METAL GEAR SOLID: THE NOVELIZATION
by Alex Greene, aka Pika132
Disclaimer: Metal Gear and all that is Metal Gear © Konami and/or Kojima Productions
Author's Note: Finally! God, this game is so friggin' hard to rewrite.
EPISODE ONE: STEEL DAWN
Chapter Eight: Man Versus Machine
Three minutes earlier
"Are we there yet?" asked Michael Drummond.
"If you say that again," growled the man in front of him, "I will tie your genitals to the tail rotor in midair."
"I've only said it twice!" protested Drummond to the pilot. "How hard can it be to find a man on foot in the desert? He can't be at building 2 yet!"
The pilot leaned into his radio. "This is Skyrec-1," he announced. "Position is two clicks northwest of building 1 outpost."
"Roger, Skyrec-1. What's your status?"
"No sign of intruder. Are you sure he escaped and reached the desert? Please confirm."
"The Commander says that Shotmaker and the Machinegun Kid are both dead," replied the man in the control center. "Shotmaker was guarding the cell; the Kid was guarding the building 1 exit. Do the math."
"I see him!" Drummond cried enthusiastically.
"Where?" The pilot looked out the window and reached to turn on Drummond's weapon controls.
"No, wait, damn, that's just Ivan. No, turn on my controls, he owes me a hundred fifty bucks in wagers and I know the bastard's never gonna pay. Can I shoot him? Please?"
The pilot felt much the same way about Drummond. He briefly considered asking his technician to call HQ and ask permission to strangle the weapons system officer, but Drummond, for all his flaws, was the closest person who could operate the armament of the Mi-25 "Hind D" helicopter they were flying and was not on leave in the residential sector.
"Have you checked the building 1 outpost yet?" asked Drummond.
The pilot was about to yell at him when he realized Drummond had asked a valid question. Wow, he thought. Rather than responding, he spoke into the radio.
"Skyrec-1 to base. Heading to building 1 outpost," the pilot declared.
"Roger that, Skyrec-1. Make sure to cut him off before he reaches the armory there."
"Too late!" Drummond pointed to the man darting into the shed in the barely-visible outpost. "Move closer, he's way out of range!" The pilot eagerly maneuvered the Hind above the shed.
"Burn!" cried Drummond, firing a single S-5 missile into the shed. Unfortunately, the intruder was quicker and as the missile was leaving the Hind, the intruder was leaving the shed at a similar speed.
The intruder was running pretty fast, but Drummond knew no man could outrun a 12.7mm machine gun. It all came down to how long this guy could hide, and whether or not he—what was that he was holding?
"Grenade!" yelled Drummond. He panicked and began smashing buttons rapidly, hoping that somewhere, anywhere, there was a "don't let me get killed" button.
"We're 500 feet above ground, dumbass," the pilot fairly screamed, turning around in order to further berate Drummond—but he was no longer there. Drummond had inadvertently ejected. The pilot cursed and turned to switch the weapons over to his control.
The first grenade from the M-79P hit the rotors on top, damaging them severely. The second landed in the place where Drummond's seat had been. It lay there for a moment, then exploded.
The pilot felt a sharp pain in his neck and tried to look down—but suddenly it was impossible to move. Through his rapidly fading vision he could see Drummond in his ejected seat, still fiddling with the controls—and suddenly Drummond's face was all the pilot could see.
I told you so, said Drummond, and the pilot cringed inwardly.
I warned you, but did you listen?
Shut up! the pilot screamed in his mind. But Drummond would not go away.
I warned you, didn't I? I warned you I warned you I warned you I warned you I warned you warned warned warned warned oh please God don't let me die listening to this idiot—
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The Hind hit the ground about a hundred feet behind Snake. The massive explosion seemed to engulf the entire outpost. For a long moment afterwards, there was a deathly, terrible silence.
Snake put the M-79P in his backpack and looked behind him. An man was sitting in an ejection seat covered by a parachute. Presumably the sole survivor of the crash, Snake guessed. He strode over to the seat and pressed the muzzle of his silenced Beretta to the outline of the man's forehead, visible through the parachute. "Hi there," he said conversationally.
"Please don't kill me," came the wail from under the fabric. "I have family."
"No you don't," corrected Snake.
"Damn it, how did you know?" sobbed the man.
"You just told me." With this, Snake shoved the parachute aside, revealing the guard Snake had encountered in the basement of building 1. He recognized Snake instantly, looking up with a mixture of awe and terror—and Snake knew he couldn't kill this man. He also knew that he couldn't let the soldier know that. Snake decided he could use the man.
"Are you injured?" asked Snake.
Drummond looked bewildered. "Is this some kind of sick joke?" Then, remembering that there was a gun to his head: "Mr. Intruder Man. Sir."
"Please, Snake. All my hostages call me Snake."
Drummond was caught off-guard by Snake's bizarre attitude. He recalled the negotiation course from his days as a volunteer sheriff's deputy, and began attempting to talk his assailant down: "I'm fine, I guess."
Snake instantly recognized that the man was trying to beat him at his own game. He needed to regain the upper hand. "We'll have to remedy that," he growled, punching Drummond in the gut. Drummond, unprepared for the blow, cried out.
Immediately, Snake was back to being the nice guy. "Relax, it's all right." Pause for effect. "The hospitals can fix anything if I don't touch your head."
"What the hell is this shit," Drummond spat between gasps of air. "You need two people for good cop/bad cop," he informed Snake.
In response, Snake hit Drummond with the butt of his pistol. "I'm no cop. I'm getting your help whether you like it or not."
"You'll have to shoot me first," screamed Drummond.
Snake took a step back and aimed his Beretta. "I know," he said, and fired.
Chapter Notes: Oh boy! Super-cliffhanger! I know some people will dislike the fact that I showed a fight scene from the bad guy's perspective, but I think that it's pretty effective in this case. See, I told you there was a reason for Drummond.
