Chapter 9
Scarlet woke up with the most splitting headache she'd ever had in her entire life. It was then she noticed that she was in the Temple of Doom combined with Lifestyles of the Rich and Ruthless. The room was made to look like it was composed of polished obsidian and the bed that she lied in resembled the mouth of a Cobra. Aztec, Minoan, Spartan, Dynastic Chinese, Mycenean, and African tribal antiques were liberally strewn about the place. A suit of armor from Ancient Rome and a broadsword from the Hundred years wars over the fire-place completed the effect.
"Good evening Mrs. Bond..." Scarlet muttered as she stepped from underneath the silk sheet before immediately slapping themselves back over herself. Whoever was the person who had made her a guest in this palace had also taken the liberty of taking her clothes.
'Jonathan you sick bas...' Scarlet shook her head, she had no idea it was necessarily her old friend and oddly that wasn't a comfort at all. Still, there was something familiar about this place as if she was stepping into the recesses of someone's mind. Reaching her hand into the drawers on the side of the bed she looked for something which might be useful here, maybe a key or even a weapon though she doubted whoever had kidnapped her was quite that stupid.
'Great...books,' Scarlet thought as she found the contents. "Sun-Tzu's Art of War....Maciavelli's the Prince....Paradise Lost by John Milton....God Emperor of Dune and Emerald City of Oz?" Scarlet said the last two titles with a bit of surprise.
"I find the last two titles the most educational in my studies of the human spirit and how it reacts to authority," the voice echoed through the room before from the shadows of the front of it emerged Jonathan. He was dressed in a silk white shirt and pants that made him look like he was preparing for bed.
'If he thinks what I think he's thinking I might have to teach him something John Wayne Bobbit style...' The thought crossed Scarlet's mind as he approached but in truth she couldn't help but be a bit scared. The person she'd known had been the closest friend she'd ever had growing up and a strong influence on her life from war to politics but he'd never attack a woman. Oddly enough she believed that last statement.
"You'll have to forgive the attire but I was asleep in the next store hall when I heard your breathing change," the new Cobra Commander said with a sly look as he soaked up her with his senses. Homo Serpentor was possessed of sight, smell, taste, and touch far beyond a humans but only with the blood of man could one truly appreciate the beauty of the things they created.
"Actually I'd forgive you a lot sooner if you gave me something to wear," Scarlet said sarcastically. He'd not changed a bit since she'd known him in body save for the eyes and they were looking at her in a way that seemed hypnotic. Scarlet shook away her head from that thought, those eyes were exotic but they were also cold and consuming.
"But of course, you will find your costume cleaned and your weapons with fresh ammunition in the closet next to you." The man said in a completely even tone even as he gestured to the obsidian closet that was practically invisible in the dimly lit room.
"Awfully trusting Jonathan. Are you always this nice to POWs?" Scarlet said as she wrapped the covers around her tightly and looked in the closet to find an assortment of dresses in her size from Medieval to Vogue to tramp. Scarlet flushed past them and some things in Victoria Secret til she got her uniform for G.I. Joe and pulled out her crossbow which seemed alright.
"I wish you to be comfortable Scarlet onboard Cobra Command Station. It is a marvel of human engineering and a place I hope will eventually become home to countless thousands of men when they journey towards the stars," Jonathan said even as he gestured for two Servitor droids to enter the room with a dinner table and food.
"No chance of that Jonathan or should I call you Cobra Commander?" Scarlet dressed behind a screen that she found in the back of the close and tried to figure a way out of this situation.
"Jonathan is fine. Only those who pay allegiance to the cause need refer to me as that, friends may call me by the alias which meant more to me than the number my father gave me or simply the Enemy," the man smiled as he lit two candles.
Scarlet wanted to say she wasn't his friend but she didn't and loaded her crossbow with a stun bolt. She was very angry and considered firing a bolt right into the man's eye but she hesitated and finally decided her first priority was just to escape.
"I've missed you a great deal in the intervening years. Ever since my father took me back to the Cause from our time together I always scoured the battle reports for any mention of your presence. When you were captured it caused me to wonder whether I could betray my family and beliefs to bring you to your freedom. When G.I. Joe was disbanded I was used the satelites Cobra placed in the sky to catch glimpses of you and the beautiful young boys which inherited their mother's strength to no doubt serve their country well." Jonathan gave a slight wistful look as he gazed off into the candle-light.
The thought of her two sons gave Scarlet a pause as she opened the screen with her crossbow drawn. "Yeah Jonathan, I hate to burst your bubble but high-tech stalking is not my idea of romantic. I have to go now luv and I just want you to know it's been nice seeing you." Scarlet wasn't really lying in the last part but when duty and love fought, duty would win every time.
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to leave my Lady. Jupiter's Thunder has almost finished bringing the world to it's knees and it is far too dangerous down there for a heroine such as yourself until the i's are dotted on the surrender compacts," Jonathan said pouring both himself and Scarlet a glass of wine that was bottled in the year of Napoleon's ascension.
"Sorry Jon." Scarlet fired the stun bolt at John's head which would give him a face full of knock-out gas. She could do nothing but blink when he caught it in the air and snapped off it's edge, putting it down on the ground.
"I insist that all the gene-therapy and cybernetic enhancements that go into the Crimson Guard are tested on myself first. Combined with a natural desire to master all forms of combat that I can...I fear I have nothing to fear from you my Southern belle," Jonathan's cold eyes focused in on her as Scarlet took a breath to calm herself.
"I'm not your Southern Belle," Scarlet said staring as she took a seat across from him at the table.
The room rocked a moment as the lights from the glowing crystal balls lain about the room flickered. Scarlet didn't have to think hard that was probably her lover's superweapon eradicating some bio-weapon facility, nuclear range, or communist government in general. She'd looked over the reports carefully and knew the targets being blasted were chosen for their unpopularity and inherent danger to the world as a whole. CC junior wanted to claim moral authority in his propaganda when this was all over.
"Very well then I am your evil warlord," the Master of the world's most dangerous terrorist organization gave a slight smile.
"How very comforting. Oooo Lobster my favorite," Scarlet didn't know what to do in this situation but she had to wait for an opening she figured.
"The world is reaching a fulcrum my dear where the next decisions reached by the people of the world in a crisis will determine it's ultimate fate. They must either unite totally putting aside all prejudice, fear, and anger to raise the force to wipe Cobra out or they must surrender their authority to it's dominion," The Commander sipped his wine and looked across the table for a reaction.
"It'll be the former Jonathan. I'd have thought you'd be smarter to realize that you can't put a boot on a man's face and make it like him. All your father...all this evil organization...has accomplished is kill thousands," Scarlet looked into those reptilian eyes and searched for any sign of remorse in him for the havok he had wrecked across the planet in the past month.
"I know Scarlet. I have invested wisely in Cobra's future and while I hold out a slim hope for victory I know logically that victory is impossible. Without a legitamate government to draw from troops or moral authority beyond conquest in today's modern age I can only hope to inflame the fears and anger of the planet upon itself. My father could never understand this because the Cobra-la mindset is to bend to one of higher authority immediatly upon a show of force but humanity cannot be so easily cowed. I furthermore lack the predatory instinct that would allow me to instill the base terror and slavery upon humanity for generations that it would take to rebuild their culture. My targets are military alone in this war as I match wits with the defense ministers that have arisen in this weapon's shadow," Jonathan ate his meal inbetween sentences as his eyes betrayed nothing to Scarlet.
Scarlet blinked, she'd been expecting at least some attempt to justify this insanity. She'd have half been open to some mad philosophy that she could respect even as she opposed it. "So what is this, some of game to you? The thousands of families who've lost their sons so you can test your new lasergun? Is it a present to daddy to show you've taken over the family business?!"
"On the contrary Scarlet I intend to achieve victory in my loss. Sleeper agents outside of Cobra's military heirarchy and ideals, hypnotized world leaders, careful selection of targets, and pressure applied to the right people is creating the beginnings of a world government every bit as utopian as the charter my father created in the beginnings of the organization. The result of my terrorist activities will be the suspension of certain liberties which stand in the way of crushing crime, dissidence, and of course the very laws that allow monsters like myself to hide behind money and power," The new Cobra Commander had spent a very long time planning out the intricacies of this plan and it would go entirely according to his design, he was sure of this.
"Your insane," Scarlet said with what effort she could. Still the words caught in her throat because there was something supremely sure in his voice.
"No Scarlet I think you are afraid because you are aware of just how sane I am. Now please eat your lobster. It's getting cold," Jonathan said with a half smile as he thought of the time he had lost his eyes. He had been a member of the Crimson Guard even then and as an elite soldier had been sent on an assasination mission to kill the heads of a drug cartel which endangered Cobra's control over the military regime in the area. He had suceeded but the grand finale of exterminating he life essence of the El Presidante had required going through G.I. Joe's bodyguards. In the end it had been the sight of her which had allowed his opponents for the strike team's sucess to shoot a laser bolt into his eyes and burn the memory of his love into his mind forever.
***
Doctor Otto Moreau the Fifth was the Supreme Head of Cobra's Medical Caste and had been so since Doctor Mindbender had unfortunately chosen the wrong side in Cobra's transitional stage. He had been a member of the Human Genome Project when he had begun researching the extra-genes that had been discovered in the few remaining preserved bodies of Cobra-La's citizens when said arctic Lost world had been excavated. The tests had awed him and eventually experimentation had led to his near-death in a labratory explosion. The work funded by the new Cobra Commander had allowed him to rebuild his body with cybernetics and regeneration formula crafted from lizard and gorilla DNA. Now he was a mountain of a man standing eight feet in height with a regal red cape fluttering around the metallic sheen over his body's majority. He only had one good eye in his right as his left was replaced with a red microscope that provided him with mountains of genetic data that he required for the elaborate constructs and horrors that were born in his lab.
"We are ready for you Lord Snakes," Doctor Moreau said as he pointed his golden DNA helix tipped cane toward the bubbling pit of almost unholy chemical concoctions which had been prepared over the past few years in the finest example of reverse engineering the world has ever known. If he was correct in his calculations then all of Cobra-La's genetic secrets could now be deciphered from the simple base he began with. If he was incorrect then the former leader of Cobra would be melted from the inside out and it would be no great loss as far as the mad scientist was concerned.
"You will addressssss me assssss Cobra Commander!" the Serpent shouted as he hissed his fangs menacingly at the cyborg.
"Of course Commander," Otto murmured even as he went back to his research consoles to get an accurate reading of the results of this test. Cobra had increasingly had less and less to do with medical research as the organization's billions were devoted to this oversized laser pistol floating above the planet. Otto had provided the Commander with the cures to AIDs, Cancer, Alheizmers, along with serums that would turn a physical weakling into a demigod and he was all but forgotten in the rush to bring the world to a crashing halt. He had no idea what his rather mad employers wished to do with the information but he was sure that restoring the Commander would give him leverage again to pursue his research as he saw fit. Otto was already considering abandoning medicine for a virus that would raise the dead to devour the living.
"Now, I will at lasssssst become a man again. This day has been a decade. A mere drop in the hat for a citizen of Cobra-la but they are all dead and I sssssurvive. I ssssshall reclaim my destiny thisssss day!" the founder of Cobra threw himself into the golden liquid as his screams filled the air. The poisonous fluid would destroy utterly every last DNA cell of serpent inside the commander even as human DNA cells were grown from the cells that remained in equal upkeep to the destruction. It was quite possibly the most agonizing experience Doctor Moreau could imagine with his extremely vast intelligence.
"Ahhhhhhhhhrrhh," The old Cobra Commander finally collasped on the ground naked and writhering after literally throwing himself from the pit of agony. The formula had done it's job and the former leader of the world's most dangerous organization was now completely human. His body was bald and covered with scalding scars from his experience but it was all in all, a resounding success.
"Restored...I am. I can now retake my seat as master of Cobra and ruler of the planet! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The fascist dictator cackled before descending into a coughing fit.
"You may find the reigns of power not so easily relinquished back to you Commander. The current holder has held it for a decade and made it a special point to keep the troops loyal to him." Doctor Moreau thought painfully of the description of life under Serpentor. The man had been a genius at military stratedgy and fearless in battle but he was also hopelessly psychotic and possessed of no patience whatsoever. It was embarrasing that the Emperor of Cobra had taken the power from it's master so swiftly. The Doctor wasn't sure the situation would repeat itself quite like it had done so before.
"Nonsense! My son is fanatically loyal to me and would throw himself out an airlock at my slightest whim. I raised him that way you know. Besides who do you think has been the secret hand behind the throne that he so gallantly sits behind? ME! I am the force which has been guiding Cobra all these years through its darkest hour and only I possess the vision and guidence to lead it to its destined glory. It will be the coup de gras to the cowering masses of the Earth when I return in all my glory to inform them that Cobra has finished playing games and their choice is total annhilation or my humble minsitrations as absolute ruler for life!" Cobra Commander ranted with sadistic glea. Going over to a biological-hazard suit he placed it over his face and assumed the form of the figure that would inspire fear and envy once again in mankind. At least until he was able to recover his hood and military uniform.
"Yes of course sir," Doctor Moreau had never quite understood his snake subject was completely mad before but this left little doubt in his mind.
"Wait! You've seen my face! Only the Baroness, Destro, and my son have!" Cobra Commander grabbed at the service pistol to the side of the room in one of the guard's uniforms hanging up on the side.
"My Lord pl..." Doctor Moreau could not get another word out of his throat before three laser bolts were put through his brain and he fell to the ground dead.
"COBRRRRRRAAAAAAAA!" Cobra Commander screamed with glea as Snakes ran out of the laboratory, down the hall towards the bridge of Cobra Command Station.
***
"Trying to take us alive huh?" Icicle shouted even as she fired her rifle futily in the air towards the Cobra Death globes that floated about, the new and improved answer to the trouble bubbles. The G.I. Joe team was weaving in and out of the trees systems on their snowbikes which afforded them enough mobility that at least one of their pursuers had accidentally impaled himself but there were seemingly an endless number to follow him.
"Oh shut up!" Beach Head shouted even as his bike did a sommersault in the air from the Cobra Death globe blowing up the ground directly in front of him. Amazingly the bike landed perfectly right side up and Infiltrator managed to fire a grenade from his launcher right into the death globe's engines, causing it to explode in a fiery burst of light.
"Rock on Beach Head Kenevil!" Demolition Derby gave his commanding officer a thumbs up before suddenly the Death Globes turned back from their pursuit and left the group alone in the freezing blizzard.
"Okay that's not suspicious in the slightest," Last Chance replied, following the Death Globes with her binoculars until they were well out of sight.
"Well don't look at me to discount our seemingly good fortune. So what's the stratedgy Wool Head?" Infiltrator said even as he reloaded his grenade launcher in case their domed pursuers returned.
"That's Beach Head Spook! We're going to keep going until we find something and that is our damn mission so we're going to follow it!" Beach Head shouted even as Punch Card coughed.
"Yes solider?" Beach Head turned to the computer genius who looked like a robot-man with all the equipment he'd 'harvested' from the plane.
"There's alot of atmospheric disturbance here Beach Head. I think we may have found it," Punch Card said, pointing a large mass of rocks and empty space directly in front of them.
"Found what?" Beach Head asked, looking at the space.
"Found Cobra's cloaked rocket pad. We're still a little ways off from being able to jam it or completely detect with one hundred percent accuracy their stealth fields but if I don't miss my guess then...well it should be right there," Punch Card gestured even as he gave a goofy sort of grin which made Beach Head want to sock the man silly.
"Wipe that smile off your face," Beach Head corrected before he noticed Last Chance and Icicle were loading up. "And where do you think you're going?"
"Well we've found the rocket-pad. I suggest we get the hell out of here before Cobra's goons blast us to bits and we congradulate ourselves on a job well done after phoning in an airstrike," Last Chance said happily.
"No way girly girl. We're going to check out this so called disturbance, find out what the hell it really is, and then we phone in the air strike. There's no way it's going to be my ass if we drop two hundred megatons on something that aint there!" Beach Head tapped his chest and pointed to the space.
"Okay, I'm game," Infiltrator said as he lit up a smoke.
"You're the only one," Last Chance muttered as she reloaded her laser-rifle with a fresh set of rapid fire catridges.
Hoping that Cobra hadn't spotted them, the group immediately ditched their snow-bikes to the side and began coming up the side of the snow bank. The small group of G.I. Joe commandoes didn't have to move very far until even the least observant of them could feel the 'atmospheric disturbance'. At close range Cobra's cloaking shields gave off massive amounts of static electricity that sent every hair on a person's body on end. Beach Head gestured for an all out run and counting on luck to see them through the team bolted through the electrical field and came out on the other side.
"Holey Moley," Demolition Derby whistled as he got an eye full of what awaited the team.
Cobra Space Platform 7# was a monument of engineering if you considered that it looked like something from those damn He-man cartoons that Bazooka used to watch all the time at Joe headquarters. Shaped like a giant Cobra coiled around the base it's risen neck and head served as the rocket tower and loading bay. Curiously Beach Head didn't notice anyone around the building, anyone alive that is. The entire place looked like it was being operated by reprogrammed obsolete BATS and some smaller more advanced non-combat machines. The place was huge and it looked like there might be thousands of the damn things, most of them carting radioactive ore from pits that were dug in the middle of the walkways throughout the base.
"Well now I've seen everything," Infiltrator said as a gigantic robotic wasp carted a fuel cell over to a rocket about to be launched.
"Trust me, you haven't seen nothing until you've seen time travel and cloning dead world leaders. This is a normal day for me. Keep your voice down by the way," Beach Head put away his rifle and pulled out a pistol instead.
"Why? These things don't seem to notice us at all," Demolition Derby lightly wrapped his fist on the side of one of the BATs.
"Those 'things' are still the equal of any five men at close quarter combat rookie. Besides we don't know whether or not someone might be able to turn them back to their less pleasant more Terminator-like personalities," Beach Head said even as he looked to Punch Card for what information the man could dig up on this strange place.
"Hey Beach Head, I may be getting some mixed signals here but I don't think there's anyone at this base at all. My guess is Cobra doesn't want too many people involved who know where their refueling points are. This entire place is automated and controlled directly by encrypted signals from Cobra Command Station itself," Punch Card said as he ridiculously easily accessed the Cobra base mainframe from his position here.
"That's an awful lot of guessing Dexter. In any case, our mission is done and now we can leave," Beach Head said sharply. There was something about this place which managed to unnerve even him.
"Sir, I beg your pardon but I think we can end the war right here," Punch Card said as the plan flashed across his eyes. A plan so brillantly simple that it had to work.
"What?" Icicle said alarmed as she looked over shoulders, used to the cold climate but even more anxious than Beach Head.
"Speak your mind soldier. I haven't got all day." Beach Head clutched the grip on his pistol even tighter than before as a team of BATS hauled more radioactive ore past him.
"The Rocket from what I've got here is directly guided by a feed system on Earth working in unison with the Station. All we have to do is disrupt the guidence system down here on Earth, lock them out, and it will plunge directly into the side of Cobra's headquarters. In a single instant all of Cobra will be burned up like a Turkey left in the oven for several hours too long," Punch Card was delighted at his own cleverness and hoped Beach Head would take him up on his idea.
It was against the G.I. Joe ideal to seek personal glory but Beach Head knew that this would make him look good, damn good, not to mention save a lot of rough neck lives when the fireball spewer in the sky took out some other military base whenever the clock ticked down another sixty minutes. "Okay Dexter what do you need to do it and how do we get it done now?"
"All I need is the main control center here and we're in business while Cobra is out of business," Punch Card began a brisk run to the base of the Cobra neck while the rest of the G.I. Joes followed....save one.
The process to start rewiring the shuttle launch was a remarkably swift one which was good since it was only a few minutes until the thing lifted off towards Cobra Station and then it would be another three months until another shipment was sent down to the Siberian station. Still Punch Card had all the systems set up and he only had to cycle through the various codes Cobra had set up to protect their system from hackers before unploading the new defination of 'lethal computer virus'.
"Good work soldier. I guess I was wrong about you all," Beach Head said to the four before he noticed that the sixth member of the team was missing. He got his answer to where she got to when a blue laser bolt arced through his chest and shattered the computer screen directly in front of him, frying the entire operation. As Beach Head crumbled to the ground, another martyr to the sinister machinations of Cobra Reborn, the traitor revealed herself.
"I regret to inform you that you are all now prisoners of the new world order," Icicle aka Iceheart, Major in the Elite Ophis Special Operations Division of Cobra said with a sneer. A dozen combat activated BAT soldiers pouring through the door soon subdued all the G.I. Joe commandoes. They would be loaded up onboard the rocket and taken as gifts to the new Cobra Commander.
Only Demolition Derby who had convinced himself that he had been falling in love with the woman, showed any reaction to the betrayal by one of their own. "You bitch,"
***
General Vladimir Rustavich was having the most delightful time of his life. Moscow was under martial law now with tanks on every street and the Cobra coiled through a hammer and sickle flying from every military vehicle for miles. There had been a few troubles with the locals involving gasoline bombs and the usual Stalingrad stuff but the results were relatively minor compared to the glorious representation that was his portrait hanging over the office of the Prime Minister. Vladimir was young for a general and had only been a new officer when his parents had joined in the revolution to restore communism to Russia. They'd both been shot by firing squad for their part in it....oh well no sweat off his back as far as he was concerned. Power belonged to those in the world who had the power to take it and with the power he had he could take all of Russias underneath his wing. If he knew the proper asses to kiss and the paperwork to file then he would probably find himself one of the number one people in the New World Order.
"It was like you always said father. The true purpose of a soldier is less about knowing how to kill than knowing who to kill, when, and how publically," Vladimir smiled and then leaped back into the leather Lazy-boy chair of the office he'd had brought in to replace Putin's old chair. He was still a young man barely into his thirties and who knew how far he could go in the terrorist organization if he set his mind to it. The first thing he'd do would be to offer to nuke the United States until they surrendered after he'd finished solidifying his control over Russia. Cobra hated the Americans almost as much as his father and mother had and while it was nothing personal with Vladimir he figured a few million deaths would probably insinuate him with the pseudo-nazi's quite well. Just for the hell of it, the general spun around his chair until the personal holo-unit Putin had installed buzzed.
"Lenin! Is a phone no good anymore?" Vladimir pushed a few buttons on the side of the desk until the projector lifted up from the desk. It had been installed so that the President might have a direct feed to the October Guard but Vladimir had hijacked it for communicating with his troops in Siberia. A holographic image of Colonel Blitzer appeared in the midst of what was obviously a bad blizzard.
"General Rustavich!" The Colonel saluted the man, he was a big burly fellow standing seven feet tall with a huge beard. Rustavich was sure the man would have been promoted to General long ago if he didn't look so much like a bear.
"Supreme Commander Rustavich! I intend to promote many people to General now. Have you suceeded in eliminating our little anachronisms from the Cold War?" Vladimir said as he wrinkled his nose a bit. He had himself lasted only six months in the October Guard himself thanks to his father's connections before the political situation had warranted their disbanding. Colonel Red Star had nearly destroyed his career with the reports he had filed and Vladimir dearly hoped he could have the man's head pickled for his desk.
"Yes...Supreme Commander. I come to report that we have suceeded in destroying the October Base and killing eighty percent of the Guard," Colonel Blizter looked fatigued and disheartened by the entire matter.
"Only eighty percent? I gave you a hundred times their number to eradicate them off the map!" Vladimir had unfortunately failed to take any airforce bases intact at present and had sent infantry and tanks to finish the job.
"It was more like thirty times their number sir and we've suffered nearly twenty causalties per man we've managed to kill. We're awaiting reinforements from the allied bases in order to continue the pursuit," Colonel Blitzer had been trained as a soldier his entire life to follow orders. The fact he know followed a pompous fool who ordered him to kill his fellow Russians changed nothing of this.
"Strike that now! They are scattered and in the most hostile country in Russia! I order you to finish them all off immediately! We cannot afford to spare the men for this little crusade of yours and you should feel honored that you are involved in what will prove to be the most glorious victory of the United Soviet Cobra Republic!" Vladimir didn't want to admit that the loyalist forces of General Denete were managing to hold their own well. The Ukraine furthermore was preparing to ally with him to wage war on his 'traitors'. Combine that with the Chechyneans wishing his head for all the things he'd done in his operations there AND allying themselves with Cobra and Vladimir was in a tenuous position unless he could deliver the October Guard as an offering to the new Cobra Commander to use his super weapon to wipe out his enemies.
"Yes...Supreme Commander," Colonel Blitzer sighed weakly.
"Look at the bright side, you're now a general!" Vladimir made a very generous gesture he thought before turning off the holocom and ordering the finest prostitutes in Moscow to be delivered up to his office.
***
Lady Jaye was a very talented physician when she wanted to be and while she had never been exactly friends with the Russian lady, she'd developed quite a bit of respect for the tenacious girl in their few meetings. After treating her as best she could, she went over to Flint and explained what the October Guardswoman had explained in the midst of her chatty field medicine. A few other G.I. Joe team mates had managed to arrive at the rendeverous point including Roadblock and Chuckles but Allison wasn't sure how many would reach the point with what she now knew.
"Apparently the political situation here in Russia is alot more volatile than the initial reports let on. The government we got the okay to travel through on was publically executed just a few hours ago by some general Dania refuses to call anything but the Madman. The murders on television weren't exactly the most reassuring things to watch but got the Guard prepared for something wrong and they managed to give a pretty damn good fight against Russia's regular military that attacked not so long afterwards. There's a few survivors who are trudging through the snow around here but nothing that'll make attacking the Cobra's base worthwhile with what we've seen of their firepower," Lady Jaye finished her explanation and took a sip from Snow Job's coffee.
"You got all that in twenty minutes?" Flint asked incredously.
"It's a girl thing," Lady Jaye grinned.
"Well I'm officially calling this mission a failure. If this place is as crawling with Snake Wannabees and the information about the base's location is lost then there's no point in risking our lives trying to take it out. We'll find another way to get at Cobra," Flint had taken an awful lot of risks in his life but he wasn't stupid. If the Enemy was willing to throw this much at their opposite number they would spare just as little expense to get at them if identified.
"You can do that?" Quick Kick blinked in shock.
"That's why I'm the commanding officer," Flint looked quite proud.
"Then why the hell did no one call off any of the missions against Ancient Egyptian gods or the giant blob!" Quick Kick shrugged his shoulders.
"Let's never bring those up again Quick Kick. I'll give the kill call to the G.I. Joes moving into the country through other means and we'll await new orders once word is relayed back to General Hawk. In the meantime we'll try and find the rest of the October Guard and relay them with Daina back to civilization. My guess is they'll want to be a part of our next counter attack," Flint shook his head. He didn't like being with his wife in Snake Central again with no backup and precacious few armaments but there was no one he'd rather be with.
"It looks like they found us Flint!" Snow Job shouted and pointed to the same direction Daina had come from. There a single tank rolling across the snow and a number of battered Russian soldiers walking along side it. One having been maimed in the conflict and his missing arm bandaged up while he chugged an assault rifle in the other. Flint was surprised to find that it was Colonel Brekhov aka Red Star who had been appointed the new General of the October Guard, the Colonet had been certain he would have fought to the bitter end.
"Greetings General!" Flint approached the man and looked over the group. He'd been briefed on the top men of the new Guard and recognized the survivors were all members of them. There was General Red Star of course but also Horrorshow from the original Guard who'd been promoted to tank division commander. Beside him was a beautiful svete woman with short blonde hair, Major Firebird who was an elite special purpose operative who just happened to be Brekhov's daughter. Silverfang was a long brown haired Siberian who was travelling with a few wolves that looked like they'd had their lunch on the traitors. The final member of the group was Sergeant Karvimov who was if reports could be believed a former circus performer who single handidly saved future President Putin from a Cobra leftover assaisin.
"Hail Colonel Flint. We come to you under the gravest of circumstance. I am pleased to see that Daina made it to you. Will she live?" Red Star asked in a tone that Flint hoped was simply bad English. Flint knew they'd been briefly married after the October Guard broke up but he'd felt betrayed by her active support of the new democratic government and they'd divorced not long after the revolution attempt of the communists.
"I heard. The question is what the hell are we going to do about it?" Flint said, feeling other words were unnecessary.
"The answer will not likely please you. Our best estimation is the remaining fleeing October Guardsmen are dead and the attacking army group led by Colonel Orlock Blitzer is going to be upon us using the very technology the Americans sold to Russia to support our failing military. I'm afraid they will attack en force with no mercy," Red Star shook his head.
"Wow...that sucks." Quick Kick summed up everyone's feelings on the matter.
"A Joe will do what a Joe gotta do," Roadblock said even as he looked to Flint.
Flint felt his head, this mission was getting worse and worse with each passing moment. He did not want to die away from his kids in a former communist country, he deserved at the very least to die in someplace exotic. "We're practically unarmed here. Is the armaments stash you were supposed to prepare still there?"
"It is untouched," Colonel Brekhov said with a nod.
"Okay, then it looks like we're about to face our Alamo," Flint knew the options were pretty darn slim here.
"Let's not forget that Davey Crockett died at the Alamo," Quick Kick reminded the group.
"What's the Alamo?" Major Firebird whispered to Horrowshow, who just shrugged his shoulders.
Scarlet woke up with the most splitting headache she'd ever had in her entire life. It was then she noticed that she was in the Temple of Doom combined with Lifestyles of the Rich and Ruthless. The room was made to look like it was composed of polished obsidian and the bed that she lied in resembled the mouth of a Cobra. Aztec, Minoan, Spartan, Dynastic Chinese, Mycenean, and African tribal antiques were liberally strewn about the place. A suit of armor from Ancient Rome and a broadsword from the Hundred years wars over the fire-place completed the effect.
"Good evening Mrs. Bond..." Scarlet muttered as she stepped from underneath the silk sheet before immediately slapping themselves back over herself. Whoever was the person who had made her a guest in this palace had also taken the liberty of taking her clothes.
'Jonathan you sick bas...' Scarlet shook her head, she had no idea it was necessarily her old friend and oddly that wasn't a comfort at all. Still, there was something familiar about this place as if she was stepping into the recesses of someone's mind. Reaching her hand into the drawers on the side of the bed she looked for something which might be useful here, maybe a key or even a weapon though she doubted whoever had kidnapped her was quite that stupid.
'Great...books,' Scarlet thought as she found the contents. "Sun-Tzu's Art of War....Maciavelli's the Prince....Paradise Lost by John Milton....God Emperor of Dune and Emerald City of Oz?" Scarlet said the last two titles with a bit of surprise.
"I find the last two titles the most educational in my studies of the human spirit and how it reacts to authority," the voice echoed through the room before from the shadows of the front of it emerged Jonathan. He was dressed in a silk white shirt and pants that made him look like he was preparing for bed.
'If he thinks what I think he's thinking I might have to teach him something John Wayne Bobbit style...' The thought crossed Scarlet's mind as he approached but in truth she couldn't help but be a bit scared. The person she'd known had been the closest friend she'd ever had growing up and a strong influence on her life from war to politics but he'd never attack a woman. Oddly enough she believed that last statement.
"You'll have to forgive the attire but I was asleep in the next store hall when I heard your breathing change," the new Cobra Commander said with a sly look as he soaked up her with his senses. Homo Serpentor was possessed of sight, smell, taste, and touch far beyond a humans but only with the blood of man could one truly appreciate the beauty of the things they created.
"Actually I'd forgive you a lot sooner if you gave me something to wear," Scarlet said sarcastically. He'd not changed a bit since she'd known him in body save for the eyes and they were looking at her in a way that seemed hypnotic. Scarlet shook away her head from that thought, those eyes were exotic but they were also cold and consuming.
"But of course, you will find your costume cleaned and your weapons with fresh ammunition in the closet next to you." The man said in a completely even tone even as he gestured to the obsidian closet that was practically invisible in the dimly lit room.
"Awfully trusting Jonathan. Are you always this nice to POWs?" Scarlet said as she wrapped the covers around her tightly and looked in the closet to find an assortment of dresses in her size from Medieval to Vogue to tramp. Scarlet flushed past them and some things in Victoria Secret til she got her uniform for G.I. Joe and pulled out her crossbow which seemed alright.
"I wish you to be comfortable Scarlet onboard Cobra Command Station. It is a marvel of human engineering and a place I hope will eventually become home to countless thousands of men when they journey towards the stars," Jonathan said even as he gestured for two Servitor droids to enter the room with a dinner table and food.
"No chance of that Jonathan or should I call you Cobra Commander?" Scarlet dressed behind a screen that she found in the back of the close and tried to figure a way out of this situation.
"Jonathan is fine. Only those who pay allegiance to the cause need refer to me as that, friends may call me by the alias which meant more to me than the number my father gave me or simply the Enemy," the man smiled as he lit two candles.
Scarlet wanted to say she wasn't his friend but she didn't and loaded her crossbow with a stun bolt. She was very angry and considered firing a bolt right into the man's eye but she hesitated and finally decided her first priority was just to escape.
"I've missed you a great deal in the intervening years. Ever since my father took me back to the Cause from our time together I always scoured the battle reports for any mention of your presence. When you were captured it caused me to wonder whether I could betray my family and beliefs to bring you to your freedom. When G.I. Joe was disbanded I was used the satelites Cobra placed in the sky to catch glimpses of you and the beautiful young boys which inherited their mother's strength to no doubt serve their country well." Jonathan gave a slight wistful look as he gazed off into the candle-light.
The thought of her two sons gave Scarlet a pause as she opened the screen with her crossbow drawn. "Yeah Jonathan, I hate to burst your bubble but high-tech stalking is not my idea of romantic. I have to go now luv and I just want you to know it's been nice seeing you." Scarlet wasn't really lying in the last part but when duty and love fought, duty would win every time.
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to leave my Lady. Jupiter's Thunder has almost finished bringing the world to it's knees and it is far too dangerous down there for a heroine such as yourself until the i's are dotted on the surrender compacts," Jonathan said pouring both himself and Scarlet a glass of wine that was bottled in the year of Napoleon's ascension.
"Sorry Jon." Scarlet fired the stun bolt at John's head which would give him a face full of knock-out gas. She could do nothing but blink when he caught it in the air and snapped off it's edge, putting it down on the ground.
"I insist that all the gene-therapy and cybernetic enhancements that go into the Crimson Guard are tested on myself first. Combined with a natural desire to master all forms of combat that I can...I fear I have nothing to fear from you my Southern belle," Jonathan's cold eyes focused in on her as Scarlet took a breath to calm herself.
"I'm not your Southern Belle," Scarlet said staring as she took a seat across from him at the table.
The room rocked a moment as the lights from the glowing crystal balls lain about the room flickered. Scarlet didn't have to think hard that was probably her lover's superweapon eradicating some bio-weapon facility, nuclear range, or communist government in general. She'd looked over the reports carefully and knew the targets being blasted were chosen for their unpopularity and inherent danger to the world as a whole. CC junior wanted to claim moral authority in his propaganda when this was all over.
"Very well then I am your evil warlord," the Master of the world's most dangerous terrorist organization gave a slight smile.
"How very comforting. Oooo Lobster my favorite," Scarlet didn't know what to do in this situation but she had to wait for an opening she figured.
"The world is reaching a fulcrum my dear where the next decisions reached by the people of the world in a crisis will determine it's ultimate fate. They must either unite totally putting aside all prejudice, fear, and anger to raise the force to wipe Cobra out or they must surrender their authority to it's dominion," The Commander sipped his wine and looked across the table for a reaction.
"It'll be the former Jonathan. I'd have thought you'd be smarter to realize that you can't put a boot on a man's face and make it like him. All your father...all this evil organization...has accomplished is kill thousands," Scarlet looked into those reptilian eyes and searched for any sign of remorse in him for the havok he had wrecked across the planet in the past month.
"I know Scarlet. I have invested wisely in Cobra's future and while I hold out a slim hope for victory I know logically that victory is impossible. Without a legitamate government to draw from troops or moral authority beyond conquest in today's modern age I can only hope to inflame the fears and anger of the planet upon itself. My father could never understand this because the Cobra-la mindset is to bend to one of higher authority immediatly upon a show of force but humanity cannot be so easily cowed. I furthermore lack the predatory instinct that would allow me to instill the base terror and slavery upon humanity for generations that it would take to rebuild their culture. My targets are military alone in this war as I match wits with the defense ministers that have arisen in this weapon's shadow," Jonathan ate his meal inbetween sentences as his eyes betrayed nothing to Scarlet.
Scarlet blinked, she'd been expecting at least some attempt to justify this insanity. She'd have half been open to some mad philosophy that she could respect even as she opposed it. "So what is this, some of game to you? The thousands of families who've lost their sons so you can test your new lasergun? Is it a present to daddy to show you've taken over the family business?!"
"On the contrary Scarlet I intend to achieve victory in my loss. Sleeper agents outside of Cobra's military heirarchy and ideals, hypnotized world leaders, careful selection of targets, and pressure applied to the right people is creating the beginnings of a world government every bit as utopian as the charter my father created in the beginnings of the organization. The result of my terrorist activities will be the suspension of certain liberties which stand in the way of crushing crime, dissidence, and of course the very laws that allow monsters like myself to hide behind money and power," The new Cobra Commander had spent a very long time planning out the intricacies of this plan and it would go entirely according to his design, he was sure of this.
"Your insane," Scarlet said with what effort she could. Still the words caught in her throat because there was something supremely sure in his voice.
"No Scarlet I think you are afraid because you are aware of just how sane I am. Now please eat your lobster. It's getting cold," Jonathan said with a half smile as he thought of the time he had lost his eyes. He had been a member of the Crimson Guard even then and as an elite soldier had been sent on an assasination mission to kill the heads of a drug cartel which endangered Cobra's control over the military regime in the area. He had suceeded but the grand finale of exterminating he life essence of the El Presidante had required going through G.I. Joe's bodyguards. In the end it had been the sight of her which had allowed his opponents for the strike team's sucess to shoot a laser bolt into his eyes and burn the memory of his love into his mind forever.
***
Doctor Otto Moreau the Fifth was the Supreme Head of Cobra's Medical Caste and had been so since Doctor Mindbender had unfortunately chosen the wrong side in Cobra's transitional stage. He had been a member of the Human Genome Project when he had begun researching the extra-genes that had been discovered in the few remaining preserved bodies of Cobra-La's citizens when said arctic Lost world had been excavated. The tests had awed him and eventually experimentation had led to his near-death in a labratory explosion. The work funded by the new Cobra Commander had allowed him to rebuild his body with cybernetics and regeneration formula crafted from lizard and gorilla DNA. Now he was a mountain of a man standing eight feet in height with a regal red cape fluttering around the metallic sheen over his body's majority. He only had one good eye in his right as his left was replaced with a red microscope that provided him with mountains of genetic data that he required for the elaborate constructs and horrors that were born in his lab.
"We are ready for you Lord Snakes," Doctor Moreau said as he pointed his golden DNA helix tipped cane toward the bubbling pit of almost unholy chemical concoctions which had been prepared over the past few years in the finest example of reverse engineering the world has ever known. If he was correct in his calculations then all of Cobra-La's genetic secrets could now be deciphered from the simple base he began with. If he was incorrect then the former leader of Cobra would be melted from the inside out and it would be no great loss as far as the mad scientist was concerned.
"You will addressssss me assssss Cobra Commander!" the Serpent shouted as he hissed his fangs menacingly at the cyborg.
"Of course Commander," Otto murmured even as he went back to his research consoles to get an accurate reading of the results of this test. Cobra had increasingly had less and less to do with medical research as the organization's billions were devoted to this oversized laser pistol floating above the planet. Otto had provided the Commander with the cures to AIDs, Cancer, Alheizmers, along with serums that would turn a physical weakling into a demigod and he was all but forgotten in the rush to bring the world to a crashing halt. He had no idea what his rather mad employers wished to do with the information but he was sure that restoring the Commander would give him leverage again to pursue his research as he saw fit. Otto was already considering abandoning medicine for a virus that would raise the dead to devour the living.
"Now, I will at lasssssst become a man again. This day has been a decade. A mere drop in the hat for a citizen of Cobra-la but they are all dead and I sssssurvive. I ssssshall reclaim my destiny thisssss day!" the founder of Cobra threw himself into the golden liquid as his screams filled the air. The poisonous fluid would destroy utterly every last DNA cell of serpent inside the commander even as human DNA cells were grown from the cells that remained in equal upkeep to the destruction. It was quite possibly the most agonizing experience Doctor Moreau could imagine with his extremely vast intelligence.
"Ahhhhhhhhhrrhh," The old Cobra Commander finally collasped on the ground naked and writhering after literally throwing himself from the pit of agony. The formula had done it's job and the former leader of the world's most dangerous organization was now completely human. His body was bald and covered with scalding scars from his experience but it was all in all, a resounding success.
"Restored...I am. I can now retake my seat as master of Cobra and ruler of the planet! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The fascist dictator cackled before descending into a coughing fit.
"You may find the reigns of power not so easily relinquished back to you Commander. The current holder has held it for a decade and made it a special point to keep the troops loyal to him." Doctor Moreau thought painfully of the description of life under Serpentor. The man had been a genius at military stratedgy and fearless in battle but he was also hopelessly psychotic and possessed of no patience whatsoever. It was embarrasing that the Emperor of Cobra had taken the power from it's master so swiftly. The Doctor wasn't sure the situation would repeat itself quite like it had done so before.
"Nonsense! My son is fanatically loyal to me and would throw himself out an airlock at my slightest whim. I raised him that way you know. Besides who do you think has been the secret hand behind the throne that he so gallantly sits behind? ME! I am the force which has been guiding Cobra all these years through its darkest hour and only I possess the vision and guidence to lead it to its destined glory. It will be the coup de gras to the cowering masses of the Earth when I return in all my glory to inform them that Cobra has finished playing games and their choice is total annhilation or my humble minsitrations as absolute ruler for life!" Cobra Commander ranted with sadistic glea. Going over to a biological-hazard suit he placed it over his face and assumed the form of the figure that would inspire fear and envy once again in mankind. At least until he was able to recover his hood and military uniform.
"Yes of course sir," Doctor Moreau had never quite understood his snake subject was completely mad before but this left little doubt in his mind.
"Wait! You've seen my face! Only the Baroness, Destro, and my son have!" Cobra Commander grabbed at the service pistol to the side of the room in one of the guard's uniforms hanging up on the side.
"My Lord pl..." Doctor Moreau could not get another word out of his throat before three laser bolts were put through his brain and he fell to the ground dead.
"COBRRRRRRAAAAAAAA!" Cobra Commander screamed with glea as Snakes ran out of the laboratory, down the hall towards the bridge of Cobra Command Station.
***
"Trying to take us alive huh?" Icicle shouted even as she fired her rifle futily in the air towards the Cobra Death globes that floated about, the new and improved answer to the trouble bubbles. The G.I. Joe team was weaving in and out of the trees systems on their snowbikes which afforded them enough mobility that at least one of their pursuers had accidentally impaled himself but there were seemingly an endless number to follow him.
"Oh shut up!" Beach Head shouted even as his bike did a sommersault in the air from the Cobra Death globe blowing up the ground directly in front of him. Amazingly the bike landed perfectly right side up and Infiltrator managed to fire a grenade from his launcher right into the death globe's engines, causing it to explode in a fiery burst of light.
"Rock on Beach Head Kenevil!" Demolition Derby gave his commanding officer a thumbs up before suddenly the Death Globes turned back from their pursuit and left the group alone in the freezing blizzard.
"Okay that's not suspicious in the slightest," Last Chance replied, following the Death Globes with her binoculars until they were well out of sight.
"Well don't look at me to discount our seemingly good fortune. So what's the stratedgy Wool Head?" Infiltrator said even as he reloaded his grenade launcher in case their domed pursuers returned.
"That's Beach Head Spook! We're going to keep going until we find something and that is our damn mission so we're going to follow it!" Beach Head shouted even as Punch Card coughed.
"Yes solider?" Beach Head turned to the computer genius who looked like a robot-man with all the equipment he'd 'harvested' from the plane.
"There's alot of atmospheric disturbance here Beach Head. I think we may have found it," Punch Card said, pointing a large mass of rocks and empty space directly in front of them.
"Found what?" Beach Head asked, looking at the space.
"Found Cobra's cloaked rocket pad. We're still a little ways off from being able to jam it or completely detect with one hundred percent accuracy their stealth fields but if I don't miss my guess then...well it should be right there," Punch Card gestured even as he gave a goofy sort of grin which made Beach Head want to sock the man silly.
"Wipe that smile off your face," Beach Head corrected before he noticed Last Chance and Icicle were loading up. "And where do you think you're going?"
"Well we've found the rocket-pad. I suggest we get the hell out of here before Cobra's goons blast us to bits and we congradulate ourselves on a job well done after phoning in an airstrike," Last Chance said happily.
"No way girly girl. We're going to check out this so called disturbance, find out what the hell it really is, and then we phone in the air strike. There's no way it's going to be my ass if we drop two hundred megatons on something that aint there!" Beach Head tapped his chest and pointed to the space.
"Okay, I'm game," Infiltrator said as he lit up a smoke.
"You're the only one," Last Chance muttered as she reloaded her laser-rifle with a fresh set of rapid fire catridges.
Hoping that Cobra hadn't spotted them, the group immediately ditched their snow-bikes to the side and began coming up the side of the snow bank. The small group of G.I. Joe commandoes didn't have to move very far until even the least observant of them could feel the 'atmospheric disturbance'. At close range Cobra's cloaking shields gave off massive amounts of static electricity that sent every hair on a person's body on end. Beach Head gestured for an all out run and counting on luck to see them through the team bolted through the electrical field and came out on the other side.
"Holey Moley," Demolition Derby whistled as he got an eye full of what awaited the team.
Cobra Space Platform 7# was a monument of engineering if you considered that it looked like something from those damn He-man cartoons that Bazooka used to watch all the time at Joe headquarters. Shaped like a giant Cobra coiled around the base it's risen neck and head served as the rocket tower and loading bay. Curiously Beach Head didn't notice anyone around the building, anyone alive that is. The entire place looked like it was being operated by reprogrammed obsolete BATS and some smaller more advanced non-combat machines. The place was huge and it looked like there might be thousands of the damn things, most of them carting radioactive ore from pits that were dug in the middle of the walkways throughout the base.
"Well now I've seen everything," Infiltrator said as a gigantic robotic wasp carted a fuel cell over to a rocket about to be launched.
"Trust me, you haven't seen nothing until you've seen time travel and cloning dead world leaders. This is a normal day for me. Keep your voice down by the way," Beach Head put away his rifle and pulled out a pistol instead.
"Why? These things don't seem to notice us at all," Demolition Derby lightly wrapped his fist on the side of one of the BATs.
"Those 'things' are still the equal of any five men at close quarter combat rookie. Besides we don't know whether or not someone might be able to turn them back to their less pleasant more Terminator-like personalities," Beach Head said even as he looked to Punch Card for what information the man could dig up on this strange place.
"Hey Beach Head, I may be getting some mixed signals here but I don't think there's anyone at this base at all. My guess is Cobra doesn't want too many people involved who know where their refueling points are. This entire place is automated and controlled directly by encrypted signals from Cobra Command Station itself," Punch Card said as he ridiculously easily accessed the Cobra base mainframe from his position here.
"That's an awful lot of guessing Dexter. In any case, our mission is done and now we can leave," Beach Head said sharply. There was something about this place which managed to unnerve even him.
"Sir, I beg your pardon but I think we can end the war right here," Punch Card said as the plan flashed across his eyes. A plan so brillantly simple that it had to work.
"What?" Icicle said alarmed as she looked over shoulders, used to the cold climate but even more anxious than Beach Head.
"Speak your mind soldier. I haven't got all day." Beach Head clutched the grip on his pistol even tighter than before as a team of BATS hauled more radioactive ore past him.
"The Rocket from what I've got here is directly guided by a feed system on Earth working in unison with the Station. All we have to do is disrupt the guidence system down here on Earth, lock them out, and it will plunge directly into the side of Cobra's headquarters. In a single instant all of Cobra will be burned up like a Turkey left in the oven for several hours too long," Punch Card was delighted at his own cleverness and hoped Beach Head would take him up on his idea.
It was against the G.I. Joe ideal to seek personal glory but Beach Head knew that this would make him look good, damn good, not to mention save a lot of rough neck lives when the fireball spewer in the sky took out some other military base whenever the clock ticked down another sixty minutes. "Okay Dexter what do you need to do it and how do we get it done now?"
"All I need is the main control center here and we're in business while Cobra is out of business," Punch Card began a brisk run to the base of the Cobra neck while the rest of the G.I. Joes followed....save one.
The process to start rewiring the shuttle launch was a remarkably swift one which was good since it was only a few minutes until the thing lifted off towards Cobra Station and then it would be another three months until another shipment was sent down to the Siberian station. Still Punch Card had all the systems set up and he only had to cycle through the various codes Cobra had set up to protect their system from hackers before unploading the new defination of 'lethal computer virus'.
"Good work soldier. I guess I was wrong about you all," Beach Head said to the four before he noticed that the sixth member of the team was missing. He got his answer to where she got to when a blue laser bolt arced through his chest and shattered the computer screen directly in front of him, frying the entire operation. As Beach Head crumbled to the ground, another martyr to the sinister machinations of Cobra Reborn, the traitor revealed herself.
"I regret to inform you that you are all now prisoners of the new world order," Icicle aka Iceheart, Major in the Elite Ophis Special Operations Division of Cobra said with a sneer. A dozen combat activated BAT soldiers pouring through the door soon subdued all the G.I. Joe commandoes. They would be loaded up onboard the rocket and taken as gifts to the new Cobra Commander.
Only Demolition Derby who had convinced himself that he had been falling in love with the woman, showed any reaction to the betrayal by one of their own. "You bitch,"
***
General Vladimir Rustavich was having the most delightful time of his life. Moscow was under martial law now with tanks on every street and the Cobra coiled through a hammer and sickle flying from every military vehicle for miles. There had been a few troubles with the locals involving gasoline bombs and the usual Stalingrad stuff but the results were relatively minor compared to the glorious representation that was his portrait hanging over the office of the Prime Minister. Vladimir was young for a general and had only been a new officer when his parents had joined in the revolution to restore communism to Russia. They'd both been shot by firing squad for their part in it....oh well no sweat off his back as far as he was concerned. Power belonged to those in the world who had the power to take it and with the power he had he could take all of Russias underneath his wing. If he knew the proper asses to kiss and the paperwork to file then he would probably find himself one of the number one people in the New World Order.
"It was like you always said father. The true purpose of a soldier is less about knowing how to kill than knowing who to kill, when, and how publically," Vladimir smiled and then leaped back into the leather Lazy-boy chair of the office he'd had brought in to replace Putin's old chair. He was still a young man barely into his thirties and who knew how far he could go in the terrorist organization if he set his mind to it. The first thing he'd do would be to offer to nuke the United States until they surrendered after he'd finished solidifying his control over Russia. Cobra hated the Americans almost as much as his father and mother had and while it was nothing personal with Vladimir he figured a few million deaths would probably insinuate him with the pseudo-nazi's quite well. Just for the hell of it, the general spun around his chair until the personal holo-unit Putin had installed buzzed.
"Lenin! Is a phone no good anymore?" Vladimir pushed a few buttons on the side of the desk until the projector lifted up from the desk. It had been installed so that the President might have a direct feed to the October Guard but Vladimir had hijacked it for communicating with his troops in Siberia. A holographic image of Colonel Blitzer appeared in the midst of what was obviously a bad blizzard.
"General Rustavich!" The Colonel saluted the man, he was a big burly fellow standing seven feet tall with a huge beard. Rustavich was sure the man would have been promoted to General long ago if he didn't look so much like a bear.
"Supreme Commander Rustavich! I intend to promote many people to General now. Have you suceeded in eliminating our little anachronisms from the Cold War?" Vladimir said as he wrinkled his nose a bit. He had himself lasted only six months in the October Guard himself thanks to his father's connections before the political situation had warranted their disbanding. Colonel Red Star had nearly destroyed his career with the reports he had filed and Vladimir dearly hoped he could have the man's head pickled for his desk.
"Yes...Supreme Commander. I come to report that we have suceeded in destroying the October Base and killing eighty percent of the Guard," Colonel Blizter looked fatigued and disheartened by the entire matter.
"Only eighty percent? I gave you a hundred times their number to eradicate them off the map!" Vladimir had unfortunately failed to take any airforce bases intact at present and had sent infantry and tanks to finish the job.
"It was more like thirty times their number sir and we've suffered nearly twenty causalties per man we've managed to kill. We're awaiting reinforements from the allied bases in order to continue the pursuit," Colonel Blitzer had been trained as a soldier his entire life to follow orders. The fact he know followed a pompous fool who ordered him to kill his fellow Russians changed nothing of this.
"Strike that now! They are scattered and in the most hostile country in Russia! I order you to finish them all off immediately! We cannot afford to spare the men for this little crusade of yours and you should feel honored that you are involved in what will prove to be the most glorious victory of the United Soviet Cobra Republic!" Vladimir didn't want to admit that the loyalist forces of General Denete were managing to hold their own well. The Ukraine furthermore was preparing to ally with him to wage war on his 'traitors'. Combine that with the Chechyneans wishing his head for all the things he'd done in his operations there AND allying themselves with Cobra and Vladimir was in a tenuous position unless he could deliver the October Guard as an offering to the new Cobra Commander to use his super weapon to wipe out his enemies.
"Yes...Supreme Commander," Colonel Blitzer sighed weakly.
"Look at the bright side, you're now a general!" Vladimir made a very generous gesture he thought before turning off the holocom and ordering the finest prostitutes in Moscow to be delivered up to his office.
***
Lady Jaye was a very talented physician when she wanted to be and while she had never been exactly friends with the Russian lady, she'd developed quite a bit of respect for the tenacious girl in their few meetings. After treating her as best she could, she went over to Flint and explained what the October Guardswoman had explained in the midst of her chatty field medicine. A few other G.I. Joe team mates had managed to arrive at the rendeverous point including Roadblock and Chuckles but Allison wasn't sure how many would reach the point with what she now knew.
"Apparently the political situation here in Russia is alot more volatile than the initial reports let on. The government we got the okay to travel through on was publically executed just a few hours ago by some general Dania refuses to call anything but the Madman. The murders on television weren't exactly the most reassuring things to watch but got the Guard prepared for something wrong and they managed to give a pretty damn good fight against Russia's regular military that attacked not so long afterwards. There's a few survivors who are trudging through the snow around here but nothing that'll make attacking the Cobra's base worthwhile with what we've seen of their firepower," Lady Jaye finished her explanation and took a sip from Snow Job's coffee.
"You got all that in twenty minutes?" Flint asked incredously.
"It's a girl thing," Lady Jaye grinned.
"Well I'm officially calling this mission a failure. If this place is as crawling with Snake Wannabees and the information about the base's location is lost then there's no point in risking our lives trying to take it out. We'll find another way to get at Cobra," Flint had taken an awful lot of risks in his life but he wasn't stupid. If the Enemy was willing to throw this much at their opposite number they would spare just as little expense to get at them if identified.
"You can do that?" Quick Kick blinked in shock.
"That's why I'm the commanding officer," Flint looked quite proud.
"Then why the hell did no one call off any of the missions against Ancient Egyptian gods or the giant blob!" Quick Kick shrugged his shoulders.
"Let's never bring those up again Quick Kick. I'll give the kill call to the G.I. Joes moving into the country through other means and we'll await new orders once word is relayed back to General Hawk. In the meantime we'll try and find the rest of the October Guard and relay them with Daina back to civilization. My guess is they'll want to be a part of our next counter attack," Flint shook his head. He didn't like being with his wife in Snake Central again with no backup and precacious few armaments but there was no one he'd rather be with.
"It looks like they found us Flint!" Snow Job shouted and pointed to the same direction Daina had come from. There a single tank rolling across the snow and a number of battered Russian soldiers walking along side it. One having been maimed in the conflict and his missing arm bandaged up while he chugged an assault rifle in the other. Flint was surprised to find that it was Colonel Brekhov aka Red Star who had been appointed the new General of the October Guard, the Colonet had been certain he would have fought to the bitter end.
"Greetings General!" Flint approached the man and looked over the group. He'd been briefed on the top men of the new Guard and recognized the survivors were all members of them. There was General Red Star of course but also Horrorshow from the original Guard who'd been promoted to tank division commander. Beside him was a beautiful svete woman with short blonde hair, Major Firebird who was an elite special purpose operative who just happened to be Brekhov's daughter. Silverfang was a long brown haired Siberian who was travelling with a few wolves that looked like they'd had their lunch on the traitors. The final member of the group was Sergeant Karvimov who was if reports could be believed a former circus performer who single handidly saved future President Putin from a Cobra leftover assaisin.
"Hail Colonel Flint. We come to you under the gravest of circumstance. I am pleased to see that Daina made it to you. Will she live?" Red Star asked in a tone that Flint hoped was simply bad English. Flint knew they'd been briefly married after the October Guard broke up but he'd felt betrayed by her active support of the new democratic government and they'd divorced not long after the revolution attempt of the communists.
"I heard. The question is what the hell are we going to do about it?" Flint said, feeling other words were unnecessary.
"The answer will not likely please you. Our best estimation is the remaining fleeing October Guardsmen are dead and the attacking army group led by Colonel Orlock Blitzer is going to be upon us using the very technology the Americans sold to Russia to support our failing military. I'm afraid they will attack en force with no mercy," Red Star shook his head.
"Wow...that sucks." Quick Kick summed up everyone's feelings on the matter.
"A Joe will do what a Joe gotta do," Roadblock said even as he looked to Flint.
Flint felt his head, this mission was getting worse and worse with each passing moment. He did not want to die away from his kids in a former communist country, he deserved at the very least to die in someplace exotic. "We're practically unarmed here. Is the armaments stash you were supposed to prepare still there?"
"It is untouched," Colonel Brekhov said with a nod.
"Okay, then it looks like we're about to face our Alamo," Flint knew the options were pretty darn slim here.
"Let's not forget that Davey Crockett died at the Alamo," Quick Kick reminded the group.
"What's the Alamo?" Major Firebird whispered to Horrowshow, who just shrugged his shoulders.