Chapter 7
Vamp
Raiden moved steadily along the pathways of the base. He constantly felt under the harsh gaze of enemy eyes. As soon as he left his entry area, he felt a constant…suspicion about the terrorists. He had thought he had been discovered more than once, thought that he should have done a certain thing or spoken something to someone. But the terrorists were not suspicious, and for that, Raiden was grateful.
It would be so much easier if Snake were here, Raiden thought. When you were around somebody like Solid Snake, you just felt that the impossible could happen. He had a certain air about him, that of a man who knows what he's doing even in the harshest of conditions. He always kept a calm voice, even under extreme circumstances. Raiden had read, in the book "In the Darkness of Shadow Moses" by Nastasha Romanenko, that Snake had even used this particular skill at the Shadow Moses uprising. He was a lone agent, infiltrating a heavily guarded island that was under patrol by genetically enhanced supersoldiers, the best soldiers in the world, and the most feared weapon in the world, before Metal Gear RAY's existence, of course. After all, RAY had been specifically designed to combat the threat of pirated copies of Metal Gear REX.
Raiden eventually came to the hallway, which he, Snake and Otacon had seen at Philanthropy Headquarters. This hallway housed the heavyset door. Raiden had no idea about how far up his disguise would take him clearance wise, but Raiden didn't want to test it. Better safe than sorry. The two guards nodded to him as he passed by. Raiden needed to know what was on the other side of that door. He didn't know what was on the other side, but Raiden knew that it was something important.
"…re…e…Ra…en? …me…den?" Raiden's Codec suddenly scrambled to life. It was still malfunctioning, but at least it worked.
"This is Raiden. Otacon, do you read?"
"Ple…ply…" Raiden silently swore. Apparently, he could hear them, but they couldn't hear him. He was about to try again when a soldier came up to him.
"Sir!" the guard saluted, a motion that Raiden returned. "Sir, you are requested to come with me. They want to see you. Now." Raiden didn't know who they were, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that he had been discovered. A wave of fear echoed throughout Raiden's body. But he had no choice. He nodded, and motioned the soldier to lead the way. The soldier started walking off, Raiden following closely. It was unlikely that he would survive this meeting, but at least Raiden would discover whom the ringleaders behind this operation first.
Eventually, they came to a door with a keypad next to it. The soldier typed in a few random keys and the door opened automatically. They walked in, and down a long hallway. The hall seemed to stretch forever, as Raiden came closer and closer to his rather undesirable fate. Along the hallway were diagonal support beams, holding it up. It added for a futuristic look to the base, but it also made it seem more like a prison somehow.
Finally, they reached the end. And beyond the door lay a group of men. There was a large, brown table set in the middle of the room. Seated at the head of the table was a heavyset man dressed in Marine camouflage clothing. The owner of the uniform had apparently been named Orion. He had black hair and blue eyes, and was slightly tanned. Seated at his left and right were two men. The one on the left was dressed in a suit, which seemed out of place in a combat zone such as this. He wore glasses and featured curly brown hair and piercing brown eyes. But the look shining from those same eyes seemed enough to kill someone simply by staring. The one on the right was also wearing military camouflage, but his form seemed more appropriate for the uniform. He was well built, dark skinned, and had green eyes. He had black hair in the style of a crew cut. Raiden had the impression that he was an actual Marine here even before the terrorists took over.
Finally, there was one last man standing behind the center person. Raiden assumed that he was the man's personal bodyguard. Raiden only began to look away from the man when he focused his eyes on him once more. There was something…familiar about him, but it was hard to place. Finally, Raiden realized it. The bodyguard of what seemed to be the ringleader of the takeover was none other than Vamp, the sole survivor of the group Dead Cell.
Vamp. A name that Raiden feared. Raiden had met him on the Big Shell, and feared him even after their first meeting. Raiden vividly remembered it. He had walked down a hallway, only to find it covered in blood. Raiden went inside a room to find Vamp decimate an entire division of a SEAL Team. If Snake hadn't come into the room at that exact moment, Vamp would have killed Raiden as well. Later, Raiden fought Vamp in a battle of guns against knives. But Raiden gained the upper hand, and managed to knock Vamp into a pool of water full of oxygen. To quote Vamp, "Once you go down, you don't come up."
Later, when Emma Emmerich was walking along the oil fence to get to Shell 1 of the Big Shell, Vamp had risen again. Raiden had successfully managed to use his sniper rifle and defeat Vamp yet again, convincing him to let go of Emma. Raiden thought he had killed the man. Four bullets to the head is not something that you can just walk away from. But there was no mistaking it; the man standing before Raiden was Vamp, the bisexual man who feasted on blood. Raiden only hoped that Vamp would not recognize him.
As soon as Raiden entered the room, he saluted, along with the other members of the room. The escorting soldier stood of to the side, probably feeling awkward and out of place. After looking at him for some time, the men finally began to speak.
"As you know, a half an hour ago a torpedo was fired, presumably at a human being," the man in the middle said. "We soon learned, however, that it was a glitch in the programming, moments after the torpedo hit an innocent shark. But a glitch is extraordinarily rare with these constantly updated systems. Although it is possible for a glitch to happen, the others and me are still concerned about our current…takeover. If this operation is to proceed, we can't have any accidents at all. There is a chance that it might have been nothing, just the same chance that there might have been something. I want you to take your unit and see if you can locate this man. Understood?" Raiden nodded. "Good. You are dismissed."
Raiden was amazed. That was all he was requested for? And Vamp hadn't recognized him. It seems the tables were slowly turning in Raiden's favor. Unfortunately, the day hadn't been won yet. Raiden needed to know more about these men. Raiden would ask Otacon about it as soon as the Codec was repaired. Raiden turned to leave, when he heard something. Somebody was sniffing. And Raiden had a good idea on who it was.
"What is it, Vamp?" the dark skinned man asked, as Raiden turned around. Vamp was looking directly at Raiden. He cocked his head as he stared at him, and then, he grinned.
"Nothing. It was nothing."