Well well well, look who's back...It's been a little less than a year since this was last updated. I do apologize for the long wait, but hopefully a new chapter makes up just a little bit for that period of time. I do intend to finish this fic, no matter how long it takes. Without further ado, happy reading all! Having spent so long away, I'm going to forgo the usual addressing of reviews at the end in favor of only touching on a few. Otherwise half of this chapter is going to be actual content, and the other half is me catching up on reviews. But thank you so much to everyone who has posted reviews and followed this. While I may not have posted a new chapter, I certainly have been watching it for when I would get a chance to continue this.

Angola-Zaire border region
Central Africa

Quiet watched the warm glow of fire as it faded into the distance, leaving only the faint scent of smoke and explosions behind. Usually the sight of a mission well-done left a feeling of pride and success, but her pulse still raced from the events of the operation. It was not just her pulse, though. First, the sight of child soldiers training and performing military drills flashed in her mind and the feeling of disgust rose within her once more. Silently, she cursed the people vile enough to recruit child soldiers again.

At least I had a childhood, she mused, before her thoughts turned bitter. Not that I remember much of it. Sometimes in the days of captivity in the cell at Mother Base, brief moments returned to her. A flash of long, beautiful blonde hair. The bark of a dog. The comforting smell of freshly cut grass. Enough to remind her she had once had a life before the elite training as XOF's secret assassin wiped it clean. She closed her eyes, trying to will the thoughts away, feeling a little guilty. These thoughts are not worthy of a sniper specialist, she tried to remind herself. The words rang hollow in her mind.

"Quiet."

The voice, low and apologetic, pulled Quiet from her dark thoughts and she opened her eyes. The orange from the fire was no longer visible on the horizon and she realized she had been sitting at the edge of the chopper for a while. She glanced back at Big Boss, who inclined his head towards the door. Ah yes. The door. Standing up from her perch, she pulled the side door to the chopper shut, closing them off from the blowing wind as they neared the ocean.

Without the howl of the wind, the cabin of the chopper seemed silent but she didn't mind and she doubted Big Boss did either. It's not like there's much communicating when one of us can't physically speak. She unslung her rifle, moving to settle into her usual seat. As was his routine, Big Boss pulled out his iDroid to go through the various tasks of someone in charge of an independent military operation. He had mentioned some of them briefly before to her in passing, such as noting the hassle of assigning soldiers to handle other routine ground operations, collecting intelligence, or ordering supplies from the R&D department. She certainly didn't envy the task. Soldiers shouldn't have to handle so many of the boring logistics, she thought lightly. Although it would always be nice to be in charge of what's on the menu…

Knowing he would be busy for a while handling other duties, she settled in to take care of her own equipment. The oilfield had been her first true operation using her rifle modified to fire tranquilizer darts and overall she thought it had performed very well. There were a few new scratches and scars to the chassis of the rifle and though she knew her R&D team leader Biting Fox would be horrified that his creation had numerous battle scars, she liked the overall look. Matches my old rifle more, she thought fondly. She made a mental note to thank Fox and his team the next time she visited their workshop for their work in redesigning her weapon of choice.

Sliding out the current magazine in the rifle before she racked the bolt back to eject the remaining tranquilizer dart in the chamber, she began to count the rounds she had left. The mission had been relatively short and there had been no need to call for more supplies. Getting a count of how much left over she had allowed her to plan and pack accordingly for future missions. Which would help if I ever needed to carry any other equipment.

An annoyed grunt brought her out of her emotionless stupor. Quiet glanced up from cleaning the RENOV-ICKVX, watching Big Boss for any sign of what might have sparked such a reaction from him. He was still looking at his iDroid and she almost disregarded it before she caught sight of what was on the screen.

The bodies. He's looking at the bodies.

The image of the bodies flashed in her mind again, and she had to fight to keep her expression neutral as bile rose in her throat. The bodies had been partially decomposed, but it did not bother Quiet, and she doubted her partner was fazed by the sight either. They had seen too many horrors of war to still be sensitive to such images. No, it was something else. The mutations. From the moment she saw the bodies and the damaged lungs, she knew what she was looking at.

A white laboratory room. Blood splatters along the walls. The endless screaming, the flailing of limbs, hoarse voices raised in a chorus of horror and pain. One of them ran towards the window and Quiet flinched slightly as he slammed into the glass, moaning and scratching at his throat. He was already covered in blood, but even underneath she could see the furrors he had already dug into his skin, twitching, then slowly sliding down the glass and leaving a streak of blood. And then silence.

The voices died off to snuffles and low moans, but even those soon disappeared. The lack of noise was deafening. Her throat had gone dry and she couldn't swallow. She couldn't look at the bodies littered in the formerly pristine room, or the man who had rushed the window with a silent plea in his eyes. His last wish had been for an end.

Quiet looked at the senior laboratory technician who had brought her there to see the room. She thought she knew exactly what he was showing her. And as he looked back at her and smiled, she knew it was true. The man began to proudly boast of their accomplishments but she tuned him out.

A spark of fear ignited in her chest and she touched her throat, where she knew the scientists had infected her with the same thing. They had told her not to speak English until needed to complete her mission. Skull Face told her it would be to eliminate the threat of Big Boss from the world. She closed her eyes. It would not be long before she would die, just as those in the room had. She just hoped her end would come quicker, and painlessly.

With a start, Quiet opened her eyes. Her heart raced and she shivered. Though she could no longer feel hot or cold due to the vocal cord parasite within her, the memory sent chills up her back. She swallowed, hard, but it was of no use. Big Boss glanced over at her, his gaze indecipherable, and she realized she had her hand on her throat. She lowered it and gave a short shake of her head in response to his questioning frown. When he looked back at the iDroid, she saw he was still examining the pictures of the bodies and she tore her eyes away, determined not to let any other memories leap unbidden to the forefront of her mind.

She reached down to her belt for her small canteen of water, trying to rid herself of the vile taste in her mouth. She hated the death she knew she had been sentenced to, she hated the conflicting thoughts she had, but more than anything she hated the feeling of being powerless. There is no cure, she mused. And I don't want to die. The thought surprised her, though she knew it was not inexplicable. It was the natural desire to be alive that drove all life on the planet. What surprised her was that it had returned to her, after the time she had spent alone musing in the landscape of Afghanistan preparing her final line that would sentence Big Boss to the same death as her.

Quiet glanced at the soldier and felt a flash of gratefulness towards him. Because of you, I have a purpose again, she thought. I don't just have to be a sacrificial soldier anymore. She thought back to the child soldiers they had rescued as proof of her statement and she felt a flush of relief wash over her. I don't just have to be an assassin anymore either. My impact is no longer just killing targets. With that, the dark and morbid thoughts receded and she finally felt free of the despair that had plagued her for months. She closed her eyes, settling against the side of the chopper. Now that the images were gone, she could catch some rest as they returned to Mother Base.

Mother Base, Seychelles Waters
Medical Platform

"Good job today, Quiet!" Pequod flashed her a thumbs up before he lifted off again, and she gave him a nod, stepping back as the wind thrown by the chopper taking off blew her hair wildly. She readjusted her ponytail as she began the short walk to the cell she called home when she heard snippets of music, followed by muffled shouting. It was coming from her cell, and she frowned as she noticed the absence of her guard, Stone Hedgehog.

Cloaking, she walked down the stairs silently, keeping her hand on her pistol. Though she knew it would be a mistake to shoot one of the soldiers on Mother Base, there was one thing she would not stand for, and that was the destruction of her music collection.

The first thing she noticed as she descended was her music collection sitting to the side, still in neat piles. To her surprise, she saw Hedgehog, Biting Fox, and some others from the R&D department standing at the far end of the space. To her greater surprise, there were now speakers mounted along the sides of the walls.

"No no no, I'm sure it's this wire," Hedgehog was saying, pointing intently. Biting Fox was shaking his head, pointing elsewhere.

"I'm the R&D team leader here, and I'm sure it's this one," the lead developer emphasized.

Quiet suppressed a chuckle. It was clear they had been there a while, and she wondered how long it had taken them just to get the speakers up on the walls. Staying cloaked, she slipped between them and moved the wire that neither of them were holding, which she knew to be the correct one. Both Hedgehog and Fox jumped backwards as the wire seemingly moved on its own, then let out matching yelps as she uncloaked.

With a mischievous smirk, she connected the speaker setup to the receiver, then stepped back victoriously as "Maneater" began to play, sounding better than she ever could have imagined from the upgraded system.

Hedgehog was the first to react, laughing. "Look no further than the music expert to demonstrate how to properly set up a sound system. I think she's one-upped you, Fox."

Fox shook his head. "I have absolutely no idea what she did."

The R&D team began to clear out of her cell, knowing they were intruding, but Quiet stopped Hedgehog and Fox before they started up the stairs. Looking at each of them, she gave a smile and a nod, shaking their hands. Both of their eyes glazed over slightly as she applied just a little too much pressure. Thank you, she said mentally. I truly appreciate it. Though she couldn't communicate it verbally, it was clear they both understood her point as they returned her smile before leaving her to her own devices in the cell.

Quiet stretched, moving to turn the music a little louder. It had been a long day and she needed a shower. She felt a flash of excitement as the music track switched. I bet nobody else has a shower sound system quite like this.

Wow, what a chapter this was! I really appreciated that there was not much to Quiet's backstory, because it gives me the creative freedom to add my own thoughts to it. Hopefully you think the hints I put about her past were representative of her character. As with real life, I believe the backstory influences later on, and so I not only want to delve into Quiet's behavior during MGSV, but also how her past has affected that. Her interactions with the R&D team might be a little too happy, but I didn't want to end the chapter with just the bloody laboratory examination room, so why not add a little sunshine? A little happiness never hurt anyone. :)

As for reviews, I would like to once again thank everyone who left something for me.

Infinity Comes To A End, I hope I won't be like that one fanfic you waited 7 years to update.

Levolutioner, I definitely want to put Quiet in more situations than what the game engine restricted her to. Look for her to run her own operations in a future chapter!

ButImNotAWriter88, thank you for your kind review. I always intended this to be only a Quiet fic, but definitely will include some of Quiet's interpretations of what Big Boss might be thinking.

CombatativeThinker, it certainly is a little difficult to write Big Boss, especially since he is very player-driven in that he does whatever the player makes him do. Thus, I feel like he is whatever the reader believes him to be and as such, I try to write him in a way where you as the reader can characterize him as you deem appropriate. :)

Insanemaelstorm, the DD scene was honestly one of my favorite to write. It was a silly little section and I do intend to include more of the two of them together in the future (refer to the hint I wrote for Levolutioner, heh heh).

And for everyone else who has asked me not to leave this unfinished...no worries. :) Til next time!