When she and Sunny were both seated on the bed, Abby began her story:

'When I was a little girl, I thought the world of my father. I was vaguely aware that he was involved in some sort of global organisation, but I believed it wouldn't affect me.

'That changed after that night with Volgin. When he tried to electrocute me, it was only by sheer dumb luck that I escaped. I ran straight back home and shut myself in my bedroom. When my father came to talk with me later that night, I had cried myself to exhaustion. I demanded that he tell me why I had to spend time with someone as horrible as Volgin was.

'My father explained to me exactly why Volgin would visit us. Both our fathers were involved in the same organisation, and Volgin was being groomed to take his father's place when he was older.

'I also learnt about the organisation they were part of, The Philosophers. Over the course of that year, my father would tell me about what his plans were, and how they would affect current events. Maybe it was because of this, that I was taken when he died.'

Abby paused. Sunny was staring at her with a mix of shock and sadness on her face. Sighing, Abby continued:

'Some men from The Philosophers came to see me after the funeral. I was told that my father had made arrangements for them to take care of me in the event of his death. They brought me to a camp in the middle of nowhere with several other children, and put us through the most horribly brutal training you can imagine, in order to teach us how to be soldiers.

'To the surprise of everyone, including myself, I turned out to be one of the best students. When the war started, I was put in charge of my own unit. It was made up of soldiers from all of the Allied nations who had some sort of unusual ability. We were known as the Cobras.

'It was there that I met The Sorrow. He was from Russia, and had been recruited into the Cobras because of his ability to communicate with the dead. Over the years, we fell in love, and eventually we had a child together.

'Unfortunately, when the war was over, The Sorrow and I had to separate. Our countries were now enemies. In order to ensure we complied, The Philosophers took our child.'

As Abby told her story, she slowly and silently began to fade from Sunny's view.

'I spent my career in the service of the United States, and was involved in many of the secret government projects of the time. It was on one of them, when I was sent into space, that I saw the world as one, without borders, and dreamt of recreating it on Earth. I also trained another apprentice during this time, a man known as Naked Snake.

However, one of my missions brought me back in contact with The Sorrow. Our son was held hostage, and the Philosophers threatened to kill him if we both survived. The Sorrow decided that he would be the one to die, and … I agreed. I shot him.'

Here, Abby paused. When she had recovered, she continued.

'My final mission sent me back to the Soviet Union, where I was to recover the Philosophers Legacy, the information on the funds they had amassed to fight World War II, for America. To do so, I sided with the Soviets who held the legacy at the time, including my lost son. But the mission went wrong, and a Soviet weapons laboratory was destroyed in the process. It was decided that in order for America to claim that it was not involved in this, I needed to be destroyed. Snake was the agent who was sent to defeat me, and he succeeded.

'That last mission also put me back in contact with Volgin. It was he who destroyed the laboratory. Despite working together over what turned out to be the last week of our lives, he never made the connection between his new Philosopher trained ally and the little girl he used to bully as a teenager. In the end, he was the one who was afraid of me.'

By now, Abby had almost faded entirely.

'Since my death, I've seen the people I'd trained and worked with fight over how they should interpret my wishes. I was surprised, and proud, when a woman I'd known from the Mercury Project succeeded in raising her son to become the kind of person who would put the wellbeing of others before his own, which was a quality she valued in me. He's done a marvellous job of raising you. You know, I really enjoyed our time together. I felt like I really was young again.'

At this, Abby faded from view, leaving Sunny alone, and blinking away tears.

Sunny returned downstairs to her uncle, and found him waiting in the lobby.

'There you are, Sunny. Have you found anything of this Abby?'

Sunny nodded. 'Abby's not here anymore.'

As they left the building, Sunny turned back to her uncle.

'Abby said goodbye to me before she left. She told me that she enjoyed the time she spent with me, and that she was proud of the person you'd become. And now, she's gone somewhere she can be really happy.'