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 THIS FICTION IS NOT FOR PROFIT OR PERSONAL GAIN, AND MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED IN ANY FORM.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.
Just before The Starfish had drawn his last breath, he pressed another button on his spark shooter. "Survive the trials..." And with that, The Starfish passed away.
What happened was eight machine guns, four spark spot launchers similar to the miniature one he had, six Stinger missile launchers, and ten hand cannons emerged from the walls. Snake and Raiden gasped.
--
As soon as the machine guns whirred to life, Snake and Raiden closed their eyes, hoping for the best. But no, they did not hear machine guns firing, or bullets piercing their flesh. No, instead they heard many crashes and metal falling harmlessly to the floor. When they opened their eyes, a woman, completely covered by an exoskeleton, was brandishing a blade to both of them. "Who are you?" said a frightened Raiden, his M9 raised to her head.
"Put that thing away!" said the woman, and Snake took a long, hard look at her. A memory floated back to him...
...The strange being could only be Gray Fox. But how could he still be alive...? But then, the ninja placed a finger on its mask and pressed down on the plate. The steel illusion disappeared and showed a glass veil that revealed the being's face. Sadly, it was not Frank Jaegar's. It was some woman he had never seen before.
That was it...! It was her! The woman who had Meryl's throat to her blade...and here she was again, saving them instead. But now, the woman stared intently at Snake. She took a chance and jumped behind him, injecting a syringe into Snake's neck. Snake whirled around but she was already behind him again. He turned around again and she stared into the blood she just collected. "Oh no...you...the Legacy...!" When she said that, a beep was heard. She crumbled to the ground, completely shut down.
"What the...?" said Snake and Raiden at the same time.
--
Troubled Hand walked down the long hallway, hearing of the deaths of The Wolverine and assumed The Starfish would be dead as well. Oh well, their greatest weapon was not used yet; The Eagle and The Owl were still ahead, and they were not even his greatest weapon. Pulling out his TMP, he shot open the door leading to Deadeye's chambers, it was his way of testing him. What appeared to be Deadeye still faced a wall, looking in the complete opposite direction of Hand but had his USP pointed directly at Hand's head, almost as if a bullseye was on his forehead.
"You really need to stop doing that," said Deadeye.
"I need to know you'll be on your toes at all times," replied Troubled Hand.
--
Snake and Raiden had since trekked on, evading guards' gaze and hiding wherever they could. Snake had picked off of the guards he had knocked uncosncious seven incendiary grenades, ten clips for his USP, four clips for his M9. Raiden had picked up seventeen clips for the M9 and three flash grenades. They found nothing for awhile, but there was one consistent thing happening, they kept hearing a lone gunshot a floor ahead of them, although the only way up was a staircase closely guarded and set with infrared sensors. With a chaff grenade they could get through (which they had only three of), but there was the problem of fighting the enemy soldiers. Maybe a few incendiary grenades would do the trick
When Snake and Raiden got there, Snake burst open the door with an already unpinned incendiary grenade in hand. Tossing it to a few unsuspecting soldiers, it burst into flames and engulfed four of them in flames. Screaming at the top of their lungs, the remaining five soldiers sprung into actions. They opened fire on Snake and Raiden before they could draw their own handguns, but they managed to dive behind a stone staircase side. Drawing their handguns, thy waited for a pause in their fire, and blind-fired four shots into the soldiers, and apparently two of them took out two of the soldiers. Their assault rifles needed reloading, so Snake and Raiden took out the remainder of the sentries and ran up the stairs, evading the flames they had set. When they reached the second-floor door, fourteen soldiers were charging down the hallway. Thinking quickly, Snake and Raiden unpinned four incendiary grenades, threw them to the floor, and flipped over the railings. When the sentries burst the door open, the grenades exploded into a glorious show of destruction. All of them quickly became burning husks.
--
The Polar Bear kept forming and reforming ice spheres in his palms, looking out of the window to the falling snow. He had no upper clothing on, and he was treating his red scar. For some reason, it had not stopped bleeding. Sure, it was bleeding a lot less now, but a few tricklets of blood came every once in a while. He actually sealed the unnaturally red scar with ice, but oddly enough, the ice would always melt. It was almost as if the scar was just as hot as the flames The Dragon produced. He remembered the days he was a lowly mercenary, freezing an area to a point of near winter (even if it was in the summertime) as his mark of death. Suddenly, Deonorth got a call on his codec.
"Polar Bear, where the hell are you? Deadeye's getting restless." It was the voice of his commander, Troubled Hand.
"Right here, boss. And Deadeye, he is ready, correct?"
"Yes...and oh yes, before you go, I wanted to talk to you about something. Have you fought Snake and the other one yet?"
"...Yes, I have." The Polar Bear rubbed his chest again.
"Well, did he have a flamethrower or something? We picked up quite a bit of flame discharge down there."
"...No, he did not have a flamethrower."
"Then what the hell was those flames down there? Don't tell me...he's here, isn't he?" Hand sounded distasteful.
"Who, sir?"
"Don't play dumb with me, you dumbfuck!" Troubled Hand spouted. "I KNOW only The Dragon is capable of pulling off that kind of flame show! Don't tell me he's infiltrated here, has he?" Troubled Hand was furious at this point.
"No sir, you need not worry about him. He's gone." Deonorth, though, wasn't completely sure.
"Well, if he has, then this whole failed effort is YOUR fault, and I will hold you COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE!"
"I understand, sir," The Polar Bear let show more anger in his voice than he had anticipated.