Frontline News.

Note: This will be slightly A.U. at the end.


In the apartment, Lady-Jaye is just reaching for Flint's zipper when his pager goes off. "Dammit." He says, and puts his shirt back on his phone while she gets her clothes back on. "Flint here; what's the word?" He asks him while running a hand between her legs instead of another bodypart of his, but atleast he got her moaning before muffling herself with a sofa arm-hood*.

"We just got word that-Is there someone else there?" Breaker asks him.

"Just a movie i was watching; and it was just getting to the good part, too." Flint tells him, and takes the arm-hood to the ribs before he moves his hand to her back.

"Oh." Breaker replies before speaking more quietly. "That new boss of ours ain't in here right now, so no need. As i was saying, we got word from a neighbor downstairs."

"What's he have to say?" Flint asks as his expression changes and moves his hand away.

"He says that he found a burrow near his pool."

Flint replies after relaying it to Lady-Jaye, who nods. "I see; anything else?"

"Well, i did get a call from a buddy at the hardware store, he told me that his uncle's got a new hearing aid."

"Uh-huh, thanks for telling me, Brenden. Anything else?"

"Just that Alpine found a bit of a snag in our finances."

"A bit?"

"We're gonna have to say goodbye to the R.A.M.s and V.A.M.P.s."

"Yikes; Crankcase won't like that."

As the couple head back to the base... at separate times to avoid suspicion, Lady Jaye thinks back to four and a half hours earlier.

Flashback.

She was speaking with Scarlett and Cover-Girl about Dial-Tone's "new look" when General Hawk called for her on the intercom. "You wanted to see me, Col. A?" She asked out of reflex.

"Old habits, i see? Have a seat, please." He replied with a grin, and opened up her file. "Let's see... Lady-Jaye... Intel operative along with Stalker and Scarlett... Weapon of choice is... Javelins?"

"Yes; they're equipped with multi-purpose heads on them by Flash." She told him before glancing down as she remembered the sight of him and Zap dying earlier. Being well aware of her body language, Hawk offers to postpone the questions. "No, I'm alright, General. Go on, please."

"I've been going over your past missions, and i must say how alarming it is for you to be so prone to being captured; like the time it was by one of "The Twins"." He continued, keeping an eye on her as she balled up her hands. "Was it that traumatic for you?" He asked her in a soft tone.

She lets out a sigh before shaking her head and answering. "It was certainly nerve wracking; but even if Xamot did use some memory erasing gas who knows how many times on me, i... i just know that he never did anything to hurt me." She explained. "Not physically, anyway." She thought to herself, still unaware of how close she came to being wrong if not for Tomax and his fork.

"Nothing at all?"

"No, sir. As a matter of fact, the way he treated me the whole time was almost child-like." She admitted.

"You don't say. Very well. I also spoke with my top three earlier..."

End flashback.


While she's the second of the couple to reach the base, they are sent to the briefing room where Hawk is speaking. Images of a partly hidden seaport are on the screen behind him. "Now that we're all here... What you see behind me is a submarine base at Isla de Coiba that Cobra purchased from a drug cartel at some point; Washington and Panama City both want us to pay them a little visit." Hawk says, and points to Torpedo when he raises a hand.

"What's the objective exactly, General Hawk?"

"Very good question. Our orders are to leave behind a little present for them." Hawk replies as Mainframe sets up an image of an object the size of a hockey puck. "This is that present; it's the latest model of Spy Ear. I'll need a small unit to plant it on one of Cobra's vessels. Any volunteers?" He asks, and gets Wet-Suit, Gung-Ho, Low-Light, Scarlett, Footloose, Lift-Ticket, and Spirit. "Alright. Lift-Ticket will lead a squadron of four Tomahawks, and two Dragonflies carrying Devilfish, before dropping you off at the Archipelago de Islas Secas. Wet-Suit will lead you in those seacraft to the target area, here." He says, and stops to catch his breath. "Assuming all goes well, the U.S.S. Coral Sea will be waiting in Pavon Bay for the signal to approach. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The volunteers all say, and Freedom screeches.

"Then what're you standing around here for? Yo, Joe!"

"Yo, Joe!"

As they were taking off, Duke nudges a jealous looking Wild Bill. "Still upset, Billy?"

"Your darn tootin'; Lift-Ticket gits tuh listen tuh them props purrin' lahk uh kitten an' Ah don't!" He said while kicking the tarmac.


After a day and a half of traveling, the choppers hover above the shoreline. "Lima Tango One Niner calling Juliet Hotel Quebec, all rods ready for casting. Over." Lift-Ticket says as Wet-Suit descends first.

"This is Hotel Quebec; enjoy yourselves out there. Over and out." Dial-Tone replies before calling Hawk. "Dial-Tone to General Hawk, Lift-Ticket's squadron reports all's well so far."

"Okay then, keep me posted."

As the choppers were refueling from the cans in Tomahawks 3 and 4, Wet-Suit instructs them on the Devilfish controls, making sure to be as condescending as he can for Gung-Ho. "You jarheads do know how torpedoes work, right?"

"How bout yawl stand still so we can find out?"/"Give it a rest already, man!" Gung-Ho and Footloose both say.

"Does he ever tire of this?" Spirit asks Low-Light while Scarlett is putting Wet-Suit in his place.

"Solar powered, I'm afraid."

Once they reach the site, Spirit sends Freedom out for scouting. After a dozen minutes, the eagle returns and squawks a bit. Spirit nods and speaks while pointing at spots on the site's old blueprint. "Unchanged aside from structural reinforcing. 30 guards; with refurbished lookout posts. Also three hidden pillboxes."

"...He said all that?" Wet-Suit asks aloud, then blanches when the eagle takes a scrap from Spirit's mouth.

"He's never let us down yet." Scarlett tells him before taking charge. "From here, we split in teams of 2. Low-Light, you and Spirit will stay here. Gung-Ho and i will circle around to the other side of it and let off a flare. Wet-Suit and Footloose, you two head in from this side while Low-Light is picking off the perimeter troops so we can drop the bug off; got it?" They all comply and move out.

While making their way, however, Scarlett and Gung-Ho find a couple of blue-shirts on patrol, only something's different about them. Gung-Ho motions to them, but she shakes her head, so they wait for them to pass by. "Correct may hif Ah'm wrong, but I'd say thay wuz walkin' lahk Marines gist now." He tells her quietly before they move on.

Once everyone was ready, the flare was launched. "What was-" One blue-shirt starts saying before seeing the radioman next to him slump over. He curses and swings the machine gun around, only to take a round himself before he can finish.

"That's three down. Next." Low-Light says to Spirit, who directs him to a Water Moccasin gunner pinning down team two. They pick that one off when Scarlett alerts them to some scouts heading in their direction.

As she and Gung-Ho head over to one of the subs, she's shot in the arm while loading a fragmentation bolt. He goes to drag her away before being kicked in the back, and glances up to see the Baroness standing over him. "Aw hell; must'a just... shown up, i take it?" Scarlett asks while holding her arm.

"Maybe, maybe not." The Baroness replies while smirking at them. She's about to finish them off until she hears something behind her.

"Not happening, lady!"/"Yo, Joe!" Wet-Suit and Footloose both yell. While she turns to dodge their fire, Gung-Ho takes the Spy Ear and places it under a seat on a Moray.

The four of them make their way outside where the choppers are flying in, only to be shot at by Firebats, one Dragonfly and Tomahawk are downed in the first pass, only to be saved by F-16s from the Coral Sea. "Get her in before more of 'em show up!" Lift-Ticket shouted.


Once they get Scarlett to the base infirmary, Hawk announces the next move. "Now that the Spy Ear is set, all we need to do now is wait for that Moray to start moving."

After a couple days of the target merely performing standard patrols, the Joes receive word of a Cobra weapons lab. While the Tomahawks are taking off, Lifeline is stopped by one of the Moes. "There a problem?"

"Yeah, Leatherneck flew off before i could give this to him."

"That's alright, i can give it to him." Lifeline offered before looking it over. "I wonder what CEC means?"


Chapter forty.

*Is there even a word for these? I used to have a couch that came with a pair a long time ago.