Lilah spent her day getting her guns ready when her phone rang. She stared at it for a while as Flint grabbed it. "Firefly." Lilah took it in hand. "Guys, I need you to do something for me." She gave him the pistol with paint pellets meant to play as a bluff if all else failed. "Fire this. It's paint." Lilah answered it, making her breath a bit heavy.
"The fuck do you want?!" she growled, acting the part as she checked her nails casually. She was an amazing voice actress sometimes. "I have a fucking ninja on my ass, Firefly! Don't forget some little girl with a damn gun." Flint fired a shot. "Speak of the fucking devil." He fired two more from next to Lilah.
"Commander wants you to make sure Storm Shadow gets out of there, not with the Joes."
"Too late for that. I saw them sending some type of bag down the mountains before I could get them. Hell, I didn't even know they were on the mountain until then." Another shot. "Shit!" Lilah hissed. "Let me call you back." Lilah hung up with a snap to rudely end the line. She grinned at them. "I officially love all three of you. Not in a sexual way though. Don't get me wrong."
"We're well aware your panties are getting in a wad over sounding like slut," Flint joked.
"I know you'd love to unwad them, Flint, but... I don't go for scrawny kids." Lilah laughed as he feigned hurt. "Is Jaye almost done getting ready yet?" There was a yes from a corner covered by blankets and other various items. "Sorry, babe!" Lilah continued fiddling with her guns, then going to her dagger. "So, let me get this straight. I'm going in as a bodyguard to get the information, Jaye will be there to get close to the impostor, and you two are back up?"
"I wouldn't say back up," Roadblock said with a thoughtful look. "Flint is more of a ride." Lilah snorted at the comment. She slid it away, pushing it to her belt and grabbing her dagger. "What's that?"
"Dirk of sorts. My sister got it for me when I was first pregnant and ran to her." Lilah let him take a good look at it. "When I die, I only hope that this dagger makes it back to her and my son. Which could be soon, so I ask that if I do die, hand it to her in person." Lilah put it down. "I'll leave it here for tonight. Don't want anyone recognizing me for some damned dagger."
"You're not going to die," Roadblock said, checking the clip on his own gun as Jaye came from behind the curtain. "You have a boy to look after. Besides, Snake Eyes and Jinx are supposed to be here with Storm Shadow tonight."
"All the more reason for me to be gone," Lilah grumbled. "Storm is going to kill me." She dropped on the desk, regretting her decision to be there slightly. "Death by ninja sounds so unbelievable, guys. I'll be under the ground, six damned feet, and probably rotting in Hell, without a believable death!" It was a joke, and it worked to diffuse some of the tension. "Do me a favor when he gets here. Give me the biggest guns available."
Lilah stood perfectly still, waiting for the moment to get away and go to the computer upstairs. She found it when they found that Jaye was undercover.
Lilah made her way up the steps quickly and quietly. The door opening was all too easy. It was a key lock, but she knew that it was going to be rigged with a camera, so she pulled on her shades and collar, keeping her face from the camera. She sat at the computer, hooking up the hard drive that Roadblock gave her to store terabytes of data and information.
Hacking into the system was so easy after doing it so many times at the base where the security was so much tighter. She took everything she could get her hands on, even taking a risk and attempting to get into the Prototype files. It was the one thing she could never get her digital hands on, no matter how much she itched to have it for reading material. There was a sound of steps before Jaye came in. "Let's go."
"Hang on. I have to get the Prototype files," Lilah said in a low voice. "Those are the important part. Besides, none of them are printed. All of it is on the computer bases that they use. If I can get it on here," she tapped the drive. "we get what Cobra really wants." Jaye looked around outside.
"Two minutes." Lilah tried one final thing, and opened into the files with thirty seconds left. She had to wait for it to download though, and there were some pretty heavy footsteps coming upstairs. "C'mon." Lilah deleted everything that had to do with the Prototype Project, leaving behind a cat video for the scientists. She figured they would love it enough to thank her for getting rid of all of their work.
"Got it!" Lilah followed Jaye as they went down. She came out the door with Jaye to find Firefly holding his gun at Roadblock's head. She took a lilly from her pocket, pinching the "stem" and tossing it. Firefly looked down in surprise before pushing Roadblock hard enough that he was out of the blast radius, and moving quickly as she hit the detonator. "Sorry, Firefly." She reached into her pocket. "I just found that my life is a bit more valuable in other places. Thanks for the lessons! I'll use them just as you taught me!"
Flint was trying to run him over, but Firefly was on his motorcycle for escape before such a luxury could happen. Lilah took a deep breath to stop the panic. "Oh, hell." She pushed all of the Bad Bad Thoughts from her head, turning to the matter at hand. "Who's the impostor?" She already knew, but Joe said to let them figure it out themselves. So she was making sure they were right.
"Zartan."
"So that's where he was!" Lilah said as they climbed into the truck. "I never got a straight answer on that back at the base. The mother fucker." It was another lie, but she had to tell a few. It was just part of how it went for someone like her. "Now, how about we get back to the ballpark?"
Flint was pissed at some move that Roadblock made. Lilah didn't pay enough attention, her focus on getting that particular file. "You wanna remind me how knuckles are supposed to strike together?" Lilah didn't quite get what he was saying at first, too busy cleaning her guns for another war. Then she thought about it for a second, thinking in Joe terms. "Those are your words."
"I had a shot and I took it." Lilah knew better than to intervene. She knew it was best to keep her mouth shut. Roadblock and Flint were big boys, and they'd sort it out like big boys. Unless Jaye intervened. It was a total possibility that she could, and Lilah wasn't too sure she wanted to put it past her to do that. Besides, they had five days until the summit. Let the boys blow off steam if they so wish.
"Don't give me that shit!" There was a crash. "You went rogue."
"I made a call."
"And what were you going to do after that?!"
"I wasn't going to bury anymore Joes!" Lilah froze. That's why there were only three Joes on this mission. Everyone seemed to be on the same page, a moment of sadness descending down on the group. The blonde didn't realize how tight her grip was on the gun in her hand until she saw herself shaking and let it go. So many men lost over what? Nothing. "I got guns to clean."
Lilah set to work real quick. She didn't want to seem nosy or even wrong. She knew right away from the earlier interaction that it was Firefly who killed the Joes. She didn't need it to be described. It would be the whole entire reason for why he had been up so early that night. Roadblock stood beside her, cleaning guns himself. "I'm sorry about Firefly. He's an idiot and majors in being a dick."
Roadblock shook his head with a sigh. "I guess I'm just built differently from you. You can deal with all of this tension and still make jokes like it doesn't affect you-"
"It does affect me, Blockhead," Lilah said a bit too sharply. He glanced at her in surprise, eyebrows raised. "I'll have you know that all of this affects me. I can't go anywhere without being branded as an operative of Cobra, as the enemy of the world. I know that now. I'm not though, but it's how people will see me from here on out. You're a Joe, you're the good guy. A bunch of real good guys died that day..."
"I didn't peg you to be so emotional." Roadblock went back to cleaning his guns, and Lilah stopped, eyes flicking from the gun to him.
"My brother was, or is, military."
"Why don't you know?"
Lilah shrugged. "Haven't gotten around to facing my family after a huge blow up. Things were said that I can't take back. Maybe he's dead, maybe he isn't... I guess I won't ever know."
"How many siblings?"
"There were four of us in total. I had an older sister, a younger sister, and then my brother was the baby of the family." Lilah looked down at the dagger not too far away. "I barely remember anything about my younger sister. I could pick my older sister out in a sea of dyed blondes. I haven't seen bubba in so long that I barely remember what he looks like."
It was quiet for a few moments. "I'll go get Jaye and Flint." Lilah nodded. It was pleasant after that between the four of them. Lilah backed away to go get some take out pizza.
They were sitting at the table when Lilah heard something that the others heard too. She got up, taking cover behind a pillar close to the entrance. She saw who it was an relaxed immediately, though the other two in the room neglected that idea. "I think I'm faster than you, Snake Eyes," Roadblock said in his deep voice. Snake Eyes inclined his head towards his sword at Roadblock's middle. "Damn ninjas."
"So you're the famous Snake Eyes?" Lilah asked, holding a hand out in greeting. "I'm Lilah." Snake Eyes grasped it. Lilah's eyes slid to the new girl, holding her other hand out. "Lilah."
"Jinx." Lilah grinned at her. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Same, Jinx. I like that name, just saying." She pulled back from both of them as Flint came in with his gun to Storm Shadow's head. In his defense, Storm Shadow did have a blade against his neck.
"Everybody back up." Lilah did the exact opposite. She took a step forward before Roadblock grasped her arm, pulling her back easily. She scowled at him. Things like this could really piss a girl off. Especially Lilah, who didn't like to take orders from people more than twice, maybe thrice.
"He's with us," Jinx said, sticking up for him. She earned some serious brownie points.
"Stormy ain't gonna hurt anybody. Ain't in his best interest at the moment." Lilah tugged on her arm. "Okay, I get it, we had a heart to heart earlier. Can I go give him a hug to make sure he's not some asshole dressed like Storm Shadow so I can eat my pizza? It's getting cold."
Then Storm Shadow opened his mouth. "I am not with you. But, for once, I am not against you." Lilah gave him a look to tell him to shut up. Storm Shadow smirked at her, cocking his head to the side. She shook her head. Roadblock let her go, and she strode up to him, stopped only by Flint's words.
"How many of our men has he killed? We're supposed to fight with him?" Lilah refused to meet Storm Shadow's eyes for a moment, focusing on Flint. He was gazing at her, challenging her. "Who knows? Maybe he killed your baby brother."
Lilah lunged for Flint for that one. She didn't even know if her brother was alive. Storm Shadow caught her easily. "I don't even know if he's dead, Flint. So shut your trap."
"The leaders of the world will gather in three days. Acquiring the use of a child for some use I don't know of has set it back."
"We know about that, it's-"
"Jaye, Roadblock, Flint, let's go talk in this corner over here in this general area where I won't kill Flint and where Storm Shadow, Jinx, and Snake Eyes won't be allowed." She jerked her head, snaking out of Storm Shadow's grip. They walked until they were out of earshot of the other three. "No way in hell is he going to know that I had a kid. The only reason you three know is because I didn't have much choice if I wanted to establish the fact that I trust you guys and that you should trust me."
"What's so wrong with him knowing about it?" Jaye asked.
"I'm not an open person, Jaye." Lilah flicked her eyes to Storm Shadow. "Besides, that is something to use against me, not for me. If he knows, it's like telling Cobra Commander where my heart is. I don't know which side he's on." The blonde saw him staring at them. "Let me position myself so the son of a bitch can't read my lips. Anyway, it's something he can't find out like that. I have to be the one to tell him, and even then I'm waiting on him to jet."
"Fine," Roadblock said. "No one tells. You have twenty four hours to tell him, Lilah."
"Got it," Lilah mumbled as they walked away. She strolled back. "Continue, Stormy. I'm going to take my pizza and go out for a walk." Lilah grabbed a box, leaving the old arena. She walked down the road a bit before opening the box to an extra cheesy pizza. She picked up a piece, grabbing her phone from her pocket and seeing that she has a message.
She's waiting. -Joe