Disclaimers: I do not own anything of Konami or MGS4, other than a few of the made up characters, and vehicles, and factions I've made up.

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Metal Gear: Engagement

Chapter Seven

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It had been two days ever since they've got back to base in one piece. Rat Patrol had already left for Norway, where Meryl had full command of U.S forces stationed there, waiting for Liquid to show up.

Darren looked out the Grizzly helicopters windows, into the darkness, T.F.E troops being sent to reinforce the U.S forces in the area, for the moment there was a temporary, uneasy, truce between the T.F.E and PMC which would allow them to meet in the city with Meryl.

Everyone was in decent shape, even Kelvana managed to quickly recover in those two days to the point where she was fit for combat again. Vespes looked out the side of the helicopter; it was good to have him with them again, and even better was they no longer had to carry the obsolete radio packs anymore each soldier was finally given a communications headset after a shipment arrived at Dosworth just a day ago.

He looked to see Kelvana had fallen asleep. "She really can't stay up can she." he laughed softly before he turned to Emerson. "Have you heard about Charlie and Baker Platoon?"

"Sure have." Emerson replied. "Taken as P. in the middle of the night by PMC forces, must be hard being them right now."

Victor then interrupted. "Did you know Specter is up and about, I hear he is already eager to get back into the fight, and he will be with us on our next assignment."

"Well that's nice; we really need our mechanic back." Wiseley replied. "It also means we won't have mister trigger happy over there." he turned at looked at Emerson.

"I am not trigger happy Wiseley, I'm carrying a damn machine gun what else do you want me to do with all the ammo I have to lug around." Emerson shot back. "Anyways it will be nice getting to use a rifle again."

"We should just be happy he's coming back." Darren said happily. "Remember that time he saved my butt in the Middle-East?"

"You mean when Specter beat the living crap out of the guy who was going to bayonet you, before he pumped several rounds into him? That was insane." Emerson answered. "If I recall he has saved all us once of aside from the Kelvana over there." he pointed out to.

"You don't know how many times he's saved people; he's got enough ribbons and awards to put a general to shame, anymore and I think I may have to kick him out of the squad for making all of us look bad." Vespes chuckled. "But ya, it will be nice having him by our side again; he's like a son to me."

"I'm surprised why he isn't higher up in the chain of command." Emerson commented. "You'd think he would've been promoted by now from corporal."

"It's because he's not a person who gives orders, he takes orders. He prefers that other people give the orders." Vespes answered. "He's a soldier not a leader."

Victor opened his mouth changing the subject. "Well then does anyone know what they're going when this war ends?" Victor asked everyone. "Me, I think I'll go visit my family back in Russia, they've been wondering how I've been doing for awhile." Victor pulled out a letter and showed to the others, although they had no idea what it said since it was in Russian. "After that I'll go to America, for, how do you say it, for abit of fun." Victor quickly put it away in his breast pocket as he turned Darren.

Darren thought for a moment before giving his answer. "I'm just going to go back home and find a job as graphic artist in the video game industry or anything else I can find, which shouldn't be hard with many people turning to PMCs for work leaving shortages of workers for essentially everything." he stated. "For Emerson, and Wiseley, they have no idea what they're going to do when they get back home, other than visit family and find work."

"Good job for answering for essentially everyone who gets back home." Emerson said sarcastically and he rolled his eyes. "What about you Vespes?" he asked.

Vespes was quick to answer. "Probably remain in the military, but I'm thinking about retiring from field, I'll probably train the new recruits to a new standard, the standards of your training were rather low in my opinion, not to mention we weren't trained to tackle most situations we faced. We got kicked around, badly."

"If you do become a drill sergeant, you better give them hell." Wiseley commented. "Too many of the new recruits think this is a game and don't take it seriously enough."

Atleast an hour passed with the team still talking to each other with things varying from normal life, religion, to military hardware they used. It was about that time Kelvana finally woke up, but being the same as ever remained mostly silent for the trip.

Darren then interrupted. "I've been thinking about this for awhile, what's the point of the 90mm AT gun and the 100mm AT gun? They are almost the same in effectiveness, although 90mils I think are more effective since they have higher muzzle velocity."

"We just use both because manufacturers are competing to see who makes the better gun and they want the things field tested so they can make improvements, make money from us and all that other stuff." Emerson answered.

The pilot signalled everyone onboard. "We're coming over the city now." the pilot gave a slight gasped in horror. "My god, you guys may want to see this."

Everyone looked out of one of the viewing ports to see what the pilot had pointed out below. Everyone looked in horror of what they were seeing.

Almost all U.S soldiers lay dead or wounded, bodies floating in the channel, boats overturned or ablaze wreckages from helicopter lay in various places smoke billowing into the air. Had Liquid done this? It had seemed like the U.S forces were slaughtered, unable to fight back. The helicopters landed on the streets near the bridge everyone disembarking to help out those wounded on the ground, various T.F.E soldiers either rappelling down or exiting landed helicopters to help their allies.

The squad moved towards the bridge Vespes crouching near a soldier leaning against one of the bullet riddled Humvees.

"Who the hell did this," Vespes asked the soldier. "There's no way Outer Heaven could've done this so easily."

"Well apparently they did." the soldier groaned, holding his head. "Bastard somehow managed to hack the system, shut our nanomachines off and locked us out of our weapons and proceeded to mow us down. S.O.P withdrawal is not a nice thing."

Everyone around the soldier was stunned, was what he just said true? Something as secure as the S.O.P system managed to be hacked by someone outside of the system?

"That shouldn't be even possible!" Vespes snarled. "How the hell did they get control of the system?!"

"Don't ask me, ask one of those damn AT Security employees they made the damn thing." the soldier replied. "Now help me up." he said as Vespes got him back on his feet.

"They shouldn't have given Liquid a chance; they should have fired on sight." Darren said. "If they did we'd have less dead and wounded soldiers and this whole war could've ended right here." he finished as he looked into the channel to see bodies floating ontop of the water.

He looked to see Kelvana run towards to the other end she couldn't stand the sight of it and look like she was about to throw-up, while he turned to see Emerson cursing aloud blaming this on themselves due to them not taking Liquid out in Western Europe while Victor and Wiseley did what they could to help. He took one last look before turning away seeing what he could help with

Victor then approached Vespes. "Sir, it's been reported Liquid is still hasn't left the area, Delta and Beta Squad are going to deploy on a bridge not far from here to see if they can still get him."

"Tell them to shoot to kill, if they won't show us mercy they will not receive any." he replied before he began giving orders to various squads.

Vespes looked to see Johnny and Meryl up to the street.

"You guys alright?" Vespes asked.

"Ya I'm okay." Meryl replied. "I can't believe what just happened."

"I don't think anyone here does." Vespes told her.

"How many people did we lose?" she asked him as she looked at the bridge where numerous soldiers lay then turned to the channel looking at the bodies that floated above the water.

"To early to tell, we're still attending to the wounded. We're going to have to wait till a diver team gets here to recover the bodies in the channel." he answered grimily.

"Is my team still okay?"

Vespes moved out of the way, Meryl looked to see Ed and Jonathan each being carried by two soldiers over to where they were going to treat the wounded.

"Don't worry commander." Vespes said. "We'll make'em pay for this." he assured her.

"Maybe I'm not cut out for being commander, I've got most of my people wounded are killed." she continued to stare at the carnage that had happened. "I guess I shouldn't of said that I've got more bodies then I know what to do with."

"It's not your fault." Johnny said. "I'm sure if he hadn't locked us out of our weapons and shut off our nanomachines we would've got him."

"Maybe." she said not convinced as she went to see how Ed and Jonathan were doing.

Vespes then turned to Johnny he was abit startled. "You don't seem affected after all this, care to explain?" he had noticed that Johhny was the only one who seemed perfectly fine, if abit shaken.

"We'll ummm," he paused for a moment before he continued. "You see I don't have nanomachines." Johnny whispered into Vespes' ear.

"That explains alot." Vespes replied.

"Please don't tell Meryl." Johnny pleaded. "I don't want them thinking I'm a liability, or more of one then I already am."

"Don't worry," Vespes assured him with a small smile. "You can trust me." Vespes then looked at Johnny's wearable. "What's that for playing computer games?"

"Actually it allows me to see the data my squads nanomachines send to each other, atleast I can try to be in sync with the team." he answered. "It does alot of other things as well, calculator, hacking system, you name it, oh and it can actually play games."

Vespes chuckled. "Well I guess it's always nice to have those systems on hand, even if it can be for fun, well I'll see you later."

"You to sir." Johnny replied as both men saluted each other before heading off.

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"You sure we're at the right bridge?" Dave asked as he waited at the bridge the helicopter that dropped them off flying overhead."

"Yes I'm sure it is." the pilot sighed. "Just be patient."

"Well where the hell is Beta then?" Dave added, still wondering what was taking them so long.

"They are on their way, now stop bitching to me, I've got their location and their almost here." the pilot said before he shut off communications.

Another helicopter approached, Beta Team rappelling down. Their helicopter then positioned itself beside the other Grizzly and waited.

"Bastards gonna pay." Dave said to everyone. "We've gotten orders that we are to shoot on sight."

Everyone nodded their head as the sound of a boats engine got louder and louder. Everyone raised their weapons and flipped their safeties off and pointed their weapons down the channel waiting for the boat to come into view.

"We've got a large signatures coming from behind on radar." the pilot suddenly warned. "It's coming in fast, it appears to be in the water."

Dave turned around to see something was underneath the water. As he went for a closer inspection something jumped out of the water, sending Dave reeling back in surprise as it went over the bridge and submerged itself again. It slammed into one of the helicopters sending it flying out of contro while it was relatively unscathedl. The other helicopter just barely flew out of the way its left missile pod being torn off.

The pilot ejected, while over the communication channel everyone heard the co-pilot screaming, unable to find the eject before the helicopter crashed into a nearby building and then exploded violently sending debris everywhere.

"What the hell was that!" one of Dave's squad mates exclaimed. Everyone was now looking over the railings into the water.

"We need to get off the bridge now!" Dave ordered as he signalled for everyone to move. "Move, move!" he shouted as he began moving faster.

Just after he had given the order the thing jumped out of the water again and landed on the bridge, its sheer weight crushing any support structure the bridge had on either side before it ended up back into the water.

Everyone ran as quickly as possible as the bridge collapsed behind them.

A soldier lagged abit behind with the bridge collapsed right under his feet near the end. He managed to grab the edge of what was left of the bridge before his teammates pulled him back to safety, the soldier giving a sigh of relief as everyone looked at the destroyed bridge.

"Talk about collateral damage." Dave commented. "The Norwegians won't be happy about us destroying their bridge."

The T.F.E soldiers then looked to see Liquid's boat just pass above the wreckage in the water. Without hesitation they opened fired at the boat, but as soon as they did the mechanical machine jumped out of the water for a third time, blocking their shots while it pointed what appeared to be one of its large wings at them and began to fire machine gun rounds from the very tip of them. Everyone scattered as the Grizzly helicopter flew infront of it and commenced its attack on it with its cannons and remaining missile launchers managing to knock the machine back into the water.

"That's a Ray!" the pilot shouted through the radio. "We've got a damn Metal Gear Ray here." the pilot repeated to everyone. "How did they get their hands on those?!"

Missiles then began launching from underneath the water at the helicopter. The helicopter began popping counter measures as it quickly veered off to the right, the missiles going for the counter measures exploding brightly and violently in the sky above the soldiers. However one remaining missile managed to track the helicopter and impacted into the passenger compartments and exploded killing the crew. The helicopter swirled out of control; several more explosions coming from the helicopter, into the channel sending water shooting up into the air before it began taking water and sank into the depths.

"You are fools to try and stop me!" Liquid taunted the T.F.E soldiers who were now firing at him again. "Your weapons are useless against me!" he shouted to the T.F.E soldiers who kept on firing.

Bullets were being deflected into various directions; the Haven Troopers on the boat were staying relatively low to ensure none of the deflected rounds would hit them.

"Why can't we hit him?!" someone shouted. "Is he some kind of god?!"

The soldiers then launched a grenade from their rifle; it landed on the boat, but did not explode. Liquid laughed as he kicked one of them into the water.

"What the hell?! How was that a dud?!" the soldier exclaimed.

Dave finally ordered everyone to cease fire when they realized they couldn't hit him with anything.

"You really expected me to fall to you after taking out the almost all the troops here, don't you. I made sure even if you could use your weapons they would still be worthless." Liquid said as he uncovered a small device underneath his coat. "Now you will witness the beginning of the end." Liquid ended as he pointed his finger at them. His finger gesture was that of a gun. Everyone was baffled on what he was doing.

"What's he gonna do kill us with his fingers?" a soldier mocked after they had ceased fire only to be cut down by accurate P-90 fire a second later. Another soldier was struck down by a knife to throat. Thrown by a man in a long coat, he appeared to be Romanian, although his skin was incredibly pale and his teeth looked like that of a vampire's.

"Get down!" Dave ordered his squad as the troopers fired an endless barrage of bullets at them. "Goddamn it!" he cursed as he managed to see Liquid still pointing at them his handing constantly shaking rapidly up and down as if it too was a weapon. "As if they weren't already accurate enough without help!" he said as another soldier beside him fell limp.

They just stayed as low to the ground as possible to avoid being hit. They didn't even try to move any part of their body in fear that they may accidently reveal themselves enough to be killed by a stray round. The boat then finally began to take off, at a slow speed taunting them, the T.F.E soldiers too afraid to get up in case the Ray revealed itself again and finish them off.

It seemed like hours before the boat was out of range, one of the soldiers finally managing to regain his courage and got up and checking the channel to see a large shape in the water swim down the channel closely behind Liquid's boat

"What the hell just happened." someone whispered.

"I think we just got our asses kicked." Dave replied as he stared into the channel. "Was the water really that deep for something like that to be in it?" he questioned.

"Well sir atleast we now know that the channel is deep enough, so what do we do now sir?" a soldier asked him still abit shaken.

"We're getting out of here." Dave replied as began to get in contact with Vespes. "Lieutenant, bad news Liquid got away, and managed to shoot down our two choppers and killed three men. We need a pick-up out of here sir."

"I've hear ya, we didn't expect there to be a Ray in the water either. I'm sending two helicopters over to pick-up you guys up." Vespes then cut off transmission leaving the T.F.E soldiers to wait for their transportation out of the area.

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Vespes watched as additional helicopters approached. Their carrier was in the region and they would be going there to plan their next move. They would be meeting with the battleship Missouri in Hawaii before they would actually try to find Liquid.

A medic came behind him and tapped him on the back. "All wounded are accounted for, they'll all manage to make the trip to the carrier alive." the medic reported.

"Good, we should prepare to leave as well; I don't want any more conflicts around here, especially not with all these civilians around." Vespes replied as he turned his headset on. "All T.F.E forces prepare to pack up, we are leaving, make sure no one is left behind." he ordered as helicopters patrolling the area began to land, the wounded being brought onboard first.

Darren was with the others as they moved towards their helicopter and embark. They took their seats with Vespes getting onboard last and look at what had transpired before he closed the side doors to the Grizzly as the helicopter began taking off.

"You'd think we'd be used to war by now, and yet this, this just seems to bring back all the horrors we have witnessed." Darren said his hand over his head. "I don't even think I can sleep."

"I just hope this will all soon be over." Kelvana said softly. "I just want to forget this even happened."

"We'll never forget what we have witnessed." Emerson replied. "All we can do is live with it."

Wiseley looked up at Vespes. "Do you believe this will be over anytime soon?" he asked.

"It'll be over when it's over that's all I can say." before Vespes began getting hold of various other squads through communications making sure everyone was okay.

After about an hour the helicopters came across a carrier. Darren looked out of the side view ports to see a large carrier armed to the teeth, however something didn't seem right. Before he had heard the carrier was huge, but actually seeing it seemed smaller then a super carrier.

The bridge stood at the side, tall and proud above the rest of the ship various dishes and antennas on it. Its shape was that of a box with an opening at the front and back after seeing several small transports enter into the hull of the ship. From platforms on the side of the carrier contained several batteries of flak 150mm guns and 40mm Bofors for self-defense. On deck were several fighter jets being brought on deck via a elevating ramp while helicopters began landing on the side of the runway.

"Sir, I thought this thing was suppose to be bigger the most ships in the world by a large portion." Darren commented finally breaking the long silence.

Vespes lifted his head up. "You haven't heard." Vespes said in surprise. "It's equipped with experimental mirage equipment designed to make it appear much larger from a distance or project images that appear to be very real. That way we can cause the enemy to surrender before the fighting has already begun, it has worked against several militia groups before."

"How experimental, is experimental?" Darren asked abit hesitant.

"Let's just say it stands on the brink of being completely stable." Vespes replied.

Wiseley whistled in awe. "That is one well armed ship, although I bet this costed alot to construct."

"Actually it was less expensive than some of the more modern carriers. It's more of a super amphibious assault ship, main reason being it carries more than enough equipment for landing troops onto shores en mass, while it carries much less aircraft compared to other true carriers. But ya this did cost alot, but with this war economy this equipment can be cheap." Vespes answered.

The helicopter began touching down on the deck. After the helicopter had come to a complete halt with its rotors slowing down, Emerson then opened the door and they disembarked to be greeted by someone they hadn't seen in awhile, it was Specter.

Everyone looked at him in surprise for a moment not expecting to see him here.

"What did you think I died or something?" Specter said with abit of a laugh before he put his hand out to greet Vespes. "Been awhile sir."

"Good to see you again Specter." Vespes replied happily as he gave Specter a quick hug before other went to greet him. He seemed to make everyone forget about what just happened, although the presence of what they witnessed still lingered.

"Who is he?" Kelvana asked Darren.

"You didn't know? He was part of our squad before you joined. We were talking about him but you just always had to sleep during the conversation." he remarked.

Kelvana then turned away and began moving off the deck into the carrier, however Darren grabbed her by the arm.

"You've gotta stop running off from other, seriously if your less anti-social then me something is wrong." Darren stated. "Could you atleast say hello to him?"

Kelvana turned around Darren letting go of her arm. "I don't trust talking to anyone; it's just the way I am."

"Well do you trust me?" Darren replied. "Do you trust your teammates, Emerson, Wiseley, as well as your comrades?"

"Well I trust the squad." she said quietly. "Ever since we've fought together I think I can trust you guys."

"Then you can trust Specter, just a little hello is all you need to say then you're done." Darren told her as Specter came to meet them.

Specter walked up to them with the others nearby.

"Been awhile Specter, how have you've been?" Darren greeted as he shook his hand. "So you're all patched up, I see nothing can keep you down for long."

Specter shook Darren's hand. "It takes more than that to stop me. I hear you guys can get along fine without me."

"We can." Darren answered. "Although we've got our butts kicked around recently, so I think it's safe to say we need you back."

Specter then turned his head to Kelvana. "So this is the person who replaced me. So is she your girlfriend." he said jokingly. "I'm just kidding with you. Names Corporal Specter and you?" he asked.

"Kelvana." she answered softly. "It's, uh, nice to meet you." she stammered.

A soldier then appeared; he had a camera in his hands. "Guys, I would like to take a picture of your full squad, if that's okay. Company command wants me to take a picture of everyone's squad so we don't forget those who fall in the next conflict and just to cheer up the mood."

Vespes nodded his head in approval. "This may be the only chance we get to have a squad photo might as well take It." he told everyone as the cameraman demaned them to quickly get into a clear area.

Everyone moved into position not far from the edge of the deck. Darren, Victor and Kelvana kneeled down while the others stood up behind them, taking their helmets off if they were still on.

"We're in luck." the cameraman said. "The sun is just starting to come up." he stated.

"Just take the damn picture already!" Emerson yelled. "I don't want to have to intimidate my small Chinese friend with my height." he remarked.

"Just shut it Emerson." Darren shot back. "I'm not that short." he said as Emerson as most of the squad laughed a little as Darren cursed under his breath.

The cameraman counted to three and took a picture, the flash off. He observed the picture he had taken for the moment before the others came around him to look.

"I'll have these ready in no time if you need a copy of it." the cameraman said to them as he moved away.

There was a faint voice coming from Vespes' headset which was around his neck Vespes quickly answered it.

After a few moments with Vespes constantly replying yes the voice disappeared.

"Who was it?" Specter asked.

"Get indoors we're going to be briefed." he replied. "No questions just go."

Everyone nodded their head as they went inside. When they entered there was a soldier there that told them to follow. After moving through the metal corridors of the carrier they came across a door that required a key card. The soldier unlocked and the door opened and the squad entered.

There were two other squads onboard; it was Dave's and another squad in uniform. In front of all of them was someone they didn't expect. It was the officer that they helped in the Middle-East, James Kleff.

The entire group saluted the officer. "At ease." he said. "Take a seat and we will begin."

Everyone sat down in a chair. Behind James a large screen turned on with a news reporter talking about a recent discovery related to what happened in Europe. The reporter talked about how various state armies and PMC groups locked out of their weapons all over the globe. As the reporter continued the soldiers heard that the war economy was falling apart with war economy stocks going down dramatically to an all time low

"Well that's just great. Let me guess Liquid is going to launch his insurrection against the U.S quite soon." Emerson responded about the report.

James looked at him before switching the monitor. "Not yet." he paused. "First he's going to take out what controls all our WMDs from what we've been told by unknown sources before he will actually launch it."

"Can you actually trust that unknown source?" Emerson questioned.

James nodded his head. "The unknown source happens to be from a group of fugitives who happen to be friends with the Captain Mei Leing of the Missouri." he said. "Do you people happen to know a man named Solid Snake?"

"Wait your trusting him?" Darren responded who was reeling back in his seat from the name. "The man is a wanted criminal."

"Well that may be so." James replied as he switched the monitor which showed an old man in some sneaking suit in various parts of the world, something extremely out of place, who in their right mind would be in warzones at this age? "But it's all we have, besides if the legends are true we can use him as an asset to help end all this."

"That can't be him, look at his age." Darren argued. "That man is way too old to be him, he should be in either his late-thirties or early forties." Darren was not convinced at the slightest since for all they knew this could be a lie.

"Well it is, and you better believe it." James told him. "Even Rat Patrol confirms it's him and their commander now more about him then the rest of us combined so stop complaining."

Vespes then spoke up. "Could we go back to why we're here?" he said slightly irritated.

"Ah, yes." James quickly began where he left off. "Anyways we have tracked Liquid's mobile base of operation to an island called Shadow Moses, and we're going to send you troops to investigate to see if they're actually there."

"Why us?" Emerson complained. "We're just the regular troop, not special forces." his arms crossed.

"It's because you're the best out of your company and we might as well use you since you are onboard, understood?"

Emerson frowned as he leaned back into his chair as he shook his head which seemed to bug the hell out of James with a cold stare looking at Emerson.

James then raised his voice in anger. "If we had any special forces onboard I would send them instead of you, you're lucky Echo Company detached the stealth team onboard this ship, they're already spread thin."

Emerson seemed to get the point as he straightened his posture.

"Good," James said as he returned to his regular voice. "Now we need to get the location of his ship. We're already heading towards Shadow Moses where we'll meet with the battleship Missouri." James then changed the monitor to an aerial image of the island. "Once you have made it to the island make your way to towards the port here." he pointed towards on the screen. "The stealth team will make their way onboard and plant a tracking beacon and remain onboard feeding us Intel and sabotaging what they can, while Vespes' and Dave's squads secure the island."

"Wait you want us to remain onboard their base? That's crazy!" one of the men in uniform stood up, it appeared they were the stealth team going onboard. "You expect us not to be caught, that place is probably swarming with enemies!"

James sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "Just make sure you're amply supplied and you'll be okay, your stealth suits should keep you hidden for that time being." he assured them as he got back onto the briefing about to end it. "This may be our last chance at ending this if we can't find him the world we know is going to be alot different, so no failures, understood?" James said as everyone nodded. "Good, now get some rest before you head out, we cannot afford any screw ups, dismissed." he finished as everyone got out of their seats and exited the room to prepare for the next mission.

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Johnson looked at several Haven Troopers trying to keep warm in the hanger, for being the elite they never seem properly equipped for the weather always in the same combat uniform. He then turned around to look on how the removal of Rex's railgun was going. There were several mechanics ordering people around from the top of Rex. Various people were attaching the railgun to cranes before they began detaching it away from Rex.

It was a slow and dull, but also complicated process since Liquid wanted it to be in near perfect conditions so no screw ups would happen when it launches the stealth nuke. The railgun was extremely heavy requiring several mobile cranes to keep it hoisted till it got onboard the back of a heavy duty, tracked, vehicle used to carry tanks around.

He looked at a man who was dressed in a long coat. It was Vamp, and beside him was that woman that he saw back in the Middle-East. He had no idea why they were here, since they were doing nothing aside from abit of chatting, but he couldn't argue Liquid gave those two the authority to boss commanders like him around.

His radio then crackled to life. Johnson answered it to hear it was Liquid.

"How goes the recovery of the railgun, Johnson?" Liquid asked over the radio.

"We're still working on it." he replied. "We need to lift it towards the delivery vehicle before we'll send it your way."

"Good, now Johnson when it's ready to be sent I want you to tell Vamp to remain behind, we have a special guest coming to the island." Liquid ordered.

"Yes sir." he complied as he turned the radio off and walked towards Vamp.

"So what news do you bring to me now commander?" Vamp said in his deep voice.

"You've been ordered to remain behind; apparently Liquid has a special guest for you." Johnson answered.

"Snake." Vamp said slowly before he turned towards Johnson. "Let him come, I'll assure everyone that he will finally stop playing his little foolish game once and for all."

"Well, if that's how it's going to be good luck." Johnson responded as he turned back to the operation at hand.

Johnson looked at Rex to see the cranes begin placing the railgun on the back of the vehicle. The mechanics then began harnessing it to the vehicle, while Johnson then ordered everyone to pack up everything else. They were just about done here.

"Pack it up after we're done here leave nothing behind, got it?" Johnson said to the crews as they then began packing all the equipment that was brought into trucks.

Johnson then began walking away towards his transport before someone spoke through the radio; it was a patrol of his troops outside.

"Sir, we've got Intel that the T.F.E carrier is coming into the area, I can see two helicopters leaving its deck." the soldier reported.

"Roger that," Johnson confirmed. "I'll alert the Haven Troopers. Proceed to keep an eye on the enemy reporting everything directly to me." he instructed as he opened the door to his personal Humvee and started up the engine.

The soldier acknowledged his order as Johnson looked at the group of Haven Troopers standing around.

"We've got enemy troops making landfall on the island, move out and eliminate them, the patrol teams will give you the location." Johnson ordered through the radio.

Within a moments notice the Haven Troopers then took off leaping long distances towards their destination

Johnson entered the vehicle as the transport carrying the rail gun began moving past him and towards the port with various other vehicles behind it.

While he waited for the vehicles to pass he wondered what they were going to do was right. A part of him wanted the Patriots destroyed because then the world will finally be free from their grasp while another part of him wanted the Patriots to remain since they controlled vital parts society and without them modern society would disappear as they know it and the war world would be plunged into an almost never ending conflict. Even Liquid couldn't keep something like that under control even with the entire U.S arsenal.

He sighed as he knew both approaches still led to the world being under someone's or something's control, but the question was who hands would they be better in, the Patriots or Liquid?

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The two Grizzly helicopters flew through the storm, relatively unaffected towards the drop zone carrying the three squads to the island. Dave's team split between the two helicopters.

They were fully prepared and equipped wearing well insulated clothing, proper footwear and carrying all equipment needed from extra ammunition to extra rations and heaters for they did not know how long they were going to be out there. Everyone was carrying the same weaponry, although Darren decided to bring a Javelin Missile with Emerson carrying an extra missile due to the fear of things like Gekko where the recoilless rifle just punched a hole through the machine and often it would keep going from various reports in the field, while Emerson was carrying around an M-16 with a shotgun attachment underneath.

"Storm's picking up," the pilot told them through the radio. "But we'll remain to support you till we either run out of fuel or ammunition, if anyone passes out from the cold we'll pick them up."

"Roger that." Vespes responded as stared out the window. "We're going to need all the help we can get if we hope to actually get the stealth team onboard in time." he stated.

"That's if they even surface." Kelvana said quietly.

"Well they have to surface to retrieve anything on solid land." Darren stated.

The pilot then spoke through the radio again. "LZ in sight, get ready to disembark."

When they started descending Emerson opened the side door to be greeted by a blast of snow and wind knocking the wind out of him for a second. Everyone disembarked as quickly as possible before the helicopters compartment doors closed and then disappeared overhead into the storm.

"What a great time to be outdoors." Wiseley remarked as he rubbed the snow off his scope.

Vespes signalled for everyone to follow him as he assigned Emerson and Specter to take point before they moved off to their destination the stealth team uncloaked for their own safety less a stray bullet hit them in combat from their own comrades.

Visibility was extremely poor, even with global warming the temperature was extremely low at best; eventually this island to be lost to the seas due to it. Every step took considerable effort with the snow being up to their waist. Darren could already felt tired just after several minutes the cold continuing to sap his strength even with this insulated coat.

Darren coughed as he continued to move through the snow. "I think we've picked a bad spot." he coughed again.

Vespes turned his head to the side. "We're actually in the worst area, but it's the best way to remain undetected and I thought you liked the cold." he answered.

"But not this cold." Darren groaned as he kept moving constantly wiping the snow off his goggles and his sights. "Atleast it's better than being in the desert." he thought to himself for he couldn't stand the heat at all.

"How can you even stand it?" Kelvana shivered as she rubbed her arms. "I'm freezing out here."

"It's because where we lived it could get pretty cold." Emerson stated. "But compared to this it makes our winters seem like summers."

Darren then turned to Kelvana. "Well atleast you're better equipped compared to being a Haven Trooper, judging how it's one combat uniform for ever situation, I bet they would be frozen by the time we see any."

Kelvana shook her head. "Wouldn't affect them as much due to nanomachines, and helps them combat a cold should they get one, only thing we have is we're better equipped for this." she stated her body constantly shaking.

"You people complain too much." Victor said. "What do you think the armies that fought in Russia during various wars faced?"

Darren gave a weak laugh. "And they kept making the same mistakes, like they say history repeats itself." Darren replied before he coughed again. "If another army suffers the same problem like that if another war breaks out I think they should pick leaders that actually read up on history." Darren continued as he kept coughing. "Damn it, at this rate my lungs are gonna be ravaged." he said.

"Just pray you don't start coughing up blood that's when we'll have a problem." Dave replied who had his arm out in front of him trying to shield his face from the snow. "Why are we even walking through this storm?" he asked Vespes. "Couldn't we fly entire way there?"

"The reason, I think, command wants us doing this is for if there were any AA defences we won't get killed with the helicopter." Vespes replied with a shout. "If our pilots face no problems we'll fly the rest of the way." he finished.

Dave cursed under his breath. "Well look how considerate those officers are." Dave said sarcastically.

They continued travelling the amount of snow on the ground relatively the same before Vespes finally called for a halt a message from the pilots in the helicopters above them came through their headsets.

"Alpha-One you've got enemies coming into your area, ETA two minutes." the pilot told them. "Be warned they're moving too fast for us to track onto in this weather, requesting permission to move ahead and scout out the area."

Vespes ordered everyone to hide and get ready to ambush the enemy before he answered the pilot's request. "Permission granted, keep us posted of anything new."

"Roger that Alpha-One." before the radio went silent.

Darren crouched down relatively low behind a snow bank, his winter camouflaged clothing he was almost impossible to see to the naked eye even if the storm lightened up. He could hear bodies shuffling through the snow getting into various positions waiting for the enemy.

Darren constantly kept hearing Kelvana's staggering breathing, and although he couldn't see her face it seemed like she was going to pass out any moment. "You okay?" he asked abit worried.

Kelvana nodded her head slowly. "Just fine." she answered shakingly, she was barely in a condition to fight, if she got sick now it was going to hinder them till the helicopters got back.

Their headsets then came alive it was Dave. "Sir we're going to need to stop and set up a small camp to warm up or recall the helicopters to take us the rest of the way there."

Suddenly before any answer could be spoken the sound several gunshots shattered through the air as everyone. Several figures could be seen through the storm as they continued firing their weapons in the directions the T.F.E troops were before their figures disappeared back into the cover of the blizzard.

"Anyone got thermal goggles?!" someone shouted through the headsets. "Anyone?!"

"Echo-Two here, turning on our thermal goggles and locating the enemy in the storm now." one of the stealth troops said coolly.

In a few moments the stealth team's weapons flared to life as several dozen rounds were pumped out into the storm followed by T.F.E troops firing into the same direction.

"We've got five of them hiding behind a snow bank another five in the open." they could be coming around to flank us the trooper foretold.

Something then exploded near Darren as snow showered him forcing him to wipe his goggles and make sure his weapon was okay. He heard another explosion this time right in front of him sending more snow to shower him.

"Sir, I think one of them has a grenade launcher!" Darren exclaimed and he fired a burst through the storm hoping to hit something.

He turned to see Kelvana firing off atleast half a clip before getting back down. "They're coming in our direction." she managed to say.

Darren unclipped one of his grenades and pulled the pin then threw it over their snow back as he lay on his back to avoid getting hit.

There was the sound of an explosion sending shrapnel and snow flying through the air, but with no effect on the enemy who were getting closer.

He could now hear the enemy soldiers moving through the snow getting closer and closer at a frightening speed something that they couldn't do at all.

"Shit!" he heard Emerson curse beside him as he looked to see a grenade falling towards them.

Then in what would seem to be pure luck the grenade managed to veer off course and explode behind them. It seemed the wind just managed to change the angle it was coming in at.

Darren then got back up and fired several burst over the snow bank. He saw two of the five figures coming towards them drop the blue flames coming from the bodies make it clearly visible he had killed them.

Emerson then got up and fired several rounds off then right as a trooper fired several rounds at him he fired off a his shotgun attachment before several bullets hit him in the chest knocking him down.

"Emerson!" Darren cried out as he looked to see Emerson getting back up. "You okay!" he asked.

"Tore my vest up a little bit, but I'm okay." he grunted as he gave him a thumbs up.

Darren the looked to see someone crawling over their snow bank before collapsing, the body began burning before the body's ash form was then scattered into the wind.

There was then the sound of a Gekko's distinct mooing. It seemed to be coming from behind them.

Darren, as well as everyone else near him, turned around to see a Gekko shaking off the snow that had built on top of it while it was in hibernation behind them. They hadn't noticed it due to the storm. It then looked towards them with its machine guns turning ever so slowly to face them.

"Move it, while it's still coming online!" he shouted to everyone who responded by immediately getting up and moving away from their position.

Darren ran before he came up against a tree. "We've got a Gekko out here!" he said as he saw the Gekko now standing upright and going after T.F.E troops.

Emerson then came up beside him. "Better ready that Javelin!" as he crouched down.

Darren immediately began unslinging the missile launcher. He then placed his sights onto the moving walker waiting for the system to lock on.

Before he could lock on several bullets impacted against the tree which caused Darren to instinctively get down which stopped him from completing his lock on the walker.

"Emerson can you see where they're shooting from?!" he asked.

Emerson shook his head. "Not in this weather." before he looked at Darren's Javelin and then realized the thing relied on thermal vision to find and track its targets. "Darren can you use the Javelin's thermal vision to find the through the snow?"

"Damn it, I forgot about that!" Darren answered as he remained as low as possible and looked through the Javelin's control system to see two Haven Troopers in the snow firing at their general direction.

"We've got two of them twelve O' clock, about fifty metres away!" he pointed out as Emerson unclipped one of his grenades and threw it.

There was a delay when the grenade hit the ground before it exploded taking one of the troopers with it while the other ran for cover.

Seeing this Darren got back onto his knees and began locking onto the walker again with various small-arms rounds bouncing off its thick armour while he could see a steady small stream off liquid pouring out of its legs, but wasn't enough to cause it to collapse.

He began locking on again, with several seconds passing before the system gave him the green light to fire which he instantly did. The missile raced towards the walker and impacted it right in the front of its head.

The walker stood there for a few seconds after the missile had impacted it before it fell to the side with sparks flying out of its head before it exploded several seconds after.

The sound of helicopter rotors then filled the air drowning out the gunfire as several spotlights came on pointing towards the remaining enemy soldiers which immediately caused them to flee the scene with long jumps before they disappeared back into the blizzard.

"You foot soldiers really got to stop getting into trouble." The radio then went alive with one of the pilot's voice. "Didn't see much on the way thought we would comeback for ya, and take you the rest of the way." the pilot told them which caused some people to cheer in joy. "What we did see was several Gekko in hibernation along the path to the port along with those heavier walkers, so if you did go ahead you'd probably be dead." the pilot stated.

The helicopters then began descending into an open area with the doors opening. Everyone got onboard them as they began taking off again once everyone was inside.

"Finally a place where I can warm up." Kelvana said relieved, still shivering in her seat.

"Well atleast we didn't lose anyone." Darren said as he lowered his balaclava and pulled his goggles down so they were dangling around his neck. "And I managed to take out a walker, scratch another armoured vehicle kill for me." he said amused.

Emerson then turned his head towards him. "So that makes like what, the eighth vehicle so far?"

"Well if you count every vehicle then ya it would be eight." he replied. "Maybe I should start a tally."

"Just don't start tallying infantry kills we've already got enough of that." Vespes said as he turned to stare at Victor and Wiseley, with Victor immediately putting away a small book which seemed to be what he used to keep track of kills.

"Well if they have a betting pool you better enforce some discipline, not enough people with it." Dave replied as he wiped the melting snow off his rifle's scope.

"I've already stated that to them if they start treating this like a game I will be forced to take disciplinary action, not to mention I've already banned some of the things they could do on their free time." Vespes replied back to Dave as he looked at Darren.

"Not my fault I'm a gaming addict." Darren said who was checking his equipment.

The pilot then spoke over the compartments speakers to the soldiers onboard. "Well this is where you get off; we're just outside of the port."

Darren then put his goggles back on and raised his balaclava back up when the helicopter begun its descent.

"Here we go again." Emerson said as he got out of his seat and opened the door letting the cold air and snow in again.

"Not again." Kelvana muttered to herself as she let out sigh before she got up and exited the helicopter right after Darren got off.

And like that they were off back into the blizzard. There would be no rest for the cold and exhausted soldiers.

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