The results after the whole crisis at Mother Base had been chaotic. The refugees had far too many questions, most about ZEKE, but also about who they were in general. It was just as bad when Midoriya had come over asking why they had a metal gear, or as he put it, a giant robot. That was something Kaz was not willing to explain at the moment, especially after the F-35s got back. They managed to get an ID from the cruiser, right before it sank.

It was an old Kirov class cruiser, owned by a PMC calling themselves the Gold Coast Mercenaries. The PMC itself was based in Hong Kong, under the management of the CCP and the HPSC. That alone was bad news in Miller's mind, but it became even worse when they inspected the sinking ship. They couldn't gather much, everything else went to the bottom of the ocean, but what they did find showed the Gold Coast mercs were in Vietnam. It was something they would have to investigate later. For now, Kaz was focused on the defensive.

If the Gold Coast managed to contact the HPSC, then Mother Base was as good as found. He had scrambled every hand available and threw a gun into them, all the while he shoved Midoriya into a Blackfoot with Morpho and shipped him off to the FOB. Better he be at a base the HPSC didn't know about.

The helicopter flew over the vast sea, as Midoriya contemplated what he saw. Only moments earlier he had seen a giant robot shoot at something miles away. He thought it was cool at first, but then he had to wonder, why did Snake have it? The only other one he could compare it to was the Peace Walker robot Chico had shown him. The robot that had a nuke. His mind had always looked up to and admired heroes for how powerful and cool they were, but he knew a nuke was out of their league.

So was this robot nuclear too? He tried to ask Kaz, but he was quickly put in this helicopter and told to buckle up. They gave him DD, his Snake plushy, and an All Might jacket, before sending him off. Leaving him to fester in his questions. Chico said the last robot was built by a villain, but was Snake? He couldn't be, he saved him from the villains, and he went out and did heroic deeds like saving animals. He couldn't be, right?

The pilot of the helicopter seemed to notice how deep in thought he was. Midoriya almost missed that he was talking to him.

"Yo? Kid, you listening?" Morpho asked him.

"Huh, oh sorry," Midoriya replied, looking back at the pilot ahead.

"Eh it's fine, just got me worried for a second when you didn't respond," He soon went back to the controls in front of him. Midoriya watched this. He didn't understand any of the buttons, but Morpho did. At the moment it was the only thing to keep him distracted, to avoid those thoughts.

"What's that do?" he asked Morpho, slowly approaching the cockpit. He pointed to a low switch on the controls.

"Hmm? Oh, that turns on the exterior lights," Morpho replied, right as Midoriya pointed at another switch.

"And that one?"

"That lowers the landing gear."

He continued pointing at the controls, and all the while Morpho listed out what they did. He found the communications equipment, the weapons, rotor controls, and the radio. He was about to ask what the radar did when Morpho had an idea.

"Here, how about you sit in the copilot's chair." Gradually, Midoriya agreed, sitting down in the copilot's seat. DD of course laid down right next to him after hopping onto the chair. Morpho then placed a pair of headphones on him. It was a bit big for him, and he had to hold it slightly for the headset to stay in place, but they worked.

"Alright, so I'm going to need your help here. Can you press that button over there?" Morpho asked him, pointing to a button on the dashboard. Midoriya pressed it and the radio had turned on. Morpho thanked him quietly as he stopped to listen to the song. It didn't take Morpho long to start singing.

"It ain't me! I ain't no fortunate one!" Morpho sang, slightly tapping on the controls. Midoriya tried to become engrossed by the beat, trying to hold the thoughts at bay. The worry that Snake had been lying to him.

"Some folks are born silver spoon in hand! Lord don't they help themselves, no."

The song came and went as they both enjoyed the journey. Morpho claimed that Fortunate Son was, as he put it, the far superior helicopter music, compared to Pequod's Take On Me. And he watched as Morpho flew the helicopter, listening to the songs that came after, trying to ignore his fears.

Striker Osprey marched on through the jungles of Vietnam, wary of his surroundings. Miller had sent him in to inspect the area, to find what the HPSC was up to. It wasn't looking good. The moment he arrived where the refugees said their town was, he found nothing but an empty crater. The entire surrounding area was essentially gone. The houses were flattened, the river and coastline were clogged with debris, and there wasn't a body in sight. No corpse or anything on the ground.

It was unnervingly empty of the dead, especially with the amount of critically wounded arriving at Mother Base. Even stranger was what looked to be massive footprints in the ground. They looked to be days old, with their original shape being twisted and ruined, but they were massive. Osprey didn't know what kind of animal was that large, but considering what he had learned of this dimension, it couldn't have been out of the question.

But then that created other questions. What was their goal, it couldn't just be to wipe out some random village. Were they just testing out a superpower? If so then the mercenaries must have been a clean-up crew rather than the attacking force. He activated his codec then, grabbing a piece of debris from the river.

"The place is empty sir, nothing but rubble."

"Damn it," Miller muttered on the other end, "Round up what evidence you can."

"Understood," Osprey replied, filing away what little he could find. At the moment it was just soil and water samples, he hoped they would at least have some use. Osprey finished off by grabbing a lone piece of a house, before going back into the jungle.

This was not something Snake thought he would have to discuss. It was something he hoped to never discuss. But it had arrived all the same. Midoriya had stepped off the helicopter waving goodbye to Morpho, before turning to Snake. He could already see the questions forming in the kid's head. Especially as they made their way over to his temporary room. It felt alien to both Snake and Midoriya. It looked almost the same as his room on Mother Base, but it lacked any personality. And as soon as he sat down, Midoriya asked the first question.

"Why do you have a giant robot?" the kid asked, sitting down on the bed with DD.

"Well, that's complicated to explain," Snake replied, "what do you know about it?"

"I know there was one with a nuke, and Chico said it was built by a villain. But you also have one, and… y-you're n-not a villain, right?" Snake could see faint tears beginning to form, as Midoriya subconsciously held DD closer. It was slight, but fear was grasping him, and Snake could only watch. He had festered the thoughts in the helicopter, and now it seemed they were coming back in strength. It seemed lying would help nothing at the moment.

"I don't know what I am. I've been hailed both a hero and a villain." Snake told him, watching as he petted DD carefully.

"If you really want to know kid, then I'll tell you." Snake started, "It started in 1951, the year I would meet The Boss."

He could see Midoriya paying more attention, even though the trace of fear had not gone. It was to be expected, Snake figured he would react the same if The Boss had secretly owned a metal gear.

"At the time I was fighting in the Korean War for the US. I would run into her on one of her missions. Somehow I gained her respect and I became her student, and she became my mentor. She taught me everything I know now, how to hold a gun, how to remain hidden on all terrain, heh how to eat a frog." He saw Midoriya have a slightly nervous chuckle when he said it.

"We would fight together for almost a decade until she was forced to leave in 1959. I wouldn't see her again until 1964, during Operation Virtuous Mission. The mission was to rescue a defecting Soviet scientist from the area, but… the mission failed."

Snake tried his best to keep his composure as he remembered the events in their entirety.

"The Boss, she would betray me, or at least pretend to. We would fight and she won, breaking my arm and throwing me off a bridge."

He saw Midoriya fidgeting a little, it was clear he wanted to ask why. But Snake's look told him it was coming.

"With The Boss's betrayal, the man in charge Colonel Volgin would launch a nuke at the area. This was unexpected by everyone, and the US was being accused of the bombing. Now I didn't know this at the time, but The Boss had a second mission."

"What was it?" Midoriya asked.

"The Boss's mission was to retrieve something called the Philosopher's Legacy, in simple terms, it was a large sum of money. To do this, the US and the CIA had The Boss fake defect to the Soviets. But then Volgin launched the nuke."

Snake could already feel the tears forming in his eye. He wiped them away as best he could, attempting to continue.

"To ensure the blame didn't fall on the US, they changed The Boss's mission. They used her as a scapegoat, claiming she had gone rogue."

He heard a faint gasp come from Midoriya before he continued.

"It's where Operation Snake Eater would be started. I would sneak around Soviet territory and eliminate the enemy forces in the area. During the mission, I would encounter a prototype weapon. A nuclear-capable tank called Shagohod. I would destroy the weapon, and in a final fight, kill The Boss."

He tried his best to ignore the memories as he talked. He could almost see The Boss in front of him now, her corpse on the ground. He wiped the tears out of his eye again, mentally yelling at himself. He let go of this, of her.

"She was like a mother to me. That's the best way I can describe how I saw her. But she was like a mother to me, and I killed her."

He saw the look of surprise immediately arrive on Midoriya's face. Every part of him wanted to ask why. If they were so close why did he kill her? He never had to utter a word for Snake to know this.

"The US government used her as a shield. Her death would tie up the last loose end. And I was the one to do it, thinking she had betrayed her home and country, that she had betrayed me. I would leave the US then after figuring out the truth. I couldn't stand to fight for them any longer, not after what they've done. So I left, going out to fulfill The Boss's will, her ideals…"

Snake paused as he contemplated his words. During the Peace Walker Incident, he had come to believe that the Boss had betrayed him. Not to the Soviets, but as a soldier. She had laid down her arms and chose peace. How could he not feel betrayed, what place does a soldier have in peace? Their entire role was to fight. Yet as he sat here now, remembering past events… had he ever known The Boss's will?

He thought he did at first, thinking she wanted soldiers to not be used as political tools by nations. Like she and the Cobras were. But she never said soldiers, she said friends. Then arrived Peace Walker, and the AI copy of The Boss. It didn't sacrifice itself for soldiers but for the world. Had he been wrong? He couldn't have been, right? He didn't know, trying his best to shake away the thoughts. Snake would have to finish this later because he wasn't sure now.

"I would leave and create the MSF, a place for soldiers who wouldn't be used as tools for nations. A home for those, who could only find solace on the battlefield. From there we could get a contract from Professor Galvez, asking for our assistance in Costa Rica, in exchange for Mother Base."

"In Costa Rica, I had to find and disarm the Metal Gear Peace Walker, a weapon created by ex-CIA director Hot Coldman. His goal was to create a robotic nuclear deterrent, as he believed humanity was incapable of destroying itself."

"To do this, he was going to launch a nuke at Mother Base and upload fake launch data to NORAD. It was something that had to be stopped, so I followed them all across Costa Rica, destroying their unmanned weapons, until I fought Peace Walker itself."

Midoriya looked at him with a shocked expression "That was you? The thing the rob- metal gear was attacking?"

"Yeah, it was a hard fight, and in the end, I destroyed Peace Walker's AI pod. However, it didn't stop the data from uploading to NORAD. And Coldman was wrong, the officials at NORAD were readying a counterattack for missiles that didn't exist."

"It was only avoided, because of The Boss. You see, the AI was based on The Boss, as its creator thought she would be the perfect choice. The Boss, being the hero she was in life, was the same in death. The AI would walk away, and ignore the orders it had been given, drowning itself to stop the data uplink."

"She saved the world for a second time, once as a scapegoat, and again as a sacrifice. With the crisis settled, we would scavenge the leftover parts of Peace Walker, including the nuke. It was not the only thing we got. With our actions in Costa Rica, the eyes of the world were on us.

"By interfering in the Cold War against both the Soviets and the US, we had made ourselves targets. Because of this, Huey offered us a suggestion, to build our own metal gear, our own deterrent. That is why we have ZEKE. It's a deterrent, for a bygone age. One we viewed as necessary."

It had taken him a while, but Snake had finished. He could still see the trace of fear in Midoriya, but it was almost entirely gone now.

"What about now?" Midoriya asked him.

"What do you mean?" Snake replied, confused as to what he meant.

"You said it was for a bygone age, so what do you view it as now?"

That took Snake off guard a little, but it got him thinking. In this modern world, controlled entirely by the HPSC, what good was a nuke? Sure it would send a message, but the HPSC controlled the world's nuclear powers. If a nuclear conflict happened, Snake had already lost based on the sheer scale alone. His deterrent was a fallacy. Not one like Coldman's, but of something else.

There was also the second factor, that of civilians. Launching a nuke would possibly strengthen the HPSC, as MSF would be viewed as nothing more than villains. What clients the MSF did have, would turn away in an instant. As he said, ZEKE was a deterrent for a bygone age.

"Well… now? Now it's just a giant robot, one that isn't going to be used, unless absolutely necessary." Snake replied before he looked at a clock in the room. He stifled a yawn when he saw it, he had been on a rather long tangent. Especially so when he saw Midoriya looking a bit drowsier.

"I know that's a lot to drop on you, but I'm afraid it's getting late kid," Snake told him, standing up as the kid tried to argue back.

"Nooooo, I'm not… tired… yet," his efforts were futile as laid back on the bed. DD snuggled up to him, while Midoriya hugged his plush Snake. The real Snake let out a small smile as he moved to the lights.

"Night kid," he told him before he made his way out of the room. Then he let his mind wander, back to previous thoughts. Had he been wrong about The Boss? It truly didn't seem possible to think he would misunderstand the person he saw almost as a parent. But had he? His thoughts were interrupted, as his codec began ringing.

"It's me," Maria answered, "my superiors want to talk with you."

Akira didn't know what he was looking at, but it was very clearly not something he liked. The HPSC had been giving him samples of DNA from clumps of newly formed cells. Then in their wisdom, they had tasked him with manipulating the quirk center of the DNA. It was questionable at first, but then he remembered where he was employed. They started simply, trying to see if they could rewrite what quirk someone is given. Then they expanded to see what quirks they could feasibly make.

They created strength quirks, x-ray quirks, fire quirks, ice, wind, water, invisibility, advanced hearing, and a slew of others. However, they didn't know this for a fact. It was hypothetical, as they compared the DNA of the supposed strength quirk to someone with an actual strength quirk. What rested in front of him, confirmed it though. For the man in front of him, was no longer bald, yet the smile remained.

"I must congratulate you on your efforts Akira." Night Owl told him, now examining the brown hair on his head.

"Dr. Night Owl sir, what did you do?" Akira asked him, attempting to keep it together.

"Well, I used your research to solve something of mine, and I again must congratulate you."

"Sir, my research was only ever in the realm of hypothetical, you can't have a successful result like this so soon!" he was becoming near hysteric now, Akira had been forced to put up with Night Owl for years now. It seemed this was becoming the final straw.

"You forget that's what we have aides for," Night Owl began as he pulled Akira over. He attempted to resist but he was led down the hall to his lab.

"What are you talking… about…" he nearly gagged when he saw his lab. The aides that were assigned to him didn't look human anymore. They were grotesque and disfigured, many of them unmoving. The once pristine walls were stained with blood and vomit. And the smell, burned his nostrils as he entered, with Night Owl forcing him to continue forward.

"It took some trial and error, but I got it eventually. I really shouldn't be a geneticist though, because, in all honesty, I was looking in the wrong area for half an hour."

"But you said my research helped you?" Akira inquired, motioning to Night Owl's head.

"Oh, the hair, heh. I was never referring to the hair Akira, I was referring to that." Night Owl held out his arm then, pointing out to the rear end of the lab. His eyes widened as he saw it. Large vats, hundreds of them filled with some liquid covered the floor. Next to them was a screen, with a classification number and a quirk listed.

"So again Akira," Night Owl began, followed by something clicking, "I must congratulate you on your results."

And the world went dark.

Now was as good a time as any in Pacifica's mind. She had contemplated this for a while now, but she had come to her ultimate conclusion. She would confess to being a spy. She just knew she couldn't hide it any longer. Her mission was pointless and even now she couldn't view the MSF as enemies. So, there was only one thing she could do, reveal the truth. Hiding it any longer would only create more suspicion and distrust, should they inevitably find out.

It's why Pacifica was heading straight to Miller. He found him swamped with paperwork and guns. Rings were noticeable under his sunglasses and his clothes had coffee stains. He saw her enter, however, still trying his best to stay awake.

"Ah Paz, you need something?" he asked, trying to grab a coffee that was too far away. It took a moment for the words to form, but she decided to be direct and simple. She dropped the fake accent and tone she had used for a year, finely speaking normally.

"I'm a spy."

Miller didn't say anything for a moment. For a second she thought he assumed it was a joke, but Miller instead looked at her calmly.

"I know," he replied, before finally grabbing the coffee. He then refocused his efforts on his paperwork. It left Pacifica flabbergasted, the fact he responded so casually about it.

"W-what? What do you mean you know?" Pacifica asked him, now looking over her back. Was he waiting for her to slip up? Did he have guards coming to get her now?

"As I said, I've known you were for a while. Though I never expected you to betray Cipher." Miller looked back up at her now, quickly taking a sip of his coffee.

"How did you know?" She thought she covered her tracks well, so how did he? Was she really that obvious, did MSF know the whole time?

"Well, I was the one giving you the information." Pacifica thought the world around her shattered at that moment. Kaz was the one giving her the information on ZEKE. Kaz was the one who pressured Cipher into stepping up on the day of her betrayal.

"All this time and you were with Cipher as well?" she couldn't believe it as the words left her mouth.

"No, I was never with Cipher. He was a temporary business arrangement and nothing more."

"So all this time, you knew. You were using me like a pawn, pushing me to betray the MSF for what!?"

"I did it for MSF, we wouldn't have gotten this big were it not for Cipher. Yes, I was using you and Cipher, but I was offering you a way out. All your time on Mother Base, and you had the opportunity to defect. I never expected you to, but you had the option."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. He dared to say she had the choice to defect!? He was using her as a pawn this entire time, bringing wealth and acclaim to MSF! The only solace it brought her, was when one angry thought arrived.

"Does Snake know?"

"He doesn't, just me."

She was furious with him, but what exactly could she do at the moment? He had used her like a pawn, but he seemed indifferent to her defection. He claimed to have offered a way out, but Pacifica didn't believe it. So she stormed out, finding the entire debacle to have been pointlessly done. If she was going to confess she was a spy, it would have to be when Snake returns.

Waking up in the morning had been an odd experience. When Snake first opened his eye, he found Midoriya in one of their cardboard box tanks, attempting to sneak around with DD. Needless to say, the rest of the hour had been used to push the box around as Midoriya fired the cannon. In Snake's defense, who was he to deny someone the pleasure of a cardboard box? Eventually, though he made it to the helicopter.

He had originally tried calling Maria, to hear what her superiors wanted, but they asked for an in-person meeting. The meeting itself was being held in Colombia's capital Bogota. Once near the city, a limo would pick him up to take him to the meeting location. For the most part, things went well, Pequod arrived at the landing zone and Snake hopped out.

After that was a short walk, and then he spotted the limo. He approached it carefully and noticed several other vehicles next to it. Some were military, others were more civilian. Yet the men in suits around them were very present. His eye soon landed on Maria's thought. The woman was having a smoke while leaning on the limo. As he got closer, the men in suits moved for hidden weapons, only for Maria to call out to them.

"Hold it, this is him." The men slowly removed their hands from their guns, before returning to an unassuming position.

"Snake," Maria started, "glad you could make it."

She opened the limo door, and Snake saw someone else inside. He was somewhat old, their gray hair meshing together with some black hair dye. The man had a tanned appearance and a scar lined down his face, across his right eye. Finishing it all was a fancy suit, with a cigar in his hand. Maria then sat down in the limo, having Snake do the same.

"So, this is this Snake I've been told about." the other man surmised.

"Yes sir, this is him," Maria replied.

"Excellent," the man began before holding out his hand and introducing himself, "a pleasure, President Cristian Sainz."

Snake politely shook his hand before saying, "Likewise."

"Now let's get down to business Snake, from what Sergeant Major Perez reports, you're a mercenary, correct?" Sainz began, stamping out the remains of his cigar. It was here the vehicles started moving, heading to some unknown destination.

"Well, in layman's terms yes," Snake replied, keeping his gaze on the man.

"Good, you see Snake my administration has run into a problem, one you are familiar with."

"The HPSC?" Snake inquired, receiving a nod from Sainz

"My latest campaign promise was to crack down on the cartel's power, however, the HPSC has been holding us back. The majority of the cartel has taken up positions in Venezuela, making them no longer in our jurisdiction."

"And the HPSC won't let you follow them." Snake surmised.

"Precisely, doing so, as the HPSC claims, would spark an international incident. It would be claimed as an invasion of a sovereign country, because by their technicality, Venezuela still exists."

"I'm assuming the police you sent in off the books, was a last-ditch effort?"

"It was. The operation was supposed to be a quick decapitating strike to eliminate one of Los Hermanos' heads before the HPSC noticed. However, as you know the operation was a loss. It's why you're here now, as on behalf of the Colombian government and my administration I would like to hire you for your services."

Now that had intrigued Snake.

"What's the job?" Snake asked him.

"As I said before, publicly my administration has its hands tied. That's where you come in, I want your organization to fight against the cartel. I'll provide you with arms, volunteers, capital, and anything needed to fulfill the mission."

Snake thought about it for a moment. This was something MSF could use, especially when it came to tracking down Night Owl. It would be a massive help, but at the same time, it didn't hurt to have some form of an ally.

"I'll have to think it over with my second in command, but you may have yourself a deal."