"Huey Emmerich," the man introduced himself to Soul. He had a strange machine attached to his legs, allowing him to walk. It was an amazing creation when Soul thought of the applications. However, he had to drag his attention away to the other person in the R&D department.
"Call me Strangelove." the woman told him, as she briefly sat down for the moment, looking over a computer in front of her.
"Eddie Soul, it's a pleasure to be working with you both." he held out his hand, which she shook.
"What exactly is being worked on right now?" Soul asked as he looked around the room. Parts for random things littered the workbenches around them.
"Basic maintenance at the moment," Huey replied as he brought a hammer to a piece of metal. The metal itself had a large hole in it, with visible scorch marks on the side. Soul had to assume it was from a tank due to its thickness.
"Huh, I was expecting something more grandiose to be honest."
"Makes sense all things considered," Huey replied, focusing on the metal in front of him. Soul turned back to Strangelove then, asking "What about you?"
"An artificial intelligence program. Made special request by the Medical platform."
"Artificial intelligence?" Soul commented, already intrigued, "What's the program?"
"In simple terms, it's an adaptive algorithm designed to map out possible vaccines for the future."
"You have that in your dimension?"
"Not currently, but with the modern technology we've been given it seems far more plausible now," Strangelove told him. Soul couldn't believe it. An algorithm like that would be insurmountable in combatting highly adaptive viruses. This could very well predict future pandemics if given the right advancements.
"Incredible." he commended.
"It's still in the works sadly, but I believe we could get it finished soon."
"There's so much we could do with a technology like that, we could predict potential natural disasters, more accurate changes in the economy, even run accurate simulations for job training scenarios."
"You still have to remember the negatives," Huey remarked, still focused on his work.
"That's assuming I can't give the algorithm empathy, Huey," Strangelove remarked back.
"I'm just saying, remember what happened with Peace Walker," Huey replied, only to stop as he thought of something. Peace Walker might have ended differently if it wasn't an AI controlling the machine, even if Coldman had been wrong in his assumptions. And something could always go wrong with ZEKE. What if there was no AI to control it? Thoughts for later, as he returned to his work.
"Still, something like this could launch our technological progress ahead by decades, maybe even centuries," Strangelove stated.
"Assuming it has a use in heroics," Soul commented. Strangelove looked back at him curiously.
"How do you mean?"
"I mean everything is involved in heroics. No one would invest in it if it wasn't." Soul told her, before looking for something to get started on. His eyes fell upon a lone IFV of an unknown make.
"Right, the hero industry is the dominating power," Strangelove added.
"It's not just the dominant power, it's the power. There's a reason things haven't advanced anywhere besides support gear." Soul told her, getting to work on the IFV's armor plating. It was all scorched and dented, so he focused on salvaging what he could.
"There's no real money in anything else. You could take a small-time contract from NASA, offering you the idea that we might succeed and might get paid a lot, assuming funding isn't cut again. Or you can get a guaranteed payment from several massive heroes and live in retirement at age twenty."
He removed the first armored plate from the IFV as he inspected the vehicle. The plate was mostly intact so he placed it off to the side.
"I remember hearing something about, some scientist in Korea. I can't remember his name, but he proposed a new clean energy solution. One that had the power and sustainability of fossil fuels, and the environmental friendliness of windmills. He went bankrupt three days after starting the project."
"I checked over his notes myself, and it would have been cheaper than nuclear, and would have made billions. I even found prospects for its use in space, as a safer form of rocket fuel. But he couldn't find a way, for a hero to use it in support gear. And with governments plunging billions elsewhere, a few million from some obscure idea was denied."
He had removed the gun from the IFV now. The autocannon was beyond repair, with its entire inner mechanisms destroyed. So he tossed it off to a new pile.
"Of course," Strangelove surmised, "it always comes down to money. And here I wondered why your dimension hadn't made it to space yet."
"I mean we probably should have," Soul responded, "We have people with intelligence quirks, as powerful as supercomputers. Yet we're still stuck on this rock."
The helicopter landed back at Mother Base, and Snake stepped back outside. It was strange to think he had been gone for almost a year, but war makes time fly. He looked out across the base, noticing the new platforms that had been built for the refugees. It made the place look like a mini city. He heard Nagant whistle behind him, as she stepped out of the helicopter. He was about to turn over to her when he noticed Paz walking toward him.
"Snake," she said, and he was immediately surprised. Her accent was gone, as she looked at him. Or at least tried to, her eyes seemed to look everywhere but his face.
"Paz, is something wrong?" he asked her.
"I've been waiting to tell you this, but… I'm a spy."
"...What?" Snake couldn't believe his ears for a moment.
"This seems out of my forte, so I'm just gonna go," Nagant told him before walking off. It left just him and Paz, with Snake contemplating what he had heard.
"You're a spy? For who?" Snake was hoping this was some prank Kaz put her up to, but she didn't act like it.
"For Cipher," she replied, still not looking him in the eye. He didn't know what to make of this. He didn't know what he was supposed to do exactly. She had come up and confessed to being a spy, does he send her to the brig? Snake wants to, feeling betrayed as he looks at Paz. All this time she had been with the enemy, and yet she still stood with them.
"For how long?"
"Since we first met in Colombia."
"Of course," Snake remarked, pulling out a cigar. He could already tell he was going to need one.
"So, if you're a spy, why tell me this? I would have expected you to fulfill Cipher's goals by now."
"I couldn't take it, I was ordered to betray you and force you to rejoin Cipher. Have the MSF as their sword, but… ever since I arrived here it just felt different from everywhere else. It felt, comforting at first. I don't know if it was MSF getting my respect, or it just feeling friendly and homely, but I couldn't do it."
Now Snake saw it. She got too close to the MSF, and she genuinely started to care and feel for its members. To the point where a supposedly impersonal mission, became personal for her.
"Well, thanks for telling me." She sputtered back in surprise, finally looking Snake in the eye.
"W-what? Thats it? I thought you would have sent me to the brig?"
"Well, are you planning to betray us?"
"No."
"Then we're fine. I am still angry, but the fact you are telling me this says a lot about you. I might as well consider it a defection." Snake told her, enjoying a quick puff of his cigar. She looked him back in the eye then, surprise still covering her face. But soon enough it turned back to a serious but polite smile. She held out her hand then.
"Then I guess we'll restart, Pacifica Ocean." Snake politely shook it then.
"Fitting, but I think I'll stick with Paz."
"That's fine."
Miller had been looking over the documents the R&D team had proposed. From what they had said they were running out of rifles for the new volunteers joining MSF. All the MRS, ARCs, and SVGs were being taken up and sent to the frontline. So he was looking for other options, and boy were there a lot. His first instinct was the Dutch FN FNC, it was chambered in 5.56, was easily customizable for certain missions, and resembled the MRS bringing a sense of familiarity.
It along with some other rifles like the G36C and the M4, would supplement the gaps while the R&D department produced more guns. They were all intriguing rifles though, they hadn't changed much in forty years, but the slight improvements made them somewhat better than MSF's current weapons. It made Miller think on it for a moment, it would seem he would have to make another call to the Broker.
Just then Snake entered his office, a lit cigar in his mouth.
"Ah Snake, I was wondering when you'd get back." Miller greeted him. Snake said nothing in response, instead walking up closer to Miller.
"Something wrong Snake?" he asked looking back at him.
"No no, just had a conversation… with Paz." Snake let the words sink in.
"So she told you, good to know," Miller replied looking back down at the paperwork.
"She told me she was a spy… and that you knew Kaz."
"Yes, I knew the entire time. But it was for the good of MSF, we would-"
"She also told me you were with Cipher." Snake interrupted him, looking Miller dead in the eye before stamping out his cigar.
"Look, Boss, MSF would have never gotten as big as it-"
Snake socked him in the jaw. Miller stumbled back out of his office chair, before looking back at Snake. He took his sunglasses off carefully setting them off to the side. With the sunglasses put down, he punched Snake in the gut. Snake wasting no time after the strike countered with a punch to Miller's face. Miller ducked down, narrowly missing it before uppercutting Snake.
Snake flinched back as the fist made contact, before launching a kick at Miller. It hit him square in the chest, knocking the wind out of his lungs, with Snake then grabbing his arm. He flipped Kaz over, smashing him into the wooden desk. He tried to strike down at Miller's head, but Kaz rolled out of the way quickly. Miller grabbed a nearby lamp from the desk and smashed it against Snake's face.
Snake unfazed, launched another strike as Miller rolled off the desk. He missed, allowing Kaz to kick and dislocate Snake's leg. He cried out in pain, before grabbing Kaz's leg when he tried to do it again. He slammed his fist down, popping Kaz's leg out of the socket. The both of them then stopped for a moment, looking at each other. They breathed heavily, sweat lingering on their foreheads, waiting for the other to make the first move.
Then slowly, they moved at the same time, grabbing their dislocated legs. With a bit of force, they forced them back into socket, and stood up, fists raised. Then they circled each other around the room, with both nodding and launching a strike. Their fists made contact with the other's face, causing both of them to stumble back. Both fell to their knees, before leaning against each other.
They said nothing for a moment, just resting after the fight. Then, Snake let out a small chuckle. Kaz soon followed. They both erupted into a calm fit of laughter, before falling backwards onto the floor. They simply laughed at the absurdity of it all.
"Heh, heh, Snake," Miller called out, "we good?"
"Heh, so, heh, long as you don't pull any more of that shit, heh, without my knowledge."
"Got, heh, it."
"I told you! We should have shot him then and there! But no, your dumbass wanted some extra money!" Diego shouted, flipping over the desk in front of him. Why? Because he was proven right, and he was furious about it.
"Now he's gonna come crawling back here, to kill us in our sleep! I swear if we die to him, I will never let you live it down in hell!"
"Alright alright I get it, mistakes were made," Alejandro replied, covering his ears as his brother angrily shouted his lungs out.
"MISTAKES WERE MADE!? MORE THAN A MISTAKE WAS MADE ALEJANDRO! YOU DON'T SEEM TO FUCKING GRASP THE SITUATION HERE!" Diego countered, his face a bright red. He had told him, warned him that this would happen, but did Alejandro listen? Now Big Boss was free, escaping the HPSC as he predicted, and most likely, coming for them.
"Look we'll hire more men, the HPSC was offering us mercs."
"I DON'T GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT THE HPSC'S MERCS!" Diego threw a lamp at the wall then, and it embedded itself into it.
"THEY'RE THE ENTIRE REASON WE'RE IN THIS MESS! JUST… uh, let's just cut our losses and go." Diego collapsed into a chair, all the anger he once had gone. Instead replaced with defeat.
"Cut our losses? Diego, we control a third of Venezuela, you want to just let it go?" Alejandro looked back at him almost shocked.
"You have a better plan? My boys out in the field were never soldiers Alejandro, just criminals given better stuff. It was guaranteed we would lose eventually, even with the HPSC's help." Diego grabbed a nearby glass and started pouring some tequila. He then added whiskey and vodka, uncaring of the alcohol's result.
"So what? We worked for all of this, and I refuse to let it all go now. Not with what we've achieved. We have what amounts to a country under our control, we could create a nation of our own." Alejandro told him.
"And what kind of nation would that be? One of drug lords and criminals? That isn't a nation, that's a wasteland. Even then what borders do we possess? The MSF has been advancing on our lines for months."
"What happened to the military genius who stood before me, the one saying they could rout the entire 122nd Ranger Battalion with nothing but twelve men and one AK47?" He couldn't believe this was what his brother had come to.
"Military genius means nothing when the enemy keeps blowing up our supply depots with suicide drones. You can't win a war with empty rifles Alejandro." he downed the entire glass in front of him like a shot, quickly pouring himself another.
"That's it, what the hell is your obsession with Big Boss? Every time I say we can make a plan to get out of this, you ignore it and say it's pointless. And you always say it's because of him, why?"
"Because Night Owl showed me what he was capable of. In some cases, he's an even bigger monster than the two of us."
"He showed you what, a video?"
"I don't know what it was, but it showed the greatest achievements of Big Boss. All in numerical order. So when I tell you we're fucked, then we're fucked."
Midoriya looked at Snake with pleading eyes. It took everything Snake had in him to say no, and yet somehow he was failing. It had taken hours of bickering, Midoriya calling in that new friend of his, and ultimately sicking DD on him, but in the end, Snake failed. Snake couldn't help but feel ashamed for it, everything about it felt wrong. Especially when he had Midoriya throw the first punch. Snake effortlessly caught it, but Midoriya hitting Snake wasn't the goal.
It was to see how the kid could throw a punch, which he had not done well. His thumb was inside the fist, his posture was crooked and wrong, and where the fist was aiming would have broken his fingers. It felt like training a child soldier, as Snake helped him learn how to fight. It was what Midoriya had been pestering him about, learning CQC.
It legitimately felt wrong to him. Teaching Midoriya to use a gun? Well, a gun has many uses other than killing humans. They could be used for survival, hunting animals, or given tranq rounds. The same could be said for a knife, it could cook and help with tools. But CQC was entirely focused, on fighting. Yet Midoriya like always, had a wide smile on his face.
"Good, you did better that time," Snake commended him as he caught Midoriya's fist again. He then let go, with Midoriya going back into position.
"Again," Snake ordered, and Midoriya launched another punch, one that Snake caught. It was better, more force was behind it than the last one.
"Was that good?" Midoriya asked as he got back into position.
"Great kid, better than before," Snake replied, catching another of Midoriya's punches.
"When am I going to learn the other stuff?"
"The other parts of CQC take time to learn, for now, we'll swap to kicks though."
Snake let go of Midoriya's fist. Then he had him throw a kick. It made contact with Snake, but he didn't register the impact. Then Midoriya lost his balance and fell. Midoriya got back up, and Snake would then give pointers on what needed to be fixed. They would go again, and Midoriya would fix some of the problems. Midoriya would throw a kick, which Snake would catch, and then they would reset. Eventually, Midoriya got too tired to continue, so they stopped for a moment.
They sat down at the edges of the platform, watching the many platforms on Mother Base. It still bugged Snake that he was teaching Midoriya CQC. Sure the kid had wanted to learn, but that didn't mean he should. His role was to grow and live, Snake and the others were to fight and die. It's not something a child should be involved with, and Midoriya ignored this.
He wanted to learn, but Snake couldn't tell why. He saw the kid held an admiration for heroes, maybe he wanted to be one? The thought was shot down when Snake remembered the Elementals. No, they had already shown the kid what heroics had become. So Snake could only ponder, what Midoriya's intentions may be.
"Snake, when can go fishing again?" Midoriya asked.
"Again? You did that a few days ago." Snake replied as he pulled out a cigar.
"I know, but I wanna do it before you leave again," Midoriya responded, looking back up at him.
"Hmm, I'll think about it." He felt a cold breeze wash over them, the changing air of the seasons becoming clear. Midoriya shivered slightly before the gust of wind disappeared.
"Seems winter's coming," Snake noted, lighting the cigar in hand.
"It feels like it already. Will we get snow again?" Midoriya asked, a small eagerness taking over. Snake didn't share his enthusiasm.
"I hope not, it was a pain to scrub down all of Mother Base. It wasn't safe to walk anywhere without slipping."
"Yeah, but I got to build a snowman." Midoriya countered. A small smile hit Snake's face as he remembered. Oh, it was a nightmare to clean, with all of Mother Base's platforms frosty, and its metal walls nearly frozen. But the memories had their ups. The numerous snowmen that had covered the Base's helipads for one, all stylized by Midoriya and Chico. Also the base-wide snowball war. Not snowball fight, war. The R&D department retrofitted the cardboard tanks to fire snowballs, and soon enough there was artillery involved.
The only thing stopping them from making aircraft for it was the thought of how one would be shot down in a snowball fight. Then there was Huey. Snake could never forgive Huey for his blasphemy against Christmas. He was only lucky he could shelter Midoriya from the man's heinous lies. To even suggest that Santa wasn't real, he was lucky he wasn't kicked out.
"That you did," Snake replied the memories still fresh, "that you did."
Snake had been waiting for the call for a while now. Ocelot had told him he would call, but he never specified how. Now he was in a meeting room with Kaz, with Ocelot on the other end. Nagant had also joined them, wanting to verify if Ocelot was telling the truth.
"So," Snake began, "How did you get here?"
"Same way you did, I think, a bright orange portal opened up in front of me. I was dragged through, and found myself in a lab with a scientist named-"
"Night Owl." Snake finished. It was always Night Owl, Snake would have been surprised if it was anyone else.
"So you've heard of him."
"We had off-and-on run-ins with him, but he's an enigma," Miller told Ocelot over the codec.
"Well, I'll keep an eye on him then," Ocelot replied, his revolver tossed into the air and caught with his other hand.
"I don't think it matters," Snake told him, "He knew who I was mere minutes after we first met. This was right when we were transported to this dimension."
"Great, so he probably knows who I am then. That ruins a whole lotta plans Boss." Ocelot sighed, and the sound of his revolver spinning stopped on the other end.
"It's confusing though," Miller piped up, "If Night Owl knows who you are, he should have told the HPSC. Instead, he gets you working for them, right where we would need you to be."
"He hasn't told them yet, so we'll come to that later. I've got more important news for you though."
"Right, you said something about Tartarus back in the interrogation room."
"That I did. See the public views this prison as a maximum-security complex, built to hold the most dangerous individuals in the world. A prison for criminals so deadly, they have what I compare to mini–Metal Gears."
"But you said that wasn't the case."
"Right, see all of that is true… in the public eye. In reality, the prison is a cesspit of human rights violations, holding the largest number of political prisoners in the world."
"So we've got ourselves a gulag, great," Miller replied sarcastically, rubbing his eyes.
"I did some checking on the prisoners here, my first choice was one Maekawa Ume. Convicted of seven counts of child molestation, sentenced to sixty years, and found dead three weeks ago. All of this was on public record. Off the books and she was a reporter, found rumors about heroes colluding with the Yakuza in Hokkaido. The only real crime she's ever committed was a minor parking violation."
"It gets worse from here though, her death was listed as her being killed by another inmate. In reality, she was taken from her cell and sent to some volunteer parole program. The program in question was stated to assist the research of Dr. Owen Light, and his studies into theoretical physics."
"Night Owl again," Snake surmised, "So they are using political prisoners for their continued experiments."
"I think it's everyone in that prison actually. From what I've found entire cell blocks have disappeared in the dead of night, only to be listed dead weeks later, except for a few. This is what brings me to my next point, the genuine villains locked in Tartarus, work for the HPSC."
"Ocelot you can't be serious," it was Nagant who cut in then, not believing a word, "I know the HPSC is corrupt, and I can believe the political prisoner stuff, but villains working with the HPSC? What do you think my job was?"
"To kill those the HPSC didn't like. And coincidentally they sent you to kill the villains they didn't like. The ones they did like are locked up and waiting for the HPSC to give them orders, or they've been periodically released to keep crime statistics the same. And I can tell you Nagant, I've got the names." Ocelot told her. The Idroid lit up then as the hologram began showing off an array of police reports and HPSC files. The first was of a surprisingly large man with chainsaws for his hands and some kind of contamination staining the blades.
"Toxic Chainsaw," Ocelot listed off, "Defeated by All Might and released two days after his capture. He was then defeated again, by All Might, less than four weeks later. He's done this song and dance before. Next, we have a Yakuza leader, who goes by the name Reaper."
The next photo showed a man in dark purple, wearing a skull mask on his face. His arms had ghostly purple chains wrapped around them, with some kind of blade in his hands.
"Caught by a hero by the name of Tire-man. He was selling support gear to criminals, totaling four hundred and thirty million dollars in equipment, and was released the same day."
Ocelot went on and on, showing more and more villains. Some were small-time crooks, with nothing but basic theft to their name. Others were serial rapists, terrorists, weapons smugglers, and warlords. It was painting a picture for Snake.
"They control the underworld," Snake commented.
"Bingo. Almost all facets of crime are controlled by the HPSC. You pay a tithe to them and you can get away scot-free like Reaper and Chainsaw."
Miller looked over the files that had been sent over, attempting to put together an explanation.
"Why? Their entire organization is surrounded by heroics, what does letting criminals get away with crime bring to them?"
"Basic corruption maybe." Snake replied, "They are money-hungry, so maybe they've been bribed."
"No, see it's not the HPSC helping the criminals Boss." Ocelot told him, the Russian gunslinger pulling out his revolvers, "It's the other way around."