Chapter 10
A New Plan
1.
Ow! What the hell is going on?
Just a couple of hours ago, Wild Weasel's problem was that he was in pain, and totally unable to move. Now, he was in pain, and constantly moving. He almost preferred being wrapped up. At least that way, there weren't any new pains kicking in.
But what was going on? Where was he?
Damn.
It looked like he'd have to open his eyes, even though at this point in time, all he wanted to do was sleep.
"J-Joes!" panicked Cobra's Ace Pilot as he recognized the men carrying him. The soldiers looked down with concern, and held tightly to his arms and legs as he fought to escape.
"Hold still, ya bilge rat!" said one of the Joes, "We're trying to save you!"
"I…I am no fool, Joe. I have no friends…here. Release me and I will…warn you."
The big tattooed Joe lifted Wild Weasel up by the torso and stared at him hard. This Joe was an ugly one, that was for certain. But he was powerful. It could be felt in his grasp and read in his eyes.
Cobra's Ace Pilot did something he hadn't done in years: he trembled with fear.
"Listen to me, mon ami. Tell me your warning, or I'll tie you to this tree, muzzle you with twigs and break a dozen of your bones with my bare fists. Oh, but you can rest assured; I will swear to my commander that I never found you. Got it?"
Wild Weasel told them everything so fast he could barely be understood.
2.
Torpedo had never heard Gung-Ho so cruel before. There was little doubt that what the big Marine did was illegal, but the two Joe SEALs with him would never rat on their friend. Wild Weasel could claim whatever he wanted; they heard no threats whatsoever.
It was real interesting to hear a little French from the Cajun. It was rare for the Joe Marine to reveal his heritage, but it happened from time to time.
What was even more interesting was Wild Weasel's revelation of the Cobra Air Force's impending carpet bombing of Sammeston Island. That was big bad news, and this group of Joes needed to get it back to Duke ASAP.
"Torpedo," ordered Gung-Ho, "You're the fastest runner out of the three of us. Get back to the WHALE and report this information to Duke on the Jane."
"Aye, aye, sir!" Torpedo spun around and began running as fast as the terrain would allow.
He wasn't that far from the beach, but there were a lot of rocks ahead, so G.I. Joe's top SEAL cut right in order to jump through some brush, the book it down the sandy beach—but crashed right into Zandar.
As the two warriors tumbled over each other, all Torpedo could ask himself was: Why didn't I see this guy?
Zandar flipped Torpedo away and swung his rifle over his shoulder, aiming it directly at the Joe. Reacting on instinct, Torpedo grabbed a rock and flung it at the Dreadnok. Zandar ducked the rock, giving Torpedo time to jump up and charge, again tackling Zartan's brother and knocking the gun away.
The pair of fighters rolled through the brush, throwing punches as much as possible; attempting to send their fists through their opponent's face. An occasional kick got through, but this wasn't a "pretty" fight, this was two brawlers scrambling on the ground, trying to destroy the other person.
What was the source of all the rage? Obviously, Torpedo was angry about what Zandar had done to him during his rescue attempt of Roadblock. And Zandar? Despite his bland appearance, the man is fueled by hate. If he can find a chance to release some energy, he'll take it.
Finally, with Torpedo lying beneath him, Zandar had achieved the upper hand. Blood from his face briskly dripped onto his nearly defeated opponent. Zandar reached for a large rock, the only weapon available, and in William Shatner-style raised it high into the air and gave his statement of victory. "You…you are a savage…I salute you. But now…now is the time to finish…what I started with the butt of my rifle."
As Zandar leaned back to gain power for the kill, Torpedo folded up his right leg, pulled out his Commando knife, and thrust it into Zandar's stomach. The Dreadnok dropped the rock onto Torpedo's shoulder and it thumped to the sand. Zandar curled up and rolled across the ground.
Torpedo wobbled as he stood up, cleaned his knife and walked away from his defeated foe. "I have no desire to kill you Zandar. I already have one death on my hands today and I don't want another. I'll send help for you, but right now, I have a message to send."
3.
It took every ounce of focus that Zartan had not to let his emotionally responsive body armor flash red. In times like this he regretted wearing the bothersome apparatus. Still, when he could keep his cool, having his thought and emotion control his cloaking device was pure brilliance.
Now was not that time. Watching his brother fall to a cliché stab from that second-rate Joe was enraging, and Zartan had to watch it sitting in disguise in front of a palm tree. But he couldn't risk being captured. Zartan had to escape, even at the cost of his brother.
They were never that close anyways.
Neither was his sister. Zarana had abandoned them, in her usual fashion, and would tend for herself. She was a master of disguise, but so was Zartan. He was also a master of escape. The Joes would never find either of them, but he would get away.
"Zartan!"
The Dreadnok leader jumped in shock as he heard his named called directly at him. He turned to his left and saw Zarana run at, and slide down, next to him.
Zartan de-cloaked and stared in anger at his sister. "How did you know where I was?"
Zarana smiled. "Please, I know how that shield uh yours works better than you do. 'Sides, you stink like a rotten hyena."
Zartan sniffed himself and frowned in frustration. "Well, shut up or you'll blow my position."
Zarana's eyes grew very serious. "Position don't matter one bit, bro'."
"What do you mean?"
"I 'eard them Joes talkin' when I was down by the beach, tryin' ta sneak onta their big boat. Apparently, Wild Weasel called in a full air strike of the whole bloomin' island!"
Zartan's pupils shrank. "What?"
"Ya heard me. The whole island is gonna be blown ta bits, and we got no way off!"
Skellar. This reeks of Skellar.
4.
Pain was the first sensation that he felt. It spread across his body, engulfing his senses. But pain could be controlled. He had felt pain before; pain worse than this. The pain was slowly, groggily followed by sound. Talking. No. Screaming...and a thunderous beating sound. What was that loud beating sound? People were screaming so that they could be heard over the thunderous beating sound. Was that wind he felt? And sand pelting him?
Despite the pain and fatigue, Roadblock's curiosity forced him to open his eyes. He could see a black haze slashing the blue sky in front of him. As he turned his head left, a red leg stepped in front of him, blocking his view, and he was lifted off of the ground. Now he could feel that he was lying on a stretcher and being lifted onto a…helicopter? Yeah, a Tomahawk.
"What do you think you're doing to me, man? I ain't out of action yet."
Lifeline looked down at his teammate and smiled. "Your mind may not be, big guy, but I'm afraid your body is."
Roadblock grumbled and let himself be placed up onto the large Joe helicopter. He thought it was curious that even though it was converted to a medical EVAC chopper, with much of the seating removed, it was still fully armed. Did they expect trouble out there?
Looking to his right he could see Cutter lying on a stretcher. He was out cold.
"We had to sedate him," explained Lifeline. "He was in pretty bad shape."
"Is he gonna make it?"
"I'll do everything I can to see that he does."
Hmph. Can't you ever say yes or no?
Lifeline wasn't one to make promises. They scared him. Every Joe knew that. But he was damn good at what he did. They knew that, too. If anyone could save Cutter, it was him.
After Lifeline climbed on board, Roadblock looked back out at the beach. Another Tomahawk carrying a Whirlwind was landing, followed by a Dragonfly and two Sky Hawks. Something big was happening, and G.I. Joe's heavy machine gunner wasn't going to be there.
Damn!
5.
Torpedo walked and stumbled down the beach as the team was gathering by the Dragonfly. Doc had just taped up his face and a few cuts and bruises around his arms and legs. He was beaten up, but he could at least listen to what Duke had to say.
Gung-Ho and Shipwreck were the only other original strike team members still in action. The circle of Joes now included Duke, of course, then Wild Bill, Airborne, Lift-Ticket, Rampart, Wet-Suit, Rock'n'Roll, Repeater, Grunt, Salvo, Zap, Backblast and Breaker.
"All right, Joes, here's the situation," started Duke, "We've got a very formidable Cobra air strike force heading for this island. Whatever was on this island, they don't want us to see."
"So we're just going to give up?" growled Wet-Suit.
"We don't play by their rules. We've already got Joes working on finding out what is on this island." A few Joes nodded or smiled.
The problem is that they need time. Therefore, we're going to do everything that we can do to stop that air strike from reaching this island." That comment brought about a few mumbles of nervousness.
"What air support do we have?" asked someone.
"Just what you see before you." Duke pointed to the helicopters and Sky Hawks.
The Joe team looked at each other in shock and mild panic. Wet-Suit was the first to complain.
"You've got to be kidding me, Duke. We're supposed to hold off the biggest Cobra air strike in history with two helicopters, one ground cannon and a couple of bloated jet packs?"
"The SHARC will also provide support."
"Oh, well, that makes it all better."
"You're out of line, sergeant! We're restricted to the assets that were available on the Jane. All Joe jet aircraft are too far out-of-range to reach us in time of the strike. There is a possibility of support from Slipstream and a couple of Conquest X-30's, if, and only if we can delay the battle over 25 minutes." Quite a few head-shakes followed that statement. "Now," continued Duke, "Considering that the Cobras are attacking from the west, we need to set up on the west coast in less than five minutes or we won't be able to do anything at all! This looks like a hopeless battle, guys, and I know that, but we're fighting Cobra. That means we have to win, no matter what. That means we will win, no matter what. Right?"
Everyone raised their right arms and screamed out "Yo Joe!"
The team began jumping back onto the helicopters, but before they could lift off, Breaker came running at Duke as the commander closed the cockpit of his Sky Hawk.
"Duke! Duke!" Breaker blew a bubble with his bubble gum as Duke re-opened the cockpit.
"What is it, Breaker?"
"Message from the Jane. We've got a satellite feed from Cobra Commander himself! Demands to talk to you!"
"Damn. Alright, calm down, Breaker." Duke flipped on his com to all of the aircraft. "Team, I have to head back to the Jane. Gung-Ho is in charge of everything, with Lift-Ticket his second-in-command. Keep this sharp and clean, guys. Good luck, and Yo Joe!"
The rest of the team replied the battle cry a bit half-heartedly. The loss of the Joe commander was a hard blow to the morale of the Joe team, but they new what had to be done, and would do it well.
Torpedo watched Breaker run away from Duke's Sky Hawk and step back onto Lift-Ticket's Tomahawk. The urge for battle was overwhelming.
"Torpedo!"
The Joe SEAL looked over to Duke, who was energetically waving him over to the air craft and climbing out of the cockpit. Torpedo ran over as fast as his legs would allow.
"Yes sir?"
"How good are you in a Sky Hawk?"
The question punched Torpedo almost as hard as Zandar did. "Uh, I haven't reached level three yet."
"Level two?" Duke sighed. "It'll have to do. I need you to fly me back to the Jane, refuel, then get this Hawk back into action as fast as you possibly can."
"B-but sir, shouldn't you--?"
"I don't have time. Cobra's head snake is trying to contact me, obviously to keep me out of the battle, but I can't ignore the call." He looked even harder at his fellow Joe. "I need you to take my place. Can you handle it?"
That was hands down the most difficult question that Torpedo had ever been asked in his life. Could he take the place of the most sharp-minded, battle-experienced and powerful G.I. Joe on the entire team? The one man on the team that even Snake-Eyes bowed his head to?
"I…I'll do my best, sir."
"I'm sure you will."
As the Sky Hawk lifted from the ground, and Torpedo sat in the cockpit and Duke carefully stood out upon the left landing skid, G.I. Joe's top Navy SEAL never felt more fear and pride all at the same time.