AJ reaches into the center console and grabs a hair band, pulling her long black hair back into a bun and pulling a dark baseball cap on over it.
EJ looks up as he hears his sister's vehicle barreling into the grove in high gear. He pales as he sees Lifeline slumped in the front seat, bloody. Rushing to the jeep, he falls on his face after tripping over Tripwire. He neatly executes a paratrooper's roll and regains his footing, never breaking stride.
He reaches his objective just as Illusion and Painkiller are getting Lifeline out of the vehicle, sliding him onto a makeshift stretcher. EJ grabs the first aid kits out of the jeep and helps to take care of the wounded Joe medic and the others, taking special care as he wraps a bandage around AJ's upper arm where she had a flesh wound- one of the Cobra troopers had managed to slice her arm with his knife when she shot through the gate.
"Huh. I didn't even notice. Must have been when we hit the gate and had to wade through those danged snakes," she snarls through her teeth at the pain.
"It's going to need stitches, but you'll probably tell me to hold off until we get finished with everybody else, right?" EJ asks her.
"You got that right, bro. These guys are way more important than I am at the moment," she answers.
Jamie and Ericka had long since run out of targets to play with and had turned to their other assignments- Jamie to her medic duties, and Ericka to guard duty until they were notified otherwise.
As soon as they got finished patching the major injuries up, they all grouped around Hawk and the Joes and began to plot the retaking of their base. The teens know that the darkness and confusion is helping to hide their identities. They had been counting on this fact, as well.
"Hawk, are you sure you want to trust these people? Do you even know who they are?" asked Grand Slam, blood dripping down the side of his face from a cut on his forehead from where he'd bashed it diving over the side into the back of Ritchie's truck.
Ritchie had changed the tires on his truck that morning and just tossed the jack into the bed of the truck and when Grand Slam dove over the side, he smashed his head into it.
One of the females knelt by him and gently put a couple of butterfly bandages on the wound, wrapped the gauze around his head and taped it, trying not to hurt him any more than he already was.
"I'm sorry. I'm trying not to make it worse," she whispered as she saw him wince while she took care of the other minor wounds that he had incurred and bandaged the deep cut that diagonally bisected the palm of his right hand. It would need stitches, but they would have to wait until after they retook the base.
"That's okay," he softly replied, his eyes searching hers for some clue as to her identity. They were no further than four or five inches apart. Her hair was tucked up under a boonie hat, and he couldn't really gauge her height because of the infrequent, flickering light.
He thought that she was blond haired, blue eyed, and was something between five six and five eight. She reminded him of Hawk's daughter, Christine. It startled him to realize that he thought that he was looking at a ghost- Christine's mother, Laurel, who had been dead for fourteen years. He was so off base that it wasn't even funny.
"I trust them implicitly and yes, I do know who they are. After all, they got your butts out from Cobra's grasp, didn't they?"
"Well…. yeah, they did. But still…" Grand Slam argued.
"James, for once just shut up and let these guys plot and plan it out for us. They seem to have everything under control," growls Scarlett.
Pouting, he pulled back into the shadows where he was sitting and watched the huddle. His eyes keep coming back to one of the women. Tall and slim, the powerful blond-haired goddess that had bandaged his head and hand seemed somehow familiar to him for some odd reason. He figured that he'd find out sooner or later.
Shortstop noticed his perusal out of the corner of her eye and nudged Painkiller. "I think somebody has figured at least one of us out. I am such a dead duck. Screwed, Blued, and Tattooed. Sorry, folks," she whispered to her. She'd been slouching all night, trying to hide her distinctive height. That was one of the reasons that she was kneeling in the center of the group.
"It's okay. He hasn't quite figured it out yet. Thank God for combat cosmetics, huh?" Painkiller answered with a chuckle as Shortstop joined in. Louder she spoke, "Let's do it to it. Let's make those snakes eat crow."
"I'll bet eating crow tastes better than eating Joe does; at least from our point of view," Jamie wisecracked. Everybody in earshot cracked up.
"Tell that to your parents when they're in the heat of passion, Shortstop," Phantasm laughed. Jamie playfully swings and catches his shoulder with her fist.
All of the teens reached to the center of the circle and piled hands, EJ's on the bottom and AJ's on top. They all whoop as they break up.
Hawk calls over all of the mobile Joes. "Clutch, you'll be with Painkiller in the lead Rubicon, Steeler, Thunder, Cross Country and Cover Girl also. Earthmover will be backing you guys up and take charge of the motor pool afterwards. Your targets are the motor pool and after that if Overdose needs help with the infirmary, you'll help him. Shortstop, Tripwire, Grand Slam, Scarlett, Tollbooth, Sparks and Heavy Metal will cover you in the Cherokee. After that, you guys will liberate the machine shop and armory. TNT, you'll help cover Painkiller and Shortstop, and then aid Shortstop in liberating the machine shop and armory. Short Fuze, you, Lift Ticket, Airtight, and Blowtorch will aid her in the ragtop. Overdose, you and Snarl, Growl, Beachhead, Duke, Stretcher and Falcon have the infirmary. Wipeout, you, Apache, Rottweiler, Duke, Flint, Lady Jaye, Snake Eyes and Diplomat will have the admin offices. Mountie, Freefall, Illusion, Chuckles, Wild Bill, Ace, Barbecue, Airborne and Phantasm have the barracks, hangars and outbuildings. Gauntlet, you, Motherboard, Klutz, Hardhead, Jester, Bonfire, Fathoms, Volley and the others will stay here with me and tend the wounded. You all have your orders. Go to it. Yo Joe!"
Hawk was giving the Joes the chance to figure out for themselves who the rescuers were when he teamed them up the way he did. The problem was that none of the adults were taking the hints, and the kids all breathed a sigh of relief when they realized this fact.