Chapter 3-Conspiracy
"I believe sending him on this mission should give us the results we need, to determine success or failure of this project."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Aye, agreed."
"The mission will be set for two days from now."
Each figure nodded in accordance with one another. For their sake, they'd hope they were right and it wasn't a failure…
The sound of knocking on a door could be heard as Snake walked to his door.
"Snake! Open up, it's me Kneader!" The voice called out.
"Alright!" He called out, as he opened the door.
Kneader stood before the door, breathing heavily, apparently having ran here. Kneader was a fairly tall guy, light brown hair, deep hazel eyes and shortened elf ears. He was Mutt-Breed as the Plagus called him, for he was half elf and half human. Father a former battalion commander within the 32nd Infantry Division of the ancient Redsand Warriors unit. His mother was human, just a simple lady who caught the mans cold heart. Mutt-Breeds were slightly looked down upon, but some had useful skills in certain fields, much like Kneader, whom was a Signals Intelligence Expert. SIGINT for short. He had some combat experience having fought in a couple of battles of the war.
That's how he and Snake met. In the Battle of the Himalayas, the SIGINT Unit Kneader was in was trapped along with the 10th Armored Core and 82nd Mountain Division by Axis forces coming in from the former Chinese Republic. Snake and his infamous HUNTERS Unit were sent in to recover the trapped SIGINT Unit, while the 95th Airborne and 101st Mountain Divisions fought off the oppressing Axis forces. Nearly the entire SIGINT Unit was wiped out in the battle, all but a select few; Kneader included.
"Commander Kaine wants--"He paused to catch his breath.
"--To see you," He finished.
"Guess I'm not suspended anymore." Snake replied rolling his blue eyes somewhat.
"I don't know my friend, I just saw him with some folders in his hand, the usual mission folders."
"Heh, great." Snake sarcastically said
Pfft, not
"Well I must be going, more errands to run. See you around, Snake!" He said as he took his leave, jogging away.
Snake simply nodded, then went back inside. He laced his boots, and then slipped on a tan brown tight shirt. Ten minutes or so later he arrived at the commander's office. The door was cracked a tiny bit, though Snake knocked before walking inside.
"Ah yes, Lieutenant there you are. Come, sit." He said gesturing to the leather seat.
As Snake sat down, the commander pulled out a box of cigars and handed it to him,
"Cigar?"
"No, thank you, sir."
The commander shrugged as he lit his Cuban cigar then took a puff of it.
"We've lifted your suspension, as you can probably tell. And we have another mission for you that is of grave importance to the war." He said, putting a folder on Snake's lap.
Snake opened it as the commander continued talking.
"Central Asia now, in the former People's Republic of China, which is now the Chinese Republic in Axis Power territory. This is a Black Op, so all evidence must be erased." He paused taking another puff.
"We've got rouge GRN General, named Vik Rikovich. He commanded the 82nd Mountain Division during the Battle of the Himalayas. He also commanded the 95th Airborne Division, and then was Joint Chief of Staffs for the Republic military. He also headed development of the Mammoth Mk. IV Assault Carrier project and was a lead developer on your project. After the Battle, he resigned from his position of Chief of Staffs, then stepped down as head of the Mammoth project. Then he simply disappeared afterwards. Just until recently we had SEEKER Units searching for him, until he sprang up in China. This mission could turn the tide of the war, for if he lives….well you get the idea, Lieutenant."
Snake nodded closing the folder after looking through it.
"He is in coalition with an Axis general by the codename of Black Wasp. So far, they've just been building up the Chinese forces, but we've been lead to believe he is also re-developing the Mammoth project for the Axis Powers. Your objective is simple. Take out General Rikovich."
"Is this a solo op?" Snake simply asked
Kaine nodded, as Snake's eyes then lowered. It began to raise questions in his head. Why would they send a single operative to take out a high profile target in the middle a hot zone? It was suicide…
"You have your objectives. Dismissed Lieutenant." The commander said as Snake saluted to him, before he returned the salute back.
Before Snake exited the office, the commander said one last thing,
"Semper Fi."
Hours later he was in the war-torn city of Beijing, crossing through the enemies land illegally. Thankfully one side of the city was nearly annihilated and uninhabitable from the nuclear bombs from
nearly 60 years ago. Plus it had a key route to the command center of the unit based here. Couldn't ask for a better situation.
"Snake you read me? It's Hank."
"Roger. Where's Kneader?"
"Kneader was called in for a different mission that's being conducted in Eastern Russia."
"Ah…" He said disappointment in his voice.
Hank was a Systems Communications Specialist, whom was a 2nd Lieutenant. He was a good guy, tall, blonde hair with glasses covering his blue eyes. He graduated from the West Point Academy in the United States before the outbreak of the war. Then he was soon stationed in Germany in the European Union. Once the GRN was formed and the war broke out, he quickly left Germany and joined the GRN in South America. Afterwards he attended the Republic Military Academy, excelling in Communications Technology. He, along with Kneader and other former and current SIGINT operatives helped develop the KODEK system.
"So how's China?" He asked mockingly.
"Smells like shit here…"
Snake could hear Hank laughing in the background.
"Okay well you apparently got a bit luckier than usual with no enemy occupation on this side of the city. You are ten meters from a tall eight story apartment building. Get to the roof of it, and then you should see a tall radar tower a few kilometers away."
As Hank explained it all, Snake was already near them. A few minutes later and we he was.
"Okay, I see the tower and a command post across from it"
"Roger, infiltrate it, and it should lead to a tall skyscraper ten kilometers north from your current--"
Again Snake was already on the move. Hank hated it.
"--position. DAMMIT SNAKE!"
In the background he could hear the sound of gunfire, explosions and screams of terror. After a few seconds it was silent.
A pause.
"You done?"
CRACK! The sound of one's neck snapping.
"Thank you…" Hank said sarcastically.
"…You're welcome." Snake replied.
As he looked for Intel inside the command post, he saw one of the screens' information, coded of course, but still useful none the less.
"Hank, check this out I'm sending it to you over the PDA."
He hooked his small nanotech PDA up to the terminal and began to immediately transfer the data.
"Whoa…"
"What?"
"It's encrypted alright, pretty damn good too." He exclaimed the sound of enthusiasm in his voice.
BOOM! The sound of an explosion going off in the background.
"The hell was that Snake!?"
"No evidence…"
A pause, before Snake continued on to the targeted building.
Nearly an hour later after infiltrating much of the target tower, he was near the top floor where the rouge general was located. He could sense him, he was directly above Snake. The sensational power feeling was running through him again…
Come Nosferatu…come…
Snake looked up before punching straight through the floor above him, instantly feeling a pair of legs, grabbing them, bringing them down. Even through the dust, he could somehow see the generals face.
"Hhaaa!!" He lunged his arms out, shooting a beam of blue colored energy sending the general flying back.
Good, very good, Nosferatu…
"Why do you keep calling me that!?"
It's what you are.
His coarse, crackly Russian sounded voice echoed in his head.
"What the hell are you talking about!?"
"Immortal Vampire Soldier!"
The voice was behind him now, as he then felt a pair of hands upon his shoulders. All of a sudden, he could feel something happening to his teeth. His canine teeth were lengthening and sharpening. Suddenly he could feel his senses sharpening, everything was more acute. His eyesight more perfect than ever, hearing and smelling sharper, feeling more sensitive and acute.
"This is what you are. This is what they made."
Anger swelled him, as rage flowed through his dark veins, with his power rising. What was this, and how the hell was it happening?
Instantly he felt a lust of hunger within him, a lust for blood…
Before he knew it, he found himself turned around, biting deeply into the generals neck, draining him of every ounce of his warm blood dry from his carcass.
"Fulfill your…d-destiny…Snake…"
As the last cold words left his mouth, his body went limp, eyes going cold, and lifeless. Snake let go of his body, wiping the blood from his mouth. A lustful hiss of pure sensation escaped his lips…
Then knocking on the door could be heard as well as the sound of footsteps hurrying up the stairs with much haste.
"General! Are you there, sir!?"
No answer. Only dead silence.
"Smash it down!"
BEEP!
BOOOOM!
As the door exploded, the troops swarming inside, Snake simply stood there over the general's corpse. His eyes were a blood red color now, his canine teeth now lengthened fangs, and red sparks of powerful energy shooting off of him. The soldiers looked down, finding the general dead at his feet.
"Take'em down!" The soldier ordered raising his rifle and opening fire.
The rest of the soldiers followed opening fire upon Snake as well, unloading round and clip after clip at where Snake was. Eventually after a couple of minutes, the gunfire stopped, and dust clouded the room.
"Clear the room. Find his body." The lead soldier ordered.
They searched through most of the rubble and debris as the dust began to settle. Once it was thin enough to see through the could all see a shaded figure through the smoke, standing tall with a dark red aura around him, sparks shooting off of him.
The soldiers all stepped back, fear overwhelming them. It was him, he was alive! How!?
"Open fi--"The commanding soldier was cut short as he body fell to the ground before the last words could escape his lips. The shaded figure of Snake now stood where the commanding soldier once stood. The smoke cleared suddenly, Snake fully visible to his enemies.
They saw him, and just as instantly he was gone. Somehow the smoke returned like a plaguing fog. Screams came out as small bursts of gunfire went off here and there throughout the room. Killing them all left and right, with no mercy, in cold blood, without an ounce of remorse. This is what he truly was…
More and more soldier poured into the room trying to aid their comrades. It was no use; they were dying as instantly as they appeared. The power within Snake was rising steadily, at an alarmingly fast rate. He felt like the power was about to explode from within him. The sensation he felt from each man he killed, fueled his power and this feeling. It was like gasoline to a fire…
He couldn't take it anymore, it was too much!
"RRRAAGGHHH!!" He roared out like a raging beast, the red aura and energy surrounding his body, expanding greatly, before exploding.
A massive explosion erupted from within the tower, of red blood color, then going in a chain reaction all the way down each with an explosion near a yield of 55 kilotons. Light so bright, as if the sun had exploded engulfed the city, incinerating it. It could almost be seen from space…