AUTHOR'S NOTE: In no way was I exploiting the terrorist attacks on America
on September 11th, 2001, in chapter six. All of the other authors here who
do large MGS novels have thrown about the idea of nuking Manhattan or
bringing down a skyscraper or two, so please don't flame me about it,
because it shows your ignorance of what happened in New York and Washington
on that day. ALSO: "Roy" is not Colonel Roy Campbell, so please don't think
that.
AUTHOR'S RANT: I also don't see how suicide bombers in Israel who do the same thing Mohammed Atta and the others did on September 11th but on a smaller scale (not to mention without airplanes) can be called "just" and "right" by the world community while at the same time they condemn the September 11th hijackers. END OF AUTHOR'S RANT. ALL CLEAR.
Chapter Seven: Big Boss
Destiny watched in mute silence as the Empire State Building fell. [Destiny?]
"Is that you, Roy?"
[Yes.]
"How could you do this?" Destiny felt betrayed. How could they? This was his adopted country, more than Israel ever would be.
[If it makes you feel any better, I am truly sorry. You don't know how many times I've had to do this over this, how bad I've felt--]
"Shut up. The deal's off."
[Don't do this, Destiny.]
"Sorry, Roy."
[Fine. I really am sorry, John.]
Destiny hissed. "Don't call me that," he said. "And don't ever call me again."
There was a silence. [If that's what you want. Just remember, when you're in trouble, we'll be there. Goodbye, John.] And then the call ended.
Bastard, Destiny thought. How could he?
How could he, indeed.
* * *
Liquid Snake was watching the deadline timer, watching as it counted down. So close, he thought. Close to finding out just where Big Boss is. If he's alive. If he's dead.
Ocelot came up to him. "We've lost the feed from the major news stations," he said. "What's going on?"
Liquid stood. "I don't know," he said. Walking over to the bank of monitors in the Devil's Attic's control room, he took a step back in surprise as the monitors snapped back on—in time to show the missiles slamming into the Empire State Building. "Jesus!" Liquid yelled. "Everybody, get under cover!" He leapt into a doorframe and firmly planted himself there, watching as Vamp and Ocelot scrambled around.
The whole room rattled. Outside, Liquid could hear the Genome Soldiers yell as they stumbled about. The room "settled down" in moments, and Liquid watched as most of midtown Manhattan was devastated. He said one word: "damn."
"Who did it?" Ocelot asked. "I don't know, but it will be blamed on us," Liquid said. "The devastation… they must know we would never nuke Manhattan. Sure, some hole in Russia or China…"
"What about that Raiden?" Ocelot said. "He has to be a spy for the Patriots."
"Like you were?" Liquid asked harshly.
"That was then. This is now," Ocelot countered calmly. Raiden then entered the room. "Speak of the devil," Ocelot said. "White Devil," Raiden said. He pointed to the President. "Now what's going on with this?"
"We don't know," Liquid said. "Someone just took down several hundred billion dollars' worth of real estate."
"I noticed," Raiden said. "You two know, of course, that Snake is here?"
Liquid's eyebrows shot up, but Ocelot remained calm. "So you weren't going to tell me?" he said to Ocelot. "What happened to "cooperation" and "teamwork" to get to the bottom of this?"
"I was the one who got your body out of that grave and a new arm for you," Ocelot said. "Do you know how much that cost us? Most of what the Israelis paid Vamp."
"So? Israel has the biggest supply of liquid cash in the world at the moment. If we want some more, we'll get it."
"Israel…" Raiden said thoughtfully. "Do you think they did this?"
"It's a possibility," Liquid said. "I remember hearing that Destiny had some connections with them. He spent almost ten years in the Mossad before joining FOXHOUND…"
"Destiny? That pretender? He's nothing."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he's coming here."
Liquid laughed. "Whatever. I wonder when the 'President' will be here."
"He's flying over from London."
"Commercial or private?"
"Private."
"Good. We need him here, now." Liquid stood. "With Snake here, it changes everything. Raiden, go take care of him. I expect results."
Raiden smiled. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time." He pulled out his High Frequency Blade and checked it. "Weak-minded fool? I'll show him." He left the room. Liquid laughed at his back as he watched him go. "What a fool," he said. "And who knows? Maybe he'll kill Snake. Lowers the number of people we'll have to liquidate when this is over."
Ocelot smiled. "Of course, boss," he said. "Now, about the attack on Chernoton. Is it the right thing to do with what happened right over our heads? I think we should hold off before they send a few battalions in here and blast us to hell and gone…"
* * *
Seven miles above the Atlantic Ocean, the 'President' watched CNN in first- class as they covered the Empire State Building's destruction. So they actually did it, he thought. I didn't think the Israelis had the guts to do something like that.
A flight attendant came up to him, and handed him a beer. "Do you know that you look exactly like President Sears?" she said. He looked at her for a moment before roaring with laughter. "I get that a lot," he said. "Thank you for the drink." She smiled at him and went back into the coach area.
Sipping his beer, 'Sears' watched on the screen as commentators, now with nothing blowing up to show on the screen, began debating with old retired generals on CNN about what would happen next, how do you fight a campaign with most likely the European nations against you, as they had been during the earlier "War on Terror?" It had happened during the Bush Presidency, he'd done jack during his term besides pump up the military, and then resigned in 2003, tired of partisan politics, or so went the cover story. His handpicked successor, Sears, had continued to beef up the military, before he was forced to resign thanks to the Shadow Moses incident. Then Johnson had been killed on the Big Shell, and now Matthews had this. He'd heard rumors Bush was going to run again, tired of seeing how no one was able to get the damn job done on terrorism. Good luck, friend, 'Sears' thought. Terrorism was an essential part of the grip that the Patriots held over the country. It would never go away, unless the Patriots ceased to exist.
Which, of course, was the entire reason 'Sears' was still breathing. He chuckled at the thought. The fight in Zanzibar Land… seeing the "lifeblood" as Raven called it trickle out of his body, thanks to the dozens of wounds he'd received from Snake… and then getting up, escaping the UN soldiers as they sifted through the rubble of the remains of the fortress nation… just like they did at Outer Heaven… swearing revenge on Solid Snake, FOXHOUND, and most importantly of all, the Patriots…
The man called the "greatest warrior of the 20th century" laughed. It looked like his title was outdated. He'd have to become the greatest warrior of the 21st century as well.
* * *
Snake stood reloading his weapons and replacing old bandages with new ones as the elevator made its way down toward the Devil's Attic. [How ya feelin', Snake?] Otacon asked.
"Fine," Snake said. "Why do you ask?"
[Well, you did say FOXDIE was starting to work,] Otacon said. [We've known all along there was a vaccine to FOXDIE. Why didn't we ever go get it?]
"Remember the security there was around Naomi after Shadow Moses?" Snake said. "Triple that, and you're about at maybe a tenth of what I would have to go through to get within a mile of that vaccine. Better just to live life until you die rather than worry about when you're going to die."
[I suppose, but--]
Snake didn't hear the rest of the sentence. Pain like nothing he'd ever felt before blossomed in his gut. He clutched at his stomach and fell to the ground. "Thanks a lot, Naomi," he muttered. The pain in his gut spread to his chest, and he said, "Otacon, if you can hear me… this might be the end."
He blacked out for a while. When he woke, he could dimly hear [Snake? Snake!?] ringing in his ears. "What is it, Hal?" he said. "What's going on?"
[Snake! You're alive!]
"Barely, it seems," Snake said.
[What happened?]
"FOXDIE reminding me its still around, a bit more… forcefully than it ever has," Snake said. "Things didn't look good there for a minute."
[Well, I got your radar working.]
"Great," Snake said. "Does it cover the Devil's Attic?"
[I finally hacked it out of the Pentagon. It covers everywhere.]
"Nice job," Snake said, watching as the Soliton Radar popped up on his wristwatch (not like it appears in the corner of his vision out of mid-air, people. Go James Bond!) It showed him inside the elevator in its usual green lines and dots. "Brings back memories," Snake said.
[That it does.]
As the doors silently slid open, Snake ran out, and stopped in surprise. "You," he said.
Raiden laughed. "Who better to put an end to the legend?" he said, drawing his katana and SOCOM. "Comon, Snake, we'll see who the 'weak-minded fool' is." He brought the SOCOM up and fired a shot.
The roar of the gun got Snake's attention. He lunged to the side, firing from his own SOCOM as he fell. The bullet whizzed harmlessly past him, and Jack flicked the katana about so fast Snake could barely follow it as he deflected Snake's own bullets, sparks flying off the blade as they hit.
"You've learned some things," Snake said.
"Enough to kill you," Raiden said.
"We'll see," Snake replied, before taking his FAMAS off his back and putting his SOCOM in its holster. As the two men stood there, facing off, Snake said, "we'll see."
Snake vs. Jack in the next chapter! (Ya know, what we all WANTED Snake to do in the Big Shell). But does Snake win? And when do Destiny and the other FOXHOUNDs finally get into it? Find out in Chapter Eight: Duel!
AUTHOR'S RANT: I also don't see how suicide bombers in Israel who do the same thing Mohammed Atta and the others did on September 11th but on a smaller scale (not to mention without airplanes) can be called "just" and "right" by the world community while at the same time they condemn the September 11th hijackers. END OF AUTHOR'S RANT. ALL CLEAR.
Chapter Seven: Big Boss
Destiny watched in mute silence as the Empire State Building fell. [Destiny?]
"Is that you, Roy?"
[Yes.]
"How could you do this?" Destiny felt betrayed. How could they? This was his adopted country, more than Israel ever would be.
[If it makes you feel any better, I am truly sorry. You don't know how many times I've had to do this over this, how bad I've felt--]
"Shut up. The deal's off."
[Don't do this, Destiny.]
"Sorry, Roy."
[Fine. I really am sorry, John.]
Destiny hissed. "Don't call me that," he said. "And don't ever call me again."
There was a silence. [If that's what you want. Just remember, when you're in trouble, we'll be there. Goodbye, John.] And then the call ended.
Bastard, Destiny thought. How could he?
How could he, indeed.
* * *
Liquid Snake was watching the deadline timer, watching as it counted down. So close, he thought. Close to finding out just where Big Boss is. If he's alive. If he's dead.
Ocelot came up to him. "We've lost the feed from the major news stations," he said. "What's going on?"
Liquid stood. "I don't know," he said. Walking over to the bank of monitors in the Devil's Attic's control room, he took a step back in surprise as the monitors snapped back on—in time to show the missiles slamming into the Empire State Building. "Jesus!" Liquid yelled. "Everybody, get under cover!" He leapt into a doorframe and firmly planted himself there, watching as Vamp and Ocelot scrambled around.
The whole room rattled. Outside, Liquid could hear the Genome Soldiers yell as they stumbled about. The room "settled down" in moments, and Liquid watched as most of midtown Manhattan was devastated. He said one word: "damn."
"Who did it?" Ocelot asked. "I don't know, but it will be blamed on us," Liquid said. "The devastation… they must know we would never nuke Manhattan. Sure, some hole in Russia or China…"
"What about that Raiden?" Ocelot said. "He has to be a spy for the Patriots."
"Like you were?" Liquid asked harshly.
"That was then. This is now," Ocelot countered calmly. Raiden then entered the room. "Speak of the devil," Ocelot said. "White Devil," Raiden said. He pointed to the President. "Now what's going on with this?"
"We don't know," Liquid said. "Someone just took down several hundred billion dollars' worth of real estate."
"I noticed," Raiden said. "You two know, of course, that Snake is here?"
Liquid's eyebrows shot up, but Ocelot remained calm. "So you weren't going to tell me?" he said to Ocelot. "What happened to "cooperation" and "teamwork" to get to the bottom of this?"
"I was the one who got your body out of that grave and a new arm for you," Ocelot said. "Do you know how much that cost us? Most of what the Israelis paid Vamp."
"So? Israel has the biggest supply of liquid cash in the world at the moment. If we want some more, we'll get it."
"Israel…" Raiden said thoughtfully. "Do you think they did this?"
"It's a possibility," Liquid said. "I remember hearing that Destiny had some connections with them. He spent almost ten years in the Mossad before joining FOXHOUND…"
"Destiny? That pretender? He's nothing."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he's coming here."
Liquid laughed. "Whatever. I wonder when the 'President' will be here."
"He's flying over from London."
"Commercial or private?"
"Private."
"Good. We need him here, now." Liquid stood. "With Snake here, it changes everything. Raiden, go take care of him. I expect results."
Raiden smiled. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time." He pulled out his High Frequency Blade and checked it. "Weak-minded fool? I'll show him." He left the room. Liquid laughed at his back as he watched him go. "What a fool," he said. "And who knows? Maybe he'll kill Snake. Lowers the number of people we'll have to liquidate when this is over."
Ocelot smiled. "Of course, boss," he said. "Now, about the attack on Chernoton. Is it the right thing to do with what happened right over our heads? I think we should hold off before they send a few battalions in here and blast us to hell and gone…"
* * *
Seven miles above the Atlantic Ocean, the 'President' watched CNN in first- class as they covered the Empire State Building's destruction. So they actually did it, he thought. I didn't think the Israelis had the guts to do something like that.
A flight attendant came up to him, and handed him a beer. "Do you know that you look exactly like President Sears?" she said. He looked at her for a moment before roaring with laughter. "I get that a lot," he said. "Thank you for the drink." She smiled at him and went back into the coach area.
Sipping his beer, 'Sears' watched on the screen as commentators, now with nothing blowing up to show on the screen, began debating with old retired generals on CNN about what would happen next, how do you fight a campaign with most likely the European nations against you, as they had been during the earlier "War on Terror?" It had happened during the Bush Presidency, he'd done jack during his term besides pump up the military, and then resigned in 2003, tired of partisan politics, or so went the cover story. His handpicked successor, Sears, had continued to beef up the military, before he was forced to resign thanks to the Shadow Moses incident. Then Johnson had been killed on the Big Shell, and now Matthews had this. He'd heard rumors Bush was going to run again, tired of seeing how no one was able to get the damn job done on terrorism. Good luck, friend, 'Sears' thought. Terrorism was an essential part of the grip that the Patriots held over the country. It would never go away, unless the Patriots ceased to exist.
Which, of course, was the entire reason 'Sears' was still breathing. He chuckled at the thought. The fight in Zanzibar Land… seeing the "lifeblood" as Raven called it trickle out of his body, thanks to the dozens of wounds he'd received from Snake… and then getting up, escaping the UN soldiers as they sifted through the rubble of the remains of the fortress nation… just like they did at Outer Heaven… swearing revenge on Solid Snake, FOXHOUND, and most importantly of all, the Patriots…
The man called the "greatest warrior of the 20th century" laughed. It looked like his title was outdated. He'd have to become the greatest warrior of the 21st century as well.
* * *
Snake stood reloading his weapons and replacing old bandages with new ones as the elevator made its way down toward the Devil's Attic. [How ya feelin', Snake?] Otacon asked.
"Fine," Snake said. "Why do you ask?"
[Well, you did say FOXDIE was starting to work,] Otacon said. [We've known all along there was a vaccine to FOXDIE. Why didn't we ever go get it?]
"Remember the security there was around Naomi after Shadow Moses?" Snake said. "Triple that, and you're about at maybe a tenth of what I would have to go through to get within a mile of that vaccine. Better just to live life until you die rather than worry about when you're going to die."
[I suppose, but--]
Snake didn't hear the rest of the sentence. Pain like nothing he'd ever felt before blossomed in his gut. He clutched at his stomach and fell to the ground. "Thanks a lot, Naomi," he muttered. The pain in his gut spread to his chest, and he said, "Otacon, if you can hear me… this might be the end."
He blacked out for a while. When he woke, he could dimly hear [Snake? Snake!?] ringing in his ears. "What is it, Hal?" he said. "What's going on?"
[Snake! You're alive!]
"Barely, it seems," Snake said.
[What happened?]
"FOXDIE reminding me its still around, a bit more… forcefully than it ever has," Snake said. "Things didn't look good there for a minute."
[Well, I got your radar working.]
"Great," Snake said. "Does it cover the Devil's Attic?"
[I finally hacked it out of the Pentagon. It covers everywhere.]
"Nice job," Snake said, watching as the Soliton Radar popped up on his wristwatch (not like it appears in the corner of his vision out of mid-air, people. Go James Bond!) It showed him inside the elevator in its usual green lines and dots. "Brings back memories," Snake said.
[That it does.]
As the doors silently slid open, Snake ran out, and stopped in surprise. "You," he said.
Raiden laughed. "Who better to put an end to the legend?" he said, drawing his katana and SOCOM. "Comon, Snake, we'll see who the 'weak-minded fool' is." He brought the SOCOM up and fired a shot.
The roar of the gun got Snake's attention. He lunged to the side, firing from his own SOCOM as he fell. The bullet whizzed harmlessly past him, and Jack flicked the katana about so fast Snake could barely follow it as he deflected Snake's own bullets, sparks flying off the blade as they hit.
"You've learned some things," Snake said.
"Enough to kill you," Raiden said.
"We'll see," Snake replied, before taking his FAMAS off his back and putting his SOCOM in its holster. As the two men stood there, facing off, Snake said, "we'll see."
Snake vs. Jack in the next chapter! (Ya know, what we all WANTED Snake to do in the Big Shell). But does Snake win? And when do Destiny and the other FOXHOUNDs finally get into it? Find out in Chapter Eight: Duel!