Chapter 7
8,000 Feet
Scarlett awoke to what had become a rather common site in the last week: Snake Eyes standing alone, looking out of a window. He was in his black uniform, wearing his hood and visor since he had left his rubber mask on the tour bus; but he was still amazingly handsome to her.
Although she loved him, feelings of sorrow began to overcome her. His deep inner pains were self-destructive, and he would not let anyone relieve the pain for him. He had always considered his struggle with Storm Shadow to be a very personal matter. He had never asked for any help when fighting the white ninja. Whether he approved of Scarlett's assistance or not was a shaky question. Snake Eyes would not allow himself to grow angry with her, but there was also a slim chance that he wanted her help.
Snake Eyes' enthusiastic movement towards her snapped Scarlett out of her deep thought; she raised her hand to him, which he grabbed and held tightly. She weakly smiled and felt a tear slide down her cheek. "It's good to see you, Snake Eyes. How are we doing?"
Her silent lover shook his head.
"That good, huh?" She looked across the room, and the slight joy she felt from being with Snake Eyes began to disappear. It was a small, white military hospital room, officially room 223 of the Hospital Militar located in Lima. Snake Eyes had brought her here after the pain she was feeling in the tour bus had knocked her out. There was nowhere else that Snake Eyes could have brought her, considering that she doubted the Joe commando had never been to a civilian hospital before. There weren't many pleasantries in this hospital, but for the moment, the two Joes had the six-man room to themselves, and Scarlett was truly thankful for that fact.
Looking down, she examined her body and saw her left leg all wrapped up. "Damn. Doesn't look like I'm going anywhere." The courtesy of the Peruvian government was greatly appreciated. It was a saving grace that the Joes had been allowed entry into the county's military hospital and surgery was performed on Scarlett's wounded leg. Scarlett wasn't worried about compensation for the hospital—that would be covered by U.S. taxpayers—what bothered her were Hawk feelings about her decision.
As if he was reading her mind, Snake Eyes held up a piece of paper upon which he had written, "Call Hawk."
Slowly nodding her head, Scarlett pulled back her arm. "Hand me the phone."
1.
Brigadier General Clayton Abernathy walked into his office really mad. The meeting he had just come from was a bloodbath. Pentagon officials were more determined than ever to cut funding for the G.I. Joe operation. They needed to find money to pay for the struggle in Iraq somehow, and it took three hours for Hawk to convince them not to take it from the Joe team.
The G.I. Joe team leader slumped into his chair, and draped his arms over its sides. He was tired, and in less than five minutes, he was going down to the gym and burn off all of the stress that he was feeling.
Better yet, there was that rum that he confiscated from Shipwreck three months ago and forgot to dispose of.
He slid open the bottom drawer of his desk, and sure enough, sitting right at the back, was the dark brown bottle. Sniffing, the General rubbed his nose, looked at his door, then reached down…
The intercom on his desk beeped, causing Hawk to jump almost a foot out of his chair. Dial-Tone's voice came through the com, and it was loud and desperate.
"General Hawk! Scarlett's on the phone!"
All thoughts of intoxication vanished from his mind. Hawk picked up a phone immediately. "Put it on line two, Dial-Tone." Line two's light turned on, and the General slammed it. "Scarlett! Where are you?"
After a moment of nervous confusion, She answered, "Um, we are at Lima, Peru's Hospital Militar. I came here for surgery."
As any good commander would, instead of getting angry, General Abernathy asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yes. I'll be all right."
Now was the time to get serious. "Do you know what has happened to your unit?" Hawk didn't have to be there to know that her face went pale.
"N-no I don't."
Fighting the Pentagon bureaucracy already had the General ready to spit flames, and a high-ranking Joe officer not keeping tabs on her mission was about to set the field ablaze. "Four hours ago we received a brief cry for help from Mainframe. He was located about fifty miles west of Ayacucho, fighting for his life while hanging from a cliffside. Did you know that?"
"Oh my god! I…I didn't know!"
"He managed to activate a transmitter built into his computer and send us a message. Your unit was ambushed by Firefly, and Bazooka was seriously injured. But before he could tell us any more, Mainframe came under heavy assault, and the communication broke." Hawk's hand nearly pounded a hole in his desk. "I didn't receive word of your check-in at the Hospital Militar until a half-hour after I received Mainframe's call for help! I appreciate your need for hospital care, Scarlett, but you need to double-check your understanding of proper procedure! This wasn't Grunt's mission, this was yours." The General turned around and looked at the list of active Joes on the wall. "I've been allowing you to take charge of extra Joes since this has proven to be a fairly complex mission, but I didn't expect you and Snake Eyes to send them into a red-hot danger zone without reinforcements or a more experienced field commander."
"Hawk, please, let me--."
"There's nothing to explain, Scarlett." The General paused to focus himself. "Duke is already on his way to Cusco with a heavy strike team and should be there early tomorrow morning. Doc is on his way to Lima to come pick you up." Hawk sighed. "Both you and Snake Eyes are immediately pulled off of active duty, and I expect you to stay where you are until Doc brings you home for an inquiry."
The sounds of her struggle to suppress crying broke the General's rage. "Y-yes, sir."
With a much more somber tone, General Abernathy said, "I'll see you when you get home."
After sniffling, Scarlett replied, "Yes, sir."
The Brigadier General hung up his phone and slowly slumped back in his chair. Looking down to his open desk drawer, he could still see the bottle of rum. "Damn this job." He grabbed the bottle and ignored all phone calls for the next hour.
2.
As her hand shook, Scarlett attempted to hang the phone up, but missed the hook. The phone dropped to the floor, and Snake Eyes picked it up, then hung it for her.
"I…I guess you could hear everything." Snake Eyes nodded, then petted her hair. "I shouldn't have left the team, but what else could I do? Destro is on the run, and I can barely walk! Maybe, maybe I should have just let Chuckles bring me here, then had you go with them." Scarlett's eyes began racing. "But no! Then you might have been captured, and then where would that have left us?"
Snake Eyes placed his hand over her mouth, and the index finger of his other hand across his own mouth.
"I'm…I'm sorry, Snake. I've just never failed this badly before." Scarlett turned her face away and closed her eyes. Snake Eyes walked over to the window, and looked out at the darkening evening sky.
For Snake Eyes, sometimes the only way to solve a problem was by making more of them. Failure was not an option, even if it was against the rules.
3.
Franco's mangled old farm pick-up truck rolled up to a garage sitting on the outskirts of the city of Cusco. The rotted wood of the old building looked as old as the truck, but buried in the thick plant-life that surrounded it, the garage made a fantastic place to hide supplies and/or people.
"Why are we stopping here?" asked the Baroness through the handkerchief that she held over her face. The truck reeked so badly of dog that she had to cover herself. She had suffered the horrendously long trip to Cusco sitting in the pickup between Destro and Franco, coughing down dog odor and cursing the existence of that ogre mutt "Punto."
Franco pulled the shift to "Park" and humbly smiled. "This is where I bring my goods to the city." His grin quickly drooped away. "Now it is where Cobra stores their weapons."
"So why do we have to stop here?" re-emphasized the Baroness.
Destro opened the truck door. "Because there is no road from here to the Cobra Temple. The rest of our journey will be by air."
"Air?" Baroness slid out of the truck, lost in nerve-wracked thought. "What sort of aircraft could be stored in a rickety old shed?"
Franco walked over to the garage, unhooked the lock and slid the front door open. As soon as the gray sunlight poured into the structure, the Baroness placed her left hand across her forehead and griped. "No, no, no. I swore never to get back onto one of those things again."
Destro walked into the stank garage and grabbed the edge of a Covert Light Aerial Weapon, or C.L.A.W. for short. The C.L.A.W. was a winged jet-pack developed by M.A.R.S. back in the early '80's and sold in droves to Cobra. The wings were slapped with turbojet engines, a 7.6mm machine-gun and a couple small non-guided missiles. As with any jet-pack, you couldn't get far with them, but you could definitely stir up a lot of trouble before you had to come down.
"Well, my dear Baroness, if you'd rather walk, I'll keep some tea hot for you. Myself, I'm going to use one of these C.L.A.W.s to shoot up the mountainside."
Frowning, the Queen of Cobra crossed her arms. "Fine. You can get mine ready, though."
Destro smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
4.
Grunt slowly opened his eyes and raised his arm to his forehead. He had a helluva headache, and his arm hurt where he was shot, but for the most part he was okay. Looking around, he could see that he was in a dark room, laying on a small bed that smelled and felt pretty clean. Sitting up, he nearly hit his sensitive head on the bunk directly above him, and could feel that his bed's blanket was brand new. What was with this place? Reaching down, he could feel that the steel floor was dust-free and smooth as could be. There was no way that he was in a prison, but it didn't feel like a hospital.
"Hey, Grunt, that you?"
"Chuckles? You okay?"
"Yeah, more or less."
Grunt understood that to mean his friend was in a lot of pain. "Any idea where we are?"
"Fifty-to-one that we're in a Cobra base. Brand new one, too."
"Who's talking?" groaned a voice across from Grunt and below Chuckles.
"Crankcase! Talk to me, buddy, it's Grunt and Chuckles."
"We're in prison, aren't we? Damn! I hate getting captured. That piece of crap Firefly. Next time I see him I'm tearing his freakin' head off."
"Stay cool, Crankcase," warned Grunt. "We all want Firefly, but we're taking him down as a team, got it?"
"Yeah, that's cool. Where's the other guys?"
"As far as I can tell this is just a four-man cell." said Chuckles. "Who's that on the bunk above you, Grunt?"
"Let's see." Grunt stood up and shook the arm of the man sleeping on the bunk. "Hey, wake up! It's Grunt. I can't see you, so tell me who you are."
"Wh-what? Leave me alone, man, I'm getting some beauty-sleep."
"It's Alpine." said Chuckles and Crankcase in unison.
Grunt walked towards the cell's bars. The room on the other side of them was small, and only had a very dim light on its ceiling. "But if we're all here, where did Mainframe and Bazooka go?"
The silence became as creepy as the light.
5.
It had been a long time since Snake Eyes had flown into a potential war zone hanging out the sides of a Huey. He was the third member to hook up with the G.I. Joe operation during its creation in the 1980's, and G.I. Joe didn't fly any Huey's or even Black Hawks. The elite operation was all about experimental vehicles and weapons. Sure, some were merely pumped-up standard-use jeeps and helicopters, but the point is you could pick out a Dragonfly from a squadron of Cobra helicopters; it had its own, shall we say, "quirks."
As the Peruvian Army's Huey lowered to the southern side of Machu Picchu, the G.I. Joe commando waved his thanks to the pilot, dropped his thirty-foot cable, jumped out and slid down the line to the green, grassy ground. The helicopter, amidst its tornado of man-made winds, pulled back up the cable, rose into the air and drifted away, floating back through the air at a thirty-degree vertical tilt and made a horizontal turn northwest, heading back to the Hospital Militar in Peru.
As Snake Eyes stood up from his short fall, he felt a small bite of shame. It took a great deal of truth-stretching to get Peru's Army to believe that the U.S. Army had dire need for one of its helicopters, and that Snake Eyes had full access to whatever they offered. Still, the one idea that pushed him along was the fact that he knew where the Cobra base was, and Duke didn't. Or at least he wouldn't, not for another four hours. Mainframe didn't tell Hawk that tidbit of info, and with Scarlett asleep in the hospital, and Snake Eyes AWOL…well, Duke would be stuck turning over rocks until Scarlett told him what Alpine had told her.
Snake Eyes' drop point had been nearly a quarter-mile southeast of Machu Picchu, along the Inca Trail. Peru's government hadn't allowed helicopter flights above Machu Picchu since the '70's, fearing damage to the ruins. So, Snake Eyes agreed to a short walk.
Approaching the hotel near the upper end of the Inca Trail, the Joe commando immediately noticed something was wrong—very wrong. Machu Picchu was a tourist site, and there was not a single person to be seen. Granted, it was two o'clock in the morning, but even then there are signs of people; the hotel showed no signs of life whatsoever.
Snake Eyes continued the ascent past the hotel until he reached the tourist entrance, which happened to lie next to train tracks. Again, no signs of life, and, even stranger, the entrance doors were broken open. All that stood ahead was a breathtaking view of evening mist wrapping the crumbled ruins that sat atop the stepped slope before the silent ninja. Alpine said that Cobra had a secret operation in this area, an idea that seemed too impossible to even stomach, but now, now it didn't matter—Snake Eyes had explore every possibility, and fast.
Unsheathing his katana, Snake Eyes slowly ascended the broad green steps of the agricultural terraces up towards the City Gate of Machu Picchu, himself nearly invisible if not for the flickering of moonlight from his sword's blade.
6.
Destro grasped the control sticks with nervous confidence as he approached the tall green mountain standing before him. C.L.A.W.s were not meant to be used at eight-thousand-feet. The thin air was tough on their jet engines, and the wings had trouble gaining lift. Still, the rush of air was exhilarating, and the view! Flying the C.L.A.W.s at sunrise was a brilliant idea. Destro had seen inspirations for over a dozen new paintings today.
Looking down, about five-hundred feet below, the weapons manufacturer could see a trail twisting and turning up the mountainside and ending at a large metal structure built into the side of the mountain. A Cobra Stun three-wheeled vehicle raced its way along the trail and stopped at the metal wall.
Activating his communicator, Destro called out to the Baroness and his two Iron Grenadiers. "I believe we are looking for that destination about five-hundred feet below us. Be careful on your descents!"
Spiraling down, the four C.L.A.W.s headed for the ground, and in less than five minutes, the group had completely landed, although the Baroness had a bit of a stumble. Destro caught her before she collapsed flat on her face beneath her jet-pack.
"It appears I owe you a favor, mighty Destro." said the Baroness as she unhooked the C.L.A.W. and adjusted her glasses.
Destro smiled behind his mask and stroked her hair. "Then let me gaze upon your beauty, and relish the feel of the locks of your hair."
The Stun slowly rolled up to the group of landed C.L.A.W.s, aiming its massive left cannons at the group. Its guns were so huge that they took two extra gunners to operate them. The Stun's commander called down from the seat high up in the center of the massive trike.
"I am Motor-Viper MV-42, commander of Stun unit ST-21. You kinda look like Destro, but I'm supposed to make sure, ya know? What's the code?"
Destro shook his head. Indeed, the troops were getting stupider. Placing his left hand on his right forearm, Destro spoke the Cobra code, "Greed, Ambition and Ruthlessness."
Motor-Viper MV-42 nodded his head. "Dude, you got it. But ya know, I'm not supposed to let you into the Cobra Incan Temple Outpost, I'm really sorry. "
Destro pulled out four wads of American cash and threw them at each of the Motor-Vipers sitting on the Stun—the commander, the gunners and the tail gunner.
The commander thumbed the money, then shrugged his shoulders.
"Welcome to the Cobra Incan Temple, Lord Destro!"
7.
The City Gate had just what Snake Eyes didn't want to see: more steps. They were a fraction of the size of the Terraces, but they were still steps. The Gate itself had no sort of defense, and Snake Eyes did not expect any kid of modern kind of resistance built into the ruins.
A short distance from the Gate stood a labyrinth of shattered buildings, constructed for the wealthy hundreds of years ago. As Snake Eyes stealthily moved with his back against the granite walls, watching the white, snake-like mist, he could feel another presence; and that presence could feel him.
Forsaking all resistance, the black ninja stepped away from the walls and out into the Main Square, pointing his katana towards the grassy ground. It was not long before he received the answer he was waiting for.
"Snake Eyes!" called a voice, hidden in the mist, "I do not wish to fight you! Where is my brother? Let me speak to my brother this day!"
Snake Eyes turned around, and looked back towards the cloud-wrapped ruins of Machu Picchu. The tall, black mountain of Huayana Picchu stood behind him, nearly devouring him in its shadow. After almost two minutes of silence, he reached up with his left hand and pulled off his facemask. Holding the polymer-fabric high in the air, he let the wind catch it, and carry it off deep into the burrows of Urabamba Gorge.
Merely five meters in front of him, Snake Eyes watched as a gust of wind pushed a thread of mist apart, and left Storm Shadow standing in its place. He was again in his Cobra ninja uniform, with a bandage still on his shoulder. But there could be no doubt about it. He looked…tired?
"My brother, my blood. I have missed you." Storm Shadow hung his head low. "Every time we fight I feel as though I have cut apart a piece of myself. That is why we must finish this, so that I can go on with my life, or end it now. This constant struggle is killing both of us. I can feel it, my brother." Storm Shadow slowly unsheathed his katana, and began a slow walk forward. "Your little sensei Scarlett isn't here to save you this time. My hope for an end to our duels may come at last."
8.
"Cobra Commander! Show yourself!" roared Destro as he stormed into the Incan Temple's entrance. Two Cobra Troopers trotted up to the weapons manufacturer and attempted to block his tirade into the sub-surface structure, but were promptly knocked flat on their backs. The Baroness' shoes racketed on the metallic floor as the two Iron Grenadiers looked around the dark chamber for any other resistance.
"Now, now, noble Destro, is that any way for a Lord to act?"
Destro looked up to see the hooded figure walk to the top of a staircase. The staircase connected the ground floor to a walkway that encircled the room. The walkway was fenced by a wooden railing. Multiple rooms surrounded the entrance area on both levels.
"Damn you, Cobra Commander! Why did you come here and take the Matrix Cannon? The Matrix Cannon was my project, not yours."
"Now, now, Destro. Don't get feisty."
"You were using Crimson Guard assets, after all."
Destro didn't even have to look up. He knew who he had just heard. Still, he needed to see where they were. On the right sight of the room, behind the railing, stood Tomax, wearing his Cobra uniform; across the room from him stood Xamot. Eighty-feet away from each other and they could still complete each others comments. Annoying as hell.
"Why did you bastards try to stun us?" yelled the Baroness.
"Us?" asked Xamot, with a look of surprise.
"Whatever do you mean?" asked Tomax. He played with the red sash on his blue and silver uniform.
"You know damn well what I mean, you twin twit." snarled Baroness. "You two have been doing everything you can to keep us from getting here since we left Tunis, and I want to know why!"
"Baroness, Baroness, Baroness! How can you say such a thing?" said Tomax as he farced a show of concern.
"Please don't blame us for your recent bought of bad luck." said Xamot.
"Just don't ever get near me with a live chicken, you idiots…"
Destro sighed. He held up the bag that he had carried on the C.L.A.W. "Commander, I am not here to fight with your minions. Just let me work on the Matrix Cannon. I am prepared to finish it if given the proper facilities."
Cobra Commander spread his arms and smiled. "That is all you needed to say. I have spent a week preparing the mount for the Matrix Cannon. This fortress contains a work station where you will be able to complete the weapon, then bring it to the mount where we will test it."
Destro felt his blood begin to boil. "Cobra Commander, we will test this weapon at my discretion. Once again, you assume that it is under your control."
The Commander brushed his suit with his hands while concealing a smile beneath his long, blue hood. "Of course, of course, dear Destro. Please, come with me to your research lab and let's get to work on your Matrix Cannon. We have a lot of work to do before we reveal its power to the world!"
After the Commander turned around and left the room, the Baroness walked up to Destro and whispered in his ear. "We can't trust him. We should take the Matrix Cannon and leave."
Holding his fists against his chest, Destro whispered back to his lover. "You can never trust Cobra Commander. But I have to stay and use his laboratory. Come! You shall be my eyes, protecting me from his evil rodents like the Crimson Twins."
"They won't come within a hundred meters of your spectacular weapon, my love." After a quick embrace, the pair walked further into the Temple, and into further uneasiness.
9.
In the Main Square, there was plenty of room for movement. The two ninjas ran, occasionally striking each others' blades and performing fast, jumping kicks. The ground was soft and moist, so sliding was easy to do as well. Each one carried an arsenal of weapons, but their war was not about quick slaughter; it had grown more into a game now. They were two brothers, fighting to see who was best.
Storm Shadow skid to a stop by the lone tree in the Main Square, and Snake Eyes swung at him, nearly hitting the tree. The white ninja swung up, cutting Snake Eyes' right arm, which barely saved itself from being hacked off. Swinging his katana around, the black ninja attempted to hit Storm Shadow's mid section, but the white one had enough strength to bring his katana back down in time for a devastatingly hard hit that nearly sent the sword flying from Snake Eyes' hand. Now open, the Joe commando received a hard kick to his mid section, followed by a swipe along his right side.
Snake Eyes kicked back, but Storm Shadow performed a deep bend backwards, then flipped forward again, dodging the kick. Responding with a series of intense sword-strikes, the white ninja knocked the Joe commando back into a granite stone wall. Unwilling to be on the receiving end this time, Snake Eyes, leapt out, performing a stab and kick maneuver that managed to catch Storm Shadow completely off guard and crack his right rib. Flipping away, the white ninja retreated into the fog.
Snake Eyes checked his injuries, and felt blood trickling down his right side. Storm Shadow had re-awoken a painful wound.
"Come to me, brother!" called Storm Shadow, from somewhere on the western side of the ruins. "Our battle is far from finished!"
Looking down at his wound and sighing, Snake Eyes re-affirmed his grip on his sword and walked over to the entrance to room holding the Intihuatana Stone, a large, cubical, granite block that was sacred to the Incans.
It did not take long for Snake Eyes to find Storm Shadow. He stood atop the Intihuatana Stone with his mask removed as well.
"Do not take my retreats for cowardice, my brother. I merely enjoy having the high ground."
Snake Eyes looked to the ground, picked up a rock and threw it at the white ninja.
Swatting away the chunk of granite, the ninja roared, "What are you doing? Have you no honor? Am I so frightening that—ow!" Lost in his tirade, Storm Shadow did not see Snake Eyes throw the second stone.
But he did see the third.
And fourth.
And fifth.
"Is this your idea of combat?" growled Storm Shadow, as he quickly grabbed three shuriken and threw them back at Snake Eyes. After deflecting the stars, the Joe looked up to see Storm Shadow sailing high in the air with his katana raised high and the moon at his back. With a graceful landing and swipe of his sword, the white ninja overwhelmed Snake Eyes, who barely kept his stance as he painfully blocked the assault.
Snake Eyes pushed back the white ninja but was swiftly kicked and then cut across the mid-section. He dropped to his knees and looked up to Storm Shadow, who was panting with energy.
The white ninja sheathed his blade and unwrapped the cloth from around his right forearm. He held it out and showed it to Snake Eyes. Tattooed to his arm were six thick red lines, three complete, three parted in the middle, in a pattern of complete, parted, complete, parted, complete, parted. Snake Eyes placed his katana on the ground and pulled back the sleeve of his uniform, revealing the same crimson tattoo.
"This is the symbol of the Arashikage Clan, and only ninja that are worthy may carry it. My brother, you were given this symbol when you were chosen worthy enough to wear it. Now, now I say that you are not worthy. I have beaten you three times. You have no more value as a ninja. Or an Arashikage." Storm Shadow began re-wrapping his arm. "I grow weary of our fighting, brother. It is time to end this. Goodbye, Snake Eyes!"
As Snake Eyes sat on his knees with his head hung low, Storm Shadow raised his arm high, paused for a moment, then swung. Snake Eyes reached up with both hands and slapped his palms together, catching the blade in its downward swing.
Smiling, Storm Shadow pulled his sword back. "Only an Arashikage can perform such an act. I merely wanted to see if you could still do it. But it is a parlor trick for us, dear brother. Now, receive your fate!"
Storm Shadow swung his arm across his breast, then swung back. Snake Eyes ducked, and the blade grazed his ear. Jumping up, the Joe commando, with empty hands, began pummeling the white ninja with hard jabs and kicks. When Storm Shadow managed to retaliate with a swing of his katana, Snake Eyes would dodge or jump out of its way. He was totally untouchable, and the white ninja was completely overwhelmed. Unable to take anymore, Storm Shadow jumped away, running from the chamber of the Intihuatana Stone and back to the Main Square, disappearing into the mist.
Snake Eyes painfully held on to his stomach, walked over to his katana and picked it up. Wincing in pain with every step, he followed his fellow ninja out to the Main Square.
10.
A flip was switched on, flooding the little four-man cell with a bulb's worth of yellow seventy-five-watt light. Grunt woke up and listened to the scuffling foot-steps approaching the bars. Looking up, he could see a very burly Cobra Trooper walking towards the cell. He was in a standard blue uniform, blue helmet and black facemask, but carrying a tray of food.
Grunt sat up, and saw Chuckles sit up on the bed across from him.
"Sit down, Joes." The Trooper set down the food and pulled out a pistol. "If you want any of this food you'll stay on the beds." He then pulled out some keys and worked the lock, then slid the door open.
"Where are our friends?" asked Chuckles.
"I don't care. Just eat your slop." After kicking the tray in, the Cobra Trooper slammed the door shut and locked the cell, then began walking away.
"Can ya at least leave the light on?" asked Crankcase.
"Okay, ya little babies, I'll leave the light on for ya." As he burst out laughing, he walked through a door across the hall and slammed it shut, leaving the Joes alone with their little dinner and seventy-five-watts worth of light.
"Well, at least we got company." said Crankcase.
"That guy's big." said Chuckles.
"That guy's our way out of here." Grunt's face was rock-hard in thought.
Chuckles and Crankcase looked over. "Are you serious?" asked Crankcase.
Nodding, Grunt said, "But it'll take all of us to do it." With that, he punched the bottom of the bunk above him.
"Huh? What?" asked the Mountain Trooper as he woke up.
11.
The mist in the Main Square was thinning. Whatever was going to happen, at least Storm Shadow had less hiding space.
But that was no longer his concern; nor was fighting fair.
A black wooden arrow ripped into Snake Eyes' body, then shot out his back and poked into the ground. The Joe commando silently screamed in pain and grabbed the fountain of blood pouring from his shoulder. Mere seconds later, another quiet whistle flew through the air, then stabbed Snake Eyes in his right leg, this time lodging into his thigh bone. Again on his knees, Snake Eyes called upon every last ounce of strength that he had to rise up off the soft grass.
Snapping the arrow apart, the black ninja looked around the Machu Picchu ruins for the best firing position, the one place that Storm Shadow was sure to be.
Bingo.
Despite his weakened state, Snake Eyes charged full speed towards a high-walled area on the northeast side called the "Houses of Factories." Spearing the mist, another arrow flew at him, but this time he was ready for it, and stepped left, dodging it. After slowly walking up a flight of stairs, Snake Eyes paused. After flexing his grip on his katana, he entered a broken, empty room, and found Storm Shadow resting high on the wall's ledge, aiming his bow at his brother.
"No one can save you now, Snake Eyes." With that, another arrow was launched, but in a flash, the arrow was deflected. Storm Shadow quickly loaded another one, and fired again. In a replay of the first move, the second arrow was knocked away as well. In frustration, the white ninja growled and threw the bow at Snake Eyes, then drew his katana and leapt down from the wall.
As Storm Shadow's feet landed on the ground they skid across the granite stone, then sprinted forward, aiming straight for Snake Eyes. The black ninja blocked the first two lightning fast strikes, then ducked down and pushed back, refusing to be driven back out of the room. Storm Shadow matched the duck and swung a broad swipe that Snake Eyes barely dodged. Taking the offensive, the Joe commando stabbed back, and as the white ninja turned to dodge it, he was kicked hard in his ribs by Snake Eyes' left foot.
Pulling back, Storm Shadow held his sword up in defense, feeling the pain of his broken ribs biting every nerve in his body. Without giving him a second to recover, Snake Eyes charged, performing a horizontal swipe that Storm Shadow easily blocked, but followed it with a sweeping kick, forcing the white ninja to jump. As the Cobra landed, Snake Eyes tossed his sword into his other hand and punched his foe in the ribs.
The damage went critical, and the pain erupted, breaking Storm Shadow's amazing ability to control his cries of anguish. The white ninja gave a rare roar of agony, then grabbed his side and quickly back-stepped away from his opponent. Snake Eyes made a hard chop at Storm Shadow's hands, and sent the white ninja's katana sailing through the air until it hit the far wall.
Snake Eyes ran over to the fallen sword and picked it up. He then stood as straight as he could, holding both katana at his sides, and stared deeply at his ninja brother. Storm Shadow crouched back into the corner and held his wakizashi up in defense.
"I have underestimated you, my brother. Forgive me." The white ninja winced in pain. "You…you have won, today. I am not worthy of challenging you again until I retrieve my katana." Storm Shadow stared at the Joe commando with sad eyes. "The strength of the Arashikage runs in your blood. But rest assured, it is my duty in life to drain that blood from your veins, Snake Eyes of the G.I. Joe Team."
Vibrating in agony, Storm Shadow pushed himself up from the ground and ran towards the western wall. He jumped up and grabbed the ruined edge, then swung his body up. He was unable to hold back a bark of pain as he did so. As he dropped over the wall, Snake Eyes Ran out of the room and down the steps back to the Main Square.
The white mist was thicker now, and nothing could be seen, especially a ninja in a white shinobi shozoku.
After walking to the Sacred Stone on the northern end of the Main Square, Snake Eyes sheathed his katana, and began limping back south towards the City Gate.
The battle was over.