A few days later Mitsuru and Lala pull you aside with the intent of showing you something they'd been working on for a while. What that thing was? An elevator, hidden in one of the doors that used to lead to the backrooms. Lala had been liberally using her pocket space technology to work with Mitsuru on several projects.
"We've been working really hard to expand your base!"
"My base? Mitsuru pays the rent."
She continues undeterred, "We've added several new, useful rooms underground!"
"-Without breaking any pipes or wires," Mitsuru qualifies. She presses the down arrow on the control pad and the doors slide open. The interior is actually much nicer than any elevator you've ever used. It's deceptively large and It even comes with a padded bench against the back side. There are dozens of buttons on the internal panel, but only three or four of them have been given numbers.
"Going down!" Lala cheers, pressing the button for the second underground floor.
The elevator whirs to life and jolts down. You feel your stomach rising in your chest as you descend deeper into the earth. "Why did you add this bench anyway?" you ask, "It's not like the trip lasts long enough to need to sit down."
Mitsuru adjusts her glasses, "Future proofing. In case we ever decide to build a hotel down here…"
Lala hugs Mitsuru, "Oh! That sounds like fun! Can I work the reception?"
The elevator slides to a stop and the doors open with a loud ding. You step out onto an elevated walkway that looks out over a huge underground chamber. To the left is a long empty space with several paper targets lined up against the wall, and on the right is a collection of wooden walls and doorways configured into a set of buildings. It's a kill house.
Mitsuru escorts you down the stairs and to the range. They didn't skimp on the details, everything you could ever need for some target practice is here. A set of mechanical rails are hanging from the ceiling, allowing the targets to move and make things more difficult. Mitsuru gives you the sales pitch, "Since the Major is visiting and teaching you how to shoot, we decided that some new training facilities were in order. A fully functioning range and urban combat training area."
"This is pretty impressive. What else did you build down here?"
Mitsuru shakes her head, "I'm not spoiling all of our surprises just yet."
"So why are we down here?"
"Isn't it obvious? The next tool in your fight against evil. You've avoided using the direct fire function of the Sledgehammer until now, but a ranged attack will be invaluable as our enemies become readier to fight back against us. It's time to learn from the best."
Mitsuru reaches into the pocket of her lab coat and hands you one of the cards. You load it into the chamber and pull the trigger.
"SHATTERING! MOTOKO KUSANAGI!"
There is a small sense of childish glee that fills you whenever you do this. Soon enough the woman of the hour is stood before you in her full glory. The Major, Motoko Kusanagi.
She cuts an imposing figure, even if she is shorter than you. Her short purple hair, red-brown eyes and strange sense of fashion are just as striking as her muscular arms and thighs. She's wearing one of her most iconic outfits. The lilac one-piece. Complete with black leather jacket and matching thigh high boots. It was always strange seeing her wearing something like this surrounded by the other, more down to earth characters. Fashion in the future must be pretty wild.
Her eyes widen at the sight of you. And contrary to your expectations she doesn't charge to put you into an arm-bar, to try and pry answers out of you or Mitsuru. She quickly assesses the situation and decides that such a hostile action is entirely unnecessary. Though she does have something to say.
"This is… strange."
"You're telling me…" you mutter.
She puts her arms on her hips and turns to Mitsuru, "Do you mean to tell me that this is real? Or has someone hacked into my cyberbrain? I'm not detecting any interference with my optical and sensory systems…"
Ever the lore-nerd, Mitsuru is quick to shoot down her idea. "A military grade piece of equipment like that isn't so open to primitive prying attempts. This is the real deal."
She is not convinced, "I find that hard to believe. This kind of childish prank is exactly what I'd expected from an average two-bit hacker. A piece of custom-made software to entrap an individual inside of a virtual recreation of a popular television series."
Her words are pointed and precise – she's feeling around for the right answer. Her rationality takes precedence over what her cybernetic sensors are telling her. If you were in the same position, you'd find it hard to believe too.
"Couldn't you find a more… accepting version of the Major? We're not exactly masters of rhetoric, are we?"
Mitsuru adjusts her fish-bowl glasses, "There is no such thing as a gullible Motoko Kusanagi. There may be infinite possibilities out there, but the people we recruit still have to bear some resemblance to the person in question. What good would a trusting Major be?"
Motoko's eyes narrowed, "A sophisticated, procedurally generated response."
"We were hoping that you could teach our friend here how to shoot. He has no idea what he's doing."
"Hey!"
"I'm only being truthful," Mitsuru shrugs.
"And if I do, you'll send me home?' What if I say no?"
You grimace, "Uh. We'll send you back anyway. I'm not picking a fight with you."
"This isn't a very effective way of getting me to do what you want."
"Do you know who we are?"
Mitsuru cuts in, "Of course she does."
"I know you two, but not her," Motoko responds, pointing to Lala.
"I'm Lala, nice to meet you Major!"
Motoko only then notices the long, black tail sprouting from the base of her spine. She is very confused. "Wait a second – is this a chatroom?"
You shake your head, "No."
"Is it a body modification?"
"No. It's real. Lala is from another planet."
"Yep! I'm from outer space!"
Motoko pinches her nose between her fingers and tries to pick a course of action. Mitsuru snaps her fingers, "I think we'll leave you two to it. Come on Lala." The two girls quickly turn tail and flee to the elevator, shutting the door behind them. Traitors! The both of them!
"Uh, I can just send you back home if you don't feel like showing me anything."
"I don't know what this is. My systems aren't picking up on any outside interference, so unless this is the most sophisticated malware program ever coded, or I entered a chat room and was too drunk to remember…"
"It's real," you repeat, "I'm really me, and you're really Motoko Kusanagi. We summoned you here from another world."
"But that's impossible."
You shrug, "I can't do anything to convince you. The choice is yours in the end."
Motoko is a woman of intuition. She's a special forces soldier and internal security expert. The fact that Mitsuru found a version of her who knows who you are, and presumably has strong romantic feelings towards you is already stretching your own belief of the situation. Convincing her that this is reality and not a malware simulation playing out in her brain is something you just can't do.
She sighs, "Mitsuru was right, the security packages inside my cyberbrain are better than military grade. It would take a world-class expert hundreds of hours with a direct connection and a lot of luck to break that encryption protocol. A scheme like this would be unfeasible." She points down to gun in your left hand, "That thing really works?"
"I could send you back and re-summon you, if that would help."
She nods, "Do it. And give me one minute."
You untwist the barrel and watch as she dissipates back into the void beyond. You look down at your watch and count the seconds. A minute on the dot later you pull the trigger again and bring her back to your side. When she returns, her leather jacket is missing. She looks down at her own hands.
"Physical continuity and my GPS tracker is broken, this is the real deal."
"Continuity?"
She looks to you with a smirk, "Virtual realities operate on a similar principle to a dream. There are ways to discern a simulation from reality. When you sent me back, I activated my GPS emitter and software manager to keep track of what was happening. They're still running right now. I also removed my jacket to test the boundaries of the simulation."
"All that confirms this is real?"
"To an extent."
"And you'd be happy to give me some pointers?"
Motoko seems remiss to admit that much, she dodges the question and walks past you to look at the firing range. She quickly locates the control panel and begins pressing buttons to figure out how it works. You walk into one of the booths and look downrange. Firing this thing in your armour is easy enough in close quarters, but it kicks like a mule. You don't trust yourself to use it in a bind when other people are around.
Motoko returns and pats you on the back. "Always assume the gun is loaded and ready to fire, and never point it at anyone you don't plan on harming."
You've heard this gun safety spiel before, "I understand that kind of stuff."
"I'm just making sure. You'd be surprised at how many people don't," she comments scornfully.
Motoko's hands are all over your body, adjusting your stance and pressing the stock of the Sledgehammer into the right location against your shoulder. When she's satisfied that you won't fall over after pulling the trigger and steps back and appraises you.
"I usually do this with power armour on."
She is quick to rebuke you. "You can't always rely on everything working the way you want. Learning things the hard way will pay off when you find yourself without every tool you need."
Though the point you were trying to make is that the Sledgehammer kicks more than a real gun. This is something that Mitsuru designed with little consideration for user comfort. Motoko walks over to the control panel and brings one of the targets closer to you.
"Start by getting used to the recoil."
You lean in as much as you can and pull the trigger. The force of the shot is almost like getting hit in the shoulder by a hammer. You stumble back and nearly fall over. "Holy shit!" You forgot how crazy powerful this thing is.
Motoko doesn't comment, "Again."
You follow her orders down to the letter and run through a series of simple trials for her. Sustained fire, accuracy, weapon safety – all of the things that she probably takes for granted with so many years of combat experience. And then a drill where she tasks you with shooting as many targets as you can while they pop up and down; the speed at which they do makes it extremely difficult. You score around fifty percent.
"…Decent accuracy. But slow. Section Nine expects more from our operatives."
"Uh, Major, I don't have a cyberbrain. I don't think I can react any faster than this."
She quirks her brow, "Really?"
"Yeah. That's not a technology that's been discovered here just yet. Didn't you watch our show?"
She sighs, "I see. I suppose if the enemy has the same restriction, we can move on to the next step."
You crack your bruised shoulder to try and regain some feeling in it. Motoko leads you over to the entrance of the kill house. "Using a ranged weapon often involves tight quarters and predicting enemy ambushes. Being able to clear a room is one of the most important skills for any soldier or public security specialist."
"Right."
"I'm going to put you through your paces. By the time you leave this room, you're going to be so proficient that you could make a Navy SEAL cry."
The way she says that is kind of hot.
"Yes Ma'am."