Chapter Text
"Boss, we need you to approve the newest transfer from C-squad." Miller placed the stack of papers down in front of Big Boss for his approval, several manila folders, stamped and signed work documents were paperclipped to military photos, mission records and accolades in a haphazard pile.
Big Boss was sat in a metal chair overlooking the ocean off the West Port of Mother Base with a glazed look in his eye, clearly getting drunk again. The warm humid air of the South blew in as the sun beat down on Big Boss' naked back, dressed only in camo pants and boots, and fingerless gloves, droplets of sweat ran down his spine. His messy brown hair held out of his eyes by his signature navy blue headband, his sideburns and beard were in need of a trim. His war battered scarred arms were beginning to get a tan, sitting with his elbows on his knees smoking a cigar, always surrounded by a cloud of sweet smelling tobacco smoke.
The paper stack was placed down on the wooden crate in front of him, Big Boss had been using this wooden crate as a makeshift table to clean and oil his guns, using it as a way to ground his thoughts, getting lost in the mechanical ways his hands would instinctively know where every lock, slide and latch was; an open bottle of bourbon off to the side of the table accompanying his weapon.
Without looking at the papers or at Miller, he asked,
"Where's he from?"
Miller corrected; "She, sir. She came in from the coast of Sweden, last name is… La Vey."
"La Vey huh? C Squad? What's her specialty?" Boss asked, his eyes meeting Miller's.
Miller picked up the file he had placed down and flipped through the pages.
"Looks like, gadgets; tech mostly and small arms."
Big Boss scratched his beard absentmindedly and grumbled his usual;
"Yhrrngh" in thought.
"Maybe we can use her, I've been meaning to upgrade some tech." He gestured to his communications radio which had long since worn out and, even his backup one was showing its age;
"Put her to work in the lab. With Huey in R&D."
"Sounds good Boss, all we need is your signature." Miller agreed pushing the document stack towards him.
Big Boss took the pen in his gloves right hand and signed the paperwork and Miller returned to her.
Hope La Vey waited on a bench at the entrance of Mother Base, her leg was shaking anxiously.
Knowing she would be settling in today, she had her long black hair down but parted loosely on the right side, a black sweatshirt, camo pants and regulation boots, she had emerald green eyes, small doll like lips and sometimes wore large glasses when working.
All of her belongings in a ruck sack to her left. She had always heard about the legendary Big Boss and wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible.
Miller finally turned the corner and motioned for her to follow him. Miller was a beautiful blond part Japanese man, he was almost never seen without his sunglasses, even indoors or at night. He was average height and had a sharp tongue. Today he had decided to wear a long tan jacket that flapped in the wind behind him.
Hope picked up her belongings and jogged to catch up with Miller as he led her throughout the reclaimed oil rig they were using as a base.
"Boss has agreed to your transfer, says you can work in the lab, he sounded impressed with your tech skills. Don't let him down."
Miller walked briskly, he took her into a dark hallway lit with a few fluorescent lights scattered about and down some heavy grated metal stairs. Their boots made ping noises as they descended, the lab was poorly lit, most of the light emanating from computer monitors, CRT TVs and a few red lights. Workbenches were scattered about and littered with metal scraps, various chips and circuits, half finished and not yet started projects. Blueprints, sketches, prototypes of various flying weapons were strewn about and hung from the ceiling. Ambient noise of vintage computers beeping and scanning as well as Huey sporadically typing notes.
"This here is Emmerich, he'll be watching you until we get you settled in."
Miller motioned to Huey Emmerich, the grumpy but brilliant scientist who was huddled over some blueprints on a table. Huey was a slight man with dark hair and thick round glasses, he was born unable to walk, so he made his way around in a motorized chair.
Huey…" Miller called.
No response.
Miller tossed a wad of crumpled up paper at Huey.
"Hey, got a new one here for you. Wake up." Huey wheeled himself over to Hope and they made quick introductions, Miller had already left so Huey gave her a workbench and some projects to work on, basically things Huey had neglected or just abandoned over time until they could work on something together.
Hope picked up an older looking transmission radio and began to repair and restore the old item, once she found some tools and paper, she was able to start making herself feel comfortable, her hands were used to this work, her small skilled hands turned screwdrivers, soldered some circuits and figured out some calculations, she could get lost in this work for days if you didn't remind her to sleep. Hours had passed and her stomach began to growl, she grimaced and put a hand on her stomach.
"Huey, where's mess? I'm hungry."
All Huey did was point in a general direction, still focused on his blueprints and notes.
Hope sighed to herself and figured she would have to find it herself.
Opening a heavy metal door, Hope exited the office into a lonely looking hallway, the overhead fluorescent lights buzzed and reflected on the pale beige tiles below.
There was a large brown door to her right, hoping it would lead somewhere, she opened it; only to find it was a cleaning closet.
Leaving the closet and closing the door behind her, she made her exit back to the hallway and continued. It was a long straight hallway with very few offshoot corridors.
Hope could hear footsteps from way down the hall, but couldn't see anyone so she continued her descent, looking down each short corridor to see where the steps could be coming from.
Looking to her left, she saw a door with a window. It was empty and dark, just as she turned her head, she came face-to-chin with Big Boss himself. She gasped and stepped back, almost falling. Boss reflexively stopped her from tripping backwards by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. She caught herself just enough to come eye to eye as she caught her feet beneath her.
"Oh fuck, I'm so sorry, you scared me!" Hope said, holding on to Boss' shoulder and clutching her chest with the other.
She was close enough to smell him, he smelled of cigars, gin, gunpowder and yesterday's cologne. These were familiar and normally innocuous scents to her, but emanating from him almost made her weak in the knees. Boss was dressed in raindrop camo with the top sleeves rolled up revealing his thick muscular forearms, speckled with brown hair and a few freckles. His hair wasn't held in place with his usual headband, just loose and shaggy. Compared to her, he was an enormous statue of cut muscle, he stood at least 6 inches over her, his shoulders were broad and his arms, solid with muscle and hair, over his right eye was a black leather patch, his left was bright, oceanic blue and had a worn wisdom about it.
You should never look in another direction while walking forward, you're just asking for a sneak attack." He said in his low husky voice.
Hearing his voice so close to her ear made her bite her bottom lip as he spoke, but she couldn't make sense of any of the words.
"I, I got distracted Boss." She managed to sputter out while blinking away the haze she found herself in, but couldn't stop staring into his blue eye.
"Who are you?" He asked with furrowed brow, not realizing he still had a grip on her lower back.
She could feel her heart beating faster, and her chest heaving ever so slightly, a knot began to form in her stomach.
"New transfer from C-squad Sir. I'm in the tech bay with Huey." She blurted out, waves of flustered heat flowing through her.
Boss removed his arms from around her waist in a quick calculated motion and told her to continue on her way.
She took a few heavy legged steps. Wondering what the hell just came over her, she was normally more self composed and confident in her abilities.
Then a thought crossed her mind, she had no idea where the hell she was going.
"Boss !" She tried to get Big Boss' attention again.
He turned around briefly.
"I have no idea how to get out of here and get to mess."
A slight smirk crossed his face as he lit the cigar that he placed between his lips.
"When you get to the end of this hallway, you can only go one way, go through the only door and mess is upstairs."
He spun on his heel and continued his way to the lab.
………………………
The door to the lab opened and Boss found his spare radio on the workbench, finished, repainted and better than when he first got it.
"Huey, this your work?" Boss asked, admiring the upgrades and custom options now integrated into it.
"Oh that, yeah I meant to get around to that, but it looks like the new girl took care of it for me." Huey remarked.
Boss looked surprised and asked rhetorically,
"That girl that just left?"
Huey nodded and went back to the project he was now working on.
Boss remembered her asking him about mess hall. He could stop there and thank her personally.
…………………….
Hope had finally found mess hall and was sitting across from Ocelot, listening to him tell a story about the time he replaced Boss' night stand pistol with a cap gun and scared him out of bed…
"He was standing in his underwear firing the little toy in the dark and it was going *pop pop pop* I thought it was hysterical." Ocelot spoke through hearty belly laughs.
Hope gave a polite chuckle, but didn't understand what was so funny.
Just as she was finishing her food, Big Boss approached her and sat beside her. He and Ocelot nodded at each other and Boss turned to speak to Hope.
"Your work really impressed me." He stated.
Hope furrowed her brow confused as to what he was talking about.
Boss held out his radio and placed it into his chest holster.
"Oh! That was yours? I thought it was something Dr. Emmerich forgot about. So I fixed it up and added some interesting features. It comes with a pocket knife holder, a slot for a flint and some line for emergency fishing. Good for survival situations." She said almost mimicking his pattern of speech.
"Yes, it was impressive, so I think it's fair that I owe you a drink." Boss offered.
"I appreciate it Sir, but I don't drink." She started.
"I'd also like to talk some projects, you don't have to drink, just give me some input." Boss asked again, almost insisting.
"Yeah sure. I can help." Hope stated.
"Meet me in my office at 20:00." He confirmed and got up.