Chapter Ten: La-li-lu-le-lo
As he moved through the Devil's Attic, Snake thought his chest was definitely feeling better. The tightness was gone already, and moving around was definitely getting easier. "Otacon," he said, "What about the Patriots? I'm getting pretty deep into the Devil's Attic here."
[I'm checking it out now,] Otacon said. [This is odd, I've checked every Native American language we know of, and most of the foreign ones, official and unofficial…]
"Check sub-dialects of the Algonquin and Iroquois," Snake said. "Check languages used by alliances of two or more tribes. Check everything. Have you translated it into the language the League of Five Nations used for official meetings?"
[Hey, that's something I haven't tried yet,] Otacon said, sounding surprised. [You have a pretty good mind, Snake.] The sound of rapidly clacking keys came over the Codec. [La-li-lu-le-lo… La-li-lu-le-lo…] There was silence, and then Otacon yelled, [you found it, Snake! "La-li-lu-le- lo," in the official language of the League of Five Nations, means "Wisemen."]
"That sure helps a lot… see what "Wiseman" and "Wisemen" mean in that language," Snake said. "I'm sure its important."
Turning a corner, Snake stopped at the sight before him. The long hallway was filled with the dead bodies of Genome Soldiers, at least a dozen of them. Blood was spattered everywhere, and bullet marks scored the walls. Most of the men had been stabbed in the chest or eviscerated with some type of blade…
"What the hell," Snake muttered. "Otacon, you getting this?"
[Yes.] Otacon's voice sounded dull and monotone.
"Analyze the cuts on these men and try to match them with the Ninja's katana or Raiden's," Snake said. "Someone is sending us a message." He knelt down in front of one of the guards. "This one's not quite dead, yet." The gash in the man's chest was not as deep or long as the others'. "What happened here?" Snake asked.
"Nin… ja…" the man managed to say. "Man… tis…"
Mantis!? He's been dead for five years!" Snake said. "It can't be him." He looked the guard in the eye. "Who was it?"
"I saw… his… face…" the guard fell over on his side and died. "Otacon?" Snake said.
[What was that?]
"That guard… he said the Ninja is Psycho Mantis."
[But… you saw him die, with Meryl!]
"I know. But I also saw Liquid and Gray Fox die before my eyes. You were there for Liquid. And both of them came back."
[Gray Fox…]
Snake sighed. "What now, Hal? Are you going to say Frank is sitting right next to you?"
[Well… I had the bodies of the FOXHOUND squad from Shadow Moses exhumed for DNA testing.] Otacon's voice had some of its familiar frantic tone back. [Snake, Fox's body was missing! And the DNA patterns on Liquid and Mantis didn't match the ones we confirmed, ourselves, from the blood samples you collected on Shadow Moses! There were subtle changes in the DNA strands, Snake… changes that you commonly see in cloning.]
"Cloning…" Snake scowled. "Is the Liquid here a clone?"
[No, the one in the grave was. The original body is apparently inside the Devil's Attic with you, with Liquid inside.]
"What about Ocelot's arm?"
[I've analyzed his two broadcasts. Ocelot has a new right forearm and hand. We must assume Liquid's old body is whole again.]
"Great," Snake said. "That's about the last thing I need. What about Frank?"
[I can't find any mention of him anywhere. Its likely the government took his body to test it somewhere, to try to find out how Dr. Clark revived him and recovered his memory. All notes and information were lost when Gray Fox destroyed the laboratory they revived him in and killed Clark.]
"Can you think of anywhere they might be doing this research?"
[Hmm… lets start with every Army, Naval, Air Force, and Marine Base around the world, then all the private and government-run labs across the world, and you're maybe around halfway through the places they could be keeping him. There's no way we could find him.]
"Great." Snake hung his head. "We'll put him to rest some day."
[Sure.]
"Hey! Who're you!"
Snake whirled to see a squad of guards entering the corridor. "Look at all this," one of them said. "He killed all these guys! Get him!" Automatic weapons fire filled the corridor. Snake lunged into a laboratory, slamming a fresh clip into his FAMAS as he did so. The bullets from the five five sixers blasted through the windows of the lab, eradicating test tubes, beakers and syringes as they did so. Snake leaned through the open door, and expended his clip in about two seconds on full auto.
Ducking back into the lab, Snake reloaded and counted to three before leaning back out and resuming fire. He caught the terrorists as they were moving up the corridor. One man fell, his kneecaps blasted out from under him. Another one took a dozen bullets in the gut, and was slammed into the wall. The last one took a bullet in the head, chest, and stomach, respectively. That man fell silently. Snake quickly finished off the two others and moved past them into a large storage area. Geez, this place is all storage areas, he thought.
Lying on top of a support beam forty feet above the room, Osprey trained his PSG1 on Snake. He checked his clip, made sure all he had to do was pull the trigger. He lined Snake up in his sights and got ready to shoot…
Across the room on another beam, Vulture also watched, her PSG1-A trained on the middle of Osprey's forehead.
She could take him out anytime. She began to pull the trigger…
Movement registered in the peripheral vision of her scope. She stopped. What the--? She thought. Who's over there?
Vulture gasped as the Cyborg Ninja appeared beside Osprey, his katana ready for a strike. She shifted her rifle, and fired three quick shots. I'll get that bastard if it's the last thing I do, she thought. As her bullets sped toward the Ninja, it turned, and the red "eye" in the middle of its forehead flared. The exoskeleton was the same as in Shadow Moses, Vulture realized. The "eye" seemed to be boring into her soul… she fired three more shots, wild, unaimed.
It moved so fast that Vulture barely had time to blink before the Ninja had deflected all three of her aimed bullets. The unaimed ones flew harmlessly past him, to crash into the far wall. Osprey scrambled to his feet while Snake took cover in the shadows. "What are you?" Osprey yelled. "Who are you?"
"I'm like you… I have no name."
That's what he told Destiny, Vulture remembered, and she realized that Osprey was going to die. "Who are you with?" Osprey yelled.
"I am neither enemy nor friend. I have come back from a world where such words are meaningless."
"That's a load of—I've read the Shadow Moses casefile! You're dead! Why are you here? Revenge?"
"It is nothing so trivial as revenge."
"Shut up! I'll kill you!"
Osprey brought his PSG1 around and fired a wild shot. The Ninja ignored it, and knocked Osprey out with one punch to the jaw. The sniper fell, his rifle clattering on the floor as his body hit the ground with a sickening crunch.
Vulture watched as Snake ran out into the light to grab the PSG1 and some ammo. So now he's got a PSG1, she thought. The Ninja leapt into the air and performed a perfect flip before landing gracefully on the cold concrete floor, beside Osprey's lifeless body.
"Snake."
The former FOXHOUND commando came into the light, positioning himself so he could see the Ninja and herself, Vulture noticed. "That's my name," he said. "What do you want."
"A fight…"
"…to the death?" Snake shook his head. "Done that before. You're not Gray Fox."
"We never got to finish our battle on Shadow Moses, Snake. Fate intervened."
"You're not Frank Yaeger." Snake's voice was firm, but Vulture could see that was resolve was faltering. "You're not my friend."
"Those words are meaningless to me. It will be a fight to the death."
Snake sighed. "If you wish," he said, laying his weapons down. "Let's go."
"Excellent." The Ninja's katana had disappeared. "Hand to hand. It is the basis of all combat. Only a fool—"
"—trusts his life to a weapon," Snake said. "You like repeating things that happened on Shadow Moses. You know what happened there, to Frank."
The Ninja paused. "Only the ending will be different," it said at last. "Now, let's fight!"
As he moved through the Devil's Attic, Snake thought his chest was definitely feeling better. The tightness was gone already, and moving around was definitely getting easier. "Otacon," he said, "What about the Patriots? I'm getting pretty deep into the Devil's Attic here."
[I'm checking it out now,] Otacon said. [This is odd, I've checked every Native American language we know of, and most of the foreign ones, official and unofficial…]
"Check sub-dialects of the Algonquin and Iroquois," Snake said. "Check languages used by alliances of two or more tribes. Check everything. Have you translated it into the language the League of Five Nations used for official meetings?"
[Hey, that's something I haven't tried yet,] Otacon said, sounding surprised. [You have a pretty good mind, Snake.] The sound of rapidly clacking keys came over the Codec. [La-li-lu-le-lo… La-li-lu-le-lo…] There was silence, and then Otacon yelled, [you found it, Snake! "La-li-lu-le- lo," in the official language of the League of Five Nations, means "Wisemen."]
"That sure helps a lot… see what "Wiseman" and "Wisemen" mean in that language," Snake said. "I'm sure its important."
Turning a corner, Snake stopped at the sight before him. The long hallway was filled with the dead bodies of Genome Soldiers, at least a dozen of them. Blood was spattered everywhere, and bullet marks scored the walls. Most of the men had been stabbed in the chest or eviscerated with some type of blade…
"What the hell," Snake muttered. "Otacon, you getting this?"
[Yes.] Otacon's voice sounded dull and monotone.
"Analyze the cuts on these men and try to match them with the Ninja's katana or Raiden's," Snake said. "Someone is sending us a message." He knelt down in front of one of the guards. "This one's not quite dead, yet." The gash in the man's chest was not as deep or long as the others'. "What happened here?" Snake asked.
"Nin… ja…" the man managed to say. "Man… tis…"
Mantis!? He's been dead for five years!" Snake said. "It can't be him." He looked the guard in the eye. "Who was it?"
"I saw… his… face…" the guard fell over on his side and died. "Otacon?" Snake said.
[What was that?]
"That guard… he said the Ninja is Psycho Mantis."
[But… you saw him die, with Meryl!]
"I know. But I also saw Liquid and Gray Fox die before my eyes. You were there for Liquid. And both of them came back."
[Gray Fox…]
Snake sighed. "What now, Hal? Are you going to say Frank is sitting right next to you?"
[Well… I had the bodies of the FOXHOUND squad from Shadow Moses exhumed for DNA testing.] Otacon's voice had some of its familiar frantic tone back. [Snake, Fox's body was missing! And the DNA patterns on Liquid and Mantis didn't match the ones we confirmed, ourselves, from the blood samples you collected on Shadow Moses! There were subtle changes in the DNA strands, Snake… changes that you commonly see in cloning.]
"Cloning…" Snake scowled. "Is the Liquid here a clone?"
[No, the one in the grave was. The original body is apparently inside the Devil's Attic with you, with Liquid inside.]
"What about Ocelot's arm?"
[I've analyzed his two broadcasts. Ocelot has a new right forearm and hand. We must assume Liquid's old body is whole again.]
"Great," Snake said. "That's about the last thing I need. What about Frank?"
[I can't find any mention of him anywhere. Its likely the government took his body to test it somewhere, to try to find out how Dr. Clark revived him and recovered his memory. All notes and information were lost when Gray Fox destroyed the laboratory they revived him in and killed Clark.]
"Can you think of anywhere they might be doing this research?"
[Hmm… lets start with every Army, Naval, Air Force, and Marine Base around the world, then all the private and government-run labs across the world, and you're maybe around halfway through the places they could be keeping him. There's no way we could find him.]
"Great." Snake hung his head. "We'll put him to rest some day."
[Sure.]
"Hey! Who're you!"
Snake whirled to see a squad of guards entering the corridor. "Look at all this," one of them said. "He killed all these guys! Get him!" Automatic weapons fire filled the corridor. Snake lunged into a laboratory, slamming a fresh clip into his FAMAS as he did so. The bullets from the five five sixers blasted through the windows of the lab, eradicating test tubes, beakers and syringes as they did so. Snake leaned through the open door, and expended his clip in about two seconds on full auto.
Ducking back into the lab, Snake reloaded and counted to three before leaning back out and resuming fire. He caught the terrorists as they were moving up the corridor. One man fell, his kneecaps blasted out from under him. Another one took a dozen bullets in the gut, and was slammed into the wall. The last one took a bullet in the head, chest, and stomach, respectively. That man fell silently. Snake quickly finished off the two others and moved past them into a large storage area. Geez, this place is all storage areas, he thought.
Lying on top of a support beam forty feet above the room, Osprey trained his PSG1 on Snake. He checked his clip, made sure all he had to do was pull the trigger. He lined Snake up in his sights and got ready to shoot…
Across the room on another beam, Vulture also watched, her PSG1-A trained on the middle of Osprey's forehead.
She could take him out anytime. She began to pull the trigger…
Movement registered in the peripheral vision of her scope. She stopped. What the--? She thought. Who's over there?
Vulture gasped as the Cyborg Ninja appeared beside Osprey, his katana ready for a strike. She shifted her rifle, and fired three quick shots. I'll get that bastard if it's the last thing I do, she thought. As her bullets sped toward the Ninja, it turned, and the red "eye" in the middle of its forehead flared. The exoskeleton was the same as in Shadow Moses, Vulture realized. The "eye" seemed to be boring into her soul… she fired three more shots, wild, unaimed.
It moved so fast that Vulture barely had time to blink before the Ninja had deflected all three of her aimed bullets. The unaimed ones flew harmlessly past him, to crash into the far wall. Osprey scrambled to his feet while Snake took cover in the shadows. "What are you?" Osprey yelled. "Who are you?"
"I'm like you… I have no name."
That's what he told Destiny, Vulture remembered, and she realized that Osprey was going to die. "Who are you with?" Osprey yelled.
"I am neither enemy nor friend. I have come back from a world where such words are meaningless."
"That's a load of—I've read the Shadow Moses casefile! You're dead! Why are you here? Revenge?"
"It is nothing so trivial as revenge."
"Shut up! I'll kill you!"
Osprey brought his PSG1 around and fired a wild shot. The Ninja ignored it, and knocked Osprey out with one punch to the jaw. The sniper fell, his rifle clattering on the floor as his body hit the ground with a sickening crunch.
Vulture watched as Snake ran out into the light to grab the PSG1 and some ammo. So now he's got a PSG1, she thought. The Ninja leapt into the air and performed a perfect flip before landing gracefully on the cold concrete floor, beside Osprey's lifeless body.
"Snake."
The former FOXHOUND commando came into the light, positioning himself so he could see the Ninja and herself, Vulture noticed. "That's my name," he said. "What do you want."
"A fight…"
"…to the death?" Snake shook his head. "Done that before. You're not Gray Fox."
"We never got to finish our battle on Shadow Moses, Snake. Fate intervened."
"You're not Frank Yaeger." Snake's voice was firm, but Vulture could see that was resolve was faltering. "You're not my friend."
"Those words are meaningless to me. It will be a fight to the death."
Snake sighed. "If you wish," he said, laying his weapons down. "Let's go."
"Excellent." The Ninja's katana had disappeared. "Hand to hand. It is the basis of all combat. Only a fool—"
"—trusts his life to a weapon," Snake said. "You like repeating things that happened on Shadow Moses. You know what happened there, to Frank."
The Ninja paused. "Only the ending will be different," it said at last. "Now, let's fight!"