Devil In Disguise
Hey, guys! I know, I keep writing new stuff, but when you have inspiration, what else can you do? I'm nearly done with most of my other stuff, just working out the kinks in my head before getting it out. Battered Souls is currently being re-written, many thoughts and better stories later =] I hope you enjoy this one, I'll be working on another new one the moment I see Ninja Assassin again. I don't own G.I. Joe, its characters, though I wouldn't mind owning Snake Eyes! =]
Chapter 1: Hidden Sibling
I groaned and rolled over, ignoring the blaring of my alarm clock and opting to take notice of my sore body. I knew I'd been hurt bad, but it wasn't necessarily horrible. I'd had worse. Swinging my feet over my bed, the sting of the cold, wood floor woke me up completely. The sun filtered through the window, illuminating my pale skin, copper hair glimmering. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. Despite the disappearing black eye, the pale, nearly invisible, scars on my face, arms and legs, I was a fairly attractive person. The nicest? Not so much. The most attractive? I don't think so, but I like to think I'm pretty, Not beautiful or gorgeous, just pretty. My laptop beeped at me, alerting me to a new email. Without looking, I new it was from my brother, Conrad. Plopping down on my chair and opening the new message, I smiled at my accuracy.
"Dear Desdemona,
I know I haven't been writing lately, but things have been chaotic. I've only just now been able to get enough down time (and permission) to send you an update. You know I'm not supposed to, but my commanding officer understands, I have to tell you this. Some...terrorists, for lack of a better word, are on the loose and we're not sure how far they got into the employee logs. We were hacked earlier, can't give you details, sorry. I just want you to be careful out there. For all I know they could've seen my personal info and found you. I don't want you hurt. By the way, no more fighting. I realize you love it and that it helps, but try something else. One of my friends meditates all the time (damn ninja-ness) and it seems to work for him. Maybe you should try it. Well, sadly, I have to go. I can hear Rip hollering for me in the halls. I'll try to email you again later. I love you.
Twins Always,
Duke"
I nearly cried. Cried out of frustration, that is. I hated having a twin sometimes, really I did. Especially when that twin was a few minutes older than me and was more overprotective than a mother hen. So I fight. A lot. Big deal, it wasn't like it was illegal or killing me. I rarely ever got hit. These were from when I first started, except for the black eye. I'll never let my guard down around a tiny woman ever again. Never ever again. I really should've gone with my better judgement and not underestimated her, considering I was only a centimeter taller than her. Looking back over the message, I realized how bad it must've been. He never used my nickname, not unless there was serious trouble. I sighed and stood up, heading for my bathroom.
After my nice, long, hot shower, I dressed in grey bike shorts and a black tank top. The air seemed to shift around me and I froze. The hairs on the back of my neck and my arms rose to stand on end, instantly my sai occupied my hands. Quickly, I strapped a kunai pouch onto my left thigh and another to hold my shuriken on my right. I grabbed my two katanas, placing them in an 'X' formation on my back. The silver lotus flowers on the hilts glittered in the sun briefly as I rushed out of my room, grabbing my laptop, shoving it into its bag. Running by the painting on the left wall of the hallway, I clicked a side panel and watched as the wall slid to reveal guns. Reluctantly, I pulled out my .44 magnum, .45 desert eagle, and my baby, my 10mm sub machine gun. I'm not one for guns, really I'm not. Sadly, they do come in handy when I need quick fire so I can run. Placing the magnum and the desert eagle in their respective places, hiding the sub in my bag, I dashed out to my red lamborghini murcielago. Shoving my stuff in the back, keeping the sub near to me, I revved the engine and sped out of the drive way. I grabbed my phone and quickly called Duke.
"Hello?"
"Hey, twin, bro, buddy, pal."
"Kat? What's wrong?"
"Got your email, but I was in a hurry to leave the house, so I wasn't able to reply. Thought I'd call." I answered nonchallantly, knowing he'd figure it out.
"Okay, hang on. The General wants to talk to you." I nodded, though he couldn't see it, and waited patiently.
"Miss Hauser, I'm a little concerned that you've called Duke. Anything I can help with?"
"Call me Desdemona."
"Alright, Desdemona, is there anything I can do?"
"Can you--shit!" I yelled, swerving to avoid a lovely little grenade. "Missed me you bastard!" I laughed, flooring it, loving the sound of the engine roaring.
"What's happened?"
"Looks like that terrorist group accessed some personal info of Duke's and knows who I am. I just got- DAMN IT!!" I screamed again, the heat from the fly of bullets coming through my back window was uncomfortably close to my head.
"I've got you on speaker, Desdemona. Stay on the line and we'll pinpoint your location and send someone to help you." he replied.
"Ok. Hey, bro, don't worry about...ah shit...they have a bazooka. They have a mother fucking, cock sucking, bitching bazooka. This is just NOT my week." I grumbled, "One moment, General. I have to jump." All I heard was a rather loud, "You're going to WHAT?!" before I tucked the phone in my shirt, grabbed the sub, and my bag, before I swerved, parked, and jumped from my car just in time for my pursuers to crash into it. The flames flew to the sky with heated fingers, fingers itching, it seemed, to grab hold of me. I ran and hid behing a house, taking the phone back out.
"I'm back. Find me yet?" I asked, calmly, knowing I was going to get hell for this later. But I wasn't going to think of later. I was going to think of now and how I was going to stay alive long enough for them (whoever they were, aside from my brother) to find me and get me out of here.
"We've got a lock. Team Alpha, go. Search and Rescue mission. Do not leave without Desdemona alive. There is no other option." he hollered. I heard a chorus of 'SIr, yes sir.'s before the General was back on the phone with me. "Are you alright?"
"Peachy. Being targeted is something normal. I'm just used to, you know, fists or knives coming at me. Not bullets, grenades, or any other piece of metal that happens to be flamming hot."
"How about your persuers?"
"Did you want them charcoaled, grilled, or burned to a crisp? Because if they're not all of those, they're one of them. I'm hoping its burned to a crisp, but, remember, things aren't going my way." I chuckled darkly, earning a sarcastic laugh from him.
"You're a lot like your brother."
"No, he's a lot like me. Just because I'm younger doesn't mean he didn't pick up some of my characteristics." I smirked, ducking behind another house. "Sorry if you wanted me to stay put, but I don't trust them. I'm not staying in one place too long."
"Where are you now?"
"I am....not sure at the moment. Gimme a sec."
"You may not have a 'sec'."
"Trust me, I do."
"Alright."
I didn't answer again until I could read the sign better from my perch in the tree. "I'm on the corner of South 2nd Street and Arsenal Street." I replied, before pausing. "What in seven hells.....is that....sweet Mary mother of God they have a gattling gun. A rather large, shiny, screaming of death gattling gun." There was a pause in which I sighed. "Mother of hell, I'm not dying without a fight." I growled, "One moment, General." He gave an acknowledgement and I put my phone in my shirt again. I'm sure he heard the distinct shink of metal on metal as I pulled out gruesome, sharp, curved shuriken and readied myself. Taking stock of the situation, assessing my options, I bided my time for the moment, scoping out my targets weak points. There were too many. I aimed for the neck of my closest target. The near silent sch-wing of the shuriken slicing through the air didn't even alert them, but the sickening, slick thwack they made as they sliced through his jugular veins got their attention. Fortunately, I was skilled with them, I also had enough sense to make sure I moved after I revealed my place. Sure enough, not long after my attack, a rain of bullets littered the spot I had abandoned. I winced as I saw a squirrel fall to the ground, a hole through its body. Bastards. I grabbed more shuriken, five in each hand, and let them fly. The little pieces of metal did more damage than anyone would think. Because they were designed in such a crude way, the curves pointing at nearly every turn, they sliced through flesh rather easily, leaving a jagged gash behind. Blood poured from their wounds and they fell to the ground, the gun left unattended. Not seconds later, a jet landed a few yards from my tree. I stayed hidden, kunai at the ready. A girl with flaming red hair jumped out and aimed a crossbow in my direction, though I was positive she couldn't see me. I was proven wrong when a chunk of the branch below me blew off. It started to break under my weight (which isn't much, but if it's already half broken..) and I threw the kunai at her in defense. They landed where her toes would have been had she not jumped back. She turned her glare to me, but a tall, muscular figure ran out of the jet after her.
"Scarlett, no!" it called, the voice music to my ears.
"Duke!" I yelled, lunging at him. He wrapped his arms around me and laughed.
"I missed you, too, Des." he kissed my head and put me down, surveying the damage. "Your car?" I nearly cried at the memory.
"Resting in peace in that big, junk yard in the sky." I murmured, my mood killed. I glanced around, other members of the team, I'm assuming Team Alpha, lept from the huge bird, guns at the ready, save for one man. He was clad from head to toe in black, a visor covering his eyes; he had two katanas strapped to his back, and I'm sure had other weapons tucked away somewhere. "This the damn ninja man you were telling me about, bro?" I asked, smirking. He nodded and smiled at me.
"Meet Heavy Duty, Scarlett, Breaker and Snake Eyes." he pointed to each in turn. Snake Eyes looked at me, cocked his head and signed something.
"Wait, repeat that please. It's been a while since I had to use sign language." I smiled. He nodded and did as I requested.
"Are you alright?"
"Peachy."
"Did you do all this?"
"Are you a ninja?" I countered.
"That's irrelevant."
"No, it's not. You asked me if I did all of this. I asked you if you're a ninja. Different questions can have the same answer." I smiled. He nodded his head in approval. I turned and retrieved my weapons, never once letting my guard down. I groaned as I stared at the bodies. "Man, now I have to clean off the blood."
"You know you're going to make me do it."
"You're right, brother dear, I am. I have enough blood on me as is."
"You...what happened?!"
"Oh, well, you see, they started shooting at me, which completely took out my back window, then before that was the grenade launched I barely missed, oh and I had to jump out of my car and leave her there to die; Then these dumbasses brought out that lovely, shiny, beautiful piece of death to shoot at me, but I was in the tree, so they didn't see anything coming. I aimed at his neck, he went down rather easily. Then his buddies shot at my spot, after I had left it, and I nailed the rest of them." I explained, pulling the last of my gruesome stars out of a mans head with a sickening squelching noise. "Ugh, brain juice."
"Come on, let's go, Des. We have to get you back to HQ." Rip smiled, throwing an arm around me. "Missed you, munchkin."
"Call me munchkin again and what I do to you will make you wish you ended up like my pals over there." I smiled sweetly, patting his arm and laughing as I followed my brother onto the jet. I had a feeling this was going to be a long, awkward, but enjoyable ride.
