Act I part 2: Watch

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So this is the famous Solid Snake you're always talking about, huh?

She thinks to herself as she watches the old man pluck the cigarette off the ground. Gunshots, screams and the mooing of gekko fill the dry, desert air, but she's used to it by now. They all are.

As far as Snake knows, he's alone and as far as Raiden knows, he's the only one watching. But Raiden hasn't been alone for six years. Wherever he goes, Storm follows. She sticks to him like a shadow, she even behaves like a shadow at times.

Of course it's highly dangerous to be around him. But then again it's dangerous just to be her. She's been on the battlefield for over seven years, and in that time she's learned how to defend herself, despite the fact that she can't fire guns.

But she's been watching Raiden for so long that she quickly found a solution to that problem. If she can't use guns then she'll have to use to blades. So that's exactly what she did. She carries a set of throwing knives, twin stun knives, an engraved blue and black ninjato, and a hidden blade that she designed herself.

Snake starts moving again and they follow. Raiden on the rooftops, and Storm in the shadows. They all easily make their way to the rendezvous point.

As he hugs the wall and peeks out of a window, a little robot rolls up to him with a miniature screen on the side. "It's me, Snake. Snake, it's me!" the man on the screen calls "Otacon?" Snake asks in disbelief "Sorry to keep you waiting, Snake. Allow me to introduce Metal Gear Mark II." Otacon says "Metal Gear?" "That's right. Just like REX. But this gear's not a weapon. It's a remote mobile terminal designed to provide you with operational support."

"Where are you?" Snake asks "I'm in the Nomad. Where else? I'll be watching you through the MK II." Otacon replies "Wish I was good with gadgets." Snake grumbles "Hey, I'll be with you in spirit. Anyway, since you had to dress up like a militiaman I had the MK II bring you some goodies." a cable then appears from the side of the MK II, reaches inside a built in compartment, and pulls out a gadget that looks like an eyepatch.

"Starting with this. Put it over your left eye." Otacon tells him "Looks like an eyepatch." Snake comments as he puts it on. "I call it the Solid Eye. It's an all-purpose goggle that displays radar and other data in 3-D. You can also switch it over to light-amplifying night vision."

Snake peeks out the window as gunshots ring out "The rebels are out there." he says "It looks like they've got the government's PMC troops beat. At least in numbers." "And this is their home turf."

"Snake. I know this is a sneaking mission, but you'll need to protect yourself." Otacon says as the MK II places a pistol in front of him "An operator." "I installed a suppressor. And here's a tranquilizer gun." "How thoughtful." "It predates the implementation of the System. By some miracle, it was never recycled. It's getting tough these days, finding decent guns that aren't controlled."

Snake examines the gun before standing up "You coming?" he asks "Of course. I'll follow you wherever you go. Like this. I'll activate stealth so it doesn't attract any attention." Otacon responds as the MK II demonstrates its camouflage abilities.

"If you need it, just bring up the START button menu." "Got it." "Snake. The informants who said they saw Liquid here should be a little farther up ahead. Head for the rendezvous point. I placed a mark on the radar on the upper right corner of the Solid Eye. It's a war zone out there. Stay on your toes." Otacon tells him before they start moving again.

Start button menu? What the hell does that mean? Like a video game? No, that's ridiculous. This is the real world, not VR training. I've already checked a thousand times before.

Storm tells herself as she watches and listens to their conversation.

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As they move through the battlefield, Snake stops and hides behind a wall as a soldier passes by. But then farting and groaning noises start coming from a barrel. The Rebel starts inspecting it and demands to know who's inside. "G-go away! I'm not done yet!" the person in the barrel says, but the soldier tips the barrel over anyway to reveal a skinny PMC with a mask and sunglasses crouching with his pants down over a pile of his own feces.

They just stare at each other for a moment until the guy in the mask breaks the silence with a fart and starts running away, but it's kind of difficult when his pants are falling down. A thin smirk cracks across her lips and a light chuckle escapes in a dry, breathy rasp.

Then a not-so-funny thought occurs to her. The guy in the mask could die if someone doesn't help him. Usually she wouldn't give any thought to the matter, but even she knows that it's low to kill a man when he's relieving himself. That's enough to get her on her feet and on the move again. But she has to be quick so she doesn't lose Raiden or Snake.

With her tracking skills, she has no trouble with finding the guy in the mask. He's backed into a corner by two rebels and has his gun drawn.

Why doesn't he just shoot those guys already? Is he afraid to take a life?

The guy in the mask finally pulls the trigger but nothing happens.

And suddenly it dawns on her. She's not the only one without nanomachines. That means if she doesn't do something this guy is a dead man. So without further hesitation she unsheathes her sword, lunges from the shadows, and in one smooth motion, she slices the two soldiers in half.

A squeak is heard from the guy in the mask as he flattens himself against the wall. She wipes the blood from her sword then opens her pack, tossing him a set of throwing knives and a roll of toilet paper that she picked up in a wreckage. The guy in the mask fumbles around to catch the items but only manages to catch the knives.

"Uh, th-thanks." he stutters. She responds with a nod "Name." she demands "J-johnny. But everyone just calls me Akiba." "Well then, Akiba, learn how to use the knives. There are too many trade-offs that come with nanomachines." "wha- how did you know? Who are you?" "...Storm. We're the same."

She hears a tank approaching and turns her attention that way "Don't get killed." and with that, she melts back into the shadows and chases after the metal man once again.

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As she's sneaking through an alley way, she sees a barrel with feet. She follows it for a while and once the person takes it off she knows that Raiden is close by. Her theory is soon confirmed when she scans the rooftops and sees him watching Snake with the eyes of a hawk.

(A/N: I'm sorry, I'm having a bit of trouble remembering which order a few of these events go in.)

Snake goes into an underground tunnel system and she knows that with their training it would make it way easier for them to spot her in there, so she goes around. But to her surprise, so does Raiden.

If they're allies then why doesn't he want to be seen by Snake?

After a while he stops jumping across the rooftops and looks down at a metal door. Soon, Snake opens the door, immediately crouches down, and puts his fingers to the back of his ear.

A new gun?

When the call ends he stands back up and peeks around the corner before moving again.

There must be a gun launderer in there. I do pick up quite a few things that I won't be needing. Maybe I could make a trade or something.

With that in mind, as soon as they start moving again she goes through the door too.

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