Author's note: Thank you to those who have read my first chapter. I hope that those who are reading it are enjoying it. Feedback is strongly encouraged and appreciated! Please, enjoy the following chapter!
Ch.2 Cryptic confirmations
A loud, consistent buzzing screamed at the stubbled man to wake up. Groggily he sat up, willing his eyes to open just enough to find the cause of the racket.
A small clock, blinking 6:00am, on the nightstand next to his bed continued it's annoying tirade. After fumbling with the device for a few seconds he finally managed to prevent himself a headache. It took him several more seconds to remember where he was.
"Right...mission...kidnapping...Metal Gear..." he slowly got up and made his way into the small, personal bathroom.
-----
After getting himself up and ready, he made his way down to level fifteen like they had agreed on last night. It wasn't until he arrived at the floor that he wondered if Hal or Raiden were even awake yet.
"Good morning, sunshine!", Lola was already there and looking very much awake.
The room wasn't exactly how Snake had thought the cafeteria would look like. One half of the room was a gigantic kitchen, set up with numerous stove tops and ovens, refrigerators with freezers, cabinets, pantries, you name it. Pots, pans and utensils hung from hooks along the top, circling the area.
The other half was, obviously, the dining tables and chairs. It was set up like a restaurant rather than any common cafeteria.
Snake shook his head, looking around he noticed that there were only about fifteen to twenty unknowns scattered about the large room "I guess it really is dead in the mornings...".
"Morning!" Meryl greeted as she entered the dining area "Oh, yum! I'll have some pancakes, please..." she sat down at the table and poured herself a mug of coffee.
As he sat down next to his old partner and poured his own mug of coffee, Lola seemed to have set the table up for them, plates and all. He eyed the feast that was spread out in the center...pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs done in all styles, toast, hashbrowns, oatmeal and assorted fruit...coffee, milk, juice, it looked like she had everything prepared.
"You cooked all of this?" he glanced up at the blonde skeptically.
Meryl was already piling food onto her plate "It's really good! Believe me!"
Lola just sat there with an ear-to-ear grin, it was almost unsettling but Snake decided to trust Meryl and piled some eggs, sausage and hashbrowns onto the plate in front of him.
"Hmm, this really is good..." Snake was soon wolfing down his plate, preparing himself for seconds.
"Nnnn!" came a disgruntled tone from the dining hall's entrance. Kana slowly dragged herself to the table, plopped down in a seat and laid her head on the table.
"Coffee?" Lola asked as she poured a mug, the only response she got was another "Nn!" from the asian.
"Kana's not much of a morning person..." Meryl whispered to Snake, but Kana seemed to hear her. She briefly looked up to glare at the redhead before slowly laying her head back down.
Lola prepared the asian a bowl of oatmeal and a plate with toast and fruit, leaving it in front of the sleepy girl for whenever she was ready to eat.
"Man, something smells good!" Raiden made his way over toward them and stared in awe at the bounty before him.
"Help yourself!" Lola's grin never left her face as she watched everyone pile on food and eat it gratefully, except Kana who was still trying to wake up.
"Aren't you eating?" Raiden questioned with a mouth full of eggs, the blonde shook her head.
"It's impolite for the cook to start eating before everyone else!"
"Oh no, are we the last to arrive?" finally, the hacker strode in with a...
Lola picked up a spatula and pointed with it at the hackers arm "Wh-what is that?"
Squawk!
"Huh? Oh, this is my parrot...well, it was my sister's but-" before he could explain the parrot leapt off his arm and flew toward the table.
The blonde let out a short shriek of terror as she jumped behind Kana, flailing the spatula "Get it! Get it! "
Hal ran for the bird while the others at the table stared awkwardly at Lola's reaction, as did the few unknowns in the dining hall.
Kana grunted in annoyance and looked up to see the parrot pecking at some of the fruit on the table, then noticed Lola with the utensil and sighed.
"Ka-naaaaaaa" the blonde whined, making the asian even more annoyed, "Isn't there a rule about pets? Please, say there's a rule about pets!"
Hal frowned as the parrot leapt back onto his arm "But, customs let him in..."
Kana just sat there, massaging her temples and muttered "You have got to be kidding me" under her breath.
"There are no rules against pets here and you know that...there's no drinking or smoking within the facility, but nothing about pets"
Snake's stiffened when he heard the 'no smoking' and quickly looked at Meryl, she seemed slightly amused by his reaction.
Kana then look at Otacon as he took a seat at the table "Dr.Emmerich, would you be so kind as to keep your bird away from Lola, seeing that she's afraid..."
"Wha-haha!?" Lola choked on the sip of coffee she tried to take "I am not afraid!"
"You're afraid of a parrot?" Raiden snickered, earning him a glare from the blonde.
"Noooooo..." she rolled her eyes but tensed when the parrot squawked again.
"It's just...birds make me...uncomfortable..." she looked around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with her table mates. When she noticed everyone else in the dining hall staring she stuck her tounge out at them all "What're you all staring at!?"
"Birds make you...uncomfortable?" Snake narrowed his eyes at the blonde as he crossed his arms.
Lola whipped around and nodded, spatula still in hand, she pointed at the parrot with a look of terror on her face.
"Look at'em! With their...their sharp, pointy beaks and their...ugh! Their sharp talons, digging into things and...and when they fly over you and try to-"
"Lola!" Kana belowed "You're getting hysterical over a matter that has been resolved. Now pull youself together, we have more important matters to attend to."
The blonde placed a hand over her chested and took several deep breaths before giving a thumbs up.
Kana groaned and massaged her temples again "It is way too early for me to deal with this..."
"Onto something more mature..." Meryl interrupted "What will the guys do while we're..." she looked around then whispered "...on our undercover mission?"
"What is with that mission, anyways?" Snake asked, he didn't like this setup of 'not doing anything until further notice'.
"We're going to see if Pan is really one of SinSeven's leaders, Lust..." Lola shrugged, now sitting at the opposite end of the table to avoid the parrot.
"Wait a minute, I thought you said it was confirmed that he was?" Hal inquired.
"No, I do not recall confirming those suspects as leaders of SinSeven..." Kana replied
Snake growled low in his throat, he was becoming angrier with these loop-holes and answer dodging "Now wait a minute, you guys said-"
"Look, when SinSeven was first on the scene, the leaders never really revealed themselves, they used lackeys..." Lola interjected.
"Lackeys?" Raiden raised an eyebrow "Who the hell says lackeys now-a-days?"
"Colonel Andrik said that all the members were never found...duh, because the leaders did all the 'behind the scenes' crap!" the blonde rolled her eyes
"Right..." Kana nodded "When their followers were caught and taken in for interrogation, very few were cooperative..."
"The only ones who gave us any leads were the followers of Sloth, Gluttony and Pride...so they were taken in, interrogated, then placed in prison..." the asian concluded
"What about the others? How did we get these suspects?" Snake crossed his arms, eyeing the calm asian
"When Olivia Deltos was abducted, we questioned the former followers that are currently rotting in prison until parole..."
Lola nodded now "Yeah, it seems that most of the time the leaders were never together so...their lackeys never really met each other..."
"Except!" Kana held up a finger "A few seemed to have bumped into each other during 'missions'...so, we located these other followers and...persuaded them to help us out..."
"And you trust them?" the gruff soldier looked disbelieving "Trusting former criminals who might still be active in the feild...smart..."
"They are being held in a private, high security level cell block...if they have been helpful then we grant them a pardon..." Kana shrugged "And if they have lied...well, we told them we'd kill them, but legally they'll just end up rotting in prison like the others..."
"So, what you're saying is...we still have nothing on this case, do we?" Snake groaned "What the hell is the point of this job if nobody has any damn facts!?"
"We have good leads, but we must take the utmost precautions!" Kana defended "The followers we've recently acquired admitted to overhearing something about Metal Gear, but nothing too detailed..."
"So...we're playing a big game of risk in trusting these followers, even though their information seems pretty solid?" Hal summarized.
"Pretty much!" Lola shrugged
"What about Greed?" Snake asked, Kana and Meryl exchanged glances and shook their heads.
"We have yet to find out anything about them...whether they're male or female..." Meryl started
"Whether they're still in New York..." Kana continued "Only recently did we discover that the Caine's had moved back only a few months ago..."
"So if you had received all of this information before the programs and Olivia had been taken..." Raiden started
"This probably could have been prevented, yes..." Kana sighed, a small wave of guilt washed over her but she kept herself in check.
"So..." Meryl broke the awkward silence that followed "That brings us back to my question...what will they be doing in the mean time?"
Lola simply shrugged and started to gather the empty plates, Kana shook her head "That will be for Colonel's Andrik and Campbell to decide"
"For now, I think we should get some training in before tonight, Meryl" the asian then stood up and left for the elevator.
The redhead offered a smile to the guys as she got up to follow Kana "I'm sure you'll hear from Colonel Andrik soon...want to join us for some training?"
Raiden handed his plate to Lola and gulped down the last of his juice "Yeah, I'll join...not V.R., right?"
"I'll meet up later..." Snake grunted then pulled Meryl close "Where can I smoke?"
The redhead shrugged her shoulders and smiled then ran for the elevator when Kana yelled "I'm not holding this door forever!"
Snake turned back to see Lola carrying a stack of plates toward one of the sinks in the kitchen area, almost dropping them when Hal's parrot squawked loudly.
"I'll handle this...since I wont have much to do today, anyways" the hacker offered, the blonde shrugged "K, thanks!" and headed for the elevator.
Snake knew deep down he would probably regret this but had a feeling the blonde would be able to help and quickly caught up to her "Where can I smoke?"
Lola's ear to ear grin came back as she place a finger over her lips and motioned for him to follow her in the elevator.
She was quiet the entire ride down to the garage level and motioned again for him to follow her out and down a ways. She finally stopped when they reached a large SUV and hid behind it.
"This is the safest place here, remember that, K?" she whispered and plucked a cigarette from his pack as soon as he pulled the box out.
Snake stared at her for a moment, debating whether or not to take the cigarette back but she already lit it and was puffing away. He sighed and lit himself one "Why are we hiding and why are you whispering?"
Again she placed a finger over her lips and whispered "Smoking isn't permitted within the building but even out here it's still frowned upon...don't tell Kana...please!"
She pointed at the cigarette in her hand then to herself then made the cut-throat motion, he understood. He understood that Kana already seemed to have a chip on her shoulder and probably took the 'no smoking' rule very seriously.
They smoked in silence, Snake waited to see what Lola would do to 'get rid of the evidence', but she simply stamped her end on the ground and walked away.
Climbing back into the elevator Lola pushed the buttons for level six and level fourteen. Snake raised an eyebrow at the busty blonde while he crossed his arms.
"Going back to bed?"
She simply shook her head with a smile "I just have...some things to take care of..."
-----
When he reached level six he made his way through the hallways toward a large steel door with a red light next to it. The sign next to the red light read Do not enter when light is on.
He growled low in his throat "Great...missed my exercise" but then noticed a small intercom panel next to the door. He pushed the button and called into it to see if he would get a response, but it was silent on the other end.
Shaking his head, he turned to leave when suddenly the red light turned off and the door opened.
"You're late!" Kana barked at him from the doorway, she was already sweaty and breathing heavily.
He peaked in the room behind her to see Meryl and Raiden looking just as worn out. There was also a large group of the unknown soldiers from this base that looked about ready to pass out as well.
Kana stormed away from the door and waved her hand toward Meryl and Raiden "You two can spare with each other now...I think I'd prefer to take on 'the legend' and teach him to smoke on my watch"
-----
Hal sat in the level eighteen computer office, the larger office it seemed. Perhaps in was simply less cluttered, less used than the other two offices. It was definitely the most vacant office, seeing how the only occupants of the room were him and his parrot.
Figuring that since Lola wasn't there, and since the parrot was mostly well behaved and obedient, he allowed the green bird the freedom to fly around the room while he worked.
He played around with the large keyboard until a file list was presented on screen. Project files, employee files, client files...each one opened to a more extensive list of files.
He sighed deeply "This is going to be alot of work...", stretching out to ready himself for a long, hard day of reading. He gave a quick smile to his feathered friend then clicked on a file.
-----
"...yeah! I know! K, fine!" Lola rolled her eyes and clicked her cell phone off. She straightened herself out and left her room, heading for the elevator.
In her short ride to level eighteen she felt a tightening in her chest, disrupting her breathing. She unbuttoned the top button of her blouse and fanned herself with her hands.
"Maybe Kana's onto something with that no smoking thing she keeps nagging about"
As she made her way to the computer office her cell phone rang. She stopped imediately and answered "What?"
She tapped her foot impatiently "What do you think I'm doing? Geez!" she clicked her phone off again and imitated throwing it on the floor and stomping on it like a child.
Again, she straightened herself out, calmed her breathing, then entered the office.
The large, main computer screen was on and she could just barely make out the top of the back of someone's head.
She snuck up behind them and lightly leaned on the chair "Stop looking at porn!" she bellowed, startling the young man in the chair.
"I-I'm not!" he defended loudly, even though his face was bright red at the accusation.
Lola cackled wickedly "I'm just teasing...hey, what are you looking at?" she examined the large screen then quickly clicked around with the mouse.
"Oh! Don't bother with all of this junk, it's old news...umm...here!" she pulled out a few select files and placed them under a new folder.
"This is all the stuff pertaining to the compatible program, the Deltos family, our unit...you know, the important stuff for right now"
Hal stared in slight surprise at how fast she was on the computer "Well, that explains how she became in charge of their data bank...she didn't even have to read what was in the files to know which ones to pull out"
"Anything else you want to look up or need to?" she was still bent over the keyboard, hands at the ready to type away.
The hacker turned to answer but quickly went back to staring at the screen "Uh...nope...no...nothing else...thanks..."
Lola shrugged and walked over to another computer to do a little research herself. After getting the screen turned on and adjusting chair, a small gust of wind and a flapping noise made her freeze.
When she looked up, the parrot was perched on her computer screen, tilting it's head at her and squawking.
She stared at the bird with wide eyes for a few seconds while a high pitched, barely audible squeal escaped her throat.
Otacon finally heard the annoying high pitched tone and turned to see what was causing it.
"I'm so sorry, I completely forgot!" he stood up and held his arm out for the parrot to come back to him.
Lola slowly slid herself in her chair to one side, still squeaking in shock, eyeing the bird to make sure it wouldn't follow her.
As the parrot leapt off the computer, it gave out a loud whistle, watching Lola as it flew onto the hackers arm.
Lola placed a hand over her chest to calm herself then noticed that her top button was still undone "Oh...right...stupid!"
-----
"Kana's good..." Snake dodged one of the asians punches but was completely suprised when her leg wrapped around his and pulled him to the ground.
"Damnit! She really good!"
If Kana's kicks and punches didn't effect Snake, her lean body contorting around him into a bind certainly bested him. He couldn't move a muscle and she seemed to be cutting off circulation and breathing.
"Does 'the legend' give up?" Kana taunted, she would've sounded more menacing if she weren't so short of breath...plus the accent kind of threw the whole thing off.
Still, the soldier was offended, "She's mocking me?", he wiggled enough to where he was able to head butt the girl hard enough to stun her loose.
By this time, Meryl and Raiden and the others in the room had stopped sparring to witness the spectacle before them. Most were cheering for Kana, but Raiden could've sworn he heard someone bet money on Snake.
Rolling out of the way of her leg as she brought it down hard where Snake was just one second ago, he stood up and taunted back as he motioned with his hands to 'come and get me'.
Like a wild animal, Kana leapt off the ground and bombarded him with a flurry of kicks and punches. She was quick, but her blows didn't pack enough force behind them to take down 'the legend'.
The only thing that made this fight hard for Snake was that Kana's movements were fast and graceful, making it almost impossible to stop her assailment.
He suddenly dropped to the ground and knocked her off her feet as he swung his leg out to trip her. She fell hard on her back and lost her breath for too long, Snake already stood back up and place one boot on her chest near her throat.
"End..." he managed to breath out, the whole room errupted into all sorts of commotion. Some were in disbelief that Kana had lost, others were simply in awe of 'the legend', Snake.
Kana laid there catching her breath with a pained expression. He decided to remove his foot, to relieve her lungs of the pressure and held a hand out for her.
Kana narrowed her eyes and reached for his hand...instead of lifting herself up, she pulled him down and caught him in the gut with her knee.
"Now...we end..." she wheezed out and rolled him off her.
Meryl clapped a hand over her mouth, it was painful just to watch. Raiden's mouth hung open, as did the mouths of everyone else in the room.
"Damn...bitch...cheated..." Snake groaned as laid there curled up, holding his stomache "Damn...boney...knee..."
Kana stood up with ease, she was still panting but she played off the fight like it was nothing.
"You are very good...but you showed weakness when you declared your end to the fight...remember, it is not your muscles that make you strong, but your will that does!"
She surveyed the room and clapped her hands together loudly "This session of training is over! Go clean up!"
Meryl hurried over to her old friend and help him into an upright position "Kana...doesn't like to lose..."
"Hell, she'd probably rip her own arm off and beat you with it before admitting defeat!"
"I'll...keep that in mind next time..." he forced himself up, once he did the pain in his abdomin started to ease.
Kana walked back over to the soldier and saluted "It was a real honor to train with you...perhaps, you can teach me as much as I hope to teach you"
It sounded like an underhanded compliment, but Snake let it slide "I guess I have no choice at the moment but to take her abuse while I'm working here..."
"Right..." he nodded then headed for the door, stopping breifly to annouce with a smirk playing across his lips "I'm going out for a smoke...".
Author's note: Thank you again for reading my story. I do hope you've enjoyed it. No worries, missions and action are coming right up! Please, review!