Chapter 29

Shadow got his staff ready to attack. Snake may have been smart enough to prevent the poison but Shadow's ability was unavoidable. Shadow grinned and suddenly disappeared.

Snake was ready. He knew he still had one chaff grenade left.

I hope this works.

Snake reached his equipment and quickly took out the pin from the grenade and threw it.

Shadow circled around the room, and saw in his blurred vision the grenade falling to the ground.

"A grenade won't stop me Snake." His voice echoed across the room.

As soon as the grenade went off Shadow stopped immediately, his suit wasn't working.

"What is this?" Shadow was confused.

Snake took the chance. He grabbed the machine gun with both hands, took aim and shot. The bullets hit Shadow's suit before he noticed.

"AHHHHHHHHH" Shadow screamed out as the impact of the bullets pushed him back.

Snake emptied the entire clip without missing a shot.

Shadow's suit was sparking all over the place. His arms and neck began to move involuntarily.

"Damn you Snake!" Shadow yelled out furious. "What have you done?"

Snake reacted quickly. He was going to reload the gun again.

Shadow saw him reloading his gun through all the papers and junk flying through the room because of the speed of the air that was coming from the vents.

I won't let you kill me that easy.

He ran to Snake, although his suit was in very bad shape he could still move very fast.

Snake was inserting the new magazine when he felt an incredibly pain in the side of his head. Shadow had just waved his staff and hit him in the head.

Snake dropped the gun and the magazine. Shadow hit him again, this time in his chest.

Snake fell backwards on the ground.

Shadow walked towards Snake, his arms and legs twitched in a funny way. "No one as ever done this to my suit! You really are his son." Shadow grinned. "But this isn't over yet." Shadow used his right hand and put it behind is head. Some kind of button was situated there. He pressed it. It sounded and seemed like steam coming out from under the suit. Shadow grabbed the suit's sleeve and pulled, he was ripping the suit. Snake watched, as he reached silently for his SOCOM, he still had a few rounds in it and two full clips.

Shadow ripped his entire suit from his body. The small white circles in the suit connected to several holes he had in his arms, chest and legs.

Snake grabbed his gun. He got up fast and before Shadow noticed Snake punched him in face.

"AHHHHHH" Shadow screamed as he moved few feet away from Snake.

Snake pointed his SOCOM at Shadow.

"Where is he?" Snake knew that Shadow was finished now that the suit didn't work.

"There's no point in telling you because you're going to die!" Shadow didn't back out. Although Snake didn't know it, this fight was far from over.

"Fine, I'll find him anyway." Snake didn't want to shoot. But somehow the thought came to his head that this men as old as he was could still be very dangerous.

"I don't need your pity Snake. Kill me if you want."

Snake had no choice, without regrets he pressed the trigger and shot.

Naomi helped Big Boss to sit on the wheelchair. Big Boss couldn't move. His muscles would need several weeks to become usable.

Naomi wasn't sure about what to do next. She decided to go and try opening the door again. As she went a voice stopped her.

"Wh…ere…am….I…." said Big Boss. He had to breathe heavily between words.

Naomi was stunned. She didn't think this was normal behaviour. Somehow Big Boss was fully aware of his surroundings. He knew he was somewhere he had never been before.

"You're in…er…some kind of…er…facility." Naomi's description wasn't the best. But she didn't know what to tell him.

Big Boss raised his head and began opening his eye wider.

"What is it?" Naomi asked.

Then Big Boss began shaking. Naomi immediately thought he was in shock.

Big Boss's last memories came to his mind.

"One who has experienced the tension of battle can never leave the battlefield. I am the one giving you something to live for, and that is war."

He remembered looking straight into Snake's eyes.

"There is only one battle I have to fight. To free myself from you, to shatter the nightmare…Big Boss, I will kill you!"

Big Boss began to shake even more furiously. Naomi didn't know what to do. She decided to give him some drugs to calm him.

Big Boss last words echoed in his mind.

"Whoever wins, our battle does not end. The loser is freed from the battlefield, but the winner must remain there. And the survivor must live is life as a warrior until he dies."

Naomi injected Big Boss with something to calm him down.

He stopped shaking. Naomi was scared and began crying. She had helped to create another monster.

Meryl was almost picking the locks on the handcuffs when Ocelot got up his chair and reached for his radio.

"Topside team can your hear me?"

"Yes sir." A man responded. Sounds of rain and thunder were audible in the distance.

"It won't be long now. Get on your positions, when I give the order I want you to open it."

"Very well we'll be ready."

Ocelot grinned. Everything was going according to plan. He went near the computer. Meryl was almost free. She glanced at the computer to see why Ocelot was staring at it.

She could only see Naomi near an old man that sat in a wheelchair, it seemed like there was a lot of wind in the room.

The handcuffs clicked. Meryl forgot about the computer screen and thought of a way out of there.

Ocelot was still staring at the computer screen.

Soon, very soon.

Meryl got up very slowly from the chair. She grabbed the chair she had been handcuffed to.

Please let this work.

She bashed the chair right into Ocelot's back. He fell to the ground and Meryl ran out of the room.

Ocelot got up quickly and reached for his radio.

"The woman has escaped, get her alive."

"Yes sir."

The men in the hangar began running around through the hangar trying to find Meryl.

Once she had left the room and got down the stairs she tried to find somewhere to hide. She headed towards a few boxes and crates that were pilled up near the middle of the hangar. She then reached for the radio and tried contacting Snake.

"Snake you there?" She whispered.

The radio gave no response whatsoever.

"Snake you there?" She tried again this time raising her voice just a little bit.

The radio gave no response again.

Where are you Snake?

The thought of Snake being dead came to her mind. She had left him without really saying what she felt for him and maybe now it was too late. She was almost crying when a sound got her attention. Near the object that was being covered by the cloth there was a very big door opening up. Then she realized that was probably the only door where the Metal Gear could fit.

What are they doing?

As soon as Ocelot gave the order to capture Meryl is attention focused again on the computer. Ocelot was smiling. On the computer screen Naomi was beside none other than Big Boss.

I've been waiting for this.

He sat near the computer and looked into the security files.

Just as I expected from you Shadow.

The doors were shut. There was no contact with the outside world. Ocelot had predicted this move from Shadow. Although he couldn't override Shadow's order he had, like he always does, a plan. Ocelot pushed a few keys and a massive door that stood in the hangar, which could almost be mistaken for a wall, began to open.

Otacon tried everything he could think of to try an open the encrypted files.

This is some professional work.

It was obvious to Otacon that it was probably the Patriots that invented file encryption. As he was going through his computer he found a file that got his attention more than the new weapon. It was some sort of internal design of the new Metal Gear.

What is this?

The design made it impossible for the Metal Gear Ray to be controlled by one person, it had no room for people. Instead some kind of unit would be placed into Metal Gear Ray. He tried to find some files on the unit, but these were even more encrypted that the files about the weapon.

I've got to think about what's important.

Otacon decided to go for the files about the weapon, they were more urgent than anything else.

After a few minutes of hacking he got the files about the weapon opened. It was as he feared. The new Metal Gear had some sort of unit attached to the back of his head that contained the laser. The laser however was very impressive. The engineering was nothing like Otacon had seen before. The circuits and the assembly were almost unbelievable. Otacon then found a file with the weapon simulation.

Oh no!

Otacon was staggered. The weapon was amazingly powerful. It used a system named "Diamond Reflection System" to create an enormous and powerful laser beam. Its only catch was that it had to charge up for about ten to fifteen minutes.

Otacon was startled as he heard someone knocking on the cockpit door. Otacon opened and saw Rose, her face was livid.

"There's someone outside." She whispered.