Screenwriting practice: Solid Snake Vs. Big Boss

This script is only meant for practice, it's not anything official. This treatment combines the events of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

FADE IN ON: The PLAYSTATION BOOT UP SEQUENCE. We hear a DISC spinning in its tray. Sounds of distant GUNFIRE over black.

CUT TO:

EXT. OUTER HEAVEN COMPLEX - TWILIGHT

Oh say, does that skull-adorned banner yet wave o'er the mercenaries freed from the nations who'd enslave.

SUPER: Just another day in a war without end...

SUPER: OUTER HEAVEN, ZANZIBAR: December 24th,1999

The camera tilts down to oversee the buildings of the complex and the patrol routes of the GUARDS.

We follow one from behind. His mind is elsewhere; this patrol has become routine. When we see him from the front, we see a SHADOW move swiftly and silently behind a building.

The guard's attention is gained by a knocking sound from that very building. Slowly, he approaches. He switches off his rifle's safety and moves his finger to the trigger.

But before he could even aim his gun, a man in FOXHOUND CAMO pulls him into a choke hold. One hand muffles his screams, the other plunges a COMBAT KNIFE into his throat. As the guard falls limp, the interloper gingerly lays him down and shoves his corpse into the building's CRAWLSPACE.

He turns to check his surroundings, revealing himself to be SOLID SNAKE. He sends out a dispatch from the RADIO on his chest to his commanding officer: BIG BOSS.

SNAKE
Boss, I'm just outside headquarters.

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
Impressive, I should never have expected less from you, Snake. The leader of Outer Heaven will be in that BUILDING.

SNAKE
There's no guarantee. He's probably caught wind of our operation by now.

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
He'll be there, I'm sure of it.

Snake
Are you sure now's the time to go after him? Shouldn't we make sure Metal Gear doesn't fall into the wrong hands?

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
Only a select few are trained to operate that junk heap. A walking tank is more trouble than it's worth. Metal Gear is a bluff, its only use is as a deterrent.

SNAKE
(after a deep, grounding breath)
I'm heading inside.

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
With any luck, you'll be home for Christmas.

INT: OUTER HEAVEN HQ - TWILIGHT

Snake breaches the door, scanning for living bodies, finding none. It's quiet and empty, but the stench of death hangs thick in the air. Despite his senses' warnings, Snake decides to follow his nose.

He finds a BODY, shot in the head. He finds more of them as he advances through the building. He comes across a long HALLWAY, scattered with dozens of bodies and smeared with blood. It was Snake's first time seeing this many corpses in one space, but it wouldn't be his last. He receives a CALL on the radio.

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
What's the matter? Cold feet?

SNAKE
So much death...

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
You should be no stranger to it by now. How many have you killed?

SNAKE
(checking bodies)
These soldiers weren't KIA. They've all been executed point blank.

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
Perhaps they questioned their commanding officer too much. You should heed their warning, Snake.

The transmission ends abruptly. Snake steels himself and braves the hallway.

As he heads down, he hears a muffled VOICE from the room on the far end. Snake's radio clicks and activates.

BIG BOSS
(V.O., signal breaking up)
Operation... Intrude N313... Infiltrate... the enemy fortress... Outer Heaven! Destroy the final weapon... Metal Gear!

The transmission ends, and another immediately begins.

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
Even my patience has its limits. I just can't leave it to you any longer. I'll do the fighting! You can just go home!

The voice at the end of the hall gets louder as Snake approaches. It seems to have Big Boss' cadence. Another transmission:

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
Snake, something happened to me last Thursday when I was driving home. I had a couple of miles to go - I looked up and saw a glowing orange object in the sky, to the east! It was moving very irregularly... suddenly there was intense light all around me - and when I came to, I was home. What do you think happened to me?

Snake's concern grows. Another transmission:

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
Kawanishi-Noseguchi, Kinunobebashi, Takiyama, Uguisunomori, Tsuzumigataki, Tada, Hirano, Ichinotorii, Uneno, Yamashita, Sasabe, Kofudai, Tokiwadai, Myokenguchi.

Is this some kind of code? Or is Big Boss losing his mind? Another transmission, one that's audible both from behind the door and through Snake's radio:

BIG BOSS
(V.O.)
I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!

Snake kicks the door in, SOCOM and knife at the ready. A MAN holding a MICROPHONE turns from his RADIO CONSOLE, and we meet BIG BOSS in the flesh. Or what flesh is left: the eyepatched man has a cybernetic arm and leg grafted to him, and a great obsidian spike juts forth from his forehead like a mountain.

SNAKE
Big Boss... You were the leader of Outer Heaven the whole time?

BIG BOSS
Welcome, my beloved disciple! I never thought you'd get this far!

SNAKE
Why? Why would you send your own student to kill you?

Big Boss makes a peace sign with his sinister cybernetic hand and raises it high into the air.

BIG BOSS
So it can't be said I killed you unprovoked!

He lowers the peace sign, aiming it at Snake. His arm detaches from his body and flies toward Snake, a rocket of peace. Snake deflects it with his knife, but Big Boss closes the distance. He disarms Snake and field strips his SOCOM, throwing the frame at his feet.

BIG Boss
You remember your CQC training, don't you? The time has come for you to face your Boss, as I did so many years ago.

A SPLIT HOOK emerges from Big Boss' prosthetic arm. As he and Snake fight in the style of close quarters combat that has been handed down to soldiers through generations, he uses the hook as a slashing weapon. Snake had only been trained for knives; Big Boss deliberately ensured he'd be unequipped to deal with a hook.

Backing away on the defensive, Snake notices Big Boss' PROSTHETIC HAND on the floor. He scrambles towards it, but Big Boss plunges his hook into Snake's shoulder.

Initially overcome by pain, Snake finds his resolve and lurches toward the hand, pulling Big Boss with him. They both wrestle on the floor, but Snake manages to retrieve the hand and grapple Big Boss into submission, straddling him.

Snake presses a small BUTTON on the hand, and a miniature FLAMETHROWER emerges from its palm. Snake aims the flamethrower at his Commanding Officer's face. A forceful, wind resistant plume of blue flame overtakes Big Boss. In his attempts to scream, he burns his lungs out completely. In silence, his skin blisters, the force of the flame blasting charred skin away from his skull.

It sickens Snake to do this to the man he once considered a father. But how else would he defend the world from the threat of Metal Gear? More than anything, Snake is loyal to the end.

There is no skin left on the skull: Big Boss has been reduced to zero.

CUT TO WHITE.

The KONAMI LOGO fades into view as the Policenauts theme rings out.