The doctor was about to step past the skeleton.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The doctor turned at Snakes irate voice, at the same moment as his foot touched the ground.

Beams of light, much the same as those used by the attacking suits, shot from both walls, the doctor spared by the smallest of margins, from starting to turn back.

Whatever it was, it came close enough for the doctor to feel its passage, the combination of factors seeing him overbalance and fall towards Snake, landing relatively safely on the ground.

He turned over, shaking badly.

"What was that?"

"I have no idea," Snake responded slowly, "but I think we know what happened to our knight."

"Impossible! That people talking about… about ancient lasers are all cranks, conspiracy theorists! This… this can't be real, I must be dreaming. Yes, this is just a dream, I got too excited about fibdibg the temple, I'm just imagining that the expedition has turned into Raiders. That's it, it has to be…"

"Or the knight isn't as old as they seem," Snake theorised. "If the organisation those suits belong to found this place before us, renovating it with their laser technology, and someone came along thinking a suit of armour could protect them…"

It didn't seem likely, but it was the best explanation he could come up with.

It was only this trap and the suits that had these lasers, to the best of his knowledge.

Had they triggered an alarm when he opened the passage? Drawn those suits in?

There was no sign of any transmitter, but by all indications they had much more advanced technology than anyone he knew of.

"Wait, what do you mean, 'those suits'?"

Snake glanced down at doctor Nielson, who was just starting to get back on his feet.

"A group wearing suits and sunglasses attacked. I had them transported back to base where they should give us some answers. Do you have any idea who they might be?"

"Suits? Out here? Nobody at the university would be so foolish. And our… rivals, I guess… they don't like suits at all. Heh, I remember when Metz had to wear one for an opening, hated every moment, said it 'brought back bad memories'."

Snake mostly tuned out his words after the confirmation that this was most likely a different group.

"Right, we have confirmation that it is dangerous down here and that there are hostiles intent on interfering with the expedition. I have called in trap experts, should we continue the expedition, so-"

"What do you mean, 'should we continue'? I'm not letting someone chase me off now!"

"Regardless, we are returning to camp until the trap experts are ready. Any expedition will involve at least two trap experts at all times. Understood? Until then, you can make do with what we've found so far."

Nielson grumbled a bit, but relented.

"I see your point, whatever happened here I don't want to run into it again."

"Good. Now-"

The sound of steps from back up the passage had Snake readying his gun and turning round.

The group of soldiers he saw wore Mother Base issued camo, enough to relax him somewhat but not enough to lower his rifle.

The leader of the group signalled a halt.

"Snake, sir, Frigid Husky reporting. We were told you pursued one of the archaeologists into a trapped passage."

Snake nodded.

"Caught up with him as he triggered a trap. It's just there," he motioned with his head, "seems the skeleton was a victim."

"Understood. Should we start working immediately?"

"No, let's gather back at camp, make sure we're all on the same page. It's starting to feel as though there's been constant excitement since the contract started…"

]

The workers watched from a distance as Snake gathered both archaeologists and all his men not currently on watch.

"Everyone who is on duty but not on watch has the responsibility to make sure the doctor doesn't head head into the temple without trap specialists to keep him safe," he began.

"Hey-"

"You nearly got yourself killed while I dealt with the attackers," Snake stated flatly. "If I'd been any slower, you would have died."

"That's… well… you didn't need to head back, you could have left it to… to…"

Nielson looked at the surrounding soldiers, trying to spot the familiar face.

"Resistance Basilisk died, holding against six hostiles," Snakes voice took on a harsher tone. "If I hadn't attempted to back him up, they could have easily secured the camp and come after us while we were trapped against the traps in the passage. Not to mention what they could have done to your workers."

Doctor Nielson withered from Snakes words.

"He… he died? I… I didn't realise… They… they were shooting to kill? Is what we found here really so… to die over…"

He trailed off.

"Whether or not the site has legitimate value to anyone other than these suits, the disregard they display for human life means we would likely end up in conflict with them at some point," Snake allowed. "Running into them now merely moves up the timetable. In any case, we have two soldiers on watch at all times, two more ready to reinforce them if needed, and any expedition into the 'temple'," whatever it was now, "will contain at least two trap specialists, and will only resume when I say. Understood?"

"How… no… of course, I'll make sure not to go against your…" Nielson struggled to find the appropriate word, "decision," he finished lamely.

"Good. Now, I want a perimeter set up for any uninvited guests, and a warning system in case they have another entrance into the 'temple'. Dismissed!"

The soldiers saluted, trailing away to fulfill his orders.

Mitchell and Nielson, by contrast, remained frozen for a moment, before bringing out their photographs of the murals, and the amulet Snake found, and started going over them, trying to learn what they could.

Snake stalked away, bringing up Mother Bases status on his iDroid for lack of anything else to do.

]

Ocelot faced the first of the 'suits' in an interrogation room.

The 'suit' had his arms restrained on the table between them, other Diamond Dog members surrounding them with guns trained on the man.

Ocelot wasn't taking any chances, they still had no idea what they had used for the lasers Snake had reported.

"What is your name," he began, a nice straightforward question to get things started.

"You won't get anything from me," came the mans response, an unfortunately hostile response that didn't bode well for the mans questioning.

"Who do you work for?"

"The organisation or just my boss?"

The man was acting as though he'd told a joke.

"Who do you work for?"

The mans eyes glazed over slightly.

"We've been in the shadows since history began," he claimed, "working towards our goals…"

His eyes cleared, and he seemed to fall slightly forwards before recovering.

Ocelot frowned.

It wasn't a secret that he was skilled at interrogation, but the reason for this skill was another matter.

He was a skilled hypnotist.

Maybe not to the extent of being able to hypnotise himself, but skilled nonetheless.

And by careful application of this talent he was able to get subjects to divulge information they would otherwise keep secret.

It was also how he was able to recruit prisoners to the Diamond Dogs so quickly, regardless of their prior loyalties.

And this man wasn't responding how he should.

It wasn't that it wasn't working, more that wires were getting crossed.

As though he was already under someone elses control.

"What is your name," he pressed, more carefully this time. "Who do your work for?"

"I…"

The man trailed off into a groan, head falling forwards onto the table.

After a bit, he lifted his head once more, moving slowly, as though unfamiliar with his body, looking at his hands in confusion, as though he wasn't expecting the suit or cuffs.

"What is your name," Ocelot tried again, not expecting much after the control was broken, but still trying to find out everything he could.

The man responded in a confused tone, words unfamiliar to Ocelot.

"What is that? Czech?"

The mans response to the word drew a nod from Ocelot.

He turned to the nearest guard.

"Find me a Czech translator."

He paused to think for a moment.

"While you do, I'll see if I have any luck with the next one."

Probably not, his main skill for interrogation was hypnosis rather than anything that could possibly work here.

Just what had they got involved in, anyway?

]

Having finished going over the state of Mother Base, Snake switched to reviewing the situation in camp.

It didn't look too good.

First, his reinforcements had increased the number of mouths to feed.

Second, it looked like they were going to be here for a while longer than anyone had planned.

Finally, when the suits had been firing blind in the general direction of Resistance Basilisk they had managed to hit certain food supplies.

In short, if he didn't do something, they were going to run out.

And Mother Base didn't have any cargo helicopters suited to flying supplies in.

Flying supplies to somewhere with a proper landing pad, maybe, but out here?

And it wasn't as though they could easily airdrop supplies either, the problem not being considered a priority when organising Mother Bases equipment.

Well, it wasn't as though there weren't any supplies nearby.

"Mother Base, there are insufficient supplies for the rest of the contract," he reported. "Planning mission to resupply."

"What supplies are you short," came Mother Bases swift reply.

"Mainly food and water. Nothing that can't be fixed by taking over a supply convoy."

"That's a negative," Mother Base responded. "Given recent developments, it is strongly recommended you remain in place. A team will be sent to secure supplies for you."

It made sense, but that didn't mean Snake had to like it.

"Understood. Snake out."