Philanthropy

Damn. I can't believe how long this fic has become already.
Otacon: Woot! Check out my new figurines!
Oh yeah, that's right. We've been to Abunai. Snake was happy, too, because there were big boxes especially for him.
Otacon: I'm gonna go online! I gotta tell all my friends from 2channel what I've bought!
...This is serious business.

***


Five

The codec crackled. It had static.
‘Snake, are you still there?’
‘Of course,’ the codec faintly transmitted. ‘In fact, it’s completely safe to speak here.’
I typed on my keyboard like a madman. ‘Where are you? I can’t trace you.’
‘In the air pipes. Where else?’
‘Oh, wait, I see. Hey, that means you’re close to the target.’
‘I know. I can see the office from here. It’s safe to shut down security now.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Do it.’
I took a deep breath and started to hack into the server of the office Snake was currently in. It was a matter of minutes. The alarms were off. The phones were down. The cameras, too. Too bad it would probably take fifteen minutes before the check-up. Before that, Snake had to be out of there.

‘It’s clear.’
‘Alright.’

I waited. Most of my job consisted of waiting, and hoping. I saw Dave’s little dot move on my screen. I saw no other dots, but they could come. They would.

‘I hear someone coming.’
‘Hide behind a desk or something!’
‘I’m hiding right now, Otacon.’

I held my breath, just as he was, probably. I still didn’t see a dot on the screen other than Dave’s. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t see them. They must’ve been using a system completely different from ours. That could be good (amateurs) or bad (special forces). Whoever they were, they needed to get out of there.

‘I believe they’re gone.’
‘I can’t see them here, sorry.’
‘I’m getting the documents right now.’

I heard his breathing, his footsteps, even. Rustling of papers. A gasp. Gunshots.

‘Fuck.’
‘What’s going on?!’
‘Got caught. I’m on the run. I don’t know where to…’
Breaking glass. A huge amount of breaking glass. A thud. A moan.

My heart stopped. I waited breathlessly.

‘Otacon.’
‘Are you alright?’
‘I guess. Jumped out of the window. There was no other way out.’
‘And where did you land, for god’s sake? You were on the fourth floor!’
‘You know, these things window washers use when they wash sky scrapers?’
‘Oh.’
‘I’m on my way down.’
‘Do you have the documents?’
‘I do.’
‘And how are you going to come back here?’
‘I’ll use the car.’
‘They haven’t found it?’
‘Dunno.’

‘Well, I guess they have. Running it is.’
‘Please be careful.’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll be there in half an hour. Pack your bags.’
‘Okay. I will.’
‘Over and out, Otacon.’
‘Bye.’

He called my codec once more after ten minutes.
‘I forgot to tell you. Tell Mei Ling to get us an update on the radar system. We couldn’t see those guys and we should have.’
‘Alright, I will.’
‘You sound scared.’
‘Well, because I’m still pretty scared!’ I was panicking now.
‘Twenty minutes.’

*

I knocked on the hotel door, still checking if no one had seen me. I didn’t see anything, didn’t hear a sound. It was safe for now. We had to return to the apartment as soon as we could.
He opened the door and looked at me. I saw how pale he was and knew how he would regain his colour, because I was here. His equipment was gone, already packed.

‘There’s blood on you everywhere. Are you alright?’

I couldn’t stop myself. I took one step, took him in my arms. He wrapped his arms around me as well, whispering ‘I was so scared. I don’t know if I’m fit for this job.’
‘You did fine.’

*

I felt his grip loosen. My heart sank.
‘Don’t let go,’ I said. I never wanted to say that. It was supposed to stay in my mind.
He watched me more closely, surprised, amused. And of course, I blushed.

‘Okay, I won’t. When should I let you go?’
‘I don’t know. I’m sorry.’

I couldn’t believe it. He decided to hold me, and I ruined it. Now I just felt awkward, even though his right hand was on my back and his left hand was stroking my hair. Before he let go of me, he said ‘Let’s get out of here.’ And we went.

***

‘I remember,’ he says, smiling, playing with my hair.
‘I wish I would’ve known beforehand that you were leaving. I could’ve made preparations for tonight or something. To make it more comfortable.’
‘You’re too caring.’
‘How can I not care?’
‘I’m sorry for what I did back then. It would’ve made it so much easier for you if I hadn’t. You wouldn’t worry so much.’
‘Do you honestly believe that?’
‘…I don’t know.’
‘It wouldn’t have made a difference, except I would’ve missed everything.’

***

We arrived at ‘our’ apartment and dropped our bags in the hallway. I noticed he was tired.
‘I’m gonna take a shower,’ he said and unzipped his coat. Still feeling awkward, I turned around and started to pay attention to the documents Dave had stolen from the building he had been in.

A while later, he stepped out of the shower.
‘Otacon.’
‘Hm?’ I turned around in my chair, and by doing so, I had placed Dave’s barely clothed body in my eyesight completely.
‘I believe I have a nasty cut on my back, but I can’t reach it nor see it.’
‘Hold on.’ I got some bandages and walked up to him. He was right. There was a big cut on the middle of his back. It was still bleeding a little.
‘Seriously, Dave, how can you just walk around happily with this on your back?’ I said incredulously while putting bandage over the cut. He just shrugged. ‘Good genes,’ he added ironically. When I finished taking care of his wounds, he put on a plain black shirt and sat down next to me.

‘What’s in the documents?’
‘They’re orders for metal gear. With official stamps from the government. I looked it up, see? They match.’
‘Does it say anything about where they are, or who made them?’
‘Not much. It says ‘we’ll discuss the details during our appointment on the 16th.’ But I guess it does say who the designer is.’

‘What, you?’
‘Yup. ‘Our team of designers located in building C.’ That’s just me.’
‘Really?’ He smiled. ‘They’re so highly organized.’
‘So what do we do with it?’ I asked enthusiastically. ‘Publish them?’
‘We have discussed that option before. But it won’t work.’
‘Huh? Why not? When the people know they’re being lied to…’
‘It won’t work.’
‘Why not?’
‘Don’t get all impatient. I was gonna tell you. We can’t publish them because the press is under high surveillance and an article about this will have a hard time to get published. If it even gets published. And when it does, everyone will demand sources. And they’ll find us. No paper will publish this without the source.’
‘Oh,’ I said, disappointed. His tone had scared me so much I hardly had the courage to ask him what we were going to with the documents, then.
‘Burn them.’
‘What?!’
‘There’s information in there about the specific models and their abilities. And as I said, every metal gear or other advanced weapon, and the knowledge to make one, we destroy.’
‘But don’t you know someone at the papers? It’d be a shame to let this go, when we’ve worked so hard to get it…’
‘I don’t know one at the moment. If I had, I would’ve indeed sent it to some paper. You can scan it in, but then we burn it. We’re dead if this is found on one of us.’
I had scanned it already. And an email form was opened. It had been ready to send, and before I could click it away, he’d already seen it.
‘Otacon…’
I couldn’t look him in the eyes.
‘Please, don’t do anything on your own again, until you’ve gained some field experience. You nearly got us both killed.’ He got up and went to bed, without another look.

Stupid metal gear. Stupid Snake.
Him being mad at me had angered me so much I watched anime that whole night.

‘Thanks a lot Hal, for monitoring me and all. And taking care of my wounds. Even though you don’t know me and have no reason to trust me whatsoever. Oh, no problem, Dave! I’ll gladly do whatever you ask me! I don’t need anything in return! Too bad I do a shitty job and make the wrong decisions all the time!’

I hit the table with my fist, and when I shut my eyes, tears fell on my desk. Too many emotions for one day, I guess. And him holding me. That sure had something to do with it.


***