Title: Metal Gear Solid: Elements of Destruction- Chapter 16: Double Reunion
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 16: Double Reunion
"Wake up."
"Was someone speaking to me?" Snake wondered through a clouded, aching head. He drifted along the edge of consciousness, trying desperately to open his eyes. Managing to do so for a brief moment, he could see nothing but the ceiling and a fluorescent light panel blaring down on him. Snake re-closed his eyes, the light too bright to bear. The mercenary moved on to test his motor skills. His fingers twitched a bit, but they were numb and tingly.
"Damn it, Knight. Get him up!" the same voice said.
Yes, this time Snake was sure he had heard someone speak.
"I've given him another dose of the adrenal stimulators. He should be coming to anytime soon."
There were now two voices in the room with him.
Snake felt his heart begin to beat faster, and with the new surge of blood-carried oxygen to his brain, things seemed to come into focus. He found himself able to flex the muscles in his limbs, but he noticed for the first time that he was held down by four-point restraints. Solid Snake tested their integrity with a few unsuccessful attempts to pull himself free.
"Oh, you're not going anywhere, I'm afraid," the first voice taunted him.
He gritted his teeth. From the feel of the cool smoothness of on his wrists and ankles, Snake realized that it was metal that imprisoned him.
The air around him was cool, causing him to shiver a bit. Finding the strength to open his eyes once more, the captured man lifted his head off of the metal bed and looked down at himself. His body was naked, displayed to whoever was in the room with him. Losing control of his neck muscles, Snake's head fell back down, and he closed his eyes again.
The table shifted, raising itself into a vertical position. The prisoner could now take in his surroundings. They were all too familiar to him. Solid Snake was in a torture room.
"Leave us. Go and see if you can assist Dr. Chetnik with anything."
"I was on my way there now. Call if you need my assistance," the second voice said. His footsteps were heard heading further away from the torture rack, then a door opened and shut.
For a moment, the room was silent, with only the sound of the heating system whirring in Snake's ears. He didn't know what to expect, but it couldn't be good.
***
Otacon beat his fists on the floor repeatedly. "Damn it, Snake. Why'd you have to go and leave me too?"
His glasses fogged up as he cried. His heart wrenched as his mind played out one gruesome scenario of Dave's death after another.
Mei Ling tried her best to keep him together. "Please, Otacon. You've got to keep your head straight. If Snake and Raiden are dead, then it's all up to you. I know you can do it."
"I can't," he sobbed. "I can't do this anymore."
"If you don't, more people will surely die. Could you live with that?" she argued.
"Maybe I won't live at all," Hal suggested.
Mei gasped, "Don't talk like that. Besides, you don't know that they're dead. They may have been captured for questioning. You could still save them."
Hal took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. "Me?" he scoffed, "What could I do? I don't even know what I'm doing here."
"Sure you do," Mei Ling told him. "Remember: 'It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide what to do.' You had very strong reasons for going. Even Snake could see that. You need to remind yourself of that reason, and decide to push onward."
"I came…to…" he hesitated, memories of Snake assaulting his mind. "I came to protect him. I know it sounds crazy, but I did."
"Otacon."
"Yeah?" he sniffled.
"Then go protect him."
***
Light footsteps approached the table.
"Welcome to Antarctica, Solid Snake. I thought you'd never get here."
"Who the Hell are you?"
The person walked around the rack, then stood in front of him so he could see her face. Something about her was very familiar, but Snake couldn't place it anywhere.
"Your eyes shine with recognition as I knew they would," the woman said, "As they should." She leaned in to get a closer look at her prisoner. "It's even more amazing to look into your eyes than Liquid's or Solidus'."
Snake narrowed his eyes. "What the Hell are you babbling about?"
"Alas, we're a dying breed. Despite the powerful genetic make-up of Big Boss' children, one of them is gone, and the other only survives as an essence in his arm, attached to another man. You're the only one I have left to count on."
The woman stared into Snake's eyes. Hers were the same vibrant green, piercing and beautiful. Her hair was chestnut brown, just below shoulder length in the back and slowly layering shorter to the top. The woman's body was perfect; chiseled like a soldier's. She had her shirt tied up underneath her full chest, revealing her streamlined abdomen. Her black pants rested on her hips, clinging tightly to her legs. A trace of cigarette smoke danced on her breath, reawakening a deep craving for nicotine.
She smiled. "You, the last of 'The Sons of Big Boss', and his only 'daughter', Genesis Snake: Me."
"What?!" Solid shouted, "That's impossible!"
"It's not impossible," Genesis returned. "It's quite simple, really. Just replace a 'Y' chromosome with another 'X' and male becomes female."
"Great," Snake snorted, "Another family reunion."
Genesis crossed her arms. "I never got a chance to meet Liquid. Fox Die killed him before I even had the chance. And Solidus? Well, that was a bit more complicated. The meeting didn't go exactly as planned. So, you can see why I was so looking forward to our meeting."
"So why not just kill me? What're you keeping me around for?"
The lady Snake smiled, "I thought you'd never ask."
***
Raiden found himself locked inside a narrow cell, its walls made up of reinforced glass. Jack looked around. He was at the end of the row. In the cell next to him, a man in a tube floated in some sort of strange blue liquid, his face and body equipped with cybernetic implants; one on his cheek, one around his arm, and one around his neck. Looking down the line, Raiden saw three other cells with such tubes, but they were unoccupied.
"Good Morning, Jack. Sleep well?" a voice said to him.
Raiden turned around to see a woman who had the same kind of implants that he had seen on the man next to him. Her skin was medium brown, but it had an almost bluish tint to it. Her eyes were blue-violet, sparkling like the sky at twilight.
As she breathed, clouds of condensation billowed out. Jack was naked underneath the blanket that he had draped around him. Despite that, he didn't think it was one bit cold in the room. He breathed out hard, but his breath was transparent.
"You haven't forgotten me, have you?" she said to him.
Jack looked at the woman more closely. Then, the familiar blue-black shine in her hair sparked his memory. But, how was that possible?
"Diane?" he ventured.
She shook her head. "Diane died years ago in Africa. I am Frost: merely a shadow of who she once was."
Jack was confused. "I don't understand. Diane, what have they done to you?"
"Oh these?" Frost asked, pointing to the blinking lights on the metal plate that was attached to her cheek. "Genesis has given me everything Solidus took away from us: our friends, our dignity, our lives…"
Jack's eyebrows knitted, "What do you mean?"
"Look next to you. Do you recognize him?" she asked, pointing to the man in the next cell.
Raiden looked him over again, another memory returning. "Wait. Is that…?"
"Robert? Yes," Frost confirmed.
Jack was thoroughly clueless. "What's going on?"
"All of us fought in the same wars, endured the same abuse, day in and day out. But now, we're the ones who'll put the fear in others. We don't have to be afraid anymore. Genesis has made us powerful." Frost leaned in closer, her breath fogging up the glass.
"You're wrong," Raiden told her. "This Genesis, or whoever, just made you into another puppet, another instrument of war."
"What would you know?" she snapped. "You disappeared and forgot about us. You've forgotten the pain."
Raiden crossed his arms over his chest. "I remember it. I remember it all too well. There isn't a night that goes by when I don't dream about the screaming, the hunger, and the blood. But I use that pain to make a difference in this world. You're just going to help someone else cause more suffering."
"No. You're wrong. Once 'they' put the world in order, there will be no more need for war. Genesis promised me. Of course there will be some sacrifices, but the children will finally be free." Frost's eyes became intense.
"What do you want with me?"
"You're a part of our squadron, Jack. You were a child soldier, forced to put your life down for the greedy ambitions of man. Now you have a chance to fight for something good. Join us." She placed her hand on the glass, and a ring of condensation formed around it. "I missed you. The day I was captured, I thought I'd never see you again."
"You've changed. What happened to your spirit? You used to be a person I could look up to," Raiden said. He turned his back to her, his eyes fogged over with the precursor of tears. "I guess you're right. Diane did die in Africa. I guess I'll never see her again."
"Just wait. You'll see everything as I do. Then we can fight alongside each other, just like we did in the old days. And this time, I promise it'll be different," Frost told him.
"I won't fight. So whatever it is you have planned for me, forget about it. You might as well just kill me," he snarled.
Frost walked towards the door. Before she parted, she sighed. "Welcome home, Jack." Then she left, and Raiden was alone again with his thoughts.
***
Otacon traveled back to Snake's last known location to begin his search. Despite his unusual pessimism about the situation, he pushed on. He came to the room that had held Dr. Raznov. The door was unlocked, and he went inside. Just as he had suspected, it was empty. Hal let out a frustrated sigh. "Where could he be?"
Footsteps echoed in the corridor. Somebody was coming.
Cloaked in his stealth camo, he exited the room into the hall again. Two soldiers were making their way in his direction, chatting amongst themselves. Otacon took the opportunity to listen in.
"What?! The 'Legendary Solid Snake', here?!"
"Yeah. That's what I heard. Genesis has him locked up in the torture room."
"I'm so glad I didn't have a run-in with him."
"You can say that again. Two of us have already turned up dead, and who knows how many others are unaccounted for."
"Gives me the shivers…"
"The torture room," Hal thought to himself. "Why didn't I think about that before?" He swallowed hard, thinking about all of the things that they were potentially doing to him.
"I'm coming for you, Snake. Just hang on."
Author's Notes:
Secrets are revealed. That's about all I can say about this chapter.