Back To Reality Part 6
"Are you ready to die yet ninja?" Wraith said to Snake Eyes.
Their swords clashed and clanged with ferocious intensity and neither one was about to relent. In wasn't until Kamakura joined his master that things started to get a little rough for Wraith. But he handled it.
"How pathetic you need your apprentice to fight this battle with you," he said. "I suppose it might be the only way you can will this fight, huh? But I don't think so. I have never been defeated!"
"There is always a first time for everything," Kamakura said, and struck high as Snake Eyes struck low. But Wraith was now sporting two swords and he blocked their attempts to strike him down with ease.
Back and forth the ninja fought, but not even a two-on-one situation phased Wraith.
All of a sudden, a sword flew through the air and it sliced open Kamakura's uniform as it embedded itself into the concentrate between the fighting warriors. Kamakura felt his chest, but thankfully the sword had not cut his skin.
The three fighters looked at the new participate to the battle. "May I join in? Or is this a private party?" Slice, in his blood red uniform, and metal mesh mask, said. "You seem to be having fun."
Snake Eyes snapped his fingers and thumbed Kamakura telling him to take care of him, he then attacked Wraith and continued the fight, forcing the Cobra bio-warrior back as Snake Eyes put on a relentless barrage.
Slice jumped down from a metal railing balcony to the ground and chuckled as he looked at Kamakura. "What's so funny?" Kamakura asked.
"You," Slice said. "You and your master seem inseparable, but it's time to leave the womb, little man. Time to fight with the big boys. Time to show me what you really got!" Slice unsheathed another sword.
Kamakura readied his, and attacked.
Slice blocked the attack with his sword. But Slice played dirty from the get-go and head-butt Kamakura in the face. And with his metal mesh mask the impact against skull made Kamakura reside his defenses for an opening. Slice punched the ninja in the stomach and then twirled around, elbowing Kamakura in the head. Kamakura staggered back, but the attacks didn't stop from Slice. Slice was determined to bring him down.
Slice sliced through the air with his sword and eventually pushed Kamakura back enough so he could grab his other sword. He plucked it out from the concrete and attacked Kamakura with both, swinging and twirling, like some sort of mad man ballerina with nothing to lose.
It took all Kamakura's know how just to dodge, weave and block his attacks, and no matter what, he left no opening for a counter offensive. It was like he knew all of Kamakura's moves and did everything he could not to allow him to use any of them.
Slice was a true master of the arts, Kamakura had to give him credit for that, but there was also something about having heart when it came to fighting and using your skills in conjunction to defeat your enemy. Slice, on the other hand, was fighting to win, and his movements were tight, but after a while, Kamakura noticed a pattern emerge.
Slice used moves in relation to his where his enemy was, but not where he was positioned, which was a mistake. A well endowed ninja must be verse in all his surroundings and not just his enemy's. And with every second attack, which was a repeat pattern, Kamakura saw the smallest of openings in his defenses. And this is where Kamakura attacked.
Kamakura lunged his sword through an opening between Slice's forearm and his sword and caught the ninja off guard. But as Slice was fixed into a pattern of attack, it took him a few moments to realize his defenses had been compromised. But by that time it was too late, and Kamakura used the butt of his sword to strike Slice upwards in the chin.
Slice staggered back feeling his chin, he adjusted it as if it was broken. "Nice move," he said. "You managed to bore through the smallest hole in my defenses. But luck doesn't make a ninja, and you got lucky."
"Luck had nothing to do with it, Slice, you're just sloppy!" Kamakura said back.
"No one insults my skill," Slice said, and attacked Kamakura with an over the head slice with his sword, but Kamakura easily shifted his weight to the right avoiding the attack, and then counterattacked by driving his sword directly at Slice's stomach.
But at the last moment, Kamakura's sword was deflected by a throwing star that hit the blade and forced it to shift left. Kamakura looked for the culprit who threw it, but couldn't see anything.
Then he saw the fleeting shadow of someone in flight off the roof tops of the buildings and had an idea it could only be Storm Shadow. Every ninja has own brand of throwing star, and when Kamakura looked down at the one that missed him and deflected his sword, it had the mark of Storm Shadow.
But if Storm Shadow wanted to kill him, why only deflect his sword?
Slice regained his composure and attacked Kamakura with everything he had, but as Kamakura knew his tactics he knew where to penetrate his defenses and bring him down. After blocking a two sword attack, Kamakura quickly dropped his sword and grabbed both of Slice's wrists. He then separated his swords from an X pattern and twisted them outward and under to a point of almost breaking his wrists.
Slice screamed in pain and let go of his swords. With Slice disarmed, Kamakura went to work on him and head butt Slice in the metal mesh. The impact was so intense that the metal mesh bent inwards. Kamakura was so pumped with adrenaline that he was unhurt. He then took a few steps back and delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to the ninja's head.
Slice's helmet cracked as he fell to the ground. Kamakura positioned himself for a retaliatory strike from Slice, but as the seconds passed it never came. He had apparently knocked the ninja out cold.
Kamakura picked up his sword and went to rejoin his master.
-
"What an idiot!" Cobra Commander said as he watched Kamakura run off leaving Slice unconscious on the ground after defeating him. "But it's left Firefly the time he needed to get ready." He picked up a walkie talkie. "Firefly, they're coming your way. Be ready." He received a confirmation from Firefly, and then said, "Snake Eyes, you're mine!"
-
Firefly heard Cobra Commander say, "They're coming to you, they're approaching the alley. Strike Wraith down, and capture Snake Eyes."
"No problem," Firefly said, ending communication. He put the walkie talkie into a pouch on his chest and prepared for the duo to come to him, as he waited patiently in the shadowy mouth of an alley.
And as they clashed their swords together, like two titans fighting a war where the fate of the world resided, overseen by gods, Firefly wanted so badly to take out his laser and to kill Snake Eyes. But he was hired to do a job, and the payoff for this venture was a tidy some. So he waited until they got close enough and fired on Wraith when they got within range. But to Firefly's surprise, Wraith's armor deflected his bullets. They ricochet off his gleaming armor and out into nowhere.
Firefly growled angry. But he was resourceful and threw out several grenades at the fighting pair. This was power, his power. None of this ninja crap, good old fashion technology and bombs.
The pair separated and then looked at their attacker.
"What are you doing, Firefly?" Wraith said. "We're supposed to be on the same side here."
"I have a different employer and he wants him, and I plan to deliver," Firefly said, and with a quick hand, planted a magnetic change onto Wraith metallic breast plate. The charge went off and the explosion launched Wraith several meters back into the street, where he was run over by a passing car. But with all that armor on him, there was no way he would be killed by being run over by a car. Wraith got up slowly. "It's just you and me now, Snake Eyes," he said. "Time to finish what I started many years back at the Arashikage Clan's martial arts training compound. I was hired to kill you, but that task instead fell to Zartan. But he blundered it up and killed the Hard Master, Storm Shadow's uncle, whereas you should have died. I'm under orders not to kill you, but all the money in the world isn't worth not killing you myself."
Suddenly Kamakura showed up and now there was another two-on-one situation, but Firefly appeared unafraid. Kamakura raised his sword to him. "You have a knack for coming at the worse time, Kamakura," he said. "But I doubt you'll want to kill me."
"And why is that? The world would be better off without you," he said.
"Because if you move, your master dies!" And Firefly revealed a trigger mechanism in his right hand with a button switch on its head. He pointed to Snake Eyes chest, and on it was a magnetic explosive device. It was a smaller version of same one he planted on Wraith. "When I planted a similar one on Wraith moments ago, I also tossed one on Snake Eyes. It's my ace in the hole. If you move, Snake Eyes, I'll blow you to kingdom come!" Snake Eyes waved Kamakura off. Kamakura lowered his sword. "Very good. It looks like you taught your apprentice discipline. Too bad he's too stupid to realize you're nothing but a scared man behind a mask."
"We all wear masks, gentlemen…" Cobra Commander said, as he stepped out from the shadowy alley. He had come down from the rooftops and exited a side passage door. He now joined them. "It's only who you appear to others that makes you a monster. And we are all monsters."
"Speak for yourself," Kamakura said. "You're the worse monster of all!"
Snake Eyes put a hand up and Kamakura quieted down, though he could still see an overwhelming anger bleeding from his eyes. He was angry too, but to sacrifice oneself for a futile cause was worthless.
"What do you want, Snake breath?" Kamakura finally said.
"Isn't it obvious? I want him." He pointed at Snake Eyes. "It's been so long since we've faced each other face-to-face Snake Eyes. So many years have passed since our loved ones died in that horrible car accident. And your family is to blame. My brother was a kind man who only wanted to provide a happy home for his family, but when he died all our dreams were shattered. Time to pay up for wrongful sins."
And Cobra Commander pulled out a laser and shot Snake Eyes in the face. The blast jerked Snake Eyes head back and he collapsed to the ground.
"You bastard!" Kamakura said, and gripped his sword to attack, but Firefly showed him the trigger and Kamakura stopped.
"Don't fret, Kamakura, I haven't killed him," Cobra Commander said. "Only stunned him. I have something more sinister in mind for him."
Suddenly Kamakura had the look of a deer in the headlights and his hands fell to his side. He dropped his sword and fell unconscious beside Snake Eyes. Slice stood behind him. He gripped his sword in his right hand and had hit Kamakura in the back of the head with the butt.
"Glad that you could join us, Slice," Cobra Commander said. "Now pick them up and bring them to the car."
Slice picked up Kamakura and Firefly picked up Snake Eyes and took them to an underground parking garage where they put them in the back seat of a black Sedan. Slice got into the back with them to watch them. Firefly hoped into the passenger side while Cobra Commander got into the drivers side. He started up the car and then streaked up and into the street.
"What about the battle against G.I.Joe, Commander?" Slice said.
"Firefly, would you do the honors?" Cobra Commander said.
"My pleasure," Firefly said, and opened the glove compartment and took out a remote detonator box with lots of switches.
"You see, I don't much care for Serpentor's war, but I will not allow anyone else to rule the world. I've worked too hard for someone to swoop in and take all the credit for my hard work over the years, and if that means sabotaging Serpentor's plans, and giving G.I.Joe the victory…"
Suddenly there was a series of loud explosives coming from the battlefield, and Slice looked back through the tinted windshield of the car to see Cobra's army self-destructing. Tanks exploded, Cobra air-craft dive-bombed into the ground, and Serpentor's air chariot exploded. Serpentor dropped like a stone to the ground.
And quickly the tables turned on Cobra as G.I.Joe overran their defenses with no artillery or anti-craft to defend their lines. Battle Android Troopers turned on Cobra troops and started firing on them.
It wasn't long before the Parliament Building was overrun by coalition forces and the hostages rescued.
Slice looked back at Cobra Commander as he drove the car, and swallowed hard. And thought a man who would kill his own men was a very dangerous man to know.
-- TBC