Author's Note: Here it is, the extraordinary meeting of Snake, Lynn, and Andrea. Here you will get a taste of what Lynn is truly capable of--benefits of her father's training. Though, this is just a small sample of the action you can expect from the story…
Chapter 3: Congruence
Snake had noticed that the girl he had nearly toppled over was sitting next to him. He would've helped the poor girl up, but the bump had knocked some gear loose that he had to quickly re-attach. Judging by what they were wearing, they were from the local base, and he didn't want to attract too much attention.
"Can you hear me Snake?" Otacon's voice resonated into his ear. Snake coughed as a response. "Good. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, okay?" Another cough.
As the two young recruits next to him were attended by a waitress, and there was some sort of mix-up with their relationship, Snake suddenly became aware of the twenty or so people that seemed slightly out of place. He looked to his right and noticed that the tougher-looking one of the two recruits beside him also was looking at these people. Snake had already figured out that these two girls were here on coincidence, but there was something about the girl with the black hair that got Snake's attention in the first place.
Snake caught the girl's eye, and her eyes darted towards the door and back, signaling to take a look. Snake figured the girl noticed something odd about him, as well. Snake looked over, and saw three people enter that seemed very out of place. A thirty-something woman entered, with a tall dark man and a young Asian businesswoman. And they all didn't look like they were here to enjoy a nice Saturday evening with each other.
The three strangers walked in, right by Snake and the girl, who both watched as the trio walked over to a specific table, without looking for a free one, and sat down in front of a small old man. Snake edged closer to them, though at the end of the table he was still fifteen or so feet away. He wondered if he could hear them. He had a strange feeling that these were the people he was waiting for. He had discarded the theory that this was a rumor when he noticed the twenty odd people.
Snake could only catch snippets of the conversation, but from what he heard, it was certain that this was a sales meeting. The merchandise in question was a new Metal Gear called Stratus, codenamed 'Shadow.' Not much else could be heard over the indignant chattering of the other customers, enjoying their Saturday evening.
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"I will not lower the price," Forrester stated. "Millions of dollars were spent on it, and millions of dollars it will cost."
"I see…" the old man said sadly, stirring his glass of water with his straw. "You're absolutely sure you won't lower it, then?"
"Once she states a price, there's no bargaining," the Secretary replied for her boss.
"Quite a regrettable choice, regrettable indeed…" the old man trailed off. He stood up slowly…and so did ten other people in the restaurant. Then, ten others stood up along with Ms. Forrester. The old man surveyed the scene. "So sad…"
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Snake and the silent recruit's attention snapped to when the first ten stood up along with the old man who was with the strange three people. Snake new the situation was about to get hairy when another ten people stood up with the woman in the white suit.
The old man started to walk away, as did the woman in the white suit.
It took the sudden movement all twenty people made to send Snake flying for cover as he knocked down his table and whipped out his SOCOM. He noticed, that at the same time as him, the recruit with black hair jumped forward, heaving both herself and her brown haired comrade to the ground as she screamed in surprise.
Bullets followed a second later.
In less than four seconds, the restaurant had turned from a late Saturday dinner to a miniature war zone. H&K MP5s fired all around, while both waitresses and customers screamed and ran for the exit, in a mass panic.
Windows shattered, and some innocents dropped to the ground. Snake looked over at the ground, and saw the younger looking recruit on the ground… as the black haired one dashed forward in a low run.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Snake called out, but the noise was so loud that no one, not even himself, heard.
Snake was then amazed when one of the attackers noticed Lynn, and shifted his fire. She instantly ducked to the right with precision, then lanched herself forward in a front flip. Her foot came crashing down over the man's skull, and there was a loud crack as the man forcefully hit the floor.
But the girl didn't stop there. She immediately ran up to another assaulter, who tried to kick her. She caught his foot with one hand, lifted it up, shifted her centre of mass, and brought her elbow crashing down onto his knee, which snapped like a twig.
Several other men noticed and fired at her from behind their cover. Instantly, with startling speed and precision, the girl shifted the man to block the bullets-
-while the girl used the now-dead guy's own machine gun and expertly fired a three-round burst into one of their heads. She then dove forward, shifting the dead body so it landed on top of her, and aimed down the sights of the gun as bullets pelted the dead corpse on top of her.
Smart, Snake thought. He was too stunned to rush out and help, but as the girl fired at two more attackers, who by now had killed each other to a small enough size where one could hear another, an attacker came up behind the girl and pointed his 9 mm at her head.
"Look out!" Snake shouted and fired a round at the threat. He dropped, and this snapped Snake out of his state of amazement. He dashed forward as well, and landed right beside the girl, knocking over a table in front of them as a stream of bullets tore a neat line across it.
Three guys remained, two firing at the one guy who took a bullet in the arm and fell yelling in agony.
That meant the last two had no one to shoot at but Snake and the girl, who, as expected, ducked, reloaded, and fired at the table. Both Snake and the girl rolled to opposite sides as the table blew in half from the torrent of lead, and rushed forward to double team the last two.
As Snake fired his SOCOM at the attacker to the left and the girl used the MP5 to mow down the one on the right, he only then became aware of Otacon's incessant yammering in his ear.
"Snake? SNAKE! What's happening! Snake!"
"Hold on, Otacon!" Snake replied, scanning the room for more threats. He noticed some people heading for the entrance, toting shotguns. Not good.
"Come on!" Snake shouted to his newfound ally. The girl ran over to the other one she was with, who was in a corner and crying, covering her head. Definitely not soldier material. The girl grabbed the one on the ground, and literally ran carrying the other girl under one arm while holding the H&K steady with the other.
Snake leaped over the cashier desk, praying dearly that there was a backdoor as the shotgun men burst through the door.
The girl followed, plowing through the wood that barred entrance to the cashier area. It snapped in several pieces, but the girl seemed unfazed. A couple of rounds were fired in their direction, missed, and were responded to when different men came streaming in through the side entrance. The two groups of men fired at one another, now ignoring Snake and the two girls, who used that parlance to slip out the back door and into the alleyway. Sirens were heard off in the distance.
The two ran for hours, quiet except for Otacon's screeching voice in his ear.
Eventually the two stopped outside a hotel, the younger girl (who had fainted back in the restaurant) hanging over the other's arm.
"Here, hold her, make it look like she's asleep. And hide these guns," the girl said, handing over her MP5 to him. Snake took off his outer shirt, discarded the recording equipment save for the optical disc recorder, and wrapped the two steel death machines in it. He carried the shirt like it was just a bundle of clothes, underneath the young girl who he now supported with both arms. She was a featherweight, and Snake could support her with one arm too, but that wouldn't look like he was gently carrying a sleeping lady.
The girl went in first, pulling out her wallet and jabbing a credit card under the nose of the desk clerk.
"One three-person room," the girl said simply. The clerk slowly swiped the card through his computer and slid it back over. He handed them a set of two electronic keys, both of which the girl grabbed and stuffed into a pouch on her belt.
"What happened to the girl?" the clerk asked, eyebrows furrowed, looking at the unconscious Andrea in Snake's arms.
"She had a little too much to drink," Snake replied, with a false smile. He followed the other girl as she quickly went four floors up the stairs and came across their room, conveniently located next to the staircase. The girl quickly opened the door, and Snake slipped inside. The door shut with a small groan as it fit unevenly into the frame. The girl went into the bathroom as Snake hid the two guns under the bed, and laid the poor girl down on top of it, who was starting to come out of it.
The girl came back out of the bathroom, her shirt missing, revealing her sports bra underneath. Snake took no note of this however, as he was busy looking at the red hole in the girl's right shoulder and the large trickle of blood that was oozing out of it.
She ran all the way here with that kind of wound? Snake thought mentally. Whoever she was, she wasn't your run-of-the-mill recruit.
The girl half sat and half collapsed onto the head of the bed. She ripped part of the under blanket off and tied a very tight binding over her right shoulder, right at the joint. Not once did an emotion of pain cross her face.
Snake and the girl sat there for half an hour. At that time, the younger girl was awake fully. She sat up, and glanced between the two. She held herself, like she was supporting her body from falling. She started crying.
"I-I'm sorry I c-couldn't help," she said do softly Snake almost barely heard it. Both Snake and the girl stayed silent.
"Not everyone's cut out for fighting," Snake eventually said. The younger girl looked up, bleary eyed, and then noticed the binding on the other girl's shoulder. "What's that?" she asked, moving around to get a better look. Her eyes lit up with terror when she saw the bullet wound. She started crying again. "It's all my fault, if I never dragged you in there…"
"You're a medic, right?" the girl with the bullet wound finally spoke up. "Treat it for me." The younger one stopped crying, looking at the wound.
"I..I don't have anything I need," she replied. "That's why we were out today, is to get some medical supplies…"
"I think there's a drug store down the street, I'm pretty sure it has everything," Snake spoke up.
"It might," the girl said, wiping her eyes with the cuff of her S.I. shirt.
"Neither of you look in the condition to go out in public, so I'll go," Snake said. He stood up. "Can I have a key?"
The girl tossed him one without hesitation. He put it in the pocket of his loose pants.
"D-do you know what you need for this?" the young girl asked.
"He knows what he's doing," the other girl said. "Go. I'm starting to feel the effects of blood loss."
"I'll be as fast as I can. When I get back, I'll explain exactly what's going on here… and I want you to explain to me why you have more skills and training than most Special Operatives." The girl sat there, silent.
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"Well, that was an utter failure," the tall dark man said to his boss. "We lost Laura in the process…"
"My Secretary will be dearly missed, yes," the Englishwoman Forrester replied from the back of the blue Sedan. "But right now, Adam, we have larger problems."
"They got the money," Adam the chauffer replied, more of a statement than a question. "And they stole your PDA. They know where the Metal Gear is being kept."
"If they can hack through the large encryption the thing has," Ms. Forrester replied. "We must head to our safe house in Chicago for now, until we can make a plan."
"Yes, ma'am," Adam replied. He shifted his sunglasses like he normally did when he was nervous about saying something.
"What is it, Adam?" Ms. Forrester asked, seeing his telltale sign.
"Well, it isn't my place to question, Miss… but if it was Mister Bonavero's wish to have you assassinated, why did he warn you?"
"Crisis of conscience?" Ms. Forrester suggested.
"Maybe, but…"
"Then we shall take him with us to Chicago."
"We'll need some men to handle him," the chauffer replied.
"He doesn't seem like a very violent man," Forrester said coolly. "But one never overlooks the value of safety in such things, do they?"
"No ma'am."
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If it wasn't for Otacon't previous incursions in dire situations like this, he would've had a heart attack by now. But Snake had said he'd fill Otacon in on what happened when he had a chance. Otacon was on his fifth coffee, which was four more than he usually had in one day. This added to his nervousness.
"Otacon, you there?" Snake said over the Codec, nearly making Otacon spill his mug of caffeinated drink.
"Snake!" Otacon replied. "What the hell happened in the restaurant?"
"Looks like the buyers and sellers didn't agree to the terms," Snake replied.
"So, it's true then…" Otacon trailed off, settling back into his chair.
"Yeah. I'm taking care of a small problem right now, but once we're done, we'll head back there."
"Okay," Otacon replied. "--Wait, we?"
"I'll explain when we get there. Right now I'm getting some supplies at a drug store getting medical supplies."
"Who's with you, at least tell me that," Otacon pleaded. "I don't like to be left in the dark."
"Two fresh recruits from the Manhattan base, but they're very strange. Talk to you when we get there."
Otacon listened to the silence for a few seconds and played back the restaurant's recording again. He had been listening to it since he had dropped out of contact with Snake to both occupy his time and listen for something weird. Just the same thing over and over again. Snippets of conversation here, snippets of conversation there--
"--Forrester Weapons Lab."
Otacon stopped the recording, rewound it a couple seconds, and played it.
"Kzzzk ksh …Forrester Weapons Lab…Kshzkkzzzzzzz"
--Yes, it was faint, but he heard the name Forrester Weapons lab mentioned.
Quickly, excited on this new lead, Otacon opened up a web browser window, and typed in the Google search engine address.
Otacon quickly typed in Forrester Weapons Lab, and hit Enter. A couple seconds passed, and the search results returned.
There, in big blue letters, was the official website for the company. Intrigued, Otacon opened up a new window to preserve his original search results, and clicked on the link.
A few more secons slipped by and a blue and silver web page inked its way down Otacon's monitor.
Forrester Weapons Lab--Our motto is 'deterrence,' not 'destruction.'
Otacon read on to find out the company was founded thirty years ago by a man named Frederick Archibald Forrester, who originated from Britain. The company was now lead by his daughter, who was also the chairman, Ms. Christopher Forrester.
Otacon leafed through the company's website, finding nothing except pages of what they do in each divison, how they aim to create jobs for people, and how they're 'anti-war.'
A link caught Otacon's attention. Apparently it was an interview conducted with the chairman, for a local newsgroup. Otacon opened up the link. A media player popped up, and a fuzzy interview started with a microphone levitating slightly under a woman's chin. The woman looked to be about late twenties at the time, and had a soft yet angular face with orange hair in a ponytail.
"Hello," the woman said, "I am Christopher Forrester, chairman of the Forrester Weapons Lab. We are decicated to--"
But Otacon suddenly didn't want to know what she was dedicated. His blood ran cooler than it had a minute ago, a tingle spreading throughout his body. He rewound the recording of the restaurant, and played it again.
"The price is the price," Otacon heard the exact same British accent say, through the snippets of available audio. Otacon immediately minimized the recording and everything else except the original search results he did on Google.
He leafed through the results, until he was on the 24th page of them, and found an interesting link. The heading below the link was 'Forrester Labs: Job creation or Annihilation?'
Otacon opened up the link. A whole article appeared before him, with pictures and scraps of newspaper stories pasted here and there. He scanned through the document, reading how there had been several indictments against them for classified things, and unexplainable large amounts of money that miraculously appeared.
One paragraph caught Otacon's eye:
--Even so, on several occasions, inspectors, pest control employees, and other such people outside of her own 'ring' of people were never allowed into two of the company's many buildings: Their Manhattan Weapons Research Facility and their new, rather expansive lab they just recently built in the northern regions of Canada, safely nestled between mountains to protect it from significant weather damage, and is even the first lab to feature it's own airport a few miles south.
There have also been rumors circling around about a possible connection to previous Metal Gear projects--
Otacon stopped and leaned back on his chair.
"Well, I'll be damned," Otacon sighed, rubbing his face with his hand.
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Lynn felt her vision starting to turn blurry. A whole blanket she had been using was soaked with blood, despite her attempt to cut off circulation. Andrea was fretting around, trying to find something else to soak up the redness. She had nearly thrown up when she saw how much blood was missing.
"It must've hit a vein," Andrea had said quietly. She went closer to examine it--
--and for the first time seemed to notice that Lynn was only wearing her sports bra, her shirt completely missing. She withdrew for a minute, blushing a bit, remembering what had happened in the restaurant, before all the madness had started. But she knew unless she helped Lynn, she was going to die. So red face and all, Andrea parted the bullet wound amidst a small torrent of red liquid.
Sure enough, a small but important vein had been severed and both ends lay at either side of the twisted hunk of metal that had once been a bullet.
Then, all of a sudden, Lynn swayed backwards onto the bed, catching herself with her left elbow. It was obvious to Andrea she was fighting to stay conscious--a lesser person migh've been dead by now. Andrea, if anyone, knew how much blood Lynn had lost and how much danger it represented.
"Where isss e'?" Lynn asked, her voice slightly slurred.
"I don't know, he should be back by now," Andrea said worriedly. She gingerly touched the wound with her fingertips. Lynn gave no response. That was not good--she was starting to lose all feeling in her arm. And Andrea knew also that Lynn's arm was very important to her way of life… losing her arm meant losing her life.
Author's Note: End of chapter three! Three chapters in two days! Wow, that's a lot of writing. Anyways, now that we've progressed this far, what's going to happen to Bonavero? Who is he, really? Is Lynn going to make it? What will Otacon's news bring? Find out soon!