METAL GEAR: INNER HEAVEN (PART IV)
Written by James R. Homer
CHAPTER VIII – YOU HOPE HATRED MAY SOMEDAY REPLACE THE PAIN…
Venom Snake was not exactly sure what to expect as he walked toward the place Big Boss told him to. Seemed like most of the things he had been doing up to that point was because Big Boss told him to, even when he thought he was operating independently.
He had served his purpose, that is all that mattered to Venom. At least he was loyal to the mission. As he expected, however, that loyalty to the mission, the loyalty that eventually led to his old self being destroyed and replaced by a cannon fodder body-double, was not going to earn him an award.
Every time his mind came to this subject, he remembered to stay calm about it. Violence, anger, lusts for revenge… Those weren't going to get him anywhere. "Just look at Miller", he thought to himself. Then he remembered- Kazuhira Miller.
Rescuing Miller was Venom's first mission in this false skin. Yet, even though he was not the man named Big Boss and even though during that Peace Walker incident he was just a lowly MSF soldier, he still felt great affection toward Kaz, seeing him captive and weak.
Maybe it was the hypno-therapy done by Ocelot, maybe it was a placebo effect of "being" Big Boss. Whatever it was, he couldn't explain it.
At the very least he didn't have to worry about Kazuhira or Diamond Dogs interfering with his current trek toward his destination. Tying up Pequod with that transmitter would throw them off for a while, at least.
The old man that housed Venom's brain, he was dead. Killed on that very same helicopter that Chico and Paz did. He had barely any recollection of his time as that man, he is now VENOM SNAKE. As the Boss told him on the cassette tape, "I am Big Boss and so are you".
His destination was just up ahead. He could see glimpses of the cave through the dense foliage of Africa. The entrance was built of rock and dirt, however anything beyond that was pure black.
Good job his pistol had a flashlight attached to it.
As the cave became closer and closer, his anticipation and crippling curiosity ever increasing, he noticed something in the dirt ahead of him.
Tracks.
Bike tracks.
He knew this was the right place.
Soon after, he was following the light of his pistol through the dark and rocky passage. He was constantly having to awkwardly step over jagged rocks that stuck out from every side of this damned passage.
Eventually, the cave opened up, eventually becoming like a rocky warehouse. He was at least tens of feet underground.
This area was bigger, more room to breathe. He looked around, and noticed some rocks shaped like his horn. Even though he was practically shaking with anticipation, this at least made him smirk slightly. At the opposite end of this wide, open, rocky space was a cascade of differently shaped rocks, all of different sizes.
However, he noticed something buried under it. Right at the top, there was a pure white, metallic object jutting out of the pile of rocks and dirt.
Slowly, surveying his surroundings with every step he took, carefully went toward the pile of rocks. When he reached the bottom of it he slowly climbed up, making sure not to make the rocks slip. He got to the object that was jutting out and began to move some of the rocks in front of it – carefully.
Even though he couldn't see what the whole thing looked like, he knew it was BIG. This was judge the edge jutting out. He began throwing more and more and more rocks out of the way, until he saw what it was.
It was a small, curved AI core.
The very same one used on METAL GEAR ZEKE, all those years ago.
Sometimes, he saw glimpses of that machine when he went to sleep. It plagued and haunted his mind, but now he could see it, everything was clear to him.
Sadly, what he was looking at was nothing more than a relic of the past, of times gone by. The old beauty was defunct now. All those parts, all of those memory boards, just to see MSF's trump card buried, forgotten and broken.
That's when he heard footsteps behind him.
"When Cipher attacked us, ZEKE was on the sea floor with the nuke." A voice spoke from behind him, but not any voice, it was his OWN voice. It was rougher and slightly more deep, but that was definitely his OWN voice.
Big Boss was behind him.
Sure enough, when Venom turned his head around, he saw himself looking at him. With less scars, both arms and without that annoying horn, but it was definitely him.
"After the 'Paz' incident, Strangelove made some adjustments to ZEKE's AI. She knew that MSF was going to go down. Hard. How she knew, I don't know, but she gave ZEKE the ability to know when to run. Like me and Kaz, she must've had some sentiment for ZEKE." The original Snake chuckled. "The two things she only ever cared about, The Boss and a machine."
For Venom, this was surreal. It was like he was looking in a mirror, but he still saw someone else. The disconnect messed with him. For the first time, he was completely speechless.
Big Boss continued, "when Mother Base was attacked, ZEKE ran for as long as it could, eventually finding its way here, getting trapped and slowly dying over the course of nine years."
"Ishmael?" Venom eventually managed to muster the question.
"Yes, Ahab, but you can call me Big Boss."
CHAPTER IX – AN ARMY WITHOUT BORDERS
Ahab stared at Metal Gear ZEKE from the railings, eating some rations on his break. He usually did that on his break, coming down to have a look at ZEKE. He was doing it since development started. Being, arguably, the best soldier in MSF, he was usually out there, on the battlefield, fighting alongside his comrades, sometimes seeing them die, sometimes coming back home with them. The latter was rare. After everything he had seen, everything he had done, he liked just watching ZEKE stand there. The silence calmed him.
Every time he sat there, legs dangling over the cat-walk, he still couldn't believe what MSF had been able to accomplish in such short time. To think, he'd once be fighting alongside it one day. Eventually, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
He knew they belonged to Big Boss. His footsteps carry a heavy weight, which is shown in the crashing sounds they made along the metal of the cat-walks.
"Eating here again?" The one-eyed man asked.
Ahab looked up at him, feeling embarrassed. "Yes."
"Why don't you sit with the other guys in the Mess Hall?" Big Boss continued with his questions.
"Sometimes it's nice… To just sit quietly."
"I guess I can understand that. Me and Kaz don't have the same luxury."
Ahab smiled slightly. "I can imagine," even though the man standing over him was meant to be his comrade, his title and the legend it carried intimidated Ahab.
"Zadornov's escaped again."
"Again?!" Ahab replied, almost choking.
"Yeah. I want you to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity around here. Seeing as you like to spend so much time here."
Slowly, Ahab nodded, honoured. "I will keep an eye out, boss."
Big Boss nodded at him and walked off. Ahab blushed like a schoolgirl.
About ten years later, that Mother Base now blasted off the face of the Earth, a new MSF, Diamond Dogs, are on the hunt for the old Big Boss.
They've followed the scent long enough, and now the one legged man has lead them to the entrance of a cave…
END OF PART FOUR
PART V (FINALE) COMING SOON