Breaking Point

Solid Snake and Gustava both were looking around to see where the voice was coming from,

"What you see around you are tripwires that are wired to fire shotgun rounds right in your face! You have nowhere to go, no way to find me and no hope in survival, now die!" Red Blaster declared as suddenly a grenade got tossed at Solid and Gustava. Instinctively, they dove over the tripwire and landed on the other side safely before it could detonate. Snake looked down at his radar to see a dot moving on the opposite side of the room, heading horizontally. They both saw the green uniformed man with a mask dive and throw a grenade at them, the FOXHOUND operative quickly shot the grenade in mid air. Gustava prepared to take aim and tapped Snake's thigh with her knee, he turned and she tilted her head to the right. Realizing what she was requesting, Snake looked at the radar to look for Red Blaster, he found where he was hiding and tapped Gustava's leg in the direction where the Explosive Fury was. Suddenly, a grenade was tossed at them and they both dived out the way in opposite directions. Gustava landed on her side and spotted Red Blaster turning the corner and shot at him, a bullet ripped through his knee. He grunted in pain and began running away to hide. Snake glanced down at his radar, keeping his aim straight and narrow. Gustava checked her magazine to see how many bullets she had left and went back to taking aim. Then, a grenade was tossed in between Snake and Gustava, it detonated only a fiery shrapnel explosion that wasn't released but compressed air that released a strange high pitch frequency and some small objects in the air. Snake and Gustava saw their codecs screens suddenly appear like static on a tv.

"Let's see how good you guys are without your radars!" declared Red Blaster. Gustava looked at Snake, trying to figure out what to do now. The clever Solid Snake then thought of an idea, he waved to get Gustava's attention then tapped on his knee, then his ear and finally placed the finger on his lips. Both took a deep breath and concentrated to strengthen their hearing, both could hear the drip drop sounds of the blood leaking from Red Blaster's knee faintly coming from the far right. It was then moving counterclockwise, Snake flipped up and dove over the tripwire. He started shooting at Red Blaster, grazing his arm and piercing through his shoulder. Gustava saw Red Blaster about to turn the corner but she shot him in the foot. Frustrated, Red Blaster then threw a frag grenade at Gustava but she leapt out the way, landing next to Snake. They then heard insane screaming as Red Blaster turned the corner holding an anti tank grenade and began sprinting towards them, about to risk it all but Solid quickly shot the grenade in his hand, blowing it up right in his arm. Unfortunately for him, he had more grenades on his persons, the explosion in his arm caused the others to blow up as well, splattering the former Red Blaster to nothing but smithereens of flesh and blood all over the floor. The same paranoia began crawling through the back of his spine like a demon's thin sharp fingers stabbing the back of his spine. He then heard his codec dial and answered it,

"And now you're wondering who that man was? Was he another one of your friends you killed? Did he have a family that he fought for? Did he happen to be a good person at the wrong time? All you knew is that he was your enemy and it was his life or yours, that's all that matters in our paradise, you see the price you pay now when you are loyal to a country and now you see how good it is when you do not have these attachments anymore, these feelings that shouldn't get in the way of the one true absolute feeling you get in combat. You haven't talked to those talking heads in a while which means you are close! You can free yourself from the system, from the religions, from the nations and become one with our world where you will never turn a gun on an ally and you don't have to care about the enemy's life." explained Big Boss as he let out a chuckle,

"There's no one else like you who feels the way I feel, someone who genuinely understands the cruelty of this world and the beauty of ours. You know David, there used to be a song that your mother used to sing to you when you were a baby, it would sooth your cries after I got my work done and I never knew why at first but I understand it now because to me, it represents what you are to me. Unforgettable…that's what you are, Unforgettable…though near or far…" Big Boss started to sing and Solid couldn't help but feel frozen, Gustava slowly walked to him as she's seen this kind of feeling before.

"Like a song of love that clings to me, how the thought of you does things to me…Never before…has someone been more!" Gustava slowly held Solid Snake's hand and caressed it to try and calm him down.

"Unforgettable…In every way and forever more…that's how you'll stay. That's why, darling, it's incredible! That someone so unforgettable…thinks that I am…unforgettable too…your time is coming soon, David, soon we will meet again and the final step to seal you and my most trusted protégé into this new era." He hung up which had Solid take a deep breath,

"You tried your best, you did good, David. It takes a lot of strength to keep yourself together." reassured Gustava,

"Let's just…let's just go get Madnar then get Holly." Solid replied as he walked to the door and scanned the level 3 card on the door. The door opened and Snake walked past the garbage chute and the office tables then turned the corner where he swiftly and effortlessly knocked out two guards, this mission has been breaking him slowly and he doesn't want to admit it, he doesn't care about saving the world, he just wanted a way out from this waking nightmare. He opened the cell door using his level 3 card and Madnar was in the corner, shaking at fear thinking it was a soldier but relaxed at the sight of Solid Snake. Gustava caught up with Solid Snake, still very much worried about how much he can handle on this mission.

"I knew you two would come eventually." Madnar said happily,

"Yeah…c'mon let go down the garbage chute to the sewers." Snake emptily replied as he walked towards it,

"Snake, wait." Gustava called to him, he curiously turned around,

"I know it may seem like this entire mission is a waste of time if all there's meant to be suffering but this is what Big Boss wants you to think, he wants you to think there's nothing left to this world when it is much more beautiful than we know, we have to keep fighting for what we believe in so we can see it's beauty and show it to the next generation. I'm fighting for people like my son so they don't make the mistakes of his father and this madman so when we go to save Holly, Marv then destroy their weapon and make them face justice, they will look back at this day as the day we helped make the future better." triumphantly spoke Gustava. Snake turned back to her with a weak broken smile, he was genuinely trying to be moved by her words but is fully skeptical about a hopeful future now. Snake took a deep breath and entered the chute down to the sewers, preparing himself for whatever he may find there.