[ Instead of watching the kid, Snake's eyes are fixed on the barbell as more and more weights are added to it. It's way beyond what someone of that build should be able to lift, which confirms the whole super-strength thing without him ever having to ask.

People are changed for any number of reasons. Because of life in general, because they're put through something impossible but survive anyway, or even because of someone who they meet. When the kid lifts six hundred pounds with only one arm, though, it's pretty obvious that he's been changed in ways beyond what Snake could imagine.

It's hard not to think of Frank in that moment. An incredible soldier, tortured and rearranged until he was nothing but a killing machine. Snake remembers the bloody, dismembered bodies scattered all over that hallway at Shadow Moses. He remembers Frank's bloodcurdling screams.

Snake crosses his arms over his chest as he watches the kid lift, tilting his head as he poses a question. ] So if our ship's boarded again and we're attacked, or someone here's controlled and comes at you without meaning to, what do you plan to do?