Chapter 3:Close Encounters
"You don't mean that list do you?" Snake asked.
"Yeah, I mentioned it to you when I told you to get to the rocket." Otacon said.
"Do you actually think this base has a list of the Patriots?" Snake asked.
"Well you remember at the Big Shell? GW failed and if my days of hacking into government sites have taught me anything at all it's that they always have a backup plan for things like this. They'll abandon GW but I'm positive they have the information they wanted deleted somewhere on this base."
"Well I guess I'll just have to do some digging." Snake said.
"Right Snake and you can start by heading to the 5th floor. The 5th floor is largely used for data managing according to my sources, so if there is any information we can use it should be right there."
"I got it and I'll be sure to be extra careful, after all I wouldn't want to be discovered by whoever is patrolling this station." Snake said.
Snake began his trek back to the elevator, sneaking through the bright white hallways of Red Nova at a fast, but silent, cautious speed. He passed lab after lab full of computers and wondered to himself why they needed so many computers simply for security. Snake finally reached the elevator and pushed the up button. The light of the elevator started to flash, but the elevator wasn't coming down right away.
"What the hell?" Snake asked to himself out loud. The elevator had to come back down to get to the 2nd floor again which made Snake uneasy. He quickly ran into the closest room computer room and hid in the corner, peeking out of it in the meanwhile to see who was going to step out of the elevator. The computer room was dark and all this sneaking around was very familiar to Snake. He began to have flashbacks of old missions, Outer Heaven, Zanzibar, Shadow Moses, and the Big Shell. This one had a familiar tone to it and Snake could already tell it wouldn't be any different than the others.
The elevator made the typical Bing and the doors opened slowly. Snake flattened himself into the corner of the room to avoid being seen. He could hear heavy footsteps moving at a normal pace coming his way, so he could tell that whoever it was wasn't trying to sneak around. Snake hid in the dark recess of the computer lab and watched as a soldier similar to the one he'd met in the other computer lab, wearing army fatigues and holding an M- 16.
"Reporting no problems on floor two, near computer lab thirteen." The soldier said.
Snake was in disbelief. He contacted Otacon with his Codec immediately.
"Otacon do you read me?"
"Snake what is it? I was about to stumble aboard with my stealth camouflage and meet you up there." Otacon replied somewhat annoyed.
"These soldiers, they're not American!" Snake told Otacon in disbelief.
"What makes you say that?" Otacon asked.
"They speak Russian or Baltic or something, possibly even Slavic."
"What? Are you sure you hear them right?" Otacon asked puzzled.
"I'm positive, they're communicating through radios and this one is reporting some other language." Snake said.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you Snake, but be careful! I want my landing to go on without a hitch, I'll be up there soon okay? I have to hurry before the reinforcements leave without me!" Otacon said.
"Reinforcements? What are you talking about?" Snake asked stunned.
"The Pentagon has authorized the use of Delta Force to try and retake the Space Station, I'm going to sneak aboard with them using the stealth camouflage." Otacon replied.
"Okay, again I'm going to go back to.. WHAT?" Snake asked aggravated.
"Well, the Pentagon doesn't want this to get out to the public. So they're sending in the ultra-elite of the armed forces to retake the station from the terrorists in hope that this will never get out." Otacon replied.
"Hmm.... it doesn't seem like you're telling me everything Otacon. Remember we're a team, okay?" Snake said in a scolding tone.
"Snake I'm not going to hide anything from you. I think it would be a great idea to stay out of the strike team's way thought. After all they won't know you're not a terrorist. Now get to the fifth floor and hurry Snake!"
"All right." Snake replied.
Snake began to sneak out into the hallway. He looked down the long stretch of labs as the soldier turned the corner and darted down the to the elevator. He jumped inside and pushed the button for the fifth floor. The elevator began it's ascension up and Snake waited impatiently. He began to think about all the questions left unanswered by the Pentagon informant and what Otacon probably knew, but wasn't telling him. He wondered why Otacon would information from him after the years of working side by side. As Snake's mind wondered he was horrified when the elevator came to a stop at the fourth floor.
"Ah, crap!" He thought as the doors opened. Snake unable to hide drew out his Socom pistol ready to fire. As the door opened he was standing face to face with two soldiers who were equally shocked.
"Who are you?" The soldier yelled. As both readied their guns.
"Huh? Where are you from? Who are you?" Snake asked the soldiers, yelling at them at the same time.
"You're not one of us are you?" The second soldier asked moving closer to Snake and tightening his hand around the trigger of his gun.
"You speak English?" Snake asked surprised.
"Who are you?" The soldiers asked impatiently and jerking their guns towards Snake. Snake suddenly felt vulnerable in a way he'd never been felt before. He didn't know how he'd get out of this. The soldiers had the usual look in their eyes, the one where they'd fire at any second.
"You're not going to talk huh?" The soldiers asked Snake. They were no less than four feet away from him and they most certainly wouldn't miss Snake. Before the soldiers could fire Snake's eyes were drawn to movement in the background and suddenly the second soldier was lifted into the air and thrown against the wall.
"Aaaahhhh!" He yelled while an invisible figure threw him several feet into the wall. The other soldier stood stunned and began to unload his clip onto the invisible attacker. The bullets were deflected as they fell upon the invisible assassin and as the soldier paused to reload he was suddenly impaled through his chest and lifted into mid-air.
"Aaarrgghhh.... uh....." He grunted as he was thrown into the wall next to the other soldier. Blood had spilled onto the invisible swordsman's katana and even on his legs.
"No way!" Snake uttered in disbelief. The stealth assassin's stealth camouflage wore away and standing before Snake, to his horror was none other than Cyborg Ninja.
"What the-?" Snake let out.
"Surprised Snake?" The Ninja asked in a raspy, low voice.
"Snake, you'll never get anywhere like this. You'll have to be more careful. The Ninja threw a card on the floor and back up.
"Snake, if you think anything is as it seems than you've obviously learned nothing from your vast experience."
"Who are you? Why are you helping me?" Snake asked. The ninja began to chuckle and sheathed his sword into it's holster strapped around his back. The Ninja's suit was exactly as Snake remembered it, except this time stained with the blood of the two soldiers.
"Snake, I'll see you around and don't be too hasty!" The Ninja said while he jumped into the air and bouncing off the walls up into the high ceiling of the fourth floor fading into his stealth camouflage and disappearing from sight. Snake immediately tried to reach Otacon on his Codec, but there was no answer. He turned back and walked to the elevator still trying to piece it all together. The appearance of the Ninja made it obvious to Snake that there were other forces at work here, but Snake had only been given a small piece of information.
As he walked back to the elevator he stepped on something. He looked down and saw the key card the Ninja had thrown at him. He picked it up and walked into the elevator and pushed the button for the fifth floor, readying his Socom just in case.
"You don't mean that list do you?" Snake asked.
"Yeah, I mentioned it to you when I told you to get to the rocket." Otacon said.
"Do you actually think this base has a list of the Patriots?" Snake asked.
"Well you remember at the Big Shell? GW failed and if my days of hacking into government sites have taught me anything at all it's that they always have a backup plan for things like this. They'll abandon GW but I'm positive they have the information they wanted deleted somewhere on this base."
"Well I guess I'll just have to do some digging." Snake said.
"Right Snake and you can start by heading to the 5th floor. The 5th floor is largely used for data managing according to my sources, so if there is any information we can use it should be right there."
"I got it and I'll be sure to be extra careful, after all I wouldn't want to be discovered by whoever is patrolling this station." Snake said.
Snake began his trek back to the elevator, sneaking through the bright white hallways of Red Nova at a fast, but silent, cautious speed. He passed lab after lab full of computers and wondered to himself why they needed so many computers simply for security. Snake finally reached the elevator and pushed the up button. The light of the elevator started to flash, but the elevator wasn't coming down right away.
"What the hell?" Snake asked to himself out loud. The elevator had to come back down to get to the 2nd floor again which made Snake uneasy. He quickly ran into the closest room computer room and hid in the corner, peeking out of it in the meanwhile to see who was going to step out of the elevator. The computer room was dark and all this sneaking around was very familiar to Snake. He began to have flashbacks of old missions, Outer Heaven, Zanzibar, Shadow Moses, and the Big Shell. This one had a familiar tone to it and Snake could already tell it wouldn't be any different than the others.
The elevator made the typical Bing and the doors opened slowly. Snake flattened himself into the corner of the room to avoid being seen. He could hear heavy footsteps moving at a normal pace coming his way, so he could tell that whoever it was wasn't trying to sneak around. Snake hid in the dark recess of the computer lab and watched as a soldier similar to the one he'd met in the other computer lab, wearing army fatigues and holding an M- 16.
"Reporting no problems on floor two, near computer lab thirteen." The soldier said.
Snake was in disbelief. He contacted Otacon with his Codec immediately.
"Otacon do you read me?"
"Snake what is it? I was about to stumble aboard with my stealth camouflage and meet you up there." Otacon replied somewhat annoyed.
"These soldiers, they're not American!" Snake told Otacon in disbelief.
"What makes you say that?" Otacon asked.
"They speak Russian or Baltic or something, possibly even Slavic."
"What? Are you sure you hear them right?" Otacon asked puzzled.
"I'm positive, they're communicating through radios and this one is reporting some other language." Snake said.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you Snake, but be careful! I want my landing to go on without a hitch, I'll be up there soon okay? I have to hurry before the reinforcements leave without me!" Otacon said.
"Reinforcements? What are you talking about?" Snake asked stunned.
"The Pentagon has authorized the use of Delta Force to try and retake the Space Station, I'm going to sneak aboard with them using the stealth camouflage." Otacon replied.
"Okay, again I'm going to go back to.. WHAT?" Snake asked aggravated.
"Well, the Pentagon doesn't want this to get out to the public. So they're sending in the ultra-elite of the armed forces to retake the station from the terrorists in hope that this will never get out." Otacon replied.
"Hmm.... it doesn't seem like you're telling me everything Otacon. Remember we're a team, okay?" Snake said in a scolding tone.
"Snake I'm not going to hide anything from you. I think it would be a great idea to stay out of the strike team's way thought. After all they won't know you're not a terrorist. Now get to the fifth floor and hurry Snake!"
"All right." Snake replied.
Snake began to sneak out into the hallway. He looked down the long stretch of labs as the soldier turned the corner and darted down the to the elevator. He jumped inside and pushed the button for the fifth floor. The elevator began it's ascension up and Snake waited impatiently. He began to think about all the questions left unanswered by the Pentagon informant and what Otacon probably knew, but wasn't telling him. He wondered why Otacon would information from him after the years of working side by side. As Snake's mind wondered he was horrified when the elevator came to a stop at the fourth floor.
"Ah, crap!" He thought as the doors opened. Snake unable to hide drew out his Socom pistol ready to fire. As the door opened he was standing face to face with two soldiers who were equally shocked.
"Who are you?" The soldier yelled. As both readied their guns.
"Huh? Where are you from? Who are you?" Snake asked the soldiers, yelling at them at the same time.
"You're not one of us are you?" The second soldier asked moving closer to Snake and tightening his hand around the trigger of his gun.
"You speak English?" Snake asked surprised.
"Who are you?" The soldiers asked impatiently and jerking their guns towards Snake. Snake suddenly felt vulnerable in a way he'd never been felt before. He didn't know how he'd get out of this. The soldiers had the usual look in their eyes, the one where they'd fire at any second.
"You're not going to talk huh?" The soldiers asked Snake. They were no less than four feet away from him and they most certainly wouldn't miss Snake. Before the soldiers could fire Snake's eyes were drawn to movement in the background and suddenly the second soldier was lifted into the air and thrown against the wall.
"Aaaahhhh!" He yelled while an invisible figure threw him several feet into the wall. The other soldier stood stunned and began to unload his clip onto the invisible attacker. The bullets were deflected as they fell upon the invisible assassin and as the soldier paused to reload he was suddenly impaled through his chest and lifted into mid-air.
"Aaarrgghhh.... uh....." He grunted as he was thrown into the wall next to the other soldier. Blood had spilled onto the invisible swordsman's katana and even on his legs.
"No way!" Snake uttered in disbelief. The stealth assassin's stealth camouflage wore away and standing before Snake, to his horror was none other than Cyborg Ninja.
"What the-?" Snake let out.
"Surprised Snake?" The Ninja asked in a raspy, low voice.
"Snake, you'll never get anywhere like this. You'll have to be more careful. The Ninja threw a card on the floor and back up.
"Snake, if you think anything is as it seems than you've obviously learned nothing from your vast experience."
"Who are you? Why are you helping me?" Snake asked. The ninja began to chuckle and sheathed his sword into it's holster strapped around his back. The Ninja's suit was exactly as Snake remembered it, except this time stained with the blood of the two soldiers.
"Snake, I'll see you around and don't be too hasty!" The Ninja said while he jumped into the air and bouncing off the walls up into the high ceiling of the fourth floor fading into his stealth camouflage and disappearing from sight. Snake immediately tried to reach Otacon on his Codec, but there was no answer. He turned back and walked to the elevator still trying to piece it all together. The appearance of the Ninja made it obvious to Snake that there were other forces at work here, but Snake had only been given a small piece of information.
As he walked back to the elevator he stepped on something. He looked down and saw the key card the Ninja had thrown at him. He picked it up and walked into the elevator and pushed the button for the fifth floor, readying his Socom just in case.
