A/N: I own nothing except the laptop I wrote this story on.

"Do you ever feel sorry for the Boss?"

Pequod looked over towards Dragon. The two of them had finished cleaning out Baby's interior after coming back from that mission with Osprey, Fox and Badger, and were sitting on folding chairs watching the sun set in the distance. Dragon had a book in her lap, though Pequod wasn't able to tell what it was. He took a pull from his Guinness, and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"It's just…he's been through a lot, hasn't he?" Dragon asked. She set down the book and looked at Pequod. "I mean, I've only been one of you guys for a short amount of time, but in the few times that I've seen the Boss it just feels like the weight of the world is hanging over his shoulders." She looked out over the water, and then looked back over her shoulder towards the top of the Command platform, where the Boss held his private meetings with Commanders Miller and Ocelot. "He just seems so tired all the time, and so…sad."

Pequod let out a sigh.

"Yeah, Boss had a rough go of it the past ten years or so."

"Do you know what happened?" Dragon asked. "I mean, I know you weren't there but have you heard anything?"

Pequod took another pull from his bottle, and then realized that it was empty. He just dropped it on the helipad with a loud clink, and looked over at Dragon.

"Yeah, I know what happened. Sort of, anyway."

Dragon was expectantly silent. So Pequod took a deep breath.

"Boss was in charge of another operation like this one. Except we weren't called Diamond Dogs. I think it was Militaires Sans Frontieres, or something like that. Soldiers without Borders. And we had a Mother Base, but it was based in the Carribbean I think. Not sure where, though." He said. "It was all in the 1970s, right when the Sandinistas in Nicaragua were stirring things up. And Boss covered his tracks well, but he was pretty intimiately involved with that whole thing. Dad told me about it."

"Really?" Dragon asked.

"Oh yeah." Pequod said. "But then things went bad." He shook his head. "Boss and the others got bamboozled by this lady. Don't remember…was it…yeah, it was Paz. Don't remember her full name; it was something weird. But she joined the MSF, and things seemed ok. But then things went to shit."

"…What do you mean?"

"Paz was part of Cipher." Pequod said. "She double-crossed Boss, and then stole a Metal Gear with the intent to do…Christ, I dunno. Destroy the world? Prove some crazy-ass point? Don't ask me to explain Cipher's motives: they seem pretty dumb to me. Either way, Boss defeated her and she disappeared…until we heard that she was captured in some black site in Cuba."

"And you flew in there to save the Boss?" Dragon asked.

Pequod was quiet for an awfully long time.

"No." He said finally. "My father flew him in."

"Oh." Dragon said. "…Oh." She said again, as realization overcome her. "Oh, I'm so sorry Pequod."

"It's alright." Pequod said. "My father died fighting for something that he believed in. How were we supposed to know that the people torturing Paz put bombs in her?"

"Oh god…" Dragon said. And then something came to mind. "Pequod, how do you know all of this? You weren't there, and I cant imagine that the Boss discloses this information lightly."

"You're right, I wasn't." Pequod said with a little grin. "But Boss doesn't keep everything to himself. He tells a lot to Commander Ocelot, and every now and then Ocelot lets me in on what the Boss is going through. Because if I'm responsible for getting the Boss in and out of danger, then I should know what kind of man I'm dealing with."

He looked over and saw that Dragon was smirking at him.

"What?" He asked.

"Commander Ocelot told you that?" She asked.

"…Yeah?"

"He's got a soft spot for you, doesn't he?" Dragon asked. Pequod furrowed his brow in confusion.

"I don't think so."

"I do." Dragon said. She had a smug little grin on her face. "I've seen the way that he talks to you every now and then. I think that he thinks of you as someone to look out for."

"…Oh." Pequod said. "Well, that's nice of him."

"Ugh. Men. Never able to admit when they're touched by something."

"Do you want to clean out Baby's innards by yourself?"

"Hey!"

…

He was surprised to see that he wasn't the only one out on this platform. It was currently under construction, no doubt as an addition to the medical platform, but right now it was pretty barren. He usually came out here to have a cigarette and think to himself about whatever it was that was on his mind. But now he saw that he'd have to socialize.

"Badger." He said, getting her attention.

Howling Badger was in off-duty fatigues, and she looked over her shoulder to see Komodo Dragon approach her.

"Oh, hey Honey."

"You gotta cut that out." Komodo said. He lit a cigarette with his lighter, and then offered one to Badger. "It's hard enough getting the young kids on the base to respect me without you going and calling me these ridiculous pet names."

Badger chuckled.

"Please. You're just as touchy as your namesake."

"And you're just as obnoxious as yours." Komodo said with a smirk. He sat down next to her. He looked over, and gave a little grin with his cigarette dangling loosely in his mouth. "Huh. I never thought I'd see you out of combat gear or a stealth suit."

"A lady can wear whatever she damn well pleases when she's my age and tired." Badger said. "And I am very tired."

"Doesn't get any easier, does it?" Komodo asked. Badger just chuckled.

"Oh, please! Listen to you: you're at least ten years younger than me and you're complaining about being old?"

"We're both soldiers. The fact that you and I made it to 57 and 45 respectively makes us both equal: older than dirt." Komodo said.

"Heh, I suppose so." Badger said. She looked at Komodo and tilted her head to the side.

"How's therapy going?"

"It's going. I'm having an easier time of it sleeping these days." Komodo said. "The nightmares are supposedly a projection of my own guilt."

"Over what?"

"The fact that I wasn't there at Mother Base to help the Boss."

"Oh, Honey. If you were at Mother Base with the rest of them you would be dead like the majority of them."

"But I might have taken a few of those bastards with me."

"You need to stop thinking like that." Badger said, frowning a bit. "Besides, now you've got an entire new generation of soldiers with you, and with it comes the new knowledge of who we're fighting. If you'd been there all those years ago, you'd be dead and you wouldn't even know who it was that killed you. Now…now you know. And now you can avenge them all."

Komodo let the smoke billow out his nostils.

"Yeah…" He said. "I guess so." He just shrugged.

They sat there in silence, enjoying one another's company as the sun started to set.

…

"Are you certain?"

"Positive." Gey Chameleon said. Commander Miller looked absolutely overjoyed.

"Thank goodness! I heard from specialist Badger that the previous mission was shaky without the Boss' steady hands guiding it."

"Is everyone okay?" Chameleon asked.

"To my knowledge, yes." Miller said. "And somehow we managed to extract all necessary VIPs…and some unneccesary VIPs." He said. "But that is of no concern to you, Doctor." He said. He turned around and started to walk towards the door. "I will relay your update on the Boss' condition to Commander Ocelot as soon as possible. I am sure that he wil be very pleased to hear about this."

…

Osprey and Fox sat in the room. It was a tiny room with no windows and a small light fixture in the center of the ceiling. They were both deathly silent, save for Osprey absently tapping his foot on the ground.

"If they say anything, it was all my idea." Fox said. He was completely serene, as if he was resigned to whatever fate it was that the Boss and the others had planned for him. Osprey looked over at him in shock.

"I can't let you take the blame for that! I raced into this shit right after you!"

"Because you were trying to stop me." Fox said without even looking over at his friend. "You were the voice of reason. They'll go easy on you for that."

"…What's gonna happen to you if they eject you from the Diamond Dogs?" Osprey asked, a look of panic crossing his eyes.

"Dunno. Probably just get discharged. I might get a job with Dad back in Philly. He runs a little steel factory. I can handle a factory shift if it comes to that."

At that moment, the door opened.

It was Commander Ocelot. And standing right next to him was the Boss. The two Diamond Dogs felt themselves shrinking in their seats at the sight of the expressionless look on their commander's face. Ocelot cleared his throat, and spoke.

"According to your commanding officer, you two were involved in an unauthorized deviation from the mission parameters. Can you tell me what happened?" He asked.

There was a silence. And then Fox spoke.

"We were ordered to clear a specific building, as ordered by our commanding officer. Upon entering and clearing the building, we came across a clear prisoner of war. We found out from her that there were others like her in the camp, and that they were planned to be executed by the PMC that was holding the territory. So I made the decision to have this specific prisoner tell us where the other prisoners were, and then I had specialist Osprey over here Fulton her out." He looked at Ocelot. "Is she alright?"

"What happened next?" Ocelot asked.

"From there, we continued to make our way through the village, and eventually we were forced to engage with the enemy in order to make things clear to reach other prisoners. During this time we…lost contact with our commanding officer, and would not regain communication until the end of the mission. We destroyed an empty building in order to distract the remaining soldiers in the area, and then we rescued the remaining prisoners, including the designated VIP. It was upon that moment that our commanding officer told us that we were to be referred to you for disciplinary measures."

Fox finished his spiel, and then silently sat in his chair waiting for Ocelot to speak.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Fox?" Ocelot asked.

"Are the prisoners alive?" He asked.

"At this moment, yes."

"Then the only regret I have is that I lost radio contact with our commanding officer." Fox said.

"It's more than just that." Ocelot said. "The command structure exists for a reason. If there is no adherence to order, then everything is just anarchy. The Diamond Dogs aren't a tribal militia that throws off the shackles of command and order whenever it's convienient. We do this because it keeps us professional. And it was very unprofessional to deviate from the mission parameters like that. Someone could have been hurt or killed."

And then Snake spoke.

"But your decision might have saved the mission."

"…Sir?" Osprey asked, looking on in confusion. Ocelot cleared his throat.

"Your rescue of the other prisoners confirmed to us that apparently the 'Viscount' that we were contacted to retrieve was in fact a man that had made too many poor dealings with this militia, and had concocted a scheme where we would rescue him while leaving the others in his company to die. He attempted to deny it, but when I…pressed him, he admitted everything. So your actions may have saved several innocent lives from a cruel and unusual death."

There were no words to describe what Fox and Osprey felt as they looked at one another. Snake spoke up.

"In the future, don't forget to keep a constant radio contact with your superior officer. If you had told Badger what the deal was, I have no doubt that she would have helped you in the plan completely and without any regret. Poor communication kills, gentlemen. But good communication can save lives." He cleared his throat. "You are to be commended for saving more than what we were assigned to do, but also reprimanded for breach of protocol. So I'm pulling you both off active duty for two weeks and assigning you to mess hall maintenance. Upon the completion of your punishment, you are to report to the Command Platform headquarters, where I will personally promote you both to Specialist, Grade II."

The two men in front of the Boss were dumbfounded.

"Dismissed, gentlemen."

They noticed the faintest trace of a smile as he said it.

A/N: Another one in the books! Like some said, the Boss might be pissed at the fact that decorum was broken, but at the end of the day extra lives were saved. So steps are taken to prevent worse miscommunications, and exemplary service is rewarded.

Just another day in the Seychelles.