Snake wasn't entirely sure just what was happening.

He'd brought out the amulet to test what reaction it would get, one of the suits shouted something and suddenly lasers seemed to be shooting from their hands.

His men had received enough training to know how to respond, and one of the jeeps had gone up in an explosion, while the second rocket had hit some kind of barrier in the air in front of the target.

His other men, those without rocket launchers, had started shooting as well, starting to thin the enemy numbers.

But not as quickly as they should have been.

More of these shields were appearing before some of the suits, blocking the bullets that would have hit them otherwise.

Snake was reminded that he hadn't discussed the encounter with the Sorrow with anyone at Mother Base, about how there was a demonstrable risk of every life you had taken coming back to haunt you.

But then, even if there was another like the Sorrow out there, it was unlikely for anyone other than him to encounter them as an enemy.

It was just the way his luck seemed to go.

As for the fight, the jeep that hadn't been targeted was that of their leader, who had responded to the commencement of hostilities by taking cover, behind the burning jeep.

Presumably on the principle that it blocked lines if sight, fire and was unlikely to explode again.

And Snakes role in the fight?

He was currently on the floor with a possible concussion, struggling to focus on the here and now enough to contribute, having taken at least one hit from the suits.

There was a glint off something on the floor, bringing to mind a grenade that had nearly taken his arm, and Snake reached out to grab it.

It wasn't the shape of any grenade he was familiar with, mostly flat rather than rounded.

He lifted it and opened his hand to see what he was holding.

It looked like a small shield, with a pearl in the middle.

There was a word connected to it…

What was it…

Oh, right.

"Freelancer," he uttered.

And that was the moment everything changed.

Some kind of energy emerged from the amulet, forming into an armoured figure.

Or was the armour a part of them?

Their left arm bore a shield, one that looked like amulet writ large, while the right held a lance.

For some reason, their head or helmet looked like a mushroom to Snake.

There was a pause from the suits, as they reconsidered targets, and then they seemed to focus their fire on the figure, on the Freelancer.

The Freelancer was able to bring its shield into position to block the shots, completely resisting the shits that Snake knew could be lethal.

"Strix," he heard one then another of the suits call out, and he looked up to see them holding up things that looked almost like a tiny, rolled up armadillo with a sting.

Energy emerged from these objects, forming into fat bug like creatures, that shot towards the Freelancer.

Unfortunately for the suits, whatever they were intending failed as some of Snakes men reacted by targeting the bugs, the Strix, with their fire.

The Strix attempted to dodge the fire, but were unable to change direction fast enough to escape more than the first few rounds, detonating in a burst of energy.

"Redca-aargh!"

Snakes head snapped around (he'd be paying for that later, he could feel it) to see another suit had tried using one of their artifacts, only for one of his men to respond by trying to shoot it out of his hand.

Instead of hitting, and potentially destroying, the artifact the bullet lodged in his arm, resulting in him dropping it.

To Snake, it looked like something between a gauntlet and claws, just sized down to be held rather than go over a hand.

The disruption from these summonings, or whatever they were, was enough to turn the tides.

None of the suits were left in any state to fight, and from a preliminary triage Snake was pretty sure that none of his men would be permanent casualties.

There were injuries, even without counting Snake himself, but they could recover.

Which was more than could be said for all the suits.

There weren't any survivors from the jeep that took a rocket, and more had fallen to his men.

Snake tried to stand, fighting against his injuries, and almost fell before a large hand grabbed his arm, stabilising him.

He glanced up, to see Freelancer helping him.

"Thanks," he muttered, grateful for the assistance.

His feet weren't completely stable beneath him, and the Freelancer had to assist as he walked up, past the jeeps.

The enemy leader was there, trying to untie the knot holding a bag closed.

Snake stepped forward, and the man froze as Snake pressed his pistol against his head.

"I would suggest you give up now," Snake commented. "It won't make much difference, but I'd rather not need to reload sooner than necessary."

The man tossed the bag to the ground and pressed his hands together over his head.

"I guess that's what comes from making assumptions," he almost laughed. "So, another Seeker after the Mara, eh? Well, fairs fair, you win the prize. But we'll see who takes it next time!"

"What next time?"

"You think you can hold me without the Professor getting me out? Ah, I'll be on duty again soon, the professor respects my talents too much to abandon me."

Snake shook his head slowly, motioning for one of his men to come up and watch the man for him.

He stepped away, calling up Mother Base on his iDroid.

"Mother Base, this is Snake. We need reinforcements and transport for prisoners and casualties." He winced. "Including me. I also have some things I'll need to discuss in person…"

]

Nielson watched as Centipede examined the walls of the passage closely, going as far as to press against any areas that he considered suspicious.

As such, he got a good look as Centipedes hand went straight through the wall as though there was nothing there.

Centipede was just as unprepared as Nielson, and stumbled through the wall before recovering, stepping back with eyes wide.

He turned to face Nielson.

"I have no idea what that was, but we aren't prepared to deal with it. We are heading back."

Nielson couldn't find it in himself to disagree.

This… this wasn't like any expedition he'd been on before.

]

The team returned to the surface to see the aftermath of a battle.

There was the burned out remains of a jeep, wounded soldiers and prisoners and bodies.

Looking closer, it became clear that all of the bodies were wearing suits, rather than any of the mercenaries having been killed.

"What happened?"

It took everyone looking at him for doctor Nielson to realise that he was the one who'd spoken.

"Negotiations went sour," came Snakes voice in answer, as the man limped towards him.

"Sorry? What negotiations?"

Anything more he might have asked was cut off by the sound of approaching helicopters.

"We'll be switching out," Snake informed him, speaking louder in order to be heard. "We need proper medical facilities for the wounded, but I've called in replacements."

"But… I don't think we'll be able to complete the expedition… and the costs…"

Snake shook his head slowly.

"It seems you stumbled across something big. We'll absorb any excess costs in exchange for what you've helped us uncover."

He blinked.

"That… makes sense right? I think I might have a concussion. We'll take care of the details when I'm back."

Nielson stepped back, and found himself watching as a lot more mercenaries unloaded from the helicopters and the injured and prisoners were loaded in their place, Snake being the last before the helicopters left.

]

Ocelot stood on the platform, waiting for Snakes return.

He couldn't help but wonder what exactly it was that Snake had discovered that he didn't feel he could communicate over the iDroid.

It should be completely secure, and Snake would know that, so what exactly did he feel the need to discuss in person?

The helicopter that landed on the pad before him opened to reveal Snake, one of his men, and a number of new prisoners.

Ocelot stepped forward as Snake jumped down.

"Snake, good to see you back. What did you want to discuss?"

"There's… I need to go through medical first," Snake stated. "It doesn't seem like it could have been real, and I may have been under the effects of a concussion at the time. I want to be sure before I say anything."

He started towards the medical platform, only to pause.

"That man was their leader, he said something about their boss breaking him out. Make sure he's secure."

Ocelot nodded.

It was part of why they removed everything from the prisoners, making sure there was nothing to track them to Mother Base, on top of preventing them from breaking out themselves.

He escorted the prisoners to their cells, trusting the others to see Snake to medical safely.

Hopefully they wouldn't find anything seriously wrong with Snake, find that he could trust what he'd seen to be real, and Ocelot could find out what was so unbelievable soon.

]

Snake froze.

The room that he remembered visiting Paz in, she wasn't there.

It was empty.

As… as it had always been, he was forced to admit, Paz had never been there.

It was a hallucination, after… after he failed to save her in the helicopter.

He fell to his knees, the guilt hitting hard.

]

Ocelot stepped away from the cells, having learned nothing from the prisoners.

A call came in through his iDroid, and he answered without needing to consider the action.

"Ocelot here."

He paused, listening to the man on the other end.

"Understood boss. I'll report in as soon as I know anything."