Had a little bit of a hard time. The MSF base was destroyed by Cipher. Diamond Dogs... [He taps the symbol on the beret.] Is a replacement.

[A decoy. A labor of love that means nothing. Or... well, maybe a memorial, the last honor he could give to the first place he really felt at home. That's all, though. It's not what he wanted it to be.] And building it came with a few expenses. Cost me an arm and a leg.

[He pulls off his right glove. Lifts his hand. There's a prosthetic there, partially transparent, some collection of lights and barriers like those that make up the training simulation room. But still unrefined. At least someone finally talked him into getting the damn thing.]

[He puts the glove back on over it.]

It's been years. Nearly a decade. Skull Face... or Zero, when was the last that you heard from either of them? [Zero is nearly irrelevant in his time. Just a will being transplanted into a box. But to her, he's still very much valid. The serious question though is interrupted by the bug getting loose and then careening off with its carriage, creating screams of shock and surprise from bystanders as it turns a corner and disappears from sight.]

[He looks after it, shakes his head, and lets his hands fall to his sides. Sure. Alright. So that's how this conversation was going to go.]