So I couldn't stand leaving you guys without a story before I have to send my busted computer back. If you don't know, then that will be 4-8 weeks for the new computer to arrive. 4-8 weeks is a long time, epically waiting for a story update! That and if I don't then you'd be stuck with a rather boring chapter to remember me by…booo
….
"Commander, the bait jets have been taken into the base as we had planned. Zartan has arranged a ball to take place tomorrow and all the Joes are expected to arrive for 'the president's thanks'. When the base is empty will launch the system attack; no one will ever suspect it until it is too late." Destro informed the back of a turned chair.
"Good. I have them in my grasp, but they can't even tell." He said as if his victory had already arrived. "Zartan has surprised me this time."
"….
"Here's Johnny!" Lady T said as she opened the Rec. Room door for Rebel as she walked on her hands into the room.
"Hey, there's our favorite weirdo." Duke said teasingly as the woman lowered her feet over her head and snapped upwards standing straight as if she had walked in there on her feet.
"Backflips, no matter what form, never get old." Rebel said as she sat down on the floor so she could stretch her legs out in front of her. It wasn't extremely noticeable; but a thin, tightly stitched line ran down her shin.
"So, how'd you recover that fast exactly?" Heavy Duty spoke up in curiosity.
"Well, they told me something about how they 'proved Cobra activity is getting closer' that they wouldn't be able to let me heal on my own. So they took two metal splits, stuck 'em right next to the two broken bones and put five screws in to hold them to the bone. That and the break was shattered so they put this weird hard, glue junk to fill the gap." She answered as she moved her hands in radical motions to help with the story. Rebel looked up with satisfaction at their faces of mixed emotions. "True story bros."
"Wow. That's….strange." Breaker looked up from his work for a second.
"Modern tactics of rapid, artificial healing." Tap commented from her corner. Once again silence came over the room, excluding the flipping of pages and typing of keys.
"Speaking modern; there's a ball tomorrow, Rebel." Lady T said over her cross-word puzzle that was nearly finished. Rebel twisted her face into one of disbelief as she stared at the woman who was ignoring her.
"Somebody must really hate dresses." Duke whispered to Ripcord after a few awkward seconds.
"What the hell Layleen? Would it have killed you to tell me sooner?" Rebel said as Lady T shrugged her shoulders before circling another word on the page. Rebel gave her a disapproving face.
"So can I use one of yours?" Lady T asked casually still not looking up from her occupation.
"I guess. This isn't a 'formal-richan-smitchen' deal is it?" Rebel questioned as she looked off into space with thought.
"I don't know." Lady T said as Rebel seemed unsatisfied with the answer.
"Well come on, I'm trying to avoid traffic." Rebel said all of a sudden standing up as Lady T reluctantly put down her tattered game boom just as she was on the last page.
"But Mom!" She started in a serious tone.
"Butts are for sitting!" Rebel said back before both the women struggled to keep straight faces. "Remember when Momma used to say that like, all the time?" Her voice faded behind the closing door leaving most of the remaining people in the dust of their inside jokes.
They walked down the hall immersed in their conversation until a certain white clad man walked into view. Rebel threw up a hold finger to Lady T before stopping Storm Shadow by the shoulder. He looked as her hand then at her face as if she had just slapped him; she of course ignored his reaction.
"Hey, Nightshade was looking for you. She said something about asking you something. Anyways, I was high as a kite so I don't know. Just thought I'd let you know." She shrugged before starting her conversation with Lady T back and leaving looking like he just got hit by a truck.
"But like I was saying; you can't wear the JMJ unless you have a date." Rebel said setting up her only qualification for the dress.
"I do have a date." Lady T said holding her head a little higher. Rebel crept into a proud-mother smile.
"Bet cha I can guess who it is." She said teasingly.
"Oh can you n-" Lady T started.
"It's Heavy Duty."
"Damn. How'd you know?" Lady T asked. She didn't like Heavy Duty, frankly thought his name was stupid but she wouldn't show up dateless either.
"Pfft. I'm mother frackin' Cupid, this be my specialty." Rebel said as she moved her head left to right like a 90's rapper before she started the walk where they move their arms far more than needed.
"How could I forget?" Lady T rolled her eyes. In college, as every other woman would bathe in perfume, wear the shirts too tight and too low, paint their faces with makeup and other such things to get their guy interest to even look at them; all 'A.J the Bay-Jay'—whatever the hell that meant—had to do was just show up. She dated some, broke other's hearts or matched them with somebody else. Her ability to manipulate the opposite sex is what made her great at being her third skill; seductress. She could trick and trap the most notorious man in five minutes after the S.W.A.T team failed for months.
She just had an odd way with men; they would 'hang-out' with her with one intention but a few days later they would be her big brother.
"That and he told me." Rebel said once she straightened up.
"What? Why?" Lady T furrowed her brow as she nearly smacked Rebel with one of her hands.
"Don't slay the messenger. He just wanted to know if the only reason you forced him to go with you is that you wanted to kill him under the buffet table with a celery knife." Rebel said as she pretended to wipe spit off her cheek.
"Hmph." Lady T pursed her lips as she folded her arms. Rebel chuckled lightly as she typed in the numerous codes to her room.
"You taking anybody?" She asked Rebel as she opened the door to her room.
"Nope." She answered simply as she closed the door behind them and flipped the light switch on.
"And why not?" Lady T asked as her friend simply shrugged her shoulders and walked off to the kitchenette. Lady T sighed before she fell into Rebel's futon.
"Banana sammich?" Rebel called after a few things being moved around.
"Nah. But what was your deal with Frosty Freeze?" She said as Rebel came out with two sandwiches; thirty banana slices between whole wheat.
"I'm hooking Nightshade up with him." She said putting a hand up before Lady T could say anything. "Mistaken? No. I know what I'm doing." She finished before taking a bit out of her sandwich.
"And you think that will speed track at this ball deal?" Lady T raised an eye-brow.
"I can only hope…" Rebel sighed with a hopeless look. "But anyways, go get that dress on. I don't know if your fat ass will fit that anymore." She joked as Lady T rolled her eyes.
….
Next Day
….
"How in the? I mean- Wait it goes this- nope." Ripcord mumbled to himself as he tried to figure out his tie. Tap rolled her eyes and stood to help the man so that she might be able to finish reading the latest status report.
"Move your hands." She said she grabbed the two pieces of fabric. "Why isn't Scarlett helping you?" She huffed out of irritation.
"I don't know." He defended himself as Tap yanked it up to his neck a little less than gently before turning and leaving him pulling it down. Tap wasn't one for dresses anymore—or being social anymore for that matter—so she had a neat, pin-stripe women's suit on. It had its own tie as well.
"Hey, why does your formal have a tie and not mine?" Duke said looking down at his uniform.
"You should feel lucky." He answered still fidgeting with his tie. That when another man entered the room in his formal wear. Duke and Ripcord didn't recognize him as Tap ignored his entrance. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, but the diagonal scar that traced from the far right above his eye-brow across his face and ended on his left cheek.
"Hey, who's that guy?" Duke whispered to Ripcord as he nudged him in the ribs.
"That's Snake Eyes you dips." Tap snapped. The two looked at each other before looking at the man who was claimed to be Snake Eyes. He gave them a tired look; obviously no one liked this surprise going out. Once more, the door opened to Lady T. The satin red dress touched about her knees with a zip up neck, no sleeves, as the black sides on her thighs and her hips led up to crisscross at her middle and again on the flat of her chest. Three gold chains and three silver chains of six different sizes adorned her covered neck as twice as many silver bracelets decorated her wrists. She turned to Tap and held up a silver strand ear ring and an identical one but in gold.
"Which one?" She asked.
"I don't care." Tap replied ignoring her.
"Who put extra bitch in your coffee today?" Lady T remarked as Tap shot her a narrowed glance. "Eat a damn Snickers." Lady T left her and sat on the coach and crossed her legs as she put in her silver pair. When she was done she looked up at Snake Eyes. She squinted, and then looked surprised before turning her attention somewhere else.
'Blonde, blue eyes, scar, square jaw. What the hell? I thought he would be like, Japanese. They are from Japan right? Not China. But Bruce Lee was Chinese. Or was he?' She tried to distract herself with a blur of random thoughts. She didn't notice when Scarlett walked in.
"So where's Rebel?" Scarlett's voice broke her thoughts. She looked up dumbfounded for a second before snapping out of her reverie.
"Oh, she's driving Sargent Flood. The woman is too paranoid to have anyone but A.J to chauffeur her around." She said standing, the others following her movement as they walked out the door with their nerves on edge. The sudden invite and close set date was very strange, even by government standards.
….
"I hate heels." Scarlett growled as she pulled the annoying strap farther up her ankle. The crowd filled the huge, empty space of the room with quite murmurs as they waited for something more to happen. After arrival, everything else was a mystery and seemingly unplanned.
"Why does this feel like the first day of high school?" Lady T said quietly as she pretended to scratch her neck as she turned her head more towards the small huddle of the Alpha team. Out of sheer awkward air in the room, people gathered with the people they knew; but slowly they were starting to spread out.
"Because it smells funny?" Ripcord half-heartedly joked as the huddle slightly groaned. "Shouldn't Reb be here already?"
"I made it!" Came her voice as if on cue from behind them. She came moving as fast as she could in four inch heels as they turned to see her. Snake Eyes felt his anger rise slightly when Duke let out a teasing wolf whistle. But she was beautiful tonight. "Sorry, Flood was being a pain on where to park her 'precious baby'.
"Girl, isn't that the dress you got shot in?" Lady T asked before she even made it to them.
"Almost shot, it was flesh wound the ribs." She said. The silky orange fabric fell above her ankles as the neck line showed just enough collar bone. Gold straps went over her shoulders and crossed over her shoulder blades. It had no back to as it showed part of her Uroborus tattoo and her third one on her right shoulder blade that read: Dream like you'll live forever, Live like you'll die Tomorrow. She let the long of her hair out of its braid, but pulled it over her left shoulder. She wore fingerless, long white silk gloves as well.
"So why'd you 'almost' get shot?" Breaker asked.
"Untrained deputies and hand guns don't mix." Rebel said shaking her head. By accident, her eyes met Snake's as she was looking around at the number of people; she quickly moved her eyes along as if she didn't notice and instead looked at set of doors that were being opened by waiters. THey appeared to lead outside to a balcony.
"All these people are from the base?" She asked after she actually realized how many swarms of people were buzzing around them.
"Yep." Lady T said.
"I thought we were 'the elite' not the 'everybody in the army' club." She said as they laughed quietly. Meanwhile tuxedoed waiters set food out on the tables that lined on of the walls.
"Oh hey, they set the food out." Lady T said forcing her arm around Heavy Duty's before literally pulling him along with her. He gave Rebel a wide-eyed look as he was drug away with the others following.
"Bring me a plate!" Rebel called after Lady T before seeing the red of her dress disappear into the crowd. She noticed Snake Eyes was still beside her out of her peripheral vision; intimidating situation to most. But the only thing intimidating her was the silence.
"So you come here often?" She started off randomly as she turned to face him. The first thing that caught her attention was his eyes, the fact on how icy blue they were. It was almost unnatural.
He looked a little surprised at first; surprised that she was talking to him before nodded to the joke. She smiled and laughed at the look on his face; she liked being able to his expressions clearly.
'How is she not taken?' Was the only thought that came to his mind, that is before another thought intruded. Her daughter came to mind; he wanted to be with Rebel no matter what or who. But what if she didn't want the same?
"You look nice." He signed to her once he pushed the thought out of his mind.
"Thanks, you too." She said. Since the food was set out, the crowd had spread out more as the two found themselves practically being pushed towards the walls by the bustle. Rebel would have jumped right in and made friends with every person there, but she stayed with Snake Eyes who seemed irritated by it.
"Hey." Rebel lightly tapped him on his arm. "Want to head outside?" She pointed a thumb towards the open doors. Surprisingly, very few people were there. It looked tempting, but the crowd that made a barrier between freedom and them deterred him. He felt strange and awkward without the mask, so he shook his head to her.
Her face formed a confident smirk as she freakishly fast linked her arm with Snake's and began moving through the crowd with ease.
"Hey there, hi there. Wassup buddy? Hey good to see ya! Never met you. Hi bro, mind moving? Lookin' good, Joey. Billy. Whoever you are." She said as people moved out of her and Snake's way. She learned just to say random greetings when you need to get through a crowd fast; they hear you, they know you're there, they will move. Thanks the Rebel's 'people skills' they were on the balcony within minutes. She smiled and spread out her free arm.
"See isn't this better?" She said before releasing Snake's arm and walking over to the rail, him following beside her; waiting and wanting her next daring move. She rested her arms over the side and looked out over the lights of Washington, D.C. "Did Layleen tell you about when we visited D.C when you were talking? I might have zoned out." Snake's heart nearly stopped. She sounded sincere about it, but that didn't stop his five second mental break down.
'Oh…shit..' He thought before shook his head, just going along.
"Too bad, it was awesome." She bobbed her head when she said 'awesome' as if trying to express her experiences. Snake Eyes let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"So you weren't really asleep when she was telling me about you?" He signed. Rebel shook her head with a slight smile on her lips.
"Heard every word." She smiled. "Oh, and since I saw you went through my picture stack of Artemis." She said slipping her fingers down her opposite hand's glove and pulling out a small, slightly tattered photo. "Here's updated one of her." She handed it to him. It wasn't much different, except her hair was really light blonde now and she was tan. In the picture she was holding a soccer ball and kneeling in the usual stance.
"She plays soccer?" Snake Eyes signed after he handed the photo back.
"She wants to, but then again she is four. For her fifth birthday she wants me to bring her a daddy when I come home. She couldn't ask for a puppy, could she?" She said tucking the photo back in the tiny pocket with a sigh. Snake Eyes smiled slightly at the reply that came to his mind.
"I think I might know someone who is up for the job." He signed. She gave a lopsided smile.
"Oh really?" She said leaning on the railing with a sassy look on her face.
"I said he might. I don't know, why don't you ask him out sometime?" This is what he liked about Rebel the most. No matter where they were at, Rebel always made him feel like he didn't need to be perfect or serious. She brought freedom and blocked out the world. Constant joking, not afraid to mess up, proud of who she is and where she comes from. Truth be told, Snake Eyes could recall telling may jokes before she came.
"Hmmm. I'm kind of booked, so could you give him this?" She just finished her sentence when she put a kiss on his lips. It was longer than a peck, but still short. He stood there shocked as Rebel laughed slightly. Half of him came back around as he couldn't help but smile.
"I think he'd like that." Snake signed back.
"He should, after forcing my sister-from-another-mister to spill my life story and going through my photos; I figure this guy is in deep." She smirked.
….
Well derp. That showed my hopeless romantic side just a tad. FOREVER ALONE. Anyway, packing laptop up soon(like, a week or soon. I have a bunch of papers to type out…) so yeah. I might, MIGHT, be able to post another chapter.
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