"...Joker..." spoke Mr. Drake. He was in a pitch-black room, surrounded by silence. "...Joker!" Drake shouted into the headpiece. He was answered by a high-pitched buzz, and Joker was not responding. "Must be some kind of interference," he muttered to himself. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter. The small flame illuminated the area to reveal several bodies strewn across a cryptic room. Drake searched the bodies and found some ammo, a roll of tape, and a flashlight. He flicked the flashlight on and reloaded his rifle. He soon found the door and headed out into a labyrinth of hallways. He checked his scanner to try and see a digital map of the area, but just like the headpiece, there was some kind of interference jamming the signal. "...Paper, you there?" Drake spoke into the headpiece. His efforts produced the same results as before. He cursed in annoyance as he taped the flashlight to the barrel of his rifle and began to walk down hallways.
It seemed to Drake as if he had been wandering for days when he finally heard a noise down the next hallway. He ran quickly to the source of the noise only to find that it had been a rat. He noticed that he was standing in a work cubical so he sat down behind the desk to rest for a moment. He was slipping into slumber when he heard voices down the hall. He dove out into the middle of the hall and aimed his rifle, but he saw nothing. He heard faint breathing behind him. He spun around and fired blindly.
When the commotion had ended Drake caught sight of something very strange just before the flashlight went out. "Oh shit, this is definitely not my lucky day," he sighed as he felt his way over to the bear he had shot down. What a bear was doing in the ruins of an underground office building was just as much a mystery to him as anyone else. He gave it a kick, and it was without a doubt dead. He once again pulled out the lighter and once again the small flame revealed dead bodies. "Hmm, bear had trainers..." Drake mumbled to himself.
He checked the bodies, but neither one had a flashlight or batteries. He did find however, dusty old blueprints to the building and one of the bodies had a heat vision scope on their rifle. He removed the scope and attached it to his own rifle, "It ain't much, but it'll help," he said to himself. He held the lighter next to the blueprints, but they didn't help much because he didn't know where he was to start with.
He took the blueprints back to his cubical and sat down to study them. He heard another noise and spun around to see the rat scurry into the wall. "What the..?" Drake went over to examine the wall behind the desk. He gave it a push, and the entire wall collapsed, revealing a secret passage of sorts. He checked the blueprints and saw that exactly one cubical had two entrances on opposite sides. He rolled the blueprints up and stuck them in his back pocket.
He raised his rifle to his chin, looking through the scope to pick out heat signatures, and stalked down the tunnel until it split into two paths. He quickly took out his lighter and the blueprints and checked them. He picked out the way he needed to go and proceeded down the right hand tunnel. After a while he heard voices and saw a faint light down the tunnel a ways. He huddled up against the wall, raised his rifle, and waited. As soon as the targets came into view he fired two expertly placed shots and the bodies dropped. The light had shattered, so he used the batteries to give his own flashlight power.
He decided to try the headpiece once again. "Paper, Joker, anyone copy?" he asked. He could hear faint voices this time but there was still too much interference to pick out what they were saying. "At least I'm closer," he grumbled as he flicked on the flashlight and continued down the tunnel.
The rest of the trip back to the surface had few disturbances. Drake managed to salvage enough batteries from his victims to keep his flashlight running, and as he neared the surface the tunnel became less dark. He finally reached a large set of steps leading up to the surface, and he emerged to find a man sitting on a tree stump. The man glanced over his shoulder at Drake with an evil grin before leaping into the trees and disappearing. Drake was in disbelief, but he was brought back into reality by the sound of voices on his headpiece.
"Mr. Drake...Mr. Drake are you there?" Mr. Joker's voice said over the headpiece.
"Yeah, I'm here," Drake answered.
"Did you complete the mission?" Joker asked.
"Yeah."
"Did you encounter any difficulties?"
"No."
"Good, Miss Paper has completed her mission as well. You are to rendezvous at the clearing near the old drainage pipe in fifteen minutes," Joker instructed.
"I think I'm already there," Drake stated as he turned back to look at the large pipe he had climbed out of.
"Excellent, stand by until Miss Paper arrives."
"Roger." Drake sat on the very same stump as the man from earlier and waited until Yomiko came stumbling out into the clearing dragging her large suitcase. "It's about time you got here. You got the book?"
"Yes," Yomiko answered, holding up a tattered book bound in leather. "Do you have the disk?" she asked.
"Right here," Drake pulled a small floppy disk out from his pocket. "Hey listen, you remember about a five months ago when you fought that weird guy who split the water and junk?" he asked.
"Yes, his name was Genjo, he was an I-Jin. Why?"
"I saw this guy who looked just like him when I came out of the pipe," Drake managed to spit out right as a helicopter came hovering down next to them. They sat down and Yomiko immediately opened up the old book and began reading it. Drake sighed as he leaned back rested his head on the back of the seat.
They arrived at headquarters after about an hour, and Drake had to take the book from Yomiko to get her attention. She followed behind him, trying to grab the book as they walked into the building. He finally gave it back once they reached the elevator, and she began reading it once again as they descended down to the lower levels of the building.
"Welcome," Wendy greeted them as Drake stepped out of the elevator. Wendy leaned to glance over his shoulder at Yomiko, who was still reading, and when Drake realized this he reached back into the elevator and once again grabbed the book.
"Hey!" Yomiko pouted as she stepped out of the elevator to retrieve it. Drake slipped it into his pocket and followed Wendy down the hall to an office. Joker was inside, and he greeted them both as they entered.
"Do you have them?" Joker asked.
"Yep." Drake took the book and the floppy disk out of his pocket and plopped them down on the desk.
"Excellent, very good work indeed," Joker said as he examined the items. He flipped the book open to a random page and peered at it through a magnifying glass. "This is astonishing!" he exclaimed as he snapped the book shut. "Now, come with me to the lobby, I want you to meet your new partner."