A Code Geass/G.I. Joe fanfic – The Rise of Cobra
Written by WDCain Man

Disclaimer: Code Geass – Lelouch of the Rebellion is not mine. It's created by Sunrise and licensed by Bandai Entertainment with characters created by Clamp. Cobra and G.I. Joe was created by Hasbro with the show produced by Sunbow and is currently owned by IDW Publishing.

What can I say? I really like Code Geass even though I felt R2 could have been handled better. The real reason I like it is because of Lelouch's sheer bad-associty. With the new G.I. Joe movie's release only weeks away I decided to do a somewhat crossover to show what if Lelouch was exposed to all the great G.I. Joe comics and cartoons. I hope you like it.

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The Rise of Cobra

Part One:

Cobra Commander

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Charles zi Britannia and his cohort V.V. were in front of the Sword of Akasha for its first, and hopefully last, activation. The tiny immortal removed his right hand's silk glove, revealing the Geass symbol etched into his palm, and pointed it at the space-spanning soul blade.

There was a massive rumble within the Thought Elevator as the god-killing Sword glowed right hot and stretched toward the Collective Conscience like a magnificent spear of destiny… before stopping in its place.

"It would seem that your Code will not be enough to kill God, brother." The Emperor stroked his beard, clearly perturbed that the damnable thing still existed. "We will need Marianne's contractor as well."

The pint-sized Machiavellian midget groaned. "She won't help us, no matter how much that bubbly woman cheerfully asks. The only way we're get a second Code is when Marianne fulfills her contract."

The Emperor offered a simple shrug, a gesture that was unheard of from the Royal Crown but suitable for family. "It will only be a few more years before Marianne's Geass has reached its full potential and she becomes immortal. It's not like we are running out of time. No one but we and the Directorate know what we seek to accomplish here."

"How true, Charles. It's not like this testing affected the outside world."

Oh how wrong can one megalomaniac be.

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10 year old Lelouch vi Britannia was examining his chess board and trying to figure out how he lost to his brother Schneizel this time. Clovis and Cassius were no challenge at all, though watching Cassius have a meltdown every time he lost was always fun; and Odysseus simply couldn't remember which piece does what. Every other turn Lelouch has to correct his mistakes just so the game would continue properly.

Instead of just asking Schneizel what his first mistake was, little Lelouch was determined to figure that out on his own. He had plenty of time today. His mother was with Nunnally and Euphemia in the Aeries Villa playing in the flower garden, leaving the prince alone in his room.

He was about to receive a surprise from the effects of the Sword of Akasha's test run. Its metaphysical nature was based on complete elimination, easily twisting around space and time. Had the Emperor, Marianne, or V.V. been there, they would have understood what happened immediately. So it only came as a shock for little Lelouch when several large boxes, each twice his tiny size suddenly and quite literally popped into his room.

He gave quite a yelp and stumbled onto his butt, actual teleportation being a bit too much for the young royal. Each box was of plain cardboard and marked 'COMIC-CON 09' on the side. He stayed on the floor, cowered by their abrupt appearance and excepting some monster to leap out.

A knock came at the door. A maid. "Your highness? Is anything the matter? I heard you shout."

Coming to the realization that confessing that cardboard scared you would come off as a sign of weakness to his other siblings, and maybe madness, Lelouch arrived at denial. "No, nothing. You heard nothing. Leave me."

"Yes, your highness." The maid said dejectedly, sucking up to royalty was a good way to get promoted.

Once Lelouch was sure she was gone, he tiptoed over to the first box and opened the top. Inside were comic books, over a hundred of them. While never bothering to read them before, Lelouch had some knowledge as his older brother Bartholomew was an avid collector. He picked the first one off the top of the stack. "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero # 1 by Marvel Comics?" He opened the book and blinked at the first page. "American hero? There hasn't been an America since Britannia conquered them in the 1800s."

He moved on to the next box. More G.I. Joe comics but this series looked more modern and was published by a company Devil's Due. The art looked fresher and more modern. The entire comic series and all the mini-series were all packaged in neat plastic and board. At the bottom were more of G.I. Joe comics and a Cobra and Dreadnoks comics by an IDW Publishing.

Feeling a mystery brewing, he opened a third box and found it to be full of DVD sets of the aforementioned series. It began with a very retro animated series created by a studio called Sunbow and more shows called Sigma Six and Resolute and yet another series by a company called DiC. At the bottom were many G.I. Joe movies, one hand drawn, two CGI flicks named Spy Troops, Valor vs Venom, and one live action titled The Rise of Cobra.

Lelouch shrugged and decided to pop in disc one of the first animated series season one into his personal DVD player. He hit 'play' and sat back, experiencing the entire series from a parallel world.

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In the following days the royal family, even the castle's staff, noticed a sharp change in the boy prince. Before, all his free time consisted of playing with his younger sisters Euphemia and Nunnally or playing chess with his brothers (the Emperor refusing to play him until he could beat Schneizel).

But now they noticed an eager look in his eyes that told he found something more exciting and enjoyable then everything else. So the days often ended with him giving either his sisters a quick peck on the forehead or shaking Schneizel's hand for another challenging game of chess.

That was the time when Lelouch was most like a child: Carefree, excited, and imaginative.

Lelouch had finally finished watching The Rise of Cobra movie, the very last item of the massive collection that was transported to his room a week ago. That night Lelouch fell asleep to dreams of powerful ninjas, colorful soldiers, and the coolest set of terrorists he had ever seen. It was the greatest night's sleep of his life and one he would always look upon fondly with a sense of yearning.

The next morning he learned his family was destroyed.

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A year later…

"Alright, Suzaku! This time you be super ninja Snake Eyes and I'll be the brilliant General Hawk! Old Man Taizo Kirihara is the terrorist we have to get pass to rescue Princess Kaguya from his boring lessons!" Lelouch cheered out to his best friend. "LET'S GO JOES!"

Suzaku groaned and ruffled his friend's hair. "You know, the only part of your life in Britannia you like talking about is this GI Joe and Cobra stuff; but I've looked it up online and can't find a single thing about it. You sure you didn't just dream this stuff up?"

Lelouch gave a sad smile. "I wish I could have brought some of it over here but I didn't want to risk leave a single booklet in the castle. It was all so brilliant and fun that I know someone would have tried to mass-produce it to make the royal family even richer." The dethroned prince clinched his fists. "And I would rather see what I love burn than help that bastard in charge. So I destroyed it all, tossed it all into the fireplace and burnt it to ashes."

The proud son of Genbu grinned. He always liked it when his friend ranted about Britannia. That fascist country needed someone to tell the truth about how rotten it was. Suzaku only hoped that his friend would never lose that fire.

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Obligatory invasion on August 10, A.T.B.

Obligatory oath of vengeance.

Obligatory time-leap forward.

Obligatory contract with a witch.

Obligatory Lancelot pawning Lelouch.

Obligatory family reunion with a bullet.

Obligatory Lelouch learning his Geass doesn't work twice.

Obligatory terrorists taking a train ride with a masked man.

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Kallen was biting her lip as tightly as she was gripping the steering wheel of the makeshift model of Clovis' car. All around were hundreds of armed Britanian soldiers with armor piecing rounds and the only thing protecting her, Ougi, and the nutjob in the mask was a thin layer of shoddy junkyard steel.

With a hundred cameras and ten times as many guns on them, she applied the breaks and came to a complete stop before the Glasgow carrying the worthless traitor they came to save. The breaks triggered the incendiary device at the base of the Brittanian flag, igniting it all, revealing a new flag. This new flag was pitch black with a blood red snake baring its fangs like swords at the Empire.

In front of the viper-themed flag stood its emissary.

He wore a dark blue military uniform, fitting of a great general. The jacket was buttoned all the way to his side, leaving a large blood red snake emblem embroiled over his right breast like the serpent was his heart. A gun holster was strapped to the upper part of his left leg with a sidearm resting in it. His black gloved hands did not grip his weapon as if he knew it wasn't needed. His posture suggested total confidence despite all the crosshairs beading on him.

Then there was the mask.

A form fitting blue helmet encircled his head with a black neck-guard extending inside his jacket. The face though, his face was a mirror, perfectly reflective, it extended from inside the bullet-helmet and ended over his chin would be. All in all, the masked man looked like a mix between a madman and a military genius.

He threw out his arms in a grandiose manner and yelled out to the audience, the beast that said I at the center of the world.

"I AM COBRA COMMANDER!"

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End Part One…
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Oh, I've started something nasty here. Something that I think is going to be a whole lot of fun.

Now for some general information about my fascination with G.I. Joe. I'll be frank. I did not like the cartoon. Hated it. Thought it was lame, poorly drawn, and pretty stupid along with the cheap toys (doges trash and flames from irate Joe fans). BUT I LIKED THE COMIC! Larry Hama made G.I. Joe cool for me when the cartoon failed to do so. I don't know if it was the ninja action or that there were several issues that ended with Cobra winning but I found it to be a great read. When Image Comics brought the comic back, I fell right back in love with it.

For a while, I was planning a CG story which would be several short fics that detailed what if someone did something differently or what if this happened instead. I had a whole lot of them. One would have been what if when Lelouch arrived in Japan with wheelchair bound Nunnally he also had to bring his blind sister Euphemia as Nunnally was only crippled, never blinded. Another would have been what if Lelouch and Nunnally were waiting for Suzaku to get out of his trial when Euphemia landed on him. The climax would have been Lelouch revealing themselves to Euphy after Suzaku saved Jeremiah, leaving the reader to wonder what would happen next. More simple ideas would have been what if one of Jeremiah's soldiers disobeyed his orders and kept firing on Zero and Suzaku in episode 4, what if Cornilia had captured Lelouch at Saitama, what if Euphemia was never at Lake Kawaguchi, or what if Lloyd and Cecile were captured at Narita. I have a whole mess of them.

This fanfic was born out of the idea that most of these two-page fics could be grouped together into one large super fanfic. My plan is for the story to last throughout R1 with each chapter focusing on another CG character's transformation into a Cobra commando. I hope everyone will enjoy it.