Operation Snake Eater

After the failure of the CIA's Virtuous Mission, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev made a telephone call to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, blaming him for the nuclear attack on OKB-754, in Tselinoyarsk. Attempting to avert a nuclear disaster, Johnson assured him that the affair was orchestrated by The Boss and Colonel Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin of GRU, but Khrushchev demanded that America prove its innocence.

With the United States' reputation on the line and the two nations on the verge of World War III, FOX operative Naked Snake was sent back to the Soviet Union in order to eliminate The Boss and her Cobra Unit, and to rescue Dr. Nikolai Stephanovich Sokolov once more. Additionally, he was tasked with eliminating Volgin and the threat posed by his secret weapon.

Operation Snake Eater

On August 30th, Naked Snake returned to Tselinoyarsk, deployed via a D-21 drone launched from an M-21. They had to travel from the North Pole because their original route was now heavily guarded due to the events of the Virtuous Mission. Major Zero and Para-Medic were to again serve as his radio support, along with Mr. Sigint, an expert on advanced weapons and technology. Zero and Snake had perviously been threatened that if they did not complete the mission successfully, they would both be executed for their part in the failure of the Virtuous Mission. By accomplishing the mission's objectives, Snake would help the FOX unit to clear its name.

Snake's first objective was to return to Rassvet and meet with ADAM, an NSA code breaker who had defected to the Soviet Union in September 1960, along with another operative known as EVA. The two were now training with the KGB for exactly this kind of situation. On the way to meet ADAM, Snake was confronted by The Boss who warned him to discontinue his mission and leave. To further impede Snake's progress, The Boss dismantled his gun, destroyed his D-21 drone and used her horse to step on Snake's hand, severely injuring it. Snake managed to sneak his way to Rassvet and await the arrival of ADAM. After a quick search of the area, he was confronted by someone who he believed is ADAM, however, the newcomer was unable to provide the password, "La Li Lu Le Lo." Only when the operative (now revealed to be EVA, not ADAM) saved Snake from a GRU ambush did he accept her assistance. EVA explained that ADAM was unable to come and help Snake, so EVA was sent in his place. She provided Snake with a scientist's disguise he could use and two new guns. As Snake was about to leave however, he was told to stay and rest, as the jungle would be too dangerous to traverse at night.

Ocelot

As Snake rested and EVA kept look out, the Ocelot Unit showed up. EVA woke Snake up. Judging by how many there were, it would be too hard to sneak past them, Snake had no choice but to defeat them, telling EVA to go and hide. After Snake defeated the Ocelot Unit, Ocelot grabbed EVA, strangely commenting she was wearing perfume. EVA overpowered him and kicked him off the ledge they were standing on when Ocelot became distracted, and managed to escape. When Ocelot was running away, EVA considered shooting Ocelot to conceal her and Snake's tracks, when Snake stopped her. She then told Snake how she had to get back before he did. Snake then headed to Graniny Gorki as EVA had told him that Sokolov was there.

On his way to Graniny Gorki, he found Ocelot waiting on the other side of a crevice. The two had a duel there before a swarm of hornets surrounded them. With Ocelot escaping, Snake was given no choice but to jump down the crevice into the cave below. Snake ventured deep into the cave eventually finding the exit, however, it was blocked by another swarm of hornets. The Pain, a member of The Boss's Cobra Unit who could control hornets, emerged from seemingly nowhere, and challenged Snake. Using his hornets to shield himself and to attack Snake, Snake eventually found an opening and defeated The Pain. After tending to his wounds, Snake left the cave and headed toward a warehouse. From afar Snake used his scope and saw The End being pushed in a wheelchair by The Fear, along with Volgin, The Boss, Sokolov, and a woman named Tatyana.



Fortress Sneaking

After making his way through the warehouse Snake reached Graniny Gorki. Donning his scientist disguise, he slipped through the facility's heavy defenses and made his way through the lab. Upon entering the building's main office, instead of finding Sokolov, he instead found Dr. Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin, another Russian scientist, who was quite drunk. Granin told Snake about how he was originally developing a new weapon for Volgin and mentioned how he disliked Sokolov's "Shagohod." Granin's idea was a bipedal tank which he explained as "a type of...Metal Gear," (named so for being a missing link between infantry and artillery, similar to the theory of the missing link between apes and humans). Granin then said that he was going to send the documents for designing Metal Gear to his friend in the United Staes. Granin told Snake of the Philosophers' Legacy, a large sum of money Volgin's father somehow ended up with after the confusion of the war, and Volgin himself inherited from his father illegally after his death. Volgin used this large sum of money to pay for the research, development and creation of the Shagohod, as well as the construction of his fortress Groznyj Grad.

Granin gave Snake a key card to help him get in to the mountains via a locked door in the warehouse he had just come from, and told Snake about a secret underground tunnel that ran around the perimeter of the Groznyj Grad which he could use to secretly infiltrate the base. After leaving the facility and heading back to the warehouse Snake was confronted by The Fear, a member of the Cobras who could make himself invisible and had almost impossible agility. Using his thermal goggles to see The Fear, Snake defeated him, and headed onwards.

After leaving the warehouse again through the door he could only now access thanks to Granin, Snake was called by EVA to tell him that she would be waiting for him at the top of the mountain and she would provide him with a key he could use to access the underground tunnel. EVA also warned him that The End, the Cobra Unit's sniper who was over a hundred years old, was waiting for him up ahead. On his way through the jungle to the mountain, Snake heard The End calling out to him, saying theirs would be a grand battle. After a long and tiring sniper battle in which The End was eventually defeated, the way to Krasnogorje was opened up and Snake made his way to the top of the mountain to meet up with EVA.

When they met up, EVA handed Snake a key that he could use to get into the underground tunnel. She warned him that Sokolov was being held in a high level section of the fortress, and Snake could only enter by disguising himself as Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov. The pair stepped out onto the mountain side, and caught a good view of Groznyj Grad. EVA told him which part Sokolov was being held in, and left to play her "other part." He looked through his scope, and saw Volgin pummeling away at an oil drum, with blood seeping out the bottom. When Volgin hit it up into the air, Snake noticed Granin's lifeless body fall out of it. He also sees Ocelot, The Boss, and the awfully familiar Tatyana inside the base.

Descending into the tunnels, he was confronted by the last member of the Cobra Unit, The Fury. After yet another battle Snake defeated The Fury and was chased deeper into the tunnel by blazing trails of fire caused by The Fury's exploding corpse.

Volgin, the Torturer



Snake then ascended, infiltrating into the heart of Groznyj Grad. Snake proceeded to locate and knock out Raikov, and used the mask he had been provided with at the start of the mission (conveniently just like Raikov's face). After finding Sokolov he witnessed Tatyana taking a film from him before leaving. Making his way into the room, Sokolov noticed and recognized him as "the man from the CIA." Sokolov explained Phase II, a method he devised to allow the Shagohod to fire missiles incredible distances. They simply placed a rocket booster engine onto the tank, which allowed to travel over 300 miles an hour, which extended the Shagohod's firing distance from 2,500 miles to over 6,000 miles...enough to strike anywhere in the United States, from anywhere in the Soviet Union. Volgin was planning on mass-producing the weapon in about 24 hours, and handing them out to all the countries of the Eastern Bloc, essentially ending the Cold War and leading the world into an all out nuclear war. Snake asked Sokolov what the best way to destroy the Shagohod was, and Sokolov remembered that some C3 would easily help destroy it.

As Snake was about to escort Sokolov from the base, they were confronted by Volgin, who easily saw through Snake's disguise. As Volgin shot out Sokolov's knees, The Boss appeared and pulled off Snake's disguise before attacking him, and throwing him to the ground. Volgin demanded The Boss leave him, as Volgin wanted payback for what Snake had done to Raikov. After getting revenge on Snake for hurting Raikov by brutally beating up Snake, he took him to Groznyj Grad's prison to torture him.

When Snake awoke he was hanging by his wrists and unable to see, but could hear Volgin brutally beating, and seemingly killing Sokolov. Volgin then drenched Snake in water and repeatedly electrocuted him, demanding to know what the CIA knew and whether or not they were after the Philosophers' Legacy; in the process, a transmitter fell out of Snake's pocket, and Volgin demanded to know who put it on him. After a pause, The Boss told Volgin she had planted it on him so the Cobras could ambush him, and that trying to break Snake was useless, as he had been trained by her not to. Knowing that the Cobras wouldn't be killed by Snake if they knew where he would be by tracing his movements, Volgin demanded that the Boss prove she wasn't a spy by cutting out Snake's eyes, which would demoralize him. The Boss pulled off the bag covering Snake's head. When she saw his face she hesitated, but just as she was about to, Tatyana pulled her away, demanding that she stop and insisting that Snake had suffered enough. Ocelot then accused Tatyana of being the spy and decided to "test" her. He juggled his three guns (one of which containing a single bullet) and fired one randomly six times. Snake, unwilling to let Ocelot hurt Tatyana, threw his suspended body into Ocelot, making him fling one of his guns into the air; as he caught it, it went off, hitting Snake in the right eye and muzzle-burning it, much to Tatyana's horror, and then screamed in agony. After being reprimanded by The Boss, Ocelot confronted Snake briefly, telling him that seeing Snake endure Volgin's torture has led to him changing his opinions about torture (during the conversation, he also slipped the transmitter back into Snake via one of his wounds). As Volgin and Ocelot left, The Boss took one of Ocelot's revolvers, loaded it with a single bullet and shot Snake in the leg, and gave him the unloaded SAA without anyone noticing. As Snake watched The Boss leave, Tatyana came over to him, revealing herself as EVA. She told Snake to escape as she had his items and weapons, and informed him of an escape route he could use to escape the fortress and meet up with her.

As Snake awaited in his cell, he was given a fork, which he used to pull out the bullet The Boss had fired into his leg, which he was surprised to discover was actually a fake death pill. He also befriended Johnny Sasaki, the guard of his cell, as they engage in conversation about Johnny's family, the futileness of the Cold War, and how their countries were once great friends. He also gave Snake back his cig gas spray gun not knowing what it actually was (he thought that they were just cigarettes). Despite the friendly conversation that the two had, Johnny refused to let Snake out of his cell as a request, much to Snake's irritation. Eventually, Snake managed to escape.

The Sorrow

After escaping from Groznyj Grad, Snake made his way into the underground sewer system while being chased by Ocelot and his Ocelot Unit. Just as they caught up, Ocelot placed a single bullet into his revolver, and pulled the trigger. After nothing happened, Snake leaped from the drainage waterfall into the river below. Snake, near death, was confronted by The Sorrow, who showed him the souls of everyone he had killed during his mission. After using the revival pill planted in his tooth, he awakened, choking on water below the surface of the river. Having drifted much further downstream, he swam to the riverbank, and phoned EVA. She told him to meet her in a cave behind a waterfall upstream.

After EVA met up with him, she gave him an eyepatch to wear to cover the severely injured eye from the torture earlier and the two talked things over, discussing what they would do after the mission. A butterfly flew nearby Snake, and he attempted to catch it with his hand, but thanks to only having one eye, he missed. After resting, EVA told Snake to use the tunnel up ahead to re-enter Groznyj Grad and gave him some of the C3 she had stolen earlier. The Shagohod ran off liquid fuel and in its hanger there were four tanks filled with it. In order to efficiently destroy the hanger, Snake had to should lay some C3 onto each one. She then left, although not before snapping a picture of Snake with her button camera as "insurance" in case he betrayed her. After traveling through the tunnel, he climbed up a ladder to the northwestern section of Groznyj Grad. However, shortly after exiting the manhole cover, a six-wheeled truck parked one of its tires directly over the manhole. With the manhole being inaccessible, along with the gate being closed, Snake was essentially trapped in Groznyj Grad.

Escape from the Fortress

After making his way back into Groznyj Grad, and sneaking into the Shagohod's hanger, Snake planted the C3 onto the four liquid fuel containers scattered around. Just as he was about to set the last C3, he reshaped the C3 into a butterfly, tossed it into the air, and then caught it, and then placed it onto the last liquid fuel container. After setting the timer, he was spotted by Volgin and Ocelot, with EVA laying on the ground behind them. The Boss quickly appeared and disarmed Snake, chucking his gun and his survival knife across the floor. Volgin declared that he had discovered that Tatyana was a spy after she was discovered sneaking around the fortress' underground vault. When she was discovered, they found the microfilm containing all the data of the Philosophers' Legacy on her. Snake asked Volgin what exactly the Legacy was. Volgin explained that the Legacy was a vast sum of money collected by the most powerful men in Russia, America, and China during the Second World War. These men became known as the Philosophers. The money was collected as a mean to secretly fund projects vital to winning the war: the atomic bomb, rocket technology, and the Cobra Unit were all paid for because of the Legacy. During the confusion that ensued after the end of the war, Volgin's father hatched a series of plots to ensure that the Soviet Union would have total control over the Legacy, and laundered all the money into banks in Switzerland, Australia, and Hong Kong. The microfilm contained a record of all of those transactions, listing specifically where all the money was being kept. After his father's death, Volgin learned of the Legacy, and obtained the microfilm.

After explaining all this, Volgin then explained how, with the help of Brezhnev and his allies, he had built Groznyj Grad and Granin's research facility. However, after Granin failed to produce results, Volgin turned to Sokolov's invention: the Shagohod. His position as a member of GRU meant it was difficult for him to attack the facility directly. Thankfully for him, the spy network set up by the Philosophers still existed, and he utilized this to contact The Boss, suggesting she defect. The Boss agreed, and the Shagohod was theirs. The conflict between the Philosophers had torn the world in two, but with the Legacy and the Shagohod, Volgin intended to heal that rift and make the world whole again. Volgin handed the Legacy to The Boss, telling her to take good care of it, and The Boss left, taking EVA with her, although not before hinting to Volgin that Snake may have planted C3 in the hangar.

Clash with Evil Personified

Volgin then challenged Snake, telling him this was a once in a lifetime battle. Snake valiantly fought Volgin with Ocelot's support. Realizing that Snake was most likely going to win the fight halfway through, Volgin demanded that Ocelot shoot him. Ocelot refused, telling Volgin that he couldn't follow that command as he made a promise to The Boss not to do that kind of thing. Volgin, furiously reminding Ocelot that he was his commanding officer, then tried to kill him by firing a large beam of electricity, to which Ocelot countered with his revolvers. Ocelot then told Volgin (while addressing him by his last name instead of "Colonel") that he should fight like a man. A PA announcement then came in mentioning that bombs were located in the weapons hangar, and that all non-EOD personnel were to evacuate the base immediately. Volgin told Ocelot to find the bombs, and after some hesitance, Ocelot proceeded to do so, although not before encouraging Snake with his hand gesture. Snake then valiantly defeated Volgin, beating him hard enough for him to vomit blood. Snake then escaped from the hanger, as it exploded, and found EVA waiting for him outside. She told him that she had a WIG set up in waiting at a nearby lake. Snake was hesitant at first, saying he still needed to see The Boss, before EVA told him that The Boss was waiting for him there. As they prepared to leave, the Shagohod burst from out of the hanger, being piloted by Volgin. Being pursued by Volgin and attacked by the remaining soldiers of the fortress, EVA came up with a plan: she had laid C3 on the struts of the bridge leading to the jungle, which they could shoot, detonating the bridge and taking the Shagohod with it. However, they also ended up being chased by Ocelot, cumulating in Snake saving Ocelot after his recklessness nearly got him killed by falling debris. Upon arrival at the runway, the Shagohod drove behind them along with several personnel on motorcycles. Ocelot was right behind the Shagohod and was about to pass it when Volgin decided to take the Shagohod to its maximum speed to run down EVA and Snake, forcing Ocelot to pull over due to the activation of the boosters nearly blinding him, angrily shouting "son of a bitch" to Volgin. Volgin also did this knowing that Ocelot was behind the rocket boosters as payback to Ocelot for disobeying his prior command during his battle with Snake. With Volgin chasing Snake and EVA out of Groznyj Grad, the two managed to make it to the bridge, blowing it up, hoping it would take the Shagohod with it.

At first it seemed they were successful but before they could celebrate, the Shagohod shot out of the water. Snake and EVA, determined to finish it off, drove around the Shagohod, shooting its back where a weak spot now was thanks to the C3. Volgin then stepped out of the Shagohod, ripping various cables out of it and holding onto them, using his bodies' electrical current to control the Shagohod. Eventually, Snake shot Volgin and Volgin fell to his knees. Stepping up once again, Volgin was suddenly struck by a bolt of lightning, causing the bullet bandoleers he had strapped around his chest to explode, killing him in the process.

Snake and EVA continued heading to the WIG they planned to escape in, still being tailed by enemy soldiers. After a cinematic pursuit and sudden crash, EVA ended up profoundly wounded by a tree branch just above the hip. After tending to their wounds, Snake fought through a bit more of the familiar forest environment while taking care of EVA's condition while sneaking past guards on the lookout for both escapees. Eventually, they got to the WIG but when they made it Snake noticed a field of flowers nearby, where he knew The Boss would be waiting for him. Snake left EVA temporarily, in order to go and face The Boss.

Life's End

After a fierce wind blew across the field, The Boss appeared holding one of the Davy Crockett launchers. She told Snake that all she wanted was to make the world whole again. After the Second World War, her allies, Cobra Unit, were torn apart by the Cold War. She continued, telling Snake about her past at a nuclear test site in Nevada on November 1st, 1951. In 1960, the United States secretly sent her into space. America didn't have the technology to block out cosmic radiation, but that was why she was chosen, as she had already been irradiated once. In space, she realized that the Space Race was just another arena for meaningless competition, much like the Arms Race. She hopes that in the 21st Century, people will finally realize that Earth has no East, no West...no Cold War...a world without communism and capitalism.

In 1961, she was sent to Cuba to "Bahia de Cochinos." It was part of a CIA-sponsored invasion under the guise of taking Cuban exiles back to their country. But the U.S. government betrayed them. The U.S. President held back their air support. Defenseless, the exiles were annihilated by the Cuban army. All she could do was watch in silence. Set up by the very country she had sacrificed so much for, by the very government she'd dedicated her life to defending, she went underground. A year later, at Tselinoyarsk she faced The Sorrow in battle and he gave his life so she could complete her mission, demanding that she kill him. The Boss pulled open the front part of her suit, exposing a snake shaped scar running up her chest. She explained how in June of 1944 during the Landing at Normandy, when she was pregnant at the time, with The Sorrow as the father. She gave birth right there, to a boy, who was almost immediately snatched away by The Philosophers.

The Boss told Snake about the Philosophers and how the original members died in the 1930s, and how the Philosophers of today have no sense of good or evil. They have become war itself. Her father was one of them and he explained how every war causes a shift in the times, which in itself, sparks countless other conflicts and wars. The Philosophers intended to keep this cycle going forever, in an endless spiral. She also revealed that she was the last child of the Philosophers, and her father, one of the higher ranking members of the Philosophers, had revealed to her even the most forbidden secrets of the Philosophers, and ended up being killed by them as a result. With tears rolling down her eyes, The Boss thanked Snake saying that she had never spoken about herself this much before. Loading her gun she demanded that Snake pour all he has into this final battle, in order to make it the greatest battle of their entire lives. The two then had an immense and epic battle, with Snake eventually managing to defeat his old mentor.

The two shared a final moment together before she handed him the microfilm that contained the locations of the Philosophers' Legacy, along with her gun, the Patriot. She requested that Snake shoot her, and end her life, to complete his mission, stating to Snake, as her last words, "There's only room for one Boss, and one Snake." Hesitant, Snake raised the gun, before shooting her, ending the life of his beloved mentor. The petals around him turned from white to a deep red as The Boss' horse sees her body and weeps.

Snake then boarded the WIG to leave with EVA, but as they were leaving, Ocelot flew in alongside them and managed to jump into the WiG, challenging Snake to a final duel. The two then engage in a physical struggle, with Ocelot seeming to gain the upper hand, proudly proclaiming that he's picked up new moves (after closely observing Snake's CQC technique). After Snake remembered how The Boss encouraged him to remember the basics of CQC at the start of the Virtuous Mission, Snake eventually fought Ocelot with better skill. Ocelot then pulls out two revolvers and loads a single (blank) bullet, proceeding to ask Snake his name. When Snake replied with his codename, Ocelot stopped him, demanding to know his real name.

"No, not that name. You're not a snake and I'm not an ocelot. We're men with names. My name is Adamska. What's yours?"

- Ocelot

"John."

- Naked Snake

"Very well, John. Plain name, but I won’t forget it."

- Ocelot

After the two draw, Ocelot jumped from the plane. Then after their near collision with the mountains, they were intercepted by two MiG-21s ready to shoot them down. EVA, admitting defeat, was surprised when the MiGs disengaged under orders from after receiving direct orders from Khrushchev.

Debriefing

When Snake and EVA got to their Alaska safe house, they joked and shared a night of passion and love together. The next morning Snake awoke, only to find an audio message waiting for him. It was left by EVA. Snake played it, with EVA explaining that, from the beginning she was a Chinese-American spy, sent by the Chinese People's Liberation Army to get the Legacy back for China. The two NSA code breakers, ADAM and EVA, who defected were actually both men. She was originally planning on eliminating ADAM before meeting up with Snake, but the real ADAM never showed up. Since the end of World War II, China's hydrogen bomb and space rocket projects had fallen behind. But now, with the Legacy, they would be able to catch up and surpass those of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. EVA herself was an agent of the Philosophers, trained in one of their charm schools so she could fool everyone. The only person she couldn't fool, was The Boss. The Boss used to be an instructor for the Philosophers, so she could easily see through EVA's disguise. EVA was supposed to kill Snake, but she couldn't. Because she made a promise to The Boss. EVA went on to explain about the true meaning of The Boss' last mission. She didn't betray her country. She died for her country. The whole mission was staged by the U.S. government so they could get their hands on the Legacy. Everything was going according to plan.

However, when Volgin fired the Davy Crockett, everything changed. Rather than give up on the mission to obtain the Legacy, the mission itself was greatly expanded and revised. The Boss wouldn't be allowed to come back home alive. And she wouldn't be allowed to kill herself. Her life would be ended by her most beloved disciple. That was the way the government wanted it. That was the mission she was given. And she had no choice but to carry it out. A lesser woman would have been crushed by such a burden. Future generations will revile her. In America, as a despicable traitor with no sense of honor. And in Russia, as a monster who unleashed a nuclear catastrophe. She will go down in official history as a war criminal. And no one will ever understand her. That...was her final mission. And like a true soldier, she saw it through the end.

The only person who would ever understand her, was her last pupil. Snake was arranged to see President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson awarded Snake the title of Big Boss as well as the Distinguished Service Cross, and offers his hand for a handshake. Big Boss reluctantly shook his hand and turned away. The newly appointed DCI, offered his hand, but Big Boss left, devastated. He even refused to speak or shake hands with Major Zero and the crew.

Visiting The Boss' grave, he laid flowers on her grave, alongside her gun, the Patriot. The grave reads: "In Memory of a Patriot, Who Saved the World." Big Boss stood, and saluted, with tears rolling down his face...The Boss' debriefing would endure only in his heart, and in his memory of her.

Later, Ocelot contacted the KGB Chief Director to inform him of both Groznyj Grad's and the Granin research facility's destruction. He also revealed that Khrushchev was finished and that the KGB's time had finally arrived. He also hinted that the KGB could use the knowledge of both the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater to blackmail America during further negotiations, as America was expecting the Soviets to keep a lid on the events from leaking out. Ocelot concluded the conversation by assuring the Chief Director that he would keep the KGB informed on any further developments.

However, shortly thereafter, he made a telephone call to the DCI. He stated that the copy of the Philosophers' Legacy handed to EVA was a fake and that the real Legacy had made its way back to America. However, Ocelot also explained that only half of the Legacy made it to America, and he might try to risk detection by stealing it from the KGB (whom he suspected had the other half). He also confirmed that the Shagohod had been destroyed, and that The Boss had used the remaining Davy Crockett to obliterate Groznyj Grad. He then revealed that he had obtained blueprints relating to Metal Gear from Granin, shortly before his death, that might work in America's favor when the time came. Ocelot had been acting as a triple spy, and was in fact the real ADAM, working for the CIA as well as for Volgin. He was also an agent of the Philosophers, and he planned on using the Legacy to revive their American faction. He then ended the call to the DCI by confirming that he was still at the CIA's disposal.

Behind the scenes
According to the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database 's article on Operation Snake Eater, the DCI had lied to the government about the mission being a failure and kept the Philosophers' Legacy for himself.