METAL GEAR AUDIO

(GAME OVER JINGLE)

Liquid: …Ocelot. You did it again.

(GAME OVER JINGLE)

Snake: (Exhales) I made it to the roof.

Naomi: You must be exhausted, Snake.

Snake: (Wheezing) It was no big deal.

Naomi: Snake, I’m monitoring you closely. Your heart rate is elevated and your breathing is shallow.

Snake: I need to borrow your scissors.

Naomi: What’re you going to do?

Miller/Liquid: In cold like this, over 70% of your body’s warmth is lost through your head. Put on some kind of hat.

Snake: I hate hats. Is a bandanna okay?

Snake: Colonel, I don’t work for the government anymore. Let me go back to Twin Lakes.

Colonel: Why, Snake? Is your life in Alaska all that great?

Snake: There’s a dog sled race this week. Next Saturday, I have to be in Anchorage.

Colonel: The Iditarod? The longest sled race in the world? When did you become a dog musher?

Snake: Right now my fifty huskies are my only family. I’ve got to take care of them. 

Colonel: ...Don’t worry about your dogs.

Snake: What do you mean?

Colonel: I’m sorry, Snake, but this vessel is headed for the Bering Sea. There’s no room for debate.

Snake: I told you. Even if I do owe you, I don’t owe anything to this army or this country.

Colonel: You will accept this assignment.

Snake: Why should I be stupid enough to do that? I’m no patriot.

Colonel: Snake. There’s enough dirt in your file from your days as an agent to keep you in the stockade until you’re a very old man.

Snake: Oh, I see. Blackmail.

Colonel: No, Snake. I prefer to look at it as helping you come to a decision more easily. But anyway, I know you better than that. You’d take this assignment even without the threat.

Snake: Why do you say that?

Colonel: You’re a natural-born soldier. You’re not the grow-old-gracefully type. It’s the same for all of us who’ve seen real action. The only place we can feel truly alive is on the battlefield. I’m a soldier, too. I know those feelings of powerlessness, frustration that you feel every day. You’ve tried to play the boy scout out there in Alaska, but you can’t race dogs in the snow forever.

Colonel: Why don’t you come back to us? And be a soldier again?

Snake: ...You think my life is some kind of a joke?

Snake: They were trying to create an animal that would combine the gentleness of a dog with the endurance and ferocity of a wolf, but they didn’t get the stamina and power they were hoping for. On top of that, their personality wound up closer to wolves. Most of ‘em won’t even let you get close. That’s why they never caught on.

Miller/Liquid: Ah, that’s right. You’re a musher.

Snake: Yeah. And after they outlawed the use of hybrids in dog sled races in 2002, no one even wanted to breed them anymore. I heard that most of them were put to sleep after that.

Otacon: Snake, don’t kill the dogs! Please!

Snake: What’re you talking about? If I don’t kill them, they’ll kill me.

Otacon: But those dogs are just innocent animals!

Snake: If they were guilty, it’d be okay?

Otacon: But you- You keep dogs, don’t you?

Miller/Liquid: Listen, Snake. There’s a way to walk so your footsteps won’t be heard. I call it “stalking”. Here’s how you do it: First, put your weight on the opposite foot that you’re going to step with. Then, take a step so that your heel makes contact with the ground first. Then, as you slowly lower the tip of your foot to the floor, gradually shift your weight onto that foot. Use your knees to maintain the subtle balance. Try it.

Snake: I... I can’t do it...

Colonel: Huh? Snake, you’re not using a stereo TV?

Mei Ling: It can’t be!

Naomi: A mono TV?

Colonel: Hm.

Naomi: Well, colonel, there’s nothing we can do about it.

Colonel: I guess you’re right. Snake, don’t worry about it. There’s more to being a good person than just having a stereo television. You can do it just the way you are.