7:47 PM: Metal Gear Solid

1.2 - Operation: Liquidation, Pt. I

Codec Encrypted Communication

Sniper Wolf: Great to hear from you, Snake. What's your current location?
Solid Snake: Right next to a ravine between me and the enemy base. Looks like I landed right next to the LZ.
SW: Excellent. I'll make my way to you. Team, is everyone else on the ground yet?
Gray Fox: Another happy landing! I see the ravine from my current position. Snake, are you that lone figure I see not too far from the bridge?
SS: That's me, alright.
GF: Okay, I'll meet you two there as well.
Labroni Badger: Um, guys? I think I'm stuck in a tree.
SW: I'm sorry, what?
LB: Well, I went under a tree branch, my chute went over it, and next thing I knew, I'd collided with a polymer quilt and now I'm hanging, upside-down, tangled up in pitch blackness!
SS: Hey, quit your whining. I was once in a similar scenario a few years back. It actually helped my camoflauge.
SW: Badger, did you see where you landed before your, um, "suspension"?
LB: Kind of... I was trying to dodge a lake when I hit the branch. I think I was just north of it. It's inside the LZ.
Ochre Sparrow: Oh, I see you! Yeah, you're lucky. I actually landed in the lake. I'll get you down once I make it to shore.
Sunny Weasel: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, team, but... I am nowhere near the LZ.
GF: Where'd you land, Weasel?
SWe: Please don't call me that. And... I'm on the other side of MSF's facility.
OS: Jeez!
SW: Just how on God's green earth did you pull that one off?!
SWe: I've only done this "parachuting" thing a few times! I've never been on a HALO jump before! And don't get me STARTED on that fucking bird that flew into my face!
SS: Sunny, if you newbies keep complaining about everything that goes wrong, this op will be over before it begins!
SWe: Oh Lord, go back to calling me Weasel! That one's not as bad!
SW: Snake is right, though. And you are in particular danger, being so far from the rest of us. Lay low, and keep quiet. See if you can get close enough to hack into enemy comms without alerting the enemy to your presence. Snake, I'm here.

Tselinoyarsk Swamp; 12:34 AM

Sniper Wolf came hopping over the bushes behind me. I turned to face her.

"Kept ya' waiting, huh?" she teased.

"That's my line," I told her. We clasped each other's hands and pulled each other close for a shoulder hug.

"As I recall, that's you're father's line," she corrected me.

"Therefore making it my inheritance," I reminded her.

"Think he'll show tonight?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked in turn. "Why would he be here?"

She watched me ponderously, trying to decide how to answer. Before she did, Gray Fox hopped over the same bushes she had, performing a somersault in midair to land on his feet.

"Hey, guys!" he greeted us eagerly, a wide grin on his face. "How goes it?"

"Great," I answered, bumping knuckles with him when he offered it.

"So, Sparrow is going to cut Badger out of his tree, Sunny is stuck across the AO, and the three of us are just chatting next to a sharp ravine," he summarized. "Based on personal field experience, all that marks the beginning of an excellent mission!"

"Gray Fox," Wolf said affectionately, shaking her head with a light smile and arms crossed. "Ever the optimist."

"Why fear when you can cheer, huh?" Fox asked, using his old slogan.