in the quiet loop. (solid snake x reader)

10 - don't die on me.

There was a hidden file, buried in a mirrored data fragment tagged with defunct black-budget intel codes. He decrypted it manually, then he froze.

"Jackpot," Otacon whispered.

Snake stepped beside him, casting a shadow over the screen. He leaned in from the other side, brows furrowed. "What is that?" Snake asked.

Otacon clicked to open the text string. It was heavily redacted, but enough remained to piece it together. It had the companion subjects named after you and Olga's child with their facility locations, with a note at the bottom as high-risk.

Raiden came from the other side, his jaw clenching. "That's... that's them. That's where they took them."

Otacon nodded slowly. "They're being held in Area 51. Probably deep underground. Somewhere even the U.S. government isn't aware of. Maybe it's a Patriot-internal designation."

Snake said nothing for a beat, taking the words in. Then he spoke, "How long 'til we get there?"

"I can rig a jet to take us near Nevada," Otacon replied. "We'll have to go dark he moment we enter restricted airspace. No drones. No transmissions. We'll be flying blind."

"That's nothing new," Snake muttered.

Raiden looked between them, voice low. "Why Area 51? Why keep them there?"

"Off-grid. Deep underground. Sealed," Otacon said. "If the Patriots wanted to keep a child and someone like her off the map forever... that's exactly where they'd go. There's no jurisdiction. No oversight."

"And we still don't know why they spared Rosemary," Snake added, glancing at Raiden.

Raiden hesitated. "Whatever it is... they wanted us to find her. But not them."

Snake looked toward the window, the city lights fading behind them as the sea opened ahead.

"Now what?" Otacon quietly asked.

"We go ghost," Snake replied. "We infiltrate. Get them out."

"And if they've turned the whole facility into a trap?" Otacon asked.

"Then we spring it."

Later, aboard the modified stealth jet, Snake sat near the rear compartment, checking his gear. Raiden calibrated his blade's edge silently. Otacon adjusted the radar systems to mask their presence.

Snake pulled out a small audio recorder from his vest, an iPod that he had kept hidden during missions when he needed to decrease his stress. It had only one file on it – your favorite song.

"Fly me to the moon... and let me play among the stars..."

He closed his eyes and listened, letting it remind him what he was fighting for.

----

The desert wind kicked up against the facility's edge, swirling dust into ghostly tendrils. Three figures moved through the shadows with Raiden cloaked in active camouflage, Otacon navigating with a stolen access panel, and Snake in his trademark's sneaking suit, with a suppressed SOCOM.

"We've got less than ten minutes before their satellite grid picks us up again," Otacon whispered.

Snake crouched beside him, checking the biometric scanner he wore on his wrist. They entered through a side hatch sealed with retinal lock. Otacon used an optical replica to bypass it, one of DARPA's own, stolen and repurposed.

Then, the door slid open. Inside was silence and steel. They burst into the chamber with Raiden flanking and Otacon killing power from the control terminal. Then he walked inside a room, finally seeing you.