Screaming Mantis

Overview

Screaming Mantis was born during conflict in a South American village. Her family was killed, and her village burned to the ground. Killed by enemy death squads. Somehow, she escaped death and hid herself in what turned out to be a torture chamber. Locked inside, she had no choice but to drink the bloody water on the floor, and eventually eat some of the torture victims (but only the men), in order to survive. After weeks of being locked in the cellar, she started to hallucinate. She saw a black praying mantis who taught her how to block out the screams. In the process her mind became irreparably damaged. After several weeks she managed to escape the chamber. 
 
Her whereabouts and activities between childhood and adulthood are unknown, though with her broken mental state it is unlikely that they were particularly pleasant.
 
Eventually she was found by Liquid Ocelot, and after being put through experiments in gene therapy and drug-induced nanotherapy, she became Screaming Mantis, member of the Beauty and the Beast Unit. The mind of Mantis was torn out by Ocelot and replaced with that of Psycho Mantis, the psycho-kinetic specialist of FOXHOUND, who was killed by Solid Snake during the Shadow Moses incident. Although Screaming Mantis herself was not gifted with actual psychic powers the way Psycho Mantis was, she was given a special ability to manipulate the bodies of people who had been injected with nanomachines in such a way to artificially replicate the effects of psychic powers. Given that in the era of constant war it was almost totally unheard of for a soldier not to be injected with nanomachines, (the only one specifically known is the amazingly needle-phobic Johnny Sasaki, who was indeed immune to Mantis' powers), the facade was almost perfect. Screaming Mantis was considered the "leader" of the Beauty and the Beast Unit, but in reality, Liquid Ocelot had her use her unique brand of control to influence the minds of the other members, keeping their various forms of insanity from totally pushing them past control and interfering with their mission.

In Metal Gear Solid 4, she is first shown with the rest of the B & B Corps., laying waste to a large group of rebel soldiers in the unnamed middle eastern country, while Snake (now operating with the codename "Old Snake") observed from a hiding spot. Eventually Snake encounters her inside the Outer Haven battleship, and must battle her and a group of controlled FROG units, going up against her ability to control the bodies of the living (using Meryl Silverburgh as a self-held hostage) and the dead (sending armed corpses floating after Snake), and her unnerving ability to control Snake's own body and prevent him from aiming his gun at her. After Snake defeats her, she bursts out of her suit, and attacks Snake one last time with her bare hands. Like the other BnB battles, the player had the option of killing her using lethal force, or ending the fight using only non-lethal force. Depending on which method is chosen, one of two endings will occur. Ultimately, the era of Screaming Mantis, and the Beauty and the Beast Corps as a whole, is put to an end, and Drebin reveals her past to Snake. 
 
Let me hear you scream!
-Screaming Mantis, Metal Gear Solid 4

Fight Strategies

Extreme

It is highly recommended that you begin this fight with full (Or nearly full) Health. Chances are you will be hit several times in this fight. During the fight you will only be focusing on hitting the Mantis doll and subduing Meryl. This guide assumes you are attempting the Big Boss Emblem and will not cover Health recovering items or Lethal means.

What you will need:

• Full Health
• M4 Custom
• Anti-Material Rifle (SVD or M14 will work too)
• Mosin Nagant (Hopefully not though)
• Syringe
• Solid Eye

Phase 1

Being the fight by immediately equipping the syringe and injecting it into yourself, then grab hold of Meryl and inject her. As fast as you can run to the end of the corridor where you entered before the Frog battle. Equip your sniper rifle and crouch. Mantis will not be moving yet, so use this time to take a free shot on her Mantis doll (The Red one). That will have caused her to fly about the room. You have a short amount of time before the Frogs under her control reach you, so get a few more shots off on her doll. Once the Frogs begin to reach the hallway, run back out to the middle of the room, beneath the giant holographic globe. Here's where the fight gets hard.

Phase 2a
Equip your M4 and set it to burst fire mode. I suggest using a Scope attachment, but it doesn't really matter. Depending on how far away she is fire on her doll in either first or third person. The rest of the fight is about speed and accuracy. Every time you hit her doll the Frogs will temporarily drop lifeless to the ground, however to prevent you from chaining this into a combo Mantis will also have immunity during that time. So use your Solid Eye to find the location of the majority of the Frogs and stay opposite them in the middle of the room (This is probably the hardest thing to do in the fight, so just keep trying to avoid the Frogs and you'll get it). Occasionally she will attempt to leap at you, but just roll to the side, it's easy to dodge. Keep up the fast shots and if enough of them land her doll will drop to the ground. However, if you aren't quick enough you'll head to phase 2b.

Phase 2b (Avoidable)
This is what you don't want, but it's bound to happen to everyone on their first Big Boss Emblem run. Here Mantis will take Meryl and a Frog and use them to shield her dolls, then she will proceed to throw knives at you. The knives deal a lot of damage on extreme, and the human shields will buy Mantis time meaning the Frogs will probably surround and kill you. However this is where the Mosin Nagant comes into play. With her shields up, pull out the Nagant and shoot them one at a time. It only takes 1 hit to bring each of them down. Unfortunately she alternates them so you can't just hit the person covering the Mantis doll, you need both down. With them out of the way it's back to the second phase. Pull out your M4, dodge those knives and finish off that doll until it drops to the floor.

Phase 3
The fight is basically over. Run over to the doll and pick it up. Equip it and fire until you hit her (There are no Frogs anymore). Shake that controller and enjoy your victory cutscene (Or don't since you're trying to get the BBE). A note of warning however: Mantis can and will try and pick up the doll again, so be quick. It's happened to me and it sucks. A lot.