Venom made his preparations for assaulting the XOF base quickly, all too aware of the clock already ticking away.

Rather than stick with a tranquiliser sniper rifle as his heavy weapon, he took a rocket launcher for when Sahelanthropus would be sent after him, not wanting to have to change out his loadout while fighting a Metal Gear.

Nor wanting to give Skullface any signs of Seekers existing, of course.

The EM mines he left behind, useless against a Metal Gear as they were, replacing them with regular explosives.

They wouldn't do much good a Metal Gear, but even that was better than nothing.

Quiet he had little choice but to leave behind, a sniper rifle useless against a Metal Gear and her lack of tranquiliser rounds risking the lives of his targets.

Instead he took DD, wearing the stun gun equipped sneaking suit they'd developed for him.

He still wouldn't be of any real use against Sahelanthropus, but he would still be helpful against the regular guards. And unlike Quiet, was trained to only attack on command.

Speaking of Quiet, the location of their duel was the closest LZ to the base, and thus the start of the mission.

]

As Venom approached the camp, DD scouting out any guards who got too close, he was reminded that the legendary weaponsmith was supposed to be here, causing him to pause and consider the priority of his objectives.

He needed to extract the scientists family safely, but this was likely the best opportunity for him to secure the employment of the smith.

It had been a near certainty that the base was a trap for when he attempted to retrieve Emmerich, but whether the trap was still active was another matter.

Did he have the time to extract the smith without risking the scientists family?

What decided his approach in the end was the fact he didn't know where to find them.

He was going to have to pretty much extract everyone in the base if he wanted to be sure he had them, and that meant retrieving the smith as well.

Before heading into the base, Venom took some time to plant mines around the route Sahelanthropus was most likely to take when pursuing him out of the base, avoiding only where the route crossed the road.

They would be needed to slow down Sahelanthropus when it came down to it, but he still didn't want to kill any of the soldiers.

Everything prepared, he made his way into the base.

]

If he hadn't started learning to use Seeker powers, he would have had to call in at least two supply drops, Venom decided, grabbing the extra magazines and slotting one in place in his pistol, the suppressor already replaced.

He was currently in his cardboard box, just to be sure Skullface wouldn't see where he was resupplying from.

He grabbed a resupply of fultons while the 'hammerspace window' was still open, before stowing the box and turning his attention to the structure before him.

Given the sheer number of guards, clearing the base without letting anyone sound the alarm would likely have been impossible without a buddy, but even with DDs sneaking suit the dog was dismissed as not being a threat.

The two of them working together had taken down every guard before they realised something was wrong, clearing all the guard posts and temporary buildings.

Alongside the soldiers, they also extracted a number of Walker Gears, even if it did turn out that he'd once again secured one of the students of the legendary weaponsmith rather than the smith himself.

And now all that was left was the hangar.

It was clearly where Sahelanthropus was stationed.

"Mother Base, can you confirm whether the family of our new Metal Gear specialist has been extracted," he asked over his iDroid radio, as a final attempt to put off the inevitable confrontation.

"We have his brother, but his wife is still unaccounted for. She's an assistant on project Sahelanthropus, or was last he heard at least."

Venom nodded, resigned from the start to the upcoming encounter.

He slipped through one of the side doors to the hangar, onto an interior walkway.

]

Metal Gear Sahelanthropus stood proudly in the heart of the hangar, nearly overshadowing the figures by its feet.

There was a small team of scientists and engineers, Venom taking note of the only female member of the group (who was nearly certainly his target), and Skullface walking towards them.

"I need a word with Alexa, in private. The rest of you, dismissed," he ordered, the rest of them quickly leaving.

"Me? I mean, I'm no one important, what do you need me for, sir?"

Skullface stepped closer, placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her confused questioning.

"You may not be important, but your husband was," he told her, in a tone of faux reassurance.

"My husband? What do you mean 'was'? I thought he was transferred to another prohect, what happened?"

"Well you see," Skullface spoke, stepping around her until he was behind her, his arm resting on her shoulders, "he seems to have been picked up by… certain rebel forces. And as such," he slowly drew out his gun, unnoticed by the girl, "I no longer have any use for you."

Venom moved to aim his rifle at Skullface, to head him off executing her.

It wasn't the best choice of weapon in this situation, but without his sniper he had to make do.

Something drew the attention of Skullface towards him, the scarred killer almost seeming to smile at him.

"Ah, perhaps I was a bit hasty in saying that," Skullface corrected himself slowly. "You have one last use."

"What do you-"

Her words were cut off by a scream of pain as he fired into her legs, letting her collapse to the ground.

"You are here for her, after all, aren't you Snake," he declared, sliding his pistol back into its holster as he slowly walked towards one of the doors on his level. "Go on, take her. See if you can get away while she slows you down. Or will you just abandon her, like Emmerich? He just couldn't help but make mistakes, until he made one he couldn't survive."

"He betrayed us," Venom called back, giving up on stealth against someone who already knew he was there, and starting towards the ground. "It was him that destroyed the MSF, as much as you. I wasn't going to put us all at risk for a traitor, not when he was one of the traps."

"Ah, he speaks! But no, you give him too much credit. He may have given me an opening, but Mother Base was doomed the moment I got my hands on wormhole technology. They may have overstated how advanced it is, and my men may not have made much progress, but it was still enough to destroy your base."

"Why tell me all this?"

Venom had reached the assistant, checking if she could be moved.

She was in no shape to be airlifted, but Pequod could take them back to Mother Base safely.

"What is the point in making such plans if you don't get to tell anyone? You won't be getting away alive, so what does it matter if I tell you? Besides, you already have wormhole technology don't you. That's how you kept resupplying without an airdrop."

That confirmed Skullface had cameras on the base, but raised certain questions.

Such as how did Venom miss him as he cleared the base?

Why did Skullface continue on his tour?

Why didn't he call in reinforcements?

Or…

"It'll be alright," Venom assured her as he picked her up in a carry. "I'll be getting you back with your husband soon."

He contacted Pequod on his iDroid.

"This is Snake, ready for extraction. Be warned, Skullface is present."

"Pequod confirms, boss. On route to LZ."

Venom prepared his pistol, and left the hangar.

]

He only ran into a few more guards on his way out, easily dispatching them with help from DD.

It was only when he was at the entrance to the base that things changed.

There was a rumbling from behind him, and Sahelanthropus burst from the hangar, stomping after him.

And with him carrying someone, Venom was unable to brace properly to use his rocket launcher.

He practically dodged right, towards his impromptu minefield and out of the direct line of fire, seconds before bullets chewed up the ground behind him.

Static crackled out of loudspeakers, followed by the voice of Skullface.

"Yes, flee before the might of my fully armed and operational Metal Gear, false Snake. I had my doubts about you since your second encounter with my Parasite unit, but dismissing Emmerich the way you did? A man so integral to the MSF Metal Gear project? With such loyalties? The real Big Boss would never have left him to me. So you are a fake. A pity that I must first unveil Metal Gear Sahelanthropus against a phony rather than the real Snake, but it is fitting as a test run."

Venom grit his teeth, trying to focus on where he was putting his feet rather than Skullface giving out the secret to all who could hear.

"Who..? Snake..?"

Venom flinched at the vaguely questioning words of the woman he was carrying.

"That… don't listen to him," he told her.

"Who… never heard of…"

Venom grimaced, risking a quick glance backwards to be sure Sahelanthropus didn't have a line of fire to them yet.

"I used to be American spec ops," he told her, abridging heavily. "Events on a mission led me to realise we weren't the good guys. Went freelance, mercenaries trying to make the world a better place. Then Skullface happened. We're rebuilding."

"Make… world better..?"

Venom was worried about how she was acting.

She was likely losing a lot of blood, but there was no way for him to treat her.

And treating her back in the hangar, at the feet of Sahelanthropus, would have been too much of a risk.

He reached the road just as Sahelanthropus cleared the base entrance, turning from his intended route as the gatling guns tore up the path ahead.

The bursts of dust from bullet impact trailed towards them, faster than Venom could outrun them.

And then an explosion sounded behind him, throwing the Metal Gears aim off.

It was too soon for Sahelanthropus to have reached the mines, but Venom didn't dare look back.

As it turned out, the question of what happened was soon answered.

"Pequod on site, engaging target."

Venom let out a breath of relief.

"Good to have you, Pequod," Venom said to himself, not having the hand to use his iDroid.

Sahelanthropus seemed to roar, turning to engage Pequod by the sound of its weapons, strafing the chopper as it kept moving towards him.

Venom did his best to ignore the combat behind him, focused on getting clear before either Skullface could get the pilot of his Metal Gear to focus on him instead of Pequod or the helicopter was shot down.

This wasn't his fight, even if he had memories of fighting more than one from Naked Snake, his mission was getting back to Mother Base with the former technical assistant he was carrying.

He was getting close to cover when Pequod finally broke off, Sahelanthropus taking the chance to target him again.

Before its gun reached the proper angle, there was an explosion as it reached the first of his mines, leg buckling briefly and scattering its fire past Venom.

And then, before it could recover, they were clear.

It took next to no time for them to reach Pequod, the helicopter only lightly damaged by Sahelanthropus, and Venom started treating the passenger almost before they lifted off.

It was only when he was sure she was going to make it back to Mother Base that he contacted Ocelot.

"We have a problem."

]

Ocelot had been waiting for Pequod to return since Venom Snake had told him there was a problem, anxiety running through him at the question of just what someone with all the experience of Naked Snake would consider a problem.

His first words on returning were not exactly helpful.

"He knows."

"Who? And knows what?"

"Skullface. He knows who I am. Or more, who I am not. Shouted it out over loudspeaker."

Ocelot felt his blood run cold.

"You mean…"

"Alexa!"

A shout from behind him drew his attention to the new Metal Gear specialist of the Diamond Dogs, as he ran towards his wife, sitting on the edge of the helicopter. "What happened?"

"Skullface was about to kill her," Venom stated flatly. "When I got there, he decided to cripple her to slow us down, try to get me killed by his Metal Gear. I treated her, she isn't about to bleed out or anything, and we should be able to save her legs."

"Should?"

"There are no guarantees in medicine. There could be an infection, allergic reaction or any number of other complications. But as long as we can avoid them, she should recover. And in better shape than some of our men."

The scientist rose slowly to his feet, shaking slightly as he faced Venom.

"I know I said I'd join you if you got my family to safety, but I'm not sure if I can work with you. What I've seen your peopke working on… I can't work for another Skullface."

"What are you talking about?"

"Those… fultons. You have people adapting them, so you can bring children back here. I… I just…"

"There are child soldiers in Africa," Venom stated flatly. "We're redesigning the fultons so we can rescue them safely. I was intending to find a better solution than keeping them on Mother Base before we picked you up, and plans changed."

Ocelot stepped forward.

"Snake, we don't have anywhere else to take them."

"Maybe we should," Venom snapped back. "Our objective, our original objective when we left the Philosopher's control, was a world at peace, without pointless divides, like the Boss dreamed of. Too many of those who have grown up experiencing war are no longer able to see past those divisions, but if we can reach those children, help raise a generation that sees past it all…"

"Are you sure that is what the Boss wanted? It isn't what Zero was doing."

"I don't think there could be any other conclusion from what she said at the end. Now if you'll excuse me, I have something to check on…"

AN: So, I had already committed to Sahelanthropus being in the base camp when research revealed it was in the power plant nearby instead. In my defence, it has been ages since I played the mission and I just remembered the attack at the end.

In other news, the autocomplete function on my phone keeps trying to kill off Snake.