Chapter One

Surprises

The sun dropped behind the Afghan mountains, steadily running away from the painfully lifeless landscape that blanketed the ground across northeastern Afghanistan. Looks, however, were almost always deceiving. What appeared to be worthless, barren wasteland was in fact home to an intricate network of terrorists, the kind of men who depended on death, ironically, to keep themselves alive.

Intense cold and dry wind snapped the scarf wrapped around Scorpio's mouth, whipping its bands against the back of his head and pulling his face into painfully tight grimaces that had the benefit of lessening the pain of the desert sands pelting his forehead.

The weight of his AK-47 dug into his shoulders; he had been carrying the fully-loaded assault-rifle for over ten hours through the windy mountains of south-central Asia. The day's heat forced the mercenary to drop his body-armor over six-hours ago, but that left his lightly-clothed shoulders open to the grinding fabric of the AK-47's strap.

His legs? They were reduced to aching rubber.

But he was in charge of an elite platoon of Sand-Vipers, specially trained for this kind of mountainous desert environment. If he showed any sign of weakness, one of those little peckers would report it to Cobra Commander, and Scorpio would lose his Elite-Officer status, an achievement that so very few are ever given; and he was sick of kissing the butt of that hissing moron who sat upon Cobra's throne.

Slow, scuffing footsteps came up behind him, and Scorpio turned to his left, freeing the left side of his face from the intense westerly wind. A Sand-Viper, who unsuccessfully attempted to hide the fatigue from his face, pointed to the darkening eastern horizon.

"Sir, there is a cluster of caves up ahead. GPS says that we are very close to our target. Should we investigate?"

Scorpio looked below the horizon and raised his binoculars. Sure enough, a group of three or four cave entrances lined a hillside about a quarter-mile up the trail. Putting away his binoculars, Scorpio then pulled out his GPS system. After double-checking his location, he waved his troops forward.

"This looks like it could be the place. GPS checks out. If Ahkmed is in there, he probably knows where we are, so get your fingers off your triggers. If we blow this deal, we die, even if we escape, know what I mean?" All the Sand-Vipers nodded; Cobra Commander was not renowned for being merciful.

Scorpio waved a pair of Vipers to take the lead, and he took position at the core of the group of Cobra soldiers. After a couple of minutes, the Sand-Viper point-men neared the closest cave and looked inside. One of the Vipers looked back to Scorpio and shook his head. The two point-men began walking on to the next cave.

Confused, Scorpio quickened his pace up to the first cave, but soon realized why the point-men weren't interested; it was only a shallow, fifteen-foot-deep cavern that obviously held no secrets. Feeling a bit of relief, Scorpio moved on.

Then the ropes fell down from above, warrior cries filled the air and before the Cobras could look up to see who was attacking them, they were tackled by mercenaries sliding down the ropes and jumping onto them. Scorpio was the last to be tackled, being grabbed from behind by an apparently Islamic man wearing an ammo belt across his chest and carrying an M-60 machine gun.

"How dare you assault me!" barked Scorpio. "Do you know who I am, who I work for?"

The Islamic man, obviously the mercenaries' leader, smiled and pulled Scorpio closer to him. "Of course I do, Scorpio. I've been expecting you." He shoved the Cobra away from himself and stood grinning with his hands on his hips. "But I didn't think you'd be so easy."

Scorpio wiped the sweat from his brow as he watched his Sand-Vipers get pushed away from their attackers. "I didn't expect a fight. I came here to make a deal."

"Then let's make a deal." The leader signaled to a pair of soldiers standing at the next cave's entrance, and they ran inside. "I am Ahkmed. Your ally Major Bludd hired me last year to perform a job for Cobra."

Scorpio nodded. "Yes, and you sent us a message that you completed your task. I am here to pick up the goods and pay you."

Ahkmed frowned. "Where is the weapon? You were supposed to pay me with the weapon!"

Scorpio smiled. "I am not such a fool as to bring it with me. It will be flown in after I signal Cobra Command that I have safely taken the goods from you."

Stomping his foot forward and growling, Ahkmed barked, "That is not what we agreed upon!"

"No, but it is what Cobra agrees upon. Did you honestly think that we'd let you keep the upper hand throughout this transaction?" Scorpio smiled, but was careful not to gloat. "I am not here to deceive you. You will get your precious weapon, but on the Commander's terms, understood?"

Ahkmed began laughing, laughing so hard that all of his men joined in the guffaw as well as a few Sand-Vipers.

"What is so funny?" snarled Scorpio.

Wiping the drool from his lips, the mercenary answered, "Do you not realize that I also have a weapon for sale? I could go to a dozen countries of the world and get billions of dollars for it!"

Scoprio waited until Ahkmed was looking him straight in the eyes, and then replied, "You would then have the entire western world hunting you down until the day you die. With Cobra, we respect you for who you are and what you have achieved, and will quite probably continue business with you in the years ahead. But if you sell that prize to an Arab country, you would surpass bin Laden as the world's most hated man."

The laughter stopped. Ahkmed stood in silence for a moment, looked up to the cave and waved his arm. His men pulled a large cargo crate out from its depths, then began to roll the wheeled box down to his position.

Once the crate reached him, Scorpio grabbed a crowbar from one of his Sand-Vipers and began wrenching the top of the box off.

"What is the problem, Cobra?" asked Ahkmed with an insulted tone, "Don't you trust me?"

"No." With that, Scorpio gave one last heaving jerk and popped the lid off of the crate. A Sand-Viper Officer walked up and the two of them began pulling out the thick insulation that wrapped the prize at its core. Soon enough, a cone-shaped metallic object exposed itself to the Cobras.

"My god, it's beautiful." said the Viper Officer.

"It's small. Did you check the measurements?"

Ahkmed frowned and looked into the crate. "I assure you, you greedy western dog, that this is exactly what you asked for. If you don't want it, I'm sure I can find a use for it myself."

"All right, all right, don't get your turban in a twist. Officer, repack the crate. Vipers, prepare to move out." Scorpio walked over to the Sand-Viper carrying a satellite-phone and grabbed it from him. After punching a couple of buttons, he clearly ordered, "Now."

Growling, Ahkmed asked, "What is going on? Where is my payment?"

"Oh, it's on its way, I promise you."

As the Cobra Sand-Vipers sealed, lifted and walked away with the crate, Scorpio kept one eye on Ahkmed, and the other on the hills ahead. They were quiet—perfectly still—except for a little flicker of light about a thousand yards to the northwest. Perfect.

"You cannot just walk away from me, you selfish infidel!" barked Ahkmed. But those were the last words he would ever say. Behind him, the mountainside erupted in flames and terrorists screamed in pain as they were unexplainably incinerated. Ahkmed's face stretched with shock and fear, but it was soon replaced with furious anger. He spun around and attempted to aim his M-60 at Scorpio, but the invisible heat-wave struck his body, scorching his clothes and shriveling up his skin. But that was not the end. After only a few moments, the bullets that he wore strapped across his chest began firing, blasting apart the Afghan terrorist in a violent explosion.

Fifteen minutes later, Scorpio's group reached a small pass about a thousand yards from the site of Ahkmed's demise. A man wearing a rough brown cloak walked down from the top of the hill to meet Scorpio.

"Excellent work," said Scorpio, "Your aim was impeccable. The weapon is ours."

A loud gunshot echoed through the pass, scaring away various birds and causing the Sand-Vipers to spin around in surprise.

Scorpio grabbed his stomach and grimaced. "Wh-why?"

The cloaked man pulled the smoking gun back under his robe and turned to keep a watchful eye on the Sand-Vipers. "Because although you are an effective Elite-Officer, Scorpio, your ego has grown too large for the Commander's comfort. And we all know that after what happened with Overlord last year, no man is allowed to believe he has accomplished more than what is truly of any use to the Cobra Organization."

"Bas…tard…" With that, Scorpio slumped down onto to the cold, dry mountain ground and died.

Using only hand-signals, the cloaked man commanded the Sand-Vipers to pick up the crate and march down the mountain trail. As they walked away, a platoon of Laser-Vipers crawled down from the cliff-top and took their stances next to their cloaked leader.

"It worked perfectly, sir." said one of the Vipers.

The cloaked man nodded. "Yes, Cobra Commander will be pleased."

"And Destro?"

Grinning, the cloaked man started walking down the hill.

1.

A dog may be man's best friend, but misery is the only company you're sure to have wherever you go. Jason Faria learned that a long time ago while working on the Detroit police force. But far before that, he learned something even more life-impacting: he hated rainfall; and that night, the skies over Atlantic City were showing him no mercy.

Huddled up on a pile of folded cardboard boxes, Jason—more commonly known by his G.I. Joe codename of "Shockwave"—sat soaked in misery. Rain pattered the top of his blue camouflage cap and flooded the road faster than the sewers could take it in. The lonely Joe watched dirt and litter float down the street, and hunched over.

Where is he?

As if fate answered his question with a laugh, the sounds of splashing rounded the street corner, and Shockwave's teammate ran into view, then slid against a dumpster. Shockwave stood up and grabbed his rain-soaked backpack. His teammate stepped away from the garbage bin and crouched down in pain. Shockwave jogged over to his fellow Joe and quickly caught his attention. The Joe Light Infantryman waved him lower to the ground.

"Hit & Run, where have you been? I've been soaking out here for over an hour!"

Slapping his hand over Shockwave's mouth, Hit & Run shushed him. "Quiet, man," he whispered, "Look, I'm sorry I took so long, but I can't talk about that right now. Just get on your knees and crawl with me out to that truck."

Shockwave shoved Hit & Run's hand away and looked down the street. A black Ford F-150 pickup was parked in front of an abandoned building. The Joe infantryman began scrambling for the truck; Shockwave sighed and began crawling behind his teammate. Water from the sidewalk soaked into his knees and filled up his boots with every step. Once they reached the truck, he peeked around the bumper and looked south. "Who are we hiding from?"

Hit & Run pointed to a gray van racing up the street. "Them."

Shockwave watched the van park next to the alley that he had just been sitting in. The side-panel-door of the van slid open and three soldiers wearing orange and blue body armor splashed down out of the vehicle. They were quickly followed by a fourth soldier wearing a black and yellow set of armor. Each soldier carried a large shield.

"Alley Vipers! Great, just great. And they've even got an officer with them." Shockwave unlocked the safety on his Uzi. "How long have you been avoiding these guys?"

"They caught sight of me around the Showboat Casino."

"The Showboat? That's clear across town from here. What were you doing on the Boardwalk?"

"Tracking them. They're up to something, and I want to find out what.."

Shockwave leaned back and stared at the fast infantryman. "Up to--? Of course they're up to something, they're snakes!"

"Yeah, but they've been avoiding their own allies There was a squad of Crimson Guardsmen chasing these guys, and they only just now shook 'em. It's been pure luck that I've been able to follow them this far without being seen again."

Shockwave shook his wet hat and watched the Alley-Vipers disappear into the valley that he was just sitting in. "Then let's take 'em. Call in for backup and—what the hell are you doing?"

Hit & Run smoothly moved across the pavement towards the alley. "I've been keeping an eye on these orange idiots since I first saw them over at the Trump Plaza, and if we're taking them out, then we don't have time for backup. We're doing it now."

Sighing, Shockwave cocked his Uzi. "Okay, then. Let's dance."

Splashing down the rain-soaked alley, Shockwave and Hit & Run ran up to the last doorway sitting to the left of the urban canyon's dead-end. Shockwave pulled out a silencer and spun it onto the end of his Uzi; Hit & Run drew his M-1911 and slapped in a clip of ammo.

"This door is big but not too thick," whispered the S.W.A.T. Trooper, "I suggest we go through together."

The Light Infantryman nodded, stepped back and readied a kick. Shockwave braced himself to ram through shoulder-first. On cue, the two men kicked and smashed their way through the entrance.

Rolling into the room, Shockwave crashed into a pile of buckets while Hit & Run ran behind a crate. An unarmed Alley-Viper standing in the doorway into the next room jumped up and spun around to see what the hell was going on. Hit & Run threw his knife at the Viper's right hand, causing him to yelp in pain and crash into the wall next to him.

Two more Alley-Vipers walked into the far room to see what the commotion was. Kicking the buckets away, Shockwave got up on his right knee and fired two silenced bursts from his Uzi, dropping the armored Alley-Vipers to the floor.

"They're down but packin' too much armor to be out." analyzed Shockwave, "Move in and secure the other two while I get this guy. I'll have your back."

Hit & Run nodded and raised his sub-machinegun into firing position. After a few painfully slow steps, he was in the other room; it was a larger room, but had less cargo in it. The fragile, dark structure was probably used as a warehouse back in the '30's, but Hit & Run didn't have time to think about that. Upon reaching the first Alley-Viper that Shockwave took down, he tied the Cobra's hands together with a length of rope found on the floor. The second Alley-Viper was another ten feet away.

But before he could reach the second Viper, three more Alley-Vipers burst into the far end of the room and opened fire. Hit & Run jumped behind the only cover he had by him: the unconscious Alley Vipers. Their bodies quivered as bullets hit them, and one of them started to bleed. Cursing, Hit & Run stood up from behind the Vipers and fired back. The Alley-Vipers pulled back, but the Joe's clip of ammo quickly emptied. Using the only asset left to him, Hit & Run charged the Vipers in a frantic zig-zag-like pattern that sent him scurrying like a rat across the warehouse's floor. Once he was close enough to the Vipers, he threw his knife. The blade simply bounced off their armor, but it distracted them long enough that they forgot about Hit & Run's most dangerous asset: his teammate. Muffled sub-machine-gun fire echoed from behind him, and blood splattered from one of the Vipers' arms.

Thanks, Shockwave!

Another Cobra tried to hit Hit & Run with a toss of his shield and a spray of gunfire. Diving into a roll to avoid the fire, the Light Infantryman sprung back to life with a leap into the air…which the Alley-Viper countered by simply grabbing the Joe out of the air.

Whoever this guy is, he's tough.

As the Viper growled in anger and strangled Hit & Run, the soft sound of silenced gunfire began echoing through the room once again. Quickly accessing the situation, the Alley-Viper threw Hit & Run in Shockwave's direction. The Alley Viper ran over to his shield and picked it back up, then turned towards Shockwave. Bullets rattled off of the orange and blue metal slab as the Viper took a firing stance towards the SWAT Trooper; but before he could fire, Hit & Run scrambled up off of the floor and slammed an intensely hard kick into the left-side of the Alley-Viper's head, knocking the Cobra onto the floor. The third Alley-Viper ran out of the room and slammed the door.

Shockwave ran up to his teammate, who was jumping up and down on his left leg and cringing in pain.

"What were you thinking? He's wearing a helmet."

"I know, I know. That's why I kicked so hard."

"You're the fastest Joe on two feet, don't wreck your toes!"

"I know!"

Shockwave pointed to the back door. "There's still one more orange Alley-Viper, and we haven't even seen the yellow one yet. They've got be in there."

Trying to shake the pain from his foot, Hit & Run picked up his weapons and looked at Shockwave. "After you."

Frowning, the S.W.A.T.-Trooper slapped a fresh ammo clip into his Uzi and walked over to the door. Hit & Run hesitantly waited for his teammate to kick in the door, when a spread of rapid-fire punched through the wood and caused the Joes to drop to the floor and get sprinkled by tiny shards of oak.

"Damnit!" cursed Hit & Run. Once the shooting stopped, he returned the assault by unloading his sub-machinegun through the door. Shockwave jumped up off the floor and slammed through the weakened doorway.

Hearing bursts of machine gun fire and scuffling, Hit & Run loaded another ammo clip and ran into the other room just as the last orange Alley-Viper cried out in pain and dropped to the floor. Hit & Run watched Shockwave spin around, kick away the deceased Viper's gun and then point his Uzi at the black-and-yellow Alley-Viper Officer, who was cringing in the room's corner behind a crate.

"Get up and show us your hands!" ordered the S.W.A.T.-Trooper. The Alley-Viper slowly stood up, but he was adamantly grasping a folder that was thick with papers.

"Drop the folder, Cobra. Now." commanded Shockwave. Suddenly, the Viper spun around and pulled out a cigarette-lighter. He began to vigorously flick it and set fire to the folder.

"Damn!" cried Hit & Run, who jumped over the crate and landed a hard kick into the Alley-Viper's side, slamming him into the wall and causing him to drop the burning papers. Shockwave ran over, pulled off his hat and cowl and began slapping the papers with them. The flames quickly disappeared, and Hit & Run picked them up. Shockwave grabbed the Alley-Viper and handcuffed him.

"Nice try, dirt bag."

"Kill me." whispered the Viper.

"What?"

"Kill me, please."

Shockwave stood stunned for a second. "Why would I want to do that?"

Hit & Run looked up from the papers and cut into the conversation with a look of shock on his face. "Because we just hit paydirt."