Disclaimers 'n' crap: Haihai peeps! Well, you have spoken and I have listened. Here's the next part of the ficcie. Think of it as a late Christmas present. I would've gotten it up earlier but…yeah. Stuff happened. I don't own any Higher Ground or Metal Gear Solid characters. Yes, that's right, Metal Gear Solid characters in a Higher Ground fic. Jeff is a friend of mine so I don't own him either. I'm not claiming ownership for Snake's last name being "Sears" because I'm sure everybody does that. Everything else (including "Kiyamoto" as Raiden's last name) is MINE. NO STEALING. Enjoy.


The year was 2027. The Crystal's Alliance's home planet, E-Max, was at war. Our long-time enemies, The Alliance of Dark Chaos (or ADC), had laid siege to the capital, Capitopolis, and I had been called in as a general to help fight. I willingly accepted, for one of the ADC generals was the one person I could call my worst enemy, the woman who virtually destroyed my life: Elaine.

Known as "Mistress Elaine" or "Madam General" to her lackeys and inferiors, she had turned herself into a demon (literally) over 20 years ago in order to officially join the ADC. I'd go into detail about all the hell and trauma that put me through…but I won't. Let the Realm Master save that for another fic. Anyway, back to the war.

This war had been aptly dubbed: the War of Good and Evil by our boss, Queen Hannah. During the first major battle, our Secret Service head, Jeff Lang, who was a good friend of mine, was killed by enemy forces. Another good friend of mine (whose throat I used to be at), Raiden Kiyamoto, stepped in to take his place. Okay, now here's where he becomes important. When we began military training a few years back, he and his fellow operative, David Sears, known to everyone as "Solid Snake" (or just "Snake") suddenly became very secretive about what they did in their spare time. It wasn't long after Raiden's big "promotion" that I found out what they were up to.

"General Barringer," said an E-Maxen soldier to Scott. He turned around.

"Yes, Captain Caprice?" said Scott, who was dressed in an E-Maxen general's uniform: a green jacket with gold epaulettes on the shoulders over a green-yellow shirt with grey pants and sturdy black boots.

"General Snake and General Kiyamoto have requested an audience," said Captain Caprice "They say it's quite urgent." Scott looked at him with an expression of curiosity on his face.

"All right," he said, and left the room.

Snake and Raiden, I then found out, had called for me from M.A.R.S. Program. What the hell were they thinking? For God's sake, that's on Mobius! Fortunately for me, they had already set up a transporter to get me there. Just the fact that they pulled that off was astounding. I thought that the ADC had cut off all connections from E-Max to other planets. Oh well, M.A.R.S. Program always thinks of everything. Including this.

"Ah," said Snake as Scott entered the room "There you are." Both Snake and Raiden were dressed in the same uniform as Scott.

"Mind telling me what this is about?" said Scott. Raiden filled him in, making his way towards a panel as he did so.

"Scott," he said "When we started training a few years ago, it occurred to us that E-Max had no special forces unit besides the Alliance."

"Yeah," said Scott "So?"

"So," said Snake "We knew that if war were to break out, we Alliance members would be too busy fighting in actually warfareto, shall we say, carry out the same actions that Raiden and I have in our games?"

"We knew we needed people with unique past experiences similar to yours," said Raiden "So, when it came to choosing our source for special forces, the choice was obvious."

I honestly didn't know where they were going with this, but, damn was I in shock when Raiden hit a button on the control panel to reveal…

"General Scott Barringer," said Raiden "We give you, Special Forces Unit: Cliffhangers."

"They're yours to command," said Snake.

For a minute, time stopped for me. There they were, all seven of them. David, Juliette, Auggie, Katherine, Daisy, Ezra…and Shelby, and they all looked like G.I.s from the 80's. I'm not sure how long I actually stood there, or even if I heard Kat say "Surprise." All I really remember of that moment was that I fell to my knees and whispered "Im…possible." I stared at the floor for a moment before looking up and saying "You…guys…are real?"

"Yep," said Raiden "They're the real deal."

"Not clones or bioengineering," said Snake "Just the original flesh and blood, with special training and abilities." He ended with a smile.

"But," said Scott "The worldgate…"

"Opened back up for us," said Ezra, slyly.

"Your friends always said a closed worldgate would open up again if it was 'meant to be'," said Daisy. Shelby came off the platform and slowly walked towards Scott and took his face in her hand.

That moment she touched me, I knew she was really there. And my heart told me this wasn't a dream either.

"This was meant to be," said Shelby. Scott didn't hesitate, didn't even bother to say her name before bolting upright and embracing Shelby in a deep kiss.

I never thought I'd see Shelby again, but I didn't know then that I would be losing her again sooner than I thought.

"Okay," said David, out of the blue "Group hug!"

"No!" said everyone. Scott and Shelby laughed in each other's arms. Then Scott looked her in the eyes.

"Shelby…" The name had not been spoken to address her for over 20 years, and yet, just as though the two appeared not to have aged, it came fluidly from Scott's lips as though he had been repeating it to himself ever since the day of the accident. Shelby ran her fingers through his hair.

"Guess your reality doesn't suck, huh?" she said. Scott smiled.

"No," said Scott "I guess it…"

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

"Huh?" said Raiden as he rushed over to some nearby transmission screens. He hit a button and two of the screens lit up, revealing the images of two women, a brunette and a blond. "Rosemary?"

"Michelle?" said Scott, breaking apart from Shelby. Both women looked panicked.

"Scott," said Michelle, the blond "I'm really sorry to break up your reunion, but we have an emergency situation!"

"Heeeeeyyyy," said Auggie "Looks like our first mission."

"What's going on?" said Raiden, beginning to sound panicked himself.

"Scott!" said Rosemary "It's Elaine! She…" the screens started to fizzle out.

"Snake!" cried Raiden "We're losing the transmission!" Snake and Scott ran over and adjusted a few knobs. Both images came back clear.

"Elaine is marching on Gal Chinchoko! Elaine is marching on Gal Chinchoko!" Raiden's eyes dilated to pinpoints. Gal Chinchoko was his home town. The screens went blank.

"Rosemary!" he cried.

"Did she just say what I think she just said?" said Juliette.

"Yeah," said Scott "My step-mom's on the move and someone's gotta stop her."


And there's part 2. Hope ya liked! More coming as soon as I can type it up. BTW, yes, Michelle is my original character. No, she and Rosemary have not been captured, the screen thing was just for a dramatic effect. Yes, I DO like Rosemary and am a full Raiden/Rosemary supporter (but I do read Snake/Raiden fics (evil grin)). No, I am not nuts, nor have I ever played MGS 2. Yes, I'm stopping now.