Chapter 4 Quiet's past 1:

Birth of the Sniper

A long time ago, in a desolate town in Russia, covered in smog all over, a very gloom town. Skull Face found me on the street. Passing by with a few xof soldiers of his, he turns and looks at me, "You, you know the language of revenge." I tilt my head up to see him; I could barely see his face because of my hunger and sickness. It was a cold day, this is the earliest memory of mine, as the past before that moment I have forgotten entirely, and all I was left with that day was a deep desire for revenge and violence. "Ah but look where you are now, if you wish to continue your quest for revenge, come with me child, I will help you." He crouches and pats my head, "Child, do not fear, I will give you the tools to help you through this, welcome to xof." And just like that I was taken to xof forces.

Skull Face sent me to the secret xof headquarters located in an isolated area in Baskerville, England. The headquarters was a military site surrounded by an 18 feet high fence all spiked. There was a big garage for our vehicles and weapons. The main building also housed more vehicles, an upper office floor where Skull Face would receive his orders or deliver them to his soldiers whenever he wasn't around. Lastly, there was a room with many bunk beds where the soldiers would rest. Outside he had a target practice area and a gym area for his soldiers to keep honing their skills and maintain physique.

When I arrived with him, he put me through a very rigorous military training regime so I could achieve a physical peak. My training was specialization on stealth kills and infiltrations. He was breeding me to be a top assassin for him, do his dirty work. Occasionally he would visit and check on me. Five years later, I became a fully-fledged soldier. Skull Face came to the base to pick me up and take me to Egypt on my fist infiltration mission. I was to retrieve an important pin from a museum, think of it as a simulation training, as no killing was involved, and just get the grasp of infiltration missions. The chopper drops me off about three miles off an isolated desert close to the back of the museum, as I am dropped off I head directly towards my destination. It was a cold night, no clouds on the sky just a full moon, I didn't have to use a flashlight, the moonlight itself was already helpful enough. After successfully stealing the pin without setting off an alarm, I ran two miles off the museum site under the cold night and boarded the chopper that was waiting for me. Skull Face, sitting there anticipating the good news, I hand him the pin…

"Here master, mission complete."

"Well done child, we are now going to mother base to prepare for your second mission."

Through the trip, he kept looking over the pin while I stand by in silence. After we arrive at the base, he orders one of his soldiers to replicate the pin and let him know when it's finished. "You are to standby child, when the pin is finished we'll go out again."

A few weeks later, when it was finished, he tasked me to deliver the pin on a top-secret building. He explained to me that he set a trap on the pin and it could be detected by regular security measures. Skull Face said that it was very important that I succeed in the mission. It took place in New York Hell's Kitchen. For this time also, I could not kill any person that was stationed there, I was to deliver the pin at a specific room. He showed me the place's blueprints, I would enter by a venting hole on the floor, exit by the locker rooms vent and make my way to a particular waiting room, which lies beside a secret door that takes you a closed-off floor. Skull Face would not give me the details as to why I had to deliver this. He only said to drop the package at a wooden side table.

The mission took place on a rainy day on Sunday, he set up a food-themed joint parade to lure out most workers from the building as possible, he remarked that Sunday there was less security. Skull Face's plan worked and I could carry on the mission with no problem. As I complete it,

"The mission's done Master."

"Ah, well-done child, well done. Now come back to me." As I begin to exit the place I truly wonder, what was so important about that pin Skull Face was so adamant about?

Few years later…

"Child, you will now help me establish myself as the top head of Cipher.." "Cipher?"

"Yes, Cipher is the intelligence organization that employs us XOF, now with their top boss soon to be gone; you will eliminate further bosses so XOF can rise to the top."

He pats my head again, "Worry not child, I'm sure you can do this."

Skull Face returned to Africa with most of his unit and he left me alone in the secret xof headquarters, where I would stand by for further orders. Whenever I got a mission via proxy call, he would leave me a care package with all the specific tools I would need to complete the mission. The traveling arrangements I would have to do myself, guess it was his way to tell me to be a bit more independent.

12 targets, twelve targets around the globe, this took me half a year to complete. All that time I would stand by xof headquarters, carry on the mission and return. Only one time I was assigned to kill a target that was close by Skull Face, he stationed himself in the southern part of the Angola-zaire border of Africa doing research he would not tell me about. After I completed all my missions, Skull Face gave me two-week rests, he said I could go anywhere on vacation. However, I didn't want to travel, I was feeling exhausted, so I opted to stay at the secret headquarters, I spent most of the day smoking and training. During boredom, I went on to the archive room; see what could pique my interest.

The room was a mess, folders everywhere and a big table was just full of papers. While smoking a cigarette, a particular archive drawer caught my eye, it had sprayed on the side "Big Boss". I had never heard such a name before, so full of curiosity I open the first desk and find a folder labeled "Operation Snake Eater, 1964". I put a chair beside the archive drawer and decided to read all the contents of the folder. Puffing the cigarette, I see the picture of this man, wearing a one eye patch, he had a serious expression about him. "Snake" I read aloud, "aka Big Boss", somehow my chest tightens a little, I see this man for the first time and something just made me flutter my chest, maybe it was excitement. It was the first time seeing a soldier so unique as this, apart from Skull Face.

I keep pulling folders and keep reading all the files related to this man, the actions he has taken. From what I understood, after he was forced by the government to kill a legendary soldier who defected to the Soviet Union, he steered off from the government and established his militia. The last folder I pull is labeled "Operation Ground Zeroes" the name somehow sounded familiar to me. When I read it, I remember this was a strike force operation, which Skull Face personally undertook and lost quite a few of his men. I was still in training when they left, he left me alone in the headquarters. It was a very dark night, I step outside and see the last helicopter lifting off, Skull Face standing on the edge, unfazed by the wind and dirt particles, which was bugging my eyes from my part, he yells "If I don't come back in two weeks child, you are free to go!" Snapping myself back from that memory, I keep pulling pages, the details of the operation. Skull Face had already sent three of our unit as volunteer soldiers undercover and they placed c4 on the plant structures. One of the pages the side note reads "The main purpose of this operation, is to draw Him out!" Under the word "Him" it has a big O with exclamation mark written differently and with a red marker, I could only imagine the man writing this down in frustration. I could not understand what he meant; maybe it was encoded to one of his higher trusting officers or himself. He also details the unit had to kidnap a certain scientist engineer who could contribute on some of Skull Face's projects over at Afghanistan, apparently they succeeded in kidnapping the scientist and stationed him as a working hostage over there. There's the photo of a blond man sporting glasses named "Miller", with an MIA seal underneath his picture. The last page contains a photo of a slightly older Big Boss but the man was still looking young and handsome, I let out a smile and a desire grows from me to meet this man. Below his picture reads, "Is he dead? The search goes on..."