Snake put down the papers after they finished reading them. An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
"Shit…" Fox muttered.
"To think things got so out of hand that even the gods were afraid!" Zelda pondered.
"Not only that, but to think how much smarter Crazy Hand was than we made him out to be." Wolf added.
"But it's not like Master Hand was an idiot. So how could he have not noticed this for so long until the problem showed itself right in his face?" Bayo asked.
"I can't really say it's surprising." Snake answered. "Master Hand was the head of Smash Brothers, basically an owner of a company. There were a lot of things he had on his mind at once. I doubt he had the time to catch on to the little hints that Crazy picked up on."
"Sounds reasonable." Link thought. "So where do we go from here?"
"Crazy said he was going to start making 'preparations'. I want to know what those preparations were. I'm thinking the other pages will tell us." Snake said.
"Alright but there's just one problem." Peach stepped in. "We don't know which factory he went to next, or even if he went to one. And if he did, we might not find the pages in order like we were able to this time. Our luck can't last forever."
"Maybe so, but the factories are the only lead we have right now so we might as well search them until we can't get anything else from it." Ike suggested. "Besides! Knowing how unpredictable the wasteland can be, a new lead may even turn up while we're searching."
"Yeah! And if we don't find the pages in order, I'm sure when we have them we can figure out the times of which they were written. Think of it as a puzzle Peachy." Bayo smiled.
"I like this optimism." Krystal chuckled.
"I do too." Snake grinned. "Okay. Tomorrow my team and I will head out to look for the other pages."
"If that's the case then you'll want this." Robin handed a map to Snake. "Rosalina and I did some digging and we pinpointed the locations of other factories." She explained.
"Thanks."
"Don't get too excited. All we know is the locations. We don't know what's actually there. There could be people, even creatures holed up in them, who might not give you a warm welcome." She warned. Then her serious look changed with a smile and a laugh. "Of course look who I'm talking to. You've been in these situations more times than one can count. I'm sure you'll be fine."
To the far-South of the capital, there was a ruined city under siege by Kremlins. All the surviving citizens barred themselves inside a building, hoping they could hold out long enough for the UR's forces to come save them. Things were looking very grim. Many of the other citizens had been slaughtered, men, women and children alike. And now the 30 survivors were holding out in the building with the door barricaded. But that barricade was slowly coming apart, as the crocodiles continued to smash and scratch their way through it. If that door broke, it was over. The people were not suited to defend themselves against six Kremlins. But then the sound of a gunshot went off outside, and a bullet blew the head off one of the crocs, with a rain a blood and brains following. The others ceased their assault and turned around to the shooter.
The shooter, a tall muscular man with blond hair and a red bandana wrapped around his forehead, holstered his rifle and approached the Kremlins. He wore a brown bomber jacket, green cargo pants with a camoflauge pattern, and black boots. In otherwards, he looked just another human to the Kremlins. But this human didn't appear to be scared in the slightest by them, as evident with him being the one approaching them.
"What is this?" One of the crocs asked.
"I didn't think you things could talk." The man said, a New York-accent in his voice. "But since you can I may as well try to reason with you."
The Kremlins looked at the man with murderous intent, growling and hissing as he came near.
"So I'm going to ask you to leave. This isn't your town. You don't belong here. Leave now while you can."
"Fuck you! Kill him!" One of the Kremlins ordered the others. The all roared and charged at the man with rage.
The man simply chuckled as the five beasts closed in on him. As soon as they got close enough, he swung his right arm vertically with great power and speed, hitting all five with a massive chop that sent put them on their backs. A Kremlin got back up and went to attack, but the man chopped him again, the strength forcing the croc to turn around. The man wrapped his arms around the crocs head and put him in a headlock. With a tight squeeze, he broke the creature's neck. He tossed the corpse aside and dashed at another one with incredible speed, smashing his elbow into the creature's cranium. The monster was dazed, and the man drew out a Kabar knife and roughly slit its throat. He body slammed the next one and squashed its head beneath his boot. With pinpoint accuracy, he tossed his knife into another one's head, killing it instantly.
Now it was a 1-on-1 fight. The Kremlin swiped at the man, but he blocked. Then the man head-butted the creature once…twice…and then a third time. He grappled with the creature and then performed a wrestling powerbomb on it, several parts of the creatures spine heard breaking as it was slammed on its back. The Kremlin laid paralyzed, now at the man's mercy.
"Who are you?" It struggled to ask as the man approached
"I'm just the guy that killed you…" the man said as he took out his pistol. He took aim at the grounded croc's head. "Alex."
Alex pulled the trigger and killed the last of the Kremlins. Seeing that he finished up here, he saw it as time for him to go. The citizens came out of hiding after they were sure the coast was clear. The eagerly wished to thank their hero, but by the time they had gotten outside he was already far in the distance.
"WHOEVER YOU ARE…THANK YOU!" A woman shouted to him from afar. Alex stopped and turned to look at her. He showed a small smile and waved to her, and then continued his leave.
"I heard the shot from here!" A UR soldier said as he was followed by a large group of soldiers. They had their weapons raised expecting a fight. But when they got there they saw the corpses of Kremlins. The citizens were gathered around and looked to the soldiers. Both sides were unsure how to respond.
"Uh…are you all okay?" A soldier asked. The citizens nodded in confirmation. "Good. We're here to escort you back to the Capital whenever you're ready."
"Got something I think you'd be interested to hear." Link said to Snake, who was getting everything he needed for his travels.
"What is it?"
"Looks like the vigilante game is still going."
"Hm?"
"We picked up a distress signal the other day; a city was under attack. Of course I sent some of the troops to neutralize the threat and rescue the citizens. But when they got there, it turned out somebody did the first part for us."
"What was the threat?"
"Kremlins, six of them. Apparently the guy took most of them out using just his bare hands. One of the citizens said he was basically wrestling the crocodiles."
"Sounds pretty damn strong. So what's his alias?"
"They just decided to call him 'Bomber' because of the bomber jacket he wore."
"Interesting."
"So what do you think we should do? Should we look for him? Maybe see if we can convince him to join up with us?"
"No. As long as he's out there helping people, we leave him be. He's probably stopped several attacks on civilians that might not have shown on our radar. I can only see what he's doing as a good thing, so just let him do his thing."
"You got it."
Whenever news of a vigilante comes out, people often wonder what's their motivation to do what they do. Sure, people are very grateful that they're out there risking their lives to fight against the threats of the wasteland, but is the reason that they do it truly a selfless one? Did they do it because it's the right thing to do, or are they motivated by something different entirely, with saving people just being a part of the process?
So what was Alex's reason for fighting? Helping people was the main reason. Even before the world became a wasteland, he absolutely hated those who prey on the weak. However, this wasn't the only reason.
The other reason Alex fought was because he was just really damn good at it. And he considered it to be the only thing he was good at. He had been fighting for most of his life, and enjoyed participating in Street Fighter tournaments. Back in the civilized world he could never really hold down a job. And now that the world was full of conflict, he figured he might as well put his fighting abilities to good use.
He had noticed that since the establishment of the UR, things had become much less hectic. Things were safer, and his encounters with the scum of the wasteland had been drastically reduced. So why hadn't he chosen to join up with the group that seemed to have the same goal in mind as him?
After living through the reign of the Committee, Alex was quite cautious of groups that held some authority. He was worried that the UR would eventually fall down the same path as their predecessor. But despite his worries, he would not deny that in the short time that they've been established, they have made more of an impact than the Committee had in their years of existence, and a positive impact at that. He had seen that UR soldiers had arrived at the attacked city just after he had left. Sure, they may have been too late if he had not stepped in, but at the very least he knew that they tried, something he had never seen from the Committee.
So for now, he remained cautious of the UR, but cautiously optimistic at the very least.
Snake, Bayonetta, Ike and Peach stood outside the border of the Capital, getting prepared to venture out into the Wasteland.
"Radio check." Snake said.
"Check" the other three confirmed.
"All right good. Communications are fine. Everyone have what they need?"
"We're all set darling." Bayo assured.
"Ready to go!" Peach cheered.
"I've got my sword, and that's all I need." Ike smirked.
"Great. Then let's move out." Snake pointed forward.
In the Northern part of the wasteland, there was a mountain. The top of this mountain was known by the people who lived around it as "Warrior's Peak". At the top lived a powerful Darknut known as Deacon. But this Darknut wasn't like the ones that Link and Zelda were so familiar with. This one was not evil, and was actually quite civil and articulate. It was also very wise, and somehow knew most of what was going on in the wasteland despite never leaving the top of the mountain.
What he did have in common with other Darknuts is incredible fighting ability. He was willing to test the mettle of anyone who came up his mountain to challenge him. For such battles he used a special wooden sword crafted by himself. It had the power to clash with real blades, but without the lethality.
It is said that if one bested Deacon in combat, he would share his knowledge with the warrior, answering whatever questions he could. But he had yet to be defeated.
As Deacon sat atop the mountain, he noticed the presence of a challenger. He was familiar with this challenger, as he had fought Deacon before and lost. Now it was time to test him again. He turned to face his challenger.
"If it isn't the crestfallen swordsman. Do you wish to try again…Cloud?"