Moth to the Flame

Solid Snake, Blackbird and Ellen were maneuvering themselves quietly throughout the rooftop prison,

"If I remember correctly, Golden Eagle was brought down this way." Blackbird pointed forward, Snake nodded and drew out his M1911 pistol then his knife.

"I'll take point. Blackbird, you get the rear." Snake stated,

"Got it, Snake." Blackbird replied as he went behind Ellen, Snake then crouched slightly and began to slowly move forward, step by step. Keeping alert, Solid Snake could hear distant footsteps, pressumingly coming from the other side. Snake stopped briefly and leaned against the wall, which the two saw and did the same quickly after. Quietly, Solid paced forward, glancing in each direction, he continued until reaching a portion of the rooftop which had the same infared panels as the one in the Gamma Building. Blackbird and Ellen stopped as Snake took out his infared goggles and put them on but what he saw bewildered him,

"What's going on, Snake?" Ellen asked,

"The lasers are turning on and off. Seems like a specific erratic pattern they're moving in." stated Solid,

"So what's the plan?" Blackbird asked,

"Give me a minute." requested Snake. He kept observing the pattern of the lasers and began tapping his thigh as he was figuring out the pattern between the lights. Blackbird and Ellen both questioned internally what he was doing. A minute passed and Snake turned towards them,

"Stay close and move as I move, one slip up will alert the base." Snake told them, they both nodded and moved closer behind him. Quickly, Snake began moving pass the panels, Blackbird and Ellen quickly moving right behind him. Snake kept his focus, taking it one step at a time, moving through each panel carefully. They then finally reached the opposite side of the room and continued though the hallway. They then approached a door to one of the cells that was marked with a 3. Solid took out the keycard and opened the door to the cell, they walked inside to see someone tied to a chair. Quickly, Snake approached the person and removed the sack to reveal a woman with short black hair and a couple of bruises on her face. Blackbird recognized who the woman was,

"Golden Eagle! Thank god you're alive." Blackbird said to her,

"I'm just happy to see a friendly face." She replied with a grin, she turned to Snake and titled her head,

"Who's this guy?" asked Golden Eagle,

"Sorry, I'm Solid Snake, FOXHOUND's new recruit."

"Didn't expect to see a cute rookie out here." She said with a grin which made Snake's face turn red. Ellen looked at Snake then turned toward Golden Eagle giving a strange look.

"Do you have any idea where Viper and Madnar are?" asked Blackbird as Snake cut Golden Eagle free,

"Madnar is here but Viper was taken somewhere in the Alpha building for some reason." explained Golden Eagle, she got up and Snake handed her Machine Gun Kid's M60,

"Where's my brother?" asked Eagle,

"With Fox, he's gonna rendezvous with us once we find Madnar. Do you have any idea where they could've taken Madnar?" asked Snake,

"They probably led him to the last cell, it's the one that's more heavily guarded."

"Then we should get a move on." Snake replied, the group walked outside the cell. Suddenly, Snake stopped as he heard something hiss nearby, it sounded like it came from his right side. Solid Snake knew that hiss, that hiss that sounded like a stove being turned on.

"MOVE OUT THE WAY!" ordered Solid Snake to the others. Instantly, Snake dove away, Ellen, Blackbird and Golden Eagle did the same as well as flames fired behind them. Snake rolled and took a knee as he aimed in the direction of the flames, Ellen slid and aimed her rifle in the same direction, so did Blackbird and Golden Eagle. In front of them was a man in a specialized white suit and helmet, on his person was an assault rifle, a shotgun and grenade launcher but more importantly, in the man's hands was a giant flamethrower. Snake glared into the man's golden lenses, he could feel his intense fiery fury behind his helmet.

"Who are you?!" demanded Solid Snake, the man slowly stepped forward,

"Take one more step, sunshine and we'll shoot!" shouted Golden Eagle, the man continued walking forward. The four began shooting at him only to see that he wasn't being affected by the bullets, they were all just being melted down. Snake raised an eyebrow and was almost intimidated by this threat.

"Which one of you defeated the Shotmaker and Machine Gun Kid?" asked the ghastly echoey man in a German accent,

"Right here, Vader." Snake called out to him, the man chuckled,

"Your luck runs out here for I am Major Wolfgang Gunther Von Kaiser, I am the Incinerator of Munich, I am the Fire Trooper and you all will be engulfed by my glorious flames!" Fire Trooper declared as he powered up his flamethrower. Snake rolled aside and fired a round at the flamethrower, the impact from the bullet caused the Fire Trooper to aim and fire at a cell instead. Quickly, Solid Snake moved closer and attempted to cut the tube connecting the gas tank and flamethrower only for his knife to be melted on impact. Snake's eyes opened wide in shock as he heard the Fire Trooper laugh,

"You think I would leave myself open like that? You're going to have to try harder than that to kill me-" he was interrupted by the other three opening fire at him. Quick to anger, Fire Trooper grabbed his assault rifle and began shooting incendiary rounds at the three. Blackbird pulled Ellen towards himself and Golden Eagle, Snake had to improvise against this guy. Solid Snake quickly leapt and flipped backwards to throw a grenade. The Fire Trooper was stunned from the impact but the suit protected him from the flames. In retaliation, Fire Trooper fired flames toward Snake but the rookie rolled backwards and hid behind a pillar. Snake peeked over the wall to see the Fire Trooper slowly approaching his direction. Suddenly, Solid Snake noticed something about The Fire Trooper, more specifically his fuel tank. The impact of the grenade seemed to have left a small dent on the tank. Snake then began thinking back to the battle earlier with the Bulltank.

" Pressure… " he thought. Quickly Snake turned and began sprinting towards the Fire Trooper,

"There you are!" shouted the Fire Trooper as he prepared to fire his flamethrower. Right before he could shoot, Solid Snake leapt onto the tip of the flamethrower and launched himself, going over Fire Trooper's head. While in mid air, Solid Snake dropped a smoke grenade right under him, it detonated the moment Snake touched the ground. The three looked at the smoke cloud and saw Snake running out, he slid and placed a C4 onto the bottom of a pillar. Snake then ran down towards the three and placed down not just C4 but also landmines, he then took cover behind another pillar as the smoke screen cleared.

"WHERE DID YOU GO?!" angrily shouted The Fire Trooper, Snake took note of his anger and thought of a smart idea.

"Come and find me, numb nuts!" Snake shouted, Fire Trooper began walking forward, Snake then waited until the Fire Trooper got close and detonated his C4. Fire Trooper grunted as the impact dented the fuel tank more and cracked the pillar. Quickly, Solid Snake hopped over the cover and ran towards the cracked pillar and then dropkicked it hard enough to push it down onto the Fire Trooper. While it did not damage him due to the suit's heat field, it caught him off guard long enough to not notice the C4 right behind him. Snake then pressed on the detonator once more, Fire Trooper yelled as the impact caused him to stumble backwards onto a landmine which also detonated and cracked the fuel tank. Snake then shot at another landmine to detonate it which made Fire Trooper land on his back, cracking the fuel tank more. The impact from the explosions made him groggy, he was trying to get up but felt too weak to. Solid Snake stood across from him as Fire Trooper began crawling, unknowingly towards the last landmine. Fire Trooper couldn't believe what just happened, he was amazed yet curious on who this man was,

"Who…who are you…?" he weakly asked, Snake took out grenade and pulled the pin,

"The name's Solid Snake. Tell that to Machine Gun Kid when you see him." Snake tossed the grenade in front of the Fire Trooper, he tried to slap it away but Snake quickly fired his handgun at the landmine, detonating both it and the grenade but more importantly, blowing up the fuel tank and killing Fire Trooper. Blackbird and Golden Eagle looked amazed and had their jaws wide open as they were shocked from what they've seen of Solid Snake.

"Wow, I've never seen anyone do that before…you're amazing, rookie." Eagle said to him,

"Well, he was no easy challenge, just had to think outside the box." Snake replied,

"I did hear of him though, Major Wolfgang Von Kaiser, the Fire Trooper. He was a member of Germany's tactical unit, GSG 9. He joined a program to test an experimental battle suit meant to replicate a legendary soldier from World War Two. Guess you've been a Legend Killer so far, Snake, no one can say they killed the Shotmaker, the Machine Gun Kid and the Fire Trooper on their first mission." explained Blackbird,

"Guess I'm pretty lucky." Solid replied,

"No such thing as luck here, Solid Snake, that's what Big Boss says." chimed in Golden Eagle, she then began walking down the hallway,

"C'mon let's go get Madnar." She said as the other three followed her. A few minutes later, they arrived in front of Madnar's cell, the door had a number 3 on it and Snake used the Level 3 keycard to unlock it, the door unlocked then slid open. The four walked in and all noticed a scientist tied to a chair, Ellen's face smiled widely as she began crying tears of joy, Snake ran to the scientist and freed him,

"Papa?!" She exclaimed, Solid Snake removed the sack only to see that it wasn't Madnar, it was a mercenary in disguise.

"Too late!" He yelled as he pressed a button on his collar. Suddenly the floor Snake and the mercenary were standing on quickly opened, the mercenary pushed himself away from Snake as Solid Snake fell to the shock of Blackbird, Eagle and Ellen. Blackbird shot the mercenary dead as Ellen ran to the ledge of the open floor.

"Snake! Please don't be dead!" Ellen shouted into the dark pit but she heard no response,

"Say something?!" She shouted,

She was getting worried and frightened, in a panic she screamed out loud,

"Snake?! SNAKKKKEEE!!!"