Cobra Island

Serpentor entered the massive room, giving only the briefest of acknowledgments to the pairs of Vipers flanking the pathway to his throne. The repairs were almost complete from the damage the G.I. Joe team had inflicted. Although the damage was mainly done to the external area, he still considered it a loss. His forces had returned to this Terror Drome after the failure of a battle at Cobra La and started the rebuilding process immediately.

Anger flared with him. Two losses in such a short time. How could that be possible?

He felt the warm air escaping from the ventilation system above him and took a deep breath. There was a slight scent of burnt oil mixed with the earthy smell of the fractured ground above. He was not surprised by this - the explosions had done a large amount of damage. He had become used to odd scents that the vents would bring in since the air was all recycled this far below ground.

What he found more challenging were the memories that accompanied the many scents: fresh grass that his war horse grazed upon, the dry desert air as he took deep breaths in the heat of battle, the scent of the ocean as he watched ships of attempted invaders sink to their eternal resting place.

Yet, Serpentor wondered, how many of these memories are my own? How do I know where they end and my memories truly begin?

He slowly climbed the stairs and lowered himself onto his throne. He surveyed the room, taking notice of the various ranks of soldiers at their assigned stations - a much smaller number than before.

The low, constant hum of the computers and surveillance equipment became welcome addition to the silence that was emanating from his soldiers. A sparse, dedicated crew was on hand, but none dared to interrupt his vigil. A lone Tele-Viper sat at a console reviewing a constant stream of data and entering commands that would find their way to the troops that still manned this site.

Those faint sounds were something Serpentor could count on to be there. Distractions to help pass the time before his next strike. Vengeance, power, glory – all pieces to a puzzle that lay before him, but each day, he struggled to find the right order to place them. How did those pieces line up and how would they bring about the end of GI Joe?

Serpentor looked over to the empty throne beside him.

No matter what he did, there was still one vital piece missing.

She was missing.

Not her physical form. Pythona had been recovered from the pit after the battle over the B.E.T.

But her spirit, her essence was missing. She had been taken from him so soon, not even given a chance to rule at his side.

Still, though, she could rise again. At least, that's Mindbender had been telling him since the moment they found her body.

Dr. Mindbender paused in mid-stride at the wall of monitors trying to make sense of the constantly updating data. The readings had been stable for quite some time with nothing more than random spikes that could possibly be attributed to power surges since this experimental tech was mostly untested. His gaze moved again and followed alongside the cables from the monitors that lead to the illuminated pod nestled in the corner of the room. "It's obvious. He's depressed."

Destro slammed his fists down on a metal tray, sending medical supplies clattering to the cold, tiled floor. The loud crash startled the Viper standing watch at the entryway.

"Any fool can see that, Mindbender!" The man in the metal mask looked at the shape floating peacefully in the sealed medical pod. "How much longer is this madness going to last?"

Mindbender shrugged his shoulders. "Destro, I may be a genius, but there are some answers even I do not possess! The future of this new endeavor rests with this creature - this woman."

"Then she needs to open her eyes or die!" Destro violently struck the wall. "Pythona... his 'queen.' He should be happy he survived the whole Cobra La debacle! Why does he keep holding on to this… this - I refuse to call this abomination a woman!"

Pythona's slender form floated gently in a dark blue fluid. Her chest rose and fell slowly with the oxygen that the mouthpiece delivered to her lungs.

Dr. Mindbender looked into Destro's eyes peering back at him from beneath the metal mask and addressed him with a smirk on his face and pride in his voice, "He holds on to her because we made him that way. We did not engineer him to quit. The perfect leader never surrenders without a good fight."

She could sense her limbs floating. She tried to make sense of how she was suspended in some form of liquid. At least it was warm, calming.

Something was covering her mouth, but she could not move her arms to rip it away. Her mind was starting to wake up, but she couldn't even open her eyes. She felt like a captive in her own body.

Everything was so foggy.

She could hear voices echoing from somewhere nearby but could not make out what they were saying. She had heard these voices before, but she could not remember where!

Her mind suddenly flashed to a memory.

Locked in battle with a female warrior dressed in red.

A careless mistake.

Falling into the chasm that Golobulus had opened.

She was crumpled, motionless on a broken outcropping of rock on the chasm wall for what seemed like an eternity. She remembered intense hatred and fear coursing through her body when she wasn't slipping in and out of consciousness.

Then, she heard him calling for her.

"Pythona! Where are you?!"

Serpentor! He had come back for her; the prophecy was coming to pass.

She knew he was getting closer, but she seemed to be slipping farther and farther away. She just had to hang on for a few moments longer.

She swore that she could feel a strong hand clasp her arm as she drifted into the darkness again just as she had done so many times before.