A Very Large Explosion is one of the final missions of The Operative: No One Lives Forever. During this mission Cate encounters the Elite Guard. This is the only mission where friendly UNITY forces actively help you during your mission. Cate has just retrieved the list with the names of the infected people and saw Baroness Dumas escape by means of helicopter. She discoveres that Baron Dumas is on top of the list and consequently, she needs to get off the mountain quickly before he explodes.
Scene 1
Using a lift, Cate enters the kitchen of the château and 2 enemies are entering the kitchen to inspect the noise she made during her entry. After Cate fights her way through the dining room, she reaches the grand hall, where the first member of the Elite Guard is waiting for her. She is equipped with a Geldmacher SVD, causing considerable damage. After killing her, Cate continues via a network of secret passages. She enters the library and after eliminating enemy resistance she meets her allied contact. After a short conversation with this contact, they are interrupted by a group of 4 hostiles, killing Cate's contact. Cate fights her way through the rest château to the place where the helicopter should be waiting for her to pick her up. Upon arrival, it seems the helicopter has already left. Cate encounters another UNITY agent, as well as the remaining 2 members of the Elite Guard. After killing them, Cate continues to the cable car station.
Scene 2
After eliminating the 2 guards at the cable car station, Cate rides the cable car back towards the town. However, H.A.R.M. is determined to get the list of names back and sends a load of helicopters to kill her. After fending off the helicopters, the cable car gets stuck and Cate must continue on foot. However, she is directly confronted by Dmitrij Volkov after she gets out of the cable car. Volkov offers a quick death in return for the list and promises a gruesome and painful death if Cate won't comply. For unknown reasons, the ground between the two gives in, causing Cate and Volkov to fall down and land on opposing cliffs, separated by a huge ravine. While Cate has lost her weapon, Volkov is armed with an AK-47 and starts shooting at her. After recovering her weapon, Cate shoots Volkov who tries to escape, but during his escape falls down the ravine. Cate greets this with "Goodbye Dmitrij:, thinking he is dead. However, after the credits, a cutscene is shown in which you see Volkov is still alive.
Inside information
- There are 2 intelligence items in this mission: A ledger in a hidden film room which can be photographed, the other obtained through shooting down all 6 helicopters on the gondola ride.
- Although not easy, it is possible to prevent the death of your first contact. He won't accompany you on the rest of your mission though. Your second contact will always be killed.
- Even if you haven't equipped the .32 revolver, this will always be the weapon you have to recover to kill Volkov.
- Although Cate has lost her gun during her fall, she somehow managed to keep her hat on.