Okay! Here we go, Peace Walker time!
I awoke groggily in a hospital bed, vaguely aware of my surroundings as I tried to remember how I had gotten there. I remembered just recently getting out of the hospital, so why was I there again?
The headache I had was getting worse as I tried to remember recent events, but I still painfully crawled through memory lane to try and figure out what happened.
There...was the hospital...Christmas Day...Shaun came to visit...I got out and came home...then...
"No way that actually happened." I whispered to myself. "That had to be a dream. I must've fallen asleep after Shaun came and dreamed all of that."
Just then, my door opened and in strode a nurse, one I didn't recognize.
"Oh good, you're up." The nurse beamed at me. "You took a bad fall up on B Deck and got a concussion, but don't worry, you'll be back on your feet in an hour or so."
"Deck?"
I touched the back of my head and felt the large bump from where I had hit it.
"Yes, B Deck, one of our boys up in air traffic caught sight of you while they were clearing one of our heli's for landing... If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing up there anyways?"
Air traffic? Heli's? What the hell had I missed?
"Um... I don't know... I'm having a hard time remembering some things. Do you know where we are?"
"Why, you're in Medical, sweetheart... On Strut D?"
I had no idea what this lady was talking about, I turned and looked out the window on the other side of my cot. Rolling ocean spanned for miles till it hit the horizon without a piece of land in sight. The only other thing I could see outside was another part of the building I was in, a piece of writing on it grabbing my attention.
-MSF Designation Strut D Deck F 'Medical'-
MSF... So I had gone into the game...
"Christ..." I cursed quietly.
"So, by the way could I get your name? I need to make sure the roster for the injured in my clinic is up to date."
"Uh...s-sure it's...James?" I don't know why I was so nervous, I felt like I was lying, being here away from my own time... and reality.
"Oh no, sweetheart, not your real name." She smiled sweetly almost like this was a regular occurrence. "Your code name. You know, the one you got when you came here?"
"Uh...um." I was fucked. How was I supposed to come up with a codename? I remembered that all the code names were animals, so maybe favorite animal? No, I'm pretty sure that 'Cat' is a pretty shit secret agent name...How about birth signs? Yeah, that'd work.
"S-scorpion, ma'am." I sighed in relief when she looked decently satisfied with the name I had given before going through her chart.
"I actually don't see your name on here."
"I-I'm new! I just got here!" I got out quickly, I had to make sure I didn't blow my cover by revealing I was from a universe where all of this was a game.
"Oh, I see. No wonder you're so turned around. Most soldiers are a bit overwhelmed once they get here, the Fulton system can be a bit hard on people... Although..."
She looked at me with very...accusing eyes, trying to read me very clearly.
"Aren't you a bit young to be a soldier? What military force were you from?"
"Uh. Uh. UH." My mind was racing trying to come up with answers as to why I was here.
"Um...I-I wasn't...a soldier... I, uh... I... AH! I volunteered! That's it, I signed up to join!"
"Really?" She questioned. "Most volunteers are retired veterans or soldiers who want to see combat again. I've never seen such a young volunteer before."
Welp, this is it. She's backed me into a corner. I hope I learn how to get out of the game before I'm tossed off of Mother Base and fed to the sharks for sneaking into Big Boss's fortress.
I closed my eyes and waited for her to sound an alarm. Then she spoke again.
"Oh well, I'm sure you have your reasons for joining. If you're feeling better, you should go down to Registration on Strut A and get your name into the system."
"...Oh, oh, right... I'll just... go do that then!...Heh-heh..." I stuttered out weakly, trying to get my heart to start beating again. The nurse looked at me with a questioning stare but turned and left the room anyways.
As I let out a breath I didn't even really know I was holding, I decided to get up and get checked in before arousing any more suspicion, but when I swung my legs over the edge of the bed I realized that I was only in a hospital gown and my boxer shorts.
I stuck my head out of the door and saw the nurse retreating up the hall.
"Um... excuse me?" I called out, "You wouldn't happen to have my clothes, would you?"
The nurse turned around with her pen in her mouth as if trying to remember something.
"Sorry, sweetie, wasn't my job to keep track of them, but there is a spare uniform in there, might as well get used to wearing it!"
I turned around and looked back in my room and saw a set of fatigues folded neatly on a chair inside. I closed the door behind me and walked over to the uniform to inspect it.
The clothing was an olive drab shirt and pants along with a belt and a black long-sleeved undershirt, under the chair was a set of black boots and gray socks. I checked the shirt and noticed there was no place for your last name like on other military clothing I had seen. The only distinguishing features it had on it were the MSF logos emblazoned on each shoulder.
I shrugged and began to slip on the uniform, it fit a little loosely, but it was serviceable. After I finished dressing, I slipped out of my room again and made my way up the hall, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. I was lucky enough to happen across a map of Mother Base in a hallway not too far from my medical room.
According to the layout, Strut A was the central strut where communications and the main helipad were located, and that Struts B through G were set in a hexagon formation around it working clockwise. Luckily for me, though, each strut was connected to A individually, so it wouldn't take long to get there.
I made my way topside and found out firsthand just how massive Mother Base really was. Each strut looked like it was at least a mile across, maybe a little bit more, and the connecting bridges were equally lengthy.
I looked out over the bridge towards what I suspected was Strut A and realized that the building I had materialized near before fainting was the main comms building. I started to make my way towards it at a decent pace, my leg still making it a bit hard to move much faster that a brisk walk, but I managed to arrive at the building before long.
As I entered the building, I noticed the faint sound of a helicopter in the distance getting slightly louder as time passed, but I didn't feel I like I had time to worry about it as I should get checked in as soon as possible. I walked up to the desk and tapped softly on the surface, grabbing the attention of the soldier behind it.
"Yes, can I help you?" He said with a small hint of exasperation, he must be a bit to used to rookies being nervous by now.
"Hi, sorry, I was looking to get... I don't know what the proper word is." I sighed, I really was not prepared for this.
"Assigned? Sure, kid, let me just get your name and I'll see where you need to be." He turned in his chair and picked up a clipboard holding a number of names and team assignments, ready to search for me.
"Oh, right. It's J-...Scorpion, sorry, it's Scorpion. I just volunteered."
He looked over the list, flipping a few pages before shrugging his shoulders and sucking his teeth.
"Tsk, sorry Scorpion, but you haven't been assigned yet, that means that you haven't been checked out yet."
I stopped, confused wondering what he meant.
"W-what do you mean? Checked out by who?"
Just then, I heard the glass door sliding open again, and the sound of heavy footfalls behind me.
"Speak of the devil." The man said, standing up to salute whoever had just entered.
"Boss, this is a new recruit, I need you to check him in before I assign him."
No... He didn't mean...
I slowly turned around and came face to face with Big Boss, and to be honest, I was speechless. It was one thing seeing him on a screen, but to have this man, this legend, staring at you and to know everything he has done up to that point, everything he could do, it was terrifying.
He was about my height, but considerably more built, having years of training to back up his physique. I noticed he was wearing the MSF sneaking suit and that he was armed, most likely just coming back from a mission, but something seemed off about him until I noticed that he wasn't wearing the Boss's bandanna anymore, meaning that this Big Boss had already defeated Peace Walker, and possibly Paz and ZEKE as well.
Coming slightly back to my senses, I did the first thing i could think of when faced with someone like him.
I saluted, hoping I looked less green than I actually was, and greeted him.
"Hello Boss, I hope that I can be of some value to MSF."
I dropped my hand to my side and held my pose while waiting for him to respond.
"Hmm." he replied, nodding in my direction before reaching into one of the pouches on his back. He retrieved a device that looked like binoculars from one of them, slipping them over his good eye and eyepatch before staring at me for a few seconds, then taking them back off and shaking his head.
"I don't think so, rookie. With your skill you wouldn't last around here."
I started, not fully realizing what Big Boss was saying.
"Wait, what? Why not?" I asked, suddenly faltering in my not-actually-green persona.
"Look, it's nothing personal, kid, I just need to know that my staff is working to the best of it's ability, and with your skill, that isn't happening." He explained, holding out the device to me, I grabbed it and looked down into the viewer, realizing that it was a Skill Analyzer currently showing my stats. They didn't look good, I was practically an E-Rank in everything.
I slightly started to panic, realizing that my entire visit was falling apart.
"Look, I get that I might be a bit...underdeveloped, but if you give me a while, I might be able to get a lot better, what do you say?!"
"Kid, listen," He cut me off in his gravelly voice, "Maybe once you get some skill, you might be able to fit into a space here, but until then, I can't have a liability,"
He turned around and started back out the door.
"So I'm sorry to say, kid, but you're fired!"
Suddenly the world began to fade as the color in the world swirled into nothing but black.
I woke up on my bed, PSP in hand as I shot up, desperately trying to realize just what had happened.
I looked down at the device in my hands as it showed the Peace Walker Mother Base screen with a pop up on screen.
"Scorpion has been fired."
I sighed, and flopped down on my bed again, turning off the PSP and setting it on my table next to my alarm before looking at the time.
6:14 am
It was still fairly early despite having been in the PSP for around an hour or two. In fact, the more I thought about it the more I realized that time hadn't passed since I went in.
I sat up and brushed my hands through my hair, thinking about how much of a waste the trip had been.
Big Boss's words echoed through my mind.
"I don't think so, rookie." "Maybe once you get some skill," "I can't have a liability"
"You're Fired!"
I felt sick, I decided that a shower might help.
As I entered the bathroom and went to strip out of my pajamas, I realized I wasn't wearing them, looking down I saw that I was still in the borrowed MSF uniform.
I almost screamed in surprise, did this mean that anything that I had on me would be transferred?
I quickly threw off the clothing and tossed it onto my bed, deciding that I would worry about it after my shower.
Wow, long chapter, huh? Sorry this took forever, I've been going through some shit.
So, leave a comment if you can, I'd love to see some feedback.