*Disclaimer: I own none of these fine characters. They all belong to Marvel, Image, Sunbow, Hasbro, Devil's Due, and if there are any others, I STILL don't own any of these guys! This is just a work of fun. I have no intention of making money off of this story. I'm just a penniless fan.
*This is a rough Gaelic-English Glossary for some phrases uttered in this chapter:
"Bauchle!" = "Useless!"
"Ye sassenach cu!" = "You lowland dog!"
*This chapter is for several readers who raised a very valid question…
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
BeachHead herded Stalker and his strike squad out of the WarRoom double time, the roaring of the two World War II vets practically chasing them out. Jinx, right behind BeachHead, hit the door controls. The heavy steel slammed hard behind her heels.
Even through the thick door, the sounds of muffled shouting could still be heard.
"Whoa," Adams breathed, wide eyed.
"Oh, MAN," Rock n'Roll exclaimed, wiping the sweat from his forehead and newly clean-shaven jaw. "Do you know who that guy was?"
"BeachHead? Stalker? Talk to us, guys," Heavy Duty said, his nimble fingers nervously moving at his sides. "What's going on?"
BeachHead spun around and jabbed a finger at the Joes. "Not a word about ANYTHING you just heard," he ordered.
"We don't even understand what we heard," Rock n'Roll complained.
"Only thing any of us needs to understand," Stalker said, exchanging a grim look with BeachHead, "is that Hawk's extraction just got a hell of a lot trickier."
"Give me access to those satellite images," Steve roared at the monitor.
"Give me those damned files," Fury shot back from the Chicago junkyard, hundreds of miles away.
"How deaf have you gotten? I DON'T HAVE THEM!"
"Cheap crack, Rogers," Fury grounded out, the ember of his cigar glowing menacingly. "And I don't believe ya."
"Are you calling me a liar," Steve demanded.
"Ya called me one enough times."
"The difference is that you ARE a liar, Nick!"
"That's besides the point---"
"You're right," Steve said curtly. "It is. We need to find Hawk. We only have that one set of co-ordinates we managed to lock onto before the signal got cut. Our best bet of finding Hawk now is if the SHIELD spy satellites---"
"Let's get back ta the part about the signal," Fury said, puffing heavily on his stogie. "Slick piece of programmin'. I'm assumin' Abernathy's pet hackers set that up."
"HEY," a woman's voice yelped over the speakers. "I am no one's pet any---uh-oh."
"FIREWALL," Mainframe's disembodied voice yelled.
"Naw, don't scold her," Fury said mildly. "I've been dyin' ta hear from one of ya 'reformed' hackers." Fury let a smile curl over his face. "Ya know what's goin' ta happen ta yer parole now that Abernathy's been declared a traitor, don't ya, little girl?"
Steve slammed his fist against the steel table, denting the surface and making Lady Jaye jump. "You leave my people alone, Nick," Steve growled, the veins in his neck bulging.
"'Yer' people," Fury asked blandly.
"MY people," Steve said through his teeth.
"Well, YER people set the program up fer Abernathy, so either they know what's on those files or they know who have them now." Fury chompped on the stogie with a fierce grin. "So which is it, little girl?"
"Bite me," she snapped.
"FIREWALL," Steve bellowed. "Get off this line!"
"But that ass---"
"GIVE me that," Mainframe snapped. "Mainframe and Firewall signing off."
"Slipshod and sassy. Ya really wanna be in charge of that," Fury asked, amused.
"He doesn't need to justify himself to you," Lady Jaye said in a dangerously soft voice.
"And what's yer beef, Lady," Fury demanded.
"People I care about are in ICU, no thanks to you," Jaye said coldly.
"Can't blame me fer that," Fury said. "I'm not the one who didn't share intel about Dreadnoks disguise masters---"
"Bauchle," she skirled.
"NICK," Steve roared, holding Jaye back by her stiff shoulders. "You're out of line! And blast it, you are NOT getting us off track! GIVE ME ACCESS TO SHIELD'S SPY SATILITES! THESE SOLDIERS NEED THEIR GENERAL BACK!"
"Do they need their General back, or are ya anxious ta unload 'em?"
Steve flushed.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Fury smirked. "Hard ta run an outfit if ya don't want the job."
"I may not want the job but I can do it just fine," Steve snapped, bristling. "I ran the Avengers, I can run GI Joe."
"Bet I can run it better," Fury said.
"You're getting childish now, Nick."
"Just statin' fact. We both know ya suck at politics. What do ya think Abernathy fought more than Cobra? I'll tell ya. Red tape. Lobbyists." He took a long puff. "Jugglers." He took the stubby cigar out of his mouth and flicked it at Steve's image. "But if ya wanna run Joe fer a while, go ahead. I can wait fer ya ta wise up." He snorted. "Better yer in charge than a Jugglers' boy anyways. 'Least the Joes might get some real work done."
Steve glared at the spy with blazing blue eyes. "Gee, Nick. Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"Why the hell are ya acceptin' a military commission after all this time anyways, Cap? Thought ya were all about bein' a regular ol' American these days. Man of the people." Fury savagely bit off the end of a new cigar and spat it out. "Civilian."
"The country was calling me to service again," Steve began.
"Bull," Fury said bluntly, lighting up his cigar. He took a few beginning puffs. "Yer doin' this because the kid asked."
"I saw it as the same thing," Steve bristled.
"It ain't and ya know it," Fury said.
"Why do you care, Nick," Steve demanded.
Fury let out a long plume of smoke before answering. "Believe it or not, I'm worried about ya, Cap," he said softly. "Ya got this habit of latchin' onto folks 'cause they remind ya of ghosts."
"If you're so worried about me, Nick, then give me access to those satellites," Steve hissed. "Help me get the kid back."
"Cap," Fury said, his gravelly voice oddly gentle. "Steve. I'm sorry. Sorry ya couldn't save him back then, sorry that ya can't save this kid now. Even if ya could get him away from Cobra…Cap, he's gonna face the firing squad. Ain't nuthin' ya can do about that. Do ya really wanna rescue him just ta get him shot by his own country?"
"We have witnesses sitting in the stockade," Steve said. "We can clear his name."
"No," Fury said regretfully. "Ya can't."
"Why," Steve asked, his voice flat.
"Two words. Li Hueah," Fury said. "Take a real good look at the arrest warrant. Got an e-copy of it in front of me. More than one treason charge here." He bowed his head and chompped down hard on his cigar. "Guess the Jugglers wanted ta make sure he went down hard, damn those bastards."
"And who's fault is that," Jaye demanded.
Fury's head snapped up. "Ya think we set Abernathy up first? Well, sorry ta shock ya, Lady, but we weren't!"
Blue eyes and green narrowed suspiciously. "What do you mean," Steve demanded.
Fury just sighed.
"Start talking, Nick," Steve growled. "And tell us the TRUTH."
"The truth?" Fury took a long drag on his cigar before answering, his eye glittering, considering. "The only truth ya need ta know is that it's better ta leave the kid where he is right now," Fury finally said. "He's too valuable fer Cobra ta try and kill him. Long as he keeps his trap shut, they won't try ta kill him."
Steve shook his head violently, as if trying to clear it. "Are you saying abandoning him to Cobra is good," he demanded incredulously. "Just who are you trying to convince of that, me or you?"
Fury snorted and rolled his eye. "It's a damn sad statement, I know, but it IS better fer him ta be with the snakes than in the Jugglers' reach."
"Cobra will torture him," Jaye said coldly.
"He won't break," Fury said dismissively.
"Everyone breaks, Nick," Steve said.
"The kid's a lot like ya, Cap," Fury told him. "He ain't gonna break."
"They'll use the Brainwave Scanner on him," Jaye said forcefully.
Steve turned to her sharply. "The what?"
"A device that reads minds," Jaye said. "It also brainwashes people and plants false memories. They'll rip everything Hawk knows, everything that he is from him and destroy him." She glared at Fury, her eyes bright emerald flames. "Do you have any idea what kind of damage Cobra could do with the kind of intel he knows? If you think the Dreadnoks waltzing around SHIELD for the Jugglers was a security breach, just wait until Cobra sucks Hawk's brain dry! And what they'll do to him afterwards---" She shuddered. "I would rather pull the trigger myself than let them do that to Hawk. He'd want a clean death."
Steve's eyes glowed with rage. "Give me those satellite images NOW!"
Fury closed his eye and sighed. "Yer goin' after him no matter what, ain't ya?"
"I have to," Steve said in a low, intense voice.
Fury opened his eye, his face softening. "Yeah. I suppose ya do." He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "Gimme the co-ordinates."
"Why don't you just give us access to your satellites," Jaye asked acidically.
"Don't be dumb, Lady," Fury snorted. "If I ain't givin' access ta Cap, what the hell makes ya think I'm givin' 'em ta a bunch of hackers---sorry, 'REFORMED' hackers?" He held out a hand and waggled his fingers. "Gimme the co-ordinates, Cap. My whiz kids'll take a look at recordin's of the area durin' the past coupla hours, see if they can spot the transport Abernathy's on, track it ta it's destination."
Steve hesitated.
"I promise not ta move without ya this time," Fury sighed heavily. "Look, I'll even come and personally drop yer boy Wardog off, 38 too if he wants back inta Joe. AND I'll hand deliver the satellite intel ta ya myself."
Still Steve hesitated.
"And if ya want, I could come along," he said casually. "If Cobra's got Abernathy holed up over the borders, a little SHIELD influence could cut through the International red tape," he snapped his fingers, "like that."
"Why so helpful all of the sudden, Nick," Steve asked suspiciously.
Fury crossed his arms, chewing on his stogie, carefully choosing his words. "I lost seventeen men, Cap. Won't lie and pretend we were close. Hell, I didn't even like OR trust any of them, really. But they were my men." He grinned mirthlessly. "These punk ass yahoos have ta learn that ya can't mess with SHIELD and get away with it."
"If revenge is your priority then you can sit this out," Steve said sharply.
Fury's grin vanished. "It ain't revenge. It's a warning. It's a messy, ugly job, but it needs ta get done and hammered home fast or they'll try it again. It's a responsibility I won't delegate, Cap. 'Specially not ta you of all folks. I'm down ta my last Black Bullets. Only right fer it ta be my finger on the trigger."
Lady Jaye suddenly threw her head back and peeled with ugly laughter. "That's the real reason you went to Chicago tonight, isn't it, Fury? Black Bullets aren't a part of rescue operations, are they? Doesn't sound like it's in their job description. You were there to give them back up support while they tried to make 'examples' of whichever of the Dreadnoks they could get their hands on! Rescuing Low Light was just a bonus! Tell me, Fury," she skirled, "if Hawk WAS there, would you have saved him or let Cobra have him because," her voice twisted mockingly with deadly accuracy, "'it's better fer him ta be with the snakes?'"
"Ya REALLY don't think much of me, do ya?"
Jaye barred her teeth. "I don't hear you denying it."
"Believe what ya want, doll---"
"Don't call me 'doll,'" Jaye snapped.
"ENOUGH," Steve roared. "Nick, our objective is Hawk and survival. Nothing else. If you have our backs, I need to trust you. If you're not with us, you're against us. Simple as that."
"Not so simple, Cap. World ain't black and white."
"I'm not asking you to save the world, Nick, I'm asking if I can trust you at my troops' backs."
A drawn out sigh whispered over the speakers. "Yeah. Ya can."
Steve stared hard at the spy's image for a long moment. "I'm risking a lot on a very strained friendship," Steve finally said. "My life's not the only one at stake here, Nick. We're talking about my troops. My partners." His voice softened as his eyes took on a far away look. "I made a promise a long time ago that I'd never lose a partner ever again. Don't make me a liar, Nick." His voice dropped even lower. "I'm not sure I'd be able to forgive you if you do."
A pained look flashed across Fury's face. "I get it," he said softly.
"Good. Mainframe," Steve said.
"Here, sir."
"Transmit Hawk's last known co-ordinates to Director Fury."
"Yes, sir."
Fury's eye flicked to one side of the screen. "Got 'em. Feedin' 'em ta the Helicarrier. I'll be at Wright-Patterson in a few hours. My whiz kids oughta have a location by then."
"Good. Just one more thing, Nick."
The pebbly eye slid warily to lock with Steve's. "Yeah?"
"Is it true," Steve asked neutrally. "About Hueah?"
Silence.
"Nick?"
"I'll be there in a few," the spy said in a subdued voice. "Fury out."
Steve stared at the blank screen. Silence hung heavily in the WarRoom. "You want to say something, Lady Jaye," Steve asked, his voice steady.
Her voice was professional, clipped. "It may not be politic for me to do so. Sir."
"You disagree with my decision."
She lifted her chin. "Yes, sir."
He looked at her over his shoulder. "Hawk's last known co-ordinates were over the North Atlantic. I'm betting that Cobra's taking him to somewhere in Europe. Unlike my UN clearance, Fury's can extend to military troops. He'll get us around quicker."
"Hawk wouldn't approve," she said, scowling.
"I'm not letting Hawk die because of a pissing contest between him and Nick," he said sharply.
"Fury can get a toe hold in Joe through this," Jaye pointed out.
Steve shook his head and leaned his hip against the table. "I don't buy that BS about wanting additional anti-terrorist specialists, not even in this day and age. SHIELD is too big for him and Sharon to handle as it is. And all that talk about protecting Joe from the Jugglers sounds like a maneuvering bluff."
"He's up to something," Jaye said.
"I know." He rubbed his neck, rotating it, trying to loosen tight muscles, cracking off flakes of dried mud in the process. "But I can't worry about Nick's hidden agendas. I have to trust that he's in this to help us."
She gave him a skeptical look as she rubbed her forehead, dusting hardened mud from her fingertips. "You trust him that much?"
"Of course I trust him that much. He's my friend. We fought in the Big One together. Saved each other's lives, bled together." Steve sat down in front of a computer station's keyboard. "Mainframe, patch me into Wardog's com for a text messaging."
"Yes, sir."
"What are you doing," Jaye asked, standing behind him.
"Just getting caught up on some correspondence," he said mildly, typing a curt message.
WARDOG
EYES ON RAVEN AND 13. SNIFF OUT HIDDEN KNIFE.
EAGLE
"Now, as I was saying," Steve went on, "you get to know a person pretty well once he's bled all over you. Some people say a kind of bond forms." He shrugged. "I've never been that fey, but when you've been through as much as Nick and I have, you know you can depend on the other---"
A flash across the screen caught both of their attentions.
EAGLE
UNDERSTOOD.
WARDOG/ OWL
"---without hesitation," Steve continued without missing a beat. He cut the connection to Duke's com, spun his chair to face Jaye and spread his arms wide. "So I can honestly say without reservation, yes, we can trust Nick."
Jaye arched an eyebrow. "Because we'll have plenty of warning if he double crosses us?"
"You got it."
She frowned. "Good idea," she murmured distractedly.
"Something on your mind," he asked.
She dropped her eyes. "It's none of my business."
"Out with it, Bird Lady."
She looked at him with troubled eyes. "How can you stay with someone you don't trust?"
His blue eyes narrowed defensively. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. "You mean Sharon."
"Yes."
"What makes you think I don't trust her?"
Jaye gestured at the screen. "Low Light told me her Agent number is 13."
He grimaced.
"And…I heard you practically admit to Hawk that you don't like her."
His face hardened. "You're right. It's none of your business."
She looked away. "I'm sorry. "
He sighed a rubbed a hand over his face. "The heart wants what the heart wants," he told her softly. "You can try to deny it, reason against it, fight it…" He shook his head.
Jaye pulled out her dog-tag chain from under her shirt. Two gold rings, one plain and one curled around a small, brightly cut diamond hung from it. She cupped the rings her hand. "Doesn't do any good, does it?"
He smiled wanly. "No. It doesn't." He touched her hand. "In all the craziness I never got a chance to ask…how are you holding up?"
She sat next to him and gripped the rings tightly to her chest. The professional mask she had kept up all night slipped. "It hurts," she whispered. "Before…I thought I knew what Hawk went through when he lost his wife…but…"
"You're not losing Flint," Steve said, gripping her hands in his.
She closed her eyes and bit her lip.
"Jaye," Steve said gently. "You've already gone above and beyond the call of duty tonight. If you want to stay…?"
She took a deep breath and, before Steve's eyes, the professional mask slipped back into place. "Flint and I are both soldiers, Captain. We've discussed this possibility…one of us being badly hurt while the other was needed for duty." She lifted her chin. "We agreed to stay the course and do our duty. Just tell me what you need and I'll do it."
Steve pulled his hands back and regarded her carefully. "I need you to promise me something."
"I won't go on a vendetta spree," she said. "You can count on me to follow your orders. Get Hawk and survive, right?"
"Yes, but that's not what I was going to ask."
She arched an eyebrow.
He sighed. "No matter what goes down…promise me you won't shut down."
Jaye frowned. "I don't understand."
"I saw a good solider turn into a ruthless killing machine when his family was murdered. He never let anyone or anything close to him again, no friends, no dreams, nothing. To him there were only allies or enemies, the guilty and the innocent. The only thing he lived for was punishing the people he saw as evil." He spread his Greenshirt top further apart and pulled up the chainmail underneath, exposing a hideously jagged sunburst scar over his heart. "And sometimes he was wrong."
Jaye's green eyes widened. "What happened?"
"He shot me," Steve told her. "Chainmail stopped the bullet but the shrapnel tore up my chest. He thought I was dirty." Steve tucked his shirts back into place. "He learned the truth a little later on his own."
Jaye clutched the rings to her chest. "I think you've made your case, Steve," she said thickly.
Steve's demeanor gentled. "I'm sorry," he said. "It's just…I don't want to see another good solider fall into that pit. Not if I can help it."
"Guiding stars,'" she murmured.
"What?"
A small smile lifted her lips. "Something Hawk told me once." She touched the muddied white star emblazoned on his chest. "'As long as I have my guiding stars, I'll never lose my way.'"
Steve smiled and gently enfolded her in a comforting embrace. They stayed that way for a moment, sharing the warmth of silent camaraderie.
"We should get BeachHead and the others from the hall," she said finally, pulling away. "They're probably wondering what the hell's going on."
"I can debrief BeachHead and the others without you," Steve said. "Go on. Get cleaned up. Go to Flint. You've got a few hours before SHIELD comes."
She flashed him a grateful smile and rose from her chair.
"Jaye."
She turned.
"I meant it. You've more than done your duty tonight. If I thought I could get Hawk without taking you from Flint---"
"I know," she interrupted. She smiled to take the sting out of her words. "But you warbird types have no finesse. You need a Jay Bird in your coop." She turned and opened the door.
BeachHead nearly knocked her over in his rush to get inside. "Captain America, we've got a problem!" Jinx, Stalker and the strike squad poured in after him.
Steve pinched the bridge of his nose as Jaye threw up her hands. "Now what?"
BeachHead strode to the monitor and hit a button. A news program turned on, showing a frozen fireball hanging over Wright-Patterson Medical Center. "Those damned reporters were camped just outside the base. They got the whole damn firefight on tape." He switched to another station. "And someone managed to set up a live press conference with the Base Commander."
A stout General in blue was addressing a group of reporters just outside the front steps of the Medical Center. Four stars gleamed from each shoulder.
Jaye marched back to the monitor. "Is that a Havana rolled cigar he's smoking?"
Steve's eyes narrowed. "Turn it up."
"---until proven guilty," the stout General's voice boomed. "But these actions, I'm ashamed to say, speaks louder than any protestations of innocence. Indeed, General Abernathy damns himself with his own words." He held up a CD. "I have here recordings of the radio chatter between the attacking Huey and the rest of GI Joe." He shook his head sadly. "It grieves me that a man of General Abernathy's reputation could betray the trust placed in him by the President for the sake of an adulterous relationship with a woman under his command, the wife of his Third---"
Jaye's fist slammed down on the controls, cutting the transmission. "Ye sassenach cu!"
"You said that's live, right," Steve demanded.
"Yes, sir. Local and national," BeachHead confirmed.
Steve thought quickly, weighing his options. "People," he said slowly. "Talk to me. If I were to dispute this on air, tell the truth, what are the chances of us getting to Hawk before Cobra kills him…or worse?"
BeachHead and Stalker exchanged glances with Jinx. As one, they turned to Jaye.
Lady Jaye looked at Steve, livid with anger and fear. "If the truth came out, the Commander would feel cornered, threatened. He'd take what he could from Hawk and dump him. Hawk's chances would be nil. If the Commander heard THIS garbage…" She choked on her pride.
"If the Commander heard this, undisputed," Jinx said softly, "if he's confident he has the upper hand, he'll take the time to gloat in front of Hawk. Twist the knife." She bowed her head. "It'd…give us time to get Hawk, safe."
Jaye buried her face in her hands, thinking of her husband's pride, his temper…the maddening insecure jealousy that had left him and Lifeline wide open to the gas attack…all masks to protect the vulnerability that he showed only to her. She shuddered at what the whispers of infidelity could do to him if he were to wake up.
Then she thought of Hawk, the man she had lashed out at hours ago under the excuse of posing as a grieving mother rather than a grieving wife…her CO, her friend, the closest thing she had to a father…
…the man who had bled all over her as she saved his life.
Almost against her will, she found herself whispering, "Let the story slide."
Silence fell. Adams bit her lip and clutched the sniper rifle she held closer to her heart.
"God help me," Jaye gasped, raking them all with tear filled eyes, "let the story slide."
