*Special thanks to willwrite4fics for being the beta for this chapter. Another thanks to Karama9 for giving some input on Snake Eyes and Kamakura.
Sorry for the delayed update again. Moving to another state and starting a new job meant less time for writing.
Silence
Chapter 35: Rescue Operations
Death Valley
Chillness prickled their skin as dusk approached. Stars twinkled from horizon to horizon in the wide expanse of Death Valley. Several figures stood in silhouette against the earliest, faint rays of morning. Very soon light would penetrate the world of black and grey hues, revealing the tan colors of the desert.
"You sure about this, Summers?"
One of the figures turned slightly, revealing the faint outline of Scott Summers. The mutant watched silently for a moment as Mainframe made some adjustments to a large piece of equipment. Wires snaked from the transmitter up to two medium sized satellite dishes, both perched on top of makeshift towers.
"I can't ask any of the others to do this," Cyclops replied. His lips twitched up slightly. "Not that I didn't have volunteers though."
"Believe me, we had volunteers for this mission too," Mainframe answered. "But….this is a pretty specialized mission." He looked over at where Snake Eyes and Kamakura were silently waiting underneath one of the towers. Both ninja were in some kind of sitting meditation, or at least that was the computer technician's guess. He'd long since given up trying to decipher everything the ninja did. For all he knew, they were simply taking a cat nap before the excitement hit.
Cyclops stretched his arms out, but said nothing in reply to that. Mainframe wondered if the man was nervous. He would be, if he were in the mutant's position. However, there was no complaint or hint of worry from the X-Man's second in command. The Joe felt a spark of admiration. Like Duke, or Flint, or Steve Rogers…Summers was not willing to ask any of his subordinates to do something that he wouldn't himself do. The welfare of anyone who came under his command came first.
"I've made the final adjustments," Mainframe finally said, closing a small panel. "This will start broadcasting in two minutes. Then….."
"We wait," Cyclops finished. Mainframe nodded. The computer technician nearly jumped when Snake Eyes and Kamakura were suddenly at his side. He barely saw the flurry of hand signs in the dim light of their makeshift camp.
"The broadcast range is three hundred miles in every direction," the Joe answered, managing to decipher the ninja master's question. They had chosen a spot in Death Valley that was near enough to a populated area, where sentinels were likely patrolling, but in an isolated enough area where civilians would be out of harm's way.
Well….civilians except for Cyclops. Mainframe wondered after a moment if Summers could really be classified as a civilian. Half-civilian? Pseudo-civilian? Although technically a civvie, the man was the team leader for a group of mutant superheroes. …
The computer tech pushed his current line of thinking away. They were just distractions, nothing else.
He peered down at his "baby". Mainframe had input several mutant brainwave patterns, taken from a few of the X-Men. If this didn't bait a sentinel, he didn't know what would. Self-doubt still gnawed at him though and of course, the technician was too prideful to admit any of them. What if the device didn't work? What if the range wasn't wide enough? What if it worked, but they couldn't draw a sentinel in? What if they still couldn't find Beach Head, Short Fuze, and the others, even if everything else went according to plan?
The technician fidgeted slightly, but said nothing else. Waiting was always the hardest. He'd been in the military a bit longer than most of the Joes, so he should be a pro at the waiting game by now. A flash of movement caught his eye and he turned his head.
There was no other movement in the camp, save the pacing of a single woman. Cover Girl had requested, or perhaps angrily pleaded was the correct term, to be involved with the mission. Duke had relented after some thought, as a driver had been needed anyway.
Mainframe watched as she paced around a light armored transport vehicle, pausing periodically to stare up at the sky. The computer technician watched her for several minutes. Finally, he decided to approach Courtney Krieger.
Maybe none of this was his business. After all, he had only heard the Pit rumors about the breakup with Shipwreck and the subsequent relationship with Beach Head. After all, none of the Joes' romances officially "existed" due to frat regs, even though everyone from General Hawk to the lowest greenshirt knew otherwise.
However….brotherly concern overrode any misgivings he had about bothering the woman. Experience had taught him when it was time to intervene with a teammate and when it was best to leave them alone.
"Courtney," he said quietly. The former model stopped her impromptu patrol of the vehicle and looked at him. Mainframe wondered what he should say. To be fair, he hadn't exactly planned this out. Finally, the computer technician simply asked if she minded the company. Cover Girl hesitated for a moment before giving in.
The minutes ticked by as neither of them spoke. Mainframe heard a soft murmur of voices from where Cyclops was standing with Kamakura and Snake Eyes. The female driver, on the other hand, continued to stare up at the fading night sky. Her hands were tucked into her coat pockets.
Mainframe checked his watch. It had been nearly half an hour now.
"Do you….think he…they….are still alive?" Cover Girl suddenly asked. Mainframe mulled over his answer for a moment. A crack of vulnerability was peeping through her armor. Courtney Krieger let down her shield in front of very few people. Sergeant Blaine Parker had never been certain why he was one of those people….but he had a certain responsibility because of it.
"Yes," he finally answered. The Joe didn't want to contemplate the alternative. "And I'll tell you why….he's the God damn Beach Head. You know that he and the others aren't going down without a fight."
Cover Girl gave a shaky laugh. She was obviously trying her best to have confidence that everything would work out in the end. Mainframe understood how she felt.
"Whatever happens….we're all in this together," he reminded her. "GI Joe…X-Men…the Avengers….SHIELD….how can we possibly lose?" Mainframe was fairly sure that the bad guys had pissed off just about every deity in existence to get the kind of judgment that was coming their way. Hell…from certain perspectives….the bad guys HAD pissed off some actual deities. The god of thunder came to mind.
Mainframe was fairly certain that Clayton Abernathy and Nicholas Fury ranked among the pantheon of furious war gods. Images of a comatose Hawk floated through his mind, reminding him that even "deities" could be taken down. Rather than dishearten him, fury filled the Joe.
"You'll get that man of yours back, CG," he said, using his nickname for her. "And he'll be having us run PT in the mud, against whatever God forsaken surprise that he and Stark decide to concoct. We're getting every single one of them back."
Perhaps it was divine providence, if one believed in such things, or Fate…regardless, a red light began to blink from the radar surveillance system. Mainframe's fingers fired away at a small keyboard and brought up an outline of an incoming object. The object in question was roughly humanoid in shape and about three stories tall. It was approaching at an estimated speed of Mach 2.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Mainframe announced with a smile. "We have an approaching 'Ent.'"
Everyone immediately sprung to action. Mainframe and Cover Girl retreated into the safety of the armored vehicle. Cover Girl prepped the engine while the computer technician kept his eye on his computer. Estimated arrival time: ten minutes.
Cyclops and the ninja, meanwhile, took their positions. The two ninja climbed up the satellite towers while the X-Man waited silently. Mainframe calculated the direction that the robot was coming from and informed the team. Scott Summers readjusted his stance so that he would be facing the sentinel when it arrived.
It descended with ear shattering boom. Mainframe rubbed his ears and gaped a moment up at the towering monstrosity. The very earth seemed to groan under the immense weight of the machine. Twin red eyes glowed devilishly in the dark. For a moment, he felt a spark of terror before reminding himself that the machine didn't care about him. Just mutants.
In that moment, Blaine Parker had a taste of what hundreds of innocent men and women had felt when faced with a sentinel. He shook his head and looked over at Cyclops, who was staring defiantly up at the deadly mutant hunter.
For a moment, Summers' body tensed up and his left hand instinctively strayed up towards his visor. His hand paused and returned to its former position at his side. Mainframe could guess at how much self-control that the X-Man had to be mustering just to stand as still as a lamb going to slaughter.
"SURRENDER MUTANT."
The cold, metallic voice of the sentinel made Summers' hand twitch and go towards his visor again. Mainframe wanted to tell the man that he didn't have to go through with this, but he knew that Cyclops would just ignore it. At this point they had lured in a sentinel as planned and the only way that Scott Summers could back out was to destroy the machine.
"I surrender," Cyclops responded tightly. He offered no threat of violence against his soon to be captor. Mainframe peeled his eyes away from the lone X-Man and looked for the ninja. Both of them were already latched onto the sentinel, using grappling equipment that he and Forge had put together. He looked down at his computer and saw that a new signal was broadcasting from the sentinel. Snake Eyes had successfully placed the transmitter on the sentinel.
Mainframe coughed suddenly and found that his eyes and throat were now burning. A greenish mist swirled about the sentinel and the tiny camp. Rays from the early morning sun reflected off of the gas, giving it a strange eerie beauty.
Cover Girl pulled him down into the armored vehicle and slammed the top shut. Mainframe continued to cough and blink his eyes. He wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to push away the image of Cyclops collapsing from that same gas.
"How are the ninja?" he wheezed.
"They're fine," Courtney Kreiger answered. "They both remembered their gas masks." She raised her eyebrow at him, as if to ask "How could you forget that we were warned about the gas?"
The ground shook again as a powerful rocket propulsion system blasted away from the surface of the earth. Mainframe and Covergirl watched through the front window of the vehicle as the sentinel rose up high into the sky with Cyclops and two ninja in tow.
Neither of them spoke for a moment. They both came to their senses finally at the same moment. Cover Girl gunned the vehicle and aimed it towards where Lift Ticket and a small backup team were waiting with a transport plane. Mainframe, meanwhile, alerted the Pit to the fact that stage one of their mission was successful.
"Stage one completed. The Ent and three hobbits are in route back to Isengard."
Operation Ent
Kamakura gritted his teeth as g-forces pressed his body against the side of the sentinel. It was all the young ninja could do just to hold on to the side of the machine with the magnetized gloves and boots that had been created just for the mission. Forge had also outfitted them with special gasmasks and earplugs to protect them from the supersonic flight.
Sean tried to crane his head to look at Snake Eyes, but it was a futile gesture. He instead settled on studying the limp figure of Scott Summers. The X-Man was currently imprisoned within the huge fingers of the sentinel. Kamakura wondered what it felt like to be trapped like a mouse in a trap. He was glad after a moment that he didn't have to know.
He shivered against the freezing chill that whipped against him. When they finally reached their destination, he realized that the drop in temperature hadn't just been from the high altitude flight. He observed their new surroundings from his vantage point on the sentinel's back.
Heavy winds whipped across a landscape of barren, frozen rocky soil. Kamakura hung on as the sentinel walked towards a heavily guarded opening. The opening itself disappeared into the earth, leading the young ninja to deduce that there was a hidden compound underground. He was thinking about the mechanics involved in tunneling into what was obviously frozen tundra, when Snake Eyes motioned him.
*We need to get inside,* his master told him silently. *I'm going to follow Cyclops. In the meantime, scope out the perimeter and then meet me inside. Watch the temperature.*
Kamakura nodded. They hadn't prepared for Arctic temperatures. Both his and his masters' bodysuits were designed to offer some protection against different temperatures and learning how to control body heat was one of the many things required in the Arashikage clan.
However, the young ninja hadn't quite mastered that particular art yet and the freezing temperatures of the tundra were far different than winter in the Rockies.
He leapt off the sentinel and landed on the solid, slightly slick earth. Kamakura glanced around and took in as many details as he could. Heavily guarded and fenced in perimeter, all operating under radar camouflage. Tiny bubbles encircled the underground compound. The ninja spotted warmly dressed and heavily armed men walking in and out of them. Probably guard posts.
He shifted his gaze again and noticed odd impressions in the earth. Kamakura stared at them before realizing that he was looking at a "no-man's land." Sharp barbs told him that deadly spikes were hidden outside the perimeter, disguised to look like rocks from a distance. A glint of sunlight revealed thin, nearly invisible wires. If the ninja were to hazard a guess, he would say that they were lethal to the touch. Further investigation found soft indentions in the frozen soil where sensors and probably mines had been placed. About three miles away, though it was difficult to judge distance on a flat plan, Kamakura spotted a line of towers encircling the camp. Many of them appeared to be covered with different degrees of ice.
He was startled after a moment when one moved suddenly. Sentinels. Kamakura automatically froze when human preservation kicked in. He mentally kicked himself a moment later. Freezing like a deer in the headlights more often resulted in death than preservation. Besides…the sentinels didn't care about him.
Kamakura shivered. He certainly didn't want to freeze either. He forced himself to keep moving. The ninja knew that he needed as accurate a report as possible for GI Joe and the more he moved, the warmer his body stayed.
Safely concluding that the death trap could only be to prevent unwanted people from entering…or prisoners from escaping, Kamakura next turned his attention to the guard posts. The ninja was tempted to duck unseen into one, but his training advised him to wait.
"But I want to be warm" a small part of him whined. Kamakura ignored it. He continued his observation of the camp. The ninja finally gave in when he realized how stiff his muscles were from the cold. He hardly needed to get hypothermia on this mission.
Sean waited near one of the entrances until he heard a swish of air when the door finally opened. The ninja ducked silently past a small vehicle. He found himself in long, grey corridor with little to no cover. A pair of armed men stood guard at the opposite end of the corridor. Kamakura cursed silently. If the outside security measures were any indication, there were probably several security checkpoints inside until one reached the heart of the compound.
The ninja apprentice slipped past a total of seven security checkpoints, all with variations of armed guards and scanners . At one point he passed a secure coatroom, where the camp personnel kept their cold weather gear under lock and key. Kamakura made a mental note of the location, as they would need the gear for an escape attempt.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief upon entering a large motor pool and discovering a group of large space heaters. Sean hid behind the heaters and soaked in the heat. He didn't want to admit it, but he had nearly been caught at two of the seven checkpoints. His heart was still pounding loudly in his chest from the last near encounter.
A soft rustle, audible to only his ears, alerted him to the fact that the Silent Master was making his presence known. Kamakura looked up to see that Snake Eyes was looking at him through the grate of a ventilation shaft. Sean felt his lips quirk up in a smirk. No matter how many precautions the bad guys took…they always forgot to keep ninjas in mind. You'd think that they would learn to start guarding their ventilation shafts at some point.
Kamakura soon joined his sensei and the two crouched silently inside the heavily insulated shaft. He carefully avoided touching the hot water pipe that shared the same space as the air vent. Sean thought that was odd, until he remembered that it was below zero outside. This was probably another way to keep the pipes from freezing.
Regardless, it made the small space warmer and Kamakura wasn't going to object to that.
*It took you longer than it should have,* Snake Eyes rebuked. *It's cold outside.* Kamakura gave a start, before silently explaining back with sign language that reconnaissance took time. His master shook his head after a moment.
*We could have looked more later. It's difficult to draw a sword with frozen fingers.*
Sean wasn't sure if that was his mentor's way of complaining about the cold, without appearing to be complaining, or if it was a simple rebuke. Regardless, he bowed his head slightly in apology. Snake Eyes waved it off and asked for a quick report of his findings. He listened silently before explaining what he had found.
*There are two levels,* the Silent Master signed. *First level contains the motor pool, kitchens, personnel quarters, and operations center. The second level is the detention center. Cyclops was taken there.*
Kamakura thought that over for a moment before asking if his mentor had seen Beach Head, Bishop, Gambit, and Short Fuze. Snake Eyes shook his head.
*Hundreds of prisoners,* the ninja master signed back. *We need to hack into their computer database…and even if we do find them….this is only a reconnaissance mission,* Snake Eyes reminded him. Kamakura nodded back. He had a little more difficulty with the second part and he was sure that his sensei felt the same way. However….even if they did find their teammates….it was going to be difficult to get them out. That didn't even address the question of how to free all of the other inmates and shut down the internment camp.
*Follow me,* Snake Eyes replied back. *The main computer room is on the west side of the compound. Keep an eye out for trouble while I hack into the system.* The Silent Master held up a tiny computer disk. It was a special one that would help Mainframe to remotely gain access to the computer system.
Kamakura nodded his head and followed swiftly after his sensei. They eventually came to a large control area. The young ninja would have despaired at their ability to get in without being seen…at least, he would have despaired if he wasn't an Arashikage ninja.
No one saw the black garbed ninja slip down from the ceiling. Nor did anyone see him pause briefly to study the monitoring stations before choosing one in the far end of the room. Despite the internal heating system, there were still cold spots throughout the compound…and the computer personnel were conveniently avoiding having to work in the coldest sections of the room.
Snake Eyes quickly inserted the tiny disk into one of the hard drives. The Silent Master soon joined his apprentice up in the shaft.
*Now we wait for Mainframe and Stark to do their jobs,* the ninja master signed back. *In the mean time, take a five minute rest. We're going to check out the detention center next.*
Kamakura nodded his head and curled up as close to the hot water pipe as he could without being burnt. If he was going to rest, he was going to be warm while doing it. To his surprise, Snake Eyes-the Silent Terror of Villains Everywhere-imitated him.
*No need to have stiff fingers,* the older man signed, denying that he was seeking out the warmth of the pipe for any other reason than not being able to properly use his sword. Kamakura very carefully did not indicate that he thought otherwise.
*Of course, sensei,* he signed back.
Location Unknown
Mainframe grinned when a new signal appeared on his computer. The tracer they had placed on the sentinel had led them to a location in the Arctic. That tracer had since left the Arctic and was currently flying somewhere over the middle of Canada and heading back towards the United States. The new signal was coming in via the computer disk that he had given to the ninja.
"Good news?" Cover Girl asked. She and the computer technician were currently sitting side by side, near the armed transport vehicle. Lift Ticket had picked them up about an hour out from the camp site. They had quickly loaded up Courtney's ride and were now en route back to the Pit.
"Great news," Mainframe grinned back at her. His mood plummeted slightly. "It's up to Stark now though….he's got the better tech." It was galling to admit that Tony Stark was better equipped to hack remotely into the secret base.
"Your poor ego," Cover Girl snickered, knowing exactly why he was irked. "Don't worry Blaine….I know you could do the same fancy stuff as Stark if you had the same toys."
"Damn straight I could," Mainframe replied, giving a derisive snort. It wasn't that he didn't like Stark or appreciate the help….quite the opposite. But….professional rivalry was common among geeks and Mainframe would admit that he would give just about anything to use Tony Stark's tech.
"Lucky bastard has the good toys," he muttered. Courtney snickered again, but there was a touch of envy in it as well. Mainframe knew that she and Clutch also wanted to see Stark's toys first hand. He sighed slightly and speed dialed the phone number of the one and only Iron Man.
Alexandria, Virginia
The Black Widow padded softly through the house of General Crowther, leader of the Jugglers. The man himself was currently in Washington D.C. on business. That didn't mean, however, that the house was unguarded.
"Two guards approaching you from the southwest," Hawkeye told her. "They will be in your line of sight in about twenty seconds." The archer was currently perched somewhere above the house. He was using a pair of infrared goggles to help alert her to potential hazards.
Natasha Romanova stepped off into a side closet and waited. She counted to twenty and watched as two Marines walked by on patrol. "Using Marines as personal, house guards…." She noted silently. The Black Widow had seen similar abuses of power back home in Russia. In fact, the more she learned about the Jugglers, the more she was reminded of the military authorities she had abandoned in the home country.
That revelation didn't exactly please her. Invading the Jugglers' homes and computer systems suddenly became a bit more personal.
"You're in the clear," Hawkeye reported. "Continue taking the hallway another two hundred meters and then go into the second room on the left."
The Black Widow complied and was soon in a luxurious reading room. She looked around and spotted a clear space of wall, decorated only with a painting that depicted the Battle of Guadalcanal. She pressed her finger against the panel and noted that there was a fine, nearly invisible line that wasn't present in the other wooden wall panels.
"There's a hidden space behind the wall," Hawkeye told her helpfully, though she had already deduced that. Natasha grinned slightly. For being the leader of a group of secretly, powerful generals….Crowther's security measures were lax. They were at least for the Black Widow.
In no time at all, the female Avenger was seated at an expensive computer. She popped a flash drive into a slot in General Crowther's computer and waited for Tony Stark to do his magic. In the meantime, Natasha decided to snoop through the rest of the hidden office and see what she could find.
Tony Stark's Malibu mansion
Tony Stark cracked his knuckles and went to work. Two separate, secret spy missions that required his considerable genius expertise? Piece of cake. The self identified "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist" hummed along to an ACDC song while his eyes watched several sets of holographic computer monitors.
"You look busy."
The Avenger swiveled slightly in his chair to see that a certain GI Joe medic had joined him. Tony grinned cheerfully and indicated a nearby chair that was currently piled high with empty cardboard boxes.
"Ed! Have a seat," Iron Man told him. Lifeline hesitated slightly before clearing the chair and sitting down. The Avenger tried to engage the man in witty banter, but it was like pulling teeth. Tony finally gave an elaborate sigh and gave up for the moment.
It wasn't unexpected, of course. After all, the other man did have the Legacy Virus and was currently a fugitive from the government. And judging from what he'd heard from Beach Head about the man's past and what Lifeline had let slip himself, the medic hadn't exactly had a happy childhood. Tony made a mental note to introduce Ed to Bruce Banner. If anyone could help him deal with having superpowers, crappy parents, and being a fugitive, it was the science lord of gamma radiation.
"So….what's going on?" Lifeline asked. Tony flashed him a grin.
"Superhero stuff," he answered cheekily. The medic rolled his eyes.
"I gathered that," Edwin Steen answered. "What kind of 'superhero stuff'?"
"Well…." Tony began, pointing to the computer screens. He was, after all, a showman at heart. "This screen is where Snake Eyes and Kamakura infiltrated a mutant internment camp in the Arctic…"
"What, really…." Lifeline started to ask, his eyes flashing with excitement. Tony Stark, however, was not one to be interrupted when he was on a roll. He cut the medic off and continued with his grand tour of "superhero heroics."
"…and Mainframe gave them a little doohickey computer virus on a computer disk, which is actually how I'm having Black Widow crack the Jugglers' computers….quite brilliant if you ask me. Great minds think alike…."
"Tony…."
"So anyway, while our pet assassins and ninja assassins scout around, yours truly is going to find out every dirty little secret that the bad guys decided to store….."
"Tony…." Lifeline was still trying to get a word in, but Iron Man was too busy gloating. The medic finally sighed and let the Avenger finish his explanation of what was going on, who was doing what, and why his part in the whole scheme was especially crucial.
"Humility is a virtue," the medic finally said, echoing what Pepper Potts said already told him many times before. Tony rolled his eyes while his fingers tapped away on a keyboard. Humility wasn't fun.
"Ed….kindly shut up and let me have a healthy moment of selfish narcissism, please," Tony replied. "It's good for my ego."
Edwin Steen rolled his eyes again and gave a slightly vexed sigh. Tony chuckled a moment before turning his attention back to the task at hand. Streams of data were now flowing into his database. Neither of the two men spoke, as they were too engrossed in reading the new information.
"Two camps," Tony murmured. "One in the Arctic and the other in the Rockies. Looks like they used an abandoned mine for that one."
"Which one are our friends at?" Lifeline questioned. The billionaire didn't answer. There was approximately three minutes left on the download from Snake Eyes's end. Black Widow and Hawkeye had just finished with Crowther's computer and were on their way to another Juggler's house. Once all the data transfers were completely, hopefully he could find a list of all the prisoners.
Since the information from the Arctic was still downloading, Tony amused himself by skimming through General Crowther's files. It didn't take long for him to find dirty secret after dirty secret: plans to secretly depose the King of Wakanda and replace him with a puppet dictator-all with the goal of gaining free access to vibranium; agreements with a secret contractor, who was funding the sentinel program; potential strategies for trying to destabilize Atlantis….Namor was going to LOVE hearing that one…..
Tony gave a low whistle as he kept reading. The Jugglers were in deep.
"What's that?" Lifeline asked, pointing to a folder that Tony had just passed. The Avenger backed up and saw that he'd missed a file on GI Joe. Tony opened it up and found more information, all encrypted. It was child's play to remove the encryptions and keep reading.
He was somewhat startled to find separate files on Beach Head, Lifeline, and Short Fuze. Tony reminded himself that he shouldn't be surprised by that. The billionaire noticed that Ed was eyeing his own file, so Tony took the liberty of opening it up.
"They've been tracking me," Lifeline replied sourly when he saw the contents inside. "And my family." He was currently glaring at pictures that had been taken of his sister, her husband, and her children. Tony glanced at them for a moment before his attention became riveted on something else. Curious, he decided to investigate a small subfolder.
Tony read silently for several minutes.
"Ed…." He finally said softly. "The Hulkbuster attack on Seattle was intentional. They did it to lure you out."
"WHAT?"
Lifeline tore his eyes away from his sister's folder to stare at an email that had been sent from Crowther to the other Jugglers. In it, Crowther was congratulating the others on a successful mission. "Attempts to force Steen into action against the government worked….now we have the excuse we need to bring him under our control…"
The medic finally turned away from the computer and stalked towards the other end of the room. Tony continued to read the documents. It didn't appear that the Jugglers had planned for him to get the Legacy Virus…that had been an unintentional result. GI Joe had currently been keeping a tight lid on the fact that Lifeline even had the disease, but somehow the Jugglers had still found out and were gloating about it.
Tony frowned. Was it possible that there was a mole on the GI Joe team? How else would the Jugglers have found out? Between Forge, Mainframe, and himself, the Joes' computer systems should virtually be uncrackable. Should be…but not definitely. The leak could even have come from SHIELD's end.
He looked around for Lifeline, but the medic had already vanished. Tony knew by now that the medic was probably too upset to talk at the moment.
"Jarvis?" he asked. "Location of Edwin Steen."
"Captain Steen is currently in the garden foyer," Jarvis replied helpfully. "Shall I send Ms. Potts to go speak with him?"
"Please," Tony replied. He then took the liberty of calling Pepper and giving her a short explanation. Once that was done, he returned to staring at the computer monitors.
So many variables. But…at least they were making progress now. Tony sighed after a moment. That progress hadn't yet included the location of Cobra's secret base. He had hoped that the stolen War Machine suit would lead them there, but Cobra had managed to disable his tracking system. Iron Man scowled darkly.
You'd think the bad guys would have learned one very important lesson by this point. DO NOT take Tony Stark's stuff and don't harm his friends. Tony became very grumpy when that happened.
VERY grumpy.
"Master Stark," the artificial Jarvis suddenly said. "I have found two of the names of your four missing friends….Wayne Sneeden and Remy LeBeau."
Tony shot forward in his chair and knocked over a Dr. Pepper. He ignored everything else as he focused his attention on the far left computer monitor. Tony pushed the other holographic monitors away and tapped his finger in the air. A list of names materialized, as if by magic.
"What're you waiting for?" Iron Man demanded. "Show me!"
Camp Dolores
Boredom gnawed at him. Gambit fiddled with a stray, grey thread from his faded uniform. His real attention, however, was focused on the metal bands around his wrists and ankles. Remy didn't figure that he could do anything about the inhibitor collar around his neck, at least for the moment, but the bands were another matter. The bands expanded into restraints as a last resort, so if he could at least get them off….
Master thief or not, Remy LeBeau still lacked any sort of tool. The cheap mattresses in their prison cell inconveniently lacked metal springs…no doubt a foresight by the camp guards. He wasn't going to improvise tools from that option. Their jailors seemed to have thought of everything.
No, not everything. Gambit reminded himself that human error meant that there was some unnoticed flaw somewhere, waiting to be exploited.
"Ah kin't take much more of this, Remy."
Gambit eyed his burly companion, who had a sickly tint to his skin. The fact that Beach Head had admitted to weakness and called him by his first name meant that the man was cracking just a bit. Remy had been afraid of what the ranger's claustrophobia would do to him.
"Keep it together, mon ami," the Cajun muttered. "Or Remy will tell Flint."
Beach Head managed a wan smirk, but offered up none of his former attitude. The ranger was in his usual position at the front of the cell. Beads of sweat trickled down the man's back. Wayne Sneeden had so far been managing his claustrophobia, but whatever inner control he had been mustering was disappearing the longer they stayed crammed together in the cell. Remy frowned to himself. That worried him.
Both he and Wayne knew that the guards would take advantage of any weakness they found. Gambit hid a sigh. The guards should be letting them out soon for a restroom break, so the ranger would get a brief respite. It wasn't that their captors were being humane. Remy knew the only reason for it was that the camp officials didn't want to smell the unpleasant scent of human defecation during their patrols.
But…whatever the reason, it got them out of their cells for a brief period of time.
Remy caught a whiff of an unpleasant stench of another sort. He did his best to not inhale through his nose. Beach Head's usual distinctive smell had intensified as a result of sweat and the lack of access to daily showers. The Cajun mutant had heard, via Callisto, that the guards hosed off the prisoners once a week for their "bath."
Gambit ground his teeth at the indignity of it all.
Wayne suddenly froze at his side. The X-Man gave him an alarmed look, wondering if he was about to have full blown claustrophobic attack. Remy eyed him for a few moments. The ranger's attention seemed focused on one of the guards currently passing by on patrol.
"What's de matter?" Remy whispered. There was a strange intensity in the man's face that he hadn't seen before. Sneeden seemed to almost be in shock.
"That man…." Beach Head whispered back hoarsely, indicating the guard he had been staring at. "Ah trained him at Benning….he was a ranger….a good one." The Cajun's head whipped over to stare at the man as well. The guard was of about modest height, but with a powerful build and a shock of red hair.
"His name's McGill," Wayne continued faintly, still in shock at seeing one of his former trainees as a camp guard. "Laurence McGill. He hated his first name, so all of us called him 'Laurie.' It always pissed him off."
Remy turned that over in his head. He wondered if they should say something to the man. Maybe…just maybe….he could be an ally? But then again, McGill was working as a prison guard in a secret internment camp for mutants. Calling the man's attention to the fact that his former ranger instructor was a prisoner could either help or harm them. It was a gamble.
But Gambit had always been good with gambles. He decided to toss their fate to Lady Luck.
"Hey McGill!" Remy hollered. "Or should we call you Laurie?" McGill's body froze in place and his head snapped in the direction of their cell. Beach Head, meanwhile, was giving the Cajun a horrified look.
"What're you doin'?" The ranger hissed. He seemed caught between strangling Remy or hiding behind him. The first option was typical Beach Head, but the second was so out of character for the man that it emboldened the Cajun.
"Yeah, you!" Remy continued to holler. "Some ranger you are! Where the hell's that honor and crap that Sneeden was supposed to have taught ya?"
That did it. Laurence McGill changed direction and made a beeline for their cell. However, a sudden roar of outrage from Beach Head stopped the man in his tracks.
"GAWD DAMMIT, LEBEAU! AH OUGHTA MAKE YOU GIVE ME PUSHUPS TIL YOU DIE FOR THAT!"
Remy LeBeau hummed to himself in satisfaction. He'd awoken Beach Head's usual temperamental orneriness, which was good. McGill also seemed to have recognized Wayne's very irate roar, as the camp guard was still frozen in his tracks, looking as though the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse were about to descend on him.
"Master Sergeant Sneeden?" The man stuttered.
"That's Sergeant Major Sneeden to you!" Beach Head automatically snapped, still too irate to be bothered by the cramped quarters of their prison. In a few minutes, the man would likely return to trying not to hyperventilate from his phobia, but for now….he was Sgt. Major Grumpy Ass again.
It was surreal. They were the prisoners, but for a moment, one of the guards was literally quaking in his boots because of one of them. The other camp guards watched the exchange with confusion, puzzled by the reaction of their comrade.
Laurence McGill finally gathered himself up enough that he tentatively approached the front of their cell. The red head stared pale faced into the darkened interior. Sgt. Major Wayne Sneeden glared defiantly back. McGill's jaw dropped open, but nothing came out but air.
"You got a starin' problem, McGill?" Beach Head rumbled, still on a roll. "What…never seen a mutant before?" The last part was thrown out as a taunt. A shiver ran through McGill's body. It took him a few moments to recover from the shock.
"You're….a mutant?" he gasped, not quite recovered from the shock of seeing the fearsome Wayne Sneeden locked up with the other mutants. Beach Head replied with a silent sneer.
"Problem here, McGill?" one of the other guards asked, glaring at their cell. "We can take care of it real quick."
"Go ahead… Laurie," Gambit said mockingly, speaking up for the first time since he'd initiated the exchange. "You're not supposed to be nice to us muties, remember?" Oh…he knew they were all going to pay for this dearly, but McGill's terror at being confronted with a caged Beach Head had been priceless.
Indecision contorted McGill's face. Beach Head watched him silently for a moment, before finally speaking up again.
"Do what you gotta do, Laurie," he told the man contemptuously. "Can't be a softie, can you? Torturin' and lockin' up innocent civvies and fellow rangers….well….Ah'm sure you're doin' alright in the eyes of Uncle Sam. Guess all mah sacrifice for you and the rest of our country don't mean more than a bowl of dog shit." The last part was said with such disgust that it made Remy stare at him.
The corner of McGill's left eye twitched. He didn't look happy. The man glanced at his fellow guards, who were waiting for him to shut down the rebellious mutants. Laurence McGill did his best to make his face appear neutral. Remy's practiced eye, however, noticed that the man was very uncomfortable. After a moment of hesitation, McGill activated their inhibitor collars.
Gambit collapsed to the ground as the inhibitor collar sent a pain command through his central nervous system. Beach Head bit his lip to keep from groaning. In a few moments, the pain was gone…as were the guards.
Remy stared at the now empty space in front of their cell. He moved his fingers experimentally. Usually, they were temporarily paralyzed after being tortured. However….McGill had used a lower frequency on them. It still had hurt like hell….but in comparison to their usual torments, it hadn't felt like his insides were burning up. His body was numb afterwards, but he could at least move, even if slowly.
He and Beach Head exchanged glances. The ranger was still angry, but there was now a considering look in his eyes. Remy didn't say anything, but he nodded his head at his fellow captive. It was possible that they could wear McGill down. It was a slim chance at best, but it was still a chance. Lady Luck had smiled on them today. The gamble had been worth it.
Remy LeBeau had found his human error. All he had to do now was shape it into a tool.