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Brothers in Arms	By : ktatters Category: +M through R > Metal Gear Views: 3912 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Metal Gear, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
We
will not forgive you for making us kill your sons. - Prime Minister
Golada Meir
Day
2: Outside Chernivtsi
In
combat situations, it is important to find your way to a light sleep
in a very speedy manner. Likewise, waking has to be instantaneous:
the first sound needs to leave you alert and prepared to face any
threat that might be around. The sabotage was close enough to a
combat situation to bring Big Boss to awareness in under a second
when the first rays of sunlight began to filter into the supply
truck.
Big
Boss stretched himself out slowly, pulling each muscle in turn and
letting his mind drift. It went first and foremost to Ocelot. If he
really meant what he said, if he really wanted to join with them,
then what then? How could anyone figure out whether or not he was
still allied with the Philosophers? He shook his head. They weren't
the Philosophers anymore. So was Ocelot allied with the Russian sect,
the Chinese, or the Americans?
And
then there was Arthur and this damnable situation. He wasn't in this
to be a weapons dealer for anyone, but he didn't have a choice. If
only the American government hadn't given in to Iran's demands...
Nothing
worked anymore... None of it was right.
He
looked to the side and brushed some hair away from Arthur's sleeping
face. "What are we going to do, Arthur?" he asked quietly.
No response was forthcoming on any of the issues. The man was dead to
the world. "How do I help you...?"
But
Arthur was still asleep. Big Boss kissed him gently on his lips. When
that didn't wake him, Big Boss smiled slowly. "Arthur, wake up,"
he said quietly into the other man's ear and blew. Arthur's mouth
twitched, but his eyes stayed closed.
He
put his hands under the second sleeping bag on Arthur's chest and
moved down until he reached the bottom of his lover's shirt, then
pushed his hands under the fabric and moved his hands back up over
the wiry muscles hidden beneath. "Come on, Arthur... we're on a
mission here..." Arthur still didn't react. Big Boss began to
ghost his hands along Arthur's sides until it was obvious that the
other man was holding in laughter. "I'm not going to stop until
you wake up."
Arthur
blinked a few times and Big Boss pulled his hands away. "All
right, all right, I'm awake," said Arthur through some light
laughter. He sat there catching his breath for a moment. "We
have time for breakfast?" he asked.
"Yeah,
but-"
A
banging on the metal side of the truck had both Big Boss and Arthur
training guns at the heavy cloth backing before a moment more had
passed. When Ocelot pushed the heavy fabric away, Arthur put his gun
down. Big Boss kept his up, his eyes narrowing.
"What
do you want?" he asked quickly.
"There's
a problem, Boss," said Ocelot quietly, his attention caught
somewhere off to the side.
Arthur
sat up, all humor gone. "What's wrong now?"
He moved to get up, but Big Boss put his arm out to stop him. Arthur
threw Big Boss a dirty look which was ignored.
"Three
of your men-- I don't know their names-- are dead."
"What?"
Arthur pushed Big Boss' arm away and rose to his feet quickly,
putting the safety back on his gun and stuffing it into his belt.
"Where?"
"The
bushes over there. Come on, I'll show you-"
"No."
Big Boss cut him off with a sharp hand motion. "Arthur, go check
on it. We'll join you in a minute." Big Boss lowered his weapon
and stood up, watching as Arthur hopped out of the truck with another
annoyed backwards glance. "Why don't you come up here, Ocelot?"
"I
didn't kill them. You know that," said Ocelot, looking uneasily
at the truck. Big Boss smiled humorlessly and waved two fingers
towards himself. "I'm a revolver man. They don't come with
silencers."
"The
Nagant works with silencers. Give me your guns," said Big Boss,
walking forward slowly. "And get in here. Unless you'd really
like this chat
where anyone can
hear it."
Ocelot
climbed onto the truck reluctantly and pulled his guns out, handing
them to Big Boss by the barrel. Big Boss nodded to Ocelot,
acknowledging the show of trust. "Still using SAAs?" Ocelot
nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on his guns. It was a bit of a
redundant question. Big Boss had known what weapons Ocelot was using
long before he'd handed them over.
These
didn't have the threading necessary for a silencer.
Still.
"How do I know they're your only weapons? You might even have
used someone else's weapons to kill those men." Big Boss watched
Ocelot carefully.
"I
didn't kill your men," said Ocelot earnestly, meeting Big Boss'
eye. "I wouldn't do that to you." Big Boss raised an
eyebrow. "I have ambition, you know. I might have had a lot
handed to me, but I've always been good enough to keep
it."
Ambition?
What did ambition have to do with anything? Big Boss covered his
confusion by looking at the bullets in the guns and stayed quiet.
"If
I can't be the best, I can at least be second."
Second
best...? "Arthur's my second," said Big Boss automatically.
"A
scientist with some muscles," scoffed Ocelot. "He's not a
soldier. He doesn't even know how to lead. He's malleable and weak."
Big Boss stared coolly at Ocelot, daring him to continue. "I'd
be a better choice, and I've got more command experience than he
has."
He
wanted Arthur's position? Big Boss almost laughed. He wouldn't...
couldn't
have a second who
was a soldier like Ocelot. He needed a second perspective on things
that only someone like Arthur would ever be able
to give him.
Besides, Arthur was entirely devoted to him in a way he doubted
Ocelot could possibly understand.
"You
might one day become third. If you want power, go back to Russia."
"I
can't do that."
"You
killed a few men on your side and let Arthur escape from Chernobyl.
So what. If you can't work your way back into Mother Russia's good
graces, you aren't as good as you think," said Big Boss with a
dismissive shrug.
"I'm
better than--" Big Boss pointed one of the guns at a point above
Ocelot's shoulder, which seemed to make Ocelot reconsider his words.
"Look, I can't go back. Neither can my men. I've made a... a
mistake," he said quietly.
Big
Boss looked at Ocelot again. His body posture had changed to a mix of
mild fear and embarrassment. "You think I'll believe that one?"
He tossed a gun up into the air and pointed it at Ocelot when it came
down.
The
other man flinched.
"You think you scare me?" he asked quickly. Big Boss
blinked. Ocelot had flinched and tried to hide it with a quick verbal
rejoinder.
Big
Boss considered that. It was very difficult to train oneself to show
those kinds of unconscious actions. Not impossible, of course, but
few people were skilled enough, or dedicated enough, to put those
kinds of small details into their body languages to appear more tense
than they were. And then to hide it... It seemed genuine...
The
way he was tensely trying to hide the fear that Big Boss could see
just under the surface... afraid of rejection? If the Patriots had
given him an ultimatum, infiltrate Big Boss or
else, that could
explain it too. "What did you do?" he asked.
Ocelot
looked away and moved his jaw around with a pout on his face. "I
was supposed to sabotage Mir before it went up. The US government
told me to do it. I failed. Worse than that, I was discovered in the
subsequent investigation." He crossed his arms. "And they
abandoned
me."
"But
you still have friends enough to keep you from being killed
outright."
"Yes,"
he said, his voice bitter. "And they'll all hide me away for the
rest of their days, because they can't let it be known that they let
a double agent get that high." He let out a rather shaky breath.
Well, shaky for him. Most men wouldn't even have noticed the
subtlety. "You were in this situation. None of the governments
wanted you, they wanted to hide you away and pretend you didn't
exist. They
don't like you."
Ocelot didn't need to say who they
were. Not to Big
Boss. Ocelot turned to him, his face covered with a bravado that
masked desperation, now that Big Boss was looking beneath the
surface. "You can't
turn me away."
His
vague implications about Arthur were simply because he wanted the
other man's position, which Big Boss wouldn't give him even if Arthur
weren't around. So he wasn't perfect. And he was arrogant and rude.
The man needed to change. He could be turned into a loyal and trusted
soldier. He needed a proper example. He couldn't have had many...
"We
cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are..."
"What?"
"Never
mind." Big Boss shook his head quickly and made his decision. It
was against his better judgement, but he had
been in Ocelot's
position. So had Joy. Big Boss didn't like how that turned out. "If
I find out you had anything to do with the sabotage or the killings,
I won't let you live." Ocelot stared at him. "For now,
you're... well, you're too experienced to be a grunt, aren't you...
You'll have some limited command." With those words, it was more
than just Arthur forcing him to let Ocelot tag along, and they both
knew it. He turned the guns around and held them out for Ocelot.
Big
Boss held them for just longer than necessary when Ocelot reached to
take them back. The younger man twirled them around before putting
them in the holsters. Big Boss nodded to him before he got out of the
truck, deliberately presenting his back to Ocelot as he glanced
around for Arthur.
No
bullet was forthcoming, but then, neither was Arthur. Ocelot got off
the truck and started walking towards the bushes, so Big Boss decided
it would be prudent to follow him. The rest of the men were slowly
waking up around the camp. Big Boss ignored them for the most part,
since none were overtly acting as though they knew what was going on.
When
they reached Arthur, he was sitting cross-legged on the ground with
his head in his hands. Big Boss put a hand on his shoulder in
concern. Arthur took a short breath. "I should have seen this
coming," he said after a moment. "They were complaining
last night about the money. Talking about the cut going down with the
addition of Ocelot's men."
Big
Boss looked at the three dead men. "Everyone makes mistakes,
Arthur," he said calmly.
"That's
no excuse. They're our
men, and our
responsibility.
First sabotage, now this?" He stood up. "There's no clue as
to who did it, so we're stuck traveling with a man who'll murder his
fellows. And I don't even think we've got time to bury them
properly."
"We
probably shouldn't leave them here," said Ocelot. "Someone
will find them. We're close enough to the road. This schedule you two
want to keep... if someone finds them before we leave Romania, the
officials will lock us in for a day or two."
"Great,"
said Arthur with a tone of disgust. "As though we can afford it
either way..." He shook his head and looked almost accusingly at
the dead men before he looked back up. "Can you say a few words,
Boss?"
Big
Boss frowned as he looked at the men. "What were their
names...?"
"For
crying out loud- Jameson was with us for almost two years!
Oh, never mind, I'll
bloody well say
something. Do we even have
shovels?" The
words came out in a constant stream, barely a pause between them.
"We
picked a few up in Chernivtsi," said Ocelot, "in case we
needed them in the desert."
"I'll
get the men to dig some shallow graves. You two had better... I don't
know, there's nothing you can find out, all the men except Ocelot's
have standard guns... and if there's a silencer, whoever did this
will have tossed it by this evening," Arthur complained, running
his hand through his hair.
Big
Boss nodded.
The
two remaining men watched him as he left. They could both hear Arthur
as he started shouting orders at the men. "This mission... he's
very worried about it," said Ocelot finally.
"All
missions are important," said Big Boss quietly, staring through
the bushes in concern.
"He's
like this all the time?" Ocelot laughed quietly. "He can't
hold it together when there's a problem. Just because he's your lover
doesn't mean he needs to have the power of being your second in
command."
Big
Boss turned quickly and pinned Ocelot to a tree, turning the man's
grin into a look of sudden shock. "That's enough. You don't know
anything about him
or this
mission," he
said in a low, dangerous voice. "You're a newcomer. Stop
questioning his authority or I will leave you here."
"You
know
I'd be-"
"Questioning
him
is questioning my
judgement to leave
him in command. Are you questioning me?"
He
looked like he wanted to go for his guns. In a way, Big Boss still
wanted him to go
for his guns. Shooting someone would make things a whole lot easier
just now. But instead, Ocelot backed down with a quiet, sullen "no."
Big
Boss let go of the man with a grunt.
"Obviously,
Arthur and I are exempt from suspicion, and we'll take as a given
that you
didn't do it."
He glanced sideways are Ocelot who nodded cautiously. "How did
you find out?"
"This
is where everyone's been going to the bathroom all night."
Big
Boss knelt down next to one of the dead men. "Execution style
shooting," said Big Boss quietly. "Any of your men have
experience with that?"
"No,
of course not. Yours
are the mercenaries
worried about money. Look at them before your look at the soldiers
I brought with me."
Big
Boss considered this for a moment. "Do you have a problem with
mercenaries? That's what you're trying to be."
Ocelot
looked away. "There's no loyalty to this. No honor, no glory, no
recognition... It's just a violent, dangerous job. Unfortunately,
it's the only one I'm qualified for..." He sighed. "That's
the problem with Americans. You don't even see a problem with it."
"It's
a big change, isn't it," said Big Boss sympathetically. "I
wasn't very happy when I started this. Sometimes, these things are
necessary. We can't let ourselves become murders and anachronisms.
There's always a place for war."
"And
a price for it?"
Big
Boss laughed. "Everyone can be bought, Ocelot. The politicians,
the soldiers, the people... Mercenaries are just more honest about
it. Never forget that."
Ocelot
stared at him for a moment before grinning widely. "Do you
really think it's my people?"
Big
Boss shrugged and looked down at the ground. "Maybe, maybe not."
He leaned down and picked up a spent .45 bullet casing. "What
kind of rounds do your men use?"
".38s,"
said Ocelot leaning in. "Ha! Must be one of yours."
"It
isn't that easy. We use .40 S&W."
"We'll
search them, then. Mine and yours."
Big
Boss put his hand to his head. That would take time that they really
didn't have, and it was again likely that whoever had done it would
throw away any extra bullets and the gun before evening. Convenience
wasn't an excuse though, either way. "I want you
to do it," he
said finally.
Ocelot
gave a rather lazy salute before he rushed off.
Big
Boss gave another look to the three men. While two had certainly been
shot with an execution style, one of them appeared to have fought the
murderer. Instead of a shot to the back of the head, he'd been shot
three times: twice in the chest and once in the head. Big Boss knelt
next to the red-head. The man's gun was out of its holster with the
silencer on, lying near one of the other two bodies. Another shell
casing lay nearby.
Big
Boss pursed his lips. He took the three guns. There was no point in
burying perfectly good weapons, after all.
"Boss."
Arthur's voice came through the bushes, and Big Boss stood and walked
over to Arthur. "You should say something about this."
"While
they're digging, Arthur?"
"Yes,"
came the terse reply.
Big
Boss looked at the men. None looked like a person who'd just killed
his fellow for no apparent reason. He took a breath. How to approach
this... "Gentlemen, we have a problem. Yesterday's sabotage has
become the deaths of three men." Several of the men looked
suspiciously at their fellows. "We cannot be afraid of each
other for it," he said quietly, making them strain for his
words, "but we must be cautious. Anyone with information about
these events must tell me."
Big
Boss glanced at Arthur. "All watches will be done in teams
tonight. No one goes anywhere without a partner. Understood?"
The
men gave a half-hearted agreement. Beside him, Arthur frowned.
"Attention! Is that clear?"
They
stood straighter, and one or two actually saluted. "Yes, sir."
It wasn't in unison, but it was damned well better than the previous
version.
"We're
almost finished with these," said Arthur to Big Boss in a
subdued tone of voice. "They don't have to be deep." Arthur
frowned. "I... wish we had time for a better burial."
"I
wish we knew who did it," said Big Boss, staring at the men.
"Have any of them said anything strange recently? Done anything
suspicious?"
Arthur
gazed at the men himself for a moment. "No," he said
finally.
"Sirs?"
Edik came forward and planted his shovel in the ground. "The
graves are finished."
"Good.
We have to get moving. You, you, you!" Arthur pointed to three
of the men. "Go back there, drag the bodies into the graves."
"Arthur,
I can say a few words, okay?"
"No,
you can't. You never bother to know them. I've told you before,
they're not employees. They're supposed to be family."
Big
Boss glanced over at Ocelot and raised an eyebrow at Arthur. "You
can't possibly expect me to start thinking of him
as family."
"No,
I--" The bodies were dragged in front of them. Arthur's eyes
fell on each one in turn, his face falling a little more each time.
"I just don't like it when family ends up dead."
Big
Boss took a sharp breath. "Arthur--"
"Don't."
Arthur took a step away from Big Boss and stopped the men with an
upraised palm. "These men were our brothers, and someone
destroyed them."
"Sukarno.
He grew up in Indonesia. He fought beside all of us for half a year.
His sense of humor was never well developed, but he managed to share
his sense of honor with us all. Someone destroyed that." Arthur
nodded and the first body was put into one of the shallow graves.
"Zhou
was a Chinese national originally. His first battle was fought in
Tiananmen, after the death of his adoptive father. He fought against
the Chinese Gang of Four in words and actions before joining us in
1982. He burned papers every April 5th to mourn our dead. Someone
destroyed that." Arthur nodded again and the second body fell
heavily into a grave.
Arthur
walked to the third body and looked at it for a moment. "Jameson
was a Catholic Irishman. He fought with us for almost two years. He
worked with the IRA before coming to us. He vowed to defend all of us
to the very end. And someone destroyed that vow. Someone destroyed
that."
The
third body followed the others.
"These
men were our brothers.
And someone destroyed them. I want to know why."
Big
Boss stepped forward and put his hand on Arthur's arm, pulling him
back. "Arthur," he started quietly. "We need to-"
"I
found it!" said Ocelot suddenly from across the camp. Arthur
stared over at the other man. Ocelot walked over quickly, a gun in
his hand. "Johnny Sasaki," he said. "This was in his
pack. I knew it wasn't one of mine," said Ocelot with a
satisfied smirk.
Big
Boss nodded thoughtfully while Arthur stared at the Canadian-made ten
round gun. "We'll keep him tied in the supply truck."
"Why
not just kill him?" asked Ocelot, surprised.
Arthur's
fist clenched beside him. "Digging another grave would take too
much time," said Big Boss. "Besides, we can't-"
Arthur
turned suddenly and launched himself at the man in question who was
still holding his shovel. "You bastard!"
His fist connected
with Sasaki's jaw and floored the man. "How dare
you?" Arthur
followed up with another punch, this time connecting with the man's
stomach.
At
this point, Sasaki seemed to realize he was getting the worst of a
beating. His hands tightened and his eyes widened and he kicked
Arthur in the chest. Arthur pulled out his gun. Sasaki went for his.
Big
Boss moved in behind him and pulled his arm so that the shot went
straight up into the air, then pulled the gun away. Ocelot shot
Sasaki's gun out of his hand.
Arthur
tried to pull away from Big Boss' grasp, but he held firm. "What
the hell do you think you're doing?" he whispered into Arthur's
ear.
Ocelot
kept his gun trained on Sasaki and walked up to Big Boss and Arthur.
"Relax, John. I'd have done the same thing if it was one of my
own men."
Arthur
went completely still. "You going to be okay, Arthur?" The
other man nodded shortly and Big Boss let go of him. "Ocelot,
tie him up and put him in the back of the supply truck."
"But
I didn't do anything," protested Sasaki. "He
attacked me!"
"Shut
up, Sasaki," said Ocelot, pushing him toward the trucks, his
revolver still out.
"Arthur-"
"All
right, get everything packed up!" said Arthur to the men. "We
need to make it to Bucharest tonight or we aren't going to manage
this."
"Arthur-"
Big Boss tried again.
"So
get going!" He rushed away from Big Boss without even
acknowledging the older man. "Ocelot, wait up!"
Big
Boss scowled and decided to oversee the final clean up.
- 13
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Brothers in Arms