"Are you ready, Mr. Zartan?"
"Born ready, Doctor; this is going to be the achievement of a lifetime."
"Yes as a master of disguise, you have no equal, my friend."
"Eighteen months of studying my target, learning mannerisms, but the devil is in the details."
"Gentlemen, let's get it going."
"One more thing, I'll control my own brain, thank you very much; let's do this."
Rex moved to the front of the machine initiating the process. Needles inserted themselves into Zartan's face injecting the nanomite solution into his body.
"Wow that was a bit nasty."
"Think so? Let's run some tests; eye color, skin tone, hair follicles, and initiating facial reconstruction tests."
It was at this point that Zartan truly understood what true pain was, his entire body tensed as his entire face shifted and reconfigured itself. Rex watched this all happen with a scientific glee, he was always looking for new things to test and changing ones physical features was an interesting test indeed. This test however was particularly welcome because it helped to relieve some of his nerves. He had been feeling somewhat antsy since Jessie had been captured, not that he would ever admit it, and had found that the test took his mind off of her absence.
At the same time the Joe's were busy trying to pinpoint the terrorist group and its purpose.
"We gotta find out who's holding their leash."
"With their weaponry, financing, and intel, these guys are high-line pros. That limits the possibilities."
"Hey, the weapons case."
"What?" Duke seemed a little confused as to what Ripcord was talking about, they all did.
"Remember, McCullen had us open the weapons case?"
"What about it?"
"I bet you he gave us a code that reactivated the tracking beacon."
"You're right; McCullen, that son of a bitch."
"So, McCullen uses NATO to fund his R&D and then he steals the warheads back."
Duke smirked at Ripcord, "And who says you're not a thinker?"
"So what's our next step?"
"Well, I think we should ask our guest if she knows what her dear daddy is up to."
The last thing Jessie had expected to wake up to was someone slamming their hands onto her cell door. She got up from her cot and walked over, seeing Duke's face staring back at her.
"So Jessie guess what we just figured out. McCullen is the one leading the terrorist group which means that we know who you are now; Jessie McCullen only daughter and heir of the wealthy arms dealer James McCullen."
She was impressed; she hadn't expected them to figure out who she was so quickly. Then again they were the best of the best so it wasn't that surprising. She slowly started to clap figuring that it would annoy them that she wasn't shocked by their newfound knowledge.
"Congratulations you know who I am, let's throw a party," Jessie's ton was sarcastic and she had an extremely condescending look on her face, "What's the point of telling me you know my name, it's not like that's gonna make me spill my guts and give you any of our plans or anything."
Duke wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, he wasn't expecting her to be so calm about her identity being revealed. He had been hoping that it would put some pressure on her and allow them to get at least a little more info out of her at least. Luckily for him Breaker ran in saving him from coming up with a response.
"Hey, I found her."
Duke looked over at Jessie and smirked, "Well I guess we won't need you to spill your guts after all."
They left her cell and headed back to the main control center where a picture of Anna was displayed at in the center console.
"Yeah that's her alright."
"Her name is Ana de Cobray. Baroness, if you're feeling formal."
"Baroness? Wow, she really traded up, huh? Financially, of course."
A wedding picture featuring Anna and a mystery man popped up.
"Who's he?"
"Daniel de Cobray. Big shot French scientist. Runs a lab in Paris."
"Lab what kind of Lab?"
"Particle accelerator."
"Oh, my God. They're going to use him to weaponize the warheads."
"Well, that's where she's going."
"I like croissants."
"We should take McCullen's daughter with us, if what she said about the Baroness and Storm Shadow are true then she is obviously very close to them. If all else fails we might be able to use her as leverage."
They all agreed that it would be good to have a backup plan and so Jessie was retrieved from her cell and moved to the transport plane. The trip was a rather awkward one for Jessie; everyone was doing their own thing. She had been sat next to Duke and she had thought about trying to start a conversation with him but when she had looked over he had already zoned out. She huffed quietly to herself, if she had been with Baroness and Storm Shadow they would have spent the trip planning out what they were going to do when they got there and making mock bets about what was going to happen. She sighed; she missed her family desperately and hoped that she would have a chance to escape during the mission.
Jessie sat in the back of the van that had been provided for the Joes upon arrival in Paris with her hands cuffed behind her back. She watched wordlessly as Ripcord and Duke suited up, she had to admit some of the technology the Joes had was impressive, it couldn't compare to what Rex invented though.
"Hey, is that Dubble Bubble?"
"But it's my last piece."
Breaker nodded, "Come on, give it to me."
"All right, there you go." Jessie couldn't help but smile, they really did seem like a family; a lot like her family infect. It was a shame they were on different sides.
"All right, stick to the plan. Scarlett, Snake Eye's, take the front. Rip, Duke, take the back. Breaker will be our eyes and ears. I'll give the orders form here. You do what I say, when I say. Got it?"
"Yes, Daddy."
The van pulled up to the laboratories right as Anna and Storm Shadow walked out, Jessie couldn't help but admire how attractive Storm Shadow looked in his suit. Before the Joe's had a chance to confront them they had already piled into a black hummer and started to leave.
"Take that Hummer, Snake."
Snake jumped from the van taking off after the hummer Duke not far behind. Ripcord was about to follow when Heavy Duty stopped him.
"Careful, they're worth millions of dollars each."
"Millions of dollars got it."
Jessie's smile widened as Ripcord fell out of the van, it seemed that he was so excited to be a part of the action that he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing.
"Jesus."
"My bad, my bad. Won't happen again!"
And as if the universe was hell bent on proving him wrong, a car hit him right as he finished his sentence.
"Thanks a lot, buddy."
"Come on Scarlett babe. You in or out? We gotta get in this fight!"
A motorcycle pulled up at that exact moment and Jessie could see the other woman's eyes light up. It would seem that she was gonna be a part of the fight after all. Breaker monitored where each of the Joe's were as Heavy Duty tried to catch up with them.
"Tracking signal is good. Don't let go of that truck, Snake Eyes."
Jessie didn't know exactly what happened next, only what she was told after the fact. According to Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes had been on top of the Hummer and no matter what they did they couldn't get him off. They thought he had been knocked off at one point but he had simply moved to the undercarriage of the vehicle instead. The other three hadn't proven to be much of a problem but she could remember them communicating back to Heavy Duty as they progressed through the streets of Paris.
"Hey Heavy its getting thick out here."
"Yeah I know, they're driving right into the heaviest traffic. What kind of escape route is that?"
"Maybe they're not trying to escape. Maybe they're heading somewhere."
"Possible target?"
"Yes. Some place with a lot of metal."
Both Heavy Duty and Breaker had looked up to see that they were heading towards the Eiffel Tower.
"They're going to blow it up. All units!" Breaker had cut Heavy Duty off before he could finish giving his order.
"Guys, you have to stop them!"
"Yeah, we're working on it."
"I mean right now! They're going to detonate one of the warheads on the Eiffel Tower!" Breakers statement seemed to kick start the others because they tried twice as hard to stop the Hummer. They were unable to stop the hummer fortunately it would seem that lady luck was on their side. A train just happened to be passing by at the right moment and the Hummer ended up crossing its path. Jessie had let out a loud gasp when the train made contact with the vehicle; she remembered being so afraid that Storm or Anna had been hurt or even killed by the collision. Duke and Ripcord hadn't been able to stop in time and ended up colliding with the train as well. Duke went over and Rip went through.
Fortunately both Storm and Anna had made it out of the crash alive without any major injuries. Storm grabbed one of the warheads and Anna took the kill switch before taking off towards a glass building. At the same time Jessie was trying desperately not to fall over as Heavy Duty weaved in and out of traffic. She was almost afraid that he would end up crashing the van and killing them all. Breaker who was operating off a laptop was the one to deliver the news that made her heart soar.
"Hey guys, they're alive and they're on the move."
"And they've activated the warhead. I'm tracking the kill switch now," The computer zoomed in on the red dot that represented Anna, "Duke! Duke it's on the Baroness! Storm Shadow has one of the warheads and it's armed!"
That was the last Jessie heard about anything until she saw the war head flying over the water towards the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing just how fast the nanomites ate away at the metal before spreading to the cars below, the spread almost like a plague. While the others were distracted by the pandemonium going on around them Jessie took her chance to slip out through the back doors of the van. She used a move Storm Shadow had taught her to get her arms in front of her body before she slipped away using the chaos as a cover. By the time the Joes realized that she was gone she had already disappeared. She –procured a car and drove to Anna's old home as fast as she could. She used a hidden phone in Anna's study to contact her father. He then contacted Storm Shadow and Anna's plane, it was still in France and when they heard that Jessie had escaped they didn't waste any time going to pick her up.
When the aircraft landed Jessie could hardly contain her excitement, her heart almost burst when she saw Storm Shadow step out and she couldn't stop herself from running at him, almost tackling him in a hug. She was extremely glad that she was finally back where she belonged; she was so happy that there were joyful tears at the corner of her eyes. She released Strom only to grab Anna into an equally tight hug, one that the other gladly returned. When they finally parted Anna wrapped an arm around the younger woman leading her onto the plane so that they could go home. Anna was shocked to see Dukes unconscious body slumped in one of the seats near the back.
"Why is he here?"
Storm Shadow smirked, "He decided to play the hero."
Jessie laughed at the tone in his voice, "well I guess it serves him right then."
I can't believe it, three updates in three days. This is so not normal for me so please don't expect me to always update so quickly. So Jessie's finally back where she belongs, but how will she react when she finds out her father didn't even try to save her? Special thanks to StupidDeaths for following my story.
To ShiningWingsOfTheDragon: I'm glad that you liked the part with Snake Eyes being uncomfortable it was something that made me laugh when I thought about it. I appreciate the advice it makes a lot of sense. Thanks again for the multiple reviews and I hope you continue to find my story enjoyable.
To IM Awesome: Haha your reviews always make me smile. I'm glad that you liked the Snake Eyes part I think the interrogation scene is one of the favorite scenes I've written so far. It really does mean the world to me that this is one of your favorite fanfictions. I hope it continues to live up to your expectations.
Thank you to everyone who gave my story a chance and has read up to this point. Please if you like the story REVIEW! You all rock!
-Ambercat999