Chapter 29
I can feel my legs again when I wake up, and unlike the last time that accursed chip knocked me out, I can feel everything else as well – including my broken arm, pierced shoulder and injured back. All my senses also appear to be working, but I can't move a muscle, and attempting to consciously control my breathing or pulse fails as well.
In other words, I'm just as powerless as last time but with a better seat, so to speak. My heart starts hammering. I need to calm down, and since I have no control on my breathing, that means I need to think of something else than my current situation, even if only briefly.
My thoughts obediently leave the present moment, but choose to go back to the night's battle and to my uncle, which of course does not help at all. Tears immediately start rolling down my cheeks and worst yet, I'm starting to think that screaming in anguish would feel rather good right now and that it really doesn't matter if I do.
I can't be doing this, I can't lose it. I don't know whether I can escape – and it doesn't seem likely – but I have to try. I have no time to waste right now; grieving is going to have to wait. Since I can't control my body at the moment, I need to at least control my thoughts and emotions.
Even as I think it, I can't stop going back to the fact my uncle, the last blood relative I had left, my last surviving parental figure and the one I was counting on to tell me how to redeem myself, is gone and is gone because of me, because he saved me, because he gave his life for me, even if it meant that I'd do more harm. He chose to make sure I'd live regardless of what I've done and what I might do in the future… I've never really counted on anybody forgiving me my time in Cobra, especially that completely. I feel tears on my cheeks again and squeeze my eyes shut.
Stupid mindset… I let him get himself killed and I surrendered to becoming Cobra's slave again, all because the Soft Master defined the mission to ensure my survival. He also managed to define a second objective to ensure the mindset would dissolve, something that, as far as I know, is unheard of… but the point is, he defined the mission. I'm here because of him. Although I know it's unfair, I seize the flare of anger I feel at the thought and gnaw on it.
He had no right to do that: he KNEW I'd rather die! I'm going to be Cobra's slave again, for who knows how long – in all likelihood until my death – and it's because of him! And this time, he won't even be around to save me again, so I'm worse off than ever. And the clan! He left the clan without a leader, there's nobody now that can perform the sealing ceremony on the Amaterasu – the Arashikage is gone, he betrayed us. Whether or not anybody chooses to remain at the compound means nothing: without our blood leading, the clan's purpose is lost, we've finally stopped following the will of our founder. And as long as Cobra holds on to me, things will remain that way. Cobra… they tried to kill my brother, killed the Hard Master, enslaved me and turned me into a monster, and finally, killed the Soft Master and by doing so, destroyed the clan. I gladly concentrate my thoughts on everything Cobra has done to me and my family rather than on the Soft Master: the result on my emotional state is the same, and Cobra is a much more deserving target for my anger.
My thoughts are interrupted by the door opening, but I'm back in control – no chance of getting emotional again, I'm too furious. It's hardly a calm and reflective state, but it's one I'm used to, one I can handle, and it sure beats crying like a baby.
Zartan enters the room and stiffens at my expression before I even start talking.
"You," I growl. "You will BEG for death. I will start by switching your hands and your feet around, then I'll…"
He tries to interrupt me. "I gathered what I could of the Soft Master's…"
"I hold YOU responsible for HIS death, as well," I snarl.
"I didn't fire that missile," he protests, "and like I was saying…"
"Tell me who did, then. Tell me who killed him and I'll make YOUR death just a bit quicker."
He gulps but clenches his jaw and finishes what he wanted to say, ignoring my demand. "I gathered his remains and sent the ashes to Snake Eyes."
I bark a laugh. "You think this puts me in your debt, do you? Like when you came to see me in the gym with your pathetic attempt at jogging my memory so I would owe you my sanity… IDIOT!"
"No, I…"
"There's NOTHING you can do that will save you from me! If you somehow managed to make it so I owed you my life or more, I may have to kill myself right after I dispose of you, but I would still END YOUR MISERABLE LIFE!"
He winces. "My only target was Snake Eyes," he ploughs on. "And I even tried to get out of…"
"I DON'T CARE!" I interrupt him. "The name, Zartan. Give me a single target, or they will ALL die! Every last one of them! And I'll use their ridiculous weapons of choice to do it, and I swear to you, I WILL make it last as long as I can for each and EVERY ONE OF THEM! INCLUDING YOUR SIBLINGS! AND THAT DAUGHTER OF YOURS!"
He turns white. I wish I could at least take comfort in the fact he certainly doesn't seem to think I will remain under Cobra's control forever, but I can't: I think so little of his judgment that if anything, I'm more pessimistic than ever about my chances of ever being free again.
"Scrap Iron," he finally growls. "And he's not a dreadnock. That idiot… the Commander demanded you be taken alive, and he goes and tries to blow you up."
He leaves then, after one last glare at me, which I answer with a snarl. It occurs to me after he's left that not only did we have that fight without being interrupted, he even had time to gather my uncle's remains… I wonder briefly why GI Joe or even just the regular army didn't interfere while Cobra was attacking in the middle of New York, but I quickly guess the Commander somehow arranged it that way and I decide I don't really care to know how.
I'm left alone for a while, and I continue to deliberately make myself angrier and angrier – the adrenaline might help me break out, and if not, I at least feel more in control. The thought occurs to me at one point that at least, Billy was left with Snake Eyes and is therefore safe, but I quickly make myself ignore it to avoid calming down, even if only slightly.
I've got myself worked up into a frenzy by the time the Commander comes in with Mindbender, and I start screaming at them right away.
"Silence him," the Commander hisses.
Mindbender moves behind me and types something on a keyboard. I'm yelling insults at him, vaguely aware that I'm just wasting my energy and that making myself furious might not have cleared my head all that much after all.
My voice suddenly dies. I try screaming louder, but no sound comes out of my throat at all, unless you count my exhaling.
"I've perfected my control methods," Mindbender explains, standing beside me and smiling. "I can decide, for each individual muscle, whether you are in control or not. I can even shut down individual nerve endings while leaving the others around it active."
The Commander walks up to me and crosses his arms.
"You ought to be flattered, Storm Shadow. Recovering you was a major operation, parts of which were put in place as soon as you left. I was tempted several times to just go get you in that water tower, but it seemed preferable to avoid a fight if at all possible, and I really didn't want to reveal to you that I had something in your head to control and locate you… not as long as you still believed in the righteous Cobra Commander, fighting the evil Order."
He cackles at that. I glare at him. It's bad enough he's got me muted, is the monologue really necessary? I suspect he's doing it precisely to annoy me.
"I had been planning another major strike, so I tweaked it around you. See how much I care about my dear ninja? I positioned my troops to be ready to strike at my chosen targets when you left with my son, and once you settled in your little hideout, I positioned some more in a large circle around you, seven blocks away on average."
My eyes widen a bit: that would have taken a lot of troops. I can't help feeling indeed a bit flattered.
"When your chip signaled that you were starting to wonder whether any of the memories that were resurfacing were real, I gave the signal for our major strike to start. The chip was set to react to the slightest doubt from you, so I knew I still had a bit of time before you fully came back to yourself – time I used to get GI Joe and therefore, Snake Eyes, away from you. By the time our fight started over an hour later, half of them were en route to Washington DC, the other half to San Francisco. What few were left at the Pit when the attack in New York was reported could hardly face us, and the Joes going to the other sites could not be recalled because the attacks over there were in a larger scale, so as I knew would be the case, the regular army was sent instead. The troops I had around you were able to hold them off quite easily."
I glare at him some more, almost glad I can't talk and give him the satisfaction of asking him what they've done in Washington and San Francisco. He cocks his head.
"You're wondering what we did in those other attacks, aren't you? Not much, really: GI Joe saw to that. Still enough to make the name of Cobra more feared than ever. I believe the combined toll was about 1000 people and several government offices."
He starts laughing. He's not doing this to annoy me after all – he's just gloating to a captive audience. I roll my eyes at him to express that I am completely unimpressed. The lie - I'm not oblivious enough to not realize this whole operation was yet another impressive display of planning and strategy on his part - has the exact effect I was hoping for: he abruptly stops laughing and scowls at me.
"Since you have to re-do him completely anyway, Doctor, I want some changes."
I open my mouth to oh-so-wittily offer to re-do HIM, but I still can't talk. That would be irritating enough without the fact it's also making me feel powerless, despite the rage-induced adrenalin I've so carefully built up. The last thing I need is to get any kind of emotional right now. I need to concentrate on escaping.
"To be honest, Commander…" Mindbender starts.
"I'm not killing him," the Commander interrupts. "Snake Eyes would be out for blood and I wouldn't have anyone to stand in his way."
"Very well," Mindbender concedes. "But I must warn you that whatever I do will be much more difficult to maintain, now that he's broken through the programming once."
"Speaking of which," the Commander hisses threateningly, "why didn't you set the safety to activate automatically, Mindbender?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Mindbender replies in a very annoyed tone, "If I set it to react to a particular belief, say that Cobra is evil, it would just stay activated as long as the belief is there, even after he loses consciousness; his heart would fail within minutes. If you want him alive, I have to incorporate into the trigger something that will no longer be true once he's unconscious, like an actual action."
"The treatments you do take hours and he survives THOSE. And what about three nights ago?" the Commander argues.
My eyebrows shoot up. Three nights ago? I was out for three days?
"The MACHINE keeps him alive during treatments, Commander. As for that battle, seeing he was also still conscious, I'm guessing the hypnotic state they put themselves under blocked the pain."
The Commander's eyes narrow briefly before he shrugs.
"As I was saying, I've grown to find keeping up the lies inconvenient," he says, as though the last part of the conversation had never happened. "Constantly making sure new troops have their instructions regarding him is time consuming, and because I can't speak freely when he's around, I can hardly ever use him as a bodyguard. I want him to be completely devoted to me without having to keep up this kind of charade."
Mindbender wisely follows his lead and doesn't press the issue of the safety switch further either.
"You do realize, Commander, that this would be more along the lines of complete conditioning than memory manipulation?"
"Yes," the Commander hisses. "I want him more loyal than a dog, Mindbender. As long as his fighting abilities are still intact, I don't care whether he can still even read or add two and two! I want him to think I'm his Lord and Master, and I want him to have no sense of right or wrong beyond serving me. AND when I tell him to kill Snake Eyes, I want his only reaction to be asking me how slowly!"
My eyes widen. I need to get out of here. This is going to be even worse than before… I struggle to move, to no avail. Much like last time this happened, I feel panic settling in. I try to concentrate on the fact that I'm furious, but my thoughts keep slipping back into what's happening now instead of obediently staying on the past.
I suddenly get the idea that maybe I should use the panic to boost my adrenaline that much more, and maybe break free of the paralysis. I stop fighting it and let myself face the fact that this is very, very bad.
All I achieve is that I become more frantic in my complete lack of movement.
"Yes, Commander," Mindbender sighs.
He starts typing on his keyboard again. I try yelling at them again, to no avail: Mindbender has not restored my voice.
The pain is even worse than I remember. I have time to wonder whether it's because I blocked just how bad it was from my memory before it becomes impossible to think.
Master… I can hear him. He's here, right next to me.
Hold on… Was I asleep? Was I making him wait?
I hurriedly jump out of bed and kneel next to him, ignoring the pain that shoots up my back and dismissing the cast on my arm and the bandages tugging at my shoulder as unimportant.
"Master! I'm sorry you've been waiting! I don't know what happened, I…"
"You were defeated by Snake Eyes, AGAIN, three days ago," he cuts me off. "And you went and got yourself injured, too."
My eyes widen. Defeated? But then… "I failed you?" I breathe, horrified. I don't even remember my mission. "Master, I…"
"You've disappointed me, Storm Shadow," he cuts me off. "You've hurt me. Never do this to me again!"
His words cut through my very soul – I've never felt so low, so miserable, so useless. This is Snake Eyes' fault, as usual. I hate the man so much that although I'd love to kill him, slowly, it almost seems like death would still be too kind for him. Almost.
"I'm sorry," I say through the lump in my throat. I swallow in an effort to bring my voice back to normal, with moderate success. "I will be better."
"I certainly hope so! For starters, I want you to recover as fast as possible," he hisses, opening the door behind him as he speaks. A doctor walks in, eyeing me warily.
"This is your doctor;" the Commander says, "remember him."
I nod, staring at and listening to the man in an effort to commit him to memory, something that is always a challenge for me.
"You will follow his instructions for your treatment to the letter," the Commander adds.
"Yes, Master."
"I will personally remind you of this every morning. I do not want your doctor to tell me you stopped listening to him at some point during the day. Understood?"
"Yes, Master."
"I want you back to being useful as quickly as possible. Listen to your doctor, or I will be VERY angry."
"Yes Master," I say again, deepening my bow.
The Commander nods and leaves the room. The doctor stays behind, still watching me worriedly.
"Let… Let's start by seeing how you're doing," he stutters. "How… how's your left arm?"
"It feels broken."
"Yes, err… it is."
"Can't you fix it?"
"I… I've set it. The bone… the bone needs to… to fix itself."
I scowl at him. That makes no sense: he's a doctor, it's his job to fix injuries. He cowers and whimpers, backing up against the wall.
"You… the Commander… the Commander said to listen to me, remember?"
I frown: I do remember that.
"So tell me what to do to get better," I growl.
"I… err… answer my questions. That's the first step."
I nod and he starts asking questions about my shoulder and my back. He eventually gives me a bunch of ridiculously light exercises to do and leaves.
I spend the rest of the day trying to concentrate on my exercises, but I can't. I keep going back to how I failed my Master, how disappointed he was, and how I can't even remember what happened. I finally drag myself to bed feeling even worse than I did earlier.
The Commander, as promised, reminds me to do whatever my doctor says the following morning, and the morning after that. He's still furious with me, but not nearly as much as I am with myself.
I wake up gasping, out of breath. I sit up in my bed, holding my head in my hands. It's throbbing. It feels like two very angry people arguing inside my head... I think one of them is me, or maybe both, I don't know. I don't understand, it's too confusing...
Memories are trying to impose themselves to me, and I don't think they're mine, thus the part of me fighting them.
I see a jungle, a helicopter, a house... a man smiles at me and then vanishes, replaced by some old guy scowling. I know these people, I think. Or maybe I don't, I'm not sure.
Another man. He looks concerned. I know him, I'm sure I know him. But I don't remember anything about him, how can that be? He's talking to me and fighting me at the same time.
Then, suddenly, I'm surrounded by people trying to kill me and the same man explodes right in front of me. The memory ends there, and I'm back in my room, shivering. Was that my own memory? How could it be? I don't even know who that man was, why do I feel devastated by his death?
I shake my head, trying to make the memories go away. I don't understand… Why am I imagining these things? I don't remember any of this, I've served my master for as long as I can remember. There's nothing else: nobody else than the Commander matters enough for me to care whether they live or die, except Snake Eyes – him, I would definitely rather see dead.
No. He's your brother and your best friend. It's the other way around. The Commander is your enemy.
I shiver violently and my eyes widen. The voice was only in my head, and it was mine. That filth originated from me… What is wrong with me? I feel downright soiled by the disturbing thought: how can I be such a monster as to think such a thing, even without meaning to, about my master?
He's enslaved you. He's controlling you against your will. He must die.
Another shiver runs through me. I have to silence the voice, but I don't know how. I don't know who to ask for help, I'm afraid to go near the Commander and suddenly fall under the control of the voice.
You're already being controlled. By HIM. Stay. Think.
"Shut up," I mutter, getting up.
I throw my robe on and get out of my bedroom. I'm still not sure who to go to – I rake my brains to try and remember someone the Commander would trust, but I can't. I hardly ever remember anyone, so it's not particularly surprising.
You don't remember anyone because they didn't leave you two functioning brains cells to rub together.
"I'm not listening to you," I advise the voice.
I'm going to have to ask the first person I find where I should go. I pick up on the closest voices I can hear and head in that direction.
They lead me to the cafeteria. I go in and walk straight to the group of men chattering and laughing, playing cards. They stop and glare at me, obviously annoyed to be interrupted in their game.
"Private game, buster," one of them snarls.
"Nice uniform," another chuckles, referring to my robe.
I slam his head straight into the very solid table, breaking his skull and his neck, ignoring the flare of pain it causes in my shoulder. Very satisfyingly, he becomes completely quiet, down to his pulse.
The others yelp and jump away from the table, their hearts hammering.
"S…S… Storm… Storm Shadow?" one of them stutters.
I nod. I like these guys a lot better now that they are terrified of me.
"There's a voice in my head trying to turn me against the Commander," I say. "I need help to make it go away, but I don't know who to ask."
They blink uselessly at me. I growl, break a bottle of bear on the table and throw the stub into the neck of one of them. He gurgles for a second before crumbling, lifeless.
The others dash for the door, screaming.
Kill them. The less Cobra the better. KILL THEM!
I stop mid-stride. I do WANT to kill them, one-by-one until they help me, but I don't like that the voice wants the same thing.
"Just tell me who can help me!" I roar at them. "You useless…"
One of them pushes the alarm button on his way out and they all keep running, screaming at the top of their lungs. I stop screaming at them and cover my ears to block some of the noise. Why does that alarm need to be so LOUD?
It reminds me of being trapped in a kitchen with the Commander, and having to set off the fire alarm to get out. I remember being afraid I'd go deaf. But how? I never remember events this well. I can't even remember how Snake Eyes defeated me last time, only that my master told me he did.
It was his fault you had to set off that alarm. He kept slowing you down, and he gave his position away in the first place to see you fight and kill some soldiers. You were furious with him, and you were furious that your uncles would make you work for trash like him.
I shake my head in an effort to dislodge the voice. I need to get away from that alarm; I don't want to go deaf, I wouldn't be able to serve my master as well if I did.
I leave the kitchen, but the alarm is just as loud in the hallway. I see the vipers a bit further down the hall, and run after them; until I locate someone else, they're still my best bet. I catch up to them easily and smash the first one I catch against the wall using both my arms because neither of them feels quite strong enough to hold a grown man's weight. He screams and starts kicking ineffectively, while the others keep running. I scowl at him. Because I'm using my hands to hold him, the alarm now hurts even more, and because he's heavy, my back is hurting, too.
"JUST TELL ME WHERE TO GO!" I demand, shouting over the alarm. "NOW!"
"M….Mindbdender?" he whimpers. I can just hear him. "He's the one that… err… helps you? Isn't he? Please don't kill me…"
The name doesn't ring a bell, but his guess is better than nothing.
"WHERE?"
He gulps and his pulse quickens. I curse under my breath: he doesn't know.
"I… I'll take you," he lies. "But you can't kill me."
I snarl at him and release him, punching through his chest with my left arm before his feet touch the floor. His ribs rip through his lungs and my fist goes through his heart: he doesn't make a sound and falls to the floor like a rag doll. I hiss in pain – it feels like I made my broken bone worse. I wipe my hand and my cast on his uniform before covering my ears again.
I look around desperately. I have no idea what to do next. I can't hear anyone over the alarm, and I can't find my way around the fortress by myself – I've never been able to and I have no reason to think I ever will. Strangely, despite the voice and the alarm, my thoughts seem to be getting clearer. I'm amazed I've figured out the viper was lying, for one thing.
Their hold on you is weakening.
I snarl at the voice and start walking, hoping I'm heading back the way I came because if I can make it back to the cafeteria, whoever is sent to check on the alarm will find me there. I frown at myself – this is not normal, I don't think like this. Whatever is happening to me is changing me, and it's getting worst fast.
Changing you BACK. Just remember. Remember he said he wanted a dog.
"Like that's a bad thing," I mutter.
I turn a corner and see, down the hall, a dozen of Crimson Guards, headed by two nearly identical men. A gesture by one of them stops the alarm. I hold back a sigh of relief.
"Storm Shadow,…" one of the men says.
"…we're going to take you to Mindbender," the other one finishes.
I walk the remaining distance between us, pick one and lock eyes with him.
"Will he help?"
"He's your head's caretaker," he replies.
The other one nods. They're both smiling encouragingly.
Don't! Haven't you noticed they won't use the word 'help'?
That settles it. If the voice doesn't want me to follow them, I'm following. I nod and fall in step behind them as they lead the way. Their guards keep their guns pointed at me until we reach a room lined with monitors and containing a frankly scary chair, with wires and restraints, and surrounded by shelves full of needles and little bottles. I stop and back up a step instinctively.
You know this room. And even if you didn't, you can't pretend this looks good.
I can't help agreeing with the second statement. I turn to one of the twins. His name suddenly flares in my mind – Tomax, the one without the scar. The other's name follows almost instantly: Xamot. Why do I remember that? They're nothing: not my master, not my enemy, not myself... nothing.
"What is this place?" I demand.
"Mindbender's lab," Tomax answers casually. "We never pretended…"
"…that this would be pleasant," his brother finishes. "That being said,.."
Goodness, that's annoying. I give up moving my eyes from one to the other and focus my attention on Tomax, trying and failing to ignore the pauses and the switch in where the sound is coming from. I'd kill one right now if not for the fact I really need whatever information they can give me.
"…we're not so stupid as to…"
"…stand in your way if you'd rather leave."
They step aside, clearing the way for me to get away from the room.
"Of course," Tomax starts again.
"… this IS what you were looking for. As intimidating as his place is…" Xamot continues.
"… Mindbender WILL make all the confusion go away," Tomax finishes.
I detect no lie, yet I'm not reassured.
He will make the confusion go away by stripping your brains clear again. No thoughts; no confusion.
"Is Mindbender the reason I can never remember anything?" I ask.
The voice cheers. The twins pale. My head explodes.
Or that's what it feels like, anyway. The pain is worse than I would have thought was even possible, but thankfully doesn't last long – it disappears just like everything else when I pass out.
As proof that anything can happen, it turns out the Crimson Twins did not lie: all the confusion did go away, and I'm in the room, strapped to the chair - uselessly since I am, once again, paralyzed.
Not counting the countless partial treatments I used to get to purge my memories, this is the third time. I'm keeping a count from now on, and both the Commander and Mindbender will be killed with exactly as many blows as whatever number I reach. If I have to do it by poking them with a pin in order for them to last long enough, I will: my memories of the past four days feel stranger than a dream, but they're clear enough to ensure them a slower death than they had already earned over the past three years – eleven in the case of the Commander.
I listen out, wondering how long I'll stay by myself. I can't hear anybody around or approaching. They're letting me simmer here, even now that I'm awake. I can't think of why at first – even if Cobra was in the middle of an operation, Mindbender would still be hiding away in the bowels of the fortress. I eventually guess that considering the amount of damage they're doing to my mind, they have to let it reset before going at it again if they want me to be functional at all – if you can call what I was functional.
Much like the last time I came back to myself, memories and feelings seem to keep trickling in with no end in sight – there are no huge gaps, but details just keep sharpening. It's extremely distracting, especially since right now, I'm being bombarded with very detailed images and sounds from the battle where my uncle died.
I want to scream and break everything in sight. He died so I'd live and all he's achieved is prolong my enslavement… I can't let that be. I need to break free, and since I can't do anything else, I need to think my way out. I'm alone, I have time, all I need is to focus on the present and ignore the past beyond what information it can give me.
There's a very good chance, make that a near certainty, that I will not escape this room before they brainwash me again. Therefore, before I even start trying, I need to figure out a contingency plan.
With the amount of emotional abuse he's given me, I'm guessing the Commander enjoyed himself quite a bit with me the last few days. I can therefore safely assume he's going to request the same result from Mindbender again. The question is, how do I sabotage it? I have no idea what triggered the collapse of the conditioning this time around, what made my memories start to surface. It may very well have been just time. If that's the case, it will probably keep happening. I just need to take advantage of it, ideally before I fully recover from my injuries so that I won't be of any use to Cobra.
I need to figure out a way to stay calm when those memories start emerging. I need to make it so they don't frighten or confuse me. Given that everything was confusing me while the conditioning was on, this could be a challenge.
I spend the next little while thinking hard on the problem, but by the time Mindbender shows up, I still have no idea how to sabotage the brainwashing or at least not come running to the Commander or Mindbender for help the second it starts wearing off.
Mindbender wastes no time with pleasantries and walks straight to the keyboard behind me, all but ignoring me. He types a few things before turning to me, looking bored.
"Feeling yourself again?" He asks.
"I've decided to kill both of you with as many blows as the number of times you do this to me. If you keep it going long enough, I may have to do it by stabbing you repeatedly with the blunt end of a toothpick."
He scowls. "Yes, I think we're good to go. You realize of course that with that chip in your head, we know when you break free, and we only need to be within a fairly generous range to shut you down. Count all you want, and by all means, if imagining yourself killing us slowly is helping you regain your sanity between treatments, go right ahead. It's much easier to start from a healthy mind when rebuilding, it eliminates a good deal of randomness."
He doesn't wait for a response from me before turning his machine on. I try not to scream, but within seconds, I can't help it and I don't care anymore.
Author's Notes
So, at least now that he's broken free once, the brainwash doesn't stick very well. AND, bonus, he killed three vipers (two very messily). See? I'm not ALWAYS cruel. :D
You might be wondering where Billy is and whether he's told GI Joe where Cobra's base is (Springfield). He'll be back, and although I won't actually tell you what he did and did not communicate to GI Joe (to avoid spoilers), I figured I'd let you know you'll find out eventually. Storm Shadow assumes he's safe and sound, as you've seen, but the thought hasn't really occurred to him that if GI Joe knew about Springfield, help could be on the way – he hasn't exactly been raised to hope to be rescued when he's in trouble.
The bonus for this chapter is the scene between Billy, the Soft Master and Snake Eyes.