Chapter 2

Retired Hero

Jack was sitting on the edge of his bed, his wife, Rose, right next to him. He looked at her adoringly, a smile in his eyes. He remembered all that he had to go through those three months ago to save her and Olga's child. He stood up, dressing in blue jeans and a white T-shirt. He moved to his kitchen, and got his breakfast.

He was again bored.

In fact, he had been bored for the past three months. He didn't think he would ever have the excitement he had three months ago in his life again. But he was following the orders of Solid Snake. He had to stay alive, or Rose and Olga's baby would die. He was a retired hero. Jack didn't think that anyone in the country, save for only a few people, knew that he had saved their lives. Everyone knew Solid Snake was the hero of Shadow Moses. All Jack had was a mystery at who destroyed the Big Shell and crashed a giant metal object into Federal Hall. Arsenal Gear still hadn't been completely removed. Luckily, when police figured out how to open the thing, they found Sons of Liberty insignias all over it…so they were busted. The hydrogen bombs inside Arsenal didn't help their case either.

Jack looked over at the glass casing on the wall. Inside of it was the High Frequency Blade Snake had given to him. Such memories that blade held. Jake looked away, into his empty cup of coffee. As much as he hated it, he was a retired hero. He had been fighting since he was just a little kid. No more of that for him. Now, it was just staying alive and waiting for his child to be born. And it wasn't even that hard to stay alive. The most danger he had been in in the past three months was a gang of five people encountered him. He had single-handedly managed to dispatch of all five of them in a matter of moments.

Jack walked over to the sink to put in his cup, when the telephone rang. Jack dropped the mug, and picked the telephone up on the fourth ring.

"Jack Willow speaking." Jack said into the receiver. A harsh voice spoke on the other line.

"Raiden? Is that you?"

"Snake?" Jack whispered. He didn't want Rose to hear. "What? What's the matter?"

"I, uh…I need your help."

"Yeah, sure, anything."

"Come to Federal Hall. Now." The click of the line ending was heard. Jack put the telephone back, and leaned against the counter. Federal Hall?

A few hours later, Jack was waiting, leaning on the wall of the monstrous building, keeping his back to the statue of George Washington. It was there that his foster father had fallen to his death. Jack would rather not be reminded of that. He suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder, making Jack jump, and spin around. He grasped a hold of the arm that touched him, until he looked into the eyes of the man dressed in a coat.

"Snake." Jack said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Don't be so jumpy, kid." Snake said, a small chuckle emanating from his mouth. "You're fine."

"Why did you want to see me?" Jack asked, getting straight to the point.

"Like I said, I need your help…come with me." Solid walked over to the statue, Raiden following behind him. Snake stopped suddenly, at the exact point that Solidus Snake had made contact with the pavement. Snake pointed to something hidden in the crack where the pavement ended and the statue began. Jack crouched down, questioningly, and picked it up. It was a small note.

"What…?" Jack started to ask, but Snake finished the sentence for him.

"It dropped from Solidus' suit when he fell. I only just found it." Jack opened it up, reading it.

"141.44." Jack read aloud. "Sounds like a Codec frequency."

"Exactly," Snake replied. "I tried contacting them on mine…I didn't get static, but I didn't get an answer either." Jack nodded.

"So, why do you need my help?"

"Otacon managed to track the location of the receiver. I went to have a look…only to find it's in a Marine base. It's one of the best defended in the country. This means that I need help. Namely, yours." Jack stared at him for a moment.

"I thought you said to stay alive."

"Whatever Solidus wrote down, it was worthy of his attention. Solidus was King in his own mind, so not much could grip his attention. Whatever is on the other line of frequency 141.44, it's important. Important enough for you to break your promise to stay alive."

Jack nodded. It didn't add up. A Codec frequency hidden in Solidus Snake's suit tracked to a heavily guarded Marine base. Unless…

"You don't suppose Solidus knew that something about the Patriots was in that base?" Jack asked suddenly.

"Possibly." Snake replied, nodding his head. "Are you in or out?" Jack weighed his options. He could continue to stay alive and be bored out of his mind. Or he could risk his life for excitement, and to figure something out about the man that killed his parents. There wasn't much of a choice for Jack.

"Count me in."