A Sun in the Night
Snow sprinkled down from up above, the crystals flying in irregular directions through the biting wind. Thick gray clouds invaded the sky, forcing out any moonlight that would have shone through. Shadow Moses Island was built to withstand such weather, as it was regularly suffering through it; the buildings looked no worse for wear.
Sniper Wolf watched as canines paced in the middle of the snowfield, wrestling with the leashes their human captors forced onto them. They whimpered and released a few stray howls into the night, begging for help from their comrades.
Revolver Ocelot was a sentinel, his countenance unreadable. He simply observed the soldiers corralling the dogs into a loose circle and restraining them. He only showed annoyance when he witnessed a soldier losing a battle against one of the snarling animals, his trigger finger twitching.
He gawked at Ocelot, then the dog. "Shut up, ya stupid mutt!" A sharp kick to the side silenced the dog the soldier was handling. Other soldiers followed his example, and squeaks echoed from other animals. The dogs mostly acquiesced; less violence was needed each subsequent yank of the leashes.
Wolf felt sick to her stomach. Her attention sharpened as more abuse was piled on, in a more sadistic fashion. Impersonal jabs turned into emotionally charged fits of rage against the animals, and the chorus of despair rose back up to full force.
They were separated, tied down to leashes, then beaten for insubordination? The dogs were innocent. They were being punished for being refugees of the takeover. Was she the only one to see this as barbaric? Her heart raced as she recalled herself in the same position. Even to this day, the memories stung like a corrosive acid: friends and family lost, any sense of safety thoroughly demolished, always running and hiding from strangers with guns and bombs, fearing if you'll make it to the next day. She had to bite her lip and grip the sleeve of her white jacket to contain the shock and rage.
"Hurry up!" Ocelot barked. "The boss wants these dogs gone by the end of the day!"
"Yes sir!" The soldiers quit the torture and simply shoved the canines into an even tighter circle. They then withdrew their guns from their belts.
Wolf's heart dropped into her stomach. She almost stopped breathing when they cocked the weapons. They took aim, and a desperate shout erupted from the small woman. "Stop!"
"What did you say?" Ocelot's glare could even be felt through the frigid wind. The soldiers lowered their firearms and stared at the pair arguing.
"I said to stop." Sniper Wolf smoothed down the hair closest to her face to calm herself. "Why do we have to kill the dogs?"
Ocelot took a step forward, towering over Wolf by a head. "Have you seen what they did to the Genome Soldiers? We can't have these rabid mutants tearing apart our army."
"You manhandled and pointed guns at them," Wolf insisted, her tone low and cutting. "They are just scared. If you leave them alone, they won't bother you."
"We don't have time for petty games like this, Wolf." Ocelot returned his attention to the soldiers, who trained their sights on the dogs again. "We have business to take care of, and they're in the way."
"I will train them!"
"Excuse me?"
"I will train them," she repeated. "I will make sure that they do not attack the Genome Soldiers. Just let them live."
The older man waved down the guns. Wolf's muscles tightened with anticipation as Ocelot sighed and pulled out his cell phone. Perhaps it was out of curiosity of what would happen, or he truly sympathized with her cause; either way, Wolf was grateful.
"Yes, Sniper Wolf doesn't want us to shoot the dogs." A pause. "She wants to train them to not attack the Genome Soldiers." His breath streamed out from his lips as white, hazy clouds in front of him, disappearing as soon as they came. "Yes. Yes, sir."
She sustained eye contact with him, pleading for an answer.
"You've used up a lifetime of luck, Wolf." Ocelot said. "The boss said the wolves are yours. But if a soldier comes out with as much as a scratch, they're gone. No exceptions."
Her insides uncoiled. "You will not have to worry."
He scoffed. "Have fun with your mutts." Ocelot directed the soldiers to follow him as he traversed back into the base behind them.
Sniper Wolf waited until everyone else disappeared before approaching the dogs. They were still huddling in a tense pack, their furry bodies shaking from fear.
One of the dogs, who only seemed to be a puppy, stared at her with large and terrified eyes. Though the distance was objectively miniscule, they seemed to be separated from the rest of the group.
Wolf offered her hand for the dog to sniff. They flinched at first, but obliged when no beatings came. "I am not going to hurt you. You are safe now."
The pup's thick fur brushed against her hand. They happily yelped and leaned against her leg. The other dogs noticed, and warily approached the smaller one. When they saw the human peacefully stroking them, they dropped their apprehension and rubbed up against Sniper Wolf, contentedly mewling.
Even though he was fairly sure no one could see him through stealth camouflage, Hal still hid behind a tree in the snowfield. A frigid gust blasted from the east, and he shuddered. He hiked up his white parka and peeked out from the side of the tree. He watched a woman bond with the dogs; she pet them, and they returned the favor with licks and excited barks. Her golden blonde hair shone like the sun against the bleak landscape.
Even though his palms were pressed up against the icy bark, they were beginning to sweat. Hal's heart thumped in his chest, and his legs quivered, not entirely from cold. He initially came out here to check on the dogs; he was responsible for them before the takeover. Though it looked like he would be relieved of that duty now, he still felt a paternalistic urge to make sure that they were okay.
If only he could muster up the courage to actually approach them.
Still, he plunged his legs into the deep snow to move forward. He eluded the guards for this specific reason; if they were going to catch him, might as well accomplish what he set out to do in the meantime.
The snow was almost up to Hal's knees; he had to stretch his legs an absurd amount just to get anywhere. He hit a snag on the ground and tripped into the pile of glittering crystals in front of him with a yelp. The stealth camouflage device on his chest deactivated at the impact, and Hal's frail body was left exposed.
The woman heard the crunch and shooed away the dogs jumping at her feet. "Who's there?"
The frightened male squeaked, but remained still. His clothes were becoming soaked with melted snow, and he was beginning to shiver.
"Show yourself!" She marched around the snowfield, looking behind every pine tree and rock until she stumbled across the struggling doctor under her feet. It looked like she was about to step on him, but instead refrained and sighed. "Do you need help?"
"N-No!" Hal chattered. He mustered up all of his upper body strength to push himself up to his knees, only to fail and slide back down. Without saying a word, the woman above him offered her hand, to which he gratefully grasped and used to pull himself back up to his feet. "Ah, th-thank you."
"What are you doing out here?" she asked. "You are soaked to the bone. You look like you will freeze."
Considering her extremely revealing jacket, Hal took her comment with a grain of salt. However, his resolve weakened when another frosty gale cut through him, and his torso was wracked with shivers. "I-I needed t-to check up on the dogs."
"Are you in charge of them here?"
"Y-Yes..." He recoiled from her intense stare. "I just wanted to check up on them. Honest."
Sniper Wolf looked him over. She doubted that the programmer would have been tough to handle; it appeared even a stiff wind could knock him over. She stepped to the side, away from the dogs.
"Thank you," Hal muttered. He fought through the snow to approach the dogs, but they got to him first. They leapt up and leaned against his hips, almost causing him to stumble again. "You all look like you're alright..."
She turned away, her back to Hal. "I have to say that I'm impressed."
"What?"
"I did not think anybody else cared enough about the dogs to come after them."
Hal absentmindedly patted a dog's head. "I'm glad that you did. I couldn't have stood up to those guys if I tried." He noticed that the youngest of the pack sprinted to her feet and plopped down there, beating their tail against her leg. "Who are you?"
She turned back around and made eye contact with Hal. "Call me Sniper Wolf."
"S-Sniper Wolf?" Though his limbs were trembling and his heart pounding, fear paralyzed him. "Y-You're-"
"One of the terrorists," she finished, her words dripping with sarcasm. "I know where I stand. Don't act so surprised."
The wind changed direction, blowing snowflakes into their hair. "Are you going to hurt me?" he whimpered.
"I have no quarrel with you."
Another shudder. "I-I need to feed th-the dogs." Even if he wasn't completely petrified with terror, the snow was still too deep to move efficiently. The storage area where the food was kept was all the way across the snowfield; he's go into hypothermic shock before he made it there.
"Where is the food?" Wolf demanded.
"Over there." He weakly pointed to the warehouse across from them. "It's a bag on a shelf at the very end."
"Stay there."
Maybe it was her stature, or the boots that she was wearing, but Wolf traversed the deep snow with much more grace than Hal. He pulled his parka closer to his torso and folded his arms to conserve warmth. He stayed like that for a few minutes, huddling into himself on his knees and praying for Wolf's swift return.
He watched her emerge from the snow and wind like a phantom from their grave, dog food in hand.
She walked up and dropped the mostly empty bag in front of him. "Is this right?"
"Y-Yes." That was all Hal could bluster out in the intense cold. He reached for the bag with stiff fingers, but ended up knocking it over. He felt like an idiot under Wolf's critical gaze. He could design and build the world's most complex defensive weapon against nuclear missiles, but not simply pick up a bag of dog food?
"I'll take over." She swiped the bag from the ground and beckoned for the dogs to come to her with hand gestures. They failed to respond.
"You h-have to shake it in a certain way," The doctor rose up to his feet and, not entirely thinking clearly, groped for the bag in Wolf's hand. "Please, would you let me feed them?"
She gave him the same appraising glare as before. After a few seconds, her face softened, and her grip loosened. "I suppose you can. They are your dogs, after all."
It was almost a miracle that Hal made it back to his lab alive. He'd almost forgotten to switch his stealth camouflage back on when he came back inside.
He couldn't stop thinking about the snowfield. Sniper Wolf was one of the terrorists, right? Why was she so kind to the dogs? Why was she so kind to him?
Maybe he had her mixed up with someone else. However, her admittance to being a part of the group smacked that theory right down.
His mind then chose to focus on her interaction with the dogs. She was able to tame them so quickly, so amicably. They melted at her slightest touch. Who could blame them, though? Coupling her valorous actions with her gorgeous golden hair and deep blue eyes, she resembled an angel descended from Heaven.
Hal found it to be magnificent.
Warmth and giddiness spread throughout his body, down to his fingertips. Maybe the takeover wouldn't be so bad after all.