Thanks for waiting, and i can not stress this enough. I DO NOT OWN the metal gear franchise, KONAMI does people and thats all
_ Black PitBull
ELIJAH (GHOST)
At first it was just the six mercenaries he had to deal with, but now, now he had to worry about these three new distractions he knew nothing about. And even though he didn't show it, Elijah was a bit intrigued by the trio. Luckily that only lasted for about thirty seconds at the most. Pushing that aside, he returned his focus on the matter at hand; getting him and Erin out of the current predicament they were in. But as he looked at the nine individuals standing within the room, he was beginning to think that attempting to escape this mess with Erin was an option that was slowly dying.
"Well, that explains why you and your men are after him. But…" Erin told Solid Snake as she stood from her seat. Turning her head, she looked towards the trio of girls. "That still leaves you three." She told them. "Why are you after him? And me? And how the heck could you three know us when we have never met before? It doesn't make any sense."
Before Screaming Mantis could answer, Raging Raven and Laughing Octopus quickly rush over to the amber-eyed teen, flanking her from both sides. Grabbing her arms tightly, the two roughly push her back down into the chair. While they held her down, keeping her in place, Mantis stepped forward and stood in front of Erin, staring her down.
"This is how I know." Mantis spoke before jabbing her index and middle fingers into Erin's temples. Erin looked fine for a few seconds before she slumped over in her seat, unconscious.
"What the hell was that?!" Christian (Ethan) exclaimed as he stood there watching. "What the heck did you do to her?"
"I'm doing exactly what I said I would." Mantis answered in her monotonous voice as she turned to look at him. "I'm unlocking her memories."
ERIN (WOLF)
Subconscious….
Once again, for the second time that day (or night), Erin found herself standing within the center of a dark abyss. There was no beginning, no end, nothing. After looking around for the umpteenth time, she suddenly spots something white in the distance. It seemed miniscule at first, but at a steadily pace, it started becoming bigger and brighter. She could only assume it was a light of some sort. After staring at the light for about a minute or so, she felt herself being pulled by an invisible force. She wasn't sure what was causing this strange phenomenon, but she quickly noticed that it was pulling her straight towards the bright ominous light.
Of course, Erin heard the expression "don't go into the light" many times and didn't want to go near the strange white light for that very reason. She wanted to live. But as the force continued to pull on her, it would stop only to start once more. And she wasn't sure if it was her mind playing tricks on her, but she could have sworn that the force was growing stronger with each pause. In order to keep herself from entering the light, all Erin could do was attempt to sink her heels into the ground, but that wasn't helping at all. And thanks to that attempt, Erin somehow lost her footing and ended up falling back first to the surprisingly hard ground below her.
Now, she found herself being dragged along the nonexistent ground. As she continued to claw at the ground, hoping to at least slow herself down, she glanced over her shoulder to find the white dot behind her was ten times bigger than it was a second ago. Eventually, the white light engulfed Erin, blinding her in the process. With her eyes closed firmly, Erin had only her remaining four senses at her disposal. But when she tried to sense things through hearing, all she was met with was silence, a maddening dead silence that surrounded her. Then suddenly, a high pitch cry echoed through her ears. One that a baby would no doubt make. It took her a moment before she realized that the one creating the high pitch wail was her. And she didn't calm down until she was gently placed into someone's arms.
Taking a chance, Erin opened her eyes to find a beautiful set of deep brown eyes staring lovingly down at her. As the eyes pulled away from her, Erin found the eyes belonged to a delicate but angular face of a young woman. And the first thought that quickly came to her was this woman was her mother. She was sure of it.
"Welcome to the world, my little Ashia." Her mother said to her.
Ashia? Ashia meant hope… and that was her name? Her actual name. And all this time, she thought Erin was the one and only name she had. She couldn't help but to feel a bit confused about this. She even wondered if Mantis had something to do with her witnessing what was happening at this very moment when she jabbed her in the sides of her head. And seeing that there was literally no way out of this, she assumed that all she could do was to wait and see what would happen next.
As time ticked by, Ashia (Erin) went through several years of her life. Day by day, hour by hour, she was literally reliving her life one moment at a time. Throughout this life journey, she found that she did have a family one point in her life. One who loved her unconditionally and with all of their hearts. She could recall every single moment she spent with them in vivid detail. It was amazing that all this time, her mind was holding so much information about herself. And she found out some very interesting information (in her opinion).
Like for instance. At the young age of 3, she could walk and trot around without falling or having to use someone or something as a crutch to keep herself up. By age 6, she could speak whole sentences very clearly, which came in handy. After all, she was a part of a family of five. And the small town she lived in, it was a place where everyone practically knew everyone. By the time she turned eleven, she could travel through the fields if she wanted. She would usually find herself playing with the other girls her age. But it was a bit strange because most girls her age played with homemade dolls and/or flowers. Ashia on the other hand was a little more tomboyish to say the least.
One day, while out playing with her friends, she spotted a lone boy standing in the fields. For some odd reason, he was starring at her and her friends as they ran around. Pausing, she turned to call out to him. The action caused her friends to stop with one of them asking Ashia who she was talking to. Ashia quickly turned back towards them, explaining to them that there was a boy standing in the tall grass. They all just gave her a strange look while telling her that no one was there. Looking back, Ashia soon found that the boy she spotted was nowhere in sight. It was as if he had vanished without a trace, but she knew what she saw.
The following day, she wanted to prove to her friends that she did see someone. So she set out towards the fields in search of the boy. The tall grass was about as tall as she was, causing her difficulty finding anyone, or anything, within it. After awhile, she finally decided to give up on her search and head back home. As she turned herself around, she found herself freezing in her steps when she heard a voice come out of nowhere. Glancing around, she didn't see anyone around.
"Je, si hoja… (Don't move…)" the voice stated in a low tone.
Feeling herself starting to panic, Ashia immediately started looking around and stopped when she spotted a pair of large yellow eyes staring her down. It was a lioness, and it was stalking her. Ashia soon felt an overwhelming fear appear in the middle of her chest. She knew there was no way she could fight off or out run a lioness. Moving slowly, she started to back away, hoping that there was a slim chance she could get away. But as she did so, she mistakenly stepped onto a stick that was lying on the ground. The twig snapped, causing the lioness to lunge forward. Before she knew it, the lioness had already closed the gap in between them. The wild cat pounced, aiming to rip Ashia to shreds. But the large cat was suddenly knocked off course by the very boy she was looking for.
There was a scuffle between the two as large claws and bladed weapons flew through the air. In the end, the boy was somehow able to kill the large cat, thanks to a well timed thrust of his weapon when the lioness lunged for his throat. Ashia just sat there on the flattened grass, awestruck, as the boy returned to his feet. After witnessing such and seeing the boy was nearly covered in the animal's blood, caused her to start hyperventilating. As the boy turned to face her, Ashia saw a look of shock on his face. As she tried to figure out what he was looking at, she too started to look around and what she saw shocked her as well. She noticed small sparks surrounding her fingertips while small geographic items, such as rocks, twigs, and clumps of dirt, floated around her.
Before she could freak out, the young boy before her told her to calm down and take a deep breath before she lost the little control she currently had. After doing what he said, the small sparks disappeared and the floating items that were circling her dropped to the ground. Once she was in a much calmer state, the boy explained that she had somehow triggered her hidden abilities. Electrokinesis and Telekinesis is what he referred to them as. After snapping herself out of her trance-like state, Ashia noticed that the boy was in fact Elijah, but younger. Younger than when she saw him in the dream she had not long ago.
But when she asked him for his name, he replied with Darkarai, which meant happiness. Ashia (Erin) could only assume that just like her, he too had a name before the one he was currently using. That had to be it. As she sat there, she watched as Darkarai (Elijah) ripped the remaining strands off his shirt off and used them as makeshift bandages. After Ashia helped him, Darkarai gave her a black stone that was attached to a single black string. He explained that while she wore this item, it would help keep her powers under control until she was able to do so on her own. Before he left, he told her to meet him here tomorrow if she wanted to learn.
The next day, Ashia did just that and met Darkarai at the same spot. He was successfully able to teach her the bare minimum of using both her power of electrokinesis and telekinesis. Since he couldn't use her power for her, it was all he could do. The rest would be up to her. After the lesson, the two just sat in the grass and talked to one another about mundane things. It was mostly one-sided on Ashia's part since Darkarai wasn't much of a talker. But this soon became a daily routine for both Ashia and Darkarai as it went on for months. They would meet up at the exact same time, sometimes at different places, but they would train and talk afterwards. And eventually, Ashia was able to get him to speak a few times.
It looked like things were going well until one fateful day…..
It was like any other afternoon. Ashia and Darkarai were sitting out in the fields, talking like they always did. When out of nowhere, the sound of gunshots mixed with screams of pure terror echoed through the air. Hearing the noises, Ashia feared that they were coming from her village. Forgetting about her friend, she jumped to her feet and rushed back home. Of course, Darkarai tried to stop her, but his calls fell upon deaf ears. When Ashia got back to her village, she found homes burning to the ground as villagers (both young and old) ran blindly through the streets. All they were worrying about was finding a way to escape the disaster. Many of them were either dealing with minor injuries while other had more severe ones.
As she made her way through the burning village, she saw a couple of rebels literally drag an old man from out of his home and put a bullet in his head without a second thought. Turning her head from the scene, she continued moving. She eventually made it back and to her relief, she found her home untouched. With the exception of the broken door, it looked fine. As she entered the settlement, Ashia heard her younger brother crying in one of the back rooms. Rushing straight towards the room, she found her brother lying in a hammock, unharmed.
As soon as he realized that he was in the arms of his older sister, the young boy stopped crying. Ashia was about to make a run for it when the sound of struggling and muffled screaming caught her attention. Quietly looking around, she saw the door to the room she and her older sister shared had been broken into. Peeping through the slightly cracked door, she saw a sight that she would never forget. Ashia's older sister was being violated by a large rebel while the other held her down, attempting to tie a piece of cloth around her mouth. Letting out a full on scream, she alerted the two men of her presence. The one that was holding her sister captive was the first to lunge for her. But the moment he touched her, he found himself falling flat on his back, cringing in pain. Ashia had intentionally shocked the man with a strong electrical current.
The other rebel looked back in shock, giving Ashia's older sister a chance to remove the gag and tell her to run. Just as she turned to do so, the man grabbed his gun and started firing off shots, only to miss the first few. Ashia ran away, not daring to look back, as bullets flew pass and over her head. When she made it outside, she found herself not only running through streets littered with flames, but she had to avoid explosions from left and right. Running straight into the fields, she started calling out to Darkarai. Unfortunately he never answered back. There was no way she could stop and search for him, especially not with a truck load of rebels chasing her and the other villagers who decided to take the same route she was using.
Thanks to the enemy's gunfire, the villagers were being mowed down all around Ashia, but they were missing her and her younger brother completely. Ashia continued to run but stopped when a truck cut her off. The group of men quickly exited the vehicle and stood before her, blocking her way. The leader of the group ordered her to drop the child and come with them. Ashia just shook her head, telling him and the others that she wasn't going to do such a thing. Seeing that the brat wasn't going to comply with his orders, the leader lifted his gun, causing the others to follow suit. Then without hesitation, they all opened fired on Ashia and her brother. Flinching, Ashia closed her eyes, slightly tightening her grip around her brother as she waited for death. But it never came.
Instead, Ashia soon heard cries of pain that were stopped as soon as they started. Carefully looking up, Ashia found the group of rebels lying on the ground, dead. Seeing the carnage before her, Ashia quickly turned on her heels and ran away. She ran for hours, not wanting to stop in fear of another group of rebels appearing to seek vengeance for their fallen brothers. She soon found herself entering a marshy swamp. Nearly running straight into a camp, Ashia changed directions and kept moving until she came up to a strange tree. Across from it stood a small shack. Hearing a group of men heading her way, she ducked into the shack, hoping she would avoid whoever she heard. Inside, she found the shack armed to the teeth with different styles of knives, causing her to ponder if hiding there was such a good idea.
Looking around, she finally decided on taking a black machete that was hanging on one of the walls. With the weapon in hand, she quickly ran over to the door and hid behind it. As the group inched closer to her location, her little brother suddenly began to cry. Using the crook of her arm, she was able to muffle her brother's crying. It proved to be unsuccessful as the rebels had heard the cry long enough to pinpoint where it was coming from. Ashia could hear them just behind the door, but before the door opened, a war cry sounded, followed by the sound of someone unleashing a hailstorm of bullets in the distance.
Forgetting all about the baby's cry, the men headed straight towards the sound of gunfire. Allowing her tensed muscles too relax, Ashia released her hold of her brother and quickly noticed that he wasn't breathing. Panicking, she quickly started to perform CPR but sadly it didn't help. She had inadvertently suffocated her little brother. Pulling her brother's lifeless body towards her, she just sat there as tears began to fall freely from her eyes. She wasn't sure if her older sister was able to escape or not. And because of that, she felt that she had just killed her last surviving relatively. And now, now she was all alone. She just sat there for hours, not moving, not making a sound.
After burying her brother's body at the foot of the strange tree, Ashia grabbed the machete and headed northeast. She was sure that there were still refugee camps somewhere in that direction. As she trekked through multiple swamps, Ashia felt herself being watched from the shadows. Large eyes just stared her down as she moved. She even felt them staring her down as she slept. She felt as if they were watching her every move. It wasn't until she reached a refugee camp that her "watchers" finally showed themselves. Ashia couldn't sleep with the small children and their nonstop crying. Their shrill wails would always remind her of the little boy that was her brother. The following morning, Ashia swore that the watchers were responsible for permanently silencing each child that cried the night before. But the blood on her hands told the people otherwise. After every child in the refugee camp was slaughtered, the camp exiled Ashia to a mysterious military group that came to visit that same day.
There, Ashia met a strange man who was simply known as Vamp. Right then and there, Vamp took her in and back to his camp. That's when he introduced her to three other young girls who were in a similar predicament.
At first, the four girls couldn't communicate with each other since they didn't know each other's language. But after some time, the four of them knew five tongues. With the time they spent together, they would share their own personal stories of suffering and pain with one another. They soon became closer to one another, and eventually, they were looking at each other as sisters. As time passed, Ashia was soon given the codename, Crying Wolf, along with a suit to complete her transformation from a beauty to a beast. The other girls were also given their own codenames and suits as well. And even though she never considered herself human at that point, she decided to forever be saddened by the memory of her deceased brother.
One day, their leader, Ocelot, gave the group the goal to search and kill an individual known to everyone as Solid Snake. He told them that this was their chance to cleanse themselves of their sins with his blood. After going through several trails, Ashia finally got her chance to fight Snake in the frozen tundra that was Shadow Moses. And just like her sisters, she too failed her mission. Because of this, she was saved from the "watchers" that plagued her mind since her brother's death. Her sisters soon found her and they all decided to leave Ocelot's revolution in favor of freedom. Their freedom to be exact.
ELIJAH (GHOST)
After knocking Erin into an unconscious state, Mantis stepped away as Raven and Octopus lifted their sister up out of the chair, carefully sitting her down onto a nearby couch. As they did so, Mantis stepped over to Ghost.
"You're next, Ghost." She told him as she stared him down with a piercing glare, as if she was looking into his very soul.
"Not so fast, beast!" Bear barked as he held up his gun, at point blank range, to the side of Mantis's face. Pushing the gun farther, he caused Mantis's head to turn slightly.
As Christian stepped forward, he stood there smiling. The sign of violence was amusing to him. He soon raised his own gun and aimed for Mantis as well. Despite the situation she found herself in, Mantis reached out for Ghost and performed the same action on him as she did to Erin.
Subconscious…
As Ghost delved into the darkness that surrounded him, he felt empty and hollow. But he soon found himself relaxing. To him, floating in the center of an abyss was peaceful. It was that way until a flash of light blinded him. His senses dulled but they gradually returned. When they did, he felt rain. Cold droplets were falling upon his bare, damaged skin. The feeling was faint, but he could still feel them. As he stood there, wherever he was, he didn't feel the urge to call himself Elijah. For at the exact moment, his true name was Darkarai. His name was an innuendo in many ways. It was menacing and yet it meant something so cheerful that it was the complete opposite of his life.
In fact, he had never felt happiness since the age of twelve, and that was nearly ten years ago. Now, all he felt in his heart was hate and animosity towards many living individuals on this continent known as Africa. As he stood there in the light rainfall, he suddenly felt a slight twinge as a soft hand landed lightly on his shoulder. Acting on pure instinct alone, he stepped back, retrieving one of his many blades. He swiftly turned to face the person who had the boldness to even attempt to strike him from behind. But who he saw made him freeze. It was a girl…. A girl who he knew. She was one of the new arrivals he had brought back to his campsite, which consisted of escaped slaves and servants. He had taught many of them how to defend themselves and only the strongest how to hunt.
As he continued to stare at the girl, he knew she looked familiar. She looked a lot like Erin, but he knew that that wasn't the girl's name. Sheathing his blade, he turned back towards the object he was paying his respects to. Before him stood a large Tamboti tree. From its branches hung hundreds maybe thousands of dog tags. On the base of the tree, several different styles of survival knives and blades could be seen embedding the large trunk. Over the years, Darkarai had been collecting these small pieces of metal as a form of retribution for the souls that clung to them. Remaining silent, the young girl stepped forward and stood before the small grave.
Darkarai had came here, for one reason or another, and had found a body buried there. The grave was shallow, so he unearthed the body and made the grave deeper. That way an animal wouldn't come up and mess with the body. He was surprised that an animal hadn't gotten to it before he did. And as a marker, he placed several white stones on top of the grave. As he stood there, the girl inched closer to the small grave and eventually dropped to her knees. After a few seconds, he could hear her speaking softly to the grave. It was as if she knew who laid there.
She first greeted the small child before telling him the sins she committed. Closing his eyes, Darkarai quieted the world around him as he focused on the voices of the dead. Moments later, he opened his eyes to see several ghostly figures, a family to be exact, watching over the young woman that sat on her knees. There was a father, who begged her to stop while the mother cried as she placed a hand on her shoulder. There was also an older brother who stood beside her and an older sister who stood there crying along with her mother. It was clear to see that the woman before him had someone looking out for her, even though she wasn't aware of their presences.
As he looked off to the side, he spotted another ghostly figure, one of a woman, who watched from a distance. She didn't look like she was part of the family, but she was watching over her none the less. As he pondered away at his thoughts, he kept trying to figure out the woman's name, however, her name, for some reason, eluded him. But after a few seconds longer, he finally remembered it. Her name was Ashia. As the once light rain slowly started to turn into a downpour, he stepped up towards the hysterical woman and watched her until she finally calmed herself down. As she regained her composure, she stood up and turned towards him.
"Je kumpa mazishi sahihi alistahili? (Did you give him the proper burial he deserved?)" Ashia asked him in a quiet tone.
He nodded yes as he wiped away the trail of tears the lingered down her face. He soon turned and walked into the jungle to find one of his many "pets".
As days turned into weeks and weeks into months, Darkarai noticed that Ashia seemed to have found an interest in him. However, he "sisters" told her not to get romantically involved with a killer like him. At first she listened, but that all changed when he himself became drawn to her. He would always catch himself watching over her. Of course, this angered some of the women who saw him as a god of some sort because he saved their lives. But the anger they had for the two did come close to what Screaming Mantis was feeling. In all honestly, Mantis couldn't stand it and she made sure that Ashia and Darkarai knew exactly how she felt. But unfortunately for Mantis, the two continued to show that they still had feelings for each other, and those feelings only grew over time. That's when Mantis decided to do something about it.
One day, while standing before his sacred Tamboti tree in silence, Rocie, otherwise known as Screaming Mantis, approached him and asked if he would join her and her sisters on their quest for a peaceful life. He refused, explaining to her that he still wanted the Nafsi Giza to pay for their crimes against him. And if that meant they had to pay with their blood, then so be it. Rocie naturally tried to get him to change his mind. That he had to have had enough bloodshed and that he had to draw the line somewhere. She even tried to use his tree to get her point across. She even tried explaining to him that if he wanted to be with her sister, he had to change his ways. She knew that doing what he's been doing for nearly ten years had to be enough. But once again, Darkarai refused, saying that it wasn't enough for him. That's when the South American turned on him.
Darkarai didn't have enough time to use one of his abilities to stop Rocie and soon found himself lying on the ground bleeding. Somehow, Rocie was able to catch him off guard. And before he could do anything, she quickly locked away all of his memories, along with those of her and her three sisters, especially Wolf.
ROCIE (SCREAMING MANTIS)
After knocking Ghost out, the South American looked to her left to find the gun still pressed to the side of her head. The ginger G.I. took her by the arm and tossed to the floor. But before the situation could break out into a full on fight, the sound of someone sobbing could be heard within the room. Looking in the general area, everyone found that the sobbing was coming from Crying Wolf. She was crying in her "sleep".
"What did you do to her?" the ginger-haired male asked her in a harsh tone.
"I told you already. I unlocked her memories." Mantis stated coolly. "As we speak, she's probably reliving her entire life, from birth up to now. Each year that passes through her mind will be in full clarity. That also includes the physical and emotional turmoil she had to endure. And seeing that she's sobbing right now, I would say she must be at that time of her life when she lost her younger brother."
"Heh, then it's only a matter of time before Ghost wakes up. Between him and Wolf, the idiot doesn't have much to remember." Laughing Octopus explained in an amused tone.
"You idiot! Can't you be serious for once?!" Raging Raven growled as she moved closer to Mantis, standing before her in a protective manner.
"Exactly, what's about to happen when he wakes up?" Solid Snake asked as he glanced over at Ghost with a suspicious look.
Before anyone could answer the veteran mercenary's question, the air around them started to feel as if a furnace was sitting in the middle of the room. In an instant, everyone looked over to Ghost, who was currently fighting against his restraints. The ginger-haired G.I. and the blonde-haired teenager quickly drew their respective firearms and aimed them straight at Ghost. Breaking his restraints, Ghost dropped to his feet. The African descendant grabbed a hold of both the USP .45 and the revolver and pushed the two to the ground with ease. He then forced the guns to discharge before ripping them out of their hands. As soon as he had their weapons, he pistol whipped the two hard in their faces.
Both males were caught off guard as Ghost elbowed the blonde in the side of his face. He then grabbed the ginger by the neck and slammed his head into the pull-up bar. After stepping away from the melted metal that once kept his legs locked in place, the enraged African directed his attention onto Mantis and proceeded to approach her. With the look of murder in his eyes, Snake fired off a few tranquilizer rounds. But instead of hitting their mark, they somehow stopped in midair and just fell to the floor. Just then, another teenage boy jumped out of the shadows. He stood before Ghost, armed with Akimbo handguns.
"Flame! Don't get near him!" Solid Snake warned, but it was too late for the fighter to react.
Ghost stopped the guns by grabbing a hold of them and pulling them skyward. Ghost looked deeply into terror filled eyes before the male dropped the guns entirely. The guns' structure soon became melted plastic and stinging hot metal before Ghost dropped them to the ground. Quickly grabbing the fighter up by the chest, Ghost slammed him into the coffee table, smashing the furniture into pieces. With that, another blonde fighter lunge forward and caught Ghost, placing him into a chokehold. Ghost just pulled his hands back and clamped them around the fighter's head. Small kindles flared, causing the blonde to back away as they held their head in pain.
Snake had caught up to his side and held out the skinny gun, aiming the weapon at point blank range. Ghost jus shifted his head to the side a little and ended up knocking the side of his head right into the older man. Snake recovered quickly but soon found himself being thrown in the same direction as the second blonde who was thrown over Ghost's shoulder. Turning back towards Screaming Mantis, Ghost stormed over to her. As he did, the man who crashed into the coffee table grabbed his weapon and started firing. At least three shots struck Ghost, but the remaining shots just fell to the floor. It seemed that gunshots weren't going to stop him.
Both Raven and Octopus stepped forward to stop Ghost, but he easily swatted them away like gnats. As soon as he reached Mantis, he caught her by the collar of her shirt and threw her against the concrete wall, pinning her there. Mantis drew a knife out of reflex, but Ghost was able to slam the hilt of the blade right into her face, dazing her. After snatching the large blade out of Mantis's grasp, Ghost brought the blade up and held it up to her throat.
"Kutosha ya michezo hii. Muda kwa ajili ya wewe kufa. (Enough of these games. Time for you to die.)" Ghost growled into her face as he pulled the blade back.
Closing her eyes, Mantis waited for Ghost to slash her throat, killing her in an instant. However, it never came. With caution, Mantis opened her eyes to find Ghost struggling to pull the blade forward. It looked at if he couldn't pull it off. But when she glanced over at his arm, she found his blood vessels pulsating as if he was really trying to finish her off. It actually looked as if something was holding him back.
"I desturi basi wewe. (I won't let you)" stated a calm, goddess-like voice.
Looking over Ghost's shoulder, Mantis spotted Wolf, wide awake, as she stood there with her hand outstretched towards her and Ghost. With a slight movement from her eyes, the enraged teenager dropped the knife as he released his hold of Mantis. He was then lifted up off the ground and placed gently on the nearby couch. As soon as Ghost touched the couch, it immediately started to burn, indicating that he was beyond pissed off at the moment.
"Roho, najua wewe ni pissed, lakini unaweza to kushikia yangu nje? (Ghost, I know you're pissed, but can you just hear me out?)" Wolf asked him.
To answer her question, Ghost calmed himself down, dowsing out the flames. Once she was sure that Ghost had calmed himself down, Wolf explained to him that Mantis wasn't trying to kill him. The truth was that she didn't want any loose ends that could result in her becoming a mercenary again. Wolf knew how far Mantis was willing to go in order to make a peaceful life. She even showed him her own mark of being "betrayed" by her sister. He was a little surprised to see that she had a bullet wound next to her heart.
Although he had two, it made no difference because they both went through similar experiences of almost dying from a bullet to the heart. And not only that, but she had her memories locked away just as he did, by the same individual no less. They were both left there to pick of whatever pieces were left. With that, Ghost finally calmed down and stopped trying to kill off the South American. But he made sure she knew that he didn't trust her and was never going to. As Ghost and Wolf continued to stare down Mantis, Raven and Octopus, Snake and his team were picking themselves up. Noticing the group, Wolf looked over to who she assumed was the leader.
"So Snake, mind telling us the real reason why you want Ghost to join your little group there?" Wolf asked in a calm yet stern tone.
"I'll explain everything." A new voice answered.
The lights were suddenly flipped on, causing everyone turned to see a man standing beside the wall with his finger still near the switch. The male soon revealed himself to be some kind of scientist named Otacon. As he approached the three groups, he stood closer to Snake and his team. Otacon soon explained that the OUTBREAK was an impending apocalypse. Apparently an organization known as Babylon had created and released some kind of "vaccine" to stop and/or cure cancer cells. Although Snake was unsuccessful in stopping the launch of the vaccine, he was able to obtain a sample of the serum months prior to the launch when he stumbled across one of the organization's forgotten facilities. Otacon soon took out a small machine that started illuminating pictures up along the wall before them.
He also explained that after conducting several tests, he had found that the vaccine infected the body instead of doing what was assumed it was created for. And as the infection continued to spread, it'll turn the blood supply black and cause the individual to fall into a comatose state for several months. Soon after, the body would start showing symptoms of a rash. Otacon explained that the rash would look more like the Shingles virus. Then once that occurs, the body would start shutting down as it sends its host into a series of seizures.
As Otacon continued to explain the situation, Wolf couldn't help to glance over at Ghost to see how he was reacting to the news. But as always, he held an unreadable look. One that was always present on his face. She just turned her attention back onto the scientist as he continued his explanation.
Otacon finished by telling them that once the heart stopped completely, the host would be dead for a minimum of ten minutes before it "came back to life". By that time, the person would no longer be living and was no longer considered to be human. He also added that the only way to eliminate such a target was a single gunshot to the head, which said that the virus was controlling the body through the brain. The last bit of information he added was that the living dead that they were going to be dealing with were nothing like those seen in movies or television shows.
Otacon was sure that Babylon's main objective is to use the disease in order to eliminate the entire human race. And it didn't make the situation any better knowing that the organization would be using Gekko and other machines to make the elimination process move faster. After the explanation was done and over with, Snake soon turned towards Ghost and asked him one final time if he would join the team and help them stop this outbreak. This time around, Ghost reluctantly agreed.
With that, Snake placed Ghost and Flame on a team together while the B&B Corps made another. Flame was a tanned individual with green eyes, broad shoulders, and a roguish look that stood at about five feet eight inches tall. When Ghost glanced over to look at Flame, he found them giving him a dark look. After a minute, he soon apologized to Flame, as well as Raven and Octopus. But it ended there. Everyone, with the exception of Snake and Raiden, just looked at him with either a surprised or confused look. But they just shrugged it off once they realized that what happened would be a onetime deal.
Snake soon added another individual to Ghost's group, a male who went by the name of Spider. Spider was a Russian to the bone and had a passion for the Red Army since he wore their signature facemask. The one he was currently wearing had an autumn forest camo design. And the last member added was none other than Christian. With the assigning of teams finished, the next order of business was assigning firepower to everyone. Before that could begin, Ghost walked over to his couch and pushed the burned couch back. He then grabbed a hold of the carpet and ripped it apart, revealing a latch that was attached to the wooden floor underneath.
Pulling on the latch, Ghost soon revealed a trapdoor that led to an underground cellar. After descending the metal ladder first, everyone soon followed suit. Once inside the room, Ghost flicked on a light, greeting his "teammates" with an arsenal that would make a general turn green with envy. The walls, shelves and tables within the room were covered with weapons of many kinds.
From handguns, SMG's and Assault Rifles, to light machine guns and explosives. Hell, he even had a small drone in the far left corner of the room. As everyone got themselves squared away, Christian just stood there, looking like a kid who got themselves lost in a candy store. Only this candy store contained hardware. Snake commented that they had more than enough firepower while Spider gave his respect to Ghost for having such a wide range of weaponry. After explaining a few other key notes to the platoon, Snake left with Raiden, Bear and Otacon to finish up the remaining preparations that needed to be met.
As Ghost took a couple handguns off the wall, he handed them to Flame, replacements for the ones he had destroyed earlier. He also made a comment that Flame should wear a better garment that would keep her… uhm…. err… assets from getting in the way. Nearly everyone in the room was surprised to find out that Flame was really a girl.
Thank you for reading, please don't forget to post a comment. I don't know what i have to fix or how good it is if my readers don't tell me thank and the next chapter like the last isn't due for a while now.
_Black Pitbull