Disclaimer: I don't own G.I. Joe, "Super Trooper"/"Rapid Fire", Captain America, et. al.
Author's Note: Technically, Super Trooper is Paul Latimer and Rapid Fire is Robbie London, the personal information on the filecards from Serial Number to Pay Grade is different, but since the background for the characters and the mold for the figures are the same, I've combined the two into one. (If anyone's wondering, Super Trooper is the '88 mail-in with silver armor and equipment and green pants and black hair, Rapid Fire is the '91 figure that came with the video and had neon green armor and equipment and blue and orange pants and reddish-orange hair.)
The story title is a reference to the ABBA song, (duh) "Super Trooper"... I couldn't resist.
"Lights Are Gonna Blind You"
By J.T. Magnus, "Turbo"
Someone once called me "G.I. Joe's very own Captain America." I can see the connection. My name is Captain Paul Latimer, codenamed "Rapid-Fire", but probably better known by my nom de guerre of the "Super Trooper".
According to the comics I've borrowed from Flash on occasion, Steve Rogers was the sole subject of Project Rebirth, the project ended when the scientist in charge was killed, and his shield is one-of-a-kind created accidentally. Without going into too much classified information, I can say that while I wasn't part of a program to enhance soldiers to the HUMAN peak, myself and my fellow trainees were certain pushed to our own limits and beyond, not only physically, but mentally as well.
I can't say how, but I've seen the personnel files for every member of the Joe Team. Unsurprisingly, Rhodes Scholar Flint and Bryn Mawr-educated Lady Jaye are pretty much tied as the smartest members of the team. Surprisingly, though, Beachhead comes in a close second and me in third.
Me, I enlisted straight out of high school, applied for the West Point Prep School - passing the ten week program in eight, I might add - and upon graduation from the Point itself found myself dropped in the middle east desert with a platoon. I ended up winning the CMH for one particularly dangerous - and, of course, classified - mission. Before I knew what had happened, I was in another school, this one so classified it didn't even have a name. I've heard... whispers that the only reason I wasn't in that program already was because until then I had yet to fill the last of three requirements; proficient in three languages, Airborne Qualified, and a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. When I graduated the program, it was the top of the class... the FIRST class of the program... actually, I was the only graduate... from the entire program... Again, classified.
Hence the 'Super Trooper' reference.
Scientists are a strange bunch. They try to make fantasy into reality. At one time there was a TV show called 'Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future'. I recall it for two reasons; one being that one of my teammates is still a fan of the show dispite it having only lasted one year, the other is that my own equipment is very similar to the 'Power Suits' from the show.
The whole point of the program was to 'produce highly motivated individuals with advanced technical skill capable of operating deep within enemy territory with virtually no support '. That means that I can't carry around a lot of equipment that would get in the way. So what happened was that the scientists assigned to the program's instruction and technical branch came up with a doozy of an idea: a prototype matter/energy conversion set-up. Don't ask me to explain it, even with my technical knowledge I can't. Basically, however, my gear - shield, armor, helmet and laser rifle - is converted into energy and stored in a small badge that I can wear. I activate the badge to turn the armor back into matter and on the armor is the controls to activate the rest of it. The best part of it all is that it's undetectable; the worst is that if any of it takes too much damage, it automatically breaks back down into its energy form until it can be repaired, which in combat can leave me suddenly weaponless or defenseless and vunerable.
G.I. Joe is America's most highly trained special missions force, and I'm basically its one-man S.W.A.T. team. Wild Bill was telling the story one night about how a town was facing a huge riot and the local sheriff sent for help from the Texas Rangers. When the train pulled into town and one Ranger stepped off, the sheriff was skeptical, even after the Ranger told him, "One riot, one Ranger." It didn't last long when the Ranger walked up to the leader of the rioting people, shot him dead and turned to everyone else, asking if anyone wanted to continue. I enjoy hearing him tell that story since it reminds me of my first mission.
At the time, I was stationed as just another Captain at the Pentagon, under the command of General Hollingsworth, the fact that I was also Rapid-Fire was, you guessed it, classified...
"Captain Latimer, sir?"
I looked up from my own station at the saluting enlisted man, "Yes. What is it, Corporal?"
"There's a strange message coming in over the radio channels. The only sense we can make out of it is that it's being directed to you."
"Interesting," I said, leaning forward and adjusting the controls of my monitoring station, then nodding as I heard the transmission, "Corporal, please inform Sgt. Mewett that I'll need a relief."
Master Sergeant Cliff Mewett, also the member of Sky Patrol, G.I. Joe's elite behind-the-lines team, known as Airwave also doubles as the Signal Corps Adjutant for the Joint Chiefs, which means he's the head man in the Pentagon's communication room.
Even if he is a General, I can't say much for General Hollingsworth's taste in music. ABBA is not my idea of a 'call to arms', even if the song title does fit...
The mission briefing was simple; a small team of Joes were pinned down by a much larger unit of Cobras while on a mission in the middle east. My job was to go in and get them out. And as anyone knows, a simple mission in the briefing means the actual mission will be anything but...
And you guessed it, I can't give out details since it was, now say it with me... Classified. What I CAN say is that by the end of it all, I was transferred from the Pentagon in D.C. to the Chaplain's Assistants' Supply Depot in Utah, the site of G.I. Joe headquarters, codename: "The Pit III" and 'Rapid-Fire' was placed on the active roster of G.I. Joe. A few years later, there was a problem with my armor thanks to one of Cobra's new weapons, but Mainframe, Gears and others managed to fix it by altering the frequency that the system worked on... I just wished that it hadn't wound up altering the color of my armor from the original silver to a neon green color...
"Rapid-Fire, Stalker, Shockwave and Law to the briefing room..."
Shaking my head, I lifted my com-link up, "Rapid-Fire, on the way, General..."