"You all right?" Luigi asked Snake and extended a hand to help him off the ground.
"I've had worse." Snake chuckled and grabbed Luigi's hand and got to his feet. "Though if you hadn't of shown up I'd be dead. Thanks. I owe you a drink."
"I'll get it out of you later." Luigi grinned. He then pointed to Snake's bullet wounds. "Those wounds. Are they serious?"
Snake waved his hand, dismissing any feeling of severity. "Nothing that some first-aid can't fix. Is there a place we can camp out?"
"Yeah I've got one. First we should grab whatever supplies these guys have for ourselves. They won't be needing it, will you guys?" Luigi jokingly asked from the dead bodies who obviously didn't respond. "Hah. I thought not."
"Good idea." Snake responded.
Wow. Luigi really has this survivalist routine down. Reminds me of myself.
Snake rummaged through Falco's corpse, taking his blaster and his reflector, knowing that the latter would be very useful. After they searched everyone else, grabbing food, ammo amongst other items, the made haste for Luigi's campsite. It was a very well hidden cave, with furniture in it and everything.
"This is more of a hut than a campsite." Snake observed.
"Well I'm in this area a lot so I thought making a small little home wouldn't hurt."
Snake pulled out his first-aid kit, an item he'd never go anywhere without. "If you want I can do the stiches for you." Luigi offered to help.
"Oh no thanks. I've got it." Snake respectfully declined. It took a couple of seconds but the question came to his head. "Wait! You know first aid?"
"Yeah."
"When did you learn? I don't remember you knowing it before the catastrophe."
"Cause I didn't. Afterwards I had to. People like us, drifters who wander the open land, place to place. If we get in a fight, we're on our own. And if you get hurt in one of those fights, you can't just hope that there's a doctor around. You gotta take care of your own wounds."
"Color me impressed! You're a true survivalist." Snake complimented. As Snake began tending to his wounds, Luigi started a fire.
"You know Falco and his goons were after me too." Luigi stated.
"Yeah, I've heard the Committee has you on the bounty list just like me."
"So you know about them?"
"I sure do. I know who they are and what they've been doing. If you want to know I can fill you in." Snake offered.
"Thanks, but I already know through my own investigations. Can't believe what those four are doing." Luigi said in disgust.
"Well…it's "those three" now…" Snake cryptically said.
"What?! You killed one of them?!"
"Robin. Caught him and his men trying to enslave Mewtwo and the other Pokémon."
"And you stopped the bastards. Incredible. That's three to go!"
"I take it your on this "Kill the Chairmen" mission too?" Snake asked.
"Of course I am! And it's not just because they want me dead, but because of all the sick things that they're doing."
"So you and I are on the exact same page. You thinking what I'm thinking?" Snake smirked.
"That the Nomad and the Green Missile should team up?" Luigi grinned.
"Damn right."
"Great! We can things done much faster now."
"Yeah, now I'll need to introduce you to my radio support."
"Radio support?"
"I've got Link, Zelda, Fox, Krystal and Peach backing me up through radio."
A large smile grew on Luigi's face. "They're all still alive?!"
"Alive and friendly." Snake noted.
"Things just get better and better." Luigi sighed in relief and laid down on his mattress. "It's just…good to see an old friend still alive but not trying to kill you…you know what I mean?" Luigi asked in a much more somber tone.
"I know exactly what you mean…" Snake responded grimly. "You had to kill any?"
There was a brief silence between them.
"You don't have to answer."
"No it's fine. If anything it helps to get it off your chest, especially to someone who knows what its like."
"Alright."
"I've had to kill Sonic, Red…and Mario."
"Mario lived! But he was right at ground zero, right at the source of the explosion!"
"He didn't live per say. He was a mutant. Those bastards retrieved what was left of him and turned him into a monster. He may not have been alive or human but…"
"It doesn't take away from the fact that he was your brother." Snake finished his sentence for him.
"I knew you'd understand. What about you? I mean aside from Falco and Robin." Luigi asked.
"Samus."
"Damn. I'm sorry."
"She was a good friend. I remember back when I was on the roster, rumors started spreading after people saw us hanging out."
"I think I know what you're talking about." Luigi chuckled.
"Yep. People were saying, "Snake and Samus are in love!". Boy did that piss us off. People making these assumptions. Then I heard that they gave us a nickname. What was it…Snakus? Something stupid like that."
"I guess it was because you two had a lot in common." Luigi threw his opinion out.
"Yeah well…having a lot in common does not mean instant romantic relationship."
"So you two really didn't have any romantic interest in each other?"
"Nope. We were both pretty professional about it. We would eat, train and talk. I did the same thing with Wolf. He was an animal, she was a female, but that didn't make a difference to me. I treated them the same, just as if they were a regular person."
"I get you. But it sort of sounds like you hate romance." Luigi pondered.
"That's not true, I've just never had time for it. And I'm just not very good at it quite frankly. Look at me! I'm 50 years old." Snake laughed.
"I'm sure you'll find someone." Luigi laughed back. "I remember when I did."
"You mean Daisy? Is she still alive?"
"I don't know. Never found a body." Luigi replied saddened.
"Good, that means there's a chance we can find her."
"Wow…I never thought of it like that. I had the assumption that her body might've been destroyed or is just unidentifiable."
"Well…that's certainly possible, but it's also possible that we can find her alive and well." Snake said.
"Man you're an asshole sometimes." Luigi laughed.
"Just trying to be realistic."
The two of them laid down preparing to get some sleep. But before then they had a brief discussion.
"So who are we going after next?" Luigi asked.
"I want to go after Marth last, so we're going after Roy or Shulk. Who we go after first depends on whose location we find first." Snake explained.
"There's some PSC guard post to the east of here. Maybe we can get some answers from there." Luigi suggested.
"Good idea. That's how I got Robin's location." Snake paused for a moment. "By the way, do you know about a vigilante by the name of "The Swordless Ronin"?"
"I've heard the name, and I might know who it is." Luigi confirmed.
"Who?"
"Martial artist named Ryu that arrived during the fourth tournament. Even before the end of the world the guy would drift around the world looking for opponents. You think we should get him on our side?"
"If we run into him, then of course."
"Agreed. So tomorrow we make for that guard post. Is that the plan?"
"That's right." Snake answered.
"Great. Tomorrow is going to mark the beginning of the end for the Committee!" Luigi fumed with determination.
Hope you enjoy a little meta commentary. You probably won't see it again in this story.