If you are wondering why the Cobra ninjas are running around on their own, well check out 'Ronin Toad'. It's explained in more detail. If you have read it and want me to get on with the story well okay.

I'll do it.

No more delays.

Here we go.

Rescue

In the warehouse the captives had spent several minutes listening to Guyrich and Trask rant about their views of mutants and blame each other. Finally Alpine couldn't take it anymore. "Will you two shut up!" He shouted. "If this is Cobra's idea of torture, it's working!"

"How are you holding up Taryn?" Scott asked, concerned.

"Well other than the fact that I'm freaking out about being held hostage fine," Taryn snapped. "And that I've been going to school with mutants. I've dated a mutant and not even known it!"

"Taryn I know you hate us but we couldn't tell you or anyone we were mutants!" Jean said. "Try to understand that."

"Jean let me take a wild guess," Taryn said. "Your telepathy isn't that good is it? I'm mad at you guys for not telling me the truth! What did you think I would do? Go run to the cops or something? Then again with all that's happened I can hardly blame you for it. I…I'm sorry I got jealous of you Jean. But I liked Scott and I hated the way you treated him when you were going with Duncan and…"

"Yeah well I guess I was kind of being a jerk," Jean said.

"Kind of?" Scott asked wryly.

"Okay I was a jerk. And the worst part of it all it was all over Duncan. God how could I have dated that creep?"

"Don't ask me, you're the one that can read minds," Taryn said.

"If this Afterschool Special is over can we figure out a way to get out of here?" Trask shouted.

"I've been thinking," Mainframe looked above Alpine. "See that mirror above you?"

"Yeah," Alpine said. "Guys driving forklifts use them so they can see if someone's in back of them. They put them all over warehouses. So what?"

"Remember that time in Machu Pichu when we all got trapped by Cobra and we used a mirror to burn our way loose?" Mainframe asked.

"Oh I get it," Alpine said. "But we don't have the sun."

"We don't need it," Mainframe looked at Scott. "Hey kid can you shake those glasses off?"

"Uh what is he doing?" Trask asked.

"But if I do I won't have any control over my eye beams," Scott said. "What if I fry you guys?"

"What?" Trask yelped.

"That's a chance we are gonna have to take now do it!" Alpine ordered.

"Uh wait a minute…" Trask said nervously as Scott shook off his glasses. "He's not gonna do what I think he's gonna do is he?"

"You know it just might work," Guyrich said.

"What if it doesn't?" Trask yelped.

"Well then we'll know what a Kentucky Fried Chicken feels like," Alpine said. "Okay kid when I say now, you open those eyes for just a second. All right. Tilt your head a bit more…that's it! Perfect! Now!"

Scott did so. The beam reflected off the mirror and through the ropes holding Alpine and Trask. They were freed instantly. "Way to go kid!" Alpine started to untie them.

"Now all we have to do is get that collar off Jean," Scott said putting on his glasses after he was untied.

"So that's why you always wear those shades," Taryn said.

"Yeah," Scott admitted. "It's not exactly the safest power in the world."

"We can talk about this later," Mainframe looked at Trask. "Okay Trask, do you have the key for this?"

"Why should I?" Trask snarled.

"Hello?" Taryn snapped. "We're still prisoners here! We need all the help we can get!"

"Too bad, because I don't have the key," Trask snarled. "I gave it to the Baroness!"

"Oh well that's a big help," Alpine groaned. "Oh one other thing…" He kicked Trask in the shin. "That's for kicking the kid!"

"Oh really I thought it was because you didn't like me," Trask snarled.

"No this is for me not liking you," Alpine kicked him in the other shin.

"Don't worry I think we may not need it anyway," Mainframe looked at Taryn. "Is that a gold necklace you're wearing?"

"Yeah," She looked at it.

"Do you mind if I borrow it?" Mainframe asked. She shrugged and handed it to her. "Thanks."

"What are you going to do with that?" Trask snapped. "Put on a fashion show?"

"Very funny," Mainframe took it and slid it down the back of Jean's collar. "Watch and learn kids. Now Jean I want you to concentrate on the lock of the collar. If I'm right the gold will help counteract the collar and you can override the controls."

"I…I can't," Jean said.

"Yes you can just concentrate," Mainframe said.

"How do you know about this stuff?" Scott asked.

"Hey you don't fight Cobras for years without learning a few tricks around their tricks," Alpine told him.

"Impressive," Guyrich nodded. "It's a pity your knowledge of mutants is being used for the wrong side."

"I was gonna say the same about you," Mainframe told him.

"Uh oh," Trask said as the sound of footsteps came closer. "Company's coming. Hurry up!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Jean snapped. "This isn't easy you know!"

"You're doing fine Jean," Mainframe told her. "Cyclops you're gonna have to cover for us until she gets loose and we get some weapons."

"Wonderful," Trask groaned.

"Cyclops?" Taryn looked at him.

"It's my codename," Scott explained. Then the door exploded open. To their surprise Monkeywrench and Ripper fell flat on their faces.

"This is not good," Ripper gulped, looking as if he had been beaten in a fight.

"Hey the Calvary's here!" Alpine shouted.

"Uh not exactly," Monkeywrench gulped as he pointed at the door. There stood several men clad in white carrying huge rifles. "Duck!" He screamed as he dived for cover as they shot at him.

"Please tell me they're on our side," Taryn yelped as they started firing. They all ducked behind some crates.

"Those blooming ninjas have gone batty!" Ripper.

"Yeah they've gone and turned traitor!" Monkeywrench explained. "They want the Sentinel plans and Trask and the mutants for themselves!"

"Oh well this is just great!" Alpine groaned. "Just what we needed!"

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"Okay here's the plan," Falcon explained as they made their way to the warehouse area. "Team one will hit the front and team two will go to the back. That's where Scott and the others are being held captive."

"What about the Brotherhood?" Wanda asked.

"Xavier got a reading with Cerebro," Jinx explained. "Apparently they're not too far from here near the docks. The two Joes on backup will go there to rescue them."

"Wait…you're only gonna send two Joes after the Brotherhood?" Kitty asked.

"We'll back them up as soon as we take care of the Cobras here," Falcon said. "Besides, I know which Joes are going, believe me, those Brotherhood Kids are in good hands!"

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"Stop struggling," The ninja informed Fred as he was dragged, bound and chained towards a boat. "The drugs and that collar we placed on your neck will keep you helpless." Most of the other Brotherhood members were unconscious. Still it took several ninjas to handle Fred.

"You didn't give me any drugs," Fred snarled. "And I'm still strong without my powers! I'm gonna tear you apart! I'm gonna wipe the walls with you! I'm gonna…" He stopped as the ninjas stood there silently. He looked and saw that before them stood a man dressed in black from head to toe. "Uh…who's that guy?"

They stood there facing each other silently for what seemed like a long time. "Uh…hello?" Fred asked. "Who are you?" No answer. They still stared at each other. "Okay I think I saw something like this in a movie once. This is one of those samurai deals were you guys stare at each other before fighting right?"

The dark clad warrior drew his katana sword. The other ninjas did the same. "I'm right," Fred gulped.

Suddenly the white ninjas charged. The black ninja easily fought them off. They battled with each other savagely, yet flawlessly as any expert dance. Fred stared at them as they fought. "Wow." Was all he could say. "They're good."

Yet as the black ninja knocked several of his assailants down, more appeared to take their place. "Okay this is not good," Fred gulped.

"Hey Snake Eyes!" A voice boomed. "Glad to see you saved some for me!"

Fred looked up and saw a huge drill instructor with silver sunglasses and a small moustache. "Okay now who's this guy?" Fred asked aloud.

"Name's Slaughter," The drill instructor smiled. "Sergeant Slaughter. Wanna see how I got my name?"

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Back in the warehouse Scott was trying to keep the ninjas at bay. Alpine had 'persuaded' the two Dreadnoks to give him a rifle. Still they were outgunned and outnumbered. They were just about to be overrun when…

"Got it!" Jean crowed. The collar fell off her. She used her telekinesis to create a shield protecting them and then started using her powers to fling the ninjas all around.

"Now that's what I call timing," Alpine shouted. "Hey!" Trask and Guyrich ran off. "Where are they going?"

"Forget them!" Mainframe grabbed a weapon. "The kids are our first priority! And as for you…"

"Oh yeah!" Monkeywrench threw a grenade at them with a smirk on his face.

The smirk quickly went away when Jean used her powers to send the grenade right back at him. The Dreadnoks raced away in time before it exploded. They escaped through a hole in the wall the explosion made.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Alpine told the others. "An engraved invitation? Let's move it!"

Not far away Falcon was about to order the attack when he heard a blast. "What the heck?" He looked and saw Cobras and Cobra ninjas shooting at each other. "They're firing on each other? What are they doing?"

"Maybe they're having a dispute about their health care plan," Jinx quipped. "Who cares? Let's go! Yo Joe!" The two teams moved out.

Meanwhile Mainframe led the others out of the warehouse. "Okay let's go this way!" He ordered. "It's safer!" They turned the corner.

And ran smack dab into the middle of a fight between the ninjas and the remaining Cobra soldiers. "You got a strange definition of the word safe!" Alpine shouted as they ducked. To his surprise, the Cobras stopped firing on them and went back to firing on each other. "They're more interested in fighting each other!"

"That gives us an opportunity!" Mainframe said. "Lay down some cover fire!"

"You got it!" Alpine did so.

"Now run!" Mainframe ordered the kids.

"You called it!" Jean shouted as she and Scott charged into battle with the Cobras.

"That's not what I meant!" Mainframe groaned. "Taryn at least…" He turned around and saw Taryn beating the stuffing out of a Cobra soldier. "This is not going to plan people!"

"Freeze Joe!" A Cobra soldier came up to Mainframe.

"Interesting choice of words," Bobby quipped as he used his powers to freeze him.

"Well this is just getting better and better!" The Baroness groaned as she saw the remaining Joes and the mutants join in the fray. "Okay who is the idiot who authorized those ninjas to be here in the first place?"

"Cobra Commander," Zartan told her.

"It figures," She grumbled firing shots everywhere. "Okay who has the Sentinel plans?"

"I thought you had them!" Zartan asked.

"I did!" She snapped between shots. "Then I gave them to you to put in the vault which obviously didn't happen because the ninjas blew it up! So where are they?"

"I gave them to Zandar!" Zartan said.

"I gave them to Zarana," Zandar said.

"I gave them to Zanya!" She said.

"I gave them back to Zandar!" Zanya said.

"I thought you gave them to me?" Zartan asked.

"No that was the second time, the first time I gave them to…"

"JUST ONE OF YOU TELL ME WHERE THE DAMN PLANS ARE!" Baroness screeched.

"I just remembered. Buzzer has them!" He pointed to Buzzer on the battlefield.

"Say your prayers Joe!" Buzzer shouted grabbing a rifle.

"Now I lay you down to sleep!" Gung Ho shouted as he punched him out.

"Well not for much longer," Baroness grumbled. "COBRA! GET THE PLANS!"

"Oh no you don't!" Torch tackled Gung Ho and grabbed the plans. He in turn was tackled by a ninja who was tackled by a Cobra soldier who was tackled by another ninja. Torch grabbed them back from the ninja. "Got 'em!" He crowed.

Then Amara came up and shot waves of fire. Some of it caught onto the plans setting them ablaze. "Don't got 'em!" Torch yelped.

"I think it's time we took a strategic retreat!" Zartan yelped as he was nearly fried by Tabitha's energy bombs.

"For once you have the right idea!" Baroness and the Dreadnoks raced off.

From a distance, Guyrich fumed. "The plans are destroyed!"

"Not really!" Trask said grabbing a jeep. "They're in my head. I designed them, remember? Let's get out of here!" They leapt into the jeep and drove off.

"So much for operating in Bayville," Trask groaned.

"Not so fast," Guyrich snapped. "We're not leaving town yet! There's some unfinished business we have to take care of!" He laughed as they drove away.

It wasn't long before the remaining Cobra soldiers surrendered. Without their leader they were without direction. The ninjas simply disappeared. The ones that were able to get away that is.

"Got another one!" Tabitha laughed as she and Rahnee in her wolf form chased another ninja.

"All in all not a bad day's work," Falcon looked around pleased. "Great work kids!"

"You're all okay!" Kitty waved to the former captives.

"Yeah we're fine," Jean said.

"The Baroness and the Dreadnoks got away," Mainframe said. "So did Trask and Guyrich."

"We haven't seen the last of them," Gung Ho said. "But we can cart these bozos off to jail."

"Everybody here?" Scott asked.

"I think so," Amara said.

"Where's Wanda?" Falcon asked.

"I think she took off to go help her brother and the others," Gung Ho said. "I have a feeling we should stay out of her way."

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Meanwhile the two Joes at the docks were fighting off the remaining ninjas with great enjoyment. But Fred enjoyed it even more, temporarily forgetting about his own captivity while watching the fight.

"Wow what a great fight!" Fred exclaimed as he watched them go at it. "I wish you guys were awake to see this. You're missing a great fight! That and popcorn. I could really go for some popcorn right about now. Hey watch out for that guy…Oh you saw him! Hey Slaughter behind you! There are two…well not anymore. Wow what a backflip! This fight can not get any cooler!"

Suddenly several ninjas were thrown about everywhere. Pieces of debris attacked them. Wanda stood there flinging hex bolts at them, enraged. "Okay I was wrong," Fred said cheerfully.

Wanda used her powers to melt the restraints away from Fred and the others. "All right!" Fred crowed, flexing his muscles. "Finally I get into the action! Aw nuts!" All around him were the white ninjas, unconscious. "It's over already?"

"That was fun," Sgt. Slaughter chuckled. "Haven't had a good workout like that in ages."

"Hey Wanda you missed a great fight!" Fred said excitedly. "We were all trapped by this Mindbender dude who wanted to experiment on us, but then these ninjas came along and took us cause they wanted to experiment on us! Then just before they shoved us into the boat this guy in black shows up and they're staring each other down and then they attack each other and everybody's waving swords and doing more backflips and stuff and then more white ninjas show up but then this Slaughter guy shows up and really kicked some butt! Everybody's flying around everywhere and it was really cool!"

"Shut up Blob!" Wanda snapped.

"Okay shutting up," Fred backed down quickly.

Wanda glared at the two Joes. "Leave us," Wanda hissed. "I don't want to fight you now but I will. Blob, let's get them home."

"You're welcome," Sgt. Slaughter grumbled. He turned to Snake Eyes. "Grateful isn't she?"