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what_we_dreamTitle: Jam Session
Series: MGS
Pairing: None
Rating: G
Summary: A rescue, Cowboy Bebop style
I think it’s time to blow this thing, get everybody and their stuff together. Okay...
It was supposed to be a simple mission. The perfection with which that would fit on a tombstone should have tipped him off.
Maybe they were getting old. Maybe they were getting sloppy. Maybe the military was getting smarter.
Maybe they just had a bad week.
The target was supposed to be a storage warehouse for the U.S. Army in Nowhere Iowa, holding computer chips possibly manufactured for Metal Gears. It turned out to be a storage warehouse for the U.S. Army, possibly holding computer chips manufactured for Metal Gears, but definitely holding an entire platoon of Army troops.
It only took one to be spotted turning around in the air vent. In fact, there were five. It was over before it started, the intruder dragged out into the dingy light and thrown shackled into a ring of troops, a wolf waiting to be baited. Waiting, in his case, to be dragged snarling to the nearest secure base.
The champagne would be flowing freely in D.C. when the news arrived.
Solid Snake was captured.
Three
Her high heels echoed on the shining tiles, more staccato than the dull thumping of the standard Army boots accompanying her. Her hair was twisted impeccably into an elaborate bun, nails perfectly manicured in a subdued fashion. The papers on the clipboard she carried under one arm were precisely squared with the clip.
She saluted the major in charge of the unit outside the cell door, movements text-book, back stiff, eyes staring rigidly at the door behind him. Her papers, when she handed them over, were pressed and crisp with one exact crease dividing them in half. The sound of the pages shuffling was the only sound in the hall, everyone but the major perusing them standing still as a painting. Finally, having carefully checked every line and signature, he nodded and handed them back to her.
“You can see him, Captain. But his guard will be present for the interview, and you will not be permitted inside the cell.”
“Yes, sir.”
The major stepped away from the door and pulled a key card from his pocket, swiped it over the electronic lock and then pulled it open for her. She nodded to him and stepped through.
The cell bank was a long room divided in half length-wise. The half accessed freely by the door was one long room, looking into three separate cells divided by foot-wide concrete walls. There were four men standing just out of arms reach of the last cell, each carrying a P90 in a ready grip. Behind them two security cameras were monitoring the area. She walked in a straight line across to the last cell, clipboard now held in both hands in front of her, face displaying for the first time a trace of nervousness.
Standing centred in front of it, she pulled a pen from a slot in the clipboard. “I’m here to ask some preliminary questions of the prisoner.” The men on guard didn’t give her a glance.
Sitting on the bench inside of the cell, back bent due to the heavy chains running between his wrists and ankle shackles, Solid Snake looked up.
“Hey, Mei Ling. Long time no see.”
“Snake,” she acknowledged, eyes flickering just slightly. “If you don’t mind, I have some questions.”
Two
Her boots slammed sharply against the ground with each violent movement, screeching slightly when she took a corner. An escort was hurrying to keep up with her, men almost trotting alongside her despite her shorter legs. “Really, ma’am, you can’t see him right now, the Colonel’s very busy –”
“He’ll be a hell of a lot busier once he’s seen me.” She took another corner, nearly lost the outside-most guard, and arrived in front of the Colonel’s office. Not bothering to knock, she burst into the office and marched up to the desk, slammed her hands down on it.
“Colonel, I want to know what the hell you’re playing at.”
The man behind the desk, tending slightly towards heftiness with a florid face and thinning strawberry-blond hair, stared at her with affront. “Who the hell are you? How did you get in here –” he shot a look over her shoulder at the panting escort.
“Meryl Silverburg, Commander Special Forces New FoxHound.”
“Funny, I don’t see any eagles, and yet you’ve come barging in here…”
“I don’t operate within the regular Army chain of command. If you want to complain about my insubordination, you can phone the Vice President. Here’s his number.” She handed over a card, slightly battered. “In the meantime, I hear you’ve currently got Solid Snake holed up in this pathetic excuse for a base. I say currently because, the way things are now he’ll probably be gone the next time anyone thinks to stick their head in to check on him.”
The Colonel’s face, growing steadily redder throughout her speech, was rapidly approaching tomato.
“I’ll have you know, miss, that your special op doesn’t cut any glass with me, and if you think knocking in here with groundless allegations and insults against myself and this base is a good career move…”
“I’m doing you a favour, Colonel. Hell, I hear you let a journalist in to see him earlier.”
“Captain Lau most certainly is not a journalist, and had legitimate orders. You, on the other hand –”
“I, on the other hand, am not trying to help your prisoner escape.” Ignoring the Colonel’s outburst, she continued on, “and I’m telling you, putting all your man power around the cell and ignoring the perimeter is fatal. Snake can get in or out of that cell in his sleep. One man or a dozen’s not going to stop him. Your troop-allocation is practically begging him to escape.”
“I think I’ve heard about enough, miss Silverburg.”
“You don’t believe me? You think I’m talking out of my ass? Fine. I flew out here from goddamn LAX – and if that’s not a sacrifice for my country I don’t know what is – to help you keep your own eagles, since you value them so much. But if you don’t want to listen to the only person in this man’s army who’s seen what Snake can do, fine. I won’t be crying when he cleans you out.”
She turned on her heel, fiery hair cutting a sharp line in the air, and slammed out of the office without bothering to wait for her escorts. They glanced at the Colonel, saw no help there, and scrambled out after her.
Teeth set in an ugly grimace, the man picked up the phone. “Stanley? Get me Major Higgins. We need to redistribute the men.”
One
It was an old base, asbestos and lead paint kind of old, equipped with the hulking, monstrous air ducts of half a century ago. Easy for a slim man to slide through, making hardly a metallic whisper. Easy, at least, as far as the cell block. After that, things became more complicated.
There were three men outside, and possibly as many as a dozen inside, although more likely less than half that number. And, doubtless, someone with his eyes peeled on the security feed from the camera outside the door, waiting to cancel outside access the moment anything suspicious appeared. The men he could deal with, but he couldn’t cut through solid steel. Not in the time he would have.
Restraining from sighing, he backed up through the duct and began making his way towards the control room. Take them out first, and then hit the cell block. It would need fast footwork, but he was good at that.
Let’s jam
His shoes gleamed dully as the clipped over the tiles, moving with a stiff rigidity. Hands clasped firmly behind his back, back itself ramrod straight. The uniform didn't carry its crease as well as it could have, but the sheen of the medals hanging from his chest drew the eye in any case.
The man at the cell saw him coming and straightened like a metal filing feeling the upwards tug of a magnet, the electricity of rank raw in the air. He was saluting before the man was properly in front of him, escort hanging back in the disarray that comes with awed respect. The man returned the salute, stiff and quick, and glanced to the lieutenant.
“There’s been an urgent change of plans. The prisoner will come with me.”
“Sir?”
“You heard me, Major…” he glanced at the man’s chest, “Higgins.”
“Yes, sir,” said the man, almost managing not to quiver, “but I’ll need the Colonel’s permission all the same, sir.”
“You do see these stars?”
“Yes, sir.” A definite quaver this time, but there was also a resolute tenseness in the spine.
“You call your Colonel then. You tell him General Evans is here to take the prisoner in person, and if he doesn’t release custody in the next two minutes he’ll be busted down to the mess faster than you can say mashed potatoes!”
“Yes, sir! You two, watch the door!” Higgins nodded at the General’s escort, and then darted down the corridor to the phone.
He was back in less than a minute, a pulse pounding in his temple. “Sir, the Colonel, the Colonel says he’ll need to see the orders… if you could just come along to see him…”
“I don’t have all goddamn day. What part of urgent didn’t make it through?”
“Sir…”
“Listen. You let me in there to get the prisoner ready. Here’re my orders.” He took them out, handed them to the gaping major. “You go deliver them to your Colonel, although you believe me he won’t be for much longer. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.” The man practically fumbled pulling the card out from his pocket, swiped it with both hands.
“Then hurry the hell up.”
“Yes, sir.”
The General didn’t bother to wait for the man to take off, stepped into the cell briskly. The two guards inside glanced at him, nearly froze, and then turned back to face dead front. The woman standing with a clipboard turned, and did freeze, eyes widening immensely. The clipboard fell to the floor and she startled and looked down after it. From inside the cell there was a clank of chains.
“Captain, you’ll have to leave. You two. I’m here to take the prisoner. Do you have the keys to the cell?”
“Sir, they’re in the monitor room.”
“Then go get them. Now!” he barked, when neither showed immediate sign of leaving. One glanced at the other, and then hurried out of the room. The General walked over to the far cell, ignoring Captain Lau, and glanced in.
Solid Snake looked back with bright eyes that registered no apparent surprise. “Who the hell’re you?”
“General Evans. You’re being transferred.”
“Where to?”
“That’s classified. I can tell you there will be a three hour plane trip. I hope you don’t get air sick.”
“I might make an exception.”
The General snorted, and turned back to the Captain. “You may go now, Captain.”
“But – sir – I’m not finished, my report…”
“Frankly, I don’t give a damn. The interview’s over. Dismissed.”
The Captain’s eyes hardened and she straightened, saluting. He nodded, and she turned and walked out with a clipped step. The clipboard lay forgotten behind them.
“Now, where the hell’s that key…” He looked at the remaining corporal. “How far away is the monitor room?”
“Just down the hall, sir. Shouldn’t take this long…”
There was the a click, and both looked to the door. The corporal gaped; the General stiffened, jaw tensing. Meryl Silverburg opened the door slowly, paused at the sight inside. For a split second intense confusion poured over her face, then she rallied and stormed in.
“What the hell’s going on in here?”
“I could ask you the same thing, miss…?”
“Silverburg. Who’re you? Where’re the guards?”
“That is none of your concern. How you got into this secure area without an escort is –”
“Not important. I have reason to believe Solid Snake is planning an escape; I came to check on him. And it’s just as well I did, the security on this base is slovenly.” She made a clicking noise with her tongue.
“Then it’s just as well the prisoner’s being transferred.”
“Transferred?”
“Yes. Immediately. And I have to ask that you leave the area, and report yourself to the base staff in order to be escorted from the premises.”
“I see…” Her look was thoughtful, glancing around the nearly empty room. “I guess I’d better go, then.” She didn’t wait for a reply, simply turned on her heel and slammed out the door as abruptly as she came in.
The corporal stared after her, shocked, before remembering his duty and turning back to the prisoner. The door clicked again almost immediately and slid slowly open, distracting him from his duty once more. He looked at it, somewhere between relieved and worried. Confusion surfaced out of nowhere and won out.
The doorway was empty.
“What the…” he walked over to it, hoisting his semi-automatic in a firm grip, placed one hand against the door and pushed it further open.
A grey-clad hand reached in, grabbed him and whipped him out into the hall. He didn’t have time to shout.
The hand caught the door before the springs pulled it shut, and a man in grey slipped into the room, white-blond hair shining dully in the light. He paused at the sight of the General, eyes widening.
“Hello, Raiden. I assume you have the key?” said the General, slipping from his stiff pose to an easier slouch.
“Yeah. What the hell’re you doing here? In a General’s uniform, for God’s sake, Otacon!”
“Could we discuss this later?” came Snake’s gruff voice from inside the cell, accompanied by a rattle of chains.
Raiden hurried over and swiped the key. It only took a further few seconds to unlock the chains at Snake’s wrists and ankles; they fell to the ground with an echoing clatter. Snake was out of the cell in a second, picking up the clipboard and pulling out a cylinder from inside the wide metal clasp. “Looks like Mei Ling left me a present.” He flicked a switch, and vanished.
“Some people have it so easy,” said Raiden, turning.
“At least you didn’t have to cut your hair. And piss off Mei Ling,” said Otacon, already heading for the door.
“Next time,” came Snake’s voice from thin air, “you might consider coordinating your efforts.”
“You’ve got about a minute before they realise someone’s gone seriously wrong in the monitor room. And you’re welcome,” said Raiden, slipping through the door and sprinting down the hall.
“Next time,” hissed Otacon, turning to the soldier’s general vicinity, “you might consider not getting caught.”
“And rob you of the chance to outrank me?”
“Just you wait ‘til the debriefing.”
SEE YOU, SPACE SOLDIER.
Series: MGS
Pairing: None
Rating: G
Summary: A rescue, Cowboy Bebop style
I think it’s time to blow this thing, get everybody and their stuff together. Okay...
It was supposed to be a simple mission. The perfection with which that would fit on a tombstone should have tipped him off.
Maybe they were getting old. Maybe they were getting sloppy. Maybe the military was getting smarter.
Maybe they just had a bad week.
The target was supposed to be a storage warehouse for the U.S. Army in Nowhere Iowa, holding computer chips possibly manufactured for Metal Gears. It turned out to be a storage warehouse for the U.S. Army, possibly holding computer chips manufactured for Metal Gears, but definitely holding an entire platoon of Army troops.
It only took one to be spotted turning around in the air vent. In fact, there were five. It was over before it started, the intruder dragged out into the dingy light and thrown shackled into a ring of troops, a wolf waiting to be baited. Waiting, in his case, to be dragged snarling to the nearest secure base.
The champagne would be flowing freely in D.C. when the news arrived.
Solid Snake was captured.
Three
Her high heels echoed on the shining tiles, more staccato than the dull thumping of the standard Army boots accompanying her. Her hair was twisted impeccably into an elaborate bun, nails perfectly manicured in a subdued fashion. The papers on the clipboard she carried under one arm were precisely squared with the clip.
She saluted the major in charge of the unit outside the cell door, movements text-book, back stiff, eyes staring rigidly at the door behind him. Her papers, when she handed them over, were pressed and crisp with one exact crease dividing them in half. The sound of the pages shuffling was the only sound in the hall, everyone but the major perusing them standing still as a painting. Finally, having carefully checked every line and signature, he nodded and handed them back to her.
“You can see him, Captain. But his guard will be present for the interview, and you will not be permitted inside the cell.”
“Yes, sir.”
The major stepped away from the door and pulled a key card from his pocket, swiped it over the electronic lock and then pulled it open for her. She nodded to him and stepped through.
The cell bank was a long room divided in half length-wise. The half accessed freely by the door was one long room, looking into three separate cells divided by foot-wide concrete walls. There were four men standing just out of arms reach of the last cell, each carrying a P90 in a ready grip. Behind them two security cameras were monitoring the area. She walked in a straight line across to the last cell, clipboard now held in both hands in front of her, face displaying for the first time a trace of nervousness.
Standing centred in front of it, she pulled a pen from a slot in the clipboard. “I’m here to ask some preliminary questions of the prisoner.” The men on guard didn’t give her a glance.
Sitting on the bench inside of the cell, back bent due to the heavy chains running between his wrists and ankle shackles, Solid Snake looked up.
“Hey, Mei Ling. Long time no see.”
“Snake,” she acknowledged, eyes flickering just slightly. “If you don’t mind, I have some questions.”
Two
Her boots slammed sharply against the ground with each violent movement, screeching slightly when she took a corner. An escort was hurrying to keep up with her, men almost trotting alongside her despite her shorter legs. “Really, ma’am, you can’t see him right now, the Colonel’s very busy –”
“He’ll be a hell of a lot busier once he’s seen me.” She took another corner, nearly lost the outside-most guard, and arrived in front of the Colonel’s office. Not bothering to knock, she burst into the office and marched up to the desk, slammed her hands down on it.
“Colonel, I want to know what the hell you’re playing at.”
The man behind the desk, tending slightly towards heftiness with a florid face and thinning strawberry-blond hair, stared at her with affront. “Who the hell are you? How did you get in here –” he shot a look over her shoulder at the panting escort.
“Meryl Silverburg, Commander Special Forces New FoxHound.”
“Funny, I don’t see any eagles, and yet you’ve come barging in here…”
“I don’t operate within the regular Army chain of command. If you want to complain about my insubordination, you can phone the Vice President. Here’s his number.” She handed over a card, slightly battered. “In the meantime, I hear you’ve currently got Solid Snake holed up in this pathetic excuse for a base. I say currently because, the way things are now he’ll probably be gone the next time anyone thinks to stick their head in to check on him.”
The Colonel’s face, growing steadily redder throughout her speech, was rapidly approaching tomato.
“I’ll have you know, miss, that your special op doesn’t cut any glass with me, and if you think knocking in here with groundless allegations and insults against myself and this base is a good career move…”
“I’m doing you a favour, Colonel. Hell, I hear you let a journalist in to see him earlier.”
“Captain Lau most certainly is not a journalist, and had legitimate orders. You, on the other hand –”
“I, on the other hand, am not trying to help your prisoner escape.” Ignoring the Colonel’s outburst, she continued on, “and I’m telling you, putting all your man power around the cell and ignoring the perimeter is fatal. Snake can get in or out of that cell in his sleep. One man or a dozen’s not going to stop him. Your troop-allocation is practically begging him to escape.”
“I think I’ve heard about enough, miss Silverburg.”
“You don’t believe me? You think I’m talking out of my ass? Fine. I flew out here from goddamn LAX – and if that’s not a sacrifice for my country I don’t know what is – to help you keep your own eagles, since you value them so much. But if you don’t want to listen to the only person in this man’s army who’s seen what Snake can do, fine. I won’t be crying when he cleans you out.”
She turned on her heel, fiery hair cutting a sharp line in the air, and slammed out of the office without bothering to wait for her escorts. They glanced at the Colonel, saw no help there, and scrambled out after her.
Teeth set in an ugly grimace, the man picked up the phone. “Stanley? Get me Major Higgins. We need to redistribute the men.”
One
It was an old base, asbestos and lead paint kind of old, equipped with the hulking, monstrous air ducts of half a century ago. Easy for a slim man to slide through, making hardly a metallic whisper. Easy, at least, as far as the cell block. After that, things became more complicated.
There were three men outside, and possibly as many as a dozen inside, although more likely less than half that number. And, doubtless, someone with his eyes peeled on the security feed from the camera outside the door, waiting to cancel outside access the moment anything suspicious appeared. The men he could deal with, but he couldn’t cut through solid steel. Not in the time he would have.
Restraining from sighing, he backed up through the duct and began making his way towards the control room. Take them out first, and then hit the cell block. It would need fast footwork, but he was good at that.
Let’s jam
His shoes gleamed dully as the clipped over the tiles, moving with a stiff rigidity. Hands clasped firmly behind his back, back itself ramrod straight. The uniform didn't carry its crease as well as it could have, but the sheen of the medals hanging from his chest drew the eye in any case.
The man at the cell saw him coming and straightened like a metal filing feeling the upwards tug of a magnet, the electricity of rank raw in the air. He was saluting before the man was properly in front of him, escort hanging back in the disarray that comes with awed respect. The man returned the salute, stiff and quick, and glanced to the lieutenant.
“There’s been an urgent change of plans. The prisoner will come with me.”
“Sir?”
“You heard me, Major…” he glanced at the man’s chest, “Higgins.”
“Yes, sir,” said the man, almost managing not to quiver, “but I’ll need the Colonel’s permission all the same, sir.”
“You do see these stars?”
“Yes, sir.” A definite quaver this time, but there was also a resolute tenseness in the spine.
“You call your Colonel then. You tell him General Evans is here to take the prisoner in person, and if he doesn’t release custody in the next two minutes he’ll be busted down to the mess faster than you can say mashed potatoes!”
“Yes, sir! You two, watch the door!” Higgins nodded at the General’s escort, and then darted down the corridor to the phone.
He was back in less than a minute, a pulse pounding in his temple. “Sir, the Colonel, the Colonel says he’ll need to see the orders… if you could just come along to see him…”
“I don’t have all goddamn day. What part of urgent didn’t make it through?”
“Sir…”
“Listen. You let me in there to get the prisoner ready. Here’re my orders.” He took them out, handed them to the gaping major. “You go deliver them to your Colonel, although you believe me he won’t be for much longer. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.” The man practically fumbled pulling the card out from his pocket, swiped it with both hands.
“Then hurry the hell up.”
“Yes, sir.”
The General didn’t bother to wait for the man to take off, stepped into the cell briskly. The two guards inside glanced at him, nearly froze, and then turned back to face dead front. The woman standing with a clipboard turned, and did freeze, eyes widening immensely. The clipboard fell to the floor and she startled and looked down after it. From inside the cell there was a clank of chains.
“Captain, you’ll have to leave. You two. I’m here to take the prisoner. Do you have the keys to the cell?”
“Sir, they’re in the monitor room.”
“Then go get them. Now!” he barked, when neither showed immediate sign of leaving. One glanced at the other, and then hurried out of the room. The General walked over to the far cell, ignoring Captain Lau, and glanced in.
Solid Snake looked back with bright eyes that registered no apparent surprise. “Who the hell’re you?”
“General Evans. You’re being transferred.”
“Where to?”
“That’s classified. I can tell you there will be a three hour plane trip. I hope you don’t get air sick.”
“I might make an exception.”
The General snorted, and turned back to the Captain. “You may go now, Captain.”
“But – sir – I’m not finished, my report…”
“Frankly, I don’t give a damn. The interview’s over. Dismissed.”
The Captain’s eyes hardened and she straightened, saluting. He nodded, and she turned and walked out with a clipped step. The clipboard lay forgotten behind them.
“Now, where the hell’s that key…” He looked at the remaining corporal. “How far away is the monitor room?”
“Just down the hall, sir. Shouldn’t take this long…”
There was the a click, and both looked to the door. The corporal gaped; the General stiffened, jaw tensing. Meryl Silverburg opened the door slowly, paused at the sight inside. For a split second intense confusion poured over her face, then she rallied and stormed in.
“What the hell’s going on in here?”
“I could ask you the same thing, miss…?”
“Silverburg. Who’re you? Where’re the guards?”
“That is none of your concern. How you got into this secure area without an escort is –”
“Not important. I have reason to believe Solid Snake is planning an escape; I came to check on him. And it’s just as well I did, the security on this base is slovenly.” She made a clicking noise with her tongue.
“Then it’s just as well the prisoner’s being transferred.”
“Transferred?”
“Yes. Immediately. And I have to ask that you leave the area, and report yourself to the base staff in order to be escorted from the premises.”
“I see…” Her look was thoughtful, glancing around the nearly empty room. “I guess I’d better go, then.” She didn’t wait for a reply, simply turned on her heel and slammed out the door as abruptly as she came in.
The corporal stared after her, shocked, before remembering his duty and turning back to the prisoner. The door clicked again almost immediately and slid slowly open, distracting him from his duty once more. He looked at it, somewhere between relieved and worried. Confusion surfaced out of nowhere and won out.
The doorway was empty.
“What the…” he walked over to it, hoisting his semi-automatic in a firm grip, placed one hand against the door and pushed it further open.
A grey-clad hand reached in, grabbed him and whipped him out into the hall. He didn’t have time to shout.
The hand caught the door before the springs pulled it shut, and a man in grey slipped into the room, white-blond hair shining dully in the light. He paused at the sight of the General, eyes widening.
“Hello, Raiden. I assume you have the key?” said the General, slipping from his stiff pose to an easier slouch.
“Yeah. What the hell’re you doing here? In a General’s uniform, for God’s sake, Otacon!”
“Could we discuss this later?” came Snake’s gruff voice from inside the cell, accompanied by a rattle of chains.
Raiden hurried over and swiped the key. It only took a further few seconds to unlock the chains at Snake’s wrists and ankles; they fell to the ground with an echoing clatter. Snake was out of the cell in a second, picking up the clipboard and pulling out a cylinder from inside the wide metal clasp. “Looks like Mei Ling left me a present.” He flicked a switch, and vanished.
“Some people have it so easy,” said Raiden, turning.
“At least you didn’t have to cut your hair. And piss off Mei Ling,” said Otacon, already heading for the door.
“Next time,” came Snake’s voice from thin air, “you might consider coordinating your efforts.”
“You’ve got about a minute before they realise someone’s gone seriously wrong in the monitor room. And you’re welcome,” said Raiden, slipping through the door and sprinting down the hall.
“Next time,” hissed Otacon, turning to the soldier’s general vicinity, “you might consider not getting caught.”
“And rob you of the chance to outrank me?”
“Just you wait ‘til the debriefing.”
SEE YOU, SPACE SOLDIER.
