Painless

Snake armed himself and began shooting at the Black Ninja but the Ninja dodged the bullets like nothing. Black Ninja then took out three kunais then threw them at Snake. The FOXHOUND operative flipped to the side, narrowly dodging two of the kunais but one of them managed to scrape his arm, leaving a small cut. Snake rolled sideways and shot him once more, emptying the magazine but Zanzibar's Painmaker managed to catch all the bullets then threw them back at Snake. Snake tried dodging but one bullet hit him in a pressure point in his shoulder. Snake's arm then began feeling like it was being electrocuted from the inside, he gripped onto his right arm and screamed in agony.

"Yes…feel what has been stripped from me!" Black Ninja yelled, Snake grunted and then jammed his thumb inside the wound to pull the bullet out then launched himself towards Black Ninja, swinging for a roundhouse. Black Ninja ducked then lifted his leg up as his keen reflexes detected that Snake is going to go for a sweep kick. Snake then rushed in for a flurry of strikes but Black Ninja was blocking them flawlessly,

"Useless! Useless! Useless! You should know your mortal coils all have a language, body language, the language of combatants. I can tell your intentions just by how your body moves, I can see what you will do and what you're thinking about doing before you can even do it! You have no chance against me, Solid Snake!" Black Ninja taunted as he caught Snake's punch and parried it aside then struck Snake with five strikes that were so fast, the FOXHOUND operative didn't realize he was hit until he began feeling the pain in his chest. Black Ninja then kicked Snake up to send him in mid air then leapt onto the wall and launched himself towards Snake. Solid quickly reloaded and once Black Ninja got closer he pressed the gun onto his heart and fired only to his surprise, the Painmaker dodged with such blinding speed and went behind Snake. The Black Ninja wrapped his arms around Snake and fell back down with him, hitting a stunning Izuna Drop. The Painmaker flipped backwards then predicted that Snake would go for a backflip kick so as he did the backflip, Black Ninja then jumped and did a spinning kick to Snake, launching him towards the wall. Snake got himself up and saw Black Ninja grab a pair of shurikens out.

"If you're going to fight like this then you will never face Gray Fox! Game over, Solid Snake!" shouted Black Ninja.

" C'mon David, concentrate! R ead his intentions…read his body…read his mind… " reassured Solid Snake. His hearing got sharper and he began to feel everything around him, everything felt slow, even the shurikens coming at him. Solid Snake felt where they were going, how fast they're going and which were coming first. To Black Ninja's surprise, once Snake opened his eyes, he shot down the shurikens with pinpoint accuracy. Solid Snake got up and grabbed his knife then assumed his stance,

"I suggest you don't get ahead of yourself Black Ninja, you haven't killed me yet. Now, the real fight begins." declared Solid Snake. Instantly, Solid Snake dashed towards Black Ninja and threw a kick which Black Ninja blocked but then Snake quickly leaned forward and swung an elbow which Black Ninja narrowly blocked. Suddenly to the Painmaker's surprise, Snake then lunged for a stab but Black Ninja stopped it until the FOXHOUND operative then went for a knee. Each attempt, each stab, each gunshot, each strike that Black Ninja avoided or blocked were getting faster and faster.

" There's…there's no way?! He's matching the speed of my reflexes?! " worriedly thought Black Ninja, then right there, Solid Snake swung for a right hook but Black Ninja narrowly dodged as the right hook grazed his helmet. Black Ninja took a step back as he was in disbelief by this FOXHOUND operative. Snake quickly reloaded his M1911 then glared at Black Ninja,

"C'mon, we're just getting started you son of a bitch!" shot back Snake as he assumed his stance. Black Ninja then began throwing kunai after kunai at a blinding speed but to his surprise, Solid Snake was deflecting all of them with just his knife. Black Ninja then dashed towards Snake but Solid was ready, Black Ninja went for a stab but Solid blocked it and went for a knee strike but Black Ninja stopped it then launched himself up and flipped forward to do an ax kick but right there Snake finally caught Black Ninja with a thunderous kick to his jaw, knocking the Ninja back. Black Ninja caught himself with one hand and regained his stance, shocked by the kick itself.

"I…I couldn't read him, his movements and body language. I don't know what he's going to do now!" Black Ninja then took out two kunais and twirled them before assuming his stance.

"I don't care if I can't predict your movements, you die right now!" declared Black Ninja as he dashed towards Snake. Black Ninja swung a kunai but Snake blocked it then when he went to stab Snake in the stomach, the FOXHOUND operative shot the kunai to swerve it in a different direction. Back and forth, Black Ninja tried cutting or stabbing Snake but he was matching his speed, he was going faster than he had before because he needed to finish this mission. Black Ninja then went for a stab in the head but Snake blocked it then right there, he placed the gun on his chest to fire but Black Ninja narrowly dodged by flipping over him. Snake's magazine slid out the handgun, Black Ninja knew that Snake lost his secondary defense, he left himself wide open for one fatal strike in his throat. As Black Ninja went for it, a gunshot was suddenly fired. The Painmaker grunted as he felt a bullet pierce through his armor, hitting his abdomen. Snake then took advantage to stab Black Ninja in the bullet wound, slamming Black Ninja down as he cracked his helmet once he landed. Snake sighed in relief after defeating the uncanny Black Ninja, he could hear him breathing as his robotic voice began to malfunction from the landing.

"Snake…." Black Ninja spoke weakly,

"Who are you?" asked Snake, Black Ninja turned and Snake couldn't believe who was under the broken helmet, a familiar face that he didn't want to believe it was.

"It's…it's me…Kyle Schneider…Blackbird…." Kyle spoke in his real voice, Snake could tell it was him but he can't believe it,

"Kyle….but…I saw you die…" Snake shockingly said,

"Heh…you still got a lot to learn, rookie. I was almost killed…but not by Big Boss…by you and your country!"

"W…what are you saying?!"

"The Outer…Heaven Uprising…me and Fox were in on it, we didn't expect you to destroy Metal Gear and defeat Big Boss…he didn't even fatally stabbed me. But NATO…NATO started their bombing campaign, everyone…even the war kids inside the base…they died the moment…you killed Big Boss…" weakly explained Kyle. Speechless, Solid Snake was speechless and shaking in horror, he caused those deaths, the deaths of innocent children when he killed Big Boss.

"There was no escape…from the flames…they died like animals in the cage…" Kyle continued,

"W-w-why…" Snake simply asked,

"Because they were a liability…NATO wanted to kill them because NATO didn't want to deal with…the fucked up orphans…"

"…no…they wouldn't do that…"

"Wake up, Snake! We…are just expendable to them, toys they can…pick at…toys they can break and expect…us to man up…and take it…but he wasn't like that…" Kyle answered back, Solid stayed silent knowing who he's talking about,

"He saved us…he saved me…from the hell in this…fucked up life…you don't see it yet but he'll save you…even in death, he'll carry on and he will rise again…" Kyle spoke blissfully, Snake then dialed on the codec,

"Colonel….Colonel, the Black Ninja is…the Black Ninja is Kyle Schneider…he's alive…" emptily spoke Snake,

"What?! But isn't he dead?!" asked Campbell genuinely shocked,

"He's not…he's alive…he's wounded but alive…" Snake informed,

"Kill him." Interrupted Houseman,

"What?" Campbell asked,

"Snake, kill him, he's your enemy and you have to finish him." ordered Houseman,

"S-sir I can't…he's my friend…" Snake shakingly replied,

"Are you refusing my order, kill him and do your mission!" Houseman demanded,

"I'm sorry Snake, you've got to do it. He's your enemy and your objective…" Campbell agreed,

"Wait, are you two seriously pressuring him to kill Schneider?!" Miller intervened,

"Schneider knew what he was doing and knew he was committing a crime by becoming our enemy. Snake, I order you to kill him now!" Houseman shouted, Snake slid a magazine into his gun and aimed it at the weak Kyle who didn't show fear in his eyes but only had a blissful smile,

"You don't need to do this, David. You don't have to kill him." Kaz tried reassuring,

"He's not your CO, prove your loyalty now and kill him! This is the enemy and he's here on his knees!" shouted Houseman, Snake was shaking as he aimed the gun at Kyle, sweating, his heart pounding out his chest and him heavily breathing.

"Everyone stop, you guys are pressuring him and this isn't helping!" Meryl interrupted, Snake shouted and pulled the trigger, shooting Kyle in the head and killing him. His eyes shot open in shock and he dropped his M1911 then fell to his knees. Snake hung up the call and put his hands on his head in disbelief, he just killed his friend, his comrade who he thought died, all because of this war. Suddenly, his codec rang and snapped him out of his emotionally shaken state. He didn't recognize the frequency so he decided to take a deep breath and answer.

"This is Solid Snake, come in?" Snake answered,

"This…is Big Boss, loud and clear…son…"