Metal Gear Solid: Shadows of Gotham
Chapter 1: Fear Unstated
The streets of Gotham were dimly lit by slowly failing lights over recently repaired sidewalks, the only prominent lightsource being the entrance to the subway. A man in a verdant rain cloak approaches the stairs, a large duffle bag bouncing over his shoulder, he enters the subway with a cigarette lit, the smoke trailing off into Gotham's less than quiet night.
Out on the streets, many blocks away, a madman's gang are being dealt with by Gothams local heroes. Many scramble for safety within the subway, their hope that, should they be running, the downtown departing trains would take them far from the carnage so common in Gotham city.
Now many stood awkwardly, the cloaked man included, as the train slowly pulled into the station. The man flicks his spent cigarette in a trash can and notices a young girl with a baseball cap looking up at him. She clung to her mothers hand, but the man could tell that it was mostly the mothers worry that kept the girl there.
The girl could see beneath the dark hood, she saw the weathered face of an exhausted soldier. A bandanna around his forehead, keeping the dyed brown hair from his eyes and unkempt facial hair that itches at the man's skin. Despite all that he was, the man smiles at the girl, keeping a respectful distance.
"Cool bandanna." The girl says.
"Thanks." The man replies. "Cool hat."
The train completed its stop and the doors opened. "Thanks!" The girl replied as her mother pulled her to another car to avoid the man.
The man enters the car with eleven other passengers. They spread out around the car and take their seats, many of them silently freaking out. Clearly they were escapees from the horror in uptown Gotham. Others just seemed tired and put upon, one was even calling into work explaining to their boss that they can't go in tonight. The train begins to move after that.
"Gotham. A regular paradise am I right?" A portly gentleman says, to no one in particular. However the man's attitude changes when they lay eyes on the cloaked man sitting alone.
"You seem cool as a cucumber pal. How long ya live in Gotham?" The man inquires.
"I'm new in town." The cloaked man replies.
The man chuckles, "Well, welcome to-"
Just as the train picks up speed, the vents in the train car begin expelling an off white gas. The man recognized the gas immediately. They leap up and begin pushing peoples heads down. "Get down!" Was the last breath he took before holding it to the best of his ability.
The man ran to the closest door, he could see the girl from before passed out next to her mother, both slumped in a heap with other passengers. He immediately began to pry the doors open, but he only managed to clear the rust from the mechanism before his vision blurred. The door opened several inches just as he fell backwards… unconscious.
—
The man awoke an untold amount of time later tied to a chair in a row of dozens of people from the train.
Off maybe 30 feet away, silhouetted against the light of large computer monitors was a lanky man who cut a strange frame. The closer they got, the man could see brown and red, they had an almost stitched aesthetic. They looked almost like a scarecrow.
They lo om over a film camera pointing at the man and the large group.
The person turns on the camera and steps in front of it. Their voice was muffled and felt too distante for the groggy man.
Due to the effects of the gas, the man fell in and out of half consciousness. Slowly the effects start to fade as the Scarecrow steps forward noticing the conscious man.
"And it looks like we have a volunteer for my new formula!" Their fluctuating pitch piercing into the man's mind.
A small pipe is produced from the Scarecrows glove. A puff of green gas fills the man's lungs rapidly, his adrenaline suddenly shooting through the roof.
The scarecrow steps back, his voice becoming warped, the stitches opening to reveal flames and death pouring into the now endless ceiling.
Stepping out of the shadows to the side, a tall blonde man, clean shaven with a long coat. He looks almost identical to the man tied to the chair.
"You always get yourself into the worst kind of trouble brother." They Sneered at the man. A smug smile creeping across his face.
"L-Liquid!" The man cried out to his brother.
Liquid Snake steps forward and puts a boot on the chair, leaning close. "See you on the other side, Snake!" Before kicking him over.
In reality Snake's thrashing caused him to fall backward and break the chair with near hysterical strength. He writhes on the floor as Scarecrow laughs and begins another speech to the camera.
To Snake, he is falling through an endless void until his back meets a metal table, his arms and legs restrained. Looming over him was his torturer, Revolver Ocelot.
"You're pretty good. But never good enough!" His voice crawls across those words as Snake screams in agony.
His vision is shifted, more of Shadow Moses is revealed too him, a vivid memory turned nightmare. Meryl Silverburg, lay dead with a bullet hole through her skull. The distant voice of Sniper Wolf resounding, "Too slow, Snake!"
Another whirring of memory~
Gray fox standing over Hal's body, begging Snake to kill him, "Do it snake! You're as much of a killing machine as I am!"
In reality, the Nanomachines in Snakes body work to undo the damage the gas is inflicting. Unbeknownst to the Scarecrow, Snake was regaining his faculties.
However, even as it becomes less vivid, Snake sees before him, an army of mass produced Metal Gear. Standing alone he watches them launch nuclear warheads, ending our world in a flash. As the bombs fall, he can hear Raiden's voice.
"You're the greatest soldier in the world. But what does that get you? It was worth nothing. We were worth nothing Snake." They say defeated, they became visible in that darkness. Snake was alone no more, but still isolated.
Behind both of them… an endless sea of people, the colonel, Mei Ling, so endless was the cacophony of voices "Die for us!" They repeated over and over.
Snake is brought back to this moment. This place where Scarecrow has imprisoned these people. The toxin hasn't completely worn off, as Snake stands he sees Big boss with his back turned. He sees the enemy. He is said to be the greatest soldier the world has ever seen. A soldier's duty is to kill the enemy.
Scarecrow was just finishing his speech, "And to Batman! I look forward to seeing your fear take flesh before our very-" his words are cut off with arms wrapping around his head.
SNAP
Snake never knew the man behind the mask, many in Gotham never bothered to either. But when Scarecrow fell dead to the floor, Johnathan Crane would slowly be lost to Gotham's memory.
Slowly the toxin wears off as Snake stares down at his own dead face as it becomes the mask of their captor.
Snake falls to his knees and gains his bearings. He breathes and forces his brain to focus. He turns to the other hostages, some still unconscious while others are in a half state of asleep and awake.
Snake stands and begins untying them, shifting them to a lying position so they don't fall on their head.
The location is still unknown, but the more Snake's eyes adjust and the more they move around reveal this place to be some kind of abandoned computer hardware warehouse.
Eventually they stumble on their own Duffle Bag, it appears their captor had ruffled through it and categorized their objects. Snakes silenced Socom and surplus Chaff grenades were off to the side, the rest of his ammunition, food and survival supplies were thankfully left alone.
Beyond their own personal belongings, were the cell phones and wallets from the other would-have-been hostages. Among them was his own burner phone, thankfully untampered with.
Snake looks at the group of unconscious people, he sighs deeply and picks up one of the cell phones. They take a deep breath and dials the police~
"911 what's your emergency."
There's a pause, if the wrong people get this, it could blow the cover he and Otacon set up. But he had to do something. "We were kidnapped by… someone dressed like a Scarecrow. We're being held-" he runs as he talks, looking outside for a street name. He relays it to the operator before walking back inside to the group.
"Please send an ambulance. There are a dozen or more… of us." He relays, finding the little girl from the subway, fast asleep.
"Can we have your name sir?"
Snake considers answering, "Jonah! Now is the ambulance on the way?!" He exclaims.
"Yes sir, calm down-" they go on as Snake sets the phone next to the little girl.
Snake then gathers his things, a brief feeling of anxiety passes over his body. It was like he was forgetting something… but he decided to leave anyway. Escaping the police is more important.
Snake steps out into the night, lighting a Cigarette and walking back toward what he thinks is downtown Gotham. "I already hate it here." He says to himself.
—
Jim Gordon steps into the warehouse, the newly awoken victims being tended to by EMTs. Thankfully they were unharmed.
The Police commissioner walked over to the only corpse in the room, Johnathan Crane.
Jim stares down before lifting his phone from his jacket pocket. Dialing someone he trusts "Renee, it's Jim. Fire up the signal. If I'm not there to deliver the message myself, Tell the Batman that Scarecrow is dead. Someone snapped his neck."
"Well it's definitely not his MO. Though the red headed stepchild is in town. Could he have done it?" She replies.
"Maybe? Crane's not riddled with bullet holes. So maybe not." He explains as an officer points out the camera, and it's missing hard drive for storing film.
"Tell Batman that Crane filmed what would have been a … message." He grits his teeth looking over at a little girl comforting her mother, knowing full well it would have been a massacre. "But someone has taken it. Tell him to send one of his birdies to the GCPD if he needs more."
"Aight got it. Want a coffee and a burger? I'm at Big bellys." She replies.
Jim holds the bridge of his nose. "Yes please. This night never ends. Cya there."
"Cya boss!"
End of Chapter -
Chapter 2 Title Preview - Prelude to a Personal War