Snake made haste towards the archaeology camp, pausing only to tell the two of them, in no uncertain terms, not to leave the passage or head deeper inside.

It was the best he could do to keep them safe while he dealt with the attack.

He could have simply used the arch into the temple as a chokepoint, to hold out until the other Diamond Dog forces arrived, if it wasn't for the matters of Resistance Basilisk and the workers.

But no, if he played it safe he would be putting the others in danger.

That didn't mean he was going to put himself in unnecessary danger to keep the others safe though, he was going to play it smart.

He paused at the arch, using his int-scope to survey the area.

There weren't any workers visible outside the camps, in fact the only person he could see was Basilisk, alternating between firing rounds from his Gryzov at the entrance to the hollow and trying to use his radio as he fell back towards Snakes current location.

Beams of light were returning fire from outside, some kind of laser weapon he hadn't seen from the locals.

There were at least two or three different colours of light, each creating a different type of blast where they hit.

The pale beams, somehow, exploded in ice.

"Hostiles haven't yet breached the camp," Snake reported over his iDroids radio, only to receive static in reply.

"Mother Base, are you reading me? Pequod, are you there? Must have some kind of blocker," Snake decided, from the lack of response.

Reviewing the situation, Snake decided on a course of action.

Between the two of them, it should be easy to hold off these enemies, regardless of what advanced weapons they had.

"Basilisk," he called out, pitching his voice not to be heard outside the hollow.

The soldier turned at his voice, his face lighting up at the sight of Snake.

Breaking off his cover fire he started to run towards Snake.

"No, don't-"

Snake saw it happen as though in slow motion.

Without the bullets encouraging them to keep their heads down, the hostiles were able to line up a shot properly.

It caught Basilisk in the back, and Snake saw the moment life left his eyes with perfect clarity.

As Basilisk started to collapse Snake found himself running towards him, reaching the boy moments after he hit the floor.

The damage to his back killed any hopes that he might have survived immediately, a scorched crater into his spine above the diaphragm.

If he had survived the initial impact, he would have been left unable to breathe.

It took more enemy fire, beams of light passing over his head, for Snake to refocus.

He unslung his rifle, readying himself to fire, as he looked up to see a number of men, wearing suits despite the Afghan sun, in the entrance.

And Snake was already opening fire.

He couldn't see what they'd been using to shoot (could they be single shot? That might explain why he hadn't seen the weapons anywhere else, if they burned out on use), but they were the only possible shooters. If it was just one of them, it could have been some kind of unique ability, like the Man on Fire, but with the three of them, Snake dismissed the possibility.

And even if they somehow weren't, if there was someone with some kind of active camo shooting past them, his rubber bullets wouldn't kill them.

The first two went down before they could even seem to realise he was doing something, while the third appeared to be bringing his hands up to protect himself, as though he was holding a bulletproof shield, when the rounds took him down. The last was reaching for something in his suit pocket when Snake downed him.

And Snake paused, waiting for any sign of further hostiles.

The hollow was still.

Snake tried his radio again, from the vain hope that one of the suits had the jammer on him, and that his rubber bullets had somehow taken it out.

"Mother Base, are you reading me?"

"Loud and clear, Boss. What's the situation?"

"Resistance Basilisk is dead, killed by some kind of laser weapon. He was trying to call for backup, but the signal was jammed somehow. I have three hostiles down, ready for pickup. How far out is Pequod?"

"No more than an hour, Boss. How sure are you about Basilisk?"

"You don't need my training to know this much damage to the spine is lethal."

"Roger that. Anything else to report?"

"On the contract itself, we have breached the temple only to discover human remains inside. Do we have any trap locating specialists available?"

"I'll send someone in with the second wave."

A different voice spoke up.

"Snake, this is Ocelot. I suggest you leave this contract to the rest of us and return to Mother Base. You aren't back to one hundred percent yet."

"I'm not walking away, not with one of us dead. Whoever is responsible just declared war."

"Very well, you're the Boss. Revolver Ocelot out."

Snake turned his attention back to the suits, taking them outside to load onto Pequod more easily.

Somebody was going to pay for Basilisks death.

]

The five man combat team that disembarked from Pequod helped load the four suits, securely restraining them in the cabin.

And then, with more ceremony, they carried Basilisks body in, to carry him safely back to Mother Base.

The bodies of two more suits, who hadn't got their heads down fast enough when Basilisk started shooting, they left outside with the old jeeps the suits had presumably used to get there.

Snake addressed the men, all of whom were more appropriately armed for the job than the late Basilisk (each with some model of sniper rifle and assault rifle), as Pequod launched.

"I want two of us on watch at all times, eight hour shifts. At least two more of us should be awake and ready to reinforce them. Any questions?"

"We're switching out every eight hours?"

Snake considered briefly.

"No, one off duty and replaced every four hours. Best not give the opening. Anything else?"

He gave them time to respond, before nodding.

"Right, you two, take first watch. I'm going to check in with our employers."

He found Mitchell at the start of the passage, hovering agitatedly.

"Is it safe yet?"

Snake could appreciate his panic, a man who chose a safer occupation placed face to face with danger, but now wasn't the time.

"Where's the doctor?"

"He went deeper inside, wanted to see what was further in while he had the chance. I couldn't stop him, and didn't know if it was safe to get you…"

Snake held back a snarl.

"Academics," he hissed, as though the word was a curse. "We don't know whether they have another way inside. Go back to camp, we have reinforcements to keep you safe."

He brought up his radio as Mitchell hurried away.

"Snake speaking. The doctor has headed back into the tunnels. I'm going after him, but there isn't any signal down there. Send one of the workers if you need me. Snake out."

He shut off the radio and started moving.

]

Doctor Nielson moved quickly down the passage, flicking his torch from surface to surface.

No matter what that mercenary said, ancient ruins didn't have traps waiting for explorers.

Sure, there were other dangers sometimes, but this 'Snake' was greatly overstating them.

That armoured skeleton, it could have been natural causes. Heavy, metal armour, the Afghan heat? Or maybe he was in there when it was sealed.

Granted, the temple and map dated from long before men would have worn such armour in the region, but it could have been sealed later.

Why, he wasn't sure, but that was why they were here, to find out.

Ah, here was the skeleton.

He slowed considerably, playing his torch over the passage more thoroughly.

It would be untrodden ground from here on out.

He took a confident step forward.

]

Rabid Muskox trained his binoculars on the road, leaving the skies to his temporary partner, Signal Octopus.

Before being recruited by Snake, they had supposedly been on opposite sides of the local conflict, but neither of them could really remember.

Not that it mattered, in the end.

Now they were both proud members of the Diamond Dogs, and both could trust the other to have their back in a firefight.

"Incoming," Octopus reported, moments before the radio crackled to life.

"This is Queequeg coming in to land."

"Queequeg, this is Signal Octopus. Snake is out of contact right now. You are cleared to land."

"Roger that, Octopus."

Muskox had a thought.

"Queequeg, this is Rabid Muskox. We were brought in by Pequod, by order of Snake. What is your cargo?"

"Muskox, after the launch of Pequod Snake reported the need for a trap specialist for the primary contract. I am transporting several troops with such an area of expertise."

Muskox and Octopus shared a look.

"Queequeg, the tunnels Snake went into are where any traps would be. Recommend sending your reinforcements directly after him."

"I read you. What has the bossman got himself involved in this time?"

"I wouldn't know, he hasn't seen fit to give a full briefing yet. All I know is that this was meant to be a milkrun of a contract, and one of us is dead. Hopefully we'll be getting something from those suits…"

]

Ocelot observed the 'suits' from outside their cell.

As soon as they had reached Mother Base, they had removed everything from the men and woman, giving them temporary clothes while they tried to identify the source of the lasers Snake had reported.

About all they seemed to have in their suits were radios, wallets and some strange jewelry, though. Nothing that could have been the source of their attacks.

"We'll have to find out who you work for," Ocelot stated to the unconscious prisoners. "And then we can really get started."

No point risking them forgetting what he needed to know, after all.