1Derailed
Disclaimer: Same as before...
---
The sewers, while damp, smelly, and dark were a welcome respite from the ferocious clashes between the invading Russians and the surviving Metroville defenders on the island who, coordinated or not, were inflicting their losses on the Russians. Adding the Heartless into the mix, and it was easy to determine why the group had chosen this underground refuge to access the prison and hopefully their way out.
Oh God, I hope Frank's alright...Emily thought. The strain of worrying what she would find, what those bastards might have done to Frank, was beginning to tell. Would she find him in the prison? Or had he fallen into the hands of the Russians?
Gunfire echoed, together with the occasional explosion above as Russian Marines and spetsnaz troops clashed with the remaining Metroville resistance reinforced by newly arrived Shock Troops. A blast shook the tunnel a little, causing dust to rain down.
As they rounded a corner Fielder took a second to glance at his map, "We're under the prison. We'd better hurry and get inside if we hope to find Frank, the Russians aren't too far behind."
As if to prove his point, the sound of a grenade exploding further down the tunnel. The Russians were starting to flood into the tunnels.
"Up you go!" Fielder said.
"We don't even know what's up there." Shipwreck replied.
"We know what's back there, though." Fielder replied, "Unless you want to fight through an ass ton of pissed off Russians..."
Shipwreck grabbed one of his Desert Eagles before climbing up, sliding the manhole away and peeking out. "It's safe guys, we can..."
A burst of gunfire echoed, narrowly missing Emily by a few inches. Lance let his eyes roll and the ground shook as part of the ceiling caved in and blocked off the tunnel from the advancing Russians.
"Let's get up there, someone will have heard that." Fielder said.
---
"So what possessed you two to let loose the most destructive menace in creation?" Piper began.
"We were hoping he'd tell us where Lance was." Ted replied, "The Coyote always knows where he is so that he can annoy him to no end…"
"And now he's around here to annoy us to no end." Piper replied, "You're lucky Phoebe was able to convince Elise Rothman that you work for Animal Control."
"Look, Piper, it wasn't Ted's fault." Paige replied.
"I know, you were the one who cast the spell. I still don't know what drove you two to release the most annoying, most vile, and certainly most madcap thing in creation..." Piper continued.
"We were trying to find Lance. In case you didn't know, a good number of our teammates are trapped on another world and we have no idea where they are." Ted snapped back.
"Here's an idea, ask the Coyote." Flint began, "Hey Coyote, where are our teammates..."
"First off, it's Mischief, or more precisely the Guardian of Mischief." The Coyote began.
"Whatever." Flint replied, "If you don't help us find our teammate I promise there will be consequences."
"Such as..." The Coyote replied.
"You won't have Lance around to annoy anymore." Paige chimed in.
Flint glared at her with a look that was a mix of annoyance and thanks.
"I can't do it from your world. It's not on the same wavelength as mine." Mischief began.
"To which I am eternally grateful." Piper replied, "Paige, send him back."
"Coyote of another plane, cause of Lance's annoyance and pain. I send you back to whence you came, to annoy Lance yet again..." Paige said as the Coyote vanished in a shadow of sparks and orbs.
"So you're going to need to rely on Lance's imaginary enemy...no, scratch that, Lance's imaginary, insane, singing, crossdressing and gender confused enemy to find him?" Piper replied, "I hate to say it, but you guys are screwed."
"We're all in this together. Let's not forget Lance is the Keyblade wielder, Piper." Paige replied.
"If this Keyblade ever shows up." Piper replied.
"It will show up." Leo said as he walked into the room, "But I don't know when. Even the Elders don't know when..."
"First thing's first let's find our missing teammates." Ted replied, "Or hope that our fast-talking Coyote friend finds them...We can worry about this keyblade later."
---
Shipwreck peeked out of the manhole, the only things visible being part of his head and his Desert Eagle. He peeked 360 degrees before climbing out of the hole. Fielder followed after him, covering another 180 degrees.
The rest of the team followed as Fielder attacked the door to the prison with his shotgun. As soon as he opened the door, several Shadow Heartless rushed at the team. Roadblock mowed them down with bursts of fire from his M240G.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW!" Lance shouted.
"Oh for God's sake, Lance we don't have time for you to lose it right now!" Bobby snapped as he and Kitty were helping Kurt up the ladder.
"One thing's for sure the Russians haven't hit this area yet." Shipwreck remarked as the team pushed deeper into the prison.
"What makes you say that?" Cover Girl replied.
"There's no sign of any doors being smashed in and bullet holes all over the place." Shipwreck said.
"Someone else got the prison staff though." Fielder remarked, noticing claw marks in the nearest wall, and the clawed corpse of a guard lying nearby.
"Guys, I hate to interrupt, but we've got the Russians chasing us." Dash said.
"NO I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR LATEST VERSION OF THE SCHINTZELBANK SONG!!!" Lance shouted at the air, waving his arms.
"You gotta love the man's timing." Pietro remarked.
"Lance this is no time to lose your mind. We've got the Russians right on our behind!" Roadblock shouted.
"JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU FLEA FACTORY!" Lance shouted.
"So what does your mystical coyote friend want this time?" Kitty asked.
"He just said he's off to tell Phoebe where we are, maybe the Charmed Ones can figure us a way off this hellhole." Lance replied.
"Charmed Ones?" Fielder asked.
"Friends of ours. They're three of the most powerful witches on our world." Cover Girl replied.
"Well we can't rely on distant friends of yours. Our best bet's still the C-5 unit. If we can rescue Frank he might be able to jury-rig a C-5 connection to get you guys back to your world and us back to ours." Fielder replied.
The sounds of the fighting getting closer could be heard as the Russians continued their assault toward the prison. They were moving methodically, slowly, but inexorably. Doors would be breached with mechanical devices or blown open, grenades tossed inside, and bursts at full automatic emptied into the rooms, moments later the Russians would burst inside and kill any survivors.
Metroville's defenders weren't going down lightly, either. Often Russian squads would be ambushed with homemade explosive devices, grenades, or ambushed by the Shock Troops. Russian soldiers faced frequent sniper attacks, which resulted in RPGs being fired at the sources of the shots.
As the group made its way deeper into the prison, they noticed that the Heartless had almost entirely overrun the prison.
"And Syndrome supposedly said he could control them, make them subservient to Metroville's needs. That's why the Russians invaded. They knew what a threat the Heartless posed, and with Syndrome provoking them, the attack was inevitable." Emily remarked, "Yet another lie he told when he took over the government, promising stability and security."
"We'd been monitoring Syndrome's activities for years after Mr. Incredible first defeated him." Alan Fielder replied.
Aside from the occasional Shadow Heartless, the prison was almost empty. "Hey guys, take a look at this..." Emily said, noticing a thinned looking notebook on the floor.
September 5th - 16 days have passed since I was abducted on a street in Congo by the men in black, and was brought here. I didn't understand what was happening at first, but I gradually became aware of the truth of this city. We seem to be confined here to serve as guinea pigs for a man known as Syndrome... The guinea pigs seem to be gathered from all over the world. The guy in the next room is from China, the one in front of my cell is from Brazil. The rest are Czechoslovakian, Japanese... It's like a world trade show. It's strange that they are all around my
age. The youngest is 16, and the oldest is 19 or 20. Those guards sometimes take us to an arcade or to a night club so we can enjoy ourselves and relieve our stress, but I won't let them deceive me. I will escape from this place, no matter what it takes! I must... Anyway, the most important thing to do now is to organize and gather our comrades for what lies ahead.
September 10th - Recently, the others have been behaving strangely. It seems that they put some kind of weird drug into our meals. I sometimes lose consciousness, too. I have to be careful.
September 21st I can't believe it! Another friend of mine, Chin, from the next room, was taken to the factory on the mountain. I don't think Chin's coming back. He will meet the same fate as Anna or Jacob who disappeared last week. I know... I know what happens to those who are taken to the factory on the mountain... When they took me to a night club yesterday, I overheard a conversation that some factory workers were having... Under orders from Lieutenant Stewart, they cut open our brains and extract some kind of material, whatever they call it. All I can say is that Stewart is a devil. No... Not just Stewart. Even the women and children in this city don't treat us as human beings, but as guinea pigs. All the people in the city are evil I will surely be killed if I stay here any longer. We have to hurry and execute our escape plan!
October 9th - The time has come. I have noticed the Umbrella people have been visibly disturbed for about a week or so. Rumor has it that there was a terrible accident at the Umbrella Laboratory somewhere in America. All the prison guards seem to be very busy gathering information on the accident, so security isn't as tight. We've organized our comrades already. Stojkovic and Enriquez are supposed to steal the keys from the guards. Sankhon and I will act as decoys, and Yoshikawa and Fellipe are in charge of gathering weapons. October 10th We have decided our escape route. The plan will be carried out at 11 PM tonight. We have twenty members seperated into two units: Unit A and Unit B. Unit A will go into the sewer through the ventilation slot of the confinement room, while Unit B will use a rope climb down from the surveillance tower. We'll use the rope they used to tie us. If we fail, Stewart will surely kill us. But if we stay here, Stewart will order them to cut our brains eventually. We're dead either way, but I'd rather die trying to escape...
"Oh my God..." Emily blanched.
"Moreausceau." Shipwreck remarked, quietly.
"What?" Emily asked.
"He means an island where we discovered COBRA was up to some similar things." Shipwreck said.
"COBRA?" Fielder asked asked, "Oh yes, from your world. Our intelligence reports say that it's lead by one of the world's greatest incompetents."
"Incompetents, yes. Unethical and evil, yes." Roadblock replied, "But about him we cannot stress..."
"We've got to find Frank." Emily replied.
"I wished they had a prisoner manifest around here. It'd be easier to find him that way." Shipwreck replied.
"The perfect way to find anything in a dictatorship, its paperwork." Cover Girl noted, "But we can't count on being so lucky every time."
Fielder took down a door with a trio of shotgun blasts and kicked the door open. The door was marked Infirmary.
A strangled cry echoed from the room beyond. "Help me...Somebody..."
"Mother of God." Fielder replied when he saw Frank.
Two antennae protruded from Frank's head, tufts of his hair had already fallen out and in their place he could see the pitch black flesh of a Heartless. One of his eyes was its normal brown, the other was a glowing yellow orb. One arm was normal, the other ended in a twisted black claw. He walked slightly hunched over.
"Oh God no..." Emily said, "Frank, what have they done to you?"
Fielder raised his shotgun, "I'm sorry Frank."
"NO!" Emily screamed, "We have to help him!"
"We can't." Fielder replied, "You know that."
"Go ahead Fielder, shoot me." Frank replied, "You were always jealous of me anyway!"
"I won't let you!" Emily replied, tears appearing in her eyes.
"You know he'll transform completely and then turn against us!" Fielder replied.
Emily stood in front of Frank, "If you're going to kill him, you'll have to kill me too." Emily replied.
"Emily, it's nothing personal. In a few hours Frank won't exist anymore. He'll become a Heartless and kill all of us!" Fielder replied.
"Don't shoot him!" Kitty pleaded, "Remember, you said he knew how to activate the C5 corridor."
"Too dangerous." Fielder replied, "If he transforms..."
"If he transforms, then we'll deal with it." Roadblock said, "You're not shooting him and that's it."
Fielder looked like he wanted to argue but nodded his head and lowered the shotgun. "Let's get out of here, the Russians will be here any second, or any Metroville soldiers that try to retake the place."
"HALT!" A Metroville guard said as he burst into the room, aiming his MP5 sub machinegun at Emily, "Lay down your weapons or this one dies."
With the life of his fiancee at risk, Frank didn't hesitate. He let out a savage roar and leapt right at the Metroville guard who managed to graze Frank with a single bullet. A deranged howl of pain and anger echoed from Frank's throat as he literally disarmed the Metroville soldier.
The man looked at the severed stump of his right arm, screaming as blood gushed from severed arteries. Frank let out another savage roar and the man's screams became blood choked gurgles as Frank slammed him into the wall and clawed at his torso, causing entrails and blood to fly everywhere. "DON'T EVER THREATEN HER AGAIN!!!!"
Frank continued to rip the corpse of the man to shreds long after he was dead before he quit, turning back to the group, covered in blood.
"We've got to get to the test facility on Promontory Hill." Frank said, "That's where they're trying to duplicate the C5 technology."
Fielder shot him a look that said, 'I'll keep my eye on you...' as they left the area hurriedly.
"Likewise..." The Frank-Heartless growled.
"Let's keep moving." Shipwreck said, "Before anything else finds us."
---
The Island, indeed much of Metroville was in shambles. To the south of Sheena Island packs of Soviet tanks and motorized infantry regiments supported by massive artillery fire and air attacks. Roving behind the lines were spetsnaz detachments, attacking supply convoys, blowing up bridges, command and control stations, and aircraft on the ground. VDV paratroopers were fighting protracted engagements in places like Municberg, after having been dropped unexpectedly behind the lines.
But the Syndrome run dictatorship of Metroville wasn't going quietly. The Soviets didn't have complete air superiority, daily clashes between the Red Air Force and the Metroville Aerospace Defense Force occured. Resistance fighters in Soviet occupied territories killed their Soviet occupiers in fierce gun battles, forcing the Russians to divert troops and material to 'pacified' sectors in order to protect their supply lines. First rate shock troops were sent to hunt down and kill the spetsnaz intruders. As more forces were mobilized, second and third rate troops to be sure, the Russians encountered fierce resistance from brave yet inexperienced enemies. Syndrome's new defensive line gave ground slowly to the Russian onslaught, allowing many civilians to escape northward, but at a vast cost...
Dan Rydinger(1) ducked low as bullets streaked from what had once been Concourse B of the Municberg International Airport. The Russian paratroopers had taken the airport and had been stubbornly holding it and the surrounding neighborhood for weeks. They had to be dug out room by room, house by house, street by street, block by block.
They were tricky bastards to be sure. They might fight over a house for days, but they would retreat during the night, wait for the probing attack and then blow the house up around the ears of the attacking Metroville soldiers.
Of the forty-seven men that had been with him when he joined D Company, the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Infantry Division almost eighty perecent of them were killed or wounded in vicious city fighting against the Russians.
A Russian MiG-27 Flogger dropped several bombs on a nearby building only to be struck by a missile from a I-8 Fighter. The Metroville fighter plane flew over the 8th Infantry Division's positions on full afterburner and the Metroville ground troops cheered. Two MiG-29 Fulcrums came flying over the horizon in hot pursuit.
The cheering in the basement where Dan and his fellow troops were hiding began to stop. "Get down!" A sergeant shouted as a Mil Mi-24 'Hind' gunship flew towards them. With twin 30mm automatic cannons and forty S8 rockets capable of saturating several square miles with high explosives the Hinds were among the most feared Soviet aircraft by Dan and his fellow grunts.
The squad leader had no sooner shouted when a 30mm shell blew his head apart like a watermelon struck with an axe.
Dan found himself splattered with his squad leader's brains. He dived underneath an old table literally one second after a rocket struck the building and exploded. The cellar shook violently as multiple rockets smashed into the neighborhood.
One soldier screamed hysterically, howling like a soul damned in Hell as the rockets continued to pummel the neighborhood.
The others crouched low, wishing they were deeper underground or for the barrage to halt. After what seemed like an eternity, the barrage halted. "Any second now boys..." another soldier said to the new recruits.
Dan knew from his time at the front that Soviet paratroopers frequently followed creeping barrages towards their intended targets. Any second now the Russians would be right on top of them, fighting over the wrecked ruins of the old house.
That was what his war had been reduced to, fighting small unit actions against the Russians over the devastated ruins of Municberg.
"Here they come!" came the shout.
"Grenade!" Another soldier shouted as one was tossed into the basement. He threw it back out at the Russians and heard a loud scream of pain.
Grenades exploded, killing friend and foe alike as Metroville soldiers and Russian paratroopers fought over the wrecked rooms. Sometimes the Russians would hold one floor, and their enemies the floor above or below it, with the two sides arranged in the building like a layer cake from Hell...
---
"Paige, I have news about…" Sam said as he orbed into the Halliwell Manor's living room, he didn't see any of the sisters, just a fellow wearing the olive uniform of the Israeli Defense Force, "Who are you?"
"I might have to ask you the same question pal." Ted replied.
Paige hurried into the room just then. "Sam, what's going on?"
"Paige, what's going on? Who is this clown…" Ted replied.
"This 'clown' is her father." Sam replied.
"I didn't know that they let you drink at the fire station." Ted replied.
"Ted, he's my biological father." Paige replied. Thanks to the bond between them, he could feel Paige was a bit on edge.
"And who the hell are you?" Sam replied.
"I'm Ted Griffin, Paige's boyfriend." Ted replied.
"Boyfriend?" Sam said, "This guy?"
"What the hell are you insinuating?" Ted replied.
"I've heard of you. You hang out with that Misfit crowd. You're the one who keeps sending the Coyotes and those tiny bearded insane sailors into the Whitelighter area!" Sam continued.
"Whoa! Gramps," Ted protested, "First of all I did no such thing. There is no way in hell I control any Coyotes or Shipwreck clones!"
"Well if you hang around trash you start to smell." Sam replied, "And what do you mean by Gramps?"
"First of all Shipwreck, Sands, the Blind Master, and that lot of idiots..." Sam continued.
"Hey, they might not be the most sane, most stable or whatever group." Ted countered, "But I will say this. They are a loyal, if mismatched group of people who genuinely care about each other! And I'm proud to part of that group."
"Well, you know what they say, birds of a feather flock together. I can't allow my daughter to consort with the likes of you." Sam replied.
Paige stood there, helplessly as Ted and Sam began to argue some more.
"And you're a role-model yourself!" Ted snapped back angrily, "You basically abandoned Paige the second she was born. You didn't even know her name! You just told that old nun to give her a name that started with 'P'..."
"Ted..." Paige began.
"I did not abandon Paige, Ted!" Sam replied.
"Really, and dumping her off at the nearest church doesn't constitute abandonment because..." Ted replied.
"Sam..." Paige continued.
"Those were slightly different circumstances." Sam replied.
"And you didn't even try to watch her from afar!" Ted replied snappily.
"And you're one to judge me, murderer!" Sam replied.
"Sam, he's not a murderer!" Paige snapped back.
"Paige, it's OK...I deserve it..." Ted replied.
"No he doesn't! Sam, you don't know Ted the way I do!" Paige replied.
"Paige, you're making a terrible mistake with this man." Sam replied, "You have that Whitelighter's bond with him..."
"And I know he carries a great burden with what he had to do!" Paige replied.
"How do you know that..." Sam said, putting his hand on Paige's forehead and the two were sent back to a moment in Ted's past.
Jerusalem, 2002: "Ted!" the little girl said as she sat up in her hospital bed, excited to see him.
"Hey little miss." Ted smiled, despite weariness, despite the fact that the bus from Gaza had been delayed. The forty-eight hours he was about to spend with Alexia and Emily were worth it.
"You're late." Emily, the bed-bound little girl said.
"Bus got held up." Ted replied. A young woman, maybe in her mid twenties approached and Ted embraced and kissed her.
"You know Emily," Ted said, with a joking tone, "You know why they make little kids like you so endearing is so that adults don't leave you under a bush."
"If you leave her under a bush, you're not likely to have a place to stay in Jerusalem." Alexia said.
Ted took
"Who is she?" Paige asked Sam, as she detected the thick waves of emotion radiating from Ted, love for the woman, and a paternal love for the little girl.
"He never told you about her? How he was dating a single mother in Israel five years ago from 2001-2002? How he almost had an adopted daughter?" Sam asked, "Tsk tsk..."
"Ted's got a lot of things in his past. If she's an old girlfriend of his, " Paige replied, "And isn't there something more important at hand...like why you came here."
"I'm trying to save you, Paige, save you from..." Sam replied.
"Save me from what?" Paige replied.
Jerusalem, 2002: The charred remnants of the van lay in the middle of the street. A woman stood sobbing, among the crowd being kept back by the MAGAV escort. Ted raced over, still in civilian clothes he approached the sobbing woman. "Alexia, was Emily...Oh God no..."
Alexia's tears told him the story, "Sh-she went to see the Children's Museum...they were taking the kids to see it...and then the van...As if leukemia wasn't going to kill her already! They took my baby away!"
God, let me kill the bastards who took Emily away from us! Ted thought as his mobile phone rang, summoning him to YAMAS HQ.
The YAMAS HQ was packed with all its team members. Apparently this wasn't the only attack on Israel's children that day. This attack on a van full of Israeli children's hospital patients was just one of several attacks.
A man stood there in a plain gray suit, a Shin Bet operative. "We suspect Al-Asqa had a hand in today's events. And we will need men of your talent to go get the bastards."
A picture was passed among the YAMAS operatives, he was a young man, about twenty-four years old with Aladdin-like roguish good looks, dark eyes and a thin mustache.
"Rahim Al-Tahiq, the mastermind of today's attack, bastard son of Sheik Al-Tahiq, a third rank Saudi Prince." the Shin Bet agent said, "He's an up and coming figure in Al-Aqsa, and we imagine he fled to Gaza, hidden by sympathetic Palestinians. We don't want him arrested, we want him dead."
"Why not simply shoot a guided missile into his hideout?" Levi asked.
"We require a 'personal' touch. But we don't want it to look like Rahim was killed by Israeli forces, for fear of angering his Saudi father. Perhaps make it seem that he was killed by criminals in Gaza..." the Shin Bet man replied.
Gaza 2002, two weeks later: Rahim Al-Tahiq walked out of his host's house, "It's dangerous outside, Rahim." the woman warned, "The Israelis have cracked down hard."
"I'm trying to prevent them from causing more harm to our children." Rahim said, indicating Khadija. The little girl sat in the middle of the floor playing with her doll, her only toy, missing both its arms. Khadija was missing her own left arm, courtesy of an Israeli air strike a month earlier.
"I just want to stretch my legs a little," Rahim said.
"Please don't go Daddy..." Khadija said.
The woman, whose own voice was choked with emotion added, "Please don't go outside. The Israelis are hunting you. They want you."
"They don't know I'm here, Leila. They have no idea that I've hidden in plain sight. They have no idea that I've taken shelter with my own flesh and blood." Rahim said.
"Why do you do these things, Rahim?" Leila asked.
"Look outside." Rahim said, "All this poverty, all this destruction, the Israelis are responsible. I had to make them pay."
"But you're actions only make it worse. The Israelis are enforcing more crackdowns, arresting more people..." Leila said.
"All revolutions require sacrifices." Rahim said as he walked outside.
Leila held her frightened daughter, tears streaming into her eyes. She feared she wouldn't see Rahim again.
Rahim walked outside, intending to head for the corner to just relax. He never made it. A large hulking man grabbed him and dragged him into a back alley, pulling him into a hidden vehicle. A hood was flung onto his head and he was shoved bodily onto the vehicle's floor. A man put a knee to the side of his head, holding him to the ground. The larger man bound his hands with plastic flex-cuffs.
The van raced away. "What do you want?"
"Shut up!" Ted shouted from the back seat, savagely kicking Rahim in the stomach.
"You are Israelis..."
"You are a criminal and we are your judge, jury, and executioner." Ted replied.
Paige felt the raw anger and grief emanating from Ted's heart.
The door of the van was flung open and Rahim was roughly flung onto the hardbaked ground. Samad, Ted and Avi all surrounded him, menacingly, carrying long sticks.
"My daughter died in one of your attacks..." Ted replied.
"All wars have casualties." Rahim said. Ted savagely kicked him in the ribs. Rahim let out a gasp that sounded like a football deflating.
Ted kicked him again, this time just below the solar plexus, "That's for Emily! That's for the daughter I never will have!"
"Your daughter died for..." Rahim began before Ted kicked him in the groin.
"Do you see how he's enjoying it, how he's toying with Rahim..." Sam replied.
Paige could feel the savage elation.
"Cut his restraints." Ted replied. Samad cut the restraints and Rahim attempted to get up, only for Ted to whack him on the outside of one leg, and Samad struck him on the other.
He tried to crawl away only for Ted to stomp on one of his hand. Rahim let out a yell of pain. "Please...please stop..." Rahim shouted.
Ted kicked him in the ribs again and Rahim felt liquid fire at his side, clutching with both broken hand and unbroken hand. Samad kicked him in the small of his back and Rahim's hands moved. Ted grabbed Rahim's broken hand and squeezed hard on the broken hand.
"I have a daughter!? Please don't orphan my..." Rahim shouted.
Ted swung the wooden stick, striking Rahim's elbow with a lot of force, breaking his arm. "You took mine away from me, I'm taking your life as revenge."
"My daughter was injured by one of your attacks..." Rahim began as Ted put his foot on the side of his head, pinning it to the ground.
"And mine was killed." Ted replied, "And the price is your life."
"Oh please..." Rahim begged.
Ted stomped on his other hand. Rahim shouted, "My little one loved stuffed animals. Her hospital room was full of them."
He swung the stick again, hitting the broken rib. "She loved going outside with her mother! And your bomb ended her life and I will end yours."
"There is no God but Allah and Mohammed..." Rahim began as Ted, Samad, and Avi continued to kick and strike him until they were sure he was dead.
"Go through his pockets, it's a robbery, remember." Samad replied.
Ted dug into the pockets. Among the possessions was a picture of a woman and a small girl. Oh God, what have I done...
The team took the corpse and dumped it into the back alley they had taken him from.
Two days later: "The body of Rahim Al-Tariq was found beaten and bludgeoned in a Gaza back alley. Palestinian police believe the motive was robbery."
"See, he has the heart of a vengeful killer." Sam began.
"Aside from delving into my past, why are you here?" Ted demanded, visibly shaken.
Paige went to his side, holding him. Ted was too shaken to move away. She glared at Sam, "What have you done to him?"
"We visited his past. To see the darkness in his heart. You saw how he enjoyed beating and kicking Rahim to death." Sam replied.
"Sam, I know there are things in Ted's past that he regrets. I know he had a life before he met me and he wasn't exactly a monk. But I love him for who he is, not for who he was." Paige replied.
"But who he was made him who he is." Sam replied.
"We'll deal with this later, but why are you here?" Paige asked Sam.
"It's some news. The Elders receive word that an old enemy of G.I. Joe may rear its ugly head." Sam replied, "Cobra-La."
"Cobra-La," Ted replied, "Wait a second, I thought that it was destroyed years ago?"
"Apparently not." Sam replied, "Somehow they survived."
Flint walked into the room, having overheard the word Cobra-La. "We destroyed them years ago."
"Apparently, but they survived, somehow." Sam replied, "And now there is something afoot. Lower level demons have been throwing their lot in with Golobulus, who for reasons unknown has sided with Syndrome and this mysterious Organization XIII."
"I'll get Dial Tone over here, we'll share our information on Cobra-La." Flint said, "This is serious."
"It is rumored that experiments with Cobra-La technology fused with Syndrome's horrific creations and the Heartless are underway." Sam began.
---
"So," Cobra Commander said, "A lot of the Misfits and Joes and two of the Incredibles are trapped on your world, Syndrome. Between two invading factions."
"The Serum as an illegal street drug is working wonders. Many new Heartless are being added to our ranks every day. They're doing a credible job of having the remaining Joes chase them all over the world, trying to isolate them." Syndrome replied, "And that is Step Two of my plan. Combine that with the FoH making trouble as well. Step Three will be the start of gathering more hearts for the final push and capturing a magical nexus, the Halliwell Manor. And finally Step Four will be taking the world by storm with swarms of Heartless and Nobodies."
"Yes, we've heard that before." Cobra Commander said.
"But allies are needed. Barillo's Cartel and Stryker's FoH provide much needed manpower and distribution networks for the Serum, and bodies to throw before G.I. Joe's efforts. And the Jugglers concealing the presence our latest allies is a boon."
Pythona walked into the room then, with Nemesis Enforcer in tow.
"You!!!" Cobra Commander hissed.
"I'm aware there's some...history...between you two." Syndrome replied, "But their help was key in securing key technology and some key DNA, together with that of lower level demons and Heartless to create the Prototype."
"Prototype?" Cobra Commander asked.
"This creature is currently in stasis in the Kronos Facility. The same Island where several Joes, Misfits, and X-men are trapped." Syndome said, "Let's give it a test drive..."
Cobra Commander and Pythona glared at one another from across the room as Syndrome activated a video screen showing a creature, about six and half feet tall, hideously over muscled, one arm ending in a hideous claw, the other normal. The symbol of the Heartless was stamped into its chest, and a mouthful of fang-like teeth filled its mouth. Antennae sprouted from its head, as its eyes glowed yellow-white.
Syndrome pressed a small red button and the fluid began to drain out of the tank. The Prototype was on it's hands and knees at the bottom of the tank before it stood up, tore the leads from its body and shattered the tank.
The Prototype let out a loud roar as it stalked through the facility. Syndrome punched in some orders into a computer.
"This will be the unpleasant surprise will await the Misfits, Joes, and X-men trapped on the Island..." Syndrome replied.
---
TBC
1.Dan Rydinger is Tony Rydinger's brother from the story 'Relocated' in the Incredibles section.
