Chapter Seven

VII awoke with a start, instinctively reaching for his holstered SOCOM pistol and, surprisingly, finding it on his person. This registered with him after a few seconds as strange: why had they left him armed and fully dressed?

Curiouser and curiouser, VII thought as he scanned his immediate area. Surrounding him were four other bodies, all male and apparently unconscious. One of them, nearest to him, he recognised immediately as Raiden. A little further away was the unmistakable blonde hair of Liquid Snake and the brown trenchcoat-and-goatee combination Vamp had sported earlier. The fourth figure, recently shaven bald but possessing an uncanny facial likeness to Liquid could only have been Solid Snake.

VII loosened the straps at the back of his head and the mask that covered his face relinquished its grip on his face, allowing him to reach up underneath it and wipe his eyes of sleep. For the first time in a long while, VII felt the rough and messy stubble that had accumulated on his face brush against his fingers. After he could see clearly, he got up from his kneeling position and walked over to Raiden.

"What…" Jack questioned his surroundings once VII had shaken him out of his dream. They were in an elongated, rectangular room with only one visible exit: a door perfectly centred in the furthest wall. The room itself was of a dark metal, illuminated only by a thin row of long bulbs that ran lengthways along the ceiling, emitting a weak, purple-tinted light.

The other three warriors began to stir almost simultaneously with a harmony of grunts and groans. Vamp arose the fastest, quickly assuming a standing position that looked as though it'd been comfortably occupied for hours. Liquid pulled himself up, shaking off tiredness as he did so. Snake was the last to stand, and looked visibly in pain, though he did his best to hide it.

"Liquid!" Snake shouted in fury once he'd got his bearings. He rose his Beretta to Liquid's head height.

"Brother," Liquid voiced his greeting with mock pleasance wrapped in a slimy, upper-crust English accent. He had no time to reach for his own weapon, and instead raised his hands in defeat.

"No!" VII said, moving towards Snake, who returned his glance with a bewildered stare.

"Who are you?" Snake asked VII. "What's this got to do with you?"

"My name is VII," came the reply. "I'm an ally of Otacon."

"So you tell him," Snake spat. He pushed the cold steel of his handgun against Liquid's temple. "That doesn't explain why you want this scum to live."

Raiden watched the scene in amazement. Liquid and Solid were the spitting image of each other, like separated Siamese twins. Their hair and their clothing set them apart, but otherwise they were identical. It was weird watching one holding the other at gunpoint. What could Liquid have done to make Snake so furious?

"If you kill him," VII growled. "Then we all could die."

Listening to those words, Raiden finally understood why VII had stopped him from killing Vamp before. In the Big Shell, the Patriots had created conflict between himself and Solidus in order to divert attacks from their selves, when Solidus and he should have put their past behind them and stood united. At last, Raiden could see a way of beating the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo.

"He's right, Snake," Raiden spoke up, his voice still creaking. "We have to work together to get out of this."

Snake's face looked as weighted with emotion as Raiden had ever seen. Raging anger, agonising pain and hollow sadness were worn clearly on his usually confident and composed complexion. Something was conflicting inside of him… a memory, perhaps, leading the fight.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Raiden's mind as he realised that Vamp had escaped his view. Too late he scanned the area for his nemesis, only for the vampire to appear at Snake's side like a flash.

A sharp machete blade touched Snake's covered throat, pushing dangerously against the rubber sneaking suit that would protect him only so much.

"Kill him," Vamp spoke to Snake in his smooth, Middle-Eastern accent. "I haven't drank in hours." He felt almost aroused as Snake's arteries pulsated against the tip of his knife.

Raiden unleashed his SOCOM and aimed it at Vamp's head. "You knife him, and I'll drop you."

An echoing silence followed as the Mexican stand-off continued. VII stood quiet between Raiden and the others, his mind racing to come up with a plan that would not end in one of them dying. He looked to Raiden, and then back at Snake and the others, trying desperately to think of something.

"Stalemate," Liquid mused. "Perhaps this isn't the best time to settle old scores, though. There are more… pressing matters at hand."

"I agree," Raiden said. "We need to find a way out of here before the Patriots sic Miasma on us again."

"I propose we all drop our weapons at the same time," Liquid suggested, prompting a moment of thought from all parties.

"How about it, Snake? On three?" Raiden asked.

Snake tried to push his inner turmoil down in order to achieve rational thought. He could kill Liquid now, but he was too weak to block any subsequent attack from Vamp. Besides, they might need each other. A female scream, sounding akin to breaking glass, echoed familiarly through Snake's mind as he made his decision.

The legendary soldier lowered his Beretta, feeling Vamp's blade leave the vicinity of his throat in turn. Out the corner of his eye, Snake saw Raiden drop his pistol to waist-height.

In an instant, Snake dropped his Beretta and spun around, taking the machete from Vamp's still-outstretched arm and sinking an elbow into Liquid's side as he swung back round. He took Liquid down to his knees with a kick to the leg and placed Vamp's knife against his own twin's unprotected neck.

"But if you cross us…" Snake warned, pressing the blade against Liquid as Vamp had done to Snake moments ago.

"I understand, Brother," Liquid winced. "If you remember, I hate you as much as you hate me, but I'm willing to put the past behind us… at least momentarily."

Snake looked up. For once, Vamp looked completely helpless. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rid the world of them both. One last time, Snake contemplated murder.

"Fine by me," Snake growled, pushing Liquid to the floor and standing straight. Raiden breathed out audibly, while VII stood in silent relief. Vamp looked on in a quiet, icy rage.

"Now, if we've all finished throwing testosterone at each other, maybe we could assess what sort of traps are likely to spring out at us between here and the door," said Raiden, turning everyone's attention to the only visible exit in the room. The space between them and the door looked empty, but their instincts told them there was no telling what sort of hidden defences lay out of sight.

"Wait…" Snake said. "Why have they left us all together in the first place? For that matter, why are we still alive?"

"I don't know," VII lied convincingly. "But what I do know is this: I've been unconscious for about three hours judging by the small amount of accumulated mucus around my eyes. In that time, I've been completely stripped and redressed in the same clothes; they did a good job making sure everything was in the right place, but I can still feel the difference. I feel physically fine, but there's a faint aftertaste of anaesthetic in my mouth. The floor is firm but soft and impact-allowing, so they probably dropped us in here."

"Then they've made sure we're fighting fit," Liquid concluded, and looked at Snake.

"So to speak."

"But why?" Raiden inquired, more of himself than anyone. "Could this be preparation for some sort of test?"

Liquid laughed. "Why test us? We've already failed. They should've just killed us while we were at their mercy. It's what I would have done."

"This is a test," VII said. "But there's no way of knowing why until we get to the end of it."

"If we work together, then there's nothing they can throw at us that'll stop us," Raiden said. "They must have known that."

"Let's just see how this plays out," Snake said assertively. "We don't really have any other choice."

"You sound like you have a plan," VII said.

"Not really," Snake replied. "But I've been in situations like this before. I say we use a defensive scoping pattern to reach the door: one of us takes the point, and the rest stand back to back, so nothing can attack us from behind. Check all corners and ridges of the room as we move: anything could spring out. Look for laser trip wires and hidden cameras, anything that could pose a threat."

"What about when we reach the door?" Raiden asked.

"Two of us stand against the wall and one in front of the door when the point man opens it – does anyone have fibre optics?"

"Yes," VII replied, pulling an optic cable he'd taken from the assassins at the train station from the inside of his suit's pouches and handing it to Snake.

"Great," Snake said, taking the cable. "The pointer will check if the other side of the door is clear with this, but we'll keep the defence pattern just in case. When we're on the other side, everyone needs to look for some cover. No sharing hiding places unless totally necessary: I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

"Okay. Has anyone tried their codecs?"

Raiden put his index and middle fingers respectively to his neck. A second or two later, he spoke: "I can reach you and VII, but there's no response from Otacon."

"We'll have to assume the line's been broken," VII said. "We can't rely on him getting through to us."

"Exactly," Snake concurred. "But we might need to contact each other should we have to split up."

"I assume you have a communication system for this mission, Liquid?" VII asked.

"Of course," Liquid said. "Vamp and I are on compatible wavelengths, but we can link ours to your codec easily."

"Good," Snake said. "I don't want you two wandering off."

Liquid grinned.

"Who's going to take point?" Raiden asked.

Snake thought for a second. "Normally, I'd volunteer, but we have someone who's meant to be invincible on our team," he said, looking at Vamp. He walked over to the vampire and handed him the optic cable.

"Do you know how to use this?" Snake questioned.

"I was in Dead Cell," Vamp replied coldly, taking the cable and putting it in the pocket of his combat belt.

"Oh," Snake addressed Vamp again, turning back to him. "I think this is yours." He threw the knife he'd taken before towards his reluctant ally, fast enough to make Raiden think it was an attack. Just before it reached the vampire's face, though, Vamp's hand moved at an inhuman speed through the air and snatched the machete from its trajectory by the handle.

The five men stopped for mere moments and contemplated what they were about to attempt. None of them had any doubts that this could be their last assignment, and there was not one of them under the illusion that they were anything but rats in a maze. It was a feeling they were getting used to.

Vamp began to move towards the door, which stood around 50 feet away. Snake walked around three paces behind him to his right, and VII immediately moved into position and faced away from Snake, keeping within two steps of him. Raiden nervously nodded to Liquid, who grinned sardonically before turning his back on the young agent to face the door. Raiden too turned around to face the way they'd come from, his back to Liquid, and began to step cautiously backwards, trying to keep in step with VII. They all walked in stealth positions, almost crouched (with the exception of Vamp, who strolled confidently but gradually).

Raiden recognised the defensive pattern from VR Training. It was part of one of the few team-based missions he'd embarked on, required in order to obtain the "Snake" codename. Of course, Raiden had passed with flying colours, and he took a second to ponder how well Snake had done on the mission. The difference was, Snake had probably performed the move in an actual combat situation rather than in a virtual reality computer simulation.

Suddenly, something caught Raiden's eye. To his right, a small section of the wall flicked open and revealed a gun mounted on a camera. Before a shot could ring out, Raiden fired with his own SOCOM pistol. His aim was sure despite the lack of time allowed to line up the target, and the camera was destructed with a single bullet. Almost immediately, he heard another shot ring out to his left from VII's gun.

"They're in the walls," Raiden told the others without turning to face them. "Mounted security cameras."

More shots were fired from Snake's gun, and one from Liquid's. The unmistakable sound of the cameras exploding followed. Raiden noted that Snake was firing repeatedly, while the rest of them were clinically picking off their targets. He'd have to talk to him about it later.

Vamp was not firing; in fact, he didn't even have a gun. Instead, he had begun to spin in his trademark bullet-avoiding dance; gracefully dodging anything that flew towards him. He even did it more slowly than usual, to allow the others to keep pace with him, but it did not do the cameras any good. They could no more hit him than they could the Sun.

Something sprayed across the back of Raiden's head. He instinctively felt to see what it was, keeping his gun in front of him with his right hand. When he brought his left hand forward again, he saw that his gloved fingertips were smeared with blood. He shot another camera before it had even fully opened, and called to Snake.

"Snake, are you okay?" he shouted, knowing the blood had sprayed from his direction.

"Just keep shooting," the defiant reply from the former FoxHound operative resonated through the whipping sound of silenced gunshots.

And so they slowly advanced in their formulated positions, moving almost as one toward the door in the synchronised formation while picking off any cameras that would fire. Vamp still led, swiftly spinning and side-stepping away from any bullets. In a time that seemed to take forever, he finally reached the door and knelt in front of it, readying the cable.

Almost as soon as he did so, the cameras stopped firing. The ones that had not been destroyed retreated into their openings in the walls, which sealed as tight shut as though they had never opened, now indistinguishable from the rest of the concrete that encased them.

Vamp slid one end of the optic cable under the door, using the goggles at his end to view what was on the other side. Snake backed up against the wall to his right, and Liquid on his other side. VII stood behind Vamp, gun raised in case anything should attack when the door was opened. Raiden kept watch for more cameras.

After a tense period of no movement, Vamp spoke.

"There is nothing on the other side," he told them. "I can neither see nor smell anything human."

"What about cover?" Snake asked through gritted teeth. "Is there anywhere to hide?"

"No," Vamp answered. "There is nothing. Only a long corridor. I can not see where it leads."

"Okay," Snake said, his hand on the door release button. "On three, we enter. Vamp leads; the rest of us stay in the same formation as well as possible. Ready?"

He took the lack of an answer as a positive one, and began the count.

"One.

"Two.

"Three, MOVE!" He pressed the button, and the door slid upwards with a swish of metal-on-metal. Vamp practically leapt into the room, knife at the ready. Snake and Liquid entered, guns strafing from left to right, looking for danger of any kind. Raiden and VII, side by side, backed into the corridor and kept their eyes on the previous room, should there have been any remaining cameras, until the door slid closed with a metallic grating.

The corridor itself was made of the same steel that had composed the door, and lit only by a single white light above their heads. As such, Snake and Liquid were unable to see more than three feet in front of themselves, and already Vamp was close to disappearing from their sight.

"Wait," Snake said for Vamp's benefit, raising his hand as he did so. "But stay in formation."

"What's happening?" Raiden asked.

"We can't see shit," Snake said. "Night-vision goggles on for those who have them."

Raiden pulled on the goggles they'd taken from Mei Ling's would-be assassins, while VII tapped the side of his mask, making the NV slide he'd installed into it slip over his eyes. Liquid pulled a pair similar to Raiden's out of his coat, and Snake put on the ones he'd found with the Philanthropy sneaking suit.

"Guns ready," Snake said. "We don't want to be caught with our dicks in our hands. Vamp, can you see?"

"If anything attacks, I will smell it first."

Raiden grimaced at the realisation that Vamp, a man he absolutely detested, could probably smell his sweat right now. It dripped off his blonde hairline despite the cold chill that came with the corridor's steel walls, making him feel slightly sick again. He remembered how Miasma had humbled him in their previous battle, but for once he wasn't looking for revenge. He thought of Rose, before returning his mind definitively to the mission.

As they progressed, it was soon became clear that the corridor was becoming more and more enclosed. Whereas when they first entered three people could have easily walked abreast, Raiden's shoulder was almost brushing against VII's. He imagined Snake and Liquid were doing their best not to come into contact with each other.

SHH-uuulp

Without warning, the same metal on metal sound that had heralded the door's opening now reverberated around them again, and before Snake could move a sheet of steel dropped down in front of him, cutting the four of them off from Vamp.

SHH-uuulp

Another one fell from the ceiling behind them, wide enough to completely prevent the group from returning to where they had come from. All four of them looked up as the sound began again.

"Look out!" Snake shouted, backing up against the wall to his right. Raiden did the same on the opposite wall in the nick of time, a heartbeat before a third metal sheet dropped down between him and Snake, vertical to the one that had separated them from Vamp.

"Shit!" Raiden mouthed viciously and punched the steel that kept him from Snake and VII. "Snake! VII! Can you hear me?"

"It's no good," said a voice next to him. "They'll have sound-proofed these walls."

Oh great, Raiden thought. I'm cut off from everyone except Liquid.

The two of them were now encased in a room five feet in length, between one and one and a half feet in width and about eight feet high. They barely had enough space to move, and Raiden immediately began to wonder about the amount of air left to them.

"What next, a pit of cobras?" he asked sarcastically.

"Cobras?" Liquid asked. It was the first time Raiden had seen him look confused.

"Indiana Jones," Raiden answered.

"Hmm," Liquid mused. He slumped against the wall and slid down it into a sitting position. "I was always more of a James Bond man."

"Figures," Raiden said. "Look, I'm going to try to contact Snake over codec. Don't go anywhere."

"The kid's wired with nanomachines," Liquid said to himself as Raiden touched the neck region of his skull suit.

"Raiden?" Snake answered the codec call almost instantaneously. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Raiden answered. "I'm with Liquid."

There was a beat while Snake cursed under his breath.

"Look, be careful," the legendary mercenary told him. "Don't let him out of your sight for an instant. If you think for one second that he's gonna turn on you, do not hesitate to kill him."

"Why?" Raiden asked. "Why do you hate him so much? You two are identical, for God's sake."

"We're nothing alike," Snake hissed like his namesake. "And God had nothing to do with him."

"Look, don't worry about me," Raiden answered after a pause. "I'm more concerned about you."

"Me? I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Raiden spoke frankly. "You've been shot."

"Flesh wound."

"And your aiming was all off before. I heard you wasting shots in there… panicking."

"I'm trying to keep you alive, kid," Snake retorted angrily. "If you don't trust me, then you're on your own."

Snake signed off, ending the codec transmission abruptly. Raiden stood, stewing in his anger. That's what I get for showing concern, he thought. Liquid grinned up at him from the floor.

"What did you do?" Raiden demanded.

Liquid feigned a look of curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"To Snake," he affirmed. "He despises you."

Liquid ran his gloved hand through his own golden locks and looked casually up at the ceiling. He sighed, as if he was recalling some repressed memory. He'd dropped all airs of mock now.

"This may be… difficult for you to understand, boy," Liquid began. "I have no illusions that Snake and I are among the most revered warriors in the world…"

"At least, Snake is."

"…Indeed. Snake is what most soldiers aspire to be. I'm sure you feel the same about him."

Raiden thought for a moment. Liquid was right: Snake was almost a hero to him, and he'd admitted as much during the Big Shell mission.

"Well," Liquid continued. "It may surprise you that our dispute is over something very unprofessional indeed."

"Go on," said Raiden, now intrigued.

"I won't go into details," Liquid shook his head at the ground. "I don't want your estimation of such a legend like Snake to be diminished because of my bickering with him. But our squabble is actually over a woman."

"A woman?" Raiden asked.

"Yes. Her name was Meryl."

"Meryl," Raiden searched his mind to see if he knew the name. "Snake never mentioned her."

"He wouldn't," Liquid said, looking up again at Raiden. "She came between us. I don't blame her for a second, though: she was beautiful. It's no wonder Snake couldn't resist her."

"What happened?"

"He… Snake…" Liquid began. His voice never wavered, but he put his hand over his eyes as though to hide any potential tears.

"It's alright," Raiden said, kneeling down beside Liquid. "You don't have to tell me."

"No. It's okay," Liquid said, removing his hand from his eyes. "He killed her."

Raiden stood, shocked by this revelation. Never had he thought Snake capable of something like this. "You're lying."

"You don't have to believe me, boy," Liquid said. "It's between me and Snake, not you."

"Why should I believe you?" Raiden emphasised. "You're a terrorist."

"So is Snake," Liquid said, and Raiden knew he spoke the truth. They were all terrorists now. "And that bespectacled fool he calls his 'partner'. Really, do you think cold-blooded murder is beyond men like Snake and I? We're soldiers. There are casualties in every war, and our war was no different."

The more Raiden considered it, the more it made sense. It explained why Snake never wanted to meet Rosemary: the pain of relationships was too much for him. He had killed his own lover.

Snake looked over at VII, who was busy checking the walls for any weaknesses.

"So what's your story?" Snake inquired.

"Me?" VII replied in his gravely voice, not turning away from his work. "All you need to know is that I'm a friend."

"The enemy of my enemy, huh?" Snake asked rhetorically. "What's with the mask?"

VII paused what he was doing, unmoving. When he finally spoke, it was not in his usual tone. "It's a toxin inhibitor that allows me to remain anonymous. Night-vision and infra-red as standard, as well as a removable programme for a SOLITON radar."

"All that and you'd fit right in at Mardi-Gras," Snake retorted.

"Hrrm."

The ex-FoxHound operative visually scanned their enclosed area. It didn't look hopeful that they were going to get out of there on their own merits.

"I have a laser," VII began. "But we can't use it on that wall in case it injures Raiden or Liquid. The other walls are likely to be reinforced with titanium."

"This is insane," Snake said. "This base is meant to be used for alien research. Why was I brought here? And what's with this place… it's like some demented funhouse."

"I assume you met the Chinaman during your stay?"

Snake paused. "The man who tortured me had a faint Mandarin accent. Are the Communists mixed up in this?"

"No… Probably. I don't know," the masked man said. "How far the Patriots' influence extends is unknown to me."

"Goddamn," Snake uttered with a heavy sigh.

"What's important is they know were we are," VII concluded. "They'll have wasted a lot of time if their plan was to just suffocate us. Though we can't assume they won't let us die in these chambers, it's a comforting thought that there is probably a way out."

"Yeah," Snake said. "Real comforting.

All we need to do now is find it."