Chapter 33

Naomi heard a few noises coming from the other side of the door. Snake. He thoughts dwelled on him, was he fighting Shadow and winning? Or was he losing?

As for the computer Naomi couldn't find a way to open the door. After a while she heard the door making some weird noises, she got up and pressed her ear against it. Nothing. It was silent on the other side then out of nowhere the door began opening. Someone appeared before her. "Snake, it's you…" Naomi gave a very faint smile that immediately faded away. She knew that Snake was there not only for her. She bowed her head and moved to her right, revealing the entire room. A big glass and a door divided the room in two.

Snake could see behind the glass a man sitting in a wheel chair. He reached for his ear. "Otacon we'll be silent for a while." He turned off the CODEC and began walking towards the man.

Raiden also turned off his CODEC and followed him behind, but Naomi stopped him by putting her hand in his chest. He gave her a baffled look. Naomi shook her head. Snake had to be alone for this.

Raiden stood still and observed as Snake walked to the old man. Raiden took a more careful look at the man. I know that man. He remembered a similar face. That's why Snake is acting like that. He got close to Naomi and asked her in a whisper. "Is that who I think it is?"

Naomi's answer was short and to the point. "…Yes…" Tears almost came to her eyes again. For the past few minutes Naomi saw Big Boos like an old man, but Raiden's remark made her think about her brother and that Big Boss was similar to him. A man that was supposed to be dead had just come to life.

Raiden blinked his eyes and thought about what the answer implied. Big Boss. He had read a lot about him, things that seemed unreal. He especially remembered Big Boss's battle in several African civil wars, the ones that made him even more famous. But that all ended in 1995 when Big Boss inexplicably took control of an armored fortress nation deep in South Africa named Outer Heaven, he also had in his control a new weapon called Metal Gear TX-55 a nuclear warhead-equipped two-legged walking tank. Solid Snake was the operative they sent in to eliminate the threat. He however didn't know that Big Boss was the man behind the incident, after a struggle to destroy Metal Gear Snake saw himself face to face with his own commander, Big Boss. He was able to defeat Big Boss, however in 1999 Big Boss was in Zanzibar Land a democratic regime that appeared in Central Asia in 1997, Zanzibar Land was trying to achieve economic and military superiority by obtaining a microorganism named "OILIX" that could refine petroleum and produce a highly purified form of petroleum.

Solid Snake was sent in again to stop the threat and again he found himself face to face with Big Boss. He was able to kill Big Boss and his remains became the property of the United States of America.

"How's this possible?" Raiden whispered again at Naomi.

She didn't want to hear more about Big Boss, but somehow she thought Snake earned an explanation. "Snake." She called him out.

Snake turned around and went near Naomi and Raiden. Naomi sat in front of the computer and pushed a few keys. Snake and Raiden watched silently.

"It seems that when they brought me here they already had Big Boss's remains." An X-Ray of a man appeared on the screen. "Ocelot told me that the Patriots had created an advanced machine that could reconstruct, through genetic manipulation and duplication, entire bodies, more advanced than my brother's, but there was something missing…" Naomi paused and swallowed dry. "…Big Boss's memories."

Raiden raised his eyebrow and looked over at Snake. He stood still, hearing every word that Naomi was saying and then he spoke.

"That's why you're here." Snake knew that Naomi had been a part in another experiment, one that required similar procedures.

"Yes. I had worked a lot in my…" Her lip quivered a bit. "…brother. I was able to restore some of his memories." She took her hand to her face.

"It's fine." Snake took his hand placed it on Naomi's shoulder.

"My only work here was to restore Big Boss's memories without any side effects. When you found me sleeping the procedure was almost complete." She took her hand from her face.

"Why didn't you…huh…interrupt the procedure?" Raiden chain of thought was logic. If she was the only one that knew how to restore Big Boss's memories she could have interrupted it.

"It's not that easy, Shadow is an expert in conjuring up drugs and poisons. Add that to the Patriots technology and you get some very powerful drugs."

Snake had experienced in first hand one of his drugs and understood Naomi's feeling quite well.

"I lost control over myself." Naomi took her hands to her eyes and sobbed.

Noise of wheels turning reached Snake's ears. He turned his head and looked over at Big Boss.

"Are…you…" His breathing was very slow and heavy. "…Snake?"

Big Boss looked attentively at the woman that sat by the computer.

As time passed, he was getting better, his memories were a lot clearer and he could feel a kind of tingling sensation on his arms and legs.

Suddenly the woman got up and pressed her ear against the door, it opened and as it did the woman talked to someone.

As soon as Naomi moved to the side two men entered the room. Big Boss's sight wasn't focused enough to discern who they were.

One of them walked towards him. As he got close, Big Boss saw more his face. He had big ruffled hair, beard and an expression of disbelief on his face. The man stopped short a few feet from Big Boss.

Who is this man? Big Boss had the feeling that he knew the man. He tried harder to focus his eyes and get a better look. You! Big Boss breathed deeply. He had seen those eyes before and although the face had changed a little bit the eyes remained engraved in his mind. Solid Snake.

"Snake." The woman that stood behind Snake, in the company of the other man called out. The man turned around and went to talk to them.

Big Boss saw as the woman sat again at the computer and talked to them. He couldn't shake the thought from his head that the man was Solid Snake, the same man that killed him twelve years ago. His mind was racing again if he killed him what was he doing here alive? What kind of sick minded place am I?

Big Boss tried and managed to get his hand on the wheel and pushed it with very limited strength.

The man that Big Boss thought was Snake whipped around and looked at him.

"Are…you…Snake?" his voice was far from clear, but from the reaction of the woman and the other man he knew they understood him.

Naomi and Raiden also turned to Big Boss. Raiden was somewhat incredulous that Big Boss was in front of him, alive and speaking.

Naomi on the other hand, was sad, her eyes were watery. As she looked at Big Boss she couldn't believe that he had managed to push the wheel. He was getting better by the minute instead of months. The thought of Gray Fox invaded her mind again.

Snake didn't know what to make of the question. "Yes, I am."

Big Boss started to breathe even more heavily as he strained himself to speak. "I need…to…tell…you…" He coughed a little bit. "….now…that…I…" He started coughing more. Naomi got up and went to help him. She put her hand on his back. "It's okay, calm down."

Snake's feeling towards Big Boss changed instantly as he saw Naomi helping him. This wasn't the man he had met twelve years ago on the battlefield. This was only a ghost of that man.

Big Boss needed to finish his sentence, he needed Snake to know. "I…have…a second chance…to tell you…" he coughed more and more.

"Stop talking!" Naomi ordered as she put her other hand on his arm.

Big Boss never had the chance to tell Snake everything, he had thought that Snake wouldn't have understand it twelve years ago, but now it didn't matter. He finished the sentence.

"Tell…you…the truth."

Ocelot observed attentively as Snake talked to Raiden and Naomi, he smirked as his plan unfolded before his eyes.

"Sir we have a man down on the topside." Ocelot's radio spat out.

"What do you mean?" Ocelot's eyes were incredulous.

"One of my men was knocked out by someone."

"Find whoever it was." Ocelot said in a commanding tone of voice.

"Yes sir, right away."

Ocelot turned his attention to the computer screen. Was that your sidekick Snake?

But that worry disappeared as soon as Ocelot saw on the screen Big Boss pushing the wheelchair forward. He pushed a few keys on the computer and after a few seconds a man's voice came on in the entire control room.

"Tell…you…the truth."

Ocelot grinned. Yes. Very good.