Fanfic / Patriots Verse

A crossover Fan Fic series with Metal Gear and Generation Kill; as crazy as it sounds, things from either canon play off of fitting elements from the opposite pretty well. There's also some slash thrown into the background. There are currently three fics, with two more in the works:

One True Patriot is based around Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots's "Old Sun" act, following the Missouri's Marines as they fight off Outer Haven's boarding action to protect Otacon. The Marines are led by G-Kill's Brad Colbert and Ray Person, now a Master Gunnery Sergeant and Staff Sergeant, respectively.

The River Red is a prequel and centers around Colbert and Person's part in Meryl Silverburgh's operation during "Third Sun," and what happens to them when Liquid hijacks the system with Guns of the Patriots.

No Place to Hide covers Colbert, Person and Fick dropped for a runthrough of SERE school's POW camp scenario without forewarning after OIF-1. It is thus largely missing elements from Metal Gear Solid, as, taking place before 2005, many of those events haven't happened yet. Solidus Snake is still President of the United States, though.

A table of contents for the series can be found here.

This series provides examples of:

• Alternate History: Marines in Generation Kill mentioned George W. Bush, for example, but in this continuity, that would be George Sears, aka, Solidus Snake. They're also aware of the Shadow Moses, Oil Tanker and Big Shell incidents, as increasingly larger amounts of information about these events escaped to the public in the Metal Gear timeline from 2005 and onward.
• Alternate Universe: The Generation Kill side of the series is based on the 'characters' as portrayed in the HBO miniseries, and descriptions of what they look like exist as a lampshade for this; Colbert and Person are their actors' sizes, for example. It's safe to say that the real Marines featured in Generation Kill will not ever do anything remotely close to a lot of what happens here, even aside from the slash.
• Badass Normal: Person to some extent, but Colbert owns this.
• Big Brother Is Employing You: First subverted with Fick's political career, which never had a chance of getting off the ground in the Patriots-controlled United States. Played straight when Fick settles for a business job at ArmsTech Security, a front-company for much of the assets the Patriots used.
• Coming-Out Story: Played more for laughs with Person; since "Don't ask, don't tell" ceased to exist in the setting, Person has been making a game out of outing Colbert at calculated times for maximum hilarity. Colbert gets so used to it, they start wagering on what reactions will be.
• Continuity Nod: Person is a fan of In the Darkness of Shadow Moses. Colbert and Fick have read it, but both take it with a few grains of salt; Colbert more-so until he actually meets Solid Old Snake.
• Dirty Communists: Person uses this to insult Malashenko, though Malashenko takes it in stride.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Inverted when good-guy Colbert gains a long scar across the elaborate tattoo on his back, and it's noted to ruin the artwork.
• Heroic BSoD: A few:
  • Colbert in One True Patriot when a production model RAY jumps onto the Missouri's deck.
  • Colbert again in The River Red after Liquid uses Guns of the Patriots.
  • Person waits to the end of One True Patriot.
  • The SERE interrogators in No Place to Hide have inflicting this on the Marines as their goal, and they succeed with Fick without realizing it. Because Fick is pushed to the very edge by nothing else but the interrogators unknowingly playing into his paranoia over being gay in the military as well as his infatuation with Colbert, he comes to believe that gays don't belong in the military, because he's become proof it does wreck unit cohesion, with disastrous results they only avoid through dumb luck.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Colbert and Person.
• Implacable Man: Vamp; Colbert and Person find this out in much the same manner as several Metal Gear characters have.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Person, with shaky hands, shoots Vamp in the head, while Vamp is using Colbert as a human shield, with a shotgun, although the shotgun is loaded with a slug. Person is actually shocked at the end result.
• Instant Death Bullet: Averted; mooks are often shot with more than one round to make sure they're dropped, to the torso with Person's shotgun, or to the head with anything. If it's none of these, the next line is usually a description of how they don't die right away.
• I See Dead People: Though he's never named, the man Colbert occasionally sees in his dreams over the years is clearly The Sorrow.
• Mistaken for Gay: Played straight and serious when Colbert gives Fick the wrong impression at SERE, and Fick, emotionally weakened from the ordeal, acts on it without thinking.
• Mood Dissonance: When the Marines realize the mysterious observer at SERE who's been silently watching the exercise is the President of the United States, who personally congratulates them and shakes their hands when they pass, as well as saluting them at the "official" end later in the morning, they are at once humbled and proud by his attention, especially Colbert, who admires him greatly. Readers who know both fandoms in the crossover will realize the minute this man is revealed that he's Solidus Snake, son of Big Boss, former leader of child soldiers in the Liberian Civil War and future domestic terrorist.
• Mythology Gag: The title No Place to Hide was the original tagline on teasers for Guns of the Patriots during a development stage where the game was intended to incorporate mechanics that would've made it impossible to stay hidden forever.
• Never Bring a Knife to a Fist Fight: Played straight when Colbert pulls his combat knife while fighting Vamp hand to hand and loses. Lampshaded when Colbert realizes that Vamp is taking Hollywood hand to hand combat tactics and making it work even though it shouldn't.
• Non-Linear Sequel: The second fic is a prequel to the first. The third fic is a prequel to the second. The fourth fic isn't done yet, but will be, finally, a sequel to the first...that spends much of its time flashbacking to times before any of them take place. The fifth fic will be the first straight-up sequel.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Justified when Vamp uses a throwing knife to pin Person's hand to his utility vest as he was reaching for ammo; Person tests his motor control and, realizing his hand still works fine despite the pain, comments that Vamp miraculously missed the tendons.
• P.O.V. Sequel: One True Patriot and The River Red cover ''Guns of the Patriots" from the friendly mooks' perspective of two pivotal scenes.
• Rule of Cool: The author tries to lean towards realism, greatly helped with the advice of friends who are actually in the military and are generous enough to offer advice on making gun combat and squad tactics at least somewhat realistic.
• Shout-Out: Quite a few, most notably when the Generation Kill characters make references to Metal Gear. Colbert and Person need scissors, 61, at one point.
  • No Place to Hide gets its premise from an episode of The Unit. Person pretends to be broken by his SERE interrogator by bawling out a story of atrocity from Iraq he feels guilt over. He is, in fact, quoting Tom Clancy. He pulls off the ruse so well that Solidus Snake, the only one present who catches the reference, momentarily breaks the rules of the exercise to clue in the interrogator while laughing hysterically. And the actual stunt is another borrow from The Unit's SERE episode.
  • Speaking of the SERE interrogators, Bannon and Malashenko's names.
• Slash Fic: Although it's certainly not the focus.
• Straight Gay: Colbert and Fick.
  • Person considers himself Colbert's "male fag hag."
• 20 Minutes into the Future
• Violation of Common Sense: Person keeps a 4x-zoom ACOG on his shotgun, and is asked why he would have such a thing. Doubly subverted, first because the character asking the question is falling victim to Reality Is Unrealistic and buckshot doesn't spread as much as it does in videogames; while unusual, the scope would still work fine. Second, Person doesn't use the scope for precision unless he's loaded slugs. Worth noting that the pump-shotgun in Guns of the Patriots can actually be outfitted like this.

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