Dayshift 42: Bus 2

[liveforthispart]

Before anyone could come to any decisions for their next move, the room suddenly filled with a thick fog. Faster than he could realize what was happening, it had filled up the entire room and swallowed every single one of his friends. Then there was that undeniable stench of iron, blood and... he last remembered taking a step back and feeling that

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[141_12]

[Waiting for someone.]

Waking up the second day was much like waking up the first day, in that one moment it seemed he'd been up and occupied, and in the next moment, he was in an unfamiliar bed with no memory of how he'd gotten there. Except, of course, the first day involved him waking up from a happy wedding, and the second day involved fog and blood and darkness. Was that how every night ended in this place? Where would you even get that much blood?

...On second thought, he wasn't going to question it.

Otacon was still shuddering as he slid into an empty seat, even though the old sweater and jeans they'd given him to wear were considerably warmer and more comfortable than the patient scrubs. He had his notebook with him, to help organize his observations of Landel's Institute, but didn't quite know where to start.

Time travel and anime characters and walls oozing with blood. Otacon looked through the bus window to the other patients getting ready to board, and wondered how much crazier things could get.

[prisonerofdeath]

It took Fox a moment to recover from the disorientation of waking up in his bed. Particularly since it wasn't preceded by wandering around in the darkness of the institute. Yesterday seemed hazy, hard to remember. He vaguely recalled being taken back to his room because he had a fever. Had he slept until morning? Or had he forgotten last night?

Fox wasn't given long to brood over either option before he was dressed in unfamiliar clothing and ushered out to a bus. The jacket was just the right shade of olive green and had a very military cut to it, though it obviously wasn't a uniform jacket of any kind it was clearly patterned after that style.

As he made his way along the bus trying to get to the seats all the way in the back Fox was distracted by a familiar face. A familiar but different face. He changed plans and sat down immediately next to a man that had to be Otacon. Older than he'd been when Fox had seen him last, but definitely Otacon. "Otacon?" Fox asked, a little bit of disbelief in his voice.

[141_12]

Otacon turned to look at the one who'd spoken his name, and found himself slightly unsettled to realize he didn't recognize the man. His nickname wasn't exactly obscure, not after all the years he'd spent wanted by the Patriots and perpetuating memes on the Internet, but most people called him "Dr. Emmerich" upon meeting him. Only friends used "Otacon."

He felt a sudden sympathy for the younger, Landel's Snake. "Yes?" said Otacon, not seeing a point in pretending to be someone else. While the silver-haired man looked plenty capable of being dangerous, Otacon doubted anyone would be looking to kill him. Probably. "Have we... met?"

[prisonerofdeath]

"Yes. It's complicated, but we have met. Although I suppose you might say it was in another life. I'm Gray Fox," This Otacon didn't remember him, but he was clearly older than the Otacon that Fox had met here. Fox was very intently focused on Otacon, looking for every little reaction and indication he could get.

It was a mixed blessing to have another familiar, friendly face in this place. Fox was almost glad for the company, but this was difficult to deal with. It felt like history was repeating itself for Fox, and there were very few things in his past that he would want to relive. It would probably be worse for Snake, who hadn't even met Otacon yet in his time, learning what waited for him. Which begged the question, had they met here yet?

[141_12]

It took a moment for the name to click - not because Otacon didn't recognize it, which he did, but because man in question had been dead for nearly a decade. He flashed back to his old lab in Shadow Moses, to the memory of being sprawled in front of the metal lockers and gazing in terror at an inhuman face, as clear as the image he'd seen just days ago, through the camera of the Metal Gear Mk.III. The man standing before him now was considerably more composed than he'd been nine years ago, but then, so was Otacon.

"You're Frank Jaeger." Otacon stared at Fox with no small amount of amazement. Something else clicked in head. "So you're the friend Snake mentioned. Well, of course he's mentioned you before, but I mean yesterday, when I talked to him... Wait a second. How do you know my name?"

[prisonerofdeath]

Having his real name used by Otacon made Fox just a little uncomfortable. There was only one person that had continued to use his real name with any regularity after he'd become Gray Fox

[141_12]

"Uh..." Otacon seemed to mull this impossibility over for a moment, before nodding and deciding that, of all the insane things he'd had to experience in his forty-odd years of life, this was definitely not the worst of it. "Okay. I guess that makes things easier, huh? It's nice to meet you, Fox. Again." He smiled and held his hand out to Fox.

There was a deep weariness about the other man; whether due to years of war, or the experience of death, or something else since Fox had come here (how long ago?), Otacon couldn't tell. It reminded him of Snake - not the twenty-seven-year-old Snake, but the Snake he knew. "You know, everyone I've met so far in this place has died," Otacon mused aloud. "Er, well, almost everyone, since... Um. Never mind. But this isn't... some kind of weird multidimensional afterlife, is it...?"

[prisonerofdeath]

Fox spared a quick, momentary glance at Otacon's hand when he held it out before shaking it. This Otacon seemed more confident than the one he had met. "Likewise, although I wish the circumstances were better

[141_12]

Otacon bowed his head as he listened, one fingertip touching the middle of his glasses. Life wasn't all about loss, he supposed, even if it seemed so much of his life was spent losing loved ones and mourning. But the world moved on, and so did everything with it. There was no reason this world should be different. "You're right," he said, glancing at Fox. "Besides, we have a job to do, don't we? Snake talked about taking this place down from the inside, and I agree with him. I don't know how useful I'll be against... monsters, but I'd like to help in any way I can."

He looked around the bus at the others trapped here in this strange prison. Interrupted lives and unfinished business. He saw the young man he'd met the night before, who had told Otacon that he'd like to be his friend. He wondered what other familiar characters were wandering around the Institute.

Otacon smiled. "You have to protect the ones you love, right?"

[prisonerofdeath]

"I don't think you're the type that would let a couple monsters scare you away. Especially if you're trying to protect someone," Fox could recall the night he and Otacon had been ambushed by a cat. Even though Fox had told him to run away he'd stayed and hit it with a flash light.

Here he was with yet another person who couldn't follow an order to save their life if it meant someone else got hurt. "It won't be easy to take this place down, but I won't give up until it's done..." Fox followed Otacon's gaze out for a moment to see who, if anyone, he was looking at specifically. "Have you seen anyone else here you know?" He asked. It was time for a change in subject, one that would hopefully not leave Fox feeling wary and uneasy.

Death wasn't waiting around every corner during the day. That kind of complacency was ill advised but no one could be wary all the time. Not for as long as Fox had been here. Everyone had their limits.

[141_12]

Otacon nodded in the direction of two silver-haired teenagers sitting together. "The one on the outside, I traveled with him last night. His name is Kaworu Nagisa. He's... Well, this is going to sound weird, but maybe you can shed some light on it. I've seen him before coming here, but not, ah, in person. Back home, he's a character in a famous old Japanese anime."

They'd already been speaking quietly, but Otacon had dropped his voice even lower, not wanting to be overheard by anyone else. He trusted Fox to be discreet.

"He's not the only one. There's my roommate too - I'm in M3, by the way - and I've seen other familiar names from what little I've read in the bulletin board. Which isn't that strange, I guess, if we're subscribing to the concept of alternate universes. If all reality arguably exists within the same kind of meta-space-time, then events in universes running parallel to ours can have echoes in our world, manifesting as works of fiction." He tapped his knee thoughtfully. "It's a pretty old idea, actually."

[prisonerofdeath]

This was what he'd been afraid of. Fox didn't even try to keep from frowning at what Otacon was saying. He needed to nip this in the bud before Snake, and even Otacon, started to wonder if maybe they weren't fictional too. "Are you sure about that?" Fox asked, tilting his head just slightly and looking at Otacon very intently

[141_12]

"I know that!" Otacon exclaimed, volume temporarily going higher than he'd like. He fumbled guiltily with his glasses, remembering how he'd been forced to tell Kaworu about Neon Genesis Evangelion. The boy had taken it pretty well, all things considered, but then... who knew what he was really thinking behind that preternatural calm? Still, Otacon did realize that it would be prudent not to give this knowledge away. He'd just have to become a better liar, that's all. Somehow

[prisonerofdeath]

"This place is capable of mental manipulation far beyond what Psycho Mantis was capable of. I even knew a telepath that was trapped here for a while that probably would have beaten out every psychic from our world combined in terms of power," Talking about Lyta still wasn't easy, so Fox tried to skip over saying anything else about her.

"You're not the type that would use that information to hurt them," Fox said to counter Otacon's argument about giving them a tool. "And everything here is two-sided. They do give tools to the people trapped here, but the cost is always very high." Fox was completely unwilling to consider that maybe they were fictional characters. He wasn't sure he believed his own explanation, but he was real, and the people he knew and cared about here were real too. Self doubt was not something anyone could afford here.

After a moment he added, "I'm afraid you're a bit late to know me like I was before Shadow Moses, but I am much more myself now than I have been for a while."