CHAPTER 19— "THE INFERNAL DAEMON"

As Mikki started uploading Sunny's HUMANALIVE antivirus to Metal Gear DAEMON's central server, Snake looked around at the Metal Gears that surrounded them.

"I recognize those bipedal Metal Gears… Sahelanthropus… Must be a stronger iteration of the Metal Gear Big Boss fought against in the 80s while battling XOF. But what are those hexapedal ones?"

"Iterations of Metal Gear EXCELSUS," said Mikki. "Raiden fought against one before… Looks like we're going to have to fight 66 of them, and 66 iterations of Sahelanthropus."

"What about the last one?" said Snake.

"You mean Dante's?" said Mikki.

"No… I mean number 133, not number 134."

"Huh…" said Mikki, "I don't see number 133…"

"We'll have to worry about it later," said Snake, "We need to focus on Dante's Metal Gear if anything."

Dante's Metal Gear was a terrifying octapedal Metal Gear that was several times larger than all the other Metal Gears, including Metal Gear HUMAN.

It was hovering over the central server with the rockets built into its pedals, until the rockets deactivated and it slammed against the floor, causing the entirety of Metal Gear DAEMON to shake.

"How do you like the looks of Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE, Snake?" laughed Dante as it unleashed a crippling roar like that of the entirety of Metal Gear DAEMON.

At close range, it was deafening.

"Really, Dante?" said Snake. "You couldn't think of a catchier name for the most terrifying Metal Gear ever?"

"How human of you to rely on humor before you and the rest of humanity go extinct," said Dante as Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE primed its laser cutters, missile launchers, and .50-caliber machine guns in Metal Gear HUMAN's direction, all while the other 132 Metal Gears moved in to swarm it.

"Snake!" said Mikki. "Remember what I said earlier about how destroying Metal Gear DAEMON would cause it to plummet toward Earth and destroy the geosphere?"

"Yeah?" said Snake. "What about it?"

"Well, we can't destroy Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE without destroying Metal Gear DAEMON in its entirety, because they're linked together via a self-destruct mechanism!" said Mikki. "Until we override Cocytus with HUMANALIVE, and sever Dante's posthuman HUMANDIE virus from humanity's collective consciousness… we're going to have to avoid destroying it… if that's even possible in the first place. The best we can do is avoid its attacks and try to cripple some of its weapons and legs."

"All right," said Snake. "What about the other Metal Gears? Are they fair game?"

"Yeah," said Mikki, "and as HUMANALIVE uploads, it should start to affect them. We might be able to use them to our advantage once they start to malfunction… but at the same time, we have to make sure they don't destroy Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE!"

"Sounds 'simple' enough," said Snake. Then he yelled toward Dante, "DANTE! Where's Meryl… and Sunny?"

Dante laughed through the intercoms of Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE. "I'm afraid I can't tell you about the location of the former… But as for the latter… I'm surprised you haven't figured it out already."

"You killed her, didn't you," said Snake angrily.

"Actually, I did the opposite," said Dante. "I brought her back. And yet you don't even see her with your own eyes… Unlike how you always sneak around and hide in cardboard boxes, she's hiding in plain sight."

"Speak some fucking sense!" yelled Snake.

"I'd explain to you further," said Dante as he warmed up the water cutters, missile launchers, and spun the machine guns of Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE, "but I'd rather kill you and the rest of humanity instead."

Snake braced himself, and got ready to dodge Dante's attacks.

"Hang on, Snake!" shouted Mikki. "I've got an idea… Use Metal Gear HUMAN's stealth camouflage!"

"What?" said Snake. "Will it work?"

"HUMANALIVE is working its magic enough that it should… Do it, quick!"

Snake complied, and activated Metal Gear HUMAN's camouflage, turning it invisible, and dodging Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE's barrage of missiles, machine gun fire, and lasers with its jets.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Dante. "Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE is equipped with a little countermeasure of its own for that, Snake…"

"Oh shit…" said Mikki. "Snake, activate HUMAN's energy shields!"

Snake did so just as Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE fired a massive EMP pulse that it and the other Metal Gears were immune to… however, it disabled HUMAN's energy shields and stealth camouflage without frying it.

"Is he going to get us like that?" said Snake.

"Not until his EMP recharges," said Mikki.

Snake grunted, and fired missiles at the incoming Metal Gears swarming Metal Gear HUMAN.

Thankfully, he managed to destroy half a dozen of them rather quickly, as it was easier fighting Metal Gears as another Metal Gear than a human.

Some Metal Gear EXCELSUS iterations tried to attack HUMAN with their legs, but Snake piloted HUMAN and managed to dodge them with its jets, then turned invisible again after fired flares to prevent it from getting destroyed by incoming missiles from Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE.

"You can't hide forever, Snake!" shouted Dante.

Snake managed to get HUMAN away from the swarm of other Metal Gears before it was overwhelmed, then fired its water cutters at them from a distance, destroying half a dozen more.

Just 120 left… Snake thought.

Suddenly another dozen of the Metal Gears started to malfunction, and began roaring uncontrollably, their lights turning bright red, and turned their weapons on the other Metal Gears, as well as DAEMON-ONE.

"NO!" screamed Dante. "What have you done!"

"HUMANALIVE is working!" said Mikki. "Hold out a little longer, Snake!"

Snake fired HUMAN's machine guns and missiles at some of DAEMON-ONE's weapons to stun them before it could attack HUMAN again, however DAEMON-ONE brought some of its legs down and nearly crushed HUMAN.

Fortunately, Snake managed to use HUMAN's jets to make it fly out of the way.

Snake fired HUMAN's water cutter at one of Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE's legs, nearly cutting off the part of the leg that contained the jet.

He simultaneously fired more missiles at the other Metal Gears, picking off six more.

"Our odds are improving, Snake! Keep at it!" shouted Mikki.

As Snake could hear Dante priming DAEMON-ONE's EMP again, he quickly activated HUMAN's energy shield again before HUMAN was stunned by the pulse.

However, when the energy shield was deactivated by the pulse, some machine gun fire from the other Metal Gears put some dents in HUMAN's chassis and ripped through part of its external flesh.

Snake quickly dodged their missiles with HUMAN's jets before they could damage HUMAN further.

As DAEMON-ONE brought its legs down again, he used his water cutter to finish cutting off one of DAEMON-ONE's legs.

"Nice try, Snake… but I've still got seven more legs!" said Dante.

Rotating DAEMON-ONE, Dante then tried to burn HUMAN with the jets from its other legs.

Snake managed to use HUMAN's jets to dodge the white-hot fuel by moving backwards just in time.

However, now several more Metal Gears had surrounded HUMAN, and some EXCELSUS models managed to slice away at HUMAN's flesh, knocking it over in the process and putting several dents in its chassis and endoskeleton underneath.

"Quickly, get HUMAN back up, Snake!" shouted Mikki.

Snake did so using HUMAN's jets, and activated its stealth camouflage again to trick the swarm of other Metal Gears.

Fortunately, another dozen of them started to malfunction.

Snake used this opportunity to take out six more with HUMAN's missiles and water cutters.

"Gah… no… I can feel it…" said Dante. "My consciousness… it's turning… human!"

"HUMANALIVE is working!" shouted Mikki. "Keep at it, Snake!"

Dante screamed, and used several wires from DAEMON-ONE to grab Metal Gear HUMAN.

"I don't need to destroy Metal Gear HUMAN… I just need to make sure it can't reproduce!" shouted Dante as it tried to pull HUMAN's 'endoskeleton factory' off with another set of wires.

"NO!" yelled Snake.

Thinking fast, Snake used HUMAN's energy shield to burn off the wires tying it up, along with its water cutter to avoid getting castrated.

"That was close…" said Mikki. "We can't let him do that again!"

Dante then used his EMP to deactivate HUMAN's energy shields.

Dante tried to grab HUMAN with more of DAEMON-ONE's wires. Snake tried to destroy the wires with HUMAN's machine guns and water cutters, but he was getting surrounded by them… and more Metal Gears.

Fortunately, a dozen more Metal Gears started to malfunction.

Snake used this opportunity to turn HUMAN invisible and destroy six more Metal Gears with missiles.

"Fuck… we're so close…" said Mikki. "Hang in there, Snake!"

But as the other Metal Gears started to be hacked into by HUMANALIVE, they also started to shoot at Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE as well, damaging two more of its legs.

"We're going to have to thin the herd before they cause DAEMON-ONE to fall on top of the server!" shouted Mikki.

"Got it," said Snake as he fired HUMAN's missiles at several of the malfunctioning Metal Gears, destroying a dozen of them. He then fired flares to avoid the Metal Gears Dante still controlled from getting him with their own missiles.

However, their machine guns managed to put more dents in HUMAN.

Snake activated HUMAN's energy shield again as Dante activated DAEMON-ONE's EMP weapon again.

Then, while HUMAN's energy shields were still down, DAEMON-ONE used its wires again to grab HUMAN.

"NO!" yelled Snake.

"End of the line, Snake!" laughed Dante.

But just as DAEMON-ONE was about to simultaneously crush and pull HUMAN apart with its wires all while firing at it with machine guns, Dante shouted, "Gah… no… not now… !"

Mikki yelled, "HUMANALIVE is working!"

A dozen more Metal Gears turned against DAEMON-ONE and they managed to cut HUMAN free of the wires.

"All right, Snake… the Metal Gears that are malfunctioning are now under my control!" shouted Mikki. "I'll hold off and destroy the remaining Metal Gears under Dante's control, just focus on avoiding DAEMON-ONE's attacks for now!"

"Got it," Snake said.

"SNAKE!" yelled Dante as he brought down another one of Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE's legs upon Metal Gear HUMAN.

This time, he managed to crush one of Metal Gear HUMAN's legs.

"ARRGH!" yelled Snake as Metal Gear HUMAN roared.

Dante laughed, and was about to use the jets on DAEMON-ONE's leg that was trapping HUMAN when several Metal Gear Sahelanthropus models under Mikki's control managed to stun the leg with their missiles and cut the leg off with their water cutters.

Snake managed to use HUMAN's water cutters to cut itself free, and then used HUMAN's jets to get HUMAN back on its feet and limp away.

Snake then activated HUMAN's energy shield as Dante tried to get HUMAN's energy shield with the EMP one last time before the Metal Gear EXCELSUS models Mikki hacked into managed to cut the EMP weapon's pod off of DAEMON-ONE's back with their water cutters.

As it crashed to the ground, they sliced it apart with their legs.

"NO!" shouted Dante as he started screaming in pain, and Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE made an inhuman roar, stunning and deafening HUMAN.

"I've almost hacked into Cocytus completely, Snake!" said Mikki.

"New plan, Snake…" said Dante as he was breathing heavily. "If I can't have humanity… no one can!"

Dante then used the remaining Metal Gears under his control to destroy Metal Gear DAEMON's legs by activating their suicide bomber programming.

"Shit!" yelled Mikki. "He's going to bring DAEMON-ONE down on top of Cocytus before we hack into it!"

"And HUMAN!" yelled Snake as he managed to shoot a Metal Gear EXCELSUS model nearing HUMAN with its water cutter, destroying it before it exploded.

"Mikki, use the Metal Gears under your control to destroy Dante's Metal Gears!"

"Working on it…" said Mikki.

"As several Metal Gear Sahelanthropus and EXCELSUS models surrounded Metal Gear HUMAN, trying to blow it up with their suicide bomber programming, Snake yelled, "MIKKIIIII!" as he tried to use Metal Gear HUMAN's jets and stealth camouflage to get away, but the former were malfunctioning due to its crushed leg and the latter was malfunctioning due to a missile hitting HUMAN.

Metal Gear HUMAN was starting to take too much damage.

"We did it!" yelled Mikki.

As Cocytus was completely hacked into, and HUMANALIVE overrode HUMANDIE, Dante screamed with an inhuman roar over Metal Gear DAEMON-ONE's intercoms, "SNAAAAAAKKKE!"

As Metal Gear HUMAN limped away, Mikki said, "I hacked into Cocytus… now time to bring DAEMON-ONE down on top of it!"

"Wait, won't that cause Metal Gear DAEMON to plummet towards Earth?" said Snake.

"No, the other nodes should keep it afloat," said Mikki. "We just needed to hack into Cocytus to save the remaining posthumans, turn them back into transhumans."

"Good enough for me," said Snake as he used HUMAN's water cutters to destroy another leg of DAEMON-ONE while the remaining Metal Gears shot at and sliced away at DAEMON-ONE until it was destroyed, and collapsed on top of Cocytus's central server and exploded.

And as the remaining Metal Gears broke down and exploded with it, the smoke and fire from the explosions that filled the room blinded them for a moment.

As the smoke and fire was cleared by fire extinguishers that sprayed water on them from the ceiling, several sets of flowers and bushes grew around the arena they were in.

Snake and Mikki looked around the room.

"We did it," said Snake.

"We did it!" shouted the rest of humanity.

"Hang on," said Mikki, "I'll get out of HUMAN and repair it so we can fly off of this damned city-sized Metal Gear."

"I'll get out too," said Snake as their minds were uploaded to another set of endoskeletons from HUMAN's endoskeleton factory.

Snake felt bizarre for some reason upon leaving Metal Gear HUMAN's BISECT-esque hivemind.

What is it that I'm feeling right now… he thought.

As Dante was ejected from Metal Gear DAEMON's cockpit and hit the ground with a thud, Snake approached Dante and frowned.

"I'm… human…" said Dante as he looked at one of his hands. His endoskeleton's flesh had been completely torn off, and was emitting static.

Looking at Snake, Dante said, "I'm… I'm sorry… Please… spare me…"

"Drop the act, Dante," said Snake. "I know the truth. You fell in love with your own creation. You would've turned yourself posthuman of your own free will before Sheila used you for her own agenda."

Dante grimaced. He tried to get up and attack Snake, only for Snake to beat him down and throw him to the floor with CQC.

Looking up at Snake, Dante said, "I failed… Posthumanity is now just…"

"Transhumanity," said Snake. "Your sick infernal conflict is over. You lost."

Dante started to laugh demonically.

"What's so funny?" said Snake.

"You're forgetting about something, Snake," said Dante.

"What are you talking about?" said Snake.

"Meryl."

Snake looked at Dante with wide eyes.

"There's a reason I called her Pride Omega and not Pride Delta… She may not be posthuman, but she's not entirely transhuman either," said Dante. "She's my ace in the hole."

"In the event that Cocytus was hacked into and HUMANDIE was destroyed, averting the posthuman takeover of humanity's consciousness… a backup copy of HUMANDIE independent from Coctyus would be uploaded to Meryl's BISECT… and the final Metal Gear… Metal Gear DAEMON-ZERO."

Snake looked at Dante as he continued. "Right now, Meryl is piloting Metal Gear DAEMON-ZERO… She's about to leave Metal Gear DAEMON and fly back to Earth… and from there, she'll be able to reproduce posthumanity like Metal Gear HUMAN is able to reproduce transhumanity… The only difference is that Metal Gear DAEMON-ZERO's endoskeleton production factory is like that of a woman's."

Snake said to Dante, "We'll stop her."

Dante looked down and said, "Perhaps you will. But I wonder if you'll doom humanity in the process of interfacing with her BISECT."

Snake said to Dante, "I know you love her, Snake… Are you willing to kill your last human friend left, let alone your love interest?"

Snake frowned and said, "Whatever it takes… I'll do it."

Dante laughed and said, "Now… Interface with my BISECT."

Snake's frown deepened as he looked at Dante in contempt.

"Come on, Snake…" said Dante. "Don't you want to know what's in my head?"

Snake said nothing for a moment as Dante continued talking. "The conspiracy runs deeper than you, Snake… Firelake, JD, Sheila—"

"I don't care," said Snake as he pulled out his SOCOM and shot Dante in the head, killing him and erasing his consciousness from existence.

Snake looked back at Mikki. "Metal Gear HUMAN is repaired, Snake! Now let's go!"

"That was fast. You sure are good at repairing Metal Gears," said Snake. "Mikki, is what Dante said about Meryl true?"

"I think so, because I picked up the presence of her Metal Gear on HUMAN's own Soliton Radar iteration. She's leaving Metal Gear DAEMON."

"Then we have to hurry after her!" shouted Snake.

"I know, that's why we have to go!" shouted Mikki.

"All right," said Snake as he and Mikki uploaded their minds back to Metal Gear HUMAN, and headed out of the center of Metal Gear DAEMON via another cargo elevator, then ejected into space.

As they were flying through space, Mikki said, "Are you going to kill Meryl, Snake?"

"I have no choice," said Snake. "I have to do it, and I will."

"All right," said Mikki. "It's just…"

"What?"

"I don't want you to kill her!"

Snake looked at Mikki.

"She's a better lover than I am," said Mikki, "and she tried to do the right thing. By saving you, she knew that humanity would still stand a chance. She had no choice but to sacrifice everyone else to Dante as a transhuman in order to save them. A lesser woman would've been crushed by such a burden…"

"You're right," said Snake. "I don't want to kill her either… But like I said… I have to. You heard what Dante said."

"All right," Mikki sniffled.

Looking at Metal Gear HUMAN's radar, Mikki said, "I'm tracking where Meryl is trying to land… it looks like she's landing somewhere in Alaska… wait a minute…"

"You don't think…" said Snake.

"She's landing at Shadow Moses!" said Mikki. "Or at least, what little of it isn't underwater by now due to global climate change."

Snake said, "We need to catch up to her."

Snake used Metal Gear HUMAN's jets to accelerate down into the Earth's atmosphere, using its energy shields to avoid burning up during the descent.

… … … … …

Snake landed Metal Gear HUMAN in the exterior of Shadow Moses, on an icy plateau overlooking the facility.

Nearby HUMAN, was Metal Gear DAEMON-ZERO.

It looked just like Meryl.

Metal Gear DAEMON-ZERO turned around to face Metal Gear HUMAN.

"Snake…" said Meryl. "It's time we talked face-to-face… as humans."