Part 56: Hello again, old friend. (Final Fight!)
Part 52: Hello again, old friend. REALLY old friend.
Well, time to dig myself out of the stone age—
Or maybe not! Everyone! You’re all here!
Yeah…we weren’t able to talk but we were listening in on your, uh, “briefing.” I guess Rushmore knew that I couldn’t be Big Boss without someone to be the boss of. Thanks, guys…
I can’t believe I’m not real… Belay that. *punch* OW! If it hurts, you’re real. And we’re all going to be really dead if we fail this mission.
Still, though…it’s amazing to consider I’d be the subject of my own AI technology… Philosophy later! What’s our status?
We’ve got all our basic equipment, but no Metal Gear, and we’re not organized enough to have the huge economic infrastructure we set up before. Don’t have enough time to do all the paperwork, and not nearly enough salvage to even start on Metal Gear. Sorry. No problem. I’ve got a plan…ready our spies.
Ocelot only respects strength. We’re not going to beat him using conventional tactics…but we are going to need to keep his attention on us. Contact!
*musical chime* The city of Budapest has been pacified by Preying Mantis PMC. Preying Mantis: Supplying all your high-tech private security needs worldwide. A sense of duty when the risks run high! “Pacified.” Bastards. Rebel militias have been identified. You are being given a grace period to disarm and disperse. Pacification will commence immediately afterwards on all armed individuals. Thank you for your cooperation.
Such neutral language. How hatefully disingenuous.
Nobunaga, you’re with us? It seems the master of this cybernetic spirit-world now considers me more a part of you than of Japan. So be it. That country never fully appreciated me anyway.
I’m with you too, Boss! Oh, Jesus…
Snake! He’s planning on using nukes! He’s going to nuke us? No…
Listen to this recording on this cassette tape I made:
Once the railgun is finished, we’ll launch the nuke into orbit, destroying JD, the orbital hub computer for the Patriots. Our GW’s priority will rise to 1, leaving us in control of the entire system…the entire world. Shit. That sounds like our defeat condition. Playing it defensively won’t cut it. All he has to do is make a space launch to win, and that means we’ll all be dead. Can’t you talk him down? All his soldiers are mind-controlled killing machines with the mentality of bureaucrats. Nobody’s willing to pass our messages on to him, it’s all “hold please” and “surrender now.” Gonna have to fight my way to that guy. This is going to be awful, Kaz.
Shit, he’s expanding fast. Rushmore wasn’t kidding when it said Ocelot made his company bigger than world governments. This guy is way out of our weight class, Snake, how are you going to beat him? By playing dirty.
Boss, these troops…they’re not normal! Some of ‘em are equipped with jumping-suit technology…and for some reason they’re all women. Huh. Wonder why that is.
Because women are the soldiers of the future! YEAAAHHHH! That doesn’t—-…well, women have lighter frames and lower centers of gravity than men, it probably keeps them balanced for all the flipping around they do. I guess. Perhaps his mind control system functions better on female brains, takes advantage of hormone differences or something. Women do also have a higher tolerance for pain than men, if this system is designed to suppress pain reactions it would work well with that.
Maybe Liquid Ocelot is just a pervert who likes to surround himself with female bodyguards! Oh, Ocelot’s a pervert all right, but he’s not that kind of pervert. Besides, tight bodysuits aside, those uniforms are designed to be scary, not sexy.
Whatever the reason, he’s going to send those ladies to kill us real soon, Snake. He’s settled a forward command post—oh, hell I just saw flying bird robots coming out of it. If he can command mechanical monsters what hope do we have?
Grace period expired. Pacification commencing. Throw down your guns—or die! Now, Boss! LAUNCH! Ohhh, SHIIIIITT!
…he just launched himself straight onto the roof of their main base? Is he insane? It’s a decapitation strike…or a suicide mission. He’s going to take him on one-on-one while the rest of us try to fight off the hordes.
Hahahaha. BROTH-ER, what a surprise! Looks like we’ll have a chance to settle things in person once and for all! You’re wrong on two counts. I’m not who you think I am…and this isn’t the fight you think it’s going to be. Cynthia? Hit it.
First of all. You’re not talking to my son, you’re talking to me. Wh—what?
AUGHH! AIIEE! S-snake…? Hmph. We’re men, with names. Remember that? Back when we first met? You said your name was Adamska, and I told you my name was… “John.”He spasms suddenly.
AUUUGGHGHHH! NOOO! It’s a LIE!
EEEK!
HAHAAHAH! HURT ME MORE!
What—what are you?! Heh. Not so smug once you meet someone who can pull the rug out from under you, are ya?Liquid Ocelot and Snake circle each other.
What—what—where have you been? What have you been doing all this time? You can’t possibly be him! I saw the future.
I saw my future, and the future of other people just like me throughout history. I’m not as unique as I thought I was. So, no, I’m not him…but I’m who he could have been. If he hadn’t had his head stuck up his ass!”Liquid Ocelot” lunges at Snake who easily throws him to the ground.
And what’s with this act? You can’t fool me. I’m the one person in the whole world you can’t bullshit, Ocelot. Because I’ve seen who you are and what you are when the chips are down. You may be an old man now, but deep inside you’re still just a kid trying to impress me!
Gaaahhh! But…
We can’t hold them off for much longer!
But I’m just like you now! I’ve even got an artificial arm just like yours! Oh, so the part about Liquid’s arm taking you over really was bullshit, huh? AUUUGGGH!Ocelot strikes forward at Snake again, but Snake easily dodges and flips him to the deck again.
GUGGHH!
But…your Outer Heaven…once we complete it, it’ll be a whole world of warriors. All fighting amongst each other…knowing the fullness of life. It’ll be the Wild West all over again. Wild West, huh? I’ve been living in the Wild West for the past two years. You know what people did during the Wild West? The one thing that was on everyone’s minds? … Settling it. Arrrrrgggh!
Kill you all! KILL YOU ALL! You BASTARDS!
You know what else I’ve learned in the past two years? It doesn’t matter what the hell your good intentions are. Make everything peaceful, make everyone know the joy of combat, make everyone free, advance your country beyond others, fight off the uncultured masses, whatever. Everyone wants to make the world a better place. But life is short. Most of us never get to live to see our dreams fulfilled. So then history judges us on what we did. The actions we took in pursuit of our dream. And what did you do? Huh? WHAT DID YOU DO? I… Stabbed everyone in the back until there were no backs left to stab. Made more money than anyone else and spent it all on war, which just pisses away the greatness of human life. Tried to turn all of civilization into an engine that had no purpose but to destroy itself. That’s your legacy. “Know the fullness of life?” Really? You made life not worth living. For anyone. But it’s your dream! I was wrong. You need to stop. And I…I need to stop. We don’t need to fight anymore. …god, what the fuck was I even doing keeping that nuke at Mother Base… did I want the whole world to have an excuse to gang up on me, so I could fight them all? Now that I actually have fought off a whole world…it seems so trivial.
Ocelot is lost…then he activates his nanomachine radio.
…troops. Stand down. All Outer Heaven forces. Drop your arms immediately. It’s okay, Adam. We’re both going to be okay. We don’t need to hurt others or be hurt any more. Huh…but…what will we do? Not sure. We’ll find out soon, I think.
Those weren’t some bad moves, though. Even as an old man, you’re pretty good. 
And you, Snake…you’re the best.
To be concluded