Ok, here is the first chapter to this story and hopefully the others will be just as good as this one. I hope this chapter is detailed enough for some of you, if not, please tell me and I will go and add more detail-by-detail stuff.
I don't own any part of G.I. Joe or any of its characters...but if I did, Snake Eyes would be helping me write this. I do own any Oc's or random people or things in the story.
Thoughts will be in Italic and underlined...and Sign Language and things written on paper will be in Bold and Italic.
Hope you all enjoy...cheers!
.~:*:~.
I jolted awake, screaming and sweating from my nightmare of the painful past memories, my glock was in my hand and slightly shaking. Wincing in pain from my back and shoulder, scarred from the blast from when they caught fire and shrapnel shredding them. More than half of my right arm had been too damaged to save, so it was amputated at the shoulder.
After that mission and all my surgeries to save my life, I was honorably discharged and was awarded with a Silver Star and Purple Heart for my bravery. Once I had recovered to a point where I could go on with life without help from nurses, I wanted back in, to take charge of my team again and to serve my country…..but my superiors said no.
A year had passed since my request to go back and serve, when a man had came to me, offering me a job to serve my country once again. He told me he could use my skills in his top dog team of skilled soldiers and said he would work on giving me a new arm, one that was better than the prosthetic one I already had. I asked what the catch was, he said there wasn't one, and just that he thought I could be addition to his team. I agreed on the spot…that day was two years ago.
Getting out of bed, I went to the bathroom and took a quick shower to ease the pain in my back and shoulder. Thanks to Breaker, the techie on the Alpha Team, I had a new arm. He had made me a brand new robotic right arm, 'best military money can make', he said. I sighed and stripped down once the water got hot and stepped inside, shivering at how good the water felt on my scorching back.
Once I was done with the ten minute or so shower, I stepped out and got dressed into a simple tank top and sweat pants. I popped some pain killers into my mouth, swallowing them a bit painfully without the help of water, then I went and laid back down to get more sleep… Or so I had hoped. Someone knocked on my door just as I had lain down. I looked over at the clock which read 2:43 A.M. and I still had about 2 hours 'til wake-up call and breakfast.
Groaning, I got up and answered the door to see Scarlet, the one female on Alpha Team other than me. She stood there with an electronic pad in her hands, "Time for training…get ready." I respected this woman to a point because she was the only other women on a team filled with guys, which I didn't mind at all, but this was crazy for training this early.
"It's almost 3:00 A.M. Wake-up call isn't 'till 5:30," I was agitated from the fitful sleep from my nightmares and the pain in my back. Taking away my sleeping time was like taking candy away from a five year old. Easy to do but the consequences wouldn't be worth it. I was going to be in a bad mood today. A very bad mood.
"Snake wants to train with you at 6 for your one-on-one time after breakfast and I wanted to snag you for basic training before that since Heavy is training with you for the whole afternoon," she put a hand on her hip with the same tone of voice I gave her.
"Fine….but you owe me," I finally answered, knowing I wasn't going to win the argument. Not this one, besides I was to tired to try and argue my way to winning.
.~:*:~.
By the time I had to go and train with Snake Eyes, I was already sore and tired. Apparently Scarlet wanted me to do more than just basic training by doing difficult speed courses and accuracy simulation, which I got hit twice by the stun blasts. The levels she set the stun at were higher than what I usually trained at and was insane by my standards. Which happened to be insane themselves.
As I walked over to the area where Snake was training, I saw that he was still teaching his first class of the day and by the looks had only started an hour ago. I decided to sit and watch the recruits spar with each other. Apparently as I sat there on the sidelines, I sensed someone looking at me so I looked around and saw Snake Eyes staring at me, almost as in thought. I stared right back at the silent ninja til' his head turned towards the mat when one of the male recruits bested the other by throwing the second guy to the ground, I looked up as well. When the two walked off the mat, Snake motioned for me to come over to him with a jerk of his head as he walked to the mat. I got up and walked over to him, taking off my heavy boots before walking onto the mat.
Over the course of the two years I had been here and seen Snake Eyes use ASL to communicate with others, I started to pick up what he signed and started to teach myself along with one or two basic lessons from the silent man. The lessons I did learn were rare and in turn provided to be helpful, to a point.
Stopping in front of him, he signed to me using basic symbols for me to understand so he wouldn't have to pull out his pen and paper. Once he finished, I nodded once, once I got the gist of what he was trying to tell me.
"Which one do you prefer me to go against?... Since I am a few classes ahead of them," He pointed to a recruit that hadn't yet spared and motioned him over. One thing I did know was that this was going to be easier than I thought, at least for now.
.~:*:~.
I slightly panted as I threw the recruit onto the floor then quickly got into a defensive position. This was the fifth recruit I had went through in the hour and a half since the first. I wasn't quiet sure who was trying to prove something; me to see how good my training was or Snake Eyes to show the recruits at how much there was to learn and to train hard.
Snake Eyes stepped onto the mat to show that this 'battle' was over. He helped the young man who was wheezing from having the wind knocked out of him, and over to the others who took him from there. Snake Eyes looked back over at me gave a nod of approval for my performance but for some reason, I couldn't resist the words in my head as they spilled out of my mouth.
"Whats the deal Snakes? Trying to see how good I am, before I kick your ass?" I realized what I said and clamped my hands over my mouth as he turned towards me fully, his head slightly bowed and tilted to left, almost in a threatening and scary way. Like a warning almost. He was trying to make me back down so I stood tall.
Before I could speak to take back my words or take back the fact I stepped up to his challenge, Snake Eyes got into a fighting position and motioned for me to do the same, obviously implying me to put my actions where my mouth was. I gulped slightly as I slowly got into a stance, people started to crowd around. If I was going to talk the talk, then he was going to make me walk the walk.
"Can we just...I don't know, talk this over...maybe over some TEA!" Screeching the word 'tea' as I spun to the left to dodge his punch I had to then ducked out of the way from his round house to my head. I rolled several times away from him and got to my feet but only to receive a blow to the side of my arm from his booted foot which sent me stumbling to the side but quickly caught myself. Huffing, I straightened, clearly not going to be able to get out of this and running away was not an option. "Just going to have to take the beating...me and my damn mouth..."
.~:*:~.
"Owww..." Putting up and fighting with smart mouthed recruits was easy, but being over confident and fighting Snake Eyes was another thing all together. I had bruises everywhere and they hurt, it seemed that even those bruises had bruises. "Note to self, don't taunt our ninja..." I told myself as I laid down on one of the Rec room couches, ice packs on my more painful spots.
Two men walked into the room and were laughing at some joke they shared. "So I hear there's a midget on the team that wasn't present when we got picked up," An African looking man said as he and another man, guessing that was his friend and maybe American, walked into my peripheral vision but they obviously didn't see me. "I wonder if she's cute like the red head," He kept talking, both of them chuckling as they went to go bench press a few weights.
Feeling that they were talking about me, I decided to step in. "Why don't you ask her yourself,"sitting up, I looked over at the two, obviously shocked and surprised by my presence. By what anyone could have guessed but the feeling in gut told me it was my height which was just and inch under five foot. "And I'm a legal midget for your information, just under five foot, and the reasons for me being absent during what your talking about is none of your business," I stood proudly at my height and words then winced when I moved to much. "Oww."
"HA!...legal midget my ass. You have to be at least four foot two," the black man laughed as he supported himself on his friends shoulder so he wouldn't fall over laughing, I pouted and glared at him.
"And you have to be the biggest ass in the world..." I retorted. His friend on the other hand elbowed him in the gut hard, well, just enough for him to fall to the floor in pain.
"Ouch baby...that was cold..."he breathed through gritted teeth.
"I'm Duke," The black mans friend said as he stepped over him and held out his hand. "Sorry for his behavior, he just doesn't know when to act like a man," I giggled at his remark to the man on the floor. "He has the mental span of a four year old on candy," Duke told me as he leaned over so his friend couldn't hear.
"I am not!" The man shot to his feet and pushed Duke out of the way and smiled a cheeky smile as he took my hand in his and kissed it.
"Names Ripcord, but you can just call me Rip and him 'Mr. Grouchy Pants',"he told me and I giggled as he shot Duke the stink eye then stuck his tongue out and gave him a raspberry. Rip got roughly nudged out of the way by Duke as he shook my hand.
"Warner...Amber Warner. I'd give you my code name but unfortunately I have yet to come up with one, nor have I been given one, seems everyone is just fine by calling me by my real name," I said after shaking both their hands. "You two must be the one's who brought the warheads...and blackmailed your way in," I stated to both men as they looked away sheepishly, as if caught red handed by stealing out of the cookie jar. When Duke was the first to look back at me, I caught him staring at me. I followed his line of sight and found where he was looking, my right arm, my robotic arm. Feeling uncomfortable from his staring, I covered my arm up with my hoodie by pulling the sleeve down which snapped him out of his trance of starring.
"Sorry...you must be that Amber, Major Amber Warner," He gave me a look of pity as he spoke. "What you did for the price you paid is...amazing. It's an honor, ma'am,"he gave me a salute in respect and I gave him a sweet smile in thanks.
"We all pay in some way or another. I'm just glad it was me and not one of my men. I'd hate to have to have given their families the bad news and losing someone so young," I smiled again, this one more soft and caring. Just as I was about to say more, Rip wrapped an arm around my shoulders and lifted up my right arm and inspected my metal hand.
"So not only are you a midget-"
"Legal midget," I interrupted.
"-Whatever, but your also part cyborg,"he laughed but didn't' get far as I elbowed him hard in the gut with my metal elbow, sending him to the floor again to wither in pain and knocking the wind from him. Duke chuckled at this, seeing that his friend deserved it for insulting me.
"So it seems you went toe-to-toe with the ninja," Duke motioned to the fist sized bruises on my cheek and the ice pack on the table, both of us walked away from the still withering man on the floor behind us.
"Yeah, first recruits from warm-ups then him as the full on assault, and some advice, don't taunt the man. He has a killer round house," Remembering the kick to my head towards the end of the fight that I had blocked with my arms, which the left was now bruised. Just then, as if on Que, Snake Eyes and the rest of Alpha team walked in.
Duke excused himself from me and helped up his friend as I went back to the couch I had been sitting on and sat back down as Breaker sat next to me. "Time for a checkup?" I asked him, he nodded as he pulled out his laptop and the cable that connected to my arm and his computer. Within minutes, the Moroccan man had me take the hoodie off and everything hooked up to my arm and was typing swiftly away on his keyboard. As I sat there, bored and in pain, a small bowl of bananas and peanut butter was in my face. I looked up and saw Snakes visor looking down at me. "I take we are still friends?"he nodded and handed me a fork as I took the bowl. "Thanks, you always know how to lift my spirits,"he gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze and went to his corner to meditate.
I was only into my third bite when General Hawk walked in. "General on deck!" Heavy Duty boomed and everyone stood at attention. I slowly arose from my spot so the wire wouldn't be pulled out, I set my delicious snack on the coffee table next to me.
"At ease," Hawk smiled and looked towards me. He was always on edge with me because of my slight disability and always looked out for me just in case, it made me feel like I was family to him. "As everyone knows, Duke and Rip are now going to be a part of the team, if they get good scores on their training, but none-the-less they are still part of the team. Amber, when you and Breaker are finished, I would like you to show them to their rooms," I gave him a slight nod. "As for the mission, team, you all did well. I would like a page report and you're all free to have a day or two to rest," He announced then gave a curt nod to everyone then left.
I heard Duke and Rip give a small sigh of relief and smiled at each other then looked at me. "You mind if we wander around before you finish up?" Duke asked me. I replied with a simple nod and sat back to enjoy my snack and for Breaker to finish up.
.~:*:~.
By the time Breaker had finished, it was only me, him, Heavy, and Snake Eyes left in the Rec room. It had gotten so late that Scarlet obligated to show Duke and Rip to their rooms. "Finally done," Breaker told me as he unhooked the wire and packed up his stuff. "Why did it take so long?" I asked as I stretched and rolled down my sleeve.
Breaker looked back up at me. "There was slight damage, probably from your friend giving you some generous pay-back," Breaker glared over at the ninja's back as he cleaned his sword then he looked back at me, worry on his face.
"Hey...just because you built this baby, which I am grateful for, it don't mean that you have to get so worried every time a grain of sand or a drop of water gets onto it. Besides, if you keep worrying, not only are you going to go gray sooner rather than later, we won't be able to test out how much damage it can take," I made a flexing motion with my right arm and patted it. "Anyway, it is late and I'm turning in," I patted the techies shoulder as he sighed and left to turn in for the night as well. I went over to the small kitchen just as Heavy Duty left as well after closing a book he was reading. I started to wash out the bowl my snack was in then I felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking up, I saw Snake moved to stand next to me and took the bowl from me and set it aside.
"B.E.D,"he then pointed to the door then leaned against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at me. I pouted. "You're not my mother, I can go to bed when I please..." I responded and turned back to cleaning the bowl, knowing he was watching me. This time, he gently grabbed my wrist and put the bowl aside again and made me face him. He held up a small bottle of pills and I guiltily bit my bottom lip, knowing what he was slightly asking.
"I haven't been able to sleep well, okay? I told Doc and he gave me them, now can I please have them back,"I went to grab for them but he held them away out of reach. "Not fair Snakes..." I pouted since he was taller than me. He put them in his pocket then pulled out his pen and paper and began to write. "Great, another bad lecture is coming my way..."
"If it's the nightmares again, why didn't you come to me and talk?" He showed me the paper with his perfect and beautiful handwriting on it. "You know that talking helps, not hiding them away and taking pills to solve it. Talk to me Amber, I'm here to help, as a friend and not as a psychiatrist," He tilted his head to the side, already knowing he was looking at me thoughtfully but in a caring way.
"I don't know Snake...it just seems that even talking to you doesn't help at times, and I know. You don't have to give me that survivor's guilt lecture..." I looked down as I leaned my hip against the counter. The one thing I didn't expect, even from him, is when he moved and wrapped his arms around me in a comforting hug, his pad of paper next to him for me to see. "I'm always here...no matter what,"at that I hugged him back, savoring this rare moment since we were alone.
Hope you liked it.
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