Chapter 6
Alone
Raiden was lying on his back on the floor of the bathroom, trying to catch his breath. He painfully reached up to touch his ear and activate his Codec.
"Snake…? You…are you there, Snake?" Raiden waited a few moments, until he realized that all he heard was static. Apparently, the Codec had been slightly damaged. Raiden knew that the Codec should start repairing itself soon, but it would be awhile. Raiden looked around the bathroom. Nothing too interesting to speak of. There were showers scattered around the room, urinals and toilets along the walls, and the entire room was covered in a dirty white brick color. Raiden groaned, and stood up.
He leaned against one of the showers to regain his balance. And then he decided to acknowledge the situation. He was in enemy territory. He was on a suicide mission. And he was now all alone. At first, it was bad enough that it was two on one hundred. Now it's one on one hundred.
"It's the Big Shell all over again." Raiden said to himself. He shook his head, and started to walk. There was one single door on the far wall. He walked towards it, and gripped the handle, when he heard voices on the other side.
"Can't believe there was all that ruckus just for a shark…" one voice said, and the door opened. Raiden hid himself behind the door as it opened. Two men walked into the room, over to two urinals. Raiden assumed a crouching position, and hid behind a shower, where he could spy on them easily. He drew his SOCOM, and got a good look at them. Both of them were wearing camouflage, which could mean they were one of the last remaining Marines, or they were terrorists. One had dark brown hair, the other had dirty blonde hair.
"I can't believe that the defense systems around this place still screw up…I thought they were supposed to be the best defenses in the world." The second said. They both flushed the urinals, and walked for the door again. Raiden crept along until his back was facing the opposite side of original sneaking viewpoint. He looked at them again.
"Alright, see you later." The brown-haired man said. The blonde-haired person nodded, and they walked in separate directions, just as the door closed behind them. Raiden quickly got up, and opened the door just a crack. They both had their backs to him. Raiden looked at the blonde-haired one, and he crept along behind him. Eventually, both of the Marines went around a corner. Raiden pressed himself against the wall, and peeked around it. There were three other Marines.
"Did you get more info?" one asked.
"No," the blonde marine said. "I tell you, some of these soldiers are utter morons. Trusting their entire lives to a computer…any news from the top?" Raiden watched with interest. These men were definitely not Marines.
"None." One said. The blonde cursed.
"What the hell is he waiting for? We practically own the damn base now. All we have to do is carry out the remainder of our objectives, and it's not like there's a lot." He shook his head.
"Well, the boss did want us to patrol more carefully." One timid looking man said. The blonde soldier looked at him.
"What, because of that glitch? Dammit, computers screw up from time to time. Why can't anyone see that?" The blonde rubbed his eyes. "Alright, it's nearly time for the security cameras to run out again. I'm gonna go take out that Johnson I was talking to." The man looked around at the group. "You. Come with me." He pointed to a brown-haired man, and they started walking in Raiden's direction. Raiden gulped. He ran ahead of them, and back into the bathroom, peeking out from the door. He waited until they passed, and he followed closely behind them. Raiden could just dimly see the outline of the brown-haired soldier. The blonde terrorist was looking closely at a watch on his arm.
"Five…four…three…two…fire." The other soldier suddenly raised his pistol, which had a silencer attached to it, and he fired. The Marine in the distance fell.
"Well, at least now it's official." The other marine said. "We own the base." The blonde nodded to him.
"Hide the body and switch with him, quickly." The soldier nodded, and raced over to the corpse. The blonde walked back to his former post. Raiden again waited until he walked by, and he grabbed the soldier. He kept his hand over the guard's mouth, and dragged him back into the bathroom. The terrorist struggled against Raiden, until Raiden threw him onto the floor, pointing his gun at him.
"Freeze!" Raiden shouted. The terrorist remained.
"So, it wasn't a glitch after all…" the man said.
"What's your name?" Raiden asked.
"You can call me John." The man said. His hand started to creep closer to his waist.
"Freeze!" Raiden repeated, moving closer. John chuckled, and stood still. Suddenly, his leg lunged towards Raiden's knee, and knocked him down. John ran further back into the bathroom, until he rolled forward, and hid behind a shower. Raiden moaned, and stood up. A silenced gunshot was heard, pieces of brick shattering right behind Raiden. Raiden ran forwards, and hid behind another shower. Gunshots fired again towards Raiden, coming extremely close to him. Raiden crept out from behind the covers of the shower, and fired his silenced SOCOM at the man, but barely missed.
"Is that all you've got?" John called out.
"You're not much better off." Raiden replied. He again crept out, and shot at John some more. Finally, he heard a groan of pain.
"Argh!" John cursed loudly, and Raiden was afraid that guards outside would hear. But Raiden was lucky. Raiden ran forward, closer to John, when John himself popped up.
"Fooled you, didn't I?" John raised his pistol, and fired repeatedly. Raiden rolled to the side, and raised to a kneeling position. He fired his gun repeatedly at John, until three successful bullets had punctured John's face. John crumpled to the ground, dead. Raiden stood up, breathing a sigh of relief. He walked over to the corpse. Raiden considered that a waste of time. He didn't get any information at all, and now, the other guards were going to get suspicious. Raiden picked up the guard's gun. He was in luck. He had a SOCOM too. Raiden emptied out the ammo, and added it to his supply. He started to walk away, when an idea came to him. He turned around, looking at John.
Raiden and John looked rather similar. Talk about luck. Raiden walked closer to John, and took off the Marine uniform. Raiden put it on over his Skull Suit, and he hid the body. Raiden pushed up his hair so the long part on the back was hidden under his hat. He walked out of the bathroom and over to the guards. The guards nodded to him.
"Successful?" One asked. Raiden nodded his head. The terrorists grinned. Raiden started walking off past them, keeping a cool air about him. "See you later." The terrorists said. Raiden was very lucky. From what it seemed, he had stolen the uniform from a high-ranking terrorist. This would make things a lot easier. Raiden could get most of his objectives done wearing this. He just hoped that he wouldn't be discovered, like the last time he wore a disguise…