Max and Monty Paoli had been frightening enigmas to any who ever had unfortunate encounters with them. They seemed to fancy themselves performers with the stage names Tomax and Xamot as they walked around dressed like graceful gymnasts who happened to be armed like soldiers. They made an art out of going hands on committing atrocities for the Cobra Commander. This was unnecessary, as their primary functions could have been to stand behind the scenes running Extensive Enterprises, yet they seemed to enjoy doing things on a lark, as if they fancied being seen, demanding the awe of the public. If they were to use the resources of Extensive Enterprises to fund terrorist operations leading to world domination, then they also wanted many to know them up close and personal and be amazed. Unfortunate marks would look stunned as they witnessed the odd palindromic pair pulling stunts out of vehicles or doing acrobatics off the sides of buildings or on water skis, only to end the show with nefarious demands. Sometimes they were horrors one wouldn't see until it was too late. Enemies of the brothers might hear them cackle like demonic children having good old fun times before being grabbed, taken on a wild ride and never seen again.
Though they were identical, most people had no trouble telling the two apart. They were each horrible in his own way. Tomax was often seen with a brooding dangerous frown. He had a snobby voice, dismissing a person easily if he couldn't use him/her for something, and he had a pervy laugh and murmur when he spoke that would give listeners the chills. Tomax had this way of leaving people unsettled when he'd try to sound dashing and clever, only to promptly attempt suicide doing something reckless beyond even his superior agility. Xamot would give a bloodcurdling shriek, as if he were being torn apart, and frantically run to his brother's aid. Witnesses would see such a bizarre spectacle they'd wonder if it was part of the act, and if so, how the brothers could pull it off so convincingly. Xamot was a man of volatile emotions. Sometimes he'd sweat down his brow and get this shrillness and uncanny lilt to his voice while telling a story, as if his feet were being lit on fire. A listener would freeze, wondering why he'd get like that when they were just talking about the weather. Both brothers would often break out into laughter for no reason, as if they could somehow share a wordless joke, yet Xamot's eyes could get wide and empty while he laughed without mirth. Nobody who spent time with them would have ever believed they would become men such as the Brothers of Light, calm and at peace with the world.
The sun was hanging a bit lower in the sky when the Brothers of Light started lazily rubbing each others backs. They had fallen asleep where they sat after lunch, which wasn't unusual for them. The brothers blinked in confusion as they were approached by Brothers in Red: Franz, Dennis and Isaiah who were escorting Mindbender and two others. What was he doing here? They looked into his mind and sensed he was impatient waiting for a decision from them. Oh yeah, that was it. They also knew he wouldn't express his feelings for fear of offending them. "Are you not enjoying our hospitality?" Tomax asked while Xamot stared at them sharply. They were both perfectly relaxed but would give the appearance of offense at a moments notice if required.
Mindbender changed the subject by introducing his colleagues. "This is the Baroness Anastasia Cisarovna..." he started, waving to a bespectacled woman with a dark, wedge shaped haircut. The twins needed no introductions, as they could read their minds. Anyway, they had seen her before. She was there some of the time when the doctor held them prisoner. They stared at her balefully knowing her thoughts were divided between wanting to hurt them for fun and having a desire to see them strapped down securely again with muzzles on for good measure. She had been unnerved by their ability to make her abandon her free will entirely, forcing into hand-to-hand combat with the doctor.
"...and this is my boss Adam deCobray." Mindbender finished, gesturing toward a man with most of his face obscured behind a mask. The twins could tell Adam was fascinated by them as he invaded their personal space. They saw in his mind a desire to touch them, and thought nothing of it, as they were forever surrounded by disciples who wanted to pat and fondle and admire them for their angelic beauty. Using their psychic gift, the brothers looked under Adam's mask and saw that he appeared to be about seventy, missing an eye and half his face from a degenerative disease. ..Ah, so he is the man...the doctor is hoping to cure with our powers... they thought. Nobody went unloved for long in the Temple of the Brothers of Light, and the brothers were enthusiastic about making it their top priority to give Adam their full healing attention.
"You may stay the night..." "..We will give you our decision in the morning.." the brothers said. They told the three Crimson Guard they weren't to be disturbed for the rest of the day, then turned their backs on all and walked to places none were allowed to follow. Alone once more, they reminisced on their old lives.
..If only we had our old Crimson Guard back.. Xamot thought, We've never had such an army that respected the power of our wills since. Tomax nodded. Many members of their old army were battle tested before being asked to join. The brothers never had it in them to murder someone outright, yet their commander had often used them as a scare tactic to punish his enemies. To be fair and merciful, as was their nature, they'd give the victim a fighting chance, putting him through a test of his might. If the hapless soul survived, then the twins would spare his life and offer him a position in their private army. Few survived and fewer dared refuse them. They were both enthusiastic about their Crimson Guard, training soldiers to be amazing in their own elite image, although they claimed it was all for the glory of Steve.
Steve was the real name of the Cobra Commander. Nobody was supposed to know the man's name or what he looked like, but the twins were able to figure it out by looking into his mind. Their psychic abilities had been unsophisticated back then, but reading a name was simple enough and to get an image of his face, they sought of memory of what the commander saw the last time he looked into a mirror with his face exposed.
Steve was like a father to Tomax and Xamot, seeing in them amazing potential that could aid him in his goal of world domination. He had used his connections to help sponsor them for their American citizenship back in the day. They showed him respect and absolute loyalty, allowing him to be their figurehead, though they knew they could usurp his authority at any time, being the ones controlling the money and resources. The commander was a volatile man who would berate the brothers and even strike them sometimes when they displeased him, but they would take it passively knowing that he trusted their loyalty completely. They weren't above making fun behind his back though. ..Steve...Steeeeeve.. they'd think to one another, subtly winking. Sometimes they would think too hard and perhaps project their thoughts into the Cobra Commander's mind in way he didn't comprehend. He'd suddenly get a chill down his spine and turn around, glaring at two identical men standing straight side by side with blank expressions. "Why do I suddenly have the willies?" he'd think, "It's not like they are doing anything, just standing there."
There were a few occasions when the brothers didn't accept his authority; those were during matters of each other. Once Cobra was involved in a rolling blackout scheme that would have made Enron look tame. Tomax had gotten himself arrested by the G.I. Joe Coast Guard while they were out sabotaging the energy supply with their control cubes. In typical Tomax fashion, he had carelessly allowed a soldier to come up from behind and put him in a choke hold. Xamot had fled, the uncomfortable pressure on his neck almost making him incapable of shouting words of encouragement. Later, the Cobra Commander and his cronies had stood frozen in amazement while Xamot jerked on the ground, mirroring the beating Tomax was taking in a remote location. The strength of their bond was such that Xamot had been able to pinpoint his location on a map. He expressed a desire to mount a rescue mission. "Absolutely not," the commander had said, "We need you here. Anyway, you need to stop being so dependent on each other. Tomax will be fine sitting in a jail cell for a bit. They aren't legally allowed to harm him."
Xamot stared at him in wide eyed incredulity, still smarting from the beat down he had received via the psychic bond. "You don't know what it's LIKE!" he said with his characteristic shrillness, "If they decided to torture Tomax, I wouldn't be any use to anybody! I wouldn't even see it coming! It could happen five minutes from now, five seconds.." He cringed, his eyes darting around wildly.
"You need to get your suit and power tie on and make sure Extensive Enterprises doesn't become connected to this!" an unsympathetic Steve had replied.
Xamot froze. "Er...um..yeah, that's another reason we need Tomax back. He is better at that kind of thing. I'm taking Crimson Guard to rescue him now."
The Cobra Commander waved his fists furious at the insubordination. "Don't expect me to bail you out if you get into trouble!"
"Of course you will!" Xamot snapped, "You won't get any funding from Extensive Enterprises without our approval. -Still leaving!"
There had been a man standing next to the commander during this exchange. He had a freakish metal plate over his face and was dressed like a pimp with a big campy red dyed fur ruff around his neck resembling the hood on a cobra. "Perhaps the Joe should have made the choke hold a little tighter. Then we could have had both of them out of our hair for awhile." he said.
"The thought of that makes me very happy right now, Destro," the commander replied.
Though he was out of view, Xamot flipped them the bird behind his back. "Oh, screw you, Destro and Steve Steve Stevety Steve..." he muttered under his breath. Then he had a terrible thought. He imagined the G.I. Joes getting out the water board. "Don't be a hero, dear brother. I'm coming!"
The Brothers of Light had a moment of silence, mourning the loss of Steve. He was gone now, died in an explosion shortly before they were brought to the temple. "Remember when Steve got angry with us and beat us over our back and shoulders with the pointer for the bulletin board? That was hilarious." Xamot said. Tomax nodded. It happened shortly after Xamot had rescued him. He hurriedly tried to do damage control, but Extensive Enterprises had already gotten a mention on the news in connection with the rolling blackout scandal. Steve had been livid. The brothers had pretended to be frightened of his wrath out of respect, running out of the room and screaming in high pitched voices like preschool girls to be funny. When they were alone, they started laughing like fools, then both had the same thought at the same time. They grinned at each other and said, "LETS MAKE STEVE PROUD OF US AGAIN."
Back at the Extensive Enterprises twin towers, the twins let out villainous laughs and said, "..We shall unleash the ultimate weapon..." "..that will create the biggest barking dog the world has ever seen!" Regrettably, they'd have to sacrifice one of their towers to do so, and they hoped the people who lived and worked in the structure would have enough time to evacuate before their rocket was detonated. The Joes would be able to stop it before it did more damage, -they counted on that- but that wasn't the point. They were hoping to use the massive property damage to spread misinformation that Extensive Enterprises was a victim of both a terrorist attack and corporate saboteurs who wanted to tarnish their good name. Both were pleased when their scheme worked smoothly.
Shortly after the tower went down, Tomax and Xamot were visited by Tory. "What did you do?!" she asked them, shaking her head with wonder.
"Don't worry..." "..we can share.." the two replied with a nonchalant attitude.
Neither brother knew, but their old psychic mentors The Six had held a meeting to determine what to do about them. Aurora and Mishael had demanded that they be evicted from the group and put to death for their many crimes against humanity. Things got heated when Petra and Donte spoke out adamantly against the idea, and offered to take custody of them. "We need to spend more time instructing them so they fit in with our ways," Petra said. Max and Monty were the odd couple out in every way. While The Six waited to find the fourth side of their pyramid, they never thought it would come in the form of two life-bonded males, brothers, who lived lives of randomness and misjudgements, to put it lightly. If they blacked out one side of their pyramid now, however, they'd have their long lives ahead to regret it. Their younger members hadn't even reached the full potential of their powers yet. They should be looked after.
"They aren't children," Tory had replied, "..and there's no way you could force them to be imprisoned. They'd struggle against you." She saw them as being more like natural disasters who went around causing havoc indiscriminately and without malice. They took a vote that came up four to two in favor of keeping them alive, yet all agreed that something should be done. The six of them had finally come to a very messy compromise that would satisfy their curiosity about what the brothers were capable of. They didn't have the right, but neither did Max and Monty have the right to mass murder people while committing acts of terrorism.
When Tory visited Tomax and Xamot that day, it was to both warn them and give them a second chance. "Disband your army and cut ties with Cobra," she demanded, "I have seen in the future that you will be murdered by your own friends." She knew she was wasting her energy. The Crimson Twins were full of themselves and their great power and were confident in their invincibility. -Or at least one of them was. She tried one more thing before leaving. "Watch yourself Max," she warned, "They will go after you first." Tory was satisfied with the terror she sensed was flooding Monty's mind.
The Brothers of Light were puzzled by that memory. It was the first time they had remembered that conversation with Tory since that bit of foresight had come to pass. Which of our friends...would have done us in? they wondered.
It wouldn't have been Steve, since he had disappeared in an explosion. They were confident is wasn't Destro or the Russian chick he was dating. They had been buddy-buddy with him, even hanging out sometimes. He was the perfect wing man, being in a relationship and having a freakish appearance. Nobody looked twice at identical twins dressed as figure skaters when standing next to a guy with a metal plate on his face. It wouldn't have been that Major Bludd guy. He owed them after they had his back and got him out of trouble. The brothers were sure it wasn't those dirt bag bikers the Dreadnox. They were on the payroll and would have lost a tidy income with their disappearance. Anyway, they would have seen them coming and could have easily dodged them. The gunman had come by in a nondescript black vehicle, kind of like what you'd expect FBI to drive, and took them by surprise while they were vacationing. What about that wild rocker guy Zartan? Nahhh...
When that last name came up, Tomax chuckled. "Remember when I pranked you?" he asked.
They had been helping Zartan, who was a master of disguise, pull a fast money extortion scam, causing mass hysteria with a supposed alien invasion. "I'm taking two specimens for examination," an alien costumed Zartan had said. Tomax and Xamot had used their acrobatic skills to make witnesses believe they were being beamed into a convincing UFO. Once aboard, Zartan and Tomax had conspired to quickly throw Xamot onto a table and cuff his hands. Xamot, who had a phobia against being restrained, got panicky. "Relax, brother," Tomax had said with ease, cuffing one of his own hands, "Our alien friend wants to do twin studies." Xamot did relax because he knew they were dealing with Zartan, who was a freak and always a lot of fun.
"You got me that one time. Jerk." Xamot said with a wry expression. They couldn't think of who would have shot them, but they supposed it didn't matter. Everything had turned out for the best, and there they were. Now, what to do about Mindbender? They supposed that would work itself out too, while they were busy not giving a damn at the moment.