Enemies All Around

General Bragg fumed at the reports on his desk. "Another blasted freak sighting!" He shouted to his personal aide Colonel Eddington. "This one's able to create little bolts of some kind of electricity from music! Trying to pass herself off as some kind of rock star! The nerve of some freaks!"

"They do seem to be popping up everywhere nowadays don't they sir?" Eddington said.

"Morlocks, X-Men, freaking Brotherhood…" Bragg chomped on his cigar. "They're all a menace! Any more of that gang of mutants hiding out in LA?"

"There is some news sir, but not much since the last sighting," Eddington told him, handing him the report. "They've been keeping a low profile since that robbery last week. Rumor has it that some people in the neighborhood are actively helping them."

"Why the hell would normal humans help mutants I will never know," Bragg grumbled. "God damn bleeding hearts!"

"Actually in this case sir it's more like protection," Eddington told him. "Apparently these mutants drove out the drug dealers."

"I get it," Bragg grumbled. "The old protection racket, mutant style. Then again some of those people living in that rat infested slum are little more than animals themselves so I'm not too shocked!"

Bragg grumbled some more. "I should be at the head of this 'Mutant Investigation Division' but nooooo! Gotta give it to some young pup barely out of military school! Never mind the man with more experience!"

"It's a damned shame sir," Eddington told him.

"You're damned right it's a damned shame!" Bragg spat. "Instead I get to put reports together! I should be making the policy against mutants! If it was up to me they'd be locked up, the whole lot of them!"

"Good thing sir you are taking measures of your own behind closed doors," Eddington smiled.

"A damned good thing!" Bragg nodded. "If those freaks think they can just waltz all over us humans they've got another think coming! Not while I'm on the job!"

"There is one more thing sir," Eddington coughed. "I'm afraid you are not going to like this. It concerns GI Joe."

"I never like it when it concerns GI Joe!" Bragg snarled. "Well tell me the bad news!"

"Apparently sir, Mystique was not the only mutant recovered from the remains of Asteroid M," Eddington gave him the file. "I have a plant that's one of the Greenshirts there. He got me these pictures and information."

"The Greenshirts?" Bragg could not remember.

"You remember sir," Eddington told him. "The backup military support troops."

"Oh yes, them," Bragg nodded. "Well…WHAT THE?!" He nearly choked on is cigar. "IS GENERAL HAWK OUT OF HIS @#%%$# MIND?"

"Apparently he's taken it upon himself to rehabilitate the Brotherhood," Eddington told him.

"Why that…." Bragg clenched his fist. "I should have known Hawk would try to pull something like this!"

He pounded his fist on the desk. "That man has been a thorn in my side for decades! Him and his so-called morals! His bleeding heart is just as much a threat to the stability of this country as any terrorist! He's even prevented me from my rightful spot in the Jugglers! He stole it from me!"

"What are you going to do?" Eddington asked. "Try to remove those mutants from the Pit?"

"Ha!" Bragg growled. "By now even the Jugglers know about this. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if it was their idea! Hawk and Flagg are like peas in a pod. He must have made some kind of deal. No, attacking them directly is out of the question. As long as those mutants are under Hawk's control we can't touch them. However…." He started to tap his fingers together.

"Sir?" Eddington asked.

"Those mutants we may not be able to get at yet," Bragg smiled. "But there are other mutants we can get. Such as the X-men. What we need is information. Eddington I have a job for you. I need you to get anything and everything on those mutants."

"Which mutants sir?"

"All of them!" Bragg pounded his fist on the desk again. "Any information we can use to exploit."

"Actually sir, I took the liberty of bringing you a very reliable source on not only those mutants, but on mutants in general," Eddington said.

"Really?" Bragg smiled.

"Of course it did take quite a bit of doing, in fact sir, he's not even supposed to be here," Eddington told him. "But he is waiting in the hall."

"Well let's not keep the good man waiting!" Bragg grinned.

"Yes sir," Eddington nodded and went for the door. He motioned for the man to come in. "May I present sir, Dr. Bolivar Trask."

Trask walked into the room. "General," Trask smiled. "I believe I can help you with your mutant problem."

"I believe you can Dr. Trask," Bragg smiled. "I believe you can."

************************************************************************

Cobra Commander strutted to his throne room. "Success!" He hissed. "Soon we will have our own army of super powered mutants! Those DNA samples we got from the X-men were only the beginning! It's time for a New World order"

"Oh goody," Destro, Cobra's second in command muttered under his breath. "He's in a good mood."

"It's the right time, oh yeah it's the right time for making muties!" Cobra Commander sang.

"Have you been drinking?" Destro glared at him.

"So what if I have?" Cobra Commander turned on him. "There's nothing like a good celebration to lift your spirits! For once something's gone right around here and I am going to enjoy it!"

"Personally I would prefer to hold off celebrating until we have actually created our army of mutants," Destro frowned.

"Details, details," Cobra Commander waved and sat down at his throne. "I mean it's not like we don't have other mutants in our labs or any other genetic material we can use in addition to the X-Men's now is it? We have all the materials we need; all we have to do is wait for Dr. Mindbender and his staff to get the ball rolling!"

"This is not simply a question of putting together something off an assembly line like a cheap cabinet shelf!" Destro fumed. "Genetics is at best a risky and imprecise science! Remember our Assassin 9 program? We spent decades building and growing the perfect assassins and what happens? At the last hour they somehow develop free will and turn on us!"

"Yes Destro I remember," Cobra Commander sighed impatiently. "I was there remember?"

"Years wasted!" Destro fumed. "Down the drain! All because somehow Mindbenders 'brilliant' staff overlooked a few random strains of DNA that enabled those creatures to become ultra resistant to pain and gain the ability to think for themselves!"

"Destro I am well aware of the failure of the Assassin 9 program as well as countless other programs concerning genetic mutation," Cobra Commander told him. "True we've had a few setbacks…"

"A few setbacks?"

"But each time we have learned something from our mistakes."

"That's a remarkably mature attitude for you my dear Cobra Commander. Tell me, just how many bottles did you drink this morning?"

"Not to mention we also still have the original genetic blueprints and samples from those experiments," Cobra Commander decided to ignore Destro's remark. "Anyway we disposed of those imperfect assassins anyway!"

"All except one!" Destro reminded him. "And that one is currently in the hands of GI Joe!"

"Yes well they do have an annoying habit of intercepting our technology don't they?" Cobra Commander sighed. "Fortunately two can play that game! Once we have our army we will simply have to make a certain test run. And that test will be to capture that mutant as well as all the other mutants in the Joes' hands!"

"Including the elusive mermaid girl?" Destro smirked.

"Especially the mermaid!" Cobra Commander pounded his fist on the arm of the throne. "That little brat has been a thorn in Cobra's side even before she was born! Just like her mother!"

"I agree," Destro nodded. "She is far too valuable to allow to stay in the hands of GI Joe!"

"Patience Destro," Cobra Commander poured himself some wine. "In time they will all be ours!"

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Mystique stalked the confines of her cell. She was bored out of her mind. Well at least I'm not in a lab, She thought. Prison is better than being experimented on any day! How long is Magneto going to let me rot in here? When I get my hands on him…

Absently she fingered the collar on her neck. It was a nullifier, in order to prevent her from using her powers to escape. Not that that would do much good anyway, She mused as she looked around the windowless cell. It was all white with only a bed, a toilet and a sink with a mirror. The door was an electric shield.

A female guard came in with a man dressed sharply in a well-dressed suit carrying an attaché case. "Your lawyer's here," She said to her opening the cell.

"Lawyer?" Mystique asked, puzzled.

"Everyone is entitled to representation," The man said. "I'm Mr. Tan. Think of me as your self-appointed attorney. I heard of your case and I was fascinated."

"Really?" Mystique folded her arms. "Lucky me."

"You are very lucky to have an associate like me," Mr. Tan smiled. A beep went off on his wristwatch.

"What's that?" The guard asked.

"Oh just telling me the time," Mr. Tan smiled. "Time to do this!"

Before the guard could react, Mr. Tan spayed a can of something into her face. She slumped to the ground. "We haven't much time," Mr. Tan took something else out of his case. "The cameras surveying this cell will be off for precisely two minutes! First let's get you out of that restraining collar shall we," He reached out to her.

"Don't touch me!" Mystique backed away. "Who are you?"

"We've met," He chuckled and pulled off his face to reveal a different one.

"Zartan!" Mystique's eyes went wide.

"The one and only! I believe I made a proposition to you a while back," Zartan smiled. "Are you still interested?"

"Are you kidding?" Mystique looked at him. "If it would get me out of here I'd consider joining the cast of 'Blue's Clues'!"

"Well I must admit that some of the members of my gang do have the mentality of deranged four year olds," Zartan told her. "But our goal is a noble one." He took out a key and removed the collar from Mystique's neck. "Better?"

"Much," Mystique fingered her now free neck.

"One more thing," Zartan threw something to the ground. The something bubbled and in an instant turned into a perfect replica of Mystique.

"What in the world is that?" Mystique's jaw fell open.

"This is called a synthoid," Zartan explained. "A perfect replica of a living being made of a very special chemical protoplasm. The only drawback is that it has a 'life span' of only a few weeks, if it isn't played with too roughly. She will take your place."

"I'm impressed," Mystique nodded. "Does it have my powers as well?"

"Unfortunately it does not," Zartan said putting the collar on the synthoid. "It can't even speak. I'm afraid I was a bit pressed for time and had to take an older model, but it will do the job nicely. Just long enough for us to get away and cover our tracks."

"Well then I'd better change," Mystique transformed into a guard.

"So should I," Zartan put his mask back on. "Our two minutes are almost up! And sleeping beauty will wake up soon." He indicated the guard. They left the cell and Zartan locked the door.

"Let me do the talking," Mystique hissed as the guard started to wake up.

"What happened?" The guard moaned.

"Prisoner tried to get a little rough with you and Mr. Tan," Mystique told her. "Don't worry. The freak's safe behind bars where she belongs." She pointed to the synthoid, which glared at her.

"Ugh," The guard stood up. "Good job."

"My goodness she is a bit of a spitfire isn't she?" Zartan wiped his brow, giving an academy award performance. "Guard could you please escort me out?"

"With pleasure sir," Mystique said. Soon the two of them walked right out the prison doors. "Stonewall?" She gritted her teeth. "They kept me here?"

"I suggest we leave post haste," Zartan got into the car. "You might want to change again."

Mystique quickly turned into her Darkholme disguise. Zartan drove off. "Well that went well!"

"There's one thing," Mystique said. "Pull over."

"Why?" Zartan asked.

"I think you should get what's coming to you," Mystique said in a sweet voice.

Zartan pulled the car to the side of the road and remove his mask. "Better?" He asked in a romantic tone.

"Much!" Mystique snapped as she slapped him.

"OW!" Zartan yelped in pain. "What was that for?"

"You ditched me you jerk!" She snapped. "You left me alone to face Magneto!"

"I didn't exactly have a fun time with Cobra Commander myself you know!" Zartan hissed. "But if we play our cards right we can get revenge on them all! As well as unbeatable power. What do you say?"

"I say you're an impossible egotist," Mystique told him. "But fortunately for you you're an intelligent one as well."

"Not to mention dead sexy."

"I didn't say that," She told him.

"Not with your words," He grinned. "Your body language however…"

"You're impossible!"

"And you never had it so good," Zartan grinned.

Mystique glared at him. Then she softened. "Well I'm still mad at you."

"Understandable," Zartan said. "But why don't we discuss this someplace else. So we can go over our strategy to take over Cobra. Not to mention getting rid of any pent up energy."

"You think just because you sprung me out of prison the first thing I want to do is to go to bed with you?" Mystique snapped.

"Yes."

"It's that obvious huh?"

"Pretty much."

"Damn."

Zartan took her face in his hand. "You know you're sexy when you fume like that?" He kissed her long and hard.

"Forget the motel," Mystique muttered. "Let's do it right here."

"You are my kind of woman," Zartan laughed.

Next chapter: Mystique meets the Dreadnoks and for some it's hate at first sight. Pietro and Wanda move into their new foster home and meet their new 'Mom' and 'Dad'!