Phantom Pain Incident

The restoration of Mother Base and the hunt for Cipher was a series of missions undertaken by the mercenary group Diamond Dogs in Afghanistan and Central Africa, in order to exact revenge on Cipher for the destruction of the original Mother Base and the Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF). As the successors of MSF, Diamond Dogs expanded its forces through these missions, and built a new Mother Base under the leadership of Venom Snake and Kazuhira Miller.

Prelude
After escaping the hospital, Ocelot explained to Venom Snake that he and Kazuhira Miller would have to rebuild their private army, but first they had to rescue Miller in Afghanistan. Miller had been captured by Soviet forces while training Mujahedeen rebels, the Soviets having invaded Afghanistan four years earlier. The two then boarded a whaling ship to reach the war torn country and save Miller.

During the journey, Ocelot provided Venom Snake with a new bionic arm, to replace the crude hook prosthetic that he had recieved while hospitalized. Ocelot briefed Snake on current world events, the founding of Cipher, the location of Zero, and the fallout from the destruction of the original Mother Base.

"Phantom Limbs"
After returning to full health and arming himslef, Snake arrived in Afghanistan to rescue Miller. Quickly familiarizing himself with his new equipment, Ocelot gave him the iDroid to use during his missions from then on, Snake infiltrated a Soviet-occupied village Da Wialo Kallai to learn Miller's whereabouts.

After finding out the exact location of Miller in Da Ghwandai Khar, Snake saved his old comrade and carried him to the extraction point only to find out that the helicopter couldn't land because of the sudden mist. Moments later Snake and Miller were ambushed by four Mist-type soldiers of the Parasite Unit, the same XOF operatives who had captured Miller in the first place. Once the Parasite Unit had been successfully evaded, Snake brought Miller onto the helicopter.

"Diamond Dogs"
When Venom Snake and Miller arrived on the Command Center of Mother Base, they were greeted by Ocelot and Diamond Dogs members who took Miller to a medical facility on the base. Before he was carried away, however, Miller and Snake pledged to exact revenge on Cipher and decided to start by doing wet work in Afghanistan to find some clues as to where Cipher might be.

Snake agreed with Kaz, but for one exception; it is no longer about the past and that all of Diamond Dogs must be fighting for more then just themselves, but for the future and not just for the purpose of revenge against Cipher.

Snake accepted the role of the leader of Diamond Dogs, familiarized himself with the new Mother Base and moved on to his next mission. Ocelot gave Snake the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system to use to recruit soldiers to make Mother Base and Diamond Dogs more expansive. Ocelot then instructed Snake on how to use his weapons, the cardboard box and how to use the technique CQC by training with fellow Diamond Dogs soldiers.

"A Hero's Way"
Snake accepted a mission from the CIA. They wanted a a prominent Spetsnaz commander dead. Miller recommended that a soldier of his caliber would be useful to Diamond Dogs. The CIA had heard rumors of his involvement with the disappearance of the Hamid fighters in Da Smasei Laman and decided he was a dangerous enemy. Snake infiltrated Da Shago Kallai outpost where the commander was stationed.

"C2W"
In order to make operations in Afghanistan easier, Miller decided that Snake should infiltrate the Eastern Communications Post and destroy comms equipment there to put a hole in the Soviet base-to-base comms network. Snake successfully carried out the mission.

"Over the Fence"
Miller learned that the Soviet bionics engineer responsible for creating Snake's arm was captured by the Soviets and brought to Wakh Sind Barracks as a prisoner after a failed attempt to defect. Miller asked Snake to rescue the prisoner. Snake infiltrated Wakh Sind Barracks and saved the engineer, who became a part of the R&D department of Diamond Dogs and continued his work on the prosthetic hand, modifying it for Snake.

"Where Do the Bees Sleep?"
Snake accepted one more mission from the CIA related to the disappearance of the Hamid fighters in Da Smasei Laman. The CIA had been supplying the Mujahideen with a new type of rocket launcher called Honey Bee. When those mujahideen disappeared from the fort, the CIA was afraid the Soviets would move in and secure the weapon. Venom Snakr was to infiltrate Da Smasei and to extract that weapon before the Soviets could find it. On his way to the fort, Snake enountered a mute Hamid prisoner, the only survivor from Da Smasei.

He was escorted by Soviet soldiers who wanted the prisoner to show them the way to the Honey Bee. Snake saved the prisoner and got the directions to the cave in Da Smasei where the weapon was hidden. The prisoner was extracted and received codename Silent Basilisk upon recruitment into Diamond Dogs. Snake followed the directions received from the prisoner and found the Honey Bee in the caves in Da Smasei.

When he tried to escape the fort, he was ambushed by Skull Face. Skull Face grabbed Snake with a massive mechanical arm and intimidated him, saying that this time he should "rest in peace." When the arm released Snake, he found himself again surrounded by the Mist squad of the Parasite Unit, who had turned all Soviet soldiers in the base into their puppets. Snake defeated the Parasite Unit and successfully exfilitrated the area with the Honey Bee.

"Red Brass"
As Snake was getting more involved in Afghanistan, his activities were noticed by three Soviet commanders - Wialo Company commander, Shago Platoon commander and Wakh Sind Platoon commander. They arranged to meet in Da Wialo Kallai to discuss how they should deal with this new threat. A rebel guerilla faction in Afghanistan learned of that plan and hired Snake to eliminate the commanders during the meeting. Snake would infiltrate Da Wialo Kallai.

"Occupation Forces"
After the soldiers in Da Smasei Laman were turned into puppets by the Parasite Unit, the Soviets didn't give up on taking the fortress under their control. They sent new troops to Da Smasei and were planning to reinforce them with a lieutenant colonel from Qarya Sakhra Ee and his tank column. Snake recieved a mission to stop these forces from deploying at Da Smasei. He first infiltrated Qarya Sakhra Ee to learn the time of the deployment and the path the reinforcements were taking and then intercepted the column.

"Backup, Back Down"
The rebel forces in Afghanistan were planning a major offensive against the Soviets. Diamond Dogs were hired to destroy enemy reinforcements that would be moving in during the offensive, and Snake completed the mission.

"Angel With Broken Wings"
An unknown client, who claimed to be a survivor from the target's village, requested that Diamond Dogs rescue a Mujahideen fighter named Malak, who was captured by Soviet forces. The client gave Malak's location as the Lamar Khaate Palace.

Reaching the Lamar Khaate Palace, Snake discovered that Malak was no longer there. He had been relocated to a new location. After collecting some intel and getting information from various POWs, Snake found out that Malak had been relocated to Yakho Oboo Supply Outpost. At the outpost, Snake found Malak, whose injury forced Snake to carry him to the helicopter, as a Fulton extraction was too risky as the use of a Fulton could kill Malak from the shock of the transportation thanks to his injury.

Returning to Mother Base, Malak revealed that he never heard of the client who paid Diamond Dogs to rescue him. Miller suspected that the client was Cipher, who wanted Malak silenced due to him surviving the destruction of his village. To protect Malak, Miller reported that Malak had died in the rescue attempt.

Due to Malak losing his home and family, as well as his and Diamond Dogs's shared hatred for Cipher for the suffering they had endured, Malak joined Diamond Dogs.

"Cloaked in Silence"
After travelling to Aabe Shifao Ruins, Snake was ambushed by a sniper known as Quiet. Quiet shot Snake, forcing him to take cover. Quiet tried her best to shoot and kill Snake. She was also capable of turning invisible. After the fight was over, Miller ordered Snake to finish the unconscious Quiet. Ocelot, however, wanted Snake to bring her back to Mother Base.

Inside the helicopter, Quiet woke up, removed the handcuffs placed on her and throws them at Snake. While he was briefly stunned, she pretended to have jumped out of the chopper, turning to invisible instead. About 1,900 miles away from Mother Base, the helicopter was attacked by a fighter jet, forcing it to shake the jet off. Snake opened the door to get a better look at the jet and later to shoot at it with a gatling gun. The helicopter was about to be shot by a LGM missile and Snake was knocked down from the defensive maneuvers. However, before the missile hit the helicopter, Quiet became visible, manned the gatling gun and shot down the missile. After this, Snake took control of the gatling gun and Quiet picked a sniper rifle. While Snake wasn't able to shoot down the approaching jet, Quiet managed to shoot the pilot in the cockpit, making the jet crash to the water.

Upon arriving to the Mother Base, the helicopter Snake was in was targeted by the staff of the Diamond Dogs and two helicopters. Miller said that he wouldn't let Quiet on their base and that the helicopter couldn't land until she was gone. Quiet answered to this demand by jumping down from the helicopter while turning invisible midair and landed behind Miller and few other guards. They surrounded her and Miller ordered the men to shoot her. Ocelot responded by saying that she saved Snake. While the two argued, Snake told the men to put her in a cell. After she was taken away, Miller warned Snake that she was a liability. Snake responded that when the time comes, he was the one to kill her.

"Hellbound"
Miller informed Snake that received a distress call from Huey Emmerich, who wanted to defect to Diamond Dogs and be rescued from Cipher. Miller, who wanted to know about the attack nine years ago and get revenge on Huey for his alleged involvement, told Snake to find him.

Making his way to the Serak Power Plant, Snake found Skull Face and Huey arguing over the use of an AI pod. Just then, an XOF soldier secretly informed Skull Face that Huey had been in contact with Big Boss. Skull Face responsed by pushing Huey down the stairs. After threatening him, Skull Face ordered that Huey be taken to the base camp, stating that he still had some use.

Infiltrating the base camp and finding Huey's lab and encountering the mammal pod that housed The Boss's AI, Snake found Emmerich. After a brief stare down, Snake placed a bag over Huey's head and disabled his exoskeleton legs. Huey suggested using his Walker Gear to escape.

As they were escaping, Huey denied knowing that the nuclear inspection was a ruse and even went as far to say that it was Snake's fault that Mother Base was destroyed because of the nuke they had at the time. Making their way to the exit of the base, the helicopter had to pull out due to the arrival of Huey's creation, Metal Gear Sahelanthropus. Tretij Rebenok was seen flying next to it with Skull Face in Sahelanthropus's right palm. Skull Face expressed his contempt for Huey and declared he and Snake would die, referring to Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin's vision that "Today [was] the day weapons learned to walk up right."

After evading Sahelanthropus and getting on the helicopter, Snake used the choppers minigun to shoot at Sahelanthropus. Huey expressed shock that it was complete with out him.

Arriving back to Mother Base, Huey endured six hours of interrogation. During this time, Huey expressed his innocence and suggested that Miller was the traitor due to his previous affiliation with Cipher. Ocelot then injected Huey with a stronger dose of truth serum and Miller used Huey's exoskeleton legs to torture him by making his leg bend forward. Talking to Snake, who was watching from behind the glass, Miller said that the truth serum wasn't working and that he was sure that Huey was involved in the incident nine years ago. Snake, after saying that they need proof before they could pass judgment on Huey, told Miller that for Huey's safety, no one must know he's on the base. Ocelot then joined in and informed them that Huey had just told him something interesting; Cipher had pulled out of Afghanistan and were funding new research in Africa, as Sahelantropus wasn't enough to cause an RMA. Snake realized that whatever it was, "it's not just another nuke."

"Lingua Franca"
A representative of a man identified as the Viscount requested Diamond Dogs to rescue him, who was being held in the area of the Kiziba Camp. It was requested that only the Viscount should be rescued and not the rest of his comrades. This made Miller suspicious as to what he was hiding.

Tailing an Afrikaner interpreter, Snake found the Viscount being interrogated by the interrogator. Snake found out that the Afrikaners were trying to discover who the informant was that sold the Afrikaners out. The Viscount denied knowing anything, which the interrogator found hard to believe.

After being rescued by Snake, the Viscount relayed information about the Walker Gears being sold to the CFA, causing Miller to suspect Cipher, or more specifically, XOF's involvement in the sale due to the Walker Gears being Soviet technology that was only in the prototype stage.

When Snake rescued the other POWs, it was discovered what the Viscount was trying to hide: he was planning on securing the MPLA's oilfield rights for himself in exchange for swapping the CFA's alliance from the anti-government UNITA rebels to the state-backed MPLA. He hid this from the Afrikaners. However, once he thought the jig was up, he tried to pin it on the other British personnel and took off. The Afrikaners captured him, and that was when he asked Diamond Dogs to rescue him.

With this knowledge from the POWs in hand, and the fact there was evidence of the Viscount's untrustworthiness and self serving behavior, Miller decided to lock him in the brig before considering him to become a member of Diamond Dogs, saying they would have to be "extra persuasive" with the Viscount.

"Footprints of Phantoms"
Due to the spread of Walker Gears, Snake is tasked with destroying four Walker Gears. After infiltrating the outpost, Snake succeed in destroying all four Walker Gears.

"Traitors' Caravan"
Snake was tasked with extracting a truck of supposed high importance, seeking proof that Cipher was behind the events unfolding. Tracking the truck's transfer throughout Central Africa, Snake watched in shock as, when he neared the truck, the Armor variation Parasite Unit exploded out of the truck's back, proving Cipher was involved. Snake managed to eliminate the Parasite Unit once again and successfully got the truck extracted for investigation.

"Rescue the Intel Agents"
Diamond Dogs had two members of the Intel Team act as undercover agents in the PF Contract Forces of Africa. The CFA found out and had captured both of them. Due to their lives at risk, Snake couldn't waste any time in rescuing them. Miller suspected that Cipher might have compromised them. This made him realize that Diamond Dogs needed to be more careful from now on.

Snake found them and used the Fulton on one while the second, too injured to survive the effects of the Fulton extraction, was taken to the helicopter. Miller, on behalf of all of Diamond Dogs, thanked Snake for saving the two members of the Intel Team.

"Blood Runs Deep"
A civil war between two ethnic groups Mbele and Buta had broken out in Central Africa. The Mbele Squad had been captured by Buta. The Mbele general, not wanting them to give Buta any information, hired Diamond Dogs to assasinate the members of the Mbele Squad along with The Mbele Squad platoon leader,who had changed sides after getting captured by Buta.

On his way to find the Mbele Squad, Snake found the outpost where Snake found the platoon leader and he either killed or extracted the platoon leader before moving on the find the Mbele Squad. After reaching the Kungenga Mine, where the Mbele Squad were forced to work, Snake discovered that the members of the Mbele Squad are child soldiers. Snake then shot a bucket and made an audio recording of the shooting to fake their deaths. Snake guided them to the landing zone and carried one of them, due to the injury he had to his leg.

Arriving at Mother Base, Venom Snake told Kaz that he thinks that they will make good members of Diamond Dogs, which Kaz responded by hitting one of the children with his crutch, who then grabbed Snake's gun and aimed it at Kaz, with Snake saying he is a natural, with Kaz disagreeing and taking and unloading the gun and giving it to Snake.

Kaz goes on to say that the Mbele Squad will not be counted as staff members and that they will have their own quarters and will do basic tasks. Snake said it will be a normal life without being behind a gun, Kaz responded that being behind a gun is their way of life and that "there is no room for angels in their heaven."

"On the Trail"
The commander of the PF Rogue Coyote who was identified as "The Major" was spreading a rumor that he had been selling nuclear weapons. Snake was tasked with eliminating the Major. In order to find the Major, Snake had to follow The Major's subordinate, who was undercover with a rivial PF the Contract Forces in Africa, as he was meeting with the Major to discuss about another rivial PF Zero Risk Security.

Tailing the subordinate, Snake found the Major, the subordinate told the Major that some members of the CFA were infected with a disease. The Major responded that they suspect the subordinate of causing the outbreak, which he denied, before being sent to investigate ZRS.

"Voices"
Intel revealed an escaped child soldier named Shabani was being held at an industrial zone in Central Africa known as the Devil's House. After sneaking through several outposts and enemy patrols, Snake managed to infiltrate the long abandoned factory. He found several wards, filled with people on beds, with earbuds gouged into their throats playing sound out of a tape and disgusting growths on their chests. After trudging his way through this horrific scene, Snake eventually found Shabani, experimentally tortured all the same as everyone else. Before he could rescue Shabani, Snake looked into the other room, via a medical curtain, and saw none other than Skull Face himself executing one of his victims.

Shabani's pained cries and pleas for death alerted Skull Face, and upon spotting Snake, ordered The Third Boy to finish him off. The boy summoned the Man on Fire, who already had the upper hand and began strangling Snake. Fortunately, the Man on Fire was temporarily disabled, allowing Snake to escape, as pieces of the boy's true personality leaked out and he used his mental power to mercy kill Shabani. The boy was then influenced by the man's rage yet again and the entire factory went up in flames. After Snake's one escape was blocked off, he was forced to fight the Man on Fire. Snake eventually incapacitating him for a few moments where he used this window to escape via a chopper.

"The War Economy"
Diamond Dogs got wind that a CFA executive arranged a meeting with an arms dealer at Nova Braga Airport, regarding the sale of weapons, their task was to eliminate the CFA executive, who they suspected was under the employment of XOF. His higher ups in the CFA wanted them to continue fighting.

"Retake the Platform"
While in the field, Snake got a call from Miller, who informed him that the R&D Platform on Mother Base was being held a PF called Mosquito Stinger Force, who had taken several members of Diamond Dogs hostage and are threatening to kill them if any other Diamond Dogs members attempted to interfere or set foot on the platform.

Snake was tasked with infiltrating the R&D platform and to find and neutralize the leader of the PF, Mosquito.

Snake, making his way to the top of the R&D Platform, found Mosquito. Once Snake had defeated Mosquito, Miller announced over a speaker to the PF that their leader was defeated and that they should lower their weapons and they would not be harmed.

Miller later informed Snake that Mosquito was a former member of the Militaires Sans Frontières, and that he had survived the attack on Mother Base. He was lead to believe that Big Boss himself was responsible for the attack, as a result he created his own PF and modeled it after the original MSF in order to get revenge on Big Boss. Mosquito then became a member of Diamond Dogs.

"The White Mamba"
Diamond Dogs next missions was to eliminate milliants based in Masa Village that have been pillaging nearby settlements, as they are children and Venom Snake does not want to kill them, they found an alternative solution, they are being led by their commander called the "White Mamba", if Snake extracts him, then the milliants will fall apart without their leader.

Making his way to a wrecked boat in the village, Snake found a young boy who is identified as the "White Mamba". The "White Mamba" ,whose real name is Eli then engages Snake in a fight of cat and mouse in which Eli expresses a huge amount of resentment and hatred against Snake and tries very hard to kill.

Avoiding sniper and machinegun fire from Eli's soldiers, Snake managed to subdue Eli after disarming him of his knife using CQC, after which he told the "commander" that he has lost. Tying Eli up, Snake took him to the helicopter and took him to Mother Base, during the journey Eli displayed an arrogant attitude.

Arriving at Mother Base, Snake and Eli got off the helicopter and Snake told him "Welcome to Outer Heaven" and patted him on the back. Eli did not take this lightly and took Snake's knife and attempted to stab him. Snake used CQC on him again and dislocated his arm for his ruthless attempt to murder him. Snake took the knife and reprimanded Eli and told him that they have rules one of which is to never draw a weapon on a fellow soldier, Snake then put Eli's arm back into place. Snake told him that at Mother Base, Eli is going to learn how to use his head, once he has done that then he will be allowed to leave.

"Close Contact"
Snake missions was to extract an American technician and his assistant, who were working for an NGO. They were dispatched to the Ngumba Industrial Zone by Skull Face under the pretense of giving aid to people suffering from a disease. In actually, they were to observe the test subjects of the vocal cord parasites.

Heading into the Zone, Snake found the technician and his assistant, the latter who was abandoned by the former due to his fear that she was infected with the parasite, to which she held no ill will for it. However, she was not infected due to wearing protective outfits which saved her from the infection.

Bringing them to Mother Base, the duo revealed all they knew about what was going on there, including that the tapes Skull Face was recording inside the throats of some of the specimens was in another language, and that no English copy existed.

Sometime later, a Diamond Dog soldier was seen running away with fear, trying to get away from Quiet who gave him a deadly stare. Quiet incapacitated the soldiers who got in her way and proceeded to trying to shove a knife down the soldier's throat, taking out his front teeth in the process, Snake then used CQC to disarm her and held her in a restraining position. With the help of the other soldiers and Ocelot, they managed to sedate her. The wounded soldier was taken by the other soldiers to get treatment. Snake assumed that it was because of how they had treated her with him telling Ocelot to tighten security on her cell, for if it happened a second time, there would not be a third.

"Aim True, Ye Vengeful"
Someone in the Mbele force contacted Diamond Dogs and requested that they rescue the Mbele general's XO, who had been kidnapped by rouge child soldiers who are lead by Commander of the rogue Mbele child soldiers, claiming that the XO is his brother.

When Snake found and rescued the XO, he revealed that he killed the Mbele general, he was forced to join the Mbele army by the general when he was still a child. He was blindfolded, given a gun and told to shoot in front of him. When the blindfold was removed, it was revealed that he has killed his own parents. Since that day he served in the Mbele army, secretly planning to one day get close enough to the general to carry out revenge. Eventually, he became the executive officer and finally killed the general.

Snake and Kaz, realizing that the Mbele Forces want to kill the XO for this and the commander of the rogue child soldiers for interfering and going rouge, decided to break the contract and to protect the XO and the commander by faking their deaths, which also sacrificed the payment for the mission in the process.

Shortly after this Ocelot informed Snake that there is some kind of epidemic on Mother Base which has infected members of Diamond Dogs and that those that have become symptomatic have died shortly after, including the soldier Quiet attacked, now knowing Quiet's reasons for the assault.

With no way of telling who is infected in the early stages of the disease, Ocelot told Snake that he has created a Quarantine Zone and that the Zone is on the iDroid, he told Snake to identify those who are infected and place them in the Quarantine Zone, due to the infection they could not fire staff members.

Snake eventually figured out that all those infected all have one common denominator: they all speak the language Kikongo. Snake not knowing why, but knowing that it is connected placed all those who speak Kiknogo into the Quarantine Zone, saving those who are not infected and buying the infected members more time.

"Hunting Down"
Snake's new mission was to find and eliminate the Trafficker (Rogue Coyote) whose trafficking victims were sent to places such as brothels, black-market organ trades, and diamond mines. The Mbele group, who contracted Diamond Dogs to dispose of the trafficker, wanted him eliminated before the left the country, as otherwise, he will be immune from facing a court-martial for his role in human trafficking due to being a civilian.

Kaz informed Snake that he delivered Mbele villagers to XOF for their experiments with the vocal cord parasites, and was personally responsible for delivering Shabani, the former leader of the Mbele Squad, to the Devil's House.

However, he eventually grew disturbed by the nature of the experiments, and eventually grew terrified of Skull Face and of the possibility of becoming part of the Parasite Unit. Because of this, he decided to flee Angola and return to his home country, hiring contractors from a rival PF, the Contract Forces of Africa, to ensure he returned there, as he was unable to trust his own men due to XOF's connection to the group.

By either extracting or killing the trafficker, Snake completed his mission.

"Root Cause"
Needing to find out what the root cause is for the epidemic at Mother Base, Snake was tasked with rescuing a member of the Intel Team before he is killed, both to save him and to find out the cause of the disease so it will lead to a cure.

Searching Ditadi Abandoned Village Snake found the member of the Intel Team and brought him back to Mother Base. The member that Snake rescued was called DOA, he said it was important that they listened to him right up to the moment he dies, referring to the disease as "the pathogen" and to "the old man who knows how to treat it" whose name he gave as "Code Talker" and gave his location. Kaz then said that they must make DOA's death be the last and that it is time they met Code Talker.

"Code Talker"
After some intel revealed an elderly man named Code Talker, who researched the vocal cord parasites and was forced to work for Skull Face, was being held captive at a mansion in Central Africa, Snake was sent to rescue him. On his way there, a thick blanket of mist soon rolls in and the Parasite Unit appeared. This time, however, it was a different unit consisting of female snipers. Despite this, they still possessed the superhuman abilities of the original unit.

After dealing with the barrages of sniper fire, he eventually resurfaced at the heavily guarded mansion. He broke into the basement and found Code Talker, who explained about the vocal cord parasites and how they infect and kill the host, he offered Snake a herb which halts the parasites, he then went on to explain how Skull Face stole his research and Kaz relised that Skull Face plans to wipe out all languages from Earth.

After getting out of the mansion with Code Talker, they escaped in a helicopter. Code Talker then revealed that that the Wolbacia can halt the parasites, however the price is that the host will be rendered infertile. Snake then explained that they captured a truck of cargo full of yellowcake, with Code Talker asking what became of it and the metallic archaea. Suddenly, the Parasite Unit's signature mist consumed the area. A cloud of corrosive metallic archaea appeared in front of the chopper just as it flew through, causing the windows to explode, killing Pequod in a barrage of jagged glass. As a result, the chopper crashed.

"Metallic Archaea"
The ravaged chopper crashed in the Nova Braga Airport, where Snake and the unconscious Code Talker fortunately survived. However, as Snake crawled out of the wreckage, he realized that he was surrounded by the Parasite Unit, and the mist made it so calling another chopper was impossible. This forced him to fight them. After a grueling battle, the mist cleared and Code Talker and Snake were picked up by another chopper.

On the way back to Mother Base, Code Talker explained how five years prior in 1979 Skull Face did a detonation test to see if he can disable a nuke, Code Talker said that Skull Face plans to distribute nukes all around the globe along with the Walker Gears, however Skull Face will retain control of the nukes, with Snake and Ocelot realizing that is why they needed Huey and that the superpowers will be irrelevant.

The aftermath of these events had Code Talker recruited into Mother Base as a scientist, where he revealed almost everything about the parasites such as their properties.

Kaz and Ocelot then interrogated Huey and told him that if Skull Face succeeds, East and West relation will go back to the Cuban Missile Crisis with the Cold War going back to the way it was in the 1960s and that Skull Face's distribution of nuclear weapons is are ruse to cover his use of the vocal cord parasites, after threatening to use metallic archaea on his exoskeleton legs Huey gave up the location as OKB Zero, in a lab built by The Russian Philosophers. Satisfied, Kaz and Ocelot left, before leaving the latter placed the needle underneath Huey's legs.

Before leaving for OKB Zero, Kaz informed Snake that Skull Face has killed the Soviet soldiers at OKB Zero by using the vocal cord parasites, Kaz then told Snake to wipe Skull Face out, Snake told Kaz he will need back up, Kaz told him that they will meet up at OKB Zero.

"Skull Face"
With the intent to capture and interrogate Skull Face, Snake infiltrated his heavily guarded fortress and confronted him on a helipad. Outnumbered by a squad of XOF soldiers, Snake was forced to surrender and follow Skull Face, who explained along the way that he has known Snake since 1964 Soviet territory and Zero's plans. During the ride throughout the roads of Afghanistan on a jeep with Skull Face, he passionately explained his plans; worldwide ethnic cleansing with the parasites, and the reasons behind them; both his hated for Zero and his broken childhood where he was heartlessly stripped of his culture. That he will exterminate the English language, both permanently destroying Zero's plans and so that everyone on Earth will suffer and share a phantom pain and that nukes will serve as the new language to replace the English language, using his Metal Gears, Skull Face, using his control of all the nukes will maintain the balance of the world

The XOF transport parks at the Serak Power Plant, the lair of the dormant Sahelanthropus, almost ready for activation. Skull Face had the Man on Fire manifest to finish Snake off. However, The Third Boy donated his telepathic power to Eli and his vicious hatred against Snake instead of the Man on Fire's hatred, as Miller, Huey Emmerich, and Eli are in a helicopter surveying the events unfolding. The Third Boy had the Man on Fire apparently commit suicide to get rid of him and he and Eli use their combined mental power to prematurely activate Sahelanthropus, leaving Skull Face shocked and defeated. XOF opened fire on the Sahelanthropus as they retreated, but it quickly slaughtered them. The wild Salelanthropus then roared in Snake's face.

"Sahelanthropus"
Immediately afterwards, Snake, as well as the forces of XOF and Skull Face, fled the power plant. Sahalanthropus relentlessly chased Snake through a valley, and after realizing it could't fit, evolved from its hunched-over stance into a towering stand before resuming its attack on XOF. Despite barrages of gunfire and tank rounds, Sahalanthropus absorbed it all, and easily destroyed every last unit of XOF, leaving only Skull Face. The commander was surrounded by a circle of flames, and with the parasite capsule in his hands, begins narrating to Zero spiritually that even though he knew Cipher would wipe Skull Face from existence, he and his fiery vengeance would still make their marks in history through the might of Sahelanthropus, that thanks to the vengeance he has implanted will one day destroy Cipher, immediately before getting crushed by it. Meanwhile, Snake, who witnessed this massacre in hiding, hijacked a surviving military jeep and attempted to outrun Sahelanthropus, who was in intense pursuit.

Sahelanthropus' attacks eventually drove Snake off the road after being informed by Miller that destroying it was a necessity, as the world's knowledge of it would cause irrevocable chaos. After a lengthy battle, Snake managed to incapacitate the mechanical beast. Miller's chopper landed and picked up Snake, before flying over to Skull Face's mangled, debris-crushed body for some long awaited revenge. Snake destroyed the parasite capsules by tossing them in a fire, but Tretij Rebenok managed to salvage the last one, unbeknownst to anyone else. Using Skull Face's own shotgun, the two blew off his limbs as payback, and with one final "mission complete" from Miller to Snake, the two left Skull Face to die in horrible agony. However, Huey ultimately finished him off, happily declaring "revenge" and they all return to Mother Base where they housed Sahelanthropus' battle-damaged corpse. During this time, Snake saw a phantom of the deceased Skull Face, with Miller stating that even with Skull Face dead, the phantom pain remained.

"To Know Too Much"
Word got to Diamond Dogs that the Soviet soldiers had taken back OKB Zero after Skull Face's death. The CIA had hired Diamond Dogs to extract an CIA agent (OKB Zero) who has now gone into hiding after getting attacked by unidentified individuals.

Kaz was against having him on Mother Base due to his treacherous nature. However Kaz decided to make an exception due to his knowledge of the vocal cord parasites. Going back to OKB Zero, Snake found the agent and brought him back to Mother Base.

The agent revealed everything that had been going on. He betrayed the Soviets, passing information to Langley, but got scared after learning XOF used the vocal cord parasites, the agent then went into hiding among the CIA's mujahideen allies. The agent feared that he would be killed for knowing too much, unaware that XOF's plans were actually independent of the CIA, and also felt regret that his actions may have placed his Soviet comrades in danger. After,Skull Face's death, OKB Zero was retaken by the Soviet forces, with the agent being suspected of having returned to the base.The agent tried to cut his ties to the U.S. military and rejoin, but he ended up ambushed by unknown individuals, forcing him to go into hiding again.

With this knowledge, Kaz decided to recruit him instead of handing him over, even going as far as to fake his death to ensure he couldn't be returned to them, ensuring that neither the Soviets nor the Americans learned about the parasites. Kaz suspected that the group trying to kill him were remnants of XOF.

"Cursed Legacy"
Code Talker explained that there are two containers which contains his research materials regarding the vocal cord parasites. Kaz, not wanting anyone, least of Cipher, to get a hold of the research material so that they can recreate the vocal cord parasites, tasked Snake with recovering the two containers.

Once Snake infiltrated the area where the containers are located Snake found them and used the Fulton Recovery System to extract both of the containers and bringing them back to Mother Base. In the debriefing, Kaz sighed with relief that now Cipher ,or anyone else, will be able to research or use the vocal cord parasites, as Mother Base is the only place on Earth where the vocal cord parasites still exists.

"Extraordinary"
An informant working for Diamond Dogs had died. However before his death, he hid a film cannister containing classified information, concerning Skull Face's plans, which is hidden in Afghanistan in an area called Spugmay Keep.

A clue was a garbled photograph the informant tired to send back to Mother Base just before he died. Ocelot warned Snake that a KGB Spetsnaz squad is after the film cannister as well.

Snake managed to find the film cannister containing vital information on the deceased Skull Face's plans and returned to Mother Base with the classified information.

"Retrieving the AI Pod"
Kaz, wanting to know what secrets is inside the Mammal Pod, specifically evidence that implicated Huey Emmerich in the attack on Mother Base nine years prior, tasked Snake with recovering the AI Pod.

Retracing his rescue of Emmerich, Snake infiltrated the base camp a second time and found the AI Pod and set it to launch away from the base camp. Kaz told Snake that he will have it picked up and told Snake that he will let him know what they find from the AI Pod.

Sometime later, Kaz informed Snake that they found a corpse inside the AI Pod, a corpse of someone they knew very well, the very person who created the Mammal Pod to house the personality of The Boss and of The Boss' will, Strangelove. While the remains were mostly skeletal, estimated time of death was six months to a year ago.

Kaz and Ocelot then questioned Emmerich who, confronted with the evidence, finally admitted that he didn't work alone and that Strangelove was murdered by Skull Face when she made him angry and ,that for Emmerich, Skull Face put the body in the AI Pod. Ocelot, not satisfied with the illogically sense of this, suggested that Emmerich murdered Strangelove himself and locked her body in the AI Pod, to which Emmerich vehemently denied. Ocelot then told Emmerich that Strangelove had a surgical scar on her chest, which was stitched and healed long before she died and that she was pregnant with child, Emmerich's child. When asked where the child is Emmerich claimed he didn't know and said that he was born four years ago in 1980 and that he and Strangelove called their son Hal Emmerich, and that he never saw Hal, at which point he broke down.

"Selfless Act"
Ocelot and a Diamond Dogs soldier are trying to stop the members of the Mbele Squad from going to an area, when Snake shows up he asked what is going on, one of the children tells him that Shabani's necklace is at the bottom of the tank, as Snake aprroches the tank, Ocelot stops him telling him that it is filled with chlorine disinfectant, which will suffocate any who enter. Kaz then asks the children how they let it fall down there in the first place.

From a tower nearby, Eli is watching what is going on before disappearing out of site, implying that he caused it to fall down there. Quiet then jumps into the tank to get the necklace, Snake then screams in anguish and is stopped by Ocelot from going down there. Kaz thinks that it was a stunt to try to cause panic.

Quiet then climbs out of the tank having recovered Shabani's necklace, badly burnt but still alive. Snake then grabs her, as she drops the necklace onto the floor which one of the children puts back around his neck. Snake then takes Quiet to get medical treatment. Kaz is then left alone to ponder on what had just happened.

"A Quiet Interrogation"
Quiet is tortured by Ocelot and a soldier from Diamond Dogs who uses stun rods to electrocute Quiet who doesn't react in anyway. Ocelot tells Kaz that she is still living up to her name. Kaz asks her who infected her with the parasite, with Ocelot objecting as she must not talk, Kaz replies that he only wants a name. Quiet still refuses to say anything.

Kaz then explains to Quiet that her lungs have been burnt up and that traces of rubbing alcohol have been found in her alveoli and a petal had been found adhered to her lungs, from the flower of White Star Bethlem which confirms that she was the assassin that had been sent by Skull Face to kill Snake in Cyprus, that the injuries she sustained should have killed her, however visibly she looks well with Kaz correctly guessing that Skull Face saved her. Code Talker told Kaz that he was the only capable of of applying them to parasite therapy until Skull Face stole his research. When Quiet still refuses to talk, Kaz has her doused with salt water causing Quiet discomfort and pain. Ocelot then stepped in and doused her with normal water saying that Quiet wont talk and shes not on Mother Base to kill anyone as she has had plenty of chances, she now works for Big Boss now as she is in love with the legend with Ocelot saying he was the same way once Ocelot left telling Kaz that it is a waste of time. Snake concurred to which Kaz angrily stormed out. Snake released Quiet and dismissed the Diamond Dogs soldier before leaving.

Quiet and Code Talker, now alone, talked to each other in the language Navajo, which the vocal cord parasites do not know, talking about the third English strain that Skull Face was referring to on his death bed, which Quiet is infected with, she explains that Skull Face ordered her to infect Mother Base and Diamond Dogs with the English strain of the vocal cord parasites however she decided not to carry that order and said she will never speak English.

"Recovering the Man on Fire's body"
Ocelot and Snake discussed what happened to he Man on Fire, with the former having doubts that the Man on Fire is dead, his body was not found after Snake defeated Sahelantropus as he was able to survive gunfire and explosions. Snake assured Ocelot that he saw the Man on Fire get crushed by Sahelantropus's landing platform, Ocelot believed him, but still doubts that he is gone for good and told Snake that he will update Snake if he finds any information concerning the Man on Fire.

Sometime later, Ocelot informed Snake that Soviet personnel retrieved the body and placed it at the Yakho Oboo Supply Outpost. Ocelot suspected the true identity of the Man on Fire from one of Skull Face's statements about men becoming demons and reanimating the dead due to residual desires for revenge, that it was the body of an old enemy, their "old friend" Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin.

Snake would later infiltrate the Yakho Oboo Supply Outpost and neutralized the Soviet soldiers before finding Volgin's body. Before being extracted, Volgin's burned body came back to life once again as the "Man on Fire", causing his fiery horse, Man on Fire's horse, to appear, knocking down Snake in the process. He pinned down Venom Snake and met him face to face. Mysteriously, Volgin momentarily reverted to his original appearance, in which he then stopped his assault. He fell backwards to the ground, dropping several bullets as well, and finally died along with his horse. Volgin's corpse was then taken back to Mother Base and put in one of the Quarantine platform's cages. Ocelot then took the time to look over Volgin's corpse, reflecting that Skull Face must have used his desires for revenge against Big Boss for his goals.

"Truth: The Man Who Sold the World"
Due to the Hypnotherapy wearing off, Venom Snake remembers what happened after the helicopter crash, that Kaz and Big Boss were on medical beds in Colombia and saw Big Boss fall into a coma, and when Kaz asked the lead doctor about the other man, the doctor turned and looked at the other man, said that he took shrapnel to the head; the realisation that Venom Snake and Big Boss are not one and the same.

Another flashback reveals that the lead doctor and the nurse were talking about the plastic surgery in Greek and it was revealed that the surgery was completed before the doctor and nurse were killed by Quiet, before his death at Quiet's hand, the doctor showed the two photographs of the main members of MSF and Snake moved one of the other and sees himself on the phtograph standing next to Big Boss, he turned it over and saw it written "Good Luck"and that it was from "Vic Boss."

In a flashback to the incident in which Ahab and Ishmael escaped at Dhekelia Hospital, the true fate of Ishmael was revealed. While it's true he was hit with a bullet from the XOF chopper, he did not die. After playing dead and once the ambulance had crashed, Ishmael began to crawl out of the wreckage, but found himself quickly dragged off by Ocelot, who both left the unconscious Venom Snake inside the ambulance. Ishmael removed his facial bandages and dressed himself with the clothing supplied by Ocelot, revealing his identity as the true Big Boss. Ocelot gave Big Boss a passport that belongs to Venom Snake and told him that is the identity he will have to go under and advised him to change his face as well.

The two discussed the plan that Big Boss's body double, Venom Snake will act as the new Big Boss, which he believes, with Big Boss summarising that Venom Snake is his phantom. The two shared a final cigar, with Big Boss stating that they will meet again, before Ocelot departed on horseback to retrieve Venom Snake, while Big Boss mounted Ocelot's motorcycle and began his crusade to create Outer Heaven.

Flash forward sometime later, where Venom Snake is seen entering a bathroom with the sound of gunfire all around him.Now that the hypnotherapy has worn off Venom Snake remembered the events of extracting the bomb from Paz Ortega Andrade seeing it from he perspective as the medic and that he protected Big Boss and took the full force of the explosion and took the shrapnel to the head. He has a hallucination of his original appearance from his original life as the medic.

He has received a tape from Big Boss labelled "The Man Who Sold the World", and begins to listen to it on a Sony cassette player which contained the following:

"Now do you remember? Who you are? What you were meant to do? I cheated death, thanks to you. And thanks to you I’ve left my mark. You have too – you’ve written your own history. You’re your own man. I’m Big Boss, and you are too… No… He’s the two of us. Together. Where we are today? We built it. This story – this “legend” – it’s ours. We can change the world – and with it, the future. I am you, and you are me. Carry that with you, wherever you go. Thank you... my friend. From here on out, you’re Big Boss."

- Big Boss

Venom Snake, despite knowing the truth of his past, decides to keep up the ruse. After finishing listerning to the tape, Venom Snake removes it and turns it over and sees the other side labelled "Operation Intrude N313". Upon placing the tape in a cassette player Snake begins to listen to the data.

Sometime later, Venom Snake looks in the bathroom mirror, sees his face covered completely in blood and his "horn" grown significantly longer smashes the mirror in frustration at seeing the demon he has become, but accepts his fate as a demon nonetheless and begins to prepare for his destiny.

Later on, Kaz and Ocelot are talking with the former asking what it is all for and what is Big Boss's plan. Ocelot explains that the real Big Boss is working separately from them to create his new nation; a military nation above and apart from all - the true "Outer Heaven", a nation created to maintain world balance independent of the struggles of supremacy,for personal profit, the cycles of revenge between countries, while it will be an army, it will be more. It will be a nation. Until it is complete Kaz and himself must support the other Big Boss, who carries on the legend and the meme, that is Big Boss's plan. Faced with this revelation, Kaz declares that he has lost everything, Big Boss and the future they were building together. Ocelot tells him that the age of Big Boss's sons will arrive, that they'll likely want to settle the score with him, that Kaz and himself will have to shape that age with both of them having roles to play, to build a foundation for a revolution led by both Big Bosses - the true one and the phantom. Kaz, disgusted with the deception declares that "Big Boss can go to hell" and that hell make the phantom and his sons stronger to send him there and that is the only reason hell play his role. Ocelot responds that sooner or later there will be only one Boss as there is only room for one Boss. That Big Boss's sons are fated to face each other someday. Ocelot warns Kaz that if the day ever comes that he goes back to Cipher, hell aid the other son, and the two of them will be enemies and that one of them will have to kill the other. Kaz says that is fine with him, and he will be ready for the new age and until then, the two of them better get use to coexisting.