General Hawk Explains It All

"Hey buddy? Are you okay?"

Pietro opened his eyes and saw Freddy peering over him. His face was literally stuck in front of his. "AAAHH!" Pietro yelped.

"AAAAHHH!" Fred yelped and leapt back.

"Geeze Blob you gave me a heart attack!" Pietro gasped.

"Sorry man," Fred scratched his head. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"Oh yeah, I've got a broken leg, a ton of stupid chemicals in my system not to mention the fact that I'm a prisoner of the army," He rolled his eyes. "I'm just peachy keen!"

"Not to mention your dad dumped you," Fred shrugged.

"Freddy if you are trying to help, don't!" Pietro snapped. He looked over and saw Wanda's bed was empty. "Where's Wanda?"

"I think they took her to some kind of garden out back," Fred said. "I heard she was with Toad or something."

"So what happened?" Pietro asked. "Last thing I remember is passing out on that ice block, then I woke up here last night."

"Well they didn't hurt us or nothin'" Fred shrugged. "They just checked us out to see if we were okay then I went home with Toad while Lance went off with that Indian guy. I think his name's Spirit or somethin'."

"They didn't lock you up?" Pietro was surprised.

"No," He said. "I can't believe it either. I…"

The door opened to reveal Lance. But there was something different about him. Gone was his usual cocky attitude. It had been replaced with a haunted look. He looked defeated somehow.

"Lance are you okay?" Pietro asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," Lance sighed. He didn't sound fine. He sounded like a man resigned to his fate.

"Something's wrong," Pietro's eyebrows rose.

"I'm just…tired okay?" Lance pleaded. "I don't want to talk about it." He sat down in a chair nearby.

Pietro was about to say something else when General Hawk walked into the room. "Well I see the gang's all here," He said.

"Where's Wanda?" Pietro snapped. "And who are you?"

"My name's General Hawk," He told them. "I'm the leader of GI Joe. Wanda's out in the garden with Toad and the others. I think it's best that we keep this little chat to ourselves."

"Others?" Lance blinked.

"Toad's girlfriend and her family," Fred explained. "You remember them?"

"Okay I guess the first thing you're wondering about is Todd's um…abilities," Hawk sighed.

"You must have read our minds," Pietro snapped.

"You see one of our ninjas was keeping a sacred mystical artifact hidden in our dojo," Hawk told them. "Todd accidentally found it."

"You're kidding?" Pietro's eyebrows raised.

"I wish I was," Hawk groaned. "Anyway this stone enables whoever possesses it great power. However if it's used before the person is old enough to wield it…well let's just say things could get really ugly. I mean we are talking disaster of biblical proportions here! Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"With Toad involved that's not so hard to comprehend," Pietro groaned.

"Can't you just take it away from him?" Fred asked.

"Uh…it's absorbed inside his body," Hawk explained. "If it was removed, it would kill him. We told Toad that he had accidentally set off a ninja trap, so he doesn't realize that he has it inside him."

"For real?" Fred asked.

"Well it must be true," Pietro groaned. "It's too weird not to be true! Not even the army could make up a wild story like that!"

"It's not like we don't intend to tell him," Hawk said. "We just want to wait until he's a little older until he's ready and finished his training."

"How long is that gonna take?" Fred asked.

"Until he's twenty one," Hawk sighed. "And he is gonna need all the training he can get!"

"So that's what that was all about?" Pietro asked.

"Yes," Hawk sighed. "And I'd appreciate it if you don't mention this to Toad. Or Wanda or Althea or anyone else! There are already too many people aware of this. Can you imagine what would happen if Cobra or Magneto figured out what was inside Toad?"

"I get the message," Pietro groaned. "I guess we might as well keep it a secret. There's no way Toad is ready for anything like this!"

"I don't think we're ready for anything like this," Fred groaned. "So…what are you gonna do with us?"

"Well that depends on you," He said. "You have three choices, but something tells me the first one is not gonna work. You could be turned over to the proper authorities that deal with mutants…"

"Pass!" Pietro snapped.

"I thought so," Hawk nodded. "Not exactly my first choice either. Or you could go to the X-Men and be trained with Xavier…"

"Forget that!" Fred groaned. "Us with those guys? No way!"

"Then there's choice number three," Hawk said. "You can stay here and be trained by us."

"I don't suppose you can just let us go huh?" Pietro asked.

"Nope," Hawk shook his head.

"I didn't think so," Pietro groaned. "Some choices."

"Suppose we did stay," Fred said. "What would you do with us?"

"We'd train you like I said," Hawk said. "And I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. We're also going to teach you."

"Like school?" Fred frowned.

"Yes," Hawk said. "And you'll be given psychological counseling."

"Oh goody," Pietro rolled his eyes again.

"But you'll also have a home," Hawk said. "We're starting to put together a special group of Joes that will be training you and taking care of you full time. Roadblock, Toad's foster father will be in charge. Althea's father will be part of the team too, for obvious reasons. And we're planning on making a permanent home for all of you so you can all live together. So you won't be separated for long."

"I have a question," Fred said softly. "If we're bad…do you hit us or lock us up?"

Hawk frowned. "No," He said firmly. "I think you all have been hit enough. And as for the locking up part, well as long as you don't kill anyone we won't do that. Mind you there will be consequences for your actions. And you will have to work harder than you ever have in your entire lives, but…" He sighed and looked Fred in the eye. "No you won't be hit."

"Or put in front of a firing squad?" Fred's eyes went wide.

"No firing squads," Hawk sighed.

"Or spank us with tasers?" Fred asked.

"Or…what?" Hawk blinked.

"Magneto did that," Lance said softly, speaking for the first time.

Hawk looked like he was going to explode. "No," Hawk decided. "No spanking. With or without tasers! Although it's been my experience that more adults could use a good swat than kids get. Like I said, you've been hit enough."

"Or…Or…" Fred scratched his head. "Experiments with wires and weird tubes and…"

"For crying out loud son," Hawk moaned. "Who do you think we are? Not every secret organization does experimentation like that you know!"

Hawk looked at them. "I know this is all hard to take in. So I'll let you discuss your options. I'll send for Wanda to join you. Remember, not a word about You-Know-What! Okay?"

"Yeah we got it," Pietro sighed. He waited until Hawk left before talking again. "Well this is a fine mess we're in! Now what do we do?"

"Well why can't we stay here?" Fred asked.

"Are you serious?" Pietro snapped.

"Well yeah," Fred was starting to get annoyed. "I mean it doesn't seem so bad here. I mean if Toad can live here, why can't we?"

"Because they're humans Freddy!" Pietro snapped. "Soldiers! Remember!"

"Well would you rather be in jail?" Fred snapped.

"No," Pietro huffed. "And I don't wanna go to the X-Geeks. But…I don't know!" He hit the pillow with his fist. "I don't know what to do!"

"Lance you've been pretty quiet," Fred said. "What do you think we should do?"

"I think," Lance said softly. "We should stay. It's not as if we have anywhere else to go."

Pietro stared at him in shock. "What did they do to you? This isn't like you!"

"They didn't do anything Pietro!" Fred snapped. "Don't you remember what Magneto did to him?"

"Remember it? Magneto practically bragged about it!" Pietro snapped back. "How could I forget it?"

"I'm just tired," Lance said passively. "Tired of being lied to and used. Tired of all the hurt and the pain. I'm tired of people treating me like I'm expendable. I can't fight anymore. It's not so bad here. I think Fred's right. It's going to be okay. Spirit…the guy who brought me here; he's not so bad. For the first time in a long while I feel…safe." He closed his eyes and put his head into his hands.

"Lance…" Pietro said softly.

Fred gently ruffled Lance's hair. "Magneto messed us all up pretty good," He said softly. "We just gotta rest and heal you know? I mean look at Toad. I've never seen the little guy so happy. Okay maybe we shouldn't trust them all completely but that Hawk guy seems to be on the level."

"Maybe," Pietro groaned. "But can we really trust them?"

"What choice do we have?" Fred asked. "It's not like we got a lot of options you know."

This is all my fault, Pietro thought. If I'd been some kind of leader we wouldn't be in this mess! At the mercy of these humans! If I'd done something sooner, anything we'd be okay. I don't know what to do anymore. I just don't know what to do….