Part 31: Episode XXIII: Filler Flamingo
Willing to Hear Me Out Now (Metal Gear: Ac!d2)
"It should be on floor B1. Hurry!"
So, welcome to Stage 9 of 13. Actually, it's more like stage 8.5 since 90% of it will be just backtracking through the Power Plant once again. The only new area we will be briefly exploring ahead.
We are once more in the B1 level of the Power Plant. The Colonel actually was right about the main power turbine being down here. It's just that the Power Plant features a WESTERN basement (this one) and an EASTERN basement (the flooded one.) If not for the lack of emblems and statues with missing jewels, I'd begin to suspect that Galuade's construction was subcontracted by a division of Umbrella Inc.
Anyway, a short jog south in the western basement reveals the massive power turbine and the fact that it is surrounded by electrified floors with no easily exploded power panels in sight.
The Colonel phones Snake...
"Bad, Colonel. The perimeter of the main turbine is secured with electrified flooring. I can't get close to it." "Damn... we have no choice but to take out the plant itself."
"Why not just fire a few missiles at it? The equipment cannot be that stur-" "Please, Mei Ling. Men are trying to formulate battle plans here." "Look, I'll save my data in a minute. I know it's been a while." "....." "Snake, take the power plant out. Set C4 explosives on four key points to destroy the structure. You should see four columns clustered around the main turbine. There are a total of four points on the columns where the corners are missing. They are the weak points in the plant's structural integrity. If you blow up all of them with C4 explosives, the plant should be destroyed. Don't waste any C4 on incorrect locations. There are only so many that can be set." "All right." "But Colonel... how do you know that...?" "I looked at the blueprints." "...You have blueprints? Do you have ANY idea how lost I have been getting lately?" "Well, they're difficult to interpret Snake. And the place has been... highly renovated since Big Boss ran the show... Ehem. As I was saying..." "There are a total of four points on the columns around the main turbine where the corners are missing. Plant a C4 on every single one!"
Right. So that's it for the basement. Our new goal is to backtrack across the entire previous stage and look for columns with little outcroppings revealing exposed pipes and whatnot scattered all over. Snake is not permitted to plant C4 anywhere but these columns in this stage, so it's impossible to screw up by using all the C4 in Snake's inventory.
I'm uncertain if the location of the columns is random or if it changes with difficulty settings or maybe the PAL version I'm playing has different placement. I looked at two separate guides to help me with this section and neither had the same column placement that I ended up having to use. The first one was found in Pyro Bison's boss chamber.
The second one was in a corridor just south of Bison's old haunt.
The third one was outside the elevator near the beginning of Stage 8. I REALLY ought to have planted this one last. You'll see why in a minute...
And the final weak support column was perched way back in the southeastern part of the flooded B1 level.
Snake contacts the Colonel to update his Facebook status...
"Good work. But if you detonate them now, your own life will be at risk. Leave your present location and detonate the C4 once you are out of the plant." "Yeah.... I've got it, Colonel. I haven't been out of the field so long that I've forgotten blowing up a building while still inside it may be a bad idea..."
Snake gets to travel a whole 20 yards before the Codec rings again. I doubt good news is to follow...
Mei Ling contacts Snake over the Codec...
"Metal Gear is out on the surface again." "They're planning to go nuclear right now. There's no time left." "That was the quickest three hours I've ever encountered..." "They must be on Metric time." "I don't think that is a real thing..." "Snake..." "I know. Light the fuse, now." "What!? But if you do that --?" "Don't worry. Bombs have a way of making me run faster." "Until they actual explode behind you. Then you always seemed compelled to move like you're trudging through a pool of molasses." "Sorry, Snake. Ordering you to take a risk like this..." "Forget about it. I'm used to it." "Snake, once the C4 blows, the whole structure will begin collapsing. When the countdown displayed on the radar goes to zero, the plant will cease to exist. You must reach the exit before then!"The Codec deactivates and the sound of explosions is heard...
Escape Theme
Well, now seems as good a time as any for a Metroid-esque escape sequence. With the C4 detonated, Snake has five minutes to make it from the point the last C4 was planted back to the entrance of the Power Plant back at the start of Stage 8.
Random sections of the area are now engulfed by impassable flames as well as chunks of debris falling constantly from the ceiling (strangely, almost always RIGHT in front of Snake's path.)
If we had planted that last C4 upstairs, it's literally like a twenty second escape sequence from there to the door. But where's the fun in that? Now then... Weren't you not supposed to do something in elevators in case of fires...? Bah. Details...
Snake heads upstairs and rushes out the front door...
And that's a wrap for the Power Plant. Sorry I couldn't quickly locate randomly placed columns in a sprawling maze of a facility in a timely fashion, Ghost Babel. Prick of a game...