Mother Base…
Punished "Venom" Snake slowly moved to his cot, feeling every ache and pain from not only the most recent mission, but also his decades on the battlefield. While his performance in combat would put that of any 20 year old infantryman to shame, Snake was already 60 by the time of death. And his various prosthetics, shrapnel, and battlefield wounds were not conducive to producing a healthy, elderly body.
And so, the phantom of Big Boss laid down on his cot and allowed himself to fall asleep. Gaining the ability to instantly fall asleep was a skill that any veteran soldier would have adopted, as in a war, one would never know when they could get rest, and would greedily take it whenever they could.
But this sleep was strange. Snake did not dream often. Occasionally he had flashes of his previous life, of who he was before Revolver Ocelot's hypnotherapy turned him into a body double for the true Big Boss. But such memories were at most simply novelties to him now, and bore no importance. But other than that he wouldn't dream. Whether it was the effects of the shrapnel in his brain, his obvious trauma from the horrors of war he experienced, or a side effect of the hypnosis, Snake never dreamed of anything but his forgotten past.
Snake however, now saw images as he took his rest. It was as if he was flying like a bird above the Mother Base, above Kabul. Then he began descending, falling faster and faster. Knowing this was a dream, the Boss did not panic as he flew straight downward, and he was not surprised as his body began to phase through the ground.
Passing through stone and sand, Snake soon found himself in a series of tunnels. He recognized the passageways as sublevel basements of Mother Base, ancient winding halls that once acted as dungeons and cellars for the castle that Mother Base once was. At the very end of this passage, beyond where any member of the Legion had need to go, Snake discovered a simple wall of stone, carved out of the mountain itself.
Snake had seen this rockwall once before, when he was exploring the castle when he first discovered it, but found it to simply be a dead end and paid it no mind. This time however, he felt something. As if he could hear a song in the distance, muffled and distorted, but present nonetheless. Then the wall began to glow, ancient runes appeared along its surface until the shape of a door appeared. The wall then opened, revealing a pitch blackness that sucked Snake in.
Carried once more by an invisible force, Snake few through winding tunnels, barely able to register what he was seeing. He did not know how far he went for he could neither tell how fast he was moving nor did he have any visual point of reference to gauge the distance he traveled. Soon enough however, the darkness was broken by a light. It was a small light in the distance, moving; it was the easily recognizable artificial white light of a flashlight.
Snake's astral projection focused on the light, flying towards it, until he realized that the source was in fact multiple flashlights, held by a strange group of individuals. One was obviously some kind of soldier, a dark-skinned man wearing military fatigues and battle armor, with a hologram standing his shoulder. Two were some kind of cyborgs or robots, one a gunslinger and the other a swordsman or even ninja. And lastly there was an alien, tall blue skinned with gold armor, and a featureless face that only had a pair of iridescent eyes.
As Snake came closer and closer to the motley collection, the alien's head snapped to him, as if he could see him. The alien's eyes narrowed on Snake, and while Snake wasn't privy to its thoughts, he could see confusion in its body language. The others around the alien took notice of its strange behaviour, and were immediately set on edge. They called out to the alien, but Snake couldn't hear them, their voices distant.
Moving forward, Snake tried to call out and see if the alien could hear him, but the moment he did he felt a pull behind him. Snake's incorporeal form began flying backwards, hurtling through the darkness once more.
Snake then felt himself slow, and he was once more in a single massive cavern. But unlike the tunnels he saw the others in, simple carved passages devoid of any decoration, these caverns were filled with majestic ruins and many other manufactured structures such as statues and walls. At first Snake thought of this place as some kind of mine, but he quickly came to realize that was false. This was in fact a tomb. This was in fact, The Tomb, one of the ruins of the Final Destination.
The many structures which Snake initially assumed were homes were in fact mausoleums, and many of the statues tombstones. Snake then found himself naturally moving towards the center of this cavern, where the largest statue lay.
The Boss recognized who this statue was of. It was a beautiful woman with flowing hair, in an elegant white dress, gripping a stone resplendent grail. This was Lileath, the Elven Goddess in her guise as the Lady of the Lake. Even at a distance, Snake could feel her power, and faint whispers of chivalry and honor crept in behind him. As he got closer and closer, Snake saw something else. At the base of the statue was a grail as well, but unlike the resplendent version held in the hands of the statue, this was a simple, bronze grail, aged and dented, but retaining its own value in its simplicity.
What this was was obvious to Snake. This was the Holy Grail, which Lileath bade them to find. Despite this only being a vision, the Boss approached the Grail, hand extended to take it. Before he could reach it however, he was overcome by a flash of green light. Snake then shot out of bed, the early morning light peeking through his windows.
"What the Hell is going on?" Johnson snapped at Tassadar, shotgun raised and scanning for targets, his teammates sans the Protoss doing the same.
At first, Tassadar didn't deign to reply. He merely continued to stare off into the distance that seemed to enthrall him.
"I'd like an answer to that too, Tassadar." Cayde commented, his revolver also searching for any possible enemies. "I'd rather not think about what might happen if our only psychic got mind controlled."
"No such thing has occurred to me." Tassadar snapped at his panicking allies before finally breaking his gaze and looking at them. "And you may lower your weapons, we are in no danger."
The motley crew of survivors briefly looked to one another, before reluctantly dropping their guard.
The apparent crisis over, Church decided to speak up. "So, care to explain what that was about?"
Tassadar shook his head. "I am not sure. I felt a presence, as if we were being watched. But the presence quickly faded."
Church rolled whatever holographic eyes he had behind his helmet. "Great. We've been walking around for hours in some spooky fucking tunnels and now you say we're being watched? Dude, I'm telling you, this place is haunted. Trust me, I was a ghost once, so I know."
Johnson turned his head towards his holographic partner. "What the hell do you mean you were a ghost?"
"Long story short? My man-child of a teammate was teamkilling fuck-tard." Church shook his head. "He got better, kinda, but still that's beside the point. Tassadar, man, do you actually have any idea where we're going? Because this place is haunted as fuck."
"We are going where we are meant to be going." Tassadar cryptically answered.
"God dammit you walking, talking fortune cookie." Church grumbled.
"Hey, I get you're frustrated Church." Cayde cut in as he twirled his revolver before holstering it. "But let me ask you this. Do you have any bright ideas on where to go?"
Church moved to speak up, but found that he didn't have an answer.
"As such, let silence reign as we continue on our path." Tassadar boomed as he continued forward.
"Easy for you to say, you don't even have a mouth." Church muttered under his breath.
Mother Base…
It was an average morning in the mess hall of Mother base as the Legion gathered up for breakfast. Questionably serviceable Soviet-era rations were passed around along with coffee from an indeterminable source. While the legionnaires chatted about various topics ranging from their latest weapon upgrades to stories from their home dimensions, the Boss made his way into the mess hall with a dour expression on his face.
"Boss." Wynne was the first to greet their leader. "Is everything alright?"
Everyone turned to face the Boss at this, and he took his time to look them over before responding. "I have new intel." he simply stated before sitting down at the table as well.
"Intel? Overnight?" Sev raised an eyebrow as he stuffed food into his mouth.
Snake nodded his head. "Indeed. I believe I discovered my semblance last night."
Everyone looked up at this, curious as to what power their leader had developed.
"Oh congratulations Boss!" Pyrrha cheered. "What is it?"
"I think it's some kind of clairvoyance, or even astral projection." Snake began. "I had some kind of vision last night."
"A vision?" Galen asked, as such territory was more familiar for the Force user. "What of?"
"In my vision I saw a series of ruins that run beneath Mother Base, the entrance hidden behind some kind of magic. The vision then took me through the ruins, where I saw a group of others. They did not appear affiliated with any of the existing factions however."
"Others?" Shepard perked up. "As in other people dragged here like us?"
Snake nodded. "Indeed. There were four I could see, a human soldier, 2 robotic or cybernetic warriors, and one alien. None of them matched any of the usual appearance of anyone we've seen amongst the forces of Chaos."
"Which means we may have more allies!" Pyrrha exclaimed.
"Or we may have more enemies than we knew about." Shepard cautioned.
"But that's not all I saw." Snake cut back in once again. "I was then brought to another section of the ruins, and believe that the ruins were actually the Tomb, and within the Tomb I believe I saw the Grail."
Several of the legionnaires' eyes went wide at this.
"The Grail." Wynne muttered under her breath. "Lileath mentioned it was some kind of artifact of great power. If there are others already on the way there, we should go as well with all due haste."
"Agreed." Snake nodded his head before turning to Shepard. "I want you on point for this. Assemble a team, enter these ruins, find out who these newcomers are, and find the Grail."
"Roger that Boss." Shepard snapped off a salute before leaving to prepare her team.
Six, Wynne, Pyrrha, and herself. That was the team Shepard had assembled for this foray into the ruins beneath Mother Base. After a hearty meal for energy, the team, dubbed Fireteam Buffalo, gathered in the armory to gear up before leaving.
While they didn't know what to expect when they entered the ruins, they knew it was going to be tight, close quarters combat, and prepared thusly. Shepard and Pyrrha would hold the front in melee, so Shepard was going for her classic Geth plasma shotgun and Power Axe combo. While she was a little disappointed she wasn't going to be able to test out her new Fat Man, something told her that detonating a small scale nuclear device in enclosed, subterranean spaces was a bad idea.
Pyrrha meanwhile looked over her own weapon enhancements. While the others had picked up new weapons from the Armory, Pyrrha instead had opted to upgrade her current arsenal with new tech the Legion had acquired. With T3's help, Pyrrha had been able to disassemble an Imperial Guard Power Sword they had found in the Armory and replace the powercell and energy generator into Miló. This allowed Pyrrha's mechashift weapon to produce a corona of energy similar to Shepard's power axe, allowing it to disrupt molecular bonds when striking a target, making it capable of cutting through nearly anything.
At the same time, Pyrrha upgraded Akoúo̱ as well. The Legion had a handful of Jackal wrist-mounted energy shields taken from raids against the Covenant, and once again with T3's help Pyrrha was able to disassemble them and reuse their parts for her own purpose. Now, with a flick of a switch, Akoúo̱ face would be coated in a red-orange plasma barrier. The plasma would be able to absorb most of the damage done by Covenant plasma and Stormtrooper blaster weaponry, a weakness of Pyrrha's that had been exploited in the past, and even potentially defend against lightsabers.
While Shepard and Pyrrha would handle the front, Wynne and Six would provide cover and support from afar. Wynne had decided to take one of the magic staffs that they had found from the Armory. While Shepard still didn't really understand magic and how it all worked, the staff they had found must've been powerful judging by the way Wynne's jaw dropped when she identified what it was. Apparently it was something called a Staff of the Magi, and would allow Wynne to cast magic spells she would never have been able to previously, which Shepard was all for. Meanwhile, Six was taking his DMR and Bio-Force Gun with him. Six had felt that the BFG was (marginally) less likely for friendly fire in the ruins than the Fatman, so he opted to take it with him.
Armed up, Fireteam Buffalo made their way to the basement of Mother Base. Shepard hadn't been there since the interrogation of Commander Bacara, an ordeal which left a rather bad taste in her mouth. This entire level of Mother Base was used as a dungeon, but the Legion didn't make a habit of taking prisoners, so it was sparsely used.
Reaching the deepest hallway, the Fireteam found the wall they were looking for. As the Boss had mentioned, it was a rather inconspicuous wall that, had the Boss not had his vision, they would've never thought to have looked at it twice.
"Yes, I can sense a faint magical aura coming from here." as she waved her Staff of the Magi over the door, casting the Detect Magic spell. "Some kind of powerful abjuration magic, which is used to create barriers and protective wards and such."
"Are you able to get it open?" Shepard asked.
"Were it only a few days ago I would've said no." Wynne said with a smirk. "But this staff gives me quite a few new tricks up my sleeve.."
With that, Wynne raised the staff and smacked it against the wall. There was an audible crack that resounded through the enclosed space, far louder than it had any right to be. The Legionnaires then watched as elvish runes began to glow along the wall, forming a door, that eventually faded along with the wall itself, creating an opening.
"There, that should suppress the arcane lock for about ten minutes I would say." Wynne said, satisfied with her casting of the Knock spell.
"Most impressive." Pyrrha muttered under her breath, always enamoured by the casting of magic. Meanwhile Six and Shepard moved in with weapons raised.
"Alright people, keep sharp. We don't know what to expect down here, but whatever we come across, I want us ready." Shepard commanded as she took point.
"Roger!" Her fireteam responded in unison.
With that, Fireteam Buffalo began their expedition into the Tomb.
The Fireteam had marched for several hours through the darkened tunnels underneath Mother Base. Luckily enough, the tunnels were wide enough to allow for moderately comfortable travel, not requiring them to squeeze and crawl through precariously tight crevices. As was the way with these ruins, the path they followed wasn't a winding maze of natural caves, but instead a direct and straightforward passage that they hoped led them to their destination.
Soon enough, they found themselves entering the cavern that the Boss had spoken of, a massive underground graveyard that looked like a city at first glance.
"By the Maker…" Wynne whispered out. "This grave is larger than the dwarven city of Orzammar."
"And larger than that of Mount Glenn from my world." Pyrrha agreed.
While Shepard and Six lacked the context to truly put such comparisons into perspective, the sense of awe and emanated from both of them helped drive the point home that this Tomb was ridiculously massive. The path they were following continued forward to the massive statue of the Lady of the Lake, which stood at the center of the cavern. Rows and streets surrounded by tombstones and mausoleums radiated out from the statue, creating a concentric design that only served to magnify the importance of the deity's effigy.
As they pushed forward, the fireteam moved into an open crossroad between the path they followed and the first of the circular roads that layered around the statue. At first they paid no mind to the intersection, merely moving through with purpose. This however, changed as they reached the far end of the crossroads a massive blue-green barrier of magical energy appeared from nowhere, blocking their path.
"Damnit!" Shepard cursed as she turned, drawing her power axe, Pyrrha moving beside her taking the front as well.
Trapped with their backs against a magic barrier, Fireteam Buffalo watched as an eerie fog that matched the barrier in tint suffused the area. Out of this mist, the Legion could see the shapes of figures form. Within seconds, the roughly humanoid shapes became more and more detailed creating a series of warriors that stood across from the heroes.
The first to appear were the Bretonnians, human warriors wielded massive greatswords and were dressed in crusader's garb, with thick suits of plate armor and great helms, decorated with various coats of arms depicting lions, dragons, pegusi, and even the fleur de lis. These were the specters of the great Grail Knights, the once mighty protectors of Bretonnia and the Lady of the Lake, now literal shadows of their former selves.
Behind these great knights, the ever famous elves made themselves apparent. The lithe, nubile forms of the wood elves appeared in two forms, some wearing little to no armor, dressed in leaves, wood, and other natural fabrics, wielding twin swords, while others held bows and wore leather armor with deep, forest green cloaks.
"Legion!" Shepard roared. "Take them down!" Shepard charged first with Pyrrha at her side, her power axe raised high.
"For ze Lady!" The ghosts of the crusading knights cried out, rushing to meet her.
Shepard and the first knight met head on, both swinging their great weapons at the other. But the cyborg spectre was slightly faster and her power axe moved to cleave the knight in two. However the knight was surprisingly dextrous for someone wearing full armor, and was able to shift his weight back, grabbing the blade of the sword to halfsword and block Shepard's attack.
It was a good idea in theory, and a technique probably tested and proven true in many battles. But unfortunately for the good knight, Shepard's axe was not any normal weapon of steel, as the adamantium blade and disruptive corona of energy surrounding it sliced through the crusader's greatsword, then through his armor, then finally through the knight himself.
The other knights paused their advance as their comrade was cut down, far more wary of the foe in front of them, but not afraid. Shepard took the initiative as they slowed and charged once more, swinging her axe with reckless abandon at one of the knights. But the knight proved his skill once more as they quickly retreated out of Shepard's range while simultaneously striking her with the longer reach of his greatsword. The Bretonnians now knew to stay away from Shepard's weapon, and had the skill, speed, and experience to outmaneuver her.
While Shepard was by no means a slouch in melee combat, training with medieval great weapons wasn't exactly something that was taught in N7 school, and most of her techniques relied on brute force and raw power combined with the axe's devastating attributes. Meanwhile these Grail Knights had spent their entire mortal lives training by their blades and fought far more powerful and savage opponents such as orks and beastmen regularly.
Pyrrha then moved to flank the knights and relieve Shepard of some pressure, when two feminine figures intercepted her. They were two female wood elves, wearing no armor but instead simple green top and flowing skirts. Both had two swords in their hands, and swirling tattoos painted across their bodies. These were the famed wardancers of Athel Loren, warrior poets who combined their bardic arts of dance and storytelling with that of violent and deadly swordsmanship.
Pyrrha went for a lunge against the wardancer, only for the elf to flow like water around the thrust. The elf then spun like a top, becoming a whirlwind of blades that sought to decapitate the huntress. Raising her shield, Pyrrha blocked the attack while dropping low to sweep the elf's legs out from under her. However the second wardancer wouldn't let such a thing happen, as she pulled her ally back away from the kick and thrust her blade at the Pyrrha, cutting into her abdomen. The blade was stopped by her aura and ballistic weave mesh armor, but the strike still stung as Pyrrha was forced to retreat.
Scowling, Pyrrha knew she couldn't take these agile opponents on conventionally. Slackening her grip on Akoúo̱, Pyrrha flung her shield like a discus towards the elven dancers. As she expected the two elves beautifully twisted away from the attack. What they did not expect however, was for Akoúo̱ to stop mid-air behind them and reverse course. The shield struck the closer wardancer in the back, audibly breaking bone at the impact. The second elf turned her head to see what threat just assaulted her sister, which was all the opening Pyrrha needed.
Pyrrha rushed forward and swung her sword for the still standing war dancer. The elf, still distracted, was barely able to react to the attack. With grace gained through centuries of practice the elf was able to bring her sword to parry the strike, when suddenly her blade veered off course, subtly manipulated by Pyrrha's semblance. The slight movement was enough for Pyrrha's blade to snake past the elves and sink directly between her ribs.
As Pyrrha executed the elf, she was then hit by a volley as the elven archers loosed their arrows. The champion deflected two arrows with her sword before leaping into the air to avoid the rest. This however, proved to be a mistake, as the elven archers proved to be far too keen eyed to be stopped by such a tactic. A second volley was loosed, and the arrows flew true as they struck the airborne huntress. Arrows sunk into Pyrrha's shield and aura as she was continually pelted.
Pyrrha could feel her aura and kinetic barriers drain with every impact, arrows sinking deep despite their archaic nature. As she landed, Pyrrha crouched low behind her shield, letting it tank all of the hits as the elves sought to turn her into a pin cushion. As the next volley was loosed however, the arrows seemed to curve and veer off course.
Around her, Pyrrha could feel the winds shift and move, as well as the temperature drop to where she could see her own breath. Stealing a quick peek behind her, Pyrrha saw Wynne twirling her staff in the air, as icy-cold blue magic flew from it. As the Staff of the Magi granted Wynne access to a brand new catalogue of spells, the mage began casting the Ice Storm spell, creating a whirlwind of frosty hair that cycloned between Pyrrha and the elves.
The elves watched as their arrows flew off course, pulled into the vortex of the Ice Storm. Then from the far side of the storm, large chunks of ice rocketed towards the archers. The first elf was slammed by a boulder of ice, crunching into their ribs and sending them flying back. The others hit the deck, buffeted by smaller bits of hail but not the larger pieces. After waiting a few seconds for the storm to cease, the elves cautiously allowed themselves to stand. As soon as they did however, gunshots rang out and their heads popped like overly ripe melons.
Six, having kept his range since the start of the battle, was able to take advantage of the chaos created by Wynne's spell to put down the elves, who even with their superhuman agility were not capable of dodging bullets. With the archers dead, Pyrrha was free to move and support the Commander, who had stalled in her fight against the Bretonnian knights.
Shepard was still locked in melee with the knights, and it was thanks to her careful use of her biotics that she wasn't overwhelmed. With a Biotic Charge, Shepard would rapidly advance against one of the knights, bowling him over with telekinetic speeds. But the knight's allies would quickly come to his aid and force Shepard back before she could land a killing blow. When the knights would attack, Shepard's use of barriers and lifts would kill the momentum of their charge, preventing them from overwhelming her.
And as the knights charged once more, this time Pyrrha was able to intercept, leaping between the commander and Bretonnians. Blocking a greatsword with her shield, Pyrrha thrust her weapon, currently in spear form, for the Bretonnian's torso. The knight attempted to retreat, but found himself stuck as Pyrrha called upon her semblance to grab on to the knight's armor and hold him in place. Trapped, the knight's comrades moved to rescue him by striking at Pyrrha, but were blasted back by a biotic throw as Shepard was now free to interrupt as well.
Pyrrha then drove her power spear right through the armored torso of the Grail Knight, destroying the ghost instantly. With the knights numbers reduced, they fell back to regroup and for a new plan of attack. However this tactic proved to work against them, because as they gathered up, Wynne cast another new spell from her staff, Wall of Fire, creating a donut of flames around the knights, trapping them inside. As they heard the knights scream as they were burned by the fire, Six ran up, pulling a frag grenade from his belt. With an expertly lobbed throw, the grenade fell into the center of the wall of fire, in the middle of all the knights. One fragmentation explosion later, the screams of the knights were silenced as their spectral forms faded.
With the knights dead, all threats in the immediate area were destroyed, the barriers halting their progress fell, and the Legion allowed themselves a small break. However, they would not have long to catch their breath, as a massive roar shattered the calm of their respite. Looking up, Fireteam Buffalo saw the massive wingspan of a dragon flying above them. Like the warriors, the dragon was spectral, a ghost of a once mighty beast. The monster was a translucent red-orange, glowing so bright that it was like looking at the sun.
Pyrrha and Wynne were forced to shield their eyes, while the polarizing visors of Six and Shepard's armors allowed them to keep watch on the newest opponent.
"Don't worry, I'll handle this." Six cooly said as he holstered his DMR and instead pulled out his BFG-9000, secretly excited that he now had a chance to use his new weapon.
Six depressed his finger on the trigger, as the green lights began flaring along the spine of his weapon, charging up power. Before he had a chance to release the attack however, the Sun Dragon roared out in pain as it was surrounded by a storm of lightning.
Confused at the sudden intervention, all heads turned to Wynne, who only shook her head and said, "It's not me!"
When they turned back to look at the dragon, Six and Shepard saw a red targeting laser tracking the dragon's chest. After a few seconds, a massive laser beam followed the tracking beam, slamming into the dragon and burning a massive hole into its chest. In combination with the lightning, the dragon sustained far too much damage and fell out of the sky.
As the dragon died, Shepard turned to her team and called out. "Let's go! Whoever killed that dragon is probably who we're looking for!" Shepard then took off in a jog for the landing zone.
Pyrrha and Wynne acknowledged the order and took off after the commander, while Six took a brief moment to dejectedly look at his unused BFG, before sighing and joining the others.
A/N, 9/30/20: And we're back! Starting off with another semblance. As the Metal Gear series (and by extension, the Bosses) are known for its convoluted plots and plans, I thought it would make sense for the Boss to have the ability of Clairvoyance that would help him make even further convoluted plans.
Review Responses:
Brother Bov: When I was looking for a W40k character to put in many moons ago, I went through a lot of different choices, and when I found out about Rylanor on the wiki he seemed like the perfect fit. A powerhouse that will up the Legion's power, but also limited by his form as a Dreadnaught so he wouldn't completely overshadow the rest of the Legion the way a Space Marine or Primarch would.
Hunter Zickafoose: Thanks!
Guest: Being honest, I didn't think about that. I just wanted to put the BFG in the story.
Jack Smith1: I had planned on putting Rylanor in before that song came out, but the timing was almost perfect. An Emperor's guided coincidence. And thanks!
ThaqifTalip: I thought about it, but in terms of good guys, this will probably be the last new additions. Early on, the main issue for me with adding Anime characters was that lots of tim power scaling gets wonky (not like that really matters too much anymore), but also I don't think I'll have time to properly explore and use any new characters for the good guys by the end of the story if I keep adding more in.
War: Sounds like an interesting story.
And with that, I thank you all for reading, and I'll see you in the next one!