Gray Fox

"We're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting was the only thing... the only thing I was good at, but... at least I always fought for what I believed in. Snake... farewell..."

- Gray Fox's last words.

Gray Fox (real name: Frank Jaeger) is a former FOXHOUND agent that was once Solid Snake’s ally. He is the tertiary antagonist of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and a villain turned anti-hero in Metal Gear Solid.

Past
The son of a German-American father and a Vietnamese mother, Frank was born in the early 1950’s. However his parents died in the Vietnam War, leaving him to a life of hard labor and discrimination due to being half-Caucasian. Frank eventually wound up fighting in the war for independence in Mozambique, where he became known for his ruthless tactics. Frank would trick his enemies into letting down their guard with the “frankness of a young boy”. He would then kill them with the “ruthlessness of a hunter” and killed dozens of Portuguese soldiers throughout the war. Amongst the enemy forces, Frank became called “The Frank Hunter” but due to his knowing a little German, his allies named him “Frank Jaeger” (Jaeger meaning Hunter in German).

In 1966, Big Boss met Frank, only knowing him as a nameless child soldier working with FRELIMO a Marxist faction in Mozambique. After taking him down in battle, Big Boss brought Frank to a child rehab center, where he thought the boy would be fine. While there, Frank was taken by the CIA, who made him part of their “Perfect Soldier Program”. It made him into an even better killer and stripped him of any sense of remorse. The process also increased Frank’s reflexes to the point he could deflect bullets and enhanced his agility. However it was not without its costs, due to the fact that he was kept in a sensory deprivation water tank that reset his memories and suppressed his emotions. Frank was the only test subject to survive the project and was considered a lost number, earning him the codename, "Null".

Portable Ops
When he was a teenager, Null joined FOX unit, while it was under the leadership of Gene during the San Hieronymo Takeover. He aided the unit in capturing Big Boss and fought him, but he couldn’t defeat Big Boss. However time in his deprivation tank couldn’t take away Null’s memories of his loss. Eventually he broke out of the tank after Gene talked with Revolver Ocelot and killed a number of officers. Gene managed to stab Null in his hands and knees with knives and he was finally brought down with telekinesis. But Null’s determination to kill Big Boss remained and he broke out again, killing many of his allies.

He found his way to the Subpower Station where he fought Big Boss again and explained the thoughts and emotions he’d gained from the project. Null said his mind was “littered with corpses” and he’d practically become a nihilist and a fatalist. He asked Big Boss why he wouldn’t die and what he hoped to accomplish by living, before taking him on again. Null lost again and it was at this moment that Big Boss realized who he was, successfully convincing him to get help outside of the FOX unit. He was sent to a hospital and though he survived the events of the San Hieronymo Takeover, Null had suffered a great deal of physical and psychological damage. The doctors and Roy Campbell weren’t sure that he would ever be able to live a normal life after his release from the hospital.

Prior to FOXHOUND
Frank eventually joined RENAMO and took part in Mozambican Civil War, but ended up captured by FRELIMO. He was tortured heavily, eventually getting his nose and ears cut off, but after a few days, Big Boss came to his rescue. Around this time, Frank killed two people in the Rhodesian Civil War, not knowing they had a young daughter. He adopted her as a younger sister out of guilt and in 1980, Big Boss brought the two to America. Frank and Big Boss returned to Africa to continue fighting while the girl stayed in America. 8 years later, Frank was living under the alias “Frank Hunter” in Calgary during the Winter Olympic Games. He began a relationship with Gustava Heffner, a Czech champion figure skater and they tried to elope together. However the American government didn’t allow Gustava into the country and she was sent back to Czechoslovakia where she lost her competition rights. As a result, Frank developed a hatred for his superiors.

Joining FOXHOUND and Metal Gear
In the early 90s, Frank had received decorations 5 times and joined FOXHOUND as “Gray Fox”, becoming the only active field agent with the codename “Fox” (the highest commemoration in the unit). While he worked with FOXHOUND, Gray Fox’s real name became highly classified by “Classified National Security Codes”. In 1995, Gray Fox was assigned to gather information on the secret nuclear weapon being developed in Outer Heaven. After he infiltrated Outer Heaven, he scouted the first building in the fortress and took note of the locations of inner courtyard, cameras, elevators, weapons and equipment. Eventually Gray Fox found the information on the nuclear weapon, but he was captured though he sent the information he’d gotten back to FOXHOUND. His final words were just “Metal Gear” before his transmission was cut off.

A rookie FOXHOUND member, Solid Snake, was sent in to follow up on Gray Fox’s mission. He managed to rescue Gray Fox, who told him everything he’d learned, that Metal Gear was a walking tank weapon equipped with nuclear weaponry. They managed to destroy the prototype of Metal Gear being built in Outer Heaven. However soon afterwards, it was revealed that Big Boss was the one in charge of the operation in Outer Heaven. After the fortress was destroyed, Gray Fox left FOXHOUND and disappeared, following Big Boss, who had apparently died after fighting Snake. He took part in the Mercenary War so as to help Big Boss form Zanzibar Land, eventually becoming the commander of its Mercenary Forces, the “Dogs of War”.

Metal Gear 2
In 1999, Gray Fox started to raid several nuclear disposal sites with Metal Gear D. Due to this, and that the Zanzibar Land’s kidnapped Dr. Kio Marv, FOXHOUND, now under Roy Campbell’s leadership, took action. They called Snake out of retirement and sent him in to take down Zanzibar Land. During his mission, Gray Fox sent him anonymous messages to help him overcome obstacles, simply saying he was “Snakes #1 fan”. After the bridge leading to the detention camp was destroyed by Gray Fox, he and Snake met again after 4 years. Ironically, destroying the bridge killed Fox’s love, Gustava, who’d become an Stb agent and was serving as Marv’s bodyguard, though he seemed unaware of this. Following this, Snake was trying to get into the 20th floor of the Tower Building when Gray Fox stopped the elevator, sending in an assassination squad to take Snake out.

Later on, Gray Fox took Snake on in Metal Gear D, but Snake managed to destroy the mech. However Fox managed to escape Metal Gear D, as well as steal the OILIX formula from Snake when his equipment caught fire. Snake pursued Gray Fox and eventually the two fought hand to hand in a minefield with Snake emerging the victor. Gray Fox explained his past with Big Boss, which was why he was so indebted to him. He went on to say that he didn’t like war, but needed it due to his past and also admitted to being the one who sent Snake the anonymous messages. Snake promised Gray Fox he’d meet Gustava again on the other side and left the facility, leaving a seemingly dead Gray Fox behind.

Cybernetic Upgrade
After Big Boss’ apparent death and the fall of Zanzibar land, Gray Fox’s body, which had been blown apart by a landmine, was taken by a clean-up crew. Dr. Clark, FOXHOUND’s main medical officer, used Gray Fox as a test subject for a new gene therapy experiment and he was drugged and experimented on for four years. He was equipped with an experimental cybernetic exoskeleton that was grafted onto his body to give him more mobility. This increased Gray Fox’s agility and strength, but also granted him use of a new form of camouflage technology that hid him at will.

In 2000, his younger sister, now calling herself Naomi Hunter, became Dr. Clark’s assistant. In 3 years, she managed to help Gray Fox escape and he killed Clark, partly at EVA’s request since she’d been a founding member of the Patriots and partly out of revenge for the experimentation. Naomi covered this up as a lab accident and also made it seem as if her brother had died in that same accident.

Metal Gear Solid
In 2005, Gray Fox infiltrated Shadow Moses island, seeking out Solid Snake, who’d been sent in to bring down the Sons of Big Boss, a renegade FOXHOUND unit led by Liquid Snake. Eventually they discovered Gray Fox’s presence after he killed three of their men while he was using his camouflage equipment soon before Snake arrived, resulting in an increase in security. Gray Fox first encountered Snake after he freed Kenneth Baker, the president of ArmsTech, and attacked Revolver Ocelot, cutting off his right hand. Later on, Gray Fox confronted Snake in Hal Emmirich’s lab after killing a large group of Genome Soldiers.

He demanded a final battle and though Snake didn’t know who he was fighting, he soon figured it out as they took each other on. He managed to start winning, but before the fight ended, Gray Fox started crying out in pain and retreated. Soon after this, he began aiding Snake in his mission by sending him anonymous messages under the name, “Deepthroat”. Later, as Snake battled against Metal Gear REX, Gray Fox attacked REX’s radome, interfering with the weapon’s sensory input. While Liquid Snake tried to find the two, Gray Fox revealed his past with Naomi to Solid Snake and that she was too young at the time to remember what happened.

Gray Fox then asked Snake to tell her the truth, before leaving his hiding place to engage REX again and Natasha Romanenko speculated his adoption of Naomi and his habit of constantly participating in conflicts were a result of post-traumatic stress disorder he’d gained as a child.

As Gray Fox continued to fight REX, one of his arms was cut off by one of its weapons and he was eventually pinned against a wall by the weapon, but managed to destroy the radome completely, saying a "cornered fox was more dangerous than a Jackal". Liquid let him fall to the floor and Gray Fox told Snake to fire his stinger missiles, which could bring down REX, but Snake wouldn’t since it would kill Fox as well. Gray Fox just told Snake about how he was recovered from Zanzibar Land and was neither alive or dead, but he could now die in peace.

Liquid Snake made REX stomp on Gray Fox and though his exoskeleton protected him from the first stomp, the second was too much. As Gray Fox lay dying, he told Snake fighting was the only thing he was good at, but at least he’d always fought for what he believed in and wished Snake goodbye. After getting off of Shadow Moses island, Snake told Naomi that Gray Fox’s last message would be that he’d always love her, but didn’t tell her Fox killed her parents, because he had been her only family.

Abilities
Gray Fox is a skilled and deadly soldier, thanks to his time as a child soldier and his treatments in the Perfect Soldier Program and the gene therapy experiment. He possesses increased agility and reflexes, to the point he can deflect bullets and the cybernetic exoskeleton he was equipped with grants him greater strength and agility. As Null, he fights with a machete for close combat and a M10 pistol, as well as some unarmed punch and kick attacks. After being equipped with the cybernetic exoskeleton, Gray Fox wields a high frequency blade. The armor is equipped with an arm cannon that fires explosive energy blasts and a camouflage unit that lets him “cloak” at will, rendering him invisible.

Trivia

 * Gray Fox’s codename when he gave Snake advice, "Deepthroat", was the codename of an FBI agent, William Mark Felt, who exposed Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate incident. He revealed his identity as Deepthroat in May 2005.
 * One of Gray Fox’s pupils was white in Metal Gear Solid, which might be a result of his fight with Snake in Zanzibar Land.
 * His actual birth name is unknown.
 * Screwattack named Gray Fox 2nd on their top 10 Ninjas list.
 * He is referenced a number of times in Metal Gear Solid 4, such as during one cutscene when Naomi remembered Gray Fox, where part of the “Frank Hunter” theme from Portable Ops is heard.
 * Gray Fox was an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros Brawl and would leap around the arena, rapidly slashing at the opponents. If one of the players is using Snake when the Gray Fox assist trophy is activated, they will exchange dialogue from Metal Gear Solid.
 * Gray Fox also appears as a DLC Skin for Raiden to wear in the videogame Metal Gear Rising Revengeance. His sword replaces Raiden's sword, though it does not change overall statistics.
 * Gray Fox appears as a playable character in Konami Krazy Racers on GBA, like many Konami characters.