Pacific Northwest – Cobra Fortress
"This is a quiet little town," Sneak Peek mumbled through a mouth full of scrambled eggs.
Cross Country set down his coffee cup. "I know what ya mean - reminds me of home. Especially since we get t' wear some civvies for a change."
Roadblock nodded and smiled at his teammate. "I hear ya there. Nothing says small town like a good corner diner with perfect breakfast."
"We're still looking at least an hour drive to get to the forest. Why didn't we start earlier than this?" The irritation in Lowlight's voice was apparent. He adjusted his ski cap, one of the few pieces of his normal uniform that he could wear in public.
"Do you know the back roads here?" Dial-Tone asked. "I'm not too keen to go driving what little gear we have over the side of a steep creek."
"Fine. The sooner you guys get in and get your data, the sooner we get back to base and I get to go snake hunting." Lowlight raised his coffee cup and motioned to the waitress, "Could I get one more refill before we head out, ma'am?"
Lifeline walked back to the table and pulled his red flannel jacket off the back of the chair. "The bill's been taken care of. We're good to head out whenever all of you are set."
"The more we drive 'round here, the more I think this is somewhere I could retire to," Cross Country said as he guided the truck and trailer off the blacktop and onto a gravel road.
"It's nothing but trees… and more trees. And dirt," Lifeline said.
Cross Country motioned out the window. "Yep, exactly like home, but with the occasional mountain."
"How much further is our drop point?" Roadblock's voice boomed over the radio.
"Just a couple more miles," Cross Country said into the CB microphone.
The station wagon bounced along the rough gravel road and threatened to put both driver and passenger's heads through the roof.
Lowlight looked over to the driver. "Think you could hit a couple more of those washouts?"
"Oh, I'm sure I could hit a couple more and maybe knock a tire loose," Roadblock said as he tensed for the next impact. "This road's built for heavy machinery, not family luxury."
Lowlight grunted and nodded his head.
"So, you got all you need to stay hunkered down if their infiltration goes overnight?" Roadblock asked.
"Got some MREs, a blanket, and my snake shooter just waiting to be reassembled." Lowlight replied.
A loud beep squealed from the backseat and Lowlight grabbed the walkie talkie to hear Dial-Tone's voice coming through the static. "Ok guys. You might wanna pull over where you are. Looks like a motorized graveyard out here."
"Come again," Cross Country's voice was the next to come through.
"Dead vehicles, stop following!" Dial-Tone shouted.
Roadblock pulled the station wagon off the gravel road and parked next to the jeep Dial-Tone and Sneak Peek had led the convoy with.
"What is that nut job doing?" Lowlight asked pointing at the truck and trailer pulling down the logging road.
Roadblock shook his head. "I'm hoping he heard Dial-Tone loud and clear. Then again, he may just be trying to keep up appearances."
"Didn't you hear what Dial-Tone said?" Lifeline asked.
"Sure did," Cross Country replied. "But I'm not gonna miss a chance to see if I can figure out what Cobra's doin' to all this equipment!"
The truck made it a few hundred yards down the logging road before it started sputtering and stalling.
"C'mon baby," Cross Country said, banging on the dashboard. "Don't let Cobra beat ya!"
The truck shuddered one final time and rolled to a stop. Cross Country lowered his head to the steering wheel.
"Sorry, Cross Country," Lifeline said as he climbed out of the vehicle. "There's nothing I can do for this patient."
Cross Country hopped out and pulled himself onto the trailer and into the bulldozer. He twisted the key, but no response came from the gigantic paperweight.
"Well, Lifeline, let's grab our packs and head back to Roadblock and Lowlight. The waitin' starts now."
"Cobra could at least send some troopers out to clean up the debris around here," Sneak Peek said as he stepped on another downed branch.
Dial-Tone picked up one of the broken branches and pointed out the singed end. "It looks like they've been firing off some lasers out here. I wonder if they were burning off steam or chasing away nosy locals?"
Sneak Peek shrugged his shoulders. "Knowing Cobra, could be either. It tells me that we need to move a little slower right now and keep our eyes peeled."
The communications specialists nodded at each other and began to move from tree to tree at a deliberate pace.
"Hey Dial-Tone," Sneak Peak said just above a whisper. "Look up there. I think we're getting close."
"What makes you say that?"
He raised his hand and pointed to a chain-link fence in the distance. "Haven't seen any reason for that to be here."
Dial-Tone pulled up his binoculars and spotted a checkpoint with a Cobra Trooper sitting at a small monitor. "There's our target," he said, motioning for Sneak Peek to take a look.
"Huh. Looks like our timing was pretty good. Either that blue shirt's really focused on some paperwork on his desk or he's napping on the job."
"Then let's move nice and quiet so we don't interrupt his beauty sleep."
The duo moved silently through the woods and took cover before reaching the checkpoint when they heard a motor in the distance.
"Don't move," Sneak Peek whispered. "I'm going to try to get closer."
Dial-Tone pulled out his silenced weapon and nodded.
As he watched Sneak Peek drop to the ground and begin crawling, he heard an engine approaching. Poking his head from behind the tree, he saw something odd. A Cobra Ferret pulling up to the outpost, but the rider was a Viper with no helmet on, just a face covering over his mouth.
He carefully moved himself a little closer while the sound of the engine was giving him some form of cover.
As the engine cut off, he could hear the Viper shouting at the blue shirt.
"Hey! Wake up!"
The blue shirt scrambled to his feet and knocked his chair over in the process of staying upright. "You scared the hell out of me!"
"Could have been worse, could have been a bear - then you wouldn't have had a warning."
"Yeah, yeah," the trooper said grabbing his helmet. "Why aren't you in full uniform?" he asked, noting the absence of the Viper's headgear.
The Viper rolled his eyes. "Currently, this is the full uniform. Word around the fortress is that agents Cobra Commander had stationed at Cobra Island have been compromised and the Commander is furious - and paranoid. He wants to be able to see everyone's eyes so he can know Serpentor hasn't sent anyone as retaliation."
"What?!"
The Viper shook his head, "Yeah, crazy stuff. Like he could tell us apart from Serpentor's crew anyway."
"What about all the Crimson Guardsmen?"
"What about them? They all look alike under their helmets thanks to all the plastic surgery."
"That's just creepy," the Cobra Trooper said. "I'm just fine with keeping my face and staying on the bottom rung."
As the pair's attention moved to the computer screen, Dial-Tone took another quick glance and saw that Sneak Peek had positioned himself behind the Ferret ATV.
"Really?!" the Viper shouted.
Dial-Tone tucked himself behind the tree again and tightened his grip on his weapon.
"You drooled all over the roster sheet!"
"What? Look, you can still read how long your shift is and who is coming to relieve you."
As the two Cobras bickered back and forth, Sneak Peek pulled a large wrench from the rear compartment of the Ferret. He closed the distance quickly and cracked the Viper in the back of the neck; he crashed to the ground with a thud.
"What the-" the Cobra Trooper said as he spun around just in time to catch an uppercut to the jaw which sent him tumbling backwards and into unconsciousness.
Dial-Tone scrambled from behind the tree and over to the computer. He started hammering away on the keyboard. "Looks like I can transfer the information directly to our computers back at base via FTP. Good thing Cobra is at least staying current with computer tech."
"While you're doing that, I'm going to go further in and see if I can gather any visual data about their defensive capabilities," Sneak Peek said as he finished securing the two Cobras to the chain-link fence with their own handcuffs.
"Viper 503, you've missed your check-in," the Tele-Viper said into his microphone.
The Tele-Viper waited another 30 seconds and clicked to broadcast again. "Viper 503. You have 15 seconds to check in."
"Maybe he's in the bathroom?" a second Tele-Viper commented.
"If he is, he's not scheduled for that, Tele-Viper 22," the first said.
The second man let out a deep sigh. "All these new regulations keep getting more and more insane. Just give him a couple of minutes. You know you would want the same, number 15."
Tele-Viper 15 nodded. "Just this once. If he makes a habit of this, I'll have no choice but to notify the Commander."
Sneak Peek eased his way along the fence line when the forest began to thin. It looked like it had been razed to the ground with no thought of future use.
Unfortunately, that meant his cover would quickly disappear as well.
He lifted his binoculars as he started speaking to his partner over his headset. "Dial-Tone - you get anything good yet?"
"I've found a few schematics and some rosters so far. Nothing too major, but it's been copied and is being uploaded to the base as we speak. I'm going to keep digging as long as I can. What about you? Anything worth reporting?"
"Well, the forest has been wiped out and-" Sneak Peek stopped mid-thought.
"Sneak, you still there?"
"Wow. Yeah, I'm still here. I believe I've just found Cobra's newest base. I'll start getting some pictures and see what else I can find." He stared in awe at the massive fortress carved into the mountainside. "There's no way this is a new installation."
Dial-Tone came back over the headset. "Just be careful. Remember our backup is a little further back than usual and they can't exactly come burning up the road to help us."
"Gotcha. Sneak Peek out."
Tele-Viper 15 fidgeted in his seat, clearly irritated. "You realize that if Viper 503 is goofing off then we'll also be held responsible."
"Fine," Tele-Viper 22 said. "Maybe he just has his volume down. Have you checked out the video feed?"
The first Tele-Viper flipped a couple of switches. "Still not used to having these operational again. Let's see if-"
His screen displayed a Cobra Ferret, a Cobra Trooper and Viper gagged and handcuffed to the fence, and an unknown figure working rapidly at the checkpoint's computer station.
"Get a squad out to Checkpoint Kilo now!' Tele-Viper 15 shouted into his microphone. "22, get in the system and find out what that intruder's doing!"
"We are so dead," the second Tele-Viper muttered as he began working his way into the computer network.
Dial-Tone had found a few more files before reaching what looked like a medical subdirectory. After entering a few more keystrokes, he noticed a small set of interesting words.
Doc_Venom
Battle_Suit_002
Commander
Mutations
Serum
He immediately began transferring the files, but once he reached the 'Mutations' folder, his concentration was disrupted by Sneak Peek shouting through the headset.
"Disconnect and get your gear! We've gotta go now!"
Dial-Tone keyed his mic while working on the computer. "What? What did you do?"
"I don't know if I triggered a silent alarm or what, but I saw a disguised door slide open at the base of the mountain and a squad of Vipers are headed our way."
"Sounds like the gig is up. I'll see what trouble I can cause really quick and then I'll get the Ferret fired up."
"It looks like he's just digging around in random files," Tele-Viper 22 said as he started tracing the intruder's electronic path. "Nothing too serious as far as I can tell."
"System malfunction," the computer chirped.
"What now?" Tele-Viper 15 asked.
"It looks like our long-range air radars have gone off-line. But there's no way he could do that from where he is!"
"It doesn't matter how he did it! Fix it!" Tele-Viper 15 pulled up the other perimeter cameras, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.
Tele-Viper 22 spoke up. "The intruder has been locked out of the system. Working on restoring radar functionality. Should be back up in - there we go!"
"We've got something coming in fast. Not sure what it is, but there's no way we can launch interceptors at the speed it's maintaining." Tele-Viper 15 ran across the room and pressed a large red button next to a speaker. "Initiate total lock down! Initiate total lock down immediately!"
Roadblock shouted out orders. "Cross Country - get that jeep started and get ready to go as soon as Dial-Tone and Sneak Peek pile in. Lifeline - get the station wagon started. Lowlight, you're with me in the back of the station wagon."
"Time to have a little fun?" Lowlight asked.
Roadblock laughed. "Try to keep the property damage to a minimum my man - the locals won't appreciate if we use a heavy hand."
"I hear someone comin'," Cross Country said just as the two Joes emerged from the forest on foot. "I thought you guys were bringin' a four-wheeled toy with you!"
Dial-Tone hopped in the back of the jeep. "The one we found was a little low on gas. It gave out on us about a hundred feet back."
"Then what are those engines I'm hearin'?"
"Those would be the Ferrets that Cobra sent after us – they don't appear to be low on gas. Punch it, Cross Country," Sneak Peek said, situating himself angled to fire out the back of the jeep.
Lifeline pulled the station wagon out as soon as he saw Dial-Tone and Sneak Peek were secured. "You two hang on back there," he said to Roadblock and Lowlight. "This road's a little bumpy."
Roadblock grabbed a walkie talkie from his pack. "What happened back there, guys?"
"That's gonna have to wait, Roadblock," Cross Country said. "We've got some company to handle first!"
Four Cobra Ferrets flew out of the woods, their tires gripped into the gravel road, and started chasing behind the Joes. The two ATVs in the front began firing their lasers, but their initial shots missed the mark due to the rough road.
"Lifeline," Roadblock said, "I know you're not gonna like this, but we're gonna have to start shooting back soon!"
"Can you possibly try to keep them off us without killing any of them?" Lifeline asked, his focus entirely on the road and making sure they stayed out of the ditch.
"You keep us as steady as possible and I'll keep my shots clean at their rides - unless they start to become a better shot," Lowlight chimed in.
"I'll take that deal," Lifeline said and started to speed up.
"Cross Country," Roadblock said into his walkie talkie, "Get in front of us at the next wide point in the road."
The southerner's voice came back with an almost giddy tone, "Copy that! It'll be jus' like racin' down the dirt roads back home!"
After the next curve, Cross Country sped up and pulled alongside the station wagon. "These roads are crazy - in the best way!" he shouted to Roadblock. "You guys got this?!"
Roadblock shouted out the rolled down window, "Keep your eyes on the road! Dial-Tone, Sneak Peek - you two stow your weapons. Get back to the highway!"
A stray laser blast from one of the Ferrets grazed the bumper of the jeep before it was fully covered by the station wagon.
"Lowlight! Smash out the back window!"
The sniper looked at Roadblock, but when he saw what the larger man was doing, he grinned. "On it!" he said and elbowed the rear window causing glass to scatter outward onto the road.
Roadblock hefted up his machine gun and steadied it on the hastily created gunner's nest. As soon as he was sure his grip was secure, he angled the gun down and began pouring rounds into the ground at the tires of the approaching Ferrets.
The lead driver jerked his handlebars too sharply and caused his ATV to tumble end over end, coming to a stop in a ditch.
The remaining Ferrets pulled over, abandoning the chase to check on their fellow soldier.
Roadblocked pulled his machine gun back into the rear of the station wagon as Lifeline guided the car from the gravel and back onto a paved road that wasn't much smoother.
"Cross Country, where you guys at?" Roadblock asked over the walkie talkie.
"Waitin' at the edge of town for you slow pokes!"
"We're almost there. You guys keep your weapons stowed and start heading north. We've got a ride to catch at McChord."
Overhead, black streaks soared through the air followed by the roar of engines.
"Was that ours?" Lowlight grabbed the walkie talkie and asked.
"Negative! That looked and sounded like a Cobra Night Raven," Cross Country replied.
Moments later a loud explosion sounded in the distance and plumes of dark smoke billowed from the forest.
"What in the hell just happened?" Roadblock asked as the station wagon pulled onto the highway and left the small town behind.
"I want a report now!" Cobra Commander shouted as he stormed into the control room. "GI Joe hacked into our computers and took a first shot at us?!"
Tele-Viper 22 spoke up first. "The Joes were booted from the system. There's no way they could access our radar systems from where they were."
"What did they hit us with?"
"We had visual confirmation before the explosion – it doesn't appear that the Joes hit us. That a Night Raven was on a collision course," Tele-Viper 22 said.
"Sir, the metal shields were able to be deployed in time to dampen the impact," Tele-Viper 15 answered.
The second Tele-Viper in the room spoke up again, "Damage reports are coming in, but so far it appears to be minimal. Techno-Vipers have already been dispatched to the designated areas."
Cobra Commander paused and considered everything that had just happened. Only Serpentor's forces used the Night Ravens. Would he have formed an alliance with the Joes? Could his forces have impersonated or controlled them somehow? "What else?" Cobra Commander asked from behind his hood.
"When we accessed cameras targeting the impact zone, we were able to see the mini-jet separate, change course due southeast, and escape our tracking," Tele-Viper 22 said as he put his hand to the side of his helmet. "The Ferrets we sent out were unable to stop the Joes. There were more than just the two we saw on camera. They were in a jeep and a station wagon."
Cobra Commander clenched his fist and slammed it against the wall. "Tell Firefly that there has been a change in plans. I want him and his flunkies to leave here immediately and follow the Joes we saw. Send out a message to all troops not involved in repairs. They are to report to the parade grounds immediately – they need to hear from their Commander that Serpentor has requested our presence on Cobra Island."