• Published 30th Jun 2019
  • 574 Views, 56 Comments

War Gone Cold - Bronycommander



Some time passed after meeting the She-Bear. Yet Dinky, Lily, Katja and Blau Streifen wonder what happened to her. Little they know, they would find out soon, in another war.

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Chapter 7 Skull Face

Chapter 7: Skull Face

With a groan, Midnight regained consciousness and looked around.

They had crashed at the airport, seeing that Wolf stirred. “Are you okay?” He asked and she nodded.

Both checked on the others, they were not moving but breathing. “Unconscious but alive.” The batpony let out a breath of relief and both knights dragged their friends out of the wreck, seeing how Snake helped Code Talker out of the other wreck, being right next to them.

The leader then brushed against the rusty body of the chopper and looked up, seeing mist everywhere.

“It looks like you surrounded by mist. The support chopper can’t get close to your position right now.” Miller informed.

“Hurry! They are coming.” Code Talker warned before they heard a grunt of pain and turned into its direction.

A CFA soldier stumbled out, of a hanger gasping for air and collapsed. Then, one of those Armor Skulls stumbled out and the soldier twitched, and rose again, stumbling a bit. He had deathly pale skin, whitened pupils, blackening around his eyes and mouth, slight sores near the neck, enlarged veins, and several small blue orbs emitting from his head.

Three more Skulls stumbled towards the crash site from all directions, together with possessed CFA soldiers.

The first Skull clenched his fists and within seconds, he was engulfed in his rock-like armor.

“We are their quarry…” Code Talker mumbled.

Without hesitation, Snake, Midnight and Wolf grabbed their weapons, knowing if Code Talker would die, everything was lost.

Both ponies fired their AKs, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off.

In the moment, both knights tried to use their signature weapons, a metallic spike structure erupted from the ground and burst, knocking both ponies over, taking the fight out of them.

As Snake was busy dodging the attacks, one of the Skulls walked up to the knights and raised his machete. Midnight and Wolf closed their eyes, waiting for the strike that would end their lives.

A cry of pain.

But it wasn’t theirs.

Opening their eyes, they saw that the Skull was thrown back, a large sword penetrating the armor.

“We’re with you, my Lord!” Abstraction looked at them with a smile and they noticed how the other Dark Horse members were also there, fighting the Skulls.

Abundo slammed his hammer with great force, strong enough to send one Skull flying. Neolith used explosive bolts, punching through the armor. Insistra shielded her allies with her crystals, having the same effect as a shield spell and spoke, “Haji-Sama-Nur!” And her crystals fired lethal lasers, also punching through the Armor of the Skulls. Atgeir stunned the third Skull with his axes and delivered strong punches, knocking it back.

Siyarjit blocked rifle fire from the fourth Skull with his shield and hit it with his mace, knocking it back. Snake then gave it the rest with an AA gun and the mist started to clear. All possessed soldiers stumbled and fell over, falling unconscious as they became normal again.

With that, new choppers got sent in, Wolf carried Fletcher, Midnight carried Blue. Abstraction used his magic to carry the children, Insistra carried the two Soviets into the chopper as he arrived.

At Mother Base, Code Talker was given a wheelchair and Ocelot asked, “About the pathogen spreading through Mother Base. What’s your opinion?”

“Textbook symptoms of vocal cord parasite infestation. And judging from this casualty list, it is the Kikongo strain. Meaning, a breed of parasite that triggers symptoms upon detecting pronunciation specific to Kikongo.” He explained after having taken a look.

“So how do we keep them from becoming symptomatic?” Miller wanted to know.

“Use this.” Code Talker handled them the vile. “A type of Wolbachia introduced to a sample of the parasite. A parasitic bacteria that colonizes the parasites, turning male to female and preventing copulation. You must cultivate more.”


“Ugh…I’m…alive?” Fletcher wondered as he woke up with the others in the sickbay.

“Which means you no longer get to stay in bed all day.” Midnight said with a smile as he and the others walked in.

“Is…is Code talker alright?” Dinky asked dazed.

“He is. You were out for two days and we just finished curing the outbreak. It will leave the infected Staff infertile.” Dawnwind explained.

“That’s good to hear, but does that affect us?” Sergei spoke up, sounding concerned.

“No, only the ones who got infected. And don’t worry, Fletcher, I found out through tests that equines are apparently immune to that parasite. Must be the magic I guess.”

“Okay…”

“Hey, guys.” Chernov walked in, also cured. “I appreciate how you did this all for me and the others.”

“I can’t say how happy I am you made it. Pity though that you’re infertile now.” Lovec replied with a weak smile.

“Da, but I can still adopt a child if I found a family. I feel more pity about those who became symptomatic and died. They got cremated, so their friends and families have nothing. But for now, get well soon."

As he and the others walked out, Abstraction chuckled. “Lyra often said she sees Tootsie like a daughter and could adopt her…”

The children, knights, soviets and Blue reported quickly within the day and as Lovec walked out of the sickbay, his friend had a message.

“This letter came for you.”

“Thanks.” Lovec said and read it.

Dear Lovec,

We both can’t express how happy we are to hear you are alive. Yet, it’s hard to bear not to know where you are.

But we look forward to hear from you again and are proud of helping those children we helped years ago.

Your mother sends her love.

Not verbally, of course.

But it's there. A father knows these things

Your loving parents,

Katyusha and Hector

Lovec had to smiled, happy that his parents had replied, t wondered how they knew about the Children. Maybe, news spread?

He wondered but couldn’t get up with anything before Sergei walked up to him. “Sorry to bother, but we found out where Skull Face is.”

“Okay, let’s roll!”

It was raining as they all arrived at the helipad, seeing how Snake was about to board his chopper, with Miller next to him.

“We got word from Afghanistan. Everyone at the Soviet base camp’s dead. No sign of fighting. Parasites.” This shocked the three Soviets. “Skull Face’s men then headed north. The target is OKB Zero. That’s where he’ll activate Sahelanthropus. Unless we stop him, he’ll go down in history a conquering victor. We can’t let that happen. Wipe him out…Don’t leave any trace of his existence."

Snake turned around as he stepped into his chopper. “I’m gonna need backup on this one.”

Every nodded before he flew away and they boarded their own chopper. A third one boarded by Miller and Emmerich joined them as the former gave them the details.

“The research facility Emmerich was talking about is north of the Soviet base. That’s where Skull Face is keeping Sahelanthropus before setting it loose in Afghanistan. There’s a good chance he’s got nukes, too.”

Ocelot then radioed in. “Boss, we need to figure out what Skull Face is up to. If you make contact with him, get him to talk. The ethnic cleansing parasites…Sahelanthropus…Find out what his plans are.”

Miller added, “All we know is that Skullface’s plans are on the verge of fruition. We need to stop him while we can.”

For the adult ponies, it was about making him pay for what he did to the children. Dinky and her friends, they knew the danger Skull Face represented and wanted that Lovec and his parents could have a good future. For the three soviets, they had the same goal as the ponies, as well as avenging those they had lost to him, both Soviet soldiers and Diamond Dog members.

It was morning, but still dark as Snake and his companies got out of the choppers, with the scouts being on a cliff where they had a perfect view of the facility.

The base entrance guarded by 6 soldiers, one of them a sniper, standing on a platform with a searchlight scanning the area and a Walker Gear patrolling around.

The next area was larger, several searchlights were scanning the area, a sniper watching too on a guard tower, on the right side was a depot with a parked tank, a Hind was patrolling the sky and another Walker Gear.

The final gate had some resources and 3 parked tanks, being a narrow street, with another sniper watching as Ocelot gave out some information.

“Built during the time of Alexander the Great, it was left in ruins following one of Genghis Khan's Campaigns. It's occupants changed time and again due to war, and it was expanded on more than one occasion. Ultimately, it fell into the hands of Soviet Philosophers. The Soviet Army was using it as the headquarters of its Afghan invasion force. But it would seem that Skull Face's connections with the Philosophers gave him license to develop Sahelanthropus there.

‘OKB’ is a designation the Soviets use for weapon design bureaus. And in principle, the numbers that follow ‘OKB: are always integers above ‘1’. There is no ‘Zero’. Perhaps this was a secret facility of the Soviet and Chinese Philosophers dating back prior to World War II...”

Lovec, Sergei and Chernov had been rarely been at the OKB, only if very important things had to be done or discussed.

As Snake came close to the entrance, Miller had also some information.

“The Soviet soldiers in that area are all dead. Apparently XOF released the Russian parasite strain. To isolate the facility, they first spread reports of a chemical weapon leak. The infection won’t spread into the surroundings regions. But still…To think they’d just exterminate the men who worked with them all the time…Skull Face must be making his final play.” He paused for a moment. “Elu snuck into the cargo on board the chopper. His idea of an escape attempt? Who can say? We’ll think of how to deal with him later.”

Emmerich also said how he made up his mind, that he would work to pay for what he had done as Snake reached the entrance.

Fletcher fired an arrow with a blunt end at the sniper, knocking his helmet off and stunning him, with Blue putting him to sleep.

Insistra let one of her crystals flew behind the Walker Gear, stunning the operator beyond his protection.

Neolith, Wolf, Midnight and Abundo flew around to deal with the search lights, so Snake and the other Dark Horse members could pass the first area with little trouble, also thanks to the potion updates from their scouts.

They repeated this with the second area, with their companions being forced to stay prone, so the chopper wouldn’t spot them.

Yet thanks to this, Snake managed to get to the third area, where a catwalk to a helipad was, a Blackhawk chopper on standby.

“Leave this to me.” He said to the four Dark Horse members, who nodded.

After getting up, Snake saw Skull Face climbing into the chopper before suddenly, the floating boy was before him. The boy was wearing a gas mask and a black straitjacket, having messy red hair.

He vanished in a flash and Skull Face was now facing Big Boss.

“You too have known loss. And that loss torments you still,” The leader of XOF said before his men jumped out and aimed at Snake, Skull Face subtly ordered them to stand down lowering two of their guns. “You hope hatred... might someday replace the pain. But it never goes away. It makes a man hideous inside and out.” He added as he walked up to Snake and took his hat off.

“Wouldn't you agree? We both are demons. Our humanity won't return. You. Me. We've no place to run, nowhere to hide.” He looked Snake into the eye.

“And that is why I will show you my demon.” He put his hat back on. “Follow me, Big Boss!”

Snake did without a word, following him down the stairs.

“Whatever the Navajo told you... it's just one possible solution derived by Cipher. My will is different.” Skull Face started to tell, with XOF soldiers watching Snake, his allies keeping up out of sight. “I've known you since your time at Langley. I've long been the other side of your coin. 1964, Soviet territory. FOX's first mission. Any mess you made, I was there to clean up. You completed your task - and admirably. The 'information' you returned was far more than enough to fill our pockets. With it, our futures became - more or less - set in stone.” Again a pause.

“And then the major came to me with an idea. ‘Washington doesn't know how to spend money,' he said. 'I'd like to... redirect it'. His goal was an organization dedicated solely - covertly - to supporting America. Cipher. You know the rest. To him, it was mourning - the loss of his friend. Or rather, an act of revenge. On the world, but America most of all.” He led the legendary merc to an elevator, facing him.

“America is a country of liberty. A meeting of immigrants. Instead of simply assimilating, its citizens live along side others. Their roots are varied. Diverse. America's never been made up of just one people. But he tried to forge a single consciousness. For it, and from it. The idea that every citizen would use free will to unite behind their country... Unilateralism like that can't be entrusted to any one individual. So the major sought a system which used information, words, to control the 'subconscious'.” The elevator moved down and they both got into the back of a jeep.

Snake gave him a snarky look as he continued.

“To unite America and the entire world. The major thought this was his friend's will. But I think he never understood what she wanted. Before he ever walked, or cried - even before he was born - his mother tongue was English. He doesn't know the pain of losing his own language. Not yet. He cannot understand her will. I do. I was born in a small village. I was still a child when we were raided by soldiers. Foreign soldiers. Torn from my elders, I was made to speak their language. With each new post, my masters changed, along with the words they made me speak. Words are... peculiar. With each change, I changed too. My thoughts, personality, how I saw right and wrong... War changed me - and not only my visage. Words can kill. I was invaded by words, burrowing and breeding inside me. A philosopher once said, 'It is no nation we inhabit, but a language.' 'Make no mistake, our native tongue is our true fatherland.' My fatherland - my truth was stolen from me. And so was my past. All that's left is the future. And mine is revenge. On those who'd leech off the words of their fellow man. This is what I learned from the major. And then it hit me. It was he who should feel my wrath.”

They drove out of OKB, past the base camp and Snake saw burned bodies on the side of the road, presumably those of the killed Russians.

“He and the code he chose as basis for control. Language codes, information codes - beamed all around us - genetic codes spanning history. By controlling the codes, Cipher... Zero intends to unify the world. Codes implanted into our heads, sucking our minds dry as it spreads from one host to the next. A parasite upon the earth. That is what Zero is. As one born into this world, he's afflicted. I hold him responsible for killing my freedom. Killing all traces of my past... Killing any promise of a future... We are all but dead men forced to walk upon this earth. A world reduced to Zero. Cipher plans to use its codes to control the world. They think they can.” Skull Face pointed out as they drove past more burnt bodies and grabbed a small round container.

“And the 'mother tongue' of all those codes is English.” He opened it and two vials became visible inside. “The word became flesh. The final parasite. It knows English. An English strain of the vocal cord parasite” He then closed it again.

"I will exterminate the English language. With this, I'll rid the world of infestation. All men will breathe free again - reclaim their past, present, and future. This is no ethnic cleanser. It is a 'liberator,' to free the world from Zero. Let the world be.” Skull Face paused.

“Sans lingua franca, the world will be torn asunder. And then, it shall be free. People will suffer, of course - a phantom pain. The world will need a new common tongue. A language of nukes. My Metal Gears shall be the thread by which all countries are bound together, in equality. No words will be needed. Every man will be forced to recognize his neighbor. People will swallow their pain. They will link lost hands. And the world will become one.” As paused yet again, the driver fiddled with the radio and a song played. “This war is peace.”

He stayed silent until they almost reached the power plant.

“When the world witnesses Sahelanthropus, the hands of the doomsday clock will roll on, regardless of Zero. Sahelanthropus will take the first giant step into a brave new world. It is the bell with which a world - trodden upon by words - declares its independence.” He finished as they reached the power plant.

Sake saw the Metal Gear on its transport platform, being held at gunpoint by the XOF soldiers.

“Remember the Alamo.” Skull Face said as they walked towards the machine.

“This is Queequeg, on station to provide cover.” The pilot of Miller’s chopper reported.

“Get us a line of fire.” Miller acknowledged.

“We’re not the only demons in this world.” Skull Face stated, “Like you, vengeance is all he us. It’s man thirst for revenge that drives the times. Just as you live because of me. He lives because of you.” He pointed behind him then at Snake. Show him.”

The man stepped aside to reveal the man on Fire. Snake took aim as he roared and slowly stepped towards him with fiery steps.

But as he was just a step away, he suddenly stopped.

Everyone got surprised as he turned around, moving towards the transport platform, which moved towards him on its own.

“Wait!” Skull Face yelled before the burning creature got crushed with a fiery wave under one of the wheels. One of the soldiers screamed as the machine moved a foot and crushed him.

“Wait…Who is doing this?” Skull Face asked in shock as his men took aim at Sahelanthropus. “Such a lust for revenge…Who?!” He exclaimed as his men were forced to drag him to safety, with the others opening fire before they got crushed as well, others fled.

Snake could only stare in shock before the Metal Gear looked at him and roared.

Yet he managed to run out, using some crates as cover. He saw how Skull Face boarded a jeep and drove away as XOF troops arrive with Soviet tanks and two Hinds.

The tanks fired, throwing Sahelanthropus back with a mechanical cry of pain. It then returned fire with twin Gatling guns mounted on the head, destroying a tank in an explosion.

Sahelanthropus’s right claw then made a gesture as if it drew a sword and in a flash, it held a fiery red blade into the air. It roared and hit the ground, causing metallic spikes to rise from the ground in its path, destroying all other tanks.

One of the Hinds fired a missile, having the same effect as with the tanks before it got impaled by the blade, spinning out of control and got thrown into one of the towers of the plat, causing it to fall over.

Snake ran as fast as he could towards an abandoned jeep, dodging a tank got that kicked at him by the Metal Gear.

Skull Face found his way blocked by the tower and a wave of flames, staring in shock at the chaos, yet realized something.

“Cipher will rewrite the records…And I will vanish from human history. But... The thirst for revenge I have planted will infest the system. No one can stop it now. Sahelanthropus will unleash that thirst unto the future.” He said confidently. “Major... I'm burning up!” He exclaimed before Sahelanthropus kicked a downed tower on him.

Snake managed to get into the Jeep and drove away, chased by Sahelanthropus as Miler radioed in.

“If the world finds out about Sahelanthropus, Skull Face will have won – his plans become reality. He won’t even need to use nukes. That thing’s mere existence would be enough to enslave humanity to the fear of nuclear Armageddon. It would tear the world apart.”

Snake looked behind, only to see a wall of spikes coming towards him and crashed as it reached him.

His companions had everything watched from a safe distance.

“Oh…dear…” Dinky mumbled in shock.

As the smoke cleared, they saw Snake alive him well, with the Metal Gear having him in its sight.

“I hate to say it, but it’s too dangerous for you.” Sergei said with regret and they the children realized he was right, so they retreated to find a safer spot.

“We must help him!” Abstraction yelled.

“Agreed. Patch, we could need some heavy firepower.” Blue spoke into her radio.

“Already done. It’s on the way as we speak.”

True to his words, a parachute with a supply container landed next to the two snipers. It contained Anti-material rifles. “That’s more like it!” Blue exclaimed with a grin as she and Fletcher took aim with them.

Patch also let drop a supply container with a rocket launcher near Snake’s position, so he had a fighting chance.

Midnight saw some fuel tanks on the back of the Metal Gear and cut them with his blade, causing an explosion that stunned Sahelanthropus. Snake used this to fire a missile at the head, creating another explosion and the machine cried in pain.

Wolf then flew over it and released her storm magic. Sahelanthropus sparked and was stunned from the electricity, locked in place. This allowed the Dark Horse members to get in close.

Abundo struck with heavy strikes on its arms, wrists, with Abstraction and Siyarjit dealt strikes to the knee joints with their swords, their power reinforced by their magic.

Neolith fired explosive bolts at the head, having the same result a Snake’s missile launcher.

Atgeir used his axes to climb up the machine and disabled the spherical radome with them.

Insistra let her crystal spin around the machine, firing lasers at it, with the snipers firing at the head.

They retreated as it started to move again and fired missiles from the thighs at Snake but due to the destroyed radome, it’s accuracy was reduced, so he could easily avoid it.

“Pequod in hot! Find cover!” The pilot of Snake’s chopper warned, firing it’s missiles and Gatling Guns at Sahelanthropus, damaging it further as it sparked. Surprisingly, the Metal Gear ignored the chopper completely, focused on Snake.

As the man tried to find a new position, the machine jumped in front of him and proceeded to aim the railgun at point-blank range. But the floating boy temporarily appeared in front of the mech's head.

Snake used this to fire his rifle at him, throwing him back and the machine was stunned, twitching.

He then fired another missile at the head, followed by another shot from Fletcher and Blue.

Sahelanthropus started to stumble before several explosions happened and with a dying groan, it fell backwards, creating a cloud of dust.

Snake and his companions breathed heavily at what they just had done before Miller’s chopper picked the former up, the latter by their respective chopper.

The laded near Skull Face’s position, seeing that he was crushed under scaffolding, gravely injured but still alive. He attempted to grab his rifle but Snake kicked it away.

He then grabbed the container and inspected it. “There were three. Where’s the other?”

Skull Face coughed blood. Very close…to you.” He managed to point at Big Boss.

Unaffected, Snake threw the vials into the fire.

“Finish me…” Skull Face pleaded in pain. “Kill me…” He attempted to reach out but Miller shoved his arm away with his clutch, causing him to cry in pain.

The knights and Blue covered the eyes of the children, with them covering their ears as Snake grabbed the rifle and shot Skull Face thrice. Ten Miller grabbed Snake’s arm and aimed at Skull Face’s left leg and right arm, shooting it off as revenge for the losses they suffered at Skull Face's hand.

After that, Miller tossed the rifle away and used his crutch to point the barrel away to ensure Skull Face could not reach the barrel in his current state. “Do it yourself.” Kaz stated coldly.

Then everyone walked away.

Bang!

Slightly flinching, they all turned around to see that Emmerich had killed Skull Face.

“I—I did it! Revenge!” The scientist cheered and the others stared for a moment before boarding the choppers.

Arriving at Mother Base the group got greeted by the other Staff members and Ocelot, with Miller giving a speech.

“Anyone can give up his fight by laying down arms. But the feeling of holding a gun - that, we'll never forget. Like our lost limbs, the sensation lingers.”

“Oh!” Emmerich cheered, getting everybody’s attention. “Here she comes! Here she comes!”

D-dog barked loudly and they all turned around, seeing how two Heavy-Lift Helicopters flew towards the R&D platform, stopping and slightly descending before eventually gaining altitude with two additional choppers to bring in Sahelanthropus.

Everyone looked in away at it as it got dropped and Miller continued.

“We hold our rifles in missing hands, we stand tall on missing legs, we stride forward on the bones of our fallen. Then, and only then are we alive.

This ‘pain’ is ours, and no one else's. A secret weapon we wield, out of sight. “we will be stronger than ever, for our peace.

‘Sahelanthropus will unleash that thirst unto the future’ -those were his last words.” As he said this, Snake, the three soviets and the ponies saw a phantom of Skull Face, a ghostly reminder that though they had lost their object of revenge, Diamond Dogs were still experiencing a phantom pain.

“Kaz...” Snake tried to say but couldn’t.

“Pretentious, to the end. Still…it doesn't feel like this is over. And I'll never be whole again.” He then cleared his throat.

“At-ten-tion! Diamond Dogs! Even with Skull Face dead, our brothers are unavenged. And the phantom pain he brought us lives on. Cipher is still out there. We know they’ve planted spies – parasites – among us. Watch the man to your left, to your right. Assume nothing. Report everything. It’s the only way to protect ourselves, From here on out…” He stepped forward and took his glasses off, showing he was photosensitive. As his eye were pure white.

“You will be my eyes. The deadliest enemy’s right here – in our midst.” He put them back on. “And they will get no mercy.”