The Road to Outer Heaven
Chapter 12: Exfiltration
By, Frank Hunter

14:32:76

The elevator seemed to take forever to reach the basement after Fox nudged the button with his sidearm. Time, however, was a luxury that these two soldiers could not afford. Fox wasn't sure who had called it back up in the first place, but he prepared himself for a car full of armed guards; men who had heard the weapons fire between Snake and the Commander and were prepared for anything. He stood off to the side of the door, by the control panel, with Snake striking a similar pose on the other side.

The rookie was edgy, but he'd done well. His look was one of anticipation; a combat high, but as best as the FOX-HOUNDer could see, there was no fear there. A little more hardening and he could probably even handle a solo mission, though with a positive report back at base, he would soon have no choice. Big Boss thrived on solo missions, that's all his men were expected to do. The way the boss saw things, he was the only one coordinating a squad. Each individual soldier on each individual mission was just a piece of the whole. Snake would fall into place at Big Boss's hand, just as Fox had so many years ago.

14:26:33

Snake tried desperately to remember his Green Beret training as the elevator car finished its descent. He got into position on the left side of the door not so much because experience taught him to, but because he was mimicking Fox's own actions. He allowed his body to run on automatic while his mind tangled hopelessly with the situation at hand.

Were they really setting off a nuke?

Yes.

Would the people in the town nearby survive the blast?

Maybe.

Should he stop this madness before it went too far?

Probably.

Could he stop Gray Fox if he decided it was the right thing to do?

Probably not.

For the first time in his long career, Solid Snake was faced with a moral choice that did not seem to have a right answer. He knew that the detonation was wrong, but he could find no plausible way to stop it. Anything he tried would be thwarted by Gray Fox, and he would lose any hope he had of joining FOX-HOUND. He'd destroy his reputation which, right then, was nothing more than a house of cards anyway.

Do I really want to join this unit, if this is what I'll be expected to do? Snake tangled with this question as the bell for the elevator rang and the door slid open. The compartment was blissfully empty.

Half-heartedly following his mentor inside, he looked out at the shell of the beast in the hangar one last time. He knew Fox had seen something he hadn't, but you didn't need to be a genius to put together what was going on at this base. That thing was dangerous, and if it were allowed to get out, the devil only knew what kind of trouble it could cause for the entire world. The detonation was ruthless, yes, and he'd come to expect that from Fox, but maybe this sacrifice here would save a billion later on.

The door slid closed, and the decision was no longer in his hands. Solid Snake felt some remorse, but little did he know that this move was the first step toward his eventual legacy.

12:34:54

The elevator opened on the first floor and the two bullets were only milliseconds ahead of Gray Fox, exploding out of the car. The shots found the two guards who had been waiting for the elevator and, of course, resulted in clean kills.

There's the little Hunter at work! a voice seemed to echo in his head out of nowhere. Fox pushed it aside. The little Hunter. Frank Jaeger. Voices out of a past he had disciplined himself to forget. The confrontation with Suhn had brought about troubling memories, but now was not the time to be bothered by them. The mission was not finished yet. Fox cleared his mind and took off down the hallway, retracing his earlier steps with the rookie in tow.

Right. Left. Left. Guard. Knife. Blood. Right.

The soldiers darted through the hallway for several minutes, moving ever closer to the eventual exit when the radio in his ear rang twice. A much more real voice filled his head.

"Big Boss here. Status update."

Fox came to a sudden stop, too sudden for Snake to react, but the older man didn't miss a beat. He pivoted on one foot, pushed Snake on ahead of him and followed behind for cover. Snake turned the next corner and took out the next two guards while Fox answered the radio.

"Gray Fox here. Eleven minutes to go on detonation. What's the status of our evac?"

"The bird is flying. She should be there within five minutes, at the base's perimeter as agreed."

"Boss, it would be better if the chopper could pick us up at the base itself."

"Repeat?"

"There is a helipad on the base. Sentry on the tower has been neutralized. No alarms have been sounded, repeat we are still code green. Given the situation, I would prefer on site pick-up, sir."

"Hold, Gray Fox." Snake faltered for a moment at a cross in the hallway. Fox shoved him to the left and the two continued on, awaiting a reply.

"Gray Fox, you are cleared for pick-up on the base's heliport. Five minute ETA. Big Boss out."

10:11:73

The two soldiers finally came to the side door they had used to gain entrance to the base. Stopping for the first time since the elevator, Fox again took point and pushed the door slowly open, peering through the crack. Snake felt relief flow over him as his mentor pushed the door open all the way, and the two looked out upon an abandoned heliport bathed in moonlight. Four more minutes would bring them safety and escape.

But, unbeknownst to the two, back in the base, in the bathroom next to the elevator, a soldier had awoken. Mark stumbled out of the restroom half hoping he had dreamed the encounter with the intruders, when he came across the two corpses left by Gray Fox in front of the elevator. Before passing out once more in a haze of revulsion and fear, Mark managed to hit the button for the alarm on the wall.

09:59:99

The earsplitting sound of the siren and the flash of red lights came abruptly, ruining the serenity of the moonlit base. Snake fell back onto his guard at once. "Damn!" he exclaimed despite himself.

Fox scowled and wasted no time moving to two stacks of three metal crates set against the wall of the base. He gestured Snake to come join him. "They'll be coming to check out here," Fox assured him. "The front door is going to open now. It's only a matter of time. We need to set these against the side door and block it if we want any chance of survival. Help me drag it."

The two men attempted to drag a stack, but found it much too heavy to move. So, they got to work carrying one crate at a time. Snake found it incredible how efficiently one could work if his life was on the line. They got five crates against the door and were just returning for the sixth when the rumbling sound began.

08:42:51

Fox tapped Snake's shoulder, and the two returned to their makeshift barricade, ignoring the final crate. Snake was fairly sure the five they'd compiled would be enough to hold the door. Fox hoped.

Chancing a glance over their barricade, Fox saw that the squad Snake had described earlier, those with the black armbands, were flooding out of the front door and fanning out. Somehow, they'd known where to look for the intruders. Gunfire erupted and Fox ducked back behind the crates as a storm of bullets struck them. The shots ricocheted in all directions, and as soon as they ceased Snake peeked around the crates and returned fire. Another hailstorm erupted to meet him. Snake swore outwardly again, pulling his hands back behind cover.

Fox pulled his combat knife from its sheath and sitting with his back to the crates, held it just above their barricade. Eying the reflection carefully, he studied the formation of the attacking guards. "Two flanking on the left," he told his partner. Snake responded, getting into a prone position with the business end of his R4 pointed to the side of the barricade. Fox patted his back, then pulled a green pineapple from the other man's belt, never lowering the knife and never taking his eyes off it. He brought the grenade to his mouth and bit the pin, counting silently to himself.

At "3," Fox lobbed the grenade backward over his head and over the barricade. It clattered to the floor at the feet of three unprepared guards.

At "4," Snake opened fire, and dropped the two men flanking their position, overconfident that they had the element of surprise.

At "5," the pineapple exploded and the three guards were out of the picture. More gunfire exploded toward their position and the two men huddled lower, biding their time as the battle raged on.

06:03:29

The door on their right began to shake and clatter, as the soldiers on the other side attempted to come through. Fox sheathed his combat knife and drew his sidearm, preparing for the barrier to give and to be overwhelmed from the side. He slid closer to Snake and away from the door. They might use explosives to try and blow it open, and he had no intention of being burned.

"We need to retreat!" Snake shouted as he fired a few more bullets around the side. "We can't hold here anymore!"

"Retreat where?" Fox asked through clenched teeth, raising his pistol at the door. "Chopper can't land in the jungle, and we've got no cover from there to here. Plus there's that bomb to worry about. We've waited too long to go on foot. This is our only choice! Just hold."

"Ugh," Snake grunted and reloaded his weapon.

05:34:15

The door opened just wide enough for a grenade to fit through. Before the soldiers on the other side could come up with it, Fox tore one from Snake's belt, pulled the pin and rolled it through the opening. Five seconds later there was an explosion, and he managed to close the door again, this time bracing his back against it. They had no trouble from that side for a minute.

04:52:37

Just as Snake was beginning to be sure that this place would become their grave, the sound of rotors came up from behind them, and a crackle came over the radio, followed by a drawling, southern-sounding accent."

"Fahx 1, this is Ahlbahtross 1, ovah."

The door on the side slammed open again and the barrel of an R4 poked out, blocking Fox from closing it completely. He put all of his body weight against it, trying to prevent it from opening any further. With Fox indisposed, Snake answered the radio. "Albatross 1, this is Fox 1. Awaiting pickup, over."

"That you boys stuck in a rut ovah there? Ovah."

"Roger. Help would be appreciated, over."

"Bahss said heliport was clear, ovah."

Snake rolled his eyes and practically snarled back into the radio. "The boss was wrong, wasn't he? Things changed and we need help, God dammit!." Then, as an afterthought, "Over."

There was silence for a moment, interrupted only by a small "Heh," from Gray Fox. Then their answer came.

"Ahlright boys, you just hang ohn. We got'ya. Ahlbahtross 1 out." Snake breathed a small sigh of relief as the rifle fire from ahead was gradually replaced by gattling fire from above. The soldiers at the base's main entrance began to either fall back or fall dead.

03:24:49

The remains of attacking squad retreated into the cover of the base as the chopper set down as close to the two soldiers as it could. With its support, the men sprinted over and leapt on board. "Go!" Fox yelled, as soon as he was inside.

"Roger," said the pilot, and he wasted no time.

02:57:23

Just as the chopper took off, the side door was thrown open. Gray Fox was ready for it. He had relieved the soldier on the gattling gun and manned it himself. While the chopper turned and flew away, Fox mowed down each man that stepped through. Five total. Snake watched on with enmity, but this time not at his mentor for the needless killing. This time at the guards, for almost taking his own life. Maybe it was selfish, he knew, but his self preservation instinct had overruled his compassion. Those men had tried to kill him, and so they deserved to die. Snake thought that now…now that his life had been on the line, he might understand Fox's ruthlessness, at least a little bit.

In any case, those men were already sentenced to death.

02:22:13

With passengers aboard and seated, doors closed and hostiles in retreat, Albatross 1 began its trip back to base. There a plane was crewed and fueled, waiting to take the tired operatives back home. Fox stared out the window in thought, watching the sun almost rising. Snake lit up a cigarette, still too pumped with adrenaline to think, but trying very hard to sit still.

00:00:00

The sound was like thunder, but louder than any bolt ever heard on this world. Most people, when confronted with the image of a nuclear explosion, picture an intense light and a mushroom cloud. In South Africa, the blast was partially contained by the hardened shelter around it. There was no brilliant flash, except to those unfortunate souls who still happened to be inside, and they never got much of a chance to appreciate it. The mushroom cloud never happened, though smoke and debris was strewn everywhere around the blast site. It was not conventional, but it was a nightmare.

The base was no more. The prototype Metal Gear was blown to ash along with the nuclear stockpile. The ground, unable to hold up against the pressure of an atomic blast, began to collapse on itself. A chain reaction was caused which, for miles, looked like an earthquake. The dirt fell in, trees tumbled like dominoes and wildlife scattered, trying helplessly for survival. The result was a crater several miles in diameter of complete and total ruin.

Though the people of Zamdela were rudely awakened early that morning, Snake later learned that the town itself was spared. The people wondered what happened and scouted the crater. The government eventually mounted an investigation and detected the levels of radiation left by the exploded bomb, but was at a loss. The base had been run by the National Party, who had been ousted from power. The current government of South Africa had had no idea of the base's existence, or the details of the project going on there. The NP officials denied all knowledge of the base, and Outer Heaven never admitted to exactly what was stolen. The entire ordeal remained a mystery and a cover-up.

And, the two men who were responsible for the blast, the only two who still knew exactly what had happened there, fled the country before anyone even knew they were there…