"This chapter is one I have loved writing cause it holds a very important item which gets passed down to a character, of course this will also set up the next chapters which will be extremely important. Please Enjoy!"

Chapter 118: Beacon Of Hope

Punished Wolf walked down the hall on the upper level of the Command Platform and headed to the top of the central tower where Big Boss was waiting for him, he knew Big Boss was gonna be pissed but he was confident that he was gonna get out of this alive. His body ached from the beating he received from Phantom and his skulls but in his quick thinking he managed to do something which will help Diamond Dogs move closer to finding the truth.

After a few minutes Wolf came to the door leading into the control room and as he stepped inside he saw Big Boss and Miller looking down at the large table in the middle of the room which had a built in monitor, Wolf stepped in and Big Boss then looked up at Wolf and soon Miller did the same as Wolf slowly came to a stop.

Big Boss and Miller just looked at him and Wolf did the same and after a few moments the legendary solider looked to the soldiers working. "Everyone take a break, leave this room".

The soldiers stopped working and they all walked past Wolf with some of them nodding at him and soon the room was empty and Wolf, Miller and Big Boss were the only ones there.

"Welcome home Wolf" Big Boss simply stated a little annoyed.

Wolf slowly nodded "Its good to be back".

Miller slowly walked around to the side of the table and crossed his arms as he looked at Wolf. "I assume you got the sample we asked you to get?".

"No, I didnt" Wolf simply stated.

Big Boss sighed and turned around rubbing his head. "God damn it Wolf, do you have any idea how serious the situation is".

"We got just over a day left and we still got nothing, this mistake you did may have cost us everything" Miller had anger in his voice.

Wolf sighed "Boss, Miller look-" All of a sudden Big Boss turned back around to Wolf. "No you look Wolf, you knew how serious this mission was and what did you do!?".

"Boss" Wolf tried speaking again.

"I believed you would have found the answer but instead you went outsider and made your own rule! Now we are pretty much fucked!" Big Boss was fuming and soon anger filled Wolf.

"Snake will you just shut up and listen!" Wolf shouted and both Big Boss and Miller just looked at him a little surprised and they just watched as Wolf pulled out his idroid and they saw him connect it to the terminal on the table and then activated it.

Both Big Boss and Miller looked at each other and then looked down at the table and saw a system load up and after a few seconds the map of the world appeared and on the map was a single red light flashing just outside of Iraq.

"Before I got taken down I managed to plant a tracking device on one soldiers who worked under a Commander calling himself Phantom" Wolf explained and both Big Boss and Miller looked up at Wolf.

"Phantom? never heard of that name before" Big Boss stated.

"He was the one who had something to do with the Metallic Archaea, as I followed the escort into the admin building of that Military Base. Before I could find out where they took it I encountered this 'Phantom'" Wolf explained.

"What did he look like?" Miller questioned.

Wolf slowly shook his head "I couldn't tell you, the bastard was wearing a cloak that covered the top half of his body and the bastard wore a hood with a gold skull mask, his voice was unrecognisable as he wore some kind of device that masks his voice deeper".

"So this guy is a professional, hiding his face and even making himself sound different" Big Boss crossed his arms.

"Boss, Miller there's another problem. He has Skulls under his command" Wolf stated and Big Boss's and Miller's eyes widened as they unfolded their arms.

"That cant be, the Skulls died with Skull Face." Miller was shocked.

"Wolf are you sure?" Big Boss double checked.

Wolf leaned forward and placed his hands on the table looking at his Commanders. "More then anything in the world but there is more to them, they are perfected. They are just like Quiet".

"You mean like that freak Riot?" Big Boss guessed.

"No something more, these Skulls can wear clothing just like anyone else. Speak perfectly and can blend in among soldiers, that woman I mentioned was actually one of them. They beat the shit out of me and before they left me for dead I managed to plant a tracker on one of them" Wolf explained.

Big Boss and Miller then looked at the screen on the table and saw the tracker moving as a fast speed across Saudi Arabia and towards the Indian ocean.

"What ever they are traveling on is moving pretty fast" Big Boss stated as he looked down at the map.

"Could be one of those new prototype military planes, couldn't say which one though" Miller guessed.

"What ever they are using doesn't matter, what matters is its leading us directly to where ever they intend to go" Wolf stated and Big Boss with Miller looked at Wolf.

Miller sighed "I owe you an apology Wolf, guess you knew what you were doing".

"No he wasn't" Big Boss stated and the two looked at Big Boss then they saw him smirk. "He was making it up as he went along".

Wolf nodded "Boss, I want to head to where ever that plane is heading once we discover where they land".

Big Boss was surprised "You got beaten the shit into, those bruises on your face look pretty bad".

"I'm still alive, I will head to Medical and get checked then I will be ready for the next trip" Wolf stated.

Big Boss and Miller looked at each other and all Miller could do was shrug his shoulders with a sigh then Big Boss looked at Wolf. "Go get checked, if you want to persue this then I will allow it. But please, no more rash actions".

"Alright Boss" Wolf saluted then turned and walked out of the room leaving Big Boss and Miller alone as they looked at the map.

"He's a good kid" Miller said out of the blue.

"Yeah, he is" Big Boss smiled as he watched the beacon head to the Indian Ocean.

Back on the Combat Unit sitting at her desk still soaked from the water fight in the rain twenty minutes ago Quiet had her elbows on the desk was leaning forward with her hands supporting her head as a million things went through her head. She was kind of shaken seeing Wolf almost killing himself but she couldn't stop her heart beating out of her chest after what happened earlier in the water fight with Wolf.

The water fight was innocent and was a way to ease the stress and even though she loved seeing Wolf smile and chuckle again she couldn't get the image out of her mind, when she slipped forward trying to throw water from the ground up at Wolf she was suddenly in his arms as he prevented her from falling, however it wasn't the fact he stopped her from falling it was after that.

Wolf's hands were so soft and gently as he held her arms and she could feel her arms tingle as if he was still holding her, even though they were distracted by the sun light that shined around them she couldn't help but notice Wolf's eyes when they pulled away from each other from the awkward moment.

Quiet noticed under Punished Wolf's hard shell she noticed the eyes of Howling Wolf, the one she respected and admired. The blue eyes which were caring, mysterious and of course hard to look away from. Seeing those eyes again sent a chill down Quiet's body and she couldn't get over it.

This wasn't just a random moment seeing his eyes fully for the first time, this was a huge change she saw in them. Deep down Quiet blushed seeing those eyes looking at her and she prayed this was a sign that Howling Wolf was coming back. She sat back in her chair sighing and she just looked down at her stomach and she saw she was just completely soaked from the rain. All she could was fiddle with her fingers over the day's events.

She just sat in her chair still fiddling with her fingers for a few more minutes and suddenly there was a knock at her door which startled her, she quickly got up and headed to the door only to realise something. She looked down and saw her leggings were gone, in the awkward moment with Wolf she forgot to pick up her leggings and now she was just there in her harness, bra and panties. The door knocking again and Quiet closed her eyes taking a deep breath, she had to answer just in case it was important so she went to her door and slowly opened it only making sure her head was visible to the guest but as soon as she opened it she saw it was Wolf standing there, she saw the bruises around the left side of his jaw and right eye but lucky enough there was no swelling.

Quiet's eyes widened a little bit surprised to see him and he was just look at her and just gave a tiny smile and then he reached into his backpack and she watched him pull out her leggings she left on the Command Platform and she saw they were folded.

"You forgot these" Wolf quietly stated and he offered them back to her, Quiet just looked at the leggings in his hand offering them and then she looked up at Wolf and she just looked into his eyes, she saw the eyes of Howling Wolf again. Slowly looking down at her leggings she then slowly reached out for them while trying to keep her body behind her door and then she took them out of his hand and brought her hand back into her room, however her eyes never left his and they just looked at each other.

"Quiet, thanks...thanks for beating some sense into me. I shouldn't have been so weak... I should have been stronger for Sarah" Wolf slightly lowered his head and Quiet just couldn't be angry with him anymore, not worried about being seen in just her harness, bra and panties she opened her door fully and walked right up to Wolf and tightly embraced him and after a few seconds Wolf wrapped his arms around her.

The two just stayed this way for a few seconds and Quiet just had her head against Wolf's chest and all she could hear was the sound of his beating heart, it was strong and going at a very calm pace. She tightened her hold on him abit more then she let go of him and he did the same and she just smiled at him and he gave a small nod.

Wolf then looked down the empty hallway and then looked back at Quiet who was still looking at him. "Listen, do you want to help with Cub's lesson? I plan to set it up in the next hour, if your interested you can help".

Quiet smiled a little wider and gave a small slow nod and Wolf nodded back. "Ok, come meet us at in an hour at the target practice".

Wolf then turned and walked away and Quiet just watched as he left down the hall, after a few seconds she walked back into her room and closed the door behind her then planted her back on the door taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes.

Once again she didn't see Punished Wolf but instead the eyes of Howling Wolf, a huge relief flowed through her body as she was able to still keep her promise to Buffalo, she remembered Sarah asking Quiet to prevent Wolf from losing himself and what she saw in those eyes was the man she admired. She was so happy that she didn't fail her mission to look after Wolf, there was still hope.

One hour had past and deep inside one of the hangers of the Combat Unit was Wolf setting up a few paper targets, he spaced them out and put them at random distances it was abit difficult for him to set up as he was still in pain from the beating he took from Phantom and his Skulls but he needed something to occupy his mind. Lucky enough after giving Quiet her leggings back he went straight to Medical for quick treatment but every now and then he would get a shock of pain from sudden movements.

Wolf was still hurting deep inside but after the fight he had with Quiet he realised how close he was to losing himself, there was still anger in him but now he realised he needed to distract himself alot off the missions instead of just focusing on the next mission. He honestly didn't know if it would work but he was gonna try, now more then ever.

Soon he heard some doors open and he turned to see a Diamond Dog solider coming in with Cub holding his hand but as soon as she spotted Wolf she gasped as she left go of the soldier's hand and she ran as fast as she could to him.

"Wolf!" Cub exclaimed happily as she rushed to him as the soldier turned and left but Cub stopped in her tracks when she saw the bruises around the left side of his jaw and right eye. "Wolf, what happened?". Her voice was full of worry.

Wolf gave a tiny smile as he approached her and slowly knelt down looking at her. "Got a little beat up, but I'm ok".

Cub had a sad look and she then approached and hugged Wolf and it still shocked Wolf but fighting the pain inside he slowly wrapped his arms around her returning the hug, after a few seconds Quiet came through the open door cleaned up back in her gear and saw the sight of Wolf and Cub sharing a hug. All she could do was give a small smile seeing Wolf trying to do better.

Quiet with her sniper rifle on her back and a case with Cub's BB rifle in her hand she slowly approached the two and Cub let go of Wolf and turned as she heard footsteps and her eyes widened seeing the sniper.

"Quiet!" Cub rushed to her with open arms and all Quiet could do was chuckle as she knelt down putting the case down and opened up her arms and soon the two tightly embraced with Cub chuckling as Quiet lifted her up and twirled her around a few times.

Wolf slowly stood up and grunted a little as his body stiffened and Quiet finally stopped turning and put Cub down and they just chuckled.

"Ready to teach me more stuff with Wolf?" Cub asked Quiet with excitement and the sniper smiled and nodded then picked up the case and unlocked it and offered it to Cub, Wolf and Quiet watched as Cub pulled open the case and there inside was her BB Sniper Rifle ready for her to use.

Cub slowly reached in and picked up her BB gun and admired it for a few moments and soon she placed her hand on the handle and placed her other hand under the barrel holding it like a sniper would.

"Looks like you remember how to hold it" Wolf stated and Cub turned to him and nodded.

"Can I start shooting?" Cub asked with hope.

Wolf smiled "Remember our deal? If you show the things we taught you last time then we can take you through shooting. So that part is up to you, think you can do it?".

Cub smiled and nodded which caused Wolf to give a small chuckle and Quiet just looked at him loving hearing him chuckle again.

"Ok get in the middle of the room and show us everything, we wont tell you anything we will just watch" Wolf ordered and Cub quickly rushed to the middle of the hanger and both Wolf and Quiet stood on opposite sides of the little girl waiting to see what she remembered.

Taking a few deep breaths Cub was ready to show what she learnt.

Cub slowly knelt down on one knee and then examined her BB Rifle on both sides checking it over a few times and then checked the scope of the rifle.

Wolf crossed his arms then looked at Quiet and she looked up at him smiling at Cub's progress.

Wolf and Quiet smiled at Cub and next she slowly pulled back the bolt all the way to the end and then pushed it back locking it off, Wolf nodded as he and Quiet continued to watch her.

Cub then remembered the button on the side of the rifle and she pressed it and the magazine under the BB Rifle loosened and Cub took it and examined it as she held the rifle in the other hand.

Cub checked the magazine over and once she was happy she placed it back and clipped it in place.

They both watched Cub then place the stock of the rifle against her shoulder, this time firmly planting the stock against her shoulder perfectly as she placed her hand on the handle and the other on the barrel.

Quiet came over the Wolf's side checking Cub's stance and she again she was very impressed with Cub remembering everything, that's when she noticed Wolf didnt move away from her when she came over. He was actually staying there watching Cub with her.

Cub kept the stance and remained still looking down the scope and didn't look up at Quiet and Wolf just in case she did anything wrong and soon Wolf came to a stop as he did a full circle around her.

"Next" Wolf ordered.

Cub nodded and Wolf and Quiet watched as she took a deep breath and the two then watched her slowly lay down on the ground and they saw her place her legs apart and she supported her upper body on her elbows and held the rifle perfectly as she looked down the scope, this time she kept her lower body planted to the ground.

After a few seconds Cub rolled to her back planting her feet to the ground and lifted her upper body up and aimed the rifle between her feet, last time Cub had trouble keeping her upper body up but this time she was able to hold it for longer.

Cub then rolled to her front back to the first sniping position still keeping her lower body down and she stayed that way for a few seconds, Wolf and Quiet watched on and soon Cub slowly raised to one knee then moved her other leg and stood to her feet then lowered her rifle as she turned and walked away then stopped and looked back at Wolf and Quiet, hoping she did everything right.

Wolf brought his hands out and front of him and slowly clapped as he gave a small smile and Cub's eyes widened then looked at Quiet who then started clapping which made Cub smiled brightly.

"You did everything absolutely right Cub, well done" Wolf stated and Cub chuckled as she looked down at the BB Rifle with a hint of pink on her cheeks but soon she looked back up at them.

"So you ready to do some shooting?" Wolf asked and Cub chuckled with excitement and Quiet just chuckled with her as Cub rushed up to Quiet as Wolf turned and double checked the targets making sure they were all in place.

There were paper targets of soldiers with and without guns many were spread out at different distances and there was some paper targets without guns in front of one with a weapon mimicking a hostage situation.

Cub took it all in as she stood next to Quiet and there were so many targets, she felt intimidated but at the same time excited to try her BB Rifle out.

"Ok, everything looks good" Wolf then turned around to Quiet and Cub. "Quiet place Cub about fifty yards away".

Quiet nodded and she took Cub to the other side of the hanger and once they were at fifty yards she turned Cub and made her face Wolf and the target.

"Get into position Cub" Wolf ordered and Cub quickly did as she was told and knelt down and aimed down the scope of her rifle.

"Ok listen carefully, you see that thing in the scope that looks like a cross?" Wolf questioned and Cub simply nodded.

"That is a crosshairs thats what will help you hit your target, depending on what range you are at you may need to calulate the trojectory of the shot. At this moment you are at fifty yards, at that range you can easily hit your target by focusing on the centre of the cross, did you get that?" Wolf questioned and Cub nodded again.

Wolf then looked at Quiet and gave her a nod, one que Quiet knelt down behind Cub and had her hands out just in case Cub falls back from the force of the shot.

"Next to me is a target of an enemy soldier, when I tell you I want you to shoot him anywhere you want." Wolf then walked out of the scopes sights and he took one more look at Cub and saw she was focused with Quiet ready to support her if she falls back.

"Ok when your ready Cub" Wolf stated and a few seconds went past and Cub took a long deep breath and let it out, she breathed in one more time and then held her breath and squeezed the trigger.

The shot let off a bang and Cub felt the force of the shot and she went back but she managed to keep herself from falling thanks to Quiet and the shot pierced the paper target, Wolf watched Cub to make sure she was ok but she seemed to have shaken it off so he slowly walked to the paper target to find the shot and after a few moments he spotted it. The shot hit the soldier right in the chest just below the heart.

Wolf looked back at Quiet and she could see he had a very surprised look on his face and when she looked at the paper target she immediately saw where the shot landed.

"Did I do good?" Cub asked as she got back to her feet and Wolf just looked at her still surprised.

"A little higher you would have killed the man" Wolf stated and Cub smiled pleased with herself but Wolf didn't like the fact she was smiling about it.

"Cub, come here" Wolf ordered and Cub could feel the wieght behind his voice, he didnt shout but the tone was enough to know the diffrence, her smile dropped and she slowly walked up to Wolf then looked at Quiet behind her who had a worried look.

Cub then turned back at Wolf and she was starting to get worried, she soon slowly stopped and looked up at him with worried eyes. Wolf then slowly knelt down and gently took her BB Rifle and placed it on the ground.

"Did I do wrong?" Cub whispered a little scared she messed up but Wolf looked at her with gentle eyes and soon he gently placed his hands on her shoulders and the two looked at each other and Quiet just looked on wondering what was gonna happen.

"You did good, but you enjoyed it too much." Wolf whispered and Cub just looked at him.

"What do you mean?" Cub quietly questioned.

Wolf took a deep breath. "Cub you know what the difference is between us and those bad guys out there?".

Cub slowly shook her head not knowing the answer and Wolf could understand why. Everything looked the same to her.

"The difference is we don't enjoy killing people, what we do is do our missions as quietly as possible unless we have to fight. Taking a life is one changes you but you must have rules to keep you apart from the monsters out there" Wolf advised.

Cub looked to her BB Rifle then slowly looked back at Wolf. "What rules do you have?".

Wolf just looked into Cub's eyes "I never harm women or children, I dont kill animals and if an enemy is unarmed I dont kill them unless they have no problem trying to kill me".

Cub listened very carefully as Wolf spoke on. "Soldiers kill everyday but how a soldier acts and thinks is what stands him or her out from the rest".

"Like Saladin?" Cub questioned.

Wolf gave a small smile at Cub's nickname for Big Boss. "Yeah, just like Saladin. He never kills unless he has to. I learnt alot from him and I decided to follow his same rules, now and I'm offering them to you".

"To me?" Cub whispered a little surprised.

Wolf slowly nodded. "Yeah, if you ever grow up and decided to join the army...or god forbid become a Mercenary I want you to have some rules to make you better then the rest, just like Big Boss passed these rules to me...I now pass them to you".

Cub lowered her head and looked to the floor taking in what he just said and after a few moments she looked up to him and a tear trailed down her cheek. "Thank you...for teaching me".

She then quickly hugged Wolf tightly while resting her head on his shoulder and once again Wolf was hesitant to return it but he fought against himself and after a few moments he once again wrapped his arms around her, Quiet heard the whole thing and all she could do was smile at the scene before her.

Wolf was actually trying to be different, trying so hard to push back Punished Wolf but she couldn't help but worry that once he goes back on the battlefield he may turn back to that darker side of himself. Either way she couldn't worry about that because what mattered right now was this moment. After a few moments Quiet slowly approached the two as they continued to hug and once she came right behind Cub they stopped hugging.

Cub took a deep breath trying to control her emotions so Quiet gently placed both her hands on the little girl's shoulders as she stood behind her, Quiet watched as Cub looked up at her and that's when she saw the little girls eyes were still watery from the tears.

Quiet gave a loving smile then took one hand off one of Cub's shoulders and reached into one of her pouches and pulled out a white handkerchief and offered it to Cub which she gratefully accepted and removed her tears with it, once she was done drying her tears she raised her hand up offering the handkerchief back to Quiet but the sniper just smiled and lowered Cub's hand telling her she can keep it.

Wolf just watched as Cub turned and hugged Quiet's waist and closed her eyes as she rested against Quiet and in response the sniper placed one hand on top of the girl's head while wrapping the other arm around the back of her shoulders and just held her lovingly.

Quiet continued to smile down at Cub as she caressed her hair and soon she looked at Wolf who just looked at Cub, despite everything they went through and still possibly going through she was so happy knowing deep down under the hard shell was Howling Wolf.

The chances of them being friends again was still up in the air but the one thing that put her heart at ease was Howling Wolf was still somewhere inside the shell of Punished Wolf.

This moment was a beacon of hope to her.

27:00:00 UNTIL EMERGANCY MEETING

"Yes the handkerchief we got in MGS1 was the same one Quiet passed down to Cub, if there is one thing I love doing is making connections to the games and just so you know that is not the only thing that will get past down, the next chapters are gonna be big as they are gonna be one mission. The most important mission in CHAPTER 2. GET READY!