March 16, 1975

Mother Base, Caribbean Sea

0600

A lone soldier leans against a railing, his outline brightened by the rising sun, an S1000 shotgun hangs to his waist held up by a black sling. His shoulder bears a patch with the words "Militaires San Frontières". He pulls out a pack of cigarettes and taps it to his hand. Nothing comes out. He taps it harder this time and one cigarette appear. The soldier sighs and lifts his two-eyed balaclava and places the cig between his lips. He reaches for his lighter and puts it to the cig.

"Hyena!" A shout comes from the morning darkness.

This sudden shout causes the soldier to drop the lighter. The lighter falls to the ground. Another soldier, wearing the same patch with a balaclava covering his face, appears from out of the darkness. This soldier wields a FAL and he has it stowed on his left shoulder, his hands hold two coffee cups filled to the brim.

"What do you want Koala!?" Hyena shouts at the newcomer. "Made me drop my damn lighter." He says kneeling down to pick up the lighter. As he kneels his foot kicks the lighter off the grates and into the ocean below. "Shit." He says angrily.

"Don't sweat it," Koala reassures. He hands Hyena one of the cups and tilts his head towards it. Hyena takes one of the cups freeing Koala's right hand. Koala reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lighter and hands it to Hyena.

"Thanks" Hyena says relieved. He lights his cigarette and hands the lighter back to Koala. Koala shakes his head at the lighter.

"You keep it. I don't smoke."

Hyena shrugs and resumes his place on the railing. Koala joins him and the two look out at the ocean as they take sips from their cups.

"Costa Rican?" Hyena asks after taking a sip of the hot beverage.

"Yeah, the Boss let us have the good stuff for the inspection today. Guess he wants us in tip-top shape just in case anything happens.

"Dunno why the Boss would worry, those UN pansies won't try anything," Hyena says rolling up his sleeve and flexing his small arms. "MSF is too strong to be bullied by some UN idiots."

Koala lets out a curt laugh. "With those 'muscles' we have nothing to fear."

Hyena gives him a slight punch on the arm.

"Woah stop I wouldn't want to get the Shorty with a shotgun mad," Koala says mockingly.

"That nickname isn't clever and you know it," Hyena says seriously. "And besides I'm like 5'4 I'm not that short." He says leaning his head onto the railing.

Koala puts his hand on Hyenas head and rubs it. Hyena responds like a dog and pushes his head towards the hand begging for more to with Koala obliges.

"What are you two idiots doing?" A new voice says

Both soldiers turn around and see another soldier bearing their same patch and gear, except this soldier shoulders a WA 2000. This soldier stands taller than Hyena but only slightly shorter than Koala. His face is also covered by a balaclava, but his light skin shows through the eye holes.

"What? This is my only chance to pet a Hyena, Toad." Koala says humorously.

Toad lets the air out of his nose. "Anyways. I came because your shifts are over, Lion and I are going to take over from now."

Another soldier, of the same size as Toad, peeks from around the corner. His weapon is an M60 which he holds in his hands unattached to a sling. He wears a battle-dress, with helmet, coated in a dark layer of black paint. The patch they all wear is artfully painted onto both the chest and the right shoulder. His face and body are completely encased in the armor and his features are completely hidden.

"Hey guys, how's tricks?" Lion asks

"Same as always I suppose," Hyena responds knocking Koala's hand from his head. "You guys going to be awake for the inspection?"

"Yeah, that's our orders. Unfortunately." Toad says slightly regretfully.

"Well good luck with that me and Hyena here are going to hit the hay while we have a chance," Koala says dragging Hyena away by the neck. "Have fun at inspection." He says barely containing his glee.

Toad gives them a wave and leans against the railings and looks to the sea. Lion places his back to the railings and rests his M60 on his shoulder.

March 16, 1975

Mother Base Barracks, Carribean Sea

1800

Hyena and Koala lay in beds right across from each other. They lay sleeping on the metal cots provided to the soldiers of MSF. Koala's hand lies off the bed on the cold metal floor and the sheets to his cot lay messily on the ground. His balaclava is off as well revealing his white skin and brown hair, which is well kept and maintained. In direct opposite Hyena lies in his bed with the sheets covering his body neatly. His balaclava is also off revealing his copper-toned skin and his messy long black hair.

They both sleep with white tank tops on revealing their matching MSF logo tattoos printed on their right shoulders. The more muscular Koala has multiple scars on his body compared to his skinnier roommate who barely has one.

The door to their room is tried from the outside but is stopped by the shoddily made door stop Koala made. Both men awaken instantly and grab their respective guns from under their cots. They both take prone positions and slide underneath their beds and point their weapons towards the door. The door is tried again and is opened. Two men bearing UN logos enter the room their weapons drawn, their flashlights illuminating the room. Both men wield UN issue ARC-PT's with suppressors attached.

They silently walk over to the cots and check them for occupants. Satisfied knowing the room is empty one of the men kneels down to place a block of C4 on the ground. He turns his eyes towards the hidden Hyena only to be greeted by the barrel of a shotgun. With one pull the UN soldiers face is blown away by a point-blank shot from Hyena's S1000. Before the other soldier can react Koala fires two shots from his FAL into his legs. The Un soldier collapses beside his dead friend. Koala grabs the soldiers neck and drags him underneath the bed and places a knife against his throat.

"Who are you and where are the rest?" Koala asks steadily.

"You're all dead men. Did you think your little operation would go unnoticed? You and your boss are all dead men." The UN soldier jeers at them.

Koala's face does not change from a neutral expression as he slits the soldier's neck from ear to ear. He pushes the bleeding man off of him and rises from underneath his cot. Hyena does the same and stretches his arms. Both men grab their fatigues from a locker and put them on.

"Have we been infiltrated?" Hyena asks, slightly unimpressed.

"Seems so. Looks like the UN pansies had a hidden agenda." Koala says wiping the blood off on his fatigues.

"Looks like we'll be having some fun tonight," Hyena says as he leaves the room. "If that's their best then-" He stops himself.

"What's the matter?" Koala asks pushing Hyena from out of the doorway. He looks down the hall to see all the doors before theirs opened.

"You don't think…." Hyena says his voice hushed.

"We won't know until we check," Koala assures.

Both men walk cautiously towards the first door. They stop before it. Both men switch positions so that Hyena takes point. With a silent nod, Hyena turns the corner into the doorway and points his gun into the room. All that's in the room are two dead bodies of MSF soldiers. Both show no signs of a struggle and a single bullet whole lies directly in their foreheads. Killed while they were sleeping.

"How peaceful," Hyena mutters leaving the doorway.

"Should we check the other rooms," Koala asks.

"No point. Our room is the last one in this hallway." Hyena says solemnly.

"Well, I'm sure things can't get any worse th-." Koala stops himself and sniffs the air. "Do you smell smoke?"

Hyena also sniffs the air. "Yeah, I do actually. I think it's coming from the direction of the exit topside."

Both men walk towards the exit with Hyena taking the lead. He opens the door topside and is greeted by the combination of burning flesh and oil. He has to cover his nose fast in order to avoid passing out from the smell. He looks around to see that the main platform is aflame with many of the struts leading to the other platforms destroyed. The sounds of fighting flood his ears as he looks around for friendly faces. His eyes dart back and forth, but his body does not move from the doorway.

"Is this hell," Hyena mutters under his breath. His question receives a quick response in the form of bullets.

Three shots whizz past him with the fourth hitting his arm, knocking his shotgun out of his hands and bringing him to his knees. Koala responds in kind by shooting in the direction of the enemy shots and not stopping until he can hear a scream of pain. He drags Hyena back inside.

"You good?" Koala asks out of breath.

"Yeah, but he got me good," Hyena says clutching his shoulder. "Go find Toad and Lion. Get the squad back together. I'll be here when you get back."

Koala nods and runs off towards any fighting. He encounters more hostiles than friendlies and subdues them as he finds them. Luckily the element of surprise is on his side as he comes from a part of the platform that was called in as being secure. He begins to lose hope as he searches until he hears the tell-tale sound of on an M60 firing. He sprints towards it ignoring the enemies firing at him. As he approaches the M60 sounds the sounds of enemies screaming and shouting gets louder.

"C' mon you UN fucks!" Lion shouts at the top of his lungs. "I can take you all on!"

Lion stands behind a makeshift barricade made of storage boxes with the sea behind him. On top of the barricade, Toad lies prone with his WA2000 shooting any enemies throwing grenades. Toad spots Koala.

"Hey. Friendly coming up." Toad says to Lion.

"Alright," Lion says hauling his M60 off the barricade and placing it by his side.

Some of the UN soldiers pop their heads up to check on the machine-gun emplacement only to have their heads blown off by Toad's sniper. The rest run off and retreat over the catwalk too the main platform leaving the platform in MSF hands. Koala comes running up to the barricade out of breath.

"Looks like we held them off. I doubt they'll be back after that ass kicking." Lion says confidently.

"Gather...squad...Hyena...injured...rally together." Koala says through haggard breathing.

"Alright let's go link up with Hyena. Lead the way Koala." Toad says hopping off the barricade.

Koala lets out a heavy sigh and walks back the way he came with Lion and Toad in tow. As they walk Koala only now realizes how many dead MSF soldiers he ran past. How many brothers were killed here? How many could he have saved if he just stopped and helped? The questions flooded through his head like a tsunami.

The questions stop as soon as he sees Hyena. He's up against the railing like in the morning, but this time he is using a pair of binoculars. His fatigues are ripped up by his wounded shoulder and the ripped cloth has been used as a makeshift bandage which now covers his wound. He looks towards his squad with a face of humor.

"Took you guys long enough." He says with weak humor.

"Yeah well if you guys did a better job killing these bastards we would have been faster." Lion snaps back.

"Fair enough. Come look at this." Hyena says handing the binoculars to Lion.

"Where?" Lion says putting the binoculars to his face. Hyena points to a helicopter on the main deck.

"Is that the….." Lion says in almost complete disbelief.

"Yeah, it's him… The Boss." Hyena says proudly.

"What?! Seriously? Let me see!" Toad says trying to grab the binoculars away from Lion.

"No way. I've never seen The Boss in action before." Lion says pushing away Toad's hand.

"Calm down you children," Hyena says with a stern tone. "Lion give the binoculars to Toad before he starts throwing a fit."

"Damn and he was just doing one of his famous takedowns on one of the fuckers," Lion says depressedly.

Toad grabs the binoculars eagerly and looks through them while Lion watches from behind. Hyena and Koala shift away from the two and talk among themselves.

"Should we go to the main platform? Seems like a suicide mission given we have to cross the catwalk." Hyena argues.

"We have too. The Boss is here. Let that sink in. THE BOSS, the one who taught us everything we know like a father and who we basically never see, is here. And you want to not go see him in person." Koala shoots back his past fatigue completely vanishing.

"I suppose you're right lets-" Hyena is interrupted by an explosion.

A C4 explosive takes out the struts surrounding their platform which separates the platform from all others leaving it alone. The explosion shakes the platform causing the squad to fall to their knees. The platform's structural beams also take damage from the explosion causing the platform to shift to one side unevenly. After shifting some more the platform reaches a sort of equilibrium and sits shifted to one side.

"Everyone ok?" Koala shouts out.

"I'm good." Lion calls out

"Safe." Toad calls

"Doing fine," Hyena says painfully.

The squad reclaims their footing and dust themselves off. Lion grabs the binoculars and resumes his watch of The Boss.

"Hey, guys I think Boss is leaving," Lion says disbelievingly

"There's no way Boss wouldn't do that," Hyena says grabbing the binoculars from Lion. "Holy shit your not lying."

Through the binoculars, Hyena can see the Boss board a helicopter which leaves the burning main platform and essentially abandoning Mother Base. Hyena watches the helicopter hoping it turns around, but it never does and continues flying into the night.

"You can't be serious…." Hyena says his hand covering his mouth. "Did the Boss…..abandon us.." He collapses to the ground, his strength leaving his knees.

"No, he didn't abandon us! He's just going to get more reinforcements." Toad argues. "That has to be it…." He says quieter.

The squad remains silent unsure of what to do. Koala makes an attempt at speaking but decided not too. Hyena stands back up with purpose and looks to the sky.

"What's that?" He says pointing to the sky.

The squad looks up and look to the sky with horror. What seems to be a massive rift has opened in the sky. It slowly sucks up debris from the platforms. They can feel themselves being slightly pulled by it, and then a flash.

?

?

0800

The grass feels nice beneath Hyena's face. His fingers go through the grass with ease and he reaches out to feel more of it. As he reaches out he can feel what he thinks is leather. He looks up to see a girl. She is dressed in a white shirt with a striped green short tie. She wears shorts up to her thigh and her hair is done in a way that makes it look like she has cat ears. She carries a gun which Hyena can't identify.

"Who….are..you?" Hyena says through labored breath as his wound has reopened and bleeds heavily.

"Nya?" The girl responds.

Hyena only manages a confused face before passing out.