just a fast little fic that probably needs a lot of work.

[luciazephyr]

Short fic under the cut, exploring just how much Snake will do for Otacon.

Title: For Measures Taken
Warnings: Suggested disturbing violence.

There was a certain helplessness to Philanthropy he felt more and more as time passed. Their lives were dedicated to such a good, righteous thing, saving the world from its own destruction. Not that it didn't make admirable suicide attempts.

The latest was called ICARUS. It was a deviation from what they were used to dealing with, a flying Metal Gear that, once it reached its peak altitude, could glide over the world almost indefinitely, covering the entire planet with its strike zone. It was among Hal's worst nightmare visions, something that, after they caught wind of it, kept him up for several nights, sick with worry.

Suffering from insomnia had its upsides though. It let Hal search every lead he had until he found someone connected to the project that was remotely accessible to them. The lead financier, Vincent McLhey, who was so often holed up in his mansion, far from civilization. Far from any danger zone. His creation wouldn't go anywhere near his out-of-the-way country estate.

It was easy to break into. There was a guard detail, but they were soft, never having to actually defend their employer before Philanthropy arrived. Snake got them both inside within a half hour, systematically taking each guard out with the M9. If all went well, he and Snake could get what they needed and get out without any injuries at all. A good mission all around.

That notion was killed fast when they made it to McLhey's study, where Hal imagined his computer would be. It should have been as easy as cracking into the system, finding the Metal Gear's launch point, and leaving to destroy it.

But upon entering the office, they found McLhey standing over the computer terminal with what Hal instantly recognized as a heavy-duty magnet in his hand.

"Dammit," Hal murmured, spirit plummeting in understanding.

"Too late, Dr. Emmerich." McLhey looked positively ecstatic with his own work. "Entire thing's scrambled." He laughed, shutting off the magnet and tossing it on his desk. "You didn't think it'd be that easy did you?"

"Otacon," Snake growled, a quiet demand for information.

"He's destroyed the hard drive. There's no way to recover that data now. We... We have to..." Hal looked sideways at his partner. "I don't know yet, actually... I didn't have a Plan B."

Snake looked to McLhey, addressing him with steely anger. "You have hard copy of the information somewhere. Where is it?"

McLhey laughed, triumphant overconfidence twisting his handsome features into something detestable. "Nowhere you'll find. You should leave now. ICARUS will launch in three days." He clicked his tongue in mock sympathy. "Not much time to find another source of information, is it? I don't envy you."

Snake rolled his eyes and strode quickly forward to McLhey. The billionaire's grin fell away at the soldier's approach, his victorious expression replaced with fear as Snake shoved him backward. He fell into his executive chair and after a short, hopeless struggle, was zip-tied and gagged there.

"Better," Snake opined, retreating back to Hal. "We need to figure this out."

"Yeah..." Hal nodded and turned back to the hallway, heading back downstairs to the lush, extravagant living room. He felt rather than heard Snake following him.

"These guys always leave a paper trail. He has to have written record of his dealings somewhere."

"I agree," Hal murmured, hesitating slightly before sinking into a large armchair near the fireplace. "But I went over the blueprints. They were cleaned. There's no sign of where a hidden room or vault could be. And this place has a lot of rooms." Hal groaned, taking off his glasses to rub his face with both hands. "This couldn't have gone worse."

Snake shook his head. "Stop jinxing things and think. Where would a hiding place for files be?"

"That's the thing- I... I have no idea." Hal stared up at Snake, squinting slightly without his glasses. "We were in such a rush to get here, I didn't get a profile on him or anything. And he was smart enough to scrub the blueprints, so it makes sense he put it someplace very hard to find. And this place has four floors."

"And a basement," Snake added in way of reluctant agreement. "What can we do?"

"I..." Hal didn't want to say he didn't know again. "I'm not sure there is much we can do."

"We can't let that thing get into the air, Otacon."

As if Hal didn't know that already. "There will be hard copy hidden somewhere... W-we should just start searching, I suppose." He looked around, face a tense frown. "I don't even know where to start."

Snake sat on the footrest in front of Hal, deliberately trying to catch the man's gaze and succeeding. His green eyes were unusually intense. "McLhey knows where it is."

"Yeah, but I doubt he'll tell us." Hal stared back warily.

"He will. If we need him too." Snake's expression was almost pained, and Hal didn't know why. It make him nervous to see it though. "Otacon, are you certain you can't find it on your own?"

Something in Snake's voice made Hal really consider the possibility. After a moment, he shook his head. "I quite literally have no clue where to begin. I could find it, but it could take days."

"And we have no more leads." When Hal nodded, Snake did as well, standing. "All right then."

"All right, what?" Hal turned in his seat to watch Snake cross the room and step into the kitchen nearby. "What are you looking for?"

"Don't worry about it," Snake replied coldly, taking something from the counter and tucking it into one of the straps of his suit. He returned to the living room and went to Hal, taking one of the scientist's hands. Hal found himself holding the M9, Snake's warm, gloved hand curling his fingers around it. "I want you to stay here. Don't leave this spot until I return, no matter what."

Hal's brow furrowed in confusion. "Snake..."

"Shoot anyone that isn't me that comes in here. Don't hesitate." Releasing Hal, he took a step back, eyes not leaving Hal's face for a long moment. "I'll be back." Without another word, he headed for the stairs, climbing up to the second floor and entering the office again. The door closed behind him silently.

And Hal tried very hard not to think for a while.

It was difficult. Hal was not nearly as introspective as people assumed he was. Well, that wasn't true. He was, but he so often filled his mind with fluff and saccharine color that it deadened the urge fairly effectively.

But now, sitting in an almost-stranger's house, simultaneously straining to hear any sound from upstairs and avoiding hearing any of the soft, anguished noises, it had never been more difficult to just stop thinking.

It was fairly impossible to block out the twisting, cold feeling in his chest. It was pervasive, seductively filling his mind with images of what Snake could be doing, and how exactly one got a man to talk.

In an errant thought that scalded him with it's wrongness, he hoped McLhey knew well enough to give in quickly.

He seemed to listen. Snake wasn't upstairs more than a few minutes before returning, though it seemed so much longer to Hal. He walked down the stairs slowly, gaze low to the ground. Hal could see the blue of his suit's gloves was marred, purple smeared across the fingers and palms.

Hal knew very well what you added to blue to get that particular color.

Snake set a serrated knife on the counter of the kitchen, back where he had apparently found it. Hal heard water running as Snake bent over the sink, washing his hands.

It took an oddly long amount of time for Snake to shut off the faucet and return to the living room, where Hal still sat, not having moved. He watched Snake silently as he approached, noting how... unbalanced Snake looked. He walked over to Hal slowly, hands carefully straight at his sides.

Neither said anything for a while. Hal watched Snake, and Snake watched Hal, their own little standoff.

Eventually, Snake nodded, apparently accepting of whatever he saw in Hal's face. "It's over here." He pointed to the fireplace and moved to it. Hal watched, still not speaking, as Snake carefully counted the red bricks. Finding the one he was looking for, he gripped it carefully and pulled it out of the wall. Behind the loose brick was a scroll canister that he retrieved and handed off to Hal. "That should be everything we're looking for."

"Snake..."

"Let's go. We've been here too long already." It was true, and that alone pulled Hal from his trance, making him stand and follow Snake out of the mansion, carefully holding the documents against his chest.

"Snake, listen to me." The only sign that he was came from a slight slowing in his footsteps. "What happened... You didn't... That's not something I ever wanted to ask of you. I..." Hal's voice failed, trailing off weakly.

"You wouldn't. I know." Snake's gaze flickered sideways briefly to Hal. "But you needed it anyway." He looked at Hal more fully then, face still blank. "It's not your guilt to carry, Otacon. So don't."

Hal didn't respond, unable to look Snake in the eye, instead staring down at the tube in his hands. Here was their fire to melt the wings. Somehow, Hal wasn't sure if it was worth it.

Thoughts? Ella says the ending is "wishy-washy", and she's right, but I ran out of steam. Did what I wanted to, though, I think.

-Lucy

Comments

[thene]

Nicely done, especially Otacon's non-introspective introspection...could really feel his concern there ;___; One typo: No where you'll find.

Totally not related to what, specifically, you wrote, but this trope gives me the IRL narkies because, IRL, torture does not work as a way of obtaining reliable information but if we had to write MGS fics that would work IRL we'd be in a lot worse trouble than that. It's something I'd love to see unpicked in a cliché-deconstruction fic, hrm.

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

Will fix typo. Thanks.

but but but what about Jack BauerCompletely true, yes. I think it's more about intimidation in this context (or.... not that anyone would know that, as I will never and can't write a torture scene). Like a "tell me where, or I will hurt you. if you lie to me, I will come back and hurt you more" thing? IDK. But yeah, I totally know that and agree.

[thene]

"Pain is scary!"

(This would make an interesting theme for some Ocelot fanfic...)

[firefly99.livejournal.com]

I didn't have any problem with the ending, since it was just a character exploration piece. You've got a nice, punchy writing style that's still very emotional.

But it's full of tiny grammar errors towards the beginning that kept throwing me out:

with it's strike zone <-- its

near his out of the way country estate <-- out-of-the-way

having to actual defend <-- actually

plumetting <-- plummeting

Absolutely nothing major, but because there were quite a few towards the beginning and because your writing style is so fast, they kept catching my eye. :(

But I love that you don't explain exactly what Snake is doing.

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

ffff that's a lot of typos. sorry. I was literally typing so fast, just trying to get the idea down before I forgot it.

Thanks. Glad you likes. 83