METAL GEAR SOLID: RESURRECTION
by Rookie's Eyes (based off of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake)
Disclaimer: the Metal Gear series and their characters are property of Kojima Productions and Konami
Chapter 24 Phantom Pretenses
"Metal Gear!"
The Iron beasts were eight meters tall, with two Vulcan cannons mounted on each side and a single stinger missile launcher attached to the hull next to the "head" module, equipped with a radome and several high-sensitivity lenses. Inside the hanger, there were at least eight completed Metal Gear units, all standing along the wall of the compound surrounded by parts and rounds. But… something was missing.
"This is the thing you were sent to destroy?" Bennet inquired, walking over to a computer console nearby.
"There are so many…" Holly gaped.
"…No, wait… Their missing nuclear missile launchers. These aren't it…"
"You're right, Snake," Holly agreed, watching Bennet as he opened file after file from the computer. "Says here that these things are just infantry units. 'Designated Metal Gear Gustav', that's what it says on the monitor… It also says that the one you're looking for is twenty stories below, Metal Gear Demyan, if I'm reading this correctly."
"Demyan, huh?" Snake took off his backpack as he spoke, searching through its contents. "Does it say what that thing is armed with?"
"Yeah," Bennet replied, "It's got a twelve missile capacity, a 60 mm Vulcan cannon, a 5.56 mm machine gun, and a laser effective up to twenty meters." Bennet whistled, "Sucks to be you… I'd hate to be the one to have to take that thing down."
With the lull in conversation, Holly looked around. "How come it's so quiet?.. There's no one else here…"
Snake walked over to the legs of the hulking metal monsters, placing C4 on the legs as Bennet spoke, "Construction of the original Metal Gear is done. The scientists are probably gone to prepare for its launch," He dismissed.
A beep in his ear alerted Snake to his codec.*Call* Snake pressed his finger to his ear, hearing Gray Fox speak, nervous and urgent, *140.27* "Snake, watch yourself! You're not alone in that hangar. Keep your eyes peeled, he's not a normal mercenary."
"What do you mean? What's so unusual about him?"
"He's wearing optic camouflage, you can't see him in normal conditions. His gun is silenced, so you can't rely on a gunshot to find him." Snake could hear the radio as Fox went to cut communication.
"Fox!"
"Good luck Snake!" The transmission ceased, and Snake searched urgently, but his newest adversary was no where to be seen, as expected.
"Holly! Bennet! Get out of here!" He shouted to the two, un-holstering his Berretta and combat knife. Alarmed, the two refused at first. Bennet raised his Uzi and Holly pulled out a knife, prepared to fight. "Holly!"
"No Snake! I'm staying."
"BENNET! Get Holly out of here!" reluctantly, Bennet complied, forcing Holly to come along, and the two disappeared behind a pair of staircase doors. Snake was left alone with his adversary, just the way he liked it. "It's no use, I know you're here! Show yourself!" He demanded of his enemy.
"No!" Holly shouted, Bennet using all his effort just to restrain her. He pressed a button alongside the elevator calling for the platform, and after several moments of struggling, the elevator beeped, signaling it's arrival.
When the door closed, Bennet let go, pressing the button for the detention level. Maybe Marv is there. Holly leaned against the doors, tears streaming down her face. She pounded on the door in anguish, "Damn! That son of a bitch's gonna get himself killed, I just know it…"
"Snake's a tough guy, he can handle this stuff… Hell, I saw him take down a Hind D helicopter with a single grenade."
"What if… What if he fails this time? What if I don't get to say goodbye? I'm afraid…"
"…Battle is a face off with your own mortality. Don't let the fear get to you. When you give in to the fear, the darkness comes. Be brave, and everything will work out eventually… Do you have a gun?"
Holly regained her composure, "Yeah," she pulled out a Desert Eagle, "I always carry this with me…It's a fifty-caliber Action Express. "
"Isn't that gun a little big for a girl?"
"Really?! I've been using a gun since I was eight years old…"
"C'mon, take my .45."
"No way, I'm more comfortable with this than I am with a bra."
"So you do-" The elevator beeped once more interrupting their conversation, and the doors slid open to reveal a guard, his back turned to the doors, but not for long.
"Huh?" The guard approached the open door and spoke, "Who's there?" No answer. "Identify yourself, or I'll shoot!" Bennet and Holly hid to the sides of the door as the guard came in. Shit, he thought, what would Snake do? Bennet slipped out his survival knife, hitting the guard in the head with the knife's hilt and wrapping his arm around the soldier's neck.
He held the knife to the soldier's throat, the guard yelping in fear, "What's your name, soldier?" Bennet asked.
"D- Drake."
"Okay, Drake,… Now, you can be useful, or… there is a second choice…"
"The second choice?.." Drake gulped. He tried to smile, but it came out looking more like a grimace, "There's no need for that really!.. Is there?!"
"There won't be if you answer the question." Bennet pressed the knife sharply into his neck, "Is Marv on this floor?" Bennet asked.
"I don't know…" Bennet drew blood from the man's neck, "Okay! Yeah, he's on this floor!.. Down this hallway, take a left, second door on the right!"
They followed the soldier's directions. After several minutes of fiddling with the lock, they broke inside. A small man lay crumpled on the ground, barely breathing…
"It's no use, I know you're here! Show yourself!" Snake demanded of his enemy.
"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you?" The mercenary answered, "Not a chance, Snake! You've been a thorn in Big Boss' backside for too long, and judging from your previous records, I'd say that'd be a grave mistake on my part. They call me Nightmare! I was hoping I'd be able to meet the famous Solid Snake."
"How can I fight you if I can't see you?"
"That'd be the point, but I'm sure you've figured that out on your own. Don't worry, you're a smart man. I'm sure you can figure it out."
Something struck Snake in the back of his head, disorientating him. Snake turned to face his attacker, but there was no one there. Something collided with Snake's stomach, and the agent keeled over in throes, gasping for precious air. "This is going to be easier than I thought!" Nightmare mocked, "I'm disappointed in you, FOXHOUND."
"Are you… kidding? I'm just warming up." Snake rebutted, standing up once more. He assumed a defensive stance, this time listening for his attacker, the best way to find a transparent opponent in a silent room.
Footsteps behind him, and Snake turned, seeing the faint warped outline of the optic camouflage. Nightmare kicked, Snake deflecting it with his forearm. When he tried to punch, Nightmare swatted it away, countering with two simultaneous punches to the chest. Another blurred fist hurtled toward Snake's head, and he ducked, proceeding to a round-house kick. His foot missed its mark, making no contact with Nightmare's body.
An invisible hand gripped Snake's foot in mid-air, but Snake was quick to retaliate. Using Nightmare's grip as leverage, Snake brought his other foot around, flipping horizontally and nailing Nightmare straight in the face. The agent scrambled to his feet, but the translucent silhouette of his enemy was nowhere to be seen.
From behind, an arm closed around Snake's throat, darkness threatened to overtake him. Snake elbowed the man in the stomach, but he didn't flinch. He could feel himself beginning to black-out, but Snake crouched, forcing himself up and jamming his head back into what he hoped was Nightmare's face. "ARrrgh!" The grip released, and Snake turned, his foot making contact with invisible flesh. "Hurgh!" Nightmare's blurred body collided with the leg of one of the Metal Gears, his optic camouflage flickering, then dying.
Nightmare wore all white BDU's, with a bullet-proof flak vest and flexible padding on his knees and elbows. His face was scarred, and he wore a black Zanzibar Land Bandanna. The only other color he wore was red; the bloody mess now streaming down his neck from his shattered nose. "You're… pretty good." Struggling to his feet, Nightmare pulled out a SOCOM, training the laser-sight directly on Snake's heart. "But I've got news for you; I'm better!"
He pulled the trigger, and Snake back-flipped, the bullet passing beneath Snake as he spun in the air. He dove behind a row of gasoline barrels, readying his Berretta. He kicked one of the barrels over and it continued rolling to Nightmare. Nightmare backed away, but Snake came out from cover, leveling his pistol onto the barrel, and letting two rounds loose. The first tearing open the metal, the second igniting the fuel within. 'KADOOOSH!'
In the explosion Snake ducked to avoid the shrapnel. When he rose from behind cover, Nightmare's body was nowhere to be found. There were two possibilities; either he had disintegrated in the explosion, or more likely His camouflage! It's back on!
Snake searched for his enemy in vain, but a sound behind him quickly clued him in. The malevolent whirring and clanging of cogs and sprockets rung and Snake turned to see the barrel of a Metal Gear Gustav Vulcan cannon leveled at his head. The barrels began to rotate bearing only the prospect of death for Snake and failure for his mission.
Snake ran, but not away, he lunged beneath the iron robot. "I'll crush you into dust!" Snake slipped between the legs to the other side as the cannon finally let loose with a hail of fire. "You can run! But you can't hide, Snake!"
"Who's hiding?" Snake mocked. Snake leapt onto the back of the beast, grappling onto the missile module and gaining a foot hold. Jolting and bucking, Nightmare had clearly realized where Snake had gone. Slamming against Metal Gear's hull, Snake inched his way up to a bare panel, filled with exposed wires and nodes within. "This looks important." Snake reached inside, wrapping his hands around as many of the cables as possible, tearing them out, and the effect was clearly devastating.
The robot froze, and its guns began to rotate wildly. Snake jumped off, landing on his feet. He watched as the derelict Gear slammed into a wall, tipping over in the concrete rubble, a fire erupting in the robot from the ruptured fuel tank. 'BOOOM!' Gas tanks cracked, adding fuel to the fire, and out of the streaming smoke and fire, a figure stepped through, flickering from opaque to clear and back. Nightmare was bleeding profusely; a mortal stabbing from the wreckage had pierced his chest. "Son of a bitch… Beaten by a FOXHOUND… I don't believe it…" He fell, his final breath left his body before his face even contacted the concrete.
Snake had to reach the others, but the wreckage of the Metal Gear unit prevented Snake from following them in the elevator they had used. Searching the hangar, Snake managed to find a staircase nearby. After several flights of stairs, Snake reached the bottom, entering into a dark hallway. A single door on the right led into the room Snake had been searching for.
"Dr Madnar!" The Doctor stood before a revolving bed, where the limp body of the late Dr. Marv hung, like a worn-out rag doll.
"Ah… Snake, I'm sorry to say you're too late… He's already passed away. His heart just couldn't take it any longer…"
"Doctor, is that a bruise on his neck?"
"Not to worry Snake, he told me where to get the formula before he died… The plans for OILIX are safe. Marv was a very careful man. He left behind a copy of the plans incase of an emergency. He had a reputation as a video game enthusiast. He even used to have them shipped to him from home every few months. A few days ago, he hid the formula in the disc of one of his consoles. It was a PlayStation disc, made by a Japanese company called Konami." The doctor seemed nervous, trembling slightly as he looked at Snake, as if he were a hostile stranger.
"PlayStation… Isn't that the world's most successful console?"
"Marv hid the disc inside his bodyguard's locker."
"Where's the key?"
"I'm not sure… I couldn't find out."
*CALL* it was Holly, *140.76* "Snake, where are you?"
"I've found doctor Madnar… Holly, Marv is dead…"
*140.76* "Wait, did you say Madnar is with you?"
"Yeah."
*140.76* "That's not possible, Madnar's here, with me and Bennet. We found him passed out inside a cell. Bennet's waking him up now… Snake, Madnar's an imposter!"
Snake cut communication, "Did you kill Dr. Marv?" He questioned the poser.
"I'm afraid you've got me, Snake. It was I who killed Gustava as well by contacting Fox's men from the sewer."
"You bastard! You got Gustava killed?!"
"Marv wouldn't disclose the formula!.. There's a key… and you have it! I'm sure of it! That Gustava woman gave it to you didn't she?! Where is it?!"
"What are you talking about?"
"A key to the Bodyguard's locker! There's some trick to using it… No matter, I'll take it from your dead body. You may have caught me, Solid Snake, but I won't go without a fight." He pulled a pistol from his sleeve, and trained it with a steady hand at Snake's head. Snake slowly reached for his Berretta, "You wouldn't want me to have to shoot you, would you?" The false Madnar threatened.
Snake lunged, and Madnar pulled the trigger…
Author's Note: How'd it go? So what'd you guys think of Gustav? While researching for the story, I found out that officially Gustav really did exist. It is listed as canon in the Metal Gear wiki and I thought it would be a nice addition to the story for them to make a brief appearance. If you thought that it went down too easily, that was what I was going for. I wanted them to be like the Gekko was to MGS4. Following Gustav's example, I chose Demyan as the Russian name for Metal Gear D, since I always wondered what D stood for. If memory serves, it is the Greek variation of Damian, and means control or dominance.
In the original game it turned out that Madnar had actually betrayed Snake, but I thought it would be more appropriate if someone had been posing as him when Snake made contact. My other reasoning is that Madnar was the scientist that helped Raiden when he needed a dialysis and "white blood" transfusion, which meant that Madnar couldn't die like he appears to in the game. Enjoy!
Up next, I don't know what the Hell i'm gonna call it, but Fox's going to be there.