Chapter 20

Revelations

As a young girl, Sunny had spent many nights lying awake in bed and thinking of what she would say to her mother if she could ever have just one chance to meet her. She had so many things to say, so many questions. So many answers she needed. Yet here, now, she could think of none of those. One word muttered from her lips as tears streamed down her cheeks, "Mother..."

Olga Gurlukovich stared back at her with a grin, "Oh Sunny. I have waited so long to see you again. To talk to you as a young woman."

"Mother I-"

"I know sweetheart," she said, "I know..."

"Rayne," one of the men said as he nudged her, "It's time."

Sunny looked on in confusion as tears welled in Olga's eyes, "Not yet. I need this. It was part of our deal."

"No." the man said, "The NAA will be coming for their Marine SEAL team soon. We need to speed this along."

Olga turned to stare at the man, "No Balthazar! I haven't seen her in twenty years! I want to talk to her!"

"Mother?" Sunny asked perplexed.

Olga stared down in grief, "I wish we would have had more time...as mother and daughter. I truly do."

Sunny watched in horror and dismay as the woman in front of her transformed from Olga Gurlukovich to another person entirely. She wore a sleek black body suit, with a black face cover on. She lowered her head and pulled the mask off, revealing her short cropped black hair and striking green eyes, a polar opposite of Olga Gurlukovich.

"Come on," the man said, "You didn't really believe your mother was alive, did you?" He laughed a cold uncaring laugh and continued, "Olga Gurlukovich died over twenty years ago, shot in the head by Solidus Snake. No way she survived that."

"Octopus Rayne," Sunny said through tears, "this whole time it was you."

"Yes." she replied through a whimper, "It was me..."

The man called Balthazar stepped forward, "Octopus Rayne posed as Olga Gurlukovich to draw you here. She also posed as the doctor, Victor Ward, to feed you the information to bring you to us. Octo Camo truly is the future of politics." A sick grin crossed his face, belying the pleasure underneath.

Sunny struggled to make sense of what was going on, "But why...?"

Balthazar "We are running a field test for Metal Gear Moses. As the successor to Solid Snake, you were chosen to test our new model."

"Chosen..?"

"Yes. You will take on the new Metal Gear and attempt to destroy it. We have a wealth of test data, but we are in need of real-world field data, and who better than Snake's disciple? Over twenty years ago, you were taken from your mother by the Patriots to ensure her cooperation in helping Raiden succeed in their Solid Snake Simulation. After the fall of the Patriots, we recovered the results of that simulation."

He paused for a moment, as if to savor his position above her, "Ironic if you think about it. You were there at the beginning, and now you will conclude the Solid Snake Simulation."

Sunny looked on questioningly, "Simulation...to test me?"

Balthazar nodded, "Now you understand, young lady. We planned everything you experienced here tonight. To test you, and to prepare you for what's to come. We need a true Solid Snake, not a rookie. So, we decided to condition you before your test. Everything that you have experienced tonight has been scripted."

He cleared his throat, "We intentionally stole the NAA warhead so that they would send a squad here to reclaim it. We also used our own influence to convince them to send your friend as part of the recovery team. Snake had a friend of the opposite sex in Shadow Moses. We needed you to have one as well. Victor Ward played the part of the regretful scientist that wanted nothing more than repentance in stopping what he had created. I believe that was the role of your dear friend, Hal Emmerich."

"Otacon..." Sunny whispered in sadness.

The man continued, "FOX was gathered merely to give you an enemy. FOX was the 'evil' that had to stopped. It kept you going, especially given that it was led by Olga Gurlukovich, who played our Big Boss quite admirably. Even Hunter was chosen because we knew he would aid you, as Gray Fox aided Solid Snake."

Sunny shook her head, "All of this just to get me here?"

"No. This was to train you, to condition you to fight Moses. Metal Gear is the real reason you are here."

"And if I refuse?"

The man merely chuckled, "We are going to launch the Metal Gear either way. You know what it is capable of. Would you really do nothing while that hell is unleashed on the world? Is that the legacy you want Solid Snake to leave behind?"

"So this was all a lie?!" she screamed in defiance, "You...you called me your daughter. How could you do that? How could you lie to me about something so precious?!"

"You are my daughter!" Rayne yelled back, "I took care of you way more than that bitch ever did! How can you love her and not me..?"

Sunny shook her head with confusion, "What...are you talking about?"

Balthazar laughed eerily, "She doesn't know, does she Rayne? She doesn't know why you lead those who would set the world ablaze."

"It was me," Rayne said as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "I'm the one who took you when you were born...for the Patriots. I took care of you the entire time you were there."

She stared off into the distance, "After my lover, Decoy Octopus, was killed, I had given up on having a child of my own. But then, you came to me. I loved you like any mother would. I fed you, held you, loved you. But then, they let him take you from me..."

"What? Who?"

"The Patriots. They let the operative 'rescue' you."

"Raiden? Wait, they let him take me.."

"How else would you think he succeeded against them? He is one man, they were a vast network of AI's." She shook her head, "You were deemed as no more use to them. So they arranged for your rescue. They wanted to observe how you lived in normal society with the AI exposure they gave you. Your reflexes and advanced logic, your immense comprehension of computer programs and networks. They had quite high hopes for you. You represented what the human race could be, the next step in evolution."

She swallowed hard and continued, " When you were freed, you learned about your birth mother. By the time I found you, you only knew her. You had...completely forgotten me. I left the Patriots and went underground, trying to put that part of my life behind me too. But then, the Wisemen came to me. They offered me a chance for revenge. And another chance to see you, and talk to you...and know you. So I took it."

Sunny nodded, "So that's your stake in this war..."

"Yes! I will destroy this world, the world that took him from me, the world that took you from me! I will set the world ablaze!"

"Your lover, Decoy Octopus? He died over thirty years ago, at Shadow Moses. But you...you look so young."

A rash look of grief and anger shot across Rayne's face. "Life extending nano-machines. I was cursed with those decades before I even met him. I cannot die, forced to suffer through life's evils. It is my burden, my curse."

"Wait...I have another question." Sunny said with a look of deep thought, "If you're Octopus Rayne, why are you listed in the medical records as my mother?"

"What?" Rayne asked curiously, "What are you talking about child?"

"Subject Gurlukovich. The test subject for the new FOXDIE virus. I understand if you wanted me to think you were my mother, but why use her name in the data files? Why not your name? Would that not have been more convenient?"

Rayne appeared genuinely confused, "Subject Gurlukovich? I know nothing of that."

The man called Balthazar stepped forward with a grin, "Of course, the files we fed you. You thought it was your mother." His grin grew wider as he made his revelation, showing his delight in every second of it, "You are Subject Gurlukovich."

"What..." Sunny gasped.

"When you were captured, before you awoke, you were injected with the virus, just as Snake was on his mission. We needed real world data on both the virus and the Solid Snake Simulation. Injecting you with the virus solved both of those dilemmas."

"Wait!" Rayne yelled, "Why was I not informed of this?"

"It was done before you arrived as Victor Ward. You have...attachments to the girl. We decided it was better you did not know."

"You decided..." she whispered, "You decided! She's mine! You promised me! How could you do that?!"

"This is bigger than the girl, and you. Focus on your revenge, this is the only way to get there."

Rayne bowed her head in sorrow. Tears welled in Sunny's eyes, "Am I...going to die?"

"That's what we are going to find out," the man said gruffly, "FOXDIE could not kill Solid Snake. We are interested in seeing how you handle it."

"Snake..." Sunny whimpered in desperation.

"Hahaha..." one of the other Wisemen laughed, "Solid Snake can't save you now. The FOXDIE virus was born from him. He's the one killing you, girl."

"Enough, Melchoir." Balthazar said sternly, "Think about what I have said. When you are ready, you will face Moses." He turned to the other two men, "Melchoir, Gaspar, come. We have much to prepare for. Hunter's execution will be beginning."

Sunny's eyes widend. They were going to kill him...his role in their game was over.

The Wisemen turned from her and began to exit the room. Rayne reached out to Sunny, "I just wanted to see you again. To tell you the truth...I just, wanted you back."

"Shut up!" Sunny lashed out. "This is all your fault! You've killed me, you know! And in my mother's name! I will never be your daughter!"

Rayne's sorrowful expression quickly transformed to a glare of rage. "Rayne." Balthazar called out, "Let's go."

Rayne's eyes twitched as she begrudgingly turned to join the other three as they exited the room. Sunny lay strapped to the bed, struggling with all of her newfound information.

How could tonight have gotten any worse than it already was, she thought to herself. Everything she was, was now being tested. Yet, perhaps that was the whole point to the Wismen's game, to push her all the way to the edge. It was working, but she was not as strong as they believed. She did in fact take over Solid Snake's legacy, but she was beginning to realize that she would never have his strength, his spirit, his resolve. She would never be the legendary Solid Snake. She was broken...defeated, and she had not even faced Metal Gear yet.

"Metal Gear..." she muttered. She would have to fight it, she knew. If there was chance she could stop it she had to, even if Balthazar and the other Wisemen were confident she would fail. And she would fail. She would face off against the machine, but she knew she would not survive. With the virus in her system, however, she would die anyway. One last fight, one last struggle. It would be the way Snake would want her to go. She took a deep breath as she resolved to fight Metal Gear Moses.

The door opened slowly as her thoughts spun around her. Her stomach cringed at the thought of the Wisemen returning. But, as if the one thing that had gone her way all night, the man who entered was not one of the Wisemen. It was the man she had come to save.

"I do not understand," she said as she looked on.

"I'm here to get you out," John said in response.

"But you were taken." she said as he began undoing her restraints.

"Yes, but not to Rayne." he said.

"Then where?"

"To Hunter's quarters. He told me everything. He also gave me these weapons and this key card." He handed an assault rifle and a pistol to Sunny as she began to regain her balance. "We're going to destroy Metal Gear."

He readied his rifle and nodded to her, "But first, we have to get out of here."