Solid Sun

Solid Sun refers to the 2014 incident in South America, during which Liquid Ocelot continued preparations for his armed insurrection against the Patriots. Philanthropy also initiated a rescue mission for geneticist Dr. Naomi Hunter, who had been assisting Liquid in his efforts to hack into the Sons of the Patriots System.

Having recovered from his ordeal in the Middle East, Solid Snake awoke back on board the Nomad. There, Otacon informed him of a video message that they had received from Naomi Hunter from Otacon's old address, whom Snake recalled seeing at Liquid Ocelot's camp (and of whom traces of her DNA were found on the syringe she dropped to Snake). The message was a plea to be rescued, explaining about the SOP system, its use of third generation nanomachines and her indirect role in creating it from her development of the first generation nanomachines, and that Liquid Ocelot had forced her to cooperate because she was the creator of FOXDIE, and that the SOP system is derived from FOXDIE. The mail address included an encrypted map of Liquid's PMC base in South America, where she was being held, although Sunny and Otacon had to retrace the origin due to the direct address being faked. A message from Roy Campbell confirmed that Liquid's forces were operating in the area, as one of Liquid's PMCs, Pieuvre Armement, was acting as the de-facto group running the country after the regime that hired them ended up in shambles. In addition, Campbell referenced Naomi's arrest after the Shadow Moses Incident and her escape, and speculated that Liquid Ocelot was the one responsible and not Solid Snake. Campbell also explained that Meryl Silverburgh had left the Middle East to continue tracking down Liquid herself, and that ARSOC was likely aware of Philanthropy's activities and Campbell's involvement. Therefore, Naomi was the only lead left to them. Roy Campbell also gave clearance for the Nomad to land in the El Dorado International Airport in Colombia with Snake also being given the cover job as a UN inspector. In addition, he also arranged for Snake to acquire a 4x4 vehicle as soon as he landed so he could get as close as he could to the Pieuvre Armement's security perimeter, and that afterwards its a solo sneaking mission. Because the battle between Pieuvre Armement and the rebels is still upscaling, Roy Campbell also speculated that this would make sneaking into Liquid's facility much easier. Sunny was able to trace where the message originated, and they began the journey to South America.

"Battle at Highland"
After making it to the security perimeter in the 4x4, Snake traversed through the jungle, making use of his OctoCamo. He also contacted Roy Campbell while sneaking through the jungle, inquiring about the actual identities of the Patriots founders, citing that the data they got from Arsenal Gear was bogus due to them supposedly being dead in over a hundred years. Since the SOP System fit in with the Patriots' plans of global information control, Snake and Campbell concluded that Liquid's insurrection was aimed at destroying it. Snake felt that it doesn't matter whether it is Liquid or the Patriots who win, as the world will lose anyways, and feels the system is better off destroyed. However, Campbell reminded Snake that the System is the only thing that is allowing for relative peace to occur. Because of this, Snake and Campbell deduced that the System must be protracted in order to maintain the information society, and modern civilization, which meant that Liquid's ambitions had to be thwarted.

Reaching the vicinity of Liquid's South American base, Snake witnessed chaos erupt in a clearing below his position. As captured rebel soldiers were being led away by Pieuvre Armement forces, Laughing Octopus suddenly emerged from the shadows and proceeded to slaughter them, her facial appearance resembling that of Snake himself. Leaving one rebel alive, she warned him to remember her face as the one who killed his comrades and let him escape. Vamp, to Snake and Otacon's surprise, was also present, and both departed the area by Stryker after failing to find Snake.

Snake then advanced onwards, with Otacon admitting to him that his OctoCamo was based on designs from DARPA that Sunny had found on the internet, and that Laughing Octopus must also be using it. Snake also considered that he might have retired a bit too soon when learning about the rumor of how Mei Ling ended up promoted to captain of the Missouri, although he stated that he has nothing left to learn. After Snake made it into the heart of a battlefield, in which PMC and rebel forces were fighting, he received a Codec call from Campbell. He introduced Snake to a former member of a Combat Stress Platoon, whom he recognizes as Rosemary, Raiden's ex-fiancé and data analyst during the Big Shell Incident. He quickly deduced that Rose was Campbell's new wife, which explained why Meryl Silverburgh had showed such hostility towards her father.

Upon advancing further, Snake received another Codec call, this time from Raiden himself, claiming that he was very close by. He also explained that he had recently been sent on a mission for Big Mama to retrieve the body of Big Boss, although he was forced to end the call due to a firefight on Raiden's end. Snake then called Rose and learned that after the Manhattan Incident, Rosemary and Raiden got together, but his memories were starting to resurface, causing him to stay out late, become drunk, and get into fights, before eventually leaving, which also explained why Rosemary ended up marrying Campbell. Snake then found Drebin yet again, who explained to him about the Beauty and the Beast Unit, and revealed to Snake that the Patriots were really just a system of AIs, and that the term "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo" was used by nanomachines to censor people from using their names.

"Vista Mansion"
Upon infiltrating the Vista Mansion as it was under siege by the rebel forces, Snake found Naomi in a secluded research building, behind the Vista Mansion, via an underground passage. Naomi, upon seeing Snake, explained that there were no guards present, since they knew she was powerless. However, before they were to leave, Naomi insisted she give Snake a full medical examination. Following the tests, she identified the cause of Snake's accelerated aging, revealing that it was incurable; it was simply the way he was designed as a clone. Naomi also discovered that the FOXDIE virus, which she had injected into Snake almost a decade ago, had since mutated. Since there were no more targets for it to attack, it had been circulating within his body since. The receptors on the virus had eventually broken down, and it would only be a matter of months before FOXDIE became a threat to other people. Naomi estimated that Snake had only half a year left to live as well, and he only had three months before the FOXDIE began to target other people indiscriminately. Snake then asked what would happen should he take his own life before that time, to which she replied that FOXDIE would die with him. She had also discovered a new strain of FOXDIE in Snake that had recently been injected into him, with Snake immediately suspecting that Drebin 893 was responsible.

In addition, Naomi explained to Snake what had actually happened in the Middle East. With Liquid attempting to disable the SOP System inside his PMC soldiers, the sudden freedom had proved too much for their minds to handle, and they had been driven mad by their previously suppressed emotions. Liquid had originally intended to remove the System completely, but the results of the Middle East test forced him to change his plans. He was now attempting to gain control over the System and overthrow the Patriots, but he would need Big Boss's DNA in order to do it.

"Laughing Octopus"
Suddenly, she began to experience a lot of pain, before Pieuvre Armament PMC troops burst into the building and grabbed her, telling her that she was no longer safe there. Before Snake could go after her, he was ambushed by a team of FROGS, commanded by Laughing Octopus, whom he was forced to defeat. Afterwards, Drebin called Snake upon procuring Octopus's FaceCamo, with Snake accusing him of setting him up and placing FOXDIE in his body. Although Drebin admitted that he was spying on him, he denied actually giving him the virus. He then briefly explained Laughing Octopus's history, shedding some light on her post-traumatic stress disorder, which had forced her to become a "beast of war."

"Breakthrough"
With the help of some scouting tips from Raiden, Snake tracked Naomi to a helipad where she was being loaded onto a helicopter under Vamp's supervision. Snake then shot Vamp in the head, with the Pieuvre Armament soldiers on the ground returning fire. Meanwhile, the soldiers aboard the helicopter took injections to lessen the effects of the lockdown on the SOP System, which was due to commence, as part of Liquid's second attempt to gain access. Shortly thereafter, the soldiers on the ground began to suffer from the same seizures that had afflicted the PMCs in the Middle East. Just as Naomi appeared lost, Drebin managed to rescue her and Snake in his Stryker. With Drebin at the wheel and Snake manning the gun turret on top, the group escaped.

"White Blood"


Drebin's Stryker made it to a small village where civilians were running for cover from attacking Gekko. The Stryker eventually was forced to crash. Unable to proceed, they were ambushed by several of them. However, Raiden, revealing himself to be a Cyborg Ninja, appeared and engaged the Gekko in combat, before fighting Vamp. Vamp eventually is defeated by Raiden and collapses, although not before inquiring ecstatically if Raiden is going to be the one who will finally kill him. Snake and Naomi escaped with the Metal Gear Mk. II onto Otacon's helicopter, picking up a heavily injured Raiden as they escaped. Meanwhile, Vamp revives himself from his wounds in his fight against Raiden, and calls Liquid Ocelot, asking if it was a good idea to let Naomi escape, with Ocelot responding that it is part of the plan. As Solid Snake's DNA failed to have him hack into the system due to it not being "pure enough," and the Pieuvre Armement forces are suffering from brain damage as a result of the lockdown, leaving nothing salvageable, they decide they need "all of him" and that they need to locate "them." Naomi, after Snake and Otacon witnessed Vamp's revival, admits that the secret to Vamp's immortality was a nanomachine base that allowed Vamp to regenerate at a faster rate than usual, a nanomachine base that she developed herself, but someone else perfected. He was able to deliver an instruction to Snake before passing out entirely: "Go meet -- Big Mama."

Behind the scenes
In Cove Valley Village, the player can choose to save the five captured South American rebels from execution. If the player succeeds in doing this, the rebels will give Snake some unlocked weapons and a rebel disguise.

When the player is tasked with finding Naomi, a secret area can be found, which contains a patch of flattened grass in the form of a small crop circle. The area is located to the left when the player spots the river. When the player finds it, an audio clip from Metal Gear Solid 2 will play, in which the Colonel mentions seeing an orange object in sky while driving home one night, similar to a typical UFO story. However, it was Raiden who had received that particular Codec call, rather than Snake.

In an Integral Podcast, the designers explained that they originally intended for the scouting Naomi mission to have a trail of female clothing to keep Snake off the wrong trail, and eventually find an unconscious naked female soldier. However, the latter was removed from the final version, presumably for the same reason as why the Beauty and the Beast Unit being naked in their beauty forms was removed in the final version.