Metal-Head's Botched Revenge!
A very short story inspired by a friend's fan art. Enjoy!
Nothing short of a madman was going to ruin such a beautiful day, Conrad Hauser thought, as he surfed off Maui Beach, in Maui. After several months of rubbing Cobra's nose to the grindstone, he had finally earned himself a vacation. And with him was Scarlett, who at present was getting a suntan on the beach.
Duke caught a curl and hanged-10 in the surf. But suddenly something bumped his boogie board and he was thrown off into the water. Submerged beneath a gigantic wave he saw two dark forms residing on either side of him. As the wave carried him to the shore his attacker's true identities were revealed to him as he emerged from the water: Cobra Moray - Cobra's newest underwater frogmen. And they attacked him.
The Cobra Moray jumped on him and tried to drown him by holding his face beneath shallow water. Scarlett jumped up from where she was and tried to help. However someone on shore quickly grabbed her and immobilized her. She struggled, but it no avail. "Duke!" Scarlett shouted.
Hearing her shout Duke flung the Cobra Moray off him with immense strength. He then took a step towards the man who was holding Scarlett. The man had a gun pointed to her head. But there was little time for recourse as the Cobra Moray returned for another attack.
Aware of the flaw in the Cobra Moray uniform design, Duke grabbed the breathing apparatus of one the Cobra Moray and ripped it from its oxygen tank. The Cobra Moray let down his guard for a moment as he tried to restore the flow of oxygen to his mask. Duke instead used that opening to grab the Cobra Moray and snap the man's neck. "One down, one to go!" Duke thought. He then elbowed the other Cobra Moray in the stomach to brake free of the man's grip, side-stepped away, picked up the dead Cobra Moray's spear gun, turned and fired the weapon at the Cobra Moray. The spear penetrated the Cobra Moray's stomach and exited through his back at such close range. The Cobra Moray clutched his stomach and fell back dead. Without further distraction, Duke then turned his glance to the man on shore that was holding Scarlett hostage.
"Ah, stay right where you are, Duke, or your pretty little fiancée gets her brains spattered all over the beach, and you wouldn't want that, now would you?" Metal-Head, once a minion of Destro's, now with Cobra, said with a sly grin. He was literally dressed to kill with his missile launchers strapped to his back and thighs.
"Let her go, Metal-Head," Duke said. "It's me you want."
"True, but what fun it'll be to see you in agony after I blow sweet Scarlett's head clean off her shoulders. More than ample compensation for the money I lost when G.I.Joe destroyed the M.A.R.S. Corporation. I lost billions!"
"Money. That's all you criminals think about."
"Money is what makes the world go around, and you cost me everything I had!"
Using a brief moment of distraction as Metal-Head conversed with Duke, Scarlett stomped on Metal-Head's foot and broke free from his grip. Metal-Head hobbled in the pain, but quickly regained control and pistol-whipped the beautiful red-haired maiden across the back of the head. She fell to the sand unconscious.
"Scarlett!" Duke looked at Metal-Head with fiery eyes. "You'll pay for that!" He said through clenched teeth.
Metal-Head smiled with a sinister grin. "C'mon and get me, Duke. I came to oversee your annihilation thinking that the Cobra Moray were enough to accomplish the job, but now I see I'll hafta do it myself! Die Duke! Die like the dog you are! Hahahahaha!" And Metal-head fired off a heat-seeking missile at Duke from one of his launchers. Jumping out of the way, Duke managed to dodge the missile as it soared past him and exploded just offshore. "I missed? I never miss!" Metal-Head gript.
"There's always a first time for everything," Duke retorted back, grabbing a small Navy combat knife he had strapped around his left ankle and threw it at Metal-Head. It flew through the air and with pinpoint accuracy stuck into a control box damaging the missile control guidance system.
"Nooo! You damaged my baby!" Metal-Head said, trying to re-establish target lock through his optical network. Duke stood up right and started to walk towards Metal-Head. "I'll get you yet, Duke." Quickly he established control again. "Yes! NOW DIE! HAHAHAHAHA!" Metal-Head let off a maniacal laugh as he fired off a series of missiles at Duke. However the missiles had no collateral control, they zigzagged around and exploded on the beach, blowing sand several meters high in every direction. People ran for their lives.
Duke was able to avoid them with considerable ease seeing they didn't lock onto him.
"You're an idiot!" Duke said. "They may be short-range missiles, however at this distance not even you have complete control of them. Now stop this, or you're going to hurt innocent people."
"Never! You're mine now, Duke. I'm gonna see you dead if it's the last thing I do!"
And Metal-Head laughed as he fired off more missiles in Duke's direction.
Duke dived in the sand as the missiles soared over his head and exploded in the water, water jettisoned into the air and splashed him on shore. Duke shook his wet blonde hair and looked up at Metal-Head as the man stood a few meters from him; an insane grin from an insane man stared him in the face.
Metal-Head stood posed with his missile launchers targeted on Duke. "This is the end, Duke. Prepare to die!" And Metal-Head gave the command to fire his missiles, but nothing happened. "Huh? What?"
Duke smiled gladly. "You're out of missiles dumb-ass!" He then leaped to his feet and delivered a hard punch to Metal-Head's chin. Metal-Head staggered back and took out his pistol. Duke acrobatically back-flipped out of the way of fire, reverting back to his days as a gymnastic in college, and then kicked the pistol out of Metal-Head's hand. Duke then caught the pistol and pointed it at Metal-Head. "I should kill you right here, but I'm not a killer," Duke said. "Instead I'll let you think about this for our next encounter. Now get out of here!"
"This isn't over, Duke," Metal-Head said, backing away. "I'll have my revenge!"
"Typical response from a master criminal," Duke said, and fired off a warning shot into the sand at Metal-Head's feet. Metal-Head turned and ran. Duke then turned to Scarlett, threw the pistol away, dropped to his knees in the sand, cradled her head in his hands, and said, "Scarlett, wake up, baby."
Scarlett moaned, and then opened her eyes. "Ouch!" Feeling pain from her head after being pistol-whipped. She smiled when she saw Duke's face, and then looked around. "Where's Metal-Head?" she said.
"I sent him packing," Duke said, helping Scarlett to her feet. "We should get you to a medical center, he hit you pretty hard."
"I'm alright, just a slight headache is all."
"I'm glad." Duke looked into her deep blue eyes and then kissed her for the longest moment. When finally he broke from the embrace, Duke said through pursed lips, "I love you, Scarlett. I always have and always will."
Scarlett then said, smiling, "I know."
The End.