Metal Gear Solid:Blacklight is a fanon written by Jim Logan, and it serves as a sequel to Metal Gear Solid:Ghosts of War and remake of Metal Gear Solid:Second Snakes. The main protagonist is Catherine Black and the story itself takes place eight years after the end of Ghosts of War.
Chapter 1[]
It had been six years since Catherine last saw her father, Jack in person. It had been six years since he left her in the care of her Uncle Otacon, and it had been five years since she last heard his voice tell her "Don't look for me. I'll find you." Jack and Meryl left her after a disastrous mission in Mexico which ended with the death of Silver Wolfe and in retaliation, Snake ordered the disbandment of FOXHOUND and before she could even protest, he left her without a word. She had questioned why for years, and still she found no answer.
Catherine was thrown out of her day dream by an uppercut to her cheek by her CQC instructor, knocking her to the ground. Her teacher asked "You alright today darlin'?" Catherine rubbed the side of her now beat red face and sighed "Yeah coach, just...just out of it today." Catherine's coach was a man, seemingly in his mid forties, a slight five o'clock shadow on his face, graying hair and had a larger build to him. Catherine had known him since she joined FOXHOUND ten years earlier and she could still kick his ass, but she chose not to. Her coach asked "Is today special to you are something kid?" Catherine said "No, not that I know of." The coach thought for a second before snapping his fingers "I got it!" Catherine asked "What? Did you find the hair that's supposed to be on your head?" Her coach said "No, today's the day FOXHOUND disbanded!" Catherine felt a twinge of pain and sadness spread through her when he said "FOXHOUND", sat down in the corner and buried her head into her knees. Her coach asked "Is it something I said?" Catherine shook her head and said "No, it's fine Marvin, I think I'll call it a day. If that's alright with you." Marvin nodded "Sure kid, next time be ready to fight!" Just as Catherine was about to turn the corner, she gave him a thumbs up and a wink, and despite what she felt inside, she tried to make her smile as genuine as possible.
Catherine quickly changed in the locker room into a black shirt with the FOX logo on it and some sweat pants before starting the half hour walk home, where the thoughts of her having to shoot Ocelot in Mexico filled her mind and nearly brought her to tears from the memory. In what seemed no time at all Catherine found herself at the door to her apartment. When she opened the door she found her roommate and life-long friend Katnis Rowe who had neck length raven black hair, was at least a few inches taller than Catherine herself and had very tan skin, cooking something on the stove, only wearing a bra, panties and an apron. Catherine quickly turned around and shouted "Kat! What the hell?" Katnis asked "What?" Catherine wiped the minor stream of blood coming from her nose away and said "Why are you wearing that?" Katnis said "I need to wear this while cooking dummy!" Catherine sighed "Why...aren't you at least wearing a shirt?" Katnis winked "I'm not the dumbass who forgot to do the laundry." Catherine said "Well at least put on one of my shirts alright?" Katnis laughed "I don't know if anything will fit me." Catherine finally felt safe enough to turn around and said "You're not that big!" Katnis appeared from the bedroom wearing a baby blue tee shirt that showed her belly button and said "Told you, none of your stuff is big enough for me." Catherine rolled her eyes and asked "So, did the tests come back?" Katnis nodded to the papers on the counter and said "Yeah, the doc wants me in Monday to get fitted." Catherine lit a cigar and asked "Fitted for what?" Katnis said "I'm not getting the surgery Cat, not like what Raiden went through." Catherine smiled "Good, I'm glad." Katnis pointed to another envelope on the counter "That one came for you, it has the FOXHOUND logo on it so I decided against opening it." Catherine nodded "That's a first." Katnis said "Shut up and read it." Catherine tore open the envelope and the contents were in Meryl's hand writing. The note itself claimed that she and Snake were in the Caribbean and that they miss her dearly. At the bottom of the note, there was a small picture of her standing in front of a helicopter holding the locket Catherine gave Meryl for her birthday five years earlier. Catherine again felt tears well up in her eyes until Katnis bent over Catherine's shoulder, kissed her on the cheek and asked "What's wrong kitten?" Catherine said "No-nothing. I'm fine." Katnis smirked "I know when you're lying." Catherine said "I'm tired, I think I'm gonna go to bed." Katnis smiled "I think I'll join you in a bit."
Early on in the next morning, Catherine was awoken by her Codec to which she answered to her boss, whom she never met in person. Catherine asked "What do you need boss?" Her boss replied "We need you to hunt down a potential terrorist down in Florida, and we need you to do it now." Catherine asked "Who's the target?" Her boss said "You'll be briefed on the way." Catherine nodded "Roger." Two hours later she found herself clad in a gray hoodie walking down the darkened rainy streets of Miami armed with an AR-15, when she heard two men talking in an alley. Catherine quickly darted to a corner and tried to listen in. Catherine looked around the corner and saw two men, one was clad in what appeared to be a silver trench coat and he had brown slicked back hair and the other man was what appeared to be clad in a black sweatshirt and had messy red hair. Catherine inched closer trying to listen to the conversation, and the man in the trench coat pulled a pistol and shot the man point-blank killing him. Catherine raised her gun and shouted "Freeze!" The man raised his hands slowly, keeping his back turned to Catherine and asked "Kept you waiting huh?" Catherine felt her blood freeze as she recognized the voice; the voice of her father, Solid Snake." Half of her wanted to toss her gun to the ground and hug him, but her reasonable half told her to keep the gun raised. Snake turned and started to walk toward her with an evil smirk on his face. Catherine shouted "Don't move!" Snake said "You'd never pull the trigger. Just as she went to shoot the gun, he hit her hand away, elbowed her in the chin and took the gun out of her hands. In retaliation, she pulled her side arm and pointed it at him. Catherine asked "Why did you leave me? Tell me!" Snake whispered "Night rookie." Catherine raised an eyebrow "What?" Before she could turn, she felt something hit her in the back of the head, knocking her down and causing her body to slump against the wall. She fought to keep consciousness and from what she could see, she saw under her hood; Snake arguing with someone. After a minute, the second person leaned over Catherine, kissed her on the cheek and when the person pulled away, Catherine caught a glimpse of the old FOXHOUND logo tattooed on their left arm. Just as Catherine lost consciousness, she thought "It's Meryl!"
Chapter 2[]
Catherine slowly awoke from her forced nap with a major headache and she had a minor problem to keep standing. Catherine said to herself "Why the hell would they do that,...why would they do this to me?" Catherine made her way home to a very concerned and panicked Katnis. Katnis shouted "Oh my god I was so worried when you didn't come back! Are you alright?!" Catherine said "Yeah yeah, I'm fine. But uh...I saw Snake last night." Katnis's eyebrows raised "You saw the Boss?" Catherine rubbed the back of her head and said "I saw Meryl too..." Katnis asked "How were they?" Catherine said "Fine, I guess...Meryl hit me in the back of the head with something and I couldn't exactly talk to them." Katnis asked "Why would they do that?" Catherine shook her head "I don't kno-" Katnis tapped Catherine on the head and smiled "You need all the brain cells you have left!" Catherine was grateful for Katnis's joking attitude in the situation and trying to make her feel better. Katnis asked "Do you know where they are?" Catherine shook her head "I don't have a single clu-." Katnis asked "What?" Catherine smiled "The letter." Katnis asked "In the Caribbean?" Catherine nodded "Yeah." Katnis asked "How the hell are you going to find out exactly where?" Catherine said "There's a helicopter in the background of her picture, and no land in sight, so there's only one place I can think of where they can be." Katnis asked "And where's that?...." Catherine said "Motherbase." Catherine proceeded to call her boss via Codec. Her boss asked "What do you want Catherine?" Catherine asked "How long did you know my target was my own father?!" Her boss said "I have no idea what you're talking about." Catherine said "My target was Solid Snake!" Her boss said "And how would I have known he was your father? You never said that." Catherine said "I'm going after him." Her boss asked "You didn't detain him?!" Catherine said "No...he had an ally..." Her boss said "You have his location?" Catherine replied "Yeah...." Her boss said "You will give us the location and stay away from this mission, you're a liability." Catherine shouted "No! He's my father, if anyone should take him down, it's me!" Her boss said "You will give us the location and you will stand down. That is an order!" Catherine shouted "Screw you! I quit." Catherine signed off from her Codec and turned to Katnis who was standing there with a smile on her face. Catherine asked "What?" Katnis said "I'm proud of you. Your boss was an ass." Catherine smirked "Thanks. Can you do something for me?" Katnis nodded "Yeah, sure. What do you need?" Catherine said "I need you to get that pilot buddy of yours to give me a ride." Katnis smiled "Sure. What are you doing?" Catherine said "I'm gonna pack."
That evening, Catherine found herself aboard Bill's helicopter and he took off toward the Caribbean. Bill was a friend of Katnis, and Catherine hardly knew him, he was around her age in his early twenties, he had short brown hair and a stubble on his chin. Overall he was a major pervert, not on the terms of her grandfather Roy Campbell, but he annoyed her on occasion. Bill asked "How you doing girl, you have any fun with Katnis lately?" Catherine sighed "Shut up, Bill." Bill shouted "WOO WHO! I know what that means!" Catherine couldn't help but chuckle at him. Several hours passed and Bill shouted "Yo girl! These are the coordinates you gave me! All I see is some offshore plant!" Catherine said "Here's my drop off. Thanks Bill." Bill said "No problem, hey give Katnis a kiss for me, 'kay?" Catherine gave him a thumbs up "Will do. Stay outta jail!" Catherine jumped from the helicopter, and landed in the ocean with a splash. When Catherine rose to the surface she thought to herself "Woo! That woke me up!" Catherine swam up to the facility and climbed up one of the emergency ladders up one of the struts and found a minimal amount of security. Catherine smiled at herself "Oh Snake, you've become way too cocky in your old age." Catherine opened a door and found herself in what seemed to be a room which reminded her of what was in Otacon's room; three computers with dozens upon dozens of other devices she could only guess at what they do. On the only active computer, read "Find The Patriots" Catherine asked "Who the hell are the Patriots?" Catherine tried to type on the computer, but a box appeared stating "PASSWORD" Catherine squeezed her nose in annoyance and tried "NAOMI" The screen blinked green and the computer allowed her to move around the pages. However before she could read any further, something pricked her in the neck. She found something small and found it was a tranquilizer dart. She swore to herself and said "Not..this..again." Before blacking out.
Chapter 3[]
Catherine felt something cold be placed on her head, and she tried as hard as she could to open her eyes. When she could she tried to sit up, but she found her left arm cuffed to the bed. She looked around at what she could and she saw the only thing in the entire room was a chair and the bed she was lying on. She peered down and noticed her pants were gone and so were her boots and her sweat shirt. Catherine shouted "Let me out of here!" A guard appeared at her door and shouted "Commander! She's awake!" Another person wearing OctoCamo and a balaclava appeared at the door. The "commander" walked into the room, pulled the chair up to Catherine's bedside and sat in the chair, rather informally, crossed her arms and stared at Catherine while the guard closed the door. Catherine asked "What do you want from me?" the Commander asked "It's been a while, hasn't it Catherine?" Catherine instantly recognized her voice. It was Meryl. Meryl proceeded to remove her balaclava and smiled at Catherine. Catherine asked "What. Do you want from me?" Meryl replied "You've grown up so much since I last saw you...you were hardly up to my hip last time, now I think you're taller then me." Catherine said "Answer me dammit!" Meryl said "I know you're mad about Snake and me leaving you all those years ago, and that the first time you see us in all that time, and we knock you out...twice. But you have to forgive us." Catherine scowled "And why the hell should I?" Meryl said "You hacked into our computers, we figured you to be a spy, so we subdued you. The first time, you were holding a gun to Snake's head." Catherine asked "Where is he?" Meryl said "He's busy." Catherine said "Can I ask you something?" Meryl smiled "Sure." Catherine asked "Why did you leave me, what are you doing here?" Meryl said "I knew that was coming. Look the whole reason for leaving you nor of what we're doing here can be told to you...but uh.."- Meryl waved around at the entire building-"This is FOXHOUND." Catherine lied her head back down on the pillow and chuckled to herself. Meryl asked "What's so funny?" Catherine said "You and Snake reformed FOXHOUND, just to take on the Patriots?" Meryl smirked "So you read that part huh? Yeah. you got that right. But you don't know the full story." Catherine peered at her handcuff and said "We have time. Explain." Meryl said "Let's just wait for Snake to get here, hey kiddo?" Catherine sighed "Fine."
Meryl asked "So, what have you been up to since....we left?" Catherine sighed, knowing she wouldn't get out of telling her anything, and decided to take the easy way out and just tell her. Catherine said "I joined the CIA, I moved into an apartment with Katnis, started working as a field agent, worked under a boss who hated my guts yet never met me in person. She assigned me a mission to take out a terrorist, I found out it was Snake, you knocked me out and now we're here." Meryl smiled "I knew you moved in with your friend. You two seem...close." Catherine asked "You got a problem with that?" Meryl shook her head "Not at all." Catherine asked "How'd you get my address?" Meryl tapped her head "That's for me to know, and you to find out." Catherine asked "So..you're not going to kill me?" Meryl's eyes widened "Why the hell would we do that?" Catherine said "Well you killed the ginger on the street." Meryl said "That's different." The guard opened the door "Commander, he's here." Meryl nodded "Thanks Johnny." "Johnny" saluted and walked away from the door. A few seconds later, Snake walked through it, dressed in military fatigue, and surprisingly, not wearing his bandanna.
Snake said "Hey rookie." Catherine sneered at him, refusing to even acknowledge he had entered the room. Snake whispered "Was she like this before?" Meryl shook her head "No, she opened right up to me." Snake pulled up another chair and said "Come on kid, talk to me." Catherine said "I have nothing to say to you." Meryl said "Catherine, if you have anyone to be mad at, be mad at me, I'm the one who hit you in the head...and shot you with a tranquilizer gun." Catherine said "I'm not angry about that! I'm angry that you two left me without a single word, I'm angry because the first time I talk to you in over four years, I am chained to a bed and you two are giving me an interrogation!" Snake smiled "You're mad? Get over it. We left you for a reason, and we left you in good hands. Without us you had a good life and now you're back with us. Cut the crap and be happy." Catherine said "So are you going to tell me why you left? Why you're here, and why you pissed off everyone from the CIA, FBI, NSA and UNWC?" Snake said "Fine. We left because we found out a piece of the Patriot AI survived Sunny's Worm Cluster and spread, now after four years we're afraid they've taken over the UN, and indirectly the world. We left you to try and combat it. Oh and pissing off all those people, that's nothing new, I've been doing that since 2005." Catherine nodded "I see. So are you going to let me go?" Snake nodded "On one condition." Catherine raised an eyebrow "And that is....?" Snake said "You and your girlfriend Katnis join FOXHOUND too." Catherine asked "And if I refuse?" Snake said "Oh, we will keep you locked in here for the rest of your life...or until the Patriots nuke this place." Catherine grinned "Doesn't look like I have much choice now do I?" Meryl smiled "Nope." Catherine nodded "I'll join." Snake said "Good." Snake snapped his fingers, and Johnny tossed him a pair of keys and unlocked Catherine's handcuff. She tried to stand up but she felt too woozy to walk on her own. Catherine then remembered how she was dressed and shouted at Johnny "Don't look at me you pervert!" Johnny scurried away while Meryl tossed her a pair of pants and a new hooded sweatshirt with the Militaires Sans Frontières Logo on the sleeve. Catherine quickly dressed and saluted Snake "So now what, Boss?"
Chapter 4[]
A week past since Catherine was inducted into the resurrected MSF, during which time she was made a Lieutenant under Meryl and Catherine had made arrangements for Katnis to be brought to the Motherbase to which she was told it would take a few days due to her appointment with the doctor. Since then Catherine has been put on a horrendous training schedule, in which she was forced to spar in VR against The Boss and Colonel Volgin in which, she was soundly defeated in all her sparring,despite Otacon's insistence that he had it set on the lowest difficulty. Catherine had been awake for at least twenty seven hours without even a wink of sleep due to her mother's schedule, she was aching from head to toe from her last VR session and she knew that if she even slouched against the wall or sat down, she would instantly fall asleep. All she wanted to do was crash onto her bed and just go to sleep. Once she made it to her room and opened the door, she found Katnis getting dressed. After a few awkward moments Katnis noticed her standing in the doorway and nearly tackled Catherine to the ground shouting "Cat! Oh my god I missed you!" Catherine laughed "Nice to see you too. What are you doing?" Katnis helped Catherine to her feet and said "I just got done with today's lesson from Raiden." Catherine asked "How was it?" Katnis shrugged "Exhausting, but it will be worth it in the end." Catherine smirked "That's good." Katnis asked "So how about a welcome home kiss?" Catherine said "Not right now, kay?" Katnis said "Come on, just one!" Catherine put her hands on Katnis's shoulders and pushed her away and said "No, Katnis." Catherine felt blood start to stream out of her nose when Sunny walked into the door way. Sunny asked "Oh, am I intruding on something?" Catherine was thankful for her intrusion, breathed a sigh of relief, turned and said "No, not at all. What do you need Sunny?" Sunny gave her a quick salute and said "Meryl and Uncle Hal want to see you in her room asap." Catherine nodded "Anything else?" Sunny shook her head "Nope!" Catherine smiled "Thanks Sunny." Sunny saluted again and started skipping down the hall. Catherine's eyes widened as Katnis grabbed Catherine and dragged her back into the room.
Two hours passed and Catherine had since showered and put on some nicer clothes before she walked into Meryl's room with Katnis tailing her. Before Catherine had left, Catherine chastised her for leaving her long violet-dyed hair unkempt and for wearing clothes that made her look like a junkie, to which Katnis replied "They're your clothes." When Catherine walked into the room she found Otacon and Meryl conversing over what appeared to be tea, while sitting on blinding-white chairs. Meryl smiled "Come on in you two. Sit down." Catherine nervously sat down in one of the white chairs which, stood out like a sore thumb on top of Meryl's dark gray floor, while Katnis literally jumped into the other one and sat rather informally in it. Meryl asked "You two thirsty?" Meryl snapped her fingers and an MG.II appeared with a tray of various drinks. Catherine took a bottle of water while Katnis took a bottle of beer.
Catherine asked "What do you need?" Meryl sighed "We'd like to talk to you Catherine." Catherine raised an eyebrow "...About what?" Meryl said "Just talk. You seem to have been trying to ignore me and Snake since you got here." Catherine said "That's the idea." Meryl asked "Why are you trying so hard to stay away from us?" Catherine said "See how you like it." Meryl asked "You do know we missed you just as much as you missed us?" Catherine snarled "I only started to miss you after I stopped raging at everything!" Meryl turned to Otacon and asked "Was she really that angry?" Otacon pushed his glasses up and nodded "Yeah, she cried for a day or two but after word she was just mad at the world, mostly herself." Meryl turned back to Catherine and asked "Is that true?" Catherine nodded "I blamed myself for seven years for you guys leaving me." Meryl said "You shouldn'-" Catherine rolled up her sleeve showing three scars and said "You know what that's from?" Meryl went to answer but Catherine shut her down and said "I did this to myself after you left." Meryl said "We didn't want to leave you!" Catherine glared "Then you shouldn't have." Meryl said "You were eleven, you wouldn't have understood." Catherine shook her head "No, you just didn't want to explain." Meryl said "Catherine please, talk to me." Catherine said "I have nothing more to say to you, or to Snake." Otacon said calmly "Catherine, please. If we don't get this out of you now, it might never come out." Catherine sighed "Fine." Meryl breathed a sigh of relief and asked "So, I saw some tattoos on you. Can you tell me about them?" Catherine took off her jacket, revealing her black tank top and pointed above her right elbow toward a tattoo of the number 13 and said "I got that about three years ago." Meryl asked "Why'd you get it?" Catherine smirked "Because luck is for losers." Meryl asked "What about the one on your back?" Catherine said "It's like a caduceus. It's two snakes twisting around my spine with 最後まで忠誠心 in the middle of the snakes." Meryl asked "What does that mean?" Katnis said "It means Loyalty to the End." Meryl asked "Anything else?" Catherine said "I had Chicago Made tattooed on my right hip." Meryl smiled "That it?" Catherine nodded "Yeah."
A few seconds later Snake walked into room, and almost instantly, Catherine turned her head away. Snake sighed "Listen rookie, I know you're pissed. But you have to talk to me eventually." Catherine said "I have nothing to say to you." Snake sat down and sighed "Come on. After six years there has to be something you have to tell me." Catherine nodded toward Sunny and said "I would say them. But what I want to say isn't age appropriate." Snake rolled his eyes "Come on kid. Talk to me." Catherine shouted "Why. The hell should I? We've been over this, you left me because you thought I would never understand your little war. But you didn't even bother trying to explain, instead you left me in the care of someone else. and expected me to jump for joy when I saw you again and not be at all angry at you!" Snake said "You're angry at me for that? Get over it. My parents left me in the care of dozens of families and when I met my father I was forced to kill him...twice." Otacon said "Technically three." Catherine rolled her eyes "I am sorry you had to do that..but-" Snake cut her off and said "Just promise me one thing." Catherine raised an eyebrow "What?" Snake said "You talk to us on a regular basis. No more being a loner." Catherine sighed, knowing she would never get out of it, nodded and said "Fine." Snake smirked "Good, because you and Katnis are going to New York." Catherine asked "What, why?" Snake said "We need you and a few others to do an undercover mission for us for a few days."
Chapter 5[]
Catherine and Katnis were assigned to a branch of sorts stationed in Queens, New York where they were told to spy on a UN Senator. Catherine herself enjoyed the accommodations while Katnis was angry she had little to no room to practice with her sword. Catherine was a little annoyed however as the recent heatwave had left her dripping with sweat even in the fully air conditioned room of the car garage, and her constant working on the taxi cab she was trying to fix wasn't exactly helping either. Catherine had taken her jacket off an hour before and tied her hair into her pony tail but it only helped slightly from the blistering heat. Catherine felt someone kick the roller and the person proceeded to pull her out from under the car. Catherine asked "What do you want?" Katnis said "Me and a couple of the girls are going out for drinks, you wanna come?" Catherine nodded "I'll meet you in an hour, I need to finish fixing up this car you broke." Katnis winked "Keep telling yourself that." Catherine sighed "Just go have your drinks, I'll meet you at the bar." Katnis nodded "Suit yourself." Catherine returned to her work and about twenty minutes later she heard footsteps within the room. Catherine rolled out from under the car and shouted "Alright Katnis, I'm coming!" Catherine looked up and saw a woman, most likely in her early twenties, she was wearing a white mini-skirt, high heels, a sky blue shirt and a red jacket, her hair was black and was loose and spread down to her shoulders. Catherine said "Sorry lady, we're closed." The woman shook her head "So you really don't recognize me, do you?" Catherine ran the woman's face through her mind and still couldn't connect it to anyone she knew. Catherine shook her head "Sorry, I don't." The woman tied her hair back, put on a pair of blue glasses and asked "How about now?" Catherine's mind clicked and she shouted "Clementine!" Catherine went to give her a hug, but she looked down at her drenched shirt and decided against it. Clementine smiled "It's been forever!"
The next morning, Catherine awoke to a surprise as their target they were supposed to be tracking had mysteriously vanished. When Catherine gave the report, Snake looked as if he was about to explode with anger at Katnis and the others for going out, but instead Catherine took full blame. Stating she wanted to get out of the heat. In response she was put on probation and banned from going on missions for the next three weeks. Four days later, Catherine and Katnis were returned to Motherbase, much to Catherine's joy, she pulled a few strings and had Clementine hired as the resident doctor. Catherine was waiting outside on the deck while Katnis practiced slicing up boxes with Raiden while Clementine talked with Meryl over mountains upon mountains of paperwork. Catherine was watching as Katnis sliced through what appeared to be carbon steel dummies with her sword as if it was a knife through butter, with one single, swift motion when her vision started to blur, her legs felt like jello and the only thing she could hear was a pulsing sound against her eardrum. Catherine tried to balance herself against the railing but instead she collapsed to the ground, with the colors of the silver plated landing platform blended with the bright blue sky like paint. She tried to focus on something, anything but found nothing to hone on . What felt like an eternity, she felt something stabbed into her neck. Catherine counted to seven and slowly, her vision started to clear, the feeling came back into her legs and she felt as if she could breath again. When her vision truly cleared, she saw she was in Otacon's lab lying on his couch with a bandage on her neck. Catherine tried to sit up but found her arms not able to hold her up. Otacon smiled "How's the sick kitten feeling?" Catherine replied "I'm feeling sick." However what came out of her mouth was I'm feering ick, as her tongue refused to move. Catherine tried to shake her head but Otacon placed a hand on her forehead. Otacon smiled and said "You'll be fine, just wait for the numbness to disappear, okay?" Catherine gave him an annoyed look as she could respond to him. Otacon snapped his fingers "Blink once for yes, two for no." Catherine blinked in acknowledgement and Otacon returned with a syringe in his hand, which promptly caused Catherine to try and slide off the couch. Otacon placed a hand on her shoulder and said "Just relax...or I'll get your dad down here to hold you down." Catherine sighed and craned her neck and winced in pain as Otacon stuck her with the syringe and released the contents, upon finishing Otacon replaced the bandage on her neck and returned to his computer. Within a few minutes she could freely move her arms and she could at least talk short sentences before her tongue failed her. Catherine asked "What the hell happened?" Otacon spun around in his chair and asked "Do you remember, the System?" Catherine asked "The Guns of the Patriots?" Otacon nodded "Yeah." Catherine asked "What about it?" Otacon asked "Were you ever injected while working for...whoever you were working for?" Catherine nodded "Of course. Yearly physicals." Otacon took off his glasses and said "I think you may have been given some nanomachines, which caused that minor attack you just had." Catherine's eyes widened "That was a minor attack?" Otacon nodded "A major one normally leads to heart failures, you were lucky Katnis noticed you fall. If she arrived a few minutes later, you could have died there." Catherine rolled her eyes "That's reassuring." Otacon patted her on the head and said "Don't worry, you'll be just fine." Catherine breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and found the surprisingly welcoming cold touch of the metal floor on her bare feet. Otacon asked "You feeling dizzy at all?" Catherine shook her head and smiled "No, but thanks Uncle Hal."
Just as Catherine was about to leave, she was stopped by Otacon at the door. Catherine asked "What is it?" Otacon said "Your mother would like you to have dinner with them tonight. Be sure not to miss it." Catherine nodded in acknowledgement and went to her room to quickly get a shower and change to something that resembled formal attire and walked to Meryl's quarters. Once she opened the door, her eyes widened in fear as she saw not only Meryl, but Katnis, Sunny, Otacon and Snake sitting around a white table. It reminded her all too well of the dinner scene from Empire Strikes Back. Meryl smiled and said "Come on in Catherine, we've been waiting for you." Catherine mumbled "That so doesn't sound creepy." Meryl nodded to the seat open next to Katnis and said "Come on, while it's hot." Catherine sat down and looked squeamishly at her plate. Meryl asked "What's wrong?" Catherine said "Did you make this?" Meryl sighed "Yes." Catherine said "Marvelous." Katnis asked "So Cat, are you feeling alright?" Catherine nodded "Yeah, thanks to you." Following a few minutes of silence, Catherine couldn't help but let her eyes wander over in Snake's direction. From her point of view, even in the shadowed part of the room, Snake was showing signs of old age. He started letting his facial hair grow and he now had two new scars on his cheek and neck she was curious about their origins, during her scanning her eyes caught his and she quickly turned away in fear. Meryl asked "So uh, Catherine..." Catherine said "Yeah?" Meryl asked "You two. You and Katnis have been living together for...-" Katnis said "Two years now." Meryl asked "And you two have...feelings for each other?" Catherine stared at Meryl's face and she saw concern, fear and regret. But also a twinge of joy. Catherine could only guess the joy was for Catherine and Katnis's happiness. Catherine nodded "Yeah, you got a problem?" Meryl smiled "No, quite the opposite in fact. We're all really happy for you. Even Snake...although he could work on showing it better." Meryl winked at Snake who only rolled his eyes at her and continued smoking a cigarette not even Catherine noticed him light. Catherine sighed "Well thank you for understanding...and not judging." Meryl asked "Why would we judge you?" Catherine shrugged "I don't know. It was always a fear of mine. Still is." Snake said "It doesn't matter what other people think of you. If someone makes you happy then it doesn't matter." Catherine smiled "Thanks." Sunny asked "So are you two going to get married?" Katnis said "We've agreed that marriage is just a tradition...one that'd we like to skip." Sunny tilted her head in confusion "Tradition? Skip? You can do that?" Catherine smiled "We'll explain it when you're older." Katnis took out a cigar and asked "Hey Cat, you got a light?" Catherine shook her head "Nope. Didn't think I'd need it." Snake coughed and tossed Katnis a lighter. Upon lighting her cigar, Catherine noticed it was the same lighter Catherine gave Snake for his birthday eight years before. An hour and a half passed and Meryl said "Well this was nice. We should do it again." After three drinks, Catherine couldn't tell if Meryl was kidding or not and simply nodded. "I think I'm gonna go to bed. Thanks for dinner." Catherine and Katnis stumbled back to their room and once they got there they simply collapsed onto their bed. Katnis asked "Having dinner with your folks wasn't that bad, was it?" Catherine shook her head "Nah, I guess not. I just couldn't help but feeling Snake was staring right through me the entire damn time." Katnis said "Forget about them." Catherine asked "How can I forget about the-" Katnis planted a kiss on Catherine's lips and instead of pulling away like she normally would, she just waited until Katnis pulled away. Catherine said "You taste like smoke. But I don't mind."
Chapter 6[]
Catherine was standing on outside on one of the landing pads, in a doorway, watching as the heavy rain pounded the steel floor, each drop sounding like a cannon going off. Catherine was standing, watching the rain hit the metal floor, smoking a cigar, her eyes half closed and her mind in a million different places. She was thinking of a life she could possibly have with Katnis, she was thinking about her parents, how they would react if she and Katnis just got up and vanished like Snake always did, she was thinking what would happen if Snake was right about the Patriots, and finally, she was thinking about Meryl and how devastated she would be if Catherine left her life again. Without her noticing, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her neck and Catherine felt someone's weight be thrust upon her back that nearly caused her to crash onto the wet metal ground. Catherine turned to see Katnis clad in what appeared to be latex standing behind her with a happy grin on her face. Catherine said "God Katnis, what is it?" Katnis giggled "Did I scare you?" Catherine shook her head "No, you nearly tackled me to the ground." Katnis asked "What are you doing Cat?" Catherine said "Just watching the rain." Katnis said "Well Meryl's been trying to call you." Catherine nodded "Yeah I know." Katnis asked "Why have you been ignoring her?" Catherine said "I'm not, just...dodging her." Katnis asked "Why?" Catherine said "I know what she wants me to do." Katnis thought for a second "Doctor?" Catherine said "Doctor." Katnis kissed Catherine on the cheek and said "Good luck." Katnis turned to leave and Catherine asked "Wait! Where are you going?" Katnis smiled "Raiden told me it would be wise to spend the day meditating." Catherine smirked "And by meditate...you mean sleep?" Katnis winked "Bingo." Catherine asked "Care to trade?" Katnis said "No chance." Catherine sighed as Katnis left her alone again. Catherine felt the joy Katnis gave her slowly leave her as her minor depression threatened to take her over again.
Catherine placed her now burnt out cigar into her portable ash tray, and proceeded to walk down the darkened hallway into the infirmary. When she opened the door, she was shocked to see Clementine standing there, looking over two clipboards. When she finally looked up, she smiled and said "Hey there stranger!" Catherine nodded "Hey." Clementine asked "What can I do for you today?" Catherine said "Just a basic medical checkup." Clementine asked "Meryl make you do this?" Catherine nodded "Yup." Clementine said "I'll make it as quick as possible." Catherine nodded as Clementine proceeded to check her measurements, her weight, her temperature and said "You gained five pounds...grew three inches." Catherine asked "Are we done here?" Clementine said "Just one more thing." Catherine asked "Wha-" Catherine shouted in pain as Clementine stuck her with a needle. Clementine asked "Was that so bad?" Catherine sighed "Don't. Do that. Again." Clementine asked "So, are you taking your daily shots for your nanomachines?" Catherine nodded "Yeah." Clementine said "Good, since you know if you don't...Katnis might not be able to save you next time." Catherine nodded "Yeah I know." Clementine asked "So, how's that girl doing?" Catherine said "She's been doing fine." Clementine asked "Where is she now?" Catherine replied "She's in our room...'meditating.'" Clementine raised an eyebrow "Sleeping?" Catherine said "Probably." Clementine smiled "Well, you seem to check out. However, there is one thing..." Catherine went to light a cigar but she was hit on the head by Clementine with a mallet and Clementine proceeded to snatch the cigar away from Catherine and light it herself. Catherine shouted "What the hell?!" Clementine smirked "You need to lay off the nicotine. I'm not saying quit altogether, just cut a cigar or two out a day." Catherine sighed "Alright." Clementine said "We should hang out one of these days." Catherine nodded "Yeah, that sounds great." Catherine left and started walking back to her room when she was stopped when she saw a helicopter take off, she searched her memory and she didn't remember anything being scheduled for the day, especially in this rain. Catherine shook it off and continued walking back to her room. When she opened the door, she found the temperature to be ice-cold, and Katnis was sleeping on the bed, wearing what appeared to be bloomers. Catherine started to wonder if Katnis was feeling well. Catherine walked to her side and found Katnis had been reading a book, and fell asleep with her glasses on. Catherine proceeded to carefully take off her glasses and set them on her nightstand, to which she found a glass of milk with steam rising from it, which with Katnis meant one of two things. One, she wasn't feeling well, or two, she was feeling childish, and with Katnis, it was probably the latter. Catherine placed a hand on Katnis's forehead and found nothing unusual, so she shrugged it off and sat down on the bed. Seconds later, Katnis yawned, sat up and rubbed her eyes. Catherine smiled "Morning sunshine." Katnis said "I was totally meditating." Catherine said in a sarcastic voice "Sure, I guess you're supposed to snore when you meditate." Katnis said "Shut up." Catherine asked "You feeling alright?" Katnis nodded "Yeah, why?" Catherine said "Well, you were asleep, the glass of warm milk..." Katnis shook her hand in dismissal "Yeah yeah, I'm fine. My stomach was just in a knot." Catherine said "Alright, if you're sure." Katnis nodded "So, how was the doc?" Catherine said "Fine, just have to cut back on the nicotine." Katnis smirked "And you're shocked by that?" Catherine replied "Not really." Just then there was a knock at the door. Catherine said "Come on in." Sunny walked in holding a data pad and said "Good afternoon you two!" Catherine nodded "Hey Sunny, what's up?" Sunny said "Well, Sna-Big Boss is out on a mission with Raiden and Meryl wanted to know if you wanted to have dinner." Katnis said "I could eat." Catherine smirked and playfully grabbed Katnis's stomach and said "You're always up for eating." Katnis smirked "Shut up." Sunny asked "So, you want me to tell Meryl you're coming?" Catherine nodded "Yeah, thanks Sunny." Sunny nodded "See you then. Oh, and before I forget, Catherine, Uncle Hal wanted me to tell you...remember to take your shots before dinner." Catherine nodded "Thanks kid." Sunny gave them a mocking bow and skipped out of the room. Katnis asked "How long have you been in here...?" Catherine looked at Katnis and saw a mix of fear, embarrassment and curiosity in her eyes. Catherine smiled and said "Only a couple minutes." Katnis said "Well get off your lazy ass, your mom's waiting." Katnis hopped off the bed and started getting dressed while Catherine started laughing. Katnis asked "What are you laughing at?" Catherine said "Nothing, just it's funny that the one who was sleeping was calling me lazy." Katnis said "I told you, I was not sleeping. I was meditating." Catherine stretched out on the bed and said with a hint of sarcasm "Yeah, and I'm not gonna start meditating waiting for you to get dressed." Katnis threw on a gray tee shirt and blue jeans and said "I'm ready you impatient jackass." Catherine and Katnis took their leave and started walking down the long narrow hallway. Along the way, they passed several guards who were getting off shift and they saluted the women as they walked bye. A few feet before the door to Meryl's room, Catherine glanced at Katnis and noticed for the first time that Katnis seemed to be having trouble keeping her brown eyes open, Catherine wondered how hard Raiden had been working her in their training secessions. Catherine said "You know, if you're that tired, we can go back so you can sleep." Katnis shook her head "No, no. I'm fine, really." Catherine sighed "Don't push it Kat." Katnis smiled "I know my limits." Catherine knocked on the door and she heard Meryl say "Come on in." Catherine and Katnis entered the room and found Meryl sitting alone at the table, already eating a plate of what appeared to be steak. Meryl got up, spread her hands and said "Come on, sit down." Catherine and Katnis took a seat and a Mk.II rolled around with menus. Catherine asked "What's this for?" A smile broke on Meryl's face and she replied "Sunny implemented it, you can order any drink." Catherine said "Oh! Just some root beer please." The robot gave her a salute and rolled to a back room, another one rolled up to Katnis and displayed another menu. Katnis shook her hand and said "Just some hot apple cider please." Meryl raised an eyebrow "You feeling alright kid?" Katnis nodded "Yeah, my stomach's just been in a knot all day." Meryl nodded "Fair enough. So how have you been holding up Catherine?" Catherine said "I'm doing better. Still get headaches every so often but other than that, I'm fine." Meryl smiled "Good." Catherine asked "Where did Jack go?" Meryl said "Your father and your Uncle Raiden went out on a call to Vegas." Katnis asked "Why didn't you go with?" Meryl let out an annoyed sigh "Guys weekend." Catherine and Katnis said in unison "Oh." Meryl said "I actually invited you here for another reason than just to keep me company..." Katnis asked "What about Sunny?" A smile broke out on Meryl's face, and she said "She's good company. She talks about things I can't keep up with these days, but just me and her would get boring." Katnis nodded "I see." Meryl said "So I wanted to offer you two something..." Catherine asked "And what's that?" Meryl said "I wanted to offer you to a position at the head of one of our units stationed in Colombia." Catherine and Katnis exchanged a look, turned to Meryl and nodded. Meryl smiled "Excellent!"
Chapter 7[]
It had been a little over a month since Catherine and Katnis had arrived in Colombia, in such time;it hadn't stopped raining. The quarters in which they were given was a small shack that could house three or four people, but was exclusive to only them. It was fairly clean but had a small problem;it leaked terribly, which caused much annoyance to both the women. The unit in which they were to supervise was also fairly well trained in their CQC and Meryl had already assigned a CQC instructor since before the two women arrived. A few weeks in, Catherine started to wonder why Meryl had sent them down to supervise the unit since there was already a fully-trained instructor, then it dawned on her that Meryl wanted to give Catherine and Katnis a vacation from Motherbase.
It was a Saturday afternoon, Catherine was dressed in a tanktop in short-shorts, slouched up against the doorway, watching the unit of FOXHOUND soldiers beat the daylights out of each other and being tossed to the ground in their various suplexes, while the instructor barked orders at them, Catherine was chewing on some watermelon she picked up from the market with Katnis napping with her head on Catherine's thigh. Catherine sighed as she looked up into the gray sky and watched as the rain poured down, she could only think of why Meryl would send them on a vacation. A few seconds later, a soldier walked up to the shack and saluted. Catherine nodded "At..at ease, soldier." The soldier asked "Boss, the Instructor would like to know if you would like to have him end today's secession." Catherine raised an eyebrow "Why didn't he just ask me that by Codec?" The man just kept staring at her, as if expecting another question. Catherine sighed "Tell him to end the day and to send the unit to the bunk houses. The soldier nodded and started running down the road. A few seconds later, Katnis yawned, stood up and stretched. Catherine smiled "Morning sunshine." Katnis looked up at the clouds, lied back down and mumbled "Wake me when the sun comes out." Catherine poked Katnis's nose two times, causing her to swat at Catherine's hand. Catherine said "I've been thinking...-" Katnis's eyes show open "The last time you "thought something." I ended up bailing you out of jail." Catherine smacked Katnis in the forehead and said "It was a minor charge." Katnis said "You lit a car on fire." Catherine said "It was in a junkyard." Katnis said "You. Lit. A .Car. On. Fire." Catherine rolled her eyes "Shut up and listen." Katnis closed her eyes and nodded "Fine." Catherine asked "What if Meryl sent us here just to get us out of her hair?" Katnis chuckled a bit "Why would she want to get rid of us? She hardly ever saw us." Catherine shrugged "I don't know, it's just a feeling." Katnis placed her forehead against Catherine's and smiled "Stop being so paranoid and enjoy some downtime. Lord knows how long it's going to be before they call us into action." A few seconds later, Catherine's Codec went off. She answered it to see Meryl on the other end. Catherine asked "Catherine here, what's up?" Meryl said "We need you and Katnis to go on a mission." Catherine asked "What mission?" Katnis raised an eyebrow "I told you." Catherine brushed her off as Meryl explained that she needed Catherine and Katnis to infiltrate a compound, and steal a data disc containing the location of a fairly large sum of money hidden away before Liquid's rise to power. Catherine accepted the mission, and asked the details. Meryl said "You two will infiltrate the compound via rock climbing to the building itself while three hundred AI soldiers keep their military busy. The AI soldiers will only last an hour to and hour and a half, so you'll have to be quick." Catherine nodded "Roger. So where is this place?" Meryl said "In Zanzibar Land."
A day later, Catherine; now clad in a black Sneaking Suit, found herself slowly climbing up the wall of brown rock, as rain pounded her face, with Katnis not far below her, wearing her Cyborg Ninja suit, a sword sheathed on her back. The two continued to crawl up the mountain as dozens of AI soldiers in helicopters took constant bullet fire, with helicopters exploding around them, AI soldiers on the ground falling "dead" followed by their Microbombs exploding immediately on shut down. Catherine shouted "Nice day for a rock climb, huh?" Katnis shouted back "No time for jokes. Keep climbing!" Catherine rolled her eyes "Kill joy." Upon finally making it to the ledge of the cliff, Catherine helped Katnis up and immediately called Meryl. Meryl asked in an annoyed tone "You just made it up there?!" Catherine said "Sorry to keep you waiting." Meryl sighed "Well at least you made it with a good half hour to spare. Now you and Katnis infiltrate the compound, get the microfilm and get the hell out before we nuke that place." Catherine asked "How long do we have before you nuke the compound?" Meryl said "One hour. Think you can make it?" Catherine smirked "With plenty of time to spare." Meryl said "Good luck." and signed off. Catherine turned off her Codec, and turned to Katnis to see her stretching her arms. Katnis asked "Ready to go?" Catherine took out her silencer-equipped M1911A1 and her survival knife, and nodded. Katnis lead Catherine into the compound and found very little to no military personnel, which wasn't surprising to them due to the intense fighting outside. Catherine and Katnis passed by a violet-colored door and heard several people moaning in pain. Catherine stooped short and whispered "Wait." Catherine silently opened the door and discovered seven children and teens stuck in a cage, all of them full of cuts and bruises. Catherine mumbled "Oh my god..." Katnis looked at them with unimpressed, eyes devoid of emotion and said "We need to get moving." Just as Katnis turned to leave, Catherine grabbed her by the arm and shouted "We need to save them." Katnis said "They're dead weight. Even if we saved them ,they would never get out of the range of the nuke. I'm sorry but leaving them here would be better." Catherine went to unlock the door, but Katnis quickly withdrew her sword and placed the blade an inch away from Catherine's throat. Katnis said "Leave. Them." Catherine used her CQC skills and snatched the sword away from Katnis and at the same time, she flipped Katnis over, making her land on her back. Catherine then proceeded to slice the lock off the cage's door and tossed the sword back to a now-angry Katnis. One of the children said something she couldn't understand and just squeamishly nodded. Katnis said "The kid said "Praise our Holy savior. Thank you for saving us." Catherine nodded and said "Now go." After the last of the children left, Catherine and Katnis exchanged a long glare before Katnis asked "Why did you do that?" Catherine shot back "Why did you hold a sword to my throat?" Katnis said "For the sake of the mission." Catherine said "For the sake of people. Innocent people." Katnis rolled her eyes and continued to walk down the hallway with Catherine following close behind, and she caught the hint of the laughing children through the long, narrow hallway. Catherine smiled to herself and reminded herself to continue on with the mission. Catherine and Katnis came upon a room with a man clad in a silver longcoat looking over a computer. Catherine spotted the microfilm in his pocket and showed it to Katnis who nodded. Katnis asked "How do you want to do this?" Catherine said "As quickly as possible." Katnis asked "You want to snipe him from up here?" Catherine laughed "That would ruin the fun." Katnis asked "Then what do you want to do?" Catherine smirked "The direct approach." Catherine hopped down from their hiding spot and pointed her gun at the man. Catherine shouted "Freeze!" The man said "I've been waiting for you Big B- Who the hell are you?" Catherine said "The name's Ca-Snake. Black Snake." The man said "No matter. You will die here, the same as I." The man snapped his fingers and a Gekko charged from the wall and kicked her into the opposing side of the room, causing her to drop her gun. Catherine opened her eyes to the Gekko about to smash her like a pancake when the robotic monstrosity split in half and crumbled to the ground like a broken toy. The man now with a shocked and scared look on his face mumbled "How the..." Katnis now behind him, clicked her sword into it's holder and said "You want to surrender now?" The man raised his hands and said "Take whatever you want." Catherine swiped the microfilm from his pocket and winked at him "Thank you for your complying with our services." and proceeded to shoot him in the leg.
Chapter 8[]
The following day, Katnis sat in the brightly lit Command Center of Mother Base, slouched up against the wall while Catherine sat in a chair, smoking a cigar while Meryl, Snake and Otacon fawned over the microfilm they had retrieved. After a few minutes, Otacon turned to Catherine and asked "So, according to the field report...Katnis wanted you to leave a couple dozen pow's in their cells before we bombed the place?" Catherine blew a puff of dark gray smoke that covered the left side of her face, nodded and said "Yeah, but I freed them." Otacon turned to Katnis and said "We don't blame you for sticking to the mission, but those were hum-" Katnis cut him off and said "I know, Otacon. I didn't want to waste precious time." Otacon raised his hands in defense and said "It's alright, just..." Katnis shouted "Leave.It. Alone!" Catherine said in a calm tone "Kat, just let it go, you made a judgement call." Meryl shouted "Son of a bitch!" Snake asked "What's wrong?" Meryl said "The Microfilm is fake." Otacon's eyes widened in fear "That means..." Catherine finished "We just bombed the hell out of a military complex, killing thousands of people. For nothing." Otacon sighed "This won't look good for us in the International community." Snake smirked "That's nothing new for us." Katnis asked "What does that mean for us?" Otacon said "Well, depending on the public reaction, it either means we will be declared public enemies to the United Nation or if the public doesn't respond negatively, we will probably be put under heavy UN watch." Catherine chuckled to herself and said "So..either way..we're screwed?" Katnis mumbled "It looks that way." Meryl said "We'll try and figure something out. You two go get some sleep, we'll contact you if anything comes up." Catherine got up, gave them a mock salute and left the room. Katnis stayed and watched her go for a second before Otacon asked "You need something, Katnis?" Katnis shook her head "No..just nothing." Katnis quickly sped walked out of the room, trying to avoid an awkward conversation with any one of them after her decision and caught up to Catherine who was talking on her Codec with someone. Katnis waited about five minutes before Catherine said "Alright, I'll be right there." and turned off her Codec. Katnis asked "Who was that?" Catherine said "Just Drebin. He wants me for something. You going to be alright?" Katnis nodded "Yeah, I'll just go to Raiden, get some VR training." Catherine nodded "Alright. Have fun."
An hour later, Katnis was dressed in her Cyborg Ninja outfit and standing the in a pure white room when the walls of the room started to morph and change, almost fizzle into something else. Just looking at it made Katnis's eyes burn and her head dizzy. When she opened her eyes again she found herself in what appeared to be a forest. Katnis asked "What do you want me to do?" Raiden said "See how long you can last." Katnis asked "Wait...what?" Before Katnis could properly react, seven Gekko and two Dwarf Gekko burst from the trees as if they had been locked in a cage. She tried to defend her self, but found it to be fairy difficult with the barrage of gun fire and attempted stomping from the Gekko. Katnis slashed at one of the Dwarf Gekko, but it dodged her attack and let out an electric pulse, stunning her for a second. Katnis then tried to attack one of the Gekkos, but it blocked her attack with a charged kick. After five minutes, she lost her nerve and went into a frenzy and sliced three of the Gekko in half before being shot in the back by the fourth Gekko. Instantly, the image vanished and the room returned to it's normal white. Katnis shouted "What the hell, I wasn't done!" Raiden shook his head "Yes, you were. Your head isn't with this today. Come back when you're fully compliant to practice." Katnis sighed, walked out of the room and got changed. When she entered her room she found Catherine crying on the bed. Katnis asked "What's wrong?" Catherine wiped the tears from her eyes and shook her head "Nothing, nothing." Katnis sat on the bed and gently stroked Catherine's golden blonde hair and whispered "You're a terrible liar." Catherine asked "You remember Holly, right?" Katnis nodded "Yeah, your aunt. Why?" Catherine sighed "Well...Dreb' did a blood test for...security reasons... and he uh..."- Katnis hadn't seen Catherine like this since her Uncle Otacon went on an inventing spree and left Sunny in her care for three weeks when Catherine was only fourteen. Catherine continued "I uh...it appears, Holly gave birth to me...she was, in all purposes, my surrogate mother." Katnis asked "Wait, what?" Catherine said "Drebin did a bit of digging into my family health history...and it appears my mother...couldn't bear kids, so they had my aunt be the surrogate." Katnis said "I couldn't imagine doing that." Catherine sighed "Yeah...I think I'm going to ask Snake to bring her here..." Katnis asked "What, why?" Catherine said "I've seen her twice in the past seven years. I want to ask her why she couldn't tell me." Katnis said "I don't know but..." Catherine smacked Katnis's hand away and got up to leave. Katnis asked "Where are you going?" Catherine said "I told Jack to get her here." Katnis asked "Did he tell you when she would be here?" Catherine nodded "Two, three hours." Katnis asked "Then what are you going to be doing?" Catherine said "I need to look nice, I need to leave an impression." A smile broke out over Katnis's face. Catherine asked "What's that smile for?" Katnis said "You know this won't be her first time meeting you." Catherine said "I know. I know." Katnis sighed "I'll help you Cat, you know I will, but I don't want to see you go down that road again." Catherine placed her hands on Katnis's shoulders and said "I will never let that happen again." Katnis said "But you were so stressed, and the fact that your parents had just left you...and you had to take care of Sunny, who is only six years younger than you-" Catherine placed a finger over Katnis's lips and whispered "Shut up, I don't want to remember those days." Katnis gently pulled Catherine's hand away from her lips and nodded "Fair enough." Katnis looked at her life-long friend and noticed for the first time she was shaking, almost trembling in her arms. Katnis asked "Are you alright?" Catherine shook her head "No, just nervous." Katnis smiled "You'll do fine. Now go get cleaned up. I'll help you get dressed." Catherine nodded and just before she went into the bathroom, she turned, winked and asked "You wanna join me?" Katnis shook her head "Next time."
Two hours later, Catherine had tried on seventeen different outfits, which all looked fine, however Catherine wouldn't have any of it and continued to insist they weren't good enough. Eventually she put on a very formal green Captain's uniform, which resembled what Big Boss wore after Operation Snake Eater. Catherine asked "What do you think?" Katnis shook her head "Just wear a damn tank top or something. We've been at this for hours, I feel like we're going to prom all over again." Catherine sighed "Nothing seems right." Catherine disrobed for the twelfth time that hour and sunk onto the bed, not bothering to redress. Katnis poked her on the forehead and asked "Why don't you just wear something...I don't know. Normal?" Catherine replied "It won't be enough." Katnis asked "Enough for what?" Catherine said "I just want to impress her." Katnis asked "How do you know you're going to impress her? You don't know what she likes." Catherine's eyes widened in realization, slapped herself on the forehead and said "Damn, I love it when you're right." Catherine sprang up from the bed and quickly threw on a long-sleeved white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Katnis jokingly clapped and shouted "We have our winner!" A few minutes later, Catherine's Codec started to go off. Catherine said "Hello?" A guard on the other line said "Commander Snake, the helicopter has arrived." Catherine nodded "Thanks." Katnis asked "Ready to go?" Catherine nodded "Let's go."
Katnis followed Catherine down the hallways down to the hangar in which, Catherine could hardly contain her excitement. Just before swiping her Card key Katnis grabbed her hand and said "Remember, no matter what happens. She is your mother, and she loves you. Right?" Catherine smiled "I know, Kat. I know." Catherine swiped her card, and both the girls' attention were fixed on the blonde haired woman, seemingly in her mid forties, about Catherine's height and dressed in formal military attire step off the helicopter, with the help of Johnny. When Holly caught their glimpses, a smile broke out on her face and she started to walk over toward them, during which both of them noticed Holly was walking with a limp and apparently needed a cane to assist her. Holly gave the two a salute and said "Hello girls. It's been a couple years." Catherine and Katnis gave her a salute in return and Katnis said "It's been too long." Katnis turned to Catherine and saw her frozen in place, and she was visibly choking on her words, seemingly trying to find the right ones. Holly asked "What's wrong Catherine?" Catherine said in a very muffled, silent voice "Can we...can we talk in private?" Holly's face broke into a smile and she nodded "Lead the way." Several minutes later, the three arrived in Catherine and Katnis's room, and Holly proceeded to check it out, scanning nearly every inch, before turning and saying with a smile "Very nice place." However, her smile quickly faded when she saw tears flowing down Catherine's face. Holly asked "Is she alright?" Katnis patted Catherine on the back and said "Go on, just tell her." Holly raised an eyebrow "Tell me what? That's you're pregnant?" Catherine said "No..Aunt Hol-I know." Holly asked "Know what?" Catherine said "I know you're my mother."
Chapter 9[]
Catherine standing in front of her mother, just waiting for her response, send her back to her teenage years... Catherine found herself, 13 again. It had been a year since her parents left her, and she had spent the afternoon at Katnis's apartment with her adoptive mother, where Catherine spent an hour in their bathroom with a pair of scissors, adding another scar to her arm by her elbow. Catherine was standing outside the door to Ocaton's apartment, dripping wet from the heavy rain, when she opened the door she found the house darkened with Sunny typing away at her little computer. Catherine asked "Where's your Uncle?" Sunny looked up and said "He locked himself in his room." Catherine sighed "He have another 'breakthrough'?" Sunny nodded with a sad look on her face and said "He went in there around noon. He hasn't come out since." Catherine asked "Have you eaten today?" Sunny shook her head "No." Catherine felt terrible for Sunny. The past two weeks Otacon would have a breakthrough in ideas, lock himself in his room, and forget to feed Sunny, or put her to bed or do anything for her. Catherine tried to make meals for Sunny, but Catherine could't cook for her life, let alone Sunny's. The food in the fridge was either spoiled rotten or was something Sunny couldn't tolerate. Catherine could try and find some money lying around the house, but she would have no idea where to start looking. Sunny said "You can eat if you find anything. I'll be alright." Catherine looked at the six year old, and felt tears well up in her eyes, to which she wiped them away. Sunny asked "What's wrong?" Catherine said "Nothing..nothing. Let's uh, let's find you something to eat, alright?" Sunny gave her a confused look and asked "But...I just said-" Catherine cut her off and said "I know, what you said. But you need to eat Sunny." Catherine performed a strip search of the fridge and only found one thing that was edible; a sole banana and tossed it to Sunny. Sunny said "But..I want you to have-" Catherine shouted "Sunny! Just eat it!" Sunny's face filled with fear and regret and asked "But..what about you?" Catherine waved her hand "I'm fine. I ate at Katnis's house." Sunny nodded as she started munching on the banana. Catherine said "I'll be right back, stay out of trouble." Catherine walked down the darkened hallway and knocked four times on Otacon's door. Two minutes later, Otacon slowly opened the door and looked down at Catherine with blood shot, weary eyes. Catherine also noticed he had started to let his facial hair grow out, which gave him a five o'clock shadow. Otacon said in a horse voice "Hey Catherine, you need something?" Catherine nodded "We need money." Otacon asked "What did you break?" Catherine rolled her eyes and said "Nothing, we need money for dinner. There's nothing here." Otacon asked "What about the rations in the cabinet?" Catherine shook her head "We ran out two weeks ago." Otacon asked "What about that soup we made?" Catherine said "That went old last week. There is nothing left in the house." Otacon said "Oh. One minute." Otacon disappeared behind his door, showing the bright blue glow in his darkened room. Catherine thought "It took this for him to actually give a crap about us?" Otacon appeared at the door again and handed her a fifty dollar bill. Otacon said "Just grab some dinner, and some extra groceries." Catherine raised an eyebrow "You want me to go outside in pouring rain...at ten o'clock at night..alone?" Otacon shouted "It's that late already?!" Catherine nodded "Yeah." Otacon said "I'm sorry, I didn't realize what time it was...listen, let me go out and grab some dinner. I'll be back in half an hour, alright?" Catherine nodded "Sure." Otacon rushed out the door, only stopping to wave to Sunny who was throwing her banana peel away. Sunny asked "Where's he going?" Catherine walked up to Sunny with her arms crossed "To the store." Otacon returned twenty minutes later with McDonalds and several days worth of groceries and tossed them all on the table. Otacon whispered "I'm sorry for not being here-" Catherine shook her head "No, you're here...you're preoccupied.. they're not here." Catherine was snapped out of her flashback and noticed her mother was still staring at her. Holly asked "How long have you known?" Catherine said "About four hours..." Holly shook her head "I'm sorry I didn't tell you..." Catherine sighed "I know you probably are, but now I know. Now what do we do about it?"
Chapter 10[]
Holly smiled "Well, we don't have to discuss it this very minute." Catherine asked "What do you mean?" Holly said "Well I guess Jack didn't tell you." Catherine asked "Tell me what?" Holly said "Your father made me the mission coordinator. I'll be staying at the base. We can talk whenever we want." Catherine was overjoyed by the news, however she asked "Well, can you at least tell me why?" Holly asked "Why what sweetie?" Catherine said "Why didn't you ever tell me? I mean we talked three years ago." Holly said "Well, I didn't know how to break it to you, I mean I know I should've told you. I feel terrible for not telling you, but now that we're together we don't need to worry. I'm not going anywhere." Catherine sadly sighed. Katnis asked "What's wrong?" Catherine, apparently forgetting Katnis was in the room with them, looked at her with a shocked expression for a second before replying "That's what she said before she died." Katnis asked "Who?" Holly said "My sister. Her mother." Katnis said "Oh." Holly said "We can chat more later Catherine. I'm glad we had this talk." Catherine nodded "I enjoyed it too. Where are you going now?" Holly said "I'm tired from the long helicopter ride. I'm going to take a nap." Catherine said "I'll get you an esc-" Holly said "I can find my way around Catherine, plus I need to learn the way of this place eventually so." Catherine nodded and said "Don't be a stranger." Holly said "Good night Cat." Holly took her leave and Katnis asked "Well now what?" Catherine said "I don't know. What do you want to do?" Katnis licked her lips and said "I can think of something." Catherine pushed her away and said "Not now pervert." Just then there was a knock at the door. Catherine chuckled to herself "I guess Holly wants that tour." Catherine opened the door and found Sunny standing there with a notepad in her hand. Sunny gave Catherine a mocking bow and said "Evening Catherine!" Catherine saluted "What's up Sunny?" Sunny said "Uncle Hal wants to see you two in his lab, he has some new invention he wants you to test in VR." Catherine asked "Does he want us there now?" Sunny nodded "Yep!" Catherine said "We'll be right there." Catherine was taken back to her teenage years once again. Otacon had "perfected" AI Soldiers and she and Sunny had to go along for the opening showcase in which they would be shown off. Catherine and Sunny had been sitting at a table for only twenty minutes, and Sunny had downed two plates of steaks and mash potatoes and she tried to get up to get another plate. Catherine placed a hand on her shoulder and said "Slow down Sunny." Sunny asked "Why?" Catherine said "You've had two plates already, if you're really that hungry have my plate." Sunny shook her head "But that's your food." Catherine slid her plate over to Sunny and said "It's alright, I'm not hungry." In truth, she wasn't hungry, she and Sunny had spent the past three days at Katnis's house and Otacon hadn't noticed, which irritated her to no end, however while staying at Katnis's house, Catherine was thankful that Sunny had gotten a healthy warm meal from Katnis's mother and she had started to gain a little weight back. During their stay at Katnis's house, Catherine noticed that Sunny had adopted some Japanese traditions, such as taking her shoes off before entering someone's house, saying "thank you very much" before eating, and even talking in Japanese at points. Catherine guessed that Sunny found Otacon's anime collection." Otacon sat down at their table, accompanied by a gorgeous looking woman in a blinding red dress. Otacon asked "And how are my two favorite girls doing?" Catherine said "Bored." Otacon smiled "It will be over soon." Catherine said "That's what you say about your classes...you lied then." Otacon said "I'll present the AI's then we can go home." Sunny asked "But why do we have to leave?" Catherine raised an eyebrow "What do you mean?" Sunny said "I like it here!" Catherine said "You just like the buffet." Sunny nodded energetically "Yup!" Catherine patted her on the head and laughed "You're hopeless." The woman at Otacon's shoulder said "You're up next Dr. Emmerich" Otacon said "Thank you Angie." Otacon stepped up to the stage and gave a "magnificent" speech about how the AIs were cheaper to create than regular soldiers, how they would make the battlefield cleaner, safer and more cost effective, and how they would help cut the death tolls of wars down by the thousands...
Catherine was snapped out of her flashback by Sunny herself who greeted them at the door. Catherine and Katnis entered the cramped lab of Otacon's who now was typing away at his computer. Catherine coughed "You need us, Uncle Hal?" Otacon pushed his glasses up to his face and said "Yes. I have made upgrades to the OctoCamo I need you two to test." Catherine raised an eyebrow "Is it going to blow up?" Otacon said "No no!" Catherine sighed "Last time you said that.." Otacon waved a hand "I know, I know, you lost your eyebrows." Catherine asked "What do you need us to do?" Otacon waved his hands "First you need to lose your clothes.." Catherine said "Excuse me?!" Trying to keep the anger out of her voice. Otacon raised his hands "I'll turn around but the suit won't work if you have clothes on underneath." Otacon tossed them a black and dark blue suit and said "Ill leave the room, holler when you're done." Catherine and Katnis quickly tossed their clothes and slipped on the skin-tight suits when they both noticed Sunny hadn't left the room. Catherine said "Uh...sorry, didn't see you were still here." Sunny said "Oh I don't mind. I'm secure." Catherine and Katnis exchanged a look and Katnis asked "Secure?" Sunny said "I'm straight." Catherine nodded "Oh...I see." Katnis shouted "We're ready Otacon!" Otacon entered the room and said "Alright, know. There are a few new features on the suit, such as voice command, Stealth Camouflage, which turns you one hundred percent invisible for a few minutes at a time, but the difference between this and the old model is that, it's recharged by your body heat, so it will only take a minute to properly recharge." Catherine asked "What else?" Otacon asked "Do you remember the old OctoWatch?" Catherine asked "That awkward portable Mark II?" Otacon smiled "Yes, that has been built into the suit itself, and most of the bugs have been fixed." Katnis asked "What else is there?" Otacon said "The final thing..." Otacon took out an M4 Carbine and fired ten shots at each of the women. Instead of being harmed, the bullets floated mid-air inches away from their body before clicking to the ground. Catherine asked "What the hell?" Otacon said "I installed a Fortune device. It blocks bullets, rockets and grenades for a short amount of time. However it only lasts for maybe ten minutes before having to be recharged." Catherine said "This is all great and all Uncle Hal, but when are we ever going to need this?" Otacon shrugged "We never know Catherine." Katnis winked "You're pretty cute in that outfit." Catherine peered at the mirror behind her and saw that the outfit was truly, skin-tight. Causing Catherine to blush and try to cover up her breasts from embarrassment. Katnis chuckled "You're so cute when you're embarrassed." Catherine shouted "Shut up you baka!" Katnis tried to contain her laughter while Otacon and Sunny went to typing away on the computer. Catherine turned to Katnis and saw that she rather enjoyed seeing Katnis in the outfit, despite how shameless and embarrassing it was. A second later, Holly walked into the room, followed by Meryl. Catherine quickly tried to cover up before either of them got a look at what they were wearing, but they already started laughing before she could move a muscle. Catherine stood there for a minute, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks before mumbling "Let it out, laugh all you want." Holly waved her hand "Oh, it's just funny seeing you wearing that, I never thought you were into stuff like this." Meryl said "Me either.", obviously trying to choke down her laughs by coughing. Catherine said "We're not, Otacon told us to put these on." Meryl's grin turned into a frown, and she bitterly turned to Otacon and said "Did he now?" Otacon smiled "It's not what you think, Meryl. Just an experiment." Meryl said "Oh I know, he put me into something similar to that a year or so after meeting him. It was even more revealing." Catherine asked "Yeah...is there a way to prevent this?" Otacon nodded "Well, those suits were designed with the male body in mind..." Catherine slapped him in the back of the head and shouted "These were made for guys?!" Otacon shrugged "Yes, I don't see what the problem is." Catherine said "They're revealing as hell!" Otacon shrugged "I guess some of Snake rubbed off on me.." Catherine and Katnis exchanged a look and Katnis asked "What are you talking about?" Otacon said "He doesn't care how he looks, as long as it gets the mission done." Meryl nodded "He's right you know?" Catherine rolled her eyes "Whatever, can we change?" Otacon nodded "The bathroom's right over there." Catherine and Katnis quickly changed and walked out into the lab again and found Holly and Meryl laughing with Sunny, and Holly was smoking a cigarette. Catherine sat down next to Holly and asked "You have a light?" Holly nodded "Yeah, why?" Catherine protruded a cigar from her pocket and said "My lighter broke." Holly nodded and lit Catherine's cigar. Holly said "Well I see you picked up another habit from my sister." Catherine asked "What do you mean?" Holly said "Oh she was a heavy smoker, I am surprised you didn't pick up smoking earlier in your life." Catherine turned away and mumbled "Yeah...heh, lucky." Holly's eyes widened and she asked "When did you start smoking?" Catherine said "I had my first cigarette when I was around eleven." Holly slapped her in the back of the head and said "Why did you start smoking that early?!" Catherine said "I saw Snake smoke constantly, so..yeah." Katnis jumped between them and said with glee "Don't worry Mrs. White, I keep her on track with the nicotine intake." Holly patted Katnis on the shoulder and said "Thank you, Katnis." Catherine blushed "Oh shut up." Holly asked "So, is there anything I need to know about you two?" Catherine asked "What do you mean?" Holly said "Meryl told me about you two." Catherine gave Meryl an angry snarl and said "Nothing much more to tell you, is there?" Otacon, who had been on the computer the entire time, shouted "No! No! No! This can't be happening!" Meryl asked "What's wrong Hal?" Otacon said "Russia and China...they just declared war on each other!" Catherine said "Oh well, that escalated quickly." Meryl asked "Why would they declare war on each other?" Holly said "They've been at each other's throats ever since they both started to develop more nukes in the past year or so." Catherine finished "So they couldn't find a deal and just decided to start a war?" Otacon nodded "Yes, and it seems America, England, France, and Germany are all going to side with Russia."
Chapter 11[]
Three weeks had past, and the war between China and Russia had escalated, leading to fire bombings from both sides, invasions into each other's countries, and retaliation strikes against the allies of both sides lead to heavy devastation mostly in Europe. Catherine had been sent on a mission to Washington DC to discuss what would be America's next move. While her stay in DC, she talked with the Secretary of War, to which he stated that America would be sending AI Soldiers to the Russian border. On her way out, her Codec started going off. Catherine answered it to a very shaken, very panicked Meryl. Catherine asked "What's wrong, Meryl?" Meryl said "Mother Base was attacked by some Chinese, we had to evacuate." Catherine's heart jumped to her throat "Is...is everyone alright?" Meryl said "We suffered...I don't know right now, but from the personnel count, we've lost at least eighteen percent." Catherine asked "What about Katnis, Snake, Sunny?" Meryl cleared her throat, and she said in a calming tone "They're all fine. We didn't get a scratch." Catherine asked "Where am I going to meet you?" Meryl said "We're going to meet you at a hospital about a half mile away from you." Catherine nodded "Roger."
An hour later, Catherine was waiting at the hospital when seven helicopters landed on the roof, to which a dozen people were rushed into the emergency room. Catherine met Meryl and Snake halfway down the stairwell and gave them a hug. Catherine asked "What the hell happened?!" Otacon said "We were just running our normal drills when alarms started blaring. The next thing we knew, attack choppers were firing missiles at us." Snake said "Nothing new." Meryl punched him in the arm and shouted "This is no time for joking, Snake!" Catherine asked "What do we do know?" Katnis appeared at Catherine's side and said "I saw we join the war and get some vengeance." Catherine said "Revenge is never the answer." Meryl smirked "Tell that to Raiden." Snake grumbled "First, we need to recover. Then we will plan." Catherine said "Alright." Catherine felt relieved that no one was hurt, but like Katnis, she wanted revenge. We wanted to get back at the Chinese. She wanted to make them feel pain.
A month later, Catherine was nodding off in her old apartment, Katnis was sleeping on the couch when there was a knock at the door. Catherine opened the door to find Jack standing in the doorway wearing a black trenchcoat. Catherine wiped the sleep from her eyes and asked "You need something?" Jack handed her a Walkman and said "I need you to listen to these." Catherine said "Uh..sure." Jack said "When you're done, meet Meryl and me at Otacon's apartment." Catherine nodded "Sure." Just as she was about to shut the door, Jack said "See you around, Snake." Catherine was about to question him, but decided against it. She sat down at her table and popped in a tape. A familiar voice filled her ear. "My story, is a famous one..my story is well known to the public, but my story has been over produced, over blown, over exaggerated. I'm going to tell you my story how it really happened. It all started in Russia..."