After All This Time
Chapter 10: Consumed by Pride
We do not own G.I. Joe. We own nothing but our imaginations.
Blair paced the nearly empty room, impatiently making circles around the cage, waiting for Duke to wake up. He grinned; his plan was going along so smoothly! He had planned everything so meticulously yet he was still surprised that everything had gone exactly to plan, no deviations, all the players in his little game doing what he wanted them to do, just like actor in a play. He stopped and his grin became larger, just like puppets! He liked that better; he was the puppet master and controlled everyone! Now if Duke would just wake up! He had sent the guards away earlier, having no need of them now. He could handle the vaunted Sergeant Master all on his own.
Duke swam towards consciousness, reaching for her, hoping that he was wrong, that they hadn't moved her again. He wasn't surprised when his arm hit empty air. Damn! He had been so close.
"She's not there." A familiar voice sang out
Duke struggled to place the voice as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. He saw Scarlett and jerked up and grabbed a hold of the bars of his cell, his knuckles turning white. She was tied to a chair across the room. Her body was limp, her head hanging down, and her hair that had long since fallen out of her habitual ponytail, was covering her face.
He gritted his teeth, "What the hell have you done to her, you bastard?"
"Tisk, tisk, tisk, such strong words coming from someone in a cage." He laughed, the sound not quite sounding sane. "Did you think you could get away? Did you think you could get your one true love and escape before I got you? Ha! You always underestimated me!" He screamed
Duke eyed his nemesis, finally being able to slide all the pieces of the puzzle into place, "My mistake. I should have realized Blair, the real Blair, would never have turned traitor. What did you do with him, Hunter?"
Hunter chuckled. "Bravo, bravo!" he said sarcastically "So you finally figured it out, did you? A plan so simple even a child could have figured things out before you did! The great Conrad Hauser, the darling of the military, how embarrassed they would be of you falling into my trap right from the beginning. I killed your golden boy, destroyed your precious training facility, kidnapped the love of your life, and now I have you, helpless, to do with you what I please."
As Hunter came closer Duke could recognize the slight physical differences that Hunter had from Blair. A crooked nose, a few extra scars, the eyes were even a half a shade off from Blair's vivid green. But all in all, if you didn't know both men well, or all you had was a photograph, they looked amazingly alike for two men who were unrelated and so vastly different in personality. "So how did you do it? How did you, the only one who ever washed out of my training program, managed to kill Ronald Blair, the single best solider I ever trained?"
"Easy!" Blair grinned, "He was an idiot like you!" He started to laugh hysterically. "He never saw it coming! I followed him for two years, watching him, learning everything about him, the way he walked, the way he carried himself, every nuance, every nauseating detail, and let me tell you, the man was a drag! Such a self-righteous boring stick-in-the-mud! No wonder he was your golden boy!"
"You followed Blair for two years and he never noticed? I doubt that! What really happened?"
"I had been following Blair for two years when he finished his current assignment, and he took some time off to figure out what he wanted to do next. I "ran in to him" one night at a bar. I bought him a few drinks, told him a sob story, and he bought it, the whole story, felt sorry for me, he even told me he'd make a few phone calls on my behalf, see if he could get me some work." Hunter rolled his eyes, "Did he want to be you or what? He thought he was the new Duke. I put a little something "extra" in his drink and offered to help him back to his place since he was feeling a little under the weather. All it took was a quick jab with my knife in the right place and that was that."
Duke snorted, "Couldn't do it man to man could you? Had to be a cheap shot, didn't it? You couldn't have taken him any other way and you knew it."
"How I did it doesn't matter!" he screamed, "All that matters is that I did! I killed your golden boy and no one was the wiser! Not you, not Roger Murray, the best private security agent in the world, not even your ex-finance. I was always better than you. That's why you kicked me out! Because you couldn't handle it! You couldn't stand knowing that someone was better than you were! So you ruined my dreams! You destroyed my future! And now, I'm going to destroy yours!"
"Hunter, it wasn't that I was jealous, it was because you didn't have it. You still don't have what it takes. You can't think of just your self. And you do, you always have, you're always looking out for number one. And when you do that you're as good as blind!" Duke's attention wavered from Hunter for a split second, and he smiled, "And if you were really as good as you think you are, you would have seen this coming." Duke pointed behind Hunter and watched as Hunter turned.
Hunter had enough time to be shocked when he saw Scarlett's fist coming straight at him. Her fist connected with his face and sent him flying against the bars of the cell. Duke reached through the bars and grabbed him, wrapping an arm around his throat, and whispered in his ear, "I was never the best…she was."
Duke snapped Hunter's neck and let the body slump to floor. He reached for Scarlett and hugged her as close as he could through the bars of the cell.
"I'm ok." She said, kissing Duke lightly on the lips, "He was such a dumb ass, he couldn't even tie a knot right!"
Roger burst in, weapons ready, Life Line right behind him, "Well, I guess you don't need my help after all. Good to see you Baby Cakes."
She smiled, "Likewise." She allowed Life Line to bring the chair to her and help her sit down as Roger fished out the key to the cell and unlocked the door. She motioned for Life Line to wait for a moment and gingerly stood up and reached out to slam Roger in the cell with Duke. She grinned, "Now, I think I'll just leave the two of you in there until you can stop acting like children and get along."
Roger and Duke looked at each other strangely and turned to her, "We already have!" They said at the same time and started laughing
"Well, alright then." Scarlett said, and she sat back in the chair and started to laugh herself, stopping and grabbing her ribs when her body protested.
Life Line looked on clueless, "What's so funny?"
Scarlett smiled at him, "Family joke."
Roger radioed everyone to tell them Scarlett was ok and a cheer went up throughout the compound. "We'll finish mopping everything up here and wait for the authorities while you take our girl back to the compound and get her checked out."
At Scarlett's grimace he turned to her, "And I mean it, Baby Cakes, the docs are waiting to take you to the hospital wing as soon as you land. And Duke will make sure you behave!"
She rolled her eyes, "Fine. Let's get it over with then."
The next day Scarlett hardly had a moment to herself. All her friends from the Joe team and from the agency made it a point to come by, even if only for a few minutes. She'd spoken with her dad and brothers and even started to patch things up with Frank.
It wasn't until that evening that Duke finally kicked everyone out so they could have some time to themselves. He shut the door and turned to face her. He just looked at her for a moment until she raised her brow at him. "God I love you." He went to her and gently sat down on the bed beside her.
"Well that's good to know. You're not so bad yourself." She looked at him, "You're not going to get all serious and depressing now are you?"
"Who me? Never! But even it I did, don't you think I'm entitled."
"We worked everything out while we were at your ranch. You love me, I love you, the rest is just details. Now, Sgt. Hauser, are you going to marry me or am I going to have to make you?"
He laughed and kissed her, "Whatever you say, Baby Cakes!"
"Hey! You can't call me that, only Roger is allowed to call me that and only on special occasions."
"How 'bout I just call you mine."
She smiled, "I can live with that."