This chapter holds a surprise! A big surprise! And I'll need your help with it later on, READ TO UNDERSTAND!
….
(this is one of the things where in one of my late night chapters I didn't manage to fit in the foreshadowing.)
Snake Eyes walked slowly towards Rebel's room with her goggles in her helmet. He was wearing the dragon wing necklace as well as the other two pendants and her dog tags. Lady T said that she would have wanted him to have them, but they both knew it was because she couldn't take having those little reminders around her.
He stopped in front of the door for a minute before hesitantly tapping in her codes and useless security passes. She told all the team the codes; they were all 'D4mn C4t 43t 1t'. Rebel said it was because if she died then they could randsack her room, but Ripcord couldn't have her bike. She always took her own death so lightly, as if the thought of her being mortal was a joke.
He opened the door and looked into the dark room before flipping the light switch on. He had only been in here once, but she had changed a lot. She had put a make-shift fence around her beloved motorcycle, put her video games and consoles higher, and she had a door on her kitchen?
Snake Eyes started to walk back to her bedroom when the left wall of the hallway caught his eye. There was a collage of photos taped on it. He looked at it and realized these were all A.J's photos.
There were ones of when she was little with long, curly hair and freckles that sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. Some had a rather tall Japanese man in them with her, his long hair in a top-knot and a Fu Manchu beard on his face. One photo that made it clear he was he father was one where he held a katana half out of its sheath as it lay in his hands; his mouth was open as if talking as young A.J looked at it with fascination in her lime eyes. The one next to it had a woman who looked exactly like A.J, but with lighter skin as she was in a fierce kicking stance. You could see she had A.J's Ouroboros marking her stomach due to her shirt flying up a little. Little A.J mimicked this woman's actions as perfectly as a five year old could.
The photos skipped approximately fifteen years as suddenly Lady T was in the next group. He chuckled at one that had Lady T pulling A.J by her shirt collar out of a car as she clung on for dear life 'I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go!' was scribbled across it with black ink. He noticed that in all of these and over she was wearing her long gloves. The next one was in black and white, A.J had obviously posed for this one but It was beautiful all the same. She was hanging out of the back seat window of a cab wearing a cut off tank top and a sideways newsboy hat while holding her sunglasses gave her a bad ass look. It was taken facing the front of the taxi and she hung out so she was balancing on her hip.
Many, many more filled a large half of the wall before he stumble across a picture at made his heart sink lower than it already was. A freckle faced man had his face frozen in a huge laugh as A.J pressed her lips into his cheek knocking his hat off his head as his arms wrapped across her back and hers wrapped around his neck. His dark brown eyes stood out as they had smudges of blue in them as well as his unique reddish brown hair. Snake Eyes turned his head farther down the row to see her kneeled with a group of African children that were dressed tribal, in the back ground a bush plane was set with 'Raider's Luck' written on the nose. There were many more of these, but featured with different people and different ages.
He looked the rest of them over, many of them he was caught in or was featured in. He soon came to the last one as it sat crooked on the wall with A.J standing next to the Red-Left.
Snake fixed it before he gently turned the door knob to her bedroom and the door open itself before he reached a hand over the wall and hit the switch. Once he did, the stereo turned on and began to play 'I got a feeling by the Black Eyed Peas'. He smiled under his mask and shook his head. Her bed could have passed for a big, purple cloud as he approached it to set her helmet down.
The comforter swallowed it as he gave a humored sigh. He looked around the room which had A.J's presence marked all over it. He gave another sigh, but this time one of frustration.
'She was just so convinced she would be here forever. And so was I…' He thought as he fingered her pendants. The lively song that was playing before and a sad tune started as sorrowful words following. He sat down on her floor as the song seemed to pull him down. Snake Eyes couldn't take it anymore; he stood and turned off the stereo. He hung his head and was looking directly at a pile of pictures that were set neatly in front of the stereo.
The first and biggest one featured A.J holding a little girl of about four in her arms as they both faced the camera. She had A.J's hair color and freckles of when she was younger; the only difference was the little girl had two different colored eyes; the right was brown with blue smudges and left was lime green. Her bangs had a reddish brown patch that went from the corner of her left eye all the way over to her ear.
The next picture was of the little girl hugging a canine that appeared to be a wolf as it sniffed her hair. At the bottom was written 'My little Artemis the wolf girl' in beautiful cursive.
''My little Artemis'? Is this girl…A.J's daughter?' Snake Eyes thought in shock. If she wasn't she must be related to her very closely. Now that he thought about it, she also bore a resemblance to that man in the other photo.
'She can't be A.J's child, that would mean she would have to have been out of the…..but she was discharged for five years!' He shook his head and picked up the clearest photo of the girl. He found a clear one of A.J and this man then compared the photos. She had A.J's dusty blonde curls when she was that age and her lime green eye. She had the man's eye and same hair colored patch as well as his tendency to raise his left eye brown when smiling.
Snake Eyes finally faced the facts and leaned against the other wall so he stare at the man's taunting grin. Even if A.J was alive he couldn't have her, she was somebody else's; she had his child even. But why wasn't he in any of the other photos? And Snake Eyes didn't catch sight of a wedding ring. He clenched his fists at the thought that this man got A.J pregnant and left her.
But, there wasn't anything he could do now. She was gone, and Cobra had orphaned a little girl. This gave Snake Eyes all the more reason to fight after such a personal strike from Cobra.
'What am I thinking? Yes it is a personal strike on some degree, it's a personal strike against everybody. Face it man.' He thought as he slumped against the wall and closed his eyes to clear his head. He lost count of time, but he heard footsteps rush down the hall and turn into Rebel's room as he jumped up ready for action. It was Tap; she had a huge smile on her face that grew wider at the sight of Snake Eyes. Within seconds he found himself in the tightest hug in his life—that was also one of the few hugs he ever had—as she ran in place. She pulled back and began hopping; uttering excited Hawaiian gibberish before dragging him out the door by his hand.
…..
Tap pulled Snake Eyes into the infirmary where the Alpha team and others stood around a hospital bed. Lady T looked over at the sound of the door opening, and within a second was dragging Snake Eyes by his other hand towards the bed as Tap rushed back out the door. He peered over in curiosity and his heart stopped.
There in the bed lay unconscious Rebel. She had multiple bandages and medical tape polka doted her skin. Under her head was wrapped as well as her ribs. Her right leg was above the sheet, wrapped tight in a cast from the top of her thigh to her toes. She didn't have an oxygen supplier, but there was a IV and it was dripping fast.
Snake Eyes found himself next to Ripcord as he leaned of the bed in disbelief.
"I went back with the 'cleanup crew' to get the Cobra jets and all when I noticed this big orange thing. I went to check it out and Rebel here was under it. The orange was the wings of her free fall suit. I guess she took that way out instead. She was a long ways away from the crash though." Ripcord informed him.
"She has a concussion, multiple lacerations from God knows what, shattered ribs, and she managed to snap her tibia clean in half." Lady T said as she gently moved Rebel's hands onto her lap. "The doctor gave her some super strong pain killers, and he said when she wakes up she's going to be totally high." She added. Everybody could see that Lady T was more than ecstatic to have her best friend back since she kept 'making her comfortable' and brushing her bangs out of her face.
Soon, Nightshade and Storm Shadow had been drug into the room by Tap as well. Around the same time Rebel started waking up. Her eyebrows would raise as if trying to pry open her eyes and her head would loll from side to side.
They opened as she looked at the faces with unfocused eyes. They focused slightly just as her eyes got to Storm Shadow. She squinted and moved her head to the left and blinked a few times.
"Hey, I didn't know that angels were Asian." She spoke in a confused tone. Everybody exchanged glances and held in shudders of laughter. She looked to the other side at Duke and gave the same look.
"You look like somebody I knew on Earth." She pointed at him and gave a drunken smile. Rebel looked to the next face, which was Lady T. "And you too. Ha, cool." She laughed and looked at Snake Eyes. "Hey, they even make Snake Eyes angels!" She kept smiling and flopped her arm down beside her. "Man, being dead is cool." She laughed before it wiped off her face and she did a double take at everybody. "Wait, are we all dead?" Everybody burst into laughter in sync at the remark.
"Man, you are high off your ass!" Lady T choked. Rebel looked around confused—well, more confused—at everybody. She looked at Snake Eyes with her brow furrowed in innocent questioning as the laughter lowered down into people catching their breath.
"I don't get it." She said and the laughter started again as Ripcord fell on the floor. "Angels have a very odd since of humor." Rebel stated as she tried to sort out her fogged thoughts. After a while a few people left, some stepped forward to say their personal welcome backs before leaving, some were taken away by work and it dwindled down to Snake Eyes and Lady T left.
Lady T was assumed asleep in one of the chairs to the left of Rebel as Snake Eyes sat in the opposite one, resting his arms and head on her bed like a loyal dog. Rebel had fallen back to sleep after the first hour, she was cleared from her concussion being serious and was allowed rest.
He had a million things to ask her; was Artemis her daughter? Was she married already? If so, who is he? Is he still around to raise her daughter? If he wasn't, would she consider him to help raise her daughter?
"You've got it bad." Lady T's voice broke his thoughts. He looked over at her to see she was still in her sleeping form. He tilted his head slightly in confusion.
"For my sister, that is." She spoke again. He lips moved but her eyes stayed shut and her face calm. "I can tell." She stretched and turned to face him with a 'Momma knows everything' smirk. Snake Eyes looked at A.J's peaceful face; the way her bangs brushed to the left, her light freckle traces over her cheeks, the way the corners of her mouth defied gravity as they always seemed to be in a smile.
"I've seen that look before….give or take I can't see you face." Lady T shrugged.
"But, isn't she married?" Snake Eyes signed. He was glad to get answers from someone who knew A.J closely, but directly from her would have been better.
"No, James was going to propose to her after the mission was completed. They were to listen in on a conversation between two smugglers at this high class party. Well, a terrorist had the idea to blow up the place and kill the smugglers since they wouldn't sell him anymore weapons. And it was practically on top of A.J's fail-safe bomb that would collapse the exit so they couldn't escape—she's over-kill like that—and when it detonated James happened to be standing next to the same wall. It killed him. She blamed herself and wouldn't listen to the facts. Her injuries were enough that they sent her home; but she doesn't have a home. The closest thing to a 'real family' she has is this place." She lifted her hands in gesture of signifying the Joes. "And my family of course." She added.
"But what about that little girl? Artemis?" He signed as Lady T's face fell. She turned her eyes to the ground with no emotion.
"So you found out, huh?" She asked and laughed slightly in disbelief. "A.J found out she was pregnant a few months after James' death. I was on R&R at my parents' house in Illinois' when she called. I never told anybody, ever. After Artemis was born she kept her with her in college when she went back. Two years later she came up and asked 'I know this is a huge, huge favor. But can you keep Artemis? I don't know how long I'll be gone, but can you?'"
She looked back up at Snake Eyes who listened intently to the story. "So I did, until I had to come back. I left Arty with Momma, but she'll take good care of her. About two more years, so that's four; A.J came back and explained her situation. We understood perfectly. A.J spent some time with Arty and took a lot of pictures with her before she had to leave again. Arty was so upset, but A.J promised to write a letter to her every chance she got. Of course, it's been a year since the letters stopped." She finally ended. Snake Eyes wasn't sure how to feel or react. He felt bad that someone like A.J had been through something like that; but he only knew half her life from the story.
"How long have you known A.J?" He signed.
"Long enough. She's told all about the hell she been through, you'd think after something like that she would made of stone. But here she is, sweet and trusting as a puppy." Lady T said as she leaned forward and moved her bangs once more before her hands picked up Rebel's wrist and pulled her long glove off. She turned her hand so that he palm was facing Snake Eyes, as well as her scars. About sixteen scars were slashed in various directions, each crossing and lapping over. Some led over onto the palm of her hand and others traced farther down than others.
"When I saw them, I thought she was a cutter. I made her explain, so she did. This fucked up cult called 'The Brotherhood of Sisters' did it. If you lived past these wounds, you were 'strong enough to stand with them'. They did this when she was ten, she got out of there with she was about sixteen, and they've left her alone. Nightshade was in there as well, but A.J couldn't pull her out." She told him before gently setting her arm back down. "There's more on the other arm." She added. Snake Eyes had seen similar things, but those were 'disciplinary'. This seemed like all out bloodlust.
"This is between us though. You never heard it from me, in fact; you never heard it. You want to know, ask A.J, it's her life." Lady T said before she curled her legs up to her body and went back to her sleeping position. Snake Eyes waited a while before her reached his hand out and moved her bangs towards the left.
"Don't think I didn't see that." He playfully froze in place as Lady T snickered.
…..
Hoop, there it is. Hey, that makes me wanna sing now. Anyways, how did you like it? Did you hate it? Want me to re-write it? Did you invent a metal spork just so you could stab the screen with it? Do you want me to crawl in a hole, change my name to Linda, marry an elf and never see the light of day again because if I do you'll shoot my head off with a Spartan lazar? Tell me please, because I really don't want to change my name to Linda and marry an elf.