Longing Snake

Solid Snake was never too confident flying. That isn't to say he had vertigo; abseiling, parachuting, high altitude didn't bother him at all. No, for some reason, he was only uncomfortable while actively defying the laws of gravity. He'd never really had time to stop and think about it before. Perhaps he should have said something when Otacon suggested their new mobile base should be a plane. Then again, what would Otacon say after hearing the legendary Solid Snake was a bad flier? At least he stayed firm about the name. The Nomad... he thought it was a fitting tribute.

We are nomads... wanderers...
I'm a nomad too.

Snake reclined a little in his chair, and groaned a little. Listen to me, my chair. I sound like a grandpa already. That only led him to dwell on Naomi's findings a little more. Apparently, FOX-DIE wasn't to blame for his body's accelerated aging. He played dumb when asked what it could be, but he knew. He was a Les Enfants Terribles child, the product of top-secret military genetic research. The scientists of the time wouldn't have wanted him to fall into enemy hands. He, Liquid and Solidus were all born with an expiry date, just like any other produce. Only he certainly wasn't long-life. Naomi probably knew as well, but she didn't let on. He didn't mention it because of Raven. As long as I live, I will walk a path paved with the corpses of my enemies... If my life will only be war, why bother making it any longer than it should?

"Snake! You've got a message!" Snake heard Sunny's voice ring out from the depths of the plane. Snake groaned as he sat up, rising to his feet and walking to the computer in front of him. Despite Otacon's complaining and well-meaning pestering to 'get with the digital age', it took Sunny for him to really get the hang of it. Perhaps it was the knowledge that hers was a generation Snake had played his part to save, or perhaps it was that she reminded him of her mother, but for some reason Snake was somewhat computer-literate thanks to her. He recognized the incoming message tab flashing at the bottom corner of the screen, and clicked it. A window flew up of a man with blonde, slicked back hair, and a...what could only be described as a pretty face.

"Ah, um, hello, Mr. Snake, sir," the man stammered, "I am, uh, Jo-Johnny Sa-Sa-Sasaki, from FOX-HOUND."

Snake smiled inwardly. I must've made an impression on the kid. "Calm down, kid, you aren't in front of the President or anything."

"I uh, hahah, of course, Mr. Snake," he continued, still obviously nervous. "Uh, yeah, we met in the, uh, conflict back in South America not long ago."

"Yeah, I remember you," Snake commented, "the ten-year vet."

Johnny smiled. "Yeah, that's me! That's me!" he said, "Ah, just so you know, that was a, uh, medical condition, nothing to do with being, ahem, scared, or, uh, anything..."

"Never mind that," Snake dismissed, "And please, Snake is fine."

"Ah, right, uh, Snake," Johnny stammered some more, "We have a problem you might be able to help us with. It's about Meryl..."

Snake began to pay a litte more attention. "Meryl?"

"Well, after Liquid activated his SOP, uh, thing, things all got crazy, and uh, we lost track of each other..."

"I know. I was there, remember?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, you were. Right, well, we'd made plans, that is the Rat Patrol had made plans, to, uh, rendezvous if any trouble came up, and uh..."

"And what?" Snake was getting tired of this.

"And, uh... Meryl never made it back."

Snake's heart skipped a beat. "Never made it!?"

"That's right. She... she failed to rendezvous. We had to evac without her."

"What about SOP? You guys all share senses with each other, right?"

"Uh, well, that's right, but I, uh, don't have any nanomachines, because Rat Patrol needs a control unit member, that is, uh, someone without nanos."

"And a good thing, too," Snake commented, "You're a lucky kid, Johnny. Anyway, can't Ed or Jonothan find anything out over your team network or something?"

"That's the thing, see, she lost contact with us when Liquid did his, uh, thing, so the unit's software needed to reboot, or something, Meryl knows more about it than I do, but... yeah..."

"So you guys have nothing?" Snake assumed, a certain irritability showing.

"No, no, we have something," Johnny corrected in a stammering voice, "just no-not much..."

"I'm sorry, Johnny, but do I make you nervous?" Snake had to ask.

"No! No, not at... to be honest, yeah, a little," Johnny admitted, "We've crossed paths before."

Then it hit Snake. "That's it!" he said with a smile, "You were at Shadow Moses, back in '05!"

Johnny nodded. "That's it. I was assigned to watch the prison cells. You made it look like you stabbed yourself, then knocked me out when I came in. How'd you get that ketchup, anyway?"

"Never mind that," Snake smiled, "No hard feelings, though, huh?"

"Bah, water under the bridge," Johnny waved his hand, "Besides, Meryl knocked me out and stripped me naked, now I'm working for her! Or, at least, was working for her..."

"Hey, don't worry, we'll find her." Snake assured the rookie. "Anyway, you said you had something?"

"Well, Ed snapped out of, well, whatever it was first, and he says he got a glimpse of Meryl being dragged off."

"Dragged off? By who?"

"Well... we don't know. All we got was a short video clip. A little over half a second."

A small image icon appeared below Johnny's video feed. Snake opened up the image. It was definitely Meryl. Her hands were over her head, it looked like they were being lifted. She was definitely dragged off, but the image showed nothing of the dragger.

"Of that video, this is the clearest still we could get," Johnny lamented.

"I see Meryl, but no one else is in the picture..." he commented.

"Oh, there's someone there. Look closer."

Snake squinted his eyes. Wait... something's wrong with the building behind Meryl. It looks all distorted...

"Stealth camouflage..." Snake guessed.

"Close," Johnny corrected, "It's a new technology, less effective than Stealth, but loads more reliable. It's called OctoCam."

"Ah, yeah," Snake realised, "it's the system that I use now. Stealth technology is just too unstable."

"Which brings us to my question," Johnny cut to the chase, "Do you know of any other units that use OctoCam technology?"

Snake thought about it. "Loads," he answered, "but with most of the units that use it, it's used sparingly. It costs a bundle. Usually with someone using Octocam there'll be at least a holster or strap that isn't covered. That or their face is unhidden."

"So can you think of a unit that is covered completely in OctoCam?" Johnny asked.

Snake thought again. A shiver went up his spine. "One. But I hope to God Meryl didn't get caught by this lot. They're a unit based in the US that uses biotechnology and nanos combined with an advanced robotics division. I ran into them there. The B&B Corps."

Johnny's face went pale. "Beauty and the Beast!?"

"That's the one," Snake nodded, "one of them uses OctoCam, head to toe. I swear, I didn't even know she was there until she'd already killed a man." Snake looked at the digital still again. Only now could he make out the vague shape of the Beast's flat headplate, the coiled arms it walked on. "Meryl's in big trouble. B&B is a unit owned by Liquid himself."

"Well, we need to rescue her!" Johnny said determinedly.

"Hang on, we can't just jump in there!" Snake argued.

"We have to! God knows what Liquid's doing to her!" Johnny almost shouted, leaving Snake a little taken aback. "Look, Snake, you were too busy sneaking around Shadow Moses to see what Liquid and Ocelot did to her. It was horrible. Now, god damnit, they're both the same person..!"

"Calm down!" Snake berated the FOX-HOUND member, "I care about Meryl too, but don't let your emotions cloud your judgment!" Johnny fell silent, and Snake continued. "There's no use getting worked up if we have no idea where they are based. All we know is that they're American. That leaves us almost four million square miles of haystack to find a needle in."

"Now, I happen to have a lead as to where Liquid's heading," Snake told Johnny, "Assuming B&B get assigned there as well, it gives us our best chance at finding out where she is."

"How do you know they'll get stationed there?" Johnny wondered aloud.

"Because I killed one of them," Snake said simply, "The flying one, Raging Raven."

"Killed?" Johnny repeated, "I didn't think you..."

"Hey, it's not like I wanted to kill her," Snake responded, "I don't like seeing people die right in front of me. She just died, not long after she got out of the suit. I've got someone working on a sample of her blood, see if there's anything we can do to save them. Look, either way, no matter how they look, they're human inside; they'll want another shot at me."

"At least they're down to three now, huh?" Johnny smiled.

A second chat window popped up. "I wouldn't be too sure about that," Otacon said dejectedly. "I don't mean to interrupt, Snake, but you both need to see this."

"Otacon?"

"Take a look at the B&B website," Otacon explained, and Snake's browser opened up. Snake heard Johnny gasp. There was the Beauty and the Beast unit, sans Raven. Instead, a new Beast took her place: a large, long tube of mechanical muscle, at least a foot and a half thick, coiling up into a humanoid torso, gifted with six arms wielding FN-P90s. But the guns were the least of his problems. It might not be the old Next Gen Special Forces uniform, but Snake could recognise that butt anywhere.

"Introducing the B&B Corps' newest member..." Johnny read aloud, "Longing Snake..."

Snake couldn't believe his eyes. "Meryl... what the hell..?"