Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Metal Gear character or the Metal Gear franchise. They belong to Hideo Kojima, Yoji Shinkawa, Kojima Productions and Konami studios.
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Author Notes: How are you all doing? Sorry for the delay. I meant to post this chapter a week ago, but an unexpected trip to my in-law's kept me from doing it. Without further ado, here's the newest episode!
Devil Boss
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Metal Gear Solid - The Philanthropists
Episode 2: A Suicide Mission, Part II
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"Damn! They've found the explosives! Otacon, the enemy knows I've rigged REX with C4!"
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"Snake, you need to get out of there right now! Abort the mission and come back unseen. Leave that place and come back!"
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"Snake? Are you listening to me? Abort the mission!"
"I can't do that, Otacon." Snake's voice was firm, yet oddly calm.
"What do you mean, you can't?" Otacon said "There's nothing left to do! They've found the C4, so you need to get out of there right now!"
"There is something left to do," Snake replied. Otacon didn't need to see his partner to know that he had grabbed hold of the C4 remote detonator.
"No, you can't!" Otacon cried "It's suicide! It's-"
"Done. Like this."
The touch of a button was all it took for Metal Gear REX to be sent into oblivion once more. The walls trembled, the ceiling cracked, the floor rumbled, and the whole complex was shaken to the core. A wave of heat came from beneath, from the burning remains of what would have become the world's ultimate weapon.
Snake took the opportunity to sprint out of his hiding spot and ran upstairs, keeping the Beretta handy. The thunder caused by the explosion was still echoing inside, deafening every other sound. The spy reached level B-7. Dozens of soldiers were rushing through the hallways, making their way to the staircase, heading to the hangar below.
Gasping, Snake jumped aside, taking cover behind the first thing he saw, which was a set of crates to his left. Surprisingly, miraculously, the soldiers didn't see him, running past him no more than a foot away. Should any of them look to the side, Snake would be spotted and killed for sure. He stood no chance against their numbers in corridor like the one he was in. But the men were too disturbed by the blast, and none of them checked their corners; Snake wasn't spotted by mere chance.
The spy sprinted up yet another level. And fate dealt him a bad card at last.
"Who's there!" a man cried from above. There was a scientist just a couple of feet away, staring at Snake in horror. A clean punch to the gut and a chop to the neck took care of the man, but the damage was already done.
"You there! Stop!"
"Stop right there!"
"Freeze! Put your hands in the air now!"
All hell broke loose. Snake dove to the ground as bullets started to fly. Three soldiers were firing upon him from the top of the stairs; Snake answered by throwing his flashbang grenade at their feet.
BANG!
Closing up on the stunned soldiers, Snake swiftly took them out with expert Eskrima moves, leaving them unconscious at his feet.
"Over there! Shoot him!"
More men were coming, guns blazing. Snake took cover next to a wall and fired back to hold them for a few seconds.
"Otacon, quick!" he shouted through the codec "Are there any other escape routes on this floor that I could use? I don't have much time!"
The otaku's voice was shaky with adrenaline and terror "T-there is an elevator near your position, which will take you right up to ground floor of the main building!"
"An elevator!? That's the best you can give me!?"
"Sorry! I don't have any other route for you!"
Cursing, Snake fired a couple of times on the incoming troopers, and turned tail to sprint to his right, where the radar showed the lift to be. He could hear the troopers following him, shouting orders.
Dodging bullets, Snake made it inside the elevator. It was large enough to carry eight people comfortably, and luckily it provided some cover against enemy fire. Desperately, his heart pounding in his chest and his veins filled with adrenaline, Snake pushed the button to go to ground floor.
The soldiers were giving signals to each other, shouting in Arabic, a language Snake didn't understand. They stormed the lobby, two of them using suppressive fire to keep Snake pinned while the rest spread out and approached the elevator. Snake fired back twice with his Beretta without peeking from cover, although to little effect. The onslaught of bullets around him, ricocheting against the walls, shattering them, whizzing past his head and body, cracking and rumbling, was maddening. Snake crouched low, his jaw completely tight from the tension, his brow filled with sweat. He thought the veins on his neck would burst if this kept going.
Why was it that a part of him liked this so much?
The doors started to close with a hiss. The men outside were shouting. Snake fired twice more with the Beretta, trying to keep them from reaching the elevator in time. The doors had nearly closed completely when the muzzle of an AK 47, along with an arm, shot through.
The soldier outside opened fire for all he was worth. Snake crouched again, covering himself against the doors, and hit the gun and the hand holding it with the strongest punch he could give. There was a yell of pain and the AK was dropped, but the soldier pushed forward and started to push the doors back, getting half inside the elevator. Snake aimed for his head and fired once, but the man's hand shot out and deviated the gun in the nick of time; and Snake couldn't fight back properly, since his own free hand was pushing desperately the lift's button again, urging it to work again and get him out of there before more soldiers broke inside.
The doors shut one moment after the enemy guard managed to fully get inside. The lift started to go up, with its two caged beasts inside. Snake fired again, to no effect. The guard had his handgun grabbed, and he bent Snake's arm easily - was he so out of shape that a random grunt could overpower him like this? - deviating the bullet and almost breaking Snake's wrist in the process. He twisted, now turning his back on Snake, but never letting go of the gun and the hand holding it. Snake yelled as the man bent his arm and wrist mercilessly; he fought back and received an elbow to the face in response.
Knowing he was about to lose a gun, a hand and his life, Snake went for his only other option. He jammed his left thumb deep inside the crevice between the back of the ear and the neck. The pressure point did its job; the guard shouted in utter pain and let go instinctively, placing a hand over his throbbing left ear. Taking a step back, Snake shot the guard with the Beretta; but the daze caused by the elbow to the face and his still unsteady hand caused the bullet to go wide for a few inches, missing at point blank. Was he really so out of shape?
Seizing the opportunity, the guard lunged forward and tackled him. Snake hit the wall behind him with the force of a battering ram. Air exploded out of his lungs, and the back of his head was hit so hard that he almost lost consciousness. It took him a moment to register where he was; luckily for him, his body had moved on instinct and was now elbowing the guard's neck on its own. But instead of passing out, the soldier pinned him to the wall and punched him in the face. Then he started to throttle him with both hands.
But even in his condition, Snake was sharp enough to know that with his enemy's latest blunder, he had already won the fight. Lifting his right arm high, Snake pushed down with his elbow with a mighty effort, releasing himself from the choke. The soldier was destabilized, his arms still partly outstretched as Snake had known would happen, giving him ample time to grab a wrist and bend it clockwise almost to the breaking point; the enemy guard pushed back, and Snake let him go without a warning, again making him lose balance and fall right into Snake's own chokehold, executed from behind. With his arms forming a triangle around the guard's neck, Snake pressed hard, refusing to let go until his enemy went limp.
And now what? He was trapped inside the elevator, as the metallic cage went upwards into a certainly guarded lobby, filled with men armed to the teeth, waiting for him to come out. And Snake was certain they had complete control over the lift, so trying to head to a different floor was out of the question.
It was the most alive Solid Snake had felt in months. And most of him hated that fact.
He had no time to spare, and therefore he didn't waste it by hesitating. Searching the unconscious soldier, Snake found two grenades. Quickly storing them in a pouch next to his belt, Snake looked up and jumped for the emergency exit placed on the roof of the elevator, four feet above him. Hanging from a handle next to the emergency hatch, Snake pushed it up and climbed to the roof of the lift with a mighty effort of his arms.
He had climbed in the nick of time, as the lift came to a halt right then, and its doors opened to a hail of gunfire that came from outside.
'Shoot first, think later,' Snake mused 'They didn't care much if there were any comrades inside. The next floor is twelve feet up. I hope I can climb fast enough.' But he left the enemy a parting gift, as he dropped the grenades inside the elevator before shutting the trapdoor up.
Three seconds passed and a shattering explosion thundered beneath him. Already reaching the next floor, climbing through the shaft, Snake had to hold fast to the lift's wires to avoid falling off. A series of loud yells, screams and shouts ensued beneath; it seemed his trick had been effective. Climbing the last two feet, Snake faced the shut doors of ground floor. It was no easy task to pry them open with just his left hand while hanging in the shaft, also being unaware of what awaited him on the other side. But Snake pushed, and the doors relented enough to let him pass through.
He entered a large hangar with a high ceiling and tall catwalks above, filled with vehicles and containers. And there was a soldier in front of him, making a double-take with wide eyes.
"What the...!" the man only got to say before Snake shot him between his eyebrows. Acting fast, Snake hid the corpse next to a container, hoping that no one would notice it before he managed to get away.
The base was immersed in utter mayhem. Alarms were blazing, men were shouting and running, scientists were trying to get to the B-5 level to salvage the Gear, and soldiers were heading to the B-1 floor to wipe out the intruder that had caused so much damage. Snake slithered past, using a set of stairs that led to the upper catwalks to hide when a heavily armed strike team rushed to the stairs that led to B-1.
'AKs-74Us, SPAS 12 shotguns, infrared goggles, grenades, and body armor... these guys aren't messing around. Better to get out of here while the confusion lasts.' A quick peek around was enough to learn what he needed to know; there were two exits, one a large armoured gate that led west, and a smaller one south.
Using the chaos to his advantage, Snake made his way through the hangar. There were plenty of hiding spots, between jeeps, trucks, BTRs and even two T-90 Main Battle Tanks, to the spy's surprise. The loud shrill of the alarms drowned all other sounds; Snake didn't even bother to avoid making noises. He headed for the smaller southern exit, bending low to steer clear of enemy sightlines while running between rows of jeeps.
"Over here! Weapons ready!" a loud voice ordered nearby. The sound of many footsteps could be heard, even with the constant sound of the alarms. A second, larger strike team was coming close, moving through the jeeps and heading for the elevator doors of the hangar "Level B-1 is empty! The intruder is trying to get into this floor! We'll stop him at any cost!"
"Damn!" Snake hissed, jumping under a jeep just before the commandos came into view. He could only see their boots as they sped by, intent on securing the elevator. 'And then they'll seal all the exits, leaving me trapped here. I need to act now!' But much to his chagrin, two men had remained behind, watching over the jeeps, high on guard and ready to act fast. And from his prone position under the jeep, Snake didn't have much range of movement, let alone a way to take the two soldiers out without anyone noticing it.
'Crap,' Snake cursed between clenched teeth. He took in his surroundings with a practical glance 'The next row of jeeps is twelve feet left. It'll take me three seconds to get there without standing up; not enough to go unnoticed with these grunts nearby.' Moving on to the next jeep in the same row was out of the question, since one of the soldiers was standing between the two.
"Over here!" a voice called out from behind "I found somebody!"
"Bastard! He got someone!"
"What!?"
The two soldiers standing nearby turned around, trying to look better from their position. Snake didn't hesitate. He rolled left, covering the twelve feet separating him from the next row of jeeps in exactly three seconds, just fast enough to get under one of the cars before one of the soldiers turned his head around. Moving fast, Snake left the underside of the jeep and crouched next to it, using it as cover from enemy sight.
Now that he could move without being seen, Snake moved for the southern door. It was close, and the enemy soldiers weren't guarding it well enough, probably still confident that the intruder had been trapped near the lifts. He sprinted, as fast as he could, not trying to conceal himself any further. If someone turned around, he was dead. The gamble was that no one would.
He reached the doors; no cries of alert were heard.
A small corridor lay on the other side. There was a man in there, keeping guard. He was so surprised at the sight of Snake that he didn't react fast enough to avoid getting punched in the temple. Still running, filled with adrenaline, Snake moved past the unconscious man, Beretta ready. The corridor led to a small staircase that led 'Outside!' he gasped with relief. But another corridor nearby also led to the staircase, and there was another sentry in there.
The soldier reacted fast, bringing up his MP5 submachine gun. Snake reacted faster and shot him in the head.
After making his way up the staircase, Snake found himself outdoors at last. The base was in a frenzy of activity; whole platoons of soldiers were rushing to the main building to lock it down, scientists were fleeing, maintenance crews were desperately loading gear into trucks, and the searchlights were sweeping the base up and down.
Spotting a truck nearby, Snake took advantage of the confusion and jumped on its back. Just a moment later, a soldier loaded one last crate, and the truck rumbled as it left the base.
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X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X A Suicide Mission, Part II
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X A Suicide Mission, Part II
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Ever since Snake had detonated the explosives, activity in the base had turned to pandemonium. Otacon could hear it from the truck, even though he was almost a mile away. He could hear many vehicles leaving the compound, evacuating in the face of sabotage; it seemed no one wanted any valuable equipment in the base to be exposed to attack before they caught the intruder. Otacon could also hear the shouts of the soldiers, as they guided the vehicles away, and called for reinforcements from men in the area surrounding the base.
He was terrified. Not only for Snake, whose last call had been nothing but desperate. Otacon himself was on the line this time; should one of the soldiers spot the truck, only partially hidden in the slope, he would be as good as dead. The possibility left him numb with dread. And if Snake was captured, then what could Otacon do? He was just an engineer, a civilian with no combat training whatsoever. And what he and Snake had done was so illegal that there was no way to get him out by diplomatic means. Otacon was starting to understand the kind of strain units such as FOXHOUND had to live with.
'Is this how you felt every time you risked your life... Wolf?' he wondered silently.
"Over here!" a voice cried.
"What is it?" another answered.
"There's a truck down there!"
Otacon turned completely white. The anguish he felt made his stomach turn and feel as if it weighted a hundred pounds. He started to tremble. The two soldiers were approaching, calling out to whoever was inside the truck, assessing whether it was a friend or foe. But Otacon was too scared to try and pretend to be a part of their unit. Even if he had the presence of mind to try, his trembling and shaky voice would give him away in an instant.
"Is there someone there?" one of the soldiers called out.
'What do I do, what do I do?!' Otacon thought furiously, desperately 'Oh god, please don't let this happen to me! Lord, what do I do!?'
"If there's someone in there, come out with your hands in the air!"
What could he do!? He was stuck inside the back of a truck, next to a computer and a laptop that showed a satellite image of the base that had just been sabotaged. They could trace the codec calls to Snake if they got the chance to look at the computers. There was no time to drive away, and even then the alarm would be on and Otacon would get caught. There was a spare gun, a Walther .22 Snake had left just in case, but Otacon didn't know how to use it, and he wouldn't dare to try to kill a man. So there was nothing he could do. Taking deep breaths, Otacon stood up as best as he could in the back of the truck, and waited for the inevitable.
Solid Snake jumped inside.
"What the- Snake!" Otacon cried out, relief and surprise mixed in his voice.
"I hid the bodies," Snake replied as a way of saying 'hello' "No one saw me. We need to get out of here, now."
"I-uhm-yes!" Otacon was at a loss "Already on it!"
The truck rumbled as its engine came back to life "What are you doing, Snake?" Otacon asked, seeing his partner strip out of his sneaking suit.
"I grabbed one of their uniforms," Snake said curtly, already changing "It could give us some cover. Get us out of here, Otacon! Try to climb to the road."
Climbing the muddy, treacherous slope was a challenge Otacon wasn't sure he could handle, but he gave it his best anyway. The rain had stopped a while ago, and the otaku enjoyed some good visibility that wasn't there before. The truck fumbled its way up to the road without any major inconveniences, and Otacon felt a surge of pride at what he had done. Luckily for them, the vehicles now leaving the base were still too far to see their truck appearing from nowhere.
There was a convoy just ahead, and Otacon hurried to catch up with it.
"Well done," Snake said, seating next to him. He was wearing an enemy uniform now, complete with a balaclava. "Keep your fake ID handy, Otacon. There's a checkpoint ahead."
"Oh, no..." Otacon almost moaned, but complied nonetheless. They approached the checkpoint; the convoy stopped as the vehicles were inspected one by one, before being allowed to pass. Otacon was breathing fast, but his nerves held out well enough as their turn came.
"Show me your ID," an armed soldier demanded, flashing a light into Otacon's face. The geek complied, and the guard examined both the card and the man. He seemed harmless enough. The soldier peeked at Snake, riding shotgun. Disguised as a guard, Snake subtly nodded at him. The guard handed Otacon his ID back, and motioned for them to go on.
The truck jumped forward as Otacon hit the gas a little harder than he should have. The two men exchanged a look as they slowly but surely left the checkpoint behind.
"Slow down," Snake said after a few minutes, unfolding a map "Let the convoy get ahead of us. We should reach another road in a couple of minutes. When we do, make a left turn. It'll lead us near the border with Sudan. We can cross with our IDs and get back to the States from there."
Following Snake's instructions proved to be shockingly simple. Otacon let the convoy get a head start, and turned left at the right place. No one saw them, no alarms were raised, and nothing unexpected happened.
They had escaped.
They had prevailed.
"We're clear, right?" Otacon asked, staring forward.
"We sure are," Snake said, smiling. Otacon felt like smiling, too "Those idiots must be wondering what the hell just happened," Snake said, chuckling. Otacon joined him, and soon the chuckles gave way to unrestrained laughter. It took them a long time to stop.
The laughter died down, and both men were left in silence, still shaking their heads in amazement, disbelief, and glee.
"My god, we really did it..." Otacon whispered, noticing his hands trembling "We really did it, Snake."
"David."
"Huh?" Otacon asked, turning to look at his partner.
"My real name is David, Otacon," Snake said. He had a far-away look on his eyes "Call me like that when we're not on a mission. I'm a person, not just a codename."
"I like the sound of that, David," Otacon smiled "Well... you already know my name's Hal, right? So..."
"Hal and Dave. Maybe we should take a trip to Jupiter," David chuckled. Otacon joined him. What a strange partnership theirs was! The geek would have never believed it would work. But here they were, driving off into the night, having completed their very first mission together, having taken the first step towards a better world. Even the crushing guilt that haunted Otacon day and night seemed to have receded a little.
Hal Emmerich allowed himself to feel good about himself for the first time in months.
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X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X A Suicide Mission, Part II
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X A Suicide Mission, Part II
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Deadly to the point of legend, expert in espionage and black operations, mercenary and above all that one of the world's most wanted men, Revolver Ocelot was just like any other man in the sense that he hated being disturbed during his leisure time. But unlike them, his reaction was far more forceful; the glass he'd been holding in his hand flew off, smashing against the left wall of the small plane he was in, currently flying above Estonia. Ocelot took a moment to calm himself; his harsh reaction was more than justified, he thought, since this was his first time to relax in two months, and those idiots in Basthur had just chosen that precise moment to call him, probably because another part of their REX wasn't functioning as they expected.
'And they'll be blaming the blueprints I gave them, instead of double checking the way they install the components,' Ocelot thought with a bitter sigh 'I really need to kill all my links with people when I try to rest.' But that was wishful thinking, and he knew it. Men like Ocelot couldn't afford to be out the loop, not even for a moment.
He picked up his phone, and accepted the incoming call.
"It's me."
"Of course it is a secure line."
"What!?"
"How could that happen?"
"A single operative..."
"No, I don't know who could have done it."
"Is there anything salvageable?"
"Well, that's too bad for you."
"Sorry comrade, you don't have insurance against spies; if you want the specifications to build REX again, you'll have to pay again. Better luck next time."
"Do svidaniya."
Ocelot hung up with a snort. 'Those fools,' he thought 'Did they really think they could build a Metal Gear without having people from all over the world targeting them?' But he couldn't help a nagging sensation on the back of his head, as if something were out of place and he couldn't quite pinpoint what. It hadn't been a strike team or a joint task force that had taken out the REX, but rather a single operative that had infiltrated the base and sabotaged it without being discovered. 'Now that takes skill, and guts,' Ocelot mused as he helped himself to another glass of wine. How many people in the world were able to pull off such stunts? Ocelot kept tabs on every operative that good, and none of them had gotten even close to North Africa in the past month.
The Russian suddenly frowned.
Could it be... him? The idea was ridiculous. Solid Snake was in still in Alaska, probably drinking too much. What did he care if another REX was being built in a country he probably had never heard of?
But Revolver Ocelot hadn't survived the Cold War by being lazy. Men like him were thorough, because that was the only way to stay alive in their world. Frowning, Ocelot dialed a number on his phone. He needed to check up on where the hell Solid Snake was, and start to make plans accordingly.
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Author Notes 2: Cliffhanger solved, and business done! Solid Snake and Hal Emmerich have officially destroyed their first Metal Gear. Also, this was the first time to involve heavy action scenes, which I hope you found good and fun.
As usual, your feedback and thoughts are most welcome and I'd be delighted to read them. You'll be seeing the following episode one month from now as usual, with Snake, Otacon, Nastasha and others. Until then, have a good time!
