A/N: After a year or more, here is the beginning of the Big Shell mission. I hope you enjoy it.
"Scientists had to make thousands of calculations to create the (atomic) bomb and determine its effects... Computers and atomic bombs, both products of World War II, grew up together."
Information Age: People, Information, and Technology exhibition - National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institute.
Verrazano Bridge, April 29th.
The Verrazano Bridge was an engineering marvel, breathtaking to behold and amazing to see from the sky. Two helicopters looked down at the bridge, but the occupants within the choppers didn't marvel at it, didn't so much as glance in its direction. They were intent on a huge offshore facility a few miles from Manhattan's coast.
Even if the men in the chopper had been looking for him, they still wouldn't have seen the dark figure barely under the surface of the water, moving for the same facility they were headed to. The man wore a tight rubber-textured suit that clung to his toned body and a diver's mask that covered his entire head. He conversed on an updated Codec system, one that didn't require the wrist-screen attachment. This system placed the image directly on the user's eye, but to the user it looked like he was watching a TV monitor.
"Snake," an older man's voice said over the Codec. The voice was Colonel Roy Campbell, one of the people involved with the Shadow Moses incident. "Do you remember the sinking of that tanker two years ago?"
Snake rhythmically kicked towards the facility. "Of course," he replied. His voice was youthful, hollow-sounding within the confines of his mask. He focused on the leathery face of Colonel Campbell displayed directly on his eye. The Colonel nodded in satisfaction.
"Terrorists blow a hole in an oil tanker full of crude, barely twenty miles off the shore of Manhattan; your classic nightmare. It didn't take long for the government to put an oil fence around the whole mess. And then that massive offshore cleanup facility went up inside."
" 'The Big Shell,' " Snake said. He could barely see a support strut through the murky water and the orange-tinted goggles he wore. He was getting closer. "I hear the cleanup isn't quite over yet," he said conversationally.
"It takes time," the Colonel told him. "But, in the meantime, the Shell's become a landmark, a symbol of environmental protection." He paused momentarily. "Approximately six hours ago, the Big Shell was seized by an armed group."
So that's what this is about, Snake thought. "Do we have an ID?"
The Colonel nodded. "Former members of the Navy SEAL's special anti-terrorist training squad, 'Dead Cell.' Russian private army members may also be involved. It's a highly trained group and they have the Big Shell under their complete control."
The helicopters zoomed overhead towards the Big Shell. From the shore, NYPD officers watched the drama unfold with digital scope binoculars. The Colonel must have had a link to the radios in those helicopters, because Snake suddenly heard static-distorted voices.
"Calling teams Alpha and Bravo," a deep male voice said over the radio. The voice had the tone of authority in it. "Deploy at the Big Shell as scheduled."
The helicopters hovered over one of the two central struts of the Big Shell and uniformed SEALs began to rappel down and enter the complex. Snake broke the surface of the water and watched them for a moment. His platinum blonde hair poked out from under his diving mask. When the moment was passed, he dove back under the water once more, heading towards the oil fence.
"Come in downwind and pull up fast," the man over the radio said to the descending SEALs. "Get ready to fast-rope descend to Shell One. Five minutes to ETA! Alpha, your main priority is to rescue and safeguard the president. Team Bravo, watch out for Stillman's back and get those C4's disarmed."
Snake drew closer to the fence and noticed an inky black trail coming out of it. He kicked towards it and saw a hole in the fence. That's not a natural hole, he thought. Someone cut through here. He decided to take advantage of the situation and swim through the hole.
"What are their demands?" Snake asked the Colonel.
"Thirty billion dollars," Campbell told him in a simple, yet serious, tone.
"Thirty billion dollars?" Snake asked incredulously. "What makes them think they can get that much?"
"There was a government-sponsored tour going on at the Big Shell that day."
"Hostages, huh?"
The Colonel nodded. "A VIP from one of the conservation groups, and one from our own government – the Most Important Person, in a sense."
Snake frowned, unseen behind his mask. "Most important person…?" he repeated.
"James Johnson."
"The President!"
"Unless the demands are met, the terrorists intend to blow the Shell out of the water."
Snake saw where this was going. "And the crude will ignite, turning the Manhattan harbor into an inferno."
"That's not the worst-case scenario," the Colonel replied. "If the chlorides being used to decontaminate the sea water go up with the oil, toxins containing catastrophic levels of dioxins will be released." Snake furrowed his brows in confusion. He wasn't a chemist and had no idea what this meant. "In other words," Campbell continued, "the bay's ecosystem will be wiped out and the sea will turn into a toxic soup for centuries – becoming the worst environmental disaster in history."
Snake didn't like the sound of that. A lot hung on the line with this mission. One false step could not only kill himself, but the hostages and every living thing within twenty miles of the Big Shell.
"You have two mission objectives," the Colonel was saying. "One: infiltrate the offshore cleaning facility 'Big Shell' and safeguard the president and other hostages." Snake figured the Colonel was reading off a sheet from the formal tone of his voice, but he seemed to be looking directly at Snake. "And two: disarm the terrorists by any means necessary."
Snake kicked towards the surface of the water. He was under the Big Shell now and he could see a light above him. He had studied the Big Shell layout momentarily before heading out for his mission. From what little he remembered, he thought he was heading for a deep-sea dock.
"You should know," the Colonel said, "that SEAL Team 10 is also conducting a rescue operation."
"Is this a joint effort?" Snake asked.
"No. FOXHOUND remains a covert body. Don't alert anyone to your presence – that is an order."
Snake broke the surface of the water and looked around. His goggles distorted his vision slightly, and at first he thought a giant guard was standing above him, looking down. He blinked and saw that it was actually a deep-sea diving suit. He nearly laughed at his own surprise, but managed to hold it back. Now was not the time for laughing.
He swam towards a ladder jutting out of the water that led to the cement platform above. He quickly climbed up the ladder and looked around. There were no sentries in the small, high-ceilinged room. There were plenty of cockroach-like bugs on one of the nearby walls, however. He crushed one with a metal-toed shoe before kneeling and activating his Codec. The Colonel's face appeared in front of him immediately.
"This is Snake," he said. According to protocol, he was supposed to identify himself at the beginning of a mission. Someone once told him it was so that the speaker could be identified while the conversations were recorded; almost all conversations were recorded. "I am now inside Strut A of Shell One."
"How are things?" Campbell asked.
"We're in luck. Looks like there are no sentries posted here."
"What's the visibility?"
"The lights on the plant's struts are functioning," Snake replied. "I won't have to use the IR goggles."
"Any problems?"
"There was a brand-new hole cut through the oil fence," Snake said. "There someone else besides me that wanted to get in badly."
The Colonel looked confused momentarily but smoothed his features so fast, Snake thought he had imagined it. Maybe he had. "That's not possible," the Colonel said.
"What about SEAL Team 10?" Snake asked.
"They landed on the roof of the Big Shell as planned." The Colonel hesitated slightly, then said, "And by the way, Snake, we're changing your code name for all following communication."
Snake frowned. "What's wrong with 'Snake'?" he asked slowly.
"Just a precaution," the Colonel replied. "You are now designated 'Raiden.'"
Snake – now Raiden – rolled the name around in his mind for a few moments. Raiden. It seemed appropriate somehow. He rather liked the sound of it. Raiden. The Colonel's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"All right, Raiden," he said, "you've already covered infiltration in VR training."
Raiden had done countless (or nearly so) virtual reality – or VR for short – simulations that would prepare him for the mission ahead. Some of the VR missions had given him knowledge of certain weapons that would rival a veteran's wisdom while others prepared him for sneaking around an enemy base and how to fight in hand-to-hand combat. One series of VR missions had taught him to use a sword with such speed that he actually managed to deflect bullets. He was quite proud of his acquired knowledge.
"I've completed three hundred missions in VR," he boasted. "I feel like some kind legendary mercenary…"
The Colonel sighed. "Okay, we'll skip that part. Make sure nobody sees you. If you need to, contact me by Codec. The frequency is 140.85. When we need to reach you…" The Colonel paused. "…Contact you," he corrected, "the Codec will beep. The Codec's receiver directly stimulates the small bones in your ear. No one but you will be able to hear it."
"All right," Raiden replied with a curt nod. "I'll contact you if anything changes."
"First, make your way to the upper section of the Big Shell," Campbell instructed.
Raiden frowned again, tried to remember the map he had briefly studied what seemed like ages ago. He couldn't remember how to get to the next level, so he asked as much.
"There's an elevator at the far end of that area," the Colonel told him. "Use that."
"Sounds good." Raiden scratched at his leg through the material of his Sneaking Suit. Through his gloves – which were made of the same material – it felt like rubber. As if reading his mind, Campbell began explaining the suit.
"Your new Sneaking Suit uses electrofiber technology, a by-product of fiber-optics research," the Colonel said. "The texture isn't far removed from rubber but the material protects against a wide range of toxic substances. The suit itself has a wide array of built-in sensors and is referred to as 'Smart Skin' in military R&D. Data about damage to different regions of the body, including blood loss, is exchanged between the suit and intravenous nanomachines to create a biofeedback system."
Raiden was lost in the explanation. While the information might have been interesting, it was far from handy considering the moment. He rubbed at his chest and the metallic "ribs" in the suit, especially the metal plate that resembled a sternum. That area had been giving him problems for a while now, as he could not puff out his chest to draw a deep enough breath, should the oxygen tank built into his diving mask run low.
"There's a lot of pressure on my torso," he complained.
"Relax," the Colonel told him. "The suit applies varying pressure to major internal organs to maximize performance and safeguard their functions. They call it the 'Skull Suit' in FOXHOUND."
"Skull Suit," Raiden repeated. "Seems appropriate somehow."
"The hatch with a circular handle will open into the elevator area," the Colonel continued, ignoring Raiden. "Locate the hatch first."
"Copy that," Raiden replied. He managed to refrain from saluting. "Moving on to main mission objectives." With that, he switched off the Codec by tapping the activation switch on his neck.
He looked around at his surroundings. The dock wasn't large and it wasn't hard to find the hatch – it was across from where he was standing – but he decided to have a look around first. Three lockers stood next to the hatch, but they were empty of any equipment that might prove useful during his mission. The only item he found was a dried-up old ration and he had plenty of those. He didn't look forward to eating them.
Saddened that there were no weapons, Raiden moved towards the hatch and placed one hand on the wheel. He froze, however, as he heard the muffled sounds of someone crying out in pain and then a heavy weight dropping to the floor. He slowly opened the door and peeked through it. A man dressed in white camouflage and a black balaclava lay on the floor, his assault rifle lying on his chest. The man stood up and shook his head.
Raiden quickly turned on his Codec and saw the Colonel appear in front of him. "Colonel, I've sighted an enemy sentry," he reported. He absorbed every detail of the man through his orange goggles, especially his weapons, as the terrorist walked away. "AN-94," he said as he looked at the rifle. He shifted his gaze to the pistol holstered at the terrorist's belt. "And a Makarov." He shifted his gaze once more to the grenades opposite the pistol. "Those grenades…All of his equipment are Russian-made."
"Must be a Gurlukovich man," the Colonel suggested.
"Gurlukovich?" Raiden repeated.
"A Russian private army that was in line to work with the Shadow Moses takeover group, four years ago," the Colonel explained.
Raiden arched a blonde eyebrow, intrigued. "What's their stake in this one?"
"They must have made a deal," the Colonel reasoned. "An arrangement with the terrorists. They've become a band of mercenaries, an army without a country." With that, the Colonel signed off and disappeared from Raiden's view.
Raiden threw open the hatch and crept into the L-shaped hall. He peeked around the corner, but only found a closed door, which opened automatically when he came close enough. The room beyond had a stack of crates on the middle of the floor and an elevator to the far end of Raiden's left. The elevator was rising, and someone in a tight gray suit was on it. A terrorist fell to the floor, evidently having been thrown from the moving elevator. Before Raiden could get many details about the man, the elevator carried him out of sight. He did catch sight of the flowing tails of a bandanna around the man's head.
Raiden activated his Codec and the Colonel appeared in his eye. "Colonel," Raiden said, forgoing any greetings, "there's definitely another intruder in here besides me."
"That's not a possibility," the Colonel stubbornly refused.
"Not a team," Raiden explained. "Looks like a solo job."
"One man…?"
Raiden was glad he didn't have to explain every little detail about what he had seen. He leaned to one side to look at the unconscious terrorist on the floor and noticed another slumped on his side, similarly out cold. "We may not know who he is," Raiden said, "but he managed to take care of every sentry in the area; they're all out cold. Whoever he is, he's got some skills," he admitted.
The Colonel shook his head. "We need to get an ID," he said. "But for now, you can take advantage of the situation and get to work. There's a terminal in front of the elevator, a node."
Raiden wasn't really paying attention. He was watching the elevator as if he expected it to descend at any given moment and bring the intruder with it. He barely caught the Colonel's words and when he did, he was confused.
"Did you say 'nerd'?" he asked.
"Not 'nerd'," the Colonel said, his aggravation showing through his calm demeanor. "Node."
"Oh," was all Raiden had to say, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Use the node to gain access to the Big Shell's facilities network," the Colonel continued.
"Then what?" Raiden looked around the room. Cargo containers lined the walls, as well as in the center of the room. A forklift sat behind the cargo in the middle of the room and from the look of it, it had been used recently. He didn't see any "node" though, but then again, he had no idea what a node looked like.
"Pull up the map of the structure," the Colonels said. "That'll let you activate the Soliton radar."
"The Soliton radar?" Raiden repeated. He nodded to himself as he remembered the simple wire-frame drawings of his surroundings. "True. That radar came in useful during VR training."
Again, the Colonel ignored him. "A radar system," he said. "Uses biological magnetic fields as input. These estimated enemy positions are projected onto a map according to the reference points collected via GPS signals and field reports."
Who cares? Raiden thought irritably. He refrained from rolling his eyes at his superior officer. Although he understood computers to a certain degree, he had never been interested in the techno-babble nerds on the Internet spewed on about endlessly.
"We need to get to the map of the through the Big Shell's node to put this data processing to practical use," the Colonel continued, completely unaware that Raiden was close to dozing. "The node is about three feet high and should be colored blue. Each area has at least one."
Raiden stepped around the cargo crates in the middle of the room, glancing around for the node. He spotted it next to the elevator and stood in front of it. He was about to start tapping keys on the keyboard when he realized something: There was no keyboard. The screen blinked "User Input Required" at him in bold blue lettering. He suddenly regretted not taking more computer courses.
"How do I gain access?" he finally asked, more embarrassed than before. There was just something about asking an old man about computers that galled him.
"Just push the 'enter' button on the front of the node," the Colonel explained calmly. "The nanomachines in your body will take care of the security clearance and allow you access to the node. Complete the procedure before those sentries gain consciousness," he warned. "If they spot you, you won't be able to gain access for a while. Stay on guard."
"Got it," Raiden assured him. He signed off and stared at the node. With a shrug that moved the metal plates on his shoulders, he reached for the "enter" button on the screen. He pressed down on the screen with the palm of his hand. A surge of electricity coursed up his arm and he grunted in pain. The tendrils of power seemed to probe him, course through his body and pick out the information necessary to run the node. As sudden as the attack began, it quit and a login screen appeared, along with a touch keyboard. Not wanting to divulge information to the enemy, he simply entered the "Raiden" on the name line. He left the date of birth, blood type and other areas blank, although he did specify that he was male. When he finished, the Codec beeped.
"Good work, Raiden," the Colonel said.
Raiden didn't bother to ask how the Colonel knew he had accessed the node. Somehow, he knew everything. "The radar should be functioning now?" he asked.
"Remember your VR training sessions. The tool is exactly the same one." The Colonel then proceeded to explain how the radar worked, although, for the most part, Raiden already understood it. Finished with the explanation, the Colonel said, "An analyst has been provided to work on the data too."
Before Raiden could ask what that meant exactly, the Colonel's image was replaced with that of a beautiful woman with long brown hair and intense green eyes. Her skin was the color of porcelain and her cheekbones may have been made of the fragile material. From what Raiden could see, she wore a white lab coat with her ID tag hanging on the breast. Raiden blinked in sudden surprise when he saw her.
"Jack, is everything all right?" the woman asked.
Raiden stared at her, uncomprehending. When he was finally able to speak, he said, "What are you doing here?"
"Jack, can you hear me?" she asked.
"Rose!" Raiden snapped. "You're not supposed to be involved! What's going on?"
"Jack, I'm a part of this mission."
Raiden was beginning to grow aggravated, partially because Rose kept calling him "Jack" when he was trying to hide who he really was. "Colonel," he said, "what the hell is going on?"
"Raiden," the Colonel said, his face replacing that of Rose, "meet the mission analyst. She'll be overseeing the data and providing support."
Raiden's frustration reached new heights. "Why her?" he blurted out.
"The FOXHOUND analyst that was supposed to take part in this mission was in an accident," the Colonel explained. "Rosemary was brought in as a replacement."
Raiden was dumbfounded. "An accident…?" he repeated slowly.
"And according to the files, she knows you better than anyone else."
Raiden quickly gathered his wits about him once more. "Rose may be in the service," he argued, "but an intelligence analyst is no field officer." He was glad he was wearing the diving mask so no one could see the worry etched into his features.
"Not to worry," the Colonel reassured him. "She has our technical staff at our disposal."
Raiden decided to try another tactic. "She's never been a part of a field mission. This is insane!"
"I have my own reasons for selecting her for this mission, soldier," the Colonel said, his voice rising. Despite the unspoken warning, Raiden continued to argue.
"Colonel, I fail to see –"
"I know your VR training performance in and out. But sometimes that's not enough. You're familiar with the Shadow Moses incident?"
"You know I covered it in VR," Raiden said, a dejected tone to his voice.
"If there's a crucial tactical detail that case taught us, it was the power of the operative's will to survive."
Raiden suppressed a sigh. "I was trained to fight. My personal feelings have no place in a mission."
"We've learned that it doesn't work that way. And on the field, you need all the help you can get."
Raiden was about to retort when Rose's face flashed up on his other eye, over the radar, so he could see both people at once. "Jack?" she said. "You're stuck with me, no matter what."
"Rose…"
"You need someone to watch your back. But I have some conditions that need to be met, Colonel."
"What is it?" the Colonel asked.
"I'll perform my duties and watch over the mission data, but I'm aware that technically I'm not a part of the mission control team. After all," she said in an almost embarrassed tone, "I'm just a normal girl who's worried about Jack."
Unseen behind his mask, Raiden flinched.
"But that means Colonel," she continued, "that I am not required to follow your orders outside of my immediate duties. Jack is not simply a field personnel for me to track. His safety comes first to me, not the mission and because of that, I will be monitoring and keeping a record of every communication you have with him, Colonel."
The Colonel was silent for a moment before saying, "Given the circumstances, you're free to do what you see fit."
Rose smiled, happy in her small victory. "Hey, I prefer this to being kept in the dark."
"I'd like to make a request if I may," the Colonel said coldly.
The smile vanished from Rose's face. "Of course."
"His handle is Raiden. For the duration of the mission, could you call him that?"
Rose looked surprised and Raiden felt like a child among adults, talking about him like he wasn't around. He decided to occupy himself and look around to see if there were any weapons he could use.
"Yes, sir," Rose said. "All right…" She hesitated. "…Raiden. Let me know if anything important happens. My frequency is 140.96." The frequency dial on Raiden's wrist suddenly turned and displayed Rose's frequency instead of the Colonel's and the Colonel's face faded from Raiden's view. "I just switched frequencies," she explained. "Jack?"
Raiden gave up on his search for weapons. There were none as far as he could see. He concentrated on Rose's image. "What?"
"Do you know what day tomorrow is?"
"April thirtieth," Raiden said with a shrug. "Is there something special about it?"
"Isn't there?"
Oh great, he thought, women mind games. I'll have to be careful… "I can't remember. Sorry." Too late, he realized that was the wrong thing to say.
"Oh well, I'll keep trying until I hear the answer. I'm going to let you go now, Jack. Take care." She signed off and her image disappeared from view. The radar screen remained, however and Raiden inspected it, although he could have just looked around at his surroundings since the room was small enough.
He looked over his shoulder and saw one of the enemy sentries move. He groaned in pain and slowly brought a gloved hand to his forehead. Before he could fully awaken, Raiden stepped around him and ducked behind a chest-high pile of crates in the corner of the room. He peeked around the crates and saw the sentry stand up, holding his head in one hand while cradling his rifle in the other. He reached behind him for his radio, but Raiden rushed at him. Before the guard could so much as gasp, Raiden's metal-plated elbow smashed into his face with the dull sound of metal hitting flesh. The guard dropped his radio and his gun and flew back through the air. He hit the concrete floor hard and stayed there, unconscious once more.
The elevator came down at that moment, settling into the concrete with a harsh grating sound. The doors opened and the call device in the wall beeped. Raiden stepped over the unconscious sentry and walked into the large elevator. He hit the "Up" button and when the doors closed and the elevator began to ascend, the other guard woke up.
Before the elevator carried him too far up, Raiden heard the guard say, in a thick Russian accent, "What the hell just happened?"
Raiden reached behind him and pulled up on his diving mask, releasing more of his nearly white hair from its imprisonment. He placed the mask on the floor of the elevator and shook his head to throw the clinging drops of water from his hair. He had bright blue eyes a very pale complexion from a lack of outdoors training and spending a lot of time in VR training and studying his books. When he did go out, it was usually at night and with Rose by his side.
The Colonel signed onto the Codec without so much as a greeting or a warning. "The terrorists call themselves 'The Sons of Liberty.'"
"Sons of Liberty?" Raiden repeated, confused.
"The name of their leader is Solid Snake."
Raiden looked up at the bright morning sky above him. As the elevator ascended, the light grew brighter and over the sounds grinding of gears and the elevator's motors, he could hear the cry of seagulls.
"The hero of Shadow Moses?" Raiden asked. This was just getting worse by the minute. "So that's why you changed my code name."
The elevator reached the top and came to a sudden, jarring halt. The waist-high gate at the front slid into the floor to allow the rider to get off. Bright sunlight stabbed into Raiden's eyes, a sudden change from the underwater docks and the ocean. Without the orange goggles over his eyes, he could see his surroundings in their true colors. He was standing on top of the strut – Strut A – and surrounded by randomly placed crates and boxes. Seagulls flew over head, calling out harshly to one another.
"Right," the Colonel said. "But it can't be the Solid Snake. He died two years ago, on that tanker after he blew it sky-high."
Raiden looked down at the concrete he was standing on. In a sense, this was Solid Snake's grave marker, a huge headstone to remember the legendary hero. Raiden had read everything there was about Solid Snake and came to idolize the man, although he had never before met him. His dream had been to meet him, but that had been taken away from him two years ago.
"Could he have survived?" Raiden asked nonetheless.
"Not a chance…"
Raiden suppressed a sigh and walked over to a stack of metal crates. He decided not to dwell on something that couldn't be helped. "Colonel," he said, "I'm on the roof. There are no sentries, but it would only take one to spot me in this light." He squinted up in the direction of the sun, frustrated at its brightness.
"You never had daylight VR training, after all," the Colonel replied. "Stay extra sharp until you can find a node to log in from."
"What about the commandos?" Raiden asked.
"SEAL Team 10 has landed on struts B and C."
"And the president?"
"Seems he was spotted on Strut B."
"Strut B?" Raiden looked out over the railing of the roof, towards the other struts jutting out of the dirty water far below. He had no idea which strut he was looking at or even which way to go. He regretted not studying the map closer.
"The Big Shell is comprised of Shells One and Two," the Colonel explained. "Each unit consists of a central core and six struts surrounding it."
Raiden formed a picture in his head and nodded. "So the whole thing is shaped like two hexagons connected end-on-end."
"Exactly. And you're on the roof of Strut A, Shell One at the moment." The Colonel glanced away for a moment, then back at Raiden. "First, get to a node. Log into the network."
Raiden nodded. "Got it." He switched off the Codec.
He concentrated on his radar. The satellites flying high in space above him would easily spot any sentries and relay that information to the Soliton radar but there was nothing as far as he could tell. He looked around and saw two fenced-in areas on either side of the rooftop, beyond which were automatic doors. Now if only he could get past the fencing.
One of the seagulls above freed its bowels and let a white dropping fall onto the rooftop near where Raiden was standing. Raiden flinched at the sound and glanced down at the metal underneath his feet. As he moved his head, he caught sight of a hole in the bottom of the fence to his left. It looked like he could squeeze past…
Raiden got down on his stomach and pushed himself forward. He could feel the rusted ends of the chain link fence grab and scratch at his back but none actually penetrated his suit or damaged his skin. In a few moments, he was past the fence and beside the door, which opened automatically for him. Beyond the door was a set of stairs, leading down into Strut A. Without a moment's hesitation, he walked down the stairs and into the darkness.
His mission had begun.