The commanders of the various groups of Diamond dogs sat around the main briefing table to hear about the latest news. The fact that both sides had launched at the same time was troubling to say the least. But the bombshell about Ocelot's and the Boss' idea about why Big Boss did this hit harder than a nuke. It made sense, and that was the problem. It made sense. The faces of the different commanders told the story without saying anything.

A clean slate, the term just spoke more than it needed to. For the Boss to create his own military nation, his own country, a clean slate was needed to ensure that the nation had no baggage to create one. Venom snake stroked his growing stubble his mind wondering, they had idea's about why Big boss did this but no solid leads. For all he knew Cypher could have set the nukes off, but given their MO, it was unlikely. Another group perhaps? One who was bent on sending humanity back to the starting point? Idea's filled his mind but each one had as much proof as the last.

"Why don't things make any sense?" he asked out loud making eyes turn to him. "Sorry, just thinking out loud."

"It's ok sir, I think we all feel the same way." One of the commanders said. "This saturation…"

A grim number of nods came from the others around the table before the Boss spoke again. "Well moping will get us nowhere fast, we need to figure out what's going on here. We need new weapons and gear to survive in this world now. Any idea's anyone?"

The R&D commander immediately took the floor. "Well, given research into cybernetics we could produce something that allows our soldiers to carry more stuff into the battlefield. Given the situation it may be useful. The term is called powered armour, I believe."

"Sounds expensive, try prototyping it. If it doesn't work break it down into its base form." The boss said with the commander nodding.

"We're going to need some kind personal defence weapons. While assault rifles are good, they are not compact enough. We need something that is useful for close quarters combat and urban warfare." Said the security commander.

The boss looked towards Ocelot with a raised brow. "Come up with designs and send them to R&D." Ocelot said turning to the commander who nodded in response.

"Is there anything else?" The boss asked and no one said anything. "Very well, briefing adjourned."

OOOOO

The cold sea air nipped at the back of his head as the Punished Venom moved walked long one of the walkways to a different part of mother base with DD. It allowed him to clear his head, and take DD for one of his daily walks. The wolf had grown much since the boss found him, both as a skilled combat dog and a friend. Reports of DD helping with others on the Refugee platform and the farming platform were well known. Even if he could not talk he helped as much as he could as well.

It was amusing to say the least. As the two walked his radio turned on.

"Boss, Dr Chackwas is requesting your presence on the medical platform." Ocelot said over the radio.

"Understood, on the way." He said before turning and walking.

OOOOO

Dr Kar Chackwas was old, but a brilliant mind in the field of biology and medical practice. She kept up to date on everything there was to learn about the subject. The best field medic in the world. But due to her age she was now head of Diamond dogs medical and was ready to treat any wound, but right now she was focused on something else. A group had brought a dead body with the flesh slowly coming off it. They wanted to know why it was still moving.

The boss walked in while she was doing an examination and looked though one of the quarantine windows.

"Dr, you called for me." He said.

Not looking up she continued to dissect the corpse. "Yes, we have had reports of these things attack our men. From what I have seen these used to be people who have been cooked in radiation."

"So, radiation zombies?" he asked and the Dr nodded.

"From what I can tell." She looked up, her face hidden behind a hazmat hood. "This may become a problem."

OOOOO

Diamond dogs 4th armoured moved along a dirt road leading towards Berlin. According to the satellites the place wasn't hit hard, so they could try and find something there. 4th had around 50 troops split up into 5 armoured fighting vehicles and two tanks. While they didn't expect anything, the satellites did detect some movement. Could be Americans, could be Russians they didn't know. But one thing was for sure, the radiation around the city was almost minimal.

For some reason the nuke that was meant to hit Berlin either didn't detonate, or had a weak uranium warhead. Because of this, 4th went to check it out. Most of them were either positioned in Germany at one point or came from the city. This would allow them to move quickly and find what they need.

The ride was slow going to say the least, but they had plenty of supplies. A farm was up ahead, a good place to rest for the time being. Hazmat infantry were the first to move up and check around both the house and barn. Aside from some dead cows, there was little of interest. Captain Roy 'Fire dog' Mustang got out of his tank and looked around. He entered the house and looked around, people used to live here. No more now, he was about to say something when one of his men walked up to him.

"Sir, we just found three bodies in the basement." He said before leading Roy into the basement.

There laying down dead where three people, two adults and one child. Their skin nearly god from their bodies and major bleeding. At the very least, they looked peaceful. The sight of them nearly made him gag but he held it down.

Mustang turned to one of his mean. "Get some shovels and burry them. It's the least we can do."

The soldier said nothing just nodded. Two soldiers left while the other two began to take the bodies outside. Roy left and walked over to his tank, they all needed some rest. Resting on the tank he watched as others joined in digging the graves. Once dug they then wrapped the bodies in sheets and lay them in the ground. A few of them began to sing along with some of them praying while two men berried them.

Each one then thanked them for the use of their house, and would leave it in the same way they found it. Even then, the dead deserved to be treated with respect.

24 hours later the convoy was moving along the road again. The city was in sight and two soldiers experienced in riding motorbikes drove in. The farm had two motorbikes which the soldiers used to get into the city faster for some recon. Riza 'Hawkeye' Yama and Jean 'Havok' Jones drove through the streets keeping a look out.

"Damn, I think I'm going into withdraw." Jean said as his mind began to demand him to smoke.

"You do know they'll kill you?" Riza shot.

"So, what?" Jean asked rhetorically. "The whole world has gone to hell what do you expect?"

Riza said nothing but stopped her bike, Jean did the same. "Something wrong?"

She said nothing as she jumped off her bike and tackled Jean off his bike. Her bike suddenly exploded and the two dived into the window of a shop. A Russian tank rolled along and someone jumped out. Whoever it was, they were dressed in a black almost skin-tight outfit and a bullpup rifle in hand. The two readied their weapons in case of an attack. But whoever it was got back in the tank and drove off. As the tank drove out of sight Riza grabbed her geiger counter and checked it. Zero radiation.

She took off her suit making Jean look at her. Holding up the counter he nodded and did the same. While he suits were made to defend against the radiation, they were cumbersome and not good for moving in city streets. The two made their way up to the roof and moved along the rooftops. Riza being a sniper was used to this while Jean being a weapons expert not so much. The two of them the found the tank that attacked, to their shock it was only one of 5 tanks of unknown make. They needed to radio this in.