Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Metal Gear Solid in any way shape or form, if I did, would I even bother righting it?
NU: Null-Fox…
Chapter 35: Captured…
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Normal Speech…
Normal Thoughts…
Codec Calls…
Cyborg Ninja Speech…
Demon/Beast Unit Speech…
Demon/Beast Unit Thoughts…
Inner Spirit Speech…
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(Shell-1 Core…)
"I'm counting on you, Otacon." Snake says to his partner as he walks over to the exit of the room. Raiden watching as Otacon left the Computer Room, making his way out of the door to go and help the hostages… Emma's pet parrot on his arm as he walks out of the room to do his job. 'The guy just can't seem to win, can he?' Raiden thinks to himself, remembering what happened on Shadow-Moses between him and Sniper-Wolf, how it also ended with him crying over a lost loved one.
'I can't imagine what it's like for him, to have to leave her… or at least her body here… to have to loose another loved one like this, it just doesn't seem fair.' Raiden then thinks to himself before shaking his head and turning to, Snake. "You think he's gonna be okay?" Raiden asks and Snake turns around to face him with a grim expression placed over his face as they stand beside the door to Arsenal Gear.
"He's tougher than he looks. Consider it done." Snake replies while taking the disk from his waist and handing it over to Raiden. 'Not much use for you anymore, is there?' Raiden muses while looking at the disk with a slim frown across his lips, before quickly putting it into one of the compartments he had on his suit. Sighing, the bleached blond man walks over to the door to Arsenal and frowns before rubbing his chin.
"Now… how do we open this thing?" Raiden wonders while looking at the door and Snake sees someone move from the wall, the pattern of his body identical to the those of the walls he had seemingly been apart of only a moment before. Humming for a moment then looking upwards, Snake frowns when he notices a slight distortion above him and Raiden as well.
"You can come out now!" Snake states and seconds later, Olga dropped down from her perch above the man, still decked out in her Ninja armor while looking up at Raiden from her low crouch.
"A Ninja…? What the…?" He starts to say, only for an arm to grab him from behind before twisting his left arm into a painful CQC hold, an even more familiar sword now held at his throat.
"Arsenal's going to take off." Olga comments while rising beside of Snake before pulling her own sword from her back and holding the tip towards Raiden's neck. "We still need you to take care of a few things…" Olga comments simply while Naruto's suit then reverts back to his normal coloration behind Raiden, his single optic burning bright red. "This time, do not fail us!" Olga warns while taking a stance with her HF-Blade Naruto merely nodding his head.
"Snake! What's this all about!?" Raiden demands from Null's hold, then glares at the brown haired man as he slowly crosses his arms. "Why are you working with these Ninja?!" Raiden then demands angrily and Naruto hums lowly for a few moments.
"With us or against us, it matters not so long as we have the same goals in mind." Naruto says, confusing Raiden greatly and making Snake chuckle slightly.
"Bed time, Raiden." He comments and Raiden grits his teeth while reaching for his SOCOM, Olga moving quickly to hold her own sword at his throat. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Snake comments with a shake of his head and Raiden grits his teeth while narrowing his eyes on the man.
"You're changing sides now!?" Raiden demands and Snake merely quirks a brow in response to the question.
"Changing sides?" He asks before rubbing his chin and shaking his head. "I don't recall ever saying I was on yours." He replies while re-crossing his arms, Raiden trying to think of a way of getting away from two very dangerous Cyborg-Ninja, a legendary Soldier, and not get maimed in the process… thus far he wasn't coming up with any good ideas that ended with him alive…
"Damn it!" Raiden grumbles out while glaring at Snake, the older man looking to Naruto and ignoring the platinum blond.
"It's been a while, Eh Null." Snake comments and Naruto nods his head.
"This chitchat isn't getting us anywhere Snake, our objectives need to be achieved, our plan must be completed." Naruto says vaguely, fully aware of the nano-machines within Raiden's body.
"Agreed…" Olga comments from in front of Raiden and then reaches up and turns her visor transparent, Raiden looking at her in shock.
"You!" Raiden says in shock while Olga smirks towards the platinum blond.
"Ready for some shut eye?" She asks mockingly, Raiden's eye's going wide before the woman lunges forward, slamming the back of her sword into Raiden and activating its shock feature. Snake and Naruto both move away from the man as she does so, though Naruto only does to avoid slicing his throat since his suit was insolated. As the electricity arches over Raiden's form, the young man then falls to the ground, Snake, Olga, and Naruto looking down on him as he lays sprawled out before them.
"Pathetic." Olga mutters before twisting her wrist and sheathing her HF-Blade, Naruto doing so as well before crossing his arms. He was partly glad that the electrical shock also shut-downed the man's nano-machines, thus allowing him to stay out for longer than what would normally be allowed.
"In my culture, Raiden was the god of Lightning… how ironic that this Raiden is done in by electricity." Naruto comments and Olga smirks while both then look to Snake, Naruto then looking around before nodding his head. "Olga, activate your suits stealth feature and follow me into Arsenal, Snake you follow behind us and watch out for any Tengu, I left both of your normal clothes in a foot locker inside Arsenal in the hallway beside the Metal-Gear-Ray hangar. Olga, Solidus is aware of what's going on between us and the Patriots so don't worry about him or any of the men seeing us. Snake, stay hidden, I didn't reveal why you're here to him" Naruto orders only for Olga to reach out and quickly turn him around to face her.
"What exactly made you think it was a good Idea to have Solidus get involved in this?" Olga demands and Naruto sighs, Snake looking at them and then having the strangest thought that they should be married…
"This appears to be, at the very least, a reenactment of the Shadow-Moses incident. A team of highly equipped soldiers taking over a classified Military Instillation, a new Metal Gear Model with a threat of Nuclear war, a team of specially trained super soldiers with above human abilities, and last, The Cyborg Ninja who doubles as an informant… based on this analysis of our situation I can come up with no other explanation for the current layout of the building or troops… and what happens to the Ninja in the end of Shadow Moses?" Naruto whispers then asks of the gray haired woman making her eyes widen before she gnashes her teeth together.
"They want me dead so they can keep our daughter!" She realizes, Naruto deciding NOT to comment on the fact that was quite possibly the first time she's said "Ours" since before their daughter was even born.
"I hate to break this up, but we've got more important matters to deal with." Snake suddenly reminds the two while nudging down to Raiden, both Olga and Naruto nodding their heads in agreement.
"I'll take the Gaki to Solidus and Ocelot." Naruto states while reaching down then throws Naruto over his shoulder and carries him into Arsenal, Olga turning on her optical camouflage while Snake mutters something under his breath while following after the two ninja…
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(??)
Raiden slowly opened his eyes, only for them to protest due to a bright light hanging above him. "Is he still alive?" He hears echo through his mind while slowly opening his eyes once more. Looking around he closed his eyes at spotting a bright light above him, everything around him seemingly covered in a blurry haze.
"He was when Null brought him in." Another voice comments, still echoing in his ears for some reason. "I've checked everything, including the Genome Data, but there's nothing on this guy." The voice comments, echoing against his mind once more, a small groan escaping Raiden's lips as it does. "NSA, CIA, FBI… He doesn't exist in any database. He's a nonexistent operative, from a nonexistent organization." The voice of the man, Ocelot if he's hearing the voice correctly, comments with obvious annoyance.
"I suspected as much. However, I know this man…" The first voice comments, Solidus he thinks, causing Ocelot to make a surprised noise. "Wake him up." Solidus then orders and Raiden groans as he is shifted forward, seeing the familiar visage of Solidus-Snake, only now with two strange tentacle's coming off of a device attached to the chest of his Exo-skeleton and draping over his shoulders, an eye patch over his left eye. Beside of him is Revolver-Ocelot, the man's arms crossed over his chest while Null-Fox sits nearby, seemingly meditating.
"It's been a while, hasn't it…" Solidus comments quietly while walking forward to Raiden, the man stripped of everything possible while hanging spread eagle on a moving platform. "Jack the Ripper?" Solidus comments, making a pained grunt come from Raiden as flashes of some memories pass before his eyes.
"You know this fellow?" Ocelot asks while walking forward and stands beside of Solidus, the former president slowly nodding his head.
"You remember me, don't you?" Solidus asks with something akin to amusement in his voice, speaking as if to a child before he takes on a deadly serious expression. "You've grown." He notes before the tentacle from his right shoulder shoots out and grasps his throat, the other seemingly hovering in front of his face. "High concentration of cerebral implants…" He notes with a frown while crossing his arms as the two strange objects continue their work, Raiden struggling for breath as he does.
"Have they altered your memory, too?" Solidus wonders and Raiden screams out in pain as a buzzing noise fills his head, his vision turning white as painful memories start to resurface. Seconds later Solidus releases his hold on Raiden, the man coughing and hanging forward in his restraints as the older man walks forward and looks at him face to face with a frown over his features.
"This is my son…" Solidus says, Naruto's head snapping to him and then looking at Raiden strangely. "I taught him everything…" Solidus continues while slowly clenching a fist and Naruto mentally sees it's like him and Ocelot, he was taught and trained by the man, and felt he was the closest thing to a father he had ever had… ignoring that Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated on a new ability he was trying to work out, namely, learning how to sense the presence of spirits already in the area so he wouldn't need a personal artifact to summon them to his aide…
"Jack… I never thought I'd see you again…" Solidus comments while looking at the platinum blond and Raiden looks at him strangely, as if he was only half understanding the many memories flashing before his eyes.
"You… know me?" Raiden questions and Solidus frowns while pointing at him.
"You don't remember…?" He asks and sees the confusion on Raiden's face. "Your name… your skills… everything you know, you learned from me." Solidus says while clenching a fist, Raiden grunting in pain as his head throbbed over and over again. "The eighties… the civil war. You were one of the best among the child soldiers that fought in that conflict. When you were barely ten years old, you became the platoon leader of the 'Small Boy Unit.'" Solidus offers with a nod of his head while Naruto listens intently, several pieces of the puzzle that was Raiden and his unusual combat abilities suddenly making sense.
"At the time, your outstanding kill record earned you several nicknames, including 'White Devil' and 'Jack the Ripper.'" Solidus explains and sees a pained expression cross over Raiden's features as the memories of the war, the screams, the sounds of gunfire all fill Raiden's mind. "Jack… I was your godfather, I named you." Solidus says while crossing his arms behind his back and sighing. "When the war ended, you disappeared from the relief center. I wondered what happened to you… I should have known they would recruit you." Solidus muses mostly to himself before then turning on his heel, away from the man while Ocelot walked to his side.
"It's an interesting coincidence…" Ocelot muses and Solidus resists the urge to reach a tentacle out and strangle the traitor, no, he had to wait, the plan had to work.
"If he's a lackey for the Patriots, I doubt he knows anything of interest." Solidus muses and Ocelot crosses his arms while looking at the other man.
"What should we do with him?" He asks and Solidus turns to look at Raiden and smirks slightly.
"We'll use him like you suggested…" Solidus mused aloud and then turned to look at Naruto. "What do you think, Null?" He asks and Naruto looks up to him, then at Raiden, and finally to Ocelot before sighing.
"Do with him as you wish…" Naruto states before going quiet once more and Solidus nods his head to Ocelot, the older man smirking as he does. However, he then frowns and crosses his arms while looking to Solidus.
"What about Dead-Cell?" Ocelot asks and Solidus rolls his eye.
"Ignore them." He orders and then sighs as Ocelot gasps, then grasps his right arm with his teeth gritted, the arm twitching and spasming as Naruto looks to see Liquids Spirit trying to overpower Ocelot's. 'Pathetic… the Sorrow must be ashamed of you…' Naruto muses while watching on, then returns to his work while Solidus shakes his head.
"Happening again?" Solidus asks with disinterest and Ocelot pants out a few breaths while nodding his head.
"Could it be that he's here too?" Ocelot questions and Solidus merely grunts in response, Ocelot cradling his right arm while looking down at it.
"In another hour, we demonstrate the power of Arsenal-Gear." Solidus says and Ocelot nods his head while lowering his right arm.
"We attack with standard weapons of course?" Ocelot asks of his "Leader" and Solidus nods his head stiffly.
"Yes, proceed as planned." He replies and Ocelot licks his lips.
"At last report, all is well with 'GW.'" Ocelot then offers and Solidus hums in thought for a moment.
"Null, how about the troops?" Solidus questions of the second in command of the Gurlukovich army, Naruto is silent for a moment before finally answering the man.
"They are being refitted with Arsenal Gear Equipment as ordered." Naruto replies and Solidus nods his head, Ocelot looking at the other man for a moment suddenly chuckles and causes Solidus to raise a brow.
"You're the spitting image of Big-Boss…" He comments and Solidus raises a hand before laughing and walking back towards Raiden, finding that should be appropriate in some way.
"Is that so?" He asks with an amused tone before looking at Raiden once more. "Perhaps I should be grateful to this Kid for that." Solidus notes before walking passed Raiden and making his way out of the room, Ocelot smirking as he leaves. Walking over to Raiden, Ocelot then turns his head slightly to Naruto, finding him still meditating.
"Want to stay for the show, Null?" Ocelot asks and Naruto's optic comes on line for a few moments as he then looks to Ocelot.
"I am awaiting Olga… once she arrives I shall leave…" Naruto replies while Ocelot rolls his eyes and mutters something about "Young Love" annoying Naruto since the old man knows he can't feel such things…
"This situation… I find it very… nostalgic." Ocelot then notes while turning back to Raiden, the blond man looking around and groaning slightly in his throat.
"Where… am I?" He asks and Ocelot looks around as well before chuckling.
"Why inside Arsenal-Gear, of course." The old man replies and then takes a thoughtful expression while looking at Raiden. "Actually, we're also inside the memory of Shadow-Moses." Ocelot notes with an amused expression while Naruto snaps his head to the man, wondering what kind of game he was playing at. Ocelot then pulls a familiar disk from his pocket and holds it towards Raiden with a smirk. "I'll take this back. You don't need it anymore, do you?" Ocelot comments darkly with a smirk across his lips, while Olga enters the room, Naruto grunting while rising up to his feet and walking to stand beside the woman with his arms crossed.
"A foul wind is blowing… We shall speak again." Ocelot promises before turning and making his own way out of the room, leaving Olga, Naruto and Raiden alone in the room, Raiden looking to the two Ninja with worry.
"Don't move… stay as you are." Olga says only loud enough for the blond or Naruto to hear while keeping her back to Raiden. "We're being monitored by a camera." Olga comments while Naruto keeps an eye out for anyone approaching via the thermal imaging system within his helmet.
"What are you up to…?" Raiden wonders lowly and Olga frowns when she hears the question.
"I'm switching over to nano-communication…" Olga then comments and Raiden closes his eyes as his Codec comes online.
"Mister-X…? Ninja…?" Raiden asks with a frown.
"Correct… it's me." Olga confirms, Raiden wondering how she managed to fool him into thinking she was a man for so long.
"I thought you were the leader of the Russian troops…" Raiden notes causing a pained expression cross over Olga's features.
"No. That was just a smoke screen. Null has actually been in full command of them ever since the beginning of this operation…" Olga replies and Raiden frowns.
"A smoke screen?" He questions and Olga sighs.
"I was sent to provide you support." She replies, causing Raiden to frown.
"Support? Who sent you? The Colonel?" He asks the woman with a suspicious glare towards the woman's back.
"No… The Patriots." Olga replies bitterly and causes Raiden to gape.
"What?!" He demands though the Codec and Olga closed her eyes.
"I… I deceived my troops… betrayed them…" Olga replied while placing her hands onto the lower section of the windowpane.
"But why?" Raiden asked the woman and Olga stiffened.
"My child is… being held hostage by the Patriots." Olga replied while barely managing to control her emotions, wishing that for only a moment she could feel nothing like Null did… "It all started two years ago when I lost my father during the tanker incident… My men and I had nowhere to go… so we joined forces with an illegal Russian Organization." Olga explained and caused Raiden to frown slightly.
"The Russian Mafia?" He asked the woman and she laughed bitterly.
"Something like that. Actually, I learned much later that it was a subordinate organization of The Patriots." Olga offered while spitting the name Patriot out, then sighed. "I was expecting at the time, Null was with me as he always is it seems. And when I gave birth to my child, it turned out I was in a hospital run by The Patriots. In the morning… my child was gone. All I know for sure, is that my baby is being kept somewhere in this country." Olga explained and Raiden couldn't help feel for the woman, and knew he would do the same if he was in her shoes.
"Have you ever even met your child?" Raiden asked softly and Olga sighed once more while looking over to the ever silent, ever vigilant Naruto.
"No. Once a month, they send me a photo of my child via network. I've never even held her in my own arms…" Olga replies and Raiden winces visibly before looking down, feeling sorry for the woman.
"I see…" He replies and then looks to her back once more. "Given your situation, nobody can blame you for what you did." Raiden says and Olga snorts while looking to Naruto once more, wondering what he was thinking at the moment.
"That's your opinion…" She notes bitterly and Raiden winces.
"What about Snake? I thought you were enemies…" Raiden then asked and Olga smirked despite herself.
"He wasn't responsible for my fathers death." Olga replied then chuckled. "And besides that, Null brought Snake here…" Olga then notes and thanks whatever god is out there that the room is shielded from transmission.
"What?!" Raiden demands while looking to Null in shock.
"Don't be so surprised, my daughter… she's his as well…" Olga states and Raiden looks to the man in shock.
"How?" He asks and Olga rolls her eyes.
"It's a long story that I'd really rather we not get into." Olga says while rubbing her face and Raiden immediately agrees he does NOT want to know how or when that happened between them… especially considering that the man was supposed to be EMOTIONLESS as far as he knew!
"So… then you were working with Snake from the beginning?" Raiden asks and Olga snorts.
"No, I only found out the truth about my father shortly before this." Olga replies with a frown, confusing Raiden.
"Huh?" He asks intelligently and Olga shakes her head.
"When I confronted him in the Big-Shell." Olga says in explanation and Raiden looks at her strangely.
"You fought with Snake, When?" He demands and Olga thinks for a moment.
"Well, it was around the time you were holding hands with that girl." She notes with a slight shrug and Raiden grits his teeth.
"Snake…" He grits out and Olga rolls her eyes. "So you joined hands with him because of Null?" Raiden questioned and Olga snorted.
"No. Mutual gain…" She replied and Raiden frowned towards her.
"Mutual gain?" He questioned and Olga wondered if the kid, or Gaki as Naruto would call him, ever stopped asking so many questions.
"My job was to assist you. If Solidus gets away with Arsenal, your mission is a failure." Olga reminds and then gnashes her teeth together. "The Patriots would judge that as failure on my part and terminate Null's and my own daughter… Putting it simply, the life of our daughter depends on your success." Olga explains and Raiden lowers his eyes to the ground once more.
"So you did it all for your child." He mused mostly to himself before shaking his head. "But why would the Patriots want to help me? Are they hoping I'll take Solidus out?" Raiden questions and Olga sighs while leaning forward.
"No. You're just like me… we're just pawns…" Olga replies and Raiden frowns.
"Pawns for what purpose?" He asks and Olga looks to Naruto, the boy nodding slightly and making her wonder if Mantis was in control at the moment.
"The S3 plan…" She offers gaining a confused huh as her response. "You'll figure it out for yourself sooner or later… but I wonder how you'll handle the truth." Olga wonders to herself, Raiden frowning in response.
"What do you mean?" He asks and the woman sighs.
"Listen… we haven't got time for this. Solidus will commence his attack at any minute. He's got to be stopped." Olga tells Raiden, the man frowning in thought.
"What about the virus?" He asks and Olga scoffs.
"No result so far. I think The Patriots have tampered with the program." Olga responded and Raiden frowned to himself.
"Will it work?" He asks and Olga sighs.
"I don't know…" She admits, causing Raiden to grimace.
"Get me out of this thing!" Raiden then says while lightly pulling at his bonds.
"Not yet, I'll release your restraints after Null and I have left the room." Olga says and Raiden narrows his eyes.
"Where's my gear?" Raiden demands and a different voice pipes up.
"With Snake. It's too dangerous for us to try and bring it too you with Ocelot watching us." Naruto says and Raiden looks to him with surprise.
"So you do talk without spirits controlling you." He notes and Naruto frowns at the barb, sure he was quiet, but being quiet was his job… "So where do I find Snake then, Null?" Raiden questions and Null takes a thoughtful expression under his mask.
"The passageway ahead leads to a hangar. He should be waiting somewhere around there. Olga gave him a cardkey for the hangar." Null offered in explanation and Raiden frowned towards the Shadow-Moses survivor.
"You know Snake pretty well, right?" Raiden then asks and Naruto hums for a few moments.
"More or less…" He offers in reply, causing Raiden to frown.
"Then does he really plan to destroy Arsenal-Gear?" Raiden demands and Naruto hums once more while slowly turning his head to look at Olga.
"Of course not. The Arsenal-Gear is much too large even for him to destroy. Whatever Snake has with him wouldn't even dent Arsenal's armor… Thus the only option is to stop Solidus and his men." Naruto notes monotonously, causing Raiden to wonder how in the hell he and Olga got along.
"Olga, what are you going to do now?" Raiden then questions and Olga sighs.
"Stay concealed, that's my role, and I still can't afford to be discovered." She offers simply and Raiden frowns.
"Olga, you can't keep this up, their bound to find you!" Raiden states and Olga barely even bats a lash before shaking her head.
"Listen, I'll free you in a little while…" Olga says over the Codec before walking towards the man. "Brace yourself." She orders and Raiden does so quickly before she then slams her fist into his gut, making him lurch forward with a grunt. Nodding her head, Olga looked to Naruto who uncrossed his arms before following after Olga as she exited the room as well. As they exit the room, Naruto looks to Olga from the corner of his eye.
"Was it really necessary to punch him?" Naruto asks the woman and she crosses her arms over her chest.
"One, he asks far too many questions…" Olga says and Naruto nods his head in agreement. "Two, I have to keep up appearances…" She reminds and once more Naruto nods his head. "Three, I'm surprised you didn't cut him to pieces considering he was naked and in my presence." Olga notes and Naruto tilts his head before rolling his eyes.
"Honestly Olga, if you could stand to be around him, I wouldn't care… it's your life and your choice… not mine." Naruto says and Olga looks at him, before the blond then rubs his chin for a few moments. "Plus he's already engaged to another woman…" He notes and Olga blinks then shakes her head.
"You really are a strange one, Null." She notes and Naruto nods his head.
"Yet for several years now you've put up with me." He notes and Olga gives him a look in response, before then crossing her arms and stopping at a control panel. "Time to let the Gaki loose?" Naruto asks and Olga gives him a look in response. "Good. Then soon everything will come into order…" Naruto says in a strange tone as Olga releases the locks on Raiden and both make their way to an elevator…
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TBC…
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