Compared to the last few castles Snake had seen and infiltrated over the past few days, Castle Darry was puny. The outer wall was far thinner and shorter than the walls of, say, the Red Keep or Winterfell, much less the size of the central keep. This made sense to him though, after all those castles were for kings while this one was for some count or something. That, or his binoculars made everything look small.

"Got a head count?" He asked. Beside him, Quiet peered down the new thermal scope of her rifle. She nodded, humming once.

Snake nodded, still peering through his binoculars. The two of them were places on a small hill near the castle, not ideal for recon but workable. The dark night of a pre industrial world kept them from view. Quiet pulled out her knife and started to carve a number into the grass. Snake looked down at the noise and saw as Quiet carved a number into the ground.

"225… shit…" He looked back through the binoculars as his radio flared to life.

"Lotta people to kill by hand, Boss." Ocelot commented.

Miller retorted for Snake, saying, "Not beyond what he can do. Give him time and a knife and it could be done. And a castle would be perfect for it. Give him a shot gun and it wouldn't be too hard."

"And the quarter ton man waiting inside?" Ocelot replied.

At this point, Snake decided to speak up and end the brief bit of banter before it became full on bickering, again, "Sniper Rifle. One good .50 Cal round to the chest would put him down for good." He kept examining the castle. "How long would a tear gas bombardment last until the wind dispersed it?"

"I dunno, depends on wind conditions. You got an idea, Boss?" Ocelot asked.

Snake swore he could hear Miller smirk as he followed up with, "What do you need Boss? Supply drop?"

Snake smirked. "Yeah… Send me a set of tear gas grenades for my underslung launcher. And a gas mask."

"Right, I'll set up a gas bombardment too."

"Only fire it on my command, Kaz." Snake put away his binoculars and stood up as the radio went dead. He looked down at Quiet. "If anyone walks out of that building, kill them. And keep an eye out for this Mountain." She nodded and looked down the scope of his rifle as Snake pulled out his iDroid, the blue holographic UI lighting up the small hill top as he marked where the drop would be, placing said drop closer to the castle. "If you see the Mountain, aim for the chest. We need him recognizable for Tully to ID." She nodded, still looking down the scope. Snake nodded back and started walking down the hill towards the castle.

"Be careful." The voice was faint, almost imperceptible if not for Snake's sharp hearing. He stopped and looked at Quiet, his expression a mix of surprise and concern.

"Did you just talk? I thought the parasites were still in place."

Quiet lowered her rifle and looked down at Snake. "New treatment." Her voice was hoarse, like she hadn't spoken in years, which Snake figured would very well be true.

"Something to help you speak?" She nodded, idly rubbing her throat. "Talking's hard then?" She shook her head, putting the hand around her throat and squeezing a bit. Snake raised an eyebrow. "Hard to breathe when you speak? Or does it hurt?" Quiet nodded, holding up 2 fingers. "The second, I see," He said, nodding, "Guess I can see why you want to talk, makes things easier on us. We parted ways because of it."

Quiet closed her eyes and looked down, sighing. Snake knelt next to her and tipped her chin up. "None of that. You saved my life that day." She smiled sadly, looking up at him. Then, she reached up and lightly cupped his cheek her hand, leaning in. Snake didn't respond to this, or more accurately, couldn't respond to it. He was frozen, his stomach rolling with a mix of terror and excitement. She stopped only a couple inches from his face, smiled again and kissed his cheek before pulling back, hefting her rifle and smiling a small, pleased smile as she looked down the scope at the castle.

Snake swallowed, stood up and started walking down towards the castle, where the crate of his supply drop could be seen, having landed during their moment. Much to his chagrin, his radio flared to life as Ocelot's teasing, "Maybe I need to give you two a lecture on infield relations. Get you two to shape up." He then started snickering, "Might give the men a bad example, Boss."

Snake sighed and, thankfully unknown to all involved, blushed as he replied, "Shut up Ocelot."

Snake stood before the main door to the dining hall, or so he assumed. Under the crack of the door, lights could be seen shining out, flickering from the flames that spawned them and the people moving around inside. He could hear the loud yelling and banging of cups and plates as the men feasted. Snake pulled on his new gas mask, covering most of his face, and opened the door a crack, just enough to slide his rifle into. He took a deep breath and, in quick succession, fire 3 tear gas canisters into the room, quickly reloading with the speed and precision of countless fights. After tossing in one tear gas grenade to seal the deal, he opened the door and stepped into the room. Inside, all the once partying raiders were now coughing and heaving, many having fallen to the floor as the gas took effect. Snake himself felt a slight burn from the gas as he stepped into the room.

Then, from his left came a man, who grabbed onto Snake, coughing and heaving. "Help… Please…" Snake simply pulled out his pistol, put it to the man's forehead and, before he could react, pulled the trigger. Said man crumpled as two other guys coughing on the ground looked up at the sound of a silenced pistol round. "Tybalt? That you?" one asked, trying to stand up. Snake remained silent as he put away his pistol, hefting his rifle and putting a round into the head of the speaker before similarly executing his buddy next to him.

And so the work went, Snake stopped regularly and pulling the trigger to execute one raider or another, all the while keep an eye out for the Mountain. Behind him, Snake could hear men crawling for the door and the faint sound of their skulls shattering from Quiet's rifle. He approached one man, sitting against the wall and looking up at Snake, who'd just executed 4 other men in front of him. "Wh-why…" Snake paused as he regarded the man, images of another harsh execution flashing before his eyes, of men in Diamond Dogs begging for mercy.

"We live and die by your order, Boss…" echoed in his memory, the faint sound of the stereo playing in his mind as Snake fired his rifle again and again, taking lives of people that were nothing more than victims of fate. Lives that he'd taken so long ago now…

Back in the present, the raider started to try and get up. Snake quickly turned, raised his rifle and fired a round through the man's skull, who went limp like a puppet with his strings cut, collapsing onto the floor. Snake sighed and kept moving, quietly and efficiently executing each individual. Before long, the gas finally cleared and Snake was left alone in a room covered in blood and corpses. He stood in the middle of the room, the floor almost completely covered in blood. The face of each corpse as contorted in pain and fear, some from the tear gas, others from knowing that they were about to die. But, for all the horror in that room, one corpse was missing, one quarter ton corpse. "He's not here…" Snake said under his breath.

"Not here? What do you mean, not here?" Miller asked over the radio.

Snake put a finger to his earpiece, "He's not here. There's no 8 foot tall body in here, Kaz."

"Damn, must've slipped the net. See if you can find out where he went. Think there are any survivors."

"Right." He lowered his finger just in time for the door to slam open and for a man to run out, pointing at Snake. "That's him! That's the one!" Behind him stepped out a giant of a man, taller than anyone Snake had ever seen, even dwarfing Volgin. "Must be the Mountain." He mouthed as he raised his rifle at the two of them.

The Mountain looked at Snake and looked down at his man. "Is this him?" Said man nodded before crumpling from a rifle round through his skull, falling against the Mountain.

"Take one more step and my next round goes through your skull." Snake said, his rifle trained on the Mountain's head.

The Mountain paused a moment then flung the corpse leaning against him at Snake. Snake dove to avoid the body, sliding on the bloody ground. As he came to a stop, he looked only to see that the Mountain had somehow already gotten in close, his great sword raised high to strike at him. Snake rolled to avoid the strike, pulling out his pistol and feathering the trigger at him. However, unlike what his rounds had done to the other sets of plate armor he'd encountered so far, his rounds simply bounced off, some leaving minor dents but most simply ricocheting away.

"What the hell?" was all he had time to say before the Mountain was upon him again, this time going for a curbstomb kill. Quick as a viper, Snake charged his stun arm met the Mountain's stomp with a 50000 volt palm strike. The Mountain convulsed and Snake used the opening to push against his foot, forcing the knight to stumble back to regain his footing. Snake got to his feet and raised his rifle only for the Mountain to again close the distance, ripping the weapon from Snake's hands with a vicious backhand, sending Snake stumbling back and his rifle clattering across the bloody floor. He recovered only for the Mountain to try and cleave him in two with a diagonal chop to his shoulder, one that Snake only just evaded as he again charged the Stun Arm. As the Mountain lifted the sword to attempt a side swipe, Snake stepped in close and drove his left hand into his chest plate, again hitting the Mountain with 50000 volts.

Yet again, the Mountain convulsed from the electricity running through his body, helped along by his plate armor. Using the resulting opening, Snake pulled his knife from the small of his back and drove it into the Mountain's wrist. A low growl of pain came from the Mountain before he slammed his massive fist into Snake's chest, sending him flying across the room and skidding along the floor. Snake quickly recovered though, rolling into a crouch. By now he was soaked in blood, his bodysuit and face coated in the stuff. He got to his feet, panting as he regarded the Mountain, who was picking up his greatsword with his left hand, the right hand covered in blood from Snake's knife which now laid on the floor behind the Mountain.

From across the hall, the two regarded each other before the Mountain roared and charged, yelling as he ran at Snake, this time attempting a side swipe which Snake ducked under. He again stepped into the gap left by the Mountains wide swing, this time ramming his shoulder into the brutes gut and pushing as hard as he could. Sadly for Snake, his feet found no purchase on the bloody floor and the Mountain grabbed his sneaking suit's back, laughing as he chucked Snake across the room. Snake slid off a table and landed behind it, groaning. As he started to get to his feet, the Mountain, again chuckling darkly, grabbed Snake by the throat, hefting him into the air and slamming into a wall. The Mountain grinned through his visor. "Not enough to win, little man." He raised his sword, ready to decapitate him.

Snake could feel his lung burning, the slam into the wall had knocked the air out of him and he could get no more in thanks to the Mountain's death grip on his throat. Then, he saw it. The Mountain's armor had a gap under his chin. 'Please let there be one round left…' Snake prayed to whatever gods were watching as he pulled his pistol, jammed it under the Mountains chin and fired. The familiar sound of bone and flesh giving away met Snake's ears and the Mountain's grip lessened. Snake fell to the ground, panting as the black edges of his vison receded. In front of him, the Mountain stumbled back a step, somehow still standing despite the gunshot wound to the skull. As Snake caught his breath, he noticed something incredible. The slide of his M1911 had slid back forward. He still had another shot. This realization filled him with a rush and with his own roar he leapt up onto the Mountain's chest, knocking him down onto the table. The Mountain, in one last ditch attempt to kill Snake, shakily raised his greatsword to cut Snake. But, before the blow could land, Snake raised the Mountain's visor, planted his pistol against the Mountains forehead and fired the last round of his pistol, the slide staying in the back position.

The greatsword clattered to the ground as the Mountain went limp, blood leaking from the brute's two gunshot wounds. Snake holstered his now empty pistol and got to his feet, groaning as he leaned against the wall, panting from the exertion. He leaned all the way back against the wall and slid into a sitting position, still panting hard.

"Boss, you there?" Ocelot asked.

Snake put a finger to his earpiece shakily. "Yeah…" He took another breath. "I'm here. Mountain's dead."

Miller spoke up, asking, "You got him?"

Snake looked at the Mountain's still twitching body. "Yeah, I got him. Nearly killed me, but I got him."

"Alright. You need pick up?"

"Yeah, just land in the castle yard. And bring some men, we'll need them to lug this guy."

"I'll lead the team myself Boss, see you soon." Ocelot said before ending the call.

With that, Snake sat against the wall in a pool of blood and began to wait. However, long before Snake expected his men to arrive, the door opened again. Snake got to his feet, sliding a new magazine into his pistol and raising it only to find Quiet looking around the room. Most of the blood, including the blood on Snake, had long since dried, turning a reddish brown color. When Quiet's eyes found the exhausted Snake, she immediately ran over. She went to put an arm under his armpits to hold him up, only to be stopped by Snake's hand grabbing her forearm. "I'm ok. Just a bit banged up." She raised an eyebrow, giving him a wry look before pointing at the bench, clearly wanting him to sit down.

Snake looked down at the bench, sighed and sat down. "Let's get this over with." He started to slowly undo the straps to his sneaking suit, eventually pulling off most of his torso gear, leaving his back exposed. "It'd be the worst on the back and neck, how is it?" Quiet slipped around to the back of him and winced. His back was a motley collection of bruises, a modern art masterpiece of black and blue was all over his back. Snake looked back at Quiet. "Is it bad?" She nodded and moved to his front before gingerly starting to put his snaking suit back together. Snake sighed and moved to stop her only to be himself stopped by a glare from her. After putting his sneaking suit back in order, she sat down next to him and laid her head on his shoulder, sighing sadly. Snake looked down at her for a moment then put an arm around her shoulders.

Around an hour later, the sound of a helicopter touching down could be heard outside the main door, which flew open not long after the rotors came to a stop. Through the doors walking a squad of Diamond Dogs troops, weapons raised as they scanned the room, only finding Snake and Quiet sitting next to each other. There was a small space between them now, with the two of them having spread out when the chopper landed. As the Diamond Dogs spread out, Ocelot waltzed into the room, spinning his revolver on his finger and whistling when he saw Snake's handwork, stepping over corpse after corpse. "You did good work here Boss. Guess that plan of yours worked out. So, where's the big man at?" Snake looked at Quiet, who nodded, before the two walked over to where the Mountain had fallen and, with a great heave, pulled him over the table so that Ocelot could see him. Ocelot's revolver stopped its spinning as he looked at the hulk of a corpse. "Damn… guess Tully wasn't kidding. Good thing that we brought a net to drag him with. How'd you kill him?"

"Close Quarters." Snake replied.

Ocelot raised an eyebrow as he holstered his revolver. "You fought him up close? Didn't Quiet have a sniper rifle trained on this place?"

"He ambushed me, close quarters wasn't my choice."

Ocelot looked down at the body and kicked it. "Must've been a hell of a fight then. You ok?"

Snake shrugged. "Few bruises, I'll live."

"Few bruises huh? And the blood?" He pointed at Snake's sneaking suit, which was still covered in dried blood.

Snake didn't bother speaking, instead pointing at a long smear of clear floor. Ocelot grimaced. "Ah… well, you're the medic here. If you say you'll be ok, you'll be ok." He looked at the Diamond Dogs who's since finished securing the room. "Ok, listen up men. We need the Mountain loaded up for transport and any Intel secured. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" The men replied and headed off to search the castle. All except one, who walked over and held out a rifle to Snake. "Here Boss, found it in a corner."

Snake nodded and took it, slinging it from his hip. "Thanks, soldier." The Diamond Dog saluted then ran off to help his comrades in the search.

Ocelot raised an eyebrow. "How'd you lose that?"

"He knocked it out of my hands. Had to kill him with my pistol. Hell, most of my pistol rounds just bounced off of his armor."

Ocelot looked down at the armor, whistling. "We should strip him then, see what this armor is made off. Or…" He leaned down and deftly removed the front of his cuirass. "At least a piece." He pointed at a couple small dents. "These you?" Snake nodded and Ocelot slung the armor under his arm. "Alright, I'll take it back and see what we can get from it. You head home, have the medics look you over. The Mountain's corpse will last a day or two."

Snake shook his head. "No, I'll sleep in the chopper till daylight then we'll make for Riverrun. Only a couple hours till sunrise anyway. Best to get the Mountain here," He kicked the body for emphasis. "To Tully as fast as we can."

Ocelot rolled his eyes. "Ever the workaholic. Fine, once the men are done, we'll load up Clegane and we'll make for Riverrun."

"What about you?" Snake asked.

Ocelot simply smirked. "It's about time this planet learns the name Revolver Ocelot."

Snake sighed, rolling his eyes. "Right. You need me to help with anything."

"Yes, I do actually. You're covered in blood. Go get cleaned up, will you." Ocelot looked at Quiet then gave the two of them an evil smile. "Actually, Quiet can help you. Might need an extra pair of hands."

Snake rolled his eyes, walking past Ocelot towards the door with Quiet following, "Aren't you in love with Big Boss?"

Ocelot waved Snake off, "Yeah, but you aren't him."

"Thank God for that…"

Ocelot snorted. "Go clean up Boss. We'll finish up here. Go get clean up so we can talk to the Lords and Ladies."

Snake rolled his eyes one last time and left the hall.

As the day broke over the Riverlands, the men of Diamond Dogs would be seen pulling the hulk of Gregor Clegane into a large net, attached by a long cable to the bottom of the chopper. Inside the chopper Ocelot sat in one seat, looking over various papers while Snake worked on cleaning his guns. Thankfully, Quiet and Snake had found a large trough of water for the various horses used by the Mountain's raiders, a trough that served as an excellent water source with which to clean Snake. Quiet idly checked over her rifle in her usual spot as Snake relaxed in his own usual spot, eyes closed as he rested.

Ocelot sighed and set down the papers. "Well, got nothing new with intel. Mountain was just ordered to cause trouble for the Riverlands, that's it."

Without opening his eyes, Snake replied, "Makes sense, serve as a diversion." He opened his eyes and looked at Ocelot. "Who did he work for?"

"Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock and Lord Paramount of the Westerlands. Guess that means he's like a Duke, I guess. Hell if I know, Kaz was always the one who read up on this sorta shit."

Snake grunted then replied, "So, we pissed off someone else important. Can't be any worse than pissing off a king."

"True." Ocelot shrugged and looked out the window at the men who were, for some odd reason, donning various medieval costumes.

Snake followed Ocelot's gaze and furrowed his brows in confusion, "Ocelot, what are they doing?"

Ocelot leaned back in his seat, "They're Intel team members. Gonna set up the same network we had in the old days. Only, with a new twist. These guys will not only find jobs, but also be our salesmen." He spread his arms, as theatrical as ever, "They'll wander the continent, everywhere they go spreading the legend of Big Boss and his Diamond Dogs. Then, when they find a job, they can go ask them for work and set up the mission for us."

"A method to overcome the lack of modern communications?"

Ocelot nodded, "Exactly. With this, we can set up ways to get more jobs by spreading the word and get missions sent to us faster than the world can handle. The fastest communication methods they have are carrier ravens."

"Ravens? Aren't pigeons the normal messenger bird?" Snake asked.

"Apparently, here they use ravens." Ocelot shrugged. "Hell if I know why. But regardless, we'll be faster than anything these people have ever seen."

Snake nodded as the men all lined up in costume and saluted. Snake and Ocelot offered a salute in return before Snake looked up towards the cockpit, spinning his finger to indicate a take-off. The pilot nodded and the rotors spun up and before long, they were in the air and on the way to Riverrun.

Ocelot turned towards. "So, you've seen my idea. Time for Miller's idea."

"What did Kaz think up?" Snake asked.

"Well, we need resources. First priority is food but we'll later need fuel and ammo to run our operations."

Snake raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we buy some time with the ore request? Plus, the auto mining system is still active, right?"

"We still need fuel. Our hydroponic labs were made to feed the people of Mother Base, not to fuel our vehicles and our people."

"What was Kaz's plan then?" Snake leaned forward listening intently.

"Well, it involves an area of the eastern continent, Essos I think the locals call it. On it, there's an area called the Dothraki Sea. Think the US Great Plains on steroids."

Snake sighed, "Let me guess, Kaz wants to settle it and farm it."

"Actually, he had a better idea. See, the Dothraki Sea is named for the Dothraki, basically the cultural love child of the Mongols mounted archers and the stereotypical American Indian. And by stereotype, I mean the stories old timey settles told each other to scare each other. Scalping, that sorta thing."

"What's your point here, Ocelot?"

Ocelot held up a hand, "I'm getting to it, Boss. Anyway, these Dothraki spend their time raiding and looting all over this grass sea. An issue for the locals but not our tech. The machine gun killed the cavalry charge after all. These guys will be cannon fodder for us. But, wed have another issues. None of us know how to farm."

"You're talking a protection racket, we keep the Dothraki away from villages in exchange for some of their crops."

"Better than that." Ocelot smirked, "We also read about some cities near this grass sea, an area called Slavers Bay."

Snake scowled as this as Ocelot went on. "That's right, Boss. Slavery is still a thing out here. Miller had an idea though. We do some liberating of these people then settle them on the Dothraki Sea and have them work for us in exchange for tech, medicine and protection."

Snake leaned back in his seat, "I take it they'll have a choice in this?"

Ocelot nodded. "Of course. Miller figured that liberating them would make them way more loyal to us and willing to work under us. Plus, in the extreme long term, it'd give us a recruitment pool for soldiers, people familiar with our tech and culture. After all, most of Diamond Dogs is sterile thanks to the Wolbachia."

"Hm… what about our technology spreading? Other people getting access to our weapons. That's our biggest edge out here."

"We'd have an agreement to keep our tech in our towns. And Diamond Dogs will be patrolling the streets as security. We won't be just leaving these towns alone, Boss."

Snake sighed. "Fine, it sounds good to me. Get it started."

"Well, the first move will be to free some slaves. But we'll need more Intel before we move on that. We'll be able to plan our next move once HUMINT is up and running."

Snake nodded as the pilot yelled back into the cabin. "We're here, Boss! Want me to set down or just hover?" Snake got up and crawled to the door, opening it and looking out towards Riverrun, where already the dust cloud of riders could be seen on their way to them. Snake leapt off the chopper, with Ocelot and Quiet following in short order. He went to pull out his knife to cut off the net only to stop and sighed. Ocelot raised an eyebrow then smirked when he understood, stepping forward and pulling his own knife.

"Lost it in the fight? No big loss, just a knife." Ocelot said as he worked on cutting the net. Snake and Quiet turned to look towards the oncoming riders. At first, neither saw any differences between these riders and the last ones but as they grew closer, the difference became clear.

"There are more of them…"

Ocelot finally cut free the Mountain's corpse, then looked at Snake. "What?"

"There are more of them this time," Snake said, looking back at Ocelot.

Ocelot snorted. "Guess they got the news about Miss Stark then. Good, should be getting a shower of praise and gold then." He walked up next to Snake and Quiet, idly pulling out his revolver and twirling it as the riders drew closer and closer. As they drew closer, it became clearer just how large this group was. The band that had greeted Quiet and Snake the day before had been 20 men at most. This was more along the lines of a full company, 200 men or more. At the head sat Tully, his blackfish sigil still on his tabard. Next to him, also on horseback, was a boy, no more than 16 with dark red hair and a bronze crown with points like swords on his head. The riders stopped just short of the helicopter's wash and Ocelot signaled for the chopper to head off for the time being. After the deafening sound of the helicopter's rotor blades had faded, Tully stepped forward.

"You have returned. Is the task I gave you complete?" Tully asked, still on horseback.

Snake turned around, bent down and pulled the corpse of the Mountain forward, so that the riders could better see it. "This is him, right?"

Behind Tully, the teenager with the crown, most likely the new King of the North Snake had to guess, began to ride forward. "Are these the people you spoke of, Uncle?" He said as he arrived next to Tully who nodded in reply.

"Yes, they are. Though the blond haired man is a new addition to the group. Who are you?"

Ocelot smirked, twirling his revolver as always. "I've had many names over the decades. You, however, may call me Revolver Ocelot."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "An ocelot? Is that some form of animal? Or is it some strange word in your language?"

"The ocelot is a noble animal, a large cat if you must know. It possesses a great deal of nobility and grace beyond any other animal in the world."

The boy smirked. "I've always found wolves to be more to my taste. They have a certain… ferocity to them." As if to emphasize his point, a large grey wolf stepped forward from the riders, nearly the size of the horses around them. The group of soldiers eyes the wolf, getting ready for the beast to attack.

Noticing the sudden tension, Tully sighed, "Men and woman of the Diamond Dogs, allow me to introduce His Grace, King Robb Stark, the First of his Name. King of the North and the Trident and Protector of the Realm."

Robb nodded, "Greetings. You are the people who rescued my sister from the Lannisters of King's Landing, yes?"

Ocelot quietly mouthed to himself, "Lannisters… that's where I'd heard that name…"

Snake meanwhile, stepped forward, "I did that, yes. I take it the message they sent arrived?"

"Indeed, just this morning in fact. Allow me to extend my deepest thanks to you for rescuing my sister from that den of lions. You will always be the friends of the Stark family and indeed, all of the North. This I swear on my life and my crown." He put his hand on his chest, most likely some form of sealing the deal as it were.

Tully nodded, "Indeed, and I must say that I did not expect you to succeed in killing Clegane. May I examine the body?"

Snake nodded and both he and Ocelot stepped aside as Tully dismounted, stepped past them to examine the body. "By the gods… it's him… how did you do it? His armor was the finest plate in the Seven Kingdoms and, well, you can see his size. How did you kill him?"

Snake and Ocelot looked at each other for a moment before Ocelot shrugged. Snake then pulled out his pistol and emptied 2 rounds into the exposed chest of Clegane, the bullets eating into his flesh like a hot knife through butter.

The horses fidgeted at the loud sound of gunfire and both Tully and Robb jumped at the noise. Tully looked down at the corpse, comparing the new holes in Clegane's chest to those in his head. "I see… We'll have our men take his body for disposal. Now, what shall be the reward?"

At this, Robb rode forward, "Yes, I'd like to discuss that was well. Both for this and my sister, in fact."

Ocelot raised an eyebrow, holstering his revolver. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that the reward you requested from Ser Cassel at Winterfell is simply not enough to replay you for rescuing my sister. Such an act is worth of a title and land. In fact…" He dismounted. "We can start with a title of some form. Kneel."

The Diamond Dogs looked at each other, all three of them wondering what Robb had planned. It was Ocelot who decided to ask. "Why?"

"So I may knight you for your actions. All 3 of you, of course."

Tully looked at Robb, raising an eyebrow. "Even the woman?"

Robb looked over at Tully. "Woman or not, she helped save my sister. She's earned the knighthood."

"Alright…" Tully sighed and watched as Robb looked expectantly at the 3 Diamond Dogs, none of whom had kneeled.

Snake eventually cleared his throat and spoke. "No offense, your highness. But we'd prefer something more concrete. We're mercenaries after all."

Tully furrowed his brows as Robb nodded, replying to Snake's comments. "Ah… Sell swords… Very well then, what will be needed to ensure your loyalty in the long term?"

At this, Ocelot spoke up. "Gold and more work to earn more gold."

Tully hmphed, "Typical sellswords I suppose."

"More or less, we're soldiers. Fighting is what we live for." Snake replied.

"Regardless," Robb said, trying to keep things on track, "How much gold do you want for these acts?"

Ocelot rubbed his chin a moment. "Hm… what would you see as appropriate payment?"

Robb waved on two men on foot who stepped forward and set down a large chest before the Diamond Dogs. One then opened it, revealing it to be full of gold coins. "Will this suffice? Approximately 5000 gold dragons."

Snake and Ocelot again looked at each other a moment before Ocelot replied. "It will do yes. We'll negotiate payment beforehand with all mission from here on out. Speaking of which… what other work do you need us to do?"

Robb sighed, looking at Tully, "Well… at this point, we're making ready for a new offensive against the Lannisters. Perhaps we can attempt to contact you when we have need of you?"

Ocelot simply smirked at them, "Don't you worry about that, your Grace. We'll contact you first, count on that."

"Hm," was all that Robb said in response. Behind him and Tully, another horse rode up at full gallop, riding next to the main body of the host that had met the Diamond Dogs. As the horse came up in front of the group, Snake could see a beautiful red haired woman ride up to Tully and Stark. "Where are they?"

Robb looked at the newcomer, shock apparent on his face. "Mother?!"

"Cat…" Tully rode over to this Cat, sighing. "I thought you were staying in Riverrun."

Cat looked up at Tully. "These men rescued my child from the Lannisters, I will thank them in person."

Tully looked at Cat then at the Diamond Dogs before Robb spoke up, "She's already here, Great-Uncle, we may as well let her speak with them."

Cat had already turned to regard the Diamond Dogs. Her brow furrowed as she examined them, lingering in particular on Quiet's attire, or lack there off, "Interesting… You are not exactly what I expected from Sansa's letters."

Ocelot, seeing an opportunity to needle Snake, smirked as he replied, "She probably went on and on about Snake, right?"

Cat nodded once and Ocelot went on, "Well, that's him." He pointed at Snake, who sighed. She stepped closer and looked over Snake.

"Hm…"

"What?" Snake asked.

"You are not what I expected from the letter sent by my daughter."

Snake sighed. "Let me guess, you expected a golden knight or something?"

"Considering how much praise my daughter gave you, I did yes. You made quite the impact on her."

Ocelot smirked as he piped up, "Well, he did save her from a tower and she's a princess so…"

"Yes, that is not lost on me." Cat looked at Snake. "Regardless, you have my utmost thanks for saving my daughter. Understand that my other daughter was not in Lannister hands?"

"If you're referring to Arya, then yes. She vanished some time ago apparently." Snake replied

Robb perked up. "I think I have a job for you then."

Snake sighed. "Find Arya?"

Cat nodded. "If you do that, I'll give you anything you desire. A title, lands, even a wife if need be."

"Just money will do, thanks." Snake held up his left hand to placate her.

Robb sighed at this, "If you keep doing tasks of this magnitude, you may have no choice in the matter. Gold only covers so much in terms of reward."

Ocelot snorted. "You've clearly not spent much time with mercs, Your Grace."

Cat looked Snake straight in the eyes, her hands resting on his shoulders, an act that had Quiet scowling and glaring at her. "Find my daughter, I beg you Snake."

He gently grabbed her forearms, a slight shudder running through her as his prosthetic hand touched her skin, "We'll find her, I promise." She nodded in response and turned, walking back to her horse. After mounting it, she looked at the Diamond Dogs one last time then turned and started to make the trip back to Riverrun.

Tully sighed, "Sometimes, Cat…"

Ocelot looked at the older man. "Relative?"

"My niece, in fact."

"And my mother," Robb added before mounting his steed, "Still, I will reward you greatly for finding my other sister, as my mother said. Though… I doubt you'd be interested in marrying them."

Ocelot shook his head, "Gold is fine, your Grace. Oh, and we'll need a physical description of your sister."

Robb nodded, "My sister is 10 years old, short and skinny, with a long face, grey eyes and dark brown hair."

Ocelot sighed, "Well, that won't be too hard to find…" His voice dripped with sarcasm at the difficulty of the task.

Robb snapped his fingers. "Ah, one thing that may help. She's rather spirited and carries a smallsword named Needle, long and thin, not much for cutting."

"My agents will keep an eye out for her but no promises, your Grace. She seems to be a needle in a haystack."

"Regardless, good luck. And thank you for everything you've done thus far for my family."

With that, Robb turned and began to ride off, with most of the host following behind him. Tully remained with a few other riders who set to work prepping a transport for Clegane's body, eventually fashioning a sled which would be tied to their steeds then, with one final nod from Tully, the last of the riders departed.

Ocelot sighed and turned to face his comrades, "Well, that was eventful."

"Understatement there, Ocelot." Snake said as he pulled out his iDroid and called for pick up.

"Your thoughts Boss?"

The iDroid's interface vanished as Snake put away his device before replying, "I think we'll need to expand our client base. We're not tools of one king of country."

Ocelot shrugged, "Perhaps, but it is a good way to build our reputation, doing the impossible in an impossibly short time. We build a rep here, we can sell it all over the world. Just like home, only without the Patriots to stop us."

That comment brought a smile to Snake's face, "Amen to that…" Beside the two of them, Quiet simply sighed, still unhappy with how Cat had acted with Snake.

Before long, the helicopter arrived and set down and as Snake opened the door, Ocelot had to make one last comment before leaving. "You'll see Boss, we're gonna have it good here. Nothing to stop us and all the warfare in the world. We've found our heaven, Snake." With that, the 3 of them entered the cabin and began to long flight back to Mother Base.

AN: Good Lord, I just wrote around 6.5 words in one goddamn day. I am fucking exhausted... and loopy, as I finished at 2:18 AM, again...

I really gotta get better writing habits...

Anyway, your eyes do not deceive you, dear readers. I just updates within the span of... what, a week? Anyway, don't get too used to this guys, I basically had to take a whole day to crank this sucker out so it's not something I can do willy-nilly.

So, first real fight! I hope you enjoyed the Battle of Castle Darry. Was tempted to have the death of the Mountain be anti-climactic but I changed my mind, a hard slugging match was more fun. I hoped you all enjoyed the little dose of horror during the gas scene, wanted to toy around with it a bit. I also hope you don't mind yet more ship teasing and the fact that Quiet can talk! Yes, I will explain that, most likely next chapter. Eh... what else other than reviews... oh right. I hope I didn't fuck up Catelyn or Robb, Robb I didn't have too much trouble with but Cat... kinda hard to balance the "Ohmigod, they saved my kid" with her cultural sensibilities about knights and women and that kinda shit. Eh, we'll see I guess.

Ok, enough with unrequested rambling, on to requested rambling with the review answers! Same policies as last time, long reviews get answered more often than not.

Mei-chiri: Thanks for the Second review! And looking back, I do feel like chapter 4 was better than the other 3. As for Quiet, I get the feeling that she enjoys messing with Snake in certain ways, mostly involving her feelings for her. This is compounded by the fact that last time, she was never clear with all of this. Now, she can be clear about it. And quite forward as well so, huzzah! And hopefully the colony idea will handle the supply issues. I figure that metal and such is just made on site, due to all the raw materials they work with. As for food, there is no danger of starving. Mother Base actually has a hydroponics lab. Dunno EXACTLY where it is but I think it's at the Support platform, the first one built. My headcanon is that Kaz has that sorta stuff all over Mother Base in an attempt to be self sufficient, due to his paranoia and all. Which is good, considering where they are now!

As for the winter... they have an edge due to tech. Heating, etc. All they'd need to do is hunker down, use the hydroponics to eat and solar panels for power and they'd be fine.

Blackout10160: Trust me, the Lannisters are PISSED right now. Some group sneaks into the Red Keep and makes off with their big hostage THEN kills their mad dog? Tywin is apoleptic, once he finds out at least.

Brad W: Sorry to disappoint ya, mate. Hope you enjoy the alternative!

Caelleh: Yeah, the meshing of the two worlds is an issue. The way I'm handling this is like Westeros and Essos is basically an amazing DLC for Phantom Pain. The perspective, the themes, the feel is all MGS. The setting is just different is all. Not perfect, but its how I handle it and according to your review I'm doing it well so... guess I just keep going then!

Deadly kawaii ninja: Yeah, I tried to show what you mean about Venom being altruistic during the Red Keep infiltration. He wanted to save Sansa because she was obviously scared out of her fucking mind and needed help, not because he wanted a reward, that was just the bonus. As for the DLC, I'm not a big online guy with MGSV so I'm not that interested, really. And yeah, VenomxQuiet forever.

Cerberusx: It's a fully built up Mother Base, so there are 4 platforms, yeah. Sorry that wasn't clear, lot to keep track off with this fic.

Ok... what else... Oh, one big thing. Gonna be a 2 week time skip between this chapter and the next. Kinda has to be done, as shit in Westeros happens really slowly in comparison to what the Diamond Dogs are used to so time skips are a necessary evil here. Won't be too often, hopefully. I have ideas as to how to fill the time. The Diamond Dogs won't be in Westeros full time, oh no. They have Essos to work with after all, a land of slaves, savages and magic. Gonna have a lot of fun with that... Stay tuned!