Metal Gear Solid Male Reader: The Full Story of Punished "Venom" Snake

Chapter 19: Listening to the tape

Venom Snake's POV

I got back on the chopper after hearing about Africa. I get a call from Ocelot.

Ocelot: Boss, I've been meeting to tell you something.

Venom Snake: What is it?

Ocelot: Our old friend Zero haven't been seen in public since you left the States. That was over ten years ago now. You suspected he was responsible for the "accident" at your base in the Caribbean.

Venom Snake: Yeah, what about him?

Ocelot: But at that point, Zero was already bedridden. So it never felt right to me that Zero gave the order... Now that I've seen the man Emmerich was working for, I'm sure he didn't.

Venom Snake: What are you saying?

Ocelot: I know that man. He was our old friend's XO. A man without a face. Not one you'd want to look at, anyway. Skull Face.

Venom Snake: Skull Face...

Ocelot: He's the one who destroyed your base nine years ago. The unit he commands, XOF, was Cipher's strike force. But he's since split from Zero and used XOF to usurp control over Cipher itself. In other words... The Cipher we're hunting isn't Zero. Beyond Zero is a void that's even darker. Skull Face.

Ocelot gets off the comm. I start to process all of the information that he told me.

Venom Snake: I should listen to the tape Kaz gave me.

I take out the tape and put it in my tape player. It plays.

Huey: It wasn't just Cipher. Back in the Caribbean, every eye in the world was turned on us. A private army - just a bunch of guys with guns - in possession of a nuke? Why wouldn't they be uncomfortable?

Ocelot: And that's why you made sure the inspection happened.

Huey: Well I thought our best move was to prove to the UN, through the IAEA, that we had no nuke. ...Of course, I was against us having it in the first place. But that was Snake's decision.

Kaz: The Boss wasn't responsible.

Huey: Don't get me wrong, I still believed in Snake. I thought I was making the best decision for all of us, that's all. I figured we should get a third party to exonerate us before proof of the nuke did get out. And who better to do that than an organization with international authority?

Ocelot: So the truth is, you took it upon yourself to agree to an inspection arranged by the UN. Only the inspection was a ruse, and Cipher's strike force, XOF, showed up instead.

Huey: I had no idea that would happen.

Kaz: Enough bullshit!

Huey: Oh sure, like I could have known! You know I was just trying to prove our innocence to the world. What's wrong with that?

Ocelot: We're not interested in the excuses you've thought up. The truth is objective.

Huey: Just see it from my point of view...

Ocelot: You led XOF to the control tower. They seized it, giving them complete control over the base. Moments later, they detonated C-4 on the strut legs. Anyone who'd managed to survive was hunted down by the assault force and their choppers.

Huey: You can't believe I did that on purpose?

Ocelot: That was the end of Mother Base. But it wasn't the end for you.

Huey: How can you... look, think about it. I lost something too. I built ZEKE, and it got buried underwater. I am a victim.

Ocelot: That raises the big questions. Why were you the only one spared? You got away without a scratch. Why did Strangelove leave the base on the eve of the inspection? You two were close.

Huey: Strangelove?

Ocelot: And how did you manage to build something that surpasses ZEKE in every way? Because you did everything they told you. You're the only one who didn't lose a thing. That is the truth.

Huey: ...I was taken away against my will. Skull Face forced me to do his research these past nine years. He used me. I lost nine years!

Kaz: Nine years? We all lost nine years. It wasn't just you.

Huey: ...I suppose blaming me makes you feel better, does it? But, who is gonna give me back all the time I lost!

Ocelot: You're not getting anything back.

Kaz: You're not a victim here, Emmerich. You're the perpetrator.

Huey: I didn't know anything.

Ocelot: Nobody can back that up.

Kaz: Yeah, all the evidence... is at the bottom of the ocean.

The tape ends.

Venom Snake: Damn...

I then get a call from Kaz.

Kaz: Boss, I have a mission for you.