Title: Metal Gear Solid: Elements of Destruction- Chapter 6: Preparations I
Author: The Ice Goddess (FrozenBlueIce)
Fandom: Metal Gear Solid
Feedback: All feedback is welcome, whether it be negative or positive. I'm trying to improve on my writing so, please be honest: frozenblueice@yahoo.com
Pairing: The main pairing of this story is Snake/Otacon, which is obvious to anyone who knows of my fondness for Hal Emmerich, so therefore alright to disclose. There are others, but if I told you what they were, it'd ruin the story.
Series: No. There may be sequels in the future, but right now that is looking unlikely due to time constraints.
Rating: PG (this chapter only)
Disclaimer: All characters appearing in previous Metal Gear Solid video games are the property of Konami Computer Entertainment of Japan, and of their creator, Mr. Hideo Kojima. All new characters are the property of The Ice Goddess. This is a work of fanfiction, and in no way, shape, or form will I receive any monetary compensation for it. It is for entertainment purposes only.
Type: Action/Shounen-ai
Summary: This story takes place one year after the events of "The Big Shell." New information found by Otacon sends Snake back into action. (That's all I'm revealing!)
Chapter 6: Preparations I
"You're late, guys," Mei Ling chastised as she gestured for everyone to enter. She looked over the last person through the door, her eyes admiringly taking in his youthful beauty.
"Who's he?" the woman asked.
"This is Raiden," Snake answered, "He's the one I ended up teaming up with at the 'Big Shell'".
"Oh," she said, "nice to meet you. I'm Mei Ling." She blushed as she timidly held out her hand to him.
Raiden grasped it firmly, shaking it twice. "You too," he replied.
"Kid's pretty good in a fight, but he's still wet behind the ears," Snake said with a smirk.
"Wet behind the ears?" Jack repeated indignantly.
Mei Ling giggled. "Don't worry. Nobody can be as great as the 'Legendary Solid Snake'. You could be a seasoned pro and still hear that from him."
She turned to face the mercenary, shaking a finger at him. "Snake, you're so mean!"
Otacon sat his laptop down on the dining room table, "Shall we get started?"
"Wait a minute," Dave said holding up a finger, "I need to talk with both of you, alone, first."
He turned to Raiden, pointing at him. "You stay here."
"Okay," Jack said, holding up his hands.
Snake, Otacon, and Mei Ling went to the bedroom and shut the door. Snake looked around.
"You know, I've always wanted to see your bedroom, but I never thought it'd be like this," he said coolly.
Mei blushed, "Aw, come on. You're such a flirt."
"She's right. He's really turning on the charm tonight," thought Hal. He found himself blushing at his friend's blunt upfrontness. If only Otacon could be half as smooth as Dave.
"Anyways," Otacon said, cutting in, "What'd you need to talk to us about?"
Sensing his friend was uncomfortable with the situation, he stopped his advances, and got back to the subject at hand. "I don't trust him."
"Raiden? Why not?" Hal asked, scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah. You worked with him before. What made you trust him then versus now?" Mei Ling chimed in.
"I didn't trust him then, either," the mercenary stated.
"It's hard to find help these days," Otacon offered. "Especially help that you can depend on." He shifted his glasses up his nose. "I'd say that Raiden is the person we could trust most right now."
"I agree with Otacon," Mei said.
"Hmm…" Snake mumbled, "That may be so. But in the end, will it be worth the risk of taking him along? I'd rather work alone anyways."
"You may be the 'Great Solid Snake,'" Mei Ling told him, "but you're not the 'Perfect Solid Snake'. Remember there is strength in numbers."
Snake rolled his eyes. Mei and her proverbs.
"I say we give him a chance," the scientist said, "And if
he does anything suspicious, as the founder of Philanthropy, I'll take full
responsibility for him."
Snake grumbled, "Two against
one. I'm outnumbered here. Okay, the kid can help, but he'd better…"
"Stay out of your way?" Otacon interrupted. "Where have I heard that one before?"
Dave slapped Hal on the back, and the three went back into the dining room to find Raiden quietly still standing where they had left him.
Jack threw snake a questioning look, narrowing his eyes a bit. "You still don't trust me, do you?"
The mercenary snorted, "It ain't up to me anymore." He pointed his thumb in the direction of Otacon and Mei Ling. "It's up to them." He crossed his arms over his chest again. "Just know that I'll be watching my back."
Raiden swallowed hard, then rubbed the red streak on his neck left by the earlier chokehold. "I know," he told him. Jack knew that Snake meant business. It didn't worry him at all though. He had no intentions of betrayal whatsoever.
A buzzer went off on the range, and Mei Ling rushed to quiet its annoying sound. Shutting it off, she opened the door to the oven. A rich smell filled the room as she pulled out a foil covered tray, and set it down on the potholders on the table.
"Dinner's ready," she said, running back into the kitchen to get the salad and breadsticks.
"Lasagna?" Raiden asked scratching his head, "I wasn't expecting that."
"What were you expecting?" Mei called back, "Pork Chow Mein?" She giggled. "I may have Chinese ancestry, but when it comes down to it, I'm all American!"
Jack blushed at his rash assumptions, then quickly added, "It looks delicious."
"Mei Ling's an excellent cook," Hal chimed in.
"But not as good as Otacon!" she returned. "I still have much to learn."
Raiden turned to look at the scientist, "Now that's something I never would have guessed about you, Otacon."
Hal blushed a bit, adjusting his glasses. "Culinary arts are much like chemistry. It's almost an exact science. You have to beat, stir, or add things at just the right times, and cook things at the right temperatures or you end up with a disaster. Besides, if I left it up to Snake, I'd either end up with boccolism, or glow in the dark from all of the microwaved food."
Dave let out a low growl, "I don't know about you, Otacon, but I could live off of rations forever."
Hal sat down at the table and started up his laptop. The operating system was one he designed himself. He couldn't stand Microsoft Windows, so being the engineer he was, Otacon took matters into his own hands. He called it Emmerich Engine, or E.E. for short, after his late sister's nickname. The E.E. logo popped up on the screen, then disappeared. It brought up the desktop, which had a picture of an anime samurai plastered across it.
Snake, who was standing behind him, looked at the screen. He shook his head, "Otacon and his damned anime," he thought.
Everything now on the table, and the computer on and ready, Raiden, Mei Ling, and Snake sat down, joining the already seated Otacon. Raiden and Snake looked at the food hungrily.
Seeing that her guests were eyeing the food, Mei spoke up, "Go ahead! Dig in!"
The female information officer reached for the tossed salad first. Grabbing a healthy portion of lettuce, red onions, radishes, and homemade garlic croutons, she heaped them on her plate.
"So what's up Otacon?" she asked, initiating the briefing.
Hal wanted to finish his first bite of lasagna before answering. The sausage used in the mix was extra spicy, and although very delicious, the light-stomached man knew he was going to pay dearly for it later. He grabbed himself a glass of ice water from the serving tray and sipped it. Otacon looked over at Snake and Raiden. They seemed to be having no trouble at all devouring the fiery spices in Mei Ling's rich lasagna.
"Alright," he began, adjusting the specs up the bridge of his nose, "I found new intelligence recently about the disappearances of Drs. Anja Raznov and Mikael Chetnik."
"You mean the ones who came to America a few months ago?" Raiden asked through a mouthful of crispy breadsticks.
Mei Ling found herself looking at the young man. "He's even cute when he eats," she thought silently.
"Yes, the ones who were 'said' to have come to America," Hal corrected him.
"What do you mean? Are you saying they're not in the States?" Mei Ling probed for confirmation.
"Precisely," the hacker confirmed, "Here is a document I pulled off of the RNF's network just yesterday."
"The RNF?" Mei frowned. "You're probably going to tell us next that they were kidnapped."
Otacon nodded. "Affirmative."
"But then why did the government go out of their way to tell us that they were here?" Jack asked.
Snake almost choked on his food at the sound of Raiden's question. He regained control over the food that threatened his windpipe.
"Kid, are you really that gullible to the media?" he asked, pouring himself a full glass of wine. "Didn't your run-in with the Patriot spies knock enough sense into ya?"
"The media is just a big production put on to control the masses," Mei Ling told him. "You can't believe anything you see."
Raiden, a bit embarrassed at his gullibility, blushed.
Hal pointed to certain phrases on the screen. "See, here it says: 'Dr. Raznov and Dr. Chetnik have been put to work. They seem to be cooperating now, but I foresee some trouble in the future.'" Skipping down the page a bit, Otacon read on, "'The E. Weapon Project' will be delayed another month due to problems with prototype A. I personally believe it to be intentional sabotage on Dr. Raznov's part."
Mei Ling sipped on her wine. Leaning in, she listened intently on what the hacker had to say.
"And down here," Otacon pointed to some numbers, "This is the decoded point of transmission." He paused, brushing stray locks from his eyes. "It's a position about 400 kilometers SSE of Molodezhnaya, a Russian research outpost in Antarctica."
"Antarctica?" Jack and Mei chimed in unison.
"This must be top secret," the woman said, "Any weapons testing, or production is prohibited there under the 'Antarctic Treaty of 1961'."
"'The Antarctic Treaty of 1961'?" Raiden asked, "What's that?"
Snake rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Don't you know anything, kid?"
Otacon sensed that Snake was still annoyed at Raiden's presence in the organization. "He'll get over it," he thought.
"'The Antarctic Treaty of 1961' was signed to reserve Antarctica to peaceful scientific research, and to suspend territorial claims," the scientist explained. "It's totally against the treaty to have any kind of military activities occur any place south of the 60°S latitude line."
"I see," Raiden said, grabbing another breadstick.
"Radical groups never follow the rules anyways," Snake added. "You think that they'd let something so trivial as a treaty stop them?"
"I guess not," Jack agreed. He felt it best just to sit and listen silently from that point on. His naïveté was causing a great embarrassment.
"So how do we go from here?" Mei Ling asked.
Otacon shifted his glasses, "It isn't going to be easy, but we'll have to hitch a ride."
Snake's eyes narrowed a bit, "Here's where all the fun starts."
Hal gave Snake an apologizing look. "Sorry, it's the only way."
He brought up some information with a few quick keystrokes. "This is the Russian Antarctic Research Team's shuttle."
Mei glanced at the picture across the table. "Looks more like a submarine to me," she said, grabbing a slice of lasagna.
"Right," Otacon confirmed. "It's the quickest and most inconspicuous way to Molodezhnaya. The submarine carries members of the RART twice a year to the outpost. Fortunately for us, the next departure is scheduled for June 30th."
"Hmm…" Snake pondered, "that only gives us two weeks to get everything together."
Dave used his breadstick to wipe up the remaining sauce on his plate. He stuffed it down, barely taking time to chew. It tasted so good, though Snake had to admit, Otacon's lasagna was a bit richer; just less spicy."
"Twice a year… So, how do we get back?" he asked.
"The submarine travels back to Russia after taking a three day rest at the outpost. That'll be barely long enough of a window to get you in, investigate the new weapon, dispose of it, then return in time to catch your ride back." Hal explained.
"So, how do you intend to pull this off?" Mei Ling asked.
"Snake, Raiden and I will disguise ourselves as…"
"Wait a sec!" Mei exclaimed, nearly jumping from her chair, "Did I hear you right?"
Otacon, forgetting that he hadn't told her or Raiden that he was going, he explained, "Yeah. I'm going in."
"Are you crazy?" Mei Ling asked.
She turned to face the mercenary, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Snake? Are you listening to this?"
Snake leaned back in his chair, finished with eating and full. "I already heard this earlier and I already tried to talk him out of it. He's too damned stubborn to listen."
"And you agreed?"
"No," Dave sighed, "More like gave in. He has his reasons, so I guess I'll have to respect them."
Raiden looked annoyed. "You'd work better by yourself, huh?" Jack folded his arms over his chest.
Snake retorted, "Look, Raiden. It's bad enough that I have to baby-sit my partner here. Now I'll have to baby-sit you too. Makes my job even more difficult to do."
"I can take care of myself," Jack came back indignantly.
Mei Ling giggled. "It looks like Otacon'll be the one babysitting the two of you!"
Otacon said nothing, and blushed. He sat there nervously stirring at the remainder of sauce and sausage bits on his plate with his fork.
"Anyways. Otacon, if you want to go, I guess there's no stopping you if even Snake couldn't manage to. I just hope that you don't get yourself killed," Mei said.
Hal nodded, then reached for his untouched glass of wine. He took a healthy gulp, then placed it back down beside his plate.
Snake flicked his lighter. It was all he could do to keep from smoking in Mei's apartment. He knew that he was going to have to take a break soon. His nerves were just about shot.
"So, you were saying about the submarine?" he began the conversation again.
"Ah, right," Hal said. "The three of us will have to pose as RART scientists, and take the submarine from Russia to Molodezhnaya. Then, from there, we'll stowaway on a RNF transport to the base."
Otacon brought up another document on his computer screen. "The RNF has had the same idea for awhile now. They've been running their operation, passing through Molodezhnaya, posing as scientists so as not to raise any suspicions with their presence in Antarctica. If we go the exact same route that they do, then we should blend in just fine."
"There's a problem, Otacon," Snake said. "My Russian is extremely bad and I doubt that the kid here has had time in his busy schedule to learn any himself."
"Hey!" Raiden spoke up. "Quit calling me kid!" He pointed to himself with his thumb. "My name's Jack."
"Jack? I suppose that I never really asked you your name," Snake recalled.
"I don't know your name either," the blonde came back.
"Name's aren't important on a battlefield," Snake said plainly.
"We're at Mei Ling's place," Jack stated.
"It's Dave," Hal told him.
Snake threw Otacon a look, his eyes burning mad.
Otacon fidgeted nervously. "My responsibility, remember?" He swallowed hard, pushing his fear of repercussions to the pit of his stomach.
Snake's stare softened a bit. He trusted his friend's judgment. He nodded in his direction, letting him know that he wasn't going to gut him for disclosing his identity. If it came down to it though, he'd gut Raiden in a heartbeat if he even thought the kid would betray him.
Hal gulped down the rest of his wine, then poured himself another glass with the remainder of the bottle. The slender man began to drink the second glass, letting the red liquid relax him. The events of the past two days had really shot his nerves.
Otacon was not a drinker. He'd rarely touch anything alcoholic, save for the occasional glass of wine or one beer with Snake socially. Alcohol did a number on him due to his slight build, and sometimes a single beer or glass of wine was enough to make his lips tingle.
Dave took notice to his friend's second glass. "He's in bad shape," he thought to himself.
"Anyways," Mei Ling said, "Snake's right. The only one of the three of you with any Russian skills is Otacon."
"Well, actually," he corrected, "I'm rather rusty myself. It's been a long time since I even tried speaking Russian, but I can still read it."
"So how do we deal with the language issue?" Snake asked.
"I knew this issue might come up so, I brought this," Otacon said holding up a small triangular shaped piece of metal.
"What's that?" Raiden asked.
"It's a Real-Time Translating Synthesizer," the scientist explained shifting his spectacles. "It's something that I've been working on for awhile now. It works directly with your nanomachines to accurately translate your speech as you are speaking. It also listens to the foreign languages around you, and relays a real-time translation to your brain transmitted directly by the nanomachines."
Hal stood up, then walked over to Jack. "Open your mouth," he instructed the young man. Raiden opened his mouth wide and Otacon took a set of long surgical tweezers from his lab coat pocket. Gripping the RTTS device in them, he stuck it deep into Raiden's throat. He gagged a bit as the intrusive metal toyed with his reflex. He felt a slight pinch as something punctured his skin, but the pain subsided quickly. The device in place, Otacon removed his tweezers.
"Ouch! What did you do to me?" cried Raiden in perfect Russian.
Mei Ling gasped. "Otacon, that's amazing! You've actually mapped out the electrical impulses in the part of the brain that produces speech."
"Actually, I wrote a computer program that recognizes and analyzes those impulses. I spoke to the program, and it went from there. With all of the data collected, I was able to create the RTTS."
"Hal," Snake said, "you're pure genius."
"How do I deactivate this thing?" Raiden asked, clearly boggled with his perfect understanding of the strange words coming from his mouth.
"Ah," Otacon said, understanding him, "Just picture the phrase 'switch-normal' and it should relay the instructions to deactivate the device through your nanomachines."
Jack did as he was told. "Testing," came out the word in English.
"And it works for French, Spanish, Japanese, and German too," Hal added. "I'm working on Portuguese and Arabic now, but we won't need any of those right now. If you need to reactivate it, just think the phrase 'switch-Russian' and it'll switch back."
"Understood," Jack acknowledged.
"I'll implant yours when we get back home, Snake," Otacon said.
The mercenary stood up, grabbing his pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "I need a break," he said. "We'll work out all of the details when I get back." Snake stepped out onto Mei's balcony and shut the sliding glass door behind him.
Hal looked behind him at his partner on the balcony. He was casually leaning on the railing, smoking his cigarette.
"Excuse me for a minute," Otacon said. Getting up out of his chair, he walked out onto the balcony and re-slid the door shut.
Neither man said anything for a good while. They just stood there looking out at the lights of Manhattan. The night air was cool, but just warm enough to be welcoming.
Snake finished off his cigarette with one last, long drag. Blowing the smoke out, he flicked the butt and watched it fall four stories to the sidewalk below.
"I'm sorry," Otacon said, the first one to speak. He looked at the ground, shuffling his feet a bit.
"Forget about it," Snake returned, seeing that his friend was upset. He patted him on the back. "Relax will ya? You look like Hell."
"I know," Hal acknowledged, "It's just the mission and all."
"You sure you're up to it?" the other asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah. I'm sure," the scientist answered, blatantly lying.
"You know, you don't have to do this. I can handle this by myself, plus now I have Raiden to help," Snake said.
"No," Otacon told him with his eyes still glued to the ground, "It won't be the same. I have to be there too. I don't know how I'll be of any help, but I've got to try. Like I said, I'll do anything it takes."
The mercenary nodded. His final attempt at changing his friend's mind had failed.
"Come on. Let's go finish up the briefing, then we'll go home. You need your sleep if you're going to be up for any kind of preparations."
"Fair enough," Otacon agreed.
The two men walked back inside to find Raiden and Mei Ling laughing hysterically. There was a new, larger bottle of wine on the table, and it was well tapped.
"You're so funny, Jack," Mei giggled, her face a bit flushed.
Snake and Otacon wondered what was going on.
"Oh, hey guys!" she called over to them, "Check this out!"
"Aw come on Mei," Raiden protested.
"Please! Just one more time," the woman pleaded.
Jack sighed. "Alright."
The young man began to sing "The House that Jack Built" by Metallica. The first line came out normal, but then each consecutive line he switched his RTTS to a different language. It sounded like a jumbled mess of incoherent gibberish, but in reality, each line was perfectly translated back and forth between the six different languages.
Mei Ling giggled with delight over this awesome display, which was complete with head-bangs and air-guitar.
"Looks like he's gotten the hang of your device," Snake pointed out, letting out a small chuckle himself.
"Well, at least we know the other languages are functioning normally," Otacon said.
Snake sat back down. "Pass me the wine, will ya?"
Mei handed Dave the bottle. There was just enough left for one more glass. The mercenary finished it off, pouring the rest for himself and placing the bottle back on the table.
"So, where do we go from here?" Snake asked, emptying his glass into his stomach.
Raiden stopped singing. He could tell that everyone wanted to wrap things up.
"Well," Otacon said, "That's about all I can say right now." He shut down his computer. "I'll have to hold off on the specifics, until I gather more info. We'll make a tentative date for next Wednesday to get back together and finalize our strategy."
Hal shifted his glasses, "Until then, Mei, I want you to keep your eyes out for anything that might pop up at you," Otacon said, handing her a CD-R of encryption keys and RNF documentation.
"Will do, boss," she acknowledged with a salute.
Dave stood up, "We'll be in touch. You got a phone number, Raiden?"
Jack shook his head, "Not yet. I just moved in so…"
"Leave your codec on. We'll give you a call," Snake said.
Raiden frowned a bit, "Don't you get any ideas of ditching me either!"
"If he won't call you, I will," Otacon offered, stepping in.
"Alright," the young man replied.
"Later Mei," said Snake, blowing her a kiss and heading for the exit.
Otacon grabbed his laptop and followed his friend to the door.
"See ya," the scientist said with a wave.
"Bye guys," the woman called after them.
The door shut leaving Mei Ling and Raiden still seated at the table. They sat there for a moment silently. Jack scanned the room, eyes stopping to focus on a deck of cards he had seen sitting out earlier.
"So, how are you at Poker?" he asked.
Author's Notes:
Molodezhnaya is a real Russian base in Antarctica. Found it on a map through Encarta.
"The Antarctic Treaty of 1961" is a true bit of history. Check it out online or in an encyclopedia!
The RTTS is my "creative" way of dealing with the fact that I know no Russian whatsoever. Hehehehehehehe…. All italicized text shows that another language is being spoken/written.
Ah, yes. Metallica. They kick butt! J Plus, that song had "Jack" in its title. I pulled a Kojima!