DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY TITLE IN THE METAL GEAR FRANCHISE IN WHOLE OR IN PART. ALL CHARACTERS, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED, BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. THIS FICTION IS IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH KONAMI OR ANYONE WITHIN KONAMI. THIS FICTION IS NOT FOR PROFIT OR PERSONAL GAIN, AND MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED IN ANY FORM. THIS IS A FICTION CREATED BY NOTHING MORE BY A SUPPORTER OF THE SERIES (A "FAN FICTION," IF YOU WILL) AND WAS CREATED SIMPLY TO PROMOTE THE METAL GEAR FRANCHISE.
Troubled Hand sat in silence as he watched watched his entire meaning in life, his whole point of existence, destroyed in front of his eyes. On the monitor, he had seen Solid Snake and some strange woman take down Metal Gear, very quickly and single-handedly. He wished Zidel would've let him kill Snake back in the torture room. But no, Zidel wanted to toy with him. To hell with toying. All Troubled Hand cared about from that point on was killing people as quickly and efficiently as possible. Honestly, why give someone any chance to live when you can kill them right there? Hand also realized that the Patriots would have a lot of griping at him, possibly he would be exterminated by them. Probably by The Fallen – but as he thought that, he saw on a different monitor the camera's feed above the elevator. There he saw a member of The Fallen – The Dragon. The Hand's imagination ran wild. Metal Gear really was destroyed way too quickly and early for even Snake to have done. The Dragon must have shot flame at it, destroying it quickly. Well, Troubled Hand would not just stand by and let his career end. He would have vengeance. He would destroy the Patriots.
Hand then pieced everything together. The Patriots let Zidel go about with his Metal Gear. They then sent two members of The Fallen – The Falcon and The Dragon – to exterminate him. The Falcon lulled Zidel in with "aid" that was sent by the Patriots – then when Zidel was unhappy with him, he would be even unhappier when The Dragon showed up, offering the same "aid." The Dragon then fills him in on the startup code, making his presence seem credible. Afterwards, The Dragon eliminates Zidel and his Metal Gear.
But the only thing wrong with this picture was the lack of a motive. Why would the Patriots want Zidel dead? Zidel had only failed the acceptance test of The Fallen; surely this was not a strong enough reason for assassination. Perhaps there was something not completely revealed to Hand yet.
But then Hand thought again. Maybe there were after him as well. If they killed Zidel, maybe they would want to eliminate his first officer. The Patriots would not have his death. They would not collect his bounty.
--
Troubled Hand has since went underground, shielding his presence from the Patriots. Right now he occupied a small hut out in the middle of nowhere. Surely The Fallen could not find him here. Surely nothing strange would happen here. Not before Hand was about to strike back against the Patriots.
But that wasn't the case. For now his front door burst forward onto the floor, shattering into thousands of wooden splinters, coating the floor. There in the wood and dust he saw a huge man...no, huge was too small a word for it. He was gigantic. Strapped to his back were both a Stinger missile launcher and a Nikita guided missile launcher. Strapped to the belt of his combat jean's waist is what Hand suspected was no fewer than seventy Claymore mines, side by side perfectly. On top of his rather small head for a man of his stature was a buzz-cut blond haircut. His bicepsand triceps were very, very large, his neck stood out prominently, and he just seemed so intimidating...
Hand, however, thought quickly. He grabbed his dual TMPs on his waist and started blasting both of them to the large being. No fewer than sixty bullets had hit the man before Hand started reloading them both. The man actually laughed and waited patiently for Hand to reload. Hand again pressed his fire, but the man did not even wind a bit backwards, and the bullets showed no mark of damage to the man.
What the fuck is this guy...?
Troubled Hand was now started to get very intimidated. Was this it? Was it over? Was his life to end, to be crushed by the hands of a very large stranger who burst into his home?
"Are you done?" said the man amusingly as he kept his gaze lying toward Hand. "I am The Rhino, the Explosive Solder. Proud member of The Fallen."
Oh shit. The Fallen.
"Uh, uh, what are you doing here?" said Hand lamely, trying to save time.
"To the point as always, are you?" The Rhino shook his head and took a step forward. "Mother Earth has given me strength, protection, immunity...everything I have I owe to her. Listen! Do you feel her heartbeat?"
Troubled Hand nodded his head no. What the fuck is Mother Earth's heartbeat?
"Of course, I would expect no less from one so blind to the Earth." The Rhino said condescendingly. The Rhino walked over to hand and picked him up rather easily with one hand. Tossing him out of the now-broken doorway, The Rhino walked out with him.
"Take a look around you. What do you see?"
Troubled hand took a look around, thinking of options. "Uh...some weeds over there...those trees...that boulder...a mud slick."
"No...that is only what you see. The eyes are the most deceptive organ in our bodies...showing us everything in such a bland presentation. No, to see Mother Earth truly...you must first blind yourself to your surroundings. Only darkness will be seen. And in that darkness you will find force and energy. Flame and heat. Magma and eruption...only there you see...feel...hear Mother Earth's beating heart. Do you understand?"
Troubled Hand shook his head, not truly understanding what The Rhino said. Then Troubled Hand was hit with an idea.
Maybe he could shoot one of his Claymores. Maybe he would withstand a bullet, but not explosions. So thinking quickly, Hand pulled one of his TMPs out and fired a single round into one of his Claymores, all of the Claymores having a domino effect in explosions. Leaping across from the explosions, Hand looked at the flaming ball that he was sure was The Rhino's burning husk. But he saw something completely different.
In the flaming ball that was The Rhino, The Rhino lowered his head in peace, not screaming in agony, not yelping in pain, not even wincing. When the flames died down, The Rhino still stood there, as untouched as before he erupted into a ball of flame.
"What are you?" said Hand fearfully, paralyzed with shock. The Rhino said "Surely you don't believe you can hurt me when I have Mother Earth at my side. Mother earth gives me strength, offers me protection." The Rhino pulled a Stinger missile launcher from his back, the launcher itself a bit charred but still functioned alright. From the barrel of the launcher came a long, smooth missile, heading straight for Troubled Hand.
Hand reacted immediately. He fired a single round from his TMP at the missile's warhead, and it hit. Dead center.
The missile exploded, and The Rhino fired another. And another. And another. And Hand kept counter-attacking, destroying each missile he shot. The Rhino finally ran out of Stinger missiles. He dropped it and took from his back the Nikita. Firing a missile from its tip, these missiles were easier to hit, for they were a bit larger and had a bigger warhead. The Rhino had kept firing them and had finally ran out missiles for the launcher, as had happened with the Stinger. Finally, The Rhino was out of ammunition. Troubled Hand took this as his chance.
Hand drew an XM8 strapped to his back and started firing rapidly at The Rhino. Every bullet that hit The Rhino was simply shrugged off, as had the TMP fire from earlier.
"Even though you have destroyed all of my ammunition, you cannot survive my bare hands. And no bullet can harm me, as you saw."
Hand looked fearful. This was it.
--
Solid Snake had returned from his mission at Zidel's base. Very fatigued, Snake fell down on top of his bed, but in doing so he nearly landed on Meryl, who was also slumbering peacefully. Snake immediately slipped off to sleep . While Snake was asleep, however, Otacon was wide awake, deciphering a message he found in his e-mail. Apparently it was encrypted not to be seen, and Otacon only barely noticed it in the source script he was looking at.
After finally deciphering it for four hours, Otacon looked alarmed. The message was...
"A weapon of mass destruction in the hands of Zidel will be destroyed, beginning a startup sequence to the most powerful weapon of all."