Casualty Reports.
Disclaimer: Skymaster23 owns no part of G.I. Joe.
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, August 21, 1984.
A group of soldiers are in an urban fighting exercise, a brown haired man is by a corner, glancing around it, seeing a heavy machine gun nest.
"You see them, sir?" One of them asks him.
"Yeah; M240, 1 shooter and loader, six yards out." The man replied.
"What'll we do?" A second asks.
"Jeff, Zach, head back to the second floor behind us." He replies.
"Sir?"
"Those two are a decoy; so take your-" The man was saying when a voice came over the loudspeaker.
"Attention. W.O. Faireborn, please report to the commander's office, you have a visitor."
At the same time, in Washington, The Pentagon.
A brown haired woman is at a conference table with 3 other people. "So, we got the rest of the rogue cadets rounded up; anything else?"
"There are reports that-" One of the three was saying when the door opens.
"Excuse me; Alison, you got a phone call from a Sgt. Wilkenson." A man with black hair and a thin mustache tells her.
"Ok, thanks Jack."
Off the Connecticut coast, an S&R chopper is hovering over a fishing boat whose engine failed. An orange haired man is on the deck holding on to a tether and harness while speaking to the boat's owner. "Your turn, put this on, Cap!" He shouts over the noise.
Once the man is onboard, the chopper pilot talks to him. "Stone, just been told some guy named Steinberg is waiting for you at the base."
Camp Blanding, Florida.
An orange haired man is taking inventory of the base armory. "Let's be seein' now, there be 10 in dis rack...10 o'er here...en' anoother 10." He says when the door opened.
"Hey, carrot top; there's a guy named Friestadt here for you."
"Ye sure, sair; tha name is noot ringin' any bells."
"Well he knows you, and has these transfer papers, too."
Fort Cambell, Kentucky.
Another orange haired man is on a creeper under an M548. "Hand me the windy gun, would ya, Paul?"
'Paul' hands him it and sees the base 2IC approach. "Need anything, sir?"
"Just to let Breckinridge know there's an S.F.C. McConnel here for him."
"Ok, he's down there, sir."
Camp Shelby, Mississippi, a big hairless man is in the base's gym when he is approached by his C.O. "Hinton?"
"On my way, what we got today?" He asks as he gets off a piece of equipment.
"You got a phone call from a Capt. Armbruster." The C.O. tells him, but gets a blank stare.
"Don't know who that is, what's his biz?"
"From the sound of it, you're being reassigned."
G.I. Joe headquarters, August 24, 1984.
In the base's main office, the six people are standing in front of a desk with two others in olive green uniforms with brown straps. Faireborn looks the group over; except for Hinton, who served with him a long time ago; he didn't recognize any of them. "Scuse me, there; How you doing, Marv?" He says as he passes infront of one of the helmeted pair.
"Hmm...Dash? That you, man?" Hinton asks, then slaps him on the back. "Hah, it's you alright; boy, aren't you a sight?"
"Just fine, when'd you lose your hair, though?" Dash asks him back.
"This; grease fire at the Tante Marie." Marv said back as he pointed at his head.
"What's that?" Asked the orange haired one with the facial hair.
"It's a culinary arts school in London." The brown haired lady said before Marv could.
"Great and all, but any of ye knoow why we're 'ere?" The first orange haired man without facial hair asked before a blond man walked in.
"You're here for your soldiering skills; so is everyone else in this room."
"And who might you be, sir?" The second orange haired man without facial hair asked him.
"This here's Conrad Hauser, me and Dash's old army brother." Hinton replied as he took the blond man in a bear hug.
"Same here; now put me down, ya big lug." Hauser asked him. "As for the rest of you; the ones in the helmets are Charlie Ironknife, and Stanley Perlmutter, both formerly members of our Green-shirt corps."
After the two wave, Hauser tells the rest to introduce themselves to each other. "Matt Breckinridge's the name, and roarin' engines are my game."
"En' ahm Tim Hanrahan. Ahm fram Florida, so doon't let me accent throo ye off. Tha' go faer ye too, lass?"
"You noticed, did you?, I'm Alison Burnett, from Massachusetts."
"Oh really, who's secretary were you over there?" Faireborn asked, and everyone in the room stops as Burnett does a double-take and stomps her foot.
"What'd you just call me?!, Didn't you say he was an experienced, mature person, Duke?" She asked both, while giving Faireborn a dirty look at the word 'mature'.
"I said he was practically raised for the job, which means-" Duke replied before she finished for him.
"A Traditionalist."
"Faireborns have served this country since one was in the fleet that trapped the British during the revolution." He bragged, and asks what the problem is while the other men share annoyed looks.
"Maybe they don't want to work with a muscle brained chauvinist." He hears from the orange haired one with the facial hair. "Now hold on, I'm just not use to the ide-" He replies, but sees the man hold his hands up before pointing to Burnett, who is holding a small device infront of her mouth.
"...Conrad, who is this?" He asks Duke.
"I'm an E-6 in US army intelligence at the Pentagon, you jerk; which means i am nobody's secretary unless ordered to go undercover as one." She tells him as she pokes him in the chest.
"Pentagon?, Oh great, a high horse lady j is all we need." He says back, and the two glare at each other until Duke speaks up.
"J for Joe, i assume...Might work for your codename, you think so?"
She turns to him and thinks. "If i say yes, it'll be because it's short and vague, not because of this rock head's comment."
An hour after leaving Duke's office, Faireborn, now codenamed Flint, is putting on his new uniform; he walks out of the quartermasters area, and passes Flash and Breaker, who are chatting about what to name the new unmanned machines they are planning to build. But his attention is to the commissary, where he gets his tray and food, now apparently better according to those Joes who joined before him. He sits next to Blowtorch, Spirit, and Steeler, who all nod to him. "Yes Freedom, one of many faces approaches." Spirit says, after his eagle screeches.
Flint and the other two notice the Joes new female teammate walk by, now in an olive drab uniform and brown boots, which makes him think of her calling him a traditionalist, but something is off. "Saw the lass at the heli-pad...earwiah', but somfin's difvent...aboot her now." Blowtorch remarked with his mouth half full as he looked over his shoulder.
Flint furrowed his brow before standing, and walking in her direction.
"Where's he going?" Steeler asks.
"Me first guess be ta be apologizing, laddy." Blowtorch says, while Steeler just blinks.
After walking to another room on another floor, Flint finds himself infront of a door which used to be guest quarters No.6, but is currently known as "the Joe-ette's quarters" in a wooden sign. A cardboard square with "Keep out, Clutch, Rock 'n Roll, Snow-Job, Stalker, or we break something." is taped under it.
Flint knocks on the door.
"Who is it?" He heard her say.
"It's Flint, want to say something." He answered.
"...Just a sec, sir." She replied in a flat tone.
"Just Flint is fine by me." He said next, he hears footsteps move closer 3 seconds later, and the door opens a crack.
"You want me to call you so casually?" She asked, peeking out with her left eye.
"I believe i said Flint. Want to take back what i said before." He said, he sees her eye move about as she considers this, then she looks both ways in the hall.
"Very well, Flint." She tells him as she lets him in. He sees a Panasonic CT9010 infront of a couch, and two doors on the right of the room, with a mini-kitchen on his left. He can also see some of the rear of the base through the back window. He mentally pouts.
"Col. Abernathy was fine with me calling him Col. A, back in Washington." She tells him, mistaking his expression for being about her fast acceptance to his codename. "What's this about an apology?" She asked next.
"Oh, right; i shouldn't have said that back in the commanders office. Can you forgive me; Lady-Jaye?" He says to her.
She leaned against the wall for a bit. "...I accept it. Thank you, Flint." She answered as she offered a handshake, then walked to the couch and sat down.
"By the way, didn't you have a hat on half an hour ago?" He asked, making her turn and shake her head before reaching into the upper left pocket on her jacket.
"Here." She said, with a tired tone, and setting some ash on the table.
"Eh, what's all this?" He asked again as he walked over.
She glanced over to him and explained. Half an hour ago Lady-Jaye and Wild Bill were 2000 feet up in a Dragonfly. "Rarin' to go, little lady?" Wild Bill asks into his microphone.
"Not really, but no choice." She replied.
"If yer so scared a' heights, why be in'a aircraft?" He asked again.
"Because you can't look straight down in them." She replied before opening the canopy, and, slowly, getting out. She shrieks a little as the Dragonfly shook.
"Just minor turbulence, all norm...Hehe, ya done lost yer hat." Wild Bill says, wagging the brim of his.
She feels the top of her head before twitching an eye. "...I'll find it later. Geronimo!" She says, before taking a deep breath and jumping. After almost missing the point of no return, and touching down, she hands the parachute to some Green-shirts, and heads behind a bush to lose her breakfast. "Phew, i made it. Now to find that dumb thing." She says, as she walked in the general direction, not knowing that Junkyard found it first. The rottweiler chews on it before Timber shows up. The two have a tug of war before Timber wins...the right to empty his bladder on it. After a couple minutes, Freedom sees it rolling in a breeze. He dives on it and takes it to a nest he made, a female eagle then shows up, but is apparently not impressed, and flew back off.
Freedom then took off again to let it fall and takes a dump on it once it lands. A minute later and two miles away, Thunder is practicing with a F.L.A.K., with Zap supervising him. He lets off a round which finds it's mark...a Cobra Stinger, with the hat snagged on a rocket...with Lady-Jaye watching from the Dragonfly. "Did you see what he...I just got that hat, damn you both to hell!" She shouts down, and sees the two look up before saying something to each other, then wave due to the distance between them, making her grind her teeth.
Back to the room.
"That must have been rough." Flint says, as he looked down to her.
"It was. Not a good start, but compared to losing it while still wearing it..." She replied, and sighs.
"Maybe i can take your mind off it." He tells her, and she turns her head to him, asking how. "This way, for one thing." He answered, as he rubbed her shoulders.
"...Do-don't think this-ohh-this'll get you any brownie points with me." She says as she shuts her eyes and groans.
Outside the room, Cover-Girl and Scarlett were both pressing an ear to the door, blushing at whatever they hearing. "Brownie, huh?" Cover-Girl says, with a smirk.
Chapter one. Read and review.
