Disclaimer: I don't own G.I. Joe or Murphy's Laws...
---
A Greenshirt's Guide To G.I. Joe Life
By J.T. Magnus, Turbo
Part Ten: Threats
---
He had waited six years for this moment, had renewed his vow five years ago and again one year ago...
He rarely carried grudges, but betrayal was one of the few things that he never forgot - an eternity could have passed and he would have still held true to his vow. He owed it to too many people - Jessica, who HE had almost killed, and had killed her innocence; Harry, who HE did kill; Reg, who had arrived just in time to see his brother take his last breath; himself, who had lost one friend to darkness and another to death at HIS hands.
For their sakes', for the sake of the soldiers whose code of honor had been broken by HIM... for the sake of the American people who had been abandoned by someone who had vowed to defend their country and Constitution...
For all of that, HE. Would. Die.
He had once read that revenge was a matter of passion, vengence of justice... It had been too long for it to be passion... Not that it wasn't involved, but just that it was secondary... It was justice.
He looked down at the blond with the scarred face...
He had given HIM that scar five years ago. He still remembered the words that had been spoken then, "'A life for a life-' '-And if neccessary, we'll collect a piece at a time.'"
But most of all, he thought, I owe it to Dan... the real Dan, the one who didn't lose who he is.
"You should feel lucky," He told HIM, "It's just me and a sword - swift. If it was me and two others in a Tribunal, you'd be hanging by the neck until dead.
Then the heavy bladed sword he wielded fell downwards...
----
Major John T. Magnus woke up, not with a start, but as though he had simply closed his eyes, and stroked the hair out of his wife's face. She was the lucky one. She had been hurt by Devastator far deeper than he had, and yet she somehow managed to deal with it far, far better.
He could feel the warmth of her breath mix with the cool of the air and dance over his skin in the darkness of the room. Tomorrow, Devastator could die tomorrow... or the next day, it didn't matter. He just knew that the traitor would die one day and hoped that he'd be there for it. That night, however, he pulled his wife to him just a little bit tighter and dreamt of better things, of better days - a winter in Ireland when warmth was a fireplace, blanket and the two of them in newfound love.
The man known as Turbo's last conscious thought before returning to that time and place in his mind was that one day, he'd prove that he had made a promise, not a threat...
You see, threats are made, promises are kept.
----
Murphy's Law of Warfare: Always honor a threat.