Desert Roses Have Thorns.
Chapter 4.
Quick note before I start; I'm afraid Snake doesn't feature hugely in this section and focuses more on the two main ladies Ebony and Meryl, but I try to keep the chapters roughly the same length. Snake will have more of a part in the next chapter! And why shouldn't there be an all girls chapter? - Also when I type in italics for a section it refers to a flash back of Ebony's past. It's an improvement I've made on the last copy just to define the past from the present and make it clearer. And another thing I've changed is Ayesha, Ebony's medic. I was going to leave introducing her until later on in the original version but I've brought her in this chapter. I would have left the old copy up but I thought I'd better delete it in case, so if this is your first read through of this fic, I'm sorry if I'm confusing you!
"Ebony." A voice called out softly to her. She opened her eyes to look around for the voice. There was a dirty sand coloured canvas above her on one side that was the make shift tent they'd sheltered under and the thin camping mat on the other side of her which she was lying down on. Out of the corner of her eye, Ebony saw a strong tanned arm over her. Ebony murmured softly to them a few gentle Arabic words and shifted around, the rocky ground dug into her side through the mat.
A few moments later and the voice answered with more kind words, a pair of dark hazel eyes lined up with hers and strands of golden blonde hair framed the face before her.
"Good sleep?" Liquid asked. Ebony nodded sleepily.
"Cold." She added and he chortled heartily.
"I did notice. You stole my blanket and still not satisfied you decided to cuddle up and wouldn't let go of me!"
Ebony felt herself burning up in embarrassment; her cheeks flared up a red colour underneath her brown skin.
"I'm sorry…I didn't mean…" She began and twisted around shyly.
"Oh now don't take it like that. I don't mind Ebony. It would do neither of us any good if we froze to death which seems crazy when we're in the desert." Liquid smiled and reached over to rest his hand on Ebony's cheek. Ebony shut her eyes at his touch and felt herself relax.
"Today I think we'll finish this job. Once it's done the money will come in and we'll return to base." Liquid explained slowly. Ebony opened her eyes a little.
"Back home?" She asked.
"Yes. Back home." Liquid nodded.
"It's been so long…I look forward to it." Ebony smiled.
The mission had taken far longer than either of them had expected and Ebony found herself loosing interest. It wasn't easy trekking across the desert and it was a deadly feeling to have. But Liquid managed to keep her going the image of their reward was one thing she tried to keep in mind. It was also becoming harder to find jobs that were so highly paid, competition was fierce, even for mercenaries with the reputation that Ebony and Liquid had.
Ebony got up onto her feet and saw how night was being chased away by the sun.
"We'll have to start moving before the sun gets too high in the sky." Ebony reminded herself. She grabbed her rifle and set it down next to her and a few other weapons she'd brought with her. She combed her hair with her fingers, unknotting the tangles.
Liquid watched unaware that he was staring again and passed her a ration and her water flask, snapping himself out of it.
"So, we're still following our plan as we discussed?" Ebony asked as Liquid pulled on his shirt on top of the top he had been sleeping in and then a combat vest on top of it. He unfolded a map and spread it out on the dusty rock. Red lines marked out their route. Along side each point was scribbled notes about what they had to do.
"Of course. I think we've gone over this quite enough and it wouldn't feel right if our plan were too perfect. It would make me think that we were being led into a trap." Liquid said as he scanned the map, tore off a mouthful from his ration, and chewed it a few times. He looked up at Ebony who munched on her own dry breakfast.
"I wish we could take out each target together, but you know how it is…" He sighed and ran a hand over his stubbly chin.
"We'd be easily spotted and we want this over with quickly." Ebony finished for him as she rolled up their beds and put one into each of their packs.
They sat down again, still eating their rations with gulps of water then began to take down the shelter. Ebony stood by a small cliff edge in the hill they were on as Liquid packed the shelter into his own pack. He got up to stand beside her.
"Come on Ebony, we've taken on much harder jobs than this." He said to her and turned her around to face him. Liquid noticed how much smaller she was than him; a good half foot shorter than his six foot tall frame.
"I know that but don't let that trick you. You have to be confident in yourself but you can never become arrogant." Ebony said firmly. She looked up at him. "You will be okay?"
Liquid hugged her tightly.
"I'll be fine. My arm isn't so bad anymore but Ayesha will have to take a look at it." He grinned at her and gestured to his bandaged forearm. They had met some bitter rivals who were less than pleased with the pair obtaining the mission instead of them. It was on the way over some mountains and in the gunfight, Liquid and Ebony took cover behind some boulders. The rival mercenaries had grenades and although Liquid had been out of the explosion's range to cause him serious injury or death, the metal shrapnel from the casing had reached him and sunk into his arm.
Liquid returned to where he had left his weapons and backpack. He shouldered his sniper rifle and carried his sub-machinegun in one hand then returned to where Ebony stood all kited up with her weapons and pack.
"Take care Ebony. Remember, I'll call you on the radio when I'm done or if I need you." He smiled at her.
"You be careful too, Liquid." She replied and softly touched his wounded arm. Liquid rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"I have a proper name you know, just call me James. Please."
"Okay." Ebony smiled at him. "Goodbye then, James." Liquid laughed, patted her shoulder, and began to make his way across the rocks. Ebony stood and watched him as his surefooted steps took him down the rest of the hill out of her sight. Ebony sighed, adjusted the straps of her backpack, and made her own way down the hill away from James.
Ebony opened her eyes, the white ceiling of her room above instead of the blue sky and canvas she'd dreamed of. There was nobody around but she looked around hoping that Liquid would be there, sitting on a chair in the corner or waiting for her in the door way like he used to do in the mornings before they went out around the compound.
She'd been dreaming of a mission they took on two years after they first met. Ebony sat up and slowly put a hand up to touch the dog tag around her neck softly called his name.
"What was that?" She sat up and broke out of her dream's hold. She strained her ears and heard faint cheers, gunfire rattling out from the surface. Then closer to her a knock on the door.
"Come in." Ebony groaned and got up. She was still dressed in yesterday's clothes and picked up her belt and gun holster. Her Desert Eagle was still in the holster and loaded, Ebony only had to peek under her pillow to find the knife and attached it to her belt. She turned around to find the visitor, an older Arab woman dressed in quite casual clothes with a white lab coat on top. She had black hair streaked through with white swept up into a tight bun. Ebony brightened up when she saw the woman.
"Ayesha, morning. What's the problem?" Ebony asked as she laced up her boots.
"That…" The medic answered at the sound of another cheer. "Did you order that?"
"I definitely did not. What's going on anyway?" Ebony asked and stood up. Ayesha shook her head and sighed.
"Just come with me…"
She stumbled out of her room and ran up the stairs after Ayesha to the ground floor, the shouts and cries got louder and louder as she got closer to where she had left Snake last night.
Ebony pushed open the door to the yard outside and was rooted to the spot, unable to believe her eyes. Nearly all of her soldiers had crowded themselves into the yard and in the barracks upstairs. The men on the ground had formed a dense circle and in the middle of the ring, Ebony saw two of the biggest mercenary soldiers she had recruited taking on Solid Snake.
Both of the men were armed with whatever the crowd threw to them, guns, bottles, a chair had found it's way out a window from the second floor, Snake had nothing he only had his bare fists, feet and quick wits. He struggled along, half-blind with the sand he had in his eyes but carried on bravely. Ebony watched on as he ran around trying to evade his opponents, looking for a way to end it quickly. It was evident that he was starting to tire and was barely fending off the attacks.
Ebony was brought back to her senses when there was a loud smack and Snake was send skidding on his front in the dust. A loud roar sounded from the soldiers who waved their hands in the air. Ayesha looked at Ebony questioningly.
"Are you going to stop it?" She whispered.
Ebony began forcing her way through the soldiers and drew her Desert Eagle. She fired a single shot into the air and everybody stopped when she appeared next to Snake. A punch narrowly missed her, but she remained still and calm. The soldier who had thrown it withered under her disapproving stare.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" She shouted angrily and kept her gun in hand, she pointed it at the two men who moved away to be swallowed up by the crowd.
"Right, now who set him free and whose bright idea was it to start this fight!" She roared furiously. Snake barely moved from where he lay. She looked around at the faces in the human ring but all of them gave her a look that said that none of them was going to say anything.
"I did, it was me." A voice spoke out and the men parted to let the, through. Ebony spun around to see Revolver Ocelot striding towards her.
"YOU!" Ebony hissed loudly. "Snake is my business Ocelot…"
"But the men here are my business remember and I thought that they would like some entertainment. You did after all hand command of this base and the soldiers over to me for this venture." Ocelot smiled thinly at her.
Ebony balled her hands into fists; the blood began to simmer in her veins but kept her temper under tight reign.
"Yes, but Snake is my concern so find other ways to humour them. Even now I believe that these soldiers will answer to my call rather than yours." She shot back.
Ocelot dismissed the soldiers who left grumbling and talking to each other, disappointed that it was over.
"Is that right?" He laughed. "In the past you've given them little to fight for. With Metal Gear I've given these men a new purpose, a new hope."
Snake lifted his head and muttered under his breath something that only he could hear, but Ebony noticed that he had gone very pale under the coating of dirt on his skin.
"We've always had the ideals that my father had at the foundations of building this army. One day we will form a nation where…" Ebony shouted out.
"One day?" He laughed. "How long has your father peddled that to them? How many men have died believing that? Metal Gear can give you and men that and more…"
"ENOUGH!" Ebony screamed. "Just keep your hands off Snake."
"I'm sure I will, now that I've seen how possessive you are. I wonder, were you like that with Liquid when he was with you?" Ocelot smirked and left her to deal with Snake.
"Calm down, he knows that would only provoke a reaction. Don't give that scum the satisfaction of getting the better of you." Ebony told herself in her mind. She crouched down by Snake and tied up his wrists without a word. Footsteps in the sand approached her from behind.
"You're not going to start torturing him after all this?" Ayesha asked an edge to her words.
Ebony looked up; she had known Ayesha since she was a little girl, the motherly figure in her world that had filled in for the mother she had never known.
"That is the idea." Ebony answered and tightened the ropes around Snake's wrists. "Just keep out of it Ayesha, Ocelot has probably got casualties from last night anyway…"
"Bastard…" Snake hissed. Ebony nodded her head; for once, she had to agree with him, but she knew she still had something left to do for Liquid.
The old medic shook her head in despair.
"Keep out of it? Ebony I'm as much of a member of this base as anybody else and we all miss Liquid but…" Ayesha began. Ebony stood up and drew Snake up onto his knees with her.
"I don't think anybody will know how much I miss Liquid, you included." Ebony said firmly. "Then there are the people who think of his death as a great blessing… people like this…" Ebony gestured to Snake.
"And punishing them makes it all better does it?" Ayesha asked folding her arms. "It only makes another wrong. What about the people you've taken this man from? Did you consider them?"
Ebony laughed. Ayesha always had been so benevolent for a medic who worked under such conditions. It was a welcome change from the people that Ebony dealt with everyday.
"Well why not ask Snake the same question?" Ebony defended. She knew herself that when you killed somebody the first thought was anything but that person's life and the people linked into it. It was either kill or be killed in her world and in Snake's situation when he fought Liquid back on Shadow Moses island it was probably the same rule he had been fighting by.
Ayesha sighed, she knew that there would be no reasoning with Ebony but felt a grain of truth in her words. Ayesha hadn't known Liquid they way Ebony had, but from her place she had seen how he had helped Ebony up out of her father's death. For a moment, Ayesha almost believed that Liquid's death and the loss of Ebony's happiness with it was a punishable act, but her kind nature pushed the thought away.
"Just do what you feel, I won't interfere, but you won't have my support either." Ayesha finally announced and left Ebony behind.
Ebony watched the medic leave then looked back at Snake, battered from his fight.
"Come on. Get up. On your feet." Ebony barked.
Snake obeyed, struggling to stand up and limped along behind Ebony as she led him back inside, downstairs to the second floor basement, the prisoners' level.
As she dragged him along with her, Ebony almost felt like not torturing him again. Ocelot had done that already but it always seemed that whenever the memories of Liquid came back into the front of her mind she had to do something to stop it from hurting; she couldn't show Snake any mercy. Hurting him, making him cry made her pain go away, it dried up her tears. There was somebody who was at least suffering more than she was and the thought made her feel a little better.
Ebony was surprised that Snake didn't put up any resistance as she put the restraints around his wrists and ankles fixing him into the machine when they finally arrived at the prison floor. She noticed the scars on his body while she made sure that everything was set properly and guessed that they were fairly new.
"Did Liquid give you those?" Ebony asked him as she stood back and pointed to his left shoulder where a bullet had left its mark.
"So what if he did? Getting hurt is to be expected when you go to fight." Snake snapped.
"And as a prisoner?" Ebony pressed him with another question.
"Sometimes…" Snake was cut off with a blast of electricity and his voice rose up into screams.
"It's always when you're a prisoner of mine, Snake." Ebony smiled watching his thrashing around.
"Woken up yet?" She asked him as she turned the power down, leaving a faint but uncomfortable charge running through Snake. He was gasping for air and his head began to nod forwards.
"Ah, ah, ah! Snake it's not time to sleep yet!" Ebony laughed and pushed the voltage back up again once more a little under the maximum limit. She stood back and let it run on and rip through his body, taking a sip from her water bottle. Snake had given up with shouting he was beyond that point now and suffered in silence. The only sign of his agony was in his expression, the features on his face had pulled themselves into a grimace. Ebony leaned up against the console and watched.
"STOP!" Snake cried out a minute later, his voice sounded strained, the words jumped out of his throat.
"Pardon?" Ebony leaned forwards and smiled. She pretended that she hadn't heard him and wanted to hear him asking for her mercy again.
"STOP!" He shouted out louder. "Please…just make it stop…" He whimpered pathetically. Ebony paused for a moment to take in the sight of the greatest soldier alive now shattered.
"Giving up?" She shook her head in mock disappointment. "I was expecting a little more fight from you." She reached over to shut the machine right down and hovered her hand over the button where Snake could see.
"EBONY!" Snake hollered. There was a faint burning smell in the air and Ebony decided that it was the time to let him have his request and shut the power off completely. She could have killed him there but she still wanted to make him suffer more for the crime he had done to her and Liquid.
Snake fell forwards onto the floor with a grunt. He never reached out with his arms to break his fall. Ebony managed to catch him before he landed; it wouldn't help her if he killed himself by slamming onto the tiles and cracked open his skull. She noticed how hot he was, sticky with his sweat. She lifted up his arm and searched for a pulse in his wrist.
"Still alive." She listened for his breathing. It was there. Ebony sighed in relief.
"I might have pushed him a bit too much there." She sighed and remembered that he had nothing to eat since his capture and was weak from his night outside and the fight Ocelot had thrown him into.
"I almost…" Ebony thought. "…feel sorry… for you." She ended with a murmur. Ebony recognised the likeness between him and Liquid but the barrier she'd created between them was starting to break down. She wasn't sure if it was hopeless hopefulness that was making it happen or if she was really starting to question what she was doing to him.
A stray memory of Liquid came back and broke her out back into longing for Snake's death. Ebony quickly dropped Snake before she picked him up again to drag him back to the cell.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
The recording of the transmission had been put on pause, two lines of static cut across the screen from one side to the other. Meryl was leaning forwards in her seat, both elbows on the table, cupping her chin in her hands, staring at the grainy, flickering image of the Arabic woman. The woman was sitting behind a desk and two guerrilla soldiers were on either side of her holding AK-47s.
Meryl's soft brow had furrowed.
"So that's the visitor we had?" She thought to herself and put her hands on her lap, and clenched them into fists. What was that woman doing to Snake? Meryl shuddered; she didn't want to imagine.
"Why'd she take him anyway? There has to be a reason why other than the fact that taking Snake out of the military's reach would make it easier to get what they want." Meryl sighed. Whatever the reason, she was deadly determined to hear Ebony's excuse at any cost.
"What do you have on Ebony?" Meryl asked her father and swivelled her chair round to face him. The projector was switched on again and a clear portrait photograph of Ebony shone up on the white screen. She had struck Meryl as being quite pretty but found it impossible to imagine that she had been the one responsible for capturing Snake or even orchestrating such a massive threat.
"We only know her as Ebony and assume that is her real name." Roy began. "She's Arabic but has no real homeland. She was born into the mercenary business, the daughter to a soldier of fortune who had built up a good-sized army and a private base over the years. When he was killed in combat, it all passed to her. After that, we don't have much information on her activities but like her father before, Ebony rose quickly to become a prominent figure in the mercenary world. She is a big name in her native Middle East and well respected throughout the world. She doesn't specialise in any particular form of combat, she's brilliant in all forms so be careful." The colonel finished.
"And only twenty two hours to stop her within…" Meryl sighed.
"Don't worry. We've got the best people working with you and most of them are familiar faces for Snake that might just help with persuading him." Roy said.
"So how do we get there?" Meryl asked. She had so many questions to ask, she couldn't afford to miss a single scrap of information, and one lost fact could be the end of her life or Dave's. The photo of Ebony switched over to a map. The colonel pulled out a laser pointer and began waving it over the map; a faint chill ran through Meryl when she saw the little red dot whizzing around the room. It reminded her of when she was shot by Sniper Wolf, the little red laser that had pointed the way to her capture… Meryl shivered.
"There's no air defence but no doubt Ebony will have eyes on the sky and on the land from her base and will probably have scouts out in the area…" Roy explained.
"I'm sorry… Dad, could you put that laser pen away?" Meryl cut in. Her father looked at her oddly for a moment and then nodded, understanding why she had asked.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think…" He apologised. "Anyway… there are a few places which you could go by on foot and not be seen if you're careful. The first stage is to fly you and a handful of operatives over. From there it will be a parachute jump to the foot of these mountains in the bottom left hand corner of this map. There is more cover from that side. The other side is just open desert." The colonel poured a glass of water from the canteen on the table and took a sip.
"The soldiers escorting you will consist of one field medic, sniper, a spotter for the sniper, one soldier with communications equipment and one other to provide close fire in case they need it. They are some of the best men we have, experienced in desert missions and parachuting. They are there for support in the insertion and extraction phases. I don't want to risk anybody's life by not having medical help available until you reach here." Roy continued.
"But, I've never done a parachute jump before and there isn't enough time for training." Meryl said nervously.
"You will be falling in tandem with the team leader, you will be attached to their harness, and they will have control over your descent. You'll be all right, Meryl." Campbell smiled at her. Meryl sighed.
"Anything else?" She asked.
"As yet, no. However, I'm sure you'll find out more when you reach the base. First, the objective is to get Snake out of there, persuade him to carry out the mission to determine if Metal Gear is there. If it is…stop it. We'll be in contact with you via Codec so help is just a call away." The lights went up again. "Now, Doctor Naomi Hunter will issue you with uniform, equipment, and nanomachines." Roy added as he got out of his chair.
"I will be in charge of recording mission data and searching for information. Otacon will help me with that and he will be in charge on Metal Gear." Mei Ling smiled sweetly at Meryl.
"I'll see you before you board the plane, just go with Naomi for now." Roy said to Meryl and left the briefing room.
Meryl stood there by her chair for a moment to take in all the information. There was so much to it, all this unnecessary junk they told her before, when all she needed to know was what her enemy was like and where Snake was. She only wanted to get him back alive and for that, Meryl was willing to do anything at all. She wasn't going to let anything or anybody stand between her and Snake.
"You okay?" Hal asked. He stood by the door, his laptop in hand; head tipped over to one side a little.
"I think so. They just make it sound so easy in the briefing. And it's all new to me, having to do a job that Snake would normally do." She looked up and smiled. "But I'm glad that you're here."
Hal grinned and pushed his glasses back up his nose.
"I don't think Snake would have had it any other way." He smiled. His happy look faded. "But now…with Metal Gear I feel I have to do this. It's like it's my responsibility now to help stop it because I made REX and I think that its data is what has spawned this Gear." Hal shook his head with a soft sigh. "It's worrying. Really disturbing that if a mercenary like Ebony has obtained the data and constructed a Metal Gear so quickly I hate to think what has happened if the data has been sold and distributed world-wide."
"You really think that will have happened? I mean if Metal Gear is all over the planet…" Meryl began her eyes wide.
"It's a possibility I cannot rule out. But for now, let's just worry about making sure that Dave gets back safe and sound and deal with this Gear first." Hal stepped over and patted Meryl's shoulder and followed Mei Ling and Roy Campbell. Doctor Naomi was waiting in the corridor for Meryl.
"Come on Meryl." She smiled at her and led her upstairs into a medical room.
Naomi pulled a chair for Meryl to sit on before finding herself a seat in front of Meryl. She folded her hands on her lap and smiled before she began.
"We don't yet have any hi-tech uniform for this kind of mission but we have managed to round up the best that's available to us." She pointed over to an open cubicle where the uniform was hanging up on a clothes rail.
"The uniform there is in desert camouflage perfectly suited to where you will be going. The difference between this and the standard issue normally handed out to regular soldiers is that this one is made from material, which will help regulate your body temperature. It will keep you warm in the cold and cool when it is hot. The tactical vest has plenty of pockets and places to attach equipment and will give you a little protection. Having said that, it won't save your life from heavy damage. The harness for your parachute jump is integrated into it too. Last but not least, your boots, a belt and two holsters for each of your handguns." Naomi turned to a small pack sitting on the table next to her.
"This contains all the equipment you'll need. There's a uniform for Snake in here, rations, water, ammunition for you both… and your weapons. I think one is a tranquilliser gun-the M9 and a SOCOM. Both of them are fitted with suppressors. Then there's a hypodermic needle loaded with nanomachines for you to administer to Snake. They will let us and you contact him via Codec."
Meryl watched Naomi pick up a syringe already filled up. Meryl put her hand up to stop her from getting any closer.
"Just put that down for a minute." Meryl asked firmly.
Naomi slowly put it back down onto the sterile dish.
"I don't know how you got away with it or how you got involved in this mission after what you did, but there's no way I'm going to let you go anywhere near me with that thing." Meryl hissed. Naomi looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"Why, what do you mean Meryl?" She asked.
"You know what I'm talking about!" Meryl screamed at her and got out of her seat. "FoxDie!"
"Meryl, it wasn't my choice to give Snake FoxDie. It was planned as part of the mission beforehand and although I wanted to kill him, I realised that I had made a mistake. I had to change FoxDie so that Snake wouldn't die after the mission as it had been scheduled." Naomi pleaded as Meryl got up to head for the door.
"You really think I'm going to believe that?" Meryl laughed. "You made a huge mistake back in Shadow Moses. You maybe didn't kill Snake after the mission but soon, some day you will kill him." Meryl cried. "You knew exactly what you were doing when you gave Snake the nanomachines. You injected a time bomb waiting to go off at any moment." She paused and turned round to look Naomi in the eye.
"Do you have any idea what it feels like knowing that today might just be the day he will die? The one person that I care about after all the therapy I had to stop me from being attracted to men, and you gave him a life sentence!" Meryl yelled aloud. Her eyes could not hold back the tears she'd been keeping hold of.
Naomi couldn't say anything, she knew that Meryl was right, and was starting to wonder if this was how Meryl reacted to her involvement, how Snake would handle it.
"It was the only option I had to change FoxDie onto a wildcard incubation time for Snake, I couldn't do anything else. It could be many years before FoxDie comes up again, I honestly don't know…" Naomi said quietly.
"Hah! Honesty isn't something you're known for!" Meryl spat back.
"But nobody knows for real when they will die, virus or not. Life's just so uncertain, it's impossible to predict what will happen." Naomi wiped her eyes, took a breath, and got up to stand in front of Meryl.
"My only advice to you is to forget about it. It is hard, I know, but just enjoy the time you have with him and don't waste a second of it. You're a lucky woman, Meryl, to have him; he's a lucky man to be with you." Naomi gripped hold of Meryl by the shoulders at arms length. "You've got to go and make sure that he comes back alive. I really mean it."
Meryl smiled a little.
"There is nothing in with those nanomachines to hurt you or Snake. I did enough with FoxDie and I'm not going to do the same this time. Your father too would not be happy if I did anything to harm you." Naomi added firmly.
"I have to take your word for it, I guess." Meryl sighed. She had an idea of what she could do later concerning Naomi's involvement but for now, she would have to take the risk and put trust in her. "If you've lied to me though..." Meryl warned.
"I know…"
Meryl sat down again, and she looked like she had calmed down. She looked up at Doctor Naomi, and bit her lip.
"I've just got one thing that's bothering me about FoxDie." Meryl began. Naomi looked up and straightened her starched lab coat.
"I'm listening Meryl."
"Would I have got it from Snake?" Meryl asked quickly. "Will I be carrying it? It's just I'm afraid he might have passed it onto me…" Meryl fidgeted and felt her cheeks burning up. "…we've been…close." She said quietly. It took Naomi a while for her to work out what Meryl meant, and suddenly she giggled, breaking her usual cool and aloof demeanour.
"Oh no. No, you were not included in the project, so you will not feel any effects from FoxDie. I can't say if you'll be carrying it; it wasn't targeted at you so I doubt you will." Naomi answered and returned to her normal state.
Meryl let her inject the nanomachines into her arm. Meryl was too busy thinking about the million and one things floating around in her head to notice the pinprick.
"There, just give them a minute to circulate in your bloodstream and the Codec will become active soon. I'll let you know when you can try it out to confirm with Mei Ling that it works properly." Naomi smiled as Meryl walked into the cubicle to change.
There was a sandy coloured top similar in style to the one Meryl had worn on Shadow Moses, she pulled it on over her head and then pulled on the pair of trousers they'd given her. Everything fitted properly and had plenty of room for her to move about with ease. The camouflage shirt went on top of her tank top, the last few buttons at the top were left undone, and she rolled the sleeves up to so they were just above her elbows.
"I'm going to be all right with all this on!" Meryl thought as she zipped up the tactical vest. "I hope they work like Naomi said or I'm going to cook out there!"
"Are you almost ready?" Naomi knocked on the cubicle door.
"Ummm…yeah." Meryl called as she tied her laces up in a double knot and opened the door.
"Good. Mei Ling gave me a list of the frequencies for everybody on the mission to save us a little time. 140.96 is for Mei Ling, 140.85 is your father, and I'll be sharing that frequency. 140.80 is Snake's and 140.72 is the team you'll be going with. And yours is 140.15, just remember to tell Snake your frequency." Naomi said as she read off the list on her clipboard.
"Right…" Meryl muttered not paying much attention as she called up Mei Ling.
"Hello Meryl!" She chirped. "You're receiving me well?"
"Yeah, all clear. You're not going to tell me any of your proverbs are you?" Meryl smiled.
"Huh? Oh, right, I guess Snake told you all about them." Mei giggled. "I'll save them especially for him, he'll get so mad. Anyway, the colonel says we'll meet you on the runway before you board the plane. See you there!" Mei sang and signed off.
"Everything is in order?" Naomi asked.
"Yeah, it all works." Meryl sighed.
They both looked up as soldiers entered the room.
"Is Miss Silverburgh ready?" The leader asked standing at ease. Meryl stood up.
"Yes sir." She answered.
"Just follow us to the runway now, it's this way." He smiled and allowed Meryl to walk in front of him, the rest of the soldiers followed on behind.
The wind had picked up by the time the group reached the runway, singing away with the engines on the large air carrier.
The back cargo door was open and inside Meryl could see a couple of soldiers inside dressed in the same uniform as hers.
"Meryl!" The colonel called her as he slowly walked towards her with Mei Ling and Otacon following. The soldiers in the plane walked out down the ramp and lined up and anther three joined them and saluted when Roy Campbell appeared.
"Meryl, are you all set?" Roy asked as he put a hand on her shoulder. She nodded.
"As ready as I can be. I shouldn't waste much more time." She shouted back over the engines.
"Good, good. Now, this is the team who will be parachuting with you." The soldiers smiled at her.
"Lieutenant Armstrong here who escorted you is in command of the team and he'll take you on the sky dive. He's your sniper and one of our best."
"Miss Silverburgh…" The light haired sniper held out his hand and Meryl shook it.
"Umm…just Meryl okay?" She smiled. She wasn't used to being addressed like that and it was a little strange to her.
"Good luck!" Hal called as the group left and he waved to her. Meryl returned his wave with a smile and turned back to the soldiers.
"Well…Meryl…" Armstrong began. "You'll be fine with us; everybody here has parachuted on many occasions so you're in safe hands. We will follow you as far as we can to the target before heading back to take up our post in the mountains. If you need a medic, call us. When the mission is over, call us and we'll arrange for the chopper to come down and pick us up. I've got some things to go over with you about the jump, but we'll deal with that when we're on the plane." He explained calmly.
"Okay. I got it. All ready to go?" Meryl grinned. The soldiers smiled and nodded. It looked like everybody was confident and itching to get on their way.
Armstrong grinned and clapped his hands.
"Okay, come on. Let's go!" He called out and everybody began to board the carrier.
Meryl paused for a second to take a look around before climbing up the ramp into the hold. Hal was waiting in the distance watching and saw her. He waved a few times his arms wide. A last goodbye to wish her luck.
Continued in chapter 5.