The Metal Gear franchise turned 35 years old
this year. As a celebration, I, Suggestive Gaming, decided
to take this opportunity to cover the extensive storyline of my favorite video game series. I’m going to be handling this video slightly
differently than others I’ve done, as I’ll be tackling all of the events of the series,
not just the games, in chronological order (or at least as much as possible). While this does take the punch out of some
twist reveals, I think it’s the best way to really appreciate the depth and complexity
of this story. Now because this is going to be one of the
most complicated timelines I’ve ever covered, I’ve enlisted the help and vocal talent
of fellow Metal Gear super-fan and video game store owner, GameTradeGregg from YouTube channel
Drop Rate and podcast Game Talk Radio (check those out in the description below, and if
you’re ever in the area check out Game Trade in De Pere, Wisconsin). Do note that the franchise has seen some spinoffs
and non-canon titles released over the years, and as such, they will not be covered in the
main section’s chronology. As a bonus, however, we will cover nearly
all of their stories individually at the end of this video, just for completion’s sake. That being said, there are some non-canon
things we won’t be covering, and that’s the NES port of the original Metal Gear title
(since the story is very similar to the MSX original, save for a few minor changes), the
“bad” ending of Metal Gear Solid, any mini-games from the re-releases of Metal Gear
Solid 2 and 3 (including Snake Tales and Snake VS Monkey), as well as any VR or challenge
missions in the games. Another note is that while they sit outside
the core storyline written by Hideo Kojima, we will treat the PSP title Metal Gear Solid:
Portable Ops as well as the spin-off Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance as canon entries
in this video, since they still tie into the mainline Metal Gear story. Feel free to take these sections with a grain
of salt, as their canonicity seems to be a point of personal preference. One final note: for the story of Metal Gear
Solid, we will be using the original, 1998 release of the game to illustrate it, not
the 2004 Gamecube-exclusive remake: The Twin Snakes. While the remake follows the same storyline
(and has some nicer visuals to boot), we saw it fit to represent that chapter with Hideo
Kojima’s original, non-missile jumping vision, just as Metal Gear Solid 4 intended. Now, without further ado, this is What You
Need to Know about Metal Gear. Our story begins in the year 1914, where (in
the wake of World War I), twelve of the most powerful and wealthy individuals from the
United States, the Soviet Union, and China (known as the Wisemen's Committee) form a
secret society which they name: “The Philosophers”. In 1922, one of the Wisemen’s Committee
has a daughter, who is raised under the care of the Philosophers, and through her father,
she learns of the group’s true nature and deepest secrets. By the end of the 1930s, all of the original
members of the Wisemen’s Committee have died, and in 1939, World War II breaks out. To secure their countries’ victory in the
war, the remaining appointees of the Philosophers pool together a massive sum of funds called
“the Philosopher’s Legacy” to be used to develop new technologies and weaponry. In 1941, the young woman raised by the Philosophers,
now codenamed “the Joy” due to the pleasure she received in battle, is offered to come
join the British Special Air Service as an advisor. There, she meets a British Major named David
Oh, and the pair work together on several missions. In 1942, a Navajo man known as “Code Talker”
regretfully works with the U.S. Military to help turn his tribe’s language into a cipher
for secret communications, while simultaneously studying the biological traits of parasites. The same year, the United States begins “the
Manhattan Project” to research and develop massively debilitating nuclear weapons. Among the researchers involved is a scientist
named Dr. Emmerich. Meanwhile, during the Battle of Stalingrad,
the Joy forms an elite unit of soldiers from the various countries in the Allied Powers,
each with superhuman abilities (thanks to the resources provided by the Philosophers)
which she names the “Cobra Unit”. The soldiers in this unit include those codenamed
The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, and The Sorrow. The Joy, now taking leadership over the others,
takes on a new codename, one she’ll be much better known for, “The Boss”. During their work together, The Boss and The
Sorrow begin a romantic affair. During a mission in 1943 to assassinate Manhattan
Project scientist John von Neumann on suspicion that he’s a secret Nazi spy, The Boss discovers
that she’s pregnant. This distraction causes her to fail the mission,
getting hit by a bullet that grazes her skull and puts her into a coma for six months. The next year, 1944, during the D-Day landings
on Normandy, the Cobra Unit is sent in, and The Boss gives birth to her child on the battlefield
through a rushed cesarean section, and agents of the Philosophers quickly take the newborn
away from her. In the confusion after the end of World War
II in 1945, the Russian officer in charge of the Philosopher’s money laundering operations,
Boris Volgin, secretly steals the remains of the Philosopher's Legacy, leaving a microfilm
of the ledgers to his son Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin. The same year, Dr. Emmerich has a son, named
Huey. Two years later, in 1947, the Philosophers
(unaware of Boris Volgin’s actions) begin to fight over control of the remains of the
Philosopher’s Legacy. This spurs the outbreak of the Cold War. These tensions cause the Cobra Unit to disband. In the year 1950, The Boss meets a young soldier
named Jack, and she takes him under her wing, teaching him her vast knowledge in the acts
of war. The pair later develop a method of Close Quarters
Combat, or CQC, together. Around 1953, Major Oh meets a deformed assassin
codenamed “Skull Face” who (after killing Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin), defects from
the Soviet Union and begins to work for Major Oh in the shadows. In 1954, Jack assists with the airborne test
detonation of the Hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll. While he is able to avoid serious side effects
from his exposure to its radiation, Jack is left sterile after the event. Five years later, the Boss suddenly abandons
Jack with no explanation. By the year 1960, The Boss’s son, Adamska,
is recruited by the U.S. National Security Agency to work as a code breaker under the
codename ADAM. However, he and his partner, EVA, defect to
the Soviet Union. The next year, President John F. Kennedy earns
the disapproval of the Philosophers. Around this time, the United States, needing
human data for the space race, secretly send The Boss into space as part of the “Mercury
Project”, worked on by a scientist known as “Dr. Strangelove”. In 1962, Major Oh, now working for the United
States Central Intelligence Agency, helps Soviet scientist Nikolai Sokolov and his family
defect to the United States. Shortly after, the Soviets send missiles towards
Cuba, triggering the Cuban Missile Crisis. In order to persuade the Soviets to stand
down and prevent nuclear warfare, President Kennedy returns Sokolov to the Soviet Union,
where he is forced to return to his work developing a secret weapon. Around this time, the Philosophers threaten
to kill Adamska if both of his parents, the Boss and the Sorrow, remain alive, prompting
the Sorrow to ask the Boss to sacrifice him for their child’s safety. This caused the woman to shoot him through
his left eye, killing his body, but due to his skills as a medium, his spirit is left
to walk the Earth. In 1963, President Kennedy is assassinated
in Dallas, Texas. In 1964, the CIA learn of the Soviet Union’s
secret weapon’s potential power and they plan the “Virtuous Mission” for the newly
formed Force Operation X, or FOX, Unit to send in their first agent: the Boss’s former
pupil, Jack, to extract Sokolov from his KGB guards. David Oh, now going by “Major Zero” (or
“Major Tom” for this particular mission), is tasked with leading the mission, and he
simultaneously sends in his secret support unit, XOF (led by Skull Face), to covertly
provide support and cleanup. FOX fly over Sokolov’s position, and Jack,
now codenamed “Naked Snake” performs the first HALO jump to drop into the region. With radio support from Zero, FOX medic Dr.
Clark (codenamed “Para-Medic”), and the Boss (reuniting her with her former student),
Snake is able to find Sokolov, who warns him about Colonel Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin of
the GRU, who plans to capture the scientist to obtain the research for his weapon to use
as leverage to overthrow Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and install his own replacements. As Snake leaves with Sokolov, he is stopped
by KGB guards, but they are soon killed by an arriving GRU Major: “Ocelot”, who secretly
is the Boss’s son, Adamska. Ocelot calls his men for backup, and after
a quick exchange, Snake subdues the Major using CQC, and Sokolov runs off in fear. After Snake takes out Ocelot’s men, he gives
the young major a tip that a revolver would more suit his firing style, complimenting
him telling him “you’re pretty good” before Ocelot passes out. Snake later finds Sokolov, and the pair spot
his unfinished weapon, the “Shagohod”: a tank with the ability to launch nuclear
missiles; which if Sokolov is forced to finish, would spell the end of the Cold War and the
beginning of a new World War. As Snake and Sokolov cross a rope bridge,
the former is shocked to find the Boss approaching, carrying two boxes from the U.S. Army. The reunited Cobra Unit then arrive and capture
Sokolov and carry him up to a Hind-A gunship. Colonel Volgin soon arrives and reveals that
the Cobra Unit have defected to the Soviet Union, and the Boss states that Sokolov is
her gift to them, along with the two boxes, which contain Davy Crockett recoilless nuclear
warheads. The Boss then easily overpowers Snake in CQC,
breaking his arm. As Volgin goes to finish Snake with his own
superhuman electrical abilities, the Boss stops him, offering to do it herself. She holds out her hand, and Snake grabs it,
just before she swiftly throws him off the bridge. Snake grabs the Boss’s bandana off of her
head as he falls to the river below. The Cobra Unit then leaves to take Sokolov
to their research facility to finish the Shagohod. Two hours later, as the injured Snake washes
ashore and nurses his wounds with Para-Medic’s guidance, he watches a fleet of gunships carrying
the Shagohod. Aboard one of them, Ocelot and Volgin transport
a woman who is supposedly Sokolov’s wife, who happens to be holding a KGB concealed
lipstick pistol. Volgin then decides to test out his new “toy”,
and fires one of the Davy Crockett misiles, aiming it at Sokolov’s old research facility
while planning on blaming it on the Boss. Meanwhile, Snake watches the destruction from
the shore while he awaits his extraction. In the days following the Virtuous Mission,
Volgin and the Boss are blamed by United States president Lyndon B. Johnson for the nuclear
attack on the research facility. To avoid nuclear escalation, Nikita Khrushchev
demands the U.S. prove their innocence by assassinating the Boss. Likewise, Major Zero approaches Snake about
clearing FOX of any involvement with the Boss’s actions, with the CIA deciding the only way
to do so would be to have Snake execute the assassination mission himself. Failure to do so would result in a death sentence
for both Snake and Zero, forcing them to comply. Snake, now donning the Boss’s bandana as
a memento, is then sent by drone back into the region, as part of “Operation Snake
Eater”, again with Zero (now using this as his codename) and Para-Medic supporting
via radio, along with Donald Anderson, known as “Mr. Sigint”, an expert on weapons
technology. The mission requires Snake to work with the
two KGB spies, ADAM and EVA, to rescue Nikolai Sokolov once again, destroy the Shagohod,
then find and terminate the Boss and Volgin. Unbeknownst to Snake and the rest of FOX,
Major Zero again secretly sends Skull Face and the XOF unit to work covertly to ensure
the operation’s success at any cost. On his way to rendezvou with ADAM, Snake is
surprised to come across the Boss, who taunts him over their previous encounter and warns
him to go home. Snake refuses and tries to subdue her, but
she easily overpowers him in close quarters combat, disarming him before destroying his
drone and riding off on her white horse, which stomps on Snake’s hand. Later, Snake reaches the rendezvou point,
but instead of finding ADAM, he is met by a woman on a motorcycle. However, when Snake questions her with the
first half of their passcode: “Who are the Patriots?”, she is unable to respond “La
Li Lu Le Lo”. When a GRU unit ambushes them, the woman is
able to single-handedly take them out. She introduces herself as EVA, and the pair
discuss ADAM and EVA’s past, as well as the current mission, and Snake compliments
her Chinese pistol. EVA then gives Snake a pistol and a scientist
disguise to infiltrate the lab where Sokolov is being forced to work. After convincing Snake to rest for the night
to help heal his wounds, EVA sneaks outside and uses a briefcase radio to contact an unknown
party. At dawn, Snake awakens, and he and EVA spot
Ocelot and his unit. EVA gives Snake a kiss goodbye before escaping
on her motorcycle, and leaves Snake behind to keep Ocelot busy. After defeating the Ocelot unit, Snake spots
their leader, holding EVA hostage. Snake and Ocelot again banter over the young
man’s weapon choice, with his current gun of choice, an adorned single action army revolver,
being a bit too showy for Naked Snake. When Ocelot tries to shoot Snake, he finds
his barrel empty, allowing EVA to escape to her motorcycle, which she uses to incapacitate
Ocelot. After a bit more conversation, Ocelot gives
Snake a farewell gesture before running off. EVA pulls her gun, but Snake, feeling a fondness
for the young man, stops her from firing before she speeds off on her bike. Snake continues to the lab, but encounters
Ocelot along the way. The pair battle one-on-one until they are
broken up by one of the Cobra Unit, The Pain, whose army of controlled bees force Snake
to escape by jumping into a cave below. Inside the cave, Snake is met by the Pain,
and he is forced to fight, and defeat the violent beekeeper, who explodes after the
battle. Snake emerges from the cave to find a warehouse
where Sokolov and his “lover” Tatyana (who is actually EVA in disguise) are being
led by Volgin. Using his electrical powers to torture Tatyana,
Volgin forces Sokolov to comply with his orders. Ocelot arrives and begins to play Russian
Roulette with Sokolov, frightening the man, before the Boss takes his gun and scolds him. The Fear and The End then emerge and are tasked
with killing Snake. Volgin then takes Tatyana and enters the warehouse,
leaving the Boss behind where she feels a premonition of the Sorrow. At this point, Snake has a quick opportunity
to kill The End, preventing the elderly sniper from completing his mission, but if he doesn’t,
the man is simply wheeled into the warehouse. Snake follows and soon reaches the research
lab, where he dons the disguise given to him by EVA to get inside and find the director’s
office, where he meets Dr. Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin. The drunken director is surprisingly friendly
to Snake, and tells the young man about his history as a weapons developer. Granin holds a grudge with Sokolov, whose
Shagohod won research funding over his own bipedal mobile nuclear delivery system, which
he calls: Metal Gear. Frustrated that his creation will never see
development, Granin tells Snake that he is going to send the plans to his colleague in
the United States: Dr. Emmerich. After Snake compliments Granin’s shoes (a
gift from Tatyana), the director fills Snake in on the Philosopher’s and their legacy,
which is now funding the Shagohod through Volgin. He then reveals that Sokolov is now at Volgin’s
main base at Groznyj Grad, where the scientist is finishing preparations for the final tests
that will commence the following day. Granin then spitefully agrees to help Snake
get into the base to stop Sokolov and destroy the Shagohod, giving him a keycard to bypass
security to make his way to the entrance of a secret tunnel. On his way to the tunnel entrance, Snake is
sabotaged by the spider-like member of the Cobra Unit, The Fear. Despite the Cobra’s venomous weapons and
prototype stealth camouflage suit which renders him momentarily invisible, The Fear ultimately
falls in battle to Snake, exploding afterwards much like The Pain. After the fight, Snake receives a call from
EVA, who asks him to meet her in some ruins at the top of the nearby mountains so she
can give him a key to enter the underground tunnel, much to Snake’s confusion, as he
points out Granin already gave him a key (which she simply states won’t work). She then warns him that the Cobra Unit’s
elite sniper, The End, is waiting for him in the jungle at the foot of the mountains. Snake soon comes across the sniper, and the
pair engage in a grueling, lengthy long-range battle. While the man is apparently energized by the
sun through photosynthesis, the battle can go on so long that the elderly man passes
away due to old age. Whether natural causes or Snake’s bullets
bring the old man’s life to an end, the battle concludes with him exploding as well. Afterwards, Snake reaches the bottom of the
mountains, and approaches a ladder, which he climbs… and climbs… and climbs to reach
the top. He soon finds the ruins, and meets with EVA
inside, changing out of her Tatyana disguise. She gives Snake the key to the underground
tunnel, and warns him that his time is running short. She also informs Snake that he’ll have to
disguise himself again in order to get into Groznyj Grad’s weapons lab: this time as
GRU Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov. The pair then plan their escape afterward,
with EVA set to pilot a ground-effect vehicle from a lake nearby. EVA tries to seduce Snake, but the pair are
interrupted by a gunshot from Groznyj Grad. They rush out to the cliffside, and EVA hops
on her bike to return to her role as Tatyana at the base. Snake observes the base through binoculars
and spots Volgin repeatedly beating on an oil drum. Volgin then blasts the drum into the air to
reveal a dead Granin inside. Volgin then removes a transmitter from the
dead man’s shoe, and determines the director was being used by somebody for information. An arriving Major Ocelot disagrees with the
Colonel’s methods. The Boss and Tatyana arrive shortly after,
and the former reveals the deaths of her Cobra Unit members at Snake’s hand. She then warns Volgin to tighten security,
believing Snake to be on his way, as she leaves to retrieve the Davy Crockett weapons. After Volgin leaves, Ocelot is left alone
with EVA, and after recognizing her perfume, he notices she’s wearing different boots,
but nonetheless leaves her be. Snake makes his way into the tunnel and is
met by the final surviving member of the Cobra Unit: the jetpack-donning, flamethrower-wielding
former cosmonaut. After another battle, Snake again emerges
victorious, and The Fury explodes like his fellow Cobras before him, collapsing the tunnel
as Snake escapes. Snake reaches the weapons lab where he knocks
out Raikov and uses an advanced mask designed by Sigint to disguise himself as the GRU Major. Snake gets past security and silently observes
Sokolov secretly handing over a microfilm containing the Shagohod’s research data
to Tatyana. After she leaves, Snake reveals himself to
Sokolov, but the scientist explains that he is too late, and the Shagohod is about to
enter “Phase 2”, which will allow the tank to travel at over 300 miles per hour,
enabling it to propel an intercontinental ballistic missile at a higher velocity and
travel a vastly longer distance. Based on the Phase 2 prototype, Volgin plans
to mass-produce the weapon to end the Cold War and spiral the world into wide-spread
nuclear warfare. To prevent this, Sokolov tasks Snake with
planting explosives on the Shagohod’s fuel tanks to destroy the weapon. The scientist then reveals that he knows Tatyana
is a spy, posing as Volgin’s lover, but does not recognize the name “EVA”. Sokolov tries to deny Snake’s rescue, knowing
that even if he is extracted back to the United States, he’ll be forced to create weapons
of mass destruction, but Volgin soon arrives and interrupts their conversation. While Snake is able to get his disguise back
on, Volgin quickly uses some… observational techniques to determine he isn’t the real
Major Raikov. Volgin then shoots Sokolov in the knees, allowing
Snake to wrestle his gun away and incapacitate him. This victory is short-lived, however, as the
Boss arrives and quickly bests Snake in CQC and removes his mask. Volgin proceeds to torture Snake to “pay
for what he did to [Raikov]” before questioning him and Sokolov, apparently killing the latter
in the process. Snake refuses to talk, and the Boss informs
Volgin that she trained him not to fold under torture, so his efforts will be in vain. During the beating, a transmitter falls off
of Snake’s body, and the Boss states that she planted it on him so the Cobras could
ambush him. Volgin, suspicious of this answer (given that
all of the Cobras failed despite having a tactical advantage), asks the Boss to prove
that she isn’t still loyal to her apprentice by cutting out his eyes. The Boss then takes out her knife, but before
she can use it, Tatyana stops her. Ocelot, questioning her loyalty, begins to
“test” her with his Russian Roulette, but Snake swings his body and knocks him out
of the way, causing Ocelot to accidentally fire his weapon right next to Snake’s eye,
with the resulting muzzle burn blinding it. The Boss slaps Ocelot for his behavior, and
Volgin leaves. Ocelot then punches Snake in the back, secretly
placing the transmitter in one of his wounds while musing about his new appreciation for
the “art” of torture. After he leaves, the Boss takes one of Ocelot’s
guns and shoots Snake in the leg before slipping him the weapon and telling him to run. After the Boss leaves Tatyana, now alone with
Snake, whispers to him an escape plan then leaves him alone to figure out how to escape
his cell before the guards arrive. Snake passes out from his pain and exhaustion
and wakes up in a cell in Groznyj Grad’s brig. After using a fork to take out the bullet
The Boss shot him with, he discovers it to be hiding a “Fake Death Pill”. Snake befriends his guard, Johnny, and learns
that the man has a family (including a son sharing his first name) in the United States. While Johnny doesn’t let Snake out of his
cell, he does give Snake back his cigarettes, which are secretly a knock-out gas delivery
system. Snake uses them, or another method, to escape
his cell and find EVA’s escape path. When he gets to the sewers, however, he gets
a call from EVA informing him that Volgin discovered Snake’s escape,locked Groznyj
Grad down, and sealed off the escape route. Ocelot and his unit arrive and give chase,
and Snake is soon cornered at the end of the tunnel with a drainage waterfall overlooking
the river below. When Ocelot pulls a gun, Snake is forced to
dive off the ledge into the river, the impact of which nearly kills him. When snake regains the strength to move, he
comes across the shadowy apparition of The Sorrow. The spirit then forces him to trudge through
the river, haunted by the souls of all of those he has killed on his mission so far. At the end, the Sorrow disappears, and Snake
falls dead, but the hidden pill stored in his tooth prior to the mission to counteract
the Fake Death Pill’s effects revives him. As Snake reawakens, the Sorrow reveals his
relationship to the Boss, as well as the truth behind her killing him. Once out of the river, Snake calls EVA, and
the pair agree to meet in the caves behind a nearby waterfall. There, EVA arrives on her motorcycle, and
the pair share a night together during which EVA finds the transmitter Ocelot planted in
Snakes back. The next morning, she gives Snake some C3
she stole out of the fortress, instructing him to plant the explosive on the Shagohod’s
four fuel tanks before giving him a key to unlock the area. EVA snaps a photo of Snake with a camera hidden
in her button as “insurance”, before riding through the waterfall on her motorcycle once
again. Snake makes his way back to the weapons lab,
using the key to reach the Shagohod’s hangar. There, he plants the C3 on the four fuel tanks,
setting a timer for their detonation, but before he can leave, he is confronted by Volgin
and Ocelot, who have an unconscious EVA captive. The Boss then surprise-attacks Snake, disarming
him. Ocelot then holds Snake at gunpoint, and Volgin
reveals that they discovered Tatyana was a spy. He then goes on to inform Snake about the
Philosopher’s Legacy, as well as how he came to obtain its wealth as well as how it
used it to recruit the Boss to enact his plan to “bring order to the world”. Volgin then hands the Boss the microfilm of
the Legacy’s ledgers, and she takes EVA away, leaving Volgin and Ocelot to deal with
Snake. While Ocelot tries to challenge Snake, Volgin
stops him, lowering a platform to fight Snake man-to-man. To make things a fair fight, Ocelot tosses
snake a pistol and knife. While Volgin’s power of electrical control
proves to be a challenge, Snake ultimately emerges victorious. Afterwards, Volgin commands Ocelot to shoot
Snake, but the young man refuses, stating that he made a promise to the Boss. The explosives are discovered, and the facility
is evacuated, leaving Snake and Volgin alone for one more battle, which Snake again wins. With Volgin incapaciated, Snake escapes, and
exits the hangar, finding EVA on her bike outside. The pair ride off just before the C3 detonates,
and EVA reveals that the Boss let her go, and is currently waiting for Snake at the
nearby lake to give him a chance to complete his mission. Before the pair can make their way to the
lake, however, the Shagohod emerges from the ruins of the facility, still intact, piloted
by Volgin. EVA then drives her motorcycle, while Snake
fires from the sidecar, taking out Volgin’s men, despite Ocelot’s interference. The pair then lead the Shagohod to a nearby
bridge where EVA previously planted a C3 charge. Once the Shagohod passes, Snake shoots the
charge and destroys the bridge, but the giant tank is able to use its acceleration to avoid
falling into the waters below. Snake and EVA then mount her bike once again,
and after sharing a good-luck kiss, they battle the Shagohod again, this time disabling it. Volgin exits the tank, and controls it manually
using his electrical powers, but Snake fires on him and brings him down. The colonel refuses to give up, but a storm
rolls in, and when a bolt of lightning strikes the man, he bursts into flame, finally taking
him down for good, as he is left in a comatose state atop the Shagohod. EVA and Snake bask in their victory, but their
celebration is cut short when Volgin’s men give chase. The pair escape on EVAs motorcycle, but she
soon crashes. After a rough landing, Snake is able to nurse
their wounds with Para-Medic’s help. They then sneak past the remaining defenses
and reach the lake, where EVA finds their escape craft. Snake leaves EVA to confront the Boss, and
soon finds her in a nearby field of white grass lilies. Snake asks the Boss why she’s doing what
she is, and she tells him that she, like Volgin, planned to reunite the world in the wake of
the two World Wars. Seeing no meaning in the idea of enemies and
allies, the Boss envisioned a world with no borders while returning from her mission to
space. The Boss fills Snake in on her history, as
well as the Philosophers’, and finally shows him the snake-shaped scar on her abdomen from
where her baby was cut out of her on the battlefield. After thanking him for listening to her story,
the Boss prompts a battle between the two, pulling her weapon, called “the Patriot”,
and claiming that whoever wins will inherit her title. The former pupil and master then battle amongst
the flowers, with Snake eventually besting his friend and mentor. As she lays dying, the Boss gives Snake the
Philosopher’s Legacy microfilm, as well as her weapon, asking him to kill her. After taking a moment to gather himself, Snake
aims the Patriot at the Boss, and pulls the trigger, painting the field of white lilies
red with her blood. As the Boss’s spirit reunites with the Sorrow,
Snake returns to EVA at the escape craft. As the pair lift off, they are surprised by
Ocelot, who arrives on a flying platform and boards the craft. Snake bests the young man in CQC, but Ocelot
challenges him to a standoff, finally introducing himself as “Adamska”, before asking Snake’s
name, which he reveals as John. The pair choose their guns, and draw, but
it’s only a ruse set up by Ocelot, who bids farewell and exits the craft. EVA and Snake then successfully fly out of
the area, but are followed by Russian air forces, who are soon called off by Krushchev
himself, allowing the pair to escape to safety. Snake and EVA later reach a safe house in
Alaska, where they spend a night… celebrating. The next morning, Snake finds EVA missing,
with only a recorded message left behind in her wake. In the message, the woman reveals that she
was not the real EVA (who was in actuality a man), nor did she ever work for the KGB
or the NSA. Instead, she was a spy sent by the People’s
Republic of China to retrieve the Philosopher’s Legacy for the country, which she was able
to steal and escape with (along with the Shagohod’s data), while Snake was asleep. She reveals that she is an agent of the Philosophers,
and apologizes for deceiving Snake, revealing that while she was ordered to kill Snake,
she made a promise to the Boss, so she refused. Finally, she reveals that the Boss’s defection,
as well as all of her actions following, were nothing more than a ruse; political theater
in order to recover the Philosopher’s Legacy for Washington DC. The Boss’s death at Snake’s hand was her
final duty to her country, one they both were able to fulfill. Later, Snake and his FOX companions meet with
several high-ranking government officials, including United States President Lyndon B.
Johnson, who awards him with the Distinguished Service Cross before claiming that he has
surpassed the Boss, giving him the title: “Big Boss”. Snake salutes the president and shakes his
hand, but as he exits, he refuses to shake the CIA Director’s. An official from the Department of Defense
then speaks with the CIA Director about setting up a unit like FOX in the army, led by somebody,
like Big Boss, to handle top-secret sneaking missions. Snake leaves the event alone, and visits Arlington
National Cemetery, where he finds The Boss’s grave marker. There, he leaves her gun, as well as a bouquet
of white lilies. Tearfully, he salutes her grave, knowing that
her true intentions, as well as her legacy, live on only in his own heart and mind. Sometime later, Ocelot calls the Chief Director
of the KGB to inform him of Groznyj Grad’s destruction, as well as Krushchev’s downfall. However, right after, Ocelot calls the Director
of the CIA, revealing that he was a triple agent, and that the Boss’s mission was a
success: the Philosopher’s Legacy now rests in America’s hands. The film the fake EVA stole was a fabrication,
and the remaining Legacy, or at least half of it, was returned to the United States,
which they plan to use to “revive the Philosophers”. He then theorizes that the KGB must still
have part of the Legacy. Ocelot finally reveals that he obtained the
plans for Granin’s nuclear attack system, and promises that he is “always at the CIAs
disposal”, before hanging up the call. Immediately after the events of Groznyj Grad,
Volgin’s comatose body is recovered by Soviet Scientists and transported to a research facility
on the outskirts of Moscow, where it is kept alive and experimented on. Similarly, the Navajo parasite researcher
Code Talker is assigned to the autopsy of The End, and discovers that his photosynthesis
abilities (as well as some of the other Cobra’s powers), were the result of ancient parasites
that infected their vocal cords. To further study these parasites, Code Talker
retrieves living samples, and injects them into his own body for observation. Following the success of the Snake Eater mission,
Sigint joins the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency, or “ARPA”. Shortly after, “EVA” disappears, with
her last known location being in Hanoi. Around this time, Big Boss meets a young child
soldier in Mozambique, known as “Frank Jaeger” (his surname evolved from the German word
for “Hunter”). Big Boss places the boy in a rehabilitation
center, but he is soon abducted by the CIA and used in secret experiments to create the
“perfect soldier” by suppressing his emotions. Sometime later, Ocelot secretly locates the
other half of the Philosopher’s Legacy, and keeps it in his own possession. By 1970, Major Zero retires, and Big Boss
leaves the FOX unit, which goes rogue shortly after. In November of 1970, the rogue FOX unit sends
one of their agents to attack and capture Big Boss, bringing him to a prison cell on
the San Hieronymo Peninsula in Colombia. When Big Boss (still commonly known as Naked
Snake) awakens, he is met by FOX member Lieutenant Cunningham, who interrogates him on why he
left the FOX unit after Groznyj Grad as well as the location of the missing half of the
Philosopher’s Legacy. Snake, unaware of the missing half’s existence,
gives no information, causing Cunningham to leave him for the time being. In his cell, Snake meets his fellow prisoner,
an American Green Beret named Roy Campbell, who shares his plan to escape the cell by
removing an air duct cover and traveling through them to reach the adjacent room. Snake does so, finding and donning FOX’s
new experimental sneaking suit in the room. Snake finds Campbell’s cell and the man
tells him about the history of the base they’re currently imprisoned in: an unfinished Soviet
missile production facility that has been overrun by the FOX unit. Unable to open Campbell’s cell, Snake instead
heads to a nearby communications base to attempt to make a call for rescue. There, he broadcasts an encrypted signal which
is picked up by Para-Medic, who informs him that Zero has been arrested on suspicion of
treason connected to FOX’s revolt, in which Snake’s former unit stole a top-secret weapon
before fleeing the country. She also reveals that Snake has also been
charged for the crime. After their discussion, Sigint calls to provide
his own assistance to Snake, advising him to capture whoever started FOX’s revolt
so he can clear his own name. He also suggests that Snake try to convince
some of the Russian soldiers recruited by FOX to join his cause instead. After finding the key to Campbell’s cell,
Snake returns and unlocks it. Snake then asks Campbell for his help in clearing
his name, which the man accepts despite his injuries and illness hindering his movement. With Campbell now leading the mission through
radio support, he sends Snake to the Green Beret’s target: a nearby Soviet patrol base. When Snake arrives at the base, he eavesdrops
on a conversation between two guards about the powerful stolen weapon, which can supposedly
“obliterate all major cities in the motherland.” Snake also learns of some kind of secret document
in the base, and Snake sneaks in to recover it to find that it outlines the details of
a launch plan, revealing that FOX plans to actually use the secret weapon. Campbell determines that the best way to get
more information would be to recruit a soldier who is disgruntled with FOX’s current commander:
a man known by the name “Gene”. Snake knocks out a Soviet soldier stationed
nearby and brings him to a stolen truck with Campbell. The pair interrogate the soldier, named Johnathan,
and ask him to help “free” the soldiers from Gene’s command. Johnathan refuses, telling them that the Russian
soldiers willfully joined Gene, hoping to create their own nation after their government
abandoned them on the peninsula after shutting the weapons facility down. Snake gives Johnathan a talk about loyalty,
and upon learning of his true identity as Big Boss, the captured soldier agrees to join
him. Soon after, Campbell’s illness gets worse,
and Johnathan fears that he has contracted malaria. Snake returns to the communications base and
calls Para-Medic, who suspects Campbell to be infected with a particular strain of malaria
parasite, directing him to find a nearby medical facility to look for preventative medication. Jonathan gives Snake the location of a small
hospital that recently got an unusually large shipment of supplies, and Snake heads there. Unfortunately, Snake finds no sign of the
supplies, finding only a manifest of outgoing materials sent to a nearby lab. Meanwhile, a helicopter flies over, in which
Cunningham orders a search team to find Snake and Campbell. Hoping to locate the malaria drugs, Snake
heads to the research lab. There, he overhears Gene, Cunningham, and
a scientist discussing an experimental super soldier codenamed “Null”. Snake then sees their “psychic specialist”,
Ursula, who is tasked with keeping Null controlled. Further inside the lab, Snake finds Null,
asleep in a culture tank, and he immediately recognizes the young man. A woman resembling Ursula then enters, claiming
to be in charge. As soldiers enter the room looking for Snake,
the woman quickly hides him in a locker. The woman covers for Snake, and when the guards
leave, she introduces herself as Ursula’s twin sister: Elisa. Elisa proceeds to fill Snake in on her history
with her sister, who was seemingly one of the most powerful psychics in all of the Communist
world, leading to the pair being taken by Gene years ago as part of a FOX mission. She then shows Snake Null, and explains that
the young man has been erased of all of his memories and emotions to make him a better
soldier. This treatment unfortunately requires a “re-calibration”
in the culture tank after every mission. Elisa then gives Snake a medicine for the
malaria before showing him to an escape route, telling him to head to the harbor. After treating the squad’s malaria, Snake
forms a spy unit to perform recon. Snake and the group are then able to locate
a heavily-guarded bridge to reach the harbor. After planting TNT at various facilities in
the area to distract the guards, Snake is able to cross the bridge safely and reach
the harbor. There, Snake witnesses Soviet Colonel Skowronski
arguing with a man Snake recognizes as his former Vietnam war-partner, code-named Python,
about FOX’s takeover of the base. Python throws Skowronski in a cell, then freezes
the lock with his specialized, liquid-nitrogen equipped suit. After Python leaves, Snake questions the eccentric
Colonel, and the latter expresses his shared disdain for Gene, who has taken over his base. Snake then shoots the frozen lock, freeing
the man before walking off. Snake then searches the harbor and finds an
out of place crate with “MADE IN USA” written on it. He investigates the crate to find it mostly
empty, but with some spare equipment left behind, leading him to believe it once contained
the secret weapon FOX has stolen. Snake soon receives a transmission from an
unknown caller, who thanks him for “taking care of Volgin” before introducing himself
as “Prividyenie”, the Russian word for Ghost. Ghost then reveals that the weapon Gene stole
was much like Sokolov’s Shagohod: a nuclear tank, but this one can fire multiple warheads
at once. Additionally, this weapon uses the bipedal,
walking concept that Granin envisioned for his “Metal Gear”. Ghost theorizes that FOX must have had a U.S.
government official involved in the theft, and they are probably hiding out at the nearby
airport. Ghost then asks Snake to stop Metal Gear,
and the pair wrap up their conversation. Snake and Campbell continue to recruit more
allies, and eventually learn of the location of FOX’s warhead storage facility. When Snake tries to infiltrate it, however,
his progress is halted by Python. The man reveals that after being injured in
Vietnam, his body became unable to regulate its own temperature, causing the CIA to develop
his unique suit to keep him alive. The pair then battle, and despite the freezing
abilities provided by Python’s suit, Snake emerges successful. Afterwards, Python warns Snake that if he
hopes to stop the uprising, he must be prepared to hold his men’s lives in his own hands. Snake then helps Python to his feet, and the
pair leave together to regroup with Campbell. Campbell realizes that the warheads have been
shipped from the storage facility, and remembering his conversation with Ghost, Snake decides
to go to the airport to find the U.S. government official involved in the smuggling of the
intercontinental ballistic-launch Metal Gear, or ICBMG. After sneaking inside, Snake finds the official
and learns that the warheads were brought to a nearby missile silo. After locating the underground silo, Snake
infiltrates it to look for the ICBMG. At its entrance, however, Snake is stopped
by Null, and the pair fight one-on-one. During the battle, Snake recognizes Null’s
moves from his time in Mozambique, but he isn’t able to explore the thought, as Cunningham
arrives with a group of soldiers, who proceed to capture Snake. After losing contact with Snake, Campbell
and their men begin to search for him. After questioning a guard at the silo, they
learn that Snake is currently being held in a nearby safehouse. There, Gene and Cunningham interrogate Snake,
but his CIA training makes getting any information out of him near impossible for the uprising
leaders. Gene asks to speak with Snake alone, and after
Cunningham leaves, Gene reveals the truth to Snake: that the theft of the ICBMG was
secretly orchestrated by the CIA to prolong the Cold War in order to keep the age of soldiers
and spies alive so they would maintain their power and importance. As it turns out, FOX was instructed to steal
the Metal Gear, then pretend to defect to the Soviet Union. Gene, a product of the U.S. Government’s
“Successor Project”, was engineered to be the “ultimate battlefield commander”
(modeled after the Boss herself), and chosen to lead this uprising; but he decided to birth
his own new world. Meanwhile, Campbell’s men continue to interrogate
guards and use their intel to locate the exact location of the safehouse. Sometime later, Gene speaks on a phone call
with Major Ocelot, and the pair discuss that the Soviet Union has agreed to stay out of
Gene’s plans. Gene then asks who is helping Ocelot behind
the scenes, theorizing that it’s “the man with the same code name as Null”: Zero. The pair then wrap up the call, agreeing to
meet again in Gene’s new world. Afterwards, two guards rush into the room,
but Null arrives in tow, killing them. The perfect soldier, obsessed with completing
his mission to kill Snake, asks where he is being held, but Gene stops him, and has him
taken back to his preparation chamber. As Campbell’s men continue to search for
Snake, he is met by Elisa in his holding area. The woman is able to use her own limited telepathic
abilities to secretly tell Snake that Gene has begun preparations for Metal Gear’s
ballistic launch of nuclear warheads. She predicts that the weapon has been taken
to the assembly plant to be loaded with the nukes, and pleads that Snake take this opportunity
to prevent the attack. After finding the location of the safe house,
Campbell’s men, led by Jonathan, infiltrate and find Snake, cutting their leader free
of his bindings. On their way out, however, they are stopped
by Cunningham, who again asks Snake where the remainder of the Legacy is hidden, shooting
his men to force him to talk. While Snake continues to deny any knowledge
about the Legacy, Cunningham reveals that the Pentagon told him Snake stole the KGB’s
half. Suddenly, a truck plows through Cunningham’s
men, driven by Elisa. Snake loads his wounded men into the truck,
and they all escape back to Campbell. Snake introduces Campbell to Elisa before
the two head off to search for the location of the assembly plant. On the way, Elisa confides in Snake and tells
him more about her and her sisters’ history, revealing that she betrayed Gene after learning
that he had nuclear warheads, which she believes should never be used in any circumstance due
to her parents dying in the nuclear explosion that later led to the development of her and
Ursula’s ESP abilities. Snake shares his own past with nuclear exposure
at Bikini Atoll. Elisa tells Snake that despite her sister’s
vision of Snake plunging the world into fear, she still believes in him, and thinks he’ll
make a great father someday; an idea he quickly shoots down due to his sterility. The pair find the assembly plant and Snake
leads the way, infiltrating and finding Metal Gear. As Elisa and a group of Snake’s men arrive
to meet him, however, Gene arrives with his men in tow, halting their progress. Suddenly, Metal Gear activates, and begins
to open fire, hitting Gene’s men. The pilot then reveals himself as Colonel
Skowronski, taking revenge on his former men. Snake uses the distraction to rush over to
Gene and hold him at gunpoint, demanding he call off the rest of his men. Gene then reveals his true trump card, gesturing
to Elisa and saying, “wake up, Ursula”. Elisa then pleads with Snake to shoot her,
before Ursula awakens, but the confused man simply watches on as “Ursula’s” personality
awakens within Elisa. Ursula then tells Snake that she will kill
him before he can “spawn [his] accursed snake children” before knocking him down. Gene then reveals that through the experiments
conducted to strengthen the girl’s abilities, her personality split into two: the powerful
but emotionless Ursula, and the compassionate Elisa. Ursula then uses her abilities to take control
of Metal Gear, jostling Skowronski out of the cockpit before taking his place at the
helm of the weapon. Snake is forced to fight Metal Gear, using
explosives to take out its legs to expose its weak points and eventually bring down
the massive weapon. Snake tries to rescue Elisa, but before he
can, Metal Gear explodes, leaving her in the blast. Seeing their means of threat now gone, Gene’s
men lose their will to build their new nation and throw down their arms. A frustrated Gene then chastises Snake for
taking out his “Metal Gear RAXA”, but seeing how the soldier caught Ocelot’s eye. Snake asks what Ocelot has to do with anything,
but Gene shrugs the question off. Snake then hears a frantic cry from Ghost,
appearing in the flesh to be Nikolai Sokolov, alive and well, who reveals that this Metal
Gear RAXA wasn’t the real ballistic-launch Metal Gear, but instead a test model produced
for performance evaluation. Sokolov, who was rescued from Volgin’s prison
camp by Gene, admits that he is still grateful to the man, but cannot allow the launch of
Metal Gear. Snake then spots the real intercontinental
ballistic-launch Metal Gear flying overhead, and Gene uses his unique power of speech from
the Successor Project to warn the soldiers in the area about the end of the Cold War,
riling up a sense of fear and paranoia over who their real enemies would be afterward,
stating that one of his men is in the crowd, preparing to kill them all. This causes gunfire to break out amongst the
men, and Jonathan takes a bullet for Snake, dying from his wounds. As Snake lays with his fallen comrade in his
arms, Gene escapes amidst the chaos. Snake and Campbell then focus their efforts
on the nuclear launch silo, learning that they must take out power to the area to get
past the lock on the gate to the entrance. After planting a timed explosive on the nearby
power substation’s switchboard, Snake rushes back to the silo. On his way, however, Snake spots a pile of
dead soldiers, and finds the culprit nearby: Null, indiscriminately killing anyone in his
path to Snake. Null expresses his frustration that Snake
still lives. It’s at this point that Snake realizes that
Null is none other than the boy he met four years prior in Mozambique, Frank Jaeger, now
in his teens. While Null recognizes his name, he refuses
to cast aside his role as the perfect soldier, instead attacking Snake. The two fight, and Snake is able to beat the
“perfect soldier” in combat. Afterwards, Jaeger remembers Snake, who apologizes
for leaving him in the rehabilitation center to be abducted by who he believes were the
Philosophers. Jaeger forgives Snake, thanking him for saving
him, and the pair leave before the time bomb goes off. Snake is then able to reach the silo and enter
the gate, reaching a freight elevator down to the underground facility. During his trip on the elevator, however,
he is confronted by Cunnginham atop a flying platform. Surprisingly, Cunningham states that he doesn’t
answer to Gene, but instead to the U.S. Department of Defense, who, after growing threatened
by the CIA’s growing influence and power, orchestrated Gene’s stealing of Metal Gear,
as well as Snake’s involvement, to purposely make Gene fire nuclear warheads at the Soviet
Union, embarrassing the CIA on the world stage and putting the Pentagon back in charge. Cunningham then reveals his own mini nuclear
warhead to blow up the base and cover up the operation. Cunningham orders Snake to head to the facility’s
roof to a helicopter that will take him back to the United States while Gene fires the
nukes at Russia, but he meets this demand with a drawn pistol. Refusing to live his life like his mentor,
Snake decides to be loyal to himself, refusing to allow the nuclear warheads to launch. Cunningham refuses to let him pass, forcing
Snake to fight. Snake is able to damage Cunningham’s flying
platform, but the Lieutenant decides that if he’s going to die, he’s taking Snake
with him. He then arms his miniature nuke, but before
he can fire, the platform explodes, killing the man, and luckily leaving his weapon unlaunched. At the bottom of the freight elevator, Snake
finds the control room. There, he sees Gene, standing around the bodies
of the dead Metal Gear engineers, who the man claimed killed themselves after feeling
the guilt of their crimes. Snake then informs Gene of the Pentagon conspiracy,
and the man reveals that he was aware of everything all along, including Cunningham betraying
him. Gene states that he was simply using the CIA
to execute his own plan: to launch Metal Gear’s nukes at the CIA headquarters and the Pentagon
in the U.S., destroying the Philosopher’s twin lairs in one fell swoop. With the world fallen into chaos and without
the Philosopher’s control, Gene then plans to rebuild it in his own design. Gene plans to call his new organization of
soldiers he will lead “Army’s Heaven”, but Snake denounces his idea, stating that
under Gene, there would be no “heaven for soldiers”, and they would instead look for
somewhere “outside [his] ‘heaven’”. Gene compares these new soldiers to the Boss,
angering Snake, who claims Gene is not worthy to speak her name. Gene then tells Snake that he wasn’t given
the truth behind the Boss’s sacrifice. Gene claims that Volgin launching the Davy
Crockett, triggering Operation Snake Eater, was not a “change of plans”, but was instead
a setup from the beginning. The entire situation, including Snake killing
the Boss, was planned by a “single, deviously cunning strategist” working for the United
States. Snake demands Gene tell him this individual’s
identity, but he refuses, simply stating that the Boss died for her calling, and now Snake
will do the same. Gene places his hand on the Metal Gear’s
launch button, but as he presses it, the console explodes, and Elisa appears, reunited with
her other personality. Elisa states that nuclear weapons should never
be used, as she can feel the pain and suffering they cause. Gene throws a knife at her, but she is able
to foresee the attack and dodge it. Realizing this, Gene instead outmaneuvers
her physically, grabbing her and stabbing her in the chest before simply walking off
to find another way to launch Metal Gear. Snake rushes over to speak with Elisa, who
tells him that Gene is headed to a backup control room, and he must stop him. Snake agrees, and Elisa looks into his future,
realizing that her and Ursula were both right about him: he will destroy Metal Gear, but
create another in its place, and one of his children (which she refer to as Les Enfants
Terribles) will bring the world to ruin, but another will save it. Snake asks her what she means, but she dies
from her wounds, and he leaves her to stop Gene. Snake reaches the backup control room, where
he finds that Gene has already put Metal Gear in launch mode. Gene then challenges Snake to find out who
the true successor to the Boss is, and after a grueling battle, Snake emerges the victor,
proving to Gene that the Successor Project didn’t create the better soldier, but perhaps
the key was in Snake’s “genes”. Snake tries to stop nuke’s launch, but Gene
tells him to give up and leave instead, handing him a microfilm containing the “equipment,
personnel, and funds” he amassed to build Army’s Heaven so he can carry on “the
legacy” and become the true successor, before he dies. Snake calls Sokolov and asks how he can stop
the missile launch, and he states that while there’s no way he can stop the launch sequence,
if Snake can somehow dismantle the “Metal Gear Unit” on the missile (which allow for
the intercontinental ballistics), he may be able to stop it but firing the nuclear warheads. Using an RPG, Snake tries to damage the missile,
but finds its armor too strong. Snake’s men then arrive and offer their
help as thanks for giving them a reason to fight. The nuclear missile launches into the air,
but thanks to the combined effort of their gunfire and Snake’s rockets, the Metal Gear
Unit fails to activate, and instead explodes in the atmosphere. Sokolov calls Snake to congratulate him on
his success, but gets no response. Meanwhile, the Director of the CIA is being
led to a secure bunker to avoid the nuclear attack, but he is met along the way by Ocelot,
who introduces himself as ADAM. The Director states that he’s holding a
briefcase containing the information on the Philosophers, including its members and the
location of the half of the Philosopher’s Legacy that was returned to the CIA. Ocelot then shoots and kills the director’s
guards. As the Director asks Ocelot what he’s doing,
the young man states that he’s “ending” the Philosophers, taking back the other half
of the Legacy to make the world the Boss envisioned a reality. He then aims his revolver at the Director,
firing, and killing him. Sometime later, Snake returns to the U.S.
on a cargo plane, and he speaks on a call with Campbell, who has recovered from his
injuries, asking him about what happened to Frank Jaeger. Campbell states that the man
survived, but with physical and mental wounds that will likely land him in the hospital
for a long while. The pair then bid farewell, hoping to meet
again someday. Snake emerges from the plane and is met by
Para-Medic, Sigint, and Zero, who provides him with a packet of documents. Later, he reads them in his hotel to learn
that they detail the formation of a special forces unit of the U.S. Army called “FOXHOUND”,
which he is tasked to command after proving his abilities as a leader. At some later point, Ocelot receives a call
from the man who was secretly feeding him information: Zero. The two discuss the Director of the CIA’s
death, which Ocelot staged as a suicide. Ocelot gloats that Zero’s plan worked out
perfectly, including obtaining the second half of the Legacy and using Snake as an insurance
policy. Zero then expresses his desire to study the
battle data from the Perfect soldier program to apply it to a project involving manipulating
the human genome. Intrigued, Ocelot agrees to help with this
project, but only on one condition: to recruit Big Boss into their new organization, which
he refers to as “the Patriots”. Zero, Ocelot, and Big Boss form a successor
group to the Philosophers along with Sigint and Para-Medic with the goal to use their
resources to work behind the scenes of world government to build the world The Boss envisioned. Shortly after their formation, Big Boss is
able to rescue EVA in Hanoi, and she joins the group as well. However, Zero and Big Boss begin to disagree
on what the Boss intended, causing a rift to grow between the two. Zero, now using Big Boss’s reputation as
a means to inspire the world to follow their lead, begins to fear that he’ll lose his
figurehead. As a contingency plan, Zero carries out his
idea to replicate Big Boss’s “soldier genes”, a plan officially titled: Les Enfants
Terribles. Using an egg donated by her Japanese assistant,
Para-Medic is able to fertilize it with Big Boss’s DNA to create eight embryos which
are transferred into EVAs womb to be carried. Two embryos are engineered to survive: one
to express Big Boss’s dominant genes, and the other to express his recessive genes. Both clones are also genetically modified
to rapidly age, to ensure a shorter lifespan as a fail-safe. Nine months later, EVA gives birth to the
“Twin Snakes”, named Eli (later known as “Liquid Snake”) and David (later known
as “Solid Snake”). Using this research, another clone is created
later, with the same dominant and recessive genes as Big Boss, in order to create a genetically
closer clone, but also with a stronger aging acceleration. This clone is later called “Solidus Snake”. Upon learning of the project’s existence,
Big Boss becomes furious and splits from Zero. Feeling alone and betrayed, Big Boss leaves
the United States, as well as his position in FOXHOUND. Around this same time, EVA and Ocelot also
part ways with Zero. Without a country to call home, Big Boss begins
to travel, working as a mercenary for various countries. On one of his assignments, in Colombia, he
meets a guerrilla leader and fellow mercenary named Kazuhira Miller, whom he spares in combat. Big Boss then forms his own mercenary outfit,
called “Militaires Sans Frontières” (Army Without Borders in English) and convinces
Kazuhira, or “Kaz” for short, to join. The pair then work to recruit other like-minded
mercenary soldiers into this new organization, now colloquially known as “MSF” and stationed
off the Barranquilla Coast of Colombia. Meanwhile, Code Talker continues his studies
on parasites and small organisms, discovering a strain of archaea that metabolizes uranium,
called the “metallic archaea”. On November 4, 1974, Big Boss (still simply
going by “Snake”) is met at the MSF base by Kaz Miller, who arrives with two guests:
a man with a red, mechanical prosthetic hand who introduces himself as Professor Ramón
Gálvez Mena from Costa Rica’s University for Peace along with his sixteen year old
student, Paz Ortega Andrade. Gálvez asks for the MSF’s help with an
advanced, armed group that has been seen in Costa Rica who he believes are connected to
the CIA. Because of Costa Rica’s Peace Constitution,
which disallows them from having an army, Gálvez asks MSF to drive the forces out of
their country. In lieu of payment, Gálvez offers a forward
operating base: an offshore plant in the caribbean. While Kaz is excited at the prospect of a
new base of operations for MSF, Snake refuses to be treated like a pack of “dogs of war”,
instead recommending that Costa Rica try to negotiate instead of using force. Gálvez then reveals that he isn’t there
on behalf of the government, but instead on Paz’s accord. Paz, who had been captured and tortured by
the unknown forces while searching for her lost friend days prior, proclaims that she
will do anything to protect her namesake: peace. Gálvez then reveals that they know Snake’s
true identity as Big Boss, which is why they came to him. Later, Kaz tries to convince Snake to take
the deal, as they could use a base to put down their roots and expand MSF. Snake brushes it aside, and instead believes
that Gálvez is likely KGB, looking to scare off the unknown aggressors, who Snake also
theorizes are backed by the CIA. Snake then goes to speak with Gálvez, and
gets his true mission out of him: to force the CIA out of Central America to let Russia
control the land and win the Cold War. Gálvez then reveals that the CIA has something
planned for the area, and asks Snake to learn what it is. Galvez then plays a cassette Paz’s friend
recorded during their capture, and on it, Snake recognizes a voice: one that shouldn’t
exist. Gálvez then confirms that the voice on the
recording belongs to the Legendary Hero: the Boss. Intrigued to find out how the Boss could be
alive in Costa Rica, Snake takes the cassette tape and agrees to the job, stating that he’s
doing it for Paz. Days later, Snake infiltrates one of the CIA
facilities, where he overhears a guard mention the loading of “Spears” on a cargo ship. He questions the guards to learn that the
cargo is headed to Irazú, in the mountains, but a fight causes Snake to knock out the
guard before he can learn more. Snake then witnesses an unknown aircraft fly
above, seemingly “singing” some kind of melody. Snake calls Kaz and informs him of a map he
found, as well as evidence that the CIA are bringing Nukes into Costa Rica. Snake heads out to work with the Sandinista
National Liberation Front (or FSLN in native Spanish) to retrieve intel of the area, while
Kaz works to conduct repairs of their new offshore facility, which he names their “Mother
Base”. Snake soon locates a Sandnista base, where
he finds the commander of the group’s daughter, who informs Snake that her father has been
killed. The young woman, Amanda Valenciano Libre,
reveals to Snake that she also believes the hostile group to be CIA, and that she has
seen them bringing in heavy equipment. During their conversation, the group is suddenly
ambushed by the singing aircraft Snake saw earlier.The aircraft opens fire on them and
Snake is just barely able to shield Amanda from its gunfire. As several smaller drones arrive Snake is
able to shoot them down after which Amanda reveals that the craft is an unmanned weapon,
a robot!, . One of the drones then captures Amanda’s younger brother, Chico, and flies
off with him, forcing the FSLN to give chase. Shortly after, however, Amanda herself is
captured by one of the drones, but she is able to cut herself free, dropping her to
the ground below. Amanda makes a hard landing, breaking her
leg, which allows the Kidnapper drone to capture her yet again. She yells to Snake to shoot the drone, and
he reluctantly does so, destroying the drone and causing Amanda to fall into the jungle
below. Snake rushes to Amanda and finds that she
has narrowly survived the fall. Amanda tells Snake about a nearby Banana Factory
which is secretly a front for a drug refining plant set up by the KGB for the FSLN to run. Amanda lements keeping the operation a secret
from Chico, and asks Snake to head to a prison in the mountains to look for him. She then passes out, and Snake has her taken
to Mother Base to recover while he looks for Chico. Snake soon finds the boy in his cell, who
seems to know where the cargo coming into the region is going: to a tunnel into the
mountains which is guarded by a giant “monster” known as “el basilisco”. Chico then reveals that despite his young
age, he was able to find out about the drug operations in the Banana Factory. Snake then offers to take Chico back to Mother
Base, but knowing he gave up information while being tortured in captivity, he fears returning
to his companions. Snake then gives the boy a chance at a “new
life” and has him sent to Mother Base. Snake then heads to the train depot and finds
the nukes being taken away in a fleet of trucks through the tunnel. A tank then rolls up and attacks Snake, destroying
the tunnel’s entrance and prompting a battle. Snake is able to single-handedly take out
the tank and a troop of ground units, and he receives an alternate path into the mountain
from Chico. Snake follows the route and finds the facility
where the trucks were taken. Searching the trucks, Snake finds… a strange
man named Mr. Kojima, but not much else, leading him to conclude that the nukes had already
been offloaded. Snake continues into the facility, soon overhearing
an argument between two men regarding the actual launch of the nukes. One of the men, a wheelchair-bound engineer,
Dr. Huey Emmerich, wishes for his “creation” to merely act as a deterrent, while the other,
CIA Station Chief for Central America named “Hot Coldman”, wishes to fire the nuclear
warheads to prove their nuclear strength. Coldman then states that Huey’s “creation”,
a bi-pedal locomotion nuclear launch mechanism called “Peace Walker”, is built off of
stolen ideas. He then pushes the man’s wheelchair down
a stairwell before walking off. Snake runs over to Emmerich, and frantically
asks where the nukes are being held. Before he can answer, the two men then hear
propellers, and Snake rushes to a hangar, where he spots the singing aircraft carrying
away a large, bipedal machine, alongside a gunship. A tank then arrives, equipped with an artificial
intelligence pod affixed to it, piloting the machine. This AI-driven weapon, codenamed the “Pupa”
attacks Snake. After disabling the tank Snake climbs inside
the AI Pod to remove its components and destroy the craft. After the battle, Snake speaks with Huey,
who takes credit for inventing the Pupa before introducing himself. Huey tells Snake that the Pupa was only one
type of his unmanned weapons, the others being a flying, singing type he saw before: the
Chrysalis, and a treaded type called the Cocoon. Huey then tells Snake about “Peace Walker”,
his mobile nuclear launcher (Chico’s Basilisco) based on the “Metal Gear” idea, as well
as Coldman’s idea to launch it to prove its usefulness as the “perfect” deterrent. Huey, the son of one of the leaders of the
Manhattan project, believes the only way to achieve peace is by removing human intervention. To achieve this, he invented the individual
AI pods to ensure that any country launching an attack would immediately be retaliated
against by Peace Walker, leading the entire world unable to use nuclear warfare. Hoping to stop Coldman from launching his
“demonstration”, Huey leads Snake to the warheads’ location: a base near the border. Huey then reveals that while he gave Peace
Walker a basic “brain”, called the Reptile Pod, the project is still missing its critical
piece: its “cerebrum” AI for unmanned high-level decision-making, which is currently
being developed in a nearby research lab by Dr. Strangelove. Huey then gives Snake his ID badge for security
clearance, as well as a letter from him to give to Strangelove, which he instructs Snake
not to read. Snake then asks Huey to join MSF in their
“Outer Heaven”, and he agrees, leaving Snake to find Strangelove’s lab. On his way, Snake finds a French ornithologist
named Cécile Cosima Caminades. Cécile had entered the area looking to record
the native bird, the quetzal, but instead captured two women discussing something: the
very same recording that Paz gave to Snake. Cécile was captured by Strangelove, but eventually
escaped and found a large, canister shaped object, where she heard a voice say the name
“Jack” over and over. Cécile tells Snake about an ID badge she
stole during her escape that was subsequently recovered by her captors, and he has her extracted
back to Mother Base before continuing on his way. Snake reaches the AI facility only to find
that Huey’s ID badge no longer works, so he begins to look for the one Cécile used
instead. After consorting with Cécile over radio Snake
and Kaz discuss the origin of the tape with the voice of the boss that Paz claims was
from her friend, however Cecile told Kaz she had never met Paz before (a matter Snake decides
to revisit later), Snake is able to find the guard who took her ID and retrieve it from
him, using it to enter Strangelove’s facility: hidden inside some Mayan temple ruins. Inside, Snake spots a familiar white horse;
the very same horse that once belonged to the Boss. Snake then hears his former mentor’s voice
before Doctor Strangelove appears to greet him with a fair bit of malice, due to her
anger towards him for killing the Boss. Snake gives her his reasons for killing the
legendary soldier, but Strangelove refuses the legitimacy of his mission, vowing not
to rest until she finds the answers behind the death of the woman she came to fall in
love with during their work together over a decade prior. Strangelove then reveals that she has given
the Boss a new life, and offers Snake a chance to “meet” her. She then leads him into a large room housing
an AI pod, which speaks to Snake in the Boss’s voice. Strangelove reveals that in return for her
participation on the Peace Walker project, she demanded all of the information the CIA
had on the Boss, using it to recreate her mind as the AI cerebrum, called the “Mammal
Pod”. Snake discovers that her true goal, however,
is to use this recreation of the Boss to learn the truth of why she had to die by Snake’s
hand. Despite claiming he has no desire to ask the
Boss for the answer himself, when Strangelove speaks the name “Jack”, the Mammal Pod
stirs awake and frantically shouts his name, repeating her same words warning him during
Operation Snake Eater to “go home”, beckoning Snake inside the pod’s chassis. Strangelove then challenges Snake to kill
the Boss again, before locking him inside the Mammal Pod. Inside the pod, Snake frantically tries to
disable the AI while it repeats the Boss’s words of warning, but he is unable to, as
Strangelove activates the security protocols and a gas causes Snake to pass out. In his dreams, Snake is haunted by his final
memories of the Boss. When he awakens, Snake sees the Mammal Pod
being airlifted away by chopper, and in its wake, the flying Chrysalis AI arrives and
attacks. After a battle with the weapon, Snake enters
it’s AI Pod and removes its memory boards to use for Mother Base’s own AI weapon. Afterwards, Kaz calls Snake to give him the
location of the final testing base for Peace Walker from Huey: an underground rock quarry
to the north. Snake then rides the Boss’s horse to the
facility, and Huey advises Snake to get up close to the cerebrum AI to destroy it. When he enters, however, he is spotted and
attacked by a squad of troops which Snake is able to defeat. This victory is short-lived, however, as the
giant Cocoon AI weapon arrives. After another grueling battle, Snake again
is able to disable the machine, taking some of its components for Mother Base. After its destruction, a piece of the machine
blasts into a nearby door, disabling its security mechanism and allowing Snake into the facility. Inside, Snake overhears Strangelove and Coldman
having a private discussion while the doctor’s scientists take a break. Snake uses this distraction to enter the Mammal
Pod, where Snake speaks one-on-one with the AI Boss, and he tries to ask her if she defected
to the Soviet Union of her own free will. When the AI admits having no recollection
of that mission, Snake comes to his senses that the machine isn’t truly the Boss, and
he raises his weapon to destroy it. Before he can, however, the pod opens again,
and Snake finds himself down the barrels of a squad of Coldman’s troops. Coldman reveals to Snake that not only was
he involved in Operation Snake Eater, he actually planned the whole thing for the CIA, being
moved to Central America in its wake to ensure he didn’t reveal any details. Coldman explains his plan of a New World Order
policed by the fully automated mechanical deterrent: Peace Walker, and Strangelove asks
to take Snake for questioning in order to improve the Mammal Pod. Snake tries to escape using CQC, snatching
Strangelove’s ID badge off of her in the commotion, but he is ultimately outnumbered
and taken captive. Snake is then questioned under torture by
Strangelove, who asks him the truth behind the Boss’s defection. He simply claims that the Boss not only betrayed
her country, but betrayed him as well. Strangelove then wonders why Snake would continue
to wear the bandana of a woman who betrayed him and continues to press him for the truth. Snake holds true that the Boss was a traitor,
and refuses to give her any information that may complete the AI. After continuous torture, Snake is overwhelmed
and passes out. Later awakening in his cell, Snake uses the
ID badge he stole from Strangelove to escape. After calling Kaz to inform him of his escape,
Snake receives some bad news: Paz and Gálvez have gone missing. Snake has Kaz contact the KGB for more information,
and Snake returns to his mission to destroy the Mammal Pod. When he returns to it, however, he quickly
finds Paz: in Coldman and Strangelove’s captivity. Coldman confronts Snake, informing him that
the Mammal Pod is finished, and Peace Walker’s activation sequence is complete. Strangelove tells Snake that his silence was
the answer she needed: that the Boss’s final mission was to be killed by Snake, fulfilling
her duty to America to the very end. This final puzzle piece allowed Strangelove
to fully restore the Boss “to life” in the Mammal Pod. Coldman then reveals Peace Walker’s initial
target: an offshore area in the caribbean. The ensuing trade winds will then scatter
the nuclear fallout over the Central American region, killing crops and fish to give him
free hands to mass-produce Peace Walker. This target area would also completely destroy
the off-coast Mother Base. Coldman then prepares Peace Walker for launch,
reiterating his belief that the only way to achieve world peace is through controlled
nuclear weapons. Coldman and Strangelove then exit with Paz
as Snake returns to the surface to stop Peace Walker. Outside the facility, Snake watches as Peace
Walker emerges from its underground hangar. Snake tries to stop the massive machine triggering
its self-defense mechanisms. After an intense battle, Snake causes the
machine to malfunction. Coldman then flies his helicopter overhead
and fires at the machine, distracting it and causing it to escape over the mountains. The Boss’s horse then returns to Snake,
and he mounts it to follow Peace Walker. Dodging the giant weapon’s defenses, Snake
gives chase on the horse, but at the Nicaraguan border, the terrain proves too steep, as the
animal falls, allowing Peace Walker, as well as Coldman, Strangelove, and their captive
Paz to escape. Snake is then forced to put the animal out
of its misery, severing one of his final ties with the Boss. With Amanda’s help, Snake travels to Nicaragua
to reach the United States missile base Peace Walker is being transported to. Disguising himself as a box, Snake sneaks
onto the back of a truck to get into the base, where he finds a security monitor room. There, Snake spots a feed of Paz on a security
camera, and he speaks with her to learn that Coldman has gone to the communications tower
to enter the final data for Peace Walker’s launch. Suddenly, alarms blare, and Snake gets a call
from Kaz, who tells him that all of MSF are headed towards Nicaragua to help him fight. Snake then fights his way through Coldman’s
forces to reach the communications tower, where he takes out a helicopter gunship before
entering. Inside, Snake finds Coldman, holding Paz hostage. Coldman boasts that they have entered the
“false data” into Peace Walker to make the AI believe a nuclear strike has been initiated
by the Soviets and to retaliate. Coldman then prepares to enter the final launch
codes, and as he does, Professor Gálvez arrives, revealing that he had been working with Coldman
all along. The “Professor”, whos real name Vladimir
Alexandrovich Zadornov, reveals to Coldman that he has double-crossed him, and all of
the soldiers in the area turn their weapons on Coldman. Zadornov then states that he plans to steal
Peace Walker and instead launch a nuke on Cuba to frame the United States to spread
anti-American sentiment to help win the Cold War. Zadornov then hands Paz a pistol and tells
her to shoot Coldman in revenge for what they did to her under imprisonment, but she can’t
bring herself to do it. Zadornov then grabs her hand, lifts the gun,
and forces her to fire at the man, deliberately aiming for a non-fatal shot, as he still needs
Coldman to enter in Peace Walker’s final code. Zadornov then forces Strangelove to change
Peace Walker’s data to fire at Cuba, threatening to destroy the Mammal Pod if she refuses,
to which she reluctantly agrees. Zadornov finally reveals to Snake his final
intentions: to kill him, framing the CIA in order to give the FSLN a reason to rise up
against the United States and free Nicaragua from America’s control. Zadornov, receiving word that Peace Walker
is ready, pulls his gun on Snake, but before he can execute him, gunfire erupts, and they
turn to see Snake’s backup, the combined MSF and FSLN forces. After shooting down the Soviet guards, Amanda
and Chico hold Zadornov captive, and the group celebrate their victory. Snake gives his thanks, and Amanda hugs him. Kaz takes Paz and Coldman back to Mother Base
with the others, while Snake stays behind to destroy the Mammal Pod and disable Peace
Walker. Strangelove soon arrives, apologizes to Snake
for torturing him, and offers him a ride to the AI so they can “speak” with the Boss. Aboard the helicopter back to Mother Base,
a dying Coldman secretly enters the launch codes into his briefcase. In his last breath, he reveals that Peace
Walker is also transmitting the false data to the North American Aerospace Defense Command
(or NORAD), who will interpret it as a real Soviet attack. Believing that the humans in the U.S. government
would never have the will to launch a nuclear retaliatory strike, they would realize a machine
like Peace Walker would be necessary and his “perfect deterrent” will finally bring
peace. Coldman then holds his two fingers in a “peace”
symbol, before finally dying from his wounds. Snake and Strangelove speed off to Peace Walker’s
location to stop it from transmitting the false data, and more importantly, prevent
the nuclear launch on Cuba. There, Snake battles the giant machine once
again, and after an even more grueling battle, Snake is able to disable it. However, Huey soon informs him that the data
uplink is still active, and the false data is still being transmitted. Huey taps into NORADs communications to learn
that Coldman’s prediction was wrong, and the U.S. government prepares to launch intercontinental
ballistic missiles. Snake then calls NORAD, using his status as
Big Boss to convince the chairman to stand down. After proving his identity, the chairman believes
him and agrees to call off the ICBMs, but is stopped by another member, who frantically
pulls a gun on him. Meanwhile, the Mammal Pod opens, allowing
Snake to enter. Once inside, Snake removes the AI’s components
one by one until it is finally gone. However, the data uplink does not stop, and
the officers at NORAD continue to argue over launching the retaliation. Huey determines that the Reptile AI is still
carrying out Mammal’s final orders, and Snake again fires at the machine to try and
disable it. Despite unloading all of his artillery on
Peace Walker, he finds that he cannot bring it down. Suddenly, the Mammal Pod seemingly awakens,
and the “ghost in the machine” causes Peace Walker to walk into the nearby Lago
Cocibolca, “drowning” itself to stop the transmission and save the entire planet. Snake then gives the “Boss” one final
salute, before he removes the bandana he once took from her, letting the wind take it away
from him. Later, Snake and Kaz have a private conversation,
where Snake admits that he’s done searching for the truth. Realizing that by putting down her gun and
allowing him to kill her, the Boss betrayed him by abandoning everything she was as a
soldier. Snake then states that he won’t make the
same mistakes as her, and going forward, he wants to be called “Big Boss”. After the events in Nicaragua, Paz and Strangelove
elect to stay on Mother Base, with the latter working alongside Huey on MSF’s own AI weapon,
named “Metal Gear ZEKE”. Using the components Snake recovered from
the AI pods as well as Peace Walker’s nuclear warhead recovered from the depths, ZEKE is
soon completed, giving them their own nuclear deterrent. Somehow, Zadornov escapes from his cell on
Mother Base, forcing MSF to find and capture him. More surprisingly, he is able to repeat this
act multiple times. After his final escape, Snake finds Zadornov
in Mother Base’s firing range, and the man fires a gun at him. Snake is forced to fire back, hitting the
man. In his final breath, he states that his “work
is done”, before launching his prosthetic hand (which doubles as a rocket projectile)
at Snake, narrowly missing him before he dies from Snake’s gunshot. Snake calls Kaz, and baffled at how Zadornov
could have escaped so many times, determines that he must have had help from inside MSF. Suddenly, Kaz shouts that ZEKE has started
moving, and somebody is piloting it. Snake rushes to the top of Mother Base to
find Metal Gear ZEKE being raised from its hangar, surprisingly with Paz in the cockpit. Paz reveals that she made some “modifications”
to ZEKE while MSF was distracted by Zadornov’s multiple escapes. Paz then states that she’s “taking it
back” to her leader: “Cipher”. Paz then tells Snake her real name: Pacifica
Ocean, and explains that the name, age, and mission she gave to MSF were all fabricated
by Cipher, whose “real” Peace Walker Project is about to reach its goal. Paz explains that in the wake of the Cold
War, the age of electronic intelligence will begin, with Cipher controlling the flow of
information without anyone else knowing, effectively creating the illusion of peace through control
and fulfilling the Boss’s vision of a world without borders. She then proposes that Snake works with Cipher
to be their protective force, offering him control of MSF and ZEKE. Snake predictably refuses this offer, and
Paz insteads elects to use ZEKE to fire its warhead at the United Snakes, framing MSF
as a dangerous group and giving rise to a new age of deterrence around the fear of extremist
cults. Paz then prepares ZEKE for launch, forcing
Snake to battle his own giant weapon. Snake is able to emerge victorious, destroying
ZEKE and sending Paz flying to the surrounding waters. Afterwards, Strangelove and Huey work together
to repair ZEKE and grow a bit of fondness towards each other. Elsewhere, Snake and Kaz speak again, and
they determine that the word “Cipher” also means “Zero”, revealing that his
group, called Cipher, was behind Paz’s mission and the upcoming new world order of electronic
intelligence. Kaz then admits to Snake that he secretly
knew Paz and the Professor’s true identities from the very beginning, but chose to use
them to grow MSF. While Snake is initially angered with Kaz,
Miller convinces him that he had to do it, as in a post-Cold War world, their new business
will be a sought after commodity. Snake then knows that by interfering in international
affairs, MSF will be hunted, but admits that their strongest enemy will be the changing
times. He then addresses the MSF troops and states
that they will fight for no particular nation or ideology, but for their only home: their
“Outer Heaven”. Months later, MSF receive notice that the
United Nations will be inspecting Mother Base for nuclear capabilities, which they believe
to be payback from Cipher for ruining Paz’s mission. While they initially refuse the inspection,
Huey acts alone and sends them a letter accepting, believing that if they can hide their true
capabilities, the inspection will come up clean and they can continue to act in secret
with the rest of the world’s blessing. To prepare, Big Boss and Kaz send all of the
civilians living on Mother Base back to their homelands, except for Huey, who prepares ZEKE
for underwater submergence so they can hide it from the inspectors. Meanwhile, the remaining FSLN are sent with
Amanda to Cuba. Dr. Strangelove, luckily, had departed Mother
Base a week prior after finishing ZEKE’s AI. Around the same time, Miller receives reports
that Paz survived the battle, and was rescued by Belizean fishermen who found her drifting
in the Caribbean before being held in an interrogation camp in Cuba. Kaz and Big Boss then determine that they
should try to extract her, hoping to prevent her from giving up information about ZEKE,
as well as recovering their only link to Cipher. Word begins to spread around Mother Base about
Paz’s survival, and Chico is sent to Cuba to be with his sister, Amanda. However, during his travels, he runs off,
hoping to find Paz himself, still feeling guilt over a failed attempt to stop her from
hijacking ZEKE. Unfortunately, Chico is captured himself,
and taken to the same interrogation camp as Paz: Camp Omega. This camp, a United States black site, has
been taken control of by XOF (now working as Cipher’s strike force) and their leader
Skull Face, who arrives to interrogate Paz and Chico. After days of relentless torture, including
forcing Chico to torture Paz himself, Skull Face learns of Mother Base and MSF’s details. Skull Face then forces Chico to send a distress
call to Big Boss, asking him for his help. Skull Face then asks Paz for Zero’s location,
knowing she was the only one to have direct contact with him since the Les Enfants Terribles
project. Asking him to kill Zero once he finds him,
Paz tells him the location. Afterwards, Skull Face has Paz strung up,
and places two bombs within her body cavity, recording her screams on cassette. While Big Boss makes his way to Camp Omega
to retrieve both Chico and Paz, Skull Face delivers this cassette to Chico, implying
that it contains the sounds of Paz’s death. He then tells the boy to give his regards
to Big Boss, before heading to a chopper with his XOF troops. Removing the group’s logo from the chopper,
he then states that the “trojan horse” is in, and the pirate crackdown is a go. After he and his men board their choppers,
they remove the XOF patches from their uniforms and head towards their destination. Big Boss arrives at Camp Omega shortly after
and infiltrates the prison area. There, he finds Chico in one of the cages,
and the delirious boy fearfully lashes out, creating a commotion and forcing Big Boss
to choke him to unconsciousness. Big Boss then carries Chico to a rendezvous
point for extraction by helicopter. As they wait for the chopper, Chico awakens,
and shows Big Boss the cassette he was given of Paz’s torture, claiming that she’s
dead. After the chopper arrives, Big Boss loads
Chico aboard and goes back to look for Paz. Using clues from the audio cassette Chico
provided, Big Boss determines Paz was taken to the camp’s Administration building, and
he successfully sneaks inside. When he reaches the building’s basement,
Big Boss finds Paz, still strung up and sedated. Big Boss carries her out of the facility to
the rendezvous point, despite her pleas on his way to put her out of her misery. Big Boss meets the chopper as it arrives and
loads Paz onboard before climbing in himself. Once out of Camp Omega’s airspace, Chico
notices the stitched wound on Paz’s abdomen, and Big Boss calls over the medic onboard. Big Boss and Chico hold Paz down as the medic
frantically cuts open the stitches, pulling out a ticking package with a “Peace” symbol
on it before throwing it into the waters below. Big Boss then receives a call from Huey, who
informs him that the UN Inspectors have arrived at Mother Base, and the preparations (including
submerging ZEKE) are complete. Later, as the helicopter nears Mother Base,
they find that communications with MSF have fallen silent. As they near, they see a horrific site: Mother
Base aflame, with explosions and gunfire erupting on the offshore base. The UN Inspection, as it turns out, was all
a ruse set up by Skull Face in order to attack and destroy Mother Base, and his “trojan
horse” plan had worked. At this point, unbeknownst to the others,
Huey is safely extracted from the destruction by a XOF helicopter. The helicopter lands on one of Mother Base’s
struts, and Big Boss rushes out to rescue Miller. While he is able to get Kaz onboard the chopper,
XOF detonates structurally planted explosives, and the helicopter narrowly escapes as Mother
Base is completely destroyed, killing all of Big Boss’s men on the stronghold and
bringing Militaires Sans Frontières to its end… or at least in this universe (more
on that much later). Above the open waters, Kaz laments being “played
like a fiddle” and losing everything they worked so hard for, taking out his frustration
on Paz, who awakens. Startled, she tells Big Boss that there’s
a bomb inside her, but he assures her they removed it. She soberly opens the chopper door and tells
him there’s another, before jumping out. As she falls, the second bomb explodes, blasting
Paz apart. The medic rushes in front of Big Boss, shielding
him from the blast and taking the brunt of the explosion. The force from the blast sends the helicopter
spinning, and it crashes into a trailing XOF helicopter, sending the fiery wreck into the
waters below. Afterwards, the smoke from Mother Base’s
attack was seen from the shores, and the media blamed it on “money-hungry private militias”. The United States Secretary of Defense was
then forced to denounce MSF, and despite reports of the inspection being held, the UN denies
any involvement as well. In the wake of the helicopter crash, Big Boss,
Miller, and the medic were recovered and taken to a hospital in Barranquilla, Colombia. Miller survived with minimal injuries, but
Big Boss flatlines. The doctors are able to resuscitate him, but
he subsequently falls into a coma. The medic took shrapnel to the head and was
also placed into an artificially induced coma. Zero hears about the attack on MSF, as well
as Big Boss’s survival, and contacts EVA to have her secretly transport Big Boss and
the medic to a hospital in Cyprus where they would be safe, a task she only accepts to
help Big Boss. Zero then has Skull Face relocated to Africa
as punishment for attacking Mother Base. There, Skull Face learns of Code Talker’s
research on the vocal cord parasites and metallic archaea. Code Talker had learned that the parasites
had long ago given humanity the ability to speak, and Skull Face forces him to weaponize
them by creating strains that would reproduce when exposed to a particular language. Those infected with a particular language
strain would then fall under the control of the parasite if they spoke enough of the language
to allow the parasite to reproduce. Through the process, Skull Face is infected
with every strain of the parasite except English, forcing him to speak only that language, losing
his native tongue, Hungarian, in the process. Zero then devises a plan to have the medic
transformed via plastic surgery and hypnotherapy into a physically identical “phantom”
of Big Boss, carrying his memories and personality to live in the public eye as the legendary
hero until the true Big Boss was ready to re-take the mantle. Zero finds Ocelot and convinces him to watch
over Big Boss and the medic during the process. He also contacts Miller, instructing him to
work with Ocelot once “Big Boss” awakens (keeping the body double plan a secret from
him), telling him the code phrase once he does will be “V has come to”. Meanwhile, the Les Enfants Terribles project
is officially abandoned, and the products of the experiment are separated around the
globe. David is sent to the United States and Eli
is taken by Zero to England (where he subsequently escapes Zero’s care and disappears in Africa). The third boy, Solidus is at some point given
the name “George Sears” and is kept under close control. In the late 1970s, Skull Face recovers a winged
dagger lapel pin that was on the Boss’s person when she died, and he creates a convincing
replica, coating it with the English strain of the vocal parasite before sending it to
the address Paz provided for Zero’s location. Upon its receipt, Zero calls Skull Face, who
has Zero inspect the back of the pin, causing him to prick his finger and infect himself. As Skull Face carries on a conversation, Zero
notices the effects of the parasite taking hold. Zero soon realizes what Skull Face has done,
and the man gloats in his successful attack, stating that now the world can never become
one. Zero spends years working with doctors to
try to cure the parasite, but is only able to somewhat slow its effects. In order to continue Cipher’s work controlling
information to lead world politics, Zero works with fellow Cipher member Donald Anderson,
formally known as Mr. Sigint, and ARPA, now renamed the “Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency”, or DARPA, to develop a sophisticated system of AIs to carry out his will. Dr. Strangelove also briefly works on this
project before she is forced out due to an unknown incident. Kaz Miller subsequently goes on to form a
new private military company called “Diamond Dogs”, which later obtains another offshore
plant off the coast of South Africa. They then work to build this plant into their
new “Mother Base”. In one of his final moments outside of hiding,
Zero visits the comatose Big Boss, reminiscing with the man and speaking about the events
at hand, as well as his future legacy in artificial intelligence. Zero then disappears completely, falling unconscious
from his infection, but leaving instructions behind for Anderson and DARPA to build his
Cipher AI system, which he calls “the Patriots”. In 1979, Frank Jaeger fights as a mercenary
in the Rhodesian Civil War, where he kills a married couple. Shortly after, he discovers their young daughter
near the Zambezi River nearly dead from starvation. Feeling immense guilt for his actions, Frank
adopts the girl, raising her as his “sister” and giving her the name “Naomi Hunter”,
adopting the surname himself, now going by “Frank Hunter”. Meanwhile, Huey is brought into Cipher to
work on a new Metal Gear in Afghanistan. He is reunited with Strangelove when she is
recruited by Skull Face to once again develop the AI for the machine using the recovered
Mammal Pod. During their work together on this new Metal
Gear, called “Sahelanthropus”, the pair have a romantic affair, with Strangelove conceiving
a child: a boy the pair name “Hal”. While Hal is a toddler, Huey puts him in Sahelanthropus’s
cockpit (which is too small for a grown person to enter due to it being designed for an AI
pod) to test it. When Strangelove learns of this, she grows
angry and secretly sends Hal off to America. Huey, furious at his son being taken from
him, retaliates by locking Strangelove inside the Mammal Pod, where she suffocates and dies
alongside her only love: the Boss (or at least her AI representation). In February of 1984, a young boy with psychic
abilities is transported via airplane to a research lab in Moscow. The boy is fitted with a gas mask to block
the thoughts and emotions from those around him. proves ineffective however, as the plane’s
flight path crosses over the hospital in Cyprus housing Big Boss and the medic. The hate within their subconcious feeds the
boy’s powers, and he causes the plane to crash. The boy survives the crash and is taken to
the lab, the same facility where the barely living body of Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin
has been experimented on for the last two decades. The boy, now given the codename “Tretij
Rebenok” (Russian for “third child”) is again attracted to the subconscious negative
emotion within Volgin, and his abilities reanimate the former colonel as a fiery demon known
as the “Man on Fire”. The pair then burn down the lab and begin
to travel to find Big Boss to fulfill Volgin’s revenge. Meanwhile, Kaz Miller is in Afghanistan, training
soldiers and secretly looking for Huey Emmerich (hoping to learn more about his role in the
original Mother Base attack). One day, however, his unit is attacked and
slaughtered by the “Parasite Unit” (also known as the “Skulls”), an elite group
of Skull Face’s army infected with parasites that give them superhuman abilities. Miller escapes the Skulls, but loses his arm
and a leg. He calls Ocelot to ask for rescue, but is
soon captured and held prisoner by invading Soviets. At the same time, Big Boss finally awakens
from his coma, nine years after the helicopter crash that put him into it. Ocelot is there to greet him, and informs
him of everything that has occurred in the past nine years, including Zero’s condition,
the Patriots AI project, the abandonment of Les Enfants Terribles, and finally, the medic’s
new role as Big Boss’s phantom. While Big Boss originally doesn’t agree
with turning the man into his double without him knowing, he eventually concludes that
since the medic sacrificed his life to protect him in the helicopter, he’d also give it
up to protect him now. Ocelot then informs Big Boss that the “Man
on Fire” and XOF have both learned of his awakening, and will be on their way to attack
the hospital, so final preparations must be made; including waking up the body double. After the body double awakens, the nurse attending
to him delivers the code message “V has come to” to a number provided by Cipher,
setting the plan’s wheels in motion. As the medic regains consciousness, he is
met by his doctor, Evangelos Constantinou, who informs him of how long he was in the
coma, as well damage he sustained in the helicopter crash, including 108 pieces of foreign material
embedded in his body; some of it shrapnel, some of it the bone and teeth of those who
didn’t survive the crash. Most of the pieces were removed, however,
some pieces near his heart and brain were too dangerous to be removed, so they were
left in place; the skull piece leaving a horn-like protrusion from his forehead. The medic then looks down and sees that one
of his arms is also missing, sending him into shock and forcing the nurse to sedate him. Later, Constantinou wakes the medic up and
removes his bandages, as his nurse is quietly killed by a XOF assassin behind him. The doctor then shows him a picture of the
helicopter pilot, Miller, Big Boss, and the medic, which he turns over to see a message
of good luck written to him by Big Boss, which his hypnotherapy prevents him from understanding. The doctor then gives him a new name: “Ahab”,
and holds up a mirror to the medic, and in the reflection, he sees his face: that of
Big Boss. Suddenly, the doctor is attacked by the assassin
as well, and in the struggle, the medic is kicked off his bed. After killing the doctor, the assassin turns
her gun on the medic, thinking she’s killing Big Boss, but suddenly, the real man, disguised
by bandages covering his entire face, jumps from his neighboring bed and tackles her. After a short struggle, Big Boss is able to
douse her with a flammable liquid before she subdues him with a knife to the shoulder. She then begins to strangle the medic, but
Big Boss lights her aflame, throwing another bottle of the liquid at her, causing her to
fall out of a nearby window. The medic looks towards his missing arm to
see a prosthetic hook affixed. Big Boss rushes over and introduces himself
as “Ishmael”, grabbing the fallen pistol before injecting “Ahab” with a medication
to get him moving so they can escape the hospital, now under complete attack by XOF. While Ahab is unable to move swiftly due to
his atrophied muscles, he uses all of his strength to follow Ishmael through the hospital,
regaining the use of his body as they go. Soon, a fiery explosion knocks the pair back,
and the Man on Fire appears and advances towards Ahab, believing him to be the true Big Boss. Suddenly, the hospital’s sprinkler system
activates, dousing him with water before he vanishes. Ishmael and Ahab continue their escape out
of the hospital, hiding from XOF enemies and choppers on the way. While hiding from a group of XOF soldiers
amongst a pile of dead bodies, Ishmael and Ahab spot the Man on Fire again, who kills
the XOF soldiers with a massive blast, dislocating Ahab’s leg before the monster is distracted
by a helicopter outside, which he promptly swipes down using his fiery powers. Ishmael shoots a sprinkler, dousing the Man
on Fire with water once again and causing him to vanish. After Ahab relocates his leg, the pair continue,
finding a pistol for Ahab. They continue down to the hospital’s lobby
area, finding it heavily guarded by XOF. Ishmael breaks away from Ahab, creating a
diversion by shooting at the guards while running off. Ahab follows, spotting him outside, trying
to commandeer one of the emergency transport vehicles. Before Ahab can leave the hospital lobby,
however, Tretij Rebenok appears and telekinetically moves the wreckage of the downed helicopter,
blocking the exit. The Man on Fire then arrives and takes out
all of the XOF in the lobby while Ahab tries to avoid him, unsuccessfully, and the Man
on Fire fires a blast that knocks him down. As the Man on Fire walks over to Ahab, preparing
to deliver the final blow, he is suddenly struck by an ambulance, which drives him directly
into the side of the hospital. The ambulance then returns to Ahab, and the
driver, Ishmael, has him get into the passenger seat. The pair then drive off, leaving the Man on
Fire behind, while he throws various pieces of the hospital at them to try to stop them. An XOF helicopter then appears in front of
them, opening fire and shattering the windshield. Ishmael then smashes his head on the steering
wheel, rendering him unconscious. Ahab tries to take the wheel, but soon crashes
into a roadblock, sending the car flipping off the road and knocking Ahab out as well. Shortly thereafter, Ocelot arrives and pulls
Ishmael out of the ambulance wreckage, and the pair leave Ahab behind. After removing his bandaging and shedding
his “Ishmael” persona, Big Boss dons his iconic eyepatch and a change of clothes, and
Ocelot leads him to a nearby motorcycle. Ocelot then gives Big Boss a fabricated passport,
with the medic’s old name and face on it, with Ocelot stating that the man is the new
“Snake”, who Big Boss remarks is his “phantom”. Ocelot then lights a cigar for Big Boss, who
can finally smoke outside of the hospital before riding off on his horse to return to
the new Snake and carry out his side of the plan, including using hypnotherapy on himself
to forget the man is a body double. Big Boss then smokes his cigar, and rides
off on the motorcycle towards his life in hiding to rebuild what he’s lost and finally
create his own independent military nation in South Africa: “Outer Heaven”. Meanwhile, the new Snake awakens to see Ocelot’s
white horse, before Tretij Rebenok appears, with the Man on Fire on his own, flaming unicorn
in tow. Ocelot tells Snake that Miller sent him, but
now they have to rescue Kaz from Afghanistan, where he was captured by the Soviets. Ocelot and Snake ride off towards a whaling
ship, and they use it to leave the area. Over the next few days of travel, Ocelot helps
Snake recover, and gives him a new nickname: “Venom Snake”, as well as a bionic prosthetic
arm (similar to the one Zadornov wore). Snake and Ocelot reach Afghanistan and scout
the area, and Snake heads in alone, on the white horse (named Diamond Horse, or D-Horse
for short) to search for Miller’s location. Snake soon finds Miller and cuts the man free,
giving him back his trademark sunglasses before carrying him to a Diamond Dog’s helicopter,
called “Pequod” for extraction. When he reaches the landing zone, however,
Snake finds that Pequod cannot land, due to some kind of mist covering the area. Snake then spots the Parasite Unit, who give
chase. Snake then takes Kaz on horseback, escaping
the Skulls while heading towards another landing zone. Once they arrive, Snake loads Kaz onto the
helicopter and they depart towards the new Mother Base, and their new home as “Diamond
Dogs”. On their way, Miller laments on how big Cipher
has grown, and vows that they’ll grow as well. They land on Mother Base and Kaz is loaded
onto a stretcher. When Kaz asks Snake to lead Diamond Dogs to
get revenge on Cipher, Snake accepts, but only to fight for the future, not the past. After familiarizing himself with running Mother
Base, Snake heads back to Afghanistan to run some missions to make matters easier for them
in the area. During one of them, Snake discovers a puppy
missing its right eye, and Snake has it taken back to Mother Base, where it’s given an
eyepatch and the name “Diamond Dog”, or “DD” before being trained to help Snake
in the field. Snake later accepts a mission from the CIA
to retrieve a rocket launcher called the “Honey Bee” before the Soviets can find it. He successfully finds the weapon, but as he
goes to leave the area, he finds himself engulfed in the Skulls’ mist. Suddenly, he sees Tretij Rebenok before he
is grabbed by a giant, mechanical hand. With Snake subdued by the hand, Skull Face
arrives and taunts him (believing him to be the real Big Boss), telling him to stay dead
this time before the Skulls arrive. The giant hand lets Snake go, and picks Skull
Face up instead before the giant, bipedal robot it’s attached to, Sahelanthropus,
walks off. Snake then sees the Skulls infecting the nearby
Soviet soldiers, turning them into zombie-like puppets to fight. After a battle with the Skulls and the Soviet
puppets, Snake emerges victorious, and is successfully able to take the Honey Bee back
to Mother Base. Later, Miller receives a call from Huey Emmerich
looking to defect from Cipher. Hoping to retrieve Huey for interrogation,
Miller sends Snake to retrieve him. On his way, Snake is ambushed by a female
sniper, known by locals as “Quiet”. She fires at Snake, prompting a long range
shootout between the two, during which Snake learns that she has superhuman agility as
well as the ability to go invisible. Snake wins the battle, knocking the sniper
unconscious before rushing over to her. When he gets closer, he recognizes her: as
Cipher’s assassin sent to the hospital in Cyprus that tried to kill him; inexplicably
free of any burns. While Miller tells Snake to kill the agent
of Cipher, Ocelot believes she’ll be of more use at Mother Base. While Ocelot and Miller argue, Boss eventually
decides to take her back, loading her onto Pequod. Inside the helicopter, however, Quiet awakens
and throws her handcuffs at Snake, using the distraction to seemingly jump from the chopper
and escape. On the way back to Mother Base, Pequod is
attacked by a fighter jet. The jet fires a missile at them, and Snake
tries to shoot it down with the side-mounted gatling gun, but the movement of the helicopter
causes him to lose his balance. Suddenly, Quiet reappears, having only turned
invisible prior, and mans the gun instead, successfully shooting down the missile before
it hits the chopper. Snake then takes control and tries to shoot
down the jet, but is unable to, causing Quiet to aim her sniper and shoot the pilot, killing
him and leaving the jet to crash into the water below. When the Pequod arrives at Mother Base, Miller
refuses to let it land, stating that he won’t allow Quiet, an agent of Cipher, to set foot
on their base. Quiet simply jumps down to the base, turning
invisible and landing behind Kaz, Ocelot, and their men before reappearing. Kaz and Ocelot again argue over whether or
not to kill her before Snake breaks up the argument to tell them to put in a cell. As she’s taken away, Miller again warns
Snake that he’ll regret this decision, and Snake simply responds that if and when the
time comes to kill her, he’ll personally be the one to pull the trigger. Returning to Afghanistan to search for Huey,
Snake soon finds the disgraced scientist (equipped with a pair of bionic exo-legs allowing him
to walk) in a Power Plant, arguing with Skull Face over changes made to Sahelanthropus,
with Huey claiming that they’ll need more time to prepare AI to pilot it. Skull Face declines using an AI, believing
that to have been Hot Coldman’s mistake ten years prior. A soldier then whispers to Skull Face and
tells him about Huey’s call to Miller, and Skull Face throws Huey down a nearby set of
stairs before having him sent to their base camp by a soldier piloting a small, bipedal
“Walker Gear” machine. Skull Face then leaves the area as well, and
Snake spots Sahelanthropus being taken back to storage. Snake makes his way to the base camp and finds
Emmerich’s lab. Inside, he spots the Mammal Pod, and The Boss
AI at first thinks it recognizes Snake, but second guesses the assessment. Snake then spots Huey and places a bag over
his head before carrying him out of the lab, using Huey’s Walker Gear to potentially
make things faster. Once they reach the extraction point, a helicopter
flies in to pick them up, but is forced to retreat once Sahelanthropus arrives, with
Tretij Rebenok beside it, controlling it with his telekinetic abilities. Skull Face, being carried by the machine,
states that “today is the day weapons learned to walk upright” before it advances on Snake
and Huey. The pair are able to slip away from Sahelanthropus
and get to the chopper, where Snake uses the mounted gun to defend the aircraft and damage
the Metal Gear enough to get back to base. There, Huey is taken captive and interrogated
by Ocelot and Miller, who each use their own tactics to try to learn how Huey was involved
in the attack nine years ago, but Emmerich maintains his innocence, claiming he was merely
used by XOF, not cooperating with them. Knowing that they need proof before they can
decide his fate, Miller elects to keep Hueys presence on Mother Base a secret from their
men. Ocelot does reveal that Huey provided some
new information: that Cipher was no longer interested in the research from Afghanistan
and Sahelanthropus, as they’ve moved all of their funding to Central Africa on a “weapon
to surpass Metal Gear.” Later, Ocelot surmises that Zero likely didn’t
make the call to destroy Mother Base, and it must have been a move orchestrated by Skull
Face to break away from Cipher and take control. As such, they realize that Diamond Dogs’
true target isn’t Cipher, but instead XOF, and their leader Skull Face. Snake then travels to Africa and works several
jobs while trying to learn more about Cipher and Skull Face’s operations. After finding the Parasite Unit in the area,
Snake confirms that Skull Face is there. At one point, Snake and Ocelot visit Quiet
in her cell. Ocelot tells Snake that Quiet seems to breathe
and drink water through her skin, through some kind of photosynthesis (much like the
Cobra Unit member The End). These biological needs force her skin to be
exposed to sunlight, making her unable to wear much clothing, making everyone who tries
to make her cover herself feel ashamed of their words & deeds. Ocelot then suggests Snake take Quiet out
on some missions as support. Snake agrees to this idea, knowing her skills
will make her an invaluable asset in the field. After more jobs in Africa, Snake discovers
the use of child soldiers, and takes them back to Mother Base where they can be taken
care of. Additionally, Huey comes up with an idea to
make himself useful: building a “Battle Gear” much like Metal Gear ZEKE that can
combat the swarms of Walker Gears spreading across Africa. While Snake feels some déjà vu, he allows
Huey to work on Battle Gear in the meantime . Snake heads back to Africa to look for the
leader of the child soldiers, named Shabani, being held in an area called the “Devil’s
House”. Snake arrives and finds a ghastly sight: a
factory filled with human experiments, with earbuds implanted into their throats playing
voice recordings from a cassette tape (of every language except for English), and strange
growths on their chests. Snake travels through the factory and finds
Shabani, with a necklace in his hand. Snake tries to free Shabani, but spots Skull
Face in the next room, who executes one of the test subjects. The gunshot startles Shabani, who begins to
stir, drawing Skull Face’s attention, who spots Snake. Skull Face then sics Tretij Rebenok on Snake,
who calls forth the Man on Fire to attack. Suddenly he stops however, as Tretij Rebenok
becomes distracted by Shabani, who he mercy kills before he can burn to death from the
Man on Fire’s flames. Snake makes a mad dash out of the facility
and away from the Man on Fire, but he’s forced to fight the monster and hold him off
long enough until a helicopter can arrive to extract. Snake ultimately succeeds, and is able to
escape back to Mother Base, where he gives Shabani’s necklace back to one of the child
soldiers. Diamond Dogs then get another mission in Africa
to stop a group of child soldiers. They determine the best way to do so would
be to take this group’s leader, known as the “White Mamba” back to Mother Base,
leaving the group without structure to eventually fall apart. Snake finds the group taking shelter in a
dilapidated boat, and inside he meets the White Mamba, who’s real name is “Eli”,
and he subdues the boy with CQC before taking him back to Mother Base. There, Snake pats the boy on the back, welcoming
him to “Outer Heaven”. This angers Eli, who rushes Snake, taking
his knife and trying to stab him. Snake quickly overpowers him, however, dislocating
his arm and taking his knife back. Snake then puts his arm back in place, and
tells him as soon as he learns to use his head, he’ll be allowed to leave. Later, Miller suspects Eli is likely the same
missing boy created from the Les Enfants Terribles project. Hoping to confirm or deny this, Miller orders
a genetic test. Unbeknownst to Miller, Eli is in fact the
genetic clone of Big Boss, but since he’s using a sample of Venom Snake, a body double,
the test’s results will be useless. At some point, Quiet attacks a soldier on
Mother Base, attempting to shove a knife down his throat. Snake and Ocelot are forced to subdue and
sedate her. Snake figures it’s payback for the treatment
the guards have been giving her, telling Ocelot to strengthen security on her cell. Ocelot later calls Snake and informs him of
several soldiers on Mother Base falling ill, with the same growths on their chests that
Snake saw in Skull Face’s Devil’s House. Among those infected is the soldier Quiet
attacked. Snake is then tasked with quarantining those
infected and finding out what’s making them susceptible to the infection. Inspecting the sick personnel, Snake discovers
the one common attribute amongst them: their language; Kikongo to be exact. He then quarantines everyone on Mother Base
who speaks the language, while he continues to try to figure out what’s going on. Miller then sends Snake to find a man linked
to the epidemic at Mother Base. Snake recovers this man, who reveals that
the one who can tell them about how to treat the pathogen is an old man named Code Talker,
who’s location he reveals. Snake heads to the location given to him,
but is met by a sniper unit of the Skulls on the way. After fighting his way through them, Snake
reaches Code Talker’s location: a mansion. Snake infiltrates it and finds the old man
in the basement. Snake shows Code Talker photos of the men’s
chest growths, and he explains the vocal cord parasites as well as their spread through
language. He gives Snake a pipe containing herbs the
parasites dislike, before revealing that Skull Face stole his research into the organisms
and planned to use them to wipe every language except for English off the Earth. Snake carries Code Talker out of the mansion
and safely reaches a helicopter, where they escape to Mother Base. On the way, Code Talker explains that the
only way to stop the parasites is with a particular bacteria, Wolbachia, that he discovered that
would turn all of the male parasites into females, halting all reproduction. Code Talker warns, however, that this would
also render the host infertile. The helicopter then flies through the Parasite
Unit’s mist, shattering the windows and killing the chopper’s pilot, causing it
to crash land to the ground below. Snake and Code Talker survive the blast, but
the Skulls soon attack. Due to their mist preventing another extraction,
Snake is forced to fight, and after a close battle with the superhuman unit, he is able
to clear the air long enough for another helicopter to arrive. On the way to Mother Base, Code Talker reveals
that five years prior, Skull Face conducted a test to see if he could use the metallic
archaea to disable nuclear weapons, giving him the ability to arm the world with nukes
using Huey’s Walker Gears but still hold the kill-switch with the archaea. Ocelot asks Code Talker what he thinks of
the sickness spreading across Mother Base, and he confirms that it’s the Kikongo strain
of the vocal cord parasites. Code Talker provides the Wolbachia bacteria
to fight the infection, and after 48 hours, the spread has stopped, but those who are
already symptomatic are unable to be cured. Miller then vows that Skull Face will pay
for this. Later, Ocelot and Miller interrogate Huey
one again, threatening to use the metallic archaea on his exoskeleton legs. They try to learn what Skull Face’s next
move is, and Huey eventually gives up a location “OKB Zero”, where Sahelanthropus was being
housed. Miller then leaves, while Ocelot delicately
balances the syringe of metallic archaea under Huey’s leg, forcing him to remain completely
still as he leaves. Snake then boards a helicopter to head for
OKB Zero to stop Skull Face from activating Sahelanthropus. Snake heads to Afghanistan to locate OKB Zero
and find Skull Face; on the way, Eli sneaks onto the chopper, and Huey also tags along,
offering his help to take down Skull Face to prove his allegiance to Diamond Dogs. Snake infiltrates OKB Zero and finds Skull
Face at a helipad, confronting the man, who simply tells him that they both know pain,
and are both now demons, before commanding him to follow him. At Miller’s suggestion, Snake follows Skull
Face, who takes him on a jeep ride, explaining his past (including working on Operation Snake
Eater) as well as his motives along the way, revealing that his ultimate goal is to eliminate
the language raiders forced him to speak as a child: English. In doing so, Zero’s control would be eliminated,
and nuclear weapons would be the new universal language, which he would control. After Snake and Skull Face simply stare at
each other for a very awkward trip, the jeep stops at the power plant Snake found Huey. There, Skull Face reveals the Man on Fire,
enabled through Tretij Rebenok by his revenge for Snake. However, as the Diamond Dogs helicopter flies
overhead, Eli’s own powerful resentment towards Snake attracts the third boy’s power. Sahelanthropus then activates, and Tretij
Rebenok forces the Man on Fire to walk under its moving platform, crushing the phantom
of Volgin and leaving Skull Face to wonder whooooo’s lust for revenge could be so powerful. As Skull Face is dragged to safety by his
XOF soldiers, Snake is left face-to-face by Sahelanthropus, now controlled by Tretij Rebenok
through Eli’s hatred. Sahelanthropus chases Snake out of the power
plant while XOF artillery shows up to destroy the giant machine. Sahelanthropus lays waste to all of them,
leaving only Skull Face surrounded by flames. Knowing he is about to die, and that Cipher
will erase his name from history, Skull Face basks in knowing that the thirst for revenge
he has planted will “infest the system”, before the very machine he created to unleash
that thirst, Sahelanthropus, crushes him. Snake tries to escape Sahelanthropus in one
of the jeeps, but is run off the road and forced to fight the machine on foot. Using any and all resources available to him,
Snake fights the giant mech, eventually damaging it enough to prevent Tretij Rebenok’s abilities
from controlling it. With the threat eliminated, Miller arrives
via chopper and picks up Snake before they return to Skull Face. Snake, Miller, and Emmerich find Skull Face’s
crushed body, holding a capsule of parasites. Snake opens the capsule and finds three vials
inside, with one empty. Snake asks where the other one is, with Skull
Face simply responding that it’s “very close” to him. Snake then tosses the other two aside (unbeknownst
to him, Tretij Rebenok recovers one of them before disappearing). Skull Face pleads for Snake to put him out
of his misery, and the man picks up the XOF commander’s rifle and (with Miller’s help)
blows off his limbs, finally taking revenge for what he did to Kaz, as well as MSF. The pair then leave him to die in agony, before
Huey arrives and kills Skull Face himself, basking in his “revenge”. Afterwards, they all return to Mother Base,
and the damaged chassis of Sahelanthropus arrives in tow. Although the battle with XOF is now over,
Snake soon spots a premonition of Skull Face, a “phantom pain” he’ll be forced to
suffer forever more. Miller then speaks before the Diamond Dogs,
removing his sunglasses to show his clouded eyes, stating that his men will now be his
eyes, and they have to keep an eye out for possible defectors. At some point after, Eli stares towards Sahelanthropus,
and Tretij Rebenok appears before him, handing him the vial of parasites before floating
away. With Skull Face dead, Snake moves on to other
missions and tasks for Mother Base, bonding with his teammates (especially Quiet), and
running operations. At one point, Snake is shocked to discover
Paz, seemingly completely healthy and with no visible scars in Mother Base’s medical
platform. After finding out about several surviving
former MSF members wandering mindlessly in the field, Snake rescues them and brings them
back to Mother Base. In doing so, he comes to the realization over
time that “Paz” is merely a hallucination caused by his guilt over not being able to
save the girl. Ocelot then learns that the Soviets discovered
the Man on Fire’s body, and Snake infiltrates their outpost to secure it. Once Snake finds the Man on Fire’s corpse,
however, it bursts into flames, springing to life alongside its fiery unicorn. The phantom then pins Snake down, and Volgin’s
original appearance shines through. As the man stares Snake down, however, he
realizes the man isn’t Big Boss and steps back. Unable to fulfill his revenge, Volgin falls
to the ground and finally dies, allowing Snake to extract his body in an arriving chopper. Back at Mother Base, Ocelot has Volgin’s
body put in a quarantine cage where it’s examined and Ocelot learns about how Tretij
Rebenok was able to use the man and his desire for revenge. At some point, Eli begins to lash out, angered
at Mother Base staff using his real name instead of his “White Mamba” moniker, attacking
one of them and forcing Ocelot to humble the boy through CQC. Later, the children gather around a chlorine
tank, attempting to retrieve Shabani’s necklace, which fell down inside (likely caused by Eli,
who watches from afar). Quiet discovers the commotion and jumps inside
the tank to retrieve it. While Miller still distrusts her, Quiet soon
emerges from the tank, badly burned from the chemicals, but holding the necklace. Snake carries her away so she can recover,
and Ocelot retrieves the necklace. Despite this event, however, some of the kids
break away from Mother Base and escape. Snake finds them and extracts them back to
Mother Base, learning that the mastermind behind it was Eli, planning some kind of uprising. Ocelot questions Eli, who asks where his “father”
is (referring to Snake). Eli claims that the boys just wanted to “go
home”, but then breaks out into laughter as Sahelanthropus breaks through the wall,
controlled by Tretij Rebenok. Eli then jumps into the mech’s cockpit,
before bidding farewell to his “father”. Snake tries to stop him, but his efforts are
in vain, as he’s forced to simply watch as Tretij Rebenok carries Sahelanthropus away
with his abilities while a helicopter stolen by the other child soldiers follows. Snake later receives the results of Eli’s
genetic test, determining that he is not a DNA match with Venom Snake. While Emmerich finishes Battle Gear, Ocelot
and Miller still have their suspicions about him, especially after Sahelanthropus was somehow
repaired enough to be functional once again. Hoping to learn more about what he was up
to over the past nine years, Snake returns to his lab to retrieve the Mammal Pod. After finding the pod and bringing it to Mother
Base, the Diamond Dogs open it and find Strangelove’s corpse inside. They then question Huey again, and learn that
he did in fact repair Sahelanthropus using the children on Mother Base to climb inside
the cockpit, much like his son before. Soon, another vocal cord parasite outbreak
overtakes Mother Base’s Quarantine Zone, with the Wolbachia having no effect. Snake investigates the Quarantine Zone, hearing
a transmission on the way inside from somebody stating “it all makes sense now, I win.” Inside the Quarantine Zone, Snake smells a
sweet scent, like ripe fruit, before seeing several dead or infected Diamond Dogs. He soon finds a scientist who states that
he wins, and he is no “snail”, before giving Snake a pair of googles. Code Talker hears the “snail” reference
and realizes the parasites are trying to control the hosts to get outside the zone so they
can be carried away by birds and spread. With no other option, Snake is then forced
to kill his infected men, using the goggles to determine who has the parasites. Snake then leaves the Quarantine Zone, walking
through a sea of corpses of his own men, slaughtered by his hand, the grief of which causes him
to fall to his knees. Later, they cremate the bodies, and prepare
to scatter their ashes into the sea surrounding Mother Base. Huey blames Snake, and he agrees, taking the
ashes and wiping them on his face, stating that he’ll instead turn their ashes into
diamonds in order to take them into battle forever. Miller and Ocelot then learn that the mutation
of the parasites that caused the latest outbreak was the result of a massive spike in radiation
caused by new equipment installed by none other than Huey Emmerich. Miller learns of Huey’s contact with a client
of DARPA (and in-turn Cipher), to whom he offered to sell the parasites in exchange
for his safety. Huey is then held on “trial” where all
of the evidence against him is presented before the rest of the Diamond Dogs. At the trial, the AI Pod is brought forth,
and it’s revealed that it recorded Strangelove’s last moments inside the pod, proving that
her death was at Huey’s hand. Miller then finds Huey guilty, and while the
Diamond Dogs want him executed, Snake instead sentences him to exile, much to Miller’s
disappointment. Huey is then loaded onto a life raft with
food and water and lowered into the sea. As he’s lowered, Huey argues that Snake
is the true villain. As he hits the water, Huey is forced to throw
his exoskeleton legs overboard in order to stay afloat, losing his ability to walk once
again. The others watch him drift away, and Ocelot
predicts that one day his lies will catch up to him. Meanwhile, while Quiet is treated for her
injuries from the chlorine tank, an MRI not only confirms to Diamond Dogs that she is
the assassin from the hospital on Cyprus, but it also reveals that she’s infected
with the vocal cord parasites, leading Miller to believe that she is a sleeper agent for
a last ditch effort from Skull Face to kill them. Ocelot then tortures Quiet to try to get her
to speak, but she doesn’t make a sound, living up to her namesake. Snake, realizing that she could have killed
any of them by this point, has her freed before they all exit, leaving Quiet alone with Code
Talker. The pair then speak in Navajo, and Quiet reveals
that she was infected with the English strain of the parasites by Skull Face, but refuses
to speak the language ever again to prevent its spread. Realizing that she can’t stay at Mother
Base lest the parasites begin to mutate and spread without her speaking, Quiet uses her
invisibility to stowaway on a helicopter to return to Afghanistan. Miller, believing Quiet knows too much about
Diamond Dogs to let her simply walk away, takes up Snake’s offer that he be the one
to kill her when the time comes. When Snake goes to search for her, he learns
that she’s been captured by the Soviets and taken prisoner. On his way to rescue her, Snake is told the
truth about Quiet by Code Talker, including why she never spoke and why she left. Meanwhile, Quiet is tortured by her Soviet
captors, who forcibly cover her skin and nearly drown her. She soon breaks free, however, and fights
them off with her hands tied behind her back. Snake then arrives and tries to cut her free,
but more guards attack, causing her to fight them off, taking out her frustrations on her
captors and retrieving her gear. Reinforcements arrive, however, bringing waves
of heavy artillery that the pair fend off. As the onslaught draws to an end, the pair
begin to celebrate, but are struck by a tank round, which knocks them both out. Snake awakens and carries the unconscious
Quiet through a sandstorm to safety, hiding from the Soviets searching for them. While hiding however, Snake is bitten by a
cobra, and the venom causes him to pass out as well. Later, Quiet awakens and hears Pequod calling
Snake via radio, requiring his confirmation to stay at the landing zone for evacuation. Quiet tries to respond in Navajo, but Pequod
is unable to understand, forcing her to finally speak English in order to direct him to their
location. Snake is later given an antivenom and awakens,
but finds Quiet missing. Snake, refusing to leave in the helicopter,
then spots a set of her footprints. He follows the trail to where it ends: a cliffside,
where a nearby tree holds Quiet’s final message to Snake, recorded on cassette. Snake listens to the recording, where he finally
hears Quiet tell her story in her own words, in which she admits that while she was initially
driven by vengeance, Snake showed her something else, even without using any words, giving
her a change of heart. In her final words, she expresses her gratitude
before never being seen, or heard, again. By this point, Venom Snake’s hypnotherapy
begins to wear off, and he remembers the true version of the events that transpired during
the attack on Mother Base, as well as his hospital stay and escape in Cyprus. He then receives a cassette tape labeled “From
the Man Who Sold the World”, containing a message from the real Big Boss, calling
him his friend and entrusting him with carrying the public image of Big Boss moving forward. At some point, Snake then turns the tape over,
with this side being labeled “Operation Intrude N313” containing stored data which
he pulls up on a nearby computer. Snake then looks in a mirror and sees his
reflection as blood covered, with his horn-shaped shrapnel protruding greatly. He then punches the mirror, shattering his
demonic reflection and accepting the fate created for him. Sometime later, Ocelot and Miller discuss
the real Big Boss. Miller, feeling slighted by being lied to,
asks what the purpose of the plan was. Ocelot reveals that Big Boss had been working
separately to create their true Outer Heaven in the form of a military nation, and that
until it’s complete, it’s their job to help Venom Snake in order to carry on Big
Boss’s “meme” or legend. Ocelot then states that one day, the age of
Big Boss’s sons will arrive, and they’ll want to settle the score with their “father”,
giving Ocelot and Miller their own roles to play. Miller states that he’ll do everything in
his power to make the “phantom”, as well as the sons, as strong as possible to send
Big Boss to hell. Ocelot then realizes that one day, the twin
snakes will battle each other, and they’d likely be assisting separate sons, meaning
that one of them would have to end up killing the other; a prospect Miller is completely
fine with. Later on, it’s discovered that Eli and the
children took Sahelanthropus and the last sample of the English vocal cord parasites
to Central Africa. Cipher begins to search for them, leading
Snake and Miller to escalate their efforts to find them first. As it turns out, Eli had infected himself
with the parasite, and is now leading the other child soldiers in his own “Kingdom
of the Flies”, demanding the body of “Big Boss” in exchange for Sahelanthropus’s
nuclear warhead. Snake infiltrates Eli’s “kingdom”, but
as he does, XOF arrives as well, prompting a massive battle, during which Sahelanthropus
is destroyed. Eli emerges from the cockpit, and Snake protects
him from advancing XOF soldiers. As a grenade goes off, however, Snake is left
disorientated, and he mistakes Eli for a XOF soldier, shooting him accidentally. Snake then rushes over and mourns the boy,
feeling massive guilt for his accident. Ocelot then leads a cleanup crew, and a medic
discovers that Eli survived the shot. As they prepare to take him back to Mother
Base, however, he begins to show symptoms of the vocal cord parasite, forcing them to
leave him behind. In their last moments together, Eli blames
Snake, his “father”, for cursing him with this life, stating that one day he’ll destroy
all of Cipher and surpass his father. Snake then leaves Eli with a pistol with one
bullet as the Diamond Dogs leave, preparing to wipe Eli’s Kingdom clean with napalm. Eli watches them fly off with the remains
of Sahelanthropus and holds the gun up to his head before he hears the sound of breathing
through a gas mask. He then sees Tretij Rebenok before him, and
he lowers the weapon as the third boy telekinetically removes the parasites from Eli’s vocal cords. The pair then levitate away as the napalm
strike decimates the area. Venom Snake watches the strike out of the
window of the chopper, spotting his demonic self once again in the reflection. Eli and Tretij Rebenok then arrive in New
York, and the pair set off to work together to continue the boy’s revenge on his father,
Big Boss. During the late 1980s, the third Big Boss
clone, Solidus Snake, or “George Sears”, is dispatched to fight in the Liberian Civil
War. There, he kills a couple before finding their
young son. Solidus adopts the boy and names him “Jack”,
bringing him into the “Small Boy Unit” of the “Army of the Devil”: a group of
child soldiers led by Solidus. Jack proved to be a ruthless killer, earning
the nicknames “White Devil” and “Jack the Ripper”. After the war, however, Jack goes missing. In 1987, Roy Campbell, now serving in the
United States Army Delta Force, has an affair with his brother’s wife, which leads to
a pregnancy and the birth of a girl, named Meryl Silverburgh, who is kept unaware of
her true paternal father. During the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary,
Alberta Canada, Czech figure skater Gustava Heffner meets and falls in love with Frank
Hunter. The couple try to marry, but Gustava is denied
citizenship. This failed defection causes Gustava to lose
her rights to compete, and she subsequently joins the Czech State Security. Frank Hunter then goes to the United States
to join their military. In the early 1990s, one of Big Boss’s clones,
David (codenamed Solid Snake) is recruited into the United States Army Special Forces
and is dispatched to fight in the Gulf War. He later is recruited into the FOXHOUND unit,
where he is trained by drill sergeant Kazuhira Miller, now going by the name “McDonell
Benedict Miller”, known by his subordinates as “Master Miller”. Around the same time, Eli (codenamed Liquid
Snake) is captured by the Iraqi army while working for the British Secret Intelligence
Service. In 1991, the Cold War ends, and the Soviet
Union is dissolved. In 1994, Liquid Snake is rescued by the U.S.
government. By 1995, Big Boss completes his work building
Outer Heaven and returns to the United States to his former role as commander of the FOXHOUND
unit, now leading his “son” Solid Snake (who still has no knowledge of his lineage),
as well as Frank Hunter (now codenamed “Gray Fox”) who had also joined the group. Unbeknownst to those in Outer Heaven (which
has now absorbed all of the remainder of the Diamond Dogs), Venom Snake then takes his
place as Big Boss: the leader of the military nation. In 1995, the Western Powers catch wind that
Outer Heaven may be holding nuclear weapons. FOXHOUND is then tasked with infiltrating
the nation to investigate, and Big Boss sends in Gray Fox. The mission goes south, however, as Gray Fox
is captured and taken prisoner, but not before he is able to transmit two words of a distress
call, saying only: “Metal Gear”. Now with all of the pieces set in motion,
Big Boss initiates “Operation Intrude N313”, sending his rookie son, Solid Snake, into
Outer Heaven. Ultimately, Big Boss hopes he can trick the
inexperienced soldier into retrieving false intel, as well as eliminating one of the products
of Cipher’s Les Enfants Terribles project by setting Solid Snake up to die. Solid Snake infiltrates Outer Heaven through
an underwater insertion, while Big Boss takes the role of commanding officer via radio communications. Snake soon finds and rescues several captives
in Outer Heaven, learning of a group of resistance fighters in the area who end up assisting
him on his mission, including Ex punk singer Diane, her brother Steve, another woman named
Jennifer, and lastly their leader, Kyle Schneider. Snake soon gets himself caught by the Outer
Heaven forces in order to be taken to the same holding cells as Gray Fox. In his cell, Snake is able to punch through
a weak spot in the wall to create a passageway into the adjacent cell, where he finds Gray
Fox. Fox informs Snake about Outer Heaven’s secret
weapon: the TX-55 Metal Gear walking nuclear tank, able to launch from any terrain. Fox then sends Snake to search the compound
for Dr. Drago Prettrovich Madnar, the scientist who built the machine, knowing that if there’s
a way to destroy the Metal Gear, the doctor would know it. On his way out of the prison, Snake is stopped
by the guard, known as “the Shotmaker”, who opens fire. Snake is able to avoid his shots and reach
the room his gear was taken to after being confiscated. After discarding a tracking device hidden
in his equipment, Snake is able to return to the Shotmaker and defeat him in battle. Continuing his search for Dr. Madnar, Snake
is stopped by another one of Outer Heaven’s elite mercenaries: the Machinegun Kid, who
Snake is also able to dispose of. Snake determines that he must parachute off
the roof of one building to reach another, but when he reaches the roof, he finds a Hind
D gunship waiting for him. After taking the aircraft out, Snake jumps
off the building and safely parachutes down, making his way to Madnar’s cell. When he reaches it, however, Snake finds the
cell empty, later learning that the doctor had been moved to the basement of a nearby
building. After using mines to destroy a tank in his
way, Snake reaches the second building, but finds it heavily guarded. Big Boss then calls and suggests that Snake
disguise himself to get past the security, before changing his radio frequency for further
communication. Snake then finds an enemy uniform and dons
it to get into the second building. Inside, Snake fights off an armored bulldozer
and finds the cell of Dr. Madnar, but soon discovers that the man inside is simply a
decoy, and suddenly the floor opens to a pit, killing the decoy while Snake narrowly escapes. Snake then continues his search for the real
doctor, fighting and killing another mercenary, the Fire Trooper. Snake then gets a hold of Jennifer, who prepares
a rocket launcher for him, which he uses to defeat a pair of humanoid cyborgs called “Bloody
Brad”. Afterwards, Snake finally reaches the real
Dr. Madnar, who refuses to help Snake unless he rescues his daughter, Ellen. Snake then finds Ellen, who reveals that Madnar
is only assisting Outer Heaven under duress, and he was forced to create Metal Gear against
his will. With Ellen safe, Snake returns to Madnar,
who gives him Metal Gear’s location: the 100th floor basement of a building to the
north, as well as a secret order to place plastic explosives at Metal Gear’s feet
in order to destroy it. As Snake makes his way to Metal Gear, Schneider
calls Snake, revealing that he’s learned the identity of Outer Heaven’s leader. Before he can reveal it however, he is stopped
by someone, and Snake never hears from him again during the mission. Snake then finds and kills the final mercenary,
Dirty Duck, to rescue another group of POWs, one of which is Jennifer’s brother. In the basement, Snake finds one last POW,
who reveals to Snake the identity of the man behind the Outer Heaven uprising: his commanding
officer, the legendary Big Boss. Snake finally reaches the TX-55 Metal Gear,
and using Dr. Madnar’s advice, he is able to destroy the giant machine and prevent its
launch. After Metal Gear’s destruction, Outer Heaven’s
self-destruct sequence activates, forcing Snake to make a quick escape. On his way out, however, Snake is met face-to-face
by a man he believes to be Big Boss. In actuality, this man is his commander’s
phantom: the body double Venom Snake. The two Snakes then battle, with the rookie
FOXHOUND soldier emerging victorious, killing Big Boss’s body double, fulfilling his final
mission. Solid Snake then climbs back to the surface
and escapes Outer Heaven before its destruction, completing his mission and returning home. Afterwards the remains of Outer Heaven are
destroyed through a series of NATO bombings, destroying the nuclear weapons left behind. At some point later, the real Big Boss speaks
out to Solid Snake, stating that they’ll meet again some day. After the NATO bombing of Outer Heaven, several
members of the resistance group survive and are rescued by Big Boss, who forgave them
for opposing him. The resistance leader, Kyle Schneider, is
captured by NATO, however, and is forced to join NASA’s secret “Black Ninja” project,
where he is equipped with an experimental set of armor and given drugs to enhance his
natural abilities. Meanwhile, Solid Snake departs FOXHOUND after
his betrayal by its commander. After a short stint in the CIA, Snake works
as a mercenary before taking an early retirement, relocating to the Canadian wilderness. Roy Campbell, former vice-command of FOXHOUND,
then takes the place of Commander of the unit left in Big Boss’s wake. In 1997, Big Boss and his followers fight
for the independence of a country that is then come to be known as “Zanzibar Land”,
trying to once again develop his Outer Heaven for soldiers. He is able to gain Gray Fox’s trust and
recruit him, as well as Dr. Madnar, who begins to design the new Metal Gear D. Zanzibar Land
then begins to attack nuclear weapons disposal sites all around the world, seizing any weapons
still intact and becoming the world’s only nuclear power. Around this time, Huey Emmerich, who has made
it back to the Americas and since married a woman named Julie Danziger, discovers that
his wife is having an affair with his now teenaged son, Hal. Huey, finally overcome by his grief and betrayal,
drives his wheelchair into the family pool to drown himself, taking his stepdaughter,
Emma with him. Emma screams for Hal’s help, but he doesn’t
hear her, as he is with Julie at the time. While Emma survives the ordeal, she develops
both a phobia of water, as well as a resentment for her stepbrother. Hal also lives with the guilt, leaving home
and attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before graduating early with
a PhD and working for the ArmsTech security corporation. Huey’s death is forever believed to be an
accident by everyone except his son. By 1999, the world is on the brink of an energy
crisis, as oil supplies begin to run dry. That is until a Czech scientist named Dr.
Kio Marv engineers a new type of algae he calls “OILIX” that can produce large quantities
of high-grade petroleum from commonly available materials. On his way to reveal OILIX at an international
summit, however, Dr. Marv is kidnapped by agents of Zanzibar Land, who take him hostage. With the threat of both nuclear attack and
the energy crisis in Zanzibar Land’s hands, Roy Campbell brings Solid Snake out of retirement
to work with FOXHOUND once again to infiltrate Zanzibar Land as part of “Operation Intrude
F014”, with his main objective being to rescue Dr. Marv. Snake successfully infiltrates the stronghold
and begins his search for Dr. Marv, following the signal from a transmitter hidden in his
tooth. Shortly into his mission, Snake receives a
call from a CIA agent named Holly White, who had infiltrated Zanzibar Land a month prior
under the guise of a journalist, and she offers her help and expertise. Also available to Snake for support via radio
is Master McDonell Miller, who assists Snake, fulfilling the promise he made to Ocelot over
a decade earlier. Snake follows the source of the signal and
finds Dr. Marv, or at least he believes he does. Again, the doctor Snake finds is nothing but
a decoy, and a Black Ninja reveals himself before prompting a battle. After Snake emerges successful, the dying
Ninja reveals himself to be Kyle Schneider, the leader of the Outer Heaven Resistance,
who alludes to Big Boss saving him and the others from the NATO bombing of the military
nation. Schneider believes that Snake will soon see
the good side of Big Boss, before giving him the location of Dr. Marv’s guard, telling
him to follow him to get to the doctor. Schneider then dies from his wounds, and Snake
heads off to find the guard. Snake finds and follows the guard, entering
a building but finding it empty. However, he soon hears tapping on a wall,
determining it to be a code, deciphering the message to get a radio frequency. Snake dials in the frequency and is shocked
to find the man on the transmitting end to be Dr. Drago Prettrovich Madnar, Outer Heaven’s
Metal Gear designer. Madnar lies to Snake, telling him that he
was captured alongside Dr. Marv and forced to develop another Metal Gear for Big Boss,
revealing to Snake that his former commander indeed survived the Outer Heaven incident. Madnar gives Snake Dr. Marv’s location,
a nearby tower, telling Snake to leave him behind, as the wall separating them is too
strong to destroy. He then provides the frequency of a local
zoologist friend named Johan Jacobsen before sending Snake on his way. Snake heads towards the tower, receiving a
radio call from an unknown person (only identifying themselves as Snake’s “number one fan”),
warning him that he’s entering a minefield. While Snake avoids the mines and guards in
the area, his progress is stopped by a Hind D, forcing him to retreat. Under advice from Holly, Snake locates some
Stinger missiles, but is stopped by “Running Man”, one of Zanzibar Land’s powerful
mercenaries. While the man’s speed surpasses Snake’s,
his wit falls far behind, and Snake kills the man. Snake eventually recovers the Stinger missiles
and returns to the Hind D, using his newly found arsenal to take it down. He proceeds to the tower, receiving a distress
call from Holly, who reveals that her cover was blown and she was captured by the enemy. She describes her location inside the tower,
and Snake follows the clues to rescue her. Holly reveals that she made contact with Dr.
Marv via a carrier pigeon, so Snake heads to the roof to try to find it. On the way, Snake comes across and kills another
mercenary, Red Blaster. On the roof, Snake uses advice from Jacobsen
to lure the pigeon finding a message attached to it that contains a code. Master Miller helps Snake crack the code to
uncover a radio frequency that he uses to finally speak with Dr. Marv. Unfortunately, however, the doctor doesn’t
speak english, leaving Snake unable to communicate with him. Snake calls Dr. Madnar, who has him look for
a Czech State Security officer named Gustava who was captured along with them but was able
to steal an enemy uniform to disguise herself. Knowing Gustava would be the only woman soldier
in Zanzibar Land, he hides outside of the women’s restroom to wait for her to enter. After following the woman inside, Snake introduces
himself, and soon recognizes the woman as Gustava Heffner, the figure skater who won
the gold at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. The woman denies this, and changes the subject
to rescuing Dr. Marv. Snake gives her his radio frequency, and she
calls the doctor, learning that the prison he’s being held in is on the other side
of a large crevice to the north of the tower. Dr. Marv also expresses concerns about Dr.
Madnar, but Snake assures him that he’s safe. Snake and Gustava reach Madnar’s cell, and
the three head towards the prison. On the way, however, Madnar asks to take a
break before heading off to “take care of some business”. Left alone with some time to kill, Snake and
Gustava chat for a bit, with the woman admitting that she is the ex-olympic skater Snake suspected
she was, filling him in on her past with Frank Hunter, including their failed attempt at
marriage that led to her joining the Czech State Security. Dr. Madnar then returns, and they continue
on their way. When they reach the bridge over the crevice,
Madnar volunteers to cross it first to ensure it’s safe. When he reaches the other side safely, Gustava
follows, but suddenly a missile strikes the bridge, destroying it and blasting her back
to the other side with Snake. Gustava gives Snake her brooch, alluding to
it having a secret use, before she quickly dies from her injuries. Dr. Madnar is then taken away by Zanzibar
Land soldiers, and the source of the missile attack is revealed: Metal Gear D. The giant mech’s pilot then reveals himself
to Snake to be none other than his former FOXHOUND squadmate Gray Fox, who taunts him
before piloting Metal Gear away. Snake calls Holly, who suggests he find a
hang glider to jump off the tower to reach the other side of the crevice. On his way, Snake is ambushed in an elevator
by a group of assassins called the “Four Horsemen”, sent by Gray Fox. Snake defeats them and is successfully able
to use the hang glider to cross the crevice to reach the prison area. There, he is ambushed by another mercenary
named Jungle Evil, defeating him before another battle with the last mercenary: Night Fright,
who he kills as well. With more help from Master Miller, Snake finally
reaches Dr. Marv’s cell, but when he enters, he finds a ghastly sight: Dr. Madnar standing
next to the dead body of Dr. Marv. Madnar tells Snake that he took too long,
and Dr. Marv’s heart gave out from the torture he was subjected to. Snake, however, notices bruising around Marv’s
neck. Madnar then reveals that Marv, a video game
enthusiast, had hidden the plans for OILIX on a microfilm inside of an MSX game cartridge
that’s currently in a nearby locker, although Madnar couldn’t find the key to it. Suddenly, Snake receives a call from Holly,
who frantically tells him that he’s in danger: after speaking with her contacts at intelligence
agencies, she learned that after Outer Heaven, Madnar was rejected by the West, which led
to him joining Zanzibar Land as a double agent. Madnar reveals his true intentions to Snake,
explaining that all he wanted was to finish his grand creation: Metal Gear. He then reveals that his “bathroom break”
before the bridge was him contacting Gray Fox to coordinate the attack, and explains
that he killed Dr. Marv after he wouldn’t turn over the OILIX plans. Madnar then attacks Snake, strangling him
from behind. Snake then fires multiple Stinger missiles
at the surprisingly resistant old man, and he is soon defeated. Snake soon learns that Gustava’s brooch
changes shape when it’s in different temperatures, so he puts it in a freezer, which turns it
into a key. Snake then returns to Dr. Marv’s cell and
uses this key in the doctor’s locker, opening it and obtaining the MSX cartridge with the
hidden plans. When Snake goes to leave, however, Dr. Madnar
(still somehow alive) thinks of his daughter Ellen and has a change of heart, telling Snake
the secret to destroying Metal Gear D: by using grenades to destroy its legs. Suddenly, a trap door opens below Snake, and
he falls several floors down, where he is again confronted by Gray Fox piloting Metal
Gear D. Using Madnar’s advice, Snake targets Metal Gear’s legs and after a long battle,
he destroys the machine. In the resulting explosion, Snake catches
fire, and Gray Fox is able to steal the MSX cartridge away from him before running off. Snake is then forced to abandon all of his
gear to put out the flames before following Gray Fox to a minefield where he challenges
Snake to a one-on-one fist fight. Before the fight, Snake gets a call from military
expert George Kasler, who tells Snake that Gray Fox’s real name is Frank Jaeger. Snake realizes “Jaeger” is the German
word for “Hunter”, and he determines that Gray Fox was the man Gustava once loved, who
unknowingly killed his former bride-to-be. Snake then defeats Gray Fox in battle, and
the pair have one final discussion, with Gray Fox revealing his admiration for Big Boss,
as well as his shared vision of a home for vagrant soldiers like himself. Gray Fox also reveals that he was Snake’s
“biggest fan” who had helped him earlier before he calls out Gustava’s name one last
time before Snake leaves him behind to die from one of the mine’s detonating; continuing
on to search for Big Boss. Snake doesn’t have to search for long, as
his former Commander soon beckons him. Snake then enters a nearby room to find Big
Boss alive and well, much to his surprise. Snake, hoping to rid himself of the nightmares
he’s been having since Outer Heaven, challenges Big Boss, who simply responds that they’ll
never go away, and even if Snake survives this battle, he’ll just be fated to fight
the rest of his life. Big Boss then imparts the same message The
Boss gave him before their final fight, and the two begin their final battle. Snake uses his ingenuity and takes Big Boss
by surprise, creating a makeshift flamethrower out of a lighter and lacquer spray and using
it to burn him alive. In his last moments, Big Boss tells Snake
that he is his son, before he presumably dies from his wounds. Snake is soon met by Holly, and the pair make
their way towards a rendezvous point. Fighting through the remainder of Zanzibar
Land’s security forces, Snake and Holly reach the location, but find the helicopter
hasn’t arrived yet. Snake continues to hold them off, but runs
out of ammo, leaving him surrounded by hostiles. The helicopter pilot, Charlie, arrives in
the nick of time, and takes them out with mounted guns, allowing Snake and Holly to
board before they fly off into the sunset. Sometime later, Snake, Campbell, and Holly
uncover the hidden OILIX plans from the cartridge, and Snake is offered to rejoin FOXHOUND. He denies this offer, however, and slips away
to return to his life in solitude in the wilderness of Alaska. Following the events of Zanzibar Land, Dr.
Madnar, Gray Fox, and Big Boss ultimately survive, with the latter two just barely. Big Boss’s body is recovered by Cipher’s
successor, the Patriots, and kept alive, but comatose, in cold storage, where Dr. Clark
(Operation Snake Eater’s “Para-Medic”) again extracts his “perfect soldier” genes
and uses them in gene therapy to create a new, top secret unit of the United States
Army called the “Next-Generation Special Forces” whose genomes are rearranged to
resemble his DNA. Gray Fox is also experimented on by Dr. Clark,
who uses cybernetic enhancements, nanotechnology, and gene therapy to turn him into an emotionless
“cyborg ninja” Around this time, EVA (now going by the moniker
“Big Mama” in reference to her giving birth to the “sons of Big Boss”) regains
contact with Ocelot (now going by the name “Revolver Ocelot” after his weapon of
choice), and the pair begin to work together to overthrow the Patriots. In the year 2000, Ocelot and Big Mama recruit
Gray Fox’s adopted sister, Naomi Hunter to join FOXHOUND as Dr. Clark’s assistant,
and they begin to plot a way to have Clark killed. Around the same time, Roy Campbell retires
from FOXHOUND, and Liquid Snake takes over the unit, converting it into an elite counter-terrorism
unit. He recruits his old friend Tretij Rebenok,
now going by the codename “Psycho Mantis”, as well as Revolver Ocelot (fulfilling his
own promise to Kaz Miller to help the opposing Son of Big Boss, while also plotting to destroy
the Patriots from within). Other members were then recruited, including
Vulcan Raven, Sniper Wolf, and Decoy Octopus. In 2003, Naomi secretly helps her brother
escape his confinement, and after breaking free, he kills Dr. Clark before escaping. Naomi then helps her brother enter hiding,
although the experiments on him leave his psyche broken, and his identity mostly erased. Over the course of the next few years, Naomi
works with a Defense Intelligence Agency operative and Patriots spy named Richard Ames on the
“FOXDIE” project to develop a retrovirus that targets and kills only specific people
based on their genetic signature, harkening back to an idea originally conceived by Zero. In early 2005, a nuclear test exercise is
conducted on Shadow Moses Island, off the coast of Alaska, which houses a nuclear weapons
disposal facility. The test is conducted by ArmsTech and DARPA
under FOXHOUND and the Next-Generation Special Forces’ supervision. In the early 2000s, The Patriots arrange for
George Sears (Solidus Snake) to be elected President of the United States. Under his leadership, a covert organization
called “Dead Cell” is formed, with the purpose of launching surprise attacks on allied
bases for training purposes. However, growing angry at the Patriots for
creating him with a limited life-span, Solidus secretly works with Ocelot to convince Liquid
Snake to lead FOXHOUND to revolt. After learning of the impending FOXHOUND revolt,
Ames arranges to have rookie Meryl Silverburgh brought into the unit and sent to Shadow Moses. Meanwhile, Master “Kazuhira” Miller is
assassinated in his home by an unknown assailant. In February of 2005, FOXHOUND and the Next-Generation
Special Forces revolt and overtake the nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses
Island, taking all the personnel on site hostage, including DARPA Chief Donald Anderson (Operation
Snake Eater’s Mr. Sigint and prominent figure of the Patriots) as well as the president
of ArmsTech, Kenneth Baker. FOXHOUND threatens to launch an experimental
nuclear weapon being developed on Shadow Moses: a new Metal Gear codenamed REX, making one
single demand: the remains of Big Boss. Richard Ames and United States Defense Secretary
Jim Houseman contact Roy Campbell and use his niece, Meryl’s safety as a bargaining
chip to force him to come out of retirement. Campbell is then tasked with convincing Solid
Snake to return to the battlefield on yet another single-man infiltration mission under
his command. Five hours later, Snake is retrieved from
his home in Alaska by armed soldiers and brought to a nuclear submarine called the USS Discovery. There, he is met by Campbell, who fills him
in on the situation while Naomi Hunter, operating as FOXHOUND’s medical chief, injects him
with several types of nanomachines and drugs to enhance his abilities as well as a cochlear
implant to allow him to communicate with command via “codec” calls. Also in this injection is the FOXDIE virus,
engineered by the Patriots to kill several targets on Shadow Moses, save for Donald Anderson. The FOXDIE plan is kept secret from nearly
everyone in the mission, however, including Campbell and Snake. When Snake learns about the terrorists’
demands, as well as the fact that their leader, Liquid Snake, looks identical to him, Snake
agrees to the mission of rescuing Anderson and Baker while learning about the terrorist’s
nuclear capabilities before preparing for infiltration. Snake’s mission is a failure before it can
begin, however, as on Shadow Moses Island, Donald Anderson is currently being questioned. Liquid Snake, requiring two launch codes for
REX (one held by Baker and one by Anderson) has Ocelot torture the DARPA chief for his
code, but he instead kills the man, taking down another core member of the Patriots as
well as the only other person on the Island who knew his true identity and motives. Ocelot apologizes, lying that it was an accident,
before Psycho Mantis suggests that FOXHOUND member Decoy Octopus (a master of disguise)
pose as Anderson to trick Solid Snake into activating Metal Gear REX’s alternate launch
sequence once he arrives. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, California, Richard
Ames arrives with a group of his men at the home of his former wife and Defense Intelligence
Agency colleague Nastasha Romanenko. The group forces her to provide support to
Solid Snake via codec by providing him with information about the various weapons, nuclear
and otherwise, on Shadow Moses. Unbeknownst to Campbell and his team, Ames
observes all of Snake’s progress and movements through this open line of communication, giving
the Patriots an eye on the operation. Snake infiltrates the facility unseen via
an underwater insertion and spots Liquid Snake ascending a nearby cargo elevator. Snake sneaks by the guards and follows up
the elevator, ditching his underwater gear on the way up. On the surface, Snake again spots Liquid,
this time boarding a Russian Hind D to take out a pair of planes sent as a diversion,
much to his and Campbell’s confusion. On his way inside the facility, Snake is introduced
to another remote member of support: Data Analyst Mei Ling, who designed the codec and
Snake’s new radar system. After successfully entering Shadow Moses’s
tank hangar, Snake is contacted via codec by his former drill instructor and one-time
radio support resource: Master McDonell Miller, or at least a man claiming to be. Snake and the others are unaware of Miller’s
true fate, and the real identity of the man claiming to be him: FOXHOUND’s leader, Liquid
Snake. “Miller” gives Snake information on the
environment, but truly uses their communication to keep his own tabs on Snake’s mission
progress. Snake soon finds the prison area and sneaks
into the DARPA Chief’s cell, passing by another containing a young woman (Meryl Silverburgh). Snake finds the man he believes to be Donald
Anderson inside, and the pair discuss the terrorists nuclear abilities. Decoy Octopus, under the guise of the DARPA
Chief, then lies to Solid Snake, telling him that Psycho Mantis was able to probe his mind
for his launch code before misguiding him to believe that the only way to stop the terrorists
from launching the nukes is to use a “Permissive Action Link” (or PAL) system to deactivate
Metal Gear REX using three card keys that the ArmsTech president is currently holding. During their conversation, the DARPA Chief
suddenly screams out and clutches his chest before dying, with Snake believing his death
to be from a heart attack. In reality, Decoy Octopus had been infected
by the FOXDIE virus carried by Snake, and succumbed to its effects. Meryl hears the man’s death in the neighboring
cell and tricks her guard, a man named Johnny Sasaki, knocking him out and quickly stealing
his uniform. Snake exits the DARPA Chief’s cell and spots
the naked guard outside before he is suddenly held at gunpoint by a disguised Meryl, who
assumes he killed the prisoner. Snake pulls out his own weapon, realizing
from her lack of experience that she isn’t one of the so-called “genome soldiers”. Their conversation is cut short when a squad
enters the area and attacks, forcing the two to work together to fight them off. After the battle, Meryl runs off, with Snake
making a mental note of the way her hips move as she traverses. As Meryl reaches a nearby elevator, she is
overtaken by Psycho Mantis’s powerful abilities, and he forces her to fire at him, preventing
him from following her. Snake continues on, finding ArmsTech president
Kenneth Baker strapped to an elaborate trap with several C4 explosives set to trigger
by tripwires. Revolver Ocelot then arrives, bragging again
about his single action army revolver, which he uses to prompt a shootout with Snake. Suddenly, their battle is interrupted when
Ocelot’s hand is severed cleanly off by an invisible assailant, who also cuts down
Baker from his trap. With Baker safely out of harm’s way, the
C4 explodes, knocking Ocelot back and disabling the assailant’s optical camouflage, revealing
a cyborg ninja. Ocelot runs off carrying his severed hand,
leaving the ninja behind, who begins to move erratically while screaming in agony before
rushing off. Snake rushes over to Baker and asks if he
gave up his launch code, and he reveals that while his mental implant prevent Psycho Mantis
from probing his mind, Ocelot’s torture proved too powerful, and he did end up talking. Snake asks if the DARPA chief also had an
implant, which Baker confirms, much to Snake’s confusion. Snake asks Baker for the PAL keys, but he
reveals that he gave them to Meryl, before telling Snake that he can find her codec frequency
on “the back of the CD case”. Snake asks Baker if there’s any other way
to stop Metal Gear, and the man tells him to look for ArmsTech’s top engineer: Hal
Emmerich, who is currently in the facility, where he was working to lead the Metal Gear
REX project. Baker then gives Snake an optical disk containing
the only remaining copy of the Metal Gear REX test data. After hinting that Naomi knows something about
the cyborg ninja they saw, Baker begins to clutch his own chest, and dies in the same
way the man Snake thought to be the DARPA chief did. Afterwards, Campbell tells Snake to contact
his niece, Meryl, to work with her, and after he finds her codec frequency, he makes contact. After gaining her trust, the pair discuss
strategy. Meryl gives Snake the location of Emmerich’s
lab before unlocking the path for him. Snake then heads out to look for him, agreeing
to meet up with Meryl after retrieving the scientist. Snake heads towards Emmerich, but is stopped
by a call from an unknown party who calls himself “Deepthroat” (also referring to
himself as one of Snake’s “fans”) who warns him about mines in his area. Snake brushes off the deja vu and gets past
the mines before he is stopped again, this time by FOXHOUND member Vulcan Raven, commanding
a tank. Snake is able to use various grenades to disable
the tank before continuing on, leaving Raven behind to report back to Ocelot. After more help from “Deepthroat” and
a remote controlled missile, Snake is able to reach the hallway to Emmerich’s lab,
finding it littered with corpses, cut by some kind of high-frequency blade. At the end of the hallway, Snake finds the
culprit: the cyborg ninja he saw earlier. Snake follows the ninja into the lab, finding
him advancing on the terrified Dr. Hal Emmerich. Snake distracts the ninja, who then challenges
him to a battle to the death. Emmerich hides inside a locker while Snake
battles the ninja, during which his adversary reveals to Snake that the pair have a history. Snake then realizes that this ninja is none
other than Gray Fox: a man he thought was dead for years. Gray Fox begins to convulse yet again before
running off yet again. Afterwards, Snake calls Campbell to share
this revelation, and Naomi confirms, filling them in on Dr. Clark’s experiments but keeping
her relation to Gray Fox a secret. After the battle, Snake retrieves Emmerich
from the locker, and the pair discuss Metal Gear, with the scientist revealing that he
had no knowledge of his creation being used for nuclear launch, lamenting that the curse
of nuclear weapons must be in his genes. Emmerich claims to only know about the experimental
railgun on REX’s side. He then gives Snake REX’s location, but
due to a twisted ankle, is forced to stay behind and hide with his own stealth camouflage
tech to provide Snake support via codec. Snake tries to call Meryl to have her watch
over Emmerich, but overhears her having a scuffle with some guards. Forced to go after her, Emmerich hands him
a security keycard and hints for Snake to look for Meryl in a women’s restroom. The doctor then asks Snake to refer to him
by the nickname “Otacon”, short for “Otaku convention”, and the pair separate. Snake looks for a guard with Meryl’s distinct
walking style and soon finds her, following her to the women’s bathroom where she’s
changing out of her disguise. Finally face-to-face with no disguises, the
pair have a discussion about the meaning of war. After, Snake asks Meryl for the PAL card keys,
but she reveals that Baker had only given her one. The pair agree to destroy REX instead, and
head out together to reach its hangar. On the way, however, Psycho Mantis again takes
control of Meryl’s mind, forcing her to turn her gun on him. Snake knocks her out, and the powerful psychic
reveals himself, proving himself by reading Snake’s mind. Snake is able to outsmart the man, getting
past his abilities to overpower him in battle. In his final moments, Psycho Mantis reveals
a hidden path to the Metal Gear hangar, and Snake removes the man’s gas mask allowing
him a final moment to tell his story before he asks Snake to put it back on. The man formerly known as Tretij Rebenok then
uses his telekinetic abilities to help instead of harm for the first time by moving a bookshelf
to reveal the hidden path before he dies, finally at peace. Snake and Meryl continue on, avoiding a cave
full of wolves (which take a liking to Meryl) before they reach the final path to the hangar. Unfortunately, once there, FOXHOUND long-rang
expert Sniper Wolf fires upon them, shooting Meryl in the legs and arm to wound her just
enough to lure Snake out into the open. Snake is then forced to return to the facility’s
armory to search for a sniper of his own, and soon finds one before returning to find
Meryl now gone, but Sniper Wolf still waiting for him. Snake and Wolf have a long-range shootout,
with Snake eventually driving her off. This turns out to be another ruse, however,
as Snake is ambushed by a group of soldiers as he tries to enter the hangar building. They hold him up, allowing Sniper Wolf to
taunt him before he is knocked unconscious and taken captive. When Snake awakens, he finds himself stripped
of his gear and restrained. Liquid Snake then speaks before Snake, referring
to him and his “brother” as the last surviving “Sons of Big Boss” and clarifying that
he’s hoping to receive Big Boss’s DNA as a means to repair mutations in the genome
soldiers’ DNA. He then leaves to prepare REX for launch,
leaving Ocelot to torture him. Ocelot reveals that Meryl is still alive,
and begins to interrogate Snake about the “trick” Baker referred to that allowed
the single PAL key to be used as multiple. Snake denies any knowledge about this, and
Ocelot tortures him with electric shock. Snake withstands the torture and is taken
to a holding cell. There, Snake finds that he’s being kept
with the DARPA chief’s dead body, but notices that it’s decomposed far more than it should
have for the short period of time since he saw the man die. While in captivity, Snake presses Campbell
via his codec about how much he knew about Metal Gear, and his commanding officer reveals
that he knew more than he let on, knowing that the news of a new nuclear weapon being
developed by the United States couldn’t leak amid their current proliferation talks. While Snake is upset at being left in the
dark, he nonetheless promises to destroy Metal Gear and rescue Meryl. Snake then calls Otacon and asks for his help
before he’s taken back to the interrogation room. After Ocelot tells Snake his story, including
how he got the nickname “Shalashaska”, he administers another round of torture. Snake withstands it once more and is taken
back to his cell. There, Snake asks Naomi to talk to him to
take his mind off the pain, and after Snake reveals that he killed the only family he
knew, Big Boss, and the woman tells her about her own brother who died (still keeping his
identity secret). Meanwhile, Richard Ames, still observing the
situation through Nastasha Romanenko’s open communication channel, has a message wired
to the skipper of the USS Discovery, instructing it to be hidden from Campbell. Otacon soon arrives and reveals that while
he can’t get Snake out of the cell, he can still provide him with something: some food. Otacon gives Snake some ketchup and rations. He then reveals that he’s beginning to have
feelings for Sniper Wolf, asking Snake not to hurt her before he runs off. Snake then uses the ketchup to trick his guard,
the ill-fated Johnny Sasaki, into thinking he is bleeding. When Sasaki enters Snake’s cell, Snake escapes
(potentially due to Sasaki’s bowel issues). He then returns to the torture room and retrieves
his gear, finding the optical disc containing the launch data Kenneth Baker gave him is
not among them. On his way back to the Metal Gear hangar,
Snake gets another call from his “fan” warning him about a bomb placed in his gear,
which he promptly disposes of. Snake makes his way back towards the hangar,
fighting an onslaught of enemies on his way up the nearby communications tower. When he reaches the roof to cross over to
the neighboring building, his progress is halted by Liquid Snake who attacks in his
Hind D. Snake uses a rope to rappel down the side
of the building to a lower bridge, where he escapes the gunship into the second building. There, he finds Otacon, who offers to fix
the nearby elevator while Snake returns to the roof to confront Liquid, after which he
successfully takes out the Hind D. Otacon reveals that the elevator seemingly
fixed itself, and Snake enters it, taking it down to the underground maintenance tunnel
to reach the Metal Gear hangar. While in the elevator, Snake receives a call
from Otacon, who decides at this moment to tell Snake that four stealth camouflage suits
went missing. On cue, Snake is ambushed by four invisible
soldiers and is forced into a confined battle which he soon wins. Just before reaching the hangar, Snake is
met with another obstacle: Sniper Wolf. While Otacon pleads with Snake not to kill
her, the pair engage in another sniper battle. After Snake emerges successful, he rushes
over to Sniper Wolf, who reveals in her dying breath that Big Boss rescued her as a child
before asking Snake to put her out of her suffering. Before he can, Otacon arrives and tells Wolf
that he loves her. She asks for her gun, and once it’s returned
to her, Snake sets her free by killing her. A grieving Otacon offers Snake his continued
help as he watches him walk off. As Snake nearly reaches Metal Gear, he is
stopped once again by FOXHOUND’s remaining heavy: Vulcan Raven, carrying a massive gatling
gun. Despite the man’s heavy artillery, Snake
is able to defeat the man, allowing him a chance to tell his story as well. As a reward for his victory, Raven gives Snake
a hint, finally revealing to Snake that the DARPA chief he spoke with was Decoy Octopus
in disguise. Snake then walks away from Raven’s body,
which is consumed by his birds, as the man tells him that his spirit will forever be
watching. Afterwards, Snake gets a call from Master
Miller, who asks Campbell if Naomi is listening. Campbell, believing Naomi to be off napping,
responds that she is not, and Miller goes on to reveal that Naomi has been lying about
her background and is likely betraying them as a spy of the Patriots. Campbell promises
to get to the bottom of it. This communication with Miller startles Richard
Ames and Nastasha Romanenko, who wonders how a man retired in his cabin in Alaska could
obtain such information. Snake finally reaches the hangar and stands
before the fifty-foot-tall Metal Gear REX. He then reaches the control room, where he
overhears Ocelot and Liquid Snake (who secretly are aware of Snake’s eavesdropping) discussing
how they’ve entered the launch codes and can strike whenever they want. Liquid then has their target moved from Russia
to a test site in China, which he notes will make “Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich” happy,
revealing that Russia, in exchange for the powerful nuclear weapon, was the source of
Liquid’s Russian weaponry. Knowing that once other countries learn of
the powerful nuclear weapon they’ll come to FOXHOUND to obtain its blueprint, giving
them all the bargaining power they need to obtain their demands, which now include one
billion dollars, as well as a vaccine for FOXDIE. With these resources (along with Gurlukovich’s
army), Liquid hopes to turn Shadow Moses Island into Big Boss’s dream: Outer Heaven. Snake soon receives a call from Otacon, who
had hacked into Baker’s files on Metal Gear and learned that the PAL override key does
in-fact have a trick: it changes based on temperature. If Snake puts in the card key at three different
temperatures after the launch codes have been inputted, it will cancel the launch. Likewise, if the key is put in before the
launch codes have been inputted, it will initiate the launch. Either way, the keys can only be used once. Ocelot then shoots the key out of Snake’s
hand, giving him and Liquid a chance to escape as he retrieves it. Snake returns to the control room and inserts
the key at room temperature, then takes the key to a freezer before returning to insert
it at freezing temperature, leaving only the final sequence remaining, which requires heat. During this time, Richard Ames privately calls
Campbell to speak with him about Naomi. Ames reveals that Naomi hadn’t been taking
a nap, but was instead being interrogated by agents of the Patriots, hoping to patch
the holes in her story. With her reluctance to cooperate, Ames instructs
Campbell to interrogate her himself, hoping a familiar face will get her to open up. While he initially questions the order, Ames
again uses Meryl’s safety as leverage, and Campbell reluctantly agrees to question her. Now on his way to a furnace, Snake receives
another call from Miller, who asks for a private connection. Snake obliges, cutting Campbell out of their
call (but not Ames, who overhears everything). Miller reveals that a source in the Pentagon
informed him about a new type of assassination weapon, codenamed FOXDIE, and he fills Snake
in on the specifics of the project, leading them to determine the only person who could
have injected Snake with the virus with Naomi. Campbell then calls Snake and confirms his
suspicion, telling Snake that Naomi was caught sending a coded transmission and was apprehended. In truth, this is a lie fabricated by Ames
to keep Snake in the dark about Naomi’s true interrogation. After reaching a furnace to transform the
PAL key, Snake returns back to Metal Gear, receiving another call on his way, this time
from Naomi, who momentarily escaped her captors and retrieved a transmitter. The woman reveals that while she had been
lying to him, some of what she said about her past was true, namely about her brother,
who she finally reveals to be Frank Jaeger, the man Snake knew as Gray Fox. Believing Snake killed Gray Fox in Zanzibar
Land, Naomi vowed to get her revenge, waiting two years for this moment. She then explains how FOXDIE works, but reveals
that it wasn’t her idea to use it. She then tries to tell him one last thing,
but she is cut short, and Campbell butts in to tell him that she has been removed from
the operation and can no longer make any transmissions to him. While Snake feels double crossed, Campbell
reminds him that his current priority is stopping Metal Gear and preventing the nuclear strike. As Snake prepares to input the final PAL key,
Richard Ames receives a harrowing message: Nastasha was right, the Master Miller Snake
has been speaking to is not the real Master Miller, as his body was just discovered by
Ames’s men at his home in Alaska. Snake then inserts the PAL key once last time,
and is shocked when alarms begin to blare stating that the launch code has been entered,
and missile launch has been activated. A surprised Snake is then called by “Miller”
once more, who finally reveals his true identity as Liquid Snake, explaining the grand ruse
to trick Snake into helping them during his entire mission. Liquid then locks Snake inside the control
room and fills it with poisonous gas, but Otacon is able to hack the security to allow
him to exit. Outside, Snake finds Liquid beside Metal Gear
REX, and his “brother” then reveals the true nature behind Snake’s mission: to simply
act as a carrier to spread FOXDIE to the necessary parties to kill them so Metal Gear could be
retrieved secretly, however, Naomi made unknown changes to the virus before she injected it;
changes her superiors are currently trying to uncover. Liquid then proceeds to finally tell Snake
about their origins: the Les Enfants Terribles project. Liquid, resentful that his brother not only
got all of their father’s dominant genes, but also robbed him of his chance at vengeance
by killing Big Boss before he could. Instead of killing Big Boss, Liquid settles
on surpassing him instead, before he jumps into Metal Gear REX’s cockpit and activates
it, forcing Snake into his third Metal Gear battle. Snake gets a call from Otacon, who informs
him that REX’s armor is impenetrable, and the only way to stop Liquid would be by destroying
the machine’s radome to disable its sensors to force Liquid to open the cockpit so Snake
can hit him. Using missiles, Snake strikes at the radome,
but is unable to completely destroy it. As REX is just about to crush Snake, Gray
Fox arrives and uses his enhanced strength to stop it, allowing Snake to get to safety. In a moment of vulnerability, Fox admits to
Snake that he doesn’t deserve his sister’s love, since it was he who killed her parents. Fox then gives Snake a final gift from “Deepthroat”,
rushing out to distract Liquid, who cuts off Fox’s arm before pinning him against the
wall. Liquid taunts Gray Fox by saying in the Middle
East, they hunt jackals instead of foxes, with Fox responding that “a cornered fox
is more dangerous than a jackal”, using his last moments to deliver the final blow
to REX’s sensors. As Fox lays dying, he tells Snake to fire
his Stinger at REX, but he can’t bring himself to do it, knowing the explosion would also
kill Fox. Liquid then crushes Fox under Metal Gear’s
foot, finally killing Snake’s former friend and squadmate. With REX’s cockpit open and Liquid exposed,
Snake fires his Stinger missiles at him, eventually damaging the internals enough to disable the
Metal Gear. The ensuing explosion blasts Snake into the
wall, knocking him unconscious. Liquid then retrieves his brother, ties him
up, and carries him atop the disabled Metal Gear REX. He also retrieves the sedated Meryl, placing
her beside him. While Snake is passed out, Liquid speaks directly
into his ear, knowing the Patriots can still hear him through the cochlear implant. Liquid warns them that as soon as he’s done
with Snake, he’ll be coming to finally destroy them as well; a challenge that Richard Ames
welcomes. Snake then awakens and Liquid reiterates his
plans to build a new world for him and his brethren, the genome soldiers, insisting that
Snake must share his desire, since it’s written into both of their genes. Liquid then goes into more detail about the
Les Enfants Terribles project as well as the creation of the genome soldiers and their
fate to die out due to lack of gene diversity (that is unless they can crack the code using
Big Boss’s DNA). Liquid then shows Snake the nearby Meryl,
telling him that he’ll let her go after one final showdown between the brothers to
prove whose genes are truly superior. He also mentions that there’s now a ticking
clock, as the United States (having learned of Metal Gear’s destruction) now plan to
simply destroy the island with an air strike to wipe out all evidence of their classified
project. Snake then calls Campbell, who confirms the
cover-up but promises that he’ll issue the command to halt the air strike, which should
at least buy them time. Richard Ames overhears this and makes the
order for his men to arrest Campbell. Before Campbell can issue the order, he is
taken away, and the Secretary of Defense, Jim Houseman takes command, telling Snake
that Campbell will be charged for treason before confirming that the air strike is on
schedule before hanging up. Liquid then reveals his own nuclear device,
set to a timer, and he and Snake fight, man-to-man, hand-to-hand atop Metal Gear REX. While Snake is unable to simply overpower
his brother, he is able to force him off the side of the machine, sending him plunging
below, seemingly to his death. At this same time, Richard Ames aborts the
air strike, and the Patriots, angered with Houseman’s renegade actions, have the Secretary
of Defense detained. Snake rushes over to Meryl as she awakens,
and the pair share a short reunion before Snake calls Otacon to warn him about the impending
airstrike. Otacon refuses to leave, however, instead
promising to stay at his station to use his hacking skills to get Snake and Meryl past
any remaining security to escape the facility and get to safety. Otacon then leads them to a parking garage
where they can find a vehicle to drive through a nearby escape tunnel. Snake helps Meryl get down from REX, and after
Snake dons his sneaking suit once again, the pair are able to commandeer a jeep to escape. After using the mounted gun to fight through
the remaining opposition, Snake is shocked when another jeep approaches just behind them,
with a surviving Liquid Snake at the wheel. As they reach the exit of the facility, the
Twin Snakes’ vehicles collide, and they both overturn in the crash. Snake and Meryl are pinned under their jeep,
allowing Liquid to walk over with his gun trained on his brother. Before he can fire, however, he finally succumbs
to the FOXDIE virus and the man once known as “Eli” falls dead, leaving a warning
omen to Snake that this means he’s susceptible to the virus he’s carrying as well. Snake and Meryl look up and notice the air
strike isn’t arriving, and Campbell calls Snake to give him the news that it was called
off. Snake informs Campbell of Meryl’s safety,
and the retired colonel apologizes for keeping so many secrets from Snake, restoring the
pair’s friendship. Campbell has Snake and Meryl officially pronounced
dead in the crash, giving them a clean slate to do whatever they’d like with the rest
of their lives. Snake then has somebody sent to retrieve Otacon,
and Campbell tells him about a nearby snowmobile they can take to a helicopter for evacuation. The codec call then switches to Naomi, who
wishes to speak with Snake about FOXDIE. Snake gives Naomi one last message that her
brother left with him before his death, instructing her to move on with her own life instead of
avenging his. Snake tells Naomi that FOXDIE killed Liquid,
and asks her when he’ll die, to which she simply responds that it’s up to him, before
passing on her brother’s advice back to Snake, telling him to live his life. Snake and Meryl then find the snowmobile as
Snake recalls Naomi’s words about genes, as well as her message to live life without
being chained to the fate within them. Snake and Meryl then share one more conversation,
where he finally tells her his real name: David, and they ride away from Shadow Moses. Sometime later, Ocelot speaks on the phone
with the President of the United States, George Sears: the third, perfect clone of Big Boss,
Solidus Snake. Ocelot informs him that he was able to retrieve
all of the Metal Gear REX project data and keep his cover intact. Ocelot then muses with Solidus that while
Liquid spent his entire life believing he expressed Big Boss’s recessive genes, he
had actually always been the dominant clone, while the “inferior” Solid Snake was ultimately
the victor between the two. Ocelot mentions that it would take a “well-balanced”
individual like Solidus to rule the world, before ending the call. Right after the events at Shadow Moses, Richard
Ames secretly gives Nastasha Romanenko two optical discs: one containing the recordings
of all of the communications they observed during the mission, as well as one with all
of the information on the FOXDIE project, including Naomi’s modifications (which changed
the amount of time it would take to kill Solid Snake to a random value even she didn’t
know). Ames then helps her flee her home, where she
goes into hiding and writes a tell-all book about the events entitled In the Darkness
of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, which goes on to become a best-seller. The U.S. Government subsequently denies any
involvement in the events, instead blaming it on a terrorist group. Jim Houseman is then set up to take the fall
for the failed military response, with the Patriots staging his “suicide”. George Sears/Solidus Snake is also forced
to resign from the U.S. Presidency as punishment for acting against the Patriot’s interests. They also attempt to kill him, but he goes
underground with the help of Ocelot, evading their plot. In the wake of the FOXHOUND unit’s defection,
it is officially disbanded around this time. Ocelot later sells the data from the Metal
Gear REX project on the black market before disappearing, causing countries all over the
world to build their own versions of Metal Gear. He uses the massive amount of sums gained
to buy his own country and break Naomi out of prison. He also is able to retrieve Liquid Snake’s
body, transplanting the dead man’s arm onto his body to replace his missing hand as well
as to enact a complicated plan: using his self-hypnotherapy skills along with nanomachines,
Ocelot begins to adopt pieces of Liquid Snake’s personality under the guise of “spiritual
possession” through the arm. Solid Snake and Otacon then form “Philanthropy”,
a non-governmental organization designed to target and destroy the new Metal Gear REX
derivatives. Nastasha learns of this and donates all of
the proceedings from her book to the organization. Snake’s focus on this plight drives a wedge
between him and Meryl, and they lose contact with one another. Meanwhile, the boy soldier Solidus Snake had
once adopted, “Jack”, is recruited by the Patriots, who implant him with a series
of nanomachines to help suppress his memories and enhance his abilities. He’s then brought into the United States
Army's Task Force XXI, where he is trained through hundreds of Virtual Reality missions,
including one designed to replicate Solid Snake’s missions, including the Shadow Moses
Incident. This training serves as the basis for the
Selection of Societal Sanity, or S3 Plan: a program in which the Patriots attempt to
manipulate real-world events. In 2007, Otacon gets an anonymous tip from
someone codenamed “E.E.” (who he believes to be his estranged step-sister
Emma) about a new, amphibious model of Metal Gear that’s scheduled for transport on a
U.S. Marines vessel disguised as an oil tanker, coincidentally named the USS Discovery, traveling
on the Hudson River in New York. Snake dons a stealth camouflage suit and jumps
off the George Washington Bridge as the tanker passes under it, successfully infiltrating
the ship. When Snake lands, he damages his stealth technology,
forcing him to find Metal Gear the old fashioned way to obtain photographic evidence to expose
this new model to the public. From a helicopter out of Snake’s sight,
Ocelot watches, remarking that Snake is “right on schedule.” As he and Otacon discuss his route to the
ship’s cargo hold, Snake watches as the Marines on board are slaughtered by a squad
of unknown assailants. Snake then spots the perpetrator: Ocelot’s
partner in Russia, Sergei Gurlukovich. Snake then explores the tanker, getting past
Gurlokovich’s men to find himself on the bridge. There, he spots more heavy reinforcements
arriving via chopper, and learns that the ship is headed to a location off the coast
of Bermuda, leading Otacon to believe the Metal Gear is ready for solo testing. Snake then spots a woman outside, and heads
out to investigate. He eavesdrops on her radio conversation with
Gurlukovich, revealing that she is his daughter, Olga, and she is currently with child. While Gurlukovich demands that she leave the
mission now that her job is complete, Olga instead elects to stay and fight with her
men. Snake holds Olga at gunpoint, but she quickly
outmaneuvers him and the pair proceed to have a shootout. Snake takes Olga down nonlethally with tranquilizers,
but as he investigates her, a U.S. Army Cypher-T UAV spots him and snaps a photo before flying
off. Snake continues his way to the cargo hold,
fighting through Gurlukovich’s heavy reinforcements to finally reach it. As he enters, Ocelot (with two hands once
again) follows closely behind, killing one of Gurlukovich’s men that evaded Snake’s
assault. Inside the hold, Snake finally sees the new
weapon: Metal Gear RAY, being presented by Marine Commandant Scott Dolph. Snake takes pictures of RAY from multiple
angles before sending them to Otacon using a nearby workstation. After Dolph wraps up his speech, Ocelot arrives
and sarcastically congratulates him on his presentation before telling the Commandant
that he plans on taking Metal Gear “back”. Suddenly, Gurlukovich takes Dolph hostage,
as Ocelot reveals that the ship has been fitted with several explosives to “blow it out
of the water”. As Gurlukovich’s men prepare to steal Metal
Gear RAY, he revels in the fact that Russia will rise again. Ocelot then reveals to his “partner” that
he has no intention to give it to Russia, but instead to take it back to the Patriots. Dolph then recognizes this name, repeating
it back as “La-li-lu-le-lo” due to the Patriots’ censorship nanomachines
not allowing him to speak the actual words. A betrayed Gurlukovich asks Ocelot if he’s
still working with Solidus, to which Ocelot simply responds that he and his daughter will
die on the tanker. Gurlukovich then pushes Dolph towards Ocelot,
who throws his coat as a distraction before firing his signature revolver and killing
both the Marine Commandant and Sergei Gurlukovich. Ocelot then detonates the explosives, and
the ship begins to sink. Snake rushes over to Ocelot to try to stop
him from approaching RAY, and suddenly Ocelot’s arm begins to twitch, and the man convulses
before “Liquid’s” personality awakens within him. While Ocelot tries to fight this off, Liquid
taunts his brother, seeing his advanced aging starting to take place. He then jumps into RAY’s cockpit and the
giant, powerful machine breaks free of the tanker, knocking Snake unconscious in the
process. Ocelot leaves Snake floating in the water
and swims off in RAY, speaking with someone in the Patriots about taking it to an undisclosed
location. He then reveals that the Cypher that took
the photo of Snake was his doing, as they now have evidence that he was on the scene. After the tanker’s sinking, Snake survives,
and he and Otacon steal Liquid Snake’s body. They then leave it in the harbor, where it
is found and DNA tested, leading the public to believe that Solid Snake died in the tanker’s
destruction. The Patriots then launch a massive smear campaign
through the media blaming the terrorist attack on Solid Snake and Philanthropy, ruining their
standing on the global stage. The Patriots, now possessing Metal Gear RAY
(which was being developed against their will), then send a tanker containing actual oil to
the same spot the USS Discovery sank and sink that one at well, building the “Big Shell”
decontamination facility to clean up the oil spill, using it to cover up the construction
of “Arsenal Gear”, a submersible fortress for the Patriots to house their AI system,
“GW”, that will act as the means of national data and military control. Emma Emmerich is then recruited to create
GW. Around this time, the Patriots recruit a data
analyst from the Pentagon named Rosemary to keep tabs on their S3 Plan candidate, Jack. After she deliberately adjusts her appearance
and personality to appeal to him, the pair meet at Federal Hall in New York City and
establish a romantic relationship shortly after. While this relationship is initially just
a means for Rosemary to provide information to the Patriots, she begins to develop true
feelings for him as time goes on. The Patriots also capture Olga Gurlukovich’s
baby daughter once she is born, holding the child hostage to force Olga to assist Jack
as part of the S3 Plan. Meanwhile, the leader of the Dead Cell group,
Commander Jackson, is killed. Leadership is then taken over by his wife,
codenamed “Fortune” (who is also the daughter of the Marine Commandant who died on the tanker,
Scott Dolph). Shortly after, they are targeted by the Patriots
and framed for the mass murder of civilians, leading to the group to going rogue. In 2009, two years after the Tanker Incident,
the 44th President of the United States, James Johnson, visits the Big Shell facility. Dead Cell, working with the remains of Gurlukovich’s
private army under the collective name “the Sons of Liberty”, then seize control of
the Big Shell, taking everyone on the facility, including the President and Patriots agent
Richard Ames hostage. They then demand $30 billion, threatening
to blow up the facility, which would not only kill the hostages, but also ignite the oil
in the waters, creating an environmental disaster. In actuality, these events are secretly orchestrated
by the Patriots as part of their S3 Plan to replicate the events of the Shadow Moses Incident,
and Jack, it’s prime candidate, is sent in to carry out a rescue mission, believing
himself to be part of the FOXHOUND unit. Commanded by a man known only as the “Colonel”
(who is actually an AI recreation of Colonel Roy Campbell projected by the Patriots’
GW system), Jack reaches Big Shell via an underwater infiltration. While his initial codename for the mission
was to be “Snake” (to further ingratiate him into the Shadow Moses replication), he
is redesignated to the codename “Raiden” so he isn’t mistaken for the Sons of Liberty’s
leader: a man claiming to be Solid Snake. Meanwhile, two other groups from SEAL Team
10 are sent into Big Shell via helicopter, Alpha Team who are tasked with rescuing the
President, and Bravo Team who are led by bomb disposal expert Peter Stillman and tasked
with defusing any explosives planted by Dead Cell. On his way in the facility, Raiden spots several
guards knocked unconscious, and he sees another intruder heading up a nearby elevator. This man is none other than the real Solid
Snake, but Raiden is unable to identify him from his current angle. As Raiden follows, the Colonel calls him to
introduce him to the mission analyst: his girlfriend Rosemary, much to his protest. Despite his disagreement, Raiden continues
the mission, where he reaches an elevator which he takes to the surface of the facility,
ditching his underwater gear on the way up. As Raiden explores, the Colonel intercepts
a transmission from Alpha team, who had secured the President, but were attacked while trying
to evacuate, cutting all communications. Raiden tries to head to their last known location,
and on the way he finds the bodies of several of the team lining a hallway. Inside the neighboring room, the vampire-like
Dead Cell member “Vamp” ritualistically finishes off the rest of the team. Raiden enters to investigate, and Vamp nearly
kills him before another member of Seal Team 10 suddenly enters and interrupts. Vamp almost kills this man in turn, but he
receives a call from Dead Cell’s leader and quickly vanishes. The “Seal Team member”, who is actually
Solid Snake, then introduces himself by the name “Iroquis Pliskin”, keeping his true
identity hidden from Raiden. During their conversation, Pliskin notices
Raiden’s sneaking suit is of FOXHOUND’s design, remarking that the unit had disbanded
four years prior. Bravo Team then sends a distress call that
Pliskin picks up on his radio, but as he is unable to move due to the blood loss from
his tussle with Vamp, Raiden is forced to head to their location alone. There, Raiden finds Bravo Team firing at Dead
Cell’s leader, Fortune, who has the President resting at her feet. While the squad fires all their weapons directly
at the woman, none of their bullets can reach their mark, changing course just before they
can hit her, leaving her completely untouched. Vamp then arrives and collects the President,
walking off with him before she fires her railgun at the bridge in front of her, destroying
it and killing Bravo Team (as well as blocking Raiden’s path). With the entire mission now resting in his
hands, Raiden is sent to find Peter Stillman to defuse the explosives around the Big Shell. Raiden soon reaches Stillman’s location,
finding Plisken there with the NYPD bomb squad expert. Stillman regretfully explains that he was
brought in due to his relationship with Dead Cell member and explosives master “Fatman”,
who was Stillman’s former pupil. Stillman also tells them that he was brought
in with an unknown security systems engineer, whose true identity is Hal “Otacon” Emmerich. Stillman decides that the best way to neutralize
the bomb threat is not to defuse them, but instead to temporarily freeze the C4 charges
using a sprayable coolant. Using a sensor to follow the scent of Fatman’s
cologne, Raiden and Plisken split up to freeze the bombs. While Raiden is searching for the explosives,
he overhears Olga Gurlukavich (who is now leading the Russian soldiers) speaking about
a cyborg ninja she’s seen around Big Shell. As Raiden confronts her, however, she swiftly
jumps away, evading him. Continuing on, Raiden soon gets a codec call
from an unknown caller with a Russian accent who warns him about undetectable claymore
mines in his path. This caller, one of Raiden’s “fans”,
initially introduces themself as “Deepthroat”, a name Raiden instantly recognizes from Shadow
Moses, causing the caller to rename themself to “Mr. X”. While Raiden defuses more bombs, Stillman
has Plisken search for something larger, sensing something off about Fatman’s MO. His suspicions are correct, as Plisken finds
a larger set of C4 below one of the facility's struts. Raiden and Plisken then finish freezing the
other bombs while Stillman tries to defuse the larger bomb. After Raiden and Plisken finish defusing the
small bombs, Stillman discovers that the larger bomb has begun to count down. Fighting against the clock, Raiden rushes
to find the other large bomb Stillman suspects to be on one of the facility’s opposite
struts. When Raiden finds the second large bomb, he
gets a call from Stillman, warning him that these bombs have a proximity sensor, and he’s
tripped the one by him. The bomb by Stillman then explodes, killing
the man and damaging the structural integry of the Big Shell, flooding various parts of
the facility. Raiden then rushes to freeze the second bomb
in order to keep the facility afloat, spraying it from a distance in order to successfully
neutralize it. With the bomb threat neutralized for now,
Raiden returns to the task of looking for the President. On his way back, he is met by Fortune, who
relentlessly fires at him with her railgun while he is unable to hit her with any of
his weapons in return. After a short time, Raiden gets a call from
the Colonel telling him that Fatman contacted them, claiming to have planted a bomb on the
helipad. Raiden withstands Fortune’s onslaught, and
Vamp arrives to inform her about Fatman’s rogue explosives work. As Fortune turns to leave, Raiden fires a
shot at her, but it changes course before it hits her, landing directly in Vamp’s
forehead. Fortune rushes to Vamp and holds him, lamenting
his death while chastising Raiden for being unable to give her the death she’s felt
robbed of for so long. Raiden uses this distraction to escape, leaving
Fortune behind with her dead comrade. However, suddenly, his eyes open, and Vamp
speaks to her again, stating that he’s “died once already”, therefore he cannot die again. Raiden then reaches the helipad and finds
Fatman’s bomb, freezing it before it explodes. Afterwards, Fatman himself then skates up
on rollerblades, and reveals his motives: to become the most famous bomber of all time,
denying any knowledge of Dead Cell’s supposed ransom. Fatman then plants more bombs, forcing Raiden
to freeze them while simultaneously trying to take him down. After Raiden defeats him in battle, Fatman
reveals he’s planted one last bomb, the biggest of all, before dying from his wounds. Raiden then discovers the bomb, hidden underneath
Fatman’s body, and disarms it, finally bringing Big Shell’s bomb threat to an end. As Raiden heads to search for the President
once again, he is stopped by the Cyborg Ninja Olga spoke about seeing earlier. The Cyborg Ninja reveals themselves to be
the “Mr. X” that called Raiden earlier and, claiming to be a messenger from the “La-li-lu-le-lo”,
gives him the location of the captive Richard Ames, who should be able to lead him to the
President. Mr. X gives Raiden a security card to get
into the core section of the facility with the hostages, as well as a disguise to blend
in. Mr. X then reveals that Dead Cell has access
to a nuclear weapon: the new Metal Gear being developed under Big Shell, something Mr. X
tells Raiden to ask Ames about. Mr. X then gives Raiden a cell phone before
vanishing. With no other leads, Raiden follows Mr. X’s
lead, disguising himself as an enemy soldier and reaching the hostage holding area. There, Raiden uses a directional microphone
to locate Ames by listening for his pacemaker. A nearby Ocelot observes as Ames tells Raiden
that he was sent in by the “La-li-lu-le-lo”, just like him, much to Raiden’s confusion. Ames then switches to communication through
their nanomachines (so as to talk silently) before telling Raiden the President’s location,
explaining that the terrorists can’t kill him, as his biometric data is the key to activating
the new Metal Gear. Ames begins to reveal to Raiden that the oil
spill and Big Shell coverup were all planned, but is interrupted when the pair spot Ocelot
speaking with the Sons of Liberty’s leader: “Snake”. Raiden uses his directional microphone to
eavesdrop, hearing that the President has agreed to cooperate with the terrorists, and
Metal Gear is close to activating, leaving “Outer Heaven” only a few steps away. Olga arrives and argues with Ocelot about
her father’s death (which she correctly suspects to be at his hand) before leaving
shortly before “Snake” does, stating that he’s off to take care of the intruder. Ames and Raiden continue their conversation,
and the Patriots agent also denies knowing about any ransom, revealing that the terrorists’
true goal is to detonate the nuke in the atmospere above Manhatten, creating an electromanetic
pulse to take out all electronics to “liberate” it and turn it into a new republic, hence
the name “Sons of Liberty”. Ocelot then arrives and confronts Ames, revealing
his knowledge of the man’s status with the Patriots, as well as his true reason for being
sent to Big Shell: to keep tabs on the President, who they knew would betray them. Ocelot then pulls his weapon on Ames, but
the man begins to convulse before falling dead before them, seemingly of a heart attack
(caused by the Patriots remotely shutting off his pacemaker through nanomachines in
his body). Ocelot then confronts Raiden, having his mask
removed. Suddenly, Mr. X jumps in between them and
shields Raiden from the soldiers’ gunfire, giving him a chance to escape. Hoping to get more information, Raiden heads
to the location of the President given to him by Ames. On his way, Raiden gets a call from Plisken,
who was able to commandeer an enemy helicopter with the help of his partner, who he introduces
to Raiden as “Otacon”, a name he immediately recognizes from Shadow Moses. Snake and Otacon soon arrive at Raiden’s
location in their chopper, and suddenly Raiden is confronted by the man claiming to be Solid
Snake, who recognizes him, but can’t pinpoint from where. Plisken then shouts that the man is not the
real Solid Snake, causing him to reveal to Raiden that Plisken is truly his “brother”,
Solid Snake. Snake opens fire, causing the man, who is
now revealed as “Solidus Snake” to jump off the Big Shell, where he lands on a Harrier
Jump Jet piloted by Vamp. Solidus shouts that “the world needs only
one Big Boss” before the Harrier opens fire. Snake then throws Raiden a Stinger missile
launcher, instructing him to take down the Harrier to protect their chopper. Raiden does so, damaging Solidus’s aircraft
enough to bring it down, injuring his eye in the process. Before the Harrier can hit the water, however,
Metal Gear RAY emerges from the depths and catches it in its mouth, firing explosives
into the air which further damage the Big Shell and Snake’s chopper, forcing it to
land at the nearby helipad. Solidus then exclaims that they “got [his]
eye” before Vamp jumps from the Harrier and runs along the water just before RAY submerges
with Solidus and his aircraft. After the excitement dies down, Snake finally
admits his true identity to Raiden and fills him in on his history, the events of the tanker
incident, as well as his faked death. After this call, Campbell instructs Raiden
not to trust Snake, as he wasn’t part of the “simulation”. Raiden continues to the President’s location,
coming across Olga and eavesdropping on her once again, learning that the woman blames
Solid Snake for her father’s death and is hoping to get her revenge now that he is on
site. She then has the floor outside the room the
President is in electrified, forcing Raiden to use a remote controlled missile to disable
the electrical trap. Once the path is safe, Raiden enters the room
to find President James Johnson. Initially, Johnson believes Raiden to be a
female assassin sent by the Patriots as punishment for his betrayal, but after discovering that
not to be the case, the President speaks with him over nanomachines. Johnson reveals that he agreed to work with
the terrorists to achieve true power instead of being simply a figurehead for the Patriots. Raiden is unfamiliar with the Patriots, and
Johnson fills him in on the group, including their absolute control over the country. Johnson intended to use the new Metal Gear
as his bargaining chip to force the Patriots to allow him to join their ranks, but he underestimated
Solidus, who actually wants to challenge them head-on, by hijacking their new Metal Gear:
Arsenal Gear, which is currently beneath the Big Shell. Johnson then reveals that since he input the
launch codes, the Patriot’s AI system, GW, will begin to establish connections with other
systems soon, which will bring about the activation of Arsenal Gear. He tasks Raiden with finding Emma Emmerich,
who is the only one who will know how to stop it. Johnson gives Raiden her location, a security
card to reach it, and a disc containing a virus (created by Emma as a failsafe modeled
after FOXDIE) that she must upload into the system to disrupt its control functions. With all of his information passed on, Johnson
then grabs Raiden’s pistol and holds it to his own head, telling him to kill him so
Solidus can’t use his vital signs to activate Arsenal Gear’s nuclear strike. Raiden refuses, but while they wrestle over
the gun, a shot rings out. Raiden turns to spot Revolver Ocelot, who
had fired on the President before he nonchalantly walks off. Johnson then sends his last order as Commander-in-Chief
for Raiden to find Emma before he dies.. After a quick discussion with Snake and Otacon
regarding their confusion as to why Ocelot is helping Solidus while seemingly working
for the Patriots during the tanker incident two years prior, Raiden makes his way through
the flooded area to find Emma. On his way, however, he is once again met
by the seemingly immortal Vamp, dancing atop pools of water, who reveals that while the
President’s death prevents his group from launching their nuke, Arsenal Gear still houses
a fully functional “purified hydrogen bomb”, which Solidus is currently unaware of. Arsenal Gear passes its final preparations
check, and Vamp tries to stop Raiden from reaching Emma. The two battle, with Vamp eventually sinking
below the oxygenated pool of water, leaving nothing but a bloody cloud in his wake. Raiden reaches Emma and rescues her, but the
woman refuses to swim to safety with him, still having a fear of water from nearly drowning
in the swimming pool as a child. Raiden is able to convince her to hold on
to him while he swims, and they make their way. After swimming for a while, the pair manage
to avoid drowning, and Raiden reaches a dry area to take a breather. There, the pair talk about Emma’s childhood,
as well as her involvement in GW. She states that GW is only part of the data
censorship system, with the other part being spread massively by the Patriots alongside
a “bug fix” for the Y2K problem, which prevented computers from failing at the turn
of the new millennium due to date errors. She then reveals that the GW program wasn’t
actually completed, and still lacks necessary factors for judging situations, which the
Patriots were planning to remedy with a major experiment in the next few days that would
provide the AI with a complex dataset to study. The pair continue towards the computer room
so Emma can upload the virus. In order to reach it, they’re forced to
cross a narrow oil fence. Emma makes her way across, while Raiden and
Snake provide cover fire with sniper rifles. Just as Emma is about to reach the other side,
however, Vamp emerges from the waters once again and grabs her, holding her at knife
point. Raiden fires directly at Vamp’s forehead,
seemingly killing him once more. As he falls, however, his knife slashes at
Emma, wounding her greatly. Snake rushes over and carries Emma to the
computer room, while Raiden rushes to meet them with the disc. When he arrives, he finds Otacon grieving
over his unconscious injured sister, who had prepared the system for the virus’s upload. Raiden inserts the disc, but the upload process
disconnects after it reaches 90%. Emma awakens, and she finally makes amends
with her brother before dying from her blood loss. Otacon then takes Emma’s pet parrot as they
overhear an announcement about Arsenal Gear’s launch. Otacon is tasked with getting as many hostages
as he can to their helicopter, while Snake and Raiden decide to infiltrate Arsenal Gear
before it launches so they can make sure it’s stopped by the virus (or themselves if need
be). The trio leave Emma’s body behind, and Snake
and Otacon share a handshake and a hug before parting ways. At the door to Arsenal Gear, Snake calls upon
Mr. X, and the cyborg ninja reveals themself before holding their high-frequency blade
up to Raiden’s throat. Raiden then asks Snake if he’s changing
sides, to which he responds that he “[doesn’t] recall saying [he] was on [his]”. Mr. X then reveals themself to have been Olga
Gurlukovich in disguise all along before she hits Raiden with the blade’s electronics,
knocking him unconscious. Outside, Otacon flies away in the helicopter
while watching the Big Shell facility sink into the depths. Raiden later awakens and finds himself naked,
trapped to a torture device by Solidus and Ocelot. Solidus, now donning a familiar eye-patch
as well as an exoskeletal suit with two tentacle-like mechanical “Snake Arms”, reveals that
he recognizes “Jack the Ripper” from their past together. Raiden’s years with the Patriots erased
his memories, leaving Solidus to remind him in-between torturing him with his Snake Arms. Solidus then leaves to prepare Arsenal Gear,
leaving Ocelot behind with Raiden, who taunts the man, holding up the virus disc before
leaving himself, just as Olga arrives. Olga secretly communicates with Raiden, informing
him that she was sent by the Patriots to help him, with her position as leader of the Russian
mercenaries simply a smokescreen. Olga tells Raiden about the Patriots holding
her daughter hostage, as well as her own learning that Snake wasn’t responsible for her father’s
death after meeting him on Big Shell. Olga tells Raiden that she'll free him so
he can meet with Snake and retrieve his gear, then leaves the room. Now alone, Rosemary calls him, and Raiden
admits that what Solidus said was true, sorrowfully revealing the evils of his past, stating that
while he knows she wants to get married and have a family, he can’t do that. Olga then releases Raiden’s restraints,
allowing him to exit. As he sneaks his way through Arsenal Gear’s
security, Raiden receives calls from the Colonel, who begins to speak a bit erratically. Raiden then realizes that he’s never actually
met the Colonel face-to-face, which he responds to by warning Raiden that “they” have
Rosemary before hanging up. As Raiden continues, the Colonel begins to
become more unhinged, speaking nonsense due to Emma’s virus finally taking hold. Rosemary also calls Jack, making her own admission
about the Patriots hiring her to watch him, but promising that her current feelings for
him are true. She then tells Raiden that she’s carrying
his child, before the transmission cuts off. Raiden finally regroups with Snake, now out
of his Plisken disguise and in his classic sneaking suit, who returns Raiden’s gear. After Raiden gets dressed, he and Snake discuss
strategy, with Snake apologizing for using him as bait to gain access to Arsenal Gear. Snake reveals that according to Olga, there
is a troop of twenty-five mass-produced, unmanned Metal Gear RAYs onboard for protection, which
he knows they’ll have to soon battle using Stinger missiles. He then gives Raiden a gift from Olga: her
high-frequency blade. The pair continue on, and Otacon determines
that the Colonel Raiden has been speaking with was actually GW stimulating Raiden’s
nanomachines to create what he expected Colonel Campbell to be like. While Raiden begins to question his own reality,
Snake pushes him on, and the pair are soon ambushed by a large group of heavily armored
“Arsenal Tengu” soldiers which they fight off as more effects of the virus are seen. After the battle, Fortune arrives and confronts
Snake, blaming him for killing her father during the tanker incident. While Snake states that he didn’t kill her
father, he still stays behind to distract her, allowing Raiden to continue on. Raiden climbs a nearby ladder and reaches
a large platform, where he hears the voice of an unseen Solidus. Solidus tells Raiden that Ocelot discovered
something within GW’s data: the details of the S3 Plan, revealing to him that he’s
merely been a puppet for the Patriot’s “Solid Snake Simulation” this entire time. Solidus finally reveals himself, stating that
there’s no longer any reason to keep Raiden alive. The fleet of Metal Gear RAYs then arrive and
attack, forcing Raiden to battle them on his own, using Snake’s stockpile of Stinger
missiles. After taking down a number of them, Raiden
falls to his knees exhausted. Just as one of the RAYs prepares to stomp
on him with its leg, Olga dives in, like another cyborg ninja did before her, and the Metal
Gear backs off. Raiden warns Olga about blowing her cover,
but she knows that she must do whatever she can to keep him alive, as if the Patriots
detect his death, it’ll mean the death of her child as well. Solidus then appears on the platform again
and grab’s Olga’s throat with one of his Snake Arms, pulling out his P90 submachine
gun. Olga then turns to Raiden and pleads with
him to “live” before Solidus fires a round into her skull, instantly killing her before
tossing her body aside. Solidus then activates the remaining Metal
Gear RAYs, but they begin to malfunction. Ocelot then reports that the GW AI is going
out of control due to the effects of Emma’s virus, and Arsenal Gear is on an emergency
ascent course. Solidus is then forced to take down the remaining
Metal Gears himself. Afterwards, he takes Raiden captive as Fortune
arrives with a handcuffed Snake. Solidus then chokes Raiden until he falls
unconscious. Later, Solidus wakes Raiden up to inform him
that GW is now corrupted beyond repair. Atop the giant Arsenal Gear, Solidus then
begins to torture him again; hoping to get answers, but not from Raiden. Fortune then walks away, and Solidus confronts
her about her plan to hijack arsenal gear, which she’s shocked to learn he’s aware
of. Solidus then reveals that he suggested that
Ocelot convince her to do so, as he doesn’t even care about controlling the weapon. Solidus then reveals his true objective all
along: to retrieve the most important information the Patriots wanted to use GW to censor. More specifically, Solidus wanted to retrieve
the list of who he believed to be the highest twelve members of the Patriots from GW, the
Wisemen’s Committee. With GW destroyed, Solidus simply states that
he has another idea of how to retrieve this information. Fortune walks off, planning to seize control
of Arsenal Gear to launch it’s hydrogen bomb to enact the EMP to evoke chaos among
the masses, but Ocelot interrupts her and begins to laugh at the “cherade”. Solidus asks what he means, and the man reveals
that Raiden’s VR missions weren’t the “meat” of the S3 Plan as Solidus thought. Ocelot finally reveals that the entire Big
Shell incident has been organized by the Patriots to replicate the events of Shadow Moses in
order to turn Raiden into a soldier on par with Solid Snake. Emma’s virus, as it turns out, was designed
to erase all information about the Patriots from GW. Ocelot then states that with all of the data
from the events, the Patriots will now be able to create the perfect simulation to turn
any soldier into “Solid Snake”. Ocelot finally turns to Fortune, and tells
her that her husband and father’s deaths were both just part of the Patriots’ plan. In anger, she lifts her railgun and prepares
to fire, but Ocelot draws his revolver and shoots first, surprisingly hitting the woman
in the chest. Ocelot tells Fortune that her “luck” never
existed, and was instead being protected by electromagnetic weapons technology developed
by the Patriots. Fortune lifts her railgun again and tries
to fire, but each blast misses, as Ocelot is protected by the same technology that once
protected her. Solidus tries to fire himself, but reaches
a similar outcome, leaving Ocelot able to jump into the prototype Metal Gear RAY, firing
its machine guns at Solidus, who deflects the bullets with his own pair of high-frequency
blades. As Ocelot switches the RAY to use its missiles,
Fortune stands up and outstretches her arms. Inexplicably, all of the missiles change course
as they reach Fortune, protecting everyone atop Arsenal Gear. With her last bit of luck used, Fortune dies
from her gunshot. Ocelot then opens RAYs mouth for a final blast
from its cannon, but suddenly his arm begins to convulse again. To Ocelot’s dismay, the “spirit” of
Liquid Snake then awakens again. Liquid then informs his “brothers” that
it was he who leaked the information about Arsenal Gear that got Snake involved in the
mission so that his proximity would fully awaken him like it did during the tanker incident. Now awakened and with all of the information
Ocelot acquired as a Patriot spy, Liquid claims that he can now destroy the Patriots for good. He then hops back into the cockpit of the
Metal Gear and dives into the surrounding waters, leaving Arsenal Gear on a crash course
for Manhattan. Solid Snake is able to break free of his handcuffs
and dive in after Liquid, leaving Solidus and Raiden alone. Arsenal Gear crashes through Manhattan, finally
stopping before Federal Hall, where Solidus and Raiden land on the roof. Solidus gives his former “son” one final
lamentation, this time about the fact that since he is unable to reproduce, he has always
strived to leave his own legacy. The Patriots threatened this with their plan
to censor information, leading to his true desire to liberate the world from the group. Raiden then gets another call from the “Colonel”
AI, much to the surprise of Raiden, who believed that GW’s destruction would have destroyed
it. The Colonel, as well as another AI of Rosemary,
explain that while the GW AI was destroyed, the rest of the Patriots AI system is still
operational, and will continue their plan of not censoring information, but rather choosing
what information gets passed on to future generations to ensure society evolves and
survives. The AI then reveals that the true purpose
of the Shadow Moses replication was to test S3’s crisis management capacity to ensure
it was ready to make the decisions necessary for any future contingencies. As his final mission, Raiden is forced to
fight Solidus to the death, as if he loses, both Rosemary and Olga’s child will die. Before their final battle, Solidus reveals
to Raiden that it was he who killed his parents all those years ago. Solidus then tosses Raiden Olga’s blade,
telling him that he hopes to cut out his nanomachines in order to extract any leftover information
about the Patriots. The pair then battle in a close-quarters sword
duel, with Raiden eventually defeating his former “father”. Solidus then falls from the roof of Federal
Hall, grasping the statue of George Washington with his final breaths before falling comatose. Raiden climbs down himself and looks towards
Federal Hall, reflecting on who he really is. Snake then arrives and answers him, telling
him that “objective reality” doesn’t matter, but rather whatever it is he decides
to believe in and finds important enough to pass on to further generations. Snake then promises to find Olga’s child
so long as he stays alive and keeps them safe. Snake then reveals that he gave Raiden a fake
disc after Emma uploaded the virus, and the real copy has been in his possession since. He and Otacon intend to reverse-engineer it
to determine the list of names of the Wisemen’s Committee that Solidus intended to find. Raiden tries to follow Snake, but he tells
Raiden to stay behind, as he has things to do and people to talk to. During this conversation, a figure resembling
Vamp watches on from a distance. Raiden then spots Rosemary and rushes over
to her, turning around to see Snake now gone, before catching a glimpse of Emma’s parrot
released into freedom by Otacon. Raiden then speaks with Rosemary, and the
pair promise to find out who they really are together, and pass that along to their future
child. Sometime later, Otacon is able to extract
the data from Emma’s virus, learning the identities of the twelve most powerful members
of the Patriots. Otacon and Snake are shocked to learn, however,
that all twelve of them died about a hundred years ago, leaving their trail cold once more. In the wake of Arsenal Gear’s crash into
Manhattan, the Patriots AI systems begin to revolutionize the way war is not only fought,
but the reason for it altogether. After developing a system with ArmsTech called
“Sons of the Patriots”, or SOP, the Patriots AI, namely the central core named “JD”,
are able to control all aspects of the battlefield, including the weapons market, by directly
manipulating soldiers through their implanted nanomachines (which has become standard practice). As a failsafe, they make the “keys” to
this system Big Boss’s genetic code and biometric data. This new system brings about the “war economy”,
which forces the countries of the world to essentially treat warfare as a commodity,
required for their economic stability. This also produces the need for more and more
Private Military Companies, or PMCs, to fill the battlefield with soldiers. Ocelot then removes Liquid’s arm, having
it replaced with a cybernetic one in an attempt to undo some of the damage he did to his mind. This effort proves futile, as Liquid’s personality
completely takes over, leading him to take the name “Liquid Ocelot” moving forward. Liquid Ocelot then spends the next few years
planning his takedown of the Patriots, first by buying up the five largest PMCs and controlling
them under a parent company he appropriately calls “Outer Heaven”. When the Patriots finish their second iteration
of the submersible battlestation they first attempted with Arsenal Gear, Liquid Ocelot
somehow steals it and renames it “Outer Haven”. Using its experimental OctoCamo surface replication
technology, Liquid Ocelot is able to hide Outer Haven at the abandoned Shadow Moses
Island, and he retrieves what was left of the Patriot’s GW artificial intelligence,
repairing it and installing it in a server room inside the ship. At some point, Raiden, unable to live with
both the memories of his cursed childhood, leaves Rose. He is then contacted by Big Mama, who had
learned that he was able to learn the location of Big Boss’s body from the GW AI. In exchange for the location, Big Mama, along
with her anti-Patriots group the “Paradise Lost Army”, help Raiden rescue Olga’s
daughter from the Patriots, who are holding her at Area 51. Raiden then leaves the girl, Sunny, with Snake
and returns to his life of solitude. Raiden also learns that Rose had not only
had a miscarriage, but married the real Colonel Roy Campbell, sending him into a downward
spiral. He returns to the Paradise Lost Army and decides
to help them recover Big Boss’s remains from the Patriots, but is captured during
his attempt. While in their captivity, the Patriots use
him as an experiment for their cybernetic exoskeleton technology, grafting his head
and spine onto a synthetic body; leaving him more machine than man. The Paradise Lost Army are able to rescue
Raiden from captivity, but he’s left under control of the Patriots due to the nanomachines
in his body. They find Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar (the
man who designed the TX-55 Metal Gear as well as the Metal Gear D for Big Boss at Outer
Heaven and Zanzibar Land respectively) and he is able to save Raiden’s life by removing
the nanomachines. After recovering, Raiden succeeds in retrieving
Big Boss’s remains for Big Mama before beginning a life of self-imposed exile in the shadows
due to his new appearance. Big Mama and the Paradise Lost Army also recover
Solidus Snake’s still surviving, but brain-dead body, as well as what remains of Liquid Snake’s
corpse. Using most of Solidus’s body along with
pieces of Liquid, Big Boss is completely repaired of the injuries he sustained at the hands
of Solid Snake in Zanzibar Land. However, due to the Patriots’ control through
nanomachines, he is still left comatose. Big Mama then keeps Solidus’s head and chest
alive as a decoy in case the Patriots attempt to recover Big Boss’s stolen remains. During this time, Solid Snake’s advanced
aging engineered into his DNA during the Les Enfants Terribles project ramps up, and his
body rapidly shifts into that of an old man. He and Otacon then obtain a large transport
aircraft called the “Nomad”, which they use as their home and mobile command center,
raising Sunny onboard, who Hal takes under his wing as a programmer. One day, in 2014, Solid Snake visits the grave
of his “father” Big Boss, where he is interrupted by an arriving helicopter, which
Otacon emerges from. Otacon brings Snake back to the helicopter,
informing him of the results of tests they took to try to figure out the biological cause
of his aging, giving him an estimate of a year left of life at its current rate, or
less considering the FOXDIE still in his system. In the helicopter, Snake is met by his old
friend Roy Campbell, who reveals that he’s finally uncovered the location of Liquid Ocelot:
the Middle East. The three then head to the Nomad and discuss
the current state of PMCs. Sunny prepares eggs for them and tries to
serve them, but none of the three take the offer. Meanwhile, Otacon puts the finishing touches
on his miniature “Metal Gear Mk. II” robot to aid Snake on the battlefield. Campbell warns Snake that if Liquid and his
Outer Heaven PMC conglomerate aren’t stopped from executing his planned insurrection, he’ll
become the greatest threat the world ever faced. Campbell then asks Snake to meet with his
group of informants from the U.S. Special Forces: Rat Patrol Team 01 to find and assassinate
Liquid Ocelot. Snake agrees and deploys to the Middle East
three days later. Traveling through the warzone to meet with
his contacts, Snake avoids large, unmanned bipedal fighting machines called “Gekko”,
using his OctoCamo equipped sneaking suit to stay out of sight. Soon, Otacon sends in his Metal Gear Mk. II
to provide Snake with another useful tool of his: the Solid Eye, an eye patch-like goggle
to augment his vision with radar, night-vision, and other battle data. Continuing on, Snake soon meets a member of
the underground gun laundering group called “Drebin”, denoted as Drebin 893, as well
as his pet monkey, Little Gray. This Drebin and his group replace the ID chips
in weapons to allow anyone to use them, regardless of their nanomachines. In order for Snake to use these weapons, however,
Drebin must inject him with new nanomachines to suppress his old ones. While Snake is initially skeptical, given
his last experience with somebody injecting him with nanomachines, he agrees and takes
the injection and is able to use Drebin’s weapons. Snake eventually finds Rat Patrol Team 01,
and is shocked to find them led by Meryl Silverburgh. Likewise, Meryl doesn’t recognize Snake
at first and is taken aback by his accelerated aging. Snake meets the other team members, including
the ill-fated same guard that Meryl knocked out at Shadow Moses: Johnny Sasaki, now going
by the nickname “Akiba”. Meryl gives Snake the information she’s
uncovered on Liquid, including images of him now traveling with Naomi Hunter at his side. Snake and Meryl then catch up, and after learning
about Snake’s cooperation with Roy Campbell, she angrily tells him about her falling out
with the former Colonel after learning about him being her real father as well as his marriage
to the much younger Rosemary. Suddenly, Liquid’s private troops, the “Haven
Troopers” (known colloquially as the FROGS) catch the reflection off Akiba’s scope lens
and storm their location. Snake and Rat Patrol then fight off the advanced
FROGS through a grueling battle before going their separate ways. Snake continues towards Liquid’s location,
but on the way, he witnesses a shocking sight: Liquid Ocelot’s “Beauty and the Beast
Unit”, a group of four women with past traumatic experiences that through the use of nanomachines
and special suits have been turned into emotionally driven killing machines on the hunt for Solid
Snake. After watching the unit take out an entire
militia, Snake waits for them to leave the area before proceeding. Snake soon finds Liquid Ocelot at a PMC camp,
as Rat Patrol arrives from the other end. Liquid makes a command to “activate it”
before all of the soldiers in the area begin to collapse, overcome by physical and emotional
issues (save for Akiba, who is left completely normal). Snake fights through the influence and confronts
his “brother”, but finds himself unable to find the strength to shoot at Liquid during
his ensuing braggadocious speech. Liquid walks off, and Naomi appears before
Snake, injecting herself with something before telling him to go “fulfill [his] destiny”
before walking off as well. Liquid and Naomi then leave together on a
helicopter, as all of the Gekko in the area follow. Snake then loses consciousness as Akiba carries
him to safety. Snake later awakens aboard the Nomad, where
Otacon informs him that they’ve received a video message from Naomi. In it, she tells them that Liquid has her
captive in South America, where she’s being forced to research the SOP System to find
a way for him to seize it and directly control every soldier through their nanomachines. She then ends the message by asking Snake
to rescue her, providing her location along with the video. On his way to Liquid’s facility, Snake speaks
with Campbell via codec about the SOP System, which they conclude must be the Patriots’
doing, despite still not knowing who they actually are. They then determine that Liquid’s insurrection
must be against the Patriots, but with him under control, things will be no better. The pair then surmise that the best possible
outcome would be taking down both the SOP System, and Liquid Ocelot. Snake finds Liquid’s safehouse, but finds
it under attack by guerilla rebels. One of the Beauty and the Beast Unit, Laughing
Octopus, uses her OctoCamo suit and attacks the rebels before Snake spots someone working
alongside her who he long thought was dead: Vamp. Laughing Octopus then disguises her face as
that of Snakes before slaughtering the group of rebels in the area before Vamp stops her
in order to leave one alive to remember the face of the man “who killed [his] comrades”. After Vamp and Laughing Octopus leave together,
Snake follows a tip obtained from satellite images studied by Mei Ling to search for the
facility Naomi is being held in. During his search, Campbell calls Snake and
introduces him to his new wife, Rosemary, who also provides combat support via codec. Snake then finds Drebin once again, who tracked
Snake through the nanomachines he injected in him in the Middle East. Drebin fills Snake in on the backstory of
the Beauty and the Beast Unit, warning him of their obsession with killing him. Snake suspects that by being able to hack
into the SOP, Drebin must be a part of the Patriots, but he clears Snake’s suspicion
by being able to speak the word “Patriots” without it being censored into “La-li-lu-le-lo”. Drebin then explains to Snake how the Patriots,
while starting as a group of humans, have since evolved into a governing group of AIs. Snake continues his search for Naomi, getting
a call on the way which he’s surprised to learn is from Raiden, who tells him about
his mission to return Big Boss’s body to Big Mama. Snake then finds Naomi’s lab, where he finally
finds her, injecting herself once again. The pair then discuss Naomi’s situation,
and she explains the depth of the SOP’s mental suppression, revealing that in the
Middle East, Liquid simply stopped the SOP momentarily, setting all of the soldiers’
suppressed emotions free and overwhelming them. Before leaving, Naomi elects to give Snake
a full-body examination. After he undresses, Naomi is also overwhelmed
after seeing the results of his pre-programed advanced aging. She then finally informs him of his shortened
lifespan and sterility as part of the Les Enfants Terribles project, revealing that
this curse was with him his entire life. Naomi then tells him that the FOXDIE virus
in his body originally designed to kill based on specific genetic code has begun mutating
due to his aging, and in about three months it will begin to kill indiscriminately, turning
his own body into a walking biological weapon. She states that the only way to prevent the
virus from spreading would be to kill the host. Finally, Naomi shows him a new strain of FOXDIE
she found in his blood that must have been injected into him recently, and he immediately
suspects Drebin. Naomi then gives Snake a drug to inhibit the
nanomachines, instructing him to use it sparingly. Naomi tells Snake about Liquid’s plan to
seize control of SOP as part of a plan he calls “Guns of the Patriots”, and agrees
to give Snake his location after he frees her. Before he can, however, Naomi begins to feel
a pain in her head, and quickly rushes to her computer to grab something before a squad
of PMCs grab her. A team of FROGS then burst in, and Snake is
forced to fight them, as well as Laughing Octopus. After a lengthy game of cat and mouse, Snake
is able to defeat the Beast before meeting the Beauty, incapacitating her before taking
her OctoCamo mask. Snake exits and finds Naomi’s trail, following
it to a helicopter where he finds Vamp loading the doctor in. Snake fires a bullet at Vamp, hitting him
in the forehead, which again doesn’t kill the man, simply knocking him down. Liquid’s PMC operatives open fire on Snake,
but during the battle the SOP System is halted once again, causing them to collapse. Snake injects himself with the drug Naomi
gave him earlier, but he’s still unable to save her. Suddenly, Drebin arrives in his armored vehicle,
which Naomi is able to jump into from the helicopter . Snake jumps in as well, and the
trio escape from Liquid’s forces. As they try to reach Otacon for transport,
however, the vehicle crashes, leaving them on a Gekko infested road. Snake looks up to a nearby roof and spots
a familiar, yet inhuman face: that of the cybernetically transformed Raiden. Snake and Naomi then run off as Raiden single-handedly
takes out several Gekko using his high-frequency blade and enhanced abilities. Snake and Naomi are able to reach Otacon’s
chopper, but as they ascend they spot Raiden being restrained by a group of Gekko before
Vamp arrives. Vamp then stabs Raiden, who bleeds artificial
blood, before Snake is able to shoot his restraints and free him. Raiden and Vamp then have a quick battle,
but the pair seem to be evenly matched. As more Gekko arrive, Raiden jumps to the
helicopter to join the others as they escape, passing out from his injuries shortly after. Below, Vamp calls Liquid Ocelot and informs
him of the developments, to which the man states that it’s “all part of the plan”. Evidently, Liquid had used the blood collected
by Naomi from Snake in an attempt to use his DNA to unlock the SOP System, but learned
that the key to the system is the original genetic code of Big Boss. He then works to find the hiding place of
the Paradise Lost Army in order to track down his remains. In the helicopter, Naomi nurses Raiden’s
wounds and reveals a secret about Vamp. As it turns out, he was never immortal, but
rather she designed the nanomachines in his body that cause him to heal at an accelerated
rate. Raiden begins to lose consciousness due to
a lack of his artificial blood, but he’s able to deliver a final message to Snake:
to go find “Big Mama”. Back aboard the Nomad, Naomi helps Sunny with
her egg cooking, and the girl opens up about her mother while the pair bond. Afterwards, Naomi tracks Liquid down to Eastern
Europe, where he is searching for the remains of Big Boss in order to unlock SOP. Snake and Otacon wonder how Liquid could use
Big Boss’s biometric data to unlock the system while he’s dead, and Naomi finally
reveals to Snake that Big Boss’s body still lives, just barely, in a lab. Raiden then awakens and confirms that the
body is in Eastern Europe, along with Dr. Madnar, whose equipment can save his life. The Nomad then sets course to find both. During the flight, Otacon and Naomi speak
about his sister Emma, as well as their common love for science. The pair also share regret for what they’ve
been forced to do with their skills. Naomi takes a USB drive off her necklace and
prepares to give it to Otacon, but as he tells her about Sunny’s advanced skills as a programmer,
she changes her mind. Naomi then seduces Otacon, and the pair sleep
together in the cabin of the helicopter aboard the Nomad. Snake later arrives in Eastern Europe and
begins his search for Big Mama and the Paradise Lost Army, disguising himself using Laughing
Octopus’s FaceCamo to mask his face to look like his younger self. Snake soon reaches a PMC security checkpoint,
and refuses to pass through, but he is quickly ushered away by an arriving Meryl, who happened
to be there with Rat Patrol Team 01. The two then have a brief discussion about
how Meryl plans to stop Liquid’s Insurrection by force; an idea Snake finds crazy considering
Liquid can already somewhat interfere with SOP. The pair are unable to find common ground,
and regretfully part ways to see who can catch Liquid first. Snake finds a member of the local resistance
and tails him to a church. As the man enters, Snake holds him hostage
and demands to see Big Mama. Snake then single-handedly takes out all of
the resistance guards who approach him and enters the nave, where he finds a very impressed
Big Mama, finally meeting her face-to-face. Big Mama introduces herself as Snake’s mother,
revealing to him her role in the Les Enfants Terribles project. Big Mama then proceeds to inform Snake about
her past as EVA, the entire history of the Patriots, Big Boss’s eternal battle with
Zero (which inspired the former’s actions at Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land), as well
as her cooperation with Ocelot to kill founding Patriots Para-Medic and Sigint. Big Mama further explains the Patriots AI
system, which consists of four AIs: GW, TJ, AL, and TR, governed by one core AI: JD, or
John Doe. This system is locked behind Big Boss’s
DNA and biometrics, as Zero kept his former friend alive but with his consciousness trapped
by nanomachines. Big Mama then takes Snake to a van and shows
him “Big Boss” inside, hiding from him the fact that it’s truly Solidus. Snake then gets a call from Otacon, who tells
him that after Sunny and Naomi got back from Dr. Madnar’s place with the dialysis machine
to treat Raiden, Naomi went missing. The pair then fear that she has returned to
Liquid to continue the SOP experiments. Just then, a figure in a trenchcoat and hat
strolls into the church, and when one of the guards confronts the figure, it’s revealed
to be a stack of small black spherical machines with arms called “Dwarf Gekko”. Big Mama fights them off, and the group are
forced to make a run for it. Big Mama mounts her motorcycle with Snake,
who provides cover fire as the pair follow the van with Big Boss inside. After protecting the van from an onslaught
of Liquid’s forces, it is hit by a missile fired from one of the Beauty and the Beast
Unit, Raging Raven’s unmanned gliders. This sends the van crashing through a nearby
building while knocking Big Mama and Snake off of her bike. Snake gets Big Mama to safety inside a nearby
tower before heading up to the top of it alone to take on Raging Raven. Again, Snake defeats the woman’s “Beast”
form to reveal her “Beauty” before incapacitating her and taking her grenade launcher. Afterwards, Snake returns to Big Mama, who
reveals that the van they left with was actually a decoy. The real body is currently floating down the
Volta River, and Snake helps her get there so they can reach safety along with it. After reaching the riverside, Snake is shocked
to find Liquid Ocelot there waiting for them. Big Mama then sees the boat that was carrying
the body, now aflame and sinking into the river. On Liquid’s boat, Snake spots Vamp and Naomi,
who Liquid reveals led him to Big Boss’s body, giving him the final key to unlock the
SOP System. Snake tries to stop Liquid, but is quickly
overpowered by him. Liquid then reveals to Snake that he has recovered
and rebuilt the Patriots’ GW AI, and using it, he plans to destroy the JD AI with a nuclear
strike in order to take control of the Patriot’s entire AI system and rebuild the world in
his image. Liquid then boards his ship and it embarks,
but is soon stopped by a fleet of U.S. Army and Marines, led by Meryl and Rat Patrol. Snake and Big Mama board Rat Patrol’s ship,
which they pull up right next to Liquid’s. Now surrounded, Liquid simply points his fingers,
and reveals that he was able to use the body’s DNA (which he believed to be Big Boss’s,
but was Solidus, his perfect genetic clone) to take full control of the SOP System. First, he disables all of the soldiers in
the area’s weaponry, before again forcing the nanomachine controlled soldiers to collapse,
leaving his FROGS to slaughter all of the soldiers in the area. Liquid then fires a missile at Rat Patrol’s
ship, launching them into the waters while Akiba (still unaffected by the nanomachine
control) grabs Meryl. With the Rat Patrol ship now aflame, Vamp
grabs the body and tosses it aboard from Liquid’s ship, where it lands in the flames. Big Mama then watches the body burn, and in
order to convince Liquid of its authenticity, dives into the flames in an attempt to save
it. Liquid then fires his weapon at the body,
causing it to explode in a ball of flames, burning the entire left side of Snake’s
face as he shields Big Mama. As Liquid’s ship escapes, Otacon is able
to pilot the Metal Gear Mk. II and secretly stow it on board. After the mayhem, Rat Patrol is able to wash
up on shore, but Meryl nearly drowns. Akiba removes his balaclava and gives her
CPR, saving her life. She then thanks him with a kiss, and the pair
hold each other, with Akiba asking her to call him “Johnny”. Nearby, Big Mama gives Snake a final message
to put out the light to erase the shadows before dying in his arms from her wounds. Returning to the Nomad, Snake and Otacon watch
a recording made by the Metal Gear Mk. II of Liquid planning his next move: returning
to Shadow Moses Island to retrieve Metal Gear REX, which can still launch a nuclear warhead
outside of the Patriots’ control. Vamp noticed the device and destroyed it,
causing Otacon to create the Metal Gear Mk. III for Snake’s further missions. Campbell then calls and reveals that under
Liquid’s control, the SOP System has completely shut down, creating the first universal cease-fire
in the history of mankind. The group then determines that Liquid’s
next target is the JD AI, which still has control over weapons of mass destruction. In order to disable the JD AI, Liquid would
have to physically destroy its host, a satellite in orbit, by launching a nuke using REX. Snake decides to return to the place he first
met his “brother”: Shadow Moses Island. Raiden, still recovering from his past injuries
but feeling like he has nothing else to fight for, offers to help Snake. However, as he tries to stand to state his
case, he collapses, asking Snake not to leave him alone, to which the old man replies that
this is “[his] fight”. They then get a call from Mei Ling, who confirms
that Liquid has returned to Shadow Moses Island, which hasn’t been touched since the incident
nine years prior; leaving REX and its nuclear warheads still there for Liquid’s taking. Mei Ling then offers her help from the Battleship
USS Missouri, which she is now the commanding officer of. Otacon then flies Snake to Shadow Moses Island,
and on the way, he dreams of his original visit all those years ago, before awakening
just as they arrive outside the facility. Snake sneaks past some Gekko to reach the
Shadow Moses facility’s heliport. Living through his old memories, he retraces
his steps through the facility, finding Otacon’s old lab so he can disable security. While Otacon hacks the security system through
Metal Gear Mk. III, he finds a recent surveillance video
of Vamp arriving with Naomi. Otacon then unlocks the way, and Snake heads
towards REX’s hangar once again. On his way, Snake is forced into another sniper
battle in a familiar area, this time with Beauty and the Beast Unit member Crying Wolf. After yet another battle with the Beauty and
the Beast, Snake emerges successful, taking her Railgun before continuing on. Snake soon reaches the door to REX’s hangar,
where he finds the Metal Gear unmoved from the exact spot he fought his brother atop
of nine years prior. However, they do notice one change: REX’s
railgun has been removed, as Liquid needed only it to launch the nuke, not the entire
Metal Gear unit. As Snake investigates, he’s interrupted
by Vamp, who reveals that the railgun has been taken out of the facility. Naomi then arrives alongside Vamp, and he
refers to her as his new “queen”. Otacon then remotely uses the Metal Gear Mk. III to try to take control of REX to help
Snake as Naomi leaves Vamp to fight him. Snake tries to take down Vamp, but the near-immortal
man’s nanomachines make him too powerful to take down. Snake has a trick up his sleeve, however,
and grabs Vamp in CQC before injecting him with the nanomachine-suppressing drug given
to him by Naomi earlier. With Vamp now “mortal”, Snake prepares
to finish him, but he is stopped by a squad of Gekko who burst in. Luckily, a recovered Raiden arrives to fight
alongside Snake, and the pair split responsibilities, with Snake fending off the Gekko while Raiden
fights Vamp atop Metal Gear REX. After a grueling battle on both men’s ends,
they both emerge successful, with Raiden finally delivering a mortal sword slash to Vamp, echoing
his final fight with Solidus atop Federal Hall. Otacon activates REX and kills the remaining
Gekko, leaving Snake and Raiden to determine Vamp’s fate. Naomi then arrives, and Raiden delivers a
message to her from Sunny, telling her that she “cooked them right”. Naomi lets out a tear and hands a vial of
strong nanomachine-suppressants to Metal Gear Mk. III, allowing Otacon to remotely take revenge
on the man who killed his sister. Vamp denies him this chance, however, and
grabs the syringe himself, injecting it into his own neck and finally allowing his own
mortality to catch up to him, dying instantly. Naomi then tells Snake that Liquid is down
below, in the warship he stole from the Patriots: Outer Haven. She then atones for all that she’s done
before injecting herself with the suppressants, revealing that she has terminal cancer, with
only nanomachines barely keeping her alive. Naomi then says her goodbyes to Otacon and
Sunny before injecting herself again, apologizing before falling dead in the same spot her brother
Frank Jaeger did years go. As more Gekko arrive, Snake enters REX’s
cockpit while Raiden hangs on, and they use the massive mechanical beast to blast their
way through the opposition and exit the Shadow Moses facility. Raiden jumps off as Snake emerges outside,
and as the facility self-destructs, he’s buried under the rubble. Snake doesn’t have time to react to this,
however, as he’s soon met by a familiar sight: Liquid emerging from the waters piloting
the prototype Metal Gear RAY stolen from the tanker seven years prior. Snake is then forced to pilot REX in a battle
against the newer Metal Gear. While RAY was designed to destroy REX, Snake
is able to emerge victorious, finally destroying Metal Gear RAY for good. As Liquid crawls out from the wreckage, he
calls out to Snake who simply states, “Fox…” as Liquid replies “...Die”, echoing their
final interaction before the latter died at Shadow Moses. Liquid then falls limp… but after a few
moments he jumps up, revealing his ruse before jovially running off. Snake tries to follow, but is unable to catch
up due to the injuries sustained during their battle. Outer Haven then emerges from the waters,
with its OctoCamo hull displaying a “Mount Rushmore”-like facsimile of Big Boss and
his three clones. Liquid then jumps aboard and aims his ship
towards Snake, who is sitting on the harbor. Meanwhile, Raiden watches on, his right arm
pinned under a giant piece of rubble. With no other choice, he grabs his blade and
severs his own arm to free himself. Just as Outer Haven reaches Snake, Raiden
rushes and stops it using what’s left of his enhanced strength. Snake is able to get to safety thanks to Raiden’s
sacrifice, and he yells out Rose's name and remembers the day they met as he’s crushed
under the weight of the ship. Mei Ling then arrives in the USS Missouri
and fires upon Outer Haven, annoying Liquid, who submerges his ship and escapes. Snake then looks into the waters, seeing only
Raiden’s blade remaining. Snake then collapses, where he and Raiden
are picked up by an arriving helicopter and taken onboard the USS Missouri. Sometime later, Snake, Otacon, Mei Ling, Meryl,
and Rat Patrol Team 01 discuss their next moves to stop Liquid from using REX’s railgun
to fire a nuke on JD’s satellite in orbit. Mei Ling determines that since Liquid controls
SOP, the only way they can take out GW and stop the nuke is by infiltrating Outer Haven
while Liquid has its exterior open to fire. Mei Ling and Otacon then reveal that before
she died, Naomi left them information to help destroy GW; including a worm cluster virus
based off of Emma’s work that she entrusted Sunny with completing called “FOXALIVE”,
which must be loaded into GW’s physical server that is protected by a hall of microwaves
leading up to it. Seeing this as a suicide mission, Snake figures
it’s the perfect job for him. Snake prepares to infiltrate Outer Haven with
Meryl and Johnny’s help, spotting Drebin along the way, who provides all of the Missouri’s
crew with his ID-hacked weapons so they can fight despite Liquid’s control of SOP. Meryl then finally hears from Campbell, who
tries to make amends with his estranged daughter. Suddenly, Outer Haven’s exterior opens,
and Snake (carrying Metal Gear Mk. III), Meryl, and Johnny prepare to board the
vessel while the Missouri provides cover fire. As Liquid’s warship retaliates (including
the use of unmanned Metal Gear RAYs), it collides with the Missouri. The trio make a jump onto Outer Haven, but
it doesn’t go as planned; Johnny misses his landing and falls into the waters, while
Meryl makes a hard landing separated from Snake. Forced to continue alone, Snake fights through
Liquid’s forces on the deck before reaching an elevator he uses to reach the interior
of the ship. Snake finds himself inside a large, circular
room, where in the middle he finds an unconscious Meryl. Suddenly, a squad of FROGS advance, and Snake
is forced to fight them off to protect Meryl. Afterwards, Meryl awakens, but is suddenly
pulled up and controlled through her nanomachines like a marionette by the final member of the
Beauty and the Beast Unit: Screaming Mantis. Controlling both Meryl and Snake as well as
the nanomachines of the slain FROGS, Screaming Mantis engages Snake in a battle of wits. Snake uses the nanomachine-suppressing drug
to regain control of himself before using it on Meryl as well. During the battle, Snake notices that Mantis’s
abilities come from the puppets of the Sorrow and Psycho Mantis that she holds, and he takes
them from her, allowing him to incapacitate her Beauty and Beast forms. Afterwards, Screaming Mantis’s suit reassembles
in air, and Snake is spoken to by the spirit of Psycho Mantis. After demonstrating his skills like he did
in their first meeting, an unknown voice booms out, sending Psycho Mantis back to the land
of the dead. Snake then looks up and witnesses another
spirit, that of the Sorrow, who tells him that “the spirit of the warrior” will
always be with him. FROG reinforcements arrive, and Snake is forced
to head towards GW’s server room alone while Meryl says her goodbyes to him before she
stays behind to distract the FROGs. As Snake continues on, Meryl is joined by
Johnny, who arrives to fight by her side. He then reveals to her that he doesn’t have
any nanomachines in him, which explains how Liquid’s SOP control never affected him. Finally, Johnny reveals to Meryl that he has
always harbored feelings for her, and he proposes marriage, to which she agrees to, in her own
way, before the two share a kiss and continue fighting. Snake is soon ambushed and outnumbered by
more FROGS, but he is quickly rescued by an armless Raiden. Weidling his blade in his mouth, Raiden fights
off the FROGS as Snake continues forward. Snake reaches the microwave hallway and enters. As he crawls through, the powerful waves destroy
his suit and his Solid Eye, as well as overwhelming him physically. As things begin to look dire for Mei Ling,
Meryl and Johnny, and Raiden, Snake pushes with all of his might to reach the end of
the corridor. While it nearly kills him, Snake is able to
reach GW’s server room with Metal Gear Mk. III, which they find to be adorned like a
graveyard. Otacon then controls Metal Gear Mk. III and begins to upload the virus, while
Snake fights off arriving Dwarf Gekko. Luckily, the virus is uploaded just in time,
shutting down the nanomachines in all of Liquid’s army and disabling the Metal Gear RAYs attacking
the USS Missouri. Suddenly, a video transmission emerges from
the virus, embedded by Naomi. In the video recording, she explains that
the virus Snake uploaded didn’t just destroy GW, but the Patriots’ entire network, bringing
an end to all of their artificial intelligence systems, as well as the war economy. She then reveals that the Patriots had planned
to control the entire population with nanomachines, not just the battlefield, and she developed
FOXALIVE with Sunny to prevent this and keep everyone free from the Patriots’ control. Naomi then ends her message by apologizing
to Otacon for her deception and encouraging Snake to move on and live the restful life
he’s earned. Snake then passes out but is found and brought
up to the deck. As Otacon goes to find help, Liquid Ocelot
comes upon Snake’s unconscious body and brings him up to the top of a tall tower. There, he wakes Snake and reveals that destroying
the Patriots’ system was his true plan all along. With the world free of the Patriots’ control,
their father’s vision of “Outer Heaven” has been realized. Liquid then states that while the war is over,
the pair still have a score to settle. They then fight hand-to-hand atop Outer Haven,
much like they did during their first meeting. As the fight rages on, Ocelot’s own personality
begins to awaken inside of him as Snake literally beats the self-hypnosis out of him. Once the battle is over and Ocelot’s true
self is reawakened, he tells Snake that he is “Liquid’s doppelganger”, before giving
his signature salute, repeating Big Boss’s words: “you’re pretty good,” before
dying. With another remnant of the Patriots gone
from the world, Snake is recovered by Otacon in a helicopter. Otacon then reveals that while Sunny’s virus
destroyed the Patriots’ AI system, it left intact various technological infrastructures
to keep modern society running. Otacon is then left pondering if they made
the right move, as Snake passes out in the helicopter. Sometime later, the Nomad lands at an airfield
and is converted into a chapel for the wedding of Meryl and Johnny. Before the ceremony, Campbell meets with Meryl
and the pair finally make amends before he walks his daughter down the aisle, where she
marries Johnny Sasaki. Drebin then pulls up to celebrate with flowers
and drinks (which they can now enjoy thanks to nanomachines no longer inhibiting their
alcohol consumption). Notably absent from the celebration is Snake,
who Campbell quietly thanks. Drebin then speaks with Otacon, revealing
that he was sent by the Patriots to assist Snake from the very beginning, as they had
planned for him to take down Liquid. He further illustrates this point showing
Otacon that “Rat Pt. 01” was simply an anagram of “PatR10t”, displaying how deep
the Patriots’ ties went. They didn’t realize, however, that this
would also lead to their own downfall in the end. Sunny then gives Metal Gear Mk. III to a boy she meets to celebrate her first
real friendship before deciding to return to her life aboard the Nomad with Otacon. Elsewhere, Raiden recovers in a hospital bed
after major cybernetic reconstructive surgery to make him appear more human. As he awakens, Rosemary enters with their
son, John. Rose reveals that her “miscarriage” and
marriage to Campbell had all been a lie to protect them from the Patriots, apologizing
for her deception. The three then share an embrace, ready to
finally start their lives as a real family. Snake returns to Big Boss’s grave and prepares
to execute his final mission: removing the new FOXDIE strain from the world before it
can infect others. He then pulls out his pistol, ensures it’s
loaded, and drops to his knees before putting the weapon in his own mouth. Shortly after, a gunshot rings out. As it turns out, however, Snake had pulled
the pistol out of his mouth before firing. He’s then confronted by the real, living
Big Boss, in the flesh, who had been watching on. Spotting the Boss’s machine gun, “the
Patriot”, in Big Boss’s hands, Snake holds him at gunpoint. Big Boss simply drops his weapon, engages
in CQC, before capturing his “son” in a hug, instructing him to drop his weapon,
as it’s time for him to put down the gun and finally live. Big Boss fills Snake in on how he’s survived,
as well as the fact that the body Snake saw was truly Solidus. Big Boss then reveals that when the virus
was uploaded into GW, he was finally able to learn the location of Zero. He then walks over to show Snake that he had
brought the brain-dead man in his wheelchair to the cemetery along with him. Big Boss then states that the only way to
truly destroy the Patriots for good would be to take everything “back to Zero”,
by erasing the founders. He then cuts Zero’s oxygen supply, and holds
his former friend in his arms while he suffocates to death. Big Boss then makes one final revelation to
Snake: the FOXDIE Drebin implanted in him was a new strain from Zero meant to kill the
remaining Patriots founders, and was the true killer of EVA and Ocelot. He then tells Snake that Big Boss was the
final target of FOXDIE, and Snake will now kill him for a third time. Big Boss then collapses from the virus now
within him, and Snake helps him walk to the Boss’s grave. On their way, Big Boss delivers a message
from Naomi that the new FOXDIE strain in his system is preventing the old one from reproducing,
meaning he won’t be able to infect anyone else, removing his fear of becoming a threat
to humanity. Once at the Boss’s grave, Big Boss uses
the rest of his strength to salute her one final time, telling his son to live the rest
of his life “not as a Snake, but as a man”. He then collapses against her grave, and regretfully
reminisces about how he and Zero were trapped by their interpretations of the Boss’s will,
before telling Snake to appreciate his newly gained freedom. The pair then share a cigar, and Big Boss
asks his son, “this is good, isn’t it?” before he finally dies for good, among a patch
of the same flowers his mentor died upon. Snake is left to simply look upon the legendary
soldier’s dead body; the last spark of the Patriots finally snuffed forever. Afterwards, Snake returns to the Nomad and
decides to live out the rest of his life with Otacon and Sunny. The girl then finally prepares three eggs,
noting that they resemble the sun, which is rising again. Following these events, Raiden attempts to
live a normal life, but is unable to find work due to the economic recession following
the war economy’s downfall. He is forced to return to military work, accepting
a job from Maverick Security Consulting, personally offered to him by a man named Boris Vyacheslavovich
Popov (a friend of the late Sergei Gurlukovich) as thanks for rescuing Sunny. To help his work, Raiden removes his artificial
skin and enhances his cybernetic body. In 2015, Raiden begins working with a man
named “Kevin Washington” as support, to help rebuild a country in Africa alongside
their prime minister, “N'mani”. Meanwhile, in the wake of Liquid Ocelot’s
death, the Outer Heaven PMC conglomerate falls apart, and the void is filled by the Denver,
Colorado based World Marshal, Inc., which becomes the new largest PMC. World Marshal is soon brought into scrutiny
when their apparent ties to Colorado Senator Steven Armstrong are discovered and subsequently
investigated by a grand jury. Sunny, who has now taken on the surname “Emmerich”
from her adoptive father Otacon, takes a job at Solis Space & Aeronautics in Colorado,
despite her young age, thanks to her exceptional skill set as well as her father’s connections. In the year 2016, a Brazilian mercenary named
Samuel Rodrigues, known as “Jetstream Sam”, takes out a drug cartel in his home country
before learning of Senator Armstrong’s involvement with World Marshal. He then decides to assassinate the Senator
as justice for his supposed corruption. Sam fights through two police officers using
his high-frequency blade to reach a sewer system that he takes to World Marshal’s
headquarters. Inside the building’s newly remodeled indoor
garden reception area, Armstrong speaks with a member of the “Desperado” PMC known
as “Monsoon”, and the pair, knowing of Sam’s plan, prepare for his arrival. On his way, Sam is attacked by the prototype
“LQ-84i”: a mechanical dog-like weapon equipped with a conversational AI. LQ-84i was sent to kill Sam under the command
of Desperado, to which Sam suggests the machine try thinking for itself. LQ-84i considers this, but knows if it disobeys
its orders, it will have its memory wiped. The two then fight, with Sam being able to
defeat it in battle, boasting to the AI by codec afterwards. Sam then reaches the entrance to the World
Marshal building and enters it, taking out various forms of security as he makes his
way through. Soon, Sam is stopped by Monsoon, who after
a short conversation brings forth an unmanned Metal Gear RAY to take down the intruder. Sam fights off the Metal Gear, destroying
it before getting a call from Armstrong, who invites him upstairs to have the face-to-face
meeting he obviously wants. When Sam reaches the reception area, Monsoon
calls and taunts Sam regarding his motives, stating that even if the man took down World
Marshal, something else would simply pop up in its place, to which Sam responds that he’ll
take down the entire system propping them up. After fighting through more security forces,
Sam reaches an elevator, where Armstrong calls him once again and claims that Sam is the
most qualified “applicant” they’ve ever seen, asking him to meet on the roof for their
“final interview”. On the roof, Sam meets the Senator, who’s
surprisingly muscular body becomes even more massive and powerful as he pulls energy from
nearby vehicles into his nanomachines. The pair then conduct the “final interview”:
a grueling one-on-one battle that tests both of their strength and ability. When Sam emerges victorious, Armstrong asks
him for his help in putting an end to organized violence and war profiteering. While Sam admits that he may have initially
misjudged Armstrong, Sam refuses to “lend a hand”, instead electing to take one of
the senators, attacking him again and slicing off Armstrong’s right forearm with his blade. Armstrong immediately evens the score, using
his sharp stump to sever Sam’s. Armstrong then reattaches his own arm before
extending his hand to Sam, telling him the job is his. Sam simply responds with a laugh and reluctantly
works with World Marshall, who later replace his damaged arm with a cybernetic. LQ-84i is reconstructed and taken under the
guidance of another member of Desperado, a woman known as “Mistral”. She puts the machine through various AI training
exercises, hoping to teach him to repress his emotions to become a literal killing machine. In 2018, Raiden is traveling in Africa with
Prime Minister N'mani and his aide inside a limo, and the Prime Minister thanks Raiden
for Maverick Security Consulting’s help in restoring his country back to its former
glory in such a short amount of time. Suddenly, their convoy is halted, and Maverick
data analyst Courtney Collins notices that something is blocking the lead vehicle. This turns out to be Jetstream Sam himself,
who (under orders from Desperado) attacks the lead armored vehicle, slicing up its gunner. As reinforcements rush in, the limo turns
around and tries to escape, while Courtney calls Maverick’s commander, Boris, to tell
him about the attack. The limo is soon cornered, forcing Raiden
to emerge from the vehicle. He unsheaths his high-frequency blade and
takes out the hostiles while the Prime Minister’s cyborg guardians, codenamed Gemini, take out
more nearby. Suddenly, the coastal waters begin to rumble,
and one of Desperado’s unmanned Metal Gear RAYs bursts from the depths, firing a massive
blast that overturns the Prime Minister’s limo. Gemini attempt to rescue him but are both
slaughtered by another Desperado cyborg elite: their leader, known as “Sundowner”. Sundowner then pulls the Prime Minister from
the wreckage and puts him over his shoulder. As he goes to walk off, Sundowner is stopped
by Raiden, who asks what he wants with the Prime Minister. Sundowner explains that since SOP’s shutdown
killed the war economy, warmongers like himself have been unable to profit. He tells Raiden that he plans to use the Prime
Minister to disrupt the peace in Africa before running off with him. Raiden tries to follow, but is stopped by
the Metal Gear RAY, which he is forced to fight. Raiden takes it down and follows Sundowner,
but during the pursuit, the RAY unit continues to block his progress, prompting another grueling
battle culminating in Raiden finally finishing it off for good. Raiden catches up to Sundowner and finds him
attempting to escape on a train. Raiden follows and boards the train, reaching
a car where he finds Sam and Sundowner with the Prime Minister tied up. Sundowner then chastises the Prime Minister
for him and others wanting to end warfare, killing the man by impaling him with his large
cleaver. Sundowner then escapes via helicopter, leaving
Sam behind to take care of Raiden. The pair battle atop the train, which enters
a tunnel, but Sam overpowers Raiden, damaging his eye and severing his left arm. Sam nearly kills Raiden, but the train exits
the tunnel, allowing Maverick backup to arrive and fire upon him. Sam then also escapes via the chopper, and
while Boris tries to shoot it down with an RPG, it’s able to evade the explosive and
safely exit the area. Raiden is then retrieved from the train, along
with his left arm. With the help of Dr. Wilhelm Voigt, known
as “Doktor”, Raiden is given a new, custom cyborg body Around this time, LQ-84i is ordered to accompany
a mercenary under Desperado’s employ known as Khamsin on a coup d'état mission in the
Republic of Abkhazia. Mistral then takes LQ-84i to Abkhazia, removing
its range inhibitor to allow it to roam wherever it chooses. She begins to warn LQ-84i that she can remove
this freedom whenever she wishes, prompting the machine to cut off one of her mechanical
Dwarf Gekko arms and take the security device giving her this ability away from her. Mistral then informs Desperado that LQ-84i
has gone AWOL, and issues an immediate order for their forces to destroy it on sight. LQ-84i then fights through the Desperado forces
but is eventually stopped by Khamsin, the man he was originally supposed to work with,
who is piloting a large mech. LQ-84i fights this mech, destroying it before
killing its pilot, Khamsin, with the chainsaw attached to its tail. After the battle, Mistral appears before LQ-84i
and reactivates its range inhibitor, revealing that she simply used LQ-84i to betray and
kill Khamsin to get him out of her way. She then forces LQ-84i to “shake” one
of her arms, before stating that the fight has “nothing to do with freedom”, but
as a logical being, LQ-84i will never understand her fight. She then leaves, forcing the machine to be
by her side once more. Maverick is then hired by the Abkhazian government
to stop the terrorist coup (which they learn is partially orchestrated by Desperado), and
Raiden is sent in to do so. Reaching the area, he fights through several
Desperado cyborgs, using his new and improved body enhancements to make quick work of them. With radio support from Boris, Kevin, and
Courtney Collins, Raiden learns that Mistral is with the terrorist leader, Andrey Dolzaev,
at a nearby refinery, and he makes his way towards it. After making his way through an old city filled
with hostiles, Raiden is confronted by LQ-84i. Under direct order to kill Raiden from Desperado
lest his memory be wiped, LQ-84i engages in battle. Raiden defeats the machine, and afterwards,
it expresses its desire for freedom; something Raiden finds amusement in. Raiden reaches the refinery, where he spots
Dolzaev with a woman: Mistral, who notices him and blows a kiss. Raiden then enters the plant and fights through
the defenses, eventually reaching its top level. There, he meets Mistral face-to-face, and
she gives him her history, which much like his, was changed by a man who gave her ideals
to fight for. Raiden asks her who that man was, but she
ignores the question, utilizing her Dwarf Gekko arms to prompt a battle. The pair fight atop the refinery pipes before
taking their combat to the ground, where Raiden slices open a container of liquid nitrogen,
instantly freezing Mistral, before he slices her frozen body into pieces, killing her. Afterwards, Raiden tries to get Dolzaev to
surrender, but he refuses, stating that he is exactly where he meant to be. He then pulls out a detonator and triggers
an explosion on a power pylon where he stands, destroying the refinery, which was built with
Russian money, and in his eyes setting Abkhazia free before the blast kills him. With his mission complete, Maverick sends
a helicopter to extract Raiden. Sometime later, LQ-84i is recovered by Raiden,
rebuilt and given a new name: “Blade Wolf”. Continuing their investigation into Desperado,
Maverick takes a job to investigate potential human rights violations and trafficking by
them in Guadalajara. Raiden is sent in, wearing a very convincing
disguise, and he infiltrates the sewer system with Blade Wolf at his side. Raiden follows the sewers to search for a
research lab, fighting various defenses on the way. Soon, Raiden comes across a boy in the sewers,
and rescues him from Desperado Dwarf Gekko and “Raptor” mechs. Afterwards, the boy introduces himself as
“George”, and claims to have escaped the research lab, where other kids are going to
be harvested for their organs. George tells Raiden where the lab is, while
the latter arranges for the boy to be picked up. Raiden sneaks into the lab and finds a room
filled with cyborg brain casings, likely removed from the children Desperado has been abducting. He then hacks a computer terminal using a
reprogrammed Dwarf Gekko to uncover a security video recorded the day before. In the video, Sundowner speaks with a Desperado
scientist about the “Sears Program”, the training regimine that Solidus used on his
child soldiers in Liberia, including Raiden. Sundowner then stresses that they need to
ship the childrens’ brains to their headquarters quickly, as their cover is about to be blown. Senator Armstrong, who was also on site, then
chimes in to tell the scientist to ship all of the brains he has ready, while destroying
the rest. As he and Sundowner then leave, Armstrong
mentions he’s busy with something called “Tecumseh”, which he believes will help
America’s “suffering”. Raiden sends the video to Kevin, and asks
him to find the identity of the “man in the suit”, who they don’t immediately
recognize as the senator. Raiden then goes to rescue the remaining kids,
but is met with some bad news from Courtney: Maverick was unable to find George in the
sewers. Raiden continues on his search, getting another
call from Kevin, who reveals the identity of the man they saw: Senator Steven Armstrong,
who is currently a Presidential Candidate in the upcoming 2020 election. Armstrong’s ties to World Marshal reveal
to Maverick who is backing Desperado, and Raiden plans to take the fight directly to
their headquarters in Colorado as soon as the kids are safe. After fighting through more defenses, Raiden
finds a room with a machine that Doktor describes as an “artificial-blood cryopreserver”,
used to preserve harvested organs for several hours. Doktor then surmises that the scientists must
be selling the organs they were told to destroy, prompting Raiden to hurry in his search. Soon, he finds the children’s holding cell
behind protective glass, but as he investigates, the lead scientist he saw on the recording
walks in, holding George at gunpoint. The scientist then pumps the children’s
room full of chloroform gas, threatening to kill George if Raiden breaks the glass to
free the children. George then tells Raiden to forget about him
and kill the scientist, a request he fulfills by slashing through the both of them. George is later saved with the use of the
cryopreserver in the adjacent room, and the children (as well as the cyborg brains) are
brought to safety. Knowing Maverick wouldn’t agree with attacking
World Marshal, Raiden resigns, taking Blade Wolf with him to Denver, Colorado. During a drive towards World Marshal HQ, however,
Raiden is attacked by highway patrol officers on their payroll. After a short pursuit, Raiden’s car is destroyed
by the police, causing him to take them on while Blade Wolf scouts ahead. After the battle, Raiden follows Blade Wolf
to a building, where he receives a call from Boris. His former boss tries to talk him out of his
current plan, but Raiden refuses to allow the children to suffer the same fate he did. Boris agrees to allow Maverick to secretly
help Raiden, as Blade Wolf leads him to the rooftops. After traversing the rooftops, the subway,
and the streets, Raiden finally reaches World Marshal headquarters. As he arrives, however, he is met with a holographic
message from Jetstream Sam, who questions his motives and actions, chastising Raiden
for killing so many cyborg soldiers on his way. Sam then turns off the emotion-suppressing
nanomachines of the cyborg police, who attack Raiden, forcing him to hear their cries of
pain and despair as he kills them. Blade Wolf arrives and speaks with Raiden
about the difference between AIs and mankind, before Blade Wolf tells Raiden about his past
with Sam. The pair then finally reach the headquarter’s
entrance, where Sam appears in the flesh, gloating about how he’s made Raiden realize
his actions aren’t so black and white. Suddenly, Monsoon arrives as well, and expresses
his belief that everyone is compelled to fight not by politics or religion, but by “memes”,
which he describes as the “DNA of the soul”. Raiden regretfully states that he was born
to kill, but thanks Monsoon for his speech, as it’s reawakened his “Jack the Ripper”
persona inside of him, which he unleashes to kill Monsoon’s backup. Monsoon sends Sam off to report back to “the
chief”, while he stays behind to fight Raiden. After their battle, Raiden decapitates Monsoon,
ending his “memes” for good. Raiden finally enters World Marshal HQ, where
he hears Sundowner’s voice over the intercom, telling him the brains are currently in the
server room for VR training. Doktor traces the call to the top floor, and
Raiden rushes up, finding the elevators out of service. Blade Wolf hacks the system while Raiden protects
him. Once functional, Raiden uses the elevator
to reach the 20th floor where he’ll have to get past a security gate to reach the confidential
floors above. After unleashing the Ripper and fighting off
strong reinforcements, Raiden scales the side of the building to quickly get closer to the
server room at the top. Raiden passes through the indoor garden reception
area and fights through more defenses before finally reaching the server room. Before he can enter, however, Raiden is stopped
by AI controlled body doubles of both Mistral and Monsoon, forcing him to fight them once
again. Afterwards he’s finally able to enter the
server room, where he meets Sundowner face to face. The man explains that the Sears Program was
extremely successful for Solidus, as it produced Jack the Ripper, but in order to streamline
the process they’ve moved its execution out of the real world and into Virtual Reality
to better create moldable killing machines. Sundowner and Raiden then discuss the war
economy, with the former explaining that the Patriots didn’t invent it, they just took
advantage of mankind’s tendency to fight. Sundowner then states that none of that will
matter in three hours, as the demand for PMCs will skyrocket after another event similar
to Arsenal Gear’s crash, or the 9-11 attack Raiden follows Sundowner to a helipad, asking
him what is going to happen in three hours, but he brushes it off, simply stating that
he’s already too late to stop it. After Raiden’s most exhaustive battle yet,
Sundowner is defeated, telling Raiden that Armstrong is about to launch “Operation
Tecumseh” before dying. Raiden then calls his contacts at Maverick,
and they determine whatever Armstrong is planning is likely in Pakistan, where U.S. President
Hamilton is about to land. Knowing that an assassination of the president
in the Middle East would create another “war on terror”, Raiden knows he must get to
Pakistan, and quick. Raiden then has Boris contact Solis Space
& Aeronautics for a transport vehicle, as Doktor pilots a helicopter to take him there. During their flight, however, they are attacked
by two unmanned drones. Raiden exits the helicopter and takes them
out midair, but is unable to return to the helicopter, and falls back down to the streets
of Denver. Raiden fights his way out of the city, finding
an escape route with Boris’s help. Raiden then finds a motorcycle, and steals
it, driving it to Solis. As he gets close, however, Raiden stops the
bike when he spots Blade Wolf in the road, being pet by Jetstream Sam. Blade Wolf tells Raiden that he’s unable
to determine what Sam’s motivation is before the man tells Raiden that history will decide
which of their ideals was “right”. Raiden brushes this off, caring little for
what’s right or wrong, wanting only to kill the man. The two then duel on the side of the road,
and while their skills are closely matched, Sam eventually leaves himself open to attack,
and Raiden stabs him in the abdomen. Sam succumbs to his injuries, laughing and
giving Blade Wolf a wink before dying. Blade Wolf then tries to discern why Raiden
had to kill Sam, to which he simply tells the AI to figure it out for himself. Raiden then grabs Sam’s high-frequency blade,
finding it to be ID-locked. Raiden cleans the blood off of it before giving
it to Blade Wolf to carry in memory of Sam. With less than an hour before the President
lands in Pakistan, Raiden and Blade Wolf continue towards Solis. There, they meet with Sunny, who shows them
to their ride: a reusable launch vehicle that she designed. Raiden and Blade Wolf board the vehicle and
fly off, reaching the Pakistan air base with less than a half an hour until the President
is set to arrive. Blade Wolf again heads in first to scout,
while Raiden follows. Raiden decides to destroy the air control
tower to prevent Air Force One’s landing, but on his way he comes across an injured
Blade Wolf lying on the ground. Raiden looks for his partner’s attackers,
but the ground begins to collapse beneath him. Emerging from the giant hole left in the ground
is the massive Metal Gear EXCELSUS, and its pilot, Senator Steven Armstrong steps out
from inside. Armstrong tells Raiden that he’s too late
to stop him, and Kevin soon calls to inform him that the news of the assassination plans
leaked, causing the president to turn his plane around. However, just the news of the attempt was
enough to throw the public into wanting a retaliation, successfully lighting the spark
that will reignite the war economy. Armstrong then states that the Patriots planted
the seed years ago, and now, all Americans are “sons of the Patriots”. Knowing that reigniting the war economy will
do wonders for American jobs and taxes, Armstrong elects to kill Raiden, to prevent him from
complicating his message. Armstrong then returns to EXCELSUS, and Raiden
engages the giant machine in battle. Raiden takes it down piece-by-piece, eventually
destroying it for good. Armstrong emerges from the mechanical beast
once again, and (after drawing the remaining power from the Metal Gear) elects to fight
Raiden hand-to-hand. Raiden is shocked as the Senator easily manhandles
him, prompting a duel between the two. During it, Raiden quips that Armstrong is
a typical politician: big promises, but all talk. Armstrong then tells Raiden his true intentions:
to rebuild the American system so that every individual controls their own destiny through
survival of the fittest without the modern system of bureaucracy. Raiden takes offense to this notion, as he
knows Armstrong was born privileged, and didn’t have to fight to survive as he did. The pair continue to fight atop EXCELSUS,
with Armstrong absorbing Raiden’s every attack. When Raiden asks how the Senator can survive
his attacks, the man simply responds: “nanomachines, son.” Armstrong then beats Raiden senselessly, pulverizing
the Metal Gear in the process. As Armstrong prepares to finish Raiden, Blade
Wolf arrives with Sam’s blade. Blade Wolf explains that while his initial
main goal had been to pass along the information stored inside him, he learned through working
with Raiden that he must create his own future. He then tosses Sam’s blade to Raiden, which
is now fully unlocked. Armstrong kicks Blade Wolf aside, angering
Raiden, who uses Sam’s blade in combat with him. After another excruciating battle, Raiden
emerges successful, killing the Senator and finally bringing an end to his master plan. As he dies, however, Armstrong hints that
he’s leaving a worthy successor in Raiden. Raiden then rips out his heart and crushes
it, ending his fight for good. Afterwards, the new war on terror rages on,
and the war economy is re-established, while Maverick at least takes solace in knowing
Armstrong couldn’t be elected president. Doktor is also able to establish a cyborg
staffing firm in order to give the children who had their brains removed a chance at semi-normal
lives. Meanwhile, George joins Sunny and Blade Wolf
at Solis, and the three prepare to live a new life together. Afterwards, Boris offers Raiden a place at
Maverick once again, but he refuses, instead electing to fight his own war moving forward. At some point in the future, Blade Wolf tells
Sunny about his history with Desperado, and the pair discuss Raiden, appreciating his
character and motivations, with both pledging their loyalty to him. And with that, we reach the end of the Metal
Gear Saga, as it was left (likely for good) when series mastermind Hideo Kojima tumultuously
parted ways with publisher Konami back in 2015. While we may never see another mainline entry
in the series, we have seen several side-installments without Kojima’s involvement in the past,
and as promised in the intro, we’ll go over the storylines of those games in release order,
starting with the 1990 Western market exclusive sequel to the Nintendo Entertainment System
version of Metal Gear: Snake’s Revenge. In 1998, three years after the fall of Outer
Heaven and Operation Intrude N313, the U.S. receives intelligence that another hostile
force has gotten their hands on Metal Gear. Solid Snake is again sent in to investigate
the threat, this time leading a team including two men, John Turner and Nick Myer, in “Operation
747”. The three land in the area by helicopter before
splitting up, with Turner purposefully getting captured to provide a distraction for Snake
to infiltrate the enemy stronghold. Inside, Snake learns that the enemy does in
fact have Metal Gear, and even worse, they’re being mass produced and will ship soon. After taking out several defenses, Snake reaches
the docks where the weapons will be shipped on a cargo ship (which Snake also learns Turner
has been taken). Snake boards the cargo ship just before it
sets sail and begins his search. He finds no sign of Turner and elects to sink
the ship in order to prevent its delivery. After planting and detonating explosives below
the decks, Snake rushes back topside, where he’s rescued by helicopter just before the
ship sinks. Snake then receives word that the enemy has
not only captured Myer, but also created a new revision of Metal Gear, appropriately
named: Metal Gear 2. Snake heads to Myer’s last known position,
a railway, and boards a train. Once he’s on board, the train begins to
move, but he soon gets a call from Turner, who tells him he’s captive on the train
and leads Snake to his position. When Snake finds the man, however, he discovers
that it’s not the real Turner, but instead a spy. The spy attacks, but Snake easily kills him
before escaping the train. Snake then gets a call from Myer, who apologizes
for his lack of communication before telling Snake that the operation is still a “go”. Snake then works with the Outer Heaven resistance
member Jennifer, who has also infiltrated the enemy group as a double agent, and the
pair plan to regroup with Myer. When Snake finds Myer, however, the man is
critically wounded, and he informs Snake that Jennifer’s cover was blown. He then makes a shocking revelation: the leader
of this new hostile group is none other than Big Boss, who survived his first encounter
with Snake. Myer then dies from his wounds, leaving Snake
to rush off to find Big Boss. Snake soon finds Big Boss, now transformed
into a cyborg due to their last meeting. Wanting to avenge his defeat at Snake’s
hand three years prior, the cybernetic Big Boss attacks. While his enhancements make him a formidable
foe, Snake outsmarts him and emerges the victor, killing his former commander for a second
time. After his victory, Snake finds the captive
Jennifer and frees her. After she gives him the location of Metal
Gear 2, Snake rushes off to find it. Once in its hangar, Snake uses remote controlled
missiles to damage it, making quick work of the new weapon. With another Metal Gear destroyed, the UN
declares World Peace Day. In the wake of Operation 747, John Turner
is listed as MIA, and Nick Myer is posthumously promoted three ranks. This brings us to the end of “Snake’s
Revenge”. Next up, the 2000 Gameboy Color game “Metal
Gear: Ghost Babel” (also known as simply, “Metal Gear Solid”), which is another
alternate sequel to the original “Metal Gear”. In the year 2002, seven years after Operation
Intrude N313, Colonel Roy Campbell visits the retired Solid Snake at his home in Alaska. Campbell asks Snake to come out of retirement
for one final mission, as the world is on the brink of nuclear destruction. A new Metal Gear, codenamed “GANDER”,
has been stolen by the terroristic Gindra Liberation Front, or GLF, who happen to be
stationed in the same spot Outer Heaven was once located in South America. Snake agrees to the mission and meets his
support team, led by National Security Adviser Steve Gardner, and including analyst Mei Ling,
CIA agent Brian McBride, and mercenary contact Ronard Lensenbrink (known as “Weasel”). In addition, Snake is to carry out his mission
in concert with the U.S. Army Delta Force, who are already in the area; led by Army Chief
of Staff General John Parker. Snake infiltrates the GLF fortress, Galuade,
via HALO jump and is informed by Campbell that Delta Force had been wiped out during
his travels. Shortly after entering the stronghold, Snake
is contacted by the sole Delta Force survivor Chris Jenner, who explains that her team was
ambushed and slaughtered by the mercenary group “Black Chamber”, lead by a man named
“Black Art Viper”. This prompts a discussion between McBride,
Wasel, and Campbell about how details of the mission could have leaked. Following Jenner’s suggestion, Snake makes
his way through a sewer system to meet with her at a nearby watchtower. Snake finds Jenner, who had disguised herself
as an enemy soldier, and the pair discuss their next steps. Jenner tells Snake about the chief researcher
on the Metal Gear project, Jimmy Harks, and Snake elects to search for him while she heads
off to investigate the facility’s power plant. While Snake looks for Jimmy, he meets Black
Chamber member Slasher Hawk, and the pair battle, with Snake killing the mercenary. Snake continues his search, finding the Metal
Gear researcher held captive in the prison barracks. Jimmy then gives Snake Metal Gear’s location
as well as information on the U.S. Army’s “Project Babel” (led by General Parker)
which somehow involves Metal Gear, although he is unsure as to how. Suddenly, the facility’s power cuts out,
and Jimmy theorizes that they must be drawing all of the power for Metal Gear’s railgun,
which has the ability to fire a nuclear warhead, which would be ready in about a half an hour. Snake leaves Jimmy behind to be rescued by
Jenner as he heads to stop Metal Gear. On the way, he encounters and defeats another
member of Black Chamber: Marionette Owl, who before his death tells Snake about Black Chamber’s
history. As it turns out, they were originally under
the U.S. Government’s employ, but were betrayed during a mission led by someone known only
as “Anonymous”, who Black Art Viper has sworn vengeance upon. Snake continues on and finds Metal Gear, now
above ground and ready to fire. Black Art Viper then confronts Snake from
a helicopter, informing him that he’s already too late. Snake is then powerless to watch Metal Gear
fire a nuclear warhead from its railgun. Viper flies off, and Snake is left to avoid
artillery fire. Snake reaches safety and learns that the warhead
Metal Gear fired hit an unpopulated nuclear testing site in Nevada as a warning from the
GLF. Their leader, known only as the “General”,
then sent a message to the President of the United States demanding that the U.S. remove
troops from their country and recognize their sovereignty within 3 hours or else they’ll
fire Metal Gear at a populated area. Snake decides to take out the power plant
to prevent Metal Gear from firing its railgun again, and heads towards it. On his way, he contacts Jenner, who reveals
that Jimmy had been captured again. Snake then meets another member of Black Chamber,
Pyro Bison, who he also defeats, learning more about their group’s history with the
U.S. Government. Bison then reveals that there’s a spy on
Snake’s team, feeding Viper information about his mission. After Pyro Bison burns himself alive, Snake’s
team begin to suspect one another, but he nonetheless continues on. He destroys the power plant, but the General
sends out another message, stating that the nuke can be fired without the railgun, putting
Snake back at square one. Snake then heads to Metal Gear’s location
to try to destroy it before it can fire. On his way, Snake is surprised to find Jimmy
beside a dead soldier, who Jimmy claims was also from Delta Force. Even more surprisingly, Jimmy states that
the soldier claimed to have no knowledge of Chris Jenner, making Snake suspicious of her
story. Snake then asks Jimmy if he can stop Metal
Gear, but when the engineer tries to respond, an explosive hidden in his handcuffs detonates,
killing him. Afterwards, Snake talks to his support team,
and McBride casts suspicion on Jenner, believing her to be the spy Pyro Bison spoke of. Snake, knowing destroying Metal Gear is more
important at this moment, keeps focus on his mission. After a squad of F-22 aircrafts clear his
path, he continues toward Metal Gear, but is stopped again by a helicopter, which opens
fire on him. Snake takes down the chopper, and its pilot
emerges from the wreckage, introducing herself as Sophie N’dram, the General’s second-in-command. She holds Snake at gunpoint, but he overpowers
her, turning the tables. Snake doesn’t kill Sophie, and they instead
find common ground, with her revealing that Jenner is still alive, and Viper has her captive. Snake continues to Metal Gear, but just as
he reaches it, he’s met face-to-face by Black Chamber’s leader: Black Art Viper. Viper finally gives Black Chamber’s full
story: two years prior they were secretly tasked with recovering Metal Gear, which was
stolen in South America. They were able to successfully destroy this
Metal Gear, but when they returned home, someone (only referred to as “Anonymous”) tasked
FOXHOUND with killing them to prevent the knowledge of Metal Gear’s existence from
leaking. Most of Black Chamber was killed, leaving
only five members remaining, three of which Snake killed during his current mission. Viper then reveals the captive Chris Jenner,and
states she had been busy destroying evidence related to Project Babel. Viper then engages in battle with Snake, who
defeats him in turn. As Viper falls, he detonates explosives in
the room, forcing Snake and Jenner to make a hasty exit. Outside, Jenner finally comes clean about
her true mission. She was sent in separately from the other
Delta Force members with strict instructions from U.S. Army General John Parker to destroy
any information about Project Babel before assassinating GLF’s leader, “the General”. Snake forgives her for her deception, focusing
on the task at hand and instructing her to find a way to escape while he takes down Metal
Gear. Snake leaves Jenner behind and finally reaches
Metal Gear GANDER. There, he finds the General already piloting
it, who hints at a connection between GLF, Outer Heaven, and the United States, promising
to tell Snake the whole truth if he defeats him in battle. Snake then battles Metal Gear GANDER, taking
down the massive mechanical beast in stages. Once it’s defeated for good, the General
rewards Snake with his prize: the truth. As it turns out, Outer Heaven was actually
funded by the United States as a way to keep an eye on anti-American forces. However, Big Boss took matters into his own
hands, forcing Snake’s mission to destroy it. Project Babel then rose from the ashes of
Outer Heaven as a way for the United States to become the sole superpower in Africa by
working with the GLF. This project was the brainchild of U.S. Army
Chief of Staff John Parker. The General then gives Snake a disc containing
all the information Parker wanted Jenner to destroy before dying from wounds he sustained
during their battle. Afterwards, Viper appears before Snake, revealing
that he not only survived their encounter, but also that he had been listening to his
conversation with the General, which made him realize the true identity of “Anonymous”. Viper then reveals that Colonel Campbell was
in charge of FOXHOUND during their mission to kill Black Chamber. Campbell then frantically calls Snake, revealing
that they’ve learned the identity of Black Chamber’s spy. Before he can reveal it, however, his feed
is cut off, and the spy instead reveals himself to be CIA agent Brian McBride. Viper then prepares to launch the nuclear
strike, confusing Snake, who had just destroyed Metal Gear. Viper then explains that Metal Gear was only
one launch mechanism, as they also took control of seven satellites in orbit armed with nuclear
capabilities. Snake then battles Viper once again to try
to stop him before he can activate the satellites. Ultimately, Snake emerges the victor, successfully
shutting down the launch before Viper dies for good. Sophie then arrives, having heard everything
that transpired, and elects to lead the GLF to build their own country with “real ideals”. Snake then spots Chris Jenner, who has arrived
with a jeep. Before they leave, Snake gets another call
from Campbell. During the call, Weasel reveals that he killed
McBride, and Campbell explains that he was lied to about the mission to terminate Black
Chamber, and the guilt of leading it has haunted him since. The group then deduce that National Security
Adviser Steve Gardner is “Anonymous”, and the true mastermind behind both Outer
Heaven and Project Babel. Weasel then reveals that he was also under
Gardner’s command the entire time, and the man planned the entire mission to go exactly
how it did to regain Metal Gear from John Parker and the Army. Weasel then reveals that his final mission
is to kill everyone involved as to cover up the operation, but having grown fond of them,
he instead elects to let them go free. Snake and Jenner then escape in the jeep,
with Snake planning to return to America to take on Parker and Gardner for their deception,
promising to return to Jenner once he’s done. This concludes the story of “Ghost Babel”,
taking us to our next bonus installment: “Metal Gear Solid Mobile”. As the name suggests, this was a mobile exclusive
non-canon side story, which takes place between Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons
of Liberty. Shortly after the events on Shadow Moses Island,
Revolver Ocelot sells the Metal Gear REX technology on the black market. After production facilities begin to spring
up around the globe, Solid Snake and Otacon begin to work to gain intel on these productions. At some point, Otacon gets a tip from a scientist
inside one of these facilities, and Snake infiltrates it to make contact with them and
learn more. After sneaking through the facility, Snake
gets a call from Otacon's contact, Dr. Victoria Reed, an artificial intelligence specialist
on the Metal Gear project. Reed asks Snake to meet her in the Security
Control Room, and he heads towards her. On the way, Otacon calls, beginning to get
suspicious about Dr. Reed; although he can’t quite figure out why he doesn’t trust her. As Snake nears her location, he is suddenly
locked in a room. Dr. Reed then calls Snake, revealing that
she never existed, but was in fact a VR construct designed to trick operatives like him. Her “master” then reveals himself as the
commander of a terrorist group trying to steal Metal Gear from the facility. While Snake was trying to rescue “Dr. Reed”,
he was inadvertently disabling the security to the entire area, allowing the terrorists
to enter unhindered. Snake is able to knock out his guard and escape
his confinement before heading out to search for Metal Gear. On his way, however, Snake begins to experience
strange phenomena; calls from an unknown party warning him that what he’s seeing isn’t
what it seems, visual hallucinations akin to a “computer game”, and even Otacon
starting to act strangely (such as reporting about some kind of “simulation”). As Snake reaches Metal Gear’s hangar, the
unknown party reveals to him that he’s currently in a simulation, as his real self was drugged
and placed there. Snake asks who this caller is, and he reveals
himself as the real Otacon, calling from outside the simulation to try to help him beat the
scenario while he tries to free him. On top of REX, Snake finds the commander of
the terrorist group. Snake battles him one-on-one as the simulation
begins to break away, and he eventually kills his opponent. After the battle, the simulation ends in error,
and Snake is awoken in an unknown room. He then overhears two voices discussing the
results of the failed test, which are promptly deleted. They then wipe Snake’s memory and discuss
his usefulness later. When one of the voices discusses finding another
test subject, the other states that there’s already one lined up: a man named Jack; revealing
that Snake’s simulation was simply a test run of the S3 Plan that Raiden was later sent
through. Moving on with our bonus coverage, our next
two games are the PlayStation Portable exclusive card games: Metal Gear AC!D 1 and 2. These two games relate to each other, but
are completely independent to the rest of the series. With that said, let’s get right into the
first installment, Metal Gear AC!D. This story begins in the year 2016, when passenger
Flight 326 is hijacked by a seemingly sentient pair of dolls, “sisters” Frances and Elsie. The dolls bring a bomb on board and fill the
plane with vecuronium bromide to temporarily paralyze all 517 of the passengers, including
United States Senator Viggo Hach, a major political figure and Presidential Candidate. The hijackers make one demand: something called
“Pythagoras”, to be delivered within 10 hours. The U.S. Government discerns that “Pythagoras”
refers to a top secret research project being conducted in a lab on Lobito Island in the
Moloni Republic, Africa. The U.S. sends a SWAT-based Hostage Rescue
Team into Lobito to investigate, but they’re all wiped out, save for one member: a woman
named Teliko Friedman. Roger McCoy, a CIA agent, then convinces legendary
mercenary Solid Snake to come out of retirement to take over the investigation into Pythagoras. Intelligence determines that the Lobito Physics
and Chemistry lab is owned by one of the largest conglomerate enterprises in the world: BEAGLE. Snake is then sent into the lab in search
of Pythagoras’s head researcher: Dr. William L. Flemming. As Snake reaches Lobito Island, he’s shocked
to learn that one of the members of his support team is Alice Hazel, a psychic known widely
for her supernatural abilities. While Snake is skeptical of her usefulness
in the mission, she nonetheless acts as his navigator, remotely viewing the situation
to see what he cannot. As he reaches the research lab, Snake receives
a distress call from the HRT team’s emergency frequency, and the man on the other end introduces
himself as engineer Gary Murray. Snake responds, and Gary asks Snake to rescue
him in the lab’s control room. Hoping Gary can lead Snake to Flemming, he
rushes off to find him. Meanwhile, on Flight 326, Senator Hach speaks
with his assistant, Lena Arrow, who decides to work up her strength to investigate the
plane. As she walks off, the dolls appear before
Hach, and he notes that whoever’s behind them must be a “kid” he’s familiar with. One of the dolls, Frances, then reveals that
she murdered the pilot and copilot of the plane before writing the numbers “1” and
“14” on their uniforms in blood. As Snake reaches the control office, Roger
calls him to inform him that the identity of the group that took over the lab has been
discovered to be the “Leone Unit”: a group of insurgents opposed to the Moloni Republic. It’s believed, however, that they were hired
as mercenaries by an unknown party. With Alice’s direction, Snake finds Gary,
who tells him that while he was running to “Flemming’s Assembly Room”, or FAR,
he saw Dr. Flemming being taken to the residential quarters to the east. Snake then tells Gary to stay put as he goes
off to look for Flemming. Back on the plane, Lena finds the bodies of
the pilot and copilot, and returns to Hach. The two then fear that somebody named “No.
16” is behind the hijacking and currently on the plane with them. Shortly after, a girl sitting behind them
awakens, and introduces herself as Minette Donnel. One of the Dolls, Elsie, then reveals that
she has murdered the stewardess, carving “11” into her forehead. Hach is able to get to his phone to make a
call to the White House, and he speaks with his contact about his fear of Pythagoras going
public, learning that a man named “Emilio” is handling the situation using Solid Snake. Suddenly, Minette is contacted telepathically
by Alice, who asks the girl to find the bomb on the plane so they can defuse it. Snake reaches the residential area and finds
a secured room that Alice determines is holding a prisoner: potentially Dr. Flemming. Roger calls Snake to provide him some potential
passwords to open the room, but Snake is shocked to learn that he doesn’t need one; the security
system simply scans him in, identifying him as “Hans Davis”, a name nobody recognizes. Snake enters the room and finds a man with
a bag on his head, but as he goes to remove it, the towering leader of the mercenaries,
Lieutenant Leone, enters with his soldiers, who hold up Snake. Leone then aims his gun at the prisoner and
fires. He then turns his weapon on Snake, but before
he can fire, a stun grenade goes off, knocking out Leone’s men. Snake uses the distraction to escape, finding
the sole survivor of the HRT unit, Teliko, outside, who introduces herself as “Swallowtail”. She reveals that the prisoner Leone killed
wasn’t Flemming, as the real doctor was taken elsewhere, casting suspicion on Gary. Meanwhile, Minette searches in the plane’s
cargo hold for the bomb, while Alice begins to indicate that she might also known who’s
responsible. The dolls then reveal they have control over
every plane in the United States’ airspace, and they’ve killed another; this time writing
the number “5”. On Lobito Island, Snake reaches the location
the real Flemming was taken to, and he gets a call from Roger, who has done some digging
on the name Snake was recognized. As it turns out, Hans Davis was Flemming’s
supervisor and the top brass at the laboratory years ago. Working for BEAGLE, he was sent to Lobito
to act as a lab chief, and after he arrived, several children in the region were abducted
and taken to the island. Gary then calls Snake and reveals his secret:
that he had been using them to buy him time to collect data from another project, called
“ACUA”, that he can sell to make himself rich. He then states that with the data in his hands,
he’ll need Flemming to sell it, and since he got his location from Snake, he’ll get
to him first. Gary then makes one final revelation: that
Pythagoras somehow involves a nuclear-quipped walking battle tank; none other than Metal
Gear. Snake and Teliko are then left to race to
reach Flemming before Gary can. On the way, Snake starts to get sporadic headaches,
and begins to hear a voice inside his head telling “Hans Davis” to wake up. The pair then reach the room where Flemming
is being held, and Snake sneaks through a vent alone to rescue him. When Snake enters the room, he’s shocked
to find Gary already there, but the man then reveals that “Gary Murray” never actually
existed, as he made the name up. “Gary” was actually Flemming all along,
and he greets Snake as “Hans Davis”. Snake suddenly has a rush of memories as Hans
Davis, in which he worked with Flemming in conducting the “Ritual of Conjuration”,
which was a battle royale in the storehouse with the kidnapped kids, the sole survivor
of which would be given the title “Neoteny”. No. 104, was Flemming’s favorite for the
competition Flemming cuts Snake’s codec communications,
then refreshes “Hans’s” memory further, explaining that he was hired by BEAGLE to
be an executive after they were impressed with his reputation. Snake then took on the name “Hans Davis”
and led the lab on Lobito Island to develop “Metal Gear KODOQUE”. One day, Hans went missing, and Flemming theorizes
that he must have returned to his life as Solid Snake, creating false memories to forget
his days as Hans. Snake denies this, but Flemming notes that
they were the only two people who knew about the term “Neoteny”, while others referred
to the experiment subjects as “Mind Benders” or “Puppet Masters”. Flemming then reveals that Hans had won their
bet, as his pick, No. 104, lost, while Hans’s pick, No. 16 was the survivor and Neoteny. Flemming then reveals that No. 16 is behind
Flight 326’s hijacking, and his daughter, Constance, is on the plane. Flemming holds on to the Pythagoras research
data until Hans restores his memory, telling him to continue his Solid Snake “façade”
to buy him time to figure out how to stop No. 16. Flemming leaves to return to FAR, and Teliko
unsuccessfully tries to stop him. He does drop the disk with the research data,
however, but it’s encrypted. Teliko takes the disk, and while Snake is
now under suspicion, she continues to work with him. Snake’s communications are restored, and
Alice directs them to the storehouse where soldiers are congregating. Roger then gets a call from Charles Schmeiser,
a CIA Operative under him, who reveals that the numbers being carved into the murdered
flight passengers spells out a message: the word “SNAKE”. Charles then wonders why Roger recruited Snake
for the mission, fearing that whoever recommended him might be involved. Charles then entrusts Roger with exposing
BEAGLE to the world, as this may be their only chance. Roger confronts Snake about how the hijacker
would know his name, but he keeps quiet. Teliko, trusting in Snake, vouches for him,
keeping his secret from Roger before they are ambushed by Leone. Leone reveals that he’s been working towards
his own goals. As a former American soldier, original name
Jeff Jones, Leone was betrayed by his country. Hoping to gain Pythagoras, Leone plans to
use its massive power to take revenge on the United States. Snake and Teliko fight Leone just long enough
for an opening to escape and get away from him. On Flight 326, Minette and Alice continue
to search for the bomb, while Viggo awakens from being passed out to find Lena missing. Snake and Teliko head towards FAR to find
Flemming and find a drawbridge. After they get it in place, however, Teliko
draws her gun on Snake. She fires, forcing him to dodge, and she crosses
the bridge just before it’s raised, blocking his path. She then reveals that she’s not Teliko,
but “Swallowtail”, revealing that the Teliko Snake has known all this time was simply
an imposter. Snake follows this impostor to stop her from
escaping with the disk of research data. On the way, Roger learns that this must be
a BEAGLE-hired assassin and master of disguise and hypnotism named “La Clown”. Snake continues on and is met by a doppelganger
of himself, who he assumes to be Clown disguised as him. This doppelganger introduces himself as “Hans”,
claiming to be a physical manifestation born out of Snake’s subconscious. Snake calls Roger to ask if he sees multiple
people on the security cameras, to which Roger states that he only sees Snake (and one of
him at that). Hans takes his leave to go meet with Flemming
at FAR, and as Snake tries to follow, his doppelganger disappears. Snake finds Clown in a room arranged like
an intricate board game. There, Snake meets the real Teliko for the
first time, and the two are forced to fight. When Snake wins, this Teliko proves her identity
by revealing something only the real version of her would know: her father, Collin, was
murdered by a secret society called “the six seachers”: consisting of Bob, Edward,
Arnold, Greg, Leon, and another he never uncovered. With her identity no longer under question,
Snake and Teliko continue towards FAR. On the plane, Alice remotely finds the bomb
and instructs Minette to its location, and the pair begin to work to figure out how to
disarm it. Meanwhile, Viggo awakens once again, this
time finding Lena beside him. He asks her where she disappeared to, and
she brushes it off, telling him she tried to explore the plane but collapsed on the
way. Snake and the real Teliko continue on, and
find Leone waiting for them. Leone reveals to Snake that his unit had been
destroyed by Flemming’s drug, ACUA, which turned his troops into zombies who now only
follow the orders of the Neoteny. Snake determines that the Neoteny must be
somewhere nearby, controlling the soldiers. Leone agrees to help Snake and Teliko get
into FAR so they can stop Flemming and take down BEAGLE. Snake and Teliko then head towards the power
plant to cut the power to the security system. Snake and Teliko reach the control terminals
of the power station and prepare to cut the power as Leone reaches FAR and gets ready
to input a security code at the same time. As they execute the plan, however, ACUA Troops
kill Leone’s remaining men, and Flemming arrives, revealing that he changed the security
code, following No. 16’s orders in order to keep his daughter Constance safe. On the plane, Viggo and Lena speak again,
and Lena is revealed to be a member of BEAGLE, and worked under a man named “Emilio”
to help kidnap the children to be taken to Lobito Island. Alice leads Snake and Teliko to a system of
sewers to get inside FAR, and on the way, Snake gets a call from someone who introduces
himself as “Buddy”, who warns Snake that once he reaches the core of FAR, Hans Davis
will awaken inside of him and take over. Another caller then interrupts, No. 16, who
indicates that “Buddy” is currently on Flight 326. The two then argue and threaten each other
before they both hang up. Back on the plane, Viggo finally realizes
that Lena is not who she says she is. She had been simply pretending to be paralyzed,
operating the twin dolls and providing their voices with a microphone. Meanwhile, Alice and Minette continue to disarm
the bomb, with Alice providing instructions. As the pair discuss, Minette deduces that
Alice holds deep regret for something, and tries to convince her to let go of it. Alice then changes her instructions last second,
and Minette successfully disarms the bomb. Snake and Teliko finally get inside FAR and
try to call Roger, receiving no answer. They begin to search for Flemming, but Teliko
gets a secret call from Alice. Alice reveals that Snake is indeed Hans Davis,
or at least it’s one of his personalities, and his men have captured Roger. Alice then tasks Teliko with killing Snake
before Hans can take over but suddenly, Taliko hears a gunshot on the other end of the call. Snake and Teliko then find Leone, but the
man is under heavy influence of the ACUA drug which clouds his judgment and makes him attack. Snake and Teliko are forced to battle Leone
and eventually take him down. As he lay dying, he tells Snake to deliver
a message to Roger: that he wasn’t the mole, revealing that Roger had been the one who
betrayed Leone and sparked his hatred for the United States. After this battle, Snake and Teliko are met
by another form of opposition: Clown, still disguised as Teliko. Snake is forced to fight Clown while making
sure to hit the right woman, eventually emerging victorious. After the battle, Clown tells Snake where
Flemming is as well as how to reach him. Clown then reveals her true face before she
dies. Teliko then smells Clown’s perfume and recognizes
it as the same odor she smelled the night her father was murdered. Taliko then grabs the disk and tells Snake
about the call she got from Alice earlier, but she decides to put her trust in Snake
and continue with him. The pair soon reach Metal Gear’s hangar
and climb atop it to reach its hatch. Flemming then calls Snake, and his Hans personality
seemingly awakens. As Snake begins to threaten to launch the
nuke and blame Flemming, the doctor realizes that Snake is being controlled by No. 16’s
psychic abilities. Flemming then activates Metal Gear, and Teliko
drops down into the hatch while Snake is thrown to the ground below. Snake gets a call from Roger, revealing he
was never actually captured. Teliko tells Snake that Flemming isn’t inside
Metal Gear, and they then hear him shout out, angered that No. 16 hasn’t released his
daughter back to him yet, but agreeing that he’ll kill Snake. Snake and Teliko then work together to destroy
Metal Gear from the inside and out. After enough damage, they’re able to disable
the mech and prevent its nuclear launch. After the battle, Flemming tries to shoot
Teliko, but she’s quicker on the draw, killing him. Alice then calls and drops a massive revelation:
she is No. 16. Snake was never Hans, and Alice had only planted
that suspicion to try to get him and Teliko to kill each other. All of Snake’s memories were simply implanted
by Alice, who was secretly injecting him with ACUA. As it turns out, the real Hans Davis never
showed his face to anyone working on the project. Snake asks why she tried to make him into
Hans, and she explains that she’s not just No. 16. No. 16 survived the Ritual of Conjuration,
but when she killed the other last one standing, No. 104, 104’s spirit entered 16’s body
and took over. She then tells them that they only have 13
minutes to escape, before the facility explodes. On Flight 326, Lena kills Senator Hach and
carves a number into him. When Minette arrives, Lena states that she’ll
have to kill her too, but not before revealing that Minette also had false memories implanted
from Alice, and is actually Constance Flemming. Snake and Teliko escape the lab explosion,
and Alice calls again, telling them that she killed the real Hans Davis: Senator Viggo
Hach. She then reveals the number carved into him:
“12”. Snake realizes that this doesn’t make the
secret message spell “SNAKE”, but instead “NEKAL”. Alice explains that NEKAL is one of BEAGLE’s
brands, and she had dosed their product with the ACUA drug. It is then discovered that ACUA stands for
“Acting Cells Under Alice”, revealing that she now has hundreds of thousands of
NEKAL customers under her control. Alice then tells Teliko that the man who ordered
her father’s death was Hans Davis, also known as “Emilio” (the E in BEAGLE). In killing Hach, Alice claims to have avenged
Teliko’s father’s death; a claim Teliko takes offense to. Alice, giving up her plans to take control
of all of the jets due to Constance’s kind words, then begins to feel the memories of
all of the people she’s taken control of at once. This overwhelms her, and she goes into shock,
biting off her own tongue and dying. Snake then gives Roger Leone’s last message,
allowing him to move on. CIA Agent Charles Schmeiser then debriefs
Snake, and he sends a chopper to come rescue him. On Flight 326, Lena lays dying on the floor,
with Minette standing above her, who reveals that she is truly the spirit of No. 104. As it turned out, No. 104’s spirit was unable
to enter the body of No. 16, so it instead entered the body of Dr. Flemming’s daughter
Constance, who happened to be there. No. 16 then simply believed she was possessed,
when truly she never was. Sometime later, Charles Schmeiser reveals
to an unknown party that he, not Viggo Hach, was Emilio, but after seeing BEAGLE’s incompetence
during the last incident, he chooses to pursue something new. Sometime after the events on Lobito Island,
Solid Snake is traveling with a woman named Consuela Alvarez in a plane piloted by Dave
Copeland and Roddy Louiz. Snake, who had lost his memory three years
prior, was brought into a resistance force by Consuela right after the “Praulia Massacre”
in which the natives of the Serena Republic were slaughtered. The plane touches down in the United States,
and the group are immediately captured by the F.B.I., led by agent Dalton, who accuses
them of murdering the Serena Republic’s Secretary of State, Mr. Perez. Dalton interrogates Snake, who claims that
they’ve been framed by a drug lord named “Escobar”. Dalton then threatens to extradite them over
to Escobar unless Snake helps him with a mission; an offer he reluctantly accepts in exchange
for $15 million and a new life. Snake is tasked with infiltrating private
arms provider SaintLogic, Inc. to access their computer network to obtain their files. After Dalton takes Snake to their facility
by boat, Snake finds the correct terminal and downloads the files. They turn out to be a list of clients and
account ledgers, and when Snake asks what they’re for, Dalton simply responds “children”,
revealing that SaintLogic’s operations are much darker and more nefarious than they seem. Suddenly, an alarm goes off, but Snake notices
that no guards arrive, leading him to believe something somewhere else triggered it. Snake heads for a nearby communications tower
so he can transmit the files to the F.B.I., but when he reaches it, he gets a call from
Dalton and overhears his boat getting raided by an unknown party. On the boat, the Department of Defense’s
Joint Chief of Staff, Wiseman, informs Dalton (who he refers to as “ex-agent”) that
he’s taking over this operation. Wiseman then reveals that SaintLogic’s Vice-President,
Thomas Koppelthorn, has taken over the facility and is demanding the U.S. hand over several
VIPs and government officials, threatening to use a nuclear weapon if they don’t. This nuclear weapon, as it turns out, is Metal
Gear: a name the amnesic Snake instantly recognizes. Snake’s mission changes to investigate this
new incident, and Wiseman promises to reveal Snake’s past to him if he cooperates. Snake heads for the Research Block, receiving
help from an unknown hacker observing his communications who refers to himself as “Blackboard”,
or “B.B.”. Snake reaches the Research Block, where he’s
shocked to find all of the researchers in the area killed by SaintLogic’s patrol bots. Dalton calls Snake in private, and tells him
about his investigation into SaintLogic after he learned that their president, Rodzinski,
was working with government connections to cover up his company’s smuggling of children
from South America and Africa to act as subjects for their research. Dalton’s poking into this business got him
fired from the F.B.I., but he couldn’t let the case go, so he posed as an agent to convince
Snake to obtain the information for him to leak online and expose SaintLogic. Snake and Dalton then decide to work together
with Dalton keeping an eye on Wiseman, while Snake continues to look into taking down SaintLogic. Snake continues on and soon finds a female
researcher with a little girl who she calls “Lucy”. The pair escape from Snake, and Wiseman calls
to inform him that the researcher was Dr. Michiko Takiyama, psychological engineer. Snake is then tasked with tracking her down
for questioning, and he does so with B.B.’s help. Snake then reaches Takiyama, who reveals that
Koppelthorn was carrying out some kind of experiment to the chagrin of SaintLogic’s
president, and Wiseman asks her to help them stop him. Snake tells Takiyama to hide and continues
on his mission. After making his way through the facility’s
security section (again with B.B.’s help), Snake is confronted by a giant green monster
who refers to himself as “Harab Serap”. After a grueling battle, Snake kills this
beast and immediately after, a woman drops from the ceiling. She identifies herself as “Venus”, a member
of Wiseman’s team, before opening the path to the Research Block. Snake follows Venus into the Research Block,
and in their wake the “Security Chief”, Vince, arrives, who shares with his men his
fear that the intruders are part of the “International Criminal Court”, investigating some incident
three years prior. Unbeknownst to him, B.B. eavesdrops on this conversation from afar. Snake and Venus return to Takiyama, but when
they arrive, they find her and Lucy missing. Vince then barges in and initiates a battle. Snake and Venus are able to work together
to take the hulking security chief down, and afterwards he reveals that Takiyama is in
charge of something called the “EGO System” before telling them her last known location. An alarm then sounds, indicating that Metal
Gear’s activation test has begun, and Vince escapes in the commotion. Snake and Venus find Takiyama and Lucy being
attacked by Patrol Bots, and they rescue them from the mechanical aggressors. Afterwards, Takiyama confirms that Metal Gear
is ready for launch, and Koppelthorn’s motives have to do with something called the “Lucinda
File”. Dalton then secretly makes a call to B.B.,
and he tasks the hacker with finding whatever he can on Wiseman, Metal Gear, and the EGO
System. Wiseman instructs the group to travel aboard
a cargo train to the facility’s Northern Block. On their way, Venus mentions to Snake that
they’re more similar than they think, as they both have no memory. The group are able to board the train… on
the roof. Soldiers begin to climb up to stop them, but
Snake and Venus take them out. The train then reaches a bridge, but is stopped
by the sudden arrival of Metal Gear. The train stops and the group climbs down
from the train. Koppelthorn, piloting the mech, spots Lucy
and shouts out to her. He then convinces Takiyama to join him in
his plan, and she and Lucy rush over to Metal Gear. Vince then arrives and orders Koppelthorn
to stand down, but he simply fires Metal Gear at his fleet. He then recognizes Snake, and seemingly wanting
revenge on him for something, fires at him, knocking him out before destroying the bridge
and leaving Venus to recover Snake as Metal Gear escapes. After Snake wakes up from being knocked out
by the blast, Wiseman instructs him to take down Metal Gear. After getting back on his feet, he and Venus
head out to find the mech, Koppelthorn, and Takiyama. The pair soon reach the locked room where
SaintLogic president Rodzinski is holed up, and they speak with him through a monitor. Rodzinski tells them about another route to
the hangar through the sewers, also mentioning the EGO System and the Lucinda File having
to do with Koppelthorn’s experiments. More shockingly, Rodzinski reveals that Snake
killed Koppelthorn’s wife three years prior, fueling the man’s revenge. Snake and Venus find the entrance to the sewers
and make their way through them. After finding that they need a sniper rifle
to take down some UAV Cyphers, they go hunting for one in the labs, where Snake gets another
call from B.B., who tells him that Koppelthorn’s wife was a SaintLogic researcher named Lucinda. Snake and Venus then find the non-operational
Metal Gear KODOQUE that was recovered from Lobito Island and used as research for Koppelthorn’s
new model. After Snake and Venus find their sniper rifles,
they’re attacked by another one of Koppelthorn’s elites: a fire breathing man named “Golab”,
who introduces himself as Snake’s “brother”. After a battle, Golab warns Snake of the “fertilization”,
claiming that if it’s successful, he’ll merely become a “helpless slave to the Queen”. Snake is confused by this, but doesn’t have
much time to consider it, as Golab triggers an explosion. As he and Venus escape from the blast, they
spot Metal Gear KODOQUE activating, and they’re forced to take it down quickly before the
factory is destroyed by the explosion. After the tense battle, Venus and Snake make
a daring escape just before the factory is completely destroyed in the fiery blast. They soon reach the hangar, and B.B. calls Snake to give him a rundown on new information
he’s gathered: Koppelthorn’s operating system for the new Metal Gear, dubbed the
“EGO System”, has been his main project. The first model was simply source code, while
“Model 2” was capable of duplicating a human mind into a computer application. Lucinda Koppelthorn then used this operating
system to enhance the original mind and give it (and its host) new powers and abilities,
leading to the enhanced soldiers like Harab Serap and Golab. The data from these experiments lead to a
“Model 3”, but B.B. is unsure of what that is. Snake and Venus then reach the Central Operations
Room, but Venus is unable to find the Lucinda File. Shortly after, they are ambushed by another
Model 2 test subject, Chaigidiel, who has the ability to hypnotize them. After battling him, Chaigidiel reveals more
information to Snake as he lays dying. Chaigidiel reveals that through Koppelthorn’s
experiments, he has been able to “rebirth” his dead wife Lucinda’s mind. As it turns out, Koppelthorn was purchasing
children on the black market to find a suitable subject to transplant her mind into. He eventually found this subject in the young
girl who he named “Lucy”, and he’s currently preparing the “fertilization” of her mind
with Lucinda’s. After Chaigidiel dies, B.B. calls once again and tells Snake and Dalton
that he found more information about Lucinda’s death. Apparently, she died in the Serena Republic
during the Praulia Massacre while conducting research for the EGO System. After she died, her data was recovered and
compiled into the “Lucinda File”. Snake and Venus are soon stopped by Vince,
and another battle between them commences. After, Vince calls Rodzinski and learns that
he’s escaping the island, as the ICC has decided to carry out their investigation. Vince then orders his men to retreat as well,
leaving Snake and Venus to confront Koppelthorn and Metal Gear with no opposition before he
dies from his wounds. B.B. then calls Dalton once again to reveal more
information he’s found on SaintLogic. This time, B.B. reveals that the Praulia Massacre was committed
by Model 2 test subjects that went out of control during a field test. This makes the Lucinda File not only valuable
for its test data, but also for the evidence that could lead to those responsible for the
massacre being prosecuted. Dalton then tasks B.B. with somehow getting this information to the
Secretary of Defense, as Wiseman is seemingly trying to keep it under wraps for his own
gains. Snake and Venus then finally reach the main
hangar and come face to face with the massive Metal Gear, codenamed Chaioth Ha Qadesh. Inside the beast are Koppelthorn and Lucy,
whose mind has been overtaken by the recreation of Lucinda. Koppelthorn then finally “refreshes” Snake’s
memory of his past. In reality, Snake is not the real legendary
mercenary Solid Snake. The real Solid Snake died after the events
on Lobito island, and his body was recovered by SaintLogic. Lucinda then used his genetic material to
create a clone that could quell the Model 2 uprising in the Serena Republic. This “Model 3” was none other than him:
the amnesic Snake, who killed Lucinda in his attempt to escape. Koppelthorn then activates Metal Gear, forcing
Snake and Venus to fight it off. After they destroy its arms and ray cannon,
Lucy convinces Koppelthorn to activate the EGO System to allow Lucy to take full control
over the mech. After this activation, however, Lucy reveals
that she was only pretending to be Koppelthorn’s wife, and in reality her ego combined with
the artificial Lucinda’s into a new personality. Lucy then reveals that Snake didn’t kill
Lucinda, as the woman had a fondness for Snake and helped him escape, effectively giving
up her own life in the process. Lucy then takes control of Metal Gear, destroying
the cockpit and killing Koppelthorn. Another battle with Snake and Venus then ensues,
with Snake and his cohort able to bring the mech down. Afterwards, Lucy is ejected from the machine,
and she tells Snake where Takiyama and the Lucinda File are before dying from her wounds. Snake and Venus then head to Takiyama’s
location and find the woman alone. Suddenly, Wiseman gives Venus the order to
kill Snake, and she holds him at gunpoint, revealing that Wiseman was the one behind
the Praulia Massacre. As it turns out, Wiseman sent the Model 2
test subjects to the area, which the Lucinda File would reveal. Venus, another test subject, was sent in to
obtain the data and eliminate anyone who could incriminate Wiseman. Wiseman then reveals that B.B. has been discovered by the Secretary of Defense,
who was also involved in this entire operation, leaving them hopeless. Snake tells Takiyama to escape while he fights
Venus one-on-one. After Snake defeats her in battle, B.B. calls to reveal that he was able to use Chaigidiel’s
hypnotism techniques to convince the President of the United States to investigate the situation. More importantly, however, B.B. learned that Metal Gear’s destruction has
initiated a self destruct mechanism of the entire facility. Venus, realizing her employer’s game is
now over, decides to work with Snake once again. Takiyama rejoins them, but when they try to
escape, Snake stays behind to protect them while they escape. Outside, Metal Gear arrives and fires its
warhead, which lands in the surrounding waters before it deactivates. Venus and Takiyama reach safety, and afterwards,
Takiyama is taken to a hospital. Wiseman is arrested for his shady activities,
and Dalton is taken back into the F.B.I. while being reprimanded for his actions. Venus goes on to live a normal life, working
at a supermarket. Snake also survives the ordeal, revealing
that he had crawled inside the Metal Gear’s warhead, disabling it and launching himself
to safety. He then speaks with Dalton, who tells him
that the entire incident, including the Lucinda File, has been revealed to the public. Dalton then gives Snake and his team his agreed-upon
payment, and Snake goes off to live his new life. This brings us to the end of the Metal Gear
Acid series, leaving us with one final Metal Gear Story: that of 2018’s “Metal Gear
Survive”. This installment is an alternate, “what-if”
style sequel to the events of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and possibly the last Metal
Gear story Konami will ever tell, so let’s take it away. During Skull Face’s attack on Mother Base
in 1975, one of the Militaires Sans Frontières soldiers provides cover fire for Big Boss
and Kaz’s escape chopper, preventing it from getting shot down. After the chopper flies off to safety, a wormhole
inexplicably opens above the wreckage of Mother Base and begins to absorb everything in the
area. Another MSF member named Seth is pulled up,
and the soldier grabs his arm to try to rescue him. The soldier’s efforts prove futile, however,
as Seth is pulled into the wormhole, which closes, severing their arm in the process. Shortly after, the few remaining survivors
recover as many bodies as they can and prepare to give them a burial at sea. Before they do, a U.S. Government agent known
as “Goodluck” working for the “Wardenclyffe Section” (a secret research organization)
locates the soldier’s body, and has it recovered after it’s sent out to sea. As it turned out, the soldier survived due
to their contact with the wormhole, which infected them with some kind of otherworldly
organism that not only kept them alive, but caused their severed arm to grow back. This organism, which first appeared on Earth
during the Vietnam war, has been known to eventually turn any human it infects into
a zombie-like monster called a “Wanderer”. Fortunately, when the wormhole opened, the
Wardenclyffe Section were able to locate the organism’s origin: a parallel dimension
called “Dite”. Knowing that they can extract energy from
Wanderers (called Kuban Energy) that would drastically shift the balance of power in
the world, the Section sends a team called the Charon Corps into Dite. However, they soon lose contact with the team,
leading Goodluck to execute an alternate plan. Now six months after the attack on Mother
Base, Goodluck wakes the soldier. Due to their contact with the wormhole and
subsequent infection, the soldier is the perfect candidate to follow the Charon Corps into
Dite to find their research data on Kuban Energy, as well as any survivors. The infection also leaves the soldier no choice
but to accept this duty in hopes to find a way to prevent themselves from becoming a
Wanderer. The soldier is then sent into Dite, given
the title of “Captain” for this mission. The Captain then searches for Charon Corps’
Base Camp, coming across a XOF soldier named Reeve who was sucked into the wormhole above
Mother Base. The pair form a shaky partnership to escape
from several Wanderers to the Base Camp (composed of various Mother Base structures that were
pulled in through the wormhole). There, they find the Charon Corps’ artificial
intelligence pod: Virgil AT-9, which awakens from its sleep protocol to find that all of
its information regarding Charon Corps’ research had been deleted. The Captain then goes out to search for Virgil’s
memory boards, which had been scattered across the area. Through this data, Virgil uncovers research
allowing them to build a device to utilize Wormholes to quickly travel around Dite. During their travels, the Captain uses an
Oxygen mask to travel through a hazardous area covered in what’s only known as the
“Dust”. The Captain then comes across a nurse named
Miranda, rescuing her from Wanderers and bringing her back to Base Camp, where she and Reeve
butt heads over the more important task at hand: rescuing survivors or returning home. The Captain is able to locate enough data
to obtain the “Wormhole Digger” which could transport them back to their home dimension. While doing so, however, they witness a giant
creature that the Charon Corps called the “Lord of Dust”. After bringing the Wormhole Digger back to
Base Camp and activating it, several wormholes open around the area, bringing attacking Wanderers. The Captain is forced to fight them off while
the Wormhole Digger stabilizes, and while they’re successful in protecting the camp,
the device requires more energy to open the path back to Earth. After the Wormhole Digger shuts off, however,
the team are able to receive a call from Wardenclyffe Section member (and current leader of the
Dite Research Program) Joseph Gruen. Gruen reveals that Goodluck had worked against
his superiors orders by conducting the current mission, leading to his termination and Gruen’s
taking over. Gruen then instructs the Captain to forget
about collecting the research data (as he believes Goodluck only wanted it for his own
means) and instead focus on getting home. The Captain then goes back out to retrieve
a more concentrated, crystallized form of Kuban Energy, called “Iris Energy”, to
power the Wormhole Digger. During this mission, the Captain rescues two
more “castaways” and brings them back to Base Camp: a young boy named Chris and
a policeman named Nicholas. Once they obtain enough Iris Energy for the
Wormhole Digger, the Captain activates it again. This causes another wave of wormholes to open
up and bring forth more and more Wanderers for the Captain to fend off while the Wormhole
Digger stabilizes. When the device is at 90%, Gruen is able to
call again, and he issues a warning that the wormhole will collapse again unless they increase
the device’s output to its maximum. He also reveals that Goodluck installed some
kind of black box inside of Virgil before his termination, which he believes was some
kind of sabotage. Virgil wishes to speak to Goodluck directly,
but Gruen explains that this won’t be possible, as Goodluck is dead from an apparent suicide. Virgil increases the Wormhole Digger’s output
to maximum, and the wormhole stabilizes. The energy released by the wormhole attracts
the Lord of Dust, forcing the group to escape from its attacks so they can quickly enter
the wormhole. After they all make it through, Virgil closes
the wormhole, getting them safely away from the Lord of Dust. When the group emerge on the other side, however,
they find that they not only didn’t make it home, but they’re instead simply in a
different section of Dite. As they find safety, Virgil plays the recording
left by Goodluck before his death. In it, Goodluck reveals that he knew they
wouldn’t make it home, as he orchestrated all of the events so far. Goodluck then tasks the Captain with one final,
most imperative mission: to destroy the Lord of Dust using a powerful weapon in the area. He further states that a Charon Corps survivor
is in the area, and he’ll hold the key to find and use that weapon. After securing more memory boards for Virgil
to gather information about this new area, the Captain finds the Charon Corps survivor,
holding Seth (the man who the Captain initially tried to save from the wormhole above Mother
Base) at gunpoint. The Captain’s regenerated arm suddenly starts
to react, startling the survivor, who runs off. The Captain takes Seth back to their new Forward
Operating Base, where he fills everyone in on what’s been going on. Seth, who was discovered by the Charon Corps
and recruited into their group, claims that the man holding him at gunpoint, Dan, had
betrayed the rest of the Charon Corps, killing every single one of them besides himself. Seth then reveals that the weapon the group
was sent in to secure was called “Sahelanthropus”. The Captain locates Sahelanthropus, which
is completely in disrepair, but as they analyze it, Dan arrives and holds them up. Virgil then speaks with Dan, who states that
he didn’t kill his squadmates, but rather claims that Seth did the deed. Before he can continue his story, however,
the pair are attacked by Wanderers and are split up in the ensuing chaos. The Captain returns to the FOB and speaks
with Seth, who predictably denies Dan’s version of the past events. Regardless, Virgil determines that the railgun
attached to Sahelanthropus must be the powerful weapon Goodluck told them to find. The Captain heads back to Sahelanthropus and
is successfully able to transport it back to Base Camp using a wormhole, but when they
return, they’re met with a shocking sight. Seth is holding Chris hostage, revealing that
he has been infected by the same organism that turned the Wanderers, which he reveals
to be called the “Dread Dust”. Seth, or rather the sentient Wanderer now
in his form, had wiped out Charon Corps in an attempt to use the Wormhole Digger to travel
to Earth and infect a whole new world with the Dread Dust. Seth then infects Virgil with the Dust before
turning his sights on the Captain, using his abilities to trigger their arm’s reaction
once again. Reeve then arrives and shoots Seth before
grabbing Chris and running to safety. Seth then transforms into a powerful Wanderer,
and the Captain is forced to fight this beast. After a long and arduous duel, the Captain
destroys the monster that once was their friend, but in the wake of the battle, their arm begins
to react once more, and they collapse. When the Captain awakens, Virgil reveals that
through contact with Seth, the Dread Dust in their arm has activated, and they’ll
likely soon turn into a Wanderer themself; that is, unless they kill the Lord of Dust
first. Virgil also explains that like the Captain,
its own reconnection with Seth allowed them to regain all of their access to Charon Corps’
research. Virgil then makes a shocking revelation: Dite
was never another world, nor did it exist in another dimension. Dite is simply the Earth, around two-hundred
years in the future. As it turns out, the Lord of Dust (an aggregate
of the hive-minded Dread Dust) creates wormholes to the past in order to constantly obtain
material to consume in an infinite time-loop. In order to stop this cycle, the Captain must
use Sahelanthropus’s weapons to destroy the Lord of Dust, but in doing so, the Wormhole
back to their own time will be closed forever. After making the last preparations to the
weapon, the group discuss their plans for the final battle. Reeve tasks Chris with returning back to their
time with a device containing the data on the wormhole technology so he can come back
to rescue them after they destroy the Lord of Dust. Finally, the Captain activates the Wormhole
Digger one last time, attracting the Lord of Dust for their final battle. Once the Lord of Dust is stuck in a trap made
of Metallic Archaea, the wormhole opens and the Captain lifts Chris into it, returning
him to the past to conduct his own mission. At this point, the Captain can decide to leave
the mission, and their new friends, behind and follow Chris into the wormhole. If this is the case, they simply wind up as
one of the wandering soldiers Venom Snake finds in the past. If the Captain instead decides to continue
the mission, they are able to hold off the Wanderer forces long enough to use Sahelanthropus’s
railgun to fire at the Lord of Dust. While this heavily damages the creature, it
is able to simply repair the damage and attack the wormhole. Virgil then reveals that since the Lord of
Dust has no concept of death, it cannot die. Virgil then plays another, final, message
from Goodluck, who reveals himself to be none other than Chris. Chris was sent back to 1943 and spent his
entire life working to get into the Wardenclyffe Section so he could provide these recordings
that could eventually lead them to destroying the Lord of Dust. Virgil then reveals the only way to defeat
the beast would be for the AI to become one with it to reveal to it the concept of death,
which Virgil inherited from what remained of Seth’s human mind. Virgil then flies into the Lord of Dust, and
the Captain fires the railgun once again. This time, the Lord of Dust understands death,
so the shot destroys it for good. The survivors look upon the dead beast, before
Reeve leads them back to camp to find their way home. There, while they find the wormhole now closed,
Virgil reveals that it survived the blast (having been designed to survive a nuclear
explosion). The AI then resumes its job as mission support,
promising to help the Captain find a way back to their own time someday. Back in this new version of 1975 with the
Lord of Dust’s time-loop destroyed, Goodluck is scolded by Joseph Gruen for predicting
a wormhole opening above Mother Base, which didn’t happen. After Gruen leaves, Goodluck realizes that
this means his friends were successful, and he thanks his friends and the Captain aloud
before vowing to complete his own mission of bringing them home. And this finally brings us to the end of Suggestive
Gaming’s journey through the Metal Gear franchise. Through thirty-five years, twenty-plus games,
and several Snakes, this vast storyline has touched the hearts of many gamers through
its lifespan. One of those gamers being myself. I rarely get personal on this series, but
seeing as this will likely be the largest video I’ll ever make, I think I’m due
for a bit of a celebration. This video took, on the whole, over a year
of my life to complete; with at least six months of that time solely dedicated to this
one video. I wouldn’t make that commitment if it wasn’t
something I truly cared about; and I know Gregg wouldn’t have dedicated his own time
and effort to proofread the script, and of course provide his own voice for this video
if he didn’t have a deep love for the series as well. Metal Gear, and specifically its characters
and story, are very near-and-dear to my heart; as they are to Gregg’s and so many others’
out there. I can only hope that what we’ve put together
for all of you was not only a worthy trip through one of the best stories ever told,
but also that it serves as a love letter to my favorite game series of all time. I’d like to take this time to thank everybody
who made this possible, specifically Gregg once again for all of his help. If I had to record all of this voice-over
myself, this video would have never happened, so make sure you check out all of his goings
on in the description to show your support. I’d like to also thank my fiance, for putting
up with me basically being nonexistent and locked away in my office while working tirelessly
on this project. And finally, I’d like to thank you all,
the viewers. Without you folks enjoying what I do so much,
I wouldn’t still be doing this, and I most definitely wouldn’t have made a video this
long. I even asked if you wanted me to split this
video into parts in a poll, and you all overwhelmingly voted for me to just release it as one epic
video, so I thank you for that feedback. As always, if you’d like to support what
I do here with What You Need to Know, you can click the link for my Patreon or become
a channel member. Besides financially, a like and a subscribe
go a long way supporting me as well, as does a comment suggesting what you’d like to
see me cover next. Thanks again everyone, I’ll see you much
sooner, hopefully, for the next one.
incredible video, the only thing i didn't like is the inclusion of MGRR in the timeline