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Half an hour after "giving his dog a bath", Shipwreck is still searching for the Cerebus. "Come on, where the hell are ya?" He asks before noticing a sonar ping ahead of him. He starts to get a lock before he gets a familiar signal on the screen, one from a transponder Duke gave.

"Mara; how've ya been, babe?" Shipwreck asked after surfacing and opening the canopy.

"I've been doing fine so far, but what brings you all the way out here?" Mara, who had long since gotten a normal wet-suit, asked him, and he explains the whole story to her. "Taking orders from a machine sure beats taking them from Cobra, doesn't it?"

"Heh ha, maybe; but i could use a hand finding one of their ships called the Cerebus, ever heard of it?" He asks next.

"I have; it's C.N.V. 16*, which was just beginning construction when i was altered. If you head 34 miles southeast of here, you'll find one of their undersea outposts." She tells him while pointing in that direction. "It was great seeing you again-" She says before he leans over and reached a hand to her.

"It'd be better to wish me luck, Mara." He says, and she smiles before leaning towards him, and the two share a short kiss.

"Good luck; now get a move on, Shipwreck." She told him, and watched as he sped off.


Somewhere in Washington, the Jugglers are watching the Pit Viper driving around Joe Headquarters, and are panicking while Green-shirts and mechanics either run from it, or do what little they could to defend against it.

"What in god's name is that thing?!"

"This isn't happening, this isn't happening!"

"Get all the nearest National Guards there now, god dammit!"

While they are distracted, Gen. Abernathy leaves the room and heads to the one Col. Sharp is being held at, having been abducted during the "grand opening" of the site. Once the door is open, The Colonel shows how displeased he is. "I'll make sure you hang for this perso-" He starts to say, only to stop when he notices the General shoot the camera, shut the door, and raise a finger.

"Three... two... one." He hears Gen. Abernathy say, and raises an eyebrow just before hearing an explosion, and another voice saying a semi-welcome shout behind the locked door.

"We're in, find those officers and waste 'em!"/"Cobra!"

Col. Sharp is about to curse The Gen. out again, until he reaches into a pocket and tosses a key to him. After unlocking himself, he asks if this is all just a bad dream or not. Gen. Abernathy shakes his head. "Fortunately no, those men are disguised C.I.A. agents; some time ago, i inserted myself in with those other generals as part of a sting operation."

Col. Sharp nods in realization. "I see, and now that this project has been revealed to be Cobra's doing-"

"Cobra troops are "executing" a number of U.S. top brass as part of a contingency plan." Gen. Abernathy finished, and is about to say something else when his phone rang. "Huh... It's Scarlett. Yes, I'm aware of what's been happening. I'm with Colo-you and Breaker are where?!"


9 hours after the Watchdog ordeal, Duke returns to base, having been at his step-grandfather's funeral when he was informed, and heads to the infirmary to speak with Flint and the other survivors. He's led to post-op where the former is resting with Lady-Jaye at his bedside. He also sees Alpine, Beachhead, Barbecue, Shipwreck, Crankcase, Gung-Ho, and Cross Country. All their clipboards stating "shrapnel".

He turns when he senses someone behind him, and relaxes when he sees that it's Doc. "How many others?" Duke asks him.

Doc sighs before answering. "Well, i just finished a cast on Heavy Metal's wrist; and Cover-Girl, Steeler, and Snake-Eyes have lacerations. Even Junkyard's injured, Mutt's still considering whether or not to have him put down. Lastly, aside from you and me, Deep Six is the only Joe not injured; but it could just be from him not having been weighed down by that suit of his at the time."

Duke mumbles to himself and leans against a wall. "Casualties?"

"41; 29 of which were the non-combat personnel." Doc explains while looking down.

As Duke scowls, Gung-Ho adds that Green-shirt Davis is one of the dead. "They found him... whut wuz left uh him... in thuh laundry room with Dwight an' Terrence. Don't know how Ahm goin' tell mah sister Mireille 'bout it."

After hearing that, they hear Breaker announce that Gen. Abernathy's plane has landed. Duke wishes all of them well before heading to the hall, only to see Scarlett. The two embrace, and she breaks down. "Oh Duke; It-it was horrible. That thing... over all our people... Doc had to take Alyssa's legs after it rolled over her while she was running from one of the F.L.A.K. guns; he say's she'll never hear again!"

Duke shakes his head while rubbing the back of her head. "It's alright now, Shana; it's alright, just go see Rich. He did make it, didn't he?" He asks, and she nods.

"He took one of the M.O.B.A.T.s and tried to stop it, but it was like it had that armor treatment from earlier." She tells him, and he raises a brow, not even he could believe her about the base psychiatrist doing that.

"...That or they're just aging." Duke says aloud, and she asks what he means. "I spoke with Beachhead while i was on the way here, he said all of them and the Sluggers were acting up again; we need The Brass to stop fighting over which of the new vehicles is better and just build the damn things already." He says next, and she snickers before they part ways.

While heading to the exit, he sees Langdon moving her wheelchair away from one of the phones. "Were you calling someone, Cpl.?" He asks.

"Yeah, just letting my ex know that I'm resigning; seeing what that overgrown toy car from hell did to the base reminded me of the time Delta fired on us, so I'm out. Take care, sir." She replied, and waved as he let her pass through the door before he headed to The General's plane to speak with him and Col. Sharp.


Chapter seven.

*Made up registry, and I'm having them label all their ships like that to confuse opponents.