Legacy of the Legend
Chapter 7: Unforeseen Complications
As Snake and Raiden reached the end of the first flight of stairs, they heard voices from the corridor to the left. They listened intently.
"…I'll leave him to you," said the first voice, that of Liquid Ocelot.
"Sure thing, bossman," replied another voice – this one with a southern American accent.
"Watch yourself around him…if he's half as good as his father it'll be a hard fight," said Ocelot.
"Hah! They don't call me Metallic Barrage for nothing," came the southern-accented voice.
"Report to me if you win. If you lose…well, it's one less paycheck I need to write," said Ocelot, and by the sound of his voice he had walked away.
Snake heard Metallic Barrage's footsteps walk away.
"Should we go after him now?" asked Snake.
"Better now than try it while rescuing Anya," replied Raiden, unsheathing his blade.
Snake and Raiden mad their way down the hallway. It was empty. They turned left and saw a room that looked something like an armory. The door to it was open.
"An armory…we should stock up on firepower if we want to beat this guy easily," said Snake.
They both walked into the armory, and began to head towards a door with a large '1' painted on it, as well as the words 'SNIPER/DESIGNATED MARKSMAN RIFLES'.
Snake had barely gone three steps when a voice roared "NOT SO FAST!!"
The order was quickly followed by a hailstorm of bullets which lasted a whole twenty seconds. Raiden was quick enough to turn to the source of the gunfire and use his blade to deflect most of the incoming rounds.
A tall, muscular man walked towards them. He was wearing a red beret with a five-pointed star pinned to the front. A bullet dangled down from a chain on his neck. His face was battle-worn and sported a graying handlebar mustache as well as a scar which ran down his left cheek. He wore reflective sunglasses that completely prevented anybody from seeing his eyes. But it was his weapon that was truly amazing.
It was an old yet still serviceable model of a light machine gun – the MG51KA4 SAW. Famed for being one of the few fully-automatic weapons of its caliber, the MG51 was notoriously hard to handle. It was intended to be fired while it was resting on its integral bipod. The weapon itself was a scaled-down chaingun – it had three revolving barrels that could deliver a staggering twenty-five rounds per second. But this man had added one interesting feature.
This particular MG51 ran off a huge, seemingly endless belt feed. The belt was looped around the man's chest, creating an almost impenetrable armor around him. The belt itself must have held at least a thousand rounds.
"People call me…The Metallic Barrage!" he announced, adding a five-second burst aimed upwards for effect. Bits of plaster broke free from the roof and rained down.
"This gun is the finest invention in the world. If any of you tried to use it like I do…your arm would break and you'd be thrown backwards! But I use it like you would use a handgun!" he continued.
Snake drew his M34 PDW, and trained it on the man.
"So you're the son of that one who's given the boss so much trouble! He specifically told me to take care of you…but I never expected it would take so little effort. You don't even have a decent weapon!" he shouted.
"Now…let's see if you truly are the son of Solid Snake!" he challenged, and let fly another storm which lasted 10 seconds.
Snake dived into the room with the sniper rifles as the wall behind him was shredded. He didn't bother taking a rifle, as it wasn't going to be useful in his present situation. He opened a link to Campbell.
Snake: Colonel, what do you know about this guy?
Campbell: The Metallic Barrage. Aged 38 years old, participated in the Iraq War. Apparently recoil from firearms doesn't affect him like they would a normal person. He's strong enough to use that machinegun of his with only one hand.
Snake: How the hell do I beat him?
Campbell: Making a frontal attack is suicide. I'd recommend trying to flank him. Use the layout of the room to your advantage. If you have any remote explosives you can try planting those on the floor and luring him onto them. Raiden should be able to survive a short barrage from his weapon. Use that time to your advantage.
Snake cut the transmission and hailed Raiden.
Snake: Raiden, listen. You need to keep him distracted so that I can move round and flank him. Try and get his attention away from me – use that sword of yours to block his bullets.
Raiden: Gotcha. Americans…they think the more they fire the more they'll connect…idiots…
Snake, while wholeheartedly agreeing with Raiden's evaluation, decided not to listen to it. He peeked out, and saw that Raiden was engaged with deflecting bullets – and that Metallic Barrage's back was turned to him. He lifted his PDW and fired off a short burst.
Twelve bullets. Three of them went wide. The rest slammed into the belt of ammunition wrapped around Metallic Barrage's body-
-and didn't injure him at all.
The Metallic Barrage spun round, enraged. "Did you REALLY think that was going to work on ME!?" he roared, sending a fifteen-second burst in Snake's direction.
Snake made a break for another room, across from him. Inside he saw a box labeled 'GRENADES-WP/INCEN' White Phosphorous grenades.
And suddenly, an idea formed in his mind.
He told Raiden to meet him at the room he had originally found the rifles in. Raiden was there instantly, and Snake handed him two of the grenades and outlined his plan. It was risky – but it could win the battle for them.
So it was carried out.
Raiden crept silently out of the room, while avoiding The Metallic Barrage's eyes. Snake, meanwhile, rushed to the corner of the armory and fired his PDW at Metallic Barrage, shouting "You think you can take me? Come and get it!"
Metallic Barrage spun around and saw Snake. He let loose a devastating shower of bullets towards Snake, but Snake had dived behind one of the storage rooms, out of sight.
The Metallic Barrage was furious, and charged towards Snake's hiding place without heed for his surroundings.
Which was why he didn't notice Raiden clinging to the rafters until it was far too late.
Raiden dropped down right behind Metallic Barrage and with a large, graceful sweep of his blade, severed The Metallic Barrage's weapon in half. In the same movement, he primed both the incendiary grenades and dropped them at The Metallic Barrage's feet.
"WHAT THE HELL!" screamed The Metallic Barrage – and then he saw it.
Both grenades detonated almost simultaneously. The Metallic Barrage was caught right between two high-heat explosions, which seared the skin off his body – and produced another phenomenon.
The intense heat generated by the explosions had caused the gunpowder in his belt of ammunition to spontaneously ignite. This was what most soldiers referred to as 'cooking off', and was lethal in The Metallic Barrage's case. His bullets fired off randomly, some of them going through him, some hitting other bullets and causing them to fire off, and some simply flying into the air. The Metallic Barrage's own bullets were killing him. Yet he still had it in him to make a final speech as the two men who had bested him approached his dying body.
"Snaaaaaake!" he called, "I seem to have underestimated you!"
Snake approached him, with his PDW raised. The Metallic Barrage's skin was charred, and in some places the metal from his bullets had melted and fused to his skin. His once-superb handlebar mustache was gone. His red beret was lying next to his head, it was starting to smoke.
"Snake…when I was serving during the war in Iraq…I was always at odds with the snipers I knew…they considered my methods…unrefined, too aggressive," he said. Snake didn't do anything. He made it a point to allow a person to have his last words.
"But I tell you…I had far more confirmed kills than any sniper. I was able to make my enemies tremble in fear. My enemies referred to me as 'The Walking Pillbox'. But you…you are different. You have no fear in combat. Your sole purpose is victory, and nothing will stand in your way. Know this, son of Dawid bin Salah-ad-Din, you are a far worthier opponent than any I have ever fought…and now, in death, I respect you…as an enemy…as a soldier…and as the man who bested The Metallic Barrage, The Walking Pillbox, The Scythe of Bullets."
With one trembling arm, The Metallic Barrage reached for his red beret – the only thing left of his distinguished uniform – and offered it to Snake, who accepted it.
The Metallic Barrage's arm dropped to the floor, his chest stopped moving, and his eyes closed. He was gone.
Snake stared at the body of his fallen enemy. Slowly, he got up, came to attention, and saluted. He stood like that, saluting a charred corpse, for a full fifteen seconds, before lowering his arm.
Snake and Raiden walked slowly out of the armory together. In his left hand, Snake clutched the red beret that The Metallic Barrage had given him. He stuffed the beret into a large pocket on his thigh, and shut the door of the armory, leaving the body of a once fierce soldier alone among that which both of them had known all their lives – weapons.