Lilah was glad to spend so much time with her son. Jaye and the others knew that Lilah had everything she needed in the bird, especially since her whole part was in the air. Hillary didn't speak to her when she dropped Aron off, but the boy did give his mother a tight hug before going back to his aunt. Lilah knew that Hillary was furious when he said, "Hey, Aunt Hillary." She had to laugh.

Aron was pretty similar to Lilah and Hibiki. He looked a lot like Hibiki, but Lilah knew the dark hair came more from his father than it did from her brother. They talked about what happened, about what he knew of the Prototype Project, and how important it was that he didn't tell anybody about what happened. She even explained to him that she would probably have to disappear for a while. He said he would wait no longer how long it took. She made a promise, and she would see it through.

Lilah sat in her plane waiting for the signal to go. Everyone else got to kill a whole bunch of people, but Lilah was left out in that. She had to sit in a plane and be the ride out if things got serious. The blonde could not wait for this to be over, especially since Storm Shadow promised it would be a long and painful death for Zartan. Didn't help that he agreed to help out around her place when he could, so she felt indebted to him. Hence why she was still in the plane.

It was a pretty tight place. Not to mention that they managed to grab food on the way out. She had fried chicken, pizza, ice cream, chips, and a pack of cigarettes if she got really stressed. Lilah didn't care for smoking often. It was just when she honestly needed to calm down. She smoked when Joan died, and that was the last time. Her hands were itching for one then, but she didn't want to get addicted to smokes because of her brother. He'd probably feel like shit wherever he is.

"Lilah?" Jinx said through the comm. "Is it possible for the Prototype Project to bring back the dead?"

"As long as there was something to bring back," Lilah replied to her. She wouldn't be surprised if the Joes were alive. "Do I need to go pick someone up? You have to get the world leaders out as quick as possible, Jinx."

"They're... coming towards you, Lilah. Hibiki is among them." Lilah cursed, taking out her laptop. There was a banging on the door of the plane, the only way in. She didn't bother answering it, instead training her gun towards it, using one hand to pull up the files. "Before you do anything, I think Snake Eyes took care of it. He came by with them, pointing them towards you."

"Sis!" Lilah opened the door, seeing the captain and her brother first. "I was hoping it would be you, sis." She pulled them in, along with a few of the other Joes. "Allow me to say that Zartan talks a lot." Lilah trusted Snake Eyes, don't get her wrong, but it wasn't a matter of trusting Snake Eyes at that moment. It was a matter of trusting Zartan and the programming of the Project. She kept her gun on them, looking at the files. "Uhhh... Annabelle?"

"How did he deactivate the bugs?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hibiki asked.

Duke answered, "He gave us some type of liquid. It was purple." Lilah pulled her gun down. She tackled her brother in a hug, turning to the others. "Snakes said you've been a great big help. The whole reason we have that flash drive is thanks to you."

"Thanks to the hacker community," Lilah said, feeling slightly embarrassed. "But, if it makes you feel better, Zartan isn't any good at disguising his files. He left pretty much everything out in the open." She was sitting in her chair when her brother's hold tightened around her neck, cutting off the air. She glared at her brother. "The fuc-" He tightened even more, Duke grabbing her gun.

Lilah saw a flash on metal on his cheek and began beating furiously. Turned out Destro wasn't kicked out of the band. And he managed to get a few friends. "The Joes were easy to bring back to life. Just put in a bit of the parasite, and they were all yours. See, it takes a bit more than the purple serum, it takes the green one too. The purple kills the physical aspects and abilities of the parasite injected. The green gives back control."

"Fuck you," she choked out, black dotting her vision.

"Your brother, now that will be a tricky one. He's resisting it, but I suppose that's what we get for trying to recruit someone as... good as he. But once we have you, he'll come over. So will your sister, and eventually your brother." Lilah kicked out at him, but it was weak. He chuckled, and gasped suddenly as someone slammed a blade through his chest. He fell, and Storm Shadow stood behind him, his white suit clean. Lilah fell to the ground as Storm Shadow took the device at Destro's waist, pressing a button.

"You're lucky I got a few answers from Zartan before he died." He tapped a button and all of them got into a single filed line. Lilah caught her breath as he injected the green serum into the Joes, then sat next to her. He lightly brushed the bruises at Lilah's neck. "Are you okay?"

"As okay as I'll get." Lilah took a deep breath. "I hate Cobra." Storm Shadow chuckled. "I'm serious, Stormy..." Suddenly the day before rushed back and she pushed him away from her, getting up to grab the fried chicken as everyone began complaining about being hungry. "I don't have enough for everyone, so share. I've got pizza and chips, but the ice cream is mine."

Honestly, Lilah wanted to kick Storm Shadow off her plane. He had pissed her off, and she didn't trust him after that stunt. So when he tried to follow her, she turned and snarled, "Go back to where you came from, snake. I don't have time for someone who turns on me and gets my brothers killed." She turned back away from him, grabbing one of the pints and sitting in the cockpit to await further instruction.

Storm Shadow took the seat next to her, remaining silent. "It wasn't supposed-"

"I don't give a flying set of fucking rainbows how it was supposed to go," Lilah said in a voice that told him to drop it. He stared at her a while longer, expecting more. But Lilah honestly didn't blame him for her brother's death, Hibiki chose to go, but she did blame him for allowing her son to watch her brother die. Storm Shadow seemed hurt by her obvious hostility as Duke came up.

"Thank you for all of your help. I don't think we'd be here without you. I'm Duke."

"Lilah," she said shortly. Duke glanced towards Storm Shadow. "Don't worry. I'll kill him if I need to." He nodded, going back and thumping a boy named Mouse on the back. It was silent between the two of them, even as the mission ended.

"We'll miss you, Lilah," Jaye said, giving her a quick hug. Jinx was next in line, and Lilah laughed as Jinx linked arms with Jaye to form a kick line. Lilah laughed, going along with it as the guys all gave them weird looks. Lilah had changed her appearance a bit, adding some blue streaks to her and straightening it. No more blonde curls. "Although, I guess we should start calling you Annabelle?"

"Zaltana," Lilah corrected. "I hate my first name. It sounds like two names in one. My middle name means 'high mountain' which is why everyone thought Hibiki and I always got along so well. His name was translated as 'echo.'" Lilah bit her lip, eyes shining. "I just might have to come back, Jaye. My brother can't stay Cobra forever."

"We'll get him back," Roadblock said, opening his arms. Lilah went towards him before stepping under his arms and jumping on his back.

"Piggy back ride!" He chuckled, grabbing his arms and slipping her over him so she landed on her back. She pouted, rubbing where she'd landed. "You're mean..." Lilah hugged Flint next, then Snake Eyes. Snake Eyes grabbed her arm, not roughly, and pointed towards a tree where a shadow was. Lilah sighed, knowing she couldn't go without saying goodbye to him too.

Lilah almost missed Firefly when she found out he was dead. But he was Cobra, and Cobra took away her brother. So she convinced herself to not care. Storm Shadow had sat with her the night of the mission, letting her cry on him when she needed it. That was how he knew she wasn't murderously pissed at him, and it seemed to fix something between them that had been broken on the plane. It wasn't fully healed, but they were working towards it.

"I guess you wanted to go without saying goodbye?" she asked, seeing his mask in place. "I mean, I know I'm a bitch, but jeez. I thought you were past that fact." Lilah leaned against the tree, watching him as he took all of her in. He had never seen her so relaxed before. "Stormy? Am I ever going to see you again? Like a movie night or something?"

He shrugged, and Lilah sighed. "I'll take it as a no. Well... I'll.. Nice knowing you, then." She moved towards him, but he beat her to it. He wrapped her in his arms, holding tight. Lilah felt tears prick at her eyes, knowing this was really a goodbye. Storm Shadow wasn't going to stay with the Joes, and the Joes were eventually going to lose contact with her. She was never going to spend real time with them again...

"Thomas Arashikage." Lilah didn't need to ask what he was telling her. She smiled up at him, almost on the bridge of tears. He didn't say much else, but Lilah didn't want to hear much else. It hurt more knowing he trusted her with his name like that. "Annabelle Zaltana Myuu." Storm Shadow already knew her name, but had called her nothing but it seemed to him like she was giving him permission to call her by her real name instead of her sister's name.

Lilah sniffled, trying to hide it from the ninja. He picked up on it anyway, and pulled back. "God I hate my period." She wasn't near that time, but it was a great excuse when she needed it. Storm Shadow knew she would use it too, so he pulled off his mask. "You know I'm going to miss you, right? I know how I can be and all, and I'm sorry about blaming you for something when it was actually really foreseeable and it was safer to play your way, but-" Lilah closed her eyes as something warm and soft pressed gently against her lips for a brief second before Storm Shadow was gone. She smiled softly, a tear falling.

"Damn ninja."