Disclaimer: G.I. Joe and all associated characters and concepts are property of Hasbro Inc. and IDW comics. I'm just one of a large family of fans who likes telling family stories – no profit needed, no profit earned.
Continuity: IDW Dixonverse, circa the end of Snake Eyes #12, before he leaves Brooklyn.
"Shhh... look, right there. On the corner." Alondra peered out, ducked back, glanced out again. Snake Eyes watched, amused. "He's the one... the tall one with the Giants jacket. Ramon. He's on the football team, but he's not a muscle-head... he's smart, even though he don't act it. Asks me to help him study. I think he likes me, too..." She suddenly let out a strangled sound, halfway between an "eep" and a "ooo." She darted away from the window, turned her back to the door, pretended to rearrange the lemons in the produce bin. "I think he saw me looking... did he? Did he see me? Go look and see..."
I haven't had a conversation like this since fifth grade... the ninja thought, dutifully shuffling towards the window. He glanced down the block, away from the boys his young friend had pointed out, first; only after stepping out and checking the signs on the outdoor produce stand did he glance at the cluster of young men, now meandering in his direction, laughing and jostling. Come to think of it, I didn't even have conversations like this IN fifth grade.
He returned inside, allowing the girl to conspicuously inconspicuously sidle up to him. "Is he? Was he?"
"Hey, 'Londra..." The voice from behind made the girl jump a bit, and Snake Eyes gently stepped on her toe to keep her from making that "ooo-eep" sound again. Cheeks flushing, she turned to the speaker. Snake Eyes moved off a few paces, fussing with a display of cereal boxes.
"Hi, Ramon," the girl managed, her voice suddenly soft. She was looking down, but glanced up through her lashes at the boy. "You comin' home from practice?"
"Yeah." The boy sounded as bashful as Alondra, and Snake Eyes smiled to himself. Young love. He heard the boy's smile vanish, though, in his next words. "Shoot, girl, what happened to yo' face?"
The ninja's eyes jerked over, catching his young friend's embarrassed shuffle as she looked at the floor. The shiner she'd received so recently was fading, the bruises melting away - but they were still all too visible. The boy recovered quickly, though; seeing her discomfort, he offered a chuckle. "Hey, it's none o' my business, yo... but tell me the other guy came out lookin' worse? I know you do that karate stuff..."
Now Alondra tossed a glance to Snake Eyes. Oh, yes, they most certainly had, those Bang Six gang bangers... after "big brother Snake" got done with them.
"They won't be comin' round here no more," she told the boy, and he grinned, offering a fist-bump of victory.
"Heyyyy, THAT'S what I'm talkin' bout!" Ramon crowed, then glanced over his shoulder at the other boys who had followed him in. "Yo, guys, guess who kicked some butt? That's right... MY gal A-LON-dra, woo... oh yeah... smart AND badass!"
Alondra seemed both surprised and pleased at the attention... and by the designation as "my gal." Still, she lowered her eyes modestly, glancing at the Hard Master's raised eyebrows of irritation... visitors are not customers!
"Hush, you," she murmurred playfully. "I'm kinda workin' right now, Ramon. Don't make me kick your butt out the door."
"You would, too!" Ramon's gaze was clearly admiring, and he began to back away, miming fearful surrender.
If the girl blushed any harder, Snake Eyes thought, her face would set off the sprinkler system. They were saved from an imminent shower by Ramon's friends, hooting at him from the door. He waved them off, then grinned at Alondra.
"See you tomorrow?" he asked. "You gonna help me study for that chem exam, remember?" When she nodded, he grinned whitely and waved a farewell, trotting out to join his buddies.
When they were safely gone, Alondra twirled in place, face alight.
"He called me his girl!" she sighed. "He DOES like me!"
Snake Eyes heard a cough, looked to his master, who - despite looking amused by their young charge's twitterpation, was still the cranky shop owner who saw his employee not gainfully employed at the moment. Catching the girl's attention, he jerked his head towards the back of the store.
C'mon. You can talk while we work. Snake Eyes didn't mind helping the old man when he was in the neighborhood... there was something almost meditative about a task that did not, generally, involve slitting throats or blowing holes in peoples' heads.
Once in the storeroom, however, Alondra was still in a happy haze. She sat on an upended crate surrounded by the day's delivery of cardboard boxes and sighed, her expression dreamy.
"Take five, would you?" she begged him, patting a crate beside her own. "I know you'll be goin' soon... just want to enjoy havin' you here while you are. Master can't make you work every second, now can he?"
Oh, he can, and he WOULD... Snake smiled, glanced in the direction of the store, then took off the deli apron and sat beside her. But for you, kid, I'll risk a thrashing.
"You think he likes me? I mean, REALLY likes me? You're a guy... you'd know, right?" Alondra wanted to know. He screwed up his face, mimed deep concentration. "It ain't THAT hard to think about!" He continued his pantomime, lips moving in silent calculation, ticking off imaginary points on his fingers. Finally, he looked at her, gave one more pursed-lip thought to it, and nodded.
Yeah, he likes you.
"I knew it! Ooo... " Alondra punctuated the happy squeak with a quick hug before sitting back. She was, Snake had noticed, a very AFFECTIONATE girl. He wondered how the Hard Master fared, with his Asian reserve and crust of acerbity, having this girl around as often as she seemed to be.
"So..." She glanced at him sideways, a sly smile creasing her face. "What about you? There a pretty Mrs. Snake Eyes out there somewhere?"
He snorted good-naturedly, raising his left hand and wriggling the fingers. The girl smirked.
"Okay, no Mrs. Snake. Betcha got a lady, though."
Scarlett... Unbidden, her face came to him, and he felt the corner of his mouth twitch, though he continued staring straight ahead, as though contemplating the warehouse shelving. Alondra squealed, pleased. "You do! I see you smiling there... don't try to hide it!"
Chuckling, he dropped his chin, glancing at her sidelong. The girl scooted closer, grinning conspiratorially.
"She pretty? Bet she is..." Again, the smile he could not hide. Scarlett would like this girl. They had the same inner spark, the same way of working around his defenses. "You got a picture?"
He rolled his eyes. You're not going to let me be unless I show you, are you?
"C'mon, Snake... give it up. I showed you mine!" She bumped him with her shoulder, then looked up at him, eyes going Disney-princess wide. "Pleeeeeease?"
With a glance heavenward and a wag of his head, he dug out his phone, flipped it open. The image wasn't quality... just a screenshot, taken in an unguarded moment - her head tilted to one side, eyes serious, full of concern for him, but a soft, almost sad smile playing on her lips. Scarlett probably didn't even know he had it. But the life they led didn't really lend itself to such small, mundane pleasures as taking photographs, sharing snapshots. He would take what he could get.
He passed the phone over and Alondra took it gently, almost reverently, studying the image. Unconsciously, she reached up to touch her own hair.
"She IS pretty." Her head tilted, imitating the face on the screen. "Wish I had hair like that..."
Now it was his turn to shoulder-bump her, giving his best big-brotherly glance of admonition. He shook his head, winked.
No. You're great just the way you are, kiddo. She flushed, pleased, and passed the phone back to him. He looked at the image once more, caressing Scarlett's image with a rough forefinger before flipping it closed and returning it to his pocket. He didn't realize that he'd sighed until Alondra turned a speculative, serious gaze on him.
"You missin' her, being here?" He half-turned away, making a pretense of studying the shelves, then regarding the boxes and crates yet to be unpacked. When he looked up, the girl was still watching him. His lips tightened a bit, but he nodded, once. "Bet she misses you, too. I know I would."
The conversation was beginning to work its way too close to home. Hefting the topmost box, he moved off a few steps and began shelving cans of Asian mixed vegetables. For a few moments, Alondra remained still, then rose and moved opposite him, started to help in the chore.
"I'm sorry. You mad at me now?" He shook his head. "You gonna be away from her a long time?" He shrugged. Alondra became very quiet for a time, and the only sounds were the muted traffic noise beyond the door and the cans sliding into place on shelving.
"Hard Master asks me, sometimes, why I'm always hangin' around here, working extra time for him. Don't really want to tell him that my mama's in and out so much, workin' two jobs, three sometimes, it's like I'm livin' on my own. Sometimes, I don't see her for goin' on a week... maybe a couple minutes in the morning. Don't know when she'll be home or not. And even when she is home... she ain't, not really, 'cause she's always sleeping or watchin' TV." The girl sighed, took the empty box from him, broke it down. "She says she's doin' it for me, so I can go to a good school now, then get into college later. I know why she does it... but sometimes, it feels like she's doin' the wrong thing for the right reasons. I want to make something of myself, Snake Eyes... but sometimes, I want my mamma around me more."
Doing the wrong thing... for the right reasons.
In his mind, he saw Helix's face, the jungle dark and moist behind her. Saw the pain of betrayal in her eyes, eyes bright with tears despite the gun raised between them.
He thought of Scarlett, the last time he'd seen her without the ether of the internet between them. He'd been so focused on the mission, on the memories of Rangoon, that he hadn't even hugged her goodbye... and she, respecting his space, hadn't pressed him.
And her last words to him, faceless characters - Watch yr back.
He thought of the ones who called him "friend" rather than "brother." Iceberg. Alpine. Duke. Mainframe. Thought of how, even without blood oaths binding them, any one of those men would put himself in the path of a bullet for him. Just as he would do for them.
And he thought of Tommy.
Tommy, so different than the boy he'd known, no longer quite a friend but no longer exactly an enemy. That would, truly, make him a brother. He'd never had a real brother, but from everything he'd observed, something between friend and enemy, something bound by ties of blood and honor, fit the bill.
It's only for this mission. Only for this one mission... if I can take out the new commander, if WE can take him out, then it will be worth it. Then...
Then, what?
Would Tommy go back to the Arashikage, such as it was? Would he consider... something different? More honorable?
Could he find a place in a new sort of clan, or would he forever be an outsider?
Like I am. I'm G.I. Joe, but they don't like when I don't play by their rules. Hawk would have taken me out last time, if Mainframe and I hadn't gotten hard evidence. He was ready to do it to Scarlett, to make an example out of her, because of me.
They might not even WANT me back, this time. I'm a loose cannon. A liability. If I tried to bring Tommy into the fold, they'd have two of us. Hawk would just LOVE that... double the ninja, double the fun.
It might be better to... what? Stay dead? MIA? Go back to the clan?
But I'm not Arashikage, either. I left that life behind me.
Didn't I?
"You could stay here, you know." Alondra's voice was quiet, but there was hope in it, too. "With the Master. With us. It would be like a family, almost..." He finished shelving, moved to her side, and brushed her face, still bruised, with the back of his hand. She didn't look at him. "Maybe your lady would like that... you could maybe bring her here, teach martial arts, have your own dojang..."
He smiled, noting that she'd used the proper Korean term, rather than the Japanese "dojo." She looked up at him then, and in her hopeful eyes he saw the small girl he'd first known. The one who'd helped him, all unwitting, find his feet once more - find himself. She was a young woman now, walking the beginning of her life's path... but her hopes, her words, were still those of a child.
For the briefest of moments, he allowed himself to imagine it... a little brownstone apartment, just like this one, living quarters above, the business below. Sharing that apartment with Scarlett, if she would have him... Living a life he'd only seen on television, read about in books. A normal life. A family life. A life that didn't involve killing, or secrets, or death... He'd never been drawn to the city, always preferring the solitude of wider spaces, but wouldn't it be worth it, to have Alondra's bright spirit, the steady burn of the Hard Master's, so close at hand? Alondra would grow up one day... and, likely as not, marry and start a family of her own. There would be a future, with her bringing her children to visit, having holidays, birthdays to celebrate...
It was a fairy tale of sorts, painted in her mind... and he didn't want to be the one to remind her that fairy tales don't come true.
At least... not for people like me.
He shook his head... and she smiled, a bit sadly, and her eyes took on the understanding of the woman she would eventually become. There was wisdom there, wisdom she would grow into. She understood.
"I know. Just dreamin'. But... maybe, when you get your stuff taken care of, maybe you'll bring her back here for a visit? Your lady?" She paused, and he could see her calling Scarlett's face to mind. "I'd like to meet the kind of lady who takes up with a ninja. Kinda cool, you know? Would you?"
He hesitated.
"When you get your stuff taken care of..."
When, exactly, will that BE?
Ever?
The hope, the trust in the girl's eyes made the decision for him, and he nodded, warming at the beaming smile she bestowed on him. Remembering something from long, long ago, he raised his right hand, littlest finger hooked out, all others tucked. Alondra laughed aloud.
"No WAY... you tellin' me that ninjas PINKY SWEAR?" He nodded solemnly, mock-bowed to her, extended the hand again. She hooked her little finger in through his, tightened the grip. "Okay, then. Sacred ninja pinky-swear oath. If you don't keep your promise, I'll tell the Hard Master on you - and I betcha he'd chop off that little finger of yours!"
He snorted. From out in the store, a long-suffering voice spoke loudly, though apparently to itself.
"I suppose that, as the produce has been stacking itself and the dairy products have rotated without my assistance, an old man might have a moment for a cup of tea before the rush-hour crowd descends..."
Alondra shook her head.
"Old grouch. Come on, Snake Eyes... we'd best get back to work." Slipping her arm through his, she tugged him out into the store. Laughing inside, he allowed it.