The Matrix

You selected a mod labeled "Action" and download it, excitedly awaiting the bar, unsure what to expect with such an abstract title.

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You look around at a blank white world, the eerie sensation that you've seen this before creeping up as you inhale the virtual air. It seems to fill your lungs with a more invigorating kind of oxygen than what you're used to, despite having no effects on the air you're actually breathing in real life, and you think for a moment you might actually be there. But you're too eager to take off your set, even for a moment, if it means a further delay to exploring.

Suddenly, rows of guns on shelves rush past you at breakneck speeds, and you realize where you've seen this all before.

That one scene in the Matrix! The shelves come to a halt, and you begin to feel excited as you see all the weapons at your disposal. You're surrounded by hundreds if not thousands..no, probably tens of thousands of guns, explosives, tactical gear, and exotic weapons.

Unfortunately, it seems the white land is devoid of dangerous men in trenchcoats offering reality-altering pills. Fortunately, you spot a few of your favorite guns a couple isles down.

You begin to laugh maniacally to yourself as you approach the familiar metallic killing machines. "I don't know what I'll be facing outside of this 'weapons select' menu, but I suspect I'd be foolish to leave here without you..."

Grabbing an m1911 and slinging an ak-47 over your back, plus a few magazines for both, you can't help but slide a magazine into the pistol and pull the slide back, just to see if it really works like a real gun.

You feel immense satisfaction at the metallic sounds reverberating against your ears, chambering the round as you release the slide. "Oh God yes."

You're contemplating testing it out since it doesn't appear there are consequences with such a massive amount of ammunition. Before you can, however, a voice appears behind you and you nearly shoot him before you realize who it is.

"Hello, Neo." Morpheus says.

You stand for a moment in awe, and he hands you a briefcase, "You'll be needing this where we're going. Come on, I've got something to show you."

"Wh-what's inside?" You say, still not quite able to comprehend the fact that Morpheus is right in front of you.

He gives you a long stare behind dark glasses. "You'll see, come on."

He leads you out a doorway which appeared behind him and you find yourself blinded for a moment. Slowly, the sounds of a mobile van fill your ears, a few other people are sitting next to you, wearing shades and holding guns. One waves towards you, "Good to finally meet you Neo! Hope you had a good rest, I'm Bill. I'll be escorting you into the building."

"The..building?" You get a bad feeling you should be remembering things.

Morpheus, sitting next to you, clarifies for him, "We need your help, Neo. No one has been able to make it past the automatic security systems that imprison our informant, and she's the only key we have to finding out how to get into the main server room and disable the system. I know you've been in an artificial hibernation for longer than normal, but we can't bother catching you up on anything more than that right now. How much do you remember?"

"I..uh..don't remember anything."

Bill gives Morpheus a look. "We were worried you might say that, I suppose ultimately it won't matter in the end if you know the details...are you ready?"

The van violently swerves, shaking you and everyone else around.

"Ready?" You grab your AK, as everyone else seems to have their weapons drawn.

"To break in, we're about to arrive and cover your entrance into the building." He says, like it's as simple as breathing.

Your eyes widen, "We're what??"

"Don't worry Neo, I'll have your back." Bill tries to reassure you.

"Oh, and Neo," Morpheus taps on the case he handed you in the virtual realm, "don't forget the case."

You pull a magazine out of your pocket, loading it into the AK and racking the charging handle. "Your cover better be pretty damned amazing."

This makes Bill smile, and he racks his MP5. "As good as it gets! Now get that case, we're about to go."

The van makes a final violent swerve and the doors fly open, a few of the people in the van rushing out and firing at armed guards, Morpheus motioning that you and Bill do the same. You run out and take cover behind some sandbags, looking around quickly to get a sense of your environment.

It was night in a skyscraper-ridden city, and it looked like your target was one such skyscraper, this one surrounded by a greasy lawn which was covered in barrels and sandbag piles. There were fires roaring in the streets, it looked like it had been a kind of war zone for a while now. Spotlights raced across the lawn, giving you glimpses of the action when gunfire didn't light it up.

You held the briefcase in one hand and your AK in the other, propping it up on the sandpile, you took a few shots on some running figures across the street, unsure whether you hit them or not. Bill rushed up beside you, laying down against the cover and firing to your right, killing a few flankers who tried to sneak attack you.

"Thanks," you say briefly before seeing a man from the van get shot.

Bill waves wildly, "Quick! Get in the building!"

You raise the AK and run towards the doors, an explosion sending dirt flying all over you as you do.

Ramming open the doors, you and Bill rushed inside. The luminescent lighting making it easy to navigate to the elevator, the muffled chaos outside persisting. Bill furiously poked a button repeatedly, then stood back as the elevator's number approached 1, pointing his gun at the entrance, nodding that you do the same. You dropped the briefcase and pointed the AK.

Ding!