A/N: Warning: this is, by far, the bloodiest and most violent chapter in the story. Just givin you the heads up.
Chapter 14: Alert
Otacon took off in the Kasatka, seeing and hearing the crashes of the Big Shell's collapse.
Arsenal Gear, in its majesty, emerged from the sea and headed toward the city.
"Is he still alive?"
"He was when Olga brought him in. I've checked everything including the Genome data, but there's nothing on this guy. Preventers, Unified Army, police forces, this guy doesn't exist."
"I expected as much, those Gundam scientists were rather good, but you and I both know this man."
Ocelot laughed.
"Wake him up."
A few seconds later, Heero emerged, finally conscious.
"We meet face-to-face at last, Heero Yuy." Solidus said. "It's a shame that two great warriors such as us need be opposing one another. You're outstanding kill record during the last war is quite impressive. Really, it's a shame you and your friends decided not to join me. We're really the same...you and I."
Heero grunted. His eyes were still beginning to come back to him.
"So, what should we do with him?" Ocelot asked.
"We'll use him like you suggested."
"What about Dead Cell?"
"Ignore them."
Ocelot's arm began to act on him again, earning a curious glare from Heero's hard eyes.
"Happening again?" Solidus asked.
"Could it be that he's here too?"
"Hmph." Solidus instantly responded. "In another hour we demonstrate the power of Arsenal Gear."
Heero's eyes instantly widened. This madness had to be stopped!
"Attack with standard weapons of course?" Ocelot responded.
"Yes, proceed as planned."
"At last report all is well with GW."
Great, Heero thought, the virus didn't work.
"How about the troops?"
"The men are being refitted with Arsenal Gear equipment as ordered." Ocelot turned around and looked at Solidus. "You're the spitting image of Big Boss."
Solidus laughed. "Is that so? Perhaps I should be grateful to this kid for that!" Solidus looked amused as he walked out.
"This situation...I find it very nostalgic."
Heero gave Ocelot the biggest, most hate-filled Death Glare he had ever given anyone. This was the man who kidnapped Relena in the first place.
"You know, in addition to being in Arsenal Gear, we're also inside the memory of Shadow Moses." Ocelot continued to talk, not at all intimidated by the glare.
Behind the glare, Heero wondered what the hell this bastard meant.
"I'll take this." Ocelot brought the disc out. "You don't need this anymore, do you?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Heero saw Olga Gurlukovich, Snake's contact.
"A foul wind is blowing, we shall speak again." Ocelot prepared to leave.
"Where's Relena?" Heero growled through clenched teeth.
Ocelot laughed wildly as the sliding doors closed behind him.
"Don't move...stay as you are." Olga ordered after she was sure Ocelot was a safe distance away. "We're being monitored. Switch over to nanocommunication."
Heero did as instructed.
"So, you're the ninja?"
"Correct."
"I thought you were in command of the terrorist army."
"No, that was just a smokescreen. I was sent to provide you and your friends support."
"By who?"
"The Patriots."
"What the hell...why would they want to support us?!"
"I betrayed my troops."
"Why?" Heero growled, he wanted to know just what the hell was going on here.
"My child is...being held hostage by the Patriots. Ever since the Tanker Incident and the death of my father, my men and I had nowhere to go. Finally, five years later, we joined forces with an illegal Russian organization...I was expecting at the time. Actually, I learned much later that it was a subordinate organization of the Patriots." She said the last word disdainfully. "When I gave birth, it turned out I was in a hospital run by the Patriots. In the morning...my child was gone, he is being held somewhere in this country."
Heero's eyes softened somewhat. This just might be the day he showed more emotion than ever in his life. "Have you ever met your child?"
"No. Once a month they send me a photo of my child via network. I've never even held him in my own arms."
"Hn. What else could have done but what you did? What about Snake, I thought you were enemies?"
"He wasn't responsible for my father's death. Actually, we owe him our lives. Seven years ago, he got us out of the sinking tanker alive."
"Wait, so you've been an ally of his this entire time?"
"No, I only found out the truth shortly before this...when I confronted him here."
"The two of you fought? When was that?"
"Well...around the time you were holding hands with that girl."
"So you joined him to pay him back?"
"No. Mutual gain. My job is to assist you all. If Solidus gets away with Arsenal, your mission will be a failure. The Patriots would judge that as failure on my part and terminate my child."
"Hm...but still, why would the Patriots help us? What are they hoping for? Last I remembered, Solidus is their chosen president."
Olga laughed. "No, we're all just being used as pawns. You've fallen into their trap."
Heero growled. "For what?"
"The S3 Plan."
"S3 Plan?"
"You'll figure it out sooner or later, but I wonder if you'll handle the truth? Anyway, we haven't got time for this. Solidus will commence his attack any minute."
That woke Heero up from his trying to figure everything out.
"Did the virus work?"
"No results so far, the Patriots may have tampered with the program."
"Get me out of here."
"Not yet, I'll release you after I leave this room."
"Where's my gear?"
"Snake's got everything, I couldn't bring it here."
"And where is he?"
"The passage ahead will lead you to a hanger, he's waiting there."
"Is he planning for us to destroy Arsenal Gear?"
"No, even for Snake, it's impossible to completely destroy this thing. The only option is to stop Solidus and his men."
"And I assume you'll stay concealed, and let us do the dirty work."
"Correct. That's my role."
Olga punched Heero in the stomach as she left the room. Heero didn't care, it had to look natural. 'Where is Relena? Where is Relena?' Was the question that kept popping into his head, even ahead of what was really going on there.
Suddenly, his restraints were released and he was walking around Arsenal Gear naked.
Heero snuck around Arsenal, getting past guards, sometimes banging on things to draw their attention, etc. He snuck up behind one guard upstairs and kicked him to the ground below, then ran into the hanger. He ran south down the hallway, that door was locked. So he began running north.
"Amazing how you walk around like that." A deep voice sounded out behind Heero's back. "But then again, you've done that before, haven't you?"
"Snake." Heero turned around.
"Been waiting long?" Snake emerged fully from the shadows.
"I'll let you know that in Sardinia I was high on that damn Sodium thiopental. Now, it's just embarrassing." Heero's eyes narrowed. "Where's my gear?"
Snake simply pointed behind him. Heero opened the case and quickly was armed and ready again.
"That's more like it." Snake stated. He then gave a hand signal to switch over to the Codec and Heero complied. "Sorry about that...it was the only way to get inside. It worked."
"Why didn't you tell me about Olga?"
"You never asked."
Heero scowled.
"Not happy about that? Get over it."
"Is the virus doing anything yet?"
"Still waiting on that. Looks like it was altered by the Patriots, and from what I can tell, Arsenal is headed toward Manhattan. I don't know what Solidus is planning but we'll have to deal with it one way or another. There's also a troop of production model Mobile Doll RAY's ahead."
"What? How many units?" Heero asked in surprise.
"Twenty-five, according to Olga. Can't say I've faced that many Metal Gears before, but we'll deal with it. We don't have any other choice."
"Hn." Heero nodded in agreement. "We've stocked up on Stinger missiles."
"By the way, Olga left this for you."
Snake presented Heero with a high-frequency cutting blade, which left him looking at Snake in wonder.
"Don't ask, she asked me to give it to you, besides, I'm not a big fan of blades."
After Heero practiced with the sword for a few minutes, he put it away, satisfied. He was an adept fencer, always had been.
"Snake...Relena has to be here, right?"
"Well...this is the only place we haven't looked. She'll turn up."
Heero nodded; somehow, he felt a relief that Snake thought so, too.
"C'mon, time to go." Snake said to Heero as he walked forward. "If you run out of ammo, you can have mine, don't ask, I've got enough."
"Wait a minute Snake."
"What?" Snake asked as he turned around and received an incoming Codec call.
"Snake...I need to ask you, have you ever enjoyed killing someone?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Solidus brought up my kill record in the war, I swear those faces still haunt me. Sometimes it really is hard to tell what's real and what isn't."
"Diminished sense of reality? Fighting in a mobile suit will do that, especially with that ZERO system you used to use."
"What?" Heero asked.
"I never liked fighting in mobile suits. Sure, I know how to do it, but to me, war isn't real unless you look your enemy straight in the eye and watch him die before you. Any other type of war just seems to make the whole thing too casual and routine. I guess that's why I didn't fight in the Eve Wars."
"I can't help but think that my existence is a mistake. Solidus was right. Am I really better than him?"
"Heero, we don't carry guns to take people down, we're not in this to help some politician either."
"What about Relena?"
Snake's eyes widened. "Ok, so we're in this to help one politician."
Heero smirked but then sobered. "You can say all of this because you're legend, a hero, my hero."
"Legends don't mean a whole lot; I was just a name to exploit, just like you and the other Gundam pilots." Heero looked on in wonder. "Listen, there's no right part in murder, not ever, and we're not in this to make a name for ourselves."
"Than what have you and Otacon been fighting for all this time?"
"The same thing you have kid...a future. That's the reason we're here together now. You've always fought for a future. You have done nothing wrong. You never were part of the mistake."
Heero suddenly felt right again. "I see. It's all making sense now."
"All right then, let's get a move on."
Heero grinned and followed Snake, feeling confident again. They would take care of this, stop Solidus. Heero was known to many as 'the Perfect Soldier,' but the man he was walking behind was more than that. Heero felt honored to be following this legendary warrior...this modern Achilles, into battle. They drew their M4s. Soon, a Codec call from Otacon came to their ears.
"Snake, Heero."
"Otacon, you all right?" Snake asked.
"Yeah. So are all the hostages."
"That's good news." Heero said.
"How's everything on your end?" Otacon asked.
"We're fine." Heero responded.
"All right, see you guys later." Otacon hung up.
"There's a door at the north end of this corridor. Security will be tight, we'll rush it!" Snake said as he hung up.
Heero and Snake then looked up to see a Cypher. It spotted them. The alarm rang out, the codec showing the word 'ALERT' in red, giving Snake's prediction of tight security a loud confirmation.
Solidus' men began to pour out from every nook and cranny.
Snake immediately opened up with his M4, causing some of Solidus' men to take cover, but many more fired right back. Heero broke out the PSG-1 he was carrying and looked to take out the two soldiers that were on a balcony in front of them. Heero fired once, hitting his target's knee, the second hit his upper leg, and the third shot hit his groin. The place where his penis once was exploded in a pool of blood and he fell to the floor to die a painful death.
First target eliminated. Now for the second.
"Follow me!" Snake said as Heero was still using his PSG-1.
The second soldier on the balcony was much easier to take out than the first. Heero got an instant kill with a headshot as Snake ran to take cover.
Heero hit an enemy firing upon Snake with another headshot. He fell down in a bloody splash. He aimed at another enemy soldier, but he retreated behind cover.
No more sniping. Time to break out the M4.
And that's exactly what Heero did as he moved to take cover behind a barrier across from Snake. He stepped out and fired a burst at an enemy soldier who was kneeling, lining up his sights. He went down in a pool of blood around his chest; an unfortunate comrade joined him in a similar fashion a few seconds later. Heero then ran to the next barrier, avoiding the fire an enemy soldier directed his way.
Snake easily picked him off with his M4 and came over to join Heero. They ran toward the end of the room, stopping to deal with four enemy soldiers, two with guns and another two with high-frequency blades. Heero took out the two gunners as Snake fired his pistol at a swordsman threatening Heero, the 9mm rounds plowing into his back, causing blood to spurt forward.
"Where did you learn to fire that pistol so fast?!" Heero asked in amazement.
"Around." Snake grunted as he and Heero made way to deal with the second swordsman.
Heero poured an M4 clip at him, too fast for the swordsman to deflect the bullets and he went down in a trail of blood. Next Heero fired a few rounds into the chest of another enemy on the balcony, killing him quickly. Snake speedily took out his comrade.
"Get in there!" Snake yelled as Heero rushed forward toward the next obstacle. Heero peered out and killed an enemy soldier taking shots at him, Snake covering him with his pistol.
Two enemy soldiers appeared on the next balcony. A three round burst from Heero into the first one's neck and head silenced him, while an M4 burst from Snake peppered the other one's chest as he stumbled back and fell off. Snake then, almost at the same time, took out an enemy soldier on the ground below the balcony.
Where did Snake learn to shoot so fast?! Heero resolved himself to find out.
"Follow me!" Snake commanded again as he fired another burst from his M4, killing yet another enemy foolish enough to fire at him.
A swordsman appeared behind Heero, who quickly bashed his enemy with his rifle butt and then fired a burst into his chest, spraying blood in all directions as he went down in a spin.
Another swordsman appeared behind Snake, but did not get to take a swipe, as the legendary soldier treated him in a similar fashion.
As Heero and Snake approached the door at the end of the hall, swordsmen appeared, almost surrounding them, but Snake's quick trigger finger didn't even give them time to deflect his bullets as Heero ran at the end of the room and took out the enemies jumping down from the balcony before they could fire their rifles.
The end of the room was quickly becoming drenched in blood.
Snake fired up, killing enemies that appeared on the balcony to the left of the door. When one approached from the stairs, Snake shot him once, but needed to reload. Heero quickly stole Snake's kill.
Meanwhile, three enemies with rifles tried to pincer Snake, but he was way too fast and left all three of them in bloody heaps on the floor.
As Snake turned to engage another one of Solidus' soldiers who appeared on the stairs, Heero swiped away another rifleman who appeared by the door. Two more came down in the same place as another two approached from an opposite direction. Heero took the two by the door while Snake shot the other two.
Finally, the door opened.
The two entered a small room and took a short breather.
"There's a ladder on the north side. According to Olga, the enemy is beyond that point. Let's move out!" Snake said over the Codec.
That meant that Relena was also beyond that point.
Heero's face grimace as he and Snake walked into the next room, cautiously approaching the ladder.
Suddenly, a group of enemies jumped down out of seemingly nowhere, surrounding him and Snake. Heero's face grimaced as he felt Snake back up against him. Relena was just up that ladder. He was not going to let these guys get in his way. He gave them the Death Glare and pulled out his pistol.
He shot the first enemy he saw three times in the back, the last round hitting the back of his target's neck, spurting blood upward as he himself fell to his knees and then dead to the floor. Heero put his pistol away and took out his M4. Snake was firing away toward the other end of the room.
A swordsman swiped at Heero, but missed, and Heero made him pay for his mistake. The flurry of M4 rounds took his enemy's life away. Heero ran up to another swordsman, bashed him with the rifle butt, and shot him, then quickly took out an enemy rifleman shooting at him from behind.
He and Snake together fired upon an enemy swordsman, quickly cutting him down in two places. Blood flooded from both wounds. Snake fired upon a swordsman approaching Heero's backside and split his windpipe as Heero ran to deal with enemies on the other side of the room. Two enemies jumped down and Heero swatted them away with a burst of the 5.56mm bullets that spurted from his M4.
Snake took care of his targets in a similar fashion on the other side of the room. Heero next did the usual routine of bashing a swordsman and then pouring lead into his body. He could hear Snake knock out an enemy with a thunderous kick to the head.
A swordsman jumped at Snake from the other side of the room. Heero took him out before he could do any damage. Snake nodded his thanks and poured another burst into an enemy rifleman, making blood erupt from his chest as he fell down to the floor lifeless.
Snake moved from target to target, laying crimson markers and corpses in his wake. More and more bodies were being strewn as they etched their names onto the list of casualties of those opposing Solid Snake.
Heero Yuy was rapidly adding to his own casualty list.
Again a swordsman jumped down at the pair. Heero and Snake overwhelmed him with a hail of lead to the point that his corpse was unrecognizable.
Heero then did a jumping kick at an enemy swordsman straying too close to the edge of the room. He tumbled over the balcony railing and fell with a scream. The earth's gravity would make short work of what was left of his life. Heero then re-directed his fire at two approaching enemy riflemen. He did not miss.
Snake killed another enemy swordsman and approaching rifleman, rapidly using up his pistol magazine.
Heero scored two more kills in the meantime.
Snake quickly took care of any enemy who dared jump down on the other side of the room with his accurate and deadly fire. He then overwhelmed an enemy swordsman as Heero split open a rifleman firing upon Snake. Snake shot at troops coming down near him, causing crimson fountains to burst in front of his face.
Heero in the meantime avoided a swordsman that jumped at him and peppered his back with M4 rounds. An enemy rifleman then jumped down and attempted to aim at Heero, but Heero quickly ended his life.
Snake easily overwhelmed a swordsman's ability to deflect his bullets and then split open a rifleman attempting to shoot at him on the other side of the room.
Heero killed two swordsmen as Snake took care of the riflemen as he ran to the other side of the room.
Heero shot two riflemen, grabbed the ammo that Snake threw at him as they passed each other, and delivered a kick to another swordsman straying too close to the balcony, letting him fall to his death as Snake ran up behind Heero and took out enemies that were shooting at him.
Snake killed another swordsman while Heero took out a pair of riflemen near the entrance to the room. Their bullets converged on an enemy who tried to cross the room, splitting him open in two different places and causing blood to burst out from his falling form.
Two riflemen appeared facing Snake in opposite directions, Heero killed them both.
No more of Solidus' troops came down. Were they at last done? The two hesitantly lowered their weapons.
Then footsteps were heard.
Snake and Heero quickly raised their weapons and pointed it at the person who just entered the room.
The woman had been crying. The door closed behind her.
"Fortune." Heero stated.
"It's been a long wait, Solid Snake- the root of all my sorrows." She accusingly pointed at him.
"What?" Snake asked skeptically.
"Seven years ago you killed my father. That was the beginning of hell for us. Everyone I love has been taken from me one by one and now matter how hard I try, I can't follow them. An endless nightmare...the only thing we live for is to see it end."
"You're not serious about firing the nuke." Heero stated in his monotone with a glare.
"Since no one can kill me, I may as well kill everyone I can." Fortune stated back in her own monotone. "Starting with you, Solid Snake!" Fortune's tone angered as she raised her rail gun.
Heero growled and pointed his gun at her.
"Looks like I'm today's pick, you go on ahead." Snake motioned to Heero with his head.
Heero backed away slowly toward the ladder, Snake backing up slightly himself to give Heero cover.
"You want eternal rest?" Snake asked. "I've got it right here."
He and fortune glared at each other over their guns.
"Bullets cant get near her." Heero stated in warning as he put his first foot on the ladder.
"I'll think of something, there's no such thing as a witch." Snake stated without turning his head.
"You think you can kill me?"
"I don't know what your group's been through, but let's get one thing clear: I didn't kill your father."
"Do you think anyone believes your lies?!" Fortune stated rather than asked in a very angry tone.
"Heero, get out of here!" Snake ordered.
Heero climbed the ladder fast as he heard Snake's war cry, followed by the sound of an M4 going off along with Fortune's rail gun.
A/N: I wasn't lying about the violence.
At any rate, the end of this fic is very much in sight (there are only three chapters left), and as such, I've been working on my new fic, Liberty or Death. But I will probably have this fic done sometime in March. In the next chapter, all of the mysteries of the past seven years will be revealed. Stay tuned.
Please review!