March 12th, 1975

"Paz!" Chico cried as she was dragged out of her cage again.

Even if she didn't seem to appreciate his rescue attempt, Chico couldn't bear the thought of Paz going through another day of torture. An hour later, another soldier came by, opened the door to his cage and pointed his rifle at the young boy.

"On your feet!" the soldier ordered.

"Okay..." Chico fearfully replied.

The soldier escorted Chico to his jeep and drove him to the Administration Building of the naval base. The jeep soon stopped in front of a large gate and the soldier requested it to open. The gate slowly opened revealing a section of the base that was even more secured than the rest of the base. There were cameras around every corners and guards covering the cameras blind spots. The soldier then parked his jeep near a nearby armory and escorted Chico down to the boiler room, where he found Paz being tortured.

"Paz..." Chico muttered.

"You've got company..." Skull Face informed Paz.

Skull Face approached the frightened boy and slapped him across his face.

"Does it hurt?" asked Skull Face.

Chico didn't respond. He wasn't sure what the right answer would be. Unfortunately for him, that indecisiveness resulted in him being mercilessly slapped again.

"Talk," said Skull Face.

Skull Face struck the young boy once more.

"Talk!" Skull Face demanded before striking Chico again. "You can speak, can't you?

Skull Face then jerked Chico towards him, intimidating the boy even more.

"Then talk," Skull Face ordered before releasing his grip.

"Okay!" Chico relented. "Okay..."

"Good boy," Skull Face smirked. "Your boss and I go way back. Don't count on him coming to rescue you. If you're a real soldier, you'll find your own way out. But don't bother trying to escape. Let's say you get lucky – and you don't look very lucky – and by some miracle you get out of your cage. Let's even say you're able to elude the guards. Then what?

The nearest Cuban border is four miles to the east. Four miles of barren, America-controlled soil. Think you'd make it? You wouldn't get any help from the Cubans. And the border's a mess of live minefields. Think you'd make it through that? With your girlfriend in tow? If you were that lucky, you wouldn't even be here right now."

Skull Face's words drilled into Chico the reality of his situation. The only reason he was able to get to the base was because MSF unknowingly gave him a good head start. There was no way he could get himself and Paz out of their predicament by himself and no one knew where he was. There was nothing he could do.

"Don't lose hope," said Skull Face. "There's another way out. For both you and the girl. This way is... much simpler. I ask, you answer. Easy, right? Just tell me what you know."

"You're dumber than you look," said Paz." Wasting your time torturing kids."

Skull Face struck Paz while keeping his eyes trained on Chico.

"Tell me about your base," said Skull Face.

"Chico," Paz gave him a stern look.

Skull Face grabbed Paz by her cheeks and gave Chico a threatening look.

"Well?" asked Skull Face.

"Chico!" Paz shook her head.

Chico didn't know what to say. All he knew was that he couldn't bear seeing Paz tortured again.

"Hit me!" Chico demanded.

Without saying a word, Skull Face grabbed a nearby belt and swung it at Chico.

"Again!" Chico demanded.

"Hmpf. Trying to impress the girl, little man?" asked Skull Face. "How cute."

Skull Face then turned his attention back to Paz and said, "All right. Let's try something else."

The torturer approached the battered and bloodied girl and started swinging his belt at her.

"Stop it!" Chico yelled.

"She'll get what she deserves," said Skull Face. "We were comrades, once. But she betrayed us. Deception and deceit. What better proof she's a... real woman."

Skull Face dropped his belt and picked Paz up by her neck.

"Show him," Skull Face smirked.

"Do you realize what you're doing?!" Paz exclaimed. "Cipher is watching."

Without a word, Skull Face quickly released his grip on Paz's neck, jerked her by her uniform and shoved her against the wall.

"Let go of me!" Paz demanded. "You'll be next! Your hideous face wi..."

To Chico's horror, the inhuman torturer ripped off Paz's uniform and tossed her in front of him.

"Repulsive, isn't it?" asked Skull Face. "Look. Look carefully."

Chico couldn't help but look over Paz. He was shocked by how many scars she had. It was at that point when Chico realized that had a darker history then he had realized.

"Watch out when you grow up, boy. This is the kind of woman you'll want to avoid," said Skull Face. "Of course, scars like those make it rather difficult to lead a normal life. I should know."

Skull Face turned to a nearby marine and handed him a chain to string Paz up. He then turned back to Chico and laid out the how the situation would go.

"Talk, and you both go free," said Skull Face.

"Chico, no!" Paz begged as she was tortured. "Don't..."

"Only you can stop this," said Skull Face.

"Don't talk!" Paz begged him. "Chico, please! No!"

As Chico watched Paz undergo torture worse than yesterday, he eventually noticed that she was humming the song she was meant to sing on Peace Day, causing him to question everything she did. Why did she hijack Metal Gear ZEKE? Why did she threaten Snake and MSF? Why was she here? And most importantly, why was she bothering to protect them now?

"Paz…" Chico mumbled. "Why?"

After hours of nonstop torture, Skull Face ordered the marine to stop and approached Chico.

"Move," Skull Face ordered. "Get up."

"Huh?" Chico replied.

"You heard me," Skull Face jerked him up and forced him to keep his eyes on Paz. "Do you like what you see?"

"...Huh?" the confused boy replied.

"I said... Do you like what you see?" Skull Face repeated in a more threatening tone. "It's like... fruit. Does she look sweet or sour? A man has to know these things. Time for a taste test."

Skull Face released Paz from her bonds and threw her in front of Chico.

"Either you take her – now – or you're strung up next," said Skull Face.

"Don't worry, Chico," Paz weakly smiled.

"No..." replied under his breath. "No..."

"It's okay, Chico..." Paz reassured him. "You won't hurt me."

"I don't..." Chico refused.

"Get on with it," Skull Face ordered.

"I can't..." said Chico.

"Chico!" Paz pleaded.

"No..." Chico continued to refuse.

"Come on," Paz continued to plead.

Sometime later, Skull Face escorted Chico to the jeep that brought him there, where an unconscious Paz awaited him.

"...Out at sea..." said Chico. "Staff of 300... but usually there's less than that... the base is protected bt a bipedal weapon armed with a nuke acquired from Peace Walker… ZEKE... Metal Gear..."

"See? That wasn't so hard," Skull Face congratulated the boy.

"You got what you wanted," said the angry child. "Aren't you satisfied?!"

"We're halfway there," said Skull Face.

Chico hopped into the jeep and was taken back to the prison area along with Paz. As soon as the guards left, the frustrated child turned his attention towards the horizon and realized that it was night time. Was this going to be his life now? Being tortured into selling out his comrades again and again?

"Chico. Chico?" he heard Paz call him.

He turned around and watched Paz stagger onto her knees in her half of their cage.

"...Thought you didn't want to talk to me," said Chico.

"There's... one thing I want to say," said Paz.

"What...?" asked Chico.

Paz moved closer to the bars that separated them and spoke the one thing that he didn't expect to hear.

"I missed you, Chico," Paz smiled.

Chico face went red. It was the same reaction he had when Paz first smiled at him when they first met. Except that was a charade back then, nothing more than a ruse. This time it was for real.

"...Yeah," Chico nervously nodded.

"Come here," said Paz.

"Huh?" Chico replied.

Chico inched his way towards Paz, wondering what she wanted. He reached the bars between them and was immediately embraced by her. Before he could process what was happening, Paz instantly planted a kiss upon his lips, surprising him.

"...No," Chico backed out of the kiss.

"...Sorry." Paz apologized.

"Enough already," Chico pushed her arms away.

Chico immediately turned away from Paz and started to bang his head against the bars, only stopping when he heard something else he never expected to hear:

"You want to do it here?" asked Paz.