Title: Metal Gear Solid: Elements of Destruction- Chapter 9: Preparations II
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 9: Preparations II
Mei Ling was surprised with a bouquet of red-violet roses when she answered the door.
"These are for me? Oh, thank you, Jack!"
"It's the least I could do for you after you stuck up for me last week. Also, for letting me crash here. That wine really knocked me for a loop."
Mei snickered, "It's okay. I've never played 'Drunken Poker' before, but it looks like I had some natural talent!"
Raiden smiled, "You kicked my butt, that's for sure."
The two laughed, then Mei Ling gestured for Jack to enter. Mei went into the kitchen and opened the cabinet underneath the sink. She pulled out a clear-green, glass vase and filled it with water.
"Hey Raiden? Would you get me the Aspirin? It's on the bathroom sink."
Jack went and got the bottle. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Oh yeah. I'm fine," Mei answered. "It's not for me." She crushed a few of the pills and dropped the white powder into the water in the vase. "It's for them."
"Aspirin for flowers?" Raiden questioned, scratching his head in confusion, "What does that do?"
Mei Ling cut the ends of the stems off at a slant, then placed the bouquet of fresh roses into the vase. "If you put Aspirin in the water, the flowers live longer. Just a florist's secret. My mother did gardening as a hobby and she always had fresh cut flowers in the house."
Jack nodded. "So, I did alright then, in getting you roses instead of chocolates?"
Closing her eyes, Mei leaned over to inhale the flowers' fragrance. "They're beautiful. But, you know, you didn't have to get me anything," she told him.
Raiden looked around. "So, Snake and Otacon aren't here yet?"
Mei Ling shook her head. "Uh uh. You're early. It's only 5 o'clock."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude," Jack apologized.
"No. No. It's okay!" the woman assured him, waving her hands in front of her, "I was getting bored anyways, sitting around, waiting. I like your company."
She smiled, looking at him. "He's got beautiful, blue eyes," Mei thought to herself. She blushed a bit, finding it harder by the second to maintain eye contact. So, she looked down at her feet, shuffling them a bit.
"Oh how rude of me!" the host remembered. "Please, sit down wherever you like."
"Thanks," Jack said, finding a comfortable seat on Mei Ling's couch.
"Would you like anything?" the woman offered.
"No. I'm good," Raiden declined.
Mei smiled again. "He's so polite, too," she thought.
The blond haired man patted the cushion beside him and Mei Ling sat down. "So, what've you been up to this past week?"
The woman brushed her shoulder-length black hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ears. "Lots of things," she began. "I've been working on improving the radar system. I think I've found a method to help keep it from getting jammed so easily."
"Really?" Jack said. "Wow. If we didn't have to worry about jamming, we'd have a great advantage over our enemy."
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch," she replied. "It's not a failsafe method. There are still ways that the radar can be put offline." Mei Ling sighed, a bit disappointed with herself.
Jack placed his hand on top of hers, "Hey, don't worry about that. You did your best. I can't wait to see how it works."
"You're sweet," Mei told him. She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Getting up from the couch, Mei went to the kitchen, pulling out plates, forks, knives and cups. She set them neatly on the table for herself and her three guests.
Raiden, still seated where he was, reached up and touched his cheek where the beautiful lady had kissed him. He smiled as a light pink blush came over his face.
"So, what kind of cuisine is our 'Five Star Chef' making tonight?" he asked her.
Mei Ling giggled with delight, "'Five Star Chef'? Okay, Jack. If you say so." She shook her head, "No. I'm not cooking tonight. Snake said that he was going to get some pizza."
As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. "Looks like that's them," Mei Ling said as she went to answer it.
"Hello, honey! Are you the one who ordered a pizza with a side order of Snake?"
"Oh, Snake!" Mei said, smacking him on the arm, "Get in here."
Otacon stood quietly behind his partner, blushing with embarrassment. "Hi, Mei," he greeted her.
The two men stepped in, laying their stuff on the dining room table. Raiden walked over to join them.
"Hi, Snake. Hi, Otacon," he said simply.
"Hey, kid. You're early." Dave replied.
Raiden shrugged. He realized that he was going to have to live with the fact that the mercenary was going to call him 'kid'. "I guess I'm just anxious to get going," Jack told him. "I tied up some loose ends and said goodbye to my son today. I'm about as ready as I'll ever be."
Snake simply nodded, then grabbed himself a slice of pepperoni, sausage, and bacon pizza. He sat down, devouring the rich blend of meats, sauce and cheese.
"It's good that you're ready, because we leave tomorrow," Otacon informed Raiden, as he took a seat next to his friend.
"Tomorrow?" Jack repeated, his voice faltering in disbelief, "But we still have six more days until the 30th."
Otacon's index finger slid his glasses back up to their appropriate place. "Right. But first, we must establish ourselves with proper I.D.'s and uniforms. We fly tomorrow from Newark to Murmansk."
Raiden sat down, reaching for a slice of the same pizza that Snake was eating. "Murmansk?" he asked. "What's there?"
"Murmansk is the largest city in the world, north of the Arctic circle," Otacon explained, "Most of the polar research facilities in Russia are situated there. The Russian Antarctic Research Center's 2nd division of scientists works from there from January to June. When the 1st division is ready to return, the RART 2nd division takes the submarine 'L'yednik' north through the Barents Sea, around Scandinavia, and then due SSE to Molodezhnaya, Antarctica."
Hal opened up the untouched box of extra cheese, plain pizza. He took a slice, not wanting to upset his stomach on the sausage like he did when he had Mei Ling's lasagna. Reaching across the table, he grabbed the container of grated Parmesan cheese and sprinkled some lightly on the slice.
"So, where do you want me stationed, Otacon?" Mei Ling asked as she opened the fridge. She grabbed the bottle of Mountain Dew and laid it on the table. Raiden poured himself some, then passed the bottle on to Snake. The man declined it, reaching into a paper sack beside his chair and pulling out an ice cold bottle of Corona. He unscrewed the top, then took a good sized drink of the beer. Jack then passed the bottle of soda to Hal, who filled his cup with the almost neon, yellow liquid.
"You'll be staying at a hotel nearby the RART headquarters," Otacon told Mei Ling. "You can set up your station and direct from there."
He took a bite of his pizza, a bit of sauce getting on the corners of his mouth. Hal wiped it away with his napkin, then sipped his Mountain Dew to wash down the cheese that stuck to the roof of his mouth. He had ordered extra cheese and got more than his money's worth. The engineer was having a Hell of a time keeping the rest of the cheese on his slice after it had been bitten into. He picked up his fork and knife, deciding that it was a futile effort to try and eat it the other way.
Mei Ling sat down and raided the box of extra cheese pizza. "Oooo! I always wanted to see Russia," she said cheerfully.
"Well that way, if you're there, you'll have easy access to the RARC in case I'd need you to strengthen our covers with a bit of information gathering," Hal explained, cutting himself off a bite with his knife.
Mei Ling reached back on the end table and grabbed a small booklet. She handed it to Raiden. "I almost forgot. You'll be needing this," Mei said.
Jack looked at the blue, vinyl cover. There was gold lettering on it that said "Passport- United States of America" and it had a gold seal in the middle with an eagle stretching out his wings. He opened it up to find his picture on the inside.
"Hey! Where did you get this picture?" Raiden asked, frowning a bit.
Mei Ling snickered, "I took that picture last week, remember? After our game of drunken poker, I had you stand against the wall and snapped the photo."
Jack looked at the passport again. His face was flushed and shined with perspiration. His hair was out of place and his eyes were heavy looking. Despite his somewhat scruffy appearance, Jack had the biggest, brightest grin, stretching from ear to ear.
"This is a terrible picture of me," he said sighing.
"You could never have a bad picture taken of you," Mei returned before realizing the implications of that statement. She blushed feverishly, sinking ever so slightly in her chair.
Snake looked at Mei Ling, then at Raiden, then at Mei Ling again. He shook his head, chuckling. He caught glimpse of the photo in question. "Drunken Poker, huh? Hey, Otacon! Looks like we found a worse player than you!"
Hal laughed, "It would appear so."
The engineer turned to look at the woman across the table. She was uneasy and still red as a beet. He watched as Jack put his hands behind his head, smiling in a bit of triumph. "So, Mei likes Raiden," Otacon thought, smiling to himself.
The blond haired man looked at the name and vital statistics that were adjacent to his picture. "Luc Marcheur du Ciel? That's an odd name."
"Just a private joke," Mei said. "It's French."
Raiden switched over his RTTS and read the name again, finally understanding. Switching back to English, he gave Mei Ling a questioning look. "You think I look like Luke Skywalker?"
Mei giggled again in that girlish manner that made Jack's heart flutter. "Yeah, I do. Your hairstyle and body type are very similar to his, except that you're a lot fairer."
Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Then I guess that makes you 'Princess Meia'!" he said, laughing out loud.
The woman burst out laughing, holding her sides as they began to ache. "Oh my God. That's it!" she managed to say, eyes tearing up.
"What's it?" Raiden asked.
Mei held her laughter in as best as she could so she'd be able to speak. "Well, all of you guys have code names. So, I want one too! Call me 'Princess Meia'."
Snake shook his head in disgust. "Those two are obnoxious," he thought to himself, shoving the last bit of crust into his mouth.
Otacon sat watching the two carry on. "They're good together," he mused.
"Help me Ota Con Kenota! You're my only hope!" Mei said, starting up again.
Hal laughed. He looked over at Dave who was starting on his second beer and fourth slice of pizza. He didn't want to be a party pooper since they'd all have to be dead serious tomorrow, but he could tell that his friend was getting annoyed. So, he breached the topic at hand again, "Well I guess that's it. All I need are Raiden's measurements for his sneaking suit, then we'll all go home and gather up everything and meet up at our place at 0700." Otacon jotted something on a scrap piece of paper. "Here's the address, Raiden," he said, handing it to Jack.
The young man read it. "You're just a few blocks from me."
"Great," Hal said, taking out his tape measure, "Now how about those measurements?"
Author's Notes:
Aspirin in the vase water is an old trick my mom taught me. It really works!
Murmansk is a city in northwestern Russia, right by Scandinavia. It is the largest city north of the Arctic Circle, and most of the Russian Polar Research facilities are located there. I love Encarta!
L'yednik is Russian for "Glacier".
Raiden kinda reminds me of Luke Skywalker from the first film. He's got the same haircut, the same blonde hair, and the same somewhat whiney, childish demeanor. He also carries a sword parallel to Luke's lightsaber. Hehehehehehehe… Plus it made for a funny series of jokes.