The Joes slipped into the old warehouse quietly. They needed to locate their comrade fast. God only knew what Cobra would do to him. Tunnel Rat had gone in an hour ago on a recon mission to gather info and had gotten caught before he could complete the mission, but not before sending out the info to Hi-wire's computer and telling them to get out. They refused to just abandon him. The Joes entered the main room ,which was full of torture devices. Duke frowned deeply. He didn't know how well Tunnel Rat would stand up to torture.
Each Joe was positioned around the room strategically. As if on cue, Baroness entered with two Cobra soldiers dragging their captured teammate. He was nude except for underwear but he wasn't embarrassed at all. He kept his shoulders straight and when Baroness turned to face him, Tunnel Rat looked her square in the eye, like a true soldier.
"So, you dare spy on us? Well ,I'll give you two options :tell me where your fellow Joes are hiding or I'll force it out of you," she said.
"Torture me all you like you hag 'cause you'll get nothing out of me," Tunnel Rat said.
"You have guts boy. I'll give you that. You two! Strap him down," she ordered.
The Joe was calm and composed as he was strapped to steel table. His eyes were closed ,like he was asleep. He braced himself, and then it started. Duke could see Scarlett shaking out of the corner of his eye. It was hard to watch a friend suffer so much. Tunnel Rat gave no sign of how much pain he was in, not one sound. Bolts of electricity coursed through his body and he refused to scream. Baroness gave her soldiers the signal to stop.
"Now ,will you revel the location of your comrades?" she asked.
"Fuck you bitch," he responded, spitting in her face.
She smacked him hard. Duke couldn't help smile a little. Tunnel Rat was being stubborn. He wasn't going to betray his comrades, no matter what she did. Baroness gave the soldiers the signal to keep going ,as Destro himself entered. Baroness signaled for the soldiers to stop.
"I can't believe he's still breathing," he said.
"Neither can I. He's a stubborn one. What do you think? How should we torture him next?"
"I think I have an idea. I have been working on an experiment in cloning. Perhaps I could use him to create a clone, then use the clone to infiltrate the Joes' headquarters. Also , we could use him in another experiment I'm working on," Destro said.
A blood sample was taken and sent to another part of the building. Then Destro began his experiment. It was horrifying to watch them doing this. Destro let the Baroness do the dirty work however. Slowly, ever so slowly, she took a knife with a serrated edge and began to slit the young Joe's arms. She didn't hit anything that would cause Tunnel Rat to bleed out ,but enough to cause pain. She heated another knife and continued to torture him. They used
"Hi-tech, how many people are in this building?" Duke whispered over his communicator.
"There's all 9 of you ,Destro, Baroness, two soldiers and one scientist."
Fourteen people. Destro and Baroness decided to stop their cruelty for the day and left, ordering the soldiers to clean up. The two soldiers laughed and chatted as if nothing had happened.
"Hi-tech, where are Destro and the Baroness?"
"The lab. Duke you won't believe this but you know that clone Destro was talking about."
"What about it?"
"It's already done."
"What?" Duke hissed ,noticing the surprised looks of his comrades ,who were listing.
"I know it sounds odd, but it is. I tapped into their systems. They don't have it programmed yet. Look ,I have an idea .You guys worry about helping Tunnel Rat and I'll steal the clone and we'll use it against Cobra."
"Got it."
Duke nodded to the others and they jumped the soldiers. With the soldiers out cold, Heavy Duty set out to get Tunnel Rat out of the restraints. The young Joe had passed out and was very weak. He had scars that were still bleeding and ugly burn marks. He looked like he'd be dragged through hell six or seven times. His eyes had rolled back into because of the pain but his face showed nothing. Heavy Duty picked him up as gently as possible. He didn't want to hurt the young man. Tunnel Rat shuddered and latched onto his friends shirt.
The team moved out as quietly as possible as Hi-Tech ,with help from Long Range, finished loading the tank holding the clone into the R.O.C.C . Heavy Duty sat down on one of the passenger seats in the back with his shivering comrade curled up on his lap. He and Scarlett wrapped Tunnel Rat in a blanket to keep him warm. He shuddered again and snuggled as close to his friend as possible. The R.O.C.C rumbled along towards the base. Tunnel Rat looked awful. Scarlett cried every time she looked at him. He was in so much pain but , even unconscious , he knew he was safe .They were worried that he wouldn't make it. But they prayed he would.