Chapter 28

As soon as Shadow opened his eyes he disappeared. Snake couldn't believe it. He looked left and right but saw nothing.

"What the hell." Snake was bewildered.

"This is no trick Snake, this is my true power." Shadow's voice could be heard all across the room. "This is why they call me 'Shadow'."

Snake kept looking left and right. Soon Snake realized that it had been him that went to get Naomi from Steiner, he was able to move faster than anyone else, so fast that Snake didn't even notice him before. This meant that this wasn't as easy as Snake thought.

Shadow's vision was blurred but he could make out Snake.

"I'm not only known by my speed Snake." Shadow suddenly stopped behind Snake.

Snake whipped around and saw Shadow standing there. He pointed the machine gun and fired. Shadow moved to Snake's right side avoiding the gun fire. Shadow put his staff near Snake's face. Snake was turning but as he did the staff released some kind of yellow smoke.

"I'm also known by my expertise in drugs and poisons." Shadow was grinning.

Snake flinched. He dropped the machine gun and grabbed his throat with his hands. He found that it was hard to breath.

"That, Snake is a special one. The more you try to breathe the more the smoke closes your air ways." Shadow pointed up to some vents. "These vents pump air into this room. You can try and see if they can save you." Shadow laughed, he was enjoying every minute of this torture. "You know, I learned about this when I couldn't use my ability, when the Patriots gave me this suit I could have forgotten all about drugs and poisons but decided not to." Shadow was telling his story to Snake because he knew he would soon be dead. "Now I see they've come in handy."

Snake was moving slowly towards the vents if he got enough air into his air ways he could probably survive.

"You fool!" Shadow was mocking Snake. "Do you really think I would help you? Those vents needed to be opened to the max for you to survive."

Snake wasn't going to give up now. He remembered Raiden speaking to Otacon. He reached for his CODEC and tried to call him.

"Yes?" Otacon responded

"Otacon it's me." Snake struggled to talk.

"Interesting side effect." Shadow thought Snake was hallucinating.

"Snake! How did you know you could contact me?" Otacon asked.

"I saw Raiden…'cough'…talking to you…listen I've got a…'cough'…problem here…" Snake had to get to the point fast.

"What is it?"

"Please tell me…'cough'…you have access to the facilities computer…" Snake hoped that Otacon had some kind of access to the computer or he would be dead soon.

"Of course Snake."

Snake was more optimistic.

"Good…'cough'…open…'cough'…the…air vents in…the Floor -4…'cough'…laboratories…fast…"

Snake coughed even more. Shadow got near him.

"No one has ever resisted my special mix of drugs." Shadow was very near Snake.

"Snake the air vents are open!" Otacon responded with some panic in his voice.

"Open…'cough'…" Snake struggled even more.

"Snake! Talk to me Snake…"

"'cough'…more…" Snake didn't have any strength left in him to talk. He was falling into unconsciousness. Then he heard it, the vents were opening and the air was coming in very strong.

Shadow looked puzzled to the vents.

How did he do that?

Snake was alright and began breathing again. He gathered his strength and punched Shadow right in the face throwing him back.

"Keep them like this Otacon." Snake's voice was normal.

The air made papers and all sort of junk to fly across the room.

"Sure Snake." Otacon responded.

"Otacon I've got something to do here."

"Very well."

Snake sensed that Otacon felt somehow betrayed. He realized he hadn't told him about Vamp.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about him."

"Wha…"

"I know how you must feel, but Raiden won't let him get away, not this time." Snake was confident in Raiden.

"Ok Snake, if you need anything more just contact me."

"I'll keep in touch." Snake turned off the CODEC.

Shadow was getting up from the ground and surveying Snake. He was standing still, his hair and bandana moved in the air. Shadow realized he wasn't hallucinating. He was actually talking to someone. The room was getting cold because of all the air that was being pumped into it.

Shadow nodded. "Yes, very good Snake. I thought maybe you were lucky when you defeated Steiner and Lyla, but I was wrong, I underestimated you from the start. I won't make that mistake again."

Snake walked towards his machine gun on the ground. "You won't have time to make more mistakes." He picked up the machine gun.

"I may have underestimated you, but you can't defeat me."

Snake had a plan. He remembered his friend Gray Fox, he also used a suit. Snake hoped that Shadow Fox's suit was similar.

I only have one left.

Naomi watched as the coffin opened up. She went into the room through a door. As she entered the room with the metal coffin she felt afraid.

What have I done?

Naomi began see a body. She was beside the coffin and there it was, a man that was supposed to be dead for twelve years. His body was naked, and it was very pale. The machines stooped beeping. Naomi was startled when Big Boss began breathing on his own. She didn't know what to do, should she leave him there? Or should she help him?

Big Boss opened his good eye and turned his head to Naomi. He didn't say anything.

Naomi felt compelled to help him. She felt that he was similar to Gray Fox. She grabbed a wheelchair that stood near the coffin.

"Can you get up?" Naomi asked him knowing very well he couldn't respond.

She helped him up. Naomi realized that he was just an old man. He was grunting, the effort of getting up was enormous. Naomi was able to get him to sit up.

Then the air vents made a noise and the air began to blow faster.

"What's going on?" Naomi noticed that the vents were blowing out air stronger than usual. She took out her lab coat and wrapped it around Big Boss's naked body.

"….Tha….nk….." Big Boss said in a guttural voice.

Naomi was startled, he had woken up just a few seconds ago and already he could speak. It would take weeks normally for a person to regain speech after waking from this treatment, but Naomi guessed that Big Boss wasn't a normal person. After all he was dubbed the "Greatest Soldier of the Twentieth Century".

Vamp was falling towards Raiden, knife and daggers ready. Raiden was ready for the defence. Vamp threw his daggers.

Raiden knew that the knife was the biggest problem. The daggers didn't matter so he didn't budge. Two daggers passed dangerously near Raiden's face, one on the left the other one on the right. The other two hit him, one near the heart and the other near the left shoulder. Raiden didn't move a muscle, he felt the pain but he knew he had to wait for his attack. He kept screaming in rage.

Vamp was amazed that Raiden didn't move. Vamp readied his knife as he was falling. Like Raiden he too was screaming. They got closer and closer.

With a swift movement Vamp attacked. Raiden saw it.

This is it.

Raiden took his left hand from the HF Blade handle and went for the knife. He was going to grab it using only his suit as protection from the blade. Vamp was amazed. He grabbed it, blood rushed out of Raiden's hand, the suit hadn't protected at all. Vamp stooped screaming and grinned.

What were you thinking? Now your left hand is useless.

But Vamp had forgotten about the HF Blade. Raiden's right hand was still moving the blade. Then Vamp noticed it.

What!

Raiden screamed from the top of his lungs. He was holding the pain in his left hand and was using all his strength to plunge the blade into Vamp's body.

Vamp stopped in midair, the blade had gone through his chest. Raiden couldn't hold Vamp's weight so he dropped the blade. Like it, Vamp fell to the ground on his side. Raiden was still holding Vamp's knife in his left hand. He dropped it to the ground and looked at his hand. A very big and deep cut was bleeding, but he didn't care about it. He just wanted to make sure Vamp was dead. Raiden got near his body, it was perfectly still and blood was coming out of his chest area. Raiden was sure.

Finally.

Raiden took out the two daggers that had hit him and dropped them to the ground. He turned his back on Vamp's body and went to pick up the gun he had dropped. He still had to find Snake and help him. He was going for his CODEC when he heard sounds behind him. He turned around and opened is eyes wide in amazement.

"That's impossible!"