Mother Base was a beast that never slept. Metal groaned, boots thudded, men shouted, and somewhere in the distance someone was probably getting punched for the third time today. Between drills, debriefings, arm-wrestling tournaments that counted as “team-building,” and the occasional idiotic stunt that nearly landed them with another Armadillo Incident, the place buzzed like a kicked hornet nest. Keeping those human tanks alive was a full-time job, and Ocelot felt every second of it.

So when Ocelot finally carved out a sliver of peace, he treated it like contraband gold. Boots off, coat draped over the back of a chair, a book open in his hands — something dense, something old, something he could sink into until the noise in his skull loosened. He’d even put on music, low enough to feel like a pulse rather than a distraction. For a moment, it was almost serene.

Naturally, that meant the universe had about five seconds before it yanked the rug out from under him.

The door slammed open like someone had decided hinges were optional. His closest friend barreled inside with all the subtlety of a mortar round. No knock. No greeting. Not even a half-assed “am I interrupting?” They just launched into pure, unfiltered rant, words firing off with the rapid accuracy of a Kalashnikov on full auto.

He lifted a gloved hand, the gesture sharp enough to cut through their storm. “Woah, woah — easy,” he said, sliding his book onto the table with deliberate calm. His voice stayed cool, even as the room filled with their agitation like smoke. “Slow down. I can’t understand a damn thing when you’re unloading on me like that.”

Only then, once they paused for half a second, did he really get a good look at them — flushed, tense, pacing like a fuse burning toward something explosive. Whatever hit them had done it hard.

And Ocelot, who could read people like others read weather, knew one thing for certain: this wasn’t going to be a quick chat. This was trouble — their trouble — and he was already shifting into the role he never admitted he liked playing.

The one where he was the calm in their chaos.