The Steelix landed on a large platform in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. "Time to introduce You to some friends." Raiden said, gripping Lake by the collar of his shirt. Raiden stepped out with Lake onto the platform. "Snake reporting for duty." Raiden said.
Suddenly, a huge base held up by even larger platforms was uncloaked, along with hundreds of armed soldiers all in a brown camo uniform. In front of all of these soldiers was one man in a long brown leather trench coat with a red undershirt. He had long light blonde hair, dark blue eyes, and a matching goatee. "Snake? So You're finally accepting the Rank?" The Man asked.
Raiden smirked. "Maybe. But for now, I've got somebody I need You to interrogate." Raiden said, dropping Lake in front of them. Several Soldiers approached and carried Lake over to another building. "So You're really going to be 'The New Ocelot'?" Raiden asked the Man. "Yes. The New Age Diamond Dogs will be running just the same as the Old Diamon Dogs. Which means there is Me, Kazuhara, and You as the Leaders. Just waiting on You to take command, Big Boss." Ocelot said.
"I can't do that. Not yet. I still have my own mission to finish first. After? Maybe. I'll think about it." Raiden said. Ocelot sighed and put his hands behind his back. "Alright, Snake. We'll always be here if You need us. Who's the guy You want interrogated?" He asked. Raiden tossed Sgt Lake forward. "This is Sergeant Lake of the Old Desperado Corporation. I need more locations of his friends. I only have a few left." Raiden explained. Ocelot nodded and instructed the soldiers to take him to a chamber. "We'll relay the info to The Steelix. Guessing You're heading out again?" Ocelot asked. Raiden looked to the ground for a moment. "Yeah. I've got to end this. If I don't, then I'll just be reinforcing The War Economy..." Raiden responded.
Raiden returned to The Steelix and set up a new destination, this time a Factory set off of the West Side of The Atlantic.
The Steelix landed on the Helipad on the roof of the Factory, and Raiden exited. "If The War Economy must exist, then it's got to be natural... Metal Gears, Cyborgs, none of that should interfere... Conflicts shouldn't be started artificially. It should be genuine. A War isn't something You just start for the sake of War. It's a last resort." Raiden said to himself, scanning the area with his cybernetics. Raiden then sighed and deactivated his scanner. "No life forms detected. They must have abandoned the factory once Desperado fell." He said, crossing his arms. Suddenly, a loud explosion launched Raiden backward. "What the hell?" Raiden muttered, getting back on his feet. Black Lightning appeared from the flames of the explosion, pointing his blade at Raiden. "I told You I'd always find You." He remarked, approaching slowly.
Raiden unsheathed his blade and stared for a moment. "What the hell do You want from Me?" Raiden asked. Black Lightning remained silent and entered a combat stance. Raiden took note of this, and charged forward. Black Lightning threw a punch with his free hand, but Raiden caught it and headbutted him back. Black Lightning attempted to slice Raiden's stomach open, but Raiden flipped backward evading the attack. Black Lightning then ran forward, attempting to charge Raiden. Raiden took a stance in response, trying to track his feet so He could slice his legs off. Black Lightning jumped onto Raiden's chest, stepping off of it and launching both Raiden and himself backward. The two then locked eye contact with each other, despite the fact that Raiden couldn't actually see Lightning's eyes. "This better not become a reoccuring thing, Lightning." Raiden said, a bit annoyed.
Black Lightning lowered his sword and exited his combat stance. "It's fine. I've taken up enough of Your time for now. Get stronger Jack. Do it so maybe one day You can outmatch Me. Catch ya later Ripper." Black Lightning remarked, falling off of the roof of the Factory with grace. Raiden struggled to comprehend what had just happened, He couldn't tell if Lightning was scared or stupid and really didn't care which one it was. With this obstacle out of the way, Raiden finally made his way to the now partially destroyed lower floor of the factory. Raiden hacked into the power systems of the factory and turned on the lights, revealing the large assembly line of miniature versions of Metal Gear Octo. It appeared to be some sort of Metal Gear Facility. "Great... So this is what Lake was going to ship to the other Desperado goons. Glad I took him in before coming here, or this would've actually been a major problem." Raiden said to himself.
Raiden then set up a complex series of explosives inside of the facility, and headed back to the Steelix. He took off, and detonated the explosives. This of course left the Factory crumbling into the depths of the Atlantic. After all of this work, Raiden finally got a call back from the N.A.D.D in which Ocelot decided to brief Raiden on the information they extracted from Lake. "I don't think I should put this lightly, so I'll just say it. Your falling faction Desperado has Nuclear Weapons in production, along with plans to recreate the same nanomachines used on Your enemy former Senator Armstrong. Judging by the way You described that battle this is a serious threat to the country, if not the entire world. On top of all of this they are also utilizing nanomachines to create Armor for 'New Age Cyborgs' and such. This isn't looking good for You Raiden." Ocelot explained, dropping a bomb of information on Raiden. Raiden was shocked for a moment, but snapped out of it quickly to attempt to come up with some sort of plan. "It may not be looking good, but I believe that I can somehow find a way to pull us out of this situation. Whether it be taking down every last member of Desperado, or dismantling those Nuclear Weapons myself, I will do it to ensure the safety of everyone. That being said, I'm going to continue taking down these higher ups in the Desperado hierarchy. Stay safe Ocelot." Raiden responded, ending the call and heading to bed so He could rest up for his next encounter.
With a few days of Sleep Stasis, Raiden was finally awake and ready for action. He did his usual electrolyte recharge, and was about to set course for a new destination until He noticed something odd on his Main Screen. "14 Missed Calls from Ocelot? The hell is going on?" Raiden said, going to the most recent voicemail. Loud gunshots and explosions could be heard, bullets ricocheting off of metal surfaces and the stomping of soldiers boots against the hard steel floors as well. Finally, a voice came through, that of Ocelot. "Raiden, You need to get here right FUCKING NOW. We're under attack by the new cyborg models I mentioned, and it is NOT going well for us. So hurry up before they ki-" The Voicemail shorted out, and Raiden stared at the screen shocked at the news. "David set the course for Mother Base now." Raiden said with no hesitation. The Steelix set course instantly and got there as fast as it possibly could.
Luckily Raiden arrived semi-on time, as there were survivors of the attack that had been going on for hours now. Raiden activated his bulletproof visor to cover his weakpoint, and leaped out of The Steelix, putting it in Cloak Mode. Two Cyborgs noticed Raiden and opened fire, but of course the bullets ricocheted off of his body. Raiden sprinted toward the cyborgs, and kicked them both off of the side of Mother Base, launching each one directly into the ocean. More Cyborgs targetted Raiden after noticing his presence, and opened fire on him only to also realize He is bulletproof. It was then that the Cyborgs actually swapped from guns to stunsticks. However, these were Desperado Anti-Cyborg Stunsticks. The handle has extreme durability, and the 'stun' actually packs the power to disrupt electrolytes in the body to deactivate the system. Meaning if Raiden gets even once, it's over. Raiden, completely oblivious to this threat, runs in as He always does with his blade ready for battle.
Raiden tries to decapitate the first one He runs into, but his blade bounces off. Realizing that this is the nanomachine armor Ocelot mentioned, Raiden tosses his sword aside and roundhouse kicks the Cyborg off of the edge of the base. Raiden then turns to the next cyborg near him and grabs his stunstick, reversing it and deactivating the enemy cyborg with his own weapon. Raiden of course took the stunstick from the body of the cyborg, and proceeded to battle the rest of the cyborgs with it. After hours of intense close quarters combat and explosives being sent in by the N.A.D.D, the attack was finally over. Raiden and the N.A.D.D succesfully cleared Mother Base of hostiles, and Ocelot initiated an instant clean up job to get funerals ready for the dead and rooms ready for the wounded. However Raiden didn't stay on base, He headed straight back to the Steelix for the next target because now He felt like things had gotten even more personal. Raiden set the cource for a small foreign town known as Prario, and had the Steelix drop him off at an apartment complex. Raiden, being 90% Metal, stood out a lot. People were actually scared of him being there. But Raiden didn't care at the moment. He asked for the room number of Robert Clansly, in which the Staff told him it was number thirty-three. Raiden marched his way straight up to room thirthy-three, and destroyed the door. He instantly gripped Robert Clansly by the throat and lifted him up. "I want the name of the man running the show and I want it now. You've made Me very angry with Your recent work and if You waste my time I'm going to stop being peaceful and start murdering every single one of You bastards." Raiden said filled with rage and impatience. "It's... Some guy. We don't know his REAL name. All We know is his initials... RO." Clansly said, honestly terrified by the cyborg who just tore the door of his apartment off it's hinges. Raiden threw Robert into the wall and left him there, calling the Police on him since He was in possession of illegal drugs on top of being a traitor to the country. "That bastard is lucky I didn't snap his neck..." Raiden said to himself, heading back to The Steelix.
Once Raiden was finally back inside of The Steelix He checked his list of remaining targets. "We're so close to finishing this, so damn close." Raiden said to himself. "But if I'm not careful, people could end up trying to bring Desperado back..." Raiden remarked to himself, noting how Diamond Dogs made a comeback. Raiden let out a sigh, and went straight to his bed. He laid down, and stared at the ceiling of The Steelix. "I keep thinking about all of the things that lead to this... Sam and Armstrong, specifically... Sometimes I even wonder if I'm right..." Raiden remarked, sort of doubting himself. "I've got no time to keep thinking about it though. This world needs quick decisions." Raiden said, finally closing his eyes and getting some rest.
