Venom Snake's POV
My chopper is on flying me near OKB Zero. There is another chopper that has Kaz, Quiet, Huey, Eli, and other soldiers in there flying along side mine.
Kaz: The research facility Emmerich was talking about is north of the Soviet base. That's where Skull Face is keeping Sahelanthropus before setting it loose in Afghanistan. There's a good chance he's got nukes, too.
Ocelot: Boss, we need to figure out what Skull Face is up to. If you make contact with him, get him to talk. The ethnic cleansing parasites... Sahelanthropus... Find out what his plans are.
The other chopper flies off.
Kaz: All we know is that Skull Face's plans are on the verge of fruition. We need to stop him, while we still can.
Venom Snake: Agreed.
The chopper lands. I drop down and start running for OKB Zero.
Kaz: The Soviet soldiers in that area are all dead. Apparently XOF unleashed the Russian parasite strain. To isolate the facility, they first spread reports of a chemical weapon leak. The infection won't spread into the surrounding regions. But still... To think they'd just exterminate the men who worked with them all this time... Skull Face must be making his final play.
I continue to run.
Kaz: Eli snuck into the cargo on board the chopper. His idea of an escape attempt? Who can say? We'll think of how to deal with him later.
Huey: Snake, do you read me? I know more than anyone about OKB Zero and Sahelanthropus. Boss, I've made up my mind. I want to be of use to you... not HIM. Let me work to pay for what I've done. I'll prove it... That I'm... That I've always been your ally.
Ocelot: Boss, I'll be focused on coordinating backup here at Mother Base. The chain of command is still in place. If you have orders, give them through Miller as usual.
Kaz: Skull Face is in OKB Zero. Start by making contact with him. The facility itself is under the control of XOF, Cipher's strike force. We have no hard data on their force strength. So your judgement in the field will be key.
As I see OKB Zero, the other chopper is nearby.
Kaz: Boss, we're finally here. Find Skull Face... and take everything from him.
I manage to stay out of sight and sneak through the first gate.
Kaz: Good work. Two more gates to go.
While sneaking through the second gate, I get spotted. I quickly shoot the XOF soldier before he could alert the others, I also snipe other XOF members who might've saw me if I just snuck through. I get through the second gate.
Kaz: All right. You're through the second gate. Only one gate left. From here on in, you're in the enemy's headquarters.
I sneak through everyone, with the help of a sandstorm. I CQC the XOF guard blocking the way to the heliport. I then run up the stairs, I see the XOF helicopter.
Kaz: Boss, can you see the heliport? Skull Face is right there. Make contact with him and get him to talk. We have to stop him before his plan is set in motion. Sahelanthropus is somewhere inside there... First of all, make contact with Skull Face. Don't kill him yet. We need him to talk first.
Venom Snake: Understood.
I get out my gun and slowly walk up the stairs of the heliport. I see Skull Face about to get on his chopper. I then see the floating boy. The floating boy disappears. Skull Face turned around and saw me.
Skull Face: You, too, have known loss. And that loss torments you still.
The XOF soldiers all get out of the chopper and aim their guns at me. Skull Face moves them aside, then makes them put down their guns.
Skull Face: You hope hatred... Might someday replace the pain. But it never goes away. It makes a man hideous, inside and out.
Skull Face and his men walked up to me, Skull Face takes off his hat.
Skull Face: Wouldn't you agree?
I put my gun down.
Skull Face: We both are demons. Our humanity won't return. You. Me. We've no place to run, nowhere to hide.
He looks me down and up.
Skull Face: And that is why I'll show you my demon.
He puts his hat back on.
Skull Face: Follow me, Big Boss.
Skull Face starts to walk away. I see XOF behind me.
Kaz: Just go along with him for now. We're ready to fight if it comes to that. That's our leverage against him - our deterrent. He doesn't want a war on his hands.
I follow Skull Face, and XOF follows me.
Skull Face: Whatever the Navajo told you... it's just one possible solution derived by Cipher. My will is deferent.
I continue to follow him down the stairs.
Skull Face: I've known you since your time at Langley. I've long been the other side of your coin. 1964. Soviet territory. FOX's first mission. Any mess you made, I was there to clean up. You completed your task - and admirably. The "information" you returned was far more than enough to fill our pockets. With it, our futures became - more or less - set in stone.
I remain silent as I continue to follow him, I see more XOF standing around.
Skull Face: And then the major came to me with an idea. "Washington doesn't know how to spend money." he said. "I'd like too... redirect it." His goal was an organization dedicated solely - covertly - to supporting America. Cipher. You know the rest. To him, it was mourning - the loss of his friend. Or rather, an act of revenge. On the world, but America most of all.
We get on a elevator platform, the XOF soldiers behind me now get on the sides of me and Skull Face. The elevator platform slowly goes down.
Skull Face: America is a country of liberty. A meeting of immigrants. Instead of simply assimilating, its citizens live alongside others. Their roots are varied. Diverse. America's never been made up of just one people. But he tried to forge a single consciousness. For it, and from it. The idea that every citizen would use free will to unite behind their country... Unilateralism like that can't be entrusted to any one individual.
The elevator platform stops at the bottom floor.
Skull Face: So the major sought a system that used information, words, to control the "subconscious."
We walk to a jeep. Me and Skull Face get in the back, while two XOF soldiers get in the front. They start driving us away from OKB Zero.
Skull Face: To unite America and the entire world. The major thought this was his friend's will. But I think he never understood what he wanted. Before he ever walked, or cried - even before he was born - his mother tongue was English. He doesn't know the pain of losing his own language. Not yet. He cannot understand her will. I do. I was born in a small village. I was still a child when we were raided by soldiers. Foreign soldiers. Torn from my elders, I was made to speak their language. With each new post, my masters changed, along with the words they made me speak. Words are... peculiar. With each change, I changed too. My thoughts, personality, how I saw right or wrong... War changed me - and not only my visage. Words can kill. I was invaded by words, burrowing and breeding inside me. A philosopher once said, "It is no nation we inhabit, but a language." "Make no mistake; our native tongue is our true fatherland." My fatherland - my truth was stolen from me. And so was my past. All that's left is the future. And mine is revenge. On those who's leech off the words of their fellow man. This is what I learned from the major. And then it hit me. It was he who should feel my wrath. He and the code he chose as basis for control. Language codes, information codes - beamed all around us - genetic codes spanning history. By controlling the codes, Cipher... Zero intends to unify the world. Codes implanted into our heads, sucking our minds dry as it spreads from one host to the next. A parasite upon this Earth. That is what Zero is. As one born into this world, he's afflicted. I hold him responsible for killing my freedom. Killing all traces of my past... Killing any promise of a future... We are all but dead men forced to walk upon this earth. A world reduced to Zero. Cipher plans to use its codes to control the world. They think they can. And the "mother tongue" of all those codes is English.
Skull Face takes out a container carrying a tube. It had three tube slots.
Skull Face: The Word became flesh. The final parasite.
He takes one tube of the parasites out of the container.
Skull Face: It knows English. An English strain of the vocal cord parasite. I will exterminate the English language.
Skull Face puts the English strain back in the container, and puts the container away.
Skull Face: With this, I'll rid the world of infestation. All men will breathe free again - reclaim their past, present, and future. This is no ethnic cleanser. It is a "liberator," to free the world from Zero. Let the world be.
He then stays silent for a few seconds.
Skull Face: Sand lingua franca, the world will be torn asunder. And then it shall be free. People will suffer, of course - a phantom pain. The world will need a new common tongue. A language of nukes. My Metal Gears shall be the thread by which all countries are bound together, in equality. No words will be needed. Every man will be forced to recognize his neighbor. People will swallow their pain. They will link lost hands. And the world will become one. This war is peace.
We both remain silent through the whole ride. We get closer to Sahelanthropus.
Skull Face: When the world witnesses Sahelanthropus, the hands of the doomsday clock will roll on, regardless of Zero. Sahelanthropus will take the first giant step into a brave new world. It is the bell with which a word - trodden upon by words - declares its independence.
XOF drives us in the base where I first found Huey. The jeep stops.
Skull Face: We are here.
I get out of the jeep. I take out my gun, I see XOF soldiers behind me aiming their guns at me. Skull Face points at me.
Skull Face: Remember the Alamo.
I put my gun away. A soldier pushes me. I follow Skull Face as XOF soldiers keep their guns aimed at me. I hear my codec.
Queequeg: This is Queequeg, on station to provide cover.
Kaz: Get us a line of fire...
Queequeg: Roger that.
Skull Face stops and turns around.
Skull Face: We're not the only demons in this world. Like you, vengeance is all he has. It's man's thirst for revenge that drives the times. Just as you live because of me. He lives because of you. Show him.
I see the floating boy and the Man On Fire again. I get my gun out and aim it at the Man On Fire. I slowly walk away from Skull Face and the XOF soliders, still aiming at the Man On Fire. He then starts walking towards me. I keep my gun aimed at him. But then he freezes in place. I see the floating boy float up and start going towards Sahelanthropus. I then hear Kaz on the codec gasping.
Kaz: Hey!
Venom Snake: Kaz?
Kaz: Snake, there's something wrong with Eli.