//Shockwave Pulsar//
Senya Starseeker
twilight_rhapsody@hotmail.com
A Metal Gear Solid//Final Fantasy VIII Cross-Over Fan Fiction
Disclaimer: Metal Gear is property of Konami and Final Fantasy is property of Square.
A/N: This is an AU version of Metal Gear Solid 2: The Sons of Liberty and in this Alternate Universe there happens to be a mercenary organization called Garden (from FF8, see where I'm going with this? Kinda?) and anyways, Ocelot hire SeeD instead of Dead Cell. No knowledge of FF8 is needed, even if you've never HEARD of it. Anyway, just read this:
Chapter I
Dr. Hal Emmerich, more commonly known under his code name "Otacon" shifted uneasily at the computer; he and Solid Snake had formed their Anti-Metal Gear NGO (Non-Government Organization) after the Shadow Moses incident, along with Meryl, Mei Ling, and Nastasha. However, Nastasha had mysteriously vanished after publishing her tell-all book on Shadow Moses, they suspected the worst, and Meryl was in the Philippines for the next four weeks, visiting relatives, after her near-death experience in Shadow Moses it wasn't like Otacon could really blame her for taking time off, but, he was just in a sore mood. Mei Ling kept risking her neck with the government, Snake wasn't a terrible help until they had something to blow up, and he was having a hell of time finding information on the new Metal Gear prototypes. They had already found a few, but now it appeared governments were taking better care to safe-guard such information, he'd been searching the Net for weeks and still found nothing. It was ridiculous, since he knew that there had to be a new metal gear out there, and judging by the fact that he, Otacon, hadn't been able to hack into it yet meant that it had to be something BIG. It was frustrating, and meant that he might have to hack into the Pentagon's systems which was difficult and risky, and something he would really rather not do . . .
Otacon shook his head and pushed his chair back from the flashing computer monitor, his head was killing him from staring at the screen for the past eight hours and he needed a break. He passed through the small Manhattan apartment (which was neat and perfectly clean, as always) and locked the door behind him. When he got to the street, however, he suddenly realized he had no where to go. Maybe he would drop by Snake's place? Or check out the electronics shop on 3rd? Maybe the CD Plus store, it carried Anime sometimes . . .
So, not really knowing where he was headed Otacon took off down the street, his white lab coat blowing out slightly behind him. He had just reached the street corner, when he noticed the woman standing at the bus stop there, waiting. She was beautiful. She was tall and slender, and had long shimmering golden hair, it hung in two long pieces over her shoulder, with the piece in the middle back flopped up and clipped back to her head. She had crystal blue eyes, although they were shielded behind a pair of thin white-rimmed glasses. She was wearing a black turtle-neck sweater and a knee-length pink skirt, with boots. She looked like a fashion model, or a Hollywood actress, or something. She was so beautiful, Otacon didn't even notice that he was staring at her, until she caught his eye, and smiled at him. Then, of course, he quickly averted his gaze, but his eyes still flickered back to her almost unconsciously, and he blushed furiously.
"U-Uh, hi." Otacon mumbled.
"Hi." She nodded to him, still smiling.
"Uh uh, I live right around here, so uh, if you're lost or-or if I can help with anything at all . . ." Otacon stammered, he was too nervous around members of the opposite sex, he knew it, and he was praying she didn't notice.
She raised a hand to her mouth and tilted her head slightly to the side in thought. "Hmmm . . . no, thank you I really don't think there's anything I need help with."
"O-Oh well that's-uh, that's good, then," Otacon mumbled.
The woman smiled kindly, at that moment the bus pulled into the stop. She nodded to him, and got onto the bus. It pulled away and left Otacon standing there feeling a little depressed, his shoulders dropped a little.
"Hey, man." A familiar, gruff but not unfriendly voice said. Otacon lifted his head to see Snake walking towards him, quite a smirk on his face. "What was that all about?"
Otacon felt his ears turning red. "W-What? How much of that did you see, anyway?"
Snake's smirk widened, "Enough. You like her, eh? She did look pretty damn fine. Unfortunately," He chuckled slightly, "I'd say you cut about a -3 on a manliness scale there."
"Oh buzz off, Snake." Otacon grumbled.
"Hey, relax, I didn't mean anything by it. I mean not everyone can have my manly good looks and sex appeal . . ."
"SNAKE! You are not helping!" Otacon said.
"Sorry, sorry, heh." Snake shook his head, "But really, you didn't even get her name or number did you? Man . . ." Otacon was looking more and more dejected, "Okay, okay, tell you what, I'll help you get a date with the next pretty young thing that walks down this street!"
"Snake I don't WANT you to help me get a date!" Otacon mumbled, he could feel his face growing redder and redder, it was bad enough he couldn't talk to girls and couldn't get a date without having his only friend pointing that out (repeatedly) and couldn't Snake realize that his offering to help him only made Otacon feel worse? No, probably not, Otacon thought, Snake wasn't the type to have self-esteem issues or be shy.
"Alright, alright, I'll leave you alone." Snake said, and sighed, "What about . . . what about Metal Gear?" He asked, carefully lowering his voice. "Did you find out or next objective yet?"
"No . . ." Otacon shook his head, and frowned, "Nothing . . . yet. I'm still working on it."
"Hmph." Snake snorted, surveying the passing people offhandedly.
*****
3 Weeks Earlier:
Squall Leonhart groggily opened his eyes and glanced at the clock by his bed, it said six a.m. he'd be damned why SeeDs had to get up so bloody early. Not that he'd ever cared much before, but now that he had to tear himself away from his beautiful fiancée, who lay beside him, her raven black hair shocking against the soft white sheets, it was a lot more difficult to tear himself out of bed. A lot.
He stretched and sat up, his messy dark hair falling slightly in front of his eyes, he moved a hand to brush it away and felt the thin outline of the long diagonal scar that ran smoothly across his face. Gruffly, the twenty year old, young mercenary slid out of bed, leaning forwards to kiss Rinoa on the forehead before pulling on a pair of black jeans and a black leather jacket. He wouldn't be required to wear his uniform, he thought. Of course not, he shook his head, he was the leader of SeeD now, SeeD the elite mercenary force dispatched by Garden, a top secret and multi-million dollar Non-Government Organization whose purpose was to raise and train an army of mercenaries known as SeeDs which were then dispatched to conflicts all across Globe.
Now he, Squall, was the leader, or third in command, at the head was still the original Headmaster and Founder, Cid Krammer, and his wife, Edea, but they had gone in to a sort of retirement, and left him as leader most of the time. Unfortunately Squall hadn't wanted the job, he hated being the leader, people just like dumping their problems on him. He sighed, and reluctantly left his small room (they still hadn't given him a bigger room) and walked out into the Garden hallway. Fluorescent lights met his gaze, and he squinted his blue-grey eyes. "Bloody lights . . ." Squall mumbled, slouching down the long hallways filled with bustling Garden students, everywhere from ten year old junior class men, to SeeDs in their twenties, to the older Instructors and faculty members, men and women, of every race, religion, ethnic origin, even the odd person in a wheel chair.
The Garden was absolutely huge, and it was a building with many floors, including a training centre, dormitories, a cafeteria, an infirmary, even a stage for Garden festivals. Which he abhorred, they were boring and stupid, but some students and even SeeDs really enjoyed them. Go figure. Another thing about the Garden was that it was mobile, it flew across the land, or moved slowly through the water, given its massive size it moved very slowly, but it still moved, and they had used that to avoid contact with governments, and anyone else who would cause them trouble. Their very existence was only known to a select few, mainly their clients. And SeeD was not cheap, so their clients were very exclusive. He was going to meet one of them at the moment.
Squall walked to the elevator, he was mildly surprised (not that he terribly cared) to see Zell Dincht, a young man with spiky blonde hair, and a large tattoo on the side of his face was standing there, waiting for him. So was a bouncy, bubbly headed girl with short brown hair that curled up at the ends named Selphie Tilmitt, and a tall man with long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, a trenchcoat, and a cowboy hat named Irvine Kinneas. The four of them had gone through a lot of missions as a team, and together with Quistis Trepe, a golden haired and highly intelligent SeeD prodigy, were known as the very best SeeDs in Garden. They had grown into friends, more or less; Squall still would have preferred to be in his room, in his bed, with his beautifully girlfriend, rather than standing by the elevator at six in the morning with a loud and brash boy, a hyperactive and sometimes downright maniacal girl, and a sniper-slash-playboy.
But that was just his opinion.
"Well." Squall said irritably, gesturing towards the elevator. "Is it broken?"
"Uh, n-no." Zell said, looking up, slightly surprised at their leader's harsh tone.
"Well why aren't you on it? Zell? Selphie? Irvine?"
"Hey, relax man we were just waiting for you to show up." Irvine said, shrugging his shoulders in a non-chalant sort of way, and looping one arm over Selphie's shoulders.
Selphie giggled, she was twenty but sometimes her actions would have fooled the common observer. She seemed highly out of place in a military academy, but Squall had seen her on the battlefield and knew that she could wield a deadly pair of nunchucku expertly and had a certain affinity for blowing things up with rocket launchers.
"Why did you wait?" Squall asked, frowning even further and moving past them to the elevator. If he didn't know better he would have thought they were, well, nervous. "Who's the client?"
Neither Zell nor Irvine said anything; Squall turned around and looked at them questioningly. "It's Revolver Ocelot." Selphie said finally, in a small voice.
Squall's stoic face only revealed the slightest trace of surprise in the slight raise of his eyebrows. It was no secret that Ocelot was not their favourite client. Although it had been one of the two other Gardens to do business with him last time, and not theirs, these SeeDs had heard about Ocelot, about how he was a cruel and sadistic man, not to them of course, but to his prisoners and enemies. They had also heard he wasn't quite sane and wanted to destroy the world. But that was cartoonish super-villainy and not real, Squall thought, besides, they were mercenaries, it wasn't their job to ask questions.
1 Week before . . .
Cid Krammer, Headmaster and founder of the mercenary training Garden and the elite mercenary force known as SeeD sighed heavily and wiped the thick trail of sweat from his forehead with his handkerchief. He looked back at his wife, who was sitting cool and composed as always, still staring at him intently. She was beautiful, but it was a deadly beauty, she had pale white skin and long raven black hair that fell all about her and her midnight- black dress. Her eyes were a surreal golden colour. Unlike Cid, who was a kind and amiably old man, despite training mercenaries, he always tried to get along with the kids and be sort of like a "dad" to them. Edea on the other hand, who had been the mastermind behind garden, was a cold and vindictive woman who had once run a small orphanage and turned it into this training ground for killers. Cid was too nice to stop her, and to in love with her. But now was surely enough, the SeeDs had grown, and they were rich beyond any initial imaginings.
"Edea, honey, please." Cid repeated in a quite but shaken voice, "There is no more need for SeeD and Garden, we should disband . . . there's no more war, no more . . . Can't you see from now it will only be terrorists who want any part in hiring SeeD?!"
"Disband SeeD?!" Edea exclaimed, but her flawless cold face had not changed, "Surely you do not mean that, Cid. Where would our precious babies go to . . . ? They have no other home, no other purpose in life, they're all lonely little orphan-children. . ."
Cid wasn't sure he agreed with that, but he let it pass and continued, "Edea, in the past countries would hire SeeD to help defend them and things as well, but this-this-can't you see we're turning these children into nothing more than terrorists who will kill innocent people for insane bastards like that nutcase Ocelot!"
At this his wife's golden eyes had flashed angrily and she rose, moving towards him with icy, chilling strides, her black gown shifting. She loomed above her husband with a menacing glare, "How dare you!"
"E-Excuse me, love?"
"How dare you!" She repeated, in a low but harsh whisper. "Ocelot is a brilliant man."
"W-What?" Asked Cid, hardly believing his own ears.
"He's a brilliant and a rich strategist. And it has just so happened that he only recently requested SeeD for an operation he plans on carrying out."
". . . He has?" Cid repeated, "And what did you tell him, Edea?"
"I told him we would be honoured! The man has offered us an incredible sum of money for our services!"
"Is money all you think about because we have millions of it!!?" Cid bellowed suddenly, he rarely ever lost his temper, and this was the first time he had EVER raised his voice to his wife before, but she did not even seem to notice.
She sniffed a little as though in disdain, "Oh, Cid, fine, if it's really so important to you I say we should go ahead and disband Garden, but first let's take this one last mission. We can use the money Ocelot gives us to fully pay back our debts and also give all of the SeeDs a little something to start their new lives with as well, you'd like that, wouldn't you, honey?"
Cid grimaced, he knew what his wife was doing, but he nodded in silent agreement. "Fine, fine. We'll agree to this one last mission." Cid sighed and crossed the room, falling into a chair and burying his face in his hands. "One last mission to a mad man . . ."
Squall, Zell, Selphie, and Irvine came out of the elevator and stood outside of Headmaster Cid's office, Quistis Trepe stood there, wearing her SeeD uniform which was a dark green skirt and a dark green shirt with a tie. She was talking with Xu, a fellow SeeD, and also a high ranking one. Quistis looked at Squall and the others, and gestured to Xu. "Squall, everyone. As you may have heard, Ocelot is our new client." She also looked slightly troubled. "He's in there right now talking with the Headmaster. I was just discussing this man with Xu . . ."
"A-And?" Zell broke in, obviously nervous. "Is it true? Is the guy a nut?"
"Zell!" Squall growled, Ocelot was right through the door! "Watch your mouth!"
"Uh-oh! Shit! S-Sorry, man." Zell mumbled.
". . . . . . Oh it goes without saying." Xu said, brushing a strand of her short, shoulder-length brown hair behind her ear, "But the four of you have been selected for the coming mission, your client is Ocelot and you are to follow and carry out his orders until such time as your contract is up." She paused. "This is a very special mission, Edea made that clear with me when I spoke with her earlier, and no members of the team may be exchanged. If one of you should become obsolete (by which she meant dead) then no one else will be sent in to replace you. It is a serious and dangerous mission, and may last for several . . ."
". . . Weeks?" Selphie asked. Xu shook her head.
". . . Months?" Zell tried, again Xu shook her head, sadly.
"Not . . ." Irvine began, they all looked shocked.
Xu nodded solemnly, "Ocelot is requesting a team of our highest SeeDs for two years. It is a very rare and expensive request, yes, but he is paying us a very exceptional sum of money. . . it goes without saying that you will all be paid handsomely for this mission and all of your SeeD Ranks will go up, along with that pay increase and perks . . ." She was obviously trying to lighten their spirits. It wasn't working.
Squall had even grown more silent then usual, he was looking away, and Selphie thought he looked like he was shaking. Two years . . . ? What about his marriage? What about Rinoa? She wasn't a SeeD and wouldn't be coming on the mission. With him gone for two years anything could happen, would they even allow her to remain at Garden?
"I understand-" Xu tried to comfort him, but at that moment the door to Cid's office slid open, and the Headmaster stood there looking grave and serious.
"Excuse me, Xu, but I need to speak with Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Squall in my office immediately." He said.
Selphie looked at her boyfriend and back to Cid nervously, "N-not Irvy?"
"I'm sorry Selphie," Cid said, shaking his head, "But Mr. Kinneas is still not officially a member of SeeD. He accompanied you on a few previous missions because of his talents as a sharpshooter, but for this particular mission only SeeDs are requested. I'm sorry." He said again. Cid hated doing this to them, he was fairly involved in his students lives and he knew that Selphie and Irvine had a serious relationship, and Squall and Rinoa had planned on getting married, and now he was forcing them all apart for what could be a two year deadly mission. For a sadistic psychopath like Ocelot, just being in the same room with that man disturbed him.
Cid cleared his throat. "Ahem. Now then, if you four would come with me . . ." He led Squall, Quistis, Zell, and Selphie into his office. It was a large and richly furnished room. It looked more like the living room in an incredibly expensive mansion than a business office. Edea was sitting calmly on a long satin sofa with a glass of wine in her hands, gazing into the crackling fire place. Standing there between the SeeDs and Edea was a tall man with long white whiskers and dark beady eyes. He was old, but he seemed to have an unusually muscular build about his lanky body, and he was dressed like the cowboys in old westerns, minus the hat. He had two old fashioned revolvers at his sides, and the way he stood there leering at the young members of SeeD chilled them, he had a dislikable air to him.
"Everyone . . . this is Ivan Shallashka, our client." Cid introduced them.
"Please, Mr. Krammer, there is no reason why they shouldn't know me as Revolver Ocelot. Now then, is this all? Only four SeeDs? And they look like children!"
"They're the best of the best." Cid said absently, he'd crossed the room and was standing forlornly by the fire. "They'll get the job done. They always do."
"They had better, for what I'm paying you." Ocelot said, there was a slightly menacing tone in his voice which he masked smoothly.
"These four SeeDs are in your command. We also have a Sniper lined up, if you're in need of one. Squall is their leader." Cid told him, gesturing towards Squall. "I assume you know the details of the contract? If one of them dies he or she will not be replaced. They are under your command until such time as the contract is fulfilled." Cid finished.
Squall and the others stood rigidly and saluted Revolver Ocelot.
*****
Back to the Present . . .
Otacon and Snake went back to his apartment, it was sweltering hot on the street anyways, and Snake headed for Otacon's fridge, taking out a couple of cold beers. Otacon went back to his computer and moved the screen saver off. "You have MAIL." The tiny bow in the bottom corner of his screen blinked impatiently.
"Hm, that's odd." Otacon said, "Probably just another damn add . . ." He clicked the message. His e-mail screen came up, and Otacon nearly froze. There was a message from someone called E.E. I only knew one person that could possibly be . . .
Senya Starseeker
twilight_rhapsody@hotmail.com
A Metal Gear Solid//Final Fantasy VIII Cross-Over Fan Fiction
Disclaimer: Metal Gear is property of Konami and Final Fantasy is property of Square.
A/N: This is an AU version of Metal Gear Solid 2: The Sons of Liberty and in this Alternate Universe there happens to be a mercenary organization called Garden (from FF8, see where I'm going with this? Kinda?) and anyways, Ocelot hire SeeD instead of Dead Cell. No knowledge of FF8 is needed, even if you've never HEARD of it. Anyway, just read this:
Chapter I
Dr. Hal Emmerich, more commonly known under his code name "Otacon" shifted uneasily at the computer; he and Solid Snake had formed their Anti-Metal Gear NGO (Non-Government Organization) after the Shadow Moses incident, along with Meryl, Mei Ling, and Nastasha. However, Nastasha had mysteriously vanished after publishing her tell-all book on Shadow Moses, they suspected the worst, and Meryl was in the Philippines for the next four weeks, visiting relatives, after her near-death experience in Shadow Moses it wasn't like Otacon could really blame her for taking time off, but, he was just in a sore mood. Mei Ling kept risking her neck with the government, Snake wasn't a terrible help until they had something to blow up, and he was having a hell of time finding information on the new Metal Gear prototypes. They had already found a few, but now it appeared governments were taking better care to safe-guard such information, he'd been searching the Net for weeks and still found nothing. It was ridiculous, since he knew that there had to be a new metal gear out there, and judging by the fact that he, Otacon, hadn't been able to hack into it yet meant that it had to be something BIG. It was frustrating, and meant that he might have to hack into the Pentagon's systems which was difficult and risky, and something he would really rather not do . . .
Otacon shook his head and pushed his chair back from the flashing computer monitor, his head was killing him from staring at the screen for the past eight hours and he needed a break. He passed through the small Manhattan apartment (which was neat and perfectly clean, as always) and locked the door behind him. When he got to the street, however, he suddenly realized he had no where to go. Maybe he would drop by Snake's place? Or check out the electronics shop on 3rd? Maybe the CD Plus store, it carried Anime sometimes . . .
So, not really knowing where he was headed Otacon took off down the street, his white lab coat blowing out slightly behind him. He had just reached the street corner, when he noticed the woman standing at the bus stop there, waiting. She was beautiful. She was tall and slender, and had long shimmering golden hair, it hung in two long pieces over her shoulder, with the piece in the middle back flopped up and clipped back to her head. She had crystal blue eyes, although they were shielded behind a pair of thin white-rimmed glasses. She was wearing a black turtle-neck sweater and a knee-length pink skirt, with boots. She looked like a fashion model, or a Hollywood actress, or something. She was so beautiful, Otacon didn't even notice that he was staring at her, until she caught his eye, and smiled at him. Then, of course, he quickly averted his gaze, but his eyes still flickered back to her almost unconsciously, and he blushed furiously.
"U-Uh, hi." Otacon mumbled.
"Hi." She nodded to him, still smiling.
"Uh uh, I live right around here, so uh, if you're lost or-or if I can help with anything at all . . ." Otacon stammered, he was too nervous around members of the opposite sex, he knew it, and he was praying she didn't notice.
She raised a hand to her mouth and tilted her head slightly to the side in thought. "Hmmm . . . no, thank you I really don't think there's anything I need help with."
"O-Oh well that's-uh, that's good, then," Otacon mumbled.
The woman smiled kindly, at that moment the bus pulled into the stop. She nodded to him, and got onto the bus. It pulled away and left Otacon standing there feeling a little depressed, his shoulders dropped a little.
"Hey, man." A familiar, gruff but not unfriendly voice said. Otacon lifted his head to see Snake walking towards him, quite a smirk on his face. "What was that all about?"
Otacon felt his ears turning red. "W-What? How much of that did you see, anyway?"
Snake's smirk widened, "Enough. You like her, eh? She did look pretty damn fine. Unfortunately," He chuckled slightly, "I'd say you cut about a -3 on a manliness scale there."
"Oh buzz off, Snake." Otacon grumbled.
"Hey, relax, I didn't mean anything by it. I mean not everyone can have my manly good looks and sex appeal . . ."
"SNAKE! You are not helping!" Otacon said.
"Sorry, sorry, heh." Snake shook his head, "But really, you didn't even get her name or number did you? Man . . ." Otacon was looking more and more dejected, "Okay, okay, tell you what, I'll help you get a date with the next pretty young thing that walks down this street!"
"Snake I don't WANT you to help me get a date!" Otacon mumbled, he could feel his face growing redder and redder, it was bad enough he couldn't talk to girls and couldn't get a date without having his only friend pointing that out (repeatedly) and couldn't Snake realize that his offering to help him only made Otacon feel worse? No, probably not, Otacon thought, Snake wasn't the type to have self-esteem issues or be shy.
"Alright, alright, I'll leave you alone." Snake said, and sighed, "What about . . . what about Metal Gear?" He asked, carefully lowering his voice. "Did you find out or next objective yet?"
"No . . ." Otacon shook his head, and frowned, "Nothing . . . yet. I'm still working on it."
"Hmph." Snake snorted, surveying the passing people offhandedly.
*****
3 Weeks Earlier:
Squall Leonhart groggily opened his eyes and glanced at the clock by his bed, it said six a.m. he'd be damned why SeeDs had to get up so bloody early. Not that he'd ever cared much before, but now that he had to tear himself away from his beautiful fiancée, who lay beside him, her raven black hair shocking against the soft white sheets, it was a lot more difficult to tear himself out of bed. A lot.
He stretched and sat up, his messy dark hair falling slightly in front of his eyes, he moved a hand to brush it away and felt the thin outline of the long diagonal scar that ran smoothly across his face. Gruffly, the twenty year old, young mercenary slid out of bed, leaning forwards to kiss Rinoa on the forehead before pulling on a pair of black jeans and a black leather jacket. He wouldn't be required to wear his uniform, he thought. Of course not, he shook his head, he was the leader of SeeD now, SeeD the elite mercenary force dispatched by Garden, a top secret and multi-million dollar Non-Government Organization whose purpose was to raise and train an army of mercenaries known as SeeDs which were then dispatched to conflicts all across Globe.
Now he, Squall, was the leader, or third in command, at the head was still the original Headmaster and Founder, Cid Krammer, and his wife, Edea, but they had gone in to a sort of retirement, and left him as leader most of the time. Unfortunately Squall hadn't wanted the job, he hated being the leader, people just like dumping their problems on him. He sighed, and reluctantly left his small room (they still hadn't given him a bigger room) and walked out into the Garden hallway. Fluorescent lights met his gaze, and he squinted his blue-grey eyes. "Bloody lights . . ." Squall mumbled, slouching down the long hallways filled with bustling Garden students, everywhere from ten year old junior class men, to SeeDs in their twenties, to the older Instructors and faculty members, men and women, of every race, religion, ethnic origin, even the odd person in a wheel chair.
The Garden was absolutely huge, and it was a building with many floors, including a training centre, dormitories, a cafeteria, an infirmary, even a stage for Garden festivals. Which he abhorred, they were boring and stupid, but some students and even SeeDs really enjoyed them. Go figure. Another thing about the Garden was that it was mobile, it flew across the land, or moved slowly through the water, given its massive size it moved very slowly, but it still moved, and they had used that to avoid contact with governments, and anyone else who would cause them trouble. Their very existence was only known to a select few, mainly their clients. And SeeD was not cheap, so their clients were very exclusive. He was going to meet one of them at the moment.
Squall walked to the elevator, he was mildly surprised (not that he terribly cared) to see Zell Dincht, a young man with spiky blonde hair, and a large tattoo on the side of his face was standing there, waiting for him. So was a bouncy, bubbly headed girl with short brown hair that curled up at the ends named Selphie Tilmitt, and a tall man with long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, a trenchcoat, and a cowboy hat named Irvine Kinneas. The four of them had gone through a lot of missions as a team, and together with Quistis Trepe, a golden haired and highly intelligent SeeD prodigy, were known as the very best SeeDs in Garden. They had grown into friends, more or less; Squall still would have preferred to be in his room, in his bed, with his beautifully girlfriend, rather than standing by the elevator at six in the morning with a loud and brash boy, a hyperactive and sometimes downright maniacal girl, and a sniper-slash-playboy.
But that was just his opinion.
"Well." Squall said irritably, gesturing towards the elevator. "Is it broken?"
"Uh, n-no." Zell said, looking up, slightly surprised at their leader's harsh tone.
"Well why aren't you on it? Zell? Selphie? Irvine?"
"Hey, relax man we were just waiting for you to show up." Irvine said, shrugging his shoulders in a non-chalant sort of way, and looping one arm over Selphie's shoulders.
Selphie giggled, she was twenty but sometimes her actions would have fooled the common observer. She seemed highly out of place in a military academy, but Squall had seen her on the battlefield and knew that she could wield a deadly pair of nunchucku expertly and had a certain affinity for blowing things up with rocket launchers.
"Why did you wait?" Squall asked, frowning even further and moving past them to the elevator. If he didn't know better he would have thought they were, well, nervous. "Who's the client?"
Neither Zell nor Irvine said anything; Squall turned around and looked at them questioningly. "It's Revolver Ocelot." Selphie said finally, in a small voice.
Squall's stoic face only revealed the slightest trace of surprise in the slight raise of his eyebrows. It was no secret that Ocelot was not their favourite client. Although it had been one of the two other Gardens to do business with him last time, and not theirs, these SeeDs had heard about Ocelot, about how he was a cruel and sadistic man, not to them of course, but to his prisoners and enemies. They had also heard he wasn't quite sane and wanted to destroy the world. But that was cartoonish super-villainy and not real, Squall thought, besides, they were mercenaries, it wasn't their job to ask questions.
1 Week before . . .
Cid Krammer, Headmaster and founder of the mercenary training Garden and the elite mercenary force known as SeeD sighed heavily and wiped the thick trail of sweat from his forehead with his handkerchief. He looked back at his wife, who was sitting cool and composed as always, still staring at him intently. She was beautiful, but it was a deadly beauty, she had pale white skin and long raven black hair that fell all about her and her midnight- black dress. Her eyes were a surreal golden colour. Unlike Cid, who was a kind and amiably old man, despite training mercenaries, he always tried to get along with the kids and be sort of like a "dad" to them. Edea on the other hand, who had been the mastermind behind garden, was a cold and vindictive woman who had once run a small orphanage and turned it into this training ground for killers. Cid was too nice to stop her, and to in love with her. But now was surely enough, the SeeDs had grown, and they were rich beyond any initial imaginings.
"Edea, honey, please." Cid repeated in a quite but shaken voice, "There is no more need for SeeD and Garden, we should disband . . . there's no more war, no more . . . Can't you see from now it will only be terrorists who want any part in hiring SeeD?!"
"Disband SeeD?!" Edea exclaimed, but her flawless cold face had not changed, "Surely you do not mean that, Cid. Where would our precious babies go to . . . ? They have no other home, no other purpose in life, they're all lonely little orphan-children. . ."
Cid wasn't sure he agreed with that, but he let it pass and continued, "Edea, in the past countries would hire SeeD to help defend them and things as well, but this-this-can't you see we're turning these children into nothing more than terrorists who will kill innocent people for insane bastards like that nutcase Ocelot!"
At this his wife's golden eyes had flashed angrily and she rose, moving towards him with icy, chilling strides, her black gown shifting. She loomed above her husband with a menacing glare, "How dare you!"
"E-Excuse me, love?"
"How dare you!" She repeated, in a low but harsh whisper. "Ocelot is a brilliant man."
"W-What?" Asked Cid, hardly believing his own ears.
"He's a brilliant and a rich strategist. And it has just so happened that he only recently requested SeeD for an operation he plans on carrying out."
". . . He has?" Cid repeated, "And what did you tell him, Edea?"
"I told him we would be honoured! The man has offered us an incredible sum of money for our services!"
"Is money all you think about because we have millions of it!!?" Cid bellowed suddenly, he rarely ever lost his temper, and this was the first time he had EVER raised his voice to his wife before, but she did not even seem to notice.
She sniffed a little as though in disdain, "Oh, Cid, fine, if it's really so important to you I say we should go ahead and disband Garden, but first let's take this one last mission. We can use the money Ocelot gives us to fully pay back our debts and also give all of the SeeDs a little something to start their new lives with as well, you'd like that, wouldn't you, honey?"
Cid grimaced, he knew what his wife was doing, but he nodded in silent agreement. "Fine, fine. We'll agree to this one last mission." Cid sighed and crossed the room, falling into a chair and burying his face in his hands. "One last mission to a mad man . . ."
Squall, Zell, Selphie, and Irvine came out of the elevator and stood outside of Headmaster Cid's office, Quistis Trepe stood there, wearing her SeeD uniform which was a dark green skirt and a dark green shirt with a tie. She was talking with Xu, a fellow SeeD, and also a high ranking one. Quistis looked at Squall and the others, and gestured to Xu. "Squall, everyone. As you may have heard, Ocelot is our new client." She also looked slightly troubled. "He's in there right now talking with the Headmaster. I was just discussing this man with Xu . . ."
"A-And?" Zell broke in, obviously nervous. "Is it true? Is the guy a nut?"
"Zell!" Squall growled, Ocelot was right through the door! "Watch your mouth!"
"Uh-oh! Shit! S-Sorry, man." Zell mumbled.
". . . . . . Oh it goes without saying." Xu said, brushing a strand of her short, shoulder-length brown hair behind her ear, "But the four of you have been selected for the coming mission, your client is Ocelot and you are to follow and carry out his orders until such time as your contract is up." She paused. "This is a very special mission, Edea made that clear with me when I spoke with her earlier, and no members of the team may be exchanged. If one of you should become obsolete (by which she meant dead) then no one else will be sent in to replace you. It is a serious and dangerous mission, and may last for several . . ."
". . . Weeks?" Selphie asked. Xu shook her head.
". . . Months?" Zell tried, again Xu shook her head, sadly.
"Not . . ." Irvine began, they all looked shocked.
Xu nodded solemnly, "Ocelot is requesting a team of our highest SeeDs for two years. It is a very rare and expensive request, yes, but he is paying us a very exceptional sum of money. . . it goes without saying that you will all be paid handsomely for this mission and all of your SeeD Ranks will go up, along with that pay increase and perks . . ." She was obviously trying to lighten their spirits. It wasn't working.
Squall had even grown more silent then usual, he was looking away, and Selphie thought he looked like he was shaking. Two years . . . ? What about his marriage? What about Rinoa? She wasn't a SeeD and wouldn't be coming on the mission. With him gone for two years anything could happen, would they even allow her to remain at Garden?
"I understand-" Xu tried to comfort him, but at that moment the door to Cid's office slid open, and the Headmaster stood there looking grave and serious.
"Excuse me, Xu, but I need to speak with Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Squall in my office immediately." He said.
Selphie looked at her boyfriend and back to Cid nervously, "N-not Irvy?"
"I'm sorry Selphie," Cid said, shaking his head, "But Mr. Kinneas is still not officially a member of SeeD. He accompanied you on a few previous missions because of his talents as a sharpshooter, but for this particular mission only SeeDs are requested. I'm sorry." He said again. Cid hated doing this to them, he was fairly involved in his students lives and he knew that Selphie and Irvine had a serious relationship, and Squall and Rinoa had planned on getting married, and now he was forcing them all apart for what could be a two year deadly mission. For a sadistic psychopath like Ocelot, just being in the same room with that man disturbed him.
Cid cleared his throat. "Ahem. Now then, if you four would come with me . . ." He led Squall, Quistis, Zell, and Selphie into his office. It was a large and richly furnished room. It looked more like the living room in an incredibly expensive mansion than a business office. Edea was sitting calmly on a long satin sofa with a glass of wine in her hands, gazing into the crackling fire place. Standing there between the SeeDs and Edea was a tall man with long white whiskers and dark beady eyes. He was old, but he seemed to have an unusually muscular build about his lanky body, and he was dressed like the cowboys in old westerns, minus the hat. He had two old fashioned revolvers at his sides, and the way he stood there leering at the young members of SeeD chilled them, he had a dislikable air to him.
"Everyone . . . this is Ivan Shallashka, our client." Cid introduced them.
"Please, Mr. Krammer, there is no reason why they shouldn't know me as Revolver Ocelot. Now then, is this all? Only four SeeDs? And they look like children!"
"They're the best of the best." Cid said absently, he'd crossed the room and was standing forlornly by the fire. "They'll get the job done. They always do."
"They had better, for what I'm paying you." Ocelot said, there was a slightly menacing tone in his voice which he masked smoothly.
"These four SeeDs are in your command. We also have a Sniper lined up, if you're in need of one. Squall is their leader." Cid told him, gesturing towards Squall. "I assume you know the details of the contract? If one of them dies he or she will not be replaced. They are under your command until such time as the contract is fulfilled." Cid finished.
Squall and the others stood rigidly and saluted Revolver Ocelot.
*****
Back to the Present . . .
Otacon and Snake went back to his apartment, it was sweltering hot on the street anyways, and Snake headed for Otacon's fridge, taking out a couple of cold beers. Otacon went back to his computer and moved the screen saver off. "You have MAIL." The tiny bow in the bottom corner of his screen blinked impatiently.
"Hm, that's odd." Otacon said, "Probably just another damn add . . ." He clicked the message. His e-mail screen came up, and Otacon nearly froze. There was a message from someone called E.E. I only knew one person that could possibly be . . .