*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. I've incorporated aspects of the cartoon into this story as well, where it fits.

*'The Manchurian Candidate,' staring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury. A black and white movie from the 60's about an American solider brainwashed to become a Communist assassin. The double triggers to put him in a trance were the phrase, "How about a little solitaire to pass the time," and the sight of the Queen of Diamonds. (Very good. I recommend it.)

****WARNING!!**** This is my most risque chapter to date. I would actually place this under the rating of "R." So if nudity, sexual situations, abuse/torture and things like that offends you...DON'T READ THIS CHAPTER.

You've been warned.

**All right, now that the technical stuff's out of the way, I just wanted to say thank you all for your understanding and for all of your wonderful reviews. You people are the BEST!

**Also...in light of current events...no matter your opinions about the war, I hope you'll join me in praying for our real live Joes. There's a candle in our windows, guys. Come home safe...

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Hands, gentle and sure, drew Hawk slowly closer to the waking world, stroking and soothing the aches from his head, his neck, his body. He gasped as her touch released the quivering tension that had knotted muscles tight from dreamless unease, and sighed, feeling himself sink into an all- enveloping warmth, as if floating in warm water.

He licked his lips, tasting the steam hanging heavily in the air, scenting the clean soap that surrounded him. He realized, with an odd spark of surprise, that he WAS immersed in warm water, with his head tilted back and pillowed against soft, feminine flesh. Strong, slender fingers massaged his scalp, cleaning his short hair in a rhythm as steady as when they kneaded dough.

A small tender smile curled Hawk's lips.

...Hueah...

Her remedy for pain relaxed him, as it had always done when he went to her injured, shook up, or on those rare occasions he had stupidly decided to get good and drunk. She had never turned him away, had never scolded him, had never complained how hard it was to get soap. She had simply taken him in her arms and washed the pain away. It was a guilty pleasure he had missed so damned much since.

...since she...

"HELL AND DAMNATION," Hawk roared, launching himself away from the woman. Or tried to. Manacles clutching at his ankles jerked him off his feet. He hit the water hard, causing his shoulder to scream in so much agony that he thought he would black out.

If he drowned in a bath, Shipwreck's heckling would never let his spirit rest.

With that thought spurring him on Hawk tried to push himself up but found his forearms shackled together across his chest. He fought his way back up with his legs, gasping, his eyes burning from the dripping soap, blinding him. His feet slipped against slick tiles and he went down again. Strong hands, those of the unknown woman's, hooked under his arms and hauled him up, handling his bad shoulder roughly. Hawk choked violently as the raw hole in his flesh was wrenched hard.

Screw. This.

Coughing and sputtering through grit teeth, he twisted from her grip, half- swimming blindly through the waters as far from her as the chains allowed him, trying unsuccessfully to rinse the soap from his eyes. Unhurried splashing told Hawk that the woman was wading through the thigh deep water to get closer to him. "Stay the hell away from me," Hawk wheezed harshly, his voice echoing strangely in what sounded like an enormous room.

The splashing stopped. "Zaranna," the cultured British voice asked dully, as if seeking council or permission.

"Yes yes," a familiar voice sighed from the opposite side of the blinded Hawk. "Pity. I was quite enjoying the show."

Zaranna.

The whole hellish night came back to Hawk with the force of a crashing wave.

He was in enemy hands.

And, he belatedly realized as the air hit his wet skin, he was stark naked.

Hawk immediately dropped back into the water and pulled his knees to his chest fast.

"Ooo, I 'ad no idea your blush went down so far," Zaranna cooed.

"Do you mind," he hissed through grit teeth.

"Oh, come now, Gen'ral," Zaranna chuckled. "No need t'be embarrassed. In fact," she leered, "you're a sight better than I expected for a bloke your age."

"So glad you approve," he snarled, feeling his cheeks burn hotter, frantically trying to gather his scattered wits. "NOW WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"

"This? Simply a bath, Gen'ral."

"Why?"

"Dunno. Cobra Commander's feeling very...civilized at the moment." Her voice became mockingly melodramatic. "Gracious, even, in 'is victory over 'is vanquished counterpart."

"'Vanquished?'" Hawk snorted. "I'm not dead yet."

"The night's still young," she purred. "And you've gots a midnight feast t'survive."

"A feast," he demanded incredulously.

"A feast," she confirmed. "The Commander wanted you t'sleep off th'drugs, be a little more responsive when 'e parades you in front of th'Big Mucky- Mucks." She laughed. "You're going t'be THE big surprise of th'night."

"Goody," Hawk said dryly, trying to force his eyes open. "Do I get to jump out of a cake?"

"I'd rather like that," she laughed. "After all, you're in your birthday suit already and---Gen'ral, did you get soap in your eyes," she asked suddenly. She tsked. "That will never do. Lilian? Be a duck and wash the soap from the Gen'ral's eyes."

Once again the woman, Lilian, waded closer to him. "I SAID stay the hell away from me," Hawk snapped.

A short pause. "The Commander told me to obey Zaranna," Lillian said dully, splashing closer still to him.

He dodged.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of a woman," Zaranna jeered.

He bared his teeth. "Missy," he said as he scooted away from Lillian while trying to keep covered. "How stupid do you think I am?"

She sighed. "Think, luv," she said. "If the Commander wanted you dead, we could have killed you while you were sound asleep."

"You're the second woman to tell me something like that," Hawk said, evading Lilian while trying to keep her between him and Zaranna. "And you know what? I didn't trust her and I sure as hell don't trust you!"

Fast as a snake strike, a whipcord arm lashed around his throat and hauled him back as far as the chains would go, forcing his back and legs straight as he was pulled taunt in the waters. He twisted in the chokehold, but his attacker had the better leverage, and a bony elbow that ground mercilessly into his bad shoulder.

"Oh, very wise, luv," Zaranna whispered into his ear, rubbing a soft, thick towel roughly against his scalp and his face while he strangled in agony. "After th'two million you cost us, you shouldn't trust me. Not at all. In fact, " she said huskily, sliding the towel over his nose and mouth, "there ain't nothing I'd like better than t'just do you right 'ere." Her arm tightened around his throat, pulling the healing flesh of his neck apart. "Slow." She gave his eyes a final swipe and pressed her lips against his cheek. "But the Commander ain't got 'is money's worth from you yet, so you get t'live a bit longer." She shoved him back into the water.

Hawk scrambled away, curling his bruised knees to his shackled arms, inhaling great gulps of air and blinking rapidly, too greedy for oxygen to cuss at the fire lancing his shoulder and slashing his neck.

Coughing violently, Hawk squinted and peered around.

The windowless room was every bit as large as he thought it was. The room was illuminated by soft lights cast by the central crystal chandelier hanging from the domed ceiling painted with epic depictions of fantastical Cobra victories. The soft light trailed down the gold-veined white marble columns lining the circular room, reflecting off the matching tiles, touching the gilding of the Napoleonic backless chairs, and shimmered against the bubbly surface of the sunken pool-sized tub he was in.

It reminded him of Liberace's Vegas bathroom.

"Didn't 'urt you too badly, did I, luv?" Zaranna, dressed in her typical Dreadnok wear of hip-hugger jeans and a pink top, calmly wiped his blood from her elbow and kicked her bare feet at him, splashing him.

With an effort, he managed to rasp out, "That...the best...you can do?"

"Of course not, Gen'ral." She flicked out a finger. "THAT'S th' best we can do."

Careful to keep Zaranna in the periphery of his vision, Hawk turned slightly. A beautiful young woman, he assumed she was Lilian, stood in the water a short distance away from him. The red Cobra insignia blazed across the top of the blue leather that barely sheathed her athletic body, showing more of her mocha skin than it covered.

Hawk frowned. There was something very wrong about the girl's eyes...

"Lilian, do you remember what I told you t'do if th' Gen'ral got soap in 'is eyes?"

"Yes, Zaranna," she said dully.

"Well what are you waiting for?" The Dreadnok clapped her hands smartly. "Jump t'it!"

Lilian cocked her hand back---

Hawk braced himself.

---and slapped herself hard.

Hawk's jaw dropped as each blow rocked the girl's head back with a teeth- rattling snap, whipping the darkly burnished hair wildly about her face.

She showed no signs of flagging.

"Right pathetic you are, Lilian," Zaranna said softly. "But you know that already, don't you?"

Lilian let her hands fall limply to her side. She didn't cry, didn't utter any sounds of pain.

Her swollen face was totally blank.

No emotion.

No intelligence.

No will.

Absolutely nothing.

"Forgive me, Zaranna," she droned in a voice that slurred slightly from the blows. "I don't understand, Zaranna. I live to serve, Zaranna."

Hawk just stared at the girl, feeling his blood freeze in his veins.

"You've gone all goose-bumpy, Gen'ral," Zaranna observed all too innocently. "Getting cold?"

He turned his head and gave Zaranna a penetrating look, ignoring her question. "Why?"

"Why what," Zaranna asked coyly. "Why're you cold? Maybe there's a draft."

Hawk felt his lips contort into a snarl. "Why put her through the Brainwave Scanner?"

"Oh, you recognize Mindbender's handiwork, do you?"

"What the hell else could do that?"

"The old fashion methods I suppose," she said idly, inspecting her nails. "Like in that old movie, 'Th' Manchurian Candidate.' Cor, I was right impressed with that old biddy Lansbury. Watched it right after Road Pig made me watch that Disney drivel, 'Beauty and th'---'"

"WHY?"

She shrugged. "I suppose its because 'e's got the brains of a five-year--- "

"Zaranna," Hawk hissed, "this surreal conversation is giving me a headache. Unless you plan on answering my real question, or plan on letting me go because the Queen of Diamonds told you to---"

"Oh, you've seen th'movie too," she laughed delightedly, clapping her hands together. She leaned forward, her green eyes sparkling. "Just for that, I'll tell you," she whispered conspiratorially. "Our Lilian's 'ere's been a baaad little girl. She hurt the Commander REAL personal like and helped her boyfriend try and take over Cobra." She grinned evilly. "Bad move on 'er part, since lover-boy couldn't hold onto power. But lucky for 'im, 'is Daddy's Destro. And, of course, Daddy dearest just couldn't let Junior die. SO! Destro pledged a debt of bloody honor t'th' Commander in exchange for Junior's life and sealed that pledge with a gift...our little Lilian. T'do with as 'e pleased. And th' Commander does so love humiliating you, don't 'e, Lilian."

"Yes, Zaranna."

Hawk shivered.

"Anyone ever told you 'ow informative your skin is, Gen'ral," she purred. "Goose-bumpy AND pale. Something disturbing you?"

He glared at Zaranna. "I'm losing blood," he hedged.

"Hmm...so you are." She sighed. "Can't be having that. You got a dinner party t'be at in a few hours. Lilian, dear, th' Gen'ral---"

"No," Hawk said flatly. "She's not touching me."

"Whyever not?" Zaranna's green eyes sparkled maliciously. "You can't tell me you didn't enjoy her touch before. I gots me two eyes, you know."

Hawk felt his skin flame. "Congratulations. Vital intel that'll conquer the free world, I'm sure." Fighting down his discomfort, he looked into Lilian's empty eyes. "It won't happen again," he said stiltedly.

"Oh NO," Zaranna laughed, thumping the wet tiles with glee. "Are you're trying t'be a bloody officer and a GENT'LMAN about all this?"

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you, Zaranna," Hawk said tightly.

"Why," she snickered. "Because I'm a woman and should 'ave more sympathy for 'er plight?" She snorted. "Please. She backed the wrong side and now she's paying the price for 'er stupidity. She deserves whatever 'umiliation she gets."

He just looked at Zaranna, his face studiously blank. "Some might say the same thing about you," he said carefully.

"Oh," she cooed. "Do tell."

"Most of my Joes had a good laugh when they heard you got usurped by a teenager."

The mirth dropped from Zaranna's eyes. She flung her short pink hair back, trying to hide her reaction. "Only temporarily, luv." She smirked. "YOU'RE my ticket back into Zartan's good graces."

"Do you honestly think ANYTHING you do will convince him to give you the Dreadnoks when he retires or passes on?" He snorted. "Why should he when his daughter, his own child, is young enough to take the reigns for decades to come?" His voice dropped low and intense. "Why should he give you a second shot when her loyalty's never. EVER. Been called into question."

Zaranna froze, the blood draining from her face.

"Afterall," Hawk continued, his eyes narrowing, "your brother's not as forgiving to you as I am to my Joes."

Zarann shot to her feet, eye blazing beryl fire. "Get out," she hissed to Lilian.

The girl hesitated.

"Didn't you 'ear me, you bloody cow," Zaranna snarled, jumping into the tub. "Get out, GET OUT!" She dragged Lilian out and practically tossed her through the hidden door in the tiled wall. "GET THE 'ELL OUT! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT, YOU BLOODY GIT?"

"Umm..." a voice hemmed just outside the door. "Is, uh, everything OK---"

Zaranna grabbed the Viper guard by the helmet and smashed his head into the doorframe. "Idiot," she snarled, shoving him out the door. She pointed a finger at his partner. "No one, and I bloody well mean NO ONE goes in 'til I'm done. Got me?"

"YES, MA'AM!"

She pulled the door shut and spun, her eyes furious...and a touch fearful? "What the 'ell do you know?"

"I'm not as clueless as my Joes think I am," Hawk said, shifting to face her directly while keeping covered. "I suppose Mainframe ought to be flattered," he mused. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone go through such great lengths to get someone out of their system."

"I'm not trying t'get 'im out of me system," Zaranna hissed, kicking open a tile to reveal a hidden control panel. She slammed her bare heel on a button. "'E was never in me system."

Something, it sounded like a motor, came to life. Before Hawk could brace himself he was yanked underwater, the chains shackling his ankles together dragged him along the bottom until there was no slack left. He was held fast to the center of the tub. He pushed his head out of the water and sat up, shaking the water from his hair and face, coughing.

"I flush flings like 'im out as soon as I'm done with them," she scoffed, slamming her heel on another button. The motor died to be replaced by a whooshing noise.

The tub's water level started to drop.

"A fling?" Hawk snorted. "Bull. RoadPig's a fling. An unstable, hulking waste of space Dreadnok whose idea of a mental challenge is whapping people with a Scrabble board!" Hawk scowled. "You never liked to do anything easy or safe before, Zaranna. You could have done a lot better but for once, you got scared!"

"SHUT UP," she screeched, hurling a chair at him.

He ducked. The chair missed and crashed into the shallows with a crack. He scowled defiantly as she snatched up a handful of towels and jumped into the now ankle-deep waters, wading towards him with anger in every step. "Face it," he continued bluntly, "you're with RoadPig because your brothers approve of him, he'll do anything you tell him to, and he's the COMPLETE opposite of---"

The ringing slap across his face caught Hawk by surprise.

And from the look on Zaranna's face, it surprised her too.

She quickly recovered and clamped the towels onto his bleeding neck and shoulder hard, applying far more pressure than necessary to stem the flow. "You're a fine one t'be lecturing me," she snarled. "YOU face it, dearie. Only reason you hooked up with your little baker is because she was there and you were just dying for a chance t'take your fun-gun out of your pants-- -"

"Watch your mouth," Hawk hissed furiously.

"I wonder," she whispered, her breath tickling his ear, "did you really think that she loved you?" She ignored the venomous look he shot her. "But if she loved you so much...why th'lies? Why not turn from th'dark side," she asked mockingly. "Why use you like that? Why, why, why, why--- "

"I said I don't trust you," he snarled. "What the hell makes you think I believe you?"

She chuckled throatily. "Oh, you still think she was an innocent, do you? Think I tampered with th'documents on 'er? Oh, don't look so surprised. Of course SHIELD 'as an extensive file on you. Lots of files, in fact. I know things, some as recent as that grenade incident in th'Wright-Patterson mess hall---very extreme reaction by the way, luv. Didn't know you were THAT set against cooks serving ham and lima beans while on base." She chuckled again. "Zandar and I were in stitches over that one."

"Winters could have told you about that," Hawk said, feeling unease churn in his stomach.

"Could Winters 'ave told me about th'Cadet Chapel at your West Point?"

Hawk cursed his own skin five ways to Sunday as he felt it chill and bump. Zaranna had to have noticed.

"Aw," she cooed. "Still embarrassed? You shouldn't be. Who would 'ave thought a plebe could climb t'the top of the bell tower just t'hide 'is valuables from the upperclassmen?" She snickered. "Like your Captain America memorabilia collection. Honestly, Gen'ral! Now THAT'S something t'be embarrassed about."

Hawk tensed and squeezed shut his eyes, barely able to let himself hope...

...could it be she didn't know...?

"I also know you wanted t'get married there after your tour in 'Nam. Even booked a day, you were so sure your CO would finally give 'is blessing and help get 'er to the states." She grinned slyly, her voice dropping an octave. "Or were you so sure you'd 'ave 'er knocked up by then, giving your CO no choice but t'let 'er go t'th'States?" She laughed. "Very slick planning, Gen'ral. 'E couldn't let 'is officers be leaving little American citizen all over a war zone if 'e could help it, now could 'e? Only one problem." She looked at him with false pity. "Your dear-heart baker didn't want t'go t'America. That's why she never told you she was pregnant...and she never intended to." She pulled back slightly, waiting for the implications of her statement to sink in.

Hawk turned paper white.

"Well," Zaranna said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Is THAT all it took t'gets the bleeding under control?"

"GO TO HELL!"

She grabbed his hair and yanked his head back hard. "Didn't you know, luv? You and me..." She pressed lips close to his ear. "...we're already in Hell. The only difference is that I'm making th'best of it. You, on th'other hand..." She chuckled and abruptly gripped his hair harder. "...you think learning th'truth about your little baker is th'worse thing that can happen t'you? Oh no, dearie. Not by a long shot. You've seen our Lilian."

Hawk glared at her, his red rimmed eyes hard and defiant as an agate blade.

But he couldn't hide the wave of cold bristles that raised every hair on end.

"Well, well," she smirked. "I think we've found something th'big bad Tomahawk fears. But don't worry, luv. I'm sure th'Commander won't make you nearly as mindless as Lilian. Mindlessly devoted t'him, maybe, but not totally mindless. Unless 'e decides t'just suck your brain dry and leave you a husk, but that seems awfully wasteful t'me." She gave a dramatic sigh, pretending not to notice the General's tensing muscles. "Still, I think I could find a use for you. Won't need a brain for a bit of fun. RoadPig proves that." She brushed her lips over his. He jerked violently out of her grasp, wiping his mouth against his shackled arms. She laughed. "You and me could make videos and send them t'Mainframe---"

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

"THEN YOU SHOULN'T 'AVE BROUGHT 'IM UP!"

"Haven't you hurt that man enough yet," Hawk rasped.

She stood and planted her fists belligerently on her hips. "No," she said curtly. "Not nearly enough. And seeing you knob me will hurt him very, very much. Maybe even makes him hate you. And if 'e can hate you, maybe 'e can finally hate me." She turned away, her voice so low he almost didn't hear her whisper, "And then maybe I can hate 'im back."

"Zaranna---"

"I'm going t'gets a medical kit," she told him shortly. "Go ahead and 'ave a good cry. After all," she said as she climbed out of the tub, "you've got lost t'cry about." And with that she marched out of the room, leaving Hawk alone, cold, naked, bleeding, grieving...

...and scared.

The Brainwave Scanner...

...but Zaranna didn't know---

That didn't give him much hope.

"'The tree of liberty must be watered periodically with the blood of tyrants and patriots alike,'" he had told his grim psy-op so many years ago. "For one of us, maybe all four of us, our time will come..."

...and his time was now soon.

He leaned his forehead against his bound arms and licked his lips, still tasting the lingering tang of the metal shackles there.

Metal, he suddenly remembered. She tasted like metal.

Memories of another woman's hand flashed across his skin, trying desperately to stop his blood from flowing out of him, her lips alternating between breathing life into him, begging him to stay with her, and screaming Gaelic profanities at the men she shot back at.

Metal, he remembered. Lady Jaye tasted like the metal of a claymore sword, sharp with fear and steely with resolve.

The resolve to get them out of Borovia alive.

His guiding star.

...

Dammit, it wasn't his time yet! That woman had promised him a godchild if he survived Borovia and by thunder he was going collect!

'Vanquished,' Hawk thought with disgust. He was in enemy hands, in an unknown location, chained, weaponless, wounded and emotional beaten, but he sure the hell wasn't vanquished!

Captain America and his Joes were out there, looking for him.

And, God help him, so was Fury and SHIELD.

They only needed more time to find him.

And if Cobra Commander was foolish enough to parade his 'vanquished counterpart' around like some kind of trophy, then Hawk was going to take full advantage of his 'graciousness.'

Somehow.