In the bowels of the G.I. JOE headquarters, Scarlett and Clutch were waiting in the staging area, killing time before their next mission against Cobra. As usual, Scarlett was not exactly enjoying herself in the company of her least favorite member of G.I. JOE.

"Come on," Clutch whined, "I'm not really a prick, am I?"

Scarlett simply stared at him.

"You know what the problem with this outfit is?" Clutch said.

"That I don't like you?" Scarlett ventured.

"Well, that too. Fact is, you're the only girl on the team. It's just my luck that the only girl on the team finds me to be a rat bastard."

"Oh, you poor, sweet baby," Scarlett smiled at Clutch. Neither of them noticed two people approaching them.

"You know, we need a serious influx of chicks for G.I. JOE. I didn't exactly join the army to meet girls…"

"Well now, that's a surprise," Scarlett said mockingly.

"I just figured I might meet a few babes along the way… given that this is a time for equal rights. I'm all for women moving up in the world to take their rightful place alongside that of men. To that I say, bring it on, baby! But to have just one woman on this team is simply bullshit, know what I mean?"

"You met me," Scarlett said. "Isn't that good enough for you?"

"Hell no," Clutch shot back.

Colonel Hawk stopped near the two JOE team members, accompanied by a young, brown-haired woman dressed in a brown jacket. Hawk introduced the woman as Cover Girl. She was joining the team as the new operator of the Wolverine tank. Cover Girl and Scarlett greeted each other with a warm smile. Clutch also smiled and winked at Cover Girl as the two of them shook hands, and Cover Girl responded by giving him the evil eye.

"Nice to meet you… Cover Girl," Clutch said, liking the way the sound of her name rolled off his tongue. It was a sound he could get used to hearing from now on. Not to mention he didn't mind the sight of her hot, curvaceous body, either.

"It's gonna be a real pleasure working with you," Clutch added.

"Likewise," Cover Girl responded coldly. She and Hawk turned to walk in another direction.

Reclining in a chair, Clutch leaned back and put his hands behind his head. He looked at Scarlett and smiled.

"What do you know?"

Scarlett looked at Clutch for a moment and groaned in exasperation.

"God," Clutch said, looking upward toward the ceiling, "I love G.I. JOE. Thank you!"

At that moment, Clutch did not attach any special importance to this meeting. Cover Girl was nothing special to him; she was just another of many attractive women that he had encountered in his lifetime. Inwardly, he hoped that Cover Girl would be impressed by what he thought of as his macho charm and manly good looks. Judging from the frigidity of the reception he had received from Cover Girl, Clutch perceived that he had again made a negative impression.

Consequently, Clutch adopted a similar kind of attitude and posturing that he had maintained with Scarlett since day one. Clutch made all kinds of ridiculous, half hearted, sexist advances at every opportunity, knowing that he had nothing to lose by being himself, since he had no chance of impressing her.

"So you were a model in a past life, huh?" Clutch asked Cover Girl one day when they were alone together.

"Yeah, that's right, Clutch."

"Ever do any nude photography?"

Cover Girl blushed furiously for a moment, then composed herself. It was all she could do to keep herself from decking him.

"Why, how flattering that you take such interest in my work!" she said. She refused to dignify his question, which clearly rose from lewd intentions, with a response.

"Am I to take that as a positive reply?" Clutch said.

Clutch fondly recalled one of his most notorious moments on a mission with Cover Girl. They were both in a car, conducting surveillance on Major Bludd. They were on the hunt for Cobra Commander. In order to prevent Major Bludd from spotting the two of them, Clutch suggested to Cover Girl that they "make out." The appalled look of absolute aversion on Cover Girl's face was priceless. Clutch enjoyed needling Cover Girl so much that he decided at that moment that she would be his new favorite JOE. Of course Scarlett had a special place in his heart and always would, but he now considered it his patriotic duty to be friendly with the beautiful Wolverine driver. That way, she would feel like she was really part of the team! In Clutch's view, "being friendly" meant annoying Cover Girl with his incessant barrage of jokes and propositions. Cover Girl only put up with Clutch because she considered his advances innocuous and figured she could kick his ass if he ever got unduly fresh with her.

The new headquarters, "The Pit II," was being officially opened, and it was an occasion for celebration on the G.I. JOE team. While Roadblock and Gung- Ho toiled thanklessly on the celebratory feast, the rest of the team members, those on the decorations committee, sat around on their asses and generally killed time. Clutch and Cover Girl happened to be on the decorations committee together, and while waiting for Ripcord and Blow Torch to return from the mall with supplies, Clutch decided to pop his latest question to his new favorite target.

"Hey there," Clutch said with a friendly smile as he approached Cover Girl, who was walking toward the kitchen.

Cover Girl looked at Clutch and rolled her eyes in annoyance. She knew he was about to do something to piss her off yet again. What did he have planned this time?

Clutch spotted Breaker lounging on a chair in front of a computer, reading a tech magazine.

"Psst! Hey Breaker," Clutch got his pal's attention, "come here. Let's fill her in on our business proposal."

"Hah," Breaker laughed, popping a wad of gum into his mouth, "yeah. She's really gonna love it."

Uh oh, Cover Girl thought. She did not think she would like this one bit.

Both men began walking side by side with Cover Girl.

"Hey," Clutch asked Cover Girl, "you ever thought about a career in mud wrestling?"

Cover Girl sneered at Clutch in incredulous disgust, "mud wrestling?"

"There's a great league in the city for female mud wrestlers," Clutch explained with a straight face.

"I'm listening," Cover Girl said, her voice exuding sarcasm.

"Basically, all these hot looking chicks get together and mud wrestle, and guys bet money on the teams. You get some great tag team action, just like pro wrestling. Me and Breaker here were thinking that you and Scarlett could form a team to mud wrestle during off duty hours. We could be your managers. We figure you two would be great. You girls, with your army training, could wipe the floor with the opposition. You could kick some serious girly ass. Think of the money we could pull from this gig! Why, we'd all make a fortune. Ain't that right, Breaker!"

With a laugh that showed he didn't really care one way or the other, but clearly enjoyed being along for the ride, Breaker nodded and smiled.

"Oh, please do tell me," Cover Girl said with false enthusiasm as they approached the kitchen area, "how much money would you be getting out of this?"

"We'd split it half and half," Clutch said. "So you understand how it works, right, Cover Girl?"

"Sure I understand," Cover Girl said as they entered the kitchen, "you and Breaker manage Scarlett and me as a mud wrestling team, and you keep half the dough."

"That's right," Clutch said eagerly, "me and Breaker have to make something for setting this up, right? So what do you think?"

"Let me put it bluntly," Cover Girl said without looking at him, "drop dead, Clutch."

Clutch grinned good-naturedly. "Am I to take that as a negative reply?"

Clutch and Cover Girl went on like this for years. All this time, Clutch told himself that Cover Girl was nothing to him. As a matter of fact, there was currently no woman that he felt the least bit interested in, and it had been this way for many years. Years after his first meeting with Cover Girl, Clutch would one day look back on that distant memory and try to recall every minute detail of that event. Searching through his memories, Clutch would happen upon a small snippet of conversation he and Cover Girl had shared, and he held onto it, turning it over in his mind, analyzing it for its hidden meaning. As Clutch attempted to reconstruct the personality and the very soul of Cover Girl, he invariably recalled her as cold, unfriendly, and unapproachable. The lens through which he looked back on his first encounter with Cover Girl seemed to depict her against a backdrop of time that was brighter and more hopeful than the present moment.

Now, years later, it was New Year's Eve, and the G.I. JOE team was celebrating together in a nice restaurant and bar. As per his custom, Clutch shared a table with his buddies Steeler, Ace, and Rock 'N Roll. Grunt had long since departed from the team, and one of Clutch's favorite pals, Breaker, had been killed in action some time past. They drank together to times gone by and hoped for better days to come.

Somewhere across the room, Clutch could see Cover Girl over Rock 'N Roll's shoulder. Cover Girl was sitting at a table with Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Jinx, Hawk, and Stalker. The faint glow of the candle light on the restaurant table danced and flickered over Cover Girl's face as she smiled and laughed with the others at the table. There are moments in a man's life when he sees someone he has known for years, and he suddenly sees this person in a different light. Every day, a human being is subtly different. The external weather, the conditions of light and shadow, a person's mood… all conspire to alter that person's appearance. After years of looking at Cover Girl and seeing the same cold-hearted woman, something clicked within Clutch, and for the first time, he saw a different woman. He saw something in her, which seemed to have been revealed to him for the very first time. Or maybe it had always been there, but he had never paid close enough attention.

This woman really did seem different from the woman Clutch remembered. What was she like before? Clutch searched his memories but the details were irretrievably lost. Clutch now observed the way the light danced on Cover Girl's face. Her face shimmered like the surface of a reflecting pool. Clutch noted the blush of color in her cheeks. Her voice was confident and supple, yet concealed a hint of gentleness and sweetness. Her musical voice became precious now. It was something that came from within Cover Girl's very body, and Clutch felt if he held onto the sweet sound of her voice and mentally probed its various contours and folds, he could feel and sense the body of this woman who captivated him.

"You okay, Clutch? You look like something's on your mind." Rock 'N Roll said, looking concerned.

Clutch was shaken from his trance, almost unwillingly. He nodded at his friends.

"Sure I am, buddy," he said, grinning.

Thinking back now to the first moments when he had known Cover Girl, Clutch wondered if there was a time when he could have formed a genuine friendship with her. He wondered, are there moments in our lives when we are able to directly determine whether or not such and such person becomes our friend? On the train ride through fate, was there a stop that he had missed, which the train would never make again? How could he once again reach this remote but beautiful shore?

Clutch dwelled on these things as he felt himself appreciating more and more, the intrinsic beauty of Cover Girl.