Update 3, Final-ish:
The game "ends" like the standard edition but then instead of the timeline it fades to Chapter 3: Peace.
We cut to mission 51 where we hunt down and defeat Liquid in Sahelanthropus. After a lengthy and arduous fight, Venom gives Miller a short speech about peace, the cost of war, and whether any of this was worth it. Venom stares up at the sunset as we fade to black.
Another ending fake out, this time we see a title card pop up that reads...
Mission 52: Birth of a Legend (11 years later...)
We cut to Outer Heaven moments before Solid Snake (voiced by Hayter) fights Venom. Venom, sitting patiently in a room listening to the commotion on base, hears Snake approaching. An epic CQC fight ensues and Snake wins. Snake sees Venom fall and crack his head open, kneels down and checks his heart rate. No pulse and blood begins pooling. Realizing he needs to leave immediately, Snake begins his escape.
Unbeknownst to Snake, we see Psycho Mantis lurking in the background.
After escaping the explosion, Snake lights up a cigarette and contacts Roy Campbell. He explains to Campbell that he barely escaped with his life and that his smoking hasn't slowed him down a bit. He gives details of Venom's final moments and how he wasn't 100% sure if he was dead due to the chaos, but that the explosion would have finished him off regardless. Campbell informs him that an evac helicopter is arriving at his location, notes that the world will be more peaceful without people like Big Boss, and that Snake is a true soldier through and through. Snake quips that he's just doing his job, doesn't care about that, and that he still dreams of Alaska and the Iditarod as the helicopter flies off into the night...the screen fades to black again.
As we fade back in, we are back seconds before Venom's fall. We see Mantis straining himself to control Snake while repeating "blood... heart..." Snake leaves and Mantis nearly collapses to the ground while rushing to a battered Venom. He tells him that they need to go, now. Venom has clear signs of a broken jaw but no blood is visible anymore, just hair. They are able to escape and fly away from the base. As they fly off, they see Snake running to his helicopter and the camera pans up to a night sky full of stars. The last thing we hear is the grumbling of a man with a broken jaw, sounding like... "peace... what is it good for?"
The end?...Timeline rolls.
Post-timeline audio tape:
Zero and Ocelot talk about how well the medic performed as Ocelot and how they couldn't risk the real Ocelot. They're glad they brought in a pro for BB because the medic wasn't a good candidate. His history in support roles and his willingness to take a "bullet" for BB made him perfect for the Ocelot position.
They continue: Decoy Octopus was brought in for his ultimate test. They laugh about how the hardest part was removing the shrapnel from the medic and putting it in Decoy without either of them dying. Ocelot muses about how Quiet was a real risk, being Decoy's lover at one point. Zero enjoys how she didn't know why she was so drawn to "Venom."
(Mantis joins the chat) He explains that everything is going well with Decoy, but complains that he himself has lost all his hair due to the strain of manipulating what Solid was actually witnessing during the fight. Zero interrupts and tells him to just prepare Decoy for his next assignment...and dispose of the medic.
Fin
(Director's Cut Bonus Disk Reveal)
Raiden is secretly Decoy and Quiet's child, they had healthy twins they never knew about. Zero had agents monitoring Quiet. They drugged her, took Raiden shortly after birth, and staged his twin as a gruesome stillbirth. Zero then ensured Raiden was delivered to Solidus.
Quiet and Decoy separated shortly after, they still loved each other, but the pain was too much. Ocelot never knew about the twins or the full extent of their relationship.
The shrapnel transfer was a cover story for anyone who had heard about the helicopter crash. The extreme stress of living as Big Boss, combined with the shrapnel in his brain caused Decoy to believe he was the medic. Losing his arm was no big deal, ironically.
Mantis was miserable for the rest of his life because he lost all his hair from dealing with Solid Snake. The man could bend minds and control Metal Gears, but he couldn't regrow his hair. 💀
