Chapter 5

Snake went silently up the staircase hoping that no guard would notice Otacon running without a care in the world towards Strut I. Up the stairs another door stood closed. Level 3. Snake opened it at peeked outside. The sun glared through the door and almost blinded Snake. He raised his arm over his eyes and looked over to the heliport. A lot of containers crowded the place, but Snake also noticed a few guards patrolling and two Kamov Choppers. Snake remembered two years ago. He had seen this exact same model of choppers taking over a Tanker. Otacon was right. The incidents are definitely related. Snake got his M4 ready and looked to his radar. The yellowish blur became brighter and brighter. Snake tried his best not to attract any attention to himself. If the guards were alerted this whole operation would be seriously compromised, not to mention Otacon would probably be on his own. After a few minutes of sneaking around Snake got very close to the yellow mark on his radar, according to it the C4 should be very close. Snake peeked at the two containers that stood close by, but he couldn't find the C4. Where is it? Snake was looking left and right and then he heard it. Footsteps. Someone was getting nearer. Snake squeezed himself between the two containers and saw the guards pass by. As he tried to squeeze himself out he saw it. The packet of C4 was behind the two containers near what seemed to be enemy cargo. Why would Fatman put that C4 over their men's cargo. Snake took out the coolant spray from his equipment and sprayed the C4 from a distance. It took a couple of seconds before the blinking green light turned red. First one is up. He quickly packed the coolant spray and got out of the heliport, with a watchful eye over the unsuspecting guards. As he reentered Strut H he reached not for his CODEC but to his headphones.

"Stillman this is Pliskin can your hear me?" Snake asked with a calm yet steady voice while going down the stairway to Strut H.

"Loud and clear Pliskin. How's the bomb disposal?" Peter asked.

"I've neutralized the first C4. It was on the heliport on Strut H."

"Humm…" Peter sounded puzzled.

"Anything wrong?" Snake asked as he noticed Stillman's tone of voice.

"These bombs have me worried. Raiden has told me about some weird locations and…now you too." Peter sighed.

"What does it mean?"

"Maybe nothing…but I want to be sure. Once you find the next one tell me about it."

"Alright." Snake responded.

"One more thing Pliskin." Peter stopped Snake from signing off.

"What is it?" Snake asked sensing Peter's preoccupation.

"Be sure to keep an eye out for C4's on other places." Peter replied.

"Why?" Snake asked wondering what was going through Peter's mind.

Peter sighed. "Just do it, ok?"

"Sure" Snake replied and signed off.

I should check on Raiden's progress…Snake reached for his radio once more to call Raiden. Although he had no desire to begin a conversation with him, they had to work together if they wanted to dispose the Big Shell of the bomb threat. "Raiden, I've frozen the first bomb." Snake started. "How are you doing?"

"Pliskin, what was the exact location of the explosive?" Raiden asked.

"The heliport on Strut H. It was behind some cargo. Thought I was going to have some trouble with the patrols, but it was an easy job." Snake sensed something was going on Raiden's head. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, really. Pliskin, just don't let your guard down." Raiden sounded worried. "Don't relax even after you think you've defused it."

"I know that. Raiden, Shell 1's all yours." As time went by he was getting tired of this kid.

"Sure..." He responded and signed off.

Damn kid. Snake looked attentively at his radar figuring out where the guards were. One of the guards seemed to be near the door that lead to Strut I and the other was in a big room that occupied most of Strut H, it was probably the warehouse area. I better check it out. Maybe I'll find something. Peter's words were still very present in Snake's mind. Snake started moving slowly across the big corridor. The door to the warehouse was just to the right. Further down stood the door that led to Strut I Assembly Facility and hopefully to a living and breathing Otacon. Snake had to be careful or he would be seen by the guard that stood by the other door. Snake peeked around the corner and waited for the guard to turn his head around, this would give Snake enough time to enter the warehouse are of Strut H. Snake waited a couple of seconds until the guard turned. Now! Snake quickly rushed over the corner and entered the warehouse. Several crates were stacked on each other and there wasn't a lot of room to move around, furthermore the room was incredibly dark however with Snake's radar he was able to see where the other guard was. He's still far, but I have to hurry. Snake knew that there were C4's on the other struts still. All the crates seemed to be of very expensive equipment utilized in decontamination plants. Snake checked a couple of boxes, but there were no signs of anything suspicious. However something caught Snake's attention. There seemed to be some military equipment near the other guard. Snake could see clearly several grenades and an attachment for the M4. SEAL equipment. Snake approached the guard carefully using his blind spot. He took out his USP and with a fast movement he threw the guard to the ground. "Hold it!" said Snake as the guard fell and let go of his weapon grip.

"Please don't kill me!" The guard seemed very frightened.

Snake had the barrel of his USP right on the guards face. Snake could even see the sweat near his eyes. "Where did you get that equipment?" Snake asked twitching his head to the equipment on the floor.

"We got it from the SEAL's that came to Shell 2." The guard was spilling out everything.

"Do you mind if I take it?" Snake was just humoring himself.

"No, go right ahe…" Snake interrupted the guard form finishing his sentence as he hit him with the butt of his gun on his face.

Snake picked up the attachment for the M4, it was a grenade attachment. This may come in handy. Snake placed it on his M4 and picked up the rest of the grenades, six in total. I better get a move on. Otacon might need me. Snake headed for the door again. He would have to take out the guard if he wanted to get to Strut I fast. I have an idea.

The man guarding the door to Strut I was getting bored by the minute. He was almost sure he had seen someone passing by this door and he now had to face the boring task to patrol this place all day. However the monotonous tone of the day would change. The door to the warehouse was opening and the guard only thought that his comrade was going to keep him company, but appearances can be deceiving. His comrade did in fact exited through the warehouse door, but instead of going towards his comrade he fell flat on the floor right by the door, filling the room with a large thud noise. The man immediately ran to his aid. "Is there something wrong?" The man got by his side and kneeled over to check him out. His eyes were closed. Suddenly the whole room became blurry and the man felt an incredible pain on the back of his head. Before he collapsed to the ground he noticed someone was exiting the warehouse door.

After taking care of the two guards, the path to Strut I was clear. He opened the door and headed for the HI connecting bridge.

As the Strut H door closed behind the sun stroked Snake's face again. The connecting bridge was deserted and for the first time Snake could see the amazing architecture work of the Big Shell. Suddenly the CODEC rang.

"Otacon?"

"Yes it's me." Otacon sounded deeply concerned.

"Is everything alright? Are you okay?"

"Yes I'm fine, but we do have a problem."

Snake knew that it was only a matter of time before a complication. "What is it?"

"Well I've reached the computer terminal in Strut I, but as you know this is just a backup system for the real computer system that is located in the core section of Shell 1."

"Otacon cut the shatter and tell what the problem is." Snake interrupted.

"Well. There's no power in this place.."

"Does that mean you can't use the computer anymore?"

"Not only that, but it also means I'm stuck here."

"Stuck where?" Snake knew that if Otacon had kept by his side none of this would have happened.

"I had to hack my way inside this room, but now that there's no more power and I can't get out."

Damn! This was definitely bad news for Snake and the whole operation. "Isn't there another way out?"

"No, but there's a way to restore the power."

"This has something to do with me I figure." Snake said while walking alone the connecting bridge.

"You guessed right Snake. You need to head to Strut J Power Plant and maybe there you'll find a way to restore power to the computer terminal on Strut I."

"I have to attend to the C4's too so you'll have to wait."

"Snake this is more important…and…" Otacon hesitated.

"What?"

"It's dark in here."

Snake sighed. "Just hang tight Otacon. When I get to Strut J I'll contact you."

"Okay Snake. Just hurry up okay."

Snake turned off the CODEC and headed for the door of Strut I.

Strut I was very different from the rest of the Struts that Snake had seen. Several very big machines, very much like those used in the assembly of cars, lay before Snake, but they were all turned off. The Strut seemed very big and there were stairs to the right that led down in to what Snake guessed to be the computer terminal. Snake looked at the side of the door and found the node. He took a quick look over the room and without finding any guards he made his way to the node and logged on. After the radar mapped out the area Snake noticed that in fact there were no guards in sight. Maybe Otacon's plan to get to the computer terminal wasn't all that bad. The machines were probably used for assembly but for what Snake had no idea. There were no records of it in the papers that Otacon gave him. Snake then noticed the yellowish blur in the radar. Another C4! He walked a bit until he got to the area of the blur. It was near some machinery, there he looked attentively at all the machines trying to find something that looked like the C4, but he came up with nothing. Where the hell is it? Snake's chain of thought was interrupted by a voice on his headphones.

"Pliskin, what do you know about Stillman?" Raiden had just come on.

"He's a bomb disposal expert. Probably the best in the world." Snake wasn't with a lot of patience to talk with Raiden.

"What else?" Raiden asked.

Snake sighed. Raiden seemed to have good sense to suspect everything, but he was wasting Snake's time.

"Like why he retired..." Raiden tried to be more specific.

Snake raised his head and sighed again and there it was. The C4! It was placed high on the ceiling. "Are you here to gossip?" Snake responded to Raiden as he tried to use the coolant spray, but it didn't seem to work.

"…" There was silence on Raiden's side as Snake got up on some machinery and reached for the C4. "Then get back to work defusing those C4's." Snake knew that Raiden had to be focused on the objective. "If there's something you need to know about Stillman, go ask him yourself." Snake ended the conversation there and the C4 froze.

"One more bomb defused." Snake spoke out to Raiden before he could disconnect the radio. "This was one planted pretty high up, on the ceiling. The coolant spray couldn't reach that far, so I had to get up on a stand and do it." And with that Snake turned off the radio leaving Raiden to his work.

Raiden! That kid was surprisingly mysterious to Snake. Anyway Snake had to focus on the work at hand. Otacon. Snake quickly jumped down from the machinery and quickly headed to the door that stood on the other end of the strut that led to IJ connecting bridge.

The connecting bridge seemed deserted, but on close inspection Snake noticed a Cypher was patrolling it. I can't waste time now. Snake got his M4 ready and turned on the laser aiming module that the M4 came equipped with. A laser broke from the module and Snake placed it on the Cypher. Three shots broke off and the Cypher exploded immediately giving the chance to Snake to run towards Strut J Power Plant.

As the door to Strut J opened up the light almost blinded Snake, it took him a few seconds to get used to it. Snake could see that this wasn't an ordinary Power Plant. It was very well lit and it was painted white. Snake took notice of the node by his left side and logged on. As the radar mapped out the Strut Snake become aware of that the layout was exactly like Strut B Transformer Room. Weird. Snake's headphones began ringing, but from the frequency Snake knew that it wasn't Raiden.

"Pliskin can you hear me?"

"I'm here Pete." According to Snake's map there were a few guards spread out on this Strut, so he decided, for the time being, to hide in one of the lockers by his side.

"Pliskin, Raiden has defused a couple of bombs, but they all seemed a bit off."

Snake had crawled inside of the locker without attracting attention. "What do you think it is?"

"I have no idea and that's what scares me. I'm not sure I'm in full control of the situation. Maybe Fatman as outsmarted me..." Peter sounded depressed.

"Now it's not the time for this." Snake needed to make sure Peter kept it together.

"I know I'm sorry…"

Maybe Raiden was right to suspect Stillman.

"Pliskin, could you check the Core section for me?"

"But I thought…" Snake was interrupted by Stillman.

"I know what I said, but I can't shake the feeling that something's wrong. Something I have never thought of yet."

"Alright. After I'm done with the C4 on Strut J and Strut K I'll check the Core section."

"Thanks." Peter sighed and turned off the radio.

Snake checked his radar and decided to leave the locker. He entered the door that stood right in front of him. As he opened the door he was immediately taken aback by what he was seeing. The whole room was of a faint blue, the floor and even the ceiling shone bright. The room seemed to be tiled with some weird shimmering hexagons and as Snake crossed the doorway the tiles lit up on every step he took, but that wasn't everything. A very big machine stood in the middle of the room, but it was the strangest machine Snake had ever seen. However there was no mistaking of what it was. A big label on the ground beside it read "GENERATOR". Snake walked beside it and looked at it in disbelief. Two very big shimmering cylinders sprawled horizontally involved by some type of iron grid were floating above electronic equipment that was placed on the ground underneath them. They were almost connected end on end and the two revolved at an incredible speed in different directions. What is this? Snake was flabbergasted by the whole thing. There was no noise coming from it and it all seemed like it didn't belong here. Out of the blue Snake's headphones came alive.

"Pliskin!" It was Raiden's voice. "I saw a female soldier -- Russian."

Snake forgot about the incredible machine that rested in front of him and thought about what Raiden had just said. "Must be Olga Gurlukovich."

"How do you know?"

"Unlike you, I've been briefed." Not that Snake needed. He had met Olga Gurlokovich two years ago on the doomed tanker.

"She's not a Dead Cell?"

"No, she commands a Russian private army."

"They must be the ones patrolling the Big Shell."

"That's right. She's led the group ever since her old man, Colonel Gurlukovich, died."

"Watch yourself with her. She's a tough one" Snake cut off the transmission as he heard a guard coming inside the room from the door that stood on the other side. Damn! He went for the exit, but a quick inspection on the radar revealed another guard was coming towards the exit door. Crap! Snake had no apparent hiding place.