So…yeah. Obviously this is an AU, and it provides the background for a piece of fanart I submitted for Cobra Fan Club's GI Joe-Defects-to-Cobra contest on DeviantArt. I chose Mainframe, so this will revolve around what brings one of the Joe's best computer analysts to start playing for the other team. Set during the Sunbow cartoon universe, second season and before the movie.
I don't own anything but a couple of minor characters mentioned at the very end of the story. You'll know them when you see them. As usual, the Dreadnoks, Cobra, and GI Joe belong to Hasbro.
All the Wrong Moves
Never in his career did he imagine his life would come down to this decision. All his life, Sgt. Blaine Parker kept some very clear-cut ideals about how the world around him worked. He fought for his country, enlisting as soon as he could get his parents' permission, and continued supporting his homeland after he finished his first tour of duty. The thought of betraying his superiors never entered his mind back then. Yet now, after joining up with GI Joe, circumstances snowballed out of control and forced his point of view to change from black and white to shades of gray. And, predictably, most of those 'gray' areas centered around a woman.
He shouldn't have even bothered. After all, his track record with women was less than appealing. A recent divorcee practically married to his military career (which had been a big factor in why his marriage fell apart in the first place), he really didn't need to get involved in another relationship, let alone one with a potential co-worker. Despite all that, he just couldn't seem to help himself. Carol's beauty first attracted him to her, but her no-nonsense, independent personality was what really got to him. He fell for her hard and fast.
He didn't realize that 'Carol' was an illusion until it was too late. "Carol Wiedler" was the alias used by the Cobra agent Zarana to infiltrate the Pit's defenses and steal the computer codes for their battle and recovery drones. The name was phony; the emotions, they soon learned, were not. No matter how hard they tried to keep their exchanges professional, deep down he knew it was a losing fight. She, it seemed, gladly returned his affections in spades. Brief information exchanges soon turned into secret late-night rendezvous that he wasn't prepared to give up.
But this relationship came at a great price. He was putting everything on the line, and eventually his fellow Joes would find him out. They'd managed to keep things quiet for several months, but he knew better than to think that could last. That being said, he never imagined that it would come to a head quite like this.
"…I think I might be pregnant." She spoke at barely a whisper, afraid to look up at him. They'd met on the outskirts of a nearby town this evening, hoping to avoid suspicion from either side.
Not that any of that would matter if she were right, he reminded himself. Nervously, he took off his helmet and ran a hand through his hair. Damn… how were they going to try explaining this away? "How sure are you?"
"I'm five weeks late and barfing up breakfast every morning." She deadpanned. "Haven't seen a doctor or anything, but I can't exactly do that without attracting some unwanted attention…same with a home test." She paced a few steps, nervousness and fear radiating from her in waves. "What do we do, Blaine?"
"We find out for sure and go from there, I guess." He answered, sorting through possible outcomes and the consequences each would bring into their lives. It all boiled down to either her leaving the Dreadnoks or his resignation from G.I. Joe. "I think there's a drug store still open in town…We can find out tonight."
She nodded softly in response. "…I'm scared." She whispered. He sighed, walking closer to her and wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"That's okay. We'll figure this out." He murmured in her ear, sounding more confident than he actually felt.
"No…" She half-moaned, half-sobbed, melting into a complete emotional mess there in his arms. "This…this can't be happening." The pair was currently hiding out in a grimy gas station restroom.
"Ssshhh. It's gonna be okay." He soothed, holding her trembling frame close to his. "We'll think of something." Though he wasn't sure exactly what 'something' would be at the moment. He spared a brief glare at the seemingly innocent white stick—emblazoned with a single pink plus sign—perched on the dingy sink nearby.
"How?" She held onto his shirtfront as if her existence depended on it. "They'll know. They'll know it's you." Sobs, quiet but still powerful, wracked her body again. To be honest, he felt completely useless just standing here like this, holding her, but there wasn't much else he could do for her right now.
…but she brought up a valid point. While the Joes (aside from possibly General Hawk) were unaware that he still harbored strong feelings for Zarana, her brothers would have things sorted out in short order. After they realized what was going on, they would either A) attempt to kill him for 'defiling' their sister, or B) kidnap him and hold a shotgun wedding. No matter how this went down, however, the Joes would still find out, and if they ever got him back, he would be thrown in the brig or worse. Fraternizing with a known terrorist would be viewed as treason, no matter what 'special' circumstances might surround their relationship. It seemed his decision had been made for him.
"They'll send out an entire search party if I keep you gone any longer." He reminded her. "Let me drive you home."
She glanced up at him, green eyes narrowed in confusion. "What? No, Blaine, you can't just drive me home. You'll be captured in a heartbeat."
"Not if I'm switching sides." He answered. "I know you guys could use a proper analyst and program designer, not just a hacker. I've seen how bad the encryption is on Cobra's files; they can't afford to kill me."
"No." She shook her head fervently. "No, I won't let you throw your whole life away!"
"I'm not throwing it away; I'm finding a new career path." He corrected her, gently cupping her chin with his hand and looking into her eyes. "If I'm going to be accused of treason anyway, I may as well do something really worth it."
"You don't have to do any of this." Zarana said. "I can handle this on my own…"
"Yes, but I want to do this." He said. "I screwed up one relationship by not being there, and I'm not about to make that same mistake with you. I'm sticking with you, come what may."
She sighed heavily, still trying to process everything. "If you're sure..."
"I am." He murmured. "I haven't been this sure of anything in a while."
"They might shoot you on sight if you take me home."
"They might do that anyway. Now you're just stalling."
"Is it working?" She blinked up at him hopefully.
"Let's just get you back home." He sighed, brown eyes gazing down into her green ones. "If I keep you any longer, they'll think you've been captured and attack the Pit."
"Oh god…" She groaned, envisioning what that disaster might look like in her mind's eye. "Yeah. Home sounds great."
Zartan had been prepared for his sister trying to sneak back onto base in an attempt to avoid talking to him. Not that it would work, mind you. One way or another, he was going to get her to answer his questions. Did she think he wouldn't notice her odd behavior lately? That she'd been sick every morning for several weeks straight? No, she was going to tell him what was going on, whether she wanted to or not.
That being said, he wasn't prepared for her to bring someone else—let alone a Joe—back to their base.
Suddenly a whole lot of odd things made a whole lot of sense.
"Zartan." Zarana stared at him, looking much like a deer caught in car headlights. The Joe she brought home with her—Mainframe, if he recalled the man's name correctly—squeezed her hand gently.
"Did you think you could avoid me forever?" He asked her. "We do live in the same house." Although, what the hell she was trying to pull by bringing her little crush home was beyond him…unless… "Why is he here?"
"I'm moving in." Mainframe spoke up as Zarana leaned against him for support.
"That doesn't answer my question. What is going on?" He looked directly at his sister. "Why did you bring him here, Zarana?" He needed to hear her say it. After several weeks of worried confusion, she owed him that much.
"I…" She looked down at the ground, still clinging to Mainframe. "I'm pregnant." She whispered, her voice so soft he barely heard what she said.
Well, this discussion just took an interesting (though not completely unexpected) turn. It also left Zartan in the uncomfortable position of having to decide what the hell to do about the situation at hand. He was so far away from 'pleased' at this moment that the feeling may as well have resided in a different galaxy. His sister, his dearly beloved younger sister, had been sneaking around behind his back with a Joe and gotten 'knocked up', to use the modern slang term. Not in recent memory could he remember being quite this upset with her. Honestly, there had been times where the Dreadnoks had gone months without showering, and he didn't even want to think about what their base would look like if he and his siblings didn't take care of little things like dishwashing, taking the trash out, and doing the laundry. She wanted to bring an infant home to that?
As livid as he was with the Joe computer specialist who landed them in this predicament, he was forced to give a smidgen of respect to the man for having the balls to come down here and declare that he was moving in. Other assholes would have sent Zarana home crying, making her swear to keep quiet or tried to talk her into getting rid of the child. Also, while he wasn't keen on keeping a Joe around the house (since he could be sending secrets to his friends at the Pit), they couldn't exactly afford to turn a man of his skills away. Given the number of times Mainframe had hacked into Cobra's networks, he probably knew the ins and outs of the entire Cobra communications system better than the Tele-Vipers that ran it.
"And you think that's reason enough to let him stay here?" He asked, carefully keeping his voice even. "For all we know, it's a Joe trick."
"If that were so, I wouldn't have needed to drag her into it, least of all like this." Mainframe answered this time, protectively wrapping his arms around Zarana.
True. The Joes did have that whole 'honorable conduct' thing going for them most of the time. And as he'd observed earlier, the man was too much of an asset to their organization to justify killing him just yet. "One wrong move, and he gets left to the alligators. Understand?" He locked eyes with his sister, who nodded in a somewhat detached fashion.
"Yeah. Yeah, I get it." She murmured, still not willing to let go of Mainframe. The computer specialist seemed to relax a hair when he realized he wasn't being kicked back out or put in front of a firing squad.
Zartan gave it two weeks before the wimp had enough and left.
Two years later…
Dusk was starting to creep upon the Dreadnoks' swamp compound when Mainframe returned home from his shift. Most people probably would have moved to the Terror Dome to be closer to work, but he couldn't stand the thought of moving his family that close to Serpentor. He worked for the man because of the money and the sheer thrill of outwitting his former teammates at G.I. Joe, not because he was loyal to the Cobra cause.
Besides, he highly doubted the 'entertainment' at Cobra Theatre could top what he came home to every night.
"I don't care if they liked it or not! No more alligator wrestling!" Zarana shouted at Torch and Ripper as he came in through the front door. The twins (affectionately nicknamed "Seek" and "Destroy" by their uncle Zandar) were currently trying to climb their way out of their playpen.
"I take it they were at it again today?" the computer specialist asked Zandar, who was keeping an eye on the infants while their mother berated the errant Dreadnoks who dared put them in danger.
"Stupid is as stupid does." The orange-haired man shrugged. "You'd think they'd have learned after Zartan tried to shoot 'em for it two days ago."
"At least they waited until the kids started walking." Mainframe sighed, sitting down on the dilapidated couch next to his brother-in-law. He was mildly surprised every door on the compound wasn't padlocked yet, given how adept the two babies proved to be at getting into trouble.
"Da?" His son Matt babbled, looking up at him with bright green eyes and a wide smile as he attempted to get out of the playpen and closer to Daddy. Mainframe chuckled.
"Kid, you're a mess." He shook his head, lifting the little boy up onto his lap. "You'll be an even worse mess once you and your sister get tall enough to reach the keypads on all those doors downstairs…" Especially the armory, since the thought of two toddlers around weapons that were most likely loaded worried the hell out of him.
"By then we'll have a better way to keep them out." Zandar commented, deciding to ignore the fact that his sister was now shooting at the mischievous Dreadnoks in favor of trying to start a game of peek-a-boo with his niece. Macy, however, wasn't in the mood for the game and continued her efforts to join her brother on the couch. With a resigned sigh, her uncle picked up the tiny redhead and set her on the couch next to him. Better that than have her knock the playpen over and listen to Zarana screech at him for ten minutes straight.
"I believe you said that about the cabinet doors, and look where that got us." It would figure the two would find the one cabinet that hadn't been baby-proofed yet…
"How was I supposed to know they'd find a way into the garage?"
"Because they're devious and like shiny things. Give it another year or two and they'll know how to start any vehicle down there."
"…bullocks." Zandar groaned, running a hand through his hair. If Zarana was furious about the gator wrestling, she'd be on a full-blown rampage if she ever caught her babies trying to drive without adult supervision. "We're gonna need to find a new place to hide the keys."
"And the weapons… And the power tools…" Mainframe listed off while making silly faces for his kids. The two giggled loudly as he felt someone walk up behind him.
"Might wanna put your computer on that list too, luv." Zarana pointed out, leaning up against the back of the couch and looking over his shoulders. "Don't want them playing with any of your work stuff, do we?"
Not with the kind of work he was doing now, he thought with a sigh. "What did I tell you? You're both a mess." He commented to the babies as Macy tried to use him as a support, wanting to stand up on the couch. Her efforts were hampered by her brother trying to pull her back down to his level.
It certainly wasn't the life he'd always dreamed of, but he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.