DAMMIT! Ten minutes to curtain call and no sign of Naruto!

Anko: Here he is! *Holds up a drained Naruto, stripped to the waist and barely concious* Figured I'd help him get in character.

Kyugan: Now that's a showman people! Get the set together!

Kakashi: *Quirks eyebrow as Naruto gets dragged off* 'Get in Character' eh?

Anko: *Smirks ferally* What? you know how hard it is to exhaust that kid?


File 9. Genes

Fighting to remain conscious, Fox grimaced as his body continued to jolt, the rough, uncaring hands of the guards hurling him into a cell, leaving him shirtless on the cold floor, the door sealing behind them as they left, not without taking a few kicks at him first. "Assholes." The agent grunted, though it was with his usual mocking smirk, having suffered worse treatment in his days as a trainee for ANBUHOUND "Could've at least given me a shirt."

Sitting up with a grunt, he eyed the almost barren cell with a sense of approval, a single bed, no cover, plain white walls, and a toilet, standard interrogation cell, just like mama used to make. Standard, that is, save for the rotting corpse lying discarded in the corner, dressed in a medical robe, a tag on the big toe.

"Looks like I've got a roommate." Fox joked, crawling over to the cadaver on his elbows, too weak to get his knees under him, wincing at the smell as he drew in close "Hey buddy, ever heard of a bath?" he joked, only to frown, pushing back a strand of hair to reveal the face underneath "What the hell?!"

It was Homura, the skin might by sagging, littered with rot and maggots, and the beard tattered and unshaven, but there was no mistaking the face of the DARPA chief, the first of the hostages to die.

"How the hell…?" Fox wondered, looking over the cadaver in confusion, giving it a brief once over even as his CODEC sounded in his ear.

-----------------------------------------------140.85----------------------------------------------------

Yamanaka: (Looking concerned) Fox! Are you okay?

Fox: (Grimacing) I've been better.

Shizune: How's Ino?

Fox: Dunno…Kabuto said he'd leave her alone…but other than that…(grunts) I hear Konoha basically gave Liquid's demands the finger.

Yamanaka: (Closes his eyes in silent prayer for a second) Fox, We're trying to buy some more time…

Fox: (Annoyed) Colonel…you remember what my conditions were for this mission? Why don't you cut the bullshit and tell me EXACTLY what's going on.

Yamanaka: (Face a mask of confusion, eyes guilty) What are you talking about?

Fox: Metal Gear was designed to launch a new type of nuclear warhead, wasn't it? (Scowls at the Colonel's look of alarm) You knew it all along, didn't you?!

Yamanaka: (Looks away guiltily)...I'm sorry...

Fox: (Scowls)...Does the Kage know about this? I wanna know how far this shit trail goes.

Yamanaka: (Resigned, yet oddly relieved) As far as I know, as of yesterday, the Hokage had not been briefed about the Bunta Project.

Fox: The old 'Three monkeys' excuse huh?

Yamanaka: Yes. And tomorrow the Hokage and Kazekage are scheduled to sign the Start 3 Accord.

Fox: An Anti-MC campaign…Now the deadline makes sense.

Shizune: And the reason we can't let word of the terrorist attack go public.

Yamanaka: We still haven't even ratified Start 2 or dealt with the issue of TMDs. This has to do with the Hokage's reputation and Konoha's place as the dominant superpower.

Fox: (Sneering) You're a real patriot, you know that Colonel?

Yamanaka: (Pleading) Please, Snake... just stop them.

Fox: Why should I? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just lie here and let the world get blown to shit?

Yamanaka: (Absolute certainty) Because you're the only one who can…Because you're not a cold blooded killer.

Fox: (Remains silent for a few minutes)…I want the truth…plus anything you got on the new MC warhead.

Yamanaka: (Honest) I told you before. I don't know the details.

Fox: (Coldly) Why don't I believe you? If the situation is so serious, why don't you give in to their demands? Just give 'em Danna's damn corpse and be done with it. (Frowns) Or is there some reason you can't do that? Something else you 'lack the clearance' to tell me?

Shizune: Publicly, the President has been very vocal in his opposition to eugenics experiments. We don't want the existence of the Genome Army to go public.

Fox: That it? (Snorts at Yamanaka's silence) Feh, to hell with you then!

Yamanaka: I'm sorry.

Fox: 'Sorry' doesn't get me out of this cell…and right now I could do with a transfer, my roommate's stinking up the place…or his corpse is anyways, it's the DARPA Chief.

Shizune: Poor man.

Fox: Pity my nose, not him, smells like he's been dead for a week at the least. (Frowns) Strange thing is, despite all that, his blood's been drained out too.

Yamanaka: (Alarmed) Drained!?

Shizune: An attempt to slow down decomposition perhaps?

Fox: The hell should I know? You're the medic here not me.

Shizune: But Fox…didn't the Chief die a few hours ago?

Fox: Yeah, heart attack, right in front of me. (Frowns) So why's he suddenly stinking out my cell?

Shizune: (Confused) What could it all be about? The only thing in his blood were the nano-machines and the transmitter…

Fox: Who cares? Right now the terrorists have both codes, so you can probably expect a missile on your doorstep any minute now.

Yamanaka: (Grim) Damn. Is there any way to prevent it?

Fox: (Silent for a minute) Gato mentioned some sorta emergency override device… a countermeasure that ArmsTech installed secretly, but it needs three special card keys.

Yamanaka: (urgent) Where are they?

Fox: I got one from Ino, courtesy of Gato, but the other two could be hidden anywhere on this oversized freezer. (Snorts) Besides, I don't think I'm going anywhere soon.

Yamanaka: (serious) No choice, forget the keys for now; your top priority is to destroy Metal Gear itself. (Apologetic) Fox…I'm sorry to place everything on you, but you're all I've got. Bust out of there and get to the Communications Tower.

-----------------------------------------------End Transmission---------------------------------------

'Easier said than done Colonel.' Fox growled, coughing slightly as he tried to keep his still shuddering muscles from giving out on him. It took all the effort he had to crawl to the sole cot in his cell, scrambling onto it with a grunt, hoping to regain the use of his muscles soon. Sending a glare towards the rotting corpse in the corner, he flipped it off weakly, before sitting up on the cot in a lotus stance and closing his eyes.

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"Well now, isn't he diligent." Kabuto noted, watching on a monitor as his former 'guest' slipped into a meditation stance right out of the ANBUHOUND textbook, "If only Danna could see you now Fox…no-one takes the meditation exercises seriously these days."

Grunting as he shuffled around the chamber, the torture specialist stuffed the CD with the test data into his pocket. Liquid didn't know of its existence yet, so far as the redhead was concerned it had been destroyed by Gato, and frankly thought the better for it. He didn't see past his current agenda, namely using Rex to send a warhead via airmail to wherever the hell he wanted, to think about possibilities should the plan fail.

'In that, he's hardly Danna's son.' Kabuto muttered with a wry smirk 'The old man was hardly infallible, Fox's previous victories are living proof of that, but he at least didn't put all his grenades on one bandolier.' He shot the meditating blonde a calculating look, shaking his head with a sigh before marching off to get something stronger than coffee to drink, his wound was acting up again in the cold.

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Several minutes into his meditation, Fox's eyes snapped open, locking onto the opposite wall as he exhaled, slowly moving his joints experimentally. 'Spasm's are gone…' he muttered with approval 'The rest bought me some recovery too…but without a good meal I'm not going anywhere soon.'

Starving a prisoner was a tried and tested interrogation tactic, one that all Foxhound recruits were put through during basic training to prepare them for such eventualities.

'If Sergeant Ibiki could see me now…' he muttered, a wry smirk as remembered his drill instructor for torture and interrogations, a giant, bear of a man that was mostly composed of scar-tissue, a decidedly POINTED sense of humor, and a fanatical love for his job. He considered 'scrapping' anything less than 75% of the new recruits in their first session a failure, and he'd maintained that record up until the last time Fox had seen him; just prior to the Zanzibar mission.

'Not that reminiscing about ol' Scarface is going to get me out of here.' The blonde snorted, only to blink as a gut-wrenching growl echoed through the otherwise silent hallway just outside outside his cell 'The hell…?'

"Mendokuse…" the guard muttered, the balaclava doing nothing to hide his spiky-ponytail, as he leant against the bulletproof glass in exhaustion "Why'd she have to take my clothes? What'd I ever do to heh-HAAAACHOO!".

Fox winced as the poor schmuck staggered against the reinforced, bulletproof window, leaning against it for support as he caught his breath. The guard's eyes were rheumy and bloodshot eyes, classic signs of a cold, not something you wanted stuck in the middle of the Yuki no kuni in a blizzard.

"Mendokuse…what're you looking at?" the guard sniffed, shooting a glare at his captive, only for his face to pale under the balaclava as his stomach let out an audible growl "Oh...oh god…I knew that soup was off!"

Fox merely quirked an eyebrow as the guard shuffled off, one hand covering his mouth as he retched, the other holding his stomach as he made a dash for the torture room door. 'Note to self…don't eat the soup.' he muttered, a bead of sweat running down his head as he ignored the growling of his own stomach. 'Though that might not be an option if I don't get something into me soon.'

"Psst! Fox!" a voice called out, putting the agent on guard instantly as he failed to detect the source "Over here! By the door!"

Following the voice, Fox narrowed his eyes at a large, distorted patch of empty air outside his cell, like looking through a steamed up mirror. He continued to glare out the grill even after Akimichi deactivated his camouflage.

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"Hey there Fox…" the portly doctor greeted, smiling nervously as the shirtless agent drew closer to the door "Man, when they carted you off I was worried I'd never see you agai-!"

The good doctor's cheer was instantly cut off as Fox's arms lashed out through the bars, seizing him by the lapels of his coat and hoisting him off the ground for the second time that day.

"Where in the hell have you been?!" Fox demanded, in a foul temper and not willing to be considerate about it, but then being tortured did that to him. "Just where in the hell haveyoubeen hiding your fat ass while Meryl and I were being interrogated?!"

"Hey lemme go!" Akimichi demanded, more than a little unnerved at how someone in Fox's position could still manage to lift him off the ground "I've been laying low until the guard changed! Even with my stealth camo it's not easy to get this far in!"

"Then hurry up and get me the hell out of here!" Fox demanded, shaking the man once again for emphasis, anger fuelling his arms, wardning off the last of the tingling "I don't got time to be sitting in this shithole!"

"Put me down first!" the doctor demanded, only to yelp as he was dropped, none to gently, onto the floor "Jeez…you and Liquid are brother's alright, same way of asking for 'favors'." He muttered aloud, only to flinch as he realized he'd done so, looking up at Fox's face warily, only to find stubborn remorse in those blue eyes than the murderous glare he'd been expecting.

"Sorry…" Fox muttered, rubbing his eyes with a sigh, one hand on his hip as he shook his head, apparently getting himself under control "Pressure's getting to me…and being barbecued earlier didn't help."

"Otacon nodded, stepping up to the bars to get a better look at the agent, wincing at the smell coming from the room "Man…smells like a slaughterhouse in there...What'd they do to you?"

"Not me." Fox muttered, tilting his head towards the corner of the room. The portly professor blinked, looking through the grate in confusion, only to stumble away from the bars in horror, biting off a scream at the sight of the DARPA chief's cadaver. "Yeah, not a pleasant thing to wake up next to is he?" Fox quipped, a wry smirk on his face as he watched the egghead hyperventilate "Not much of conversationalist either."

"How can you joke around at a time like this?!" Otacon demanded, looking ready to horf his cookies any minute from the sight and smell, but handling it better than Fox had thought he would "Those bastards…what'd they do to him?!"

"No clue," Fox admitted honestly, leaving out the fact he'd met the man early on in the mission and the cadaver's advanced decomposition "But unless you work some of that otaku mumbo-jumbo, I'm gonna laying next to him in a couple of hours."

"Sorry Fox…" the doctor sighed, looking apologetic as he held his arms out helplessly "But only the guard has the cardkey to this door, and It's a closed circuit, so I couldn't hack into it even if I had the time.

"Fat lot of good you are then…" Fox muttered, stepping away from the door with a dismissive grunt, only to flinch at the hurt look on the doctor's face looking in at him from the other side of the door "Sorry."

"None taken," Otacon replied with a self-mocking smile "I know I'm hardly a stunning example of the cavalry." He reached inside his coat, rifling through the seemingly endless multitude of pockets before pulling out a what looked like a cup of instant ramen, packet with a roll in it, and a thermos "I figured you'd be hungry in there."

Fox was ravenous, and it showed as he took the food eagerly, pouring the hot water from the thermos into the ramen cup and leaving it to simmer away while he tore into the bread, which turned out to be some kind of sausage roll. "If you need more food, I can bring some more later." Otacon offered, watching as Fox turned his attention to the noodles, slurping them up expertly, before washing down the roll with the remainder of the broth. "I also got this level 6 card," he added, flipping the piece of compact silicon towards the agent, who caught it expertly "it'll get you out of that torture room at the very least, if you manage to bust out of here."

"Better than nothing I suppose." Fox admitted, tucking the thing into his belt, along with the others "Any word from Ino?" he asked, looking up at the man's silence to find he'd turned an interesting shade of magenta "What?"

"Um…well…" Otacon stammered, looking anywhere but directly AT Fox as he spoke, "I uh…saw her…on the cameras…with Hebi…"

"What?!" Fox yelled, concern for his fellow blonde racing through him as he leapt to his feet, Otacon steppinng back out of reach of his hands just in time "Damn that Kabuto! I knew I shouldn't have trusted that manipulative Sunnuva-!"

"Erm…not like that Fox…" Akimichi stammered, his face decidedly red "I mean I saw her WITH Hebi…"

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Fox stared dumbly at the otaku for a second, his mind tried to comprehend the man's words with some minor complication, then his eyes widened perceptibly, a trail of blood flowing down his nostrils as he gaped like a landed trout.

"Yeah…that was my reaction too…" the portly doctor admitted with a chuckle as he watched the agent's mind race with possibilities. "Pretty much everyone's reactions to the recording actually…'cept maybe Kabuto and Liquid."

That sobered Fox up rather quickly, his game face rising to the fore despite the wad of tissue paper he'd used to stall the bleeding, making a mental note to swipe a copy of the record on his way out. "Otacon, I've got to get out of this cell." He stated, coming right up to the bars again as he spoke "I have to take Bunta down before they can launch the warhead."

"The only way you can get to Bunta's hangar is if you can get past the Communications Tower" the portly professor muttered, holding his chin as he thought the matter over "The blizzard's too fierce for the land route."

"Good enough, but first, you have to get me out of here!" Fox reminded the man, slapping the door for emphasis "From what you've told me that guard's got the key, with your Stealth chamo it should be child's play to-!"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Hold on there!" Otacon stammered, eyes widening in alarm as he held his hands before him "I'm just a civilian scientist remember? And the camouflage is easier to notice up close!"

"Oh grow a pair would ya!" Fox groaned, slapping the door again "Look, the guy's a Grunt through and through, on top of that last I saw him he was either sneezing a lung out or fighting down the urge to toss his cookies, Christ, INO took him out and left him naked on the floor!"

"Ino-san has had basic training!" Chouji countered desperately, only to freeze as the sound of a door opening, followed by the sound of a flushing toilet, reached them "Oh man he's coming back..."

"Wait!" Fox demanded, only to curse as the portly otaku disappeared in a burst of static, following the vague distortion as it slunk away, slipping past the guard as he returned from the restroom "Dammit!"

"God, what now…?" the guard muttered, looking in Fox's direction with bored, sickly expression under his balaclava as the door shut behind him "Mendokuse…I know it can't be too pleasant in there but would you just shut up and bear it…S'not like I like being near that thing any more than you do."

Fox merely scowled at the man until he looked away, before prowling around his cell like the caged beast he was, eyeing the walls suspiciously. 'No vents to crawl into…none large enough anyway…' he muttered 'And the walls are like the rest of this place, reinforced steel.' He snorted 'But then I suppose not every place can be Outer Heaven…'

Smiling in fond remembrance of the numerous times a well placed punch or kick had served as a substitute for a key, Fox continued to pace around the cell, wondering, not for the first time, how it was he wound up in these messes. In almost every mission he'd been on he'd been captured at least once, sometimes on purpose whilst others, like now, through sheer carelessness, and once, during his rookie days, out of sheer stupidity, but thankfully no-one learned of that because he'd killed his captors shortly after.

"Yare-Yare…" his guard moaned, arms stretched over his head in a yawn "I'm not getting paid enough for this shit…" He looked up as his relief showed up, saluting the guard before waving lazily at the captive Fox "Later jailbait."

'Prick.' Fox muttered, though it was with a wry snort on his lips. The guard was so irritating he seemed to grow on you. Sighing in annoyance he leant back against the wall, trying to figure a way out of the cell before Liquid and his goons launched, shivering slightly as he felt the chill from the walls, only to blink, a cold smirk appearing on his face.

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The replacement guard muttered to himself as he patrolled the short hallway outside the cell, shooting the captive agent inside a dirty look every time he passed. He'd lost a lot of comrades to the fucker, and wanted nothing more than to just open fire right now and fill the guy with hot, steaming lead. But he was under orders, and grudge or not, he wasn't stupid enough to defy Liquid…there were prices for disobedience that the redhead made all too clear.

That…and word had gotten round that Hebi had marked the blonde, which meant anyone that took the pleasure of her kill from her was literally volunteering to take his place…and he wasn't up for a game of 'dodge the bullet' in the snow.

'Sassy bastard.' He growled, watching as the blonde smirked at him, as if HE was the one in control, he even had the audacity to WAVE! 'Just you wait…soon as Liquids done with you…and Hebi…I'll be there to pick up what's left of you…'

The sound of metal clanking caused him to spin round, eyes narrowing as he aimed his weapon at the source of the noise: a metal thermos. Frowning, he stepped closer, keeping an eye out for possible, ambushers, before turning his gaze back to the cell.

It was empty.

"HOW THE HELL?!" he swore, running up to the glass and searching the cell from all sides, eyes narrowing as he espied the bed. Rushing round to the door, he flashed his card at the scanner, before dropping to his knees and aiming under the bed, not willing to give the bastard a chance to pull a fast one, only for his eyes to widen as it turned out there was no-one under the bed either.

It was at that moment that Fox dropped from his perch on the ceiling above the door, having been griping onto one of the air-vents, too small to crawl through, but providing more than enough finger-space for him to hoist himself out of sight for a few minutes.

Before the stunned guard had a chance to even blink, Fox's boots slammed into his face, bone and cartilage snapping audibly as the blonde used his swing to add momentum to the fall, the guard's body crashing backwards onto the floor as Fox rolled expertly to his knees.

The entire encounter had taken less than a minute.

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Propping the guard up against the wall to avoid suspicion for the time being, liberating him of several grenades and spare magazines in the process, Fox turned on his heel and made for Ocelot's 'Playroom', his hackles raised as he crouched near the doorway, not putting anything to chance. He'd been lucky to notice the vent in the cell, and Akimichi's little snack break had been a double blessing, but he wasn't about expect a hat-trick anytime soon. After all, those who relied on luck to get them through a mission tended to find it abandoning them at the worst possible moments.

But it seemed the lady still smiled on the blonde, for the torture room was empty, save for the sound of running machinery and the low humming of the bed's charger.

Suppressing a light shudder at the memory of the agony he'd suffered on the thing, Fox turned his back on it and instead made his way over to the cardboard box Ocelot had apparently placed his things into, blinking as he pulled out his flak jacket.

'Kinda honest for a terrorist.' He muttered, pulling out the upper half of the sneaking suit as well, pulling them on with relief, the chill in the air dying down somewhat. A quick rifle through the pockets, however, revealed that all of his spare cartridges had been taken, though his weapons were still in the box…those that Ocelot had found anyway. 'Looks Like I'm doing a munitions run first.' Fox noted, honestly not that surprised 'But it looks like the cats out of the bag regarding the S3 system…oh well, was bound to come out anyway.'

Holstering his SOCOM and slinging his sniper rifle over one shoulder, Fox slammed a magazine into his FAMAS and proceeded towards the exit, slipping into the hallway, recognizing the passage to the cells where he'd met Ino for the first time, sweeping it with the FAMAS, crouch-walking towards the elevator, keeping an eye out for hidden cameras.

Even as he climbed into the elevator, the hum of the machinery carrying him towards the armoury, Fox couldn't quite shake the feeling that it was STILL too easy. Kabuto was a renowned torture and interrogations expert…according to his dossier, the man knew EXACTLY how hard to push someone to get all he wanted out of them. Yet all he put Snake through was a little electro-therapy, something they covered in ANBU-HOUND's basic training. Admittedly at tolerable human safety levels but still something that any veteran of the unit could tolerate without much duress.

It was almost like the gunman was going easy on him, which just raised even more questions in the blonde's mind.

Shaking his head, Fox quickly ducked out of view as the elevator stopped at the armoury, only peaking out when he was CERTAIN the coast was clear, before heading out to pick up supplies.

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"He's gone." Liquid noted, his tone calm as he watched the guards drag the corpse of their comrade out of the holding cell to be properly disposed of "I trust you left an appropriate... reward for him?"

"But of course." Kabuto chuckled, pushing his spectacles up his nose with his remaining hand, the light dancing off them sinisterly "I'm certain he'll have a real…blast with it."

Liquid fought the urge to shudder at the man's bad pun, it was so bad it actually hirt to listen to it. Just what you'd expect from a torture specialist when it came down to it. "And what of Hebi?" he asked.

"I haven't seen her since she left." Kabuto replied, shrugging offhandedly as he quirked an eyebrow at his leader, an unspoken taunt in those eyes "I had assumed you were aware of her movements."

"Blast…that woman is unpredictable as ever." The redhead growled, whipping round and marching out the door, his Nodachi held tight in his hand as his subordinates stepped quickly out of his way.

"That's what makes it so hard to predict where she'll strike from next." Kabuto replied, smirking to himself as he turned his gaze back to the guards "And do something about that stiff would you?" he asked, nodding towards Homura's rotting corpse "This is a holding cell, not a damn morgue."

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Hebi grinned down at Ino, the blonde having passed out from exhaustion and embarrassment some time ago. Rising sultrily off the bed, the sniper made her way to their discarded clothes, picking up her jumpsuit from the pile and slipping into it, not bothering to pull up the zipper before walking back to the bed, gazing down at her…toy, with approval.

"See you later sweetheart," she promised, whispering into the trembling blonde's ear, before pulling a thick, thermal blanket over her "I'll come 'play' with you again after I deal with our little…Fox problem.'

Ino gave no response, but then Hebi wasn't expecting one, turning on her heel and marching out the door of the cell, a hungry smile on her face as she stalked down the corridor.

'Come to me…little foxy…' the sniper purred, her eyes dancing with a strange type of…HUNGER, as she felt a shiver race up her spine at the memory of those blue eyes glaring at her in defiance 'Come hunt me…while I hunt YOU.'

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Something always struck me as of during the interrogation sections.

Why, after going through Snake's gear, did they leave his ammo for him?

Alright, Ocelot loves to play mindgames, and was manipulating Snake to do his and EVA's dirtywork the whole time, but come on.

Leave the weapons maybe, but take the ammo so he doesn't get suspicious or too relaxed. It'd also give you more time to prep while he sneaks around picking up more things to kill you with.

Kabuto: That IS something I would do.

Naruto: Freak.

Anko: Oh don't be like that Naru-chan...or I won't let you play snake eater with me anymore...

Naruto: *flushes magenta, nose bleeding*

Kyugan: Damn ninjas...

R&R for more tactical espionage action!