"Why do you hate the military?" Cover Girl turned to look at the Viper that walked beside her. He wasn't much taller than her, if only an inch or two, or maybe that was the helmet.

"Do you know of a reason why I shouldn't?"

Cover Girl shook her head "The various military units help to protect their various nations, giving people a chance to defend and protect their homes, and should be respected for putting their lives on the line."

"Pretty speech. Do you practice that every night before bed, or is lying your military recruitment strategy?"

"I'm not lying!" Curling her hands into fists, Cover Girl glared at the Viper as they walked.

Turning his head to look at her through the face-plate, she could almost swear she saw him glare at her. "You must've had a different experience than I had, princess!" She blinked at he hate in his voice. "The constant physical, emotional, and psychological harassment, not to mention being attacked constantly by those that I'm supposed to trust. Each of those very same people who are supposed to have my back all abused the power and authority of their rank while treating me like I was unworthy to look in their general direction. Is that what you're talking about?!"

"Boot camp is hard for everyone-"

"Oh, that was after I graduated Marine Corps Boot Camp in San Diego, California, princess!" He stopped to glare at her. "I admit that I went through Hell in Boot Camp with my sergeants constantly messing with me, treating me like I was pond scum, and making sure that I failed at everything all because they got a little bit of power, and never got out of the elementary school bully phase in their lives!"

"You were in the military?" Cover Girl looked him over, her jaw dropping. "Why are you-?"

"In Cobra?" He gave a mirthless chuckle. "You sure you want to hear this?" Stepping close to her, Cover Girl almost swore that she could see the outline of his face. "I'm going to warn you though, you're not going to like anything that I have to say."

Her voice trembled at the prospects of what he was going to reveal "Yes." but she had asked, and honestly wanted to know.

"Okay." He continued to walk as he spoke. "From the moment I entered the Marines I was treated like crap by the rest of my peers because I weighed two hundred pounds at five-ten, but no matter how much I worked out, or how I limited what I ate, I could not lose the weight or slim down." Turning away, he continued down the path. "I was in Fort Bliss, Texas after getting my MOS assignment: 7212 - Stinger gunner and Avenger crewman, when all of the harassment started. It was little things, people making snide comments, or making sounds when I stepped like I held some monstrous weight walking down a hallway."

Cover Girl blinked, looking away a little. She had known both men and women that turned bulimic because of such teasing, their bodies enduring torture as they tried to get slender enough to fit into the latest fashions. It was a serious problem in the fashion industry, but to hear that someone went through the same thing in the military as well caused her to wonder. 'Why did they do that to him?'

"Eventually, I made it to my first duty station, MCAS Futenma, but from the moment I got there, the real abuse started. I was disrespected, threatened, beaten on, and treated like I wasn't worthy of the title Marine the entire time I was there. The only relief I had was a friend from boot camp who knew what I was like helping me to release my pent up aggression by taking me out into town on the weekends."

"At least you had someone to-"

"Unfortunately, he wasn't there when I was on deployments with my unit, and they decided that was the best time to really ramp up the harassment." He shook his head. "Closing me up in an Avenger turret in direct sunlight, the entire thing becoming an oven, and when I asked to have the canopy removed or allowed water, they refused, only to hit my helmet when I was getting so overheated I started to fall asleep."

Her eyes widened, causing Cover Girl to shake her head. "You could've died from them doing that!"

"It didn't matter to them. I was the fifth fastest in my unit with a flat nineteen minute run time, able to do fifteen pull-ups, and over one hundred sit-ups. They decided that because I wasn't fifty pounds lighter I was scum."

"Who were these people?"

"It wasn't just them, it was everyone in my unit." He glanced to the side, looking at her. "That wasn't even the worst thing that happened to me. I was tackled to the ground, beaten, had one of the lance corporals that were junior to me attack me, trying to drown me in a water-filled culvert, and the same worthless piece of trash tried to run me over with his truck out of uniform."

"No wonder you hate the military."

She watched him shake his head. "I don't hate the military, I hate the worthless hypocrites in the military who believe that just because they have a higher rank that they somehow have power over everyone else, and treat others like garbage just because they can."

"Didn't anyone try to stop what was happening to you?"

The Cobra Viper turned his head to look ahead of them, shaking his head. "No. They laughed." Cover Girl felt her rage spike as she walked beside him. "At least they did until I informed the chain of command about all of the harassment." He clenched his hand tightly until it started to shake. "I'd been writing down the various sergeants and corporals that continuously harassed me with the times and dates, as well as witness names."

"What happened next?"

It took several breaths for him to speak again, but when he did, his voice was a growl. "I was charged with verbal assault by the worst one who constantly harassed me, so I printed out the times and dates, and asked my captain if I was allowed witnesses." His clenched fists vibrated, shaking his arms as he continued. "I told him and my first sergeant everything. The constant harassment, my sergeants refusing to permit me to write out a charge sheet, all of it."

"That should've gotten you some justice, if nothing else."

From the way the Viper looked at her, she realized that wasn't what happened. "All of my witnesses refused to corroborate what I had written down, because they were threatened by the sergeants who said they would retaliate against anyone who told the truth, so they said they didn't remember." He shook his head. "The captain punished me for trying to inform everyone about what was going on in our platoon. I was escorted out of the office and glared at the corporal who'd constantly harassed me, and told him that if he says one word to me when I return, I wouldn't stop at simple words. I was then sent to a penal platoon for a month."

"That must've been hard."

She watched him shrug. "Doing hard labor was nothing new to me, I had done it all my life, and considering how my own unit was, the one I was assigned to was a vacation." She let that pass as he continued, "It was when I got back that everything went to Hell again. The corporal that constantly harassed me decided I hadn't suffered enough by his standards, so he decided to make a snide comment about taking away my good conduct medal as I was walking into the building."

Cover Girl blinked "What a jerk!"

"I didn't even say anything, just reached out, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed the back of his head into the corner of the brick building three times until blood poured out. I didn't care that in the month I was gone he had obtained sergeant's stripes. When the other two sergeants that were with him attempted to grab and punch me, I broke one's nose, and kicked the other in the side of the knee. I then proceeded to slam one the sergeants into the corner of the wall head first, splitting it like an overripe watermelon, and then stomped on his back, paralyzing him permanently."

Her eyes widened as her mouth dropped open. "I then took out my frustrations on the other two sergeants. The one that sent me to the penal platoon was nearly a vegetable for the rest of his life after I repeatedly stomped on his head, and kicked him about half a dozen times in the sternum, and the other one I made sure would never have children. " He then turned to look at Cover Girl. "After that I kicked him as many times in the stomach and abdomen as I could until he was coughing up blood."

"What happened next?"

"Another sergeant heard the commotion and came out. That one was honestly worse than the previous three. I didn't give him a chance to say a word, just kicked his kneecap backward in his leg before bringing my other foot up into his groin hard enough to make him sing soprano for the rest of his life."

A shiver went down Cover Girl's spine "That's horrible-"

"I didn't care at the time, and proceeded to hit him repeatedly in the head before stomping on his chest. I then walked into the office, kick my officer's door open, and told all that could hear me what I did. After that, I went off on how the entire unit were a bunch of cowards and hypocrites that didn't deserve the title Marine. I ended my little tirade letting them know that if I ever saw any of them again I would murder them. I then walked up to my captain's office, knocked on his door, told him what I did and what I said after being allowed inside. I then told him that he finally had a real charge to convict me with."

"Oh my-"

"I was given a court martial, told the colonel that what I had done was for the good of the platoon, and that if they tried to sweep under the rug the constant harassment that the NCO's had done like the officers in my battery, then nothing would stop me from going to the press." He sighed and opened up his hands again. "They sent me to federal prison, but not before I had sent everything I had, including the story of how my NCO's were hazing everyone in my unit to the Stars and Stripes, as well as the local civilian newspaper."

"That was the story I read!" Cover Girl's eyes locked onto him. "Your story was nearly buried by the Stars and Stripes, but because you went to a civilian paper too, they couldn't hide what happened. The backlash tore apart that entire unit and caused several other units in the Marines to get investigated!"

He nodded "Good. They didn't deserve the consideration I gave them initially, but I still paid for what I did. I was only given four years in prison, but was out on good behavior after three. Unfortunately, because of my actions, I had a Dishonorable Discharge, so I couldn't go to the VA hospital or even talk to a representative."

"That's the sad truth of a Dishono-"

"After being harassed, beaten on, and treated like dirt after obtaining the title of United States Marine, I was treated even worse by my peers, and my only way of fighting back was thrown in my face. What could I do? Nothing? Let them get away with harassing me and the other non-NCO's?"

"You were in an unwinnable situation-"

"It was only unwinnable because of the corruption in the military." He practically spat "Rank should be seen as an honor! A reward for service when your superiors see that you're worthy of even more responsibility, not a shield to hide behind while you bully and mistreat others." She watched as he stopped, and pulled up a flap on his vest, the tell-tale sound of velcro separating reaching her ears. "I want to show you something."

Cover Girl watched as he pulled out a pair of pictures. "This was me when I was in the Marines." She saw a young man, his arms behind his waist in a parade rest position, his brown hair in standard military high and tight, a green t-shirt around his upper body, while a pair of camouflage utilities and a tan belt covered from his waist down. He was standing in a hallway, and although she didn't see any hint of fat on the young man, she also knew he didn't have a six-pack under that shirt.

"You look good."

"Oh, please!" the Viper scoffed. "Had you met me while I was in the Corps, you wouldn't have given me the time of day." He then took the picture away, and replaced it with another. In this one she saw a body of skin and bones in a dirty shirt that might have been white at one point, but was now multicolored with both mildew and rot, and a pair of jeans that hung off of the bony hips, the abdomen so sunken down that the jeans were cinched down by a children's belt.

She couldn't help but gasp, the second image causing her to bring a hand up to her face. "I think I'm going to be sick." Looking up at his face-plate with a abject horror on her face, she saw it reflected on the silver surface. "What happened?"

"I had been out on the streets for two years by that time, and I had nothing." His voice was soft, and she could tell that it was hard for him to speak as he turned the picture back to look at himself. Paying attention to what he said, Cover Girl could almost feel the emotion coming off of him. "This was taken the day I signed up with Cobra. I hadn't had a meal in over two weeks, and a drink of water in three days. I was homeless in Portland, Oregon, barely able to survive on what little I ate from the local soup kitchen while sleeping in a doorway next to a parking garage. Most of the homeless sleep near doorways of stores so that they can panhandle money through guilt, while I just wanted to be left alone." He returned the pictures to his pocket. "That's when I saw her."

"Who?"

"Baroness." he shook his head. "I don't know what Cobra wanted in that area, and at the time I didn't care. All that mattered was that a beautiful woman was about to walk past me when she stopped. I was doing nothing except leaning up against the wall. I saw her and remember the same look of disgust in her eyes you had a moment ago, but then our eyes met and she blinked as if I had threatened to slap her."

"She then walked up to me, and pointed a gun at my head. I will never forget what she told me. 'I have the power of life and death in my hand.' I only glared at her as she then said 'You have a choice; live in squalor like this until you die, or make something of yourself. I offer you an opportunity, but you need to-' and that's when I cut her off by taking the gun away from her, pulling the clip, and clearing the weapon."

Cover Girl's mouth dropped open "She didn't shoot you?"

"I saw that the safety was still on. Naturally, I handed back the pistol, replaced the unused round into the clip, and handed that to her as well. My first question was to ask what she needed of me. I then saw her smile, and told me to follow her." Shrugging, he gave a soft laugh. "I didn't even pick up anything I had around me, I just went with her." Cover Girl shook her head.

"That's how you joined Cobra?"

"We went down to the water where she had a Cobra Moray waiting. Once on board we went to Cobra Island where I was given medical attention, fed, clothed, and trained in a job." He sighed with a shake of his head. "From the moment I met Cobra Commander, Destro, and Baroness, they had my loyalty. She was right, they did give me the opportunity to change my fate, allowing me to strike out against the very people I hate, and giving me a purpose."

"Do you really hate everyone in the military?"

"I can't hate everyone in the military, just the people who abuse their power, and think themselves better than everyone else." Looking straight ahead, he sighed. "Cobra saved my life and I will be eternally grateful."

"There will always be people in any organization that will disappoint you. I'm just sorry about what happened to you specifically." She closed her eyes and bowed her head. "That should never have happened."

He shrugged "It doesn't matter anymore." Reaching a rundown abandoned home just off of the trail, he gave a sigh. "Looks like we're here." Turning to regard Cover Girl, he motioned down the road. "There's a small bus stop in that direction, from there you can find your way back home."

"Are you going to go back to Cobra?" She reached out, taking his forearm, as he made to walk away. She could feel the strength in those arms as he turned to regard her.

"Yes."

Cover Girl turned him around to look at her. "Why? You could do anything you wanted right now, and I don't think Cobra would ever look for you."

"My loyalty is unshakable, Cover Girl. The moment someone has it, I will do everything in my power to help them until I'm either too old and feeble to try, or I'm dead."

Shaking her head slowly, she felt tears in her eyes. "The people in your unit really did screw up by treating you like that." Closing her eyes, she took a step back. "I thought you said you were going to take me back with you to Cobra Island, that you would probably get a promotion."

"I can't take you with me." he intoned with a shrug. "The bubble only seats one, and has a limited fuel tank. We would crash halfway there, even with your light weight added."

Offering a small laugh, she shook her head, before looking up at his face-plate "Would you mind terribly if I saw your face?" He never moved as she reached up, pushing at the sides of the face-plate until it disconnected from the clips in his helmet. Lowering it slowly, she first saw the emerald green eyes, then the high cheekbones, and button nose, before she brought the mask down fully to see a bow shaped upper lip and slender, rounded chin. "Wow! If you ever want a change, you could be a fashion model."

"Thanks for trying to boost my ego, but-"

"I'm being serious." Setting his face-plate in his hand, she smiled up at him. "My call sign is because I used to be a model before I joined the military, and you definitely have a look they would want."

For a few seconds he simply looked at her. "I'll consider it, beautiful."

"Please do, and thank you for telling me about yourself. I still think you should get away from Cobra as soon as possible. They don't deserve your loyalty, no matter what they've done to help you."

"It isn't just me that they've helped." he remarked "My story isn't unique among the Cobra Vipers or troopers. Many of them are former military who have been treated the same as me, most have Other Than Honorable or Bad Conduct Discharges from the military. My experiences were just more extreme than the others."

"Just think about it, okay?"

"Sorry, but I don't think it's going to-" When he turned around, the Viper saw the door to the very abandoned building he was looking to approach opened to reveal a black figure with a red visor, metal arms, and a clear chest-plate with circuitry inside. He watched as the Battle Android Trooper pulled up it's rifle and took aim at Cover Girl. "No!" he shouted and leaped in front of the shot while she ran behind a huge rock.

His vest managed to take the hit, but he knew the plates inside weren't going to take a second, so he pulled the vest off, and tossed it at the B.A.T. Unfortunately, the robot anticipated the move, and shot the vest out of the air. She watched as he ran off toward the abandoned house, rifle fire impacting her hiding spot, sending stone chips away as Cover Girl crouched behind something that would only reach the bottom of her ribcage.

A grunt of pain elicited from the Viper's mouth as he pulled his hand away to see blood. 'Going to have to let the others know that the bulletproof vests aren't so bulletproof.' Flipping a few switches, and then pressing a button, he heard the turbofan engines power up. Pressing another button caused the roof of the building to open, revealing a blue sky above him. Pulling back on the steering yoke, the Trouble Bubble flew upward, and turned to see the B.A.T. getting closer to Cover Girl's hiding spot.

Cover Girl watched as he flew around until he was flying behind the rock, effectively flanking her. Looking up at the mini-cannon aimed right at her she watched as he looked at her, his face-plate still missing. A second later, the cannon pulled up, and let loose, sending out a long stream of weapon's fire. She turned to see the B.A.T. stagger back, its entire body sparking as it tried in vain to keep hold of its rifle. The android was still walking, it's hands reaching for her, until the Viper flipped up the thumb switch, and pressed the button that launched the left anti-tank missile.

Holding her hands to her ears, and curling up behind the rock, Cover Girl felt the concussive force as the missile spanned hundreds of feet before it slamming into the robot's chest piece, and erupted into a fireball. That one shot reduced the B.A.T. to little more than thousands of fragmented pieces. Standing up, she smiled at the Viper as he flew close, and offered a wave of his hand.

She waved back as they heard rifle fire from behind them. Beachhead and Low Light emerged from around the bend with Lifeline sprinting straight out at Cover Girl. Two fired at the flight pod, but the Viper was more maneuverable in this than most other aerial vehicles, so he was able to dodge much of their weapon's fire. He saw the third member reach Cover Girl, his red and white uniform indicating his status as a medic.

Once the two Joes met up, and he was sure she would be alright, the Viper gained altitude, to fly back toward Cobra Island, and the Terrordrome.

"Are you alright, Cover Girl?" Lifeline asked, checking her over with a cursory glance "Did he hurt you?"

Smiling at her friend, the young woman shook her head. "I'm fine, Lifeline. Aside from a little rope burn on my wrists from being tied up earlier, I'm completely unhurt."

"Ugh! He got away." Beachhead grumbled as he walked up to the pair, his rifle aimed upward. "A good thing we got here when we did, it looked like he was getting a bead on you."

Seeing him and Low Light, who kept his rifle aimed at the ground, approach she sighed and shook her head. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Beachhead, but he was the one that saved me from a Battle Android Trooper."

"Wait! He did... what?!" Beachhead looked as if he was about to have an aneurysm as Cover Girl motioned for them to look at the pieces on the ground.

Low Light crouched, and found shattered pieces of the chest-plate, his fingers coming up with a section of circuitry that was charred and fragmented. "This thing was taken out by a missile-"

"-and I did see an empty missile port on the flight pod as I was running up to see if Cover Girl was alright." Lifeline announced with a smile.

Beachhead reached up and rubbed at his temple. "Come on, let's get back. Duke and Flint aren't going to believe this one."

One month later

Deep in The Pit, all the Joes were either training at the firing range, monitoring the perimeter, practicing martial arts, playing some games for downtime, or working on equipment. Cover Girl was elbow deep in her new Wolverine, her ratchet moving around as she serviced the engine. She had just sat up on the hull, wiping away some sweat, an oil stain on her right cheek when she heard "Mail Call!"

Looking over, she gave a small smile to the Lieutenant Falcon and Jinx as they strolled in carrying a couple of bags and more than half a dozen boxes. "First," called out the male, "we'll deliver some boxes. Lifeline, we've got a box for you."

Standing up from where he was playing Parcheesi with Gung-ho, Big Lob, and Chuckles, he walked over and saw the name on the box. "I've been waiting for this book for a while, thanks Falcon!"

"Happy to be of service."

Jinx then picked up a long rectangular box. "Cover Girl, we have a box for you!"

She had just started to return to her maintenance of the Wolverine when she sat back up, turning to look at the group with a blink. "I don't remember ordering anything."

Walking over, the Japanese woman in red handed up the box. "I don't know what to say, except it doesn't have your name, just your call sign." Opening the box, she blinked at the sight of a dozen yellow roses. "Wow! An admirer, or maybe a boyfriend?" Jinx wiggled her eyebrows at Cover Girl who shook her head with a laugh.

"I don't know what you're talking about since yellow means friendship rather than romance." Cover Girl she looked at the dozen long stem flowers, noting the lack of thorns. "This doesn't make any sense. I don't know anyone who would send me roses, even yellow ones."

"Well, there is a card." Jinx motioned at the broad envelope.

Reaching out, she pulled the envelope from between the stems, and pulled it out. The picture of a small, tan teddy bear holding a red balloon was emblazoned on the front. Upon opening the card, she saw a small note:

Cover Girl,

I'm sorry for sending this under your call sign, but I didn't really have the chance to learn your real name on our trek through Pine Mountain.

Her eyes widened in shock 'It's him!'

I would've sent these roses to you sooner as a thanks for listening, as well as urging me to become better, but I've been at the island, healing up from getting shot by the B.A.T. and working on Cobra Commander's newest project for the past few weeks. I have thought a lot about you, and what you said, so I've asked Tomax and Xamot about potentially working away from the Terrordrome. They have connections with legitimate businesses that I never would've thought about before talking to you, and although I am still part of Cobra, I am in the process of getting a life outside of the organization back in order.

A small smile spread her lips as she read that paragraph, a hope blossoming that he'll be alright.

I now realize that I should have stopped living in the past, and looked toward the future long ago. Thank you for everything. Enclosed are a few pictures of this new chapter I have started. My only hope is that I get a chance to see you again sometime in the future, beautiful.

Eternally Grateful,
Charles Valentine

She blinked at the name, as she reached into the envelope and pulled out a trio of pictures. "Oh wow!" Cover Girl turned to look at Jinx as she had sat down next to the Wolverine driver, the pink on the Japanese woman's cheeks making her smile. "He's handsome! Who is he?" In the first picture, she saw the same face she saw a month ago, his emerald green eyes and lightly tanned skin framed by perfectly styled cinnamon brown hair and eyebrows. The next picture showed him in a pair of dark green slacks with his white shirt open to reveal a toned chest, the sleeves rolled up to show his equally toned forearms, while a jacket was slung over his right shoulder.

The last picture was of him in a pair of swim trunks beside a pool that she recognized from her own modeling days, and the sight of his toned abdomen, muscular arms and thighs, and smoldering look making her shiver a little. 'I am going to have to keep this one to myself.'

"I- um, better go help Falcon to pass out the rest of the mail before I start drooling all over myself." Jinx said before sliding off of the Wolverine, her quiet footsteps retreating back to where the mail was being sorted.

Cover Girl smiled "I know what you mean." She then slid the last picture into her internal jacket pocket. Pulling up one of the roses, she gave it a cursory sniff before laying it back down and returning to her work on the Wolverine.