Chapter 14

Turn of the Tide

Crankcase fiddled with the AK-47 that he had picked up on the beach near the Adder. It had been dented by debris flying from an exploding Assault Systems Pod, and so its ammo clip didn't fit in quite right any more. To make things worse, Crankcase could only find two more clips on the beach to feed the rifle. So basically, he had very little ammunition to use, and what he did have probably wouldn't work. Needless to say, he was growing very tense as the Joes approached the Terror Drome.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Bazooka. The rest of the team looked over to where he was pointing. At the "Y" in the road stood a small, blue, reinforced-steel bunker, built out of three metal walls attached together with rivets. A medium-sized radar dish sat atop the tallest steel wall set in the middle, and machine guns were mounted on the side walls.

Overlord smiled. "It's a Surveillance Port, you idiots. Did you honestly think you could just walk up the road to the Terror Drome without a point of clearance?" Around the Surveillance Port scrambled a handful of Vipers and S.A.W.-Vipers; there was even a H.E.A.T.-Viper carrying a high-explosive-anti-tank cannon.

"Get off the road! Now!" barked Grunt. The Joe team jumped for the bushes, but Overlord broke away from the group and ran towards the Surveillance Port. "That son-of-a-!" Grunt raised his rifle, aimed at the Cobra field commander and fired. Overlord yelped in pain, fell flat on his chest and skidded across the gritty ground. Blood oozed from his shoulder.

S.A.W.-Vipers manning the mounted 16mm and 6.5mm machine guns unleashed a heavy spray of suppressive fire while two other Vipers ran out and grabbed their wounded ally. Alpine attempted to turn around from behind a tree and take a shot at the moving Cobras, but the H.E.A.T.-Viper was waiting for him. The Cobra rocketed an anti-tank missile at the tree, causing a fiery blast that knocked Alpine off of his feet.

"Alpine!" cried Bazooka as he stood up from his hidden position behind some rocks. Before he could move towards his injured friend, however, a pair of 6.5mm bullets ripped through his body just above his left kidney. He cringed in pain and dropped to the ground.

Law crawled over to Grunt. "We're getting eaten alive here. We need to retreat."

"We've still got a chance." Grunt cocked his rifle and aimed it through some vines. After aiming for a few seconds, he fired. The head of the S.A.W.-Viper manning the 16mm machine gun snapped back and his body collapsed.

"Nice shot."

"Move!" Grunt pushed Law away and the two Joes crawled through the mud as quickly as possible. Seconds later, a H.E.A.T.-Viper missile exploded exactly where Grunt had fired from.

"See? We made it." said Grunt, smiling.

Frowning, Law pointed back to the Surveillance Port. "And see? There is another Viper manning the machine gun already."

"They'll run out of Vipers eventually."

"And you'll slip up eventually."

Sighing, Grunt looked at Law. "What do you want?"

"I want you to realize that we can't win this fight. We need to retreat."

Gritting his teeth, the Infantryman replied, "No way. We're the only hope the world has—"

"Exactly! That's why we can't screw this up!"

Chuckles came crawling over to the two Joes. "Hey! What are you guys doing? What's our plan, Grunt? We've already lost two guys and no one can make a shot."

With his eyes still locked on Law, Grunt spoke softly but sternly. "We pull back. We'll have to find another way to the Terror Drome."

"Understood." said Chuckles. "But how do we tell the others? They're all on the other side of the road."

Cursing softly, Grunt looked across the dirt path. There was nothing he could do, not even hand signals, considering everyone had to stay completely out of sight.

Too bad Grunt didn't believe in miracles.

1.

Sunshine flickered through the tree-branches as Destro raced the Razorback northward towards the Terror Drome. There hadn't been an ounce of opposition since he had left the beach. Apparently, that fool Cobra Commander had moved all of his forces south to engage the Iron Grenadiers and left himself completely defenseless up north. The impeding battle was beginning to look less and less difficult.

The Baroness began to groan, and the C.E.O. of M.A.R.S. adjusted himself as best he could to comfort her in the one-man cockpit. Her eyes blinked open and she looked up at her lover, then smiled.

"Destro. I knew that you would save me." She closed her eyes again and leaned onto Destro's bicep. After a few moments, a frown spread across her mouth and she opened her enchanting green eyes. She watched Destro staring out of some sort of transparent orange dome and driving a vehicle using one arm. His other arm was wrapped around her while his body was tightly crunched up against hers. After tilting her head up, Baroness noticed palm tree branches passing overhead. She tried to look at the road, but couldn't see over the vehicle's dashboard.

Squirming herself into a more upright position, she asked, "Destro, where am I?"

"Do not panic, my love. We are almost to the Terror Drome."

Baroness jumped up and bonked her head on the domed window of the Razorback. "The Terror Drome? How did we get here? What about the beach?"

Destro patted her on the head. "My Iron Grenadiers managed to get this Razorback onto the shore and I commandeered it. After rescuing you, I began driving across Cobra Island. Amazingly, we have encountered no resistance. It appears that fool Cobra Commander didn't expect us to get past the airport."

Smiling, Baroness rested her head back onto Destro's shoulder. "To be honest, my dear, neither did I."

"Really? My love, I am shocked! Have you so little faith in the strength of my determination?"

"Oh, spare me. You managed to get one assault vehicle onto the island. That says something for the strength of Cobra Commander's forces."

Frowning, Destro cocked his head forward into a listening position. "Forces that I supplied the arms to. We musn't forget that."

Baroness raised her head back up. "What are you listening for?"

"There is gunfire up ahead. Assault rifles mostly. One heavy machine-gun."

After looking to the left and right Baroness guessed, "The Joes?"

Destro nodded as he unlocked the Razorback's weapons systems. "We are approaching the fork in the road that is guarded by a Cobra Surveillance Port. I was anticipating a small skirmish here, but it seems that the Joes have beat us to it."

"Are the Joes still alive?"

"That is a very good question; I know I heard someone shooting weapons up here."

The Surveillance Port came into view as the Razorback rounded a set of trees. Vipers who had been walking down the road cried out in panic and scrambled back to the little blue armored outpost.

"Look." The Baroness pointed to the left at a G.I. Joe who popped up from behind a pile of rocks and fired a Dragunov Sniper Rifle at the fleeing Cobras. One of the terrorists dropped to the gravel-strewn ground while the others dove behind the wall. Almost immediately, the 16mm machine-gun began firing, and bullet-holes began spreading across the thin armor of the Razorback—a vehicle built for speed, not strength.

As bullets pierced the domed orange windshield, spreading cracks across the view of the cockpit, Destro cursed. "Well, this needs to stop." After the touch of a few buttons, a targeting screen displayed a missile-lock on the Surveillance Port, and the Commander of the Iron Grenadiers flipped the "Fire" switch. One of the missiles hanging off the right side of the Razorback flared to life and jumped out of its launcher. In just over a second, the rocket screamed through the air and rammed itself against the small bunker, causing a violent blast that engulfed the structure in smoke and flame. Vipers, engulfed in fire, ran from the explosion, sprinting down the road towards the Terror Drome. Quick rifle bursts from Joes hidden in the bushes ended their attempts at escaping.

The Razorback rolled to a stop a few yards from the smoking wreckage of the Surveillance Port, and Destro pushed open the damaged canopy. The Baroness jumped out, and Destro quickly followed.

"Can't say I'm looking forward to saying this…but thanks, Destro." said Grunt. The Joe Infantry Trooper stepped up from out of the swamp and began reloading his rifle.

"I am not one to ignore an asset, no matter how frustrating he may be." Destro began a damage check of the Razorback.

Baroness looked around the area, particularly in the swamp. "Grunt. You are Grunt, yes? Where is the rest of your team?"

The Joe looked over to Law and Chuckles. "Find the rest of the guys, ASAP." Law nodded and the guys ran to the opposite side of the road. "I only have a handful of troops, and some of them were taken down by the Surveillance Port. I can't tell you how many are still able to fight."

"Most of my men are casualties by now as well." said Destro as he bent his head forward. "This has been a sloppy, rushed engagement, but we had little time to strategize."

Law and Chuckles walked out of the swamp with Alpine sagging between their shoulders. "This isn't good, Grunt." said Chuckles. "Alpine can barely move and Dial-Tone has a broken leg. We can't even find Crankcase, Mainframe or Bazooka."

"What is with you guys?" sneered the Baroness. "I thought you were supposed to be the best in the world."

Grunt walked over and helped lay Alpine down on the road. "Overlord led us into a trap."

"Overlord?" Destro's jaw hit the bottom of his facemask. "The Commander must really be desperate if he's bringing that traitor back into service."

Shaking her head, Baroness walked towards the Surveillance Port and picked up a Viper's assault rifle. "Look, this is all very interesting, but we are wasting time. We need to get into the Terror Drome immediately." She walked over to the Razorback and popped open the front hatch, which covered two driver's seats. "So, are any of you Joes coming?"

As Grunt looked over to Law every muscle in his face tightened up. "I don't want to leave you guys."

"Do it." urged Law. "You're the best qualified of all of us. We'll stay here and take care of Alpine and Dial-Tone. Maybe we'll have time to look for the other guys, too."

Grunt squirmed with uneasiness. "Something is bugging me, Law, like I'm not seeing something that's right in my face."

"Maybe you're just nervous about working with Destro."

Grunt smiled. "I can work with him. It's the Baroness that gives me the creeps." The two Joes laughed, which infuriated the Baroness even more.

"Grunt! Get over here! We need to go!"

Slowly standing up, the Infantry Trooper nodded to his teammates, then walked over to the Razorback. "I've got injured men to take care of Baroness. Sorry if that annoys you." The Cobra Queen simply frowned as the Joe crawled into the left driver's seat and buckled in. Destro climbed back up to the turret seat and Baroness sat on the right driver's seat, then pulled the hatch closed.

"I will transfer drive-control down to your position, Grunt." explained Destro. I will maintain full weapons control from my position."

"And what will I do?" griped the Baroness.

"Look lovely." replied Destro.

As the Razorback drove away, Law looked up at it, swearing that he could hear the Baroness screaming and Grunt laughing.

2.

The doors swung in and slammed against the Launch Shaft's curved walls. Techno- and Tele-Vipers in the room jumped up in shock. The ones on the far side of the shaft saw a black and a white ninja rush into the room and start slashing every cable and trooper in sight at lightning speed. The Vipers closest to the entrance didn't even have time to see what came through the door; they only felt swords slice through their bodies and then see the room go black as they winced in pain and collapsed to the floor.

A pair of Techno-Vipers managed to grab their electro-shock weapons and point it towards the running assailants, but before they had time to pull the triggers, a handful of shuriken impaled one of the Vipers, and a grenade hit the chest of the other—then exploded.

Atop the Matrix Cannon, Cobra Commander was finalizing the coordinates for Houston, Texas when the explosion echoed up from the Terror Drome, causing his targeting screen to vibrate.

"What the hell was that?" The Commander looked down from his seat and hissed in anger as he watched the two miniscule ninjas running around the Launch Shaft chopping down his soldiers. "That traitorous bastard Storm Shadow! He's almost as bad as Overlord!"

Reaching to his back, Cobra Commander unhooked his custom pistol from its holster and cocked it. Pointing it downwards, he took the best shot possible at running ninjas from fifty-feet up.

A bullet-hole punctured the floor directly in front of Storm Shadow, who skidded to a stop and looked up. Stepping to the left, he avoided another shot from above. Snake Eyes ran up to his brother, grabbed him and pulled him over to the base of the elevation tower. The two ninjas stood with their backs against the tower, safely out of the Commander's view; that didn't stop the Head Snake from taking random shots, of course.

"Thank you, Snake Eyes, but I was quite safe. Cobra Commander has a few deadly skills, but marksmanship is not one of them." Storm Shadow looked around the room. "There are still a couple Vipers left in this room, and we have yet to destroy the Matrix Cannon."

Snake Eyes pulled out a grenade and showed it to the white ninja. "Crude, my brother, but in our current physical conditions, it might be the wiser choice." Storm Shadow stepped away from the tower and spread his arms, then called, "Here I am Commander! Take your best shot!" Cobra Commander leaned over and began pulling his trigger like mad.

Snake Eyes stepped out from the other side of the tower, popped the firing pin from the grenade and threw it skyward. The little black orb arced up into the sky and came down right on the Commander's lap.

"What the--? No!" Cobra Commander frantically unhooked his seatbelt and leapt from the side of the Matrix Cannon. As he jumped from the tower, the grenade exploded, causing a chain reaction that engulfed the cannon in a fiery red and orange mushroom. The blast was strong enough to push Cobra Commander past the rim of the Launch Shaft and send him crashing down upon the roof of the Terror Drome, which was only a twenty-foot drop; painful, but more survivable than the fifty-foot drop back to the floor of the Shaft.

As shrapnel and flaming debris rained down upon Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, the two ninjas looked at each other and bowed their heads in respect—and then the white ninja ran from the room. Snake Eyes slowly sheathed his sword, and walked out.

3.

"Did—did you see that?" asked the Baroness, nearly in a state of shock.

"Yes," growled Destro, "someone has apparently beat us to the Terror Drome and destroyed the Matrix Cannon!"

Grunt stared at the pillar of smoke, sitting atop the Drome like a candle in a birthday cake, and only one name came to mind. "Snake Eyes."

"What? Repeat that!" demanded the Baroness.

"You heard him!" barked Destro. "Apparently the Joe ninja has been excessively active."

"If he destroyed the Cannon, then we can turn around and get me back to my men, right?" asked Grunt.

Destro pushed a few buttons and the lights around Grunt's steering controls flipped off. Lights of similar design turned on up in Destro's turret cockpit. "Drive-Control is mine again. The Matrix Cannon may be gone, but that does not mean it cannot be made again. To ensure that, we still must go to the Terror Drome and wipe out all computer records of its blueprints." The Razorback revved up, spitting dirt into the air as it raced down the road.

"Attacking the Terror Drome like this is suicide!"

"We have no choice."

Grunt kicked the front of his seat.

"Throwing fits is very unprofessional, Joe." mocked the Baroness.

"So is blunt stupidity."

Roaring, Destro called down, "You want reinforcements, Grunt? There are none! The Commander destroyed yours and I have none to offer. Do you want proof?" Destro dialed in a frequency on the Razorback's transmitter and called out. "CV-2, this is LD-1. Come in please. What is your situation?"

After a few seconds of static, a response came, drenched in the chaotic background sounds of war. "Lord Destro, this is Voltar. It is good to hear from you. I had assumed you were killed--."

"Your assumptions were incorrect. What is the battle situation?"

Another brief pause, then a nervous response. "I have ordered a full retreat, sir."

Destro nearly screamed. "Retreat? I commanded that there were to be no retreats under any circumstances!"

"Y-yes, m'lord, but you must understand, we lost contact with you and assumed--."

"Never assume anything about me! Fact is your only concern! Get the forces back into battle immediately!"

"That won't be possible, sir. We have lost over sixty-percent of our forces, and although Cobra has taken even greater loss, they still have far more to wager. We cannot possibly win. We have even lost two frigates, and may not be able to rescue all of our forces."

Destro roared in anger and slammed the brakes of the Razorback. Despite the loud hum of the engine, there was an eerie silence as the Leader of the Iron Grenadiers sat in deep thought. He finally broke the silence. "My orders are this: keep the battle up for another ten minutes or until our losses become seventy-five-percent. Is that clear, Voltar?"

"B-but, m'lord."

"Is that clear?"

"Yes, m'lord. Ten minutes or seventy-five-percent. Will there be anything else?"

"No. Remember what we are fighting for! Destro out."

"Even if we get the plans, how will we--?"

"Not now, Baroness. Not now!" Destro started the Razorback up and headed down the road.

Grunt couldn't wipe the frown off of his face.

4.

"Commander, are you all right?"

Cobra Commander fluttered his eyes open, only to see his reflection in the faceplate of a Viper hunched over him. He immediately pushed the trooper away. "Of course I'm all right, you fool!" He attempted to sit up, but a grogginess quickly overwhelmed him, followed by intense pain throughout his body. The Leader of Cobra slumped back down onto the metallic floor. "Get me a Medi-Viper!"

"Right away, sir!" The Viper stood up and ran over to an intercom station and called down to the medical center.

The sun shone brightly on the Commander's faceplate, heating it up to annoying levels; but the greatest shock was the smell of…smoke? Cobra Commander sat back up, despite the pain, and looked around. He was on the roof of the Terror Drome, near the edge of the Firebat Launch Shaft; and the Matrix Cannon tower was poking out of the center of it with a smoking clump of wreckage at the top.

"No!" cried the Head Snake. He attempted to stand up, but the pain in his shoulders, ribs and left leg knocked him back to the floor. He winced as he hit it again—at least this time it wasn't a twenty-foot drop.

"Commander! Please sit still!" ordered the Viper.

Cobra Commander slowly looked up at the trooper and stared with such intensity that the Viper swore he could see his leader's eyes glaring through his protective metal facemask. "What is your designation?"

"Uh…VP-3457, sir."

"Well, VP-3457, congratulations, you are now a Toxo-Viper. Get out of my sight before I shoot you."

"B-but, sir…"

"Move!"

"Yes, sir." The broken Viper ran from the edge of the Launch Shaft towards the elevator off the roof. As he reached it, a pair of Medi-Vipers ran onto the roof towards their wounded leader.

"Get me to my temple. And give my something for my pains." ordered the twisted Commander.

"As you wish, sir," said one of the Medi-Vipers, "But we really should check your wounds first."

The Commander stared at the Medi-Viper. "Do you want to be a Toxo-Viper as well?" barked the Cobra Leader.

"N-no, sir."

"Then shut up and do what I tell you to!" Hissing, Cobra Commander laid back down and began plotting a new set of schemes and vengeance.

5.

The Terror Drome closed to firing distance, and Destro slowed the Razorback down. The road split to a circular path around the massive cylindrical structure, and Destro followed the path right, heading for the front entrance. Since the Razorback was now close to the building, the massive twin cannons that sat upon the Drome's roof were too close to shoot at the Iron Grenadier vehicle.

But there were other defenses.

A flash flickered from eighty yards down the road, and a second later the Razorback's left-side missile launcher exploded. The vehicle shook violently and nearly flipped over. As it crashed back down, the main turret swung twenty degrees counter-clockwise.

"It's a Stun!" called out Destro. The super-trike that Snake Eyes had avoided earlier rounded the Terror Drome and began firing its main cannons.

"Yep. And it's moving in on us." warned Grunt. Another blast tore into the back of the Razorback. "Give me drive control!"

"Agreed."

"Fire at it, Destro!" demanded the Baroness. Her lover began shooting the 205mm twin cannon, and the Stun swerved right. All of Destro's shots missed, but the Stun was chased off of the road and into the brush.

"Get us out of here, Joe!" ordered Destro.

"I can't! This precious mutant-tank of yours is too badly damaged from the Stun attack."

"It's coming back!" cried the Baroness. The Stun plowed through a large bush and opened fire again. The Razorback took another hit on its lower right side; but this time Destro was ready. Firing the 205mm cannon, the Iron Grenadier leader scored a direct hit on the front left side of the Stun, which knocked the three-wheeled vehicle out of control. A quick second blast from the Razorback struck the front wheel of the Stun, blowing it clear off. The high-tech vehicle collapsed to the ground and skidded.

Grunt popped open his hatch, raised his rifle and ran at the smoking vehicle. "Get out! Get out! Get out!" He fired a half-dozen shots at the Stun, and the Motor-Viper drivers scrambled out of the vehicle and dropped to the ground with their hands on the back of their helmets.

"Impressive." commented Destro as he jumped down from the Razorback turret. "You have a lot of spunk, Grunt."

"Save it, tin-head. Let's just get your blueprints and get out of here."

"Very well. Unfortunately, we no longer have a vehicle."

"Then we go on foot." said the Baroness as she pushed open her canopy and crawled out of the Razorback.

Grunt let out a small laugh. "We may get in, but we'll never make it off the island."

Jumping to the ground, Destro patted the Joe on the back. "Faith, Grunt! You need more faith! I did not come all this way, and sacrifice hundreds of my men, dozens of my vehicles and most importantly: millions of my dollars, to fail when I was mere steps away from victory!"

Grunt shook his head. "You did fail! The Matrix Cannon is gone."

"In my business, Joe, as long you have blueprints, nothing is ever 'gone'."

6.

Cobra Commander gulped down a couple more pain-killers, closed the little opening on his faceplate and leaned against the elevator wall. He could barely stand, but that wasn't going to stop him from getting out of the Terror Drome. His life depended on it.

A Medi-Viper grabbed onto his shoulders and the Commander shook him off. "Commander, please. Let us help you. You're deeply wounded."

"Get me to my Temple, then you can do whatever you need to. Until then, just shut up and keep me awake."

The Medi-Vipers shook their heads in disapproval, but Cobra Commander had too much on his mind. Once he got to the Temple, he would pull back his forces, set up a defensive perimeter around the structure and destroy anything that came within five miles of the great Cobra fortress. Meanwhile, he would get Dr. Mindbender working on another Matrix Cannon that could be shot from the Throne Room of the Cobra Temple. Its range would be limited to the Northern Hemisphere, but that would be acceptable. Last but not least, Tomax and Xamot would get to work on breaking all relations with M.A.R.S.; but not until after they illegally laundered a few million dollars from Destro's precious organization. Once again a perfect set of schemes by the leader of the Cobra Terrorist Organization. He was tempted to order a Medi-Viper to pat him on the back.

Then the elevator doors opened.

"Overlord? What are you doing here?" gasped Cobra Commander as he stared at the Uzi the traitor was pointing in his direction.

"You didn't think that I was interested in following your orders ever again, did you?" Overlord began coughing, and it became clear that the scruffed-up, blood-stained soldier was in a lot of pain. His left arm was completely motionless.

"You're in no condition to usurp power from me again. Look at you! You've been shot!"

"Shut up! Get out of the elevator and head down the hall." Overlord waved the Uzi to his left.

"So, putting me in your old cell, eh? Predictable."

"Just walk. Medi-Vipers, stay in the elevator." As Overlord and Cobra Commander walked away, the doors shut, stranding the Vipers in the little transport.

The two Cobra agents neared the main entrance, and Overlord poked the Uzi's barrel into the Commander's ribs, causing him to cry out in pain. "I thought we were going to the prison cell!"

Overlord smiled. "That would be too easy. I'm not even going to let you suffer. We're just going to wander out into the swamp, I'm going to shoot you and Croc-Master's 'gator's can have what's left of you."

"He doesn't use alligators. Just crocs." pointed out Cobra Commander.

"I can't believe you'd actually know something like that. Open the doors!" Overlord pushed him up to the exit, and the Commander fell onto his good right knee. Slowly standing back up, he contemplated how to get out of this mess, but for once was at a loss for words.

The main doors swung open, but as they did, Cobra Commander and Overlord took a step back as they recognized the man standing in the doorway.

"Why thank you, my dear Cobra Commander. I was afraid that I was going to have to use explosives to get inside."

"Destro!"

7.

The sand crunched as the lifeboat from the G.I. Jane slid onto the shore. Hawk jumped into the splashing water and helped Scarlett over the side. Navy seamen walked onto the beach, quickly scanning the island for any sign of trouble.

"Looks like the team did a bang-up job of clearing the shore." said Doc.

Hawk slowly nodded and scooped Scarlett up into his arms, then carried her onto the hot sand. "Are you okay, Scarlett?"

"I wouldn't mind an umbrella, but I'm alive."

Hawk smiled the best that he could. "I'll see what I can do." The stress of the Jane's destruction, combined with a slow, painful lifeboat rescue and a nail-biter of a ride to the island had just about erased any hope Hawk had left for the mission. But his men were on this tropical slum-pit somewhere, and he had to find them.

"General!" A lieutenant came running up the beach towards Hawk.

"Yes."

"There is wreckage of a Cobra missile-launcher down this way. There are signs of a fight around it."

"Show me. Doc, stay with Scarlett."

"Can do."

As Hawk ran towards the point of interest, it became clear just what had happened. "This is a Cobra Adder." He told the lieutenant. "It must have fired the two missiles that struck the Jane before the Matrix Cannon did." After analyzing the footprints in the sand some more, Hawk pointed towards the swamp. "My men must have taken out the Adder's pilot, then made their way into the swamp here."

"It looks that way, sir."

Hawk took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Get your men together. We're going to find those Joes."

"Yes, sir.

"That might be easier than you think!" The group turned to their left to see Crankcase standing next to a palm tree about ten yards down the beach.

"Crankcase!" cried out Hawk as he began running towards his teammate. "We were afraid we'd lost you!"

"Let's skip the pleasantries, General. Where's Doc? Bazooka's in bad shape." Mainframe stepped out from the brush carrying the Missile-Specialist on one of his shoulders.

"He's a ways up the beach. Lieutenant! Get Doc down here, pronto!"

The Joes laid Bazooka next to the Adder to offer him some protection from the wind. "Where are the rest of the guys?"

Crankcase sat in frustrated silence, so Mainframe caught the question. "We were pinned down by a Cobra Surveillance Port. Alpine and Dial-Tome got hurt, so Crankcase and I pulled back. We intended to rejoin the fight, but Bazooka came crawling out to us, so we decided to get him out to safety. It…it was bad, sir."

"I wanted to go back, but these guys insisted on coming here!" snapped Crankcase. "We have no idea what happened to the others!"

Hawk frowned, and looked back at Mainframe. "It's all right. The others may be okay, too. You saved Bazooka, and that was the right thing to do."

"We saw a Razorback driving towards the Surveillance Port." said Crankcase. "We're not sure, but it looked like Destro was in it."

"Destro? He really is in this full-throttle. As far as we could tell, the Iron Grenadiers were getting eaten-alive by the Cobra forces. I'm amazed that one vehicle got ashore."

Doc ran around the Adder and knelt down by Bazooka. "I heard there was an injured football-player over here."

"He took a couple by the left kidney." explained Mainframe.

"Ouch. Let me take a look."

As Doc worked on Bazooka, the other Joes walked back towards the swamp's edge. Hawk nodded towards the Terror Drome. "Smoke. Somebody's been busy."

"At least it's in a good way." said Crankcase.

"Maybe." Hawk looked at the Navy seamen. "I want to know what's happening on this island. The sailors can hold this shore and help Doc. We're going in. You guys remember the way?"

Crankcase groaned. "Every soggy footstep."

"Good. Let's inform the others, then move out."