Chapter Four

Woods

Cardinal had stopped to listen for any other signs of someone nearby, and that's when she heard swords clashing. The young fire controller determined the direction and headed out to help Snake Eyes fight this Storm Shadow person. Just as she got to a clearing, she was dodging a shuriken and kunai.

"You are a fool, little Gaijin. This is not your fight, so leave." A voice said.

"You attacked my friends, Storm Shadow; you have to deal with me now." Cardinal shouted.

"Very well, if you insist." The hidden ninja said.

Cardinal was trying to pin down the direction the voice was coming from, but she soon realized it was a trick and dodged the blade of a sword. She flipped away and when she turned she saw that the ninja called Strom Shadow was dressed in white. He started toward her again and she was able to dodge every swing of his sword; that is until he pulled his dagger and threw it. The small blade hit its mark, Cardinal's upper arm.

There was no hesitation as Storm Shadow moved in to finish the girl off, but suddenly the white clad ninja's sword was stopped by another one. When Snake Eyes threw Storm Shadow back, he turned to Cardinal who was working on pulling the dagger out of her arm.

"I can help you, Snake Eyes. No one should ever fight alone." The fire controller said.

Figuring there was no way to get her to leave, he nodded and turned in time to dodge a couple of dragon stars, but they were heading for Cardinal. Once she finally pulled the dagger out of her arm, she quickly created a couple of fire swords. When the dragon stars made contact with the strange swords, they completely melted.

"You are an interesting Gaijin, little one, but that does not change the fact that you and Snake Eyes will die." Storm Shadow stated, an evil smirk forming on his now showing lips.

Cardinal didn't say anything as she let her fire swords disappear, but she stood ready to fight. She looked at Snake Eyes out of the corner of her eye and from the way he moved to fight, she knew exactly what he was about to do. When Storm Shadow started to move, the black clad ninja vanished, but Cardinal kept Storm Shadow's attention when she sent fireballs toward the killer ninja.

Storm Shadow was able to dodge all but one fireball, and that's when Snake Eyes took the opportunity to attack. He was able to pull a compact net and throw it right at Storm Shadow. As the white clad ninja was trying to get over the pain of the burn, he was wrapped up in the net and that's when Cardinal pulled something from her yellow belt and activated it in the villain's face.

"Knockout gas. We have to get to Miss Martian and the others." Cardinal said, dropping the bird-a-rang she had used.

Snake Eyes nodded and started running, away from the direction Cardinal had come from. She followed him and found that he was back at Duke's vehicle. He opened the back, and the young fire controller saw a motorcycle. When she looked at Snake Eye's body language and after he got on, she walked into the Coyote and got on the back of the motorcycle. He offered her a helmet and before she put it on, she activated her comm link.

"Miss M, how far are you from where I left you?" Cardinal asked.

"About 15 miles, I didn't know how far we'd need to be, so I had Bioship go at a fast pace." Miss Martian said back over the comm.

"Slow to a regular speed, we will catch up with you. Scarlett was right, it was Storm Shadow. He's a tough ninja to fight." Cardinal said back.

"Okay, just call out in your mind when you think you're in range." Miss Martian said.

With that finished, Cardinal ended the call and put her helmet on. When she held onto Snake Eyes' waist, he revved the engine and headed out to catch up with both teams.

YJGIJRYJGIJR

Coon Rapids, Minnesota

Inside the large building, Mr. Decobry was furious.

"Baroness, how did a bunch of brats break my encryption? Who are these children?" Decobry asked.

"I am sorry Cobra Commander. Before our men could get there, the teenagers were taken away by Flint and his Joes. Reports are that the rouge Joes helped two of the teens escape custody." Baroness said.

"One of those brats could be carrying the files; I want them captured and the files retreived." Cobra Commander said

"Storm Shadow left to intercept the teenagers and Snake Eyes along with the Rouge Joes." Baroness said.

"He had better return with all of their heads, otherwise I will dispose of his services myself." Cobra Commander said; his one visible eye in a death glare.

"Yes, Commander." Baroness said, and with that she left out to check on Storm Shadow's progress.

YJGIJRYJGIJR

Skies over New Jersey, 10 minutes later

The flight was very quiet, and everyone was worried about not only the four captured teens, but each team's resident ninja.

"I still don't like this Duke, I know that Snake Eyes can take care of himself, but I just don't think we should have left the girl there." Tunnel Rat remarked.

"Tunnel Rat was it….Cardinal trained with Batman in many different martial arts, including Ninjitsu. She may only be 15, but she can take care of herself." Superboy said; a slightly agitated tone in his voice.

"She's determined; I've only ever seen that in the military." Duke said.

"She and Robin lost their parents seven years ago. When Batman offered them a chance for fight crime, they took it." Miss Martian said. Just then her eyes started glowing. "Cardinal and Snake Eyes are here, I'm going to land now; the roads are empty."

With the warning, the Renegades prepared to descend, and it wasn't long before the back hatch opened up and a motorcycle entered. The shorter of the two occupants got off first and removed her helmet. Snake Eyes then dismounted and removed his helmet as well and walked with Cardinal to the front of the ship. Once the two were safely away from the hatch, it closed and the ship took off again for Huston.

"I haven't had that hard of a fight in a long time." Cardinal said as she sat down in one of the two new seats that Miss Martian had the Bioship make.

"Cardinal, your arm." Scarlett said when she noticed that the young fire controller's right sleeve had blood on it.

"Storm Shadow was quick; he threw his dagger and it caught me in the arm before I could react." Cardinal said as she looked at the wound she had forgotten about.

Miss Martian levitated a first aid kit to her teammate and the young Gotham hero grabbed it. Knowing that Cardinal couldn't do it herself, Scarlett went over and started helping.

"Thank you, Scarlett. Normally I'd close wounds like this right when they happen, but Storm Shadow threw a couple of dragon stars, and I had to react to that first. I completely forgot about the wound." Cardinal explained as Scarlett cleaned the wound and started to stitch it up.

"How could you close wounds in the field?" Duke asked.

"I'd singe the edges of it so I wouldn't bleed out, and it killed any infections too." Cardinal said as she looked from the wound to Duke.

"Dang girl, you are hardcore." Road Block remarked.

"I live in Gotham, that town is big on crime. I get shot at, cut or stabbed each day. After six years, you get use to it." Cardinal said.

"How could Batman let you guys fight crime at that early of an age?" Scarlett said, having finished up with the wound.

"I'm sure Miss Martian said something about Robin and I losing our parents when we were kids. Batman was like us, saw his parents get killed, and he saw something in us that told him we could handle the training and everything. He also knew that if he didn't let us help with his permission, we'd find a way to fight crime on our own." Cardinal said as she looked out the window beside her. "Miss M, how long till we get to Houston."

"About an hour, I can get her to fly faster if you want." The alien heroine said.

"Not at top speed, but as fast as you can." Cardinal informed her teammate.

YJGIJRYJGIJR

Houston, Texas; GI JOE base

It had been about twenty minutes since they arrived at the base, seeing as they had a police escort all the way from Connecticut to Texas they were going about 90 miles an hour. The young, captive heroes were put into a cell together with no weapons, and Robin's utility belt and gloves were taken as well.

"Why don't we just give them one of our comms, they can call the League with that." Kid Flash said as he was pacing in the cell.

"They'd think it was a trick, I say we wait and see if Cardinal, Miss M, and Superboy can find us. I just hope they don't run into those murderers that Flint mentioned." Artemis said.

With everything going on, Robin was quiet, all he could think about what that Flint had hurt his sister, and that if they do run into the ones Flint was after that they would be alright.

"All we can do it wait. I don't have my belt, and they took Aqualad's water bearers." Robin finally said.

"Robin is right, Cardinal and the others will find us, and we will prove that we are not in league with the fugitives." Aqualad stated.

Just then, there were footsteps heard and the four friends/teammates looked at the door and when it opened, Flint was standing there with four men behind him.

"Each of you will be spoken to separately. Men, take them to the interrogation rooms, General Hawk will watch each session." Flint said, and the men following him entered the room and each secured one of the teens.

Robin, Aqualad, Artemis, and Kid Flash were escorted out of the cell and down the hall.