She woke up the next morning in her own bed and the sun shining on her face. She instantly knew the same day had begun again. After she had left the base the night before, she had driven a few hundred miles until she had come to some small random town. She had found a liquor store, bought a bottle of tequila and checked into the first motel she had found. She had immediately opened the bottle and drank it until she passed out.
Now she was magically back in her room on base, dressed in her nightclothes, and had no hint of a hangover. Plus her now twice-dead lover was in the process of waking up beside her.
"What…?" he began but she cut him off.
"Eight-oh-three," she answered. "You better hit the bathroom now, because I need to talk to you about something."
He blinked a few times and opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. He got out of bed, went into the bathroom and returned a few moments later.
"How did you know?" he asked.
"Hang on one minute," she said as she reached for the phone. "Scarlett's about to call me to ask where the Alcatraz file is."
Almost immediately after she finished talking, her phone rang. She answered the phone. "Hey, Scarlett, it's misfiled. It's in with the Destro reports."
She hung up the phone and faced Flint who was openly gaping at her. "We only have about five minutes before Beachhead is going to order us to PT. I'm about to tell you a fantastic story that you're probably not going to believe.
"It has been Saturday the fourth three times for me now. I've had this day end twice only to wake up at the exact same time, in this bed with you by my side. The day starts off with you needing to pee, Scarlett unable to find a file, and Beachhead ordering mandatory PT. The day only gets worse from there."
Flint continued to look flabbergasted. He shook his head and then said simply, "What?"
"I don't know how this is happening, but I swear on everything sacred, that I am telling you the truth." Lady Jaye looked at the clock and then pointed to the intercom. "All Joes report for mandatory PT on the training field. The key words are 'all' and 'mandatory'" she mimicked in Beachhead's voice.
Flint's mouth opened wider a few seconds later when Beachhead's voice came over the intercom saying the exact words Lady Jaye had predicted. He slowly turned to her. "I think we need to see Hawk."
"How is this even possible?" Hawk asked a short time later after Lady Jaye finished telling her story.
"Could it be some sort of Cobra plot?" Duke asked.
"It wouldn't be the first time they messed with our heads," Flint added.
"But why only me?" Lady Jaye asked.
"Are you sure it's only you that is affected?" Duke asked.
"I believe it is. No one else that I've come in contact with the last two…" she paused as she tried to think of the appropriate word, "iterations seemed to be suffering from the same thing."
She brought her hand up to her head and rubbed. "I appreciate that you guys believe my story and aren't immediately calling for a psych evaluation."
"Trust me, Lady Jaye, that option hasn't been taken off the table," Hawk said gravely.
"Hawk, I can vouch for her," Flint said as he rubbed her back. "She honestly knew her phone was going to ring before it did, and she said verbatim what Beachhead was going to announce over the intercom."
She nodded. "Those are not my only tricks. Mainframe is going to inform you that the wrong computers were delivered. Clutch is still waiting on the parts he ordered, and Roadblock's shipment of beef was delayed. It's apparently a really bad day for UPS."
The three men chuckled, but Lady Jaye gave Flint a sad smile. She swallowed hard. "But that's not the worst of it. At little after one this afternoon, Cobra is going to stage an aerial attack. We're going to win the battle but…" she swallowed hard again. "Flint is going to be killed."
Flint looked visibly shaken. Duke exchanged a look with Hawk and then turned towards Lady Jaye. "Maybe this can be prevented. If we know Cobra's coming, we can be prepared for them."
"I tried to stop it last time, but it didn't matter. His plane had mechanical difficulties and…" she trailed off.
Hawk picked up the phone on his desk and dialed an extension. "Clutch, I want a complete inspection of Flint's Skystriker. His plane is grounded until you're done. What's that?" he paused and frowned. "Alright, I'll look into it."
He hung up the phone. "Clutch said his parts haven't arrived yet." He stood up from his desk. "Our first priority is the imminent Cobra attack. Duke, get all the pilots ready to go. Don't tell them about our special intelligence, but run a few drills so we know they are at the top of their game."
Hawk turned towards Flint and Lady Jaye. "For obvious reasons, I want you two to sit this one out. Brainstorm and try to figure out what the hell is happening here." He reached for the phone handset on his desk. "It seems that I have a few calls to make."
Duke, Flint and Lady Jaye left Hawk's office and walked out into the hallway. Once they reached the corridor that led to the airfield, Duke stopped. He turned to face Flint. "Dash, buddy…" he grimaced as he tried to figure out what to say next.
"Duke, don't even tell me you're trying to think up an appropriate goodbye speech," Flint said with a smirk.
"You're an ass," Duke replied and shook his head. "But you are a good friend." He pulled Flint into a hug and patted his back.
Lady Jaye got choked up and had to turn away. She brought her hand over her mouth and willed her emotions to stay in check.
"Al, it's going to be okay," Flint said softly as he put his hands on her shoulders.
"I want to believe that," she said. She took a deep breath and wiped at the dampness in her eyes. "I'm sorry I had to tell you."
Flint grabbed her hand and led her to one of the doors. He knocked, and when there was no response, he opened the door and the two went in. They were in one of the computer rooms. There were several of these generic offices throughout Headquarters for use by any of the Joes without their own personal office space.
He sat down at the edge of the largest desk and pulled her close. He wrapped his arms around her back and leaned it to kiss her. Lady Jaye lost herself in the moment. She hadn't had a chance to kiss him since the morning it all started. She wanted to savor every sensation. The feel of his lips against hers, the roughness of his chin irritating her own, his hands rubbing her back.
When he pulled away she groaned. "Don't stop," she pleaded.
He looked over her shoulder. "In that case, we're going to need to find a room with a lock." He ran his hand down her face. "Did you really watch me die twice?" he asked.
She nodded and the images came flooding back. "It was awful."
"I bet it was. This time will be different. We're all working together to prevent it." He leaned in again to kiss her but they were interrupted by the door being thrown open.
"Oh! I'm sorry," an embarrassed Dial-Tone said.
"Don't worry about it, we need to get to work anyway," Flint said.
Lady Jaye walked over to one of the computer terminals and stared at it blankly. "Any ideas as to where to start looking?" she asked Flint.
"How about all the intel we have on some of Cobra's more unusual weapons?" he suggested. He then turned to Dial-Tone who had sat down at one of the other computer stations. "Hey, DT, why are you in here? I thought you computer geeks had a state of the art lab?"
"We do. Unfortunately, it's in the process of being overhauled. Mainframe and I spent all night backing up and shutting down all the systems because the new units were going to be delivered this morning. Well, they came and can you believe they sent us Macs? I thought Mainframe was going to have an aneurism when he opened the first box."
Lady Jaye chuckled. As she began to scan through the first of many documents, she tuned Dial-Tone out as he continued his story. She knew she was looking for a needle in a haystack, but she wasn't even sure she was at the right farm. At least she felt like she was doing something.
An hour later she was almost cross-eyed and no closer to her answers. Dial-Tone had left a half hour earlier, and Flint had commandeered his computer. When she walked over to see what he was doing she chastised him for what was on his screen. "Spider solitaire? That's productive."
Before he could answer, his phone rang. He answered it and was silent for a few moments before telling the caller he would be right there. "That was Clutch. He wants me to take a look at my plane."
They left the room and headed for the Skystriker hangars. On the way outside they passed Ripcord and Scarlett. "Hey guys!" Ripcord said. "Roadblock's lunch got canceled so we're heading out to Joe's. Do you want to come?"
"Maybe in a little bit," Flint answered. "I've got to look at something first."
As they walked away, Lady Jaye wondered if leaving the base was the trick to changing the outcome of the day. "Flint, I think we should go with them."
"Okay," he answered. "Let's just see what Clutch has to tell us and then we'll go."
They walked into the hangar and Clutch immediately ran up to them. "Flint you are one lucky son of a bitch. If you took this plane up it would have been a disaster." Clutch then brought him over to examine the Skystriker.
Lady Jaye watched from a distance. She was beginning to feel the sense of dread again. She looked at her watch and gasped when she saw it was already after one O'clock. A short time later, the general base alarm sounded and the hangar went into overdrive. Lady Jaye took a few steps back to stand against the wall, and out of everyone's way. She hated that a battle was happening and she was going to stand idly by.
Flint walked over towards her. "I don't like this. I don't want to just stand here and watch everyone else work."
"I know. I was just thinking…" she began but an explosion cut her off. A flash of light blinded her. She felt Flint push her down to the ground and cover her with his body. A second smaller explosion rang out, and then all was quiet.
She tried to sit up, but Flint was dead weight on top of her. She put her hand on his shoulder and shook him. "Flint? Dash? Are you okay?" she intuitively knew the answer to the question. Her fears were confirmed when she ran her hand down the back of his head and felt that it was wet with his blood.
A couple of hours later she sat alone on the roof of Headquarters. From her vantage point she could see the smoking ruins of the hangar. A Rattler had crash landed into the building, and ignited one of the fuel lines. Several of the Joes had been injured, but Flint had been the only one killed.
The whole series of events was incomprehensible. Not only was she forced to relive the day, but also it seemed as if Flint was destined to die each and every time.
"Lady Jaye," Duke said quietly from behind her.
She turned and gave him a sad smile. "How are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm okay. I'm more worried about you, though."
"I'm trying to make sense of it. I thought for sure keeping him out of that plane would prevent his death." She sighed. "I just realized that not once during these days have I told him I love him. I need to remember that for tomorrow."
"He knew," Duke replied. "We had a conversation about it once. He told me that there were times he wondered what you saw in him."
Lady Jaye smiled and looked at the ground. "Believe me, I asked myself that question several times." The tears began anew. Duke put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.
"So do you think the day will start over again?" he asked once her crying was reduced to a whimper.
"I don't see why it wouldn't. And I'm at the point now that I'm hoping it does. I feel like if I can just get the day right, stop his death from happening, that everything will be okay."
"Did you have any luck with your research earlier?" Duke asked.
She shook her head. "No. But the problem is what to look for. It's not like there's a lot of reputable sources on the internet that deal with a repeating day."
"What about the Cobra angle?"
"If it is Cobra's doing, the best theory I have is that this is all a fantasy. Either I'm stuck in one of their nightmare devices, or I'm a prisoner living in one of their synthoid worlds. However, I have yet to come into contact with any member of Cobra except for the nameless Cobra troopers in the Rattlers. If they're trying to get any information out of me, they are taking their time doing it."
She stood up and stretched. "Thanks for the company, Duke. I'm going to take a walk and think."
As she walked around the headquarters' grounds she debated the possibility of being trapped in a simulated world. The more she thought about it, the more feasible it became. When she went to bed that night, she decided that if she was stuck in a simulation, she was going to get as much enjoyment out of it as possible.