Within the air ducts and the narrow passages of the Washington, DC, fortress, a figure moved silently in the darkness, skillfully evading Destro's sophisticated intruder detection systems. All the invisible lasers, the motion sensors, the strategically placed cameras–they were nothing to a man like Storm Shadow, who speedily passed through each protective layer of security, unbeknownst to Destro and his army.
In the control room, Destro stood with the rest of his senior staff, reviewing the video recording of the first major battle of the Cobra civil war. That battle had been brought on by the machinations of the Baroness, although neither side had realized it yet. Both sides had lined up against each other, each side bearing columns of HISS tanks and Cobra troops, and both sides had charged each other madly, as if reenacting a battle from the nineteenth century. Both sides of soldiers charged into each other, shooting and jabbing with bayonets, unleashing a torrent of blood. HISS tanks fired into each other, sending up massive explosions of metal shards and body parts.
As the Baroness watched the video for the first time on the large high definition video screen, she winced internally. After all, it had been her handiwork. It killed her soul a little each day, having to pretend to be part of Destro's plan for world conquest. She had, of course, publicly sided with Destro in the civil war. All the senior members of Cobra, those who had not been killed in the last open battle with G.I. JOE–they'd all been forced to choose sides between Cobra Commander and Destro. Storm Shadow, Dr. Mindbender, Zartan, and the Dreadnoks had remained loyal to the Commander, while Firefly, Scrap Iron, and Wild Weasel had stayed with Destro. The time had come for the Baroness to make her choice.
The battle lines are drawn, Anastasia. Cobra Commander is a fool if he thinks he can succeed without me. Stay with me and we'll rule Cobra together. We'll bring down that fool and put him in his place. We'll start over again, you and me.
She was no longer bound under personal threat of exposure to Cobra Commander as a traitor, but she felt the need to continue the act. If she failed to convince Cobra Commander and Destro that she was as much involved in Cobra as they were, they would have realized how they were being manipulated, and the civil war would have been averted. But she publicly sided with Destro, making it seem as if she had done it out of passion for him, convincing Cobra Commander, convincing Destro that she retained feelings for him, almost convincing even herself. Each day, she woke up and participated in Destro's campaign to take over from Cobra Commander many of the vital bases and experimental weapons they had once shared, debasing herself, spending time with the man she now hated, making love to him and feigning passion for him. She routinely invited Destro into her bed, screaming in pleasure as he pounded her, grinding her hips into his, mixing together their sweat and sex; and in doing so she gradually seduced him, making him believe that she had truly surrendered himself to him.
The Baroness watched, pained, as the battle came to an end. It had decided nothing, of course. It had only hardened the lines of battle, committed each side to a course of action from which neither could back down, not without a significant loss of face. This was what the Baroness had wanted, of course. She'd wanted Cobra divided, so that G.I. JOE could defeat them. Everything she had known before, as a Cobra agent, all the money and power, had been a lie. Steeler, the original Steeler, had shown her that–before he'd died. Her eyes had seen the truth.
An alarm sounded in the control room. Seconds away from entering the locked control room, Storm Shadow had been detected at last. The video monitor cut to a security camera image of Storm Shadow, dressed in his traditional white ninja garb, about to break into the control room with a stolen key card. The first thought that crossed the minds of everyone in the room was that Storm Shadow had come to perform an assassination mission. Firefly and the Baroness moved in front of Destro with their pistols raised.
The next few seconds passed in a strange blur, so quickly that neither the Baroness nor Firefly could even get off a shot. The door opened, and two ninja stars came through, killing two Vipers who stood guard at the door, and in the next instant, a flash of white, a somersault high through the air, and Storm Shadow had landed squarely on the other side of them all, behind Destro with one hand across his chest and the other with a knife poised to jab him through one of the eye holes of his metal mask.
"No one moves or he dies," Storm Shadow uttered in a low voice.
Firefly, the Baroness, and the other remaining Viper staff in the spacious control room turned to face Storm Shadow as he held Destro's life in his hands.
"Go ahead and do it," Destro said.
"I'm not here to kill you. I've come bearing greetings from Cobra Commander."
"Oh?" Destro said scornfully, not the least bit showing any signs of intimidation in his position. "How very amusing of him."
"Cobra Commander wishes to meet with you personally. New York City. Manhattan's Battery Park. He will meet you there in 72 hours. Come alone."
With those words, Storm Shadow withdrew his weapon and dashed out of the room, daring anyone to attempt to stop him. Within minutes there was no sign of him in the fortress. As quickly as he had entered, he was gone, a shadow in the night.
The Baroness excused herself from the control room. It was nearly 7:00 PM, and she was tired and hungry. She made her way down the winding corridors toward the quarters she shared with Destro, but at the last turn, checking behind her, she vanished down a side passage that led to one of the elevator lifts, which would take her to the basement and lead her outside. All paths in and out of the Cobra fortress led through the underground entrance, tightly guarded by security cameras and retinal scanners. The Baroness, donning a wig of red hair and dressed in the plain uniform of a Cobra trooper and a trench coat, passed through unnoticed. Outside, the streets of DC were cold and dimly lit. A light rain fell from the cloudy skies.
The Baroness stopped at a street corner two blocks away from the outer wall of the Cobra fortress, and looked down at her watch. Any minute now...
"Let's go, shall we?" a voice said, one that the Baroness knew well. She turned her face and met Steeler, standing next to her in the rain, holding an umbrella above them both.
The Baroness smiled. Even in this outfit, Steeler knew her. Every chance she got, she sent the secret signal from the Cobra base to let Steeler know that they would meet that night. It was all that kept her going--the thought that she would see her beloved again, and be with him again.
"I'm hungry," the Baroness said, her eyes conveying to Steeler the double meaning.
He smiled. "Me too."
Alone in the hotel room, Steeler and the Baroness had shed their rain coats and boots the moment they walked through the door. At once, Steeler's lips found those of the Baroness, and they kissed each other deeply as they made their way to the bed. Steeler began fumbling at the Baroness's uniform buttons, feeling like he could not get them both undressed quickly enough. He was already rock hard and felt like he was going to burst in his pants. They'd only made love just three days ago, and already, that felt like an eternity. The Baroness put a hand gently on Steeler's to stop him.
"Wait," she whispered.
The Baroness led a slightly bewildered Steeler to the wall next to the bed and put her back against it. She took one of Steeler's hands and placed it on her shoulder.
"Press me against the wall, like this," she said.
She was cornered against the wall, like she'd asked. The Baroness took Steeler's other hand, and placed it on her right breast. Her flesh burned with excitement as Steeler put his warm hand over her breast. At once, she was brought back to that first time, the first time Steeler had ever kissed her. That day, years ago, another man named Steeler had done the same thing to her. She had a gun, but he had disarmed her, and, pinning her to the wall, had kissed her and fondled her, and she had given in to him. At that moment, she knew that it was no longer a game. She had lost herself in desire.
"Kiss me," the Baroness pleaded.
They kissed hungrily, their mouths wrapping around each other's, their tongues invading and exploring each other's mouths. At the same time, Steeler's hand on the Baroness's breast began caressing and stroking her. His hand effortlessly kneaded her soft, sensitive flesh, snaking down to her erect nipple, pinching and rubbing as he went, and the Baroness felt all of this through the thin fabric of her uniform. Before long, Steeler's hand found it's way into her shirt, and he fondled her breast directly. Her chest heaved with desire, she felt her loins begin to ache for him.
She burned with lust for this man, and yet her heart bore the old ache of a wound that would never completely heal. The memory of the old Steeler, the man who she had once held captive as her enemy and the spy who had become her lover, lingered within her. She felt herself going back to that day when he had cornered her against the wall and kissed her, and it was a sweet memory, but she knew that such things would never be again, no matter how much this Steeler resembled the old one, no matter how hard she tried to make them one and the same person in her mind. The old Steeler, the man she had fallen for, was gone, burned down by a fire from the sky, and now a new Steeler had taken his place. It would never be the same. But as this man, this Steeler before her, entered her once again and held her tenderly in his arms on the bed of their desire, she had the thought, it will never be the same. He's gone, never to return. But this man who holds me in his arms--he is a good man, so much like the man I loved, yet different. I'll share my life with him.
All rational thought vanished in a blinding light as Steeler came within her and she felt the force of her own climax overwhelm her body...
The night passed by quietly as Steeler and the Baroness lay in each other's arms, naked beneath their covers, listening to the ambient sounds of the cars and people walking the streets below.
"How much longer will this go on?" Steeler said. "I worry about you every day."
"Soon, it will be over," the Baroness said as she stroked her lover's face. "I won't be able to stay in Cobra much longer. In a few days, Cobra Commander and Destro will be meeting personally. It's the first time they'll be meeting each other since the war began. Perhaps they'll find out that I'm the one who manipulated them into it. When that time comes, I'll be forced to leave. Then it will be time for us to make our move."
She meant, of course, that it would be time for Steeler, Grunt, Clutch, along with herself and Layla, to begin operations against Cobra. For the last few weeks, Steeler, Grunt, and Clutch had been quietly working in the city, biding their time, waiting for the other Joes--Shipwreck, Cover Girl, Flint, Lady Jaye, Mainframe, and Zarana--to return. In the time since Steeler, Grunt, and Clutch had come onto the scene, they had been receiving information from the Baroness and Layla. Layla, the aide to the Baroness, was absolutely loyal to her mistress. She would follow her anywhere. Neither of them had forgotten the promise they had made, in the aftermath of the attack on the Washington fortress and the death of the original Steeler, that they would one day leave Cobra together. The time had nearly come.
"Soon, my darling," the Baroness said, kissing Steeler, "soon it will all come to a head."
They were words spoken with hope and uncertainty, as the two lovers faced their future together.