warandpeace | (no subject)

WHO: Various
WHAT: Fallout / Metal Gear AU
WHEN: In the Fyooter
WHERE: New Vegas / Outer Heaven
WARNINGS & NOTES: TBA

[War. War never changes.]

[Except sometimes war changes.]

[Thirty-two years after the end of the NCR and Legion conflict in the Mohave, New Vegas is under a new regime. Nine years ago the Courier died, leaving behind her son, and a legendary hero that stepped in to take her place. He proposed a new order, one where the ideologies of the Legion, the NCR, the Khans would no longer matter. One where all of their soldiers would be freed of the shackles of their past. At first, he was embraced as he built his new nation. But then life ended as it had existed. The Mohave no longer was a place where dreams could be realized and children could grow up healthy. Now, the casinos are no longer lights that beckon the hopeful in the night, but symbols of military strength. A new order has risen, and what was once New Vegas has become Outer Heaven.]

[The Vaults have become homes for tribes of warriors, private forces that are constantly at war. Civilian life is nearly impossible, and only nomads, traders, are permitted any lack of affiliation as they travel from one vault to the next, exchanging their wares, taking surplus weapons from one to the next to maintain the constant lifestyle of war. War without purpose. Raiders are the only ones that remain truly free of this way of life.]

[The son of the Courier is a motivational figurehead, but a pawn of the two men behind the curtain. Determined to make up for his guilt over his mother's death, he leads in the hope that he will find peace in their constant war, but lives in bitterness at what the Mohave's new hero has cost him.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The elevator dings, and Kaz sighs heavily out his nose. He seems to be considering his next course of action.]

[It seems like she is his mother. She knows things only his mother could know, even young looking as she is. At least something odd is going on here, something he should ask around about, get to the bottom of. But...]

[He pulls out Joshua's gun and his face settles behind his NCR glasses. Something dark and angry over-taking him.]

I think I'll kill him anyway.

[And he steps off the elevator, with some men gathered around a craps table, working out military strategy on it. It's a man with white hair and a mustache that starts to turn towards the ding, and starts being kicked back by several shots. The other soldiers are too startled to pull their guns at first, but they're working on it.]

What? But -- W-Wait --

[When he fires the first shot, Elle lets out an uncharacteristic yelp. It's not exactly she isn't used to gunfire, even with the noise echoing in the elevator. But it doesn't make any sense to her -- One moment, it's really sinking in that this is her son -- And the next, he's using Joshua's pistol to kill someone before she can even have a chance to talk him down.

And now there are other men who are about to try to kill her son.

It occurs to Elle, suddenly, that there are no Securitrons here. It's the penthouse floor -- Why aren't there Securitrons? She can't call on them to put an end on this. ... but then it also occurs to her that the reason why she wants to call on them is so she doesn't have to kill these people herself. Selfish. And it's not like it'd matter; she'd give the order, it'd be the same thing.

She starts swearing under her breath and she draws her own Light Shining In Darkness to start dropping soldiers before they can hurt Kazuhira.]

[Kaz ducks and rolls, dodging the first round of fire and then taking out two of the men. There aren't a lot. Between him and Elle, they're already down before they can even get shot. Kazuhira is aware he might be signing his own death sentence, but damn if that didn't feel good.]

[He strolls over to the body of the white haired man, not yet dead and trying to rise, and he rolls him over and takes his gun away.]

You're not using her if she's the real thing! I know you. I know what you do. And if you made her, if you made her, like you did him...

[That last bit, Kaz chokes out. The sound of a wounded man, one with his heart broken, and this person is partially responsible for it.]

Fuck you [the other man spits out. Blood on his lips.] He'll kill you for this...

[Kaz wrings his hands into his collar, determined to watch the blood drain from him. Wanting to see death take him.]

[... oh. Oh, god, that man is still alive. And now, her son is going to -- ]

Don't! [Elle is rushing forward, reaching for Kazuhira's shoulders, to try to pull him back.] Kazuhira, no --

[Elle doesn't know anything about this man she's trying to save. She understands Kazuhira trying to protect her, understands trying to protect someone from being used. But even if he is a threat -- even if it is best for him to die, and Elle doesn't know, she just doesn't know -- then this isn't the way it should happen.

If only for Kazuhira's sake.]

You don't know what he's done! He brainwashed and surgically altered someone to be like the man I loved. They made a decoy. And now that decoy is locked away and he should be here... He should be here!

[It's rambling and confusing, but finally he moves back. He gives space, enough for the strange man to try and sit up, catching his breath.]

He hypnotizes people. That's why I thought...

[But now the stranger's eyes are fixed on Elle, like he's stunned. No, she's definitely not Ocelot's fault.]

It doesn't -- [She stops herself before she says, "it doesn't matter," because she knows how it would sound.] Killing him like that isn't -- This isn't the way. Okay? It isn't the way. We don't have to do it like that. ["We," not "you."

Except Elle still feels uncomfortable with the idea of killing this man, whose crimes she barely understands, while he's on the floor like this. But they can't just leave him free, otherwise he'd undoubtedly try to retaliate. The idea of tying him up so that Elle can get more information before she decides if he should die or not... It makes her skin crawl. She doesn't want that kind of... no. She doesn't want that, either.] Let's -- I don't know. It's not my place to decide whether someone lives or dies, but -- I don't know. He shouldn't die like that. Not for his sake. [For yours.]

We have to. We have to-

[But even as he's trying to confirm that they need to kill this man, Ocelot's bringing up his other gun, hidden in his boot, not to aim at Elle but at Kaz. Because Elle is still valuable.]

[At this point Kaz yanks Elle out of the way, unwilling to see her die again even if she might (by some possibility) still be a fake. It was hard enough the first time; and besides, he's already proven his ability to get attached to fakes.]

[Elle barely has time to register the second gun, and doesn't have the time to internally swear at herself for putting them in this position. But then Kazuhira is jerking Elle away from the man, and Elle knows he wasn't aiming for her in the first place.

There isn't time. There just isn't time, and in this split second, Elle knows what decision to make.

She snaps Joshua's pistol up and double-taps, aiming directly for the center of the man's forehead.]

[It's so gratifying, that last moment, and unfortunately Kaz doesn't get to watch it. Instead he just turns to see the aftermath. The body of Ocelot slumping to the floor.]

[Kaz slowly lets his hands slip from Elle, then, approaches the body. Looks down at it.]

[Everything about his face is the expression of a man who's not sure this is real. If it's some sort of bizarre... fulfillment dream? Maybe.] ...Guess maybe you're who you say you are. [His mother wouldn't allow her son to be shot.]

[Certainty bleeds out of Elle as silence takes the penthouse suite. No more men coming out of the wings. No Securitrons rushing in. Not even the hum of Yes Man's terminals. It's so quiet. The only thing that she can hear is her breathing, the rush of her blood in her ears, Kazuhira's footsteps, his words.

... she's trembling a little. And starting to rub her fingers on the engravings on Joshua's pistol.

Slowly, she comes to stand next to Kazuhira, staring down at the man she just killed. Kazuhira seems... happy. In shock, but... happy. And if this man is responsible for what Kazuhira said he is, then... She guesses she can understand that. But mostly, she just feels rotten. Even though she had been defending someone who... is family. She still feels...]

Who was he? [she asks, voice low. After a moment's hesitation, she holsters A Light Shining In Darkness and kneels. She needs to check the man's pulse. She needs to make sure he's actually dead.

She knows what happens to someone if they don't die from two shots to the head.

... her hands tremble slightly.]

Felis Fera. Otherwise known as "Revolver Ocelot." [He gestures loosely down at the man with his own gun.] Legion born, intended to be the successor to Vulpes Inculta one day. Master hypnotist, dangerous warrior. Right hand man to Vegas's new Big Boss.

[He rubs the back of his neck.]

Dead.

[No, he hadn't been thinking. Just operating off emotion and anger and ten years of being under this man's bootheel.] It doesn't matter. Not right now. I'll tell you later.

[After Elle has frisked him over, Kaz grabs Ocelot's feet and starts to drag him across the floor, closer to a deactivated securitron. There he starts stripping him of items. Including those stupid cowboy boots, which he kicks across the floor as if those are the most offensive of all.]