Raiden dodged a barrage of missiles the Harrier fired as he flew over it. The Kasatka soon flew next to Raiden and Snake tossed Raiden a few more missiles. Raiden reloaded the Stinger and fired a homing missile at the Harrier. Deciding to finish Raiden off, Vamp piloted the Harrier over the bridge.

"I got this, Raiden," Snake said before firing several grenades at Harrier.

The Harrier flew past the Kasatka and circled around Shell 1. Raiden loaded another missile into the Stinger and aimed at the incoming Harrier. Raiden and the Harrier simultaneously fired their missiles at each other, unable to dodge the other's fire. To Raiden's surprise, Snake shot the missiles down with his rifle as the Raiden's missile crippled the Harrier.

The Harrier became unstable and started to rapidly lose altitude. It crashed into the connecting bridge, cutting off access to Shell 2 and fell towards the water. Snake watched the Harrier descend and noticed something rushing towards the surface.

"There's something coming up!" Snake said as he readied his rifle.

To Raiden's shock, Metal Gear RAY leaped out of the water and grabbed the Harrier.

"That's Metal Gear!?" Raiden exclaimed. "It's already active!"

Metal Gear RAY landed back in the water and fired off rocket clusters that rained down around the entire Big Shell. One of the cluster hit the Kasatka while another landed near Raiden, throwing him off the bridge. Raiden grabbed onto a nearby railing as Otacon piloted the Kasatka to the heliport.

From inside the cockpit of the Harrier, Solidus checked his left eye and was shocked to find it was gone.

"They got my eye," Solidus yelled.

Vamp stood up from the cockpit and Solidus yelled, "Vamp - - go!"

Vamp jumped out of the Harrier as Otacon landed the Kasatka at the heliport. As Raiden pulled himself up, Vamp ran across the surface of the water below.

"Hey, what's that - -?" asked Otacon.

"It's running on water…!" Snake replied.

Snake and Raiden watched Vamp run up one of the Strut legs as Metal Gear RAY dived into the water with Solidus. With both gone, Snake called Raiden and asked if he was all right.

"Yeah," said Raiden. "How about you guys?"

"Barely managed, but we're all right," Snake answered.

"The chopper?"

"We need some time for repairs."

"Oh…"

"The President's all yours."

"Ok… Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Are you THE Snake?"

Snake didn't respond, giving Raiden his answer.

"They said you were dead…" said Raiden.

"No, not me," said Snake. "There are still too many things I need to do."

"Snake, you're a legend – and that's why I need to ask you this."

"Legend? A legend is nothing but fiction. Someone tells it, someone else remembers, everybody passes it on."

"I'm here because I was assigned to this mission, not because I want to. If I could, I'd be out of here in a second. How could you come back to all of this? Why keep fighting?"

"There's something my best friend said to me once."

"Wha…?"

"We're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting was the only thing I was good at, but… at least I always fought for what I believed in…"

"What about – what about the DNA results from that body?"

"That was Liquid's body," Otacon chimed in. "He and Snake are identical on the genetic level."

"Liquid," Raiden repeated.

"A deception – for our own protection," Otacon explained. "We stole his frozen body from some organization. Kind of a hassle though…"

"That's all there is to it," said Snake.

"Are you two really an NGO?" asked Raiden.

"Insofar that we're a nonprofit organization of civilians advocating a cause, yes," Otacon answered. "The cause happens to be the eradication of Metal Gear."

"We work on our own," said Snake. "But it's a cause worth fighting for."

"Why would you stick your neck out for something this risky?" asked Raiden.

"That's the way I used to look at it, four years ago," said Snake. "I was holed up in the middle of nowhere in Alaska, drinking too much."

"We have a responsibility to the coming generations, to the world," said Otacon.

"What responsibility?" asked a baffled Raiden.

"To keep track of the mistakes we've made as a species," said Otacon.

"We need to remember – to spread the word – to fight for change," said Snake. "And that's what keeps me alive."

"You think you can change the future?" asked Raiden.

"I'm not as arrogant as that," Snake admitted.

"What you do isn't grassroot activism," said Raiden. "It's more like terrorism."

"I admit that…," said Snake.

"But our group, Philanthropy, received some information: a new Metal Gear prototype was being developed here, and terrorists were planning to raid the facility," Otacon explained. "The information came from a very reliable source.

"So you're here to…," Raiden started.

"We're here to stop all that, but I also have a personal motive," said Otacon.

"Looks like the terrorists have his sister in the Big Shell," said Snake. "We're here on our own, not under anyone's orders. We have our own battles. Otacon's here for someone – I'm not."

"This is a military mission," said Raiden.

To Snake's surprise, their call was immediately cut. Snake looked towards the bridge and watched Raiden talk to someone else on his codec.

"Otacon, we'll let Raiden do his thing for now," said Snake. "Right now, we need to fix this chopper before Arsenal Gear is activated."