Lean On Me
Chapter Two: Hatching Schemes
A snowy field filled his vision, his body aching with pain all over, his eyes struggling to stay open, as he witnessed sunlight for what felt like ages. With rifle in hand, Liquid forced himself to his feet with only one thing on his mind; Kill his brother.
Murder on his mind, Liquid stumbled forward and around the overturned vehicle, seeing his brother and his companion pinned underneath. A wicked smile, Liquid pushed himself forward.
"Snaaaake…"
Once he was close, he held up his gun and made to shoot…
…!
Then he felt a sharp pain in his chest, choking, feeling his heart stop before falling to his knees.
"F-Fox…"
His brother finished, "Die."
The blonde fell face forward, quickly losing his breath, but reached out as if trying in vain to grab his brother.
"Snaaaaaaake…"
Soon enough, his body went limp, and all Liquid saw was darkness…
"SNAAAAAAAKKKEEE!"
Liquid Snake screamed at the top of his lungs, before realizing he was reaching out to nothing but air. Finally able collect what remained of his sanity, he took one look of his surroundings and saw that he was no longer on Earth, no longer on the Shadow Moses Island.
He was in Hell, where he would suffer for the rest of his twilight years for all the sins he committed. It's no surprise, of course, given the things he did in life, ever since he was young. But what caught him off guard was his animal like appearance, looking like a lion.
"So, this is my fate then…" He said to himself, almost out loud. "To suffer down here for the rest of my days…" He let out a low chuckle before falling on his back, arms stretched out without a care in the world. "A perfect ending for a devil amongst men."
And so he simply laid there, limbs outstretched without a care in the world, eyes closed and just accepting his loss with what dignity he had left.
…
…
…
…No.
With that thought in his head, Liquid sat up sharply, his eyes slightly glowing with anger.
"Did I honestly just…entertain the thought of surrender?" He said out loud to no one in particular. "No. I do not think I will."
He soon got to his feet, grinning wickedly as he looked up at the pentagram in the sky.
"Do you think that just because I'm down here, that means our fight is over, brother?" He demanded, as if talking to someone. "I think not! This is merely another setback, delaying the inevitable! I will find a way back, and when I do, I WILL take what is rightfully mine!"
As he screamed up at the sky, several other demons walked past, uncomfortably avoiding the apparent madman screaming up at the heavens.
"I'll start again, find a way to rebuild what I have lost!" Liquid stated, grinning like a madman. "Soon, I will rebuild my army, my own Outer Heaven, and I will surpass you, Brother!"
He then let out an evil maniacal laughter, which caused quite a few demons to look at him with freaked out looks, all of them steering clear of the laughing maniac. His laughter finally dying down, he frowned, a dark look on his face.
"But where do I start?" He asked himself in a whisper.
He was so caught up in his thoughts, he almost failed to notice a large rat demon creep up behind him with a knife. Just as the rat was about to plunge the dagger into Liquid's back, the son of Big Boss quickly turned and grabbed the hand that held the knife with one hand, slammed the other into the elbow before plunging the knife into the rat's neck, killing him.
Allowing the rat to fall dead, Liquid realized that he had no clothes before looking at what the rat wore and smirking. In quick fashion, Liquid had removed the clothes from the corpse and donned them as his own, now wearing a black leather jacket, a pair of blue jeans, black-stripped white shoes and black gloves, and without the shirt, leaving his torso bare for all to see. Standing up straight, Liquid made to walk off, but stopped when he looked to his left to see an oncoming car, the driver clearly honking the horn for anyone to get out of the way.
Liquid however, did not move, only raised his left foot slightly, and when the speeding car got close…
CRASH!
Liquid stomped his foot on the front of the car, crashing it to a halt, the driver literally sent flying out of the front window before landing in garbage. Curious, Liquid flexed his fingers before gripping the front bumper, and with almost little effort, he lifted the car off the ground, effortlessly holding it over his head.
This came to a surprise for Liquid. He was capable of some feats of strength when he was alive, but this was new entirely. With a wicked smirk, he effortlessly tossed the car several feet away, the vehicle crashing into another car.
"Now this is interesting." Liquid said, flexing his arm. "Such strength! What else am I capable of?"
"You fucking bastard!" The demon that once owned the car yelled, baring his teeth. "That was my car you just wrecked!"
The demon then lunged at Liquid, only for the lion to deliver a spin kick to the torso, sending the demon crashing into a building.
"Amazing!" Liquid laughed, raising his hands in the air. "Such power! Even I never thought such power is possible!"
Wanting to experiment further, he approached the wall of a tall building and extending the claws hiding in his fingertips. He then slammed the palm of his hands upon the face of the wall, his claws easily digging into the bricks of the wall before he started climbing up the wall, leaving deep claw marks on the wall, before he reached the top, standing on the edge and looking over the whole city, an ambitious grin on his face.
"So much power." He said aloud, looking at his hands. "So much potential! I can see it now! I just need the right place to start!"
Looking around, he spotted something of interest; a large, neon glowing sign labeled 'Emmerich's Shoppe' and down below was a small shop, Liquid's grin growing wider.
"Time to pay an old friend a visit."
Huey Emmerich let out a sigh of sadness as he sat one of the guns in the display case on the counter, along with the large variety of guns he had collected over the years, ever since he had been sentenced to this infernal plane. He took on the appearance of a weasel, which is fitting for a man who was willing to betray every organization he ever joined, every person he claimed to call friend.
A fitting place for a betrayer who refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing.
Having finished setting up the merchandise, Huey stepped into his office to start paying some bills, his least favorite pastime, sighing at the sight of how costly the bills were, before hearing the door open with a ring, followed by the counter bell ringing.
Figuring it was a customer, Huey put on his best fake smile before walking up to his office door.
"Welcome to Emmerich's Shoppe!" He declared as he opened the office door. "How can I help…you?"
He suddenly froze, eyes nearly bulging out of his head at the sight of the lion demon standing at the counter, that deadly smile alone reminding him of who he was in life.
"Hello, Huey." Liquid Snake greeted, that smile never leaving his face. "It's been a while."
Huey quivered with fear at the sight of the blonde sinner, "E-Eli?"
He didn't even have time to react when he felt aggressive fingers wrap around his neck, before forcefully being pulled over the counter and pressed against the wall, vicious blue eyes staring into his own blue eyes.
"You will NOT call me that!" He growled hatefully. "You will call me either 'Liquid' or 'White-Mamba', but if you so much as refer to me by THAT name again, I'll make you beg for death! Do you hear me?!"
Huey trembled with fear, but managed to choke out a 'yes' before Eli released him, his anger suddenly gone, replaced with fabricated friendliness.
"Glad we sorted that out." He said with a fake smile before walking over to the counter. "So, what have you been up to?"
Coughing a bit, Huey rubbed his throat, "Just trying to make ends meet. Running a shop and collecting and repairing old guns work quite well down here, it seems."
"I can certainly tell." Liquid mused, running a finger along the glass of one of the display cases that held a rather large minigun inside.
"Violence is an everyday occurrence down here." Huey explained, watching the blonde lion walk around, looking at the display of various guns and weapons. "It makes it pretty hard to find the right merchandise material for the shop."
"I can tell." Liquid nodded, passing by an empty display case. "And I assume you've been doing all the work to provide?"
"I haven't really had the means to hire good help." Huey admitted. "And even if I did, it's hard to tell if they won't swindle you afterwards."
Figuring he could use business to his advantage, Liquid sat upon one of the display cases, "How about we work together then? We can both benefit from our collaboration."
"Are you serious?" Huey asked, skeptical with crossed arms.
"Come now, Huey, weren't we partners before?" Liquid said. "Besides, you won't have to lift a finger! Just point to anywhere in this pit and I'll make sure this place is swimming in cash!"
Huey still seemed unconvinced. Yet, he knew Liquid when he was just a child, ambitious and strong, determined to see his plans through to the end. Not to mention he didn't have much of a choice.
"Alright, I'll do it." He sighed.
"Good to hear!" Liquid said with a single clap of his hands. "I'm looking forward to getting started!"
Before Huey could respond, the lion walked right up to him, a hand pressing against the wall and a vicious glare staring deep into his soul.
"But do not think I will be merciful, like the Diamond Dogs." He said in a low tone. "Betray me, I won't cast you out; I'll take my time picking you apart, limb from limb, and feed you to the guard dog. Are we clear?"
Shaken, Huey quickly nodded his head before Liquid backed off.
"Get some sleep." He ordered. "We have a lot of work tomorrow."
With Huey leaving for bed, Liquid walked over and looked out the window, gazing out onto the hellscape outside.
"It won't be easy, getting back to the mortal realm." He said in a low tone. "But there always has to be a way."
Looking around, he pulled a book from the shelf and turned the pages, his attention focused on the Ars Goetia.
"No doubt the higher demons watch this domain." He muttered to himself. "For once, I'm glad the old man insisted I go to church."
Looking out the window, a menacing grin spread across his face.
"Soon enough, brother, I'll claw my way out. And this time, I'll be ready."
Like usual, Liquid is back to his usual scheming, still trying to overcome his brother, even in death. I've got a lot of ideas involving this story, and I hope you'll stick around to see more! And of course, Huey being a pathetic coward as usual. Seriously, fuck that guy. Don't worry, I've got plans for you, you despicable, cowardly man.
Anyways, hope you'll stay tuned for more! And as usual, reviews are greatly appreciated!