The following missions seemed to pass in a blur, compared to the time on Mother Base between.
His first return, after sabotaging the oil refinery, he came back to discover the sniper had escaped her cell, and could not be found anywhere on Mother Base.
She hadn't killed any of his men, or at least none had turned up missing, so Venom put her out of his mind for now.
Of more interest than how she'd left the base right now was what he'd brought back from the refinery, the machine that was swiftly dubbed a 'Walker Gear'.
"It is definitely Metal Gear technology," Ocelot judged. "It is likely that Skullface recruited Emmerich to work on this alongside Sahelanthropus."
"Can we make use of them?"
"Maybe, but I wouldn't trust them without a specialist in the technology going over them. If we had Emmerich, we could leave it to him, except…"
"We couldn't trust him," Venom finished. "We need a different Gear specialist. And something to deal with Sahelanthropus, we can't leave it in the hands of Skullface for too long."
"I'll keep an ear out for any leads," Ocelot agreed. "Before then we have a slight problem with our latest prisoners."
"What kind of problem?"
"They don't speak English. We need an Afrikaans translator. Fortunately I have a lead on one we can recruit."
Venom checked on the status of the projects across Mother Base before returning to Pequod to set off.
It was here that he discovered the sniper, attempting to use his egress to escape.
She was returned to her cell, leaving Venom to wonder just how secure it was, whether her escape had been planned…
]
After securing the translator, Venom returned to Mother Base, to discover the sniper had once again escaped her cell, despite the guards assigned to her.
At least this time they knew how it had happened.
The abilities she possessed allowed her to 'jump' near instantly across empty space, as he'd seen in their fight.
It also allowed her to turn near invisible, a camoflage ability that put Heirospecter to shame.
Her abilities weren't without their downsides, however, as demonstrated by her reactions to any attempt to cover her skin, which had led to her being left in her 'combat underwear'.
She had also been captive long enough to determine that she refused to speak, the only sound she chose to make a hum instead.
And she had picked the lock and slipped out when near invisible.
Venom simply gave Ocelot a look when he found out.
"The men have taken to calling her 'Quiet'," Ocelot stated, ignoring Venom. "Preliminary medical examination indicates that she possessed the physical ability for speech, but is choosing not to for her own reasons."
"Ocelot, if she was able to escape so easily, it means you deliberately placed her in a cell with an easily picked lock," Venom stated, patience starting to wear thin.
"Given the difficulty of communicating with her, it seemed the easiest way to determine her intentions."
"You left a practically invisible assassin free to explore Mother Base in order to determine her intentions, when she already tried to kill me?"
"You make it sound like a bad idea."
"And you returned her to the cell because..?"
"She didn't do any damage last time she got free."
Venom had no idea how to respond.
"Do we at least have some idea how her abilities work?"
"It seems she possesses parasites, or technically symbionts, akin to those formerly possessed by the End, and all her abilities originate in them."
"The End didn't have to fight while nearly naked," Venom pointed out, deadpan. "Are you sure they are…"
Memories of when Snake wore the camo he'd received from the End crossed Venoms mind, of how he hadn't needed to eat while wearing it, and an idea came to him.
"Would it be possible for someone to create clothes with a version of the parasites in them? Something that would prevent the need to expose so much skin to the air?"
Ocelot considered.
"I am not an expert in that area, but it sounds reasonable. Why?"
"Do you know what happened to the Ends camo?"
"I believe it was last seen in the stockpiles of the FOX unit, after you quit," Ocelot decided after some thought. "They had been planning to study it for its unusual properties, but vanished before they had the chance. My contacts joked that it was as if it rotted away. Why?"
"I think the camo is what let the End function without needing all his skin exposed to the air," Venom stated. "If we were able to recreate it, we would be able to provide Quiet with clothing."
"I'm not sure how much thanks the crew would give you for that," Ocelot commented. "Not to mention that Quiet is currently missing."
"You say that as though you don't expect her to still be on Mother Base. You wouldn't have left her in a cell that was so easy to escape if you didn't expect her to join the Diamond Dogs."
"Perhaps, but she hasn't joined yet."
Venom shook his head slowly.
"What missions do you have for me?"
"We have traced the Walker Gears back to the camp they're being deployed from. While we cannot make use of them at the moment, I see no reason we should let them do so."
"I'll see if I can extract the maintenance crew while I'm at it," Venom decided, heading to Pequod.
It wasn't a particular surprise when Quiet decided to join him on Pequod again, this time taking care to 'jump' aboard only when Pequod was already taking off, too late for her to be recaptured.
Venom chose to trust Ocelots judgement on her, and let Quiet join him for the mission.
She didn't seem too sure how to respond.
]
There weren't any obvious experts on the Walker Gears for Venom extract, and a couple of soldiers he'd intended to extract were killed by a single shot each from Quiet, but overall the mission went well.
Until a fighter jet buzzed them on the way back, his mission coinciding with the XOF being ready for him to be on a mission.
It was here that Quiet proved her new allegiance beyond any doubt, even more so than on the mission as far as Venom was concerned, as she placed a bullet into the head of the pilot, making it look easy despite the relative velocities.
Which didn't stop Miller showing up as they landed, demanding that Quiet be locked up again.
"After this mission, I consider her a full member of the Diamond Dogs," Venom stated firmly.
This was slightly undermined when he discovered that Quiet, after slipping away invisibly, had returned to her 'cell', taking it as her quarters.
His next priority, then, was getting her outfitted properly, so that they could work together on missions without further incident.
Given the loss of potential recruits on their last mission, his first priority was getting her a non lethal sniper.
It didn't take long before the Development platform had one ready, the problem was when he tried presenting it to Quiet.
Even without words, she made her distaste for the replacement rifle clear, refusing to take it.
Clearly they would need a closer bond before she was willing to subdue rather than kill.
She didn't stay in her former cell for long, Venom taking her on his next mission, targeting an XOF convoy while in transit.
]
It turned out to be fortunate that he had Quiet, armed with a standard rather than non lethal sniper rifle, with him, when members of the Skull unit appeared as soon as he approached the convoy, their usual fog preventing a fast and easy extraction.
Any fear of Quiet not wanting to kill her former allies was shortlived, Quiet appearing to demonstrate a certain joy in sending the Skulls to their final rests.
With the Skulls eliminated, Venom only getting to try his Drybite power a couple of times, there was nothing to prevent him retrieving the entire convoy.
A convoy that was apparently transporting materials connected to the Walker Gear project, including one of the scientists involved in their design, as Venom discovered on his return to Mother Base.
He wasn't as skilled as Emmerich, but by all indications was a lot more stable, and willing to work with the Diamond Dogs in exchange for rescuing his family from Skullface and the XOF.
The scientist was quick to reassure Venom that he had demanded regular calls with the family, to prevent Skullface eliminating them without him realising, before he would work for the XOF.
He had been working for Cipher, he explained, when Skullface assimilated them into the XOF. Given that the XOF were formerly part of Cipher, he'd been content that he was still doing good at first.
But then word had got out about what Skullface had been getting away with, that he had removed Zero from his position.
At first the scientist had dismissed it all as just rumours, but then project Sahelanthropus began.
His initial concerns about a nuclear capable mobile weapons platform, even in the hands of Zeros successor, were dismissed, leading to him digging deeper.
When he was caught with evidence about the activities of the XOF, a range of bioweapons in particular, he had expected to be killed, but instead he was 'reassigned', left to work on the lesser Walker Gear project.
Skullface almost seemed proud, he told Venom, about the atrocities he was committing, and took a twisted joy in forcing him to keep working for him.
"We have to move quickly," Venom stated. "With you out of his hands, he has little reason to keep them alive. Where is he keeping your family?"
"A base camp, in Afghanistan," the scientist told him. "Please, I've heard about what Skullface did to sone of his people there, like Emmerich…"
Venom felt his blood run cold.
He was going to have to face Sahelanthropus after all.