Breaking the slumber

[psychomantis]

It was getting dark outside. The wind was blowing up leafs from trees that seemed nowhere to be found. The sky was grey, and big threatening clouds gathered. A storm was coming.

Mantis preferred this kind of weather. It soothed him. Not that there was anything to soothe, after all, he didn't had a problem in the world.

The deformed breathing that emerged from his mask was still as slow and steady as always, as he watched people going by from the shadows. A slow chuckle broke the silence around him, as he prepared to cause some pain.

Since he left FOXHOUND to get a little breather, he had lost the last bit of moral senses he had, and was now causing havoc wherever he went. A mother and her child.... perfect. While sizing up the opportunity to mess with one of the two, he decided to go for the child. After all, the little girl could get over the loss of her mother while growing up....

With nothing more than a mere thought, the little child collapsed, blood pouring from her eyes, nose, mouth and ears. As the scream of the mother filled the streets, Mantis felt a deep sense of satisfaction. This was a good night....

[Liquid Snake]

One popular conception that people have about the United States government is its supposed ability to be able to monitor and track down virtually anyone it wants. That it even has the ability to manipulate events in its favor and that free will is an illusion. Indeed, the former has been the subject of a fictional story or two, about someone on the run from the government but having no place to hide. Enemy of The State and Vanishing Point, to name some examples.

So then, what sort of contacts in the U.S. government did Liquid Snake still have? How was he able to track down Mantis? Or maybe Mantis made it too easy. Maybe Mantis left a trail of destruction for Snake to follow, the kind of destruction that's as unique as a fingerprint. After all, not many people can kill others the way Mantis killed the child...

As for the child, the mother's screams attracted the attention of onlookers. People came rushing up to her, and those that didn't turned their heads and looked shocked and dumbfounded.

Except him. Except Liquid Snake.

Like an opaque fog gradually vanishing to reveal some vampire of other supernatural horror, the people he was surrounded and hidden by rushed over to observe the macabre that had just taken place. That left Snake, standing confidently and seemingly detached from what had just transpired, and perhaps his newest recruit: Blood Hound.

He looked virtually identical since when Mantis last saw him at Shadow Moses, dressed in combat boots, BDU trousers and, despite there being no need for one, a trench coat that was closed in front. Gloved hands were shoved into the pockets of his coat as he stood there, certain something would happen, certain Mantis would notice him.

And Mantis would probably notice him, but not via Mantis' psychic means. That's something that was different about Liquid Snake now. Sometime after Shadow Moses, Snake had undergone surgery to implant the same psychic insulation in his brain that the CEO of Arms Tech and the DARPA Chief had. In other words, he was invisible to Mantis' psychic senses and could not have his mind read. That in of itself would probably cause him to stick out to Mantis, the fact someone was there but didn't register in Mantis' mind.

And now, it was just a matter to time, the wait to see whether Mantis would come out and say hello or not...

[mitsuko]

Merely following along at a bit of a distance so it just looked like she was merely part of pedestrian traffic rather than tagging along with the blonde fellow who recruited her into the organization FOXHOUND. Those pitch black optics with silver rimmed pupils focused forward as she left her hands in the pockets of her black dyed denim jeans. Lightly...she was brushing her thumbs against a jagged blade so that pain was constantly being signaled by her nerves. It was delightful...nice...lovely....amazing to be alive and be fully aware of it...almost enough to make her smile. However she kept a straight face and maintained a mellow composure for the world to see like a true lady with manners. Even when the painful screams picked up and ravaged the air...to her it was a form of beauty, something most people over looked. Almost like an incredibly twisted song where the melody was beautiful and the words were spoken in such a way that was hard for most to understand.

Of course...her methods had a tendency to keep her victim alive so they could generate more...until the either wore out and needed to be put out of their misery...or...simply eliminated because she felt as though everything they viewed in live could never snap out of an ignorant bliss. Blood stained onyx hued locks gently danced with the breeze as she stared toward the carnage not being so much as phased in a negative fashion. No just calm...even at complete ease as though to be within her element. Without saying so much as a word aside from the quite breaths she occasionally took...she merely thought to herself in an unusually calm tone. "Hn...such interesting methods. Safely assuming you can hear this, Psycho Mantis...it is indeed quite a pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance. It seems we will be needing your assistance. Perhaps...no...certainly our combine efforts will result in success, comrade."

No, she hadn't the ability to be going around sending or reading thoughts all willy nilly. However she was thinking those words to herself obnoxiously loud and welcoming telepathy like a child allowing a beloved pet into their home. All she did was lower her mental guard and make it so much easier to have her thoughts dived into by one who could read minds much like the comrade she was encountering for the first time, Psycho Mantis. Now this guard lowering wasn't taunting or demeaning in nature...but merely a welcoming `let's talk if you'd like...shall we?` invitation. Obviously it was a dangerous tactic, however she quietly calculated how idiotic it would be to completely and utterly ruin an ally who could be useful. From what she gathered about the man who used a gas mask to aid in filtering the thoughts of the world, he was intelligent enough to acknowledge usefulness. Unless her calculations had some sort of horrible flaw which she had a back up plan for as well...always being prepared...that's just how it had to be no matter what.

Always have a way out even in the midst of good company, one could never know. The black jacket the rather tall woman wore was a bit unzipped, but only enough to reveal a bit of her red turtle neck shirt. Ah yes, and her shoes were black and red. Why was she wearing civilian attire? It seemed a little suspicious to have two trench coat wearing individuals parading around and wind up anywhere NEAR a murder. One could pay off police or even be in cahoots with them to help silence others, but every single passer by in existence who caught wind of it may not be so easy to track down and deal with...so it was best to help them look a little more `part of the crowd`. People tend not to think much of one person in this day and age with a trench coat near a crime scene...merely a choice of attire.

However you add one more and it was a little suspicious to the scattered few who weren't slow or too idiotic...the ones that knew this world was beautiful but still had its thorns and did what they could to avoid them while not falling into blissful ignorance. The one known as Blood Hound may not be leader...but certainly she was a far cry from being a moron. More than likely yet one of the reasons she was recruited.

[psychomantis]

Watching the crowd gathering to see what was happening to the girl was enough to make Mantis' chuckle grow into laughter. Mankind acted like sheep, and he once again proved it. Some tried to be heroic, and actually save the child, but mantis could see right past the charade. All they tried to do was make a headline, or get some reward out of it. They were all the same.

There were two people that stood out, however. They acted calm, like nothing extraordinairy happened. One of those people was someone who Mantis recognized from miles away. It was Liquid Snake. Someone he hadn't seen for quite some time. The other stood farther away, and though it seemed the two of them were not part of eachother, Mantis just knew there was a connection.

It was then that he noticed a clear voice troughout the usual muffled voices in his head. It was directed to him specifically. She knew him somehow, and it had to do with Liquid telling her about him. This could be interesting...

"Do you think it's wise to call me a comrade already little girl?"

He asked her, peering his eyes trough the plastic of his mask. He observed her. Though she looked like any ordinairy girl, there was indeed something different about her. She did not act shocked upon the sudden demise of the little girl in front of her. She seemed to actually enjoy it.

As for Liquid, there was something different about him. Not a single thought could be made out of his mint. he realized there was only one procedure that could stop him from delving into his mind... The coward....

[Liquid Snake]

Shadow Moses, circa 2005. It was the last time the U.S. government officially acknowledged FOXHOUND as one of their own. Shortly after that, FOXHOUND disbanded, with each member going their own way. Liquid Snake faked his death with the help of his own nanomachines, a technique later used in Vamp.

Perhaps it was the same for Mantis. And what had Mantis been up to in the six years since Shadow Moses? It didn't really surprise his old commander and comrade to find Mantis here, killing people like insects. Despite his enormous natural psychic talents, Mantis didn't seem to have the mind to take on larger tasks. World domination, for example. Indeed, like nature gifts the mentally challenged with great physical strength, perhaps nature gave Mantis psychic talents to compensate for his small mindedness.

Then again, perhaps Mantis just didn't care. In either case, Snake often mused how ironic and delicious it was that such a great psychic could have their will so easily bent to his. Mutual gain really. As long as Liquid Snake shared the same goals, he could easily manipulate FOXHOUND, Mantis included.

Although Snake had the same psychic implants as the DARPA Chief did, and therefore could not hear Mantis' telepathic messages, there were subtle hints he could pick up on. delicate, slight things, that triggered his instincts and intuition to tell him that Hound was in contact with Mantis.

Rather than interfering, he just stood back, watching and waiting....

[mitsuko]

Since all her leader managed to do was stand and observe, she deemed it fit to continue with this whole attempt at interacting with someone who was supposedly part of her team. This was one of those events where she saw that completely meshing with the background wasn't going to be productive. However, it seemed like he not only called her, a grown woman, a little girl but also questioned her move to call him a comrade. The point in itself was valid since it's not like he was around when she joined and part of why she was recruited in the first place is because of the whole `FOXHOUND being disbanded and only recently getting pulled back together again` shtick. Ah...perhaps it was a foolish move...perhaps not...only time could tell with this one.

Continuing to calmly think clearly about the words she wished to share with this fellow, "Perhaps you are right to question my wisdom about whether you are truly my comrade. That shall be up to you in the end. I only know one thing is certain unless you decide to change that, we are not enemies and I do not view you as such. Nor am I viewing you as an ignorant fool who needs to be woken up with the beautiful method of pain flowing through every fiber of your being. Enough of that though...I will be the one to inform you of my own free will that Liquid Snake is trying to reorganize FOXHOUND. As you have probably figured out by now, I am a new recruit and by no means have seniority over you, Psycho Mantis. We could use your talents once again and more in the very near future."

Side glancing over to the blonde a bit far away from her, those onyx optics centered with a silver ring fixated back on the practitioner of psychokinesis as she continued thinking to herself..."Unfortunately, it is not my place nor right to brief you on the details...that is something you will need to gather from Liquid Snake. Normally, I would assume you have fished out the information yourself from his thoughts...but it seems preventive measures were taken for whatever reason he may have. Or that is what I gathered. So if you choose to rejoin us, I will allow you to use me for communicating with him via codec...I somehow doubt you would use such technology when you can use telepathy in any form. Hn...and it may seem a bit odd that I am making such gracious offers...truth is I know if you saw me as a worthless and useless plague to humanity I would have dropped dead in an elegantly brutal and painful manner upon our first moments within this encounter." After that...somewhat lengthy thought process, she continued to gently slice away at her hands within her pockets looking as though she was nothing short of filled with a twisted sense of peace.

If Psycho Manits did in fact decide to possess her for the use of her codec, there would actually be no signs of struggle and she'd just be all mellow jello about it. Not like she was going back on her word, it was the first of many stepping stones to developing trust. Clearly she did have the ability to block herself up from mental prying, however she was opting to not give someone who may very well be an ally telepathic difficulties. Besides, logically, she sorted out they'd all just stand there having staring contests with one another if SOMEONE didn't try to reach out and make an effort of some kind.

[psychomantis]

So, it seems you have been briefed on my exsistance

Mantis spoke to the girl. She sure knew how to talk a lot in a little amount of time. The slow breathing continued to be filtered trough his mask, not showing he was either impressed or not. She knew how to approach him, thanks to Liquid.

His eyes wandered off to the side, looking at his former colleague. He just stood there doing nothing. That was unlike him. Liquid was a man of action, and never stood idly by when a job needed to be done. It was a shame he could not read his mind anymore, as it would give an explanation of why he had changed.

Turning his attention to the girl once more, he continued.

Since we can now skip my introduction, and why you two are here, let me see....

A rather simple check read the girl's mind. She liked pain. No, she was addicted to it. A rather unconventional feature, but in his time, Mantis had seen weirder people go by.

So, you like it when you feel pain? A good thing to have when you're in FOXHOUND, you'll find out soon enough

Without saying anything, or giving out warnings, Mantis applied pressure to Mitsuko's heart, causing it to stop for just a second or two. He knew from experience that the entire body would undergo serious amounts of pain. It was more of a test as to how far her pain-limit went.

And you.....Liquid, have you come to search for me, or were you just passing by?

A rather useless question, as Mantis already knew the answer, but there were things that Mantis preffered to be said out loud

[Liquid Snake]

Since there was no way for Snake to monitor that the conversation between Mantis and Hound via nano communication or by telepathy, he really had no way of participating. All he could do was wait and trust that Hound would do a good job at coaxing the madman. And indeed, what use was Mantis? Was this really worth it or had he devolved since Shadow Moses, either mentally or physically?

He stood there, crossing his arms and occasionally glancing around. Luckily, the spectacle of the dead child created more than enough distraction for them. It also created something else, something unwanted, as was apparent by the sound of approaching sirens.

"And you.....Liquid, have you come to search for me, or were you just passing by?" said Mantis. Snake responded by correcting him. "We're not in Shadow Moses anymore. There's no need to focus on the other half of my codename." And he was right. Much as Raiden had to change his codename to Raiden from Snake, so too Snake had to be referred to Liquid during the events of Shadow Moses. The reason was the same: to avoid confusion with the other Snake. In Raiden's case, a man calling himself Solid Snake. In Liquid Snake's case, the real Solid Snake.

Noting the rapidly approaching sirens, and how Mantis stuck out like a sore thumb with his gas mask, Snake uncrossed his arms and placed them into the pockets of his trench coach. "We wont have the privilege of privacy for much longer" he said, before he walked toward an alley way that was on the same side of the street as they were on, motioning for them to follow him.

"Come."