Disclaimer: I do not own Metal Gear, Metal Gear Solid or Metal Gear Rising. All rights belong to Hideo Kojima and Konami.
Phantom backed away as Lynn and the other Skulls slowly walked towards him. "Lynn, what... what have they done to you?" He asked with a trembling voice.
"Stop." A females voice commanded.
Lynn and the Skulls stopped in their tracks and just watched Phantom, who was confused as he looked past the Skulls to see someone in the dark hallway walking towards them and then into the room.
The woman looked to be in her late 20's early 30's with long dark brown hair, hazel colored eyes and olive tone skin. She was sporting a dark gray business suit with a blouse and black heels.
"Not exactly an appropriate attire for a place like this." Phantom thought to himself as the mysterious woman walked towards him and then stopped right in front of him. Then, for some reason, she smiled and extended out her hand. "Hello there, I'm Emily Clark. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Phantom. Or should I say, Adam?" Emily introduced herself with her hand still extended, but Phantom just narrowed his eyes and refused to even touch her.
Emily, still smiling, narrowed her eyes too, before she retracted her hand and turned around to face the Skulls to walk back towards them. "Now, Adam, I know what you must be thinking, how is Lynn still alive when you saw her dead in the VR chair as you were escaping the camp? Well, my answer to you is this..." She began to explain before she turned back around to face Phantom. "We brought her back... from the dead. Thanks to vocal chord parasites. And not just her. Take a look at the others." She said as she gestured her hand at Lynn and the other Skulls.
Phantom looked at them all individually, and each one he looked at made his eyes widen and his anger grow. Juno, Craig, Jennifer, Karen, Chris, Logan and Kayla. They were all here behind Lynn and Emily. All except...
"Where's Evan?" Phantom asked with his fists clenched. Emily lost her smile and her eyes darkened. "Oh, you mean that rude little fucker who can't keep his mouth shut? He's still alive. In a way." She answered with a low chuckle, but she wasn't smiling. She then looked up at Phantom, this time with a smile, but twisted. "That son of a bitch got just what he deserved. A life of... hmm, servitude, I would say. But not as a Skull. Only the best becomes one of the Skulls." She said with a sneer, making Phantom clench his fists tighter to the point that it began to hurt.
"Where. Is. He?" Phantom asked slowly, as he readied himself to try and figure out a way to incapacitate Emily and all of his former friends and comrades. Emily just chuckled again, this time menacingly. "Oh, don't you worry about him, Adam. You'll reunite with him soon enough. And don't worry so much about your English speaking vocals. The parasites have been modified to be better than their predecessors. Which means, you can still speak and so can they." She answered taking a step forward before making a gesture with her hand letting the Skulls know that it was time to leave. They bowed their heads and turned around to leave the room, except Lynn.
"Ad- Adam..." She spoke, but Emily snapped her head back towards Lynn. "Leave now! I won't tell you again!" She ordered sharply. Lynn trembled before nodding her head then turned to leave the room.This made Phantom clench his teeth, but he kept calm and remembered his training.
Emily closed her eyes and sharply exhaled before looking at Phantom again. "Well then, Adam, it was a real pleasure to meet you. And I sincerely hope that we have the chance to meet again, but I doubt it." She said as the room began to tremble and shake with violent tremors. Phantom looked around the room before looking back at Emily. She just smiled and began to laugh as the tremors got worse. "Have fun with your old friend, Adam. I'm sure it will be a delightful reunion." She taunted before the wall behind Phantom exploded then out popped a hulking frame that grabbed hold of Phantom and dragged him into another part of the underground lab.
Phantom shouted and struggled to get out of the creatures bear hug, but didn't have the strength to match it before it finally threw him down hard to the floor. He rolled across the concrete floor before he used the momentum to prop himself up to finally get a look at the creature that grabbed him.
To his horror, what he saw wasn't a monster, but a poor soul that went through Hell, but didn't come out the same person.
"Evan?" Phantom whispered, but he whispered loud enough for the creature to stop in it's tracks and grab it's head in pain.
Evan shouted and roared as he thrashed violently around the room, crashing into the walls making cracks and even more tremors which shook the entire room. Phantom just watched helplessly before Evan appeared to have calmed down, he lowered his hands from his head before turning to face Phantom with a menacing and terrifying glare. Phantom knew what was going to happen next.
"Fuck..."
Diamond Foxes Base...
"FUCK!!!" Meryl shouted as she tried to reach Adam and Silent Phoenix on the comms, but she's had no success. "Damn it! Why can't I reach them?! This is bullshit! Sunny, are you sure our comms have been updated?!" She shouted as Sunny, Carla, John and the rest of the bases personnel watched her try and contact her soldiers. "Yes, Meryl, all of our equipment is up to date-"
"Then why can't we reach Adam or Silent?! I thought our tech was First Class?! Is this really what I'm paying you for?!" Meryl interrupted Sunny with hurtful words making her frown. Carla walked up to Meryl with trembling hands. "Commander, please, just calm down. I'm sure that Adam and Silent are-"
SMACK!!!
Carla fell down to the floor holding the left side of her face. She looked up at Meryl with fear as the woman looked down at her. "Don't tell me to calm down, Carla! You don't have the authority to tell me to calm down!" She shouted as she turned around to try the comms again, but felt something cold and sharp press against the back of her neck. She slowly turned her head to see John holding out his HF katana against her jugular. "John, what do you think you're doing?" She asked dangerously. John narrowed his eyes. "If you won't let Carla tell you to calm down, then how about this? Meryl, calm the fuck down or I will put you down. Permanently." He threatened.
Meryl narrowed her eyes next. "I could have you court martialed and sent home or thrown in prison for threatening your commanding officer." She threatened. John just pressed the tip of his katana into Meryl's neck more and tighened his grip. "I'm not looking at my commanding officer right now, Meryl. All I see is a good for nothing bitch who isn't thinking straight and is losing all control of herself and the situation." He countered making Meryl glare daggers at him.
The entire room was dangerously quiet as the two stared each other down while Sunny tended to Carla, who backed away from Meryl in fear. Until a booming voice broke the silence.
"BOTH OF YOU, ENOUGH!!!"
Everyone, except John and Meryl, jumped as they looked to the entrance of the room to see Thunder Rogue. He walked up behind John and stopped as he looked at Meryl. "John, lower and sheath your blade. You and Sunny tend to Carla, I'll handle this." He ordered calmly as he waited for John to comply.
John eventually lowered his sword then put it in it's sheath as he turned around and walked over to Carla and Sunny. He helped Carla to her feet as they walked out of the room with Sunny, but not before giving Meryl one last look of disappointment. Meryl snorted and turned back around to try the comms again, but felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Rogue looking at her with a stoic face. "Meryl, you are to leave this room and take a breather. Gather your thoughts and think about what you've done." He said calmly as he gently pushed her away from the console.
Meryl wanted to object but didn't get the chance to. "Meryl, I will not tell you again. If I do, then you will be suspended for a month. Let me and the rest of us do our jobs. You're in no condition to help Phantom or Silent. Now leave." He said lowly with a knowing look. Meryl paused before backing away then stormed out of the room with a huff. Rogue paused for a moment before looking at the other personnel, who were still standing in silence. "Right then, get back to work, all of you. I'll keep trying the comms while the rest of you try and find out what is going on inside that fucking mansion." He ordered as everyone nodded their heads and returned to their posts to find out what is happening with Phantom and how they can help him.
Back with Phantom...
Phantom was thrown against the wall, once again, by Evan, who had become a hulking, large creature that was too strong for him to handle in CQC. He propped himself up against the wall and looked at Evan before he stood up. Evan snarled under his breath before he decided to suddenly rush Phantom, but Phantom, with his ARS, readied the grenade launcher before shooting it at Evan's rushing form.
BOOM!!!
The grenade shell exploded and Evan roared in anger as Phantom ran towards one of the nearest doors and rushed out of the room. He ran down a long hallway, but it wasn't long until he could hear Evan roaring behind him along with his loud, thudding footsteps as he chased him. Phantom eventually came upon an end to the long hallway as he burst through another door and into a different room.
This room, however, looked like it was further deep underground. There were multiple vats of chemicals in this room and Phantom was standing 100 feet above them on a long metal bridge. "Oh, Christ. I seriously took a wrong turn. I don't even know how long I have been running for." He thought before he heard rapidly approaching footsteps behind him. Taking a quick look behind him, Phantom could see Evan running up behind him in the hallway before he decided to take off across the bridge.
As Phantom just made it halfway across the metal bridge, he eventually heard Evan's loud footsteps clanging loudly on the bridge, but they stopped after a moment making him stop as well. He looks behind him to see Evan looking over both sides of the bridge before glaring at him.
"Evan?" He called out to him, but he didn't dare walk toward him, this could've been a trick or a trap. "Sssnake..." Evan snarled before he snorted then turned around and walked away from the bridge and out of the room. Phantom, looking confused, just scratched his head before he turned and jogged across the rest of the bridge. He made it to the other side then pulled out his iDroid, but the screen was showing nothing but a blank screen that said "Map not available."
He sighed sharply before putting the iDroid away. "Ok, so, I'm going to be walking around this place blind for a while. And considering that I don't even know how I got down here, I'm further into the laboratory than I thought." He whispered as he walked through another door to leave the chemical room behind.
"Sorry, Silent. You're going to have to wait a bit longer for that rescue." He thought as continued to walk down the corridor. Before long, he could hear muffled footsteps coming from somewhere, but he couldn't pinpoint where they were. He eventually heard the footsteps getting closer, so he made a quick decision to hide in the nearest locker, that was right beside him, and keep quiet.
Phantom entered the locker and kept as quiet as he possibly could. The footsteps eventually made their way to his location before they stopped until he heard loud and heavy breathing. He decided to take a risky chance and took a peek out of the lockers slits to see what was making the footsteps, although he already knew the answer.
It was Evan.
"He's looking for me. Persistent bastard." He thought as Evan examined the area around him before moving on when he couldn't find Phantom.
When the loud, thudding footsteps were a good distance away, Phantom leaned his head back and let out a loud sigh before shaking his head. "This... is going to be a long fucking night." He thought as he exited the locker and tried to find his way back to Silent's cell without running into Evan.
3 hours later: Diamond Foxes base...
Rogue and the other Diamond Foxes Intel personnel for the past 3 hours tried to find a way to get into contact with Phantom or Silent, but they weren't having any luck.
"Damn it!" Rogue shouted as he pounded his hands on the computer console. Everyone in the room looked at him then back to their work stations as some of them held their heads in despair or had their heads down on their work stations due to exhaustion. Everyone was tired and they had been working nonstop for hours, they were beginning to get worried for Phantom and Silent's safety, but they couldn't give up.
Not now.
Until Rogue heard someone walking up behind him. He took a glance to see who it was and saw that it was Sunny. "What can I do for you, Sunny?" He asked with an exhausted tone. "All of our equipment's been loaded up and ready to go, Boss. Just give the order, and we'll head out to the Seychelles Motherbase. The AI is waiting for us, sir." She answered, but Rogue tiredly shook his head.
"No, I will not leave Phantom and Silent out there on their own without any outside help. I can't abandon them, I will NOT abandon them, Sunny." He said, but Sunny walked up beside him and placed a hand on his. "Sir, there's nothing we can do for them now. I know how you feel and I don't like it either, but if we move to our new motherbase, then we will have even more powerful equipment to help them." She explained. Rogue slowly looked up at her as she continued. "And who knows? By the time we get to our new base and get everything set up, they'll be on their way to the Seychelles on Adam's helicopter. And we'll be there waiting to greet them when they get here. Soft beds, warm food and all." She said with a trembling smile.
She wanted to reamain strong, but even she was never in a situation like this with any of the Diamond Foxes soldiers. Not with John, Carla or Meryl. She wanted so desperately to stay strong, but doesn't know how long she can do that if she doesn't even know what's happening to two of her friends.
Then for the first time in her life, she saw Rogue let a stray tear fall down his cheek before he spoke. "I can't be like him, Sunny. I can't be like my great granfather. I can't leave my comrades behind." He said with his voice trembling. Sunny placed her other hand on his shoulder. "You are strong and cold when you need to be, Boss, but you are NOTHING like Colonel Volgin. You are better than he ever was." She assured him making him look at her before he nodded his head in thanks.
"But there is nothing we can do for either Phantom or Silent right now, Boss. If we want any chance to help them get home, we need to get to the Seychelles Motherbase and set everything up now." She said to him urgently. Rogue looked back at the screen, looked at the Intel personnel, then back to Sunny before he sighed sharply and nodded his head.
"Everyone pack your belongings and get to the nearest chopper quickly. The sooner we get to our new Motherbase, the better we can help our two soldiers in Germany! That's an order!" He shouted as everyone quickly shut down their workstations and headed out of the room to pack their stuff.
Rogue looked at Sunny and nodded his head before she nooded in response then quickly walked out of the room. He then turned to look at the big screen of the Intel room that showed the last contact transmission of Phantom, but it was from 3 hours before. He sighed sharply before turning the screen off then turned to walk out of the room with a determined look on his face.
"Phantom, Silent, both better not die on us. No one is giving up on you two, and neither am I."