AU: Hey! so here's a new chapter for all you readers out there. Enjoy and please Review.

KEY:

'Sign language'

"normal talking"

'Thoughts'

flashbacks

CHAPTER III

BY PRIME'S SPARKLING

"Revenge may be wicked, but it's natural."
― William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

While loss was not something Parker had been open to much in his young life, it did not mean he had not seen it in others. He'd plenty of times watched his parents comfurt each other after they had come home from missions where comrades had been lost when they thought he had been asleep. He'd often spoken to the other kids whom had lost their own folks and he had not always understood why they could not just grieve and move on, but now he had first-hand experience on the subject. Now things were different and not for the better. He felt like screaming and hitting anything he could see at the unfairness of it all, but he refused to give into his body's demands as he gazed over at his sister who sat hunched over her computer, typing away like there was no tomorrow. He knew how vulnerable she was after the attack, she had been closer to their parents than him. It had always been so. She was the lovable geek, he was her protector and he knew he couldn't allow himself to break when she needed him to be her rock.

Sighing, Parker gave the punching bag in front of him a last jab and kick before he walked over to Nova in silence. He sat down next to her looking over the numbers and intense code she'd typed into the program she was creating. She gazed up at him through tired eyes and he gave her unhurt shoulder an affectionate squeeze before signing to her.

'Any ideas on where to go?' He asked warily, eyes scanning the picture on her screensaver. In it, a seven year old Nova sat upon his nine year old self's shoulders hanging onto a branch in the mountainous terrain. On either side of them stood their parents smiling proudly at the camera. He remembered the day it had been taken, as they had been on vacation in the Californian mountains and he and Nova had dwindled from the campsite thinking of the adventure they were going on. They had gotten lost and had been forced to take shelter in some caves from the storm that had broken loose. Their parents had found them the next day of course, given them a smack on the rear each and then taken them for ice cream. Parker smiled as the memory came through and shook this head to clear his thoughts before turning his gaze back to Nova, 'We can't stay here for too long.'

'I know,' Nova signed back to him looking about as lost as he was, 'That ninja that was after us won't be stopped this easily. We pretty much gave him a map to get here when we simply came here without making sure we covered or tracks.'

Parker nodded, 'So where do we go?'

'We'll stay here for tonight and tomorrow we'll see if we can't get a hold of Uncle Hawk and find a place to meet,' She said shrugging her shoulders before looking him in the eyes, 'that's the idea I've got.'

'Well I've got none, so we'll do it,' Parker signed nodding his head, 'but we'll need some supplies.'

Nova nodded shutting down her laptop and packed it away before swinging her bags onto her shoulders and hobbling over to the bike, followed by Parker.

'How much money do you have?' She asked glancing at him as he sat down behind her on the bike.

'Enough for what we need,' he signed into her back and smirked, 'good thing pops taught us how to drive.'

'You still can't drive to save your life,' she snorted and giggled when he playfully poked her in the side.

'Hey! I'm a pro at it in GTA,' He signed with a smile.

'No you're not,' Nova started up the bike silently with a secret laugh, 'All you do is summon a fricken chopper in the middle of the highway and cause destruction with its rocket launchers.'

And with that said, they peeled out of the hanger, Parker's hoarse sounding laugh drowned out by the roar of the engine…

General Hawk pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, feeling the headache of the day sneaking up to them. He gazed back up at the young cadet standing before him before hardening his gaze.

"So let me get this straight," he said sternly, "you decided, despite the fact that we have a crisis on our hands, to take out one of our available aircrafts out on a joy ride and crash-landed it when no-one opened the main doors for you?"

"Yes sir," the soldier stood to attention, an arrogant look on his face as he looked around them, "It's their fault for not opening the damn thing."

"No Crosswire," General Hawk curled his hands into fists, "there is no body here to blame, but yourself."

"But sir," Crosswise frowned.

"You had no authorization to take flight," he slammed his hands onto the desk, "What you did was a code 7 offence. Because of you all operations are on standstill until all the debris is safely cleared from entrance one. You're lucky nobody got hurt."

"What, is this now about that mission to save those damn kids?" Crosswise yelled going into dangerous territory, "Well I say who gives a damn! There's plenty of kids out there, let Cobra take them."

"I don't have time to deal with this," He pushed the bell on his desk and nodded as the messenger soldier stepped in, "Sergeant."

"Yes sir," the unnamed Joe saluted and relaxed after the commanders ok.

"Take corporal Crosswise here to solitary," Hawk commanded, "he can stay there until the missing kids have been retrieved."

"What!" Crosswise shrieked, his eyes turning icy in fury.

"Yes sir," the soldier grabbed the corporal by the arm and began to guide him out the room. The man offered resistance before he gave in and allowed the messenger to drag him out. Genral Hawk sat in his seat and placed his hands over his face before he gazed over to the picture on his desk of himself and his sister, who stood holding two babies in her arms.

"Just hang in there kids," He whispered to himself, "we'll find you, and keep you safe."

He continued to think about his family until a knock on the door brought him out of his reverie. Hawk looked up and turned hopefully when he saw Duke standing in the doorway, "Yes Duke?"

"General Hawk," Duke saluted his commanding officer and relaxed at his commanding officer's nod.

"What is it?" Hawk ran a tired hand down his face.

"We think we may have finally located a general area of where the kids may be," Duke said having to run after his commander who quickly made his way to the control room, "Lookout patrol spotted Viper forces heading towards a town close by to where the attack occurred. Intel believes they're going for another kidnapping attempt."

"Not on my watch," General Hawk growled before heading over to one of the desks and grabbing the intercom systems microphone, "All Joes, attention all Joes. This is Hawk, grab whatever you can and get that door cleared completely by the end of the next hour. Alpha team gear up."

It was mid-afternoon by the time, Parker and Nova had reached the small town outside of their old home. They had long since pulled on hats and a pair of sunglasses each to shield their identities and were quickly making their way through the aisles in a shop. The two had not bought much, simply some extra pairs of clothes and food for a few days, and payed for them in cash. Making their way silently back towards the motor cycle, Nova felt something freezing crawl up the back of her neck and stopped dead in her tracks. Dropping the bags she carried, she grabbed onto Parker's shirt and yanked him backwards.

'What?' He asked as he reached down to pick up what he had dropped when she had grabbed him. She signed him something and his face paled before he grabbed her hand and tugged her back to the motorcycle, leaving their purchases on the ground. He started up the bike this time and tore out of the parking lot with Nova clinging onto him like a koala bear. Nova opened her mouth in a silent scream as her brother nearly drove them off the road. Behind them they became aware of the sounds of flying engines and choppers.

Flooring it, Parker ripped through uneven roads, wincing when cobble stones swept up and hit the bare flesh on his legs that were not covered by his shorts. He felt Nova's arms tighten around his waist, the only outward sign of her pain as they hit her as well. Up ahead, he noticed a lone set of train tracks they had come over on their way to town and sped up when the bell began to ring for an oncoming train. He pushed the bike to its max, to get away and let a small sigh of relief pass his lips as the bike reached the other side of the railway tracks. They skidded to a stop and the two minors looked up at the hovering ship just as one of the doors opened and a familiar figure jumped out. The white clothed assassin dropped with a roll onto the ground and glared up straight at them.

Nova gulped and pinched Parker's side to force him to wake up and the elder boy spun the bike around in a sweep of dust and charged down the other side. The assassin gave chase, pulling out a pair of shuriken as he did. He threw three of them, the fist missing completely, the second scratching Parker across the ear and the forth hitting its target on the back wheel. The bike slid out of control, both siblings screaming in fear as they were thrown from it. Nova landed hard onto the dirt road, opening her injuries once more, while Parker crashed into a tree in the small forest they had driven into. He dropped to the ground unconscious and did not move further…

Stormshadow smirked behind his mask as he gazed around at the mess he'd created, not believing how easy this job had been, and silently pulled out a needle. Sure they had managed to get away from him the first time, using the attack as a distraction, but that had been a minor setback. He wasn't worried about the boy and decided that the child could die for all he cared, his mission was to bring in at least one of them anyway. Sighing he made his way over to the girl as he heard the ship land behind him and hastily crouched at her side. She was battered and bruised from the fall and previous injuries but still breathing and he smiled as he reached down. Behind him some of the Viper troops ran out to secure the perimeter and he grabbed the girl's arm.

Nova woke to ear splitting pain. It was all over her body, like someone had taken a vegetable peeler to her skin. Inwardly she groaned weakly when somebody grabbed her arm just as her memories came rushing back. Parker! Parker was hurt. She forced her eyes open ad wished she hadn't when she saw the familiar eyes of the man who had tried to grab them the day before. The man picked her up into his arms and started moving her towards the ship where she saw a bald man waiting among the Viper soldiers at the door way. Wanting something else to look at as the tears filled her eyes, she gazed out to the side before she began to fighting her attacker's grip when she suddenly saw Parker's body lying to the side. The white ninja that held her tightened his grip to keep her in place and some of the Vipers stepped forward to lend a hand. She struggled more and thanked whatever god was out there for her short body as she managed to shimmy out of his grasp, although she had a feeling that he let her go as to not hurt her further. She raced to the other side and fell to her brother's side, tears streaming down her face. She shook him and tried to make him wake up, before the sound of laughter met her ears. Looking up, she saw the bold man guff at her pain and felt a mixture of anger and fear rise up in her as the white ninja from before closed in on her. She closed her eyes and leaned over her brother, hearing him groan in protest as she did and waited for the inevitable. 'This is it', she thought, 'They're going to take us where no-one can find us and kill us.' Feeling desperate, she sent a prayer to any god that happened to be watching to spare them and let out a sigh of relief when she heard a gunshot and saw the bullet dig itself into the ground where the ninja had been about to step. Twisting her head to the side, she regretted it as it sent her sight on a spinning rollercoaster. In the back ground, she was aware of more shots being fired coming from multiple directions and orders being yelled out from both sides. Her eye sight slowly clearing, Nova noticed the white blur that was the ninja running towards them. Alarm spread through her and she tightened her grip on her brother, covering her head with her free arm and closed her eyes. Until she heard the sound of metal on metal. Opening them, the first thing she saw was the black ninja with the visor blocking the white ninja's attack with a long sword.

"Long time no see brother," the white ninja said tauntingly, pressing on his blade to push the other one away. His eyes flashed briefly to Nova who had yet to move before resting again on his opponent's visor, "I'd like to stay and chat, but I have a play date to attend."

Nova got a sickening feeling in her throat and tried to stand, pulling a still unconscious but moaning Parker with her. The white ninja moved to intercept her but was stopped by the black one who swung his blade expertly at his head.

"Have it your way then brother," the white one said as she slowly dragged her brother though the trees. Only later on, when she wasn't on the run, Nova would realize that the Black ninja had not spoken once during the entire confrontation. She pulled her brother as far away from the battle as she could, tripping often in the dense lush of nature over her unsteady feet and wheezing as she stood back up. Her lungs burned like someone had started a fire that refused to go out and her body stung like the pits of hell. Exhausted, she pulled Parker's heavy weight into the nearest thicket she could find and settled herself behind him to support his back. Tears formed in her eyes as she pulled the bushes closed and sunk her head into the back of Parker's shoulder weeping as she for the battle to finish.

Duke ran up to Ripcord silently as he cocked his gun. He was still tense from the battle even after StormShadow and Desrow had called a retreat for unknown reasons. He saw Scarlet limp over to them with Heavyduty's help and turned to look at SnakeEyes who was sheathing his swords onto his back.

"Where's the kids?" He asked and all of them looked around expectantly.

"Don't know," Scarlet replied solemnly as Ripcord took her from HeavyDuty, "They ran off after SnakeEyes and StormShadow battled it out."

Duke looked at the ninja tensely, "Can you track them?"

He nodded back silently and disappeared into the forest, rolling his eyes as his comm. Link beeped.

"Guys what is going on out there?" Breaker asked over the piece and Duke sighed.

"Had a run in with Cobra but we only have two confirmed causlties but," HeavyDuty kneeled next to Scarlet and quickly patched up the bleeding spot on her leg where she'd been hit in the fray .

"And the packages?" Breaker sighed softly.

"Unknown," Scarlet hissed as HeavyDuty applied anesthetic to her leg and grit her teeth, "Ran off when we distracted Cobra's men. SnakeEyes' is tracking them."

"And their status?" Commander Hawk asked in Breaker's place over the radio.

"Unknown," Duke replied tensely, "They're injured though, judging from the blood marks found where the boy had been."

"Find them" Hawk barked angrily all five of them nodded.

"Yes sir!"

Nova held onto Parker like a life line as she strained her ears though the silence. The gun fires had stopped as quickly as it had begun and had left the surroundings more quiet than a frozen woodland in the middle of nowhere. Tears of fear ran down her cheeks and she shuffled her satchel so that her laptop to did not dig into her side, being careful not to make too much noise.

She did not know how long they had sat in the darkness of the thicket, but to Nova it had felt like an eternity. Sadly she gazed down at her brother in the dim light, just making out the blood that ran from the side of his head and the unnatural angle of his right arm. She closed her eyes to clear her thoughts.

SNAP! Nova's eyes snapped open into a deer in headlights look and felt herself begin to hyperventilate as she adjusted her grip in Parker. He moaned, but remained unconscious and she slapped her hand over his mouth in horror. She held her breath and tensely counted the seconds that passed, praying that they would not be caught. When she heard nothing after a while she let it out and immediately regretted it when she heard the tell tale whish of a pair of swords being drawn. She tightened her grip on her brother as she heard the thicket being drawn apart slowly and she once more held her breath when she saw the crouched figure crawl closer, realizing it was the black clothed ninja from before. She tensed, feeling his eyes on her behind the visor and curled her hands into fists as he reached up and sheathed his Katanas. Confusion hit her then, making her momentary wonder why he had placed his weapons away if his intentions were to hurt them. She slowly let out the breath she was holding and watched with a tight grip on Parker as the ninja lowered his hands and began to sign to them expertly as though he'd been doing it for a long time.

'Do not fear' he said moving closer to them deliberately, 'You are safe now.'

A stillness fell over them for a moment as Nova fearfully checked for signs of deceit from the unknown man, but she could make out none through the hardened visor he wore obscuring his eyes. Still feeling his eyes upon her, she forced herself to relax and loosened her fisted grip on her sibling enough to reply back to the ninja.

'Who are you?' Nova asked reluctantly and wary of him.

'SnakeEyes,' the man replied after a moment and Nova knew she had heard of that name before. Keeping her eyes on him she thought back through her memories, looking for where she had possibly seen it before. She thought of when she had hacked into the military network which had been harder than she cared to admit but not impossible, and remembered suddenly why it was so familiar. The name had been in the profile under a list of people in her uncle's command.

'You're a Joe?' she asked carefully, relief somewhat coming to her when he nodded to her. SnakeEyes tilted his head towards the outside and she glanced down at her brother worriedly from where he moaned in pain completely unaware of his surroundings, 'My brother…'

SnakeEyes turned to look at Parker before he nodded and moved closer, ignoring her tense and wince at his close presence and gently lifted her brother away from her. The ninja withdrew from the thicket, holding him bridal style as though he weighed nothing in his arms, leaving Nova in the darkness to clear her thoughts. Deciding not to keep them waiting she pushed herself onto her stinging hands and knees, hearing her aching bones pop after sitting still for too long, and begrudgingly followed the Joe out of the bushes. The alarms in her head had stopped going off in her head and Nova felt that she could trust the stranger holding her brother against his chest. She felt safe around him and Nova had always trusted her instincts above all else save for maybe her brother. SnakeEyes nodded back and started the somewhat long trek back to where the battle had been, occasionally helping her up when she tripped over something…

Duke had always considered himself a somewhat patient person, but at that moment he really considered committing mental suicide to pass the time while they waited for word from SnakeEyes regarding the kids whereabouts. It sickened him that Cobra had swooped as low to threaten the lives two children and while having seen many horrors of war and having grown accustomed to death, he drew the line at kids. It was against his morals, soldier or not.

Sighing he shook his head to shake away his darker thoughts and gazed around at the team he had taken command of since the Paris incident over a year ago when Cobra had literally eaten the legendary Eiffel tower to pieces. Of course they had rebuilt the historic land mark but things had never been the same since. Duke looked over at Ripcord who stood leaning against an armored vehicle which had come carrying a G.I. Joe support team during the fray. The dark skinned man was talking softly with his girlfriend who sat upon the bonnet of the truck. Seeing his friend with Scarlet made him think back to his own girl who was waiting for him back in the research center back at base. The thought made his mood darken. They had not yet found a way to remove the nanobites which swam in Anna's blood stream or the blood streams of any of the other soldiers who had given themselves up freely during the attack on cobra's headquarters in the Artic not long after the assault in Paris. Each time they tried to force the nanos invading the bodies out, the person died as a result of a defense mechanism and the nanos would eat away at the corps, leaving no evidence. Duke shook his head wanting to chase away his darker thoughts and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to clear his thoughts.

"Something bothers me," HeavyDuty commented walking up behind them after having spoken to one of the cleanup teams. Duke turned to regard him silently and raised his eyebrows questioningly, "like why the bloody hell did Cobra and his posies pull out of that fight so fast?"

"I don't know HeavyDuty," Duke replied, keeping his voice soft, "but looks like they got what they wanted, whatever it is."

"I know," HeavyDuty sighed forelongingly and stared into the forest where SnakeEyes had disappeared into, "And that's what bothers me so bloody damn much. We already know it's got to do with the packages otherwise they wouldn't have gone after them."

"True," Duke nodded and crossed his arms, "Let's just hope we can get some answers when SnakeEyes finds them."

HeavyDuty agreed with him but said no further as figures appeared at the edge of the wilderness. Duke watched as well, eyes widening when he saw the condition of the boy in SnakeEyes' arms and the girl who stumbled over the uneven ground behind them. Shaking his head he lifted his fingers to his left ear and activated his communications link.

"Alphas to Command," he said feeling the girl's eyes on him, "We have the packages."

StormShadow smirked in victory as he held up the vial of blood he'd taken from the girl before she'd awoken. He knew he would have to track them down again at a later stage, but basked in his small victory he had attained. He had been surprised to see his brother in arms after so long, but decided that it simply made his mission more of a challenge after a moment. He was looking forward to a rematch after experiencing the near death state Snake eyes had put him into. And as he continued to gaze at the blood he agreed to his thoughts. A rematch was indeed in order.