Metal Gear Solid:Sins of the Patriots

Prologue
She sat in the darkened office, the only items inhabiting the space was a large oak desk and a couch, it was obvious the commander didn't spend much time in here, instead ordering around new recruits. She was so nervous, had she done something to upset the man? Had she misinterpreted an order? Had she filled some paper out incorrectly?

The door opened, she hopped to her feet. He raised his hand "At ease."

She took her seat again "Is there something you wanted to talk to me about, sir?"

He thumbed her name on the clipboard "Catherine Aya Pliskin. born December 31, 2003 at 11:59 AM. Daughter of David Pliskin, age-"

"What do you want?" she hissed

The old soldier leaned on his cane, showing off his age and lack of a decent prosthetic. "I want to know, why you did what you did five years ago..."

"I did a lot of shit five years ago, you're gonna have to be specific."

"Five years ago, your father stepped up on live, national, actually...international television as Solid Snake for this first time since 2009, and accepted the "honorary" Big Boss award from the President of the Untied States, and when you were offered, nay handed the title of Snake, you denied it and ran off. I want to know...why."

Catherine eyed the man "Who are you? CIA, NSA, some Patriot fanatic?"

"Achilles Judas Cunningham."

"Wow, your mother must have hated you."

"Runt of the family. Answer the question."

"I wanted to earn the title, not have it handed to me on a silver platter.

Cunningham eyed her name on the clipboard again "And instead you went with the codename "Silent Cat"?"

"Yeah."

He sighed, "You're in room 1138. As per request, she is bunking with you."

Catherine stood up, saluted and made her way to her assigned apartment. She keyed the door open and was greeted by a two person living quarters, a bunk bed, standard kitchen, bathroom, but to her, it just looked far too clean, it lacked the feeling of a proper home and instead looked as if it was something out of an old house catalog.

Catherine tossed her bags onto the bed and was almost immediately tackled to the floor, an arm wrapped around her neck she tried to pry it off but stopped when she heard the giggle from her supposed attacker.

She sighed "Do you have to try and give me a heart attack on our first day?"

She turned around and saw Katnis's face, a little red tint to her cheeks, she'd obviously been running. "I'm just so happy to see you, it's been what, three years?"

"Two years, four months, eighteen days, five hours." Catherine noted she diamond ring on Katnis's finger "You're still wearing that?"

Katnis gave her a kiss "Of course. Till death do us part."

Part 1
The first day at the facility was always the only guaranteed day off people at the facility would get. After midnight, everyone was always on-call and could be sent out on mission at any point. The younger recruits would go try and talk up Cunningham or head down to the R & D department to get a feel for the equipment. The older members would spend the day sleeping, seeing as it was the only time they'd be guaranteed a full night's rest.

Catherine and Katnis on the other hand, had spent half the day on their room, snuggled close in bed holding hands trying to catch up on their lost years apart. Catherine with her head resting on the pillow, blanket hardly covering her nude form, she was staring straight up at the ceiling, Katnis resting on her side, tracing lines in Catherine's hair against the pillow with her finger.

"So." Catherine said, breaking the silence "How long have you been working here?"

"Five months or so. Paid vacation, insurance, hot food, cold water, hell you get a raise for every kill you get."

Catherine raised her eyebrow "How?"

"$50 per kill. $75 if it's a headshot."

"I take it you've gotten no raise since joining?"

Katnis playfully pushed Catherine and laughed "Oh fuck you!"

Catherine's smile vanished "Hey-...I'm sorry."

"I know you were just kidding."

"No, about uh-going away for all that time, I know that musta been hard on you. Sure as hell was hard on me."

Katnis rested her chin in her hand "I'm not mad, I know you were embarrassed, I know you wanted to prove yourself. I wish I could have followed you where ever you went. And yeah, for a while it was hard, but I endured."

"I spent some time in Japan, that was fun."

"Really?"

"Shot some people."

'Catherine!"

"What? He pulled a gun on me, it was self defense..." Catherine looked away "Sorta."

She smiled and grabbed at the necklace around Catherine's neck, she noticed it held her wedding ring "You don't wear this anymore?"

"i need to get it resized, it kept falling off my finger in a fire fight."

"Wh-how many did you ge-"

"At least nine."

"Good god!'

"Oh no that was just Japan."

Katnis sighed "What am I going to do with you?"

Catherine stood up, giving Katnis a good view of her bare back. She gasped at the new tattoos gracing her skin, mostly Japanese kanji, and a few dates, some she could only guess at. Katnis ran her hand over the foreign lettering. Catherine gasped as her hand went low, she stood up and started to get dressed.

"What do those mean?"

Catherine let out a sigh "Uh, let's see...one says Loyalty to the End. Another says...Love is Eternal, and the last one is, Silence is Golden."

"Oh, I see." Katnis watched Catherine throw on her boots and shirt "Where are you going?"

"Mess hall. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

"Hmm, hurry back."

"You want anything?"

"Nah, just gonna catch up on some sleep."

Catherine leaned in and gave her a kiss "Stay pretty."

"I'll try."

"You never have to!" She shouted as she left the room.

When Catherine hadn't returned in over an hour, Katnis began to get worried. She got dressed, grabbed her glock and went exploring for her. She walked along the drawbridge over the R & D department where she saw Catherine talking happily to another blonde haired woman. Katnis couldn't tell who the other person was due to equipment impairing her vision. She leaned against the guardrail and bit her thumb. She couldn't help but think of Catherine as a two sided coin: Heads, the girl she knew, the girl she grew up with, the girl she married. She was happy, friendly, was able to tell a joke. Tails:Katnis only saw Catherine's father, brooding, depressing, talking with her back to everyone. Katnis wanted the girl she married back, not this Catherine, not this one that had a Two Face motif. __________________________________________________________

Catherine had started down the endless hallways to the messhall when she passed the R & D department, wanting to say hello to a certain family member, she decided to go in. She was greeted by the receptionist.

"Hello, do you have an appointment?"

'Uh, no."

"Unit?"

"FOXHOUND."

"Name?"

"Catherine."

"I don't see your name here Miss."

Another person entered the "room", a young woman, a few years Catherine's junior. Short gray hair, white tanktop with black oil stains dotting it. A pair of headphones graced her neck, and there was a pair of glasses in her shirt pocket.

"It's okay, she's with me."

"Hey cousin Sunny. How have you been?" Catherine asked giving the girl a hug

"I've been good. Busy. When'd you get here?"

"Last night."

"Perfect! Mind if I show you something?"

"Uh sure."

Sunny started down to her right, almost as if it was a marked path. Catherine gawked at the machines, most she had no idea what they were for, nor what they would do. They went by the mechs based off those used by Diamond Dogs in the 80's, it was estimated four were deployed every hour to the battlefield, that number was expected to rise over in the China front in the coming months. Sunny stopped at what Catherine assumed to be her desk and handed Catherine what looked like a normal iDroid, although slimmer, like the phones kids utilized.

"It's great, Sunny...thanks." She said, trying to show some enthusiasm

"I've added some upgrades."

Catherine sifted through the options, WARDROBE/ATTIRE, WEAPONS, SUPPORT, CUSTOMIZATION. Catherine chuckled as she sifted through the default outfits and camo selections, Sneaking Suits varied from the light skin tight, bare bones from MSF, the CQC Enchancer Suit from the early 70's, the Russian test models from the 60's, Diamond Dog's suit from the 80's, the Shadow Moses, Tanker Incident, the Skull Suit Raiden used, and the Octocamo. Another set of options were the camo, various colors of short sleeved t-shirts and combat pants. There were further customization options, such as adding a command vest and backpack, watches, how many weapons would be shown on person. Something caught Catherine's eye, there was a FOXHOUND logo that was used in the 90's on the left shoulder,

"Well, what do you think?"

"Can I get my own custom suit?"

Sunny tapped her finger on her chin "What'd you have in mind?"

"I'll draw you a concept of what I got in mind, but this'll work. Thank you."

Sunny winked "Gotta make sure our boys and girls have the best equipment possible!"

"You one of my codec teammates?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"What type of mission. If it's rescue, scouting or infiltration, yeah. If it's a combat mission, no."

"Hmm, well thank you Sunny."

"No problem, sorry I missed the wedding"

"Think nothing of it, was boring." She replied, giving a wave as she made her way out.

She walked to the Mess hall, hands in her pockets, she was intercepted at the door by Katnis.

"Oh hey." she said, legitimately surprised "I thought you'd be sleeping."

"Nah, I got hungry. Wanna join me?"

"Oh hell yeah!"

The two went in, smiles on their faces.

Part 2
Catherine stepped out of the transport, one hand on the rifle at her hip, the other on her military beret on her head, the 90's cartoon FOXHOUND logo on her left shoulder and cap, it gave her a bit of pride to be representing the unit along with the other three recruits. Catherine was greeted by the head of the military unit of the immediate area: a woman in her late thirties or early forties, dark crimson red hair, her piercing emerald eyes were her best features.

Catherine saluted as the woman approached "At ease" she said "You been sent here to back us up?"

"Yes sir"

"Ma'am" she corrected "Unit?"

"Special Forces FOXHOUND."

"Name?" Catherine remained silent "Codename"

"Silent Cat"

"God, I hate your codename system, are you higher ranked or...?"

"Major."

"Hmm...not bad. Come, step into my "office." Oh, and don't mind the mess."

Catherine followed the commander through the camp, which really only consisted of a few dozen tents belonging to the soldiers stationed there and a trailer like you'd see in a camping ground. She was shocked when she entered the mobile home as it looked like a tornado carved a path through it, messy as a child's room. Even more shocking was there was a second female in the trailer trying to clean up.

"Oh, sorry Commander."

"Think nothing of it, Natalia. Just go do laps."

Catherine stepped out of the way as the other woman walked past picked up her t-shirt and pants on her way out. Catherine eyed the commander.

"Oh don't you dare judge."

"Didn't think of it, sir."

"Good."

"Considering my spouse..."

"He's a lucky man."

Catherine cleared her throat "She, sir."

she looked Catherine over "Oh, I see." she uncorked a bottle of wine "Want some?"

"No thank you sir, I don't drink."

she shook her head "Which is why I smelled beer on your breath."

Catherine blushed "Anymore..."

"Ah well, more for me. Anyway, you'll be doing rounds in the city nearby with the other soldiers."

"Why are we doing rounds?"

"Sometime ago, that city was well, to be frank: a city of thieves, liars, gamblers, and sinners."

"Las Vegas?" she asked with a smile

She shot Catherine a look which silenced her "Yes... anyway, after Albatross went down, the city went to hell, army had to get called in to clear them out. Now we're doing rounds since the city's a great strategic spot for either side of the war, and we've been hit hard by the Russians the past few months."

"Okay, when do I start?"

"Tonight."

"Anything else I should know?"

She pursed her lips "Yes, unfortunately. You see, when Albatross fell, a new guy took up control in the South side, a man calling himself Xero. He was one of the founding members of the Order of Cipher, you know those bastards set up in Langley? Well, Xero has his own personal army, really just an over glorified motley crew. He set up shop in the city, if you can, steer clear of him."

"He that dangerous?"

"He kills Cyborg Ninjas and keeps their body parts as trophies."

Catherine blinked "How man-"

"At least twelve."

"Well, thank you for the information."

"You're welcome Cat. I'll see you tonight. Oh yes, if you see Natalie, could you be a dear and tell her to come back in?"

"Yes ma'am."

Part 3
Katnis was placed in a unit who's mission wouldn't be for another week, she had decided to head out to the market to make a huge dinner for Catherine for when she returned later that night. Katnis stopped by a kiosk in the middle of the market, a pair of silver aviators had caught her eye. She tried them on and looked at herself in the mirror, something about them just made her feel complete.

"Hey, lady, you try 'em you buy 'em!" the man said, obviously annoyed at her

"Oh sorry." she replied, paying the man.

She went through the deli to pick up some meat when an explosion went off in the neighboring store, sending her back word into another stand. She stood up, ears ringing, a black smoke emitted from the former store, dead or unconsious bodies littered the ground. Katnis reached for her side arm, but stopped when a woman exited the wreckage casually, black leather sweatshirt, cargo pants, firey blood-red hair, piercing emerald eyes. She immediately looked at Katnis, she froze at the sight.

A plume of smoke blocked her view, it blew away, the girl was gone. Katnis lowered her gun.

"Hello there." a voice whispered into her ear. She spun on her heel and went to fire, but the girl grabbed her arm, her other hand wrapped around Katnis's hip "Whoa whoa, at least take me out on a date first!"

"Who are you?"

She pursed her lips, keeping her devilish grin "I got many names, sugar. But you may call me Ruby."

"And why did you blow up the store?"

"I dunno, felt like it."

"Wha..."

"Tell me something. You my kitten's chew toy?"

"Wait, what?"

"Catherine. You're her lover, yeah?"

"She's my wife...how do you know her?"

"Hmm, she didn't mention being married, at least I don't think she did. I'll let her tell you, sugar. Tell her hi for me, yeah?" she said with a wink

"I-d-who the hell are you?"

"Ask Cat. Now, enjoy your nap."

"Nap?"

Katnis felt a pain in her neck as the woman chopped her pressure point with her palm, Katnis went down as the darkness came. The last thing she saw was Rubygave her a kiss on the cheek. __________________________________________________________

Katnis stormed into Jericho's office, pushing his secretary to the floor. Jericho looked up at her, an annoyed look on his face.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, sarcastically

"Who the hell was that woman?"

"Ruby? She's an agent."

"Of ArmsTech?"

"Of course."

"Then why did she just attack me!?"

"Well you did just try to shoot her."

"She blew up a store!"

"She tends to do that when she's bored, that's why we usually have her on the front lines."

"She said she knows Catherine."

"That's something you should ask your wife, I don't dive into the personal lives of my agents."

Katnis saw a look of uncertainty on the man's face, like he was hiding something. "Tell me everything about her, what is it she does?"

"She has the power of invisibility."

"Why does she have them?"

He sighed and waved to his assistant to shut the door "If you must know. She's apart of The Successor Project."

"What's the Successor Project?"

He folded his hands "You see, with the deaths of Ocelot, Gray Fox, Big Boss, Major Zero, Dr. Clark, Naomi Hunter, etc. It was decided the world needs a new set of people to look up to, to fear, to respect. So we've spent the last several years looking for successors to the greats, The Boss, Big Boss, Solid Snake, Ocelot..."

"And who does she replace?"

"What legendary sniper operated as apart of Diamond Dogs in the 80's?"

"Quiet?"

He sarcastically clapped his hands "Oh look, she does have a brain."

"Is...Catherine apart of this project?" He remained silent "Is she!?"

"In a way..."

"Who is she...?"

"Use your head, girl. She was offered the damn title. She refused, the lead of the project still has hopes the girl will take the title. I trust her."

"Am...I apart of his project?"

"Nope."

"What?"

"You do not match the requirements to replace anyone close to the Big Boss or Solid Snake ally."

"Who else is apart of this project?"

"That's classified."

"Who's head of the project?"

"Classified"

Katnis grabbed her temple "It's my mother isn't it?"

"Err..."

"Oh for the love of God." _________________________________________________________

Catherine stepped off the helicopter, one hand on her beret to keep it from flying, not one step out of the hangar she was tackled to the floor by Katnis, who had pinned her arms to the floor.

"I missed you too." Catherine said, sarcasm and annoyance at the forefront

"I'm going to ask you something, I want you to be honest with me..."

"Yeah?"

"Who's Ruby?"

Catherine looked at Jericho "What the hell did you tell her!?"

Part 4
Jericho explained that, when The Successor project was first conceived in 2016, they had initially considered using the cloning to create the heroes they desired, but the plans fell through due to lack of funding. A year later they decided the more "cost effective" route and personally train people from a young age to become the replacements. There were dozens of test subjects, most had either died in early missions, tried to leave and were executed. Jericho stated there were currently nine surviving subjects, including Ruby, six of them were under constant tabs, two were members of the Order of Cipher.

"So, hold up. Are you saying I'm a subject?"

Jericho pushed up his glasses "Technically, both you and Sunny are considered...successes."

"I take it Sunny is the "replacement" for Otacon?"

"Oh look she has a brain."

"And who am I? Sniper Wolfe? Kaz?" Catherine's lip twitched "Ocelot?"

Jericho sighed "Must I really tell you?"

She turned her head away from Jericho "Why me?"

"You're joking, right? The daughter of the legendary Solid Snake doesn't even know she was handpicked to be his successor? You know honestly, I would've chosen some kid outta New York. Or hell, Raiden before his Cyborg change would've been a better choice than some girl who is so insecure about a codename she falls off the map for over half a decade!"

Catherine met the man's stare, their eyes on-level, she looked into his brown eyes.

"You got something to say to me, sugar tits, say it now."

"Where the hell do you get off talking shit about me, huh? You don't know a damn thing about me!"

Jericho smirked and took out his iDroid, he turned it on to her dossier "I know when you were 15 you joined the Order of Cipher, seeing as you're Atheist it only makes sense you would find yourself drawn to the closest thing to a god in this world, you left the Order a half year later when, in your own words "I saw what they were doing, I didn't like it." Care to elaborate?"

Catherine's eye twitched "I saw they were executing people. I didn't want any part of that, I got the hell out of there. Simple."

"And you went off the grid, mind telling us where you were hiding for all that time?"

"That's none of your god damn business."

"Sugar tits, I'm with the government. It's my job to know everything. Where were you?"

She sighed "Anywhere but America, I'll tell you that."

"And your little fling with Ruby?"

"I was training in Japan, it was like my third day there, raining hard, I wasn't thinking... One thing lead to another, I fell on a bamboo chute. Blood everywhere, next thing I knew I was waking up in her house, she nursed me back to heath. Happy?"

"And you were..."

"Oh god no, I'm married you idiot."

"Then...?"

She folded her arms "More of a big-sister thing."

"And she calls you her kitten because...?"

"I don't wanna talk about that."

Jericho smirked "You know your wife has been listening in on this?"

"Of course."

A minute of silence passed "Now, onto the mission, you were with that company for a few days, the one outside that city of thieves, what did you learn?"

"It's like a bad 90's b-movie in there, we walk in with a soldier's uniform, we will be shot."

"Well, we need data that's inside that city, so we are sending you and your wife into the city to retrieve that data. How you get in, and when is up to you. Just keep it quiet, we do not need an international incident on our hands."

Catherine started to walk out "You coulda just said standard operating procedure, woulda waved us an extra minute."

"Where the hell are you going?"

"Katnis said she had made a big dinner."

Part 5
Catherine stood in Sunny's private office, tapping her foot in anticipation, an annoyed look on her face. Ruby had been following her like a lovesick puppy all morning, ever since Sunny called them down. Katnis walked in, still brushing her teeth.

"Morning." She looked at ruby, a hate-filled scowl emerged on her face

"Hey" Catherine replied, trying to choke down her annoyance

Katnis looked at Ruby "Why is she here?"

"She followed me."

Ruby stepped between them "Come on, let's blow this joint, we can have some real fun!"

Catherine looked at her "Don't you have some village to blow up, or children to mutilate?"

"Not till Tuesday."

Catherine let out a sigh "Just, go do something away from me."

Ruby went around and gave Catherine a backwords hug "Come on! I won't leave without my little kitten!"

"I am going to shoot you in the face in ten seconds if you don't leave me alone."

Ruby just smiled and put on her sunglasses as she walked out the door.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" Katnis asked

"Many. Many things."

Sunny walked in, tailed by a young man possibly around Catherine's age, raven black hair, common lab coat. He looked like he had just downed several sports drinks at once.

"Catherine, Katnis, this is Derek, he's my assistant and creator of the Sneaking Suits used by the field agents." Sunny said "Catherine, we used your design to create a pair of suits for you and Katnis. would you like to try them on?"

Catherine eyed the young man, he had a hopeful smile on his face, he looked like one who was always eager to please. "You got a changing room?"

"Yeah, it's called behind the computers."

Catherine gave her an expectant look "Joy."

Catherine took the box and went out of Sunny and Derek's sight, she tried on the suit, it looked like a zip-front leotard with a white possibly armored breastplate full sleeve gloves with elbow pads and looks like those are probably thigh high boots with it. Catherine liked the color, primarily white and gray with the secondary being yellow and a dark navy blue.

She stepped into the others' sight, her cheeks red with embarrassment "This really sucks ass as a Sneaking Suit, the color stands out far too much"

Derek chuckled "The color can be changed on a user's will via the customization option in your iDroid."

"Oh that could come in handy"

"Plus, this suit is designed to be lightweight, allow the wearer quick movement, it's light armor would allow you to hide better and get away from a gunfight without much of an issue. You know, aside from a stray bullet. There's also a built in hood for rain or snow."

"That's cool I guess."

Sunny's smile wavered "You don't like it."

"No no, I like it. Just, the one I sent you didn't look this..exposing."

Sunny sifted through her iDroid, "This is the one you sent right?"

Catherine looked at the photo "I drew that when I was fifteen, when I was...going through stuff, why was this sent!?" Catherine turned to Katnis who had an innocent look on her face "Are you five?"

"No, but the one you wanted was too boring."

"Right... Anyway, can I switch from this to another Sneaking Suit?"

Sunny grimaced "You'd have to call airdrop one in."

"Joy." She said

"I do have a new weapon for you guys to use. Check your Inventory."

Catherine scrolled through her weapon options, two new selections popped up, both had a "NEW" on it. One was labeled "Patriot 01" the second ladled "Patriot 02" She eyed Sunny "What's the difference?"

"01 is silenced, smaller, but less accurate. 02 is unsilenced, bigger but more accurate."

"Should come in handy, would I have to airdrop it in?"

"No of course not."

Catherine smiled "Well thank you Sunny, Derek."

"Pleasure is all mine, ma'am. Now stay safe."

She nodded and made her way down to the hangar where the helicopter was awaiting. She allowed Katnis to board first, she got comfortable in a seat.

Part 6
Catherine sat in the bar, the smell of smoke, alcohol and dried vomit hit her like a punch in the nose. She was sitting there, waiting for one of Xero's contacts to walk in. She was told she would know him when she saw the zero with a stylized slash in it. She went to down her glass of whiskey but when she got a whiff of it, she gagged and dumped it onto the floor.

"You know, you gotta look convincing." Katnis chimed

Catherine eyed her at the bar, playing the drunk flirt in her bikini, hitting on every guy who walked by her. "If I have to down another glass of this crap I am going to vomit!" She hissed

"Ease the fangs."

A man walked in, dark brown hair, almost black, white beanie, distressed leather jacket with the stylized zero. A scar on his left eye, concurrent to his nose. Maybe around Catherine's age, a little younger.

"This the target?"

"Yeah."

Katnis made her move, offered to buy him a drink. He looked at her with concern, fear. Catherine listened in via the Solid Eye's binocular mode. He had subtly asked if Katnis was the target sent in by the CIA. Katnis tried her best to convince him of such...but she went too far trying to sell it, he pulled a gun, she blocked his wrist, sending the gunshot into another patron, breaking his bottle of rum, within the blink of an eye, before Catherine could even stand up, the entire bar was enthralled in a blood bath. Catherine withdrew her tranquiler gun and tried to aim at the target, but drunkards were in the way.

"Go! I'll be alright!" Katnis shouted as a patron made a punch at her, only for her to grab his arm and snap it at the elbow, tossing him to the ground.

"You sure?"

Katnis withdrew her Desert Eagle-god knows where she hid that "I got this." She hopped behind the counter, opening a bottle of wine, keeping her gun at the ready. Catherine knew she would be having fun tonight.

Catherine ran out into the street, immediately finding the target, as she had tagged him in the bar. She ran after him, keeping only two steps behind him, he was in great shape, almost too good for her. She was about to pounce when he altered his solder buddies. They charged at her, melee weapons at the ready, she saw the target make a right down an alleyway, blocked with guards. She cursed her luck and threw herself at the building, clammoring up the wall like a monkey, she reached the roof within seconds, hopping across the the roofs with the grace of her codename, She saw the target, he had stopped to catch a smoke, thinking he'd lost her. She climbed down grabbing the cracks in the wall, as soon as her feet touched the ground, her gun was at the ready. She placed the barrel in the bare part of his neck above his collar.

"Freeze" She hissed

He raised his hands "How the hell?"

"Shut up!"

"Kay lady...just take it easy."

She pressed the gun deeper into his neck "Just tell me one thing and I'll let you go."

"And what's that? My bank account?"

She ignored him "Where's your boss?"

"He's on the Merrystar, out in the middle of the ocean, heading to South America to look over his diamond operation or some shit, look lady I'm just a street grunt."

"That's all I needed to hear." She said in a chipper tone "Have a nice nap."

"Wait, wh-"

She fired a dart into his neck, knocking him out cold. "You hear that?"

"Got it!" Katnis replied, she sounded out of breath

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good"

"How many did you kill?"

"Better question would be, how many aren't dead?"

"Just get in touch with Jericho, we need to track that ship down, now."

Part 7
Rain pelted her face as she sat at the stern of the Merrystar, her brand new dark blue Sneaking Suit, at least keeping her dry. She could see the vague outlines of guards on their patrols. She dialed Katnis's codec.

"This is Cat, I'm on board."

"Gotcha, are you sure you don't want me there with you?"

"No, these missions work better alone. Anyway, this shouldn't take too long, I go in, put a bullet between the guy's eyes, get out."

"I thought you were against killing."

Catherine sighed "Fine, I knock him out, throw him overboard, he drowns. Happy?"

"Not...really."

"I gotta go, I'll be back soon."

"Good luck."

She signed off, withdrew her tranquilizer and made her way through across the deck, where she saw a patrolling guard carrying a lamp, Catherine locked him in a CQC hold and flipped him over the railing, sending him into the water. She went through the interior, dodging guards before heading up to the top deck, the navigation was on automatic, she looked outside and saw a man in a gray trench coat waiting in the heavy rain. She stepped outside, gun at the ready.

"Freeze!"

The man turned to her, a deep scar narrowly missing his left eye, a wicked grin, deep brown eyes. He looked like a man who knew his way around the battlefield. "Are you the one they sent to end my pain?"

Catherine blinked "Who?"

"The Order."

"Cipher? No, I'm not affiliated with them."

The man stepped into the light "No, not them. But I do remember you. Catherine Pliskin. You joined the Order of Cipher when you were just a child, you were so energetic, so willing to believe what we preached. But you left us. The task of carrying on the message to the people was too much for you to handle, yes?"

Catherine snarled "That doesn't matter."

The man spread his hands "Do you even know who I am? Do you know why you've been ordered to kill me?"

"No." She admitted

"My true name is none of your concern, but you may call me Xero."

"Original name there, buddy."

"Humorous. My goal is for the world to go back to the way it once was before the System went down. For the people to be controlled by the best and brightest minds civilization has to offer. Think about it, girl. On their own, people cannot contain themselves. They're like small children, shooting each other for secrets and lies."

"So your thought process is instead to have them shoot each other because...I told you so?"

"Tell me, what is ArmsTech working on in Virginia?"

She blinked "What?"

"They're creating artificial soldiers to replace the flesh and blood that have served their country for centuries. All for a cleaner, safer battlefield. Tell me, what would your father have to say about that?"

Catherine shrugged "He's okay with the Cyborg Ninjas."

"They are made from flesh and blood, not created from coding from a computer."

"And what are you going to do when you have absolute control?"

"That is the concern of my successors, girl. I am...too old to rule, not unlike the Major."

"Your successor?"

Xero turned his back "The woman behind you."

Catherine's eyes widened, she turned to shoot, but all she felt was a stinging pain in her stomach as she was hit with a stun rod, sending electricity through her system, and everything went black.

Part 8
Catherine awoke in stages, when she could see, she could tell she was still on the Merrystar, she could still smell the sea water, the pain in her stomach, familiar, like ripping off a scab. There was a single light overhead, swinging with the waves hitting the ship. Her eyes darted up when a guard strutted in with a knife.

"Boss wants you girl, come on, we'll be docking soon."

She faked being weaker than she really was, hardly able to walk, the guard groaned and grabbed Catherine's right arm and started dragging her. While going down the hallway, she smashed the poor guard into the wall, sending the air out of him, while he was still in shock, she hopped over her arms and started strangling the man with her cuff link. Thinking it was taking too long, and running the risk of being spotted, she snapped his neck.

She searched the man and found the key in his pocket, she unlocked the handcuffs and dragged the guard's body into an open locker. She needed a gun, all the guard had on him was a knife, and she knew that wouldn't cut it. She made her way through the corridors, avoiding patrolling guards, she found a room full of weapons, her heart leapt to her throat. She picked up a rifle, a digital indicator stated it was I.D. Locked. She cured herself. She picked up a pistol, ID locked, a shotgun, the same result. Then, in a dark corner she saw her bag. She opened it and found her weapons, no timer bomb, no hidden grenade set to go off.

She sifted through her iDroid, she tried to equip anything but it was unavailable, the only thing she could hit without paying for it was the Patriot, unsilenced version, she sighed and equipped it and ran up to the deck where Xero was slanted against one of the containers, blood covered the deck of the ship, body parts littered everywhere. Catherine snuck her way up to the man, her gun aimed at his head.

"What happened?"

Xero eyed her "He did."

Catherine turned, gun at the ready. She saw a white armored samurai straight out of a sci-fi movie from the 80's, a red bladded sword cleaned off in the bend of his arm, sword sheated at his hip.

"Hey cousin."

Raiden smiled "Hey kid."

Without waiting for him to say anything, she turned back to Xero, she shrugged "What now old man?"

"You know how this works, yes? Cut off one head, another shall take it's place. You may strike me down but the Order will only replace me. I am nothing but a pawn in this game, just as you are."

Catherine smiled "The La-li-lu-le-lo are gone, there's no one pulling the strings, not the Lizard people, not the Illuminati, not some Sons group. The world is run by the people."

"You'd like the think that...wouldn't you? Tell me, in five...ten years when Russia and China stop blowing holes in their heads, what then? What will be the next conflict? How long will it be until yet another conflict is started? Will it be your precious America? Or how about yet another war in Africa, or maybe Germany rises again? Ever think of that?"

She shrugged "I tend to burn bridges as I cross them."

He smiled "Yes...but when will you run out of fire to burn them?"

"I'll worry about that when the time comes." She stood up, placed the barrel of the gun against the man's forehead

Xero chuckled "May the hell you find be of your own making."

She pulled the trigger... __________________________________________________________

Catherine stepped off the helicopter, hat nearly falling off her head, FOXHOUND logo embroidered on the left side, and on the hat. Katnis stepped off next, wearing a black variant of Catherine's outfit, PSG-1 on her back. Ruby was already waiting on the offshore base, red variant of Catherine's outfit. As the helicopter departed, a squad of ten guards in all-black garb, balaclavas red berets. They made a perfect line and saluted in unison.

"Where's your commander?"

A woman emerged from the left side, a revolver spinning on her finger. Dark khaki colored military garb, a wine red sash on her right shoulder. Sandy blonde hair, silver eyes. "My name is Special Agent Alice Zimmerman. Otherwise known as...Ocelot."

Catherine smiled "And this is the Ocelot unit?"

Alice nodded "And you must be Snake....or rather, The Boss?"

"Call me Cat."

"What are your orders?"

"Assemble the men."