OPERATION INTRUDE N313
DAY ONE – 1130 HOURS
SUPPLY STORAGE FACILITY, THIRD FLOOR ARMORY
Not thirty steps after exiting the southeastern storage room and turning the corner, Snake was once again finding his progress stymied by a new obstacle: a room of unknown size due to a series of turns around multiple walls—more of a snaky hallway, really—and a metallic floor that was so electrified as to be practically glowing. A low hum rumbled throughout the halls as Snake approached, and a sign posted on a nearby wall just in front of the metal flooring stated the following in multiple languages, including English:
"WARNING: ELECTRIFIED FLOORS ARE TO REMAIN ON AT ALL TIMES. IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY EVACUATION WHERE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN EXITS ARE UNAVAILABLE, CONTACT PATROLS ON SHIFT ON THE NORTHERN SIDE OF THE WALKWAY TO TURN OFF THE ELECTRIC GENERATOR."
Snake was stuck. With no other obvious way forward, he tuned his radio to 120.79 and hailed Kyle.
"Architect, this is Snake. I've encountered that electric flooring you mentioned. The elevator that took me to this 3rd floor only connects to this place and a hallway to the ground floor, so this is the only way forward. Between this and the gas room I passed earlier; I think Outer Heaven is repurposing the security devices its used to defend the armory storage as a secondary means of preventing escaping prisoners."
"That would make sense," Kyle replied. "With as large as this building is and with all the precious cargo being stored there, it would be ideal from Outer Heaven's perspective to have a means of limiting and controlling the movement of any potential intruders."
"You said you designed this place," Snake said. "So, you know where the electrified hallway on the 3rd floor is, right?"
"One moment, let me grab the blueprints."
The sound of multiple voices, footsteps, and the rustling of papers could be heard over the radio. Snake kept his back pressed against the wall and backed into the corner behind him facing the archway, pistol drawn in case of any guards that might approach and get curious.
"Alright, I'm here," Kyle said after a moment. "I see the hallway in question. Go ahead."
"Is there any other path along the eastern side of the building that will take me north; some way of bypassing the hallway?"
"No, the hallway is the only way. And the generator with the fuse box is on the opposite side, so you won't be able to turn it off from your end, either. You'd need to destroy it from where you are."
Snake looked ahead at the large hallway, which turned around a blind corner. "I can't see it from where I am."
"Well, this is the armory," Kyle said in reply. "I've heard that Outer Heaven has started developing miniaturized remote-control missiles since early last year. Should be out of the prototype stage too, given I've been hearing reports of some of my men encountering them in skirmishes."
"Remote-controlled missiles?" Snake repeated.
"It's a hand-held mortar launcher with a guidance system attached. It's similar to the Stinger missile launcher, but the missiles are smaller with small cameras mounted on their warheads so that the guidance system can utilize manual control with a camera feed," Kyle explained.
"It was originally visualized as a more precise anti-tank weapon to compete with the Stinger, but since the guidance system takes up so much room that they had to decrease the quantity of explosives in the missile to compensate, Outer Heaven has mainly been using it as an anti-personnel weapon instead.
"From what my fighters' recon reports have told me, the weapons were wreaking havoc on my men for some time several months ago but ultimately they were apparently deemed too expensive and too bulky to be practical in comparison to RPGs and fragmentation grenades, and so got mothballed into storage for a rainy day."
Snake thought back to the launcher weapon he encountered in the storage room where he had eaten. "I think I might've encountered that weapon you're talking about," Snake said.
"Maybe if you fire a rocket down the hallway, you can pilot it to the generator and destroy it," Kyle suggested.
"Does that thing come with a manual?" Snake asked.
"I don't know," Kyle admitted. "But from the sound of your situation, it seems like your best shot at moving forward, unless you want to go all the way back and leave the building from where you came to find another entrance."
Snake nodded to himself. "Got it. Thanks, Architect."
"Any time," came the response. "Signing off now."
Snake retraced his steps back to the storage room, carefully watching his path ahead to stay clear of any sentries, and quietly closed the door behind him so that he could inspect the weapon he'd found more closely without fear of interruption.
He opened a folding panel mounted on the side of the launching tube underneath the sight. The panel had a screen which turned on with a blank green glow, displaying the words, 'NO CAMERA FEED AVAILABLE. TUBE EMPTY. PLEASE LOAD MUNITION.' Underneath the screen were three directional buttons and a red button labeled 'PMD.'
Premature detonation? Snake guessed to himself. In case you missed the target and wanted to hit while you were still in the area of effect? Snake wondered what the effective radius of the small rockets' explosive force was, then shook his head. It didn't matter. The thing was too large to be practical to carry all around the compound while still keeping his hands free for other small arms and items. Besides, what were the chances he would need this weapon outside of this one specific instance, anyway?
He grabbed a small rocket and loaded it into the back of the tube, making sure that the equipment mounted on it lined up with the grooves. He heard a thunk followed by a mechanical whirring as the launcher armed. The message on the screen changed: 'MUNITION LOADED. READY TO LAUNCH. CAMERA CONNECTED.'
Realizing that he might fail the first shot, Snake grabbed a second and third rocket and carried them under his left arm while lugging the launcher on his shoulder. Nudging the door open slightly with his toe and looking both ways, he trudged back to the electrified hallway, doing his best to conceal himself behind the wall as he aimed the launcher vaguely down the hall. He turned so that the rear of the tube faced through the doorway behind him, which put him at an awkward angle, but it was the best he could do to minimize the danger of the backblast in this relatively enclosed space.
He gritted his teeth and braced himself as he pressed the trigger. The rocket shot forward and the camera feed showed the wall getting closer. Snake fumbled with the launcher to get his fingers on the screen buttons and the missile turned slightly just barely missing the wall to go around the corner.
"What the hell was that!?" came a yell from way further down the halls from which Snake came.
The missile careened around the corners of the snaky passageway in wide arcs as Snake tried desperately to have the missile fight against its forward momentum and keep it on track. When it got to the end of the hall, Snake saw the electric panel too late to turn towards it. The missile flew right past it into the wall, sending shockwaves along the wall.
"Damn," Snake cursed.
More shouting could be heard from the other end of the hall while Snake hurriedly loaded another missile. Footsteps could be heard from the direction he had originated. Snake quickly fired off another round. When it reached the other end, he saw a group of four approaching soldiers. Getting an idea, he changed the missile's heading, this time missing the breaker on purpose to land right in the middle of the group. His camera feed cut off just in time for him to hear screams of fear, followed by silence. The footsteps were coming faster.
Snake loaded his last missile, feeling more confident as he piloted the projectile down the passage and directly into the breaker. Immediately, the hum of the hallway gave way to silence and all he could hear were the rushing of approaching soldiers. Snake dropped the launcher on the ground with a thud and grabbed a grenade from his pocket and pulled the pin before peeking into the doorway. When he saw the toe of a soldier's boot, he tossed the grenade and started running down the hall.
Snake smirked when he heard a satisfying boom, followed by nothing. His smile dropped when he got to the other side of the formerly electrified hallway.
It was a grisly scene. The walls were painted with blood and gore. A few limbs were scattered and discarded, with no sign of the bodies they were meant to be attached to save for one, who looked like he was torn in half. Bits of skull and bone fragments were mixed in with the flesh and blood and the air in the hall carried the horrible scent of burning hair. As Snake waded through the grisly tableau, he heard grunting and crying from around the corner to his right as the hallway branched off in two directions.
When he turned the corner, he saw the body of another mercenary, this one still alive. He eyes wide open, tears streaming down his face and mixing with the soot, dirt, and blood that spackled his youthful face. His visage was contorted into a terrible grimace, his mouth opening and closing as if trying to express some kind of description, but all that came out was a halting grunt of "uh, uh, uh." His right arm was blown off at the elbow, exposing bone, muscle, and torn nerve endings, and his legs were mangled by shrapnel. He looked up into Snake's eyes, pleading.
"My arm….my legs…why can't I feel them?" The mercenary said in stilted Afrikaans. "What happened to my limbs?"
He looked through Snake, not even really seeing him. "Father?" he said. "Is that you?"
Snake was frozen. Try as he might, he couldn't get himself to move. He wasn't used to being close enough to the enemy in their dying moments to hear their last words.
"Father…what's happened to me, Father? Please, help me, Father! Mama…Mama, where are you? I want to go home; I want to go home…" The mercenary's words came out in a pitiful whimper, as he grunted through the pain, his face still twisted in frozen horror. He started to shake, as if shivering from cold.
Snake couldn't take it anymore. Without thinking, he drew his pistol and pointed at the mercenary. He fired, and the guard's voice withered in a soft sigh of relief. The frozen look of horror and fear, however, still remained.
This time, Snake's hands didn't shake. He didn't feel the familiar sickness. Instead, his face was impassive and cold.
He reminded himself that these men were the enemy—that if he didn't take them down first, they would most definitely end his life at the first opportunity. And besides, they're terrorists; looking to plunge the world in nuclear fire. Not exactly redeemable.
He told himself that killing the soldier was a mercy. That with his injuries, the mercenary was living a hell, and Snake set him free. That Snake himself should be so lucky if the enemy did the same for him. A professional courtesy.
All of these rationalizations were true, and Snake knew it. So, why didn't it make him feel any better?
Snake shook his head. There was no time. Act now, live to think and regret it later. He moved on down the hall, and after a couple of minutes of walking, reached another level two door. He let himself inside, finding another prisoner laying on a mat on the floor, who looked up suspiciously at Snake's approach.
"Who are you? You're not one of the guards," he said in English.
"I'm Santa Claus," Snake replied glibly, drawing his extra unsuppressed pistol, and holding it out to the POW handle-first. "And I come bearing gifts."
The prisoner gratefully took the offered weapon. "Did Kyle send you?"
Snake nodded. "Sort of. It's mutual gain. He said if I let you out, you could help me."
"What did you have in mind?"
Snake leaned up against the wall. "For now," he said, "I'm going to get you to another friend of yours I freed. Once we regroup with the other prisoners on this floor, we'll be able to buy ourselves some breathing room. What's your name?"
"Loyiso," the man replied. "Loyiso van der Merwe."
"Okay, hold on." Snake raised a finger as he turned on his radio, positioning himself by the door. "Architect," he said.
"I read you," came the reply.
"Made it past the electric hallway. Found another one of your guys. You know a Loyiso?"
"One of my runners. Skilled as a scout and a messenger. You got him out?"
"He's right here. I'm going to try and get him to Trevor. This floor has been shaped like a horseshoe so far. If I follow this northern hallway, is there a path that'll take me back to the northwest elevator, so that I won't have to go through the gas room again?"
"Yes. At the far northern end is another elevator and stairway from which you should be able to access all the other floors. If you head west from there, you'll find a level two security door that will take you past another series of storerooms and a workshop, past which is the elevator you came in on. Trevor tells me he's taken care of one of the guards in that area and hidden the corpse, and he'll be waiting for you in one of the storage rooms where the cameras can't see."
"Got it," Snake acknowledged.
"There isn't much else to this floor. If you can successfully take out the remaining guards between you and Trevor without raising an alarm, you'll be able to capture the third-floor munitions wing—it'll be an effective staging ground to start mounting an active resistance," Kyle said eagerly.
"Yeah, that's great and all," Snake said, "but that's not really why I'm here. Besides, there's only a few of us, so I wouldn't get too excited yet if I were you."
"Right, right…of course," Kyle said, not sounding completely convinced.
"Alright, we're moving out. I'll call again once the third floor's clear," Snake said. "Snake out."
Snake turned to Loyiso. "Okay, listen up: stay close to me, and do what I tell you, and I'll get you to your friend. We don't have control of this floor and your weapon's not suppressed, so if we see any guards, don't go guns blazing. Only fire if the enemy returns fire on me or if they fire on us first. You'll be rear security, so watch our six for any surprises. Got it?"
Loyiso nodded. "Understood."
"Alright, come on."
Snake moved forward, with Loyiso close behind. Every few seconds, Loyiso would turn around to point his weapon behind them to look for any incoming threats. They stopped at a corner next to some metal shelving, and Snake peeked around the corner to see a couple of guards with weapons drawn, covering a new elevator and a stairway entrance. Snake waved behind him to have Loyiso step back, and then Snake led him back the way they came past the cell where Loyiso was held to the gore-filled fork in the hallway to loop back into the second hallway heading north. Looking around the corner, Snake saw the barrel of a third guard's rifle ever so slightly poking through a doorway on the left, and Snake noted that the guards at the elevator and stairwell would be within this third guard's view.
Snake crouched down, Loyiso following suit, and Snake pointed out the barrel he saw. "There's a guard through that doorway, but we can't get him from here. He's covering two others who are covering the exits," Snake whispered. "I want you to wait here. I'm going to go back around and go after the other two. That'll get this guy's attention. As soon as he comes through that door, I want you to pop him. Got it?"
Loyiso nodded and took up Snake's position at the corner while Snake headed back around, trying not to smell the bile and guts whose scent permeated the halls as he passed. When he got back to the shelving at the opposite end, Snake took aim at the merc closest to him near the stairwell. At this range, it would be difficult to miss. He lined up the guard's head in the iron sights of his pistol and took the shot. The guard's neck exploded, a splash of blood and arterial spray coated the wall next to the stairwell exit. The sounds of the gunshot and the blood gurgling in his friend's throat caught the other mercenary's attention just in time to see the victim fall to the floor in a crumpled heat.
"Shit!" he yelled, whirling to face the corner that Snake was hiding behind and firing from the hip. Snake stepped back from the bullets whizzing in front of him and blind-fired around the corner a few times. The firing stopped as a yell was heard—Snake must have scored a lucky hit. Another couple of gunshots were heard from the other side of the room. Snake smirked. Loyiso must have nailed his target. Not wasting time, Snake extended his arm around the corner and looked at the limping elevator guard who was turning towards his new threat, not seeing Snake as he plugged three more rounds into his chest.
Snake rushed forward past the two fresh corpses, seeing the third man attempting to crawl toward him in the hall. Snake put one last bullet into his face as Loyiso ran up to him. Snake took up a position at the doorway and instructed Loyiso to check the exit to the stairwell. Loyiso rushed to the door and pointed his gun down the stairs.
After ten seconds had passed, Loyiso called, "Clear!"
"Clear," Snake responded. He waved Loyiso up and they moved through the doorway. Once again, the hallway branched in two directions. On the right-hand side was a hall lined with doors on the right: more storerooms. On the left was a single door with a sign next to it indicating a fab shop, presumably for gunsmithing.
"Let's check the storage first," Snake said, and he led Loyiso to stack up on the first door. Carefully turning the handle, he pushed the door in and together he and Loyiso cleared the small room of crates, whose markings indicated that they were filled with grenades, Claymore mines, and Composition 4 plastic explosives with detonators packaged separately. The room was otherwise empty, save for a dead body stashed behind the crates—Trevor's victim.
"Clear!" Snake whispered.
"Clear," Loyiso acknowledged.
They checked the next storeroom: rifles and submachine guns, more pistols, couple of crates each with a box-fed machine gun. Still no Trevor. They cleared the room and moved on.
Through the third door, which looked to be a small office with a desk, they found him sitting in the corner by the wall adjacent to the door, weapon raised. When Snake pointed his weapon at him, he immediately put his hands up.
"Blue, blue!" Trevor cried.
Snake lowered his gun, and Loyiso stepped inside. The two former prisoners embraced each other as Snake examined the desk, where he saw a tactical backpack just sitting there. It must have belonged to the guy who has this office, Snake mused to himself. He checked the pockets. Not much inside: a first-aid trauma kit, a compass, another gas mask, and a poncho liner. Snake grabbed the bag and added his grenades and two of his magazines to the bag, making his pants pockets feel much lighter as he slung it onto his back.
He stepped up to Trevor and Loyiso. "This floor's still not clear," he said. "And I know of at least one more POW on this floor who still needs to be released, plus another locked door at the southwest corner that I wasn't able to check. There's two cameras back by that northwestern elevator down the hall. We haven't heard any alarms yet, so it's possible they don't know about their dead guys up here, but they'll probably send someone to investigate soon when they don't report in, and I want us to keep the element of surprise for as long as we have it. So, here's what we're going to do:
"Trevor, I want you to grab some mines from the storage room next door and set up a Claymore at the end of this hall, facing towards the elevator and just out of view of the camera. Loyiso and I are going to check the door to the fab shop on the other side. Once it's clear, you'll set up another couple of Claymores at the opening to that room with the cameras. If anybody comes in from the northwest, they'll be hemmed in by the mines and forced to go through the gas chamber to go south.
After we've cleared out the fab shop and set up the traps, I want you two to cover the northeast elevator and stairwell while I go spring the other guy and check out that extra door. Once this floor is cleared, we'll start setting up traps and barricades around any other exits so that the only way in or out of this floor are entrances that we control. Are we all clear on the plan?"
"Sounds good," Loyiso said.
"I'll get started right away," Trevor said as he stepped out.
Snake nodded to Loyiso. "Let's move."
The duo moved to the door to the fab and when they reached it, Snake cursed internally as he saw from the hinges that this door swings outward, and it had a small window, though he couldn't get a good look inside without facing it, which would expose him to any potential enemies that may be lying in wait. Snake put up a hand to have Loyiso halt behind him as he sidled up to the door and put a hand on the handle. He turned and pulled it open slightly, only to be met with gunfire. Snake just barely backed up quickly enough to avoid losing an arm while the metal door got pelted with bullets, a few of which penetrated and hit the wall on the opposite side.
Snake dug into his backpack and handed a grenade to Loyiso and rolled to the other side of the door so that his shadow wouldn't be seen through the bullet holes. Loyiso pulled the pin as Snake grabbed the handle and nodded three times in a silent count before swinging the door open and letting his partner throw in their surprise.
A shout could be heard, followed by a boom. The light inside started swinging erratically as the place filled with dust. Snake and Loyiso pushed inward amidst the confusion. There were four hostiles; one who had just lost a leg and was being dragged behind the CNC in front of them, two others on the right scrambling behind a workbench and a lathe. Snake plugged a few rounds through the wooden workbench, hearing a yell, and took cover behind another shop tool as he checked his magazine. He had two more rounds left, so he performed a quick reload to make sure he wouldn't go dry.
Loyiso saw the guard behind the CNC reach for a big red button on the wall, and fired two rounds, one of which punctured the man's arm, shattering the bones in his forearm and sending him tumbling to the ground. The third guard behind the lathe aimed at Loyiso, which gave Snake an opening to plug him full of holes.
The room was still heavy with dust from the ambush's resulting firefight. Snake and Loyiso investigated the men they both put down and put bullets into the dying survivors before checking a doorway on the eastern side which led further into the shop.
"Clear!" they both shouted to each other once they had thoroughly checked the place.
Inside the smaller western room, they found a table carrying a rifle. It was a weapon that Snake hadn't seen before; it looked similar to the new M4 that the US had put into service last year, but there were parts that looked different. The carrying handle was mounted to a Picatinny rail rather than being part of the frame, and Snake found when he picked it up that the frame itself was lighter. The barrel was slightly shorter too, and the fire selector included an automatic fire setting in addition to the three-round burst. The rifle was fitted with an underbarrel grenade launcher. There was no serial number on any of the pieces; it was as if the rifle was machined and constructed right here in the shop.
Snake recalled what Kyle had said about Outer Heaven possessing R&D facilities, and how this floor was used for manufacturing as well as storage. Is this why Outer Heaven was purchasing or stealing weapons from the battlefield, so they could modify and reverse-engineer them? How extensive was their development capabilities? With how big this complex was, it was like they were trying to match the output of an entire developed nation's military.
Snake holstered his pistol as he checked the magazine next to the rifle. Looks like it was built to carry 5.56x45mm NATO rounds. Should have no trouble finding more of those around here. He figured he could probably find grenade rounds in the room where he had found the launcher.
He grabbed a nylon strap off the rifles of one of the mercenaries they'd killed and attached it to the rifle so that he could sling it around his shoulder. He checked their magazines and found that they do in fact carry NATO rounds, so he grabbed one to load into his rifle as well as a couple of spares. Loyiso picked up a converted 9mm Uzi submachinegun from another body and after checking the magazine, unfolded the stock and shouldered the weapon.
They moved out of the room and met up with Trevor, who'd finished wiring the Claymore on the north side, reporting to him that the room was clear, and it was safe for him to set up the southern Claymores now. Loyiso took up a position covering the northeastern exits and gave Snake a thumbs-up. Snake nodded in acknowledgement before heading back through the gore hallway, past the formerly electrified area to the room where he'd found the MREs and the launcher. As he predicted, he was able to find some shells for the grenade launcher, which he stuffed into his backpack along with a couple of MREs.
His pack now fully loaded, Snake headed back to the southeast corner, taking note of a couple of stairwell emergency exits along the way. When he reached the southwest corner, he found the LV2 door that he had initially passed and let himself in.
Inside was another POW strapped to a chair, much like Trevor had been. Snake cut him loose, and after the prisoner introduced himself as Luke, Snake instructed him to make his way to Loyiso and Trevor and await further instructions. He then donned his gas mask and moved through the gas chamber, past Trevor's cell and into the initial hallway with the other LV2 door he hadn't yet opened, revealing the final prisoner on this floor, a woman named Mbali who only spoke Zulu.
Wordlessly, Snake handed her his spare gas mask and led her back around south, east, and north to where Luke, Loyiso, and Trevor were waiting. Loyiso and Luke got to work mining and barricading the southern emergency exits while Snake assisted Trevor and Mbali with gathering armaments and provisions near the western doorway that connected the fab shop and storerooms with the northwestern corner.
Once finished, Snake distributed radios to each of them, all of which he had tuned to Kyle's frequency.
Snake hailed Kyle. "Architect, come in."
"I read you, Snake."
"I've successfully freed four of your people held prisoner, and together we've taken control of the third-floor arms storage facility."
"That's great news, Snake!" Kyle exclaimed. His voice showed relief and betrayed a hint of disbelief. It was clear that Kyle had never truly thought that one man would be able to get this far.
"Don't celebrate just yet," Snake said. "They're going to be stuck on this floor with nowhere to go for the time being. This place is fortified and well-supplied for when the enemy finds out and inevitably tries to take it back, but it won't hold out forever, so we still need to act quick. I've given your guys the frequency you gave me so they can communicate with you. Let's change to our emergency frequency so we can keep my correspondence with you separate and maintain security."
"Understood. Switching now."
Snake switched his radio to 120.26.
"I know where my guy is, now," Snake told Kyle. "He's in the basement. I'm going to move back to the first floor and clear some of the opposition if I can so that I won't have anybody creeping up behind me when I head to the basement. If I find any more of your guys, I'll send them up the elevator to the third floor before I head down below."
"What about the second floor?" Kyle asked.
"If any of your guys are on the second floor, my guy will assist in freeing the prisoners. If he can, he'll escort them offsite. If he can't, then they'll hole up here until you mount a rescue operation for them. Either way, I can't stick around for too long—have to stay on mission."
"I see. That's still better than I expected from you. Thank you, Snake."
Snake accepted the thanks while ignoring the back-handed compliment. It's not like the CIA would've given him much better or even anything at all, after all. Doesn't matter. Need to focus. Snake turned to the others and started relaying his plans to the freed POWs. Loyiso translated for Mbali, since Snake couldn't speak Zulu.
"Keep covering these exits," Snake said, "If I find anyone else to send your way, I'll have Kyle radio you, so you know to expect them."
Once the POWs indicated their comprehension, Snake stepped into the elevator and pressed the 1F button. The doors closed and the lurching movement beneath his feet and in his stomach indicated a shift in gravity as he was lowered.
When the doors opened again, Snake heard the sound of cameras again. Peeking out, he saw one directly above him and another mounted to a pillar over ten yards away to his right. Immediately, Snake stepped out of the elevator while the nearest camera was pointed away and stepped underneath its blind spot. Quickly, he looked around to take stock of his new surroundings.
He had found himself in a large hangar. More tanks and trucks like the ones he'd seen outside were lined up in lots throughout the area. Chain link fencing and low concrete partitions separated certain blocks where crates were unloaded and awaiting transport into storage. From his vantage point, Snake could see at least two Outer Heaven mercenaries patrolling among the vehicles, and another two guards on a steel catwalk high above.
Snake cursed. He'd need to be careful getting through here. He looked straight on to his right: there was a LV4 door at the far end, leading into a hallway that he could tell from the long window ended in another door which led into the fenced-in enclosure. No luck there.
Past the tanks straight ahead, there were what looked like a few steel shipping containers fabricated to serve as makeshift rooms. Were they armories? Communications centers? More holding cells for POWs? Difficult to tell from this far away.
Snake looked up at the camera above, biding his time until the camera swung back into the direction of the elevator. Once his window was achieved, he sprinted forward and dove to the ground, quickly crawling underneath the tank in front of him just as a pair of boots walked past his sight line. Looking to the right and seeing the boots continue further down the line, Snake crawled out from underneath and moved further up until he reached the first prefab structure's door.
The door was rigged with an electronic keycard reader, the door emblazoned with 'LV2' in big white letters. Scarcely believing his good luck, Snake quickly unlocked the door and let himself inside, closing it softly behind him before the patrolman outside could have a chance at seeing him enter. Inside was another prisoner, who was handcuffed to a pipe in the corner. The prisoner's face was caked with blood on its left side, and he looked like he'd taken a serious beating. Dark shadows underscored his eyes, and his skin was blotchy with bruises. He also appeared extremely malnourished, his prisoners' jumpsuit looking two sizes too big for him.
The prisoner looked up to Snake, who held a finger to his lips in a silencing gesture. A small moan escaped his red lips as he regarded his savior. Snake further examined the room, and saw a table with a toolbox on it, and a stained brown cloth that clearly used to be white. He started digging through the toolbox, looking for anything he could use to break or cut the chain on the prisoner's cuffs.
"Who did this to you?" Snake whispered in Afrikaans as he pulled out a 6 ¼" mini handheld chain cutter.
The prisoner shook his head, barely coherent as he spoke. "Russian…" he mumbled.
"Shotmaker? Why?"
"Kept asking…about Resistance cell…in Galzburg…"
"Are you a Resistance member?" Snake asked as he stepped up to the prisoner. Snake would have preferred to act under complete silence just in case the enemy could somehow hear them even at a low volume, but it was important to keep the POW talking so that he didn't lose consciousness. Snake wasn't sure that the prisoner would wake up again otherwise—he looked pretty bad.
The prisoner lightly shook his head as Snake cut the chain on his handcuffs. "No. I am nobody. I told him…didn't know anything. He didn't believe me…and when he couldn't get what he wanted, he brought…him."
"Him? Who's 'him?'" Snake asked.
The prisoner suddenly seemed very alert. His eyes went wide with unrestrained terror as he gripped the lapels of Snake's shirt. "The Demon," he said in a strained whisper.
"Demon?" Snake was confused. What did they do to this guy, he wondered? He clearly wasn't all there.
"I saw him, when they attacked my village," the small man said. "A demon, face covered in blood. His head had a horn, shiny and black like stone. There was an evil in his eye, a cloudy sky that would swallow you if looked too deeply within it. I saw him as he slaughtered my neighbors, my family…there was no mercy in his stare, and his face and hands are stained with the blood of his victims. It was he that brought me here, and it was he that brought my tormentor to me."
The prisoner spoke in hushed, hurried tones. His hands gripped Snake's shirt so tightly that his knuckles went white. His pupils tightened, and it was as though he didn't even see Snake, like he was looking through him. It reminded Snake of the bloodied mercenary upstairs calling for his parents, and it disturbed him. Reflexively, Snake pulled the prisoner's hands off of him and stepped back.
"I tell you; he is real! His heart is black with hatred, and his face was hard as stone, and steeped in blood! He killed everyone, everyone!" The prisoner's voice raised to a fever pitch as he crawled towards Snake. "Please, get me out of here! You can't let him get me again! Please, stranger, save me! Save me!"
A shout was heard from outside the walls. "What's going on in there?"
Alarm bells started ringing in Snake's head. This POW was going to get both of them killed. He grabbed a roll of duct tape from the table and tore off a strip, slapping it over the POW's mouth and tore another strip to bind the prisoner's hands together for good measure. He then forcefully grabbed the prisoner's head by the chin and forced him to look in his eyes.
"Shut. The. Fuck. Up." Snake hissed. He dropped the prisoner's head on the floor with a thunk and took a position by the door opposite the doorknob, drawing his suppressed pistol.
The door opened wide, and a guard stepped in, completely missing Snake as he turned toward the prisoner. He saw the state that the prisoner was in and was about to utter some phrase—perhaps a curse or some other exclamation—only to get cut off when Snake grabbed him round the neck with his off-hand and forcefully threw him onto his back, concussing him. The stars left the guard's vision just in time to see Snake's weapon pointed at his eye socket.
"Don't move," Snake whispered.
The guard nodded. Snake pulled a pistol from the guard's holster and tucked it into his waistband, then grabbed his rifle and tossed it out of reach to the other end of the cell.
"How many more people are there outside?" Snake demanded.
"Two more, plus another three on the upper catwalks," the soldier breathed.
The mercenary's radio started buzzing. "I heard a yell, Nyiko. Is everything alright?"
Both men looked at the radio on the mercenary's hip. Snake said, "Tell him everything's fine. You tripped and fell."
At first, nothing happened. "Nyiko? Report in. What's going on, man?"
Snake cocked the hammer on his Beretta. "Do it," he commanded.
Very slowly, Nyiko pulled his walkie-talkie from his waistband and pressed the button. "I'm here, Charlie," he said.
"Everything alright?"
Nyiko stared down the barrel of Snake's weapon for a few seconds.
"Nyiko?"
Nyiko pressed the button on his radio.
"We have an intruder! Get somebody over—"
Nyiko didn't get to finish his sentence before a bullet spilled his brains onto the floor. Snake rushed over to the prisoner and snatched him up in a fireman's carry over his shoulders. He yanked open the door just in time to see another merc running towards him and fired his weapon into the guard's chest, sending him tumbling down. Above, Snake could see men rushing on the catwalks trying to get the angle on him. Snake retreated towards one of the other containers, and slapped his keycard into the card reader, only to find himself in another cell. A second POW was in there, hog tied on the ground. Snake put down the civilian and cut the other prisoner free.
"Please tell me you're Resistance," Snake said to the prisoner.
The woman nodded. "Imke," she said. "Did Kyle send you?"
"Not now," Snake said. He handed her the extra pistol he took off the guard. "There's a rifle next door if we can get to it. You and the civvie need to get to the third floor. Your people are holed up there."
Shouts and footsteps were heard outside. An alarm started blaring.
"Seems I've kicked the hornet's nest," Snake said. "Shit."
He looked to Imke. "We've got about four or five guys between us and the elevator. It's going to be a fight. You up for it?"
"Do I have a choice?" she asked.
"Not really," Snake said. "I'll carry the civvie. Cover me."
Snake hoisted the civilian on his shoulders, securing his leg with his left hand while he drew the Beretta with his right. He nodded to Imke, who nodded in return. Snake opened the door and Imke fired downrange three times.
"Clear!" she called.
Snake ran out and forward to the other cell and opened the door, dumping the civvie inside next to Nyiko's body and switching quickly to his rifle. One of the three guards from the catwalk had now joined his friend on the ground behind a metal crate near the tank line. Another guard from above was descending a nearby ladder while the last one took up a high position to aim at Snake.
Snake aimed and fired at the merc on the ladder, sending him plummeting to the ground. The merc on the catwalk returned fire, sending him back into cover behind the metal armored walls of the prefab cell. Snake quickly pulled his last grenade from his pack and tossed it down the line. After it exploded, he swung out to fire on the catwalk.
Imke brought up the rear, firing on the lower two guards to keep them in cover as she moved forward. While Snake fired, Imke moved into the cell and scooped up Nyiko's discarded rifle.
"Switch!" she said.
Snake gratefully switched places with Imke so that he could reload both his weapons. He let his rifle hang from its strap and once again picked up the civvie before drawing his Beretta.
"Ready!"
Imke fired half her magazine to keep the enemy suppressed, then moved back inside. "Go!" she cried.
Snake ran out of the cell, pushed forward, and then immediately turned at an angle to put the tanks between him and the two mercs. The alarms and the gunfire covered his footsteps. He looked up as he came upon the familiar pillar. He raised his pistol to shoot out the camera and followed up by taking aim and destroying the other one by the elevator. He ran up to the end of the tank line and dumped the civvie (who grunted painfully in protest) so that he could switch to his rifle. Now the two guards were receiving fire from both sides, and it wasn't long before they were both put down.
"Come on!" Snake shouted.
Imke rushed forward and ran past her rescuer and fellow prisoner, punching the button to call the lift. From the distance, they could hear the shouting of more men, plus the barking of dogs. The elevator dinged as the doors opened.
"The enemy doesn't know we have the third floor yet," Snake said. "Get inside. I'll lead them away from the elevator."
"But what about you?" Imke asked.
"Don't worry about me. Just go," he said.
Imke dragged the civilian into the elevator and pushed the button, with just enough time to say, "Thank you," before the door closed. Snake hailed Kyle with his radio.
"Architect," he said.
"I read you, Snake. My men are saying there are alarms. What's going on?"
"They found me, Architect. I've released two more prisoners; another one of yours and a civilian. I've sent them to the 3rd floor. Radio your guys, tell them they're coming. And tell them to sabotage the elevators when they arrive."
"Done. What about the alarms?"
"Bad guys haven't found them yet. I'm going to get them off the scent by luring them away. Should buy them at least a couple of hours. You want your people out, I'd recommend mounting a rescue sooner than later. You're not going to get a better opportunity."
"Understood. Go with God, Snake," Kyle replied solemnly.
"Yeah, yeah. Just do it. Snake out."
Snake ran away from the tanks toward the chain link fencing, through which he could see a crowd of mercs and attack dogs entering through the hangar doors. He then did a U-turn and sprinted to the ladder, which he climbed up to the catwalk. Taking aim with his rifle, he fired at the guards, getting their attention.
The guards started taking cover and then began to return fire as Snake dashed down the catwalk bridge to the other side, tumbling over the railing to fall three feet and land on a tall crate and rolling off to fall another five feet and land painfully on his side on the ground.
Snake scrambled to his feet and took up a position behind a nearby cargo truck as two Dobermans snarled their way towards him. Snake fired a three-round burst and sent one careening into the concrete, but missed the other one as it rushed up leapt onto him, painfully grabbing his left forearm in its jaws.
Snake yelled in pain, dropping his rifle, and pulling the dog behind the cover of the truck so that he could safely punch in the dog's skull. When it still wouldn't let go, he drew his knife and stabbed the dog several times in the neck until he felt the pressure relieved from his arm, his shirt now stained with blood from the bite.
Hoping to God that the dogs didn't carry any diseases, Snake picked up his rifle and supported it on the wheel well of the truck to take a few more potshots in the direction of the incoming guards, only to wildly miss the mark since he couldn't properly hold the rifle, so he dropped it and drew his Beretta instead.
He took another two shots and killed another guard, but they still kept coming, so he turned and ran further into the hangar, dodging between trucks and just trying to find a safe place. He then turned a blind corner, only to be met with a solid concrete wall.
"Oh no…" Snake muttered as he heard the stomping of rushing boots coming up behind him. He spun around to face at least a half dozen gun barrels pointed in his direction. Immediately he dropped his Beretta and put his hands up. There was nowhere to run now.
"Get on your fucking knees!" cried one of the guards in Afrikaans. "Put your hands on your head!"
Snake complied.
"Search him," the guard said to the others.
Two mercs rushed forward to yank his backpack off of him and relieve him of his knife. Once disarmed, they yanked Snake's arms behind his back to handcuff him. Snake grunted with pain as he felt the bite on his arm bleed onto his back.
"Get him up," said a thick accented voice. Snake was pulled to his feet to face a large stocky man with a striped shirt and a red beret. The man was pale and heavily muscled and had a gnarled scar across his cheek.
"Who is he? Another member of the Resistance?" asked one of the guards.
The man with the beret scoffed. "Since when have you ever seen one of those rebels acting alone?"
His eyes scanned Snake's body up and down, sizing him up. "No," he said, "this is someone new." The man muttered to himself in Russian, "Could he be related to-? He must be!"
The man leaned forward so that his face made up the entirety of Snake's view. The heady scent of vodka was on his breath, like rubbing alcohol. "I am called 'Shotmaker,' intruder," he said, switching to Afrikaans. "I alone am entrusted by our great leader who you call 'Venom,' for interrogation and upkeep of prisoner scum like yourself. Before this, I work for Spetsnaz. No man alive has ever escaped my grasp once captured. You know this?"
Snake said nothing, just glaring into the man's eyes, staring him down. Shotmaker smirked and nodded, as if in approval of the defiance.
"You have choice, intruder. You tell me now who sent you and what you are after, and, ah…you get quick and painless death, da? Refuse, and well…I show you what Spetsnaz has taught me."
Now it was Snake's turn to smirk. He switched to Russian as he taunted, "Must have made for a poor Spetsnaz if the FSB wouldn't take you…a washed-up has-been fallen in with two-bit mercenaries…" Snake clicked his tongue in a 'tsk-tsk' sound.
Shotmaker didn't seem put off by the insult, rather he let out a short bark of laughter as his teeth shone in an eager wolfish grin. "Your Russian is quite good," he praised. "I was hoping you say something like this, intruder. You and I will have much fun together."
Shotmaker turned to the guard holding Snake. "Take him to empty cell in basement. Next to you-know-who."
The guard nodded, and Snake had his headset and radio removed and a black bag pulled over his head as he was led away.
SEVERAL HOURS LATER...
A knock on the office door. A command to enter.
Shotmaker arrives to give his report. A breakout has occurred among the prisoners in the Arms Storage Building. The third-floor armory has been taken. A skirmish ensued as men have been committed to try and retake the building, but the escaped prisoners are dug in deep. Both elevators have been sabotaged and rendered inoperable, and all but one of the entrances has been barricaded and mined, with the one remaining stairway covered by the escaped prisoners.
The bad news is that with the armory under their control they are well-supplied enough to repel the mercenaries indefinitely. With the supplies and vehicles on the other floors at risk, not to mention the structural and financial damage that would ensue, it is inadvisable to attempt to level the building with explosive ordnance.
A facial twitch and a tapping finger signals irritation at the suggestion.
Shotmaker's voice catches in his throat. He wonders if he should mention the name of the mercenary who even hinted at such a ludicrous idea, but decides it isn't necessary. His palms are sweaty, and his voice betrays a slight tremor.
Shotmaker had encountered true horror and depravity in the gulags. His mentor in Spetsnaz had shown him the worst and most vile depths to which humanity could sink before he arranged for his recruitment at Outer Heaven. In his service to the outfit, Shotmaker had stared down cultists, terrorists, and warlords of every disposition imaginable. He thought he had seen the bottom of the well of what men were capable of, and yet none of those he had encountered before frightened him as much as the man who stood before him now.
Shotmaker clears his throat and continues his report.
The good news is that the prisoners have nowhere to go. As long as Outer Heaven keeps sending forces at them, their morale is likely to break. We can even wait them out and give them breaks as false hope even as we send men at irregular intervals to wear them down. Rest assured, we will retake the third floor soon, and return to normal operations with minimal interruption to our normal efficiency.
Silence, except for the sound of burning paper and tobacco. An inhalation of smoke fills charcoal lungs. Heat is expelled from a demon's mouth as it eyes Shotmaker with intensity. A question is asked: how many casualties?
Shotmaker nods solemnly. The exact count is uncertain, but conservative estimates set the number at about at least fifteen lives lost. Only the bodies on the first floor have been recovered; it is assumed that all third-floor staff are dead or otherwise incapacitated but until control is regained over the third floor, it is impossible to be certain.
Another question rumbles from the demon's chest. Shotmaker is compelled to answer.
It is believed that the breakout was orchestrated by a single man. An intruder; but not a Resistance member. Origin unknown—believed to be sent from a third party.
A growl of interest. A glint in the eye.
Shotmaker elaborates: his men have questioned him for several hours, but he has said very little. All they have been able to ascertain is that he speaks Afrikaans and Russian. But he speaks Afrikaans with a Xhosa accent, and Russian with a Chechen accent. But when spoken to in Xhosa or Chechen, the subject does not respond or give any indication of understanding; it is unlikely that Afrikaans or Russian is his native tongue.
A new question: what about English?
The subject has not responded to any English queries or given any indication of understanding said queries.
Silence.
Shotmaker thinks of the implication behind the question, thinking of a familiar language-based bioweapon spoken of in whispers during his time in Spetsnaz. He asks with horror whether it's possible that the prisoner is infected.
A negative answer. An assurance. That weapon was eradicated long ago. The demon saw to that personally.
More silence. A new command: Shotmaker is to question the prisoner personally first thing in the morning.
Shotmaker nods and salutes, promises that it will be done.
Shotmaker is dismissed. Shotmaker leaves.
Smoke billows from the nostrils. A glare stares back from the reflection in the window which overlooks the whole complex. The demon ponders: the promised one has arrived. A final test in the fires of hell before the demon takes his rightful place. He focuses on his reflection, and with a dead expression, notes that he sees a face which offers nothing but lies and false promises leading countless men to their deaths. In the light of the setting sun, he whispers to himself:
"'Come unto me, my brother kin,
Whose bravery be set among the stars.'
So saith the old hanged man,
To the empty graveyard stalls…"
A/N: And thus, we've reached the end of another chapter. Definitely the bloodiest, most violent chapter so far. It was because I knew I would be writing gory scenes like this that I bumped up the age rating of this story from T to M.
Shotmaker is properly introduced as a character as the one to personally capture Solid Snake, and we even get a little tease of Venom as well at the end. For anyone who might be curious, the four lines at the end that Venom recites is part of a poem I wrote specifically for this story for Venom, with the idea that Venom wrote it himself. I intend to have it come up again later; the inspiration behind the poem's existence is a combination of mythology and one of my favorite aspects of both Conrad and Kurtz's characters from Spec Ops: The Line, and Apocalypse Now, respectively (namely, that they were artistic and well-read warrior poets; in my mind it's a trait that pretty much all three of the protagonist Snakes share, given Solid's penchant for philosophizing and Big Boss's grand speeches in Peace Walker).
I'll be honest and say I don't know when the next chapter will be written and ready for upload. Hopefully it'll be soon, though, like the end of the month or by middle of next month. I look forward to sharing it with you, either way. Until then, thank you for your continued support—it really does make a world of difference in giving the motivation to keep going.