"Man of Action"
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Scarlett sat among her teammates in the Tomahawk en route to Saudi Arabia. According to the information they got out of the seized computers from Cobra's training camp, Cobra was planning to take over the U.S. Embassy in Jeddah. The information was retrieved only hours before the plans for the takeover indicated, hopefully they weren't too late. Their recent raid should have left the Cobra Command short-handed on manpower.
Scarlett turned her thoughts more towards that recent raid as she tried to make sense of the disturbing visuals. How does shooting up school buses and innocent civilians in domestic settings accomplish world domination? Then there was the young soldier she shot and killed in their barracks. What would make such a relatively young kid want to give his life to the Cobra Command? She wondered what the commander said to them - promised them - in order to seduce their lives from them for his cause. She didn't doubt that there was a method to Cobra's madness. After all, the man didn't become a threat to human freedom by being stupid.
Then there was that close call with Duke on the transport plane back home. She wondered what would have happened if she would have let him kiss her. Then what? A quickie in that lavatory to join the ranks of the Mile High Club? It wasn't like they could pursue a relationship in their situation - or could they? But whatever it was, it couldn't happen - there were rules, and for good reason. She cursed herself for being so drawn to him, it was a first in her military career and it frightened her. The military was so much easier to get through without the personal baggage, and she liked the blinders she always kept on - they served her well. Unfortunately Duke caught her off-guard by approaching her in a civilian setting without the surrounding reality of rank and fraternization rules. She wondered if Master Sergeant "Drink Man" had been caught off-guard too as she watched the fearless leader prepare them for their mission, going over all the last minute details.
The Tomahawk hovered nearby over the Embassy while the ground troops got into position around the building's perimeter. Scarlett and her fellow teammates on board strapped on their jet packs and jumped out of the heavy lift assault and troop carrier helicopter, meeting on the rooftop of the Embassy building. They tossed their jet packs aside and secured the grappling hooks of their ropes to the rooftop and rappelled down the side of the building then in one fell swoop all came crashing through the windows simultaneously. The place was swarming with Cobra soldiers, who wasted no time in attacking their unwanted guests.
"Guess who decided to 'drop' in!" Duke hollered out to the Cobra soldiers as he came through the window, firing his XMLR-3A laser rifle at them. "We thought we'd 'crash' your little party!" He sneered as he side kicked a soldier coming for him from the side. Scarlett suddenly found herself face- to-face with a soldier with his M-16 pointed at her, and without delay kicked the weapon out of his hand and brought her crossbow up at him. From several yards behind her another Cobra soldier had his rifle aimed at Scarlett, catching Duke's attention.
"I don't think so, snake-breath," Duke growled as he set his sights on the Cobra soldier. Before the soldier had a chance to pull the trigger on his unsuspecting target, Duke fired several laser shots into Scarlett's would- be killer. Scarlett's soldier in front of her turned and ran.
"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Scarlett snarled as she fixed the sights of her crossbow on the soldier. Another Cobra soldier grabbed her from behind and she immediately kicked her heel straight back into his shin. As his hands moved reflexively towards his pain, Scarlett spun around and kneed him in the face then delivered an open-hand strike to the soldier's throat, nearly crushing his windpipe, and he dropped to his knees choking, desperately gasping for air.
Out of the corner of her eye she swore she saw Major Bludd and took off running after him down the corridor. Once she turned the corner in the hall she couldn't see him anymore. As she continued to look around she was suddenly blindsided by Major Bludd dropping down on her from the ceiling rafters, tackling her to the ground. She fired her crossbow just before losing her grip on the trigger, aimed at nowhere in particular as it sent off her thermal arrow down the corridor. The weapon was out of her hand now, freeing her to use both of her hands to fight. She cupped the back of his neck with one arm, using her weight to pull him into her chest and made a fist around his ear with the other hand, digging her fingers deep behind it. With full force she yanked her hand downwards, tearing away the back of his ear where it once joined his head. Major Bludd let out a blood- curdling scream as he instinctively grabbed his ear and pulled back from her. His left shoulder was now soaked in blood running down from his partly torn ear.
"You bloody G.I. Joe cunt! You'll pay dearly!"
Scarlett jumped to her feet but was quickly grabbed by both arms by two Cobra soldiers. Now that the two soldiers had her restrained, Major Bludd used the opportunity to approach her, his eyes darkened with venomous hatred. Using her weight against the two soldiers as leverage, Scarlett delivered a hard kick to Major Bludd squarely in the face. He recoiled a couple feet in reaction then came back at her with his fist clenched tight and struck her across the face then kicked her in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her. Her knees buckled underneath her and the soldiers dragged her off to one of the offices where she was tied up, gagged and blindfolded in the corner.
"Pity such a beauty must go to waste," Major Bludd sneered as he strapped a bomb to her chest. "Well you should be red head mince meat in 'bout three minutes when you and the rest 'o this bloody building blow to smithereens, ahahahaha!!!!!"
She could hear Bludd and his soldiers hurry out of the room, locking the door behind them to ensure that the Joes wouldn't discover the bomb inside in time. She was still having a hard time breathing from Bludd's kick and knowing the bomb was on her chest only made it worse, not to mention the fact that she was going to die in about two minutes by now. Even if she weren't gagged and could yell for help, even if somebody COULD hear her within earshot, they couldn't possibly get into the locked room and diffuse the bomb in time. The situation was hopeless, and for the first time in her life she felt helpless and frightened. She couldn't even look at the timer because of the blindfold. All she could do was mentally count down the seconds left in her life. Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight. Suddenly she heard a voice outside the door.
"Scarlett! Are you in there! Scarlett!" Duke yelled at the locked door. He had seen her thermal arrow and followed it down the corridor, picking up her crossbow along the way. He knew she couldn't be far - unless she had been taken prisoner. Scarlett desperately tried to yell through her gag, only for it to come out as a muffled cry. Then Scarlett heard a loud crashing noise as Duke kicked the door down and ran over to her.
"Scarlett, it's Duke. You're going to be okay," he stated soothingly as he hid his worry from his tone while he hurriedly pulled the bomb off of her chest. Duke pulled an arrow from her pack and quickly loaded it into her crossbow, attaching the bomb to the loaded arrow as well. He smashed the glass in the office window and aimed her crossbow at the sky, firing the arrow with the bomb attached then watched as it exploded into the sky. Scarlett heard Duke let out a sigh of relief after the explosion and suddenly she knew deep in her gut that everything would be okay.
Duke crouched next to her and untied her gag then removed her blindfold. His piercing blues only inches away from her were the first thing she saw when he removed her blindfold and were a sight for sore eyes. She was sure she would never see them again. But there was something different about them this time, she noticed. They weren't looking AT her; they were looking INTO her, with intense worry behind them along with a glimmer of fury as he lightly touched the discoloration and swelling starting to form on her left cheek where Major Bludd had struck her. A shiver ran through her as she felt as if he was looking right into her soul. She looked back intensely at the fearless leader who had just saved her life. Before she gave herself a chance to talk herself out of it this time, Scarlett closed her eyes and leaned forward, gently touching her lips to his. Duke instinctively cradled the sides of her head with his hands, pressing his lips harder onto hers and kissing her deeply and even more passionately as their lips parted, allowing their tongues to caress and tease each other. They leaned back to lie on the floor and desire ran through her as his mouth took absolute possession over hers in the thrill of their forbidden kiss. Everything around her disappeared as she lost herself in his kiss and his touch as his hands started moving over her, stroking her hair and caressing her neck, then sliding down her side to her waist and the small of her back. The fire flaring through her made her to forget about her near demise and she savored the moment - then he suddenly pulled away.
"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly, now snapped out of her trance by Duke's sudden withdraw from her.
"I still need to remove these," Duke answered, touching the ropes around her wrists bound behind her.
"Oh," she replied softly as he pulled a knife out of his pocket and cut the ropes on her wrists and ankles, then all of the events starting flooding back to her. Once freed, she threw her arms around him as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do, burying her face in his broad shoulder.
"I thought I was going to die. If you hadn't come along I - ," she stopped mid-sentence as the reality of facing her own mortality started to hit her and could feel herself starting to feel emotionally overwhelmed by it.
"You won't die, not if I have anything to do with it," he promised as he held her tightly and stroked her hair, "You're going to be okay." The resolve in his tone made her believe him. Then she started to realize what a terrible situation she was putting her C.O. in. He was possibly risking his career over their moment of weakness - and certainly risking it if this went any further. He must have realized that when he pulled out of their kiss so suddenly.
"I'm sorry," she said as she reluctantly pulled out of their tight embrace, "I'm being highly inappropriate. I shouldn't have - you know - kissed you like that. I was wrong."
"There's nothing to apologize for, Red. You were reacting to surviving certain death," Duke reluctantly gave her an out. "Come on, let's get out of here."
*******************
*******************
Scarlett sat among her teammates in the Tomahawk en route to Saudi Arabia. According to the information they got out of the seized computers from Cobra's training camp, Cobra was planning to take over the U.S. Embassy in Jeddah. The information was retrieved only hours before the plans for the takeover indicated, hopefully they weren't too late. Their recent raid should have left the Cobra Command short-handed on manpower.
Scarlett turned her thoughts more towards that recent raid as she tried to make sense of the disturbing visuals. How does shooting up school buses and innocent civilians in domestic settings accomplish world domination? Then there was the young soldier she shot and killed in their barracks. What would make such a relatively young kid want to give his life to the Cobra Command? She wondered what the commander said to them - promised them - in order to seduce their lives from them for his cause. She didn't doubt that there was a method to Cobra's madness. After all, the man didn't become a threat to human freedom by being stupid.
Then there was that close call with Duke on the transport plane back home. She wondered what would have happened if she would have let him kiss her. Then what? A quickie in that lavatory to join the ranks of the Mile High Club? It wasn't like they could pursue a relationship in their situation - or could they? But whatever it was, it couldn't happen - there were rules, and for good reason. She cursed herself for being so drawn to him, it was a first in her military career and it frightened her. The military was so much easier to get through without the personal baggage, and she liked the blinders she always kept on - they served her well. Unfortunately Duke caught her off-guard by approaching her in a civilian setting without the surrounding reality of rank and fraternization rules. She wondered if Master Sergeant "Drink Man" had been caught off-guard too as she watched the fearless leader prepare them for their mission, going over all the last minute details.
The Tomahawk hovered nearby over the Embassy while the ground troops got into position around the building's perimeter. Scarlett and her fellow teammates on board strapped on their jet packs and jumped out of the heavy lift assault and troop carrier helicopter, meeting on the rooftop of the Embassy building. They tossed their jet packs aside and secured the grappling hooks of their ropes to the rooftop and rappelled down the side of the building then in one fell swoop all came crashing through the windows simultaneously. The place was swarming with Cobra soldiers, who wasted no time in attacking their unwanted guests.
"Guess who decided to 'drop' in!" Duke hollered out to the Cobra soldiers as he came through the window, firing his XMLR-3A laser rifle at them. "We thought we'd 'crash' your little party!" He sneered as he side kicked a soldier coming for him from the side. Scarlett suddenly found herself face- to-face with a soldier with his M-16 pointed at her, and without delay kicked the weapon out of his hand and brought her crossbow up at him. From several yards behind her another Cobra soldier had his rifle aimed at Scarlett, catching Duke's attention.
"I don't think so, snake-breath," Duke growled as he set his sights on the Cobra soldier. Before the soldier had a chance to pull the trigger on his unsuspecting target, Duke fired several laser shots into Scarlett's would- be killer. Scarlett's soldier in front of her turned and ran.
"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Scarlett snarled as she fixed the sights of her crossbow on the soldier. Another Cobra soldier grabbed her from behind and she immediately kicked her heel straight back into his shin. As his hands moved reflexively towards his pain, Scarlett spun around and kneed him in the face then delivered an open-hand strike to the soldier's throat, nearly crushing his windpipe, and he dropped to his knees choking, desperately gasping for air.
Out of the corner of her eye she swore she saw Major Bludd and took off running after him down the corridor. Once she turned the corner in the hall she couldn't see him anymore. As she continued to look around she was suddenly blindsided by Major Bludd dropping down on her from the ceiling rafters, tackling her to the ground. She fired her crossbow just before losing her grip on the trigger, aimed at nowhere in particular as it sent off her thermal arrow down the corridor. The weapon was out of her hand now, freeing her to use both of her hands to fight. She cupped the back of his neck with one arm, using her weight to pull him into her chest and made a fist around his ear with the other hand, digging her fingers deep behind it. With full force she yanked her hand downwards, tearing away the back of his ear where it once joined his head. Major Bludd let out a blood- curdling scream as he instinctively grabbed his ear and pulled back from her. His left shoulder was now soaked in blood running down from his partly torn ear.
"You bloody G.I. Joe cunt! You'll pay dearly!"
Scarlett jumped to her feet but was quickly grabbed by both arms by two Cobra soldiers. Now that the two soldiers had her restrained, Major Bludd used the opportunity to approach her, his eyes darkened with venomous hatred. Using her weight against the two soldiers as leverage, Scarlett delivered a hard kick to Major Bludd squarely in the face. He recoiled a couple feet in reaction then came back at her with his fist clenched tight and struck her across the face then kicked her in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her. Her knees buckled underneath her and the soldiers dragged her off to one of the offices where she was tied up, gagged and blindfolded in the corner.
"Pity such a beauty must go to waste," Major Bludd sneered as he strapped a bomb to her chest. "Well you should be red head mince meat in 'bout three minutes when you and the rest 'o this bloody building blow to smithereens, ahahahaha!!!!!"
She could hear Bludd and his soldiers hurry out of the room, locking the door behind them to ensure that the Joes wouldn't discover the bomb inside in time. She was still having a hard time breathing from Bludd's kick and knowing the bomb was on her chest only made it worse, not to mention the fact that she was going to die in about two minutes by now. Even if she weren't gagged and could yell for help, even if somebody COULD hear her within earshot, they couldn't possibly get into the locked room and diffuse the bomb in time. The situation was hopeless, and for the first time in her life she felt helpless and frightened. She couldn't even look at the timer because of the blindfold. All she could do was mentally count down the seconds left in her life. Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight. Suddenly she heard a voice outside the door.
"Scarlett! Are you in there! Scarlett!" Duke yelled at the locked door. He had seen her thermal arrow and followed it down the corridor, picking up her crossbow along the way. He knew she couldn't be far - unless she had been taken prisoner. Scarlett desperately tried to yell through her gag, only for it to come out as a muffled cry. Then Scarlett heard a loud crashing noise as Duke kicked the door down and ran over to her.
"Scarlett, it's Duke. You're going to be okay," he stated soothingly as he hid his worry from his tone while he hurriedly pulled the bomb off of her chest. Duke pulled an arrow from her pack and quickly loaded it into her crossbow, attaching the bomb to the loaded arrow as well. He smashed the glass in the office window and aimed her crossbow at the sky, firing the arrow with the bomb attached then watched as it exploded into the sky. Scarlett heard Duke let out a sigh of relief after the explosion and suddenly she knew deep in her gut that everything would be okay.
Duke crouched next to her and untied her gag then removed her blindfold. His piercing blues only inches away from her were the first thing she saw when he removed her blindfold and were a sight for sore eyes. She was sure she would never see them again. But there was something different about them this time, she noticed. They weren't looking AT her; they were looking INTO her, with intense worry behind them along with a glimmer of fury as he lightly touched the discoloration and swelling starting to form on her left cheek where Major Bludd had struck her. A shiver ran through her as she felt as if he was looking right into her soul. She looked back intensely at the fearless leader who had just saved her life. Before she gave herself a chance to talk herself out of it this time, Scarlett closed her eyes and leaned forward, gently touching her lips to his. Duke instinctively cradled the sides of her head with his hands, pressing his lips harder onto hers and kissing her deeply and even more passionately as their lips parted, allowing their tongues to caress and tease each other. They leaned back to lie on the floor and desire ran through her as his mouth took absolute possession over hers in the thrill of their forbidden kiss. Everything around her disappeared as she lost herself in his kiss and his touch as his hands started moving over her, stroking her hair and caressing her neck, then sliding down her side to her waist and the small of her back. The fire flaring through her made her to forget about her near demise and she savored the moment - then he suddenly pulled away.
"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly, now snapped out of her trance by Duke's sudden withdraw from her.
"I still need to remove these," Duke answered, touching the ropes around her wrists bound behind her.
"Oh," she replied softly as he pulled a knife out of his pocket and cut the ropes on her wrists and ankles, then all of the events starting flooding back to her. Once freed, she threw her arms around him as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do, burying her face in his broad shoulder.
"I thought I was going to die. If you hadn't come along I - ," she stopped mid-sentence as the reality of facing her own mortality started to hit her and could feel herself starting to feel emotionally overwhelmed by it.
"You won't die, not if I have anything to do with it," he promised as he held her tightly and stroked her hair, "You're going to be okay." The resolve in his tone made her believe him. Then she started to realize what a terrible situation she was putting her C.O. in. He was possibly risking his career over their moment of weakness - and certainly risking it if this went any further. He must have realized that when he pulled out of their kiss so suddenly.
"I'm sorry," she said as she reluctantly pulled out of their tight embrace, "I'm being highly inappropriate. I shouldn't have - you know - kissed you like that. I was wrong."
"There's nothing to apologize for, Red. You were reacting to surviving certain death," Duke reluctantly gave her an out. "Come on, let's get out of here."
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