Author's Note: Set during Chapter 8 of Nobody Dies.

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Metal Gear EVA #0-6: "Wolf"

xx

Needless to say, Solid Snake was not happy.

The last few hours had been spent searching for ways out of the parking garage.

Without falling to his doom.

The other buildings that were hanging alongside him were too far away to jump to safely. Entry to the surface was denied to him due to the Angel attack. Any attempt at finding maintenance shafts into the armored shell over the Geofront were also fruitless. Just my luck to pick the parking garage.

But those two members of REEHOUND...they had gotten here from NERV somehow. He recalled how Unit-01 had teleported to the UN Fleet before fighting the Sixth Angel; had that technology been miniaturized?

"Maybe they snuck in through the vents." Snake chuckled at the thought. Though, if the garage had been on the ground level of the Geofront, THEN he'd buy that explanation...

How annoying. He made a mental note to steal a parachute before the next Angel attacked.

Grumbling, Snake knelt down on the fifth floor of the garage, activating his Codec.

*BEEP BEEP*

"Otacon."

"Any luck Snake?"

"Rrggh."

"...I see..."

"Think you can get me a view of the battle?"

"I'll see what I can do."

Snake quietly slipped the bandanna over his left eye, watching as the image of a globe popped up. In the corner of the screen was a miniature window showing Otacon, his stubble-laden face framed by black hair and thin glasses. He was sitting near various monitors, and the lack of lighting made it hard to see anything else. Various coordinates shifted past the empty space as feed from surveillance satellites - many of which were already aimed at Tokyo-3 - began to stream in. "That was pretty quick of you."

"It's only because of the Colonel. For the duration of this mission, I've got quick access to American military surveillance satellites."

A chuckle. "And here I thought that military use of surveillance satellites was strictly regulated by the UN following the Valentine Ceasefire."

"Since the Angels started returning, things have gotten a lot looser in terms of restrictions. True, we have fewer surveillance satellites than before the Impact Wars, but the UN isn't going to make any hay over a nation using what resources it has to observe a battle between the Angels and NERV."

A valid point. After all, there was no guarantee that the Angels would keep their focus on Tokyo-3. That's why NERV had various branches throughout the world. "You'd think NERV would have enough influence at the UN to keep this sort of thing from happening, given how much they seem to enjoy their secrecy."

Otacon shook his head. "NERV isn't that stupid. They'd alienate more people if they tried to hide the Angel battles from military eyes. Even the Marduk Institute doesn't object."

"The Marduk Institute?"

"An organization, independent of NERV, that screens the global population for potential Evangelion pilots."

"I've been wondering about that; why do they have a kid piloting?" Snake had often wondered if the Pilot of Unit-01 had gotten there due to nepotism (or heck, perhaps the kid was simply talented enough to do so, judging by the fight footage against the Sixth Angel); after all, why couldn't anyone else pilot it? It had been bugging him.

That, and Big Boss had always had a soft spot for children; one of his few bright spots, even after his betrayal. It had also rubbed off on both him and Phantom Bear (hence why America currently had a policy of strict economic sanctions against nations that employed child soldiers in any capacity; those who still persisted afterward would, strangely enough, experience a sudden rise in bear attacks).

"They have no choice. It's a matter of public record that those born before Second Impact can't pilot Evangelions. Dr. Yui Ikari personally submitted data from various synchronization tests on the Evangelions several years ago." Otacon could be seen looking at another computer monitor. "Without fail, those who were born before Second Impact could never get above a .05% synchronization rate. Those born after? Varied between 5% to 17% on average, with a few outliers above 23%."

"...so these Evangelions are picky." A possibly sentient mecha, that only responded to certain Pilots? That had trouble written all over it.

"There's actually an inversely proportional trend between synchronization rate of a Pilot and time between their date of birth and Second Impact. There's been speculation that it has something to do with the energy released by the Angel ADAM during Impact, but NERV's never confirmed as to why this trend exists."

Snake chuckled. "They tell us without explaining anything. Fat lot of good that does."

Otacon shrugged. "It was enough to sate the UN; that's why they formed the Marduk Institute: to give NERV the Pilots they need to fight the Angels, and to provide at least some form of control over NERV itself."

A light appeared from off-screen.

"Hal."

Otacon turned, blinking tiredly. "Oh, Leyla!"

Snake watched as a woman with dirty blonde hair appeared beside Otacon, her shapely body clad in a gray robe. She narrowed her eyes at the screen, her blue irises gleaming like sapphire. "Ah. The Son of Saladin."

The infiltrator snorted at the old nickname. "Well well. Hello Wolf."

Leyla Emmerich. Iraqi native, ethnic Kurd. Former member of FOXHOUND, codename Sniper Wolf.

She was actually one of Snake and Otacon's well-kept secrets. She was still alive and not in jail for a few reasons; for one, she had provided a good deal of information on FOXHOUND's hideaways following Zanzibar, when Ocelot had been on the run. Secondly, in the climax of the Zanzibar Incident, Wolf had kept a contingent of Big Boss's mercenary units off of Snake's back while he had pursued his teacher. As for why she had done so?

...well, Snake actually didn't know why. He had engaged Wolf in a snipers' duel, successfully defeating her (in fact, his finishing shot had barely missed her lungs). Quite frankly, Snake had been surprised she had survived.

Only Otacon knew the details of what had happened to Wolf in the time between the duel and Snake's pursuit of Big Boss days later.

He had also sworn never to tell.

Whatever had happened, it was why only Otacon could call Wolf by what she remembered of her old name: Leyla, an old name in Semitic languages that meant 'night'. It was also, most likely, why they were now husband and wife.

Lucky dog.

"Have you found him yet?" asked Wolf. Her voice had a distinctive growl when she emphasized words, complete with a noticeable Kurdish accent.

Snake shook his head. "No, no luck. He's set up another special forces group though. They go by the name of REEHOUND. Might even be more screwed up than we were."

Wolf snorted. There was no love lost between Wolf and Ocelot. Oddly enough, she still had nothing but respect for Big Boss.

"Got it," interjected Otacon. "Here we go."

The image of the globe zoomed in towards Tokyo-3. Snake could make out the massive blue crystal that was the Angel, hovering over the city. He could also see the Evangelions on the outskirts of the city, one of which was manning a large rifle.

"Hmm...impressive-looking," muttered Wolf, her eyes focusing on the gigantic weapon.

Literally moments later, a beam of pink energy erupted from the Angel, slamming into the space shuttle (a shuttle?!) held by Unit-01. The positron rifle manned by the red Evangelion fired, a pulse of blue streaking towards the Angel. A flash of orange hexagons indicated that it had had no effect.

Soon after, Unit-01 charged, preventing the Angel from attacking. Then a missile carrying a giant robot (...what.) slammed into the side of the Angel, followed shortly by an explosion from within the creature that sent shards of red flying through Tokyo-3. The red Evangelion fired once more, taking down the Angel for good.

"...huh."

"They've got good teamwork," commented Wolf.

"Any idea where the other giant robot came from?"

"Not sure Snake. I'll look into it."

Wolf's eyes narrowed. "Oh, no you won't." She turned towards her husband. "You have not had any sleep for thirty-six hours. You are going to bed."

Otacon buggled. "B-b-but you've been in the field for even longer than that during a mission!"

"And YOU are no sniper."

Otacon physically deflated, looking as tired as any man who had been up for a day-and-a-half would.

Snake smirked as he felt the parking garage rumble. Tokyo-3 was moving out of its defensive mode. "You get some rest Otacon. I'll be fine for now."

"Okay...if you need any assistance in the meantime, contact the Colonel."

"Sure. You take care of him Wolf."

The woman exhaled sharply through her nose. "Like I need you to tell me."

The connection cut off.

Solid Snake smiled as he stood up. Those two were good for each other. Now...where can I find a parachute?

xx

/REX's Cave/

Several hours had passed since Ramiel had fallen.

I can still sense an inkling of...'something' within.

So to speak.

Ocelot had managed to retrieve several samples of Ramiel's shattered core, for the sake of analysis. MAGI-OMEGA's own Angelic sensors detected nothing...but Mantis's psychic powers could. A sign that perhaps the Angels were harder to kill than at first glance. Either way, it should provide some fruitful research. The Ikaris have been rather stingy regarding any actual Angelic material for us to work with.

Can you blame them?

Ocelot couldn't help but grin. No; he supposed he couldn't.

xxxx

To be continued...

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Author's Note: If Yui and Kyoko didn't die, then darn it, I can say that Wolf didn't die.