Snake and Ike stood right outside the door of Ike's house. Before they entered, Ike stopped Snake for a moment to talk.
"So before we go in…"
"What is it? Something wrong?" Snake asked.
"No! No! I just think I should warn you about a few things regarding Mist."
"Okay. What do I need to know?" Snake chuckled.
"Mist has been wanting to meet you for a while now. So she'll probably want to ask you a lot of questions. If it gets too much just let me know and I'll tell her to stop."
"Ike don't worry. I'm pretty sure I can handle it."
"You're right. You're right. I should know that by now." Ike laughed. He took out his house key and unlocked the door. "Alright. Come on in."
"Hey Mist! I'm home!" Ike called out.
"Hey Ike! I've almost got dinner ready." Mist said.
"You have enough for three people?"
"Uh…yeah I guess so. Why?"
"I've brought a visitor. I thought you'd like to meet him."
Mist quickly exited the kitchen and came to see them. She looked at the man next to Ike.
"Hello Mist. I'm Snake. It's nice to meet you." He said and extended his hand. Mist reached out and shook his hand. Snake was glad he made a good first impression. He used to have trouble introducing himself to people in a pleasant manner.
"So you're the guy that kicked my brother's ass, right?" She joked.
"C'mon Mist! Really?" Ike groaned.
"To be fair, I beat your brother in a fist fight, which is my specialty. If it was a sword fight then the results would be quite different."
"I see."
Mist's smile went away and her tone became much more serious.
"I've been wanting to meet you for a while now so I can say…thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."
"For what?" Snake looked at her with confusion.
"For sparing my brother. For helping my brother. If you hadn't fought him he would still be doing wet work to get us food."
"Yeah. I have to thank you again for that. That was a bad, dangerous business I was in." Ike said.
"Well that's all in the past. What matters now is that you're off that road, and now you're following a better path." Snake said.
"You're right. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. I'll have dinner ready in a few minutes." Mist smiled.
Mist soon prepared their meal and the three sat at the dinner table to eat together.
"I've heard a few things about you from Ike. I know I can trust what he tells me. But most of what I've heard about you comes from the many stories and legends people talk about." She explained. "I'm sure you of all people know that the truth tends to be stretched in those stories. So can I ask you a few things to clarify what's true and what's not?"
"Go for it." Snake replied.
"Are you a half-human, half-demon hybrid sent to this world to protect us?" She asked with a smirk.
Snake and Ike couldn't help but laugh a little at the question.
"Did someone actually say that?" Snake chuckled.
"They did."
"Well sorry to disappoint anyone, but I'm afraid that's not true."
"How about a demi-god?"
"Nope."
"An angel?"
"No."
"A superhero?"
"I don't have any super powers." Snake replied. And then he frowned. "Besides…I'm not a hero."
"What are you talking about? Of course you…"
"Mist! That's enough!" Ike cut in and warned her. He knew how it is. Snake does not like being called a hero. No matter how much people would try to convince him otherwise, he would tell them he was never a hero, and he never will be.
"Okay I get it. You're not a hero." She said. It was an unexpected response from her. Snake and Ike assumed that she was going to try to press on the matter like so many others had. "But do you consider yourself to be a villain?"
Snake was surprised by the question. He couldn't recall anyone directly asking him if he was a villain. Ike wanted to reprimand his sister for asking that question, but he was curious of what Snake's answer would be.
"No. I don't think of myself as villain."
"Alright. So all things you, my brother, and the other members of the Republic do…what does that make all of you?"
"We're just people. People trying to help others; trying to do what we think is right."
There was a brief silence after Snake's response. Mist's frown quickly turned into a bright smile.
"I really like that answer."
They all smiled. The tension around the table disappeared after that. The rest of the meal went very well.
After they finished eating, Mist said goodbye to Snake as Ike saw him out.
"Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate it." Ike said as he walked alongside Snake.
"No thanks needed. It was my pleasure." Snake assured.
"Listen. I'm sorry about things getting a bit tense back there. I had a feeling sh-"
"Ike! It's okay. I'm actually glad she brought it up."
"Really? Why?"
"Nobody has really asked me what I consider myself to be. And it's important that we don't forget who and what we are."
Ike was relieved to hear that, very glad his sister didn't rub Snake the wrong way.
"Yeah. We're just people trying to make a difference right?"
"That's right." Snake nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow Ike."
"Later Snake."
Unknown Area
"So you mean to say that Snake could very well be the strongest fighter in the wasteland?"
"Yes sir. That's what we've gathered from our scouts' information."
"But he's just a human isn't he? A human with no special powers."
"Yes sir, but that hasn't stopped him from defeating people more powerful than him."
"I see. That's quite impressive! Having someone like him would serve us well."
"Sir, I don't think we can convince him to join us. He will openly oppose us once we make our presence known."
"I don't mean that you idiot! I mean clone him! The scouts retrieved some form of his DNA haven't they?"
"Oh! Uh yes sir! We'll get right on that!"
A few hours later.
"All right. How's the cloning process coming along?"
"Sir? I'm afraid I have to tell you that we can't clone Snake."
"Why? What's the problem? You've done cloning before. And the first time we did, it went off without a hitch."
"I know! It should be very easy, but there's something about his genetic code that is giving us problems!"
"His genetic code?"
"I've never seen anything like it. It looks like it's been modified somehow. It's almost like it's actively refusing to be copied."
"Hmm…I think I know why."
"What's that sir?"
"Snake is a clone himself. He was created by an organization that's just as shadowy and illusive as we are. Maybe even more so. That group was apparently very protective of their work, not wanting their creations to be in anyone else's hands. They were able to make sure he couldn't reproduce, so I wouldn't doubt that they took the idea of someone else trying to clone him into consideration."
"So you're saying…"
"This is a lost cause. Shut this project down. We have to go back to the drawing board."
"Yes sir."
"Lucky you Snake. I guess you've got one thing you can thank the Patriots for. But in due time, I will bring this world into chaos. The way the world should be."
One of the Nomad Squad's teams had arrived at the abandoned factory that Peach and another Nomad team cleared of mutants a few days prior. They were Team Echo, and they specialized in recovery/procurement missions.
"The area looks clear sir." The team scout reported and put his binoculars away.
"Good. Alright team! You know our orders. Look for any documents written by Crazy Hand. If you come across one, you secure it in a bag immediately. We want to bring those documents back in good condition. Understood?" The Commander by the name of Keith asked.
"Sir! Yes, sir!" The team sounded off.
It isn't often that one of the soldiers of the Nomad Squad asked a question. It wasn't because they were blind sheep, just following whatever their CO ordered. It was because Snake made sure that they knew what they were doing and why. He didn't have the people under his command on a "need-to-know" basis. He had been on the receiving end of that during his career and he hated it. Snake was completely transparent during mission briefings. They were filled in on what the purpose of the documents was, and what he and the other members of the UR planned to do with them.
Snake was transparent about information because he firmly believed that if a man or woman was going to put their life on the line for the sake of the mission, then they deserved to know everything. The soldiers appreciated this, as many of them were former members of the Committee's army and they were kept in the dark about so much.
As they searched around one of the soldiers, Jun, looked under a table with her flashlight and came across two sheets of paper.
"I think I've found them!" She reported to the others. She grabbed the papers and examined the writing. The handwriting was identical to the papers Snake had brought back. "Yep. This is definitely his writing."
"Good work! Quickly put it in the bag for safe transport!" The Commander ordered.
"Done!"
"Good. Everyone finish up your searches! Make sure we don't miss any!"
They searched an hour longer, but no other papers were found. But everyone was glad they came out with two papers.
"They've reported in. They found two more papers." Fox announced to the others after getting of the radio with the Nomad Team.
"Glad to hear it." Snake said with a small smile. "Make sure to give them a warm welcome when they get back."
"Your soldiers always get results. It's incredible!" Link said.
"It shouldn't be a surprise. I mean, look who trained them." Peach smiled.
"I can't take credit for what they do. I just try to give them the training and tools they need. The results they get are all due to them being good soldiers."
"Won't argue with that." Link agreed. "Anyway Snake, I'm sure you're going to be back out there in a few days. But you're not going alone this time. We're a team, after all."
Snake crossed his arms and groaned. "Yeah, I know. I know."
"Good. So I'm thinking you take three people with you when you take off. You get to pick. Who will it be?"
Snake scratched his chin as he thought of who he would bring with him. His quickly came to a decision.
"Ike, Bayonetta, and Peach. I want them to come with me."
"Alright. I'll be sure to let Ike and Bayo know." Link assured.
Peach was both shocked and excited that Snake had picked her to travel with him. She walked over to him, hiding her excitement.
"You really want me to come with you?" She asked.
"That's what I said. I heard you'd been doing some work with a few of the Nomad Squad teams. The soldiers have only told me good things about your performance. So I want to see it for myself." He explained. "That is if you want to."
"Of course I do! I promise I won't let you down!"
The next morning, Team Echo returned with Crazy Hand's journal entries. Snake and the group sat together in a room to read it.
Entry 3
A week has gone by, and things have only gotten actively worse with each passing day. Even my brother has realized that there is something very wrong going on. The fool! I've been knowing that! Hell, Snake's been knowing that longer than me! You just had to pay attention to the little details and you could figure it out.
No. It took my brother coming across four fighters in the locker room attacking each other, maybe even trying to kill each other, because of an argument about who's the strongest. It's good that he broke the fight up when he did, because we might've had a dead fighter.
Only then was I able to convince him about the Smash Balls. I'm not sure if he truly believes me or not, but he seemed distraught. He looks like he'll do anything to make sure that this problem is resolved. So he agreed to disable the appearance of Smash Balls and stop production until they do an investigation on them.
I think this is a good decision. Hopefully things will start to get a little better.
Entry 4
HOLY SHIT! THINGS DID NOT GET BETTER!
Just a couple days after brother announced the suspicion of Smash Balls, several fighters raided production factories and stole them forcefully! Multiple workers were wounded and a few of them died.
I had my suspicions but it's clear now. Something about the Smash Balls has an addictive effect, very similar to narcotics. People often say that an addict will do anything to get their fix, but I don't recall drug addicts ever doing something so violent and dangerous.
My brother is furious, and the other fighters are panicking. I have a strong feeling that something terrible is about to happen. Something that no one is ready for. Well one of us has to ready for what's to come so it might as well be me!
I'm going to prepare for the worst. Make sure the world can deal with whatever happens.
I'm scared…I am one of the two gods of this world and I am scared.