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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.

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A Colorful Rag

God save me from my friends. I can protect myself from my enemies. - Martin Luther

Day 3: Bucharest to Istanbul: Bulgaria-Turkey Border

When the convoy ground to a halt in front of him, Arthur maneuvered his bike around the trucks and headed from his position at the tail to the front. Big Boss had taken point earlier in the morning, and Ocelot had moved to the front of the group, stopping beside the older man. The other men on motorcycles had been told to hold their positions.

"What's going on?" asked Arthur.

"They've been ordered not to let anyone out of the country," said Big Boss in a low voice, his eyes watching the patrolmen at the post.

"I'll get us back on our way," said Ocelot, throwing a smirk at Arthur.

"Ocelot, wait--"

Arthur threw Big Boss a dirty look. "What can it hurt to try?" Big Boss looked ready to object, but Arthur's mounting anger seemed to stop him from saying another word. Arthur was glad for that, at least.

"I doubt he's told you," said Big Boss under his breath, "that he's wanted for treason."

"Bulgaria is not a part of the U.S.S.R., and neither is Turkey."

"He tried to sabotage Mir. Isn't that one of your pets?"

Arthur shook his head. It was true, he liked the idea of a space station, but what he really wanted was to get enough support that Big Boss would let him lead a team of scientists and engineers into space. All he wanted from Mir was to help quantify the benefits. "I'm sure he was under orders," Arthur said, dismissing the comment. It wasn't like it was something their team had been protecting.

"I told you," said Ocelot in Russian, "I am on a diplomatic mission from the Soviet Union. We have treaties for just this reason."

"And I told you that we have orders not to let anyone from Russia through to Turkey," said the gate guard.

Big Boss' hand was hovering over his gun. Arthur casually pulled his bike back a step and crossed his arms. It was a technique he'd learned that gave him access to the gun but didn't leave everyone knowing that's what he was doing, at least, not if they were unobservant. Big Boss moved forward a little bit at the same time, placing himself between Arthur and a large number of the border patrol.

Ocelot shook his head. "Here," he said. He pulled a paper out of his pocket. "Call this man. He'll authorize us. He's just in Sofia."

The man looked suspicious but took the paper and inspected it. "I can't just call up one of the highest levels of government--"

"You just give him my name. Look, it's to an internal phone."

The man stared at the paper. "You really know the head of--"

"I wouldn't be stupid enough to tell you to call him if I didn't," he said. The arrogance was showing through again, and the border guard was looking a little bit nervous. "Oh, all right. Give me the phone, and I'll place the call."

"This is highly unusual, sir, however, I will call," said the officer, keeping the paper close to him.

Ocelot nodded and walked back stiffly as the man behind him went to the phone. When he got midway between Arthur and Big Boss, he stopped, turned around, pulled out his gun and fired. The guard fell to the ground and all hell broke loose.

Big Boss took out two more before Arthur had even taken his gun out.

"Get down!" yelled Dirgham from behind, as he and Schluter ran forward. Arthur pushed the bike away and rolled to the ground. Two soundless shots bounced off of his motorcycle from behind, and then the area in front lit up with the force of six grenades.

More officers were coming. Arthur pulled his gun out, aimed, and fired several times, catching two of them in the chest and another one in the arm. Without any warning, he felt himself being flattened to the ground and another three shots rang out above him.

"Fuck," said Ocelot. The man kept firing above him. Arthur felt something wet falling on his cheek. Wet and sticky. It was probably red, too.

Fuck.

Arthur stayed down.

Dripping on his cheek. The bullet would have torn through his head if Ocelot hadn't pushed him down. Arthur took a moment to look for Big Boss, his usual savior. He was firing slightly off to the side, defending the supply truck.

The goddamned supply truck.

Arthur closed his eyes and waited out the battle, since he couldn't properly aim and fire his gun while Ocelot lay atop him. When the last shot was fired, Ocelot rolled off of Arthur a bit more slowly than an uninjured man would have. Arthur sat up to have a look at the wound, but Big Boss reached Ocelot first, grabbing the man by his light brown jacket and shaking him.

"What did you think you were doing? You've compromised this mission! You fired shots at those men for no reason whatsoever! How dare you shoot without orders?"

Ocelot's head was bouncing from the force that Big Boss was using. Arthur pushed his commander's arms away from Ocelot, who was clearly too incapacitated to help himself. "And what the hell do you think you're doing?" Arthur countered. "This man is injured. Whether you approve of his conduct or not, he's a member of our team and as such, he deserves more consideration than this."

"How can you say that?" Big Boss' expression was livid. "If he's injured, he's brought it on himself. And I would bet this cargo that he's not even injured."

Arthur stared at him, gaping and speechless for almost thirty seconds. "How dare you..." Big Boss held his eyes while Arthur's breathing quickened. "With how important this is... you joke about it?"

Big Boss shook his head, anger drifting away. "Arthur, I didn't mean it-"

"You think this is a joke? You think my research-- my life-- our family is a fucking joke?" Arthur's hand curled into a fist.

"Of course I don't, Arthur. Calm down." Big Boss stepped back and glanced down. "You want to hit me, fine, I deserve it, but not in front of the men. I can't let you."

Arthur shook his head slowly. Big Boss wanted him to back down? "No way," he said through clenched teeth and took a step forward. This time, Big Boss held his ground. Arthur swung his fist around, trying to hit Big Boss in the jaw. Big Boss caught it and twisted. Arthur fell heavily on his back.

In a heartbeat, Big Boss was down straddling him, pinning his arms and legs to the ground. "Calm down, Arthur," he said simply.

Arthur struggled, trying to wrench his arms out of their sockets, his head off of his neck, anything so long as he could get a hit on Big Boss. It didn't take long before he'd tired himself out to the point where he couldn't fight anymore. "You bastard," he said between his panting breaths.

"It's all right, Arthur. We'll do this together. We'll fix this. We can do anything together." Big Boss leaned in to kiss him, so Arthur quickly turned his head aside.

Sometimes, he wondered what the man was thinking.

Ocelot was looking at them with his hand holding his arm and a very slightly puzzled look on his professionally blank face. The blood was starting to find ways around his fingers. Just because Arthur didn't get down fast enough. "Fine," said Arthur shortly. "You're in command."

"That's not what I want to hear, Arthur," Big Boss breathed into his ear, not letting him up. "This is the second time. I can't lead you by force. Not you."

Arthur grit his teeth against what he wanted to say: Right now, you can't lead me at all. "It won't happen again," he said instead, the anger dripping from his lips like poisonous honey. And then, just to drive the point home, "sir."

He imagined that Big Boss was looking at him with horror as he said that. The man slid off of him and Arthur sat up. "Ocelot," said Arthur, "get up. You're going in one of the trucks."

"Fine, I'll go with him. You take point," said Big Boss quickly.

Arthur raised an eyebrow and let his breathing go a little harder. Ocelot watched them warily. "You expect that after you knock me to the ground and sit on me? No, you take point, and I'll go with Ocelot."

"Are you blind or mad? He started this mess, and the way he looks at you--"

"You hit me. Don't blame me if you don't like the way he--"

"You tried to hit me," Big Boss hissed through his teeth. "Don't blame me if you can't finish what you start. We are doing this my way or he can stay on the damned bike. For all I care, he can fall off of it between here and Istanbul."

"Don't worry about me," said Ocelot suddenly, clapping Arthur on the shoulder with a bloody palm. "I can take care of myself."

Arthur looked at the man with no little worry in his eyes. "You're sure you're okay with this?"

"I'm not just a soldier, I'm a world-class general. I'm used to keeping my head in difficult situations. Besides, we're wasting time. Give me a bandage, I'll be fine."

He gave a half smile and pulled out one of his guns, flipping it around his finger. Big Boss snatched it and put it in the other man's holster with an angry and impatient frown. "Enough showing off," he said.

Ocelot shrugged expansively-- at least, with one side of his body-- at Arthur, then followed Big Boss as the older man grumpily kicked Dirgham and Schluter out of the supply truck. Ocelot's hand went back to his bloody arm. Arthur watched them both carefully as Big Boss handed the other man a roll of bandage and nodded his head sharply toward the passenger's side.

Arthur took a moment to look at the men killed in the skirmish. Big Boss' side had fared much better: only Ocelot had been injured, and the Turks and Bulgarians were dead to a man. He forced himself to take a calming breath as he got on the bike and checked to see that everyone was ready to go.

With two such legendary soldiers as Big Boss and Ocelot on his side, maybe they'd manage to pull this off. Even though they were fighting, they were still the best of the best... And if they couldn't, then--

"Let's move!"

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Night 3: Outside of Istanbul

"Sir, what do you think?"

Ocelot was slowly moving his injured arm in a circle, a frown on his face, across the fire. Arthur was sitting beside the man, watching him with concern shining out of his brown, doughy eyes. Big Boss was watching them both, almost totally ignoring the men around him.

"Sir?"

Who could blame him? His lover was... was...

"Sir?"

He turned his head. "What is it?" he asked sharply. The German pulled back. What was his name? German, German... "What do you want, Wagner?" he asked, consciously toning his voice down.

"We were... talking about guns, sir. You collect the odder ones, right?"

They were going to bother him to talk about guns when his second-in-command was practically fawning over some man he'd just met? Ordinarily, of course, it would be something he was intensely interested in. Good God. Arthur was helping him redress his wounds, paying ever-so-careful attention to the man.

"What about them?" he asked, his eyes barely moving from the scene.

"Edik thinks an MSP is better than a Makarov! Tell him he's wrong."

"Good for different things," muttered Big Boss. "MSP only has two shots, and a reload in battle is nearly impossible. It's a big disadvantage when the Makarov carries 8... but then, the MSP is silent. Even with a silencer, you can hear a Makarov."

What the hell was Arthur doing over there? Holding Ocelot's hand? The other man was squeezing gently and Arthur was looking right in his eyes.

"You see?" It must have been Edik talking. "For a special ops mission, the MSP is the way to go."

"Hold on," said Big Boss, turning in annoyance. "The MSP is not automatic and barely has a sight. They wanted it to be silent, so they made it difficult to reload and aim. The ammunition is problematic, since few other military guns use .38 bullets. It's fine if you're just going to use it once in a mission, but what happens if the mission has a problem? You're stuck with a useless piece of metal. The barrel is so small that it's only good for extremely close range firing. The Makarov gives you a fighting chance. It has enough of a barrel to work as a proper medium- and short-range weapon for distances of 20 meters. With a silencer, it's quiet enough to take down a squad without too much notice. The MSP is good for an assassin who doesn't know how to hold on to a sniper rifle; the Makarov is good enough for--"

A stray glance back to Arthur and Big Boss' mouth shut in an instant. They were kissing. No, Ocelot was kissing Arthur. It wasn't mutual. Arthur pulled back, smiled a bit uneasily and shook his head. Oh, God, that wasn't revulsion in his eyes, it was more like an apology.

"Sir?" Edit asked, following his gaze.

"The... Makarov is better for any kind of an all-purpose... mission," said Big Boss. "Excuse me," he said, standing. He walked around the fire and coolly took a seat beside Arthur. "Arthur. Ocelot."

"Sir," said Ocelot politely.

Arthur glanced at Big Boss and turned back to Ocelot without so much as a word.

So that was the game? Fine. "How's your arm, Ocelot?"

"I can't feel my hand properly," he said quietly.

"I'm sure you'll be juggling dangerous weapons like a proper circus animal soon enough." Arthur and Ocelot formed nearly identical annoyed expressions, but neither said a word. "And if not, maybe you'll get a new job as a lion-tamer. Whips and chains." He emphasized the chains part. Big Boss would do it, chain him up somewhere so that he couldn't get access to Arthur. Who did he think he was, kissing Arthur like that?

"You aren't helping anything, Boss." Arthur closed his eyes and ground his teeth together. Ocelot said nothing, but the superior look that stole onto his face said more than enough.

"You're right. He's not going to be a lion-tamer, he'll be the lion. Locked in a cage." Like most of the people he tortured. Like any other dangerous animal.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" asked Arthur, his eyes still closed.

Big Boss smiled at Ocelot. "Nothing, Arthur."

"Good." He rubbed his head. "As I was saying. It might be for the best if you left us for the rest of this mission and see to your arm." Big Boss smiled and leaned back triumphantly. "You can meet up with us at our main base." Big Boss didn't like that part quite as much, but at the base he'd find an excuse to send Ocelot away.

"Am I in your way?" challenged Ocelot. "I can still fire a gun. I've never left a mission unfinished before, and I won't leave this time either. It isn't that bad an injury."

"If you're just trying to impress us, it isn't needed..." Arthur said quietly. "The feelings are appreciated, but..."

Ocelot shook his head.

"Well. All right then," he said with a frown.

Big Boss smiled slightly. Arthur wanted him gone now. This was good. He put his arm around his lover's shoulders. "We've got another early morning tomorrow to get back on schedule. Come to bed," he said.

Arthur shook his head and opened his eyes wide to stare at Big Boss. "You think you can have whatever you want," he said, with a laugh. "You think you can just order me to bed? Like I'm some-- child?"

Big Boss stared at him. Hadn't he just said no to Ocelot? Hadn't he just tried to get the man to leave? What kind of mixed messages was he trying to send?

Arthur stood up. "You're right about the schedule. Good night." Without another word or glance at him, Arthur went into one of the tents.

Ocelot laughed. "You know what? Lions and ocelots are almost brothers," he said with an arrogant grin. "You'll have to try harder than that next time." He got up. "Guess I'll head off to sleep too," he said with a poisonous grin and wink combination. He gave Big Boss his strange, three-fingered salute with one hand as he walked backwards, then turned and disappeared into the same tent as Arthur. Big Boss stared after the pair and wondered where it had all gone so horribly wrong.

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Night 3: Outside of Istanbul

Arthur yawned and sat up, glancing at Ocelot as he did. At least some people knew when not to push their luck. Of course, some people were suffering what might prove to be career ending wounds without any support from what should be top level officers. So what if Big Boss hadn't wanted Ocelot on the team? He was on the team now.

"Going somewhere?" muttered Ocelot, his eyes still closed.

"Gotta piss," Arthur said back, throwing the covers back.

"Hold on, I'm getting up." Arthur rolled his eyes. "If something happens to you on my watch, he'll kill me no matter where I run."

"Doubtful," said Arthur.

"You think so?" asked Ocelot blandly, sitting up.

"He'd... it's all for show, nowadays," Arthur sighed. "Once upon a time, he'd have made sure I was okay. What was his first thought today? You."

"I was, wasn't I," Ocelot mused. Arthur gave him a sour look. "You might be right. Still, I don't think I'll take the chance. In this state," he gave a half-nod to his arm, "I think he'd out-perform me."

Arthur looked at the wound again. It was covered by a bandage, but he'd seen the damage: the bullet had grazed the bone, shorn through Ocelot's muscle, possibly even damaged the tendon. They should have brought a medic with them on this mission. "Thanks for saving my life," said Arthur.

"What's that, the third time you've thanked me?"

Arthur said nothing for a moment, unzipping the tent flap instead. Ocelot was almost as closed off about taking credit as Big Boss was. "Coming, then?" he asked quietly.

Ocelot nodded and they both left the tent, Arthur leading the way to some bushes. Ocelot turned his back while Arthur did his business as quickly as possible. "So how long has he not cared?" asked Ocelot quietly as they started to move back.

Arthur sighed lightly. At least they weren't talking about-- He cut it off. "He doesn't like failures, you know? The whole... I let them get the best of us. I couldn't handle things without Big Boss around, and now he sees it more clearly than ever."

Ocelot stopped, Arthur following suit. "I don't think you're a failure, Arthur," said Ocelot, putting a tentative hand on Arthur's shoulder. Arthur closed his eyes for a moment.

"I got you hurt, didn't I? I can't even protect myself..." Arthur shook his head. "It doesn't matter what I have on my mind. I can't afford to let it distract me on a mission. But I can't stop it."

"That doesn't mean..."

"It does!" No one seemed to understand it. It mattered, it was jeopardizing the mission, and it wasn't working. "Look, you put your hand on my shoulder and I have to stop myself from jumping! What kind of man am I? I don't deserve anyone's loyalty right now, I even left my--" He closed his eyes, bit his lip and cut the strain of thought off. He didn't even have control over his thoughts. How could he really have control over the men in this camp? "Everything's falling apart," he said finally.

Ocelot's arm moved to pull Arthur into a hug. "If I were him," he said quietly, "I'd keep you safe."

Arthur brought his own arms up awkwardly and returned the gesture. It was nice, just standing here with someone who didn't think he was a failure, who wasn't judging him for mistakes and unsolved problems... "You're already doing that," said Arthur with a strained, but overall thankful, smile.

Ocelot shrugged humbly. "It's my duty to--"

A loud noise had the pair separated in an instant and they hurried toward the trucks. Arthur took a moment to take in the scene while Ocelot looked around. One of the dark metal containers had been knocked off the truck. Arthur walked over to it and checked the seal; luck was with them. The container wasn't damaged.

"Look what I found," said Ocelot suddenly, as he walked toward Arthur, pushing Schluter in front of him. "One of your men was skulking around by himself."

"That's against orders," said Arthur with a frown. "Where's your brother?"

"He's asleep, sir. I just had to... go to the bathroom," he said lamely.

"Oh?" asked Arthur skeptically. "And you thought that next to the cargo was the best place to do it?"

"I thought I'd check on things. Make sure everything was okay," said Schluter.

"Let me question him. I'll find out what he was really doing." Ocelot smiled. It was really a cruel sort of smile, without any warmth reaching his eyes. "Maybe this is the partner Big Boss thinks Sasaki had."

"Absolutely not," said a voice from behind the truck. Big Boss stepped into view. His eyes were narrowed as he stared at Ocelot unflinchingly. "I will not have you torturing my people. We can get information in other ways."

"How?" demanded Ocelot.

"I'll talk to him myself."

Arthur sighed. Ocelot might be the first thing on Big Boss' mind, but he was still aggressively hostile towards the other man.

"I'm not hiding anything," said Schluter, looking slightly panicked.

"We can't keep going with this kind of suspicion, Boss," said Arthur. "Let's just leave him here in the morning."

"Arthur, we planned this with just enough men. We can't--"

"We have an extra: Ocelot. We'll be fine."

"And what about Sasaki? We don't have the extra men, Arthur. And that's final." He nodded at Schluter. "Go back to your tent, and stay there until morning."

"Yessir." The man saluted and practically ran off.

"This isn't a good idea," said Arthur unhappily. "We have problems. Sabotage, murder... we need to crack down on all suspicious activities."

Big Boss shook his head and closed his mouth on a reply, giving a hard look at Ocelot. "If you'd excuse us."

Ocelot gave Arthur a questioning glance. Arthur smiled slightly and waved. Ocelot raised his eyebrows. "All right, Boss. I guess you'll bring him back to our tent." Was it his imagination, or did Ocelot stress our a little overmuch? No... He had to keep his mind on what was important. Big Boss wanted to talk about the mission. That was important, not whether or not Ocelot was stressing random words.

Arthur watched as the other man walked backwards away from them before he turned and walked to the tents.

Big Boss said nothing for a moment, and the moment got longer. He stared at the tents, his one eye narrowed. "So?" Arthur said after the moment had turned into almost ten minutes.

Big Boss turned away. "We have to stop arguing, Arthur." His voice was husky. "I know you're angry, but this can't go on. We have an obligation to the men and the mission."

Arthur shook his head. "I don't want to talk about this right--"

"We're going to talk about it!" Big Boss spun around.

Arthur marched himself over to Big Boss. "You're going to wake your obligations," he hissed. He stared at Big Boss, holding eye contact until the other man blinked. Arthur looked down. "This whole-- situation--"

He didn't know what to say. Big Boss hated him, or at least was apathetic towards him, and Arthur couldn't even blame him for it.

"I know it's hard, Arthur. It's not..." He sighed. "Look, I know you're mad at me, but it isn't my fault--"

"Oh, so it's mine?" Why did he have to place the blame? Who was he to place the blame? Other than the commanding officer on the mission, what authority did he have?

"That's not what I'm--"

"I don't want to hear it!"

"Now who's waking the men?" Big Boss mocked.

Arthur shook his head. "I thought you didn't want to argue."

"I don't," Big Boss said quickly. "Arthur. We need this mission to be successful."

"I know the consequences better than you," said Arthur bitterly. "I don't understand why you think you need to tell me. I know this mission has to work. That's why we need to get rid of anything that hurts its chances."

"What about Ocelot? He and I don't get along, and you can see it's damaging the chances of this mission."

"That's completely different!" Arthur said in frustration. "You're making the problem."

"What if," said Big Boss through clenched teeth, "Ocelot's behind the sabotage and the murder? He's the one who found the .38 in Sasaki's things. And there weren't any problems before he showed up."

"No problems?" He stared, his mouth falling open. "I see. A nuclear power plant explosion isn't a problem. Getting only half of what we needed isn't a problem. This isn't going to be the end of it, they're going to want more. As long as we're in the Middle East--"

"So we'll move to Africa," Big Boss said impatiently. "I was considering it already. After this mission, we're going to bug out."

"Another decision you haven't even consulted me on?"

"I was waiting until after the mission." Big Boss shook his head. "Arthur... please come to bed with me tonight."

Arthur scowled. "I helped you make this team. I helped you establish the entire army, if you'll recall. Now I have to sleep with you to have any say in this operation?"

"No, Arthur, that's not it at all. It would just make me feel better. Please."

Arthur shook his head angrily. "If you think you're going to take my command because I won't sleep with you, you'd better think again."

"But Arthur--" Big Boss grabbed Arthur's arm. Arthur stared at his hand, staying quite still. It took almost a minute, but the other man eventually let go with a sense of reluctance. "You can sleep where you want," he said finally, sounding resigned.

Arthur bit his lip. The resignation made it sound real, but the truth was, Big Boss didn't want him anywhere near this mission. Sleeping in the same truck was just an attempt to control him, to emasculate him without having to remove the command and delegate it to someone else. "You don't have to pretend, Boss. You made me learn all about politics. I can apply it." He shook his head in disgust. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."
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Brothers in Arms