It's Like Having Been Born Again. Pt 3
Author chick's notes: Welcome back. So who is the mystery spy/historian Leila mentioned last chapter? You'll find out here. This is where all hell breaks loose and you find out just how bad and final COBRA did succeed in taking over the world…at least in my version of things. =) Oh yeah, Clutch isn't going to have to suffer too much either. =) You'll see what I mean. Mwahahahaha…Disclaimers in Chapter 1.
It's Like Having Been Born Again. Pt. 3
Two days had passed since their fate was sealed. It was almost 08:00 and Clutch, Grunt, and Steeler were gathering in the library of their current hideaway. The Baroness had excused herself from the session, but had asked Leila to sit in on it on her behalf. After introducing her contact, the Baroness had to attend to the ugly business of the war that still raged in the streets of the former US capitol. She needed to know who had the upper hand so she could plan their eventual demise as well.
Leila was pouring coffee for the three Joes and herself when a knock on the door announced the arrival of the Baroness' contact. A petite shrouded figure entered after having the door opened for her by the Baroness. "Man Anya." She started, obviously quite familiar with the Baroness. "Those two have made…a…mess…" She stammered as she slowly removed the hood of her cloak. "Lance?" The three Joes knew who their contact was now. Her hairstyle was different, longer, but everything else was, as they knew it.
Across the room Cover Girl stood there, staring at Clutch as if seeing a ghost. "They said…" She began as she moved closer. "They said you were dead." Cover Girl choked out as she rushed into Clutch's arms. Grunt and Steeler both shared a look of surprise as Cover Girl began kissing Clutch feverishly. Clutch meanwhile was lost. The Cover Girl he knew tolerated him at best, this one however cared considerably more about him. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth he began kissing her back, mentally thanking whatever gods were listening for making him choose to stay in this shadow world.
"Ten bucks says, that if there's ever a chance of going back, he ain't going." Grunt whispered to Steeler as the two gave the 'lovers' a little privacy. The Baroness gave Steeler's hand a gentle squeeze as she made her way to the door. Grunt just rolled his eyes and fiddled with his nails until things in the room had cooled down a bit. They still had to tell this Cover Girl that they weren't the trio she knew and he wasn't exactly looking forward to it either. He reached into a pocket on the leg of his pants, fingering the dog tags they'd found in the Proving Grounds. When things cooled down on the surface there was still the matter of attending to the dead.
Clutch and Cover Girl finally broke apart for air. Clutch looked sad as he realized the same thing Grunt was thinking. They had to tell her the truth. "Courtney, we need to talk." Clutch got out as he thought of how to break the terrible news to her.
"You're right." She smiled. Then remembering they weren't alone she turned to the others in the room. "Hey foot soldier, hey Blondie." She smirked addressing the two the same way the Cover Girl they knew would. "What's going on?" She asked noticing that they weren't as thrilled as she was about their reunion. Grunt took out the tags he had and handed them over to her.
"You better take a seat, this is gonna take a while." He started as she looked at the identification tags she held in her small hand. The three took turns telling her the story of how they were transported to this reality by a freak accident and that the three Joes she knew, were indeed deceased. Leila who had taken a seat next to Grunt also added to the story where she could, verifying the fact that she had seen the three skeletons on the Proving Grounds where she had found Grunt and Steeler. Grunt took his own tag out of his shirt and held it up for her to see.
Seeing that Cover Girl was having trouble understanding or believing what she was hearing, Steeler spoke up. "I've gotta tattoo right?" He asked her remembering how the Baroness finally accepted their story after seeing the tattoo on his left forearm.
"Yeah." She answered looking confused now. "Some family crest thing." She clarified identifying the tattoo Steeler was about to show her. Steeler rolled both sleeves up but before showing her his forearms, he asked which arm it was on. "The right one." She said very confused now. "What's this all…Oh my god!" She exclaimed when she saw the tattoo she knew, only on the wrong arm. Cover Girl looked down at the tags in her hand absorbing what she now knew to be the truth.
She then looked up at Clutch who offered her the comfort of his arms. She leaned into him gratefully. She'd mourned his loss already so she shed no tears learning that what was once rumor was indeed truth. She explained about the sabotage mission the three men she knew were sent on and never heard from again. They learned what might have happened to the trio as Cover Girl explained that Destro was test firing an ultra sonic device on the Proving Grounds that in the end proved to unstable for safe use. "At least this explains why Anya wanted me to bring these then." She got up from leaning on Clutch and began opening the backpack she had brought with her.
"Anya?" Steeler asked.
"The Baroness?" Cover Girl answered. Then realizing that the Baroness they knew was probably nowhere near the ally this one was she explained further. "Her real name is Anastasia DeCobrey. 'Anya' is the short form of it." Cover Girl said. "Let me guess, the one you guys know would blow your head off without thinking twice right?"
"There's an understatement." Grunt added as he poured himself a second cup of coffee.
Cover Girl tried to imagine the woman, she at one time herself didn't trust as a cold callous killer. Shaking her head she continued getting out folder after folder full of pictures and data she had amassed since COBRA's conquest of the world. "Okay guys. I don't know what life was like in your reality, but I'm pretty sure that I can clear things up for you about this lovely hell hole." She said mockingly as she began opening one of the folders.
"Well while we were getting rested up, I did some reading up." Grunt offered. "Leila had some basic history she went over with me." He added pointing to the Baroness' faithful servant who was seated next to him.
Cover Girl acknowledged the woman. "That's great. So what do I need to fill in for you?" She asked.
Steeler made a comment about how Grunt couldn't leave anything alone and thanked him for getting a jump on what they needed to do. "No problem boss. We're in good shape actually." Grunt said hopefully. "We already know the bulk of history as it happened here. Pretty much everything up to a few years after 'Nam officially ended is the same. It's where the whole Joe/COBRA conflict comes in that we're in the dark." He explained to everyone.
"Well that makes my job a little easier." Cover Girl said as she set out photos from the first of several folders. "Sort of." She added as an afterthought. She knew full well that what she had to tell the men was anything but 'easy' to handle. She explained how the Joe team had formed as she knew it, finding out that the facts were the same for the men as well. There were a few additions they didn't know of but figured that the team was probably getting those recruits in their reality soon. Cover Girl explained a little about the newer Joes and what they were known for before getting to the more important history lesson she had to teach.
"A little over four years ago, the Pentagon got an anonymous tip from someone." Cover Girl started. "We later found out that it was the Baroness who had only just learned of what Destro and Cobra Commander were about to unleash." When Steeler asked what possessed the woman to tell the US government COBRA's plans, Cover Girl answered. "She feared for everything. She was always suspicious of those two assholes but when she learned that she had an hour to try and stop COBRA she made her choice. She's one of the founders of the Resistance here." Cover Girl explained.
"Jesus." Steeler said, his respect for the woman who had taken such great care of him since his arrival, growing a thousand fold. Clutch and Grunt both thought the same thing about their new ally as they listened in to what Cover Girl was saying.
"Thankfully the brass in charge that day decided to screw the bureaucrats and notify all of their world wide interests. Unfortunately it was to little to late." She said as she handed over a stack of photos to Steeler. "We had just gotten the word to scramble when COBRA struck." She added as she watched Steeler gape in horror at the pictures he was looking at, she continued as Steeler passed them over to the other two Joes.
"Yokosuka was first." She started.
"Yokosuka? Ain't that where Tripwire's old man is stationed?" Grunt asked as he saw the picture of the naval base in Japan.
"Was stationed." Cover Girl replied. "They were hit so fast they never had a chance." She added, a fact that was evident from the pictures of complete devastation they were looking at. At Grunt's 'poor guy' Cover Girl thought of something, then dismissed it. "I'm assuming things regarding Tripwire are different then what I know them as. As it is that's a long story in itself, and one for another time." She said getting back on track.
The trio nodded and listened as their comrade continued. "About five minutes after Yokosuka, Guam got hit, then the Marshalls, Hawai'i, San Diego, Long Beach and Nome. All at once." She said.
Steeler heard it as he looked at a satellite photo of an island he recognized as Oahu. "Mother fuck." He swore as he saw that most of the island had been obliterated. "Who had the unlucky job of scraping Torpedo off the walls?" He asked knowing full well that the Hawai'ian SEAL would have been devastated when he learned of his home being destroyed.
Cover Girl pulled her long auburn hair back into a makeshift ponytail as she answered Steeler's question. "Deep Six lost a few teeth trying to calm him down." She said remembering the horror of only being able to watch as the world as they knew it ended before their eyes. "We didn't know the full extent of COBRA's attack until a day later when we got our last satellite recon photos. We'd been attacked as well at the Pit and had spent the better part of the time defending ourselves.
Clutch was looking at the photo of Oahu as Cover Girl spoke. "It makes sense though. They took out a bunch of major bases for all branches of the military just hitting Hawai'i." He said. "Schofield, Hickam, Sand Island, Wheeler, Pearl…" He listed them off, knowing which one was which judging by the glowing spots on the nighttime photo. "Damn. Y'all got to see the reenactment of Pearl Harbor…" Clutch said looking down at Cover Girl.
She leaned back onto him and stared at the photo. "Yeah. My grandmother was at Tripler in 1941 and she remembered it vividly." Cover Girl sighed as she traced a finger along the picture in Clutch's hand. "I just never thought I'd live to see the whole thing over again…let alone on such a global scale." She added. "COBRA didn't just hit the Pacific either." She began again. "The Atlantic got hit just as hard too." She said getting out a new set of photographs.
As she thumbed through them looking for one in particular, she listed off all the other sites COBRA had attacked in their initial onslaught. "Was there ever a meltdown at Chernobyl in your…" She didn't finish when she saw all three of them nod that a similar accident had happened at the Soviet power plant. "Okay. Assuming that events unfolded the same way in Chernobyl, here's a radiation photo of Polyarnyy and Murmansk." She held it up for everyone to see. "As you can see, with all the nuclear power they had there in the form of weapons and boats, Chernobyl was a tea party in comparison." The radiation the photo displayed was awe inspiring, and horrifying at the same time.
"They weren't satisfied either with just wasting the Arctic. They hit that cesspool in Dzerzhinsk too." Referring to the heavily polluted city in the southern Ukraine. "The Ukraine is pretty much inhospitable now. The toxin levels present at the time in Dzerzhinsk were so off the scale that when COBRA nuked the place, they didn't need to powerful a warhead to make an even bigger mess. They just used what was already there to make a bigger bang." She said, handing over a photo of the city as she spoke.
Steeler frowned as he absorbed all the information. "What happened with the October Guard?" Steeler asked about the Soviet's equivalent to the Joe team.
"They went underground the same as us." Cover Girl answered. "After a few days everyone learned just how successful COBRA had been. Both the Joes and the October Guard were 'officially' disbanded." Before anyone could speak up she continued. "We weren't out of the picture though. The last orders both teams got were to go underground and start guerilla warfare tactics against COBRA." She said.
Cover Girl went on to explain that after taking out all of the world's major military bases, COBRA began the systematic take over of each countries governments. It had taken roughly nine months to turn the world into the one Steeler, Clutch, and Grunt had been stranded in. "So you see? COBRA did in a matter of months what Hitler never could accomplish." She said when she finished her history presentation.
Cover Girl answered any questions the trio had regarding what all she had told them, filling in a few blank spots as they went along. She then began describing how the Resistance worked. To safeguard each other, the disbanded Joes and Guard only knew of how to contact a few of their comrades. Steeler learned that to reunite both teams he'd have to do it a lot slower then he had originally planned. "It makes sense doing it that way." He added thinking as he said it.
"For instance," Cover Girl started. "I only know how to find Dusty, Tripwire, Frostbite, Diana, and Deep Six." She said. "They in turn know how to find a few of the others and so forth." Steeler nodded his head as he began formulating plans of his own. "The Baroness knows how to find me and probably three or four others as well." Cover Girl offered. "It's the one thing that is never discussed, for safety reasons obviously." She added.
"Yeah that makes perfect sense. In case one of you is captured, COBRA can't flush everyone out in one go." Steeler said. Remembering what he had told Clutch and Grunt a few days prior he looked back to Cover Girl. "Do you know if anyone actually defected over to COBRA?" He asked. Clutch who was holding Cover Girl, hugged a little tighter at the question.
"No." She bit her lip as she thought about the question. "If anyone had defected, Anya would have said so." She added referring to the Baroness again by her real name. "Ace did in a double agent way but he was caught trying to sabotage Cobra Commander's computer systems and was executed publicly." She said. "The Commander is so paranoid anyway, no one else has tried for fear of just being shot on sight." She said. Wiping a tear away at the memory of watching her former comrade being brutally murdered in cold blood on television. Grunt buried his face in his hands and wept silently at the news. Leila placed a comforting hand on his back and whispered softly in his ear trying to sooth his pain. He gathered himself a moment later and thanked her quietly.
Steeler looked at the time and found that they had been at this for well over twelve hours. "It's late. We'll call it off here for now." He said. "You gonna be here for a while Cov?" He asked using the nickname version of Cover Girl's code name.
"Yes. Anya asked that I join her here for the duration." She said.
"Good. Leila? Will you be seeing the Baroness anytime soon?" He asked the blonde woman seated with them.
"If she needs me all she has to do is summon." Leila said, holding up her wrist to display a delicate bracelet that doubled as a communicator.
Steeler thought for a few more moments then spoke again. "Okay then. Obviously you and Grunt are getting information together." He stated. "Keep at it if you're free to do so." He added to her as everyone began rising from their seats. "Odds are I'll see her first anyway and tell her what happened here. I'll see what she's learned too and then we'll go from there." He said. "We'll go over notes tomorrow." He said as a dismissal. "For now get some rest and do whatever it is you need to." He finished.
Stepping over to Cover Girl, Grunt hugged her and said how glad he was to see her. She smiled and hugged back before Steeler took his turn. "Good seeing you here and thanks for the history lesson." He said placing a brotherly kiss on her head.
"You too boss." She smiled. "Now go to bed! You look like hell." She teased as she swatted him. Steeler smirked at her then turned to head back to the room he'd been staying in. Grunt left with Leila back to his quarters and a follow up session to the one they'd been having all day. That left Clutch and Cover Girl alone in the library.
"So? You wanna join me for dinner?" Clutch asked, pointing in the general direction of his own quarters.
Cover Girl agreed and said she'd meet him after she got her duffle out of her transport. A little while later, the door opened and Cover Girl entered. Clutch had changed out of his uniform and was preparing a light dinner in the kitchen as she put her bag down in the living room. Clutch leaned back into the hug as Cover Girl came up behind him and encircled him in her arms. After serving up dinner and taking it out to the living room to eat, they began talking.
"What am I like on the other side?" Cover Girl asked as she twirled her fork in her pesto.
Clutch laughed at the query before answering. "You have shorter hair for starters." He said using his hand to indicate its length on his own head. Cover Girl wrinkled her nose and waited for him to continue. "As for you and me? We're like brother and sister. Always giving each other hell." He smiled, remembering fondly all the teasing and pranks the two had exchanged in his reality.
Cover Girl was thoughtful as she examined her fork. "Did the other me usually use the words 'bastard' and 'asshole' to describe you?" She smiled.
Clutch laughed. "Them and a whole long litany of others too." He got out between chuckles. Sobering a bit he continued. "I made life a veritable hell for the other you when we first met." Clutch said. Judging from her raised eyebrow he had a feeling the same had happened in this world too.
"Oh I can imagine." She said smirking as she bit into another forkful of food.
They continued talking for several more hours, finding out that the other was the same person they each knew more or less before Cover Girl asked if she could take a shower. After Clutch had put their dishes in the sink, he took her duffle and led her towards the master suite. As she showered, Clutch began getting a pillow and blanket from the bed. Despite the passionate kiss they'd shared when he'd first seen her that morning, he wasn't about to risk too much by suggesting they share the bed as well. Cover Girl came out as he finished fixing the bed and smiled. "And where are you going?" She asked, her eyes glowing as she dropped her towel to the floor.
"I'm gonna be a good boy and sleep on the cou…whoa…" He said when he looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. He didn't move as she made her over to him.
"Uh uh." She said, sinking to her knees before him. "You might not be my Lance but you're pretty damn close." She said as she reached into his sweats for his manhood and began working the organ with her mouth. Clutch's head fell back as the sensations from her attentions began flooding his entire being.
They eventually made it into bed and after several hours of intense lovemaking, they finally fell asleep. Cover Girl woke up early the following morning and looked at Clutch who was deep asleep on his stomach. She gently traced the outline of his exposed ear as a tear slid from her eyes. "I missed you love." She whispered in the dark, gently kissing his bearded cheek before curling back up to him. Silently offering a prayer of thanks to whatever deities were listening she fell asleep, peacefully and nightmare free for the first time in longer then she could remember.
To Be Continued…
