CHAPTER 9:

CAPTIVITY

As the soldiers dragged a now-unconscious Snake away, Harry tended to Wolf's shoulder. Snake had gotten lucky with one shot, and Harry used a healing spell to heal the wound after the bullet was removed. "He's good," Wolf remarked, wincing with pain. "Better than I thought."

"Is that why you marked him as your special prey?" Harry asked wryly. "I thought we had a thing."

"We do." She looked at Snake's body. "But I've always wanted a battle against Saladin, against Big Boss. Solid Snake will be the next best thing."

Some soldiers dragged Meryl's unconscious body by. Harry halted them, and began healing Meryl. "If she dies, Campbell may become unpredictable," he explained to Wolf. "Besides, she's like Emmerich. She's been dropped in the deep end."

"She's also an enemy soldier, especially with Mantis dead," Wolf pointed out.

"She's also a rookie with no real combat experience until today. At least you didn't use those mercury rounds(1) on either of them."

"I don't kill for sport," Wolf said. "I'm surprised Snake killed Mantis."

"Yeah." The psychic was, after all, a formidable opponent. Snake must have worked hard to defeat him. After a moment, Harry smirked. "So…dibs on his coffee beans?"

Wolf chuckled. While Harry and Wolf tolerated (and was tolerated by) the psychic, they didn't actually like each other that much, particularly lately. A comrade he was, but not a friend. He was a raving psychopath who would probably be at peace in death.

About an hour later, Snake was strapped to the interrogation table in the Tank Hangar basement, stripped of everything but his trousers and bandanna. Liquid, Wolf, and Ocelot were all standing around the table, Harry nearby. And Harry got the impression that Liquid was being even colder to him than usual. He didn't know why, except that Mantis had been a good friend to Liquid since they were children, and maybe he was taking out his grief on Harry. Raven was currently monitoring communications with the government.

"Don't kill him, not yet. We need him alive," Liquid said.

"Leave it to me, sir," Ocelot said.

Liquid snorted. "I hope, for your sake, Ocelot, that you won't mess up like you did with the DARPA Chief."

"Yes," Wolf said. "He is my target, and mine alone."

"Wolf…" Harry groaned, annoyed. Then, he noticed Snake stirring. Not groaning, but you could tell he was waking up.

"Can you hear me, Snake?" Liquid crooned. "I always knew we would meet one day. After the sacrifice of all our brothers, finally, we meet. The brother of light, and the brother of dark."

"Liquid, are you trying to sound like a Bond villain?" Harry snarked. "Anyway, we need that sample of his DNA to patch up those of the Genome Soldiers. You know it's only a temporary measure. We still need Big Boss' body. Have they made any indication as to the demands?"

Liquid scoffed. "They haven't."

"They won't give in," Wolf sneered. "They're hypocrites, all of them."

"To be fair, Wolf, hypocrisy is a pretty universal human trait. It's just that everything seems to get magnified in the good ol' US of A," Harry retorted.

"True, but they'll want to cover their arses," Liquid said with a confident smile. "They want to avoid any leak about their precious new weapon."

Snake, who was now fully conscious, chuckled painfully. "Not surprised," he rasped.

Ocelot activated a control panel, and Snake was rotated up to face them. His wolf-like blue eyes stared at them, giving nothing away about what he knew of Harry's true allegiance, thankfully. Instead, he settled for glaring at Liquid. "There definitely is a resemblance, wouldn't you say, little brother? Or maybe it's big brother. Anyway, you and I are the last surviving Sons of Big Boss," Liquid mused.

Then, that most annoying of interruptions to social interactions happened. Liquid's mobile rang, and as he opened it up, Harry looked to Wolf, and rolled his eyes.

Whatever Raven had to say angered Liquid, who hung up petulantly, and glared at a nearby window, looking out at a cell. "They're not responding to our demands. So we'll be launching the nuke in 10 hours as planned."

"Damn Americans," Wolf snarled.

"It's surprising, though," Liquid mused. "Normally, the Americans are the first to the negotiating table. They must think they have a trump card."

Snake rolled his eyes. "Wish they'd tell me about it."

"They don't tell you anything, do they Snake?" Liquid asked, turning back to his brother.

"So, it's come down to it, eh?" Ocelot asked. "Launching the nuke and riding it all the way into history?"

"What, like Major Kong in Dr Strangelove?" Harry snarked.

"I've got to take care of the launch preparations," Liquid said. "Ocelot, you're in charge."

Ocelot looked at Wolf and Harry. "Wanna watch the show?"

"I'm not interested in your torture games, Ocelot," Wolf said, taking out a pillbox, and swallowing some. "Anyway, it's time to feed the family. What about you, Griffin?"

"I'll come along shortly," Harry said. "I want to make sure Silverburgh's secure. We don't want her getting out like she did last time."

Liquid nodded. "And don't fuck up like you did with Anderson."

"He was tough for a pencil-pusher!" Ocelot protested.

"And his mental defences, according to Mantis, were enhanced with hypnotherapy and surgical implants."

"What about Gray Fox?" Harry asked.

"He's killed 12 men," Liquid said. "There's little left of Gray Fox now, just a bloodthirsty lunatic. And we've still got to find out what killed Baker and Octopus. We're shorthanded enough as it is, so get your little torture revue out of the way as soon as possible."

"Torture?" Ocelot snorted. "This is an interrogation."

"Spare me," Liquid retorted. He then turned to Snake, and smiled. "Until next time, brother."

As he walked out, Wolf approached Snake. "Your woman is still alive," she said.

"You're lucky, Snake," Harry said, folding his arms. "Wolf could've used her mercury rounds, for both of you. Wolf was feeling merciful, to Silverburgh at least."

"See you around, handsome," Wolf purred, before she left, and Harry followed.

"Okay, should I be feeling jealousy right now?" Harry demanded as he followed Wolf to the mess, to get the food for the wolves. He had made sure Meryl was secure beforehand. "Seriously, Wolf…"

"Yasmin. You may call me that in private, Harry," she said. "And you forget, Snake is my special prey."

"So was I. We ended up having sex on the locker room floor," Harry said. "I understand flirting with him a little, if it's psychological warfare, but…"

"I'm glad you're a little jealous," Wolf said. "At least it means you still feel something for me."

"How can you have any doubt, Wolf? Is it because I took the time to heal Silverburgh?"

"No, I know what you feel for her is not lust or affection, but pity and sympathy, Harry," Wolf, no, Yasmin said. "But we are soldiers. We will have to face each other."

"Yasmin…" Harry said. "How can you look at Liquid Snake and call him a soldier? Or even a warrior? Big Boss was a soldier and a warrior. The Boss was. Solid Snake is. You are. Liquid is a petulant manchild who has some sort of Oedipal thing going on about wanting to surpass his father!"

"What about you? Do you consider yourself a soldier?" Yasmin asked after a pause.

"A soldier is what I was shaped to be, Yasmin. It's not who I am. I joined FoxHOUND to make a difference on the world by preventing lunatics from using nuclear blackmail, not enabling them! I'm only going along with this bullshit because I love you. As long as you're still alive at the end of this, I'm in this to the bitter end. I'm loyal to you, not to the US, not to FoxHOUND or Liquid's twisted attempt at creating a new Outer Heaven. Only you, Yasmin." Tears ran down his cheeks.

Yasmin was moved by his honesty, and gently walked forward, taking his hand. "Come on. We'll need to feed the family."

As they did so, they found a familiar figure sitting in the cave, feeding Berthold. The bespectacled figure of Emmerich, who looked up, startled, to see them here. "Wolf, Griffin, I…"

"It's okay, Emmerich," Yasmin said quietly. "We were just here to feed them. Are you all right?"

"I feel sick to my stomach," the hapless scientist responded, looking down at the icy floor of the cave. "They put a nuke into REX. A nuclear curse hounds the Emmerich family. I meant for Metal Gear REX to be used for peaceful purposes. Instead, it's tainted by nuclear weaponry."

"Hal," Harry said, "Metal Gear has been around for decades, and every iteration existed to fire nukes from any terrain. REX was based on blueprints created by a Russian scientist back in the Sixties. Metal Gear is cursed. You know about Dr Madnar and his versions. Hal, it's not you, it's other people trying to keep Metal Gear as it is, a nuclear-equipped walking battletank."

Emmerich nodded, but wept quietly. On an impulse, Yasmin brought out a handkerchief, and handed it to the scientist, who wiped the tears away with it absently. "Keep it," she said to him quietly.

"Thanks," Emmerich said quietly. Then, as if emboldened by the almost intimate gesture, he demanded, "Griffin, Wolf, why are you doing this?! Why are you helping Liquid with this?"

"I want revenge on a world that ignored the plight of my people," Yasmin said, sadly. "And Griffin…he does this because he loves me. He got dragged into this. Emmerich…we're not going to put you back in your lab. But for your sake if nobody else's, stay out of the way. Neither Liquid nor Ocelot would have any qualms about killing you should they find you trying to stop us."

Emmerich nodded, but as he stood, he asked, "What motivates you to keep up those codenames all the time? I mean, I like to go by 'Otacon' on the internet, but…you keep up those codenames like they're your real names. I mean, Liquid, Ocelot, Raven, Solid Snake, Gray Fox, and you two…why do you choose those names?"

Eventually, Harry said, "Because it's the mask we wear. The mask of a soldier. Of a warrior. I mean, you remember the Boss, the one your mother fell in love with. In a way, she and the Cobra Unit started it all, at least where we are. A nom de guerre is as old as time itself, but, well, it's the Boss who really started the fad living with us today. We're still human beings…but when we're on the job, we can't afford to be."

Emmerich nodded, sadly. And the feeding of the other wolves passed by in silence.

Later, in their quarters, Harry and Yasmin were making love again. Not the hurried, frenzied, hasty coupling of earlier, but slower, gentler, taking care to pleasure each other to the full as they did so. There was something lugubrious about their lovemaking, as if they knew that they could die that day, and were performing some solemn ritual affirming their bond.

Just as they finished, the Codec beeped shrilly in their ears. Liquid was calling them. "Liquid, d'you have to blue-ball us?" Harry snapped irritably. Not that he had interrupted them per se, but it was still not fun.

"You two are needed. Snake has escaped from the Tank Hangar, and we need you both to set up ambushes. Wolf, you will fight off Snake at the Snowfield between the Comms Towers and the Blast Furnace. Griffin, you will confront Snake at the top of the Comms Tower. Get dressed and get going. Use your Apparition to get Wolf into position." Liquid's voice was colder than ever, colder than the blizzard outside, colder than liquid helium. Harry felt that something was wrong, very wrong indeed. He knew he would be sent out to stop Snake sooner or later, but being put before Yasmin?

"Fine. But I'm Apparating the hell out of there if things get too hairy," Harry snapped. "And if Wolf gets injured by Snake, I'm doing the same thing. Clear?"

"Crystal. I've taken Silverburgh to the REX Hangar. Raven's waiting to confront Snake in one of the refrigerated areas. The fool thinks he can truly take on Snake. He's no longer needed."

"And what about us?" Harry asked pointedly.

"Just follow your orders. Liquid out."

"God, I prefer talking to Ocelot to him," Harry snarled after he cut off the connection. He looked at Yasmin. "Yasmin, promise me that you won't take any chances. I won't. The moment Snake gets too close to killing me, I'm heading your way. And the moment he seems like he's going to kill you, I'm getting you out of there."

Yasmin sat up in bed, not even caring to cover her breasts. "Harry, are you all right?"

"Of course I'm not. I feel as sick as Emmerich does," Harry said with a scowl. "I'm afraid. Afraid of Metal Gear, and of Liquid, and of Solid Snake, and of the Patriots, and dying. The thing I'm most afraid of is seeing you die, Yasmin. And the thing is about Liquid is that he doesn't care, I'm sure of it. We're just his meatshields. All so he can found his version of Outer Heaven on our corpses."

Her hand gently clutched his shoulder, and she looked into his eyes with her deep blue ones. "Be that as it may, Harry, it's our job to fight, or die. Let's get dressed and kitted up, and then we'll head to our ambush points…"

CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:

So, some Snake in bondage, and some emotive scenes with Harry and Wolf/Yasmin. Next chapter, Snake versus Griffin…and a startling revelation.

Review-answering time! Squadpunk 2.0: Soon, she will find out, and it won't be pretty.

CCBottle and badboys8520: Snake is pretty smart, and while he does fail to put some clues together at times, there are other times when he can. I thought to do this to show his intelligence a bit more.

BBWulf: Have you played any of the Metal Gear games, particularly Metal Gear Solid?

1. Wolf, in some material related to the game, is said to use bullets with mercury in them to poison her foes. I thought I'd discuss this to explain why Meryl and Snake are fine after getting hit by Wolf.