Part 48: Episode XXXV: Les Enfants Terrible Tarantula

"I've shut the controls down. There's no way to launch now..."
"...I'm out..."
"...I'm not sure who I'm talking to..."


"You've usually got to fight back to win a battle. Running around until the time runs out only works in fighting games..."
"Snake.... how do you do it? How do you keep... fighting? ...Living? ...For what? ...Whom? ...In the name of what cause....?"
"....."
"It's over... My comrades... I didn't do right by your all..."
"Our... revengeance... slips away..."




And so Black Arts Viper dies having accomplished absolutely nothing other than getting the remainder of his entire team killed and yelling "Anonymous" and variations of revenge a lot.

Extremely loud boots clomp over from the west...


"It's you."
"I'm not going to have to re-fight you too, am I?"
"You shot down my gunship by lobbing hand grenades at it. I want nothing to do with being on the wrong side with you again..."

Snake walks over to Sophie...


"I heard. All of it. Including the part about GLF and the U.S...."
"...What? How...?"
"I was hiding behind Metal Gear."
"...Wasn't Viper doing that as well?"
"Indeed. There was a... bit of an audience following behind. How many times do you get to see a man take on a giant robot?"


The Future

"...I see... What will you do now?"
"Stay here."
"With GLF?"
"Yes..."
"Continue the General's work?"
"Perhaps. Minus the hijacked nuclear bombs and backroom CIA deals... I've seen how well that turns out..."
"Right now, I don't even know whether I loved him, or hated him... I just... couldn't leave his side."
"....."
"His ideals may have been faked, but they weren't empty. That's what I think. And there are many here still who believe that too. We'll work together to build a country of our own, for ourselves. This time, with real ideals."
"And maybe a bit less genocide of other ethnic minorities..."


A blip quickly zooms into the area on the radar and out pops Chris Jenner...


"I won't."

Snake begins walking away but stops and turns back to Sophie...


"At the end."
"...Did he..."
"As I said... I was listening in and know you're full of it... But it's nice of you to say so..."

Snake walks over to Chris and her sweet new ride...


"I got us a jeep."
"Good work."
"Is it over?"
"Yes... it's all over."
"Is it...? What about her?"
"...Why the heck does she look exactly like me?"
"...Huh? Oh. Ergh... She looks much different close up. I made the same mistake too when I thought you were the traitor trying to kill me with a gunship."
"....."
"When I was the who doing what now...?!"
"Err... Nevermind. Her..."

Sophie is heard wandering off in her loud ass boots...


"And she'll become even stronger..."
"...You don't have to go? With her...?"
"To GLF? Why?"
"I just spent the entire day dismantling this fortress and everyone running it. Why the hell would I suddenly go native...?"
"Nothing. Really. Let's get out of here."
"Right....Wait there's the Codec."
"Can you give me a few minutes. I need to resolve a few plot threa...issues... with mission support...'


"Colonel! Everything all right?"
"Yeah. I put a bullet in McBride."
"You?"
"I went to the can and came back to find the prick waving a gun around at Campbell and whatsherface and ranting about revengeance for Black Chamber and blah blah blah. I put one in the head and two in the chest of the jerk. Sorry, no sappy backstory for him."
"Snake, I owe you an apology... It's true that I was in charge of Black Chamber's termination. We were told that there was a terrorist group coming in. Secret liquidation on a dark night... Only when it was all over was I told that the target had been one of our own, an American unit..."
"Was that the reason for our retirement?"
"Yes....I lived with the guilt these two years."
"Granted, seeing a handful of the surviving members included a man ready to massacre millions of civilians, a pyromaniac, and a literal co-opted serial murderer I am... not feeling quite as guilt ridden anymore..."
"But when they hijacked Metal Gear, I was called in by NSA chief Steve Gardner, the mission controller..."
"So you took the job to confront the past?"
"A job which was offered to me with the alternative of making the incident public. Along with evidence that it was I who planned the thing."
"Blackmail, huh? But... how would Gardner know about that?"
"Probably dug it up somewhere. He is a former CIA Director..."
"Former DCI? Don't tell me... seven years ago, during the Outer Heaven incident, who was the DDCI?"


Suspicion

"Now you've got it. Gardner was the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence all right."
"Weasel?"
"He was the one who organized Outer Heaven and the development of Metal Gear. Metal Gear used to be under CIA control, like Viper said. Gardner was also the one who salvaged the Metal Gear you totaled from Outer Heaven and continued the development program. In other words, Project Babel was actually his idea. But two years ago, Metal Gear was seized by foreign terrorists and as a result, the control of the weapon, and the leadership of Project Babel, was transferred away to Parker and the Army. And Gardner had Black Chamber erased to ensure their silence."
"Gardner is 'Anonymous'?"
"Yup. Heh. That Viper schmuck must have went to his grave thinking it was Parker. Not the most competent terrorist leader I've seen..."
"Weasel, you're not..."
"Under Gardner's direct command? You guessed it, Snake."
"What!?"
"And another thing; Gardner knew who McBride was from the beginning."
"What?"
"Come on... The CIA are incompetent but how else do you think a guy who had a face lift and back alley fake identity made it into the agency out of the blue like McBride had to have done...? He might as well put a paper bag over his head that said 'NOT EX-BLACK CHAMBER.'"
"It was Gardner who leaked the intel about Metal Gear to McBride - and Black Chamber - to begin with."
"For what purpose?"
"I see it... Gardner was setting Parker up..."
"Right. If GLF seizes Metal Gear and goes out of control, the blame will land on Parker with his longtime aid to GLF. And Metal Gear and Project Babel will return happily ever after to Gardner's arms..."
"Could he possibly have engineered Back Chamber's contact with GLF?"
"I don't know, but it could be..."
"That Gardner planned this whole thing? Just to regain Metal Gear and Project Babel..."


"...Weasel, if you're under orders from Gardner, don't you have another job to carry out? To kill us all once the mission has succeeded?"
"Sharp, Snake. That's exactly right."
"So that's the real reason a mercenary of your standing wasn't sent on the field."
"Right again. I'm about the only person can take on the 'Legend.'"
"Ya know... It's a chance to update my résumé from 'probably the only person who could beat Solid Snake' to 'Legend Slayer'. Has a nice ring to it..."
"Weasel... you're going to kill us?"
"Like I said, it's a policy of mine to earn my keep."
"How can you..."


"...but unfortunately, I kind of like you people. Especially your bleeding heart ways. Totally wrong for a combat situation, you know. It's been a while since I met people like you."
"Kinda nice to work with some folks that aren't total dicks. Ain't that right, McBride? You can't see him but he's totally nodding. Or that's just post-mortem muscle spasms. Hard to tell."
"Weasel?"
"Get out of here. I'll feed some story to Gardner. Probably get only half my pay for letting you escape, but who cares."
"Are you going to be all right? You could be in danger!"
"I know how to take care of myself, don't you worry."
"...Thank you, Weasel. I'll repay the debt someday."
"I won't be counting on it."
"Welp. Later all. Have a good post-mission lay with blondie, eh Snake? Heh..."
"If I could live the way you people do, maybe I wouldn't have had to let my brother die..."


"Good."
"...I guess. I didn't know anything was wrong with them."
"Well, McBride turned out to be the hidden fifth Black Chamber and Weasel killed him. But then Weasel turned out to be a mole for the -- Look. Well have plenty of time for recaps later..."
"Let's go."


And so Solid Snake and Chris Jenner hop in their stolen jeep and ride on out of Galuade.


Optimism


"...in. Not my parents, not anyone else... That's why I joined the Army. It gave me a sense of right and wrong, of justice, and purpose... But that wasn't the right way. Beliefs can't be borrowed - they have to be looked for, and thought about, by yourself. I have to face myself and start searching. And I will find it."
"That's good."
"But... if possible.... maybe I could make that search with you at my side...?"
"....."
"...Are you about finished with monologuing?"
"Yes. I think I've got it out of my system now..."
"Alright then...
"...Yeah. I'd like that too."
"Really?"
"Really..."
"....."
"I came to Outer Heaven to settle a score with the past. That was what I thought. But that wasn't the truth... I realized that when I met you. What I really wanted was death. What I wanted, after everything had been decided, was for someone to take my life. I must have been afraid -- of seeing what was left standing, of myself as I really was..."
"Is that -- how you still feel?"
"I feel like there's a bit of hypocrisy your denouncement of my monologues..."
"No, I think I want to live. Accept myself--forgive myself... Life is worth living, even if it hurts you, even if you hurt in it. You taught me that... You were my salvation."
"Snake..."
"...Pfft. Haha. How out of practice are you hitting on women...? Are you going to tell me next you must be in Outer Heaven cause I look like an angel..."
*grumble* "...It's been a while. Yeah. Again. I've been living in Alaska..."
"That's why -- I've decided to go back."
"Back? To the States!?"
"Uh-huh."
"Don't! There's no way they'll let you go. They'll be waiting for you... and it's probably Fox-Hound!"
"I know that. But I have to go back."
"Why!?"
"All my stuff is there... Well that and..."
"To understand. Why we had to fight this fight, what it was that I did... and who Solid Snake was. I'm going to confront the faceless men who play chess with people's lives and hearts in the shadows, so that I can understand. And they will confess. Every conspiracy they wove, every victim left on the trail of their private gain, everything... It's the only thing I can do for the casualties of their -- and my -- dirty war..."
"...Snake..."
"Unless I do that, there'll be no forgiveness, and nothing to find for me."
"....."
"Don't worry. I'm going back so that I can live. When I've made them pay, I'll be back..."
"....."
"Will you wait for me...?"
"....."
"...Well, I'm probably going to be marked for treason for knowing all about this and desertion of my unit probably won't look too good. So..."
*frown*
"...."
"...You can count on it!"


Staff Roll


And so Solid Snake and Christine Jenner drive off into the sunset back to the United States on their magical transcontinental jeep. Vowing to bring to justice the two jerks we never met who were behind everything.


Of course, it's been twelve years and that sequel hook never caught a bite... In any case, so concludes Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. A title approved for ages six and up involving serial killings, dismembered siblings, exploding teenagers, self-immolation suicide orgasms, threats of nuclear holocaust, government sponsored destabilization of the greater African, fratricide, attempted filicide, French swearing, and assorted other kid friendly activities. I hope you all enjoyed the ride!


Oh hey. After calling me terrible constantly with the world's most unforgiving level score requirements, I receive the end of game Codename of... Tarantura...

...

Tarantura...

.....

They gave me an Engrish code name after all that...

..................


This is somehow fitting.