Metal Gear Spark: Peace Zero

by GreenS21

Not-So-Respectful Imprisonment

“Is it still alive?”

“It was when we brought it in. Thank God it got distracted when it did. It could’ve been a real problem if it hadn’t.”

“Fucking thing blasted me with whatever came out of its horn. My uniform stood up to it pretty well, but my face… God, whatever it was, it felt weird, and it hurt.”

“Get over yourself, you’re fine. The Russian was right; it paid to wait for it to come out. Now we have more leverage against Big Boss, and this’ll make a nice little bonus for everyone back in the States.”

“Sir, may I ask why? What does this thing have to do with anything?”

“Don’t you see? I’m already giving them the perfect deterrent with Peace Walker, and with this, I can further show how dangerous Big Boss has become! He’s been trying to hide this from the rest of the world; who knows what its been contributing to his army or how many more of these things there are out there. With this one to study, we will be better prepared for when they come than the rest of the world. Becoming the head of the CIA again may be just the beginning.”

“Sir… I think it’s waking up…”

Twilight could hear talking as she slowly regained consciousness. She recognized the first as Hot Coldman’s and thought to herself, “Please tell me I’m not where I think I am…” Her mind was on high alert and she wanted to get far away from wherever she was, but her whole body felt heavy, unresponsive. That blow to her head had really knocked her for a loop and she could only manage to move her limbs a little bit.

She was finally able to lift her head up off the cold, metal ground beneath her and open her eyes a little after a minute, a long groan escaping her mouth. As she got her eyes open most of the way, she could see metal bars in front of her. A quick look around revealed that there were bars all around her. “Oh no… I really am… somewhere,” she moaned out, unable to do much more.

“Just ‘somewhere’? That’s not a nice way to talk about the location where history is about to be made,” said Hot Coldman. Twilight immediately turned to look to her left, where she heard his voice, and found herself looking at a pair of legs wearing black slacks with suspenders at the top, the straps going up and over a gray long sleeve shirt, the upper part of the shirt being out of Twilight’s view at the moment. And at the bottom of the legs were a pair of shiny brown shoes.

Twilight had just started to lean her head closer towards the bars to get a better look when the man suddenly crouched down, revealing his bald head and sinister grin. She yelped and tried to back away unsuccessfully, bumping the top of her head against the ceiling of her cage as she hardly moved back at all. She groaned as she rubbed her head with a hoof, but she kept one eye on Coldman as he looked at her. She soon lowered her hoof and glared, “You’re Hot Coldman, aren’t you?”

The man’s grin didn’t waver as he said, “Very perceptive. I assume you’ve heard of me from Big Boss?”

Twilight answered, “I was there with him when you threw Huey down the stairs.”

Coldman replied, “Ah, so that’s where the good doctor ran off to. No matter; he’ll be dealt with in due time. I’m more interested in you at the moment.”

Twilight dryly remarked, “Really? I had no idea. It’s not like I overheard you just now or anything.”

Cold said, “You really do have a smart mouth, but I’m sure we can get that out of you before we send you to the States.”

Twilight glared at him, “You really think I’m just going to let you do whatever you want with me?”

Coldman replied, “I think you’ll learn to halt your tongue sooner or later. I have many colleagues back in the States that are determined to get results, and they’re not shy about how they get them either. I can assure you, they are much less amicable than I am.”

Twilight muttered loudly, “Says the guy who threw a man down the stairs over a difference in opinions.”

Coldman continued, “As for you doing what I say… Yes, of course you will. If you can grasp the concept of deterrence, then you’ll come to see the genius of my vision.” As he finished speaking, he looked back over his shoulder at the two guards and motioned to them, both of them nodding and leaving the room through a sliding door behind him in response.

Twilight turned back to Coldman and asked, “Your vision? You mean Peace Walker? The thing Snake is going to destroy?”

Coldman let out a sharp laugh and spoke, “Is he still using that old codename? And destroy it? He’s helped complete it, you fool! Thanks to him, my perfect deterrent is now finished!”

Twilight stared at him as she sidled up to the bars, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but even if what you’re saying is true, I still don’t understand your reasoning. Deterrence is all about using the threat of attacking to keep others in check, right? How does actually attacking prove the theory is true?”

Coldman replied, “Do you not see? Peace Walker is a power the likes of which the world has never seen! The world needs to be shown what it’s capable of; we must show that we will retaliate if we are provoked. Peace Walker will usher in a new era of peace with this power.”

Twilight said, “That seems like an abuse of power to me. I understand the need for power since we have that as well back home, but that’s more for our daily needs. We take care of the land, we help each other, we make it possible for those curious about magic to learn more, but we have our limits. It’s okay to show off some, but it’s not okay to threaten others. That’s not what magic or any sort of power should be used for.”

Coldman raised a finger, “And that is exactly the same problem that humans have: weakness.” Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “So many countries make claims that they have nukes, that whoever they’re issuing these statements to has to agree to their terms or risk being wiped out, yet that has never happened. Nukes are the true path to peace in this world, so why don’t countries use them? The answer… is because of their reputations,” he concluded.

Twilight could hardly believe the words that came out of his mouth. “Reputations?! You think that’s what stops them?!” she asked.

Coldman stood up and began to walk around in front of her as he said, “But of course! Whose mind would ever tell them that they should be remembered as the one who pressed the button? Who would be able to condone the thought of going down in history as the great destroyer? Humans are too weak for that, but machines are not. They will be remembered as the real heroes of this Cold War, for being able to do what humans could not. We will have peace because of them.”

Twilight watched him as he talked, noting that he was acting as if he was making his speech to a room full of people. “Do you really think that’s the only thing that goes through people’s minds when it comes to decisions like that? I’m not exactly an outgoing pony and even when I was a shut-in, I wasn’t that simple-minded. You clearly don’t understand anything about others if you think that’s the most important thing in life.”

Coldman knelt down and looked at her again, the grin on his face now seeming more deranged than smug. “Is that so? Then perhaps you need a real-life example in order to understand,” he said.

Twilight didn’t like the sinister way he said that. “What are you going to do?” she asked a bit nervously.

Coldman smirked, “Since you asked, I’m going to let you in on something. No one else in Big Boss’ little army, not even Big Boss himself, knows this yet, but I will tell you where Peace Walker’s first and last strike will be. It may well be the only place that you actually know about in all of this, and it’s full of people who are willingly putting themselves at risk should the rest of the world find out about you.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in horror as she realized what he was talking about. “No! You don’t mean…”

Coldman grinned, “Exactly! The target is an offshore area in the Caribbean. And funnily enough, there happens to be a little man-made island right in middle of it. But the only thing people will care about is the fact that the trade winds will carry the fallout over the surrounding region, killing crops and fish and leaving so many people who will only be able to find work helping to mass produce Peace Walker. After all, who’s going to miss a bunch of dissidents who are hiding important secrets from the world?”

Anger quickly overtook Twilight’s shock and she lunged forward, her hooves pressing up against the bars and an angry look on her face as her horn lit up with magic. “NO! You won’t get away with this, Coldman! I won’t let you!” she yelled.

Coldman was admittedly surprised by the sudden change in Twilight’s attitude and stood up as he backed away slightly, but he soon regained his composure, his expression changing for not even a second. “Ah, ah, ah! You might want to reconsider that! You’d better put out that light and not make any attempts to escape if you know what’s good for you!” he said.

Twilight snorted, “These bars are made of plain metal. You really think this cage can hold me, that it can stop me from helping Snake?”

Coldman simply replied, “I know it wasn’t built to hold something like you, but that doesn’t matter because you’re not getting out of it.”

Twilight growled, “And why is that?”

Coldman didn’t answer her; instead, he unclipped a radio from his hip and held it up to his face, saying, “Bring her in.” The two soldiers from earlier walked back into the room, but this time they had someone with them. Twilight’s shock returned as they came into clear view and she saw who it was. It was a young girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, her eyes filled with fear at the moment. She wore a dark blue dress that went down to her knees and green-black boots that stopped just short of her knees, the top of a white collared shirt visible through the top of the dress as well as a red tie. She was unfamiliar to Twilight, but the alicorn had a feeling she knew who she was.

“Paz?” she asked. The girl gasped slightly, her fear hiding any shock she might’ve had at seeing Twilight and hearing her speak.

Coldman chuckled, “Yes. I’ve finally gotten back the source of the information leak. She was very lucky to have found Big Boss. Unfortunately for her, it seems she never did figure out who the ‘professor’ really was.”

Twilight remembered Galvez and realized he must’ve allowed the CIA to recapture Paz, and it made her anger flare up again. “You!” she growled as magic surrounded her horn again and she glared at Coldman. Despite her anger, she did clearly hear the sound of a click off to the side and looked to see the soldier holding Paz was now holding a handgun in his right hand and had it up against the right side of her head, the poor girl looking terrified now.

Twilight looked back at Coldman as he spoke, “I told you to behave and you didn’t listen, so now it’s time for the ultimatum! You can still stop me now, yes, but can you do it knowing what’s at stake?” Twilight looked back at Paz, the gun still pointed at her head and her breaths sawing in and out as she looked back at Twilight. “You try to attack me, she dies. You try to escape, she also dies. You manage to get out somehow, once again she dies. But if you get rid of that glow around your horn, quiet down, and stay in that cage, she gets to live. Make your choice,” Coldman finished.

Twilight looked back at Paz, the girl looking back at her desperately. “Don’t do it…!” she managed to plea, trying to urge Twilight not to give into Coldman’s demands.

“Quiet!” the soldier holding her commanded as he squeezed her arm tighter and pressed the barrel of his gun harder against the side of her head, the girl letting out a gasp of pain in response. Twilight couldn’t take what she was seeing anymore and let her head hang, the glow around her horn fading as she moved back from the bars.

“And just like that, the theory is proven true. You’re not above us; you have the exact same weakness. You don’t even know her and your reputation takes precedence. You know what Big Boss would do if he found out what you did and you fear it,” Coldman stated triumphantly.

Twilight raised her head, “I never said I was above you. And that’s…. that’s not what’s holding me back.”

Coldman knelt down again and looked at her as he spoke, “But it’s part of the reason, isn’t it? She’s crucial to what Big Boss has; imagine what would happen if she died. I hold all the cards here; you have to obey my terms or suffer the consequences. The theory of deterrence works.”

Twilight tried to say, “But…”

Coldman suddenly reached a hand through the bars and grabbed her under her chin, squeezing her cheeks as he dragged her back up to the bars. “You’ve shown weakness. That’s something this world has enough of, and with Peace Walker, we will bring an end to it. The Cold War will finally mean something once the world grasps the strength of our perfect deterrent. The fear of retaliation will spread across the globe and the war machine will grind to a halt. All contention will cease and we will have peace.”

Twilight could only look into his eyes as he spoke, hearing his words but seeing so much more. She could see just how much he truly believed in what he was saying and it made her shiver in fear. “You’re mad…” she managed to utter.

Coldman only grinned sinisterly. “Mad? Hardly. Just eager to make a statement to the rest of the world. And I don’t think you have any more right to judge me than any other human who falters when they see what they’re up against.” He released Twilight when he finished speaking and swiftly swung his hand against the left side of her face, causing her to fall onto her side with a cry. The guard who wasn’t holding Paz laughed as she carefully held her hoof up to her cheek.

As Twilight slowly sat up, she noticed Coldman take Paz from the soldiers, both of them moving behind her cage afterwards. She then saw the door behind him slide open again, a woman with silver-colored hair and dark sunglasses step through it. She was wearing a black vest over a white collared shirt, a red ID card on the front of it over her left breast and a red and blue tie around the neck of the shirt sticking out from the bottom of it, black pants, and black shoes. Coldman looked back at her and smiled, “Ah, Dr. Strangelove! What’s the word on Big Boss?”

The woman replied without breaking her stride, “He’s escaped. He should be here soon.” She came to a stop next to Coldman and turned to her right. Twilight looked as well and almost immediately saw it; not only was the room they were in a lot larger than she had thought, but there was also a large, bipedal machine sitting in the middle of it surrounded by catwalks. She realized they were in a hanger, and that machine had to be the completed Peace Walker. Coldman turned to look at it as well, still holding Paz against his front with his left arm.

Just as the doctor had said, it didn’t take long for Snake to appear in the hanger, his eye first going to her before shifting to Coldman, his men, and his captives. “It’s too late, Big Boss,” Coldman stated as he looked down at him from the walkway.

“Snake…” Paz managed to utter.

“Paz…! Twilight?!” Snake exclaimed not expecting to see either of them in Coldman’s clutches, especially not Twilight.

Coldman grinned, “What a mistake it was to let her leave. You should’ve been keeping a better eye on her, Big Boss. And at last, the culprit who led you here to begin with. Should have taken care of her back at the supply facility.” Paz tried to call to Snake again, but Coldman cut her off, “The Mammal Pod is finished. Peace Walker’s activation sequence is complete.”

Snake looked up at him, “‘Finished’…?”

Dr. Strangelove explained, “With The Boss, you were loyal to the end, I’ll grant you that. But your silence was exactly the answer I needed. Ten years ago, your mission was to kill her. And her mission was to be killed by you. She fulfilled her duty to America to the very end. Thanks to you, Snake, the final missing piece is now in place. And thus, The Boss is restored to life as the Mammal Pod. I thank you.”

Snake uttered, “Restored to life…? You’re crazy.”

Coldman spoke, “Now I’m going to let YOU in on this little secret, Big Boss. You see, I’ve already selected Peace Walker’s initial target: an offshore area in the Caribbean. The trade winds will scatter the fallout all over the surrounding region. Crops and fish will die, leaving plenty of free hands to help us mass-produce Peace Walker.” He chuckled, “Oho… and wouldn’t you know, someone’s gone and built a pesky little fortress there. Now who would do that? And right in the middle of the target zone, too. Oh well. All the better to test the warhead’s CEP.”

Snake glared up at him, “You bastard…”

Coldman grinned down at him, “I wonder who’ll miss a ragtag band of pirates all the way out in the middle of the Caribbean, especially one that keeps secrets like this…?” He reached his left hand over and patted Twilight’s cage with it, still holding Paz against him with his right arm. Snake pulled a pistol out of his holster and pointed it up at Coldman, but the man hardly seemed to register it as he went on, “But first, we’re going to prove to the White House that our baby can travel the Caribbean coast on its own. The whole world will know of Peace Walker’s versatility. They’ll witness the birth of a deterrent that can penetrate both Communist and guerilla-controlled territory, traverse any kind of terrain, and deliver a nuke anywhere it needs to go. Untouchable, unstoppable… the perfect deterrent.”

While still pointing his gun up at Coldman, Snake grunted, “The Cold War’s days are numbered. Deterrence isn’t only about America and Russia now.”

Coldman replied, “You know what? You’re absolutely right. While we’ve been wringing our hands, China, France – even India – have surpassed us. There’s a free-for-all nuclear arms race brewing just below the surface. The nuclear threat will only spread, which is exactly why we must deter it here and now. And the Peace Walker Project… is the key.” Suddenly, the platform that Peace Walker was sitting on shook and it began to slowly move upwards. “The advent of Peace Walker will bring calm to this restless world. Don’t you see, Snake? We need nukes – controlled nukes – to have peace,” Coldman concluded.

“Lies…!” Paz cried out.

Strangelove glanced over at Paz and Coldman behind her sunglasses as Coldman said, “Peace Walker will restore order – order in the form of a new Cold War. But if the world is to understand the genius of our plan, WE MUST LAUNCH.”

Snake looked over at Peace Walker’s rising platform for a second before looking back at Coldman to see him turning and walking into the elevator behind him with Paz, Dr. Strangelove doing the same and the two soldiers pushing the cart that Twilight’s cage was on into the elevator behind them. “SNAKE!” Paz and Twilight cried out as the doors slid shut behind them.

The elevator ride was quiet and uneventful for the most part, but as they neared the end of it, the compartment they were in began to shake. After a few moments of feeling the shaking, Dr. Strangelove remarked, “Peace Walker is right above us. Her auto-defense system must be engaged.”

Coldman smirked, “So Big Boss has become Peace Walker’s top priority. Too bad we’re going to miss most of it.”

Twilight peered out at him, “You really shouldn’t be so happy about that, Coldman. Considering Snake defeated the Pupa and whatever else you’ve thrown at him since then…”

She was cut off when the soldier she’d blasted earlier hit her cage with the butt of his rifle and yelled, “Hey, shut up!”

She looked back at Coldman when he said, “You should listen to him. I did tell you to be quiet earlier. And Peace Walker is much different from its predecessors. The only way Snake will be able to defeat it is if he’s able to bring himself to kill her again. Another weakness that has no place in this world.” Twilight looked confused at that, not sure what he was referring to.

The elevator came to a stop soon afterwards and the doors slid open to reveal a hanger, a lone brown helicopter with its rotors spinning sitting in the middle of it. Above it was a pair of metal doors at the top of a shaft, the doors closing off the hanger from the outside. Coldman headed for the helicopter with Paz in tow while giving orders to the soldiers, “You! Get those doors open! And you! Bring her to the chopper!”

The soldier that had been ordered to move Twilight’s cage was the same one that she had hit with her magic earlier. This fact didn’t become apparent to her until Coldman and the other soldier had moved some distance away and she heard his hand slap the top of her cage. Wincing from the sound, she turned to her left to look at him as he knelt down. He looked at her and said, “Well, looks like it’s just you and me for the moment.” Twilight stared back at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment before he suddenly reached his right hand through the bars and smacked the side of her face.

Twilight reeled from the hit and looked back at him with an angry expression on her face. “Hey…!” she started before he placed his hand on her face, grabbing on.

“Doesn’t feel so good, does it? I bet you’re wishing you had the capacity to make smarter choices now, huh?!” he taunted while she squirmed beneath his hand.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Dr. Strangelove’s voice sounded suddenly and the soldier let go of Twilight’s face, standing up and looking at the woman who had just come over after putting on her red overcoat.

“Forgive me, Doctor. I didn’t hear you,” the soldier said in an even tone.

“Clearly not. What was that just now?!” Strangelove demanded.

“I was trying to get a lesson through this thing’s head. I wanted to make sure it knew that just because Coldman isn’t standing in front of it, it shouldn’t try anything funny,” the soldier replied.

“Seemed more like you were trying to torture her to me. In case you didn’t notice, she is a living creature and she has a gender. She is not a ‘thing,’ so stop it. Follow your orders and I might not mention this little deed of yours to Coldman,” Strangelove ordered with a disgusted look on her face.

“What, what does it matter to you, Doctor? You want it as a pet or something?” the soldier asked.

“As a rationally-minded scientist, what you’re doing, frankly, is disgusting to me. And Coldman clearly wants her, presumably to send her back to America, so do what you were told,” Strangelove told him angrily. The soldier grunted and moved to the handles of the cart, pushing it as Strangelove watched him intently, carefully following behind to make sure he didn’t try anything else. By the time they got to the helicopter, the doors at the top of the shaft had opened all the way and Coldman and Paz were already seated onboard. When the other soldier joined them, he helped his partner lift Twilight’s cage into the helicopter and secure it before they both climbed in along with Dr. Strangelove. The craft lifted off soon after they found their seats, slowly rising up towards the opening above.

As the chopper finally rose up all the way out of the underground base, Coldman leaned over and used his hand to slide open the door on the right side of the chopper, both he and Dr. Strangelove leaning over to peer out. Being in the middle, Twilight was able to look out the door through the bars of her cage and see what had caught their attention.

For the brief moment she saw it, Twilight saw that Peace Walker was behaving erratically, shaking and stomping its feet and heard a mechanized female voice speaking out its processes at too fast a speed for it to be operating normally. Had Snake defeated Peace Walker already? The thought was quickly banished when Coldman called to the chopper pilot, “Redirect it!” In response, the pilot flew the chopper around towards Peace Walker, firing the machine gun mounted on the front at the Mammal Pod on top. That caused the beast to come to a stop and for a short time there was silence.

Then suddenly, though Twilight couldn’t see it, all the hatches on Peace Walker’s weapons flipped closed and it shifted its stance, turning its legs around behind it and standing back on them as it brought out another pair of legs that it brought down in front of it, changing from a biped to a quadruped, letting out a roar all the while. Again, there was a short silence in the area before the chopper flew ahead of Peace Walker, Twilight getting a good look at its new form as the chopper pilot called, “Over here!” Peace Walker immediately started moving after it at that, using its legs to climb the rocky walls in almost no time at all. When it reached the top, it let out one last roar before it resumed walking, leaving the base behind.

Coldman, Dr. Strangelove, and Twilight continued to look out at Peace Walker as the chopper flew along its left side, keeping pace with it. Twilight looked away from the behemoth when she heard Coldman say, “The day is dawning…” She saw him looking towards the Sun rising in the distance and realized they were heading west. Coldman then looked back at Peace Walker as it let out a roar and said, “Go!”

As they continued to fly close to Peace Walker, Twilight heard it firing missiles and realized Snake was somehow pursuing it. In addition to the helicopter’s rotors and the sound of Peace Walker’s heavy steps, she could hear the explosions sounding behind them and, for a brief time when it stopped firing and she listened hard, the sound of trees falling as they passed through a forest. When they reached the end of the forest, she heard Peace Walker say in a female voice that was heavily robotic, “GO HOME!” This was when it resumed firing its missiles. She didn’t know how Snake was chasing Peace Walker, but as long as it kept firing, she knew he had a chance to stop it.

All too soon, however, the firing stopped and she heard the pilot say soon afterwards, “Approaching the border.”

Coldman looked back out the open door and grinned, “See you around, Big Boss.” Twilight looked at him worriedly at that. From the sound of Peace Walker’s footsteps, it sounded like it was getting closer to the chopper. It must’ve been climbing up a mountain. She didn’t know how Snake had managed to keep up with it all this time and wondered if he would be able to follow it up as he was.

Not long afterwards, she began to hear the sound of splashing water below. It really seemed to reverberate through the air; was Peace Walker going through a lake? Dread filled Twilight as she considered this thought. Even if Snake was still in pursuit and she was willing to let Paz die now, there was no way they had what it would take to fight a submerged behemoth. The water would mess them up, and Peace Walker wouldn’t even need to do anything to them; just it walking would make it deadly for anyone to get within range and try to fight it in the water.

Twilight hung her head. Somewhere off in the distance, she could swear she heard an almost inhuman roar coming from Snake and she felt like she understood how he was feeling at the moment, being so close and yet so far. But there was no escaping the cold hard truth.

Peace Walker was complete and activated, and there was no stopping it from reaching its destination now.

Comments

[FlareBlack The Jackal]

Nice capther. continue!.

[sonicandmario826]

You made a mistake on the title "Respectul" should be "Respectful".

I was wondering how they were going to keep Twilight captive. Doubt they have the technology, but this was definitely a good way of doing. Though Twilight is smart I imagine she could think of a plan to get both of them out safely.

Good chapter!!!

[GreenS21]

8689722

Was in a hurry. Completely my fault.