Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the MG/MGS franchise!
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who stopped by! :) If you're new here, welcome aboard! I made a much better story photo for HAU, but the image manager is NOT cooperating. Soon, the 'cooler' version will be up depending on how fast FF is at fixing the issue :D Anyway, here is the next chapter; I hope you enjoy!
CaptainMc: Well I would love to give you an answer, but that is deep within spoiler city for Lydia and those grounds are like...off limits. :3
Guest K: Kaz is such a bastard lol. It makes me sad to write Lydia when she is going through something like that, and I'm glad it was effective!
MATURE CONTENT WARNING: Sexual themes.
"Listen to the silence, let it ring on.
Eyes, dark grey lenses frightened of the sun.
We would have a fine time living in the night.
Left to blind destruction, waiting for our sight."
-Joy Division
"This anticipation is killing me." Lydia sat on the bed of the truck waiting with the other guys that had tagged along.
"I can't believe Boss has that much influence on people." A soldier spoke up. Multiple ones around him agreed; either nodding or humming in response.
"The Boss sure is something." Lydia smiled to herself. "You know, I dropped everything to be a part of his team. When he showed up at my door…well I just couldn't believe it."
"Sounds like a love story." One of the guys mocked.
"Ha!" Lydia bellowed. "He's like my dad, so that would be a little weird." She sighed, looking at all the men. "His charisma and the way he carries himself is what most leaders yearn for…it just goes naturally to him."
"Mmmhmm."
"The Boss is great!"
"I want to stay with him forever!"
"Oh, Iris?" Lydia looked up to a tall man walking toward her. "How did you meet the boss?"
Lydia couldn't help but smile at his question. "It's a long story." She rolled her eyes, recollecting the chain of events that happened so long ago. "He taught me how scrawny I was right off the bat! He was a jerk to be honest, but he grew on me."
"You? Scrawny?! Please, you have some meat on your bones!"
"Not back when I was sixteen." She laughed.
"Sixteen?!" Multiple soldiers gaped under their balaclavas.
"Yeah. Like I said…long story." She waved her hands up. Lydia stood up from the vehicle, looking in the direction Snake and Kaz ran off to. "Right about now, he's probably teaching the village idiot a lesson he won't forget."
"We'll teach YOU a lesson you won't forget!" A sharp cry cut her off though the clearing. Lydia and the soldiers turned their heads to see what was going on. It looked like they were surrounded by damned bandits! They were armed with AR's and machetes…about twenty of them, too. "What the hell are you doing here?! This is our turf!"
"Hey fellas." Lydia waved. "We were just having a little fun." She shrugged, speaking for the group. "No harm, no foul."
"Don't you talk to me, perra!" The assumed leader of the squad stepped forward. Her eyes directly met with his on the insult. "There is some harm done. Just look at my grass!" He dramatically motioned to the ground below them…which was just walked on. "I don't appreciate a bunch of guys and some puta coming through my neck of the woods."
"Hey! There's no need to put yourself in danger, bub. I'm not the one who's calling names and is clearly outnumbered here."
"What did you say to me?!" The angry man stepped forward, making a few friendly militants step in front of Lydia to block her from any harm. Lydia instantly placed her hands on the two men that blocked her view, gently pushing them apart.
"It's alright, I wanna see how angry this guy can get."
"Yes ma'am." They both sounded off.
"You must give some really good coño out for these sons of bitches to follow you."
"How'd you know?" Lydia crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. The leader walked forward, licking his disgusting lips, sizing her up to the tee.
"How about you show me what you're all about, eh? And I'll let you and your men off easy." He adjusted his belt, comically thrusting his hips toward her.
"You threaten me with a good time?" Lydia cracked a grin at the man, making him chuckle in response. "Oh, I'll give you a good time." Lydia took a swift step toward the man, grabbing him by his shaggy brown hair. She pulled him toward her and kneed him right in the crotch. He let out a fairly humorous screech while plummeting to the ground in immense pain. While he was incapacitated on his knees, Lydia pulled out her pistol from her holster and bashed him atop the head with it, knocking him out cold. The moment he hit the ground, her band of friendlies readied their weapons at the intruders; automatically making them lower their weapons in shock. She popped a bullet into the chamber and pointed it toward their leader's head.
"Now you listen here you sons of bitches. I hope your grandmothers are rolling in their graves right now because of you working for this pandejo! Now, if anyone ELSE wants to have a hell of a good time with my fist up your ass - step right up because I'm dying for some sweet, sweet action." She looked around to everyone. Either scared or in awe, she couldn't help but let out a nefarious chuckle. "Good. Now someone get your god damn leader before I blow his brains out."
"Y-y-yes ma'am!" A few foes jogged forward and picked him up.
"Take him to his mother, he deserves a good reminder of how he should talk to a lady."
"WAHHHHHH!" The multitude of bandits escaped in the blink of an eye.
"Oh my God in Heaven." One man noted while a few others walked up to her. Lydia placed her gun back on safety and reholstered it back into her harness as she witnessed all of her comrades kneel down.
"PLEASE IRIS, MARRY ME!" Lydia slapped the palm of her hand to her face, dragging it down.
"Pull yourselves together for Pete's sake." Lydia rolled her eyes. To her left, she heard the sound of rustling shrubbery. "Not again." Lydia shifted her gaze, looking in that direction. Out of the woods emerged Kazuhira and Snake, whom were smiling - although Kazuhira looked little out of breath.
"And here they are kneeling before the woman that beat me. Did you not hear us getting attacked?" Kazuhira wined.
"Boss!"
"Master Miller!" The majority of the troops stood up in glee and faced the two men as they approached closer.
"Matter of fact, we didn't. We had a little problem of our own." Lydia crossed her arms, responding to the exhausted Kazuhira.
"And I take it you handled it?"
"I handled it alright." Lydia looked at Kazuhira, who grinned and raised an eyebrow at her comment.
"I would like you to handle me." All the troops seemingly jumped back. Some of them emitting 'oooos' and 'ahhhhhhs' at his ballsy comment. Lydia took a few steps to him and peered up into his bright, blue eyes. She didn't notice how tall he was until she was up close. Lydia scoffed and placed her right hand on her hip.
"Are we going to have a problem?"
Before Kazuhira could come back and say something, Snake interrupted with a cough. "Iris, it looks like Kazuhira finally agreed to be a part of our team."
"Good. I was getting tired of winning." She twisted her body away from him and stood at Snake's side. "So what's next, boss?"
"Finding our base."
"I can live with that." Lydia shrugged.
"For now, let's get everyone back to their stations. We'll get a plan together in the morning."
"Got it."
Lydia, Kazuhira, and Snake all piled into the same van they rode in on; en route back to the make-shift command post. "First things first, I have to speak with the commander. I have a promise to uphold."
"That's right you do." Kazuhira crossed his arms and leaned his back against the tight tarp. "Oh." He straightened up after a moan and turned his attention to Lydia whom was sitting across from him and adjacent to Snake. "Iris, I don't think we've been properly introduced."
"I don't believe we have." She adjusted herself, sitting up with her back straight.
"We have an hour-drive upon us, so might as well." He shrugged happily.
"Iris." Lydia stated simply. "Ummm, from America…uhhh I'm not too sure what you want to know. I'm pretty boring."
"Hardly." Kazuhira shook his head, mischievously peering at her with his blue eyes. "I have plenty of time to get to know you. Something tells me that you're far from boring."
"Well thank you, Kazuhira." She bowed her head at the compliment.
"Please, call me Kaz. I don't want to give you a mouthful this early on." Snake couldn't help but let out a groan at his innuendo.
"Good lord." Lydia lightly laughed at the innuendo.
"Hey, no need to be so formal either." He winked. There was one thing for sure, he was quite the charmer. Lydia crossed her legs and arms.
"Are you always like this?" Snake questioned.
"More or less." Kaz shrugged. "You saw my serious side, but now…we're comrades, right? So I can treat you like one."
"For sure." Lydia responded for Snake. "Man, I'm beat. I can't wait to get a good night's sleep." She stretched her arms up to the top of the trunk bed. "Snake, you're lucky I won any of those matches. I was half-dead!"
"I was testing you too, you know." Snake interjected…earning a raised eyebrow from Lydia. "I was trying to see how your physical and mental capabilities acted when under stress…" Her eyes trailed from Snake's face and to the bottom of the trunk.
"Hmm, it looks like we were both up for tryouts." Kaz mentioned.
"Hey, you should know I was always on the team. But, on the other hand, it's good to have a little faith in people you trust every now and then."
"Right." Snake agreed. "You both did pretty good." Lydia lightly blushed in embarrassment at his phrase which earned a laugh from Kaz.
"Are you two going at it, or something? You know Snake, you never answered my question back when you were chasing me."
"Going at it?" Lydia questioned. She wasn't too familiar with his terminology. "Like…dating?"
"More than dating." Kazuhira leaned forward, with a finger held up in the air. "Snake here has yet to tell me how many women he's slept with." Lydia gaped and tried to hold in laughter at the same time.
"That's enough of that." Snake shook his head, keeping his notorious straight-face. "And there's none of that between myself and Iris either."
"Yeah, after all the years I've know him, I think of him more like the dad-I-never-had." Lydia chimed in.
"Oh, I bet you call him 'daddy' all the time." Kaz winked at her.
"I said, that's enough." Snake ordered.
"Alright, alright. Backing down." Kaz held up his hands in defeat. "It was good while it lasted. Oh! Do you mind if we make a stop in the nearest town? I need to get something."
"I don't mind." Lydia spoke.
"Hmm." Snake just nodded.
"Good! Thanks a lot." Kazuhira smiled.
The long hour had passed until we stopped in front of the convenient store about ten miles out from the outpost. "Well, here we are." Lydia announced, being the first to jump out of the truck. Kazuhira followed behind her…but no Snake. "Snake? You coming?"
"Nah."
"You want anything?"
"Well…if they have cigars…"
"Got it." Lydia nodded. Kazuhira placed his right hand on Lydia's back, guiding her into the store. "Hey!" She set herself free from his guidance.
"Ladies first." Kaz grinned. Lydia watched him walk to a small tower filled with sunglasses. Once he arrived at his destination, he was twirling it around in circles…wanting to find some type of specific pair. "Ah." Lydia raised an eyebrow as he raised some brownish-lensed aviators with golden frames. He placed them over his eyes and turned to Lydia with a goofy grin on his face. "So, Iris, how do I look?"
"Uhhhhh complete?" She said simply, keeping an eye on his face.
"You see, I lost my old ones before you guys showed up last week…and now I've got these lovely babies back again." He took them off, squinting his blue eyes at the sudden change in lighting. He placed some currency on the counter; instantly a happier man when the glasses found their way to the bridge of his nose.
"Hmm, it seemed like something about you was missing." Lydia lightly laughed. "I guess that was it."
"You were thinkin' about me, huh?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Nah, just observing." Lydia shrugged, approaching the counter. Her attention turned to the employee standing at bay. "Do you have any cigars?"
"No." The employee responded. "We were all bought out. We'll get more next week."
"Next week?" Lydia frowned. "Man, Snake isn't gonna be happy about this one."
"Guess he's gonna have to conserve." Kaz laughed.
"Snake conserve cigars? Nah, that's something that will never ever happen." Lydia rolled her eyes. "Are we done here?"
"Yeah." Kaz and Lydia both walked out and back to the truck. In the bed, Lydia spotted the relaxed Snake whom hadn't moved an inch.
"Sorry Snake, no cigars." His mouth slightly twitched as he let out a long groan.
"This could be a sign for you to quit." Kaz said nonchalantly.
"Nah, I'll find some back at the outpost." Snake replied, slightly disappointed.
A half-hour had passed until they were back at the outpost safe and sound. Lydia jumped from the truck and stretched her arms into the sky, letting out a big yawn. "I'm gonna go to sleep." She announced.
"Mind if I join you?" Kaz questioned…not too sure if he was being flirty or not.
"Sure?" She glanced back at him. "I'm pretty sure there's an extra cot in there."
"Alright." He sounded slightly defeated.
"Snake." Lydia noticed him walking to the strong-hold. "You going to the commander?"
"Yeah." He nodded.
"Alright, see you tomorrow." He nodded his head a second time and continued off on his own.
"So, Iris…shall we?" Kaz placed his hand on the small of her back, causing her to move forward.
"Hey!" She sped up, escaping his touch. "Don't touch me." She turned around, walking backwards; narrowing her eyes at the culprit.
"Alright, alright. Yes ma'am." He held up his hands, not-so-innocently. Lydia let him into a roomy tent that was split into different sections and took him to the area where she and Snake were staying.
"Oh well would you look at that." She walked to the corner of the room. "It looks like there's another cot like I predicted!" She picked up the bundle of bed materials and handed them to Kaz.
"Now where do you sleep? No offense to Snake, but I'd rather be closer to you if you know what I mean."
"No…I don't know what you mean. And I'm right here." Lydia slid off her vest and belt, gently placing them on the floor at the foot of her futon. She sat down as Kaz threw together his sleeping area. Lydia pulled off her shoes and collapsed the rest of her body on the cushion below her. She instantly let out a sigh once her head hit the comfort of the pillow. "Have a nice evening Kaz." She shut her eyes, not wanting to make any extra effort to cover her clothed body with the covers.
"You too, Iris." He laughed a little.
"Lydia." She corrected him.
"Huh?"
"My name is Lydia. Iris is my code-name."
"Lydia, huh? You got a last name that goes with that, dear?"
"Matthews." She smiled with her lips, keeping her eyes closed.
"Ok. Well nice to meet you and goodnight Miss Lydia Matthews."