Chapter 9

The hours seemed to drag on for Isabella as she sat in silence upon that ship. Pretty soon her body was crying out in restlessness and every now and then she would have to fidget in her seat to keep herself from completely losing control. For how long the flight lasted, she could not say and did not bother to ask because she automatically guessed she would receive no answers from the people she was with. So when it was finally announced that they were approaching headquarters, Isabella couldn't help the sigh of relief that softly escaped past her lips. It was only another 20 minuets or so before they were landing; once Isabella felt the ship lower itself onto solid ground, Isabella glanced up to see the black clad ninja before her; Isabella quickly rose to her feet to meet his intimidating stance with one of her own. He then reached out and took her by the arm before he turned her around and once again cuffed both her hands behind her back. Isabella let out a soft sigh and shook her head before she began taking steps towards the exit of the ship,

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I know the drill." She mumbled softly as she walked ahead of a secretly amused Snake Eyes who kept close behind her as she made her way to the ship's now open door. Snake Eyes placed a hand upon her shoulder when she hopped out to help steady and keep her under control should anything happen. As her bare feet touched the pavement of the base, Isabella eye's widened softly as she started taking in her surroundings,

"Whoa….."she whispered softly. The place was huge, bigger than anything Isabella has ever seen before. When she felt Snake Eyes climb out behind her and give her a gentle nudge forward, Isabella walked on in a dreamlike trance. Snake Eyes led her over to where a highly ranked man stood greeting the two NATO soldiers,

"Gentlemen, welcome to Headquarters." The Duke and Ripcord shook hands with the man who Isabella noted as a General. The men exchanged a few words before Isabella found the General turning about to stare at her. He quickly and professionally looked her over before he gave her a surprisingly soft smile,

"Ah…" he stated in recognition, "Lieutenant Wright." Isabella straightened up at her name but remained silent.

"Does everybody know who I am?" she asked herself in irritation. The General before her gave a soft nod at Snake Eyes before he ordered,

"Thank you, Snake Eyes but those cuffs won't be necessary." At the General's words, Snake Eyes glanced over at the rest of his team who stood off to the side for a quick second before he swiftly removed the cuffs on Isabella's wrists. Once her wrists were free, the General approached Isabella and offered his hand,

"Lieutenant Wright," he greeted, "I'm General Hawk." He introduced politely; obediently with slight hesitation, Isabella shook hands with him, "I must admit this wasn't how I pictured our first encounter." He confessed with a soft smile.

"Uh….sir?" Scarlet suddenly spoke up, "….do you know her?" she asked with soft suspicion as she eyed Isabella. The General glanced over at Scarlet a soft shrug,

"We haven't had the chance to meet face to face yet but yes I know who she is." He answered before he turned back to Isabella, "Isabella Wright, age 23, graduate of Princeton University and the National War College, Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps. Is that not right?" he asked.

Isabella stared dumbfounded at the General before her before she nodded her head softly,

"Dead on." She answered, "How…..?" she started to ask but stopped herself short. General Hawk gave a soft chuckle,

"We know all about you, Lieutenant. Tried recruiting you two years back." He explained. Isabella softly shook her head,

"I never received anything about a recruiting, General. I think perhaps you have the wrong person." She answered.

"Oh no. I have the right one. Though I must say your visit was an unexpected one. How did we pick you up?" he asked curiously.

"Uhhh…" Isabella began in uncertainty, "….that's kind of a long story." She confessed casually as she reached a hand up and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her left ear.

"We found her with a Viper Team sir." Scarlet spoke up. The General's brows furrowed softly at the news, "She was with them when we went to retrieve the case." She added. The General raised an eyebrow before he turned to Isabella,

"Do you have anything to say to this statement, Lieutenant?" he asked calmly. Isabella shrugged a shoulder,

"That pretty much sums it up actually. Personally I like to think of it as being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Interesting….how so?" Hawk asked curiously,

"Because, the whole point of me being there was to get away from the as you call them, Vipers, in the first place. It was not in my calculations that I was going to escape from one thing only to get caught again." She answered, "But your little team took me by surprise….along with other things that I wasn't exactly prepared for."

"Escape? Wait a minute…you saying that you were what? Captured by those creeps?" Ripcord asked.

"Well the correct term would be kidnapped but that works too I suppose." Isabella answered. Something dawned on Ripcord at that moment,

"Ohhh! So that's why you were dressed as one of them." he stated, "….it was a cover. A disguise."

Isabella nodded, "Exactly." She confirmed.

"Why didn't you just say so, girl?" Ripcord asked. Isabella gave a sarcastic laugh,

"Ha! I just barely got out of a hell hole then found myself on a battlefield. How trusting would you be if you found yourself surrounded by people with weapons and had no idea which side was which?" she pointed out. Ripcord considered her words carefully, along with everyone else before he answered,

"Good point." He stated, "So…uh….no hard feelings about the whole….well you know, what went down between us right?" he asked as he offered his hand out in truce; Isabella gave him a soft smile before she reached out and shook his hand,

"Don't worry about it. Let the past be the past." She answered.

"Alright!" he agreed enthusiastically with a grin across his face.

"Wait…" a man who was called Breaker suddenly spoke up, "…..so you're not a Viper Soldier?" he asked with his head cocked to the side.

"No," she began, "I am not one of those metal heads." She assured.

"Oh! Well in that case I'm Breaker." He introduced with a polite smile. Isabella gave a soft one back,

"Isabella." She returned. General Hawk cleared his throat,

"Well….now that we have that misunderstanding settled, let's get back to business." He pointed out, "Follow me." He ordered, referring to everyone present, including Isabella. Isabella glanced around in hesitation before she trailed behind the group. The General led into the base and took them to an elevator platform which took them down into further levels of the base. Duke stared in awe and disbelief as they passed by a couple of training stations.

"Sir," he stated, directing his comment towards General Hawk, "I've been in the military all my life. And I have never seen a place like this."

"Alright, you trusted me so I'll trust you; technically GI Joe doesn't exist." Hawk answered, "...but if it did it would consist of only the best members of the military branches in all countries. The Alpha Dogs." General Hawk glanced over at where Duke stood close by, "We tried recruiting you a few years back too." He informed.

"I don't remember anything of this sort." Duke answered.

"Well it would've been 4 years ago." The General answered casually.

"Ah back then my boy had issues." Ripcord commented, "…man even his issues had issues." He added.

The elevator came to a stop and everybody filed out. Isabella still stayed behind the rest of them being the fact that she was still very uncertain about the whole situation.

"Though, it is a step up from your last one." She noted to herself with a soft shrug. The group went down a long hallway before the General turned off into a side room which automatically opened up as he approached; everyone else followed in right behind him. Well everyone but the man known as Snake Eyes who waited right outside the doorway. As Isabella stopped in front of the door, her turquoise eyes were locked on the hidden face of the black ninja before her. Snake Eyes nodded his black head at her once, signaling for her to go into the room. Isabella's eyes narrowed softly; her brows furrowed softly in deep thought as she pondered the silent ninja's body language. She couldn't seem to decide if his action was in politeness by waiting for her, a lady to go in first, or if it was in suspicion like he thought that she would try to run away from the group. Keeping her eyes on Snake Eyes, she stepped into the room and made her way over to a corner where she could see everyone and yet still stay out of the way. Snake Eyes had followed right behind her before passing her by to go stand with the rest of his team. But even as he passed, his dark head had turned to stare over at Isabella who frowned in response.

"The nerve of that guy…." She thought irritably to herself as her eyes followed his black form over to where he now stood. With a soft roll of her eyes, Isabella pulled her gaze away from ninja and focused casually on her neatly cut nails. Though she paid little attention to the many voices that were in the room at once, her attention was grabbed when her keen hearing picked up a certain hushed comment that was about her.

"Sir, should she even be here for this? I mean the two NATO soldiers are one thing, but she's….well…she's…" the female voice carried off not being able to find the right word to finish her sentence. Isabella glanced up to look over at Scarlet,

"I'm what, Scarlet?" Isabella asked innocently, but anyone who turned to look over at the young woman could not mistake the challenge that was burning deep within her eyes. Scarlet turned toward her as well and placed a hand upon her hip,

"The GI Joe headquarter is no place for children or amateurs." Scarlet answered boldly.

Isabella raised an eyebrow at the comment, "You think of me a child?" she returned unaffected by Scarlet's words, "ooh…..ouch." She dully threw back with a quick roll of her eyes before continuing on, "Listen Red, the last thing you want to do is underestimate me."

"That a threat?" Scarlet replied coolly, her green eyes narrowing in challenge.

Isabella's eyes narrowed too, "Completely." She answered boldly.

The two woman stared each other down for a couple seconds before the General stepped in, "Alright you two, at ease." He stated firmly, his blue eyes going back and forth from Isabella to Scarlet to keep them in check. "Obviously there's some unresolved female...stuff between the two of you but now's not the time for that. So let's bring the estrogen level down a few notches shall we?"

Both women seemed to shut up at that. But there was still enough tension in the air between them that everybody could still feel it.

"Now then, where were we?" General Hawk asked out loud, bringing everybody back to attention. While everybody seemed focused on what the General was discussing, Isabella thought it would be best if she went else where. It in no way concerned her and it was clear that she was not wanted around, so she silently turned and left the room the same way she came. She didn't plan on going far of course, last thing she needed was to get lost in this huge, military base. She walked about ten feet away from the door before she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned up against the wall. A little more than ten minuets went by before the General, followed by Scarlet, Snake Eyes, Breaker, Heavy Duty, Duke and Ripcord immerged from that room.

"Ah heya, Bella!" Ripcord enthusiastically greeted as they approached her on the wall, "Good to see your still here."

"Where else could I go?" she returned with a soft amused smile at the dark skinned man.

"Good point." He answered with a grin.

"Right," Spoke General Hawk, "So Duke, Ripcord, the two of you, along with Isabella here will begin your training first thing tomorrow morning." He stated as he walked right past Isabella's form. Isabella's eyes followed the General down the hallway before his words sunk in causing her to do a double take.

"Training?" she repeated the word like it was something foreign,"….wait…what?" She exclaimed before she took off after the General. Her long strides carried her past the rest of the Joes, to his side, "Sir, did you just say training?" she asked in almost disbelief.

"Yes I did Lieutenant, you don't have a problem with that now do you?" he returned calmly.

"Uh…actually yes I do. Sir, I'm an already trained military officer." She pointed out.

"To be on this team Lieutenant, you need more than just your basic military training."

Isabella was taken back by his words, "Team? Who says I want to be a Joe?" she threw back.

The General turned his head and raised an amused eyebrow at her, "You don't want to be?" he returned.

"Wha….no not really." She answered, "Personally, I just want to get out of here and get back to my normal life." She added.

"Funny, you don't come across to me as a normal person." The General replied.

"Excuse me?" Isabella softly declared.

General Hawk chuckled, "What I mean is that if what I read about you is correct, we could use someone like you on Team Alpha. Your skills would be a promising addition to this organization." He answered.

"Well…thanks but no thanks. I'm not interested." She stated firmly.

"Hmm…."said an amused General Hawk, "…is there anything I could do to change your mind?"

Isabella shook her head, "No Sir," she answered, "...not even if you took it up with my commanding officer."

That right there, gave General Hawk an idea...