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July 25th, 2003Preshow: "Raiden's Last Hand" Max Payne walked groggily out from the hotel to the Hero's Haunt. It was nearly six in the morning, still too early to see well but not late enough where he had had enough time to recover from last night's binge. Max was fighting back a hangover. He hoped the adrenaline would kick in soon, and snap his senses awake. It usually did. He'd gone days without sleep, and gone from drinking to dodging bullets in less time than it took to reload a pump-action shotgun. Last night he'd nearly lost all hope. But he knew he had to keep fighting, whatever his odds were. Now he knew how all those druggies and gangsters felt, hopelessly outmatched by his skills. Vercetti had stopped by his room twenty minutes earlier to let him know that there was going to be a high-stakes poker game soon. Either Snake or Raiden would be gone the next day... well, that was the polite way to look at it, but even Raiden himself seemed despairing of his chances. Raiden would be gone the next day. That's what their whole group believed, and hence he had everything to lose, no reason to hold back. Raiden had called for one last poker game for either him or Snake. Maybe he wanted a chance to prove himself. Maybe he was bored, like so many of the competitors. Maybe he thought he could win something. Maybe he was trying to calm his nerves. Who knew? Who cared. All Max was concerned about was that there would be some big money going down, and he wasn't about to miss his shot to grab some. The Hero's Haunt loomed in front of him. Max rubbed his eyes and swung the doors open. Vercetti nodded to him as he walked in. Solid Snake was shuffling a deck and barely glanced up. Raiden looked back and forth between him and those already seated at the table. He looked nervous. Max had to wonder if he'd even be able to keep up a poker face that night. Or was it morning? Who knew. Max rubbed his eyes again and sat down. "Are we ready to go?" Solid Snake shook his head. "Master Chief is coming too." "Ah, right." Max nodded. Max took the next few minutes to count out his chips and order a drink. He asked for something that would wake him up. He had been offered some mix of raw egg, caffeine, Tabasco sauce, and alcohol. After his lungs stopped burning, he had to admit that it did the trick. He had to wonder what dimension had come up with that mix. Vercetti was grinning at him. Sure, just let him think I'm still half-asleep. Probably why he invited me. Max liked the guy as well as much as he could like anyone in Vercetti's position, but he was more than prepared to soak Vercetti for everything he had if he got the chance. The door opened to the Hero's Haunt opened again and the four of them turned to look. Master Chief strutted into the room, not bothering to look up at them. He was wearing his full armor for once. He must have just gotten back from the firing range. He took his seat, and acknowledged the other players. Snake broke the silence. "Good, we're all here. Table stakes, no limit, dealer's choice. Any man cheating will be shot, any man bluffing will be called, and any man who's not prepared to lose it all may leave now." Raiden flinched at those words but Max kept his cool. He could feel his heart speed up, but practiced keeping his face expressionless. He tossed in his ante with the rest of them. This was going to be good. It was Snake's deal first. He reached down for his SOCOM pistol and pointed it at the deck he'd been shuffling. But then he just shrugged, and put the gun away. "We'll count the cards after we're done. 5 card draw, no wilds." Snake began dealing out the cards but watched Vercetti's face carefully. Sure enough, the mob boss winced, and leaned back further in his chair. "Something wrong, Tommy?" Snake reached for his pistol and poked it into Tommy's pocket. He felt the outline of a deck, with a hole in the middle. "What do you have there?" Tommy shrugged and uttered his words calmly. "Just in case we needed a spare." Snake nodded and kept dealing. Unless Tommy had blown the hole in his deck with Snake's pistol, he had no doubts that he'd be able to tell the difference. But Snake wanted a fair game, as did Raiden. Hopefully that would serve as a warning to the other participants. Snake finished up his deal, and picked up his cards. Two tens, and garbage. He began to weigh his options. Master Chief's had the first bet. ---- Master Chief was doing well. It was only the first round, and he already had something worth betting on. A ten, a jack, a queen, and two aces. Cortana's voice whispered softly in his ear. "I wouldn't advise drawing to the inside straight. Your odds are much better keeping the aces." Master Chief grunted in acknowledgement. He was experienced enough to be able to figure that out for himself. Cortana's advice occasionally came in handy though. She was useful at figuring out the odds, and keeping track of cards. But poker was still dominated by the human element. Snake's expression was solid. Go figure. Max was rearranging his cards. He had to have something worth rearranging. Vercetti kept his face behind one hand. And Raiden was staring at him. Oh yeah, it was his turn to bet. "I'll open with twenty." Max reached for his stack of chips and tossed a couple in. "I'll see that." Raiden nervously reached for his pile. "I'll raise you another twenty." Vercetti raised his eyebrows slightly but matched the bet. Snake did the same. Master Chief looked at his cards again. There was no way Raiden had anything good yet. He matched Raiden's bet. Max completed the round and they all looked expectantly at him again. "Three cards." Master Chief set three cards down on the table. Snake slid three cards back down to him. He looked at his hand again. The aces had found a brother, and a five and a jack. All the other players requested three cards, even Raiden. Master Chief smiled. Cortana whispered in his ear. "I would estimate the odds are over 70% in your favor. It would be wise to raise, but not by too much." Master Chief grunted again, hoping that the other players couldn't hear him. If they did, they probably thought it was just a personality quirk by now. "I'll bet 75." Max Payne tossed his cards onto the table. "I'm out." Raiden looked him in the eyes. The Chief smiled back at him. "Feel like losing anything?" Raiden tossed in some chips. "I'll call." he said. His face showed signs of doubt however, Chief doubted he'd be a threat. Vercetti folded, and Snake matched his bet. Master Chief flipped his hand over. "Three aces." Snake nodded his head. "Queens and tens." The two of them looked at Raiden. Raiden finally spoke up softly. "A pair of jacks?" Master Chief laughed and scooped up the chips. "Good game, kid." He looked at his first winnings. Not bad. ---- Max Payne was doing well. The next several hands had held light betting, and were split up between the participants, although Snake seemed to be taking more than his share. Max had cleaned up against Raiden however. Raiden had tried bluffing against a flush, and hadn't wanted to back down from the bidding. The indecision had been written on his face though. He kept glancing at his cards and shuffling them. Max knew Raiden had nothing, and took him for as much as his conscience and Raiden's common sense would allow. It was his turn to deal again. Max picked up the deck and began shuffling. He slipped himself into bullet time. Kings, aces, fives, and fours flipped by in slow motion. Max concentrated on what he was doing, and managed to bring three of the kings to the top, and where he could get to them. The match had gone about as he hoped. Max had to be careful not to overuse his gift... if the other participants saw his eyes flitting back and forth rapidly as the cards were being dealt they might get suspicious. He simply used it to gain an edge. After the first round, his three kings drew a deuce -deuces were wild that game. Max started the last round of betting with a bet of a couple hundred. Raiden had tried to raise him, as everyone else folded knowingly. Max returned the favor, and raised another two hundred. Raiden looked at his hand, looked at Max's confident expression and bowed out. Max picked up his winnings and looked around the table. He was doing as well as anyone else so far. Not bad ---- Tommy Vercetti was doing well. The game had been remarkably devoid of cheating, but tensions were still running high. The four other participants had pulled their guns on him when he pulled a straight out of nowhere. But the play was legitimate, he had just gotten lucky. He still had money to win however... The game was seven card stud, his deal. There were no wild cards. All the players received two cards down, and he dealt out the remaining cards on top. Snake had a nine up. Master Chief received a jack. Max Payne got a six. Max barely glanced at his cards below. He was sitting on his winnings for now, it seemed. Raiden got a ten, and Tommy Vercetti himself received an ace of spades. Vercetti looked below his hand. There was a seven of hearts and a ten of spades. Nothing. Vercetti flashed a cocky grin. "Well ladies, I'll start this off with forty." Snake and Master Chief matched his bet without thinking about it. Max Payne simply turned his cards over. Ordinarily Tommy might resent that kind of behavior, but in this case he was grateful. Raiden matched his bet, and didn't bother to raise. Tommy dealt out the next round of cards. Snake received a four, and Master Chief received another jack, doubtlessly bolstering his confidence. Wonderful. I picked a good time for a bluff. No choice but to keep going. Raiden got a deuce, which was no help in that game. Tommy flipped down the last card. It was the king of spades. He looked around the table. He had the ten of spades himself. Neither of the jacks on the table were in spades thankfully. If anyone had one though-it was all over for him. He had the makings of a straight flush on the table... shaky though it was. Vercetti smiled and leaned back. Master Chief had the only real hand on the table with a pair of jacks. It was his bid first. Vercetti would let the cyborg set the tone for this one. Chief bet another fourty, and Vercetti chose to simply call the bet. He couldn't make it look like he was trying to get them all to fold. Raiden and Snake stayed in as well. Vercetti looked more closely at their hands. Both had the makings of a flush, if their cards below matched the ones above. The next set of cards went out again. Snake and Raiden got a card outside their choice suits, and Master Chief received an eight. The sight appeared to please him. Vercetti sighed and laid down his card. It was the queen of spades. Vercetti let his eyes bug out. It wasn't hard to do. He had the ace, king, and queen of spades sitting on the table, with the ten underneath. The others had to be sweating. Master Chief looked at him worried, and muttered "I'll pass." Raiden shook his head. "Check." He looked at Vercetti. Vercetti tried to look like he was suppressing a smile. "Not bad at all, girls. That's enough to make my snake solid. A hundred to stay in, boys." Snake matched him. Master Chief hesitated and looked at his cards, but he put his chips in as well. Raiden threw down his hand. Vercetti smiled. Two to go... The last card up went out. Snake got a deuce. His hand was looking more and more useless. Master Chief received an ace. And Vercetti himself got... a three of hearts. Great. Master Chief looked at his hand and laughed at Tommy. "Eh, you're full of it." The Chief started rolling thousands of dollars in chips onto the table. Vercetti groaned inwardly. He had nothing to go on, and clearly Master Chief wasn't going to give up. Snake threw his hand down before the bidding even got to him. Chief looked at Vercetti, and began to move his arm in the direction of the pot. Vercetti grinned and widened his eyes. He threw in the necessary chips with a casual flick. "Excellent. But not nearly enough. How about we make this a little more personal." Tommy Vercetti pulled off his gold watch and tossed a handful of jewelry onto the table. Chief was nonplussed, but simply shook his head. "Don't have anything worth that much." Vercetti rolled his eyes. "What I want from you is personal. I need a favor from you on the shady side of the law, let's say." His mind raced, trying to think of something that Chief would never agree to. "If I win, I want you to help me out with another contestant. I want you to reprogram KOS-MOS on my behalf." Vercetti held his breath. Chief looked at him with a mix of disgust and curiosity. The cyborg sized him up slowly. Please no... no... please... The cyborg nodded his head. "You've got a deal." Vercetti exhaled and groaned. This was not good. He'd just humiliated himself and thrown most of his cash way. He allowed his shoulders to slouch. Grimly, he tossed the last card down at Chief, and laid his card in front of himself. It was the jack of spades. He. Had. The jack of spades. He had a natural royal flush. Vercetti couldn't even try to keep his face straight. He was beyond caring what Chief thought. He grinned at Chief and threw his entire stack into the pot. "That's more money than you'll make in a year. You just give me all you have and we'll call it even." Chief looked at him in surprise. Slowly he shook his head and laughed. "All right, what have you got?" Vercetti excitedly flipped his cards over. "Let's see, you already know the ace, king, and queen of spades...I have the three of hearts... ten of spades, seven of hearts, and my personal favorite... the jack of spades. Hey, what do you know, that makes a royal flush." Four pistols were instantly pointed at his head again. Chief didn't even bother revealing his full house. Tommy couldn't keep a **** eating grin off his face. "Read 'em and weep gentlemen." Tommy scooped up the chips as Snake and Master Chief counted the cards. Max shook his head in disbelief. Raiden was just stunned. He held his gun motionless in the air. "Might want to put that thing down, kid." Chief said absently. Chief looked back and forth between the cards and Tommy, and stared at both in disbelief. Tommy realized he'd been sweating. If this kind of luck keeps up I may have to consider going legit. Nah. "I saw it myself, and I don't believe it," Snake said, shaking his head. "Vercetti won a game legally." Vercetti grinned. "You owe me a favor too, Chief, don't forget." He looked over his winnings again. Not bad. ---- Raiden was not doing well. He hadn't been burned as badly as Chief yet, but he was still losing. I should have stayed in more. I should have been more careful, and backed out. I'm better than almost everyone out there... so why can't I compete with the people here?" It was Snake's deal, and the other players were still in shock from Vercetti's success. Maybe I can use that to my advantage... The antes were thrown in carelessly. They paled in significance to what had been bet last match. Raiden received his cards, one at a time. It was five card draw again, Snake's game of choice. A jack, a six, a five, and two more jacks. He looked up confidently. It was time to win something back. Chief and Max passed. Both were playing more cautiously after doing too poorly, and doing too well. It was Raiden's bet. He tossed in five hundred. "You've gotta pay to play. Do you have what it takes?" Vercetti folded. He was probably still counting his chips. Snake looked him in the eye and shook his head. "Pointless show of bravado," he muttered. Snake matched his bet. All the other players bowed without a word. All eyes were on Raiden. He cleared his throat. "I'll take two cards." Snake slipped the cards towards him. "No cards for the dealer." Raiden felt his throat tighten. This isn't good. Snake must have a great hand as well. Still, I can do this. He looked down at his hand. Snake had given him a ten and the fourth jack. He breathed a little easier. Snake was frowning, looking over his hand. This is too good to be true. Raiden reached for a stack of chips. Vercetti was idly counting his winnings, but Max and Master Chief were giving him their full attention. He took a deep breath and steadied himself. "I'll raise ten thousand." Snake froze, and looked him in the eyes. Raiden felt Snake's trained killer eyes search him out. He knows I have a good hand or I wouldn't be betting like this. What's the point? Snake spoke softly. "Do you really think you can do this, kid?" Raiden felt his heart pound. "I'm not a kid. I know I can. I'm just as good as you." Snake shook his head. "You just don't want to believe what you're up against. Think about this. The odds are against you." "I DON'T CARE!" Raiden slammed his fist into the table. Vercetti jumped up, startled. Max and Master Chief still stared at him silently. "Why can't I ever be good enough for you?" "You are, kid." Snake paused. "Just not good enough to win here." Raiden glowered at him. "Oh, I think I am. I can beat you." Snake shrugged. "I say you're bluffing." Raiden snapped at him. "Then call me." Snake smiled, and tossed his chips in to match Raiden's bet. Raiden turned over his hand. He didn't even need to look at his cards, his eyes met Snake's full on. "Four jacks." Snake slowly began to turn his cards over. "One King. One Ace. One King. One King. And one King. That's four kings." Raiden slumped back as Snake scooped up all the chips in the pot. He had been so close. By all rights, he should have won. Raiden looked at the other players. Max Payne was sitting on his winnings. Vercetti was crowing over his stack, and Master Chief had lost. Hard. And Raiden himself wasn't in a position to keep going. "I guess we're done for the day then," Raiden said softly. Snake began to put away the cards. "Yep. Better luck out there today then you had in here." Raiden sat motionless as the other participants filed out. Soon he was the only one left in the Hero's Haunt. He ought to be getting ready for his match. But all he could do was sit there and think about how poorly he'd played. Eventually the bartender came around. "You want anything to drink?" Raiden tried to smile. "Got any rubbing alcohol?" The bartender shook his head. "You don't need anything like that. You'll be all right, don't worry." "Sure." Raiden sighed. The sun began to peek through the window as it rose. He blinked at the light. His big fight with Snake was today. If nothing else, he had to give the audience a show. The Battle Raiden hopped around nervously, the match was supposed to start at 7:00 as usual, but Snake had told them to wait, and the higher seeds get to make requests like that. So they were both just standing in the middle of the arena, set up in the same fashion as they had set it up for Gordon and Max. He grabbed his sword and swung it around a few times, Snake couldn't beat him in hand to hand combat. Not with his sword, he had spent a lot of time practicing it with, he knew that there was no way he could beat Snake in a gun fight, but if he could close the distance he could beat him. I mean, I took Solidus with this sword. He's a clone of Snake isn't he, or something like that. Oh well, I mean Snake can't be too much better then a clone of himself can he? He had done a lot of training with Vyse, and he said that Raiden was pretty good. Even Link had mentioned the impressive speed of his horizontal slashes. However, he had a lot of distance to cover between him Snake, and he wouldn't last long out in the open. I guess I'll have to run around inside this maze they set up, and try and find him he thought looking into the maze trying to map out a course in his head. I can do this, I can beat Snake, I just have to make sure he doesn't get me out in the open. Snake had been watching Raiden. He raised his hand over his eye's and shook his head God damn it kid, stop showing me what strategy is. he thought to himself. He had hoped he'd get a challenge out of Raiden, but the kid had spent all his time practicing with his sword, no time at the range. He wasn't on a training diet, he'd been getting up at 10:30, he had no discipline at all. Snake didn't need to practice for this battle, but it wasn't in his character to sit around and not prepare. Raiden looked into the right passage of the maze and nodded his head, For god's- don't tell me where you're gonna go. Come on, didn't you memorize the layout of this maze during the fight between Gordon and Max. I wanted a challenge kid, not this. he looked up at the sun, Almost time. People in the audience were getting bored, the newer fighter's seemed worried, the more experienced fighter's all seemed to be thinking the same thing as Snake did, Bowser was yelling for blood, but that was nothing new. Ganondorf and Sephiroth had left the moment they found out the match was to be delayed. But Sonic, was losing it. "I've been sitting here for an hour and a half I don't know if I can take much more of this." Sonic said squirming at an alarming rate in his seat. Because of the player booth he wasn't even able to get up and run a little bit. "Come on Sonic, you promised me you'd watch this match with me, I need to see what this guy can do if I'm gonna beat him," said Knuckles. "Screw it, I'm off, I'll see you later Red," Sonic said leaping up from his seat and dashing for the exit. Right before he got there an announcment came over the PA "The match will begin shortly." Sonic skidded to a stop and then moped back to the booth with Knuckles. "'Bout damn time." Sonic said grudgingly. ---- "You ready Raiden?" Snake called across the open area in the center of the stadium. "Yeah, I'm ready Snake!" Raiden called back, It's show time Raiden, don't second guess yourself or you won't beat him. The kid's second guessing himself thought Snake loading his gun. "BEGIN!!!!" said the announcer, the bell rang and they were off. Both Snake and Raiden rushed back into the maze. Raiden remembered the path he had chosen early and dashed off to the right. He had mapped out the first few turns but he didn't know the maze. He took a left, a right, strait, left, strait, and came out right into the middle of the courtyard. He looked around, Snake was no where to be seen, he took a few steps back only to feel a gun stick into his back. "I thought you said you were ready, kid?" Snake said to Raiden. "Snake, how did you get there?!?!?!" Raiden asked panicking. "I memorized the layout of the setup during Max and Gordon's match, I had assumed you'd do the same." Snake said, "One more time, kid, this time watch your back." The pressure from the nozzle of a silenced-SOCOM pistol left his lower spine. Raiden whirled around with his own gun, but no one was there. Damn thought Raiden, I'm not gonna be able to sneak up on him, maybe I can lure him out though. Raiden said as he peered around the corner's trying to make sure he wasn't snuck up on, he had anticipated this and brought a little.....Snake bait. He smirked and then removed a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, "hehe," he said outloud, "Snake'll never be able to resist these." He looked around and found a good corner then he put the cigarettes down on the other side of the wall and ducked behind the corner. Soon, he heard some faint footprint's on the other side of the wall, and then he heard Snake's voice say, "Oh Boy, cigarettes." Gotcha thought Raiden, he flipped out from behind the wall, High-Frequency Blade on the ready. Snake, who was actually caught off guard, jumped back to avoid Raiden's initial slice. Raiden ran forward and leaped into the air. He spun around as he came down, but Snake ducked under the blade and drove his fist into Raiden's stomach. "Come on kid, you're better than this," Snake said pulling out his lighter and lighting his cigarette, "Thanks for the cigarette by the way I'd really been hurting for a light." "Aaaah, SHUT UP!!!" yelled Raiden. Who quickly did a series of vertical and horizontal slashes, which were all easily dodged by Snake. "You're not thinking about your moves, look at me and try and think what I'm gonna do before you attack." Snake instructed. Raiden was getting angry, Snake was treating him like a kid again, he hated that. With a sudden unexpected yell, he lunged forward and attempted to cleave Solid Snake into. This time Snake made no attempt to dodge but with incredible skill he clapped his hands together, stopping the sword in its tracks. Raiden was completely stunned, Snake pulled him in with the sword and gave him a tremendous kick to the stomach. Raiden fell to the ground clutching said stomach. He reached for his pistol but stopped when the blade of his own sword was pointed right at his left eye. "That's two kid, you're not concentrating. I've watched you be better than this, you've even saved my ass a few times. Why aren't you fighting me?" Snake said flipping the sword around and handing it to Raiden. "I am fighting, and ITS ABOUT TIME YOU DID THE SAME!!!!!" yelled Raiden, swinging the sword wildly. Snake slid under it and slunk back into the maze. I'm not his kid, I'm not his student, I'm a Foxhound commando, I saved everyone in New York City, I defeated 8 Metal Gear Ray's without any of his help, why is he still treating me like this. he thought to himself. He was just getting angrier and angrier. I'm gonna get him, he won't get away with embarrassing me like this. I won't go down like all the other 16th seeds. I'm gonna win. But how do I find him before he finds me? he looked around and suddenly saw a trail of smoke marking a trail throughout the maze. Big mistake, Snake. He followed the trail around and saw some smoke coming out from behind a corner of a T intersection. You're mine thought Raiden. He slowly snuck up on the side of the wall the smoke was coming from. Each footstep made the same amount of noise as the previous, none. He slowly pulled out his SOCOM and pointed it at the corner, he didn't want Snake popping out from behind there and getting the jump on him. He kept all his attention focused on that corner, he finally reached the end of the wall, he held his breath as to not make a sound and then spun around the corner yelling, "Freeze Snake!!!" But to his dismay he found the lit cigarette taped to the wall, at Snake's head level. "Oh no," murmered Raiden. A slight click behind his head confirmed his fear. "That was way below par for you kid, I was in your periferal vision for a full 10 seconds before you turned that corner, no excuse for this." "Snake, why are you doing this to me." "I know you're better than this, I just want to know that I beat the real you." "Stop embarrassing me and finish this, you've proved you can win already." "You're too angry, calm down and you'll do much better. One more time." Raiden waited a second and then without even looking back continued onward into the maze. I need to think of something else, something Snake hasn't thought of.. I can't beat him using his own tactics. Raiden had actually calmed down some, his rage was wild before but now it was focused. Snake had him on the line, he was going to lose control if Snake kept this up too much longer. What do I have that Snake doesn't? he asked himself, his sword came to mind but he had learned already that it was of little use against the rogue operative's skills. Hmmm....I'm certainly more agile than Snake, more acrobatic, I wonder if I could use that. Raiden looked around, fabulous, I'm in a freaking 4 foot wide corridor, beautiful.....unless. Raiden looked up. Excellent thought Raiden. Upon his inspection of the ceiling he found that the walls extended only 12 feet above the ground, I can reach that, no sweat thought Raiden. He ran kicked off one wall, and reached his fingers up and grabbed the edge of the wall and pulled himself up. The wall's were around 2 feet thick, he ran along the top, silently, looking for a trace of his mentor. The sun was going down, he didn't have as much in the dark training as Snake did, so that wasn't good. this should give me the drop on him. And I can end it before it gets dark. He stopped, he heard some rustling, he leapt from wall to wall, the fading sun at his back, running towards the darkness. He stopped when he saw Snake. Snake was running in opposite direction from him in a corridor 20 feet to his right. Snake seemed to stop at an intersection blocked from view by the passage, he then took a right and ran off out of Raiden's view. You're mine thought Raiden to himself. He leapt forward until he was in line with the corridor Snake had entered. He looked right expecting to see Snake's back or nothing, but he was confronted with Snake leaning against a wall looking right at him. "S-Snake...." growled Raiden. He then looked over in Snake's hand it was a detonator, he looked down to see a small piece of C4 attached to the bottom of the wall he was standing on. Snake pressed the button and Jack came tumbling down. "How.....how did you see me?" Raiden uttered, attempting to crush a piece of the wall in his hand. Snake pushed his back off of the wall and turned to face the young agent. "You're shadow kid, I lured you here after I saw your shadow and figured out were you were. That's why I asked to do the match now. You've gotta be able to keep track of small things like your shadow, you really should've known that." Snake said as-a-matter-of-factly. "SHUT UP!!!!!!!" yelled Raiden, "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR LECTURES!!!!!" Raiden said, "and I've had enough of you." The sun was cresting over the horizon, an orange glow lighted half of Raiden's body. The lighted half of Raiden's face surged with anger. Slowly he pulled out his M-4 and aimed it at Snake. "Raiden, what are you doing?" With a cry of rage Raiden ran towards Snake firing his M-4. Snake took off in the opposite direction. The bullets pounded the ground behind him, the walls beside him, and the air around him, but Snake remained unscathed and ducked behind a corner. Snake heard the click of Raiden's gun indicating that he was out of ammo, Snake spun out from behind the corner, aimed his SOCOM and yelled, "Raiden don't do this! I don't want to hurt you!" "Stop babying me Snake, or I'll kill you." Raiden responded the kindness gone from his voice. He slowly began reloading his M-16 and said, "Well, Snake, gonna shoot me?" Snake growled and then took off. Raiden spun around the corner behind him and started firing the M-16 again. It's a good thing he's been ignoring his firing thought Snake otherwise I'd have had to kill him. He heard another click of Raiden's assault rifle and decided to take another chance to try and talk him out of his irrational actions. "Raiden-," he started but didn't finish, as Raiden abandoned his assault rifle and pulled out his Nikita. "Let's see ya dodge this one, Snake." Raiden said firing the rocket, the rocket launched out of the barrel and came........barreling down toward Snake. "Damn, in a maze like this, that weapon is damn near unbeatable," he said as he ran off. "I've gotta get the controller out of his hands." Snake's experience payed off again. Having memorized the layout of the maze, he darted through the corridors without the worry of hitting a dead end. If I can just get behind him, I can knock it out of his hands. He mapped out the path he had to take and went on it. The Nikita missle was fast, Snake was running full speed, and his age was beginning to catch up with him. Can't keep this up much longer However he didn't need to as he reached the place Raiden had fired the missle. He rounded the corner, kicked the weapon out of his hands and tackled Raiden. The missle hit the wall not 3 feet from where Raiden was standing and exploded taking out the wall. Raiden got to his feet to see Snake on his knee's 6 feet away. He slowly drew his pistol. "What now, Snake?" Raiden said to the experienced agent. "Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, the only way out of here is through-" he didn't have time to finish his sentence. As Snake quickly drew his SOCOM and fired one shot. Raiden's head snapped back from the impact, but he pulled it forward. Instead of a gaping hole there was a tremendous bruise. "R-r-rubber......bullets....." Raiden managed to utter before passing out. "Well, kid, maybe I'm not willing to kill you." Snake said, as he picked up Raiden's unconcious body and walked towards the exit. "Still though, you could've done better." Aftermath There was one less poker player tonight at the Hero's Haunt. But he wasn't really missed. "Hey Snake. Snake? Snake!" Snake had been studying his cards intently (or pretending to, as is the best thing to do when you have a pair of twos, a five, an eight, and a jack), and it took a few yells from Max Payne to finally shake him into the human world. "What do you want, Payne...?" "When you were out there today, with the kid. Raiden. It ever cross your mind that you might lose?" Snake... Smirked. If you could call it that. It was obvious that the battle was not a subject he was all that fond of discussing at the moment. Some happenings in the maze had been just plain embarrassing to the experience gunsman... Especially the cigarette incident. He didn't think Vercetti would ever let him forget it. "It did. Just for a minute out there. But you know what hit me then?" "What?" Snake paused for a moment to take a puff on one of his cigarettes, and then responded to Max. "If I lost to Raiden, I might as well just chuck myself off the nearest bridge." The other poker players laughed. It was no secret to them that Snake had expected himself to win... But to hear it like that brought a smile to the faces of the hardened gunsmen. Snake continued. "With Raiden... I mean, nothing against the kid. Good fighter, did a pretty nice job against Solidus in New York. But that's nothin. Besides that, which could have very well been luck, all Jack's got under his belt is a full training in VR. VR ain't like regular fighting... Against some of these bastards out here... VR can't prepare you." The fighters had all realized it. The laughter was gone now... At Snake's words, the table had gone somewhat grim. Every gun fighter had gotten more subdued of late... Even Duke. Certainly, the fact that Kefka had almost literally blasted his brains out was not great on the conversation skills, but that wasn't the only reason. Because of his crazy habits on how he spent his days... He had no clue as to who the hell Ryu was. As with last year, he had not watched any of the matches, except any matches involving a female member of the competition. But it had hit him in the matches he'd seen... People were fighting better this year. It was time for him to at least find out who his opponent was. The only problem was, no one liked him enough to tell him. And that was what the real blow to Duke Nukem had been this year. Last year, he had at least had some success with some of the female contestants. But this time around... Duke had been rejected by every female in the contest. And to Duke Nukem, that hurt. When he heard about how Vercetti had landed KOS-MOS's reprogramming in a poker game... The camel's back was broken. He had been up in his room sulking for the entire day. It still caused hilarity among the four poker players. "You should have seen the look on the jackass's face," Vercetti said, laughing. "Once he realized I'd landed the prettiest dame in the whole place... He was just totally speechless." "He was speechless? Duke?" Max just couldn't believe it. "Oh yeah. And you can be sure that we won't see that again in a million years." At this, Snake spoke up. "You know what else won't happen for a million years, Vercetti?" "What?" "You slipping that card trick past me." Three pistols were pointed at Tommy Vercetti's face. Next Entry Back |