WARNING! This contains Spoilers!

DISCLAIMER: The Metal Gear Franchise are all owned by Hideo Kojima!

P.S: Fuck Konami!

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
The Lost Episodes

Chapter 7
"Voices"

Five weeks since Operation Biohazard
The Seychelles, Diamond Dogs' Mother Base

Midday...

On a typical rainy day on the Diamond Dogs Mother Base when the soft pitter patter of rain drops hit the concrete decks and blanket the orange steel exterior of the struts, the waves of the ocean lapping against the strut legs followed by the soothing fresh sea breeze that made every staff member on patrol want to remove their balaclava's just to feel the soothing water upon their skin to help them make it through the day. Since Operation Biohazard The Diamond Dogs PMC had strengthened in numbers, each new recruit submitted in grueling training by both Ocelot and Miller, and a rainy day was a good day. These new men and women were nobodies before they stepped onto Outer Heaven, they were runaways, orphans or war orphans, addicts to either war, the bottle, a syringe or just plain killing. Others were either criminal, war criminals, or delinquents on parole. People whom neither deserved to go to heaven or just plain stubborn to go to hell, there was only one place left for them to go, a realm, where there is no room for angels.

Command Platform, First Deck, Command Tower

Commander Miller paced around the table with his usual limp, the phantom pain still fresh in his arm and leg. Ocelot and Snake were present looking over the maps marked with seven quarantined zones, three in Afghanistan and four in Africa; where it all began. Snake scratched at his five o'clock shadow, small whiskers poking into the pads of his fingers noticing he forgot to shave again. Ocelot spun one of his Tornado-6's while his blue eyes remained focused on the maps and gave a small report on the men's morale. They're doing their jobs, but still on edge hoping the final push won't push them into the heartless sea.

"The remaining Soviet forces in the Afghan regions have torn themselves from the outbreak while the rest turned slave to Eli's new biological weapon." Miller briefed, "Eli wasn't kidding anymore Boss, he's a man now and he has officially declared war on Big Boss." Miller stated as he made his final pace then set down his crutch.

"How's that new prosthetic working out for you?" Ocelot asked, holstering his sidearm.

Kaz let out a heavy sigh as he practiced on getting around without the help of his crutch. Miller always refused to wear a prosthetic or a state of the art bionics, but he instead went through with using a simple prosthetic leg.

"I'll live, for now, I must show more initiative. The men need more training, we need to be ready."

Snake watched as Miller strolled around with some effort and smirked a bit.

"Thought your drill instructing days were over, figured you'd be sticking with the desk job." Snake reminded.

"Hmph! Seems only like yesterday I was the one barking orders at you." Miller said removing his beret letting his untrimmed blonde locks fall loose.

Ocelot stepped in and patted Miller's shoulder.

"I could always use some help out there on the training grounds." Ocelot said.

"Fine by me." Kaz shrugged off his coat and loosened his tie.

"Just need to get out of this fucking suit, making me feel like an old man."

"We are old, Kaz." Snake said.

"I'll start being old when I retire, but right now we have work to do."

Kaz removed his suit jacket and shirt until all that was left was his olive drab muscle shirt. Snake helped Miller pull his lengthy blonde hair into a ponytail.

"And then?" Ocelot asked.

"I don't know, hear Alaska's nice." Miller noted, adjusting his aviators while circling the table. "Now then, as we're bringing in more recruits we need to train them. However, Ocelot and I won't be enough so we're gonna have to rely on some of our senior staff for the rest."

"How's recruitment going these days?" Snake asked.

"Just broke MSF's record, Diamond Dogs is now over 600 strong and counting, our naval and air force is growing as well. I've also put in a request for building a new Forward Operating Base to increase housing for these new recruits as well as well as ship yards and off shore hangers for our jets and fleets. Give the order from your iDroid."

"Just how many bases are running, exactly?"

"Four for now with little room left, it's why need to build a fifth maybe more. Just give the order."

Snake pulled out his iDroid.

"What about child soldiers?" Snake asked.

"Most of the children were sent to orphanages in Central Africa and away from the zones, some were even given asylum in the US and the UK, others refused to leave and those are the ones who rather keep fighting than going to a nice home." Ocelot explained leaning forward on the table lacing his fingers. "Being a soldier is all they have ever known so they stayed."

Miller nodded in agreement with Ocelot and pulled out a file and sat it in front of Snake for him to see, detailed information on the children staying on the base.

"70 kids chose to stay on the base, but we can't send them back home into the war zones no matter how much they want to. We decided to start a military school program for veteran kids. They'll get the training they're accustomed to, but they'll also get the proper education and care they deserve. Until they are old enough to make their own decisions they either join us at Diamond Dogs or go their own way."

"Hmm, First hounds now children?" Snake murmured.

"Speaking of hounds our new Attack Dog regiment is going smoothly, we're currently raising 50 pups and are ready for training." Ocelot reminded.

"Let me guess, DD is responsible for them all?"

"We got our hands on a good breeding hound, so yes DD is one proud alpha."

"Raising DD kinda rubbed off on ya, did it?" Snake chuckled.

"I guess you could say that I only train the best after all." Ocelot smirked with his own pride.

Snake placed the phantom cigar in his mouth as he looked out of the windows to the outside. Rain still ran in long lines across the glass and were fogged up from the temperature, but still didn't prevent Snake seeing a recognizable figure dancing in tune of each raindrop out on the deck. Quiet had her arms out as she spun and smiled when the rain drenched her half naked body, seeing how each drop of water ran down her chest passed her cleavage, her taut belly, passed her creamy thighs. Quiet lied down flat on her back in some light puddles of water, the softest smile on her face as she enjoyed herself with her eyes closed and in pure relaxing sensation. The boss eyed her for a few more moments before so suddenly tearing his eye from the sight as he proceeded to activate his cigar with his iDroid.

Miller bowed his head as he prepared for the next analysis.

"As far as the yellow cake uranium we've recovered from the Hell Hounds goes, we've stored all the components for a Nuclear Bomb on the R&D platform along with the remnants of Sahelanthropus for safe keeping. The lab boys are strictly ordered to not even go near it without your direct approval."

"Boss if we go through making a bomb, we can definitely be a Nuclear Deterrent. Every PF will think twice about attacking us especially Eli, if he learns about this weapon it'll probably take some of the heat off Mother Base and her FOBs." Ocelot added.

"But if you're against it then we'll have the uranium stored in cubic feet of concrete and steel then dumped into the sea, no questions asked. But Boss, it may be a mistake to give up this asset."

Snake grimaced at his phantom cigar before he replaced in into his pocket. His bionic hand rubbed his temple at the never ending ache of memories of having nuclear weapons on base, the words ZEKE and Paz kept repeating through his head like a mantra before he turned to face his left and right hands. A soft sigh followed by an incoherent grumble and a scratch of his five o'clock shadow was all it took for him to nod his approval.

"Fine..." He said.

Miller's head peaked up, "Boss?"

Snake turned his back and headed for the door. "Take precautions this stays secret from the UN, this stays between us and the lab boys."

"You got it, boss." Miller says softly.

"But after this, we're done. No more nukes, no more bipedal weapons. There's no room for it in our heaven anymore." Snake decreed before departing.

Ocelot later reminded him over the radio that the Diamond Dogs were hired to stop insurrection in the Iraqi Kurdistan. Deep in the mountains of the Iraqi Kurdistan, a six-year-long civil war had increased foretold in the shining light of Eli's biological attacks. With no help from the political seats of law and order, a totalitarian Iraqi regime gripped a firm hold over the rural wilderness and villages. The harsh upbringings of the civilians were caught in the crossfires of constant battle. Hunted each day and forced to abandon their homes and left little hope they had behind with it, as well as their livelihoods. It only took the people to look to the skies to see the shining light of the Diamond Dogs' insignia on the choppers that flew overhead, armed soldiers repelling to the surface of the Civil War and raining down a full counter assault on the Iraqi execution squads.


9 Hours Later

Iraqi Kurdistan...

'I was born on a battlefield.'

A little girl huddled into the darkest corner of a ruined hut, bringing her knees to her chest while hugging her homemade ragdoll with a likeness of a wolf that her mother had made for her tight, trembling with violent but quiet sobs. Angered shouting of the Iraqi soldiers behind the walls terrified her to the core, hearing the screams of innocent people being executed, each gunshot making her jump an inch. The only thing the girl was able to do was pray, and most of all wishing that her mommy was there to protect her. But she was dead, all dead because of the civil war she was born in, raised in. Her short, messy, and dirty blonde hair clung to her forehead as panicked sweats peppered the skin gluing each lock to it. Hot salty tears poured down her cheeks causing them to rash and flare with agonizing irritation like wild scorpions stinging her tiny face. She then heard the door being kicked open, pieces of wood flying across the room as an Iraqi soldier rushed in with his weapon in hand, scanning the room with his evil eyes like a hawk finding it's prey.

'Raised on a battlefield. Gunfire, sirens, and screams... they were my lullabies.'

The girl crawled under a bed, laying flat on her side curled up into a ball while trying to muffle her sobs with her wolf doll. She watched the soldier's boots thump loudly against the wooden floor, pacing the hut. She began to panic as the boots drew closer to the bed as the soldier stood right over it.

'Hunted like dogs day after day, driven from our ragged shelters... that was my life. Each morning I'd wake up and find a few more of my family or friends dead beside me. I'd stare at the morning sun and pray to make it through the day. The governments of the world turned a blind eye to our misery. But then... he appeared...'

Suddenly before the soldier kneeled down to look beneath the bed which drove more fear into the little girl's heart, a second pair of boots entered the hut and trotted closely and silently behind the Iraqi soldier. A grunt of pain and struggling at the sight of the soldier's legs thrashing then came the sound of blood spilling to the floor at the soldier's feet. The soldier fell dead onto the wooden floor, his pale eyes wide as if he stared his worse fear in the face, a deep cut ran right across his neck on the jugular nearly from ear to ear. A wolf entered the hut behind the intruder and spotted the terrified little girl, alerting his master with a happy bark and a point of his snout.

...my hero...

The intruder tipped the bed over looking down at her with his only eye as the other was covered by an eyepatch.

...Saladin.

The little girl was even more terrified, but he killed that bad man. His dog had walked over to her and she began to calm herself when she felt the dog's kisses licking away her tear ridden cheeks. The attack dog sat and panted at the child causing her to sit up and she reluctantly pet her most favorite animal in the world. The man had leaned down near the child and he held out his metallic hand for the girl to take. Her tiny hand slowly reached up and took it feeling the cold nimble surface of his metal fingers, the man reached down and took her into his embrace. The girl felt safe as she held onto him, laying her head on his strong shoulder as he held her with the crook of his right arm walking from the hut. The child saw more of the bad men on their knees with their hands on their heads surrounded by armed soldiers bearing the same insignia on their brassards, The Diamond Dogs.

The name alone made her cobalt eyes sparkle with astonishment underneath the midday sun. For once the child cried not only because she was sad, but because her prayers were finally answered. Clutching onto her doll her tiny eyes began to flutter close as exhaustion fell upon her shoulders, the only thing she could remember before she slept that day was when her savior climbed into a chopper, laying her on the seats. A woman came over the emerald hues of her eyes peered down at her with a gentle smile as she draped a coat over her. Her savior jumped from the chopper, but the woman and his canine companion stayed behind. Before the chopper took off the one-eyed man had looked back at the child and gave her a slight nod of his head.

The little girl could feel herself losing a battle with sleep, and before her eyes closed the last thing she saw was a sniper rifle hanging near the door. Clenching her fist tight she swore revenge as a fire lay burning in her tiny heart.


Back on the ground, Snake continued his mission by recovering the objective being held at gunpoint by his men. Every insurgent was on the ground face down with their hands behind their backs and each Diamond Dog kept close watch on all of them as Snake paced the line of captured enemy soldiers. Looking at the VI of the target, Snake managed to confirm the identity of the captain and signaled one of his men to bring him to his knees. The Captain started spitting out curse words in his native tongue to which he earned a stern "Shut up!" from one of Snake's men. Snake knelt down to The Captian's level and removed a photograph from his pack and held it up for the man to see.

"You recognize this kid?" Snake asks, and The Captain remained silent. "Nothing, huh?" Snake stood up once more, looking to his right at a Diamond Dog soldier. "Bring him to Ocelot, give him a 'ride'.

The soldier smirked from behind his balaclava as he pulled out a Fulton Recovery pack and attached it to The Captain's belt before the balloon inflated and the soldier gave a mocking salute, "Enjoy the ride!" He shouts before The Captain was hoisted up into the air screaming as far as his throat would take him.

Snake ordered for the dead to be buried civilians to be buried and the insurgents to be taken elsewhere and executed. As base camp was being set up for rallying more civilians for safe zones and pushing back the regime, Snake began a conference call with Miller and Ocelot as The Captain arrived back on Mother Base. The Captain managed to spill everything and had confirmed of seeing Eli before. Ocelot also said that The Captain was more afraid of Eli than the interrogation and for good reason, Eli apparently threatened him with unleashing the disease on his country if he didn't cooperate into opposing Big Boss' own regime. After careful evaluation, Snake agreed for the Captain to be handed over to the Iraqi authorities for his atrocities and they were paid for their services, however, since Eli was involved with this insurrection, Snake remained in Kurdistan to help civilians and provide a temporary asylum before the Iraqi government would take action with some persuasion.

"Boss about that girl you brought back, she isn't a child soldier but we can give her some care and look into some orphanages. Quiet has seemed to take a likeness in her as well, and took her to her little 'den' on the command platform." Ocelot briefed.

"Make sure she fed and watered, Quiet will take care of her in the meantime." Snake acknowledges.

"Boss!" A Diamond Dog called jogging towards him before giving his leader a salute. "Intel Team just faxed us this." He said showing the VI on his iDroid. "The Captain's intel was correct, Eli was spotted about 50 kilometers due East of here in the village of Kalak."

Snake nodded to the soldier and signaled for a chopper and an assembled team to investigate. The Intel Team had also briefed that the village of Kalak was presumably deserted as the result of the recent sat images, probably because of Eli's Insurgency. Snake and a total of five men boarded a chopper, departing for the village, along the way Miller had updated Snake about the development of their nuclear weapon. The R&D team had begun construction of the "uranium bullet" as the main component for the detonation device upon ready for deployment, the news didn't bring Snake any pleasure as he didn't want a nuke in the first place. Snake only kept silent and Miller didn't persist any further as Snake and his team was headed closer to their objective.

By the time the chopper landed it was already nightfall, and the heat of the Kurdistan regions had died down to a small chill once the sun had set over the horizon. Snake positioned the scarf over his nose and mouth as the chopper's router blades had stirred the sandy road from once it landed on, he and his men remained crouched with weapons armed and at the ready in case of attack. Once the chopper had taken off, Snake had his Int-Scope out to survey the area around them and the directional microphone had picked up nothing smaller than a mouse, it was dead quiet. Snake hand signaled for his squad to move out and investigate the village, however, before entering the smell had hit all of them. The smell of decomposition had invaded each of their nostrils, enough to make the average human vomit.

"Fall in!" Snake motioned, "Masks out!"

Everyone placed on their tactical breathers and the smell was evaded thanks to the filtration. After the stench had cleared the Diamond Dogs entered the main road into the village. The power was still on giving the Diamond Dogs plentiful light around them and could see that the village was nothing more than a ghost town, the decomposition could have meant that most of the populace had been dead for days since Eli's arrival five days earlier.

"Got a body over here, boss!" A Diamond Dog called. Snake came over to the soldier kneeling over a dead body already swarming with flies, however, the body was also riddled with dead ones all around the cadaver. Before he knew it, Snake's bio-detector on his Bionic arm had suddenly emitted a clicking sound of a radiation scanner.

Snake pulled the soldier from the scene and stood a couple of feet back, "Fall in, tight formation!" He barked and his team huddled close together aiming their weapons in all directions, "We got radiation exposure, minimum level contamination." He briefed before touching his earphone. "Kaz the village has been irradiated, heavy civilian casualties from radiation poisoning."

"Christ, what the hell happened there?" Miller's voice gasped with shock.

"I don't know yet, alert the hazmat team get them here ASAP."

"Roger!"

Snake turned to his team, "Set up a perimeter, no one gets in or out!" He ordered.

"Yessir!"

Snake stood behind as his men got to a safe distance and decided to move deeper into the village while keeping an eye on his radiation meter and keeping himself at a minimal contamination risk. He suddenly stopped when he started to smell a sweet scent through his mask and his expression turned grim at an instant, then he could see the dead ravens as a result of radiation poisoning.

"Kaz, we may have a bigger problem. We may have a possible Vocal Cords Parasite infection."

"Goddamnit, Eli!" Miller cursed over the radio, "It's a trap!"

"Hold on!" Snake calmed, "Somethings not right this time..." He says, removing his thermal goggles from his pack and placed them over his eyes. Once more dead came into view, they had shown no symptoms.

"No symptoms? How's that possible? English is a common language in Kurdistan." said Miller.

"Eli must have tried to recreate the mutation like the Hell Hounds, it failed somehow."

"Boss, I advise against going further into the village, not until we find the source of the radiation." Ocelot cut in.

A clattering sound had erupted in one of the houses to Snake's right, almost as if a wooden chair was knocked over. Snake had wondered if there was a survivor nearby taking shelter from the radiation, however, whoever it was must be extremely lucky to survive five days of radiation exposure even in such low exposure. His radiation scanner clicked less and less as he walked closer to the house as if it was the only safe place left in the village that wasn't contaminated by the radiation yet. Snake carefully opened the door slowly and quietly, the house was dark and he switched on his flashlight. The beam of light cut through the darkness and small dust particles danced through the air as he made his way further into the house.

A faint sound of a small voice emitting sobs was coming from the small corner on the other side of the kitchen. Snake aimed his rifle slowly walking around the small wooden table and the light had enveloped a small African boy Snake had recognized as one of Eli's boys. The boy curled with fear, sobbing more and more as if he unlocked his inner child instead of being the soldier he was trained to be. Snake had replaced the Thermal Goggles and can see a small glow in the boy's throat, a larynx infected with the English strain of the parasites. However, the boy wasn't showing symptoms and Snake began to understand what happened to the Village and why Eli's attempt into infecting the populace had failed.

Like Quiet, the boy had refused to speak. Once he saw Snake approach him he only peered up at the man with wide hopeful eyes that only caused Snake to suddenly gag the boy and hoisted him over his shoulders. The boy didn't struggle once Snake sprinted from the house and towards the perimeter through the minimal radiation exposure. Once Snake cleared the perimeter he was met by a blinding light of multiple headlights, his men were lined up on their knees with their hands above their heads. Enemy soldiers bearing the insignia of Cipher's strike force XOF aimed their weapons at Venom Snake carrying the infected child.

"I believe you have something that belongs to me, Big Boss." A man said with a thick Russian accent, XOF soldiers made way for a battle dressed CO in a long leather trenchcoat, his beret flashing the XOF symbol, and in his hand was a single cigar. "Maybe we could issue a fair trade, da?" He said pointing to Snake's captured men.

"Don't do it, boss!" A Diamond Dog soldier shouted before getting smacked across the face with a rifle butt.

Snake clenched his fist and found himself surrounded by more XOF soldiers aiming their weapons at him, forcing him to comply into setting down the child and allowed an XOF soldier to take the boy and lead him elsewhere looking back at Snake with terrified and pleading eyes.

"Wise choice." Said the XOF commander.

"Just who are you?" Snake asked.

"Commander Anatoly Vladimir Vyacheslav, a pleasure as always." Vyacheslav bowed. "I've heard all about you, of course, Big Boss. Skull Face was very peculiar on the subject. I became his protege at a young age, grew to look up to him as a parental figure."

"Interesting choice of role model." Snake quipped.

Vyacheslav merely shrugged his shoulders, "He was ambitious that was true, but it was his lust for revenge that was his downfall. I, however, will not make the same mistakes." By then a chopper had hovered overhead and proceeded to land near their location. Vyacheslav gave a witty smirk, "Farewell, Big Boss. We shall meet again I'm sure."

When Vyacheslav began to walk away, the XOF kept their sights on the Diamond Dogs. One of Snake's men looked up to him with trained and determined eyes like the rest.

"Loyal to the end, right boss?" He asked.

Snake gave an empathic sense of pride in his men as he gave a firm nod.

"WE ARE DIAMOND DOGS!" His men shouted in unison and jumped up surprising the XOF, using CQC to disarm and toss the enemy to the ground and provide fire support while Snake sprinted towards Vyacheslav's chopper that was about to take off.

Snake looked back and already one of his men was gunned down while the rest protected their leader, their loyalty was like a fuel to his flames causing his legs to sprint faster and faster. The chopper was already in the air when Snake opened fire, shooting at the rear router causing it to sputter. However, the chopper still managed to get away but Snake knew that it wouldn't get far. The gunfire coming from behind him had ceased, causing Snake to sprint back towards the village seeing most of the XOF vehicles speeding away from the scene. Dead XOF soldiers littered the dirt along with spent shell casings and his squad also lied dead at his feet, however, there was one that was still breathing but was mortally wounded by a gunshot to his gut.

"B-Boss..." The soldier gasped.

"Don't talk, save your strength."

"It's alright, Boss. I'm proud to die under your command..." He began to cough and his breath was drawing near to an end as life began to leave him, "You gave me purpose in life, t-this is t-the on-only way I-I was able to ret-return the... favor." he gasped out before his head fell to the dirt, dead.

Snake reached down to close the soldier's eyes and strip the Diamond Dogs patch from his fatigues carrying a small shining diamond beneath the logo.

"You're all Diamonds." He whispers solemnly.