Chapter 4 – Aftershocks.
Back inside, Naomi and Campbell had resumed consuming Snake's holiday popcorn. Meryl had pulled the syringes from Ocelot's arm. She stuck her pinkie in her mouth, covered it in saliva, and stuck it in Ocelot's ear.
"He's still out cold," Meryl said.
Snake stood in front of Campbell, who couldn't look him in the eye. He took this as a clear indication of guilt.
"Colonel, how much longer do I have until my escorts show up?" Snake asked.
"It's not just about you. They will grab all of us. We'll probably die if you don't do what they say. No pressure," Campbell said.
"I find this very difficult to believe, but could you be keeping something from me?"
"I sort of forgot to tell you about the two spooks who broke into my house three days ago and stood in my bedroom until my wife woke up and screamed. Everything we talked about is classified, but I'm thinking that a bottle of whiskey might help me feel better about spilling the beans."
Snake grabbed Campbell a fancy glass from his kitchen, put some ice cubes in it, poured him a glass, and then gave both of them to him. Campbell was visibly shaking as he downed the first round and poured himself another.
"Who were the spooks with? Ocelot?" Meryl asked.
"They all are in one way or another, but I think they received their orders from somebody else. These guys were from the DHS. Otacon and I had a talk about agents from the DHS at one point over some coffee. He said something about how their alignment was Chaotic Evil whereas the FBI and CIA would be considered Lawful Evil. Does that make sense to any of you? I had to look it up to understand what he was talking about."
"I know what you mean. Sadly," Snake said.
Naomi and Meryl nodded in agreement.
"He was right," Campbell said. "They told me everything they knew about Big Boss. I'm pretty sure he's got a spy hiding in his ranks somewhere because they had plenty to say. Prior to his incapacitation, Big Boss had taken out some bearer bonds worth a very large amount of money. He hid them and he managed to get them back when he was revived."
"I guess I didn't completely kill him, did I?" Snake asked.
"No, but you came close. The CIA sent someone in right behind you to recover the body because they were interested in experimenting with his genes. Big Boss' remains were far too valuable to lose. It was quickly discovered that he was still alive, so they decided to detain him and keep him stabilized. He has been in a coma for a very long time. A few years ago, they rebuilt him. He had been in pieces up until that point. His body was artificially reconstructed. This means that while he is technically in his eighties, his body is less than two years old."
"I assume this extends his longevity."
"It does. The only original organ in his body is his brain. He's fine so long as he doesn't suddenly get dementia or Alzheimer's, but even if he did I'm sure he could get it fixed so long as it wasn't too serious."
"Why did they wake him up in the first place?" Meryl asked.
"To see if it was possible. He was in very bad shape. The fact that he is alive is a testament to the effort it took to revive him. Now that they know it works, they can start doing it on anybody."
"How did he get away?"
"He hid inside of a cardboard box until he was loaded into the back of a plane and flown off the island."
"A box is the first place you check when a Big Boss clone goes missing!" Meryl said. "If I buy an item that comes in a box that's big enough for somebody to hide in, I have a gun with me while I'm opening it."
"Do you remember that file we received after Ocelot's dinner party?" Snake asked. "They were close enough to take pictures of him. Why didn't they shoot him?"
"That wasn't the real Big Boss," Campbell said. "He commissioned an impersonator to pose as him while he worked behind the scenes and gathered his resources together. When they got too close to the truth, Big Boss had his double go to Hong Kong where he was eventually captured, but by that time it was too late. Big Boss was ready to move."
Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell blared from Campbell's jeans. He immediately froze up and dropped the booze he was holding. Snake grimaced. The cost of fixing his living room kept rising as the minutes ticked by. Without saying a word to anyone, Campbell walked out Snake's back door. Snake picked up the glass and the bottle and set them on the coffee table in front of his seating arrangement.
"I don't buy any of that," Meryl said. "Where's your directional microphone? I want to know what's really going on."
"They're not going to tell Campbell everything and you should already know what they want," Snake said.
While Snake would have liked to think that he could sacrifice everyone he knew for the greater good, a fair amount of uncertainty plagued him. He could always make new friends as he and Big Boss held hands and skipped over the corpses of their fallen enemies if he actually did decide to join forces with him. Snake tried not to get ahead of himself. He would need to wait until the mission started. Nothing ever went according to plan. Until the next time he saw Big Boss, he needed to focus on staying alive.
"Are you going to let the Patriots win?" Meryl asked.
The brick wall Snake had just finished building in his head had easily been punched through by his roommate.
"I don't know. How do you feel about dying?" Snake asked.
"I'd rather die than see them turn the whole world into cosplayers," Meryl replied.
"You say that now, but you might think differently when there is a gun pointed at your head," Snake said. "While your courage is admirable, you seem to forget that you're condemning everyone else to the same fate."
Meryl made a move towards Ocelot, but Snake grabbed her by the arm and reeled her back in.
"Antagonizing Ocelot is not going to solve this problem. We need to wait and see what happens. Go mix yourself a drink or eat one of those cinnamon rolls you made last night. You probably won't get another chance to indulge in anything for quite a while."
"I hate this!"
"Trust me, I do as well. I'll tell you what I don't hate, though. That idea I just had."
Snake raided his kitchen with Meryl and Naomi. The cinnamon rolls Meryl had made were delectable and would not mix well with a Long Island, but Snake decided to have one anyway. As he was about to go get his smokes and break his rule about smoking in the house, Campbell stepped back inside.
"Okay. The good news is that you have been cleared to know everything I just finished telling you. The bad news is that we have less than fifteen minutes before all of us are conscripted."
Campbell took the bottle of whiskey off the coffee table.
"Vacations always end too soon, don't they?" Campbell asked.
"What were you told?" Snake asked.
"Big Boss has seized a top-secret research facility on the Unalaska Island. They have been building non-nuclear miniaturized Metal Gear's at that location for quite some time now. He's after them."
"That's contrary to what our note said," Snake said.
"I know. I'm just telling you what they told me to say. Moving along, your primary mission objective. . ."
Campbell paused to allow the background music to become very suspenseful. Everyone shared a collective sigh as the music became even more dramatic.
". . .is to eliminate Big Boss."
"They still can't get anyone else to do this?"
"Nope, it has to be you."
"This is just a shot in the dark, but am I getting paid for this?"
"Yeah, if you succeed, not only do we not die, you get to live as well."
"Wait, does that mean if I happen to die, you guys die?"
"Good question. I'll have an answer a little later. They want Meryl to come along. She will be standing by to rescue the hostages after you have killed Big Boss. Naomi will be around to help you with any problems you might encounter with FOXDIE or her vaccine. I'll be there as well. They say I'm the CO, but I'm really just a glorified cheerleader."
"Wait a second," Meryl interjected. "Shouldn't FOXDIE be able to kill Big Boss? Why can't they just use that against him?"
"The blood in Big Boss' new body isn't exactly human," Campbell said. "If you ask me, it might as well be oil. It has made him immune to FOXDIE. You don't think he's stupid enough to go wandering around without taking something like that into consideration first, do you?"
"I suppose not."
"This sounds rigged," Snake said, looking at Ocelot.
"I wish I could say that you're just being paranoid, but I know better," Campbell said. "I saved the best for last. Raiden is coming along. He's your partner. I know you work best alone, but he will be infiltrating the base at the same time from a different point. Before we actually make an assault on this base, all of you will undergo a VR simulation to knock the dust off your combat skills."
"Do we even have time for that?"
"Apparently we do. If Big Boss is really after that AI, I would assume it would be behind several layers of security. It might take him quite a while to get to it."
"Where will we be going for this VR session?" Snake asked.
"Shadow Moses," Campbell replied dramatically. "It's been renovated and from what I hear they did a fabulous job. One of its new features is a high-tech virtual reality simulator and since they overspent their budget to afford it I think it would be really rude of us not to use it."
"They kept the Winchester House of military bases open?" Snake asked.
"The sons of politicians who need to look good by serving their country have to be sent somewhere safe. The best spots aren't always available."
"I thought Shadow Moses would have fallen into the ocean by now," Naomi said.
"Global warming doesn't exist," Campbell managed to say with a straight face. "Just kidding."
Snake's sixth sense was triggered. Since sudden feelings of impending dread rarely turned out to be paranoia, he took them seriously. He moved to his front door and opened it just as a group of five soldiers was planning to stack up on his doorstep. Not missing a single beat, the soldiers had their guns on him in an instant. A loud crashing noise coming from his backdoor informed him that they had breached his house. In the distance, Snake could barely see an APC emerging from the blizzard. The soldiers had a white, emblazoned number five in the style of a jersey on the left arm of their uniforms.
Somebody had been silly enough to hire a local private security firm to go get him. The organization was known as The League of Five because they always made certain to have a total number of staff available that was divisible by five. They mostly worked security at the mall, but they had been hired to assist the local police on a few occasions. Whoever managed them had to be swimming around in a pool full of one hundred dollar bills because their equipment was nothing to scoff at.
The only downside to the League was the fact that they never spoke. They relied on sign language and seemed to be able to communicate with each other silently with the use of ESP. Campbell stepped outside.
"Don't worry. They are temporarily taking orders from me," Campbell said to Snake.
Snake caught the sound of a helicopter approaching.
"While we're gone, they will be housesitting your home so you don't have to worry about feeding your dogs."
"Make them clean my carpet, fix my heater, and repair the damage they have done to my backdoor. Tell them to stay away from my cardboard boxes."
"Did you get all that?" Campbell asked, looking at one of the soldiers.
They simultaneously gave him a thumbs-up as a reply. A black helicopter began setting down a hundred yards from Snake's house.
"Do you think you could delay our escorts for another ten minutes?" Snake asked.
"You're not going to hug your boxes goodbye, are you?"
"No. I need to go get my lucky charm."
"Make it quick." Campbell replied.
Snake went back inside his house and walked into his bedroom. He stepped into his walk-in closet and found an old box tucked underneath his tuxedo's. Inside of the box was a small supply of sealed Lucky Strikes. Snake had bought more than a hundred of them in bulk when they had started to become more difficult to find. After burning through more than half of them, he had forced himself to switch brands and only smoke the original Lucky Strikes on special occasions. Snake picked out three packs.
He also put on one of his coats. The Glock he had left in one of the pockets was still there. He checked to make sure it was loaded and hid it once again. Finally, he grabbed his bandanna because he could do just about anything so long as his sweat didn't get in his eyes and stuffed it into his coat pocket. Snake stopped by Meryl's room to get a jacket for her as well. He walked back into the living room and gave the coat to Meryl and offered her a pack of cigarettes.
"I almost thought that I would have to remind you to take these with you," Meryl said as she accepted the gift. "Is the other one for Raiden?"
He nodded as he injected a dose of Aglaophotis into himself. It was as dull as getting any other type of shot. He disposed of the needle in the kitchen. Snake closed Naomi's suitcase and carried it in one hand. He took one last look around his living room and regretted not following Thoreau's example for the millionth time even though it hadn't worked out very well for him the last done he had done it. There was no telling if he would ever see any of his stuff again.
Before too much introspection could take place in his mind, Snake was distracted by Ocelot's muffled groans. Campbell walked in with five soldiers behind him just as Ocelot stood up sluggishly.
"Guess what, Ocelot?" Meryl asked. "We get to go kill Big Boss."
Snake thought about asking her to be quiet, but he didn't want her angry during the helicopter ride.
"Good for you," Ocelot replied, rubbing the fatigue out of his eyes.
"Doesn't that make you sad? It seemed like you were friends."
"We were never anything more than friendly rivals."
"What happens if Snake decides not to kill him?"
"Then we will probably be on opposite sides and I will no longer be able to guarantee your safety."
Meryl scoffed.
"Guarantee our safety? Don't pretend you care." Meryl said.
"You might have been too drunk on that disgusting marshmallow vodka you love so much to recall that I sung a duet of Private Eyes with Snake at Otacon's party a few weeks ago. Do you have any idea how much I despise karaoke? That's just one example. I'm sure this might come as a shock to you, but I do care. A little. You have all grown on me, despite the glitter incident. Besides, we've always been on the same side, even if it didn't seem like it."
"What do you mean?" Snake asked.
"You've been a lackey for the Patriots since long before we met. They have had you keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of lunatics. If you had just done what you were told and hadn't thought too much about it, you wouldn't be as miserable as you are right now. Since it seems all of you have a job to do, I'll be leaving. Remember, follow my orders. Get to Big Boss."
Ocelot left out the bit about killing Big Boss. Snake didn't have enough information to determine if that had or had not been intentional.
"Where are you going?" Meryl asked as Ocelot stepped out the front door.
"If you must know, I'm going to break into Naomi's house, steal all of her notes, and have somebody pump out fifty vials of Aglaophotis before Snake gets back. If Snake gets back."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Snake said.
"I think that if you cared about us as much as you would like us to believe, you would have had a group of scientists working on a cure for FOXDIE before it became a problem for you," Meryl said.
"Everything about FOXDIE was personal. I developed it almost entirely by myself," Naomi said. "I doubt anyone could fix it but me. By the way, here are my keys."
Naomi tossed the keys to her house at Ocelot, who caught them and left without another word. Campbell nervously gestured outside with a subtle tilt of his head. Snake sighed heavily and walked out of his house with the rest of the group following him. Each step through the snow towards the helicopter where two more members of the League were waiting made his stomach sink even lower.
One soldier opened the helicopter door for them, revealing a luxurious interior. It seated six people in the confines of beige leather, provided the passengers with six tablet PC's, and boasted a mini bar with six whiskey glasses and six varieties of liquor to choose from. Snake got in first. Meryl sat next to him. Campbell sat across from Snake with Naomi at his side. The soldier who had opened the door for him silently offered to take Snake's briefcase and toss it in the back, but Snake shook his head and sat the suitcase in the empty seat to his left. Campbell shut the door.
The pilot of the helicopter was behind a soundproof wall. A tinted window provided a glimpse into his world. There was a curtain above the window in case the VIP on board got tired of watching him.
"Hello, this is your pilot speaking," the male pilot said over the intercom system. "My name is Brad Vickers and I am not associated with the League of Five. I am a member of the local SWAT team and I was privately contracted to ensure that your flight goes smoothly. Don't worry, I am fully qualified to fly a helicopter."
Meryl and Snake exchanged a worried look with each other.
"Fasten your seatbelts. We're taking off," Brad announced as the helicopter began to ascend.
"Wasn't Brad Vickers the name of the pilot in that Resident Evil game?" Meryl asked Snake.
"Yes. Unless by some uncanny coincidence they share the same name, we are currently putting our safety in the hands of one of those cosplay deviants," Snake said.
"Where are the parachutes?" Meryl demanded.
"Calm down," Campbell said. "If he got this thing from wherever it was on the ground in weather like this without wrecking it, he knows what he's doing. Let's just try to enjoy ourselves."
"Did you forget that you get air sick easily and have always hated flying?" Snake asked.
Campbell's complexion paled considerably.
"Up until you reminded me just now," he admitted.
Snake picked up the tablet PC and fiddled with it. 3G Internet access did not interest him. Some movies had been placed on the device. If he wanted, he could watch Blue Thunder, Air Wolf, Airport, or a number of other films dealing with flight. The available video games were similar. Choplifter, Desert Strike, Captain Skyhawk, Star Fox, and several other titles were ready to be run on the emulator somebody had put on the tablet.
He noticed that he was starting to feel very hot. The neck of his sweater and the shirt he was wearing underneath were soaked in perspiration. Snake wiped his forehead. Aglaophotis was at work. There did not appear to be a bathroom on the helicopter, which worried him.
"I'm still mad at you," Meryl said.
Naomi and Campbell immediately picked up their tablets and pretended to be busy. Snake ignored her and pretended to go to sleep. His act only lasted so long until it finally became a reality.
