Kathleen Harwood

by **SentimentalBadger** Fri May 17, 2013 6:37 am

"My trusty shiv, a good looking fella and a bottle of Uncle Jack's finest. The simple pleasures..."

Broken homes seem to produce the nastiest of the nasties, and Kathleen was nothing but a train wreck growing up. Sometimes the home doesn't have to be filled with violence and abuse, it can be the simplest of neglect that drives children off course.

Kathleen Harwood grew up in a home where only the bare necessities were provided. Naturally, this pushed the young girl away, and exposed her to a harsh world she wasn't quite ready for. Drink, party, sex. Wash, rinse, repeat. That was how it went. She wasn't a stupid girl, she didn't skip school, but she didn't ever miss a party growing up. She grew a reputation for being wild, not an undeserving one either.

For a while, she settled down, she matured, got a job and moved out. She got a taste for music, finding support in the art. She got into a relationship with a well meaning guy, but...that didn't last. A drunken mistake was what it boiled down to, a mistake that cost Kathleen her grip on stability.

A year or two further of drifting, traveling, and then the life that Kathleen had once lived was to change forever. Sat in front of Crescent Valley at last light with a bottle of half drunk whiskey, she watched as the Combine swept over the earth. It was a belittling sight, and one that she would not soon forget, alien flagships flying over the landscape.

Adjusting to a life without alcohol was difficult for Kathleen, but when you're faced with a beating, you soon learn to comply. The sudden injection of order into her life was strange, but, for some reason it soothed her. She felt comfortable knowing that she would grow old and die without ever having to worry about taxes or the price of gas. Albeit, she had to make some sacrifices in order to live well, the forefront being to join the MPF.

Life as an 05 was terrifying at best, but in GRID she found a friend, an 04. They never exchanged names, but they grew to know one another by face, voice and personality. It was this sign of humanity in a sea of faceless masks that kept Kathleen sane in the madness that was amputations and non-compliance verdicts, and she vowed to cling to it with her last breath.

Thanks to her friend, she climbed the ranks of the MPF quickly, from 05, 04, 03 and then to an OfC. Her once as equally shit scared friend became the Division Leader of GRID, and Kathleen now had a very powerful ally. And yet, they were both human. They faced rebels, necrotics and faulty generators, yet they maintained their humanity and personalities throughout. Eventually however, their free will was to cost both Units dearly.

One foolish stumble led to another, and the DvL found a robo-cop 02 Helix on the end of his gentleman's piece. The Sectorial found out, and Kathleen found herself in the middle of it. She knew the 02, she wasn't bad, and had been through some severe events. The young Officer tried her best to protect them both, and in the end it came down to the ultimate display of treachery and loyalty; shooting one Division Leader to save another. The HELIX DvL got her back, and a number of other Units cornered her. When faced with the reality of death by firing squad, she decided to take ultimate control of her face. After applying some health vials to her injured area, she took her 357. and shot herself in the head.

An instant death, or so she thought. Kathleen's mortal coil refused to be severed. The bullet ricocheted off her mask, gracing her chin by centimetres, and the Sectorial took her for dead, throwing her body into the street as a warning. Another Unit however, an 01 Judge, wasn't convinced. When Kathleen came to, she found herself dangling over the acid pit. She was forced to show her hand, and was coerced into a holding cell until the HELIX DvL returned. Overcome with guilt and fear, she was led down into the Medbay, alone with the woman she had only previously exchanged fire with.

"I know you, you're not a bad person. You wouldn't do something irrational without good reason. But I also know you'd be willing to shoot me in order to save your Division Leader." When faced with this speech, Kathleen expected the worst...

Official security camera feed of the Medbay displays the DvL explaining to the GRID OfC that her Division Leader was dead, that she killed him. After a brief interlude, the camera feed then cuts to the OfC lying on the chair, with brainwashing equipment around her. The DvL awakens her, then is called out on duty. Kathleen slowly arises, looking at the camera. She appears blank, then offers a salute. But the look in her eye, there is something still there, still a spark, of humanity.