Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the MG/MGS Franchise.

Author's Note: Howdy, howdy! Here's the next chapter! :)

aleyuma98: That is a great analogy! See Otacon I don't mind at all. He's everyone's favorite otaku nerd! But Huey...I wish I was the one that you know...pushed him in the pool.

Guest K: Yeah! And there's so much shit going on right now! That's quite the ultimatum to think about and even I felt like a jerk writing it in lmao xD I'm glad you enjoyed that last chapter; here's the next! :)

Guest: So sweet :') Raven will always and forever be the MVP. I'm so happy you enjoyed that last chapter! I loved writing that scene, too! Her baby's the nuke. NBD. lol. Hang onto your butts, GZ is literally around the corner.


"Here's to you Nicola and Bart,

Rest forever here in our hearts.

The last and final moment is yours,

That agony is your triumph."

-Ennio Morricone & Joan Baez


March 14, 1975: 10:00

"Sub-C!" An intel agent shouted over from his desk. He instantly took off some headphones and messed with the radio contraption in front of him. "Sub-C, quick!" Lydia stood up from her desk and walked quickly to the soldier's seating position across the room. "It's Chico, I've located a brief signal. He was dialing in for a few moments before he ended the transmission."

"Dammit." Lydia took the headphones and placed them over her ears. "Play it back." The soldier rewound the newly recorded tape and let Lydia listen.

"There are some cages to the east of the building. It's an old, grassy facility. That's where we are. Help me, Snake…" Chico abruptly ended the transmission. It was too calm, there was no fear in his voice. It was clear Chico had been set up to send the distress call.

"Cut that transmission and load it onto a tape, I have to take this to Snake. Have our guys in the area start reconning the prison of any new movement. Track anything and everything coming from that prison camp!"

"Yes ma'am." It took about ten minutes before Lydia was on her way to the Command platform. On the way, she couldn't help but want to throw up. Was it the nerves or was it the baby? In any case, she wanted to spill everything and anything out of her system. As Lydia walked into Snake's office, Kaz was sitting in front of him…good…killing two birds with one stone.

"We found Chico." Lydia announced.

"You joking?" Kaz turned his torso around.

"He dialed into one of our frequencies about half an hour ago. You're gonna want to listen to this." Lydia tossed the tape to Snake, who easily caught it. He inserted the tape into the cassette-player and played it over the speaker so he and Kaz could hear. Kaz shook his head once the message came to an end.

"It's a setup." Kaz crossed his arms.

"That's what I was thinking." Lydia concurred.

"We have no choice." Snake spoke calmly.

"Yeah. If Chico talks, he could blow the nuke cover-up. We can't hold off until the inspection's over."

"When can we be ready?" Snake asked.

"It'll take at least sixteen hours to confirm a flight path and prep a bird." Kaz replied.

"The Intel Unit has already started reconning the area." Lydia mentioned.

"Sounds like I'll have to miss the inspection." Snake sighed, almost sounding disappointed.

"Boss, we'll just have to send someone else to get them out."

"No." Snake abruptly cut off Kaz. "I'll go."

"Yeah. Chico and Paz would only take orders from you anyway. And we can't go taking on those Marines at the base head-on. It's gotta be off-the-radar…and it's gotta be you."

"Hold down the fort, Kaz…Lydia."

"You forget who we are." Lydia grinned. "The inspection'll go smoothly. If they ask questions, we'll say you were held up."

"She wouldn't be lying." Kaz agreed with a shrug. "I'll call Morpho right now to ready for take-off. It might be a wise idea to bring Raven with you just in case if any of them are injured."
"Good idea." Snake nodded. "I'll call him and have him get prepared. Lydia, find me a drop-off point and a way in and out."

"Got it." Both Lydia and Kaz walked out of Snake's office. They walked side by side silently until they reached the staircase that led down to the ground floor. Kaz wrapped his hand around Lydia's wrist to halt her from going any further.

"Lydia?" He sounded out carefully. By the tone of his voice, something was on his mind. She turned around with nerves at their acme.

"Yeah?" He let go of her wrist and placed his hands in his pant pockets.

"Is there something wrong with you?" He questioned without hesitation.

Did he find out?! Lydia's skin started to feel hot with how fast her heart was beating at the question. "N-no? Why do you ask?"

"Well, you've been distant from me, you know?" Kaz sighed. "I know we've been dealing with all this shit and, believe me, I'm aware the stress level is high. We're here for each other, remember? If there's anything bothering you, you can talk to me, ok?"

"Kaz…" Lydia frowned. She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his torso. She rested her head right under his chin. "There's a lot going on right now and I'm just stressed." Lydia admitted. Kaz sighed in response and hugged her back with a kiss on top of her head. "But…there is something I want to tell you, but it's gonna have to wait until the twentieth."

"What?" Kaz took her by the shoulders and backed her away to look Lydia in the eyes. "Isn't that your birthday? Aren't you the one that's supposed to be getting the surprises?"

"Yeah but I want to switch it around this time. Things will get better after the inspection, I promise. Let's just focus on one thing at a time right now." Kaz leaned in and planted his lips onto Lydia's forehead before backing away again.

"If you say so." Kaz smiled. "I'm going to go to my office and take care of the essentials Snake wants me to do. I take it you're off to Intel?"

"Yeah. I'm going to stop by R&D first and see how ZEKE is coming then I'll send Snake the infiltration draft."

"Good luck." Kaz held up a piece sign with his right hand then walked back to his office adjacent from Snake's. Lydia let out a long exhale and leaned up against the stairwell's wall. That was a close one. She pulled herself together and began to make her way to the R&D platform.

There wasn't one Mother Base staff member that wasn't running around like a chicken with a severed head. Crunch time had begun and the count-down wasn't getting any longer. Lydia made her way to the R&D platform and descended into the ZEKE's hangar. She waltzed in the open garage door. ZEKE and the nuke were nowhere in sight. The R&D team was cleaning every inch of the place and peeling off any radiation warning stickers that were littered around the facility.

It was a breath of fresh air to know that she didn't have to worry about ZEKE or the nuke until the inspection was over with. "Sub-C, good to see you!" An older soldier with thinning blonde hair jogged up to her. His name stitching read Seagull. "Were you looking for Dr. Emmerich?"

"I was, you have any idea where he is?"

"I sure do. He went to the bunker-level of the hangar where we used to keep the nuclear waste." Seagull pointed across the facility. "There's an elevator in the back that will lead you right to it. He said he was going to inspect everything himself before giving us the ok."

"Is it safe to be down there?" Lydia raised her eyebrow. "I don't want to poison myself, you know."

"Yeah. We've done the proper disinfecting and sterilization. There's no trace of radiation as it's all sealed away and in the ocean with ZEKE."

"Perfect. Thanks Seagull." Lydia nodded and headed back toward the opposite side of the Hangar. Once she reached the elevator, it was a long way down before the doors opened.

"I'm telling you, everything is good to go." Huey's voice echoed in the chamber. No one was responding back to him…was he on a call? Lydia stepped out of the elevator and looked around. There were so many metro shelvings and empty, thick, metal containers scattered all over the place. There were plenty of places to hide out. Lydia quietly followed the sound of Huey's voice to get a visual on his location. "By the time you get here, no one will suspect a thing…Y-yes, that was done, too. I intercepted the refusal letter before it was sent out to the IAEA. I told Snake that I sent an agreement on their behalf."

Lydia peeked through a densely-stocked shelving to see Huey talking on a wireless satellite phone. Where the hell did he get that? "I told them the most effective areas to place them in each platform…y-yes. E-everything's going according to plan." There was a long pause before Huey started to talk again. "J-just as long as you give me the security and protection I need." Lydia stood up straight and made her way back to the elevator to make it seem she had just walked in.

"Huey?" She hollered out and walked at a brisk pace to his position.

"I-I have to go." She heard him speak quickly before there was a harsh metallic 'thud'. "Ow!" Once Lydia turned the corner to face Huey, he was rubbing the top of his head. There was no phone in sight, he must have discarded it by the sound of that thud. "I guess I didn't see the metro shelving above me." He nervously chuckled. "Lydia, don't scare me like that!"

"Seagull said I'd find you down here." Lydia crossed her arms over her chest. "I came to check on progress, I don't know what I was worried about. Everything looks clean."

"I was just about to finish my inspection on this area, so far so good. Everything is up to IAEA standards." Huey positioned his chair so that he was facing away from Lydia.

She walked to his chair and rested her right hand on his right shoulder. "Everything going according to plan?"

"It sure is. By the time we're done, the IAEA will be looking to us as the poster-boys for peace!"

"It's like no one will suspect a thing…" Lydia squeezed his shoulder.

"H-huh?" Huey started shaking beneath her touch.

"Who were you talking to, Huey?" She could feel the sweat starting to drench his shirt.

"W-what do you mean? I wasn't talking to anyone!" Lydia examined his head turn slightly to the left toward an empty metal barrel. She removed her hand from his shoulder and walked to the left side of his chair.

"Oh?" She shrugged. "So if I walk to this barrel…" She waltzed into his vision and pointed to the object Huey had already been looking at. "…there's not going to be a, I don't know, satellite phone at the bottom?" Huey didn't say a word as Lydia stepped closer to the barrel. She stopped adjacent to it and looked inside. There it was. Down at the bottom was the phone Huey was using to call out of Mother Base. "Well would you look at that?" She looked at Huey just briefly before leaning into the barrel and taking out the phone. She held it in the palm of her right hand as a display.

"I-I was calling S-Strangelove!" Huey back-tracked. "Y-yeah! I was checking in to see if she made it to Manhattan!"

"Is she the one that's going to give you security and protection?" Lydia scoffed.

"W-when I go b-back to America, one day. I mean-"

"And what about placing things in the platforms, huh? Intercepting the letter before it was sent?!" Lydia grew louder.

"I-I don't know what y-yo-AH!" Lydia threw the satellite phone into Huey's chest and slammed both of her hands on his arm-rests.

"Shut your god damn mouth!" She shouted. Lydia inhaled deeply and stared menacingly into Huey's eyes. "I heard you, Huey Emmerich." She spoke slowly so his terrified mind would comprehend the amount of shit he was piled in. "Who were you talking to?"

"S-S-Strangelove!" He repeated. He smelled like piss. "It was Strangelove I swea-"

"Are you plotting against MSF?!" Lydia spoke louder.

"N-no!" He frantically responded. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"You told Strangelove to get off base because you didn't know what would happen!"

"W-what?! No! She left on her own-"

"I overheard that conversation, too!" Lydia grabbed a hold of his collar and forced him toward her. "You can't hide anything from me." She annunciated perfectly with her jaw clenched. Lydia pushed him back into his chair and snatched the satellite phone off of his piss-soaked lap. She straightened her back and stuffed the large satellite phone in one of her pant-leg cargo pockets. She inhaled through her nose and exhaled out her mouth deeply. "Satellite phones can be tracked, Huey. If I find out Strangelove wasn't on the other line, this phone is going to be your anchor to the bottom of the ocean. You hear me?" Huey only whimpered in his chair before Lydia snapped. "Do you hear me?!" She snipped loudly.

"Y-yes!" Lydia walked hastily back toward the elevator, still fuming. With the mission in mind, she didn't bother to be stopped as she made her way back outside the hangar. Once the fresh air hit her, bile had found its way into her mouth. She jogged over to the railing and threw up.

"Sub-C! A bit nervous, are we? Ha ha ha!" Bald Eagle's muscular stature, shiny head, and large mustache appeared in her peripheral vision.

"Ugh. Yeah…nervous…I would say that." She wiped her mouth with her left forearm.

"You look tired, can I offer to carry you?" He flexed his biceps.

"No, no. I'm good." Lydia waved her hands to back off. "I'm just headed to the Intel platform, I'm fine."

"I insist!" He knelt on his right knee and stretched out his arms in a position to hop onto his back.

"Alright, alright." Lydia gave in. She made sure to secure the phone in her pocket before positioning herself in piggy-back mode. Bald Eagle stood up without a struggle and began to carry her the rest of the way to the Intel platform.

"You know, I got my ex-wife pregnant four times, I could see you were from a mile away."

"WHAT!?" Lydia nearly fell off of his back.

"Whenever she got really mad she would throw up…that's what gave it away for me!"

"How could you tell I was mad?!"

"It looked like you wanted to kill someone!" Bad Eagle laughed.

"Well you wouldn't be wrong." Lydia sighed. "Please don't tell anyone."

"You're secret is safe with me! If you need a lift anywhere and see me walking, let me know!"

"I'll keep that in mind." Lydia smiled.

"Hey Bald Eagle, can I have a ride?!" Shouted a random soldier from across the Intel platform.

"Are you a damsel in distress?! No!" He retorted. "I'll let you off, Sub-C."

"Thanks again, you saved me from some extra stress. You should probably get back to work." She shooed him off.

"Yes ma'am!" As Bald Eagle ran off in the opposite direction, Lydia walked into the busy Intelligence building. Before sitting down at her desk, she pulled out the satellite phone and hid it in one of her drawers. Lydia took out her iDroid next and opened the detailed map of Camp Omega. She zoomed out and looked at the topographical area carefully.

Snake would enter the prison facility from the South-West entry-point. No doubt Morpho's flight pattern will drop him off a few miles from the check-in point. Next to a small out-side caged facility, there was a perfect spot for a rendezvous point on the cliff-side. It was out of sight from the camp and with the cover of night-time, it would be a breeze for Morpho to get in and out of there with ease once Snake needs him. Lydia programed the landing zone into the iDroid's cloud database. She then called Morpho, himself, to let him know the job was complete.

"This is Morpho." It almost sounded too normal without any helicopter gadgets sounding off in the background.

"Morpho it's Sub-C." She responded.

"Hey Sub-C. Just getting Raven's supplies in the chopper and we'll be set for take off after we get the flight-plan."

"Sounds good." She responded. "I'm assuming you're going to drop him off a few miles away from the entry-point. I updated the map with a rendezvous point for you. Go ahead and take a look when you have the chance." Lydia ordered.

"Yes ma'am. Just as long as it'll be safe for Chico and Paz to be loaded up, I'll be just fine. Over and out."

"Over and out." Lydia ended the transmission and called Snake, next.

"This is Snake."

"Snake, I set up the rendezvous point on-site at Camp Omega. Take a look at the map at your earliest opportunity. It will give the perfect cover while you load up Chico and Paz. Morpho will fly around that area, out of sight, until you give him the ok to drop in."

"Got it." He replied simply. "I'm still waiting on the flight path." Snake added. "Any word from your team?"

"Not yet, it'll still be a few hours as they examine the weather and gust patterns for the trade winds. We don't want you going down before you even get there. Someone'll notify me when they have it mapped out."

"Ok." Snake simply responded.

The moment they ended the transmission, Lydia grabbed the satellite phone out of her drawer and placed it on top of her desk. She stood up from her chair and walked over to the soldier that looked the least busy. His hair was a light red with some grays that were growing in. He was lean in stature with freckles littered all across every inch of his skin. "Hey." She eyed the name stitched on his uniform. Buzzard. "Buzzard, I'm going to assign you a project."

"Yes, Sub-C?"

She placed the phone on his desk and crossed her arms. "I need you to run a diagnostic on that satellite phone. Can you log any of it's previous transmissions, routing locations, and call-times?"

"It looks home-made...I can sure try." He agreed to help.

"Thank you. Let me know when you are completed."

"Yes ma'am." Lydia walked back to her desk and sighed before sitting down. She took her hair out of her pony tail and let it fall across her back. She ran her fingers through her hair and gripped a hand-full of hair close to the scalp. If Orca didn't go off base to watch over the trouble makers, he would probably have the job done lickety-split.

By March 15 at 02:00, the flight pattern was complete. Given the route with Morpho's top speed, he would be at Camp Omega in just over an hour. They took the day to double-check everything on Mother Base was set for the inspection and would leave closer to 21:00 so Snake could make it to the camp's vantage point for infiltration by foot. With the cover of darkness on his side, there was no chance he would have any issue sneaking in and out.


March 15, 1975: 08:00

Lydia received a call on her iDroid around 08:00 on the fifteenth. She was about to finish tying up her hair in her bathroom. "Sub-C, this is Buzzard. I have some news for you, not sure if you're going to like it."

"Ok?" She responded and examined herself in the mirror.

"There was a self-frying jammer on the phone you gave me. It's hardware melted this morning."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope. I found the chip inside it. Whoever constructed the phone was prepared to fry it if it fell into the hands of another person." Lydia's bottom lip trembled in frustration.

"Destroy it." Lydia ordered. "Thank you, Buzzard." Lydia ended the transmission and shut her eyes. The rage built up in her stomach and transferred into her arms. She opened her eyes and punched the mirror in front of her with her right fist. "Dammit!" The cracked glass stung at her knuckles.

"Lydia?!" Kaz yelped from behind the closed door. The sound of shattered glass had startled him. Lydia quickly turned and locked the door to the bathroom. Not a moment passed until Kaz was trying to pry the door open. "Lydia?! Open the door! Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Lydia snapped. "Just give me a minute." She turned on the sink's faucet and placed her bloody hand under the running water. The water stung the wounds and made her hiss involuntarily. She kept her hand under the water and reached over to the door with her left and unlocked it for Kaz.

Instantly, Kaz swung the door open. She examined him through the cracked mirror. His eyes instantly fell on the most damaged part of the mirror. His eyes moved to her hand in the sink. "God Lydia, what the hell?"

"Bad news." Lydia shrugged.

"Really bad news apparently." Kaz sighed. "I'll grab a first-aid kit." Kaz turned around and went to fish for the kit under the bed. "What did you hear?"

"Bad news." She reiterated.

Kaz appeared in the reflection of the mirror again with the first-aid tin in hand. He placed the tin on the counter next to her and opened it. "Turn off the water and pat yourself dry." He handed a large gauze to her.

"Thanks." Lydia did as he ordered. Kaz held out his left hand for her to rest her own hand on. As Kaz dressed her hand, she became emotional. She couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face.

Kaz's eyes looked up from her hand and into her red eyes. "Lydia, are you sure you don't want to talk about it? We're a team here."

"Ugh, I'm just emotional." Lydia wiped away her tears with her left forearm. "It's nothing you should be concerned about."

"You kidding? You just used the force of a million men to punch that mirror." Kaz finished dressing her cuts. "Are you stressed about the inspection?"

Lydia looked into his blue eyes. Should she tell him about the phone? The thought ran in her mind. Huey could be plotting to put MSF under, but how would he do that? What would Kaz do if he were to find out? It was crunch time as the inspection was just a few hours away. Kaz had enough to worry about. Besides, she now didn't have proof that Huey was in contact with someone else. No matter the trust that Kaz had for her, Huey could simply deny it and ask for evidence of any wrong-doing. Lydia sighed and rested her forehead on Kaz's shoulder. "Yeah. Just the inspection." She lied through her teeth. The lie scorched at her tongue and singed her heart. As the inspection and Snake's rescue mission grew closer, the lie continued to dissolve at her soul at every passing hour.