This is the first of the fics I am archiving here, and like many, it falls under the banner of being a good idea at the time. I wanted to do the first marked crossover between Metal Gear and Silent Hill, two of Konami's most famous game franchises. Sadly, while a good idea, my motivation ran out. It would have been set around the time when Alessa was first burned by her mother, as well as some time before the events of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It would also have featured a young Otacon and Solid Snake, along with an eventual pairing of Strangelove and Quiet, who is called Minerva/Atropos in this story.
DURA MATER
PROLOGUE:
MOTHER BASE
1984, the Seychelles…
It wasn't a place for children by any stretch of the imagination, a vast, imposing structure of metal standing in the middle of the ocean, filled with soldiers, busying themselves with the minutiae of running an army. Training, equipment maintenance, R&D, stuff like that.
And yet, a boy with brown hair and glasses, and a girl with dark hair and in a blue dress, were not only present, but at play, playing hopscotch on crudely chalked squares. Many watchful eyes were on them, though the man currently watching them closest, a grizzled blond man with an artificial leg, a missing arm, and a cane watched on, smiling despite himself. It had been the first time in a long time that he was smiling so readily.
"Quite fascinating," an ancient Native American murmured in an oddly ominous rasp of a voice as he watched (despite his milky white eyes) the two children at play from a nearby table as he made notes, sitting in a wheelchair.
"What is?" a pale-skinned woman with silvery hair cut rather short asked, seated at the same table, her voice having a distinct British accent. She wore trousers, a white shirt, and dark waistcoat, looking vaguely like some government official who had removed a suit jacket. She wore sunglasses, and currently kept under the shade of an umbrella covering the table.
"Your adoptive daughter. You said she was nearly burned to death, and you gave her 'the one that covers'. My experimental hybrid version. Which is also something of a relief: if she did breathe through cutaneous means rather than reconstructed lungs, then it would mean she would need to expose far more skin than is decent for a girl her age(1)," the old man said.
"That is good," the woman said, her expression hardening at such a thought. "It was the Sorrow who directed me to that vial."
"I have never had the courage to test it, given that there were indications it may well have been lethal, and to be frank, I think my former employer might not have thought it worth the risk," the old man said. "Are you sure he is dead?"
"I cannot be sure. It was hard to be sure of anything in that damned town. For some time, I cursed the Sorrow for sending us there. But then, if it weren't for his prompting, I may have died, according to him. And I certainly would not have found three more people to love. A daughter and another son to cherish and love as much as my biological son…and a woman I would be glad to spend the rest of my days with."
"Dr Strangelove," the old man said with a gentle smile, "you are certainly more fortunate than many souls on this base."
DOCTOR STRANGELOVE
A Queen of Ice, Hiding a Strong Heart
"I know. Most people would look askance at me, Code Talker, for allowing children into a place like this." She looked around at the new Mother Base, to replace the one destroyed in the Caribbean. "But after that town, I believe that the horrors of war would be pedestrian by comparison. Not to mention instructive. I do not want Hal to follow me into making tools of war, nor do I wish for him to become a soldier. In addition, this would probably be one of the safest places in the world."
Code Talker, the old man, merely continued smiling. "I would not accuse you of being a bad mother, Dr Strangelove. Merely an unconventional one."
CODE TALKER
A Man of Wisdom and Learning, Denied His Heritage
It was at that moment that the blonde-haired man began leading the two children back to their mother. He had a weary smile on his face, as did the two children. "I'm getting too old for this," the man grumbled.
"Miller, you're nearly a decade my junior," Strangelove said in a mild rebuke, albeit with a smile. "Can't you keep up with my children?"
KAZUHIRA MILLER
A Broken Visionary, Nearly Consumed By Vengeance
Miller snorted. "It's hard when you've got bits missing, and in any case, you don't look your age. And children can be so energetic." His face fell, thinking of the child soldiers that they had found in Africa, and their belligerent leader, Eli. Strangelove could see the thoughts on his face. And they can be so cruel, he was thinking.
"Well, if I ever found out that it was you who gave my son a Gundam figure, I will be seeing how fast you can run," Strangelove threatened, in a facetious way.
"Aw, but Mum, Gundams are cool!" her son protested.
HAL STRANGELOVE
A Child of Science, Pure of Heart
Strangelove resisted the urge to facepalm. Her son was very much like his biological father…the sperm donor, she thought of Dr Emmerich as. She had once thought of Huey as a friend, but over time, she began to see what sort of man he was, at least once they worked for XOF, and Skull Face. She had only seduced Huey so that she may have a child with her genes, and one she could pass the memetic legacy of the Boss, the woman she had loved, on. It was only thanks to the Boss' own lover, the Sorrow, that she had survived this, an irony she found herself chuckling at.
If Hal did follow his father into robotics, Strangelove intended to guide him into creating robots that would benefit mankind, or else apply robotics technology to medicine, refining artificial limbs, creating the best of cybernetics. The Boss wanted a world united by peace, not war, the barriers to said peace broken down by action and technology. It would never come around in Strangelove's lifetime, nor would it be in Hal's. It may never come to be. But anything that brought them closer to the Boss' dream delighted Strangelove.
"Where's your big brother, Hal?" Strangelove asked.
"I can answer that," Miller said. "Pequod offered to take him on a short flight around Mother Base. Don't worry, Pequod would rather die than allow him to come to any harm."
"Where's Minny?" Hal asked.
"Ocelot and Snake are still talking to her, Hal, darling," Strangelove said, the term of endearment sounding a little awkward in her mouth. "She used to work for very bad people, remember? As did your mother and…father."
At the reminder of his father, Hal began to sniffle, tears welling up behind his glasses.
Then, a voice said, albeit in a kind tone, "Don't cry, kid. Big boys don't cry."
Strangelove turned to see the speaker, a forty year-old man with longish hair and a moustache, dressed vaguely like a cowboy. Next to him was a stern, hard-faced man with brown hair (just starting to get the slightest flecks of grey), a beard, and an eyepatch. His face was peppered with scars, and a lump of black shrapnel poked from his head, making him look vaguely demonic. Despite all that, the look he was giving the children was a paternal one.
The woman they were escorting was now dressed in a simple khaki shirt and combat trousers. She was beautiful, shoulder-length brown hair, and with green eyes, and she looked more like a model than a soldier. But she was also one of the most lethal operatives in the world, and anyone who underestimated her ended up dead. You could see it in her expression, always watchful, and even as it softened with affection upon seeing Hal and Strangelove, it still had a hardness within. She was beautiful like a diamond was, hard and brilliant.
"We've finished our debriefing of former XOF Operative Atropos(2), who has now adopted the codename Minerva(3)," the would-be cowboy said, smiling warmly.
OCELOT
Loyal to Big Boss, to the Bitter End
The scarred, bearded man nodded. "As of today, Minerva is a member of the Diamond Dogs."
VENOM SNAKE, AKA BIG BOSS
An Ahab Searching for the Whale
"Yay! Minnie's fine!" Hal chirped. He ran forward, and embraced a woman he considered his second mother.
"Easy there, Hal," the woman called Minerva said quietly, running her fingers through his hair affectionately as she smiled warmly. "Did you have any doubt?"
MINERVA
Often Quiet, Never Mute
"They were so mean to you when you first came here," Hal said, pouting. "So mean to you and Mum."
For a moment, there was silence. Then, Ocelot roared with laughter, while Big Boss and Miller looked bemused at being rebuked by a young boy. "Well, it could be worse," Miller said.
"How?" Big Boss asked.
"He could be like Eli."
"True," Big Boss conceded with a shrug.
Ocelot then proceeded to ruin the mood by singing…
Who's the cutest soldier on this base that you will see?
M-I-N, N-I-E, M-O-U-S-E!
Minnie Mouse, Minnie Mouse,
Never shall her figure be surpassed!(4)
Big Boss, Miller, and even Hal burst out laughing. Even Code Talker looked amused, though neither Strangelove nor Minerva shared that look.
Big Boss stared at the tape player as it finished playing its message in his quarters. Strangelove was nearby, along with Miller and Ocelot, with Minerva opting to look after the children. "…So Zero…I know you told us about what he wanted, with the AIs, but…he wanted to offer an olive branch…"
Strangelove nodded. "I know for a fact that he visited you in the Cyprus hospital. This was not long before he would have permanently become a vegetable. Unfortunately, what he has started cannot be easily stopped. XOF is still active, even if Skull Face is dead, or lost in that town. And his Patriots now exist as AIs, in a secret location. I'm not even sure if Dr Clarke or Mr Anderson know of their existence(5)."
"I had an idea. By the way, I need to have a copy of that tape," Ocelot said, plucking it from the player. "There's someone who needs to hear it."
"EVA?" Big Boss asked.
Ocelot nodded(6). "I…knew that Zero wanted to reconcile. But…"
"He asked me to record his words to you," Strangelove said to Big Boss. "He then said, should I ever meet you again, then I was to give it to you. Of course, given that you and your favourite medic were in that hospital and Mother Base at the bottom of the Caribbean, I didn't have much hope, especially after I was recruited by Skull Face."
Ocelot nodded, before leaving. Miller looked at Strangelove, before asking, "You told us something of what happened, and I find it hard to believe."
"Miller, you are far from the only one," Strangelove said. "I find it hard to believe that what I saw in that town was anything other than delusion and delirium. It was a place both sacred and diabolical. A place where your worst fears come to life. I am a scientist, first and foremost, and know that everything in the world has some sort of explanation. But that town…it takes reason, and gleefully shreds it like a child ripping up paper, scattering the detritus to the wind."
The door opened, and Ocelot led a girl in a blue dress in. Dark-haired, and rather solemn for her age, she came in. "This one wanted to see you again, Doctor. Your other 'son' came back from his helicopter ride, and he's gushing to Hal. I think she just wants to be with you for the moment."
The girl nodded. "Mother...you were talking about that town again, weren't you?"
"Yes, but you don't need to be here for it, Alessa, not if it gives you scary thoughts."
ALESSA STRANGELOVE
A Dark Phoenix Who Has Risen From Ashes
"It was my home, Mother. I spent seven years of my life there. It was the place of my rebirth. It was where you, my true mother, rescued me." Alessa Strangelove, born under the name of Alessa Gillespie, looked at the others. "I know what you think of me. You fear me, but at least you do not hate me for what I am. You want me to live a normal life, one I may never have. You even try to be nice to me and my brothers. But I was born in the darkness. The town I was born in may not look like an evil place, and for the most part, it isn't. But when the fog blankets the town, the darkness reaches out, corrupting and twisting the town into a grotesque parody of itself, often born of the fears and perversity within their hearts and souls."
After a brief pause, Ocelot remarked, "You speak pretty well for a girl who's only, what? Eight, wasn't it?"
"My education was unorthodox, but I liked reading a lot," Alessa said. "But this town…it's alive. Malevolent, even. This is a battlefield none of you would not want to encounter." She looked at them all. "But it was my home. My hometown…Silent Hill."
PROLOGUE ANNOTATIONS:
Now, as some of you will be complaining, I've started at the end of the story, rather than the beginning. To those who are complaining, I say this: put up with it. This is my story, and I decide how it is told. I believe a story is in the telling and the journey, not in the ending.
For those of you who are enjoying it so far, but are wondering where the horror is, be patient. There's at least another chapter to go before the horror begins.
Now, for those of you wondering, yes, Atropos/Minerva IS Quiet (and she does seem to have short hair when she goes to kill Snake in the Cyprus hospital). I will be exploring her character in-depth in this story, as she never got flambéed and given the 'one which covers' parasite. Given that she is something of a blank slate in the game, I thought I might give her some more character, starting from the next chapter, which will take place in 1983.
Oh, and those sort of 'character splash' captions I'm doing, almost Borderlands style? I was inspired by the captions from one of the trailers for The Phantom Pain.
1. I originally wanted Alessa to have the same parasite that Quiet does in the game (after all, Alessa suffered a similar fate), but then I remembered that Quiet had as little clothing on her body as possible to allow herself to breathe through her skin. And given that Alessa is seven years old when she gets burnt alive, well, I am sure you can spot the obvious problem with that. I decided to write in a hybrid, something that was wholly experimental and potentially lethal, but could give the benefits of Quiet's parasite (as well as the one Code Talker has), without the potentially unfortunate side-effect. I can't believe I was that stupid! Gah! Anyway, the parasite has effectively rejuvenated, possibly even replaced Alessa's lungs, but she still needs sunlight and water.
2. I originally wanted to call my version of Quiet 'Cailleach', whom I believed to be a Celtic war goddess. But Cailleach wasn't a war goddess (though she is a destruction deity), and Morrigan and Nemesis seemed well-used already. I decided on one of the three Fates, namely Atropos, who was said to cut the thread of life when someone dies. It's a fitting name for an assassin.
3. Minerva is the Roman equivalent of Athena, of course, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war.
4. Obviously, Ocelot's taking the Mickey out of the Mickey Mouse Club March.
5. I don't know if Strangelove was aware of who the other Patriots were, so I'm writing it in here that she is (thanks to her working with Zero on his Patriots A.I). I also don't know whether Clarke/Para-Medic or Anderson/SIGINT knew of the either, so I've left it a little ambiguous.
6. Actually, Ocelot intends to get a copy to the 'real' Big Boss, as the one who you play as in The Phantom Pain is a body double. Whoops, did I spoil the game? Well, I did warn you in my foreword. That's your own damned fault if you don't like me spoiling it. Anyway, Ocelot does intend to get a copy to EVA, but it was the 'real' Big Boss he meant.