Rising Starrs!
Author's Note: Hey folks! L1701E here! This chapter contains a very special cameo. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: "Put your pants back on right now, you insane fool!" - Me
Chapter 7: Rescue!
A desert island in the middle of nowhere
"Why me?" Cobra Commander moaned. The terrorist leader was sitting on the island, leaning back against a palm tree. "All I wanted to do was create an organization that would allow me to rule the world and bend it to my whim. And it ends up containing liars and sneaks that are worse than me, a squad of insane stupid smelly bikers led by a trio of psychotic siblings (and their own squad of crazy mutants)..."
"Caw!" A bird whooped as it flew overhead.
"Shut up!" Cobra Commander yelled, leaping to his feet and pitching a rock at the bird. He then sighed and slumped back under his tree. "I also got a mad geneticist who fancies himself a rap video dancer, a Scotsman who enjoys making me look stupid, an Eastern European broad who plots constantly, and I never get to finish my &$&$&$ coffee!" The Commander sighed. "You what it's like right?" Silence followed. "Yeah, I thought so. Thanks for listening to me. No else does." Cobra Commander turned, and it was realized he was talking to a volleyball with a red face painted on it. "Thanks, Wilson. You're the best."
The beach in Los Angeles
"I hope my brother is okay." Paul remarked to Cover Girl. The two, as well as Lady Jaye, were walking on the beach. Recondo was keeping an eye on the other Misfits as they went back to their beach activities. "He's done this before. He always does come back, but I can't help but worry about him."
"Don't worry, Paul. I'm sure he's fine." Cover Girl reassured. "And besides, Wanda's with him. She's one of the toughest members of the team."
"Wanda's the girl in red, right?" Paul blinked. Cover Girl nodded in confirmation.
"Oh yeah." Lady Jaye chuckled. "You know, the Scarlet Witch once defeated the X-Men by herself?"
"The X-Men?" Paul frowned in thought. "Oh, those mutant vigilantes."
"You know of them?" Lady Jaye blinked.
"Saw them on TV a couple times." Paul shrugged. "Quite a few of the street kids have heard of them. Reception to them out here is...mixed."
"Mixed, huh?"
"Yup." Paul shrugged. "Some people hate 'em, others are embarrassed by them. Me, I don't mind 'em so much. I think they mean well, it's just things tend to go wrong with them. Like they're cursed or something."
"Does seem that way." The tank driver nodded in agreement. She noticed the design on Paul's t-shirt.
"...What?" Paul blinked. "Something on my shirt?"
"I guess you like Kiss, huh?" Cover Girl deduced. The young mutant grinned.
"Who doesn't? They're the hottest band in the world!"
"They are a great band." Lady Jaye chuckled. "Heard their latest album?"
"Yup!" Paul nodded. "Managed to save up enough money thanks to busking to buy their new CD. I wish I could go see them at a show."
"You busk?" Lady Jaye blinked. Paul nodded.
"Yup. Craig and I like to play at the park. People put money in our guitar cases." The young mutant smiled. "You oughta hear us sometime. We play all the classics. People say I sound a little like Paul Stanley when I sing."
"You look a little like Paul Stanley, you know that?" Cover Girl remarked.
"Yeah, now that you think about it..." Lady Jaye cocked her head. "I can see a slight resemblance."
"Heh heh, thanks." Paul blushed, his head pointing downward. "I've gotten that quite a bit. It's the birthmark."
"Yeah." Lady Jaye chuckled. "It does help."
"I like it." Paul smiled. "Unfortunately, when we go anywhere where we have to be around a lot of people, Craig and I have to wear makeup to hide the birthmarks." He sighed slightly. "It's a shame. California is more mutant-friendly than many other states, but we still have our fair share of people who want to crucify me and my brother simply because of this." He pointed at his birthmark. "Well, these and the fact that we can fire laser beams from our eyes, and hypnotize people with flashes of light."
"Yeah, it is a shame." Lady Jaye agreed. "Mutants really aren't much different than regular people."
"Luckily, here in California, most people are cool with mutants. Anyway, I've heard that the Misfits live on an army base. Is that true?"
"Yeah, kind of." Cover Girl answered. "It's no ordinary base."
"No surprise, considering the Joes are no ordinary soldiers." Lady Jaye added with a chuckle. Paul observed the other Misfits interacting.
"I noticed that the other Misfits seemed to have known each other for a long time." Paul remarked. "Pretty close-knit bunch, they are."
"Well, they've been together for a long time. Some of them were a group before the Misfits were formed." Cover Girl replied. She told Paul the story of how the Misfits were formed.
"Wow." Paul mumbled in amazement. "That's some story. Sounds like some epic comic book." He then shrugged. "But who am I judge? I got superpowers."
"Yeah, we've become a little family, as crazy as it is." Cover Girl smiled. "Those kids drive me nuts at times, but I will admit...I have grown to adore them. You should've seen what they did for me on Mother's Day." Lady Jaye burst out laughing.
"Oh, I remember that!" The Ranger chortled. "It was great! I will admit, that cake was good, though. Didn't think that you could make a cake that was actually that good with those ingredients."
"Surprised me, too." Cover Girl chuckled. Paul found himself thinking about his former family, and it made the young mutant sigh.
"...You alright, kid?" Lady Jaye noticed the young mutant's slightly sad expression.
"Who, me?" Paul blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry, it's just hearing that story. It brings back some memories of things I would do for my mother." He sighed sadly. "You see, it's...it's been a very long time since I had a real family. I have my brother, but...but that's it. For most of my life, he and I were completely unaware of each other's existence. If it weren't for our mutant powers emerging, we never would've known." Paul drooped his head sadly. "My mom and dad were great to me. I miss them."
"I'm sure someday you'll find what you want." Cover Girl reassured the young mutant. Paul nodded.
"I hope so. Craig wants a family too, but he never admit it. He's very private, you see." Paul explained.
"...you said that you and your brother became aware of each other thanks to your powers." Cover Girl remembered. "How, if I may ask?"
"Sure." The tank driver's new friend answered. "Craig and I have a sort of psychic link. We can use it to communicate telepathically. Not long after we manifested our powers, we started seeing each other's memories. It confused me and really disturbed him." The wannabe rocker chuckled. "It's why he hates telepathy and is so paranoid around telepaths."
"I see..." Cover Girl nodded.
"You know, I still can't get over that birthmark of yours, kid." Lady Jaye chuckled. "It reminds me so much of Paul Stanley."
"They called him Starchild. My mom also called me that." Paul's face formed a sad, wistful smile. "But there was more than one reason she called me that. She and Dad found me on a starry night, you see. My dad would joke that I was a 'child of the stars'. You want to know one of my favorite memories? When I was five, Mom would read me a story before I went to sleep. And then she would say to me: 'Good night, little Starchild.'"
"Sounds like they loved you very much." Lady Jaye gave her young companion a sympathetic look.
"They did." Paul nodded sadly. "Then they died, and I had my inheritance stolen from me by some unscrupulous executives who didn't want me to have my money. They feared what a mutant would do with access to a huge bank account." Paul sighed. "That's how I ended up on the streets."
"That's some story." A female voice remarked. Paul, Cover Girl, and Lady Jaye looked up and saw Althea Delgado walk up to them. "Sorry if I overheard."
"It's alright." Paul waved his hand nonchalantly. "It's not exactly a big secret."
"It's a real shame." Althea nodded in understanding. "I would admittedly be a bit hard-pressed on what to do if I lost my dad, considering that I already lost my mother..."
"Your mother passed away?" Paul blinked.
"She's dead to me, and let's just leave it at that." Althea answered simply, trying to keep the harshness out of her voice.
"Uh..." Paul looked to the two female Joes he was talking to.
"Long story, let's just leave it at that." Cover Girl explained.
"Oh-kay..." The young mutant scratched his head. "I get the feeling there's a strange story behind this."
"I lived it and I still don't believe it." Althea muttered to herself. She then shrugged it off. "So...it's been a while since you guys had a real home, huh?"
"Well...yes, why?" A blinking Paul admitted. A playful smirk danced onto Althea's face.
"Well, I was thinking." The aquakinetic explained. "You know, you could come live with us as a Misfit." Althea offered. "We could use more members." Paul blinked when he heard that.
"…Me? A Misfit?"
"Yeah."
"You mean, like fight supervillains and stuff?" Paul blinked. Althea nodded. "Yeah, but what about Craig? I can't join the Misfits without him. For most of my life, I never knew I had a brother until my mutant powers emerged and I gained access to his memories. I don't want to leave him behind. He's all I got for family."
"Althea..." Lady Jaye frowned. "Can we talk to you in private for a minute?"
"What?" The leader of the Misfits wondered as she, Cover Girl, and Lady Jaye walked a short distance away from Paul.
"Don't you think that now is not the best time to throw a recruitment pitch?" The javelin-throwing Ranger warned.
"Those Starr brothers would be great recruits!" Althea countered with a harsh whisper. "They have no home, and they'd allow us to have a more equal membership to the X-Men."
"Althea..." Cover Girl sighed. "This isn't a contest. We're not competing with the X-Men for new people."
"Oh, come on!" Althea groaned, throwing her hands up in the air. "Guys, you know that the X-Men have a huge advantage over us! There's more of them than us, and they have Cerebro, which means they can detect a mutant when their powers manifest, and we have nothing like that!"
"Airtight is working on a system." Lady Jaye sighed. "The X-Men aren't our enemies, Althea. And they're a school. A school is going to have a lot of students."
"But-!" Before Althea could elaborate her argument further, Paul Starr slowly raised his hand.
"Uh, pardon me..." The young mutant piped up. "I was thinking..."
"What is it, Paul?"
"Well..." The retro-dressed teenager rubbed the back of his head. "It's just this Misfit thing. I mean, I don't think I'd fit. Neither would Craig. I mean, I can't see either one of us fitting into the military. Craig's definitely not the type to follow orders and do what he's told, and well..." He bowed his head and rubbed the back of it. "...I don't think I'm the type of guy that can do 50 pushups on command. I'm a rocker, not a soldier."
"Actually, there's a Joe on base known as Rock 'n' Roll." Althea explained. "He's from California, and he's a bass player." Paul perked up.
"Really?" The young man grinned. "Craig might like to meet him, then. But as I said, I'm not really the type to do 50 pushups on command..." A spike of pain hit his head. "Uhn!" The boy winced loudly, falling to one knee.
"Paul, are you alright?" Cover Girl asked in concern as the Misfits' leader and the two Joes raced to his aid.
$&#$ VIPERS! Paul heard Craig's voice roar in his head. GO THE &$#$ AWAY! Althea heard her Joe-Com beep.
"This is Wavedancer."
"Althea, Craig Starr and I have got a bunch of Cobra Vipers on us!" Wanda was heard exclaiming into her Joe-Com. The communication device's display was showing a map with Wanda's location shown by a red dot. "Hurry and help us out!"
"Craig!" A panting Paul exclaimed, his eyes wide with horror and worry. "Craig! Something's wrong with Craig! He's in trouble! I heard him in my mind!" Althea ran up to Cover Girl.
"Wanda's just called us! There's a situation! She and Craig are being ambushed in a cafe downtown!" Althea reported.
"We gotta help them." Cover Girl ordered.
"But, what about me?" Paul wondered, pointing at himself. "Craig's in trouble! I have to help him!"
"Paul, we can't let you come with us on this." Lady Jaye explained, putting her hand on Paul's shoulder.
"You don't understand!" Paul exclaimed in desperation. "Craig's the only family I have! I can't lose him!"
"Paul..." Cover Girl went down on one knee and put her hands on Paul's shoulders. "I know you're worried about your brother, but you have to trust us."
"Yeah, dude." Althea smiled. "We're pros. We'll save your brother."
"Well..." The birthmarked young mutant scratched the back of his head. "Can't I at least come along? I have powers! I can help!"
"I don't know..." Althea frowned. "You don't have the training we have."
"I've lived in LA's streets for three years with my brother, Althea." Paul grinned. "I can face anything."
The cafe
Wanda and Craig had upturned a few tables to protect themselves from the tracer fire. Luckily for them both, Wanda's training and Craig's experience with being caught in gunfights allowed them to form a table barrier without injury to either of them. Craig fired his eye laser at the Vipers, causing several Vipers to drop their weapons as the laser burned their hands. Wanda peeked up to throw a hex-bolt here and there. Some hex-bolts caused Vipers to faint, others caused them to fall over, and still others caused their weapons to explode.
"There's too many of them! We can't hold them all back!" Wanda growled.
"No kidding!" Craig agreed, firing another laser beam, then ducking back down behind the table to dodge some bullets. "How long until your fellow 'Misfits' arrive?!"
"Knowing my brother, he should be arriving right about…" Wanda noticed a streak race through the Vipers, knocking them down. "Now."
"AAAAGH!" Several Vipers got covered in slime, and they got ambushed by Althea, Xi, Todd, and Trinity. In moments, Fred and Lance arrived, providing their own talents. In moments, the Vipers were all dealt with.
"Huh." Craig thought out loud, scratching his chin as he watched the Misfits thrash the Vipers. "The guys in my old gang would love to be able to use moves like that..."
"Good job, kids." Recondo complimented as he ran up to the scene with Lady Jaye, Cover Girl, and Paul. The three Joes were armed with military-grade assault rifles, which they had trained on the downed Vipers. Craig Starr glanced at the rifles, and scowled slightly. He knew some of his old gang would love to have weapons like the ones the Joes had...
"Craig, you alright?" Paul asked with worry as he tried to help his twin to his feet.
"Just ticked off as usual." Craig replied, pulling himself away. "Nothing you need to be concerned about. You know I've been caught in gunfights in the past. I know how to avoid getting shot."
"We're alright." Wanda nodded. "You guys arrived in time. We couldn't hold them back much longer."
"Where did these guys come from?" Recondo asked.
"No idea." Wanda shook her head.
"I think I can help with that." Paul grinned. "Both Craig and I have the power to hypnotize people."
Hypnosis, huh? Pietro started rubbing his chin. Just think, we gotta get these boys in the Misfits. We could have them hypnotize the X-Men and make them do silly stuff! And film it and put it on the Internet! Yeah!
"He's better at it, though." Craig added, pointing at his brother. "I'm better with the laser."
It fits. Wanda thought. Paul is clearly the less aggressive twin, so he'd be more likely to use a power in a more defensive way.
"We can use it to make them tell us where they came from." Paul continued. He walked up to one of the Vipers.
"What're doing, freak?!" The Cobra Viper snarled.
"This won't hurt." Paul smiled. His birthmark-covered eye briefly flashed with a burst of purple light. The Cobra Viper's eyes widened, then started to glow purple.
"Wow." Lance blinked. "That is something."
"That trick would make interrogations a helluva lot easier..." Cover Girl remarked. Althea smirked.
"See what I mean? These guys would make great Misfits!"
"What exactly is he doing?" Xi blinked.
"He's able to put people in a hypnotic state." Fred realized.
Ooooh... Pietro thought to himself, rubbing his chin as a smirk formed on his face. With that power, we can make those X-Geeks do some really embarassing things to themselves. The silver-haired speedster then noticed Wanda and Craig. He frowned slightly. Hmmm...I'll have to keep an eye on that Craig guy...
"Where did you come from?" Paul asked the hypnotized Viper.
"We came from a warehouse district." The Viper answered, his voice a monotone.
"Is that where you've been taking street kids?"
"Yes."
"Warehouse district, huh?" Craig frowned out loud. "Yeah, I think I may have some idea where they were taken off to. it's an area full of alike-looking warehouses." He shrugged. "Companies use that area to store various things."
"Can you tell us which warehouse they are in?" Paul asked the Viper.
"Yes." The Viper responded.
"Well, which one?" Cover Girl asked. The Viper told the group which warehouse to look.
"Good luck finding it." Craig scowled. "Who knows how anyone is able to keep track of what goes into which one."
"Are we sure that that slimy viper's telling the truth?" Recondo blinked.
"He is, Tarzan." Craig explained. "When someone's under our hypnosis, they cannot lie, no matter how good a liar they are." He shrugged. "At least when Paul's doing it. He's better with it than me. My laser's stronger, however."
"Hidden in a warehouse. How cliché." Althea sighed, shaking her head.
"Hey, if it works." Paul shrugged. "You'd be surprised what people do in those warehouses."
"I don't know." Xi scratched his chin in thought. "In my time as a Misfit, I have noticed that we tend to do crazy things all the time."
Well, well, well! Looks like GI Joe is on the move! What insanity will happen next? What will Cobra Commander do next on the island? How will Dr. Mindbender react to the failed operation? Does he really fancy himself a rap video dancer? Find out in the next chapter! Suggestions needed badly!