Chapter 4
Unknown Threat
"Hey, Raiden. Pleased to see you." A voice rang from the shadows as Jack walked into the Philanthropy Headquarters.
"Hey, Otacon." Jack said, squinting through the darkness. He finally found Otacon sitting in a chair in front of a computer. He was wearing his usual white lab coat and glasses, typing softly on the keyboard. "What are you doing?"
"He's trying to find exactly where in the military base the frequency came from." Snake's voice emanated from the shadows, as he stepped out behind Jack. "So you're in?"
"I'm in." Jack looked at the monitor. It seemed that Otacon had managed to find a blueprint of the entire base.
"This doesn't make any sense," Otacon said. "It's almost as if that frequency was just to taunt us. I've managed to narrow it down to three areas in this base. But I can't get it down any more than that. I honestly think that there's more than one Codec in there. But what worries me the most is that one hour ago, there was only two locations. That means that the source is multiplying." Snake walked up closer, and leaned in to look at the monitor.
"What do you suppose that means?" Snake asked.
"It could mean a number of things," Otacon replied. "It could mean there's a glitch in the program. Or it could mean that there really are three Codecs in there."
"Could that mean that an infiltration is going on in the base?" Jack asked.
"Possibly. But most likely not. I doubt that an infiltrator would spend three hours just to get three people in there."
"Well, not all of the soldiers would be wearing Codecs." Snake finished. There was a sudden pause in the room. The chance of enemies having infiltrated the Marine base just jumped from very low to very high.
"Well, I'll try to hack into the security system. See if I can see these supposed infiltrators through the security cameras." Otacon resumed typing. Snake motioned Jack to follow him over to a sofa. They both sat down.
"So…you have everything ready?" Snake asked, a feeble attempt at conversation.
"Yeah." Jack showed him his bag that he had been carrying. In it was the Skull Suit that Raiden had worn at the Big Shell, along with his SOCOM pistol and his High Frequency Blade. "Snake…what if the base really is being infiltrated?"
"That means that the danger level has rapidly increased. It would mean that we wouldn't have to worry about not being caught, but now we have to worry about staying alive. But remember that Marine base is far too protected. It's on an island surrounded by sharks. There are turret guns all around the perimeter of the base. Anti-aircraft missiles, torpedoes…it's the perfect fortress. It has been built for seven years, and it has yet to be successfully infiltrated." Jack nodded. "But…" Snake continued. "That doesn't necessarily mean that…say, a Metal Gear could get in." Jack and Snake looked at each other. Metal Gear. The ultimate weapon. Jack had fought over twenty of them on the Big Shell.
"Hey, you guys…you better come look at this." Otacon called from the computer. Jack and Snake got up from the sofa, and walked over to the monitor. Jack noticed that there was a hint of fear in his voice. They both looked at the monitor. There were several screens scattered around the desktop. Otacon had successfully hacked into the security system, it seemed. Otacon pointed to one particular screen on the bottom left of the monitor. "Look at this. That's a Marine patrolling a hallway. Now, skip ahead five minutes…" the Marine suddenly disappeared. Jack looked at it questionably.
"Are there any other cases like this?" Jack asked. Otacon nodded, and pointed to another screen. Two Marines were guarding a heavy door. Then, there was a small static image displayed on screen, and the Marines disappeared.
"Hey, what's that?" Otacon asked to no one in particular. He looked in closer to the screen that was just played, and zoomed in. He replayed it, in slow motion. But he wasn't looking at the Marines. He was looking at the side of the image. Snake and Jack suddenly saw what he was looking for. It was an arm. An arm, covered in camouflaged clothing, popped around the corner. It was carrying a gun. As soon as it appeared, it and the two Marines disappeared.
"Somebody changed the videos at the marine base?" Snake asked.
"Seems that way…" Otacon replied. "Wait, what?" Suddenly, every screen, now devoid of the usual patrolling Marines, came back, the Marines with it.
"They're back…" Jack said.
"No, they're not." Snake shook his head. "Somebody's managed to take over the base."
"But how?" Otacon asked.
"I don't know how they managed to get in, but whoever did this knew what he was doing. Otacon, show me what the status on…that camera was." Snake pointed to a random camera screen. Otacon punched in a few keys. A small screen popped up next to it. It showed that the energy running through it was at its maximum. "Okay, now show the status of it ten minutes ago." Otacon did as he was told, and the status screen changed to show that the energy was almost completely out. "I knew it," Snake confirmed. "They knew exactly what they were doing. Judging by that camouflaged arm that we say, the infiltrators had their soldiers dress up like Marines. The cameras in this base are top of the line, but they use up their energy quick. Every few hours, the cameras have to go offline for a few minutes, showing the screen that we saw with no Marines. Of course, security becomes even tighter during that time."
"Are you suggesting that these terrorists dressed up like Marines, waited until the cameras went offline, and then attacked?" Jack asked.
"Exactly." Snake replied. "Every viewing screen in that base just has that empty screen pop up when the energy runs out. The terrorists knew this, waited until that exact time, and took out the Marines. Just before the cameras came back, they hid the bodies, and pretended to be the Marines that disappeared. Which means that we're the only ones that know of their existence."
"But you said that security got tighter." Jack said. "There are too many impossible factors for these terrorists to just plow through."
"You're right. But somehow, these guys did it."
"Maybe an inside agent?" Otacon asked. The group was silent for a while again.
"Well, whatever the case, we can't stay here any longer." Snake said. "Before, it was just that we wanted to find out what that frequency was. Now, we have even more of a reason to check it out. Solidus knew these people, whoever they are. I suggest we infiltrate the base as well. We can find out who these guys are, why they wanted to take over the base, and take them out."
"Snake, if these people managed to take out an entire Marine base, don't you think that we're a little outnumbered?" Jack asked. Snake chuckled.
"Nothing's impossible." He said.