Back To Reality Part 8
If he could talk, Snake Eyes would tell Kamakura to wake up. He had carried the man for more than a mile and he was getting heavy.
Snake Eyes entered a warehouse district and snapped off a lock to a warehouse door covered with an aluminum siding exterior. He closed the door behind him and found himself in the middle of empty space. From the outside the warehouse looked occupied, but it was a different story inside. It looked like it hadn't been used in years judging by all wooden crates and the filth of the concrete floor.
He put Kamakura down near a wall and stretched out his muscles as he didn't have an opportunity to do so for a while as he carried Kamakura away from the Cobra creeps who wanted them dead.
Suddenly the door he came through swung open and Firefly stood on the threshold. Snake Eyes turned quickly and felt his body armor for a weapon. Be he didn't have one. They had taken all his weapons: throwing stars, knives, guns, grenades and his sword, but he could still fight hand-to-hand.
He got into a fighting stance. Firefly pulled out a gun as he took a step into the warehouse. Cobra Commander followed him, and behind him was Storm Shadow. Cobra Commander passed Firefly and stood with his hands on his hips facing Snake Eyes. "The irony of it is this is exactly where I want you to be, Snake Eyes," he said. Cobra Commander had a gun holstered to the left leg but didn't pull it out.
He seemed to brim with confidence as if he knew something Snake Eyes didn't, which probably he did. He took a confident step towards Snake Eyes and said, "I own these warehouses. They're all controlled under a dummy corporation I created years ago when I had a little time on my hands. They're part of a sophisticated network of business ventures I undertake to make a little extra money to fund Cobra, all in the private sector of course, and a few interested, private investors."
"Then why did you bring us here? You're exposing your whole operation to us." Kamakura said, as he finally woke up. Snake Eyes looked at him as did the others present. Kamakura got on his feet and stood beside his master. "You do know when we get outta here all this will go up in smoke when G.I.Joe is told."
"And who will tell them? You? You two will be dead. But for the sake of argument they did manage to learn of these warehouses, they're empty as you can see. They merely storage vessels. Or are they? This warehouse in particular holds a special secret."
Firefly went over to a wall and removed a loose board. Behind the board was a control panel. Storm Shadow escorted the two men to an area of the warehouse, where Cobra Commander joined them.
Firefly pressed a button and an elevator in the floor lowered them down several levels into an underground lair. They stopped on the third floor and Cobra Commander finally pulled out his and shoved it into the nape of Snake Eyes back. Storm Shadow still had his sword drawn and used it to lead Kamakura out of the elevator and onto the level, following the others.
The elevator closed behind them, and Cobra Commander escorted Snake Eyes and Kamakura past a room with window walls where scientists were working on weaponry and other gadgets. A little ways down, they entered a room where two scientists awaited them.
In the room were two tables and Snake Eyes and Kamakura were strapped to them with metal binds; their wrists, ankles, legs, waist, chest and necks were secured. "Leave us," Cobra Commander said to the two scientists. "I'll call on you when I need you." The two men left as Firefly came in. He approached the others and looked at Snake Eyes and Kamakura. He extended one table to an upright position and Storm Shadow did the same to the other. "Now it's time for a little unveiling."
"What do you mean?" Storm Shadow asked curious.
"Ever since I learned Snake Eyes was the man I was searching for, for the death of my brother, the last survivor of his family, I've always wanted to gaze upon the face of his killer. Now here I have the chance." Cobra Commander reached for Snake Eyes' mask and took hold of it.
"No Commander," Storm Shadow protested, and slapped his hand away. "You can't do that. A ninja's identity is just as important as his skills."
"I know your identity, Tommy Arashikage, and it hasn't affected the manner in which you fight," he said. "I'm tired of all this secrecy with your bloody ninjas. I want everyone to reveal themselves to me now."
Firefly looked at him with confusion. "Everyone?" he said. "I can't do that Commander. If people knew what I looked like underneath this mask then my reputation would be severely compromised. I can't do it."
"That wasn't a request, Firefly."
"Then shed the underlings eyes. He's the only one who hasn't seen my real face. Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow have when we were back at the Arashikage training grounds. And you know of my identity as well."
Cobra Commander took his gun and adjusted it to stun, then he fired it at Kamakura and knocked him out cold. Snake Eyes pushed against his binds, and struggled fiercely against them, he obviously didn't like that. "Pipe down," Cobra Commander said. "He's not dead, he's stunned. And safe for the moment."
Firefly took off his mask as did Storm Shadow, it was then Cobra Commander yanked off Snake Eyes mask and was stunned at what he saw. More like traumatized.
"Oh my god!" Firefly expressed horrified.
"Blood brother," Storm Shadow said. "Your--your face!"
"Those scars," Cobra Commander said in utter shock. He dropped the mask onto Snake Eyes chest and then turned around. "That's hideous. Someone put his mask back on." Tommy Arashikage quickly grabbed it and slipped it back on his head. A few moments passed and Cobra Commander turned back around and saw his mask was back on. "Apparently you've been wearing that mask for a reason and rightfully so. It must pain you deeply to have to wear a mask all the time while others stroll along with naked faces. I choose to wear a mask, but I don't have to. But I won't show you it. I could be walking next to you on the street and you wouldn't even know it's me. The plight of the average looking man, eh?"
He turned to Firefly who had put his mask back on. "Get those scientists back and hook him up to the Brain Wave Scanner." Firefly went.
"You've tried that before, Commander, and it's never worked on him," Storm Shadow said. "What makes you think it'll work this time?"
"Because this time I'm not going to probe his mind for secrets. I've learned that doesn't work on a man of his mental discipline. I have something more insidious in mind for him. New technologies, new ideas, new environments to explore and exploit." He went to Snake Eyes and looked him in the visor, placing his mask an inch from his. "You're about to be the first man to be killed within his your own mind."
The two scientists came back in. Cobra Commander backed away and allowed they to hook Snake Eyes into the new and improved Brain Wave Scanner. They flipped up his visor and placed a wireless, portal version of the BWS over his eyes and switched it on.
Then the other scientist took a syringe from a side table and inserted the needle into his left forearm. Snake Eyes was struggling against their actions, but very quickly he settled. His body went limp.
"What was in that syringe, Commander?" Tommy asked.
"A paralyzing agent and a neuro stimulator to reboot his brain."
"Reboot his brain?"
"Essentially, I've erased his memory," Cobra Commander said. "It will make his stay in the BWS environment much more realistic."
"His stay in the Brain Wave Scanner environment more realistic? I don't understand."
Cobra Commander chuckled, but Storm Shadow didn't find the situation at all amusing. "I've reprogrammed the BWS to emit a frequency that directly transmits information to the part of the brain that stimulates higher brain wave functions and which interacts with different processes of thought, and human imagination. Using a virtual reality environment I plan to make him live a life he never knew existed, an alternative reality so to speak. The battle between G.I.Joe and Cobra -- none of this will be real. And he'll believe it too, because as I said I've just wiped his memory. He's going to play a game in his mind where the consequences of winning will be his own demise."
"You--you can't do that!" Storm Shadow protested most strongly. "I won't let you destroy all that my friend is."
Firefly came out from behind the table and pointed a gun to him.
"And you intend to stop me? Ha! With what, that?" He referred to his sword. He then shot Storm Shadow with his gun on stun. Storm Shadow fell to the ground. "Put him in the environment as well," he said.
"With pleasure, Commander," Firefly said. He removed Kamakura from the second table and then strapped Storm Shadow in. One of the scientists put a second BWS device over his eyes and switched it on. Storm Shadow was then injected with the same paralyzing agent and a neuro stimulator they gave Snake Eyes.
"Ninjas are such a nuisance," Cobra Commander said. "There's nothing like having a gun at your side. I've grown tired of Storm Shadow's disloyalty and he always questions my orders when they deem unethical. They're blood brothers by pact, so now they can both die together."
"I totally agree!" Firefly said. "Friends to the end."
And both men laughed.
-- TBC