Song: Metal Gear Solid V - The Phantom Pain - Mike Oldfield ''Nuclear'' Lyrics

Part 1

POV: Naomi Hunter.

Death.

That was what Naomi Hunter would have thought as she breathed her last. Did she have her regrets? Yes, she had plenty. Her death was, in one sense, her escapism. She was already dying. In fact, she should have been dead. It was just the nanomachines within her body that continued to keep her cancer at bay. She turned them off, and accepted death. She was one of the last links that needed to be dealt with before the end.

Neither Solid Snake nor Otacon would want to kill her, hence she opted to do it herself.

But it seems destiny and fate had other plans.

The next she came too, she had been revived, and found herself working for a pan-military terrorist organization known only as XOF. That made her shudder a bit, because she recognized the name based on what she heard at least from Eva, who had gone by the name, Big Mama, as well as what Ocelot, still going by his Liquid identity, had told her.

XOF was the opposite of FOX and its successor, FOXHOUND, acting as FOX's cover support unit within the CIA during the 1960s, commanded by a dangerous assassin known only as Skull Face. He was involved during the events of Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater (*1), leading XOF in covering for Naked Snake (the future Big Boss) and his tracks, to maintain the illusion. While Snake was hailed as a hero, Skull Face was forgotten.

By 1970, around the time when Zero and Big Boss draw a schism, Skull Face and XOF became Zero's, or Cipher's (as was what the Patriots were called back then), covert strike force. They became the leading factors that forever changed the life of Big Boss, when Mother Base sank to the seas of the Carribean and lost hundreds of his men.

As far as Naomi knew, Skull Face was killed by Otacon's father, Huey Emmerich. But...she was wrong.

"You must be wondering, Dr. Hunter," Skull Face spoke to her with a calculative tone. "How...or why am I still alive? Surely, there must be a natural or pseudo-scientific explanation for why I'm here. Firstly, may I be right in assuming that you are aware of the story of Lazarus' resurrection as spoken of in the Gospel of John."

"...I'm familiar with it," Naomi spoke carefully as she eyed Skull Face. His eyes were sharp, making her sweat at its coldness. One wrong move and she was done for. That she knew. Despite not being cuffed, there was nowhere for her to run.

"There is, what you call, a secret project that had been funded by Cipher during the dark years of the Cold War. It's name was Résurrection de Lazare. It is, shall we say, one of the hubris's that Zero left behind when he was in charge of running Cipher. Aside from his deprecating fears of wanting to clone Big Boss, there were other projects that he had been funding. One of them dealt with not just cloning, but the subject of immortality - he wanted to cheat death, to know how to live on beyond the limits and the capacity of the human body, and I was one put in charge of that project. In fact, I was its first test subject, and the project was a success."

"It changed me, granting me "abilities" so to speak. But how does that relate with how I'm supposed to be alive, when I should be by all rights, dead? Simple. The man who was killed, in the deserts of Afghanistan, what Big Boss and his ilk thought of me, was not me, but a clone. He was a perfect clone, almost too perfect. He and I are of the same mind and will, diverging on only small principles. He wanted the world to be rid of the English language. That was just one of the plans that I had in mind for the future. There is an old saying, from the Psychomachia: Patience is a virtue. And that is something that I have done, and implemented. I waited, gathered all of the resources left behind from Cipher's infighting, studied and funded various field projects unconnected with US or Soviet oversight, and waited for all of my enemies to perish. Whether it's Big Boss, or Zero, or the abomination that was his own making - one that Big Boss' son had finally terminated, and rid it of its influence in America and the rest of the world, shutting down almost all of the private military companies, and ushering in a new age of robotics - a war economy turned into a mere shadow of its former glory. You know of what I speak."

"The Patriots A.I.," Naomi answered grimly.

"Yes. I wanted that artificial intelligence gone just like the rest of you. With it being our silent overseer and ruler, we were all shackled like slaves, forced into submission, lacking the will and subsuming it against the fallible concepts of uniformity and credibility. I bid my time, waited, and while I waited, I had been studying a certain matter - or matters that had caused me to discover one single notion, of just how insignificant our conception of the world truly was."

"What are you saying?" Naomi asked, knitting her eyebrows.

"Do you believe in the supernatural, Dr. Hunter?" Skull Face asked, before continuing. "Whether you believe it or not is not my concern, but what matters is that it definitively does exists regardless of belief, and it is ingrained within the human condition. There have always been stranger things hiding within our world. Myths, legends, fables, religious beliefs, Zero was oddly interested in them. Perhaps it's due to the reminiscent historical ties that it had with the old Cobra unit that had been led by none other than The Joy, otherwise known now as The Boss, hence another reason for the rebirth of Résurrection de Lazare. That was what the project ultimately entailed. A memoriam."

With a snap of his finger, much to Naomi's shock, Skull Face would materialize something. An orange flame, in the palm of his right glove hand, that doesn't appear to burn off.

"As Prometheus took the fire and spread it out to all of mankind and thus defied the gods from on high, so did my own rebirth gained for me a sense of insight within insight. That we are not alone. That man, who was believed to have dominated the very dirt that we walk through, was not always the case. We are at war, Dr. Hunter, and it is a war where I need your expertise."

"...And why should I work for you?" Naomi narrowed her eyes.

"Apart from...knowing of Sunny Emmerich perhaps?" Skull Face's tone was low, but threatening enough that made Naomi's breath feel like it had been lost in a gasp.

Her eyes widened, as feelings of anxiety threatened to shoot through her.

"But it matters not. As I said, we are at war, and there is an enemy - an artificial intelligence much more dangerous than the Patriot's A.I. who has been observing our world for a very long time, that wants nothing more than the complete extinction of the human race. That includes you and me. Of course, you may not care, as you are a dead woman walking upon only my say so, but you do care at least in some form for Sunny Emmerich and her father, and of course, of how the world would turn out from the hereafter."

...Hal, she thought softly as her heart ached, recalling the final moments when she only heard his grievances.

"Ironically, with the Patriot's A.I. dead, there is almost nothing that can stop this artificial intelligence from doing as it pleases with us. You are an insurance that I would use, one of many options, to ensure that it would not control our destiny, nor our fate. Isn't that why you ultimately chose death? To show the pathways that lead to one outcome. Of a world, free of tainted influences." Skull Face stated.

Part 2

POV: Cornelia li Britannia.

Horror. Anxiety. Dread.

Her eyes watched as she, and every one of her subordinates in the war room, would bear witness to the atrocities that had occurred. Britannian Police Officers killing civilians without any rhyme, remorse, or reason. Then follows a devastating bombardment of a chemical weapon that seems to carry terrible effects.

But the woman didn't show it. She did not show such fear. But make no mistake, she was outraged and anxious. A hopeful prayer of how she would be wrong regarding Euphemia's current location was whispering into her heart. It was not the prayer of a believer, for Cornelia did not believe in any god or religion, but only Britannia's creed. A true believer, marked and influenced by her upbringing, prestige, and grievances. It was a prayer nonetheless, hopeful that her sister was safe.

But she, the worried sister, was also the Chief General of the Imperial Army.

She has productive ways to release this outrage, by instilling her subordinates on what needed to be done.

"Guilford," She spoke carefully, her eyes were cold as steel, and her voice reverberated. It was soft, but cuts straight to the point, something that everyone present could feel as they stand in attention, sharing the same feelings of outrage. "How sooner would my flight be ready?"

"Within the hour, my lady," Guilford spoke with respect.

"Good. Prepare to divide our forces, as there needs to be some who would have to stay behind in the Middle East and continue on with the war effort. I will personally handpick those who would come with me, as we make haste towards Area 11. First and foremost, you and Darlton are to accompany me and take command."

"It would be an honor, your highness," Guilford spoke with a salute. The other one, Darlton, saluted in turn.

While she prepares for her flight, her thoughts would instantly try to find out about this atrocity. From what she could observe on the news broadcast, the police officers were clearly Britannians. If they were simply Numbers, she could not be any more surprised. There were a few terrorist factions within Japan that had already caused such atrocities in the past.

But this was nothing like the rest. Especially with regard to that bomb.

She picked up her phone and contacted her brother, the current Viceroy of Area 11, as she wondered about the answers. Perhaps he knew of what it was, but some part of her doubted it. Yes, she is more than aware of how technology has advanced, with Britannia being one of the leading powers as it sweep across the ends of the earth. The ones that had been conquered as Areas were obvious. But for those that haven't been directly touched, other indirect tactics would allow Britannia's influence to encroach upon alien cultures.

"...Yes?"

Cornelia noted the trembling, but steady tone of her brother, Clovis, who spoke on the phone. She can tell that this incident was affecting him as much as it affected her. Cornelia was just the better of the two to hide it. After all, considering Euphemia's missing status, she hoped against hope that she was so wrong, that she was not in Japan by the time the explosion occurred.

"Clovis, this is Cornelia, I apologize for the call-"

"No need to apologize, dear older sister," Clovis reassured, cutting her off. "I have an idea of why you want to call me. If you want answers, then I do not know myself. I only just recently became aware of this after I saw the explosion all the way from the my palace. My military officers are now performing quarantine and containment, while my scientists would inform of a dangerous chemical aftereffect that was present within the bomb. It was nothing like what my scientists had truly seen. We could be dealing with a new weapon, something that is not of Britannian origin."

"...Would you say that the Numbers may have some involvement?" Cornelia would ask, a bit of her prejudice leaking in.

"With this kind of weapon? Doubtful. I have never heard of any Numbers that could instigate this incident. More to the point, the ones who attacked were Britannian Police Officers. We have identified at least many of them based on the live news broadcast, hence I called for an search and arrest warrants for all of their families that they may be brought in for questioning...but..." Clovis replied grimly.

"But what?" Cornelia asked.

"Someone apparently got to them first," Clovis answered. "All of the police officer's family members, or what's left of them, had been riddled and doused with gasoline, and their homes burned. Whoever did this, dear sister, is someone that I believe that we should not underestimate. Considering the participation of at least 50 police officers within the Britannian law enforcement, I shudder to think of the kind of connections he's managed to pull from."

That part disturbed Cornelia a little.

An unknown enemy.

But who?

Cornelia of course was aware that there have been rebellious Britannians, for whatever reason. That was not new. There were laws in fact that punished Britannians far more harshly. The Numbers at least were somewhat excusable, in one sense. But a Britannian being a traitor, was something that could not be tolerated. It brought shame to their nation and their beliefs, and thus they needed to set an example.

Not to mention...

"You're saying that whoever this is that caused this terrorist attack is coming from inside Britannia?" Cornelia asked.

"That's one likely possibility, or at the very least, someone who had inserted members within our ranks. How long, I do not know myself. But this is something worth considering," Clovis answered.

"Right, thank you for sharing your observations, brother. And...how's Lila (*1)?" Cornelia asked with concern.

"She's safe," Clovis reassured, more so towards himself. Cornelia could tell from his voice. "She hadn't left the palace by the time the explosion happened, but...she's scared, concerned. As I tried to confirm from my subordinates, it appears that some of her classmates, their friends and their families, were caught up and affected in the blast."

Men, women, children. Entire families had been lost by this tragedy. This was something Cornelia couldn't stand. Justice will be swift. She would ensure that. With her brother's cooperation, she would try to investigate this incident, as she felt that this was a message to the entire empire. It had been broadcast live after all to every station within the territories of Britannia, and from within the homeland itself.

She will not rest until she finds answers.

Part 3

POV: Suzaku Kururugi.

Suzaku, with a grim expression, was currently in one of the hospitals within the settlement that had survived the blast radius, as he bore witness to the hundreds of wounded and burned patients that had been victimized by the recent nuclear blast. A nuclear bomb had gone off in the heart of Shibuya. Once, before the Britannians came, Shibuya was at the forefront of Japan's commercial and finance businesses, corporations, and houses the busiest railroad stations. It was a beautiful metropolis where, back when he was still the son of the then prime minister, his father whom he would inevitably murder.

It was funny. Back then, he used to hate himself for what he did. Thoughts racked his mind. Surely there could have been another way without any bloodshed. A time when he was only desiring one thing, that interlaced with every bit of his goals. He just wanted to die. For atonement? For being a coward who wouldn't willingly commit seppuku? For wanting someone to just kill him?

Those were things he always thought of.

Now though? He had much bigger goals. That showed based on what recently occurred.

Frankly, he was not surprised, because he knew most of all that this was XOF's handiwork. This was not the first nuclear explosion he bore witness to that had been caused by XOF. The timeline that he came from was much, much worse compared to this. Half of the world had pretty much undergone a nuclear winter. The European Union and the Chinese Federation had been wiped off of the map. Third world countries were struggling with famine and refugees. The world was in chaos, and he recalled how Empress Nunnally vi Britannia had been doing all she could, as she tasked specific people to handle with humanitarian efforts.

It was ironic, on both sides of the time scale. The Britannia of Suzaku's time was a leading charge, not of war, but of peace, as its forces would begin to assist other nations, especially Japan, with humanitarian aid and effort.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Suzaku would begin to hide in one of the janitor closet rooms within the hospital and would begin to make contact with someone.

"...Suzaku, I assume you've heard the news."

Kaguya Sumeragi. His cousin. This was a twofold mission between her and him, for one whole year that had passed. While Suzaku had been busy infiltrating Britannia's military structures from within, working his way through the ranks despite the discrimination as a Japanese, Kaguya had been fighting on a different battlefield. No longer was she that young girl that the men of olden times would use.

In his time, after retiring as the chairman of the United Federation of Nations, Kaguya went on to become the Empress of the United States of Japan, reestablishing and updating the terms of its monarchy, which was no longer a hereditary one compared to those of the past. She became a symbol of unity and hope for the people, and Kaname Ohgi, one of the first Black Knights, who by then is now a prime minister, now answers to her, even as he goes about on his official duties. On the surface, she does not do much but attend public gatherings, host politicians, and discuss terms of negotiations and other matters of politics. But, she was active in other means.

Since her rule, Japan prospered like never before, calling it the Economic Prosperity. Works began amongst Japanese historians and scholars under her encouragement, to study the historical roots while of course updating it for modern times, to make way for the times ahead. She became a wise and firm ruler throughout the decades...and even now, she is still a follower of the true Zero, of Lelouch vi Britannia, the man she still holds within her heart.

Now, unlike before, most of the Japanese resistance cells had been organized accordingly, under her leadership, and she acted as Suzaku's handler.

"Of course, Your Highness," Suzaku spoke respectfully. Even when this was the past, he was still mindful that this was the Empress who he was talking too. She was not just simply his cousin whom he was estranged for a long period of time, but was a symbol of Japan's future. "Despite my lack of evidence, I believe that XOF had a hand in this madness."

"I thought so too," Kaguya's tone was grim. "Of course, there are two enemies from the relative future that we must consider. XOF is just one of them."

Suzaku's mind wondered about the implications of her statement.

Truth be told, there was a temporal war going on. Three parties were fighting it. One was something known only simply as the Human Resistance. Another was XOF. And there was another enemy - this mysterious artificial intelligence. The name of this conflict was The War Between Man and Machine (*1).

"But among the two, it is XOF that would benefit from this," Suzaku stated. "Sowing distrust amongst the populace from within. There would be suspicions laid across the authorities. The people may find themselves hard press to trust them considering that there were armed police officers involved. I have a good feeling that XOF has a Geass User who had enacted this scheme. This user would have brainwashed these men into doing XOF's dirty work. What better way to stay covert than to have the police officers play by the rules, without XOF so much as lifting a finger."

Suzaku felt outraged and disgusted. It was a pale mockery and imitation of his best friend's own journey. A massacre. It was a massacre that sparked a revolution to occur. Only this time, it wasn't the Shinjuku Ghetto. It was at the heart of Britannian civilization embedded within a conquered nation. This was a message to spark terror and division. An unknown enemy, not loyal to any flag.

This tactic was very familiar to Suzaku. He had seen this from his very own eyes.

"And that Geass User...the man who killed Nunnally, the one who killed my wife, he's here. I'm very sure that he was the one behind this."

"Suzaku," Kaguya reminded, gentle yet narrowing. "Even if he is behind it, you still have to focus on the mission. Right now, my intelligence network has provided me with intel about a secret project being worked on within the old ruins of the Kamakura Ghetto."

"The GCA (*2)?" Suzaku replied grimly.

"Yes," Kaguya nodded. "I would need you and Freed to infiltrate the underground base and find out what the GCA are truly up to down there. A transport and cover would be provided for good measure."

"With pleasure, Your Highness," Suzaku affirmed.

Finally, he thought, now we have a lead against these bastards.

POV: Nunnally vi Britannia.

"...Su-Suzaku."

A muttering voice, interlaced with horror, filled Euphemia's breath.

That word, which...made her heart ache, for whatever reason. It made her put her right hand to her heart and clenched it. She bit her lip.

"Nunnally?!"

It was a blur. Her violet eyes were dilating rapidly. She felt her breathing rising. Her head aching, as her other hand laid bare towards it. A memory of happiness flooded her. Of an embrace that she felt and longed for. Of a kiss...

Of a man with eyes of sorrow and loss, sharing the same burdens with her...

Her brother's voice was unreachable to her. Now, all she thought about was the man she loved more than anything. It was strange. It was like a maze, with only a fraction of light that came down.

It was a time when she finally had her legs. She walked, and with each step, there was someone who was gently leading her. And she smiled lovingly at the black knight. The man who now was praised as Zero, but knew that underneath was someone who had taken the title from the true Zero. The legend passes on, lives on beyond the originator, and finds itself inside a man who had been battered by the traumas and tragedies that came from the aftermath of Zero Requiem.

Her knight in shining armor.

Her prince.

Her beloved.

Her husband.

"...Su...Suzaku..."

Tears streamed in her eyes. Flashes of how Lelouch died crossed her mind. Her screams of "Why?!", of why it had to be this way. Then, a flash of the memories where she finds solace and comfort from the man who had killed him. In one sense, she hated him...before she eventually loved him.

"...My...husband..."

Then suddenly, she fainted and blacked out. The voices of Lelouch and the others were drowning from her own unconsciousness. And the last memory and thought of the man she loved.

POV: Marianne vi Britannia

Deep within the body of another person, Marianne vi Britannia was both curious and amused by the latest incident happening within Area 11.

Despite losing C.C. in one sense, they gained something else. Of information. One that proved a little too useful for them. C.C was acting as the Geass Order's own personal informant regarding the organization that no doubt caused the incident.

XOF.

It was a name that did not exist within this world, but there was no doubt that they were a dangerous, unpredictable bunch. Thanks to her capture, C.C. was being used as a sort of surveillance that would allow Marianne to get somewhat of an idea regarding the enemy.

But...

Marianne was no fool.

This Skull Face probably knew that the Geass Order would notice C.C.'s disappearance. Even when she was crisscrossed to another world, Marianne still had the capacity to make contact with her. It was something that this Skull Face would count on.

Just as she was no fool, so was this Skull Face.

"...Now, my dear," She turns towards a young woman, with light blue eyes and long pink hair that reached just over her hips on the back, cut at the front just over her eyes and with two short locks over her cheeks. She wore a Geass Order black robe uniform with golden stripes, indicating her membership. "Have you understood your mission?"

"Yes," The woman nodded. "I will infiltrate Ashford Academy and assess the situation accordingly."

Her name was Clara Lanfranc, Marianne's own personal attendant and assassin. She would be sent in to report her findings to her alone. She of course does not trust V.V. with this privy information. There was nothing he could do, so long as she had the Emperor's favor. After all, much to her genuine delight and pleasure, her beloved darling did punish V.V. for a while when he found out about his involvement, with the most painful machinations he could ever devise.

That made her smirk inwardly.

But then, her thoughts turn soft when her mind slipped and thought of the two children she loved dearly.

There was another reason why she wanted Clara sent to Ashford. It's to keep an eye on the two. Her children. She and Charles were more than aware of their general location. And having someone to observe would serve to alleviate the worries.

After all, Japan has now become a dangerous place.

Trivia For Chapter:

Part 1

(*1) - In the World of Metal Gear, the Virtuous Mission was an infamous CIA operation in August of 1964 that involved a deep insertion inside the Soviet Union. A FOX agent codenamed Naked Snake was deployed via the world's first HALO jump in order to rescue a Soviet defector, the weapons scientist Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov. While Snake succeeded in locating and extracting Sokolov from his KGB guards, he was subsequently attacked and critically injured by a defecting American agent. Sokolov was then re-captured, and the GRU officer Volgin not only seized Sokolov's project, but also unleashed an American-made Davy Crockett nuclear weapon on Russian citizens, creating an international incident. The catastrophe of the Virtuous Mission was so extreme that the CIA considered executing both Snake and his commanding officer, Major Zero. They were saved only by the need for Snake to be re-inserted a week later in Operation Snake Eater.

Operation Snake Eater was a CIA operation conducted in Tselinoyarsk, USSR, in August and September 1964. Its official aims were to assassinate the founding member of the Cobra Unit, The Boss, and to eliminate the threat posed by the nuclear-armed Shagohod weapon. In truth, the entire operation was part of an already existing plan to recover the Philosophers' Legacy from Soviet hands, which had been revised in the wake of Virtuous Mission's failure and in particular Volgin's destruction of the Sokolov Design Bureau.

Part 2

(*2) - Lila la Britannia is a Princess of the Britannian Imperial Family. She is the younger full sister of the late Clovis la Britannia.

Part 3

(*1) - The War Between Man and Machine was a temporal conflict between three parties: the Human Resistance, XOF, and a rogue hyper-advanced artificial intelligence. This temporal war was an independent and lesser conflict than the main temporal conflict which was The Ainurian Temporal War, of which The War Against Man and Machine is but a large series of proxy wars that stretch across time and dimensions.

(*2) - The Global Confrontation Army (GCA) was a violent non-state actor that originated from the Alpha Universe (World of Gate), being in opposition to the three superpowers of the United States of America (USA), the Russian Federation, and the People's Republic of China. The highly decentralized organization incorporated various groups of insurgents, terrorists, self-styled freedom fighters, members of the criminal underground, and other people who supported their cause under a common banner. At some point, it had the secret support and backing of XOF, who would make use of them for their own ends.