Arsenal Gear: Declaration

*****************Otacon*************

Otacon was doing his usual thing on the computers w/ no luck. Snake hadn't responded to his calls. Tyler was around on B19 doing whatever he was doing. Brandon was a few floors away on B9. Raiden was moving around on different floors, proving he escaped.

******************Ocelot****************

10:43

Ocelot: (on radio): Mikhail, do you read me?

Mikhail: Loud and clear. What do you want?

Ocelot: Any report yet on the Tengu fight?

Mikhail: No ones reported in yet.

Ocelot: But its been confirmed Candy Man is dead?

Mikhail: Yes. Vital signs stopped.

Ocelot: What was the cause?

Mikhail: All signs point to a gunshot wound. Fatal, apparently.

Ocelot: Go down to where they are and find out who's still alive.

Mikhail: Fine.

Mikhail left, but Ocelot got a call from his radio.

Ocelot: Yes, what is it?

This is Fox.

Ocelot: (Trembling) Yes, sir, what do you want?

Fox: (Heavily breathing) I have an order for you.

Ocelot: Sir, what is it?

Fox: Never figured I hear that. You sent your brother to find out who survived, right?

Ocelot: Yes, sir.

Fox: Go there and recover Candy Man's body. And don't ask questions.

*****************Snake*********************

11:34

Heading out of the room, Snake slumped against a nearby wall and lit a cigarette. He killed each Tengu one-by-one and only had a few scratches and bruises. He called Otacon.

Otacon: You alright?

Snake: About as fine as I can be after that.

Otacon: What exactly happened before you were ambushed? I was preoccupied with the system.

Snake: Took care of Candy Man. Then all hell broke loose. My question is how the Tengus could've survived the crash or even the gear. Can you find out?

Otacon: Already on that. Haven't found anything yet. We'll have to disconnect soon.

Snake: Fine. Over and out.

Snake left the floor and went to B23 via security card from a dead tengu. There was only 1 door, which Snake entered. It was a large, circular room, not unlike many others he had seen before. No one else was inside, and luckily, no catwalks above. There were shadowy areas, though. A clang could be heard, alerting Snake. Nothing could be seen. Snake was prepared to leave when a signal someone was there: a dead Tengu was thrown in front of the doorway. Snake quickly looked in all directions. Whoever threw him wasn't seen. After a while of silence, Snake checked for what killed him. Choke marks were visible, along with a shot to the heart.

Snake: Solidus?

"Yes, brother?

Snake could pinpoint Solidus's location. Solid aimed his M-4 at Solidus, in vain, anyways. Solidus dropped from his location in a shadowy section of the room to a part about 20 feet away. Solid caught a quick glimpse, with Solidus's new scars on his face and newly-colored armor. Solidus used his a "tentacle" to knock away Solid's M-4, and used his other to grasp Solid's neck. He lifted Snake off the ground. Putting pressure on his neck, Solidus threw the M-4, which was still in the grasp of his tentacle, over to his arms, holding it along with an RCP-90.

Solidus: Long time no see.

Solid: You died! You fell off Arsenal Gear!

Solidus: You should know, Snake, that simple causes like those can't kill someone like me. Vamp can testify to this. Come out!

The ominous figure of Vamp, another thought-dead Dead Cell member, jumped down from an area close to Solidus.

Solid: What's going on here? (Snake was beginning to get light-headed from Solidus's pressure).

Solidus brought out his RCP-90, spun it like he usually does, and casually aimed.

Vamp: Too easy.

At the last split second, Raiden appeared. 3 bullets hit near Solidus. He dropped Snake and fired at Raiden. Snake looked over at Raiden, who was running away from them. He found a safe spot and fired right back at Solidus with a Socom. Solidus: Vamp, take care of Snake. I'll kill Raiden.

Vamp: Yes, king.

Snake was quickly recovering, when he noticed Vamp heading toward him. Raiden threw his Socom to Snake. It stopped a few feet away from Snake. Raiden equipped an M-16 and fired back. Solidus sprayed hundreds of bullets at Raiden, who still couldn't hit him. Vamp threw several knives at Snake, who barely avoided them. If one hit near him, Snake would toss them back. Aware of the situation, Solidus used a tentacle to aim it at the Socom. It pushed it away from Snake, who still pursued the gun. Solidus aimed his gun at Snake and had a clear shot to his shoulder blades. Raiden fired at Vamp, who easily deflected the shots. Right as Solidus prepared to fire at Snake, it was stopped by someone.

The ninja.

The ninja appeared from the ceiling, spun, and sliced off most of the RCP-90. The ninja did a back flip and spun while doing it, deflecting bullets. He appeared between Snake and Solidus, with Vamp prepared to attack from the side.

Snake: (To himself) Gray Fox?

Solidus: Who are you?!

The ninja just breathed. The design of the ninja wasn't in the traditional form. The mask resembled the design from Shadow Moses, but the design of the upper and lower body was more along the lines of Solidus's armor, except for the tentacles. It held 2 swords, with one pointed at Solidus. All firing ceased.

Ninja: It's amazing how you've come this far. The illegitimate son of an experiment.

Solidus: Who the hell are you?!

Ninja: My fight is not with you.

The ninja held his sword pointed towards Solidus. Without a second thought, he moved arm the opposite way, and the sword backhandedly. The sword twisted and spun towards Snake. Snake barely avoided it, but swiped his arm. Solidus aimed at the ninja who deflected the bullets w/o difficulty. Vamp threw knives which easily were blocked off from the ninjas sword. Raiden got out of the way and took the sword from a pierced wall. Vamp leaped, threw knives, with just barely enough time to collide with the ninja who had no time to get out of the way. Solidus pursued Snake and Raiden, while Vamp fought with the ninja. Vamp launched the ninja to the wall, which it just bounced off of. Vamp was about to be slashed by the sword when Vamp caught it, and made it stab the ground, keeping it securely stuck on the floor, handle up. They fought hand-to-hand (I'll leave it up to imagination). They fought there way back to the sword, with Vamp trying to take it off the ground. Dodging a roundhouse kick, Vamp furiously kicked out the ninjas left leg, making it fall to the side, and kicking it in its stomach, which made it flip around horizontally, taking the sword from the ground in its fast speed, while using it to slash Vamp from his chest to his face before landing on his feet. This injured Vamp, and made him bleed. Seizing on the opportunity, the ninja directly stabbed Vamp in the chest. It didn't go all the way through, but Vamp grabbed the sword handle, and plunged it further into his chest as a form of it being pleasure. The ninja took the sword out, and slashed Vamp's face from a bit above his eyebrow diagonally across his left eye, hitting his nose and mouth. He collapsed, while pursuing Solidus.

****************************Raiden********************

12:56

Snake and Raiden made it to floor B16. They avoided Solidus, Vamp and the ninja by making it to the elevator before Solidus and barely evading them. They contacted Otacon.

Otacon: What happened?

Snake: Nothing much, except the appearance of some old friends.

Raiden: Why are they here?! They nearly killed us!

Otacon: Calm down. I don't know why they're here. I don't know how useful a search would be since nothing of interest comes up at all on their mainframes.

Snake: Raiden, how'd you escape? What happened?

Raiden: I don't know. I woke up in a cell, and the door was unlocked. No one was there, so I got away. My stuff was nearby.

Snake: That doesn't feel right. No interrogations. Something's up. Glad you're alive, kid.

Otacon: Wait! Don't hang up. Something's come up from the tracer put on Candy Man.

Snake: What is it?

Otacon: I'm recording it right now. It's a recording from a few hours ago.

Snake: How'd we get it now?

Otacon: I don't know. Oh, Snake, did you happen to get the face mask back?

Snake: yeah, safe and sound.

Otacon: Good.

Brandon called in.

Raiden: Anything new, Brandon?

Brandon: I have a plan to get Ocelot.

Snake: What do you mean?

Brandon: I thought of a new plan to capture Ocelot and get some info out of him.

Raiden: How?

Brandon: Okay, I'll explain…

To be continued