Chapter 12 - The Joy

A few minutes had passed after fighting the zombie, Solid Snake and Dr Madnar arrived at the elevator, Snake pressed the button and waited for the elevator. He looked around himself to check how much he has left,

" Let's see…I have a few C4s, some landmines and a couple of magazines left. Hmmm, maybe there's a weapon's room here. " pondered Snake,

" We will need all the firepower we can get… " continued Snake.

"Hey Doc, Outer Heaven, does it have a weapons room?" asked Snake, Madnar turned and nodded,

"Yes, the weapons room is in the Alpha Building. It should have more than enough weapons for the rest of you."

"Perfect, now to just get to the Alpha Building." Snake said,

"Be careful, Snake. There's a specific route the mercenaries take to the Alpha Building. The rest of the area is heavily mined, one misstep and it can cost you and your allies dearly."

"Do you happen to know the route?" asked Snake,

"Yes, I can show you once we get out of here and meet with the others." Madnar informed, Solid nodded as the elevator doors opened, the two entered and Solid pressed the button to the third floor. A minute later, Solid had his gun drawn as Madnar hid behind him, the elevator doors opened to the second floor and Snake began to lead the way, carefully and quietly moving with Dr Madnar. Snake heard the mercenaries patrolling nearby and took a different hallway, walking halfway through until from the distance, two mercenaries were walking towards them. Quickly, Snake pulled Madnar to hide with him behind a bunch of stacked crates. Snake held his hand up to gesture at him to wait. His hearing managed to detect that this entire floor was heavily patrolled, he closed his eyes and began concentrating. Snake's mind was cleared and he could almost feel the world around him slow down. He began quickly thinking back to his training back in Alaska, back to the cold snowy fields and the training grounds of Fort Wainwright. David was lined up alongside his comrades as Colonel Campbell, who was a major at the time, was about to begin his lecture. Behind him was a gate that surrounded an obstacle course.

"Alright Berets, listen up. Today, we're going to test your understanding of the basics of CQC. The obstacle course behind me is meant to simulate certain situations in the field where you will find yourself in a location filled with enemies. For this exercise, one person will go in and will try to make their way through the course without being spotted or alerting your presence, playing the part of the enemy will be a division of Green Berets. Remember Berets, CQC is not a style, it's a tactic relying on every aspect of your body, each of your senses and your surroundings, to be quick and efficient. Who would like to go first?" Campbell explained, David raised his fist in the air,

"Alright Sergeant Major Halley, you're up first." Campbell gestured for David to come towards him. He handed David a paintball handgun modeled after a Beretta. David walked towards the front door and waited for the red light to turn green. Solid thought back to that memory, he could never forget that memory, it's burned into his psyche and his soul.

"When I move, hide in that box." Solid said to Madnar, pointing to a nearby box , the doctor nodded as Snake internally counted down the steps of the mercenaries. Once they were close enough, Snake only thought one single thing, it was the same thing he said to himself once that light turned green in the obstacle course.

" It's showtime… ". In just a split second, Snake snapped his aim towards the closest mercenary's knee then shot him in the knee. He screamed in pain but his comrade had little time to react as Snake swung his leg into his ribs then he wrapped his leg around his throat and with a quick tug and twist, he flipped him to make him land on his neck, the impact caused it to bend and make it a crunch sound. Solid then quickly shot a round in between the mercenary's forehead then turned towards the right to see two more mercenaries coming, he quickly shot one in the head then the other and took a few steps forward until he reached the corner. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at the barrel of an M16 rifle and got closer and that's when Solid pushed the rifle up then yanked his rifle and flipped the soldier on his back. The other mercenary noticed and was caught completely off guard until Solid kicked him towards the wall and then shot him in the head. The one on the floor tried drawing his knife but Snake shot him in the head as well. Snake heard two mercenaries approaching from behind and two more from the front, the rookie quickly rolled then grabbed the knives of the two mercenaries and threw it at the throats of the two behind. Instinctively, he snapped then turned behind him to shoot down the other two. Madnar couldn't believe the almost inhuman level of skill Solid Snake had, his movements felt natural and focused that it nearly shocked him. Snake then dashed towards the next hallway, turned and shot down three mercenaries then did a 180 degree turn then shot one in the knee. Quickly, he slid out the empty magazine then tossed it at a mercenary's throat to stun the enemy then tossed his M1911 at the kneeling enemy. Solid then dashed towards them then leapt towards the mercenary on the left and stabbed him in the throat. Solid then removed his knife, rolled to the side, grabbed the mercenary by stabbing him in the lung and placing him perfectly on top of him. Four mercenaries were approaching in front of Solid's proximity. They gasped as they saw the dead corpses of their comrades,

"" shouted a mercenary. While being hidden, Snake quickly slid in a magazine and loaded his gun as he heard the mercenaries running towards him. Once they were close enough, Snake adjusted his positioning and fired two rounds into the knees of two mercenaries. Instantly, Snake rolled from under the corpse then shot a round into the left arms of the other two mercenaries, forcing them to drop their rifles. Solid then did a kip-up then dashed towards the stunned mercenaries, he unsheathed his knife and stabbed one of the kneeling mercenaries in the head then leapt up briefly to wrap his legs around the other kneeling one and quickly pushed it to snap their neck. Snake then launched himself to trip the other two mercenaries by sending himself towards their legs, forcing them to land straight on their faces and concussing them. The six mercenaries on the other side heard the commotion and quickly got spooked,

"" one said as they rushed towards the corner, rifles drawn and locked forward. Snake rushed to the corner and waited until they turned to engage. Once they turned, Solid quickly turned and kicked the first mercenary's rifle away then grabbed him to toss him over his shoulder. A mercenary behind him attempted to whack him by swinging his rifle at him but Solid ducked and countered by thrusting his fist onto his throat then swung his elbow upward, cracking his nose. Suddenly, as Snake aimed his M1911, a mercenary slapped his gun away and then prepared to shoot but Solid did a backflip to kick the gun away. He quickly landed then jammed his knife in his throat and noticed the other three taking aim. Snake quickly placed the stabbed mercenary in front of him as they began firing, shielding himself. Quickly, the rookie pushed the dead mercenary in front of him to knock the other three down, the rest of the nearby area heard the gunfire and began rushing towards the location where the gunfire was coming from. The mercenaries behind Solid began slowly getting up and that's when Snake dashed to the one with the broken nose and kicked him in the ribs three times then grabbed their collar and leaned backwards to do a Tomoe Nage throw, tossing him onto his back but also secretly taking his beretta. Snake then shot the mercenary on his right, then aimed to his left and shot the recovering three mercenaries, all straight in the center of the skull. Snake then shot the mercenary he tossed in the head as well and quickly got himself up, he could hear the mercenaries rushing and attempting to come from each end of the hallway. He counted in his head once more, counting each individual mercenary and each possibility and probability of their tactics. For some, that could take hours, maybe even days, but Solid Snake was a soldier and it only took one second. Once the mercenaries took position, unaware and unsure of the threat they were about to engage but that's when Solid Snake engaged with them. He ran and slid then perfectly shot down four mercenaries on the left then spun to shoot four more mercenaries on the right. He tossed the beretta aside then rolled backwards then grabbed two berettas off the mercenaries then launched himself up in the air while spinning and the other mercenaries trying to shoot at him, but that's when Solid began firing the dual berettas while twirling in mid air. The bullets all perfectly hit vital areas of their bodies but none of their bullets even grazed Solid Snake, the rookie landed then rolled forward then switched out the dual berettas for another pair of berettas off the dead bodies and did the same thing once more to the other mercenaries in the following hallways. Two last groups of four mercenaries were about to approach from behind Solid Snake. Quickly, Solid flipped backwards and kicked one of the mercenaries down, then quickly grabbed another's rifle to push it aside then quickly kicked another's rifle away. Solid quickly flipped the mercenary with the rifle, tossing them towards the other group then turned around and noticed the remaining armed mercenary about to shoot and the unarmed one lunging for a stab. Instinctively, Solid drew out his knife and used it to parry the stab attempt then he stabbed the mercenary in the shoulder to place him in between himself and the armed mercenary. Solid took the mercenary's handgun and shot the other one in the knee then swung his arm to eject the magazine and break the kneeling mercenary's nose. It bounced off his nose and Snake caught it using the magazine to load it. Solid turned around and shot the mercenary behind him then snapped towards the mercenary he flipped and shot him before he can get up, the group of four mercenaries began to get themselves up and that's when Solid tossed the beretta aside, took out the knife from the wounded mercenary and rolled backwards to grab his silenced M1911. He then got up, bent his knees slightly, held the knife with his left hand while the handgun was in his right hand. He crossed his arms to have his right wrist resting on top of the left and glared at the remaining six mercenaries. Instantly, Solid dashed and ducked a punch from the wounded mercenary, he sliced his throat then spun slightly to shoot him in the jaw, killing him. Like a ninja, Snake moved quickly toward the mercenary with the broken nose then slit his chest then fired a round into his skull and used his corpse to shield himself as the four mercenaries began shooting their rifles. Instinctively, Snake then charged forward with the human shield to push the corpse and stop them from shooting. In that split second, Solid Snake shot the first mercenary in the chest, quickly turned to the next one and stabbed him in the chest then shot the two approaching mercenaries in the head before finishing off by going behind the stabbed mercenary and doing a german suplex, making him land right beside the concussed mercenaries who were slowly getting up. Once they were in a kneeling position, Solid flipped backwards and kicked the three men down with a roundhouse, he pulled out the knife and stabbed the three of them in their shoulders and finally shot all three men down, emptying the last three bullets in the magazine. Solid took a deep breath in and sighed, he slid out the empty magazine and put in another as he heard Madnar walking towards him, shocked and awed,

"What-what was all that?!" Madnar exclaimed,

"Just skill. We used to do drills like that for the Green Berets." Snake replied,

"But-but the sheer skill and reaction time was executed so perfectly."

"Yeah, I always had those kinds of instincts for as long as I can remember, Miller called it my natural gift of destruction." Solid said, letting out a chuckle.

"I'm glad you are on our side, Solid Snake." Madnar replied,

"C'mon let's get moving." Solid said to him as he began leading Madnar through the third floor. A couple of minutes passed, Solid Snake and Dr Madnar were getting closer to the server room, it was there where Snake spotted a group of familiar faces walking towards him, the sight of the group gave Solid a wide smile. It was none other than Gray Fox, Blackbird, Steel and Golden Eagle and Ellen, who were all equally thrilled to see Solid Snake and Dr Madnar alive.

"Snake! Papa!" exclaimed Ellen as she began sprinting towards both of them, she leapt into Solid's arms as he wrapped his arms around her, chuckling as he did so. She then let go, having a toothy smile on her face,

"I'm so glad you're alive and you kept your promise, you found papa!" Ellen said,

"I'm a man of my word." Snake replied with a smile, Ellen ran up to her dad and spread her arms wide to give him a hug,

"Papa!" Ellen exclaimed,

"Moy malen'kiy tsvetok!" Madnar replied, returning the same happiness as he hugged his daughter tightly.

"I'm so sorry for getting you involved in all of this, I promise you, once we get out of here, I promise you I will make up for all of this!" Madnar said to her, Solid let them be and walked towards the FOXHOUND operatives who were all happy to see him,

"Glad to see you're alive dude!" said Steel,

"You're really surpassing my expectations, rookie. The severity of this mission and yet you have overcome the odds, especially fighting a zombie and a robot in the span of a couple of minutes?" said Gray Fox with a smile,

"Don't forget to add the part where the zombie had electrical powers. By the way, Madnar told me how to defeat the Metal Gear. I'll go over it when we get to the Alpha Building." Snake told him,

"Alright, Snake. Let's destroy this thing and get to the Alpha Building as soon as possible." Fox ordered, Solid nodded and began walking towards the server room. He inserted his level three keycard and watched the door slide open. The large room was dark with very tinted windows, there were rows of headless computers but in the center was a giant cylindrical pod with a glowing red eye with wires connected to the entire server room. The group all stood still as the giant pod's red eye turned on and looked directly at none other than Snake himself,

"Jack….is that you?" The pod spoke in a feminine voice, a voice Snake has heard before. He thought back to the flight, the dream he had, it was that woman's voice. The others looked at Snake very much confused by what was happening,

"How many years has it been? I think I can answer this, it's been five years, seventy two days, and eighteen hours correct?" The Pod said to Snake, he wasn't sure how to answer, first the zombie now this computer is calling him Jack.

"Please Jack, say something. Talk to me, let me hear your voice." pleaded the pod, Snake approached it and took a deep breath,

"Hello?" Snake nervously murmured. The pod chuckled, the light glowing on and off,

"You've lost weight." she said, Fox gestured at Solid to go with the flow, Snake wasn't sure what to say but he decided to stick with his heart on this one,

"Uh you can tell by just my voice?" asked Solid, nervously chuckling as he rubbed the back of his head,

"Of course I can, I know everything about you." it replied,

"Really? Well…I don't know much about you." Snake nervously said,

"You mean why did I disappear? You always loved asking me that, Jack. I told you before, I was on a top-secret mission, you didn't need me anymore." explained the pod, the others watched as Solid Snake began to morph himself into the role of this "Jack", he didn't know why but it felt natural to talk to her, like a phantom of his past.

"But there were still so many things I wanted you to teach me."

"No, I taught you everything you needed to know about fighting techniques, I taught you all I could, the rest you needed to learn on your own."

"Ok…what about thinking like a soldier?" Snake asked, the pod chuckled again, almost sounding reminiscent of this conversation,

"How to think like a soldier? I can't teach you that. A soldier needs to be strong in spirit, body, and technique - and the only thing you can learn from someone else is technique. In fact, technique doesn't even matter. What's most important is spirit. Spirit and body are like two sides of a single coin. They're the same thing. I can't teach you how to think. You'll just have to figure it out for yourself. Listen to me, Jack, just because soldiers are on the same side right now doesn't mean they always will be. Having personal feelings about your comrades is one the worst sins you can commit. Politics determine who you face on the battlefield and politics are a living thing. They change along with the times, yesterday's good might be tomorrow's evil." explained the pod, the others felt a little moved and speechless by its wisdom but also that Solid was getting it to open up,

"Was that why you abandoned me?" asked Snake,

"No. It had nothing to do with you. I already told you, Jack. I was on a top-secret mission. A soldier has to follow whatever orders he's given. It's not his place to question why. But you're looking for a reason to fight. You're a natural born fighter, but you're not quite a soldier. A solider is a political tool, nothing more. That's doubly true if he's a career soldier, right and wrong have no place in his mission. He has no enemies and no friends. Only the mission. You follow the orders you're given. That's what being a soldier is all about."

"I do whatever I have to do to get the job done. I don't think about politics." Snake replied, the pod chuckled once more,

"That's not the same thing. Sooner or later, your conscience is going to bother you. In the end, you have to choose whether you're going to live as a soldier, or just another man with a gun. There's a saying in the Orient; 'Loyalty to the end.' Do you know what it means?"

"Being... Patriotic?" Snake asked, now genuinely speaking. The pod's words were getting to him since he never had to think about these things, he remembered Miller asked him something similar before but never really faced it directly,

"It means devoting yourself to your country."

"I follow the President and the top brass. I'm ready to die for them if necessary." answered back Snake, the pod was genuinely enjoying this conversation, it was feeling a sense of nostalgia,

"The President and the top brass won't be there forever. Once their terms are up, others will take their place."

"I follow the will of the leader, no matter who's in charge." replied Snake,

"People aren't the ones who dictate the missions."

"Then who does?" asked Solid

"The times. People's values change over time. And so do the leaders of a country. So there's no such thing as an enemy in absolute terms. The enemies we fight are only in relative terms, constantly changing with the times." replied the pod, for once in his life, words affected Solid. He was thinking about what the pod said and felt something odd, is that why he had the dream? He wondered that,

"As long as we have 'loyalty to the end,' there's no point in believing in anything... even in those we love."

"And that's the way a soldier is supposed to think?" Snake asked,

"The only thing we can believe in with absolute certainty is the mission, Jack." The pod replied, letting out a sigh,

"What have I done to you, Jack? I've made you into something you're not, I miss your innocence. Do you remember what I told you about what I saw from space?"

"I kinda forgot." The pod chuckled when Snake said that,

"Or you miss the sound of my voice?" it asked,

"That too." Snake replied with a laugh,

"In 1960 I saw a vision of the ideal future from space. Three years earlier the Soviet Union had succeeded in launching Sputnik, the first manmade satellite in history, into orbit. This came as a huge shock to the United States. In response, America threw everything it had into its own manned space flight project, the Mercury project. Even as the Soviets seemed poised to send their first man into space America was still experimenting with chimpanzees in rockets. The government wanted human data. So they secretly decided to send a human being into space. I was the one they chose. At the time they didn't have the technology to block out cosmic rays and whoever they sent up would inevitably be exposed to heavy radiation. That's why they chose me. After all, I had already been irradiated once. Of course, you won't find any of this in the history books. I could see the planet as it appeared from space…. that's when it finally hit me. Space exploration is nothing but another game in the power struggle between the US and USSR. Politics, economics, the arms race - they're all just arenas for meaningless competition. I'm sure you can see that. But the Earth itself has no boundaries. No East, No West, No Cold War…and the irony of it is, the United States and the Soviet Union are spending billions on their space programs and the missile race only to arrive at the same conclusion. In the 21st century everyone will be able to see that we are all just inhabitants of a little celestial body called Earth. A world without communism and capitalism... that is the world I wanted to see. But reality continued to betray me." They all remained quiet, the pod spoke of something beautiful, something that even the young rookie Solid Snake wanted to see, a true world of peace and happiness, no struggles and no pain. He couldn't help but let out a tear which the pod noticed,

"Life's end…Isn't it beautiful? It's almost tragic. When life ends, it gives off a final lingering aroma. Light is but a farewell gift from the darkness to those on their way to die…." It spoke as it's voice became from one of joy to one of sorrow,

I've been waiting, Snake ... .for a long time ...." the group all let out a gasp once they heard the pod call him Snake. Solid couldn't even believe it, he felt frozen once it said that, did it know him? Is it the same reason why that zombie recognized him?

"…waiting for your birth, your growth, and the finality of today. I raised you, and loved you, I've given you weapons, taught you techniques, endowed you with knowledge. There's nothing more for me to give you…all that's left for you to take is my life, I've been waiting for you to finally do this…let me go please…" pleaded the pod, Snake wasn't sure what to do, he didn't want to kill this pod, he didn't even want to preserve it, he felt for this machine more than he's felt for anyone.

"Jack... or should I say Snake... you're a wonderful man…kill me…kill me now!" it pleaded, everything started to hit Solid all at once. It was just like the dream, a gun in his hand, the woman begging him to kill her, it all felt too surreal. The dream right before the mission and now this machine saying the exact words, sounding like that woman.

"There's only room for one snake and one boss…I said that to you but there's no need for that, there never was! This world is better without snakes and bosses, it's not about changing the world. It's about doing our best to leave the world... the way it is. It's about respecting the will of others, and believing in your own! I should've said that now I beg of you, kill me!" it shouted as it opened its doors, shocking and frightening everyone by what was inside. They saw a corpse, a female's corpse. The corpse's arm was reaching for the central storage of the pod, Snake lifted his arm and took aim with his handgun. He was dreading this moment, he didn't want to do this.

"Shoot me now, Jack! End me…end this suffering and let me free so you can free yourself." pleaded the pod. Snake took a deep breath, all eyes on him, making the pressure worse. Solid squeezed the trigger and shot the central storage, he continued to pull the trigger over and over again, knowing it wouldn't be enough. He emptied the entire magazine, piercing through the central storage system, leaving bullet holes hiss static and crackle. The voice of the pod began reverbing, it's pitch altered and the light flickered,

"Now…now that all five-five-five…of us…are together…it's time we…go to the depths-depths-depths of hell-hell-hell itself….no…not hell…I see-see-see…heaven, I see my family…I see the world…I see…see…life…" the pod slowly turned off. Snake stood across from the pod frozen still, he couldn't help but feel disassociated in that moment. It felt like something grabbed a portion of his happiness and tore it away from him. He looked at his M1911 wondering if he made the right choice, his thoughts were suddenly shattered as the entire base started blaring a loud alarm, the lights began to strobe red and the group were all confused on what was happening. They began hearing something play on the loudspeaker,

""