Frontline News.


After the fires are put out, Morelli fills them all in on the situation. "There's two parts to this; first is that Gen. Abernathy and Beachhead have been training a handful of new Joes for a while now."

"And you're one of them... what'd you call yourself again?"/"Dial-Tone, sir."/"Right... bullshit!, You let us run right in to this just so you could get a few f'n pointers?!"/"No, no, no; we only suspected they would be waiting for us, not where or how many." Stalker and Dial-Tone say while the others watch and sneer at the new person.

"And why didn't Col. Sharp mention this?" Rock & Roll asks.

"That fits into the second part; he doesn't want Cobra to find out that he's going to be resigning soon for medical reasons." Dial-Tone explains.

The Joes all look to each other in surprise. "Resigning?"/"Medical?"/"Does this mean Duke's gonna be in charge again?"/"And how would the fang-gang find that out?"

"Are you telling us that there's a spy in headquarters, Mor... Dial-Tone?" Stalker asks him. "Don't tell me it's the guy we're here for."

"Hard to say; but first thing's first. It won't be Duke in charge, it'll be Gen. Abernathy... as for why, it's because of a case of lung cancer Col. Sharp's been hiding, which not even Doc knows about-his staff has been slipping him fake x-rays. As for who the mole is... some time ago, Mainframe came up with new programs to increase how many frequencies we can tap into; and when testing it out, he discovered a transmission from someone at your HQ calling himself "Rockmover"." Dial-Tone explains.

"Rockmover, huh?" Crankcase asks as he and the other Joes glare at Tollbooth, who looks over his shoulder before pointing to himself and waving his hands horizontally.

"Nuh-uh, nnnot me... i ain't the rat!"

"I'd agree with him since "rockmover" is also a type of reef fish; the Novaculichthys taeniorus." Dial-Tone tells them.

"Novacully... whatever! That narrows it down to Cutter, Torpedo, and Deep Six... who, come to think of it, has been acting odd ever since that time we lost contact with him during that mission involving those dinosaurs Dr. Massey was forced to make." Stalker replied.


On the Flagg, Adm. Ledger, and Duke are below deck overseeing the repairs to the ship. The former forces a small grin seeing his crew hard at work. "You seem awfully cheerful, considering what we've been through." Duke says to him.

"Just going down memory lane is all." The Admiral replied, and pointed to one crewman checking a weld. "Last time i saw this much damage was when i was that boy's age back at Bali... Bal... some port at Borneo back in '42 when i was an ensign on the Paul Jones. I still hear it sometimes... the explosions, the shouting, the screaming." He says.

"That's war for you; but getting back to this one... How much is left of the Skystri-huh?" Duke started to ask when Barbecue showed up.

"Duke, word from H.Q."

"Did they find anything out about Shipwreck?"

"No. Stalker took a team to Cameroon, but hit a snag because Deep Six has been spying aun us."


An hour before that, Stalker turned to his team. "Tongue twisters aside, we still got a mission to carry out. Salvage what you can and mount up."

They patched up the 2nd V.A.M.P. and the R.A.M. before speeding off, and found several wrecked vehicles, most like the ones they fought off; but another piece was different, a chunk of metal with six wheels... one on the front and back, with two on each side. Beachhead and a blond haired man walked over with the latter speaking first.

"Look who missed the fireworks."

"Can it, Low-Light. Whut thuh hell kept yawl, thuh snakes blew up all thayure computers while yoo were dawdlin'!" Beachhead said to both.

"Up yours; we were late because those overgrown tricycles-" Stalker angrily told him while pointing left. "-came of nowhere! We lost 7 men, both Sluggers, a R.A.M., and one V.A.M.P."

"Cry me uh damn river; which i oughta hav all uh yawl tossed in!" Beachhead replies.

"As you were, Joes." Gen. Abernathy tells them.

While those three are talking, the rest of Stalker's team look around at the mess when Tollbooth ran over to a vehicle he recognizes. "Isn't that-"/"Sure is; even more beautiful in 3D." Thunder and Tollbooth say as they examine a blocky vehicle with a seat on top inbetween two Vulcan chainguns and two smaller guns mounted to the "chin" of the armored cabin* which Metzger gets out of.

"Ooh Rah... what do ya think of the-"

"The H.A.V.O.C.? I should be asking you... I came up with it, after all."

"...Oh, so you're Tollbooth; good to meet ya, I'm-"/"Numb nuts."/"Go kiss the camel, squid! Forget him. I'm Leatherneck. Wet-Suit's just pissed because i took out more snakes than he did." Metzger and a man in a navy seal uniform with puffy brown hair, that only Recondo recognizes, both say.

Back with Stalker, Beachhead, and The General.

"You're certain it's Deep Six?" The latter asks the former.

"He's the most likely one, sir. He was missing for hours back then; plenty long enough to be replaced or put under their hypno-crapola." Stalker told him.

"Alright... Dial-Tone, get Sharp on the line."


At Joe H.Q., Col. Sharp is in the monitor room getting his orders. "Understood, sir... Mainframe, seal off all the exits; no one gets in or out."

"Yes sir. Attention, all personnel; Joe Headquarters is entering lockdown. This is not a drill." Mainframe says as he punches buttons, then hands the mic over.

"M.P.s, find Deep Six and detain him. If he resists, shoot to disable... i want him alive." The Colonel ordered.


Chapter twenty-eight.

*The H.A.V.O.C. in this story does not have the big glass canopy; it's more like the Mobile Battle Bunker from 1990.