Eva turned up the next day, after finding out his location from his radio communicator, with a tranquillizer, it didn`t have much shots in it but Snake was still thankful. She talked randomly about stuff Snake didn't care about before taking out the weapon and handing it to him, "here, I thought you might need it." She was sitting next to him under the shade of a tree.

Snake took the tranquillizer from her and eyed it, "thanks." Eva leaned forward and Snake fought with the urge to push her back.

"is a dry 'thanks' all I get?" She locked eyes with him and winked, placing her hand at the side of his face and stroking the painted cheek. Snake turned away, not before noticing her eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"I…uh…" Snake felt guilt brew up inside him as he turned back at her.

Eva shook her head and retreated her hand back to her side, "you`re right, it`s too early. Perhaps next time then?"

Snake nodded distractedly. There was a while of uncomfortable silence before Eva said, trying to keep her tone out of disappointment, "Sokolov`s been shifted, I talked to him last night." She paused, seeing nothing but uneasiness cross Snake`s eyes. Taking it merely because of change in mission`s next location, Eva continued, "he says that he can`t do any more delays in Shagohod`s construction, Volgin is persistent." Snake listened carefully, "I wish there was something to distract him…" She paused thoughtfully, "Raikov`s been stationed somewhere else, I bet all of Volgin`s attention will be fixed on finding you and making the Shagohod now."

"you`re still in the shadows right?" Snake asked, noticing that he hadn`t said anything for a long while.

"with Ocelot stealing all the spot light, how can I not be?" Eva laughed, "I've honestly started feeling sorry for him."

Snake felt his chest getting slightly constricted, "don`t feel sorry for him, that might be the biggest insult for him yet."

"all the more reasons." She said and got up, "keep heading north, I'll try and meet up with you sometime soon." She pulled the helmet of her bike over her blond hair, after shaking them in her usual fashion; Snake was forced to avert his gaze. She climbed over her motorcycle, the engine bursting to life as she rotated the handle, "five soldiers are stationed two miles from here, better be careful."

"sure," Snake ran a hand through his hair, "you take care too."

Although he couldn`t see her face due to the helmet but he could sense her lips lift up in a self satisfied smile as she pulled the vehicle away from sight.

Snake resumed walking again. As mentioned by Eva, the expected soldiers were patrolling the area. He took them out one by one; the tranquillizer was needed only on the last two. He took care of the rest by the blade he was equipped with, not risking to waste his tranquillizer shots. Dragging the bodies in the shadows of the overgrown grass, Snake got up and clicked on the microphone to tell that to the major. He knew that now everyone would know of his arrival to this checkpoint but the guard was so good that he couldn`t possibly have slipped through them.

"Snake, I see you`ve reached the ion number two." They didn`t address the areas from their real names, just in case the call was being intercepted, ions were the assigned destinations.

"yeah." He replied, looking around to make sure the area was clear of any human life, "disposed off the guards here too."

Zero furrowed his eyebrows, he knew that the soldier was restless and wild, in his opinion that might prove to be a demise but he had been constantly proven wrong about the theory so far, "Snake now the-"

"I know they`ll identify my location but there was no other way, i`ll be outta here as quickly as possible."

"ok then, I shouldn`t keep you waiting any longer, be sure to wipe off all the trail and try to do the slipping instead of the slaughtering."

Snake didn`t reply and turned the gadget off, muttering to himself, "sure."

He spent the next two nights in an abandoned shed eight miles from the previous location, just until the weather cooled down. It seemed as though the Ocelot unit had started patrolling too, but he hadn`t been discovered yet. He doubted if Ocelot himself knew about his location. The fourth day when he thought that the mess was more or less cleared; he decided to continue what he had started. Getting up from the floor early that morning he grabbed his shirt from beside him and stood up, he pulled open the door to see a pair of resolute eyes staring at him. He took a short step aside to let the person in.

Eva extended her hands and placed them on his chest. Snake took a doubtful step back so she put one of her hands on the back of his neck and pulled him towards herself, "hello, Snake." She greeted seductively. Snake tried to pull away but stopped protesting when he imagined how odd it might have looked to her. She was providing him information, the least he could do was share a kiss with her. As soon as their lips met, Snake felt like he would have to push her away because of all the fervor she was letting out into the contact. He closed his eyes so that he wouldn`t have to witness her face so close to his as she ran her fingers through his thick hair, while his arms hung limply at his sides as he fought with the urge to rip her head off.

After what felt like an agonizing eternity, Snake pulled back, because it seemed if the matters were left in the hands of the woman, she would have happily taken it as a bigger invitation. After taking a hasty step back, Snake licked his lips disgustedly, because it might have looked rude if he would have spit out or wiped his mouth on his sleeves. Eva appeared to be satisfied nonetheless as she walked in, not at all bashful at her forward gesture. She beamed at him and he managed an uncomfortable smile back.

"I`ve got news, I don`t know how you term it as; good or bad." She said and sat down, patting the floor beside her so that he would do the same. "Ocelot is paying hard to gain back Volgin`s trust."

A/N: i apologize for the late update and for keeping you hanging... please review and lift up my spirits because you know you have the authority for that and you shouldn`t waste it... R&R... let me know what you think....