Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Magic Knight Rayearth Fan Fiction ❯ Tragic Heroes ❯ Prologue - A Tale of Two Heroes ( Prologue )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Tragic Heroes
a Magic Knight Rayearth/Metal Gear crossover
Chapter 1: Prologue - A Tale of Two Heroes
by Grey Fox

Disclaimer: Solid Snake and Metal Gear are the creation of the gaming genius
Hideo Kojima and the property of Konami. Hikaru Shidou and Magic Knight
Rayearth are the creation and property of the talented ladies of CLAMP
studios.

"...unreasoned patience sows the seeds of vice, nourishes negligence, and
invites not only evil but even good people to do evil." -Thomas Aquinas

SPOILER ALERT! : This prologue contains major spoilers for the first season of
Magic Knight Rayearth and the 2D Metal Gear games. You've been warned.

1994 - Magic Knight Rayearth

Hikaru Shidou was once a cheerful fourteen-year old girl living in the Tokyo
area. Though short for her age, what this little redhead lacked in height,
she more than made up in perky enthusiasm and a sprightly spirit. Growing
up in a loving home with her three elder brothers, she led one of the
happiest lives anyone could possibly imagine.

But then, everything changed.

One day, Hikaru's all-girls school attended Tokyo Tower for a field trip.
Although her fellow students hated it, Hikaru, customary to her joyous
personality, thoroughly enjoyed it. But two other classes from different
schools were there as well. For some reason, two girls from the other
classes caught Hikaru's attention: the tall, elegant fencing expert Umi
Ryuuzaki and the reserved, intellectual Fuu Hououji.

Then, it happened: the event that would change Hikaru's life forever...

All of a sudden, there was a bright, blinding light. And though all present
couldn't help but to shield their eyes, only Hikaru, Fuu and Umi seemed to
hear a voice...

And then, they were no longer at Tokyo Tower. They were now in free-fall
from high up...in a sky belonging to a world not of their own...

After being rescued from an untimely death by a giant flying fish and after
the three girls introduced themselves to each other ( and after Umi and Fuu
marvelled at the fact that this short little girl was their age ) , a figure
emerged who began to explain the situation to the three confused girls.

It was Clef, a 745-year old man who had the appearance of a ten year old
boy, and the master sorcerer of the world the girls now found themselves
in. This strange new world was an alien planet known as Cephiro, a magical
land in which the ultimate power was one's will. For ages, the land had
been sustained by Princess Emeraude, the Pillar of Cephiro. It was the
Pillar's duty to preserve the well-being of the planet with the power of her
will and prayers. In her time as the Pillar, there was no war or strife in
Cephiro; it was virtually a perfect Utopia.

But recently, disaster had struck. The High Priest of Cephiro, Zagato, had
kidnapped Princess Emeraude, and locked her away in a place where she could
not pray for Cephiro. Thus, the entire planet was beginning to crumble at
its very foundations, and monsters were popping up everywhere, terrorizing
all who inhabited the planet. Many from Cephiro had stood against Zagato in
attempts to free the Pillar, but to no avail. For the planet to be saved,
a Legend would have to be fulfilled...

This was the Legend of the Magic Knights. Three girls would be summoned
from another world by the Pillar to become the Magic Knights. They would
need to awaken three beings known as Mashin, powerful living creatures who
would protect and aid the Magic Knights in battle. In this manner, the
three could beat Zagato and fulfill the Legend and the Princess's wish.
Only then could the trio return to Earth.

Upon hearing the explanation Clef gave, each of the girls had a different
reaction. Fuu's was of intellectual curiousity, while Umi's was of
staunch resistance ( a perfect Spock/Bones scenario ) . Hikaru, however,
was committed right from the start, determined to do whatever she could to
help those in need.

Clef then granted the trio special evolving armor and magic, and then gave
Hikaru the gift to properly use her fire magic. But suddenly, the sky
turned dark and the heavens rumbled. Clef immediately knew that Zagato's
forces had found them out. Summoning another one of his giant animal pets,
he instructed the girls to head for the Forest of Silence to find Presea and
Mokona. At that instant, one of Zagato's lieutenants attacked Clef: Alcyone,
his old student. After Alcyone summoned one of her own pets to battle Clef,
she immediately went after the fleeing Magic Knights. Clef defeated the
creature with ridiculous ease, but then, Zagato materialized behind him and
cast a petrification spell.

It was a two-pronged attack: Zagato was to neutralize Clef, while Alcyone
was to take out the three girls before they could become true Magic Knights.
Zagato succeeded, but Alcyone did not.

With her new powers, Hikaru beat Alcyone hands-down and forced her to
retreat.

Without further incident, the trio reached the Forest of Silence. Then they
located Presea's hidden dwelling, where they met Presea herself, the chief
artisan and weaponsmaker of Cephiro, and Mokona, a small, harmless-looking
creature who would be of invaluable help to the Magic Knights on their
mission to save this alien planet.

Presea then further explained the girls' mission objectives. In order to
revive the Mashin, they would need special weapons crafted from a legendary
metalloid called Escudo. Such a weapon would evolve with its owner
according to the owner's spiritual and mental growth, and to awaken the
Mashin, the Escudo weapons had to be evolved to their fullest.

The girls set out to the Spring of Eterna where the metalloid Escudo could
be obtained. With the guidance of Mokona, and additional aid from a
mysterious swordsman known only as Ferio, the trio reached the Spring of
Eterna and retrieved the Escudo, despite two more attacks by Alcyone. Presea
then was able to make the Magic Knights evolving swords from the Escudo, but
only after sacrificing her life to finish the swords during an attack from
another of Zagato's lieutenants: Ascot.

Hurting after the death of Presea after only knowing her for so short a time,
Hikaru and the others nevertheless knew they had no choice but to proceed
with their journey and save Cephiro.

And the girls proceeded with their mission indeed. Their journey was
extremely difficult, for they still had to contend with Zagato's forces.
Not only did they still have to contend with the ice sorceress Alcyone and
the monster summoner Ascot, but also the mercenary illusionist Caldina, the
metamorphic beast Innova, and the master swordsman Lafarga. But as the
girls progressed further and further, their opponents seemed to be less and
less motivated by evil desires, and seemed to be fighting for reasons far
less sinister.

Eventually, all three Mashin were revived: the Mashin of the sea, Celes, the
Mashin of the wind, Windam, and Hikaru's Mashin, the Mashin of fire, Rayearth.
And thus the three were ready to face Zagato himself.

And Zagato, in a Mashin of his own, engaged the trio in one of their most
difficult battles ever. He was one the most powerful enemies they had ever
faced. And yet, from his words and actions, he hinted that his purposes
were not those that the girls had originally thought.

Hikaru and her two friends were able to combined their power, and with their
strong wills, forged by their adventure together, were able to deliver the
final blow which defeated Zagato.

It seemed as if their mission was over. Little did Hikaru and the others
realize that it had only begun...

For when Princess Emeraude appeared before them, she immediate unleashed her
power upon the three. It looks as if Emeraude was about to destroy them, but
then, the Princess was able to regather herself, and she revealed the truth
to the confused Magic Knights.

Zagato had not imprisoned Princess Emeraude as they had originally thought.
Instead, the Princess had sealed herself on her own free will. Her reasons
for doing that were that she had fallen in love with Zagato. As Pillar, her
duty was to pray for the stability of her planet and focus on nothing else,
but she had become enamored with Zagato nonetheless, and thus began to
think of him more than Cephiro.

In such an event that the Pillar can no longer pray for the land, he or she
is granted a failsafe: the ability to summon people from another world to
become the Magic Knights and revive the Mashin. People of Cephiro cannot
harm or kill the Pillar, but people from other worlds can. This is the
reason the Magic Knights must come from another world.

And the reason she summoned Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu to become the Magic Knights
was so that they could take her life so another Pillar could be selected; so
that she could be free at last.

And Zagato had done everything within his power to make sure this Legend
would not come to pass, because he had returned Emeraude's love for him,
and wanted to make sure she would not die...even if it meant that Cephiro
itself would perish, for his love for Emeraude was great indeed.

Hikaru could not believe what the Princess had told them, and she, as well
as Fuu and Umi, simply felt unable to kill her. But then, Emeraude's rage
over the killing of her love began to resurface. While she still had
control over herself, she explained that if her hatred fully took hold of
her, she would cause the complete annilihation of Cephiro, and once again
begged to be sent to be with Zagato, to finally think only of him.

And with heavy hearts and eyes filled with tears, Hikaru, Umi and Fuu
combined their Mashin into one, and delivered Emeraude the final blow.

And in another dizzying flash, Hikaru and her two friends were once again at
Tokyo Tower, mere seconds after they were first brought to Cephiro, as if
nothing had happened.

But the three fully remembered what had happened, and they clutched each other,
tears of sorrow pouring down their cheeks, as their confused classmates stared
at them...

1995 - Metal Gear

Hikaru's time in Cephiro was not yet over. Though she and the other two
Magic Knights successfully completed their first mission in Cephiro, the
three would soon return, and fight to save Cephiro yet again.

But for now, the focus must shift from the world of Cephiro to Hikaru's own.
For unfortunately, Earth had never been the paradise Cephiro had once been.
Its inhabitants had always been plagued by seemingly never-ending strife,
suffering, and worst of all, war...

...And now, the constant threat of another, more devastating war...

A nuclear war...

The threat of nuclear war still loomed over Earth like an insidious storm.
Even after the debacle of the Soviet Union, nuclear tensions were still on
the rise. Each of the superpowers still clung to the deterrence thoery,
making sure they had enough nuclear arms to discourage all other nations
from making a nuclear strike. And each superpower possessed enough nuclear
firepower to destroy the world several times over.

And in this time of anxiety, there were whispered rumors of a deadly new
nuclear weapon within the borders of a small military nation in Africa.
This nation was known as Outer Heaven, a military regime that issued
mercenary cleints and high-tech arms and equipment to the highest bidders.

To investigate these rumors, a special task force was comissioned with the
job. The force chosen was none other than Fox-Hound, a secret unit of the
U.S. government charged with secretly disabling forces around the world
that threatened world peace.

Big Boss, the commander of Fox-Hound, chose Fox-Hound's best operative to
infiltrate Outer Heaven and discover the truth behind their new weapon.
This was Frank Jaeger, known to his comrades as Grey Fox, the only man ever
to receive the codename "Fox".

Grey Fox was successful in sneaking into Outer Heaven. But soon, contact with
him was lost, and leaving a message with only two words before this happened:

"Metal Gear"...

To discover the meaning of Grey Fox's message, another operative would have
to be sent in...

Solid Snake.

Snake was the newest member of Fox-Hound. He was recruited because of his
admirable combat skill, but had very little experience with the type of
missions Fox-Hound dealt with. Nevertheless, Big Boss ordered Snake to
enter Outer Heaven, find Grey Fox, and find out what Metal Gear was.

Snake successfully made it into Outer Heaven undetected. Alone and unarmed,
he was able to infiltrate the buildings of the Outer Heaven base, arming
himself with whatever weapons and equipment he could find and rescuing the
hostages he encountered while trying to locate Grey Fox, his first mission
objective.

After taking the advice of one of his rescuees, Snake purposely got caught
by the Outer Heaven soldiers and finally found Grey Fox in a secured cell.
Though he was captured and at the mercy of his enemies, Grey Fox was cool and
composed as he explained to Snake the truth behind Metal Gear.

The frightening, terrifying truth.

Metal Gear was a fully armed and armored walking battle tank that could
traverse any type of terrain. And worst of all, it had the ability to
launch a nuclear weapon from anywhere on the face of the Earth...

Even with the nuclear arsenal that the world's leading nations possessed,
there were still limitations on their usage. A weapon that could make a
nuclear strike from anywhere on the planet and target any location on the
planet, therefore, would threaten the delicate balance of power and give
anyone who had it an almost unbeatable advantage on the world stage.

Metal Gear would have to be destroyed.

Grey Fox told Snake that the creator of Metal Gear, Dr. Petrovich, was
still in Outer Heaven, being forced to work on the death machine for the
Outer Heaven mercenaries. Grey Fox said that Dr. Petrovich knew how to
destroy Metal Gear. Snake would have to rescue Dr. Petrovich and find out
Metal Gear's weak point from him.

And so, Snake broke out of the cell, recovered his equipment, and set out to
liberate Petrovich. After battling and defeating the top mercenaries of
Outer Heaven, Snake finally managed to rescue Dr. Petrovich and his
daughter Ellen. From Dr. Petrovich, Snake learned the location of Metal
Gear as well as its weakness.

Metal Gear was housed on the hundreth basement floor of the fifth
building of the Outer Heaven base. This complex was the most heavily
guarded, and infested with the deadliest traps Snake had encountered.

Almost as if someone knew he was coming...

Deep underneath the complex, Snake finally came face-to-face with the
Metal Gear TX-55. Armed with the information Petrovich had provided, Snake
was able to bring down the nuclear-capable monstrosity.

Once he did, the whole place began to come apart. The entire base was about
to self-destruct.

While attempting to escape, Snake encountered the man responsible for the
whole crisis...

Big Boss.

Fox-Hound's commander was also the leader of Outer Heaven, planning to use
the power of the Metal Gear TX-55 to further his own lustful goals. As
commander of Fox-Hound, he had it so that Grey Fox would be captured, and
then Snake, Fox-Hound's newest recruit, would be sent in, thinking he would be
too inexperienced to successfully bring down Metal Gear.

But he was wrong.

And so, Big Boss and Solid Snake engaged in battle deep underneath Outer
Heaven as the entire base began to crumble; a battle only one would walk
away from...

Snake made it to the surface just as all of Outer Heaven exploded, with
Big Boss, beaten and defeated, still inside...

Metal Gear and Outer Heaven had been successfully destroyed.

But the evil lurking in the hearts of men would ensure that Metal Gear
would rise again...

1999 - Solid Snake

At the time of the Outer Heaven fiasco, nuclear disarmament and a stable
world peace seemed impossible. But four years later, it looked as if both
would actually be achieved. All nations with nuclear capability agreed to
begin dismantling their nuclear weapons at an accelerated scale, and at last
it seemed as if the people of Earth could look toward the future without
fear.

But such hopes soon proved to be naive in the extreme.

Around two years earlier, a new nation arose in the Middle East, a nation
run by military rule and the world's deadliest mercenaries; a regime even
more ruthless than Outer Heaven.

This was the nation of Zanzibar...

Disdainful of the concept of a lasting world peace, the forces of Zanzibar
began to raid nuclear arms disposal sites in which the dismantling of
nuclear warheads and other nuclear weapons was not yet complete. Through
this, Zanzibar was able to build a nuclear arsenal, the only substantial
nuclear arsenal now existing in the world.

This alone was a crisis enough in itself, but another disaster was in the
works.

At this time, the world's supply of oil was beginning to run out. Earlier
estimates of remaining oil supplies proved to be false. Now the world was
facing a severe energy crisis with no alternative to oil.

But a scientist from Czechoslovakia, Dr. Kio Marv, made a revolutionary
discovery that had the potential to solve the latter problem: a genetically
engineered microorganism, known as OILIX, that could refine crude oil.

However, before he could share his discovery with the rest of the world,
Dr. Kio Marv was abducted...

By agents of Zanzibar.

Zanzibar now hoped to gain control over the world through their nuclear
arsenal and the impending energy crisis.

Such a situation needed to be remedied immediately. But with the way the
nation of Zanzibar was set up, there was only one way to do so while
averting nuclear holocaust.

A top-secret one man black op.

And for that, a man of insurpassable skill would be needed.

And the man chosen was the man who achieved legendary status after single-
handedly saving the world from nuclear war once before: Solid Snake.

Colonel Roy Campbell, the man who became the commander of Fox-Hound after
Big Boss's defeat, called upon Snake, now in retirement, to undertake the
mission to rescue Dr. Marv from Zanzibar. And so, on Christmas Eve, Snake
was sent to infiltrate Zanzibar.

Once more, Snake was sent to infiltrate hostile territory with nothing but
his own clothes, a wireless radio, and a pack of smokes. Once again, Snake
was able to stealthily sneak into hostile territory while avoiding
detection by the enemy.

Soon after safely making it into Zanzibar, Snake was contacted by another
person who would be of invaluable assistance: Holly White, a reporter who
had snuck into Zanzibar a month earlier in order to gain information.

With the additional help from Holly White, Snake proceeded with his main
objective: rescuing Kio Marv. But when it seemed that he had found Marv,
he received an immense surprise, for he had found someone else...

Dr. Petrovich.

The Russian robotologist explained to Snake that he had been kipnapped along
with Dr. Marv during Marv's trip to the United States. Petrovich then
provided Snake with additional information of the whereabouts of Dr. Marv.

With the help of Holly White and Dr. Petrovich, Snake continued his mission,
but soon, Snake was greeted with another shock of surprise, for another
of his old friends was here in Zanzibar as well...

Grey Fox, one of the few people Snake had met that he had ever called friend.

But he was not here to help Snake. The man who had once been his friend was
now working for Zanzibar, declaring war on the rest of the world. And
Fox had the means to do it, for with Dr. Petrovich, Zanzibar was able to
construct a newer, deadlier incarnation of Metal Gear: the Metal Gear D.

Snake realized he had no choice but to oppose his old friend, and continued
his mission, all the while being pitted against the most savage, skillful
mercenaries from all over the globe.

Until finally, he reached the room where Dr. Marv was located. But
unfortunately he was dead; killed from the relentless torture used in the
attempt to gain the information of OILIX from him. Dr. Petrovich was there
as well, leaning over Marv's lifeless body, saying that he had been there,
and said that he knew Marv had kept the data about OILIX in a the cartridge
of an MSX game manufactured by Konami ( AN: I'm not kidding here people.
This is how it was in the game. ) .

Then Snake got a call from Holly. According to the information she had just
dug up, Petrovich was working willingly with the Zanzibar forces. Hearing
that he had been found out, Petrovich immediately turned on Snake, leaving
Snake with no other option but to defeat him.

After recovering the cartridge with the vital OILIX data, Petrovich, with
his last words, revealed to Snake the sole weakness of the new breed of
Metal Gear: the legs, being lightly armored, could be destroyed by
grenades.

Then, suddenly, the floor underneath Snake opened up. He plummeted down
into the room that housed the new Metal Gear. And from within the horrific
weapon came a voice...

The voice of Grey Fox.

Snake engaged the Metal Gear D in battle as Fox unleashed all of its weaponry
upon him; as two men who were once friends now fought the bitterest of
battles...

Snake was triumphant once more, and the Metal Gear D was reduced to rubble.
From amid the smoldering wreckage, Fox emerged and stole the cartridge from
Snake. Snake pursued him into a room laden with mines, and Fox challenged
him to a one-on-one, hand-to-hand battle to the death. And so, the two
former comrades again battled fiercely with each other.

And the outcome was Fox laying on the cold metal floor, bloody and badly
beaten, as Snake looked over him as he uttered his final words. Fox told
Snake that he had joined the Zanzibar mercenaries because he could not
survive in a world without war. He needed war to feel truly alive.
Additionally, he felt obligated to his leader...

As Fox lay dying before the distraught Snake, he felt the sincerest sympathy
for his old friend, but also vowing to never be like Fox.

Then the other door to the mined room opened up, and a voice beckoned to
him to proceed

Snake went in, and then came face-to-face with the man who was the driving
force behind the creation of Zanzibar and all its warlike activities...
BIG BOSS!!!

Snake's old enemy had survived the destruction of Outer Heaven and was
now pulling the strings in Zanzibar! His goal: create a world brimming with
war and conflict so warriors such as he would always have a place.

Snake faced Big Boss once again in battle, for the second and final time...

And in the end, Big Boss, the man who had haunted Snake's nightmares for
four years, burned to death before his eyes.

And with Big Boss dead, all of Zanzibar would soon fall.

Snake escaped Zanzibar with Holly and soon the two met with Colonel Campbell.
Using the Colonel's own MSX to examine Marv's game cartidge, they found that
the cartridge did indeed contain the data about OILIX. The world would now be
guaranteed a new source of energy...

But once this was discovered, Holly turned to see that Snake was nowhere to be
found. Confused, she asked Campbell why Snake would leave them.

All the Colonel could suggest was that Snake now felt his place was no longer
with them.

Little did the Colonel realize that he was right.

For something terrible had happened to Snake...

Snake had now gotten PTSD ( post-traumatic stress disorder ) because of all
that he had been through during his harrowing missions in Outer Heaven and
Zanzibar: being betrayed by those he considered his friends, Petrovich and
Grey Fox, all the fierce battles he had to fight, all the enemies he had to
kill in cold blood, and worst of all, Big Boss's last-minute claim to him...

The claim that he was Snake's father...

Snake now was plagued with flashbacks of all he had gone through in Outer
Heaven and Zanzibar, and intense guilt over all the killing he had been forced
to do. Unable to stay with people, Snake fled to the Alaskan wilderness and
built himself a house, and there he lived like a hermit, determined to leave
his days as a soldier...and a killer...firmly behind him.

However, this was not to be...

2002 - Ghost Babel

For nearly three years Snake lived alone in Alaska, far away from the
battlefields...from all the killing. But even so, Snake was still a prisoner
of his memories and his guilt, haunted day and night.

And then, distater struck the world once more...

One day, the Colonel, along with a bunch of troops, arrived at Snake's
Alaskan home, requesting the help of the 'Legend'. A U.S. plane that had
been heading to South America had been hijacked by terrorists.

And on that plane was the newest model of Metal Gear, the Metal Gear Gander.

Snake was understandably shocked to hear that there was another Metal Gear,
and the Colonel explained that the U.S. government used data recovered from
Outer Heaven, hoping to exploit its tactical advantages.

Furthermore, the forces involved with the hijacking with from the African
nation of Gindra, a small country currently in the middle of an ethnic
conflict, and had been occupied by U.N. peacekeeping troops. The ethnic
minority, headed by GLF ( Gindran Liberation Front ) had stolen Metal Gear
Gander to use it to gain their independence. And even worse, GLF had hired
some of the world's top mercenaries. GLF and these mercenaries were now
operating out of an inpregnable fortress called Galuade.

Campbell had come to Snake to ask him to accept the mission to destroy the
threat of Metal Gear, just as he had done twice before. But Snake refused,
not wanting to ever be put in a position in which he would have to kill
again.

Until Campbell revealed where Galuade was...

Built on what used to be Outer Heaven.

Sensing conspiracy, Snake grudgingly accepted the mission.

And once more, Snake went into battle, unarmed and alone, but this time
better suited. Now he had a new specially designed sneaking suit and a more
efficient communications device called a Codec. Being dropped off by plane,
Snake trudged through the African jungle heading for Galuade to follow his
first order: meet up with members from Delta Force, also assigned to this
mission.

But once Snake made to the outer premises of the fortress, Snake got a call
from Campbell: contact with Delta Force had been lost; most likely they were
wiped out.

But soon after Snake got into the fortress grounds, Snake received a call
from a survivor from Delta Force, Chris Jenner. She reported that her group
had been ambushed, by the mercenaries hired by GLF.

When Snake finally met up with her inside the fortress, Chris further
elaborated on the mercenaries that had decimated her Delta Force comrades:
they were a professional group known as Black Chamber, who were very good at
what they did, and were utterly ruthless, especially their leader, the one
who calls himself 'Viper'.

And these mercenaries Snake would be forced to face in battle as he stealthily
snuck around the fortress in his efforts to destroy the Metal Gear Gander.
One by one, he encountered the members of Black Chamber: the Wilgi-wielding
Slasher Hawk, the night-visioned serial killer Marionette Owl, and the
flamethrower-toting Pyro Bison. And one by one, he had to fight them, and
kill them. Once again he had to look upon his handiwork as the life of the
people he had killed ebbed from their bodies as they took their final
breaths; looking at three more faces that would haunt him forever.

When Slasher Hawk died, he told Snake of his terrible childhood in the
Australian tribes, and Owl told him the events that led up to him becoming
a serial murderer before he died. Both of them, however, hinting at a
distater that had befallen two years ago, in which they had been dealt a
terrible injustice.

But when Pyro Bison was struck down, he said nothing about his life.
Instead, he condemned Snake for all the killing he had done and scoffed at
him when he said he never wanted any of it. Bison accused Snake of coming
back to Outer Heaven to continue to kill because that was all he was good
at.

Then, Bison went on to reveal the truth about Black Chamber: it was a
subsidiary group of Fox-Hound. Because of Snake's success in his first
mission to destroy Metal Gear, Fox-Hound had gained worldwide attention,
making the top-secret assignments the unit had been founded for virtually
impossible. So a separate group was formed, and that was Black Chamber:
responsible for all the dirty assignments to defeat anti-American forces
throughout the world.

And again, mentioned a crime committed two years before...

Forced to continue, Snake eventually made it to the building where Metal
Gear Gander was held, the research facility. Once again, Metal Gear was
on the hundreth basement floor...

But before he could face it, he ran into the leader of Black Chamber:
Black Arts Viper.

Asking what happened two years ago to warrant capturing Metal Gear for use
as a weapon of vengeance, Viper told Snake the whole story. Two years ago,
the Gander prototype had been hijacked, and Black Chamber was sent to
retrieve it. But there were fears within the government that Black Chamber
now knew too much, and one man known only as 'Anonymous' marked them for
death, sending Fox-Hound to kill them. Only Viper and a few others survived.

Seeing that Viper was hell-bent on revenge, Snake realized he had no choice
but to take out Viper too. And so the two battled, with the now-captive
Chris Jenner's life on the line.

And Viper was beaten.

Now all that remained was to destroy Metal Gear Gander itself.

Snake found it down a long, large passageway, fully active, with the leader
of GLF standing smugly on top: General Eguabon, taunting Snake, saying that
he was merely a pawn in the government's little war game. And so, Eguabon
attacked Snake in the Metal Gear Gander.

One man, against the deadliest, most gargantuan, most powerful incarnation of
the most horrible weapon created by humankind...

And Snake brought down the monstrosity, turning it into a pile of so much
smoking scrap metal.

And amid the wreckage, there lay a badly wounded General Eguabon, who told
Snake the entire story of Outer Heaven, GLF, and the birth of Metal Gear:

Outer Heaven was a U.S. backed program that supplied mercenaries to its
clients for the purpose of dismantling anti-American forces in Africa and
around the world. But the field leader of Outer Heaven, Big Boss, broke out
of the program, planning to use Outer Heaven, and the Metal Gear TX-55, for
his dream of making the world full of war.

And then, he, Metal Gear, and Outer Heaven were brought down by Snake. In an
effort to cover up their involvement, the U.S. government handed Fox-Hound to
the international media and created a hero myth, which resulted in Snake being
known as the 'Legend'.

But U.S. support to the area of Outer Heaven did not end there. It continued
on, into what was known as 'Project Babel': provoke an uprising of an ethnic
minority, create an hostile atmosphere in the region, which would result in
U.N. troops being sent in for an indefinite stay so that the U.S. could
exercise control over the region. It was a means to further establish the
U.S. as the dominant superpower. And it, and Metal Gear, were headed by
Army Chief of Staff, Parker, who heavily supported GLF.

And with his final moments, Eguabon gave Snake a computer disk that proved
everything that he had been told; enough evidence to bring down everyone
involved.

Seeing that the threat of Metal Gear was over, Snake began to leave. But then
he heard movement atop the remains of the Metal Gear Gander...

Black Arts Viper.

Viper laughed at Snake, gloating that the whole Metal Gear hijacking had
been staged so that he could learn the true identity of the man who had ordered
the deaths of his comrades, and also revealed that Campbell had been the one in
charge of Fox-Hound that night Black Chamber was decimated.

And now, believing, that he had done so, proceeded with his mad plan of vengeance.

It was then that he revealed the true power of the Metal Gear Gander: not only
was it able to launch nuclear weapons from anywhere on Earth, it also served
as a means to link up to armed satellites and unleash a nuclear holocaust from
orbit.

And the remains of Metal Gear were on a cargo elevator, now working its way up
to the surface, and then, nothing could stop it from initiating a nuclear
holocaust.

Snake only had ninety seconds to defeat Viper once and for all and stop Metal
Gear Gander from destroying the world...

And the end result was the complete shutdown of Metal Gear Gander, and the
final defeat of Black Arts Viper.

Once on the surface, Snake met up with Chris Jenner once more, who had found
a jeep they could escape Galuade in. And they were about to, when the Codec
sounded.

It was the Colonel. He explained that he had indeed been in charge of Fox-
Hound that night. But he had been told that it was a terrorist group; he only
found out the truth when it was far too late. This was the reason he retired
from service two years ago suffering from the guilt.

This was part of the reason Campbell accepted the assignment to destroy Metal
Gear Gander.

Another reason was that a man in the CIA, Steve Gardner, threatened to make it
look as if he had planned the whole thing if he did not accept.

Then Weasel, a mercenary charged with providing Snake additional support by
Codec, spoke up, and told the whole truth about the origins of Metal Gear and
Black Chamber.

Steve Gardner had been DDCI ( Deputy Director of Central Intelligence ) in the
years before the Outer Heaven crisis. Metal Gear had been under CIA
development, and Steve Gardner had been the mastermind behind it, Outer Heaven,
and Project Babel and continued its work even after Outer Heaven was brought
down. Then when the Gander prototype was stolen two years ago, control of
the death machine and Project Babel was handed to Army Chief of Staff Parker,
and Gardner had Black Chamber wiped out to insure their silence. In other
words, Gardner was 'Anonymous', not Parker.

Worse still, Gardner had staged all the recent events surrounding Metal Gear
so that he could regain control of the weapon. If GLF ended up using Metal
Gear Gander, Parker would get the blame because of his longtime aid to GLF,
and control of Metal Gear would return to Gardner.

Weasel knew all this because he was working for Gardner, and ordered to kill
everyone involved once the mission was over. But, growing attached to them,
decided to let them go...

And so, with no more worries, Snake, with Chris, drove off into the sunset,
with the disk that could bring down Gardner, Parker, and everyone else
responsible for all the deaths resulting from the attempt to use Metal Gear.
Feeling in part responsible for all the death and destruction himself, Snake
vowed to use that information to expose all those involved in the
conspiracy, feeling it was the least he could do for all the lives destroyed
by the evil surrounding Metal Gear...

But even this would not make the torment Snake had felt ever since the first
Outer Heaven mission in 1995 go away...


* * *

Hikaru and Snake's time as warriors were not yet over. At the time their
stories were left to dangle in this prologue, their most trying, soul-
searching, dangerous adventures we know of were still lying before them
( Magic Knight Rayearth 2 and Metal Gear Solid ) , in which to save
countless millions, they would have to overcome almost insurmountable
obstacles...and a shadow of themselves...

But before then, the power that made them the tragic heroes they are will be
the power that will bring them together, for a mission that will decide the
course of history of their world...

The fic begins ( hopefully soon ) in Chapter 2.