in the quiet loop. (solid snake x reader)

03 - got this

Snake folded his arms. "Who's pulling the strings?"

"We don't know yet," you said. "But whoever they are, they're not amateurs."

Hal's screen blinked, where another manifest was decrypted. "Wait..." he whispered, eyes narrowing. "This... this is a SEAL training rotation."

Snake glanced over as Hal tapped the file.

"Navy SEALs. Task Force 23. Scheduled for a joint readiness deployment near the New York Bay, three clicks from the Big Shell. Date matches the last uptick in encrypted comms from the site," he turned to Snake, more energized now. "We have a window. If we can intercept the SEALs before they deploy, or slip in parallel with them, we could bypass perimeter defenses. Pose as a reinforcement. It's a stretch, but-"

"-but it's a hell of a better plan than trying to swim in from Jersey," Snake muttered.

You watched the two of them, an old rhythm kicking back into place. Hal's eyes darted, his brain already a mile down the infiltration scenario.

"Emma's there."

That made Snake pause, and your brows pulled together. "Emma...?"

Hal nodded slowly. "Emma Emmerich. She's my sister. Last I heard, she was transferred under Shell 1's infrastructure contract as a civilian systems architect. Environmental AI, structural backend... but if this is Metal Gear, they're not keeping her around for climate control."

Snake looked at him. "You think she's alive?"

Hal hesitated. "I don't know, but I'm not leaving her behind. Not this time."

The silence that followed was thick. He didn't say it, but you knew it haunted him. It started with Shadow Moses, and everyone they lost. The guilt in his voice wasn't theoretical. It was a scar.

Snake stepped back from the screen. His shoulders rolled once, slow, like a man already accepting the weight of what was coming.

"We go in."

Your heart knocked once against your ribs. "You're sure?" you asked.

He nodded. "Find the leak. Destroy the weapon. And if we can..." he looked at Hal. "Get your sister out."

And just like that, the three of you were in it. Chasing another ghost, another Metal Gear, and another war that wasn't supposed to exist.

Hal worked like a man possessed, stringing together comms equipment, satellite routers, and surveillance taps into a rusted-out van parked behind a derelict construction site a few miles from the coast. He moved with purpose, but tension pulled at every line in his face. The cover was simple and forgettable, to act as a hazardous material cleanup crew on standby inside the facility. It was enough to buy Snake a window.

You would handle overwatch, and Hal would manage the mission routing and comms traffic. You stood in the narrow back compartment of the van, knees nearly touching his as you went over the checklist one last time.

Snake was already half-suited as he stood near the rear doors, framed by the gray pre-dawn light bleeding in through a cracked seam in the metal. The woven polymer of his sneaking suit caught the dim glow like steel that was tight across his frame, reinforced at the joints, and panel-lined with matter plating that flexed with his movement.

He was quiet as always, buckling his belt in place and securing the suppressor to his side holster with a clipped, practiced motion. Each movement was efficient, stripped of hesitation. You held the checklist in your hand and skimmed it for the third time, then glanced up at him.

"ID badge... secure," you said, checking the lanyard and flipping the card to scan the barcode. "Suppressor fits tight. Frequency-locked earpiece already tested. Codec encryption's been refreshed."