Callsign: Cat (Ghost X READER/OC)

Ch 16: Hell Hath No Fury as a Woman Scorned

A/N Hey! I have a discord! Check it out if you wanna do some good AND get whatever you want written from me (within reason) This is in regards to the last update. In the discord, there are links to gfms of families who need help, if you donate and you send proof of donation to me, I will write whatever you want within reason.

https://discord.gg/3qPy62BfmP

Cat stood there, barely a meter away from Kate, pistol leveled at her head. Despite the sheer amount of people surrounding the two women, it was silent, unmoving... tense."Not personal?" Cat gritted out, her knuckles cracking as she gripped her pistol tighter.Kate shook her head slightly, her hands raised next to her, "It wasn't supposed to get personal. You have to realize, Cat, that we couldn't just threaten you into silence. They were just supposed to be... bargaining chips, per say. You even proved our point further when Phillip had your friends hostage. You didn't beg for your own life, you begged for theirs." The rage in Cat was chilling, forcing her to realize killing Kate now wouldn't make her suffer. No. Cat wanted Kate to hurt, to suffer... just as they did to her. To hell with caring about who gets hurt in the crossfire, no one has cared enough if Cat ever got hurt in the crossfire, until Birdie, Hound, and Gary. They suffered for Cat. They paid the price of trying to save her, Simon is paying the price for trying to be her salvation. Why was this fair? The world kept turning, moving on as if the worst hadn't happened, as if good people weren't suffering, as if they hadn't suffered. Why? How could Cat keep trying to do good, be good, when every time she tried people who were good paid the price? Cat knew what she was, it wasn't someone good, someone worth saving. She understood that, so if she wasn't going to be able to save herself, then she could save the one person who naively thinks she can be good.Cat just shook her head slowly, holstering her pistol, "I hope it was worth it.""So what are you going to do? Ghost is likely dead by now, Makarov has him and Makarov doesn't care about you, Cat." Kate kept on, lowering her hands now that Cat wasn't aiming at her.Cat's eyes were empty, so rageful that she appeared calm, albeit just physically. Cat stalked past Kate, shoulder-checking the older woman as she moved to get off the carrier ship. Cat was going to save Simon, and if she couldn't? The world will burn. Cat was no longer interested in saving anyone who was not of importance to her, she was going save Simon Riley, she had to. There was no other option if he was dead already. There would be no god merciful enough to spare the world of her rage. She would kill every single person who was involved... any idiot brave enough to try and stop her was as good as dead, nothing more than a collaborator who helped kill every person she has ever loved."Like I said... I hope what you did was worth it. Because I promise you, Kate, if it wasn't worth it, I am going to make it worth it.""Cat, stop... please, where- what are you going to do?" Johnny tried to ask Cat, moving to walk in front of Cat, too fearful to touch her."Stay out of the way... I'm bringing him home." Cat said slowly, brushing past Johnny, her left hand twitching slightly, prepared to grab the gun to use it against him, to put him down should he get in her way."Alone? Cat... we don't know how many-" Johnny tried to get out, walking beside Cat, smart enough to have realized Cat would harm him should he stop her, though that may have just been from how much time he had spent around her and Ghost."I don't care." Cat interrupted, bumping into various Shadows as she and Johnny disembarked the ship, Cat moved towards the hangar, Johnny following along trying to talk some kind of sense into her."Cat, just, stop for one moment." Johnny stepped in front of Cat, blocking her way into the hangar. "Move it, Johnny." Cat scowled, pulling her pistol from its holster. "Christ, Cat, I-", He stuttered before stepping aside slightly, "You can't go alone." "I can and will." Johnny groaned before trailing after her as she pushed past him, "No... no, I- Christ... I'm coming with, if anything, to help get Ghost back, no matter what shape he's in."Cat whirled around to glare at Johnny, "He's going to be fine, in one piece, breathing and all his blood in him." "Hey! We've interacted with Makarov, he's not going to be like Graves, Cat.""Then he better pray to whichever god he believes in that they'll listen to him and that they'll be merciful because I won't." Cat gritted out before turning to storm into the hangar, leaving a cursing Johnny to hurry to follow her.The few Shadows in the hangar were smart enough to not approach Cat, leaving her to assume they were told to not engage with her. Cat started to get lost in thought, moving on autopilot as she got to a helio, years of training and flying various aircraft allowing Cat to just think as she prepared the aircraft for takeoff. Cat wanted to even the score and get back at Kate and Shepherd. Cat knew they had families, Kate Laswell had her wife, and Shepherd had a son or two. Did she know where they were at the moment? No. Was she going to find them and have them pay for the sins of their loved ones? Yes. Why? Because there was always a fate worse than death. Cat figured out she was going to have to find out where they moved their loved ones later after Simon was safe. For the sake of everyone who has had a hand in the hell that has fallen onto Cat, Simon Riley better be alive."Bloody fuckin' hell, Cat! I thought you could fly these things!" Johnny yelped, holding onto his seat as the helio hit another bout of rough turbulence, hard enough to make Cat grit her teeth."It's turbulence, Johnny. I can't control it." Cat managed to grit out, forcing herself to stay relatively calm as she tried to fly slower to lessen the impact of the turbulence. The loom of storm clouds ahead of them was not a good sign for what she could expect as they gradually approached the vague location Cat retrieved from Yuri."How confident are you that they gave you the right location?" Johnny groaned, his voice strained. Cat glanced over at the man, he looked ill, "I guess now is a bad time to mention they didn't give me the direct coordinates. Just a close estimate. But... I would say he was pretty honest?""Cat!" Johnny yelled, a look of shock over his features, "What in the bloody hell? You-""Oh shut up. My god. It's not direct coordinates but he may as well have just drawn me a map." Cat sighed, rolling her eyes, "I know where we're going. We should, probably, be there in like... ten minutes. As long as the storm ahead doesn't slow us down too much." "Bloody hell..." Johnny groaned, a pang of empathy hitting Cat for the man. "You'll be fine... we're almost there." Cat sighed, gripping the cyclic of the helio tighter.Cat tuned Johnny out, not wanting to hear his groans of discomfort as she halfway focused on getting the helio closer to their destination, and half lost in thought. How would she react if Simon was dead? Not kindly was guaranteed. But how many would burn for what happened? Who could she hunt down and make suffer once she hurt Laswell and Shepherd? Makarov is a dead man walking, perhaps hunting down every last one of his men would be an option. Would going after any remaining family, any of them, to stop their bloodlines from repeating the same sins they did? Would it truly make the grief of losing her family less painful? Cat started the descent process, her thoughts running wild, causing her to question herself. Would her pain lessen? Probably not, but getting even would be worth it. Does this make her the same as them? Worse than them?"Let's go get Simon back.." Cat muttered, breaking free from her thoughts, her gaze locked onto the lone building that was bustling with soldiers scurrying from the rain, bringing in whatever was in their trucks before the rain got too much worse, as the current downpour made it difficult for Cat to see out of the windshield of the helio. Cat's gaze hardened as she slowly grounded the helio a small distance away, the stormy weather providing decent cover at the expense of the treetops obscuring her line of sight to the one lone building."What's the plan, C?" Johnny sighed, his body relaxing slightly once the helio was completely grounded."We go in, kill everyone who isn't Simon, get Simon, leave."Johnny stared at Cat, "Solid... solid plan. Now, any more details? Like... I don't know, like how are we going to get inside, is this stealth-?" "Dumbass, we're going to walk in through the front doors and anyone who is not us, or Simon, dies. Simple." Cat huffed, squinting as the rain pelted her face, chilling her."That is not what I call a simple plan, Cat," Johnny complained, raising a hand in a half-hearted attempt to block rain from his eyes."It is simple. Just don't get shot." Cat shook her head before stalking towards the compound, her feet dragging through the mud, staining her already trashed uniform even further.The rain provided good enough cover from prying eyes, unfortunately, that included Cat's sight. The rain was only continuing to pick up, leaving both her and Johnny drenched as the ground below them became harder to tread through. "Stupid England and rain..." Cat muttered, having to force her feet to keep moving as the mud was acting as a glue, keeping her feet firm to the ground all while being slick with every step she managed."We just couldn't wait..." Johnny mumbled behind Cat, the sound of sloshing mud was almost hidden by the heavy downpour."The longer we waited the less likely Simon was gonna come out of this alive." Cat snapped at Johnny."Hey! Don't- Cat, slow down. There are two of us versus how many of them? Walking through the front isn't smart." Johnny tried to reason once more, having realized that Cat was serious about going in the front door."Cat- I get it. You want to save Simon, you want to get him back, but for the love of all that's holy, going in through the front door will get him killed if he isn't dead already."Cat paused, a small flicker of panic gracing her features before rage quickly filled her expression, "He is not dead. He- they wouldn't not yet." Cat glared at the compound in front of them from the cover of the treeline, the longer she stood here, outside of the compound and not facing the unknown filled her with a greater rage. Hate. Cat was going to kill them all. The worse shape Simon was in, the worse the fate Makarov would face. Cat tore her gaze from the compound looking for anything that could prove a distraction or be a way inside, because as much as it pained her, Johnny was right. Not being careful would be the nail in the coffin for Simon. The cause for the jury to sentence him to death. Cat would not allow that to happen. "You're good with explosives, Johnny. Why don't we rig one of the trucks to blow?" Cat asked, her gaze flittering over the slew of trucks. "It would be a distraction, Cat, but how is that going to get us inside, or guarantee Simon's safety? We're better off trying to find another way inside or waiting for backup.""No. We-..." Cat cut herself off as the last part of his sentence registered, forcing her out of her rage-filled plan to slaughter virtually everyone inside that building, "Backup? When did you have time to call in backup?" Cat questioned, turning a confused glance at Johnny."A silent agreement? Just... in case you ran off to find him, I would tag along, and one tracker later, backup. They could be here in the hour, or maybe longer. The rain would slow them down.""Simon is already on borrowed time. With what know of Kate and Sheppherd, do we just want to sit around with our thumbs up our asses as we wait for who knows how long for backup? No. If you want to wait, that's fine. I'll get in, and you all can follow the trail of bodies." Cat glowered, sticking close to the tree line to see if there was any other way inside the compound. Mud squelched with every step Cat took, any chill she felt from the rain was gone, as a fiery rage filled her. Had Cat had her way, the compound would have been reduced to nothing, but Simon was there. Collateral. Cat couldn't, wouldn't, rely on her aircraft, on her expansive training that would have allowed her to bomb the compound within moments. Destroying it and killing everyone inside it. Had Simon not been inside it is exactly what she would have done. The only reason why she was hellbent on him being alive still. What good would killing Simon have done for them? Nothing. A dead chess piece was useless in the grand scheme of things, and they were still in their game.Cat stopped in her tracks, squinting hard to see the faint outline of a door, no lights were on in any of the surrounding windows, and nothing was easily seen from her spot in the treeline, which she was barely in at this point."No fucking way..." Cat murmured to herself, a wicked grin split her lips as she walked from the treeline to the door, not too bothered to seek cover as the heavy rain and darkened sky made sight hard. Cat did make haste to get to the door as quickly as possible, leaving a cursing Johnny trailing behind her. Cat tried to peer into the windows closest to the door, but there wasn't any movement she could spot from the dark room, it seemed as if they had boarded up half of the compound, cutting this section off from the main. "What's the luck, huh?" Cat snorted as she tried the door, which was locked. She glanced at Johnny who was trying to peer into the widows on the right of Cat. Cat shrugged off her soaked jacket, before moving back to the windows she had peered in. Cat quickly wrapped her hand in her jacket before punching the window."Son-" Cat bit back cursing too loudly as the window just barely cracked. Cat could feel her eye twitching before punching the window again. Cat was only rewarded with a larger crack, nothing she could rip at. If Cat had a silencer, she would shoot the damned thing. Cat tried again, drawing Johnny's attention as she finally put her hand through the window. The glass snagged on her jacket, knicking her arm as she ripped her hand from the window."Found a way in..." Cat murmured, glancing at an annoyed Johnny before turning her attention to clearing the glass just enough for her to slide her arm in to unlock the door."And merry Christmas to us," Cat murmured sarcastically before she laughed as Johnny opened the door, leaving Cat to dust the remaining glass off her arms."Psychotic woman... how the hell have you not been arrested?" Johnny shook his head at her as he stepped into the dark room."I, technically, have been, I have had plenty of run-ins with police, you know that. I was significantly younger and was a lot easier to push around. Let's go find Simon and spill some blood." "Cat, we should really-""If you tell me to take it slow and wait for backup, I'm going to kill you. We're trained soldiers, I have a pistol, you have whatever you have on you. We can grab weapons from whoever we kill. Worst comes to worst, we fist fight our way out.""How have you survived this long?" Johnny asked, Cat's brilliant plan leaving him stunned.Cat shrugged, "Spite. Let's move it, Irish boy.""Not that again." Johnny groaned as Cat shook out the glass from her jacket before she put it back on."Don't tempt me with a good time." Cat snorted, walking further into the room, straining to hear if any enemies were in the vicinity, if there were any they were silent."Only you'd find that fun..."Cat shrugged, walking further into the darkened room, looking for a way inside the compound, "Whatever you leprechaun.""I am not-" Johnny started, cutting himself off as a faint scream filled the room. Cat stopped dead in her tracks, her blood running cold as the scream stopped. Cat was stuck in both the present and past, stuck in knowing that scream was Simon's, all while remembering Las Almas. Cat remained frozen, paralyzed by the past. Cat was lying on the ground, her words muted as all she could do was watch and listen to the people she had called family to be executed. Julia's gasping breathes, Hound's yelling, Astrid's hysteria. Cat couldn't help but focus on Hound, as another scream ripped from him, no, it wasn't his. The scream was too faint, too deep. Cat shook the twisted memory from her head, Simon's scream, which had disconnected her from reality bringing her back. Cat hung her head, grasping her weapon as Simon's scream played on a loop in her head.Johnny watched Cat with an apprehensive fear, he remembered what Cat did in Las Almas, all while injured. He couldn't help the shiver that ran through him, it was as if the room dropped from the humid hell it was to freezing all within a millisecond. Whatever chance of Makarov had of walking out of this alive was reduced to zero, whatever chance he had of getting Cat out in one piece and alive dropped the moment that scream echoed through this hell."Cat... there's a chance it's not Simon." Johnny tried, his mouth dry, in some attempt to keep Cat from going nuclear.Cat shook her head slowly, "We both know that's not true. And we both know what's going to happen."Johnny swallowed hard, he knew she was right, in some sick and twisted way he was hoping it was less of her killing everyone in a brutal way imaginable. "I should have just let you walk in through the front door."Cat didn't speak, not a quip or her normal snark, just leaving Johnny to watch as she stalked to the left side of the room, trying to follow the faint sound of the scream. "Cat..." Johnny muttered, following slowly behind her, not wanting her to get too far from him. He knew if Cat put distance between her and him, he would only be able to follow her through the trail of bodies she would inevitably leave. "Slow down, we shouldn't start anything we can't finish. Price and Gaz would be here in minutes if we wait, no more than half an hour."Cat whirled around to face Johnny, her eyes hard, her face twisted in anger, "I'm not waiting, Johnny. He needs help. I'm going to help. I dicked around this long to appease you, to appease Price and Gaz. I'm done. We have waited and waited, we have done nothing but cause Simon more pain by waiting." Cat shouted, her voice breaking at the end. It dawned on Johnny that it wasn't just anger on her face, it was grief. Because you can't have this much anger and it only be anger, grief was the foundation of anger. Every second felt as though it was crawling by, as if in slow-motion as Johnny struggled to speak, he wanted to stop Cat, wanted to say something, anything if just to convince Cat for just a moment to wait for some kind of backup. But there were no words he could come up with, nothing he could choke out that would make Cat understand the importance of waiting for help because she was right. Every moment they stood here, every moment he stood here just trying to convince Cat to wait, to slow down, to proceed with caution stole another minute away from Ghost, from her Simon. He rubbed his face, screwing his eyes shut as the distant screams of his friend filled the quiet room. "No more waiting... go get him. I'll be right behind you, C..." Johnny relented, sighing as he accepted that knowing what Simon's scream sounded like would be forever burned into his memory. A memory that would haunt him for the rest of his days. He swallowed hard, if this would haunt him, how is this going to impact Cat? Her memory was far sharper than his, would every detail of today play out as if it was a film? Would today be the day that finally broke Cat? Her memories tormenting her worse than they already had? Anyone who bothered to be around Cat for any period of time before the loss of her friends to now could see the shift in her personality. Her violence played out less as a need for survival and more towards violence in which the world was burning.Johnny wanted to cry, following behind Cat, they progressed into the base in silence. The white lights were momentarily blinding to Johnny but he kept marching on, his eyes trained on Cat. It was peculiar to watch, a woman who was so harsh in her actions be so graceful as she walked. He knew better, the graceful walk was the precursor to the hell she would unleash upon the first enemy they would come across. The only person who could save the world was currently screaming, filling the silent air with a haunting melody, a spark that would burn the world.Cat's world was in a turbulent disarray, Simon's screams were echoing in her mind, distorting her reality. Johnny's footsteps were perhaps the only noise keeping her from screaming herself. Every empty room they passed, every step they took in the oddly empty halls, brought them closer to Simon. Cat knew they were quickly getting to him, the screams seemed to grow louder, now and then the screams would stop, a few moments of respite from a new level of hell that Cat didn't know to exist. It was disorienting, hearing the sudden beats of silence, only hearing her and Johnny's footsteps, her heartbeat filling her ears. Oh how she wanted the screams to stop, but should they stop then Simon would surely be lost. Lost in a building Cat never saw schematics of, his life gone unable to be saved as Death had come to collect what he was owed. Oh, how she hated Death. Cat felt like an unkillable figure in her life, watching everything around her fall victim to time, to submit to the will of Death, as he had come to collect his dues. Despite it all, Death had yet to come to collect her. He would collect everyone around her first, perhaps, make her suffer the consequences of being born, of surviving against all odds. She knew she should have died long ago, yet she persisted. She stood her ground and did not break. When rocks went soft, trees blew in the wind as if grass, even when the mountains bowed, she persisted. She got up, time and time again. No matter how broken or bloodied. She was her father's daughter, after all, she survived him. Perhaps she would finally see just how much worse she was, to see if the prediction of everyone would be true.Cat seemed to walk blindly, and while his screams would bounce from the empty walls and halls, Cat was determined to get to him. She had to save him. The sheer dumb luck to be wandering throughout the compound without coming across any of Makarov's men was mind-boggling to her, It raised some alarm bells in Cat's mind, yet every echo of his scream quieted those alarms and made her move faster, almost sprinting through the compound with Johnny rushing to keep up. Cat slid to a stop through one of the many doors in this labyrinth. They were on a balcony of sorts, overlooking what had been perhaps extra storage for whatever used to occupy this compound before Makarov and his men. What it was now was nothing more than hell for Makarov to use. She felt ill looking down at the sight, her poor Simon strung up with hooks through his shoulders and a small pool of blood at his feet. While the sight was gruesome, the stench of stale blood and death was strong in the room, perhaps from Makarov's previous victims, perhaps Gary was one to suffer here. Cat gripped the railing, doing her best to not vomit, which was only marginally better than Johnny as he had gasped before backtracking to vomit. The distance between Simon and her no doubt made him look better than he was. The distance hid whatever injuries that were less severe than hooks through his shoulders, he was no doubt mutilated. To what extent? Cat didn't know. She was going to find out.Cat swallowed hard, biting back the rising bile in her throat before stalking further down the balcony, down the catwalk to the only set of stairs she could spot from the side opposite of where both she and Johnny came in from. Cat was practically stumbling over her feet in her haste to get to Simon, the men below on the ground were laughing. It made her sick. They were laughing at Simon, and it felt as though the mere sound of their laughter was a taunt. Enraging her further. Cat gripped the railing as she stopped at the stairs, with a shaky hand, Cat pulled her pistol to count her bullets. In her haste to get here, she did not think to prepare. Cat counted quickly, her thumb sliding up the magazine, blindly counting as she made her way down the stairs as quietly as she could. Nine. She had nine bullets. Cat hastily reloaded her gun, her moves stiff as she hit the landing of the staircase. Johnny wasn't too far behind her, but he was far enough that he would be safe if she royally fucked up and would be able to still, hopefully, save Simon. While her movements weren't the most graceful, they were silent. Every step was silent as she approached the small group of Makarov's men from behind Simon. His strung-up body was an unideal cover, but it hid Cat from them well as she got closer. All Cat had to do was be a faster shot than them. Being faster than them was important, get the jump on them, draw the attention away from Simon, make this area somewhat safe, and then utilize Johnny to get Simon out before killing every last man in this hell.Cat froze, Simon's coughing, and the laughing men bringing her out of her thoughts. She stood still, looking past Simon to count the men. Seven men. One was drinking while the others were messing about with the arsenal of weapons that they had to use on her Simon. Laughing and arguing about what would hurt most, drunken Russian teetered closer to gibberish than any comprehensible language Cat could guess. Maybe it was the nods of approval and the smug grins they wore that kicked Cat into gear, stepping out from behind Simon, pistol leveled with the armed man's head. There was mild alarm, the startled yelps from the men were quickly silenced by her shots. Each man dropped to the ground within a few moments, one right after the other. Cat's heart was thundering in her ears, the deafening silence after the shots was not a comforting one. Cat was almost scared to turn around, to have the image of Simon strung up on those hooks and whatever injuries these men did, to see what he endured before, she was almost unable to bear to have that sight forever burned into her memory, another sight to be burned onto the back of her eyes every time she even blinks, seeing as though she no longer sleeps. With short and jerking movements, Cat forced herself to lower her pistol and turn around. Cat couldn't help but squeeze her eyes shut, unable to block out the soft groans of pain or the cursing from Johnny, as Cat was currently assuming, looking for a way to get Simon down. He was right in front of her, mostly alive, and in a position where he needed her help, yet Cat couldn't even open her eyes to look at him. Cat shook her head slightly, trying to force her eyes open because she was being a coward. It wasn't safe here and Simon needed medical attention."Fuck..." Cat swore softly before holstering her gun, forcing herself to move to Simon. Cat hated every moment of this situation but she persisted, with trembling hands, she helped Johnny lower Simon. She kept her eyes lowered until she couldn't avoid looking at him. She wanted to cry, to break down at the sight of Simon. She knew he would have been badly hurt but to this extreme? She felt ill. The sick bastard had broken his right arm, his left leg had a shitty tourniquet that was doing little to stem the blood leaking from the open fracture. What remained of his clothes were darkened with his blood and Cat didn't have the supplies nor the stomach to try and fix him here. He needed a hospital.Cat was practically trembling as she pulled off her belt, every movement of hers was sharp and unsteady as she made herself go to him. Johnny took the brunt of Simon's weight, Cat could see he was saying something but she couldn't hear him, her heartbeat having filled her ears. As Cat knelt before Simon, she felt something graze the top of her head as she shakily wrapped her belt above his knee, above the fracture. She knew it would hurt. Tourniquets always hurt when done properly, he may hate her. He may not bleed to death but he wouldn't keep half his leg, Cat has seen men in less injured states lose their limbs after having tourniquets placed. A small price to live, to lose a literal part of yourself to not bleed to death, to not feel yourself slowly die as various organs stop functioning, to not feel the suffocating chokehold of death.She wasn't pleased with the tourniquet, but the bleeding had mostly stopped. A temporary fix to a much larger problem. Cat was avoiding looking up at him, she couldn't bear to see his pained expression or the injuries on his upper half. How much longer could Cat avoid looking at him directly? This was what she was here for, she was here for im. To avenge him. Could she even avenge him, to make the ones who hurt him pay if she couldn't stomach looking at him? She owed him that much, he endured and survived this hell, so Cat could grow up and look at him.So Cat stood, her hands balled into fists as she looked Simon in the face, her eyes taking in his battered and exhausted form. He seemed somewhat conscious."You survived this long, Si... just keep holding on. Johnny will get you to a hospital. Makarov will pay for this." Cat tried to speak softly, tried to speak to him as if he was Julia, yet her voice was hard and cold."Cat, just me? I-""Johnny, you'll drive him to the closest hospital. Someone has to raise hell so you can get him out. And as long as you don't yank those hooks out, he won't bleed out... hopefully.""You're... not coming with me?" Simon choked out, his voice hoarse and so strained Cat could barely hear him."No. Right now it's just Johnny and I here. We don't have an eta on Price or Gaz. Someone has to stay behind. And Johnny is the one carrying you." "Cat-""We'll have to go through the front doors. You'll take one of the trucks they have out there. Then you'll drive like hell to a hospital. Let's go.""Great plan Cat. What about the fact we-" Johnny groaned as Cat watched as he tried to shift Simon."Shut up. We need to move. Like now. So. Let's. Go." Cat knew her tone was short. She had a new anger motivating her. Simon was alive, but he was hurt. Cat was leading the way, swiping one of the many knives from the table Simon's torturers had their weapons on. Either few people were here or they just did not care about the gunshots. Cat was hoping for the latter, she wanted most of Makarov's men to be here, it would save her time tracking them down. Cat walked quickly, exiting the torture chamber to follow the exit emergency signs, keeping some distance between her and Johnny. If a fight happened, Johnny couldn't help as he had Simon and Cat would need time to fight without getting them caught in the crossfire. Cat slowed to a stop as she heard drunken laughter, it was ahead of her, but not in the direction the exit signs were pointing. She could always double back once Simon was out of immediate danger. Cat kept on, following the signs until she saw the exit. The rain was letting up, ever so slightly, but just enough that she could see the distance between her and Simon's escape. From here to the cars. The only problem was the fact that the doors were connected to the fire alarm system. Once Cat opened them, she would only have moments to keep them covered."Ready, Johnny?" Cat called back to the man, who appeared to be struggling under Simon's weight."You couldn't have helped carry him?" Johnny huffed as he stopped next to Cat.With a small shrug, Cat offered a smile, "What? So we both would have our hands tied if there were any men here? When we open this door the fire alarms may go off, but they may not. Who knows if these guys turned the emergency door alarms off? Just be ready for hell to break loose. Just get him to a truck and go. Don't worry about me. You said Price should be here soon so." Cat trailed off, quickly looking away from Johnny and Simon. Despite having only looked at Simon for a few mere moments, his bloody face, the tears of blood streaming down his face was an image that she couldn't shake.Taking a small breath, Cat opened the door.Cat, despite being prepared for the onslaught of noise the alarm would bring, still jumped slightly at the shrill noise, jerking slightly away from the door. Red alarms flashing along the walls and the shrill filling of the mostly empty halls made Cat's head hurt. She shoved the door open and ushered Johnny, and Simon, out. Cat could see that Johnny was talking but Cat's gaze was on the two men at the end of the hallway. The disoriented looks were enough to know they were most likely the drunk men from earlier, but they were still a threat."Just go," Cat shouted at Johnny, before going back inside, slamming the door shut, which triggered the alarms to stop, or coincidentally someone turned the alarms off. Cat didn't care too much.She was running towards the men, knife in hand. They were not expecting this or were simply too drunk to have a coherent thought. With the startle of the alarm, the sight of Cat, and their disorientation, Cat lept to grab the man closest to her. Her borrowed knife sank into the crook of his neck. Cat cringed in disgust as the putrid scent of blood and alcohol assaulted her senses, the gasping of the man in her hands seemed to kick his comrade into gear. Cat had a leg up in this situation. He was drunk and his only immediate ally was currently bleeding to death from Cat stabbing him in the neck. Cat lunged for him, dodging his drunken punch to lodge her knife in his gut. There was a grunt of pain from him as Cat twisted the blade before dragging the knife through his gut, messily cutting him open from hip to hip. Cat shoved him away from her, watching as he stumbled back to the wall. It was odd to watch a man not even fight to survive. Perhaps he was so drunk that he didn't fully comprehend that she had gutted him. There was a small horror to the scene, two drunken men dying from the injuries she had inflicted. One significantly more gruesome than the other. Cat couldn't tear her eyes away from the man she just gutted, too horribly amused by the fact he was not fighting to survive as his intestines slowly spilled out of him as he sat against the wall. Her therapist would be horrified to hear that Cat was amused to watch the man she gutted die. With a small huff, Cat walked down the hall the men came from, not having the time to watch the light drain from their eyes. Makarov had to be here. And she was going to make him pay.Cat walked quickly, her anger growing with every step. Every room she had passed had been sparsely decorated as if for a party. From the writing on the walls, it seemed as though they were celebrating the fact they had gotten ahold of missiles that had the potential to kill entire communities. Cat stopped as she passed one room, a man was smoking something but had his back turned to her. Apparently, the alarms didn't affect the entire compound, and if they did, it appeared that they were too intoxicated to give a shit. Is it shitty to kill a man with his back turned and intoxicated? Perhaps. But he was working with the people who killed those she cared about and tortured one of the last people she cared about. With blood-slicked hands, Cat gripped the man by his hair before slitting his throat. His startled gasp was quickly replaced with the sounds of him choking on his blood as his blood leaked out of his jugular and onto his clothing and no doubt into his lungs. Ten men dead. So many more to go. Cat shoved his corpse out of his chair and onto the floor, his blood pooling at her feet and for a moment she was back in that hellish chamber, watching Simon as his blood pooled at his feet before shaking the memory from her head. It felt surreal to Cat, to walk away from her, now, a trail of bodies, to look for another to add to the trail. She knew it was wrong in some way, but they had taken so much from her. They deserved this. They will only keep taking and eventually even hurting innocent bystanders if Cat were to stop. Sure Birdie and Hound would be disappointed in her taking the low route, to kill men while they were partying and unable to fight back. But did they deserve to have that opportunity? Like their victims? Their victims weren't in a position to fight back. Cat saw the reports, mostly mothers and children were harmed. Not even military-adjacent families. Just some poor souls who happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. Was that how it was for Hound's family? Were they simply at the wrong place at the wrong time?Cat wiped her hands on her shirt, the blood of Makarov's men was making it difficult to hold her knife. Cat hummed to herself as she stalked the compound, looking for her next victim. Perhaps Hound's family was hunted down, similar to what she was doing to Makarov's men. Maybe their fates were not happenstance, rather they were hunted as prey. Cat stopped as she came across a landing, several men were on the bottom floor, one slouched in a chair and two others who were still drinking. Either they were ignorant of the infiltration or they were just too drunk to care.She could have shot them, to have less literal blood on her hands, to be merciful, but she wanted them to see her face. To watch them as death claimed them. Cat was quick, she was behind the seated man before his friends even realized she was not someone they knew, that she was a threat. She watched as one of the drunks stumbled over his feet, some attempt to stop her from killing his friend, the other stumbled towards the table, grabbing an empty bottle as Cat stabbed the man she was behind. Shoving his limp body away from her, Cat stumbled under the weight of the man who tried to stop her from killing his friend. Cat grunted under the force of his weight before twisting in his grip, jabbing her knife up through his neck. "Gross..." Cat muttered, warm blood hitting her face, forcing her to squeeze her eyes as she pushed him away from her. Cat wiped at her eyes, trying to get the blood off so she could see. She had to divert her attention as the last man standing swung at her with the bottle. Cat didn't dodge well, the bottle clipping the top of her head. With gritted teeth, Cat lept forward, tackling the man. Cat managed to get a good blow to his ribs as he grabbed a fistful of her hair."Bastard." Cat gritted out, biting back a startled yelp, blindly clawing at his face. She was not going to let him get control of the situation. Cat kneed where she could, blindly clawing at his face as he tried to slam her head against the floor. Moments of struggle later, Cat's clawing finally hit something sensitive, his eyes. Cat dug her thumbs into the corner of his eyes, he let out a pained scream letting go of Cat's hair. Cat jerked away from him, grabbing his, now, discarded broken bottle and stabbing him in the jugular.Cat moved away from the man, panting slightly as she cracked her neck. It was embarrassing to have gotten this far and to be taken down by a drunken man, it was a good thing it was just Cat who survived this.