She enters the hotel with her new kunai at the ready. As she looks around, she spots red lights flashing around the room.
Mines.
She climbs the stairs until she hears gunshots and yelling on the floor above her.
Time to go.
She thinks and ducks into a broom closet.
She waits and watches until they make their way to where she is. She watches them kill the frogs, and watches Akiba go in his pants. "Ugh! Akiba, get downwind, now!" a redheaded woman commands and pushes him out of the way. She scrunches up her nose as he stumbles in front of the door.
After the rest of Rat Patrol 01 runs past them, a remaining frog at the other side of the balcony aims at Akiba, but just before she pulls the trigger, Storm slams him out of the way with the door and feels the bullet whiz past her head.
"Run." she orders bluntly as she stands up, pushes the door open the rest of the way, and unsheathes her sword. The frog fires a few more shots at her and she deflects them with the blade, sending them back and hitting the frog in the head and chest.
The others are already charging through the other hallway, but Akiba just looks up at her hesitantly from his crawling position on the floor.
She looks down at him, silently urging him to run, and jumps up on the banister. Twirling her sword in anticipation, she presses her lips together and pushes out a harsh, shrill whistle before jumping up to the floor above, leading the rest of the frogs away.
She lands nimbly and silently, quickly scanning the floor for the cyborg. When she sees that he's not there, she stands and turns toward the banister, causing the tail of her coat to fly wildly in the air. Her eyes narrow and she grips the sword tighter, planting her right foot firmly behind her, and her left foot in front.
Suddenly, the frogs leap up onto the balcony with their P90s drawn, but as soon as they see the young girl with only a sword, they put them away and pull out their machetes. "You don't wanna do this, kid." one of them warns "Just walk away now and nobody gets hurt." Storm frowns with her eyes and speaks in her cold, monotone voice "No."
Without warning, she swipes her blade up diagonally through the first frog, stunning them all. The frog looks down at her torso; the cut is so clean that no blood spills out until the top part slides off from the rest of her body. The other frogs stare at their comrade as she lays, still alive, in pieces on the floor.
Storm doesn't blink. Her heart beats steadily in her chest.
They all gape at her in horror and anger before rushing her. Her heart continues to pulse as she quickly analyzes the situation.
Two attacking from the left. One attacking from the right. One hanging back. She'll try to attack from behind while the others distract me. Their proficiency with blades is significantly low compared to mine; their training focuses more on firearms.
Her heart beats again and she whips into action. She waits until the two on her left are close enough before slashing in one smooth motion across their waists. The one on the right lunges at her, but she easily steps out of the way and brings her sword up to the frog's arms, cutting her hands off and taking her head off after.
The last one sneaks behind her as predicted and tries to slice her head off, but Storm anticipates this and blocks her blade by reaching behind herself and deflecting the strike. She pivets around and lands a solid back kick to the frog's gut, sending her flying into a wall.
Storm strides over to the collapsed soldier with her cold, grey glare boaring into her skull. The frog looks up at her and begs for mercy "P-please. You don't have to do this. I would show you mercy. Please. Don't kill me."
She cocks her head to the side in curiosity, still boaring into her with her steely gaze "Why? Death will find you no matter what." The words flow eerily from her mouth, seemingly raspier than they really are because of the mask. The frog starts trembling and lays her head on the floor. Storm lets out a long, heavy sigh.
"But not today."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Storm jumps down from the balcony and lands in the center of the lobby. Looking around, she sees that Raiden is still hidden from her view. She shrugs it off and vaults over the bar, creeping through the dusty rooms.
Distant footsteps are heard from somewhere below her. She checks her map and sees the green dot that represents Snake. It appears to be right where she is, but the room is empty, save for a few shredded couches and an open elevator shaft.
She peeks down the hole and hears the woman's authoritative voice along with Snake's gutteral one. She listens to their conversation and hears a name that makes her tense up; like an intense itch that she's trying not to scratch. The man who ruined her life.
~Flashback~
"You think that we're the bad guys? Well let me tell you something. There are people out there that are worse than us. People that will kill thousands, destroy cities, and cut down anything or anyone who gets in their way, just to get to the Patriots. The worst of them all, the man who delivered you to us, Revolver Ocelot. If you want to be childish and start pointing fingers, then blame him. He's the one who condemned you to this fate in the first place. But we are not your enemies. We want to help you. We want to train you and give you everything you need to eradicate him and others like him. It will be brutal, painful, and at times overwhelming. But it will all be worth it when you are standing over his broken body. Trust us. We want to help you." the serpent-like woman tells her. She is only three years old, but already she is able to comprehend every word that comes out of the woman's mouth. But although she is smart, she is still naive. So she nods her head, letting the woman know that whatever they have in store for her, it's what she wants. That was her first, and her biggest mistake.
~Flashback End~
Once Rat Patrol 01 is gone, Snake makes a call and Storm jumps down the elevator shaft, landing lightly on top of the crushed metal. She looks at her map again and waits until Snake finishes his call and leaves.
She's about to follow him but she sees something out of the corner of her eye. She goes over to a pile of ash that used to be a frog and as she touches it, the wind carries it away, leaving a doll in its place. She raises a confused eyebrow but grabs the doll and runs after Snake.
