Chapter 11: The Big Shell
April 29th, After Colony 200.
Heero continued to scowl as the group continued hearing the news broadcast from their base of operations: a comfortably-sized ship that they had stolen from a harbor in Maine. They were currently sitting at a non-descript point in the New York harbor area.
"The latest we hear is that the terrorists who seized control of the Big Shell six hours ago have demanded thirty billion dollars. Once again, they have hostages, President Sears and Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, who was abducted last month, are believed to be among them."
'Relena...' Heero's eyes narrowed as he thought of her. That last night he had spent with her...
"I've always been yours."
Heero grimaced. Arsenal would soon be taken care of, and he finally could give her the full attention he had neglected to give for so long.
"Heero." Duo snapped him out of his thought. "Sit down, we're about to begin."
Glaring slightly, he took a seat.
A few weeks prior, the crew had finally figured out Arsenal's AI. That, along with painstakingly tracking the movements and work history of a certain Emma Emmerich (which took quite a bit of hacking), had brought them to this location: the cleanup facility known as 'Big Shell.' It was troublesome work, made all the slower with the loss of Milliardo and Noin. He had lucked out: a rare mistake by Ocelot. The damage by the bullet was able to be repaired. The doctors had told Noin how lucky he really was: if the bullet had hit only half an inch above where it had, his heart would have been annihilated.
Unfortunately, this terrorist incident beat them to the Big Shell.
For Snake, it was an irony. He had come full-circle. He was partially responsible (although he knew that there was no oil on that tanker and that Ocelot was the true bomber) for the Big Shell's construction. He could not help but think that if he had not gone on that mission seven years ago, the Shell would not have been built.
"Let's go over one more time what we're dealing with before we start." Trowa stoically suggested.
"Good idea." Lady Une stated. "The terrorists who took control of the Shell are members of the former elite unit known as 'Dead Cell.', and a Russian Private Army. The terrorists call themselves the 'Sons of Liberty.' We know for a fact that Solidus is in command."
"It's too perfect." Duo blurted. "Solidus goes in as President Sears, and gets taken hostage. It's the last thing anyone will expect."
Heero, Trowa, and Snake silently nodded.
"Miss Relena should be in there." Otacon injected. "Ocelot was the one who took her hostage after all, and he is no doubt in there with Solidus."
Heero's fist slammed on the wall of their ship. Snake put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
"I'm going in first." Snake declared.
"Snake, shouldn't you get some backup?" Duo asked.
"Not a good idea Maxwell. Haven't you been paying attention?" Wufei scowled.
"Well excuse me for trying to help Heero. Can't you see he's stressed?"
Heero hated to admit it, but it was true. This past month was the most stress-filled hell-on-earth he had experienced in his life. For the first time in his life he was utterly worried about someone.
"The military has elite special ops guys going in there." Snake went over the situation again. "Going in together will draw too much attention. For now, we have to assume the Unified Army soldiers are our enemies just as much as Solidus and the Sons of Liberty are."
The group nodded somberly.
"I'll go in and check on the situation. Then we can come up with a more detailed plan. Those special ops guys probably won't last for long though."
The group's eyes saddened, knowing that it was probably true.
"Taking the Kamov will draw too much attention at this point." Otacon spoke of their newly-requisitioned Kasatka. "You'll have to swim."
"I know. I'll catch you later."
"Good luck!" Quatre called out.
Snake touched fists with Quatre as he made his way to prepare his swimming gear. Heero had followed him. They eyed each other. Snake had been impressed with Heero before, but since he had revealed his feelings to Relena Heero had gained his undying respect. Heero was honored, and except for Relena's love, Snake's respect was the thing that meant the most to him.
"I'll see you inside." Snake stated as he finished gearing up.
"Hn." Heero nodded.
Snake shook Heero's hand.
"I promise if I find her you'll be the first to know."
Heero nodded again.
Snake cut through the chain-link fencing surrounding the Big Shell down to the ocean floor. He swam up into the Big Shell and came up in a small pool of water. The Codec rang.
"Snake, you're in Shell 1, Strut A if you want to know." Otacon said to him over the Codec.
Snake climbed out of the water and discarded his diving gear. He checked his weapons for malfunctions, and found that there were none. Snake made his way toward a door. He turned the wheel to open it and stepped through the hallway, noticing movement on his radar. There were three soldiers in the adjoining room. Silently, Snake moved to a hiding place between a square-like crate that was in the center of the room.
Footsteps got louder as Snake's AP sensor began to vibrate wildly. As he passed by the opening, Snake grabbed his target's shoulders and did an Uchi-Mata Judo throw, tossing the enemy into the opening. The force of the throw had left Snake's enemy unable to fight back. A sharp kick to the temple knocked him out. Peering around the corner to his right, Snake saw that the back of the second enemy on patrol in the room was turned. Before he could get past the crate, Snake had him in a rear-naked choke and out cold. Snake peered around the crate and waited for the third enemy soldier to go turn his back.
"Is someone there?" He walked toward where Snake was.
Mentally sighing to himself, Snake tackled the approaching guard and knocked him out by well-aimed punches to his temples. Getting up, he pressed for the elevator. Slowly stepping inside, he rode it to the top.
"This is Snake. I'm at the top of Strut A, Shell 1." He reported as he made his way to avoid being seen by the guard.
"Snake, it seems that the special ops team is set to begin assaulting Strut C. Get over there now. We need to see what everyone is up to." Otacon relayed.
"Roger that. Heading to Strut C now."
Snake moved into the interior of Strut A. He headed down the stairs and flattened himself to the wall. Two patrols were in this room in what looked to be a cubicle-like area. They were easy enough to avoid and he headed toward the sliding door that led to the AB connecting bridge. Snake easily tranquilized the lone guard on it and moved into Strut B.
Strut B had two guards, one in the hallway and one in the actual Transformer Room. Snake tranquilized the one in the hall and ignored the one in the room, continuing on to the BC connecting bridge.
The rhythmic sound of gunfire from assault rifles was heard as Snake came to the bridge. Peering around the corner, Snake saw that a few special ops soldiers were firing their M4s at a woman, but she was not being hit.
"What the hell, nothing's hitting her!" One of them shouted.
"Fortune!" Duo and Wufei exclaimed.
Snake eyed the scene with intensity and sadness. He knew what would be coming.
"Another bad day!" She scowled. "Isn't there anyone who can kill me and give me happiness?"
"Don't let her get away!" One of the special ops guys shouted.
Suddenly, the connecting bridge was being swarmed with men from the special ops team.
"Ready grenades!" The man in the lead ordered.
Upon the leader firing his grenade, the entire squad was shocked.
"A dud?!" He exclaimed in disbelief.
Fortune readied her rail gun, aiming at the pack of troops that were on the staircase of the bridge leading to the Shell 1 Core. She fired; a high-speed beam of electricity blasted the troops apart and shattered the metal of the bridge. Fortune fired a few more times, sending her targets flying away into their own oblivions.
Fortune angrily looked down at the last Special Ops soldier as the part of the bridge he stood on collapsed under him, sending him crashing down to the water below.
Once Fortune left, Snake slowly made his way out to the bridge. Snake heard chatter coming from another point of the Shell over the Codec, which Otacon had tweaked into the Unified Military's system-the second group of Special Ops guys was screaming. No doubt they had run into Vamp. Snake closed his eyes as he heard the last one fall. He quickly got back on task.
"Otacon. I'm sure you heard about the C4s by now."
"Of course." He answered.
"The Special Ops team has been wiped out. This is a good spot. Otacon, send me some reinforcements. We have to defuse those C4s before we do anything else."
"Roger that."
"Trowa and Quatre. You guys are gonna board the Kamov and get onto the Shell. Snake needs help disarming the C4s. Gear up, you will be meeting Snake on the BC connecting bridge." Lady Une ordered.
Trowa and Quatre nodded and began to gear up.
"C'mon, I'll fly you guys over." Sally motioned once they were done getting prepared.
The high-pitched rumbling of the Kasatka came closer and closer. Finally, Sally appeared in the window of the Kasatka, giving a small greeting salute to Snake, who returned the gesture. She hovered about ten feet above the bridge, Trowa and Quatre dropping down from ropes that were strung out of the cabin.
After they landed, she took off back toward their ship.
Snake nodded at the two former Gundam pilots as Sally flew into the distance.
"So Snake, what are we gonna do?" Quatre asked.
"Dispose of those C4s. We won't be able to do what we need to do if the Shell is under the constant threat of getting blown to smithereens. There was a man that was brought in by the Preventers to work with the special ops team. His name is Peter Stillman. He can get rid of those C4s."
"We have to find him then." Quatre said.
"Follow me. Keep your guard up. He shouldn't be far."
Quatre nodded, while Trowa remained silent and followed.
The three went into Strut C. They checked their radars. There were two guards on either side of a dining hall- one in the hall itself, with the other in the kitchen. Snake motioned for Trowa to stand by the entrance to the dining hall while motioning for Quatre to keep behind him.
Snake and Quatre waited outside the door that led into the kitchen.
"Trowa, now!" Snake ordered over the Codec.
Snake walked into the kitchen as Trowa walked into the hall, they both fired their M9s at nearly the same time, the thud of the guards hitting the ground sounding out. Trowa walked into the kitchen and nodded at Snake. All three men saw a life form in the pantry on their Codecs.
Snake opened the door to the pantry slowly.
The crippled man inside looked at them through curious eyes.
"Are you guys part of Spec Ops Alpha?" He asked, giving the Special Forces squad a name.
Snake, Trowa, and Quatre eyed each other.
"No we're...with another squad." Snake answered. "We came to help dispose of the C4s."
"This is the bomb disposal guy?" Quatre asked.
"Kid, this is THE bomb disposal guy." Snake responded. "You'll see his name on anything that has to relate with explosives disposal."
"Hmph. That's just ancient history now. I'm just a poor old man who got dragged along on this thing."
"So why did you come here then?" Quatre asked with sympathetic eyes. He could tell that this man was in a lot of emotional pain.
"One of the terrorists here is a former student of mine, he calls himself 'The Emperor of Explosives' and goes by the name Fatman. He built an Atomic Bomb when he was only ten."
Quatre let out a startled gasp. Even Trowa couldn't hide the shock that his eyes expressed for a second before placing his stoic mask back on.
"I created him, in part, and therefore I am partly responsible for his actions."
"And that's why you're here." Snake finished for him.
Stillman nodded. "I was supposed to supervise the bomb disposal, but it seems it's a little too late for that..."
"Not necessarily." Snake interrupted. "You have three guys here who can claim to be experts in bomb disposal. We can handle it. By the way, I'm Lieutenant Junior Grade Iroquois Pliskin. These are my guys Bruce McClane, and Michael Reese." He motioned to Trowa and Quatre respectively.
Stillman sighed, handing each man a bomb detector. "These will, to put it simply, detect the presence of a bomb in the area. I don't need to go over all of the scientific details. Fatman always leaves a trace of the cologne he uses on every bomb he makes. The sensor will also pick up that particular scent."
The three men nodded.
"This coolant spray will freeze the bombs for at least 24 hours. It's not as good as actually disposing of the bomb, but under the circumstances this is the best option." He said as he handed the three men the spray.
Eyeing the spray, they nodded once again.
"I thought Fatman was the son I never had..." Stillman trailed. "I suppose his special treatment may have started all of this. I taught him skills, but never the most important thing. We all need to pass something on; the trick is to know the right thing... Sorry, I guess I got sidetracked. Get going."
"Right." Snake affirmed. "Michael, come with me over to Shell 2. Bruce, take care of the C4s here."
Snake and Quatre left the room.
"You guys aren't in the Unified Army." Stillman said, sitting in the pantry.
"You don't trust us then." Trowa stated.
"I have no choice but to trust you. I know those aren't your real names either." Stillman began to close the door.
"I never had a real name." Trowa answered as he began to walk out.
"Iroquois Pliskin, Bruce McClain, and Michael Reese?" Quatre asked with a hand over his mouth to cover his laughing as he and Snake made their way stealthily across the Shell 1-2 connecting bridge.
"It was the first thing that came to mind." Snake answered. "We couldn't say 'this is Solid Snake, Trowa Barton- former Heavyarms pilot, and Quatre Raberba Winner, former Sandrock pilot."
"Of course." He said as they reached Shell 2-withoug being seen.
"We'll split up. Quatre, takes Struts G, H, and I. I'll take Struts J, K, and L."
"All right." Quatre nodded and walked in the opposite direction from Snake.
The bomb in Strut C was easy enough. It was in the ladies room. Trowa was now working on the bomb in Strut D. Sneaking around was easy. With Trowa's acrobatic skill, combined with what he'd been doing his entire life, he perhaps could be better at sneaking around than Snake.
'A big perhaps.' Trowa thought. He tranquilized the nearest guard as he entered Strut D. Performing a back flip off the small platform from the door, Trowa easily found the bomb under a part of the floor that was pulled up. Stealthily, Trowa performed a high-kick to the back of the head of a guard that blocked his path, sending him flying down into the sediment pool with a scream.
The first kill of the day.
Trowa silently made his way to the DE connecting bridge. He caught the guard on the upper level in a rear-naked choke and moved into Strut E. Seeing that the bomb was nowhere inside the interior of the strut, Trowa quietly tranquilized the guard in his way and made his way up to the helipad.
Stealthily making his way across the large helipad (as such, it was rather easy to avoid being seen by the linear-sighted guards) Trowa found that the bomb was under the Harrier that was docked there. He crawled under the Harrier and sprayed the coolant, diffusing the C4.
"Snake, Quatre, I've got three C4s disarmed." Trowa reported over a private line on the Codec-making sure Stillman could not hear their names.
"Nice goin kid, you're way ahead of me, I'm only on my second one." Snake complimented.
"How are you doing, Quatre?" Trowa asked as he made his way back down the stairs into the interior of Strut E.
"I'm also working on my second bomb." Quatre reported.
"This doesn't make any sense." Stillman said to the three of them over the Codec.
"What do you mean?" Quatre asked.
"The bombs aren't placed right. This is something an amateur would do... The places of these bombs aren't enough to cause major structural damage to the Big Shell. Something's fishy here."
"What should we do?" Quatre questioned.
"We have no choice but to keep going. We'll just have to stay on guard."
"I've just finished with the last bomb in Shell 1. The bomb in Strut B has been taken care of." Trowa said around 20 minutes after the last conversation with Stillman.
"I'm about to finish my last bomb." Snake reported.
"Good." Quatre said. "I've already finished mine. I'll meet up with you."
"Roger that." Snake responded.
"Wait! Pliskin! Don't do it!" Stillman motioned. "Damn!" He shouted as he heard the clink of the bomb freezing. "That bomb was the last of the baby bombs that activated the big one. There's a big bomb at the bottom of Strut H along with Strut A. Those two going off simultaneously will destroy the Big Shell."
"I'll disarm it!"
"Wait! Pliskin, you can't! You don't have the sensor; you won't be able to find it! The big bombs will elude your current sensor! I have to go over there and do it myself!"
"You can't! Not with that leg of yours!" Quatre exclaimed.
"It's fine...I can walk and even run! I lied about the leg. I have a confession to make...that Church bombing you've all no doubt heard about...I've been covering up my injury. I'm not a cripple. I've been trying to hide the guilt from not being able to save those kids that got killed. I acted like a cripple to sooth my guilty conscience... and now it's up to me to make up for my mistakes..."
"Mr. Stillman..." Quatre trailed, trying to sound sympathetic.
"McClane, come back over to Strut C and get the modified bomb detector. Unfortunately you won't get a visual on the radar; you'll have to go by the beeping sound. The louder the beep, the closer the bomb is. Hurry! I'm leaving for Shell 2 now."
"Roger that." Trowa affirmed. "Heading to Strut C now!"
"Michael, we'll remain split and clear the way for Stillman." Snake ordered.
"Got ya." Quatre answered.
Trowa ran down into the bottom of Strut A, confronting the three guards that Snake had knocked out earlier. He tranquilized two guards and hit the third in the stomach with a Muay-Thai flying knee-followed by a kick to his downed head.
"Pliskin, Reese, get as far away from Strut H as you can. This bomb is going off in thirty seconds. McClane, if you get too close to the bomb it will trigger a proximity fuse, be careful!"
"Stillman, you have to get out!" Trowa blurted, surprised at even himself for the outburst.
"It's too late for me." He responded. "Stay as far away from the bomb as you can when diffusing it. The coolant has a spray range of seven feet. Do it, I'm counting on you!"
An explosion rocked the big shell that was made all the louder over the Codec.
"Stillman!" Quatre cried over the Codec, but knowing full well he was gone.
"Severe damage to Shell 2!" Lady Une yelled.
"Everyone's OK." Otacon, said, soothing the worried faces that sprang up.
"Otacon, find those hostages. We have to make sure none of them got hurt." Lady Une ordered.
Otacon nodded and began to type away.
"Quatre, where are you?" Snake asked over the Codec.
"I'm in Strut G. There's severe damage, but I'm not hurt."
"Ok, stay there. I'll come over and meet you."
"Holding position."
Trowa's bomb sensor was blipping wildly. He dove into the pool at the bottom of Strut A and climbed up the ladder. He crouched down and saw a pulsing green light on the bottom of some submarine-like craft. Trowa got the best angle possible-being very careful not to come too close, and sprayed the coolant. The clink of the bomb freezing was a satisfying sound.
"Trowa here. I got the bomb."
"Good job." Lady Une said in confirmation. "Trowa, we are receiving a message from Fatman. It seems he wishes to challenge you to a fight. He's got a bomb on the Strut E helipad. Get over there now! You only have 400 seconds!"
Trowa slightly grimaced and then quickly made his way out to Strut E.
Snake grimaced at the wreckage he was trying to travel through. He still had three more damn struts to get to Strut G.
"It's the enemy! I need help!"
Snake turned and saw an enemy soldier behind him. He quickly shot him in the heart with the USP he was carrying. Snake broke out his M4 and got ready for hell as he tried to find a suitable hiding place. Snake opened fire with his M4 as the nearest sliding door opened, impaling the heavily-armored terrorist troops with his gunfire and sending blood flying through the room. He made his way into another room. Snake eyed a locker and went inside.
Trowa raced up the steps onto the helipad, and noticed that the Harrier was gone. He found the bomb on the radar picked up by his A sensor and disarmed it. He suddenly heard a voice that seemed to move in and out.
"You're right on time. I like a punctual man."
Trowa's eyes darted about as he pulled out his M4.
"Hear the rhythm? I used to hang around department store clock counters. Life is short. Bombs tell every moment of their existence, and nothing announces its end with such a fanfare."
Trowa did not flinch as the rather tubby man came out on roller blades wearing an obscenely thick coat. He was drinking a glass of wine.
"Get ready the party's about to start. Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna plant a bomb, and then you're gonna try your best to diffuse it. It should make for an interesting little game, don't you think?"
Trowa remained stoic.
"The strong silent type, huh? Well then, let's get started. Laugh, and grow fat!"
Quatre paced back and forth in what remained of Strut G. Snake must have been having difficulties getting through the wreckage and avoiding the enemy. He was about to use the Codec to contact Snake when he heard a gun click to the back of his head. The familiar voice made his eyes bulge to quite large proportions.
"Quatre Raberba Winner."
Of course, every Metal Gear fan will know that Iroquois Pliskin was the alias Snake used during the beginning of the Shell in Metal Gear Solid 2. But I got Bruce McClane from Die Hard (Bruce for the actor Willis and McClane for the character he played) and Michael Reese from Terminator (again, first name for the actor, last for the portrayed character).