- When Hell Freezes Over -
Otacon kept behind Snake as the hanger doors jammed. Snake forced his metal hand into the crack and found himself unbelievably shifting the door open a few feet.
"Snake. Do you have the key to disable Metal Gear?" Otacon trembled in the cold.
"…Yes."
"You know the trick to it?"
Snake couldn't let Otacon know. Even if he said he did, then it would be difficult arguing why they had both passed the furnace without heating up the key.
"…No."
"Get rid of it."
"What? Why?" Snake was battling with confusion.
"I'll hack the computer. I don't trust the key."
"You don't trust it?"
"I don't trust you to be honest."
Snake was slightly upset by the sudden turn in Otacon's approach. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by an extremely loud, booming voice.
"Snaaake!"
He turned around. Through the door stood a large dark figure in the distance. Vulcan Raven.
"No…" Hal started.
"Stay here." Snake instructed.
Hal stood back, shivering amongst the birds flying above, stalking his every movement. Waiting for him to fall.
Snake walked through the doors into the new room. Icy crates were stacked neatly in lines through the holding bay. Each had solidified to the next, and shimmered in the sparkle of frozen water. Raven walked forwards.
On his back he carried the bulk metal of scrap from a leftover F-16 plane. His large body took the weight, and every foot on the ground shook glitters of ice from their resting place on the surrounding crates. The turret gun, held in both hands, was enough to make any onlooker run for their life. Snake was not scared of this monster, however. He had already killed him in this very room.
Bullets were tossed about crazily, tearing apart the wooden and metallic crates that moaned under the pressure of those stacked above. Raven wasn't trying to hurt Snake, he was trying to intimidate him. Show him who had the power. The power and force of Liquid's Hind D were now attached to a man who Snake had already wounded. Every bullet left a bass-heavy ringing in Snake's ear. Vulcan didn't laugh. His face was totally serious. The firing stopped. The room creaked in his footsteps.
Raven approached Snake, the turret gun pointed in his direction. A slip of the finger would have sent fifteen shards of metal piercing David's body in an instant. David didn't run. He had no weapon but his fists to protect him.
"Snake. I have a message for you."
The man who Snake had stabbed, and met later in the holding cell once again towered above him. The size of his body and weapon shadowed Snake from the flickering light above, wet from melting ice.
"Whatever happens, I shall be watching over you."
Snake had heard it before. However, he could have sworn that the previous sentence was spoken just before Raven had died in this room.
"What do you want from me?" David asked.
"I won't shoot you Snake."
Raven's booming voice shocked Snake in the same way that many of his recent codec calls had. Nothing was making sense.
"Snake. Hear my words."
"I'm listening. Get on with it."
"Do not think that this illus…"
Raven stumbled backwards. The turret gun dropped to the ground, marking an indent, and shaking icicles on the ceiling. He moaned in slight pain.
"What the hell? Is it FoxDie?" Snake exclaimed.
Vulcan's arms were raised upwards, as though attached by strings. The F-16 debris was removed from his bare back, taking lumps of flesh with it. His foot twitched.
Snake watched in horror, as the man's limbs were stretched in opposite directions in front of him. Raven's foot continued to shake as it was lifted off the ground slowly. Raven shouted out words that weren't understandable.
"sion! Sto… urgh!"
A horrid triple crack sounded from the man's neck as his head twisted sharply to one side, and fell limp. His body fell to the floor. His diluted eye stared Snake blankly in the face. Vulcan Raven was dead.
David stared at the man's fresh corpse as it lay lifeless on the ground. The ravens above sang out in pain. He covered his face with his arms as an icy crate burst into flames high up near the ceiling.
"Hell no." Snake whispered to himself as the burning crate slowly shifted to the edge of the melting box beneath it. The wood creaked, and gave way, crashing down pounds of burning materials onto Raven's body. One metal shard clearly pierced Raven's stomach, and embedded itself into the floor under him.
Silence.
Otacon approached Snake cautiously, watching the empty room around him thaw up again. The ravens had already flew back towards the lift and were only just audible in the distance.
"Well that was quick." Otacon spoke in mild fear. He hadn't seen the recent event.
Snake looked at him in disgust. Snake had held some respect for Raven deep down in his heart, and the sudden death had shocked him to the core. The man was just about to help him, but all that remained was silence. A cold, lonely, dead, silence.
"Snake, I think I've figured out what's going on with the Colonel."
David was instantly distracted from the sudden horror, and put full attention on what Otacon was about to tell him. He needed answers, and he needed them now. Metal Gear REX's hanger was only two rooms away, and if they were to successfully find Meryl, avoid Liquid and Ocelot and get both Meryl and Otacon out alive, Snake was going to need to understand why Mei Ling was so scared about the Colonel, and what had caused the brutal death of Nastasha Romanenko.