Thanks for the support. I'm finally getting somewhere. Happy holidays to everyone!

I do not own anything... not even a sense of humor.

Cover Girl eyed the gun warily. "What are you going to do? Killing me will only delay you."

"Believe me, I don't want to, but I can't have you runnin' around, now can I?" The fake Beach Head cocked the gun. Cover Girl stiffened. Beach Head seemed to hesitate.

"Yo Joe!" A squawk came from above. The next thing Cover Girl knew, green feathers and claws covered Beach Head's face.

"Polly!" Cover Girl cried with relief. Beach Head managed to knock Polly back but the gun was kicked out of his hand. Cover Girl's fist connected with his face. He staggered back. Cover Girl lunged for the gun, grabbing it with a forward roll. When she turned around, he was gone. Cover Girl uttered a curse before quickly going to check on Polly. The parrot had gotten back on his feet. It was dazed but unhurt.

"Polly, I could kiss you." Cover Girl carefully picked up the bird.

"Awk, Polly prefers crackers." Polly whistled moving to her shoulder.

Cover Girl chuckled a little. "Shoot, I need to warn General Hawk." Remembering the cut phone lines, she rushed outside. Bumping into some green shirts on duty, she borrowed their radio. "General, Beach Head is fake. He's probably a synthoid." She filled him in on what she knew.

"There's another fake, awk, another fake. Polly is a fake" Polly squawked into the radio after she was done.

Cover Girl heard the General swear. "Listen Cover Girl, we need to find him. We think he downloaded some sensitive information. We need to find him before it leaves the base. I'll have someone find Shipwreck. He could be in danger if that Polly is from Cobra. We also need to figure out what happened to Flint and Beach Head."

"Flint is alive, alive. So is Beachie, awk." Polly confirmed.

"Well, at least that's some good news." Hawk growled. "Cover Girl, go back to the medical building. See if you can find Doc and the others. Make sure they are okay. I'll send someone to help you in a minute."

"Yes, sir." Cover Girl answered. She turned to go back but Polly hopped off her shoulder and into the sky. "Wait! Where are you going?" Cover Girl called out. But Polly disappeared into the sky. Cover Girl bit her lip for a second before she ran back to the medical building. She knew Polly would look for Shipwreck. But she had to look for the missing Joes. Entering the building she went back to where Timber was lying. The wolf was starting to regain consciousness.

"Hey, boy. You okay?" Cover Girl stroked the wolf's head. Timber whimpered before trying to get up. She waited for him to get onto its feet. He looked at her curiously. "Come on boy, go find Snake Eyes." Timber barked before running out the door. Cover Girl wasn't sure he understood her but she followed nonetheless. Running through several corridors, he stopped at a door. He circled around and looked at her. Cover Girl opened the door. Lying on the floor was Doc and Snake Eyes. Bending down to check on them, she caught a flash of light from the vents. Quickly checking that Doc and Snake Eyes were still breathing she went to the vent. Noticing that it was loose, she pulled it off its hinges. She saw green tinged glasses. "Lifeline!" She pulled his limp body from the vent. Carefully laying him down, she checked his pulse. "Still alive." She sighed with relief.

"Hello?" Cover Girl heard a voice from outside. It was Lady Jaye.

"In here!" She called out. Cover Girl heard rapid footsteps before a familiar head popped in.

"Oh my gosh, are they…" Lady Jaye stared wide-eyed at the bodies.

"No, they're all alive." Cover Girl answered. "Help me get them out of here."

Jaye and Cover Girl lifted each man carefully and placed them on medical beds. Timber sat in the corner watching them.

"What happened?" Jaye asked when all three were on the beds.

Cover Girl quickly explained. Lady Jaye's face darkened. "Cobra's got a lot of nerve." She said.

Cover Girl agreed. "The good news is Flint, the real Flint, is still alive."

"And so's Beach Head." Jaye added. She noticed the blush on her friend's cheek. "You're worried about him aren't you?"

"I know Beach can take care of himself." Cover Girl said softly.

"That doesn't mean we can't worry about them." Lady Jaye responded.

Doc coughed. The girls turned their attention to him. Snake Eyes was also starting to stir.

"Ugh, I'm going to be tasting that gas for hours." Doc muttered as he sat up.

"Are you okay?" Cover Girl asked.

"Been better." Doc looked over at Snake Eyes. "How are you doing, big guy?"

Snake Eyes gave a thumbs up before hopping off the medical bed. Doc also got up and went to check on Lifeline.

"Is Lifeline okay?" Lady Jaye asked.

Doc answered affirmatively. "He has a knot on his head the size of a golf ball but he'll be just fine."

To prove his point, Lifeline groaned. He placed his hand on his head. "What happened?" He asked.

"I have to tell Hawk." Cover Girl remembered.

"I already did." Lady Jaye informed her. "He says good work but they still haven't found Beach Head."

"Beach Head isn't real." Lifeline quickly said.

"Yeah, we gathered that." Cover Girl said wryly. "If you guys are all right, I'm going to join the search."

"Not without me." Lady Jaye stated firmly.

"Go ahead." Doc agreed. "I'll give Snakes Eyes a quick check up and a more thorough check on Lifeline."

Snake Eyes made signs of protest.

Doc shook his head. "Hey, I need to make sure there were no side effects before I can clear you for combat duty."

Cover Girl gave him a sympathetic look before she and Lady Jaye left. "Any ideas where to look first?" Lady Jaye asked.

"No." Cover Girl admitted. "I'm sure Hawk would have the base sealed tight. And I'm sure if this Beach Head has the memories of our Beach Head he would know that. So he's going to have to find another way off the base…" Cover Girl trailed off.

"What?" Lady Jaye asked when Cover Girl stopped midway.

"If you were Beach Head where would you feel the safest?" Cover Girl asked.

"I don't know?" Lady Jaye shrugged. "I mean everywhere on base is pretty safe."

"Let me rephrase that. Where would you feel most at home?" She reiterated.

The both said at the same time. "The PT course!"

"Let's go." Cover Girl ran ahead while Jaye followed.

0o0

Flint and Beach Head were making good time.

"We'll be back within the hour." Flint said.

"That's not fast enough." Beach Head replied sourly.

"We're going as fast as we can." Flint stated.

"Cobra equipment is crap. One of our Skystrikers could get there in half the time." Beach complained. "And why does none of the radios work?" He slammed the radio.

"Well, maybe because someone damaged it kicking the pilot out." Flint reminded him.

"Don't' blame this on me! At least I got us a ride!" Beach Head became defensive.

"Look, I'm not blaming you. Merely pointing out facts. We just have to make due with what we have." Flint explained.

"Stinking, cheap crap." Beach muttered under his breath.

"We'll be there soon. With any luck Polly would have already made it there and is warning the Joes." Flint said trying to soothe him.

He didn't say anything. He glared out the window. They flew in silence for a while.

The radio cackled. "Unknown aircraft, you are in restricted airspace. Please identify yourself."

"Oh great!" Beach Head threw his arms up in exasperation. "And how are we supposed to answer them."

"We can't." Flint shrugged. "We're just going to have to ignore them."

The radio cackled to life again. "We repeat, identify yourself."

Beach Head picked up the broken radio and yelled, "We can't very well identify ourselves when none of this dang Cobra crap works, now can we?" He then banged the radio several time for good measure.

"Well, that sure helped." Flint said sarcastically.

"Don't start with me, college boy." Beach answered.

"We did not get that. If you do not identify yourself, we will be forced to fire." The radio continued.

"Sure! Why not? This will look good on my epitaph Shot down because of a stinkin' faulty radio!"

"I'd prefer Byron." Flint noted.

"You think this is funny?" Beach Head growled at him. "If we survive this, I'm making you run the whole obstacle course on your hands…"

"Hold that thought." Flint said as he noticed something on his radar. "Bogie at six o'clock."

Beach Head peered out. "It's a Skystriker!"

"And we're in a Cobra rattler." Flint said.

"You think they'd shoot first, before…" Beach Head started saying.

Laser fire hit the side of the plane.

"What do you think?" Flint asked.

"Not again." Beach Head groaned. "I'm not jumping out this time."

"You don't have to. We'll just land and show them who we are. That'll solve the problem." Flint said reasonably.

More shots hit the side of the plane.

"That's if they don't kill us first." Beach Head said darkly.