Nightlight: Metal Gear Solid

Chapter Eight: Transport Truck

For some reason a lot of people became uneasy when it came to searching the bodies of enemies, but having done so at least a hundred times while he was a child soldier, Mongoose was perfectly fine with digging through Kumari's pockets for anything that could be of use to him. Her pistol wasn't silenced, but there was plenty of 9mm ammo that he could use, as well as her radio, which enabled the young man to listen to their communications once he copied the stored frequencies into his own.

Other than that, the Valkyrie soldier carried surprisingly little, so Mongoose left her body tied up in the basement when he finally left the house a short while later. Now in the coldest part of the night, the young man shivered a little, sticking to the shadows while making his way back down to the warehouse. There were still a couple hours left before sunrise, but the time needed to be used wisely, since regardless of how harsh the cold was, the night still concealed his movements.

"Mongoose, this is Big Boss." A voice on his radio said. "What's your status, kid?"

"Kumari's dead, Boss." Mongoose replied after taking cover behind one of the houses. "She gave me a solid lead, though; a place twenty miles away called DYE-2… Huey's checking it out for me."

The Boss seemed pleased that he was able to take down another one of the Valkyries, but this came with a warning once the young man described the whole encounter. According to the Boss, Kumari foolishly gave up her advantage in order to give him a fair fight. While this notion was certainly noble, such sentiments had no place on the battlefield, proven by the choice to shoot her after the fight was over. In the end there were no heroes or villains when it came to war, just two people trying to kill each other, with the survivor being the one who wanted it more.

"Still… you did good, kid." Big Boss continued. "You keep this up, and get our people home… I might just have to change your codename to Snake."

"I won't let you down, Boss." Mongoose replied, suddenly feeling prideful. "At this rate, I'll have our people home by tomorrow."

Big Boss simply replied that he hoped so, since tomorrow night the rescue operation into Cuba was going to be executed, and then the communication was ended. The idea of having his codename changed to Snake, the same one that the Boss was given during the Snake Eater mission, made him just about as excited as a little kid at Christmas. However, before that could happen, there were MSF operatives to rescue, and Valkyries to be eliminated, so the young man stood up, and continued on toward the warehouses.

Figuring that he would have to rush to get back there before the truck returned for Kumari, Mongoose got back into the same place that he had been in before ambushing that first guard, and there he waited. After the first hour passed by, the young man started to worry that he had perhaps missed the truck… but then he remembered that to go to DYE-2 and return was a total trip of forty miles, and the truck hadn't exactly been moving fast when it departed. So he waited for a while longer, and just when he was starting to consider following them on foot, a set of headlights came into view.

"Finally." He grumbled to himself as the truck appeared.

As it had done before, the transport vehicle slowly rolled its way into town, pulled up to the warehouse, and parked before the group of soldiers climbed out of the back. Using his scope to watch them, two went into the warehouse, most likely searching for Kumari, only to return and report to the others that no one was inside. The one they reported to seemed frustrated for a moment, probably eager to get back to base and out of the cold, so he motioned for them to look around, before turning on his radio.

"CP, this is Baker 1." He reported. "We've reached the warehouse, but Kumari is nowhere to be found."

"This is CP; understood, Baker 1." Another voice replied. "New orders from Domina… spread out and search the whole town… find Kumari, and check for any signs of enemy forces."

Instantly reacting to their orders like good soldiers, they spread out and began checking between nearby houses with their flashlights. A couple of them also started investigating the rest of the warehouses, creating a pattern where no one was completely out of sight to each other for more than a couple seconds at a time, but as efficient as their formation was, Baker Team had made a single mistake: Aside from a single guard, and the driver… their truck was unguarded.

It would be a while before anyone discovered Kumari's body, but Mongoose didn't want to stay in Upernavik any longer than he had to, so as soon as the search team was far enough away, and the guard turned his back, the young man made his move. The guard groaned while rubbing the back of his head as Mongoose approached, meaning that he was probably the same one that he had ambushed before, and this made it even more rewarding to give him a second, identical hit. The guard was caught completely by surprise, groaning in pain as he collapsed to the ground, and then the young man made his way around to the passenger side of the truck.

Being careful to stay below where the side view mirror could see him, Mongoose took out his pistol before pulling the door open, and jumping inside. The masked driver was startled… a woman, based on the way her gasp sounded, as well as the way her uniform fit… and then she put up her hands when she saw that his weapon was aimed at her torso.

"Good morning, sweetheart." He said quietly, closing the door. "Now, why don't you be a good girl, and start driving this thing back the way you came?"

Without resisting, or making an attempt to call for help, the driver put the truck into reverse. She backed up as much as was needed in order for them to turn around, and then switched gears, before slowly starting away from Upernavik. Maybe the girl was new, or wasn't quite as dedicated to… whatever the Valkyries' cause was, because she still hadn't tried to resist by the time they reached the village limits. Mongoose didn't plan on killing her unless he had to, but she would have no way of knowing that, so the driver played it smart.

"So this DYE-2 place… what is it?" He asked, taking a quick look to see if they were being followed. "Military Base? Research Facility? What?"

"CP, this is Baker 1." A voice on the radio interrupted urgently. "Our transport is missing."

"This is CP, it must've been recalled." The other voice replied. "Continue your mission, and another one will be sent for you when it is finished."

Mongoose chuckled at the response given from CP. Forget the fact that they were looking for possible enemy infiltrators, just accept that the truck was gone and carry on with the mission… how ignorant was that? Suddenly the young man realized that the transport truck was slowing down, and soon they had come to a complete stop, with the female driver putting on the parking break, even though his pistol was still pointed at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, aiming at her head.

"Stopping the truck." She replied, turning her head to smile at him. "This is where you get out."

According to Kumari, DYE-2 was twenty miles away from Upernavik, but the truck couldn't have gone any further than five or six miles so far, so what was the driver doing. However, before the young man could get any kind of an answer to this question, the driver moved her arm with amazing speed, taking the pistol away from him, and striking Mongoose in the side of the head with it in one fluid motion. She hit him three more times in the arm and head before he could react, and then the driver threw out her leg, kicking him so that he fell against the door.

The door opened upon impact, causing the young man to cry out in surprise when he found himself tumbling down into the snow. Hearing the driver side door open, Mongoose rolled under the truck in an attempt to grab her legs when she jumped down, but instead the sound of her landing came from behind him. She must've opened that door to trick him, and it worked, because suddenly he felt her grab onto his ankles before quickly dragging him back out.

The driver started to pull him to his feet once he was out from under the truck, so Mongoose grabbed her around the waist in an attempt to tackle her, like what had happened with Kumari. However, this woman was able to not only keep her balance, but also bend forward and grab him by the waist, before tossing him sideways toward the front of the truck as if he weighed no more than a child.

Rolling through the snow, the young man jumped to his feet in order to grab her, but found himself stumbling backwards into the path of the headlights when she knocked his arms away and booted him in the chest. She chuckled as she approached, so Mongoose took a swing at her, only to have her drop down and kick his feet out from under him, knocking the wind out of him when he landed on his back.

His next effort was stopped when she kicked him in the face as he sat up, and then she got down and straddled his waist, grabbing his wrists when he tried to fight her off. Chuckling again as she slowly overpowered him, the driver was able to pin his wrists down above his head, and then keep them there with one hand while the other quickly pulled off her balaclava so that her face was visible.

"And I was so sure that Big Boss would come this time." Domina said, whipping her head around to fix her hair. "Still… I'm very happy to see you again."