Author's note: Awww, how cute, the two girls slept in the same bed…Just wait until you see them in the morning. It's adorable. Anyways, this is a small landmark for me. Five chapters means I've managed to pass that barrier from just another story to major project.

Chapter 5: Audience

Night had passed the same way most do when you're on your way to destroying another nuclear-equipped walking tank, in other words, Snake slept like a rock. He could sleep anywhere, and a night not spent on a couch was much to Snake's delight.

Maybe it was because of that that Snake slept an extra half hour past his usual wake-up time. Snake grunted and rolled over, scratching his coarse beard. He saw 6:28 shining in green on the digital clock. The previous day's events eluded him for a second, until he rolled over to the other direction and saw the two recruits. Everything came flooding back.

Snake then noticed something amusing. The shy girl who had originally laid own on the very edge of the bed (to tell the truth, Snake thought she would've fallen off) had her cheek buried into Lynn's shoulder, and was all curled up like a cat, clinging to the other girl as if Lynn's arm were her last worldly possession. She was fast asleep, and it was an adorable sight to behold for Snake.

The other girl, Lynn, however, had not moved since she was moved from the floor to the bed the previous day, and who was also asleep, had no notice of the other featherweight stuck to her.

Duty all of a sudden called for Snake. He grumpily got up and crossed the blood-stained floor to the bathroom. He shut the door, and lifted up the toilet lid. Sitting down, Snake's face filled with a shade of purple as he found that his bathroom experience wasn't going to be very fun.

Twenty minutes and a few audible groans later, Snake emerged from the bathroom and quickly shut the door behind him. He had opened the window prior to exiting.

The medic girl was starting to come to, as she stirred a bit. Snake sat down on his bed.

"Morning," he said, waiting for the girl's reaction. She slowly opened her eyes, and freed one hand to rub them.

"Were you cold or something?" Snake asked.

"Hmm?" the girl replied. She looked sideways and saw how she had been sleeping. Her face turned red, and she backed away so quickly she fell off the bed. "W-was I s-sleeping like that?" She asked, embarrassed.

"Yeah," Snake said with a laugh. These girls had lifted his spirits, something that had not been done for many years. The young medic struggled back up, and sat on the end of the bed.

"So, what do we do now?" the girl asked softly.

"Well, first we get something to eat. Then you and me go and meet my associate Otac--"

"--I'm coming," the now-awake Lynn intervened.

"You can't even stand up, let alone walk," Snake said. Surely, some color had returned to her face, but--

Lynn suddenly moved, and to both Snake and the younger girl's surprise, Lynn struggled to sit up. She then sat, back against the bed's headboard.

"I-impossible," the medic girl muttered softly. Snake agreed--what the hell was with this girl?

Then, like some holy being rising from the ashes, Lynn struggled, swayed, but eventually stood up. She then wavered and fell against the wall for support. But the fact that she had managed to stand up, after losing that much blood and having one night's recovery rest, was very startling. Lynn sat back down on the bed.

"Okay, I'm impressed," Snake said, "But you still need to rest. If you want to come with me, you'll need all the rest you can get."

"I want to preserve my father's emergency funds," Lynn heaved. "The credit card has limits. I need it to pay for our travel fares, should there be any, as well as living expenses…"

"Yeah, money's kind of non-existent for me," Snake said.

"I'll cover expenses," Lynn replied breathily. "It sounds like without me you can't go anywhere."

Snake was now actually glad he had met up with these two girls. She was right--without her, Snake couldn't to much more than take the local city bus.

"How are we going to take you with us?" Snake asked. "You can stand, but you can't walk without support…" he trailed off as he looked at the younger girl. It took a second for it to sink in. Her face turned red again.

"I-um…I guess I could h-help her walk," the younger girl said shyly.

"By the way, what's your name?" Snake asked. He had no recollection of her name being mentioned at all.

"Andrea," she replied softly. "It's my first name."

"Okay, Andrea, do you think Lynn would mind if I ordered up some food? No one can work on an empty stomach, and Lynn needs the nutrition right now." Lynn looked up at him. "Don't give me that look, you know you need it. And be thankful we didn't take you to the hospital--their food sucks." He laughed. Snake was definitely in high spirits; he had never been this social. Maybe it was because there was someone who was more anti-social than him, and the cute medic that served somewhat as relief from the serious situations.

"Fine," Lynn answered, giving Snake the go-ahead to order some food. Snake picked up the phone and dialed up the first fast-food place he could think of. A pizza joint, one that Snake frequented whenever he had the time and money. He ordered two large pizzas, cheese and pepperoni. A bottle of pop was also on its way with the meal. Snake had specifically ordered the high fat meal for Lynn. Hopefully it would give her some extra energy to stop her from collapsing halfway to Otacon's apartment.

The 'forty minutes or it's free' rule was just barely just missed by the delivery guy, by the time the food got there. Snake opened the door up, just enough to allow the pizza boxes to slip through unscathed.

"Is everything okay in there?" the young delivery guy asked, craning his neck. He must've seen the blood stained sheets past Snake's head.

"We accidentally broke a bottle of ketchup," Snake quickly lied. He couldn't believe it when the guy's face lit up with understanding. Snake didn't actually think the guy would buy it--especially with Lynn sitting on the bed, in a sports bra and her bandage showing a small dot of red in the middle.

Snake quickly passed the credit card through the little gadget the guy had, thanked him, and shut the door abruptly. He carried the pizza over to Lynn's bed and plunked down one whole pizza on her.

"Andrea, you and me split this box, Lynn, eat that whole pizza otherwise you aren't coming," Snake stated.

"I don't eat very much," the shy Andrea replied. Snake tore off a section of the pizza box to use as a makeshift plate and handed two slices to her.

"This enough?" Snake asked.

"Yes, thank you," she replied softly.

Lynn looked at the pizza box. She opened it, and smelled the pizza.

"What is this?" she asked.

Snake choked on his first mouthful of pizza.

"You've got to be kidding me, right?" Snake asked, swallowing painfully. Not even knowing what pizza was--was she that removed from society at large!

The look on the medic's face was incredible. She looked so dumfounded, like someone had just told her they were her real parents.

"Y-you've never eaten pizza before?" Andrea asked incredulously.

"What the hell do you eat?" Snake asked.

"Rations," Lynn replied. She lifted up a slice of pizza, and inspected it. She took a bite, ad finding that it was satisfactory, continued eating.

"'Rations,'" Snake repeated. It was the kind of answer he was expecting.

Andrea plundered a few plastic cups from a cupboard at the other end of the room, and poured some fizzing soda into three of them. She set one down on the bedside table next to Lynn, and gave Snake one.

"Don't ask, just drink," Snake said. "It has caffeine in it. That should help keep you alert." Lynn looked at the carbonated brown drink for a second, and downed the whole cup in a few mouthfuls. The burning effect apparently had no effect on her. She then resumed with the pizza.

"So," Snake said, taking a sip of his pop, "since the both of you are coming with me, I guess you should know more background on me, or at least more than what the media produces."

"You weren't behind the sinking of that oil tanker," Lynn said.

"No, I wasn't. It was a trap that was set up specifically for me, and I fell right into it." He sighed. "Shadow Moses was more than just a terrorist takeover, you know. It was a cover up for a new Metal Gear that was being developed."

"I read Nastasha Romanenko's book," Lynn replied. "It seems her portrayal was accurate."

"Yes, it was…" Snake said, trailing off in thought. "Anyways," he continued, "as I said the oil tanker was a ruse. There was a Metal Gear on it, this one developed by the Marines. After I took the photographic evidence and sent it to Otacon, another party took the Metal Gear and sunk the tanker. Another tanker with oil was sent and sunk at the exact same spot, to make it look like I was some sort of terrorist. That, and they had a reason to build the Big Shell."

"Does that have to do with what happened at the shoreline a few months back?" Lynn asked.

"Yes, it does. What got shipwrecked there was Metal Gear Arsenal, an underwater fortress that was capable of controlling information flow throughout the United States."

"It was removed quickly, and the story that was given was that it was 'an experimental reconnaissance submarine," Lynn said.

"Metal Gear, though the word is known to the general public now, is still amongst the most classified projects."

"So this new one…I remember you said it was British, and I heard the name Forrester mentioned…"

"Yeah, Forrester Weapons Lab, they're the developer of the new Metal Gear," Snake answered. "What happened in the restaurant yesterday was an attempt at selling it."

"I've researched Forrester Weapons Lab before," Lynn put in. "They produce some interesting armaments."

"Yes, and it appears Metal Gear is their new product."

"So what's the next move?"

"He said that we're going to see his associate," Andrea said, who had been quiet throughout the whole explanation about Snake's previous incursions.

"Yeah," Snake responded. "My old friend Otacon. Like I said, he's the one who hacks into government servers for intelligence."

"Well, then we should get going," Lynn said. Snake looked, and saw that she had eaten the whole pizza already.

"Alright, but you need to cover up your wound and bra. Your shirt has a bloody hole in it, so you'll have to wear my shirt," Snake said. He bent down and pulled up the shirt that had the guns wrapped up. He pulled out the MP5 and tossed it on the bloody bed, and tucked his own SOCOM into his pant's deep pockets.

"We can't take the MP5," Lynn said. Andrea was eyeing the gun out of the corner of her eye, and she moved a little away from it.

"Here," Snake said, taking the machine gun and placing it in the under frame of the blood soaked bed. "It'll take them a few days to find this."

Lynn struggled to her feet again, and Andrea had a quick reaction to go over and stop her from falling. Lynn's weight nearly caused the featherweight's knees to buckle, but as Lynn supported some of her own weight again, Andrea managed to stand up again. Snake noticed that the girl was easily a head shorter than Lynn, and it made it perfect. Although embarrassed, Andrea swung Lynn's left arm over her neck and tucked her own shoulder under the armpit for leverage. Her face was red once again, but her will to proceed managed to suppress the embarrassment.

The trip downstairs to the lobby was anything but fun. It took in excess of ten minutes for Lynn and Andrea to make it down the stairs without tripping and falling. Snake was forced to follow slowly from behind. Once they finally made it to the lobby, Snake tossed the keys at the desk clerk (a different one than before), and told him to terminate their stay. He watched them worriedly as Andrea half-carried the heavy but small Lynn outside.

The morning was very overcast, and it was Snake's best guess it was going to rain later on in the day. As such the air was cool and the muscle shirt Snake was wearing suddenly didn't feel like enough, even though it was a very warm time of year.

Snake found out to his luck the previous day when he had gone for the medical supplies (which he was being forced to carry) that the hotel they were at was only two hour's walking distance from the housing apartment building that Otacon and Snake lived.

Lynn's breathing had gotten heavier since they started moving, and her support had made sure she wasn't in danger of collapsing. Or to be precise, wasn't going to collapse at that minute. But Lynn stayed strong, staying silent except for her raspy breathing. Sweat had gathered on her face, a danger since it was such a cool morning. Lynn must've know this too, because with her free arm (the one below the bullet wound) she wiped off the sweat.

"Whoa, what's this?" a voice said from behind the group. Snake bristled and turned around--

--and came face to face with a cop. Snake quickly shifted the side of his pants with the SOCOM away from the officer.

Snake didn't doubt for a second why they'd attracted the attention of the local law enforcement, what with the pale macho chick being carried by a smaller girl and on verge of collapsing, and Snake who looked strange only wearing a muscle shirt in cool weather. Add to that that Andrea was the only one who'd cleaned herself up since yesterday--both Snake and Lynn probably smelled foul. And the easily-identifiable Casual Civilian Clothing standard issue the two girls were wearing, minus Snake's geeky flannel shirt on Lynn.

Damnit, Snake thought.

"Must've been one hell of a party," the cop said to Andrea. He jerked his thumb at Snake. "Who's this guy?" he asked. Snake wondered if the cop thought he was a perv or something.

"H-he's um… a friend," Andrea stammered. She obviously wasn't very good at lying.

"Alright, let me see some I.D.," the cop asked, sighing. Snake swore inwardly. He had no documents he could produce--this situation had just gotten bad.

"Dad, can we just get going, I don't feel well," Lynn said. Snake could tell this cover story was forced.

"Uhm, yeah," Snake said uncomfortably, "the officer wants to see some of father's I.D."

"You shouldn't have left it at mom's house," Lynn replied. She didn't sound very convincing, but Snake was surprised she could force herself to say such things. It was actually funny.

However, the cop seemed to buy it, and lost interest. Andrea had a look of relief on her worried face.

"Alright," the cop said, "just make sure you get her well." He pointed at Lynn. "She doesn't look too well."

"Don't worry," Snake said, sighing with relief. The cop walked in the opposite direction. Snake looked at Lynn. "Thanks," he said. "That was a potential problem avoided."

"Be quiet and let's get going," Lynn replied. Snake grunted and continued walking with the two girls.

---------------------------------------------------

The trip was taking a long time, or at least seemed to be, being stuck between the two men for several hours now. He had been force fed food since he was stuck in that office.

His current conditions bewildered him. Originally, he had been waiting in the decrepit office to die, and now it seemed like they were on a road trip to Chicago. He didn't even want to think about what awaited in Chicago.

At that moment, Bonavero was waiting in the parked car while Adam the tall, dark chauffer was busy getting some food. It seemed that Bonavero was going to have to sit through another unhealthy meal. Bonavero wasn't sure if he was losing more weight from stress or gaining more from all the unhealthy food.

"Enjoying your trip?" the James Statham-sounding guy asked, smiling eerily. Bonavero did what he had learned to do over the past hours, which was to stay silent. It was better to give them nothing to respond to.

Ms. Forrester was still sitting in the shotgun seat of the car, massaging her knuckles. She got out of the car, and started to stretch. Bonavero watched her, without meaning to. Every way she moved, it was elegant. It was hard to believe she was the owner of a weapons company.

This whole situation, however, presented some opportunities for Bonavero. Hopefully he would come after them, the only person that knew the inner Bonavero. Bonavero knew full well what kind of stuff this guy was involved in, and hopefully the trail would lead him along…

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Gustoff Gagarin had met with some of Ocelot's men that morning, to hand over the techno-junk that had been deemed important enough to steal off the Forrester woman. Gagarin had never met Ocelot in person, but apparently it was beneficial to both parties if it was kept that way. So every so often one or two men would come along to gather stuff that Gagarin had managed to accumulate, whether it was documents he'd had his assistant print off, the information on the two girls, or in this case, the PDA.

Now it was late morning, approaching eleven o'clock. Ocelot's men had come back again an hour ago after they combed through Forrester's estate. Nothing of value or interest had been there, but that was already something Ocelot had predicted. Chances were, that wherever Forrester had fled to, that was where the important documents and whatnot were being kept. The lab in the city didn't have anything in it anymore, Ocelot had already combed through that a week ago and found mostly everything missing. The place was still operating in what it showed to the public, though. Useless developments of pre-existing arms.

Gagarin sighed and laid back into his comfortable chair. He figured he might as well take a nap, seeing as it would take a few hours before Ocelot phoned back about the PDA.

Author's Note: End of chapter five! Hope you enjoyed the morning scene. Yes, things are starting to shape up for this story! I was educated on a few spelling errors on previous chapters, those should be fixed by the time you read this. As for next chapter, the planning and preparation for destroying Metal Gear finally begins!