The Wielder

Disclaimer: Same as before.

"Where could Avalanche have gotten to?" Cover Girl asked.

"I haven't seen him. He just disappeared." Shipwreck replied.

"How could he have gotten by the night watch?" Emily asked, as she and the others stood in the kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee.

"Easy, Round 572 of Polly vs. Shipwreck." Althea replied, "They were arguing about which was the better pizza place. Papa Johns or Pizza Hut."

"Papa Johns!" Shipwreck shouted shaking his fist.

"Pizza Hut!" Polly flapped his wings.

"And what about the other watch, Leatherneck and Wetsuit?" Emily asked.

"Some genius had the idea of putting those two on the same watch." Low Light quipped.

"How was I supposed to know Leatherneck and Wetsuit would spend their shift arguing about the Yankees and the Red Sox?" Emily asked.

"Well, the baguette fight in the cafeteria was the perfect clue, while they argued about the ending of Club Dread was a perfect clue." Shipwreck added.

"Quiet you!" Cover Girl interjected, "We've got other missing people too. Where on Earth could Ted have gotten too?"

Lance stared out at the canyon lands he had created through his sleep terraforming. He was sitting on top of a fairly large boulder and stared off into the rising sun. He heard a voice behind him say, "I thought I'd find you here."

Lance turned to see Ted behind him, "How'd you know?"

"Places like this are kinda peaceful for me." Ted replied, "Hell, I always love to go outside when I gotta think, when I gotta be alone with my own thoughts. What gives?"

Lance didn't say anything. Ted was a pretty cool guy, but he was still a stranger. Why would a Canadian join the Israeli military? Why did he disappear for almost eight years?

"What did you dream about?" Ted asked.

Lance wasn't sure why he confessed it, "It was Kitty. She was in pain…Some hooded guy was torturing her."

Ted realized it was best to let the kid get it all off his chest, "I can't believe that two faced Russkie, he just made yet another date with her. She hasn't called me in about two weeks, my e-mails have gone unanswered, and she's always away on AIM."

"Maybe there's some reason for it. After all, I'm sure the X-men training schedule is about as intense as ours." Ted replied.

"Or maybe the Heartless got to her?" Lance asked.

"Lance, we called Xavier last night, nothing remotely resembling what happened in your dream came about. Kitty's safe and sound." Ted replied.

"I can't believe she just cut me off like that." Lance replied, "I mean, I thought we were still friends, and I've barely heard from her."

"Whatever you do, Lance, don't give up on her." Ted replied, "I've done that myself and lived to regret it. Now, let's get back…"

"Wait a minute, is that why you went to Israel, even if you're a Canadian?" Lance asked.

"In a nutshell." Ted replied.

"Where did that happen? When did that happen?" Lance asked.

"We'd best be going." Ted replied, lowering his sunglasses. As they walked back towards Misfit Manor, Ted suddenly dropped to one knee and aimed his CAR-15 at a nearby bush. Out of the brush came Firefly.

"Lance, run back to the house. I've got this bastard." Ted replied, "Freeze!"

Firefly had a drawn pistol. Both men had weapons aimed at the other's heads at less than fifteen meters distance. It was a classic Mexican standoff.

"If you shoot me…you can't stop me from pulling the trigger. At this distance you'll die." Firefly replied.

"Same for you, pal." Ted replied coldly, "You shoot me, nothing's gonna stop my finger from squeezing that trigger and sending not one but three rounds right into your head."

"So if either of us fire, we're both dead." Firefly noted wryly.

"What do you want?" Ted asked.

"Not to die, obviously. Lower your weapon and take me to the others." Firefly began.

"How stupid do you take me for?" Ted replied, covering Firefly with his weapon.

"I gather that's a rhetorical question." Firefly asked, in an antagonistic tone, "You earned a bachelor's degree in history at Oxford and threw away graduate schooling and a promising career in archaeology to run off on some Crusade to Israel."

Ted was determined not to let this snaky little bastard get under his skin, "What do you want, &#$?"

"Ah, nice touch of Hebrew profanity." Firefly began.

"It wasn't Hebrew, moron that was Arabic. And it translates into 'eater of camel dung' in case you were wondering." Ted replied.

"I have information on those creatures that you've been facing. If you die, GI Joe loses no one of note. If I die, your ability to capitalize on that information dies with me." Firefly began.

"Fine, lower your weapon and I will lower mine." Ted replied, beginning to lower his own rifle and Firefly lowered his pistol and the two men walked towards Misfit Manor, neither letting the other out of his sight.

Lance burst into the kitchen nearly out of breath from running full tilt to the house, all the while expecting bullets to tear into him.

"Lance, where the hell were you?" Wavedancer asked.

"Guys, no time! Firefly, he's here!" Lance gasped.

"Firefly?" Emily asked.

"Firefly, he's a COBRA saboteur with a really nasty disposition." Cover Girl explained, not missing a beat.

"What's he doing at the Pit? Where's Ted?" Emily asked.

Shipwreck already had both Desert Eagles drawn and .50 Action Express rounds chambered in each weapon. "If Firefly's around…"

"Blob, Xi, Quicksilver, Toad come with us." Althea said, calling their strongest and fastest fighters in case Firefly had somehow overcome Ted or the Joes following them.

As they walked out the doorway they saw a fellow in a tattered gray uniform and mask with a familiar fellow wearing the olive drab green fatigues of the Israeli Defense Force, polarized sunglasses, and modified hiking boots. Firefly and Ted.

"He's under control, and he supposedly has some information we might need." Ted replied.

"Lead him inside." Shipwreck replied.

"Wait, shouldn't we question him elsewhere?" Emily asked as they led them inside, "A place he can't possibly escape from?"

"If Firefly tries to escape." Wavedancer began, "He'll have us to fight through. If he somehow fights through Shipwreck, Roadblock, and Lowlight or the rest of the adults, he'll have to get through the defense grid that Trinity designed. And trust me on this one, whatever it is, it won't be pretty…"

"AAGGGHHH!" Firefly shouted as he was shocked by a sudden and violent surge of electricity.

"Whoops." Shipwreck said, casually, "I should've warned you about the lightning launching sprinkler heads Trinity installed yesterday…"

"I don't know Shipwreck," Low Light quipped, "I don't think I want Kentucky Fried Cobra for dinner."

"I'd eaten a snake or two too many during desert survival training." Ted quipped, "I'm none to thrilled of the experience."

"Any other maniacal devices I should be aware of?" Firefly asked.

"Just an antipersonnel toddler or two." Cover Girl quipped.

"Bat!" Barney said, whacking Firefly in the leg as he walked by.

Claudius whacked Firefly with a flipper right in the Achilles tendon. "Whack!"

"Get those little demons away from me!" Firefly began, cocking back his foot to kick one of the kids.

"Sit." Shipwreck said, indicating one of the chairs by the kitchen table. Roadblock and Lowlight joined him.

"Lance," Cover Girl said, gently, "The men from the Black Pearl have something they want to share with you. Spirit's up there with them waiting for you, with the Blind Master."

Cover Girl gently escorted Lance upstairs, the latter sporting a very worried look on his face. They had met these guys less than a day ago and they seemed to be bearing some big news for him. Just what could it be? This can't be good. Lance thought.

"My million dollar question is what on earth are you doing here?" Shipwreck said, as he faced Firefly while sitting across the table from him.

"Those creatures you've been facing." Firefly replied.

"You mean the Heartless?" Roadblock began.

"Yes." Firefly replied, "Roadblock, are you familiar with the COBRA Sidewinder Unit, specifically that rather nasty unit of saboteurs that's been probing the defense grid lately?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with it?" Roadblock asked.

"They stopped attacking the base over a month ago." Lowlight said, "And we assumed that they'd been pulled of the assignment of probing our defenses."

"I trained, equipped, and primed those men." Firefly began, expression inscrutable underneath the mask, "For nearly two years I watched as they grew more proficient. Then it changed. Xamot and Tomax approached me with a proposition."

"What kind of proposition?" Shipwreck asked.

"They came to me saying that Cobra Commander himself wanted to accelerate the timetable of Operation Undermine, our probe of your defenses. They also sent word to me that Mindbender had been in contact with people who had been enhancing the overall performance of the Crimson Guard. I was invited to watch a demonstration and I could see the endless possibilities, how I could possibly pass this on to my troops, to enhance their performance in these covert operations. So I allowed those vultures to send Mindbender to my unit and conduct these treatments. And it was a great success. At first." Firefly replied.

"At first?" Roadblock asked.

"Remember eight months ago, the COBRA saboteurs sprang the Baroness from the brig?" Shipwreck replied.

"That's right. The raid where I'm told that one of your men, Law, said that the Vipers from Sidewinder had to be on some kind of drugs." Firefly said, "Then things started to change. The men began to change. Their skin started to crumble and their blood turned black. Antennae began to spring from their foreheads. Claws formed on hands. Eyes glowed yellow."

"Why didn't you change?" Shipwreck asked.

"I did not change because I was suspicious." Firefly said, "One after another I watched my men transform, no, degrade into those things. I watched my best men turn into little more than mindless slaves."

"Imagine that." Lowlight quipped.

"So if you didn't trust Mindbender, why did you let your men undergo the testing?" Shipwreck asked.

"Do you think I don't regret that?" Firefly asked, "I believed the reassurances that Xamot and Tomax fed me. I was wrong. Mindbender betrayed us. My men all turned on me, even those that hadn't fully turned into Heartless and they tried to kill me. I had no place else to flee."

"Then why do you want to help us?" Lowlight asked.

"For a simple reason, really. Revenge." Firefly replied.

Lance walked upstairs, into his bedroom, after Cover Girl opened the door and gestured him to enter. Sitting on the bed was Spirit and on chairs across from him were Alan, Will, and Jack.

"What's going on?" Lance asked as he sat beside Spirit.

"There's something we wish to let you know." Alan replied, solemnly.

"Do you remember the Keyblade, son?" Jack asked.

"That weird weapon that you say can stop the Heartless?" Lance asked in reply.

"Yes lad." Alan replied, "That weapon has not been seen for quite some time."

"How do we make it appear?" Lance asked. And what the hell does this have to do with me?

"A worthy bearer must be found. The Keyblade chooses its wielder." Jack replied.

"And…" Lance replied, and then it hit him with the brute force kick of a cup of BA's coffee, "It's me? I'm the worthy bearer?"

"Why me? Why am I worthy? What makes me the person to save the world?" Lance asked each question in rapid succession standing up.

"That's why Kitty was in pain in my dream last night!" Lance continued, "They're going to use her to get to me!"

"That would be what they would resort to." Alan replied.

"How can you be so calm?" Lance asked, "You come onto our world, together with these Heartless things, and then you tell me I'm the one to stop them."

Tears streamed into Lance's eyes, he was ashamed, he felt so weak, so helpless, even if this supposedly powerful weapon was going to be at his disposal, "If I fail. We all die. This whole world will be destroyed? I don't want that kind of responsibility."

"But it is yours, Lance." Spirit said, standing up beside his adopted son, putting his strong arm around Lance's shoulders.

"But what if I fail? What if the Heartless kill me? What if COBRA kills me? What if I'm not strong enough." Lance sniffled.

"You won't bear this burden alone my son." Spirit replied, "I will be at your side every step of the way."

"We won't let you bear this alone, Lance." Will replied, "My wife and my child are at risk too. I will fight alongside you. I will teach you all I know about wielding a sword."

"As will I." Alan replied, "Too much of the blood of my countrymen has been spilled to keep me from aiding the wielder of the Keyblade."

"Aye, and you have my word as captain of the Black Pearl. I swear on pain of death I will stand by you as well." Jack replied.

"We will train you so that you will be ready to face this." Spirit said, "You will be strong enough to wield the Keyblade and defeat the Heartless."

Spirit held Lance closer to his side, feeling the boy's tears soak into his shirt. I pray to you, Great Spirit, that my son will be ready to bear this great burden. Spirit thought.

TBC (Up next: the news will be broken to the X-men, the two teams will meet, and another crossover will be added.)