AN:
This is another plot bunny that refuses to leave me and the only way to satisfy it was to write it down. I know that some of you were probably waiting for me to update my other stories so it's just going to be a possible one-shot and I might also leave it out for adoption.
Raiden will be replacing Booker Dewitt in this story, not like I have anything against Booker. This is post-Revengeance so Raiden will be wearing a suit and will look mostly human like in the last cutscene after the credits.
Since Raiden is a cyborg, he won't be getting any Vigors but I still plan to include them in the story. And because Raiden's last name was never mentioned in the Metal Gear series, I will be giving him a last name.
Chapter 1
There were four of them, probably more hiding. They were all armed with High-frequency machetes and had military grade implants yet their XIFF ID came up as unaffiliated; the same that cyborgs from Desperado had.
From their stance, Raiden could tell that they're highly trained. It doesn't take a genius to see that they're mercenaries contracted out to kill him.
The mercenaries entered a fighting stance as they cautiously approached the cyborg ninja. They were a lot smarter than the last bunch that just basically threw themselves at his blade.
Raiden brought his arm forward. Then there was an electric distortion in the space before him as a long black case that he held in his hand materialized from nowhere. He pressed the button located on the side of the handle to release a katana still sheathed in its scabbard suspended in mid-air. The sheath had a trigger and magazine attached to it in reminiscence to a gun despite being a blade.
In one swift motion, Raiden grabbed the katana while throwing the case at one of the charging mercenaries, disorienting him. He ducked under the swing that was meant to lop of his head from the second cyborg and then he slammed the butt of his sword's handle on the abdomen of that same cyborg that attempted to decapitate him.
With the handle of the blade still on the cyborg's stomach, Raiden squeezed the trigger of the sheath that launched a crimson katana from it in a small fiery explosion, knocking the cyborg off his feet. He then snatched the handle of the HF Murasama blade in midair and swung it at the cyborg still in the air, slicing through him from the right side of his hip to his left shoulder. Cyborg Number Two was down for the count.
Without turning, the silver haired cyborg blocked the HF machete of Cyborg Number Three who tried to land a sneak attack on him. After successfully parrying the strike, he performed a counterattack on Cyborg Number Three, which left the foe stunned. He then kicked the dazed cyborg into the air and jumped up into the air with him where Raiden entered Blade Mode.
Time slowed to a crawl for the silver haired cyborg. He then began the slice Cyborg Number Three into tiny pieces till he saw the mercenary's fuel cells.
"Bullseye!" he cried out as he snatched the fuel cells from the remains of the enemy cyborg. He crushed the fuel cells in his hand to replenish his electrolytes as he landed on the ground.
He kicked off the shoe on his left foot, revealing a skeletal metal foot. The footwear struck the fourth cyborg directly at his faceplate and distracted him for a moment. A moment was that Raiden needed.
He used the elevated pieces on his foot, near the heel portion as a grip for the HF Murasama blade. He then did a handstand and performed a breakdance-like maneuver that sliced the remaining two cyborgs into ribbons.
After the floor-sweep attack did its job, Raiden removed the blade from the foot grip as he returned to standing position. He then flung the bloodstains off the blade with a flick of his right hand and proceeded to sheath the katana.
"What an outstanding performance," the cyborg ninja heard a male voice with a British accent spoke up behind him as he was putting on the shoe that he kicked off, "We were planning to request a small demonstration of your skills."
He quickly spun around to face the owner of the voice with a hand on the HF blade, ready to take it out on a moment's notice. There were two of them, a man and a woman. The man who was obviously the one that spoke up dressed in a fine suit with dark brown pants, a light tan overcoat, a dark tan vest underneath, white collar shirt, and blue tie. The woman was dressed identically with the only real difference was that she had an ankle length dark brown dress. Both the man and woman had red hair and regarded the cyborg with blue eyes that betrayed no emotion. He took note that their clothes were out of date by a large margin.
"But that would be irrelevant at this point," the woman calmly said, gesturing to the dead bodies surrounding Raiden, "I expected nothing less from the infamous 'Jack the Ripper'."
Raiden bristled at the mere mention of that name. His body emitted a crimson aura for a split second because of his momentarily loss of temper.
"Now, now, sister," the man scolded his twin, "You know that he doesn't like being referred to that name. Isn't that right, Mr. Lightning Bolt?"
Raiden chose not to answer the man and kept his hand on his blade.
"Who are you?" Raiden asked in a threatening tone as he unsheathed the Murasama blade slightly.
"It had come to our attention that you recently resigned from your previous establishment," the man said, paying no mind to Raiden's silent threat.
"And would like to employ someone of your mind and skillset for a contract of ours," the woman continued.
"And of course, you will be paid handsomely for it."
"How much are you willing to pay me?" the cyborg ninja inquired the twins.
"For starters, a pardon from your crimes at Denver, Colorado and at the Shabhazabad Air Base."
"Revoking the bounty placed on your life."
"Enough money to live a comfortable lifestyle with your family."
"And a chance to atone for your sins."
"I don't know who you two are but you should know that I have a low tolerance for bullshit," Raiden growled with a bit of the Ripper seeped into his voice as he still kept the blade unsheathed slightly.
"I told you that he wouldn't appreciate our verbal prodding," the woman said to her twin.
And you also said that he would kill us before hearing us out," the man retorted.
Deciding that he had enough of their nonsense, Raiden unsheathed the katana all the way and pointed the tip at the two.
"You're really starting to piss me off," Raiden growled as he channeled the Ripper, hoping to intimidate them, "So tell me what the hell you want or I'll show why I was called Jack the Ripper."
"It's simple really," the woman said, unperturbed by the Ripper, "Bring us the girl-"
"And wipe away the debt," her twin finished.
Without warning, a bright flash of light engulfed the cyborg ninja's surroundings and overloading his optics.
Raiden thought that they must have thrown a flash grenade which would explain his momentarily blindness but that didn't explain why he was suddenly falling.
His optical implants recalibrated itself to see that he was falling from the sky and was about to hit the ocean below him fast.
"What the hell!? How the hell did I get up here in the first place!?" Raiden screamed at the top of his lungs as the waters below rapidly became closer.
Brushing aside those questions for now, he braced his body for impact just in the nick of time. His body sank into the ocean like a rock due to its composition.
He broke out of the surface to get a breath of air that he still needed. Fortunately, his current cyborg body wasn't as heavy as the last one so he could still swim to a limited degree.
It was raining pretty hard while waves crashed violently across his form in an attempt to drown the cyborg. In spite of this, he could see a lighthouse not too far from where he was.
He figured that he shouldn't question why there was a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere with no ships in sight if it meant that he could get to some form of dry land. So without further ado, he hastily swam to the small suspicious landmass in hopes to find someone who could assist him.
Once he reached the front door of the building, he spotted a note nailed on the entrance that had the words: "Bring us the girl! This is your last chance!" written on it in an angry scrawl. He ignored the ominous letter as he entered the building but he stored it away in the back of his mind just in case.
The lighthouse interior wasn't what you would expect in any lighthouse on the mainland. The room beyond the front door had wooden floors and a warm atmosphere that felt almost welcoming to the cyborg ninja. But he didn't relax his guard in the least because of his old training kicking in.
Right in front of the door under the central pillar of the tower, a small table was set up with a water basin with a lit candle on the right side and a couple of white wash cloths on the left. A frame hung above the table with a sign made of cloth and stitching that read: "Of Thy Sins, Shall I Wash Thee".
"I doubt that just water can wash away the blood on these hands," Raiden scoffed at the mere idea of penitence through washing of one's hands with holy water.
He then tried to contact his allies from Maverick to request for a pick up via Codec. He was somewhat dismayed that there was no signal, which he found impossible since his Codec had an excellent coverage that the only way for there to be no signal if he was on the moon. Of course, that last part was just a joke that he would make whenever he receives a call from some location where you could never get a signal with an ordinary phone.
Well, the only thing that he could do now was to search the rest of the building. You never know if you might find something useful.
A single artificial compound eye unit that resembled an eye-patch slid over his left eye, allowing him to see the world around him in Augmented Reality Mode.
Important items were highlighted by the Heads-Up Displays but as he zoomed in to examine them closer, only turned out to be outdated radios and telephones. The only actual things that were considered worth investigating were the package upstairs, the corpse on the floor above the previous, and some sort of pod on the top of the lighthouse.
He should inspect the body first since it was closer and then he would check out the probe since it was the most suspicious out of everything here.
The cyborg made his way towards the stairs. Another sign similar to the one hanging above the water basin was on the wall next to the stairwell. This one read: "From Sodom, Shall I Lead Thee".
Raiden couldn't help but be reminded about what Monsoon said that religion was a joke after reading sign. He may not agree with the nihilistic cyborg but even he wasn't a firm believer of God or any other deity for that matter.
"Will God still judge me like one of his children?" he said to himself as he ascended the metal steps slowly, "Or will He just condemn me to eternal damnation?"
Reaching the landing, he saw a large room that took up the entire floor. Tables, desk, a large sink, a bed, and several crates were stacked up along one of the walls with a couple of lamps on the walls above, illuminating everything.
He set his eyes on the object that was placed on the bed. A stained, oak wood box sat in the center of the mattress, looking out of place. He picked the box up and scanned it for booby traps. It may seemed like he was paranoid but you could never be too sure.
Seeing a shiny brass nameplate on the lid, Raiden's eyes narrowed when he saw what was written.
In perfectly inscribed calligraphy was his name.
The only possible conclusion that he could come to was that this had something to do with those two earlier.
After finding no booby traps on the box, he lifted the lid and looked at the contents. Inside were several things. Under the lid, two papers were taped, one looked like a postcard with a golden statue of an angel that had her arms outstretched. The other one next to it was a blank paper with symbols and numbers written on it; from left to right, there was an open scroll with X1 next to it, a key with X2 next to it, and a saber facing blade-down with X2 next to it.
Setting that aside for the moment, he looked at the rest of the box and was intrigued to see an iron key. Picking it up, the cyborg examined it with careful eyes. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it other than the pictures on the handle. One side depicted a bird flying free while the other had an empty birdcage.
The next contents were a photograph of a young woman, a small leather bag, and a large folded piece of paper.
He picked up the black and white picture of a young woman that looked around her late teens or early twenties wearing a white blouse and a long blue skirt. The name "Elizabeth" was written at the top.
He flipped the picture over to see the words: "Find her, protect her" printed on the back.
Next was the bag. Inside it was a large handful of silver coins that looked to be about a dollar apiece, totaling to around $100.
"What the hell is all of this?" he wondered out loud as he placed the items that he inspected in his coat pocket. He took out the folded piece of paper and unfolded it to see that it was a note.
Dear Mr. Raiden,
We can assume that you are very confused with the situation that you currently find yourself in. But rest assured, your presence here was no accident. You have nothing to be afraid of. However, what you will experience from this point onward will seem strange, and in some cases very dangerous. Just do what comes naturally to you and you will survive. Or you will die. Both possibilities are very likely with what you are about to face.
Your task is a rather simple one. Find the girl in the photograph. Help her in any way you can and bring her back to New Zealand. Do this, and you will find yourself back with your family where you belong.
Welcome to Columbia.
Sincerely,
R & R Lutece
Raiden crumpled the paper in his hand with enough strength to crush a rock as his eyes turned crimson. R and R Lutece must be the man and the woman earlier so they were definitely the reason why he was stranded in the middle of the ocean.
For what purpose did they want him to rescue the girl in the photo? More importantly, how were able to transport him to this lighthouse in the first place?
From the letter, he guessed that those two were watching him in some way. He searched his person to find any listening devices and he used AR mode to comb for hidden cameras. Sadly, he found none so he had no idea how they were watching him.
He could just refused to do the job but if the twins took the trouble to bring him here, then they'll most likely leave him stuck here on his own with the only way back to the mainland was swimming there himself.
His cyborg body may have greatly increased his physical parameters but he wouldn't want to risk swimming since he didn't know how far he was from the landmass.
"I guess I don't really have much of a choice at the moment," Jack sighed as he went up the next flight of stairs.
"But it doesn't mean I'll like it," he said out loud, stepping over an overturned table and broken plates on the floor as he ascended to the next floor.
A lone light shined down on a man tied to a chair with a burlap bag over his head. Blood pooled down on the floor under him and running toward the stairs and several splatters on the wall behind him.
The cyborg slowly treaded forward. Dress shoes tiptoeing around the blood on the floor as he drew closer to get a better look. There was a bloody hole in the center of the man's head, indicating that it was a bullet to the head that ended the man's life. Judging by the bloody instruments on the nearby table and the various large cuts that lined his arms and torso, Raiden could safely tell that the man had been tortured before being executed.
He was only a little bit fazed by the scene before, having seen and done far worse when he was a child-soldier back in Liberia. His eyes moved down and saw a piece of paper pinned to the man's shirt. The same writing that had been on the letter he read stated: "Be warned. Things may get worse."
Gritting his teeth and shaking his head, Raiden turned away from the poor stiff and saw another flight of stairs that he walked towards to.
The farther up that he went, the cyborg noticed that he was nearing the top of the lighthouse and was now outside. The storm was now going strong, lightning and thunder clapped in the distance as heavy raindrops struck the tower's frame and his form, making it difficult to hear anything else.
With the HF Murasama blade strapped to his belt and hidden from sight by advance camouflage technology, Raiden reached the top of the lighthouse to see a door on his left leading into where the spotlight of the tower was located. He remembered that this was where the pod-like object was located.
In the center of the door was a statue of an angel with her arms opened. Three bells were lined in front with symbols carved into it.
Looking the door over with AR Mode, Raiden realized that the door was mechanized and cutting it down would disable the pod.
"Wait..." the cyborg realized that the symbols of the bells were familiar. He pulled out the paper with the same markings written on it.
"Hm, it looks like some kind password or sequence that I have to follow."
Giving one last look at the paper, he flicked the bell with the open scroll first by using his gloved metal finger. Going to the middle bell, the one with a key, he struck it twice. Moving to the last bell, he hit it twice like the one before and waited.
At first nothing happened then the skies lit up a bright red and let out a loud horn that drowned out the sound of the storm.
Raiden spun around with the blood-red katana out and looked up the sky as more loud horns resounded through the air.
"What the hell is this shit!? he shouted, gripping the HF blade as the the bellowing soon came to an end.
Mechanics within the lighthouse started churning. The large light in the center opened up and slid up, allowing the floor to flip over to reveal a red barbers chair where it had been set up.
Stepping in cautiously out of the rain, Raiden walked around the chair and saw nothing special about but looks can be deceiving.
"They don't expect me to just sit in some chair that suddenly popped out of the floor, do they?" he thought to himself. But recollecting how they sent him here, he figured that they really do expect him to do just that.
Putting the sword back inside its sheath and turning the camouflage mode on, he settled down on the comfortable seat. Then restraints on the armrests snapped shut around his wrists.
"Why am I not surprised?" he dryly commented as more restraints clamped around his torso and his feet to keep him in place.
"Make yourself ready, pilgrim. The bindings are there as a safeguard," a female voice spoke from nearby loud speakers as he prepared to break out of the bindings with his superhuman strength. Then several small walls came out of the floor surrounding the chair before coming together and sealing it up tightly.
The floor suddenly dropped open, leaving the cyborg ninja suspended above turning gears and what he recognized as rockets that were beginning to fire up.
"Shit!" he cursed as the rockets began to power up. He was glad that he didn't break out of the bindings beforehand or he would have surely fallen off and get incinerated by the rockets.
"Ascension…Ascension in the count of FIVE…countdown of FOUR..." the chair righted itself back to its original position as the whole lighthouse started to shake. "THREE…TWO…"
Raiden gripped the armrests to the point of crushing them in his hands. Teeth gritted so hard that it would have broken were they ordinary teeth as the voice continued counting down.
"ONE…" the pod was launched from the top of the tower and was shot into the sky.
The cyborg grunted as the force of the launch pressed down on him into the velvet cushions.
"Ascension…Ascension…" Raiden would have been panicking if he hadn't experienced something similar to this before. It was a good thing that he did was what he thought as he watched the clouds outside slipping by.
"Five thousand feet…ten thousand feet…fifteen thousand feet…" the pod broke through the clouds, blinding the cyborg as the sun was suddenly revealed. When the light died down a little, he looked out of the porthole in front of him and felt his jaw dropped.
Outside was a city...FLOATING IN THE GODDAMN SKY!
He could only stare at the magnificent sight before him in complete awe. He forgot everything that had happened up to now. It was beautiful. Each cluster of buildings seemed to be connected by a railway and gondola system. Airships and blimps drifted around the island-like structures as they hovered above the clouds.
The cyborg ninja was struck speechless. How was this even possible? The US government or even the fucking UN would have mentioned something about a city that was approximately the size of Manhattan floating over fucking heads.
The pod continued move amongst the buildings. One of them floated by, showing a poster that depicted an old man with shoulder length white hair and beard with "Father Comstock, Our Prophet" displayed proudly on it.
The man bore a regal atmosphere befitting of a title such as "Prophet" but Raiden simply saw him as some religious nut job.
Not a few seconds later, the pod perched on top of a building and slowly lowered inside, passing scaffoldings with words that were illuminated by the sun.
Why Would He Send His Savior Unto Us
If We Will Not Raise A Finger For Our Own Salvation
And Though We Deserved Not His Mercy
He Has Led Us To This New Eden
A Last Chance For Redemption
Reading each statement, Raiden couldn't help but wonder what kind place was this and how the hell did he get here. As the pod continued to lower, a large stained glass image was shown with the sun shining through it. The image of the same man that he saw on the poster before was standing tall with people surrounding him in prayer and a banner above him that said "And The Prophet Shall Lead The People To The New Eden."
Everything came to a stop. The front wall of the pod hissed and slowly opened to the inside of what looked like a church. The restraints all released Raiden, allowing him to pull himself out of the chair. Not like they stood a chance at preventing that if he really wanted to get off the chair.
He pulled himself out of the chamber and into the ankle deep water that covered the whole floor. Looking up at the mural of the religious leader that people obviously worshipped, Raiden took out the photo of the girl that he was asked-more like forced to find.
He tried once again to contact his allies back at Maverick but there was still no one picking up. He then tried out all of his other contacts such as Sonny and Bladewolf at Solis and Otacon aka Hal Emmerich. Hell, he even tried calling his wife in New Zealand. But like all of his prior attempts, they ended in failure.
"She's not going to find herself so I better get moving," he said to himself before putting the picture away and sloshing his way toward the nearby archway leading farther into the church.
At the moment, he should stay hidden. There was no way of knowing how people would react to a cyborg. Oh wait; he does know how people would react to a cyborg. People would think that he was just like one of them from afar but when they get a closer look, they immediately keep their distance. It was nothing new for him but he should stay out of sight.
Remembering the dead body of the man, he could take a stab in the dark that this place was dangerous even though it looked like paradise.
He noticed an open window that he could use as an exit a few feet above him. Bracing his legs with energy, he jumped up to it and began to make his way through the city in the sky.
The cyborg ninja was completely unaware that the choices that he would soon have to make would give him the redemption that he yearned or bring damnation to us all.
The fair city of Columbia would either be liberated by Raiden, protector of the weak or be razed to the ground by the second coming of Jack the Ripper. Either way, blood will fill the streets.