This scenario is a loving tribute to one old school action classic, Die Hard, and one new action classic, The Matrix. The material below is very freeform and light on details, less a scripted adventure than a collection of action sequence ideas. It's meant to be used with the rules in A Wushu Guide to The Matrix

The Set-Up:

A group of Odinists (Nordic white supremacists) have taken over the largest convention center in the Matrix. They've locked the whole place down and packed enough explosives into its four tower hotels to kill everyone inside. They're demanding the release of dozens of terrorists being held by the government.

Police and SWAT have the area surrounded. The phone lines have been cut, but the power is still on (for now). Gawkers are crowded around the edges of the police zone, and looters are taking advantage of the distraction elsewhere. The AIs would hate to lose so many coppertops, but they're not sending in the Agents just yet...

Your players (and their Free Minds) will want to keep their presence a secret as long as possible. If they perform too many supernatural feats in front of coppertops, the AIs will notice them. However, their response will be atypical: they'll use the opportunity to test two real world prototypes (the Drones and Doppleganger, see below) and hold the Agents in reserve.

The Mission:

This is all Zion knows about the above, and all you should tell your players...

"Terrorists have taken control of a gigantic convention complex inside the Matrix. They've rigged the four connected hotels with enough demolisions-grade explosives to level the entire complex. According to the Oracle, something's going to go wrong, the buildings are going to come down, and someone important to the survival of the human race will die. You have to make sure that doesn't happen."

Prologue:

Since the cops have disconnected all the hardlines in the convention center, the PCs load up inside a warehouse a few blocks away. Just as they're about to leave, some drunk looter with a baseball bat wanders in, takes one look at the PCs' fancy clothes, and demands that they give him something (like a coat or a pair of sunglasses). If the PCs don't smack him down immediately, he comes at them with his bat.

No sooner does Drunken Mook #1 hit the floor than a small mob of other Drunken Mooks move in, intent on looting the warehouse. When they see their friend, and the PCs' swanky gear, they move in for the kill! Use this as a completely transparent excuse to practice with the Wushu mook rules before getting into the game.

Getting into the convention center, on the other hand, will be more of a challenge. There are two layers of security...

The Police Line - There are well over a hundred squad cars, SWAT vans, beat cops, city officials, and TV reporters surrounding the entire perimeter of the complex. Every damn one of them is fixated on the streets and sidewalk that loop around the center and it's four hotels, so getting in undetected isn't easy. The PCs could use some kind of ruse, go in through the sewer and utility tunnels, or smash their way in through one of the upper hotel windows.

Lock-Down - Every entrance to the complex, both above and below the ground, is sealed by a thick, metal grate and wired to a security alarm. (The only notable exceptions are the above mentioned hotel windows.) Again, if the PCs think of a good scam to finesse their way in, go with it. Otherwise, a good SWAT tank or some super-powered bashin' will work just fine.

In the Hotels:

All of the hotel room doors are locked down; only the Odinist guards are allowed to roam freely. Again, simple bashing will do the trick, but it will also set off alarms and leave a pretty clear trail for any Odinists who come to investigate. The elevators are frozen, so the PCs will have to use the emergency stairs or climb up/down the elevator shafts. The only security cameras are in the lobbies (for sake of convenience).

The basement level of each hotel has been packed full of dynamite and Odinist mooks. An Elite Odinist is in charge of each group, and they've been given dead man's triggers for the dynamite. (If they let go of the trigger, for any reason, the dynamite goes boom!) Also remember that dynamite is sensitive to heat and impact, so a single stray bullet could set off the whole room! Of course, if Allfather finds out someone's disarming his explosives, he'll just set the rest off himself. He's kind of a crazy bastard.

Filthy Bastards - On one of the upper floors, the PCs hear a woman scream. A couple of Elite Odinists (see below) have trapped a young Chinese woman in her hotel room. It's not readily apparent from their ranting ("Filthy mud races," blah blah blah) whether they mean to rape her, or just beat her to death. When the PCs intervene, they should be surprised to find out the Odinists are more than mere coppertops...

Doppleganger - If the above scene takes place later in the session, feel free to turn the young woman into a Doppleganger... just make sure to toss an unexplained Deja Vu in there as fair warning! You can also use the Doppleganger on its own, as a little girl who was alone in her hotel room when lock-down happened, or maybe an elderly couple who need some medication from the drug store in the Mall downstairs.

Collateral Damage - You can add another layer to any gunfight that takes place in a hotel room by having a stray bullet shatter one of those big windows... and letting a bystander stumble out! They cling to a ledge a few feet down, screaming for help while the PCs are still in the thick of the fight.

In the Mall:

The underground Convention Center and the four hotels are connected on the ground floor by a shopping mall. The hotel lobbies open into the Mall, and the Convention Center's rotunda comes up in its center. Shops spiral out from the center and two hallways cut straight through, connecting the Mall's four main entrances. More metal grates cover all of the doorways and windows.

Oh, and the PCs may notice four flashy sports cars on display, parked atop platforms smack in the middle of the main hallways. (They're going to be given away in some kind of contest.) Fun toys for later...

Everyone who was in the Mall during lock-down, mostly employees, has been herded into the Convention Center rotunda, down on the main floor (3rd Tier). They're being guarded by a bunch of Odinist Mooks, though a few Elite Odinists can be called in at a moment's notice.

In the Convention Center:

The center of the complex is a wide, open-air rotunda that extends three stories underground. The 1st and 2nd Tiers have balconies that wrap around the rotunda and provide access to the convention halls and their many adjoining conference rooms (though all are currently locked down). The 3rd Tier is on the rotunda's main floor, now packed full of hostages. Escalators connect each tier to the next, and the 1st Tier to the Mall.

1st Tier - Robotics & Cyber-Technology Conference. Everyone in here is sitting tight, just hoping to make it out alive. This would be a great place to put the Drones or the Doppleganger. (The AIs use humans as spare data processors, and sometimes use them to design models of real world prototypes.)

2nd Tier - Annual Meeting of the Carpenter's Union. Lots of excellent improvisational weapons in the power tools category. These guys have more brawn than brains, and will get the PCs in some very hot water later on (see below).

3rd Tier - First Annual Sons of Odin Festival. This is how the Odinists got so many of their number in the complex at one time. Moles inside the center's staff helped them smuggle in weapons and dynamite. Now, the 3rd Tier rooms are filled with stockpiled food, ammo, and cots.

In the Security Control Room:

Keep the exact location of the complex's main security control room kinda fuzzy, so you can make it far away from where ever your players decide to go first. (It doesn't even appear on architectural schematics.) It has back door access to every other area of the complex via a maze of service corridors and concealed entrances, so it really can turn up just about anywhere.

As the Free Minds approach, the odds of encountering a pair of Elite Odinists on patrol rises steadily to 100%. There are two entrances, each with two reinforced doors and an "airlock" anteroom. The inner doors are locked from the other side, so only those inside the control room can open them. Anyone who wants in has to stand in front of the anteroom's security camera and use the intercom to ask politely.

The control room is filled with rows upon rows of security camera stations. A door on the left leads to the break room (and restrooms); a door on the right leads to an office. Normally, a dozen dispatchers and three security managers would be stationed here, monitoring the four hotel lobbies, three convention tiers, the mall, and the service corridors. Now, all three rooms are filled with Elite Odinists and their Coppertop underlings. Thor and Allfather (see below) might be in here, too, unless you want to save them for later.

Drones - Inside the twisting, narrow service tunnels is a great place to unleash the Drones! They can leap out from around corners, drop out of ventilation shafts, and bounce around the walls and ceiling like superballs. Props you might encounter include laundry carts, dumpsters, fuse boxes, mops and mop buckets, hoses, fire axes, and exposed plumbing.

Missed One! - If your players hatch some kind of wacky plan that involves one of them staying in the security control room, you can distract them at an inconvenient moment by having an Elite Odinist wander out of the restroom (where he was either hiding from, or unaware of, any previous fighting) and open fire with his assault rifle!

When Carpenters Attack:

Before your players manage to neutralize all of the explosives, throw this little crisis at them. The big, manly men of the Carpenter's Union have decided that, if they stand by and do nothing, then the terrorists have already won. Arming themselves with improvised weapons (like buzzsaws and nailguns), they rush the guards in the rotunda. After a few bloody minutes, the Carpenters have secured Tiers 1-2.

Allfather comes on the PA speakers, audible everywhere in the complex, and threatens to blow up one of the hotels if any of the Carpenters leave the rotunda or try to evacuate. The Free Minds should realize that they now have to contain the Carpenters, or risk fulfilling the Oracle's prophesy! When the Carpenters try to climb the escalators up to the Mall, a Free Mind or two should be waiting...

Oh, and if your players try to jump the rails by ignoring the Carpenters in favor of neutralizing the explosives, or by trying to help them escape, don't be afraid to pull rank on them. As the Operator, you can call them up on their cell phones and say something like, "He's gonna do it! He's gonna blow one of the towers! Keep those coppertops in line, or it's all over!"

Doppleganger - If you haven't used the Doppleganger yet, make it one of the Carpenters or one of the misc. coppertops the Carpenters are trying to evacuate. After your players whomp on them for a few minutes, have one of the "wounded" call out for help. If your players hesitate, the Doppleganger will mutter something about having security access to the control room, or maybe knowing Allfather personally. As soon as it can get one of the Free Minds reasonably alone... down comes the knife!

When SWAT Goes Ballistic:

Just before your players manage to neutralize the threat, the police get it in their heads that they can take the terrorists out with a lightning strike! Maybe they think the Odinists are bluffing, or maybe they're just overconfident. Either way, they're wrong and it's going to cost thousands of coppertops their lives.

Through the Operator, the Free Minds will become aware of the SWAT team's plan long before the Odinists do, giving them time to prevent the strike. First, the police will cut the power to the entire complex, effectively blinding the security cameras. Then, a pair of attack helicopters will drop teams of SWAT commandos on two of the hotel roofs. The commandos will smash their way in through a top floor window, lower themselves down the elevator shaft, and attempt to take over the security control room.

The Free Minds can intervene at many points. A shoot-out on the roof is the best Die Hard homage, but the SWAT guys could also be ambushed in the elevator shaft or right as they're smashing through a penthouse window. If your players don't want to play along, just pull rank on 'em with that Operator trick again.

Leap of Faith - Find a way to make the attack helicopters a direct threat to the Free Minds. (If anyone's having a shoot-out on the roof, they could join the fray and pin the PCs down. If SWAT guys are being ambushed in a hotel room, the helicopters might fire in through the windows, and threaten innocent bystanders.) The point of all this is to give someone an excuse to leap from the hotel onto one of the helicopters and duke it out with the gunner and pilot while it zips between the hotel towers! Woo hoo!

The Big Guns - If you still have spare players laying around, SWAT could also send one of those urban tanks into the Mall (by smashing through the windows and metal grates) to evacuate the hostages. Again, Allfather threatens to blow up a tower if the incursion continues, so the Free Minds will have to find a way to keep the tank at bay...

When It's Time to Exit:

After the Free Minds have ended the terrorist threat, it's time for the obligatory escape scene! Now that they're done testing those prototypes (the Drones and Doppleganger), the AIs send in some Agents to clean house. There's certainly no shortage of host bodies inside the convention center complex, so the Free Minds had better make for an exit FAST!

Since the hardlines inside the complex are still cut, they'll have to use the Exit in the warehouse where they entered the Matrix. Fortunately, there are many modes of travel available to them...

Car Chase - Remember those sports cars on display in the Mall? I knew you did! Pursuing Agents can take control of cop cars, pedestrians, or even one of those SWAT mini-tanks. Make sure to include lots of jumps, hairpin turns, and inconveniently placed rush hour traffic.

Rooftop Chase - From the hotel towers, the Free Minds can probably jump over to nearby buildings and run for the warehouse along the rooftops. Agents can pull the same stunt, and there are plenty of new host bodies in the offices, stores, and apartment buildings between the complex and the warehouse.

Helicopter Chase - If no one had a chance to leap onto a helicopter yet, here's one more shot! If you're feeling generous, just have a coppertop fly it nearby. If you're feeling difficult, have an Agent take control of one of those attack helicopters and run the Free Minds down with it. If you're feeling just down right evil, put a coppertop in the pilot's chair until someone tries to jump on... then turn them into an Agent! Mwahaha!

Not Over Yet - Agents are quite familiar with Exits, and once they know where the Free Minds are headed, they'll immediately try to cut the hardline. It's as easy as driving a semi-truck into the warehouse and smashing the phone to bits, or just shooting the damn thing. Then, the Operator will have to set up one or more new Exits elsewhere in the city, and the chase continues! (Only do this if you need to stretch the session out a bit.)

The Bitter End - Never underestimate the dramatic power of a suicidal last stand! If pursuit is particularly relentless, some players may decide to lead the Agents on a wild goose chase, or hold them at bay long enough for the other Free Minds to escape. Feel free to hand out an extra point of Chi for such nobility, and try to make sure they manage to take an Agent or two down with 'em!

Non-Player Characters:

Doppleganger (2 Chi)
Traits: Blend In (4) Help Me! (4) Kill All Humans (5)

These are virtual prototypes of machines intended for the real world. They are designed to impersonate humans that have been disconnected from the Matrix and then get picked up by Resistance hovercrafts in their place. Then, they'll either slaughter everyone onboard or wait patiently to be taken back to Zion. Their synthetic bodies pass for human under cursory medical examination, even with the blades implanted in their legs and arms...

Drone (1 Chi)
Traits: Fast (4) Track (4) Guns (5)

Like the Doppleganger, these bad boys are virtual prototypes of real world machines. They are designed to swarm into confined spaces like hovercrafts, service tunnels, and (hopefully) the caverns of Zion. They can go where Sentinels cannot, and are built to be much faster than their big brothers. They can jump two stories straight up, bounce off of walls, and run down most humans with ease. Each has a central body full of sensors, two legs, and two arms that terminate in fully automatic machine guns. (Like that big bad from Robocop.)

Elite Odinist (2 Chi)
Traits: Combat (3) Alertness (3) Zen (1)
Stuff: Assault Rifle, Bowie Knife, Radio

Beating the crap outta mooks rarely sustains an entire game session, and so I give you the Elite Odinists. A combination of belief in their racial superiority and the revelatory insight of their leader (see below) gives them the equivalent of Zen 1 combat abilities. They should be able to go a round or two with any Free Mind. Be sure to mention that they're covered in green tattoos that look eerily like Matrix code...

Thor (4 Chi)
Traits: Big Ass Mutha (4) Cunning (4) Zen (1)
Stuff: Assault Rifle, Sledgehammer, Radio

Remember that big German guy from Die Hard? The one who was all pissed off because Bruce Willis killed his brother? This is his Nordic cousin. He's Allfather's second in command, as much because of his cunning as his intimidating size. After the Free Minds have killed at least one Elite Odinist, Thor will accuse them of killing his brother and promise to dash their brains with his sledgehammer!

Allfather (4 Chi)
Traits: Kung-Fu (4) Hacker (4) Leader (5) Zen (1)
Stuff: 2 Uzis, Staff, Laptop

When this low-ranking white supremacist was shot in the eye, he had a revelatory vision. For a few fleeting moments, he saw the Matrix for what it really is. Then, everything went black. During his recovery, he drew the few symbols he could remember and turned them into "runes." When he discovered that he possessed a new kind of strength and agility, he attributed it to his runes and had them tattooed all over his body. He rose quickly through the ranks and now he's the leader of an entire Odinist organization. Most of the time, the PCs will be dealing with his disembodied voice over the PA system, but make sure he shows up to get his hate-mongering ass kicked before the Agents show up!