G.I. Joe: America's Special Mission Force Prologue
Berlin, Germany June 26, 2006
The celebration of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture was held at the French Embassy. Ambassadors from most of the embassies in town were there with their families. Also present were a small contingent from the U.S. State Department, German government and guests from the Berlin Centre for the Treatment of Torture Victims.
"My dear Anastasia," Ambassador Manuel Desosa said; as he walked up to the striking woman standing alone in the garden. "Has our company become too dull for you?"
She slowly turned, brushing a lone strand of raven black hair from her blue eyes. "Not at all, Manuel." She said, smiling at the Spanish ambassador. "I just needed some fresh air."
"These little get togethers do tend to get stuffy. How is Ambassador De Cobray? I haven't had the opportunity to speak with him yet."
"My father is fine. We were both sorry to hear about your wife."
"Thank you my dear. She really enjoyed your visit that final week."
"Really that was my pleasure." Anastasia De Cobray smiled. "And I needed to administer the final dose of poison to her."
"Excuse me? I must have misheard you." Manuel drunkenly said as a confused look spread across his face.
"No you heard me perfectly, Manuel." Her smile turned sinister as she leaned closer to him. "I'm afraid she was being much to successful at raising funds to help a certain African Nation. One that an organization I'm interested in joining needs to remain in it's current state."
Shock overtook the confusion on his face. He sputtered, trying to process this.
"It's okay, Manuel." She said sweetly, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "You'll be joining her soon."
She thrust the dagger between his ribs and covered his lips with hers as he started to scream. Slowly she lowered him to the ground.
"I must say, this has been a very enjoyable interlude." She whispered as life began to leave his eyes. "But I'm afraid I need to leave, before the bomb goes off. Don't worry about me. This is my final entrance test. Your dear wife helped me to impress the right people."
She stood and pulled her coat tightly around her. Whistling, she calmly walked around the embassy. A car pulled up as she smiled at a young guard at the gate.
The chauffeur walked around and opened the door for her. As she slid in she allowed her dress to ride up, showing a generous portion of leg to the young guard. She winked as the chauffeur shut the door, blocking out the deep red the guards face had turned.
The guard was still telling the story to his older partner five minutes later. It was the last thought he had as the explosion tore through the embassy.
Paris, France March 18, 2009
Corail 3447 had just left Paris on the Centre Line and was heading towards Orleans at ninety miles an hour. Six cars back in second class seating, the quiet man wearing a New York Yankees baseball cap sat observing everything around him. As the train reached it's top speed of just under a hundred, he stood up and walked to the back of the car.
The noise of the train intensified as he walked between cars, casually strolling through the next two cars to reach the sealed doors. He took a moment to appreciate the view of the city speeding away, before taking a length of cable from his blue jacket and securing the inner door. A Leatherman multi-tool was produced next as he quickly cut the alarm to the outside doors. He quickly opened the emergency panel on the door and, checking to make sure that nobody in the sparsely populated car was paying attention, hit the manual release.
Swinging up to the roof of the car, he turned and pushed the doors closed; hoping that the quick roar from the outside hadn't drawn attention to quickly. On his stomach he turned and caught his balance, before slowly rising to his knees. The cap blew from his head, revealing his short dark hair as he willed himself steady. In a crouch he rose to his feet and started running, leaping over the connections between cars.
He came to a stop at the second car and went prone, hugging the roof. The man scooted to one side and stuck his head over, peering into the first class carriage. Silently cursing when he saw he was too late.
Four men in dark gray suits with crimson red ties held FN P90 submachine guns on the passengers. The passengers had all been herded to the back of the car and were huddling together. He checked to see the condition of the probable target, a chemist from the Pierre and Marie Curie University. The scientist had been separated from the others and was seated not far from the gunmen.
He crawled to a spot directly over them, then moved to the windows. He set the det cord around the window and attached the fuse. Crawling away, he attached the fuse to the detonator. He lay as flat as possible and covered one ear with his right hand and pushed his head into his shoulder to cover the other. He hit the detonator and less then a second later an explosion roared to his right, the vibrations nearly shaking him off the train.
Seconds later he was through the opening where the window had been, his SIG-Sauer P228 pistol drawn. He put two 9mm rounds through the head of one of the gunmen and three more into the chest of another. Then he closed with the other two, throwing an elbow into the throat of one and blocking a head kick from the last. The man he elbowed fell to the ground gasping, his windpipe crushed. The last man threw a straight punch at the others head and it was blocked and countered with a palm strike to his solar plexus.
As the gunman doubled over, the man grabbed him from behind and quickly snapped his neck. The sound of applause caused him to turn as the passengers started running through the doors to the next car.
"Well done, brother." The Japanese man in white and gray said, standing with his arms crossed. He stood about 5'8" and wore loose white and gray camouflage pants tucked into gray boots and a tight white shirt. Two ninja-to were strapped to his back and his head was covered by a white hood and gray lower face mask.
The other man just stood there, letting nothing show on his face. He was four or five inches taller than the other, dressed in cargo pants, a black tee-shirt and blue jacket. His blues eyes glared from his plain face as he regarded the intruder.
"I don't supposed you'd consider giving me Doctor Fournier and letting us go on our way?"
"Interesting outfit, Tommy." The man said quietly, barely audible over the air rushing through the window. "What's with the swords?"
"You'd be surprised how useful they are. And it's Storm Shadow; I am working after all." Storm Shadow stepped forward. "You don't have a chance, Snake Eyes. You can't take me. And even if you could, we have control of the engine. Why don't you..."
Storm charged forward as he spoke. Snake Eyes raised his gun, firing two quick shots. Storm Shadow ducked underneath the rounds and closed, twisting his head out of the way as Snake tossed his gun at it.
The next minute was a rapid exchange of fists, elbows, knees and feet; neither man landing a blow. They fought at such speed that their blows seemed a blur to the frightened scientist. Storm managed to land a kick that drove Snake back, then charged. Snake Eyes moved to the side and used Storm Shadow's momentum to shove him hard into the side of the car.
Doctor Fournier started backing away and was grabbed from behind. The gunman that had been shot in the chest pulled the chemist toward the engine, the bullet holes in his shirt revealing body armor.
Storm Shadow recovered and turned quickly, a double edged knife in his hand. He lunged at Snake Eyes, who stepped back; barely dodging the slashing blade. Snake Eyes pulled off his jacket, holding it in his left hand. As Storm lunged again, he used the jacket as a whip. It wrapped around Storm's knife hand long enough for Snake to charge, going shoulder to shoulder with Storm. His momentum knocked the knife loose but Storm quickly countered with a leg trip that took them both to the ground.
The rolled on the ground, launching strike after strike; neither man gaining an advantage. They came apart and reached their feet at the same time. Storm, crouched in a defensive stance and Snake Eyes staring into the barrels of two P90 Submachine guns held by two more men in gray suits.
"If you're done playing Storm Shadow," a voice called from the connection. "We have what we're after and we're ready to disconnect from the train."
"This was fun, brother. I doubt we'll do it again." Storm turned and walked between the two gunmen as they opened fire. Snake Eyes dove behind the seats, as the two men ran toward the engine.
He jumped to his feet and ran forward. An explosion erupted from the connection driving him back. He could feel the car and engine separating as he regained his feet, ignoring the ringing in his ears. Snake went forward again, seeing the engine pulling away. He started to lunge through when he saw the bomb, much bigger than the one used to separate. He ran toward the back, making it to the second car and seeing that people had been smart enough to move to the rear of the train.
Snake continued running as the bomb went off, sending flame and force through the cabins. He was going through the doors to the next car when the blast reached him, throwing him forward. His head hit the luggage rack as he fell, blackness overtaking him. The first car came loose from the track, going sideways and causing a domino effect that turned the train into a twisted, burning wreckage.
Notes: This is a rewrite of America's Special Mission Force. Well it started as a rewrite but is actually a completely different story. Though I will steal a few things from the original. A good example of that is the Baroness intro. I thought it was a good way to show her vicious side and to make it nearly impossible to make her into a victim or sentimental character; which sadly every writer in the comics seems to want to do. I won't even go into what they did to her in the movie.
Warning: I am not a ninja fan. Especially since they ruined the original comic. Well ninjas and the horrible toy ideas that Marvel was forced to use. That being said, I can't guarantee that any characters in this story will be honest to goodness ninjas. If I do decide they are then don't expect the super human ninjas from comics or movies. They'll be the historically accurate kind. Good at infiltration, assassination and espionage. Not capable of taking on a hundred people in a hand to hand fight.