"One day he'll see through the lies he's built up, realize what kind of man he really is. What goes around comes around. You can't run from yourself forever." - Revolver Ocelot
12:31, August 24th, 1984 - South Atlantic Ocean
High noon. Not a cloud in the sky. Nothing but ocean in sight. The heat was unbearable. As the scientist continued to sit in the raft in a morose silence, sweat enveloped his forehead like bot flies digging out of his brain. He unscrewed his canteen. Last one. His provisions, small as they were to begin with, were running low. He took a small sip. Hard to believe they'd allow me enough supplies for this long, the scientist mused bitterly, the monsters. Screwing the cap back on, he peered into his box to check on his food situation. Two more rations. Stomach growling, he heaved a sigh, readjusted his glasses, and went back to thinking.
He'd done a lot of it in the past few days, it was true. Most of that thought was directed at the events that had transpired those past few days ago. He was an innocent man; how anyone could think otherwise was beyond him. He wasn't responsible for Strangelove's death. That damn pod had framed him! He didn't intentionally sabotage the quarantine facility. How was he supposed to know that the X-rays would mutate the wolbachia? He sure as hell didn't give Sahelanthropus to the child soldiers! They tricked him! Thoughts like these looped over and over in his head as he sunk further and further into hatred. Snake, Miller, even Ocelot… He'd been so cooperative to them and their glorified terror group, and this is how they decided to repay him? Unbelieveable. That's all he could think of to describe it. Unbelieveable. He scratched his beard.
Today, a new thought crossed his head. As the sun beamed down on his moist skin, sweat exiting out of every pore, and his eyes fixated on the provisions box, he thought to himself: Am I going to die out here? Three days. That's how long he'd been out at sea, and, ever since Mother Base disappeared from the horizon, he'd not seen a single sign of life, not a single man-made structure or vessel on the horizon. The implications frightened him. If he died, there would be no man in the world able to counter the threat of the Diamond Dogs. They'd appropriated his designs, originally created with the intention of enforcing peace, mind, for their own wicked ends. He shuddered to think of what an army of Battle Gears could do. Another implication crossed his head, making him tremble. Hal, he thought to himself as tears came to his eyes. He would never see his son again all because of Stranglelove, that meddler, that bitch, that-
He cut himself short. Rather, he concentrated on letting his tears flow.
His vision became watercolor. The sea, jagged as it appeared before, seemed blended together as though it had calmed. Teardrops smudged his lenses, further obscuring his sight. Through his sobbing, he thought he could see a black dot in the distance, but he paid it no mind. It then hit him: Snake knew that no one would rescue him out at sea! He knew that after a few days provisions would run out! Of course - it was all obvious! Snake wasn't content with simply killing him like Miller was, no. That would have been too simple. He must have intentionally left me with enough provisions to make me feel like I had a chance at survival, the scientist thought to himself, only for me to find out that I was stranded at sea and slowly dying. The sadistic bastard. The scientist's sorrow quickly turned to fury once more.
Again, he noticed the dot on the horizon. Was… was it getting bigger? He couldn't tell for sure, water still clouding his vision. But if it was… The scientist sniffled. He couldn't rule out the possibility of a gunboat sent after him by the Diamond Dogs. Sending a man out to sea with the illusion of freedom only to snatch it away from him at the last moment - it seemed exactly like the sort of thing they would do. No, he denied, if it were a gunboat, I'd be able to tell by now. So, what was it? Like a lunatic, the scientist began to giggle. Could it be? He would be saved? Saved?! The giggling turned into a sort of mad laughter, as if he'd just overheard a grown man saying that Santa Claus existed. The tears still kept coming.
In spite of his blurred vision, the scientist began to make out what exactly was coming for him. On the horizon, it was no bigger than his thumb, but he assumed it to be a hulking ship. He could make out little splashes of color: white on the top, black in the middle, red on the bottom. A cargo ship? Wiping his brow, he narrowed his vision to try and make out more details, but to no avail. One thing was certain, though - the ship was getting closer. He knew it wasn't close enough. He knew there was no way in hell anyone on board would hear him or even see him at this point. But still, the scientist needed to scream. Drawing a deep breath, he pulled from his gut every strong emotion he'd felt in the past few days and cried at the top of his lungs:
"HEYYYYYYY! OVER HERE! HEEEEEEEELLLLLLP!"
8:23, August 25th, 1984 - Lagos, Nigeria
The scientist yawned. The sleep he'd gotten on the tanker the night before was tenuous at best, but now, he was in the American consulate's waiting room, sitting in anticipation as a young tourist couple in front of him were reporting their stolen passport. He could hardly believe it. After eleven years - eleven hellish years - he would be going back home to his family, to his son. How calming it would be to finally return to a life of normalcy, to a life of peace.
"Next!" spoke the man from behind the glass window through a speaker. The scientist eagerly rose from his seat and, with the help of the crutches the tanker's medical staff had given him, made his way to the window. "What can I help you with today?" the receptionist inquired, a look of iron professionalism on his face. The scientist cleared his throat.
"Hello, my name is Huey Emmerich. I've been out o-"
"Huey Emmerich?" the receptionist interrupted, a look of surprise on his face.
"Yes, sir, is something the matter?" Emmerich replied, confused. When did his name warrant surprise?
"...One moment, sir," the receptionist spoke, getting up from his desk. He disappeared into the a back room, leaving a bewildered Huey to wonder what was going on. A cold sweat broke out across the scientist's forehead. Something was wrong. He'd been affiliated with criminals for the past ten years, sure, but he was never the one doing the bad stuff! Yet the way the receptionist reacted to his name… Nervously, he tapped his fingers against the handles of his crutches. After about a minute of waiting in stifling silence, save for the hissing of the ventilation system, the receptionist reappeared, looking more at ease. "I'm sorry about the inconvenience. If you will," he apologized, motioning for Huey to continue.
"W-well," the suspicious scientist stammered, "As I was saying, I-I've been out of the country for more than a decade. T-though I was initially out to work with the CIA in Central America, I w-was kidnapped by a band of terrorists and passed around l-like a, like a living machine between different terrorist groups w-working on deadly weapons for ten years until just a few days ago. Please, sir, c-can you help me? I just want to see my family. I just want to see my son."
As he spoke that last sentence, his trembling voice was slightly caught in his throat. He gulped and stared at the receptionist in quiet desperation. The receptionist gave a small smile. "I do believe that we can help you," he replied, "But we're gonna need you to fill out this form here." The receptionist slipped out a piece of paper from the slot in the glass window. "After you get done with that, I'll be in contact with my superiors. Have you got a shelter you can stay in for the next few days?" he further inquired. Huey, still a bit wary, shook his head. "Very well, I'll see if I can make arrangements with my superiors for a nearby hotel. With any luck, we should have an update on your reentry in two days."
"Oh, thank god," Huey sighed, reaching for the paper, "I'm telling you, it's been a rough time going for me, but knowing that I can go home-"
With a bang, the front door opened. Two Nigerian men, dressed in a black uniform and donning berets, briskly entered the waiting room. A murmur rose from those also in the waiting room. "NP!" one shouted. Huey froze, staring at one of them like a deer in the headlights. The man, noticing Huey's state, stared back and asked with a deep, accented voice, "Huey Emmerich?" Huey, gulping, nodded. In response, the man pulled out a badge. A police officer. "You are under arrest," he announced plainly, as the officer to his side moved toward Huey.
As the officer approached, Huey took one final look back at the receptionist. Though it was only a glance, the scientist could have sworn he saw the receptionist gazing back, a look of malice in his eyes. Liar, Huey hissed with his eyes. "Next!" came the receptionist's voice from the speaker.
OOC: Hey, guys, hope y'all enjoyed this first chapter. This is my first ever real go at fanfiction writing; for years, I've toyed around with ideas but never really committed to anything because, ultimately, I feel like the stories I wanted to tell were all superfluous or ones that I didn't feel confident in expressing. After playing MGSV, however, I, like many others, was left with several questions. There were still eleven years unaccounted for in the Metal Gear timeline: the period between 1984 and 1995. So many years abandoned, so many stories left untold, and the one I was most interested in was the story of what happened to Huey after his exile. See, we already know that he commits suicide in 1997, far after the events of Phantom Pain, but we only get a vague explanation as to why in TPP itself (see: the quote at the top of the page). Seeing as how we're probably never going to see another main series Metal Gear game again (at least, one developed by Kojima), I've taken it upon myself to explore the downfall of Huey Emmerich a bit further. Expect to see young Otacon, Julie Dazinger, the end of the Cold War, the rise of the Patriots, and so forth as we get further into the story. Any and all reviews would be appreciated - I'm new to all of this and would be extremely receptive to any criticism you guys may have!