Metal Gear Ryu

Summary: Metal Gear Ryu is a crossover between Harry Potter and Metal Gear Solid set as an alternative to the events of Book 6. Suffering from the death of his former friend Ryu focuses on Metal Gear as his past slowly catches up to him. In the meantime Snake and Philanthropy work with CTU to attempt to understand the forces at work which are pushing the US and UK into conflict as Sousuke attempts to unravel the uncertainties in his own organization as well as acquire the Metal Gear before it is used.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Metal Gear Solid or 24 for that matter.

Italicized text means dialogue over nano-communication. This is communication done via nano-machines inside of a person's bloodstream.

A backslash before the name of a person talking signifies communication done via instant messaging.

Ch16: Cooperation

Los Angeles, United States
9:13 AM, November 3rd 2003

Chloe O'Brian rubbed her eyes and sighed, she hated all-nighters. She had pulled a few in the last few days and it looked like she was about to pull one again. Ever since Hal's phone call three days ago they were constantly trying to incorporate the new facts into their investigation. Sipping her coffee she looked over the computer screen that had finally booted up. This was going to be a long day.

"Chloe!" she held back her response as she heard Tony's voice crack like a whip. "I need you in my office."

Obeying her summons Chloe stomped up the stairs toward Tony's glass-encased office. She hated work so early in the morning and whatever Tony had for her it better be something she could take her time working on.

"I just got a call from Washington." Tony began in his 'serious' voice the instant she crossed the threshold of his office. "The British case has been pushed up to high priority by Homeland Security." He continued explaining. "Get everyone in the briefing room in 5 minutes. We're switching to Alpha-Class Security Protocols" He finished.

Chloe nodded and turned around, "Yes sir."

This was bad, Chloe thought. He looked the same way he had when he found out Jack was going to fly a live nuke into the dessert in an attempt to prevent civilian casualties. She walked briskly toward her office. Homeland Security stepping in meant that the situation in Britain has already reached the Presidential Cabinet, if not the president himself. She looked over the unsent emails hanging over her desktop screen. With a click she cleared her screen and looked over the bullpen where all of the analysts and technicians were working on their various assignments.

"Can I get everyone's attention please?" Chloe began in a loud but somewhat shaky voice. She still disliked addressing the public. "I need everyone to finish up what they were doing. As of now we are switching to Alpha security protocols." A wave of murmurs and confused glances swept across the floor as the member of CTU tried to guess why such high level protocols were in place. The ones who were finishing up their late shift looked particularly displeased at this turn of events and glared up at Chloe. They would be forced to remain here rather than going home. "I need everyone to back up all of their data and encrypt it before sending me their files. There should be no external communication and everything that's going to happen in CTU is considered classified by the U.S. Government. Route all your tasks and outgoing and ingoing communication through me." She explained the protocol. Some of the new faces looked a bit scared hearing these orders. "I need the heads of all departments to meet in the conference room in 5 minutes." With that she walked toward her office to avoid scrutiny about the new orders. After taking a few short breaths she picked up her data files and began making her way down to the conference room.

It had taken everyone a few minutes to assemble in the glass-encased conference room on the ground floor. Surrounding Chloe were several department chairs all sitting in their leather seats, each with their laptop open waiting for Tony to begin the briefing.

"Before I begin the briefing, I'd like to remind everyone that the information disclosed here is considered classified by the U.S. government. Furthermore, what I say here, stays in this room." Tony began in a low tone. With a few clicks the screen began shuffling through pictures of a man with neatly combed dirty blonde hair and a grey suit in various locations. "This man's name is Michael Hastings. Up until recently he has been our informer in the British Embassy. Three days ago, we lost communications with him. He is presumed dead." Tony began in a neutral voice. The slide show switched to a satellite feed overlooking a white-grey structure surrounded by barbed fence. After a few minutes the feed turned into static before resuming a few seconds later. However the time signature jumped forward several hours. "This feed is overlooking an OMN Tech testing site near Bristol. As you can see, our surveillance was somehow interrupted by what we assume was a remote hacking attempt. Unfortunately we were unable to trace this hack."

"When was this attack executed?" One of the analysts asked Tony.

"It happened approximately three weeks ago." Tony said shifting the picture to a large map of Britain. "According to other satellites, however, we are able to confirm spiked levels of gamma radiation during that time."

"A Nuclear test?"

"That is the current assumption." Tony said narrowing his eyes, as he was getting to the point. "13 hours ago the CIA servers at Langely have been compromised."

"Do we know what they were after?" Asked Chloe.

"According to the report, they managed to get a copy of major ballistic missile stations and air bases that house long range strategic bombers as well as a detailed grid of our anti-air defense, flight paterns, and current fleet deployments. We've also confirmed that the origin of the attack was from Britain."

"3 dead agents and then compromising our satellite surveillance means they're blacking us out." growled Jack, "A nuclear test and a complete report on our defenses means a pre-emptive strike?"

"That's the probable scenario." Replied Tony.

"Are they nuts?" Everyone turned to the source of the outburst. "There's no way they could take all of our MAD systems. It's impossible."

"What if they had a Metal Gear?" An unshaven brown-haired man who Chloe could have sworn was not there a minute ago asked. Both Jack and Chase simultaneously looked up at the newcomer. "Sorry I'm late Mr. Almeida, we spoke on the phone earlier."

Tony, without any sort of reaction turned toward the visitor. "Everyone, this is Iroquois Pliskin, he's with Philanthropy, a U.N. backed non-proliferation group. He will be giving you the second half of this briefing." With a curt nod, he sat down.

The man, Pliskin, replaced Tony at the head of the table and began speaking, "As you all know, there are credible suspicions to the presence of a new Metal Gear that is currently being developed in Britain, under the codename Project Pegasus."

Several subdued nods motioned him to go on.

"Recently, our organization has been investigating these rumors, and our evidence so far has lead us to believe that they are credible, and that this new Metal Gear is being developed by several Defense Technology Firms, some of which, you may have seen in the news recently."

The monitors switched to a display of a list of military corporations, several being highlighted. Scanning the list, Chloe found that OMN Tech was a member.

"The companies highlighted in red are ones that are tied under an umbrella corporation called Dragonic Ethics. They are also responsible for the critical components required for a Metal Gear."

The view shifted one more time to a detailed 3-D model of, what Chloe could vaguely tell, was a Metal Gear. Unlike the models she had a chance to study: Rex, Ray, and a few copies, this one was clearly more sophisticated. According to the scale and a few rough calculations, it was four times the size of Metal Gear Ray. She clearly made out the locations where the nuclear weapons would be stocked. Also judging by the design of the wings it was an aerial model, or one capable of sustained flight.

"One of my teammates composed this model based on the data we have acquired on the new Metal Gear design," he continued as several part of the wire-frame were blown up, "The nuclear yield for this Metal Gear, assuming Britain's current arsenal, is in the hundreds of thousands Megatons. Also judging by some of the design features, it would be capable of engaging other weapon systems, including interceptor jets, submarines, ground forces, and other Metal Gears. Among other things, it's capable of high altitude, high speed, sustained flight. Essentially it's a powerful first-strike weapons platform."

As he concluded, Chloe scanned the room to see the expressions on several people's faces. Some seemed shocked, most people, including Jack, Tony, and Chase, however, were somber and displaying something akin to a poker face.

"So they're really going through with this? They're almost inviting nuclear war." One of senior analysts spoke out. A few others expressed similar concerns silently.

"Not necessarily," several people looked up at Jack, "it can be a ploy for Britain to project power globally; especially considering the domestic situation over there right now."

"An asset like that is useless if people know about it, someone will develop a better version in time and it becomes just another deterrent. The benefit of this Metal Gear is surprise. Also, bear in mind we discovered this thing is Eastern Europe, Britain isn't necessarily the only player." Snake retorted.

"The Department of Defense is handling the conjecture, our job is to find out what its capabilities and purpose are." Tony said, standing up and resuming control.

"As of now," he continued, "our only lead is a digital key we can use to access OMN servers in San Francisco." The schematics of a large, well-fortified compound appeared in concert with Tony's words. "Going about this the legal way is lengthy, and most likely won't yield us any information that we can use in time; therefore we are planning on carrying a small-scale surgical strike."

He paused at that, Chloe assumed he was waiting for any objections to his idea, but no one voiced any. "The most effective way we can enter the compound, however, is a night-time HALO insertion." With that there was another pause. This time there was more visible concern on the faces of the analysts as well as the tactical leaders.

"What about a low altitude insertion, possibly via helicopter?" Asked Chase after at least a minute of silence.

"We would most likely be met with resistance," Tony replied, "a helicopter insertion is far more conspicuous and risky than HALO at this point."

"What mission parameters are we looking at here?" asked Jack. He didn't seem too happy about this turn of events, Chloe thought.

"We're looking at a 5-man team insertion; small enough to safely navigate into the compound, and avoid significant gunfire on entry. In order to assist you, we are planning to initiate a blackout within that entire block."

"What about emergency generators?" Pliskin asked.

"Our plan involves taking out power in a way where the emergency generators will be disabled as well." Tony explained.

"You're talking about an EMP blast?" asked Jack standing up. "You can't be serious here Tony, you'll send the city into a panic."

"Sit down Jack," said Tony finally raising his voice, "this will be a contained blast, it will only disable the power for twenty minutes in the area of a few blocks. We'll have police on stand-by to prevent panic. It will be your job to take advantage of the distractions to enter into building and extract the relevant data from the servers."

"You said 5-man team," said Chase cautiously, "who is coming?"

"You and Jack are the CTU operatives," Tony explained before facing their newcomer, "we'll also have Pliskin, and 2 of his teammates from philanthropy joining the insertion team as well as several of their co-workers joining us at the control center."

Processing what she just heard, Chloe finally spoke up, "Is Hal coming with you?"

They would need someone in the field who would be able to get into the server, bypass internal security, and access and extract the relevant data. Since Jack and Chase were the only CTU operatives coming, that left Hal as the candidate for insertion.

"No, he'll be staying at control." Pliskin replied rather tartly, "and outside this room his codename is Otacon. The remaining agents are people who I have, worked with earlier. Rest assured they're dependable."

It didn't satisfy her curiosity, however, "Who will deal with the servers? If it's not Ha," before she finished Pliskin's scowl stopped her, "I meant Otacon, then it would have to be someone from CTU."

"According to him," Pliskin replied, "as long as someone is physically present at the servers, it's possible to remotely access them. I'm sure Otacon will fill you in on the details later. This way the 5-man team will be composed of trained soldiers rather than technicians."

Taking a few deep breaths Chloe sat back down and allowed the briefing to continue, "Since a HALO operation is still very risky, one of the members will be present at the site prior to insertion to make sure that we can descend safely."

"How are you getting a member inside? The compound is supposed to be impenetrable." Asked Chase.

"Not all of it is equally well defended; just let my operatives do their job. They can get in there." He said definitively.

The rest of the meeting was spent going over the details of the insertion plan and how to navigate the internal corridors of OMN Tech's compound. Detailed schematics, security patrol schedules, and weapon load-outs were discussed. Naturally since this operation could not be officially sanctioned by the U.S. government, precautions were taken to assure safe exfiltration of the unit. Much to Chloe's annoyance, and possibly others' as well, Pliskin was very generic about his description of his resources. While Chloe had never bothered looking into the organization known as Philanthropy, she assumed that since it was sanctioned by the U.N. then it's operations were legitimate. Pliskin's manner of speaking and description lead her wonder just what kind of an organization was Philanthropy anyway.

Another issue bother Chloe was her impending reunion with Hal Emmerich. She had not spoken with him in years after they broke off their relationship, and now she was about to be forced to work together with him on such a critical mission.

The remaining analysts on the floor were put to work in various areas: assisting the planning of the operation, research into the attack on the servers at Langley, and analyzing the data regarding the Metal Gear. Judging by the behavior of her group of analysts, not everyone was particularly happy about finding out that Britain was possibly planning a nuclear attack on the US, and the feeling was probably shared across the floor. Her main concern was that someone would break protocol and contact someone outside of CTU, something which could easily cause a lot of trouble if the media picked up on it.

Los Angeles, United States
3:16 AM, November 4th 2003

LA wasn't a quiet town. Despite the fact that the room was fifteen stories high, the sound of cars running by, and people talking, could still be heard as loudly as if one was at the ground level with them. The window provided the glowing overview of the cityscape, a sea of lights formed around the spires of the skyscrapers at the heart of the city. In contrast, the room itself was dark, however neither of its occupants felt much like sleeping.

"David?" Snake grunted; he wasn't used to hearing his name spoken.

"What's on your mind?"

His companion, Jack, walked toward the window, "Who's going to be the third person? I didn't know we had someone else in Philanthropy."

Snake stayed silent for a while, not sure how to describe their upcoming companion. "The best thing I can tell you about her is that she's a little different."

"How so?"

"She's a test subject, like the two of us, I guess. Her name is Venus."

Raiden seemed to think over what Snake was saying, and remained silent, motioning him to continue.

"I assume that's her real name, she never gave me another one. She and I worked together. It happened during an investigation of a Metal Gear designed by a corporation known as SaintLogic. She's somewhat cold, I'll tell you this much. But she's good at what she does, and she already managed to get into OMN. She'll be our contact on the ground."

Raiden nodded. "So, when's the D-Day?"

"A week from now. We still need to arrange a lot of the details."

"We should let Ryu know about the situation. See if he knows anything. He's been silent for a while." Raiden suggested.

"Something's wrong, I'm just not sure what," replied Snake, "he's not doing well."

"What do you mean?"

"He's out of it, I can tell he's not been getting a lot of sleep lately. He seems edgy, and our conversations have become very short and vague. I think there's another player where he is that he's wary of."

"Who else would be down there Snake?"

"One of his former teammates showed up," Snake summarized his conversation with Ryu from yesterday, "it seems that they fought, and now she's dead. He thinks others will be there soon. It's not affecting him well."

"His amnesia?"

"That's my guess." Turning away from the windows Snake made his way toward the bed in the left corner. There wasn't much in their room, it remained pretty Spartan.

"I'll see you in the morning."

-End Ch. 16-

Author's Notes:
-Ok so, yay, another chapter. Now that it's summer I'm expecting to get some major writing done.
-Venus is a character from acid 2 so she's not technically cannon. So I'll be trying to integrate her a little differently than her plotline.
-Also planning on starting a bit more ambitious project. Which I will hopefully be able to post pretty soon.