge of his bed running his hands through his hair.  He had learned a lot about Caleb from their conversation, his favourite colour, his favourite food, that he played an instrument.  The fact that Caleb was quite skilled in the acoustic guitar was something Isaiah had a hard time wrapping his head around.  Apparently his grandfather had taught him before he passed.  Isaiah took a deep breath and shut off his alarm before it sounded, he could hear his mother moving around in the kitchen.  She would probably be coming in soon just to make sure that he was awake.  His eyes were already starting to feel heavy and he wasn’t sure how he was going to make it through any of his classes today let alone the Tuesday practice that he had to attend tonight. 

            “Are you awake, sweetheart?” Carla called from the kitchen.

            “Yeah, I’m up mom,” he answered.  Isaiah shook his head and took another deep breath trying to wake himself up a bit then went to his drawer to get out a his clothing for the day.  He quickly grabbed a tee shirt and pants combo then went into the bathroom to start his shower hoping that the water would wake him up a bit.  He decided not to take his usual hot shower thinking that if he got to relaxed he would end up asleep on the bathroom floor. 

            “I’m leaving I will see you tonight, don’t forget to lock the door behind you!” called Carla.

            “I won’t!”  Isaiah could hear the kitchen door open and shut as his mother left and he turned on the shower and stripped down.  He got in the shower quickly not giving the water time to get warm giving himself a jolt and goose bumps from the cold feeling against his skin.  The water slowly went from seemingly almost freezing to bearable and Isaiah began his shower routine.  Holding his head under the water and watching it run down the drain.  He lathered up his body with his body-wash not bothering to wash his hair since he would be showering again after the practice, he didn’t see the point.  Not giving himself any time to relax Isaiah rinsed the soap off and jumped out of the shower turning off the water.  He quickly towelled off and got dressed, he walked out into the kitchen and looked at the clock, he still had about twenty minutes before Caleb would be there to pick him up.  Isaiah decided that it wouldn’t hurt for him to use a small pick me up to help stay awake for the morning.  He walked over to the counter and filled a mug with some water then put it in the microwave and set the time for 3 minutes.  He looked outside it looked like it was going to be a sunny day which was always good for practice.  Isaiah stared out into the back yard through the kitchen making the three minutes pass quickly.  The microwave beeped letting him know it was ready and he grabbed a teabag from off the counter as he walked over to it.  He opened the door and took the mug out by the handle being careful not to burn himself and dropped the teabag in.  Isaiah wasn’t a huge fan of hot drinks in general only ever drinking his herbal green tea.  He found that it helped him wake up and it made him feel like he was doing something for his body.  Isaiah put the cup to his mouth and breathed in the aroma of the tea steeping the drink still far too hot for him to be able to drink it.  He sat down at the table and sat his drink down waiting for it to cool. 

            Caleb pulled into Isaiah’s yard and looked around not seeing him anywhere outside.  He decided he’d wait for a few minutes to give Isaiah a chance to come outside.  Caleb sat in the truck staring at the house for what felt like an eternity.  He knew that the day was going to be painfully long, it had been a long time since he had pulled an all-nighter.  He didn’t like doing it for a few reasons, the main one being because he hated the feeling of wanting to close his eyes all the time but otherwise it was just bad for your body and he sometimes could have his father’s temper and it was harder to control when he was overtired.  Caleb looked at the truck clock, the face read seven forty five, he had been waiting for ten minutes.  He honked his horn slightly and waited a minute still getting no response.  Caleb shut the truck off and got out to go see what was taking him so long already expecting to find that Isaiah had gone to sleep on him.  He walked up the stairs of the patio and put his hand on the doorknob.  He looked in the door window and could see Isaiah slouched over on the chair by the sliding doors that led out onto the deck.  Caleb tried to turn the doorknob and it wasn’t locked so he walked into the house.  He smiled at Isaiah as he stepped through the door and into the house.  Not bothering to take his sneakers off, Caleb walked over and knelt down on his knee in front of Isaiah.  Caleb smiled up at Isaiah hating to wake him but knowing that he had to.  Caleb put his hands on Isaiah’s face and kissed him rubbing his cheek with his thumb.  Isaiah slowly came to and brought his hands up to Caleb’s face and started to kiss him back.  Caleb pulled back still smiling softly at him.

            “Good morning,” he whispered.  Isaiah stayed silent and rubbed Caleb’s face with the back of his hand smiling back at him.  “Come on we have to go.”  Isaiah nodded as Caleb stood up in front of him and pulled him to his feet.  Isaiah walked into his bedroom and came back with his back pack that he had loosely packed while they were on the phone, over his shoulder.  He walked over and slipped on his sneakers and the two of them went out to the truck.  Caleb got in the truck and turned the key as Isaiah got up in the passenger’s seat.  “Today is going to suck so bad,” laughed Caleb.

            “Tell me about it,” Isaiah laughed with him.  “Have you thought about how we’re going to survive that biology class this morning?”  Caleb just looked over at him with an eyebrow raised.  He didn’t tend to find it easy to keep his eyes open in the class when he wasn’t tired let alone when he was running on no sleep. 

            “Yeah all I can say is, not likely.” 

Matrix Fanfiction Chapter 30: Training Session

Chapter 30: Training Session

Tabatha and Saba loaded into the construct program in residual self-image. Saba was dressed in white leather, with a blue tank under a shining white jacket, she had no glasses on and her hair was held back in a blue headband, she smiled at Tabatha. Tabatha had taken the quick and slim routine, dressed all in a black vinyl suit that fit tightly to every curve on her body, wearing silver frame glasses with black lenses.
"Alright girls I'm sending you in," said Tarra from the outside, "I'm gonna start you off in the third difficulty level so we can get you going, and hopefully you will be ready for the mission tonight." The area around them loaded, and they were suddenly standing in an open arena. Around them they could see several different fighters approaching them, a security guard, a police officer, a swat member, an agent and one of the Merovingian's vampire exiles.
"All right Saba, are you ready?" asked Tabatha. Saba nodded her head.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Ok take out the weaker guys first we will handle the agent after words." The both of them took up a fighting stance and each ran at an opponent.
Tabatha ran at the police officer who had just put up his hands and was ready to fight. He took a swing at her and she ducked to avoid the attack then hit him in the stomach with her fist and as he bent over kneed him in the face. He stumbled back and Tabatha focused jumping into the air and delivered a kick in his chest breaking his chest. Saba ran at the swat member who was ready when she got to him she took a quick hit to the face but recovered quickly countering with a quick kick combo, ending it with a quick fist to the face and knocking him down. Tabatha looked to her next target who would be the vampire exile. She ran at him and delivered a quick combo and round housing him in the face. She saw a stake appear on the ground as he began to stumble. She flipped toward it and grabbed it off the ground and hitting him in the chest as she got back on her feet. Saba took into her next target the security guard which barely seemed like a test of her skill after practicing with Colin. She ran at him quickly and swiped him off his feet knocking him into the air then kicked him sending him a distance away and sliding a crossed the floor.
"Good job guys just one more to go," said Tarra from outside. Tabatha and Saba looked at each other as the agent put up his fists, Tabatha nodded at Saba and they took off at him.
"Let's get'em!" yelled Saba. Tabatha and Saba initiated a twin element attack with Saba attacking high and Tabatha attacking low, much like Brandan and Isaiah. They attacked with speed and ease landing several blows on both counts. The agent got his grounds and attacked them both at once with his fist sending each of them a distance away. They regained there focus in mid air and landed on there feet.
"Where the hell did that come from?" asked Tabatha surprised at the attack.
"He's an agent you remember the training program. Every rebel that has met with an agent and fought died, with few exceptions," said Saba. Tabatha's look on her face changed.
"Oh my god that's it." Just then there surroundings changed to that of the rooftops and the agent drew his gun.
"GO!" yelled Tabatha as she turned to run. Saba quickly followed her and they took to running with the agent behind them and firing his gun. They could see the bullets denting the walls as they ran passed.
Meanwhile Brandan was in the medical bay with Isaiah who's recovery was underway. Brandan walked over to Isaiah's bed, he had fallen asleep because of the anesthetic he had been given. He put his hand on his sleeping friends face and he was warm to the touch.
"You're gonna make it," he whispered to him. Brandan checked his life signs, the anesthetic would be wearing off soon and he would be able to fight again just fine. Brandan had to make several decisions regarding this new threat, he was sending in the entire crew but would he be able to do that as well as be able to contact Zion for the information regarding the major mission that they had spoke of in one of his last debriefings. What Parker said was right though, this creature must be dealt with before it manifests itself inside the matrix and becomes more of a threat than it already is. Brandan dropped his hand to his side and Isaiah turned his head to face him, his eyes still closed kind of like he knew he was there. Brandan heard a noise in the doorway behind him and turned to see Colin standing there.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Not much just making sure he stays stable is all." Colin walked in and walked over to one of the panels.
"Everything seems good to me," he said. Colin took a seat in one of the waiting chairs next to Isaiah's bed and looked at Brandan strangely.
"Can I help you?" Brandan asked suspiciously.
"I'm good, I'm good. I was just thinking about a few things."
"Like what?" Colin sat up straight to stretch then slouched over again to get comfortable.
"Did you ever picture this when you were inside the matrix, when we both worked at Subway and everything was normal?"
"Can't say I ever did, but I somehow new everything wasn't as it seemed." Colin shook his head.
"I know what you mean dude, just always felt like something wasn't right, did you ever wake up before you were pulled from the matrix?"
"Maybe once or twice but the images are kind of faint. How about yourself?"
"I can remember waking up a few times, it happened when I was in judo practice and I was really pushing myself to deal with one of the bigger guys that was in the group with me." Brandan leaned against the wall.
"You mean Caleb, don't you, I remember you used to tell me at work all the time he was your biggest challenge." Colin nodded his head.
"Yeah and now I know why, he's not even human, he was a program that eventually went exile."
"I wonder what his purpose was?" Colin shrugged his shoulders.
"Who knows."
Isaiah opened his eyes and looked at Colin then Brandan.
"Hey, how you feelin?" asked Colin. Isaiah sat up slowly and put his hand on his stomach.
"I feel . . . good," he spoke slowly, still groggy from the anesthetic. "Wow that stuff Tarra gave me really knocked me on my ass."
"Yeah she had to get you still for a bit so it had to be pretty strong. Do you think you'll be ready for tonight?" Brandan asked taking a step over to the bed.
"I feel good, I'll be great I think once I am inside."
"Good," Brandan nodded, "I've got to go talk to Parker about the exile I will be back to see how you are doing later."
"Ok I will see you later then." Isaiah smiled and laid back down on the bed.
"Colin are you busy for the next little while, I don't really feel like sitting down here alone all night."
"Sure bud whatever." Colin sat back and put his feet up on the other chair in front of him.
"So where is Saba?"
"Tarra is training her and Tabatha in the training program."
"How do you think they are gonna do tonight?"
"I don't know but all of us will be there to cover them if we have to."
"I don't think we are going to need to lets just hope they can hold their own . . . just a little faith I guess."
The two of them were quiet for a few short moments.
"You did really good in there tonight, if it weren't for you I wouldn't be here," said Isaiah breaking the silence.
"You're welcome as always buddy," said Colin.
"I wish I knew how you got so strong so quick? I've been free longer than you and you're still the better fighter."
"I don't know, even when I wasn't free I was still a pretty good fighter, I've always had a strong sense of belief in myself, and as we both know, inside the matrix . . . believing is what makes you strong. And don't be so hard on yourself, not one of us can match your speed on the inside."
"You are right about the whole believing in one self. I believe in myself, maybe not as much as I should, but there is a reason for everything though right." Colin nodded to Isaiah and stood up.
"I suppose I should go talk to the captain, and you should get some more rest we've got quite a mission ahead of us."
"You're right just wake me when they are ready I guess."
"You know we will." Colin walked through the door and headed for the broadcast zone of the ship. Isaiah closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.
Brandan had been speaking with Parker about the mission that was ahead of them.
"So do you think we should take extra weaponry?" asked Brandan.
"I don't really know, I can't actually give you the answer you want to hear. You can take bigger weapons but again, it may not even do you any good," explained Parker. Brandan was silent for several longs seconds in thought.
"Hmm, what I think we need to do is try to find out what the machines were planning on using to get rid of this thing."
"It was probably some kind of command that they would send to disconnect the hardware that they would use to power it thus, shutting it off." Brandan was quiet again.
"A command huh?" Brandan looked over at Tarra and then back to Parker. "You mean like a hack, maybe?" Parker looked at Brandan and smiled.
"I think you might be on the right track. I'll try to develop some different hacks and just load them into Tarra's database when she jacks in."
"I doubt the hacks would work right away on it though, we'd probably have to knock it out like I did the last time before they will have any effect." Parker shook his head agreeing with him.
"Alright then I will get started on trying to develop a hack for her then, I should be able to make a couple before you guys are ready to go."
Colin walked up behind them and stood listening for a few seconds.
"So did you guys come up with something?" he asked. Brandan turned to look at him and Parker turned his attention to him as well.
"We think we are on to something but we won't know for sure until we actually fight the damn thing again," explained Parker.
"I see, I see."
Meanwhile the girls were still inside the training program battling different fighters they had moved their way up to the Merovingian's Twin Exiles.
"Saba look out!" yelled Tabatha as one of the twins drew his knife. He swung at her and she stopped his arm in mid swing and hit him in the face a couple of times, when he phased out to get away from her. Tabatha and Saba both jumped back from them to regroup momentarily. "How the hell are we supposed to beat these things if every time we get a few hits they go all ghostly on us and recover any damage we do," said Tabatha getting frustrated. Tarra's voice was all around them as she spoke.
"Sometimes the key isn't always to win but to know when to give up. . ." she said.
"We obviously can't beat them," said Saba.
"So what do we do then?" Saba looked at the twins walking toward them then back to Tabatha.
"We run, now go!" Saba turned and took off away from them with Tabatha close behind. Saba broke down a door that led into an apartment building and they ran for the stairs the twins were not very far behind. "Come on hurry!" yelled Saba turning up a flight of stairs. They kept running up the stairs and turned a corner and kept climbing as fast they could. Saba came to another door that would lead them to the top.
"Hurry up open it!" Tabatha focused and pushed Saba aside hitting the door with her foot knocking it open they kept running they were suddenly outside on top of the large building. They could hear the footsteps coming up the stairs behind them.
"Where do we go now?" asked Saba almost in a panic. Tabatha looked over at the next building.
"We go over there." She could see the ringing phone on the other building. "There is our exit." Saba and Tabatha ran together and jumped at the same time toward the other building, they both landed and rolled to their feet and ran right to the phone just as the twins realized where they were on the other roof. "You first Saba." Saba quickly picked up the phone and put it to her ear, as she vanished and the phone dropped Tabatha put it back on the receiver. The phone rang again and Tabatha put it to her ear just as the twins had landed on the building.
Tabatha opened her eyes and jumped up out of her seat as the jack was pulled from her neck.
"Yes! We did it," she yelled excited, "We rock girl!" Saba smiled at her from her seat and then leaned back, still slightly worked up from the chase.
"I think you guys will do fine tonight," said Tarra standing up from the operators station. "But for now I think you guys should go rest I am gonna go talk to Dan." Tarra walked out of the broadcast zone and headed to the bridge of the ship.
Dan sitting in the pilot's chair looking at the holographic projector at a sentinel squadron, that was somewhat close by. He put his headset on and adjusted the mouthpiece.
"Captain I think we should move to another spot the patrols are getting kind of close to our position," he said.
"Ok then take us out of here sound the alarm if you need us to take the turrets," said Brandan from the other end of the headset.
"Will do." Dan powered up the engines just as Tarra walked through the doorway.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I've just gotta move the ship to a different location the patrols are getting pretty close. Take the holographic station would you?" Tarra sat down next to him.
"Sure." She typed a few commands into the keyboard and a scan started to run. "You must be pretty lonely up here all day huh." Dan looked at Tarra from the corner of his eye and smiled slightly.
"Its not as bad as you might like to think. I have a lot of time to think about stuff." The scan quickly finished and brought up several squadrons in the area.
"Wow there is a lot of activity around here. Think they know that we are around here somewhere?"
"No not yet." The ship flew through the tunnels easily avoiding the unaware squads of sentinels. "Wish it was this easy all the time."
"Do you think you will be ready for the mission?" Tarra spoke starring at the passing walls of the tunnels.
"Of course how hard can it be with all of us there."
"This thing isn't like anything else we have ever dealt with inside the matrix though, just prepare yourself for the worst, I'm warning you now."
"We'll be fine." Dan smiled at her leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.
"I hope you're right."