Hope you are enjoying your summers!
Thank you for following along. Thank you also for the reviews and private messages. I appreciate each one. Reminder: Postings are going to be a little slow. So sorry, ahead of time.
As always I don't own G.I. Joe, Hasbro, or their affiliates. I am only using their characters for my own entertainment (and hopefully yours).
"What exactly are you saying, Lady Jaye?" Hawk said slowly. "If they're not synthoids, then what are they?"
"Cobras," Lady Jaye said flatly.
Flint's brow furrowed.
"Come again?" Duke asked.
Hawk looked from Scarlett to Lady Jaye, his hands steepled in front of him. "Explain, Jaye."
Dark circles were under her eyes. Lady Jaye nodded and then stood gracefully. She began pacing back and forth in the middle of the room. Four pairs of eyes followed her.
"Scarlett and I looked into everything but were getting nowhere. I couldn't figure out why. I found observations and comments referring to "unusual" behavior in nearly every department of the government on multiple levels. More were scattered among the top brass. I applied several theories—" Her eyebrows knitted.
"—The most logical explanation was synthoids. As we know, synthoids are perfect copies of the people they are impersonating, but they don't share the experiences or memories of the real artifact. That's their flaw." She pressed her lips together. "There is always something about them, behaviors observed that are very different from the norm. Scarlett was the one who reminded me of this. The last time we encountered them, she knew Duke wasn't Duke. So did Junkyard, for that matter. How?" Lady Jaye asked, her eyes narrowing. "Because something was off."
They all nodded.
"I found reports attesting to this. I even found some cases in which pets were suddenly behaving differently around owners they had previously adored. But the observations were not the same in all the rumors. Figuring there must be another explanation, I dug deeper."
She began to pace again.
"I knew that if Cobra was using drugs or gas, the effects would be temporary. Regular drugging would be needed. There would be observable patterns of behavior as the influence wore off and then they were exposed again."
"Makes sense to me," Duke said.
Flint nodded in agreement.
"When I checked, I found that to be true in some instances. But again, not in enough to explain all of the rumors—" She paused, putting together her thoughts.
"I considered mind control next. We've all been exposed to one or another of Cobra's schemes in the past. Remember that psi amplifier Destro made to control the telekinetics they kidnapped, Duke?" She turned toward him.
His forehead wrinkled. "The one with Airborne's kid brother?"
"Yeah." She sighed. "Tommy." The assignment had bothered her on multiple levels. She began pacing again, kneading a temple. "There were other times, too." She began counting them off on her fingers. "Like when the Baroness used augmentors to control the Joe family members she kidnapped—"
Scarlett stiffened in her seat. Her father and brothers had been among the kidnapped.
"And the time when Flint was brainwashed in Pleasant Cove—"
"Thanks for reminding me how I nearly killed you." Flint growled.
"Water under the bridge, Flint," she said, waving a hand dismissively. She continued. "And don't forget the time Cobra implanted devices into Scarlett and some of our other Joes making them susceptible to emotion control through music—"
Scarlett, looking Lady Jaye in the eye, interrupted. Her voice was deceptively calm. "I think that's enough, Jaye. Those missions aren't exactly dredging up pleasant memories," she said.
Lady Jaye gave her a placating smile. "I know. Just making a point—"
"Which is?" Scarlett narrowed her eyes.
Duke frowned, glancing from Scarlett to Lady Jaye.
"As I was about to explain—" Lady Jaye said, irritation sharpening her voice. "There are patterns to be learned here. In each of these experiences, we've seen those affected begin to resist the control. And with rare exception, the incidences of weakening influence or hesitation to act in those controlled was across the board." Lady Jaye bit her lip. "So, if Cobra was using a form of mind control, observed behaviors would include sudden unusual behavior followed by increasing moments of normal behavior."
"And what did you find?" Duke asked.
She met his eyes. Her voice was emotionless. "Once again, there were reports of this kind of behavior but not in all of the rumors."
"So then, what—" Duke began.
Hawk cut him off. "Lady Jaye, your point?"
She crossed her arms over her chest. "What if Cobra were using them all?"
"What?" Flint sat up.
"There's no way they could pull that off—" Duke exclaimed.
"Hear me out." Lady Jaye snapped. She began pacing again—this time faster. Their eyes followed her. "Who, among Cobra, is the best at impersonating?" she asked.
"Zartan," Duke said automatically.
"Zaranna," Scarlett said.
"The Baroness," Flint added.
"Right." Lady Jaye nodded. "All three are more than capable of pulling off impersonation. But they are only three. What we are currently dealing with is much larger. So, we apply other theories. Who developed the synthoids?" she asked.
"Zartan.
"Who created that musical instrument that influenced emotions?"
"That would be Mindbender," Scarlett said grimly.
"Who hired Doctor Lucifer and paid for his "High-Freq" weapon?"
"CC."
Who stole satellites in hopes of controlling television and brainwashing the world's population?"
"CC, again."
"Who developed the psionic amplifiers that were used on the telekinetics—"
"Destro," Duke said.
"—And that love potion to make the shipping tycoon, Socrates Airtes, fall in love with the Baroness?"
Flint growled. "Destro."
Her lips twisted. "Don't forget my all-time favorite—Destro's subliminal enslavement program'."
"Oh yeah." Scarlett's eyes widened. "The Cold Slither band. That's one I'll never forget, either." She laughed softly.
Lady Jaye grinned. "It was fun, wasn't it?"
Scarlett picked up a pen and pretended it was a mic. "Now hear this," she said with a wink, "Shipwreck, Footloose and Breaker will be on KP duty for a month!"
Duke and Flint chuckled.
Turning slowly, Lady Jaye rested her eyes on each of them. Her face sobered. "Each member of the Cobra hierarchy has shown themselves capable of utilizing mind control or, as in the case of synthoids, bodily replacing someone else. What if there isn't just one plot this time? What if instead, Cobra was working on one plot to control our government and military officials with the leaders of Cobra implementing different plots toward the same goal?
"Independent and unified?" Duke's eyes widened.
"Exactly."
Flint's brow furrowed. "We've never known the Cobra honchos to work together on that scale before," he said skeptically. "They're usually at each other's throats."
"But what if they are?" Lady Jaye insisted. "Think about it. Each of their past attempts at mind control have resulted in some level of success. If they are attacking this time from multiple fronts, that could explain how they have managed to infiltrate so many levels," Lady Jaye said. "And why we are having trouble pinpointing how they are doing it."
"Because we're looking for a single front," Flint said slowly.
"Which we can't find." Scarlett said. "Because it isn't there."
Lady Jaye nodded. "It would explain why there is no common denominator. There isn't just one scheme they are using, there are multiple, but with one defined goal."
"You're frightening me, Jaye. This is making too much sense. But can you prove it?" Duke challenged.
"Try me." She smiled grimly. "How expensive do you think running that many operations at a time would be?" she asked.
"Very," Flint admitted.
She nodded. "And who is Cobra's most loyal financial supporter?"
"Extensive Enterprises." Flint and Duke responded at the same time.
Lady Jaye nodded again. "I looked into Tomax and Xamot's recent financial expenditures and managed to get copies of some receipts. Their current spending is through the roof."
"Wait! You got copies of their receipts?" Flint stared at her.
Lady Jaye pulled out a stack of receipts from a file and dropped them onto the middle of the desk with a smirk. She continued. "As you can see, Extensive Enterprises has been making global purchases in multiple currencies: Chinese yuans, Iranian rials, Russian rubles, and US dollars just to name a few—"
Flint flipped through the sheets, his frown deepening.
"—Recent acquisitions include weapons and precious metals ore, lab equipment and computer components. There are also receipts for chemicals and bio samples." She narrowed her eyes. "Now, I can't imagine a single project that would need all those supplies. But I can think of more than a few projects that could easily share them."
"I don't see any holes in your theory," Duke said, looking from Lady Jaye to Scarlett. "But now what?"
"More specifically," Flint said. "How do we fight it?"
"Scarlett—" Lady Jaye took a seat.
Scarlett leaned forward, her eyes blazing. "By tracking down the Cobra leaders and attacking them." She punched a fist into her hand. "Then, we take down their plots one at a time."
"And how we do that?" Hawk asked.
Scarlett looked at Lady Jaye and smiled. "We have an idea. But we'll need Mainframe's help."
Hawk nodded. "You have it. And Dialtone's. And whoever else you think would be helpful." He looked at Duke. "It's time to let the rest of the Joes know what we know. Call a meeting. Set it up for 1800 tonight.
Duke saluted. "Yes Sir."
"And ladies—"
"Yes, sir?" Scarlett and Lady Jaye stood at attention.
"At ease, you two." He smiled. "I just wanted to say, 'Good job'."
Relaxing, they smiled back. "Thank you, sir."
"And now—" He ran a hand through his hair. "Get some sleep before you take someone's head off."
"Yes, sir." They laughed.
A quick acknowledgment to all the other writers recently putting up their stories here. Thank you! It's nice to see some life on this site. Yo Joe!
Multiple references are made to Sunbow episodes including: Cobra's Creatures, Operation Mind Menace, Eau de Cobra, Cold Slither, Captives of Cobra, Secondhand Emotions (Whew!)
Let me know if I've missed any!