Michele calls once more and tells me to meet her near Pala, again really far away from my actual objective. I've decided that once I've completed this mission and gotten the last upgrade for my safehouse from her, I'm going to betray her as quickly as possible. She's proved herself too much of a liability, and is clearly also at least a little bit crazy. When I meet her, she says she wants a defoliant from a nearby chemical dump, so she can spray it over the farm I'm attacking and deprive the soldiers of their ground cover, because "the more of them that die, the happier I am." Seriously, who does that? She isn't doing this for any sort of compensation, either. Killing plants so I can wipe out a bunch of guards at a farm is how she gets her jollies. Very dangerous.
Sleep for a few hours, then head upriver to Mike's, clearing a checkpoint on the way. I buy the M-79 grenade launcher, which replaces my sidearm, and both upgrades for it. I store an AK, a pistol, and a flamethrower in my weapons crates so they'll be available at all of my safehouses, then set out with an AK, a flamethrower, and a grenade launcher. I head back downriver and manage to land quite close to the chemical dump.
It's dark now, and I decide to be at least a little subtle and avoid the main road. I follow the train tracks from the south, then as I unpause the game after taking some notes, I accidentally bump the grenade button. It's like I'm subconsciously TRYING to sabotage myself.
It actually ends up being a pretty good strategy, as it draws most of the guards out into the field, allowing me to flank around the boxcars on the train tracks leading to the dump and use that as cover while I engage them. I climb into the boxcar as I start to run out of ammo, but then I notice an ammo dump behind the building right in front of me. After I do so, a guard runs out in front of me and starts shooting. I kill him with the last four rounds in my gun, then sprint forward and replenish my ammo. I clear out the rest of the guards and take the defoliant.
Michele's waiting at the airfield for me to deliver it, so I set off. I get surprised by another unmarked guardpost, but I manage to avoid the guards there and lose the jeep that starts pursuing me by making it crash into some rocks. I make it to the airfield and deliver the tank of toxic brew to Michele. Time to hit the greenhouse.
It's REALLY far away from the airfield, about half the map. I have the choice of either dealing with a couple of checkpoints on the route or barreling through Mokuba, so I settle on the former. On my way I stop in at a gunshop and realize I have enough diamonds to buy the dart rifle. It's basically a silenced sniper rifle and a one hit kill. I jump at the opportunity and buy a reliability upgrade for it too. It replaces my flamethrower rather than my AK for some reason, so now I'm ready for pretty much anything.
As I approach the greenhouse and debate which of the two perimeter checkpoints guarding it to engage, I notice an approach from the river up north with practically no defenses. I backtrack to a bus station and take it to the northeast stop so I can hop on the river, easier than having to sneak past the villa I've already had to deal with twice now. But to get onto the river, I have to deal with the same trio of checkpoints where I had my first near death experience. I take out the guards at the first shack, steal their boat, then deal with the guards on the outcropping next to the inlet before leaving the checkpoint behind.
By now it's light so I head to a safehouse near the farm to sleep until it's nighttime again, and in the process accidentally blunder onto the approach I want to use. It's totally undefended, meaning it'll be perfect for a stealth approach later tonight. I arrive at the safehouse that I'm certain I've already secured to find a lone guard standing around the side, and after I dispose of him a pair of patrol boats attack from the river. They aren't too big of a problem, but it's still a little disturbing given that I was under the impression I had this place locked up tight.
I sleep the day away so I can put my new dart rifle to good use. I beach the boat at the farm and sneak up to the perimeter. I only have five rounds, so I have to use them wisely. It's weird, because when you kill a guy with the gun they still cry out, but it counts as a "stealth" kill. I guess it makes sense, because they're drawn to the dead guy rather than the report of your gun. I put this to good use, and five shots become five dead guys. I fight my way through the rows of crops to the greenhouse and clear the area easily enough, then destroy the irrigation system with a round from my M-79. Michele's plane flies overhead and drops the defoliant, but there's really no point for that now that I've killed everyone here. There are some bangs in the distance and Michele calls, saying "I've been shot down, where the fuck are you?" And she's really indignant, pissed that I wasn't running after her plane that just flew overhead so I could help in case this sort of thing happened. HER FATE IS SEALED.
She turns out to be pretty heavily engaged, as I watch from my perch on a rock, neglecting to do anything about it. Then a couple of the guys attacking her spot me, and I take them down, since now that she's injured her capacity for acting as a bullet sponge is limited at best. I take down the rest of the attackers, and the mission is complete, with the last upgrade for my safehouses in this area unlocked while Michele lies on the ground bleeding out. I take no chances with her. I approach her and contemplate whether I really want to do this. Then I check my journal and see Marty has moved up to first buddy status, while Paul is listed as rescue-ready. Yeah, I do want to. I pull out my sidearm, prompting Michele to say "Do it. It's the only way." I avert my gaze. The deed is done.
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