Author's Note: If you're interested, check out my website. It's and it's mainly dedicated to gaming, mainly Halo. However, many revisions are planned for it once I get a scanner :D I can do web comics (as I plan to); and you will see the source of where Lynn and Andrea. They are my creations from another completely original story I'm working on that I'm going to serialize as a web manga. But I need a scanner first! I just started a new job, and once I get that income flowing, it's only a matter of time.

Chapter 16: Independence

Weapons were bought. Preparations were made. Everything was in order on the morning of the planned theft of the private jet.

Lynn, who ended up having a driver's license (when Andrea asked why she didn't tell them before, she had replied 'you didn't ask') had gotten duty of driving the renegade crew of five to the airport that morning. Everyone was decked out in their proper gear--Lynn, Andrea, and Snake in their Stealth outfits, Otacon wearing a basic camo uniform for storing all kinds of electronic gadgets that he had insisted were needed, and Raiden in his Skull Suit (minus the nanomachines). Snake and Raiden had been forced to carry enormous packs of gear.

It was still dark out, so as the rented vehicle approached the perimeter of the airport, they left the rustic vehicle and continued on foot to the fence. A couple of fence clips later they were dashing across a large expanse of tarmac. A 787 prepared for takeoff in the distance, lining itself up for it's outbound trajectory.

Now Andrea, as we all know, had an injured leg, so it was amusing to the rest of the collective to see her ride on the much larger girl Lynn's back.

"Where's the hangar?" Snake whispered anxiously as they approached a ménage of hangars.

"Should be the second one from the left," Otacon replied in a hushed tone. He led the ragtag crew towards the hangar. The hangar door was ajar, and some tired-looking maintenance crew were busy inspecting the aircraft.

"We weren't expecting any company, were we?" Raiden asked from the back of the group. Otacon nodded to signify that it was all normal.

"Snake, give 'em a nap," Otacon whispered. Snake nodded and whisked out his brand new M9 tranquilizer; so did Lynn. Four darts fired, four crew down.

"Go," Snake commanded, and dashed into the large hangar towards it's single aerodynamic occupant. They stopped at the front wheel, Snake and Lynn looking around.

"What now?" Andrea asked. Otacon smiled and pulled out a small remote which he promptly pushed. The door of the mini-jet activated and lowered itself down for the five trespassers. They all clambered inside, and another button pressed caused the door to shut.

Otacon approached the dark cockpit and looked it over.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Raiden asked unsurely.

"Probably," Otacon replied.

"Are you sure there's fuel?" Snake asked suspiciously. Otacon glared at him for a few seconds, before Snake turned away. "There's fuel," he muttered to the rest of the group.

Otacon got himself strapped in, and inserted a disk into the dashboard. The jet hummed to life, playing some strange Japanese music that was probably from one of Otacon's animes.

"This is your captain speaking," Otacon spoke over the radio in a mock voice, "please strap yourselves in, this is going to be a mildly bumpy ride."

Taking Otacon's advice to heart, everyone sat down in their own set of two seats except for Lynn and Andrea. Lynn strapped herself in a seat near a window; Andrea nervously sat down beside her and strapped in as well.

"You shouldn't have a phobia of heights; it's illogical," Lynn said as she noticed the smaller girl shaking. The plane rumbled to life and started to nose out the hangar.

"I-know, I can't help it," Andrea whimpered in response. "At least I can sit here, that'll calm me down a little," Andrea added, blushing. Raiden shook his head in the background.

A large jet had just landed, and Otacon sped up the small jet to poke out onto the runway just as the large aircraft passed their entry point; thus giving them a nice stretch of runway to take off of.

"Hold on," Otacon said as it looked like they were going to smash right into the side of the much larger jumbo jet as it rumbled by, but they missed by quite a few meters. Some jumbled radio traffic came in, but Otacon shut the radio off and sent away his little schedule-changing virus.

"Here we go," Otacon said, turning on the jet's turbines. The jet suddenly jumped forward, slamming everyone back in their seats and making Andrea latch on to Lynn's arm. The jet shook as Otacon rammed the jet forward, wanting to get off the ground as fast as possible. Andrea whined and buried her face in Lynn's shoulder, shaking like mad. Lynn looked at her like she was some strange animal. She then turned away and ignored her comrade.

There was a feeling of vertigo as the jet lifted off, and it jerked a little from side to side from lack of stabilization. Otacon increased thrust, and it stabilized a little.

"Are you sure he knows what he's doing?" Raiden shouted from his seat, pressed into the back of his chair and fighting the G's. Snake forced his head to shake.

Three minutes later, Otacon leveled the jet out onto a nice flat trajectory.

"You may now release your seatbelts," Otacon joked over the intercom. There was a noticeable hesitation before anyone complied. Lynn was the first. Then came everyone else, and as obvious as it was, Andrea was last. She shakily undid her seatbelt, but didn't let go of Lynn.

"Why are you holding onto my arm?" Lynn asked nonchalantly as she watched clouds and ground progress by out the window.

"S-sorry," Andrea said, blushing. "D-does it bother you?"

"No," Lynn replied simply, "It's just strange that doing that eliminates your phobia."

"You're so weird sometimes," Andrea said with a smile.

"Hey, Otacon!" Snake shouted towards the cockpit, "you should see this! They're arm-in-arm!"

Some strange Japanese romantic music suddenly flowed from the intercom. Andrea blushed and laughed softly. Lynn took no notice. Snake and Raiden got a good chuckle.

It was good that they could laugh before they went somewhere were they could all spend the last minutes of their lives.

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"All choppers ready, Sir," a Russian voice announced over Gagarin's radio. "Awaiting orders, Sir."

"Go," Gagarin replied. Suddenly, noise erupted over the radio as soldiers clambered into their respective choppers. Shouting and rotors were the ingredients to give Gagarin a splitting headache, so he turned the chopper off and decided to go take a nap.

The choppers lifted into the air, filled with soldiers anxious to get their hands on their target. They had all been briefed on the Metal Gear's description based on what the PDA had said.

Apparently, since mobility wasn't high up on the necessity list because of the integrated stealth systems, the machine was supposedly quite bulky. The legs were heavy and well-supportive of the upper mass which contained a payload of nukes, and a standard array of missiles. On the right arm was a miniature rail gun for firing nukes like what had been on Rex, and on the left an extremely powerful gattling gun that fired tank shells at five three rounds a second. The soldiers viewed it as a walking holocaust.

Which is why they were to retrieve it for the Patriots.

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O'Brian hit Mach 3 in his stealth jet; the capsule containing Peterson safely adhered to the jet's underside.

"ETA?" came Peterson's groaning voice.

"Twenty seconds," O'Brian replied. Obrian breathed raggedly. "Ten seconds…preparing drop capsule for departure." A click reverberated throughout the supersonic jet.

"I'll see you in a few days," Peterson said.

"Five seconds."

"Haven't done this in a few years."

"Three seconds."

"Adios," Peterson said before he was cut off. The specialized drop capsule drilled through the air, stabilizing finds deploying. The capsule stopped shaking, and it's single inhabitant, who had to lie down in the coffin-sized pod, did what little he could with the controls to control the pod's rapidly decreasing speed.

A sonic boom rippled through the pods' interior as it shook violently for a few seconds. Peterson shook his head from the deafening sound. He looked in the forward monitor…

Peterson was almost thrust into the front of his capsule as anti-acceleration turbines along the outside of the pods' hull blew against its kinetic energy. Only his harness saved him from pancaking against the front.

"Occupant ejection in ten seconds," an automated computer voice announced. Peterson braced himself--

--the top of the pod was blown free, and Peterson was jerked violently from the inside of his pod. The thing continued to slow it's descent to minimize its impact once it hit ground; but it would still be enough to masticate anything that's inside it.

A parachute trailed behind Peterson and stopped him from falling two miles to his destination. His clear parachute ruffled overhead as he steered the thing towards his destination.

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The jet had been flying for about an hour, and Andrea was still latched on to Lynn's arm like it was her last possession. Everyone was steeling themselves for the upcoming mission, but Andrea couldn't help but enjoy holding on to her strong boss. That's what she had come to think of Lynn as. She had made up her mind that whatever Lynn told her to do, she'd do it. No matter what.

Andrea looked up at Lynn's angular face. Andrea liked the girl's features, she was always so serious. Maybe it was that which partly made Andrea attracted to the unfeminine girl. Andrea was just so happy that she had started to melt that barrier of ice. Maybe, after this was all over, they could…

No, Andrea told herself. Thinking about the future would only distract her from what she was on her way to do. Just holding Lynn's arm was enough to make her happy. She felt so lucky that she had accidentally 'kissed' Lynn, though she had fainted afterwards. Andrea remembered as the incident passed through her mind. Lynn's warm breath heating up her nose… Andrea smiled, embarrassed, as the scene played out in her head again. She looked at Lynn, who was now looking towards the front of the cabin. Andrea then got a crazy idea.

She leaned upwards and kissed Lynn on her smooth cheek. Lynn immediately flinched her head sideways, looking at the small girl, who made a pillow out of Lynn's shoulder. Lynn continued to look at the smaller girl for a few seconds before finally going limp after staying stiff from the moment Andrea sat down beside her.

Somehow, Andrea seemed to be calming to her. Lynn found Andrea to be so innocent and pure…the complete opposite of her. Maybe that's why the two had now become closer…Opposites Attract, just like in Magnetics.

Lynn noticed Andrea's hand lying open limply in the middle of the two girls. Lynn compared her hand to the medic girls; her hand was a little larger, but with a few scars.

Andrea then grabbed Lynn's hand, holding Lynn's larger limb in her delicate grip. Lynn looked out the window.

Author's Note: Uh oh…could this be the starting of the story's Climax? Stay tuned, I can guarantee some interesting plot twists are on the way!