Forestville Military Academy.

Baltimore, Maryland. 1973

Joesph Carter, the head of the Academy looked at the records of the Academy students in his office, the office was well lit with the sunset orange hue in the backdrop of a large window.

He had been looking at the records of a few boys within the academy, all with exemplary and outstanding records of conduct, discipline, and talent.

One of these records caught his eye as he is reading said record.

'Fisher, Samuel L.'

The name of the student record had the photo of Sam Fisher wearing the white and blue academy uniform in a military parade rest with a serious look in his face.

Carter then began to read Sam's Academic and Conduct Assessment report:

'Samuel Fisher can be described as a loner, reserved, and fiercely independent, he's someone who wants to be left alone, he does everything by himself and doesn't rely on anyone due to being self-dependent.

He's also very intelligent as he scored all high marks in academics and his IQ is at 130. This high intelligence coupled with his independent streak, he's able to jump ahead of his peers and skips ahead of everyone which unfortunately caused some degree of resentment amongst his peers which did cause some problems in his socialization with others as no one wanted to be friends with Sam, however this suited him just fine as he had a few friends in his social circle. His loner and intelligence, along with his discipline he's the Academy's model student.

Despite being an intelligent loner who does everything by himself and often moved ahead of everyone, Sam is no stranger to violence, though this is more of him being defensive than starting fights, as last year he had been involved in several incidents with bullies as these boys are resentful of the fact that Sam is ahead of everyone and often being a favorite of the faculty and staff. Despite the intimidation and harassment, Sam remained calm and composed as he never struck the first blow, and often these incidents the bullies struck first.

And in a remarkable display of self-defense Samuel had skillfully fought back against his would be bullies, and often with little to no injuries inflicted on the boys, the worse injuries are often treatable, and injured pride and ego. Sam appeared to be incredibly skilled in CQC, which is remarkable due to his age since no one had mastered such close combat skills in a young age. This earned him infamy in the academy which only led Samuel further isolated from all social circles except for a few friends such as fellow classmate Victor Coste.

'However despite his 'Lone Wolf' personality and his capability of combat, when given the reins of authority to command and lead he suddenly becomes a whole different person. In one of the Academy's major football matches against another school a few months back, Sam displayed excellent leadership and charisma as a football Captain and Quarterback, that morale ran high during the final half of a losing match which led our school to win the competition in a three point difference.'

'Despite his lone wolf attitude, Fisher proves to be a well rounded student and capable leader when given the opportunity of leadership along with his intelligence, personality, and strength. He will have a successful future within the military.'

Carter was reading the reports and was impressed with Sam' s record.

All high marks in academics and also excellent conduct, is vice president of the Academy's disciplinary club, and a well liked student.

Sam's teachers describes him as a quiet, reserved, and a highly disciplined individual. Rarely talks and does so if needed, and doesn't waste words.

Sam is also regarded as a very patient student, willing to wait for long periods of time, but while he has the tolerance of a slow moving turtle, he lacks the patience and tolerance for liars and people who abuse their power.

One other thing about Samuel is his low profile, he often stayed around dark corners, and would often pop out if he was called for, which ends up startling people.

But one thing about Sam is his attachment to his Grandmother Sarah, who died just a week earlier.

He never shown it, but Fisher was deeply hurt by his loss and had a case of depression as he lost the only family he has ever known.

'My condolences to you Mr. Fisher' Carter sighed as he closed Sam's file.

In the Academy Dorm rooms...

Inside, Sam Fisher was holding a picture of his grandmother whilst sitting beside the window.

In his mind, he was still reeling from her death. When he learned the news that her Grandmother had made a wrong turn and crashed her car into a wall he was devastated.

Silently praying, he sighed.

'I guess I'm on my own now...' He said to himself.

It was a few weeks before graduation and he's planning on moving to his step-father's place in Virginia.

In Sam's mind, he knew that he would be receiving more training in the near future by his stepfather.

Sam's relationship to his stepfather was complicated at best, while they are technically father and son they treated each other like a older and younger sibling. He was never around the house for very long and would often leave a few days later.

That aside, Sam remembered a few years ago when he and his grandmother went to Arlington, Virginia at the Arlington cemetery to visit a certain someone's grave.

Flashback...

Arlington Cemetery, Virginia. 1964.

Sam, 10 years old, and Sarah visited the cemetery to pay respects to one of Sarah's old friends, who is a veteran from the world war.

Unbeknownst to Sam, that is a lie. Sarah's visit is far more than just paying respects.

Rows and rows of tombstones lined up perfectly, the yellow sunlight permeates the field of the dead.

As they walked, they stopped in one unnamed grave that had the inscription in its tombstone.

'In memory of a Patriot who saved the world.'

Sam looked at the Gravestone, yet he felt a sense of loss.

Sarah, she looked at the gravestone with an emotionless expression but she hid her inner grief well.

'Hey [REDACTED], your son is here to see you.' She sadly thought.

When Sarah found out her goddaughter's fate in Tselinoyarsk, she nearly had a stroke. She never thought that one day that The Boss is killed, as she knew she was impossible to kill. Yet she is, her body laid down in an unnamed grave.

But there's anger in Sarah's mind, as she knew that the reason that The Boss is laid down in the grave, the CIA.

The DCI, and many others, they played with fire and nearly burned the entire world for their meddling.

And to save their hides, they placed the blame on her goddaughter, and sent her to die on a suicide mission.

Sarah knew this incident would have ramifications, without The Boss...

'The world would be gearing itself into a world war or worse, a world under Cipher, The Boss is capable of stopping them, but now she's dead.'

Sarah looked at her grandson, who is paying respect to his unbeknownst dead mother.

'I must prepare Sam for what's to come, The Boss might not be happy for what I'm about to do... But Cipher's grip on the Western World... The next 20 or so years, by the time Sam grows up the world will be a different and dangerous place, Sooner or later he'll have to fight Cipher... It's an inevitable outcome.'

She knew Sam had the skills and the abilities, being the progeny of two legendary operatives, it is in his blood to be a warrior.

'Adamska...'

Sarah then thought of The Boss's firstborn, the one nabbed by Cipher. She feared a confrontation between Sam and Adamska, brothers separated from birth, she hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

Shaking her head, Sarah knelt down and touched the gravestone uttering a few words:

"I'm sorry [REDACTED], but the world you wished for will have to wait, but I promise you this... That world will come... when all those who used you will be destroyed."

After a silent prayer the two then leave the site, as the two were moving away a man walked past them.

Sam takes a good look at the man for a split second. The man wore a U.S. Army dress uniform, and wore a green beret, but the most striking feature of him is his eyepatch on his left eye.

Sam despite the intimidating way the man conducted himself, he felt a certain connection with him, the same type of connection he had on the gravestone.

The man, stopped and looked at the two, the old woman first then at Sam.

His eyes widened, the man looked at Sam as if he saw a ghost.

Sam looked at the bereted soldier, with a stoic expression, hiding his weariness, curiousity, and intrigue.

'His emotion, his eyes... are that of hers.' The man looked at Sam's serious demeanor, posturing, and aura, but Sam's eyes had that stormy gray color of his mentor

Meanwhile, Sarah instantly recognized the man.

'Jack.'

Sarah had long known of The Boss' protege, his military record in the Korean War and in classified documents of the Bikini Atoll nuclear test.

Sarah never showed any signs of animosity towards Jack, only sympathy.

"Excuse me sir, are you meeting with someone?" Sam questioned.

Jack looked at Sam, "Just an old mentor... and friend."

Sarah can hear Jack's voice with a hint of regret, She knew.

'Jack... It's not your fault.' She said in her mind, looking at Jack with sympathy and understanding.

Sarah knew the truth, about Tselinoyarsk... Sarah knew about the betrayal, the torture, the revelation... the sacrifice.

The fact that her goddaughter sacrificed herself to save the world.

'But I have a feeling you knew... Those eyes never lie.'

As both Sarah and Sam both leave the cemetery, Sam looked back as he sees the Eyepatched Soldier laid down a bouquet of Flowers, all Stars of Bethlehem, on the gravestone that they visited, then the soldier saluted.

Flashback End

Sam looked back, the eyepatched soldier was on his mind for a few years.

The way his Grandma looked at him, as if she knew him.

'Who are you?'

"Sam! Your Dad's here!" One of his Dorm mates called out to him from outside his room.

Sam shook his head, "Alright! coming down."

Later...

"Sam."

"Yeah?"

The entire drive back home was silent, the autumn leaves fall into the road and the surrounding suburbia with the orange hue of the sunset.

"Mom... Your Grandmother told me that if something happens to her... she told me that I'll be taking care of you for now on... I know that... I know that we've not had the best relationship due to the fact... I'm not at home most days... But I can promise you, I got always your back, even when I'm not around... you understand?" Charles said.

Sam was silent, he looked at his father.

"... Alright." Sam replied and nodded his head.

Sam never had real social relationships besides his Grandmother, his relationship with Charles was barely non-existent.

While Charles' may be his grandmother's son, Sam never really got to know him as Charles' was away 99 percent of the time.

Mix in his Independence, and Sam pretty much became his own father figure... and from that point he viewed Charles as less of a father and more of an older brother who never came home most days.

But since his grandmother passed on, he decided to give his old man a chance, after all his grandmother wanted him to grow connections with people, he remembered what she said:

"Sam, you know that I may not live for very long, I do not know when but I'm certain... And as your grandmother all I want is what's best for you: Give people a chance... make new friends, help people, flirt with girls for God's sake... I can't have my grandson grow up inside a bubble... Sam, I want you to live your own life... make your own choices... Because one day I may not be there, not even your father... connect with other people, you may never know they might be important to you someday."

'Perhaps... this is a start.' Sam thought to himself, thinking that interacting with his father may help him get out of his introvert tendencies.

"Son, do you have any plans for this summer?" Charles asked him.

Sam looked at him and said.

"No I don't... usually I mostly stayed with grandma doing chores, such as buying groceries, doing knitting with her, mowed the lawn, pretty standard stuff... other times I do workout... my grandma always kept a tight schedule and planned my excercises... they get tiring physically... but once I do it often It became easy." Sam explained, speaking in long phrases.

Curious, Charles inquired "Oh really, what sort of workouts do you do then?"

Sam took a deep breath.

"Around 4:30 in the morning I start with a 5km to 8km run, after that I do 4 sets of pushups in 15 reps, 4 sets of sit-ups 20 reps, and 3 sets of pull-ups in 3 reps, and that's just the first week... by the second week, running schedule same thing 8km, then push-ups 4 sets 20 reps, sit-ups 4 sets 20 reps, pull-ups 3 sets 3 reps, Third week..."

As Sam was explaining his "routine" Charles' expression slowly morphed from curiousity to shock.

'Is Sam this body conscious?! Or is he being trained for battle?! Mom... what are you doing to him?!!' Charles said in his mind.

But then, Charles immediately recognized something.

'Sam's physical workout is eerily similar to that of Special Forces training!'

Realizing this he then remembered a conversation between him and one of his mother's moles within the CIA.

Flashback, Three Years Ago...

In a dark room, Charles and the CIA mole stand in a dim room with one light source.

In front of them, was a large cylindrical glass tube just enough to fit a person inside, the tube was surrounded by heavy machinery.

"This the culture tank?" Charles said.

"Yeah this it, managed to smuggle one out of the Pentagon before the CIA began destroying them after that 'Incident' at San Hieronymo."

"San Hieronymo... Jesus, that was a shitshow." Charles frowned at the mention of the place.

'We've came close to nuclear armageddon from the Cuban Missile Crisis... The fact that the CIA overlooked the Missile base in Colombia... it was either through sheer luck that the Missile base wasn't discovered...' Charles then smirked.

'... But thanks to Big Boss and Colonel Campbell, that they were able to prevent that from happening... Not only from saving the U.S. from a nuclear strike, but also doing damage to Cipher's plans.'

It's no secret that like his mother, Charles Fisher, formerly Charles Vanderbilt-Carlyle, had a deep seated hatred for Cipher, formerly known as The Philosophers.

The Philosophers were the ones responsible for killing his father, the Billionaire Francis Carlyle.

The Philosophers, the power behind the World Powers, the true masters of the world, and they are fighting each other, using the Cold War as a cover for their conflicts.

Charles, for all his life he's devoted his mind and body to fighting, he fought in WW2, gained recognition by the U.S. Government, and became a respected member of the CIA.

All this just to get close to the belly of the beast.

Charles hidden objective was to get closer to the higher echelons of the CIA, and Cipher, once there he'll monitor and strike from within.

But for now, he still has a long way.

"... The files, do you have it?" Charles asked, the mole placed his hand on his double breasted coat and took out two files with the markings labeled "TOP SECRET" and "CLASSIFIED"

"Managed to photocopy the entire files before the originals got destroyed, it contained the operating procedures and the know how in operating this thing." The mole explained as he pointed at the Culture tank.

"... Project: Perfect Soldier? (Perfect Soldier Project), Project: Successor? (Successor Project)" Charles read, then started to read a few pages.

"... Oh Fuck."

'This is unbelieveable! The CIA wanted to emulate The Boss by creating the Ultimate Soldier and the Ultimate Battlefield Commander, they're not creating soldiers they're creating living robots with no free will! And a commander that is no more than a tool that commands other tools!"

While the pragmatic side of him was mighty impressed by the data, the empathic side of him was outraged and mostly horrified of the results.

'And Mom wants to put Sam into the same process!!?'

While he may appear distant and cold to his "son", Charles was in fact protective of him.

Like his mother, Charles knows who Sam really is, and who his true parents are. Which is why when Sarah told him that Sam needs to be put into the process, he nearly lost his shit.

Despite arguing over the ethics behind putting a child into a culture tank that could result in killing Sam, Sarah then lays it out on him.

"By the time Sam becomes an adult, the world would've changed for the worse, he would've been just another pawn for Cipher, following orders with no hesitation and discarded like tools, like it or not Sam was always destined to be in the military like her mother and father, he has the potential to change the world, he'll be a key player in this revolution, that's why we need to do this! You may call me a hypocrite by telling me I'm breaking my promise to Her, and you're right I'm a hypocrite, which is why I wanted to give Sam at least a normal childhood, I want him to live as a human being with happy memories before we prepare him for his role, I'm not doing this not just for Sam or for myself, it's for all of us, for a better world."

'... I hope you're right Mom, for all our sakes.' Charles sighed, reluctantly accepting the fact that Sam Fisher may have to join this fight.

"Alright, have this tank transported to Base-Mike-Golf-Sierra, move out!"

Flashback End

After a while, the car stopped at the Fisher Residence.

Both Sam and Charles noticed that there's a large truck and a crew of men moving out furniture and appliances.

Instead of asking why the house's furniture is moving out, they just looked surprised.

"I didn't expect Jerry to be here, not this soon at least." Sam said.

Jerry, is one of Sarah's close "associates" who owned a moving company nearby, which unknown to a select few is actually a "black site" for Sarah's anti-Cipher resistance network.

Jerry is also Sarah's close friend, so Sam was glad to see him.

"Hey Charlie, Sam!" Jerry waved towards them.

"How's the moving?" Charles asked.

"We're almost done, just need to wait for the second truck to place the heavier ones though." Jerry explained

Charlie nodded, "Alright, once you've finally moved Ma's things to the new place call me!"

"You got it!" Jerry nodded and moved back into the house, helping the movers.

"... I'm gonna miss this place, dad" Sam sighed sadly, looking at the house he's lived in for 16 years now for sale.

"... I know son, but she asked for this... and you know that she's not the most sentimental type of person... But be glad that she was there for you." Charles then pats Sam's head.

"But for now, you'll be staying at my old apartment for the last few months before graduation... After that, we're moving to Annapolis."

Sam nodded as they both drove away from the house, Sam looks at it for one last time his happy memories with his grandmother staying with him.

"... Goodbye Gran."

Chapter 1 END

Epilogue

Base-Mike-Golf-Sierra, Florida Keys.

"We've managed to make significant changes to the chemicals and reagents within the culture so the chances of failure or fatality has drastically decreased to 92 percent."

"Very good, by the time this base is fully operational we can start prepping for Phase 2 of our Plan."

In the sleepy islands of the Keys, there's a large abandoned beach house situated in the isolated Marquesas Keys.

However, there's a hidden secret beneath the house.

Below the beach house is an deep underground facility, where scientists and soldiers disguised as fishermen stand guard.

These personnel, many coming from different backgrounds, nationalities, and race, all were either former soldiers, sailors, or airmen, and scientists, all were united under a common enemy: Cipher.

Many of these men were former Cipher loyalists, many of them resisting the will of Zero, some were NSA technicians who were members of the future Third Echelon, and others were Former Soviet Soldiers that were left behind by the U.S.S.R at the San Hieronymo Revolt that didn't follow Big Boss.

"Dr. Gladstone, has the serum been finalized?" One of the scientists said.

"Yes, just needed to tweak in the finishing sequences of enzymes and we'll be good to go." One replied.

"Good, once we've got this hidden base operational, we'll continue our work without Cipher noticing us." Dr. Gladstone remarked.

"But I'm curious, why go so far to make a serum for one person, a teenage boy even. What makes him that important to the NSA that this serum and that culture tank was modified specifically for him?"

"Because he's the key..." The scientists then turned back and sees a man in a black suit and a green tie coming in.

"He is the key to defeating Cipher, Everything we do here is to prepare him for the battles that come... He has the blood of two legendary soldiers coursing in his veins, their talents and skills bleed through him. As Cipher's tentacles extend the world, we need to stand up and fight against them. And Sam, he'll be our Leader, hence why I say he's the key." The man explained

"Dr. Gladstone, is the project nearing completion?" the man asked.

"Yes Director Lambert, Project Shadow Ocelot is nearing it's completion" Gladstone replied.

"Good, by the time he's ready he'll be the one liberating this world from Cipher, and we'll be supporting him every step of the way!"

Project Shadow Ocelot AKA Ultimate Operative Project is in full effect.

So in the near future, Sam will be receiving both the Frank Jaeger (Perfect Soldier Project) and Gene (Successor Project) treatment, but with a better outcome, with none of that insanity stuff.

So I kinda lied, Sam Fisher may still be human, but after this, his human attributes put him on the near peer with Pre-Cyborg Ninja Frank Jaeger.

Chapter 2 Soon.