Venom Coursing
Disclaimers: See previous disclaimers. I do not own Lt. Matthew Reese or Maggie Thompson they are the property of RuneKnightPictures and Tempest Dynasty respectively. Also, Greg Kinezono and Linn Aramaki are the property of ShardclawKusanagi's.
Author's Notes: Special thanks to Darkfusion for his editing.
Chapter 4 – Metal Gear WOTAN
Vladimir Bulgarin sat at the desk of his office listening to Severin's report grasping the receiver tightly. Also in the room was his second in command Colonel Anatoli Kulov, a tall middle aged, and very powerful man wearing a moustache, Captain Josef Metaxas. Also there were Kerenzhikov and Korzhakov.
"I see, come back here then, they'll be here sooner or later." Bulgarin then put down the phone into the cradle then he turned to glare at Korzhakov.
"What did you tell them, Korzhakov?" Bulgarin demanded. "How much do our enemies know?"
"I only told them about WOTAN and SURTUR; I made sure it was nothing specific and I didn't give them the location of this facility." Korzhakov replied nervously. "I didn't intend to talk, but that FOXHOUND kid used some sort of psychological trick to get me to talk. I wasn't prepared for something like that."
Bulgarin looked at Korzhakov to make sure that he was telling the truth and then nodded in acknowledgement.
"Very well Korzhakov, I believe you." He said. "Now, about the SURTUR warheads, are they ready?"
"Yes, they are ready General." Korzhakov replied simply.
"What about the nuclear warheads?" asked Bulgarin turning to Pilsudski.
"They are loaded and ready to be fired, sir." Pilsudski replied.
"Good." Bulgarin then turned to the rest of his suboordinates. "Perovskaya, Metaxas, I want you to put all of our soldiers to be on standby and be prepared to greet the Ikari Team and their FOXHOUND ally when they arrive. You are all dismissed."
Everyone in the room promptly saluted before quickly leaving. After they had all left, Bulgarin decided to contact the WOTAN development team…
A tall gaunt man in his late forties with thinning brown hair went to answer a ringing phone "Borzhtov here."
"This is General Bulgarin, how long will it take to complete WOTAN?" Bulgarin's voice asked.
"Better than expected, really." Professor Boris Ivanovich Borzhtov answered with a grin. "We're actually ahead of schedule, sir. WOTAN will be completed soon; perhaps within a few hours."
"That's excellent! Keep me posted."
"Yes sir."
As Borzhtov put the phone down he regarded his other colleagues: Dr. Yoshikazu Kuromoto, a man in his late thirties with a neatly trimmed beard wearing glasses; Dr. Vassily Chuikov, a bald stocky man in his early fifties, and Dr. Felix Streicher a small skinny man in his mid forties wearing glasses.
"So what did Bulgarin want?" Chuikov asked as he typed on his computer. He was analyzing the structure of WOTAN and was making sure all the systems he was in charge of would function correctly.
"He was just curious on our progress on WOTAN." Borzhtov answered.
"Hmph. Leave it to the sponsors to bother us when we have better things to do with our time." Streicher sneered. "Oh well, at least now I can proceed without anymore interruptions."
"Hey, just in case something goes wrong, is our escape covered?" Kuromoto spoke.
"Don't worry about that." Borzhtov replied. "That has already been taken care of. Should WOTAN be destroyed, though it's highly unlikely, I have ensured we'll be able to leave this place without any interference."
Bulgarin put down the phone he picked up a photo from his desk; it was a picture of his wife and his children from when they went on holiday in the Baltics.
Bulgarin remembered all those years back in 1991. When the coup happened, he always supported Gorbachev's reforms since he knew that they were what was best for Russia, but then those idiotic hard-liners took over.
(How could they have been so ignorant? Those fools set in motion Russia's ruin under that fool Yeltsin!) Bulgarin clenched his fist in anger as he remembered what followed. The coup had failed and Boris Yeltsin came to power, then in 1992-1993 the economy was in ruins, in 1996 he handed everything over to lackeys of the Patriots who brought Russia even further to its knees.
"Paval…" Bulgarin's voice was mingled with grief, regret, and even a little anger as he thought of his son's utterly useless death. He had been so proud when Paval joined the Russian army. But then the Chechnyan war happened, and on that fateful year in 1994, Paval perished in that war; a useless war and a pointless war. He remembered the feeling of dread as he held the notice from the army in his hands, followed by the crushing pain he felt as he read the news he had been dreading, and his wife crying as he broke the news to her and had to comfort her and his daughters for hours.
Then Bulgarin remembered the loss of his daughters; it was on October 4th 1999 that it happened. They were walking home when they were attacked, raped and murdered by drug addicts. Bulgarin could still remember that day when he and his wife had to identify their poor, brutalised remains. It completely broke his wife's heart and she died a year later.
It was then that he decided that nothing was going to hold him back. Bulgarin swore as he watched his wife's coffin being laid into the ground next to the graves of his son and daughters, that he was going to destroy the Patriots no matter what the cost and both WOTAN and SURTUR held the means to that end.
(I don't care how many lives are lost in this. I don't even care if I go to hell in the end, if such a place does exist.) Bulgarin thought and then looked at the picture of his family one last time before he got up and left the room. As he did a thought came to mind.
(Ironic though…) He thought bitterly. (When I heard about the incident in Grozny Grad decades ago, I thought Volgin was fool and a madman for attempting to do what he did with the Shagohod, but it seems I'm now about to start the same thing. How strange is fate…)
Michael, Heidern, Leona, Riku, Ralf and Clark procured their new hideout in Dagestan, a town near the WOTAN facility at the Tabasaran Mountains. The hideout was the remains of a mansion that had been owned by a nobleman during the days of the Tsar before the communists took over. The mansion had long since been deserted and then looted, but the old ruin was remote enough to suffice as a hideout.
"Right, let's go over everything." Heidern said, discussing their initial reconnaissance of the base.
"All of the main entrances to the base are under very tight security as are a few other areas that could suffice as entrances, but there's this one air shaft that doesn't seem to be guarded." Michael explained. "However, all of us going through that way is very risky."
"Agreed." Heidern nodded in agreement. "Too many people going in through that way will only increase the chance of us being caught."
"So what's the plan then?" Ralf asked. "If only a few of us can even go in that was, how are the rest of us going to get in?"
"Well… the plan is for Riku and I to go through the air shaft." Michael answered. We will then proceed to deactivate the security system once we reach the security room, and once that's done everyone else can go through one of the back exits where there appear to be only security systems covering it and apparently very few guards."
"Sounds like it should be an effective plan." Leona said.
"Alright, we'll take a half hour to rest and prepare for the infiltration." Heidern spoke and everyone nodded.
"What's wrong?" Riku asked as Michael suddenly stopped sorting the equipment he had with him.
"GET DOWN!" Michael shouted shoving Riku to the ground as there was the sound of a gun going off. A second later a bullet hit the place Riku had been.
"Ikari group, Hansen, and FOXHOUNDer, we have you completely surrounded." A soldier's voice announced. "Come out now or we will open fire."
Heidern and Michael looked out the window of the old mansion and saw that there were over a dozen enemy troops and they were carrying rocket launchers and various heavy artillery to show that they did intend to bombard the place if the group refused to come out.
"General, we got problems." Clark spoke coming into the room they were in. "Those guys have the back exit covered too."
"Damn it, how the hell did they find us so quickly?" Ralf asked.
"We can assume that due to the fact that this town is so close to the facility that they must have had men ready for us in any part of town." Michael answered.
"So what should we do?" Ralf asked in reply. "If we have to fight our way out, we'd better do it quick so we can get into that base WOTAN's in before it's complete."
"I suppose there's no choice." Heidern admitted, and then suddenly noticed that a member of their group was missing. "Hey, where's Riku?"
"Riku? He's…" As Michael looked around the room to find the young ninja, he saw the front door outside open and Riku stepped out. "What the hell?!"
"What's wrong, did you…oh shit." Leona said as she looked out the window. She then looked back at everyone else. "We just found him, but…"
"What the hell is that kid doing?!" Ralf asked.
"You got me." Clark answered, with a shrug.
Outside, Riku stood in front of the Russian soldiers who now had their guns trained on him.
"Only one of you?" The commander asked with an arrogant smirk. "And the FOXHOUNDer as well. What, are your allies sending you out in hopes that by giving you to us we'll let them go?"
"Don't be ridiculous." Riku answered. "I'm here to ask that you leave right now if you want to live. I don't really like the idea of you guys blowing away my buddies over there with a bunch of heavy artillery for one thing, and also we're in a bit of a hurry. So if you all just go now, and do whatever you want, you can even report to your superiors at that base for all I care, you'll live. If not…"
"Heh, like we'll do something like that?" The commander snorted. "Why don't you tell those friends of yours to come out now so we won't kill you?" The man then grinned. "Of course if your comrades give us that woman in your group for a few hours or more, we'll consider letting you go."
There were a few snickers from the men in the unit after the last statement.
Riku's expression was unreadable but he sighed and shook his head.
"Fine, if that's the way you want it." He said. "Looks like I now have to pay you guys back for insulting Leona-san too." He then brought his right hand up in a fist and then it became engulfed in flames, and then smirked at the surprise of his enemies. "Farewell…"
Riku then swung his fist down in a sweeping formation at the Russian troops and a wave of fire sped towards them immediately setting the men in front on fire. However, it wasn't the fire that was the real danger, but the explosives the men were carrying, as Riku leapt back away from the troops just as the fire ignited the artillery causing a tremendous explosion that instantly incinerated the other troops.
Riku glanced at the smoking inferno and saw that there were no survivors before walking to the doorstep of the mansion and then reentering the old house.
"Alright, kid, start explaining yourself." Clark said seriously. "How were you able to use flames like that?"
"I guess that stunt I just pulled off gave you guys quite a surprise, huh?" Riku asked, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin.
"Riku, this is serious." Michael reminded him. "We need to know…?"
"How I can wield flames like I just did, right?" Riku finished. "Well, it's something members of my ninja clan can do, ones born with the power anyway, and no I'm not from the Kusanagi or Yagami clan, nor am I related to either. My flames have a different source than theirs."
"What's the source?" Heidern asked.
"The source of my flames comes in the form of an eight headed dragon." Riku answered and instantly regretted saying that once he noticed the expressions of his friends after hearing that. "Okay, bad choice of names, now before you guys jump to the wrong conclusions, I'm not a member of the Orochi clan and my flames don't come from that thing."
"Your flames are the wrong color anyway, and they don't feel like Orochi's flames either." Leona spoke. "You just startled us a little with what you said about the source of your flames."
"Yeah, I don't really blame any of you for that." Riku shrugged.
"So why didn't you tell us about this before?" Ralf asked.
"My ability to wield flames is a secret in FOXHOUND, and it's a good idea for me to keep it a secret outside of FOXHOUND too." Riku answered.
"I can understand that." Leona admitted.
"Well, do you guys still trust me?" Riku asked.
"Of course, but try not to pull off anymore surprises like that again, alright?" Michael answered. "And besides, we should be thanking you for helping us like that."
"Well, you're quite welcome, then." Riku smiled. "So, should we head for the base now?"
"That's a good idea." Heidern agreed. "Especially after what just happened. Once those soldiers fail to report to Bulgarin, they'll send more here. Let's get going and then proceed with infiltrating the base."
Within half an hour, they arrived and they immediately began infiltrating the base; which was a complex set into a mountain. Michael and Riku were sent in first to deal with the base's security systems so the others could sneak in without too much trouble. After sneaking past a few guards, the two of them made it to the security room.
There was only one guard on duty there, and Riku immediately snuck up behind him and knocked him out with a single shot to the head with his M9. He turned back to Michael and nodded, and Michael quickly went and deactivated the security system for the base. As soon as he finished, Michael then activated his codec to notify Heidern.
"Heidern, do you read me?" He asked as soon as Heidern's face appeared on the screen.
"Loud and clear, what's the situation?" Heidern answered.
"Riku and I have successfully disarmed the security systems where you're about to come in; you're good to go."
"Affirmative, let's go." And the transmission ended.
Riku looked over at Michael, who nodded at him. The infiltration had begun.
Michael and Riku had left the command centre when all of a sudden out of nowhere there were grenades they barely had time to get out of the way when they exploded.
"Riku!" Michael shouted amidst the smoke and dust unable to see his friend anywhere.
"You're pretty good Hansen but can you survive THIS!" A burly man shouted. He was standing above him and was brandishing a Mini-Gun.
Michael was barely able to dodge the rate of fire of the Mini Gun, he knows if he goes frontal he will only be cut to ribbons by the bullets. Suddenly he turned and he saw the ledge and also saw some weakening caused by Metaxa's earlier grenade attack then Michael saw a crane and knew he would get a prime shot at Metaxas if he could get there.
Michael rolled across with Metaxas firing a couple of bullets grazed Michael's lower leg and upper arm but Michael was able to get to the crane.
Michael breathed heavily as he considered his situation. He knew that he had time for one shot before Metaxas would fire again, and if he missed Metaxas would cut him down. With a quick intake of breath, Michael suddenly came up at surprising speed and fired his USP hitting Metaxas in the eye causing him to fall off the ledge with a loud thud.
Michael panted as he saw Riku emerge from the smoke and dust caused by the explosion. He was unharmed.
"Riku you're alive!" Michael exclaimed.
Riku grinned but before he could say anything explosions can be heard "What the hell!?"
Michael then overheard something on the radio "What's going on?" came Bulgarin's voice.
"Ah, General Bulgarin, we've been aware of your pathetic little plan to use WOTAN and SURTUR for quite some time. Did you REALLY think it would have gone unnoticed? We'll taking custody of WOTAN and SURTUR if you don't mind." Came a voice, which Michael recognized as General Carter Drake's.
"Well, I congratulate you on that, Drake, but I'm afraid that you're a little too late." Bulgarin snorted. "Now that WOTAN is complete and ready for launch, there's no reason for me to just leave it around for your lackeys to pick up. You and your minions shall serve as a bit of target practice for WOTAN's weapon systems."
There was a crackle as the radio transmission ended.
"Sorry, Mike, but I'm going to have to sit this one out." Riku said.
"What do you mean?" Michael asked.
"If this area will soon become WOTAN's new target practice range, then that means the people in that town this base is close to will get caught in the cross fire." Riku answered. "I'm going to go and evacuate the townspeople."
"Good idea, we need to minimize civilian casualties as much as possible." Michael nodded in agreement.
"I'll keep in touch." Riku said and then ran off towards the exit to the base. "Good luck!"
"You too, Riku!" Michael called.
Colonel Nathan Osbourne received a transmission as he was directing operations.
"Colonel, listen your first priority is to secure WOTAN first, the rest can come later." Drake ordered over the radio.
"Roger." Osbourne said, giving perfunctory acknowledgement before turning off the radio. He then turned to his men. "Go in immediately, we are going for SURTUR."
"But sir!" protested a subordinate. "General Drake's orders were to-"
Perhaps you didn't hear me, major." Osbourne cut him off harshly. "We are going to retrieve SURTUR now! WOTAN can wait."
Michael was halfway through the compound when he heard the sounds of rapid gunfire outside. He quickly glanced out of one of the windows and saw that the Russian soldiers guarding the base were currently engaging what looked like an army of American commandoes.
(It looks like Drake isn't wasting his time in trying to get to WOTAN and SURTUR before WOTAN is active.) Michael observed. (I'd better hurry up and find WOTAN quick, then.)
Michael continued until a tank round from one of the US tanks suddenly struck the area a couple hundred yards in front of him, the shock of the blast throwing Michael back.
Michael quickly got to his feet and saw that despite a couple of bruises he wasn't injured from the blast. One look ahead at the now ruined corridor showed that Michael would have to take a different route now.
Michael immediately saw a corridor to his left and took it. After a few minutes of walking, he came upon what looked like a storage room that could lead to where WOTAN was being stored. He walked in and saw a door at the far end of the room. A quick look around told Michael that the room had barely escaped being demolished by the barrage from the US troops, and there was a large fire blazing in the upper right corner.
"Well now, Hansen, to think you would make it this far." A familiar voice spoke from behind him.
Michael turned around and saw that the speaker was none other than Shade, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"Shade…" Michael said.
"I'm actually quite impressed, Hansen. Truly I am." Shade said with a smile. "You just have this odd stubborn streak when it comes to surviving. I haven't encountered anyone who's lived through this many encounters with me in a very long time."
"Save it." Michael replied. "The last thing I need is a compliment from someone like you."
"Too bad, it was sort of a final gift to you before you die now." Shade then shook his head. "Well, I suppose that's enough talk for now…" Shade then reached for his hat as if to adjust it.
Michael immediately knew what Shade was about to do and readied himself for the incoming attack.
"Wave Crush!" Shade shouted as he threw his chakram at Michael who immediately dodged the incoming weapon. Michael suddenly saw something headed straight for him and quickly twisted his body to the side, narrowly avoiding a burst of dark energy that had followed the chakram.
As Michel landed on his feet still facing Shade, the man in black smiled as he caught the returning chakram.
"Nice footwork, indeed." He said with an amused smile. "Not very many are able to see the energy shot in time to dodge it."
"Let's see how yours is then." Michael said, and then brought up his hand for moment before suddenly throwing an aerial slash wave at Shade. "Darkness Cutter!"
Shade shook his head as he easily sidestepped the projectile attack.
"Did you honestly think that…?" Shade stopped as he felt a sharp pain in the lower part of his left leg. He glanced down and saw a large gash in his lower left leg. (I see…He knew I would dodge the attack with ease, but was counting on the air that followed the wave to cut me.)
Shade's thinking was interrupted as Michael charged to him. Shade immediately prepared a counterstrike.
"Genocide-!" Shade prepared to unleash a back kick at Michael, but was unable to perform the attack as Michael slid under Shade's outstretched leg.
"Sliding Blade!" Michael shouted as he performed a slashing roundhouse kick on his surprised opponent. Michael wasn't finished though, and quickly and successfully connected the previous move with a rising spin kick. "Aerial Wonder!"
As Shade was knocked away, he immediately turned his body in midair so that he would land on his feet. As he landed Michael immediately threw another slash wave at him. Shade grinned and spun his chakram in front of him in the path of the incoming attack.
"Applause for the Darkness!" Shade shouted as the chakram deflected the wave, sending it back towards Michael, who quickly leaped out of the way, narrowly missing getting struck by his own move.
Shade stopped for a minute, observing that Michael was barely even stopping to catch his breath and had now assumed a fighting stance, waiting for Shade to now make a move.
(I don't believe it; this guy is actually able to keep up with me now when just days ago I still didn't have any trouble with him.) Shade thought. (I suppose that's to be expected from an apprentice of Heidern, but this is getting ridiculous. I suppose I'll have to start getting serious now or I'll just end up wasting my time.)
As Shade was thinking to himself, there was suddenly a the sound of a loud explosion above them as a bomb dropped by one of the bombers from the US forces struck the building, causing the whole room to rock from the force of the explosion.
(How annoying…) Shade thought as he began to focus in order to bring out more of his true strength.
That was almost immediately proved to be a mistake as the ceiling of the room Michael and Shade were in suddenly collapsed. Shade opened his eyes and looked up just in time to see an avalanche of flaming debris come crashing down on him.
Michael could hardly believe his luck as he saw his foe get buried under tons of burning wood, concrete, and metal, but all thoughts of that were quickly banished as a large amount of debris came down only a few inches away from him. Michael glanced to the door he had entered the room in and saw it was still open and made a mad dash towards it. As he got out the door, Michael could still here the sounds of collapsing debris behind him.
After a few minutes the sounds slowed down until they finally stopped. Michael then cautiously stepped into the room he had just been in. As he looked around, Michael could see that many of the large piles of debris were still burning and there was no sign of Shade anywhere. Suddenly an astounding surprise greeted him; somehow, the path to the doorway to the other side of the room was almost clear and the door was not damaged.
Michael quickly and carefully waded through some of the debris until he reached the door, and managed to push the door open and walked through, to find himself in another hallway.
(From the information Heidern gave me about the layout of this place, I should be getting close to where WOTAN is.) Michael thought. (I hope I can get to it before it launches.)
As Riku finally made it to the town he heard his codec ring and he answered it. The caller was none other than Lt. Matthew Reese.
"Drakken, what the hell are you doing?!" Reese demanded. "Why is your position moving away from the base WOTAN is at?"
"WOTAN will have to wait for now." Riku answered. "The base is near a town and I need to evacuate the civilians first."
"That's irrelevant. I order you to return to your duties and proceed to secure or destroy WOTAN."
"I will once I've evacuated the townspeople." Riku insisted.
"No, you will follow my orders now, exactly when I tell you to!" Reese shouted. "If you do not do as I order you to, I-!" Reese was cut off as Riku turned off his codec.
"I never liked that channel anyway." Riku said as he made his way into the town to begin the evacuation.
Mcihael ducked behind a corner as a small squad of guards came down the hall. They quickly rushed past him, not bothering to check for any possible intruders.
(Looks like the security's being thrown in to help throw off the assault.) Michael thought as he checked to make sure no more guards were coming and then resumed his search for the hangar that held the metal gear WOTAN.
After a few minutes, Michael came to a large set of double doors made of bulletproof glass. A check at the Russian label next to the door, confirmed that this was the door to the hangar. Michael immediately drew his USP, and carefully pushed the door open and walked in.
As he entered and looked around, Michael could see that the hangar was virtually deserted, save for two men, Bulgarin and a Russian man Michael did not know wearing a pilot's outfit. Bulgarin was standing in the control room whilethe pilot was standing in front of a large humanoid machine. It had a set of large cannons on each shoulder, along with a large jet pack and wings set to its back. There were also twin Vulcan cannons set to each forearm.
(So that's WOTAN, the new metal gear…) Michael thought as he observed the machine. (Judging by the looks, I'd say the cannons are for launching missiles, most likely the SURTUR ones. I'd better make sure that pilot doesn't get into WOTAN otherwise it's over…)
"Alright, Kulov, this is it." Bulgarin instructed from the control room. "What we have all been working for is finally about to become reality. Now do what you have been trained to do; this shall be your finest hour. For Mother Russia!" Bulgarin saluted to Kulov.
(And for the end of the Patriots.) Bulgarin thought to himself as Kulov saluted back.
"For Mother Russia." Kulov said firmly and then turned and proceed to the stairs to WOTAN's cockpit.
"FREEZE!" Michael shouted as he leaped out of his hiding place and pointed his USP at Kulov, who stopped and looked in Michael's direction.
"Hansen, I was wondering when you were going to show up." Bulgarin said as he saw Michael. "So, I take it you've come to stop WOTAN's launch."
"Exactly." Michael said as he kept the gun pointed at Kulov.
"Heh, I dare you to shoot Kulov." Bulgarin grinned.
"You do?" Michael asked suspiciously.
"Shoot him and you'll discover WOTAN isn't the only thing this base has." Bulgarin answered. "The moment Kulov's heart stops beating, the self destruct for WOTAN will initiate destroying this entire base, along with the chance that the SURTUR virus will be unleashed in the explosion. So if you care what happens to your friends in this base, along with any civilians nearby, do not interfere."
"Damn you!" Michael shouted at Bulgarin.
Michael watched helplessly as WOTAN launched and he and everyone else scrambled to get away.
"I surrender!" Korzhakov shouted to the soldiers they promptly take him into custody.
"Let's go." Borzhtov said calmly as he and the other WOTAN scientists escaped. "Regardless of whether WOTAN is truly a success or not, this area will soon be taken over by those soldiers. It would be a good idea if we made ourselves scarce before they arrive."
"So what's next on the agenda after our escape?" Kuromoto asked.
"Holy shit, it's launching!" Ralf shouted as they saw WOTAN take off.
"We're getting out of here, now move!" Heidern commanded and they quickly left the crumbling facility.
Michael ducked behind a large boulder as WOTAN sped past overhead, showering anything in its path below with a hail of bullets from its Vulcan cannons.
(Damn this thing's fast.) Michael thought as he clutched the stinger. (Not to mention its armor is too thick for a missile to damage it. Still there has to be some weak point to it.)
Michael studied WOTAN as it turned around to try and find him.
(Since it can fly like it does, WOTAN probably has an engine similar to a jet.) Michael thought. (Which means it must have a cooling system for it. If I can damage that then WOTAN is as good as finished. The only problem is how am I supposed to target something that's inside the metal gear?)
Michael ran through the Tabasaran mountains desperately trying to get away from WOTAN, it followed in flight mode while Kulov pursued. Michael barely climbed to the top of a mountain where he saw WOTAN
Michael raised the stinger up to carefully take aim at WOTAN's midsection as it transformed back into flight mode. Michael immediately fired the missile as soon as he saw the area to target. A few seconds later, there was a loud explosion as the missile hit its mark. WOTAN faltered a little as it continued its transformation and took off, leaking out cooling liquid as it did.
Meanwhile, Kulov steered WOTAN in the direction the missile had been fired from.
(When you fired that missile you gave away your position, Hansen.) Kulov thought with a smirk. (It's time to end this so I can finish my mission.)
Kulov suddenly heard a loud beeping noise and looked at the control panel to see that the metal gear's cooling system had been severely damaged and that WOTAN was starting to overheat. He then reached for the eject button, but nothing happened after he repeatedly mashed at it. It was only a few minutes later that his life was suddenly snuffed out.
Suddenly WOTAN exploded into flames with a loud explosion that literally shook the ground in the area for miles, and the mangled and flaming wreck that was once Metal Gear WOTAN crashed into the rocks below. Meanwhile Michael was lying on the snow panting from exhaustion as he had to run to escape the debris from the explosion. He then heard something and looked and saw a heavily wounded Bulgarin crawling in the snow. Michael quickly approached him raising his weapon.
"What do you really want, Hansen? Is anything really going to change after you shoot me?" Bulgarin asked. "Nothing will change and you know it; the Patriots will still be in control. Will you shoot? Can you? Are you prepared to shoulder the burden that I have –"
Michael promptly shot Bulgarin in the head not giving the old man a chance to finish "That's enough of you." He muttered bitterly "You know everyone…everyone carries a burden in life that's just how it is. Your burden is no heavier and no lighter then anyone else's."
With that Michael turned and headed towards town he saw Heidern, Leona, Riku, Ralf and Clark.
"Mike, are you alright?" Heidern asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just a few bruises." Michael answered. "How are the civilians?"
"They're safe; we were able to successfully evacuate everyone." Leona replied. "It's a good thing Riku went ahead before us to help evacuate those people, or they would have been caught in the crossfire from WOTAN."
Riku then looked at over and saw Bulgarin's corpse, and then shook his head.
"Vladimir Bulgarin...what a sad man." He said. "A man who stopped living."
"Stopped living?" Michael asked. "What do you mean?"
"When you spy on someone for a while and you watch them all the time, in a way you get to know them almost as much as a close friend would." Riku answered. "Bulgarin apparently wasn't a very bad sort, a long time ago...But when he lost everyone dear to him, his wife, son, and daughters, he stopped and that's what made him the way he is or was now."
"You almost sound like you pity the man." Heidern noted.
"He's dead now so he isn't my enemy anymore, so sympathy can be allowed now." Riku replied. "At least, that's how I see things."
"Compassion for enemies isn't a good idea, Riku." Clark spoke. "If you do that..."
"A corpse can't hurt me, can it?" Riku asked. "Don't worry; while I do pity Bulgarin, I'm not excusing him for what he's done. His death was necessary."
"Could you tell me what you meant by, 'he stopped'?" Michael asked.
"It's something I believe." Riku answered. "And that's that grief and remorse should not stop you from living. No matter what, you have to move forward even if it's just one step at a time. If you stop, you either lose your mind or yourself or lose your humanity, just like Bulgarin did."
"I guess I can see your point there." Michael said. "Anyway, we should probably..." He was interrupted by the sound of an engine close by.
"Must be my friends from FOXHOUND." Riku surmised. "When I saw WOTAN crash, I contacted HQ and told them the mission had been accomplished, but..."
Suddenly they looked over to where the sound of the engines of a helicopter as it landed came from, they then saw two people came out. A woman with brown hair with streaks of blonde come out and was followed by a man in his forties who stormed over to Riku as soon as he spotted him. Riku groaned as the man approached.
"Why did you disobey my orders!?" The man demanded his face contorted in rage.
"Look Reese, there were civilian lives in danger. I didn't have any..."Riku began, but Reese cut him off.
"That's Lt. Reese to you, you little miscreant!" Reese said angrily. "I don't give a damn about whatever excuses you have for me, you were supposed to do what I told you, no matter what your personal reasons!"
"Excuse me, sir, but WOTAN has been destroyed as per mission objectives, and besides isn't it our overall duty to protect the people from these sorts of things?" Riku asked, struggling to keep from losing his temper. "Wasn't FOXHOUND reformed to protect innocent lives?"
"Don't try weaseling your way out of this by using that damned moral bullshit, Hanabishi!" Reese snarled.
"I am not doing any such thing, sir, I can assure you." Riku growled. "It seems to me that you value the standing of your orders to the lives of..."
"God damn it, this is why I'm opposed to having children as our operatives!" Reese shouted in frustration, and glared at Riku. "You listen to me boy, civilian deaths always happen, and that's called 'acceptable losses'."
"ACCEPTABLE?!" Riku finally exploded. "How can you call the deaths of innocent people acceptable?!"
"Hmph. Grow up and open your eyes, Hanabishi." Reese snorted. "If you simply see such 'distractions' as numbers and figures like a real soldier should, then you would do better on missions."
"The day numbers and figures replace people in my eyes, is the day I commit seppuku." Riku said grimly. "Those 'numbers and figures' could just as easily have been my family or friends."
"Then I'm sure if they had, they'd be glad to die with such honor." Reese sneered.
"You..." Riku's voice was now barely above a whisper, but the coldness in it could have frozen boiling water. He then took a step towards Reese with an angry look in his eyes, but suddenly stopped.
Michael stood between the two, and before Reese could react he landed a harsh blow on Reese's cheek causing a very nasty cut. Reese cried out in pain as he clutched at the wound, and was about to say something but the cold, harsh glare of Michael kept Reese were he was.
"Who do you think you are, anyway?" Michael asked coldly. "Innocent lives aren't something that can be measured, like you seem to think, and how dare you make such an assumption about Riku's family and friends, calling it acceptable and even honorable if they were killed for your orders. You're every bit as incompetent as I've heard, Matthew Reese."
"How dare you?!" Reese shouted getting up, but Michael roughly shoved him to the ground.
"Riku completed his mission successfully and that is what matters, not a bunch of technicalities. Don't criticize other people's duties when you obviously can't even do your own, you half assed old fool!" Michael harshly rebuked and then turned and walked away. Heidern glared at Reese one last time, and then walked off. As the two of them left, along with rest of the Ikari team, Michael caught the woman smiling slightly; apparently she didn't think much of Reese either.
Michael, Heidern, Leona, Ralf and Clark made their way to the car.
"General, you actually know that bum?" Ralf asked, breaking the ice.
"Unfortunately, yes." Heidern answered. "I met him a long time ago, while I was doing an important military operation and he was one of the men working with me. During a critical moment, he decided not to follow my advice and his unit was massacred as a result, and there were many more who didn't need to die as a result, but did, and Reese had the nerve to blame yours truly afterwards."
"That almost makes me wish I hadn't stopped Riku back there." Michael admitted, and then turned around as heard the sound of approaching feet. He immediately saw that it was Riku.
"Hey, couldn't you have at least said good bye or see you later?" Riku asked when he caught up with them.
"Sorry about that, Riku, but I'm not sure our presence would have been very much tolerated back there." Michael answered.
"Hey, don't think that old fool represents FOXHOUND, because he doesn't." Riku said. "I sometimes wonder why Campbell doesn't just sack him and get someone else. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to you guys for helping me so much throughout this whole mission. It was truly an honor to work with all of you."
"Hey, we should be thanking you." Ralf said. "If it hadn't been for that flame thing you pulled before, we'd probably be dead now."
"But if it hadn't been for Michael's helping me, I'd be the dead one." Riku replied and then turned to leave. "Well, I'll see you guys around; take care of yourselves, okay."
"Will do, Riku." Leona said. "You do the same, alright?"
"Of course." Riku smiled. "Oh by the way, whenever the next King of Fighters tournament happens and you guys are participating, please tell me. I'll definitely come and root for you guys or who knows; I might form my own team and meet you guys in the ring."
"Don't worry, we'll make sure to tell you." Heidern spoke. "I look forward to either one, Riku. Anyway, good luck to you and don't get yourself killed."
"Heh. I won't." Riku grinned. "See you when I see you." Riku then turned and left.
"Interesting kid, I must say." Heidern said as soon as Riku was gone. "He sure acts different from most of the ninjas I've met."
"Yeah, he's the complete opposite of Eiji Kisaragi, that's for sure." Ralf agreed. "Still don't see why he'd want to fight in the King of Fighters tournament, though."
"He probably just wants to follow family footsteps, I guess." Heidern shrugged. "I had a look into his history and it seems his father fought in a martial arts tournament similar to King of Fighters. It was called the Urabutosatsujin, but the main difference was that killing was allowed and even encouraged. Riku's father's team was the only one that didn't kill their opponents."
"I see." Michael said. "Well, he certainly was an interesting fellow. I wonder when we'll meet again."
Riku sat back in the helicopter as it took off. Reese was sitting far in the back of the chopper, nursing the wound Michael had given him. Riku smirked at the sight of that before turning back to fellow FOXHOUNDer, Maggie Thompson.
"Hey, Riku, despite the fact that you disobeyed Reese's orders, you also did a very good thing with having the foresight to evacuate those civilians." Maggie said.
"Thanks, Maggie; it's good to hear that." Riku replied with a grin and then laid his head back. "Now to get some well deserved rest…"
"You sure sleep a lot." Maggie smiled. "You know, you really live up to your codename, Riku."
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Riku asked, keeping one eye open lazily.
"In most stories I've read, dragons spend most of their time sleeping than anything else." Maggie answered. "They're usually extremely destructive and always powerful, but they're also big sleepy heads."
"Thanks for the compliment." Riku smiled and then closed his open eye and fell asleep.
They arrived at FOXHOUND and Greg Kinezono and Linn Aramaki were waiting at the landing pad as the chopper touched down. The two of them immediately saw Reese as he stepped out of the chopper ahead of Riku and Maggie; they also noticed the cut wound he had gotten from Michael.
"Hey, what's the matter Reese? Cut yourself shaving?" Greg asked with a grin.
"Be quiet!" Reese hissed as he stormed off, leaving them behind in their laughter.
Greg then noticed Riku come out of the chopper, yawning as he had slept the whole flight back. Maggie followed him out.
"Hey Riku, how did the mission go?" Linn asked.
"It was successful, thank God for that." Riku answered and then grinned. "Hey, you guys curious as to how old man Reese got that cut of his?"
"Don't tell me you did that?" Greg asked.
"Greg, if I were going to hurt Reese, I'd do a lot more than give him a cut on the face." Riku answered. "So, you interested?"
"You bet anything to hear how the old fart's day turned bad." Greg grinned and then turned to Maggie. "Hey, are you staying?"
"I'd love to, but I have a couple of things I need to take care of." Maggie admitted. "Don't tell anyone, but I wish someone had a camera for when that guy slugged Reese. That's been the highlight of my whole day with having to put up with him."
"A real Kodak moment, wasn't it?" Riku asked.
"Exactly." Maggie answered. "Well, I'll see you guys later." And she walked off, while Riku proceeded to tell Greg and Linn what happened during the mission.
General Drake was in a briefing room somewhere in a secret military installation regarding Osbourne, who was sitting nervously in a chair. Also sitting in another chair was Lt. Matthew Reese.
"Well now, Osbourne, you've certainly outdone yourself." Drake commented calmly and then regarded Osbourne with an angered expression. "Tell me why you disobeyed my orders to secure WOTAN first. You went after SURTUR first instead when it was completely obvious that WOTAN was an immediate threat, you idiot!! Thanks to that we don't have either the WOTAN development team or the prototype itself!"
"But sir, I was able to obtain SURTUR and the man who developed it, and I also got the data for WOTAN…" Osbourne began, standing up to sputter in defense.
"But where is WOTAN itself? And where is its development team?" Drake asked critically. "I just received a report from the data you had left from WOTAN that it would take years, if ever, to develop another fully operational model without the input from Borzhtov or any of his team! The Wiseman's committee has contacted me on this issue and they are NOT pleased with your blunder! Furious only begins to describe it!"
"What's going to happen now?" Osbourne asked, starting to sweat nervously.
"Good question, Colonel." Drake replied simply as he approached Osbourne and suddenly gave a savage knee attack into Osbourne's abdomen, followed immediately by an uppercut breaking Osbourne's nose, and then ended with a leg sweep that sent Osbourne crashing to the floor.
"Fortunately I've already received instructions from the Wiseman's Committee concerning you…" Drake said icily and then gave a vicious stamp on Osbourne's throat. There was a loud, wet, and sickening crunching sound as the man's windpipe was crushed under Drake's boot. Osbourne sputtered and gasped for a few seconds before it ended in a sickening gurgle as the man's eyes clouded over as he died.
Reese looked sickened at the site of the corpse as were two other soldiers.
"Dispose of that." Drake ordered calmly as if the corpse were nothing but everyday garbage, as he wiped his bloodstained boot on the carpet, and then walked over to the door. "I'm going to go see Korzhakov."
November 10th 2010
Michael sat in a bar then he saw two people approach him. The first one he instantly recognized as Riku, the other was an older man in civilian clothes.
"Hey Mike!" Riku said with a friendly grin.
"Why, hello Riku! How have you been?" Michael asked.
"Just great, thanks!" Riku answered. "Oh yeah, let me introduce you." Riku then gestured at the older man next to him. "This is Colonel Roy Campbell, commander of FOXHOUND."
"Good to meet you in person, Mr. Hansen." Roy said as he shook Michael's hand.
"Likewise, Colonel." Michael replied. "So why did you want to meet with me?"
"I've heard a great deal of positive things about you, and not just from Riku." Roy answered. "According to what I've heard, you're a skilled fighter and tactician."
"Why thank you." Michael smiled. "So what does that have to do with our meeting?"
"I'm considering offering you a place in FOXHOUND. Our group is always in need of recruits and experienced men like you are what we need due to the fact that most of our recruits are…less experienced in battle."
"You really should consider this, Mike." Riku spoke. "A job with FOXHOUND has many benefits, you know, and the pay's really nice." Riku then grinned. "I would also consider it a great honor to have you as an ally and fight alongside you once again."
"Thanks." Michael nodded and then lapsed into thought.
(Perhaps joining this group is a good idea.) He thought. (I haven't been able to get very many jobs as a mercenary for a while now, and it doesn't look like it will get any better. One benefit to joining FOXHOUND is that I already know one of their recruits. Maybe I should give this group the benefit of the doubt, and if I don't like it, I could always leave.)
"Alright I'm in." Michael said and Roy nodded.
"Well, I welcome you to FOXHOUND, Mr. Hansen." Roy replied. "Please come with us to headquarters so we can make your recruitment official."
TBC