Chapter Thirty-Five: 36 Seconds
The lights blinked on, spraying a blue shade over the room, and illuminating three faces - only two of them visible to Snake, as the third had a gun in his back and a hand on his shoulder. In the center of the small room was a complicated mess of wires and machinery - it's walls nearly five feet wide - putting the far end of the room nearly out of sight, and forming a fairly narrow walkway around it. He could see two faces: one on the right side of the pillar, holding a revolver, and one on the left side of the pillar holding two Desert Eagles, one in either hand. Snake hadn't seen him since Hell's Outpost.and he had been waiting to hear from him ever since then.
"You are without a weapon. Take these. You told me he was out for himself. You were right. I have Kevlar incase he acts," the man left of the pillar recited, holding a creased slip of paper in front of his face. "Signed, me."
"Desperado," Snake said in awe, and there he was. The third Romantic.the reporter.the American man with a Russian accent.the lost survivor of Hell's Outpost. His long blonde hair had been cut shorter, but his shot was as sharp as ever and his array of weaponry was the same. Snake remembered the note too.it had been pinned to a pair of Desert Eagles Snake had come across before facing off with Ocelot and Desperado. He had known he survived, but he had not known when he would ever see him again, and he had never thought when he did they would be on the same side.
"I knew you would make it," the man right of the pillar sneered. Snake's eyes moved over him, recognizing him to be Ocelot. His back was to the pillar, and he was working to shield himself from Desperado, not worried by the man who held a gun to Snake's back. And strangely, neither was Desperado. Then Snake noticed Ocelot holding his arm, and saw some sort of device pinned to his belt.
"Stealth camouflage," Snake said aloud, noting the device, and Ocelot's eyes scanned him, a corrupt grin on his face. There was pain and anguish in his face too, but he tried to hide it. "That wasn't FOX-DIE. That was you." The pain remained, but the slightest bit of joy that was there before, was washed away.
"Damn you, Liquid," Ocelot cursed. "Even with Keplar's serum I cannot suppress you." 'Keplar's serum?' Snake thought. Ocelot looked back up at Snake, no longer addressing his arm. "He's been trying to alert you," Ocelot explained. "He wanted you to know."
"Know what?!" Snake exclaimed angrily. He felt the muzzle of the gun grinding uncomfortably in his back, forcing him to push his chest forward.
"He wanted you to know everything.so that you could stop me," Ocelot claimed. "He wanted you to know his name." 'His name?' Snake thought, and then his mind went to the man at his back, and to the gun in his spine. 'Who are you?'
"My name," the man behind him said, and he knew that Snake didn't even need him to say the name.just hear the voice. And he did. Snake's eyes grew intensely as the voice became clearer. "The name of the American," the voice said again. His heart began to pump more rapidly again, and he twisted around, jumping back into the pillar and raising his SOCOM level with the man's forehead. Ocelot and Desperado were motionless, both waiting to see what would happen.
"The name of your father," the man said again, and Snake's heart almost skipped a beat. There, standing with an M9 in hand and two more guns holstered, was his father.or the closest thing to it. There, standing with an expressionless gaze and a slightly obscured face - burns on his shin and right cheek - was Big Boss.
"What the hell?!" Snake exclaimed, and Big Boss' face lit up in amusement. "The American?" Snake's face became distorted and full of rage, his index finger held firmly on the trigger of his SOCOM. Then, he turned around the side of the pillar, his finger compressing the trigger and sending a single bullet at Big Boss' head. Big Boss had all ready jumped to the right, firing one bullet from his M9 at Snake's head, and before both of them put their backs to opposite sides of the pillar, the bullets shattered the walls and pipes, sending a light mist of gas through the room.
And there they were, all with backs to the pillar. Big Boss was facing the door, Desperado was facing the left wall, Ocelot was facing the right, and Snake was facing the rear. In the five or six months that followed Hell's Outpost, Desperado had decided on siding with Snake, and Big Boss had decided on siding with Ocelot.
Now, there was the heavy breathing and the hiss of gas that was sneaking from the pipes in the pillar. No other sounds could be heard. Ocelot inhaled, and with a calming exhale he grinned. "How quaint."
"What do you have to do with this?" Snake asked Desperado, loud enough for everyone to hear. Desperado was flat against the pillar, his Desert Eagles still in his hands and at his sides. He shook his head, a gesture only he was witness to, and swallowed subtly.
"I was the agent who went missing after Hell's Outpost," Desperado answered. "I was a part of the UFAC. I was undercover, not after Shalashaska, but Formal." Snake's mind began to retrace history, searching for the answer before it was presented. "Formal was working with FACtion when he became employed by Shalashaska, and when the name came up at headquarters I remembered it."
"From what?" Snake asked.
"His interview," Desperado explained. "I play an important role in the network of the Patriot as well, though I was awarded it without my knowledge. It was not until just before Shadow Moses that I became aware of this role. It was to select the members of the network.that meant the Six Points, and even the Patriot himself." Snake was confused.
"Before my father passed, he told me of my duty and of the Patriot. Around 100 years ago, the Wisemen's Committee was destroyed, and a man - Charles Harpin - was later named the Patriot. There was a total renovation in the structure of the network, and it was reconstructed as a dictatorship, leaving a close friend of the Committee - my father - to select the future members.
"My job was passed on, not through family, but to whomever he saw fit for the job. In this case, he thought I could handle it. After he died, I learned more about the existing Patriot, and as members of the Six Points died, being past their prime, I interviewed the people who would take their places. But, they would never know that they were a part of the Patriot's congregation.that way they would be fair judges of the Patriot's actions." Then, Snake remembered the pens.
"What about the pens?" Snake asked. "Everyone in FACtion owns one." Desperado hesitated for a moment, but the continued his explanation.
"With them, I managed to keep tabs on the people I interviewed. You see.FACtion is the Six Points. Tauran.The South American. Frost.The African. Formal.The European. Klaymore.The Russian or Asian. Dante.The Australian. And Big Boss.The American. I selected all of them.your father, on terms regarding other factors."
"Don't call him that!" Snake growled. "He's no father of mine."
"It was all part of a plan," Big Boss began. "Our paths crossed in the past. After he hired me to the Six Points, and Shalashaska as the Patriot, I met up with Shalashaska and learned of my importance to the network. We kept tabs on Desperado, and after he learned of the previous Patriot's more.devastating atrocities.he contacted the Six Points and conditioned their minds to oppose the Patriot, hoping that then he could stop the Patriot. But, the Six Points had no real power, and by playing along I was able to build a strong bond with the Russian."
"Dante," Snake said.
"Precisely," Big Boss continued. "It was easy, guiding him away from FACtion and implanting in him sympathy for the Patriot. Our connection gave me access to The Discovery." Snake was not going to wait any longer for another answer, and so he interjected hastily.
"What does The Discovery have to do with it?" Snake asked.
"Ha," Ocelot chuckled. "Even the story of the Alpha Gear has not passed by you? It was the elite piece of machinery designed to protect Charles Harpin during his time in office as the Patriot. It is the ultimate compilation of nuclear technology, forging the enhancements and skills of every new Metal Gear.well, all but one."
"Mine," Big Boss entered the conversation again. "It is the method of Conglomeration. The Discovery has chartered Metal Gears from positions all across the globe to the home of Alpha Gear for many years. Metal Gear Ray was sent to an underground facility in Manhattan, where Alpha Gear was being held at the time. Its strengths were altered and entered into Alpha Gear, and with the new enhancements Alpha Gear became stronger. This is how it has been since the first Metal Gear was produced.the single method used to assure the Patriot nuclear supremacy."
The four men were growing increasingly wary of conversation, beginning to peer around the corners of the pillar at each other as Big Boss continued. "Ocelot has been after my Metal Gear for quite sometime, but it's arrival isn't the true reason for this whole fiasco."
"The Six Points," Desperado said, before his thoughts were fully developed. His eyes scanned his mind, and he worked feverishly to formulate the answer.
"We killed the Six Points," Snake said, then. "We killed them, so that you could carry out a plan without their interference. They were obstacles.and you needed them gone before your power was recognized. But," Snake recalled a segment of their conversation, "I thought that the Six Points were just decoration. They have no real power to begin with."
"Only on a certain level," Ocelot started again. "You see, they've wanted me out of control since they knew I was the one. I've done far too many things to counter their resistance, and they've held even more grudges. With Desperado's assistance, they've been turned against any act by me, the Patriot, but they are the only ones who can give the green light on an event so important as this."
Then, the tension shattered, and each man in the room spun around the corners of the pillar, aiming their guns high. Desperado and Big Boss faced each other, and Ocelot and Snake did the same. But, Ocelot's eyes were narrow and sharp, and with the switch of a hidden lever in the mass of pipes and tresses that made up the pillar the room began to move.it began to ascend.
Snake's head went in every direction, searching for an answer, as Ocelot watched him in amusement and the ceiling opened, letting the faint glow of the moon shine in, highlighting some of Ocelot's more distinctive features. Then, the walls having disappeared beneath them, the floor quivered and then halted, becoming a part of the roof. Snake looked at Ocelot and felt the moonlight pour over him, streaming over his bulking muscles and through his hair.
The roof was littered with heavy machinery and unfinished, unassembled tresses - some jutting up from the roof and waiting for the proceeding ceiling to be positioned over them. It was an eerie sight for them all, from their spot over the quiet Manhattan. They saw nothing but black beyond the nearby peak of Tower Two - also having been halted at the thirteenth floor.
The wind was brushing by them, and the heat had completely gone from the day before. Ocelot held only one Revolver, and put his hand in his pant pocket retrieving his pocket watch. Glancing at it for just a moment and angling it for the moon's reflective light to illuminate the working hands, he grinned. Then, he dropped it back into his pocket and patted his pants lightly. "Just past twelve.it seems Dante has gone back on his word."
Just then, the Tiger helicopter shot up from the blind spot of the building's side, and elevated above the four. Dante wiped the window of his cockpit and gave them a casual salute before switching something on his control panel. The four looked up, their clothes rustling in the heavy wind, and both Big Boss and Ocelot pulled their second guns, aiming them at each others' targets. Ocelot held two revolvers on Snake and Desperado, and Big Boss held a Beretta and a Marker on the two as well.
"Welcome to the game!" Dante cried, his voice amplified over the sound of the quick-turning rotors. "It is time for the secrets to be told!" Ocelot and Big Boss both sported lively grins, but Desperado and Snake both watched.their eyes scanning the vista hungrily. Then, Snake heard a sound explode in his ear and he subtly tapped it, his action going unnoticed by the congregation before him.
"Snake!" Otacon's voice erupted. "Snake! Are you all right?!" Snake knew he couldn't answer, but he let the noises around him be transmitted through his Codec to Otacon. "We got a shot of the pilot! It's Dante, Snake! I got in touch with Mei Ling and Naomi.Snake, they found something big in Tower Two!"
Then, without another moment's hesitation, Big Boss fired his Marker. As soon as he had shot, they all jumped away.all but Snake, who had dropped onto his chest, a terrible pain surging through his thigh, and blood dribbling onto the roof to form a small puddle beneath him. "Snake!" Otacon yelled, hearing Snake's subtle moans. "Snake, are you all right?!"
"He.can hear us," Snake managed to say, his eyes narrowing on Big Boss who had ducked behind a large crane-like machine. Their eyes were level with each other, and Snake could feel the hatred boiling inside him.
"Shooting?" Dante's voice boomed. "All ready? Before another shot is fired, we will all know the truth. Big Boss, let's begin with you. You seem eager to finish this." Big Boss' eyes were fixed on Snake, and he held no acknowledgement to Dante's incessant bickering. "No? Why not tell Ocelot the truth? He deserves it, doesn't he?" Ocelot was hidden behind a mass of machinery; it's build resembling a wall.
"What truth?" Ocelot roared. Dante smiled, the helicopter making circles over the four, and continued as Big Boss had yet to answer. "It seems his 'Trinket' failed ocean travel regulations, and didn't make it on the Discovery."
Ocelot's eyes stung with rage as Big Boss let out a howl of laughter: "You couldn't have seriously expected me to hand over my life's work? Even if you did have it, you know you would never be able to duplicate its abilities. You know of it's Chemical Locks.what it has harnessed is a power that only I can access."
"'Trinket' was your ticket to life, boy!" Ocelot cried. "It's the very reason you are still alive today, and you know that as well as any!" But, as much as Ocelot yearned to go on, Dante was not willing to stop the confrontation with that.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Dante yelled, his hand going up in the cockpit of the Tiger. "Ocelot, don't you have something to tell Big Boss as well?" Ocelot looked up at Dante with a rage only he knew, and raised his revolver toward the helicopter.
"I have a shot, boy, and my will to take it is strong!" Ocelot's revolver was firm in his hand, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that if he did pull the trigger he would hit his mark. Dante knew this and stopped. "But, I don't mind sharing the trick I played on you." Ocelot remained hidden and his revolver remained pointed upward as he spoke, an apprehensive glare on Dante's face.
"You've wanted power from the start," Ocelot began. "If you had been granted my role, you would have taken it in a heartbeat, and I know that not a single part of you opposes the idea of the Patriot network, yet you still hold a certain hatred against me. Now, what I know, that the others in our midst do not, is that you are anything but a strong follower of the FACtion belief. You are out only to help yourself, and so you have used many to achieve greatness, but you have overlooked the flaws.
"Esher.she is my agent. Not of the Six Points, just a loyal devotee of the Patriot. She has never acted to counter your succession, but she has done well as to keeping herself a secret. As soon as I contacted you regarding the mission, you were hooked. I made plans with you, allowing Big Boss to hitch 'Trinket' along for the ride, and you knew the intentions of this mission all along. I told you what I had to about Alpha Gear, and then your men passed a disc onto Solid Snake. Now, when you sent the disc through the officers, Esher switched it with one loaded with your 'IDT' program. Then, it was installed on the Compilation. From there, it was passed between the Romantics and Solid Snake, but the move that no one saw was the swap." Snake was trying to listen through the pain, but he could hardly make sense of it all.
"Snake, do you remember? Wordsworth took the disc from you and handed it back to you before you noticed a thing. You didn't see her switch the 'IDT' disc with one installed only with a short list of parameters regarding Alpha Gear.just enough to excite those who read it, but just few enough to let them pass it off as an unidentified theory." Dante, Snake, and Desperado were all stunned.their minds and mouths frozen, but Snake had room to ponder, and with the mention of IDT his mind began to churn like mad.
"Wordsworth?" Desperado muttered.
"She had me call her 'Tintern' after one of the late poet's greater pieces," Ocelot said. "Having told Dante of Alpha Gear, he never bothered to look at the disc before speaking with you in the lobby.simply rattling off what I had told him at the start of the mission."
"Wordsworth?!" Desperado cried aloud. There was an undeniable anger in his tone. Snake could easily identify with him, but it was Ocelot who continued.
"She was like Esher.a loyal devotee to the Patriot - to me. She never did anything to break your confidence, but she succeeded in everything else we planned." Dante, who remained seated in his aerial throne, set his finger on the controls before him and gripped the stick lightly, tugging it to the left as his thumb contracted on the red button on its top. And then, a terrible hiss escaped the Tiger's hull and three Trigat missiles exploded from its 'wing.'
Snake, who was lying in the open, rolled over his leg and behind a mass of shattered metal. Ocelot ducked away, too, losing his aim at the Tiger and taking cover as the three missiles impacted various spots on the rooftop and sending shrapnel through the air. "Damn!" Snake roared.
"Otacon! Get out of the building! NOW!" Snake cried. There was a sudden echo of footsteps in Snake's ear as Otacon and Jack trampled down the stairwell.
"Snake," Otacon panted. "I'd told you.Mei Ling.she found something big.in Tower Two." Snake was grasping at the wound in his thigh as Big Boss fired his Marker in the air - its sound reverberating through the air and coming in a weird wave of loud and quiet tones through the rippling wind of the rotors. Snake's head went up, realizing completely that Big Boss didn't want him to hear about the discovery in Tower Two.
When the Marker's shot had been silenced, the Tiger pulled away from the rooftop and ascended to the clouds for a moment - Dante was checking the status of the helicopter before returning to battle.
"Snake! It's the -" and then the transmission was lost, another call taking control of the Codec. Snake looked into the air with an obscure expression as another voice filled his mind.
"You have two minutes." The voice was raspy and cracking, and the Tiger could be heard only in the distance. 'Two minutes,' Snake thought. 'Who.?'
"Klaymore!" Snake cried aloud, and the transmission was lost. He knew what it meant. Klaymore survived the attack, and his thumb was still on the trigger. In two minutes Tower One would be no more than a heap of glass and steel. Then, his mind returned to the bomb activation in the computer room, and the IDT program. "What's the IDT?!"
There was a moment of hesitation before Dante's voice returned to the scene, towering above. "Internal Data Transfer," he claimed. "It was, in part, my creation." Snake knew it now. He had figured it out, and put his hand to his ear before saying it all.
"Hello?" It was Otacon. Snake sighed and then stood, blood still trickling down from his thigh.
"Dante, Big Boss, Esher, Formal.they were all in league with Ocelot," Snake began. He knew there were several guns aimed at his forehead, but he was not afraid to go on. The breeze was whipping through his hair and sending it on end, as well as cooling his burning wound and sending a tingling sensation through his thigh. "Most of the Six Points was unaware of the alliance, but Klaymore knew."
"I see you've figured it out," Ocelot interjected, but Snake didn't wait for him to continue. He had solved it. He would be the one to announce it.
"The Compilation was going down, and you needed a new location, and this one had to be bigger so that it could do what Arsenal had tried to do. You formatted the Delta supercomputers to store the growing mass of information, and this was going to be your new home.
"But Klaymore knew about it too. He wasn't going to let all of this go without punishment, and rigged the IDT system installed in the computer room so that when the alliance actually tried to move the data from the warehouse to here, the whole place would go up in flames. Otacon," Snake addressed, knowing he was listening on the Codec, "when you activated the IDT program, the explosives were armed and the data began to move from place to place."
Snake had been counting since he got word from Klaymore. "We have 36 seconds to get off of this building, or we all die." Ocelot's gun went down, and Big Boss' did as well. "The clock is ticking." There was a smirk on his face - a sly grin. None of them were in control. They were all on the same schedule.watching the same clock.
36 seconds.
The lights blinked on, spraying a blue shade over the room, and illuminating three faces - only two of them visible to Snake, as the third had a gun in his back and a hand on his shoulder. In the center of the small room was a complicated mess of wires and machinery - it's walls nearly five feet wide - putting the far end of the room nearly out of sight, and forming a fairly narrow walkway around it. He could see two faces: one on the right side of the pillar, holding a revolver, and one on the left side of the pillar holding two Desert Eagles, one in either hand. Snake hadn't seen him since Hell's Outpost.and he had been waiting to hear from him ever since then.
"You are without a weapon. Take these. You told me he was out for himself. You were right. I have Kevlar incase he acts," the man left of the pillar recited, holding a creased slip of paper in front of his face. "Signed, me."
"Desperado," Snake said in awe, and there he was. The third Romantic.the reporter.the American man with a Russian accent.the lost survivor of Hell's Outpost. His long blonde hair had been cut shorter, but his shot was as sharp as ever and his array of weaponry was the same. Snake remembered the note too.it had been pinned to a pair of Desert Eagles Snake had come across before facing off with Ocelot and Desperado. He had known he survived, but he had not known when he would ever see him again, and he had never thought when he did they would be on the same side.
"I knew you would make it," the man right of the pillar sneered. Snake's eyes moved over him, recognizing him to be Ocelot. His back was to the pillar, and he was working to shield himself from Desperado, not worried by the man who held a gun to Snake's back. And strangely, neither was Desperado. Then Snake noticed Ocelot holding his arm, and saw some sort of device pinned to his belt.
"Stealth camouflage," Snake said aloud, noting the device, and Ocelot's eyes scanned him, a corrupt grin on his face. There was pain and anguish in his face too, but he tried to hide it. "That wasn't FOX-DIE. That was you." The pain remained, but the slightest bit of joy that was there before, was washed away.
"Damn you, Liquid," Ocelot cursed. "Even with Keplar's serum I cannot suppress you." 'Keplar's serum?' Snake thought. Ocelot looked back up at Snake, no longer addressing his arm. "He's been trying to alert you," Ocelot explained. "He wanted you to know."
"Know what?!" Snake exclaimed angrily. He felt the muzzle of the gun grinding uncomfortably in his back, forcing him to push his chest forward.
"He wanted you to know everything.so that you could stop me," Ocelot claimed. "He wanted you to know his name." 'His name?' Snake thought, and then his mind went to the man at his back, and to the gun in his spine. 'Who are you?'
"My name," the man behind him said, and he knew that Snake didn't even need him to say the name.just hear the voice. And he did. Snake's eyes grew intensely as the voice became clearer. "The name of the American," the voice said again. His heart began to pump more rapidly again, and he twisted around, jumping back into the pillar and raising his SOCOM level with the man's forehead. Ocelot and Desperado were motionless, both waiting to see what would happen.
"The name of your father," the man said again, and Snake's heart almost skipped a beat. There, standing with an M9 in hand and two more guns holstered, was his father.or the closest thing to it. There, standing with an expressionless gaze and a slightly obscured face - burns on his shin and right cheek - was Big Boss.
"What the hell?!" Snake exclaimed, and Big Boss' face lit up in amusement. "The American?" Snake's face became distorted and full of rage, his index finger held firmly on the trigger of his SOCOM. Then, he turned around the side of the pillar, his finger compressing the trigger and sending a single bullet at Big Boss' head. Big Boss had all ready jumped to the right, firing one bullet from his M9 at Snake's head, and before both of them put their backs to opposite sides of the pillar, the bullets shattered the walls and pipes, sending a light mist of gas through the room.
And there they were, all with backs to the pillar. Big Boss was facing the door, Desperado was facing the left wall, Ocelot was facing the right, and Snake was facing the rear. In the five or six months that followed Hell's Outpost, Desperado had decided on siding with Snake, and Big Boss had decided on siding with Ocelot.
Now, there was the heavy breathing and the hiss of gas that was sneaking from the pipes in the pillar. No other sounds could be heard. Ocelot inhaled, and with a calming exhale he grinned. "How quaint."
"What do you have to do with this?" Snake asked Desperado, loud enough for everyone to hear. Desperado was flat against the pillar, his Desert Eagles still in his hands and at his sides. He shook his head, a gesture only he was witness to, and swallowed subtly.
"I was the agent who went missing after Hell's Outpost," Desperado answered. "I was a part of the UFAC. I was undercover, not after Shalashaska, but Formal." Snake's mind began to retrace history, searching for the answer before it was presented. "Formal was working with FACtion when he became employed by Shalashaska, and when the name came up at headquarters I remembered it."
"From what?" Snake asked.
"His interview," Desperado explained. "I play an important role in the network of the Patriot as well, though I was awarded it without my knowledge. It was not until just before Shadow Moses that I became aware of this role. It was to select the members of the network.that meant the Six Points, and even the Patriot himself." Snake was confused.
"Before my father passed, he told me of my duty and of the Patriot. Around 100 years ago, the Wisemen's Committee was destroyed, and a man - Charles Harpin - was later named the Patriot. There was a total renovation in the structure of the network, and it was reconstructed as a dictatorship, leaving a close friend of the Committee - my father - to select the future members.
"My job was passed on, not through family, but to whomever he saw fit for the job. In this case, he thought I could handle it. After he died, I learned more about the existing Patriot, and as members of the Six Points died, being past their prime, I interviewed the people who would take their places. But, they would never know that they were a part of the Patriot's congregation.that way they would be fair judges of the Patriot's actions." Then, Snake remembered the pens.
"What about the pens?" Snake asked. "Everyone in FACtion owns one." Desperado hesitated for a moment, but the continued his explanation.
"With them, I managed to keep tabs on the people I interviewed. You see.FACtion is the Six Points. Tauran.The South American. Frost.The African. Formal.The European. Klaymore.The Russian or Asian. Dante.The Australian. And Big Boss.The American. I selected all of them.your father, on terms regarding other factors."
"Don't call him that!" Snake growled. "He's no father of mine."
"It was all part of a plan," Big Boss began. "Our paths crossed in the past. After he hired me to the Six Points, and Shalashaska as the Patriot, I met up with Shalashaska and learned of my importance to the network. We kept tabs on Desperado, and after he learned of the previous Patriot's more.devastating atrocities.he contacted the Six Points and conditioned their minds to oppose the Patriot, hoping that then he could stop the Patriot. But, the Six Points had no real power, and by playing along I was able to build a strong bond with the Russian."
"Dante," Snake said.
"Precisely," Big Boss continued. "It was easy, guiding him away from FACtion and implanting in him sympathy for the Patriot. Our connection gave me access to The Discovery." Snake was not going to wait any longer for another answer, and so he interjected hastily.
"What does The Discovery have to do with it?" Snake asked.
"Ha," Ocelot chuckled. "Even the story of the Alpha Gear has not passed by you? It was the elite piece of machinery designed to protect Charles Harpin during his time in office as the Patriot. It is the ultimate compilation of nuclear technology, forging the enhancements and skills of every new Metal Gear.well, all but one."
"Mine," Big Boss entered the conversation again. "It is the method of Conglomeration. The Discovery has chartered Metal Gears from positions all across the globe to the home of Alpha Gear for many years. Metal Gear Ray was sent to an underground facility in Manhattan, where Alpha Gear was being held at the time. Its strengths were altered and entered into Alpha Gear, and with the new enhancements Alpha Gear became stronger. This is how it has been since the first Metal Gear was produced.the single method used to assure the Patriot nuclear supremacy."
The four men were growing increasingly wary of conversation, beginning to peer around the corners of the pillar at each other as Big Boss continued. "Ocelot has been after my Metal Gear for quite sometime, but it's arrival isn't the true reason for this whole fiasco."
"The Six Points," Desperado said, before his thoughts were fully developed. His eyes scanned his mind, and he worked feverishly to formulate the answer.
"We killed the Six Points," Snake said, then. "We killed them, so that you could carry out a plan without their interference. They were obstacles.and you needed them gone before your power was recognized. But," Snake recalled a segment of their conversation, "I thought that the Six Points were just decoration. They have no real power to begin with."
"Only on a certain level," Ocelot started again. "You see, they've wanted me out of control since they knew I was the one. I've done far too many things to counter their resistance, and they've held even more grudges. With Desperado's assistance, they've been turned against any act by me, the Patriot, but they are the only ones who can give the green light on an event so important as this."
Then, the tension shattered, and each man in the room spun around the corners of the pillar, aiming their guns high. Desperado and Big Boss faced each other, and Ocelot and Snake did the same. But, Ocelot's eyes were narrow and sharp, and with the switch of a hidden lever in the mass of pipes and tresses that made up the pillar the room began to move.it began to ascend.
Snake's head went in every direction, searching for an answer, as Ocelot watched him in amusement and the ceiling opened, letting the faint glow of the moon shine in, highlighting some of Ocelot's more distinctive features. Then, the walls having disappeared beneath them, the floor quivered and then halted, becoming a part of the roof. Snake looked at Ocelot and felt the moonlight pour over him, streaming over his bulking muscles and through his hair.
The roof was littered with heavy machinery and unfinished, unassembled tresses - some jutting up from the roof and waiting for the proceeding ceiling to be positioned over them. It was an eerie sight for them all, from their spot over the quiet Manhattan. They saw nothing but black beyond the nearby peak of Tower Two - also having been halted at the thirteenth floor.
The wind was brushing by them, and the heat had completely gone from the day before. Ocelot held only one Revolver, and put his hand in his pant pocket retrieving his pocket watch. Glancing at it for just a moment and angling it for the moon's reflective light to illuminate the working hands, he grinned. Then, he dropped it back into his pocket and patted his pants lightly. "Just past twelve.it seems Dante has gone back on his word."
Just then, the Tiger helicopter shot up from the blind spot of the building's side, and elevated above the four. Dante wiped the window of his cockpit and gave them a casual salute before switching something on his control panel. The four looked up, their clothes rustling in the heavy wind, and both Big Boss and Ocelot pulled their second guns, aiming them at each others' targets. Ocelot held two revolvers on Snake and Desperado, and Big Boss held a Beretta and a Marker on the two as well.
"Welcome to the game!" Dante cried, his voice amplified over the sound of the quick-turning rotors. "It is time for the secrets to be told!" Ocelot and Big Boss both sported lively grins, but Desperado and Snake both watched.their eyes scanning the vista hungrily. Then, Snake heard a sound explode in his ear and he subtly tapped it, his action going unnoticed by the congregation before him.
"Snake!" Otacon's voice erupted. "Snake! Are you all right?!" Snake knew he couldn't answer, but he let the noises around him be transmitted through his Codec to Otacon. "We got a shot of the pilot! It's Dante, Snake! I got in touch with Mei Ling and Naomi.Snake, they found something big in Tower Two!"
Then, without another moment's hesitation, Big Boss fired his Marker. As soon as he had shot, they all jumped away.all but Snake, who had dropped onto his chest, a terrible pain surging through his thigh, and blood dribbling onto the roof to form a small puddle beneath him. "Snake!" Otacon yelled, hearing Snake's subtle moans. "Snake, are you all right?!"
"He.can hear us," Snake managed to say, his eyes narrowing on Big Boss who had ducked behind a large crane-like machine. Their eyes were level with each other, and Snake could feel the hatred boiling inside him.
"Shooting?" Dante's voice boomed. "All ready? Before another shot is fired, we will all know the truth. Big Boss, let's begin with you. You seem eager to finish this." Big Boss' eyes were fixed on Snake, and he held no acknowledgement to Dante's incessant bickering. "No? Why not tell Ocelot the truth? He deserves it, doesn't he?" Ocelot was hidden behind a mass of machinery; it's build resembling a wall.
"What truth?" Ocelot roared. Dante smiled, the helicopter making circles over the four, and continued as Big Boss had yet to answer. "It seems his 'Trinket' failed ocean travel regulations, and didn't make it on the Discovery."
Ocelot's eyes stung with rage as Big Boss let out a howl of laughter: "You couldn't have seriously expected me to hand over my life's work? Even if you did have it, you know you would never be able to duplicate its abilities. You know of it's Chemical Locks.what it has harnessed is a power that only I can access."
"'Trinket' was your ticket to life, boy!" Ocelot cried. "It's the very reason you are still alive today, and you know that as well as any!" But, as much as Ocelot yearned to go on, Dante was not willing to stop the confrontation with that.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Dante yelled, his hand going up in the cockpit of the Tiger. "Ocelot, don't you have something to tell Big Boss as well?" Ocelot looked up at Dante with a rage only he knew, and raised his revolver toward the helicopter.
"I have a shot, boy, and my will to take it is strong!" Ocelot's revolver was firm in his hand, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that if he did pull the trigger he would hit his mark. Dante knew this and stopped. "But, I don't mind sharing the trick I played on you." Ocelot remained hidden and his revolver remained pointed upward as he spoke, an apprehensive glare on Dante's face.
"You've wanted power from the start," Ocelot began. "If you had been granted my role, you would have taken it in a heartbeat, and I know that not a single part of you opposes the idea of the Patriot network, yet you still hold a certain hatred against me. Now, what I know, that the others in our midst do not, is that you are anything but a strong follower of the FACtion belief. You are out only to help yourself, and so you have used many to achieve greatness, but you have overlooked the flaws.
"Esher.she is my agent. Not of the Six Points, just a loyal devotee of the Patriot. She has never acted to counter your succession, but she has done well as to keeping herself a secret. As soon as I contacted you regarding the mission, you were hooked. I made plans with you, allowing Big Boss to hitch 'Trinket' along for the ride, and you knew the intentions of this mission all along. I told you what I had to about Alpha Gear, and then your men passed a disc onto Solid Snake. Now, when you sent the disc through the officers, Esher switched it with one loaded with your 'IDT' program. Then, it was installed on the Compilation. From there, it was passed between the Romantics and Solid Snake, but the move that no one saw was the swap." Snake was trying to listen through the pain, but he could hardly make sense of it all.
"Snake, do you remember? Wordsworth took the disc from you and handed it back to you before you noticed a thing. You didn't see her switch the 'IDT' disc with one installed only with a short list of parameters regarding Alpha Gear.just enough to excite those who read it, but just few enough to let them pass it off as an unidentified theory." Dante, Snake, and Desperado were all stunned.their minds and mouths frozen, but Snake had room to ponder, and with the mention of IDT his mind began to churn like mad.
"Wordsworth?" Desperado muttered.
"She had me call her 'Tintern' after one of the late poet's greater pieces," Ocelot said. "Having told Dante of Alpha Gear, he never bothered to look at the disc before speaking with you in the lobby.simply rattling off what I had told him at the start of the mission."
"Wordsworth?!" Desperado cried aloud. There was an undeniable anger in his tone. Snake could easily identify with him, but it was Ocelot who continued.
"She was like Esher.a loyal devotee to the Patriot - to me. She never did anything to break your confidence, but she succeeded in everything else we planned." Dante, who remained seated in his aerial throne, set his finger on the controls before him and gripped the stick lightly, tugging it to the left as his thumb contracted on the red button on its top. And then, a terrible hiss escaped the Tiger's hull and three Trigat missiles exploded from its 'wing.'
Snake, who was lying in the open, rolled over his leg and behind a mass of shattered metal. Ocelot ducked away, too, losing his aim at the Tiger and taking cover as the three missiles impacted various spots on the rooftop and sending shrapnel through the air. "Damn!" Snake roared.
"Otacon! Get out of the building! NOW!" Snake cried. There was a sudden echo of footsteps in Snake's ear as Otacon and Jack trampled down the stairwell.
"Snake," Otacon panted. "I'd told you.Mei Ling.she found something big.in Tower Two." Snake was grasping at the wound in his thigh as Big Boss fired his Marker in the air - its sound reverberating through the air and coming in a weird wave of loud and quiet tones through the rippling wind of the rotors. Snake's head went up, realizing completely that Big Boss didn't want him to hear about the discovery in Tower Two.
When the Marker's shot had been silenced, the Tiger pulled away from the rooftop and ascended to the clouds for a moment - Dante was checking the status of the helicopter before returning to battle.
"Snake! It's the -" and then the transmission was lost, another call taking control of the Codec. Snake looked into the air with an obscure expression as another voice filled his mind.
"You have two minutes." The voice was raspy and cracking, and the Tiger could be heard only in the distance. 'Two minutes,' Snake thought. 'Who.?'
"Klaymore!" Snake cried aloud, and the transmission was lost. He knew what it meant. Klaymore survived the attack, and his thumb was still on the trigger. In two minutes Tower One would be no more than a heap of glass and steel. Then, his mind returned to the bomb activation in the computer room, and the IDT program. "What's the IDT?!"
There was a moment of hesitation before Dante's voice returned to the scene, towering above. "Internal Data Transfer," he claimed. "It was, in part, my creation." Snake knew it now. He had figured it out, and put his hand to his ear before saying it all.
"Hello?" It was Otacon. Snake sighed and then stood, blood still trickling down from his thigh.
"Dante, Big Boss, Esher, Formal.they were all in league with Ocelot," Snake began. He knew there were several guns aimed at his forehead, but he was not afraid to go on. The breeze was whipping through his hair and sending it on end, as well as cooling his burning wound and sending a tingling sensation through his thigh. "Most of the Six Points was unaware of the alliance, but Klaymore knew."
"I see you've figured it out," Ocelot interjected, but Snake didn't wait for him to continue. He had solved it. He would be the one to announce it.
"The Compilation was going down, and you needed a new location, and this one had to be bigger so that it could do what Arsenal had tried to do. You formatted the Delta supercomputers to store the growing mass of information, and this was going to be your new home.
"But Klaymore knew about it too. He wasn't going to let all of this go without punishment, and rigged the IDT system installed in the computer room so that when the alliance actually tried to move the data from the warehouse to here, the whole place would go up in flames. Otacon," Snake addressed, knowing he was listening on the Codec, "when you activated the IDT program, the explosives were armed and the data began to move from place to place."
Snake had been counting since he got word from Klaymore. "We have 36 seconds to get off of this building, or we all die." Ocelot's gun went down, and Big Boss' did as well. "The clock is ticking." There was a smirk on his face - a sly grin. None of them were in control. They were all on the same schedule.watching the same clock.
36 seconds.