Chapter 4
September 23rd, 2011, 11:26 p.m.: Somewhere in Chernobyl
Snake finished his cigarette, and dropped the filter in the small ash can he carried with him. He then activated his codec.
"Otacon, we've met up with the opposing force. Apparently they're from a British organization known as Hellsing." Snake said.
"Hm, I've heard of them before, but I don't know much about them." Otacon replied.
"Hellsing? I thought I recognized that patch you described earlier, Snake. I can guarantee you're in good company!" Macmillan added.
"Why do you say that?" asked Snake.
"They only take the best, brightest, and most promising of soldiers from different British forces, such as the S.A.S." Macmillan explained.
"Snake, find out if we can contact their support team. If we have full cooperation on both ends that might make this mission a bit easier." Otacon said.
"Right." Snake said. He then looked over at Seras and motioned to his ear. "What's the frequency your boss is on? My support team wants to talk."
"So does mine. It's 141.66. You'll be talking to Sir Integra Hellsing." Seras answered.
"Did you get that Otacon?" Snake asked, pressing his fingers over his ear.
"Of course. This will probably take a while Snake, so continue on with the mission." Otacon responded. As his codec turned off, Snake looked over at Seras and Ryan.
"So do you know where you are headed in this base?" he asked. Seras sighed.
"We we're planning on heading straight for Dimitri, but knowing now that he has a Metal Gear..." Seras said, trailing off.
"Yeah, that kind of takes priority." Ryan finished.
"There's one more thing that's high priority." Snake said, as he headed towards the exit of the room. Morrigan looked at him for a moment, and started to follow.
"And what's that?" Seras asked, and started to follow the two, dragging Ryan behind her.
"My sister, Lily... Dimitri is holding her hostage." Morrigan answered. "She's only twelve, and that bastard is threatening to kill her!" Morrigan continued, finishing the sentence with a growl. She clenched her hands shut, as if choking someone. She then took a few slow breaths, and calmed down. "If anything were to happen to her...she's the only family I have left..." Morrigan said quietly.
May 14th, 2009, 1:43 p.m.: Glasgow, UK
"This is all I was able to find regarding your father's death." said a brown haired woman, who was wearing a modest black dress. She took a sip from a small cup, and set it down on the coffee table in front of her. She then opened a small briefcase that was set on the coffee table, pulled out a plain manila folder, and slid it across the table to the opposite side. A feminine hand stopped it's movement, and opened the folder, pulling out a single file. Sad, green eyes looked over it carefully, and the woman sighed.
"Mei-Ling, this is my father we're talking about. I don't care what you tell me, you know what he's been through. A simple heart attack isn't enough to kill him." Morrigan said, placing the file back into the folder. She then reached for her own small cup from the table, and took a small sip of tea. The brown haired woman rubbed the bridge of her nose for a moment.
"I know that, Morrigan. For being a few centuries old, he was practically in perfect health. They even stated in the report that he shouldn't have had a heart attack. His arteries were clean, there wasn't clot or blockage in his heart, they didn't even find any chemicals in his system that could have induced an attack. It sounds odd, but his heart cells just up and died." Mei-Ling said. Morrigan looked down at the folder, lost in thought. Her foot tapped the floor for a few moments, before she looked back up at Mei-Ling.
"All of this just sounds extremely fishy. Were you able to check his...body...for anything they might not have found? Residual energy, any small burns?" Morrigan asked. Mei-Ling shook her head.
"I did, but there was nothing that would have indicated a magical or spiritual attack. If, and this IS a big if, Morrigan...If your father was assassinated, it was definitely caused by something man-made." Mei-Ling said. Morrigan looked down, and sighed, as she adjusted the black sleeve of her formal outfit. "Your father's service was beautiful, by the way. It was quite obvious that those who he worked with were quite fond of him." Mei-Ling added, and took a sip of her tea. "Also, Lei-Lei wanted you to know that she's sorry that she was unable to attend." A small, sad smile graced Morrigan's features.
"Tell her not to worry about it. What is she up to, by the way? The last thing I heard from you was that she was somewhere in America." Morrigan asked.
"Ah, yes. She's out in New York, investigating some suspicious murders that occurred after that incident dealing with the oil spill clean up facility. From the looks of it, they appear to be caused by a rouge vampire. The only difference is that the corpses aren't desiccated. It's all quite odd, really." Mei-Ling answered. Morrigan stood up, and stretched slightly.
"I wish her luck. Also, Mei-Ling...if you find out anything regarding my father's passing..." Morrigan started to say, trailing off. Mei-Ling smiled slightly, and stood up, grabbing the briefcase from the coffee table.
"I'll let you know. You take care of yourself, Morrigan." Mei-Ling responded, as she walked around the coffee table. She hugged Morrigan for a moment, and turned to leave. She stopped, and turned to look over her shoulder. "Though honestly, I'm more concerned about how your sister is taking this than you. Something like this can be devastating to a child." Mei-Ling added, and left the room, heading towards the front door. Morrigan sighed once more, and left the room as well, and headed upstairs. After a few moments, she ended up in front of a plain wooden door, and slowly opened it. Inside was a moderately sized bedroom, decorated with varying shades of blue and red. On the bed in the far corner was a young girl, laying on her side, hugging her knees to her chest. She faced the wall, and her form shook occasionally, as soft sobs filled the room. Morrigan slowly walked over to the bed, and sat down. She laid a hand on the girl's shoulder, and squeezed slightly.
"Morrigan...I miss Dad..." Lilith said, small sobs breaking up her sentence. "We're...we're not going to see him smile...or hear him laugh...he's not going to see me grow up..." she added, then started to sob louder. Morrigan slowly pulled her up, and wrapped her arms around her.
"Even if he is gone from this world, Lily, he is still with us. As long as you hold your memories of him close, he will always be with you." she said, and hugged her tighter.
September 23rd, 2011, 11:30 p.m.: Somewhere in Chernobyl
Lilith continued to read the novel, shocked at the facts presented to her. She had never thought that anyone could take out a Tank by themselves, with grenades no less. Lost in her own world, Lilith failed to hear the knocking on her cell door.
"HEY! WAKE UP!" A voice yelled. Lilith jumped slightly, and looked over at the door. A tray of food had been slid under the door, and the sound of footsteps moved from the front of her door to the exit of the room. Lilith slowly got up and moved over to the tray, picking it up. She stopped when she overheard the guards talking.
"...since that attack earlier, the boss has got the ground floor and his quarters on lock down. But there have been some rumors floating around that there are a few intruders that made it in." A voice said. Lilith quickly put her food down, and put her ear to the door.
"Intruders? How many do they say?" another voice asked.
"I have no idea. There's a few dead ghouls down in the tunnels, and there might be some activity in the Tank hanger. We're not sure though, since all we're basing that on is the camera feed going out. But get this, someone took out Romulus." the first voice said.
"What? Are you serious?" the second voice responded, a surprised yet fearful tone in his voice.
"Yeah, haven't heard much from the guys upstairs, but what I have heard is some green haired chick in a purple combat outfit started to fight him, before he got the upper hand." the first voice said. Lilith tensed up at this. "However, some guy came in right after, and handed his ass to him." the first voice said.
"But...Romulus is one of the best soldiers out there! Who the hell could have taken him out?" the second voice said.
"Don't know, but they think it could be him. You know...the legendary mercenary..." the first voice said. Both voices were quiet after this, and sounds of footsteps picked up slightly, growing quieter as the two soldiers left the room. Lilith was wide eyed, and slowly looked over at the book she left on her bed.
"There's no way...it can't be..." Lilith said quietly.
Meanwhile
The group had left the tank hanger, and were once again moving through the underground tunnel system, slowly making their way to the stockade. They stayed silent, the only sound accompanying them was the soft foot falls they made. So far, the tunnels were bare, intersections and doorways were unpatrolled. This detail bothered Snake greatly, and he could not help but feel suspicious. Snake quickly looked at his soliton radar; they were roughly a few hundred meters from the stockade. All that was between their current location and their destination were multiple twisting, maze-like paths, and a couple of rooms, one of which that was dead ahead of them. Snake held a hand up, signaling the others to stop. He quickly checked over the door for any traps, and slowly opened it, pointing his SIG P239 pistol inside. He carefully pushed the door fully open, and looked into the room. The inside had a few crates and boxes stacked up along the sides, with various supplies. Snake made a motion to continue moving.
"Heh heh, so you're the one who took out Romulus, eh?" A voice echoed from the room. Snake instantly pointed his SIG into the room. Morrigan followed suit, unholstoring and pointing her Beretta 8357 Cougar, as did Seras and Ryan with their MP7's.
"Who wants to know?" Snake asked. A tall man, wearing black ACU's with various straps crossing his body, and who easily reached seven and a half feet tall, walked out from behind a stack of crates. He turned and faced the four, his bright, steel colored eyes glaring intently at Snake.
"Someone who was annoyed by his psychotic actions." the man said, smirking. He twisted his head slightly, with some slight audible popping, and then rolled his head into a circle. Snake noticed two large horns protruding from his head, and raised an eyebrow.
"So I take it your one of Dimitri's sideshow, right?" Snake asked. The man laughed heartily, and smiled.
"Why of course. The name's Androgeus, and I merely wish to see if the man can live up to the legend." the tall man said. He reached behind his back, and pulled out a large machine gun. "I'd rather fight you hand to hand to test our worth, but the boss doesn't want me to play around. I assume you know what this is, right?" Androgeus said, and lifted the gun slightly. Snake looked at it for a moment.
"I'm familiar with the M240 line. Seven-Six-Two NATO round, if I'm not mistaken." Snake replied bluntly.
"Right, and you probably know what this can do to a man. This little gem happens to be the Bravo variant, a favorite of mine. I could open fire on you now, but I'm a fair man." Androgeus continued, and hefted the M240 over his shoulder. "I'm going to give you ten seconds to run into the tunnel system before I hunt you down. I figure that's more than enough of a handicap for your handgun there." he said, and nodded towards Snake's SIG. Snake glanced behind himself towards Morrigan.
"Leave, take those two with you and find your sister. I'll deal with him on my own." Snake said. Morrigan looked at him, wide-eyed.
"Are you nuts? He's a minotaur, he won't be easy to take down!" Morrigan replied.
"Just go, I'll catch up with you." Snake said. Morrigan let out a huff, and gestured towards Seras and Ryan. She then quickly moved down one of the tunnels, the two following her. Androgeus smiled.
"Good, now we won't have any distractions. You better start running, Snake." Androgeus said. Snake took a few steps backward, then ran down the tunnel opposite of the one Morrigan took. He took a few twists and turns, trying to put as much distance between himself and Androgeus, while trying to think of a way to defeat him. He took another turn, and pressed up against the wall, taking calm, steady breaths.
"Time's up, Snake. I hope you hid well, I know these tunnels like the back of my hand..."
Author's Note: Life has been hell, which is why it took so long to crank this chapter out. I'll try to update sooner, but I cannot guarantee that I will. As always, read and review!
