Chapter 13
The Invasion of Cobra Island
Slowly pushing his way through acres of soggy marshland, Croc-Master froze with concern as sounds of growling and splashing filled the air. Quickly turning his sluggish patrol into a panicked sprint, the crocodile trainer ran by droves of his little babies who followed his movements with slow turns of their eyes that barely poked out above water.
Breaking through a thick wall of ficus shrubs, the Cobra crocodile specialist skidded to a halt as he froze in shock. Splashing in the marsh waters before him was the G.I. Joe Commando Snake Eyes, wrestling Sheiba, Croc-Master's pure-bred Australian Saltwater Crocodile. She was a rare twenty-two-foot-long reptile that had been with the crocodile trainer for almost ten years. And now it was fighting a Joe for its life! Snake Eyes rolled Sheiba over, drew a long knife and stabbed it into the back of the crocodile's skull, then twisted it, killing the animal quickly.
"No!" screamed Croc-Master as he unhooked his heavy whip from his belt. Snake Eyes looked up at the fanatic reptile-lover and pulled the knife back out of Sheiba's head. Croc-Master swirled the whip around and cursed. "How dare you kill her! I…I will make you pay for what you have done!" Snapping the whip forward, the reptile trainer hit Snake Eye's hand perfectly, knocking the knife into the air. As the knife splashed in the water, Croc-Master pulled his whip back and cracked another lash at the commando. The strike hit Snake Eyes' left arm and the Joe leaned his head back in a silent cry of pain. The whip had cut through his black uniform; a trickle of blood spilled from his forearm.
"Ha-ha-ha! That's just the beginning, you worthless excuse for a fighter. You're not as tough as they say." Croc-Master swirled back his whip again and lashed it forward, but this time, Snake Eyes reached his wounded arm up and grabbed the long reptile-skin whip. Blood now poured from his hand, but he didn't lessen his grasp on the weapon.
"What the hell? Let go!" Croc-Master pulled back hard, but Snake Eyes didn't let go. As the crocodile-trainer reached up with his second hand, the Joe commando yanked on the whip, yanking it away from Croc-Master. "H-hey! That's mine! Give it back!"
Snake Eyes grabbed the handle of the whip and began walking towards the Cobra agent. With the lashing device swirling over his head, he treaded through the marsh water until he was within five feet of his trembling foe.
"P-please, let me go. I forgive you for killing Sheiba. You have free passage through the marshland, honest. I will leave you alone. Just…let me…and my babies live."
Croc-Master fell to his knees begging as Snake Eyes walked up behind him, but the commando simply tied him up with the whip.
Running away through the marshes, Snake Eyes held on to his sore stomach. It had been treated and wrapped up by field medics in Peru and on the Coast Guard helicopter, but it was still in bad shape; but at least he could stand upright again.
What was important at the moment was the sight of the Terror Drome, drawing slowly closer as the Joe commando made his way through the marsh. Snake Eyes had to go on this secret mission—there just weren't enough Joes to attack Cobra Island. More importantly, there was no way that he could get permission to join the attack force in his current condition—he had to break the rules.
Stepping out of the marsh, Snake Eyes dropped to the ground as a Stun rounded the left side of the Terror Drome and slowly rumbled by. Fueled by over-excitement, he stepped out too soon from behind the bushes. He was spotted by the Stun's Motor-Viper tail-gunner, who raised his arm to point at the Joe, but Snake Eyes quickly drew his knife and flung it threw the air. Before the Motor-Viper could mutter a word, he had a six-inch blade lodged in his throat. His head flopped over and the Stun continued on its patrol around the Terror Drome; its other pilots remained completely unaware of what just happened.
Entrance to the Drome was a tricky matter, and there didn't seem to be a "back-door". However, there were plenty of vents—large vents—and Snake Eyes had studied the locations of every single one of them. Dropping to one knee, the commando pulled off his carrying case and set it on the ground. After opening it, he pulled out a length of rope…and a grappling hook. Once he had quickly tied the hook to the rope, he began swirling it by his side. He knew that he only had one shot at this—when the metal hook hit the steel wall, it would bang very loudly. He needed to hook a five-inch outcropping of the wall that conveniently stuck out just a foot above a vent that was twenty feet up from the ground. Thankfully, Cobra sure didn't understand the concept of "security".
Snake Eyes flung the grappling hook into the air, at a high angle, and it bonked the Terror Drome's wall, then slid down a few feet until it snagged onto the five-inch outcropping above the vent. After quickly grabbing his bag, the commando pulled his way up the giant steel wall at an incredible speed; a speed that was actually slow for Snake Eyes, considering his injury.
After only a minute, Snake Eyes reached the vent-screen and pulled out a portable cutting torch. In the distance he could hear the sounds of the distant battles, and even the sounds of some frantic animals, but most importantly he could hear the Stun coming back around the southern side of the Terror Drome. Although he was only three-fourths complete, Snake Eyes didn't have time to finish. He kicked the vent in, then swung himself inside feet-first. He didn't have time to grab the grappling hook. Laying in silence, the commando waited until the sound of the Stun's engine passed by.
"What am I worried about?" he thought to himself. "If they can't see that their tail-gunner is dead, they aren't going to see a rope hanging down the side of the Terror Drome."
After quickly pulling the rope and hook into the vent, then roughly re-setting the screen, Snake Eyes crawled deeper into the Cobra Island battle station.
1.
The outpouring of smoke was one thing, but the rattling was by far the most annoying. The shaking. The uncontrollable vibration of a Dominator about to vibrate itself to pieces over the southern shoreline of Cobra Island.
Well, this wouldn't do one bit.
Destro's forces had been eaten alive by the far more numerous Cobra forces, even though the kill ratio was easily three-to-one. The Iron Grenadiers were hand-picked, better-trained, and in Destro's opinion, more intelligent than the Cobra Vipers.
But today Cobra Commander had a larger supply of troops on the Island than Destro had anticipated. Perhaps to defend the Matrix Cannon? Whatever the reason, Destro was on the verge of defeat, and had no chance of retreat. His vehicles would be torn apart before they reached his frigates. The only choice he saw left open to him was to storm in and use his knowledge of Cobra Island to get to the Terror Drome. It would be better to die there than out over the ocean.
"Destro!" called the Baroness. Destro snapped out of his train of thought. He looked to his right to see his lover's Dominator fly up next to his. It was in worse shape than his was.
"Yes, my dear, what is it?"
"We are losing this battle. We must pull back and attempt retreat!"
"No! No, we cannot. The Commander's forces would tear us apart before we made ten kilometers out. We must keep pushing forward, and land on the southeastern shoreline."
"What?" shrieked the Baroness. "We can't even make it through the air defenses. If we land, then the ground forces will pulverize us!"
"But if we can open a spot for any D.E.M.O.N.s to come to shore, we will have a strong—" Before he could finish, the Baroness' Dominator was hit by a missile from behind; it caught fire and began a dive for the ground.
"Anastasiah!" cried Destro. He steered his craft downwards after the Baroness'. Amazingly, the burning craft still had some power, and managed to pull up, transforming its nose-dive into a skidding, scraping crash across the sandy beach. It still crashed hard, however, and the intense burning began firing clusters of flame into the air.
Destro lowered his Dominator's elevation, swung down its treads, and set it gently onto the shore. The propeller came to a stop, the blades swung backwards and the back end of the craft shortened. The Dominator was now in tank mode.
But that didn't matter to Destro. He swung the cockpit open as the craft was transforming and jumped out. He sprinted over to the Baroness' crash site, ignoring the hot debris that was flying through the air and hitting him in his facemask. He reached the cracked cockpit glass and broke it open. The Baroness was unconscious, sitting in a slumped position; her face was covered in blood. Destro pulled out his knife and began cutting off her straps.
As he pulled his lover from the burning wreck, Destro ducked as a thunderous boom echoed through the air. Looking around, he saw that it wasn't the crashed Dominator exploding but instead his Dominator had started turning around and firing its guns; it was under attack by H.I.S.S. tanks and his Nullifier co-pilot was responding to the threat.
Destro ran away from the crashed vehicle as fast as he could with the Baroness in his arms. The soft sand slowed him down immensely. After only thirty seconds of running, the tank/helicopter finally exploded, sending even larger chunks of debris into the air. Destro dropped Baroness to the ground and covered her with his body. Pieces of metal began pounding his body, but his suit of state-of-the-art body-armor saved his life.
Standing up, Destro looked back to see his Dominator fire a pair of missiles at a H.I.S.S. II tank and blast it into scrap.
"Excellent!" cheered Destro. But as soon as the word came from his mouth, the Dominator erupted in a violent explosion, sending even more shrapnel into the air. Once the shockwave settled, Destro turned around to see an IMP rolling on its treads across the beach with one of its three missiles gone. The Lord of Castle Destro immediately regretted designing those fat little rocket launchers for Cobra so long ago.
Much to his surprise, a pair of missiles flew into the IMP and obliterated it. It was easy for the designer of those missiles to recognize them: Silent-running Titanium Under-radar Negative-Gravity missiles. S.T.U.N.G. for short. (He didn't make the names, just the equipment, but if the title made him smile, it stayed). They were indigenous to his A.G.P.s, and sure-enough when Destro looked out to sea, a squadron of A.G.P.s were flying towards the beach. But most importantly: four of the Anti-Gravity Pods were hooked via steel cables to a D.E.M.O.N. The massively-treaded heavy-assault vehicle was almost too much for them to carry, but the little pods were determined to get the black, gold and silver mammoth to shore.
Destro tapped on his facemask, activating his communicator. "Nullifiers! Bring that D.E.M.O.N. to my position immediately. Prepare to lay down covering fire as I take command of said vehicle. Over."
"Nullifier commander to Destro. Orders received. Adjusting trajectory to your position. ETA, three minutes. Over."
The four A.G.P.s turned themselves a few degrees north, and their hanging cargo swayed as it followed their pattern change. But almost as soon as they had finished rotating, a surface-to-air missile screamed across the sky and slammed into one of the A.G.P.s. The black, red and gold flight pod burst into flame and began tumbling over itself on its way down to the splashing waters below.
Destro followed the missile's smoke trail to the ground and saw a Flak-Viper standing a hundred meters down the shoreline and aiming his backpack launcher at another A.G.P. Quickly raising his arm, Destro activated the targeting system for his gauntlet missiles. He was breathing heavily, so it was difficult to steady the H.U.D. cross-hairs on the Cobra Anti-Aircraft Trooper, but when the signal glowed red, he spoke a single word.
"Fire."
One of the little red rockets flared up and shot from Destro's forearm. It raced across the beach and in only moments, it struck the Flak-Viper. The soldier was sent flying into the ocean as the missile struck his side and exploded.
Not concerned whether the Viper survived or not, the Lord of Castle Destro looked across the beach and found an AK-47 lying next to a fallen Cobra Officer. After quickly picking up and cocking the rifle, he turned his attention back to the A.G.P.s.
Screaching roars poured from the shaking the flight pods, who were strained beyond their capacity to keep the D.E.M.O.N. in the sky. Two more cables snapped, causing the heavy-artillery vehicle to crash down into the shallow waters. The over-powered A.G.P.s, now free from their cargo, rocketed up into the sky. A giant wave splashed onto the beach; some of the spray even hit Destro.
"Damnit!" cursed the Lord of the Iron Grenadiers. Seeing that the D.E.M.O.N. was still standing upright, he began walking over to it; he also called the pilot. "Ferret! Bring that vehicle ashore! I'll be taking command immediately!"
"Yes, Lord Destro!" The D.E.M.O.N. began a slow crawl onto the beach. Destro took notice that behind the massive heavy assault machine was a trio of A.G.P.s, approaching Cobra Island carrying a Razorback vehicle. Although not as powerful as a D.E.M.O.N., it would make an excellent back-up vehicle for an attack-run up the main road along the eastern side of the island. Turning south to check for any more Flak-Vipers, Destro was shocked to see a row of H.I.S.S. tanks moving east towards his position.
And they were firing their cannons.
Jumping for his life, the Lord of Castle Destro barely avoided the massive explosion of the D.E.M.O.N. as shots from eight different 90mm cannons tore through its body. Although he couldn't see them, Destro could hear the A.G.P.s drop the Razorback into the shallow waters, then turn towards the H.I.S.S. tanks and open fire. Soon there was a flaming wall of black scrap-metal eighty meters down the beach.
The Razorback drove up out of the water and parked next to Destro. The driver, a Wild Boar, jumped down from the cockpit and helped Destro stand up.
"My lord! Are you all right?"
With his hand on his head, Destro looked at the Razorback before he looked at the Wild Boar. The experimental vehicle's eight wheels and equal number of missiles seemed in fine shape. "Yes, yes I'm fine. How is the vehicle?"
"Uh…excellent, sir. No crippling damage to report."
Destro walked over to the Baroness and picked her up. "Good. Help me get her into the cockpit."
"Yes, my lord."
Destro jumped up to the cockpit, and with the Wild Boar's help, Baroness sat snuggly with him on his lap. The Lord of the Iron Grenadiers turned on the Razorback and the Wild Boar jumped off.
"But my lord! What am I supposed to do?" cried the panicked vehicle driver.
Destro lifted up the AK-47 that he had found and tossed it down to the Wild Boar. The driver clumsily caught it, and looked back up with a sad look in his eyes. "You know how to use one of those, don't you?" said Destro. "Use it!"
The Razorback's engine roared to life and the large orange and black vehicle raced off of the beach and up into the heart of Cobra Island.
2.
Crankcase picked up Overlord and threw him against a palm tree. "Move it, jackass! You're our ticket into the Terror Drome, and so you got point. Go!"
Overlord slowly turned around, quivering as the pain from the Adder missile blasts registered in new places throughout his body. "Very well, Joe. You will be the first one that I kill."
"Damn you're cocky." said Alpine, who was still wiping sand from his charred uniform.
"What are you guys doing down there?" Scarlett's voice was a bit hectic over the radio communication coming down from her Sky Hawk. "If you're all okay, we need to get moving. I don't have enough fuel to keep waiting for you."
Grunt grabbed the radio from Dial-Tone. "Look, if you're worried about fuel, run back to the Jane. We'll move in on foot. There isn't much you can do in a swamp from the air anyways."
After a few moments of silence, Scarlett replied. "Agreed. But be careful. Don't be too hasty."
"Understood."
"And one more thing: Snake Eyes is already in there. Watch out for him." With that, the Sky Hawk rotated its jets and blasted off for the freighter.
Standing in shocked silence, Grunt slowly handed the radio microphone back to Dial-Tone, who was just as quiet as he was.
"Is she serious? Snake Eyes is already here? But how?" asked Chuckles.
"I saw him ride a recon sled towards the island on our attack run." reported Law.
"The guy is good, I'll give him that." praised Alpine.
"Okay, look, we'll answer the Snake Eyes questions later. Right now we need to get off this beach." Looking over to Overlord, he cocked a Dragunov Sniper Riple that he picked up on the shore and pointed it at the Cobra traitor. "Get us in, please."
Overlord frowned, but turned around, raised his right arm and ushered the Joes to follow him into the swamp.
After only about fifty feet of marching, Crankcase stepped into a deep pit of swampwater.
"Damnit-all!" cursed the Joe as he pulled his mucky boot out of the mud.
"Quiet, Crankcase." warned Grunt. "You better get used to the marsh if you plan on getting to the Terror Drome."
Alpine looked to his right side. "Anyone notice that we're not exactly heading towards the big bucket at the moment?" The team looked over to see that he was right: The Terror Drome was almost sixty-degrees to their right.
"Where are you taking us, Overlord?" growled Chuckles.
Turning around with his hands on his chest, the Cobra field commander feigned a look of concern. "Hey, look, you want to get to the Drome in one piece, right? Do you want to go through Croc-Master's reptile pit or my way: the safe way?"
Turning his gun on Overlord, Crankcase griped. "We just want to get there the 'right' way. Don't be wasting our time."
Smiling, Overlord turned back around. "Oh, heaven's no. Don't worry about that."
After another ten minutes of marching through the swamps, Alpine spoke up again. "Okay, now this is getting stupid. We're actually heading away from the Terror Drome! What's going on, here?" The Joes, who were so caught up in avoiding the thick, slimy mud, hadn't been paying enough attention to which direction they were going. Now that they looked back over their shoulders, they got riled up.
Grunt stomped up across the mud and grabbed Overlord, then slammed him against a tree. "Okay, that's it. You're outta here." After pulling off his facemask, he shoved the sniper rifle barrel up Overlord's nose and put his finger on the trigger.
"Wait, Grunt!" beckoned Law. "There's a road over here!" The Joe MP was standing between some ficus bushes and pointing through them.
"Nats what ni was nrying noo shnow nu!" said Overlord with the barrel still up his nose.
After pulling his gun back, Grunt turned the Cobra around and pushed him through the bushes. The group walked out onto a roadway that apparently headed northwest towards the Cobra Temple.
"Maybe he's not so bad after all." said Mainframe.
"Don't get too eager with the compliments." ordered Grunt. "This road still leads in the wrong direction."
"Only for a little ways. There is a fork in the road that heads towards the Terror Drome about a kilometer up." said Overlord, but not while looking directly at anyone.
"Well, it's an easier way north than the swamp." pointed out Crankcase, who was wiping off his boots.
"Yeah, and probably crawling with Cobras." Grunt had to think for a moment, but sighed and pointed his gun at Overlord's back. "Okay, scumball. You win. Lead the way. But guys, get ready to jump into the bushes as soon as we hear an engine coming, got it?"
"Got it." replied the team.
3.
Cobra Commander's finger's tapped the handles of the Matrix Cannon. His grip had gotten painfully tight as he sat in the cannon's control seat, growing evermore anxious to show his dominating power to the world.
"How much longer?" griped the leader of Cobra.
"J-just a few more minutes, sir." responded TCV-14, who was frantically double and triple-checking the power-relays that fed the energy-hog of a weapon.
"Well, let me know the moment it is ready. I can't risk Destro or the Joes getting a lucky shot into the Terror Drome and taking out my ultimate weapon before I even have a chance to use it!"
"N-no, sir. Of course not." TCV-14, the highest-ranking Techno-Viper on site frantically continued punching the power relay station's controls and hooking cables. Swarms of other TCV's and Tele-Vipers worked like mad attempting to complete the work they had been so lethargically dilly-dallying with for the last three days. That was usually the deal with Cobra work ethics: If a high-ranking officer wasn't around, neither was effort.
As a row of lights turned on across the control-panel of the Matrix Cannon, Cobra Commander smiled. That meant power was finally getting into the weapon, and of course that meant the weapon could be used, right?
"Excellent! I'm taking it up!" called out the Commander. He pulled back the lever that controlled the elevator and began rising up towards the domed ceiling of the Drome.
"W-wait, sir!" cried out TCV-14. He began hooking cables at an even more chaotic pace. "I've only routed power into the cannon's control panel, not the weapon itself!"
As the Matrix Cannon rose higher up, Cobra Commander called down, "Well it had better work before I reach the top or I'll have you all shot!" A pair of Tele-Vipers ran up to the control station that TCV-14 was at and began helping him as fast as they could.
The domed ceiling opened and separated, making room for the overly ambitious Commander to rise twenty feet higher than the roof of the Terror Drome. The Matrix Cannon platform locked into position…and sat in silence. Even through his metal facemask, Cobra Commander could hear the wind blow, and the sounds of explosions fluttering from the south. There was a lot to shoot at in that direction, but most of it were Cobra forces. It was too risky to shoot down there. No, he needed to stick with his plan to shoot the American coastline.
But wait! What was that?
Flipping down the telephoto-scanner's monitor, the Head Snake turned the Matrix Cannon toward the dark shape on the horizon…and grinned. This would be a perfect test for the cannon. No satellite connection would be needed. No, this would be pure, brute force.
"Where is my power?" screamed Cobra Commander as he drew his pistol.
"It's coming! It's coming!" cried back TCV-14; but before the Commander could reply, the Techno-Viper looked up and yelled, "Got it!"
Every light on the Matrix Cannon lit up, and a great deal of them began flashing. Everything seemed to be working perfectly.
After putting away his pistol, Cobra Commander targeted the small dot on the horizon, gripped the handles tightly once again, and pulled the triggers.
"Goodbye, Jane."
4.
"Sailor! Get water on that fire immediately!" barked out Hawk as he pointed to a raging ball of flame enveloping a crate of W.H.A.L.E. ammunition. A Navy enlisted man holding a large hose nodded and began spraying the potential super-explosive.
General Hawk ran across the deck of the G.I. Jane, breaking apart burning wreckage and spraying it with the fire extinguisher he carried with him. Navy men ran across the ship like mad, frantically trying to save the ship from potential destruction.
"General Abernathy!" called Captain Aegis. Hawk turned around to see the veteran of the ocean running across the burning deck to him.
"Yes, Captain, what is it?"
"We're down to the last two lifeboats. Nearly all of the crew are out to sea."
"How much time does she have left?" asked Hawk with a heavy heart.
Captain Aegis wiped his brow. "My engineer can keep her afloat for another hour, but then she's gone. Of course, she'll go a lot sooner if this deck cargo explodes."
"Of course."
Hawk turned as the sound of soft walking drew closer to him. He recognized who it was immediately. "Doc, what's your status?"
The old Joe master of Army Medicine smiled. He always liked how people could recognize him without having to see him. The smile quickly vanished, however. "The last of the injured sailors are off the Jane. There are just a few men left below decks and a couple dozen up here fighting the fires."
"Any losses?" asked the Captain.
Doc nodded. "Three men who were in the forward cargo bay when the missiles hit. I don't have their names with me right now, but I can have them for you when we leave ship."
"Thank you."
"Sirs!" called a sailor who ran up to them from the port-side of the frigate.
"What is it, Kirkston?" asked Aegis.
The enlisted man pointed towards Cobra Island. "There is an aircraft closing in on us. It has been identified as Scarlett's Sky Hawk, sirs!"
Hawk used his fire-extinguisher to blow himself a path to the port-side of the G.I. Jane. "What the hell is she doing coming back here? Why didn't she call in?"
"Oh, uh, I guess I should have told you sooner, but our radio tower is down." informed Captain Aegis. "We'll have short-range communication back shortly."
As soon as the General could see the Sky Hawk nearing the frigate, a flash of light began violently flickering from the core of Cobra Island. The ruptured port-side of the G.I. Jane's hull began glowing white-hot. Hawk's boots began melting to the deck.
Quickly realizing what just happened, the Joe leader grabbed Doc by the shoulder and yelled to the Captain. "Move! Move ! Move! Get over to the starboard-side! Abandon ship!"
As Hawk ran off, Captain Aegis looked in confusion as the General's feet left a melted-rubber trail behind him. Turning back around, the Captain watched as the port-side transformed into a molten glop and collapsed into the sea. Steam blasted up from the water below. Now grasping what was happening, Captain Aegis tried to run away, but it was too late: he burst into flame and slid down into the ocean along with the massive amounts of molten steel.
Hawk and Doc made it to the starboard-side just as the entire ship began to feel ferociously hot. Sailors were jumping over the ship's side and splashing down into the steaming water.
"What happened to the Captain?" asked Doc.
Hawk turned around to look, but could only see the deck tower collapse onto the molten side of the deck. "He's gone! Get overboard! Now!"
The two Joes jumped, splashing hard into the hot water twenty-feet below. Once he regained his wits, Hawk looked up from ten-feet underwater—and felt the explosion. The G.I. Jane finally exploded; the combination of ammunition and fuel erupted, spraying red-hot shrapnel into the water. Hawk was immediately cut up by hot metals, but ironically every one of his wounds were instantly cauterized. Looking to his left, the general watched as the few remaining chunks of the Jane's frame tipped backwards and dropped down into the sea.
Doc grabbed Hawk's hand and turned him around. The look of shock was in both men's eyes. They nodded to each other and swam towards the surface. Breaking the water's surface, the Joes gasped for air and looked around. Burning, steaming scrap was everywhere. Men were frantically trying to avoid the damage while keeping their injured friends afloat.
Doc tapped Hawk's shoulder. He pointed east and coughed up some water before he spoke. "The lifeboats are coming back for us, Hawk. We'll be okay."
Hawk frowned. "We just lost our only transport away from Cobra Island, and you think we're okay?"
"Sorry, sir, I just meant our lives are saved. For now." Doc attempted to feel around his pockets for his glasses.
"I know what you meant. I'm just not in the mood to look on the 'bright side' of things right now."
"Of course not, sir."
"Let's get over to those lifeboats and—Scarlett!" Hawk frantically began swimming over towards the wreckage of the Sky Hawk. As he drew closer, the general saw that the flight pod's landing skis had melted off, and the craft was flipped upside down in the water. Suddenly, a crossbow-arrow blasted out of a window, shattering the glass across the water. Scarlett came crawling through the new hole in the cockpit and splashed onto the toasty sea-water.
Hawk swam up next to her and helped his injured teammate stay afloat.
"Glad you were in the area, General." said the Intelligence Trooper as she picked bits of plexi-glass from her body.
"What were you doing coming back here, anyway?" asked Hawk.
Scarlett winced with pain ask she moved her leg. "I came to help you."
Unwilling to laugh, General Hawk at least smiled at that comment.
5.
His cutting torch made quick work of the vent-screen that led into the power-generator station of the Terror Drome. Snake Eyes pulled back the screen and looked down into the room. The vent was placed high off the floor with, unfortunately, nothing below it to step down on. Fortunately, however, the room was nearly empty, with only a couple Techno-Vipers and scientists in white robes walking around the loudly pounding power generators.
Snake Eyes hooked the grapple to the side of the vent and lowered the rope to the floor. After sliding down, he spun around and drew his Uzi, unlocking the safety.
As much as he wanted to start knocking out Cobras, he had to keep his intrusion a secret. While strategically maneuvering around the generators, Snake Eyes found the exit, and slipped out when the Techno-Vipers' backs were turned.
Terror Drome hallways were short, arcing tunnels, and therefore it was impossible to see if anyone was coming at you. Thankfully, they were also built completely with metal, so the footsteps of people walking down the halls echoed almost halfway around the Drome.
Snake Eyes had been in the Terror Drome before, and knew where the entrance to the central launch bay was. It was obviously where Cobra Commander would keep the Matrix Cannon, and luckily was only another twenty meters around the hall.
Footsteps!
Snake Eyes pulled out a silencer and spun it onto the barrel of his Uzi. A few moments later, two Vipers came marching down the hall.
"What the heck!" said one of them.
"That's a Joe!" said the other.
Before they could draw their weapons, Snake Eyes fired a short burst at them, and they fell to their knees. The submachine-gun didn't pack enough punch to break their body armor, but it did knock the wind out of them. The Joe commando hooked his Uzi to his belt and drew his katana. Rushing the Vipers, he swung his sword at their face-plates. The blade cracked them, but didn't penetrate them. Grabbing their faces, the Vipers ran off in panic down the hall. Snake Eyes contemplated chasing them down, but felt that he didn't have time.
After sheathing his katana, the Joe commando turned around and jumped back. Storm Shadow stood alone down the hall, with his arms folded across his chest.
"My brother, you have arrived at last. I was beginning to wonder if you had survived." Lowering his arms, the white ninja revealed his bloody uniform and winced in pain. "As you can see, my wounds still must heal, as I'm sure yours do as well."
Snake Eyes slowly nodded his head, and moved his hand up to his sword. Storm Shadow held out the palm of his hand. "I have not come to fight you, my brother. I have come to help you. In our wounded states, neither one of us can defeat Cobra Commander and his new weapon, but together we can emerge from this battle victorious!" Snake Eyes studied the white ninja doubtfully.
"Snake Eyes, my brother, you have shown me that my empty hatred of you was unfounded and was ultimately destroying me. I owe you this. Take it, for it is unlikely you will ever receive my assistance again."
After thinking for a moment, Snake Eyes let go of his sword, grabbed his Uzi and walked towards the doors to the launch chamber. Storm Shadow was a warrior of many frustrating features and curiosities; but one thing was for certain: he was not a liar. If he meant to help Snake Eyes this day, then by god, Snake Eyes would enjoy fighting next to his brother again.
The two ninjas raised their legs, and kicked the doors in…