"Take a Break Dude..."

Disclaimer: Same as before.

~ ~ ~ ~

The balmy tropical breeze felt exquisite on the face of the traveler as he surveyed his surroundings. The Destiny Islands shone radiantly in their exquisite beauty. Verdant greenery, sapphire blue skies, lapping waves from a crystalline clear sea. The homes, while appearing crude, almost like Robinson Crusoe and his ilk had constructed them, were comfortable and nurturing. A warmth greater than anything the traveler had experienced washed over him in waves. He was finally home. Everything he loved and cherished was before him in its pristine beauty.

Birds played in the skies and dived into the ocean searching for fish. Sea turtles popped their heads up over the waves like school children while dolphins leaped gracefully like festival dancers. The traveler, named Armand D'Artagnan, let the peaceful warmth wash over him like a soothing balm. This is how it would feel, how it would feel when his beloved Destiny Islands were restored to him once more, when the Heartless were driven away and worlds consumed restored once more.

This is what Armand desired more than anything else in the world. He wanted to put down the sword, beat it into a plowshare, and live out the idyllic and peaceful life he had known before.

Waking from that dream was the hardest part, for he knew that the Destiny Islands were consumed by the ravages of the Heartless, its people missing and scattered beyond the four winds, the life that once lived in them suffocated by the eternal night.

At least this dream beat some of the others he normally had. These were the night terrors, dreams of the countless lives he had ended in the six years since. Ever since he joined the SEAL Teams, D'Artagnan had taken part in many missions, many of which had resulted in firefights. Because the people of the Destiny Islands had an inherent respect for life killing Heartless haunted D'Artagnan's dreams. He fought for his teammates, men who became more than friends, but practically family to him, and for the memory of his beloved homeland. Armand knew he wouldn't stop fighting, and he also knew that the dreams would never cease. He would relive the sight of Heartless he had seen and killed time and again, when they realized their final moments were to be lived in front of his shotgun. He had lost track of how many he had slain, but because he specialized in close quarter combat, he could remember many of those fights in graphic detail.

He could remember one particular Soldier Heartless that had tried to pull his weapon on him two years ago.

"Time to see Psyche Out." Armand groaned. Because he had gotten into an altercation with Beach Head for being a hardass prick over his use of GI Joe's computer resources to find his people.

"There are more constructive things you could use that for." Beach Head began before Scarlet and about half the control room restrained D'Artagnan, knowing his devotion to his people outweighed almost any other loyalty.

He reported into Psyche Out's office, "Sorry I'm late."

"No prob. Let me guess, nightmares again?" asked Psyche Out.

"Not really. I dreamt of something pleasant for a change." Armand began.

"The Destiny Islands?" Psyche Out asked, "I do wonder why someone who lived in such a paradise would have such rage?"

"You didn't lose your paradise." Armand began.

"Can you tell me about one of your flashbacks, maybe I can help you from there?" Psyche Out suggested.

"It was a rescue operation. One of our surveillance choppers had gone down over Heartless territory. We were sent to rescue the air crew." Armand began, "We found three of them buried in a shallow grave out back."

As Armand spoke, his tone became more haunted, "We broke down the last door and right in front of me stood a Soldier Heartless. I tried to make it surrender but it raised it's weapon, still stained with blood from the executed fliers. He got a chest full of double aught buckshot from my shotgun for his trouble. It flipped the creature onto its back, but it still raised its AK-47. I ran after it, chambering another shell and blasting it again. Not all of my shells hit their target, even at close range, but those that hit proved devastating. I kept putting more shells into the shotgun as I chased this particular demon down. Its kind had destroyed my home, killed or scattered my people, and I was imbued with little more than a primitive desire for vengeance. One of its arms was hanging from a shred of torn muscle and skin, its right leg was blasted nearly off, and there was more buckshot than bone in its body. It still tried to shoot me when I put my last shell through its face. I had used up all fifty of the shotgun shells I had on me and it felt good to kill the bastard."

"Many of the soldiers here have flashbacks like that." Psyche Out began, "But this bothers you in a different way, right?"

"On the Destiny Islands, we were taught to respect life." Armand replied, "The way I practically murdered that Heartless sure didn't show it."

"But you see it acceptable to defend life, don't you. After all your grandfather fought the Heartless." Psyche Out began.

"Yes, but he didn't feel the burning need to kill the Heartless I feel every time I go into battle. I am sure nobody survived the Destiny Islands, or the Heartless attacks since." Armand replied.

"I'm sure he did, he just had more control over it." Psyche Out said, "I'll tell you what. I guarantee you'll feel better by the end of today."

"That's a long shot if I ever heard one. But I'll be a sport." Armand replied.

"Good. That's the spirit." Psyche Out said, as he donned a kevlar vest, battle helmet, and assorted pieces of riot armor, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with Wanda Maximoff to keep."

Armand grinned, uneasily as he walked out of the clinic and towards a waiting jeep where Sergeant Bilby waited. "Well you took your sweet time getting here."

"Had an appointment. Beach Head and I kind of had a heart to heart." Armand replied.

"Bullshit, I was there, it was more of a fist to face from each of you then degenerated into a foot into balls session on your part." Bilby replied.

"At any rate, I think that this Misfit Watch duty is gonna be a piece of cake." Armand replied.

"Get ready for a journey over the edge of insanity, mate." Bilby replied.

"I've already been there. Being Scuttle's roommate will do that to you." Armand replied.

"Trust me, the Misfits make Scuttle seem normal." Bilby replied.

"I'll bet you that nothing tops Scuttle in weirdness." Armand replied.

"Deal, and the loser gets baby watch for a week." Bilby replied.

"You're on." Armand replied.

~ ~ ~ ~

"Wormy! Good!" Baby Beaky squeaked as he began to chow down on some worms in the front lawn.

"No! No!" Kitty Pryde shouted. She and Lance were assigned to stay behind and watch the babies while the others did some training. Shades and Mario, the other two men in the four-man detail assigned to protect the Misfits at any time were at the training session.

"It's probably just a phase Kitty." Lance began, "Nothing big. The kid just loves to eat worms for some reason."

"Bagga Whee!!!" Claudius shouted as he hurled a handful of mud at D'Artagnan.

Lockheed and Polly were chasing an armadillo across the lawn. "Awk! Adam One Twelve, starting attack run! Awk!!!"

Polly divebombed the armadillo which leaped into the air in terror only to be set on fire by Lockheed's flames. With a near audible boing the armadillo went flying through the air and landed in a tree branch.

"Awk! I'm going in! Cover me Lockheed!" Polly began and dived towards the armadillo, leaving a streak of white on the armadillo's shell.

Lockheed proceeded to set the armadillo on fire again and the creature leaped airborne landing right in the midst of Claudius and Barney. The two airborne menaces, Lockheed and Polly peeled off.

"Awk! Danger zone! Danger zone! Awk!" Polly shouted, "Break away! Break away!"

Both flew in tandem, banking to the left and into the sky. "You gotta admit, this is the only time I'd see an aerial dogfight in the back yard." Lance began.

"La-ance...." Kitty began.

Barney stared at the armadillo for a moment, then hefted his little whiffle bat and said, "BAT! BAT! BAT!"

"No Barney! Don't do that! Besides the armadillo's too dumb to know that's a bat...There is a certain Russian who could stand a quick little English lesson though..." Lance began.

"Don't even think about it." Kitty warned.

"BAT!" Barney shouted and banged Lance on the head.

"OW!" Lance shouted. Suddenly, Armand D'Artagnan, the normally stoic one out of the pair consisting of himself and Bilby started to laugh.

"Merde (shit)." Armand began, "It is rare that I see such an entertaining sight."

"Very funny!" Lance replied, "OW! Quit you!"

"Maybe they were right. All I need to do is take a break." Armand thought to himself.

"On the Destiny Islands the laughter of children was such a common thing to hear." Armand said, almost wistfully. He was so lost in the reverie and Lance and Kitty so lost in the care and feeding of two mutant toddlers that they failed to see the armadillo walk out of the yard with a wobbly, drunken walk.

"Wuh! Wuh! Wuh!" the armadillo groaned as it staggered on two shaky legs into the woods.

In a vortex of black smoke and haze it transformed into Maleficent, "Ooh! That stupid poop stain from that bird is gonna take a long time to wash out! And that stupid baby...What kind of dunderhead gives his baby boy a whiffle bat?"

She could hear the three young people, the SEAL from the Destiny Islands, the brunette and the wielder of the Keyblade laughing about something. Maleficent staggered on shaky legs through a portal, thinking up all sorts of ingenious punishments for a flying dragon, an insane parrot, and a bat- wielding toddler.

On the other side of the portal, COBRA Commander waited, sitting behind his desk with his arms folded, a smug grin under his mask. Maleficent fixed him with a venomous grin.

"I see you couldn't handle half an hour around an under strength group of Misfits..." COBRA Commander grinned, noticing the bird poop and the bumps on Maleficent's head.

"COBRA Commander, unless you want to be transformed into the serpentine equivalent of Richard Simmons you will shut up and give me some aspirin."

"Will that be one or two tablets?" COBRA Commander replied, his smugness gone.

"I don't care! I'm a sorceress, not a physician!" Maleficent shouted.

"Note to self. Next time I try to kidnap Kitty Pryde, do it with an army in front of me. Or if I can't find volunteers use a helmet." Maleficent said to herself.

~ ~ ~ ~

Up next: Armand gets some more quality bonding time with the Misfits. Bilby and Armand realize how lucky they really are despite all of what they've endured. And....

Maleficent: Maybe I ought to transform Shipwreck into something...

Ororo: Go ahead! I'll help. Maybe you should transform him into a lightning rod!

Maleficent: Girl, you've got potential.

Althea: Don't you even think about messing with my Dad.

Maleficent and Ororo: Buzz off little bee...

Althea: I'm warning you guys...

Maleficent: (holds up a Shipwreck shaped voodoo doll) What's to stop me from putting a few pins into Daddy's day.

Offscreen Shipwreck yells, "Ouch!" as pins are stuck all over the doll.

Cover Girl: If you two even think for a second you're gonna get away with this...

Maleficent: If you two manage to escape being tied back to back upside down over a pit filled with live scorpions I'll be amazed.

Toad: (from a cage) She is a ninja you know...

Cover Girl: I dare you to open that box at your feet.

Maleficent: Foolish wench, nothing can stop Maleficent. I'll peer into your precious box and steal your warplans...

Toad: Uh, SR, shouldn't you be doing something about this.

SR: Hang on Tolansky, I'm thinking....

Box opens up and out falls a tiny little teddy bear in a camouflage outfit with spit shined boots.

Maleficent: HAH! This is your brilliant plan?

Cover Girl: I'd give that back if I were you...

Althea: (whispers) I've just about freed my left hand...

Beach Head: (crashes through the walls of the Hollow Bastion) WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOLDING SERGEANT SNUFFLES!?!?!?! I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL!!!! BANZAI!!!!!!!!!!

The sound of bones, glass, and assorted magical implements being broken echoes through the air.

Maleficent appears, with a black eye, two broken horns, her staff broken in half and wearing a neck brace and sitting in a motorized wheel chair.

Maleficent: Do you have any idea how long its gonna take me to clean this place up? It took me twelve centuries to collect all of my magical paraphernalia. And Beach Head destroyed it all in twelve seconds.

Cover Girl: Wow, a new record. It usually takes him fifteen.

Maleficent: Why me?