Author's Note: Aha! If you've made it to the fourth chapter, I must've captured your interest in the first three. And now, you get to find out what happens with Lynn!
Chapter 4: Existence
Snake paid the old cashier with what little money he was carrying, and left hurriedly. The drug store the girl had mentioned had been closed for the day, so the unlucky Snake had been forced to run further up the street to a strip mall.
Snake hoped that the girl was going to be alright--there was a lot he wanted to ask her. He ran at a fast pace, slow enough that the supplies didn't jiggle all over the place but fast enough that it caused a slight breeze on Snake's weathered face.
For several minutes he ran, past startled civilians as they all parted to the side to let him by.
The sun was starting to go down, too, which meant he'd have to stay the night in the hotel with the two recruits. Not that spending a night with two young girls was anything bad, but he desperately wanted to get back to his apartment and plan his next move.
"My my, you're in a rush today, sir," the hotel's clerk said as Snake rushed through the lobby. Snake just rushed right past him and into the staircase. Four flights of stairs later, Snake darted through the staircase entrance door, made a sharp ninety degree turn, and barged into the hotel room.
Lynn was on the floor, and another sheet off the bed had been bloodied. But what worried Snake was that she wasn't moving, and the younger girl was bent over her crying.
"Is she dead?" Snake asked quickly as he ran over to her side.
"N-no, but soon there won't be enough to carry oxygen throughout her body!" the girl whined.
"Here," Snake grunted, and tossed the supplies on the floor beside the girl. She immediately ruffled through it and pulled out everything. She set it all down in some sort of order. "Do you really know what you're doing?" Snake asked.
"I was given my Certificate when I was fourteen," the girl replied, sniffing. Snake half-laughed half-grunted.
The girl washed off the wound, even though more blood was trickling out of it. She then proceeded to disinfect the whole wound. Then, without missing a beat, she pulled out some packaged utensils and tore them out. Then, much to Snake's surprise, took out the twisted bullet in one careful movement.
More blood erupted.
The girl then grabbed some more utensils, including a small clamp, and went to work on closing the vein.
Snake had been very surprised that the girl took the bullet out so quickly. Usually it required some careful maneuvering otherwise something very wrong could occur. Snake surmised the girl had enormous medical potential, and knew now why she had gotten her Medical Practitioner's Certificate at such an early age. The kid was definitely a medical genius.
An hour had passed since Snake came back with the medical supplies, and Andrea finished up stitching the bullet wound. Snake had seen it done before on the battlefield--by high end field medics. Never by a teenager. But the stitching was done perfectly, and if the wound wasn't jarred at all, Snake was certain it would heal over with only a minor scar.
The bandaging was the next and last thing. A large white pad was taped over the wound to absorb any fluids that escaped.
"T-that's it," the girl said. "All she needs now is rest, at least a couple day's worth."
"Shouldn't it be at least a week?" Snake asked.
"Normally yes, but Lynn is strong. A couple days should give her enough recovery time," the girl said softly, but sounding exactly like a doctor. "I wish she could have a month to recover, but somehow I don't think she'll want to…"
Snake's conscience was being torn in half from the decision he had to make: Get back to Otacon ASAP, or help take the girl back to the base?
He had also promised he'd explain what's going on…
"You should go wash up," Snake told the young medic. It was true that she looked terrible from the day's stress and crying, but Snake had an ulterior motive--he wanted to call Otacon without disturbance. The girl who had been called 'Lynn' certainly wasn't going to be awake for some time, so she wasn't worried about her.
"I um…" the girl said, glancing at Lynn's unconscious form.
"Don't worry, I'll be here," Snake said to comfort her. The girl was obviously worried about Lynn--Snake found it amusing. The girl's reaction in the restaurant had made him smile a little. And Snake rarely smiled. The last time he had was when he saw Raiden standing in the bewildered crowd after ship-wrecking Arsenal, reuniting with his lover Rose.
The girl begrudgingly left her companion, and went into the hotel room's bathroom.
Snake finally had the opportunity to just look around the room, now that there was no emergency that needed to be taken care of. There was three beds, each one a single-person one lined up neatly one-beside-the-other, with about a meter in between each one. The thing was, the one closest to Snake and the prone recruit Lynn was almost completely stripped of sheets, and covered with bloody ones. Which left two beds. Other than a few blood spots on the floor, there was nothing much else out of place in the room.
Snake dialed up Otacon's frequency as he hoisted the surprisingly-heavy Lynn and carried her over to the middle bed. He laid her down. She weighed quite more than Snake thought she would've. The medic was a featherweight in comparison--it was no wonder Lynn could carry her so easily. Snake didn't doubt that she could carry him, either.
"Snake!" Otacon exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm here," Snake replied quietly, so that the girl in the bathroom didn't hear. Snake sat down on the last free bed.
"I managed to find out some things, thanks to your recording," Otacon said. Snake's full attention was snapped to Otacon.
"What?"
"The company that's trying to sell is the Forrester Weapons Lab Company," Otacon answered.
"Forrester…Never heard of it."
"Of course not, it's a British weapons company."
"British? A British Metal Gear?" Snake exclaimed. This was the first time a Metal Gear had been tied to the British.
"Yeah, and the person at the restaurant was the company's chairman, Christopher Forrester," Otacon continued.
"The tall dark guy?" Snake asked.
"No, she has orange hair," Otacon responded.
"Yeah," Snake said, remembering the day's events, "I remember someone like that there. She had a white suit on."
"That confirms it, Snake. The first British Metal Gear is up for sale."
"How can you be so sure?" Snake asked. It was up to him to doubt Otacon, to make sure no mistakes were made.
"Well, I was checking around the search results, and I came across a site with a whole article containing dirt on the company," Otacon said, pausing for a second. "They've had all kinds of rumors fly around about possible ties to Metal Gear projects. They might've supplied parts for others, under the ruse it was manufacturing equipment or something."
"So it wasn't just American and Russian parts that went into RAY and REX…" Snake trailed off. The idea of the British involved with a weapon of mass destruction chilled Snake to the core. Two countries were enough to worry about--now there was three.
"Otacon, do you think they're with the government?" Snake asked.
"I don't think so," Otacon replied. "There's too many dirt marks on their record for it to be a project for the government."
"It would've been covered up more efficiently."
"Precisely," Otacon said, knowing Snake would say this.
"So what do we do now?" Snake asked. He heard a small shuffle from within the bathroom, but then the shower started.
"How soon can you get here?" Otacon inquired.
"I don't know," Snake replied. "I kind of have a dilemma right now."
"What?"
"One of the base recruits I was with was shot, and she lost a lot of blood. Luckily the other girl managed to patch her up in time, but…"
"You've turned into a softie, you know that?" Otacon said.
"C'mon Emmerich, they're only eighteen," Snake said. "I think I might help take them back to the base tomorrow before I come back."
"Wait a second, they're teenagers, and one of the girls managed to treat a bullet wound possibly involving a severed vein?" Otacon asked, bemused.
"Well, she's seventeen, but she says she got her Certificate at fourteen…and I believe her."
"A medical genius…" Otacon muttered.
"The other one's unique, too."
"How?" Otacon asked.
"When things went ballistic in the restaurant, she did most of the work."
A full twenty seconds passed in silence. Snake heard the shower turn off.
"A medical genius a teenager with high-end training?" Otacon said amusedly. "What are they teaching at the Academy nowadays!"
"Yeah, that's what bothers me…It takes some people thirty years of training to do what she accomplished today," Snake said. "She fights like I do…"
"Something tells me there's more to the recruit than meets the eye," Otacon replied.
Snake was startled when the injured girl Lynn moved her hand, slowly and shakily, and lightly prodded the bandage on her shoulder.
"She's awake?" Snake asked. "Otacon, I have to go, I'll be in contact tomorrow."
The recruit opened her eyes, her face pale and devoid of color. Snake didn't know what to think. From the blood loss he'd saw, Snake figured she'd be down for the count for at least three days until she became conscious again.
"I…" Lynn said hoarsely, looking up at the ceiling.
"You shouldn't be talking," Snake said. Lynn ignored him.
"I've been trained… in everything…since birth," Lynn said. This took a little while to fully sink in.
"You were raised to be a soldier from birth…" Snake mumbled. He was reminded of Raiden's childhood--gunpowder in the food, fighting a war he didn't want to be a part of.
"Were you forced to?" Snake asked. But he was pretty sure he knew the answer before it came.
"N…no…"
"Willingly allowing your childhood to be devoured by combat…"
"My father…was the one who primarily…trained me…"
"Your own father! Snake exclaimed.
"I know…who you are…though…" Lynn mumbled. "Solid…Snake…"
"Great, another fan," Snake said sarcastically.
At that moment, the younger girl came out of the bathroom, freshly showered. She saw that Lynn was awake, and rushed over to her.
"How can you be awake!" she exclaimed softly, dropping down beside Lynn, a look of extreme worry clear across her face.
"Be…quiet," Lynn replied. "S..Snake, you told us…that you'd tell us what's…going on…"
"Another 'Metal Gear' adventure, I guess you could say," Snake replied. "But don't worry about it, I'm taking the two of you back to the base tomorrow--"
"--No…you're not," Lynn interrupted. "I can help…"
"You lost more blood than most people can stand," Snake said. "You won't be any use to anyone."
"You're not…understanding…I am going….regardless…of what you say." Snake massaged his temples, thinking. It was too much risk to take her with him. Training may not have been the problem, but experience certainly was.
But now that Snake thought about it, he had thought Raiden would be a liability, but the guy proved to be a lot of help even though it was his first mission. And it seemed like this girl had equivalent training, even if it wasn't high-end VR training…
"We don't know what our next move is yet, me and my associate. We can stay here for a few more days, if your credit card can handle it, and see what happens."
"Take this…child…back to the…base tomorrow," Lynn breathed, gesturing wobbly with a pale but scarred hand at the medic girl.
The girl looked at Lynn, then back at Snake.
"I guess I could…" Snake replied. Otacon was right--he really was turning into a big softie. There was silence for a few seconds, while the girl looked sadly at the ground.
"N-no," the medic girl finally said, lifting her head up. "I-I'm going too."
"You…are useless in…combat…" Lynn said breathily.
"I don't mean to sound like the bad guy, but I agree, taking one person is risky enough, but a young girl…"
"We're the same age," the girl pleaded. "Isn't that what a medic is for? Healing people on missions?"
"Go…home…" Lynn breathed simply.
"Why do you want to go so badly?" Snake asked. "You don't seem like the courageous type. I would've thought you'd want to go home." Snake looked at Lynn. "Or is it because you want to keep an eye on her?" Snake said, a mischievous tone in his voice. The girl blushed.
"N-no, it's just that…With her condition, I need to be there…just in case anything happens." She looked at Lynn. "I helped you, the least you could do is let me come…"
Snake sighed heavily and stretched his neck from side to side. He was going to regret this.
"Fine," Snake said, "You can come." Snake had his own motive for letting her join the group--a medical expert would prove to be handy. And the last few incursions Snake had with Metal Gear, he had been beat up pretty damn bad…
Snake's only worry was that based on the performance in the restaurant, the girl didn't react well to violence.
Snake looked and saw that Lynn had passed out again, but that was a good thing.
"Well," Snake said, looking at the digital clock that was set up on a bedside table, "It's getting late. We should rest and resume tomorrow. I'll introduce my associate to you tomorrow; his name is Otacon. He's the intelligence behind our little operation." Snake loosened the belt on his pants, and laid down on the bed he was sitting on.
"Oh," Snake added, "and since there's only two beds, looks like you're gonna have to share one with your patient…"
The girl blushed, and gingerly laid down on the edge of the bed. Lynn, who had been put on the bed sprawled out, hadn't moved at all, so she still took up the majority of the bed. Her face was red, and Snake found himself amused. So, the shy girl has a crush on the other girl, he thought to himself. Cute.
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Bonavero was scared shitless when the door to the decrepit office rattled as the many locks were undone. Bonavero had been half-ways asleep in the corner when the sudden clanking had jerked him awake, and now three men entered the door. One of them was the chauffer.
"Get up, please," Adam said in his deep voice. Although reluctant, Bonavero complied. He stumbled up, and brushed the dust off his suit that had been transferred from the floor.
"What'ya want?" Bonavero asked, glancing between the three men, all of which were wearing black suits and sunglasses. Must be standard attire.
"A change of scenery," a slightly smaller guy than the chauffer said, in his late twenties, completely bald, and heavily built even though he was small. The guy's voice reminded Bonavero of James Statham.
"Come on," the chauffer Adam said. "We can do this the easy way…" He lifted out a small black baton like what the police used-- "Or the hard way…"
"I'm comin', I'm comin," Bonavero replied anxiously and followed behind the three men. He didn't dare try to escape, something told him these guys weren't the blue-collar workers most of the staff was made up of…
Bonavero was led outside, to the now-familiar blue Sedan that Ms. Forrester seemed to favor. And who was waiting inside, Bonavero noticed as the back door opened. She was sitting in the shotgun seat up front. Adam sat in his usual place--the driver's seat--while the bald guy got in the back first. Then the last guy (A ramshackle sixty-something with grey-white hair and a weathered face) ushered Bonavero in. He sat in the middle, and the old guy took up place in the last seat. He shut the door.
"Mister Barney Bonavero," Ms. Forrester said as the car started to pull away from the facility, "there are a few things I'd like to discuss with you." She turned around to face him.
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Gustoff Gagarin sighed for the hundredth time as his limousine pulled into the gigantic, expensive hotel he was staying at. His sad attitude was furthered by his slightly sagging face, which was compliments of being in his late seventies.
Certainly, the exchange had gone the way he wanted it to--he got the money and the PDA. Of course, as expected, the PDA was highly encrypted. Gustoff would leave that to whoever the piece of technology was passed on to. Gagarin wasn't a fan of technology, he still believed in the good old "do it yourself" approach.
What hadn't been planned for was the appearance of Solid Snake. At first, he hadn't noticed, but when the lead started flying, he recognized the face. And it looked like he had two recruits from the local base with him.
Gustoff couldn't imagine that Philanthropy was recruiting, so he guessed that their being there had been strictly coincidence.
But that didn't stop him from taking necessary precautions. He had done background checks on both recruits, and found out that the two that were at the restaurant were the most unique on the whole base.
Andrea Delintoro, the seventeen year old daughter of the famous Doctor Antonio Delintoro. She received her Medical Certificate at age of fourteen, but what she was doing in the military beat the hell out of Gustoff.
Janice Lynn, daughter of Peterson Lynn, a renowned combat specialist that had been busted down to Warrant Officer. He had trained his daughter to kill since birth. Gustoff figured the father was ingenious for doing such a thing. If only I had kids, Gustoff thought. Maybe he would've been able to convince the girl to work for him.
But, it was not to be. It was a sin that he had to kill them both, along with Solid Snake. He wondered if anyone would hold a funeral for them…
Gustoff's cell phone, the only piece of technology he owned, rang in Bethoven's Second. He enjoyed the music, but he knew the call was important. He flipped the contraption open and held it to his wrinkled face.
"Speak," he said in Russian.
"Greetings, Gagarin," the voice said, rough but full of feeling.
"Greetings, Ocelot."
Author's Note: Oh! Oh yeah! Bet you weren't expecting that one! Well, okay, maybe most of you were, but hey--it makes sense, don't it? A new character fully introduced…Gustoff Gagarin. He's old, but he's not someone you'd want as your Grandfather! And now you've found out the two girls are accompanying Snake on his quest to destroy Metal Gear…why else would they have been introduced? Chapter five coming soon! In it, Snake plans his next move.