Chapter 18

The convention, as per usual, is in New York. The US military has been charged with security, and the whole area around the UN building is crawling with soldiers.

The attack's primary objective is to strike fear into the heart of the Order, the various governments that submit to it, the soldiers who defend it, and the citizens who may one day choose to become soldiers if we don't convince them otherwise. Therefore, subtlety is out of the question.

We march in formation right down the street, and we start shooting as soon as the soldiers are within sight. I'm the only one using arrows, and I've had to endure the rest of the troops making fun of me all the way here.

Once we get started, the mockeries stop. Their bullets don't make it out of each soldier they shoot because they can barely get through their bullet proof vests and unlike me, they don't aim well enough to shoot the unprotected necks and eyes. In comparison, each of my arrows goes through my primary targets and kills at least one more soldier.

I put my bow away when we get close enough for my swords. I unsheathe both of them and while the rest of the troops continue to waste half their bullets on armour, I start slicing through the soldiers.

I'm not sure how long we fight. Despite the fact these soldiers aren't GI Joe, they still work for the Order through the American Government, and I expected to savour every death. Instead, I find myself on autopilot and I kill my opponents as fast as I can because every instinct I have is screaming at me to dedicate every instant not spent on keeping myself unharmed to eliminating as many threats as I can. I hear some people screaming about GI Joe from time to time and guess that they're coming in as reinforcements against us.

Everything I do is so automatic and so easy that it soon feels like I'm watching someone else fight in a choreography. Until, that is, I find myself barely dodging a series of bullets aimed at my legs and before I even know I've thrown it, hearing the shuriken I threw at the gun those bullets came from connect with another one in mid-air without reaching its target.

The rest of the battle stops existing as I focus on the shooter. My eyes widen when I get a look at him and pick up his individual pulse and breathing: I know him.

I'm sure I know him. I have no idea who he is, but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he's someone from my past, one of the memories I've lost. I spot the GI Joe logo on his chest and I clench my teeth.

Logically, all I can conclude is that I saw him when my family was slaughtered; that I noticed him because he killed many people or because he was the one to bring me down. If that's the case, I have more motivation than I could ever need to not let him defeat me again.

That is NOT who he is, however. I'm convinced of it. He's not my enemy, or at least he shouldn't be. I spot the symbol on his shoulder, the same as on my forearm, and again, despite Cobra's certainty that it's only a generic ninja symbol not known to be associated with the Arashikage, I'm just not sure they're right.

While I'm trying to figure him out, he's attacking me, helped by a red headed girl that I only notice when I have to block one of her bolts, quickly followed by a few throwing stars. The fact her shots were aimed at my throat draws my attention to the fact his are targeted at my limbs.

Their radios cut in just as I was about to ask him who he is.

"All personnel. Change of orders for Storm Shadow: he's to be stopped at all costs. Lethal force authorized."

The man's heart rate goes up and he turns briefly to the girl. He speeds up his attacks, forcing me to concentrate on him and allowing her to step back.

"Duke?" She calls. "Engaging Storm Shadow now. Snake Eyes is requesting confirmation of orders."

"He did most of this," the radio answers to both of them. "You had it right before, Snake Eyes, and you can tell me 'I told you so' as much as you want later. Right now, I want Storm Shadow stopped."

The red head clenches her teeth and mutters that it explains the blood. The one I know - Snake Eyes, apparently, though the name doesn't ring a bell – tenses and his pulse accelerates. He takes a single deep breath and starts attacking me again, much more ferociously than before. So much so, in fact, that he's endangering me. My eyes widen in surprise.

He's better than me? He's actually beating me? Didn't the Doctor say I was the best?

I try to concentrate on fighting him, but my mind refuses to cooperate: he raises too many questions. I need to know why I know him, why I don't think it's because he was the one to capture me, how he can be better than me, and what that symbol means. I settle for at least trying to share my distraction and throw a knife at the red head to buy myself a second to regroup.

He deflects it with one of his own knives and charges me, backing me up several steps and positioning himself between her and me, effectively blocking her out of the fight. She apparently decides to respect his decision and goes off to make herself useful somewhere else.

"Who are you?" I cry out. "How can you be beating me? Why do I remember you?"

He stops for a fraction of a second, but recovers quickly and charges again, without answering. This is insane, he's going to kill me at this rate, and I can't even make myself think of him as an enemy, despite the fact I have no idea why.

He goes through a combo I recognize and finally, things sort of click into place – I still don't remember him, but now, I'm positive he was part of my clan. I already knew, instinctively, that the symbol we both wear does have something to do with the Arashikage, and his fighting technique, by being so similar to mine, just confirmed it.

"You're from my clan! How can you work for the Order? Did you betray us? Did you help them slaughter us?"

Even as I'm asking, I can't believe it. It's the most confusing feeling: I'm absolutely sure he'd never betray me or the clan, but I don't know why. I'm completely certain that he's very important to me, but I don't even remember anything about him.

He doesn't answer, instead continuing to attack me, but it seems I've managed to bother him – his attacks aren't quite as dangerous as they were just a moment ago. I take advantage of one of my blocks to slip a locater in one of his holsters – they're so small and quiet he's not likely to notice it, and with a bit of luck, I'll eventually catch him by himself and be able to talk to him a bit more quietly. Now if only he'd talk back… he hasn't said a word since he started fighting me, which is beyond frustrating because considering his life signs allowed me to recognize him, it seems like his voice might actually bring back some memories.

I'm about to demand he say something, anything, when the Commander's voice rings through my receiver, ordering retreat.

"That means you too, Storm Shadow!" he even specifies.

"We'll talk again," I promise the man in black.

I throw a smoke bomb under our feet and take off.

We scatter in several directions, and the soldiers are stuck choosing which groups to follow. Only a few of us, like myself, have instructions to go back to the Fortress immediately, provided we're not followed. The rest are to rendezvous in Springfield in a few days, once they're sure they've shaken off any pursuers.

I head for the Commander's office as soon as I'm back in the fortress, barely aware of the discomfort caused by the blood coating me and making my uniform stick to my skin. His door is opened, so I walk straight in.

"Commander…" I start.

"Storm Shadow!" he interrupts me. "Come in, come in! I was going to send for you. Sit down!"

He sounds so insanely happy that I'm taken aback and I sit down.

"Remind me never to let you quit," he cackles. "I had people relating everything to me during the battle. You did good, today. You did wonderful. You were amazing!"

"About today…" I try again.

"Are you satisfied? If you've had enough, I'll understand. I mean, I'm going to talk your ears off until you agree to continue helping us, but…"

It's my turn to interrupt him.

"Satisfied? The Joes only showed up at the end. Random soldiers aren't my target. Today was just about hurting the Order, not revenge."

"And you've certainly hurt them," he says, sounding perfectly delighted. "I was asking because from what we know and told you, you have 214 people whose deaths you wish to punish the Order for, and I'm told you must have personally killed at least that many soldiers."

My eyes widen: it didn't seem like that many at the time. No wonder I'm so covered and this Duke character issued specific orders to kill me. I can't help being very pleased with myself: that's 200 less soldiers helping the Order starve at least that many children to death daily.

"I've promised myself that the Joes would all die, and anybody commanding them in the Order," I state. "Those soldiers were just a bonus. That's not why I wanted to talk to you. One of the Joes…"

"Snake Eyes," the Commander interrupts me again. "I'm told he gave you trouble? He's a ninja too, I'm sure you've noticed. Don't worry about it, he took you by surprise. I'm sure you'll be able to dispose of him next time, and it doesn't take away from everything else you've accomplished today."

I do wish he'd let me talk. Between people who won't say a word and people who won't shut up, I'm starting to feel distinctly annoyed. The fact he's obviously lying about being sure I'll get him next time doesn't help, either. I was told I was the best, and finding someone better than me is downright infuriating. I force myself to stay calm so that I can explain myself rationally.

"He's from my clan," I announce. "He HAS to be, I recognized his technique and he knew mine. Also…" I remove the blood soaked band of fabric on my right forearm to reveal my tattoo. "…he wears this symbol on his shoulder and I'm sure it is NOT generic. I'm sure it's unique to the Arashikage."

"The fact that Snake Eyes wears this symbol is the very reason I thought it could not possibly be linked to the Arashikage," the Commander says. "You're absolutely sure of this?"

I nod firmly.

"Then he must have betrayed your clan a while ago. He's been with GI Joe for years."

I shake my head and I get up to start pacing: it looks a bit more dignified than wringing my hands.

"No. I know this is not going to sound very convincing, but I beg of you to trust me on this. He can't have betrayed us; I just know he wouldn't have. Besides, why would he wear our symbol if he had turned his back on us?"

"Do you actually remember him? What he was like back when he was part of the Arashikage?"

"No," I admit. "But I'm still convinced he did not betray us. He was important to me, I'm sure of it. Even before I realized our techniques matched, I recognized him."

"You're right: none of this is particularly convincing," he remarks. "More importantly, do you realize what you're implying?"

I nod again.

"He was flipped. He's even better than me, so it's not surprising the Order was interested in him. For all we know, it could be one of the reasons the Arashikage was so determined to undo the Order: because they took him from us."

"It wasn't. The Arashikage has been fighting the Order since before you were even born. Just the same, if he is indeed not a traitor by nature and is in fact a former member of your clan, his having been brainwashed into serving the Order is a distinct possibility. It's also a big problem: we've never been able to undo a full programming. You know better than anyone else that we can't even reconstruct the memories the Order wipes away… we've tried before, but we never even got close to undoing a complete flip. If that IS what happened to him, the best thing to do would be to put him out of his misery."

"I will NOT kill him, and I won't let anyone else do it either," I snarl. "He's my brother, and I WILL. SAVE. HIM!"

I accent each of the last few words by slamming my fists on his desk, and my face is inches from his mask. To his credit, he doesn't flinch.

After a few moments, he nods.

"Bring him here, and we'll do everything we can. I wouldn't worry about anyone killing him: we've been trying for years, and as you can see, he's still quite healthy."

I bow to him and leave, satisfied.

I keep close track of Snake Eyes' location through the next couple of days, but he never leaves the GI Joe base.

Both as a mean to keep myself distracted rather than hopping around impatiently waiting for a chance to talk to him again, and in the hope of faring better against him next time if I have to fight him again, I'm training even harder than I did for my first month here.

Most of the troops avoid me, so I usually have the gym to myself. On the third morning after I faced my brother, however, Zartan strolls in and although he stops dead in his tracks upon spotting me, he eventually stops staring at me, snorts and walks over.

"You're not going to run off if I talk to you or look at you, are you?" I ask him without pausing. I'm just lifting weights right now, and to be honest, I could use what little entertainment I may get from making fun of him: my mind has been focusing more on my poor brother than on my training this morning.

He chuckles. "Nah. I'm over that. You want to spar?"

I laugh. "I think I'd get more of a workout from the punching bag."

"I'm not THAT bad," he huffs. "I was hoping you'd teach me some moves."

I pause, taken aback. Logically, I should tell him to bugger off – I have better things to do with my time than attempt to make him a bit less useless. So why don't I? Why am I tempted to accept? I can't be THAT desperate for company, can I?

"Heh," he chuckles. "You know why you want to? It's not because you like me, obviously."

I frown at him. "I can see no reason to agree to waste my time on you."

"But you want to anyway, because you're a teacher at heart. I bet Mindbender and the Commander didn't tell you that, did they?"

It rings true, but given the source, I choose to just not believe it.

"And how would YOU know?" I sneer. "I hardly think I was a teacher: I wouldn't have attracted the attention of the Order if all I did was teach."

He rolls his eyes. "Why else would you be trying to bring Snake Eyes back to his senses? Same reason you don't want him harmed. You're no warrior, you're a nanny. I'm guessing he used to be your student. You're like the mother hen protecting her chick."

I put my weights down and get up, facing him. After the battle at the United Nations, there is absolutely no way anyone smarter than a slug would think I'm not a warrior, whether I'm also a teacher or not. Even he can't be that stupid. Therefore, he's just trying to provoke me into fighting with him.

"I will rescue Snake Eyes from the Order because he and I are the last two members of our clan. I have no idea what our respective positions were. For all I know, HE was MY teacher. It doesn't matter. The rest of my family was murdered, quite possibly just because the Order wanted me, and not only could I not save them, I can't even properly honour their memory because I HAVE no memory of them to honour. I have only one brother left; I WILL get him back."

I walk up to him as I'm talking. He doesn't move, standing his ground and looking down his nose at me with a mocking smile. I swipe his legs and before he's done falling, help him down with a rough shove on his midsection. He grunts and glares at me from the floor.

"This is the only lesson you get," I say. "Don't leave your guard down just because it looks cooler than a defensive stance."

I step over him to leave the gym: I have no desire to stay around him any longer.

Author's Notes:

In canon (IIRC), Cobra Commander doesn't often do things that actually involve killing a lot of people, but realistically, he would do just that at least every now and then. I see some of the objectives of this particular stunt actually being fairly close to what Storm Shadow thinks they are: intimidation and terror.

You will eventually find out what's going on in Snake Eyes' head each time the two meet. I promise, his level of determination to kill Storm Shadow only LOOKS random. You can already safely assume he's not so stunned as to not realize Storm Shadow has suddenly stopped making any sense since he's escaped Alkatraz.

I don't have much else to say on this part, except I love making fun of Zartan, so you can be certain that this is not the last time. :D

Speaking of Zartan, not that it's particularly important, but can you guess what he's up to, trying to point out Storm Shadow likes teaching? Are you thinking it'd be wiser for him NOT to do anything that may help Storm Shadow remember his past? If enough people wonder, I may explain it in a bonus scene – I'm not sure it'll ever make it to the actual story.