Fresh Meat (mission)

"My friend Ron met these Chinese assholes. They're from Yangshan in China. We had some problems. So they mistakenly thought Michael was a human being and they kidnapped him."

- Trevor Philips explaining about Michael De Santa's kidnapping.

Fresh Meat is a mission in Grand Theft Auto V that protagonist Franklin Clinton does independently. Fellow protagonist Michael De Santa is also playable during a later part in the mission, and Trevor Philips appears in the opening cutscene and is seen walking away after it.

Description
Following the conclusion of Pack Man, Franklin contacts Lester Crest about Michael's apparent disappearance. The two deduce that Michael has been abducted, with Lester tracing Michael's cellphone signal back to Los Santos after a brief trip to North Yankton. Lester suggests Franklin meet Trevor for possible information. At Franklin's request, Lester calls Trevor and asks him to meet Franklin at his old safehouse in Strawberry.

Upon arriving at the home, Trevor appears even more disturbed than usual, yelling at Franklin's aunt for example, and takes great offence at Franklin laughing at him after he trips over a low fence. Franklin asks Trevor if he knows what became of Michael in North Yankton, and the drug dealer informs him that they ran into Wei Cheng's men and he does not know if Michael survived the shootout or not. Franklin tells him that Michael is back in Los Santos and asks him for help in rescuing him. Trevor refuses and leaves (assaulting a Families Member in the process).

It is up to Franklin to rescue Michael, alone. While he does not have much to go on, he manages to pinpoint Michael's location by using an app on his phone called Trackify, which Lester provides (this is the same app used during the offshore option of The Merryweather Heist). As Franklin tries to look for him, the game switches to Michael, who is hanging upside down in a meat-packing plant. Michael tries to tell Wei Cheng that he is not Trevor's ji lao (gay friend), but the triad leader refuses to believe the truth and turns on the machine and leaves when he decides Trevor will not be coming. A timer appears on the screen.

Unlike standard GTA fares where the GPS would automatically indicate the shortest route to your destination, the player is only given a vague beacon to follow. Upon arrival at the triads' hideout, a meat factory called Raven Slaughterhouse, Franklin can go onto the roof via the back for a shooting position, or come in the front all guns blazing.

After shooting through the triads, Franklin turns a corner and sees Michael alive, yet strung up by his feet and soon to be joining the other swaying, upside-down meat carcasses as well, if he does not react quickly. Franklin kills a triad member pointing a gun towards Michael, threatening to kill him. Franklin then tosses Michael a pistol while players are given the option to switch from Franklin to Michael. If the players decide to switch to Michael, they will play as the latter who is still hanging upside-down as even more Triads burst into the room. One Thug charges at Franklin, tackles him to the floor and is about to stab him with a knife, Michael must save Franklin by shooting the Thug as fast as possible. After both men clear out all of the Triads, Michael lowers himself to the ground and is shown to be in a large amount of pain with blood on his tank top and holding his side. After the protagonists escape the building, they find a Coquette and a Feltzer parked outside the factory. However, they soon find two triad members on their tail. Here, the player can kill either the triads or blow up the car that they are not escaping in. Using either way, Franklin and Michael then escape or kill the gangsters, and both of them head to Michael's house. After arriving at Michael's house, the former bank robber thanks Franklin for saving him, before the two have a brief conversation and part ways. Michael then heads into his house, where he washes the blood off himself and changes into a clean suit.

Mission Objectives

 * Find Michael. - (Franklin)
 * Rescue Michael. - (Franklin)
 * Flee the meat factory. - (Michael and Franklin)
 * Go to Michael's House. - (Michael or Franklin)

Gold Medal Objectives

 * Switch Limiter - Don't switch more than 3 times
 * Control Franklin until he meets Michael, switch to him for the remainder of the shootout for special ability, and switch to Franklin when leaving in the car for his ability.
 * Accuracy - Finish with a shooting accuaracy of at least 70%
 * Use a shotgun for Franklin and ability for Michael. This also helps for the headshot objective.
 * Headshots - Kill 10 enemies with headshot
 * Use Michael's special ability. This also helps for the accuracy objective.
 * Swift Race - Rescue Michael within 3:30
 * Use the shotgun for the first shootout to save time trying to kill enemies.
 * Sense of Direction - Don't use a map waypoint.
 * Use the Trackify app or the player's own knowledge of the map to get to the slaughterhouse.

Stock Tip
Upon completion of this mission, Gruppe Sechs stock will rise by approximately 11%. The reason for this is not clear, but players can secure a sizable profit by loading up on this stock prior to starting the mission. However the stock value of Merryweather Security, its chief competitor, does not appear to be effected.

Aftermath

 * Trevor can call Wei Cheng. If he does so, Cheng informs Trevor that Michael was rescued, which annoys Trevor.
 * Michael and Trevor cannot hang out with each other again, unless the player chooses The Third Way at the end of the game. If Michael and Trevor pass each other in the street, they will exchange unpleasantries.

Lifeinvader Posts

 * Lester Crest - "Glad to hear you haven't been turned into high-fat-content burger meat. Didn't I tell you there's an app for everything these days? Never say I don't look out for you."

Glitch Fix
There is a common glitch where, when arriving at Michael's house, the game freezes. This can be fixed by entering a car, getting out of it, killing the two Triads that exit the building before continuing.

Tips

 * When you pause the cutscene at the point where Michael is shown being held captive, the map will be positioned on his location thus allowing the player to place a waypoint there, rather than consume time through using the Trackify app to locate him. However, this method will stop the player from passing the Sense of Direction objective.
 * If the player destroys the Feltzer or Coquette and drives off before the Triads arrive, the Triads will be "stuck" in place, allowing the player to make a clean getaway. Alternatively, killing the Triads whilst they are on foot will also result in a clean getaway. Blowing up the Coquette while leaving in the Feltzer can also kill the Triads, due to the shockwave of the explosion. The player can also plant a sticky bomb before entering the warehouse and activate it when the triads get in the car.

Trivia

 * Most of the intro cutscene was improvised due to Trevor falling on the fence. During the motion capture, Trevor's voice and motion-capture performer Steven Ogg tripped on the fence and Shawn Fonteno (Franklin's voice and motion-capture performer) broke out laughing. Steven Ogg improvised his freak out reaction and the scene was kept in the game.
 * This mission is similar to the mission The Meat Business, in GTA San Andreas, as both missions involve the protagonists trying to escape from a shootout in a meat factory.
 * After the intro cutscene while Franklin is talking to Lester, it is possible to get in Franklin's car and kill Trevor as he walks away. This does not affect the mission.
 * On a few occasions in this mission shooting enemies standing on ledges will cause them to fall into a meat grinder and, in one case, a vat of acid. Coming into contact with either kills the player instantly.
 * Even if the man aiming a pistol at Michael is shot in the head, the cutscene of him falling on the grinder commences with him still screaming.
 * If Michael is attacked by Trevor after he is freed, the hospital bill will come out of Trevor's account despite the fact that him and Michael are not on speaking terms for now.
 * During the end chase, if the player takes the Coquette, a surprisingly large amount of Dubstas will appear in traffic, blocking the Coquette's way. However, this does not happen if the player takes the Feltzer. Probably, both protagonists must escape in the Coquette and the enemies must chase in the Feltzer.
 * When Michael and Franklin escape the Triads, the radio in the car will be tuned in to The Lowdown 91.1 and the track "Smiling Faces Sometimes" by the Undisputed Truth will always play.
 * During the last cutscene outside Michael's house, Michael's eyes are two different colours, one is green and red/Franklin's brown eyes.
 * There is a mission similar to this in Mafia 2 where the main character has to save two gangsters from a rival mobsters crew in a meat packing facility.
 * If the player doesn't switch to Franklin during the part Michael is getting sent to the machine, Michael will be chopped up and killed. However, the player is unable to see this.
 * Occasionally during Franklin's attack on the factory, one of the enemies will rhetorically ask if Franklin is Trevor and Michael's adopted son, due to their mistaken belief that the latter two are a gay couple.
 * In the PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC, Franklin throws Michael a Combat Pistol, whereas in the PS4 and Xbox One next gen consoles, he throws him an AP Pistol.
 * In the enhanced version, the player cannot aim using the first person camera while playing as Michael upside down.
 * Upon helping Michael, Michael will tell Franklin to give him a weapon, the weapon Franklin will be giving Michael must be a Combat Pistol. If Franklin doesn't have one in his arsenal, the mission cannot be completed. The player must buy a Combat Pistol before starting this mission.
 * However, in PC Version, Franklin will always throw that weapon, even if he doesn't have one. This likely an oversight or a fix.