"It certainly wasn't fate I met him," Snake responded calmly, slightly impressed at Axel's stunning moodswing - from choking distaste to easy interest in less than a second. There was evidently more of the kid in him than he'd initially thought. "It was all arranged."

No, he had to be less vague than that. He sounded like Fox. Or Mantis.

"I don't know if the same thing happened in your 'timeline'," he began, "but in mine there was a crisis, off the shore of Manhattan. A cleanup facility got taken over, by terrorists. My friend...he was the soldier who'd been sent in to sort out the mess, and I was in there, cleaning it up of my own accord. Or so it seemed. I don't want to talk about the details, but he was being used." There was a concept he resented. "And I was, too. But in a way so indirect I only realised it when I was told. That's my legacy - I'm always the tool someone else uses to get the job done."

He'd already said more than he intended to. It was hearing the kid's voice again - had to be. Even from a different face...

"And no need to be shy," he added. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with your hips. They're..." he thought of the right word, came up with 'androgynous', and decided not to risk it, "...honest."