Snake wasn't sure what to think, nothing seemed to be making much sense to him. Just a few minutes beforehand he had discovered that he had been cloned. The worst part was that she has it in for him. The news had hit him hard but not as much as it had Roy. Roy knew nothing about it but when he discovered what had happened, he felt somehow responsible for it all. Snake knew it wasn't his fault though he had no way of telling him that. Nothing that he could say would stop him from feeling the way that he was. Campbell was rubbing his forehead again, he was clearly unwell.

Snake re-opened the file and started to read through each entry. Most of it seemed oddly familiar to him, like she had been living his life: no parents, spent most of her childhood moving from foster family to foster family. Joined the military and after showing exceptional skills got recruited into Foxhound. Snake remembered that Foxhound got reinstated under the command of Meryl. She always had a thing for the unit since he had known her, ever since their first meeting on Shadow Moses Island. It wasn't really much of a surprise that she became its commander. Plus her father, Roy Campbell was once Foxhound's commander all those years ago. To Snake it was turning into a family owned business. Reading through the file again Snake had a feeling that Meryl would know something.

"Colonel, where's Meryl?"

Campbell looked up, the wrinkles on his face were getting deeper and his eyes were looking red. "Err...she should be at Foxhound's base." Snake got up and started to leave "Are you going to find her?"

"I need to talk to her; she was this kid's commander so she must know something about her"

Snake had only just reached the doorway when Campbell spoke, his voice sounding gravelly

"I...I know her, well the truth is... I've met her. A couple of times when I was at the base... she was a nice girl, always polite."

Snake turned around "Does she look like me?"

"Isn't there a photo?"

"No"

Roy started to frantically search through all the files; maybe the photo had fallen out.

"I don't understand... there should have been a photo with the file. I'm sorry I can't remember what she looks like exactly. " He replied shaking his head "god, I feel like such a fool...I could have...." Roy started coughing, he couldn't stop. He bent forwards and grabbed at the glass of water that stood on his desk and greedily drank from it. Snake didn't know what to do, or for that matter what to say to dispel his friend's guilt.

"Colonel, it wasn't your fault"

A couple of hours later, Snake arrived at Foxhound's base still holding the file that Campbell had given him. Inside the base, he was greeted by a familiar face

"Hey Snake. Whoa! Snake it's me!" Snake instantly recognised the guy; it was Johnny or Akiba as he was known by some people. Johnny always came across as a bit of an idiot in his eyes, somebody who really shouldn't have been allowed into the military at all, let alone into an elite group like Foxhound. (However, Snake would grudgingly admit Johnny had his uses, especially during the Guns of the Patriots incident, even though it wasn't at all obvious at the time.)

Johnny ran towards him, he seemed happy, almost excited that Snake had turned up at the base. For him it was like Christmas had come early.

"So, are you here about the missing recruit?" he questioned, tailing Snake down the corridor like a hyper-active puppy

"Something like that" Snake really didn't like the guy but he tried his best to appear friendly "Where's Meryl?"

"She's in her office on the fourth floor" Johnny replied, staring at a notice board that hung on the wall. On the notice board were various adverts and information pamphlets informing people on the things that are needed to make the perfect solider. There was even an advent advertising a thirty five percent off everything sale at Drebin's place. Snake was gone by the time Johnny looked up "I could...."

Snake was outside Meryl's office feeling out of breath and very tired, he wasn't entirely sure why he didn't decide on taking the elevator. Maybe pushing his body near to its limit made him feel alive or something. In truth it made him feel old. Due to premature aging from the cloning process that created him, Snake's appearance was similar to that of a seventy year old man. He also felt like one as well, but that never stopped him. He wasn't going to spend the last of his days sitting on a porch rocking to-and-fro in a rocking chair wrapped up in a woollen blanket. He stood outside the office waiting for his strength to return, soon afterwards he knocked.

Meryl sat at her desk going through a large mountain of paperwork. When Snake entered, she looked up at him and smiled

"A commander's work is never done" Snake said jokingly pointing at the pile. He found a wooden chair and sat down.

"Very funny Snake or is it David now that you're retired?"

Snake flung his arms out and replied "it doesn't matter". Meryl smiled, since the Guns of the Patriots incident she had found a new bound of confidence. She was nothing like the scared and vulnerable woman he met in Shadow Moses. What was sitting in front of him was a woman who takes no crap from anyone. A woman who could stand her own in a fight and as it turned out, win an arm wrestle against a guy three times her size.

"So what brings you to my office" she asked leaning back in her chair

"I'm here about the missing recruit"

"Why would you be interested about that?" She seemed slightly puzzled by his interest

"Didn't your father mention anything?" he replied. Meryl shook her head; she clearly didn't know what Snake meant. He handed over the file; it was easier to just show he and to be truthful he didn't know where to begin. She opened it up and started to read. While he waited, Snake glanced round the room. He noticed a few pictures hanging on the white washed walls. Most of them were from the time she was in Rat Patrol 01; there were even a couple of photos from her wedding to Johnny. Snake could never understand why Johnny was the type of guy that Meryl would eventually settle for, though Snake would confess stranger things have happened.

"What---what the hell?" shouted Meryl slamming her fists down hard onto the table

"So you really didn't know"

Meryl shook her head "No, this is the first time I've seen this. Why didn't he say anything to me?" She was angry, furious in fact that she had been left out of an important information loop. "THAT NO LIFE, USELESS, SON OF A....."

"Meryl!" she looked at him "He only found out about this recently" What Snake said seemed to calm her down a little; she nodded and rested her head on her hands.

"I know her, very well for that matter. Even since she arrived at the unit we always use to joke that she acted like you. We even gave her the nickname Snake. Johnny was rather fond of her; he treated her like she was his little sister or something. The more I think about it, the more I believe that was where she learnt how to hack into computers." She stared at Snake "heh, it all makes sense now. My god Snake! What are you going to do?"

Snake shook his head "I don't know"