Shana O'Hara walked down an asylum hall, escorted by two MPs carrying assault rifles, guns in hand and safety off. She wasn't quite sure if it was due to the dangerous convicts held here, or if soldiers were simply bred ignorant nowadays. It was a relief to see they at least didn't keep their fingers on the triggers while they walked. Shana was an older woman, quickly approaching her 60's, hair grayed out completely from the color it had once been, and more wrinkles than most women her age. She was dressed in a suit decorated with various medals she had won over the years, as well as her rank. The cells they passed by showed various criminals and insane people of various backgrounds, trapped behind glass that could withstand a grenade blast. Some of these people sat silently, watching as they passed. Some of them rampaged around their cells, screaming to people who couldn't hear them, or perhaps people only they could hear. Then there were those who simply didn't seem to be alive, lifeless bodies seemingly abandoned by the staff.
"Are you sure he asked for me, specifically?" Shana asked.
"Yes ma'am. First thing he's said in almost forty years now," one of the MPs said.
"By any chance, did he use the name Scarlett?" Shana asked.
"No ma'am," the MP replied. "Asked for Brigadier-General Shana O'Hara, said it was an emergency. At first no one was gonna do anything about it, but he kept insisting."
"He kept insisting? So, you got me just because he kept asking you?" Shana asked, almost angry at being pulled from her meeting for this.
"Ma'am, he broke free from his restraints and bit open the throat of his nurse, then killed a patrolling MP and strung his corpse in the hall. He even left your phone number carved into the poor guy's chest. He made sure we knew to get you," the MP explained.
"Has he had any outside contact, any at all?" Shana asked.
"No ma'am, only nurses. Five to be exact, and about thirty soldiers over the years. Still haven't been a replacement for the nurse. Think they wanna leave him to die of thirst or something, but that one ain't right. We lost power back in 01', everyone thought it was Y2K and a lot of people went haywire. Power wouldn't come back on for two months, we lost everyone else in the dead zone. He was just sitting there, waiting for his next nurse to come in," the MP informed, almost scared.
"We're here," the other MP said, as they turned a corner and saw two other MPs standing guard over a cell with not even glass to show its inhabitant, instead concrete.
The second MP stepped forward and swiped his clearance card, waiting three seconds before a buzz was heard and he pulled the door open, motioning for Shana to step inside. Shana stepped forward, for the first time feeling fear at this situation, as she looked up at the sight of the once mighty Cobra Commander, and the door closed behind her. The snake was suspended two feet above the ground, wrapped in a strait jacket, and locked in chains that connected to a shackle around his throat. Suspending him were chains that connected to hooks on the walls and ceiling, and his feet were bound together to prevent him from walking if he somehow got free. Upon his face, he wore a face muzzle, white leather that must have dug into his flesh. His flesh almost made Shana want to vomit, even more than the smell of decades of urine and feces. His flesh was made of dark yellow, almost brown, scales. His eyes were large and crystal blue, the pupils like black slits that were nearly invisible. Under his right eye rested four smaller eyes, greyed out as though they had gone blind, and another rested above his left eye.
"Ah, Sssscarlett," Cobra Commander hissed. "General Shana O'Hara of the United Ssstates Armed Forccesss."
"It's good to see you, Commander," Shana replied. "Why did you ask for me?"
"How many of my men did you let live?" Cobra Commander asked coldly.
"What do you mean?" Shana asked, taken back by this question.
"Doctor Mindbender would have proved useful to you, so you would have kept him around. Destro would have proven a pain to cooperate with, so you would have taken him out and absorbed his company. Baroness had no value to you, so she is dead as well. The twins you could never have officially killed, so instead you hired a hitman to murder them in cold blood. Major,"
"Cobra Commander, what are you getting at?" Shana asked, anger growing in her.
"You think of me as an unfeeling monster responsible for so much chaos, while you pick and choose who lives and who dies," Cobra Commander responded.
"You are responsible for some of the most devastating terror attacks the world has ever seen," Shana rebutted.
"Maybe so. However, I only ever targeted the wealthy, bloated, cesspools of villainy. My soldiers never burned innocent villagers alive, nor did we force people into broken buildings and dump weapons and drugs into the communities, in an attempt to vilify them,"
"Cobra Commander I,"
"We never allowed for white supremacists to grow strong in our walls, and in fact made sure this was impossible. Nor did we uphold Nazi ideology,"
"YOU WERE PERFECT PARRALLELS TO THE NAZIS!" Shana roared.
"Parallel, is the key word," Cobra Commander replied. "We marched in front of black and red flags, in military uniforms, but that is as deep as our similarities ran. We never wanted genocide. We never wanted to wipe any race off the face of this world,"
"Tell that to the Cobra-la."
"And what evidence do you have that I ever truly served the Cobra-la? The words of a mad man, shortly before I attempted to kill him?" after asking this, Cobra Commander made a motion like his right eye brow being raised, that instead came out like a shiver.
"You yourself were insane at this point. You were unable to even speak, aside from a single phrase. Do you remember what that phrase was, Cobra Commander?" Shana asked.
"HA!" Cobra Commander laughed, a dry coughing sound. "I was never a man. Not like you. I was something greater. I am still, something greater."
"And just what are you? A monster? A dictator? A snake?" Shana asked.
"I, am a leader," Cobra Commander responded, as gunshots echoed off the walls and Shana instinctively put her back to the wall next to the door, reached into her coat, and pulled out a handgun. "I want you to know, your death is not my objective here."
"Then what the hell do you want!?" Shana asked, as the door opened and Shana aimed her gun.
"To send a message," Cobra Commander replied, as the unforgettable uniform of a Cobra Viper stepped forward, a Taser in his hand that fired in the same moment Shana fired her handgun, the bullet tearing through his exposed throat as electricity burned through her body.
Shana went limp and drool fell from her lip as she stared ahead at Cobra Commander's laughing form, as another Viper stepped forward. The Viper raised his assault rifle and switched to single shot, before firing into the lock on Cobra Commander's chest, shattering the metal and allowing him to fall to the ground. The Viper then pulled a combat knife from the sheath on his right shoulder, and stepped around Cobra Commander slashing open his straight jacket and helping him to his feet. The Viper sheathed his knife then reached into a bag tied to his waist, handing Cobra Commander a black helmet with a white Anarchy symbol painted upon it.
"Everything is ready, Commander," The Viper informed.
"Wonderful," Cobra Commander replied, taking the helmet and mounting it upon his head, not taking off his muzzle. "Let us light thisss world aflame once moreā¦"
