Chapter Thirty-Three: The Target Was Set
Snake had left the floor without another spoken word; without another look back. With the haunting words "I am the lamb" and the tearing of flesh and mangling of bone he had wished never to see a sight or hear a sound so bitter and brutal again. He walked on, though, and did not stop until he was within the elevator cart and had pushed the button to move to the third floor.
'Snake,' Liquid's voice emerged as the elevator doors slid shut. 'I'm still here, Snake. I'm not leaving. We have a lot of catching up to do!'
Snake did nothing, but hold his SOCOM tight and look directly at the silver doors as the elevator began to lift smoothly upward. 'Cold shoulder.Snake, whatever you do, I'll be right here beside you. You simply cannot be rid of me.' Snake didn't respond.not physically at least.
But, he was fighting it. His mind was pushing.pushing Liquid - or the mere memory of him - from his consciousness. Snake knew that he couldn't engage in a firefight with Liquid chanting in his mind. He knew that he would die.and maybe that was exactly what he was trying to do.
'You think I want you dead?' Liquid asked. 'Ha! Why would I want that? I'm still alive, Snake. In Ocelot's arm, yes, but this isn't me talking to you. You know just as well as I that you are speaking to yourself.just like you said it - your mere memory of me.'
"How do I know that?" The elevator stopped, but as Snake took a step forward the doors did not open. Something was obstructing them.keeping them tightly shut.
'Snake!' Liquid called again. 'I'm not letting you go. Not yet!' Snake turned his head, and began to search along the walls. His eyes were darting this way and that. He had to find an exit.
"You're a memory!" Snake exclaimed. "How can you be holding me in here?"
'Think of how we are alike, brother!' Snake's mind froze. That last statement had melted eerily into something he had long forgotten.a mesh between Liquid's and another's. He stood, slowly, his eyes beginning to scan the elevator cart as he felt - or thought he felt - something brush up against him. Something invisible.
His arms were strong, but in that moment they shook. "He's.alive?" he asked Liquid.and himself, but there was no reply. "Is he alive?!" Snake's voice had escalated in both intensity and anger. He was not frightened.but angry and confused. But then, the doors peeled open, and there was a slight scream as they retracted.
Snake jumped around, facing the lobby area, and stepped into the open. He stood, unable to comprehend what had been said in the elevator. His arms had fallen and his head had too as the doors closed behind him. Turning around, he watched the light highlight numbers as the elevator ascended: 4.6.7.8.10.12.and finally 13. 'There was someone in there with me,' Snake thought and then turned away again. 'But who?'
There were questions.so many questions to be answered, but none of them could be. He was positioned in the center of the world and was the only one who could put an end to everything that was happening behind the veil.but he would never be known. His wounds would never be seen, his story never told in truth. He would endure the pain of the world and would be the very one to carry that terrible weight without recognition.without reward but that of his own pride - pride which was shattered every time he took a life.
He had known it, though. He knew it when he took the job. But, there were things he valued that had come only with his job: Fox.a loyal partner. Otacon.a caring friend. Raiden.a dedicated apprentice. Desperado.an honorable and fair adversary and image. And truth.something he would have lived his life without had he not signed up with FOX-HOUND or the military.
He let out a heavy sigh, one that he dismissed even before he'd done it. Then, gripping his SOCOM just a bit more aggressively, he went down a narrow hallway and saw at its mouth a large computer lab littered with desktops, laptops, and other computer terminals. Snake took note to the tall black boxes and then saw Otacon and Jack both huddled around a desktop. He saw several green lights glinting from behind crates and table legs, but only as his foot nearly touched the floor of the computer room did he see the whole picture.
"No, Snake!" Otacon grumbled, and Snake stopped, his foot hovering just inches above the carpet and then pulling quickly away as he regained his stability a few feet from the mouth of the lab. His eyes went back to the little green lights and his SOCOM went up as well. "SEMTEX," Otacon mumbled just loud enough for Snake to hear.
Snake backed away just as there was a beep in his ear. Surprised and finding it terrible timing Snake kneeled, his SOCOM still high, and touched his ear with a discerning grimness on his face. "Who is it?" he questioned on instinct and on anger.
"Snake," Otacon's voice returned. "Snake, it's Klaymore. The room is set to blow, and one touch to the floor will light this tower on fire." Snake sighed more heavily than before and closed his eyes tight. 'Too much,' he though. 'Too much is happening too fast.'
"How is the floor set to blow?" Snake asked, his eyes opening quickly. "Sensitive to the touch?"
"No," Otacon answered. "It's setup like a grid, the lasers running just over the carpet. I can't quite tell, but I think there are a few sensors running vertically throughout the room, but I have a good view of the conductor panels on either side of the room."
"Otacon, is Klaymore nearby?" Snake asked.
"No idea," Otacon replied, and Snake seemed somewhat estranged by the situation.
"How the hell did you get to that desk without setting it off?" Snake questioned. It did seem odd that they were, out of luck, able to move to the terminal and avoid each and every sensor in their path.
"They weren't on when we came into the room," Otacon said. "It happened when I activated a file on the computer." Snake shook his head slowly.
"What file?"
"It's titled 'IDT.'" Snake thought. "It sounded familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Whatever it is, it's what triggered the SEMTEX."
"Can you.deactivate it?" Otacon shook his head and Snake saw him do it. He looked down at the floor and thought.pondered. Then, his head came up and he cocked it to the right, just slightly. "Otacon, you said you had a good view of the conductor panels?" Otacon nodded. "Do you have a good enough view to walk me through the room?"
Otacon shifted in the chair, a sign that he was somewhat uncomfortable with Snake's suggestion. "Snake, I don't know. There could be more than what I see." He paused.
"Can you or can't you?" There was a daunting silence, occupied only by their heartbeats and slow breath.
"Yes," Otacon answered confidently, and Snake stood tall.
"He's trying to navigate the SEMTEX sensors?" A voice came from a dark nook. It was on a Codec, and Snake's and Otacon's voices could be heard on the transmission, but his voice was not heard on theirs. "Norman, run a scan on the third floor. I don't want to be blown apart." There was a pause. "In fact, the Snake might need some direction.Norman, give me Solid Snake's transmission, and cloak my voice. He is not to know who I am. Not yet."
"It looks like you have just about a foot and a half gap between the gridlines.in most cases. That's worth a sigh of relief, but not a cheer. At least we know it's possible," Otacon paused, and Snake sighed on queue. "I don't want to move around, because I don't know what other sensors might be around Jack and me, but what I can't see he probably can."
"What about those vertical sensors?" Snake questioned apprehensively. Otacon's eyes went steadily to the intentionally jagged ceiling, circular designs engraved in its surface. He watched for a moment, scanning it closely, and then his eyes fell shut.
"I don't see any conductors, but I can't be sure," Otacon replied.
"That's comforting," Snake said sarcastically as he moved back to the mouth of the narrow hall and looked over the carpet with a cool calmness. Otacon was happy to see his game face again. Snake pulled out a cigarette from its case and bit it between his lips, letting it tip slightly toward that floor. Pulling out a lighter, he singed its end and puffed a bit of smoke into the air before returning both the case and lighter to concealment.
"Smokes again, Snake?" Otacon shook his head with a slight smile. "Well, they aren't going to work for this. The sensors are too close to the floor. Why don't you work on saving another ten years of your life and slip them back into your pocket."
"Stress relievers, Otacon," Snake answered with a grin and he could see Otacon blink and hold his eyes shut for some time before looking back up at him and then surveying the conductor panels on either sides of the wall.
"All right," Otacon began, "pick your right foot up and place it back down just over the break in the carpet," Otacon explained. Snake examined the carpet and saw its fairly obvious transition from a blue-green to a patterned shade of blue-violet. Taking a peek into the lab room, he looked heavily on the two conductor panels and then took a step, setting his foot down with a firm stance and making sure not to tilt his ankle as to trip the sensors.
Otacon let out a deep sigh and wiped his forehead, moistening the back of his hand and smearing the salty sweat through his eyebrows. "Good, now turn 90 degrees to your left and set down your left foot perpendicular to your right." Snake did as he was told and Otacon sighed again. "In the next row of gaps we don't have much hope. They're no wider than the length of your foot, and no longer than the width of your foot, which means you simply cannot fit in them.so jump on that table just to your left, and wait there for a moment."
Snake looked up to his left and saw a four-legged desk, its top made somewhat of glass and a computer placed under it, tilted upward to face through the glass window. Snake had no sooner stepped onto the desk than he had stepped back off, his heart racing. He peered into the glass window and saw a blinking green light, along with a small conductor panel, and when he looked up to the ceiling he saw another. "Damn," he said aloud.
"What is it, Snake?" Otacon asked.
"A vertical sensor is running right through this desk," Snake explained. "Klaymore is no idiot.and it shows." There was an eerie silence from where Otacon sat, and he took a deep breath before looking up into Snake's face.
"Snake," he said slowly, "he's shut off every possible path. There's no way you can get through this without striking a sensor."
"Not true," a voice came, suddenly, making Snake jump. It was on the Codec, and it was digitally cloaked.
"Who's this?!" Snake erupted, but there was no direct answer.
"That Klaymore.his genius never surprises me." There was a pause. "The naked eye will not get you through his maze.only a map. And.wait, I happen to have one right here." Snake was suspicious.
"How can we trust you won't send us into the sensors?" Otacon asked, and there was a hasty reply.
"I am in this tower as well," the voice claimed. "Your success is my success, as your failure is my failure. You see, Solid, both our lives are on the line."
"Who are you?" Snake asked.
"What do you suppose this cloaking is for?" the voice returned.
"I don't care, I want to know who you are." Snake was persistent.
"I am the American," the voice came again. "You will know me by my real name soon.but first you must survive this.we both must." Snake's mind returned to something Otacon had told him in the helicopter as they were on their way to Embassy Square. 'The Discovery,' he told himself.
"What's the Discovery doing here?" Snake asked, and Otacon swallowed hard. There was an apprehensive hesitation from the other end of the line.
"How much do you want from me?" the voice asked, surprised and yet.accepting of the request. Snake didn't answer. He just waited for an answer. "The Discovery is here with Metal Gear."
"Metal Gear?!" Snake exclaimed. "Two Gears in the same city?"
"This Metal Gear has been in production for quite some time.and the Patriot has sought its abilities since the conclusion of the Cold War. But, he still doesn't know the half of it. He doesn't deserve my Metal Gear."
"Your Metal Gear?" Snake questioned.
"I had it constructed using variables from studies in the Cold War Project, a project initiated by Soviet contractors and other outside investors. The Patriot has tried for so long to possess it, but he knows that its power is confined to my knowledge. Only with me can he operate it.but he is all ready finding ways around that." The voice paused absently. "He doesn't trust me, but he has failed to see the trick I have in store for him, still." The voice paused again, waiting for some reply, but there was none. "I presume that is enough to gain your trust for the time being? I am who I say I am."
Snake swallowed hard. "Where do I go from here?" There was a grim satisfaction, one that Snake could sense but not see. He knew the American was being truthful to them, but he could feel another weight upon him.
The time was slow moving, but every step Snake took was without flaw. He had reached Otacon and Jack without coming near another sensor. Despite the restrictions, Otacon and Snake hugged and Snake shook Jack's hand heartily. "Take a look at this, Snake," Otacon said, pointing at the monitor of the computer they all three were huddled around.
There was an onslaught of files being transferred from 'Zero' to the large black supercomputers, and the monitor was giving the three a window to it all. But still, it eluded them - its purpose. "I don't know, Otacon," Snake said, and they both watched the screen absently, until Otacon suddenly remembered.
"The Colonel," he said aloud. "He told me about something called 'IDT.' I don't remember what the acronym stood for, but.here, I'll contact him."
There was a moment of silence as the two connected, and then a scruffy voice came over the line - its origin unknown. "Yes?" It was the Colonel.
"Colonel? It's Otacon," Otacon said hastily. "Do you remember something called 'IDT'?" The Colonel though for a moment, but it was a short moment.
"It's Dante's program," the Colonel replied. "IDT - Internal Data Transfer. It was installed on the disc I gave you back at the headquarters outside of Manhattan. Why?" Otacon seemed very confused.
"It's installed on a Patriot database," he proclaimed. "We activated it, just to see what it was, and a whole floor of SEMTEX was automatically armed. We're stuck in front of a computer, and the program is doing something. It's retrieving files from a database titled 'Zero.'"
"I'm sorry, Otacon," the Colonel answered. "I don't know, but.why would it be on a Patriot device? Dante directly opposes the Patriots. I wonder how they got a hold of it."
"Do the three of you want out of this maze?" the American's voice returned, and they sighed.
"Who's that?" the Colonel asked.
"Don't worry," Otacon eluded his question. "Thanks, Colonel." Then, their transmission was cut and the three of them looked back at the computer. "Why WOULD Dante's program be on a Patriot device?"
"I'd like to know that myself," the American intruded, "but first you must get to a more secure location, and that means you need to get off of this floor. Now, shall we continue?"
That was when they turned, their eyes fixed on the elevator doors as they slid menacingly aside. And there, standing in the nearly empty cart, was a man. In his left hand was the intersection of a seared crucifix, its body black and gray, and in his right was a trigger.
"Welcome to my labyrinth," he said. "So sorry I kept you waiting."
"Sir! Right this way, sir!" a man yelled, gesturing Dante toward a helicopter - rotors all ready spinning. Dante, who was still walking but at a quick pace, moved over to the man and another man suited him with a tan trench coat before the window of the second cockpit of a Tiger helicopter lifted and slid open.
"Thank you," Dante said and then climbed a ladder to the second cockpit. Flipping over the edge of the wall and dropping into his leather seat, he fitted himself with a pair of sleek black gloves and took the maneuvering stick in his hand as he fiddled with a number of other buttons and switches.
Then, upon pressing another, the cockpit window moved back over him and fell into place, securing itself with a number of electromagnetic locks. A flight crew, all dressed in jumpsuits and fitted with headphones and goggles, backed away as the rotors continued to churn the air, whipping through it faster and faster, and sending a squall of dust and mulch away from it.
Slowly, the helicopter moved into the air, and began to pull up and away. Dante looked over his shoulder and could see a number of lights glinting from Battery Park at the helicopter's left. Then, watching the sky and touching a button on his control panel, a green glow set the vista aflame with night vision.
"Sir," the other pilot began, "we are airborne." Dante smiled as the entire city of Manhattan spoke in the night with a sparkling shade of green. And in the distance he saw Tower One, its lights being the only ones in the city still glimmering, and atop it was a spire of red and white lights and a number of unassembled tresses.
"Playing both sides gives you quite an advantage," Dante said to himself.
"What was that, sir?" the other pilot asked.
"Nothing," Dante finished. He looked at the towers again and grinned wide, then muttered quietly and secretively to himself. "The night holds many secrets." And then, with the spinning rotors and the quiet, dead air, the helicopter came nearer and the towers grew larger.
The target was set.
Snake had left the floor without another spoken word; without another look back. With the haunting words "I am the lamb" and the tearing of flesh and mangling of bone he had wished never to see a sight or hear a sound so bitter and brutal again. He walked on, though, and did not stop until he was within the elevator cart and had pushed the button to move to the third floor.
'Snake,' Liquid's voice emerged as the elevator doors slid shut. 'I'm still here, Snake. I'm not leaving. We have a lot of catching up to do!'
Snake did nothing, but hold his SOCOM tight and look directly at the silver doors as the elevator began to lift smoothly upward. 'Cold shoulder.Snake, whatever you do, I'll be right here beside you. You simply cannot be rid of me.' Snake didn't respond.not physically at least.
But, he was fighting it. His mind was pushing.pushing Liquid - or the mere memory of him - from his consciousness. Snake knew that he couldn't engage in a firefight with Liquid chanting in his mind. He knew that he would die.and maybe that was exactly what he was trying to do.
'You think I want you dead?' Liquid asked. 'Ha! Why would I want that? I'm still alive, Snake. In Ocelot's arm, yes, but this isn't me talking to you. You know just as well as I that you are speaking to yourself.just like you said it - your mere memory of me.'
"How do I know that?" The elevator stopped, but as Snake took a step forward the doors did not open. Something was obstructing them.keeping them tightly shut.
'Snake!' Liquid called again. 'I'm not letting you go. Not yet!' Snake turned his head, and began to search along the walls. His eyes were darting this way and that. He had to find an exit.
"You're a memory!" Snake exclaimed. "How can you be holding me in here?"
'Think of how we are alike, brother!' Snake's mind froze. That last statement had melted eerily into something he had long forgotten.a mesh between Liquid's and another's. He stood, slowly, his eyes beginning to scan the elevator cart as he felt - or thought he felt - something brush up against him. Something invisible.
His arms were strong, but in that moment they shook. "He's.alive?" he asked Liquid.and himself, but there was no reply. "Is he alive?!" Snake's voice had escalated in both intensity and anger. He was not frightened.but angry and confused. But then, the doors peeled open, and there was a slight scream as they retracted.
Snake jumped around, facing the lobby area, and stepped into the open. He stood, unable to comprehend what had been said in the elevator. His arms had fallen and his head had too as the doors closed behind him. Turning around, he watched the light highlight numbers as the elevator ascended: 4.6.7.8.10.12.and finally 13. 'There was someone in there with me,' Snake thought and then turned away again. 'But who?'
There were questions.so many questions to be answered, but none of them could be. He was positioned in the center of the world and was the only one who could put an end to everything that was happening behind the veil.but he would never be known. His wounds would never be seen, his story never told in truth. He would endure the pain of the world and would be the very one to carry that terrible weight without recognition.without reward but that of his own pride - pride which was shattered every time he took a life.
He had known it, though. He knew it when he took the job. But, there were things he valued that had come only with his job: Fox.a loyal partner. Otacon.a caring friend. Raiden.a dedicated apprentice. Desperado.an honorable and fair adversary and image. And truth.something he would have lived his life without had he not signed up with FOX-HOUND or the military.
He let out a heavy sigh, one that he dismissed even before he'd done it. Then, gripping his SOCOM just a bit more aggressively, he went down a narrow hallway and saw at its mouth a large computer lab littered with desktops, laptops, and other computer terminals. Snake took note to the tall black boxes and then saw Otacon and Jack both huddled around a desktop. He saw several green lights glinting from behind crates and table legs, but only as his foot nearly touched the floor of the computer room did he see the whole picture.
"No, Snake!" Otacon grumbled, and Snake stopped, his foot hovering just inches above the carpet and then pulling quickly away as he regained his stability a few feet from the mouth of the lab. His eyes went back to the little green lights and his SOCOM went up as well. "SEMTEX," Otacon mumbled just loud enough for Snake to hear.
Snake backed away just as there was a beep in his ear. Surprised and finding it terrible timing Snake kneeled, his SOCOM still high, and touched his ear with a discerning grimness on his face. "Who is it?" he questioned on instinct and on anger.
"Snake," Otacon's voice returned. "Snake, it's Klaymore. The room is set to blow, and one touch to the floor will light this tower on fire." Snake sighed more heavily than before and closed his eyes tight. 'Too much,' he though. 'Too much is happening too fast.'
"How is the floor set to blow?" Snake asked, his eyes opening quickly. "Sensitive to the touch?"
"No," Otacon answered. "It's setup like a grid, the lasers running just over the carpet. I can't quite tell, but I think there are a few sensors running vertically throughout the room, but I have a good view of the conductor panels on either side of the room."
"Otacon, is Klaymore nearby?" Snake asked.
"No idea," Otacon replied, and Snake seemed somewhat estranged by the situation.
"How the hell did you get to that desk without setting it off?" Snake questioned. It did seem odd that they were, out of luck, able to move to the terminal and avoid each and every sensor in their path.
"They weren't on when we came into the room," Otacon said. "It happened when I activated a file on the computer." Snake shook his head slowly.
"What file?"
"It's titled 'IDT.'" Snake thought. "It sounded familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Whatever it is, it's what triggered the SEMTEX."
"Can you.deactivate it?" Otacon shook his head and Snake saw him do it. He looked down at the floor and thought.pondered. Then, his head came up and he cocked it to the right, just slightly. "Otacon, you said you had a good view of the conductor panels?" Otacon nodded. "Do you have a good enough view to walk me through the room?"
Otacon shifted in the chair, a sign that he was somewhat uncomfortable with Snake's suggestion. "Snake, I don't know. There could be more than what I see." He paused.
"Can you or can't you?" There was a daunting silence, occupied only by their heartbeats and slow breath.
"Yes," Otacon answered confidently, and Snake stood tall.
"He's trying to navigate the SEMTEX sensors?" A voice came from a dark nook. It was on a Codec, and Snake's and Otacon's voices could be heard on the transmission, but his voice was not heard on theirs. "Norman, run a scan on the third floor. I don't want to be blown apart." There was a pause. "In fact, the Snake might need some direction.Norman, give me Solid Snake's transmission, and cloak my voice. He is not to know who I am. Not yet."
"It looks like you have just about a foot and a half gap between the gridlines.in most cases. That's worth a sigh of relief, but not a cheer. At least we know it's possible," Otacon paused, and Snake sighed on queue. "I don't want to move around, because I don't know what other sensors might be around Jack and me, but what I can't see he probably can."
"What about those vertical sensors?" Snake questioned apprehensively. Otacon's eyes went steadily to the intentionally jagged ceiling, circular designs engraved in its surface. He watched for a moment, scanning it closely, and then his eyes fell shut.
"I don't see any conductors, but I can't be sure," Otacon replied.
"That's comforting," Snake said sarcastically as he moved back to the mouth of the narrow hall and looked over the carpet with a cool calmness. Otacon was happy to see his game face again. Snake pulled out a cigarette from its case and bit it between his lips, letting it tip slightly toward that floor. Pulling out a lighter, he singed its end and puffed a bit of smoke into the air before returning both the case and lighter to concealment.
"Smokes again, Snake?" Otacon shook his head with a slight smile. "Well, they aren't going to work for this. The sensors are too close to the floor. Why don't you work on saving another ten years of your life and slip them back into your pocket."
"Stress relievers, Otacon," Snake answered with a grin and he could see Otacon blink and hold his eyes shut for some time before looking back up at him and then surveying the conductor panels on either sides of the wall.
"All right," Otacon began, "pick your right foot up and place it back down just over the break in the carpet," Otacon explained. Snake examined the carpet and saw its fairly obvious transition from a blue-green to a patterned shade of blue-violet. Taking a peek into the lab room, he looked heavily on the two conductor panels and then took a step, setting his foot down with a firm stance and making sure not to tilt his ankle as to trip the sensors.
Otacon let out a deep sigh and wiped his forehead, moistening the back of his hand and smearing the salty sweat through his eyebrows. "Good, now turn 90 degrees to your left and set down your left foot perpendicular to your right." Snake did as he was told and Otacon sighed again. "In the next row of gaps we don't have much hope. They're no wider than the length of your foot, and no longer than the width of your foot, which means you simply cannot fit in them.so jump on that table just to your left, and wait there for a moment."
Snake looked up to his left and saw a four-legged desk, its top made somewhat of glass and a computer placed under it, tilted upward to face through the glass window. Snake had no sooner stepped onto the desk than he had stepped back off, his heart racing. He peered into the glass window and saw a blinking green light, along with a small conductor panel, and when he looked up to the ceiling he saw another. "Damn," he said aloud.
"What is it, Snake?" Otacon asked.
"A vertical sensor is running right through this desk," Snake explained. "Klaymore is no idiot.and it shows." There was an eerie silence from where Otacon sat, and he took a deep breath before looking up into Snake's face.
"Snake," he said slowly, "he's shut off every possible path. There's no way you can get through this without striking a sensor."
"Not true," a voice came, suddenly, making Snake jump. It was on the Codec, and it was digitally cloaked.
"Who's this?!" Snake erupted, but there was no direct answer.
"That Klaymore.his genius never surprises me." There was a pause. "The naked eye will not get you through his maze.only a map. And.wait, I happen to have one right here." Snake was suspicious.
"How can we trust you won't send us into the sensors?" Otacon asked, and there was a hasty reply.
"I am in this tower as well," the voice claimed. "Your success is my success, as your failure is my failure. You see, Solid, both our lives are on the line."
"Who are you?" Snake asked.
"What do you suppose this cloaking is for?" the voice returned.
"I don't care, I want to know who you are." Snake was persistent.
"I am the American," the voice came again. "You will know me by my real name soon.but first you must survive this.we both must." Snake's mind returned to something Otacon had told him in the helicopter as they were on their way to Embassy Square. 'The Discovery,' he told himself.
"What's the Discovery doing here?" Snake asked, and Otacon swallowed hard. There was an apprehensive hesitation from the other end of the line.
"How much do you want from me?" the voice asked, surprised and yet.accepting of the request. Snake didn't answer. He just waited for an answer. "The Discovery is here with Metal Gear."
"Metal Gear?!" Snake exclaimed. "Two Gears in the same city?"
"This Metal Gear has been in production for quite some time.and the Patriot has sought its abilities since the conclusion of the Cold War. But, he still doesn't know the half of it. He doesn't deserve my Metal Gear."
"Your Metal Gear?" Snake questioned.
"I had it constructed using variables from studies in the Cold War Project, a project initiated by Soviet contractors and other outside investors. The Patriot has tried for so long to possess it, but he knows that its power is confined to my knowledge. Only with me can he operate it.but he is all ready finding ways around that." The voice paused absently. "He doesn't trust me, but he has failed to see the trick I have in store for him, still." The voice paused again, waiting for some reply, but there was none. "I presume that is enough to gain your trust for the time being? I am who I say I am."
Snake swallowed hard. "Where do I go from here?" There was a grim satisfaction, one that Snake could sense but not see. He knew the American was being truthful to them, but he could feel another weight upon him.
The time was slow moving, but every step Snake took was without flaw. He had reached Otacon and Jack without coming near another sensor. Despite the restrictions, Otacon and Snake hugged and Snake shook Jack's hand heartily. "Take a look at this, Snake," Otacon said, pointing at the monitor of the computer they all three were huddled around.
There was an onslaught of files being transferred from 'Zero' to the large black supercomputers, and the monitor was giving the three a window to it all. But still, it eluded them - its purpose. "I don't know, Otacon," Snake said, and they both watched the screen absently, until Otacon suddenly remembered.
"The Colonel," he said aloud. "He told me about something called 'IDT.' I don't remember what the acronym stood for, but.here, I'll contact him."
There was a moment of silence as the two connected, and then a scruffy voice came over the line - its origin unknown. "Yes?" It was the Colonel.
"Colonel? It's Otacon," Otacon said hastily. "Do you remember something called 'IDT'?" The Colonel though for a moment, but it was a short moment.
"It's Dante's program," the Colonel replied. "IDT - Internal Data Transfer. It was installed on the disc I gave you back at the headquarters outside of Manhattan. Why?" Otacon seemed very confused.
"It's installed on a Patriot database," he proclaimed. "We activated it, just to see what it was, and a whole floor of SEMTEX was automatically armed. We're stuck in front of a computer, and the program is doing something. It's retrieving files from a database titled 'Zero.'"
"I'm sorry, Otacon," the Colonel answered. "I don't know, but.why would it be on a Patriot device? Dante directly opposes the Patriots. I wonder how they got a hold of it."
"Do the three of you want out of this maze?" the American's voice returned, and they sighed.
"Who's that?" the Colonel asked.
"Don't worry," Otacon eluded his question. "Thanks, Colonel." Then, their transmission was cut and the three of them looked back at the computer. "Why WOULD Dante's program be on a Patriot device?"
"I'd like to know that myself," the American intruded, "but first you must get to a more secure location, and that means you need to get off of this floor. Now, shall we continue?"
That was when they turned, their eyes fixed on the elevator doors as they slid menacingly aside. And there, standing in the nearly empty cart, was a man. In his left hand was the intersection of a seared crucifix, its body black and gray, and in his right was a trigger.
"Welcome to my labyrinth," he said. "So sorry I kept you waiting."
"Sir! Right this way, sir!" a man yelled, gesturing Dante toward a helicopter - rotors all ready spinning. Dante, who was still walking but at a quick pace, moved over to the man and another man suited him with a tan trench coat before the window of the second cockpit of a Tiger helicopter lifted and slid open.
"Thank you," Dante said and then climbed a ladder to the second cockpit. Flipping over the edge of the wall and dropping into his leather seat, he fitted himself with a pair of sleek black gloves and took the maneuvering stick in his hand as he fiddled with a number of other buttons and switches.
Then, upon pressing another, the cockpit window moved back over him and fell into place, securing itself with a number of electromagnetic locks. A flight crew, all dressed in jumpsuits and fitted with headphones and goggles, backed away as the rotors continued to churn the air, whipping through it faster and faster, and sending a squall of dust and mulch away from it.
Slowly, the helicopter moved into the air, and began to pull up and away. Dante looked over his shoulder and could see a number of lights glinting from Battery Park at the helicopter's left. Then, watching the sky and touching a button on his control panel, a green glow set the vista aflame with night vision.
"Sir," the other pilot began, "we are airborne." Dante smiled as the entire city of Manhattan spoke in the night with a sparkling shade of green. And in the distance he saw Tower One, its lights being the only ones in the city still glimmering, and atop it was a spire of red and white lights and a number of unassembled tresses.
"Playing both sides gives you quite an advantage," Dante said to himself.
"What was that, sir?" the other pilot asked.
"Nothing," Dante finished. He looked at the towers again and grinned wide, then muttered quietly and secretively to himself. "The night holds many secrets." And then, with the spinning rotors and the quiet, dead air, the helicopter came nearer and the towers grew larger.
The target was set.