The war in Venezuela was going well for MSF. For every battle they one, hundreds of the cartel's men fell, and for every town they freed, their ranks grew with volunteers. It had quite the effect on their reputation, one Snake wasn't expecting. Somehow, they had become heroes to the people, not in the sense of pro heroes, but in what hero used to mean. With this famed heroism, they ended up creating a fourth faction in the Venezuelan civil war. La Milicia de los Liberadores, the Liberators Militia.
The Militia would be made up of volunteers from the freed towns who didn't want to join MSF but wanted to fight. The MSF would train them, and offer weapons, and assistance. To ensure the Militia didn't end up like the Fascistas or Government forces, they were also monitored by the MSF's intel team. All in all, it was a precarious, but surprisingly valuable achievement. Snake only wished he wasn't at the center of it, as he heard the crowds outside continually cheer Big Boss.
This was only deafened when his codec began ringing. He answered it quickly finding it to be Maria. Since MSF and the Colombian government had made the deal, Maria had been MSF's liaison to the police, mostly due to her being a familiar face.
"Snake, the intel boys just got us another cartel hotspot," Maria told him, as Snake opened up his Idroid.
"What's it this time, another armory?" Snake asked, looking over the documents that had been uploaded.
"The cartel's FOB actually. It's an old prison complex called Libertad Muerta." Maria explained.
"Dead Freedom." Snake thought out loud as he read the prison's name.
"From all reports, it used to hold political prisoners before the war. Now they appear to be in the cartel's employ. Our operatives weren't able to get you much, but they got one thing. Both Brothers are going to be there."
That alone got Snake's attention. Both heads in the same place, it was almost unheard of.
"The operative specify why they were there?" Snake asked as he called in the helicopter.
"Basic inspection, though I wonder why they didn't leave it to their subordinates. Perfectionists maybe?"
Snake stepped outside as they talked, checking over his equipment as he entered the helicopter. The usual equipment, MRS, Burkov tranq, Renov tranq, and others galore. He strapped in as the helicopter lifted off, with Maria continuing to talk.
"Regardless, they're meeting with the base commander in the warden's office. I'd expect some heavy security."
"Got it."
It was a relatively fast flight to the prison, as Snake left the helicopter. He had to trek through an area of jungle, but it was in sight now. It was massive, snipers lined the towers with anti-air systems covering the walls. T-72s and BMPs patrolled the outskirts with infantry accompanying them. Finding an opening, Snake crawled out of the jungle, approaching a gate that led into the prison.
Making it through, he stuck to the walls of the prison, looking for the entrance inside. He found it with two guards standing watch, both with rifles in hand. Moving quietly, Snake tossed a small rock behind them. Both guards turned to the sound and Snake went up to them. He shot one in the back of the head with a tranq and then grabbed the other in a chokehold. He then went inside after choking out the last guard.
The concrete maze inside was filled with empty cells, as Snake passed the first cell block. He made it to a lone hallway, leading him to an elevator. Slowly he made his approach, only to stop when he saw the elevator lights indicate it was coming down. Having little time, Snake went off to one side of the hallway and pulled out a collapsible cardboard box. In the nick of time, the elevator arrived, and its occupants stepped out.
"I'm calling it now man, we've already lost." one guard said as the group stepped out of the elevator.
"Stop being such a pessimist, we haven't lost yet." Another said, all of them now walking down the hallway.
"I dunno man, these MSF guys got some pretty good shit." A third voice called out, as the group passed Snake, unaware of his presence.
"I'll say, I heard they rolled into Paraiso with Merkavas." The fourth and final voice said, right as the guards exited the hallway. With them gone Snake removed the box and entered the elevator. Finding the right button, he sent the elevator up to where the warden's office was. Once it arrived at the floor, Snake cautiously looked in.
It was a decently furnished office. Nothing too fancy, just a basic desk, office chair, and filing cabinet. However, the Brothers weren't there. Confused, Snake began looking around the office, searching for some clue on their location. It led him to the filing cabinet where he began looking for a possible paper trail. Yet all the while, he felt… odd. Every step he took felt sluggish and sloppy. His brain then caught up with this, and he realized what was going on. But it was too late, as his body collapsed to the ground.
He didn't look all that impressive to Alejandro, but somehow this was the man who had been costing their operation. At least he had a face, for this Snake, Diego kept talking about. Currently, he was restrained with a pair of chains and a dozen guards surrounding him. The knock-out gas had worked perfectly, and yet Diego wouldn't accept this.
"We should have killed him; no, we should kill him right now damn it!" Diego shouted out; the barrel of a gun placed on the unconscious Snake's head. His entire plan was to poison the warden's office the moment Snake entered, to rid them of this Big Boss, but Alejandro had changed it at the last minute.
"As much as I want to, the HPSC promised forty million for him alive Diego," Alejandro replied, trying his best to keep his cool. They had told Night Owl they had managed to capture Snake, and apparently, he was on speakerphone. That or the smiling man was just too damn loud. Regardless, the President was now demanding they hand him over, thinking they wanted the bounty.
"Fuck the HPSC! He has been bleeding our operation dry for months now, he dies!" Diego shouted back; his finger very close to the trigger of the gun. Every cell in his body wanted to pull the trigger.
"If you kill him, you also kill off the support from our biggest client. And everything he has bled out of us will never be reimbursed." Alejandro countered. And he watched as the anger in Diego spiked when he came to the same conclusion. He removed the gun from Snake's head angrily shouting "Fuck!". All that work and the HPSC were holding them back.
"The moment, the absolute moment, this blows up in the HPSC's face, I will look back at you and you will realize we should have killed him!" Diego told him, angrily shoving his pistol into a holster.
"If that happens, he'll be on the other side of the world. It will give us time to regain what we lost." They started moving the unconscious Snake now, the guards loading his unconscious body into a helicopter.
"When it happens, he'll be back before we're ready or see him coming." Diego countered as he looked to his brother, "This isn't some damn hero who thinks they're hot shit 'cause they have a powerful quirk. This is a trained killer, whose specialty is killing us when we don't know he's there!"
"You're overvaluing his skill," Alejandro replied, stepping into the helicopter with Diego. If he was right an HPSC rep would be waiting for them at a nearby airstrip.
"You're undervaluing it. In Rio Plata, he took out our garrison by himself, and they never even knew he was there."
"Well if he's so skilled, why didn't you hire him?" Alejandro asked, really for as much as his brother acclaimed his military genius, the fact that he couldn't find the simple answer to this question was astounding.
"Because he didn't care. I offered him a blank check, and he declined," Diego told him, the helicopter now lifting off the ground. It should be a short flight hopefully.
"So, he's not in it for money, then there's something else you offer."
"Like what? He could have bought everything we could have offered him with money instead."
Alejandro sighed when he realized Diego was refusing to drop the subject. "Look, I get it, but this isn't up for debate. We're shipping him to the HPSC and we are getting that bounty."
Gecko waited patiently as the helicopter slowly approached the airstrip, with a large C-130 behind him. A dozen heroes surrounded the area, this time all were with ranged quirks. They weren't going to have the same issue back in Israel. The helicopter soon landed as the Brothers stepped out, their men carrying an unconscious Big Boss. Seeing the man, Gecko compared him to the pictures he had been given. Confirming it was the man they were after, he snapped his fingers and a hero walked up to the Brothers with a briefcase.
The Brothers' men kept going forward as well, handing off the man to a few heroes who escorted him inside the cargo plane. The Brothers themselves, Alejandro he assumed, grabbed the briefcase and opened it.
"This all of it?" Alejandro asked.
"All forty million," Gecko told him, "Cash only."
He received word from a hero that Big Boss had been restrained properly, with everyone ready to go. He was about to leave, but the other Brother, Diego stopped him.
"Kill the bastard, whenever you get the chance."
Gecko simply ignored him as he entered the C-130 with the other heroes watching over the unconscious Big Boss.
For possibly the first time in a year, the President was ecstatic. They had finally captured Big Boss. She couldn't help but have a smug grin on her face when the plane finally arrived. They had it done in the middle of the night, to lessen the attention from the public. She had wanted to see him for herself, the man who had cost the HPSC so much in such little time. The individual accompanied her on the way, along with Night Owl. They watched as the heroes with Gecko escorted Big Boss into a lowly prison van. Gecko soon spotted her and greeted her quietly.
"Madam President."
"Were there any difficulties?" She asked, getting up close to get a closer look at Big Boss.
"None, whatever the Brothers used knocked him out for hours," Gecko replied, the man slapping Big Boss across the face as a demonstration. He didn't stir awake after it had happened.
"Excellent," she began, before turning over to the individual, "I'm reassigning you to Tartarus, I want a report on anything he spills during your investigation."
"Understood," the individual replied, giving the President a small nod of confirmation. The two of them then walked into the prison van, sitting right across from Big Boss. The doors of the van then closed, and the van slowly took Big Boss away. Soon enough the rest of MSF would be joining their leader, and this entire debacle would be behind them. And with their fall, the dimensional constant would be found, and untold wealth would follow.
Snake groggily opened up his eye, as his senses slowly came back to him. The room was dark with the only light being a cracked bulb in the ceiling. His hands were restrained together, with the restraints being hung against a hook in the roof. It left him barely touching the floor, with his arms in pain. Slowly he remembered what had happened only a few minutes prior. Right as the door began to open.
It provided a little light, showing off an elderly-looking woman, along with someone he couldn't see clearly. Yet a sound accompanied them whenever they took a step. The woman stood right in front of him now, close enough to be recognizable. The President of the HPSC.
"Finally awake, good. I have a lot of questions for you Big Boss, or would you prefer Snake?" the President began, before pulling up a small chair from somewhere in the void that was his cell. She held a folder of documents in hand, all with reports on MSF.
"Of course, that doesn't matter at the moment. Let's start simple, shall we? What is your name?"
Snake remained silent, giving nothing to the President in front of him. Volgin and others had tried torturing answers out of him before, and if those didn't work, then sure as hell a basic police interrogation wouldn't either. The President, finding him uncooperative, sighed and asked the next question.
"What are your organization's goals?"
Again, he remained silent, leading to more annoyance for the President. He shouted out in pain instantly, feeling like all his nerves were lit on fire. The individual he couldn't see started shocking him with electricity. The President herself was unfazed by this as she continued.
"I should have expected you to be so uncooperative, but I had hoped you would have gotten this over with." She looked over to the other man in the room, before standing up.
"Do whatever you want, but bring me those answers," she told him, before heading for the door.
"Don't worry," and Snake knew the voice. The sound that accompanied his every step, no it couldn't be.
"I'll get him talking," Ocelot replied, stepping into the small sliver of light. The clicking of his spurs on the ground as he walked, his revolvers present as always. The President fully left the room, leaving the two of them in silence for a second. They simply looked at each other for a moment, before Ocelot finally began.
"Long time no see Snake," Ocelot started, as he walked around him, "how have you been."
"What are you doing here?" Snake asked, it was surprising to see him at all. Ocelot just sat down in the vacant seat in the room, before looking to Snake.
"That is a bit complicated to explain, and we don't have much time," Ocelot replied, before taking out one of his revolvers. He spun it around his finger, constantly doing tricks with the revolver.
"Right now we need to get you out of here." Ocelot tossed the revolver in the air then, catching and spinning it with his other hand.
"Where are we?"
"A massive prison complex in Japan called Tartarus. Supposedly the most secure prison in the world, containing the most dangerous villains known to man," he said the last part with a hint of sarcasm before he pulled out a second revolver. He tossed the first back to his original hand before spinning them both on one finger. He threw back the second one and reholstered the second revolver.
"That's obviously not the case." Ocelot stood up from the chair and then walked over to a small electric generator on the floor. He picked up two small rods that were connected and gave them both a small zap, before looking over apologetically to Snake.
"Sorry bout this, but I gotta make it convincing."
Sighing Snake replied, "I know" before he gritted his teeth. He felt the first rod make contact and his skin felt like it was burning. The agony remained before Ocelot stopped, continuing with his talk.
"Now, this prison was made for those with dangerous powers, expecting that should a prisoner escape, the first thing they're going to do is trash the place." Ocelot then shocked him again, only keeping the rods on him for a few seconds.
"So, they're not expecting something a little more creative." He put the rods down then, before reaching into his pocket to put something in Snake's restrained hand. He didn't see it but it felt like a small pill. Then he realized, it was a fake death pill.
"Use that, I'll meet up with the guards escorting your 'corpse' and then give you the revival pill."
"Makes sense."
"For now, it's going to get more complicated when you try to escape."
Ocelot picked the rods back up, and Snake yet again grits his teeth. He felt the electricity shock him again, as his flesh was cooked and burned.
"I've got one more thing for you, a person of interest you might want."
He removed the rods then, quickly examining Snake to see if the damage was convincing enough.
"I don't have much on them, but they're not friendly with the HPSC."
Finding his work to be convincing enough, Ocelot put down the rods. He then walked over to the door of the room and opened it. He called over two guards, one of them walked up to Snake and hoisted him off the hook on the wall. The second grabbed his legs and carried him out, with Ocelot following them all the way.
"Anything yet?" The President asked as it had now been a full day since they started interrogating Big Boss.
"He's kept his lips sealed I'm afraid," Ocelot replied, she could hear him spinning those revolvers on the other end. Honestly, she couldn't understand his obsession, both with the guns and the tricks. It was far simpler to just use a quirk, especially since you don't have to reload.
"Keep trying then, it's only been a day and there is no rush."
"Got it."
Ocelot hung up then, leaving the President in silence as she worked. She could already see how every piece would need to be played. Once they found the rest of MSF, they could launch a false flag and blame them. With it the heroes move in, quickly crush them, and the media boosts their profits. For now, she signed off and read over a new report.
She paused then when she saw what it was of. The Rat. What could he possibly have done this time? It felt like every other week some scheme of his would occur. She ultimately groaned when she read what was stated. Somehow, he had convinced the diet to consider his school as an international zone.
She very nearly ripped the report up right in front of her. This was his most radical attempt yet. It had started simply first, saying UA was a private school, free from the whims of the HPSC. Then he had said it was a charity organization, providing aid and assistance to those with, 'young quirks'. If it was a claim he could make, he had made it to skirt around her control. He had even denied that UA was a hero school at one point, claiming "Oh this? This isn't quirk training no this is gym class."
The President knew he was brilliant, but being smart didn't explain the bullshit that rat was able to get away with. If she could, she would have had him assassinated by now. But alas, Nezu, like the President, had too many convenient allies. She wondered how in the world she was going to fix this mess now. Repealing UA's international status would mean using the UN, something that was going to be tedious. The President could already feel the amount of sleep she was losing because of it.
They had shipped Midoriya back to Mother Base now, as the alert had been officially rescinded. No attack seemed to be coming. It was worrying for the staff, but it was fine for Midoriya. He couldn't stand looking at those blank walls of the room he had been given. They seemed so impersonal without his posters. As the helicopter finally landed after the long trip, and Midoriya said goodbye to Morpho, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye.
Another helicopter landed just as Morpho took off again, leaving the platform. Out of it stepped Osprey, Buffalo, and a few others he didn't know. There were four of them, one adult, a young son, a younger daughter, and one boy who looked about Midoriya's age. Placing a smile on his face, he decided to go say hi. Osprey and Buffalo of course were the first to greet him.
"Hey kid, gotcha something," Osprey told him, before holding out a small All Might action figure. He grabbed it quickly, thanking the man as Buffalo looked back at him curiously.
"When the hell did you get that?"
"There was a store near the office building. I got it while you weren't looking."
"Damn it Osprey, you could have told me there was a store." Buffalo slugged Osprey in the arm then, before turning back to the only adult with them.
"Well then Mr. Soul, welcome to Mother Base."
Midoriya looked up to see Soul now walking forward, taking a long look at all his surroundings.
"I must say, this is truly something. And I thought it was big in the helicopter."
The other kids were also looking around then, amazed by the base. The younger two got a little close to the edge and were dragged away by the older brother. Both complained but failed to struggle against him.
"Oh? Who's this?" Soul asked, dragging the kids' attention away from the base, and towards Midoriya.
"This is Midoriya, an… orphan we brought to Mother Base," Buffalo told him, keeping her voice solemn as she spoke. Midoriya meanwhile wasn't paying attention to the adults' conversation, instead, he was greeting the other kids.
"Hello, I'm Midoriya Izuku. What's your name?"
The oldest brother of the three tried his best to reply but was holding back his siblings from going back over to the ledge of the base.
"I'm Rody, nice to… one second." he turned back around pulling them away again as his siblings complained.
"Rody! We just want to see the water!"
"Yeah! Let us go!"
"You can, just away from the ledge," Rody told them before he felt them stop struggling. He was taken off guard for a second before they ran past him, crouching down to get a better look at DD.
"Puppy!"
DD, of course, reveled in the newfound attention, happy to give Rody a quick break.
"Rody look, he has an eyepatch!"
"Maybe it's a pirate puppy!"
Rody could only chuckle at his sibling's antics, as he finished his introduction.
"Anyway, nice to meet you. These two are Roro and Lala."
From afar Mr. Soul watched on as the kids came to know each. It was good for them to make a new friend, especially with what is happening now. It made him somewhat sad, knowing he had to pick up their entire lives and move them somewhere else, even if it was for their safety. But now there was only hope that it would get better from here.