G.I. Joe: Resurrection
Disclaimer: This is set in the G.I. Joe universe roughly now after the defeat of Cobra following the destruction of Cobra-La in G.I. the movie (don't get me started on G.I. DIC episodes) and the disbanding of the G.I. program. I don't own any of the G.I. Joes unless you mean the action figures in which I own many and I don't own any of the Cobras unless again you mean figures in which I say quite a few.
Warning: This story contains a number of scenes of violence, language, and sexual situations and thus is rated R.
July 4th, 2001
The White House Lawn was in full force today for President Bush's speech regarding Anti-terrorism in the United States of America. The number of reporters whom had been invited to the speech was staggering and conversations were abuzz due to the rumors that the G.I. Joe program, which had been started under Kennedy but discontinued in the early term of President Clinton, was going to be revived. Already the advanced rumors had sparked a wave of controversy since the Joe program had been a massive military expense routinely called a waste of money, even during the height of the Cobra organization scare. With most of it's original members having been tried by the United Nations for war crimes or dead, the idea President Bush would hurt his already war tarnished image with more military spending on the most costly special missions division of all time was ridiculous.
Yet the rumors continued.
***
Shana M. O'Hara, the woman formerly known as "Scarlett" watched the television with mild interest on her home couch. The news report that the G.I. Joe Program was going to be resumed brought a slight smile to her lips, but it quickly faded, Cobra was destroyed and the people they called "terrorists" these days were ranting buffoons or people one couldn't stop with the military. She momentarily checked her watch as she thought it was about time to go check to see if her two kids, Conrad and Dashiell, were ready to come home from school. They were named after the two best men she'd ever known and that had infuriated their father whom Scarlet was glad to have not seen in a significant amount of time. She briefly thought back to her relationships with two of her fellow Joes and mourned that time. Still time had passed and she'd drifted apart from them both and into a civilian life. Snake Eyes had disappeared from the face of the Earth with only the occasional letter post marked from everywhere from Argentina to the Himalayas. Duke was still career military and last she had heard was finally a full General.
"Two thirty six." Scarlet winced as she looked at her watch and sighed as she got up, she was already late! It was a pity too because President Bush was already coming out to give his speech on terrorism.
"My fellow Americans…" the Presidents voice echoed before he stopped in mid-sentence.
***
Destro frowned deeply as he was lead into the sunlight of the West Coast. The former second in command of Cobra had stopped trying to keep count of the years that had passed by while he was locked away in the icy Alaskan prison that had been prepared for him following his conviction before the United Nations.
'Why of all times did they choose now to transfer me to something more hospitable I do not know.' Destro thought. The man in the metal mask and manacles had no illusions that he was ever going to be free again. Thanks to the bumbling of Cobra Commander and the idiocy of that genetic half-wit, Serpentor, the entire military arm of Cobra had been eliminated and enough had turned tail and run that any information Destro might have given to mitigate his sentence had already been given by some fool accountant or foot soldier. It was a grim consolation to see so many of his fellow soldiers of terror inside his grim snowy home and it pleased him to watch many either die of the cold or despair.
"You'll be picked up here, Chrome-Dome, in a few minutes as soon as we get your partner." The peon prison guard who had been assigned to guard him inside this military base made a wonderful observation about his features that Destro hadn't heard a million times before by much more educated men.
"DESTRO! What are you doing here?" the unmistakable sound of a European Beauty's voice was spoken behind him and the Scottish weapons-dealer turned to look upon his beautiful Baroness's face once more. She too was being guarded by an odious peasant but was struggling far more than dignity allowed Destro to do so. It was obvious that incarceration had not broken her fiery and frequently passionate spirit.
Destro could not answer his lover's query because he himself didn't know. There was a certain sense of darkness to the air that Destro found most appealing. The thoughts and possibilities going through his head were interrupted by the sound of a helicopter descending that was full of heavily armed United States military soldiers. Leaving the cockpit once settled was a stunningly attractive young woman in her twenties wearing the uniform of a Lieutenant-Major. Destro instantly realized the truth of the situation and it was obvious by the Baroness's ceasing her struggling that she recognized it as well. The woman's walk was far too exaggerated and her uniform worn exactly appropriate to distract the guards dull witted lustful minds, especially since the look in her eye was that of a killer. It was a tactic Destro knew well and a classic plan(,) but would it work?
"Lieutenant-Major Eve Caesarson here to pick up the prisoners." The woman spoke with a slight accent as she handed over a clipboard to the two officers and looked briefly at Destro and the Baroness. Destro nodded while the Baroness merely gave a half smirk before both of their guards fell backwards, a bullet hole put in both by the woman.
"COBBBRAAAAAAAA!" one of the soldiers onboard the helicopter shouted as rockets fired from hidden chambers onboard and sailed into the side of the base. Destroying aircraft and runway. Destro noted that the fires were forming into a suspiciously familiar symbol….The Cobra Hood.
"Onboard quickly!" The woman, who had introduced herself as Eve Caesarson, said in a British accent that he had not been able to detect before. Destro noted the irony of her name as well. What was a better alias than one which alluded to the first victim of snakes and the child of Cleopatra and the greatest conqueror the world has ever known? Whoever was in charge of this operation apparently at least had a classical education, which would be a pleasant change from the woefully undereducated lords he had served before.
"You fool! You'll bring the entire United States military down upon us." The Baroness snarled her next words as the helicopter took off and the woman who was their rescuer merely smiled, letting her disguise loosen to reveal almost angelic features and long blonde hair.
"You'll find the Commander is a bit more cautious than that, Your Ladyship." She said smiling. The side-door to the helicopter was then shut and an electrical current flew across it like lightning through a rod and the vehicle vanished in a cloaking field.
***
President George Bush Junior began his speech with an appeal to the brotherhood of his fellow Americans. It would take all the brotherhood he could get to make what he was announcing popular. War spending was an unpopular topic in America for obvious reasons. If you started spending large amount of money on defense, people naturally assumed you meant to take the country into battle. Unfortunately war occasionally had the nastiness to come to you.
"My fellow Americans…" George took a deep breath as he ran his mind over the information the CIA and National Security Agency had both confirmed about a military build up of Cobra. The organization had been extinct for nearly ten years as far as the President of the United States had known with only the sovereign nation of Cobra Island remaining a tiny and harmless remnant of the once feared army of evil. Yet not only were they still in existence the reports indicated vast amounts of money, weaponry, and political support worldwide. The snakes had somehow managed to re-grow their tail after it was severed. George squinted as he noticed that the bright sunlight of the afternoon disappeared around him.
"Mr. President get down!" one of the Secret Service Agents shouted to him as he fell behind the president's podium and heard the sound of gunfire echoing across the air. A plain metal canister landed nearby the president before it exploded in a cloud of green gas that was accompanied by a terrible battle cry.
"COBBBRAAAAA!"
George found himself going out before he looked to his side and saw one of his bodyguards dead beside him, having been shot in the head at point blank range. Red uniformed arms lifted him up as the President saw two members of the Crimson Guard of Cobra, their masks covering their faces and apparently protecting them from the gas. Everything then faded to darkness.
***
Shana saw only bits and pieces of the gunfire echoing across the White House Lawn before the television set went to static but it was enough for her to drop her coat and car keys to stare in horror.
"Oh no." Scarlet gasped, watching the static begin to slowly fade away to a symbol recognized world wide as a mark of terror. The Cobra Hood set against a white background, the image of a snake with its' mouth poised to strike. The seal of the Cobra marked who was responsible.
"Damn you!" Scarlet snarled, grabbing the television set off of the table it rested on, ripping it's chord from the wall, and slamming it full force into the floor. The set exploded into electrical sparks and tubes as Shana O'Hara took a deep breath and went to her kitchen phone to make a call.
***
General Hawk watched the Cobra Hood appear on his limo television set as he was adjusting his tie for the state dinner he was already going to be late to, scheduled for after the President's national address. The symbol of Cobra had always struck General Hawk as rather silly, it was one of the reason's he'd chosen his codename. A hawk naturally preyed on snakes and it was one of the proposals for the flag of the United States, a great bird preying on a snake. Clayton M. Albernathy had learned there was nothing silly about Cobra though as they had proven time and time again to be the most murderous evil band of raping, torturing, scum that had ever had the indecency to crawl out of a cesspool. As a General, Hawk had lost a lot of good friends and acquaintances fighting them and his units saw more action per man than most in the United States' history fighting them. If he had been a less controlled man he would have punched the television set in with his fist.
"Driver! Forget the White House! We're heading directly to the Fort!" General Hawk said to the private they'd assigned to chauffer him around ever since they said he could no longer drive his own vehicle and look like a military commander. Grabbing the limousine phone, he began dialing Langley, Virginia. The audacity that those bastards would actually try and kidnap the president before two hundred million viewers shook the man but he'd seen far more insane actions from the group. Personally Hawk never had believed Cobra to be destroyed. As long as Cobra Island or any one remaining member of the organization survived under "diplomatic immunity" or "insufficient evidence" they were a threat. If he had his way he would have bombed the entire island back to the stone-age and seen to it the murderers got one for.
Hawk pulled his phone from his ear as he heard an unfamiliar voice on the other side.
"I'm sorry I cannot relay this to you in person, General Hawk, but I hope you will be content with the message I'm leaving you. Cobra has returned though not in the form you remember it but in a glorious Phoenix from the ashes of the monster it was to a guiding savior who will transform the world. I am saddened that you must die the way you are about to, for you truly do deserve a warrior's death for the courage and heroism you have shown battling my father's minions…" Hawk stopped listening to the man as he pounded on the glass in between him and his driver, noticing they were going the wrong way. Hawk put the phone to his head again "the world needs to be stunned long enough for battles to be won however. Au revoi, General."
Hawk saw his driver disintegrate into a pile of gray disgusting ooze before his eyes. The Joe head spat the name of the creature "Synthoid.".
The limousine doors then locked shut beside the General and the vehicle slammed itself off the road into the Ptomec with a splash. Water leaked through the doors and began to fill the compartment even as he slammed himself against the window with all his strength. The window, however, had been replaced with bulletproof glass and wouldn't budge.
"Thank God I'm a paranoid old man." General Hawk said praying to God Cobra didn't have the brains to check under the seats. Running his hands underneath the water already up to his knees to grab a white package he'd ducked taped there months before, General Hawk pulled out a Blast-tech 7. The weapon was supposedly too expensive for normal usage but it was still the most powerful hand held weapon in the world.
"YO JOE!" Hawk said firing the laser pistol three times into the passenger window, which exploded into a torrent of water. Taking a deep breath General Hawk climbed out the broken glass and swam upwards towards the surface.
Blue laser bolts flew through the water around Hawk before he made a U-turn back into the depths. Cobra soldiers were on the shore waiting for him with their own laser armaments. The General's only hope was to get to a spot where they couldn't see him with the tide and hope they thought he drowned.
***
Cobra Command Station was one of the engineering marvels of the modern era as the space-platform was possessed of the most advanced weaponry on the planet, countless surface to orbit fighters and troop carriers, as well as being completely unknown to the rest of the world's population. The cloaking field developed around the fortress in the stars was just one of the keys to which the reborn organization would wreak it's vengeance on a world which had abandoned the principles on which it had been founded.
"Sssssssssss." Snakes murmured as the giant fourteen foot long cobra sunk its' over-sized fangs into an ostrich egg and devoured the gooey insides hungrily. The creature like it's master was insatiable in its' appetites.
The new Cobra Commander leaned back in the middle of the command chamber as his "pet" ate beside him. The room was full of video screens with every news agency on the planet and a number of private satellite feeds playing the news, which the Commander was pleased to watch, spread like a brushfire across the planet. He was not as old as the original commander had been and did not wear a mask to shroud any deformity or heritage from a now gratefully extinct subspecies of man. He was actually rather handsome with short well-trimmed blonde hair and almost chiseled features that had been hardened along with his body in years of service on Cobra's front lines. Metallic reinforced body-armor covered his chest and legs with the Cobra hood serving as an honor shield that bound a blue cape around his body at the shoulder. Disturbingly the man's eyes were completely black with gold irises and gave the man a decidedly alien look, but that was from surgery to replace damaged retinas not because he shared blood with the creature at his side.
"It's beautiful isn't it Snakes? The chaos of lost leadership, assassinated warriors, and destroyed economies allowing us to rescue our comrades in arms as we prepare to bring the heavy gauntlet of Cobra forth to punish those who repressed us. I feel pity for those whose families shall miss members because of the necessity of our actions, but it is as Machiavelli wrote that families shall forgive lost parents and brothers if they are rewarded with peace, prosperity, and property." The Commander smiled before Snakes turned his head from his half-eaten egg to look at the man. The creature raised his hood upwards before it turned its' head again from the Commander to look at the doorway which was opening to reveal Fallen Angel, the head of the Crimson Guard, and those she was sent to recover. The Scottish Arms dealer Destro and the Baroness Decobray were long ago friends of Cobra, time would tell if they would be again.
"Cobra Commander I have brought Destro and the Baroness as you requested." Fallen Angel said as she crossed her arms, it was obvious that whatever had passed between the ruthless but lovely woman and the two had made her more than a little skeptical of her Commander's desire to speak with them and perhaps restore their positions.
"So you are the one responsible for our liberty." Destro said with a slight hint of disdain, the records and the new Cobra Commander's own personal observations spoke volumes of the metal masked warlock's contempt for every leader of Cobra but himself. The Baroness would be more practical as always, she was interested only in her own personal vendettas and would side with anyone who could help her fill them. In that way she was easier to control than Destro but was less respected by the Commander.
"Thank you, Angel, I appreciate your efficiency as always. Do me the courtesy of supervising the remainder of the operations planet-side. This will be the first live fire operation for many of our troops and I would feel more secure knowing that they have your gentle touch to guide them." The Commander said squeezing his snakeskin glove covered fist. He let a half smile as Fallen Angel frowned and bowed her head, the Ukrainian woman was an excellent soldier but it was obvious she hated leaving her superior alone with such treacherous beings. It was a loyalty the Commander appreciated and wondered if it had something to do with more personal feelings.
"As you wish Cobra Commander." Fallen Angel said, the woman walked out the door in strict military fashion.
It was obvious the Baroness and Destro were taking their measure of him and it would require more than merely removing them from the hands of incompetent unsuspecting guards to prove that he was capable of leading the organization that would eventually rule the world and bring order to the planet. The Baroness was about to say something derogatory to him but Snakes hissed in her direction and the giant cobra actually drove her back for a moment.
"Ah at last we have the great Destro and Baroness before us Snakes. What do you think we should do with them my dear father?" The new Cobra Commander smiled and petted the hood of the serpent lightly, careful not to disturb his mentor's state of mind.
"You should dessstroy them as the traitorssss they are my sson! It wasss a mistake to bring them here! Kill them!" Snakes shouted as the words had the intended effect on Destro and the Baroness, they were completely stunned by the most familiar voice.
"Cobra Commander!" The Baroness shouted and the new leader of Cobra was certain that if she had a gun she would have killed the serpent were he was.
"It's impossible!" Destro backed away in shock from the snake.
"Yesssss! I was not dessstroyed so easily as you might have thought! Sstripped of my manhood and reduced to crawling on my belly like a common beassst I found my way back to thosssse who ssstil remembered my greatnesss! Now I ssssstand as the one with the power and will take my revenge on you and all thossse who left me to rot in Cobra-la! As a snake!" Snakes lifted up with a gigantic hiss and opened his mouth to bite down his poison on Destro and the Baroness. The speed and amount of venom inside him was surely going to kill them both.
"Patience, Father. It has been many years since your humiliation and Cobra though stronger now that it has ever been before is still far from victory. We require men and women of vision in this time and both of your former comrades are possessed of that attribute in abundance." The new Commander said in a soft voice, it was going against every one of his instincts to not allow his father the rightful pound of flesh that he deserved for the horrific inhuman fate they had done nothing to stop. However while Cobra had plenty of warriors it was greatly lacking tacticians, economists, and leaders in this age. Things they would need once the old order was swept away and the traitors were killed.
"PATIENCE! I've had nothing but patience waiting for thisss day! I've waited PATIENTLY assssss your geneticists jusst ssssstand by and keep me looking like your pet snake and eating eggssss…" Snakes slapped the egg away into one of the walls with his tail "Asssss I wait for the day that I will become a man again! Do not forget my child who exactly founded Cobra! Who put you on the throne that I once sat upon! If I ssssay that these two die they die!" the mutated noble-man of Cobra-la's anger was palpable and the new commander had not the heart to remind his father that after Serpentor's shameful defeat and Globulus's death that it had been he who had gathered the survivors together to reform Cobra and most were content to look at him exactly as that, a pet of the new leader. It was a sad end that he hoped would not be the final chapter of the founder of Cobra.
"If I am to die Cobra Commander…" Destro spoke to Snakes as the young armored man slammed down his fist on the side of his table.
"I AM COBRA COMMANDER NOW!" Snake's son said in a hiss filled with hate. "My father is the symbol of Cobra and it's heart. Snakes is what he is called for his coils are numerous in this organization but I am the head of this organization and the master of it's military and you will address me as such. It is a small enough price for both of you to pay once you have sworn loyalty to the Cobra hood anew."
The new Cobra Commander recalled briefly his history. He had grown up a young man under the name Jonathan Sharp and had lived his entire existence as the half-breed child of the founder of Cobra with one of his slaves. It had been a harsh existence growing up with none but half-mad private tutors in the ancient arts of war and honor from both sides of his heritage but he had learned well and even attended a military academy in the United States, served a tour of duty, before taking his leave with his entire platoon to join the ranks of Cobra. He had lost count of the men he had killed in honorable battle and the missions he had fought but he would not be treated as a lackey of those whose own greed motivated their service to Cobra.
Destro breathed in deeply and crossed his arms, even as the Baroness answered for him.
"Very well. Cobra Commander." The Baroness obviously had made her decision that he was unworthy of the mantle, which had been thrust upon him. "I think I speak for both Destro and myself when we question exactly what Cobra has to offer us now. You speak of vision and your…little toys…" she looked around at the station and up at the view-screens showing the signs of Cobra's initial triumphs. "Are impressive, but what is to prove to us that you are not going to turn into the bumbling fool your father proved to be for all the years we served him."
Snakes hissed angrily at her, and had the new Cobra Commander been a less controlled man, he would haven broken her neck with his bare hands for the insult that she had paid his father and family. "You will find, Baroness, in due time that I am more than capable of managing this army and it's resources effectively. If you swear allegiance and manage somehow to keep that vow you will be rewarded with troops, income, and a position at the advisory of the most powerful individual in the world when the time comes. You, Destro, I trust can make due with the restoration of your arms manufacturing plants and supply lines. I have little skill for such but I have managed to regain the grip your family once possessed on the market for you."
"And if we refuse?" Destro asked and if he had not the Baroness would have. It was not difficult to follow their thought processes, and if one understood one, one understood the other.
"The obvious answer, Destro, is I will make sure that you are ejected out of an airlock along with your lover. You will also find Cobra loyalty has somewhat changed in the past decade. Where once if you managed to kill me and my father, highly unlikely I might point out, you might have been able to win the loyalty of my soldiery…now they would simply execute you and follow my designated successor to our glorious destiny."
The Commander felt the need to head off that particular area of their thought, Destro was possessed of his own sense of honor but that required the destruction of anyone above him he thought less than capable of his duties.
"I see." Destro nodded before bending down on one knee before the Cobra Commander. The Baroness would not be subject to such humiliation and merely stood. "I pledge my allegiance to a reborn Cobra then Cobra Commander."
"I as well." The Baroness said with her eyes flashing.
***
Colonel Falcon sighed pulling into his base house's drive way. His wife Jinx was probably just back from the grocery store and he was already itching to be with his new daughter, Amanda. The meetings on base had been boring as usual and nothing really to speak of save training and budgets. It was nothing to the rush that had been fighting the forces of Cobra in the Himalayas. It was odd thinking about that period in his life again, but there was hardly a day that went by he wasn't reminded in some way of how close the world had come to nearly being destroyed by the madmen that inhabited that surreal city.
After being promoted to Captain for his part in the affair, he'd ended up serving the rest of his tour with Joe until it was abandoned and had spent the last decade traveling from base to base and sharing what he had learned as part of the organization. Getting out of his jeep Falcon walked through the front door of his house and immediately sensed that there was something distinctly wrong.
"Jinx?" Falcon yelled out into the house before he heard his wife crying, and walked in. His wife was tough as nails and frankly scared Falcon on a number of occasions, whatever had her crying scared the soldier out of his mind as he walked over to her and looked at the screen and went white as a sheet.
The Cobra hood was on the television and the unmistakable evil of that symbol radiated through the house like an altar to the devil. On the radio he heard the sound of a news report talking about the President of the United States being kidnapped by the forces of the once thought destroyed terrorist group along with hundreds of reported attacks worldwide. Clutching his wife's shoulder, Falcon took a deep breath and stared. He only blinked once as the telephone rang.
"You should get that. It's Military command." Jinx said with a sigh as she wiped her eyes. The ninja woman's sixth sense occasionally creeped out and sure enough on the other line was military command.
"Yes, Sir, I just saw it. No, Sir, I was out in the field inspecting the training fields all morning, Sir. You want to me to what, Sir? No I'm not arguing, I'll catch the first flight out to Utah." Falcon listened to the rather angry voice of the one man he feared in the entire world on the other line, Brigadier General Conrad Hauser codenamed Duke. He'd been asked to head directly back to the former G.I. Joe headquarters and on the first flight out. It was obvious that it had something to do with Cobra but Falcon wondered exactly what it was going to be. He thought they might want his expertise on this for any new trainees or strategy sessions but he'd only really been involved in five missions with Cobra and the last three were mop-up actions when they were broken and the BET destroyed thirteen years ago.
'Can't they find other Joes to do this kind of stuff?' the Colonel thought for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders. The President was missing and Cobra was back, he should, no he was proud to help in any way he could, his country needed him. Falcon then made a long distance call to Washington and his father, Clayton M. Albernathy, General Hawk. If anyone would know about this it would be him, but he wanted to leave him a message nonetheless, as usual he wasn't home either.
Jinx looked back at him from over the couch "You better get packing. Duke isn't going to want you to be late and your going to be doing something important…I can tell."
Falcon nodded and kissed his wife on the forehead before heading to get packed. He had a very bad feeling about what was ahead.
***
Disclaimer: This is set in the G.I. Joe universe roughly now after the defeat of Cobra following the destruction of Cobra-La in G.I. the movie (don't get me started on G.I. DIC episodes) and the disbanding of the G.I. program. I don't own any of the G.I. Joes unless you mean the action figures in which I own many and I don't own any of the Cobras unless again you mean figures in which I say quite a few.
Warning: This story contains a number of scenes of violence, language, and sexual situations and thus is rated R.
July 4th, 2001
The White House Lawn was in full force today for President Bush's speech regarding Anti-terrorism in the United States of America. The number of reporters whom had been invited to the speech was staggering and conversations were abuzz due to the rumors that the G.I. Joe program, which had been started under Kennedy but discontinued in the early term of President Clinton, was going to be revived. Already the advanced rumors had sparked a wave of controversy since the Joe program had been a massive military expense routinely called a waste of money, even during the height of the Cobra organization scare. With most of it's original members having been tried by the United Nations for war crimes or dead, the idea President Bush would hurt his already war tarnished image with more military spending on the most costly special missions division of all time was ridiculous.
Yet the rumors continued.
***
Shana M. O'Hara, the woman formerly known as "Scarlett" watched the television with mild interest on her home couch. The news report that the G.I. Joe Program was going to be resumed brought a slight smile to her lips, but it quickly faded, Cobra was destroyed and the people they called "terrorists" these days were ranting buffoons or people one couldn't stop with the military. She momentarily checked her watch as she thought it was about time to go check to see if her two kids, Conrad and Dashiell, were ready to come home from school. They were named after the two best men she'd ever known and that had infuriated their father whom Scarlet was glad to have not seen in a significant amount of time. She briefly thought back to her relationships with two of her fellow Joes and mourned that time. Still time had passed and she'd drifted apart from them both and into a civilian life. Snake Eyes had disappeared from the face of the Earth with only the occasional letter post marked from everywhere from Argentina to the Himalayas. Duke was still career military and last she had heard was finally a full General.
"Two thirty six." Scarlet winced as she looked at her watch and sighed as she got up, she was already late! It was a pity too because President Bush was already coming out to give his speech on terrorism.
"My fellow Americans…" the Presidents voice echoed before he stopped in mid-sentence.
***
Destro frowned deeply as he was lead into the sunlight of the West Coast. The former second in command of Cobra had stopped trying to keep count of the years that had passed by while he was locked away in the icy Alaskan prison that had been prepared for him following his conviction before the United Nations.
'Why of all times did they choose now to transfer me to something more hospitable I do not know.' Destro thought. The man in the metal mask and manacles had no illusions that he was ever going to be free again. Thanks to the bumbling of Cobra Commander and the idiocy of that genetic half-wit, Serpentor, the entire military arm of Cobra had been eliminated and enough had turned tail and run that any information Destro might have given to mitigate his sentence had already been given by some fool accountant or foot soldier. It was a grim consolation to see so many of his fellow soldiers of terror inside his grim snowy home and it pleased him to watch many either die of the cold or despair.
"You'll be picked up here, Chrome-Dome, in a few minutes as soon as we get your partner." The peon prison guard who had been assigned to guard him inside this military base made a wonderful observation about his features that Destro hadn't heard a million times before by much more educated men.
"DESTRO! What are you doing here?" the unmistakable sound of a European Beauty's voice was spoken behind him and the Scottish weapons-dealer turned to look upon his beautiful Baroness's face once more. She too was being guarded by an odious peasant but was struggling far more than dignity allowed Destro to do so. It was obvious that incarceration had not broken her fiery and frequently passionate spirit.
Destro could not answer his lover's query because he himself didn't know. There was a certain sense of darkness to the air that Destro found most appealing. The thoughts and possibilities going through his head were interrupted by the sound of a helicopter descending that was full of heavily armed United States military soldiers. Leaving the cockpit once settled was a stunningly attractive young woman in her twenties wearing the uniform of a Lieutenant-Major. Destro instantly realized the truth of the situation and it was obvious by the Baroness's ceasing her struggling that she recognized it as well. The woman's walk was far too exaggerated and her uniform worn exactly appropriate to distract the guards dull witted lustful minds, especially since the look in her eye was that of a killer. It was a tactic Destro knew well and a classic plan(,) but would it work?
"Lieutenant-Major Eve Caesarson here to pick up the prisoners." The woman spoke with a slight accent as she handed over a clipboard to the two officers and looked briefly at Destro and the Baroness. Destro nodded while the Baroness merely gave a half smirk before both of their guards fell backwards, a bullet hole put in both by the woman.
"COBBBRAAAAAAAA!" one of the soldiers onboard the helicopter shouted as rockets fired from hidden chambers onboard and sailed into the side of the base. Destroying aircraft and runway. Destro noted that the fires were forming into a suspiciously familiar symbol….The Cobra Hood.
"Onboard quickly!" The woman, who had introduced herself as Eve Caesarson, said in a British accent that he had not been able to detect before. Destro noted the irony of her name as well. What was a better alias than one which alluded to the first victim of snakes and the child of Cleopatra and the greatest conqueror the world has ever known? Whoever was in charge of this operation apparently at least had a classical education, which would be a pleasant change from the woefully undereducated lords he had served before.
"You fool! You'll bring the entire United States military down upon us." The Baroness snarled her next words as the helicopter took off and the woman who was their rescuer merely smiled, letting her disguise loosen to reveal almost angelic features and long blonde hair.
"You'll find the Commander is a bit more cautious than that, Your Ladyship." She said smiling. The side-door to the helicopter was then shut and an electrical current flew across it like lightning through a rod and the vehicle vanished in a cloaking field.
***
President George Bush Junior began his speech with an appeal to the brotherhood of his fellow Americans. It would take all the brotherhood he could get to make what he was announcing popular. War spending was an unpopular topic in America for obvious reasons. If you started spending large amount of money on defense, people naturally assumed you meant to take the country into battle. Unfortunately war occasionally had the nastiness to come to you.
"My fellow Americans…" George took a deep breath as he ran his mind over the information the CIA and National Security Agency had both confirmed about a military build up of Cobra. The organization had been extinct for nearly ten years as far as the President of the United States had known with only the sovereign nation of Cobra Island remaining a tiny and harmless remnant of the once feared army of evil. Yet not only were they still in existence the reports indicated vast amounts of money, weaponry, and political support worldwide. The snakes had somehow managed to re-grow their tail after it was severed. George squinted as he noticed that the bright sunlight of the afternoon disappeared around him.
"Mr. President get down!" one of the Secret Service Agents shouted to him as he fell behind the president's podium and heard the sound of gunfire echoing across the air. A plain metal canister landed nearby the president before it exploded in a cloud of green gas that was accompanied by a terrible battle cry.
"COBBBRAAAAA!"
George found himself going out before he looked to his side and saw one of his bodyguards dead beside him, having been shot in the head at point blank range. Red uniformed arms lifted him up as the President saw two members of the Crimson Guard of Cobra, their masks covering their faces and apparently protecting them from the gas. Everything then faded to darkness.
***
Shana saw only bits and pieces of the gunfire echoing across the White House Lawn before the television set went to static but it was enough for her to drop her coat and car keys to stare in horror.
"Oh no." Scarlet gasped, watching the static begin to slowly fade away to a symbol recognized world wide as a mark of terror. The Cobra Hood set against a white background, the image of a snake with its' mouth poised to strike. The seal of the Cobra marked who was responsible.
"Damn you!" Scarlet snarled, grabbing the television set off of the table it rested on, ripping it's chord from the wall, and slamming it full force into the floor. The set exploded into electrical sparks and tubes as Shana O'Hara took a deep breath and went to her kitchen phone to make a call.
***
General Hawk watched the Cobra Hood appear on his limo television set as he was adjusting his tie for the state dinner he was already going to be late to, scheduled for after the President's national address. The symbol of Cobra had always struck General Hawk as rather silly, it was one of the reason's he'd chosen his codename. A hawk naturally preyed on snakes and it was one of the proposals for the flag of the United States, a great bird preying on a snake. Clayton M. Albernathy had learned there was nothing silly about Cobra though as they had proven time and time again to be the most murderous evil band of raping, torturing, scum that had ever had the indecency to crawl out of a cesspool. As a General, Hawk had lost a lot of good friends and acquaintances fighting them and his units saw more action per man than most in the United States' history fighting them. If he had been a less controlled man he would have punched the television set in with his fist.
"Driver! Forget the White House! We're heading directly to the Fort!" General Hawk said to the private they'd assigned to chauffer him around ever since they said he could no longer drive his own vehicle and look like a military commander. Grabbing the limousine phone, he began dialing Langley, Virginia. The audacity that those bastards would actually try and kidnap the president before two hundred million viewers shook the man but he'd seen far more insane actions from the group. Personally Hawk never had believed Cobra to be destroyed. As long as Cobra Island or any one remaining member of the organization survived under "diplomatic immunity" or "insufficient evidence" they were a threat. If he had his way he would have bombed the entire island back to the stone-age and seen to it the murderers got one for.
Hawk pulled his phone from his ear as he heard an unfamiliar voice on the other side.
"I'm sorry I cannot relay this to you in person, General Hawk, but I hope you will be content with the message I'm leaving you. Cobra has returned though not in the form you remember it but in a glorious Phoenix from the ashes of the monster it was to a guiding savior who will transform the world. I am saddened that you must die the way you are about to, for you truly do deserve a warrior's death for the courage and heroism you have shown battling my father's minions…" Hawk stopped listening to the man as he pounded on the glass in between him and his driver, noticing they were going the wrong way. Hawk put the phone to his head again "the world needs to be stunned long enough for battles to be won however. Au revoi, General."
Hawk saw his driver disintegrate into a pile of gray disgusting ooze before his eyes. The Joe head spat the name of the creature "Synthoid.".
The limousine doors then locked shut beside the General and the vehicle slammed itself off the road into the Ptomec with a splash. Water leaked through the doors and began to fill the compartment even as he slammed himself against the window with all his strength. The window, however, had been replaced with bulletproof glass and wouldn't budge.
"Thank God I'm a paranoid old man." General Hawk said praying to God Cobra didn't have the brains to check under the seats. Running his hands underneath the water already up to his knees to grab a white package he'd ducked taped there months before, General Hawk pulled out a Blast-tech 7. The weapon was supposedly too expensive for normal usage but it was still the most powerful hand held weapon in the world.
"YO JOE!" Hawk said firing the laser pistol three times into the passenger window, which exploded into a torrent of water. Taking a deep breath General Hawk climbed out the broken glass and swam upwards towards the surface.
Blue laser bolts flew through the water around Hawk before he made a U-turn back into the depths. Cobra soldiers were on the shore waiting for him with their own laser armaments. The General's only hope was to get to a spot where they couldn't see him with the tide and hope they thought he drowned.
***
Cobra Command Station was one of the engineering marvels of the modern era as the space-platform was possessed of the most advanced weaponry on the planet, countless surface to orbit fighters and troop carriers, as well as being completely unknown to the rest of the world's population. The cloaking field developed around the fortress in the stars was just one of the keys to which the reborn organization would wreak it's vengeance on a world which had abandoned the principles on which it had been founded.
"Sssssssssss." Snakes murmured as the giant fourteen foot long cobra sunk its' over-sized fangs into an ostrich egg and devoured the gooey insides hungrily. The creature like it's master was insatiable in its' appetites.
The new Cobra Commander leaned back in the middle of the command chamber as his "pet" ate beside him. The room was full of video screens with every news agency on the planet and a number of private satellite feeds playing the news, which the Commander was pleased to watch, spread like a brushfire across the planet. He was not as old as the original commander had been and did not wear a mask to shroud any deformity or heritage from a now gratefully extinct subspecies of man. He was actually rather handsome with short well-trimmed blonde hair and almost chiseled features that had been hardened along with his body in years of service on Cobra's front lines. Metallic reinforced body-armor covered his chest and legs with the Cobra hood serving as an honor shield that bound a blue cape around his body at the shoulder. Disturbingly the man's eyes were completely black with gold irises and gave the man a decidedly alien look, but that was from surgery to replace damaged retinas not because he shared blood with the creature at his side.
"It's beautiful isn't it Snakes? The chaos of lost leadership, assassinated warriors, and destroyed economies allowing us to rescue our comrades in arms as we prepare to bring the heavy gauntlet of Cobra forth to punish those who repressed us. I feel pity for those whose families shall miss members because of the necessity of our actions, but it is as Machiavelli wrote that families shall forgive lost parents and brothers if they are rewarded with peace, prosperity, and property." The Commander smiled before Snakes turned his head from his half-eaten egg to look at the man. The creature raised his hood upwards before it turned its' head again from the Commander to look at the doorway which was opening to reveal Fallen Angel, the head of the Crimson Guard, and those she was sent to recover. The Scottish Arms dealer Destro and the Baroness Decobray were long ago friends of Cobra, time would tell if they would be again.
"Cobra Commander I have brought Destro and the Baroness as you requested." Fallen Angel said as she crossed her arms, it was obvious that whatever had passed between the ruthless but lovely woman and the two had made her more than a little skeptical of her Commander's desire to speak with them and perhaps restore their positions.
"So you are the one responsible for our liberty." Destro said with a slight hint of disdain, the records and the new Cobra Commander's own personal observations spoke volumes of the metal masked warlock's contempt for every leader of Cobra but himself. The Baroness would be more practical as always, she was interested only in her own personal vendettas and would side with anyone who could help her fill them. In that way she was easier to control than Destro but was less respected by the Commander.
"Thank you, Angel, I appreciate your efficiency as always. Do me the courtesy of supervising the remainder of the operations planet-side. This will be the first live fire operation for many of our troops and I would feel more secure knowing that they have your gentle touch to guide them." The Commander said squeezing his snakeskin glove covered fist. He let a half smile as Fallen Angel frowned and bowed her head, the Ukrainian woman was an excellent soldier but it was obvious she hated leaving her superior alone with such treacherous beings. It was a loyalty the Commander appreciated and wondered if it had something to do with more personal feelings.
"As you wish Cobra Commander." Fallen Angel said, the woman walked out the door in strict military fashion.
It was obvious the Baroness and Destro were taking their measure of him and it would require more than merely removing them from the hands of incompetent unsuspecting guards to prove that he was capable of leading the organization that would eventually rule the world and bring order to the planet. The Baroness was about to say something derogatory to him but Snakes hissed in her direction and the giant cobra actually drove her back for a moment.
"Ah at last we have the great Destro and Baroness before us Snakes. What do you think we should do with them my dear father?" The new Cobra Commander smiled and petted the hood of the serpent lightly, careful not to disturb his mentor's state of mind.
"You should dessstroy them as the traitorssss they are my sson! It wasss a mistake to bring them here! Kill them!" Snakes shouted as the words had the intended effect on Destro and the Baroness, they were completely stunned by the most familiar voice.
"Cobra Commander!" The Baroness shouted and the new leader of Cobra was certain that if she had a gun she would have killed the serpent were he was.
"It's impossible!" Destro backed away in shock from the snake.
"Yesssss! I was not dessstroyed so easily as you might have thought! Sstripped of my manhood and reduced to crawling on my belly like a common beassst I found my way back to thosssse who ssstil remembered my greatnesss! Now I ssssstand as the one with the power and will take my revenge on you and all thossse who left me to rot in Cobra-la! As a snake!" Snakes lifted up with a gigantic hiss and opened his mouth to bite down his poison on Destro and the Baroness. The speed and amount of venom inside him was surely going to kill them both.
"Patience, Father. It has been many years since your humiliation and Cobra though stronger now that it has ever been before is still far from victory. We require men and women of vision in this time and both of your former comrades are possessed of that attribute in abundance." The new Commander said in a soft voice, it was going against every one of his instincts to not allow his father the rightful pound of flesh that he deserved for the horrific inhuman fate they had done nothing to stop. However while Cobra had plenty of warriors it was greatly lacking tacticians, economists, and leaders in this age. Things they would need once the old order was swept away and the traitors were killed.
"PATIENCE! I've had nothing but patience waiting for thisss day! I've waited PATIENTLY assssss your geneticists jusst ssssstand by and keep me looking like your pet snake and eating eggssss…" Snakes slapped the egg away into one of the walls with his tail "Asssss I wait for the day that I will become a man again! Do not forget my child who exactly founded Cobra! Who put you on the throne that I once sat upon! If I ssssay that these two die they die!" the mutated noble-man of Cobra-la's anger was palpable and the new commander had not the heart to remind his father that after Serpentor's shameful defeat and Globulus's death that it had been he who had gathered the survivors together to reform Cobra and most were content to look at him exactly as that, a pet of the new leader. It was a sad end that he hoped would not be the final chapter of the founder of Cobra.
"If I am to die Cobra Commander…" Destro spoke to Snakes as the young armored man slammed down his fist on the side of his table.
"I AM COBRA COMMANDER NOW!" Snake's son said in a hiss filled with hate. "My father is the symbol of Cobra and it's heart. Snakes is what he is called for his coils are numerous in this organization but I am the head of this organization and the master of it's military and you will address me as such. It is a small enough price for both of you to pay once you have sworn loyalty to the Cobra hood anew."
The new Cobra Commander recalled briefly his history. He had grown up a young man under the name Jonathan Sharp and had lived his entire existence as the half-breed child of the founder of Cobra with one of his slaves. It had been a harsh existence growing up with none but half-mad private tutors in the ancient arts of war and honor from both sides of his heritage but he had learned well and even attended a military academy in the United States, served a tour of duty, before taking his leave with his entire platoon to join the ranks of Cobra. He had lost count of the men he had killed in honorable battle and the missions he had fought but he would not be treated as a lackey of those whose own greed motivated their service to Cobra.
Destro breathed in deeply and crossed his arms, even as the Baroness answered for him.
"Very well. Cobra Commander." The Baroness obviously had made her decision that he was unworthy of the mantle, which had been thrust upon him. "I think I speak for both Destro and myself when we question exactly what Cobra has to offer us now. You speak of vision and your…little toys…" she looked around at the station and up at the view-screens showing the signs of Cobra's initial triumphs. "Are impressive, but what is to prove to us that you are not going to turn into the bumbling fool your father proved to be for all the years we served him."
Snakes hissed angrily at her, and had the new Cobra Commander been a less controlled man, he would haven broken her neck with his bare hands for the insult that she had paid his father and family. "You will find, Baroness, in due time that I am more than capable of managing this army and it's resources effectively. If you swear allegiance and manage somehow to keep that vow you will be rewarded with troops, income, and a position at the advisory of the most powerful individual in the world when the time comes. You, Destro, I trust can make due with the restoration of your arms manufacturing plants and supply lines. I have little skill for such but I have managed to regain the grip your family once possessed on the market for you."
"And if we refuse?" Destro asked and if he had not the Baroness would have. It was not difficult to follow their thought processes, and if one understood one, one understood the other.
"The obvious answer, Destro, is I will make sure that you are ejected out of an airlock along with your lover. You will also find Cobra loyalty has somewhat changed in the past decade. Where once if you managed to kill me and my father, highly unlikely I might point out, you might have been able to win the loyalty of my soldiery…now they would simply execute you and follow my designated successor to our glorious destiny."
The Commander felt the need to head off that particular area of their thought, Destro was possessed of his own sense of honor but that required the destruction of anyone above him he thought less than capable of his duties.
"I see." Destro nodded before bending down on one knee before the Cobra Commander. The Baroness would not be subject to such humiliation and merely stood. "I pledge my allegiance to a reborn Cobra then Cobra Commander."
"I as well." The Baroness said with her eyes flashing.
***
Colonel Falcon sighed pulling into his base house's drive way. His wife Jinx was probably just back from the grocery store and he was already itching to be with his new daughter, Amanda. The meetings on base had been boring as usual and nothing really to speak of save training and budgets. It was nothing to the rush that had been fighting the forces of Cobra in the Himalayas. It was odd thinking about that period in his life again, but there was hardly a day that went by he wasn't reminded in some way of how close the world had come to nearly being destroyed by the madmen that inhabited that surreal city.
After being promoted to Captain for his part in the affair, he'd ended up serving the rest of his tour with Joe until it was abandoned and had spent the last decade traveling from base to base and sharing what he had learned as part of the organization. Getting out of his jeep Falcon walked through the front door of his house and immediately sensed that there was something distinctly wrong.
"Jinx?" Falcon yelled out into the house before he heard his wife crying, and walked in. His wife was tough as nails and frankly scared Falcon on a number of occasions, whatever had her crying scared the soldier out of his mind as he walked over to her and looked at the screen and went white as a sheet.
The Cobra hood was on the television and the unmistakable evil of that symbol radiated through the house like an altar to the devil. On the radio he heard the sound of a news report talking about the President of the United States being kidnapped by the forces of the once thought destroyed terrorist group along with hundreds of reported attacks worldwide. Clutching his wife's shoulder, Falcon took a deep breath and stared. He only blinked once as the telephone rang.
"You should get that. It's Military command." Jinx said with a sigh as she wiped her eyes. The ninja woman's sixth sense occasionally creeped out and sure enough on the other line was military command.
"Yes, Sir, I just saw it. No, Sir, I was out in the field inspecting the training fields all morning, Sir. You want to me to what, Sir? No I'm not arguing, I'll catch the first flight out to Utah." Falcon listened to the rather angry voice of the one man he feared in the entire world on the other line, Brigadier General Conrad Hauser codenamed Duke. He'd been asked to head directly back to the former G.I. Joe headquarters and on the first flight out. It was obvious that it had something to do with Cobra but Falcon wondered exactly what it was going to be. He thought they might want his expertise on this for any new trainees or strategy sessions but he'd only really been involved in five missions with Cobra and the last three were mop-up actions when they were broken and the BET destroyed thirteen years ago.
'Can't they find other Joes to do this kind of stuff?' the Colonel thought for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders. The President was missing and Cobra was back, he should, no he was proud to help in any way he could, his country needed him. Falcon then made a long distance call to Washington and his father, Clayton M. Albernathy, General Hawk. If anyone would know about this it would be him, but he wanted to leave him a message nonetheless, as usual he wasn't home either.
Jinx looked back at him from over the couch "You better get packing. Duke isn't going to want you to be late and your going to be doing something important…I can tell."
Falcon nodded and kissed his wife on the forehead before heading to get packed. He had a very bad feeling about what was ahead.
***